56. Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter - Mega Drive (45mins)

Some sort of mech manga MD exclusive belt scroller from 1993 that passed me by.  Initially I was genuinely impressed - it plays pretty well, looks good and the way it switches to an up close & personal (albeit clunky) Vs fighter for the boss battles showed a fair amount of promise.  Unfortunately the fun dries up little by little as the game progresses. Not enough to ruin it - it's still quite good on the whole - but the 1v1 sections don't quite have enough quality to avoid being annoying once the enemies start putting up any real resistance, and the brawly bits demand ever so slightly too much of you by the end. It's all just a bit better when it's breezy.

It's no Batman Returns, but as single player only 16-bit scrolling beat 'em ups go this still bests most that spring to mind.  The combat bobs around Alien Storm levels, ergo basic, but at the same time it's responsive and fair.  Sprites are small for the main stages before making way for the showpiece boss battles, a visual shift that works well, and everything looks pretty stylish in that inimitable Mega Drive way.  It's fluid, has parallax scrolling for days and there's plenty of intricate pixel art/spritework. There are even a couple of serviceable forced scrolling sections in there that actually work.  Overall a pleasant surprise that ran out of puff after a few levels but still finished with its head held held relatively high.  3.5 out of 6.  I'm quite happy to have found a MD game I hadn't played that I like, I thought I'd checked out most of the A-C tier efforts over the years.  At the time this might've bagged a well-earned 81% I reckon; I would've been chuffed if I'd borrowed it anyway. It suffers from useless special syndrome though - it barely does any damage and takes off 1/5 of your own life bar.

58. Tchia - PS5 (7-8hrs)

Impressive indie open world effort that entertained on the whole, despite numerous less than stellar sections/elements (poor rhythm minigames, annoying approach to the endgame, an essential compass that refuses to stay on screen after cut-scenes, etc).  Exploration and traversal is great (the soul jump mechanic is a win), as is the gameworld.  Music gets a big thumbs up too, and the visuals/gameplay possibilities are remarkable for such a small team.  With some of the rougher edges sanded down this could have been tremendous, but as is its still a worthwhile experience and I'm glad I pulled the trigger on a PS Extra sub to check it out.  Considering the size of the dev team this really is a lot better than it has any right to be.  



For me it's only a [7], but it wasn't really my journey - or me holding the pad for most of the non-tedious sections, it turned out (I had to do all the iffy factory reconnaissance bits) - so I'll type out the review I got Tilly to write:


Tchia Review!

Hi!  I am Tilly, and I would like to do a review of Tchia.  So get your gaming hat on and lets get started.

I rate this stupendous game **** stars, because there is some blood and as you may or may not know: I do not like 'blood'.  Unfortunately, when you get a dead ******* (can not say, spoilers) there is A LOT of blood.  YUCK!  It is a 12 so you could probably play it. 

Anyways, I like this game because it is really funny in places and I love turning into animals.  I also like that it lets you be a bird and fly around.  You can also transform into chairs and bins.  So a lot of stuff!!  The downside is that you can not be a motorbike, even though there is one in the city.  You would go so fast!  What is funny is that Tchia can stand on a car or truck and let it drive her away.  Same with helicopters.   

The controls are a breeze if you play it on PS5.  That means NO MORE GLITCHES.  I also like the tenseness of when Tchia's dad is kidnapped/dadnapped.  As well as that, Tchia has her OWN BOAT!  How cool is that?

The thing about this game is that it's a mix of a couple of games, including: Zelda Breath of the Wild, Alba, The Good Life and some others.  It's also FUN.  You can dive and twist and spin, until your eyes go thin!  What I am saying is, you can do a dive on the poolside!  I love doing it.  

It took me 5 days to finish!  We played it a lot today because I was off school with covid and my dad was home.  Now, time to take your gaming hat off.  Our adventure has come to an end.  Phew!  I have pins and needles. 

BYE!

Nice

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

Good review but she doesn’t look that ill to me.  Think you need to check if you’ve been had.

She's lost all taste. I'm worried this means that she'll start playing Elf games but otherwise she's symptom free.

Tilly's game crit coming on at an outstanding rate.

I don't know what that is so this'll have to do!

Girlfriend Reviews went pretty massive on YouTube so I reckon there’s a market for daddy daughter reviews, especially when you can both write so well. (!)

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

Girlfriend Reviews went pretty massive on YouTube so I reckon there’s a market for daddy daughter reviews, especially when you can both write so well. (!)

Tilly Plays!

I can see it now, like Ryan's World but gaming specific.

Do it Moot!!!!!

Retro Tuesdays - Tilly tackles a classic from Dads youth

Contemporary Fridays - Tilly forces Dad to play a modern game out of his comfort zone

Indie Sundays - A relaxing romp that settles somewhere in the middle

None of this is going to happen but she's seen all the comments now and she's absolutely loving it.

Ahahahah

6. Cruis'n Blast (Switch) - 11hrs

I've always had a soft spot for the Cruis'n games, despite them never really being any good. I actually played the first three on N64 again a few years back on here and gave them all 3/10. Thankfully this is by far the best in the series.

I struggled with it initially, it felt unfairly difficult, but once I discovered that drifting is as essential as accelerating it all clicked into place.

It really is a great throw back the late 90s arcade racers. Think Hydro Thunder, San Francisco Rush etc. It feels like the perfect evolution of those late N64 early Dreamcast racers.

The graphics are nothing special on a technical level, but I absolutely love the look of it. Very colourful and vibrant, almost looks Sega Blue Skys™at times. Music is OK, but that main theme song... cheesy as fuck, but I love it.

I had a Blast!

7/10 

My list

60. Pu-Li-Ru-La - Arcade (25mins)

Absolutely bonkers scrolling beat 'em up that I spotted on a YouTube list of bonkers scrolling beat 'em ups.  I played through solo and the crazy is off the chart but the gameplay is a little on the limp side.  It looks amazing for 1991 though, with just about the most individual visual style I can think of for a game of this type.  [2.5 out of 6] is about as high as I can go really, but I did like it.  Which is why I roped Tilly in for a second playthrough.

Her thoughts:

Hi!  It's Tilly here and I would like to tell you about Pulirula.  So get your gaming hats on and let's get started!  So first, I would like to tell you my rating.  I give it 5 stars.  I rate it 5 stars because it includes magic and I LOVE magic. I like how it's two player and each player has slightly different powers.  I don't like these sort of games to last too long even if I like them.  I moaned about playing this one because I didn't enjoy the Simpsons one but as soon as this one started I loved it.  It only lasted about 20 minutes which was about the right length as all the levels are quite similar even though they look different. I like how if you kill a baddie they turn into animals that you can collect for points, like dogs, pigs and chickens.  My dad said it was all a bit weird but I thought it was just nice.  

There are 6 stages and the aim of the game is to un-freeze time.  Now our journey has come to an end.  Time to take your gaming hat off, until next time!  



61. Strider - PS5 (3hrs 50mins)

Short and sweet laser-focused Metroidvania with fluid controls, relentless boss battles and a strong action platform core.  I missed the boat with Strider, as by the time I got round to playing it I'll admit my reaction was more 'WTF' than 'wow', but I've got no doubt it was a belter at the time.  The huge mechanical gorilla and mountain descent screenshots always used to make me swoon as a kid, but for some reason I never picked it up (too busy playing the immeasurably superior Revenge of Shinobi I guess).  Even the time limit got on my tits as I'm pretty sure I ruined a save assisted runthough in the retro club thread by manually saving in an unwinnable position.  Anyway, the passage of time hurts some games more than others and Strider wouldn't be allowed within a country mile of my 'timeless games' list, because (whisper it) thanks to the benefit of hindsight + the fact that modern gamers are spoilt rotten with banging 2D experiences, it turns out some of it is actually a bit bobbins when critiqued with modern sensibilities.  So it's fair to say I didn't approach this with the mindset of a rabid fanboy, but I had always intended to go back after enjoying what I played a few years ago (I've had it in my PS+ library for yonks, and grabbed another month of Extra recently for Tchia).  Surprisingly, I thought it was magnificent for the first couple of hours.  It doesn't quite sustain the brilliance, with one or two late game mechanics not quite landing for me, but it's still an excellent update of a classic IP.  I'll have to give Strider 2 a look at some point (no, not the US Gold one).  Very much a me game on the whole, I had a blast ripping through it. [8]

I said it in the currently playing thread, but I'll say it again here: Metroid Dread owes Strider 2014 a debt for sure; I'd be amazed if at least some of the MercurySteam team weren't massive fans of this.  Both games even share the metallic sheen and fleet-footed slide-heavy core.  I know @retroking tends to avoid Metroidvanias for the most part (unless they're actual Metroid games), but this really is about as lite as it gets in terms of exploration - there's always a glowing GO HERE marker on your map, it's usually nearby, and the play area isn't that big anyway.  You'd like this one I reckon - it essentially plays out like a constant progression action/arcade game with satisfying hack 'n slash combat.



62. Adios - Xbox One (80 mins)

Amusingly rough looking interactive narrative/walking sim about a pig farmer attempting to call time on a long-standing working relationship with the mob.  The whole thing consists of pretty naturalistic dialogue with minimal player choices coupled with menial farm tasks, and it's very nearly excellent in places.  It's the sort of thing that I'd probably enjoy as a film, and it's always nice to see a game not falling flat on its face when it tries a more measured approach than most - believe it or not the writing and delivery are very good for the most part.  

I couldn't help laughing at the way it suddenly turned into an Octodad style wonkathon when you're tasked with making a stew towards the end - there were carrots and knives everywhere for me - and unfortunately [actual ending spoiler within]

Still, this was a great effort on the whole.  A slightly harsh [7] then, but it's whiskers away from an [8] and one of the best games of its type that I've played for a while.

The PS1 sequel is actually an arcade port, which I found out a couple of days ago.  I'll probably play that one as I assume I can credit feed it, the PS1 version is supposedly rock hard.