GameTZ

7-Dec-03 9:25am
#1

Guru

This topic had many older posts which were moved here: http://gametz.com/Vi...

17-Sep-23 2:38pm
#161

PizzaTheHutt


Air Conflicts - Secret Wars {} 6/10
I am not sure if I will be playing all the way through this one, I just was in the mood for a game like this and it (barely) managed scratch that itch. I've put around 3 hours into it so far and it's just pretty average. It's an arcade-style flight combat sim game, the story takes place way back in WWI, and you play as this pilot named DeeDee whose voice actor kinda annoys me to the point where I've started skipping the cutscenes (which are just still images anyway), but I still have to hear her during missions. The story is mostly her trying to find out how her father died. I didn't know the guy so I couldn't care less how he died, I just wanna fly around and shoot things and drop bombs on suckas in tanks and I'm at least having a bit of fun doing that, but the minute it stops being fun I will move on to something else.

Graphically I guess it looks alright for a PS3 game. It's not even close to pushing the limits of the hardware, but it's not an ugly game. The game even has the option to play it in 3D if you're one of the few rich and cool people that ever bought a 3DTV when those were still a thing. I am neither rich nor cool, so I couldn't tell you how it looks. There are some frame-rate stutters here and there though, particularly when you're trying to turn the plane.
As for the controls, there are multiple control settings but I just keep mine set to "Arcade" which I think was the default setting, and it handles well, but because of how long ago the game takes place these planes move f'n slow, so don't go into this expecting Ace Combat or something. Also I started out playing on the Rookie difficulty setting and the auto-targeting is a little too helpful, just makes things too easy. You also have the option of setting the controls to simulation, but I'm just keeping mine set to arcade. There even is a setting to play with a PS Move controller but I can't test that out since I'm playing it on PS5 (streaming it via PS+ Premium), so there is no way to be able to use a PS3 camera to recognize the PS Move controller.

23-Sep-23 6:09pm
#162

PizzaTheHutt


Air Conflicts: Vietnam {} 5/10
As a series of budget titles I am pretty surprised that this didn't end up just being a lazy Copy+Paste of the previous Air Conflicts game I was just playing last week. It looks a bit nicer, the jets are more fun to fly than the slow poke planes in the previous game and I think it uses licensed tunes from that era.
Despite all that though, I'm not liking it as much. I was halfway through the previous Air Conflicts game when I decided not to finish it, and I'm about an hour into this one and I already know I'm not going to finish it. It just feels a bit repetitive.

-
Devil May Cry V Special Edition {} 8/10

Up until now my only experience with this series was when I played DmC - Devil May Cry a decade ago, and then I played the original Devil May Cry on Switch two or three years ago. DmC was really good, I enjoyed it and the soundtrack was also great, now and then I still listen to a couple of the licensed songs featured in it. I understand that longtime fans of the series disliked it enough to send death threats to the developers, but fudge those guys, that's when you know you take video games way too seriously. Because of those crybabies I don't know if Capcom considers that game canon anymore.
The original DMC on Switch I had to stop playing after 2 or 3 hours, I just wasn't enjoying it at all. I am sure it was fun back in 2001, but it didn't age well by 2021, the reboot was far superior.

I just wanted to get that out of the way, that I'm not a big fan of this series, prior to this I've only played those two games and one was great, but the other was bad enough to kill my interest in wanting to check out DMCs 2, 3 and 4. I don't even know what it was about DMC V that made me want to check it out, other than I'm kinda desperate for big budget PS5 games to play in the PS+ Extra catalog.

If I didn't already know that this was originally a last gen game, I would believe it if you told me this was meant for current gen. It checks pretty much all of the boxes of things I expect from a PS5 game: it looks nice (sometimes it can be tough to tell when a cutscene ends and the gameplay begins), supports ray tracing effects, it supports the fancy shmancy rumble of the DualSense, adaptive triggers, 3D audio, practically blink-and-you-miss-it load times, you know just all that good stuff that should be standard on PS5 by now but for some reason some developers don't put in the effort to make it be.

The story is all mumbo jumbo to me, but I don't typically play these types of games for the story anyway, so I don't care why I'm hacking and slashing these creatures, as long as I have fun doing it. And I am. The dialogue is pretty corny at times though, but I mean it's Capcom, the "Jill sandwich" guys, so...

I'm at the halfway point of the game and I don't know yet how much of a role this guy plays in the overall story, but there's a character you play as that looks like a scrawny emo sissy and his powers are that he can summon a freakin' crow and a panther or something, and they do most of the fighting for him. I do not enjoy playing as him I was really enjoying the game up until he came along. I still am enjoying it, but I think I'd enjoy it more without him and I hope there aren't too many more levels where I have to play as him.

But for the game itself, the graphics are very good, it warns you that enabling ray-tracing may affect the frame-rate, but it happens so infrequently that there's no reason not to enable it. The audio is good as well I'm really liking the soundtrack (not quite as much as DmC's though). I have no issue with the controls, I'm basically just button-mashing my way through it all and the game makes me feel like I am kicking a lotta ass while doing it. Overall the game is fun, but I still don't want to check out DMC 2-4 anytime soon because I doubt they aged well, but I may check out future installments.

23-Sep-23 7:21pm
#163

benstylus


PizzaTheHutt wrote:
Air Conflicts: Vietnam {} 5/10 As a series of budget titles I am pretty surprised that this didn't end up just being a lazy Copy+Paste of the previous Air Conflicts game I was just playing last week.
For me, budget games tend to fall into one of two categories. The developer believes:

- This is the best game we could make within our budget and time constraints.

OR

- It's OK that we phoned it in; nobody expects much from a budget title anyway.

Some of the games from the former viewpoint end up being classics in their own right, while games developed under the latter end up being mocked for generations to come.

28-Sep-23 5:09pm
#164

PizzaTheHutt


benstylus wrote:
PizzaTheHutt wrote:> Air Conflicts: Vietnam {} 5/10> As a series of budget titles I am pretty surprised that this didn't end up just being> a lazy Copy+Paste of the previous Air Conflicts game I was just playing last week. For me, budget games tend to fall into one of two categories. The developer believes: - This is the best game we could make within our budget and time constraints. OR - It's OK that we phoned it in; nobody expects much from a budget title anyway. Some of the games from the former viewpoint end up being classics in their own right, while games developed under the latter end up being mocked for generations to come.

I remember late in the PS1's life there was a whole line of budget games for $10. Almost all were garbage and most aimed at children. Gaming mags didn't even bother reviewing majority of them, but one I remember being surprisingly decent was a game based on the original The Italian Job movie, published by Rockstar Games and released in 2002, long after most people thought the console was dead. It's because of that game that I don't immediately write off every budget title as automatically being crap, because like you said some developers are just doing their best with what they were given to work with.

28-Sep-23 5:24pm
#165

benstylus


PizzaTheHutt wrote:
benstylus wrote:> PizzaTheHutt wrote: |>> Air Conflicts: Vietnam {} 5/10 |>> As a series of budget titles I am pretty surprised that this didn't end up just> being |>> a lazy Copy+Paste of the previous Air Conflicts game I was just playing last week.> > For me, budget games tend to fall into one of two categories. The developer believes:> > - This is the best game we could make within our budget and time constraints.> > OR> > - It's OK that we phoned it in; nobody expects much from a budget title anyway.> > Some of the games from the former viewpoint end up being classics in their own right,> while games developed under the latter end up being mocked for generations to come. I remember late in the PS1's life there was a whole line of budget games for $10. Almost all were garbage and most aimed at children. Gaming mags didn't even bother reviewing majority of them, but one I remember being surprisingly decent was a game based on the original The Italian Job movie, published by Rockstar Games and released in 2002, long after most people thought the console was dead. It's because of that game that I don't immediately write off every budget title as automatically being crap, because like you said some developers are just doing their best with what they were given to work with.
I played that one but I remember the load times often being longer than the actual levels...

28-Sep-23 5:52pm
#166

PizzaTheHutt


Golf Club Wasteland Nostalgia {} 5/10

When I bought this game last year it was called Golf Club Wasteland, but it has since been renamed to Golf Club Nostalgia in the eShop (though the display name and icon on the console home screen weren't updated to reflect the name change for some reason).

I'm not a fan of the sport of golf (or any sport really), but I don't mind when games are built around it to tell a bigger story or something. Switch is home to two of my favorite golf games, Golf Story and What The Golf?, and neither are aimed at hardcore golf fans. I don't think this game is aimed at those fans either, though this is a more serious game than the other two. It's basically a social commentary about the world and rich corporations, and the story is narrated through the radio that is broadcasting while you play. I'll be honest, the story isn't that interesting to me, it's something to do with Earth being almost destroyed, so the rich people move to Mars and come back down to Earth once in a while to play golf on what's left of the decaying planet. The golf portion of the game is really basic, and if the game wasn't so short (I am 5 holes away from the end, I think I've played maybe 2 hours) I would have abandoned the game by now.

28-Sep-23 11:31pm
#167

loztdogs


Man, Disney illusion island is really boring.

29-Sep-23 7:18am
#168

benstylus


loztdogs wrote:
Man, Disney illusion island is really boring.
It looks nice and it controls well, but it just feels so empty.

I really wish they had gone the Rayman Origins/Legends route and created a bunch of focused, tightly designed stages instead of a large open metroidvania style world with practically nothing in it.

Platforming with no combat can work, but it requires great level design, or at the very least a lot of variety. Illusion Island has neither.

Makes me sad because I really wanted to like it.

30-Sep-23 7:17pm
#169

PizzaTheHutt


Mouse Trap {} 3/10
Alright, hear me out. This was on sale in the eShop for $4 a couple weeks ago. I never got to play this board game as a kid, but I thought it looked fun in the commercials. I don't think any of my friends owned it either, and when going to Toys R Us as a kid and having the opportunity to choose between a new video game and a board game, I sure as crap wasn't choosing a board game, that's how I became the coolest kid on the block. As soon as I saw it supported online play I texted my friend and asked if she wanted to play a couple rounds and she bought it too (turns out she did play it once or twice as a kid). It feels like each game is over before you know it and I was left thinking "that's it?" I think we played through two full matches in a little less than 20 minutes. Unlike some other video game adaptations of board games, I don't think this one transitioned very well.

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Chex Quest HD {} 5/10
Another game I never played as a kid and thus have no nostalgia for, but it's on sale for 50 cents so I decided to check it out. This is not a 1:1 remake of the original though, they tried to modernize it a bit. It's not very good, but I also wouldn't say it is awful. I've spent more than 50 cents on games that I ended up enjoying less than this.Seems like it'll be a short game since there's only 5 levels. I haven't beaten it yet and not sure if I will honestly due to slightly confusing level design and there are no checkpoints in levels so if you die you have to restart. This remake was built from the ground up on Unreal Engine 4 and that might explain why it feels so sluggish like a lot of other UE4 games on Switch, so you'll definitely want to adjust the sensitivity of the analog sticks.
I guess this made for a cool freebie in the mid-90s, but it's nothing special if you're playing it for the first time all these years later with no nostalgic memories of it, it's more of a "you had to be there" type of thing. Also, I'm surprised this got a T rating instead of E. The "violence" that ESRB claims is very minimal and there's obviously no blood.

4-Oct-23 10:31pm
#170

PizzaTheHutt


Arizona Sunshine {} 7/10
For the first couple of hours I was convinced this just might be my favorite shooter on PSVR so far, or at least tied with DOOM VFR (not counting on-rails shooters like Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood, I mean shooters with full locomotion movement). But I will stop myself from singing this game's praises too much, because once those first couple of hours pass you'll realize just how janky this game really is.

I started playing with PS Move controllers and they took a little getting used to, but when you give it enough time they start to feel like the right way to play, but my current setup is not ideal for that, so I played with DualShock 4 in the next session and I'll probably continue using it for the remainder of my playthrough. I do think it felt pretty cool with the Move controllers and having to reload guns using both hands and it gives you the option to hold two guns at once vs just one on DS4, but besides that there was nothing wrong with using the DS4.

I wish the graphics were a little better. I know this released pretty early in the PSVR's life, but damn it kind of looks like a PlayStation 3 game at times. Also in the dark environments you can barely see anything. The audio is alright, but one thing I don't like is you can often hear zombies, but when you look around the room will be empty and the zombies are outside or in the next room, but you hear them as if they are right up in your face. The main character (who I don't recall is ever given a name) will spout comments as you play and he doesn't annoy me or anything, so that's a positive. Though he refers to all zombies as "Fred" and I don't get the joke there. The controls as already mentioned are fine. I think it supports the PS Aim controller, but I don't have one to know how it works, but if you have the option, try it with PS Move controllers first as the game tells you from the beginning that those controls are what it was designed for.

Overall it's merely a decent game that could have been a really good game, but is held back by some jankyness. For example in one area I was surrounded by zombies and as I was backing away from them as I was shooting, I ended up walking through the environment and I only realized that's what happened because suddenly the zombies stopped running after me because they couldn't see me. Later in the game I reached a room where I could hear zombies were nearby, turns out ther were outside but I couldn't get close enough to open the door because their arms were glitching through it. And one more example is this point I've reached in the game just a couple of levels from the end, the screen has gone black multiple times and the only way to continue is by exiting the game and reloading. If that happens a few more times I will probably just give up and play something else. I am still enjoying the game, hence the 7 score, but there are times when those glitches show up where it kinda feels closer to a 5 or 6. There's online multiplayer co-op horde mode but I don't know if I will try that or not, or if anyone is even still playing it. That's one thing about VR games, unless it's a really popular one, they don't stay active online very long because they're already releasing to a limited audience.

8-Oct-23 12:22am
#171

Anxiouz


The Last of Us Part 1 (PS5) - 9/10 - There is no reason for this to have been remade a 2nd time. But it's pretty fantastic. My TLOU experience:

* PS3 TLOU - I played about 1/2 way through but stopped because I wasn't enjoying it.

* PS4 TLOU Remastered - Powered my way through it, beat it, and the DLC. I felt like I was using exploits though (lots of just plowing ahead and just using spiked baseball bats and shivs).

* PS4 TLOU 2 - Felt bloated, unfocussed, padded, and overly convoluted. But was really good and it's bones were solid (gameplay and base story premise).

* HBO TLOU - Felt it was ok but honestly didn't remember many of the story beats. So it felt like every couple episodes it would just do a side story and then kill that person off, not advancing the story at all. Weird pacing.

* PS5 TLOU Part 1 Remake - Makes me totally respect the HBO show more. They really did a good job now that I'm seeing the story I had forgotten. This game is really well written and quite an experience. It's pretty wonderful. But I think you can enjoy it just the same via the PS4 Remastered version.

And now hearing the TLOU Part 2 is getting the remake treatment...yeah it's going to be awesome but playing the PS4 game on my PS5 made that already feel current. If they charge $70 for Part 2 Remake < 3 years from when it came out...come on man.

12-Oct-23 3:37am
#172

Technos


So I wrote a review of Buriki-One for the Neo Geo Hyper 64. Rather than post a gigantic wall of text and screens here, I posted it to my ghost town user forum. Its the kind of thing I would have submitted as a GameTZ Review proper if that were still a thing, so please have a look.

12-Oct-23 8:22am
#173

DCGX


Zombie Army 4: Dead War - 6.5/10

Another PS+ game I downloaded, and, 'tis the season. This game was clearly designed with 4 player co-op in mind even though it can be played solo. I wish the other characters, they're distinct like 'Left 4 Dead,' would be CPU controlled. It's easy to get surrounded and have your life nearly immediately drained. The game is also a bit janky. I think this is the first game I've ever changed the aiming controls to move slower. It's so quick on default that it's hard to aim. I don't know. It's fun, and an interesting throwback to games we got more commonly during the 360/PS3 era, but it's also evident the budget was lower and fine-tuning had to be sacrificed. If I had three other people to play with, or jumped online, I can see the fun here.

12-Oct-23 10:01am
#174

TalonJedi87


Dead Space remake 8.5/10

It’s awesome so far. I’m on chapter 2. Performance mode is so fluid and it’s just as creepy as when I first played it back in the day. I also appreciate them having Isaac talk now. I thought I would mind it but it’s done tastefully as it was in part 2. I hope they remake part 2 next. That one was also very good.

12-Oct-23 11:47am
#175

BucketofJustice


Assassins Creed: Valhalla: bloated/10.

Started this last Sunday. Got a few hours in. Barely touched the tip of the surface. Seems fun but kinda weird too, and basically feels like Witchers Creed mixed with Happy Leif Erickson day.

12-Oct-23 12:24pm
#176

Heavyd814life


TalonJedi87 wrote:
Dead Space remake 8.5/10 It’s awesome so far. I’m on chapter 2. Performance mode is so fluid and it’s just as creepy as when I first played it back in the day. I also appreciate them having Isaac talk now. I thought I would mind it but it’s done tastefully as it was in part 2. I hope they remake part 2 next. That one was also very good.
Oh wow I had no idea Isaac was voiced in the remake. I'm guessing they changed up the dialogue and his interactions with other characters to accommodate him being voiced this time around. Not sure when I'll get around to playing it, but I'm even more excited now just to see how different it all is.

12-Oct-23 1:12pm
#177

TalonJedi87


Oh yeah it’s completely different as Isaac is talking back and interacting with crew members more on the regular now via comms that he hasn’t in the past. Almost feels like a brand new game in that sense.

12-Oct-23 4:39pm
#178

Anxiouz


The remake is so good. It's a really nice addition of him talking since the back and forth conversations are way more engaging than NPCs just talking at you (and responding to your silence). Everyone monologuing was far less interesting and easy to just ignore.

12-Oct-23 11:30pm
#179

PizzaTheHutt


Unpacking {} 6/10
What a really monotonous game this is. I kinda liked the concept, and it is fun to play at times, but boring at other times.

This is based on a developer's real life experience after she had moved in with her boyfriend and felt overwhelmed having to unpack a bunch of boxes without knowing what was in them. In the past decade I've moved 3 times and probably will again next year. I've always numbered the boxes and wrote down what I put in them. It's not rocket surgery. But that's not how this broad's mind operates, and if it was then we wouldn't have this game.

You're unpacking boxes and then putting the items away. It can be fun to play and relax to, but while It's a short game at roughly 4 hours long, I still feel like it should have been a little shorter. I started to wish there was a little more variety in the items to unpack, because again, while the game is short, every level has largely the same crap because apparently she doesn't like throwing things away. After what feels like the umpteenth time of unpacking a box of tampons and having to put them in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, or her childhood stuffed animals, or the countless books you will be stuffing on the bookshelf (why doesn't she invest in a Kindle the next time she moves?) it will start to feel like you're doing more of an irl chore instead of playing a video game (not too unlike that PowerWash Simulator game). Also when you unpack the items, you can pretty much place them anywhere and facing any direction, the game doesn't judge you for how good of a job you do at decorating the rooms, it's literally just unpacking the boxes and putting the items where they should be.

I'm close to finishing the game now and once I do I can't see myself ever wanting to play this again. But where we're at now with too many indie devs playing it safe and farting out so many Metroidvanias, rouguelikes, [insert activity here] Simulator 2023, or 2D Zelda clones, kudos to these devs for trying something new, I guess.

13-Oct-23 8:31am
#180

DCGX


PizzaTheHutt wrote:
Unpacking {} 6/10 What a really monotonous game this is. I kinda liked the concept, and it is fun to play at times, but boring at other times. This is based on a developer's real life experience after she had moved in with her boyfriend and felt overwhelmed having to unpack a bunch of boxes without knowing what was in them. In the past decade I've moved 3 times and probably will again next year. I've always numbered the boxes and wrote down what I put in them. It's not rocket surgery. But that's not how this broad's mind operates, and if it was then we wouldn't have this game. You're unpacking boxes and then putting the items away. It can be fun to play and relax to, but while It's a short game at roughly 4 hours long, I still feel like it should have been a little shorter. I started to wish there was a little more variety in the items to unpack, because again, while the game is short, every level has largely the same crap because apparently she doesn't like throwing things away. After what feels like the umpteenth time of unpacking a box of tampons and having to put them in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, or her childhood stuffed animals, or the countless books you will be stuffing on the bookshelf (why doesn't she invest in a Kindle the next time she moves?) it will start to feel like you're doing more of an irl chore instead of playing a video game (not too unlike that PowerWash Simulator game). Also when you unpack the items, you can pretty much place them anywhere and facing any direction, the game doesn't judge you for how good of a job you do at decorating the rooms, it's literally just unpacking the boxes and putting the items where they should be. I'm close to finishing the game now and once I do I can't see myself ever wanting to play this again. But where we're at now with too many indie devs playing it safe and farting out so many Metroidvanias, rouguelikes, [insert activity here] Simulator 2023, or 2D Zelda clones, kudos to these devs for trying something new, I guess.
Well, it's not just about unpacking boxes. It's about adapting/fitting your life, represented by the items in the boxes, to new things, situations and environments. I agree, there isn't much to it, and it's definitely best played to relax with.

13-Oct-23 8:33am
#181

DCGX


DCGX wrote:
Zombie Army 4: Dead War - 6.5/10 Another PS+ game I downloaded, and, 'tis the season. This game was clearly designed with 4 player co-op in mind even though it can be played solo. I wish the other characters, they're distinct like 'Left 4 Dead,' would be CPU controlled. It's easy to get surrounded and have your life nearly immediately drained. The game is also a bit janky. I think this is the first game I've ever changed the aiming controls to move slower. It's so quick on default that it's hard to aim. I don't know. It's fun, and an interesting throwback to games we got more commonly during the 360/PS3 era, but it's also evident the budget was lower and fine-tuning had to be sacrificed. If I had three other people to play with, or jumped online, I can see the fun here.
I've given up on this game already. I was on the second chapter where you need to retrieve a couple of cogs for a machine, and then protect the machine while it does its thing, got overrun and died. Not bad on its own, but the only checkpoint was the beginning of the chapter, and this game isn't fun enough solo to force me to do that all over again. With friends, sure.