Well, this game is very strange, I can't explain it, it seems like this game was made to farm the peak of this extreme sport, only they made it boring and stressful.
First of all, the design is ok, but some of the textures seemed to be a bit stale and there were a lot of bugs.
The controls of the game are strange, in order to jump you need to click on the ball button and this takes away the habit of jumping on the X button which leads to errors that preclude the challenges. In addition, the buttons often don't work properly, for example in the tutorial you need to jump and then fall with style, however the damn game didn't realize that I was clicking on the right button which made me want to leave the game.
The design of the stages is generic, especially the gym, which is literally basic for learning how to play. For me, the house was the most interesting because it's more chill, but it has an orange filter like the Mexico scenes in Breaking Bad, only a thousand times worse, and the backround is so ugly it gave me an eye sore.
In short, please don't play only if you want to suffer or like this extreme sport.
First of all, the design is ok, but some of the textures seemed to be a bit stale and there were a lot of bugs.
The controls of the game are strange, in order to jump you need to click on the ball button and this takes away the habit of jumping on the X button which leads to errors that preclude the challenges. In addition, the buttons often don't work properly, for example in the tutorial you need to jump and then fall with style, however the damn game didn't realize that I was clicking on the right button which made me want to leave the game.
The design of the stages is generic, especially the gym, which is literally basic for learning how to play. For me, the house was the most interesting because it's more chill, but it has an orange filter like the Mexico scenes in Breaking Bad, only a thousand times worse, and the backround is so ugly it gave me an eye sore.
In short, please don't play only if you want to suffer or like this extreme sport.
Bought a Retroid Pocket 4 Pro recently and I decided to test it by revisiting one of my childhood favorites. I never see anybody else talk about this game, and nobody knows what the fuck I'm on whenever I start to talk about it, so here I am.
This is a third person parkour platformer game where you run and traverse through the urban jungle in style, not only running, jumping or climbing fast, but also doing tricks like you would in a Tony Hawk game.
It's mostly set in a vaguely London-esque scenery, as the devs take inspiration from the local parkour scene. Abandoned flats, breezy docksides, multi-story construction sites; basically the kind of places you would expect somebody with a need for adrenaline rush to take advantage of. A lot of the levels have this strong orange sunset lighting, and it creates a decisively romantic feel. It's like little old me playing with the neighbor kids in the afternoon all over again, and it's a delightful feeling.
The levels themselves are pretty well designed, with a good progression of complexity and stakes as you go on, with failure resulting in falling from even greater heights and/or losing more precious time in races. There's a couple times where the obstacles can feel a bit awkward in how you traverse them, but it's not very often.
In each level, you usually have a number of challenges to complete in order to progress to the next level. The first activity you'll unlock is Freestyle, where you can explore the level and familiarize yourself with the help of mini-challenges, before tackling the other longer challenges. These challenges include the usual time trials, racing against an AI runner, collecting medals, and so on. A particularly fun twist is the Ground Zero challenges, where you are not allowed to touch the floor. All the activities are good for the most part, and they are usually designed in such a way to take you through paths that you'll most likely miss during free roam.
The only kind of challenge that I don't like is the Crash Tests, where you control a crash dummy and try to wreck him up as much as possible by running into explosives. It doesn't have the same kind of thrills that the others offer, and it's quite random since the physics can behave erratically, resulting in the occasional frustration because the dummy didn't hit the explosives like you had imagined.
A lot of the challenges have a bronze-silver-gold tier according to how well you did, whether it's by scoring enough style points or going fast enough. There's some unlockable gear locked behind the higher tiers, and these affect how fast you are, and also how susceptible you are to damage from failing fall landings or tricks. For the most part, the stat progression feels incremental since you get better gear at a slow-ish pace, but it does make a noticeable difference in the end.
The controls feel quite weighty and deliberate; its certainly different from games like Mirror's Edge, where you can perform speedy manuevers whenever you feel like it. It can take some time to learn how it wants you to behave, and the movement can feel a bit slippery, especially when you're trying to tackle a narrow angle jump, but the results are satisfying. I especially love doing a trick over a huge gap and successfully nailing the break fall landing. When you're falling from any height, you have to either press Square or Cross to roll or land carefully respectively, and its a small but important mechanic that sets the tone for the game's grounded feel.
But there is an important flaw in the gameplay: the camera kinda sucks. It always moves to follow where you're going, and it can really mess up your movement sometimes. The field of view is also on the low side, and this only exacerbates the previous issue.
To close this review out, I have to shout out the soundtrack. It's a collection of warm and lush electronic dance-able tunes that strikes a nice balance between being exciting and tense but also playful. There's some nice chill tracks too here and there. These would fit nicely in a Lumines game.
I'm hoping I convinced at least one of you to check this out. Maybe then I would know if I'm just crazy, I feel like I'm the only one loving this game haha. Either way, it's been great to revisit this game. In hindsight, this game is pretty much instrumental in deciding the kinds of games I would be obsessed with these days. Probably the biggest reason why I love climbing or parkour mechanics in games like Uncharted so much.
This is a third person parkour platformer game where you run and traverse through the urban jungle in style, not only running, jumping or climbing fast, but also doing tricks like you would in a Tony Hawk game.
It's mostly set in a vaguely London-esque scenery, as the devs take inspiration from the local parkour scene. Abandoned flats, breezy docksides, multi-story construction sites; basically the kind of places you would expect somebody with a need for adrenaline rush to take advantage of. A lot of the levels have this strong orange sunset lighting, and it creates a decisively romantic feel. It's like little old me playing with the neighbor kids in the afternoon all over again, and it's a delightful feeling.
The levels themselves are pretty well designed, with a good progression of complexity and stakes as you go on, with failure resulting in falling from even greater heights and/or losing more precious time in races. There's a couple times where the obstacles can feel a bit awkward in how you traverse them, but it's not very often.
In each level, you usually have a number of challenges to complete in order to progress to the next level. The first activity you'll unlock is Freestyle, where you can explore the level and familiarize yourself with the help of mini-challenges, before tackling the other longer challenges. These challenges include the usual time trials, racing against an AI runner, collecting medals, and so on. A particularly fun twist is the Ground Zero challenges, where you are not allowed to touch the floor. All the activities are good for the most part, and they are usually designed in such a way to take you through paths that you'll most likely miss during free roam.
The only kind of challenge that I don't like is the Crash Tests, where you control a crash dummy and try to wreck him up as much as possible by running into explosives. It doesn't have the same kind of thrills that the others offer, and it's quite random since the physics can behave erratically, resulting in the occasional frustration because the dummy didn't hit the explosives like you had imagined.
A lot of the challenges have a bronze-silver-gold tier according to how well you did, whether it's by scoring enough style points or going fast enough. There's some unlockable gear locked behind the higher tiers, and these affect how fast you are, and also how susceptible you are to damage from failing fall landings or tricks. For the most part, the stat progression feels incremental since you get better gear at a slow-ish pace, but it does make a noticeable difference in the end.
The controls feel quite weighty and deliberate; its certainly different from games like Mirror's Edge, where you can perform speedy manuevers whenever you feel like it. It can take some time to learn how it wants you to behave, and the movement can feel a bit slippery, especially when you're trying to tackle a narrow angle jump, but the results are satisfying. I especially love doing a trick over a huge gap and successfully nailing the break fall landing. When you're falling from any height, you have to either press Square or Cross to roll or land carefully respectively, and its a small but important mechanic that sets the tone for the game's grounded feel.
But there is an important flaw in the gameplay: the camera kinda sucks. It always moves to follow where you're going, and it can really mess up your movement sometimes. The field of view is also on the low side, and this only exacerbates the previous issue.
To close this review out, I have to shout out the soundtrack. It's a collection of warm and lush electronic dance-able tunes that strikes a nice balance between being exciting and tense but also playful. There's some nice chill tracks too here and there. These would fit nicely in a Lumines game.
I'm hoping I convinced at least one of you to check this out. Maybe then I would know if I'm just crazy, I feel like I'm the only one loving this game haha. Either way, it's been great to revisit this game. In hindsight, this game is pretty much instrumental in deciding the kinds of games I would be obsessed with these days. Probably the biggest reason why I love climbing or parkour mechanics in games like Uncharted so much.