Cold_Comfort
Bio
STG fan who likes playing the best that every genre has to offer. Unfortunately, also ends up playing the worst every genre has to offer.
Badges
On Schedule
Journaled games once a day for a week straight
GOTY '22
Participated in the 2022 Game of the Year Event
Treasured
Gained 750+ total review likes
Famous
Gained 100+ followers
Listed
Created 10+ public lists
Best Friends
Become mutual friends with at least 3 others
Shreked
Found the secret ogre page
Donor
Liked 50+ reviews / lists
Gone Gold
Received 5+ likes on a review while featured on the front page
3 Years of Service
Being part of the Backloggd community for 3 years
GOTY '21
Participated in the 2021 Game of the Year Event
Adored
Gained 300+ total review likes
Elite Gamer
Played 500+ games
Trend Setter
Gained 50+ followers
Loved
Gained 100+ total review likes
Well Written
Gained 10+ likes on a single review
GOTY '20
Participated in the 2020 Game of the Year Event
Gamer
Played 250+ games
N00b
Played 100+ games
Popular
Gained 15+ followers
Noticed
Gained 3+ followers
Liked
Gained 10+ total review likes
Favorite Games
809
Total Games Played
063
Played in 2023
044
Games Backloggd
Recently Played See More
Recently Reviewed See More
Of all the games ever produced, I imagine to many, Doom may well be the most familiar. An absolute behemoth of a game that was and remains intensely popular and a foundation for one of the most popular genres of game, and also immensely well understood on a technical and development level, with endless interviews and whole books on it's development and its technical restrictions. It is also - and this isn't a criticsm - quite a restricted in terms of gameplay elements and scenarios. Countless doom maps are powered by it's handful of enemy types and weapons, and creating interesting combat encounters with them and different environments - and whilst I am not too big on the Doom gameplay personally it's clear this is a massive component to it's longevity.
And so, for both the average consumer and especially the doom nut on forums, the game, in it's own way, is Home. Familiar, comfortable, and despite its ostensibly horrific tone - safe.
The corruption of that is what I think makes My House tick. I can take or leave the myriad references and pouring through google docs that comes with the files, as well as the general game structure with all it's item searching. But the way My House twists the comfotable, known quantity of Doom into somethng else legitimately freaks me out a bit, and is paced really well. Cute house mod devloving into "huh that's a cute trick" into "this is impossible to do in Doom" is such a good trick, and it keeps on going to point where it did - for moments, at least - feel like I was playing some cursed copy of doom found in a creepypasta.
Breaking down that feeling of familiarity and safety in a horror experience is tough - done wrong, it can feel very cheap. But at it's best it's the perfect kind of cruel, that gets under your skin and nags at you even once you're outside the experience itself. And whilst im not huge on basically anything else the game does (but im not a big Doom fan, so that's not neccessarily a "problem" considering who this is really for), I think it does that so, so well.
There is no point having a billion ships without a good playgroud for them. RTF3 is maybe the final nail in the coffin that Granzella will never be to Irem what Cave is to Toaplan.
Kazuma Kujo was a lead on R-Type Delta, Metal Slug and In the Hunt and how he's te auteur of what is now two full game's worth of stages which are so poorly paced and full of blatant issues that wouldn't pass muster in game jam.
The RTF2/3 project in general has always felt a bit misguided but this final update (because yes, that's basically all this is, thank you misleading marketing, doesnt even come with all the DLC) is proof that the caretakers of what is possibly the best well known STG series haven't got a fucking clue.
Imagine if Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin was just the combat, and the combat was worse.
An incredibly pretty game at times and the boss encounters are impressive, but the core combat and particularly enemy encounters are really not up to snuff, nor challenging in the slightest. The game really has no answer to you just sniping basically everything from outside an enemy's area, and the whole thing is just very exploitable and lame.
That said, bonus points for using the Gradius power up system as it's chief roguelike mechanic, where building up souls can enable you to get different bonuses upon cashing out. But it isn't nearly enough to save it.