Dani1o
It was a great rendition of the timeless competitive game, despite the flaws. The only multiplayer shooter that managed to hook me for so long. In many ways it was better than the current successor, but moving to the new engine was a necessary step, I guess.
Nice little extra story in GTA IV - same time, same city, but a different perspective. The plot is mostly independent from the main game and the second DLC, but at some points connected with them or indirectly referenced, just like Half-Life and its add-ons. The biker theme is really cool and isn't as common in videogames as it should be. The missions are just as good and unique as in the main game, unlike Undead Nightmare DLC for RDR which mostly was cemetery cleansing x100 times. Also, plenty of new vehicles (mostly bikes), few new weapons and improved handling for motorcycles to encourage using them. I prefer the main game story, but this one is also great and an absolute must for the complete GTA IV experience.
1986
Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, but with altered graphics and bosses having more HP.
Intro cutscenes are gone, Kunio and the Japanese highschool setting was changed to a more generic hood and The Warriors-looking unnamed protagonist. Some of the new sprites look cool, and some considerably worse - stage 3 feels like trash with those hookers and sound effects for them.
Still a good game for 1986, but a downgrade from the Japanese version. They could just change the students to more american looking ones if "localizing" the game was really necessary.
Also, might be a problem with my emulator, but had a lot more slowdowns in this version
than in the original one.
Intro cutscenes are gone, Kunio and the Japanese highschool setting was changed to a more generic hood and The Warriors-looking unnamed protagonist. Some of the new sprites look cool, and some considerably worse - stage 3 feels like trash with those hookers and sound effects for them.
Still a good game for 1986, but a downgrade from the Japanese version. They could just change the students to more american looking ones if "localizing" the game was really necessary.
Also, might be a problem with my emulator, but had a lot more slowdowns in this version
than in the original one.
My least favorite out of three GTA IV campaigns, but I'm glad we have it.
The vibe is great, and although I prefer the atmosphere of the normal IV, it was cool to see Liberty City in different colors and perspective. Perfect for those who aren't into the dark tone of the main game. The missions and other activities are also more crazy and action packed, I loved the new triathlon races with parachutes, boats and cars with nitro.
The story fills the gaps and answers the questions of the other two storylines, but on its own kind of weak and forgettable. The characters and the dialogues are spot on as always tho.
If you wanted GTA IV to be more like V - that's just what you need.
The vibe is great, and although I prefer the atmosphere of the normal IV, it was cool to see Liberty City in different colors and perspective. Perfect for those who aren't into the dark tone of the main game. The missions and other activities are also more crazy and action packed, I loved the new triathlon races with parachutes, boats and cars with nitro.
The story fills the gaps and answers the questions of the other two storylines, but on its own kind of weak and forgettable. The characters and the dialogues are spot on as always tho.
If you wanted GTA IV to be more like V - that's just what you need.
Excellent early 3D transition of the series. Today the graphics look old and the FPS is low, but you stop noticing it real soon because the game aged really well overall.
Everything feels so distinct and on its place - every location is atmospheric and memorable, every NPC is cool and funny in a way and the soundtrack is genius - it sounds unique and burns into your memory, despite each song starts from the same 5 notes.
The gameplay doesn't offer any unique combat mechanics or spectacular puzzles, but everything is put together and balanced in a way that it's fun to play. The controls, unlike many other early 3D games, aren't clunky at all. You don't even need getting used to it, it just feels modern enough, except the fact that you don't have a second thumbstick to turn the camera.
All the dungeons are well designed, even the Water and the Spirit temples people keep complaining about. I guess their main problem were the boots you constantly had to change in the inventory to solve puzzles, but even that wasn't too annoying for me.
I wasn't there when Zelda OoT came out, but I see why everyone praised it so much back then. Today it isn't such a groundbreaking experience anymore, but still a very solid game to get into.
Everything feels so distinct and on its place - every location is atmospheric and memorable, every NPC is cool and funny in a way and the soundtrack is genius - it sounds unique and burns into your memory, despite each song starts from the same 5 notes.
The gameplay doesn't offer any unique combat mechanics or spectacular puzzles, but everything is put together and balanced in a way that it's fun to play. The controls, unlike many other early 3D games, aren't clunky at all. You don't even need getting used to it, it just feels modern enough, except the fact that you don't have a second thumbstick to turn the camera.
All the dungeons are well designed, even the Water and the Spirit temples people keep complaining about. I guess their main problem were the boots you constantly had to change in the inventory to solve puzzles, but even that wasn't too annoying for me.
I wasn't there when Zelda OoT came out, but I see why everyone praised it so much back then. Today it isn't such a groundbreaking experience anymore, but still a very solid game to get into.
2016
Decent stealth with interesting mechanics, cool art style and music.
The setting is Asia-inspired, reminds me Avatar: The Last Airbender. Interesting lore and story, especially loved the ending.
The gameplay is mostly warping by the shadows to move around and avoid/kill enemies, which is pretty non-typical.
Also, there are plenty of useful active skills and some of them are quite overpowered. Since they're all locked from the start and tied to collectible scrolls, first few chapters are going to be tough, but if you get the skill that marks them on the ground early, collecting them won't be frustrating.
The game has some bugs - e.g. you better start a new chapter from the chapters list, because "Continue" button in the main menu might lower your difficulty to "normal" (happened to me twice), but most of the time everything feels and runs smoothly.
The game is rather niche than must play for everyone, but might be a great experience for those who love the genre or the setting.
The setting is Asia-inspired, reminds me Avatar: The Last Airbender. Interesting lore and story, especially loved the ending.
The gameplay is mostly warping by the shadows to move around and avoid/kill enemies, which is pretty non-typical.
Also, there are plenty of useful active skills and some of them are quite overpowered. Since they're all locked from the start and tied to collectible scrolls, first few chapters are going to be tough, but if you get the skill that marks them on the ground early, collecting them won't be frustrating.
The game has some bugs - e.g. you better start a new chapter from the chapters list, because "Continue" button in the main menu might lower your difficulty to "normal" (happened to me twice), but most of the time everything feels and runs smoothly.
The game is rather niche than must play for everyone, but might be a great experience for those who love the genre or the setting.
This port is a great improvement over the arcade version. Famicom hardware is clearly weaker so the game doesn't look and feel as smooth, but mechanics-wise many flaws were fixed and new great features added.
In the Arcade version you could have more players on the court, but the only good one was Kunio - others had no uses other than tank hits to protect your carry. Now it's only 6, but each has his own stats, strong and weak sides, 2 special moves (ground and aerial) and you can choose each for the inner or outer court. Enemy teams now also have their own traits and differ by them, not by the amount of tanks and replacement meat they can throw against you. Matter of fact enemies no more have more players than you for no reason and the auto-lose timer is gone, therefore the gameplay became way less cheesy and repetitive, but more fair and strategic.
Friendly AI was also fixed - guys you don't control at the moment used to stand like slogs and take hits in the Arcade version, now they actually duck and dodge. Even stunlocking at the court border by quick throws although kind of doable sometimes, now isn't as broken as before.
This is just an 8-bit dodgeball simulator, but really fun and well made. And due to proper improvements, it become better than the original, despite being ported on a weaker platform.
In the Arcade version you could have more players on the court, but the only good one was Kunio - others had no uses other than tank hits to protect your carry. Now it's only 6, but each has his own stats, strong and weak sides, 2 special moves (ground and aerial) and you can choose each for the inner or outer court. Enemy teams now also have their own traits and differ by them, not by the amount of tanks and replacement meat they can throw against you. Matter of fact enemies no more have more players than you for no reason and the auto-lose timer is gone, therefore the gameplay became way less cheesy and repetitive, but more fair and strategic.
Friendly AI was also fixed - guys you don't control at the moment used to stand like slogs and take hits in the Arcade version, now they actually duck and dodge. Even stunlocking at the court border by quick throws although kind of doable sometimes, now isn't as broken as before.
This is just an 8-bit dodgeball simulator, but really fun and well made. And due to proper improvements, it become better than the original, despite being ported on a weaker platform.
1996
Didn't hook me too much, but a neat slow paced platformer - less about quick reaction, more about planning your route in advance. Controls make sense, but might be difficult to figure out at first - for the first 5 levels I didn't realize that running up isn't always a good thing and kept blaming the game for messed up jumps. Also tank controls, probably because the game had to have precise turning without an analog stick.
Either way, holds up really well even today, I bet it was amazing back in '96. Recommend to anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones vibes.
Either way, holds up really well even today, I bet it was amazing back in '96. Recommend to anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones vibes.
No story content, reused sound and visuals, full focus on gameplay. Tons of new missions and most of them are really fun: earlier ones are rather conventional challenges, similar to the VR Training from the main game, but the further you advance the more creative they get - Special chapter goes completely nuts. Took me ~34 hours to casually beat everything, occasionally improving my score on some levels.
As I said, the visuals are the same as main game VR Training - simplistic design, but pretty cool and does the job. The soundtrack recycles the original duology themes and I loved that - nice throwback and sounds fire.
Original campaign excels at storytelling and visual presentation, but doesn't show the full gameplay potential - on each location there is either a boss or like 3 regular enemies at best. VR Missions turned out to be a genius solution for that - made me appreciate the gameplay mechanics a lot more than I did and realize they were truly ahead of their time.
As I said, the visuals are the same as main game VR Training - simplistic design, but pretty cool and does the job. The soundtrack recycles the original duology themes and I loved that - nice throwback and sounds fire.
Original campaign excels at storytelling and visual presentation, but doesn't show the full gameplay potential - on each location there is either a boss or like 3 regular enemies at best. VR Missions turned out to be a genius solution for that - made me appreciate the gameplay mechanics a lot more than I did and realize they were truly ahead of their time.
Played the fan made PS1 port emulated.
Pretty good TR1 expansion. Only 4 extra levels split in 2 chapters, but each is really long and difficult. Don't know exactly how long it took me to beat it, but it felt almost as long as the entire main story to me.
The Egypt chapter is focused on traps and Atlantis is more combat heavy. They were supposed to be in a different order (and chronologically make sense that way), but in the OG version devs swapped them so you have easier time fighting monsters with all the guns and meds collected. I don't think it was a good way to tone down the challenge, so I'm glad they made it as originally planed In the remaster.
While technically the events are canon, there is no actual story going on, so you can say these levels are optional. But if you don't mind more Tomb Raider gameplay and extra challenge - they're worth it.
Pretty good TR1 expansion. Only 4 extra levels split in 2 chapters, but each is really long and difficult. Don't know exactly how long it took me to beat it, but it felt almost as long as the entire main story to me.
The Egypt chapter is focused on traps and Atlantis is more combat heavy. They were supposed to be in a different order (and chronologically make sense that way), but in the OG version devs swapped them so you have easier time fighting monsters with all the guns and meds collected. I don't think it was a good way to tone down the challenge, so I'm glad they made it as originally planed In the remaster.
While technically the events are canon, there is no actual story going on, so you can say these levels are optional. But if you don't mind more Tomb Raider gameplay and extra challenge - they're worth it.
1999
Resident Evil, but the final laboratory part lasts the entire game and all the enemies are hunters. Is it fun? Yes, and the gameplay feels more different than I expected.
In RE you could run past enemies if you knew the game well, but for the first playthrough you'd better clear each room, so you can safely search every nook and cranny for the files and supplies. Dino Crisis is more dodging oriented - dinos are less numerous and clingy than zombies (thus easier to avoid), but have a lot of HP, respawn, and move between rooms, so you can't always create a safe zone and it surely won't be permanent. You have guns from RE: upgradable pistol, shotgun and grenade launcher, but darts are more relevant most of the time, because although they only pacify the reptile for a few seconds (unless it's poison), taking one shot, grabbing what you need and running away is easier than loading bullets and turning your encounter into a mini boss fight.
To match the more dynamic gameplay mentioned above files and supplies became more visible than in RE - files are always big colorful books and supplies are usually big floating boxes (except for some hidden ones, usually in safe areas). Mixing health items and darts became more complex and interesting. Same for the storage system, although not everyone would like this change. Just like RE required ink ribbons to save, you need plugs to activate new item boxes in DC, and considering that quest items don't take space in your inventory, I'd say it's a fair trade off between the challenge and convenience. Either way, I didn't mind neither of these mechanics.
The environment is now 3D and looks good, especially for a PS1 game. You might say that pre-rendered backgrounds from RE are more diverse and detailed, but the actual models look more convincing to me, especially on resolutions higher than native. Same high tech labs might get a bit boring after a while, but IMO they look cool and make a nice contrast with pre-historic dinosaurs. Also, the game more leans towards puzzles and codes than RE, and since the files you read don't get recorded anywhere, you gonna write down or memorize a lot if you don't want to run back and forth.
The characters are cool, the dialogues have that humorous charm from RE1, and the game sometimes lets you choose between Rick's and Gail's plan to get through certain parts. This, multiple endings and also some other minor details you certainly won't notice in one playthrough add a lot to the replay value.
Overall I still prefer Resident Evil a bit more, but Dino Crisis is surely worth it for survival horror enjoyers.
In RE you could run past enemies if you knew the game well, but for the first playthrough you'd better clear each room, so you can safely search every nook and cranny for the files and supplies. Dino Crisis is more dodging oriented - dinos are less numerous and clingy than zombies (thus easier to avoid), but have a lot of HP, respawn, and move between rooms, so you can't always create a safe zone and it surely won't be permanent. You have guns from RE: upgradable pistol, shotgun and grenade launcher, but darts are more relevant most of the time, because although they only pacify the reptile for a few seconds (unless it's poison), taking one shot, grabbing what you need and running away is easier than loading bullets and turning your encounter into a mini boss fight.
To match the more dynamic gameplay mentioned above files and supplies became more visible than in RE - files are always big colorful books and supplies are usually big floating boxes (except for some hidden ones, usually in safe areas). Mixing health items and darts became more complex and interesting. Same for the storage system, although not everyone would like this change. Just like RE required ink ribbons to save, you need plugs to activate new item boxes in DC, and considering that quest items don't take space in your inventory, I'd say it's a fair trade off between the challenge and convenience. Either way, I didn't mind neither of these mechanics.
The environment is now 3D and looks good, especially for a PS1 game. You might say that pre-rendered backgrounds from RE are more diverse and detailed, but the actual models look more convincing to me, especially on resolutions higher than native. Same high tech labs might get a bit boring after a while, but IMO they look cool and make a nice contrast with pre-historic dinosaurs. Also, the game more leans towards puzzles and codes than RE, and since the files you read don't get recorded anywhere, you gonna write down or memorize a lot if you don't want to run back and forth.
The characters are cool, the dialogues have that humorous charm from RE1, and the game sometimes lets you choose between Rick's and Gail's plan to get through certain parts. This, multiple endings and also some other minor details you certainly won't notice in one playthrough add a lot to the replay value.
Overall I still prefer Resident Evil a bit more, but Dino Crisis is surely worth it for survival horror enjoyers.
This game is fire. Metal Gear 1 was more simplistic, while this game is basically Metal Gear Solid in 2D. Great story, which isn't common for older games, fun gameplay with cool little details and unexpected uses for items, and the soundtrack slaps, especially the intro theme. It's a shame it wasn't released worldwide untill MGS3 came out.
If you emulate the original MSX version, use the Turbo-R mode and patched ROM with Turbo Fix. Otherwise the game will run either too slow or too fast.
If you emulate the original MSX version, use the Turbo-R mode and patched ROM with Turbo Fix. Otherwise the game will run either too slow or too fast.
Whenever I play the NES versions, I surely prefer them over the remakes for their distinct look and feel. And I don't have any nostalgia bias, played both for the first time only last year.
Whenever I play All-Stars, I like it more than the originals and nothing I can do about it. I just love the graphics and how everything is reworked.
The games may lose their uniqueness a bit in this remake, yet it still a great way to experience them. Especially for modern gamers who would appreciate the saves and unlimited continues.
Besides, All-Stars brought The Lost Levels worldwide, which is often misunderstood and underrated IMO.
Whenever I play All-Stars, I like it more than the originals and nothing I can do about it. I just love the graphics and how everything is reworked.
The games may lose their uniqueness a bit in this remake, yet it still a great way to experience them. Especially for modern gamers who would appreciate the saves and unlimited continues.
Besides, All-Stars brought The Lost Levels worldwide, which is often misunderstood and underrated IMO.
2008
Back when the game was just released people hated it for the darker tone and having less stuff than San Andreas. Years later, after people played enough of their new cheerful GTA with all kinds of stuff, they eventually noticed how good IV is and started overhyping it. But my opinion didn't change - loved this banger back in 2010 when I played it for the first time, and still love it today.
Technically GTA IV is a step back in terms of size of the map, number of vehicles, weapons, customization options and other features compared to SA, but when it comes to quality and details - this is an entirely new level. Rockstar managed to create a game immersive like never before, with an open world that actually feels alive, with super realistic ragdoll and vehicle physics that to this day can't be topped by any other game of that genre. And they focused on refining those core mechanics, leaving secondary features for the following games.
Many things GTA IV did better than the successor, for example gunplay feels a lot more satisfying - all firearms look cool, sound punchy and have actual recoil. Melee combat, although isn't used often, is more complex and fun. Simplified car physics in V was a deliberate choice, but I'm not a fan of it, realistic driving with actual weight and momentum in IV is much more exciting IMO.
A New York parody setting, Liberty City, is a great fit for the first game on a new engine. It doesn't need to be an entire state with countryside and appropriate vehicles to move around, that kind of urbanistic vibe is cool on its own. The story is dark and impactful, one of the best in the franchise and my personal favourite. And the protagonist is so well written and charismatic - at first glance seems like pretty average guy, but the more you follow the plot the more you like him.
While GTA V feels like an action packed Hollywood movie, GTA IV is closer to a criminal drama with more meaningful story. Can't say that one is better than another, but as much as I enjoyed GTA V, I still like IV more and can't recommend it enough to everyone.
The only thing I hate about this game is the shitty PC port - poorly optimized, buggy and prone to crashing. Also, playing with keyboard+mouse completely disables recoil, not sure if it's a bug or they did this on purpose. Use Fusion Fix for a much better experience, and DXVK in case of performance issues.
Technically GTA IV is a step back in terms of size of the map, number of vehicles, weapons, customization options and other features compared to SA, but when it comes to quality and details - this is an entirely new level. Rockstar managed to create a game immersive like never before, with an open world that actually feels alive, with super realistic ragdoll and vehicle physics that to this day can't be topped by any other game of that genre. And they focused on refining those core mechanics, leaving secondary features for the following games.
Many things GTA IV did better than the successor, for example gunplay feels a lot more satisfying - all firearms look cool, sound punchy and have actual recoil. Melee combat, although isn't used often, is more complex and fun. Simplified car physics in V was a deliberate choice, but I'm not a fan of it, realistic driving with actual weight and momentum in IV is much more exciting IMO.
A New York parody setting, Liberty City, is a great fit for the first game on a new engine. It doesn't need to be an entire state with countryside and appropriate vehicles to move around, that kind of urbanistic vibe is cool on its own. The story is dark and impactful, one of the best in the franchise and my personal favourite. And the protagonist is so well written and charismatic - at first glance seems like pretty average guy, but the more you follow the plot the more you like him.
While GTA V feels like an action packed Hollywood movie, GTA IV is closer to a criminal drama with more meaningful story. Can't say that one is better than another, but as much as I enjoyed GTA V, I still like IV more and can't recommend it enough to everyone.
The only thing I hate about this game is the shitty PC port - poorly optimized, buggy and prone to crashing. Also, playing with keyboard+mouse completely disables recoil, not sure if it's a bug or they did this on purpose. Use Fusion Fix for a much better experience, and DXVK in case of performance issues.
I like this goof and glad he got his own series. This game is a solid start of it - pretty short and easy, yet fun platformer. Loved the multiple endings.