LowCasting
1999
This review contains spoilers
The beginning 2 stages of this game are out of this world fantastic- incredible mood, super fun and constant combat, controlling the camera is actually fun when you’re whipping it around or keeping it fixed to keep track of enemies in your periphery. SO MUCH FUN!!!!
Then you get to stage 3 and the enemy spawns stop being constant. Really hampers the feeling of “danger” just being able to walk through Draculers castle unscathed.
The games difficulty sharply declines once enemies stop spawning. Enemies weren’t exactly difficult to deal with before, but keeping track of a couple of them made things dicey.
Once you eliminate the enemies that are already spawned in a room, the only way for them to come back is to Game Over (which is difficult to do since there’s hardly any enemies after the first wave…).
It’s a mixed bag, but there are some really great stages and atmosphere that almost make up for the last 2/3 of the game being boring.
ALMOST!!!!!
Then you get to stage 3 and the enemy spawns stop being constant. Really hampers the feeling of “danger” just being able to walk through Draculers castle unscathed.
The games difficulty sharply declines once enemies stop spawning. Enemies weren’t exactly difficult to deal with before, but keeping track of a couple of them made things dicey.
Once you eliminate the enemies that are already spawned in a room, the only way for them to come back is to Game Over (which is difficult to do since there’s hardly any enemies after the first wave…).
It’s a mixed bag, but there are some really great stages and atmosphere that almost make up for the last 2/3 of the game being boring.
ALMOST!!!!!
A game for circus clowns with good music taste. While some of the characters / concepts explored don’t always stick the landing, the ones that do deserve 10’s across the board.
The music sends the character writing over the top- and the main character’s spunk is shockingly charming. No story beats come off as time-wasters, which is important as it’s going to be the driving force that makes you want to overcome a bit of jumbled platforming.
The backtracking can feel a bit tedious, but the music and atmosphere never make retreading those steps feel too daunting, as clunky as those steps can feel.
Themes like setting personal boundaries and sticking up for yourself and others, ‘belonging’, how to comfort those you love- simple themes become wrapped in a fantastical lens and served to the player to navigate without feeling like an overly-patronizing Saturday morning cartoon.
More impressive than fun, but exploding with character.
S/O to the English translation team.
The music sends the character writing over the top- and the main character’s spunk is shockingly charming. No story beats come off as time-wasters, which is important as it’s going to be the driving force that makes you want to overcome a bit of jumbled platforming.
The backtracking can feel a bit tedious, but the music and atmosphere never make retreading those steps feel too daunting, as clunky as those steps can feel.
Themes like setting personal boundaries and sticking up for yourself and others, ‘belonging’, how to comfort those you love- simple themes become wrapped in a fantastical lens and served to the player to navigate without feeling like an overly-patronizing Saturday morning cartoon.
More impressive than fun, but exploding with character.
S/O to the English translation team.
2000
Go play Mars Matrix
1999
Retro aesthetic with a cool story. The controls while a little wonky are fun to get good at, and there are plenty of hidden characters you can find that influence movement and progression in different ways.
While it’s super fun to find new characters- they tank the difficulty level of the game. I found myself enjoying the earlier levels simply because I spent more time fighting enemies and having to learn their patterns, and position myself better.
A super cool game with a great look and fun feel. I wish the difficulty could’ve increased the more I stuck with it rather than decreased though, would’ve made for a more fulfilling playthrough.
While it’s super fun to find new characters- they tank the difficulty level of the game. I found myself enjoying the earlier levels simply because I spent more time fighting enemies and having to learn their patterns, and position myself better.
A super cool game with a great look and fun feel. I wish the difficulty could’ve increased the more I stuck with it rather than decreased though, would’ve made for a more fulfilling playthrough.
This review contains spoilers
The funniest and most charming adventure game ever made.
I feel very strongly that the remake of this game, while interesting in its own way, is not able to capture the same intimacy that scrolling along the small screen naturally creates.
Zelda’s world outside of this one is so harsh compared to the novelty of our dream. The purity of emotions that inform the shape of the world let us exist in a naive caricature of understanding, where our small adventure gives a well-deserved rest.
I hope you liked this game as much as me!
I feel very strongly that the remake of this game, while interesting in its own way, is not able to capture the same intimacy that scrolling along the small screen naturally creates.
Zelda’s world outside of this one is so harsh compared to the novelty of our dream. The purity of emotions that inform the shape of the world let us exist in a naive caricature of understanding, where our small adventure gives a well-deserved rest.
I hope you liked this game as much as me!
One of the most misunderstood Saturn racers. The drifting mechanic is difficult to master- but pulling off the perfect line feels incredible.
There’s a modded version of this game which adds the Eurobeat OST, but loops a single song per stage about each minute. Luckily, there’s a volume mixer that allows you to turn the in-game volume down. I’ll usually grind out courses to the full OST on YouTube.
The balancing act of acceleration, hand brake, and e-brake buttons give you such a deep level of control over your car that it can be understandable why the game gets labeled as ‘jank’- but sticking with the challenge and learning to feel the drift gives a racing experience like no other. The point system adds replayability beyond grinding down your course time- challenging the player to release the drift king that exists within their hearts.
The downsides of the game are largely downsides of the platform the game is built on- limited disc space makes it so that the baked-in OST’s loops are short and can become annoying. Additionally- there are only 4 separate courses to choose from which can feel underwhelming at first glance. That being said our main character Takumi only raced the same road for 4 years… you should feel lucky.
Another issue is the nature of practicing drifting/turns. Because each course is modeled after a real-world road, and each of these roads don’t loop around, practicing specific turns can be difficult as you’ll only encounter each turn once for each time you load up the course.
The flip side of this is that progression is locked behind improving your driving technique, rather than memorizing the course. Experimenting and getting a ‘feel’ for the driving and drifting mechanics is much more important since it’s take you 2/3x as long if you rely on memorisation since you’ll be encountering the same corner 2/3x less during a play session.
Overall, I haven’t played a racing game that’s captured my attention like this one. The dark atmosphere is unmatched, the controls feel fantastic, and the level of replay value is out of this world.
PROS:
- Deep control scheme
- Robust point system
- Audio mixing options
CONS
- Limited in-game OST
- Limited course selection
There’s a modded version of this game which adds the Eurobeat OST, but loops a single song per stage about each minute. Luckily, there’s a volume mixer that allows you to turn the in-game volume down. I’ll usually grind out courses to the full OST on YouTube.
The balancing act of acceleration, hand brake, and e-brake buttons give you such a deep level of control over your car that it can be understandable why the game gets labeled as ‘jank’- but sticking with the challenge and learning to feel the drift gives a racing experience like no other. The point system adds replayability beyond grinding down your course time- challenging the player to release the drift king that exists within their hearts.
The downsides of the game are largely downsides of the platform the game is built on- limited disc space makes it so that the baked-in OST’s loops are short and can become annoying. Additionally- there are only 4 separate courses to choose from which can feel underwhelming at first glance. That being said our main character Takumi only raced the same road for 4 years… you should feel lucky.
Another issue is the nature of practicing drifting/turns. Because each course is modeled after a real-world road, and each of these roads don’t loop around, practicing specific turns can be difficult as you’ll only encounter each turn once for each time you load up the course.
The flip side of this is that progression is locked behind improving your driving technique, rather than memorizing the course. Experimenting and getting a ‘feel’ for the driving and drifting mechanics is much more important since it’s take you 2/3x as long if you rely on memorisation since you’ll be encountering the same corner 2/3x less during a play session.
Overall, I haven’t played a racing game that’s captured my attention like this one. The dark atmosphere is unmatched, the controls feel fantastic, and the level of replay value is out of this world.
PROS:
- Deep control scheme
- Robust point system
- Audio mixing options
CONS
- Limited in-game OST
- Limited course selection
2000
Amazing first world with levels that make beating your speed record super addicting.
Unsure why the speed was traded in for imprecise platforming and (HORRIBLE) vehicle sections the second your leave the first world. Very surprising that the strong points of controlling the character weren’t capitalised on. Major bummer for a game with such great potential.
Unsure why the speed was traded in for imprecise platforming and (HORRIBLE) vehicle sections the second your leave the first world. Very surprising that the strong points of controlling the character weren’t capitalised on. Major bummer for a game with such great potential.