LunaLessthen3
Recent Activity
Nicnac
commented on
Weslyv8's
review of
The Messenger
Super agree- the first half of the game feels smooth as butter to play but as soon as the metroidvania section kicks in it plummets in quality. The final stretch kinda picks up though, I really enjoyed the fight with Phantom as you keep dipping between the time periods.
2 days ago
2 days ago
Nicnac
followed
MegaTheRealOne
3 days ago
Nicnac
reviewed
Metal Gear
This review contains spoilers
Metal Gear has aged really well in a number of aspects- there was clearly a lot of thought put into it in pretty much every aspect and it feels limited by its hardware rather than its creativity.
For starters, the plot is actually pretty alright- considering it came out in 1987 there being a solid narrative with a genuinely good plot twist is a shocker. This is only two years after Super Mario Bros and we have a game not only trying to tell a story but having the story influence the gameplay.
The twist of Big Boss being the head of Outer Heaven all along ties into the gameplay a lot more than I would expect- throughout Metal Gear I was frustrated that he often gives shit advice (He tells you to put a gas mask on halfway through the gas room and later in the game when Snake is progressing more than he expected he outright leads you into traps multiple times) and chalked it up to either a translation error that had been left in for authenticity or just not great design- to have the twist suddenly recontextualise parts of the game in a lightbulb moment was great. I did not expect a game that came out this early in the medium's history to pull something like that, even with the franchise's reputation of getting clever.
In general, Metal Gear is definitely ahead of its time. Manually punching in a few different radio codes to speak to different characters is charming and the huge amount of items with only a use or two is really cute- it feels much more immersive than having a small set of tools you routinely cycle through. It's a primitive stealth game, no doubt, but it does its best to feel immersive.
Unfortunately time has shone light on a few flaws, most of them fairly big and the only reasons the game isn't rated significantly higher. The combat is pretty bad, there are only a scant few tracks on the OST, most of which you'll hear on loop, and the stealth feels very dated. It's worth emphasising that none of these are due to any sort of fault in Metal Gear's design, which I think is actually fairly bulletproof as a foundation- it's just that it's 36 years old and the hardware is puny by today's standards. The MSX is just not sophisticated enough for a good combat system or good stealth.
Definitely worth a play, very excited to get into the rest of this legendary franchise.
For starters, the plot is actually pretty alright- considering it came out in 1987 there being a solid narrative with a genuinely good plot twist is a shocker. This is only two years after Super Mario Bros and we have a game not only trying to tell a story but having the story influence the gameplay.
The twist of Big Boss being the head of Outer Heaven all along ties into the gameplay a lot more than I would expect- throughout Metal Gear I was frustrated that he often gives shit advice (He tells you to put a gas mask on halfway through the gas room and later in the game when Snake is progressing more than he expected he outright leads you into traps multiple times) and chalked it up to either a translation error that had been left in for authenticity or just not great design- to have the twist suddenly recontextualise parts of the game in a lightbulb moment was great. I did not expect a game that came out this early in the medium's history to pull something like that, even with the franchise's reputation of getting clever.
In general, Metal Gear is definitely ahead of its time. Manually punching in a few different radio codes to speak to different characters is charming and the huge amount of items with only a use or two is really cute- it feels much more immersive than having a small set of tools you routinely cycle through. It's a primitive stealth game, no doubt, but it does its best to feel immersive.
Unfortunately time has shone light on a few flaws, most of them fairly big and the only reasons the game isn't rated significantly higher. The combat is pretty bad, there are only a scant few tracks on the OST, most of which you'll hear on loop, and the stealth feels very dated. It's worth emphasising that none of these are due to any sort of fault in Metal Gear's design, which I think is actually fairly bulletproof as a foundation- it's just that it's 36 years old and the hardware is puny by today's standards. The MSX is just not sophisticated enough for a good combat system or good stealth.
Definitely worth a play, very excited to get into the rest of this legendary franchise.
4 days ago
Nicnac
completed
Metal Gear
4 days ago
Nicnac
reviewed
The Basement Collection
I have reviews for all of these individual games- I'll shamelessly link them at the bottom (Overall the collection is a bit of a mixed bag so a 6/10 seems fair enough in my eyes)- so I really want to take this space to gush about Edmund McMillen, easily one of my favourite devs of all time.
Not only is he a fucking machine (Spewer, Meat Boy, Time Fcuk and Grey Matter were all made with just 3 months of dev time each), but his work is consistently of a high quality and it's always bursting with style and clever writing.
When he wants to be funny he's hilarious- Super Meat Boy, A.V.G.M and especially The Binding of Isaac have all made me laugh out loud multiple times- and when he wants to ditch his signature crass humour he's still a very good writer. The end of Time Fcuk really got under my skin and I'll be thinking about it for a long while.
The games in The Basement Collection are all little ones he made in a matter of months, but when he went back to double down on one of the stronger ones he shows a real mastery of the medium- Super Meat Boy controls like butter and, having the Ultimate Edition and being able to read his design philosophy on it, every little thing has an incredible attention to detail. A lot of SMB's biggest strengths are taken over to one of my favourite games of all time, Celeste! Though not made by McMillen in any capacity, a lot of Celeste's biggest strengths echo SMB's. The weight and speed of your character is very satisfying and the emphasis on "mini-levels" with as little dead air as possible to ensure you're less likely to rage quit is really clever.
But it's not just platformers McMillen is able to really show his skills on- The Binding of Isaac is indisputably his magnum opus. A sprawling, genre-defining roguelike that sets a gold standard, McMillen shows that if he's given enough time to make a game it's one of the best ever made.
Edmund McMillen is a genuine visionary. He's a phenomenal developer with a creative streak a mile wide and even his weakest games are about as far from boring as can possibly be.
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS FROM THE COLLECTION:
Meat Boy | Coil | A.V.G.M | Aether | Spewer | Time Fcuk | Grey Matter | Triachnid
Not only is he a fucking machine (Spewer, Meat Boy, Time Fcuk and Grey Matter were all made with just 3 months of dev time each), but his work is consistently of a high quality and it's always bursting with style and clever writing.
When he wants to be funny he's hilarious- Super Meat Boy, A.V.G.M and especially The Binding of Isaac have all made me laugh out loud multiple times- and when he wants to ditch his signature crass humour he's still a very good writer. The end of Time Fcuk really got under my skin and I'll be thinking about it for a long while.
The games in The Basement Collection are all little ones he made in a matter of months, but when he went back to double down on one of the stronger ones he shows a real mastery of the medium- Super Meat Boy controls like butter and, having the Ultimate Edition and being able to read his design philosophy on it, every little thing has an incredible attention to detail. A lot of SMB's biggest strengths are taken over to one of my favourite games of all time, Celeste! Though not made by McMillen in any capacity, a lot of Celeste's biggest strengths echo SMB's. The weight and speed of your character is very satisfying and the emphasis on "mini-levels" with as little dead air as possible to ensure you're less likely to rage quit is really clever.
But it's not just platformers McMillen is able to really show his skills on- The Binding of Isaac is indisputably his magnum opus. A sprawling, genre-defining roguelike that sets a gold standard, McMillen shows that if he's given enough time to make a game it's one of the best ever made.
Edmund McMillen is a genuine visionary. He's a phenomenal developer with a creative streak a mile wide and even his weakest games are about as far from boring as can possibly be.
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS FROM THE COLLECTION:
Meat Boy | Coil | A.V.G.M | Aether | Spewer | Time Fcuk | Grey Matter | Triachnid
6 days ago
Nicnac
reviewed
Spewer
Neat concept with a pretty fun execution- I can't believe this was developed in only 3 months. Edmund McMillen's signature sense of humour now becomes the entire game as you vomit your way through a lab with varying powerups. Super charming, even though the lack of controller support is very much felt and some of the bonus levels are just horseshit.
6 days ago
Nicnac
completed
The Basement Collection
6 days ago
Nicnac
reviewed
Triachnid
flat out did not enjoy this- the game runs like shit and the controls are (intentionally) terrible, which is a shame because the concept is cute and i quite like the art style. bit of a sour note to end The Basement Collection on but it's still not the worst thing ever.
6 days ago
Nicnac
reviewed
Time Fcuk
Unless Triachnid is a banger this is the best thing in the Basement Collection (running through it game-by-game at the time of this review). It's got a really fun premise and utilises it super well- if Edmund made a full-sized game out of this and not a quick flash game it could be an all-timer. The ending really sticks with you as well.
6 days ago
Nicnac
followed
NOWITSREYNTIME17
6 days ago
Nicnac
completed
Grey Matter
Pretty fun game but it really suffers from a lack of controller support. Soundtrack is absolutely killer, though- Danny Baranowsky is a wizard.
6 days ago