UndergroundStir
Gorgeous and pretty fun to control, but ruined with a boring single player that I could barely make any progress in. Cops chase after every race, and the game's online focus means single player is useless.
2000
Overall, playing this game for the first time (and this series as a whole), this game can be fun.
Arcade mode and multiplayer are the best parts of the game. The problem is that it's as generic as it comes to a late 90's/early 2000's fps. Yet, the good production values in music and aesthetics kept me entertained during my time. It's worth spending a couple hours getting to see how this series started.
Don't touch story mode though. A bunch of merciless missions that are overly difficult to beat with absolutely no "story" outside of what's given on the back of the packaging. I got through about two before calling it quits. You have to memorize every enemy location and know how fast to beat them. It was sorta thrilling after beating the first one but since every mission is as difficult as that I couldn't bother too much more.
Arcade mode and multiplayer are the best parts of the game. The problem is that it's as generic as it comes to a late 90's/early 2000's fps. Yet, the good production values in music and aesthetics kept me entertained during my time. It's worth spending a couple hours getting to see how this series started.
Don't touch story mode though. A bunch of merciless missions that are overly difficult to beat with absolutely no "story" outside of what's given on the back of the packaging. I got through about two before calling it quits. You have to memorize every enemy location and know how fast to beat them. It was sorta thrilling after beating the first one but since every mission is as difficult as that I couldn't bother too much more.
Robin is not playable. Fuck you.
One of the few dedicated GT video games, and DB games made in America as a whole (even using the dub intro music for its title screen), Transformations is just an alright beat em' up. The game graphically looks really nice, and the player character list in the secondary free play mode is cool.
Unfortunately, the controls are way too simple. I get the gameboy advance has 10 buttons max, but punching with one button and no block just isn't very fun to do. But the controls feel so sluggish and delayed, it's impossible to dodge certain enemies without just abusing your ki meter and making most fights trivial anyways. Bosses are often easier than most of the later stage enemies. A lack of a quick block button makes the harder difficulties a chore.
Another problem is grinding to unlock all the extra characters. I'm lucky, my copy is used and has everyone sans SSJ4 Goku and Baby Vegeta, but I imagine unlocking them took hours, on top of the repetitive nature of this type of games.
Also, as someone who hasn't watched more than a few clips and episodes of GT, the whole thing can kinda feel like a weird bootleg with unrelated assets (I'm sure this all feels fine to someone who has actually watched GT)
Unfortunately, the controls are way too simple. I get the gameboy advance has 10 buttons max, but punching with one button and no block just isn't very fun to do. But the controls feel so sluggish and delayed, it's impossible to dodge certain enemies without just abusing your ki meter and making most fights trivial anyways. Bosses are often easier than most of the later stage enemies. A lack of a quick block button makes the harder difficulties a chore.
Another problem is grinding to unlock all the extra characters. I'm lucky, my copy is used and has everyone sans SSJ4 Goku and Baby Vegeta, but I imagine unlocking them took hours, on top of the repetitive nature of this type of games.
Also, as someone who hasn't watched more than a few clips and episodes of GT, the whole thing can kinda feel like a weird bootleg with unrelated assets (I'm sure this all feels fine to someone who has actually watched GT)
2006
Asphalt: Urban GT 2 is a decent follow up to the original. The game looks nice, it uses more colourful graphics that look better on DS hardware compared to more "realistic" colour schemes of certain DS racing games. The games speed is great, hitting over 300 km/hr feels good. All of the tracks from the original are ported over, plus some new locations. Car customization is fairly standard, but a decent improvement on the original. A complaint I had with the original is how long tournaments and races could go on for. Now races are much faster, and you can save and resume a tournament if you have to turn the system off. Police now chase around the stage, and it can actually be tough avoiding the helicopters. The game's handling is much better than the original. It's looser, faster, and more organic. It's more arcade-y in a good way.
There's one big issue that really squanders any potential this game had: it's so easy. I think I lost 1 race? Just one. Your upgraded car gets so good you can't have any difficulty. I often out-lap my opponents even on max difficulty. Multiplayer may fix the difficulty issue, but there's only multi card play, so you can't try DS download play. If you even could convince someone else to play this. Also, trying to finish the cop mode is annoying. You have to wait out your timer to finish and receive your cash, you can't quit. This can be up to 2 minutes of waiting to continue playing a new mode.
If this game was harder, I'd be giving it a much higher score. Because of how much easier it is than the original, I don't know which one I would recommend more.
There's one big issue that really squanders any potential this game had: it's so easy. I think I lost 1 race? Just one. Your upgraded car gets so good you can't have any difficulty. I often out-lap my opponents even on max difficulty. Multiplayer may fix the difficulty issue, but there's only multi card play, so you can't try DS download play. If you even could convince someone else to play this. Also, trying to finish the cop mode is annoying. You have to wait out your timer to finish and receive your cash, you can't quit. This can be up to 2 minutes of waiting to continue playing a new mode.
If this game was harder, I'd be giving it a much higher score. Because of how much easier it is than the original, I don't know which one I would recommend more.
2006
Shunkan Puzzloop, or Magnetica is a pretty fun puzzle game. The gameplay at first glance appears to be a rip-off of many other games, such as Zuma, but Puzz Loop is actually the series that came first, so its not ripping anything off. The game can be pretty challenging when played in ku kō suto mode, where over 50 different screens.
The music game is appropriately catchy. Unlike a lot of other DS games I have played, I actually felt compelled to listen to its soundtrack in game and not put on external music.
There's not a lot to say, the game is just a very good DS puzzle game.
4/5
The music game is appropriately catchy. Unlike a lot of other DS games I have played, I actually felt compelled to listen to its soundtrack in game and not put on external music.
There's not a lot to say, the game is just a very good DS puzzle game.
4/5
2005
While I have an affection for handheld spider-man games, Ultimate Spider-Man on GBA is shockingly bad- It feels like they blatantly missed the clearly simple gameplay loop.
On paper, all a Spider-Man GBA game needs is to do a few short things: Bad guys to beat up, short swing sections, and using your powers to climb through buildings to complete missions and find stuff. It's really basic, but that's not an inherit bad thing. Spider-Man 3 was basically this game but good. The biggest problem is the horrible combat. Enemies take 2-3 hits before falling to the ground, and you have to wait for them to get back up. 90% OF ENEMIES NEED TO GET BACK UP. Once they get up you have 1 second to hit them, before they hit you. And enemies can hit projectiles to go through other enemies, but not you. So prepare for lots of unfair hits. Also, the Molotov throwing enemies are ridiculous in how they have a huge blast area and I still haven't figured out how to get near them guaranteed without getting hit.
Playing as Venom is slightly better. He's a bit stronger, and has a better stun move. His feeding mechanic adds some strategy, figuring out how much of the enemy you should hurt. But overall, he's not that much different compared to Spider-Man.
Graphics are probably the best part of the game. The opening company logos and brief video at the start is charmingly "gameboy-esque", and the visuals are really nice reflection of Ultimate's art direction on consoles. Bright and colourful, but not overkill. Venom's running animation is distractingly goofy, but all else looks good.
Overall, it's a terrible mix of being too simple so you don't have much ways to fight, but it's too hard to enjoy mind-numbingly in short bursts. It also costs around $20 to get a physical cart, which is way too much for this game.
On paper, all a Spider-Man GBA game needs is to do a few short things: Bad guys to beat up, short swing sections, and using your powers to climb through buildings to complete missions and find stuff. It's really basic, but that's not an inherit bad thing. Spider-Man 3 was basically this game but good. The biggest problem is the horrible combat. Enemies take 2-3 hits before falling to the ground, and you have to wait for them to get back up. 90% OF ENEMIES NEED TO GET BACK UP. Once they get up you have 1 second to hit them, before they hit you. And enemies can hit projectiles to go through other enemies, but not you. So prepare for lots of unfair hits. Also, the Molotov throwing enemies are ridiculous in how they have a huge blast area and I still haven't figured out how to get near them guaranteed without getting hit.
Playing as Venom is slightly better. He's a bit stronger, and has a better stun move. His feeding mechanic adds some strategy, figuring out how much of the enemy you should hurt. But overall, he's not that much different compared to Spider-Man.
Graphics are probably the best part of the game. The opening company logos and brief video at the start is charmingly "gameboy-esque", and the visuals are really nice reflection of Ultimate's art direction on consoles. Bright and colourful, but not overkill. Venom's running animation is distractingly goofy, but all else looks good.
Overall, it's a terrible mix of being too simple so you don't have much ways to fight, but it's too hard to enjoy mind-numbingly in short bursts. It also costs around $20 to get a physical cart, which is way too much for this game.
Herbie Rescue Rally doesn't seem like it would be anything too special, and though its fun is short, it's actually a pretty enjoyable game to get everything as possible done.
In terms of the racing, the game provides adequate speed acceleration and turning. It's nothing difficult to master, but it's better than a lot of DS racing games feel.
A more kart-racing type element is the game allows the player to collect "53" labeled coins. After a certain amount, the player can find a shortcut mini-game where you have to rapidly tap 2 flowers on the touch screen, giving the player a quick dash through the lap. The coins individually give a slight speed boost, which means even a full bar makes them important to collect. Unlike coins in a game like Mario kart, I actually felt like I could tangibly feel the impact during races.
The game's AI can actually be pretty vicious. Certain AI is said to directly try and sabotage the player's race, and it actually feels like it. They slam into you mostly, and occasionally attack the player with weapons. It's good to have a racing game like this where the ai is more interesting that "does the game decide the ai will catch up or not".
Rescue Rally has one glaring issue- there's just not enough game here. With 4 track themes, the game provides 4 track layouts for each race- leaving 16 race tracks total. That sounds like a good amount for the DS, but with somewhat similar track layouts between the themes, it just isn't enough. The single player lasts about an hour, and the extra cup modes, as well as single races to get the best times in the times score help add an extra 2ish hours. 2-3 more race tracks and the game would be a lot more recommendable.
In terms of the racing, the game provides adequate speed acceleration and turning. It's nothing difficult to master, but it's better than a lot of DS racing games feel.
A more kart-racing type element is the game allows the player to collect "53" labeled coins. After a certain amount, the player can find a shortcut mini-game where you have to rapidly tap 2 flowers on the touch screen, giving the player a quick dash through the lap. The coins individually give a slight speed boost, which means even a full bar makes them important to collect. Unlike coins in a game like Mario kart, I actually felt like I could tangibly feel the impact during races.
The game's AI can actually be pretty vicious. Certain AI is said to directly try and sabotage the player's race, and it actually feels like it. They slam into you mostly, and occasionally attack the player with weapons. It's good to have a racing game like this where the ai is more interesting that "does the game decide the ai will catch up or not".
Rescue Rally has one glaring issue- there's just not enough game here. With 4 track themes, the game provides 4 track layouts for each race- leaving 16 race tracks total. That sounds like a good amount for the DS, but with somewhat similar track layouts between the themes, it just isn't enough. The single player lasts about an hour, and the extra cup modes, as well as single races to get the best times in the times score help add an extra 2ish hours. 2-3 more race tracks and the game would be a lot more recommendable.
2004
For a DS launch game, Asphalt Urban GT is good. Graphics are colourful, much nicer to look at than most contemporary racing DS games, such as the need for speed DS games. Although, the 2D textures used to represent the distance streets look flat once you notice them. The handling is very different, but after a while it feels good. You have to break to drift, and you then get locked into some kind of powerslide.
The biggest problem is the spread of cups. Each cup consists of 3-5 races, and these take about 10-15 minutes to finish. It's not very quick to make progress, which isn't good for a portable game. If you only want to do one race, then you're stuck doing the arcade mode. Strangely, a chase mode where you play as a cop is hidden in this section, never is it playable in the championship. Though, it doesn't feel quite finished- You either run past the criminals, or get super far behind them when you try to slow down.
The races are well made. The streets are wide open, and the variety of track themes is quite good, it reminds me of NFS Hot Pursuit 2 on the PS2. Although with no shortcuts on the tracks it can get monotonous on replaying. Overall, the game is very cheap, so it's a good DS racing game to add to the pile.
The biggest problem is the spread of cups. Each cup consists of 3-5 races, and these take about 10-15 minutes to finish. It's not very quick to make progress, which isn't good for a portable game. If you only want to do one race, then you're stuck doing the arcade mode. Strangely, a chase mode where you play as a cop is hidden in this section, never is it playable in the championship. Though, it doesn't feel quite finished- You either run past the criminals, or get super far behind them when you try to slow down.
The races are well made. The streets are wide open, and the variety of track themes is quite good, it reminds me of NFS Hot Pursuit 2 on the PS2. Although with no shortcuts on the tracks it can get monotonous on replaying. Overall, the game is very cheap, so it's a good DS racing game to add to the pile.