VastleCania
Going in expecting a new Mega Man X or even ZX is a mistake, as this game is really its own thing. It's as messy and weird and pleasing as any Inticreates game I've played, and has all the same issues too. Recommended with those caveats.
2014
Paring down the formula to a retro megaman style game reveals the key weakness of Gunvolt: not enough tools. Without a dash, lock-on system, equipment, etc., Gunvolt is less interesting than the first megaman game. Also highlights IntiCreates weaknesses in both level design and boss design. These games need all the silly systems on top to be interesting. They also really rely on having excellent pixel art.
The game is decent but nothing special.
The game is decent but nothing special.
2009
Excellent game, very funny and silly. Still not sure what the intended solutions were to most of the puzzles which is, to me, a selling point. Highly recommended , even in 2024
2021
Baffling on every level, but compelling. Incredibly memorable. It feels like Yuji Naka wanted to make some sort of universal game language, something that could unite all cultures and religions, and decided "Banjo Kazooie designed by an alien" was the way to go.
This game is the opposite of Yooka Laylee. YL weaponized nostalgia to move copies of a mediocre game. Balan Wonderworld weaponizes nostalgia like a tactical nuke. Every design hallmark that has been established by over 30 years of platforming was completely ignored in the design of this game in favor of something opposing, or usually just orthogonal. Every instinct I've developed for these kind of games was wrong in a jarring and surreal way. It feels like a dream that's verging on nightmare but never quite getting there.
I respect it, I even like it, but it's too weird to actually recommend to anyone. But at the right price (about ten bucks) I think anyone curious should absolutely try it. There's nothing else like it.
This game is the opposite of Yooka Laylee. YL weaponized nostalgia to move copies of a mediocre game. Balan Wonderworld weaponizes nostalgia like a tactical nuke. Every design hallmark that has been established by over 30 years of platforming was completely ignored in the design of this game in favor of something opposing, or usually just orthogonal. Every instinct I've developed for these kind of games was wrong in a jarring and surreal way. It feels like a dream that's verging on nightmare but never quite getting there.
I respect it, I even like it, but it's too weird to actually recommend to anyone. But at the right price (about ten bucks) I think anyone curious should absolutely try it. There's nothing else like it.
2017
im done with tHis game, it makes me miserable and yet i keep playing. the highest bar is that it's as good as the people you are playing with, but it can be significantly worse regardless of how much you like your friends. a slot machine for gun toting babies
2023
This game is a 4 stars if you stop playing after rescuing Olimar and doing his section. It's a solid 3.5 if you stop playing after rescuing Louie. I suspect that it's a 2.5 if you really try to go for Platinums on everything, which I did not do. I did everything except for that.
Mechanically, this game stretches the Pikmin formula to the absolute breaking point, which explains why they're so generous with helpful tools. The game would be almost unplayable without Oatchi and the ability to quickly rewind at a certain point.
The biggest criticism I've had about Pikmin after the first one is that there's no pressure to complete the game quickly. Without that pressure, this essentially becomes a "cleaning your room" simulator. Except whenever you go to pick up that dirty pair of underwear, a small dog gently bites you on the wrist for no reason, which starts out kinda cute and ends up being extremely irritating after 40+ hours.
Later levels in this require a degree of precision that the game does not provide. The lock-on system is incredibly helpful for the first half (while unfortunately removing the tension of missed throws) but ends up being a hindrance for many of the tougher challenges. It feels really really bad when all I want to do is target one enemy, but my reticle is stuck on a different one and there's no quick way to switch. It's like gears grinding in my skull.
They must have known it was bad because one of the hardest challenges in the game is killing 99 enemies in 2 minutes, and its mostly difficult because of the targeting. With the old system of a free-range cursor, it would have been almost trivial.
The late game swings wildly from "untenably difficult" to "trivial and boring." This is why I think that the game has really stretched the limits of what Pikmin could possibly be — it's hitting every note, including really weird and irritating ones.
The best mechanical part of the game is the night challenges, which end up being much closer to the game's Real Time Strategy roots than the rest of it. The later challenges require tactically switching between two commanders at just the right time to either defend or proactively attack, and it's magnificent. They never rise to an incredible level of difficulty, but they certainly aren't easy either. I would play a whole game like this.
Atmosphere-wise, this game will not shut the fuck up for one second. There's no more than 3 minutes of down time between some dipshit telling me something I already know for the nineteenth time and it's incredible. It doesn't even feel like hand-holding; it feels like someone shouting into a bullhorn about how important having my hand held is without actually doing it. I never learned a single useful thing from the near constant interjections of my crewmates which happen in the middle of the god-damned screen all the fucking time.
This makes the game about as atmospheric as a Red Robin. Every time I feel like I would like to focus on the gorgeous atmosphere or bizarre enemies, some ding-dong interrupts to say "Getting the lay of the land is important. Use the survey drone to see where you need to go!", a thing I've been told at least fifteen times prior. Just constant interruptions by a crowd of people who I have absolutely no interest in.
Anyway, all this to say that the first Pikmin still remains the best one in my mind. Pikmin 4 certainly brought me more enjoyment than 2 (oh god that game is evil) and 3 lost my interest pretty quickly. It's not a terrible game by any means. But if Pikmin 1 is a garden (that wants to kill you), Pikmin 4 is a checklist (that wants to tell you about how to use pens to check things off of your list).
Mechanically, this game stretches the Pikmin formula to the absolute breaking point, which explains why they're so generous with helpful tools. The game would be almost unplayable without Oatchi and the ability to quickly rewind at a certain point.
The biggest criticism I've had about Pikmin after the first one is that there's no pressure to complete the game quickly. Without that pressure, this essentially becomes a "cleaning your room" simulator. Except whenever you go to pick up that dirty pair of underwear, a small dog gently bites you on the wrist for no reason, which starts out kinda cute and ends up being extremely irritating after 40+ hours.
Later levels in this require a degree of precision that the game does not provide. The lock-on system is incredibly helpful for the first half (while unfortunately removing the tension of missed throws) but ends up being a hindrance for many of the tougher challenges. It feels really really bad when all I want to do is target one enemy, but my reticle is stuck on a different one and there's no quick way to switch. It's like gears grinding in my skull.
They must have known it was bad because one of the hardest challenges in the game is killing 99 enemies in 2 minutes, and its mostly difficult because of the targeting. With the old system of a free-range cursor, it would have been almost trivial.
The late game swings wildly from "untenably difficult" to "trivial and boring." This is why I think that the game has really stretched the limits of what Pikmin could possibly be — it's hitting every note, including really weird and irritating ones.
The best mechanical part of the game is the night challenges, which end up being much closer to the game's Real Time Strategy roots than the rest of it. The later challenges require tactically switching between two commanders at just the right time to either defend or proactively attack, and it's magnificent. They never rise to an incredible level of difficulty, but they certainly aren't easy either. I would play a whole game like this.
Atmosphere-wise, this game will not shut the fuck up for one second. There's no more than 3 minutes of down time between some dipshit telling me something I already know for the nineteenth time and it's incredible. It doesn't even feel like hand-holding; it feels like someone shouting into a bullhorn about how important having my hand held is without actually doing it. I never learned a single useful thing from the near constant interjections of my crewmates which happen in the middle of the god-damned screen all the fucking time.
This makes the game about as atmospheric as a Red Robin. Every time I feel like I would like to focus on the gorgeous atmosphere or bizarre enemies, some ding-dong interrupts to say "Getting the lay of the land is important. Use the survey drone to see where you need to go!", a thing I've been told at least fifteen times prior. Just constant interruptions by a crowd of people who I have absolutely no interest in.
Anyway, all this to say that the first Pikmin still remains the best one in my mind. Pikmin 4 certainly brought me more enjoyment than 2 (oh god that game is evil) and 3 lost my interest pretty quickly. It's not a terrible game by any means. But if Pikmin 1 is a garden (that wants to kill you), Pikmin 4 is a checklist (that wants to tell you about how to use pens to check things off of your list).
2022
I died almost immediately with no real tutorial on what was going on, then the game softlocked because I died while I was in a menu. Now every time I launch the game, it crashes. So happy that I got this in a bundle and didn't pay for it on its own.
2023
Compelling! Takes the fundamental, stripped down Crimsonland formula, adds a twist of getting to choose your own enemies, and reduces the action down to very simple stuff. Plays sort of like an idle game that will kill you?
i really like that it ends after 10 days though, and the amount of content int his game is extremely generous, especially for the cost. Not mind blowing but like I said...compelling.
i really like that it ends after 10 days though, and the amount of content int his game is extremely generous, especially for the cost. Not mind blowing but like I said...compelling.
2020
Competent but annoying. The art style doesn't do it for me, and the character animations are often quite stiff (unless they're incredible, lotta whiplash). Playing the game feels really unusual, something about it is off but I'm not enough of a Smash-head to tell you exactly what. The dialogue in the main quest is deeply irritating (again, unless it's actually quite funny). The whole thing is just really uneven.
I did not play it multiplayer though, and perhaps that's where the real fun is. Probably.
I did not play it multiplayer though, and perhaps that's where the real fun is. Probably.
2023
I like the concept but it's a bit tedious to actually play. Grid-based FPS is a pretty cool idea though.
Overall though it feels a bit like a chore. Probably worth the few dollars it asks for, and an hour of your time though.
Overall though it feels a bit like a chore. Probably worth the few dollars it asks for, and an hour of your time though.
maybe the best ways to experience this game if you've beaten it like five times before, like me. not perfectly balanced But very much imbalanced in favor of the player which i appreciate. a really remarkable hack.
i just didn't like it that much. im tired of roguelites, maybe?
2014
incredibly boring. competent. no hooks at all.
2023
Game of the year so far. Maybe the first precision 3D platformer that i think actually works as intended. Absolutely absurd movement tech. I was often unsure if i was going the "intended" route or sequence breaking simply because the moves i was doing were so complex and obscure. "This can't possibly be the intended solution!"
The wall run doesn't always work, and combat is perfunctory to the point that i almost wish it wasn't in the game. Otherwise, a masterwork.
The wall run doesn't always work, and combat is perfunctory to the point that i almost wish it wasn't in the game. Otherwise, a masterwork.
2022
Better than rampage, funnier satire than GTA, does not outstay its welcome at all.
The writing is a cry for help, and i respect it. Just a scream of "Why are humans like this??? why can't we do better???" with no answers in sight. The actual prose is juvenile in a good way; reminds me of Shakedown Hawaii.
The play in the campaign is brilliant. Rampage has always suffered from repetitiveness, since there are only so many ways to make "Destroy some buildings" into a fun premise. Hemasaurus adds multiple subgoals, subversions, gimmicks, and twists throughout its short campaign so that it never gets boring.
The physics also make this incredibly satisfying. Taking a specific chunk out of a building so that it will topple onto another building is always amazing feeling. Constant dopamine rush. Almost exhaustingly so.
My only wish is that the endless mode also had goals and gimmicks. Unfortunately it is too straightforward and easy, meaning that just like Rampage i end up dying from inattention rather than anything interesting. Still, the campaign is clearly the heart of this game, so i only subtracted a half star from this otherwise goofy masterpiece.
The writing is a cry for help, and i respect it. Just a scream of "Why are humans like this??? why can't we do better???" with no answers in sight. The actual prose is juvenile in a good way; reminds me of Shakedown Hawaii.
The play in the campaign is brilliant. Rampage has always suffered from repetitiveness, since there are only so many ways to make "Destroy some buildings" into a fun premise. Hemasaurus adds multiple subgoals, subversions, gimmicks, and twists throughout its short campaign so that it never gets boring.
The physics also make this incredibly satisfying. Taking a specific chunk out of a building so that it will topple onto another building is always amazing feeling. Constant dopamine rush. Almost exhaustingly so.
My only wish is that the endless mode also had goals and gimmicks. Unfortunately it is too straightforward and easy, meaning that just like Rampage i end up dying from inattention rather than anything interesting. Still, the campaign is clearly the heart of this game, so i only subtracted a half star from this otherwise goofy masterpiece.