megawolf77
2022
It had a potential. Such a waste.
I've heard and read stories about how the game constantly crashes and have bugs, but in my copy it seems to be working fine. I only had 2 crashes occured but managed to finish the whole game.
I genuinely enjoyed the game for what it is since it played exactly like Saints Row the Third with the same jankness it had. The character customization is very fun, too! But after getting far into the story, Saints Row (2022) does felt lackluster.
The story felt too short. Since the main focus of the game is to expand your business ventures to spread the influence of the Saints I did that first, and when I completed them all I then continued the story. That's when I realized how very short and shallow the whole plot is. There isn't enough story for me to care about the characters and the "boss battles" felt very anti-climactic. I'm aware of the horrible writing of their dialogues and while some got a genuine chuckle out of me a lot of the humor and writing felt dry.
It's kinda sad, tho. The whole map itself is very beautiful. It showed how much they cared about the details of the environments and the rural and urban side of Santo Ileso. While I love exploring around the places the whole map itself felt empty (granted, the majority of the areas are desert). With the DLCs adding new locations outside the base map, I have to wonder what the map size could've been if they continued improving the game.
Sadly, that won't happen since the developers Volition dissolved completely after they shot themselves on their foot.
I gave this game a 3.5/5. It's a fun little distraction if you really don't care about the story.
Like I said, such a waste.
I've heard and read stories about how the game constantly crashes and have bugs, but in my copy it seems to be working fine. I only had 2 crashes occured but managed to finish the whole game.
I genuinely enjoyed the game for what it is since it played exactly like Saints Row the Third with the same jankness it had. The character customization is very fun, too! But after getting far into the story, Saints Row (2022) does felt lackluster.
The story felt too short. Since the main focus of the game is to expand your business ventures to spread the influence of the Saints I did that first, and when I completed them all I then continued the story. That's when I realized how very short and shallow the whole plot is. There isn't enough story for me to care about the characters and the "boss battles" felt very anti-climactic. I'm aware of the horrible writing of their dialogues and while some got a genuine chuckle out of me a lot of the humor and writing felt dry.
It's kinda sad, tho. The whole map itself is very beautiful. It showed how much they cared about the details of the environments and the rural and urban side of Santo Ileso. While I love exploring around the places the whole map itself felt empty (granted, the majority of the areas are desert). With the DLCs adding new locations outside the base map, I have to wonder what the map size could've been if they continued improving the game.
Sadly, that won't happen since the developers Volition dissolved completely after they shot themselves on their foot.
I gave this game a 3.5/5. It's a fun little distraction if you really don't care about the story.
Like I said, such a waste.
1982
Always get the big tank! ALWAYS!
Front Line is one of those games I used to play back when we had a FamiCom. What I remember the most from it are the marching snares at the start of the game and the sounds of the funny walk animation of our dude fighting his way to victory.
The game is a top-down vertical-scrolling shooter. You start at the bottom of the screen on foot and slowly progress to the top, killing enemies that spawn anywhere. Your only weapons are your pistol and a grenade. The pistol can only fire one bullet on screen at a time, while the grenade serves as a throwable weapon and it can lob over trees, but it flies so slow before exploding and its blast radius is laughably short.
Keep going up and eventually you'll arrive to an open field with enemies now driving tanks. There you'll find one of the two tanks that will spawn which you can drive; A weak and fast small tank, and a strong and slow large tank. Both fire one projectile on screen at a time, and their only difference is firing rate and armor.
The small tank fires quickly but it gets instantly destroyed by any enemy fire in one hit, while the big tank fires large shells slowly but can take a hit before exploding. You can repair the big tank by exiting and reentering it again if it gets hit, but do it quickly or else you'll lose the tank if it explodes, or if you're too slow to exit a second hit from an enemy shell will destroy the tank sooner (with you in it!)
Tip: ALWAYS get the big tank. If it spawns the small tank, it's worth taking the risk and just skip it. Once the small tank is offscreen one of the two tanks will spawn again, just pray it's the big tank.
Reaching the end is an enemy soldier on top of a tall platform, and the only way to kill it is by lobbing a grenade. Once dead, a jingle plays, gives you a bonus score for succeeding and the game is done, which then loops again from the beginning. The game has no end since that's the nature of its source: the arcade. It's purely for hi-score.
The game is good to play for a few minutes. It's so slow and tedious you'll eventually get bored and play something else. This game is a 2/5 for me.
Front Line is one of those games I used to play back when we had a FamiCom. What I remember the most from it are the marching snares at the start of the game and the sounds of the funny walk animation of our dude fighting his way to victory.
The game is a top-down vertical-scrolling shooter. You start at the bottom of the screen on foot and slowly progress to the top, killing enemies that spawn anywhere. Your only weapons are your pistol and a grenade. The pistol can only fire one bullet on screen at a time, while the grenade serves as a throwable weapon and it can lob over trees, but it flies so slow before exploding and its blast radius is laughably short.
Keep going up and eventually you'll arrive to an open field with enemies now driving tanks. There you'll find one of the two tanks that will spawn which you can drive; A weak and fast small tank, and a strong and slow large tank. Both fire one projectile on screen at a time, and their only difference is firing rate and armor.
The small tank fires quickly but it gets instantly destroyed by any enemy fire in one hit, while the big tank fires large shells slowly but can take a hit before exploding. You can repair the big tank by exiting and reentering it again if it gets hit, but do it quickly or else you'll lose the tank if it explodes, or if you're too slow to exit a second hit from an enemy shell will destroy the tank sooner (with you in it!)
Tip: ALWAYS get the big tank. If it spawns the small tank, it's worth taking the risk and just skip it. Once the small tank is offscreen one of the two tanks will spawn again, just pray it's the big tank.
Reaching the end is an enemy soldier on top of a tall platform, and the only way to kill it is by lobbing a grenade. Once dead, a jingle plays, gives you a bonus score for succeeding and the game is done, which then loops again from the beginning. The game has no end since that's the nature of its source: the arcade. It's purely for hi-score.
The game is good to play for a few minutes. It's so slow and tedious you'll eventually get bored and play something else. This game is a 2/5 for me.
2003
3rd game in the series, direct sequel of the 1st!
Silent Hill 3, one of my favorite games in Silent Hill series! I remember playing it again and again back when we had a PS2. Even though it's the third game, it is actually the real continuation of the original game when it comes to the story.
The game is set 17 years after the events of the first Silent Hill. Here we play as Heather, your average teenager who's at the mall doing a small errand for her father. After waking up from a horrible nightmare and left the burger joint she's suddenly being followed by a detective named Douglas Cartland. Heather wasn't interested in Douglas' investigation about her past, so she avoided him by leaving through a small window inside the women's restroom where he can't follow her.
Outside, the only exit of the alleyway is mysteriously blocked by a parked van and she can't leave, so she has to enter the mall again through the backdoor not far from her current location. Upon reentry, something felt off: It's the same mall as before but everything's eerily quiet, empty and covered in grime. She kept walking and saw a store still open and entered inside, and there she witnessed her nightmares became a reality. This is the start of Heather's journey about knowing her past and her connection with Silent Hill.
So, just like the previous Silent Hill games, you'll get two iconic items that are staple of the series; A cheap pocket radio and a flashlight. The radio will pick up static noise if there's a monster nearby, and the flashlight will provide light in the dark. Turning off flashlight can let you sneak past monsters as they can't see you, but don't get too close!
The movements are in a style of tank control like the old Resident Evil; Up and Down on the d-pad makes Heather move forwards and backwards respectively while the Left and Right turns her direction. Holding down the Run button will make Heather run.
Holding down the Aim button readies her weapon when equipped, then you either press the Action button to attack with the weapon, or Run button to make her block. Blocking may require some timing as she only does this briefly.
Due to the tank controls, fighting monsters is a bit of a mixed bag. She's kinda sluggish, and there's no way to dodge away from enemy attacks other than to block, run away, or just keep your distance.
Hitting or firing at an enemy enough times will make them drop to the floor, but not completely dead. They will squirm and whimper while down, and this a good opportunity to finally end their horrific ways by giving them a one good ol'-fashioned hard stomp (because if you don't the enemy will get back up again!)
You'll find yourself using the ranged weapons a lot, though! Melee weapons are your last resort if you're out of ammo or saving ammunition. Even though the game is a bit generous with ammo and health as you explore, sometimes the best strategy is to simply avoid unnecessary fights — killing enemies don't drop any items upon death.
Disappointingly, the whole game mostly takes place indoors. Unlike the last two games where exploring the town is the main thing, here you don't even begin at Silent Hill. You journey through one building to another via short passages making the game extremely linear. Of course you'll get to revisit the part of Silent Hill from the second game, but there's nothing much to explore there other than to get to the key destination.
The puzzles are also weird in this game. The difference between Normal and Hard Riddle mode is night and day. While the puzzles are still solvable in Normal version, the Hard version's puzzles are so cryptic that it is what you consider "Moon Logic" puzzles. Heck, even the very first puzzle in the game requires you to have an extensive knowledge with Shakespeare's anthology, and even then you still have to put together the solution behind the riddle. This is bad puzzle design!
I can forgive the voice acting. It's really not that bad, but not the best either. In a way, it feels 'natural' by Silent Hill standards.
The soundtrack. DEAR GOODNESS, the soundtrack of the game is VERY AWESOME! From the gritty industrial sounds of Dark Ambient, to Rock music that adds character to the overall atmosphere of the game. Akira Yamaoka truly is a master of his craft!
I want to add a few more comments and flaws of the game, but it's getting too long. Overall, it's 5/5 for me. I genuinely had fun playing this back then and I still enjoy playing it today with the PC port (the original PC port, by the way. NOT the horrendous HD Collection!)
Silent Hill 3, one of my favorite games in Silent Hill series! I remember playing it again and again back when we had a PS2. Even though it's the third game, it is actually the real continuation of the original game when it comes to the story.
The game is set 17 years after the events of the first Silent Hill. Here we play as Heather, your average teenager who's at the mall doing a small errand for her father. After waking up from a horrible nightmare and left the burger joint she's suddenly being followed by a detective named Douglas Cartland. Heather wasn't interested in Douglas' investigation about her past, so she avoided him by leaving through a small window inside the women's restroom where he can't follow her.
Outside, the only exit of the alleyway is mysteriously blocked by a parked van and she can't leave, so she has to enter the mall again through the backdoor not far from her current location. Upon reentry, something felt off: It's the same mall as before but everything's eerily quiet, empty and covered in grime. She kept walking and saw a store still open and entered inside, and there she witnessed her nightmares became a reality. This is the start of Heather's journey about knowing her past and her connection with Silent Hill.
So, just like the previous Silent Hill games, you'll get two iconic items that are staple of the series; A cheap pocket radio and a flashlight. The radio will pick up static noise if there's a monster nearby, and the flashlight will provide light in the dark. Turning off flashlight can let you sneak past monsters as they can't see you, but don't get too close!
The movements are in a style of tank control like the old Resident Evil; Up and Down on the d-pad makes Heather move forwards and backwards respectively while the Left and Right turns her direction. Holding down the Run button will make Heather run.
Holding down the Aim button readies her weapon when equipped, then you either press the Action button to attack with the weapon, or Run button to make her block. Blocking may require some timing as she only does this briefly.
Due to the tank controls, fighting monsters is a bit of a mixed bag. She's kinda sluggish, and there's no way to dodge away from enemy attacks other than to block, run away, or just keep your distance.
Hitting or firing at an enemy enough times will make them drop to the floor, but not completely dead. They will squirm and whimper while down, and this a good opportunity to finally end their horrific ways by giving them a one good ol'-fashioned hard stomp (because if you don't the enemy will get back up again!)
You'll find yourself using the ranged weapons a lot, though! Melee weapons are your last resort if you're out of ammo or saving ammunition. Even though the game is a bit generous with ammo and health as you explore, sometimes the best strategy is to simply avoid unnecessary fights — killing enemies don't drop any items upon death.
Disappointingly, the whole game mostly takes place indoors. Unlike the last two games where exploring the town is the main thing, here you don't even begin at Silent Hill. You journey through one building to another via short passages making the game extremely linear. Of course you'll get to revisit the part of Silent Hill from the second game, but there's nothing much to explore there other than to get to the key destination.
The puzzles are also weird in this game. The difference between Normal and Hard Riddle mode is night and day. While the puzzles are still solvable in Normal version, the Hard version's puzzles are so cryptic that it is what you consider "Moon Logic" puzzles. Heck, even the very first puzzle in the game requires you to have an extensive knowledge with Shakespeare's anthology, and even then you still have to put together the solution behind the riddle. This is bad puzzle design!
I can forgive the voice acting. It's really not that bad, but not the best either. In a way, it feels 'natural' by Silent Hill standards.
The soundtrack. DEAR GOODNESS, the soundtrack of the game is VERY AWESOME! From the gritty industrial sounds of Dark Ambient, to Rock music that adds character to the overall atmosphere of the game. Akira Yamaoka truly is a master of his craft!
I want to add a few more comments and flaws of the game, but it's getting too long. Overall, it's 5/5 for me. I genuinely had fun playing this back then and I still enjoy playing it today with the PC port (the original PC port, by the way. NOT the horrendous HD Collection!)
(Grabbag aggressively intensifies)
Review? WHAT REVIEW? [kicks review away]
Grab a shotgun, kick some alien's ass, save the chicks and save the Earth! And not necessarily in that order (maybe)!!
Duke Nukem 3D truly was a one of a kind shooter that innovated clever map designs, and the added "The Birth" episode in this Atomic Edition is a welcomed addition!
Review? WHAT REVIEW? [kicks review away]
Grab a shotgun, kick some alien's ass, save the chicks and save the Earth! And not necessarily in that order (maybe)!!
Duke Nukem 3D truly was a one of a kind shooter that innovated clever map designs, and the added "The Birth" episode in this Atomic Edition is a welcomed addition!
1983
A charming little puzzle game of Flappy pushing rocks.
I loved this game as a kid. The goal of this puzzle game is pretty simple: You need to push a blue rock all the way to the blue platform, and the level is cleared! BUT, the real challenge is how you deliver it to its destination across various obstacles while being chased by enemies.
To start, all the rocks are affected by gravity while Flappy (you) and the enemies are not. Rocks can be pushed left and right and can be destroyed if pushed against a surface, except for the blue rock which is indestructible. The moment you push a rock over the edge it'll fall straight down. This is part of solving the majority of the game's puzzles as it requires filling the gaps using ordinary rocks to make a bridge and safely push the blue rock over it. Be careful since gravity kills and getting caught under a falling rock can guarantee losing a life.
There are two kinds of enemies in Flappy: One is a tiny horned-like creature that only moves in left and right directions, and the other is a crab enemy that can freely move anywhere and aggressively pursuits Flappy. You can kill the enemies with the rocks if you let it fall on their heads! It's just that, due to their erratic movements, timing it will be difficult.
At least you can temporarily stun the enemies by using mushrooms that you can pick up in the level. Throwing the mushroom at them will make them fall asleep and you can then safely push them around (it's also the best time to position them where you can kill them with the rocks, but you better be quick as they'll wake up within a few seconds). Some levels give limited supply of mushrooms so you better need to use them wisely. Once you finish the level, any unused mushrooms you've collected will become extra points and will not be carried over to the next level.
And that's how you play Flappy! It'll surely tickle your noodle as you try to clear all 200 levels (at least in the FamiCom version!)
I loved this game as a kid. The goal of this puzzle game is pretty simple: You need to push a blue rock all the way to the blue platform, and the level is cleared! BUT, the real challenge is how you deliver it to its destination across various obstacles while being chased by enemies.
To start, all the rocks are affected by gravity while Flappy (you) and the enemies are not. Rocks can be pushed left and right and can be destroyed if pushed against a surface, except for the blue rock which is indestructible. The moment you push a rock over the edge it'll fall straight down. This is part of solving the majority of the game's puzzles as it requires filling the gaps using ordinary rocks to make a bridge and safely push the blue rock over it. Be careful since gravity kills and getting caught under a falling rock can guarantee losing a life.
There are two kinds of enemies in Flappy: One is a tiny horned-like creature that only moves in left and right directions, and the other is a crab enemy that can freely move anywhere and aggressively pursuits Flappy. You can kill the enemies with the rocks if you let it fall on their heads! It's just that, due to their erratic movements, timing it will be difficult.
At least you can temporarily stun the enemies by using mushrooms that you can pick up in the level. Throwing the mushroom at them will make them fall asleep and you can then safely push them around (it's also the best time to position them where you can kill them with the rocks, but you better be quick as they'll wake up within a few seconds). Some levels give limited supply of mushrooms so you better need to use them wisely. Once you finish the level, any unused mushrooms you've collected will become extra points and will not be carried over to the next level.
And that's how you play Flappy! It'll surely tickle your noodle as you try to clear all 200 levels (at least in the FamiCom version!)
1997
Probably the best Breath of Fire series of them all!
When I was a kid, I remember watching my older brother played this game on our ol' PlayStation. It didn't matter how long I waited for my turn to play, watching him unfold the game's story kept me captivated, and I always love how Ryu — the main protagonist of the game — transforms into these dragon forms of different shapes and sizes!
J-RPGs didn't click on me growing up, until I took interest in them in the 2000s. That's when I started playing Breath of Fire III.
Short intro of the story:
A long time ago, there was a dragon clan called the Brood that were feared for their destructive power that may destroy the whole world. But for some reason they went extinct, and through time their bodies turned into crystals storing an incredible energy called a Chrysm. Now in the present, people mine these Chrysms to power their machines that help them with their livelihood.
You play as a young boy named Ryu in his little dragon form, encased inside a giant Chrysm located in the mines. He was freed by the miners and caused chaos as he wanders around, killing the miners in the process. Suddenly he heard a voice coming from a large fossilized dragon nearby, telling him not to hurt anyone. Distracted, Ryu was knocked out by a mine worker using a crane. He was then caged and put on a small train, sent away to be disposed of.
Ryu got free by dislodging his cage off the train, falling down to the forest below. There he met Rei, a tiger-human who was hunting for food until he spotted Ryu in his human form; unconscious and surrounded by wolves that were about to eat him. Rei saved Ryu and took him to his hideout, where Rei's friend Teepo was waiting for him. They decided to let Ryu stay with them, and the three formed friendship and went on with their mischief adventures! But unknown to Ryu, this is just the start of his very long journey ahead. The story about his dragon lineage, the Brood, and the truth. You must help him guide to his destiny.
End of intro.
Right off the bat, it plays like your standard J-RPG. The map is viewed in isometric polygonal 3D. You can move freely in any 8 directions unlike the previous titles, and because it being in 3D means some walls and objects will obstruct some view from your camera's angle. Luckily you can move this camera by rotating it around to see things behind them, albeit pretty limited.
The battle system is turn-based, and whoever gets to attack first is determined by both the party and enemies' Speed stats by descending order individually. It has your basic commands like Attack, Defend, Use Magic, and Use Item.
There's a new command called Examine, and what it does is your character will observe your selected target and attempt to learn a new skill from them. It requires a bit of patience as sometimes the enemies won't use the skill you wanted them to learn, or can't learn it instantly. Once learned, other party members cannot learn the same skill, but you can swap them between other party member using a diary (it requires a consumable item called Skill Ink).
Charge command is an auto-attack function if you wish to end the battle sooner without your input (your party will use normal attacks and will always go for the weakest enemy first, but you can cancel this by mashing the cancel button). And lastly there's the Escape command if you think you're not strong enough to battle powerful enemies, or you can't be bothered to fight very weak enemies.
What this game is known for is Ryu's ability called Accession. You can access Ryu's dragon powers and mix and match genes together to your liking, turning him into different dragon forms depending on the combination. These genes can be found around the map; some are already visible on the screen, some are hidden behind objects. Powerful combination of genes comes with a price; it uses a lot of Ability Points (AP). So not only you need to spend a chunk of AP to transform into his dragon form, it also consumes AP per turn for as long as he stays as a dragon. His dragon form ends if you forced him to return to human or when his AP become insufficient.
Another neat mechanic is the Masters system. There are NPCs you can meet that are called Masters who will take one or more of your party members as their apprentice. Under their guidance the party member(s) will gain benefits of increasing specific stats as they level-up, but some stats may suffer. And if they leveled-up enough and return to their preferred Master they will learn new abilities from them. You have to experiment which party members work best for each Masters, but remember that each of your party members can only have one Master at a time. You can't have multiple Masters for one member.
The story is pretty good! The thing I told up there is basically just the intro and doesn't spoil anything. You have to experience it!
If you wish to save your progress you need to sleep in an Inn or camp anywhere outside if you're in overworld map. You'll find a diary inside a camp where you can save your progress before or after a night's rest. What's the difference between an Inn and Camping? The latter is for convenience, but if your party member dies in a battle and you failed to revive them as the battle ends, they'll suffer a Max HP loss (displayed as yellow text instead of white in their HP stats). Simply sleeping in a Camp won't work. You need to find and sleep in an Inn to completely remove this effect.
The most memorable thing to me about this game is its soundtrack! It was WAY ahead of its time! It's full of Jazz Fusion and epic Orchestra tracks that you'll either vibe or keep hyped! Even after you're long done with the game the soundtrack will stay with you forever. It's really that great and memorable!
Around the game are sprinkled with mini-games that you can play, like the Fishing mini-game. Some mini-games are tied to story progression and may take some bit of patience to finish them, but eventually you'll succeed as they're not that hard to do.
Now that's out of the way, let's talk about... the bad side.
※ The enemy encounter rate is annoying in maps that is full of them. In overworld maps you don't get enemy encounters, instead it will display an Exclamation Point (!) balloon over your character sprite as you walk around. Meaning you have a choice if you want to enter this tiny map and fight the enemies or just ignore it, but engaging the enemy encounter means you'll get a guaranteed random item if you can find it. It's a different story in dungeon-type maps: the enemy encounter rate is very frequent. I mean, it's fine if you want to grind, it's just that the flashy animations for spells and abilities take forever to finish and it's annoying. But that's not the most annoying part of it! You'll also have to deal with...
※ Enemies spamming status effects that will sometimes, if not always, guaranteed a successful hit. If you come in unprepared and don't have the items that can negate or cure the status ailments, then be prepared for a world of hurt. Not only you have to endure watching a long animation of their spells that takes 5 or more seconds to finish, once it succeeds to make your party member blinded, sleep, poisoned, silenced, confused, paralyzed, whatever, you're basically f'ed. Enemies love to spam these at every opportunity, and having these status ailments on you can really hurt your turn in battle. The worst offenders are Sleep, Poison, Confusion, and Paralyzed. There are also other unique status effects from specific enemies, but I won't go deep into that.
※ The game is too grindy. Believe me, this game is very grindy when it comes to leveling-up. It will require you to level-up to certain levels to just get even with the enemies in later maps that are difficult to beat. The solution to this is you just need to pick a good Master for your party members to increase the stats where they excel the most. So even with a bit of grinding you can already beat the enemies enough to get through the dungeon. That doesn't mean you're safe from their status effects!
※ Some enemies have weird high stats. There are some enemies having ridiculous high stats that fighting them can be annoying. Like for example, there're these group of enemies with high Agility that attacking them with physical attacks will have a high chance of getting a miss. The only way to deal with them is by casting magic that deals damage to all and pray that all of them get wiped out, or else you'll have to deal with their BS further. There's another type of enemy that has ridiculously high Speed stat that their only purpose is to steal HP from you or just deal a damage before running away. Like... Why.
※ The horrible typo near the end of the game. The Desert of Death. If you know, you know.
There are so many things I want to list here, but it'll make this review too long than it already is. Once I learned how to become better prepared on my next playthrough all of these problems are alleviated a little.
My experience with this game is 5/5, because despite the problems it has there's genuine fun throughout my playthroughand not because I'm totally a fan of this game, I swear to dingus.
When I was a kid, I remember watching my older brother played this game on our ol' PlayStation. It didn't matter how long I waited for my turn to play, watching him unfold the game's story kept me captivated, and I always love how Ryu — the main protagonist of the game — transforms into these dragon forms of different shapes and sizes!
J-RPGs didn't click on me growing up, until I took interest in them in the 2000s. That's when I started playing Breath of Fire III.
Short intro of the story:
A long time ago, there was a dragon clan called the Brood that were feared for their destructive power that may destroy the whole world. But for some reason they went extinct, and through time their bodies turned into crystals storing an incredible energy called a Chrysm. Now in the present, people mine these Chrysms to power their machines that help them with their livelihood.
You play as a young boy named Ryu in his little dragon form, encased inside a giant Chrysm located in the mines. He was freed by the miners and caused chaos as he wanders around, killing the miners in the process. Suddenly he heard a voice coming from a large fossilized dragon nearby, telling him not to hurt anyone. Distracted, Ryu was knocked out by a mine worker using a crane. He was then caged and put on a small train, sent away to be disposed of.
Ryu got free by dislodging his cage off the train, falling down to the forest below. There he met Rei, a tiger-human who was hunting for food until he spotted Ryu in his human form; unconscious and surrounded by wolves that were about to eat him. Rei saved Ryu and took him to his hideout, where Rei's friend Teepo was waiting for him. They decided to let Ryu stay with them, and the three formed friendship and went on with their mischief adventures! But unknown to Ryu, this is just the start of his very long journey ahead. The story about his dragon lineage, the Brood, and the truth. You must help him guide to his destiny.
End of intro.
Right off the bat, it plays like your standard J-RPG. The map is viewed in isometric polygonal 3D. You can move freely in any 8 directions unlike the previous titles, and because it being in 3D means some walls and objects will obstruct some view from your camera's angle. Luckily you can move this camera by rotating it around to see things behind them, albeit pretty limited.
The battle system is turn-based, and whoever gets to attack first is determined by both the party and enemies' Speed stats by descending order individually. It has your basic commands like Attack, Defend, Use Magic, and Use Item.
There's a new command called Examine, and what it does is your character will observe your selected target and attempt to learn a new skill from them. It requires a bit of patience as sometimes the enemies won't use the skill you wanted them to learn, or can't learn it instantly. Once learned, other party members cannot learn the same skill, but you can swap them between other party member using a diary (it requires a consumable item called Skill Ink).
Charge command is an auto-attack function if you wish to end the battle sooner without your input (your party will use normal attacks and will always go for the weakest enemy first, but you can cancel this by mashing the cancel button). And lastly there's the Escape command if you think you're not strong enough to battle powerful enemies, or you can't be bothered to fight very weak enemies.
What this game is known for is Ryu's ability called Accession. You can access Ryu's dragon powers and mix and match genes together to your liking, turning him into different dragon forms depending on the combination. These genes can be found around the map; some are already visible on the screen, some are hidden behind objects. Powerful combination of genes comes with a price; it uses a lot of Ability Points (AP). So not only you need to spend a chunk of AP to transform into his dragon form, it also consumes AP per turn for as long as he stays as a dragon. His dragon form ends if you forced him to return to human or when his AP become insufficient.
Another neat mechanic is the Masters system. There are NPCs you can meet that are called Masters who will take one or more of your party members as their apprentice. Under their guidance the party member(s) will gain benefits of increasing specific stats as they level-up, but some stats may suffer. And if they leveled-up enough and return to their preferred Master they will learn new abilities from them. You have to experiment which party members work best for each Masters, but remember that each of your party members can only have one Master at a time. You can't have multiple Masters for one member.
The story is pretty good! The thing I told up there is basically just the intro and doesn't spoil anything. You have to experience it!
If you wish to save your progress you need to sleep in an Inn or camp anywhere outside if you're in overworld map. You'll find a diary inside a camp where you can save your progress before or after a night's rest. What's the difference between an Inn and Camping? The latter is for convenience, but if your party member dies in a battle and you failed to revive them as the battle ends, they'll suffer a Max HP loss (displayed as yellow text instead of white in their HP stats). Simply sleeping in a Camp won't work. You need to find and sleep in an Inn to completely remove this effect.
The most memorable thing to me about this game is its soundtrack! It was WAY ahead of its time! It's full of Jazz Fusion and epic Orchestra tracks that you'll either vibe or keep hyped! Even after you're long done with the game the soundtrack will stay with you forever. It's really that great and memorable!
Around the game are sprinkled with mini-games that you can play, like the Fishing mini-game. Some mini-games are tied to story progression and may take some bit of patience to finish them, but eventually you'll succeed as they're not that hard to do.
Now that's out of the way, let's talk about... the bad side.
※ The enemy encounter rate is annoying in maps that is full of them. In overworld maps you don't get enemy encounters, instead it will display an Exclamation Point (!) balloon over your character sprite as you walk around. Meaning you have a choice if you want to enter this tiny map and fight the enemies or just ignore it, but engaging the enemy encounter means you'll get a guaranteed random item if you can find it. It's a different story in dungeon-type maps: the enemy encounter rate is very frequent. I mean, it's fine if you want to grind, it's just that the flashy animations for spells and abilities take forever to finish and it's annoying. But that's not the most annoying part of it! You'll also have to deal with...
※ Enemies spamming status effects that will sometimes, if not always, guaranteed a successful hit. If you come in unprepared and don't have the items that can negate or cure the status ailments, then be prepared for a world of hurt. Not only you have to endure watching a long animation of their spells that takes 5 or more seconds to finish, once it succeeds to make your party member blinded, sleep, poisoned, silenced, confused, paralyzed, whatever, you're basically f'ed. Enemies love to spam these at every opportunity, and having these status ailments on you can really hurt your turn in battle. The worst offenders are Sleep, Poison, Confusion, and Paralyzed. There are also other unique status effects from specific enemies, but I won't go deep into that.
※ The game is too grindy. Believe me, this game is very grindy when it comes to leveling-up. It will require you to level-up to certain levels to just get even with the enemies in later maps that are difficult to beat. The solution to this is you just need to pick a good Master for your party members to increase the stats where they excel the most. So even with a bit of grinding you can already beat the enemies enough to get through the dungeon. That doesn't mean you're safe from their status effects!
※ Some enemies have weird high stats. There are some enemies having ridiculous high stats that fighting them can be annoying. Like for example, there're these group of enemies with high Agility that attacking them with physical attacks will have a high chance of getting a miss. The only way to deal with them is by casting magic that deals damage to all and pray that all of them get wiped out, or else you'll have to deal with their BS further. There's another type of enemy that has ridiculously high Speed stat that their only purpose is to steal HP from you or just deal a damage before running away. Like... Why.
※ The horrible typo near the end of the game. The Desert of Death. If you know, you know.
There are so many things I want to list here, but it'll make this review too long than it already is. Once I learned how to become better prepared on my next playthrough all of these problems are alleviated a little.
My experience with this game is 5/5, because despite the problems it has there's genuine fun throughout my playthrough
DDR on Gameboy? What were they thinking?!
It is what it is. DanceDanceRevolution in the palm of your hands, in all of its 8-bit chiptuney glory. But it feels so wrong for some reason. SO wrong!
I mean, it plays fine. There's nothing wrong with the timing of the inputs to the arrows. But something feels off. Could it be... Yes. I guess it's how they arranged the songs into chiptune version.
Don't get me wrong, though! beatmania GB series did a great job arranging existing songs into chiptunes just fine. The choice of wave instruments really captured the feel of their original counterparts. But DDR GB's music, on the other hand, doesn't have the same oomph like in beatmania GB (or even pop'n music GB series!)
I have a hunch that the conversion of music for DDR GB was handled by a different dev team.
Playing DDR on your Gameboy was still a neat idea, just that the arrangement of the music really ruined it for me.
It is what it is. DanceDanceRevolution in the palm of your hands, in all of its 8-bit chiptuney glory. But it feels so wrong for some reason. SO wrong!
I mean, it plays fine. There's nothing wrong with the timing of the inputs to the arrows. But something feels off. Could it be... Yes. I guess it's how they arranged the songs into chiptune version.
Don't get me wrong, though! beatmania GB series did a great job arranging existing songs into chiptunes just fine. The choice of wave instruments really captured the feel of their original counterparts. But DDR GB's music, on the other hand, doesn't have the same oomph like in beatmania GB (or even pop'n music GB series!)
I have a hunch that the conversion of music for DDR GB was handled by a different dev team.
Playing DDR on your Gameboy was still a neat idea, just that the arrangement of the music really ruined it for me.
2016
Line puzzles, and lots of it!
Puzzle is my favorite genre in games, and The Witness really satisfied my craving for it!
The goal of the game is you must activate 8 of the 11 lasers from each areas of the island that opens up the door at the top of the mountain at the center of it. Inside it will be more harder puzzles that incorporates all of the rules you've learned so far and see the ending sequence if you get to the final part (if you get all 11 lasers to work, you'll access something secret!).
There's no real story in this game, really. At best, the narration is a bit 'meh'. There are too many pretentious stuff scattered around the island in a form of voice-recorded messages. They offer nothing to the player.
But how does it play?
Well, you start the game inside a long cylindrical room, and at the end of it is a closed door with a panel that has a line on it, staring at you like it asks you to do something. So you interacted with it and connected the line, the door opens. You then enter through the door into what seems to be a dark cellar, and at the other wall is another door with the same panel, only this time the shape of the line is different. You connected the line again and the door opens.
Now you know the basic rules of the game.
You'll find panels like these all over the island in different shapes and sizes, beckoning you to solve them. The way it works is that you draw a line on the panels, guiding it around the maze from start to finish to activate the next panels if you succeed.
Seems simple enough, but each areas around the island introduces a new rule you must follow in order to solve these maze puzzles. If you don't satisfy these rules the puzzle will reject your attempt and you must try again. Some puzzles require out-of-the-box thinking, and some have multiple solutions. If you activated all the panels in the area it'll lead you to its laser, which you must activate to get to your goal.
There are also line puzzles you will find hidden around the environment in a shape of a circle connected by a long line. You must trace this line if you stand in the right spot. These are all optional and only affects the counter of puzzles you've solved in your save file.
That's everything, I guess! If anything, I think the point of this whole adventure is that there's no real reason to solve these puzzles, but it's our desire to solve them out of curiosity.
It sure tickled my curiosity! I enjoyed the whole journey of it from the beginning to the end. It's a 5/5 for me! The narration still sucks.
Puzzle is my favorite genre in games, and The Witness really satisfied my craving for it!
The goal of the game is you must activate 8 of the 11 lasers from each areas of the island that opens up the door at the top of the mountain at the center of it. Inside it will be more harder puzzles that incorporates all of the rules you've learned so far and see the ending sequence if you get to the final part (if you get all 11 lasers to work, you'll access something secret!).
There's no real story in this game, really. At best, the narration is a bit 'meh'. There are too many pretentious stuff scattered around the island in a form of voice-recorded messages. They offer nothing to the player.
But how does it play?
Well, you start the game inside a long cylindrical room, and at the end of it is a closed door with a panel that has a line on it, staring at you like it asks you to do something. So you interacted with it and connected the line, the door opens. You then enter through the door into what seems to be a dark cellar, and at the other wall is another door with the same panel, only this time the shape of the line is different. You connected the line again and the door opens.
Now you know the basic rules of the game.
You'll find panels like these all over the island in different shapes and sizes, beckoning you to solve them. The way it works is that you draw a line on the panels, guiding it around the maze from start to finish to activate the next panels if you succeed.
Seems simple enough, but each areas around the island introduces a new rule you must follow in order to solve these maze puzzles. If you don't satisfy these rules the puzzle will reject your attempt and you must try again. Some puzzles require out-of-the-box thinking, and some have multiple solutions. If you activated all the panels in the area it'll lead you to its laser, which you must activate to get to your goal.
There are also line puzzles you will find hidden around the environment in a shape of a circle connected by a long line. You must trace this line if you stand in the right spot. These are all optional and only affects the counter of puzzles you've solved in your save file.
That's everything, I guess! If anything, I think the point of this whole adventure is that there's no real reason to solve these puzzles, but it's our desire to solve them out of curiosity.
It sure tickled my curiosity! I enjoyed the whole journey of it from the beginning to the end. It's a 5/5 for me! The narration still sucks.
It's a totally crap-tastic game.
The visuals, the music, the gameplay... they're all ugly. It's functional, I give them that, but the game is still boring.
And dang, the questions in the quiz part are totally out-dated.
The visuals, the music, the gameplay... they're all ugly. It's functional, I give them that, but the game is still boring.
And dang, the questions in the quiz part are totally out-dated.
1988
A very frustratingly fun game!
The Quest of Ki by Namco is a very difficult platforming puzzle game involving a very fragile player heroine that easily gets killed by anything.
The objective of the game is to navigate around the floor and collect the key to open the door to the next level, and all of this must be done within the allotted time. If the timer runs out you'll lose a life.
The punishing difficulty of the game comes from the way how you control the player character: The game heavily relies on her precise movements, feather falling, and her ability to continuously levitate upwards for as long as the jump button is held down. The are no means of fighting back other than avoiding the enemies and projectiles altogether.
Thing is, she's very weak and easily gets stun-locked if you're not careful.
• If you run too fast and hit a wall, you get stun-locked as she does her crouching-down-while-holding-her-head-in-pain animation for one second.
• If you levitate too high and hit the ceiling, you get stun-locked and helplessly watch her slowly descend straight down to the floor and does the same animation as mentioned above once landed.
• If you run too fast, levitate and hit a wall, she slowly descends down in the same fashion as mentioned above.
• During stun-locked, you're very vulnerable to anything and there's no way to move away from danger until the stun animation is finished.
• Hilariously, just by touching spikes, enemies or projectiles by 1 pixel can instantly kill you.
With these in mind, you can now imagine why the game is tough.
Each levels are varied containing specific set of enemies, traps, and projectiles. Her weakness makes navigating around the level extremely hard as anything that isn't a floor, wall, or a ceiling can kill her. Some puzzle elements would require the player to fetch certain items or careful navigation around dangerous areas to clear it.
Despite this, the game has an anti-frustration feature by removing the very enemy that killed you when you lose a life, making the next attempt easier (you only have a few extra lives, though).
There are also warp chests you can find that will instantly take you a few floors up bypassing many levels, but these warp chests are located in very risky sections of the level, so it's a reward for taking the risk.
I guess now you're probably asking "why is it even fun even though you said it's very frustrating?"
It's hard to explain, but there's a certain kind of enjoyment you'll find in ridiculously hard games like this! Most of the time the deaths are always your fault, and the devs were quite devious for placing traps in places where you least expect it. Every now and then you might get a chuckle or more for failing a lot.
Besides, this game is not meant to be taken seriously. I mean, like, the whimsical, upbeat background music says it all!
It's a 5/5 for me for its addicting and challenging puzzles, despite its quirky game mechanics. Maybe I'm that masochistic, but that's just my opinion.
(Let's see if you can finish both the main game levels AND the extra levels that has more EVIL traps ahead!)
The Quest of Ki by Namco is a very difficult platforming puzzle game involving a very fragile player heroine that easily gets killed by anything.
The objective of the game is to navigate around the floor and collect the key to open the door to the next level, and all of this must be done within the allotted time. If the timer runs out you'll lose a life.
The punishing difficulty of the game comes from the way how you control the player character: The game heavily relies on her precise movements, feather falling, and her ability to continuously levitate upwards for as long as the jump button is held down. The are no means of fighting back other than avoiding the enemies and projectiles altogether.
Thing is, she's very weak and easily gets stun-locked if you're not careful.
• If you run too fast and hit a wall, you get stun-locked as she does her crouching-down-while-holding-her-head-in-pain animation for one second.
• If you levitate too high and hit the ceiling, you get stun-locked and helplessly watch her slowly descend straight down to the floor and does the same animation as mentioned above once landed.
• If you run too fast, levitate and hit a wall, she slowly descends down in the same fashion as mentioned above.
• During stun-locked, you're very vulnerable to anything and there's no way to move away from danger until the stun animation is finished.
• Hilariously, just by touching spikes, enemies or projectiles by 1 pixel can instantly kill you.
With these in mind, you can now imagine why the game is tough.
Each levels are varied containing specific set of enemies, traps, and projectiles. Her weakness makes navigating around the level extremely hard as anything that isn't a floor, wall, or a ceiling can kill her. Some puzzle elements would require the player to fetch certain items or careful navigation around dangerous areas to clear it.
Despite this, the game has an anti-frustration feature by removing the very enemy that killed you when you lose a life, making the next attempt easier (you only have a few extra lives, though).
There are also warp chests you can find that will instantly take you a few floors up bypassing many levels, but these warp chests are located in very risky sections of the level, so it's a reward for taking the risk.
I guess now you're probably asking "why is it even fun even though you said it's very frustrating?"
It's hard to explain, but there's a certain kind of enjoyment you'll find in ridiculously hard games like this! Most of the time the deaths are always your fault, and the devs were quite devious for placing traps in places where you least expect it. Every now and then you might get a chuckle or more for failing a lot.
Besides, this game is not meant to be taken seriously. I mean, like, the whimsical, upbeat background music says it all!
It's a 5/5 for me for its addicting and challenging puzzles, despite its quirky game mechanics. Maybe I'm that masochistic, but that's just my opinion.
(Let's see if you can finish both the main game levels AND the extra levels that has more EVIL traps ahead!)
1984
Tennis. Just Tennis. One of the launch titles for FamiCom.
The real challenge starts if you set it to level 5 and watch the CPU utterly destroy you. As someone who grew up with this game, I still can't help but to laugh when you score a point and the CPU just runs towards the net like they're mad at you.
The real challenge starts if you set it to level 5 and watch the CPU utterly destroy you. As someone who grew up with this game, I still can't help but to laugh when you score a point and the CPU just runs towards the net like they're mad at you.
1989
It's basically Sokoban for Gameboy.
I love puzzle games, and Sokoban is no exception. Just that in tougher puzzles the bigger maps take too long to solve due to the tedious nature of pushing the boxes on the same path to their designated spots.
It requires a bit of patience to solve them, but it's still a good puzzle game. Let this review reflect to all Sokoban clones (as in, literally plays like this EXACT game).
..."YEAH!" (♫ do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-doo... DOOOO)
I love puzzle games, and Sokoban is no exception. Just that in tougher puzzles the bigger maps take too long to solve due to the tedious nature of pushing the boxes on the same path to their designated spots.
It requires a bit of patience to solve them, but it's still a good puzzle game. Let this review reflect to all Sokoban clones (as in, literally plays like this EXACT game).
..."YEAH!" (♫ do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-doo... DOOOO)
1987
I can't believe it's not OutRun!
A simple time-attack racing game by Square in which you must race from Point-A to Point-B as fast as possible while avoiding the traffic. You need to complete all 8 race course to finish the game. Just choose between a red sports car or an open-wheel car (either, really, they both perform the same), select one of the three banger songs in-game (by Nobuo Uematsu!), and you're all set!
As mentioned, the game was clearly inspired by Sega's OutRun. You need to reach the finish line within the given time limit, and you can extend the time by crossing 3 checkpoints in each course. It's not that easy, tho, as the timer in this game is very strict, and every second counts. If you crash, the car resets by aligning itself back at the center of the road very slowly, wasting precious seconds and it will cause you frustration.
Don't worry, tho! Your car has a neat feature to make it go faster: Unlimited nitro boosts! By holding down the Up button while moving your car it will use the nitro boosts, accelerating to top speed very fast as long as the Up button is held down, but it comes with danger. Using it will make your car suffer from understeering and less reactive to weaving through traffic. So in a way it has some strategy involved on when and where to use it.
Another neat feature is that when the timer runs out your car will still continue to glide a great distance until it comes to a full stop. This is a game changer as it can save your race if you let your car glide to the next checkpoint just within your reach, extending your time and have another chance to finish the course.
All in all, it's a fun racing game. Try Rad Racer when you get the chance. Good for 30 minutes of fun!
A simple time-attack racing game by Square in which you must race from Point-A to Point-B as fast as possible while avoiding the traffic. You need to complete all 8 race course to finish the game. Just choose between a red sports car or an open-wheel car (either, really, they both perform the same), select one of the three banger songs in-game (by Nobuo Uematsu!), and you're all set!
As mentioned, the game was clearly inspired by Sega's OutRun. You need to reach the finish line within the given time limit, and you can extend the time by crossing 3 checkpoints in each course. It's not that easy, tho, as the timer in this game is very strict, and every second counts. If you crash, the car resets by aligning itself back at the center of the road very slowly, wasting precious seconds and it will cause you frustration.
Don't worry, tho! Your car has a neat feature to make it go faster: Unlimited nitro boosts! By holding down the Up button while moving your car it will use the nitro boosts, accelerating to top speed very fast as long as the Up button is held down, but it comes with danger. Using it will make your car suffer from understeering and less reactive to weaving through traffic. So in a way it has some strategy involved on when and where to use it.
Another neat feature is that when the timer runs out your car will still continue to glide a great distance until it comes to a full stop. This is a game changer as it can save your race if you let your car glide to the next checkpoint just within your reach, extending your time and have another chance to finish the course.
All in all, it's a fun racing game. Try Rad Racer when you get the chance. Good for 30 minutes of fun!
A classic side-scroller by Hudson Soft.
This game was quite infamous for its unforgiving difficulty, with obstacle and enemy placements almost feel like unfair. There are even some levels giving less fruits to replenish your energy, eggs that contain an Eggplant that will eat away your energy very fast, and platforming that requires very precise jumps. Not to mention losing a life will make you restart at the last checkpoint unarmed.
Controlling the player character is quite tricky, too, as every jump and directional movements are greatly affected by your current momentum speed. It may take some time getting used to its mechanic.
Here's a tip: It's very important to collect the Hudson Bee item inside a hidden egg in the very first level since it gives you unlimited continues. When you get a game over and return to the title screen, press and hold any direction on the D-Pad and then press Start. The game will let you continue from the last stage you died in; Otherwise, you'll restart at the very first level, effectively losing any progress you've made.
I never beat this game as a kid, but few years ago I decided to finish it just so I can say I'm done with it. It's really THAT hard, but BOY it sure was satisfying to finally see the ending.
That was fun! I'm NOT playing it again soon.
This game was quite infamous for its unforgiving difficulty, with obstacle and enemy placements almost feel like unfair. There are even some levels giving less fruits to replenish your energy, eggs that contain an Eggplant that will eat away your energy very fast, and platforming that requires very precise jumps. Not to mention losing a life will make you restart at the last checkpoint unarmed.
Controlling the player character is quite tricky, too, as every jump and directional movements are greatly affected by your current momentum speed. It may take some time getting used to its mechanic.
Here's a tip: It's very important to collect the Hudson Bee item inside a hidden egg in the very first level since it gives you unlimited continues. When you get a game over and return to the title screen, press and hold any direction on the D-Pad and then press Start. The game will let you continue from the last stage you died in; Otherwise, you'll restart at the very first level, effectively losing any progress you've made.
I never beat this game as a kid, but few years ago I decided to finish it just so I can say I'm done with it. It's really THAT hard, but BOY it sure was satisfying to finally see the ending.
That was fun! I'm NOT playing it again soon.
1998
beatmania 3rdMIX is my 1st.
Imagine DanceDanceRevolution, but with your fingers pressing rectangular plastic keys and spinning a turntable to make music! beatmania is a classic rhythm game that basically gave birth to DDR itself!
beatmania 3rdMIX was my very first experience of playing beatmania on an arcade machine. I originally played beatmania GB on Gameboy when I was young, so imagine my excitement when young me discovered this arcade game at the mall with its loud sound system and lively music (hearing the actual original soundtrack compared to its chiptune renditions was MM-MMM good!)
The song selections were fine and they're all original music for the game, just that it displays the song's music genre instead of their titles at the music select screen. Also, you don't start with all the music; You start with a few easy songs for your first stage, and as you get to the next stages more songs are added in the list and they get more difficult. It forces you to play the harder songs as the easy songs get removed each stages.
The sound quality was, at the time, somewhat good. The keysounds were louder than the background music, which I think it was by design since you need to hear the actual sounds you're pressing. Still, the mixing could be better. As for the music themselves, it's a bag of mixed nuts: Some are electronic dance music that were popular at the time, some are slow music like reggae or ballad, and some are fun and upbeat songs like ska and funky jazz groove!
Looking back, this game was kinda janky in some places; Some song's charts had weird tight timing (you'll mostly get Good judgments no matter what), and some older songs had softer background music (which is hard to hear). Still, I spent so many coins on this game because of its addicting gameplay! The songs "tribe groove", "LUV TO ME THIRD-MIX" or "super highway" were so memorable to me — not because they sound good, it's because the charts were too technical and I failed a lot (lol).
Even though I liked this game, I'd still prefer beatmania ClubMIX which came out a few sequels later. Ah well... "Attack the music" is the only thing I love about beatmania 3rdMIX.
Imagine DanceDanceRevolution, but with your fingers pressing rectangular plastic keys and spinning a turntable to make music! beatmania is a classic rhythm game that basically gave birth to DDR itself!
beatmania 3rdMIX was my very first experience of playing beatmania on an arcade machine. I originally played beatmania GB on Gameboy when I was young, so imagine my excitement when young me discovered this arcade game at the mall with its loud sound system and lively music (hearing the actual original soundtrack compared to its chiptune renditions was MM-MMM good!)
The song selections were fine and they're all original music for the game, just that it displays the song's music genre instead of their titles at the music select screen. Also, you don't start with all the music; You start with a few easy songs for your first stage, and as you get to the next stages more songs are added in the list and they get more difficult. It forces you to play the harder songs as the easy songs get removed each stages.
The sound quality was, at the time, somewhat good. The keysounds were louder than the background music, which I think it was by design since you need to hear the actual sounds you're pressing. Still, the mixing could be better. As for the music themselves, it's a bag of mixed nuts: Some are electronic dance music that were popular at the time, some are slow music like reggae or ballad, and some are fun and upbeat songs like ska and funky jazz groove!
Looking back, this game was kinda janky in some places; Some song's charts had weird tight timing (you'll mostly get Good judgments no matter what), and some older songs had softer background music (which is hard to hear). Still, I spent so many coins on this game because of its addicting gameplay! The songs "tribe groove", "LUV TO ME THIRD-MIX" or "super highway" were so memorable to me — not because they sound good, it's because the charts were too technical and I failed a lot (lol).
Even though I liked this game, I'd still prefer beatmania ClubMIX which came out a few sequels later. Ah well... "Attack the music" is the only thing I love about beatmania 3rdMIX.