Sunday, December 17, 2023

Game Reviews Volume 32 From 2023 Part VI

 Probably the last one of the year unless I can beat like 10 games or so in like 2 weeks

Just beat Monopoly for Sega Master System on my 2DS. Its the board game where you choose a piece like a Thimble or Cannon and roll dice to go around the board. When you land on a property you can buy it or go to auction and highest bidder gets it. If you land on a foes property then you pay em rent and if you own it you pay nothing. If you own all 2-3 or the same color you can build houses to raise the rent and with 4 houses you can build hotels to raise it more. There's 4 railroads and the more you own the more the foe who lands on it pays. You can mortgage property and buy it back for quick money but if sold, the buyer can unmortgage it. A mortgaged one don't cost rent to land on. There's jail where you can pay to get out, use a get outta jail free card, or roll dice over 3 turns, if you get Doubles, you get out and move that much, if not, pay 50$ and move on. Passing the start gives you 200$ and there's Chance and Chest cards that apply effects like moving you to another square or getting/costing money. You can have human and computer players and I chose the Cannon cuz there's no Battleship and faced the dog as I hate those. You choose the CPU skill level from 1-3 and if a player can't pay what he owes, he's bankrupt and is out. I played me vs 1 CPU on level 2 and my 1st run I did bad so I restarted and beat him round 2. There's animation of the piece moving and it can be sped up with 1 button that cancels or or no or something. The other button is yes and is used to choose. Also when choosing a property to try to buy/sell, up/down moves it clockwise or reverse and left/right don't so it can be confusing to press Up to go Down. Choosing a character doesn't cycle back and any press on the D Pad moves it on til it loops. Also the D Pad is sensitive and moves fast when you don't want it. You do things like buy/sell your stuff before ending turn and Doubles 3x in a row means Jail. The music uses The Entertainer which was kinda ruined by that SVU ep. Good colors and graphics and the board shows who owns what space when choosing to buy/sell. You can have a time limit but I beat CPU old school. Its not as good as the GB one but has a few things I like more. And the CPU keeps trying to buy even when I keep saying no. If I kept clicking the advance button it chose 0$ and counted as no. Not bad. Glad I did this. Oh and there's limited houses and hotels to buy. Oh and you can save and load saved games later.

Just beat Dragon Ball FighterZ on PS4. Its a 2D Fighting game by Arc System Works and has CG graphics mimicking the style of the 90s anime. It takes place around the Tournament of Gods but before Black Goku arcs in DBSuper and the story has this artificial souls like in Bleach that controls characters and lets em use their power even though there's some waves that limit the fighters. you got a buncha online modes I never used. You play as up to 3 characters and have 1 on 1 rounds where you can switch between em or fight til the end. Once all 3 guys are out, that's the round. You use the buttons to do different attacks and the L/R ones do team things like switching or having an assist or a beat down. There's a Ki Meter that goes up the more damage you do/take and can use super moves by spazzing on the D Pad and tapping buttons. I figured out a but but didn't use em often. The story mode is 3 unrelated accounts of Dr. Gero's Wife as an android devolving into a mix of Buu, Freeza and the female Supreme Kai from DBAF and you gotta unlock em in order. 1st is the good guys where you use Goku and save his homies from evil clones 1 by 1 and moving from zone to zone on a map to get to and beat the boss fight, then a cut scene, then clear the next area and repeat. You don't gotta beat all the guys but fight, even when lost, gets Exp and levels that give you more life/power. Only characters in the fight get Exp but after each round, all characters, even unused, heal a bit. And you gotta get past a buncha guys at full life with you only getting some back. But enemy's don't recover if they win so you can get close and lost and bat em with another try. If you run outta guys then its game over and you gotta restart the map. The final boss is Android 21 and after beating her you unlock the bad guys story where you use Freeza and unlock bad guys. Then a story of Android 18/16/21, but after a while 16 bites it and you get the heroes. That ones tougher as you only get 2 guys for most of it. I only got game overs on that one. The graphics and music are good and it plays well with it playing fast but not too fast to handle. Plays you don't use stay low level and unused except for a body to hold ot as the real fighters play(Just like DBZ/GT/AF). There's a lot of detail in the graphics that shows it had heart like expression for a few frames. It kinda drags near the end and having to face the same guys over and over but it picks up at the end. The final boss is 21 but as a Mirror Match and she's higher level/better than you. After many attempts I beat her and got a Perfect. Would be nice with more guys like Garlic Jr or Pikkon or Pan or Xicor. There's character interactions depending on who's on the team/fighting and its pretty good with things like Freeza seeing Buu or 18 saying she'd beat 17 if he ended Krillin that draws from other DB things. The screen showing who fights stayed on too long and the game over screen having you choose yes/no to restart the map was unneeded, exp since its default on no. What am I gonna do? stare at the continue screen? But over all its a good game and I listened to it in Japanese as its the default, I didn't care to change it and the funimation actors are knda bad. Too bad it didn't have the REAL Actors from the Ocean Dub. Glad I played it. Its one of the better games of the series. Hope we get a sequel with GT/AF in it. Also it was the 1st Non Sega/Nintendo game I beat on a console that's not Sega/Nintendo.

Just Beat Puggsy on my 218 Sega Genesis Games Multicart. Its a Puzzle Platformer by Traveler's Tales and Psygnosis where you play as this devolved alien thing and go across this Island from area to area to get to the end. 1 Button is jump, 1 is grab/drop and 1 is use the item. You die in 1 hit and move slow ut on Bosses you get a 7 hit life bar. Its got great graphics and effects like scaling and swaying and the music by Matt Furniss is great. You can change what the buttons do and there's a 27 number password using 0-7 and some cheats you can put in somehow for effects. If you have Shades or Shoes that item takes a hit and Shoes lets you run/jump higher. Some levels have 2 exits and each opens a new path on the map. There's 5 bosses to beat to unlock the last level and you can go back across the map to redo levels. Pausing and hitting A/B/C exits the level if you screw up and can't finish. If you run outta guys you go back to the title screen but choosing the top option returns you to the last Continue Point on the map. Turning off the system ends it but a Password puts you back where you left off. Some puzzles are solved in weird ways like putting items in a cauldron and throwing a knife at a frog to get its leg for it. Or dropping an item down these foreground pipes to turn it into the right thing. Or throwing a Key up, inflating a Balloon below it and releasing it to get it through stream vents. You kill enemies by throwing things the right way, usually up, or Kamikazeing into em and resummoning where you fell but exiting a level undoes everything. You can move the item up/down with the D Pad and kinda climb by getting on the ledge and doing the D Pad right, maybe with jump. Its a nice game but pretty hard and tricky and some of these solutions I'd not have found w/o a guide. The credits say Puggsy 2 is coming but 30 year later, nothing. Its got a physics engine that impressive but tricky and looks/sounds great, but the gameplay is iffy. Glad I did this one.

Just beat The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on DS. Its a sequel to Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, but generations later. Like Clash of the Titans, then a direct sequel: Wrath of the Titans then years later Remember The Titans. Most things are done with the Touch Screen but you can hold L (Maybe also R) to access the Item like a Bow or Boomerang. Its got Trains to ride like the devolved guy in Big Bang Theory likes and you go around tracks and unseal more with minigames playing a flute with these midgets. Zelda actually does something in here besides sitting of her huge soft butt waiting for you by being dead and her ghost can possess things or give advice. This Link isn't as powerful as past ones as he is an engineer and its like each generation being worse than the last(Evolution disproven?). Its kinda tricky controlling both Zelda/Link and often you hit the wrong one. There's a tower of Spirits like the Dungeon but you don't gotta play past ones over and over. You can upgrade the train by mixing Treasures with Linebeck III and it gives more power. There's side quests and missions and I did some. Its an improvement over the last one in control but some parts and a bit irritating. You got this Daemon that's unsealed and takes Zelda's body and there's no Ganon so its not like Mario fighting Bowser in 95% of the games. You are in a new area after leaving the ruined Hyrule and while you have more focus with the Tracks guiding you, its less freedom. The music is good and the graphics got the Wind Waker style. The side characters have personality and the story is well written. You get 2 save files and infinite tries to get by it. I kinda liked it. Its got a few things that could be better but overall, its a good game. Glad I did this one. Oh and there's Force Gems like in Four Swords that are used to open new areas on the map and Warp to different areas.

Just beat Pac-Mania for Master System on my 2DS. Its a Maze Game like other Pac-Man ones that has you moving around an area eating all the dots and avoiding the ghosts that chase you. You can eat a Power Pellet that there's like 4 of in each level and usually in the corners to let you eat the Ghosts, but their eyes fall out and return to their grave to come back like a Lich in D&D. Also you can jump with either button and pause with start. You get 3 guys and no continues and the game can be finished in like half an hour but it gets pretty hard after a while. Some Ghosts can jump and if you time it wrong they end you. Also the other Ghosts move faster and get more aggressive and spastic but seem to not be as much in the corners, even when the Power Pellets are used. Also the game speeds up and the Power Ups wear off sooner. Its pretty unforgiving and I only won by abusing Save States, but even they it was tough. Its pretty unfair as you can only bite it 3x and then its start from the beginning and 1 touch and its over. It plays mostly well but in the speedo levels its hard to manage and the last levels have all the Ghosts as jumpers. Some levels are colored in a way that makes it hard to tell where the dots are and you got a few levels that are recolored and reused like a "new" forme in dragon ball super. I didn't hate it and its kind of at a slight angle but Up is still Up instead of moving on an X with a + D Pad like Landstalker, but it can be irritating with the easy to bite it gameplay. Glad I played it and the graphics and music are good, but I doubt I'll play it again.

Just beat Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon on DS. Its a Strategy RPG where you do a different map each chapter and gotta get the main guy to the glowing square to capture the enemy turf and end the level You get Exp for battles and every 100 you level up and get random stat boosts. Each character has a different class and some can upgrade and use other weapons. The more you use a weapon the better you get with it and eventually rank up from E to D, C, B and A. Some weapons can only be used if you have High Rank. Swords beat Axes, Axes beat Lances and Lances beat Swords but if high enough level you still cream em. There's Critical hits that to high damage and weapons break after enough uses. If a character bites it he's dead and can't come back but in the last level is a 1 time revive item. The story is good and its a remake of the 1st Fire Emblem on NES. You can't carry guys and land can limit movement but give defense and there's shops to buy items and weapons. There's Secret shops to buy rare items in and I used a guide to make sure I didn't miss things. My Pak kept freezing and I had to go back to past saves, but you get 2 save points in the map that you can return from. Also you can Suspend play but its gone after loading. There's bonus chapters if you lost too many guys to give you extra\Reward incompetence. The graphics are good and the music is nice and it plays well. I had a good time and beat it in under 18 hours. 1 trick to beat the final level is to use a Warp Spell to send Marth with the Falchion and Tiki to the final boss space, clear the guy in front with Tiki and attack with Marth and his Falchion, then heal him from a distance. When the boss attacks he gets counterpunched and you win in 1 turn. Work Smarter, Not Harder. I enjoyed this one and I'm glad I got it. It was like 20$ Game Only online years ago and I managed to get by without losing a member(except the 1 guy who you gotta sacrifice to beat the prologue). This was a good one.

Just beat Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition on PS4. Its a 2D Fighting Game that keeps wanting you to connect to the internet and has pretty good graphics and music and voices. There's a story mode that it didn't let me do for some reason and you have to start with a Tutorial to show you how to press back to block or up to jump like you never played a Street Fighter game. The 4 buttons are light and medium punch/kick and R1/R2 is strong Punch/Kick/. Triangle and Circle is using a V Trigger that builds as you fight and X with Square is Throw when close. You can spazz on the D Pad/A Stick to do better moves and it plays pretty well. The hands and feet on the characters are pretty oversized as I guess some artist like big meaty Sasquatch feet and hands and the guys are buff and the chix are thicc. There's no Blanka but they got a Brazil Chick in a small top like Pan in DBGT and thong peaking out mini shorts and she's pretty good. I did Arcade mode which has several modes based on past games with characters in those games. In here I used Rainbow Mika cuz she's Fun and Blonde and Thicc and did the 11 round Arcade Ver with fighting 1 at a time and and choosing 1 of 2 next. After trying Normal and 2/3 rounds, I lost to Dhalsim and to Continue you gotta Hit Options, but it kept going back to the PS4 Menu and I couldn't go on. So I put it on Easy/1 round and beat through it. It plays well and is pretty fun but wants me to go online over and over and I don't do that. You could Download other fighters, but I don't wanna buy a game 1 piece at a time. The story is often told in illustrations and the characters personalities are individual and likable. It takes place after 4 and before 3 and is Bison's big push which I read of and it ties together the other games. I liked it and it was worth the 20$ I spent on it used. Cool backgrounds and animation too. Glad I did this one.

Just beat Pac-Attack on my 106 Game Gear Games in 1 GBA Multicart. Its pretty much Tetris with Pac-Man and has a Free Mode for points and a Puzzle Mode where you gotta clear all the Ghosts in 100 levels. Start pauses and 1 button is yes the other is no on the menus. The yes button turns the falling pieces that are always in an L shape and made of 3 pieces of either Tile or Ghost. Every 3rd or so drop has Pac Man who faces left or right and when dropped he goes in that direction until hitting a barrier and turning, but when there's no way to go, he poofs out. He eats all the ghosts in his path and you gotta use this to clear em o advance the Puzzle round. There are 3 letter Passwords to return to the level you were on and its vowel free like Poland. You can only rotate the drops 1 way and often it seems like you get the worst pieces that interfere with what you want to do. Also often you keep getting new Ghosts that wind up leaving you 1 off from winning. You get a few Pac Man drops per Puzzle and if you run out or the middle of the screen fills, its game over but you get infinite continues, If you clear it in the Min of used Pac Mans then you get a Good rating but it don't add anything. If you line up the Tiles across the screen, it clears but some Tiles are Pink with a Diamond Mark and they don't fall but stay where they are. The only think to clear Ghosts is Pac Man and managing how to line up the dropped pieces and how to drop the next one can help win. The drops are Semi Random and often are similar but not the same. The Graphics are nice and colorful and the Music is good and it plays mostly well but if you screw up, its easier to suicide and try again next life. But often it takes a while to end it as when Pac Man is moving everything stops. Also he keeps eating Ghosts and you feel the time. Some Puzzles had me trying for over an hour. Its not bad but can irritate if it goes too long or you keep getting bad blocks. Glad I did this one.

Just beat Mega Man IV for Game Boy. Its a Platformer based on a few NES games with levels and bosses from em but formatted for the GB. You gotta fight 4 Robot bosses and each is weak to another ones attack, so beating them in the right order can let you beat them easier. There's also 4 letters B E A T in those level to unlock Beat the Bird who eventually autotargets enemies. After beating them, you face the Mega Man Killer of the game Ballade then 4 more robots with new weapons and 4 letters W I L Y to open the final level, then a final gauntlet that if you leave at any point, you gotta restart it. After beating a boss you get his weapon to use and sometimes a Rush Power like a Hoverboard or Spring. You can get up to 4 W tanks for refilling Weapon Ammo and 4 E Tanks for Health and S Tank to refill all ammo\life. There's infinite Continues and a password putting E B R and Black spaces in a grid that saves your Tanks/progress. You can get P Chips to buy extra guys and Tanks and an Engine that auto refills your Ammo w/o having it selected when you pick up Ammo Power Ups. The Graphics are quite good for 8 bit and you attack with B and Jump with A, but slide with Down and B and Start opens the Menu where B changes the page and A selects things. There's unskippable cutscenes you gotta sit through that look impressive and I think there's some Super Game Boy Colors if used on the GameCube Player. The music is good and it controls quite well with little lag and not that much slowdown. If you bite it enough you get a faster charging Buster that lasts while the game is on. If you choose to go to level select instead o Continue on the last part, you gotta redo it from the start, but Continue returns you to the last place you checkpointed on it. Its a pretty good game and I'm glad I got it. It seems to play better when you have the Advanced Buster.

Just beat Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance on GBA. Its a 1 on 1 fighting game but toned down to 32 Bit to fit on a GBA. You choose 1 guy and fight several rounds and then the game bosses who are faced 1 after the other and you use the same life bar. A is kick and B is punch and L/R does something but I didn't use it much. I think R is Block. You get unlimited Continues and there's also a survival mode to face 1 after another until you get beat, but the life is refilled each round. I put it on Easy and Best Of 1 and 30 Second Time so I could do enough damage to em and jump around until time ran out. Work Smarter Not Harder. I think you can do Power Moves but I didn't figure em out. After winning a match you can Finish the Foe with the right moves. The graphics are kinda blocky but its 3D Models on a Handheld so it makes sense. There's voices that are pretty good and the music is nice. It controls pretty well but often I wind up on the other side and don't turn around so I'm kicking in the wrong way. You can go into the foreground or background with Up and Down but Up is Jump so you gotta use it on Diagonals to Jump. You get Koins by playing the game and can use em in the Krypt to unlock more skins or other things. I used Sonya cuz she's the curvy Blonde and usually jump kicked guys. There's little details if you look like Sonya's Leather Thong peaking out of her Jeans. Its not a bad game and I had some fun with it. I got it for like 40$ in a plastic case and beat it un like half an hour. Of course its not as good as the 128 Bit version but its good at being what it is. Glad I did this one. If I knew the move's I might like it more but it can be wiggled through.

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