After my movies I missed entry, I wanted to do something similar with games. Of course, I couldn't finish as many games as I would movies. I couldn't finish one game a week. Jesus, I got a job unfortunately, and I can't sneak a session of Super Meat Boy while clocked in. My boss would be wondering why I was screaming so much.
Anyway, like last time, I will review six games I played throughout the year that I would consider blindspot games. Games that are well known that I never played. With that said, the first game I want to talk about is...
Nights Into Dreams
The later Sega consoles are a big blind spot for gamers as they are a great mix up of having a lot of exclusives and those exclusives being inaccessible due to the console not selling well. Yeah, I imagine some would love to play Panzer Dragoon Saga. But unless you have an emulator, you are going to pay upwards of a thousand dollars to play it.
Thankfully, a few of these Sega games have escaped containment such as the cult classic Nights Into Dreams.
This game has been on Steam for years, so it's been accessible for awhile. The thing that kept me from playing it is...well look at it. It doesn't exactly advertise itself. In fact, it's not even clear what kind of game it is, and I ain't spending money to find out.
Well, I finally caved in. And, I don't wanna say I regret playing this sooner, but I understand why gaming buffs adore this game.
For those as confused as I was as to what the hell this game is, Nights is an arcade title where you fly along a set path collecting blue balls to destroy alien like capsule things. Why? Fuck if I should know. We are in dream world. And these two children you play are probably having a rough time with puberty right now.
Anyway, the draw of the game is twofold. On top of destroying capsules, your goal as a player is to build a high combo, and it's pretty fun. Controls are smooth. And once you understand what the game expects from you, it's a matter of learning the layout and schmoving through obstacles. And since this is an arcade style game, the levels are short enough to where redoing them upon failure isn't too much of a punishment.
But let's face it, people didn't tell me to play this game for the gameplay. We are here for the soundtrack. And good God, is this soundtrack good. This will come up again in another game on this blog where the soundtrack just carries the rest of the game. I honestly believe the reason Nights is even talked about as a classic is because of the ost.
If I had to find a complaint, and this is totally entitled, but I would prefer to see this concept in an actual game. An arcade game is fine, but I was done with it in less than a couple of hours. If I could play Nights in a 3D collectathon style platformer, I would adore it.
I guess I could play Balan Wonderworld if I wanted that, but that's like intentionally stepping on a switch in an ancient temple. It would be the level of self-sabotage that's concerning even for me.
I guess that's the tragedy of Nights. It's similar to Klonoa. You have a premise of dreams which almost a bottomless gold mine of ideas. This is prime to get franchised the hell out of like Sonic or Mario. But instead, it is only relegated to a few unsuccessful games. And because of the absolute failure of Balan Wonderworld, the chances of seeing Nights come back in some form is slim to none.
Then again, Megaman manages to return despite its own controversial missteps. However, I would then be ignoring that at least Megaman was at one point a highly successful franchise. I can't say the same for Nights.
I'm rambling at this point. All said and done, Nights was a nice snack of the day. Its soundtrack will have a longer impact than the game itself, but that's much better than nothing.
Bastion
Oh hey, here is the other game where the soundtrack outshines the rest of the game.
Bastion was a game I technically played via a demo back in the XBOX arcade days. And at the time, I didn't care for the gameplay.
But since I wasn't invited to the Hades 2 high school party earlier in the year, I figured I go back to Supergiant's first venture.
And it's....alright.
Like I said, the soundtrack is the stand out. Apparently, this is one of those cases where the game was built around the music in the same way Sergio Leone filmed scenes around the score. It shows because the music and levels fit perfectly with one another. I finished this game once months ago. And when I listen to a track of this game, I can perfectly picture the level in my head.
As for the gameplay itself, it doesn't quite live up to the reputation as being one of most beloved indie games.
Continuing the Sergio Leone analogy that I am now deciding is the theme of this review, Bastion feels like the Fistful of Dollars of Supergiants' selection. It feels like seeing a director's first attempt at a genre. You see remnants of something that will eventually be great, but the rough edges keep it from seeing its full potential. You end up enjoying it not as a narrative experience but as an artifact.
Basically, Bastion is a trial run to what will eventually be Hades. They both have isometric combat. They both have a rich story with solid voice acting. And in Supergiant fashion, their focus is to try to have the gameplay synergize with the story as much as possible avoiding things like cutscenes and uninvolved moral choices.
The problem, and I have no other way to say this, is that Hades is leagues better than Bastion.
I can't really enjoy Bastion beyond the historical merit that it's Supergiant's first title. Everything that is good in Bastion is outclassed by Hades, and everything not so great about Bastion is a non-issue in Hades. For example, I wasn't a fan of the weird depth of field that caused me to fall off cliffs, but that's not a problem with Hades.
Other than the ending, Bastion feels obsolete. If someone asked me if they should play Bastion, I would probably tell them to play Hades instead. And if they already played Hades, they can play Hades 2 because Hades 2 is dope.
Plants vs. Zombies
Back in the day, there existed the casual mobile game market. A lot of games birthed from this soil would almost instantly become household names in the gaming community. It was honestly a cool space to find some really interesting games. But, capitalism ruined it. It's a fucking Mad Max wasteland now of spam apps, shovelware, and copycats.
Anyway, despite playing most of the classics like Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies slipped under my radar. And you know, I had some leftover Game Pass subscription, so let's use it on something nice and breezy. I opened the game and was greeted with the request to start an EA Play account.
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So after pirating the game, I started the game and had a great time.
I got some nostalgia for something I haven't even played. It just perfectly invokes this time period that doesn't really exist anymore.
In Plants vs. Zombies, you play a somewhat stripped down tower defense game where zombies attack your home. The gameplay is as simple as the title.
Yet, they do a lot with the premise. This is another game that uses the entire buffalo. It's not long before zombies begin countering your strongest defenses. You then gain counters to their counters before they find counters to those. It creates this back and forth that keeps you from relying on dominant strategies.
So the gameplay loop is pretty good. I couldn't care less about the rest of the game though.
The game has a shop system that's way too expensive for it to be useful. It's definitely a game meant to be played periodically for a long period of time with the garden system you can tend to for extra currency, but the game doesn't have much depth to warrant dedicating more hours. After the campaign, there is not much left.
Like casual games of the time, they are short and sweet. And despite their attempt to keep you on the screen, it aint got the staying power of crystal meth.
American McGee's Alice
A while back, I reviewed Grabbed by the Ghoulies. I mentioned how I have a short list of bucket list games. Games I knew I had to play at least once. There is not many left. And today, I cross out one more off of the list.
I don't know why I was drawn to this game. I suppose it's an anomaly in the gaming space. There are not many retro games that seek to reinterpret a classic story to explore the darker side of the human condition. Even now, you don't see this kind of narrative outside of visual novels and RPGs. And if there is, it's usually a stripped down experience like The Artful Escape.
Alice is more the narrative game I crave. It strives for a more elaborate story, but it doesn't compromise gameplay.
Unfortunately, the game and story aren't great individually.
The core gameplay loop is a platformer where you use weapons to fight enemies. Both of these aspects are jank as all get out. Some deaths were caused by Alice refusing to grab cliffs, getting stuck on objects, or getting pushed by a projectile. Combat consists of attacks not giving proper damage feedback, annoying enemies, and a lock on system that acts like it partied too hard the night before. It's a blessing this game allows you to save anywhere. Otherwise, these elements would be extremely frustrating.
As for the story, it shares similar rough edges. Alice's arc of overcoming her trauma is very surface level. No meaningful exploration beyond Alice feeling responsible for her parents' death. And while I like the tone of the game, it does has moments of "oooo we're being edgy" which is eye rolling. But beyond that, it's a standard adventure narrative where you beat the bad guy and collect the mcguffins to do it.
And yet, I found this game so absorbing to where I consider this the best game I played out of these six. Ive hated games with less problems than this game. What made Alice so engaging for me?
Well, I can't say it's for doing anything right, but it appeals to my personal tastes. In other words, I hope you like characters and creative visuals.
I really liked Alice as a character. I was expecting a brooding, doom & gloom type of character that would become the cliche archetype throughout the 2000s, but I was delighted how much personality she expresses. She's polite but carries that British sass. Her interactions with these macabre creatures gives the impression she treats everyone the exact same way. Regardless, from a pedestrian at the subway to a deformed white rabbit, she will treat them with the same no-nonsense and witty energy. It not only gives the story a sense of levity, but it informs Alice's character as someone more than a person with a mental illness. You can completely remove the plot, Alice's problems, and the obstacles, and Alice will still remain an interesting character.
The visuals are also great. I love the graphical fidelity from this era. The look of PC gaming from this era is just so cozy with games like Thief and Half Life. It's an extension to my love of the N64 and PS1 graphics. There is this nice balance of retro aesthetics were you fill in the gaps with your imagination but the gritty texture that feels closer to modern games. There visuals also have some clear thought in where they put the colors and landmarks.
This game is a perfect candidate for a remake. Fix the jank and maybe elaborate the themes to match modern sensibilities, and you would have a pretty solid remake. Who owns the rights to American Mcgee's Alice? Oh EA? Fuck again.
Eternal Darkness
Part of this project meant going through some horror games since a lot of my blindspot games are in the horror genre. Out of the ones I played, absolutely none of them have anything I want to talk about. So let's talk about Danganronpa instead.
Danganronpa 3
Dear God, Im finally done with this trilogy.
It's been interesting writing about this series. I wrote a review for the first two. And rereading both of them, I have come to the conclusion that this series is a mess, and Im now having to review the third entry of that mess.
At this point, I wasn't expecting the same level of brain rot as the first two. What I didn't expect was how derivative this entry would be. This is the most "going through the motions" Ive seen from this series. It's mostly boring aside from a few key standouts that the series inevitably gets from its throwing spaghetti on the wall storytelling.
A lot of the positives and negatives from the first two mostly apply to Danganronpa 3. I like the arcade style approach to the courtroom gameplay. I don't like how the interpretation of the evidence often doesn't align with the game's interpretation, and it feels like this entry is the worst of this bullshit. I like the batshit nature of the tone, but I don't like the missed opportunities Ive seen throughout this series. I like the characters in these games but in a gawking at the disturbed theater kids kind of way. To the game's credit, the cast this time around is less special needs out of the trilogy, but that isn't saying much. Some may disagree. But honestly, the weirder bunch of Danganronpa 3 feel too try hard to consider them as genuinely weird. You can make your characters as horny, insane, or braincell deficient as you want, but none of them are going to have my fingers on the emergency dial like Nagito could.
It also doesn't change the fact the writing is still frustratingly sloppy. The overarching mystery is not interesting. The individual mysteries ask for more suspension of disbelief and have gotten more over the top compared to the relatively grounded scenarios in the first game. The pacing is worse with the daily life sections feeling drawn out and uncreative, and the dialogue is still padded as shit. If any Danganronpa game demonstrates the ill-conceived concept of killing off annoying characters as a gameplay award the most, it is this fucking game.
Credit where credit is due, I actually enjoy the main character. I appreciate them giving him an arc throughout the game, at least early on. It's a step up from the blank slate protagonist we usually seen in this series or visual novels in general. And again, the games have some key standouts. One stand out in the third game has arguably the most emotionally effective moment in the series which was a pleasant surprise. Fans of the series will know which moment Im talking about.
But other than that, this visual novel series is the trilogy equivalent of Zero Escape's Zero Time Dilemma. A smart story assuming you don't think about it too hard. But if you pull the string of thought, you'll find a plethora of frustrating execution of good ideas.
Also Eternal Darkness was great. Sorry, I didn't want to imply it's not interesting. I just didn't have anything interesting to say. Go play Eternal Darkness. It's wonderful.
Earthbound Zero
I struggled to think of a sixth game to talk about. I tried to avoid settling on an RPG, because I wanted to publish this blog sooner rather than later, and a 20+ hour RPG ain't going to do it. However, I also wanted to end this blog on a bang, and a lot of my biggest blindspots are RPGs. The biggest being the first title in one of my favorite game series, Earthbound.
So let me preface a few things first. First, I am going to do what I normally do with JRPGs and review the first five hours. If I got more to say after I beat it, I will mention it in my multimedia roundup at the end of the year. Secondly, I won't be playing vanilla version. Rather, I will be playing the 25th Anniversary Edition romhack which seeks to modernize some of the janky design. Part of my hold up with playing this game for so long is the dated RPG mechanics. I suffer no fools that waste my time, and retro RPGs are certainly the town idiot of time wasting. So if you want my opinion on sans enhancements, then...sorry I guess.
Oh one last thing, I will be referring to the game as Earthbound Zero as that's the first name I heard the game be called. For those that are attached to Mother, Earthbound Beginnings, Earthbound (Proto), or whatever, then...actually Im not sorry at all, fuck you.
ANYWAY, on to the review.
And man, got to love that Famicom processing, especially in an RPG where you have to traverse long stretches of land.
That was my first note when starting up the game. Much like how it's hard for people to go back to silent-era films, it's very difficult to replay a game so hampered by it's processing power. I'd loathe to think of a situation where I didn't play this on the emulator's fast forward during the lulls.
The second note is that this game starts you off rather aimlessly. I won't say this game is obtuse. It's more this game takes a bit of combing through likely to extend the runtime. In other words, I am also glad I had a walkthrough to make the many forks in the road a smoother experience. Otherwise, I likely would have only made it as far as the first Magicant visit by the five hour mark, and that's assuming I didn't use the map as much which takes three seconds to open and close.
In the end of my five hour session, the only takeaway is similar to Bastion. except Earthbound Zero is not like a Fistful of Dollars and more like watching the 1925 version of Ben-Hur. Unless you are hankering for extra lore bits and are a lover of the origins of pillar Nintendo series, I don't see how this stands on its own compared to the far superior Earthbound and Mother 3.
So like Metroid, it has an NES entry that has aged poorly in terms of aesthetics and gameplay but precedes one of the best games ever made. When looking at it that way, it makes me appreciate Earthbound Zero for what it is. The kind of appreciation one has for a gateway drug. It just makes me want to do heroin again-uh I mean play Earthbound and Mother 3 again.
