Yeah, Crystalis is really good. It surprised me. I thought I'd like it way back in the day, but never had a chance to play it, but it holds up nicely imho.crimson_tide wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 7:32 pm I keep ALMOST buying that SNK anniversary collection exclusively for Crytalis. I ****ING LOVE that game, nice Izzy!
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11) Monster Tale (DS)
The DS was a machine, like the Wii in this juggernaut era of Nintendo, that had TONS of software available. In that sea of games, there are obviously going to be titles that get lost amidst the flotsam and the high-profile titles that garner all the attention. But with so much content, there's bound to be those mythical hidden gems that slip through the cracks. I try to stay as informed as I can - or at least I used to - so that I don't let such treasures become lost to me. I had Monster Tale in my backlog for years, and I knew of its generally positive reception and aforementioned “hidden gem” status among many, and I always wanted to try it for myself, and so I did in 2023.
We're introduced to Ellie, a girl who finds herself somehow stuck in this “otherworld” where a few kids from her human world have also somehow also stumbled into this alternate dimension. And these other kids, these rascals, are harnessing and yoking the power of the denizens of this world, this world of “monsters”, for their own selfish aims. The monsters here are the good guys and they have a legend that informs them of a hero that would come to save them, and that savior is, of course, *you* in your role as Ellie. The narrative was very “Saturday morning cartoon” and skewed much more childlike in terms of presentation, both in tone and visuals. I was initially not very engaged with it, but there was a real sweetness, innocence and goodness to the vibes that grew on me, and I appreciated that tone. As the story developed, despite the very G-rated mood, and I found the overall presentation to have an attractive quality in a very non-cynical way. It was a breath of fresh air in that regard, despite the youngster-centric delivery. It's not a game that you play *for* the story, but it did have a certain quality about it that I found refreshing. Suffice it to say that you'll be working to overcome these hardened kids and in the course of the unfolding yarn, you may find that some enemies become allies. Again, it's not deep literature here, but I must say that I did enjoy it more than I was expecting from first impressions.
As a part of the “prophecy” about the monster's world getting a savior, there is a *special* monster that ties into things, and as Ellie you meet this special creature in the form of a big-mouthed monster named “Chomp” at the outset. There was an interesting mixture of genres here, as it's primarily a Metroidvania, with its rectangular rooms, ability-locked progression, and percentage-based map. But there's also a tamagotchi-like monster raising aspect where you grow and develop Chomp by feeding him foods or other items that you buy and/or are dropped by foes. Chomp can switch between screens at your command and when you've got him on the bottom screen, he'll consume or “learn” from these drops/items which allows him to develop, and as he does so he can gain levels and morph into other forms all with their own abilities. This aspect was deeper than I was expecting, with many forms to explore. By the time I had finished, I had only developed about three forms to their max, and there were many more available, which gives the game some replay value if you want to see what Chomp can become in all his various expressions. When you call chomp up to the top screen, he's available to aid you in combat, using whatever moves he's learned and his current form allows, although his energy is drained, both through attacks and simply be being away from his safe haven in the lower screen, so there was an element of strategy that forced you to consider when to use him and when to let him rest so he didn't pass out from exhaustion and go into an extended state of “hibernation” where he would be unavailable for a little while. I thought the combat was fun when using him alongside Ellie. Things could get interesting as you controlled both Chomp's attacks and Ellie's, and there was a pleasant form of chaos on offer in the more engaging encounters with larger rooms of enemies. And Ellie's moves were responsive and fun to execute with an action-oriented focus. The gameplay in general was very nice, and I enjoyed the moment to moment act of simply playing. The fundamentals felt good and well-crafted. The animations were also crisp, and the feedback was solid, enhancing the positive feel of interaction. One aspect I particularly appreciated was the fact that if you continued pummeling monsters with attacks after they'd already died, juggling them with more strikes would result in you “milking” them for more drops, and it was always satisfying to squeeze more loot through that extra punishment. In terms of the map, things weren't overly large, but it wasn't a small world, to be sure. It was fun exploring and uncovering new areas, and I had a good time working my way around and discovering things. The soundtrack also had some nice, high energy pieces, although I found it a bit inconsistent in terms of quality and not entirely memorable.
As much as I enjoyed my time with Monster Tale, there were some aspects that didn't land for me. The environments were colorful and vibrant, but they weren't always interesting artistically. Because of genre similarities, it's hard not to compare the art and presentation with the better Igavania games, as unfair as that may be, and while there were some nice locales, things rarely felt particularly exciting visually. There was also an excessive amount of mandatory backtracking and criss-crossing the map that felt a bit like padding to me. Although to be fair to the developer, I think this was intended as an opportunity to evolve Chomp into different forms. He'd max out one form and there were many others to explore and without all the “go here, now go there” busy work, the game would have been shorter with much less combat and less room to explore the potential monster evolutions. At least, that's how it seemed to me. But it felt more forced than natural in the end, and that was a little inelegant and off-putting. Ellie's movement in the air was also more floaty than I liked. It wasn't poor, but I prefer a greater heft and weight to jumps and I didn't care for that lighter gravity feeling while she was airborne. I also found the dash move (double tap in a direction) to be a bit finicky and sometimes awkward to consistently reproduce. Perhaps most annoying was the fact that the game tells you where to go at all times (until very late in the game), so there was a lessened sense of finding your own way and earning your way forward.
But despite some missteps, I had a really fun time with Monster tale. It was a colorful and well-executed metroidvania / tamagotchi with a pleasing spirit. It took me a little over eight hours to complete, although it did feel like things ended a bit abruptly, but it was surely worth the time, and as mentioned, there's more to discover if one is inclined to plumb the forms available to Chomp. It's not on the level of the best metroidvanias I've played, but to be fair, it's more than a simple rehash of that formula, and I found it a very fun game overall, and certainly a game deserving of more attention than it got during the heyday of the Nintendo DS. 4/5..
10) Vexx (PS2)
3D platformers will always hold an appeal to me. They're kind of a bridge between eras of gaming and I simply enjoy a good mascot jumping collectathon. Clearly many of these games were inspired by the formative title that is Super Mario 64, and Acclaim looked to take their shot at the form with Vexx on the PS2. The similarities are immediately apparent. Rather than a castle, Vexx has a hub world that is a literal circle with “spokes” on the edges that unlock with the accumulation of the game's primary collectible - wraith hearts. There are similarly big open worlds that encourage exploration as you look to find secrets and discover all the various ways of unlocking these vital keys to progression. I have to say that the means of progress were nicely developed. In addition to the large and colorful worlds with plenty of verticality and nooks and crannies leading to secrets, there were a nice variety of ways in which you could gain access to a new heart. Among others, there were puzzles within levels. One in particular that was memorable involved being shrunken down (or in an oversized room - the condition was never really explained), stomping on the power button of the remote to power on a tv, then hitting the button on a gaming console on the other side of the room, and then finally standing on the controller joystick while you played a game of breakout while leaning your body to control it. (You had to beat the game to get the heart.) I thought that was a fun and creative puzzle to unlock that heart. There are plenty of multi-tiered puzzles to get hearts in addition to the common collect-x-number-of-things route of progress. So there's both the rote collectathon and puzzle mixture, and I thought Vexx did a good job of layering things in that way to add a nice sense of variety. Discovering new hearts remained fresh because of the mixed visual presentation of the different spoke worlds along with the aforementioned variety to gaining access to a new “key”. Each heart felt well earned and satisfying, whether due to the challenging platforming or the discovery of some secret - puzzle or otherwise. There were also a variety of little mini games that could garner a new heart. These little diversions weren't always super exciting, but they kept up the sense of diversity, and that was appreciated throughout.
As for the fundamental platforming, things mostly controlled really well. There were the standard jumps and double jumps/flips along with an extended long jump, a ground-pound and a variety of other moves. Vexx controlled in a very responsive manner and the actual platforming was mostly a joy. Things could get fairly challenging in spots, and were I not using save states, I could imagine getting pretty frustrated in some sections. I even did get a bit frustrated *with* the use of states in a couple places, so I imagine playing it purely straight could result in some raging.
The extra lives were there, but they weren't as generous as the famous plumber, and I imagine it could be easy to run out unless you were entering and exiting levels repeatedly to “farm” more lives, which of course, is an option. I don't feel like my experience was diminished by saving outside the context of the game's intentions, however. In fact, I probably enjoyed it more because of it. But the bottom line is that the controls were smooth and fun and navigating the large levels and platforming from area to area remained engaging from beginning to end. There was also some combat as levels would be littered with a variety of foes. And you could dispatch them in a variety of ways, but just spamming the basic attack was sufficient most of the time and the combat felt forced and superfluous, despite it allowing you to fill a meter that would allow you to go into a rage state and shoot projectiles. It was usually more of a nuisance than necessary, and I avoided it as often as possible, preferring the platforming.In terms of appearances, things were bright and colorful, and I found things to be attractive if sometimes more technically (for the era) than artistically. Vexx himself was a bit of an odd and try-hard sort of edgy, and that sense permeated a fair bit of the design. I wasn't turned off by the appearances, but things were a mix of highs and lows across the various worlds, depicting the familiar fire, ice, greenery, etc. stages you might expect in a platformer. In terms of narrative presentation, Vexx faltered and stumbled. In the first place, there simply wasn't much there - which is fine to me, but if you're going to make an effort, do it right. There were only a couple of cut-scenes along with “journal pages” you could collect in each world to further flesh out the story, but it had zero pull and I utterly ignored its low quality and content.
I'll also make mention of a familiar issue for the genre. The camera here was generally pretty good, but there were spots where it lost its mind and your vision could be completely obscured. There were also situations where you couldn't rotate fully around the character and I can't stand that. And the penalties for dying were harsh in terms of the collect x number of y in order to gain a heart as the counters for those were reset upon death - another aspect bettered by emulation in this case. Finally, the final boss fight was cheap and awkward and I *KNOW* I would have raged had I not used save states for that one. And it felt out of place with no weight to the villain and little context for the confrontation in a game that was *much* more about platforming than combat. Just odd and unnecessary.
All in all, though, I really enjoyed Vexx. I've read a variety of opinions about this game and they're all over the place. Some really loved it and some thought it was trash. I appreciated the solid mechanics and the diversity of large environments and means of progression. I felt continually pushed forward to find just one more heart, and that is the mark of a good game for me, when I just want to inch forward just a bit more on the journey. It's not an all-time classic for me, but it's better than plenty of platformers I've played. 4/5.
