First Taste - They Took Our Candy!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Originally I had planned on playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent for a special Halloween episode, but then...well, admittedly I just kinda chickened out. ^.^;; I'll probably still do it sometime, but...yeah. Instead I took a look at a flash game called They Took Our Candy!

It's a game where aliens stole the kids' candy! So a group of kids decides to get it back! Going into the game I actually wasn't sure what to expect, and then it plopped me on a character select screen and I realized I was creating a team of four... Each character gives a different increase to the team's overall stats, and has a special ability! I finally found out that the game is basically an auto-scrolling shooter. Your team of four is kept in a 2x2 square and fire automatically at intervals. And...that's really all there is to it. You move them around and shoot aliens in hopes that they'll drop candy. At the end of the wave, the candy can be used to buy upgrades for the next wave. Upon losing all your health a rank meter will fill up based on how well you did, and if you get enough..erm,not sure if it's candy or general score..But get enough of something and you'll gain a rank and unlock a new kid in a costume to possibly put on your team and try again with!

The music is mellow and delightful. Like, really! It reminds me of Donkey Kong Country music. Not in terms of scope, but in the way it just settles so easily into the background and I find myself humming it and just in general enjoying.

The game does have one fatal flaw though...It's slow. Very slow. And I don't mean just your kids' speed, but the aliens and everything. You don't really gain that much candy in a wave all the time unless you hammer obtained candy into the "Candy" stat to increase candy drops (Did I mention candy?) so you can't upgrade very quickly, and the aliens just slowly mosey along, each early wave at least introducing a new one. I got through to late wave 3 or wave 4 before I lost all my health and gained one rank up, one new kid. Then on the second attempt I didn't get quite that far, and didn't unlock anything! And I just did not want to give it another go. Maybe if you unlocked a new kid each time just becaues, or if the game simply played faster to better hold my interest it'd have been a fun Halloween-themed game, but as it stands... It's just kind of sour.

I do recommend that you all give it a shot, if you want something to play related to this day, but I don't really expect anyone to stick with it for long. ^.^;

First Taste - Captain America and the Avengers (Game Gear)

Heylo, everyone!

So the Avengers are pretty popular right now, huh? I rather liked the movie myself, too. :3 This game, though.. The music is okay, but it's not nearly the delightful tunes of the Game Gear that I'd heard before! It was just kinda more...there. Which I guess is still better than some of the other games I've touched on here.

The visuals aren't really all that great. I mean, it's a tiny Game Gear screen, so what're you gonna do? But even still.. When I reached the first boss, I had no idea who he was. He had yellow and green on him and he threw energy bolts...But to be fair, that could be a loooooot of people in superhero stuff... >.>;

The worst part I think is just the let down of the gameplay, really. It didn't feel super responsive all the time. Like, far as I can tell if you hold Down, and then attack, you'll shoot/throw a projectile. But it didn't always work, and I wasn't given any indication as to why it might not work. The hit detection was really wonky too. Like, that boss I mentioned? It doesn't seem like I can punch him at all. And so when I can't seem to punch him, and half the time my ground-projectile isn't working...And there's a certain stop point in the jump where you can no longer jump kick... I died quickly.

It wasn't a pleasant experience. I'd almost say it's just sour, but knowing the game also exists on the SNES and Genesis and is probably better there... Yeah, it was just kinda bitter.

First Taste - Uniracers (Super Nintendo)

Heylo, everyone!

Uniracers is a 2D racing game for the SNES... And it is amazing.

This actually surprised me, really! I mean, it's a game about racing anthropomorphic unicycles... How is this going to be a good game?? But..they did it. ^.^;

The music is probably the biggest reason why it's so good, honestly. The creators gave the game a rock-style soundtrack that just gets you pumped as you go whizzing through all the tracks! I couldn't help but feel all excited and intensely focused on winning the race!

Gameplay-wise, it's definitely simple and easy to learn, though difficult to master, I'm sure. You just hold the direction you want to go, and you go! But you can also jump, and do tricks that'll help speed you up! On straight-aways I liked just constantly jumping and doing one forward roll since that's about all the time you have to get a trick in with a regular jump. There are also multiple modes to play, based on the track you pick. Some are drag races, where you just aim to get to the end first, some are circuit races with multiple laps, and some are just simply tracks built for you to try to get the highest trick score you can!

The entire experience was just utterly fun and definitely a game to come back to!

First Taste - WCW Super Brawl Wrestling (Super Nintendo)

Heylo, everyone!

I think I've mentioned 'ugly games' in the past... Well, sorta. I know I called a game ugly at least once! I feel like I should explain what I think of with an ugly game. Because WCW Super Brawl Wrestling is the ugliest game I've seen in a while.

See, when it comes to gaming before polygons were the big thing, I've always found that the one thing a game company could do that would guarantee them an "ugly" spot is to try to do something that is beyond the normal realms of the console. Like with King's Quest V earlier, the game was clearly developed for a computer that was stronger than the NES and so everything has a weird ugly color to them. Maybe if you didn't know that King's Quest V was on the PC at all, then you could maybe look past it but as soon as you see and hear what the game is supposed to be like...yeeeaaaaah...

This game takes another route, that is still the same sorta "Too big for the console" kinda thing. Up until you actually start playing the game, everything is trying to be just plain photos of the wrestlers. Like, in the character select screen! You have 12 wrestlers to choose from, but they are all peach-ish brown-ish blobs that move around, sometimes call out a catchphrase or something (I assume... I've never really paid much attention to wrestling, especially not back in 1994!) and it just really doesn't look very good at all. The menus prior to this also had photos of certain moments in wrestling and are equally 'off' in color, and ugly and yeah... The actual sprites in the game weren't very appealing either, though some of the moves were decently animated.

It also doesn't help that the only music in the game is the title music. It's okay, but there's nothing memorable about it at all... I guess maybe it's the WCW theme song from the time? I really don't know... But it doesn't really matter that much anyway because as soon as you get to the first menu, all music stops! All you get is the sound of the cursor moving, and the sound of the 'catchphrases' on the character select... During the wrestling match itself you just get sound effects, the occasional commentator quote, and the ambient noise that sounds kinda like static of the crowd cheering.

I'd..really rather not go into the gameplay.. Well, for one this post is getting kinda long.. ^.^; But it's also because the only real way to play the game seemed to be to just kinda mash buttons and hope you're doing something right! It would've been nice if I could've figured out how to do a signature move as well, but..yeah.

The overall experience was just really not pleasant at all... I'm sure there are much better wrestling games out there, even for the SNES!

First Taste - BreakThru (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Heylo, everyone!

Admittedly I was expecting some sorta Arkanoid clone with a name like this... Imagine my surprise when I started it up, and found out it involved cars instead! ....Then imagine my disappointment playing the game once it started. >.>;

BreakThru is a constantly scrolling driving game of sorts where you have to avoid bullets,  mines, trucks, rocks, gaps, landslides, um...Honestly just about everything in the game besides the road itself. >.> The game is very much about memorizing where things are/were, and I figure was prooobably an arcade game first, as such.

The music and sounds are pretty good, though nothing I'd write home about (Even if I'm writing about them here!) annnd I'm not sure if there's much more to say! ^.^;

I didn't play the game for very long 'cause it's just not the kinda game that I really like very much... But at the same time once again I'm not sure I'd call it a bad game, either! It's just...not for me. So it was kinda, you know, sour.

First Taste - Battleship (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Heylo, everyone!

Today we have a board game! ...Well, not really. I mean, it is, but it isn't! After all, it's a video game of a board game! I'm not really sure I need to explain what Battleship is... If you don't know, um, somehow...Like, being from a place that doesn't really have it? Though most of the world probably has some version of it, I'd think.. Er, anyway! Battleship is a game where you place your ships of varying sizes, and then you and your opponent go back and forth naming coordinates until one of you hits every part of every ship that your opponent has! This works the exact same way.

Well, not really. See, normally in Battleship (Regular, not some of those possibly fancy ones like electronic Battleship!) you can only shoot at one space at a time.. But there are single-use special missiles that you can use in the NES version of the game that give you 4-5 hits in a pattern! This actually really helps you narrow down some sections of the field so that the game can speed up some. But...it's really slow even with that... What helps make up for this is the music being pretty dang awesome, though! But I guess if you played it a lot in a row even that would get pretty repetitive...

I'd say this is the kinda game that you should play only one level of at a time. It gives you a password afterwards, after all! So for myself, I'd say it's salty because I'd not rush to play it again, but I'd probably keep that password handy for those times that I feel like continuing on further because hey, sometimes it's fun to play Battleship. ^.^

First Taste - Pit Fighter (Sega Master System)

Heylo, everyone! Today's game is one that I hadn't played before... Oh, big surprise, I know! X3 It's also another one that lured me in with sweet temptations!

See, Pit Fighter's title screen music was absolutely amazing. I was really drawn in and got all excited to play, buuuuuuuuuut then I started digging into it and it was just a big let down!

The layout of the game was just way too large, to start with. There was a lot of room to move around, which is usually a good thing, but this was because your character was just so tiny! And the hit detection wasn't very good either.. I also blame the wide movement space for this, really. It's good to be able to get away from your opponent if you need to, but not when you can spend most of the fight massively away from each other!

There wasn't even any music during the fights, either... So it was just...disappointing. Very sour.

First Taste - King's Quest V (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Why...why would they do this? Oh, sorry, manners.. Um, heylo everyone. Now then.. WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? King's Quest V is, from what I've been told, a pretty good PC adventure game... The NES version, however, does not really look as such! It just really was not made for this console. The music is rather cacophonous to my ears, the graphics are just mushy and ugly and...and it's a point and click game! I know there are some like Deja Vu that are supposed to be really good, but in general the NES was not made for point and click games.

I realize I'm probably being kind of unfair to the game, as I didn't even really play past the intro, but that's because I knew what it would be like already! And when the graphics and sound are clearly muddled down versions of what is already known to be better elsewhere... I just can't bring myself to really want to even try that hard...

But that is part of what makes this a first taste, you know? I mean, if what touches your tongue is so repugnant that you don't even want to try to force down any more of the meal, then why would you? That's how I feel going into this game...

 

First Taste - Aerial Assault (Sega Master System)

Heylo, everyone!

We visit yet another oft-ignored...well, by me anyway, genre for today's game! The side-scrolling shoot 'em up! I didn't really hold too much hope for this game, I'll admit.. ^.^; I really need to stop judging games by their genre though, because this one really surprised me!

Visually the game wasn't anything I haven't really seen before, but it was still very nice. Everything was clear and nothing at all got muddled up. The only reason I'd die is from my own dumb mistake, rather than a bullet hidden in the background. ...Well, sorta.. There was one point in the second stage where suddenly missiles started flying up from the bottom of the screen and there was no indication they were going to do that so I had a real cheap death there... But all the others were my fault! Speaking of the second stage, they did a really neat thing there where as the stage progressed, eventually the lighting in the back would further dim. Like, it started at twilight, and then went on to evening, and then late evening. It was pretty cool, especially considering it was a Master System game.

The music in the game was quite nice, too. Not something I'd necessarily play outside just to listen to, but it kept me charged for the game. The sound effects...not so much.. >.> They were the usual blips and beeps of the Master System and really were rather annoying, but not so much that they really pulled the game down. Like, they were annoying, but you just kinda tune them out.

It was the gameplay that I was most surprised with, I think. Like, the side-scrolling shooting was par for the course (though you could hold the button down for rapid fire. Always a plus!) But what really got me were the different weapons. When I've played shooters like this before, usually I could expect the same basic line-up of weapons. Single shot, spread-shot, laser, and maybe a little buddy to help shoot as well. In Aerial Assault, there was the single shot, 3-way spread, 5-way spread, a horrible gun that shot in whatever direction you were moving, missiles, a somewhat short ranged one that exploded into multiple pellets, and a 'nova' blast that simply radiated shots out eight directions from you! I have never in my life seen a variety of weapons like that! It made the game really quite fun, though rather annoying when I'd wind up grabbing that stupid "Move and shoot" weapon... >.<

But all in all...I'd actually have to call this a pretty sweet game! Maybe I can get further in it with more practice and play...

First Taste - Operation Thunderbolt (Super Nintendo)

Heylo, everyone!

Operation Thunderbolt is a game that uses the SNES mouse! Not a whole lot of those out there, huh? Off-hand I can only think of Mario Paint.. ^.^; I mean, I know there are others, like this one, but I just don't know what they are!

It's also a game about shooting lots of people who have done bad things! Like, really. That's pretty much all you do. It's one of those games like Lethal Enforcers where a lot of bad guys pop up and you have to shoot them before they shoot you, as well as their projectiles and bombs and stuff. In fact.. *shuffles through notes* Yup! It was indeed an arcade game to start with. And..is apparently loosely based on a real counter-terrorist operation.. o.o; Huh.

As for the game itself though.. The music was okay! I don't really recall anything memorable either for good or bad reasons, so..just kinda middle ground, I guess! The visuals were kinda the same way, too. It didn't look bad, it just wasn't anything special, either.

Where it suffered most I think is just the playing of it.. ^.^; Being a mouse-gun game, the gameplay was pretty repetitive and...not fun. It was okay to start with, kinda difficult in some levels, not so much so in others, but then when I hit level four and had to start rescuing hostages... It was just the worst. Because the hostages were the worst ever! They would come out of the doorway you shot open and just run around back and forth slooooooowly moving towards the edge of the screen. And almost always a bunch of bad guys would come up behind them, so I had no choice but to take damage! It just left a really bad taste in my mouth.. I know a lot of these kinda games have innocent people you're not supposed to shoot, but I've never seen one where they are as horribly frustrating as this one.

So this was mostly just a sour experience, I think. Once again I can't bring myself to say the game was bad, it just wasn't that great!

First Taste - Championship Pool (Super Nintendo)

Heylo, everyone!

I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to today's game... Pool games I've tried in the past have had a track record of being finicky, poorly designed things. and I suck at them. Probably mostly that last part, really.. >.>; But Championship Pool is definitely one of the former!

For those who don't know, Championship Pool is a billiards game. And if you don't know what billiards or pool is..then..um.. look it up? ^.^; Right away when the game started up I had a feeling it was going to be terrible, though... The music you hear is a really poor quality blues tune that just kinda goes on and on and on..

Granted, I'll give the game credit for having a lot of options.. Freeplay, Tournament play, challenge shots, and  party mode for those who want to play with friends! And it even has a variety of different ways to play pool! But once you get past that there's just nothing worthwhile... >.>; Oh, wait, yeah, there is one thing. When at the table, hit start, pick "jukebox," and then press left on the D-pad until you reach "Music off." This was the only way to really try to play and not lose some of my sanity!

There wasn't really anything to this experience that was good.. I keep harping on the music, with good reason, the visuals aren't anything pleasing either.. It's really just rather ugly... And the controls aren't very intuitive! Like, most pool games I've played you line up your shot, then you enter a "Power meter" thing, where you can also put on some English (Or spin, as it might otherwise be called~) and then you time it and make the shot and stuff! In Championship Pool, you line up your shot, and if you hit A again, you make it. You have to hit Select to change your power. >.> And I'm not sure you can put on any English at all... But really, the select button? One of the most annoying buttons to have to press? You're not doing anything with L or R! If you had to go and make it a separate thing like that, why couldn't you pick one of those?!

This just...Seriously. Really. Truly. Bitter bitter bitter bitter! If you wanna play pool, find another game! Or go find a pool table in the real world! ...That isn't surrounded by intimidating men already playing it so you just kinda wait your turn but by the time they're done playing you've already left... >.>;

First Taste - Spellcaster (Sega Master System)

Heylo, everyone!

Spellcaster is a game that started out pretty awesome... It's mostly about a spellcaster! ...in Japan! The very first thing you hear of the game is the absolute worst 'thunder' sound effect I've heard in a game. X3 Which was just amazing, I think. It seemed so corny! As did the demo of the first stage.. The way the main character runs is just...Well, he kicks his knees up really high at the least. X3

And really that encapsulates the whole feel of the game... It's like an old, bad anime. It is obviously taking itself so seriously, but with typos in the dialogue, odd looking characters, and hit-and-miss localization choices (I'm pretty sure no where in feudal Japan did they have 'spaghetti stalls' on the streets!) it just ends up seeming so corny that I couldn't help but like it!

It also sounds pretty good for a Master System game! The sounds aren't grating, and while maybe a little repetitive, the music's not the kind of repetition that gets annoying.

As for the gameplay, during time in towns it's...weird. It has odd adventure game prompts on the side which, at least for the little bit I played, didn't seem to really have much purpose at all. But I figure later in the game maybe there are puzzles or something for you to do. And on the "field", you have a side-scrolling action game that reminded me very much of Shadow Dancer. Take a few steps, attack an enemy, rinse and repeat. But unlike Shadow Dancer, you actually had a health meter! Named STGH. Worst abbreviation choice ever. X3 You also had an ENGY meter that would go up for picking up orange balls, but I couldn't figure out what that did since it never went down...

All in all the game was pretty fun! Though as soon as I got to the second stage the difficulty seemed to ramp itself up a good bit with the new enemies and everything... So I'd say it was a salty experience, ultimately. Good, and I may well go back to it, but I doubt it'd be something I'd play a ton. ^.^;

First Taste - Tesserae (Game Gear)

Heylo, everyone!

...Um... well, er, Tesserae is a game for the Sega Game Gear... It has a neat little sound-effect-based intro song.. Like, the kinda thing you might here as a demo on a keyboard. But more chiptune-y. It's pretty catchy, really. I'm still listening to it even as I write this.

As for the game itself... Um...aheh...uuuuh... You move colored shape things over each other and..try to get rid of all but one I guess? Um..I think that might be the goal. ...Maybe. I..I really had no idea what I was doing going into it... And even now, having attempted a few stages, I still don't know what I am/was doing.

I'm not even sure I can say what flavor it was. Like, at all. I..I just don't know.

First Taste - Blackjack (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Heylo, everyone! You know how when you're eating peanuts, or grapes, and you get a really good one to start out and it makes you excited for the whole batch, and then you realize you ate like, the only good one of what you had? And the rest are average at best, and horrid at worst? That's Blackjack for the NES.

When the game loaded up, I was greated by some great chiptune honky-tonk! Like, I was really excited to play the game just based on that, since I expected it would be pretty generic and bad what with it just being called "Blackjack."

Turns out my expectations were right, though. -.- Once you get past the title screen music, there's no music at all... Just sound effects that sound like they were pulled from an Atari...

Now, granted, it's not really a bad game since for a game that is only Blackjack? It's good for what it is. Simple to use, and the game plays pretty fast. But unless you've just got a bad blackjack habit, I have to wonder...why?

I won't say this was a bitter experience, because like I said, the game itself isn't bad, but it's definitely a huge disappointment. Just...so sour...

First Taste - Jacksmith (Flash game)

Heylo, everyone! Another flash game this time! That's not bad, right? I mean, we all have times when we just want to play a simple little game instead of something bigger. ...Or more frustrating, if we're talking some of the old games. >.>;

Jacksmith is a game made by the Papa Louie Arcade people. I was worried about that at first... I mean, all the "Papa's whatever" games aren't bad or anything, but that kind of multitasking with the mouse is something I just can't do very well. And I hate sacrificing quality for quantity.. ^.^; But since this wasn't a Papa game, I thought maybe it'd be different!

Unnnnfortunately, it wasn't... Jacksmith is about an anthropomorphic donkey who likes being a blacksmith but isn't making very good money so he goes and takes to the road to make weapons for heroes to fight the monsters in hopes of saving a princess. And you do this in the same basic way that the other games by Flipline Studios in Papa Louie's Arcade.

Thing is... I actually liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I mean, I'll admit, I definitely have more of an interest in medieval weaponry and stuff than I do making hot wings and pizza and tacos and whatever else Papa Louie's got under his franchise..>.>; But it's also that they removed the key element that kept me from really liking the Papa Louie games. Sure, you still have the game nudging you to multitask, but it's really just for a bonus, more than feeling like you'll lose a customer. So I can go as fast or slow as I feel comfortable doing!

There are also special parts to make even better weapons than just "Basic", and I guess it is good to go faster, since that bonus is money and you can use that money to get more special parts to build better weapons more frequently.. But still! The game seemed like it had a fair bit of depth going into the crafting, which it well should! X3

The music was quite nice as well, though I'm not sure if it's anything particularly special... Just that it fit the game quite nicely.

All in all this was a s...alllty experience. ^.^; Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the game! After all, salty foods are great! Just not quite as good as sweet things. I wouldn't play this game very frequently I don't think, but at the same time of all the Papa Louie's Arcade games, I think this is the one I'm most likely to come back to.

First Taste - Infectonator 2 (Flash game)

Heylo, everyone! I decided I wanted to poke around at some new flash games again, so I'm gonna take my first taste of Infectonator 2!

Looking at the intro screen, I think I might have actually played the first game before... It's a game where you play an evil scientist of some sort, bent on...um.. I guess world domination.. But if everyone ends up a zombie, is that really any sort of good thing? I dunno...

Alright, yes, I definitely played the first game! I remember it being reallyreally fun, too! And this is no exception. :3 The music is that kinda chiptune music that I just never get tired of! Plus there are enough songs and they are well made in a manner that it'd just be so hard to get annoyed at them! I especially love the frantic little music that plays once you get the infection started. ^.^

The spritework is also very nice! Everything's got this sorta cute little quality to them, even the zombies!

This really is just a very well made flash game that I'm sure will be addicting to more than just myself... It's just so sweet!

First Taste - Battletoads in Ragnarok's World (Gameboy)

Heylo, everyone! Have you ever wanted to play Battletoads? Chances are good if you're reading this, you've played it at least once so that's a silly question! But have you ever wanted to play it without any of that pesky color?

To my surprise, that's what I did! Having never even really heard of it before, I honestly expected Battletoads in Ragnarok's World to be a portable sequel that's rarely mentioned... Like the Kid Icarus game for the Gameboy! But instead it really was just a full on port of the NES Battletoads game. Which I guess isn't really a bad thing, even though it wasn't what I expected.

The game actually holds up surprisingly well. The graphics can be a little muddy'n'ugly with the lack of color but it's not actually too bad when you're playing the game itself. Like, while the backgrounds weren't pretty, the objects were just fine. I could tell exactly where I needed to be in the Turbo Tunnel when objects came to crash into me! ...Whether or not I could get out of their way is another matter. >.>;

The music and general gameplay held up just fine too. I mean, it really did just feel like I was playing Battletoads. It just happened to not have any color. I could've probably been playing Battletoads on an old TV and gotten the same effect!

So it was a salty experience in the end. I mean, it's not a bad game and it held up just fine, but unless I'm itching to play Battletoads on the go, why not just play the NES version?

First Taste - Shadow Dancer (Sega Master System)

Heylo, everyone! I'm gonna admit right up front that I didn't play this game for very long... Maybe 10 minutes? But I have a good reason! ........It's poopy. :c

I'm pretty sure Shadow Dancer is actually a Genesis game, which would mean this is a port of that... And it definitely shows. The graphics are really ugly, like they're trying to do something the system can't really handle very well, and the music follows suit. It wasn't anything impressive, and was more of an annoyance than anything.

I think the worst part though, was the game itself, and that makes me scared for any other versions as well.. 'Causeit was one of those games with enemies every three or so steps! Not only that, but if you got hit once, you died! It was a real pain in general, and I really didn't want to even try again when I got a game over!

I guess one thing that did surprise me was the vocals in it.. Yeah, it actually had a guy's voice when I did a special move. Not that I could tell what he was saying, though. It was just a garbled mess that barely took the form of vocalizations! Just enough for me to know what it was, if not what was said.

Really though, it was still a bitter experience...

First Taste - Frantic Flea (Super Nintendo)

Heylo everyone! Today I've got a treat for you! What's an animal, is fast, and is completely nonsensical? ...Well, yeah, it's Frantic Flea. How'd you guess? Oooh, right, titles.. >.>;

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect going into this game at all... I mean, I feel like I might've kinda heard about it before, but there was absolutely nothing at all in my memory to go along with that! I kinda wish it still was that way now.

The game had a rather bland title screen, just all really simple and nothing really jumped out... The music was really repetitive and not very good either! I also honestly have no idea what I was doing in the game.. ^.^; It said to get 20% of...something..which seemed to be "Little ants." But when I got 20%, nothing happened! I didn't go to the next stage, nothing told me "Hey go here now!" or anything like that! I mean, maybe I was supposed to just wait out the timer or something... But if that's the case, why didn't anything tell me to do that?

The whole experience was just completely bitter and I'm glad to be done with it! XP

Second Helping - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NES)

Heylo everyone! Today we have a new segment here on the Gameratings! I like to call these 'reviews' "Second Helpings." Because thing is, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? I've played it before. Not much, but it's not my first time. So rather than having a "First Taste" of the game, I'm having a "Second Helping" to see if it still tastes the same as it did before!

So! As it stands... This game was bitter and horrible and I'm not even sure what. >.>; When I first tried it I just had no idea at all what I was doing... I found videos later that kinda seemed to indicate how to play it right, but even that still seemed kinda wonky and odd, you know? So I shall take a second helping now...Let's see if it still tastes the same...

And...it actually tastes better than I remember. Maybe I was just influenced by popular opinion at the time, but given it a proper look on its own merits...I'm surprised!

The music is actually pretty nice, and the sound effects aren't as grating as they could be. Even the way the game plays isn't too awfully bad when you know what you're doing!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a good game by any means! It's still also boring as heck to walk through with the levels just being way too long for how slow you move...But I just mean it's not the horrible mess I thought it was!

So honestly I'd say it's a sour game!

Not nearly as bad as the bitterness I expected, but still not something I'd really wanna have very often!

First Taste - Power Strike 2 (Game Gear)

Heylo, everyone! It's that time again! Which is kind of funny to say, when I post with frequency, huh? Well, even still, it's that time again!

This time I took a look at Power Strike 2 for the Game Gear. Turns out it's a vertical shoot'em up! I honestly wasn't sure what to expect until I hit 'on'.. ^.^; But as soon as the title screen music started I was hit by a wave of nostalgia.. Not for the game itself of course, but for the system! I loved my Game Gear as a kid, even if I didn't play it a whole lot once I got a Gameboy... You can't deny that the Game Gear had a lovely sound chip in it. :3

But anyway, back to the game itself... It was hard! And not just because of bullets flying or me not being very good at shooters like that in general, but because it was hard to tell what was going on with everything in the background! It looked really clean and sharp, but because of that everything just kinda blurred at times and I really wasn't sure what was an enemy, a bullet, or just filler in the background! I thought maybe if I messed with the speed it would help things too, but honestly I couldn't tell if the speed setting did anything at all...

The gameplay itself wasn't anything to write home about, really. I mean, I'm not really well-versed in vertical shoot 'em ups right now, but it didn't seem to bring anything to the table that other games probably did and then some. Plus the stages were really rather long...

Sound and music-wise, I definitely enjoyed the game, though. Again, it's just that delightful blend of..um...Game gear-ness! I'm not really sure how else to describe it...

All in all, I would say that Power Strike 2 on Game Gear tastes kinda sour!

I might pick it up every so often, but really it'd only be for the music... And if I want tasty Game Gear music, there are plenty of other options!

First Taste - Card Monsters (Flash Game)

Heylo, everyone! I figured this time around I'd go with a bit of a different thing.. Trying out a flash game over on Kongregate.com called Card Monsters! Little known fact...I absolutely looooooove card games! Like, nearly anything played with cards! Even if it's a card game video game...X3 Hmm, well that gives me an idea for a future theme.. Anyway!

I was rather surprised by the layout and design of the cards and field. Like, it was really nice! The whole thing was very pleasing to the eye and the artwork was warm and pleasing. Everything was vaguely cute, so that was nice for me, at least!

Card Monsters is a very simple card game to play. Like, really simple! The whole strategy of the game is simply which card to play when, as all combat is automatic in targeting and damage. This is both a good and a bad thing, though.. I mean, yeah, it's great that it's so simple and anyone can just kind of jump in and play, but that simplicity also makes it kind of boring after a while...

The game also has some nice music and sound effects. Even with the repetition, it didn't grate on my nerves or anything. The only sound effect I'd say that I could've done without was the 'beeeeeeeeehhhhhh' of the experience gains. Oh, yeah, that's right. Your cards gain experience for being in your deck! Well, the monster cards do. And I have no idea what happens if you level them up, since it takes so many experience points... Once I finished playing, my oldest monster (a little rat guy!) still was only at 103/500 experience.. ^.^;

Similarly, Card Monsters has what most any flash game or things of the sort seem to now...Micropayments~ Now, on the whole I don't really mind the microtransation stuff, so long as it doesn't interfere with the game itself! And it didn't really seem to do so this time. I mean, maybe in the future it would, like if I wanted to get REALLY awesome cards from the strongest type of booster pack (That's the main way you get new cards, by the way! In-game currency, or purchased tokens to buy boosters) without needing to grind out the in-game currency then it'd get in the way, but for my little jaunt it wasn't intrusive at all.

Only other thing to note would be that the game, even when doing the single-player stuff, (Oh, right, yeah, you can play against other players! This is stuff I should be mentioning sooner, huh?) has to talk to the server. And it was kinda slow doing that sometimes. Nothing interrupts a game more frustratingly than needing to wait for the server to respond...

Overall, I'd say that this game had a salty taste!

It wasn't bad in and of itself, but as it stands I think I'd probably get bored of it fast if I played it more than every once in a while. ^.^;

First Taste - Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 Adventures (Gameboy Advance)

Heylo, everyone! Danny here again with another first taste of a game! Which...I guess is still obvious, huh? I really need to figure out a better way to introduce these. ^.^;

The game this time around is a hunting simulation game! Which is yet another genre I've not played very much of... Oh, I never did mention that did I? A lot of games that I've played in the past have just been RPGs. I mean, there are other genre games like action and platformers and stuff, but RPGs have always been my big love! Buuuut since this isn't one, I should stop talking about that and get to the point!

Playing this game was a very odd experience for me. I really had no idea what to expect out of a hunting game on the GBA! Though I did know what to expect out of the GBA.

The music in the game is..um, kind of lacking. Not just that it's bad, mind you. I mean, it is! Which is what I meant by what I expected out of the GBA, by the way~ The song itself sounds like it should be nice, but the GBA just kinda mangled the tune. But there's also a scarcity of music! I only really found the title screen music, and the "Cabin" music and...otherwise nothing. Which I guess makes sense for a hunting game, but when there's not even ambient noises it's kinda weird.

Also kinda weird was how the game itself played out. You choose a quick hunt, or to take part in career hunt stuff.. Either way it's a quick hunt, one just has a goal and the other doesn't. and then from there you pick your shotgun and rifle, and what kinda call/musk you want! Far as I can tell, while perhaps the guns made a difference, the musk/call didn't seem to do anything really.. And then you drive off to a hunting ground with a horrid "truck engine noise" and..wander. Like, nothing seemed to really indicate where I could go or where animals were! When I got kinda close to one it popped up a tiny thing to indicate that, but it wouldn't tell me which direction, or how close exactly, or anything like that! And then when I did finally find something, I hit the button which brought up a cursor to move to a certain distance, and then if I hit it again I go into the actual aiming menu and try to shoot the animal. It was really just kinda clunky and unappealing. :\

The overall aesthetic of the game was just kinda ugly and meh. Even in the trophy room thing at the lodge you was just blurry and unappealing. So ultimately I'd have to say this was another bitter experience!

I just really have no intention of ever returning to this game. So until next time!

First Taste - The Tick (Sega Genesis)

Heylo, everyone! Today I took a look at The Tick on the Sega Genesis. I'll tell you right now I've never actually watched the show it's based on... Like, I knew it existed back on Fox when I was a kid, but I just never really thought it was interesting. From what I've heard, I probably should've taken a look, or at least look at it now... Maybe sometime! But for now, I'm supposed to be talking about this game.

Thing is though... I don't want to talk about it. It was not pleasant, like, at all... To start with, you are greeted in the intro publisher info stuff with a horrible rendition of the 20th Century Fox theme, and the music really doesn't get any better. I think it got worse, really. It was repetitious and horrible to the ears and was just all around terrible!

The gameplay wasn't much better. See, The Tick is a sidescrolling beat'em up. The kinda thing like Streets of Rage or Fatal Fury. But it's just as repetitious as the music. In a better game of the genre, you'd have a wide variety of enemies who might be pretty similar, but at least looked kinda different! In The Tick, I fought three ninjas. Red ones with swords, Blue ones with shuriken, and black ones with nunchucks. And the last one didn't even show up until the third stage! And there were soooo many of them! I'd walk a few steps, fight like, five ninjas, and then another few steps and another five! It was just completely tedious! >.<

They did try to change it up every two levels it seemed like.. Because every other level it seemed like I had to dodge a bajillion projectiles being thrown at me on rooftops instead of fighting things. And these were frequent enough that if I weren't careless about it from a lack of caring, I'd have taken forever to get anywhere! Though I will admit, one thing that was nice was that when I fell off the buildings, rather than dying as might've happened in another game, I was taken to a "Subplot" where I had to fight another one of the famous characters from the franchise! ...I think. Like I said, I really don't know a thing about The Tick. The downside to this, though, was that it was always just a simple beat'em up thing, just that they took more hits than the regular enemies.

But hey, at least the Tick was well animated! Now if only the rest of the game were, too... This was ultimately my first bitter experience since starting this blog.

Maybe someone out there likes it, but it's really just not for me! At least it also served as a reminder that these bitter tastes do exist. Even if I don't really wanna run into them. :\

First Taste - Android Netrunner (LCG)

Heylo, everyone! Since I missed the post yesterday, I figured I'd double-post today. ^.^;

Have you ever wanted to be in charge of a big corporation? Making tons of money and forwarding your big plans for today and the future and everything? ...No? You'd rather be the little guy fighting against that with your hacking skills? ...oh. erm..um..Aheh...well, right, then! Either way Netrunner is your thing!

Android Netrunner is a Living Card Game designed by Richard Garfield set in the same world as the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG. I'll admit, I don't really know much about the setting or anything,but I did play the LCG! It's an asynchronous game where you play as either the MegaCorp forwarding your Agendas, or the Netrunner hacker guy who is trying to steal those agendas and take the MegaCorp down!

The game is a little awkward to learn and set up, as there's so many different little things that you can do, but you only have a limited number of actions. So you learn pretty quickly that you need to not only strategize your deck, but also your resources! Lots of management to do and it can get a little overwhelming at times. But you know, that's part of the fun, I think! Yeah, it's difficult, but when you manage your resources just right, and are able to pull off a big trap on the Runner, or push forward hard at a server to get at those agendas, it really makes you feel awesome!

The game has a wonderful aesthetic to it as well! Every single card is designed so that the name of the card and what it does makes perfect sense together. It's a kind of cohesion I've really not seen in a lot of card games at all. At least not to the level that Android Netrunner has.

Android Netrunner definitely has a sweet flavor!

I'm really looking forward to getting to play it again!

First Taste - The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES)

Heylo again everyone! So does anyone out there watch the web-series Game Grumps? It's a set of videos on Youtube by Jontron and Egoraptor of them just having fun playing games. It's plenty of fun to watch! But sometimes I can't help but giggle at how much trouble they have figuring things out about the games... It's just so silly watching them keep trying to do something that seemed so obvious!

That's basically what spurred me to take on Legend of the Mystical Ninja for the first time myself, to see if it really was as difficult as they made it out to be! The answer I found...Yes, kind of. ^.^;

Legend of the Mystical Ninja is a Super Nintendo game made by Konami, starring Kid Ying and Doctor Yang. ...Except not really. See, this is a game in the Ganbare Goemon series by Konami, and stars Goemon and Ebisumaru and other friends! It's just one of those silly early era translator things... Maybe because most people over in the West wouldn't really know who Ishikawa Goemon is? Hmm...

Anyway! The game itself is pretty fun to play! When I gave it a shot, I really didn't have any trouble dodging around the enemies running around... It was the first boss who gave me the most trouble! So I can definitely see why people might call the game hard. 'Cause, well, it kinda is! Maybe not super hard, but then this was just my first playing of the game. Maybe it gets a lot harder later on.

Aesthetically speaking, the game is just marvelous. I mean, the design of the graphics really works for the kinda silly, Japan-themed game that it is! And the music just further bolsters that. I was really impressed with it.

The only thing that really hampered my enjoyment of the game, really, is just how many enemies show up at a time... And some of them seem to have nearly unavoidable attacks if you let them get it off! And when they show up all the way across the screen from you, how can you stop that? So it is the kinda game that can be kind of unfair sometimes...

And as such, I think the flavor of the game was more salty than anything!

 

Not really a bad experience at all, just something that'd be good to not have too much of at once!

First Taste - Torchlight 2 (PC/Steam)

Heylo everyone! This time I decided to pluck a fruit from the great tree of gaming to get a nice, fresh one! What? N-no, of course it's not that I had just gotten the game and wanted to play it! That'd be silly... Um, anyway! Torchlight 2! Sequel to the first Torchlight game by Runic Games. Which... I guess is kind of obvious, huh?

It actually wasn't all that long ago that I beat the first Torchlight game... By the end of it I felt like it had some problems with feeling very 'same-y', you know? This game seems like it really took that to heart, and provides more of a mapped area to run in, with dungeons strewn about, instead of just being one long tower of dungeons! They've also brought about different enemy types, so it feels more fresh each time!

The skill system has also been revamped, or rather streamlined. It has a nicer aesthetic now, and the benefits of each skill is all the clearer now.

The music is also quite nice. It's more atmospheric than anything, always lingering just enough in your mind to make it noticable if it's missing, even if you don't remember you were listening to it.

Really there's just one niggling little thought that keeps coming up... It's Diablo 2. You all remember Diablo 2, right? That game that a lot of people loved way back when? When you get down to it, Torchlight 2 is Diablo 2 all nice and sparkly. And really, that's a good thing! I mean, Diablo 2 was a good game, right? And Torchlight 2 is improved upon that, so it's even better! I really can't wait to get back to playing it some more!

So Torchlight 2's definitely a sweet experience!

First Taste - Crafting Mama (Nintendo DS)

Heylo everyone! Today the magical hat of games brought forth out very first first-look! Um, whatever it is I'm going to call those eventually... But, the game is Crafting Mama! This is a game in the "Mama" franchise brought to us by Majesco Games. In it, you make..well, crafts!

The game plays a lot like the other "Mama" games for the DS. Simply follow the directions on the screen and you'll get it done! The touch screen is nice and responsive. There's not really a whole lot to say unless you've never played a Cooking Mama game ever... In which case what's wrong with you? Go play at least one of them!

Aesthetically speaking, the game still follows the same formula as well. That's not a bad thing, though! After all, everything in Crafting Mama is very colorful and you just can't help but smile while you're playing it! Sometimes the sounds can be grating on the ears though... Like when you do a really great job and it just keeps going "Doodadoodaladoodadoladoo!" Mama's voice doesn't sound quite the same as it used to either... So that's a little disappointing... And you know, I'm not sure they've really changed the music much at all either!

But really what it comes down to is if you like colorful little mini-games that give you an instant sense of cheap satisfaction... And I love those for when I just need a quick game fix, like waiting to go to a movie! So I'm gonna give Crafting Mama a gamerating of...

Sweet! I'll definitely be coming back to it in those little instances and see what other little crafts I can make. :3

Introduction

Heylo there! My name is Daniel Warrens, but everyone just calls me Danny. I really enjoy playing games and things, and I figured you know what? Why not start a blog about them! So welcome to the Fluffy Fox Gameratings!

Mostly what I'll do here is give little first impression review things of games...I mean, I'm a busy foxguy and often times I can't really complete a game all in one sitting or close together and I can wind up forgetting what all I thought throughout.. But for some of those games I beat, I'll probably look to give a more in-depth review of sorts! Or..something. I don't know, I was thinking I might use audio or video in the future, so we'll see on that... Hmm, I should probably name each sorta post or something, huh? Well, this is a first time thing so I'll just figure that out as I go!

Oh! And it may not always be video games! I mean, it'll mostly be video games, but I like all sorts of games so other things like card games, or board games might show up too! Or even not game stuff... I mean, I like anime and manga and movies and candy and movies and stuff too, so maybe that stuff will show up as well! I guess we'll just have to see!

I hope you all enjoy the blog, 'cause I'm sure I'll have fun making it. :3