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007: Everything or Nothing (GBA)

Graphics - 3/5

Controls - 2/5

Story/Premise - 4/5

Fun Factor - 4/5

Overall Rating - 4/5

Keeping? - Definitely!

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Review:

As the name suggests, this game is a James Bond 007 franchise piece that seems to stand alone apart from the films — at least there was no directly corresponding film to relate to this game that I could find (didn’t look too hard). Pierce Brosnan lends a certain amount of nostalgia to the title that had me reminiscing about many hours spent playing Goldeneye for N64 as a youth, and I had fun seeing how many of the low-res actors I could recognize in the plot (Willem Defoe, is that you?)

That being said, 007 has a very different vibe with its GBA pseudo-realistic pixel art and isometric map style. The character renders, while recognizable, were a mixed bag of impressive and creepy in that uncanny valley kind of way. The level details were nice and plentiful, and the UI decently intuitive, though it took a bit of trial and error for me to remember the visual difference between a land mine and a “Holobond” (a holographic James Bond that draws bullet fire for a short time) when swapping between items.

Basic combat is simple enough — you have your gun and ammo which depletes and refills with enemy drops and loot crates, and you’ve got your unarmed melee for kicking and punching when no bullets are available. Where the game really seems to shine, in my opinion, is the pseudo Assassin’s Creed-style stealth mechanics. The game offers a mini map that shows the location of enemies, as well as the direction they are facing, so that you can plan your strategy accordingly before ever even seeing them come on screen. In addition to this, there is a visibility meter that can also be employed to see whether or not you are being spotted by an enemy, and fills to varying degrees based on just HOW visible you are, which lets you modify your plan before being shot at. The game awards “style points” based on stealth kills, an optional objective added to each level that affords you some nice points payout (to be spent on upgrades between missions).

I’ve always been piss-poor at stealthy finesse games, preferring to go in with guns and knives blazing, but thankfully this game is pretty forgiving with fumbles; the number of times I snuck up behind an enemy just to swing wildly and not connect was… a non-zero number, but I still managed to eke out the style point bonuses regardless.

The story is definitely undeniably Bond-Flavored with its cartels and big bads, as well as its high-speed car chases — the first of which I struggled with laughably before I realized that I was handicapping myself by using the joystick instead of the d-pad. It still tickled me to see the Aston Martin DB8 make an appearance with its campy spy shenanigans like oil slicks and rocket launchers.

Over all I very much enjoyed the hour I spent playing this game — even the 10 or so minutes I spent clipped out of bounds, hilariously mountain-goating my way along cliff faces trying to reach the exit of the level so I wouldn’t have to restart (a success, thankfully).

[heavymetalrobot]

102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue (GBC)

Graphics - 2.5/5

Controls - 4/5

Story/Premise - 3/5

Fun Factor - 3/5

Overall Rating - 3/5

Keeping? - For now

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Review:

This game seems to be based on a movie or cartoon that I very vaguely remember coming out in the early 2000s, but I don’t recall watching it myself so I can’t say how faithful it was to the source material.

The game started out almost too simply for anyone remotely used to platformers (I’m not very good at them myself) but ramped up pleasantly as the levels went on. The increase in difficulty was gradual, and the introduction of game mechanics handled well enough at the beginning with little blurbs between levels to give you an idea what challenges to expect coming up. It also uses a password system to return to certain levels, but instead of numbers it’s bones and dominos(?) and other dog-related things, which makes it a bit weird of a system to remember. Thankfully Delta supports save-states anywhere you want them, so I employed them liberally between levels.

Combat is minimal (ish) and consists of barking at villains to temporarily disorient them, at which point they can be walked through without damage. After five points of damage taken you are “captured” and have to start the level over.

The graphics were about what you’d expect out of a GBC game — nothing to write home about, but it had its charming moments.

Over all the game was decently enjoyable for the time I played it, though they fail to specify changes in mechanics sometimes (i.e. some villains being “defeatable” while others aren’t), which made for some confusing levels at times. Still, I appreciated a “kids” game that didn’t make me feel like a completely incompetent dunce as so many did.

[heavymetalrobot]

So I’ve decided to do a thing.

It’s a weird thing, but heck it!

As some of you old game enthusiasts may know, Delta is an app that is currently available for mobile (Android and iOS at the very least) that allows you to emulate N*ntendo game roms on your phone. It’s very well-designed, powerful, and fun to use, and works great with the PS Backbone that makes for a really seamless gaming experience.

I decided one night as I was hunting through games to play that I would challenge myself to try new games by picking a title from every letter for every console Delta emulates (currently all handhelds through DS and all consoles through N64). The criteria I used to pick games was anything from “LOL THIS LOOKS AMAZING/BIZARRE” to “there are literally two options in this letter and I hate both of them — coin flip time,” with the occasional “oh I’ve heard this is a good game and I should finally try it out” sprinkled in.

The plan currently is to play each game (approx 180~) for 1 hour each, make a post here that includes a brief rating and blurb about my experience, and whether or not I deleted or saved the rom to keep playing later.

Please keep in mind this is all very informal and purely for shits and giggles — I am not a professional game-reviewer, and my opinion should be taken with multiple grains of salt (not too salty though please). That being said, I also welcome anyone who stumbles across this to throw in your 2 cents — challenge my ratings, urge me to keep playing your favs, talk to me about my gaming experiences, ask questions, engage!

This is boredom meets curiosity, so fuel the fire.

[heavymetalrobot]

[heavymetalrobot]

As an artist sometimes it’s easy to forget what the process looks like. Even after doing it for a long time it’s easy to get caught up in expectations about the end result and forget about what it takes to get there.

I am guilty of giving up, or worse, not starting because the process is often ugly or unsatisfying up to a point. It’s one of the most mystifying things to me, watching something change from “god this is awful, I hate this, it’s not what I envisioned at all!” to “holy crap that one line made all the difference in the world.”

I think understanding that process, and accepting that it is something every artist goes through no matter the skill level, is extremely important when venturing forth into the world of artistic expression.

Especially in the world of fanart — there are so many amazing artists out there that render well-known-and-loved characters in such beautiful ways, it’s easy to put the finished piece on a pedestal and forget that they probably struggled a million times, made a million mistakes, cut, paste, skewed, erased, changed hues, changed poses, etc. to get that polished piece for the world to drool over.

Some people would never dream of letting people see that stage. It’s admittedly a really humbling and somewhat embarrassing thing.

So of course I’m posting it.

Have fun watching me turn my layers on and off a million times because I can’t figure out which one I put what lines on 💙

https://youtu.be/A6yTTaqllbs

[heavymetalrobot]

SQUALL LEONHART - Final Fantasy VIII

-Reblog, don’t repost-

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Oct 8: Zombie

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Oct 7: Haunted House

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Oct 6: Pumpkin

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Oct 5: Werewolf

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Oct 4: Vampire

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Oct 3: Goblin

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Oct 2: Devil

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Oct 1: Ghost