sneschallenge

[sneschallenge]

Game 21: Aerobiz - Koei

TIME: 7:12:18 - DIFFICULTY: 2/10 - GRADE B-

GRAPHICS B The game is mostly stats and menus. There designs are competent and relatively functional if not particularly exciting. Mode 7 graphics are used for route openings, but the animation hasn't held up over time. The character portraits work well enough and the many distinct portraits for each city around the globe are beautifully simple.

SOUND C+ The music serves its purpose. Cities have distinct themes which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, the current campaign’s hub city music plays for so long the charm wears off quickly. The sound effects are harsh, but thankfully sparsely used throughout the game.

PLOT B- Just the right amount of plot for a sim game. The player controls the CEO of a commercial airline--beginning in either the 1960's or the 1980's depending on the campaign--who essentially serves as the company’s god: directly controlling everything from setting fares to advertising. Any additional narrative is derived from the player’s successes, failures, interactions with competing companies, and global events. Like most of the game, it is more functional than exciting.

GAMEPLAY C+ The game is surprisingly fun for a game focused on finance and management. I can't see many children being entertained by this, but it doesn't appear to have been made for them--which seems odd for the time in gaming when it was developed. I found it relatively enjoyable as someone old enough to have a general understanding of concepts like profit margins. 

The player builds an airline competing with three others for dominance of the globe. It makes sense that this game is menu based, but like the graphic design, the player's methods of navigating the menus could use some refinement. For example, the game could benefit from something like a list of current routes instead of scrolling around the globe to select or edit them. The controls are limited by the tech of the SNES as well: this game would be better off as a mouse or touch screen game. 

The game mechanics outside of menus are all based on stats and responses to player and computer actions. They perform well and seem fair for the most part.

DIFFICULTY 2 (out of 10) The game is won by securing thirty-five thousand passengers, opening routes to the available twenty-two cities, and managing to stay profitable while achieving the first two goals. The AI is competent enough on normal, but still makes mistakes and it is not too hard to out maneuver. On the normal difficulty I managed to win mainly by focusing on markup percentages, viable routes, and a little help from advertising. I ignored a few areas like worker budgets, establishing charter flights, and fuel/labor economy, but I imagine on higher difficulties that those things become more integral to success. Overall the ability to control some of the game's variables to suit experience and play style, mixed with randomness of computer behavior and placement around the board, creates a game that can be as challenging or easy as needed.

NOTES

The hardest part during my playthrough of the first campaign was figuring out what each icon meant and what actions--if any--they performed, and what the various stats represented. This is why the gameplay gets the grade it does-the game system functions well, but learning to navigate it is not user friendly.

It seemed to me that driving customers to my flights was a larger challenge than connecting cities, if only because customer numbers are in a constant flux whereas the cities stay connect as long as you have money to maintain them.

This game was surprisingly entertaining despite the overall grade it received. It seems like a nice little oddity and might be worth trying out if you get the chance.

[sneschallenge]

Game 20: Aero the Acro-Bat 2 - Iguana Entertainment - Sunsoft

TIME: 4:59:21 - DIFFICULTY: 2/10 - GRADE C+

The return of Aero the Acro-Bat aka Sunsoft's wannabe Sonic. Evil clown Edgar Ektor survives his fall following the events of the first game and schemes to take over all the world's circus acts…for some reason...

GRAPHICS: B+ The character sprites are virtually the same as the first. The enemies are more varied in design and are properly themed to each area of the game. The hallmarks of 1990's "extreme" design make a return, along with the same uninspired pickups. The game features some wonderfully rendered cut scenes that suffer terribly from the game's horrid, HORRID mascot design (Batasha is exceptionally terrifying). The backgrounds are arguably the best part of the game as the designers took excellent advantage of scrolling and parallax capabilities.

SOUND: B The music, like a lot of the game, is better than the original. Tracks are more nuanced and orchestrated, especially when compared to the first game’s boring--though appropriate--circus themes.

PLOT: D- This is the worst part of the game and where I have the most to say. While the original wasn't winning any awards for concept, the story was minimal and told through the player's interactions within each level. It wasn’t good, but it was unobtrusive at the very least. This sequel takes the opposite approach. This game is packed with "story". Each act is preceded by a cutscene that sets up the following levels. It is too bad that the plot in said cutscenes is contrived, poorly written, and dumb. 

Here is my summary: Ektor--now unexplainably bulked-up instead of an Eggman clone--is saved from his fall from the first game’s ending by Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. Aero escapes from Ektor's "museum" and meets Batasha aka the most horrifying bat furry ever. She asks Aero to help her stop some former-Soviet stereotype who captured her? Aero then goes to see his rock band because I guess that is where Batasha was supposed to go? Batasha is not with the band because some doctor showed up and she left. Aero infiltrates the Doctor's lab who makes an Aero clone from hair Batasha stole from Aero and creates an evil "Alter Aero". After beating his clone, Aero goes to another castle. He discovers his other bat acrobat friends in the dungeon and learns Ektor is alive. Having built a train for some reason, Ektor plans to travel to every circus with his minions and take over the circus world. Aero beats Ektor and there is some exposition about Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel having to go to “his homeland” because forests are being destroyed.

This story is a cluster f**k. My biggest complaints are the introduction of new characters that are never explained and the missing logic in the sequence of events. Here are some questions that had me scratching my head or throwing my hands in the air while playing this game:

Why is there a former-Soviet fortress? Since when is Aero in a band? Why is this doctor trying to defeat Aero? Where did these other Acro-bats come from? How is a vehicle that uses a fixed route going to travel to every circus? Why would someone want to take over every circus in the first place?

All things said and done, this game might be worth playing just to see these terrible mishmash of events play out. I haven't read a Sonic fanfic, but I imagine this is how the average one reads.

GAMEPLAY: B- The platforming tasks of the original are gone. I imagine the developers either wanted to simplify things or realized the original's objectives where empty trappings. There is only one "mine cart" act. This time it is snowboarding because 1990′s. The controls are well-polished this time around which is a welcome improvement. The responsiveness, accuracy, and ease with which Aero moves has been refined though the mechanics are essentially the same.

DIFFICULTY: 2 (out of 10) The sequel has none of the original's difficulty. In addition to the now-competent control scheme, each level provides an ample amount of lives, the acts have been shortened to three levels with the occasional boss or bonus, continues start the player over at the current level instead of the current act (as was the case with the first game) and a new password system allows the player to restart at the most recent act (with refreshed continues) after a game over. These changes were undoubtably in response to the first game's broken difficulty. 

I should mention that unlike the "mine cart" levels in the first Aero game, the only "wall" I encountered was the fight against Alter Aero. Having played through the preceding stages unconcerned with the damage I was taking, I got my first game over during this fight. I restarted the act via password and--having figured out the battle's rhythm during the previous try--I beat Alter Aero with barely a scratch. I then went on to complete the game without any need for continues.

NOTES

The off-hand, off-screen mention of Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel's journey to "his homeland" was likely an attempt to shoehorn a connection with the titular spin-off game released the same year.

While the enemies no longer take seemingly random amounts of hits like they did in the first game, I found the boss fights more tricky than those in the original.

The first Aero game's missing save feature is remedied with a new password system, but it regrettably breaks any potential challenge.

The game is not worth the current thirty dollar price tag via second hand merchants. I remember hearing it was released on Virtual Console, but I don't think it is worth that price tag either. Unless you are a completionist or (for some unknown reason) a fan of this series, I would save your money.

[sneschallenge]

Game 19: Aero the Acro-Bat - Iguana Entertainment - Sunsoft

TIME: 12:24:36 - DIFFICULTY: 7/10 - GRADE: C 

A platformer featuring a Sonic the Hedgehog wannabe. The titular hero defends his circus home against the evil clown Edgar Ektor and his henchmen.

GRAPHICS: B- The character sprites and animations are well animated, but derivative and somewhat boring. Enemies are even less inspired. Plagued by 1990’s “extreme” design. Pickups are various circus fare (soda pop, cupcakes, lollipops, hotdogs, etc.) except for the slices of cheese (?)

SOUND: B- The music is crisp and fits the game’s visual themes, while the sound effects are adequate at best. Unfortunately – since the music tracks aren’t too interesting – the circus music becomes repetitive in a bad way. The later levels thankfully feature music that is much improved.

PLOT: D The circus never seemed so boring. The theme serves as little more than a superficial skin and slowly disappears as the game progresses. The last sections are woods and a haunted castle that is clearly mislabeled in-game as a museum. The characters themselves are terrible 90’s mascots and blatant rip-offs: The whole game feels like some Sonic fans terrible original character fiction.

GAMEPLAY: C The game features a seemingly interesting approach to platforming by including levels based on completing tasks (gathering keys, jumping through hoops, etc.), “mine cart” rail runner levels, and one obligatory “mode 7” bonus level.  After close examination the innovation is cosmetic as the level requirements allow for no real variation in play (for example, there are the exact amount of hoops, keys, etc.) and the end result are levels that still essentially move from point A to B.

The controls and behaviors range from functional to infuriating. Movement, jumping and hovering is solid, but the character skid when landing is frustrating. Aero can spin upwards and downwards diagonally, but the angles tend to wack out inexplicable sending the character down instead of up (or up instead of down) unless the directional pad is pressed just right.

DIFFICULTY: 7 (out of 10) This game can be extremely frustrating at times. The difficulty is primarily based an poor design (intentionally?) rather than well crafted challenges. Among the game’s issues are:  the broken spin mentioned above, the placement of the character and the sluggishness of the camera control (moving it is so slow it is rarely worth it), enemies requiring varying amounts of damage despite being the exact same enemy, and “mine cart” levels that are near impossible without pausing throughout to slow down the pace. On the other hand, the boss fights are laughably easy compared to the main levels and the non- broken, traditional platforming challenges disappear after a playthrough or two. This leaves the game feeling unbalanced and poorly executed.

NOTES

Aero the Acro-Bat served as Sunsoft’s logo for while during this era. Apparently the game was popular enough to warrant such attention (?)

The game’s Knuckles knock-off, Zero The Kamikaze Squirrel (yes that is his name…) had his own spin-off game. Why, why, why?

The lack of a save feature is quite archaic and frustrating (as is the case with many games of this generation) The GBA rerelease apparently remedied this problem.

At one point, the game’s broken spin mechanics had me cursing a storm. This game gave me more trouble (or at least frustrated me more) than any game in the challenge prior.

I’ve updated my capture card from a EZcap to an Elgato analog card. Hopefully this makes my screen caps much nicer moving forward.

[sneschallenge]

Game 17: Adventures of Yogi Bear - Cybersoft

PLAYTIME 1:18:40 - DIFFICULTY 0-1 (out of 10)

GRAPHICS Faithful to the cartoon's style. Extensive shadows/shading. Well detailed and layered environments.

SOUND Surprisingly well done. Actually has a few catchy themes with a fair amount of complexity. Nice example of the system's sound capabilities.

PLOT Some nods to Yogi's food love. Something about saving Jellystone Park. No in-game sign of other characters like Boo Boo or the Ranger.

GAMEPLAY The game’s biggest downfall is the short length and extremely easy difficulty. The repetitive enemies and absence of bosses doesn’t help things. Fortunately, tight controls and fun level design helps keep play engaging.

VERDICT A nice--if somewhat overlooked--game. Nothing that hasn't been done, but the game does it fairly well.

[sneschallenge]

Game 16: Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle - THQ 

PLAYTIME 3:32:44 - DIFFICULTY 2-4 (out of 10)

GRAPHICS Extremely rough and pixelated, even for a game mimicking a poorly animated cartoon.

SOUND Only a few musical tracks. Most are just variations on the series’ main theme. They are all short and repetitive in a bad way.

PLOT Nice homage to the cartoon. The game features lots of characters, puns, and fourth wall breaks just like the original series. Arguably the best part of the game.

GAMEPLAY Too short and plagued by clunky controls. Rocky and Bullwinkle have virtually indistinct play-styles. The mini-games are repetitive and lame. The game does have some good bosses and a few diverse levels.

VERDICT Last level is kinda rewarding, otherwise it's completely forgettable. Pass on this unless you're collecting or you’re a big fan of the cartoon.

[sneschallenge]

Game 15: Adventures of Mighty Max - WJS Design - Ocean

 PLAYTIME: 2:20:47 - DIFFICULTY: 0-2 (out of 10)

GRAPHICS Every animation is unnatural. Tiny, often indiscernible, sprites. Every level is essentially the same thing with a new skin.

SOUND The music is terrible: every theme is basically two alternating notes. All the enemies have virtually the same dying noise.

PLOT Designed by idiots (Inca level has explicitly Egyptian motifs). Pointless inclusion of the series’ characters: three characters with no real difference. 

GAMEPLAY Lacks variety and is extremely easy. The levels are expansive for no reason and can be completed without venturing far.  Every enemy must be shot then tossed or crushed. The end "boss" is just an explanation of a fight...

VERDICT Terrible, terrible game. Too easy, too short, too boring. Not worth owning, playing, or even looking at.

[sneschallenge]

GAME 14: Adventures of Kid Kleets - Krisalis - Ocean

PLAYTIME: 1:44:17—DIFFICULTY: 0-1 (out of 10)

GRAPHICS Colorful, detailed backgrounds. The sprites sometimes lack detail, but have a good variety. Features a fun style all around.

SOUND Music has a nice mock-steel drum style. Well-made, if somewhat forgettable. The tracks are tailored to the different environments.

PLOT Globe hopping soccer kid beats up other country's athletes. Most of the "story" is level contextual, but it works.

GAMEPLAY Counter-intuitive controls using a soccer ball: attacking requires the player to kick the ball away. Still, the game is easy after getting a feel for the controls. It unfortunately lacks variety, featuring similar levels graphically re-skinned, and the game as a whole is extremely short: a second playthrough could be under an hour.

VERDICT An interesting approach to a platformer, but kind of boring and not worth the asking price.

[sneschallenge]

GAME 13: Adventures of Dr. Franken - MotiveTime - Elite

PLAYTIME: 5:33:12 - DIFFICULTY: 2 to 5 (out of 10)

GRAPHICS Large detailed sprites, but backgrounds is where this game shines. Features some odd, early-1990′s imagery like flip-flops and day-glow.

SOUND Surprisingly decent. Lacks some variety and has some non-ironic use of stereotypes (Japanese level has unabashed shamisen all over it).

PLOT Franky (no Doctor) travels the world collecting parts of his girlfriend. The levels somewhat reflect geographic locale.

GAMEPLAY Standard platformer. Player collects four pieces to activate the level exits. Unique controls: y) is left attack, a) attacks right. Non-linear level select via map with completed levels opening paths. No bosses and enemies only take 1-hit to KO.

VERDICT Odd, but surprisingly fun with the right amount of challenge. The lack of a save feature is not really a downside. Worth the $5 or download.

[sneschallenge]

Hahaha! I have returned!!!

I’m re-embarking on my quest to complete every domestic SNES game after a long hiatus in grad school.

I have a few games left over that I chronicled on Twitter that I need to add to the blog. Those few games will follow my old format. 

After transposing those games, I am transitioning to yet another format. My reviews will continue to be somewhat succinct, but not as brief as when I left the blog. I’m aiming for a happy medium between outright detailed reviews and short Twitter snippets.

Speaking of Twitter: follow me @SNESchallenge

[sneschallenge]

GAME 12: Adventures of Batman and Robin

PLAYTIME: 5:58:32---DIFFICULTY: 2 to 3 (out of 10)

GRAPHICS The game's design and colors perfectly capture the cartoon's style. The animations are fluid (especially Batman's) and the backgrounds are superbly detailed.

SOUND An amazing soundtrack that emulates the cartoon's themes well. The levels usually feature multiple tracks which change depending on the environment/situation.

PLOT Every level serves as a sort of abridged episode. The game has an extensive cast of characters. Stiff, but appropriate, dialogue.

GAMEPLAY A classic beat 'em-up platformer. The controls are okay to sluggish or overly sensitive (like the grapple hook). The game is plagued by repetitive grunts, which is really its biggest downfall. Diverse levels and bosses.

VERDICT Well-crafted in nearly every respect. The high price-tag is no surprise to me, but I think it's worth adding to your collection.

video of my playthrough of the final level

[sneschallenge]

GAME 11: Addams Family Values

PLAYTIME: 13:54:47---DIFFICULTY: 3 to 5 (of 10)

GRAPHICS Generic (but detailed) locales. Some creepy touches. Great color palette. The characters suffer some top-view squat.

SOUND The music is spooky-to-bland and mostly falls into the background. The effects do their job at best; little gained, nothing lost.

PLOT Like the previous Addams' game, I wonder if the license was an afterthought. The family interactions are character accurate, but lame. The NPCs (e.g. Phweep) are entirely out of place.

GAMEPLAY A top-view, action RPG (think Link to the Past). Th controls are pretty tight. The game's difficulty comes from poor (intentional?) layouts, not thoughtful puzzles.

VERDICT Not bad, but play an old Zelda game instead. If you picked up the other SNES Addams you might as well make it a set

OTHER THOUGHTS Some people find this game really hard. The real hard part comes from figuring out where to go/where you can actually go. By that I mean finding what part of an area actually leads to another. Often the only path through a zone is hidden in some corner or around some oddly placed tree. It doesn't help that the over-world look is repetitive in design which makes it easy to get lost. The challenge disappears once the correct path and objective has been hashed out.

This fabricated map difficulty is my biggest criticism. Confusing the player by making things muddled isn't good game design. For example, once the game shifts to dungeons, the game because more enjoyable and somewhat difficult in a good way. Intentional dungeon puzzles require the player to put some thought into decisions and explore possibilities. This is the kind of thing I want in an action RPG and it is too bad the majority of the game is spent wandering a messy over-world.

[sneschallenge]

GAME 10: Addams Family Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt

PLAYTIME: 07:38:50 --- DIFFICULTY: 4 to 6 (of 10)

GRAPHICS The game is colorful than the previous Addams games, but it works. Somewhat faithful to the 1990's cartoon style.

SOUND Forgettable, often recycled music--not horrible, but bland. Effects are scratchy--tolerable to terrible.

PLOT Mostly arbitrary. The levels are a stretch/don't always fit the mansion theme. I wonder if the license an afterthought or just bad design?

GAMEPLAY Sensitive controls. Lacks saves. The difficulty may be frustrating for some and rewarding for others. I found the challenge to be a plus.

VERDICT The game's challenge is point of interest. It gets easier after multiple plays. There is little else, even for Addams fans.

[sneschallenge]

UPDATE

I have a batch of write-ups I will be trans-posting from my Twitter at the request of a few individuals. I will continue to post these Twitter write-ups via Tumblr. They will essentially be the same content (occasionally I may elaborate on some of my original thoughts). This way people can get the info via Twitter or tumblr, whichever they prefer.

I am also looking into setting up a Facebook page. Anyway, thanks for reading! 

[sneschallenge]

FANART FRIDAY SUNDAY #106

This technically isn't fanart. Instead of the usual I wanted to highlight the amazing title cards from Batman: The Animated Series. If you love design or art of any kind and you have to check it out. It is amazing (even if you are not a Batman fan).

I always loved the Batman TAS Mister Freeze. I remember listening to the commentary on the series' DVDs and being in awe at the amount of work that was put into the Mister Freeze stuff. This was cel-based animation and, as such, one of the art directors went through each cel and airbrushed the frost effect inside Mister Freeze's helmet!

Anyway, the above title card is one of my favorites. The two color scheme (if we are not talking gradients) is fantastic in its simplicity. Definitely an example of less-is-more. I love the font. Beyond its own awesomeness, the inversion of value across the two words is masterful and the spacing across Mister Freeze's chest is, I don't even know...just perfect.

Comics Alliance did a nice breakdown of their top 14. Check it out here

Thanks to Toonzone's fantastic title card gallery.

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FANART FRIDAY THURSDAY #105

While I still need to post the review for the Addams Family Values, the next game is based on Bruce Timm’s Batman The Animated Series. Here’s a cool find in preparation for that.

Poster Art by Gallant Designs

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SHIFT IN VENUE

More format changes (sorry!)

I've decided to shift my reviews from this blog to my twitter. I don't have the time or desire to do such thorough breakdowns of each game. My primary concern is/has been beating the games and keeping a record of said achievement. Having concise, one-sentence-like reviews allow me to make my point quicker, clearer, and move on to games faster. Each game will consist of six tweets. Game stats, graphics, sound, premise (or plot when applicable), gameplay, and verdict (essentially what has been "final word").

I will still likely post my fanart findings here and I may even post a my twitter reviews in chunks for those that don't use/don't like twitter.

Thanks again for everyone's support!

[sneschallenge]

FANART FRIDAYS MONDAY #104

Double fanart entries this week, since I missed a week. Also, yeah, I use fanart as a single word rather than fan-art.

This time the Addams re-imagined as classic mainstream comic heroes!

The Super Addams Family by ~thecreatorhd