Reseñas recientes de rgk

Rebirth is both a sequel and a remake to the original Isaac and its expansion.

I find it better balanced, there is more variety, it flows better.
I just didn't like the pixel art because there is too much scaling, as if it was just bad resolution and not like the beautiful modern pixel-art. It gets better with the filter, but not as smooth as the original game.
The music is also controversial, less melodic and hypnotizing than the original, but it has some great tracks and a lot of depth. Too bad that some tracks, like the one for the Caves, are dull and boring.

If you have never played Isaac, this is why this game is so good:
The atmosphere is unique and daunting, the procedural elements allow for very unique and different playthroughs each time thanks to the huge variety of items and the modifying effects they have on the game. Most importantly, the enemies are very well crafted, probably the best in any game I have seen as they all have different behavior, strength, weakness and patterns, and they have a huge impact on the gameplay.

The gameplay is border control tedious paperwork. Verifying if different entries are coherent, checking for frauds or typos, asking people to provide more information. And then deciding if you let them through or not.

I have very little empathy to pixels, so I thought this was going to be easy. I would just accept people whose papers are fine, and then refuse people whose papers are not right even if they are dying and need an organ transplant.

But then the game got to me. There is so much more going on than just the little story of the person that comes to meet you. One person will tell you about another. Will give you something for another. Will try to bribe you, and you need the money to keep your own family afloat. There are events going on in the game's world, and it is subtly told through short sequences or short news reports.
I have to give a file to a spy. Someone else comes, and tells me that he is also a spy, and the next person looking for the file is a bad guy. He gives me another file so I can switch for the fake. Which file do I choose to give, who do I trust?
And then I start to care. A girl tells me that her abusive boyfriend that beats her up and might end up killing her is coming. His papers are alright, but I still refuse to let him enter, and get a salary sanction for my decision. The game won, I was not just proceeding as if they were pixels and I started to make moral choices and get invested in my role.

This game is not exactly "fun", but it is Art and worth trying to anyone that wants to see maturity in the video games medium. Very original, meaningful, and really well crafted.

Metal Slug X (1999) is the revamped version of Metal Slug 2 (1996), a classic run'n'gun with pretty non-stop 2D rampage.

Set before Metal Slug 3 (2000), it does not feature branching paths and as much variety, but it offers a more tight and compact linear experience.

Just like the Metal Slug 3 port, it is possible to play Metal Slug X in local and online Co-op, which is great. Sadly, there are again port issues, such as the sound of a level occasionally stopping but a single noise looping. When there is intense action and a huge number of sprites on the screen, slow-downs can be experienced.
On the other hand, unlike the Metal Slug 3 port it is possible to have more leeway on the number of credits allowed to play the game (from 5 credits to infinite credits/lives) (Edit: this has now been patched in Metal Slug 3, allowing infinite credits as well).

Despite the imperfections of the port, Metal Slug X was and still is a great and fun game.
I used again the HQ4X filter to "remove the aliasing" http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=321706061

What would I want to see now from DotEmu/SNK Playmore?
First, a patch on Metal Slug 3 to add the few features added to the Metal Slug X port (Edit: this has been done, awesome!). Then, a patch to correct the port issues on both games.

Which other Metal Slug game would I want to see ported?
Honestly, the two greatest ones (X and 3) are on Steam so the others are dispensable. Metal Slug 1 would still be the next logical choice I guess. And then... Metal Slug 6, which is the only one that added some variety and crazyness to the franchise after the great Metal Slug 3. So now I hope for Metal Slug 6!

Bad air control, slow/clunky movement. I cannot play that game, I need reactive controls to enjoy moving in a virtual world. Especially in a Metroidvania.

No matter if the rest of the game is any good or not, if the character is not answering exactly to my command I have no further desire to inflict that annoyance on myself.

I really wanted to like this game. The art is neat, the game is very reactive, it has a Castlevania vibe, but... most of the platforming parts are horrendous. They involve rushing through a large area with flames/projectiles/compressors that all activate quickly one after another. The reason it is bad is that when you lose you do not feel like you lack skill and made a mistake, but that you did not learn by heart the precise path forced onto you by the game. So you need to start over and try again and again long and annoying parts of the level (checkpoints can be quite far in these areas).

Some other areas require dodging between projectiles and opponents (that shoot projectiles or behave like projectiles) in a very precise manner, but every hit has a knockback effect, pushing the character away from her trajectory. And to make things worse, there is lava or spikes that prevent from having safe spots in between. Both of these game design decisions make the platforming parts all the more punishing. It does not feel good at all, despite me liking hardcore platformers. It's not just challenging difficulty that I like in platformers, but good design, which I did not find here.

The levels are very linear. Some people like that, some people don't.

What I liked most in this game were the boss fights. They play well and rely more on skill than the rest of the game, even though they are thankfully not too difficult.

Ironclad tactics is a fast paced turn-based tactics game based on card deck building. Since this description doesn't help, here is a slightly better one: the player chooses various soldiers and weapons from a high number of available ones. A card deck comprises 20 of these picks. Each deck has to be chosen carefully according to the needs of each mission. The battles consist of playing the cards (appearing in a random order) to send troops and give them equipment. They move automatically forward on the lanes they are deployed on, but the tactical possibilities are numerous with the ability to stop a unit, sometimes switch lanes, use weapons that target specific lanes, add a specific customization to a mecha and so on. The game seems like real time to the player, but the actions are conducted by the computer in quick, seamless turns.

This might seem complicated on paper, but in-game it works very intuitively so that the player can fully focus on choices and tactical decisions. And the fast speed allows for the battles not to drag on, they even trigger a lot of adrenaline as the player has to think fast and is always kept on the edge. The gameplay is really good and works well in these half fast-paced half-slowed down conditions.

However, where this game also really shines is in the level design. Usually strategy games can be repetitive as the players figure out their favorite strategy and repeat it to go through every mission. In Ironcland Tactics, each mission is different with the levels having a specific gimmick and the enemy deploying specific troops. While at first it can seem overwhelming if using the deck that was tailored for the previous level, this actually relates more to a puzzle game where the player has to figure out a well suited tactic to win. Card decks thus have to be customized specifically for every mission. So even if some might consider this very challenging when they don't know yet which strategy to use, I find it brilliant. It completely prevents the game from feeling repetitive with a single formula repeated ad nauseam, and keeps me thinking on how to tackle each new battle and makes me feel great for figuring out new strategies. Although, even if I mentioned a puzzle game inspiration, this game is not as static and mind taxing as a puzzle game, it remains very dynamic.

The story missions are linked through nicely made comics, reinforcing the feeling that overall this game has been carefully crafted. Additionally, the story can be played in online Coop as the players fight together and have to coordinate their strategy (forget it if you are not on voice communication, good communication seems pretty much required to succeed without making stupid mistakes - well these mistakes still happen on voice communication and can be hilarious, such as when one player decides to give a speed boost to a unit from the second player who decided that it should strategically hold position). And if you want to get revenge on your teammate for a mistake, there is always the possibility for 1 vs 1 to settle things non peacefully. Also of note, some missions can add a nice twist to the 1 vs 1 multiplayer such as the possibility for one of the two players to use a boss deck.

This game bears the "Tactics" subtitle perfectly well. I am very glad I discovered it in my Steam Library during its free week-end and gave it a curious try, otherwise I would never have known that this game is so good and keeps me so entertained while keeping my brain active.

Despite the fact that a character can be controlled, it's not a platformer. There is no jump button and the character moves like a snail.

So it's all about the puzzles, primarily based on turning the screen to change the center of gravity. And... it is quite boring and the mechanics become so intricate it becomes a chore to solve the level. It feels so tedious that I quit half-way, when I noticed that the next chapters were the same as before, but mirrored.

The mechanics to spice things up are a big stone ball that kills the player but is needed to press buttons, a vortex to suck up anything that gets close, portals that make the player change color to interact with different parts of the level in a specific order of events, and veils to modify the... well it has never been very clear to me what they do.

There isn't even a key to reset the current level, the player has to do it from the menu.

Lastly, the story isn't compelling.

There are clear inspirations from Braid, but it is not an experience near as enjoyable or interesting.

So I don't end on a completely negative review, I liked the art and some of the musics.

One of the best platformers I ever played.

The game is a bit akin to VVVVV as the graphics are pretty simple, and the adventure is about exploring different rooms connecting together. There can be some rooms full of dangerous spikes or moving enemies, but the checkpoints are very frequent.

The game can be quite hard at times, but the controls are so responsive that it's a real pleasure (even in the air the player is in complete control, and there are thankfully no inertia or sliding effects as in Super Meat Boy). Several gameplay abilities can be unlocked through the game, such as the double jump and the wall jump. Once in possession of both of them, it feels awesome.

One gripe I have with the game is the lack of a map (although you can get one in your browser, check the steam guides). And the final "puzzle" doesn't fit within a platformer and weakens the ending.

There are different graphic styles, with more or less colors, and the borders of an old-school CRT monitor, adding to the charm.

Since it's free, I recommend anyone wholikes platformers to give this gem a try.

Run and gun game released in 2000 on Neo Geo. But... it didn't age a bit and is still more than up to par to today's standards. The screen is filled with enemies, explosions and projectiles. Everything is nicely animated and the cartoonish pixel art graphics are gorgeous.

The gameplay is frenetic, and very responsive. It doesn't feel stiff like a lot of old games, this game is very smooth to play. A good point is that it can be played with mouse & keyboard, or gamepads. And it recognizes different brands of gamepads, unlike a lot of recent games that only lazily recognize the traitorous Xbox360 pad.

Metal Slug 3 is the pinnacle of the series. Tons of weapons, different branching paths, tons of different enemies and creatures to fight (soldiers, zombies, extra-terrestrials, snails, wasps, submarines, planes, yeti men, and so on and so on). Moreover, the gameplay sequences undergo a lot of variation: different vehicles, space invaders/shoot-em-up phases, aquatic fight, and so on and so on. The boss fights are very well done (can be very very tough though). Once a mission has been unlocked in the main campaign mode, it is possible to start from it at any time.

There is an online leaderboard for all the difficulty settings, but the best thing is that there is an online Co-op mode. ONLINE CO-OP MODE ON METAL SLUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is awesome.

On the negative side, despite the quite good port, some bugs can appear at times to times, such as the sound disappearing. There aren't many graphical filters, but it is possible to add them if you follow this guide (I recommend HQ4X) http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=227190051

Overall, this game is tons of fun, is reasonably challenging and feels great to play. Online Co-op is much appreciated.

I wish Metal Slug X (Metal Slug 2 revamped) will also be ported to Steam by the same team.

Closure is a puzzle-platformer (emphasis on the puzzle side), based on a brilliant idea: only what is lit exists, the rest is not solid and the player or objects fall through the endless void. This could have gotten old after a few levels, but the game design keeps using new ideas to make use of the system and refreshing the experience. The level design is very good and well thought, making good use of the ideas. The game is cut in smaller levels, so getting lost on an adventure map is not an issue. Although going from one level to another (that is not the one right after) can require to go through a bit too many loading screens.

The art and music are pretty nice too, giving soul to the levels.
There is not much of a story, very minimal story-telling, but it is not really an issue, the gameplay and atmosphere take priority.