Halloween Extravaganza!

Since it's my first Holiday on this blog, I figured I would do something a little different.  I found 4 "games" to play to make an extended Hit it or Quit it!  I say "games" because it was hard to find 3 "Halloween" games, so the first is actually more like an XBLIG App.  Trick or Treat!  Hit or Quit!

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Daniel Steger -- Publisher: XBLIG

First impression:

All I know so far is the screen is showing me a bunch of differently designed pumpkins.  Probably starting with a blank pumpkin, and using stencils or hand drawn "cut outs" to design how you want it to look.  I'm not expecting this to last long, but maybe it will at least be a little fun!

-------------------------------

Fooled around for: 3 Minutes (Not even worth pushing the 7 minute limit)

Well, that was disappointing, even for having really low expectations.  There's no date in the credits, so I'm not sure if this is just so old, he didn't think to do anything more with it, or he just didn't.  There was no "carving" at all.  It was just:

-- Move the cursor to either:  Left Eye, Right Eye, Nose, Mouth

-- Pick a pre-designed piece

-- Repeat

I was hoping for some hand-drawn carving, being able to put the stencils where you wanted, change the size or shape of the pumpkin, turn the candle inside on or off.. SOMETHING!  There was nothing.  Being the trial, you could only pick the first three choices of any feature.  That's fine though, because you can't do anything with them anyways.  There could have been "save/load".  There could have been "Use this as your gamer picture".

The only options past the limited pumpkin "carving" was to turn the background ghosts and fog off.  Woo.  Oh, and change between different "creepy" soundtracks.

--------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)

With even one of the afore-mentioned features, it might be worth even a buck.  As it is, no.  Quit it.  In his defense, maybe it's his first "game", maybe it was a school project.  Who knows.  I just know he's not getting my dollar.  In case that wasn't clear, again, Quit it.

========================================================================

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: BandanaGames -- Publisher: XBLIG

First impression:

It can only get better from here, right?  I sure hope so.  This is another randomly-found Indie Game though, so it could really go either way.  If this is worse than Pumpkin Carver though, I'm not sure I'm even going to be able to continue today.

So far, it's just holding on a title screen, with a picture of some emo little lady and the Press Start thing.  And the music is creepy.  Not "real" creepy.  Just you know it's supposed to be creepy.  But it's abrasive and annoying.  Just not balanced well.   Maybe I should turn the lights off and set the mood...

--------------------------------------

Fooled around for:  7 minutes (Indie Game Demo Limit)

I can at least say this was better than Pumpkin Carver.  It turns out it's a screen-by-screen "text" adventure game.  On each screen, each of the four button causes an action.  The story is that you are summoned by your distant aunt to come stay the night and find her at her mansion, and you will receive her inheritence.  Totally normal, right?  

Then, as I mentioned, you just go screen by screen and try to find your way through the house, surrounding areas, puzzles, etc.  It was pretty "easy" and straightforward so far. There was one death from trying to take something from the dog.  Nice to know you can die, but a little worrysome for getting later in the game.  It looks like you should be able to save though. Probably a tough game to pick back up later and know where you left off though.

The only really graphics or animation was the background changing as you went from room to room.  Not much, but at least it's something, considering the type of game.  This could easily be converted to text-only and not need anything.  Unfortunately, the music that would be the only other thing to experience was almost non-existent.  Even a little bit would have helped set more mood.  There were sound effects for some actions though, which was nice too.

-------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)

I was actually pretty engaged by the time the timer shut it down.  I was getting anxious as I knew the time was approaching.  I almost thought about running through again, trying to get further in the 7 minutes, but I won't.  The game seems simple enough so far, it would be fun enough to just see how the rest of it turned out.  I probably wouldn't pay any more than a buck, but for a buck, I might actually buy this and finish it up!  Hit it and make it Halloween Scream (the likely one sitting it would take to finish it, at least)!

========================================================================

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: EXOR Studios -- Publisher: Cyberfront Corporation

First impression:

Being an XBLA Game, there's actually a demo video to watch.  Looks like a top-down driving game.  Drive around and take out zombies.  That sounds like some Halloween fun!  Well, it's not really Halloween-y.. just Zombies.. but like I said, it was tough finding actual Halloween games!  

I'm a little concerned it may be tricky controlling it, or the cameras may be weird or something.  Huge bosses.. Missles.. Explosions.. Flamethrowers..  Could certainly be interesting.  Let's see how it actually plays out!

---------------------------------------

Fooled around for: ~25 Minutes (and still had at least another level in the demo to play)

Pretty big demo.. Two hefty levels, and a third I still could have played.  I would guess that would be that last one though.  Overall, definitely could even just play the demo again and get something out of it!

As for the game, it is indeed a top-down driving game, where you just mow down bunches and bunches of zombies.  It's like a mix of Carmageddon and Grand Theft Auto.  Each level has a primary objective and a secondary objective.  As you complete them, you earn upgrades you can buy for the various cars you are collecting throughout the game.  It looks like it won't even just be "oh, new car, never use the old one" since they have different stats for different missions, and even different passenger limits, for when you have to rescue people.

The story is that you are stuck in the city, but the military isn't allowed to come in, so they are directing you to give them a hand.  You complete stuff, they buff you.  You can also destroy fences, cars, etc, and earn more cash for buying upgrades.

The graphics are really nice, everything looks super good. The zombies splatter nicely.  The only thing is that the view is pretty high out so you can see a lot, but it makes everything pretty small.  It can be hard to see where all the zombies are sometimes.

As I was worried, it's a little difficult to control, since you are trying to pinpoint your driving to run into zombies.  When you have to clear out the 100 in the area, it can get a little frustrating that you just barely missed a couple of them, then you have to reverse, try to hit them, miss, turn around, etc.  The weapons are also hard to aim because they just shoot forward, but you can't just turn the car without actually driving forward.

--------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (800 MSP)

Controls aside, the aesthetics and feeling of the game are great.  I love the idea, and even playing it some.  I just don't know if I have the patience for the controls.  For the 10 bucks I could spend on this, I could get something else on my Buy list that will probably fit me a little better.  It looks like there might be a pretty hefty amount of game underneath all of this though.  I don't know if I have been quite in this predicament yet.  I want to Hit it, I just don't want to pay that much.  I'm not sure how that rates.  I guess I'd Hit it, with reservations, but I wouldn't pay for it...? hm.  At least I can just play the demo again!

========================================================================

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Doublesix -- Publisher: Square Enix

First impression:

I'm interested to see that Square Enix is tied to this.  Just as publisher, but still a decent sign, since they wouldn't want to publish garbage.  No video on this one, but the screens suggest a co-op run around and shoot things kind of game.  I'm wondering if it will give me CPU allies, or if I will just be on my own.  Looks like upgrades, and weapons and zombies.  Maybe even kind of like Zombie Driver, except more "friendly" looking.. and not in a car.

The music on the title screen is pretty darn awesome though. Funky spooky with a little rock guitar in there.. Maybe a good sign for the feeling of the rest of the game.  Sounds like a TV show theme..

------------------------------------------

Fooled around for:  ~15 minutes

It was indeed somewhat similar to Zombie Driver and to my guesses in general.  It doesn't fill in AI allies, but that's fine.  The setting is definitely a lot more humor oriented than ZD.  ZD was super serious and swearing and realism.  This game reminds me of Grabbed by the Ghoulies.  I don't think I played much of it, but it's a similar art style. 

It also has twin-stick elements.  You move with LS, aim with RS and just take out zombies.  The best part right off the bat is just punching the zombies to death.  Especially when four of them are just right in front of you want you are wailing on them.  Looks pretty hilarious, but also very satisfying.  

Then you talk to the robot gate, they tell you to find a shotgun and kill a bunch of zombies.  Then it will let you through.  Shotgun is, of course, awesome.  I'm guessing there will be a bunch of weapons, a bunch of zombie types, and a bunch of humor throughout the rest of the game.  Considering this could be the end of the world, or at least of just you, the game is somehow still lighthearted about it.

My biggest problem was that in the second stage, I don't know if it was a glitch, or my RB not working (it seems to be on the fritz), but I just couldn't get my shotgun back out.  It was supposed to be the Switch Weapon button, but it just wouldn't trigger.  I will have to check my button in another game, but I'm pretty sure it still works, I just have to press it harder.  I tried that several times and it still didn't do anything.  This caused me to get run over by zombies and I was sad.

----------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (800 MSP)

For the same $10 I could have spent on Zombie Driver, I would much rather get this.  This one will actually end up on my To-Buy list.  I am super interested in the rest of the humor this game presents, and also to just mow down zombies with a bunch of weapons.  I enjoy twin-stick shooting way more than car-shooting.  Hit it, while I make Zombie Driver watch.

========================================================================

Final Note:

So, that's my Halloween Extravaganza!  It definitely started more Halloween-y than it finished, but whatever.  Zombies are close enough.  Also, I could have used these games to help fill out the rest of the week, but oh well.  There are plenty of games to play, it's just trying to find the time to fit them in!  I wonder if there will be any Thanksgiving games to do for that next holiday...

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure HD (XBLA)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Capcom -- Publisher: Capcom

First impression:
"Bizzare" definitely seems accurate, the more of the intro screens I see.  After a few seconds, it looked like it might be a beat 'em up, but then it switched screens, and it's actually a fighter.  Haven't done one of these yet.  Let it be known now, that I'm not a huge fan of fighters.  Especially 2d, cartoonly ones.  Just something about them never really clicks with me.  It was surprising enough that the new Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur 4 grabbed me for as long as they did.

So, yeah, lots of crazy japanese yelling already.  Some of the fighters look like they are just standing behind some sort of being they are controlling, instead of fighting themselves.  Also, one of the still shots shows some guy holding a gun out, except his fingers are coming through the gun in places they shouldn't be.  Someone hand-drew this, and let that slip?  I don't understand.  I have a feeling I'm not going to understand this game in general.  This seems pretty obviously to be a remake, but why, I'm not sure.  Being a Capcom fighter, this probably has some huge cult following I don't know about.  We'll see if they convert me.

-----------------------------------

Fooled around for: 15 Minutes (Played each of the available demo characters)
Again "Bizzare" is definitely right.  And I still feel like I'm missing some inside joke about all of this.  It's just sooo anime and crazy, it has to be from a Manga or show or something.  If not, good job guys back whenever this was made on coming up with such ridiculous material for a game.

The whole guys-controlling-things mechanic I mentioned actually turned out to be pretty interesting.  They are called Stands, and you can summon it during the fight to basically fight in front of you, presumably blocking damage and causing extra damage.  They also come out during some special moves without being summoned directly.  They have their own little health bar, and when it runs out, they just go away.  The bar refills quickly and you can summon them again.  It was cool to have something like that to manage, but when both fighters had Stands out, the screen got a little too chaotic.

Otherwise, it was pretty much a straightforward 2d cartoony fighter.  Light, Medium, Heavy attacks, blocking, dashing, special moves, crazy combos, etc.  The biggest draw was those Stands.  Otherwise the game seemed pretty difficult to me, but I also haven't played many of these that long to really learn any general tactics.

The music was pretty awesome though, definitely kept you pumped.  The stories for each character seemed to weave into each other.  They all definitely seemed aware of their Stands, though one said his was a "demon within".  Crazy animations, crazy expressions, random Japanese here and there.  Again, bizzare.

------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (1600 MSP)
Whoa!  I didn't even noticed how expensive this was until I looked it up for this section.  How did a 2D fighter get priced at 1600 points?  $20!?  Really just makes me think still there is something I'm missing.  Maybe this was the greatest game ever in Japan at one point or something, otherwise, I'm just confused why it needed an HD remix, and more confused at such a high price point.

I wouldn't let my Stand hit this.  I probably wouldn't even hit this for 80 points, let alone 1600.  It's just not my kind of game.  Quit it.

Dust: An Elysian Tail (XBLA)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: HumbleHearts -- Publisher: Microsoft Studios

First impression:
You can definitely tell this is an Arcade Game versus Indie Game.  Like Double Dragon, the production value is already way higher.  Since I've been playing so many indie games, I still find this to be a little bit of culture shock.  There's no demo screen, unfortunately, but the music is nice and pretty on the title screen.  The logo is looking like a fox.. in a hood.. with a sword?  I'm guessing Action...RPG, perhaps?

------------------------------------

Fooled around for:  ~30 minutes (Demo ended after the second "boss")
It was a side-scrolling action RPG!  With crazy combos, a fair amount of loot drops, and an overall sense of "beating the crap out of everything".   The combo meter often ended up in the 100+ range using a few special techniques.  The fighting felt solid and like you had awesome skills and were really tearing it into everyone.  There is leveling, and upgrades, and equipment and everything!

The graphics are really nice, hand-drawn everything, great animations.  Sounds are as fulfilling at the visuals are, and the music really adds a good atmophere.

The only weird thing is the story.  You're just some fox thing with a Raiden hat.. and a talking, floating sword comes up to you and says you awakened him.  Then a flying squirrel thing comes up and ends up helping you out.  The splash screens say you are trying to find your purpose, blah blah.  In the meantime, it's weird.  And the voice acting is humorous.  It seems to be tongue-in-cheek cheesy, but sometimes it's just cheesy. It has a fair amount of clever little bits already.  Like destroying a secret wall releases a "Wall Chicken" that you can eat for a bunch of health.  And the characters make fun of each other and such.

Even just adding this picture to the post makes me want to play again!

------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it?  (1200 MSP)
Two awesome, buy-it-now games in a row.  If these Arcade Games keep this up, it could be disastrous for my wallet.  I don't think I would jump on this -quite- as fast, just because the price is a little steeper.  The game is probably worth it's price, I just don't have too much money to just go around spending $15 on a game out of nowhere.

Aside from not dropping that cash now, it's definitely going on my To-Buy list, to be able to Hit It hard someday.  I might even just play the demo a few more times here and there just to scratch that itch.

-------------------------------------

Side Note:  Turns out I don't really have any other XBLA demos downloaded already, so I will be finding some random ones for the rest of the week, so we still may see some garbage!  XBLA has a higher standard than Indie Games though, so they likely won't be pure garbage.  Maybe just games I don't happen to like.  Guess we will see how it goes!

Double Dragon Neon (XBLA)

This week is still XBOX Live Demos, but we will be seeing XBOX Live Arcade games, specifically.  Slightly longer of an experience, and a higher cost in the end, but will they be worth shelling out that extra cash?  We'll see!

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: WayForward Technologies: Developer: Majesco

First Impression:

From the description and screen shots, the gameplay looks like pretty standard Double Dragon beat 'em up. What's interesting it that's a crazy looking cel-shaded art style. Also, it looks like there may be some shopping/upgrades involved.  Text says the game has 10 levels, I'm expecting to be able to play the first one.    I'm hoping for solid controls, maybe even some decent combos, otherwise pretty much just walk and fight, walk and fight.

----------------------------------------

Fooled around for:  20-25 minutes, Demo ends right before 2nd level boss

Hm, where to start.. How about HOLY CRAP THIS GAME IS AWESOME!  It's not even just that I've been playing 20something year old games before graphics and even design could catch up, many of those still really fun, just lots of them aren't.  Best Double Dragon ever!  It was so much more than I even expected.  It has this ridiculous 80s vibe throughout, and the graphics style is so fitting.  It's cel-shaded, but everything still has depth and weight to it, so it really feels like you're actually hitting them.  

There are power moves and stat upgrades via Cassette MixTapes, that you collect, and the more your collect, the more that particular move upgrades.  Each Mixtape even has a song that plays as you select it, and those are almost good enough to just listen to themselves.  You can equip one power move at a time.  They are all pretty sweet so far, and help get you that edge.  The combos are fluid, and string well together.  When you successfully dodge, you get Gleam, which grants double power for a few seconds.  

The music is awesome, and cheesy, the sounds and voices are great.  There is a shop to buy MixTapes at, though they look like they can get pretty expensive versus just finding them.  The text throughout gives the impression that it knows how cheesy it is. 

Co-op is called Bro-op, if that gives any indication to how this game views itself.  And when you play Bro-op, you can tilt the right stick at the same time to do a high five.  Depending on which direction, you can share life, steal life, or something else I forget right now.  I think something with Gleam and double power.

Okay, I need to calm down, I'm just so hyped on this game.

--------------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (800 Microsoft Points)

Not only would I buy this game, but I'm also going to leave the demo on here as a reminder to buy it, and also to just play the demo every now and then, it's that awesome.

Hit it like Jimmy and Bimmy hit Marian from the front and the back.. at the same time.

--------------------------------------------

One quick side note:  

I was looking up something about this game, and stumbled across the IGN review.  They only gave it a 3, saying it was awful.  They said the controls were clunky and the platforming was miserable.  They said they disapproved of the difficulty, basically saying it should have been easier, since it was a new-school remake.  Maybe later in the game, these things become more apparent, but for now, I'm sold.  It felt like Double Dragon++ so far, so if it's a little hard, whatever.  It's not any harder or more annoying than the earlier ones.  Also, they complain that it's 10 bucks for an hour's worth of game.  Yeah, grinding for MixTapes may get boring, but there is some replay in that, just to see how powerful you can get.  Also, people pay out the ass to go be entertained for 2 hours at the movies, so $10 bucks for a 1 hour shot that you can still pick up whenever you want doesn't sound like too bad of a deal.  

On the plus side, the community has it rated at 6.4.  G4 has it at 4 stars, and metacritic is sitting at 75%.  Not super awesome great, but certainly not 3. Wtf.

The Fall of Gods (XBLIG)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2011 -- Developer: Geex -- Publisher:  XBLIG

First impression:

Looks like an SNES-era action RPG.  Sprites are a little small on the screen and it makes the whole screen feel a little crowded and distracting, but maybe it won't feel like that in the game.  I have a feeling that 7 minutes of this isn't going to get me anywhere, but we'll see what comes of it.

----------------------------------

Fooled around for:  14 minutes (Two cycles of demo limit)

This is the first time I have actually ran the demo limit twice.  I expect to do this generally for RPGs when it allows you to save, so I can get a better feel for the game.  The first run, most of the time limit was taken by just watching the story intro.

Speaking of, the story was actually pretty interesting.  Kind of a creationist, how the world started, thing, but with magic and the corruption of man leading to the Fall of the Gods (see what they did with the title?).  

My feeling was pretty much right with the graphics though.  The sprites are too small, and the movement isn't grid based.  This isn't always bad, but considering it looks retro, I would rather walk on a grid than free-form and not be able to get around a tree because my hit box is catching too much.  This also leads for some tricky sword swinging.. am I close enough? am I lined up? etc..

The script boasts that there a several dungeons and maps, and lots of puzzles.  This is fine and actually sounds pretty good, except you need to be a super good puzzle designer for so many puzzle to not feel crammed in.  The "puzzles" so far seem that way.  It leads to to exactly what you need to do, except then there is one small piece that is so vague, it's just confusing.  Not because the "puzzle" is tricky, but because the pieces just weren't designed well.

So.. Graphics are okay, controls aren't that tight, and the puzzles have been more annoying than clever.  So much for that interesting story :(

----------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)

Considering how many retro RPGs I see pop up here and there on XBLIG, I'm guessing some of those are probably tighter than this is.  They may not be action-RPGs, but a tighter turn-based RPG would be more appealing.  I might come back to this someday, but I have a feeling there are plenty of hours of RPGs out there to play before I need to come back to this.  So quit for now, but maybe not forever.

O.C.D. (XBLIG)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: PouncingKitten Games -- Publisher: XBLIG

First Impression:

So, on the back of yesterday's Obsessive Collecting Disorder, here is a game with a similar title.  This one is officially just "O.C.D." but I believe it stands for the same thing.  My XBOX isn't even giving me screenshots on this one though, so I can't say how it's different at all.  I'm assuming it's not just the same game.  The title icons are different, showing a grid of a bunch of swords or something.  Guess I will just jump in and see what happens.

------------------------------

Fooled around for: 7 minutes (XBLIG Demo Limit)

Ahhhh!  Just when I was starting to get into it, the 7 minutes cut me off.  It's definitely not the same as the last game.  OCD actually stands for Optimal Character Development in this.  Basically, it's an RPG boiled down to some very core mechanics.  There's no story, no wandering around, no maps.  Pretty much just grinding and looting.  And to actually do the grinding and looting, you just play a simple version of something similar to Bejeweled.  As you loot, your loot is based on the types you match.  So you loot a bunch "weapon" and then you get enough to trade in for an actual weapon.  You grind for "level" or "skill" points that you can trade for stats.  As you get more money, items, etc, you can mix recipes, and just keep leveling, building your character, etc.  All without that pesky script to get in the way!

The music is fitting, and just sits in the background.  Might even be better to run your own soundtrack though, since you are just sitting on the same few screens doing the same thing over and over.

------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)

This game is perfect for me.  Instant gratification towards leveling an RPG character, grinding, looting, etc, is all I really like in my games these days anyways.  I don't have time to watch a 40 hour movie, so to boil the progress down to the basics is great.  I would totally hit it again.  Definitely worth the 1 dollar, probably even more.  I have the points, I'm almost about to just to buy this right now and keep playing... 7 minutes with no save on the demo just isn't enough to really get into this.

Obsessive Collecting Disorder (XBLIG)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Super Smith Bros -- Publisher: XBLIG

First impression:
This will be the last time I mention it for XBLIG games, until something changes and I do get a description, but this has no description after already being downloaded.  Maybe as I download the demos, I will make note of the their description or something.  Or just keep playing blind with some screenshots as my only source of impression.

Otherwise, the title sounds interesting to me.  I feel like sometimes I have this Obsessive Collecting Disorder.  In most games, I am the one who will make sure to clear out the whole map and get everything I can before I move on.  I hate feeling like I forgot something that might be important later.  The screenshots make this game look more like the "collecting" is just grabbing all of the coins in this crazy deathtrap platforming levels. You are a stickman, which is nice and simple.  The graphics in general are pretty simple, but it looks like some pretty intense obstacles.  Hopefully the controls actually hold up and make this fun.

---------------------------------

Fooled around for:  6 minutes (Demo levels ran out before the 7 minute XBLIG limit)
This was definitely a clever little game so far. Unfortunately, there aren't too many levels to play in the demo, but what is there is pretty fun.  The start screen scrolls a mock-up of the first Super Mario Bros. level, as the stickman reaches the castle, it is labeled Craperture Science, a reference to Portal.  The game is kind of set up like Portal as well, in that you are in a testing facility as they test the effects of Obsessive Collecting Disorder.  As you collect the final coin in each stage, it turns into a Portal and takes you to the next stage.

There are a few other references to other games such as a text reference to GTA4 and shooting the pigeons, but also level design references such as timed "disappearing" platforms ala Megaman.  With so many more levels in the full game, I'm betting there are all sorts of references sprinkled throughout the game.

The controls weren't too bad, considering I was worried about them.  They are almost a littttle too tight, causing some overshooting when trying to make fine adjustments.  Thought not perfect, I wouldn't say they are a game-breaker.  The levels are definitely bound to get insanely hard though.

---------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)
Considering I have some OCD myself, I'm not sure this is quite the kind of "collecting" I feel the need to "obsess" about.  This is just collecting for the purpose of finding the right path through level and collecting the coins along the way more as checkpoints that you are playing correctly.  Not really scouring to find them all so you haven't missed something.  That said, it is pretty fun, though a little tricky.  I am really interested in seeing what other references come about in the game though, so I would hit it.  If it caught me at the right time, I might even spend a couple bucks, rather than just the one.

Vidiot Game (XBLIG)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: GZ Games -- Publisher: XBLIG

First Impression:
The name definitely makes a first impression.  Vidiot?  Isn't that an 80s term for someone who watches too much TV or something?  The "icon" picture looks 8-bit and 80s-ish.. and creepy.  Past that, the XBOX is still not really loading any info.  I swear it's supposed to.  Some of the other icon images aren't even loading on the game selection screen. I think something is wrong, but whatever.  As long as the game plays, I guess I don't need a first impression.  Still a little odd/frustrating though...

---------------------------

Fooled around for: 7 minutes (XBLIG Time Limit)
....wtf.  I'm not even entirely sure what I just played was a game.. or a completed game, at least.  Considering the title, and the game icon, I'm guessing this is just the way it's supposed to be, but it was.. odd.  The whole game is ugly as hell, by design (presumably).  There are built-in graphical glitches, and the colors are nasty and mismatched.  The music is 8-bit and annoying.

Overall, the whole game just doesn't make sense.  It's almost trying to be a mini-game game.. except from one screen to the next, you are left with "What the hell was that..and what the hell is this..!?".  You start by building a character that may or may not matter.  You pick a few basic details that I'm not sure end up actually affecting the "game" because the game consists of things like scratching a lottery ticket that you do or don't win, coming across a foe that you just choose one of three choices, and seem to end up with a random answer, and all kinds of crazy garbage.  What you do doesn't seem to matter, but maybe it does. Maybe there is a way to "win" but if there is, you only know it because you have played it enough to get it wrong and remember what you did.  Past that, it just feels like the ROM got corrupted and the game doesn't even know what it's doing.

Imagine this, except the text is wobbling and you can barely read it.

-----------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)
Since I believe this game was built to cause that "wtf" effect, it certainly accomplished that.  The problem is, I can tell if it did that instead of having a real "game" in there.  It's actually kind of a relief to find an XBLIG game that I will quit, just so I know my dollar isn't worthless, but at the same time, it is "only a buck".. and maybe there is something to this game that I just don't "get" yet.  I'm going to err on the side of "no" though, and quit.  I'd really just rather play something that makes more sense.  Or any sense, for that matter.

This.

Sushi Castle (XBLIG)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Milkstone Studios -- Publisher: XBLIG

First impression:
Like Slick, for some reason there is no information given about the game.  I'm pretty sure when you download these things, there is information, so I'm not sure why it's not there now.  Maybe something with the new dashboard, I don't know.  So instead, all I know is the name, and a few screenshots again.  I'm not really sure what to make of this so far.  The graphics are nice and bright and hand-drawn looking.  It looks like I will be travelling from room to room doing something.  Probably just fighting all of these enemies?  I see some items in the HUD, but that's really about it.  It also looks like you are sometimes carrying a panda.. let's see how this turns out..!

----------------------------------

Fooled around for: 7 Minutes (XBLIG Time Limit)
In a small twist of surprise, it actually plays more like a twin-stick shooter than the zelda-clone action button masher I was expecting.  Your starting weapon is a dragon cannon that spits out balls.  They don't seem that strong, and enemies can take quite a lot of balls before they are defeated.  Rooms/Level maps are random each game, which adds to variety, but also to the difficulty.  Sometimes the rooms that are spawned are just plain hard, even if it's the second room.  There are items dropped, but not many, and they are used quickly, though the variety of attack is appreciated.

The colors and graphics are definitely eye catching and fun to watch.  The music is appropriate and didn't get too irritating.  Enemies spew blood, which coats the ground, which is always fun!

Death is death and start a new map.  Seems a little intense, but I guess you -are- supposed to be a ninja.  I imagine the game ramps up in interesting items and things to do, but 7 minutes probably just isn't enough time to get to that.  Especially considering you are collecting coins, but I'm not sure what for (presumably item purchases, but where?).

The in-game menus mention future, free, DLC, which would make a purchase even more valuable.  It also tracks the weapons you have used, for the completionist in you.



------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it?  (80 MSP)
Considering Indie Games are "only" a buck, and I could definitely do worse things with a buck than even play a bad Indie Game, I have a feeling many XBLIG titles are going to get "hit it" just because of "why the hell not?".  That doesn't mean this game is bad.  It's actually pretty interesting so far, it just might be a little too steep on the difficulty for me.  I would have to know I want to get good at this game to know I wanted to keep playing.  In passing, it's just a bit too tricky/hard.  Regardless, again, "for a buck" yes, I would hit this again.  Even if I stopped caring about getting past the hard stuff, it would have been fun in the meantime.

Also worth noting again is that these are demos I already had downloaded before I started this blog, so it looked good in the first place.  As I finish these pre-downloads and eventually move on to fresh "any" downloads, I'm sure I will run across games that aren't even worth a buck.  I'm a little worried to see what those might be though.

Washington's Wig (XBLIG)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Team2Bit -- Publisher: XBLIG

This should be an interesting experience.  It's kind of like Sloppy Seconds, but it's not because I've seen it played.  It's most like it's because I've seen it be created.  Washington's Wig was actually on an IGN webseries called The Next Game Boss.  The show was based on 6 teams of indie game developers trying to get through a bunch of challenges and ultimately win a bunch of money, as usual for these types of shows.  The challenges were designed around bumping your original concept up to the next level each week and see if it/you could keep up.  It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen, but it was interesting.  So anyways, this game/team was the winners, and then I saw the game pop up on Indie Games a few weeks later.  Pretty cool!

First Impression:
I've seen the game quite a bit, so I pretty much know what to expect.  This is probably most like getting with that "celebrity" you've been watching for years.  You've seen it, but it doesn't mean you don't want to be involved.  I imagine this type of game has to have a genre by now, but it's a forced-run platform type game.  You just scroll from left to right and get as far as you can, and as many points as you can.  Then you just compare it to yourself or some leaderboards and keep going.  In this game, you play a dog who is trying to catch up to George Washington to return his wig.  WTF, right?  Looked pretty fun, if not just a little crazy.  You are jumping across ice floats and dodging crocodiles and such.  At least as far as I remember.  Let's see how it actually plays!

------------------------------------

Fooled around for:  7 minutes (XBLIG Demo Time Limit)
7 minutes always flies by so fast..  Was thinking about taking another 7 at it, but I have enough info to review, so I will just get it done.  As seen on the show, the game design premise is to just be controlled with one button, and it holds true to that.  All you can do is jump, and then double jump.  As you progress levels by gaining enough speed throughout the level to catch up to Washington's boat, he has a bunch of excuses why that isn't the right wig and you start over, but harder.

The graphics are nice and 8-bit retro. I'm always surprised by how much detail artists can get into so few pixels and colors, but it looks pretty good in HD.  The sounds are a little basic. I'm not sure how much work they put into this after the show.  Probably just more levels, but the sounds are probably the most lacking.  The music is a catchy song, but it's just one song.  As the levels go up, you encounter different varieties of dogs as your "enemies".  Each is the same as itself, so you just get used to how to dodge them, and do it quickly.  I think the levels are not randomized, so you could really just get used to each level and get further and further.  I have no idea how far that game goes though.

------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)
If you have the patience for these "simple but hard" Scroller games, as I often do, this is a pretty good one.  It's got some humor, it's got some retro feel.  I am interested in seeing the other dogs more than I am seeing what score I can get to.  I don't know if the game just goes and goes or if you can beat it.

For a buck, I'd buy it and hit it for a while longer.  After I hit one awesome lucky run that would start to get hard to recreate, I'd probably drop out though, maybe load it up again to show a friend.  But for the time I'd get out of until then, definitely worth a buck.

--------------------------------------

How do these end up getting longer, the shorter I play a game?  Gotta keep myself focused.  Too many games, too little time.  That's what started this whole thing.  It's nice to really dig into a game, but it's not like I'm playing things long enough for a real review.  The gut reaction is all I need.  I will try to keep that in mind.

Slick (XBLIG)

I feel like playing some some XBOX360 for a change, so it's time for another slightly new format!  XBOX Live Demos (Full Game/Arcade/Indie) will receive a rating based more specifically on whether it's worth paying to continue Hitting it or it needs to be kicked to the curb without even a tip.

In most cases, I can't watch demo/intro screens to get a feel for the game.  All I get is a text description and some screen shots, like I'm ordering a Russian Bride.  Also, for Indie games particularly, I'm limited to only 7 minutes before I need to decide whether it's worth paying for.  (If only that's how real call-girls worked, amirite???)  In Arcade/Full Demos, I can only play so much before the Demo runs out.  The price is higher, but the quality may be better, so that value will affect my decision.

This week, I will be playing Indie Game demos I already had downloaded on my system before I even started this blog, so they already have a leg up in that they seemed interesting enough to Demo.  In the future, I will just start downloading whatever I find so it will be more of a surprise whether I like it or not.  Lets get to it.  This may also mark the start of following some sort of Theme for the week, so I have an excuse to finally mix up the variety instead of just going alphabetically through the Super NES games.

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Halcyon Software -- Publisher:  XBLIG

First impression:
The XBOX doesn't have any description for this game.  I don't know if it's a hiccup or it just doesn't.  All I can see are some screenshots.  The color scheme looks like it's being played on an old school Gameboy.  It's pretty much green-scale (versus grayscale).  It looks like one of the Mario Land games, just a standard platformer, jumping around, perhaps collecting coins.  I'm a little uncomfortable at the fact that it shows level 2-17.  17 levels in one world seems a little excessive.  Let's see what this is all about.

-------------------------------

Fooled around for: 7 minutes (Indie Game Demo Limit)
It was about what was expected, except sadly just a bit worse.  There aren't coins.  It turns out it's really just a platformer, or what I might call a Death Platformer or Respawner or something.  It's like Super Meat Boy where the level is only so big, you just need to get from Point A to Point B.  The catch is that the obstacles between those points get ridiculous.  If you die, there's no penalty, you just restart the level from the beginning, so they don't care if they get insanely hard, they just expect you to fight your way through it.

For what it is, it's okay, the problem is that it really does feel like a Gameboy game, sucky controls and all.  The hit boxes are too loose, so many times I died when I really should have been able to avoid the enemy in time.  The jump button repeatedly jumps when held, so a few times on short jumps, it caused me to jump again though I didn't want to. If it's this old-school "hard just because" feeling they were going for, great.  The music is 8-bit and old-school.  The enemies are pretty old-school looking.  If not, it just feels like it's their first game and the physics need just a little more polish.

As noted, there are definitely a lot of levels, which is good, since they run pretty short.  If they were longer, you'd be that much more angry when you died right at the end of it.  I bet it gets to that point though.



--------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)
For a buck, I would possibly hit it again.  I would at least think about it.  But I would probably first go try some other demos for games like this that I could buy for a buck in case I found something better first.  If I'm going to plan to spend time really getting into a game like this that gets so hard it takes practice, I want to make sure I'm totally into it.  I'm not sure that's this game.  It definitely wouldn't be if it cost any more than 80 MSP.

So.. Hit it, maybe, after another trip around the bar.

American Gladiators (SNES)

We've got a slightly different version of Hit it or Quit it today.  This will be at little something I call Sloppy Seconds.  Generally, there are so many games out there that I've never seen, that I can run a Hit it or Quit it on a completely blind run.  A Sloppy Seconds review will be something that I have seen reviewed or played elsewhere.  In this case, I have already seen Continue play this game, so I kind of know what to expect.

Sloppy Seconds

Year: 1991 -- Developer: Incredible Technologies -- Publisher: Gametek

Through the grapevine:
Continue seemed to have a little fun with this game, but overall, it seemed confusing and hard to play.  I remember watching the show quite a bit, but not enough to know the Gladiators names or anything.  During the intro, there is a picture with them all that has some pretty good detail.  They look familiar, but I have no idea who is who.. or even who is a man or woman in some cases.

I'm expecting clunky controls and a cheating CPU, which might be for fun with other people like Continue had.  By myself, I'm not expecting this to last long.

----------------------------------

Fooled around for:  20 minutes
It was indeed about what I expected.  It's so hard to play, it just isn't fun.  It was almost fun, and I really tried to like it.  The games on the show always seemed super cool, so it sounds like a great idea to be able to play them in a game, but it just doesn't work that way.  My thumbs hurt from trying to hold the buttons and press them as the game expects them to be pressed.  Part of the problem is that it doesn't tell you what it wants from you, so the first couple times you happen to play any particular game, you just suck because you are trying to figure out what the hell to do.  Some games use certain buttons that would make sense in another game as well, but they seem to have decided to mix it up every game.  By the time you do figure it out, you're just tired of playing it.

----------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it?
This idea is really cool, and if the show was still on and they tried again on newer systems, it might be cool.  This version, not so much.  Quit it like these female Gladiators quit being women.

Alien vs. Predator (SNES)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 1993 -- Developer: Activision -- Publisher: Activision

First impression:
Like the last review, I know nothing about this movie except that most people seem to think I should have seen it.  Intro storyboard screens.  Aliens attacked humans, humans called for help, the call fell upon the predator.  I'm guessing platformer again, like Alien 3.

WHOOOOA, beat 'em up.  Really?? WTF.  Looks cheesy as hell, but it's definitely a beat 'em up.  Looks look sticky controls and repetition.  Not expecting much, but maybe it will surprise me.. like an alien popping out of a chest.. or something.

Also, the music is super annoying.  I can't tell if it's supposed to be the movie music, but it's just shrill, and when it's not shrill, it's repetitive.

-----------------------------------

Fooled around for: 10 minutes
For the Predator supposedly being such a badass, in this game, he just sucks ass.  The game starts as soon as you press start, no lead-in, just a sampling of the three power-ups you can get.  One is a projectile blade thing, one is generic meat-on-bone and the other third might be the worst power-up I've ever seen.  So the predator is supposed to be awesome and go stealth, right?  Well, that's the power up, except all it does is make it so you can't even see your own sprite to fight with.  WTF!  It's more like a power down.

What a great idea!  

The controls are even worse than I anticipated.  If you are button mashing, as you tend to in games like this, you can't even turn around until you seriously just stop pressing the button for a second.  The combos are clunky, the other pick-up weapons suck.  You can start a grab by either pressing X or just standing next to them, so right as you think you are going to hit that sweet combo, you just stop and grab them and stare at them.

I tried the Continue method of Always Be Jump-kicking, and it definitely doesn't work in this game.  In a startling turn of events, the CPU enemies actually know this tactic and use it relentlessly.  And they have a longer reach than you, so they can hit you before you even get to them.

------------------------------------

Hit it or Quit it?
I already don't like beat 'em ups that much, unless it's really breaking the standard mold somehow, but this one not only makes me like them less, but I also don't want to see the movie.  Quit it with stealth on so it doesn't see me leaving in the morning.

Alien 3 (SNES)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 1993 -- Developer: Probe -- Publisher:  Acclaim

From across the room:
I have never seen any of the Alien movies, so I have no idea what to expect with the story, let alone with the game.  There's actually an intro cinematic, not that it's helping much.  It's space.  And there's an alien on the ship.  The music is trying to be epic.  There's some bald guy.  While it's going.. my guess is that this will be something like a side-scrolling platform shooter.  Looks like the intro is done, so let's find out.

-----------------------

Fooled around for: 8 minutes
Hey look at that, I was right.  Side-scrolling platform shooter.  This is my excited face.  It almost seemed cool at first because the first thing I realized is that I have a flamethrower.  Then I realized I could walk up to a computer terminal and use it.  This is how you select your mission.  There seems to be several, and I wanted to know what they all were, but it took so long to watch the mission information display everything, I just couldn't stand waiting through it.  I looked at one that showed there were hostages to save, and one where there were cracked pipes that needed to be fixed.  I chose to save the hostages and off I went.  To find that you only get to see the map at the terminal, and it looks so generic, it's hard to even tell what it's showing you.  Then you can just go into all kinds of random doors and get lost.

Like I said, I haven't seen Alien, but is GI Jane in it, because this game makes it look like she is.  There are a bunch of little aliens running around, and it's fun to burn them to death, but that's about it.  Running is not fun, jumping is not fun, saving hostages is not fun.  Fire is fun.. but then you run out of ammo and it's not so fun.

-----------------------

Hit it or Quit it?
Overall, I just don't care enough about this franchise to try to figure out what is going on.  There could be a decent game underneath, if it was given some patience, but patience I do not have.  Quit it.

Alcahest (SNES)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 1993 -- Developer: Hal Laboratory -- Publisher: Square

First impression:
Square!  And Hal!  No wonder this got translated.  Yes, this is my first foray into a translated game.  Since I'm assuming it's an RPG, I'm not sure how long I will actually play it for Hit it or Quit It since I don't really plan to get into it that much.  7th Saga worked out pretty well though, so maybe this will too.  Just seeing those names, and hearing this pretty awesome title screen music makes me wonder if this might even be a long-term game in the future.  There's no demo screens or anything, so who knows how this is going to go.  Being worthy of translation might be a good sign too though!

------------------------

Fooled around for: 25 minutes
It turned to not only be an RPG, but actually an action RPG!  Totally wasn't expecting that, and almost instantly bumped my rating up to Hit it.  Aside from a few text glitches on what look to be some type of Chapter screens, I couldn't even tell it was translated.  The script is just about as lame and cheesy as all of this era of games were, and it was awesome.

The music is a little lamer than I was hoping, especially running the same song over and over while you are getting through it.  And the controls are just a little bit sticky considering the amount of enemies and the angles at which they come at you.  Besides this, it was just straight-forward enough to not have to think, but fun enough to play so I didn't get bored with it.  It's actually hard to stop playing, since it was just starting to get good. I just got some fire guy as a partner and he's supposed to team up with me.  Being on the early side, it seems the leveling has something left to be desired, and the item system is a little weird, but it also may get better later on.  The graphics are pretty good for trying to be detailed considering it's on the SNES in 1993.

------------------------

Hit it or Quit it?
I wouldn't be surprised if it gets annoyingly hard later on, but for now, I would definitely hit again.  This may actually be one that I try to play for a longer style review.  I will actually create a new tag for Callbacks, because I think I'm going to want to take another go at this in the future.  Thinking back, I'm not sure I would even retro-fit any other reviews with a Callback.  This game is breaking all sorts of new ground for me!

Double Teamed - Power Rangers Zeo: Battle Racers (SNES)

Year: 1996 -- Developer: Natsume -- Publisher: Bandai

4th and final game for this series of Double Teaming!

From across the room:
Considering all of the other games we've been playing didn't have demo screens, we didn't even wait for this one to find out.  Let's just get it started.  We are expecting something between Mario Kart and Battle Cars.. but with Power Rangers.. but since it's Zeo, no putties :(

----------------------

Played for: 20 minutes

Hit it or Quit it?
Putties wouldn't have really made this game any better.  It turned out to be a scary close rip-off of Mario Kart.  Most of the same modes, tracks looked similar, even some of the sounds were very close.  For being so late in the SNES life, I kind of had hoped for this to somehow be awesome.   Unfortunately, it was just generic and same-y.  It might have even been better if it wasn't Power Rangers.  There was no reason for it to have been Power Rangers.. but I guess that's what happens when you try to put a franchise on top of something totally unrelated like a battle racing game.

Considering how awesome Mario Kart got later, making the original suck, I'd still rather just go play that.  Quit it.

Double Teamed - Dream TV (SNES)

Year: 1994 -- Developer: BITS -- Publisher: Triffix

3rd game Double Teamed!

From across the room:
Somehow, we happened to pick a bunch of games that just don't have demo screens, so who knows how this is going to be.  With a name like Dream TV, we can't even guess.  They would rather show the credits during the title screen than show us what we can expect during the game.

-----------------------

Played for: 15 minutes

Hit it or Quit it?
I guess we got sucked into the TV and were trying to collect puzzle pieces to get out?  The coolest part about this game was the way the "camera" worked with two players, and even then, it had it's moments of suck.  You start in the same place, so the camera just takes the whole screen, but as you walk apart from each other to explore, the screen just splits horizontally, so it can track you each separately.  Pretty cool effect, except for when you are just far enough to get the screen split because one of you ends up disappearing as it gets ready to split, and then there is just a weird, uneasy feeling from seeing the screen split by just a little.  Looks way better when you get far enough away from each other.

The controls sucked though. It's a platformer, except it's hard to actually jump from place to place.  The graphics are hideous, and the music isn't any better.

Dream TV?  More like Nightmare TV, amirite???  Quit it.

Double Teamed - Battle Cars (SNES)

Year: 1993  Developer: Namco

Another game double teamed with my brother!

From across the room:
Again, there seems to be no demo screen, so we are left guessing what is going to happen.  The cars on the title screen look pretty hardcore, so maybe this will actually be pretty cool.  We figure it's going to be something along the lines of Rock 'n' Roll Racing, but probably not with the crazy isometric view.

----------------------

Played for: 20 minutes

Hit it or Quit it?
There were cars.. there was battling.. but there was a lot left to be desired.  It actually looked a lot like Mario Kart, except with after Mario Kart had been on Crystal Meth for a few years and was living on the streets.  It started suddenly, with no lead-in, and I guess we were battling each other.  Just after we finally figured out what was going on, it was over, and we were awarded credits.  Oh, cool, so we earn money to buy upgrades?  Sweet.  And it actually was sweet for me, because I was awarded so much money for winning the head to head.  For my brother though, he could barely buy anything.  After this, it wasn't so much two player, as it was one player.. twice.  I Battled Raced the "boss", then my brother got the chance.  Then we got more credits.  Well, I got more credits.  Because my brother didn't get so much money the first round, he wasn't as powerful, and couldn't keep up with the boss as well.  After two more sets of this, we realized it was quickly getting unbalanced.  I won more because I started strong, and he couldn't catch up because he didn't have the power to do so.

Unlike Mario Kart, the tracks all looked the same.  They could have all been the same, for all we could tell.  There was almost no HUD.  Just a few numbers for "speed" and for how far in front or behind you were from the boss.

Eh, this is already getting too long for what I'm shooting for here.  I need to learn to focus on the game, and not the experience.

Graphics, meh.  Upgrading, nice thought, but just didn't work that well.  Music, annoying.  Fun, almost was, but then wasn't.  Quit it.

Double Teamed - Brawl Brothers (SNES)

Year: 1993 -- Developer/Publisher: Jaleco

So this is a first for this blog:  I doubled teamed a game with my brother today.  Went all Family Style on it.  Other than breaking the continuity of my playlist, and handing picking a few games that were 2-player, the format is the same.  We play a game for a fairly short amount of time, make some judgments based on this short amount of time, and move on.

Also.. There's pictures!  There may not always be, but I hope to at least catch the title screen and other funny/interesting shots.

From Across The Room:
We waited and waited for a demo mode, or some other splash screens or something, and nothing.  Apparently the game does not think we need to know anything about it before hand.  Based on the name, we guess it's likely to be a side-scrolling beat-em-up.  Watch it be a Airplane Simulator...

--------------------------

Played for:  15 minutes

Hit it or Quit it?
Well, it wasn't a Flight Sim.  I guess it was a beat-em-up.  Well, it was.  But, considering how many are out there, this was definitely just another generic beat-em-up.  Walk, walk, punch, punch, jump-kick, special, repeat.  I've never had much patience for these in general because from Final Fight to The Simpsons Arcade Game, they all just seem the same.  Pick a big, slow fighter or a small quick fighter.  Pick up items and weapons, and just beat up repeating enemies, and super hard bosses.  I don't know what I'm expecting for there to be different for me to be interesting. Maybe some of the extra elements that games like River City Ransom have.. Get money, purchase items, leveling.  Just something else.  Even if I was going to play something as standard as this, I would end up playing something "classic" like Final Fight or Double Dragon.

As for this game though, it is was it is, and that's about it.  Graphics are okay.  A couple characters look like rip-offs from Street Fighter:  Huge, beefy Ryu and Black M.Bison (see picture below).  The music caused anxiety and was pretty annoying.  The graphics were pretty standard for one of these, but I would say excelled slightly in the animations.  Rip-off Ryu's normal punchpunchpunchpunch combo actually had about 5 frames of different poses to it.  Also, there was a button labeled "?" in the Control Options that turned out to be some weird pose.  Caught a couple screencaps of those too, for what it's worth.

Past that, quit it.  Even double-teamed, this just wasn't that fun.  Too generic when there are other games like this to play that might even feel a little more fulfilling.

Angry Mode??

Rip-off Ryu rocking the devil horns!

Black M.Bison eating chicken.. of course!

Aladdin - SNES

Year: 1993
Producer: Capcom

From across the room:
Ah, so nice to hear a familiar splash screen of a decent company for a change, Capcom!  I've played Aladdin before, so this won't be completely new, but it's been a while, so it will be new enough.  The startup sequence is running through the story.  Aladdin and Jafar are trying to open the Cave of Secrets or whatever it was. The animations are nice and colorful, as they should be, being based on a Disney cartoon movie.  Running demo scene now.  Ah, yes, this does look familiar.  I think this is supposed to end up being pretty hard, like The Lion King.  Like they were thinking "hm, Disney movies are nice and accessible.. but let's make the games so even seasoned gamers can't handle this shit... also.. penises."  Sounds like the music should be catchy and referential to the movie as well.

-------------------------

Played for:  8 minutes

Hit it or Quit it?
Don't let the playtime fool you.  Or maybe do let it fool you, I don't know.  Maybe I'm just having an impatient day, but I just wasn't into dying over and over.  I see that yes, it's difficult, but it's partly only because of the controls.. and level design.. Both of which should be expected I guess, and I guess you would be expected to get over it.  But they just weren't as fluid as they felt like they could have been.  Most of the levels just need to be memorized so you can avoid the awkwardly placed enemies.  It feels like there could be some pretty cool parkour type runs, but then all of a sudden you catch something and it stops you right in front of an arrow.  Also, the controls just feels really loose.  For a platformer with ahead-of-its-time parkour, and very precise jumping needed, the hit/grab boxes just don't feel right.  One time, it seems you'd be fine to grab this or jump on that, but the next time, it feels like the same place, and it just doesn't connect.  Also running is really loose and sloppy, being unsure of when you're going to start and stop speed-running or sliding.

I do feel impatient today, so I would probably come back and hit this again sometime to try to learn the levels a little more and see how much of the movie is involved in this game.  I do remember very similar issues with the Lion King game too though, as I mentioned.  I wonder if that was Capcom too.. hm..  Either way, games like these usually have codes, or you can at least look up the passwords and start wherever you want in the game, so there's some replay in just jumping around and seeing further into the game for the heck of it.  Not right now though!

Air Cavalry - SNES

Year: 1994
Publisher: Cybersoft Inc
Developer: Synergistic Software

First glance:
I haven't tested this theory, but it makes me wonder about games having their credits during the opening/demo scenes.  Do you really need your players to know your names that bad?  Are you not expecting your players to finish the game?  I think FF3/6 does this though.. but on the other hand, I never beat that either ;)

Otherwise, generic epic air fight music.  Don't know the name of the song, but you would know it.  Rise of the Valkyries perhaps.  The only demo scene that's repeating is showing a helicopter from third-person behind view as it awkwardly rotates and fires at things on the ground.  Half of the screen is taken up by flight controls that may or may not matter.  I was looking forward to playing something other than Aerobiz, but I am not looking forward to this.  Looks clunky and uninteresting.

---------------------------

Played for:  6 minutes

They play that same epic song every other 5 seconds.. I'm going crazy.  Otherwise, it was about as clunky as it seemed it was going to be.  It gives you some quick briefing, a map that means nothing, and then sends you on your way.  The first mission was fine.  Blow up 6 trucks? Sure.  The next mission though had so many tanks, but you only have 12 rockets, and your guns suck.  There may be something about this I'm missing, but I just don't care.  It's actually nice to have a short play time for a change.  I was almost missing those.

Hit it or Quit it?
Quit it with a rocket.. oops, I'm already out of rockets. Oh well.  I just don't care about helicopters, or military, or this game.  Plus the game didn't even wait for confirmation that I wanted to start the mission, so it started, and I'm being shot at.  Oh well, at least it's not playing that song anymore.

Aerobiz Supersonic - SNES

Year: 1994
Publisher: Koei

First glance:
The intro graphics have at least already been improved.  The music is actually pretty catchy too.  Actually, wow.. I'm really liking this song.  If this were an RPG, I would be super excited to hear the rest of the score. Unfortunately, I'm thinking this is going to be the only song I hear.  No other demo screens or anything, so I have no idea what to expect, except for more of the same as the last game, except different.  Maybe new planes.. maybe a more streamlined interface.. who knows.  Guess it's time to find out.  Gonna try to not get sucked in as bad as the first game, but I also want to give it a solid comparison.  We'll see!

-----------------------------

Played for:  25 minutes

I gotta stop myself before I get sucked in for hours.  I really don't generally like management games because I'm impatient and things take too long to happen, but there's something about this one that just catches me.  Maybe it's because I'm playing it on easy and I'm dominating in the first year.  I only just figured out how to change the continent you are focused on though, so I was really just beefing up North America.  From here out, managing the costs of going international would probably get more sticky, and possibly frustrating.  I have huge income from NA right now, but I think I need to cut into those flights to move them international.  Look at me geeking out about flight business sim strats.  WTF.  Anyways...

It's about what I expected.  More of the same, but a few new features.  Even the action icons are just the same.  The graphics are nicer though.  And the awesome music pretty much did carry over, but since you end up on the same screen so long, it gets old.  And the main actions screen sounds like Tears In Heaven.  Not sure what's up with that.

Hit it or Quit it?
Oddly enough, I would probably actually hit it again.  I'm almost interested enough to run a whole game and see how it plays out. On the other hand, it would take forever.  Maybe actually saving a game and coming back to it a few times would be worth it, but would run the risk of losing your flow.  I don't know.  I probably won't come back to it, but the next time I'm itching for Simcity, I may just try this again instead!

Aerobiz - SNES

Year: 1992
Publisher: KOEI

First Glance:
The intro screens include a bunch of copyright information for a bunch of airplanes.  And the intro scene looks like a flight simulator.  I don't think I've ever loaded this up before, but I think I heard somewhere, it's like a Flight Business Sim?  Managing flights/planes/airports?  The only other stuff happening is some still shots of photos that have been "dumbed down" to SNES quality.  And the music is kind of cool.  Sounds like an airplane game.  I have no idea what else to expect though!

---------------------------

Played for:  40 minutes (!?)

Now that my brain is sufficiently melted, it's time to call it good.  I really can't believe I even played a game like this for that long.  I generally don't have the patience.  Especially for a business I know nothing about, and really don't care about.  And for a game that doesn't tell you shit about how to play or anything about it. This definitely was a game that needed the manual.

It turns out I was right, it's a Airplane Business Manager Simulation.  Lots of factors, lots of boring numbers, but I did fight my way through the menus and figured quite a bit out.  I even ended up "first" with in 2 years, but my expenses are now still costing more than my sales, and I don't care enough anymore to try to figure it out.  I did have a pretty good run though, I thought.

The music is catchy, but gets old and repetitive.  The main screen's graphics are lame, but the animations and graphics that pop up now and then are kind of cool.  Overall, it definitely take patience, first to learn even what to do, and then to keep playing.  I have no idea how long it runs, except at the beginning you can choose between two timespans.  Both looked about 15 years, so probably about that.  The second span went to 2015 though.  I wanted to try that, but considering it took this long to get through a couple years, I don't know if I would last until The Future anyways.

Hit it or Quit it?
While it surprisingly sucked me in for longer than I anticipated, I would ultimately quit it.  I just don't have the patience for this stuff.  For the 3 people ever who are into Flight Business Management Games, this is probably awesome for you, since it fills that need like nothing else probably does.  For everyone else, and for me, there just isn't enough oomph behind it.  It was cool being in first, but I can't say it was because I knew what I was doing.  The catch is.. there's a sequel.. that I'm supposed to be playing next.  I'm not sure what else they can do to the genre, but I guess I'll find out!

Aero the Acro-bat 2 - SNES

Year: 1994
Developer: Iguana
Publisher: Sunsoft

Looks like the first game was popular enough, since this next one came out the next year.  I'm not sure what everyone saw in it, but we'll see how this next one goes.  Same people involved, it looks like.  Hopefully it's not just a remapping of the same engine..  Ah, yes.. Then Aero was on the Sunsoft Logo.  Maybe there was really just no other good games at the time, so this looked best in comparison.  Maybe I didn't give the first enough time.  Likely, but oh well.  I'm not here to give games adequate time.  There are too many of them!  Anyways.. Demo screen looks pretty similar to the first.  Definitely upgraded the graphics.  The sprites are all bigger on the screen.  Looks like controls are a little smoother though, but I've thought that before.

----------------

Worth mentioning first, since I haven't officially started:  There's a mini game in the options.  Odd..  It's a shuffle-the-cups game.  Pretty easy, but still.  I'm guess it's to practice for when it happens in the main game.. Doubt I'll get that far though :p

--------------

Played for:  25 minutes

Well, this one definitely kept me playing for longer than most of the games have been.  It's wayyy better than the first.  It's actually so much better, I almost would want to go back and fight through the first one just to appreciate this one that much more.  It starts with a story, which the first is lacking in the game.  It looks like there's some evil clown named Ektor.  That's about all I know.  Except that you think you beat him in the first game, but he ends up saved, and that's where this next game picks up.  Except the graphics are way better, the controls are way smoother, and everything just plays great.  You can attack things with your "drill move" (which I have found it is called).  I'm guessing you can do that in the first one too, which would make things easier, so I may have give that one a Booty Call sometime and take another run at it.

The levels are so interesting in this one so far.  Lots of hidden side tunnels, lots of fun platforming elements, and with the controls feeling tighter, it's really making for a good game so far.  Not good enough to just keep playing right now, but good enough to maybe come back again some day.

Hit it or Quit it?
Hit it, even if I hit the first one first just to make sure I wasn't missing something.  Otherwise, screw the story, this one is way more fun, and I would for sure come back for this one.