This has been a great game to play on the plane with my two kids. There's surprisingly more stuff to do than I expected - even as a single player (which I haven't experienced yet, but maybe later?). We've played in - I think - three different worlds so far, and each has a different item you use to solve puzzles and such. It's pretty standard Zelda in that regard, but having three links running around doing things adds a lot to the chaos and mayhem.
At the end of each area you open a chest and get an item you use as materials for different outfits, and different outfits give you bonuses/special abilities which are fun. We've each unlocked a few - I only have one copy of the game, but the kids download to their devices AND they can save their progress which is neat.
I'm currently on vacation and I've been going through stuff I had "in storage". My old (original) Playstation was among the things I've pulled out and plan to get back into "circulation".
Fortunately, it worked, and I spend a nice 30-45 minutes playing this game with my son - who was not familiar with this style of music/dance game. It took a few seconds to remember how it all worked and I now wonder what happened to this "branch" of the evolutionary road in game design. This game is a weird hybrid of sorts - it's a rhythm/action game that also feels like a fighting game although there's no combat.
Here's how it works (this is partly as I recall, since I didn't play it that long!)
a. The game has a bunch of characters, each of which have different dance moves (and a song and a stage). The dance moves change if you pick different characters and might even vary in their difficulty to pull off.
b. Each match has a set length (the song) during which you'll get to do a certain number of moves. There are moments where you have moves, but not your opponent (solos!) and vice versa.
c. Moves are a sequence of button presses illustrated in the screen (e.g. up,up,down,left). Each move ends with a separate button press (e.g. X or O). The final button press has to be on beat - the prior presses don't have to be.
[This is what feels like a fighting game - these are combo moves!]
d. If you get a sequence right, the next sequence is "upgraded" - get all the sequences right and you "fever" (AFAI remember, that's the "best").
e. If you get it wrong, you start over (or from a previous sequence). Obviously you won't get the highest rating.
There are ways to attack your opponent, but I don't recall what they are.
I DO recall that there are SECRET sequences you can do to unlock even higher combo levels and better scores.
Anyways, the game still holds up incredibly well - even the gameplay feels fresh and different from other stuff out there now. Weird, huh?
Also, I think it's a reasonably early game such that "O" is the default for "ok/accept" rather than "X" (then "cancel/back"). Story goes that US/Western devs ignored (didn't know?) the recommended default and used "X" instead - pissing off Japanese devs who then had to change when some Western games became really popular and cemented the "wrong" standard. It's been "X" as default for ok/accept ever since.
Popped this in during a short plane ride and...hmmm...
I haven't done any research on the game whatsoever so I'm super curious to know if it's based on an existing IP or not. It's just that the art is so bad that it feels like the only way this would make sense is for it to be based on an IP with a particular niche crowd and aesthetic. Otherwise, the art is just bad...
The game, so far (I've only played three levels) is a to down twin stick shooter where you control movement with one hand and the shooting direction with the other. It feels a bit awkward to play for me, but having the large-sied DS doesn't help either. You mostly run 'n gun, with some pickups along the way to heal, change to a rocket launcher, or move faster.
Other that that, I'm not sure what else to expect.
So, I did a "non-perfect" (because I missed a few augs) playthrough of the game and it's definitely MORE interesting than I thought (as a game, the whole violent videogames controversy is a separate issue).
I'm not that familiar with FMV games, but in comparison with Dragon's Lair, I think this game has some interesing design innovations (they might not be innovations because, like I said, I'm not that familiar with FMV games). So..here goes:
a. Yes, you have to react appropriately (press button for trap deployment) at the right time - BUT, you have to be at the (or watching) a specific location in order to do so. It's super easy to miss things that happen while you're watching the wrong camera.
b. The new version is a lot easier because you can see a small version of each camera that "comes to life" when it's actually playing video. The original just had static images.
c. Since there are often multiple things happening at the same time, this is a game in which you're figuring out the "correct" watching order - what to watch when in order to succeed. So, to figure it all out you really need multiple playthroughs which is not something I'd say of Dragon's Lair.
d. I screwed up once near the end and it didn't "game over", rather it re-started a bit of time earlier. I'm not sure if it's a formal "check-point" (if I had messed up later, would I have restarted at the same moment) or if it's a "rewind X minutes on the clock". But still, I was surprised when it happened.
e. Because of the randomized code changes, you have to pay attention to the video (well, the audio, case the video might be the same).
f. The code changes are NOT all instant - rather, after a color code change you might have to wait (execute a few traps with the wrong color) before switching to the new color. I'm not sure why this was the case and I wonder if I missed something (e.g. they announce in video "hey, now it's changed").
g. There's a few moments where you get the cue to trap BUT it's wrong (you have to wait a few seconds for a 2nd cue). I messed up the first one (pressed trap immediately) and was surprised by this. They video makes sense, but I'm not sure the "trick" is a good one other than the fact that I enjoyed the surprise and quickly figured out what I had to do.
h. There are multiple endings and playthroughs (which I didn't do) that are interesting. With more time I'd probably pursue them just to see what happens.
i. At least in this edition, the game is really framed as a movie/tv show -> highlights the cast and most significant crew in a credits sequence that, I'm guessing would have been rare for the time. From the video bonuses, it seems like the creators weren't seeing it (in the original concept) as a game and more as a movie that's enhanced (the whole project started as a way to use a hardware addon to a VCR rather than a console videogame - BUT it was conceived as a sort of trojan horse into the game industry)
j. Perhaps my favorite thing is that there is a nice tension between wanting to "watch the movie parts" and the gameplay - activating traps at the right moment. In order to play well (without foresight) you have to literally ignore all the social stuff (people being social, interacting, etc.) and just focus on spotting "bad actors". So, like actually running security? In a way it's sort of like blind surveillance - I have to ignore what I'm spying on because that part is noise... weird?
