Oh no, it's a space shooter! I'm usually pretty terrible at these, I don't have the patience or time to remember all the patterns and such and, I also find these games incredibly overwhelming. I'm not sure why I picked this up (Limited Run physical copy), but I thought I'd give it a try and perhaps learn something about the genre.
I must have played about 90 minutes or so. I watched all the cutscenes and such, and I don't really understand the story. I think it's about some aliens that invaded from another part of the universe, but we're humans and we're fighting back. But there is some special tech - for these flying mechs with swords and guns, and I think there are two sisters who control two of these special alien mechs - but one sister turned bad? Oh, and their dad died, but I'm playing as his son? I don't think it matters much and I'm not sure if the characters/world is from some licensed property or such? (I don't think so, based on the lack of other company branding as far as I recall)
What I did find interested is that there are two main control modes - and the console one is the secondary (less preferred?). It seems like the main one is (from?) the PC version of the game? I had always imagined that Japanese shooter games were primarily an arcade thing, with ports and versions then appearing on PC and console. I now get the sense that I'm wrong - and that perhaps the main "home" for these kinds of games is the PC? Which also makes me wonder - are they played with keyboard? Mouse and keyboard? I don't think they'd go with gamepad.
The other thing I'm curious about is, given that it's a Limited Run edition I'm playing, and they tend to focus on indie games, is this game an Indie game in the "western" sense of the term? Obviously the term indie has changed over the years - but I mean in the "experimental"/"artistic" sense of the word rather than just the "niche audience"/"small company" sense that is also used. So, in Japan - in what context is this game understood and perceived? I also have no idea if this game is a "classic" or "acclaimed" title in Japan (even if niche)....
Here in the US, I think these kinds of shooter games are a small niche audience kind of thing - and there isn't much of a local scene for these kinds of games? (I think!)
Anyways, playing this has led me to think a bit more about the business side of things as well as the differences in local play cultures and game preferences.... (which are both personal as well as culturally informed/created).
Wow, this game is FAST! It's also nice and short - I finished it yesterday afternoon in 2 hrs? (maybe less?)
I really enjoyed it even though the music wasn't particularly to my liking. There are definitely some cool levels I want to play again, but the score chasing (I only got gold on one level, silver on a bunch and bronze on everything else) isn't really my cup of tea. Especially since it seems that the score chasing here will be really memory-dependent. In other words, you need to memorize what's coming next, where/when to turn and that sort of thing.
I did enjoy the fact that the game has a "is this too hard?" option that lets you skip past an area you've been failing at too often. I never used it (though it definitely came up more than a few times). Hmmm..
For such a short game I also really enjoyed how much variation there is between levels in terms of the art as well as the gameplay. At first I thought it was simply a "dodge" stuff, but then there were some timed button presses (hit button when circle gets small enough), then there was some moving around in 2D (initially it's 1D), then 2D movement but from a different perspective, then there are fast button presses and, perhaps my favorite of all, a shooting section (a few actually) that MUST be a homage to Rez. I'm sure... The first level of Rez specifically, I'm sure there's even a camera angle change that happens at the same time as Rez.
Actually, for me that was the coolest moment - the Rez moment - I literally when "Whoah! It's REZ" and, perhaps unsurprisingly this was the only level I was able to get Gold on. I wonder if it was some Rez muscle memory that kicked in? Like, I just knew what to do?
For now I'll continue playing, but mostly for Trophy hunting. The trophies are really just the excuse...
I would call this a cute, clever platformer with a twist in the nicest way possible. Here, the twist is that you need to take a wheeled cart to the end of a (large) level. You can push it, pull it with a rope, and generally drag it around. It's physics-based and works REALLY well. I was surprised by how natural it felt.
The art is cute and pretty, everything works smoothly - there are plenty of checkpoints to restart, there's a button to restart (if your cart is stuck someplace you can't get to), you need to collect gems with your cart to buy upgrades (more options and stuff), and each level has an area with a 2-player co-op only puzzle.
I finished the entire first "world" and did 2 levels of the next and I think I see how this is going. I'm not particularly intrigued or interested...so, it's going on the shelf.
That being said - I'll definitely turn to this as an example of a game with "rope physics" that works really well!
I picked this game up in Japan thinking it was a Japan-only release (it isn't) and figured that since it was cheap and seemed accessible, why not?
It's a hot, crazy mess in which you fight against other Gundam mecha - but, and here's the weird thing, you're all toy mecha! At least I think that's what is going on - it's all in Japanese which I neither read nor understand.
There'a fair amount of reading, with characters you talk to, dialogue choices, and such. But the battles? Lots of different combos and a lot of chaotic fighting. Also, it seems like your continously losing parts from your mech (that get knocked off?) and you can knock bits off your opponent's mechs as well.
In all, I'm really intrigued - I easily got S-rankings on the 3 missions I played, but to be honest I had no idea what I was supposed to do or what was going on. I guess my NPC companions were really good at the game!
I'm curious to play the western version (as in, not in Japanese), but I saw the reviews were terrible so I'm not sure that knowing what to do will be much good? To be clear, I wasn't having fun - but I was curious.
