Fox n Forests (Switch) Review

Fox n Forests is a retro inspired platformer.  It has nice sprite artwork and a very old school game map.  Your goal is to guide Rick the fox through the seasons and find each piece of magic bark.  To do so, Rick will bring along his trusty sword and crossbow, while also gaining magic that allows him to change the season in each stage.

Platforming is decent overall.  Rick starts with a double jump, which is very useful.  There are some jumps that feels just out of reach of the double jump, which is disappointing.  It is unfortunately harder to jump over enemies and hazards than I want, because Rick's hitbox feels too big.  He will frequently hit his head on things above him, which kills your jump momentum.  There are, of course, bottomless pits, too.  Running out of health or falling to your doom will quickly send you back to the last checkpoint.  The saving grace is that respawning is so fast.  The bad side is you have to pay to use checkpoints, and the cost increases as the level goes on.  You can skip them if you want to save your money.  I don't really like that idea, since I need most of the checkpoints.  I also feel it's a way to keep your total money down, meaning you will need to replay stages more times to buy the upgrades.

Combat somehow feels worse than the platforming.  Rick has two basic attacks: one with a sword, and one with a crossbow.  It's a great idea, but suffers from both being attached to the same button.  If you are standing still, Rick will use his crossbow.  If you are moving or jumping, he will use his sword.  I'd really like to be able to use the crossbow more than you can.  Ranged attacks help a lot, given Rick's large hitbox and how cheesy the enemies can be.  I'd also love to be able to jump and shoot.  It's not like that would break the game, just make it more fair, so having them as separate buttons would be great.

The crossbow is weak, and has a cooldown between volleys, so you still need to use the sword.  Even so, the sword had its own problems.  The range isn't that good, and I frequently got hit while trying to attack enemies.  The purchasable double jump attack hits a nice circle around Rick, but the single jump attack is much more confined.  If it was more of an arc, it would be better, and it wouldn't be so easy to get hit while trying to use such a precise attack.

The unique mechanic if the game is the ability to change the season.  Each level has two versions, and using your magic effectively swaps between them.  Water will freeze so it can be walked on, plants grow or retract, and fog can disappear.  It's a really cool idea that is used pretty well.  My only gripes with it are that you cannot activate it in the air (but can turn it off while jumping), and the activation time.  When you change the season, Rick has to stop and hold up his sword.  This would be fine if the rest of the game paused with him, but it doesn't.  So, if you aren't careful, or constantly unlucky, you can get hit when you activate the season change.  As if the game needed to get in more cheap hits.  It might be less frustrating on a TV instead of handheld mode.

The money you gather not only pays for checkpoints, but can be used to get potions and upgrades for Rick.  Health and special move upgrades just require money, while mana and melee attack upgrades also require some collectibles.  Unfortunately, you have to alternate buying special move and melee strength increases, so you will have to find some of the whetstones to get all the moves.  The potions you can buy are cheap, but you need to find the bottles first.  Easier said than done.

There are not many levels in the game, as each section has two, a boss fight, and a bonus stage.  To make up for this, the levels themselves are long.  Too long for my tastes.  I'm a fan of more, but shorter, levels (see Disney Infinity versus Skylanders).  Especially when you can easily jump back to completed stages for missed collectibles with new abilities.  Well, I say “can”, but the game means “will.”  After beating a boss, you need a certain number of the seed collectibles to progress.  While I usually like going back to grab missed stuff, it feels arbitrary when I'm forced to.  Plus, when I’m happy just getting through a stage, given how frustrating things can get, I don’t really want to go back.  However, since the levels are big with some alternate paths, you may be completing each level several times to find everything.  Or without finding everything, like me.  You also need every seed in a set of levels to do the bonus stage.  The first bonus stage gives a little extra money, but you only get one chance to do it.  Considering the work I had to put in to get it, the reward was not worth it.

Parts of Fox n Forests are fun, but it feels like a missed opportunity.   There are good elements, such as the different attacks and the season changing mechanic.  Too bad most other game mechanics are working against you.  In reality, the game is short, and has to resort to artificially drawing it out.  Because of this, it feels strange to complain about each level being way too long, even though I will still do just that.  Ultimately, die hard platform players looking for a challenge or something unique should check it out, but for others it's a pass.


The Good:
Season changing leads to some nice level designs and opportunities.

The Bad:
Controls aren't always responsive, character's hitbox is too big, not many levels.

The SaHD:
I really appreciate the Gorgeous Gorge name.

(Review code for Fox n Forests was received from the publisher)

ReCore ReVisit ReView (Xbox One)

What a difference an update makes.  In very late 2016, I reviewed ReCore, and found it fun but ultimately unfinished and unpolished.  The game has finally had its big update, which adds the missing content and then some.  It also gains a Definitive Edition to its title.

New to this update is  an entire zone (Starving Sea), the infamous tank core frame, three shot types, some dungeons, and changes to the Shifting Sands area.  The new area has some of the new dungeons, and you will need the new frame to race around the area for the keys.  It's also perpetually dark, which they explain in the glossary.  That doesn't make it easier to see, though.  The level cap has increased to level 40, and the enemies in the new area and its dungeons skew toward the higher end of that.  It's a real pain to get through since I had previously completed the game and extra stuff when the level cap was 30.  I did gain two levels when I loaded my save, but it wasn't enough.  To top it off, I encountered some bugs while trying out this new content.

The new tank (T8-NK) frame is a mixed bag.  Its mobility and utility use are good, but otherwise it's unremarkable.  It didn't feel that useful in combat.  The little face is cute, though.  Joule's new shots are notably less of a mixed bag.  In fact, I didn't like them.  They just aren't fun to use, nor more useful than the normal charge shot.  Outside of the few times you are required to use them, I had no need to, nor did I want to.  It's also not good to just cram them all together in such a small span, since you do a vast majority of the game without them.  I'd just as easily not use them at all, as they feel superfluous.

Shifting Sands now lives up to its name, as storms can appear and change the zone.  After a storm, new areas appear, leaving previous ones inaccessible for a time.  It's a cool idea, but is unfortunately bogged down by a bad timer.  It's not very long, which is good when you want to go to a certain dungeon, but bad when you just want to explore the newly opened areas and grab some collectibles.  If I was starting the game over from the beginning, this change would have been more apparent.  Until I finished the new stuff, I had no idea that the storms are what let you access the other new dungeons.  They are level-appropriate for the area, so I should have done them before the other new content.  The new traversal dungeons can be pretty frustrating, and sadly the timer glitch has been fixed.  I knew it would be, but it is still sad to see it go.

One last change was reducing the number of prismatic cores needed to get through the final area.  Now it only takes 30, where that only got you into the lowest level before.  This change doesn't affect me, since I already had 80 of them, but it is nice for newer players.  They also seem to give out more of them.  The new dungeons have more orbs as the easier prizes, and some new ones are just lying around in the openings of old ones.  I'm not sure why they bothered to add more, and make them so easy to get, since you barely need them anymore.  Just doing content you came across in the original got me over 30, the rest just feel useless.

While the price was right for the "definitive" upgrade, most of the rest doesn't seem worth it.  The game feels more finished, content-wise, but that's about it.  A few additions were nice, but most just didn't feel balanced or needed, and the game still needs polish.  I feel it all could have been done better.  Overall, the Definitive Edition soured me on the game.  If you really want to play all that ReCore has to offer, or get a few (as of now) rare achievements, then by all means dive back in.  If not, there's really nothing added that would make me recommend coming back.


The Good:
Well, the update is free, and finishes the game.

The Bad:
Sadly, the update doesn't add any polish.  The game somehow now needs even more than it previously did.

The SaHD:
One of the new story dungeons froze on me.  When attempting it again, I beat the boss but died immediately afterwards because of his annoying minion.  The minion would then not stop spawning so I could actually finish the dungeon and get my prizes.  However, I got story completion for the dungeon, and was able to move on.  It also didn't pop the achievement, so in theory I completed the story after this mandatory dungeon without completing it.  Sigh.

(ReCore was previously purchased by reviewer)

Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero (NSW) Review

The latest Shantae game has made its way to the Nintendo Switch after becoming available several months ago on other platforms.  While I didn't get to review that release, I was very happy to review this one.  Mostly because, after Shovel Knight, I learned the Switch was a good platform for this type of game, and Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero shows why.

I mostly used the 4-button d-pad on the Joycon, and for 2D movement, it worked great.  Shantae's normal moves felt controlled and precise.  I really like the Switch's 4-button d-pad, even though I didn't think I would.  Jumping and attacking was also very responsive.  The only parts where I found the analog stick was better was while swimming in the mermaid form.  Especially the start of the last stage.

The concept and game flow is fairly similar to before.  You have to go to various places and collect something or other to advance the plot.  The areas felt smaller than in previous games, and it also felt like there was less to explore.  Most areas allow you to save after and before moving on to the next, which is nice.  If you fall down a pit, you are sent back to the last of those, or the last door you went in.  This made some parts a pain to do, especially the auto scrolling bits.  They made sense in context, but I still don't like those parts in games.  Didn't back in the day, and that hasn't changed.  I will say this excludes the shmup section, since I love that genre.

Platforming difficulty seems more balanced than the previous game.  Yes, there are some tough bits, but the hard one near the end isn't nearly as bad as the one at the end of Pirate's Curse.  Also the boss fights got easier.  Maybe it's the multitude of healing items, but I didn't use them often.  Before you had to learn their patterns, and now it is much easier to just power through them.  Yes, that will turn some people off, but I appreciate it because I can play and enjoy the game, but see areas to improve if I want to invest the time.

The beginning of 1/2 Genie Hero is harder than previous games, mostly because of the low starting health.  If you get a game over, it sends you back a bit, but doesn't refill health, making it harder to progress sometimes.  Bosses don't drop health increases like they used to, so you have to find them in the wild.  I was struggling through the first and second dungeon, but once I increased my max health, I didn't run into trouble dying (but I still fell into pits).

My problem with the game flow is how much they send you back to previous areas.  In most games in the genre, you return with more abilities to get an item or two, but a lot of the secrets and items are left up to your discretion.  Not so in 1/2 Genie Hero.  They are helpful in hinting at where you need to go.  Even so, I want to return to previous areas because I want to get items, less so because the game requires me to.  It's not a deal breaker, but it's not a choice I prefer.  It's probably to pad the game time, since it took me just over 7 hours to beat the game with 94% of the items.  That was after wasting chunks of time looking for things I couldn't find.  At least I know what areas I needed, since the map is great about showing what is available to find.

Shantae gets a lot more dances than she's ever had before, some much more useful than others.  The bat transformation and the warp dance are much more valuable than they initially appear to be.  There's also a harpy one that lets you fly.  It sadly controls terribly, which makes a part near the end a huge pain to deal with.  As for upgrades and spells, Shantae has her usual assortment.  Yay, pike ball!  Thankfully money is much easier and consistent to come by than previous entries, so the upgrades felt much more evenly spaced.

Overall, I really liked Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero.  It has some improvements over the previous games, even if I think it forces you back to the same area too many times.  While it's only about 7 hours for the first playthrough, it's appropriate for the genre and price, and there is an unlockable mode if you are so inclined.  Plus, the art and animation are still top-notch and beautiful.  Action/platformer fans should definitely check it out.


The Good:
Very fluid and precise controls on the Switch.  Looks great, too.

The Bad:
Forced, multiple retreads of areas.

The SaHD:
The Grandma Blobfish and the palette swap lines were very funny.

(Review code for Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero was provided by the publisher)

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (NSW) Review

Shovel Knight is a pretty good game that I'm not good at.  Still, I wanted to try out the two new campaign DLCs, since they are for characters that play very differently to the titular one.  After finally getting a Switch (for reasons that still aren't clear), I figured I would try out the new version on the new system!

I first wanted to try Plague Knight.  Instead of a close range attack, he can throw his little exploding vials.  As you progress, you can buy modifiers to the vial, which give them properties.  The vial can explode in flames, send fire up walls, or throw it up at an arc instead of down toward the ground.  While these are pretty cool, it's not quick to switch to them, so I end up barely using them.  You can also charge up the vial attack, which causes and explosion that launches you into the air (they do explain this at the start of the game).  Even though he has a (bad) double jump, this gives Plague Knight a more powerful jump.  And boy, are you going to need it.

Like Shovel Knight, Plague Knight has a world map with the same set of stages, and a different "town" area.  However, each stage has been slightly reworked to fit Plague Knight's unique abilities.  This means higher ledges and farther jumps.  The vial jump does work, and charges quickly, but has a set angle if you are moving forward while doing it.  This throws me off, since I'd prefer more control.  As it is, I can do it straight up, then move slightly to the side.  As always, I would have just preferred a good double jump instead.  He also relies mostly on temporary gains to health with special potions, but they wear off after your inevitable death.  Plague Knight and I didn't get along, so I moved on to his "friend".

Spectre Knight was next on my list.  He swings a scythe, which means again you have a short range weapon.  His kind of floaty movement and jump seem close to Shovel Knight's, but he has a few other tricks up his bony sleeve.  One, he can briefly run up some walls.  Of course they don't tell you this, old school style, so I sat around on the first screen for a minute before figuring out how to actually move forward.  Wall runs lead to wall jumps, which Spectre can also do.  This mechanic works, but it takes some getting used to.  I had to figure out which walls he can run up, and sometimes it gets messy when I'm trying to jump off of them, only to have him reach the top, or fall off, which then messes up the jump, and has me scramble to not fall in a pit.  Again.

Lastly, Spectre Knight doesn't just swing his scythe in the air, but dashes toward nearby targets.  He will either dash up or down at an angle, which is shown on the potential target.  It's actually really cool.  Plus, this is used many times as a method of mobility to get to higher ground, or to cover a long gap.  It takes a bit to get used to (there are many times I would accidentally dash down instead of up, which would put me in danger), but works really well.  Just be careful when doing it to enemies, since the game loves to bounce you just far enough back that an enemy will still hit you...ugh.  Spectre Knight has even more remixed stages for the bosses, and they will also change their patterns to feel fresh.  I really like that he has a more Megaman-like stage select instead of the map.

Even though I've played the core Shovel Knight before, I tried it again for a few levels.  The gender swap feature is there, so I switched everyone over.  It's not a huge difference to me, but I think it's a very cool feature that I would definitely mess around with.  It also has co-op (I don't recall if it needs the amiibo, which I do have), but I don't have anyone to try it with (my wife doesn't like these types of games).  The three campaigns also feature new game plus once they are completed.  For Spectre Knight, it combines will and darkness into one huge bar, but also constantly depletes it.  I tried for a few minutes, but it's definitely not something I'm going to actually put time into.  It's nice for people who want that extra challenge, though.

Each of the three campaigns runs about 4-8 hours, not counting deaths.  You will get a fair amount of playtime just completing what is offered, and some more if you go for completion, the feats, or any of the challenge modes.  The game can get pretty hard and frustrating, but practicing does help a lot.  There are plenty of times I would get a button or other move mixed up, make a mistake, get flustered when trying to correct it, and make it worse.  Other than that, the controls were pretty good, maybe even the best iteration of the Shovel Knights that I have played (Wii U, Xbox and PS4).  Who knew the four button d-pad could be so useful?

This was probably the best time I had playing Shovel Knight.  Partially is because I think the Switch controls really well, and partially because I've had some practice on other versions.  While I didn't really like Plague Knight's campaign, I really enjoyed Spectre Knight's.  They both use familiar level design (but not the same) with new moves to feel very much like new games.  If you haven't played any versions before, I definitely recommend the Switch version.  If you already own another version, the DLC should be coming as a free update (assuming you bought it before the specified date), so no real need to double (or triple) dip, unless the portability and really solid controls are a necessity to you.  I wasn't sure I would prefer this version, but I think it's the best one.  I'm looking forward to King Knight's campaign dropping, just to see how that mixes things up.


The Good:
Lots of new content for this version (others will eventually update for free for previous owners), Spectre Knight is fun to use.

The Bad:
Many instances of difficulty spikes.

The SaHD:
There needs to be a rule against pits on bosses...it's just mean (and dumb).

(Review code for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove was provided by the publisher)

Deadlight (Xbox 360) Review

I decided to take a look at Deadlight, one of the many games that has been given away during the Games with Gold promotion on Xbox.  Deadlight is a 2-D side-scrolling action platformer set against a zombie apocalypse.  Hey, it's also set in Seattle!  Neat!

Well, ostensibly the game is set there.  It really doesn't look super accurate, or much different from other big cities, but it gets the point across.  Even so, I really like the presentation of the game.  It is somewhat stylized in the actual game, and the story scenes are like motion comics.  Pretty much all of the lines are voices, and the voice acting is solid.  I actually didn't expect that.

The platforming in the game is workable, but not as responsive as it needs to be.  There is a run command that is necessary for many of the jumps.  However, it takes a second after you run while holding it for the running to actually kick in.  This might be fine, but there are many times where you have to do this on a small platform with just barely enough space to pull it off.  The character's jump isn't always as high as it seems, making some jumps much more of a pain than they should be.  Couple that with the fact that he won't always grab ledges that he is supposed to, and you have a recipe for annoyance.

You also get a wall jump.  It would be useful, but I just can't get it to respond half the time.  I do it exactly as instructed, but sometimes it just won't respond, and you just fall down and have to start again.  Another thing that bothers me is how well foreground and background objects can blend together.  There were a few times that I was sure something was a ledge, only to have it not be, sending my character plummeting to their death.  There were other times I though something was part of the background, only to have it actually be something I could stand on to proceed.

So is the combat any better?  Not really.  Melee combat (with a fire axe!) starts off passable, but is much worse when you are allowed to do it again further in the game.  Enemies just take too many hits to die, and when multiple are sent at you, it is that much worse.  Sometimes you won't even hit them if they are too close.  Each swing of the axe takes some of your stamina, so you have to be careful.  You can't do many swings before having to rest, so fighting more than 2 zombies at a time is, like many things in this game, more annoying than it should be.  If a zombie grabs you, you can mash a button to get out, but others can take cheap shots at you while you are escaping, so you can lose the health regardless.

Shooting in the game is much better than melee combat.  Ammo is fairly limited, but you can use the guns to quickly clear out zombies in your path.  I tried to only use the gun on enemies in my way, and I had enough shots when I needed them.  Just aim for as many headshots as you can, and you should do fine.

As for difficulty, the game just loves to kill you in cheap ways.  It didn't really happen at all to me in the first half hour or so, but then the game kicked it in to high gear.  Plenty of spike traps, pits and other instant kill nonsense made me wonder why they even bothered with a health bar.  Many times I would die while trying to figure out where to go (either the aforementioned foreground/background problem or getting swarmed by zombies).  The developers also threw in some running sections where you have to stay ahead of some catastrophe or another, otherwise you die.  While solid in concept, the flawed platforming just turned these into rage sections.  Now that I think about it, even though the concept is solid, I'd like it if all games stopped trying to do these sections...they just aren't fun.

Overall, the game would take about 3 hours to beat.  However, the frequent deaths and then reloading the game extends that time frame considerably.  There are collectibles to find if you want, but most of them are easy to find, or right in your path.  Other than than, there are three Tiger-like handheld games you can find and unlock.  It's a neat throwback to people old enough to remember them, but they only offer a few minutes of distraction.

Deadlight was a game that I didn't know much about before I played it.  That was for the best, since even then, the game was pretty disappointing.  The visual style of the game is the best part, but the inconsistent platforming, ineffective melee combat and cheap deaths drag the game down into the sewers.  Maybe they can dodge The Rat's traps while they are there.  It starts off fine, but quickly gets worse, which is not good, even for a short game such as this.


The Good:
The visuals and comic book-like story panels are great.

The Bad:
Sadly, the core of the game (platforming and combat) just aren't very good.

The SaHD:
I feel like the Remastered edition on the current gen systems won't actually fix any of the issues with the game.  If it doesn't, there was no reason to "remaster" it.


(Deadlight was obtained with the Games with Gold promotion)

Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex (Xbox 360) Review

Ben 10 was always a concept I liked, but thought would work even better as a video game.  While looking through my backlog of games to play, I finally set on trying out Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex, which I had acquired years ago.

Being a downloadable TV show tie-in game, I have to admit my expectations were lowered.  The game is a fairly simple action-platformer, where you can change into various alien forms as you unlock them.  Ben has health denoted by green bars at the top of the screen, and energy denoted by yellow bars underneath that.  Pressing the right trigger will bring up the wheel that shows your alien forms, and allows you to choose one.  Each alien has special abilities.  Unfortunately, they seem mapped to either the Y Button, B Button, or Right Bumper.  Sometimes you can use more than one of the buttons for different abilities.  It's kind of a mess.

The game starts off fairly easy, but definitely gets harder as you go.  Most of the difficulty is the spotty hit detection, clunky combat and inaccurate platforming.  Yes, that is pretty much most of the game.  Invincibility time after taking damage seems short, and there are times when I'm not even sure the enemy is taking damage, even if it looks like they might be.  It's also way too easy for enemies with projectiles to hit you because Ben's hit box is bigger than each of his forms.  It does change based off the form, which is at least a plus.

It just feels like a lot of the difficulty is just the cheap damage.  Ben has no real defensive moves, so you are stuck killing an enemy in your way, or trying to avoid them.  You will get damaged by even touching an enemy, as if the game was made back in the 80s, which makes running around them less appealing than it should be.  Many times there were instances where it felt like the game was requiring me to take damage to proceed.

Jumping from platform to platform was also hit or miss, as many times throughout the game I would attempt jumps that the game needs you to make, only to have them not work over half the time.  I imagine most of these instances again stem from the larger than the model hitboxes getting stuck on parts of the environment.  Many of these areas also had instant death pits or spikes just for good measure.  Oh, did I mention that there are some spikes that are instant death and some that just damage you?  Yup, consistency is definitely not an alien Ben can use.

There are 15 stages in the game, plus three boss fights.  Each stage lasts from about 5 to 15 minutes.  It is possible to take some extra time if you get stuck in a stage, which admittedly happened to me once or twice.  Dying on a non-boss stage sends you back a bit, so it's more an inconvenience than a punishment.  This actually helps balance out the bad aspects of the game, so I'm okay with it.  The boss fights are probably the hardest parts of the game, since you have to do them all in one go.  Figuring out exactly what to do is more annoying that it would seem, and can easily cause you a few extra attempts to figure out what silly thing the game isn't communicating to you.

Besides the main game, there is a survival mode and a time attack mode.  Survival pits you against endless enemies to see how long you can last.  Harder enemies spawn the longer you last, but there is only one stage for it.  It also has instant death pits, which feels counter-intuitive to the survival idea.  It's an okay addition, but doesn't offer more than a few minutes of extra content.  The time attack mode is just the story mode again, but you can post your completion times to the leaderboard.  Again, not really substantial content.  The biggest reason to replay the game or the other modes is to get the game's achievements, which of course varies in importance person to person.

I still think the concept of Ben 10 would make a great game.  The Rise of Hex just isn't it.  Sure, I could cut it some slack since it is a licensed downloadable game, but much of the core elements of the game just don't work right, which is a big negative to any game.  It might appeal to fans of the show, but I imagine that it might be too hard for some younger fans.  I wouldn't recommend this for people like me that haven't really seen the show, as it will probably give you a bad impression of it.  Maybe it's for the best that the game was de-listed from the Xbox Marketplace.


The Good:
Solving some puzzles by switching alien forms quickly (or mid-air) is pretty cool.

The Bad:
Wonky hit detection and combat, plus the platforming doesn't always seem to work.

The SaHD:
I think having more than 3 songs in the entire game would have been a step in the right direction.


(Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex was obtained for free on the Xbox Marketplace.  It has since been delisted)

Dex: Enhanced Edition (PS4) Review

Dex is a mish-mash of styles, combining action, platforming and numerous RPG aspects into a 2D sidescrolling game.  There are dialogue trees, stat points, stealth, fist fights and gun battles.  All of this is set in a 16-bit looking cyberpunk future.

Visually, the game has a great atmosphere.  The city areas are dark and gritty, with many of them run-down.  Throw in some neon signs and you have the proper mix for cyberpunk.  Some of the areas are hard to see in because they are so dark, but thankfully it's not the worst I've seen recently.  It feels appropriate to the setting, even if I'd like an easier time seeing in some places.  You can also zoom the camera in and out in many areas to get a better view.  I also really enjoy the sprite-based graphics.

Movement is done with the left stick, and feels very responsive.  The jumping is pretty good (and great if you get a certain enhancement).  You can climb up ledges to get to new areas, and even take cover behind certain boxes to try and evade detection.  If you can sneak up behind most enemies before they notice you, you can even do a stealth takedown.  I really enjoyed doing that, but it isn't as easy as it would seem.  Dex (your player character) has line of sight, so the areas that she cannot see will be darkened in and will not show enemies.  This can make it harder to sneak around, but there are sometimes alternate paths around enemies.

Hand to hand combat is done pretty well in the game.  Most enemies can block, so you have to time your attacks when they are open, and block their attacks.  The bigger enemies also like to knock you down, which is annoying.  The right stick will also roll in either direction, which you need to dodge certain moves.  Unlike most other games that have a similar system, I felt I had enough time to actual realize they were doing the unblockable attack and then dodge it before they did it.  Once you figure out the rhythm of combat (and get some nice skills or augments), it becomes much easier, but it can be pretty unforgiving in the first half of the game.

Dex can also buy and equip guns.  You hold one button to bring them out, and the right stick will then aim it.  They were a little slow for my liking, so I rarely used them.  I can see a few instances where they would be helpful, but I didn't feel they were necessary.  Enemies with guns, however, were very annoying, and should definitely be taken out first.

When Dex needs to hack into something, the game shifts over to the cyberspace mode.  Instead of controlling your character, you move around a circle in a top-down twin stick-like shooter.  It reminds me of Geometry Wars, but much easier on the eyes.  Your cursor will shoot in whatever direction the right stick dictates while holding the button, and you even get some special attacks.  Some are one time use items, but the better ones take energy, which will refill over time.  These attacks are also upgradeable.  The beginning was a bit rough, but once I got the 'pulsewave' ability, it became much easier.

Instead of using Dex's health for cyberspace, it will use her focus meter.  There are several different enemy types and traps to watch out for.  Enemy contact or shots will deplete the focus meter, and if it fully drains, you are kicked out of cyberspace and take some actual damage (humorously listed as 'brain damage').  Focus will refill up to 25% over time when in the real world.

The hacking is not limited to the virtual world.  You can also hack some things with AR.  This is probably my most used thing in the game.  You can hack security cameras to not trigger alarms, turn turrets against your foes, and even stun enemies if you buy the right skill.  That last one is almost broken good, since you can slide behind them and choke them out without a fight, even after they see you.  When hacking things in AR, there will be enemies constantly coming to attack you, so the quicker it gets done, the better.

Gaining levels in Dex grants you skill points that you can put into several different skill lines.  Since there are multiple ways to go through the game and quests, you have a lot of freedom in what you choose to major in.  I put most of my early points in lockpicking and hacking/AR, then some in endurance for the HP boost (since HP doesn't increase with levels) and augment slots.  Once you can install the augments, there are some really useful ones, like the higher jumping and being immune to poison gas, among others.

Unfortunately, there are also some problems in the game.  While moving through the areas of town, there was some screen tearing.  It wasn't too major, and only seemed to be in the more heavily populated zones.  There are a few other glitches.  Occasionally I wouldn't be able to hit/target some enemies unless I left the area and came back, and I wasn't able to figure out what caused it.  When in cyberspace, there are times when the game hiccups, and then puts my cursor in a wall.  I can't move, and my only options are to die or reload.  Yuck.  There are also a handful of missable quests and trophy/achievements.  Completionists such as myself won't have much trouble getting most of them, though.

Dex runs about 15 to 20 hours, especially if you do all the sidequests.  The game starts out a lot harder than it ends, mostly because of the skills and augments that you can purchase.  Early on, I would save and load a lot while trying to make my way through the fights, but it was much easier once I had a few specific skills.  Until that point, you can skate by using items you find and the doctor to heal you.  There are a few bottomless pits to watch out for as well.

Dex is a really fun game, especially once you start getting somewhere.  It is a mix of game types that are pulled together really well, and there is a lot of freedom in quest resolutions and skill choices.  This also gives the game decent replayability, since the length of the game is right where I think it should be for this type of game.  Old school action fans and RPG fans should definitely try the game out, as I had a lot of fun playing through it.


The Good:
Expertly mixing 2D side-scrolling action and platforming with RPG elements.  Many different outcomes and paths through the quests.

The Bad:
It is really easy to take damage, and costly to fix it.  Plus, getting glitched into the wall during the cyberspace segments is annoying.

The SaHD:
I enjoyed the game enough that I'll likely play the Xbox One version at some point, too.

(Review code for Dex was provided by the publisher)

Assault Suit Leynos (PS4) Review

Assault Suit Leynos recently came to the US by way of the Playstation store, and is a remake of an old Mega Drive/ Genesis game (renamed Target Earth in the US).  I was surprised I had not heard of the game before, since I loves me some mechs.  Maybe it was a combination of not having a Genesis as a kid (I was a SNES guy) or that the cover looks like a guy in a suit, not a mech.  Either way, I can now experience it on a modern console.

The remake boasts better graphics, rebalanced gameplay and a few other tweaks.  The updated visuals still hold true to the spirit of the original 2D sidescroller, and look good.  Character portraits look like they came out of the early 90s and I like it.  There is some voice acting in the game, but the dialogue is kept fairly minimal, which feels appropriate.

The main menu has the arcade game, but it does help to try out the tutorials, which are tucked away in the options menu.  These help give you a basic grasp of the controls, while providing small stages for you to complete.  Strangely, they can be a bit difficult, and you can even die during one of them.  They have timed goals that thankfully you don't have to meet, but the operators will yell at you for not doing well enough.

The arcade mode offers 8 stages that are tweaked versions of the original.  Some of them are pretty hard, testing your skill and loadout management.  As an example, stage 3 took me numerous attempts.  I got through 1 and 2 the first time I tried them (I wouldn't say they were easy though), but stage 3 slammed me back down.  After learning what to do and figuring out a loadout that complimented the enemies I faced, I was able to make it through.  The following stages didn't test me as much as that, but they were still harder than the first two.  Learning enemy layout and what to bring helps a lot.  You can also change the difficulty if you so choose.

Movement in Leynos is decent, more so if you have the boost pack equipped.  This gives you a dash and a little extra on the jump.  The movement of the suit does have a bit of momentum on it, which can cause you to move a bit further than you intended.  This is really problematic around traps and pits, but not as much during a majority of the game.  There are some stage sections that are less platforming and more free-floating, mixing up the action a bit.  The mech can aim its gun a full 180 in front of it, but trying to get a specific angle can be a bit trying.

Aiming is quick, so it is very easy for me to over or undershoot the angle I want.  There is a button for locking the angle when you do get it, which is supremely useful.  Another problem I have with the shooting is the big dead area where your shots do not hit.  Sure, it makes sense since it is your whole mech, but it makes it hard to hit enemies near you (punching is an option, but still not the best).  Combine that with how loose it is about walking backwards while shooting instead of turning to shoot, and it is a recipe for trouble when trying to eliminate flanking enemies quickly.  Aiming straight up does like to pan the camera a little too far in that direction, which makes it harder to avoid hazards near your feet.  These are not huge problems, but they are annoying to me personally, and make it harder to run and gun accurately.  I was mostly used to them by the end of the game, but I still don't like them.

On the positive side, your mech's health will regenerate if you don't take damage for a few seconds.  This can be absolutely critical in passing the more difficult stages.  You can also equip extra armor to get a health boost, and a shield that you can use to absorb enemy fire.  While there are downsides to the shield (you can't shoot with it up, and it takes a second after releasing the button before you can), it is almost a necessity to have going through the game.  Get in the habit of relying on it early.

Before each stage, you can pick your loadout from your available weapons.  The weapons have no descriptions or stats, but at least they have a small video that shows its attack pattern so you don't just have to pick everything at some point to know how it works.  You have up to six slots, but things like the shield and booster pack take one of those slots if you choose to take them.  You unlock more weapons as you go through the stages and perform various tasks.  You can get multiple of some things, and they do stack.  This is useful for some of the stronger guns that have no reloads, but you may sacrifice weapon diversity to do so.  It's a nice open-ended system, but there are weapons that are much better suited to certain stages and situations.  In theory you could pick just about anything if you are good enough to survive, though.

Additionally, the game contains a mode that more closely resembles the Mega Drive version.  However, it is tucked in the options menu instead of the main menu.  I wondered why that is until I played it.  It's ridiculously hard.  Even though I had beat a few stages of the main game by that time, I couldn't even complete the first one of the "original" version.  It still controls and looks the same, but isn't re-balanced to be something playable.  Instead, you get a near constant stream of enemy grunts shooting at you.  I could either stay alive and constantly get pushed back, fight back and die quickly, or make a run for it and die eventually.  Yikes.  Playing that mode made me glad I didn't play the original, as it seems like a nightmare.

Being an older action game, it theoretically doesn't take more than a couple of hours to beat the game.  In practice, the difficulty adds time to that.  Plus, since some of your weapon rewards are dependent on your mission performance, there is replay value.  If you are crazy, you can even attempt to beat the Classic Mode, or unlock all the bonuses.  Each stage section unlocked is also replayable, which should help you clean up any trophies, or even practice a problem spot.  I heartily endorse selectable checkpoints in action games, and am happy to see them here.

While not a long or easy game, Assault Suit Leynos is worth playing for fans of older action games.  It's presentation is nice, the gameplay is decent and there are reasons to replay the game, other than because you blew up.  Zosaly isn't going to save himself!

No, seriously, he's not.  You have to figure out the trick to do it for him.


The Good:
Old school arcade action with a mech suit!

The Bad:
I likes to get difficult at several parts, and the aiming could use a little work.

The SaHD:
I'm really tempted to try the actual original version to see if it's that difficult.


(Review code for Assault Suit Leynos was provided by the publisher)

Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus (PS4) Review

Not knowng what to expect with Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus (it wasn't a game that was really on my radar), I was almost immediately hit with a massive wave of nostalgia as it started.  The look of the intro was heavily influenced by the Legend of Zelda, which honestly, is a great source of inspiration.  The backstory of the game is presented in a great way, by chunks of text scrolling up the screen.  If you ever left the original Zelda game run its demo/attract mode, you will know what I'm talking about.  The backstory is much longer than I would have thought though, and gives you a good idea what's going on.  Then, it pretty much drops you into the action.

I will say that visually and aurally, Chronicles of Teddy is very charming.  I love the sprite look of the game and the animations.  There are a lot of little details in the environment, especially buried in the ground.  The world has its own story, and I would love to know more about it.  The music is good too.  It really should be, since they have such musically-based puzzles and even an invented musical language.  The look and sounds of the game are easily the high point for me.

The comparison to the Legend of Zelda doesn't end with the intro, though.  Chronicles of Teddy is a side-scrolling action platformer that has a striking similarity to Zelda II.  That could go either way, depending on your feelings for that game.  The main character's attack range is ridiculously short.  So much so that it is a massive hindrance to combat.  You have to get so close to enemies to actually hit them that you will likely get hit as well.  This might be passable, but the hit detection is also off.  Meaning together, you have an even shorter attack range.  It's...just not good, from a player standpoint.  I've found the best attack is the downward thrust when jumping.  However, there are several enemies that are all but immune to it.  Of course.  At least there is a fair amount of health pick-ups strewn about the areas.

The look and awkward combat aren't the only things like old-school games.  Chronicles of Teddy also slavishly devotes its lack of tutorials to the games of yesteryear.  You quickly get your weapon, and the game shows you how to dash with a nice stone in the background.  Then...nothing.  You have to figure out everything else.  As I've said before, I don't want a game to hold my hand, but I don't want them to offer nothing.  That's just as bad.

You spend a lot of time wandering through the areas, trying to find out where to go to proceed.  You encounter a lot of puzzles, usually based around the musical language, and have to figure out what to do on your own.  While others may solve puzzles and get a sense of accomplishment, I tend to get annoyed if the answer takes too long.  The two biggest grievances I have with the non-existent help is the store and the final dungeon item.

Players encounter the store very early on, but there are no explanations as to what the items are.  I have to assume the sword and overalls will give more attack and defense.  I'm sure the sword does, but I'm not convinced on the overalls.  There's also a ring.  I had no idea what it did for 90% of the game.  I think it affects the meter that the final dungeon item uses, but I'm not sure.  There's also a heart container you can buy, but you won't know that until you buy it or find another during your adventure.  The most expensive item in the store is a spider coin.  I had no idea what they did until near the end.

The final dungeon item is a scroll.  It allows you to break a specific type of block.  Trouble is, they have no explanation of how to actually use it.  Eventually I figured out that I had to double tap down when in the air.  Would it really be so hard to put another stone in the background that showed that?  Why make me annoyed for no reason?  The item is a scroll, that the main character apparently understands, but can't communicate how?  That doesn't even make sense!

The game sure does look nice.

Then there's also the puzzles.  Many require you to play notes on your instrument, and mimic the notes you hear.  I'm not very musically inclined, so it's much harder for me to do some of that stuff.  Also, turn down the music volume in the options so it's easier to actually hear the notes and not the extraneous sounds.  There are doors that require specific words to open.  Problem is, the word changes.  I don't know why...the doors look the same.  There are clues to some puzzles, and many of those are obtuse.  There are either written in the background or vaguely referenced in a picture.  It might not actually be as hard as I make out, but there are at least a few that I really disliked.

The flow of the game follows a very predictable pattern.  You find a book in the library, go into the book, find a way into the dungeon in that area (usually past a guardian), find the dungeon item, then beat the boss.  Rinse and repeat.  There's nothing wrong with that, as I always looked forward to getting the dungeon item so I could explore more areas and get more treasures.  There is a fair amount of backtracking, as some required items are in previous areas.  It's pretty much par for the course for the genre though.  My biggest complaint is the save system.  You start at the start of the area or dungeon wherever you save (or die).  I realize that's the way it works in Legend of Zelda, but that was due to limitations at the time.  You are actually allowed to make the game player friendly instead of a chore!

Since the game is modeled after old-school games in many ways, it shares that old-school difficulty.  It's not insurmountable, but there are a lot of hard parts to the game.  Part of that is the large hitbox the main character has, which leads to a lot of unfair damage.  Some enemies are a massive pain to deal with, and some of the bosses are just as painful.  A few platforming sections later in the game are brutal and require pinpoint accuracy.  My personal most hated spot is one part at the end of game where you have to do crazy platforming that revolves around bouncing off of enemies and their projectiles.  It's stupid hard, but at least it's optional.  Therefore, I skipped it (after several failed attempts).

It took me about 12 or so hours to get to the final boss, but I did a lot of the optional stuff (not all the fireflies, though).  If the game were straightforward, it would be less time, but they want you to explore and sit around trying to figure out what to do, which obviously eats up more time.  Trying to do completion would run a few more hours, unless you had a guide of some sort.  There is a new game+ option, which I'm always happy to see.

While Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus looks and sounds charming, it is devilishly unforgiving.  The game offers little help for any puzzle, has really annoying enemies and platforming segments.  There are fun parts to the game, they just are buried by the overly annoying sections.  It tries so hard to get you to stop playing it, which is a baffling choice to be sure.  Fans of Zelda II or maybe even the Dark Souls crowd might get a lot of enjoyment out of Chronicles of Teddy.

____________________

The Good:
The game looks so charming and cool.  Even if I'm not musically-inclined, the music-based language and puzzles are thought out and kinda neat.

The Bad:
The combat.  Hit detection is not good and your range is abysmal.  The game offers no real help whatsoever for anything in it, which is annoying.

The SaHD:
Zelda II really should have been a much better game.  Chronicles of Teddy does a lot to improve it, but is held back by trying too hard to ape it.

(Review code for Chronicles of Teddy was provided by the publisher)