The Brothers Duomazov

Even though most reviews of it depict it as being lackluster, I'd always found Mystic Formula intriguing before I finally got the chance to play it. Its visuals and apparent gameplay style reminded me of Elemental Master, which is one of my favorite Genesis games. Plus, its characters always look quite cool in artwork and cinema screenshots. As it turns out, MF isn't a straightforward shooter a la EM; rather, it's an overhead-view blaster of Last Alert's ilk. Unfortunately, it lacks LA's cool weaponry, diverse mission objectives, and explorable environments.

My experience with it commenced in wretched fashion. It wasted no time before disappointingly establishing that most of its cinemas would be of the "small window" variety, and said cinemas give way to awful in-game graphics. Gameplay-wise, it came off as a poor man's Last Alert, and it had me fighting vexatious little bats rather than soldiers and machines.

Things pick up a bit after the horrible start, however. The opposing army gets its act together and throws a few reasonably cool beasts and robots your way. You can commandeer enemy mecha and vehicles and grab icons that make allies appear and fight by your side.

But the problem is that the whole game is way, way, way too easy. I beat it the first time I played it and easily disposed of Hard mode the next time. The bosses, though they look kind of cool, are weaklings.

The "toughest" parts come during the first and third stages, when those swarming bats attack you. Beyond those sections, the game is cake. One serpent midboss does absolutely nothing except sloooowly follow you around the screen--even in Hard mode.

Still, the action is adequate if not particularly exciting or challenging. And the music is pretty good--not memorable, but pretty good. That's some lukewarm praise, but in Mystic Formula's case, it adds up to "better than expected." When I first acquired the disc, I happened to be playing through a long RPG, and it did provide a nice-enough break from that lengthy undertaking. But that's probably all it'll wind up being if you buy it: a decent "break" game. It won't occupy your attention for long. Sadly, $40 seems to be the typical asking price for it, and it really isn't worth that much. I got it for half that amount, and I was satisfied with the purchase.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire

~ SAPPHIRE ~

Hudson Soft

Arcade CD-ROM

1995

It'd been a while since I'd last played this highly sought-after vert. Every now and then, I'd take it off my game shelf and toss it around my house just for the hell of it, but today I remembered that it's an excellent shooter and that throwing discs around is the act of a madman. So I played it and reacquainted myself with its awesome action and visuals.

I'd forgotten just how incredible the bosses and midbosses and plain old BIG-ass enemies are. You never know what this game's gonna throw at you next. In one area, a ring of dark mages summons a gigantic rock monster who breathes fire and hurls enormous boulders. In another, you meet a bizarre monk who transforms himself into a dragon amid a dreary downpour. This is right after you've dealt with a giant laser-firing phoenix and a mechanical serpent.

And none of those things are actual bosses. The boss mecha are multiform BEASTS who leave you little room to maneuver with their impressive attack methods.

People complain that, at a length of five levels, the game is too short; but hell, it delivers enough visual variety and remarkable enemies to serve multiple shooters, let alone one. And it makes for a brief experience only if you credit feed and bomb your way along like a baby. If you leave the default settings alone and try to 1CC the game, you'll find whole new layers of depth and strategy. You've gotta conserve your bombs, memorize enemy blast patterns, and counter the mega-attacks launched by your stout adversaries. To me, the effort seems like a successful melding of 16-bit-era aesthetics and level concepts with modern manic action and strategy elements.

Still, there are those who complain that the four selectable ships are too slow. Well, this certainly isn't a problem with one of the machines, and it really shouldn't be an issue with two others. Heck, I played through the game with the slowest craft and had a blast, and any other player who welcomes challenge will appreciate the alterations in strategy called for when using said craft. When it comes right down to it, if you know what you're doing, the ships don't feel slow because you understand where you need to be and how to make it there.

The only thing I don't like is the wailing music--the end-credits "solo" in particular is high-pitched cacophony. Fans of Lords of Thunder's soundtrack will love it, though. And even I dig the crunchy boss-track riff.

It's kind of pointless to ponder whether or not this famously expensive game is "worth it." I spent a lot of money on it, but I'm very glad I own it, and I've had plenty of fun with it. Weighing things objectively, I'd say Sapphire is the best vertical shooter of its time.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Chiki Chiki Boys

~ CHIKI CHIKI BOYS ~

NEC Avenue / Capcom

Super CD-ROM

1994

Chiki makes for some good, clean platforming fun, but it's the sort of CD game that seems like it could've just as easily been done on HuCard. It plays kind of like a linear, simplistic Dynastic Hero, and it's ridiculously easy (to the extent that it makes breezy Schbibin Man 3 seem as brutally difficult as Gaiares). I completed it on my very first try and never actually felt threatened at any point. There are some good ideas here as far as level and enemy designs go (you'll travel through cloudy combat zones via sliding rope hooks, face Deep Blue-esque shoals of hard-charging sea creatures, bash through brittle doors of sunken-ship cabins, and rush from a crumbling tower while beasts plummet to their doom all around you), but I breezed through the game so quickly and effortlessly that I didn't really come to appreciate any of them, and I wasn't eager to do a repeat run afterwards. The good news? The music during the end credits is very nice.

Chiki features stages that are quite bright and colorful, and it gives you some interesting locations to explore.

There's a good bit of variety in the gameplay, as some stages have you fly or swim instead of doing the usual dash-and-leap stuff.

Some of the bosses are neat in concept, but they're all feeble in battle. The entire adventure comprises a single path of little resistance.

You'll often find that your enemies don't even seem to be paying any attention to you.

On the off chance that they do spot you, remember that they're more scared of you than you are of them.

I just had to prove to myself that it is indeed possible to get hit.

Super Air Zonk (CD Denjin)

~ CD DENJIN ~

RED / Hudson Soft

Super CD-ROM

1993

I knew when I acquired this game that just about everyone considers it to be much worse than the original Air Zonk, so I was prepared for something inferior to the awesome chip shooter, but what really came as a shock was the drastic decline in graphical quality. AZ looks a hell of a lot better than its successor, which can boast of only one brief stretch of backdrop (featured in its sixth stage) that's even remotely impressive visually; the rest of its strips are incredibly flat and not even very colorful. The game flops when it comes to audible elements as well: the soundtrack is awful at times, and even during its best moments, it can't touch its predecessor's sweetest melodies. And the action just kind of lollygags along, as there's plenty of dead space. Don't be surprised if you one-credit this the very first time you play it, with plenty of lives to spare.

It's a shame that the graphics, music, and action took such hits, as some really good ideas went into the design of the game. The new charge attack, which surrounds your avatar with a ring of bombs, is quite handy and enjoyable to use. Chums come under attack and make funny pleas for help before teaming up with you, and they perform admirably in the stages they appear in. Abilities can be developed via a new "level-up" system, and collecting smileys is a blast (as always). A couple of tunes (particularly the TV Stage theme) are indeed nice, and the game actually seems a little less sloppy than Air Zonk (partly because you can really get into a rhythm with your charge attack... but also because there usually isn't all that much onscreen that actually threatens to hit you).

The bad stuff is more obvious off the bat, and I didn't like the game at all initially, but it grew on me a little thanks to its positive aspects. I still consider Air Zonk a much better game, of course, as will most other players. And this probably isn't something you want to spend big bucks on, so go with the JPN version unless you absolutely must have every US release that's out there.

The game feels way too laid back for a shooter, and while not all of its backdrops are unattractive, most of them are disappointingly flat and simplistic.

There's actually a lot going on in the Stage 6 background. Unfortunately, the activity isn't evident in this screenshot, and there's still hardly anything happening in the foreground, which is kind of the important part.

Mmhuh. Statues are nice and all, but this guy would probably be even more "revered" if he had put together a respectable army. He certainly doesn't intimidate anyone on his own...