Category: Adventure

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Game Ramblings #52 – Metroid: Samus Returns

More Info from Nintendo

  • Genre: Action/Adventure, Metroidvania
  • Platform: 3DS
  • Originally Released on: Game Boy

TL;DR

  • Fantastic re-imagining of Game Boy’s Metroid II: Return of Samus
  • Additions to game break some of the expectations of the genre, but allow for a much higher challenge level of the base game
  • Core loop of 40 effective mini boss fights keeps action high, but doesn’t get stale due to increasing power level of the Metroids
  • Random note since it gave it to me, but my clear time was 8:38:13, which seems a bit on the low side of average to my surprise.

Nintendo is having one hell of a year.  Breath of the Wild and the Switch in general have been a runaway success.  Mario + Rabbids showed they could give control of their games to someone else and still maintain the high quality Nintendo feel.  Now with Metroid: Samus Returns, they’ve shown there is both life remaining in the 3DS, as well as some new ground that can be explored in one of their storied IPs.  This re-imagining of Metroid II is another fine example of what can happen when this series is given to outside developers, much like Retro and the Prime series, and also shows that 2D Metroid games don’t have to stick to their conventions and still be fantastic on their own.

Since some fans of the Metroid series are going to find these controversial, let’s start with some of the little changes and additions that this remake brings.  Fights against Metroids start and end with checkpoints, allowing you to not have to trek all over the place to guarantee save locations.  Along with some more generally helpful abilities, you have a rechargeable map scanner that also acts as a way to show blocks that can be broken.  In addition to the usual save points and ammo/energy recharge stations, there are also now teleport stations as a means of fast travel.  All of these things in general break some of the mold of exploring every little bit of land in Metroid games, and also break some of the re-traversal expectations of the series.  However, the actual end result is that the developers have been able to drastically increase the difficulty across the board, much to the game’s advantage.

Traversal in most Metroid experiences has usually brought relatively little danger outside of boss fights.  Enemies would do damage if you got hit, but more often than not the health drops they left behind would more than suffice to heal you back up.  This one definitely doesn’t follow that pattern.  It’s not unusual for a melee hit from a normal enemy to do half an energy tank or more of damage, and that’s just on normal difficulty.  Once you get to the Metroids and eventually bosses, multiple energy tank loss from one hit is expected.  The short version here is that even by end game, I could expect to maybe take 4-5 hits in a boss fight before I was dead, so being able to respawn in a checkpoint next to the boss room was particularly appreciated while I was learning fights.

This is particularly important, because the combat system in place definitely had some things that have to be learned for Metroid veterans.  On the smaller side of things, Samus can now root herself in place and aim 360 degrees with the analog stick.  While this does offer up significantly better precision for attacks, it also leaves her extremely vulnerable to quick attacks.  This is balanced by the new melee counter attacks.  If an enemy flashes, Samus can activate a melee swing to counter an enemy, leaving them open for high impact damage.  For boss fights in particular, this activates a little mini-cutscene where you can unload missiles without repercussions, which ends up being the biggest damage dealer against Metroids.

In general, these changes were a much larger positive than I was expecting.  The 360 aim opened up a lot of possibilities for much more dynamic boss fights, where they would hover around the room in spots where I had to play a balance of moving to avoid projectiles vs. stopping in place to get off a few precision shots for damage.  Once the enemy then came in range, the timing skill behind watching for opportunities for melee counters gave the game a feel more typical of heavy melee action games, which Metroid typically has not been.  Given that the developer MercurySteam was also behind the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games, this perhaps isn’t that surprising, but it was very welcoming.

I think the best way to wrap this up is that I’m pleasantly surprised.  The studio behind this has released some great games, but it’s been a while since a 2D Metroid came out (seriously, Zero Mission was in 2004) and I was surprised they were being given so much of a chance to take liberties with the core gameplay.  By and large they’ve also worked really well.  The studio has been on record saying that they had originally pitched a remake demo of Metroid Fusion and been turned down, which led to this project.  It’s clear they had a lot of passion for the franchise anyway and it’s evident in the quality of the game they’ve released.  It’s also worth noting that a post-credits scene shows the rise of the X parasite from Fusion, which makes sense given it also takes place on the planet SR388 of this game.  Whether or not that’s just there as a tongue in cheek reference to their original hopes or the sign of something else, I can only hope that this and the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 are the beginning of more for this franchise.  It’s been on the side lines for way too long.

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Game Ramblings #51 – Knack II

More Info from Sony

  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Platform: PS4

TL;DR

  • Much deeper combat system than the original that significantly improves the overall experience
  • Use of size changing is clever, and done in a much more controlled fashion than the original
  • Still too many quick time events, and the game might as well not be a platformer for how little it takes advantage of the capabilities

I’ll be perfectly honest here; I bought this game simply because I didn’t believe the decent reviews coming in for this game.  The original was a curious release from a tech-demo point of view, but calling it an unforgettable game is being pretty nice to it.  At one point early in Knack II, they joke that the main character only knows three punches and a kick, and that really was the depth of the original game.  This one adds significant depth to the combat systems, while smoothing out some of the more obnoxious difficulty problems with the original game, and makes the overall experience a lot of fun to play.  It’s not perfect, but I’ll be damned if I’m not surprised with the end result.

Even if the environments are simple, seeing Knack full of pieces is still an impressive sight.

The core idea behind Knack is essentially the idea of a controlled power curve based on finding relic pieces and adding them to Knack’s body.  You can instantly transform between tiny and full grown variants, leading to puzzle and platforming opportunities.  As Knack grows, he gets stronger, typically leading to fights against increasingly strong enemies and generally speaking a boss or similarly large scale puzzle element to end most chapters.

Where the first game really failed to take advantage of this is that it really just kind of pushed the growth, took it all away mid-game, and never really reestablished a good feel to the growth curve.  Knack 2 significantly improved that curve.  Rather than being a more game-wide growth curve, each chapter typically had its own growth curve.  Most chapters started you off in the 4-6 foot range, with various amounts of growth by the end of the chapter.  This was also typically paired with a similar power curve in the enemies so there was always a feeling of progress in each area.

Not all of the combat is on the ground. Sometimes you just accidentally steal a giant robot.

Where this change would have fallen apart in the original game, the introduction of significantly deeper combat meant that there was a higher metagame to combat skill that was entirely separate from the growth mechanics.  Just from a base skill perspective, there were grabs, shield break maneuvers, smooth dodging mechanics, ranged boomerangs that trap enemies, and the ability to parry projectiles back at their shooter.  Add in a skill tree to augment skills, as well as add new optional skills, and the tool set available to the player is significantly better than the original’s three punches and a kick.

This all comes together with a significantly improved difficulty curve to make a system that was quite a lot of fun in general, let alone a significant improvement over the first game.  Different strategies had to be made on the fly based on Knack’s current size, as well as the enemy count.  Bunch of enemies that can be one shot? Try to round them up and do a jump smash to kill them all at once.  Handful of larger enemies that require a few hits?  Lock one down with the boomerang while you concentrate on the others.  Boss that can very easily chunk your health away?  Dodge as you move towards it, or parry back projectiles to do ongoing damage as you move closer.  Basically, there’s a ton of options here, and the way they’ve set it up in conjunction with the character’s physical growth has gone a long way to making this a very fun game to play.

Platforming segments are there, such as this stealth segment with a tiny glass Knack, but they’re rare and don’t typically take advantage of potential.

Outside of combat is where the game still shows its biggest weaknesses.  It’s pretty typical for there to be a big cutscene extravaganza in each chapter with a series of quick time events.  These are just kind of boring, and I’d much rather they just play the cutscene back as intended.  The platforming is also fairly non-present.  While the tools are there, with the ability to double jump and hover, most platforming areas are basically small 30 second puzzles in between combat encounters.  Once you’re in a combat area, it’s flat and the platforming gives way to pure action.  There’s just kind of a lot of missed potential there, even if the focus of the game has leaned significantly more into the action side of things.

The end result here really is surprising.  You still get the big wow moments of a significantly large Knack against giant bosses that the original game had.  The improvement is that the time between those big wow moments is no longer terrible.  The combat is fun, the moves you get are varied and cool to see, the enemies have a lot of variety to match the moves you learn.  Now, this game isn’t going to make a run at game of the year or anything like that; it just doesn’t have the depth in its non-combat to really do that.  However, what came out with this game is a sequel that is good in its own right, and even more so a shockingly large improvement over the original game that could best be described as a great tech demo with bad gameplay.

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Game Ramblings #50 – Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

More Info from Sony

  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Platform: PS4

TL;DR

  • Same ol Uncharted gameplay, over the top action sequences, and beautiful visuals
  • Short length meant the story didn’t drag out, which felt like a plus
  • First half showed some growth in their design w/ an almost Tomb Raider semi open world.

I’m not going to sit here and say that this is a hugely original title for the series.  I’m also going to be straight here and say that the changes in The Lost Legacy feel a lot like copping some features from Tomb Raider.  However, this very well might be the best Uncharted title I’ve yet played.  It being a condensed experience certainly helped (about 6-8 hours I’d assume will be typical first play through), but a nice use of a large non-linear area to start the game went a long way to providing a fresh look at the series, and may just prove there’s life to be had in this universe.

Like previous Uncharted titles, this is another visual masterpiece.

There’s a lot to be familiar with here. The gunplay is still good, but nothing mind blowing, going for solid feel without too much difference between core weapon types.  Combat sequences in the more linear segments are still at obvious points when you turn a corner and have a ton of crates around.  Enemies are still decent but basic in their approach to flanking behaviors.  The game’s finale (and a couple points in between) is still a wildly bombastic experience that would feel at home in any big budget Hollywood film.  End of the day, this is still Uncharted at its core, but with a big difference in the first half that showed some progress.

Roughly the first half of the game takes place in a large open area, with a set of non-linear objectives to drive to, and a bunch of hidden collectibles to find in the area.  This alone felt like a fantastic change to the series, even if it felt right out of the recent Tomb Raider games.  Because of the layout of this opening area, combat also felt much improved relative to the standard single direction combat of the linear exploration areas typical of the series.  Combat segments felt very free form, since you could approach from basically any direction, and enemies could do the same.  In a lot of these areas, I’d be stealthing around to find a good entry point, then doing what I could to pick off enemies one by one without revealing my location.  If things started to go awry, many of the areas also had a lot of swing points, so I could easily move around to find new hiding spots if enemies started to get a drop on me.  In general, this was the best I’ve ever seen combat in the series, although it unfortunately went away once the more linear segments of the game started.

While not as complex as the Tomb Raider series, the side exploration in the opening area was a welcome addition to Uncharted.

The unfortunate thing though is that the opening area gave way to more traditional Uncharted linear mechanics.  While this works fine in the general sense, it feels like they missed an opportunity to really make a special full entry in the series based around the gameplay changes of the first half.  The puzzle areas of the linear temple portions worked great, but it was back to the more boring combat style and tiresome climbing areas.  Realistically I can only do the same pattern of climb, jump to crumbling wall hold, fall down to conveniently placed grab spot, then finish climbing up so many times.  On the other hand, the fact that this is a much shorter expansion-style game meant that the experience was fantastically condensed before I really wanted to just get through.

End of the day you kind of know what you’re getting into here when buying an Uncharted game, and this one doesn’t differ much. It shows some promising changes in the first half should Naughty Dog decide to continue with the series, but never really expands on the changes for the full length of this game, let alone makes a full game out of it.  However, treated as an end of summer blockbuster experience, this is still just as worth playing as the previous entries and definitely left me entertained, and that’s about all I can ask for.