Xexyz

Planet Smashers: no planets in sight

Posted on 06/08/2020 Written by Xexyz

By 1990, the concept of scrolling shooters was well established, and the new Mega Drive had some excellent examples available at (and shortly after) launch. There had been a number of conversions of R-Type to home computers and consoles. People knew how to make shooters exciting.

On first impressions, Planet Smashers is not exciting. A sparse backdrop (a few scrolling stars) is not a promising start, and the graphics are nothing special - even when considering the capabilities of the 7800. Your ship is various shades of grey with a blue cockpit, enemy ships are mainly grey, your status bar is grey. Grey.

The game gets a bit deeper than "BLAST ALIENS" though. In order to progress through the stages, you have to collect warp capsules, which enemies drop at random. These capsules are one main colour, which you can change by shooting them. You have to collect them in the right order to complete the warp sequence, and you will only know of that order by collecting random colours and seeing if the three warp boxes at the bottom left flash.

This takes quite a bit of concentration - and it's likely that you'll be killed by a wayward shot while watching for the flashing signal. Avoiding the bullets and the suicidal enemies takes some skill.

After collecting the three warp colours, and after the existing enemies have scrolled off the screen (creating an odd pause which I couldn't figure out for quite some time), the boss appears. The first boss resembles a Dreamcast or original Xbox controller in some ways.

It is seemingly impossible to avoid all the bullets coming from the boss, so to get past this stage you will need a lot of luck, a lot of lives, or both. I had both only once, and progressed on to the next part - where you start again, with different warp colours.

It's not a bad game, as such, but sitting here in 2020 there are countless other, better, games you could play instead. Had this come out in 1986, it would be an interesting stage of evolution of the vertical shooter. As it is, it's just a bit dull.

Skies of Arcadia: a difficult start

Posted on 13/09/2018 Written by Xexyz

But now, with the release of ReDream, a clean and simple Dreamcast emulator, and a few spare hours with my laptop in a Taiwan hotel, I have at least started it. There are a few graphical effects on the screen which wouldn’t be there if I were playing on my Dreamcast, but at the same time I wouldn’t have such a clean picture … and in fact I wouldn’t be playing it at all.

The game isn’t exactly the quickest to start, with cutscene after cutscene introducing the cast and situation. The characters are well designed, if not immediately likeable, and there’s a good world that feels ready to be explored.

But when the game starts properly, it’s just all a bit slow. You have to traverse long distances (across admittedly beautiful scenery) to find the next checkpoint, and it feels very linear and scripted. I’m sure that the game will eventually open out, but after an hour I had only just landed the ship, after a few easy battles, and had managed to get stuck in a cupboard.

This is a problem I have with most JRPGs, to be fair, and as I get older and I have less free time it becomes ever more noticeable. While this is a game I’d like to play more of, I suspect that realistically I can expect to forget about it now and have to replay the first part again in the future.

Skies of Arcadia: a difficult start

Posted on 13/09/2018 Written by Xexyz

I bought Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast (for £5 when HMV was clearing its stock). I bought Skies of Arcadia Legends for the Gamecube (for about the same when Game was clearing its stock). I have never played either.

But now, with the release of ReDream, a clean and simple Dreamcast emulator, and a few spare hours with my laptop in a Taiwan hotel, I have at least started it. There are a few graphical effects on the screen which wouldn't be there if I were playing on my Dreamcast, but at the same time I wouldn't have such a clean picture ... and in fact I wouldn't be playing it at all.

The game isn't exactly the quickest to start, with cutscene after cutscene introducing the cast and situation. The characters are well designed, if not immediately likeable, and there's a good world that feels ready to be explored.

But when the game starts properly, it's just all a bit slow. You have to traverse long distances (across admittedly beautiful scenery) to find the next checkpoint, and it feels very linear and scripted. I'm sure that the game will eventually open out, but after an hour I had only just landed the ship, after a few easy battles, and had managed to get stuck in a cupboard.

This is a problem I have with most JRPGs, to be fair, and as I get older and I have less free time it becomes ever more noticeable. While this is a game I'd like to play more of, I suspect that realistically I can expect to forget about it now and have to replay the first part again in the future.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: completed!

Posted on 16/04/2018 Written by Xexyz

It has been a long time since I have written on this blog, and that is largely down to one game – Breath of the Wild.

I completed this last November, after around 160 hours of playing. I would frequently turn the game on with every intention of heading for the next waypoint, but then get distracted by a side quest as I passed some stables. I’d notice something odd from the top of a mountain; I’d see an opportunity to fight a few enemies to collect some loot; I’d notice a shooting star in the sky and chase it.

The freedom that game gives you – even allowing you to jump straight to the end boss once you’re out of the initial area – is a great strength but also a possible weakness. I didn’t want the game to end, knowing there was so much left to see (I had found 112 of the 120 shrines by the end), and it was only with a significant mental push that I finally went to meet with Ganon.

And even that went wrong. I hadn’t appreciated that journeying to Ganon would involve a long trek through the grounds of Hyrule Castle, and my route took me into a library where I found some recipes that someone in Riverside Stable had asked me for. So, of course, I had to return there before going back in to the castle.

The interior was a masterpiece of artistic design. What would a castle look like after being neglected for a hundred years, used as a home for monsters?

Dark, dingy and claustrophobic. Even getting outside didn’t help, since the drifting ashes in the air and hiding guardians meant the atmosphere remained tense. I used my gale powers to drift ever higher, and entered the tower from a top window, leading to a nervous descent inside. I needn’t have worried; Ganon had become complacent.

So, if I completed this back in November, why have I not written about it until now? Partially because I have been playing other things on my commute, but partially because I couldn’t find the words to do this game justice. It has been hailed as one of the greatest games of all time, and I cannot argue with that. Many people have written far more eloquently than I would be able to, and yet no article has fully captured just how amazing it is.

It’s daft to give up a blog like this because of a perception of language inadequacy, though. So instead I’ll sum Breath of the Wild up in a single word, before moving on.

Breathless.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: completed!

Posted on 16/04/2018 Written by Xexyz

It has been a long time since I have written on this blog, and that is largely down to one game - Breath of the Wild.

I completed this last November, after around 160 hours of playing. I would frequently turn the game on with every intention of heading for the next waypoint, but then get distracted by a side quest as I passed some stables. I'd notice something odd from the top of a mountain; I'd see an opportunity to fight a few enemies to collect some loot; I'd notice a shooting star in the sky and chase it.

The freedom that game gives you - even allowing you to jump straight to the end boss once you're out of the initial area - is a great strength but also a possible weakness. I didn't want the game to end, knowing there was so much left to see (I had found 112 of the 120 shrines by the end), and it was only with a significant mental push that I finally went to meet with Ganon.

And even that went wrong. I hadn't appreciated that journeying to Ganon would involve a long trek through the grounds of Hyrule Castle, and my route took me into a library where I found some recipes that someone in Riverside Stable had asked me for. So, of course, I had to return there before going back in to the castle.

The interior was a masterpiece of artistic design. What would a castle look like after being neglected for a hundred years, used as a home for monsters?

Dark, dingy and claustrophobic. Even getting outside didn't help, since the drifting ashes in the air and hiding guardians meant the atmosphere remained tense. I used my gale powers to drift ever higher, and entered the tower from a top window, leading to a nervous descent inside. I needn't have worried; Ganon had become complacent.

So, if I completed this back in November, why have I not written about it until now? Partially because I have been playing other things on my commute, but partially because I couldn't find the words to do this game justice. It has been hailed as one of the greatest games of all time, and I cannot argue with that. Many people have written far more eloquently than I would be able to, and yet no article has fully captured just how amazing it is.

It's daft to give up a blog like this because of a perception of language inadequacy, though. So instead I'll sum Breath of the Wild up in a single word, before moving on.

Breathless.