Resogun
This side-scrolling shoot 'em up developed by Housemarque (creator of "Super Stardust HD and "Super Stardust Delta") is the best of the bunch. Its visuals dazzle the eyes with colorful explosions and superb lighting effects.
Players control a ship through five circular maps, although they kind of look the same. Hundreds of enemies will spawn on screen with the main goal of destroying them all. Moves include regular shooting, boosting to get out of trouble, an "overdrive" that kind of unleashes a monstrous laser, and bombs to clear the screen. Everything controls smoothly, and there's hardly a lull in any level.
An optional objective includes saving humans, which helps boost overall score. While not necessary to complete each level, it's definitely encouraged and is a way to improve skills. Plus, you'll feel bad when one gets sucked away by a UFO.
Multiple difficulty levels make up for the lack of stages. The more brave you feel, the more punishment "Resogun" dishes out, and each stage feels different depending on the difficulty chosen. Fortunately, it never becomes tedious retrying one over and over again. Polishing off a boss fight on a souped-up stage is very satisfying.
Contrast
"Contrast" follows the story of a little girl named Didi, who enlists the help of her mysterious imaginary friend, Dawn, to unravel the secrets of her troubled family. Compulsion Games did an excellent job creating an aesthetically pleasing vaudeville setting filled with dark tones and jazzy music.
The hook is Dawn's ability to move between the physical and shadow worlds, making it a 2D/3D type game. This leads to solving some very creative puzzles and finding numerous collectibles throughout different areas. For example, objects have to be manipulated in the 3D world to create the right-sized shadow in order to hop up onto a higher platform.
Unfortunately, the PS4 version is plagued with bugs and glitches which damper the experience. Dawn can get stuck in the environment, and mashing buttons seems to be the only way out. She'll even float in midair for some reason if she's near an edge. The frame rate jitters occasionally, and the camera can be a hindrance.
"Contrast" feels like an unfinished game. The collectibles complement the story very well, but it ends with more questions than answers. Instead of rushing it out for a console launch, the developer should have waited a little longer to polish things up and expand upon it.
Knack
I didn't mind "Knack," the brainchild of game designer Mark Cerny, but this action-platformer didn't "wow" me. It's underwhelming for a hyped-up launch title and could have gotten away with being a PS3 game.
Our titled hero made up of ancient relics is on a mission to stop an evil goblin army, and his journey leads him to all kinds of locales from cities to forests and caves. Levels are straightforward with minor pit stops to find numerous hidden collectibles to upgrade Knack.
It's also strategic, thanks to a surprisingly high difficulty level you wouldn't expect from a kids game. Enemies ranging from archers to explosive types will smash our hero into pieces very quickly if you're not careful. Progressing through each level requires planning, and when Knack grows in size, it's very satisfying smashing through everyone. Expect to die a lot, though, and while checkpoints are mostly fair, some take you too far back to the point of frustration.
However, one word that would define this game is "repetitiveness." You'll ramble through each level using the same basic attacks and maneuvers, sometimes whipping about a special attack to get past harder sections. Like in "Contrast," it feels like more could have been done to make this launch title a more memorable one.
Reviews written by Jeff Hoard for Digital First Media, reprinted with permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment