Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers (NSW) Review

We move from an arcade racer with realistic graphics to an arcade racer with decidedly less than realistic graphics. In the wee hours of the night SuperPhillip Central covers the Switch's Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers. Here's my review.

A name that's fun to say, a game that's fun to play

Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers is a top-down racer hearkening back to the days of Super Off-Road and R.C. Pro Am, to name a couple. You race around circuit tracks, using the analog stick to steer in the direction you wish to drive. It's as simple as holding down to drive downward, left to drive to the left, diagonally to drive diagonally, etc. This is all the while competing against up to seven other opponents, avoiding hazards like walls and oil slicks, and going over boost pads to get a quick shot of speed. Apart from skimming over boost pads, you can also collect boost energy from item capsules to gain a burst of speed upon hitting the X button.

Well, it's not called Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers because everything is made up of spheres!

There are three locales in Chiki-Chiki--City, Jungle, and Beach--and each possesses five events total to tackle. As you get gold in one event, the next opens up within the same locale. This is until you clear all four races and earn the opportunity to participate in a Grand Prix event, where you race all four previous tracks one after the other. As you can probably expect from such an event, the player with the most points at the end of all four races is the champion.

While you're playing through Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers and getting gold trophies on each track and Grand Prix, you unlock new vehicles. There are over 20 total to have in your arsenal of automobiles. Each has different stats for handling, turbo, max speed, acceleration, and so forth. Vehicles run the gamut from sports cars and sedans to trucks and tractors.

With their opponents right behind them on this part of this beach course,
the race leader is feeling some "pier" pressure.

Aside from the 12 tracks and 3 Grand Prix events in Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers, you're limited in what else you can do as a solo player. You'll quickly unlock all of the aforementioned vehicles in less than an hour, as the AI doesn't put up much of a close race for the most part. The little else there is comes in the form of mini-games that task you with getting as high of a score or as quick of a time as possible.

Now, these mini-games are pretty creative, offering things like driving over concrete--trying to paint over every single patch of ground possible quickly--or something as simple as attempting to get as many goals in a vehicular soccer game as possible against an empty net. There is also the option to play online against friends and randoms, but considering how dead the online was when it was free, I shudder to think about trying to find anyone to play Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers with now that the online is gated behind a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

No inklings, just raw horsepower! Cover as many tiles in your paint color
 as possible before time expires in this mini-game.

Local multiplayer doesn't fare much better either, and it's for the silliest of reasons. The competitive mini-games don't suffer here, and they're actually a lot of fun with another player. It's when you get to the traditional racing that the experience goes awry. Players in local multiplayer share the same screen, and since tracks don't just fit all on one screen, there's obviously some form of split-screen multiplayer, right? Wrong.

Instead, Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers has it where all players must stay on the same screen together. If someone straggles behind, they're put a short distance behind the player in first place. Maybe this is obvious, but that can result in some really lame and unearned comeback victories. It got to the point where my local multiplayer pal just stopped racing seriously until the final stretch, and then he'd get transported close to me after being too far back and pass me for the victory. Neither of us enjoyed ourselves with this, and it's baffling to both of us why the multiplayer was designed this way.

Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers is a fun game--don't get me wrong. However, it's substantially small amount of content and little replay value make for a game that's difficult to recommend. The halfhearted way multiplayer was implemented cuts the legs out from under this otherwise enjoyable arcade racer. While Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers could have crossed the finish line in first place, it instead gets caught with a flat tire on the homestretch.

[SPC Says: C-]

The Crew 2 (PS4, XB1, PC) Review

There has been a great deal of radio silence from SuperPhillip Central this past month. No longer, however, as we're ending the month with a plethora of reviews! The first is The Crew 2, released this past June on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The PS4 version is the game this review is based off of.

Time for another wild run

Imagine, if you will, a racing game that takes you across the glorious continental United States, allowing you the freedom to roam its incredibly varied geography at your leisure. That's what you get with Ubisoft's The Crew 2, and not only are you able to speed through the lower 48 states in a car, but you can also do so by air and sea--something new to this sequel.

It's all part of The Crew 2's focus on getting followers from pulling off insane stunts as well as winning the various races and events spread across the country. Of course, you need not simply drive from coast to another, taking about an hour in real time to do so. Instead, you can select from a list of events from the in-game menu, or opt to zoom out of the map that displays everything in real time. You'll start zoomed in on your current location, zoom out to the block, the city, the region, and then the entire country to select one of the many event icons on the map.

Exploring the Harlem neighborhood in The Crew 2's version of New York.

Events come in numerous types across several different disciplines, each under the watch of one of four HQs spread across the country. Whether it's street racing, pro racing, freestyle, or off-road, each HQ has a wide selection of events ready for you to take on. The street racing discipline has events where you speed through city streets, alleys, and even rooftops; events where you drift your car as long as possible to maximize your combo and score as many points as you can; drag races and long-distance hypercar races. Meanwhile, pro racing has power boat, plane, and touring car races to take on. The list of events is very much varied, which is great to see. If I found myself struggling with one type of event, I'd select the others within the same discipline to make progress within the story.

Ruben?! That's not the name of someone who deserves to be in first--that's the name of a sandwich!

The more followers you gain, which essentially serve as experience points, the more your icon gauge levels up, allowing you to participate in even more events. Winning events not only provides you with more followers, but it also provides you with new loot in the form of randomly assigned performance parts.

The performance parts unlocked by clearing events and finding Live boxes sprinkled around the game world are used to upgrade each of your vehicles, which you can eventually own all 200+ of them, if you get that addicted to the game. There are about six different categories to boost the performance of your vehicle, but it's really not that involved. Basically, all you have to do is equip the highest numbered part in each of the six part categories, and you're golden. This can be extremely tedious, as you might have guessed, as you're always getting new parts and just constantly entering and exiting the menu is just repetitive as driving through the state of Kansas length-wise.

Part of the Freestyle discipline, get down and dirty with Motocross.

Also as you make your way through the ranks and gaining more followers, you get to participate in Live Xtrem races, which are the most enjoyable events that The Crew 2 has to offer. You start the game immediately within the first race of the Live Xtrem season, and these races in general have you transforming between vehicles on the fly at specific points within the races. You can go from a hypercar, jump off a ramp, and transform into a speedboat as you splash onto a river, continuing the race in one seamless maneuver.

"Snow" time like the present to make the push to first place! ...I'll see myself out.

These transformations aren't just limited to races, either. You can additionally seamlessly transform between your favorite vehicles while engaging in free roam. It's a rather awesome sight to fly a plane over my hometown of St. Louis, soar under the Gateway Arch, and then transform into a high-speeding car, perfectly touching down with the pavement below all in a single picture-perfect, skillful movement. If you haven't guessed already, there's a lot of smoothness to The Crew 2's transformations.

Take to the skies and view Los Angeles in a brand-new way.

What isn't always so smooth (nice segue, Phil) is trying to race at high speeds in events while trying to keep an eye on the in-game map in order to know where upcoming turns are. It is endlessly frustrating to lose a race at the last turn because you ended up missing it and careening past it because you couldn't focus on the map and race at the same time. Yes, you can hold the shoulder buttons to be placed back on the intended racing path, but when it's the final stretch of the race where you're now fifth place, it's sort of aggravating to have to redo a 10+ minute race when you made a last minute navigational error.

Another problem with The Crew 2 comes from its requirement to always have an online connection. You must play The Crew 2 online at all times, which is odd considering most of what I did within the game wouldn't even need such functionality, as I always competed against the AI. There are other players that inhabit the world, and you can join eponymous crews, race together in events, and the like, but overall, the interaction and options between crews and players in general is a bit lacking.

Now that you can explore the waters of the States in The Crew 2, who knows what you will discover?

Without its online requirement The Crew 2 would be one of my favorite arcade racers of all time. It's pure joy and bliss to drive, splash, and soar through the continental United States. My personal favorite thing to do in the game is take long road trips and explore the world freely. However, when the servers for the game eventually expire, what you're going to be left with in The Crew 2 is a game that is no longer available to be played. You're also left with a game currently that requires an online subscription to Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus on top of purchasing The Crew 2 just to play the darn game.

The reflections on these rainy roads make for a remarkable sight.
For the most part, The Crew 2 does not disappoint when it concerns visuals.

It says something, though, that despite this ridiculous online requirement, I did find myself lost within the game world of The Crew 2, eventually earning the Platinum with my PS4 copy. The amount of events in the game is amazing, though I wish there were more long distance and Live Extrem-like events where you switched between vehicle types mid-race, as those were my favorites in the game. Additionally, those were the most innovative and exciting. What's here in The Crew 2 is still a thrill of a ride, but it's not without its speed bumps--its many, many speed bumps.

[SPC Says: B]

Review Round-Up - August 2018

While SuperPhillip Central's Game of the Month was a return
 of Captain Toad and Toadette tracking treasure...

With my new gig writing for TouchArcade, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to dedicate to reviews on SuperPhillip Central--hence there just being four reviews for August. That said, the lineup of reviews was rather good. I started off with a stay-cation to Kawawii Island in Go Vacation (B). Then, the Game of the Month, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for the Switch tracked some treasure for a B+ grade. The Nicalis-branded fighter (with some indie guest stars like Shovel Knight and Gunvolt of Azure Striker Gunvolt fame) Blade Strangers fought its way to a B grade, as did Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1. I hope to have the second collection reviewed for September.

Check out every review ever posted on SuperPhillip Central with the SPC Review Archive!

Go Vacation (NSW) - B
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (NSW) - B+
Blade Strangers (NSW, PS4, PC) - B
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 (PS4, NSW, XB1, PC) - B

...Another game reviewed this month took us to the activity-filled Kawawii Island with Go Vacation.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 (PS4, NSW, XB1, PC) Review

The week continues as does SuperPhillip Central's roll-out of reviews. This next game is a collection of four stellar action-platformers. It's Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1, and it's the PlayStation 4 build being reviewed here.

A collection with "X"-tra features but also "X"-tra problems

Unlike the classic Mega Man series, the Mega Man X series is much more inconsistent with its quality. There are just some games in the series that are simply stinkers while others are some of the best 2D action-platformers of all time--at least in this writer's opinion. Thankfully, despite the series being all over the place when it comes to quality, Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 gathers up four of the most fantastic games in the series and places them in one classic compendium. While that should be a recipe for immediate and doubtless success, Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 has one problem that may affect the enjoyment of these otherwise excellent games.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 features the first half of the Mega Man X series: the original Mega Man X trilogy, X1-X3, from the Super Nintendo and Mega Man X4, which is the PlayStation version. Each game has similar options to it, such as the ability to play full-screen or with a customizable, themed border, the ability to play with or without scanlines to create an old school CRT feel, and a special Rookie Hunter mode, which decreases the damage players take and in Mega Man X4's case, makes it so spikes and bottomless pits are not instant death. This mode is a nice addition, allowing players of all types and skill levels to enjoy the first four Mega Man X games, ones that are notoriously difficult for most players. 

The "buzz" on this stage from Mega Man X is that it's a premier example of a sensational opening level.

Mega Man X, of course, started it all back in 1993. Bringing with it a more mature approach to its story, greater action, faster gameplay, and a fully upgrade-able Mega Man by way of discovering Dr. Light's hidden capsules and items like Heart Tanks and Sub Tanks, Mega Man X was an entirely new generation of the Blue Bomber. He was much more mobile, able to scale walls, jump dash, and with Dr. Light's aforementioned capsules was able to find so many more ways of movement and maneuverability. The game introduced a new villain in the seemingly immortal, never-say-die/never-CAN-die Sigma, and brought forth a popular character in the series lore, the blonde-ponytail secondary protagonist Zero. The original Mega Man X is a game that other entries in the series have attempted to surpass in quality, but I maintain that the original is still the best. Some entries come close, but the very first Mega Man X remains my favorite with no filler, no superfluous gameplay--just all action and ingenious level design.

Recognize this guy? His random attack pattern landed him on
my Bad Boss Battles in Gaming History series of articles. (Okay, he's not SO bad, but still...)

Mega Man X2 followed, and it's my second favorite of the SNES games. It introduced even more replay value with an alternate ending for collecting all of Zero's parts from the X-Hunters, and further refined the gameplay of the original X game. Meanwhile, Mega Man X3 is what I consider the weakest game in the first Mega Man X Legacy Collection, offering an overwhelming overabundance of collectibles, too many variables to consider in how the last stages of the game play out, and a soundtrack that grates occasionally on the ears. However, it's important to note that Mega Man X3 with all of these minor issues that I have with the game is hardly a poor entry in the series. That's an especially apparent fact considering the latter collection of games.

While limited in how much you can play as him,
Mega Man X3 was the first time Zero was playable in any fashion.

Finally, Mega Man X4 rounds out the package, and it delivers 32-bit visuals for the first time in the series, anime cutscenes of dubious voice acting quality (but I personally love the pure cheese of it), the ability to play two different storylines as either X or for the first time in the series, a fully playable Zero (he was only available in limited quantities in X3). Although the levels are the exact same for both characters, their story beats, gameplay styles, and a boss or two differs. While X2 is my second favorite Super Nintendo game in the Mega Man X Legacy Collection, Mega Man X4 is my second favorite in the series in general.

So, having these four terrific games from the past is great and all, but there is one gnarly problem with them that mucks things up some. While the games look the same visually with no new graphical problems, the gameplay--on the other hand--is a different story. There is noticeable input lag in all four games, making it so many button and control inputs can be slightly delayed or don't register at all. By no means did it make these games absolutely broken, but it did make it for a harder go of things, especially in the more difficult platforming sections in each game. One such instance of this for me was the first Sigma Palace stage in Mega Man X1, where you ride moving platforms over a bottomless pit to reach the inside of the palace. I kept missing jumps I'd otherwise make because of the input lag. 

Outside of the four games that have the leading role in the Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1, there are also myriad other features included. For instance, there is an art gallery that spotlights everything from promotional art and character designs, to box art and special illustrations. There is also a music player that has all of the songs from Mega Man X through X4, and this can be listened to in playlist form. Included with the music player is a series of remixed and wholly original themes inspired by the series, which sound pretty awesome, especially as someone who loves the X series as much as I do. Listening to a new version of the Mega Man X stage select screen or the Mega Man X4 boss theme filled me such joy as a serious fan of the original Mega Man X games.

Also included in Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 is a brand-new boss rush mode called X Challenge. It pits you as X in an X Challenge mode exclusive armor against duos of Maverick bosses across the first six Mega Man X games. Each main stage is a series of three battles against a pair of bosses that you fight against simultaneously, usually themed in some way. For example, you'll take on underwater bosses like Mega Man X4's Jet Stingray while combating Mega Man X5's Tidal Whale, while another battle will have you take on a pair of Mega Man X2 bosses, Bubble Crab and Wheel Gator. Thankfully, X has more health to him than in the traditional games, and you get to choose from three special weapons from a limited selection to bring into each series of fights. Depending on what difficulty you play on, the bosses you face will be different and how much health X regains between battles changes as well.

Mega Man X's Ice Penguin AND Mega Man X4's Frost Walrus?
Let's give 'em both the cold shoulder, X!

X Challenge is a rather cool mode, all things considered. It's sort of surreal seeing Mavericks from completely different games team up together, but then again that's one of the major selling points of this mode. Attempting to evade attacks from one Maverick is generally challenging enough, but when you have two to deal with, things become mighty taxing mighty quickly. With online leaderboards to try to climb the ranks by how fast you beat each boss pair, there is some good replay value to be found in X Challenge, making it a nice inclusion to the collection.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 delivers some of the best 2D action-platformers in gaming history, and I don't say that flippantly. The games have truly withstood the test of time, and they're great for those who have loved them since they originally came out and for those who are playing them for the first time. While the mild input lag (it's more or less severe depending on the platform you're playing on is highly disappointing to witness, having such excellent games with Mega Man X1 through X4 and all of the included extras makes for a worthwhile collection. So, if you're searching for a retro compendium of games that continue to be awesome two decades after the fact, then Mega Man "X" marks the spot.

[SPC Says: B]

Blade Strangers (NSW, PS4, PC) Review

The final days of August will bring a whole slew of new reviews to SuperPhillip Central. We start the week off with Blade Strangers, a 2D fighter releasing later today on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC. The Switch build is the focus of this review.

Stranger Danger

Forgive me for talking about another franchise here, but there are many reasons why I like the Super Smash Bros. series. I love how simple it is to pick up and play without needing to learn and memorize myriad moves and their respective inputs, and I love how it puts characters from a slew of franchises together for one big celebration of gaming. While Blade Strangers on the Nintendo Switch (also available on the PlayStation 4 and PC) might not have as heralded or as recognizable a roster as what you'll find in Nintendo's all-star franchise (and that's decidedly an understatement), what the game does have is an appealing and accessible fighting system that is engaging to use and a game in general that is engrossing to play.

Right away, I'd like to dive right in how accessible Blade Strangers is as a 2D fighter. The game uses the right Joy-Con's four face buttons, each corresponding with a different type of attack: from your typical lights and heavies, to something more skill-centric. As opposed to more technical fighters out there that demand a lot of "finger-fu" from players, Blade Strangers is a lot easier to pull off special moves and create killer combos while still delivering a good share of depth to combat. Whereas a series like Street Fighter utilizes a lot of half-circle, quarter-circle, and full-circle analog inputs that gives my thumb blisters just thinking about performing them, Blade Strangers merely uses one of the four face buttons in conjunction with a direction to pull off its characters' wide range of moves. Not only does this serve as a great way to provide accessibility to all fighting game skill levels (while again, maintaining a sense of depth in fights), but it also makes it so Blade Strangers is one of the few 2D fighters on the Nintendo Switch that isn't burdened by the Joy-Con's lack of a proper D-Pad.

Like each characters' gauge, this fight is certainly heating up.

You have two gauges to you in Blade Strangers, and one is obviously health. The other is a gauge that heats up upon taking damage as well as pulling off successful attacks. When it fills up, you can perform an Ultra Attack by pressing the right shoulder button. This is a devastating maneuver that can deal heavy damage to your opponent. Though, like any other attack in Blade Strangers, this can be blocked for small chip damage. If you opt to power up your gauge even more, you can use a stronger Ultra Attack by double-tapping the shoulder button, unleashing a varied, more powerful offensive strike to your (hopefully) unwitting foe.

Not the most gentlemanly thing to do, flinging a friend to the ground, but Cave Story's Quote is in a battle here!

Nevertheless, your gauge also helps you if you're on the receiving end of the butt kicking. When a character's health gauge enters yellow, they're ready to heat up, meaning that they can enter what is essentially a "last resort: state where they're much stronger and aren't as phased by attacks for as long as their Ultra Attack gauge still has some juice in it. What can result from this is some truly exciting come-from-behind wins, snatching victory from the disturbingly close jaws of defeat.

Coming fully featured with modes, Blade Strangers has a fair amount of content to enjoy. The main mode of focus for solo players is that of the Story mode, which has the same general, overarching story being told with each character's campaign. The only real differences between which fighter you play as are what characters your fighter battles and what dialog is spoken. Regardless of who you choose to play as, the structure of seven fights is always the same as is outcome of the story for the first batch of characters available to you in Story mode. You unlock the other handful of fighters (the more indie guest stars like Shovel Knight and Azure Striker Gunvolt's Gunvolt) in Story mode by completing the mode as multiple characters.

Do you think Shovel Knight battles for fun? No! He does it for shovelry!

No worries, however, as when it concerns every other mode of Blade Strangers, every character is available to you to play as soon as you turn on the game. That goes for the bog-standard fighting game modes like Arcade, Versus, Survival, Tutorial, and the Mission mode that tasks you with completing combos for each character, as a means to up your way of roughing up your opponent more impressively.

Each mode offers something for everyone, and I found myself quite invested in playing through each. Sure, playing through Story, Arcade, and Survival with each of the game's 14 characters to acquire relatively mundane unlockables--such as alternate character colors, portraits, and profile titles--might seem tedious (more so in the fact that I wouldn't have known I was actually unlocking stuff for completing these modes if I hadn't ever been observant to my Profile page), but it presents some longevity nevertheless.

Successfully got hit by the attack--hook, line, and sinker.

What brings even further longevity and replay value for Blade Strangers in the long term is something every fighter worth its weight in knockouts better have in 2018, and that's decent online play. I was able to test out the Switch version in a private, password-entry-only online match in Casual mode, where one's league rank isn't affected. Of the four online matches I played with an acquaintance, all four ran relatively well with no noticeable input delay. Hopefully that stays the course when Blade Strangers officially releases this morning. I'll be sure to update this review if I find any glaring problems, then.

The battle of the blondes begins in Blade Strangers.

While Blade Strangers may be a crossover game, it certainly doesn't have the gravitas of a Super Smash Bros., but then again, what does? My point here is that Blade Strangers offers an extremely niche variety of characters from even more niche games. For fans of titles like Code of Princess, Cave Story, Azure Striker Gunvolt, The Binding of Isaac, and Shovel Knight (okay, maybe that one isn't TOO terribly niche), you will feel well at home. For everyone else, you might be left with a clueless expression on your face as to who the heck these characters are. That said, the characters in general have varied enough tactics and move sets that you need not recognize every or even one of the characters to enjoy yourself with Blade Strangers. It sure doesn't hurt to recognize some of them, of course.

Some might call it a "who's who" of guest characters. Some might just ask, "Who!?"

When one thinks of the biggest crossovers in gaming history, one might think of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series, and to a lesser extent, one might also conjure up the image of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. I mean, Mario and Sonic? Ryu and Cloud Strife? Kratos and Nathan Drake? Those are big names and worlds colliding. The characters of Cave Story and Code of Princess colliding? Well... perhaps not so much.

That notwithstanding, that doesn't make the crossover 2D fighter Blade Strangers any less of a satisfying and riveting game. With accessible (and more importantly Switch controls that work well for a 2D fighter), relatively pleasant visuals (a little over-pixelated with regards to the fighters), competent online play, a multitude of modes, and plenty of characters to learn and attempt to master, Blade Strangers delivers a fighting game that may not do much to distinguish itself from the big boys in the genre, but it doesn't screw up its attempt in trying.

[SPC Says: B] 

Review copy provided by Nicalis.