After a joint effort with Nintendo's big red mascot, Sonic is heading to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in a solo-franchise affair to go for the gold. Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is set to release on both iOS and Android-enabled devices on May 7th, and you can pre-register ahead of launch at this website.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Bad Levels in Gaming History - Volume Twelve
After over a year's absence, Bad Levels in Gaming History is back on SuperPhillip Central to deliver to you even more of those obnoxious areas, sections, missions, racetracks, etc. (I use the catch-all term "levels" to describe them) that frustrate and annoy. These can be overly frustrating due to poor or unfair design, bad AI, or a plethora of other reasons.
On this twelfth volume of Bad Levels in Gaming History, we delve into a combination of modern and classic gaming with titles like Luigi's Mansion 3, MediEvil, and GoldenEye 007, to name but a few. So, read on and you'll see just some of the more insidious levels that gaming has unfortunately bestowed on to players.
Check out past volumes of this long-running SPC article series with the following links:
B2: The Boilerworks - Luigi's Mansion 3 (NSW)
The above accompanying screenshot to this level isn't just there because it's adorable--it's also there because it's the reaction a great deal of players had to a certain floor of the Last Resort hotel in Luigi's Mansion 3, a game that was part of SuperPhillip Central's Top Ten Games of 2019. While the Boilerworks, the bottom-most floor of the aforementioned Last Resort, is a creatively designed level, it features a section that is maddening for first-time players (and for many veteran players as well). While a lot of the game is designed around trial and error gameplay, it's mostly done with a safety net or in non-dangerous areas. The section of trial and error gameplay in the flooded floor of the Boilerworks does not occur in a place of safety at all. In fact, it's hazardous as heck.
In the Boilerworks, there are parts of the floor where you must ride in a rubber raft as Luigi. The controls here take a lot of getting used to, having Luigi's Poltergust G-00 vacuum needing to suck air to move forward and blow air to move backward. This is in addition to aiming the nozzle of the vacuum in the right direction to move correctly. It takes a great deal of practice to get the hang of it, much more to even competently do under pressure.
The issue here is that the controls aren't the most intuitive (read: they're not at all), and you don't get much time to learn them either before the game throws some unwanted challenges your way, such as a line of shark-like specters that can pop your raft in a jiffy. Better, clearer instructions on how to control the raft with Luigi's Poltergust would have been greatly appreciated and would help players not get so stuck and frustrated during this easily infuriating portion of the game. That's not even talking about the Boilerworks boss that incorporates the raft as well, with a flooded chamber surrounded a spike-rimmed wall. No wonder so many players shout profanities that would spook even King Boo when playing this portion of an otherwise impeccably designed game.
Ghost Ship - MediEvil (PS4)
Continuing our spooky and haunted theme with this edition of Bad Levels in Gaming History, we delve into a late-game level in MediEvil, which was terrible in its original PS1 version, and it's even more terrible in the PS4 remake. It's the Ghost Ship level, a sky high airship complete with rolling barrels, cannons to dodge, undead pirates, and risky jumps aplenty.
The latter is the most annoying and infuriating part of the level, due to the sloppy and near broken collision detection in it. There's a part where you have to bounce along nets to reach a higher platform, and if you fall into the chasm below, you have to make your way through a deadly obstacle course of cannonballs being blasted out at you.
Each time you fall down the chasm, you have to go through this minute-long, highly hazardous section of level, and it will happen more than you want because of how poorly designed the platforming is in the game. Further, even if you manage to cross over the obnoxious netting of platforms, there's still another chasm to cross, sending you even further back in the level if you fall down those. The Ghost Ship is by far the more frustrating and unfair part of MediEvil, a game that isn't exactly the friendliest in difficult to begin with.
Guard the Freight Train Cargo - Daemon X Machina (NSW, PC)
This mission from the rank C section of missions in the newly released on PC Daemon X Machina is one of the worst types of missions in gaming. It's an escort mission, and it immediately separates the proficient Arsenal pilots with the ones that should just stick to watching episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam.
The mission starts out simple enough with the need to destroy a number of small fry enemies in order to reach the second, more important part of the mission where the freight train needing to be babysit chugs into the scene. It's here that not one, not two--but three enemy Arsenals, all ready, willing and seriously able to deliver devastating amounts of damage to the train in no time at all, arrive on the scene.
It's quite easy for the freight train to go from 100% strength down to just half that in less than 30 seconds, and it's even easier for the train and its valuable contents to be destroyed before you even have a chance to understand what's going on. This mission is a tremendous jump in difficulty, and it oftentimes feels like an unfair one. It's more focused on luck with whether you can lure the three attacking Arsenals away from the train so it can reach its destination safely than anything else. Plus, escort missions just stink in general, as we'll see shortly with another example.
Wrong Side of the Tracks - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Multi)
But while we're on the subject of trains, let's begin with a game that is no stranger to this series of articles with a mission that generally ends for many players with the line, "All you had to do was follow the damn train, C.J.!" Well, it's not like we were just popping wheelies for the hell of it, Big Smoke! Wrong Side of the Tracks is an early-ish mission in gaming mega-hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It asks of you to control protagonist C.J. and have him ride a motorbike with Big Smoke in tow on the back, pursuing a train under control by the Vagos gang.
The aim of the mission is to stay towards the front of the train, on its side, and allow Big Smoke to fire rounds from his gun to kill the Vagos on the train. This is easier said than done due to the various hills and side paths, as well as how unclear it is the exact position you should have the bike in relation to the train. It says something negative about the mission when a good amount of players use various "alternate" methods to complete it instead of the intended way.
Control - GoldenEye 007 (N64)
Continuing off from the idea that escort missions are for the most part terrible, we have one of the most infamous early examples of that with Rare's otherwise terrific GoldenEye 007. There are four missions where James Bond is tasked with protecting computer hacker Natalya Simonova, and by far, for me, the most awful of these takes place in the Control mission. The escort character AI is notoriously dumb, known to run directly into enemy fire as well as in the line of sight of the player's gun.
Control ratchets that up to a ridiculously frustrating degree by requiring you to protect Natalya from enemy gunfire as she slowly tries to re-calibrate and put an end to the GoldenEye satellite. And I do mean slowly, as she must also be trying to log into her GeoCites web page to take the proverbial piss on players as well. That's the only other explanation Regardless, it's a breeze for Natalya to perish in this mission, resulting in players having to restart from the very beginning and contend with the escorting carnage all over again. No wonder this mission was a roadblock for many, resulting in them simply returning to the multiplayer to get out their frustrations on other players of the game.
On this twelfth volume of Bad Levels in Gaming History, we delve into a combination of modern and classic gaming with titles like Luigi's Mansion 3, MediEvil, and GoldenEye 007, to name but a few. So, read on and you'll see just some of the more insidious levels that gaming has unfortunately bestowed on to players.
Check out past volumes of this long-running SPC article series with the following links:
B2: The Boilerworks - Luigi's Mansion 3 (NSW)
The above accompanying screenshot to this level isn't just there because it's adorable--it's also there because it's the reaction a great deal of players had to a certain floor of the Last Resort hotel in Luigi's Mansion 3, a game that was part of SuperPhillip Central's Top Ten Games of 2019. While the Boilerworks, the bottom-most floor of the aforementioned Last Resort, is a creatively designed level, it features a section that is maddening for first-time players (and for many veteran players as well). While a lot of the game is designed around trial and error gameplay, it's mostly done with a safety net or in non-dangerous areas. The section of trial and error gameplay in the flooded floor of the Boilerworks does not occur in a place of safety at all. In fact, it's hazardous as heck.
The issue here is that the controls aren't the most intuitive (read: they're not at all), and you don't get much time to learn them either before the game throws some unwanted challenges your way, such as a line of shark-like specters that can pop your raft in a jiffy. Better, clearer instructions on how to control the raft with Luigi's Poltergust would have been greatly appreciated and would help players not get so stuck and frustrated during this easily infuriating portion of the game. That's not even talking about the Boilerworks boss that incorporates the raft as well, with a flooded chamber surrounded a spike-rimmed wall. No wonder so many players shout profanities that would spook even King Boo when playing this portion of an otherwise impeccably designed game.
Ghost Ship - MediEvil (PS4)
Continuing our spooky and haunted theme with this edition of Bad Levels in Gaming History, we delve into a late-game level in MediEvil, which was terrible in its original PS1 version, and it's even more terrible in the PS4 remake. It's the Ghost Ship level, a sky high airship complete with rolling barrels, cannons to dodge, undead pirates, and risky jumps aplenty.
The latter is the most annoying and infuriating part of the level, due to the sloppy and near broken collision detection in it. There's a part where you have to bounce along nets to reach a higher platform, and if you fall into the chasm below, you have to make your way through a deadly obstacle course of cannonballs being blasted out at you.
Each time you fall down the chasm, you have to go through this minute-long, highly hazardous section of level, and it will happen more than you want because of how poorly designed the platforming is in the game. Further, even if you manage to cross over the obnoxious netting of platforms, there's still another chasm to cross, sending you even further back in the level if you fall down those. The Ghost Ship is by far the more frustrating and unfair part of MediEvil, a game that isn't exactly the friendliest in difficult to begin with.
Guard the Freight Train Cargo - Daemon X Machina (NSW, PC)
This mission from the rank C section of missions in the newly released on PC Daemon X Machina is one of the worst types of missions in gaming. It's an escort mission, and it immediately separates the proficient Arsenal pilots with the ones that should just stick to watching episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam.
The mission starts out simple enough with the need to destroy a number of small fry enemies in order to reach the second, more important part of the mission where the freight train needing to be babysit chugs into the scene. It's here that not one, not two--but three enemy Arsenals, all ready, willing and seriously able to deliver devastating amounts of damage to the train in no time at all, arrive on the scene.
It's quite easy for the freight train to go from 100% strength down to just half that in less than 30 seconds, and it's even easier for the train and its valuable contents to be destroyed before you even have a chance to understand what's going on. This mission is a tremendous jump in difficulty, and it oftentimes feels like an unfair one. It's more focused on luck with whether you can lure the three attacking Arsenals away from the train so it can reach its destination safely than anything else. Plus, escort missions just stink in general, as we'll see shortly with another example.
Wrong Side of the Tracks - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Multi)
But while we're on the subject of trains, let's begin with a game that is no stranger to this series of articles with a mission that generally ends for many players with the line, "All you had to do was follow the damn train, C.J.!" Well, it's not like we were just popping wheelies for the hell of it, Big Smoke! Wrong Side of the Tracks is an early-ish mission in gaming mega-hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It asks of you to control protagonist C.J. and have him ride a motorbike with Big Smoke in tow on the back, pursuing a train under control by the Vagos gang.
The aim of the mission is to stay towards the front of the train, on its side, and allow Big Smoke to fire rounds from his gun to kill the Vagos on the train. This is easier said than done due to the various hills and side paths, as well as how unclear it is the exact position you should have the bike in relation to the train. It says something negative about the mission when a good amount of players use various "alternate" methods to complete it instead of the intended way.
Control - GoldenEye 007 (N64)
Continuing off from the idea that escort missions are for the most part terrible, we have one of the most infamous early examples of that with Rare's otherwise terrific GoldenEye 007. There are four missions where James Bond is tasked with protecting computer hacker Natalya Simonova, and by far, for me, the most awful of these takes place in the Control mission. The escort character AI is notoriously dumb, known to run directly into enemy fire as well as in the line of sight of the player's gun.
Control ratchets that up to a ridiculously frustrating degree by requiring you to protect Natalya from enemy gunfire as she slowly tries to re-calibrate and put an end to the GoldenEye satellite. And I do mean slowly, as she must also be trying to log into her GeoCites web page to take the proverbial piss on players as well. That's the only other explanation Regardless, it's a breeze for Natalya to perish in this mission, resulting in players having to restart from the very beginning and contend with the escorting carnage all over again. No wonder this mission was a roadblock for many, resulting in them simply returning to the multiplayer to get out their frustrations on other players of the game.
Darksiders Genesis (PS4, XB1, NSW) Console Launch Trailer
Already available on PC and Stadia as of late last year, the isometric hack-and-slash, dungeon-crawler Darksiders Genesis finally arrives on consoles tomorrow. See what the critics are saying about the game with this console launch trailer.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (PS4, XB1, PC) Review
It's time to rock the dragon with a new review here on SuperPhillip Central. It's for a greatly anticipated game released in the middle of last month: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. The greatest thrill of all isn't finding that seventh ball for DBZ fans; it's playing this game. See why with the SPC review.
The Dragon Ball Z series has seen itself reinterpreted and retold more times than jokes about priests and rabbis walking into a bar. Okay, perhaps that's a touch hyperbolic, but the point is that it's been overly done, to put it mildly. However, Bandai Namco's latest retelling of the Dragon Ball Z series with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is something special--the best telling of Goku's story yet with regards to how complete and in depth it goes, how much it sticks to the high points of the show, and also how simply fantastic of a love letter it is to DBZ fans. While that's all well and good, does Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot have the gameplay to match, or will disappointed fans have to summon Shenron to make a wish for a better game?
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot retells the entire story of Dragon Ball Z from the initial Saiyan Saga all the way to the Buu Saga. Fortunately, it also takes the Dragon Ball Kai route by taking out lots of filler in the story, so there's no Fake Namek during the Frieza Saga or anything like that to plod through. Don't get me wrong, though, as there is plenty of non-saga related activities to partake in that could be defined as filler, and that generally happens between sagas in what the game calls "intermissions". And yes, you can bet that the developers kept a certain beloved "drivers' license" scenario in the game as part of that filler.
Unlike what the subtitle of the game would have you expect, you're not entirely playing as Goku (Kakarot is his Saiyan birth name) for its entirety. In fact, a lot of the game you're playing as Gohan, and it's as much a story of Gohan's rise as a hero (and then push into mediocrity) as it is just Goku's tale being told. Kakarot is indeed a love letter to Dragon Ball Z fans, complete with the full voice cast from English dub reprising their roles with a copious amount of voice acting, high production values, saga previews that are concocted just like the episode previews of the show, and lots of extra content in the form of sub quests and seemingly "forgotten" characters making full appearances.
All of the story is just the window-dressing, however, as the general meat of DBZ as a show are the epic showdowns that showcase fast-paced, superpower-ed fighting, complete with intense energy blast exchanges and fists a-flying. After all, that's what keeps fans of the show coming back for more time and time again and getting them full of hype and excitement for the most part. That is exhibited in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot quite well.
Encounters in Kakarot feature all of the flashy fighting and grand scale battles that one would expect from a Dragon Ball Z game. They have you fighting as Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, and his future self, in high octane confrontations where you and your opponents trade blows in the form of punches, kicks, Ki energy blasts, and special attacks. Melee attacks are assigned to the right face button while Ki attacks are assigned to the left face button. Ki is necessary to unleash regular blasts, special attacks, and fast movement, including a vanish attack that allows you, with proper timing, to teleport behind your opponent when your guard is up to essentially perform a counterattack on them. Thus, it's important to keep your Ki levels high by occasionally charging it by holding down the top face button.
Special attacks like Goku's Kamehameha, Gohan's Masenko, and Vegeta's Galick Gun, for instance, are performed by pressing a face button while holding down a specific shoulder button. You can only have four special attacks equipped to a character at once, but so many of the moves in the game for a character are just enhanced versions, such as a Super Kamehameha or a Guided Kamehameha, for example. Special attacks and character abilities can be upgraded via a skill tree for each character by spending Z orbs, found in abundance in the overworld and dropped by defeated foes after a battle's end. Of course, most of the skills in these trees are locked via progression in the story and by character level.
Combat itself is hectic, especially when you're taking on more than one foe at a time, but fortunately, switching between targets is as simple as flicking the right stick left or right. Additionally, red sight lines show where attacks are being aimed at, and special attack names appear on the screen when they're being prepared by an opponent (though in stupidly tiny font). This way you can do some preparing yourself to either bring up your guard or do your best to evade the attack the best you can.
I found myself struggling at first with battles in Kakarot, as like with other parts of the game there's certainly a learning curve on display here. That said, eventually I grasped the basics of battle, was able to purchase plenty of healing items for mid-battle health restoration, and proceeded to pulverize opponents more easily. It helps that at the start of the game you don't nearly have enough options for battle and ways to level up as you do later.
When you're not battling baddies and fighting other foes in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, you're given a multitude of other tasks to partake in. The main one is moving about the expansive open world areas of the game, albeit disconnected from one another. Instead, they're connected by a world map, and you simply select the area you wish to move towards. Familiar areas abound in Kakarot, including Goku's house in the mountains, West City, Capsule Corp, Planet Namek, the Gizard Wastelands where Goku and Vegeta first fought, Kame House and the surrounding seaside islands, Kami's Lookout, and many, many more. Basically, if you saw the setting for more than a few token episodes in Dragon Ball Z, you can explore it in this game.
The open world areas can be explored by land and by air. You can even eventually earn the ability to pilot vehicles like a hovercar and robo-walker courtesy of Capsule Corp. Controlling characters on foot is decidedly much easier than taking to the air, which has quite a bit of a learning curve. The right shoulder buttons are designated to your altitude. Hold one of them down to move up and hold down the other to fly downward. Pressing in the left stick causes your character to gain a heavy boost of speed, which can be a little unwieldy at first. It took me about ten hours into my playthrough of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot to come completely to grips with the flight controls, but your mileage may vary. They just came across as quite cumbersome at first and not very intuitive to me.
Exploring the areas of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has its own rewards. You'll find a plethora of resources and materials to use to make health-restoring and stat-increasing cuisine, to sell at shops to make money, to fulfill specific quests, and for other means as well. Eventually you gain access to Dragon Ball hunts, which allow you to summon Shenron for wishes like more money, rare items, and returning already beaten villains to participate in character-specific, non-story-related sub quests.
There are myriad sub quests that further expand upon and flesh out the lore and characters of the series and the game, as well as present some hilarious and sometimes heartwarming interactions between said characters. One such has Emperor Pilaf's gang plotting once again to take down their nemesis Goku by having him acquire a killer robot for them. However, not only is Goku in Super Saiyan form during this quest (which Pilaf merely thinks Goku dyed his hair because he was feeling depressed, rebellious, and misunderstood in life), but Goku is eager and easily able to take down the robotic opponent, much to the Pilaf Gang's annoyance.
Now, if you're not a big fan of Dragon Ball or its various incarnations, you may not find these side quests too interesting. That's fair, as many of these amount to fetch quests and plenty of times feature a combination of multiple cutscenes sandwiched between multiple load times. But, for fans of the show and source material, the unlikely interactions between some characters and the humor on display are more than worth checking them out. Plus, you get some pretty cool rewards in the form of rare items and experience for doing so.
Some side quests earn you soul emblems, which are essentially tokens with characters on them. These emblems can be placed on one of six character boards, which serve as ways to provide beneficial boosts to players in the game. These range from melee and/or Ki attack and defense increases to bonus experience earned after each battle. It's just a shame that these boards and their implementation in-game are so poorly explained. While things like boosts are revealed as well as placing certain soul emblems next to one another for special bonuses, things like leveling up soul emblems through giving the right gifts to them are either explained in a confusing way, buried deep in tutorial menus, or not touched upon at all.
Speaking of sub quests, current issue with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is that many of the sub quests have time limits to them. You can only complete them during sometimes incredibly tight windows, and if you fail to do so, you miss your chance of completing them entirely. There is no way yet of going back to complete missed sub quests, but a future patch intends on correcting this. As is, you can miss out on a lot of rewards and a lot of fun character side stories via missed sub quests.
Continuing with the problems of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is that the game is rather unpolished. On many occasions characters wouldn't spawn where they were supposed to, the camera would get caught on scenery during battles and just become like it was caught in a hurricane at times, and I've even had it where I would talk to characters, but only their faces would materialize. Quite creepy in context of the game, but otherwise hilarious in reality.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a lengthy game. It took me just over 40 hours to get the Platinum trophy and complete most of the sub quests that I could. Between all of the story missions, the sub missions, the massive amount of leveling up that one can do, time attack races, material finding, Dragon Ball hunting, optional enemy fighting, and so much more, you will have quite a good deal of content to get through. Nevertheless, while I think Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a great Dragon Ball Z game, it's only just a good game in general. Some gameplay systems are too basic or work against one another, and battles can really test one's patience early on, especially with the sometimes wonky camera. Most outside players less familiar with the source material will probably not find as much to love about the game as a fan would. That notwithstanding, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a game built for the fans first and foremost, and here, it certainly serves them well.
[SPC Says: B]
"Z" for yourself the best retelling of the DBZ saga in video game form
The Dragon Ball Z series has seen itself reinterpreted and retold more times than jokes about priests and rabbis walking into a bar. Okay, perhaps that's a touch hyperbolic, but the point is that it's been overly done, to put it mildly. However, Bandai Namco's latest retelling of the Dragon Ball Z series with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is something special--the best telling of Goku's story yet with regards to how complete and in depth it goes, how much it sticks to the high points of the show, and also how simply fantastic of a love letter it is to DBZ fans. While that's all well and good, does Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot have the gameplay to match, or will disappointed fans have to summon Shenron to make a wish for a better game?
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot retells the entire story of Dragon Ball Z from the initial Saiyan Saga all the way to the Buu Saga. Fortunately, it also takes the Dragon Ball Kai route by taking out lots of filler in the story, so there's no Fake Namek during the Frieza Saga or anything like that to plod through. Don't get me wrong, though, as there is plenty of non-saga related activities to partake in that could be defined as filler, and that generally happens between sagas in what the game calls "intermissions". And yes, you can bet that the developers kept a certain beloved "drivers' license" scenario in the game as part of that filler.
 |
| Relive the greatest moments of Dragon Ball Z... y'know, again. |
All of the story is just the window-dressing, however, as the general meat of DBZ as a show are the epic showdowns that showcase fast-paced, superpower-ed fighting, complete with intense energy blast exchanges and fists a-flying. After all, that's what keeps fans of the show coming back for more time and time again and getting them full of hype and excitement for the most part. That is exhibited in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot quite well.
 |
| Gohan with the kick... and it's GOOD! |
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| When you're not fighting memorable foes like Frieza or Cell, you're contending with lesser baddies like these Dragon Ball remnants. |
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| Vegeta sends a relentless flurry of concussive Ki blasts to his opponent Cui. |
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| Now, this doesn't seem like a fair fight... for Cell, that is. |
When you're not battling baddies and fighting other foes in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, you're given a multitude of other tasks to partake in. The main one is moving about the expansive open world areas of the game, albeit disconnected from one another. Instead, they're connected by a world map, and you simply select the area you wish to move towards. Familiar areas abound in Kakarot, including Goku's house in the mountains, West City, Capsule Corp, Planet Namek, the Gizard Wastelands where Goku and Vegeta first fought, Kame House and the surrounding seaside islands, Kami's Lookout, and many, many more. Basically, if you saw the setting for more than a few token episodes in Dragon Ball Z, you can explore it in this game.
The open world areas can be explored by land and by air. You can even eventually earn the ability to pilot vehicles like a hovercar and robo-walker courtesy of Capsule Corp. Controlling characters on foot is decidedly much easier than taking to the air, which has quite a bit of a learning curve. The right shoulder buttons are designated to your altitude. Hold one of them down to move up and hold down the other to fly downward. Pressing in the left stick causes your character to gain a heavy boost of speed, which can be a little unwieldy at first. It took me about ten hours into my playthrough of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot to come completely to grips with the flight controls, but your mileage may vary. They just came across as quite cumbersome at first and not very intuitive to me.
 |
| West City is but one of the plentiful places to be found in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. |
There are myriad sub quests that further expand upon and flesh out the lore and characters of the series and the game, as well as present some hilarious and sometimes heartwarming interactions between said characters. One such has Emperor Pilaf's gang plotting once again to take down their nemesis Goku by having him acquire a killer robot for them. However, not only is Goku in Super Saiyan form during this quest (which Pilaf merely thinks Goku dyed his hair because he was feeling depressed, rebellious, and misunderstood in life), but Goku is eager and easily able to take down the robotic opponent, much to the Pilaf Gang's annoyance.
 |
| You can team with up to two AI characters in certain scenarios. |
Some side quests earn you soul emblems, which are essentially tokens with characters on them. These emblems can be placed on one of six character boards, which serve as ways to provide beneficial boosts to players in the game. These range from melee and/or Ki attack and defense increases to bonus experience earned after each battle. It's just a shame that these boards and their implementation in-game are so poorly explained. While things like boosts are revealed as well as placing certain soul emblems next to one another for special bonuses, things like leveling up soul emblems through giving the right gifts to them are either explained in a confusing way, buried deep in tutorial menus, or not touched upon at all.
Speaking of sub quests, current issue with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is that many of the sub quests have time limits to them. You can only complete them during sometimes incredibly tight windows, and if you fail to do so, you miss your chance of completing them entirely. There is no way yet of going back to complete missed sub quests, but a future patch intends on correcting this. As is, you can miss out on a lot of rewards and a lot of fun character side stories via missed sub quests.
 |
| Sure, he doesn't need a car, but would it make sense for Goku to listen to "Lean Mean Driving" while flying? I rest my case. |
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a lengthy game. It took me just over 40 hours to get the Platinum trophy and complete most of the sub quests that I could. Between all of the story missions, the sub missions, the massive amount of leveling up that one can do, time attack races, material finding, Dragon Ball hunting, optional enemy fighting, and so much more, you will have quite a good deal of content to get through. Nevertheless, while I think Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a great Dragon Ball Z game, it's only just a good game in general. Some gameplay systems are too basic or work against one another, and battles can really test one's patience early on, especially with the sometimes wonky camera. Most outside players less familiar with the source material will probably not find as much to love about the game as a fan would. That notwithstanding, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a game built for the fans first and foremost, and here, it certainly serves them well.
[SPC Says: B]
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
The Most Improved Video Game Sequels - Part Two
Too often we see video game sequels that don't quite live up to their predecessors... but we already have an article series dedicated to those games. Instead, let's take a look at those video game sequels that not only live up to their predecessors but greatly surpass them in quality. It's time to bring back The Most Improved Video Game Sequels (you can read part one here) to check out these sensational sequels that delivered and did so in a deliciously delightful manner.
Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
We begin this second edition of The Most Improved Video Game Sequels with a franchise that is synonymous with open world gaming. It's Grand Theft Auto, and its third iteration was a marked improvement over its predecessors, not just upping the presentation values considerably, but ushering in open-world gaming's immense popularity. It's the type of popularity that continues to this day, and saw many developers attempt to dethrone GTA at its own game with titles like True Crime, Saints Row, among countless others. Grand Theft Auto III took its series from the now-rudimentary top-down overhead cities of the first two games and revolutionized the gaming world with an open 3D metropolis in Liberty City to explore and wreak havoc in. Though future games in the series would further refine the foundations and fundamentals in world-building and gameplay that Grand Theft Auto III introduced, there's no doubt how much greater GTA III is as a game and cultural phenomenon when compared to its predecessors.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
The original Uncharted was a remarkable romp that introduced the world to the charming, quick-witted master of quips, treasure hunter Nathan Drake in an adventure that felt like a cross between the globe-trotting adventures of Indiana Jones and the gameplay of Tomb Raider. However, the game suffered from some gameplay issues that make repeated play-throughs a bit of a slog, such as a seemingly never-ending supply of bullet sponge enemies to contend with and poorly conceived vehicle segments. Don't get me wrong, though--Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was an excellent game. It's just that its sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, took the formula and foundation that its predecessor laid down and improved on it to such a delightful degree. Everything was bigger and better--the story had greater stakes, the set pieces were lavish and jaw-dropping, the pacing was phenomenal, and the addition of multiplayer was a fantastic one. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is considered one of the best games of its generation for good reason. It's an action-packed romp reminiscent of an entertaining interactive motion picture.
Monster Hunter: World (PS4, XB1, PC)
The Monster Hunter series long languished as a series with not too many revolutionary changes to its formula due to being stuck on weaker hardware. (That's not to say the games weren't still highly enjoyable, though.) The series also struggled to reel in heavy amounts of players outside of its native home of Japan. All this changed with the release of Monster Hunter: World, offering a game on powerful enough hardware to eliminate the need for the disconnected areas and lands that were found in previous games, and the loading times that came with them. The titular monsters in the game were smarter and more vicious, thanks to the greater processing power of the platforms World was put on. Multiplayer was less of a hassle to get together with friends and randoms alike to go out on the hunt with. Not related to the improved technology provided by the game's targeted hardware platforms but an improvement all the same, the tutorials were more intelligently designed, allowing more players than ever before to have a greater "jumping in" point to the Monster Hunter series. While other games in the series were evolutions of the series to various degrees, Monster Hunter: World was a complete and welcome revolution.
Luigi's Mansion 3 (NSW)
The first Luigi's Mansion was a short and sweet diversion, but it was more of tech demo turned game to show off Nintendo's then-newest platform, the GameCube. The much awaited sequel, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, then arrived on the Nintendo 3DS many "moons" later, and it offered more mansions and more hours to the adventure. However, its mission-based structure haunted a good deal of players. Luigi's Mansion 3 for the Nintendo Switch not only improved upon both games (one mansion but with plenty of floors to explore without feeling disconnected in a mission format, a lengthy journey, and insane production values), but it's one of the Switch system's greatest games in general. Smarter puzzles, better bosses, ingenious floor designs that keep players continually guessing what is going to come next, and clever co-op and multiplayer made for a sequel in Luigi's Mansion 3 that wasn't just good--it was scary good.
Red Steel 2 (Wii)
The original Red Steel succeeded commercially on the Wii by virtue of being the first revealed third party game for the system, but unfortunately, the beautiful screenshots that led the game's marketing charge weren't exactly the most honest. And doubly unfortunate was that the overall game lacked precision, polish, and just wasn't that enjoyable to play. The promise of proper motion-controlled swordplay in Red Steel was unfulfilled, but its sequel, which completely retooled and reworked the franchise, would finally make good on the promise. Red Steel 2 was a remarkably stellar and solid first-person shooter with swordplay elements that made players feel like an honest to goodness bad-ass in a way that the original Red Steel promised but failed to live up towards. The cel-shaded art style was a major improvement over the original's muddy mess, and it worked well with the Wii's obviously weak (when compared to its competitors) hardware. Red Steel 2 may have had any potential for success destroyed by its predecessor and due to its requirement for the Wii MotionPlus accessory, but that doesn't stop it from being a terrific and quite improved sequel.
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1)
We conclude with the second Naughty Dog title to appear on this volume of Most Improved Video Game Sequels, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. This game was bigger and better than the original Crash Bandicoot in pretty much every way. The first improvement was the refined difficulty, while still challenging, it was nowhere near as punishing as the original. Levels offered multiple paths to explore, rather than being as linear in their design like the game's predecessor. The graphics were also more astounding, offering greater visual effects such as the ability to see character and object reflections in ice. Perhaps the only lacking quality, and one that remained equal to the original Crash Bandicoot, was Crash 2's boring and basic boss battles, which did less than challenge most players. Still, with the second game in the Crash Bandicoot trilogy, it was more than Cortex who struck back; it was Naughty Dog as well.
Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
We begin this second edition of The Most Improved Video Game Sequels with a franchise that is synonymous with open world gaming. It's Grand Theft Auto, and its third iteration was a marked improvement over its predecessors, not just upping the presentation values considerably, but ushering in open-world gaming's immense popularity. It's the type of popularity that continues to this day, and saw many developers attempt to dethrone GTA at its own game with titles like True Crime, Saints Row, among countless others. Grand Theft Auto III took its series from the now-rudimentary top-down overhead cities of the first two games and revolutionized the gaming world with an open 3D metropolis in Liberty City to explore and wreak havoc in. Though future games in the series would further refine the foundations and fundamentals in world-building and gameplay that Grand Theft Auto III introduced, there's no doubt how much greater GTA III is as a game and cultural phenomenon when compared to its predecessors.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
The original Uncharted was a remarkable romp that introduced the world to the charming, quick-witted master of quips, treasure hunter Nathan Drake in an adventure that felt like a cross between the globe-trotting adventures of Indiana Jones and the gameplay of Tomb Raider. However, the game suffered from some gameplay issues that make repeated play-throughs a bit of a slog, such as a seemingly never-ending supply of bullet sponge enemies to contend with and poorly conceived vehicle segments. Don't get me wrong, though--Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was an excellent game. It's just that its sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, took the formula and foundation that its predecessor laid down and improved on it to such a delightful degree. Everything was bigger and better--the story had greater stakes, the set pieces were lavish and jaw-dropping, the pacing was phenomenal, and the addition of multiplayer was a fantastic one. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is considered one of the best games of its generation for good reason. It's an action-packed romp reminiscent of an entertaining interactive motion picture.
Monster Hunter: World (PS4, XB1, PC)
The Monster Hunter series long languished as a series with not too many revolutionary changes to its formula due to being stuck on weaker hardware. (That's not to say the games weren't still highly enjoyable, though.) The series also struggled to reel in heavy amounts of players outside of its native home of Japan. All this changed with the release of Monster Hunter: World, offering a game on powerful enough hardware to eliminate the need for the disconnected areas and lands that were found in previous games, and the loading times that came with them. The titular monsters in the game were smarter and more vicious, thanks to the greater processing power of the platforms World was put on. Multiplayer was less of a hassle to get together with friends and randoms alike to go out on the hunt with. Not related to the improved technology provided by the game's targeted hardware platforms but an improvement all the same, the tutorials were more intelligently designed, allowing more players than ever before to have a greater "jumping in" point to the Monster Hunter series. While other games in the series were evolutions of the series to various degrees, Monster Hunter: World was a complete and welcome revolution.
Luigi's Mansion 3 (NSW)
The first Luigi's Mansion was a short and sweet diversion, but it was more of tech demo turned game to show off Nintendo's then-newest platform, the GameCube. The much awaited sequel, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, then arrived on the Nintendo 3DS many "moons" later, and it offered more mansions and more hours to the adventure. However, its mission-based structure haunted a good deal of players. Luigi's Mansion 3 for the Nintendo Switch not only improved upon both games (one mansion but with plenty of floors to explore without feeling disconnected in a mission format, a lengthy journey, and insane production values), but it's one of the Switch system's greatest games in general. Smarter puzzles, better bosses, ingenious floor designs that keep players continually guessing what is going to come next, and clever co-op and multiplayer made for a sequel in Luigi's Mansion 3 that wasn't just good--it was scary good.
Red Steel 2 (Wii)
The original Red Steel succeeded commercially on the Wii by virtue of being the first revealed third party game for the system, but unfortunately, the beautiful screenshots that led the game's marketing charge weren't exactly the most honest. And doubly unfortunate was that the overall game lacked precision, polish, and just wasn't that enjoyable to play. The promise of proper motion-controlled swordplay in Red Steel was unfulfilled, but its sequel, which completely retooled and reworked the franchise, would finally make good on the promise. Red Steel 2 was a remarkably stellar and solid first-person shooter with swordplay elements that made players feel like an honest to goodness bad-ass in a way that the original Red Steel promised but failed to live up towards. The cel-shaded art style was a major improvement over the original's muddy mess, and it worked well with the Wii's obviously weak (when compared to its competitors) hardware. Red Steel 2 may have had any potential for success destroyed by its predecessor and due to its requirement for the Wii MotionPlus accessory, but that doesn't stop it from being a terrific and quite improved sequel.
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1)
We conclude with the second Naughty Dog title to appear on this volume of Most Improved Video Game Sequels, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. This game was bigger and better than the original Crash Bandicoot in pretty much every way. The first improvement was the refined difficulty, while still challenging, it was nowhere near as punishing as the original. Levels offered multiple paths to explore, rather than being as linear in their design like the game's predecessor. The graphics were also more astounding, offering greater visual effects such as the ability to see character and object reflections in ice. Perhaps the only lacking quality, and one that remained equal to the original Crash Bandicoot, was Crash 2's boring and basic boss battles, which did less than challenge most players. Still, with the second game in the Crash Bandicoot trilogy, it was more than Cortex who struck back; it was Naughty Dog as well.
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