I enjoyed the previous two games, but the third time around the production values are starting to become apparent to me. The main problem I have is that the world just feels so stiff, visually, visit someone in their bunk and text says they're working on their computer- the character is standing there, another is eating ramen, while standing there, another is working out, while standing there. Come one HBS, hire another animator and put in some more animation cycles to at the very least give your crew some more character, if not the BG characters. If some hobos are at a burning can, show them warming their hands. I feel they put all their art budget into environments, and maybe character design and very little into the animation itself that moves these characters and helps the world come alive. Story-wise, its okay. There were a few twists but foreshadowing gave the ending away very early on into the game. Game play wise, they've changed the Matrix. While I enjoy it, generally it's about sneaking past cameras and playing simon says with your numpad. While if you raise the alarm past safe limits, it's a reload since the respond team obliterated me every time. I think the alarm rating should have different levels of response, brining assets online at different thresholds. Also the game in many ways feels repetitive. Many of the missions are very much the same, talk to a few people, find some stuff in a room, maybe hack a computer and then have 1-3 fights. I don't know if its possible to pass a mission without killing people but I was never able to do it. From the world the gameplay seems like it should be more like Deus Ex, with multiple solutions to at least some missions. Maybe some missions are hot and heavy, guns blazing, others more subterfuge. Need some variety. Overall: Enjoyable game, but the formula is threadbare at this point. HBS needs to up their game in the next iteration if one comes along.
Fun game but it constantly crashes. Can't recommend it
Good start to the series but some of the bosses are too difficult and the enemies and encounters lack the flair of the 2nd one. Better left to the arcade.
Great graphics but over-wrought game, too self referrential and simply too damn hard. The only Metal Slug you need is #2.
These might be good games to grab your quarters in the Arcade, but as a PC experience they're poor compared to what else is out there. Even as arcade games, Metal Slug II is the best of the lot with Metal Slug rough around the edges and Metal Slug III over-wrought, too self referential and just too damn hard. Metal Slug X is just a re-hash of II with some different enemies but the same environment. Maybe pick it up in a sale, and play it just for the sake of it. But- if you want a PC platformer with action then I think you ought to look elsewhere for an actual good experience.
Fun game until you start replaying the same three levels over and over. It doesn't matter how many enemies get tossed into the first few levels, how varied the rooms can be, it just becomes repetitive and unmemorable and a proper game, with hand-crafted levels, will always be superior. Rogue-lites and proc-gen games are ultimately a diversion, not a pursuit.
Great artwork. Combat system has been improved. The story being in the middle of the saga is a bit, in the middle, as most such stories will be. The game ended somewhat quickly with battles that were somewhat anti-climatic. Overall pretty good and will be interested to see the 3rd addition to the series.
Loved Ultima IV as a child but playing these three games for the first time was a mixed bag of quality. Ultima I, the first of the series is a fairly simple game. It's been a few years since I played it but I found it fairly enjoyable, the game was straightforward. Accomplish quests for various kings by entering the dungeons. Upgrade your characters, buy more equipment and eventually defeat the big bad. It's a decent start to the series and is a good iteration of the original Akalabeth. Ultima II however is a major misstep in the series. The world is much expanded, instead of four areas you now have 5 time periods of earth and all the planets of the solar system. It sounds like an explorer's dream but there's really little of interest to find, stores and NPCs are carbon copies of each other, dungeons are pointless and needlessly difficult, and the game is just a massive grind. You will spend most of your time circling pangea in a ship, killing enemy after enemy because outside of the ship your player eats food at an absurd rate and running out means instant death. The same weak enemies on the surface are much tougher in dungeons and insanely tough in towns. Also leveling up your character's stats is completely random and stupid. I would skip this game unless you want to experience the history. Ultima III is where the series really takes off. Instead of one character you have a party of four, you fight battles in a tactical area, zero food no longer kills you but slowly degrades your health. The dungeons are not only fun but necessary to completing the game and there's a fair amount to find and explore. NPCs only give tidbits of information but it's much better than U2. The game is not without its flaws, the ship movement is atrocious as you are unable to move in the direction you want 40% of the time, spell casting is too limited as you run out of mana quickly, and the reference card is missing from this download (it has the controls!). Otherwise fun.
Strike Suit Zero is action packed and sports some pretty decent graphics and when the player gets the hang of the Strike Suit he/she really feels like an anime badass. Accelerate towards a group of enemies, transform and unleash a cloud of missiles then switch back to the fighter and hit your EMP to throw off an incoming missile. Or close with an enemy cruiser, blasting away, then transform and strafe its length taking out turrets and weak points. At its height the gamplay is rewarding but the game isn't without its flaws. The game is quite short, only 13 missions long and 5 simulator missions. While the missions are multi-part, some of them are quite under-whelming and when you compare the number to the older games like Freespace or Tie Fighter it falls short by a long way (only half or two thirds). The game also lacks variety, while it does introduce a lot of new fightercraft as you play, story-wise the player is only ever expected to fly three different fighter types. While the fighters are attractive, I never got a sense for the differences between enemy fighters beyond how much damage they would take. The simulator missions tend to be one-note affairs and rather gimmicky. While there is an interesting underlying narrative, I would rather the missions highlighted more interesting battles from the larger conflict. The missions also go out of their way to tell you what the player should fly historically, but when you get to the fighter select screen that loadout and fighter is not default. You have to create it yourself. One pet peeve I have is that the HUD is atrocious. I don't think it would have been that hard to create a HUD which looks like a little more fighter-like. As it stands, it's literally a drop down menu. Overall the game is fun and worth a bash but I would like to see a more expanded game with a deeper narrative. Personally I never felt that connected to the ships or the other elements in the game, I would like a campaign that builds
Transistor has a gorgeous art style which is let down by unsatisfying game play, an annoying narrator and a mediocre story. Game play - Combat is a mix of turn-based and real time combat, in the turn base portion you pause the game and have your way with the enemy. In the real time portion you run around waiting for your turn-based ability to recharge. It has neither the tension of turn-based combat nor the adrenaline of real time. I found myself repeating the same series of moves on one enemy after another in each combat, there's no strategy, just repetition. Some of the enemies are also incredibly annoying- you'll know the ones. The Narrator - I wasn't a big fan of Bastion either but the narrator there added a lot to the otherwise uninteresting story and okay gameplay. In Transistor, the narrator sounds like a guy you're hanging out with who isn't your friend (someone else invited him) but really wants to keep talking to you. It's worse when the story often doesn't have much to talk about, but the narrator really wants to give you some dialogue anyway. The story - Robot apocalypse. Cognitive dissonance for an ending. The end Like all games I have some satisfaction in finishing it but I feel I largely wasted my time.
