...but it became a generic first person shooter with some RPG elements that doesn't commit to the bit. Made by a team that should've known better, they took their shot and missed. But it wasn't close to the mark, they pretty much shot themselves in the foot. The game has difficulty deciding if it wants to be taken seriously or not, and the lack of actual choices with actual consequences is pretty much non-consistent. The game also doesn't reward exploration, or creative thinking towards puzzles/ problems. I did three playthroughs, and have difficulty remembering anything about the game. I did, however, in my last playthrough, send the ship into the sun. That felt satisfying.
This game is one of the few that actually comes close to a management sim in the pr0n industry. The game consists of three parts. The first is an intro part for the story in a backwater town, the second is setting up a movie studio, and the third part is on managing s3x stores and PR. Make enough money and get a satellite into orbit, forever streaming Lula’s videos all across the world. The idea is great, but the execution could’ve been better. The game is fairly easy, but you have to figure that out yourself. Yes, there are “tutorials”, but the workings of the different parts won’t be explained. You’ll often run into situations trying to do something and then getting a message that you can’t do that (yet), need a specific tool/ item, etc. This is fine, however, as it helps you learn how it all works, but can be a bit annoying. The artwork overall is fine, but if you come here expecting any naked people, this is the wrong game. You will occasionally glimpse a nypple, but anything below the waist is either not shown or “censored”. You will also see no actual results from the completed photos, films or advertisements. So what’s left for you to enjoy? A silly story about a semi-failed bank robbery, meeting a wannabe pr0nstar, and you trying your best to make her a star and become the biggest in the industry. The management systems of the game (in part 2 and 3) are ok, but small things will start to become annoying real quick. The game won’t tell you what the reason is why your search for new employees keeps failing, won’t tell you if an employee is actually a good one, or why, despite having an actual prop and inventory worker, you still have to buy props yourself. You’ll soon focus on making everything work and make enough money to get to the next project, and ignore the er0tic sauce over this mediocre meal. Part 1 and 2 are the most entertaining. Try to get enjoyment out of these, as completing the game just results in a picture of a party that moves around.
I’ve played the original Japanese version on the Famicom. I’ve played the fan-translated original Japanese version on an emulator. The charm of a 16-bit game that pushed the limits of the Super Nintendo cannot be overstated. The graphics are perfect, the sound and music is perfect, and the gameplay is very solid and addicting. This remake doesn’t have the 16-bit graphics that gave the original its charm. It doesn’t have the recognizable sound and music, animations are different (and not in a good way), and the overall feel of the game is just… off. Yes, they “updated” all of the graphics, sounds and music, but you have to wonder why they changed it so much when the originals worked just fine. This remake would’ve worked if it was just the 16-bit version but playable on a pc (without an emulator). When the Wanzers move on the battleground, they no longer have that skip with appropriate sound effect. They also changed what happened when a part of a Wanzer gets destroyed, when a Wanzer gets completely destroyed, what happens when you daze/ stun an enemy, how you choose body parts with Guide and Duel… it’s all, once again… just off. It was all fine how it was, but they changed it, and not for the better. Remember Super Mario Allstars? How they kept the original 8-bit Super Mario games exactly the same but made use of the 16-bit capabilities like shadows, music with a little more range, kept the original designs of the characters but gave them a little bit more detail and depth? This is what they could’ve done with Front Mission, but instead opted for radical changes on some parts, and even changed other parts so much they downgraded them. If you’ve never played the original game, this version is fine. It has everything, and is a solid and entertaining turn-based tactics game with some heavy duty military equipment. If you’ve played the original, this game will remind you how much better that version was.
I like how the game looks. I like how the game tells its story, I like how the presentation of the gameplay is. Unfortunately, the game falls flat regarding the gameplay. Fights are incredibly slow and dull. When you need to kill the last enemy, who has no hope of even defeating one of your guys, you're basically just grinding the hitpoints away with the slow, slow pace of card combat.
Is it set in the Bladerunner universe? Yes. Does it have characters from the movie? Yes. Do you play as a Bladerunner, doing detective work and trying to oust replicants? Yes. And no. It is a point-and-click game, with elements of action (shooting, mainly) and puzzle solving to gather clues. Every new game you start will have some elements randomized. Some people will now be replicants, and vice versa. You can get clues in a few different ways, and have some options on how to deal with certain situations. However, after playing the game a few times, I started to notice that it's not really by my choice that the story progressed how it did. It happened that I was still thinking about what choice I was going to make, but something happened in the game that put me on the other path anyway. Also, the randomization also means that you somethimes cannot make a certain choice. When I won this game years ago in a contest from a videogame magazine, I had not seen the original Bladerunner movie and had no idea what I was getting into. My pc at the time wasn't one of the latest models, but I was able to run the game without any problems. However, I assumed that because my pc was a bit older, the game looked like it did. The backgrounds looked good, but the characters were just plain ugly: very pixelated, and lacking definition. The animation of some movements also kinda break the immersion: when McCoy is climbing a ladder for example, he's not actually gripping and stepping on the rungs, just going through "climbing the ladder" motions. It looks weird. In the end, I'm not sure what to think of this game. It has a great atmosphere and setting for the adventurous, good voice acting, and there's replayability. But it falls flat on the lack of player choice, and ugly looking character models.
Say you have great actors, great voice acting, nice looking backgrounds and props, but a horrible script with a horrific plot and badly written characters. That about describes this game. It's like the developers were put into two teams, and they had to fight. One team tried to make it a good game, the other tried to mess it up. Almost all of the conversations take way too long, most puzzles don't make sense (or worse, are so illogical that they surpass moon logic), and the characters themselves are very unlikeable. You won't have the satisfaction of solving a puzzle, since it feels so incredibly random on how to solve them. You can miss items and lose the game, as you often can't go back to previous areas. Of course, this game has a certain reputation, and people like Retsupurae and MandaloreGaming made this game immortal. Keep to watching their videos, as that is the most fun you'll get out of this.
...because you will finish this game full throttle. That's both good and bad. There aren't really any puzzles or difficult conversations to have. BUT! It doesn't matter. If you see this game as a short film in which you can occasionally play, then you're not far off. You play as the biker Ben, who's the leader of the Polecats biker gang. After being framed for a murder, Ben is off to free his gang, clear his name and save the daughter of the victim. This is all done in a "tough biker" way, and it's great. Using brute force where in any other adventure game you would use logic or intellect is a nice fresh way of playing, but also fits the character. The music, the sound effects, the great voice acting, it all comes together in amazing presentation. The game has a steady pace because of the forementioned description, and that's the only issue I have with it: it's over before you know. A sequel was announced but cancelled, but who knows, with all of the kickstarters and of course, this succesful remaster, what will the future bring? There's so much potential left regarding story and setting, it would be a shame to not do anything with it. Do yourself a favor and play with the original graphics. The new ones aren't bad or anything, it just lessens the old-school experience.
When my father bought one the first available Windows 95 machines, he also got a printer. Two cd's came with it: a visual designer program, and Myst. Why a videogame would be included I have no idea, but it was the best thing ever at that time. I've spend weeks playing it, getting to know the story behind the island, the two sons of the author, and the mechanics. At that time, I was only used to Nintendo 8-bit games, and this was so far away from that, the experience was an amazing one. I re-visit the game once in a while, just to see what started my interest in adventure games. The low resolution of the videos, the puzzles, the music and sounds, they still trigger great feelings of bewonderment. If you've never played Myst before, I wouldn't recommend it out of the blue, but if you're looking for a good puzzle game and have an interest in how it all began, then by all means, try it out!
I'm an avid roleplaying game and adventure game fan, but I had never heard of Regalia before GOG had an advertisement on it. Turn-based tactical combat? Relationship building? Town building? Yes please! A weak and dumb protagonist? Ehm. A predictable story? Oh. Unskippable cut scenes? Wait wait wait. Annoying npc's? Ok stop! Too much references to other games? I SAID STOP. Ok, let's start again. The story is simple: you find out you have claim to a castle and its surrounding territory, but you're also in debt because of this. You have to complete certain quests within a certain timeframe to pay off the installments, so you have to wisely invest your time in actually going out and completing quests, building up the town surrounding the castle, and spend time with npc's to increase their bonusses. This sounds like a good mechanic, but I quickly found myself trying to skip all the talking. It's just not interesting what the npc's have to tell you, and the protagonist is the standard low-esteem dumbass. Not a great combination. The combat is ok, but it always feels like the enemy is stronger and can sometimes overpower you out of the blue. Meaning the enemy doesn't win via skill or tactics, but just that they have better skills. Put the combat on the fastest setting, otherwise you can go get a cup of coffee while the enemy completes his turn. Ok, so the combat and story has little to offer, is there anything else? Well, they snuck a lot of references to other games into Regalia. Well snuck is not the right term. The abundance gets annoying real quick, and makes it feel Regalia can't stand on its own. Which is maybe the end of it. A lot of cool ideas, but the execution falls short. The game does look good, with clear and crisp graphics, but that's the only thing going for it.
Right of the bat: I love this game. It was one of the first pc games I ever bought with my own money and I still own the original manual (which I still leaf through sometimes). The game looks amazing for its time: the graphics are highly detailed and crispy clear. From the butcher cutting the meat to the blacksmith hammering away creating tools and weapons, it's always a treat to see your little blue men hard at work. And that's also the core concept of the Settlers: make sure your logistics and infrastructure are optimal so that every building can work 100% of the time so you can wage war. Because in the end, that's how you advance: defeat your enemies in combat, as there's no diplomatic victory. But before you can thump your neighbors over the head with a sword, you have to develop your own settlement. Gather and create resources which other buildings need to gather and create resources. Wood goes into planks which are needed for new buildings and tools, which are needed to grow crops, which are needed to feed animals, which are needed to create meat, which is needed to feed your miners, who in turn create iron, coal and gold, which are needed to create weapons and pay your soldiers... Building placement is one thing: connecting them is an important second. You need to build roads so Settlers can find the buildings, and depending on how many flags you raise along the way, the more (or less) Settlers will work on that road. And the more you have working on the road, the faster goods will be transported along it. You can spend hours on one level, and that's fine. Brew yourself some coffee, make sure your agenda is empty, and get that settlement going. Work smarter, not harder!
