Hotline Miami 2 is pretty much more of the same. The basic game is the same as the first game. The controls are nearly the same with some minor changes. To me it seems that Dennaton Games took the first game and looked into ways to make it harder while focusing a bit more on the story and lore of the Hotline Miami universe. They also made the game's story and tone much more gritty. The game spans across 6 groups of people as far as I can tell in 6 hours of game play; A curious writer, a vengeful detective, a group of vicious misguided youths, a older gangster, a fat war veteran, and a bunch of commandos in the Vietnam war. Each party has their own quirks and plays differently. The writer can't actually kill people, but he can extend his combo by unloading guns. The detective seems abit faster and can occasionally take a stray bullet, but gets no masks, the misguided youths have multiple different masks which are all very different, the Fat war vet has some nice masks but is a larger target and slower, the vietnam commando has a knife and gun at all times, but can't switch out weapons of his fallen enemies. The older gangster is like the detective but his story is kind of short. The story goes all over the place and rarely stays with one party for more than a 1 or two levels, so I found it pretty hard to follow. I replayed the first hotline miami the day before I played #2 and I found the this one to be harder than the first game with the story being far darker and more intense. If you liked the first hotline miami 1 for it's wacky story and game mechanics, you will probably enjoy hotline miami 2 as long as you don't expect it to be the exact the same as the first one. You can't rely on the same strategies which worked in the first game for all levels. About 2 out of 5 levels require a radically different approach you wouldn't normally consider in Hotline Miami 1. The Different parties you play as require different play style approaches.
After a few hours under my belt I gotta say I am reasonably impressed with Pier Solar. The story hasn't gotten overbearing or lost in the monotony of repetition like some JRPGs of yesteryear. It feels more believable and has more relateable characters than some of the more cliche JRPGs that tend to get shoveled around the market. There is very little hand holding(thank god) so you can easily get stuck if you don't pay attention to dialog. This game feels similiar to Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Lunar, Sword of Vermillion, and Landstalker with a few modern amenities. If you enjoyed those titles, you will likely enjoy this game. Speaking of amenities, the version of this game offered on GOG features an "HD" and a "16-bit" modes for graphics. The HD mode uses really nice refined textures for the environment and portraits BUT still has low resolution sprites. This... is jarring and inconsistent to me. I was unable to pay attention to the game's dialog when playing in this mode. The "16-bit" mode is essentially how it looked when they released in the Sega CD, which was in 2010 mind you! The 16-bit mode looks rougher but is more visually consistent and easier for me to enjoy. There is also two music modes offered FM and PCM. FM is how it sounded on the Sega and PCM is... maybe how it was originally intended to sound but couldn't since it was released on the Sega CD which had awful limitations on sound quality?? Yea, let's go with that. Regardless, FM mode sounds a touch closer to what you'd expect a 16-bit game to have, but certain instrument sounds are just cringe worthy. PCM mode sounds amazing on good speakers. It doesn't quite fit the 16-bit graphic style but it just sounds so pleasant . So there you have it, a solid genesis-like JRPG with multiple VIsual and Audio options to make it as modernized or retro as you like. Hats off to the developers for having the options to switch between the different modes on the fly in the middle of the game.
Disclaimer; I was a kickstarter backer for Wasteland 2 I never played the first wasteland and when I looked into it; I felt that it was a touch before my time. I've played older CRPGs but Wasteland is quite different from the ones I've played from the late 80s. The best way to describe how Wasteland 2 plays is to look at Jagged Alliance (1 and 2) and Fallout Tactics. Wasteland 2 has many elements from both games combined with some elements you see in the older open world CRPGs from the late 80s and early 90s. Wasteland 2 has significantly more player involvement with the story compared to Jagged Alliance or Tactics, but not to the extent of Fallout 1 or 2. Be forewarned: your characters do not have personal interactions with NPCs so the game WILL feel empty and hollow if you are expecting dialogue interaction on the level of JRPGs. The dialogue is structured so that NPCs are essentially addressing your party as a whole, not individuals. The combat can sometimes feel a touch "same-y" as you near the end of various areas, but each new area changes things up enough to prevent it from getting stale. One carry-over characteristic of older CRPGs is that almost all loot drops and chests are completely RANDOM. They will have some algorithm like; "Chest contains random tier 1 ammo, and random junk drop" but you'll almost never get the same thing twice out of the same chest. On the flip side of things; the game feels rough lacking polish. Wasteland 2 is fully playable but the character models look like they are from neverwinter nights 1! The mechanics in combat can feel a touch clunky aswell. Bottomline; If the idea of merging Jagged Alliance 2, Fallout Tactics, and older CRPGs in a post apocalyptic universe sounds attractive, you will probably enjoy this game.
I had never heard of this game or it's predecessor before. I decided to give it shot because I played a lot of sidescrolling platformers on the PC in the early to mid 1990s and I still enjoy old titles like; Biomenace, Jazz Jack Rabbit, and Commander Keen. Although I frown on sidescrolling platformers which are in 3D, I was stunned at the beauty of Giana Sisters. This game looks really good and is colored really well. Forget the modern shooters which only utilize colors on the grey and brown spectrum, this game is wonderfully colorful compared to many modern games. The music is also really catchy and well done. It switches between a metal-like version and a... for lack of better term "video game" version when you switch character forms. The gameplay itself feels eerily similiar to older platformers in a good way. The controls are rather jerky in that they are very responsive. This generally a good thing because you rarely feel like you have limited control the situation at hand. The Morphing mechanic which not only changes the character but the environment itself feels a little gimmicky but it is used frequently and well enough not to feel like it was tacked on at the last minute Overall, if you enjoy older PC sidescrolling platformers you will probably enjoy this game.
I walked into this game expecting a shitty retro styled game. What I got has to be close if not thee best game released this year. I got sucked in for like 5 hours when I only expected to play it for 10 minutes. The game rewards twitchy precise play styles. It feels like True Lies on the SNES if it decided to go 12-bit, do copious amounts of LCD, and be more of a stealth game. The controls are really responsive and when you mess up it usually makes you want to try again. At first I was like: this game is stupidly hard! But after I carefully monitored how enemies acted and the way the environment worked it went from super hard to just right. If you want a retro-like game with a few stylized modernized features, consider giving this game a try. I am very impressed.
