GIPL Halloween

I’m gonna trust y’all to use these micro-reviews responsibly. No intro.

Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

Is it too early to call the Switch the best indie console ever? Hyper Light Drifter is one of those games whose aesthetic I was instantly drawn too.  Unfortunately, many initial reviews went on and on about how hard this game was, and I was at a pretty stressful point in my life and unwilling to use my gaming time on something intense. Well, that turned out to be stupid because, on a scale from Pokémon Moon to Super Meat Boy, this game is maybe a 5 or 6 in difficulty. The aesthetic of the game, including character/environmental design and music is peerless. The combat is tight and satisfying with a smooth difficulty curve, and reminds me a lot of an isometric version of the GBA/DS Castlevania games. The exploration; however, was majorly disappointing and keeps the game from elevating to my all-time favorite list. That’s all I’m gonna say for now. Hit me up on twitter (@CalebOvershield) if you want to discuss this further, but it’s likely this game will get its own in-depth analysis on this blog in the future.

My GIPL Rating – A-

Guacamelee 2 (PC)

The highly-anticipated sequel to what may be the most fun game I’ve ever played; Guacamelee 2 is more of an expansion to the original game than a true sequel. In my brain, a sequel should keep all of the elements of the original to keep the feel of the game the same, but should ideally add and expand features that make the original game look barren in hindsight. For a great example of this, look no further than SteamWorld Dig 2. The core gameplay hasn’t changed, but items, movement, skill trees, and level design have all been substantially overhauled to make the sequel an exponentially superior experience than the original (which is significant, considering how great a game SteamWorld Dig is).

Guacamelee 2 adds a neat grappling hook jump mechanic and multiple upgrades to the Pollo Power (Guac’s version of the Morph Ball from Metroid). While the chicken upgrades are nice, the player won’t be spending most of their time in Pollo mode, so their use is somewhat limited to dedicated Pollo puzzles. Aside from these concerns, I also noticed that Guac 2 seems to put less emphasis on non-linear exploration and more on classic platforming (not necessarily a bad thing, just not my preference). The combat is largely unchanged, replacing the overpowered Intenso state with an overpowered skill tree, and is still the best aspect of the game. Overall, I think I still prefer the first game, with its focus more on nonlinearity/exploration and the novelty of being the first game of its kind.

My GIPL Rating – A

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Video Game (Game Boy)

A Game Boy game based on a trading card game based on a Game Boy game. The late nineties/early 00s were a wonderful time to be a kid, folks. This game basically allows you to play computerized duels (is the word 'duel' reserved exclusively for Yu-Gi-Oh?) using the first 3 sets of the trading card game. Two things stood out to me about this game. First, one of the greatest things about Pokémon is that the different ways of interacting with the series allows you to focus on different Pokémon in different contexts. In dozens of play-throughs of Pokémon Blue, I don’t think I’ve ever thought twice about Dewgong; yet a Dewgong card was what powered me through to the end. Secondly, this game feels like a bootleg Pokémon game even though it is very much official. You’ve got a generic set of gym leader-type characters, a generic Elite Four - complete with leader who uses Dragonite - and even a b-hole rival (named Ronald. Ronald!) who shows up at random times and as a “secret final boss.” It’s full of bootleg charm, but with official quality. This one’s a must-play for Pokéfans.

My GIPL Rating – B+

Thumper (Switch)

This one is gonna go down as one of my most all-time disappointing gaming experiences. I’ve been following this one since it was in development, as the game was promoted as a “rhythm violence” game. I didn’t pick it up on PC, but when they ported it to the Switch I figured I would wait and play it on the master system (not to be confused with the Master System).

I finally pulled the trigger, and was gravely disappointed. For a steep $20 entry fee, there’s just not much here. You have like 5 or 6 various actions that you can make your little beetle perform at breakneck pace, each of which are gradually introduced and integrated into the gameplay. Any rhythm game is only as good as its soundtrack, which in Thumper mostly involves an onslaught of samey tribal drums. It’s hard to correlate what’s coming out of the speakers with the high-speed visual prompts, which leads to a frustrating, unsatisfying, and one-dimensional experience. If you have to play this one, spend $5 on the phone version, which is really where this game belongs.

My GIPL Rating – D-

Bastion (Switch)

The double dipping, which started with Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse and Axiom Verge continues with the announcement of Switch ports of Bastion and Transistor (the latter of which will be a Nov. 1 purchase for me, let’s just be honest). I’ve already played and reviewed this one, and my thoughts haven’t changed a bit. This game is still a blast and has plenty of replay value.

My GIPL Rating – A

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GameCube) 

It’s hard to believe I played my first Fire Emblem game just 4 short years ago. Ever since I joined the fandom, people keep telling me how amazing the Ike games are, but the steep price has always been a big barrier. I got tired of waiting for a Switch HD re-release of these, so I clenched my butt cheeks and bought a copy of this one on eBay. The mechanics, such as bonus XP, auto-promoting, Laguz units, and a basic skill system, were well-optimized and a lot of fun. The story was one of the tightest in the series, and there were many memorable characters.

I still find Ike to be highly overrated as a character, but dang it if he doesn’t rival Hector and Ephraim as a straight-up powerhouse unit. And, Jill was next in a long line of Wyvern Riders being among my favorite and most powerful units in a game. For better or worse, this one also seemed pretty darn easy on the normal difficulty. Despite all of the great things I can say about this game, the game lacks a certain special quality (maybe just nostalgia) that is present in FE7. Although I can say Path of Radiance is an objectively better game, I still think 7 is my favorite.

My GIPL Rating – A+

Hollow Knight (Switch)

Expectations are a weird thing. Going into Hollow Knight, I had heard from both friend and online personality alike say that this was the best exploration platformer to date. With this level of hype, there was no way I wasn’t going to notice everything I didn’t like about Hollow Knight. While the world was rich and huge, I thought it opened up too quickly with limited movement upgrades that unlocked the world. While it was fun to explore entire areas early in the game, I found I wasn’t able to find many upgrades in my first traversal of an area, leading to long droughts without finding any upgrade of significance.

The combat was one-dimensional and with very little natural evolution throughout the game. It mostly involved dodging and waiting for openings, then hitting bosses (with giant health pools) once or twice and repeating the process 20-30 times. While the charm system injected some variety, I stuck with my typical 2-3 combinations that worked, as opposed to the challenge of picking the optimal weapon to inflict the most efficient damage on a boss in Axiom Verge, the Smash Bros-inspired beat ‘em up mayhem of Guacamelee, or the even more extreme example of endless weapon combinations in Order of Ecclesia. I certainly had fun getting lost in the world, and even though I beat the final boss with ~65% completion, there’s still significant chunk of the world left to explore. Is it certainly top tier exploration platforming? You bet. Is it the best ever? In my opinion, not even close.

My GIPL Rating – A-

Another GIPL, another great set of games reviewed. I welcome dissention on twitter, hit me up @CalebOvershield. Coming down the pipe we have (among others) Transistor, Fast RMX, and Smash Ultimate (color me excited!)