I would like to back up ragesRemorse here with my opinion on Ninja Gaiden: the camera did suck.
A game which forces you to manipulate the camera so that the damn thing is playable is not good game design.
God Of War wasn't as "hardcore" as Ninja Gaiden, but God OF War was ten times more enjoyable, and more memorable because of the functional camera. I never got attacked off screen by some hidden enemy in God Of War. In Ninja Gaiden, I was constantly fighting the camera in order to get a view where I wouldn't end up with an exploding shuriken wedged in my spine, thrown by a mystery assailant off screen.
Ninja Gaiden was also cheap. It masquerdaded as hardcore, when it was anything but. It favoured cheap spawn points (putting waves of enemies just before save points in a "screw you" way, annoying respawn areas etc). The bosses were a joke, and once figurred out, had all the awe and intimidation of a wet puppy. God Of War at least kept things fun and tight.
Everytime I was killed in Ninja Gaiden, it was always down to a camera issue, bad design, or just downright cheap AI, which suffers from severe trial and error gameplay, over and over, and leaves very little room for explanation due to the fact invention usually gets you killed, while sticking to tried and tested formulas usually previals. Boring. In God Of War, everytime I get killed, I know it's because of my own stupidity/ineptitude and therefore I know where to build on, and there is tons more room for invention and fun. There are trial and error moments, sure, but not at the frustrating extent of Ninja Gaiden.
Autobahn Raser was utter tosh, it had and still has good press but it´s totally unplayable and has pish graphics. The new game Juiced for the PC was very dissapointed, i´m glad I hired it out first for a try, creating your car is cool, the songs are great but the gameplay suck, the graphics look all smudged and the it has to have the worst motor sounds Ive ever heard.
I also found Serious Sam pointless, all the enemys just run at you like sheep, pathetic AI
That part at the start of God of War where you had to push the box to get to the archers and they shot arrows (roughly) at you, I'm sorry but that is the height of tedium. To have something like that at the very start really crippled the fun for me and it had to work hard from there on to win me back. As I (rightly or wrongly) had Ninja Gaiden on the brain while I was playing it, I was frustrated that Kratos moved like a 747 in comparison to Ryu. In a game that throws so many enemies at you at one time, to have a main character that doesn't handle a change of direction crisp adds artificial difficulty and frustration.
Yeah, those off screen explosive shurikens got really old, but it did force me to adapt my tactics, keep on the move and become smarter about the whole thing.
At least this discussion has done something. I'm going to revisit GoW and see if I misjudged it
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Last edited by dAngEr_Is_gO! on Jul 18th, 2005 at 12:49 AM
uninspiring games..... most sequels, unless they are story driven like metal gear solid. but these tend to playable just once. i was really dissappointed with halo 1+2, my mates were telling me it was the best game ever. however, after trying several hours to get into it, i deemed it no better than red faction 2, timesplitters 2, or some of the other first persons. driver 3 didnt dissappoint me, mainly because i think i was the only person who knew it was'nt going to be anywhere near as good as the gta series.
i think the final fantasy series since 7 has been a little tedious, i still play them and enjoy them, but the stories always seem to replicate a previous instalment(s). the 3d mario games also dashed my hopes. i still prefer super mario world and all stars on my snes. i finally remembered how to get to the back door of bowsers castle on super mario world not long ago, and still play it today. my mega drive hasnt been used for a while, but it will be dusted off and plugged in at some point.
i also agree about fighting games not having moved on, for me i'd prefer streets of rage 2 or streetfighter 2. still as playable as ever. tetris games have dissappointed me, they're trying to hard to change it. simplify it back to normal again, and dont charge much for it. sports sequels are also a pain in the arse. i've bought pro evo year after year and they havent changed that much.
I played the first timesplitters.. I enjoyed the bullet refraction off of cylindrical objects.. however it seemed like they cut copy n pasted goldeneye 64's engine into the ps2.. which made it good but yet not as enjoyable as it could have been
But the reason I liked it was because it felt like Goldeneye.
Even the structure for missions is the exactly the same and the multiplayer is pretty similar to Perfect Dark.
i've just picked up timesplitters future perfect for £20.... and what a buy. me and my mate have been co-op'ing the missions and really enjoyed doing so. also picked up colin mcrae4, for a tenner. awesome!
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Jul 15th, 2005 01:34 PM
