Post by soop on Aug 8, 2018 11:05:17 GMT
Star Parodier is Hudson's excellent take on Konami's Parodius, with the titles being parodied being the Soldier series instead of Gradius. Personally, I think Parodius does a better job of being whacky and amusing, but Star Parodier is a damn good game. You can select three "ships", including the original ship from the soldier series, a PC engine, and a massive robotic bomberman. Each has three different possible main weapons, and a variety of extra weapons. I've heard that not all loadouts are created equal, which is a shame, as there's often a nice puzzle element in choosing the right weapon for the right scenario/boss, and making one or two loadouts superior in any situation limits that kind of thoughtful play. Graphics are stunning, as expected from a Hudson flagship game, and the bosses, stages and enemies are all inventive and jolly. Some good sampled speech in there too. Perhaps something of a lesser known title in the west?
I've never shied away from my praise of Cyber Core, but I wasn't always a fan. It was one of the 7 games I picked up with my GT all those years ago, and I was more interested in playing PC Kid 2, Afterburner or Shinobi etc. But then about 10 years ago, I decided to pop it in and give it another go, and I found the more I put into it, the more I enjoyed it. Is it the best game on the system? No. But damn, it's not half bad. The insect motif is a nice touch, and fairly unique, the power-up system is great - shoot the specific bug enough, and it will drop a power up, keep shooting and it will drop another, cycling through the different colours as it does (and if you know where those bugs appear, it's quite possible to get two power-ups of the same colour from them). The game is very fair (up until the last level), with each hit taken powering you down, but with plenty of power ups in places that you'll need them, and no checkpoints that leave you high and dry. Bosses are fun, but they're not a grind, and once you work out the patterns, it's a fairly simple reflex challenge. The main thing I have against this game, is that I've gone into the final level with stacks of lives, and the difficulty ramps up so high, I've never beaten it. That's a bit of a cheap shot for people that have worked their way through at one pace and then get hammered. The best thing about this game is that it's hella cheap (the Japanese version at least), and IMO represents the finest value at that price point. You could do a lot worse!
I've never shied away from my praise of Cyber Core, but I wasn't always a fan. It was one of the 7 games I picked up with my GT all those years ago, and I was more interested in playing PC Kid 2, Afterburner or Shinobi etc. But then about 10 years ago, I decided to pop it in and give it another go, and I found the more I put into it, the more I enjoyed it. Is it the best game on the system? No. But damn, it's not half bad. The insect motif is a nice touch, and fairly unique, the power-up system is great - shoot the specific bug enough, and it will drop a power up, keep shooting and it will drop another, cycling through the different colours as it does (and if you know where those bugs appear, it's quite possible to get two power-ups of the same colour from them). The game is very fair (up until the last level), with each hit taken powering you down, but with plenty of power ups in places that you'll need them, and no checkpoints that leave you high and dry. Bosses are fun, but they're not a grind, and once you work out the patterns, it's a fairly simple reflex challenge. The main thing I have against this game, is that I've gone into the final level with stacks of lives, and the difficulty ramps up so high, I've never beaten it. That's a bit of a cheap shot for people that have worked their way through at one pace and then get hammered. The best thing about this game is that it's hella cheap (the Japanese version at least), and IMO represents the finest value at that price point. You could do a lot worse!