Doujin Game Special (VG) Multi Review
And I was doing so well, too.... Actually, though, my tardiness this time isn't due to procrastination, but rather because I just couldn't think of anything to review. Anyway, trying out a new format here. More on that in a few.
Let's see now, what's up? Not much, really; stressing and associated tasks have taken up most of my free time these last couple weeks. Did manage to get caught up on the Fate/Stay Night anime. That one's hard to watch much of in a single session; the story oscillates from pretty cool to mind-numbingly stupid without a lot of prior warning, makes it kinda tricky. Honestly, though, I'd still be watching it even if it didn't have a story: Rin and Saber are freakin' hawt. (What, I'm not allowed my Loser FanBoy moments?) Rin's an easy one to fall for, being pure evil sexiness. Or perhaps sexy evilness? Either way, really. Crushing on Saber is a little more... odd, though. I've got a thing for chicks in platemail, so that contributes, but.... Well, I'm not gonna spoil it, but I think anyone familiar with the source material will know what I'm talking about.
And that's about it. Oh, DragonForce.... An interesting bunch, to say the least. Apparently they're a "melodic metal" group. Think Rush, but with some of the pretentiousness, as well as any last vestiges of sanity, stripped away. With positively maniacal guitar solos, a drummer who apparently cannot fall below 100 beats per minute or his drumkit explodes, and some of the geekiest lyric I have ever heard (and that's saying something!), their music manages to be downright goofy and big-grin fun at same time.
I mentioned that we're trying out a new format. The thing is, none of the items being reviewed today could support a full post on their own, but I still feel like talking about them. So, I figured, rather than do several separate Mini Updates, I'll just jam them all into one review. Thus, I give you the Multi Review. Dunno how often I'll do these, but it can be a handy format for when I can't think of anything worth doing a full post on. Up today are Fate/Sword Dance, Maribato!, and Melty Blood.
Fate/Sword Dance
Alright, before we really get started I should warn you that I'll be using fighting game lingo pretty heavily in this post. I'll do what I can to explain the more esoteric stuff, but if at any point you end up wondering what in the world I'm talking about, lemme know, and I'll try to clear it up.
Our first item today is also the weakest of the three, Fate/Sword Dance from Rapid Fire Soft. Based on the same visual novel as the anime series I talked about earlier, the game sounds pretty good in theory. It uses basically the same fighting engine as the Guilty Gear series, right down to the punch/kick/slash/heavy slash/launcher attack set up and absolute pain in the butt to pull off supers. Now, while ripping off Guilty Gear's fighting engine normally wouldn't be a bad thing, the folks at Rapid Fire unfortunately forgot to bring over most of the complexities -- like Roman Cancels (an ability that immediately stops whatever move you're using, allowing you to segue directly into another one. Makes for some seriously long combo attacks.) and Instant Kills -- that made it good, along with the surface stuff. Add in the fact that character balance is just b0rked, and you end up with the fighting being not so hot.
And even on top of the lukewarm gameplay, the presentation doesn't quite make the grade either. The sprites are just fugly; not only are they badly drawn, but there's some nasty pixelization going on. Animations, too, are fairly poor, though some of the supers are fairly fun to watch. Over all, Fate/Sword Dance is a Six out of Eleven. Had potential, but couldn't quite live up to it.
Maribato!
Of the original works that these games are based off of, I'm most familiar with Maribato's. I've watched the both anime series, followed Ms. Friedman's notes religiously, and while I haven't gotten around to reading the novel translation, I'm sure I'll get to it at some point. And with all the in-joke present in this game -- not to mention the sheer absurdity of seeing these characters squaring off against one another -- being familiar with the source really ups the fun factor. But that said, being a MariMite is in no way requisite for enjoying this game.
The fighting engine this time around plays more like a slightly watered down Street Fighter Alpha, but with only two attack buttons: Weak and Strong. Special attacks and Supers are pulled off using the same sets of joystick manipulations that have been engraved upon the neurons of anybody who's played Street Fighter for more than five minutes. Adding a bit of uniqueness is the tag system: you take two characters into each fight, and while you're limited in how many times you can tag by the "Soeur" bar, tags are instantaneous, making them very useful in escaping enemy combos or for setting up some fairly insane attack chains of your own.
Most of the characters in Maribato! play alot like homages to characters from other fighting games of yore, but always with enough unique twists that you can tell DK Soft put some effort into putting them together, rather than just copying over movelists. And there are a few wholly original movesets in here, too, because while Sachiko is definitely a Ryu-clone, and Sei has more than a couple Zangeif-esque moves, if there's any characters out there that plays like Noriko, I've never come across them. Where DK Soft put in the extra mile, though, is in game balance. I find Youko to be a little overpowered, and in the hands of the CPU Sei is just as cheap as her inspiration, but for the most part it's pretty even.
Graphics wise, the game is hardly award-winning, going for more cute than jaw-dropping. This is in line with the overall theme for the game, though; there's no blood or gore whatsoever, and after each fight the losers get back up and grumble about their loss. This isn't a game that takes its self overly seriously. What it may lack in depth compared to more professionally made fighters it more than makes up for in sheer fun, so I'm giving Maribato! a Nine out of Eleven.
Melty Blood
Calling this one a doujin game is actually a little iffy, since it was made by the same people who put together it's source, Tsukihime. Thing is, the game's so good, nobody really worries about it much. A lot of people say that it matches any professionally made fighting game out there, and that's not far from the truth. It's certainly better than a lot of the crap Capcom and SNK have been putting out lately.
Unlike the other two games here, Melty Blood doesn't copy over some other game's fighting engine, it pretty much comes up with it's own. There are three attack buttons, Weak, Strong, and Special, and a Shield button. The Shield is one of the more interesting innovations, it acts effectively like a Just Guard (blocking just as your opponents attack lands. Unlike with a normal block, there's no stun inflicted on you, allowing you to counter immediately.), but with it's own button rather than being a matter of timing a normal block, allowing it to be a little more precise.
Specials and Supers are also handled a little bit different in Melty Blood than in most fighters. With one exception per character, Supers are just powered up versions of the character's special attacks, and are activated by using the Special attack button in conjunction with the normal input for the special attack. This is something of a two-edged sword, because, while it makes Supers easier to get off when you need to, it also makes them easier to get off when you don't want to, wasting the Super bar and often leaving yourself wide open to counter attacks.
Character selection is fairly limited, but each character is different enough that it actually feels like there's more choices than a game like the Capcom Vs. series where there may be dozens of characters but they all into one of maybe five playstyles. And at least TYPE-MOON took great care that each character was unique, not only with respect to the other characters in the game, other, separate fighting games as well. No Shotoclones here. Tag-team maid sisters and Firewall dropping half-demons, on the other hand, are quite prevalent.
Melty Blood is above average, graphics-wise. It's not Guilty Gear gorgeous, but it's certainly pleasant enough to look at, with fluid animations and fairly impressive effects on the special attacks. If I had one major complaint, it would be with the story mode, which is awfully long-winded for a fighter. This isn't so bad the first time around, but since you have to play the story mode repeatedly to unlock all the hidden character, you end up stuck clicking through page after page of text fairly regularly. Still, it's a pretty minor issue compared to the rest of the game. Melty Blood gets an easy Ten out of Eleven.
Okay, I've given up on trying to guess ahead to my next review, so we'll all just have to wait until next time to find out what it is. 'Til then!
Let's see now, what's up? Not much, really; stressing and associated tasks have taken up most of my free time these last couple weeks. Did manage to get caught up on the Fate/Stay Night anime. That one's hard to watch much of in a single session; the story oscillates from pretty cool to mind-numbingly stupid without a lot of prior warning, makes it kinda tricky. Honestly, though, I'd still be watching it even if it didn't have a story: Rin and Saber are freakin' hawt. (What, I'm not allowed my Loser FanBoy moments?) Rin's an easy one to fall for, being pure evil sexiness. Or perhaps sexy evilness? Either way, really. Crushing on Saber is a little more... odd, though. I've got a thing for chicks in platemail, so that contributes, but.... Well, I'm not gonna spoil it, but I think anyone familiar with the source material will know what I'm talking about.
And that's about it. Oh, DragonForce.... An interesting bunch, to say the least. Apparently they're a "melodic metal" group. Think Rush, but with some of the pretentiousness, as well as any last vestiges of sanity, stripped away. With positively maniacal guitar solos, a drummer who apparently cannot fall below 100 beats per minute or his drumkit explodes, and some of the geekiest lyric I have ever heard (and that's saying something!), their music manages to be downright goofy and big-grin fun at same time.
I mentioned that we're trying out a new format. The thing is, none of the items being reviewed today could support a full post on their own, but I still feel like talking about them. So, I figured, rather than do several separate Mini Updates, I'll just jam them all into one review. Thus, I give you the Multi Review. Dunno how often I'll do these, but it can be a handy format for when I can't think of anything worth doing a full post on. Up today are Fate/Sword Dance, Maribato!, and Melty Blood.
Fate/Sword Dance
Alright, before we really get started I should warn you that I'll be using fighting game lingo pretty heavily in this post. I'll do what I can to explain the more esoteric stuff, but if at any point you end up wondering what in the world I'm talking about, lemme know, and I'll try to clear it up.
Our first item today is also the weakest of the three, Fate/Sword Dance from Rapid Fire Soft. Based on the same visual novel as the anime series I talked about earlier, the game sounds pretty good in theory. It uses basically the same fighting engine as the Guilty Gear series, right down to the punch/kick/slash/heavy slash/launcher attack set up and absolute pain in the butt to pull off supers. Now, while ripping off Guilty Gear's fighting engine normally wouldn't be a bad thing, the folks at Rapid Fire unfortunately forgot to bring over most of the complexities -- like Roman Cancels (an ability that immediately stops whatever move you're using, allowing you to segue directly into another one. Makes for some seriously long combo attacks.) and Instant Kills -- that made it good, along with the surface stuff. Add in the fact that character balance is just b0rked, and you end up with the fighting being not so hot.
And even on top of the lukewarm gameplay, the presentation doesn't quite make the grade either. The sprites are just fugly; not only are they badly drawn, but there's some nasty pixelization going on. Animations, too, are fairly poor, though some of the supers are fairly fun to watch. Over all, Fate/Sword Dance is a Six out of Eleven. Had potential, but couldn't quite live up to it.
Maribato!
Of the original works that these games are based off of, I'm most familiar with Maribato's. I've watched the both anime series, followed Ms. Friedman's notes religiously, and while I haven't gotten around to reading the novel translation, I'm sure I'll get to it at some point. And with all the in-joke present in this game -- not to mention the sheer absurdity of seeing these characters squaring off against one another -- being familiar with the source really ups the fun factor. But that said, being a MariMite is in no way requisite for enjoying this game.
The fighting engine this time around plays more like a slightly watered down Street Fighter Alpha, but with only two attack buttons: Weak and Strong. Special attacks and Supers are pulled off using the same sets of joystick manipulations that have been engraved upon the neurons of anybody who's played Street Fighter for more than five minutes. Adding a bit of uniqueness is the tag system: you take two characters into each fight, and while you're limited in how many times you can tag by the "Soeur" bar, tags are instantaneous, making them very useful in escaping enemy combos or for setting up some fairly insane attack chains of your own.
Most of the characters in Maribato! play alot like homages to characters from other fighting games of yore, but always with enough unique twists that you can tell DK Soft put some effort into putting them together, rather than just copying over movelists. And there are a few wholly original movesets in here, too, because while Sachiko is definitely a Ryu-clone, and Sei has more than a couple Zangeif-esque moves, if there's any characters out there that plays like Noriko, I've never come across them. Where DK Soft put in the extra mile, though, is in game balance. I find Youko to be a little overpowered, and in the hands of the CPU Sei is just as cheap as her inspiration, but for the most part it's pretty even.
Graphics wise, the game is hardly award-winning, going for more cute than jaw-dropping. This is in line with the overall theme for the game, though; there's no blood or gore whatsoever, and after each fight the losers get back up and grumble about their loss. This isn't a game that takes its self overly seriously. What it may lack in depth compared to more professionally made fighters it more than makes up for in sheer fun, so I'm giving Maribato! a Nine out of Eleven.
Melty Blood
Calling this one a doujin game is actually a little iffy, since it was made by the same people who put together it's source, Tsukihime. Thing is, the game's so good, nobody really worries about it much. A lot of people say that it matches any professionally made fighting game out there, and that's not far from the truth. It's certainly better than a lot of the crap Capcom and SNK have been putting out lately.
Unlike the other two games here, Melty Blood doesn't copy over some other game's fighting engine, it pretty much comes up with it's own. There are three attack buttons, Weak, Strong, and Special, and a Shield button. The Shield is one of the more interesting innovations, it acts effectively like a Just Guard (blocking just as your opponents attack lands. Unlike with a normal block, there's no stun inflicted on you, allowing you to counter immediately.), but with it's own button rather than being a matter of timing a normal block, allowing it to be a little more precise.
Specials and Supers are also handled a little bit different in Melty Blood than in most fighters. With one exception per character, Supers are just powered up versions of the character's special attacks, and are activated by using the Special attack button in conjunction with the normal input for the special attack. This is something of a two-edged sword, because, while it makes Supers easier to get off when you need to, it also makes them easier to get off when you don't want to, wasting the Super bar and often leaving yourself wide open to counter attacks.
Character selection is fairly limited, but each character is different enough that it actually feels like there's more choices than a game like the Capcom Vs. series where there may be dozens of characters but they all into one of maybe five playstyles. And at least TYPE-MOON took great care that each character was unique, not only with respect to the other characters in the game, other, separate fighting games as well. No Shotoclones here. Tag-team maid sisters and Firewall dropping half-demons, on the other hand, are quite prevalent.
Melty Blood is above average, graphics-wise. It's not Guilty Gear gorgeous, but it's certainly pleasant enough to look at, with fluid animations and fairly impressive effects on the special attacks. If I had one major complaint, it would be with the story mode, which is awfully long-winded for a fighter. This isn't so bad the first time around, but since you have to play the story mode repeatedly to unlock all the hidden character, you end up stuck clicking through page after page of text fairly regularly. Still, it's a pretty minor issue compared to the rest of the game. Melty Blood gets an easy Ten out of Eleven.
Okay, I've given up on trying to guess ahead to my next review, so we'll all just have to wait until next time to find out what it is. 'Til then!
posted by Mr. the Tiger at 12:09
2 Comments:
You may not like the multi-group set up, but it is interesting. If you wanted to I think you could easily get away with 3 shorter posts when convient.
Out of curiosity what base are you playing these off of? PC, Xbox, Cube or your DS?
All three are for the PC. Making doujin games for any other platform gets kinda tricky, 'cause console and handheld designers really don't like unlicensed games on their systems.
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