Retro Games Beaten
Dec 29, 2023 11:44:13 GMT -5
Post by toei on Dec 29, 2023 11:44:13 GMT -5
Beat Chaos Break (PSX).
This is a game I had started twice this year and paused both times. It's essentially a more action-oriented/arcade take on the Resident Evil formula. No tank controls, melee that's actually pretty good (especially as the girl, Mitsuki, who has nice kicks), fast shooting, an evasive roll, and a pretty short game overall (maybe 3 hours and a half to 4 hours for a first playthrough, counting all the time the game won't). It still has various puzzles and whatnot, and lots of unlocking different doors and security levels.
As a member of a team dedicated to investigating bioweapons / illegal DNA experiments, you've been sent to a private corporation's building where reports are that things have gone bad and nearly all the researchers were killed. Of course you will find emails and notes and a couple survivors explaining what happened (it's the classic RE-style story, somewhat poorly translated). As this is a direct sequel to the arcade game Chaos Heat, there are some references to "last time", mostly just similar genes found in the local monsters indicating a connection.
I went through the same pattern both attempts; the first big chunk, maybe 60-90 minutes, seemed quite good, and I wondered why the few reviews out there seemed middling. Then things get really annoying - that's where I quit playing before. There's an escort mission, then there's a pretty cool surgery mini-game where you have to operate on a specimen to retrieve a sample, then you have to run around this complex facility, finding the one room on an earlier floor you couldn't open before, pull a really tricky, multi-part timing-based puzzle, and get back, ALL ON A TIGHT TIMER. And you can't save during any part of this sequence. If you fail, one of the only two NPCs in the game up to that point dies, and it's obvious that you don't want that to happen. As I found out afterward by reading a FAQ, if you let her die, the game will let you continue a good hour if not more until the end, but it won't let you fight the final boss and just give you the bad ending! I had to try it like 3 times, re-doing the whole sequence, from the escort mission and surgery, because it won't let you save up until after the timer bit. I had made it past that part in my second attempt at the game back in October, but had ended up leaving it aside for whatever reason. I kind of wanted to get back and finish it before the end of the year, though. After that things get back to normal for a while up until the end - that is to say, it's pretty cool. Then you beat the final boss, and, provided you filled some conditions (keeping two NPCs alive that can easily die), you find out there's another, real final boss... WITH A TIMER AGAIN, AND YOU CAN'T SAVE AGAIN, meaning you have to do two bosses and two "running around avoiding monsters on a timer" sections to finish the game. Made it to him, having wasted all my strong stuff on the previous boss, and died. Anyway, I had forgotten I actually had more of the most powerful missiles, but you have to first use them in your inventory so they're added to your ammo (it's the only missiles that work that way...). Had I remembered, I would have beat him on the first try. I had also missed a room in the last section with extra healing items and missiles cause it's hard to see and you're running on a timer - in 3 attempts, I never spotted it. Anyway, I finally beat it, then escaped, still on a timer. Got a very brief ending and no credits. Turns out it was the "okay" ending - to get the best ending (which is only slightly longer, but still very short), and actually see credits roll, you have to do everything I did under two hours of game time (the game doesn't tell you, the FAQ did) which makes it obvious that they want to make you play it at least twice. So did Resident Evil 2, I guess, but at least it was a lot clearer about it and didn't have a random awful part in it.
So yeah, most of the game is actually pretty good, but those two timer sections are just complete trash design and bring it down a notch to a 6/10 (meaning "decent" to me, 60% being the minimal passing grade). Other than that, the exploration is nice and atmospheric, and the combat has a nice arcadey feel. I'd honestly kind of recommend it if that timer stuff doesn't sound too heinous to you. It's a shame Taito had to be bitches, though, certainly to "make up" for the game being short, because it would have been straight-up good otherwise.
EDIT - Bumping this up to a 6.5 after playing as Rick. It's mostly the same game but there are some cool little changes to the story and you fight an extra boss (though he seems optional). I finished in 2h03 minutes, though, so still no credits for me. Which is one of the reasons it can't be a 7 or higher. What an asinine idea, to hide the credits behind a timer they don't even tell you about in-game. I would've done it had I not stopped to read the emails.
This is a game I had started twice this year and paused both times. It's essentially a more action-oriented/arcade take on the Resident Evil formula. No tank controls, melee that's actually pretty good (especially as the girl, Mitsuki, who has nice kicks), fast shooting, an evasive roll, and a pretty short game overall (maybe 3 hours and a half to 4 hours for a first playthrough, counting all the time the game won't). It still has various puzzles and whatnot, and lots of unlocking different doors and security levels.
As a member of a team dedicated to investigating bioweapons / illegal DNA experiments, you've been sent to a private corporation's building where reports are that things have gone bad and nearly all the researchers were killed. Of course you will find emails and notes and a couple survivors explaining what happened (it's the classic RE-style story, somewhat poorly translated). As this is a direct sequel to the arcade game Chaos Heat, there are some references to "last time", mostly just similar genes found in the local monsters indicating a connection.
I went through the same pattern both attempts; the first big chunk, maybe 60-90 minutes, seemed quite good, and I wondered why the few reviews out there seemed middling. Then things get really annoying - that's where I quit playing before. There's an escort mission, then there's a pretty cool surgery mini-game where you have to operate on a specimen to retrieve a sample, then you have to run around this complex facility, finding the one room on an earlier floor you couldn't open before, pull a really tricky, multi-part timing-based puzzle, and get back, ALL ON A TIGHT TIMER. And you can't save during any part of this sequence. If you fail, one of the only two NPCs in the game up to that point dies, and it's obvious that you don't want that to happen. As I found out afterward by reading a FAQ, if you let her die, the game will let you continue a good hour if not more until the end, but it won't let you fight the final boss and just give you the bad ending! I had to try it like 3 times, re-doing the whole sequence, from the escort mission and surgery, because it won't let you save up until after the timer bit. I had made it past that part in my second attempt at the game back in October, but had ended up leaving it aside for whatever reason. I kind of wanted to get back and finish it before the end of the year, though. After that things get back to normal for a while up until the end - that is to say, it's pretty cool. Then you beat the final boss, and, provided you filled some conditions (keeping two NPCs alive that can easily die), you find out there's another, real final boss... WITH A TIMER AGAIN, AND YOU CAN'T SAVE AGAIN, meaning you have to do two bosses and two "running around avoiding monsters on a timer" sections to finish the game. Made it to him, having wasted all my strong stuff on the previous boss, and died. Anyway, I had forgotten I actually had more of the most powerful missiles, but you have to first use them in your inventory so they're added to your ammo (it's the only missiles that work that way...). Had I remembered, I would have beat him on the first try. I had also missed a room in the last section with extra healing items and missiles cause it's hard to see and you're running on a timer - in 3 attempts, I never spotted it. Anyway, I finally beat it, then escaped, still on a timer. Got a very brief ending and no credits. Turns out it was the "okay" ending - to get the best ending (which is only slightly longer, but still very short), and actually see credits roll, you have to do everything I did under two hours of game time (the game doesn't tell you, the FAQ did) which makes it obvious that they want to make you play it at least twice. So did Resident Evil 2, I guess, but at least it was a lot clearer about it and didn't have a random awful part in it.
So yeah, most of the game is actually pretty good, but those two timer sections are just complete trash design and bring it down a notch to a 6/10 (meaning "decent" to me, 60% being the minimal passing grade). Other than that, the exploration is nice and atmospheric, and the combat has a nice arcadey feel. I'd honestly kind of recommend it if that timer stuff doesn't sound too heinous to you. It's a shame Taito had to be bitches, though, certainly to "make up" for the game being short, because it would have been straight-up good otherwise.
EDIT - Bumping this up to a 6.5 after playing as Rick. It's mostly the same game but there are some cool little changes to the story and you fight an extra boss (though he seems optional). I finished in 2h03 minutes, though, so still no credits for me. Which is one of the reasons it can't be a 7 or higher. What an asinine idea, to hide the credits behind a timer they don't even tell you about in-game. I would've done it had I not stopped to read the emails.