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[sprsk]

Yeah so i work at gamestop now and i steal all the free game demos.

Burnout 3- Graphics are great. The control is kinda meh, but i guess that not really the point. Running into people is hella fun and the cutting away of the camera doesnt bother you at all. The only real problem i had was that it was harder to turn the car which made dodging cars really easy but everything else kinda less easy(and kinda lame).

Hot shots golf fore - omg awesome made me preorder the game. the end.


Gradius V (okay this one wasnt a game demo) - OMG THIS GAME IS AN ORGASM. Its as if the guys at treasure were all sitting around one day on a porch in their rocking chairs like "hey, i got an idea, lets make one of hte best shooters ever!" okay! thank you! Graphics and sound are of course AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG but this game still retains great gradius gameplay. The first stage is really short and the boss is typical "big c that shoots lasers and random bullets" type but its still seems fresh. the second boss is so fucking cool i wont spoil it. i havent gotten to the end of 3 yet so i cant say if the bosses get better or worse. my money is on better though. The different upgrade branches are great and really well balanced. My fav is the spinning options path because when you combine it with lasers its so purty. Actually i like it cause it forms a good barrier from enemies and what not. They all have their own merits though so no matter which you pick i think youll be happy.

I cant really say anything bad about gradius v, its just awesome. everyone on this board should buy it when it comes out in america september 15th! (i think thats the date anyway)

 

[Suikoguy]

Yeah so i work at gamestop now and i steal all the free game demos.

Sorry
I myself plan to change jobs ASAP

I keep hearing good things about importers of Gradius!

And yes, hot shots is pretty good, the minigolf mode is back too!

 

[kaching]

Definitely buying Gradius V...now the R-type Final helped me get my shmup reflexes back...slightly.

Numerous people have mentioned the controls being meh in Burnout 3 - Sporsk, have you played the previous entries in the series? If so, is the handling significantly different from those?

 

[sprsk]

no, ive never played burnout before.

 

[Ar_]

- Burnout 3 demo

I previously played the first Burnout, the demo of B2 (loved it, but still have to buy it the full game), and B3 demo for about 10 mins, so brief impressions.

Crashes were the most impressive so far.
Gameplay seems good, but not better than the previous games. IIRC, B2 demo was more exciting.

- Gradius V

Got to the boss of level 4. Verdict: really good.
Relyes on reaction times more than memorization, has good visuals and level design, noteworthy bosses with interesting attack patterns.

Other plusses: No free continues, being able to pratice any section of the game you have already seen - especially nice since there are multiple starting points in every level, allowing to play directly the parts you want without having to waste time with sections you dont care of.

Nitpicks:

Of the 4 ships, the 2nd one (directionable fire) is unique, fun and powerful; the others seem a second thought, overly similiar (only changes the options formation), less interesting, and weaker as well.
Is especially on some bosses, that not being able to shoot all around makes the fights excessively long, so potentially annoying and hard.

Unskippable cutscenes. Thankfully, really rare as far as I got.

The organic growing walls from Salamander are back, but maybe somewhat bugged this time: with some weapon configurations (like laser and no options) Im not sure if is possible to pass them without deaaths...

I like that the game doesnt send you back to a previous point in the level upon death, creating less frustation.
Is also nice that, while you lose most powerups, all Options remain where your ship exploded, scrolling out of the screen, allowing you to keep playing with balanced firepower.
Problem is when you die next to the outscrolling screen border, so cant recover the Options. Your new ships is then whoefully underpowered for the waves it is facing, and this may spell istant ruin for a good playthrough.
On the options menu there was something about respawning that I didnt try, which may help with this issue...

- Bujingai

Plyed 1 hour.

So full of overacted poses and characters, it makes Ultraman look sober. I looked away in midst of some cinemas, unable to bear the cheesiness =(
Even the in-game moves are flashy and exaggerated, which someone may consider a plus.

Sadly, so far it has been boring due the extreme lack of difficulty.

You have some interesting moves, as dodges, hover after jumping, wall jumps and runs.
To attack, you can single-button combo, use a 360° move, different spells.
I was disappointed that the 360° attack doesnt combo well with the regular ones, neither can be used for an unique finish (think DW4), leaving you to use the regular attack most of the time.
Spells seem varied (I got a fireball and a dash attack), but having to enter a menu to switch among them prevents some more interesting combination.
There MAY be interesting advanced techniques to use, but I didnt have the chance to try them.

Levels are reminiscent of Nightshade: divided in reasonably large areas, some vertical extension, simple design, repetitive backgrounds.
A handy map points to the exit.

Problem is, so far the game is too easy and repetitive.
Enemyes are pussies, in 1 hour I took almost no hits from the common ones, and killed the 2 bosses without dying. They look undetailed and unispired, attack scarcely and monotously.
Their habit of materializing out of nowhere, when you get close to their spawn point, doesnt help making the world more immersive or tactically interesting.
To make things worse, you are usually required to kill every single of them to unlock the door to the next area.

My game consisted of walking around the empty looking and repetitive levels to trigger spawn points, killing the monsters by repeatedly pressing the same button for the same long and flashy combo, facing almost zero resistance, move to the next area, repeat.
I can only hope that it gets better going on. It made me think of the Chaos Legion demo, which was structurally similiar, but more challenging and fun.
Is not terrible, and if you have some time to waste, even the starting level of Bujingai may be an innocuous entertainment, thought unmemorable.
Given you can choose, unless it gets noticeably better later on, there is abundance of superior games in this genre for the PS2.

 

[levious]

Gradius is a CD based game yet it does not seem to make my system make the normal CD game sounds. I wonder if that's just another reason why Treasure rocks.

 

[Kiriku]

So, can we safely say Treasure are "back" now?

 

[White Man]

So, can we safely say Treasure are "back" now?

As long as they promise to never ever make another 3d game.