The best part about TFP is the Sunday Service threads. I got a chance to see & play a bunch of games this weekend, so I decided to give it a shot:
GBA
Bokura no Taiyou (Boktai) - quirky game with really nice visuals. It's almost like Metal Gear with a vampire theme.
Space Channel 5 - haha, cool port. Sure it doesn't stack up to the Dreamcast version, but it's very close in its attempts to mimic. audio isn't as good, but the sprites do a good job of capturing the overall feel. The timing is pretty spot-on too, although I think it does give you a little more leeway on the rhythm than the DC one does.
Dreamcast
Berserk - I played the demo before and didn't care. Now that I saw the anime, this game had a little more appeal. Typical hack 'n slash game means it's a yawner to me. I suppose you have more control with two different kinds of swings and the ability to jump, slide, etc. But not my idea of fun. Also, cinematics were half the game, so if you're not interested in the series or story, it gets tiring fast. Hirasawa Susume soundtrack is awesome though mmm
Shikigami no Shiro II - Very similar to the first, but this time your weapons don't have levels. Basically your normal vertical shooter with some gimmicks. First that you have two weapons - standard and shiki. Tap the fire button and you get standard. Hold it down and you get the shiki. In shiki mode, your "ship" is usually slower but you'll have some special kind of attack. Some shiki will home in on enemies. Others require you to aim bombs, absorb bullets, etc. There are 7 characters and 2 variations of each character, so you'll have a lot of variety to play the game with. Of course, another major gimmick of the series is that if you graze bullets or enemies, your shots will do a lot more damage. That is, the closer you are to danger, the more powerful your weapons become in that moment of close-danger. Not the best shooter I've played, but it's definitely fun.
PS1
Umihara Kawase - 2d platformer remake of SFC game where you use a grappling line (similar to bionic commando's grappling arm) to traverse the levels. it involves a lot of technique with knowing where to grapple, knowing when to let go so you can make your jumps, and some new tricks that Bionic Commando could never do. very cool game.
PS2
Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter - Woo! After hearing it often-praised by the hardcore, I finally got to try it. I was really surprised that they used the elements that Sakura Taisen 3 introduced to the strategy genre. Of course BoF5DQ is far more of a serious strategy game, with more nuances to it. Anything that takes what ST3 did and improves on it is a winner in my book. I'd love to play more.
Gitaroo Man - awesome rhythm game. great music. about average gameplay for the genre, which means not bad at all. but it's also got quirky humor. overall, a nice package.
Hippa Linda (Stretch Panic) - Very strange... The gameplay mechanic of using the hand to stretch things is pretty neat, but at the same time, from what I've played, there's not much to do other than clearing rooms of the enemies and moving on. There doesn't seem to be much variety. Maybe Treasure should stick to 2d.
Klonoa 2 - I've always heard this series being referred to as a puzzle-platformer. I didn't quite understand til I saw it in action. Very cool. Perhaps Namco has some talent after all.
Unlimited Saga - Eh. I don't understand why this is an often despised title. It's no worse than other Square titles that everyone gushes over. The changes to the system where everything is done by slotmachine is just another way to display what happens in most jRPGs. But US is also not any better than usual Square stuff, so I didn't care for it.
Venus & Braves - Not impressed. I don't mind the low-budget feel of it (reminds me of Gust games), but the gameplay is not my cup of tea. In this game, you set your AI strategies in menus in field mode. So when you actually enter a battle, you more or less just sit back and watch the battles play out. It's very much like Ogre Battle in that regard, except that there are 3 battle lines and you do have control of line rotation. Since the enemy can only attack the first row or two, then there's a little strategy there. But I don't like how battles are not dynamic. Instead you just pre-set what you will do and your orders will execute in precisely the same way every battle after that.
Zero: Akai Chou (Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly) - I've heard that the Zero/FF games were the scariest games out there. I didn't have access to the original, but I lept at the chance to play this one. OMG... it is FREAKY! I was truly creeped out by playing it. The dark eerie visuals, the brief flashes of disturbing imagery that linger in your mind, the scratchy, whispery audio, and the pulsating dual shock controller all contribute to its ambiance. I love the way that it has the best elements of Japanese horror films. But it freaked me out more than any jHorror movie I've seen. As far as experience-gaming goes, this one's unrivaled.
Edit: Added Klonoa 2 and Hippa Linda
GBA
Bokura no Taiyou (Boktai) - quirky game with really nice visuals. It's almost like Metal Gear with a vampire theme.
Space Channel 5 - haha, cool port. Sure it doesn't stack up to the Dreamcast version, but it's very close in its attempts to mimic. audio isn't as good, but the sprites do a good job of capturing the overall feel. The timing is pretty spot-on too, although I think it does give you a little more leeway on the rhythm than the DC one does.
Dreamcast
Berserk - I played the demo before and didn't care. Now that I saw the anime, this game had a little more appeal. Typical hack 'n slash game means it's a yawner to me. I suppose you have more control with two different kinds of swings and the ability to jump, slide, etc. But not my idea of fun. Also, cinematics were half the game, so if you're not interested in the series or story, it gets tiring fast. Hirasawa Susume soundtrack is awesome though mmm
Shikigami no Shiro II - Very similar to the first, but this time your weapons don't have levels. Basically your normal vertical shooter with some gimmicks. First that you have two weapons - standard and shiki. Tap the fire button and you get standard. Hold it down and you get the shiki. In shiki mode, your "ship" is usually slower but you'll have some special kind of attack. Some shiki will home in on enemies. Others require you to aim bombs, absorb bullets, etc. There are 7 characters and 2 variations of each character, so you'll have a lot of variety to play the game with. Of course, another major gimmick of the series is that if you graze bullets or enemies, your shots will do a lot more damage. That is, the closer you are to danger, the more powerful your weapons become in that moment of close-danger. Not the best shooter I've played, but it's definitely fun.
PS1
Umihara Kawase - 2d platformer remake of SFC game where you use a grappling line (similar to bionic commando's grappling arm) to traverse the levels. it involves a lot of technique with knowing where to grapple, knowing when to let go so you can make your jumps, and some new tricks that Bionic Commando could never do. very cool game.
PS2
Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter - Woo! After hearing it often-praised by the hardcore, I finally got to try it. I was really surprised that they used the elements that Sakura Taisen 3 introduced to the strategy genre. Of course BoF5DQ is far more of a serious strategy game, with more nuances to it. Anything that takes what ST3 did and improves on it is a winner in my book. I'd love to play more.
Gitaroo Man - awesome rhythm game. great music. about average gameplay for the genre, which means not bad at all. but it's also got quirky humor. overall, a nice package.
Hippa Linda (Stretch Panic) - Very strange... The gameplay mechanic of using the hand to stretch things is pretty neat, but at the same time, from what I've played, there's not much to do other than clearing rooms of the enemies and moving on. There doesn't seem to be much variety. Maybe Treasure should stick to 2d.
Klonoa 2 - I've always heard this series being referred to as a puzzle-platformer. I didn't quite understand til I saw it in action. Very cool. Perhaps Namco has some talent after all.
Unlimited Saga - Eh. I don't understand why this is an often despised title. It's no worse than other Square titles that everyone gushes over. The changes to the system where everything is done by slotmachine is just another way to display what happens in most jRPGs. But US is also not any better than usual Square stuff, so I didn't care for it.
Venus & Braves - Not impressed. I don't mind the low-budget feel of it (reminds me of Gust games), but the gameplay is not my cup of tea. In this game, you set your AI strategies in menus in field mode. So when you actually enter a battle, you more or less just sit back and watch the battles play out. It's very much like Ogre Battle in that regard, except that there are 3 battle lines and you do have control of line rotation. Since the enemy can only attack the first row or two, then there's a little strategy there. But I don't like how battles are not dynamic. Instead you just pre-set what you will do and your orders will execute in precisely the same way every battle after that.
Zero: Akai Chou (Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly) - I've heard that the Zero/FF games were the scariest games out there. I didn't have access to the original, but I lept at the chance to play this one. OMG... it is FREAKY! I was truly creeped out by playing it. The dark eerie visuals, the brief flashes of disturbing imagery that linger in your mind, the scratchy, whispery audio, and the pulsating dual shock controller all contribute to its ambiance. I love the way that it has the best elements of Japanese horror films. But it freaked me out more than any jHorror movie I've seen. As far as experience-gaming goes, this one's unrivaled.
Edit: Added Klonoa 2 and Hippa Linda
