Recent reviews by Unecumenical Noble

I've been playing Stardew Valley with other farm sims lately and I must say, the QOL additions and things that garner your continual interest have improved quite greatly since I played it years ago nearly after launch. And another update is on its way. I play Stardew Valley just to relieve myself from the grind of the other farm sim I'm playing with.

This was the only SNK vs. Capcom crossover (made by SNK and not Capcom) made that was produced by the old SNK before they went bankrupt meaning it was made when the company was at it's peak. After the bankrupcy, things didn't feel the same, there was a noticeable lack of quality that one can notice in the games afterwards (KOF 2001 and up) compared to the ones released by the old SNK both in it's console ports and arcade releases. Some of the higher talents obviously left the company during the bankrupcy and it showed. SVC Chaos, the other SNK/Capcom crossover by SNK had atrocious controls, a nonsensical (and blasphemous) storyline, plus conversations and plot seemed off and inconsistent with previously established canon by both Capcom and SNK.

This one however, does not share those problems. This game shines with quality and extra content in spite of appearances starting with the fact they didn't nerf the character to character specific winquotes (English) present in the Japanese version unlike what Capcom U.S.A did with the CVS crossovers.

The rivalry sub-plot between certain Capcom characters vs their SNK counterpart are illustrated beautifully, humorously and doesn't feel off. As mentioned, the characters felt more consistent in personality with previous games and there's an element of anticipation addressed such as certain characters seemingly hearing about their other company counterpart previously and the sparks that happen when they meet. Which mirrors the fans' long addressed imaginings of what happens when Capcom X character meets up with SNK Y character. (Example, Mai calling off Chun-Li's professionalism as a noisy twit, Iori seemingly intimidated with Akuma's reputation and trying to taunt him Kyo style...little things that make all the difference)

My only complaint are the controls. I've played this previously in an emulator and I seem to be having considerable difficulty doing moves compared to what I remember. I don't know if it's this port or I'm using a controller notoriously bad for fighting games. In any case, this port has a rewind feature if some moves misfire or your combo doesn't pop out. Also, the characters are drawn chibi style which might turn off some fans.

Another plus is besides the usual single player mode, there's a 2 vs 2 tag-team style arcade mode like the Marvel vs. games as well as a 3 vs 3 elimination KOF style manner. I prefer the KOF style arcade game mode with no ratios and the only other CVS crossover that has it is the PS2, GC and dreamcast CVS2 ports.

As a fan of the Street Fighter Alpha series, I'm also happy to report the moves of all Street Fighters are mostly based on their Alpha incarnations.

There's also a plethora of mini games for unlocking a super move for all the characters. Along with a Karin Kanzuki/Rimururu chat bot for your gaming loser needs,

Another thing I like is the final secret boss only requires beating your rival unlike the far more annoying hoops in other games I had to put up with in trying to get to Ultimate Rugal, Shin Akuma, Athena and Red Arremer.

Another plus: if you are using an SNK character as your main, you will have to face the boss from Capcom and vice versa. Why would you want to end up randomly facing Orochi Iori if you are using Kyo, Terry or Mai in this game when you've done it a zillion times already in KOF '97?

All in all, SVC:MOTM is a bite size chibi powerhouse that somehow addressed most of my criticisms and annoyances in the other CVS games in an unexpected manner.

But it is updated for Modern gamers. Meet Bloody (Yes, that really is his name...), a werewolf who seems to like Street Fighter and has the sweetest moves ripped from the latter in this 2d scroller. Bloody Paws Unleashed is a remake of an old 2d scroller of a melodramatic rage-filled male (yes...he's a guy this time...yay!) werewolf whose werewife was seemingly kidnapped by some mysterious malefactor and sets out to seek his spouse...and hopefully render to bloody pieces the culprit.

Bloody sets out but there are strange things in the city. There seems to be an army of Halloween freaks like himself set out to hinder his path along with some random drunks, cheeky brats and some flung playthings but Bloody thankfully, isn't limited to random paw poking this time. He can uppercut, head stomp, invincible lariat and even throw some honest to guileness...sonic booms at the miscreants. At the end of each locale, a mysterious lightning bolt from possibly his nemesis strikes some dusty landmark that in an "alternate older reality", would be just some picturesque piece of junk in the background but in this time period, makes it come to life and try to kill you.

There are 6 locales with the first level being easy peezy and gradually getting harder...but the second half has quite a difficulty spike. Bloody will most likely have his bloody heiny kicked in the latter part unless he masters every one of his moves absolutely down to knowing the edges of his move hitboxes. Game length is comparable to a classic SNES 2d scroller. Although the game is short, I find repeated playthroughs quite enjoyable just like I used to in my old SNES games. The game difficulty isn't hair-tearing frustrating but still challenging and keeps you on your toes even when mastered.

Bloody is a joy to play and best of all, powered by 100% refreshing toxic masculinity which soon clashes with 100% toxic feminity.

Cat Quest 2 is a Legend of Zelda 1 esque game that takes place in a literal treasure map looking thingie like in the pirate movies. Your quest is to fight enemies, guide the cat and dog king to their destiny and fulfill Peter Venkman's Apocalyptic Prophecy!

HUMAN SACRIFICE, DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER, MASS HYSTERIA!!!

And it's fun too!!!

Chun-Li beats up Galactus. I can now tell my family my favorite videogame character beats their favorite characters.

So vunderful!

This reminds me of a Stephen King horror novel, a story with a lot of exposition and dialogue dealing with the everydayness of man, usually set in a small American town...and then ♥♥♥♥ happens.

Although the art style is anthropomorphic (Animal people) and minimal, make no mistake. The characters are human inspite of appearances. There is no reference to the animal characteristics of the characters, you won't find them complaining about fleas or how their tails get caught by someone slamming the door. They seem to be human in all respects except for what they look like in-game.

The characters are Human in the sense that the characters are very contemporary young adult and quite liberal minded Americans. If you are not part of the latter (like I am. My country of origin is very conservative in comparison), you may find it hard to relate and find some parts totally senseless although in my case, it was an interesting study of a different mindset from my own culture.

The strength of the narrative I find and so do others, isn't in the "horrible" situation the whole thing will morph into but in the slice of life situations, the meaning of life questions and the natural philosophies the characters expound upon as they journey along towards the conclusion.

As for gameplay, there is one in-game videogame that you can finish if you're craving for action. Most of the time is spent as the main character, Mae as she explores the town of Possum Springs and hanging around with her, well...there's no other word I can think of...loser friends. Some of the tasks and conversations might seem utterly pointless and shocking unless you're steeped in American culture and thus, be able to relate to it. There is also hardly any replayability unless you hang around with a certain friend and hang around with the other friend with a totally opposite nature in your next playthrough.

For my part, I found Night in the Woods an interesting experience, like buying a playable novel.

It's Wonderful! That's why he's called WONDER Boy (or Girl.)

Unlike a number of people reviewing this game, this is my first sojourn into the Dragon's Trap. I never had a Sega Master System so this review will be done with the viewpoint of someone coming into the game for the first time.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is one the of first Metroidvanias, even preceding that of the famous Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It is the second of the Monster World series (and the third Wonder Boy game) and a direct sequel of the first game, Wonder Boy in Monster Land. It shares a lot of elements with Symphony and like it, begins right off at the end of another game, in this case: Wonder Boy in Monster Land. You will also be locked out of certain areas until you cleared a previous one first and gaining an item or ability that enable access.

While Monster Boy in Monster Land was originally an arcade game (and ported to various systems), The Dragon's Trap was a console-only exclusive of the Sega Master System, the Nintendo Entertainment System's direct rival.

Fast forward, decades later. Now we have this, Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap developed and remade by Lizardcube.

The first thing to remember is at it's essence, it still is the same game as the original, meaning it has the typical length of a title of this kind for an 8-bit system. Thus for anyone unfettered by nostalgic memories of playing the original, even with all its bells and whistles, any expectations of enjoying the length of a typical Metroidvania made in 1997 and beyond will be sorely disappointed. It took me a few hours to win and only because of the few instances of getting stuck and wandering around before I could figure out what to do next.

I knew all this beforehand, that I was buying an 8-bit SMS title essentially and it was going to be pretty short. So why did I buy this in the first place? The wonderful art and the music, that's why! The aestethics was just that good. From the minute I saw the trailer, I knew I had to get it.

If you've been weaned on French style comic books like Asterix, Iznogoud and Ompa-Pa, you'll notice a resemblance in it's rugged detailed style. The art is wonderful and the game animates like a dream (even on my old outdated laptop), like one of those aformentioned comics coming to life.

The music still uses the same score created by Shinichi Sakamoto in the SMS version but Lizardcube re-presents these same old tunes to be performed by professional musicians. No midi tunes or techno, you will hear saxophones, pianos, flutes and more as you traipse all over Monster Land and it sounds glorious. Like Akumajyou Densetsu (Castlevania 3 Japanese version) which I played for so many hours, it's a joy to re-play this game again and again just to listen to the wonderful music.

I played the first game, Wonder Boy in Monster Land in an Amiga 500 and always wanted to play the sequel. Now I do and I've never been happier that I waited for so long and end up playing this marvelous remake.

My old Review

"My favorite FPS is Killing Floor 2 but my old laptop is somewhere on the brink of the minimum requirements. (Dual core asus laptop) I only bought CPUCores in the hope that the instances of FPS drops, occassional freezes and crackling sound would decrease."

Well it worked fine for a time but the game got too bloated for this program to work on. That was years ago. Now however, I found a new use for this program. Instead of Maximize your FPS, I call it my Microsoft BS Restrainer.

Ever had a game you liked that worked flawlessly and after an MS update one unfine morning, the game started having periodic stutters and other off things that made you want to march off to Microsoft HQ and scream at the top of your lungs at the CEO?

Well, I just discovered. I use this and the background garbage MS foisted on me is locked away in 50 seconds and the game will work reasonably well if not perfect. Also works on non steam stuff like...emus...ya know, those funny australian birds...wink wink...

What can I say?

It's been years since I first bought this during the Beta.

I remember running around the Burning Paris for 30 frigging minutes as a Field Medic from Hans until I killed him while the rest of my teammates watched me all that time. (People were more dedicated during Beta whereas nowadays, everyone would just leave.)

I remember when the bosses were nigh invulnerable bullet sponges and most of our games ended up with defeat until it was fixed. (But I still kept playing when others gave up)

I remember how when I asked someone how he got his new Alienware mask in KF2, he blatantly told me I had to BUY an alienware computer...until I found out all I had to was log in to the website and get a key (when it was still available which didn't last long.)

I remember the hours of fun I had fighting zombies in Mario, Zelda and Spongebob custom maps.

Now here we are, years later and I'm still playing it.

The point is, this game gave me so many memories and hours of fun. Popping zombie/zed heads with submachine guns one after the other never gets old. Saving your all commando team by having the foresight to switch to Demolitionist or Sharpshooter makes you feel like a hero when you take out all the big zeds killing your good-only-for-trash team of misfits. Firing a zed-timed rad explosion with your grenade gun just as your team gets swamped by zillions of zed...

More than half of the friends in my friends list came as a result of playing KF2.

With constant seasonal updates and new weapons added (mostly free), KF2 is simply one of the best co-op shooters in the market.

There are two things I love about this game. One is that it makes me hungry and makes my lunch, dinner and midnight snacks taste better after playing a round or two. Two is the fantastic soundtrack that puts you in the mood to cook like a maniac and pound that keyboard like a madman. The latter alone made me play non-stop and not touching my other steam games until I finished the campaign just to listen to the music.

One of those rare games where the music alone was worth the price of admission. And I suppose the gameplay's good too...