I have never really been a fan of superhero comics. What I know about Batman comes mostly from the Super Friends cartoon and the 60s television series. Although I feel they are waaaay overrated by millennial geeks, the recent movies are good enough and it’s obvious this game draws from the darker tone of these films. Knowing beforehand that I would find the storyline to be as stupid as every other superhero plot, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this game. Lo and behold, it’s a really good game, and I actually didn’t mind the idiotic plot so much either. The great voice work and graphics help too.
You move around the large open-world map using the acrobatics of Assassin’s Creed but, unlike that game, you actually feel like you are doing something towards a goal. The fighting is challenging and relies on mastering your timing and button combinations. Beating a wave of foes is really satisfying.
The main story line is short, but there are a ton of side missions and puzzle-based Riddler challenges. I am not OCD enough to complete all these tasks, but they are a nice diversion if you want to jump into the game for a quick challenge. Now, I am patiently awaiting an open-world Wonder Twins game.
Sword & Sworcery is a bit more art than video game. In fact, the game itself is more of a container for the synth-heavy soundtrack and pixel art animation. The art style is a cross between the blocky designs of early Sierra 3-D adventure games and the limited color palette and vistas of Another World. A lot of reviews describe the sound track as being “prog rock.” It’s not. It has much more in common with a mid-eighties Golan-Globus action movie score (Rob Walsh’s Revenge of the Ninja OST comes to mind) than Yes. Generally, a good thing, and one of the benefits to buying this game on Steam is that the digital soundtrack is included in the package. I guess the prog rock associations come from the way the game feels like the weird, fantastic stream of conscientiousness of the movie Heavy Metal (without the shiny boob lady). But back to my first point. No, this isn’t the greatest game playing experience. Clicking on trees in a specific order is not a brilliant game mechanic. However, like minimal interaction of Photopia, the game elements serve as a carrot to keep you exploring the environment and experiencing the unique narrative and music.
In the past, most people’s introduction to Raymond Scott came when some hipster nerd told them that the music from Looney Tunes was okay, but you should really listen to this guy who Carl Stalling totally ripped off! Nowadays most of us have heard these songs in various modern cartoons from Ren and Stimpy to the present. I remember bringing this CD into work at Tandem Press and it immediately got the thumbs down from the staff because they had all been inundated Scott and other music from the 78 era when Art Spiegelman had been artist in residence the month before. Indy comic guys apparently love this stuff. Well, it’s fun, happy, creative music, so I guess that makes sense (I don’t know how that really ties in with the whole mouse holocaust thing, but just go with it for now).
Phantasy Star II and III are probably the only 16-bit era JRPGs that I actually completed when I was a youngster. Even then I had very little patience for the stupid plots and inane mechanics (especially when compared to the Ultima games that I played on my Apple ][+) of most JRPGs. However, for some odd reason, these Phantasy Star games were able to hold my attention.
End of the Millennium is very much the same as its predecessors. You march a little formation of characters around towns, dungeons and a massive over-world and face random, turn-based battles every thirty seconds or so. Normally, these random encounters annoy the crap out of me, but I don’t mind it so much in this case. Combat is straightforward and you can set up macros to speed up the grinding and I always felt like I was getting stronger with each battle.
The thing that sets Phantasy Star IV apart from the other games in the series (and most late 80s JRPGs) is the comic book style cut scenes that make the plot somewhat understandable to my anime-adverse sensibilities. The pixelated 16-bit Genesis graphics are great and were especially crisp on the Wii Virtual Console version which I played here. The music is also really good, albeit repetitive to the point where every family member was able to whistle along with the upbeat “merchant music” from across the house.
