Review: DuckTales Remastered (PC, 2013)

July 11, 2014 by Mike

D-d-d-danger! Watch behind you!
There’s a stranger out to find you!
What to do? Just grab on to some
DuckTales! A-woo-oo!

If ever there was a late-’80s earworm, the DuckTales theme song is it. It’s impossible to look at that iconic logo and not start singing along. DuckTales came out back when I was in junior high. It was a time when my friends and I suddenly got too old — and in our minds, too cool — for Saturday morning cartoons. Shows like Robotech were drawing us away from the cheap, mindless fare that was common back then, but DuckTales was different. It looked terrific, and had exceptional, fluid animation. I loved it, and whether I’m right about this or not, I always credited its quality and success in part for the resurgence of Disney’s animated theatrical releases shortly thereafter with The Little Mermaid and the lesser-known and under-appreciated Rescuers Down Under.

Its popularity led to the Capcom classic game of the same name on the NES in 1989, which GHG reviewed last month. Despite its short length, simple boss battles, and pogo-jump controls that are arguably a little too complex, I really enjoyed it, and consider it a very solid 8-bit title, particularly when you take into consideration that it’s licensed, and could have been bad. Very bad.

When it was revealed that WayForward Technologies — a company known for their skill at crafting retro-style action games like Contra 4 and the excellent Shantae: Risky’s Revenge — was developing an HD remastered version of DuckTales, excitement levels went through the roof. I mean, if it’s not going to be Capcom themselves, who better to do it than a company that specializes in this sort of thing? While the selfish side of me was kinda hoping for Inti Creates instead, I put my faith in WayForward that they’d deliver. And for the most part, they did.

First of all, full disclosure here: I played through DuckTales Remastered on its default difficulty first, which is set to Easy. I do this for all games, since it’s my belief that the default setting is what the developers want the majority of players to experience, and most play balance and tweaking generally center around it during testing. More on this later, but it’s an important detail to note.

Graphically, DuckTales Remastered does a lot of things right. The character art in particular is fantastic, with silky-smooth and expressive animation cycles that really bring them to life. WayForward did a phenomenal job ensuring that everyone looks as good as we remember from childhood, with new cameos that will surprise those intimately familiar with the NES original. Enemy art and animation are just as impressive, and it was so nice to see the same high quality level of effort go into both basic enemies and major bosses.

I found the backgrounds to be OK, but there was nothing there that really blew me away. They are full of nice colors and provide a good amount of depth and separation, but they lack detail and most of them just looked overly simplistic to me and at odds with the quality of the superb 2D elements. Throw in generic-looking environmental objects that have a floaty, pasted-on look, and you end up with an overall visual aesthetic that didn’t really work for me. It gets the job done, but there was just something about the look of the game that never quite felt right, and I couldn’t help but ask myself, “How much better would this have been had it all been in 2D?”

DuckTales Remastered‘s soundtrack, however, is tremendous. Composed by Jake Kaufman — who has also scored a number of other WayForward games and the amazing Shovel Knight — this is an updated soundtrack done right. All of your favorites from the NES game are here, with a perfect balance of modern instrumentation, extended arrangements of classic melodies, and beautiful retro nods that pay nothing but the utmost of respect to the source material. Hats off to Kaufman for his great work here, and I highly recommend a purchase of it on Amazon or iTunes.

The game also contains full voice acting, which is all delivered by the talented voice actors from the original show, giving DuckTales Remastered an even more authentic feel. Unfortunately, little restraint was exercised when it came to the sheer amount of dialogue here. Perhaps it was excitement about having the original cast involved, but it’s completely overdone and takes the player out of gameplay for far too long. You can’t speed it up and the only way to skip it is via the pause menu. It really kills pacing and could have easily been cut in half. As it stands, it’s full of needless exposition that is cool at first, but doesn’t take long for it to become borderline insufferable.

Gameplay-wise, DuckTales Remastered is a little bit of the old, a little bit of the new. It controls well enough, and the gameplay is as you remember, with Uncle Scrooge able to use his cane to pogo-jump around levels, find hidden treasure, discover secret areas, and use rocks and objects to take out enemies, just like the NES game. Speaking of the pogo-jump, you can now do it just by jumping and pressing the action button instead of having to press down on the d-pad as well. WayForward has both control options available, though, so go with what you’re most comfortable with. I used the default (i.e., easier) way, and I thought it was great.

There is also a new collectibles objective where you have to find various objects around each stage to progress, but there’s no mystery to their whereabouts since they’re all marked on the pause menu map. It switches up the way you have to play the game in that it forces you to do these things before taking on the level’s boss, which is a fundamental change from how the original DuckTales worked.

These were likely added to enrich the game’s storyline and extend overall play time, and although they feel a bit contrived in that sense, I didn’t mind their addition.

Getting back to what I said earlier about playing on the game’s default difficulty, I got through the game in about 3 hours. Although I didn’t die during any of the boss fights — which are more fun than the NES game’s, but still very predictable — I died quite a few times during regular gameplay, usually falling into a bottomless pit or some other instant-death scenario. You have unlimited lives, and I didn’t think anything of this. That’s modern game design 101, and most games don’t penalize you at all except for maybe sending you back to the last checkpoint. That’s what DuckTales Remastered does. On Easy.

On other difficulties, your lives are now limited. Losing them means Game Over, but it also means you lose everything from that level and you have to start over from scratch. This is utterly crazy. I would expect to at least keep found treasures and overall progress. If I have to start over from the beginning? Fine. I’ll make my way to where I lost my last life, but to erase all that work? No thanks. It made me quit out the first time it happened to me.

This kind of design works when your levels are short. It worked well on something I played recently — NES Remix — because its design is based around concentrated stages where subsequent attempts all build upon the mistakes you made previously, and getting further in each one gives you a strong sense of accomplishment. If you lose all of your lives, yes, you have to try again from the beginning, but it only take a few seconds or at most a couple minutes for a redo. It has no place here in DuckTales Remastered because WayForward has made changes — namely much longer levels with additional collectible requirements — that makes severe punishment like this unnecessary.

Anyway, speaking of collectibles, the money you find throughout the game isn’t just for hoarding inside your giant vault. You can use that cash to buy a ton of artwork and music. Prices are high for each one, so for those completionists out there, it will take several playthroughs to get everything. Starting a new game will thankfully not erase your progress when it comes to these unlockable bonuses.

Apart from the whole Game Over thing and the overwrought dialogue, I enjoyed playing through this game. It’s familiar enough that you will smile with satisfaction remembering everything from your youth, while experiencing new things that may surprise you. It’s not perfect, but to its credit, it successfully captures what made so many people fall in love with DuckTales — both the TV series and the game — in the first place.

Finally, be sure to sit through the end credits in its entirety. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the game.

Graphics & Presentation: B
Beautiful 2D character artwork and gorgeous animation are this game’s highlight. Serviceable 3D backgrounds with generic objects and some janky animation don’t match the quality of the character work. Long, painfully slow story sections bring the presentation to a near-standstill.
Music & Sound Effects: A+
Fantastic soundtrack by Jake Kaufman, with refreshingly fun takes on the NES classics. Sound effects are good and voice acting is excellent, including all the actors from the show!
Gameplay & Controls: C+
More forgiving pogo-jump controls make the game easy to learn. The sprawling level design is good, although objectives make them feel more linear than they should. Erasing all level progress after losing your lives was a terrible design decision.
Value: B-
It only takes a few hours to get through the game, but unlockable content and different difficulties offer incentives to come back.

Overall: B-

Review: Electronic Super Joy (PC, 2013)

July 9, 2014 by Mike

Indie games have become one of the best and only ways for players to experience classic genres with modern design sensibilities. Over the past decade, they have gone from barely discoverable titles on the fringes to being featured right alongside the big triple-A blockbusters at industry shows and events. At E3 this past June, it was not uncommon to hear someone talking about Batman: Arkham Knight or The Legend of Zelda and in the same breath express equal excitement over No Man’s Sky and Ori and the Blind Forest.

Medium-sized publishers — so prolific in the ’90s and ’00s — have all but vanished from the gaming landscape, and in their wake are a huge number of independent game studios. While some have struck deals with major publishers and manufacturers, or been acquired outright, the vast majority of them still self-publish either via their own websites or a digital content delivery service like Steam, Google Play, and the PlayStation Store.

Electronic Super Joy, also available for Mac and Linux (and coming soon for iOS and Android) is the distillation of all the things that make indie gaming so much fun and unique.

From the moment you launch it, it’s immediately clear that Electronic Super Joy isn’t about being subtle. The title screen hits with a blast of pulsating hot pink and loud trance music. Oh, the music. Before I even talk about the game itself, I have to mention the soundtrack. If you don’t like the techno genre in general, you may want to turn the volume down.

For everyone else, Electronic Super Joy‘s music is absolutely one of its highlights. Composed by enV (pronounced “envy”), the soundtrack does a spectacular job establishing mood, creating tension, and most importantly, getting the player in the zone to conquer. Check it out HERE on Bandcamp.

You’re then met with a rather lengthy warning screen full of exclamation points. There’s something quite liberating and tongue-in-cheek about it, which sets the tone for what is to come. Don’t be too alarmed by it. While there are more than a few obscenities, erotic moaning every time you die, and yes, even battles with a pope, it’s nothing you would ever take seriously. This is a game, after all, about your journey to take revenge on the Groove Wizard for stealing your butt. Yeah, you read that right. And if you are offended, there’s always the PG Rating in the Options menu.

Anyway, its hilarious story aside, at its core, Electronic Super Joy is a 2D platformer in the tradition of difficult classics like Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV. Games like these thrive on their perfect controls, fantastic design, fast death recoveries, and a beautiful marriage of visuals and audio. They reward dedication and perseverance, precariously teetering on that edge of unfairness… but never losing their balance.

Thankfully, Electronic Super Joy gets all of those things right. Your character controls so well, with predictable jumping arcs and quick turns. Throughout your journey, you’ll acquire and use a wide range of different moves, including a downward smash, double-jumps, flying, wall jumping, and high jumps in reduced gravity environments. Speaking of those environments, slick surfaces, single-use bounce pads, lasers, projectiles, spikes, rotating platforms, heat-seeking rockets, and other dangers are all intent on preventing you from getting to the end of each level.

The main game is broken down into three worlds comprised of 15 stages apiece. One nice feature is that as you finish a level, you’re immediately taken to the next one. This gives the game a nice flow instead of constantly dropping you back to the level-select screen. This also makes the game feel extremely short as you can, in one sitting, get through an entire world in about an hour.

It’s not just a matter of getting to the end, though. Much like the Bandages in Super Meat Boy, Electronic Super Joy has 22 Stars that are cleverly peppered throughout each world. Getting each Star is one thing, but you then have to survive long enough to make it to the end or the next checkpoint, whichever comes first. Successfully getting all the Stars will unlock a fourth world that will put all of your skills — and possibly your sanity — to the ultimate test. For those who want even more, a Bonus Content Pack and the recently released Groove City standalone sequel are also available.

Graphically, Electronic Super Joy has a lot more going on than screenshots initially convey. Although the game is primarily done in 2D sprites, there are a lot of 3D elements that add to its aesthetic. Backgrounds have multi-layered, spinning polygonal objects that are often synchronized to the music, producing hypnotic, eye-searing visuals that bring to mind the work of ’90s Amiga demo groups like The Silents, Anarchy, and Spaceballs.

The background graphics are lovely, and they can also be a big part of the gameplay itself. One of Electronic Super Joy‘s earliest levels, “Black and White”, is a great example of the background and foreground becoming one. HERE‘s a video of me playing through it, even though I accidentally take the wrong path at the end.

Characters are small, but they are animated well, and all the NPCs you come across throughout the game have funny, helpful, and sometimes misleading things to say. They happily nod their heads to the beat as you jump from platform to platform, eventually leading you to each world’s fun and bizarre boss challenges.

I had a great time with Electronic Super Joy. It’s a game that doesn’t take itself seriously at all, but at the same time is a case study in expert platforming design and execution. If you love a good challenge, look no further.

Graphics & Presentation: B+
Simple, consistent 2D/3D graphics, with multi-layered backgrounds, vivid colors, and effective foreground separation. Nice, blocky animated menus. Lots of screen tearing with the internal frame limiter off, but input lag with it on makes the game unplayable. Use external V-sync instead.
Music & Sound Effects: A+
An amazing trance and techno soundtrack by enV that perfectly blends with the game’s visuals. Easily worth purchasing separately. Good sound effects and funny vocals that may get under your skin, but you can thankfully turn them off if you prefer.
Gameplay & Controls: A
Excellent controls do exactly what you want them to do. Great gameplay variety, and the Stars are challenging to obtain. Some of the later levels require a bit too much memorization with almost zero time to react, which can be frustrating even for seasoned genre veterans, but the game maintains fairness throughout.
Value: B+
A short game at about 5 hours, but it’s a decent value for only $7.99. If you go for all the Achievements, however, total playtime will be extended considerably.

Overall: A-

Review: Shovel Knight (PC)

July 8, 2014 by Mike

It only takes a few moments to see influences from NES classics like the Super Mario Bros. series, DuckTales, and the Mega Man series in Shovel Knight‘s DNA. You’ll also be hit with other waves of nostalgia, being reminded of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Konami’s Castlevania series, Sega’s Golden Axe, and other favorites of a bygone era here. Whether references are intentional or not, it’ll feel like the late-’80s again, and in all the best ways possible.

Now, retro-style games have become rather cliched in recent years. The style is very popular for indie and mobile titles, and while I understand the opinion that not utilizing the latest cutting-edge graphic technologies doesn’t move things forward, I personally love it. It’s fascinating to see what modern artists are capable of pulling off with big pixels and limited color palettes. It’s that whole mentality of doing more with less that can potentially yield results even more impressive than the latest blockbuster on the newest consoles. Yes, I love the way Muramasa Rebirth looks on the Vita, but I can equally appreciate the lovingly crafted spritework in Daisuke Amaya’s Cave Story. Don’t let the 8-bit style turn you off, though; Shovel Knight‘s graphics are superb — borderline 16-bit at times as the best 8-bit games were — and animation is detailed, smooth, and brimming with character.

The same can be said about music in games. While I absolutely loved the work of Gustavo Santaolalla in The Last of Us — one of my all-time favorite PS3 games — I equally enjoy what Jake Kaufman and Manami Matsumae have done here in Shovel Knight. Much like oldschool graphics, music that has to be created without the use of real instruments and limited sound channels often produce stunning compositions that transcend the technology itself. One of Shovel Knight‘s first tracks, “Strike the Earth! (Plains of Passage)”, is so inspired and sounds like it could have leaped from the very best of the 8-bit era. In fact, so much of Shovel Knight is of the highest quality that if it had actually come out during the NES era, it would no doubt be regarded as one of the best games of all-time.

The graphics and music are indeed terrific, and Shovel Knight shines in the gameplay department as well. Its closest relatives would be Castlevania and DuckTales; just think of your shovel as Simon Belmont’s whip or Uncle Scrooge’s cane. Mechanically, it works quite similarly in terms of being a short-ranged melee weapon and a tool for bouncing on enemies and other environmental obstacles. However, chalk it up to the influence of modern gaming to have the greatest effect where it matters most: controls. Shovel Knight‘s controls are perfect, and I can’t think of a single death that occurred because the controls weren’t responsive enough or didn’t do what I wanted. Tight controls (or lack thereof) will make or break platform games, and to its credit, Shovel Knight absolutely hits the nail on the head in this regard.

At its heart, Shovel Knight is a tried and true action platformer with some RPG overtones in terms of armor, weapon, and subweapon upgrades, each having their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Levels are long, and full of branching pathways and hidden alcoves. Discovering them is a joy, and much of Shovel Knight‘s challenge is in finding them all. Writing is also a strong point, with excellent dialogue and a surprisingly poignant and personal story. I had goosebumps by the game’s final scenes, which is a testament to the developer giving every facet of Shovel Knight equal attention.

There are modern conveniences like auto-saving and numerous level checkpoints, but Yacht Club Games changes things up a bit to make its death and continue system have actual consequence. I think one of the game’s neatest feature is how you are given the option to destroy the various level checkpoints. By doing so, you’ll collect extra treasures, but as a result, you’ll no longer be able to continue from that point if you die. This creates scenarios where you have to make it through an entire level in one life or be sent back to the very beginning.

Keeping the checkpoints in place doesn’t give you a free pass, though. Dying separates you from a good chunk of your loot, and if you want it back, you’ll have to collect it from where you died, which is sometimes impossible depending on where exactly you bit the bullet. This is a nice change from most modern games, where death carries with it no ramifications.

The one area of the game that feels slightly undercooked are a few of the boss fights. They are all beautiful to look at and have interesting and learnable attack patterns, but many of them can be defeated rather easily on your first attempt. Being able to carry multiple items that fully refill your health and magic meters further diminishes the challenge if you choose to utilize them. In some cases, though, I appreciated these battles being a little easier after taking a serious beating through some of the level trials preceding them.

Between all of the great action are these wonderful, quiet moments full of reflective calm and other surprises. They’re a great inclusion that very much reminded me of Golden Axe‘s intermission campfire scenes where you can stock up on health and magic potions. However, these brilliantly build a strong bond between the game’s key characters in haunting and meaningful ways. I always looked forward to these after defeating one of the game’s bosses.

The game’s achievements, or “Feats” as they’re called here, are definitely worth mentioning. There are some truly challenging ones that will give trophy hunters a run for their money, extending the life of the game for those who want to extract the most out of it. A number of them run completely opposite to one another, so don’t expect to get them all in one shot. Speaking of the game’s length, it took me about 7 hours to finish it the first time (the in-game clock had me at around 6 hours and 40 minutes), and even though I took my time, I only found about 65% of the game’s hidden Music Sheets, which unlock music tracks inside an in-game sound test. There were also some other important items I missed along the way, so the game definitely will take more than one playthrough to see and do everything.

Not only that, but a New Game+ mode is also included, which ups the challenge for those seeking a more difficult playthrough, but lets you keep all your upgrades from your first time through.

And last but not least, I have to point out the game’s humor. I mentioned earlier that the writing in the game is excellent, and while that applies to Shovel Knight‘s serious dialogue, it equally enhances the more lighthearted exchanges as well. It’s full of puns and other high-energy, exclamation point-filled zingers that make all of the NPCs interesting to talk to.

Shovel Knight is a special game. It represents the pinnacle of 8-bit sensibilities with the refinements of modern game design, wrapped up in a beautiful package that will remind you of all the things that drew you to videogames in the first place. Also available for the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS, Shovel Knight is not to be missed and is an easy contender for Game of the Year.

Graphics & Presentation: A+
Beautifully drawn sprites, gorgeous backgrounds with multi-plane parallax scrolling, and some giant screen-filling enemies. 60fps with no screen tearing, even at its highest resolutions.
Music & Sound Effects: A+
A superb soundtrack by Jake Kaufman, with nods to many 8-bit classics. Contributions by original Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae are a welcome treat. Excellent sound effects bring the action to vivid life.
Gameplay & Controls: A
Perfect, fluid controls make Shovel Knight a delight to play, with tons of hidden areas to find. Fun platforming with all sorts of environmental hazards to contend with. Very unique continue system. Some bosses provide little challenge.
Value: A-
A pretty quick game at about 7 hours or so, but New Game+ and a slew of Feats and hidden items will keep you playing for a long time if you want everything the game has to offer.

Overall: A+

Review: Elgato Game Capture HD

June 26, 2014 by Mike

Up until last month, I was snapping most gaming screenshots with my phone and camera. They got me by, and even though some systems let you take screenshots natively — like the Vita, PC, or through the Wii U web browser — I needed a better solution. Ever try to take an action shot in a game when you have to think about pressing another key or button combo? Talk about inefficient and unnatural. Plus, if you have to pause a game to take a picture with a camera, most pause screen overlays make it impossible.

So, after doing a considerable amount of research, my 40th birthday gift to myself was an Elgato Game Capture HD. I’d been considering a PlayStation 4 as well, but in the interest of improving the blog and creating richer media content, I decided on the smaller — and cheaper — piece of hardware.

I wrote last month about its packaging, contents, and first impressions here, but to quickly summarize, it’s all of high quality. The packaging feels premium, which is a welcome bonus in this day and age of cheap blister packs. The device itself is compact and light (smaller than a Roku and about the size of a Nintendo 64 cartridge), with clearly marked input and output ports, and non-slip rubber feet.

My favorite feature is that it requires no external power, which will save you from potentially having to free up an electrical outlet. I definitely appreciate this, since using this device requires at least 2 additional cables.

If you plan on using this device with a console that has High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) — such as a PlayStation 3 — you will either have to use the clunky PlayStation cable that is included with the Game Capture HD, or purchase an inexpensive HDMI splitter like this one. While the PlayStation cable works, setting it up is tedious. I decided to go with the splitter, and I highly recommend that method. Keep in mind that the splitter is powered, so you will need an additional outlet plus one extra HDMI cable to go from the splitter to the Game Capture HD.

Setup beyond that is a snap. Simply plug in your input and output HDMI cables, and run the included USB cable from the Game Capture HD to your computer. No physical software is included, so just head to Elgato’s website, download, install, update your firmware if needed, and you’re done.

Elgato’s software is very easy to use, and it has yet to crash on me once. The Game Capture HD is automatically detected, and after making a few quick selections, you’re ready to start capturing video and taking screenshots. Since I’m using HDMI for all of my consoles, I leave it on the “PlayStation 4” profile setting.

The Game Capture HD supports many different resolutions, from 240i all the way up to 1080p. Old consoles require Elgato’s Analog Video Adapter (sold separately) or the Component Adapter, which is included. Since all of my old consoles are in storage, I have not tried capturing with non-HDMI sources yet, but I will update this review when I do.

One slight disappointment is that 1080p can only be recorded at a maximum of 30fps. If you want 60fps capture, you have to drop your output signal to a maximum of 720p. Captures done in 720p 60fps still look great though, and it’s my preferred way to go if I need video that most accurately represents the performance of 60fps source material, such as Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta, or Wipeout HD.

In terms of final output quality, I’m very pleased with the results! The following capture was taken at 1080p and uploaded to YouTube at 720p. I think it looks great and retains excellent overall image detail and smoothness:

To check out how crisp and smooth its 720p 60fps videos look like, Right-Click & Save this link: MKV (82MB).

Another thing to keep in mind is that because everything is hardware-encoded on the fly, there is a delay of about 2 seconds between what you see on your TV and what you see on your PC. Because of this, it’s nearly impossible to play games solely in the capture software’s window, which is unfortunate. Instead, you’ll want to have either a picture-in-picture or side-by-side setup so that you can play on one screen and monitor your capture on the other.

If you only have a single display without this functionality, you’ll want to get everything set up in the capture software prior to starting, and then use the software’s keyboard shortcuts to toggle recording.

GHG is currently on a limited 1Mbps upstream connection, so I was not able to test out the Game Capture HD’s live streaming capabilities. I will update this review when I am back on a sufficiently fast internet service.

Click for 1920×1080 screen capture (H.264 compression).

For screenshots, I like using 1080p, but this brings up another small issue in that all videos are automatically H.264/MPEG-4 encoded. This inherently adds some compression artifacting and image degradation. This doesn’t matter as much for video, but if you need screenshots of the highest quality, this may not be the best device for you. They’re still good and totally usable, but they have a softer look that nitpickers like myself can’t help but notice.

I posted a few more sample screenshots here, and as you can see, certain content does fare better than others.

The Elgato software’s editing capabilities are OK, but they’re far from robust. I would recommend using a more fully featured editing program such as CyberLink PowerDirector to make things easier on yourself. In a pinch, however, the included editor will get the very basics done. It’s also easy to spit out screenshots from your videos, particularly if you don’t already have the excellent PC capture solution FRAPS.

For a street price of about $150, the Elgato Game Capture HD represents a great value for what is a very powerful and well-designed video recorder. It’s attractive, easy to configure, the software is stable and intuitive, and it will accept virtually any video format, old and new. Although it has some shortcomings in terms of raw image quality, the 1080p 30fps cap, and the encoder lag, it still comes highly recommended.

Overall: A-

Review: DuckTales (NES, 1989)

June 24, 2014 by Mike

Oh, the licensed videogame. They have a notoriously bad reputation — especially those aimed at the younger crowd — and even though I won’t deny there are a lot of terrible ones out there, I think there are just as many great ones. Really, the same can be said for non-licensed games and how many stinkers have been produced. It’s very easy to get caught up in the negativity, but I’d rather focus on the positives: those games that elevate the very things they’re based on.

One such game is Disney’s DuckTales, developed by Capcom, and released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1989. It’s considered one of the best NES games by many players, and 2013’s DuckTales: Remastered from WayForward Technologies is proof of its lasting popularity. It’s also — if the internet is correct — one of the earliest examples of a licensed Disney console title, at least from the NES forward.

It sets the bar pretty high from the get-go. The colorful title screen featuring Scrooge McDuck is attractive and is accompanied by the series’ iconic theme song. I just love that 8-bit sound! Capcom was at the top of their game that year, with the wildly popular Mega Man 2 having been released a few months prior, as well as the criminally underrated Willow. DuckTales shares more than a few similarities to the Mega Man series, particularly with its open structure and some would say, its difficulty.

This isn’t Ghosts’n Goblins or Battletoads hard, but don’t let the Disney license fool you: DuckTales can be a challenging game. It requires good coordination and practice, especially to master its signature move: Uncle Scrooge’s Pogo-jump. To do it, you jump in the air, press down + attack, and continue to hold them after the first successful bounce. After that, you can just hold down the attack button and pogo around. It’s fun and powerful — it’s the only way to reach many of the game’s ledges — but you can’t control the height of your bounce, certain enemies are immune to it, and getting too close to ledges will cancel it out. This adds a new layer of complexity and strategy to navigating levels, and it’s one of DuckTales‘ defining features. It’s also the primary way to uncover hidden treasures throughout, of which there are many.

Speaking of Scrooge’s cane, it’s not just for bouncing around. It’s a rather cool and context-sensitive weapon that you can use to hit environmental items to more easily take care of enemies. Swinging at canisters and rocks will send them flying across the screen, keeping you out of harm’s way. You can face those enemies head-on, but you’ll quickly learn of more creative ways to get around them. This encourages the player to experiment with their surroundings. You can also swing at bigger objects to uncover even more goodies; if they contain nothing, Scrooge’s head will humorously shake from the impact.

When you begin, three hits will end you, and you will get hit. Enemy placement is very thoughtful though, and those looking to quickly run through to get to the end won’t make it far. Level checkpoints are sparse, lives are limited, recovery time is short, and there is a timer working against you. I don’t like that timer, even though it’s a generous one. Stages can (and should!) be thoroughly searched, but I think time limits can really discourage exploration in games. To be fair, once you learn your way around, completing stages can be done quickly and you do get a money bonus at the end. However, I was still happy to hear that this was taken out of the Remastered version.

The bosses themselves are a bit of a disappointment. They’re small, and most players will only have trouble with one or two of them. The rest display simple patterns that only take a few seconds to figure out and overcome. In fact, I found several of the game’s standard enemies to be more troublesome than the bosses.

Graphically, DuckTales looks great. Scrooge is animated well, and small details, like how his top hat briefly pops off of his head when he… ducks, are wonderful touches. At times, he’ll walk behind foreground elements, which is always a cool detail that creates a convincing sense of depth. You’ll also briefly run into various characters from the cartoon, including Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, and Launchpad McQuack.

The music is an often-cited high point of DuckTales, and it has good reason to be. “The Moon”, easily one of the most recognizable songs from the NES era, is up there with “Dr. Wily’s Castle” from Capcom’s own Mega Man 2 in the “How many times has it been covered on YouTube?” department. It’s an inspired song, and always ranks high on videogame music lists. Another standout track is “The Himalayas”, which perfectly matches the tone of the game.

DuckTales is short, but Capcom packed in a lot of content within its 5 stages. There’s some cheap recycling going on — you’ll revisit one area not just once, but twice — but overall, the game provides a good amount of variety within its branching levels. There are lots of hidden areas, and it even has three different endings, depending on how good or bad you do.

It’ll definitely take you several playthroughs to extract everything there is out of DuckTales, and even after that, you’ll likely come back for more. This is a unique, fun platformer that proudly does its license justice.

Graphics & Presentation: B
Sprites are drawn well, the backgrounds have good detail, and enemies are decently animated. Character cameos included for series fans.
Music & Sound Effects: A
DuckTales‘ soundtrack is great, with lots of similarities to Mega Man‘s style. Sound effects are typical of the 8-bit era, and get the job done.
Gameplay & Controls: B+
Tight, precise controls make this a very enjoyable experience, and the nonlinear level design is very good. The Pogo-jump has an initially steep learning curve, which could frustrate some players, but it’s fun and unique.
Value: B
There are only 5 stages, which is short even by 8-bit standards. However, there are lots of things to find, and only diligent players will get the game’s best ending.

Overall: B+

Re-Review: NES Remix (Wii U eShop)

June 19, 2014 by Mike

I gave NES Remix a B- earlier this year, after losing interest in it rather quickly. When I bought it, I was expecting it to be similar to the WarioWare series, with quick, bite-sized challenges of increasing difficulty. In a way, that’s exactly what I got. However, instead of just a well-timed button press here or a tilt of the GBA there, these challenges required more effort and patience. In other words, you have to be good at these games. Did I really want to be devoting valuable time to games like Balloon Fight and Wrecking Crew, after not really caring about them in the ’80s? Those opposing forces really conflicted me, and before I knew it, I was getting frustrated trying to relearn these old 8-bit games.

But as I’ve learned time and time again, stepping away from games can often bring me back with a more open mind. After spending more time with it, digging deeper into its many challenges, my appreciation for it has definitely grown. While I still think that the game selection itself runs the entire quality gamut from poor to excellent, what the developer Indieszero has put together here is really quite impressive.

It’d be easy to say that they just wrapped a NES emulator inside another game engine, but when you stop and think about what it took to make all of this function the way it does, it’s pretty amazing.

As a sidenote, I think one of the best features of the Wii U is the Miiverse, with its individual game communities, excellent player interaction, and what was introduced first in Super Mario 3D World: stamps. NES Remix‘s implementation is cool in that you not only earn stamps and can use them in Miiverse posts, but they are displayed to other users, including best times and star ratings. Some of the scores I’ve seen from other players have been very impressive, as is the artwork I’ve seen. There are some incredibly talented artists out there, and I love discovering them.

My meager attempt — like the one pictured here — is just a tiny example of how you can blend hand-drawn pictures with stamps. It’s a lot of fun, the community seems to do a good job of policing itself, and the Wii U GamePad works surprisingly well for drawing.

I still have a considerable ways to go before I get 3 stars on everything, but even at this relatively late point in the game, I keep running into little fun surprises. For example, you can buy the old games featured in NES Remix on the eShop. That’s not the cool part, though. What’s cool is they created this fun Legend of Zelda-themed screen before taking you to the store. It’s a great touch that they didn’t really need to put in there, but they did anyway.

NES Remix also does a really good job of rolling out new content and challenges to the player constantly. Every time I think I’ve unlocked the last game, a new one pops up, or more Remix stages appear, and there are surprises beyond that. I loved the way Turn 10 did this in Forza Motorsport 4, and it’s just as effective and rewarding here.

I also like that there are embedded curve balls thrown into the Remix stages, so just when you think you know what you’re going to have to do, you’re asked to do things that you’ve probably never done in these games. Those moments are the most memorable, like the one above where Luigi not only has to get through one of Donkey Kong‘s stages that has been flipped horizontally, but then make it all the way back to the beginning. Some of the other stages seem borderline unfair at times, but you can tell that the designers had a blast coming up with all sorts of ways to really mess with our decades-old muscle memory.

In closing, this has been my go-to game for the past week. Whenever I have a few minutes, I’ll immediately turn this on and collect several more stars. It’s great being able to do everything from the GamePad too; this is precisely the type of title that’s perfectly suited for it. Although I still can’t get over how bad the controls are in games like Ice Climber, Urban Champion, and the original Mario Bros. (non-Super), this is still a great compilation that will make you look at the NES era in entirely new ways.

Graphics & Presentation: B+
Classic sprites with subtle touches in the Remix stages, like drop shadows that add depth. Nice interface, good Miiverse integration, and a terrific loading screen give it a polished feel.
Music & Sound Effects: B
Clean, crisp audio, plus some new music and interface sound effects. You’ll likely get very tired of hearing the Miss and Game Over sounds, though.
Gameplay & Controls: B+
The games are preserved here and play just like you remember. They also control just like they did in the ’80s, which is to say that some are good and some are bad. Lots of content rewards throughout keep things fresh.
Value: A+
$15 seems steep, but there are over 200 challenges to complete, and they will keep you busy for a long time, especially if you go for the perfect rainbows. Good Miiverse integration keeps you chasing those high scores.

Overall: B+

Review: The King of Arcades (DVD)

June 16, 2014 by Mike

“Do what you love.”

Those words have rung true for me throughout most of my life, and certainly throughout the majority of my career. Back in late-’95, before I took my first videogame industry job as a Tester, my college counselor basically told me I was an idiot. I believe she called it the worst mistake I could ever make and that there was no future in it. She was certain of it, and I walked out of there wondering if I was indeed screwing up my life.

Well, I decided to ignore her and follow my passion for gaming instead, and it would end up being one of the best choices I ever made. It rewarded me with a great career, where I had the pleasure of working with some of the best and brightest people I’ve ever known. That moment is one I often cite when faced with dream-killing negativity and seemingly insurmountable odds. And that struggle is at the heart of Sean Tiedeman’s The King of Arcades.

Although the title sounds similar to 2007’s The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, this isn’t a documentary about two opposite, but like-minded players competing for Donkey Kong‘s high score. No, this is about one man: Richie Knucklez, a passionate, energetic guy who equally loves his family, his friends, and ’80s arcade culture and game restoration.

In that sense, The King of Arcades doesn’t have the same level of dramatic, competitive tension that The King of Kong had, but is rather a fascinating and intimate look into classic arcade culture and those who put their blood, sweat, and tears into preserving those cherished memories.

It’s full of wonderful time capsule-like vignettes, featuring interviews with many iconic industry figures, including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Defender and Robotron creator Eugene Jarvis, and videogame “Father” Ralph H. Baer, to name just a few. They provide some historically interesting insight into the early days of videogames and their evolution, and are bookended by old commercials and news stories from when the arcade craze was at its peak. Some of them are hilariously cheesy, but they are all charming in their own right.

For those of us who grew up in the arcades of the ’80s, The King of Arcades does a very effective job at tapping right into that nostalgia. I got more emotional than I thought I would seeing graveyard after graveyard of game cabinets in dark sheds, closed arcades, and dusty warehouses. It reminded me of a scene from the 2002 documentary Scratch, in which DJ Shadow reminisces very similarly about old records in basements, unearthing hidden treasures, and the forgotten, broken dreams of artists.

That undercurrent runs through every scene here, and even during the happiest of times, there is a sense that it won’t last forever. What I enjoyed most about The King of Arcades is that even when things do hit rock-bottom, Knucklez keeps his head up and finds a way to persevere. It doesn’t feel artificial, either. In a lot of ways, I think viewers will find that even if their personalities don’t match, they’ll be able to relate well with Knucklez. He talks us through his younger years working a job he couldn’t stand, and how a physical ticking time-bomb inspired him to live life to its fullest and follow his dreams.

And follow them he does. I often think back to how important arcades were for me, and how there was nothing that came close to walking into one and being hit by all of those beautiful cabinets and iconic sounds. Popping in The King of Arcades will bring back all of those memories that kept you coming back to places like Aladdin’s Castle, Tilt, and Golfland.

Although it’s not as cohesive as The King of Kong, this should still be on every arcade lover’s shortlist of DVDs to own. You can tell that those involved in the making of it respect and value videogames as much as Knucklez himself. And now I want to do nothing more than make my own dreams a reality, starting with the creation of our own indie game. That, and maybe restoring an old arcade cabinet. If only I had the space!

Overall: B+

In terms of the DVD itself, I wrote previously about its packaging, and they did a nice job with the on-disc menus and extras as well. While I didn’t really care for the fact that two trailers precede the main menu, there’s a good amount of extra content to be had, which Kickstarter backers got a nice glimpse of during production.

The documentary itself has nice video and audio, and while the production value isn’t as polished as say, Indie Game: The Movie, it’s still tastefully done and fun to watch. Below are some menu system captures:

Review: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (PS3, 1990 & 2013 Versions)

May 20, 2014 by Mike

I remember Sega’s Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse like it was yesterday. I played it for the first time at my cousins’ house around Christmas of 1990, and I sat there completely blown away by what I was seeing and hearing coming out of their Genesis. Its animation, music, and colorful levels made a huge impression on me, possessing all the qualities of a Disney animated feature. It was one of the first examples of a licensed videogame done the right way.

Last month, Sony released both this and the updated PS3 version from 2013 via their PlayStation Plus service. Today, I decided to play through each of them to see how they compared (and to relive my youth).

The original game is considered one of the standouts from the early Genesis years, following some of my favorites from 1989, including Ghouls’n Ghosts, Thunder Force II, and The Revenge of Shinobi. Sega and its developers got good at developing for it quickly, and Castle of Illusion is no exception.

Playing through it in its entirety again today, I was reminded of all the things I loved about it, most notably the lovely animation found on Mickey Mouse himself. He is so full of life, and I was immediately transported back 1991, where I would obsessively study his various animation cycles and perfect sprite work. His walk is particularly good, and so different from the more mechanical walking animations in games back then. His overall look remains one of my all-time favorites, and it brought a big smile to my face today.

I forgot how big these levels were too, with lots of hidden areas and multiple paths to explore. My memory of it was that of a simple, linear game, but there is a surprising amount of variety to be had here. Each level is distinct, full of gorgeous color, parallax scrolling, and the soundtrack is one of the all-time greats, with bright, original instrumentation and melodies.

I struggled with the controls at first, which is a common problem for games that old, even the historically infallible Super Mario World. I got used to them by the end of the first level, but I still died a lot later in the game, where certain levels require precision platforming, else Mickey falls to his doom.

Overall, this is still as fun today as it was nearly 24 years ago. I also need to give proper respect to M2 here, who did an excellent job porting the game to PS3, with perfect emulation and a decent range of tweaks and options.

1990 Sega Genesis Version:
Graphics: A
Audio: A
Gameplay & Controls: B
Presentation: A
Value: C
Overall: B+

On the other hand, the 2013 version developed by the late Sega Studios Australia, is more of a mixed bag.

I enjoyed how it stayed true to its vision of re-imagining the 1990 classic on modern hardware. The characters are animated well, and the levels are beautifully constructed and painted. Many of them are sprawling, and like the original, have hidden paths to explore and hidden items to find. Their new 3D structure means that Mickey can now move in and out of the backgrounds, with some stages switching from side-scrolling to fully 3D on the fly.

The music — which includes both classic and modern soundtracks — is very familiar, and made me feel right at home. The game also has plentiful, context-based narration, which adds to its movie-like feel, as well as good voice acting throughout. These are nice touches that one would expect of a game starring one of the world’s most recognizable icons. Some key story segments are presented through semi-animated, storyboard-like sequences, which have nice art, but I think those would have been better fully animated via the game’s engine.

Unfortunately, this update suffers from a very average framerate. Running at about 30 fps, Castle of Illusion simply doesn’t look as polished as it should. The framerate drops even more when there are lots of objects on-screen, which is a big hit to its perceived quality, reflecting on its overall lack of optimization.

Controls are also borderline awful, with loose jumping physics, vague hit detection, near-nonexistent feedback when you take damage, and movement that makes it difficult to tell where you are in 3D space. This all makes traversal and precision jumping much more difficult than it should be.

The game provides a middling level of challenge and length, similar to the Genesis original. The new version adds collectibles, unlockables, and a decent set of Trophies for completionists, so replay value is better here.

As a free game included with PlayStation Plus, it’s passable, but I would have a very difficult time recommending its purchase.

2013 PS3 Version:
Graphics: A-
Audio: A
Gameplay & Controls: C-
Presentation: B
Value: B-
Overall: C

Review: The Room Two (iOS & Android)

May 20, 2014 by Mike

Note: The Android version was used for this review. Played on a Google Nexus 7 (2012) running stock KitKat 4.4.2.

Fireproof Games’ 2012 puzzler The Room is one of my all-time favorite mobile titles. It’s one of the best examples of touch controls used expertly to interact with marvelously conceived puzzles. Everything was wrapped up in an enigmatic, atmospheric package with terrific visuals and sound design. When I heard that a sequel was planned for late 2013 (iOS) and early 2014 (Android), I knew it was going to be a must-buy.

The Room Two takes the successful formula of the original game and makes everything bigger. You’re no longer faced with just one intricately designed device, but with several that are intertwined throughout larger rooms. This change in scope is the biggest difference from the first game, with most of the core mechanics remaining the same. Fans of the first game will feel slightly disoriented at first, but will be immediately at home with the layered, waterfall-like gameplay.

I liked the variety of environments from room to room, and each of them has a distinct and memorable theme. They get progressively scarier, and Fireproof does an amazing job making your hairs stand on end through effective visuals, sound effects, and music. This game is best played with the lights off, headphones on, and the volume up. The Room was a more mysterious experience compared to The Room Two, which unlocks a door into the world of pure horror, and does so with aplomb.

The puzzle design itself is very solid, with the tactile feel and satisfying feedback that made the original game so memorable. With the rooms being larger and with more areas for the player to experiment with, I found that it made certain sequences too drawn-out and unfocused, requiring lots of back and forth navigation and repetition to solve. The original’s up-close-and-personal approach was highly engaging, where I quite literally felt like I was hypnotically falling deeper into each of its beautifully engineered creations. Here, things have shifted a little more towards a traditional first-person adventure game, albeit with superior, intuitive puzzle design and logic.

In terms of other features, Google Play and Game Center Achievements are supported, but they are story-based. Since the game is linear, you will unlock all of them through normal play. Cloud saves are a welcome inclusion, since I did have to wipe my Nexus 7 recently. It was nice being able to continue my adventure without losing progress. With the relative fragility of hard drive and flash storage, this should be a standard, non-premium feature for any handheld or console, and I’m very happy to see it being used more often for mobile games.

In the end, The Room Two is a worthy sequel. It does what most follow-ups do, by taking a successful formula, polishing it, and broadening its scope. It’s a wonderful experience slightly undone by making the player move around each room so much, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the best games available on mobile.

Graphics: A
Audio: A+
Gameplay & Controls: B+
Presentation: A
Value: B+
Overall: A-

Review: Monument Valley (iOS & Android)

May 19, 2014 by Mike

Note: The Android version was used for this review. Played on a Google Nexus 7 (2012) running stock KitKat 4.4.2.

Screenshot_2014-05-19-09-11-14 It was only a few years ago that premium mobile games were the norm and not the exception. They’d cost as little as a dollar, with some “expensive” ones being $3 or more. It was a great time, since we saw so many high-quality titles with terrific style, gameplay, and content across all genres. Some of my fondest memories include games like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Tiny Wings, Real Racing 2, Infinity Blade, Groove Coaster, and Doodle Jump.

Compared to what I was used to playing on traditional handhelds and consoles, these games were an absolute steal. A vertical shoot-’em-up like Dodonpachi Resurrection, for example, would cost upwards of $80-90 to import and play on a console, and to have it for a tenth of the price, fully translated into English? Shut up and take my money.

Fast-forward to 2014, and the mobile landscape has changed significantly. Finding games now that aren’t free-to-play takes more effort, and discovering them on the Apple App Store or Google Play can be a challenging game all on its own. That’s why running into Ustwo Games’ Monument Valley last week was such a special treat. I couldn’t even tell you how I found out about it, but I’m so glad I did.

I immediate fell in love with its beautiful isometric graphics. Every level pops off the screen with clean lines, easily readable design, and a heavy M.C. Escher/Crystal Castles influence. Animation is extremely smooth, even on older hardware, and its expert use of vibrant colors make everything a wonder to look at.

Its puzzle-based gameplay possesses similar concepts that I played in Terry Cavanagh’s Naya’s Quest, without all the endless frustrations I experienced with that game. (Sorry Terry, I still love VVVVVV and Super Hexagon!) The tap and swipe controls feel great, character pathfinding works like a charm, and the visual and audio feedback given to the player throughout are very satisfying. There are no particularly difficult puzzles, though, which was slightly disappointing. On the other hand, seeing how your changes affect the world and then progressing through them is very rewarding.

Monument Valley‘s story is intentionally sparse and mysterious, and there were a few times that I was taken back to Thatgamecompany’s 2012 masterpiece Journey on the PS3. It keeps you wondering where things are going until the very end, and provides the player with a smile-inducing close to your adventure.

Unfortunately, that end comes rather quickly, as the game is over in less than two hours. It seems especially quick here since it’s so easy to get sucked in and blast through it in one sitting. That in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I have always said I’d rather play a short game that’s excellent over a long game that’s mediocre. However, since there’s nothing else to do after the game is over, once you’re done, you’re done.

I think it would have been cool to incorporate some level of achievement system, like (a) stealth-based ones where you go through certain levels undetected, (b) find hidden collectibles off the beaten path, and (c) goals involving as few moves as possible. The framework is there, so it would be great to see ideas like these implemented in a future update or sequel to breathe more playability into what is already a terrific experience.

At $3.99, Monument Valley might be a little more expensive than your average mobile game, but this is no average game. It successfully melds a wonderful visual style with creative gameplay, and you can tell that the developers put their all into bringing this world to life in such a carefully polished way. Although I wish there was a little more to it, this game still comes highly recommended, and I can’t wait to see what Ustwo Games does next.

Graphics: A
Audio: A
Gameplay & Controls: A-
Presentation: A
Value: B-
Overall: A-

Gray-Haired Gamer

Gaming in my forties

Tag Archives: review

Review: DuckTales Remastered (PC, 2013)

Overall: B-

Review: Electronic Super Joy (PC, 2013)

Overall: A-

Review: Shovel Knight (PC)

Overall: A+

Review: Elgato Game Capture HD

Overall: A-

Review: DuckTales (NES, 1989)

Overall: B+

Re-Review: NES Remix (Wii U eShop)

Overall: B+

Review: The King of Arcades (DVD)

Review: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (PS3, 1990 & 2013 Versions)

Review: The Room Two (iOS & Android)

Review: Monument Valley (iOS & Android)