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The Bar For Cutscenes Has Once Again Risen, Thanks To Phoenix Games...
- Thread starter FortNinety
- Start date
Haunted
Member
Phoenix Games is one of the worst budget devs/publishers out there - sadly, they're being pretty successful with their strategy, so they'll stay around.
and btw, Phoenix Games titles are the ones leech should have singled out in his last thread, not the (at worst) mediocre licensed shovelware on the Wii.
and btw, Phoenix Games titles are the ones leech should have singled out in his last thread, not the (at worst) mediocre licensed shovelware on the Wii.
Night_Trekker
Member
Those look like they were made completely in Art Alive :lol
Night_Trekker
Member
Borys said:
Seriously, someone needs to get on this.
Infernal Monkey
Member
Mighty Mulan and Legend of 'Herkules' will be the next two disasters captured, although they're nowhere near as creepy/hilarious.
So I did a bit of research into the one game on the site that actually looks good, Ocean Commander. It turns out that it's also a downloadable PC game!
The hour-long demo can be downloaded from this site, as well as the full PC game.
The game is actually not too bad. It's a sidescrolling shooter with 20 levels and about a dozen or so powerups to its name. The most unique thing about it is the dual control setup - see, you move the shark ship around the stage with the arrow keys (or A,W,S,D if you're a lefty), and the targetting reticule with the mouse. Left clicking on the mouse shoots in that direction relative to your ship's position, and rightclicking activates some big lightning attack, of which you have limited supplies of. Destroying enemies provides you with money; I'm not sure of this, but I think you get more money for destroying certain baddies with certain weapons - however it gets so imprecise later on that it doesn't seem worth the hassle to try and exploit.) You then use this money before each new stage to upgrade your ship with new weapons and more power to each weapon, as well as overall firepower strength, speed and shields.
You only have two pickups during the actual levels - one restores part of your energy bar and one adds an extra Super Lightning Attack to your repertoire. The annoying thing about the pickups is their movement, as they do nothing but sink to the bottom of the screen and stay there until you pick them up (they don't even scroll along with the background.) It makes it quite a nuisance to have to clear your way through the enemies to get to it.
Challenge wise, this game has a very noticeable difficulty curve. The first two levels are a walk in the park as there are only a few enemy types and they're all easy to cope with. Likewise for the bosses. However with each new stage the game introduces a new enemy type on top of whatever appeared during the previous stage. Pretty soon things get very hectic, and the bosses definitely become more difficult over time. Each one is pretty unique too, and the marine animal designs spice things up a bit (although it does feel a bit like a poor man's Darius at times.)
Overall, I would recommend it. From my playtime with the game I got about halfway through the game before the demo time duration conked out, and the last few levels I was definitely feeling the pinch on me during the explosion of bullets and enemies onscreen. The graphics are pretty charming and definitely not to be lumped in with the other Phoenix Games-published stuff we've seen right here (I think this game was developed by Big Fish Games, the people who run the site, but I wasn't paying attention to the splash screens at the beginning of the game.) There's a nice variety of weapons to play around with and overall it's pretty much just mindless entertainment. Don't expect there to be any fiendish level designs outside of "let's inundate the player with as many enemy types as possible", but you could do far worse than this, for sure.
However... I don't think I'd want to play this on PS2. With the dual-control method used in the game I imagine it to be a horrible experience with analogue sticks. I really think it would work much better as a cheapo Wii title, or even WiiWare.... Of course I could just download the PC title right now, but where would the fun be in that?!
The hour-long demo can be downloaded from this site, as well as the full PC game.
The game is actually not too bad. It's a sidescrolling shooter with 20 levels and about a dozen or so powerups to its name. The most unique thing about it is the dual control setup - see, you move the shark ship around the stage with the arrow keys (or A,W,S,D if you're a lefty), and the targetting reticule with the mouse. Left clicking on the mouse shoots in that direction relative to your ship's position, and rightclicking activates some big lightning attack, of which you have limited supplies of. Destroying enemies provides you with money; I'm not sure of this, but I think you get more money for destroying certain baddies with certain weapons - however it gets so imprecise later on that it doesn't seem worth the hassle to try and exploit.) You then use this money before each new stage to upgrade your ship with new weapons and more power to each weapon, as well as overall firepower strength, speed and shields.
You only have two pickups during the actual levels - one restores part of your energy bar and one adds an extra Super Lightning Attack to your repertoire. The annoying thing about the pickups is their movement, as they do nothing but sink to the bottom of the screen and stay there until you pick them up (they don't even scroll along with the background.) It makes it quite a nuisance to have to clear your way through the enemies to get to it.
Challenge wise, this game has a very noticeable difficulty curve. The first two levels are a walk in the park as there are only a few enemy types and they're all easy to cope with. Likewise for the bosses. However with each new stage the game introduces a new enemy type on top of whatever appeared during the previous stage. Pretty soon things get very hectic, and the bosses definitely become more difficult over time. Each one is pretty unique too, and the marine animal designs spice things up a bit (although it does feel a bit like a poor man's Darius at times.)
Overall, I would recommend it. From my playtime with the game I got about halfway through the game before the demo time duration conked out, and the last few levels I was definitely feeling the pinch on me during the explosion of bullets and enemies onscreen. The graphics are pretty charming and definitely not to be lumped in with the other Phoenix Games-published stuff we've seen right here (I think this game was developed by Big Fish Games, the people who run the site, but I wasn't paying attention to the splash screens at the beginning of the game.) There's a nice variety of weapons to play around with and overall it's pretty much just mindless entertainment. Don't expect there to be any fiendish level designs outside of "let's inundate the player with as many enemy types as possible", but you could do far worse than this, for sure.
However... I don't think I'd want to play this on PS2. With the dual-control method used in the game I imagine it to be a horrible experience with analogue sticks. I really think it would work much better as a cheapo Wii title, or even WiiWare.... Of course I could just download the PC title right now, but where would the fun be in that?!
Iam Canadian
and have the worst user name EVER
Wow...that actually sounds really good. I love shooters.
It's kind of mind-blowing that I want a Phoenix Games product for its gameplay...
It's kind of mind-blowing that I want a Phoenix Games product for its gameplay...
FortNinety
Member
Borys said:
Come on people.
Well, here's one:
Iam Canadian
and have the worst user name EVER
muckhole said:
Homestar Runner has higher writing standards than that.
Though the black dog does sound like Strong Bad.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
WOW :lol :lol
Infernal Monkey
Member
DavidDayton said:
Yep, actually I'm going through Mouse Police now, and there's a sliding puzzle image of this disturbing mouse prostitute with a withered hand. I was like.. do I really want to finish shuffling around the pieces in this puzzle? But I did.
Iam Canadian
and have the worst user name EVER
Infernal Monkey said:Yep, actually I'm going through Mouse Police now, and there's a sliding puzzle image of this disturbing mouse prostitute with a withered hand. I was like.. do I really want to finish shuffling around the pieces in this puzzle? But I did.
Wait...what?
Morbid curiosity demands that I ask you to provide a screenshot.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
Why is Simba jewish?
Infernal Monkey
Member
Iam Canadian said:
Done and done!
And here it is during the actual cartoon shitfest.. THE HAAAAND!
Also Mickey Mouse as a bum.
Night_Trekker
Member
Infernal Monkey said:
omfg :lol
Mike Works
Member
holy shit, starting at 6:02 in the 2nd video and going until 6:24...
that is THE FUCKING BEST set up and punchline delivery i have EVER heard :lol
that is THE FUCKING BEST set up and punchline delivery i have EVER heard :lol