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[vireland]

There's a lot of things wrong with the game that are immediately apparent, but that also makes them easier to fix for a sequel. Addressing this game's flaws would make for a damn good sequel.

Well, hopefully we can address most of the complaints in the here and now. Adding 480p, Classic Controller Support, and multiple control schemes wold take care of about 75%-80% of the issues that people point to as detracting from the experience. We'll see how it goes.

 

[ReyVGM]

The industry needs more people like Vic. Seriously.

 

[Man God]

I personally love the top down sections and my only problem with them is that the maps are a bit too easy and most of the enemies look terrible. The bosses are fantastic though even with the old school palette swapping.

Wouldn't be something to add to this game but the primary gun on the Sophia screams out for an upgrade like a charge shot or something. I know the drill is there and is a great combat weapon but still, something a bit more tankish would have been nice.

 

[GeekyDad]

...It's a decent game hampered by a bunch of dumb/frustrating/lazy design decisions. If the game...

Well, evidently I wasn't the only one who had issues with the game. I know a lot of folks might have really enjoyed the original NES game and have a tough time removing their rose-colored glasses to view this game in light of it being made for the year 2010, but I had no such trouble myself. There are a lot of cool gameplay ideas here, but the short of it is, it's not just not fun to play, it's frustrating as hell to play. To put that in perspective, I've been hooked on Demon's Souls for the last month and a half, putting in literally 6-8 hours of play a day. So, I enjoy challenging games. But broken and difficult don't equate to the same thing for me.

To be clear, I don't think the game's a total disaster. It's nothing like that. It's just not a "good" game in my mind.

 

[Inkwell]

I just beat the game a few minutes ago. I started out today in area 7. I don't know why, but that boss was the most difficult for me. It's strange, because I was finishing the first phase with full health and all my guns fully powered up.

I finished the last boss on my first go at it. I can't say it was easy, but it certainly wasn't as difficult as I expected.

It's unfortunate that the game felt like it was rushed. It has an excellent framework for a game, but the level design was a bit weak and most of the areas had a bland, boring art design.

Besides the above, I have a few other things I would like to see in a sequel. First, please, put a save point at the beginning of a boss dungeon. Having the nearest save point a screen or two away doesn't add to the challenge. It just makes it more annoying to get back to the boss.

Second, it would be great to have gun upgrades. I mean for both the sidescrolling and overhead sections. For the overhead sections, it would be awesome to find upgrades that permanently increase the base level for the weapons. The system as it is right now feels a bit outdated. Not only would this help the player feel like they are progressing and getting more powerful, I believe it would also make it easier to balance the difficulty.

I also wouldn't mind seeing some more sidescrolling sections where you need to get out of sophia. The whole slowly losing life when out of sophia needs to be removed as well. I mean, really, you are already pretty damn weak when out of the tank. What other motivation do you need to stay in it?

 

[Tremis]

just lost at last boss to the scorpions swarms. ticked down my most useful weapon and that was it. nothing you can do about it. that is some cheap ass design.

mostly this game was just that, the game was made difficult by designing cheap enemies with combined with annoying strafe controls. a few decent boss fights, but overall, i have to say this one was a bit of a dud. i mean, is there a point to giving you a final upgrade to your tank before the last boss? the tank upgrades mostly felt pointless really.

Also, why don't you ever fight bosses in your tank? it just felt like they dialed this one in, rather than trying to innovate to any real degree.

What i did like, however, was the way you get to the area 4 boss cave. really good level design there actually. I was proud of myself when i figured it out.

Basically, there needed to be more of that style of exploration where powerups were used in unorthodox ways or combined. Ways in which this could have been exploited could have involved using the grappling hook in other ways, for example, to grab and pull/move things. allowing use of powerups underwater in different ways, etc.

And I honestly can't state this enough, can we have something cool where you maybe fight a huge boss in the tank, perhaps pulling off its robotic limbs with the grappling hook, then going inside the boss without the tank and killing its core? Any kind of cool evolution of Blaster Master like this would be welcome. I would love to see a Treasure-style take on this series.

 

[VOOK]

So another week in PAL lands with out this, when can we expect it in Europe/Australia

 

[mclem]

So another week in PAL lands with out this, when can we expect it in Europe/Australia

We've not yet had the NES title, have we? I doubt we'll see the remake before the original, but stranger things have happened.

Just as long as Vic isn't making it *really* oldschool by making us wait a year and a half for what amounts to a shoddy 50Hz port

 

[OnPoint]

I just finished the world 6 boss earlier today. What a difference having gun upgrades makes in terms of the difficulty.

I'm finding some aspects of the game fun, but some rather tedious. I wish more was put into things, but this is what we've got. I'll try to do a full write-up when I finish.

 

[vireland]

We've not yet had the NES title, have we? I doubt we'll see the remake before the original, but stranger things have happened.

Just as long as Vic isn't making it *really* oldschool by making us wait a year and a half for what amounts to a shoddy 50Hz port

I know it's in the works, but let me try to get a better idea of a European release timeline.

 

[Drkirby]

Thanks! The beauty of this Sunsoft/Gaijinworks hookup is I am in a position to play an instrumental part in bringing about 10x more games here than I ever could at Working Designs. Sucked that things went down they way they did with WD, but it really is true that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. But the key is, for that to work, you can never give up.

And speaking of never giving up, Goemon PS2 may see the light of day in English anyway. Don't give up on it yet. I haven't.

Any chance we may be getting a few Localized VC games? Like, I don't know, the first two Albert Odyssey games maybe

 

[JaseMath]

Initially I really liked the game, but I could only stomach recycled assets for so long. Once the "new!" nostalgia starts to wear off, the game starts to feel pretty routine and in the end, feels lazy and slapped together. You'll begin to notice uninspired level design and recycled assets throughout. If the VC had a trade-in program, this game would be the first to go. Having taken off the rose-colored glasses, I wouldn't recommend this game; save you moneys.

 

[Torquill]

Last form of the Area 7 boss is smoking me. The tank sections offer no threat now which I like cause I earned my upgrades, but that purple jerk. Grrrrr!!!!!

 

[Marvie_3]

Just past the 3rd boss myself. I've been so busy trying to clear out my backlog that I haven't been able to make much progress in this yet.

 

[OnPoint]

Finished the game this morning. My game clock reads just under 4 hours, but I've easily played double that due to deaths.

This game would be a lot more fun with Classic Controller support. God, I hate to harp on that, it's a dead horse at this point, but using the analog sticks in conjunction with the shoulder buttons would mean the character would do what I want him to do.

Still, it's difficult but beatable. You really have to get good at the game to get through it. It recaptures part of the spirit of old-style games because of that. Progress is not handed to you, it's earned. And THAT little bit I appreciate.

 

[Mak]

Just finished after 3 tries on the last boss (intense!). I'm guessing I didn't miss anything as

Spoiler

the ending hints at a sequel.

It did feel like it needed more polish. Going back to the original Blaster Master to compare, the original moved faster, and the overhead levels were more interesting. My hand did get cramped by the area 7 boss, so different control schemes would be great (1+2 to strafe like the original).

I enjoyed Overdrive overall and digging through the interconnected maps. It feels like it captures the charm of an NES game.

 

[Mike M]

I only just beat the boss in the second area. I'm making do with the controls, but what's really bugging the crap out of me is the fact that the secondary tank weapons (The warheads, homing missiles, and lightning attack) are gone. Now there's no way to hit enemies below you, which leads to a lot of instances where it's very difficult or nigh impossible to avoid taking damage when going *down* a cavern when going *up* was cake.

Also not a fan of the HUD in tank mode, it seems like a good 20-25% of the screen is taken up by the health/energy meter and weapon selection icon. Makes it very difficult to see enemies above you or in the bottom right corner.

Also, while granted I've only seen Areas 1, 2, and 4, it seems like there's not a lot of variety. I leave one set of caves to visit... a different set of caves... Granted I've only seen those three areas, so there might be more variety later, but the first four zones of the original were wildly different (Don't think I ever got past area 4, now that I think about it), so that's kind of a disappointment.

I'm still enjoying the game, but really it just makes me want to go back and play the original... Heh heh.