What games are you currently playing?

[Rayfist]

I watched some gameplay for that game during a livestream, scared the living fuck out of me.

[Reese Riverson]

Christmas is near, since December is here! The season to be jolly and the season to play Christmas games, such as the Sonic inspired series Jazz Jackrabbit! Except I'm talking about the Holiday Hare games they had! For anyone interested, here is a great video of Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare '95.



Now I am ready to dig out my MS-DOS gaming machine and set it up to play. That and along with other Christmas games I may post about later! Best not to give away every classic title in one day!

[technology4617]

Now I am ready to dig out my MS-DOS gaming machine and set it up to play.

Or just set up DOSBox.

[incognito]

Im soon gonna replay soldier of fortune double elix with the maximum violence mod

[Reese Riverson]

Now I am ready to dig out my MS-DOS gaming machine and set it up to play.

Or just set up DOSBox.

DOSBox is already installed with Windows 3.1 and other goodies on a few of my computers, but no. I rather play on real existing hardware of awesomeness, with a nice CRT monitor.

[technology4617]

Now I am ready to dig out my MS-DOS gaming machine and set it up to play.

Or just set up DOSBox.

DOSBox is already installed with Windows 3.1 and other goodies on a few of my computers, but no. I rather play on real existing hardware of awesomeness, with a nice CRT monitor.

OK then.

[OCG]

Now I am ready to dig out my MS-DOS gaming machine and set it up to play.

Or just set up DOSBox.

DOSBox is already installed with Windows 3.1 and other goodies on a few of my computers, but no. I rather play on real existing hardware of awesomeness, with a nice CRT monitor.

A man with excellent taste. I would play it too on real hardware if I had it.

[Reese Riverson]

A man with excellent taste. I would play it too on real hardware if I had it.

Someone who understands how I feel! Hard to beat the real deal!

[MrBadGuy]

Been playing Killzone Shadow Fall, it's very meh so far.

[technology4617]

Someone who understands how I feel! Hard to beat the real deal!

I feel that way about consoles, mainly since the emulators for them suck, but I've never really found the need to own an actual old computer, due to virtual machines and all.

[Reality]

I recently found a huge, somewhat unwieldy box set of Sim City 2000 Collector's edition, but I don't have a reliable way to play it. I use standard dosbox for some roberta williams games and system shock 1, but I don't own anything really special that I need it for.

[OCG]

Someone who understands how I feel! Hard to beat the real deal!

I feel that way about consoles, mainly since the emulators for them suck, but I've never really found the need to own an actual old computer, due to virtual machines and all.

When I owned old computer and when playing on virtual machine, it' just does not feel the same. Probably because of monitor or something.

[Adsolution]

Ah yes, I'm doing the same thing, Hoodcom! I haven't got it properly set up yet, but I'm on my way.

[Rayfist]

Right so, with me finishing Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, did it exceed my expectations, did it live up to the hype? In few ways, yes, but unfortunately no for the most part.

I want to explain my full thoughts on this game, this means as a Zelda fan I WILL be listing my disappointments while playing through and the things I liked.

For a 'sequel' to Link to The Past, I think it did a very good job. With that in mind you'll get Zelda A Link to The past-like dungeon mechanics and such, I will say this is some of the most fun I've had puzzle solving in a Zelda game in a while, the dungeons were sadly pretty damn predictable in my opinion, this doesn't mean it was not fun, it was still a blast solving puzzles, but god damn, these are some of the easiest dungeons in Zelda, puzzle-wise at least. I love the presentation in the game, I think it certainly shines for a portable Zelda title. I do like the art style they went with this game, and I personally think it was a good choice since they went with something pretty much new here. For the 3DS, the graphics look great, the frame rate is at it's best, and overall, it's a smooth, beautiful experience, with much to uncover, and a lot of fun to 100% complete! I think the game does an excellent job with mixing Hyrule and Lorule together, considering I've never beat A Link to The past, I've only just learned about this 'dark Hyrule', and I really do like Lorule, and I find it really innovative and creative how when you merge with the walls like a painting (You could say the 'gimmick' of this game pretty much) and find a crack in the wall, you can transport from Hyrule or Lorule using that small crack. Such a neat idea, and pretty much you'll find yourself using this wall technique through the entire game, it's a very nice feature, and makes for fun puzzle solving. Very fun side quests. And as usual, boss battles are really fun! And while I don't use the 3D much on my 3DS, I'll totally admit the 3D in this game wasn't too bad, but not too great either. And the game had a very neat streetpass feature, and I often don't care for 3DS streetpass features, but this I really enjoyed, as you take on Shadow link in a battle to the death. I really did enjoy Link Between Worlds, but it doesn't even fall close to my top 5 Zelda games, ouch! So... I said everything I liked about the game, and now I must do what I do best... my critique on the game.

As I've said before, Dungeons were extremely predictable, and as fun as they were, solving puzzles didn't feel like much of an accomplishment just because of how easy it was, there isn't much to say on that behalf of the dungeons. One of my biggest disappointments here: both Hyrule and Lorule, hell, the WHOLE game, has the most bland personality of any Zelda game I've seen in a while. The character on A Link Between Worlds (except for Dampe from Ocarina of Time since he returns), were some of the most unmemorable characters (though I will admit Zelda looks pretty cute in this game admittedly.) I was absolutely disappointed with the bland personalities that just didn't give Hyrule/Lorule it's 'distinctiveness' from the other Zelda titles. My next complaint, I did not like how fast the story came together. You know how in games like Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker, the story slowly comes together as you proceed through the beginning. But this game simply doesn't hold back, it throws you into the danger far too quickly. I feel like the game is just trying to rush me into the immersion, again, I know this is suppose to be a lot link A Link to the Past, but I've felt with the Zelda titles evolving, slowly connecting stories made it shine, this isn't something I want to see go. And now for one of my biggest disappointments... now I did like how A Link Between Worlds gave you the option of choosing your path, this is one thing in A Link Between Worlds I'm hoping to see in future Zelda titles, yes, forging your own path, creating a non-linear experience, choose what dungeon you want to take one first... however, one thing I've loved about every Zelda game, is when taking on that dungeon, half-way through you get an item, this item will become the staple throughout your dungeon experience... but not on this one! On this game you have rental items, those 'items' are no longer obtained from dungeons, but can be bought whenever, so unveiling secrets like the hookshot, or just getting any surprise of the sort, was a thrilling experience of Zelda, this absolutely kills it. All the items for every dungeon are out on display with no surprise. You can choose to rent these items for a cheap price, meaning if you die, those items go away and you'll have to purchase them again, or you can own them. This really kills the thrill I had in Zelda games, uncovering those items was such an excitement, but seeing as how the game simply throws these items in your face, the thrill is just... gone. You can choose to easily own all these items since this game throws Rupees at you like fucking candy. It totally ruins the experience heading to a dungeon knowing not many surprises will really lurk you in terms of items. It's very disappointing and like I said, really killed the experience for me already knowing really what to expect. The music... well, it didn't thrill me, but that's kind of up to you really, you may enjoy it, but I've heard much better through the Zelda titles.

It's very sad... I really hope one day, we can see a portable Zelda game that will really 'WOW' us. That will just blow our minds away as much as the console Zelda games do, but it's games like A Link Between Worlds that seem to follow the same fate as Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks to the point where the game is just kind of 'there'. Bad? Of course not, but just there, not really memorable, and not amazing. I do really want to see a portable Zelda game that will blow us away, and you'd think with amazing titles like Ocarina of Time 3D, yes I know it was a remake, you'd think a BRAND spankin new Zelda title on the 3DS would be... mind blowing. I have very yet to see a mind-blowing portable Zelda game. Do I recommend this game? Of course! Sure, I listed a lot of complaints, but this is just my perspective as a Zelda fan, I'll still be going back to get much more Zelda portable goodness, but like I said, the game just really doesn't stand out. I'm sure this game is to maybe get us prepared for the new Zelda on Wii U, which since this is a new Zelda console title we're talking about... it's likely to blow us away.

Overall, Link Between Worlds was a fun, but rather flawed experience, and I don't mean gameplay flawed, rather just lacking the 'Zelda' feel. I'm glad Nintendo took these risks on a portable Zelda title rather than a console Zelda title, I think it was good to play around with for Nintendo, probably seeing if the fans like it. But Nintendo, if you can hear me, for your next big Zelda title, get rid of those item rentals for the love of god. That's all I have to say really.

Verdict: 8/10

[Reese Riverson]

Ah yes, I'm doing the same thing, Hoodcom! I haven't got it properly set up yet, but I'm on my way.

Awesome, Ad! What's the hardware?


Also, another interesting Christmas game, Holiday Lemmings '94.

[OCG]

I remember Lemmings

[sonicbrawler182]

I'm glad Nintendo took these risks on a portable Zelda title rather than a console Zelda title

This isn't necessarily true. If what Eiji Aonuma (sp?) has been saying is anything to go by, Zelda U will be much more ground breaking than any other Zelda title yet. So it's likely to take even more risks. Either way, I'm excited.

[Rayfist]

It's not suppose to be a fact, lol. But I'm not sure what the new console Zelda is going to attempt, I just expect a completely new never before seen art style.

[sonicbrawler182]

It's not suppose to be a fact, lol. But I'm not sure what the new console Zelda is going to attempt, I just expect a completely new never before seen art style.

Actually, Aonuma has already thrown out hints as to how Zelda U will be different:

-It's not going to have a set order in which you tackle dungeons, and in general, the game is more open.
-It challenges the expectation that Zelda games are a single-player experience (Zelda MMO, perhaps?)

I think there may have been other things, but I can't remember.

[Slogbait]

Downloaded a bunch of ROMs of classic NES and SNES games recently. As a kid, I never realized how absurd the difficulty levels of some of these games are.

Oh, also I found my old PC copy of Eye of the Beholder. Such a great dungeon crawl game.