Goat Simulator

Coffee Stain Studios - 2014 - PC

I think there are pretty much two camps of people as it pertains to Goat Simulator. Those who think it's absolutely hilarious and those who get bored quickly while playing it and are slightly confused by the relative popularity of this game. I believe I fall in the latter camp. Just go watch some gameplay videos of Goat Simulator and you'll pretty much already know which camp you belong to without even having to play the game. I understand the humor though, and I get why people like the game. But the more I play Goat Simulator, the more I'm sure that I'm not this game's target audience.

Goat Simulator was a product of an internal game jam at Coffee Stain Studios. Some early footage of a demo of Goat Simulator was released on YouTube and the demand for a full game to be produced was very high. Because, you know, it's the internet. A full version of Goat Simulator was then launched on Steam earlier this year on April 1st. No really, it was. It's kind of an interesting game. It's maybe one of the truest sandbox games ever made. There's absolutely no objective. The entire gameplay of Goat Simulator relies on creating emergent humor through its admittedly broken physics engine. Have you ever been killed by a giant in Skyrim and seen this? Or seen the bizarre physics glitches in the FIFA or GTA games? The developers intentionally left these kinds of glitches in the Goat Simulator physics engine for comedic effect. And that's pretty much the game, just messing around with the physics engine in the game world. There is a scoring system similar to ones found in the old Tony Hawk skating games where points are awarded for doing various skating tricks. There's also some mini-missions and subquests, but it's pretty much just Messing Around: The Videogame

The aforementioned physics glitches in the Elder Scrolls, FIFA or GTA games are funny because they are unexpected and bizarre variations on our expectations of how the game should behave. In all of those games, there is (arguably) some semblance of realism or at least the attempt to make physics objects behave as they would in the real world. That's not really the case with Goat Simulator. I feel that the intentionally programmed physics bugs in Goat Simulator lose some of their comedic value because, while they still look ridiculous, they are completely expected by the player. You're not really expecting to headbutt a human NPC and have him just fall over. You expecting him to skyrocket unrealistically off into the horizon. And always having this constant expectation of humor somewhat diminished the comedic impact for me. I was almost disappointed when crazy stuff didn't always constantly happen while I was galavanting around in the game world. 

Summary:

If you're looking for an open ended, goofy sandbox game with ludicrous physics, Goat Simulator is your game. I didn't really enjoy it, but I'm also aware that this kind of game is not for me. It's obviously loved by its fans though, as it has tons of gameplay videos of ridiculous stuff on YouTube. I think a recent patch for the game added a couch co-op mode, which is cool. This is definitely the kind of game you'd want to share with friends.

Diddy Kong Racing

Rare - 1997 - N64/DS

I unfortunately recently lost a family member who was very important to me. I don't think this person quite had the intense passion for gaming that I do, but he was always down to play whatever I was into at the time, and that was awesome. I was trying to think of just one game to pick that we shared together growing up, but there were so many. I can clearly remember Christmas of 1997 when I first got my N64 with Diddy Kong Racing. I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life. I was pretty much this kid. I remember all of the sleepovers we had in the following weeks where we played battle mode and co-op and took turns trying to beat the various bosses in this game. Good times. Good memories. I'm sure you've got much better things to do now than read video game blogs, but in any case, Jay Wolf: This one's for you.

So usually when I write these reviews, I'm either reviewing a game that I've played so many times that I've committed it to memory, or it's a game that I've just finished and it's fresh in my mind. Neither one is really true of Diddy Kong Racing for me, but I played it a ton when it came out and I replayed it about 5 years ago in college. I'll be drawing on old memories for this one, so if I exclude a few details here and there, forgive me. Okay one quick thing before I begin: Is it just childhood nostalgia or did some of the best games ever come out during the N64/PS1 era? Ocarina of Time, Super Smash Bros, Tomb Raider, GoldenEye, Final Fantasy 7-9 etc. It's not just me, right? These are HUGELY influential games. I'm not saying Diddy Kong Racing quite belongs with these titles, but I feel like even the "B" games from this era are better than today's "B" games, no?

Diddy Kong Racing was released for the Nintendo 64 in November of 1997. It was actually developed by Rare under the title Pro Am 64 and had absolutely nothing to do with any Nintendo characters until Shigeru Miyamoto saw the game and, at the last second, suggested adding Diddy Kong as the game's mascot to try to boost sales. It worked, and Diddy Kong Racing became one of the best selling N64 titles and was later remade for the Nintendo DS. This was actually also the debut appearances for the Rare characters Banjo the Bear and Conker the Squirrel who went on to star in Banjo Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day, respectively. Both of those games were also pretty awesome. It tickles me quite a bit that Conker, the mischievous, foul-mouthed alcoholic squirrel got his start in Diddy Kong Racing, a game marketed for kids with an "Everyone" ESRB rating.

I don't normally care for racing games. Especially the ones that try to be hyper-realistic. I went over my feelings on realism in sports games in my Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball review. I like racing games like Mario Kart or Diddy Kong Racing that add excitement to racing games by adding weapons and ridiculous hazards and absurd level design. I'm sure racing purists will disagree, but these games are my jam. The main way Diddy Kong Racing sets itself apart from Mario Kart 64 is with multiple vehicle types. Not only are there cars, but planes and hovercrafts are selectable on most levels as well. Hovercrafts are a little harder to control than cars, but there may be shortcuts in some levels accessible only by hovercraft. Or you can choose to take to the air, but doing so may require some finesse and skilled piloting in close quarters, plus planes have slow acceleration, if I recall correctly. In addition to the variety of vehicles and weapons, there are some cool secrets with the game that reward skillful technical play. Pro tip: Take your finger off of the accelerator when going over a boost. You'll go faster. Or if you're really good, power-slide into a boost while driving a car AND take your finger off of the accelerator. You'll go crazy fast. You can also optionally try to collect stray bananas while racing to increase your top speed. The neat little tricks like this add polish and depth to the game.

In addition to just racing with friends, DKR has a pretty cool battle mode. I'm not sure I like it as much as Mario Kart 64, but it certainly feels more customizable and fleshed out. In addition to a deathmatch mode, there's a sort of capture the flag mode where you compete over possession of certain items and try to bring them back to your base. DKR also has a pretty excellent single player adventure mode which is definitely better than Mario Kart 64's single player. Instead of just racing track after track, DKR's single player combats repetitiveness by offering different challenges for you to complete like collecting hidden coins while racing or defeating super-fast bosses in races through special tracks. Exploring the race tracks and the "hub world" that connects them is highly encouraged and the game world is pretty interesting and well designed for a racing game. There are some cool unlockables and secrets that can only be found through careful exploration. And the soundtrack. Oh, the soundtrack. Even after not playing this game for many years, I can still whistle along to all of the catchy tracks. David Wise, the Donkey Kong Country composer, returned to work his magic on the DKR soundtrack. Pirate Lagoon, Frosty Village and Ancient Lake are some of my favorites.

Summary:
If you like the Mario Kart games and are looking for something similar, check out Diddy Kong Racing. The single player is a little more fleshed out than Mario Kart's and I believe you can actually play some of the single player missions cooperatively with two people, if memory serves. I've never played the DS version, so I can't vouch for that. But if you can dig up an N64 and a working copy of this game, you're in for a good time. It's an extremely solid and polished racing game.

Super Meat Boy

Team Meat - 2010 - PC/X360

As far as indie games go, I know the awareness of Super Meat Boy is pretty high up there. It was featured in the excellent 2012 documentary Indie Game: The Movie, alongside Fez and Braid. And despite being a relatively popular and seemingly well-liked game, it's also frequently deeply discounted (for like $5 or less) in Steam's many summer and holiday sales. But for those who haven't played or heard of Super Meat Boy, read on. Also if you haven't seen Indie Game: The Movie, stop reading this and go watch it. I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix.

Super Meat Boy is the brainchild of artist Edmund McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes, who call themselves Team Meat. It's actually the sequel to a 2008 browser based flash game which was just called Meat Boy. Check it out here for free if you're interested in trying it. Just know that the sequel is a massive improvement over the original. Tighter controls, better level design, better artwork, higher music quality, multiple playable characters and a lot more polish overall. Both Meat Boy and its sequel seem to have drawn a lot of inspiration from N, and/or N+ a.k.a. "The way of the Ninja" games, which are also free, flash-based games that I totally loved. The one thing these games all share is that they are infuriatingly difficult, but also excellently designed 2D platformers.

Each level of Super Meat Boy requires you to save Meat Boy's girlfriend, bandage girl, from the evil Dr. Fetus. This is accomplished simply by navigating from a starting point to an ending point on a 2D plane, but there are usually many deadly hazards in between. Once you get into the meat of the game -see what I did there?- you'll probably find this game to be extremely difficult. However, by using a well thought out difficulty curve and smart design decisions, I believe Super Meat Boy handles its difficulty extremely well. First of all, the levels are so short that you don't feel like you lose significant progress when you die. There's rarely a level that takes more than 60 seconds to beat.  It can still be frustrating when you die repeatedly on the same level, but because you respawn instantly at the beginning of the level, it makes you want to go right back at it again. It's the good kind of frustrating. The earlier levels introduce you to the precision platforming, wall jumping and sprinting. Then the later levels add more obstacles that incrementally increase the difficulty. By the end of the game, you're doing things that looked completely impossible when you started. It's still very hard, but it's an extremely satisfying difficulty curve.

Super Meat Boy has some really cool bonus features, unlockables and secrets included as well. There's a built in replay system where you can save and share your times and replays to any of your friends who also have the game. Finishing each level in the game under a certain amount of time will unlock a mirrored "dark world" version of the level which usually includes more obstacles or enemies and is even more difficult. There's also the collectible bandages found in the various levels which are usually either hard to find or hard to difficult to get to. These bandages, presumably dropped by bandage girl, can be used to unlock other playable characters which have different speeds or jump heights which add more flavor to the game. There's even hidden warp zones that lead to even more obnoxiously difficult levels for those who are into ridiculously hard challenges.

Summary:
Super Meat Boy is probably one of the most difficult games I've ever completed and I'm quite proud to have finished it. It's also probably responsible for the most swearing I've ever done while playing a game. But don't let the difficulty scare you off, Super Meat Boy is a must play if you're a fan of platformers. It's a difficult game, but it's also a rewarding one. It also boasts an excellent soundtrack and some really cool Castle Crashers-like cartoony graphics. There's also lots of very subtle references to Mega Man, Castlevania and Super Mario Bros. in the animations and artwork. It's good stuff. I'm also quite curious to see what Mew-Genics, Team Meat's upcoming game, is going to be like. If it's half as good as Super Meat Boy, I'll probably still love it.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Konami - 1997 - PS1/Sega Saturn/PSP

Symphony of the Night was an important departure in gameplay for the Castlevania series. Games in the series had previously been all 2D platformers, like the ones I was referencing in the Shovel Knight review. While SotN has some platforming elements, I don't think most people would describe it as a platformer. Rather, SotN helped give birth to the term "Metroidvania", which is used to describe gameplay that is exploration focused with a large, non-linear game world, often involves a good amount of backtracking, and revolves around discovering or unlocking upgrades to your character which are then to get to previously inaccessible areas. An example of this are the red doors in Super Metroid. They're introduced early in the game, but the player can only pass through them once they unlock Samus' missile launcher and realize that the missiles will open the red doors. Recently, Konami has put out games in the Castlevania series like Lords of Shadow 1 & 2, which are 3D action games similar to God of War or Devil May Cry. But when I think "Metroidvania", Symphony of the Night comes to mind as an example of one of the best games made in this style.

In addition to including "Metroidvania" style gameplay, SotN also includes RPG elements. Each enemy killed rewards a small amount of experience points. Primary weapons and armor can also be swapped out and upgraded. Some of the weapons and armor have unique bonuses or functions which lets your character configuration be very customizable. There are giant two handed greatswords which swing slowly, but have great range. Then there's one handed rapiers which swing quickly, but have a limited hitbox. Even the armors have unique functions such as restoring HP while walking or increasing the power of the alternate weapons. Speaking of which, the Castlevania staple alt weapons like the axe, holy cross or dagger make a return in SotN, further adding to the combat customization. 

Aside from being a departure in gameplay, SotN was also notable for being the first game in the series where you play as a member of the vampire hunting family Belmont only in the short prologue to the game. For the rest of the game you'll be playing as Alucard, who is actually the half vampire son of Count Dracula himself. Yes, "Alucard" is "Dracula" spelled backward. It's so campy and silly. I love it. You might think with dumb names like this, SotN would be a little self aware and have a bit of a sense of humor. But it kind of doesn't. SotN is actually features some pretty hilariously terrible voice acting and dialogue. The writing and VO work are about the only things in the game that aren't top notch though. The rest of this game is just so solid. 

If you do end up playing this game, I would challenge you to do so without referencing a guide. Discovering one of the castle's many secret rooms for yourself is immensely satisfying. And there are a lot of secrets. A lot. This is kind of a spoiler for those who haven't played the game but if you didn't fight Dracula as the final boss, you didn't really finish the whole game. There's actually a completely different second half of SotN that can be unlocked by finding special secret items in the castle. It's nuts. And finding all of these secrets and unlocks by yourself is just so rewarding. Besides, if you get stuck, you can usually consult the in-game map and figure out where you need to go just by closely examining the layout and flow of the castle. There's so much attention to detail in SotN from the combat and secrets to the enemy design and animations. There are so, so many unique enemy sprites with unique attacks and animations in the game. There are some enemies that appear literally one time in one room and then never again for the rest of the game. The amount of polish on the gameplay in SotN is one of the most impressive things about the game. 

The excellent soundtrack to SotN compliments the game very well. When you discover a new passageway and the track changes to something new you haven't heard before, it adds to the excitement of exploration. Composed by Michiru Yamane, the SotN soundtrack demonstrates Yamane's proficiency in a wide variety of musical styles. There's the jazzy upbeat Wandering of Ghosts, the gothic epic Final Toccata, the classical Wood Carving Partitia, the horrifying Door to the Abyss, the operatic Prayer, and the rockin' electric guitars of The Tragic Prince. The soundtrack is musically kind of all over the place and I love it. It gives each area of the castle a unique feel.

Summary:

If you've never played a Metroidvania game or a Castlevania game for that matter, start with Symphony of the Night. Even though the game is 15+ years old, the excellent gameplay and sprite art style allowed SotN to age very well. I hope Konami will return the Castlevania series back to this style of gameplay rather than the silly God of War clones they're trying to make right now. That's just not what I want from the Castlevania series. I'm not sure why the transition from 2D to 3D wasn't as graceful for the Castlevania series as it was for the Metroid series, but I'd love to see the next Castlevania be a 3D exploration game similar to Metroid Prime. Exploring a 3D castle with the amount of secrets and polish as the one in SotN would be amazing. Actually as long as the next game in the series is a Metroidvania, I think I'd be happy.

Shovel Knight

Yacht Club Games - 2014 - PC/3DS/WiiU

Being born in 1987, I just caught the very tail end of the 8 bit NES era. Some of my earliest gaming memories are of playing 8 bit platformers on the NES like Mario 1/2/3, Contra and Milon's Secret Castle - Anyone remember that game? But I actually never grew up on the old Castlevanias and Megamans that Shovel Knight draws heavy influence from. The legendary difficulty of those games had discouraged me from playing them until very recently. While I feel I now appreciate those games, I don't think I would say that I enjoyed them. I just don't have the patience to bare through the brutal old school difficulty those games have. I was pleased to find out that unlike the games it's influenced by, Shovel Knight does an excellent job of easing the player into the game by slowly introducing the player to the mechanics and then incrementally ramping up the difficulty level. Don't worry, there's still some controller-snappingly difficult levels later in the game. But they come at a point where you're already too invested in the game to throw down the controller and give up in frustration... I'm looking at you, Mega Man 2.

In Shovel Knight, you play as Shovel Knight who uses - you guessed it - a shovel as his primary weapon. Shovel Knight is off to save his comrade and love interest, Shield Knight, from the clutches of the evil Enchantress. Along the way you'll have to defeat eight "boss knights", which is a clear reference to Mega Man's usual eight robot masters. Your shovel can be used to hit enemies directly in front of you similar to Simon's whip in Castlevania or it can be thrust downward to bounce off enemies like the "pogo bounce" in Ducktales. The shovel can additionally be used to dig up the many mounds of treasure found throughout the levels in the game. Treasure can be used to purchase weapon, armor or health upgrades or it can also be used to purchase various "relics" which give you powerful secondary abilities which cost magic power. Instead of using a "lives" system, each time you die in Shovel Knight, you'll lose a chunk of your treasure. However, in borrowing a page from Dark Souls, if you can get back to where you died previously without dying again, you can recover your lost treasure. Very cool design. Another interesting mechanic is that each checkpoint in a level can be optionally destroyed for a good sum of treasure. It's a neat risk/reward mechanic, but I was usually too scared to destroy any checkpoints in the game, especially in the later levels.

Nearly every aspect of Shovel Knight is designed to invoke 8 bit nostalgia. Everything from the menus to sound effects is very reminiscent of the NES era. It's actually possible to play the game with just four buttons and a D-pad, like a NES controller. The world map is very Mario 3-esque with optional mini-boss enemies that shuffle around the screen after completing every level. There's Zelda II like towns throughout the game where upgrades and new equipment can be purchased. Even the health boosts are potroasts in homage to Castlevania. There's some great 8 bit music as well: Strike the Earth, An Underlying Problem and La Danse Macabre are highlights from the soundtrack. Even the composition of the tracks somehow simultaneously reminded me of Castlevania and Mega Man.

Summary:
There really isn't too much negative I can say about Shovel Knight. It's a difficult game, but it's also a fair game. It introduces difficulty over time instead of beating you over the head with it like Shovel Knight's old school brethren. It is kind of short though, but at the same time I felt its length was appropriate. If you're a fan of old Castlevania or Mega Man games or even 2D platformers in general, you must check out Shovel Knight. You won't be disappointed.