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syrupspinner · 1 month ago

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i just completed Children of the Sun

the best sequel to JFK Reloaded that a girl can ask for

first thing I've gotta compliment is the aesthetics. this game has a PUNCH to it. there's just something so visceral about the sound effects, the guitar when you skulk around outskirts and the cymbal when you kill. the visual design is fucking astounding, the uses of purple and yellow make an environment that feels dreary and cold, like you've spent too long awake thinking about the past. all you can focus on is the glow of those fuckers in yellow. it's a great use of contrast to not only highlight your targets in gameplay, but also really gel with the plot. when you don't have dialog, measures to further understanding through the environment go a long way

so it's great to look at, how's it play? well, I had a kick-ass time with it. don't be fooled by the presentation, this is a strategy game at its core. you're meant to think through your plan of attack, looking over the land and counting heads, to plan out how you're gonna finish the level from your first shot. I think it maintains this really fun core through the game while introducing new mechanics that expand on it in engaging ways without throwing anything out. adjusting your trajectory after firing, straight-up shooting it again after you fire it, the speed up thing, all just extra tools that help you approach the same game. this is hard to do! I know too many adventure games that just have The Problem Solver that you never don't use, but everything feels really well balanced here

so like, I don't have that much fun with trial-and-error, you can see that in some of my other reviews. not only is "well that didn't work, let's start from the beginning and just change something minor until it stops failing" really easy to fall into when there's no objective correct answer, but there's my old nemesis: "am I doing the wrong thing, or the right thing the wrong way?". it's so easy to fail to convey to the player when they're getting close to solving a puzzle, and more importantly, when they're on the wrong track. especially when this game values aim and timing, it's easy to mix up an issue with your plan and an issue with your execution.

but honestly? I dunno if I can really articulate why, but this game does the best job I've seen of avoiding that problem. I think part of it is that it's easy to tell when your order is off because you'll be left floating without being able to reach another target, clearly communicating a failure state mid-attempt. and the game just gives you so many ways to get out of stuff like that, both in your moveset and in the level design with gas cans and birds to ricochet off when you're in a corner. it give you just enough wiggle room without being a total sandbox

I think this games at its worst at level 11, the one where you're on a hill in the middle of a graveyard, and I think the reason for that is that it's ironically too open ended. in most levels there's a clear starting point of who you should aim for first, or at least a reasonable enough first target in your line of sight. like fir example, the motel level (NMH? you're not slick you based motherfucker) seems open ended at first, but even if you fuck around with different targets, there's a clever intended solution the design guides you to.

the guy in the window should be last because he's a bit of a dead end for everyone but the armored dude (who's too close for your bullet to penetrate). but this guy is ALSO wearing armor, so you know you've gotta aim at him from further away, like about as far away as the dudes by the pool. then through experimenting as you attempt the level, you discover you can shoot through the connected rooms, and that feeling of discovering a secret route encourages you to use it as an advantage. there aren't a lot of possible routes that satisfy all the things the design is encouraging you to do. this is the puzzle genre at its best, in my opinion, where it acts as a teacher that socratically encourages player self-improvement through very loose guidance.

back to level 11, I... uh... okay wait I was really struggling to get my foot in the door before this but I think talking out the process really inspired me so give me a sec here. so obviously you can't aim for the psychic first, you need a reshoot charge. you can't build a charge off of armored enemies so you need to take out at least 2 of the groups before targeting the psychic. there's a car by the further duo and its the only car that can take out an armored enemy in this level (the main reason youre gonna use them after ricochet-charging body parts are introduces) and the trio has a riot shield, so if I start from the further... okay this is the rambling of a madwoman I need to go try and beat that level again brb

I. cannot. believe that worked. all I had to do was think about it from a design perspective and consider why it was made that way. the enemies aren't obstacles, they're the stepping stones to completion, like in nazo puyo. I take the single minor critique I had about this game right the fuck back, rené rother you're a generational talent

so let's finish the campaign with some plot discussion. honestly, the games pretty light on story from a perspective of like, how much its focused on compared to gameplay, but it still pulls off something cool and interesting. like, all you get is that sometimes you'll get a really cool animated cutscene that delves into the shooters backstory, and there's a flashback level that's just kinda about indoctrination, but despite the brevity it's hard for me to say you've had the full experience without understanding the plot. its not like I Am Fish or something where its just a vehicle to justify the levels, yknow?

you can have a rough idea that the cult leader is the bad guy and you're getting revenge, but seeing the protagonist develop their power and use it on others for the first time really adds a compelling edge to the whole experience. I try not to praise a game for it's aesthetics unless it can back up the style with substance, and I think the visuals do a great job if working with the story to make something greater that the sum of its parts. like, if this had an anime art style and a basic orchestral score, I would not be invested in the plot at all. likewise, the plot does a lot to help justify why theres such a sense of impact and gravitas with each cultist dead. the art style and the soundscape is so... scratchy. like it was put together in haste by a forced hand, like its a part inside your brain you cant reach to scratch, like a half-realized and manic plot to shoot down the bastards that ruined your life. what im saying is that it they work with each other to characerize the world and the main character in a really interesting way, and they game wouldnt be as good if they went in a different direction

and like... with as little spoilers as possible, that ending just has a delicious cruelty to it. its open ended enough that it could go either way on if the world + our protagonist is better or worse for it. personally, i think they could make it work, but theyd hate every second of it. they got their revenge at the only cost they didnt wanna pay, and that's the cult leader's revenge right back. really makes you think about who deserves what, the justification of revenge and who deserves to take their anger out on the world, and cycles of revenge in general. which is the best way a vigilante revenge story can end in my opinion, just the tragedy of something definitely not being worth it

I'll wrap this up by talking about the free update that just dropped (along with a sale... the game came out THIS YEAR and it's already almost half off, what the fuck?). its... pretty good! you can definitely tell the game wasnt really designed with it in mind, which is totally fine for a side mode. it seems to encourage you to chain enemies together by saying you "lock in" your score by retrieving the bullet (as in, your score doesnt count if your bullets still in the field), but there doesnt seem to be the same combo mechanic as the main game, which i was kinda surprised by. the main push/pull of the mode comes from this, because its really easy to lose track of who youre supposed to shoot without returning to your post and doing the middle-click marking thing.

also, ill take the time to appreciate this now, if you have a hard time figuring out the type of enemy from their silhouettes? when you mark them as targets, their tags are different colours. normal ones are yellow, riot shields are a light blueish-grey, and body armours are dark blue. you probably dont need help telling psychics apart, but theyre like a red.

btw, nightmare paralysis seems... slightly untested. there are times where ill middle-click and itll mark something totally out of the way as a target, my campaign progress is saved by it wasnt available next time i launched the game (which is fine, you can unlock it in the menu at any time - based as fuck) and there might be a typo in the instructions. "some children have so as well" seems wrong, i think it's supposed to be "have to". so its not perfect, but fuck it, free update, fuck me if im gonna complain about it

the most common complaint i see in steam reviews is that its too short, and if i may say, skill issue. if walmart expects $20 for a 9 year old blueray, so this isnt a question of value. what, do you want the game to just inflate itself to meet some arbitrary metric of time? how long would you have to stretch this to make it "good" or "worth it?". theres more to a game than playtime. and need i remind you, you own the game (yadda yadda steam digital licence) so you can replay it whenever you want. did you get all the achievements? how high are you on the leaderboards? theres more to a game than just blitzing through the campaign once. also, yknow, the new mode they just added for free. so fuck you im right

so yeah. the game kicks ass. play it if you like the part of action games where youre scouting things out and planning your attack. or if you like looking at and/or hearing things, 10/10 audiovisual experience. or if you like score-hunting and/or leaderboard climbing. or if youre an amputee, cuz this game is designed for just the mouse in a really intuitive way. or if you like guns, particularly sniping but i think just guns in general. yknow what im just gonna say if you like video games this is worth a try, s'fucking art

#children of the sun #nightmare paralysis #completed #hall of fave

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syrupspinner · 15 days ago

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i just completed bomb rush cyberfunk

the sound that plays when you clear a textbox is the spongebob footstep sound and youll never unhear that now

i love the fuck out of this game. the vibes are literally, not figuratively, everything i couldve ever wanted from a jet set radio successor. a lot of people get caught up in naganuma's music, but jsr had way more variety. the original had rob fucking zombie and future had that yoko ono song about cake or whatever. i feel like they did a excellent job keeping a cohesive vibe while still including a wider variety of songs. characterizing the gangs through their mixtapes is such a fun idea and it was done so well

the gameplay is perfect too, like every little bit is fine-tuned to be exactly what it should be. walking feels like walking and skateboarding feels like skateboarding, the way you turn feels noticeably different but in a lateral way that the game is built to accommodate

level design is phenomenal. built from the ground-up for your combo game without feeling like its forcing you onto a single route. manuals were the perfect addition so you dont feel trapped in what the game provides, and lets you get creative with a levels ingredients.

I dig the dream levels and how they twist the formula. levels are normally pretty open arenas, but these are just linear platforming challenges. it's really cool to see what these physics and moves let you do in a different environment. they're super fun for the plot too, I love the bit where red is like "I can't keep the ladder steady, I'm up here with you". no spoilers but I think it ties in super well to the backstory of the character and shines a light on their thought process - you can't get support from someone if they're on the same level as you because they're too worried about keeping themselves steady.

i love how they did achievements for this game. the only story-related achievement is for beating the final boss, and its totally possible for that to be the first one you unlock. it feels good when youve actually gotta work for the achievements, and it adds so much to the endgame. i had so much fun experimenting with the best place to do the longest manual, going back through all the stages for the pictures of the penguin guy, and just playing around for... the, uh... oh christ those are some high scores. welp, problem for the post game.

not to mention all the collectables you can get! this is the perfect amount of side content, i always get excited when i see a pickup in the distance but i never felt bogged down by the need to collect everything. and slowing down to examine the level and look around for everything is a great way to shake up how you usually play the game without feeling like youre doing something that isnt accounted for design-wise.

also, fucking thank you for the maps, and smart move that you can only get em after the main story beat in that spot. it's a shame they don't show the collectables too, cuz finding the last 2-3 is a total pain without a guide, but I'm just glad there's some mercy in finding the graffiti spots. that one in mataan is a bastard, you know the one

the game's pretty easy, i dont think there was ever a point where i lost and had to retry something, with oooooone exception. the cops are all pretty annoying, especially the turret, but not in a way that makes the game unplayable if you have heat. there are certain platforming sections that gave me trouble, like that one on top of the signpost in varsum hill, and... probably another one im forgetting. its hard to hold on to stuff i struggle with, because its just so fun to do fucking anything in this game. moving back into position and trying a jump again is just part of it, yknow?

but that exception, damn. theres one boss fight that fucked me up. it was the first time i actually died in this game. and the second, third, fifth. heres a hint: youve gotta deflect the projectiles. dont worry, you didnt miss anything, you cant reflect any other projectiles (i dont think there even are any) so there isnt some tutorial you missed. it may seem like youre supposed to get close to the machine and spray it like every other fight in the game and youre just struggling with the hitbox or something, but no youre doing the wrong thing. it may also also seem like the reflected projectiles are designed to miss because they keep just barely avoiding his head, but there youre just doing the right thing the wrong way and need to aim better. not with your camera, but by changing the angle of your player character. it may also also also seem like youre meant to use the deflected projectiles as a chance to stun him and close the gap between the two of you, because since he jumps across the map whenever you get near him, there is going to be a gap. this is also one of team reptile's clever tricks, as the stun is so short you need to dodge the projectiles to get in close (but not too close!) and only then start to reflect them. wow, this is inexplicably misleading for a game thats been really tightly designed until now. you think since i get texts all the time like "dont forget to earn points by doing tricks!" someone could communicate the brand new mechanic to me at some point

another thing with this game and communicating mechanics, nobody explains the secret things that all the different ride styles can do, so thisll be your spinny tip of the day: skateboards can balance on fire hydrants and do a trick to unscrew them and ride them up; bikes can stand in front of those garage doors with bike symbols to open them; and if you manual with the skates you can break glass. yeah i only figured out the bike one on my own. i get this is going for that good ol days vibe where there was just cool hidden shit the game doesnt tell you about, and too its credit you only need to know these if you want 100%, but i found them pretty unintuitive. like, i had my board out and fucked around with a hydrant at one point, and i didnt stumble on the secret, just because theres nothing that flags to me to consider jumping on it. this is obtuse, but not as mood-ruining as the boss fight.

also, this isnt really a complaint, i think im just confused. there are tons of spots that are designed like hidden loading screens? theyre usually transitions between parts of the map, like between the entrance and the wide-open parts of the mall. im not sure why though, because it seems like the game doesnt need them? like theres one in pyramid island separating the lower and upper parts, but... you can fall from the higher part to the lower part without a stutter. theyre both clearly loaded all times youre in the area, and the game isnt shy about loading the levels when you move from one spot to the other. is it just to stop combos from going too long? that seems strange in a game thats like, about combos. again its not a big deal at all i just dont really get it?

oh, i should talk about the plot. no spoilers, but im super into stories about the psychology of the characters, shit like repressed memories and identity. if you didn't know, I'm actually working to become a counselling psychologist, so it's really cool to see how games tackle really mental-based narratives. it's like being a plumber and appreciating the manhole design. the central theme is roots, as in where you come from and how it effects you, and they did a pretty cool job exploring how that would be handled in a sci-fi setting.

the story does a great job of having a protagonist thats important but doesnt feel shoved into the world. a lot of stories have to establish a status quo and then introduce how the protagonist is fucking with it. here, the status quo is already shaken up cuz the streets used to be between the big three, but now theres only one left. the protagonist is born from this distruption and has to work backwards to try and get out of it, all while still embracing the world around him. it really helps players get acclimated without making it feel like a hand-holding isekai

and of course you know im gonna dig the anti-cop through line. i like how there are focal characters within the force to show that while its corrupt on a systemic level, there are still individuals inside that system that arent immoral. and once they conflict with the corruption, their choices are to abandon their morals and assimilate (which is why one of those characters disappear from the narrative, they were faced with the realization but discarded it to become assimilated into the general mass of the police) or to abandon their position and fight against the corruption (the other character doing so to help our heroes survive the oppressive force).

oh, and i also dig how they specifically draw attention to how police think. the chief states that he sees all crime as bad because of the slippery slope fallacy, saying that citizens witnessing that the laws dont matter would encourage more reprehensible criminal activity like homicide or piracy. i can see how someone raised in a system that values order and obedience could develop such a black-and-white thought process, and we see how its propagated through the whole police. i also love how, even without saying it out loud, theres a point to be made about how the police are so overfunded that theyre running out of shit to justify it. yeah sic the swat team on those teenagers, who gives a fuck if youre just treated like an inevitability of society and have more money than god. theyre also so everpresent that theres little pods where i think the fuckers just wait until their inescapable silencer system picks up the slightest hint of disobedience. saying the quiet part quietly, but still saying it.

uhh what else. i also appreciate that we see what a cyberhead looks like before we learn why red is exceptional. thats just good plothole-covering, cuz if that didnt happen, i totally wouldve been like "wait are they all like that?". im trying to be vague but its the thing in the mall chapter

alright lets talk about what youre here for: what it was like to 100% this thing. my process was this: normal casual playthrough of the story, getting pickups i saw along the way and making a point to seek out all the optional characters. the second thing is to go back and tag all the graffiti spots, which you should get out of the way so you dont have to worry about the police later and so you have the rep to unlock all the oldhead-gates. after that, go back through the boroughs a third time and pick up all the pickups i missed. you should use a guide for this, those fuckers are really well hidden. by all means look around first, like i said earlier its fun to take it slow, but it devolves into "where the fuck is the last thing" pretty quickly. if its not fun, why bother, yknow? turn it from a scavenger hunt to geocaching. the fourth step is doing the other gangs' score attack challenges to unlock them as playable. I thought it'd be super hard, but theyre tough but doable if you keep a single combo through the whole thing and do the boost trick. the only thing is if you drop your combo, you gotta march your ass back to the challenger to restart, or get your phone out and wait the timer out, there's no quick restart. it's not THAT big of a deal, but I shouldn't be taking my phone out in the middle of your video game, just saying

then there's the high-score steam achievements. this is bar none the hardest part of the game. unlocking futurism in mataan just takes 5mil points, which you can do in a few minutes. the achievement asks for 16mil, more than triple that. you have unlimited time, that's still a pretty bad leap. the best way to get your score up is to up your multiplier with unique billboards and rail corners, but that only works once per combo. even if you exhaust most of a stage, you're still gonna be pretty short, with the multiplier only getting you to a couple mil. so, what do you do when you have no time limit? find a rail that loops, rubber band your joystick to the side, and go to bed.

...that's what I thought at least. I tried this in mataan and I bottomed out at about 6mil after going grocery shopping. and I gotta walk a kilometer and a half to the store and back, so it was like... a little over an hour. that doesnt sound that impressive but still i didnt wanna just wait. I feel too self-conscious about running up a power bill I split with my roommate to do it overnight, so let's try plan b and just... do it. and yeah, its still the hardest part of the game, but... its still very doable. i dropped my combo like two or three times, but i ended up with 20 million before i even realized it when i went for varsum hill, which is wayyy overshooting. the only problem area was pyramid island, and thats just because i had to march my ass back to the top when i dropped my combo. i totally overblew how much of a pain these would be

i think thats it! with a single 15-minute-or-however-long-that-fight-took exception, and disregarding the post-game optional character missions having no quick restarts, this game is fantastic from beginning to end. i know it sounds like that fight was a huge detraction, and yeah ive got problems with it, but a single blemish cant ruin a whole game. i can see myself loading this up and just fucking around with it even after ive perfected it, which is a HIGH complement from me. its got that same sauce as all the games i played as a kid, where it feels like if you only got one game per year, you could play the fuck out of until that whole time without getting bored. you know the kind of games im talking about, those jrpgs and zelda-like adventure games where it just feels like the game doesnt want you to leave. like yeah there are games where its fun to replay the campaign over and over, and this feels like one of those too dont get me wrong, but it just feels like its giving you so much to play around with, to explore and unlock and even just to fuck around and exist in the world. sure, as an adult it feels kinda nice when a game is short, cuz you know you wont have to be married to it for a year while you balance real-life shit in between the video games, but thats why it being optional is so thoughtful. also 30 hours is a totally healthy length for a game to be completed in

i guess what im saying is that bomb rush cyberfunk knows exactly what its doing. this feels like how a game from the era its paying homage to should feel, how it would be designed with the sensibilities of the time, but without subtracting from what i appreciate about modern titles. if you told me this was a remaster of an OG xbox game that added shit like autosaving, id totally buy it if i didnt know better.

im worried im underselling how much i love this game, so i guess ill just say that i love jet set radio. jsr classic has some of the best vibes in the medium, and future is straight up my favorite retro game of all time. and brc eclipses both of them combined. i would like to apologize to anyone who has any interest in working towards xbox emulation. i fear that interest in the field will somehow decrease even further now that the only xbox game worth emulating that hasnt just been ported to pc has been totally outclassed. good luck trying to top this, sega

#bomb rush cyberfunk #completed #hall of fave

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