General Games Discussion

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Only Red Dead or CoD probably have a chance of outselling Spiderman tbh.

A legitimately great Marvel game was always going to do incredibly well, the activision Spiderman games flopped because they were low budget and sucked.

What about Fifa

I just realised Spiderman is PS4 only it wouldn't be above 10m most likely( perhaps closer to 15m)

So yeah Fifa too.

Thimmy wrote:
In other news, Spiderman has already outsold God of War Not really that surprising, considering Spiderman appeals to a much wider demographic.

Umm not exactly, it has overtaken God Of War as the fastest selling PS4 exclusive and almost doubled GOW's first week sales.

M99 wrote:

Thimmy wrote:
In other news, Spiderman has already outsold God of War Not really that surprising, considering Spiderman appeals to a much wider demographic.

Umm not exactly, it has overtaken God Of War as the fastest selling PS4 exclusive and almost doubled GOW's first week sales.

That's what I said

You said outsold Implying its first week sales has overtaken GOW lifetime sales.

M99 wrote:You said outsold Implying its first week sales has overtaken GOW lifetime sales.

I just quoted a headline I read on an online news site. Don't particularly care whether it's referring to first week sales or first year sales. Spiderman was just recently released, and it's selling really well. I thought it was obvious that I didn't mean in comparison to GoW's lifetime sales. That would've required a miracle.

Just played Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice after having read all the good reviews about it and I conclude I don't get games like this, Life is Strange i.e. walking simulator/interactive movie type "games".

Shame cause I really wanted to like it after reading all the reviews, Bafta awards, Norse mythology etc but it felt so boring and slow.

Just took a look at FIFA Standard Edition in Playstation Store, and it costs about $87.5/68 quid. Has the standard price on games gone up a bit, or is it just the PS store price? Or more predictably, just EA being cheeky?

Thimmy wrote:Just took a look at FIFA Standard Edition in Playstation Store, and it costs about $87.5/68 quid. Has the standard price on games gone up a bit, or is it just the PS store price? Or more predictably, just EA being cheeky?

Pretty standard for AAA games with scummy publishers behind them tbh.

In the UK you won't see a game for less than 55 on PSN due to exchange rates

Peter Calloway to Adapt ‘Alan Wake’ for Television

https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/alan-wake-tv-show-1202938003/

Whats that website that ships you FIFA early?

Anyone feeling Shadow of the Tomb Raider?

Not bought it, but haven't finished Spiderman yet and not in the rush for another game before Red Dead.

I'll eventually get it though.

Same, will get it if price is good on Black Friday.

#79

Game: Rayman.
Year: 1995.
Genre: 2D Platformer.
Publisher: Ubisoft.
Developer: Ubi Pictures (Ubisoft).



First things first, I am changing my rating system to a simpler 10 point system. Games that get above a 7 I fully recommend, and those that get below that are mostly a waste of time. That leaves the score of 7 to depend on your taste

Back in the time where every developer and their mother were chasing the latest trend in 3D graphics and blocky polygons, one small developer in France decided to go the other way. Instead of the latest in technology, they decided to go back to what worked in the past and make a 2D platformer that would have been impossible to make on earlier hardware.

As such, Ubisoft got their first big hit with Rayman, which is a game that is as good now as when its first released, ridiculing in the process the early adopters of 3D technology like the absolutely horrendous Bug!.

"They definitely need a hero to save them now!"

Mascot platformers classically had little narrative. Instead, they must focus on crafting a character and personality to the game's world and setting; especially regarding the protagonist. That's what made the difference between utterly forgettable games and the stuck and gained iconic status.

Rayman clearly crafts a world that blends and works together. In some ways, it reminds me of the dreamy setting of the Kirby series, yet with a more surrealistic style.

Regardless of style, the game's world gives it more of a narrative than the basic hero saving the kidnapped things motif. It's a world that makes sense for the limbless Rayman, as many of its inhabitants share the same visual design cues.

As for the mc himself, he follows the 90s school of "cool" design, like other mascots of the era including Gex and the Sonic redesign. With his blonde parted hair and red bandana, he would have fit in any famous 1995 boy band. Except, what makes Rayman an endearing character is a goofiness to the character that belays his cool factor.

All in all, it's a game world and character that was clearly going to be iconic, as was proven later with time.

"I'm Betilla the fairy, and I'm going to help you in your quest"

No matter how good the world design is, it wouldn't hold muster if the gameplay wasn't good. Thankfully, I can clearly say that Rayman is a fun game. True, it doesn't add much beyond adhering to the standards of platforming, but it does it well enough to be enjoyable.

Rayman can jump over obstacles and punch enemies by throwing his limbless hand. He gains some standard power-ups like gliding and grappling hands. Late in the game, you get access to the dash ability, which exposes one major weakness in the game.

It is somewhat slow.

You get the feeling that is slow for two reasons. First, to support the zoomed-in look the game is going for, most probably to showcase its gorgeous graphics and animations. Second, to reduce the difficulty of a game that has surprising spikes.

Honestly, the game would be slightly boring if the levels did not have such a great variety. Levels have different mechanisms that change-up platforming a great deal. Some levels require you to vertically escape an increasing flood, while others remind me of the tree sliding scenes in Disney's Tarzan. It's a variety that distracts from the few shortcomings of the game.

"You're courageous Rayman, but you have to keep at it"

What doesn't distract from the shortcomings of the game is, essentially, its two biggest shortcomings. An almost broken difficulty sometimes, and a surely broken endgame collectathon.

First, the much-vaunted difficulty of Rayman is actually very manageable. For most of the game, you have the tools available to surmount any challenge, with fair checkpoints available, and health items as well. However, against bosses, that changes. Since your powerups rest on death, dying against a boss means a more difficult time fighting them again. Until you get a game over, you are fighting without powerups.

Second, in order to actually get into the final level of the game, you need to free all caged "Electoons" in all levels, with six cages per level. Initially, the game doesn't give you any indication that you need to do that, and as such you will need to revisit a lot of those stages.

Worst yet, many of the cages are invisible in the level until you do some oblique jumps and punches, or are inaccessible until you get a later powerup.

That just sucks the enjoyment of trying to get into the end boss, especially when it turns out to be one of the unfairest boss gauntlets I ever faced.

"Go and free the Electoons, Rayman, and bring back The Great Protoon from its mysterious kidnapper"

The only part of the game that I cannot have any "buts" or "howevers" is ints graphical and musical presentation.

Simply put, this is a game that truly stood the test of time, and its 2D graphics and animation look as amazing now as they did in 1995. Clearly inspired by cartoons of an earlier era, the game's drawings would fit in any of those cartoons.

Backgrounds are lush and imaginative, and apart from one or two uninspiring levels, they are among the best in the generation. That is supported by the synergized denizens of the world, with their well-animated movements and their expressiveness.

This expressiveness is further accentuated by the several sound effects in the game, from the "yeah's" you get when finishing a level to the various bops and sounds Rayman makes while traversing the grounds.

Not to be outdone, the musical composer pulls a truly immersive and atmospheric score, reminding me of David Wise's Donkey Kong Countrysoundtrack. These are some impressive tracks, from the eerie style of "Lost in the Woods" to the chill piano of "Entering the Cavern". The soundtrack has a wide breadth of style and each track and ambient sound adds a third dimension to each stage.

In Conclusion:

Here is a game that didn't chase the trends of the time, and instead focused on crafting something that is true and tested, and looks great in an absolute term.

As such, despite some obvious shortcomings, Rayman manages to be a game with an ageless quality. It's excellent graphics and music will stand the test of time, and the variety of its levels are worth playing even if you never end finishing the game.

Final: 8/10

Pros:

• A lot of level variety.
  
• Excellent graphics and music.
  
• Great world and character design
  

Cons:

• End of game Collectathon.
  
• Unfair boss battles.
  

"Tips"
1- Pay attention to audio cues, as they alert you to spawning enemies and Electoon cages.
2- Stacking up in lives isn't worth it if you are playing the game without save-states.
3- Once you get the dash ability, go back and use a guide to get all the cages (if you want to finish the game).
4- Getting 100 orbs nets you a life and recovers your health.

"Next Game"

I knew I was going to enjoy Rayman, which I finally beat after first playing it way back in the day and never going past the 7th or 8th stage.

Next game on the list would have been Bubble Symphony at #74, but no Western version was ever released. So, I am going to be playing Enemy Zero at #72; a survival horror game that surely aged terribly. However, maybe it still retains some grace to be enjoyable today.

Stay Tuned

Rayman was one of my favourite games as a kid on Windows 95. I remember the first time I beat the mosquito I jumped and ran around the whole house from joy.

The recent Rayman reboot (along with the phone games like Rayman Adventures) have also been very good games.

Rayman is one of my earliest memories in gaming.

Rayman is one of my earliest memories as well. I played it on the original playstation, though. The very first game I ever played was Sonic the Hedgehog.

I found the original Rayman extremely hard as a kid

I loved it though.

danyjr wrote:Rayman was one of my favourite games as a kid on Windows 95. I remember the first time I beat the mosquito I jumped and ran around the whole house from joy.

The recent Rayman reboot (along with the phone games like Rayman Adventures) have also been very good games.

I think they are the only modern platformers that rival Tropical Freeze.

Not a huge fan of Tropical Freeze tbh, it is much slower pace with a lot of running back than recent Rayman games IMHO which were go-forward, action packed and tested your reaction times especially if you were going for all the challenges.

After 200 hours and 3 semi playthroughs of Morrowind, tought about installing Oblivion XP but saw that it was being updated so I've to wait for it. And tought about starting Rolling Simulator 3 again, because I want to play Gwent. Any good mods that are obligatory nowadays?

thoughts on boxing last night chief?

Haven't followed after Helenius demise tbh. Honestly I think boxing stopped when Tyson retired. Nowadays it's all money, pr and joke fights. When Tyson was still on it was all this, but also drugs, putting noses through brains and eating children.

So I was going through W3 Nexus page and all I got was Mod Manager and HD Reworked Project, and couple others that were there at the beginning like Fast Travel From Anywhere and All Quest Objectives. Never seen so much endorsed shite in my life.