Hi, I'm Dranzerstorm
Welcome to the Video Game & Music Lounge
This world is dedicated to Video Games and Music as I'll be showcasing the following.
Video Game Reviews set to the same tones as Retro Retrospective's Anime Reviews
Music reviews of Anime Openings & Closings
Western Cartoon music
Vocaloid Classics.
We may even have some Top Tens
I hope this World entertains you.
For a change of scenery, lets look at some popular games.
Minecraft
It's fascinating how what is essentially digital Lego is the best selling game of all time yet I've probably answered my own statement seeing as Lego themselves are the best selling toys of all time. The game is a survival epic where the whole world is yours to well mine and craft in your image, going in blind, it's not a game that you can play for half an hour at a time, it's a game that needs investment to give you results anywhere close to what any streamer can get or even young family members who do have the time, I definitely see the appeal and those who don't haven't given it enough time to cook.
A-Tier Game
Stardew Valley
I remember playing the original Harvest Moon multiple times and Stardew Valley is the perfect version of it and it shows when Harvest Moon's creator even says that Stardew retains it's freedom that his franchise had lost over time, but what's more phenomenal is that only one person made it. Again it needs investing to get to a good point but is more generous than Minecraft.
S-Tier Game
Lies of P
Lies of P is what happens when you take the basic plot of Bubblegum Crisis, make all your killer robots killer puppets and turn it into a souls like with pretty boy Pinocchio as the main character. Unfortunately this isn't going to get me into Soulslike games anytime soon, not that I'm anti hard games, is just that I prefer my hack and slash games to be more combo heavy, flashy and less restrictive and janky which is why I prefer Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, so my rating is at least fair as it's more my gaming taste as opposed to the game itself.
B-Tier Game
The top down race genre found it's way back into modern gaming through the medium of indie titles and today's three titles remind you of those days where physics can often kick your ass.
Absolute Drift
Funselektor Labs made the master piece that is Art of Rally but their first attempt at the racing genre in Absolute Drift is an example of major baby steps, drifting is the most difficult mechanic to get right that even triple racers struggle with and Absolute Drift is pretty dreadful with this mechanic, thankfully the game is merciful and let's you practice open world as many times as you like, you'll find out very quickly how out of practice you really are, especially if you used to play Micro Machines in your childhood.
C-Tier Game
Super Woden GP
They clearly wanted to make a Rally game as the mechanics seem better suited for offroad than traditional circuit racing, for a game that is part of the all achievements offered for cheap class of games, the difficulty curve is pretty high as the difference between winning and losing is judging one corner wrong, it's a nice balance that almost justifies the 3000G score on offer.
B-Tier Game
Circuit Superstars
I've never known a game that has pissed me off more than Circuit Superstars, the sad thing is, it's actually pretty good as a game but the developers really messed up big time over the time it's been out, everything from the game not starting to not loading saves properly to completely locking me out of content I had already completed; but what bothers me most of all is the ego, early on they brought in Top Gear as a selling point as well as an exclusive list of real racing pros setting times on the Top Gear Test Track.
They are as follows.
Romain Grosjean - Former F1 now Indy Car
Sam Bird - Formula E
Jimmy Broadbent - Racing game genres most well known personality.
Lando Norris - Formula 1
Conor Daly - Indy Car and Nascar
Charlie Martin - Endurance Racing GT
Catie Munnings - Rallying
Jamie Chadwick - Indy NXT
Those are the ones I know of and I'm faster than Conor, Charlie, Catie and Jamie.
Another thing I hate is how long it thinks I want to race, an online race can go on longer than a Project Cars race with anywhere between 10 and 20 laps per race with qualifying, I can complete a Mario Kart four race session with load screens and lobbies included faster than one online race in this.
Least the music is good.
C-Tier for the game, massive F-You Tier for the developers.
When you make a legendary IP like Pokemon or Mario, it's hard to break free of that legacy to create something new without being reminded of what they made before, so I've assembled five different industry legends and one legendary company to see if leaving their legacy really was the right decision.
Keiji Inafune
The man behind the Blue Bomber Megaman ended up leaving Capcom having started from illustrator moving up the hierarchy to some top positions, his two most notable titles since leaving have been Azure Striker Gunvolt and Mighty No.9.
Verdict
While Azure Striker Gunvolt is pretty well received if very niche, Mighty No 9 was an infamous failure that even destroyed consoles, meanwhile legacy collections of Megaman continue to sell well with pretty much every title coming back in some form.
Yuji Naka
The man behind the Blue Blur Sonic the Hedgehog was a prominent Sega figure throughout Sega's tenure as a console maker up until 2006, his only notable game since was Balan Wonderworld for Square Enix.
Verdict
Balan Wonderworld was a doomed project from the start and Naka would fall out with Square Enix and leave all while Sonic began a new renaissance guided by new talent, Naka's career would come to a halt as he was arrested for Insider Trading Fraud last year.
Hideo Kojima
The man behind Metal Gear Solid turning a stealth top down shooter into a cinematic gaming juggernaut would later divorce from Konami following some messy disputes, creating Death Stranding with his own studio.
Verdict
The eccentric personality behind Hideo Kojima really shows when even four years after release, no one knows what Death Stranding is supposed to be, meanwhile it's clear that Metal Gear Solid can't survive without Kojima.
Yu Suzuki
The man, the myth, the legend and now the new breakfast cereal, Yu Suzuki is Sega royalty behind their best arcade titles creating a metric ton of hits including Space Harrier, Outrun, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA and Shenmue. He would establish his own company to finish the ill fated Shenmue saga but also reminded the industry what he's capable of with Air Twister, a Space Harrier/Panzer Dragoon legacy game.
Verdict
It's clear that Shenmue is never going to leave his shadow while Air Twister is a reminder of what he can really do, it's clear that he maybe should've stopped on Shenmue as we could've continued to have some really stellar titles. It's worth noting that much of what made Shenmue work is now in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise that other than Sonic is Sega's money maker.
Game Freak
The developers behind Pokemon being the main driving force of it's video game success although the franchise is facing rougher waters with how messy Scarlet and Violet are, it's not showing signs of waning in popularity. Game Freak have shown willingness to make their own games with the most notable being Tembo the Badass Elephant.
Verdict
I doubt they'll ever escape Pokemon and I can foresee a future that Pokemon will switch from Game Freak to a different developer. Tembo isn't a bad title but it's certainly not bringing in Nintendo money.
Christian Whitehead
Credited with saving the Sonic franchise, known as Taxman, Whitehead provided all the support for Sonic's current gen classic re-releases with polished versions of the classics as well as the legendary Sonic Mania.
Verdict
He's burned a few bridges with Sega following Origins so whether we'll see him contribute to Sonic in future instalments remains to be seen, his team are working on Penny's Big Breakaway, an attempt at a 3D platformer, remains to be seen if he can breakaway from Sonic.
All of today's game have one thing in common, I barely passed the first stage in any of them through three different reasons, trust me that for two of them, you couldn't make it up.
Radioactive Dwarfs: Evil From The Sewers
You play a red dressed heroine in finding your brother while fighting Radioactive Dwarfs in the sewer, the game looks like it came from the Amiga era with the gameplay to match and looks fairly competent, only one problem though; this currently holds the world record for fastest 1000G at an astonishing 20 seconds because triggering the secret ending unlocks all the achievements, how do you do this? At the start of the game, try and leave the sewers, the heroine says feck this and leaves triggering all the achievements.
D-Tier Game
The King's Bird
There's a type of theatre told entirely through silhouettes with no voices but just the music conveying the scenes being witnessed, The King's Bird plays exactly like this with gameplay reminiscent of Celeste but with a 2D gliding mechanic, unfortunately it's just as hard as Celeste but while Celeste had a clear objective with a story that is understood and universally relatable to anyone with mental health problems, King's Bird has you guessing all the time of it's themes and where you are supposed to be in game, it's not infinitely clear if you've even completed the first area, so I ended up dropping it.
D-Tier Game
Project Winter
Hoping to bring in the expanding Among Us crowd, Project Winter was meant to be the grown up version that sees a group of mountaineers survive the harsh environment while one of the group tries to sabotage and kill the others, unfortunately my one attempt at playing it, I suffered from hallucinations moments before joining my friends, barely remembering if I even did anything in the game, it was honestly quite surreal and quite terrifying, I would never touch it again. From what my friends told me, they felt that the game needed too much just to start a session and wasn't worth it, by extension it also killed the hype we initially all had for Among Us.
D-Tier Game
I'm going basic bitch today with this episode, all games today are pretty basic in design and play.
Castle Walker
You have to start somewhere and the best way to grab free clicks is to add 4000G to your game's achievements, otherwise why would you play something like Castle Walker? You ironically play a Cerulean Wizard who literally walks the castles shooting every enemy in sight with a wand with bare bones starter pack enemies and power ups along with the easiest bosses in history, the first Castlevania probably has a higher budget than this.
F-Tier Game
Ballotron Oceans
If you like billiard trick shots but also like explosions, then look no further than Ballotron and Ballotron Oceans, using a setup of obstacles in each stage you are tasked with blowing up the green ball, while Ballotron relies on the limited solutions method to puzzle solving, Oceans let's you be more creative with your shots. Ballotron sadly plays like ass, so stick with Oceans.
C-Tier Game for Ballotron Oceans
D-Tier Game for Ballotron
Aerial_Knight's Never Yield
Perhaps the easiest game to make when starting out is the on rails runners, you play Wally, a parkour specialist who is on the run from the urban cyberpunk Detroit police as he takes back what was stolen from him, sliding, jumping and running through each obstacle to escape the persistent pursuit of the security forces, Aerial_Knight is an indie developer with a background in music which really shows as he brings just the right amount of urban style to make for an engaging game with the simplest of gameplay.
B-Tier Game
