2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

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VideoGameCritic
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2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 28th, 2012, 1:10 pm

I've posted two new Xbox 360 reviews for your reading pleasure.
Let me know what you think.

MoonMetropolis

2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby MoonMetropolis » January 28th, 2012, 10:21 pm

Of all the great shooters released in Japan, it's funny that Otomedius Excellent is one of the only ones that gets an American release.  I mean, why THAT one?  Why not something that's actually... well... good?

Critic, you should review DoDonPachi Resurrection for the 360.  The PAL version will work on an NTSC console and can be easily purchased online.  It's an old-school 2D shooter from CAVE, the kings of the shmup genre.

DanZero1
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2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby DanZero1 » January 29th, 2012, 12:16 am

I think it's important to note that in many of your reviews, you'll mention the publisher of the game, and say "what a great job [publisher] did with this game" or "what was [publisher] thinking?" I understand in older gaming that a lot of companies designed, developed, AND published the titles themselves, but nowadays especially in your modern console reviews there are a lot of separate publishers and designers. I pointed this out for the Gears of War review because of the following.

The Gears of War series has been published by Microsoft, but developed by Epic Games, and they've used their popular Unreal Engine 3 throughout. Being a huge Unreal & Unreal Engine fan, it's good to see that these games have that Epic polish and graphic design behind them.

Nice to see Konami with their hands on a Gradius style shooter for the 360 too.


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2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 29th, 2012, 1:09 pm

DanZero -
Your point is well taken.  I should refer to the developer instead of the publisher with regard to design decisions.
Dave


Samael

2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby Samael » January 29th, 2012, 2:01 pm

"Fun comes to a screeching halt." "Running short on ideas." "Formula is wearing thin." "Camera makes me sick." 

A-.

Really? Because that means it's up there with GunStar Heroes, which had bosses you never once complained about, and enough imagination to destabilize the marketplace, if it were a currency. Also, no camera troubles...

Julio III

2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby Julio III » January 29th, 2012, 10:31 pm

Haven't played Otomedius Excellent but for most modern shoot-em-ups, slowdown is programmed in - even to the original arcade release.

If you ever look on the forums for Cave shmup ports, there is always a ton of discussion on accurate reproduction of slowdown compared to the arcade.

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2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 30th, 2012, 12:17 pm

Well, the whole game is programmed so obviously the slow-down is programmed in by definition.  The question is, was it intended, or is it a side effect of the engine getting bogged down?  I find it hard to believe that the designers intentionally wanted the game speed to be erratic.  It sure doesn't look good.

QF

2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby QF » January 30th, 2012, 12:29 pm

I can't seem to find many shoot em ups on 360 that do not have a person as the ship, are there any?

MoonMetropolis

2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby MoonMetropolis » January 31st, 2012, 3:41 am

[QUOTE=QF]I can't seem to find many shoot em ups on 360 that do not have a person as the ship, are there any?
[/QUOTE]
Aegis Wing, Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, Scramble, Space Giraffe, Every Extend Extra Extreme, Galaga, Galaga Legions (and DX), MicroBot, ect.

Ultimately, though, I think most gamers would rather play as scantily-clad underage anime girls rather than spaceships or robots.

Julio III

2012/1/28: Xbox 360: Gears of War 3, Otomedius Excellent

Postby Julio III » January 31st, 2012, 5:35 am

For Cave games, extra slowdown is deliberately programmed in on top of the slowdown of the arcade hardware not being able to cope. I have never played Otomodius so am not sure what is the case here.

As for 360 Shmups without a person as the ship:

Retail games:

Ketsui
Dodonpachi Dai-ou-jou
Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu (aka Dodonpachi Resurrection in EU/US)
Eschatos
Raiden IV
Raiden Fighters Aces
Under Defeat (not released yet)
Akai Katana Shin (well, you can switch between a ship and a person)

XBLA:

Ikaruga
Radiant Silvergun
Strania
Space Invaders: Infinity Gene
Space Invaders Extreme
Triggerheart Exelica
Galaga Legions
R-Type Dimensions

and for XBLIG there are far too many too list, I don't know all of them:
Shoot 1UP
All the Radiangames games

I've probably missed a lot of retail and XBLA games...
and not counting twin-stick shooters...

There's probably more where your ship is an actual ship than when your ship is a person!



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