Double Dragon Trilogy
At this point in the history of the franchise, you either “get” Double Dragon, or you don’t. This is a side-scrolling beat-em-up in it’s purest and simplest form. You can punch, kick, jump, jump kick, and do a scant few other moves. The enemies you’ll face all have personality, but it’s of the behavior-based variety. The game is challenging, particularly on the Original and Expert difficulties, but can be finished in a short amount of time… even shorter if you become particularly skilled at the game and the nuances in it’s play.
– Real player with 19.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Beat 'em up Arcade Games.
In theory this collection should be a great experience. That’s what I thought when I booted it up. As soon as I tried to adjust the resolution, the game proceeded to crash, forced me to verify files and turn off my virus protection as a content lock occured.
Once I got it back up and running with controls set comfortably on my 360 pad, it worked well. Well enough for what feels like a lazy attempt to wrap three arcade roms into a stand-alone executable.
The Time and Score text overlay is really weird and doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the visuals. The options feel kind of barebones, there’s no intro videos or explanations or anything for any of the games, nothing. People coming into this without knowing about the games will have no idea that you can do super moves, like hitting punch and jump together in DD1 for the game-breaking backwards elbow. Or how DD2’s controls are odd. Or how you can flipping run in DD3 by double tapping move (the previous two games didn’t have it, so unless you did this by accident how would you know?).
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
No More Heroes
Welcome to the Garden of Madness, Sudabros…
tldr; the game is great, but the port is not
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The non-technical part of this port is still good, even after 14 years, the game has it’s charm. The heart and soul of the game is still here (except “Heavenly Star” is absent, but you can mod it back in), but the technical side of this port - OH THE TECHNICAL SIDE..
As you could see, most of the reviews here talk about the lack of controller support (KB+M is not an option;
! and why would you even want to play it on KB+M? ) - the game only supports XBOX360 controller, BUT DS4Windows works just fine for me.
– Real player with 25.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Beat 'em up Action Games.
Yes. But not yet.
the game works really well, but there’s some bugs that need fixing.
Here’s some stuff nobody else is saying:
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A bunch of achievements are broken, specifically those that have progression tracking. The counting doesn’t work properly. Those who have the achievement “Dial M for Massacre” are using SAM… for shame guys.
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There’s some particular segments in the game where you need to hit a target at the right time but the timing is extremely finicky if not completely broken. Luckily they are all optional, but some are tied to a certain achievement. It’s not impossible per se, but I sure avoided them like the plague.
– Real player with 20.2 hrs in game
The Wonderful 101: Remastered
I’ve been playing this game for YEARS back when it released on the Wii U. I never thought in a million years that The Wonderful 101 would have an official PC release. And yet here we are. So how does it hold up?
Maybe I’m being biased here but I genuinely believe this is PlatinumGames and Hideki Kamiya’s magnum opus. The combat system is extremely intricate and complex but damn does it feel satisfying to master. This is NOT a cutesey wootsey Pikmin-style adventure game. This is very much an action game that ranks up there with games such as Devil May Cry and Bayonetta (2 other games Hideki Kamiya is responsible for. Go figure.). This is a game that does NOT hold your hand whatsoever nor does it do any spoonfeeding. You’re gonna get punished. You’re gonna get destroyed. You’re gonna get nothing but consolation prizes along the way. You’re probably also gonna get frustrated with the weapon switching gimmick and say the controls are bad and that it should’ve stayed on the Wii U where it belongs.
– Real player with 308.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Beat 'em up Action Games.
At first this game can seem very inaccessible due to its abnormal controls and original home on the Wii U. Hopefully this review will clear up some misconceptions as well as highlight, in short, what makes this game so incredible.
TLDR: PLAY THE DEMO, it will give you a basic feel for the gameplay as well as a showcase of the game’s spectacle. Any fan of Bayonetta, DMC and the likes should play this game right now. This game is incredible and my favourite of all time. The controls are responsive (when played with a controller) and the combat is incredibly mechanically deep, combined with an immense level of spectacle through its 20 hr story. It is just Wonderful.
– Real player with 113.9 hrs in game
Shenmue I & II
[SHENMUE I]
Shenmue is a strange, gently plodding beast of a game that we’ll never see the likes of again. Even when Shenmue 3 comes out, it will likely focus on different things, different aspects of gameplay. Shenmue is currently gaming’s one and only kung-fu small town life simulator, and that’s commendable.
This makes the fourth time in my life I’ve finished Shenmue 1 and every time I’ve played it I’ve seen different scenes, talked to people and discovered what to do next in different ways. I’ve gotten different toys out of the capsule machines and won different prizes in the lucky-dip draws in the stores. The plot of Shenmue is the same every time, the way you work through that plot is different and organic.
– Real player with 89.2 hrs in game
Shenmue. It was a great game that preceded many other open-world titles. It is still the game with that much immersion from the open-world as you can get in 2021, if we’re not talking about visual details. Every person there, every single NPC has a unique appearance, behavior pattern, and biography defining his/her actions. Additionally, every person involved in fights has his own set of moves. How’s that for starters? For a game released in 2001? Even more, Shenmue is still the great tale of adventures and martial arts.
– Real player with 73.3 hrs in game