Matrimelee Reviews

I was gonna hold off until people got the game in hand & commented on it, but since I've played the game a week solid I thought I'd go ahead with a mini-review.

My reaction to this game has been VERY much like ROTD, I was bored at first, then the game grew on me as I got deeper into it. BTW this game is not much like ROTD at all save for the 4 ROTD cameos (each of the four often 'step in' to fight for other NPI characters, some are hilarious, like Elias fights for Sonia who you see nekkid in the shower through steam)

Overall, I think this game will be liked best by devout NPI followers & gamers who like a whacky anime vibe in their games alla WW7 & Gowcaizr

Graphics - sprites are gonna disappoint as they are animated poorly to average, some are very stiff with low detail & movement, ROTD sprites are much cleaner.

Backgrounds - again, average, moderate detail with a washed-out color pallette, very 2D JPN only PSX-esque at times. There are really only 4 backgrounds - a stage scene, computer store, a white room, and a night club/lounge, plus a forrest scene I havent seen for a week (must be 2P only). However, the stage & room appear in different varieties, for example the stage has alterring things on the jumbo screen & different anime performers.

Some pretty cool SDM animation & sound, especially when the final blow is a super.

Gameplay - its there but takes a while to find, decent amount of moves per character. Gameplay is gonna be too loose & random for hardcore fans, Fran will probably shit a brick The code doesnt seem near as tight as it should be, & hitbox accuracy seems a little off. Some glitchiness.

I really love the new character Olof, innovative, has a QCF fireball that can be shot at 4 different angles, well laid out & offbeat character. Saizo is cool too. Theres a good range of usable characters here.

Double tier jumping rocks IMO, & AB rolling is quite useful. When characters earn a charge, they glow & produce a charge that will stun an opponent if touched.

comboing - not combo heavy at all, pretty lame here

2 LAME game modes added

1. cant remember the name, but a mode where if one player taunts & the other player answers with a taunt, the fight pauses & a TV screen appears & flashes 1 of the 4 buttons quickly, correct presses on either side decide whether blows hit, miss, or are blocked. In all fairness, I havent had a human opponenet to try this with. The AI opponent never uses this feature luckily so it is a 2P thing only which might be enjoyed by some.

2. By pressing BC, the Kruoko-esque ref can assist you by either blocking blows or making hits. VERY lame IMO, useless & a pain. Luckily the ref doesnt appear in every round. Sadly, he does not raise a flag each time a side scores a hit, as in past NPI games

Sound - more good solid Noise Factory stuff, guitar based but anime quirky at times. I still think Noise should score for future KOF games.

Graphics - 6.9
Gameplay - 7.4
Sound - 8.7
Overall - 7.5

Lee (garg7)
<a href="http://www.neogeotemple.com" target="_blank">http://www.neogeotemple.com</a>

<small>[ May 28, 2003, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: gargoyle7 ]</small>

Thanks for the nice first review, man.

Sad to hear that bit about Matrimelee's gameplay. And to think that the anims are worse than RotD's makes me laugh, that and the BC stuff to call the referee for help, you're right, that sounds absolutely lame.

Uh... Matrimelee will lead a sad life in the shadows of the upcoming SvC...

As usual, nice review.

Although I disagree a bit with the animation as a whole. While it's true that some characters movements are really stiff and lame looking at times (Buntaro, ugh) others animate quite nicely and move rather fluidly; ex: Poochy has nice detail in his move frames. Just look at his face when he does his diving attack in the air, you can see his cheeks flap around; pretty cool.

To say it is worse than ROTD is a bit of a toss-up, since it seems like priority was given to certain people, while others got the shaft. But seeing that the cast in Matrimelee is much larger than that of ROTD, if anything, I'd say they are about even.

Takumaji:
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Uh... Matrimelee will lead a sad life in the shadows of the upcoming SvC...

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I was thinking something similar, but being on the neo, its guaranteed more love than it would have received elseware. Im sure Charlie will disect it untill he finds the fun burried in the chocolatey centre.

Thanks for the review Lee

I'm quite appalled to hear the animation is WORSE than RotD annoyed
Some of the animation in RotD is terrible, and the graphics in general are piss poor... Kang is just a big blob - one of the worst characters drawings I have ever had the misfortune to see in any 2D fighter.

I really hope I find it better than RotD, because Playmore can burn in hell if it isn't. I'm sick of these second rate games coming out. I'd rather have no releases at all personally if this trend continues. annoyed

Tarma:

I'm quite appalled to hear the animation is WORSE than RotD annoyed
Some of the animation in RotD is terrible, and the graphics in general are piss poor... Kang is just a big blob - one of the worst characters drawings I have ever had the misfortune to see in any 2D fighter.

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I'd say SPRITES are lower quality than ROTD, the rest of the graphics are average/okay, hard to say as they are a different type. Hate to say it, but the white room BG is crap, they simply drop in props to what is already a drab white wall...........

gargoyle7
[I'd say SPRITES are lower quality than ROTD, the rest of the graphics are average/okay, hard to say as they are a different type. Hate to say it, but the white room BG is crap, they simply drop in props to what is already a drab white wall...........

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Still doesn't fill me with confidence... the first time I saw RotD I thought there was something wrong with my TV the sprites are so grainny oh_no

Makes you wonder why Playmore to let this third party crap come out... shame

Man, after reading that, THANK GOD I didn't blow $325 on that game. I fuggin' hated ROTD, and if this game is of similar make...jeezus.

Gargoyle, thanks for the review that cuts through all the hype. Some people are just too desperate for new releases, even if they blow.
I'll just keep building that library of SNK classics.

Only 4 BGs?! Give me a break. Where's all the power that's supposed to be in this? I heard the music was the best yet on the Neo. I guess I won't be getting this title. I'm not enough of a Capcom fan to be getting SVC either. Guess I'll be saving my cash for a while.

Double post. Stupid Dreamcast browser.

<small>[ May 28, 2003, 12:12 PM: Message edited by: MarrymeMai ]</small>

It is too bad that this new game isn't that great. The game has less megs and more characters than ROTD so that is probably why the animation isn't as good. I hope that Playmore does a better job with SNK Vs Capcom. The people who saw SNK Vs Capcom said the animation was as good if not better than MOTW. Since it is coming out soon I think that I will hold off on buy it. I am sure that I will be a lot happier with it. I sure hope that it pushes the Noe to its limit.

This is a let down i wished wouldn't happen but it did,even though we should be thankful for any new neo game in these times,it makes me wonder at times why bother?

Even though i can't afford new neo releases,this isn't a great reason for me too start,much agree on what Loopz said,i just buy neo classics,but there will be a time when there be no more new classics,then what.I just hope to god Snk vs Capcom lives to its hype

Thanks for the review though

Good impressions, Lee (Hey, I like the name! wink ), but I do have to disagree with you in some areas:

-I think Matrimelee has a much cleaner look than RoTD, and the sprites are DEFINITELY animated better overall.

-Game play does feel different compared to RoTD, as it should, since this is a different series entirely. The game seems faster paced to me.

-Not that this makes up for it(I suppose), but the reason Matrimelee only has a few stages is because of the story; the game takes place in and around an arena, where all the characters are trying to get to and/or marry the princess, hence the game's name. The thing is, the arena has several different looks and things going on in the background, so things seem different enough each match there. Same goes for the locker rooms.

-Music is once again high quality and some BGMs are full of vocals. This game is VERY Japanese though, so it's going to sound either weird, just fine, or the vocal songs will drive you INSANE. XD Personally, I like RoTD's soundtrack better, mainly because of Pepe and Billy's awesome BGMs.

-The characters introduced in Power Instinct 2 can no longer transform, but have new attacks that make up for it. Pochi, BTW, can be thought of as a new character, as he was the transformation of Kintaro and barely had any moves, where as now, he has plenty and may be the best character in the game.

-The backgrounds in Matrimelee have a much cleaner look to them than RoTD's, and those with characters in the background are MUCH more animated. There's no bizarre use of colors either, like in Radel's fugly club RoTD stage.

-The attention to detail is very well done. I especially like the bizarre animated "titan tron" screens that show up in some arena levels, particularly the one with aliens dancing on the stage while the screen plays a weird movie of a kid getting abducted. If you look closely, you'll see that the singers in the lounge stage actually stop singing when their partner does and go into a waiting stance. Then they start FIGHTING towards the end.

-Check out Annie's "to the moon and back again" SDM. Very impressive stuff! But I like Olaf's SDM the best. Speaking of Olaf, he reminds me a little of Bristol, the boss character from Groove On Fight, which was the last Power Instinct title...

-Sissy, the "princess," has a small box that summons different creatures; one of them is Abubo from RoTD.

Overall, I'm liking Matrimelee a lot so far. Like RoTD, it's no KOF 2002, but it's a solid fighter nonetheless. Fans of Power Instict will enjoy this new update to the series, and RoTD fans will find something a little similiar but with wackier characters and some weird attacks. My only real disappointment is the INEXCUSABLE lack of a practice mode. WTF?

Lee

I was always under the impression that a 7.5 was good a score.

Gotta love all the hype these new titles get, then when one person gives it a "less than stellar" review people act like their world just fell apart.

Damn people, at least try it out for yourselves before you call it crap based on someone elses opinion (which was slightly positive).

<small>[ May 28, 2003, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: Average Joe ]</small>

Oh, I forgot to add that if you didn't like RoTD, chances are VERY high you won't like Matrimelee.

Lee

That sounds dissapointing. I will wait for SVC Chaos myself. buttrock

Damn people, at least try it out for yourselves before you call it crap based on someone elses opinion (which was slightly positive).

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xactly.. this is all i could be bothered to write. all this judging a game before you even play it is irritating...reminds me of shoryuken.com...

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beelzebubble:

Damn people, at least try it out for yourselves before you call it crap based on someone elses opinion (which was slightly positive).

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xactly.. this is all i could be bothered to write. all this judging a game before you even play it is irritating...reminds me of shoryuken.com...

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Don't forget that as soon as Teh Romz comes out, at Shoryuken those people who think the game looks horrible will download it like it was going out of style very_ang

Average Joe:
I was always under the impression that a 7.5 was good a score.

Damn people, at least try it out for yourselves before you call it crap based on someone elses opinion (which was slightly positive).

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VERY true here, I NEVER said I hated this game, I dont, I've pumped a lot of fun out of it & will continue to. And you are right, 7.5 is NOT terrible

I guess I geared my review towards the NG hardcore who have VERY high (often too high IMO) standards for these games

Lyte Edge also offered some very justified refutes as well, NO 1 REVIEW can ever sum a game up, this one was just my quick review

Lots of different tastes out there

Overall, MY OPINION, a good title that could have been better

Mine hasn't come in yet, but I'll be posting impressions when it does of course...

gargoyle7:

Average Joe:
I was always under the impression that a 7.5 was good a score.

Damn people, at least try it out for yourselves before you call it crap based on someone elses opinion (which was slightly positive).

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VERY true here, I NEVER said I hated this game, I dont, I've pumped a lot of fun out of it & will continue to. And you are right, 7.5 is NOT terrible

I guess I geared my review towards the NG hardcore who have VERY high (often too high IMO) standards for these games

Lyte Edge also offered some very justified refutes as well, NO 1 REVIEW can ever sum a game up, this one was just my quick review

Lots of different tastes out there

Overall, MY OPINION, a good title that could have been better

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That statement wasn't aimed toward you, sorry if you took it that way.

Although you displayed a sense of disappointment in your review, I did see a fair bit of positive statements and an overall sense of enjoyment from the game.

I was referring to the few people (and inevitable other bunch who will say the same things) that based their opinions solely on this lone mini review, not even really bothering to gather more information from other various types of people with differing tastes before slamming the game down.

And I couldn't agree more with people having high standards and varying tastes, but that's my point; if people are going to take the time to drag a game down the crapper, they should wait for more information or at least play it first.

There were plenty of people giving props to ROTD, and when I played that, I almost puked.
Trash. Sloppy autodial gameplay, uninspired character designs, dull BG's. If this game is at all like ROTD, I'm glad people are saying so because I don't want any fucking part of it.

I for one am truly hoping SvC turns out to be awesome, because it's time to raise that bar up back where it fookin' belongs. Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Shodown 2, KoF'98...this is the standard of excellence these games should be shooting for, not getting away with being less simply because we're starving for new releases.
I'm tired of listening to all the soft-pedaling excuse making for these shitty new releases.
I'm not that desperate for new Neo titles. It needs to be good and break some new ground, or it should just die the fuck off.

4 BG's you gotta be fucking kidding me? Jesus everyone get a supergun and the PI2 PCB!! buttrock

because it's time to raise that bar up back where it fookin' belongs.

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that is true but i think matrimelee and to a lesser extent rotd have their place in the playmore line up. i wouldnt pay 40,000 yen for them but they are like ninjamasters, gowcaizer, world heroes, etc back in the day (97,98) they offer something less mainstream as a perhaps "fun" alternative to the serious games like kof, ff, etc.

i like those type of games for their originality, interesting game system and strange characters as much as i love the kof's and ff's for their famailiar chars and tight gameplay

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