TheBigBB
Formerly known as dmhawkmoon
- Joined
- May 5, 2002
- Posts
- 6,152
I know that some people have posted impressions already, but now that a large amount of people are about to play this, I think we need a general thread for it. I have played it for a few hours and I can offer my own impression of course!
I am really happy over this game. Yes, I thought ROTD was fun, but Matrimelee is a lot better. No more 10 minute 600 hit combos, and there are some gameplay elements that I really like. Here is the breakdown:
Graphics: The graphics are mostly awesome, marred only by sometimes choppy animations. BUT, it's not that bad at all. I would say that it animates at least as well and often better than ROTD, but I'm not too keen on judging this sort of thing. What I do know is this: The game has a very good FEEL to it with regard to atmosphere, and the backgrounds are very very good. Yes it is true: There are only about 6 backgrounds. The catch? The arena background has 6 or 7 different forms! Every time you fight in it a new band or act will be onstage behind you singing their song (we'll get to the sound later) and with their own jumbotron images going by. The acts are meticulosuly animated. I love how it's done. It takes the whole round sometimes for you to see all the different changes that the background will undergo. No more 2 frame people. This is amazing stuff, guys! I am really in love with what they did on the Neo-Geo! SNK did wonderful things with it in the past, and now it continues. If anyone disagrees here then I'd like to hear why. Oh yeah, and the endings have some really big, quirky looking cartoon images to go along with them. I only won the game one time using the last boss though.
Music: The music blows me away! The game has so many full length vocal tracks that I can't even count them all. Maybe 8? Like I said, as you're fighting singers or bands will be in the background putting on a show. The quality isn't quite as sharp as MS3 or something, but it's as good as the Neo can do for full vocal tracks and it's great stuff. I love it!
Gameplay: Take ROTD, take out the giant aesthetic combos, throw in some quirky things and funny special moves. I like the double jump which can be performed by anyone. It adds a lot of strategy, but, you can't block in the air, (EDIT: You can air block, but not every move) so if you do jump you better have it planned out well! I love the usage of the referee! It's hilarious to toss the ref as a weapon, use him as a shield, or just see him get beaten down inadvertently. You can't use the ref in every round, but I think 2 of the backgrounds have him. Also in this game: Dashing, rolling, and a slow powerful CD move. The CD moves are like ROTD but tey hit one time only and just do a lot of damage while knocking the opponent away. Also, for those who can't beat the last boss, this time you can be the boss! Yeah, the last boss is hard as hell on any mode, but at least she has some weaknesses. Namely, you can often get behind her while she's doing a move and get a hit in. She's also quite weak to herself as I alluded to, so anyone will be able to win playing as her just to see what the endings and credits are like. There are a few annoying things, though. One annoyance is that when a character moves up a number on their stress meter, they power up in a burst of energy and it knocks you back. It's annoying to be doing an attack and suddenly get hit back. Well, it almost always happens after someone gets up from a hit, so you could watch to make sure it's not going to happen. Maybe I find this annoying due to lack of experience with the game. Also, once again the game doesn't quite fit onto the TV properly. You can't see as far as you should be able to on the borders. These are just minor complaints, but they should be noted.
Overall I am very surprised and happy with this game. I urge people who liked ROTD to give this a try. I think you'll find that it's a lot better. The atmosphere of the game is just done to perfection. And, believe it or not, the ROTD characters aren't so bad to have in there... You encounter them backstage as side fights so they're not entirely out of place. Is it kind of lame? Yeah it is, but not as much as you'd think. It's a silly game anyway, so it's not a big deal. At least we get to use the ROTD characters in a better game.
This is not to say that ROTD sucks, but it was never the best Neo fighter, and Matrimelee is a lot better. That's all there is to it. I like it a lot. I know I seem to say that about a lot of new releases, right? But, I never ever said ROTD was amazing, I never said that MS4 didn't do a little too much GRAPHICAL rehashing, and I never even played KOF 2001 and 2002, so don't dismiss my opinion here just because you think I am too positive.
Oh yeah, and Poochy rules.
<small>[ June 01, 2003, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: dmhawkmoon ]</small>
I am really happy over this game. Yes, I thought ROTD was fun, but Matrimelee is a lot better. No more 10 minute 600 hit combos, and there are some gameplay elements that I really like. Here is the breakdown:
Graphics: The graphics are mostly awesome, marred only by sometimes choppy animations. BUT, it's not that bad at all. I would say that it animates at least as well and often better than ROTD, but I'm not too keen on judging this sort of thing. What I do know is this: The game has a very good FEEL to it with regard to atmosphere, and the backgrounds are very very good. Yes it is true: There are only about 6 backgrounds. The catch? The arena background has 6 or 7 different forms! Every time you fight in it a new band or act will be onstage behind you singing their song (we'll get to the sound later) and with their own jumbotron images going by. The acts are meticulosuly animated. I love how it's done. It takes the whole round sometimes for you to see all the different changes that the background will undergo. No more 2 frame people. This is amazing stuff, guys! I am really in love with what they did on the Neo-Geo! SNK did wonderful things with it in the past, and now it continues. If anyone disagrees here then I'd like to hear why. Oh yeah, and the endings have some really big, quirky looking cartoon images to go along with them. I only won the game one time using the last boss though.
Music: The music blows me away! The game has so many full length vocal tracks that I can't even count them all. Maybe 8? Like I said, as you're fighting singers or bands will be in the background putting on a show. The quality isn't quite as sharp as MS3 or something, but it's as good as the Neo can do for full vocal tracks and it's great stuff. I love it!
Gameplay: Take ROTD, take out the giant aesthetic combos, throw in some quirky things and funny special moves. I like the double jump which can be performed by anyone. It adds a lot of strategy, but, you can't block in the air, (EDIT: You can air block, but not every move) so if you do jump you better have it planned out well! I love the usage of the referee! It's hilarious to toss the ref as a weapon, use him as a shield, or just see him get beaten down inadvertently. You can't use the ref in every round, but I think 2 of the backgrounds have him. Also in this game: Dashing, rolling, and a slow powerful CD move. The CD moves are like ROTD but tey hit one time only and just do a lot of damage while knocking the opponent away. Also, for those who can't beat the last boss, this time you can be the boss! Yeah, the last boss is hard as hell on any mode, but at least she has some weaknesses. Namely, you can often get behind her while she's doing a move and get a hit in. She's also quite weak to herself as I alluded to, so anyone will be able to win playing as her just to see what the endings and credits are like. There are a few annoying things, though. One annoyance is that when a character moves up a number on their stress meter, they power up in a burst of energy and it knocks you back. It's annoying to be doing an attack and suddenly get hit back. Well, it almost always happens after someone gets up from a hit, so you could watch to make sure it's not going to happen. Maybe I find this annoying due to lack of experience with the game. Also, once again the game doesn't quite fit onto the TV properly. You can't see as far as you should be able to on the borders. These are just minor complaints, but they should be noted.
Overall I am very surprised and happy with this game. I urge people who liked ROTD to give this a try. I think you'll find that it's a lot better. The atmosphere of the game is just done to perfection. And, believe it or not, the ROTD characters aren't so bad to have in there... You encounter them backstage as side fights so they're not entirely out of place. Is it kind of lame? Yeah it is, but not as much as you'd think. It's a silly game anyway, so it's not a big deal. At least we get to use the ROTD characters in a better game.
This is not to say that ROTD sucks, but it was never the best Neo fighter, and Matrimelee is a lot better. That's all there is to it. I like it a lot. I know I seem to say that about a lot of new releases, right? But, I never ever said ROTD was amazing, I never said that MS4 didn't do a little too much GRAPHICAL rehashing, and I never even played KOF 2001 and 2002, so don't dismiss my opinion here just because you think I am too positive.
Oh yeah, and Poochy rules.
<small>[ June 01, 2003, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: dmhawkmoon ]</small>
loco
Hence the drop in score.
