Tonight I started trying out all my new Sega Saturn games. The first one was Lemmings 3D. I like Lemmings, the old ones for Sega Mega Drive (a.k.a. Genesis), so I figured this couldn’t go wrong. Lemmings, in 3D!! Just the thought of it was blowing my mind.. how disappointed was I…
This game was the biggest WTF-experience for me this year, how they were even allowed to release this kind of shit eludes me.. The graphics are horrible, however I guess they were restricted by the capacity of the Saturn, but I mean, there are better looking games for that console. The controls are indescribable, nothing makes sense and no matter what you are trying to press nothing happens that advances the gameplay. I just moved around the camera angle for 30 minutes and could hardly get that to work in my favor..
Why did they even try to make Lemmings anything other than a 2-D side-scroller, this is what works best for this type of game, why change something that was already good? They could have just enhanced the graphics and maybe added some quirky extra actions with the evolved Saturn controller that had more buttons?
Well just watch this video I made of the gameplay and you will understand why this game sucks ass…
Castlevania Legends for Game Boy is a really great Castlevania game, compared to the first Castlevania Adventures for the same platform the movement is smoother, it feels like the character is a bit faster, the whip responds better and most importantly of all: THE HEARTS DO NOT GIVE YOU HEALTH! Like we have learned in previous Castlevania games, the hearts you collect are used for your special ability. In Castlevania legends you receive special abilities after each stage, instead of collecting them through candles, and they’re called soul weapons. You use them like normally in Castlevania games, by pressing up and attack. But there are also a few hidden weapons, like the holy water, throwing dagger etc, hidden in certain candles in a secret area of the maps of each stage (not really secret, mainly just a detour from the standard route).
Another different thing about Castlevania Legends is that you play as a girl, called Sonia.
Through the Super Game Boy for the Super NES they have improved some graphical aspects of the regular Game Boy games, such as giving Castlevania Legends this really neat interface with pillars and stone around the screen instead of the normal boring “Game-Boy-Look-a-Like” screen.
Also the stages have different colors, which makes it feel like you’re really advancing through the game. Here’s some of the stage colors, and in the bottom right corner is the standard sepia/brown that the Game Boy games had as a standard through the SNES.
Some downsides of the game… the bats are annoying as usual and they come in groups and respawn on the screen when you are trying to advance upwards, creepy flying black shades pop from nowhere and have a really annoying pattern which makes it really frustrating to try to hit them, stupid big ass knights that charge you and take way to many hits to kill and hurt you way too much, (SPOILER ALERT!) Alucard is actually one of the bosses (even though he’s a friend to the character, Sonia, he needs her to prove her strength) but he is way too easy to beat =(, Alucard is supposed to be kick-ass!! There are also some special candles that have a different color than regular candles, DO NOT HIT THESE, since they will make you fall into a pit of bad guys which won’t let you out until you are almost drained of health.. stupid…
Apart from this Castlevania Legends was a really great game, but Aria of Sorrow for Game Boy Advance is still my favorite ^_^
Here’s a video I put together of the music, the gameplay, the stages, the bosses and so on.. enjoy! =D