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Tag: q-games

  • X-Scape [aka X-Returns, 3D Space Tank] (Q-Games, 2010)

    X-Scape [aka X-Returns, 3D Space Tank] (Q-Games, 2010)

    Developed/Published by: Q-Games, Nintendo SPD Production Group No. 3 / Nintendo
    Released: May 31st, 2010
    Completed: 16th May, 2015
    Completion: Finished the main story mode, but didn’t go back and 100% every planet or anything.
    Trophies / Achievements: n/a

    When I was a wean, I wanted Faceball 2000 so bad after reading about it in Total! Magazine. But I never saw a copy of it in the wild! However, I have no recollection of X (X-Scape’s Game Boy, Japan-only predecessor) ever being mentioned even in the import pages. In retrospect, I’m not sure I would have hungered for it in the same way, but it’s really, really odd it never made it out of Japan. However, the latter-day sequel did, and I decided to just play that because the original is hella clunky what with being on the original Game Boy and all that.

    Turns out, X-Scape is also hella clunky? Actually, wait, first I’ll praise it. It looks great. I love how evocative the simple polygons are of genuinely alien places (although I don’t always agree with the palette choices.) Starglider is mentioned as an obvious touchstone, but with the tanky movement and exploration, it puts me most in mind of the lonely worlds developed in the Freescape engine such as Driller, and it made me wish the game was a lot deeper.

    Because the game is, mostly, a Battlezone-a-like with some flying (not that different) and little on-rails “tunnel” sections where you just try and avoid stuff and get to the end before the time runs out (which felt should have been way more thrilling and compelling than they were.)

    There are a few problems. First, the controls aren’t great. Using the stylus is a non-starter (Too slow, awkward) and using the d-pad is imprecise but as good as you’ll manage. Then, lots of the planets have “effects” that are often infuriating. One planet might have solar flares that scramble your controls so you move backwards when trying to move forward (and so on) the other interference that causes your scanner to stop working for a while.

    This kind of thing is insane. We’ve been making games for years and years and years, and it’s astonishing to me that anyone ever things that “reversing controls” is a “fun” or “challenging” thing to happen. Now, don’t get me wrong. Not all games have to be “fun,” I’m not one of those “fun”damentalists (did you see what I did there) but X-Scape is obviously meant to be fun. Control reversals or removing functionality as “challenge” is just incredibly frustrating and shite. Everyone: never ever do this.

    Anyway, you fly between planets, do short wee missions (kill X things, do this turret section) and progress through the story, which is slight.

    It’s such a nice engine, though, I wish they had, Freescape-style, been able to use it for some more things.

    Will I ever play it again? I could finish the missions but the thought of my controls being reversed again put me right off it. No.

    Final Thought: If you’re looking for a retro-styled Q-Games developed spacey thing, do let me recommend Pixeljunk Sidescroller. Totally different, obviously, and unfairly maligned, but in my humble opinion it’s the absolute tits.

  • Starship Defense [aka Starship Patrol](Q-Games, 2009)

    Starship Defense [aka Starship Patrol](Q-Games, 2009)

    Developed/Published by: Q-Games / Nintendo
    Released: December 18th, 2009
    Completed: 15th April, 2015
    Completion: Finished all 30 levels, 16 perfects.
    Trophies / Achievements: n/a

    I feel like I’ve talked about tower defence here already, but apparently I haven’t. Must have been on Twitter, then.

    Here’s my thoughts on tower defence games: I have a “they’re hypnotically… ok”/hate relationship with them? They’ve got a loop that is undeniably compelling—build a thing, watch it perform, did it work? Repeat—but they also (often) have a problem that comes with that: if you don’t know what the thing you are building is supposed to do exactly, you’re going to be annoyed as you watch it fail. Also because the games tend to have multiple waves, unless you’ve been building for future waves—in a way that will feel sub-optimal for earlier waves, likely—you can get wiped out towards the end in a way that can feel somewhat annoying.

    These problems are definitely apparent in Starship Defense! I picked it up in a “god, apparently I have all these Nintendo points on my DSi” splurge right before Club Nintendo ended in the hope it would raise some more Club Nintendo points (I think it got me 10) and because I’ve generally been interested in Q-Games’ output on Nintendo systems. I had managed to forget totally that I hated Pixeljunk Monsters (their earlier tower defence) and didn’t really like Trajectile (or at least, I tired of it quickly.)

    Anyway. Starship Defense looks nice—it’s almost a pencil-on-paper look, but not quite. Maybe they just thought it was too dull when they did it with black space. And I like the feel of the top screen being a Galaxian-like formation of baddies. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t crazy about the tower defence. You only get a glimpse of the route enemies will take right before they start to take it, and it makes planning for future waves difficult. Enemies are split up into two kinds, normal and stealth (stealth being the “flying” enemies you usually get in other tower defence games) and there are only three weapons that can attack stealth enemies, only one of which is cheap/immediately available, and it’s weak and unsuited for attacking other enemies, so you need to know exactly when and how to combat the stealth waves.

    (This is problematic, because there are several special, expensive weapons you will never use because it only makes sense to use the one most powerful weapon that damages both stealth and normal enemies. I beat the game, generally, using only 4 of 8 weapons.)

    I suppose tower defence games are for people who want to replay levels to get a perfect—in some respects my criticism of Starship Defense is personal. I’d much rather be playing a game where I’d be able to change tactics on the fly or have enough information, in advance, that mistakes would be my fault rather than the fault of ignorance. I don’t find it fun to replay a level where I’ve “solved” a bunch of waves to get to the wave where I should have done something different, and the game even discourages tactics changes (destroying a weapon costs energy, so you can’t switch a weapon’s position without, generally, paying double.)

    Starship Defense still offers that pride, however. Pride of having a really nice, weapon-loaded ship, and seeing it get to work. And it’s only got 30 levels, so it’s a nice “hit” of tower defence if that’s what you’re looking for?

    Will I ever play it again? Nah. And I hope this reminds me not to play a tower defence game again unless it does something really, really different.

    Final Thought: It’s slightly disappointing this didn’t take more cues from vertically scrolling shooters, with enemies flying in Galaxian formations, or the player placing fighters that can only move left/right in rows? There’s probably something there!