Interesting you mention that about the team, since the game was made by Sega's main console division, R&D 2, that were tasked with making stuff for the Master System and Game Gear. According to what Hideki Sato said in an interview (thanks, shmuplations!), the R&D divisions weren't experienced with making console games at the time, not to mention they were very low staffed.

With that said, I guess it's not too surprising that this game sucks.

Though, apparently the SMS OutRun port was made by the same division, which makes this more strange. I guess you can chalk it up to OutRun being high priority.

Thanks for reading!

Excellent review! I feel safe ignoring this one's existence. I liked your note about the manual's idea for the ramps, versus the reality. The Sonic burn at the end was unexpected and made me chuckle in agreement. I'm a bit sad Battle Outrun appears to have been handed over to a B-team (or even a C-team) because the idea has potential. Unmet potential, it would appear...

Uh... I'll be blunt. As a review, this strikes me as this-shouldn't-have-even-been-approved-from-a-reader bad. It's basically telling the story of a fair chunk of the game, ending abruptly at one point, completely spoiling that part but hardly mentioning any other game elements except the story. Admittedly, the narrative and atmosphere do shine (I for one am also fond of the combat system, there's a flow to it that's rare in games, but most aren't), but just presenting it does not make a review. And neither does just covering a part of the game and then ending abruptly. And spoiling that part so thoroughly should at the very least come with serious warnings, regardless of how old the game is.

This was a fun review with some great lines, and it makes the game sound like one I shouldn't continue to ignore. Liking the second and third game in the series should have offered me a clue along those lines, I know. I enjoyed this line in particular: "In town, you're viewed as a child-kidnapping albino philanderer - even if you're only most of those things - and nobody likes you." Also, the last line made me chuckle. You should listen to the voice in your head a bit more often, maybe, if listening turns out like this!

Title: Metal Slug Tactics
Platform: PS5

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps5/468068-metal-slug-tactics/data

Added.

Thanks.

EmP: My "in order" tends to be "whatever might be on PS Plus assuming I am in the mood for one". Which is why my order has been: Judgment, Yakuza 0 and this. I think 1-6 and Lost Judgment were all there for a while, but I wasn't in the mood for one during that time. And got Yakuza: Like a Dragon when it was one of the freebies given at the beginning of the month a ways back. Guess a side story one (Man who something something His Name) is up now, but I tend to like to stretch out playing this series. Do a game, take a long break, do another one. Because I can get bored with any formula if I play it exclusively.

Jason: It didn't really feel like a small area to explore, but the lack of the modern pleasures like those arcades and certain other places made it feel a bit more barren. Lots of restaurants and shops, but also a lot of streets and little parts of town where there wasn't much to inspire a person to travel that way any more than necessary. Like, because of the "crime fighting" sub-plot, I was regularly walking to the slum section of town and, taking the north entrance where you bribe the guard with sake in order to go in and out, there wasn't much to do on that walk other than get into 5 or so fights.

It was a really cool game and I do like this series' cinematic style of game than most that try to be so story-oriented (probably because I love mob movies and Yakuza at heart is a mob movie in game form). Not the best in the greater series, but a lot of fun.

I'm at least #2 or #3! I'm not proud. But it was decent filler. Some fun stuff, nothing TOO bad other than a couple areas where there's forced grinding because by those points, basic encounters are really easy to get through so it's just a very boring interlude. And the Quartz system does lead to a bit of enjoyable customization and strategic skill usage in combat. Which is better than most Kemco games, where I really quickly find something that works and use it constantly.

Hamster's catalog may not always include high-quality games, but I do appreciate that they go out of their way to release games that no other company, in their right mind, would release outside of a compilation.

The Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move series has always been hit and miss. I haven't played every single game, but from the ones I have played it felt like the devs either ran out of ideas or intentionally stopped being creative about five or so games in. The 3D version I reviewed a few years back even somehow managed to be both boring and irritating at the same time!

The Sega Saturn port of Bust-A-Move 2 still stands as my favorite of the series, due to how hard it went with the features from the arcade version plus all the new stuff, and I have yet to play another sequel that matches its variety and creativity. But again, I haven't played all the games...

Thanks for reading!

Puzzle Bobble is one of those franchises that I've always wished I could enjoy more than I actually do. The concept and execution are fine, but it doesn't excite me the way some games (including Bubble Bobble, even though in a technical sense that one is inferior) do. I have this one in my collection on Switch, and I'm not sure I'll ever actually play it, especially with superior versions available. Even so, I'm glad someone takes the time and care to make these foundational classics available, for posterity's sake!

This game sounds like the sort of filler I might rather enjoy. It's nice to see the Kemco Khallenge alive and well. If you're not one of the leading authorities on Kemco's RPGs yet, you should be soon!

Title: ACA NeoGeo: Puzzle Bobble
Platform: PS4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/248729-aca-neogeo-puzzle-bobble/data

Added.

Thanks.

Ooh, a book recommendations thread? What a great idea, Josephwal!

I like pretty much anything by fantasy author Jason Venter. I've also been reading through a bunch of Mark Billingham stuff. He's great!

The author didn't leave a link, so I'm just going to urge readers to read Man, Fuck This House by Brian Asman.

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I really enjoyed this one when I played the PS5 version for another outlet. It definitely had a smaller space than I was used to navigating for its main activity hub, but there was still enough to do that I had a blast. I think it's possible I am a hopeless Like a Dragon addict.

Stop playing Yakuza out of order!

How are you even supposed to find an arcade and play Virtua Fighter in a game set a million years ago. Ridiculous.

(Good review. This is on my annual Yakuza rota for something like 2029. Be interesting to see if I live long enough to catch them all)

Honestly, if the OutRun2/Coast 2 Coast/Online Arcade era was the last genuine effort the series was given, then I wouldn't even be mad. Before those games existed, the OutRun series was... pretty much in a bad place, especially with how it was mishandled during the 1990s.

There were a lot of questionable spin-off games like OutRun 2019 or bizarre port jobs like OutRunners for the Sega Genesis to the point where any built up goodwill faded by the mid 1990s. I actually have another OutRun spinoff game review in rough draft, but I doubt I'll finish that up any time soon.

Thanks for reading!

I wish Sega would (meaningfully) remember Outrun exists. The Xbox and PS2 games were pretty swell, and then the series died out again. I'd love to see it come back and take advantage of the visuals the best racers have today. Sumo Digital is still around, even if they're firing a lot of staff for lack of projects. Anyway, this review was a nice reminder of a time when Outrun came to almost every relevant platform except the NES/SNES. Well, and I suppose the TurboGrafx...

I once wrote an editorial explaining why Nintendo would never develop and publish its own mobile games. My crystal ball doesn't always work perfectly. In that case, I didn't count on investors having that much control over Nintendo's creative endeavors. In my defense, mobile gaming hasn't gone nearly as well for Nintendo as investors thought it would, so I sometimes forget they even bother with it.

I've come ten year later to point out that, as of current year, your tagline amuses me greatly. Fancy not futureproofing it by knowing that the glorious PC revelation would encompass all things Yakuza.

(I've recently beaten Yakuza 5 on PC, freeing myself up for that Big Rigs remaster)