1st November 2009, 8:23 PM
Genesis
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Crack Down (Easy difficulty) -- Yeah, I just got it a few days ago, but it wasn't too long and was quite fun. There are 16 stages, with four areas each made up of four stages. There aren't really any bosses except sort of at the end, so the main challenges are the 'cross pits with moving platforms' puzzles and 'try to get past the laser patterns' puzzles. There are only a couple of each of these in the game, but they're very hard, particularly the latter. They make them harder because when you die in one of these you respawn back before the puzzle, while the rest of the time you respawn where you died. Thanks, developers, that was nice. And indeed, that's why I only beat it on Easy. I'd played it on Normal every previous time before this one, and had gotten to stage 4-3, the second to last stage, but the end of that level has the game's nastiest dodge-the-lasers puzzle, and on Normal I had very little time left at the end of the stage, so I didn't have several minutes to carefully memorize the pattern or something and really don't want to have to play the game over fifty times or something until I got lucky. So I tried on Easy... and still couldn't get past the pattern without dying. Easy just gives you more lives and maybe a longer invincibility time after death. I say the latter part because after dying I tried to run through the lasers, something I'd tried a bunch at Normal but always died before getting all the way through (because the invincibility would end before I got through), but this time I made it. Hmm. Well, however it happened, I was quite appreciative, that part was just nasty. The last level wasn't too bad, took a few lives but I had plenty left. Cue ending. BOOM! :D
Overall, pretty good game. It is on the short side, but it makes up for it by being fun, and there are difficulty levels (Easy-Medium-Hard) and a credit selection (0 to 6 continues allowed), and I could try to get past that laser puzzle legitimately on Normal somehow... oh, and playing it in multiplayer's a must, it looks like it'd be great! The game is interesting, kind of like a top-down early 16-bit version of a cover-based stealth-ish shooter. You hide along walls to dodge bullets, jump out to get the guy to fire at you, go back, then go out again after he's shot and shoot him because they have quite a delay between shots, get the enemies to shoot eachother, and more. Fun stuff. :)
It does have somewhat limited replay value, it seems, because enemies are always in exactly the same places every time, regardless of difficulty level. There is no variation in their number or locations, so you can just memorize where they're going to be pretty much. And while 16 levels may sound like a good number, each one only takes a few minutes so they don't take too long. But still, it's a very fun game, and I quite liked it. I'm just complaining because it was fun and it's over now. :)
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Crack Down (Easy difficulty) -- Yeah, I just got it a few days ago, but it wasn't too long and was quite fun. There are 16 stages, with four areas each made up of four stages. There aren't really any bosses except sort of at the end, so the main challenges are the 'cross pits with moving platforms' puzzles and 'try to get past the laser patterns' puzzles. There are only a couple of each of these in the game, but they're very hard, particularly the latter. They make them harder because when you die in one of these you respawn back before the puzzle, while the rest of the time you respawn where you died. Thanks, developers, that was nice. And indeed, that's why I only beat it on Easy. I'd played it on Normal every previous time before this one, and had gotten to stage 4-3, the second to last stage, but the end of that level has the game's nastiest dodge-the-lasers puzzle, and on Normal I had very little time left at the end of the stage, so I didn't have several minutes to carefully memorize the pattern or something and really don't want to have to play the game over fifty times or something until I got lucky. So I tried on Easy... and still couldn't get past the pattern without dying. Easy just gives you more lives and maybe a longer invincibility time after death. I say the latter part because after dying I tried to run through the lasers, something I'd tried a bunch at Normal but always died before getting all the way through (because the invincibility would end before I got through), but this time I made it. Hmm. Well, however it happened, I was quite appreciative, that part was just nasty. The last level wasn't too bad, took a few lives but I had plenty left. Cue ending. BOOM! :D
Overall, pretty good game. It is on the short side, but it makes up for it by being fun, and there are difficulty levels (Easy-Medium-Hard) and a credit selection (0 to 6 continues allowed), and I could try to get past that laser puzzle legitimately on Normal somehow... oh, and playing it in multiplayer's a must, it looks like it'd be great! The game is interesting, kind of like a top-down early 16-bit version of a cover-based stealth-ish shooter. You hide along walls to dodge bullets, jump out to get the guy to fire at you, go back, then go out again after he's shot and shoot him because they have quite a delay between shots, get the enemies to shoot eachother, and more. Fun stuff. :)
It does have somewhat limited replay value, it seems, because enemies are always in exactly the same places every time, regardless of difficulty level. There is no variation in their number or locations, so you can just memorize where they're going to be pretty much. And while 16 levels may sound like a good number, each one only takes a few minutes so they don't take too long. But still, it's a very fun game, and I quite liked it. I'm just complaining because it was fun and it's over now. :)