Welcome Guest
[Log In]
[Register]
@import "http://lib.zetabin.com/jQuery/facebox/facebox.css";
| You are viewing our forum as a guest, and therefore do not have access to the many features we have to offer. To get access to these features, you must register as a member on our site (link down below). We hope to see you in our community soon! If you would like to scope out the community beforehand, feel free to check out the Chatroom located here and ask members some questions. Chatroom. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Prinny: Can I really be the hero?; One of the best platformers I've played! | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: May 3 2009, 11:51 PM (164 Views) | |
| DeathTankZwei | May 3 2009, 11:51 PM Post #1 |
|
Saturn Adept
![]()
|
Here we go, for my 400th post I will be posting a review of a great game on the PSP. I might clean this up later, at least adding some more humor and pictures, because I was in a bit of a rush here. I couldn't not review this game, it's amazing and needs all the attention it can get. First, let me get this clear. It's a platformer spinoff of the SRPG series Disgaea. You don't need to know a thing about Disgaea or like SRPG's to enjoy it. However, Disgaea fucking rocks, and therefore you should probably play it anyway. Well, in Prinny you play as the explosive penguins the series is famous for. You actually play as 1000 of them. You see, you get 1000 lives. Die 1000 times and it's game over, and chances are you'll probably run out. I went through 300 of the flightless bastards on my first playthrough on Hell's Finest no less, but platformers are my best genre. The game features an easy mode (commonly referred to as normal, but it's clearly stated that it's 'great for casual gamers'), where you can take multiple hits. I actually haven't played that mode, but apparently you can take multiple hits. However, if you're a real man like me, you're going to have to pick Hell's Finest, where getting hurt = minus one prinny, period. At least you've got a lot of 'em, dood. I actually started playing about two weeks ago. Let me say this, that I don't legitimately own a lot of PSP games. However, after playing this for a few hours, I immediately went out the next day and bought it. It is, without a doubt, one of the best platformers I have ever played. Not in recent years, I mean ever. Despite Nippon Ichi specializing in SRPG's, they somehow found time to master the platforming genre on the side and gave PSP owners a game that rapes New Super Mario Bros and puts most others to shame. The first PSP game I played was Mega Man Powered-Up (also highly recommended), and it seems once again, the PSP is at the very least a good home for platformers. Now, I almost didn't bother playing it. Especially after Destructoid's terrible review. I've heard constantly that the controls are awful. I decided to finally get the ISO and load it up. Right from the start, the presentation is especially great for a platformer and has all the voice acting and humor you'd expect from this series. I should probably note real quick that there's no Japanese language option, so if you're stupidly picky, deal with it. The voice acting is fine, in fact great. Wouldn't change a thing, dood. The PSP is known for having bad controls. The games on the system usually keep this in mind, and games that use the d-pad a lot pretend that diagonal movement doesn't exist, so unlike Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max, that's not a problem in this. Despite what you may thing, the hardware shouldn't have any negative impact. As for the game itself, the moves are extremely responsive and easy to do. You press right, you move right. Jumps are totally instant. You won't come across a moment where your prinny won't do what you're trying to do. You should be forewarned that the jump physics are of the Super Ghouls N' Ghosts school of platforming. which means you can jump up, left, or right, and you don't control your momentum in the air like in Mario. Some people don't seem to like them, but there are several words in the English language to sum those people up. I almost didn't play this game, because people have never played Super Ghouls N' Ghosts, and the game has perfect controls. Yeah. From now on, **** reviews, period. Except mine. My reviews are awesome, dood. So yeah. Your prinny can double jump just like in that particular installment of Arthur's series, so if you've played it (if you haven't go buy Capcom Classics Collection. It's only like $10), jumping is pretty much exactly the same, and your skills in that game will have you doing perfect jumps here. Like in the old Castlevania's, the whole Ghouls N' Ghosts\Ghosts N' Goblins series (I actually STILL haven't played Ultimate Ghouls N' Ghosts yet... -_-), and of course, this, the so-called 'stiff' jumping is actually beneficial, because in a platformer with considerable difficulty, it ensures that perfect jumps can be done easily. Your jump length is fixed (normal jump, and running jump), so you don't have to adjust yourself in midair constantly, and you can jump one way and attack the opposite way without affecting your jump (moreso in Arthur's series). It's a bit difficult to describe, but let me just say that this game would probably be a lot harder with 'Mario' jump physics. All the moves are useful, and if you're good, you'll be using every last one of them frequently. You have two invincibility moves, both of which only work on the ground. Jump and double jump (and running variants), a running dash, a knife attack, an aerial knife attack that shoots projectiles diagonally downward, a ground pound, and edge grabbing. Doing each move, immediately switching to another, and all of that is really easy. The ground pound has a bit of a delay like in Yoshi's Island and Super Mario 64, and is a very important move, especially against bosses, so it wouldn't really be good for the sake of gameplay if it was instant. I'm sure that's one of the biggest complaints of most people, but this game was obviously aimed specifically at people like me, who have platforming down to a science and found New Super Mario Bros insulting. There's still that mode where you can take multiple hits, so if the going is too tough, you can skip the really hard enemies by taking a little damage until you can reach the next checkpoint, and then level design is your only real enemy. I haven't played normal, like I said, but I have a feeling it'd be too easy for me, dood! :knuckles: So yeah. The last seven or so paragraphs only speak about the controls. This is because I wanted to emphasize completely that I have been lied to. My first games were all platformers. Until maybe some time into the N64 era, I played platformers almost exclusively, at least my ratio of platformers to other games was unusually high. I fucking love platformers, they're my genre. And I am fucking pissed that reviewers lied to me about the game having bad controls. Destructoid gave it a 3 or 4 out of 10, and Gamespot gave it the 'Broken Controls' demerit. I just want to let you know, being something of a platformer legend and your good friend who was able to play through this game multiple times, that all of that broken control nonsense is a complete and total lie. In fact, all of the moves are not only easy to pull of, but they're fun as hell, impressive and thoroughly satisfying, and it really makes you want to keep playing. You can ground pounds, and even aerial attacks, to affect your jump, so there's a lot you can try to improve your skills and save some sweet replays (yep, the game has a replay feature). Disgaea isn't exactly famous for being played through and then dropping the controller. Ok, so we don't have RPG elements and absurdly high levels here, but a platformer probably shouldn't. So what did they do? There are six versions of the six main levels in the game. They change depending on the time of day (from early moring, late into the night, and four times inbetween), and that affects enemy placement, some platforms, and even a few secrets. There are dolls buried underground, three in each stage for each time of day, and in different places. Also, the cutscene at the end of the stage will be completely different for each variation, with your prinny receiving a different 'ingredient' for each one as well. To see everything will mandate multiple playthroughs, and being a short, challenging, and totally fun game, you'll want to. The humorous (not to mention fully voiced) cutscenes will make all the dead prinnies totally worth it, dood. There are a lot of things to find, all of it optional of course, so you can get just as much out of it as you want. If you've played through over 9,000 times, you can skip the cutscenes and the pacing will be just like any other platformer. Unlike most "2.5D" platformers, the sprites are all in 2D with everything else in 3D, and it looks really great. When your prinny does an aerial attack, the camera angle rotates about 45 degrees behind your prinny (you can turn this off, but it's not distracting and can actually be helpful), which looks really awesome, dood. I know I'm one of the 17 other people with a PSP. I have no regrets. I hope they put this out on the Wii like with WiiWare (good luck with that, we were lucky to get Disgaea on the DS), or a PS2 port. However, if you happen to have a PSP or plan to get one, be sure to have this on your list. If you appreciate platformers, I mean really appreciate them, you'll love this game. It's rather odd that they would make a game like this, since Nippon Ichi's target audience isn't exactly action gamers, and the SRPG obsessed who have barely touched platformers or any action games will probably come into this game grossly ill-prepared in terms of skill and reflex. I think it's a refreshing surprise, though. I can't believe they actually pulled off such a great platformer. It's almost scary how good this is, that they've been doing this one genre for years, they pull out a platformer, and it's an absolute gem that sets the standard. Sure, maybe it's not for everyone, but I think there are more than enough companies out there trying to appeal to everyone (and unfortunately, quite literally their grandmothers as well), and Nippon Ichi (as well as Atlus, who publishes most of their games outside of Japan) is as niche as they come. ...and unlike what I read from one particular review, hopefully they don't "fix" the non-existent control issues if they make a sequel, because the control, and pretty much everything else, is perfect. The next time somebody tells you there are no good PSP games and there still aren't (which has been a blatant lie fabricated by the same Nintendo fanboys who still ignore lamentably short-lived Neo Geo Pocket Color to this day), you can bloody their face beyond recognition with a copy of Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? Words can't describe how much of a shame it is that most won't appreciate this game, and far, far fewer won't even have the chance to play it. Let it be known that I paid money for this game, brand new, and state here and now that we need more games like this. Maybe the target audience is small, and maybe most Disgaea fans would appreciate an easier platformer, but dammit, this is one hell of a game. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Reviews · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
8:20 PM Jul 10
|
Theme designed by Sith of Outline








8:20 PM Jul 10