G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

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G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

Post by Goat »

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Welcome to the topic where we tell you what to think, but not just in any normal way, but in a GOAT way!

We'll do our best to filter out games we feel either have enough of a cult following to not really warrant a review, or are big names already.

In the words of the club, our rubric stands at these five pillars.

Control (Does your movement suck?)
Stability (Frame Rates, bugs, collision.)
Fun (Amount of grinding, repetitive gameplay, etc)
Immersion (Does it engage you into the game itself? Into the world itself?)
Music (Repetitive or not?)If you're reading this Crash, I know your next move

All GOAT members are free to review non cult followed and non major games here in any style you choose so long as you consider the five pillars in a five point scale.

Without further ado, let's start with...

Jazz The Jackrabbit

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Description: A 90's DOS game starring a green jackrabbit name Jazz, armed with a gun and fighting against turtles, this game of the tortise and the hair got violent.

Reviewer Opinion: A green jackrabbit, with a gun. There's something about me and rabbits with guns that always wind up crossing my path. This one came a bit earlier in my life in comparison. Doing my best to avoid favortism, I played it not too long ago and distinctly remember my issues with this game.

Control: 2/5

You are fast, really fast, to a very bad extent. You'll find yourself feeling rather slippery without meaning to.

Stability: 2/5


You have a serious chance of going too fast for the camera to keep up with you, aside from a couple of other bugs you are liable to find in the game itself by playing normally.

Fun: 3/5

Wanna run like Sonic, shoot a gun, explore paths, and keep on doing that for the next couple of levels? Well, you're in the right place! The powerups you find have limited ammo and you'll want to collect them lest you die.

Immersion: 3/5

Did I mention Sonic? Yeah, you'll never stop thinking how much Jazz ripped off out of Sonic in both stage and special stage designs. To be fair, it was the 90's. But giving him a gun and painting him green wont fool anyone, only painting him black and red will.

Music: 4/5

Also much like Sonic, the music is actually very top notch for a DOS game that took so much inspiration out of Sonic. They did a good job in this department and genuinely have a soundtrack when most games in this era and especially the DOS would wind up with either a single looping theme or no music at all.

Total: 14/25, C+

(Dear GOAT, if I said something against doing this I apologize ahead of time over inconsistency)So what are we left with, a straightforward near sonic clone that distinguishes itself on early 90's mechanics of running, jumping, shoot...wait did they rip a page out of megaman too?

The sequel while I don't remember very well might have improved on it's own name to get away from what this game had done. If you're looking for a cheap game to play and don't really mind digging through some abandonware, give it a shot.

Appealing for the following: Platformers, Peanut Galleries, Animal Mascot Lovers, Furries, Run n' Gunners
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Re: G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

Post by Pufflehugs »

Spyro: Year of the Dragon
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Description: Spyro's third adventure and the final game in the original PS1 trilogy. The Sorceress and her apprentice Bianca steal the Dragon Eggs! Spyro and Hunter are left with no choice but to go on yet another egg-saving mission. Along they way they ally with Sheila; a Kangaroo with a might strong kick and an ultra high jump, Sgt Byrd; a flying penguin armed with two rocket launchers, Bently; a yeti with an ice club and a large IQ (who unfortunately is personality-changed to a complete idiot in future installments for some reason), and Agent 9; a scientifically-enhanced monkey with a laser blaster and low attention span.

Reviewer Opinion: An amazing game, which has aged very well for a PS1 game. I've been playing this since I was really young and I still play it to this day (I was even playing it earlier today). Easily the best game of the original trilogy.

Control: 4/5
Spyro and the other playable characters control very well, but some of the Hunter segments and vehicles don't have the greatest controls.

Stability: 3/5
I don't really pay attention to frame rates unless they're annoyingly low, and I've never experienced that in my 10+ years of playing the game (that I can remember). The game does have numerous exploitable glitches (there are multiple swim-in-the-air glitches, and with glitches you don't ever have to pay Moneybags even once). Also, repeated swimming (or more rarely charging) into somewhat-odd walls can cause the screen to go spastic.

Fun: 4.5/5
The game may contain a lot of Spyro segments, but they find ways to make the gameplay pretty diverse. And when you switch to another character or jump into a vehicle, you know some fun times are upon you. Does the phrase "Controlling a Cheetah flying a plane shooting sheep in flying saucers because they stole a Dragon Egg and are destroying a speedway" sound fun to you? The Speedways, Sparx Missions and Skate Parks also add an entirely new aspect to the game.

Immersion: 3.5/5
There are many engaging and detailed levels in the game. So much effort was put into simply designing basic levels. From Sunny Villa all the way to Super Bonus Round, there is almost too much detail in level design. My only real complaint is some levels (mainly late into the game) aren't very thematically appealing.

Music: 2/5
Some of the music is pretty sweet (especially the Sunny Villa/Skate Park theme). However, late into the game they start reusing music. The main offender is how the game's third Homeworld, Evening Lake, reuses the music from the first Homeworld, Sunrise Springs. And then the final boss uses the same music from Sunrise Springs and Evening Lake!

Total: 17/25, B
Spyro 3 is easily one of the easiest games to pick up and play from the PS1. With it's lovable characters and diverse game play, it's easily a classic.

Unfortunately for the series, the games after that didn't really compare. The best "Spyro" games to come out since than were the Skylanders games.

Appealing for the following: 3D Platformers, PS1 Classics, Spyro Fans, Animal Mascot Lovers, Skylanders Fans
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Re: G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

Post by Goat »

Thank you for contributing Puffle
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Re: G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

Post by Dr. Roivas »

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

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because let's be real here you knew this was coming

Description: A Lovecraft inspired survival horror game, what made this game especially noteworthy was the fact that it was the first game to include a Sanity Meter, alongside health and magic. What this did was cause a series of disorienting effects within the game, including false death, occasional scares, and even a false sequel hook at one point in the game. The game is more or less written as one long cosmic horror story, with in game dialogue just straight up sounding like something out of a lovecraft novel.

Reviewer opinion: [FURIOUS JACKING OFF NOISES]

Control: 2/5

Look I'm not gonna dress it up. The game is pretty clunky, and overall pretty slow. It's a survival horror game for the GameCube, so it's pretty much what you would expect.

Stability: 5/5

I've never once had the game actually fall apart on me in any way. It's generally held together pretty well, and I've never heard nor seen anyone else have any issues with the game in this regard.

Fun: 4/5

Even with clunky controls and generally mediocre gameplay, the story and general feel of the game more than make up for its shortcomings, which is pretty great considering Silicon Knights is really known for mostly making complete flops.

Immersion: 3.5/5

The only times the game breaks immersion is when it means to. That is, whenever the sanity effects occur. And again, even then it still absolutely works in its favor, as they'll fairly often catch you completely off guard.

Music: 4.5/5

The game's pieces are mostly atmospheric, so they're typically fairly simple. However, they're some of the best atmosphere pieces I've heard in any game, and in certain cases can even heighten the feeling of dread in certain levels. One piece that stands out in particular is Black Rose, which plays during Maximilian Roivas' stage and manages to fit as both an excellent atmospheric piece and a pretty solid song by itself.

Overall: 19/25, A-

While it's obviously not perfect, it's still incredibly clear how it became a cult classic. I personally think it's the kinda thing that should be played at least once because it's a pretty solid piece of work which surprisingly hasn't aged that badly over the years.

Appeals to: Horror fans, lovecraft nerds, people who can appreciate a game's story
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Re: G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

Post by Midnite »

Pufflehugs wrote:The main offender is how the game's third Homeworld, Evening Lake, reuses the music from the first Homeworld, Sunrise Springs
Actually, that was only a thing in the earlier versions of the game. The Greatest Hits copy actually had its own Evening Lake tune, and tbh it's probably my favorite tune in the game.
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Re: G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

Post by Goat »

Pufflehugs wrote:Unfortunately for the series, the games after that didn't really compare. The best "Spyro" games to come out since than were the Skylanders games.
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Most of the issues that Spyro 3 had really were fixed in the greatest hits version, there were numerous issues in regards to the music itself that it fixed. Most importantly actually giving the Sorceress a final boss theme.
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Re: G.O.A.T.E.G.G.

Post by Pufflehugs »

I know the Greatest Hits version did fix a lot of the music problems, but I was referring to the original. If I had to rank Greatest Hits' music, I'd give it 4/5, adding up to a 21/25 total.
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