As a long time fan of Dino Crisis, an an avid hater of the REmakes for ditching the fixed cameras for generic, now over-copied over the shoulder camera, I am hoping Dino Crisis gets the “REmake treatment.” It makes me smile to see it so prominently featured in this image.
Dino Crisis differed from Resident Evil in that it was not truly a Survival Horror game. Capcom knew this from the beginning, as it was marketed as “Panic Horror.” In other words: “Action Horror.” The perfect genre description for the REmake games starting with RE2.
Survival Horror requires de-emphasis on combat, actively encouraging the player to choose to NOT get in combat (through severe item scarcity or boring combat mechanics that feel unfun to engage with). A third person over the shoulder camera inherently emphasizes combat by making the player want to engage in combat because they feel like they have greater control, and it is more fun. This is why I always say RE1 already has a perfect remake and should be left out of the “REmake treatment.” RE1 is purely Survival Horror, and was not intended to be like a “hollywood action movie” like RE2 and beyond. Dino Crisis, on the other hand, always leaned more into the action side, starting about midway through the original game, and then really almost getting silly in the sequel. Which is why an action camera like the REmakes have would be perfectly fitting to the action focus of the game.
We don’t talk about Dino Crisis 3. It is unfortunate that the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center happened so close to the games development, as that was the single reason why the game was completely rewritten to take place in outer space. I mean, it was a tradgedy that should never have happened regardless, but still, you hopefully get what I mean.
My personal favorites on PS2, as someone who did not own a PS2 while it was still being manufactured and sold as new. This does not include remakes/remasters or games that have better ports on other platforms (for example, Soul Calibur 2 on GameCube, Dead or Alive 2 on Xbox, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 Another Cases on PSP, or Need for Speed Underground 2 on PC).
Plenty of early reviews for were positive for Concord and Dragon Age Veilguard, but those ended up being pretty worthless reviews. Access media has ruined critic credibility. It would be stupid to trust a reviewer that knows their media outlet won’t get review copies of the next game from a publisher if they review the game badly, because that will absolutely change the review to be more favorable.
If Star Wars Outlaws, a game connected to an IP that absolutely has a way bigger market than Assassin’s Creed, did that badly, I can almost guarantee that Shadows will not do better than Outlaws.
I think it’s really hilarious thay they think it will sell enough to have multiple games, considering how bad this game is being received. Thats not even to mention how dysmal the sales were for Star Wars Outlaws, Skull and Bones, and Avatar Frontiers of Pandora.
This game will be a colossal flop, and Ubisoft absolutely deserves it. That is what you get when you ignore feedback from literally everyone.
Both games absolutely blasted it out of the water. Perfect masterpieces that no other game managed to live up to.
Metroid Prime Pinball is an untouchable god-tier masterpiece of a spin-off.
I think Zero Mission was a pretty good remake of NEStroid, and Samus Returns was an okay remake of Return of Samus. Prime Hunters, Prime 2, and Prime 3 were just okay, nothing bad but nothing special either. Hunters online was fun until the Action Replay users took over. IMO Fusion, Dread, and Other M were too linear. Federation Force was not great either, probably the weakest game to have Metroid in the title.
I appreciated Fusion’s story, it was interesting. I also appreciate the vision of Other M, it was certainly a game that, when it worked, the gameplay was pretty fun to look at. Finisher moves and quick dodging was cool to see, even if it made the game pretty easy. The first person switching was a really cool idea that I think should have borrowed a little from Metroid Prime’s Scan Visor, where the suit automatically highlights objects of importance, to lower frustration of “pixel hunts.” Its certainly got very good graphics for a Wii game, even if the environments are bland. But IMO Dread had some equally bland level design, and was too linear for my liking. I also did not really like the ending that much. Dread’s soundtrack is equally as forgettable as Other M’s soundtrack, except there are some songs I actually remember from Other M that were unique to the game and not a remix from an older Metroid title (for example, the piano theme from Other M, great song). I completed Metroid Dread in about 9 hours the week it launched and I haven’t played it since.
I fundamentally dissagree with the term “metroidvania” because Metroid and Castlevania are different. Both are what I call a “side-scrolling action platformer,” but Metroid gives the player powerups to encourage them to explore their environment, while Castlevanias powerups focus almost entirely on combat. Therefore Metroid includes “adventure” in its genre, but Castlevania does not.
I never got lost in a Metroid game, but I also have a pretty good ability to remember how I got somewhere. Metroid does a generally pretty good job making nearly every room memorable and unique to help players not get lost, and Metroid has mostly included a map to help players as well. If players are still getting lost, IMO that’s just a skill issue.
But I understand what the author is trying to say, and they are right. Actually getting lost is not what they mean, they mean level and game design that lends itself to encouraging exploration by trial and error. Level design and game design that shows the player some impassable wall early and then when they get the ability to pass it later on, leaving it entirely up to the player to remember. Backtracking is a mandatory staple, if a Metroid game has no backtracking, especially for item expansions, then it is not a real Metroid game. Making the player be the one to do the exploring and not holding their hand is crucial to a good Metroid experience. This is why I consider Metroid Fusion, Other M, and Dread to be among the weaker Metroid titles. All three have an obvious, forced always on hand-holding mechanic that you don’t find in other Metroid games. Like the developers don’t trust the player to actually be smart enough to figure the game out.
Most jobs provide some value, but I guarantee you the Chinese team already had double the amount of Chinese workers doing everything these 6 people did already. NetEase operates that way, its not unusual for them to have Chinese employees doing the same job as any of their small foreign offices, as it is cheaper for them to do so when they inevitably cut the more expensive, probably less productive team (be that due to language barriers or timezone differences, whatever the reason).
Though I will likely not be playing the game, I have seen a lot of people running into performance problems, crashing, and just bugs in general. You aren’t the only one.
6 people. 6 people were laid off, and the game’s real director, who is Chinese and is in the update videos, is still working on the game. Thaddeus Sasser, who is the director that was let go from the Seattle office, said that the Chinese director was in charge of everything relating to the game itself, and that Thaddeus was basically only in charge of budget and hiring.
The small inventory space is likely a technical limitation and/or a direct gameplay decision, rather than a cultural one.
I don’t believe that any person, Japanese or not, would think that a special forces rescue team would take only the minimal supplies (with big risk of not having enough), and then being stranded at a new location and purposefully not stocking up on resources when the situation becomes obvious.