Crowd control - Eurogamer article

[twmac]

I really liked this article, making sense of years of my Dynasty Warriors addiction (I managed to stop at 4 and have promised myself to wait at least 4 or 5 iterations before I buy another)

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=130273&page=2

It is a little too short but then it is difficult to go on for too long about these types of games. His number one makes perfect sense.

[Ginger]

Good article, I also love this style of game.

[Wrestlevania]

I've been playing Warriors Orochi on PSP a fair bit in the last couple of weeks and I just don't know how I managed to overlook this series for so long.

I love scrolling/roaming fighters and Orochi's blend of button mashing, easy-to-master combo system and healthy dollop of accessible strategy is great fun.

I've yet to play Earth Defense Force 2017, still, but I just keep hearing how fantastic it is. Am I right in believing you can't play it co-op online though?

[miffy495]

I never noticed an online option, no. That doesn't take away from how amazing the game is though.

[twmac]

It is split screen Co-op only. Like Miffy says, that makes no difference it is just great from the get go.

In the Video Gaiden special awards episode, EDF gets nominated for best game of the year. EDF 2017 was also in top 100 games, both voted for by the staff and by the readers in the Eurogamer polls. Also this is the game that several people I know bought 360s to play (I'm not joking one of my friends owned a copy before he owned a console to play it on). So yeah, it is under 15 quid in England so there isn't much excuse not to play it.

If you play it on some of the later levels on Hard you will need a teammate, I'd even recommend one for some of the later levels on Normal.

Also worth mentioning: Bladestorm The hundred years war. It is much better than I had hope for. It deviates a little from the normal button bashing frenzy of DW but with Kingdom under Fire turning into a diablo clone it gave me my action strategy fix.

[Wrestlevania]

It is split screen Co-op only. Like Miffy says, that makes no difference it is just great from the get go.

[...]

If you play it on some of the later levels on Hard you will need a teammate, I'd even recommend one for some of the later levels on Normal.

That's cool. I have no local meatspace friends, however...

Also worth mentioning: Bladestorm The hundred years war. It is much better than I had hope for. It deviates a little from the normal button bashing frenzy of DW but with Kingdom under Fire turning into a diablo clone it gave me my action strategy fix.

I played the demo some time ago, before I'd played Warriors Orochi, but Bladestorm didn't really grab me in the same way the PSP game has. Orochi seems 'purer', more focused. That might be because of the technology constraints, but then the portable version's been slated for being simplistic fan service.

(I think that's unfair criticism though, personally, going on what others have said about the numerous console versions.)

Might give the Bladestorm demo another try in that case, now I know what to expect and how these games should be played. But top of my Musou list now is DW: Gundam on 360; I hear that's fantastic.

[miffy495]

EDF has something of an interesting difficulty spike, in that it all makes perfect sense provided you start on Easy and work your way up. Every time you pick up a shard of armour, your total hit points raise by one. I believe last time I picked up that controller, I had just over 900 hit points, and I started with 100. These added points carry over from level to level and difficulty level to difficulty level, so if you start on Easy, buff your hit points, and progress through Normal, Hard, and whatever the fourth difficulty was called, you keep on getting stronger and stronger as you go. You can even keep replaying the same level for more points, if you're so possessed. If you've played through Easy, Normal should just scale up perfectly. As such, I wouldn't worry so much about the game requiring a friend as long as you're willing to upgrade your health enough.

On a different tangent, I've never really gotten into this genre, but Ninety Nine Nights came very close to drawing me in with its Mizuguchi factor. The reviews came out pretty poorly though, so I never did pick it up. Anyone actually play it and have a verdict?

[Wrestlevania]

I've never really gotten into this genre, but Ninety Nine Nights came very close to drawing me in with its Mizuguchi factor. The reviews came out pretty poorly though, so I never did pick it up. Anyone actually play it and have a verdict?

You're 6 days too early for this particular thread's anniversary.

I never did get around to playing it beyond the demo, which didn't quite do it for me in much that same way Bladestorm's didn't either. I've a few unwanted titles taking up space now though, so I could always pick up N3 for cheap I suppose.

What with GTA4 on the horizon I'm keeping my trades to go towards that for now.

[twmac]

This is true of Bladestorm Wrestle (as in it isn't as pure as the rest of the franchise), it is really made for the people who have been playing the Dynasty Warriors franchise for nigh on 8 years and want something a little different. Bladestorm plays like a more accessible Kingdom under fire: The crusaders. And although not as over the top as DW there is a satisfaction in taking control of a cavalry unit and completely routing a bunch of unworthy swordsman; or seeing that your club men are about to get destroyed by cavalry and instead you grab hold of some nearby pike men to annihilate their charge. Historically mind boggling (mongol archers on horse back, in the 100 years war??!!?) but fairly good fun.

Gundam Musou... It is good but you have to be a fan of both series to fully appreciate it. DW3 is now dated (but was the best) so I would recommend DW6 as another good entry point into the series on a non-handheld console.

There are 5 difficulty levels in total in EDF, easy, normal, hard, hardest and Inferno. I'm trying to beat the final level on both Hardest and Inferno, I've got over 5000 health and all but 3 weapons. The final boss which is relatively easy on all the other difficulties is frigging impossible on the last two difficulty settings. Some of the creatures (fear the spider splooge) can still one shot you when you have 5000 health. I'm still trying to grind level 40 for health and possible weapons.

EDit: Maybe that thread should get ressurected? I've since played Beautiful Katamari to death and have played a few new XLA titles that were pure gold... Also now that the PS3 and Wii have had a little more time to add to their libraries there must be some stuff worth recommending on those platforms now?

[Tanukitsune]

After finally getting my hands on DW: Gundam (The only DW-like game I could find for the 360) and Dead Rising, I have to say the Dead Rising is practically a crowd control game too! And with the katana it even feels like a DW game!

I hated DW DS... but I love DW: Vol 2. on the PSP...

Is there a demo of Earth Defense on Live Arcade? I think I tried it but didn't enjoy it that much, it did even seem like a crowd control to me!

[twmac]

No demo as far as I know but the game is pretty cheap in most places.

The game is pure crowd control, in that there are hundreds of things running at you and you simply have to shoot until everything is dead.

[Noyb]

Least Best Room: crowd control distilled to a man, expanding bubbles, and mines. Well, more of a Dead Rising-style maneuvering over a Dynasty Warriors genocide.

[twmac]

That game was awesome... I had to drag myself away from it while at work.

[Wrestlevania]

Simply can't beat Kenta Cho, he's consistently brilliant.

[vimes]

Damn those yankee developers who create key bindings for QWERTY keyboards that can't be used on a regular french specific AZERTY keyboard! *shakes fist angrily*

[Tommy Gun]

Damn those yankee developers who create key bindings for QWERTY keyboards that can't be used on a regular french specific AZERTY keyboard! *shakes fist angrily*

I feel your pain, I type Dvorak -- fortunately this keyboard is switchable to QWERTY, and I don't play many PC games anyway.

[Wrestlevania]

You get what you deserve, freaks!

[Nachimir]

I feel your pain, I type Dvorak -- fortunately this keyboard is switchable to QWERTY, and I don't play many PC games anyway.

I envy your Dvorak skills. I tried Dvorak for a little while by popping and rearranging the keys on the board attached to my Ubuntu system, but had to stop. It got very confusing seeing as my work laptop is qwerty. I find having a Dvorak layout with a qwerty keymap is a good way of making myself touch type in qwerty though.

[Guest baadman28]

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