Saturn Quest: Blast Effect

Unfortunately, this is a very difficult game to recommend to anyone outside of the Arkhouse cult, and not for the usual reasons - even as a diehard fan of his games, I must admit it's not his best work. First of all, this is a follow-up to the [i] Shadow of Planetus [/i] which is a pretty hard game to complete, and you should be playing that one first because of the valuable context at the end. I thought the first game was pretty good outside of the few difficulty spikes, and it had a fun gimmick where you would climb bosses like 2D Shadow of the Colossus. My problem with this game is that it expands on the tedious parts of the first game, such as the space shooting and aimless walking, as opposed to expanding on the bosses that you would climb - there are only a few of those in this game. Oddly enough, Blast Effect feels like an aesthetic downgrade from the first game, something about the color palette, the black&white just does not look as good as the yellow&blue, and there seems to be less detail overall. And then there is the music... Look, I don't think the soundtrack for this game is bad, but it's not anywhere near the first game, outside of the recycled songs. Blast Effect continues to have the same issues that you would find in nearly every Arkhouse game, although the developer probably took some feedback in regards to the difficulty and added more checkpoints. There are some frustrating parts, but when compared to something like Cube Gothic, I would say it's 2-3 times easier, still challenging, just not as bad. If anyone is confused on how to start the game, just move the spaceship to the right for a new game, and once you have a save point, move it to the left (pretty common in Arkhouse games, he always experiments with it lol). [i] I should mention that I didn't think this game would ever happen, commercially it certainly has no reason to exist, so it feels like a personal gift on some level, I can't imagine that there more than 10 people that enjoyed the first game. You could say the same thing about any other game from this developer, I don't think that he does it for the money anyway. So at the very least, I just want to say thank you, thank you for making a game for a tiny group of your fans. [/i] [h1] Pros: [/h1] It's hard to give a compliment to this game because I like it for the same reasons as the first game, and at the same time, I think the first game did everything better (except for the unfair difficulty spikes). It's still a unique experience and it has a few atmospheric moments. I just don't think it's as good as the first game. Well, this one has more focus on the narrative, but the first game was not really heavy on the dialogue anyway - so only a small improvement there. + good content for the price (about 3-4 hours) + pretty enjoyable ending, makes the pain worth it + the difficulty is more fair than previous games + enjoyable aesthetic, but maybe not as good as the first [h1] Feedback: [/h1] [u] Some random nitpicks [/u] - you should put a jump on a button as well, most people would prefer not using the DPAD's UP. I thought the color palette and the soundtrack were a bit underwhelming this game, again it's subjective, but I feel like you didn't try as hard. I am also disappointed that this follow-up does not have as many climbing bosses, I thought that was the whole point of the Saturn Quest. In my opinion, the space sections and walking parts were the weak part of the first game, and you expanded on them. [u] The tedious navigation [/u] - it's not too bad, but still kinda obscure in the white area. I don't understand what it adds to the experience, there is almost nothing to look at, and those teleports are just a gamble until you know where to go. If you going to make a player walk around for hours, you need to put more thought into making it enjoyable. [b] Overall Thoughts: 6/10 [/b] In my opinion, it's not a good follow-up to the first game, feels like a downgrade in aesthetic and pacing, and there is less focus on climbing bosses - I only enjoyed it as a 'guilty pleasure'. It got a little better toward the end, and you could argue that narrative was a bit more engaging. Sure, the difficulty is more balanced, but at the same time, the game is more tedious, with lots of walking in dull areas. Big fan of the developer, it's just not his best. [code]Review By: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

Big improvement over the first game. Combat is much more enjoyable and the boss fights actually have some interesting patterns and design. I had some issues with taking damage when being too close to the boss which was frustrating but not too huge of an issue. Boss patterns felt fair and it felt like I really learned the fight in and out by the time I beat them. Personally I found the overworld a bit less visually interesting than the first; though travelling back and forth between two different worlds was a nice touch. The overworld also has lot of mazes, much more than I remember in the first game. That being said, I spent much less time not knowing how to progress in the game which is nice. Audio-Visual presentation is excellent as to be expected. Though I also felt the narrative to be more interesting this time around. I was able to follow the narrative pretty well and the plot even has some pretty good twists. Overall another improvement over the first game. In general I found this a lot less frustrating to play than the first game; allowing for the game's good points to work better. Given this I have a much easier time recommending this than the first game, which was always a very cautious recommendation from me. It should be noted that this game has many references to the prequel so it should be played before this; even if doing so is a bit rough. If the third game improves on this I would have very little issue recommending the whole trilogy.

Saturn Quest: Blast Effect is a direct sequel to Shadow of Planetus which changes up the gameplay a bit focusing primarily on more top down gameplay similar to Zelda & YS but still have some Shadow of the Colossus & shmup elements from the first game. Difficulty wise the game is more forgiving to where not only you take three hits instead of just one but some bosses & non boss enemies actually telegraph their attacks properly although there are still some bad RNG nonsense to where the only bosses that gave me trouble with a lot of deaths was that big kite looking boss & Bionomus. Like the previous game, I really enjoy playing through this with its variety of fun retro gameplay & would also recommend this game too :)

Tedious Game play jumps back and forth between reporting to a commander on your mothership and then dispatching a small jet into a top-down shooter Home base is far too large for only three points of interest and you'll be revisiting those points alot. Meanwhile challenges are too lengthy; lmagine trying to stay alive in 80's Asteroids for ten minutes straight with only two hit points. I felt like my time was being wasted and at some point, in the future, someone was going to pull me aside and laugh in my face about all they accomplished and got to experience while I was spending days on end trying to get past their troll challenge.

If Junji Itos "Hellstar Remina" was a shmup.

Blast Effect is like Shadow of Planetus, but more. Quick pros and cons, I guess. + Soundtrack is great, although maybe not as great as Shadow of Planetus' + Beautiful, beaaautiful pixel art + Gameplay is much improved from SoP. You now have HEALTH, and there is less RNG. Boss design is tighter. + Captain Navigator is charmingly dumb, and his relationship with his personal ambassador Roro Rororo The Motherbrain is surprisingly wholesome and touching + A truly original adventure you've NEVER seen anywhere else, guaranteed + Overflowing with heart - Like in SoP, there are sections that are painful or tedious- long sections without checkpoints, or heavy on RNG, or mazes - The English in the dialogues can be a little questionable, which hurts immersion. Only a little bit, though - You will see a lot of white, and a lot of red. Color variety is lower than in SoP, whose teal and gold color scheme I loved very much As you can see, it's a pretty good value proposition, although it very much is a very niche game. But just buy it. When I beat the final boss I felt like such a gamer. And then there was a lot of story and I was fairly confused but I still enjoyed myself. When the visuals, story, and music just come together, it works, it so works.

Much better than its predecessor Shadow of Planetus, bosses are more enjoyable and top-down section is less cryptic.

Ever wanted to know what its like to be an alien in a galaxy where there is no humans? Well in this story-driven adventure game you will get your chance. This 8-bit beauty is a must have for any green men fans.

A few frustrating moments throughout, but over a game fun, weird, and different enough that it stands out as both a game and a Saturn Quest entry. Love the eclectic gameplay. Really feels like anything can happen in these games, which after 25 years of gaming feels pretty rare and special. Great game!

Corto, va al grano. Historia interesante y diferente. Graficos brutales retro. Musica chula. Barato.