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 Oh it’s funny all right. Metarica’s first and only effort on the GP32 is an odd game with a very dubious connection to the sport of soccer. It’s a bit more like Pong doubles. You control two players with the D-pad; a forward and a goalie. You must hit the ball into the goal of course, but this is made difficult by these little spore-looking things that populate the playing field for some reason to slow you down. The ball also likes to get stuck inside your character’s hitbox, allowing you to sort of ‘carry’ the ball for a time. In most cases, the ball will shoot out behind you once it gets free. Not particularly good, that part. So there are some serious problems. But at the same time, there’s some fun stuff too. You get to choose from eight animal types (two more are unlockable) to represent your team, all with different attributes. As you win matches, you gain experience to boost your stats, and money with which to purchase items. These items can be activated by pressing a button when hitting the ball. Effects range from fireballs, multipliers, speed, et cetera. These are all well and good, but from the onset only two stages are available, and it takes a few level ups before you get a third. This would be fine if the game saved your experience. At level six, I had 31 exp. I saved the game, rebooted, and discovered that I now had 6 exp. Indeed, when you save, the amount of exp that the game saves is identical to your level. So it’s tough to advance, certainly. But the backgrounds are sharp, the music is good, and the sound of the ball hitting the sides of the arena is made by a woman saying ‘dun!’. You take the good with the bad, in this case. I believe this is another instance of a poor port of a decent PC game...worth checking out if you’ve got excess cash and want to have a rather unusual, though frustrating experience. Check out the windows demo to see how this game was supposed to play.
Note: images are from the PC version, but roughly equivalent.
Miniscore: 6.2/10
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This is a game worthy of a full review, and it will receive one when time allows. GP Fight is the first effort by Team Blaze, which tries to recapture the spirit and gameplay of the Hot Blooded High School games by Technos prior to their death. It feels slow initially, but you must realize that Team Blaze were more about emulation than improvement. Technos fighting tended to be rather plodding in many ways, and more about the crazy stuff you could do, than how fast you could do it. I really shouldn’t say that there were no improvements though, as dedicated jump and throw buttons are indispensable additions. You play through several different types of levels, all with the underlying thread of kick-assery. First level is just a brawl. Succeeding levels have you swimming with a shark and grabbing for items, trying to catch bean buns in your mouth, racing an endurance course or up a building. It’s frustrating, and the learning curve is very high. The game is all about timing, and if you’re off the game’s rhythm, you’ll find yourself getting batted around mercilessly. The biggest problem I have with the game is the ranking system. You must place in the top three (out of four) to advance, but the scoring is a bit odd. I shouldn’t get a D, and be in first place. Nor should I get a B and be in third place. If you’re ranked out (ie in fourth place), your game is over, with no continue option. Which is foolish. Continue options are good things, no matter how easy the game. And this game is not easy. It wouldn’t be as infuriating if ranked-out enemies got game over too. But they don’t. All in all it’s a good game, and one you should purchase if you love the old Technos stuff. Guaranteed to bring back memories. The art and presentation is also superb, if the storyline is a little thin. One of the best for the GP32.
A bizarre idea for a game, one that really strikes me as more of a cell phone concept than a full handheld title. In the tower game, you control Hany as she bounces up and down, trying to climb towards the goal. You are ever bouncing, and trying to squeeze between small openings, using special blocks to launch you, while trying to avoid spiked balls. These balls drain your boost energy, which is what you may use to propel yourself higher. The game begins as a rather easy affair, but quickly you will find it becoming a bit tougher to complete each level. By and large this is not due to increased difficulty within the game itself, but more likely because of the sheer length of the levels. Many of the latter stages take upwards of 15 minutes to complete, which is utterly bizarre for something with such a minigame feel to it. I’ve yet to complete the final level of the tower game, due to the fact that you’re given a time limit of 28 minutes. I’m…not sure I have that much more time to invest in this. I’ll give a preliminary score, but will reserve final judgment until I complete this, as I’ve seen images of another game in the Hany line, which is not currently available to me. I’d say it’s an allright MegaGP purchase for something mindless to do, but it’s not available via MegaGP. So for now you might want to hold off.
Not really of much concern for those of us in the west, but...may as well. Oneshot Voca is an odd mix between English/Korean dictionary and English tutor for Korean speakers. It contains several set phrases, and can vocalize some of these. Almost any English word I input (you just choose letters from a template) was recognized by the system and translated into Korean by the system. But it’s not terribly useful for us here, and is not even edutainment. It’s purely an education/reference tool and nothing more. Good if you need it, but otherwise...
