Here are some pics:
MetaPhList PSX, yay or nay?
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Lawfer
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MetaPhList PSX, yay or nay?
I was wondering, I can get this game for cheap. Is it any good?
Here are some pics:
Here are some pics:
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sven666
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graphics are quite bad, gameplay is ok, pretty cool concept with a shmups-driven RPG.
its a pretty damn rare game tho (rarest psx shmup?) so if you can find it cheap you should proboably pick it up just cause of that.
its a pretty damn rare game tho (rarest psx shmup?) so if you can find it cheap you should proboably pick it up just cause of that.
the destruction of everything, is the beginning of something new. your whole world is on fire, and soon, you'll be too..
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BulletMagnet
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BulletMagnet
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Fighter17
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hermosaguy
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sven666
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without any facts to back that up aside from how often they show up for auction id definetly say metaphlist is alot harder to find.Ceph wrote:No, that's definitely Gaia Seed.sven666 wrote: its a pretty damn rare game tho (rarest psx shmup?)
gaia seed is 20 times more expensive tho, and while GS has slightly better graphics the game itself isnt.
the destruction of everything, is the beginning of something new. your whole world is on fire, and soon, you'll be too..
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Turrican
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There, I added it to the Definitive Playstation Shmups List. So now it should show in six threadsBulletMagnet wrote:A search for "metaphlist" brings up 5 topics total, including this one, so methinks it's safe to say it's not mentioned often, heh heh. On rare occasions, but blink and you miss it (probably for good reason).
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JBC
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Super Laydock
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@ Turrican: If you could mention TRL: The Rail Loaders in that list as well, it would even out the amount of threads it's shown in with this title.Turrican wrote:There, I added it to the Definitive Playstation Shmups List. So now it should show in six threadsBulletMagnet wrote:A search for "metaphlist" brings up 5 topics total, including this one, so methinks it's safe to say it's not mentioned often, heh heh. On rare occasions, but blink and you miss it (probably for good reason).
You know, balance and stuff...
Barroom hero!
Bathroom hero!
Bathroom hero!
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Spartacus
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Well what do you know? I actually get to contribute something around here. I have Meta-ph-list and can speak about it some.
This fellow's review isn't too bad actually, so you might like to give it a read first...
http://www.videogameimports.com/get_gam ... oduct=4755
About the only minor disagreement I might have with it is that I think the music is much closer to Star Wars than Star Trek, but that's quibbling.
And now for my own thoughts of the game.
The first screen you'll see after the campy intro is the stat screen. This screen shows your kill rate, hit percentages and how leveled up your ship is. There are 4 items on your ship that can be leveled up: Shields, Shot, Laser and Missiles. The more enemies you kill with any particular weapon, the more powerful it becomes. This is very important in this game because pickup power-ups are quite rare. They come along maybe once in each stage you play and only last for a brief period of time. You can't reconfigure anything at the stat screen, just simply note what areas you could use some improvements in. You'll revisit this screen after finishing each stage in the game.
I thought the whole concept of earning more powerful weapons worked pretty well. Once you've leveled up a weapon, you will never lose it, even if you get nicked while playing. They can be leveled up into some pretty magnificent weapons and in some of the stages you're going to want some fierce firepower.
The next screen you'll see is the planetary stage select screen. This let's you pick one stage out of 8 possible (in the first disc) to play. You can re-play a stage you've already completed as often as you like. In fact, most stages need sevveral runs through to be totaly completed. The enemy types and the end boss will always be the same for that stage, but there are many different backgrounds on each planet to keep it reasonably interesting as you play through it multiple times. What I think this does is let you find a stage you can get good at and allows you to keep coming back to build up your stats.
So how's the darn game play, your asking? Well. I liked it quite a bit actually. Here's a few more screen shots of the game....
http://c-games.info/games,002,2171.html
What these pics don't show very well is the amount of multi-layer parallax scrolling going on in the backgrounds. Some of the scenery is actually quite interesting and very well done. There are space levels, underwater levels, and all types of planet surfaces. I think some levels were done to just show off, like the one with the multi-colored balls. On most of the planetary surface levels you will see tornadoes whipping across the landscapes. These add an interesting facet to the game because they can suck your ship in and spin it around, disorienting you.
One feature of the game I found quite enjoyable and fascinating is the ability to swing your ships firing point around in a circle using the shoulder buttons. You can hold the buttons and swing your target reticule around smoothly in any direction or tap them for incremental shifts. Now you can avoid going toe to toe with capital ships and also pick off any stragglers who might have gotten behind you.
Another interesting feature in the game is how the missiles are used. With missiles you need to place the target reticule directly on a target and obtain a lock. Once locked you can fire and forget and move on to another victim. The missiles not only let you attack air and ground units, the target reticule itself acts as radar that illuminates invisible cloaked units. In fact quite a few units, notably all the ground vehicles and installations, are only vulnerable to a missile attack.
The area bomb is another feature I enjoyed about the game. Flaming skulls in the lower left of the screen represent the number of bombs in your possession. When you detonate one, a gruff pissed off voice yells "Go to Hell!"
Anyway, pretty good game. I liked it. 2 discs by the way and I've never seen what's on the second, so I can't comment on it. All the voice's and the menu screens are in English, so it's very easy to understand and play.
Some things I didn't like. No saves. You lose once and game over! On the bright side, it's not a one hit wonder type game because you do have shields. The pickup power-up for the missiles expanded the target reticule and the size of the missiles and looked pixilated. The explosions could have used some more bass. And finally, you can't access the second disk until you've completed the first. All in all, nothing too terrible to complain about.
There's a story line that's played out during the game about you being part of a team that's conducting covert espionage on each of the stages you visit. Much like the beginning intro, it has a campy feel to it. Sort of - over the top while playing it straight kinda thing and I got the impression the developer's were having some fun with the game. It's also reasonably adult. This is a character's line from one scene in the game....
"I've seen this kind of terminal before. We can get some good shit out of it! (Alarm sounds) Oh shit! Were screwed! It's a trap!"
HeHeHe Well, I like a little salty language in my games anyway.
I found my copy a couple of months ago on Yahoo Japan for 2500 yen and don't regret my purchase one bit, if that helps anyone.
This fellow's review isn't too bad actually, so you might like to give it a read first...
http://www.videogameimports.com/get_gam ... oduct=4755
About the only minor disagreement I might have with it is that I think the music is much closer to Star Wars than Star Trek, but that's quibbling.
And now for my own thoughts of the game.
The first screen you'll see after the campy intro is the stat screen. This screen shows your kill rate, hit percentages and how leveled up your ship is. There are 4 items on your ship that can be leveled up: Shields, Shot, Laser and Missiles. The more enemies you kill with any particular weapon, the more powerful it becomes. This is very important in this game because pickup power-ups are quite rare. They come along maybe once in each stage you play and only last for a brief period of time. You can't reconfigure anything at the stat screen, just simply note what areas you could use some improvements in. You'll revisit this screen after finishing each stage in the game.
I thought the whole concept of earning more powerful weapons worked pretty well. Once you've leveled up a weapon, you will never lose it, even if you get nicked while playing. They can be leveled up into some pretty magnificent weapons and in some of the stages you're going to want some fierce firepower.
The next screen you'll see is the planetary stage select screen. This let's you pick one stage out of 8 possible (in the first disc) to play. You can re-play a stage you've already completed as often as you like. In fact, most stages need sevveral runs through to be totaly completed. The enemy types and the end boss will always be the same for that stage, but there are many different backgrounds on each planet to keep it reasonably interesting as you play through it multiple times. What I think this does is let you find a stage you can get good at and allows you to keep coming back to build up your stats.
So how's the darn game play, your asking? Well. I liked it quite a bit actually. Here's a few more screen shots of the game....
http://c-games.info/games,002,2171.html
What these pics don't show very well is the amount of multi-layer parallax scrolling going on in the backgrounds. Some of the scenery is actually quite interesting and very well done. There are space levels, underwater levels, and all types of planet surfaces. I think some levels were done to just show off, like the one with the multi-colored balls. On most of the planetary surface levels you will see tornadoes whipping across the landscapes. These add an interesting facet to the game because they can suck your ship in and spin it around, disorienting you.
One feature of the game I found quite enjoyable and fascinating is the ability to swing your ships firing point around in a circle using the shoulder buttons. You can hold the buttons and swing your target reticule around smoothly in any direction or tap them for incremental shifts. Now you can avoid going toe to toe with capital ships and also pick off any stragglers who might have gotten behind you.
Another interesting feature in the game is how the missiles are used. With missiles you need to place the target reticule directly on a target and obtain a lock. Once locked you can fire and forget and move on to another victim. The missiles not only let you attack air and ground units, the target reticule itself acts as radar that illuminates invisible cloaked units. In fact quite a few units, notably all the ground vehicles and installations, are only vulnerable to a missile attack.
The area bomb is another feature I enjoyed about the game. Flaming skulls in the lower left of the screen represent the number of bombs in your possession. When you detonate one, a gruff pissed off voice yells "Go to Hell!"
Anyway, pretty good game. I liked it. 2 discs by the way and I've never seen what's on the second, so I can't comment on it. All the voice's and the menu screens are in English, so it's very easy to understand and play.
Some things I didn't like. No saves. You lose once and game over! On the bright side, it's not a one hit wonder type game because you do have shields. The pickup power-up for the missiles expanded the target reticule and the size of the missiles and looked pixilated. The explosions could have used some more bass. And finally, you can't access the second disk until you've completed the first. All in all, nothing too terrible to complain about.
There's a story line that's played out during the game about you being part of a team that's conducting covert espionage on each of the stages you visit. Much like the beginning intro, it has a campy feel to it. Sort of - over the top while playing it straight kinda thing and I got the impression the developer's were having some fun with the game. It's also reasonably adult. This is a character's line from one scene in the game....
"I've seen this kind of terminal before. We can get some good shit out of it! (Alarm sounds) Oh shit! Were screwed! It's a trap!"
HeHeHe Well, I like a little salty language in my games anyway.
I found my copy a couple of months ago on Yahoo Japan for 2500 yen and don't regret my purchase one bit, if that helps anyone.
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Fighter17
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