Strong aesthetic, weak gameplay

[KoolKool993]

CALL OF DUTY....

jk......

Sine Mora! Crysis like graphic with terrible mechanic gameplay and soundtrack!

[qmish]

Close this thread full of insulting people's tastes and just make a new thread for discussion of good aesthetics alone, without all that bullshit hating and accusing of having "meh gameplay".

[PooshhMao]

First game that came to mind is Axelay.

Probably the best looking game (let alone shmup) you could buy for any home platform that wasn't the Neo-Geo or X68000 back in the day. Beautiful looking game, it was my go-to title to make my gaming buddies rethink their Mega Drive purchases.

As a game though, it was laden with problems. It was a pretty linear experience, made worst by the weapons selection system which meant you always picked the same weapons on every playthrough, and you couldn't play earlier stages with later weapons. Also, the vertically scrolling stages, albeit the most impressive graphically, played the worst.

I still like Axelay, if only because of it's aesthetics. And the Macro Missile, with those nifty smoke trails

[bikingjahuty]

First and foremost the gameplay is not weak at all, but so far I feel this way about Battle Garegga.

The thing that got me into wanting to play this game was a) it is widely considered to be one of the best, if not the best shmup ever made, b) it has maybe the best soundtrack in the entire genre, and c) it's graphics and stages are extremely memorable.

Thanks to the wonder of MAME, I've been playing it pretty heavily the past couple of days and quite honestly I can't say the gameplay really feels much better than Raiden or Sonic Wings, two games it reminds me of in various ways. I've read plenty about how deep the scoring and gameplay is, but quite honestly I do not care (yet) about the scoring, and the gameplay doesn't seem all that comlext to be honest. Again, it is a solid shooter and has great gameplay, but I can't say it's one of the best, or at least as amazing as many make it out to be.

I am sincerely hoping I see what many others see soon because I dare say it feels a bit overrated so far.

[Giest118]

Thanks to the wonder of MAME, I've been playing it pretty heavily the past couple of days and quite honestly I can't say the gameplay really feels much better than Raiden or Sonic Wings, two games it reminds me of in various ways. I've read plenty about how deep the scoring and gameplay is, but quite honestly I do not care (yet) about the scoring, and the gameplay doesn't seem all that comlext to be honest. Again, it is a solid shooter and has great gameplay, but I can't say it's one of the best, or at least as amazing as many make it out to be.

I am sincerely hoping I see what many others see soon because I dare say it feels a bit overrated so far.

It's an ass-backwards experience that pretty much requires reading a guide on it to figure out how any part of it connects with any other part of it because on its own it's a cobbled together mess.

We do have a strategy thread for it on this very forum, and the STG Weekly episode on it can help as far as a play-by-play of what goes into it. It took a combination of those things for me to really understand what its deal was. The deal being that you can just kind of pick and choose what you want to take from the superplays and strategy guides because the game doesn't give a shit. From there you can figure out how to make it work for you.

It takes time though. Battle Garegga is not there to impress you; you're there to impress Battle Garegga.

[MommysBestGames]

Obligatory Sine Mora mention.

So sad this didn't play better... loved the look.