First Impressions: Super Hexagon

Super Hexagon is quite possibly the hardest game I have ever played in my life.  Designed by Terry Cavenaugh of VVVVVV fame,  It's harder than VVVVVV.  It's harder than the hoverbikes level on Battletoads.  It's harder than TMNT.

But I think I figured out what to do.    A little background;  The game has three initial difficulty settings:  Hexagon, Hexagoner, and Hexagonest.  Also called 'hard, harder and hardest' difficulty settings.  So, the programmer knew that this game was hard.  So hard, he didn't bother to make an 'easy' or 'normal' setting.  And it is hard.

As far as I can tell, the goal is to last for 60 seconds on a given level.  Achievements are granted at 5 seconds, 10, 20 and so on.  Until recently, my record was 15 seconds on the easy level.  On a very rare occasion, I'd get about that far, but never any further.  But then I figured out a trick.

Oh, it's not a trick.  Not really.  That is to say, the trick is that I decided to play the game on harder difficulty.  I figured if it's nigh impossible on easy setting, what could the harder settings be like?  Well,  they're harder.  But not... so much harder.  Almost equal difficulty, really.  Hexagoner has more complex moves and Hexagonest has a faster pace.  And that is where the secret is. After playing for a few minutes on Hexagonest,  the easier setting seemed pretty slow in comparison.  My reaction time had adapted to the more difficult setting and I was able to get up to 25 seconds within a few rounds of play.

And then I turned the game off.  It was pretty satisfying to break through that wall.  But I just knew what would be behind it: Another goddamn wall.  So I turned the game off.  Live to fight another day.

-D

First impressions: IWBTG:G

Hey, check it out, this is the oldest 'draft' post I have on the whole blog, and I'm actually revisiting it!  I guess the readers don't know this, but now you do!

If life was like I Wanna Be The Guy:Gaiden, You would wake up in the morning, scratch your head, and put your feet on the floor.  The floor is covered in spikes and you die.  You go to feed your cat, and he slices your head off.  You go to the bathroom to relieve yourself, and the walls cave in on you.  Breakfast would also be a disaster of stabbing and crushing. In this game, everything is trying to kill you.

Since downloading and playing, I Wanna Be the Guy: Gaiden has provoked different reactions from me. Initially, I thought it was pretty funny, then, with quickness, I began to hate it. It became clear that I do not have the patience to progress through this incredibly difficult game. Finally, after watching someone else beat the game without dying, I am left with a grudging respect for the game and its designers.

IWTBTG is a parody game.  As a parody game, IWTBTG:G is excellent; the best I've seen.  The game is made up mostly from a collage of sounds and images from other games, mostly 16-bit and NES games.  The implementation of the boss characters is fantastically clever, interesting; And awesome to watch-- on youtube videos (I didn't manage to reach a single boss.)  

Opening map for IWTBTG:G

IWTBTG is stupidly hard, emphasis on the stupid.  The game is designed, purposely, to piss people off.  It works.  So, to me the challenge of describing this game is to not get too hung up on the challenge, to try to critique the game as though it were a legitimate attempt at game-design.  I'd like to punch the game in the nose, but I realize that will never happen, and if I tried to scrap with IWTBTG, it would beat the tar out of me.  It's just too goddamn difficult.

I had heard of the notorious difficulty of IWTBTG, prior to playing, but I didn't realize how purposeful it was.  It's like a series of practical jokes. The designers like to mess with the player, and the first twelve things that killed me were sort of out-of-place and unexpected.  These things would never find their way into a properly edited mainstream game, and I think that's the point.As far as I can tell, gameplay is mostly memorization and quick, precise movements.

I Wanna Be The Guy is very  much like Super Meatboy or Bit.Trip.Runner: One-hit-kills platform games- but not as well designed.  One key thing those games have to keep gameplay moving, that IWBTG lacks, is to have the music play continuously even when the character dies.  This feature helps to reduce the jarring sensation that comes from character death, and the quick restart of the level.  I hope if there are further editions of IWBTG released, that the designers will implement endlessly cycling music.

I originally set out to write a slanderous review to make myself feel better after being utterly crushed by frustration. I changed my mind after I took a time-out to watch a you-tube video of someone beating it without dying.  Watching this video gave me a renewed respect for the designers.  It's much more fun to watch someone else play, to appreciate some of the ridiculous traps and  fantastically silly boss fights.  So, ultimately, I'd like to declare a truce with I Wanna Be The Guy.  I won't play the game, but I will appreciate the design safely from my role as a non-playing spectator. 

If you have an amazing tolerance for game-related pain and frustration, then I recommend giving IWTBTG:G a play-through, and then show your friends; it's a great game to watch.  If you can't manage that, there's no shame.  Just head over to youtube and watch someone else beat it.  I do recommend playing it for at least a half-hour first, or until frustrated.  It will give you a greater depth of appreciation for the playthrough video.  

-D


P.S. After writing this review, I discovered that IWTBTG:Gaiden is actually a sequel.  However, after checking out the original, I see that most of the outstanding features are the same, and so I use the two names interchangeably in this review.  I recommend playing Gaiden first, simply because it is more immediately entertaining.   

Wall of Shame: Unfinished Games

I like to think that I'm fairly good at a number of varying video game genres, or generally speaking, I like to think that I'm generally good at video games.  I've been playing them for about 25 years pretty consistently.  The point being, that in most cases, I'm able to start and finish a video game.  However, there always seems to be a handful of games that I'm unable to finish for any particular reason.  Despite being able to go through the game, learning the necessary moves and techniques in order to reach the final stage/boss/encounter, I cannot, for the life of me, seem to finish the game.  This has happened on more than one occasion which has lead me to create a list.  This list, albeit an incomplete one, we will now refer to, as my WALL OF SHAME!

Diddy Kong Racing  (N64)
Now I know a lot of people reading this are most likely scoffing at both the game itself, as well as the fact that I can't beat it.  I will also surmise that everyone who is scoffing, has never played Diddy Kong Racing.  Yes it is a "kids" game in the same vain as Mario Kart, but I assure you, the game itself is pretty difficult.  In DKR, you not only have to get 1st place in each race in order to advance, but then do the same courses in reverse and collect hidden coins in the level (which are usually off the main path) and still get first.  I did all this.  The Kid can attest to this.  I cannot however, pass the final stage/boss, WizPig.

In the final stage, you have to race a giant WizPig who is running/flying along the course and can easily stomp on you, which will flatten your car, ensuring that you will not beat WizPig.  You also have to hit every single boost/zippers and not land in any of the water on the course or you will fail.  This person actually makes it look easy:

God of War: Chains of Olympus  (PSP)
Now I'm not going to give away who the final boss of this game is, as finding out is part of the storyline and I thought, "Huh, I'd never thought of that.  That's pretty cool," so I'd rather not ruin it for someone who's never played the game before and is looking to; yes, even for a game that's four years old.

The game itself isn't overly difficult having played through on the "normal" difficulty level.  There were some areas and bosses that took a couple of run throughs in order to figure out the right/best way to complete something.  Then comes the final boss.  Like in Disney's Mulan, you use tactics and tricks from previously in the story to overthrow the villain.  However, that did not seem to be the case with me.

After numerous battles, I broke and looked up on Gamefaqs how to defeat the final boss.  Apparently, you need to use the Gauntlets of Zeus.  Funny, I sparsely used them in the game, instead favoring the traditional Blades of Chaos.  I got that I needed to use the Sun Shield, but not using the Blades of Chaos seemed, a bit odd.  So then I went back, and still failed to defeat the boss.  I've tried on even more attempts and have been unable to finish the game.  I've been tempted to play the game on "Easy" just so I can see how the game ends, but the thought of going through the entire game again was a bit daunting.  Maybe that says something against the replay value.

Two games that I'm going to give special mention to are Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! for the boxer Soda Popinski, whom I cannot beat on a regular basis although I can consistently get to him.  Yes, I know the trick about blocking when he goes to upper cut, which confuses him, then you punch him in the stomach to get a star; then you do the same thing, but then super punch him and it knocks him out.  Yes, I know about that.  I just apparently suck at executing that maneuver.  And don't get me started on fighting Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream (obviously using the code to get to him/them/it).  The second goes to Kefka from Dissidia: Final Fantasy, specifically when doing Terra's storyline.  I don't know what it is about fighting Kefka with Terra (both are heavy magic users compared to say, the Light Warrior from Final Fantasy I, who is based more around physical attacks).

So there.  Now along with a slough of NES games, I feel like I've given plenty of fodder for people/villains/arch-enemies who want to challenge me to some sort of saving the world video game play off.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
We Are All Doomed.

Currently Playing 3: Abobo's Big Adventure

http://abobosbigadventure.com/

Abobo's Big Adventure is Awesome.  It's hilarious.  And it's actually pretty goddamn hard (in true NES fashion).  Please play it, so that you will no longer be missing out.
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Oh, did I mention that it's FREE?!

The trick to playing Abobo's big Adventure is to download JoyToKey and play it on a controller.  The creators actually suggest playing it on an original NES controller using a converter.  This sounds awesome, but I don't have any NES controllers available to me, so I didn't bother looking it up.