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Koudelka (PS)
by fanta_esque
I picked up Koudelka for a fiver in a preowned sale bin, I wasn't expecting wonders but goodness was I surprised. I took to it pretty quickly and it is now one of my favourite games.
Even before we had the wonders of the Playstation 2 and 3 the graphics of this Playstation game are not brilliant. The movie scenes sport the ... best of the graphics but even they aren't fantastic. The voice acting is not the best but I wouldn't say any of this put me off. In terms of gameplay it feels a bit like the original Resident Evil but without the zombies, instead the game supports a random battle system much like Final Fantasy. Some friends of mine have said that the repeated soundtrack for battles got a bit tiresome after a while, and while I did think that the music was not suited to a battle situation I enjoyed it.
I was surprised at how good the storyline was. You play as Koudelka Iasant, a medium drawn to an abandoned abbey in Aberystwyth. There she meets a traveller Edward and a priest James and together they explore the abbey revealing its horrific secrets. I don't want to give away too much of the plot but what develops is certainly interesting on many levels. What impressed me was that every character had a backstory, not just the three you play as but the few characters you meet in the game.
While the game is linear there are opportunities to explore secret areas to find additional story details that while not necessary to finish the game are nonetheless completely worth finding.
Some of the readable items in the game make for surprisingly poignant reading. Most games of this type contain little snippets left behind by now deceased characters, diaries and such the like but the amount of thought that has gone into some of them is really, quite impressive.
But as much as I love Koudelka I won't ignore the bad points. The turn based boss battles start out simple enough, but once you get onto the second disc they start to get insanely difficult. Some of them have no weaknesses or at least weaknesses that you spend far too long trying to figure out, during which time you get into that age old trap of having to heal all of your characters just to survive the next turn. An added dimension to the battles is that you can move your characters to different distances to the boss allowing your stronger characters to protect your weaker ones in particular fights. This works particularly well if you have two very physical characters to get to work on the boss while your magic guy hangs back to heal. But some of the bosses are frustrating to the point where the game stops being fun.
The other issue, and this can be a major issue. It certainly was for me. In the introductory sequence you see a pendant fall from Koudelka's neck, there is nothing to suggest this item is particularly important and you can easily miss picking it up later in the game. But if you don't pick up this seemingly inconsequential item then you will automatically die before the final boss battle and get a swift game over, unable to fight the last boss or see the ending sequence. Added to this the save function limiting your saves (you save at save points spread throughout the game or temporary saves but are limited to one temporary save per memory card) it is very likely that you will not have a save file far back enough to be able to pick up the item. Once you hit disc 4 you cannot explore the abbey, if you have not picked up the item by this point then you simply cannot complete the game which is probably the most ridiculous addition to a game ever and incredibly annoying. You simply have to start the game again and hope you don't repeat your mistake. I think it very poor that the final boss fight would hinge on an item to which no significance is drawn and if you fail to notice it then you have to start the entire game again (all 4 discs of it).
Items are difficult to see in the game, but Koudelka turns her head in the direction of an item in any room to help you out. Of course sometimes this just means you'll look in the same place pressing 'X' repeatedly hoping to pick something up because something might be there rather than because you can see it. The accessories and weapons you pick up are pretty good, every weapon has a different affinity which can affect all of your attributes. Though I enjoyed the wide range of affinities for weapons there is little to suggest what monsters are weak against which type and there is quite a lot of trial and error, especially when you have something like 'Light' weapons which heal everything they touch.
On the whole I strongly recommend this game, even though it may look like there are more negatives than positives the storyline is well worth it. It might have slipped under the radar but it really is a gem of a game, with a nicely spooky setting and some genuinely creepy moments. Just be prepared for some very long battles!
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Ballistic (PS)
by Dangey2009
Ballistic is a fantastic puzzle game that I have played regularly on my Playstation and the biggest compliment I can give to it is that I found it as enjoyable and addictive as Tetris which as we all know was extremely successful.
The idea for this game is very simple which is a bonus so you don't get too bogged down with ... complicated rules and confusing gameplay. The aim of the game is to remove the balls on the screen by shooting them and matching three or more coloured balls in a row. This alone is not enough to make a game addictive or to hold your attention span for too long. What actually makes this game addictive is that there is strategy involved in this game and the way you play it. You would think that by removing as many balls as possible in the fastest space of time would be the best way to play this game. Although, that is not true to be honest with you. If you want to ultimately get a high score then it's probably best to gather the balls as when you remove them more chain reactions will take place and give you a higher score.
The game is quite hard to master and is pretty challenging which is good. Also, I doubt whether you will get bored of this as is quite interesting. Once you get into this game and if you like puzzle type games then you will love this too as I did.
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Hogs Of War (PS)
by the_bossman
I'm happy to see so many other fans of this game. This is truely one of the most underrated games on the PSX, its joy lies in its simplicity. If you've played any Worms games before, this is basically the same. You both take turns blowing the crap out of each other, using a large range of powerful weapons. With each successful level ... you gain coins which can be used to promote your pigs. You can choose from a total of 4 classes including Engineer, Medic, etc. The classes could be seen as an early version of one of the Battlefield games. Rik Mayall provides voiceover work, I don't know if he does all of it. If he does he's very talented. He definitely pops up in multiplayer though.
Single player will keep you coming back for more, time after time, especially if you use the cheat to make all your pigs commandos at the start of the game. Even if you do do that, the last level pits you against at least 5 or 6 Legends, which are a rank above Heroes. It's ridiculously hard, they frequently use a napalm airstrike against you, sapping over half your health each time.
I don't know what makes this game so fun, it just has a fantastic appeal that keeps dragging you back for more. I think it's the challenge of having as many of your pigs alive as possible, and seeing if they can srvuve through to the last level. Bear in mind if one of your pigs dies too often, you'll get a level 1 replacement, so it's best to spread the promotions around as much as possible.
I'd suggest having 2 Engineers, especially when you unlock the upgraded shotgun for them. You can just blast the enemy straight out of the map and they explode instantly. They can also see where mines are placed, making them absolutely critical for over half the campaign. At least 3 Espionage classes, because you can hide with them when they're promoted to Spy class and they will stay alive for a long time. I'd avoid having Heavy Weapon classes, their weapons aren't that great. Maybe have a Medic as your last pig, to heal your others when they're low on health. Their medicine ball is a life saver, you can throw it like a standard grenade and it'll heal your piggies. Keep it away from the enemy though, they can heal from it too.
What more can I say? This game is a joy to play, and is dirt cheap. You have no reason to not own a copy.
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