Games that mix genres/game styles

o1s1n

Thought this might be an interesting topic, what do you guys think of games that feature different genres, but split level by level?

I don't mean an FPS/RPG mix, or platformer/aventure mix etc, I mean two whole genres or game types split level by level. ie; Axelay and Contra's vertical/hori sections.

I find in generally I'm not a fan of the practice at all and it's always irked me over the years to varying degrees (Shadow of Rome's stealth sections when all I wanted to do was dismember combatants in an arena is one particularly memorable one for it's level of annoyance!)

Mini game sections or bonus type levels I can handle, but when an 'official level' (for no use of a better term) turns into a completely different type of game it tends to annoy the hell out of me. Almost feels cheap or that it's trying to be a jack of all trades and appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

Am I just being a grump or does anyone else get annoyed by this? Any that you think that pull it off particularly well?

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

Thought this might be an interesting topic, what do you guys think of games that feature different genres, but split level by level?

I don't mean an FPS/RPG mix, or platformer/aventure mix etc, I mean two whole genres or game types split level by level. ie; Axelay and Contra's vertical/hori sections.

I find in generally I'm not a fan of the practice at all and it's always irked me over the years to varying degrees (Shadow of Rome's stealth sections when all I wanted to do was dismember combatants in an arena is one particularly memorable one for it's level of annoyance!)

Mini game sections or bonus type levels I can handle, but when an 'official level' (for no use of a better term) turns into a completely different type of game it tends to annoy the hell out of me. Almost feels cheap or that it's trying to be a jack of all trades and appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

Am I just being a grump or does anyone else get annoyed by this? Any that you think that pull it off particularly well?

The worst was the horror of Thunderforce 2 on the MD.
Having first played Thunderforce 3 I was very disappointed in the gameplay split between adequate horizontally scrolling and the sh1te overhead shooting levels.

Super Star Wars did it with the ridiculously hard platforming levels and the mode 7 speeder sections.

o1s1n

Yep! That still annoys me to this day. I usually don't bother with the game because of it.

Urban Strike is another one which pissed me off. I was a huge fan of the two previous strike games and was super excited about the concept of getting out of the helicopter. 'The future is now' kind of excited.

What awaited me was an isometric shooter which ran at about 5fps :eek:

Atavan-Halen

I think The last game I played like that was brutal legend. Game itself was ok as an open world action/adventure game but then in some levels it turned into an RTS which I feel didn't work at all and the controls weren't great either.

It's so irritating. If I pick up a platformer it's because I want to play a platformer and not have it change into something completely different halfway though. Like you say, if it's a bonus level that's fine but to have every few levels as a different genre is annoying.

Earthhorse

ActRaiser on SNES managed the balancing act between platformer and God-sim pretty well.

Struggling to think of other games, good or bad, that fit the bill.

Retr0gamer

Earthhorse wrote: »

ActRaiser on SNES managed the balancing act between platformer and God-sim pretty well.

Struggling to think of other games, good or bad, that fit the bill.

Act raiser is a mediocre platformers mixed with a very basic God sim game that when combined somehow create something that is awesome. Love that game and the soundtrack pretty much created the SNES orchestrated sound.

Doge

I think the c64 port of Platoon this very well indeed, absolutely classic game.
Love it so much I uploaded the first gameplay video to youtube back in 2008.

The first level is a side scroller, where you can move in 4 directions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNfsY4CnJzA

The tunnels level is like an early FPS, 4 directions of movements again and complete control over the crosshair. There is also a bunker scene at the end with no movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-SQw4Dn6ow

The final level is Contra base section style, where you have 3 directions of movement, you must avoid mines barb wire and the enemies in the bushes as well a dead ahead, before taking on Barnes as the final boss.




I never actually completed the last level, we had a bad pirate copy which crashed after level 1, and I got my fix for the tunnels from a compilation called Blaze out which used a light gun, but with automated movement iirc.

I should really try and beat it now up and upload the final level.

Theres a full gameplay of it here if anyones bothered lol:

http://youtu.be/OBz8GsKIu-E

Earthhorse

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Act raiser is a mediocre platformers mixed with a very basic God sim game that when combined somehow create something that is awesome. Love that game and the soundtrack pretty much created the SNES orchestrated sound.

I wouldn't say the platform section is mediocre but not amazing either. It is a game that is somehow better than the sum of its parts. And I think, as you allude to, some of that is down to the presentation, in the soundtrack and graphics.

Personally speaking, I think I enjoyed the God-sim part more.

um7y1h83ge06nx

o1s1n wrote: »

Urban Strike is another one which pissed me off. I was a huge fan of the two previous strike games and was super excited about the concept of getting out of the helicopter. 'The future is now' kind of excited.

Yeah, those sections were pretty crap alright, dragged the game down quite a bit.

CiDeRmAn

Gal.Gun mixed genres.
Rail gun shooter and self abuse stimulator

Retr0gamer

Hold on, platoon was multi genre? I never knew because I never got out of the stupid maze at the start.

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Hold on, platoon was multi genre? I never knew because I never got out of the stupid maze at the start.

I never got to play that properly. We'd load it up on the speccy and after your first death it'd have to load from the beginning all over again.

Generally said '**** this' and loaded up Barbarian instead.

Ol' Donie

Rebel Strike had a load of spacey shooty bits, and then some on foot levels.

I loved them both, don't care what yis say. Yep.

Doge

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Hold on, platoon was multi genre? I never knew because I never got out of the stupid maze at the start.

I have the path burned into my memory at this stage!

Total trial and error and memorisation, and when you got to the clearing in the jungle and saw that sweet light blue sky, there was a huge sense of accomplishment!

The village at the end of the level is class too, if you shoot the villagers you lose Morale and risked game over it goes too low.
And you had to search for items for the next level in the shacks and find the tunnel entrance, while risking getting blown up by a booby trap.

I purposely set off the booby trap in the video so people could see the sheer imagination that went into the game.

Tis a balls you didnt figure out the path and experience the rest of the game.

I remember you saying in that collectors documentary that there was no good games for the c64.
Its a shame because the quality of the games I played on it were very high and had a very positive experience with the system.

I was lucky because I had an older cousin who copied the cream of the crop on cassettes for us, I'd imagine he read reviews in magazines to say the standard was so high.

CiDeRmAn

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Rebel Strike had a load of spacey shooty bits, and then some on foot levels.

I loved them both, don't care what yis say. Yep.

I loved the original on the N64, and the Naboo based prequel, I played to bits Rogue Squadron on the GC as well, beautiful despite a limited flight model.
But Rebel Strike...
The game looked the business, and the speeder bike, AT-ST and space craft levels were all the same polished work that Factor 5 were well know for.
But those on foot levels.
It was like they gave the work to Jack and Jill, the summer interns, to do.
The graphic assets are great, but the actual game is just so much broken pants it's beyond belief that it passed any kind of quality control.

I accept you love the game, but you must have a very forgiving nature to let those downright broken on foot scenes slide.

Doge

How about Batman The Movie on c64, amstrad speccy etc....

Was a side scrolling platformer with driving sections.

The Last Ninja series were a combined Beat Em Up, Platformer, Puzzle and sorta adventure game also.


Theres probably loads more but just can't think of many at the moment.

CosmicSmash

Keio Yugekitai on the Saturn has a mix of platform and a few shooting levels. It wouldn't be the best game ever but it plays quite well.

Shapey Fiend

It's generally considered one of the weaker Wonderboy games but I always enjoyed the shmup and platforming combo of Monster Lair. It wouldn't be nearly as fun if it was just one or the other.

CosmicSmash

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

It's generally considered one of the weaker Wonderboy games but I always enjoyed the shmup and platforming combo of Monster Lair. It wouldn't be nearly as fun if it was just one or the other.

Which game is one of the weaker games?

Andrew76

Turrican 2 featured a few side scrolling shmup levels that worked well I thought. They were very basic but came as such a surprise it just added to the overall awesome package.

Retr0gamer

Doge wrote: »

I remember you saying in that collectors documentary that there was no good games for the c64.

Ah my usual hyperbole. I got my C64 in 1991 when the NES and Megadrive where in full swing and the C64 felt like a huge step backwards in comparison. also I really liked Japanese games and they just weren't on the old C64. There were plenty of games I enjoyed on the C64 I just wished I had Sonic and Mario at the time!

My favourite was probably the bubble bobble conversion.

Quigs Snr

Vendetta for c64 from the guys who did the last ninja was a beat em up of sorts with a little driving from what I remember. The GTA of its day (is what the young me thought he was getting.. sadly not however)

eddhorse

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Vendetta for c64 from the guys who did the last ninja was a beat em up of sorts with a little driving from what I remember. The GTA of its day (is what the young me thought he was getting.. sadly not however)

Ah well done, that was a great game, could never finish though on the last driving part.

Shapey Fiend

CosmicSmash wrote: »

Which game is one of the weaker games?

Wonderboy 3: Monster Lair.

I went from C64 to Atari 2600 when the tape drive broke. There were a lot more good C64 games than 2600 ones! Cheaper too considering they were so was to copy.

Star Lord

Just thought of those old bonus levels in Shinobi, with the ninjas running along the platforms of varying distances to jump closer, then at you. Never did particularly well in those, but enjoyed them all the same!

The ninja game in Nintendoland reminded me of that too in a way!

the groutch

Alien Storm, half side-scrolling beat 'em up, half 'shoot anything that moves'.

Doge

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Ah my usual hyperbole. I got my C64 in 1991 when the NES and Megadrive where in full swing and the C64 felt like a huge step backwards in comparison. also I really liked Japanese games and they just weren't on the old C64. There were plenty of games I enjoyed on the C64 I just wished I had Sonic and Mario at the time!

My favourite was probably the bubble bobble conversion.

I understand now! We got ours in 1988 and it blew my mind.
I think we got the Sega Master System in 1992ish and in many ways it felt like a downgrade to me.

Besides Sonic 1, some of the games just felt dull, and the sound chip was very basic and the music was more conventional and not as atmospheric or diverse as the SID.

The C64 was in its peak years when we got it after being on the market for a good 6 years, so they really knew how to make lovely detailed graphics and good gameplay at that stage and push the graphics and sound to the limits.

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Vendetta for c64 from the guys who did the last ninja was a beat em up of sorts with a little driving from what I remember. The GTA of its day (is what the young me thought he was getting.. sadly not however)

I've yet to give Vandetta a gameplay, i'm so obsessed with the Last Ninja series vendetta looked a bit inferior from what i saw of ghe first level.
And speaking of which, someone released a level editor for the The Last Ninja , with this video uploaded today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVKCbaBP4FE

DinoRex

Doge wrote: »

How about Batman The Movie on c64, amstrad speccy etc....

Ocean had that formula down pat for their movie tie-ins.

Almost all had a platform level, a shooting level or driving level and a puzzle level alternating.

Eg. Darkman, The Untouchables, Robo-cop, Terminator 2.

The Batman puzzle level was great as you tried to find the right combination of Smilex products using a Mastermind style system. Really fit well it that part of the plot in the movie.

Unfortunately the puzzle sections were usually just lazy GOD DAMN BLOODY SLIDING BLOCK PUZZLES!!!!

CosmicSmash

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

Wonderboy 3: Monster Lair.

I went from C64 to Atari 2600 when the tape drive broke. There were a lot more good C64 games than 2600 ones! Cheaper too considering they were so was to copy.

Those were the days, a C90 and a note book with numbers corresponding to the counter on the c64 cassette deck.

Hank Scorpio

Rendering ranger

Dr Bob

o1s1n wrote: »

Thought this might be an interesting topic, what do you guys think of games that feature different genres, but split level by level?

I don't mean an FPS/RPG mix, or platformer/aventure mix etc, I mean two whole genres or game types split level by level. ie; Axelay and Contra's vertical/hori sections.

I find in generally I'm not a fan of the practice at all and it's always irked me over the years to varying degrees (Shadow of Rome's stealth sections when all I wanted to do was dismember combatants in an arena is one particularly memorable one for it's level of annoyance!)

Mini game sections or bonus type levels I can handle, but when an 'official level' (for no use of a better term) turns into a completely different type of game it tends to annoy the hell out of me. Almost feels cheap or that it's trying to be a jack of all trades and appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

Am I just being a grump or does anyone else get annoyed by this? Any that you think that pull it off particularly well?

Ah you console kids dont remember but I do
Every f$%king Ocean published movie tie in game ever...
Batman (the movie) : Platform Level-> driving level-> puzzle minigame-> different platform level-> batwing level etc...
Total recall: platform level-> Johnny cab level- Beat em up level ...
and so on ..over and over
They werent great.. (although the loading music was good)

Dr Bob

Doge wrote: »

I understand now! We got ours in 1988 and it blew my mind.
I think we got the Sega Master System in 1992ish and in many ways it felt like a downgrade to me.

Besides Sonic 1, some of the games just felt dull, and the sound chip was very basic and the music was more conventional and not as atmospheric or diverse as the SID.

The C64 was in its peak years when we got it after being on the market for a good 6 years, so they really knew how to make lovely detailed graphics and good gameplay at that stage and push the graphics and sound to the limits.




I've yet to give Vandetta a gameplay, i'm so obsessed with the Last Ninja series vendetta looked a bit inferior from what i saw of ghe first level.
And speaking of which, someone released a level editor for the The Last Ninja , with this video uploaded today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVKCbaBP4FE

Last Ninja Level editor?? WANT (especially if it has LN II city assets and a teeny tiny superman sprite)

eddhorse

That level editor looks great alright.

Mr.Saturn

Questionably qualified, but Metal Slug 3 turns into a shmup for 30 percent of its 90000000 hour final level. Once for a horizontal and another for a vertical.

Doge

Heres another tool for The Last Ninja Series:

http://heechee.net/ninjaboard/viewtopic.php?t=1051&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0



Every object you see is an individual character sprite apparently.

That simply blew my mind, i always thought it was just a static background!

I have never seen a c64 game to be so detailed and so beautiful.