Vigilance on Talos V (PC, 1996)
Graphics-6.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5/6* Challenge-6 Story-5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7 Fun-7 Originality-3
Overall Score-6.5
*Grapple beam
+
Super metroid-like gameplay (it's basically a clone - movement and backgrounds are similar, borrows the same abilities as in Sinaria (morph ball - can jump from the get go here, grapple beam, x-ray beam, missiles), energy and ammo tanks, HP drops from enemies, missiles and plasma, jump boots, bomb jumping, etc.)
Faster default movement than in SM
No instant death pits/spikes/lava here?
Some interesting enemies ()
Some sequence breaking possiblities (can get the grapple beam and plasma early in the first level/world, can reach the northern part of the second level with bomb jumping, etc.)
Homing missiles (however they only work on some targets and move kinda slow)
Some shortcuts and one teleporter for fast travel in one level
Minor environmental storytelling (statues, corpses)
+/-
Level-based and collected items are lost in-between them (breaks continuity and sense of progression - you find the same items level 2 as in level 1 and only the flamethrower is unique to level 3, pretty large levels though)
Borrows some level gimmicks from Sonic (certain platforms, springs, cannons that shoot you where you aim them; fun but sometimes feels out of place)
Save points (fairly frequent, 5 slots) - these also heal you but only up to 99 energy (energy tanks aren't refilled)
Some handholding (friendly alien NPCs tell you exactly where to go early on even though there's no way to side track due to ability gating, these guys just standing around in hostile areas with no explanation also breaks immersion somewhat)
Voiced tutorial messages and NPCs (same voice though hehe)
Enemies respawn when re-entering the room they were in
Bomb jumping is easier here (can often just hold the button down)
Auto-switches to missiles when you pick up a tank
Can't aim diagonally or down/up
No charge attack (auto-fire instead though)
No shops?, no wall jumping, there's a flamethrower in lvl 3 but it's barely used
-
Some control/interface issues (can't look up/down, can't crouch (shots tend to hit short/small enemies though as the hit detection is pretty forgiving - on the other hand you'll hit obstacles slightly lower than your gun with the default weapon which feels sloppy), can't use bombs if missiles are selected, minor hit detection issues in a couple of tight spaces, fast but clunky grapple beam - would be easier to use if you had more control over the aim and/or didn't fall so quickly after letting go, overly fast x-ray beam movement - barely usable on default speed in dosbox, can't speed up or skip dialogue, repeated tutorial messages when re-finding items in later levels, keep jumping if you hold the button down, )
No maps
Some enemies and hazards blend into the background
Some trial & error (need to use missiles/plasma against the boss before the final boss and if you didn't grind for them before it and destroyed the two enemies near it then you're stuck in that room (need 10+), exploding drops don't actually hurt, some leaps of faith, enemies don't drop plasma ammo (needed for certain doors meaning it's possible to get stuck a couple of times))
Many detours just lead to some placed health drops
Non-persistent destructible barriers
No button config (joystick config just lets you map an analog stick so no d-pad if using a PS4 controller for example - can use JoytoKey to fix this)
Some unavoidable damage (spinning ball traps and second boss's tentacles for example)
Some waiting for moving platforms
Meh intro and ending compared to SM (a couple of stills and amateurishly voiced text followed by some dated CGI)
Pretty short, repeats certain enemies in all levels (makes them feel less unique), annoying grapple jump before the last boss (can skip it with a bomb jump though), the difficulty doesn't really increase in level 3 (it's actually easier to find most items here than in level 1!), The game doesn't let you save after beating a level (not a huge issue but you might miss the save point in the next level while exploring and die since your life also reset to 99 only), some backtracking (very few teleporters used for fast travel but there are some shortcuts), easy and simplistic bosses, the second boss's tentacles respawn if you go back and save after beating it, can find ammo drops for weapons you haven't found yet in the second and third level, no death animations for some enemies, sometimes unfitting music (happy melodic music while finding previous marines' hung horpses), some typos, can use the flamethrower in ball form and for some reason it can't hurt the enemy spawning creatures in level 3, kinda generic art direction and sometimes sloppy spritework (your avatar and some bosses look pretty good though)
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7 Fun-7 Originality-3
Overall Score-6.5
*Grapple beam
+
Super metroid-like gameplay (it's basically a clone - movement and backgrounds are similar, borrows the same abilities as in Sinaria (morph ball - can jump from the get go here, grapple beam, x-ray beam, missiles), energy and ammo tanks, HP drops from enemies, missiles and plasma, jump boots, bomb jumping, etc.)
Faster default movement than in SM
No instant death pits/spikes/lava here?
Some interesting enemies ()
Some sequence breaking possiblities (can get the grapple beam and plasma early in the first level/world, can reach the northern part of the second level with bomb jumping, etc.)
Homing missiles (however they only work on some targets and move kinda slow)
Some shortcuts and one teleporter for fast travel in one level
Minor environmental storytelling (statues, corpses)
+/-
Level-based and collected items are lost in-between them (breaks continuity and sense of progression - you find the same items level 2 as in level 1 and only the flamethrower is unique to level 3, pretty large levels though)
Borrows some level gimmicks from Sonic (certain platforms, springs, cannons that shoot you where you aim them; fun but sometimes feels out of place)
Save points (fairly frequent, 5 slots) - these also heal you but only up to 99 energy (energy tanks aren't refilled)
Some handholding (friendly alien NPCs tell you exactly where to go early on even though there's no way to side track due to ability gating, these guys just standing around in hostile areas with no explanation also breaks immersion somewhat)
Voiced tutorial messages and NPCs (same voice though hehe)
Enemies respawn when re-entering the room they were in
Bomb jumping is easier here (can often just hold the button down)
Auto-switches to missiles when you pick up a tank
Can't aim diagonally or down/up
No charge attack (auto-fire instead though)
No shops?, no wall jumping, there's a flamethrower in lvl 3 but it's barely used
-
Some control/interface issues (can't look up/down, can't crouch (shots tend to hit short/small enemies though as the hit detection is pretty forgiving - on the other hand you'll hit obstacles slightly lower than your gun with the default weapon which feels sloppy), can't use bombs if missiles are selected, minor hit detection issues in a couple of tight spaces, fast but clunky grapple beam - would be easier to use if you had more control over the aim and/or didn't fall so quickly after letting go, overly fast x-ray beam movement - barely usable on default speed in dosbox, can't speed up or skip dialogue, repeated tutorial messages when re-finding items in later levels, keep jumping if you hold the button down, )
No maps
Some enemies and hazards blend into the background
Some trial & error (need to use missiles/plasma against the boss before the final boss and if you didn't grind for them before it and destroyed the two enemies near it then you're stuck in that room (need 10+), exploding drops don't actually hurt, some leaps of faith, enemies don't drop plasma ammo (needed for certain doors meaning it's possible to get stuck a couple of times))
Many detours just lead to some placed health drops
Non-persistent destructible barriers
No button config (joystick config just lets you map an analog stick so no d-pad if using a PS4 controller for example - can use JoytoKey to fix this)
Some unavoidable damage (spinning ball traps and second boss's tentacles for example)
Some waiting for moving platforms
Meh intro and ending compared to SM (a couple of stills and amateurishly voiced text followed by some dated CGI)
Pretty short, repeats certain enemies in all levels (makes them feel less unique), annoying grapple jump before the last boss (can skip it with a bomb jump though), the difficulty doesn't really increase in level 3 (it's actually easier to find most items here than in level 1!), The game doesn't let you save after beating a level (not a huge issue but you might miss the save point in the next level while exploring and die since your life also reset to 99 only), some backtracking (very few teleporters used for fast travel but there are some shortcuts), easy and simplistic bosses, the second boss's tentacles respawn if you go back and save after beating it, can find ammo drops for weapons you haven't found yet in the second and third level, no death animations for some enemies, sometimes unfitting music (happy melodic music while finding previous marines' hung horpses), some typos, can use the flamethrower in ball form and for some reason it can't hurt the enemy spawning creatures in level 3, kinda generic art direction and sometimes sloppy spritework (your avatar and some bosses look pretty good though)