Robocop Comparison - Easy and Hard mode.

https://youtu.be/f5AxVbeIRKE

Ok so for this week I thought I’d upload a video based upon comments I got from the Robocop Arcade review. Mainly to see and compared in arcades how the difficulty can affect the gameplay and the significant modifications it can bring about to the point that the game can be enjoyable, challenging or downright just sucking your cash straight out of your pocket. 

So this was the first level of Robocop Arcade, played through as both Easiest and Hardest. Just to emphasise the point, I put the health choices up and down for the respective difficulties.

From the start we can see there’s no significant difference in gameplay. Enemies are killed by punches just as readily as in Easy as they are in Hard. It’s not until we get to the motorbike that we see a significant difference in that Easy can kill the bike in two hits, while Hard can’t kill the bike and takes a hit. From here on, it gets awkward. 

Once we’ve drawn a pistol, we start to see that the enemies take double the hits to kill them and we may also notice that in Hard mode, the enemy’s shots are faster. Punching seems to be the preferred method of killing the enemies in Hard mode except where they’re out of reach and need to gunned down. Resulting in a lot more shots being needed.

The power up has a huge impact on Easy mode with it becoming a wave of death while in Hard mode it has to be used up close to be effective and even then, makes it about as powerful as the standard single shot in Easy mode. 

I recorded the game twice, and put the video side by side to show a comparison, it’s almost in sync up until the shooting starts, then you can see the huge differences between what is the Easiest setting and the Hardest setting. Now imagine you’re going from Arcade to Arcade and find Robocop in both, then to see on one you can progress fairly well and the other leaves a bitter taste in your mouth when you’re annihilated on the first level.

Die Hard Arcade - Arcade, in case you hadn't guessed!

Who has bigger billing here? Fox, or Sega? There's only one way to find out, FIGHT!

Normally, one associates a game based on a film to be utter dross. A steaming pile of Atari E.T. Or worse. I could look back over a lot of Movie to Game adaptations and wonder aloud the immortal phrase "What the hell were they thinking?" while recanting various hashes and screw ups over the years from the Atari 2600 onwards, through the NES and SNES days, 8-bit, 16-bit and beyond. But as with all things involving large statistical data sets, eventually you'll come across outliers and extremes at that. Die Hard Arcade isn't quite one of those extremes but it's quite close to it.

The hardest fight in the game, this guy doesn't wash his hands before trying to punch you.

For those not the know, Die Hard is a film. Go watch it, now. When you're done come back and you'll understand the plot of this game almost flawlessly. For those who've already seen it and those that haven't done as they were told, I'll recap briefly the game anyway. Terrorists invade skyscraper, president's daughter is amongst hostages, you're sent in to infiltrate and rescue. Shit goes down, stuff gets blown up and you're left alone (maybe with a 2nd player, it's possible) to fight your way through the game and engage in a few Quick Time Events. Yes this game predates Shenmue, but so do a lot of others.

Given the time, it's not a bad attempt at recreating the film in limited polygons.

What do we have though with Die Hard Arcade? We've a multitude of levels and arenas in which our protagonists steadily get less and less dressed for the occasion in keeping with the idea of the not having any shoes etc, while punching, kicking, combo-ing and blowing up gangsters, crooks, ninjas, fat people, crooked cops and bent fire-fighters with the occasional big robot (yes I know...) and a few VERY large men here and there before fighting the boss, twice.

Hilarious, the boss can't find the child, it's like some whacky slapstick comedy show!

It plays quickly and the transition between one area and another is done smoothly as you watch the characters physically running down corridors wherein your Quick Time Event will take place, either jumping, punching, or kicking as required in order to incapacitate the enemy, otherwise you're going to have to fight a particularly tougher battle than normal. Almost a real credit eater in fact. Each area has its own features, some will have fans that hurt if you walk into them, a radar dish that moves quickly back and forth, weapons and items to use in combat, a fire engine spraying water like it's cannon time at the local riots and so on and so forth. Giving a mixed feel to each area and keeping things a little more fresh and different as they go.

QTEs, win them and kill an enemy outright, lose them and either get hurt or fight some tough characters.

There's a lot of variation even within the combat for Die Hard Arcade, multiple different combos and attacks to perform including back attacks, charged attacks, jumps, holds and combos, holds and throws, holds and combos INTO throws. *take a breath* pistols, machineguns, Anti Tank rifles (stolen from the terrorists I assume), pepper spray (works on masked people too), poles, sticks, brooms, robot arms, rocket launchers, chairs, boxes, barrels and even some health pickups of different strengths. Speaking of which, with pistols you can arrest enemies and take them straight out of the game if you get to grapple them while holding the pistol, a very nice touch indeed! Though if you run out of ammo, you throw the gun, which can cause damage too and is one truly hilarious way of ending a fight.

I don't remember this being in the film...

The music isn't all that memorable but it does play second fiddle to a wealth of explosions and fisticuffs, voices of enemies begging for mercy before trying to sucker punch/kick you, over the top hammy voice acting during cut scenes (always welcome) and a healthy compilation of gunshots, laser blasts (see robots for explanation) and water impacts during various traps and locales. Though the arcade itself can be customised to lower the noise setting, you likely won't hear the music over the sound effects and fighting anyway.

Paid poorly, the window cleaning robots go on the rampage, with lasers...

Despite the linear approach to the game, there's some replay factor in this in that it's just very entertaining and if you've got two players and get through to win the game, you go back to the Double Dragon method of winning in that victory becomes a fight to the death between Player 1 and Player 2. It's a bright and colourful game with enough tongue-in-cheek humour at the source material to be entertaining enough and steadily paced to bring back players for another go at the game. Not quite a long term play but worth a few run-throughs all the same.

Contra Hard Corps (Probotector)

Get ready, it's going to be a bumpy ride of explosions

The Probotector and Contra series has been an odd one as a victim of censorship over the years. Contra, being simply 2 guys running and gunning their way through bigger and bigger levels, against bigger and bigger bosses and so on. While Probotector doesn't like the idea of humans and humans killing each other (especially in Germany) so Probotector is basically Contra but you've got robots instead of humans doing most of the killing against other robots and aliens.

Some of the bosses make sense. This is not one of them.

Contra Hard Corps (Probotector on Megadrive) follows the same routine as before but with far more bosses and monsters in the games. Becoming what is in essence, a Boss Fest of a game. The difference between this and other types of running and gunning is that normally you'd get someone running along and fighting a boss at the end of the level. In this game you'll fight multiple bosses on the way through each level and usually the last boss of a LEVEL is often multiple staged and sometimes multiple stages within a stage.

Contra Hard Corps, certainly takes the latter approach in almost every single level, and it's crazy.

Another boss, often killed before it can do anything creative. Turns it out it makes a cup of tea.

It gets to a point where you realise that the standard level and enemies are so insignificant that eventually you'll barely remember they're even there. Shown further by the fact there's so many throwaway enemies in the game. Fight once and never seen again, when most games like to recycle things at least once to validate their existence.

One of the last bosses, a giant mutant head with a another that cries blood, and coughs up maggots

You've four characters and only the robot really makes a difference in control with a double jump and low stature that means they're always ducking and dodges all body-aimed attacks automatically. Which each character has their own four weapons. So rather than picking up the spread gun, you actually pick up one of four lettered weapons that "unlock" your characters weapons. While bombs are rare but everyone can pick those up and use them in the same way. Dying while having a specific weapon selected will remove it from your inventory until you collect it again.

A boss referencing the final boss of the 3rd game.

Some weapons are very odd, some are crazy and some are overkill. There's a very one-sided balance with specific characters and once you realise which weapons slaughter the enemy, you'll have an easy time with most of the game aside from new bosses attacking you with new patterns and methods you'll not have been prepared for. Incidentally you do have a new move from previous games, along with running, gunning, climbing and such, you've a ground slide that leaves you invulnerable while doing it. Which in many cases is the ONLY way to get past certain boss attacks and situations and if you miss-time it, or forget you can do it because it's not listed in a lot of games, you'll lose a life.

Given this boss is the hero in the prequel game, he should have known better.

This seems to be the biggest issue with the game. It's bright, it's flashy, it's loud and fast paced, but in some places you can fight a boss and kill it without it even getting a single attack off. In other cases you'll be killed on the first strike simply because you were stood in the wrong place and the wrong time and that's just where the boss was aiming to be and you're not one life down with a weapon lost and barely any idea as to even why. In some cases you'll be hit by an attack that won't be telegraphed too clearly. Some bosses will attack directly and some will attack in every direction except the one in which they're clearly aiming at.

Yep... you're still a berk.

Aside from this, there's little really in the way of running and gunning, more often than not, particularly in the endgame, (of which there are many) it's just gunning and dodging, or finding that soft spot where you can't be hit and kill everything easily (too many bosses let you do this). But speaking of endgames, there's MANY different ways through the game and endings to be gained. One of which has you fighting in an arena before being sent back in time, another will have you duelling the last boss atop a giant space station, others will have you gunning the hell out of an alien creature while riding a giant missile whilst another is a huge mutant battle in a tripped out arena. With this, there's the multiple routes, your first end-boss for the first level depends upon which option you take, which then affects your 3rd boss and it's attack patterns. Same boss but different attacks. There are subtle changes in some places that are explained if you pay attention to the game.

Multiple characters, but few have the best weapons.

The replay factor is very strong with this one as you've a lot of game and a lot of possibilities, even going so far as to side with the bad guy and become his bitch in kicking arse and ruling the world. Failing that you can be embodied in the stars or just marry an ape and rule the dinosaurs (historical accuracy not applied here).

Riding a jet-copter, punching flames at a jetpacking assassin. Nice.

The music is hard to pick up in places as the most common sound effect is gunfire and explosions, in the calmer moments when you're transitioning from one scene to another, you'll get to hear some very well composed pieces of music and the shift and change in tone and atmosphere within the ambience is usually a clear indicator when you're fighting from boss to end level boss or final boss. It sounds more serious as the game gets more serious and adds to the adrenaline flowing pace of the action within the game.

Take 1 alien, combine another, fight the result. The professor gets devoured.

Konami seem to have managed to pull all the stops out for this game, making full use of the system available to themselves. The game is fast, fluid and certainly visually appealing though the spikes in difficulty and the inconsistency in the flow of gameplay leaves a sort of hit and miss sensation between and during some levels rather than playing as a steadily increasing challenge or a rapidly increasing pace. It's an odd one for the planning but the execution of the game is impressive considering previous games in the series and even games on the Megadrive (....... Genesis....fucks sake).

Arms crossed, shades on, look like prick. It's all here.