MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune vs. Zombies Review

Well, at least I have to give them credit for trying something new. 

MegaTagmension: Blanc + Neptune vs. Zombies is another entry in Compile Heart's massive moneymaking monstrosity, the Neptune universe. As with previous versions, the characters are all anthropomorphized versions of consoles, game companies, game journalism magazines, and other game-related stuff. Depending on the game, they go to school, conquer the world, have adventures in old, broken game consoles, and a ton of other wacky adventures. Seriously, the franchise has covered almost everything now. I'm just waiting for a Mario Party game to seal the deal. 

This time around, the Gamindustri gang is at a failing academy purportedly inhabited by both human and Gamindustri inhabitants known as Gamicademi. To drum up interest in the school, Blanc and Neptune decide they're going to film a zombie movie starring them and their friends. Coincidentally, there's an actual zombie outbreak just as they start filming, causing them to band together both to film the movie, and save the school from the zombie invasion. 

Anyone who's familiar with Dynasty Warriors or other spectacle brawler games is going to feel instantly at home mowing down hordes of zombies. It's hard not to. It's also good to know that no matter how many times you plow into a massive cluster of enemies, sword at the ready, knocking them hither and yon, it's still instantly satisfying. MegaTagmension also gives the player a huge cast to knock people around, running the gamut from fast sword strikers to blunt technicians to a brawler who hits people with a giant prawn. That's all very well and good overall, and I love a good spectacle game. There's nothing like it in the world. 

Now if only they'd just stayed with that. The game is a mess of half-visible features, including having game modes only accessible from the main menu (instead of, you know, actually inside the game,) calling itself MegaTagmension and yet somehow actually not having tag-team capabilities, and a tips screen where all the tips helpfully refer to things like being able to talk on the shop screen, a thing that doesn't even seem to be in the game. On top of all of this, the lock-on feature, something that really should be a prominent part of a game that throws a billion enemies at you at once, is intermittent at best. Most of the time, I activated it by accident in an attempt to do a super-move. When the enemy immediately died upon contact, I then felt kind of stupid. 

And it's a shame, because this is actually one of the few Neptunia games I could see myself revisiting again and again. When the controls work, they're smooth. The game balance is decent, even if it's nigh-impossible sometimes to hit a boss the proper way. Some of the between-scenes dialogue is great, and the various characters are unique enough to keep me coming back for more. But the flaws overshadow the fun of the game. Eventually, playing through just becomes and endless slog of zombies that won't quite die, powers that won't quite activate, a lack of hit recognition, a random drop system that feeds grinding, and just some odd choices mechanically. 

So, in the end, it's not a bad game. I'm still not as much a fan of the franchise as I was, and it's not something I'll play by appointment, but if there's a sale, pick it up. It's fun, and the range of characters, customization, and replayability makes this at least worth a ride part of the way. But if you're looking for a spectacle battler or mass-combat slash-em-up, I think there's actually Dynasty Warriors on PC now. 

3/5

The Flock Review

The title screen, with the dreaded population counter

I'm playing The Flock to lose.

The Flock is interesting in this regard, as there is a global endgame condition, and that condition is "lose or make others lose enough times." The count starts at something like three hundred and thirteen million "population." When the population counter reaches zero, the game will no longer be on the market. The more people who play or the more players who die, the more the population counter goes down, and the closer the players get to endgame. 

This is actually pretty interesting to me. I'm always interested when something is difficult to find, or permanently out of reach. I kind of find this more interesting than the actual game itself. So I'm playing The Flock to lose.

The Flock is an asymmetrical multiplayer game. Something like abstract surrealist flashlight tag. In one of several crumbling arenas, everybody plays The Flock, monsters that bound through the tunnels and passageways and hallways of the level, all of them hunting for the Artifact. The creature designs of The Flock are amazing, Creatures with hunched, visible spines and creepy skull-like faces. A lot of thought went into the way they act and the way they move, and even from a first-person perspective, you can tell that there's a unique form of movement and a very creepy aesthetic to these guys. 

When a player gets the Artifact, then they immediately transform into the Wielder. The Wielder runs around the level with the Artifact (basically a massive flashlight) trying to capture points with it while avoiding the Flock, all of whom are trying to become the Wielder. The flashlight can also kill the Flock if one of them is unlucky enough to move through its beam, but if a Flock player simply stands still for long enough, they're "petrified" and immune to the Artifact's deadly beam. The object is to stay alive as long as you can with the Artifact (which gives you points) and then have the most points at the end of the round. Objectives also net you a set amount of points. 

The temple ruins

Now, all of this would be slightly more interesting to me if I didn't suck so hard at the game. I can kind of grasp the subtlety and complexities of the game, of course, and how the Wielder has to watch their back at all times, and all of that. But too often, I find myself getting burned up or ambushed by a corner I didn't check or some far part of the maze. But instead I die a lot. Die, respawn, rush around the map, die again, respawn. Not a lot of fun. 

However, death in The Flock carries something of a boon with it. Each death lowers the population counter. Each time someone dies, the experience clicks that much closer towards being unique. When the counter hits zero, as previously said, that's it. The game has sold out. So if I keep dying, I keep upping the scarcity of the game. I can contribute to that. And that's cool for me. The more I lose, the more people wipe me out, the closer we get to zero. The closer I get to a unique thing.

So I'm playing The Flock to lose. 

I will say that while the game requires a controller, the controls are exceptionally smooth. I loved leaping around and jumping from place to place. I also loved trying to plan the perfect spot to leap and scream at the Wielder. It's a lot of fun to play, and I haven't played many games where controls were so satisfying. I love the fluid movement I can use just before the cleansing light blows me away another time. 

In the end, I'd say wait for a sale. If you've already bought it, though, I'd hope you'd play it the same way I do. It's a cool game, and even when you die, you're contributing to something cool in it. 

3/5

Full Disclosure: The reviewer received a press copy of this game