I honestly thought the slowdown was an intentional choice because I personally didn't notice any actually framerate drops.
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Blazing Chrome |OT| The Hardest Corps.
- Thread starter Dancrane212
- Start date
Noooooooooooooooooo my brother was coming over tonight to play it on Switch :(
Is it really that bad?
Is it really that bad?
You guys are way overreacting about the Switch port. I've beaten it 5 or 6 times and had zero issues.
If you meant to say Contra 4 for the DS, I'd say yes. I think both that game and Contra Rebirth are excellent, but 4 felt a lot more like the NES game and I think the series peaked with the 16 bit titles, which this pulls more from. Contra 4 also had some issues with enemy patterns and projectiles flying between screens that hurt my enjoyment. Plus I mean... You can't beat couch multiplayer!
Boy Contra 3 is 27 years old lol. But definitely the best since the 16 bit games for me.
If you meant to say Contra 4 for the DS, I'd say yes. I think both that game and Contra Rebirth are excellent, but 4 felt a lot more like the NES game and I think the series peaked with the 16 bit titles, which this pulls more from. Contra 4 also had some issues with enemy patterns and projectiles flying between screens that hurt my enjoyment. Plus I mean... You can't beat couch multiplayer!
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I'm not a fan of the genre (I think gunstar heroes is the only game in the genre that I love).
This is o-kay. There's such a stark contrast in design between the level itself and the bosses with the latter being the highlight of the game . Levels feel generic to me and the weapons aren't exciting enough for me (I stuck with the default bullets 80% of the time I want to say)
If you like the genre, I think you'll love what's here , I guess
This is o-kay. There's such a stark contrast in design between the level itself and the bosses with the latter being the highlight of the game . Levels feel generic to me and the weapons aren't exciting enough for me (I stuck with the default bullets 80% of the time I want to say)
If you like the genre, I think you'll love what's here , I guess
I reviewed it over at IGW: https://www.indiegamewebsite.com/2019/07/11/blazing-chrome-review/
It's probably a bit closer to Hard Corps and Metal Slug than Alien Wars.
It's probably a bit closer to Hard Corps and Metal Slug than Alien Wars.
Anyone else playing on PC Game Pass and getting weird pausing constantly? Like the game will just halt for a second multiple times in the first level. I thought it was maybe a problem on my end, but it seems to be happening in the same locations every time, particularly during the mech suit sequence. I'm wondering if it's because of some kind of achievement tracking or something.
Yeah the Switch version isn't bad at all. It's pretty good, it's just not the best version.
There's one real standout problem spot in one of the later bosses where the framerate takes a pretty severe hit, but that seems to generally not be a well optimized boss on consoles since the vanilla PS4 version has a lot of slowdown there as well if you go co-op.
That's a + in my book
Hope Switch version is at least, enjoyable. Want to try it ASAP
Switch version will be fine for most people. No characters have shadows though, which looks super weird compared to the other versions. It's enough for me to pass for now.
I would agree with this, but as someone who has always preferred Alien Wars, I still think this is the closest thing to it since. I also feel that the ways that enemies are placed and spawn feels a little closer to Alien Wars personally, but to be fair I've played way more of that than Hard Corps
I love the Low-Fi sounds. I love how the game basically finished downloading before I could check if the Xbox even accepted my button press. I love the little things like how the height of the cars in Stage 1 blocks most of the bullets (giving you time to notice the shooting, before 1 bullet makes it over the edge), and how the stage gimmicks tell their own little story. It's got so much of the little stuff that rocks in older games, that many new ones just seem to have never understood.
When I felt that the game feels weird without a double jump... I got a power up bot that let me have one. The Attack power of the mecha is JUST strong enough to make it feel like taking it through the 2 boss waves is worth it, without it trivializing the thing.
I haven/t seen the real slowdown yet, but any feeling I've seen from running too many enemies on screen in a chase, or such, feel like that good old Seven-Force style "THANK GOODNESS FOR SLOWDOWN!", rather than poor optimization. But we'll see as I get past stage 2, which I'm saving until I play Couch Co-Op with my brother.
Oh, and I love how satisfying the basic melee attack is. Quick, does nice damage, covers a solid area, and the after-effects are color coded between the 2 main characters. It's got a solid activation area that makes me want to use it, and I've already gotten 2 achievements for spamming it, lol.
The secret characters attack melee-style. Which still shoots energy waves. So they look more like Strider characters, rather than pure Contra. The default specials seem to be the same between the 2 main protagonist so far.
When I felt that the game feels weird without a double jump... I got a power up bot that let me have one. The Attack power of the mecha is JUST strong enough to make it feel like taking it through the 2 boss waves is worth it, without it trivializing the thing.
I haven/t seen the real slowdown yet, but any feeling I've seen from running too many enemies on screen in a chase, or such, feel like that good old Seven-Force style "THANK GOODNESS FOR SLOWDOWN!", rather than poor optimization. But we'll see as I get past stage 2, which I'm saving until I play Couch Co-Op with my brother.
Oh, and I love how satisfying the basic melee attack is. Quick, does nice damage, covers a solid area, and the after-effects are color coded between the 2 main characters. It's got a solid activation area that makes me want to use it, and I've already gotten 2 achievements for spamming it, lol.
The secret characters attack melee-style. Which still shoots energy waves. So they look more like Strider characters, rather than pure Contra. The default specials seem to be the same between the 2 main protagonist so far.
like, literally all people said was that it had framedrops in very busy scenes. as in, it's no different from actual Contra games back in the day.
Switch version is missing shadow effects on all characters and enemies as well. This won't matter to most people probably, but the Switch version has more issues than just some frame drops.
I know but it still doesn't fall under "that bad" from the quoted post. Unless missing shadows makes it unplayable for that person.
Man I did not get any hint of metal slug at all. The two are night and day imo. I don't think there's any remotely interesting here as you'll find in those games particularly metal slug 3.
I do agree with your sentiment about the weapons in this game as you laid out in your (well written) review
I finished a run on the Switch version. Only a couple of times did the frames drop, which occurred during moments where even in the old contra games it would have dropped frames. The missing shadows I did not notice or detracted me from the game. It is really not a deal breaker if people are worried about the Switch port.
It's probably not going to bother too many people who are extremely versed with their Hard Corps / The Alien Wars since those games didn't have drop shadows. It makes for a very welcome QoL update in Blazing Chrome given the graphical density but I guess in a lot of ways the Switch version makes the case as being the "warts and all" edition as far as throwbacks go until it gets patched.
Not unplayable, but pretty unacceptable IMO. For a game like this the Switch port should be the definitive version, but instead it's just inferior in minor but totally avoidable ways.
Have the devs said anything about patching the Switch version with the missing effects?
This is ultimately my issue. There are plenty of Switch games where I can easily accept downgrades and compromises. This is not one of them. I don't believe for a second this game couldn't have been 100% identical to the other versions with either a better outsourced developer or more time for optimization.
These are my thoughts exactly. Cuphead for example runs identical to XBOX one so I figured the switch port of BC would have been one to one with the other versions. I have have a feeling the switch team didn't have the proper amount of time or just lacked the talent to port it.
Came in here kinda thinking about caving in and spending more money...kinda wondering if to get it on Switch or PS4...and then...
....PC it is!
....PC it is!
Beat it with Bro. I felt like it had enough cheezy moments, difficulty wise, to feel classic... but infinite continues and stage select straight out the gate definitely soften the blow. It's a great mix of "Get the pattern" and "decent warnings", mixed with very little "HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO KNOW!?!?!" moments.
Love the way the ending handles everything, too. Kudos to the developers for how well so many things are laid out.
It's always a bit of a trade. In this case, I'm quite happy it's come to so many consoles, and very happy it's a part of gamepass. Perhaps the "guaranteed sales" of Gamepass can help fund the additional Switch optimization development some. The Switch's minor issues sound a lot better than the File erasure glitch going on with SolSeraph, and they've got bigger developer backing compared to this, soo... that's modern gaming!
People hate late ports that get more optimization and allow the devs to be more choosey with who they pay to do the dirty work, or allow them to do the work themselves. People hate simultaneous ports, which are generally rougher out the gate, but get everyone enjoying the majority of the work immediately. I've definitely learned that either way has it's ups and downs. It's where the work ends up that truly leaves an impression with me. And how long it takes to get there.
Same happened to me and my brother on XB1. Our feelings afterwards? Ship was a crazy bullet sponge, lol.
Love the way the ending handles everything, too. Kudos to the developers for how well so many things are laid out.
The only way the Switch would be THE definitive version, would be if the development was started for it, targeting it, and then was up-ported to other consoles. This was PC only for quite a while, and only pushed as coming to consoles fairly recently.
It's always a bit of a trade. In this case, I'm quite happy it's come to so many consoles, and very happy it's a part of gamepass. Perhaps the "guaranteed sales" of Gamepass can help fund the additional Switch optimization development some. The Switch's minor issues sound a lot better than the File erasure glitch going on with SolSeraph, and they've got bigger developer backing compared to this, soo... that's modern gaming!
People hate late ports that get more optimization and allow the devs to be more choosey with who they pay to do the dirty work, or allow them to do the work themselves. People hate simultaneous ports, which are generally rougher out the gate, but get everyone enjoying the majority of the work immediately. I've definitely learned that either way has it's ups and downs. It's where the work ends up that truly leaves an impression with me. And how long it takes to get there.
Same happened to me and my brother on XB1. Our feelings afterwards? Ship was a crazy bullet sponge, lol.
I'm playing it on PC with Game Pass, but I can't pause the game anymore. Enter used to open the menu screen, but now it switches from full screen to windowed. The sound effects are so quiet and muffled I was trying to find a good volume mix, but suddenly I can't pause the game anymore. So Confused.
Also died right when I killed a boss that auto scrolled vertically, and it kept respawning me below the screen until I ran out of lives. Not cool, game.
Also, what's the point of the roll? You don't appear to be invincible during it, so is it just for speedrunning? I've mostly used it as an accidental suicide move when I feel that jumping over something while ducking is too difficult and would rather just roll right into it. There was one section where rolling was mandatory, but at the moment I would happily remove it if I could disable rolling.
I'm having fun, but the game feels kind of sloppy right now and could definitely use a patch.
Also died right when I killed a boss that auto scrolled vertically, and it kept respawning me below the screen until I ran out of lives. Not cool, game.
Also, what's the point of the roll? You don't appear to be invincible during it, so is it just for speedrunning? I've mostly used it as an accidental suicide move when I feel that jumping over something while ducking is too difficult and would rather just roll right into it. There was one section where rolling was mandatory, but at the moment I would happily remove it if I could disable rolling.
I'm having fun, but the game feels kind of sloppy right now and could definitely use a patch.
Really nice game, they got the Sega Genesis feel nailed down. I'd love if they could patch i frames on the roll. Now we need someone to give us the spiritual sucesor to Turrican, probably a British dev.
That would be Gunlord X. And they were German I believe.
Huh, I unlocked some new characters for beating it on normal, thought I'd check them out, but wound up clearing the game on a single credit with the first one (normal difficulty). Maybe they're a little bit too powerful. Guess I'll have to give hardcore mode a try.
Are there any gameplay changes between difficulties, or is it just number of lives and continues that change?
Are there any gameplay changes between difficulties, or is it just number of lives and continues that change?
I was really hyped for this game after seeing it showcased during this year's Xbox E3 press conference. Got to play it on PC, thanks to Game Pass. I wasn't disappointed, but I wouldn't say it's worth 16 bucks if you had to pay for it.
Finished on Normal difficulty first with the mohawk robo-dude, then again on Easy with the (unlocked) ninja dude (who plays more like Strider). I agree with most people on this thread, so I'll just share some quick impressions:
Most accurate impressions that I've read on this thread.
Played on PC, via Game Pass, in 4K at 60Hz (my TV's refresh rate). No issues at all, aside from no true full screen due to it being a UWP app. Windows 10, version 1903, all updates installed. i7-7700K, 1080 Ti, 32GB of RAM.
Wish it had actual in-game resolution options, so I could maybe try 1080p@120Hz and different scaling methods.
I believe both CRT filters have the tube TV effect (one more prominent than the other).
Finished on Normal difficulty first with the mohawk robo-dude, then again on Easy with the (unlocked) ninja dude (who plays more like Strider). I agree with most people on this thread, so I'll just share some quick impressions:
- I can see the comparisons to Metal Slug. It doesn't feel 100% Contra, even though it's clearly visually based on that series;
- I wish you'd roll into a ball when jumping;
- Audio definitely sounds muffled;
- There should be a scanlines-only CRT filter option (without the curved/tube TV effect);
- Some more weapon variety would also be nice, even if it were just more bullet spread power-ups for the main gun;
- Level 3 is way more difficult than level 2, not sure if the ratings are swapped or what;
- Alien dog enemies are cheap af.
Most accurate impressions that I've read on this thread.
Played on PC, via Game Pass, in 4K at 60Hz (my TV's refresh rate). No issues at all, aside from no true full screen due to it being a UWP app. Windows 10, version 1903, all updates installed. i7-7700K, 1080 Ti, 32GB of RAM.
Wish it had actual in-game resolution options, so I could maybe try 1080p@120Hz and different scaling methods.
I believe both CRT filters have the tube TV effect (one more prominent than the other).
Man, it's sad that Gunlord X performed so poorly that not even Turrican fans know about it. It's really good!
Game looks awesome but I'm not too good at these run and gun type games and tend to only enjoy playing them multiplayer. Seeing difficulty options is nice and may be enough to eventually sway me into a purchase. I played Contra III for the first time with the SNES classic and that game felt brutally hard. I think getting to a mini-boss on the 4th stage is all my friend and I could muster.
Yeah I heard about that game recently and it looks great hopefully it's released on PC down the line as I don't have a switch.
Stage 6...doesn't feel like what Id call a final stage tbh. It feels like it needed another level to build up to it.
Also, this game has a very annoying habit of switching my weapon when I pick up a new one. I'll have to check to see If I can not only rebind buttons, but functionality since I'm not exactly fond of the D+Jump to initiate the roll. It was fine in hard corps because you werent likely to slide off of a platform because the slide didn't take you nearly as far or as fast and you had complete invincibility during the slide. Here, an unintended roll will get you killed when you were really just trying to jump and shoot downwards as quickly as possible because you get no invulnerability from it and it goes way further.
Also, this game has a very annoying habit of switching my weapon when I pick up a new one. I'll have to check to see If I can not only rebind buttons, but functionality since I'm not exactly fond of the D+Jump to initiate the roll. It was fine in hard corps because you werent likely to slide off of a platform because the slide didn't take you nearly as far or as fast and you had complete invincibility during the slide. Here, an unintended roll will get you killed when you were really just trying to jump and shoot downwards as quickly as possible because you get no invulnerability from it and it goes way further.
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