Verytex?

[VenomMacbeth]

Let's talk about it.  I tried it on a whim via emu awhile back, and first impressions were good.  The music is PHENOMENAL.  None of the tracks are quite as well-composed as the level 1 music, but it's all still pod stuff.  I'm sure it's been discussed, how the game uses Data East's MD sound engine...but why?  how did Asmik get the green light for that & why did they want to?

The graphics are okay...lots of good parallax here & there...except for the level (5?) with the Life-Force esque biological setting.  Why do the entrails scroll slower than the background?  Are we supposed to be pursuing them or something?  Very odd effect indeed.

The boss fights are good, although the low difficulty of the levels themselves belies the amount of bullets you'll be riddling the bosses with.  I particularly like the final level where you're chasing & destroying a starship that takes up several screens, something I enjoy immensely in shooters (think the one boss in Crying/Bio Hazard Battle, or the giant squid/ammonite boss in Darius Gaiden) until a regrettably poorly-animated final boss mech comes flying out of it.  Pretty cool.

But then there's the gameplay.  It's pretty run-of-the-mill shmup fare, with a very underwhelming weapon power-ups...but the checkpoint system is absolutely infuriating.  I can handle dying during a level & having to start over from a checkpoint, but when that happens when you die during a boss fight...well, let's just say that's where I turn the game off & play something else.  That's just bad game design.

I know I'm echoing a lot of already-voiced opinions, but there's something about Verytex that warrants a discussion...because although it's painfully mediocre, it just seems to try so hard not to be.

[ccovell]

Yes, that's pretty much it...  I want Verytex to be great, to match the music and theme, but it just falls down a bit.

It isn't Data East's music engine, and Asmik being the publisher is not important.  The music engine is Hitoshi Sakimoto's own: http://sakimoto.cocoebiz.com/discography/index.shtml

And Opera House did a bulk of the development for Verytex and several other games Sakimoto also was involved in: http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Opera_House_(credits)

Never mind the publisher; they're comparable to movie studios.  It's the director of a movie you'd want to look for, right?

[Joe Redifer]

Opera House games all have a very similar look, at least on the Mega Drive. They always looked lower resolution and chunkier than other games.

[ccovell]

Not all of them, and in their defence, Midnight Resistance was always lo-res (256 pixels wide), even in the arcade.

[fraggore]

I like this can but what has been said about it here is smack on, its fun, frustrating, sometimes a bit boring and has wicked sound track. but something keeps me coming back for more here and there.

Its not a very well known shump and theses days can be pretty expensive but if your in to shumps its worth having even just for the wicked music.

[esteban]

Agreed,this game had potential to be so much more.

Now, I enjoy mediocre shootemups (because I'm desperate and lowered my expectations? Nah, I loved mediocre crap years ago).  BUT, I was always painfully aware of what separated an "A" from a "D"...

I know a lot of folks love the music, and it is good, but it has never captivated me as much as it has done so with others.

BOTTOM LINE: I have derived as much fun as is possible from Verytex....and I am better for it. As we all know, a game does not have to be perfect to appreciate it. IT IS ALWAYS HEARTBREAKING when a game with potential falls into Blandom & Meedeeahhcrahhteeeeeeee.

[VenomMacbeth]

So then, how did it get to be so expensive whilst being so mired in mediocrity?  Low print run?

[esteban]

So then, how did it get to be so expensive whilst being so mired in mediocrity?  Low print run?

Stadium Events.
Track and Field.



Chase the Chuckwagon.
Kaboom!

$$$$$$ and quality are two separate categories for collectards.

[VenomMacbeth]

Eh, good thing I got a booty.  It's not worth owning for triple-digit prices.  If I saw one CIB for $50, though...