Topic: Horizon Riders (First Impressions)

I really enjoyed the ingenuity found in FAST: Racing League, justifiably it's the only Wiiware racing title I've purchased thus far. In my opinion Horizon Riders appears as if it might bring just as much, if not even more to the table gameplay wise. What have your first impressions been of this upcoming title?

Is there a story mode in this game or is it basic racing?

What racing? Horizon Riders is a shooter similar to Sin and Punishment 2.

It isn't a racing game. Like @BulbasaurusRex said, it's a shooter similar to Sin and Punishment 2. You control your character as it moves forward on it's own, controlling it up , down, and sideways to avoid enemies and obstacles. You also shoot enemies. I've been looking forward to this game since it was first announced and will likely be downloading it. And since it's 800 points, I could use the leftover points for La-Mulana.

Yeah, it does kind of remind me of Sin and Punishment.

Doesn't this release next week? I wonder why NL hasn't posted up an overview or at least an update for Horizon Riders? We're less than seven days away from it's release and there has been barely any coverage of this topic. Don't you guys find this a little out of the ordinary?

I was going to purchase this on day one, but the lack of coverage anywhere has led me to think differently. )<:

A full interview has been posted regarding Horizon Riders. It's available here:

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/interview/27989

Sabarasa has made a lot of headway on Protocol as well, but they're saying they need support from Horizon Riders sales.

Horizon Riders is coming out this Thursday, and there will be a demo available. As long as the game doesn't end up being terrible, I think I'll buy it. It sounds really good. I like the idea that you can power up your weapons (unlike Sin & Punishment), and the fact that they power down when you die. That gives me incentive to do repeated playthroughs because I'll be challenged not to lose my powered-up weapons (ala Contra 4). There's nothing like tearing apart the later levels of Contra 4 with a fully powered spread shot. I hope Horizon Riders is like that.

Anyway, you may have my support Sabarasa. Also, we really, really are interested in Protocol. No one is doing anything like that on WiiWare except you guys.

Has anyone here supported Sabasara by buying their other WiiWare game PROTÖTHEA? That should help too.

OK, I downloaded the demo and played it quite a bit. Here is what I think.

First, I have to say that Sabarasa has a genuine talent for making old-school games. This is not shovelware. The game has a high degree of polish and I love everything from the menus down to the loading screen. The game also has excellent music. It reminds me of something, but I just can't put my finger on it. Maybe I'll jog my memory a bit later. It feels like a professionally made game.

However, a major blunder has been made. As soon as any of you start up the game and begin playing, you'll notice that you move your cursor around and fire wherever you point the Wii remote. No problems there. Seems like Sin and Punishment.

But then you'll start to see incoming fire or even an obstacle, and naturally, you're going to use the analog stick on the nunchuck to move your character out of the way. Only, he won't move. Instead, your cursor will suddenly change. So you move the stick again. And again, only the look of the on-screen cursor changes.

So then you start wildly shaking and pressing everything on the controller to see what happens. While you're doing this, you notice your character move, if only slightly. "What the hell?" you say.

Well, that's the point where I went into the instruction manual from the Wii menu. It turns out - and trust me, you won't like this because neither did I - you move your character by tilting the Wii remote left and right. Now, imagine trying to keep your cursor on a fast-moving target on screen. Also imagine trying to do that while twisting the Wii remote left and right. And imagine flicking the Wii remote upward (like De Blob) to jump as well. If you can consistently dodge bullets and obstacles this way with any sort of accuracy and manage to keep your cursor on the fast-moving targets, you're a much better player than me because I can't do it.

The problem here is that this game has been designed for the Balance Board. You're supposed to tilt left and right on a Balance Board to control your rider. I suppose that's fine if you own a Balance Board, but I don't. If I owned one, I'd probably have a ton of fun leaning left and right to move on screen like I'm the Green Goblin or something. But since I don't own one, I now have to tilt the Wii remote left and right to move my character. I tried it while holding the nunchuck and Wii remote in separate hands. It was too damn hard. I also tried it while using the Wii Zapper. Again, it was too damn hard.

I think Sabarasa is going to run into a major problem because of what I just described. Most of us don't bother to go into the Wii menu to access a game's instructions, and that's especially true when we're simply trying out a demo. So Sabarasa is probably going to lose a bunch of potential customers right from the start out of frustration. The remaining, more persistent players who bother to access the instructions will then be upset to find out they have to tilt the Wii remote to actually move the player on screen.

And I think that's a shame. The game is highly competent. It starts out a little slow, throwing enemies at you in simple patterns. But then when you reach that Mission 5 boss in the demo, and warning screen appears (nice throwback to Ikaruga by the way), the game suddenly changes into a bullet hell shooter. And I have to say, that's where this game truly shines. Despite your mundane first level, this Mission 5 boss shows some of the most insane creativity in a boss fight I've seen in a while. As soon as the kick music starts up and the massive bomber heads toward you, you know you're in for something special. And the boss doesn't let down.

It throws crazy bullet patterns at you which it keeps changing. And since this is a 3D game (polygonal, not stereoscopic), the camera perspective keeps changing with each pattern change. It's amazing. I was impressed. Hell, I died on it twice (again, because I can't accurately weave through insane bullet patterns using tilt controls).

But again, the controls screwed everything up.

I don't think I'm going to buy the full version because I just can't accurately control my character with tilt controls. If this game would allow me to use the analog stick, I'd probably buy it. Hell, I'd probably recommend that Balance Board owners download this game, but unfortunately, I don't own a Balance Board. It might be a lot of fun with a Balance Board.

So I guess I'll just wait for Protocol. I know it will be a competent game because you've already proven yourselves with this game. It's just that you went with the wrong control method.

Sounds like another flashy game ruined by crappy controls. When will these developers learn?
It doesn't always have to be motion based just because it's on the Wii.

Really? I found the controls a little awkward at first but it certainly wasn't anywhere near as bad as say 3D Pixel Racing |D
The gameplay is incredible for a WiiWare title and the graphics are Gamecube quality and the music is superb |D

gameplay 9/10
controls 5.5/10
graphics 7/10
music 9/10

Overall 7.8/10

I would recommend this game if you like Sin & Punishment or SHMUP's in general |D

The overall experience I had with the demo was great after I learned how to properly use the controls it's no Sin & Punishment but it's still quite enjoyable, I would have to give it a 7/10

Or don't, Protothea was an early experimental WiiWare title and plays like an unfinished game. The controls are really bad (sluggish mostly) and you use the pointer to aim, which is not so hot in a traditional shoot 'em up.

That was pretty much my impression. It's not filled with crazy set pieces like S&P, but the action is fast and smooth and it's a lot of fun to blast away at the enemies and dodge the obstacles the game throws at you. Tilt to move and shake to jump were interesting control decisions, and while I think it could have controlled a bit better if they mapped moving to the joystick and jumping to a button, it's not like the controls in their current form make the game unplayable or anything.

IGN noted the same control problem as the only thing they didn't like about the game in their review. I haven't tried it yet, but when I do, I'll finally be glad that my mom got herself the Wii Fit games.

I'd say 6. The graphics are fairly mediocore, the control setup (without accesories) is disappointing, and the gameplay doesn't really hold up. It's not really worth the full price in my opinion, but it's alright.

I downloaded the demo and I was not impressed.
The graphics are just barely above N64 level and the gameplay is repetitive and dull.
Also the control setup just about ruins it. It's clearly meant for the balance board.
Without one you're stuck waggling and twisting the remote while at the same time trying to aim at targets.
It's just not fun gameplay. I don't think I'd even give this a 6. This is exactly why I tend to avoid Wiiware.

yup. pretty much This,

This game may be better outside of the demo, but I'm still not regretting my purchase of FAST: Racing League over it.