While we here at Operation Rainfall love covering the latest in gaming news and sharing our reviews of titles new and classic, we also just enjoy playing games in our downtime. So with that, sit back, relax, and check out what the oprainfall gaming crew have been up to this week!
Last week, a fan translation for E.X. Troopers was finally released to coincide with the game’s tenth anniversary. So I did what anyone would do and spent a day trying to mod my PlayStation 3 so I can load the patch onto my copy of the game. After going through the process of dumping, patching and transferring the game between my PS3 and my PC I was finally able to fully experience this beast of a game. The first thing you’ll notice about this game is how colorful and stylish it is, especially considering it is technically a spinoff of Capcom’s Lost Planet series. E.X. Troopers truly feels like a hot blooded action sci-fi anime series come to life and I mean that in the best way possible. Many of the cutscenes are formatted as if it were an animated manga complete with speech bubbles and sound effects to emphasize the insanity on screen. The characters are very over-the-top and highly expressive, often making goofy faces or shouting their lines as passionately as possible. Sure, the story will hit on many of the notes you’ve come to expect from a shounen anime but that just made the experience all the more endearing to me. I genuinely look forward to each cutscene just to see what kind of crazy situations our characters will find themselves in and how they will react to them. Thankfully the game is as fun to play as it is to watch. You’ll be put on various missions requiring you to explore and shoot your way across several different terrain and accomplish a variety of objectives. The game does a good job of easing you into the action with the early missions being very simple but soon enough you will be introduced to more advanced mechanics to help you survive some of the more involved missions. You can also use acquired loot to upgrade your weapons and armor to further enhance your character’s abilities. The fan translation is really well done and I’m honestly impressed that this team was able to polish this patch to the degree that they did. It almost feels like an official release, the one we could’ve had back in the day before Capcom decided to keep this title in Japan. This is the kind of game that more people need to experience and a remaster would go a long way in accomplishing just that. – Justin
This week in gaming I’ve spent my time with something that is still embargoed, but I made quite a bit of progress in Gore Screaming Show. I am loving this visual novel, even if does have some bloody as hell endings. The characters and lore have really just hooked me, and I hope to have this finished up by the end of the week. I finished up my review of the Brook Vivid controller, and that will go live at some point this week. I’m actually working on a few other reviews right now, but nothing else I can really chime in on just yet, so stay tuned! – Steve
I’ve been pretty sick this week, but I did take time to check out Zero Escape: The Nonary Games finally. Specifically, I’ve been playing Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. It’s been on my radar for quite a while (I’m pretty sure we actually have an unopened copy somewhere in our game room), and since it’s on Game Pass I figured now was as good a time as any to check it out. I love escape rooms and puzzle scenarios, so this game is right up my alley. The characters are interesting and so far the puzzles have been pretty simple but still engaging. I really like the creativity of the setting. It’s been a while since I played a good mystery game and it’s a nice change of pace from the more action-centered titles I’ve been playing lately. Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and spend a couple hours trying to save yourself from a sinking ship. This of course means I’m adding yet another game to my (very long list) of games I’m trying to get through, but it’s one I feel like I can take my time with and use as a palate cleanser when I’m tired of Horizon Zero Dawn or Final Fantasy XIV or Pentiment. – Leah
What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!
