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Matterfall |OT| A Matter of Life and Death

Another Housemarque game so soon? What a nice surprise.

Oh dang, I had no idea Housemarque did Outland - I loved that game back on the 360. And Resogun too? Shit...I was about 50% interested in Matterfall before knowing this but I think that may have flipped me to 100%.
 
Just beat the first World. Playing on Veteran.

The boss was tough. Partly because on Veteran, 2 hits and you're dead. I enjoyed the fight. Lots of dodging and making use of your secondary weapons and your overdrive.

When it comes to secondary weapons, they each have their own cooldown. So I can use the grenade and while that's on cooldown, I can switch to the Shotgun and use that. One of the tricks I used for the boss.

Also for the boss, you don't have to worry about score. You seem to get a set amount each time you beat a phase.

You seem to get more points if you dash into an enemy first to stun them THEN kill them.

Starting World 2 now.
 

Smokey

Member
I'll work on adding reviews as they come in.

It feels like there hasn't been as much of a focus or marketing on Matterfall, which is a bit concerning, but that may be because Nex Machina is still relatively new.

I didn't think there was much focus on Nex Machina either. And this is releasing so soon after that title.

Weird.
 

killroy87

Member
Curious to see how this is. I've always had a bad feeling about it, it felt like the forgotten step child after Nex Machina, like a straight to video spinoff. Really weird that they didn't space the two apart more.
 

Gitaroo

Member
Is this game really 1080p on the pro? I think it looks cleaner and sharper than nex machina. This game is kind of like resogun + platformer, love it.
 

Wozman23

Member
Just put in an hour and a half.

Started on Veteran difficulty, and had a zero-G section in level 2-1 that took a while to get past. The controls are a bit obtuse, especially with R1 as jump, but I'm getting used to them. Because of that, it feels far slower, and less arcade-y, than some of Housemarque's past titles.

It does have a good amount of weapon upgrades and augments, and a fair share of mechanics to be mastered, like sliding to freeze enemies, and using the Matter beam to detonate bombs, so I'm curious to see how people speed run it. However, so far, I'm just taking the slow, safe route.

It would appear that each world has
3 + 1 boss
levels, and it looks like there are
3
worlds.

I really didn't expect it to be as frenetic as Nex Machina, and so far feel like it is a step down because of it. Granted I though Nex Machina was one of the greatest arcade games ever, so it wasn't going to be easy to top it. Still early to say, but I expect it to place below Nex Machina and Resogun, but above the top down "___ Nation" games, so whereas Resogun and Nex Machina were perfect 10s, I agree with the 8s. Still in no way a bad game, just not quite as insane as some of the other, recent Housemarque games.

I actually liked that there was a short cinematic introduction. I really don't care about story in a game like it, but I enjoy a non-intrusive introduction. I was hoping Nex Machina would have kept its nice looking animations from the early trailer at least as an intro.
 
Just finished a 2 hour session.

I do agree it's definitely below Resogun and Nex Machina. Totally understand the 7's and 8's being given.

Not a bad game at all. It's much slower which, coming from Nex, is a turn off for me lol.

It does seem barebones in terms of modes. There's only Arcade, and even that seems short seeing as there are only
3
worlds. I would not be surprised if there's a hidden world when beating Veteran. If not a world, probably Master difficulty.

Bosses are long fights. I'm at the World 2 boss and judging by how things went in the beginning, it's going to be slowwww. I did enjoy World 1 boss but World 2 boss seems so boring.

It's not blowing me away. It's sort of how I felt with Alienation but I find this much more fun than that.
 

Fisty

Member
Just checked out the trophy list after beating the first world on Veteran...

😭😭😭
 

Gitaroo

Member
I find it better than nex machina, its the kind of laid back arcade fun I am looking for. I understand why it is receiving lower score. Their games kind of look same ish and this one is definitely the most generic looking sci fi game I have seen. Music also sound similar to resogun and nex too. Not bad but when you see it over and over again it becomes very uninspiring. Really wish it was a metroidvania side scroller, what I thought it was going to to be from the debut trailer.
 
Took me a lot longer than I'd care to admit to wrap my head around the controls, but once I did I'm having a great time. It's the weakest Housemarque game released thus far, but it's still a great game and a worthy addition for anyone that's a fan of the studio or arcadey games in general.
 

Finaika

Member
Just put in an hour and a half.

Started on Veteran difficulty, and had a zero-G section in level 2-1 that took a while to get past. The controls are a bit obtuse, especially with R1 as jump, but I'm getting used to them. Because of that, it feels far slower, and less arcade-y, than some of Housemarque's past titles.

It does have a good amount of weapon upgrades and augments, and a fair share of mechanics to be mastered, like sliding to freeze enemies, and using the Matter beam to detonate bombs, so I'm curious to see how people speed run it. However, so far, I'm just taking the slow, safe route.

It would appear that each world has
3 + 1 boss
levels, and it looks like there are
3
worlds.

I really didn't expect it to be as frenetic as Nex Machina, and so far feel like it is a step down because of it. Granted I though Nex Machina was one of the greatest arcade games ever, so it wasn't going to be easy to top it. Still early to say, but I expect it to place below Nex Machina and Resogun, but above the top down "___ Nation" games, so whereas Resogun and Nex Machina were perfect 10s, I agree with the 8s. Still in no way a bad game, just not quite as insane as some of the other, recent Housemarque games.

I actually liked that there was a short cinematic introduction. I really don't care about story in a game like it, but I enjoy a non-intrusive introduction. I was hoping Nex Machina would have kept its nice looking animations from the early trailer at least as an intro.

Yeah the R1 for jumping is confusing.
 

IbukiLordSA

Member
Really wish it was a metroidvania side scroller

This is what I was hoping for, with Nex Machine barely releasing 2 months ago I honestly didn't think they would drop just another score attack game, I was really disappointed when the game was over. I would have loved a game with some exploration and depth from them, I mean there aren't even any secrets in Matterfall, everything is within sight unlike Nex Machina which had loads of little tricks and secrets.
 

Gitaroo

Member
This is what I was hoping for, with Nex Machine barely releasing 2 months ago I honestly didn't think they would drop just another score attack game, I was really disappointed when the game was over. I would have loved a game with some exploration and depth from them, I mean there aren't even any secrets in Matterfall, everything is within sight unlike Nex Machina which had loads of little tricks and secrets.

Yeah, really feels like this game got the short end of the stick then based on everyone impression. I only finished world 1&2. I stil say it was more fun than nex machine, presentation and music is definitely very uninspiring, music can be random tracks ripped from resogun.
 

Traxtech

Member
Does anyone know what the preorder theme looks like? I can't find a preview anywhere.. if it's cool im going to preorder it and i have 3 hours left to do so here in Australia lol
 
A little disappointed in the size and replayability, but it still sounds like a solid game overall. Looking forward to playing tonight!
 
Having to wait one more day for the EU release.
1.0


Hoping I can snag a retail copy come tomorrow.
 
Wozman and espanajeff: As Nex veterans, is it as good as Nex Machina?

IMO, no it's not. I've only played for 2 hours but I think that's enough to get a general idea of how the game plays and sadly, it isn't something that really gets it's hook in you in terms of that addictive nature, especially when comparing with Nex.

Then again, I'm not really concentrating on the leaderboards, which will be the main replay value.

Speaking of replay value, there's campaign and that's it. After you beat it, do you want to continue getting high scores? Then you'll definitely have a great time. If you don't care about scores, then there's not much else to do.

When it comes down to it, it's a 7 or 8 game. Below Resogun and Nex but above their other games. It's not bad by any means but if you come into it (like I did) expecting something on the same level of the recently released Nex Machina, you may be disappointed.

Going to put in more time tonight and see if my opinion changes.
 

MrS

Banned
IMO, no it's not. I've only played for 2 hours but I think that's enough to get a general idea of how the game plays and sadly, it isn't something that really gets it's hook in you in terms of that addictive nature, especially when comparing with Nex.

Then again, I'm not really concentrating on the leaderboards, which will be the main replay value.

Speaking of replay value, there's campaign and that's it. After you beat it, do you want to continue getting high scores? Then you'll definitely have a great time. If you don't care about scores, then there's not much else to do.

When it comes down to it, it's a 7 or 8 game. Below Resogun and Nex but above their other games. It's not bad by any means but if you come into it (like I did) expecting something on the same level of the recently released Nex Machina, you may be disappointed.

Going to put in more time tonight and see if my opinion changes.
Thank you. I'd say this is pretty much in line with what I expected from Matterfall. I hope the game does well, finds an audience and is successful for HMQ but it's not for me.
 

Wozman23

Member
After my second session, up though level 3-2, I'm still underwhelmed.

It's weird because it has all the staples of the other, frenetic Housemarque games, but it seems tough to play fast. Reminds me a lot of Sonic, because I always thought it was silly to try to play Sonic fast as you die a lot. In the situations where I'm trying to speed things up, enemies often hit me via cheap means, plus it seems like the hitbox isn't very forgiving either. The second boss took me quite a few tries, mainly because enemies would appear right on top of me, or pin me in a corner. In many cases, my deaths feel less like they were my fault, and more just unlucky circumstances of the game.

It's got some decent ideas, like the zero-G sections, but the bullet hell in them is often frustrating, souring them, especially on Veteran where you can only get hit twice instead of 4 times on the standard difficult.

Everything just feels kind of sluggish and bland, and seems far less polished and unoptimized. It doesn't have that strong neon aesthetic they've been favoring for a while. The soundtrack isn't as infectious. Load times aren't great, and happen after each death. I've had a few times where the frame pacing chugged a bit. Some of the design decisions, like the controls, checkpoint placement, and level design, seem a bit weird. Plus, the shard-tech seems toned down in comparison to the previous voxel destruction. There's not near as much going on with the particle physics.

As far as unlockable weapons go, there's:
the grenade, a shotgun, the (homing) seeker, and a (ricocheting) railgun
. And there are
8
augmentations that allow you to
have longer overdrive, spawn more bombs, have a more powerful primary fire, increase you health, etc.

I had my concerns pre-release, and knew it was extremely unlikely that it would top Nex Machina, so it was kind of expected. I can see how people who were put off by Nex Machina and Resogun's brutal difficult and pace, would like Matterfall better, but I prefer the twitchier games.

I do think there is one positive to the slower nature. Where Nex Machina felt like there was a defined path to get high scores, there seems to be more flexibility here. Leaderboard scores should vary more due to the components that comprise scoring. I haven't looked too much into it, but time is a factor, but slowing things down to collect crystal caches or kill all enemies could be beneficial as well. Not sure I'll have the desire to try to set high scores though.

Still, a bad Housemarque game is still a lot better than a lot of other games. However, I feel like there have been similar side scrollers, mainly Velocity 2x, who have done a better job with similar ideas.

Doesn't really deter me from the studio, but it does further prove the theory proposed in the Nex Machina OT that the games with Harry Krueger's involvement are far better.
 

Fisty

Member
I'm having lots of fun with it, it's basically if Metroid and Megaman had a baby, but with that slick arcade feel of a Housemarque joint.

Lots a neat techniques to master and a great difficulty curve, will post more impressions as I get through Veteran
 

FDC1

Member
This game does have trophies right? Because the're not appearing for me. Says there are none.

It was the same for me at first but first trophy unlocked normally and the trophy list appeared. You unlock necessarily one in the elevator section of level 1-2, if not then you really have a problem.
 

benzopil

Member
I think Housenarque needs to take a break. This is like Shadow of the Beast level of mediocrity.

It's almost impossible to die even on Veteran (talking about first world and boss), finding people is too easy. No replay value outside of campaign.

It has some neat ideas but overall it's meh.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Haven't even downloaded the game yet and won't until Thursday as my SSD is near full and need to finish off MKX so I can delete it and get back some space.

Disappointed by the scores, impressions and what seems to be the lesser game of the two that were being developed at the same time but with that said, im still looking forward to playing Matterfall this weekend.

I love Housemarque and even if Matterfall is a weak game compared to their other games, I still think that I will give it at least an 8/10 since no Housemarque game has scored lower than that for me. Was hoping for it to match Outland but oh well, since it was said that Housemarque got back the IP from Ubisoft, im hoping that they develop a sequel.

As for their previous games, I have them ranked/rated as follows -

1. Outland - 9.0/10 (xbox 360)
2. Alienation - 8.5/10 (ps4)
3. Nex Machina - 8.0/10 (ps4)
4. Dead Nation - 8.0/10 (ps3)

Either way, I don't see myself giving Matterfall anything less than an 8 simply because the visuals, effects, music and gameplay will most likely be excellent for me. Have to wait and see obviously but I would be surprised if the game can't at the very least hit my 8.0/10 scale.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Wozman23 said:
Doesn't really deter me from the studio, but it does further prove the theory proposed in the Nex Machina OT that the games with Harry Krueger's involvement are far better.

Honestly, I have no idea who that is so can you elaborate and explain what was said in the Nex Machina OT? Thanks.
 

Wozman23

Member
Honestly, I have no idea who that is so can you elaborate and explain what was said in the Nex Machina OT? Thanks.

emalord brought it up:

One question for anyone thinking the Topic deserves: the director of NexMachina is the same director of Resogun which is not the director of Alienation
Do you agree with Housemarque publishing under a "collective name" or the single director should deserve more praise?

(Western companies in general have the same approach, not many Michel Ancel around the world, Japanese are more willing to reveal directors' or producers' names but still I'd like to know your opinion)

It is not a case that you mentioned 2 games by the same director Harry Kruger.
I already touched the topic earlier in this thread: the director behind a game has its weight and deserves some Kudos even if by western trend the collective name Housemarque is the one that counts.
But as Alienation was somehow a flawed experience (by another director) Kruger deserves even more acknowledgment for his terrific work

Krueger doesn't have a large sample size of projects - and he was only the lead programmer on Resogun - but to me Resogun and Nex Machina are arcade perfection.

Housemarque is one of those studios where I don't really know much about their personnel. Ari Pulkkinen, who often collaborates on the music, has made a name for himself, but the creative and directorial leads aren't as well known as some of the others in the industry (Tim Schafer, Michel Ancel, Rex Crowle, and Fumito Ueda to name a few of my favorites)

However the companion documentary, The Name of the Game, which was made concurrently with Nex Machina gives you a bit of a glimpse into the studio. They seem like a bunch of cool people, but Harry seems to really have an unbridled enthusiasm for old school arcade games.

I'm not sure when they plan on releasing the documentary, but you can see bits and pieces of it:
The Name of the Game Director Featurette (1:21)
The Name of the Game Featurette (17:13)

(Plus, as a long haired dude, I always support other long haired dudes.)
 

baberunisei

Member
I'm only gonna play it after I finish Sonic Mania, but I'm getting excited to know it is less frenetic than their previous games. That's exactly what I was expecting.

For those who are already playing: does it have any similarities with Outland besides being a 2d platformer?
 

Gitaroo

Member
I
I'm only gonna play it after I finish Sonic Mania, but I'm getting excited to know it is less frenetic than their previous games. That's exactly what I was expecting.

For those who are already playing: does it have any similarities with Outland besides being a 2d platformer?

None, I personally wish this game is a metroidvania style of game. Releasing two twin stick arcade shooter by the same studio in suck sort time frame is just insane. Feel like they are not even that enthusiast about this game.
 
Ballpark on how long it is? If super short, it makes sense to wait for a PSN sale. $20 seems a bit much considering how crowded the release schedule is.
 
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