Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams: Director's Cut PS4 Review

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a 2D platformer game was originally released for PC in 2012, and PS3 and X360 in 2013, while it was been re-released for Wii U in 2013, PS4 and XBONE in 2014 as  Director's Cut, and Switch in 2018 as Owltimate Edition. It was developed and published by Black Forest Games, while it was also published by HandyGames under the THQ Nordic distribution for Switch port release. It is a successor to 1987's title Great Giana Sisters for Commodore 64 and also sequel to re-imaging 2009 title Giana Sisters for DS.

I've already covered the game for PS3 back in 2013 which I described the game as an averaged Super Mario Bros rip-offs where I originally criticised the game for its clunky controls, level design choices, and meh bosses which really stopped me from enjoying the game, but by looking back to this game again in this year I fully realised that I was being super wrong about this game because this is actually a solid 2D platformer game that I should have given a second chance which is the main reason why I've bought the physical copy of this game for my PS4 to fully changing my mind.
I also wanted to acknowledge about this game is actually an Kickstarter title where you began funding the money to support developers through the crowdfunding site to reach the main goal of total price, as this project had reached its goal of $150,000 which allows them to make the game happen at the initial release date of 2012.
After looking back at the mistake that I've made on my original review in 2013, I can now fully understand why this game is so much fun to play especially with the PS4 version has so much to offer including brand new levels from Rise of the Owlverlord adventure DLC, extra contents, smoother frame-rate, and tighter gameplay controls which made the game fully definitive on Director's Cut version.
After spent playing the whole original levels of game, I slowly began to liking the game because Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams is actually a decent 2D platformer for its dark and gloomy presentation, unique levels, and has innovative gameplay and crispy graphics which I am glad that the game is completely more focused on modern style platformer with high production values and original game mechanics while trying best to avoid making the similarities to Super Mario Bros which is sounds like a pretty good decision at best.

So without go further do, lets starts the review.



Presentation

The game starts out with two sisters named Giana and Maria, which is now teenagers since the previous title in the series, start having a fun together while discovering the flying diamond which led them sucked into the portal of dream world. While Maria was held captive by big fat dragon named Gurglewocky, Giana sets her quest to rescue her sister while she has ability to change her transformation between her cute and punk persona.

The game doesn't focused much on the emphasis of story along with the simple cutscenes which is absolutely fine the way it should as I didn't have the problem with understanding the plot of the game that involves sisters been sucked into the dream world where the big fat dragon has kidnapped one of the sisters while other has to go for searching her whereabouts. It's kinda like in Mario game where Princess Peach always gets kidnapped in every god damn games which I think the way the Black Forest Games did in Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams is kinda did it in a similar good way.
I also liked the concept of the Giana as the character where her ability allows to change her persona from cute looking blonde to badass punk gothic freak which I kinda liked her punk variants lot appealing over the cute ones, but don't get me wrong because the cute variants is also actually look good as well, but anything is punk, gothic and metalheads alike are 10 times more edgier and manly looking characters which I preferred the most in the game.
The levels are mixed with darker and brighter tone of the game depending on your character's persona which changes the scenery of the worlds such as environments, enemies, and Giana's own abilties which I think its pretty well done made that makes the game look more interesting.
I felt the dark variants of the levels had filed with gloomy tone of houses, castle, and forests while the bright variants are look more colourful and happy which I think that the level design choices in the game is actually pretty more atmospheric to look at in the game.


Overall, it has simple scenes, dark and bright tones of level design, and character's concepts.



Gameplay

This game has 27 original levels plus 7 extra levels on single player, time attack mode, and hardcore mode.

You get to control as Giana in 2D side-scrolling perspective as your main goal is to reach at the end of the level.
You will use the basic jump button which allows Giana to jump on platforms and onto the enemies, while using the dash attacks which allows her to attack on enemies and dashing forward to the platforms and you can also perform twirling spin which allows Giana to float higher in the game. The pink coloured gems is actually shields protection which prevents damaging you from the enemy's projectiles are come in useful while playing in the stages.
I felt these basic controls is much easier to get into which feels more tighter to use meaning that the gameplay controls in the stages is doing properly job done for its wall jumping, swimming into water, and avoiding hazards while floating which works pretty well in the game.
I also liked the mechanics in the levels where you had ability to use transformation which allowing to change the puzzle environments in stages such as opening gates, turning wheels into clockwise or anti-clockwise movements, de-growing deadly twigs and spikes, and raising up the levels of water which increases the variety of the gameplay standards.
The game has large open levels where you can able to explore the levels to search for secrets such as collecting small amount of diamonds which increases your player's score, while bigger blue diamonds unlocks your gallery which I think it really adds the higher replay value of the game everytime you re-visit the same level again to collect more enough gems and diamonds will satisfy your overall player experiences.
The boss battle in the game is actually tough, but also quite entertaining at the same time which I think its really fun to memorising the enemy's patterns which makes the game quite a challenge especially playing on hardcore mode are also beneficial to players.
So far, I'm happy that the Director Cut's version had offered smoother and tighter gameplay which makes the game much playable and I also glad that I've enjoyed 7 extra levels from Rise of the Owlverlord adventure DLC were included in the physical release.
You can also play a time attack mode and hardcore mode are also considered an enjoyable experiences for all fans of the platformers genres who really likes to play a bigger challenge.


Overall, it has tighter controls, large open level designs, and creative puzzle mechanics.



Graphics

The graphics in the game is pretty good for the modern platformer title. I liked the look of the animations on both characters and enemies are looking so good in the stages. The levels is very detailed on background scenery, has great use of textures on stage environments, and the special effects for waterfall animation, transparency ghost, and fiery flames which really fits the presentation of the levels so well in the game.
The game runs on whomping full HD 1080p with 60 FPS making the whole game much faster and smoother to play on Director's Cut version which is a nice improvement over the PS3 and X360 counterpart.

Overall, it has good looking characters, detailed background scenery, great use of textures on stage environments, and special effects.



Music and Sounds

The cute variants of song was composed by Chris Hülsbeck who were known for his musical scores on Turrican series for Amiga and C64, along with Fabian Del Priore had previously composed for Giana Sisters on DS, while the punked variants of soundtrack was arranged by Swedish Heavy Metal bands called Machinae Supremacy, heavily uses a C64 influenced chiptune on their previous album, did a fantastic job of making music fits the mood of this game.
The sound effects in whole levels has great background noise and has atmospheric effects, while I do find the character's voice still sounds down right silly in the game, but it was still alright at the best.
I do also encountered with the audio glitch while playing the game which missing some sounds in the game as I have no idea what could cause a missing sound glitch, but it didn't often happened in every stages as far I concerned, but it's fine overall in the game.

Overall it has fantastic soundtrack and great use of sound effects.



Special Features

The Director's Cut offers 7 extra levels in Rise of the Owlverlord adventure DLC, unlockable modes, and has Halloween and Christmas stages, and unlockable gallerys in extra modes which I think these content in the game are actually pretty decent for physical release.

Overall, its a solid content in the game.




Advantages

Dark and bright tones in presentation

Tight controls

Creative puzzle mechanics

Large open levels

Good looking graphics

Fantastic Soundtrack

Decent extra content



Disadvantages

Random audio glitch

Silly character's voice



Final Verdict


Presentation 7.5/10 - simple scenes, dark and bright tones of level design, and character's concepts.

Gameplay 7.5/10 - tighter controls, large open level designs, and creative puzzle mechanics.

Graphics 8/10 - good looking characters, detailed background scenery, great use of textures on stage environments, and special effects.

Music and Sounds 8/10 - fantastic soundtrack and great use of sound effects.

Special Features 7/10 - has 7 extra levels in Rise of the Owlverlord adventure DLC, unlockable modes, and has Halloween and Christmas stages, and unlockable gallerys in extra modes.


Overall 7.5/10 - Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams: Director's Cut is a solid 2D platformer that I was fully wrong back then, but decided to change my mind to liking the game for its gameplay, levels, presentation, and has replay values which adds up pretty nicely to this edition.
Director's Cut version of this game is a fully definitive title for PC, PS4, XBONE, Wii U and of course Switch as Owltimate Edition that I highly recommend all to pick this game up in physical copy as it cost around less than £20 on both Wii U and Switch copy, but you can also get it cheaper on PS4 version for less than £10 which is quite a bargain option.
I also considered this game as a hidden gems of PS4 libraries that nobody had talked about, but its definitely worth deserve an attention to the fans of the C64 classic series or platformer genres will be able to appreciate this game enough with entirely fresh new modernised style 2D platformer, so yeah I kinda liked this game. 

     

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Top 5 Sports Games

Yes, sports is a popular daily activities where you go out and play football, basketball, baseball, cricket, and you name it. It is very common for physical exercises in schools, playground, streets, houses, and of course joining live events where you and your teams have to compete with the rivalry in tournaments to become the all-time champion.
Sports in TV stations is a huge success over the decade had gained many views and communities including fanbases had watched a lot of big matches in particular sport activities. It appears on most of the TV stations such as BBC, iTV, SKY Sports, Eurosports, BT Sports and NBC Sports where viewers can able to watch live sports daily.
It also became so popular with video games around in mid-80's to early 2000's where it had numerous of commercial sports games such as Madden, FIFA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA are the biggest examples of being a successful sport franchises had sold over a million units on many of console platforms such as SNES, Genesis/MD, PS1, N64, PS2, Xbox, and so on.

Back in my childhood days as a kid, I wasn't a huge fan of any of sports games because I got sick of tired of playing many of EA Sports titles such as FIFA and Madden series which I fully despised the style of EA's simulation gameplay design had stopped me playing those kinds of sport games until I got used with some of the great sports titles that was made by companies like SEGA, Midway, Nintendo, and Konami because they made a lot of better sports games in my opinion.
Sports in video games are also classified as the casual genres which is suitable for all ages that they can able to enjoy the game in particular sports activities.
I wanted to make my own top 5 favourite sports title that not only to define my childhood, but it is also considered to be a all-time classics that everyone including casual audience will able to enjoy these games that I really liked the most.

So without go further do, here is my top 5 Sport Games.



5 - Super Punch Out!! (SNES)

     














Super Punch Out!! is an boxing game for SNES, released in 1994 for US, 1995 for EU, and 1998 for JP, which was developed and published by Nintendo. It is a sequel to 1987's NES original title Punch Out!!

At the time as a kid where I didn't own NES instead I had SNES for very decide where I can able to enjoy playing several of SNES libraries. My brother had bought me a copy of Super Punch Out!! from the video game store which I had never experienced with boxing game like this, so I decided to give it go by putting a cartridge into my SNES, power it up and start playing the whole game.
It's one of my very first boxing game that turns out to be one of my favourite boxing game ever in my opinion.
I was blowned away with cool intro after powering up my SNES, it has 4 circuit league with 16 opponents and the time attack mode will test you to beat opponents in fastest records is the great addition of boxing video game like this.
You take control of boxer named Little Mac from the 1987's original NES title to compete their rivalry to become World Video Boxing Association champion as it was played on behind the back perspective view and must defeat their opponent in three minutes to win.
The game is pretty simple as the player has ability to launch jabs, hooks, and uppercut against their opponents as well as blocking, ducking, and dodging away from opponents attacks which I find these gameplay mechanism worked absolutely well for the SNES boxing title. The game also has well-known opponents such as Gabby Jay, Bear Hugger, Bald Bull, Dragon Chan, Mr Sandman, Aran Ryan, and more to battle against which adds a overall fun factor for its achieving difficultes and memorising enemy's patterns.
I also liked the looks of the cartoony style graphics for its character's animation, colourful boxing rings, and detailed crowd on backgrounds is surprisingly well made for the SNES standards. It does have the best soundtrack on each character's profiles and stages which keeps you pumping up for big action-packed matches.

Super Punch Out!! is clearly a fun boxing game by Nintendo themselves that I highly recommend you to play it on SNES originals, SNES Classic Minis, and possibly on Nintendo eShop.

            

4 - Athlete Kings (SEGA Saturn)

     



















Athlete Kings (AKA DecAthlete in US) is an athletics arcade game originally released for SEGA's Arcade ST-V hardware and later for Saturn in 1996, which was developed and published by SEGA.

This game is very similar to Konami's athletics series such as Track and Field, but in full 3D graphics and more advanced gameplay style that SEGA had ever produced on arcade system.
I remember back then where me and my sister had the demo disk from the SEGA Saturn magazines to tryout the game that we wanted to experience with this particular sport title on Saturn. It starting out pretty good on demo version which led my brother had interest to buy full version of this game for cheaper sale from electronic stores.
I had a fun memories of playing this game in mid-90's right before my Saturn got taken away to get N64 for Christmas 1998, so I've managed to get my Saturn back in 2016 so I can able to revisit and play all my favourite Saturn libraries.
I finally had a copy of Athlete Kings from Amazon for its less than £7.50 which I haven't played this game for very long time since in 1998, so I began to play this again to see if this sport title had gained my awesome childhood memories.
The answer is that this is a excellent athletics sport games for Saturn libraries which filled with great presentation, selection of 10 traditional decathlon events, and has 8 international fictitious athletes to play as in both one or two player modes as the players aims to compete in a full decathlon featuring all the events such as 100 metres, 110 metre hurdles, 400 metres, 1500 metres, Long jump, High jump, Javelin throw, Discus, Pole vault and Shot put.
This is more of the arcade style sport title which makes the gameplay controls much straightforward to play with your Saturn controller as I finding it a lot easier to control the athletes for running, jumping, and throwing aspects in most of the main events especially with button mashing mechanism had worked absolutely well for Saturn sports games.
The graphics is looking impressive for the Saturn standards which I finding these track and field designs are fully colourful and detailed for having a great use of environments making the whole events look bigger for Saturn hardware and I also liked the smooth animation of characters in 3D sports games.

Athlete Kings is surprisingly not only a great sports game, but its under-appreciated Saturn library that should deserved another chance. The game also got re-released in 2004 for PS2 in Japan as part of SEGA Ages 2500 series and it was followed by 1997's sequel Winter Heat as Winter based sport games for Saturn which I never had a chance to pick it up due to higher price cost from online retail stores.
I would like to see SEGA re-releasing this game for modern PCs and Consoles as HD remaster in next future perfect.



3 - NBA Jam (Arcade) 

     

















NBA Jam is a Basketball game for Arcade, SNES, Genesis/MD, SCD/MCD, GG, and GB released in between 1993 and 94, which was developed and published by Midway for Arcade conversion, while also developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment for console releases.
Its another 2 on 2 basketball title similar to 1989's Arch Rival had spawn mainstream success in early 1994 which earned $1 billion in quarters as being one of the highest earning arcade game of all-time. The success of arcade title had later ported to home consoles which received mostly positive from game critics at the release.
Midway is a well-known video game companies that bought to you by the likes of Mortal Kombat, Defender, Sinistar, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Spy Hunter, and other arcade classics.

I remember first playing NBA on NBC Showtime on SEGA Dreamcast which is my very first basketball arcade game which also made by Midway, a same company behind NBA Jam, but not until I began to researching on Google to find a list of best sports games, so I've discovered NBA Jam which as a teen had got me interested to play. I had a chance to download a original ROM file of NBA Jam for arcade MAME emulator just to try out and see if I really liked the game, the answer is yes of course I did enjoy full packed arcade basketball title which blows me away how amazing this game played on arcade version.
Its one of the first game packed with 27 NBA-licensed teams and their real digitized likenesses based on 54 NBA players (e,g Charles Barkley).
You take control of these players of teams battling with opponents in 4 rounds as your aim is to score many points to win the match till the time runs out.
What I liked about the game is the arcade style gameplay with three simple commands of jumping, throwing, and running is much easier to control when playing with the arcade sticks had worked absolutely well during the match. It is also plays perfect for 2 on 2 matches where it had 4 players mode so you can able to enjoy the game with your friends. 
The graphics is fully with digitized characters similar to Mortal Kombat and WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game, but many of people think its quite dated which didn't hold up to today's standards, so I wouldn't mind how the game looks on the arcade cabinet because it rather looks decent back in 90's with large character sprites, crowd animation, and good looking arena is quite simple for sports game like this.
The game does have voice commentary during the match is quite impressive for arcade counterpart, so I was fascinated with the arcade soundboards are being capable of using all the voices in the game. It has memorable the phrases were used in the game such as "He's heating up", "He's on fire", and "Boomshakalaka!" is the biggest highlights of the game.

I also gets a hands on with the copy of SEGA Genesis/MD version of this game which I considered this version just as faithful as the arcade counterpart, but the original arcade still remains my favourite version of NBA Jam.
This is must own title for not just arcade, but also available on SNES, Genesis/MD, SCD/MCD.
You can also get hands on the NBA Jam Tournament Edition which added the brand new tournament mode are available on PS1 and Saturn as well.



2 - Virtua Tennis (SEGA Dreamcast)

              

  
  













Virtua Tennis is a tennis game originally released for Arcade in 1999 and later for Dreamcast in 2000, which was developed by Hitmaker and published by SEGA.

Back in my days as a kid where I wasn't good at playing tennis game such as Super Tennis and Smash Tennis on SNES which is harder for me to getting used too, but at the time where me and my cousin had SEGA Dreamcast for while, my brother had introduced me to Virtua Tennis where he had rent this game for Dreamcast which I expecting this game is just as hard to play, but I decided to give a go and see how the game turns out to be as I played it for weeks and weeks I slowly began to liking the game.
What really surprised me the most is that the Dreamcast version is considered as not just being arcade perfect, but superior to arcade version which Dreamcast had included both exhibition and world circuit mode is a nice edition to original arcade game itself.
I remember my sister is the big fan of this game as she borrows the game from our cousin and start playing on our Dreamcast, but it was being kept on my Dreamcast collection for very long time since without having to gave it back to our cousin.
The reason why I've enjoyed the game is because it has great selection of licensed tennis players such as Tommy Haas, Tim Henman, Mark Philippoussis, Jim Courier and more playable tennis players.
The arcade mode is pretty much like from arcade version where you need to complete 5 matches to become world champion, while the exhibition mode allows up to 4 player which you and your friends can enjoy playing on couch local multiplayer.
The world circuit will put you on test through training and matches which requires your level to increase higher to become a experienced tennis player.
The game has smoother control for learning curve and movements which handle the game well for arcade gameplay and the graphics is looking spectacular for Dreamcast title filled with great stage presentation, well designed character animation, and runs on whomping 60 fps making it more fast paced tennis action which the game does aged well for today's standards.
The game also has the best soundtrack of all Virtua Tennis series with intense hard rock style which keeps you motivated for arcade tennis action.

Virtua Tennis is clearly the best tennis game on the system that SEGA has to offer, so it's definitely must own game for your Dreamcast library.



1 - SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97

SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97 is a football game released in 1996 for SEGA Saturn, which was developed by Team Aquila and published by SEGA.

As a child when at the time we had SEGA Saturn in mid-90s where it bundled with the demo disk which has selection of prototype games, so I did give a try with the demo version of SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97 which turns out to be a fun realistic football game that SEGA has ever produced on Saturn system filled with excellent 3D graphics and stylish gameplay which led my brother decided to pick the full copy of this game for Saturn.
I had fun playing the game with my cousin through 2-player matches which adds our nostalgia of this classic football title as it really never gets too old to play because it proves how fun the SEGA Sports games are and it has many reason to like this game that defines our childhood. 
It featured many playable international teams and leagues were featured in the game and it has several of game modes such as tournament and championship mode where you have to complete each matches to become a champion and you can also battle with your friends through the 2-player exhibition mode are also a great addition to this game.
What made me liked the game the most is the quality controls of Saturn's gameplay due to reliable players movements and great shooting and passing mechanics makes it very easy to learn, and the graphics in the whole game are by far the best looking sports game for Saturn's titles with amazing design of playing fields and player's animation is looking spectacular for Saturn's sports title. The whole soundtrack was made by Jun Senoue, a composer behind Sonic Adventure series, did a fabulous job with the use of hard rock style of original music that fits really well on both game's presentation and in-game matches. So far, I really enjoyed most of the games mode especially with playing on 2-Player matches with friends and family.

SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97 are definitely my top favourite football games of all times and for those who are looking for best sports game for the Saturn then this is must own sports game for SEGA Saturn owners.   




Honorable Mentions:

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2
Tecmo Bowl
Rocket League
International Superstar Soccer 64
Pro Evolution Soccer 08
Neo Geo Cup 98
Mario Striker Charged
SEGA Soccer Slam
Mario Golf World Tour
Everybody Golf 6
Mario Power Tennis
NBA on NBC Showtime
NHL Hitz 2002
Track and Field
Live Powerful Pro Baseball 2010 (AKA Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2010 in Japan)



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