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I'm cheating a bit here because I only played the demo, but this came and went without any kind of exposure but I think it might interest some people here. It's cheap to compare a game to others in an effort of explaining it but I like doing it because it's also quick and easy to get the message across – so this is basically the indie baby of classic Resident Evil and Killer7. At least as far as its gameplay foundations are concerned, the overall tone and setting is somewhere between SMT and Paradise Killer with very weird, supernatural characters that float somewhere between being human and godlike entities. You're playing as some normie girl working a boring late-shift job but suddenly stuff happens and you receive the boon of being able to perceive an alternate dimension where demons live. Gameplay is presented from a bird's eye view reminiscent of the aforementioned RE classics (there's even an option to toggle between direct and tank controls) and mostly consists of figuring out classic adventure puzzles. An early example is that you come across a computer that doesn't have a keyboard attached and is locked, so you need to find a keyboard and a passcode. It's basic, but it works in the sense that it shuffles you through its claustrophobic levels to force you to combat the demons. Combat then is where it morphs into Killer7 because holding the trigger to ready your weapon switches to first person while activating your demon-sensing ability highlights weak points on enemies. Smaller enemies die from one critical attack (melee or ranged are available), bigger ones might need multiple shots. Landing multiple of those critical hits in succession fills up a special gauge for a an extremely powerful shot that discards any normal enemy and is necessary to defeat bosses (at least as far as I can tell – there's only one boss in the demo). You can also attack enemies 'normally', ie. without first scanning for their weak points, but it's suboptimal and kind of a waste of ammo. The risk-reward here is that your scan has rather short range, so while enemies are easier to dispatch, they're also more likely to counterattack. I quite liked the demo, just quickly glanced at metacritic and it's around the 80% mark, so it seems the full version is pretty good. Might pick this up sometime this year. Quick note as well, despite the RE inspirations I wouldn't call this a horror game, it's more of a surreal, slightly spooky atmosphere it conjures.

Creating a thread for this as it seems like it might be quite a bit meatier than some other games I’ve played recently. Citizen Sleeper is the latest game from the developers of In Other Waters, which I played recently and was quite good. I guess like In Other Waters, it involves a lot of reading and clicking on various menus. Not quite a visual novel, but an adjacent genre I guess. You’re a “sleeper”, a robot of some sorts that escaped or survived some mysterious past and somehow gained sentience, which is apparently a big no-no, so shady characters are coming to put an end to you. You’ve wound up on some kind of space station called Havenage. Here you meet characters and complete tasks to achieve various goals. I can’t describe it beyond that. It’s too complicated. But it’s quite unique and intriguing so far. Based on what I’ve played of this, and In Other Waters, the developers’ (Fellow Traveller) focus is clearly on telling unique stories in unique settings, with an emphasis on mystery and the unknown.

First of all, Nintendo can go screw themselves for coming along with this almost 20 years after the previous game in the series. The last time they were this tonedeaf was when they announced Federation Force. Secondly, it's not so bad. I mean it's basically just classic F-Zero with more direct controls and without a collision detection that makes Newton spin in his grave. It adds the spin attack from GX but puts a cooldown on it and tackled enemies drop coins which fill up a special bar you can use instead of your boost to drive 'on top' of the course and avoid the massacre below. I don't see it having a huge lasting impact or the immediate pull of something like Fall Guys, but it's decent enough for a freebie (if, again, extremely poorly timed). Anyway, I immediately won my first race. I guess the newbies in the lobby thought Death Wind was easy after looking at its map.

Somehow I was convinced radiofloyd played this when it came out in Japan and made a topic. I played it for about five hours over the weekend, which is roughly the length of the tutorial/prologue. Origins and VIII are the only Ys games I've played, so I'm not an expert on the matter. Chronologically this seems to take place almost at the very beginning of Adol's adventures (after 1 & 2 to be exact), but in classic fashion it's not really necessary to be aware of those other games. Characters hint at certain things early on, but it's very much self-contained otherwise. So in Nordics you end up in a very cartoonish, pop-culture version of northern Europe with Vikings Normans who have claimed the northern seas for their own. After some exposition and the game introducing major NPCs, stuff happens, magic happens, and you then sail around the archipelago with a young Norman princess, Karja, in tow. While the whole Norse/Viking theme has been a bit overdone in the west in recent years, it's nonetheless interesting and refreshing to see it through the anime/Japanese lens for a change. I'm definitely quite enjoying the setting, and Karja is a surprisingly likeable sidekick, a bit of a tsundere voiced in a very bratty tone, but with a reasonable side to her as well. I remember some people, myself included, being a bit disappointed when they announced it would only feature a party of two, but after experiencing the battle system for a bit I can see that any more would easily have overwhelmed the player. There's a couple of ways in which you can fight: the basic one is just running around as either Adol or Karja, attacking by yourself and letting the AI take over the other character. I find this relatively useful when engaging groups of smaller enemies, in a 'divide and conquer' kind of way, as the AI draws some aggro, too. While playing like that, however, you can always change to the other character by pressing a button, which happens instantly and also works mid-combo. There's not much use for that early on, but I can see maybe casting special attacks with longer durations and then immediately switching to keep the pressure on as an option when unlocked. There's a second Duo mode for combat which activates while holding the right trigger and it's here where it becomes a bit much to wrap your head around early on. In this mode, both characters are linked by a magic chain and can't move, but they can block and parry (with very forgiving timing) and attack in unison while also having access to a different set of special attacks fueled by their combined Mana pools (in a funny twist, you can also use these if one character can make up the cost with their mana bar in case the other doesn't have enough – no idea how the developers expect you to properly gauge all that mid fight while parrying and dodging). But all this is only the very baseline as the game keeps giving you tools upon tools in rather quick succession. Early on you unlock a grappling hook for traversal, but it can also be attached to enemies, you unlock launchers for air combos or a unique move activated by holding the attack button which lets Adol cast a burst of fire and Karja a pillar of ice, affecting certain elements in the area (plants, water etc.). And that's just the feature handed to you in the first 5 hours. I find it a bit overwhelming at the moment, but it's cool to see so much depth and potential – I did really liked VIII, but combat in that game mostly revolved around last-minute dodges and not much more. The other big part of the gameplay, outside the usual traversal and exploration, is naval combat, which I think is a first for the series. So far this feels like its weakest link, as the ship is rather unwieldy – but not in a physically realistic, but rather a 'that's an odd control scheme' kind of way. In the early game you have two options to attack, a long-range cannonball to slightly damage and stun ships, and a short-range barrage which does enormous amounts of damage. So you use A until you get close, use B to finish them off, rinse repeat. It does suggest a lot of upgrades to you ship which I'm hopeful will make these encounters more fun and engaging the further along you get, so I don't want to judge that aspect too harshly as of yet. It's not as immediately gripping as the ship combat in AC Black Flag for example though, just to set expectations. I'm playing it on Switch, and compared to VIII, which suffered from severe aliasing or IX with its wonky framerate (at least going by its demo), this feels like a more polished product all-around, with clean visuals and an almost rock-solid 30fps with good frame-timing. The downside of this is that a lot of objects and NPCs pop in very close to the character, which I'm not too bothered about, but not everyone is as forgiving. I suspect the PS5, or I guess even the PS4 version, to have none of these issues, but in any case there's a demo on every platform to check for yourself. As always, can't do screenshots on Switch anymore, so here's a Karja plushie:

I’ve played through the first three levels so I’m still on the linear portion of the game (according to reviews the game transforms into a full-on metroidvania after a few hours). So far it’s been an enjoyable platformer/hack and slash game, with the standout being the visuals and music The first two levels I played through in handheld mode but tonight I played using the pro controller and it’s much more enjoyable. The game has a mechanic where if you attack something mid air, it allows you to jump again, it’s a little bit uncomfortable in handheld mode but as I suspected it works like a charm using a proper controller. Not to mention the game looks beautiful on a big screen.

This had a cool demo so I decided to treat myself to a little sidegame over the long weekend. I'd actually encourage giving the demo a shot, because the game looks like a run-of-the-mill pixel indie title but it has an amount of quality and polish to it that really makes it stand out. In a Nintendo-ish way, it's entirely designed around a singular idea and that's the drill your character carries around. It allows you to drill through certain areas of the map, be it ground, snow or other, it works as a propellor underwater, it can revv up certain machines etc. I'm not going to spoil in detail what the developers have cooked up, but there are genuinely cool surprises here throughout and no two levels feel the same – again, very much Nintendo-like. This seems to have been in development for about seven years, which sounds absolutely bonkers, but it shows, because it's really an incredibly accomplished take on one of the oldest genres out there. There is one caveat though and those are the boss battle. I'm not going to mince words, they're all pretty bad. Well, at least the three I played so far. The first one was okay-ish I suppose, but the two that followed were just very tedious 'death by a million cuts' affairs that don't use its central mechanic in an interesting way. The third one, in fact, is easier if you just don't drill into the ground at all. It's weird to see how devoid those fights are of ideas considering how excellent the rest of the package is – almost as if they had been made by a completely different team. So while that might sour the experience a tiny bit at the end of every world, I don't think it drags the game down overall. From what I read it's not super long, but quality over quantity seems the focus here, and there's time trials for crazy people to get a bit more out of it. As a final commentary, the soundtrack is extremely good as well and I wish I could link a few samples but nobody seems to have uploaded anything yet. It's on Spotify though, if you want to give it a listen. Completely misrepresenting screenshotTM

Oxenfree was released way back in January which I guess makes it a retro title by today's standards. I don't know about the PS4 or Xbox One but it's currently heavily discounted on Steam so now is as good a time to pick it up as any. As it turns out, I already own it. It looks like this. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/388880/ss_aae01eea5fc489c7fbb20c2e92440c1cf92f4e83.600x338.jpg?t=1465496144 http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/388880/ss_75af452f6e7f6c5dc1ada4f001abcccac6c57db7.600x338.jpg?t=1465496144 I just played it for sixteen minutes so I can give you sixteen minutes worth of impressions. So far it's been a pleasant side-scrolling walk and talk simulator. Not a million miles from Life is Strange if Life is Strange was side-scrolling. The conversations so far have been kind of typical preppy American teenage stuff. At the beginning of the game the characters are heading to some kind of after dark party on an island. The main point I'd like to make is that the game has a really good electronic soundtrack. The art style has a bit of Kentucky Route Zero.

Seems pretty good. initially was a bit disapointed as its more like a traditional mario game than i was expecting, thats on me as i only watched the first trailer and thought it was going to be even more crazy. Anyway, it is a somewhat crazy and pretty cool! Been really enjoying it. i want some flowers like that in real life that give me some encouragement and stuff. the crazy bits are a bit hit and miss, well hit and less of a hit as some are a lot of fun and others are less so, wouldnt say anything has been bad so far. the levels are rated for difficulty, the hardest one ive done was 5 stars, dont know if it goes higher, but that level was really hard but i enjoyed it too. i dont like the old style lives system, although to be fair running out of lives wasnt as annoying as i was expecting. the graphics are nice. So far its probably up there with my favourite 2d mario game - the wii u one - was sort of hoping a bigger 2d mario fan would start the thread but here we are! seen a few people got it in the pics thread, how you guys getting on with it?

Been playing this for around 6 hrs on Series S - and it's quite enjoyable. Has some similarities, in terms of roguelike progression, as Into the Breach, although game presentation and pathways are significantly different. I've defeated the first boss, and so I'll see how well it keeps my interest (probably up to a point where it turns into a grind (or not)). Anyway it's certainly a bit different in looks at least to the mainstream.

Less than an hour in and from a gameplay perspective this is already deeper than any of the previous games. The levelling up system alone reminds me of FF X. You can block! You can dodge? There is something a bit off about the powers though. Which might be indicative of the One player experience. Your AI teammates don't automatically use their abilities, so the revamped combo system has to be done manually and it is a bit clunky as a result. Obviously not an issue in the slightest for those playing with others. Other than that, it is pretty good so far. At the first available option, which isn't right away, my team now consists of: Star Lord Hulk Drax Wolverine

Not sure how popular this series is over here, haven't seen it mentioned much. I never got into the Dig games, but really enjoyed Quest and Heist, and as I was looking for a nice handheld title I picked up the latter's sequel right when it came out last week. For those unaware, Heist is a turn-based, squad-based tactical RPG that is rather unique, but describing it as Valkyria Chronicles in 2D probably comes rather close to how it plays. After positioning your units you can aim freely, either directly at your enemy or letting your bullets ricochet off walls and objects if the line of sight is obscured. Where VC makes up for the lack of agency while aiming by applying RNG to hit quotas, Heist makes things a bit more complicated by weapon sway during aiming or some classes and/or weapons not having aiming sights at all, so you kind of have to eyeball the direction and hope for the best. Speaking of classes, this is a big new feature for this sequel. You still control predetermined characters but you can now freely switch classes around by equipping different weapons. Some skills you learn this way can then be activated in a different class by using cogs, so you can, for example, give the 'Boomer' (grenadier) the sniper's line of sight skill so that they can fire their rockets with more accuracy. There's six classes so there's decent potential for experimentation but also not an overwhelming amount that will make you lose interest in it, and with certain weapons having different properties and additional equipment there's definitely enough depth here to finetune your crew. The second big new feature is that, this being a pirate themed adventure, you now travel the ocean by ship instead of just picking missions from an overworld. And this isn't just for show, as the ship can also be equipped with weapons and will be pulled into naval battles with other vessels. It's all very streamlined – you only have to get in range and in position and you will fire automatically whatever weapon is equipped to the front and sides – but it adds a nice little extra dimension to progression and gives you something else to do than just the tactical encounters. I'm about ten hours in and close to completing the second area and while I don't want to oversell it, I think this is excellent. There was one slightly annoying enemy type in the second area, but otherwise it almost feels flawless so far, the right balance between accessibility and depth, rewarding progression, overall high levels of polish (as usual for their games, but still worth pointing out). It can be challenging at times, but it has multiple difficulty setting and even one that lets you completely customise certain aspects like damage, health etc. Haven't messed around with that though. Good year for unique tactical games between this and Unicorn Overlord I'd say. (Not my screenshot, because Nintendo hates Musk.)

It's hard to explain The Cub without being reductive. It's kind of a really pretty Limbo, except without the puzzles. The most striking thing about it, without doubt, is how it looks. It looks like a cartoon, the devs have done an amazing job with it. It's even got the choppyness to the animation, without it being too overbearing. The characters look great, the backgrounds look great, and there's even a few bespoke animations that are only used for set moments. It runs really well too, my desktop hitting it's max framerate on a game like this isn't a huge surprise I suppose, but it was locked at 60fps on Steam Deck too Gameplay features a lot of platforming, nothing especially challenging, we're not talking Celeste or whatever, but you will likely die a few times. Often this will be because you have to encounter something to know it's coming, the mine cart section for example, it's just a case of failing until you learn it. It's also where I noticed a did of animation delay. Pressing to duck actually takes a few frames to happen because The Cub animates to duck. That caused a few deaths. The double jump either gets taken away from you at points or it's more temperamental than it should be. Similarly there were a few times The Cub didn't grab ledges. It adds to the feeling that the platform mechanics aren't quite there The rest of the game is made up of stealth, chase, flying and a couple of swimming sections. With the stealth it's not always clear what will act as stealth, a problem from the art style I suppose, but it's not too frustrating. Which sums up the game I suppose, you'll die a decent amount, but it isn't hard, it's just a case of learning what to do A word for the story too. Humans have fled earth, they're now Martians and are taking trips back to mine resources and play golf. The Cub is a mutant who has survived on earth. The catastrophe that made earth uninhabitable was caused by late stage capitalism, and the rich abandoned the rest of us to die here. There's a ton of moments that are pulled from the headlines, I suppose your mileage with that will vary. All in all The Cub is a decent game. It came out earlier this year and had a pretty significant discount on Steam during the recent sale. It's a few hours long, nothing too demanding

This game came out in 2021, but I was unaware of it until the current steam sale. It's a lovely, chilled golf-puzzle game. Over a number of different themed worlds, you complete golf holes, earning more stars for completing in fewer shots. Working out how to do some of the holes in 2 or 3 shots to get the maximum star rating is actually quite fun. Some levels have a hidden secret hole/cube/other object to seek out and hit with your ball, which will unlock an alternate path on the map leading to extra stars or a special hole. Completing that hole will add an extra hidden collectible "blue things" to some of the holes on the map, which are used to unlock access to more challenging caverns which make use of the various features and gimmicks you've played with on that map. They can take a bit of figuring out, but are very satisfying. There are only a couple of barriers to progress requiring you to have earned a certain number of stars to pass, or the caverns mentioned above needing x number of the collectible things. The requirements aren't high, helping the game to feel pretty relaxed (the final cavern at the end of the game only needs slightly more than half the total number of collectibles). I got right to the end without engaging much with the secrets, then went back to the first 3 or 4 worlds and completed a bunch of them and had a great time doing it.

Where to start. What it is. It is definitely an old school Rare esq 3D platformer. From the music to the grunty dialogue, the duo of characters and the cohorts you meet along the way, it's pertty much Banjo Kazooie 3 in all but name. It's good from what I played so far but I know it will annoy people due to being the above. You can scale a height of platforms only to find you can't progress. Certain characters won't talk to you yet untill you do something later to unlock their progression. Everyone talks alot and makes bad jokes. You can see things you can't get to as you need to learn a move that comes later on and I think this kind of thing will piss people off. I love this kind of game, i'm on board, I knew what it was and that's what i want so im cool with all that shit. What i'm not cool with is the shitty camera. It feels like they've brought that with them as part of the nostalgia. It's not game breakingly terrible by any means but, for example, the boss of world one is up a slope. He's chuckingshit down at you and you have to avoid it. For some reason they've loked the camera really low down so it's hard to judge when to jump. Also, the movement when you move up slopes using your slope run move is awful. It's realy fast and even when you press left or right you go up a little bit first. This is super fucking frustrating on his third attack pattern and I felt like I shouldn't be getting this pissed of with the game on the first boss. It can also be hard to judge where platforms or collectibles are a la Banjo or Mario 64. They slightly deeper in to the background or more in to the forefront than you sometimes expect - extra annoying if that is a misplaced jump that sends you falling to your death or back to the beginning of a climb. But but but, it's great platforming for the most part. The controls are slick, it's a beatiful colourful world and it's all very jolly. Littered with collectibles and tons of stuff to do, it seems certainly great value for your money. It's just weird I have the same beef with it that I did with the Nintendo 64's flagship game. I'm only a couple of hours in, watch this space I guess.

I find myself needing to take breaks from FF7 Rebirth. What better then to play the last of the Classic Era I am the least familiar with? I played this originally with the PSOne collection many years ago now. The newest playthrough is via the Pixel Remaster. So let's get this out of the way. The story isn't the main focus of this one. This is a "four chosen heroes gather to protect the elemental crystals that power the world". I'm already two and half hours in and the story has been on the lighter side, so far. As is the tone. This is almost at odds with FF4 and FF6 that start strong on the story front. You play as four characters almost from the very beginning. So there is no real "main one" to focus on. So what is the main focus of this one? Job Classes. This is basically the last game to refine the job system that debuted in FF1. Here's the gimmick though: You level up your job class and past a certain cap. Unlock a skill IE use of White Magic that you can retain when transferring to another job. For example, when the job classes are first unlocked. I set one character as a Monk IE the physical powerhouse. A couple levels in, you unlock "Barehanded". A skill the grants other job classes the physical strength of a Monk, when unarmed. Therefore, that character is now a Black Mage. Who when the skill is set also happens to be one of the strongest attackers in the party. This opens up a lot of variety to each build and character. Magic is also done a bit differently in this. You don't "learn" a single spell. You buy them from a Magic shop. Now levelling up White and Black Mages grants higher levels of proficiency. The initial unlocked skill grants use of Level 1 White/Black Magic EG Cure, Fire etc This goes upto level 6. So it pays to have one of two of your characters set long term as a Mage. Blue Magic also returns. Which is weirdly done. Because you don't influence enemy attacks in anyway. You just have to wait and see if the enemy has something you can learn. You don't even gain the "Learn" ability until Blue Mage lvl 3. This is the kind of grinding that I find really relaxing. Especially with the speed up battle option.

There isn't a thread for this already? It's a gem of a game! Simple loop of fishing and then selling your catches in a restaurant, both of which can be gradually upgraded and for some reason, you'll want to get them upgraded! There are side stories, or maybe main stories (not sure yet) that give you loads of new objectives. Plus you'll want to get your restaurant ranking up, which means you need to get better at fishing, so you'll want better gear... It's a fantastic loop that is very very difficult to put down. The swimming physics are nice too, it all feels great!

A bit surprised this doesn't have a topic yet as I think the other games did have a few fans here. But then again I bought this on release and only now felt in the right mood to play it, so maybe it just came out at the wrong time. This immediately feels a lot more like 1 than 2, which is most likely a byproduct of it being made by Deck Nine (Before the Storm) who feel probably more comfortable reproducing what worked in the first place and a desire to, well, get back to what worked in the first place. Alex, the protagonist, is extremely approachable in an almost ironic way as she's a bit of introvert with a loaded background, so not unlike Max from the original. Setting the game in a small, rural area in some fictional part of an American mountain range gives it a very idyllic and soothing feel where standing around and rotating the camera is a joy in itself. A byproduct of this is that it also goes back to a fixed cast of NPCs with their own jobs, motivations, backgrounds and personalities. It is not without its faults – Alex' superpower is 'just there' and I find it baffling how the promo material spoiled this game's Aerith moment – but I felt right at home from the first minute. It's just a wonderfully cleansing experience, though it'll probably throw some existential angst in my direction soon (I'm only on chapter 2). One other thing I want to point out is that it looks phenomenal. The lighting, use of colours, the significantly improved facial animations all result in this not being the best-looking LiS title but a genuinely beautiful game even by other standards. It's also the first game in which I actually noticed Raytracing (which can be activated in Performance mode, too) when looking at the extremely realistic reflections on Alex' glasses. They look so good in fact that they almost clash with the slightly dreamy and soft art style. Playing this amidst the recent Square Enix news feels a bit bittersweet as well because I'm unfortunately not expecting them to finance another one of these anytime soon. So I'm definitely taking my time with it and enjoying the ride. Edit: Glasses

Backlog time! This is one of those projects that came out of Riot Forge, the unfortunately now defunct initiative from Riot to establish the LoL universe beyond the base Moba. In this case, we're looking at a relatively classic, linear action-adventure title, made by Tequila Works (Deadlight, Rime, Gylt). On surface level it looks a bit like a companion game à la Last Guardian or Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, but it works a bit differently in the sense that you control both Nunu (the kid) and Willump (the blue Magic Yeti) in predetermined sections. So there's no manual switching or anything like that, which makes the entire thing relatively streamlined, but also rather simplistic. Nunu can play the flute which allows him to manipulate certain objects to solve puzzles, whereas Willump comes into action for, well, the action when you have to fight. There's also a bit of platforming which both can take part in and a multitude of other little gameplay gimmicks to mix things up, some of which born out of the most unexpected inspirations (Katamari). They can also both throw snowballs, either at each other for fun or to interact with distant objects. Overall its systems, mechanics and difficulty level suggest this is very much a game aimed at kids, with the writing also mimicking your usual tales of family and friendship you'd see in an animated movie. For me I looked at is as a light palette cleanser type game and for that it worked really well. There is a certain amount of ambiguity about the antagonist, resulting in a conflict based around perspective rather than just being black & white, which is a neat touch that goes a bit beyond what you'd expect. It's a cute game overall, 7-8 hours long so doesn't overstay its welcome and even has a few cool surprises up its sleeve. The beginning is a bit bland, both visually and in terms of gameplay, but the latter half really picks up in both of these areas. Not a must play or anything but if you like some simple, well-made classic videogame stuff, this is a nice little project. And also probably a good pick for the intended audience, because it has so many different gameplay elements (platforming, puzzles, combat) that it's a good appetizer for what videogames are about. Forgot to upload some screenshots, I might edit them in later if I don't forget.

I want my mummy... Spent a few hours with this through Game Pass (Xbox obviously)... think I played Innocence toward the tale end of last year and so far this feels nicely familiar. I'm up to Act 3, the first act being more or less a tutorial and the second playing pretty much how you'd expect. Things start harmlessly enough but it doesn't take long for things to fall to shit and the whole world wants Amicia dead for reasons... this time she can fight back a little more, she has a stealth attack and can knife enemies, I haven't got her Crossbow yet but like I say I'm only up to Act 3. You can also break line of sight and hide again if discovered, I can't remember if this was a thing in the first, if it was it was bloody difficult. Some of the views look stunning and so far it's played nicely... there's no performance or graphics mode so I'm not sure if it's locked to 30fps or not... think I saw somewhere that it's 40fps if your display supports 120hz (mine does so who knows) I ended up really liking the first so I'm looking forward to playing more of this.

I wanted to play this from when it first came out, but refused to pay full price for a SpongeBob game in... 2023. Huh, I thought this was more than a year old. Anyway. It's a typical mascot platformer that seemed to breed and multiply in the PS2/Xbox/GameCube days, but brought to life with a glorious new-gen shine. I sound highly cynical, and to be honest, I am on this one. It's linear to a tee (definite positive), but you get a few little side quests that require a touch of exploration - collect a number of golden coins, find a specific character, discover golden spatulas. However, a lot of these extra bits and bobs are locked behind power-based gates. Things like a karate kick, or swinging on a fish hook, or a mega smash. What this means is that if I want to collect everything, it's not a one and done situation, but I essentially need to play the game twice. It's false padding. Anyway, how does it play, I (don't) hear you ask? Meh. It's serviceable. Jumps can be very awkward. Combat can be awkward. Skills can be unresponsive. However, despite all this meh-ness, there's still enough to keep me playing. I think this might be one of the first games I finish this year. Won't be getting 100%, though. Fuck that noise.

This came out to very little fanfare in January and I forgot I pre-ordered it at some point. Was in the right mood to (re)visit it over the weekend, so here goes. First off, the way they bundled this together is rather curious, because you can't simply pick the games on the title screen. Instead it simply throws you into the remake of the DS game and after you beat it it more or less goes straight into its sequel. So if you didn't know any better you'd think these would simply be two chapters of the same game. So far I've only completed the first. The original DS game is a weird one because you could almost call it a tech demo without really offending anyone, but it's also a rather relaxing and charming 'baby's first mystery adventure' kind of game. By remaking this in full 3D without having access to the DS' unique hardware features this would always have been an interesting case study for how to approach remakes and, well, it's not exactly a triumph. Puzzles feel very menial and by-the books, the very first one requires usage of the system's gyro controls and barely works -- after that, they're all solved with classic input methods. Due to the nature of the original it had to spell out a lot of things because it couldn't visually represent them in detail, and unfortunately they didn't adapt the writing to the fact that you can, indeed, now see everything. So you're permanently running into situations where the characters tell you what you see, which adds an unnecessary layer of inactivity to a game that already feels extremely passive. On the plus side, they did make good usage of their apparent low budget by bringing the mansion to life in a rather accomplished fashion. Character models are also very nice and clean, but the camera is placed so close to Ashley I was just waiting for the FBI to knock on the door. On the other hand, the VO is pretty abysmal in terms of audio quality (and, in some cases, the acting itself -- though Ashley herself is thankfully pretty good), camera controls are absolutely awful and the only time it hits its fps target is on the main menu. As a remake I think this is a downgrade in almost every way, but unfortunately I don't have access to the original at the moment to properly compare it to. You could of course make the point that this was mostly made for newcomers, but I wonder if the very simplistic nature of it might turn them off rather than draw them in. That said, I actually did like my second visit to the mansion, to an extent. It's a cool setting and it has a wholesome, if super predictable plot. And if nothing else it's still rather unique, more than two decades later. I think the second game might actually benefit more from the switch to the over-the-shoulder view, because the 2D plane you moved around in always felt oddly restrictive. I've only played the first hour of that one so far, so it's too early to tell, but it already feels like a better fit.

Its a game where you drive a train. Got this recently on switch, was previously sort of interested in trying the ps4 version, which supports VR so thats cool, but didnt get round to it. And sort of though i might find playing it really boring. Not really sure where my interest in this came from, saw some youtube videos on it and wanted to try it. have been enjoying it, its not the most amazingly exciting thing ever, struggle to explain why im enjoying it but think it helps that its something a bit different and new, to me anyway - thats what i was thinking after the first few missions. Later i got to the 3rd set of missions which are much more involved, with more speed check areas where they try and catch you out like by putting a high speed limit check just before a stop or reduced speed limit, its much more action packed, been really enjoying this set of missions. the main thing to do in the game is stop at the right position at the next station, this is worth the most points etc, and im rubbish at it. But im quite good at doing the extra stuff like arriving on time, dimming lights for other trains, and beeping and pointing at all sorts of stuff. Theres a point button. As in finger pointing. Apparently train drivers are supposed to point at things (and say a catchphrase) to keep them more engaged and stop them from falling asleep or something. i think it helps that this is more arcady than a full on train sim, and the line choice of the tokyo ring road (yamanote line) so has loads of stops and scenery and stuff to do. There never seems to be more than 2 mins between stops. anyone else played one of these? i could find a useful video explaining it better or something but heres this instead

So, Wanting to take a break from Destiny, I've had a go at playing Warframe on the PS4, and I have to say that so far, I've really enjoyed it. It's a 3rd person shooter, that feels part wat between halo and Mass effect. There's a (ludicrously expensive) paid currency if you want to go down that path, but everything is obtainable for free, you just have to wait for it. Has anyone else played this?

So I've been playing the game that is, like many aging hair metal bands, is big in Japan (that 40 year old Spinal Tap joke is how I'm starting my impressions to this genuinely cool game). The only game played there now it seems. I'm probably not going to go on about the specifics of the game because you can just check the thread for the previous game but I'll just say what I've been up to. As a Splatoon Professional I've beelined right to the cool stuff and stayed there for now. That is 'Anarchy Mode (previously 'Ranked Matches')' and 'Salmon Run'. Since I have a Splatoon 2 save I was given three golden tickets which allowed me to buy weapons freely that are usually soft locked behind a level cap, the weapons I know I like which I know fit my play style for the Anarchy Matches. You see most will play the Turf War mode (the basic whoever makes the most mess wins mode) but as a Professional that mode holds little interest to me and I like the objective based modes in Anarchy Mode. One of the is Splat Zones which is basically King of the Hill; you have to keep a certain part of the map in the middle covered in your ink for a set amount of time so in this mode the fight is more concentrated and I like to use the GAL 96, a long ranged weapon that fires slowly with an ink sprinkler as a sub-weapon... well, I used to but it hasn't been working for me this time. I've found more success with the gatling gun class so I can just hang back and provide support more efficiently but maybe I'm still fucked if I get jumped by someone with a better short ranged weapon but as long as I'm smart we win. I do find these modes make use of the alternative weapons so much more. Playing Turf War just use the weapon best at coverage and that's it. You also have Tower Control; there is a small tower on the map that moves towards the enemies side of the map when you stand on it and once it gets to the end you won. I like to use a long ranged kind-of-grenade launcher for this, I forget it's name. it just means with good positioning I can easily eliminate those trying to ride the tower, but again, it's slow firing and bad at short range. It means I do have to rely on my team a lot, I gotta hope we have like a "sweeper" who keeps flankers off my back, because man, do some people just like using the brush class and ruining my day. This is a factor if we win or lose. Take up a role if you're playing this mode. There is also Rainmaker; there is a powerful weapon (but again, bad at short range) that has to be captured and taken into various points on the enemies side of the map. I tend to play this one a bit basic and use a slightly longer range version of the Duelies, a weapon I do tend to use for Turf War if I do play that mode. OK coverage and pretty good at killing and I like the quick step you can do: it confuses the idiots, but also sometimes messes me up, but I'm getting better at it again. They were introduced in S2 and they quickly became my old faithful. Finally there is Clam Blitz; it's a mode that was introduced post release in S2 so I hve the least experience with it. I remember being okay at it but this is the mode I'm struggling with. You collect clams spread around the map, get ten and they turn into an American football(🤷‍♂️) and with that you can break a barrier over a goal on your foes side of the map, and while the barrier is gone you can throw in individual clams. I suck at it and just take my Duelies and kill the enemy and hope my teammates know what they're doing. To be honest it still feels kinda unfamiliar because while the primary weapons all feel the same they're altered the sub-weapons and you special abilities you get after covering so much ground, those especially have been completely changed from the previous games so the dynamic and strats in these modes take some adjustment., I've found at least. But there is also Salmon Run; this is the horde mode with a bunch of boss enemies that drop collectables you have to take to a point to score while adds ruin your day. The more you rank up the more intense it gets and I think I've just got to the point it's interesting to play. I think it's harder than before since I remember being maxed out before and having less problems than now but I've still got some ways to go. A little change they've made is you can throw the collectable so you can pass it up to other players and that's useful at times and they've added some scenarios where you have to do it to be optimal. There's also a thing where the more you play the mode you make a giant salmon angry so a big salmon will turn up at the end and you have to throw the collectable at it to do damage, so you're dealing with this big mf'er stomping around while loads of boss enemies come, kill them, get collectibles and throw them at the big salmon. It gets intense. I've tried it twice and not killed it yet (definitely let down by my team the second smh). I've not tried the SP, I'm not super into it from the previous games (the last boss always rules tho) but I'll try it eventually. One of you's will have to say how that is.

I played through the opening of this, so far better than Avengers I think. The tutorial, which is extremely pink and blue, is a fairly lengthy thing which introduces you to characters which of course you already know about because of all the movies and stuff init. It's mostly a slightly adjusted take on those movie characters, I say that as if I know what the other versions of the characters from the comic are like. Anyway it reminds me of the movie is what I mean, except the guy who plays Mario isn't in it which is a bummer. But I think it's good, not incredible cause it's hard to get a read of whether the fighting turns into something more than what you see at first. I'll say being able to run a game that looks good at 4k dlss and runs at 60 presents a much better impression than watching a stream that runs at 640p and runs at 15fps. I dunno about the console experience, but I do know my experience right here is pretty good *discreetly flexes* As filler tutorials go I thought it was pretty well paced and I was pretty engaged by it, which is saying something cause it really does feel like a 360 game. But it gets away with feeling like a 360 games cause they don't make 360 games anymore, and 360 games didn't run at 4k with ray tracing *dabs*. One screenshot I wanted to get is the little bear guy standing on tree man's back cause I thought damn I like that, but it was in a really dark room and I didn't get the chance. Anyway the rabbit stands on the tree man's back, that is good. I tried to take screenshots but unfortunately they are all super dark cause of weird HDR nonsense. So imagine these screenshots not looking shit, this is what the game looks like (good, not shit) I can't say that this is like game X with a bit of game Y or anything like that cause it's too early to say. One thing I'll say is that it has a stagger meter for certain boss type enemies. Drax (who destroys) has an ability that induces heavy stagger damage. Gamora (the deadliest) has an ability which deals heavy raw damage. Groot (therefore he is) does stuff with branches, uh traps enemies I think, I dunno. Racoon (not a racoon) does ranged attacks. But to translate it in terms I do understand, Drax is Focus Strike from FFVII Remake, Gamora and Racoon are the big attacks that you do when stagger is put on them. Peter Quill (middle name Joseph), he flies around and shoots stuff. The melee part of his combat feels like shit, but this is the level 1 experience. Very early on he unlocks an ability to do a timed powerful charge shot while his guns recover from their Mass Effect cooldown. Kind of a reload that's active, or something like that. I think another game did a thing like this before, I forget. I can't easily follow the flow of fights but I would say having this run at a high framerate is a must for that reason. It's so messy, the way you queue up the skills is a bit clunky. But that's the level 1 experience. It's a very air dashy type game, like a B tier Platinum games joint or something like that maybe. Anyway I'm engaged by the sum of the parts rather than the constituent ones so I will stick with it. Better than Avengers anyway, well the opening is. Also trust me the game looks a lot better than these screenshots, thank Windows HDR for fucking these captures up. Or maybe the brightness adjustment in the game itself, I might try and look into seeing if I can fix that.