Earthbound and Dune 18.11.17

Once again I'm making excuses for not writing this in a while but in my defence I've managed to start recording a lot more footage of me playing games, which has been a steep learning curve in hooking up old consoles and finding interesting things to say about games, which I've found much harder than I thought it would be. Check out our youtube channel if you've got the time

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk4B6QFpf3RAYnCbU7Fo0iA

Anyway I have played a ton of Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) since its release and I absolutely love it. I've completed it in the conventional sense, and have the option to buy every costume to dress Mario up in so I'm now at the point where i'm getting moons (the games main collectable) just for the fun of it while also getting precious coins to buy the last couple of bits to make Mario look different. Its not done to Mario what Breath of the Wild did for Zelda, in that its not really reinvented that much rather build and refine on Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 64. It turns out though that thats all thats needed to make a fantastic game, the hat capturing mechanic which has been added replaces power ups from previous games and isn't as revolutionary as it at first looks, instead of a penguin suit or a propeller hat Mario now inhabits creatures which give him similar powers. What this leads to is some fantastic level design, whole areas of the kingdoms visited are designed around using a certain creature and its here that the game can feel completely different from a traditional Mario game, or any platformer i've played. Weird jumping plants, fantastical caterpillars and little woodpeckers all get significant use in really inventive ways. The game also follows previous Mario games by introducing truly brilliant ideas and not overusing them, they appear later when the game opens up to a whole new scale but never feel repetitive. I've found the game refined to the the point of almost perfection, every little space in ever level is there for a reason and will offer up something unique, charming or useful. 

By using a range of art styles throughout the game, from realism which hasn't been touched on to more cartoony looks (which in one area looks heavily influenced by Grow Home) it makes the journey seem even more unique and every level I got to felt completely different. On top of this there are 8bit sections thrown in throughout which are stylish and offer a different challenge. The story itself isn't too much of a diversion from the usual Mario stuff although near the end it offers a variation of the Peach as a damsel in distress plot which had become a little bit dated. Two events as it led toward the games first conclusion had me beaming with joy. There is, like Super Mario 3D World a platforming challenge which is a culmination of everything learned in the game. It's completely optional, but I felt impulsed to complete it and after hours of failed jumps I got through it, it wasn't hard for hards sake and while seemingly impossible at first is totally doable which practice and a bit of luck. The game also offers no barriers to ability, from what I understand infinite Moons can be purchased from shops in the world (for the coins Mario collects all the time), its refreshing to see in a world of achievements and micro transactions. 

The only (and this is really slight) thing I don't love about the game is the foot races against Koopa's, they are a bit too tricky for me and I don't see myself going through the process of completing them all. Thats completely my taste though and i'm sure plenty of people enjoy them. 

In complete contrast to the above game I played and finished Sonic Forces (Nintendo Switch) in no time at all. Infuriating at times, for all the wrong reasons, jumps are hard to make and targeting enemies seems like a dice roll. Levels are at times really bland and while there is a lot of them areas seem to be reused all the time. It looks alright and some of the music was okay. The story is self serious to the point of being the one reason I didn't hate the game, it goes through an extensive catalogue of Sonic characters and gives them all a bit of screen time. The character creator is alright too. Nothing else really grabbed me. The final boss was a pain in the ass but then thats par for the course of a 3D sonic title for me.

Earthbound and Dune 23.10.17

With a little bit of spare time over the past week I played some Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4), I was dubious about starting another long, open world game and initially glad I'd had a decent break between Breath of the Wild and this game. It starts out very traditionally, given a limited area to play in with not many tools it provides an environment to learn the basics, explain why the main character inherits a bluetooth headset and show of how beautiful the game looks. At the same time I was really impressed with the character work, straight away I felt invested in the main character and her father figure. Things moved along pretty briskly over the first four hours or so, introducing robot dinosaurs, at the moment the game hasn't really explained them beyond they look cool, I'm looking forward to reasoning behind the grazing forms of these machines. The plot aimed toward a proving, or test for my character and once that had happened things got a lot more serious. I'm in two minds about how the game actually plays, combat is good, a lot of use of a bow and the melee attack takes some getting used too. Running about is good and its fun once I gained the ability to ride about on robot dinosaurs. Climbings a massive pain in the ass, especially as Breath of the Wild (Its slightly unfair to use such a fantastic game as a comparison) was so strong on the go anywhere/climb anything philosophy. In Horizon its not really clear what can be climbed, so I spend a lot of time awkwardly jumping up the sides of rock faces, it just looks odd. I say its not clear, but then it is in places, some rock faces and structures have been coloured yellow and these are signs that I can jump up. This leads to my main issue with the game so far, its giving the illusion of being an open world game in the vein of Metal Gear Solid V (another amazing game) but actually so far its been restricting what I can do and where I can go. I'll preserver for now, I'm about 6 hours in, but I'm still awaiting the game really clicking for me. That I'm accepting of spending a good chunk of time with a game to really start enjoying it isn't a great thing. 

The other main issue I have with this game is the menus on top of menus, upgrades and perks are continually being offered to me and thats cool, but it all got overly complex. I've mentioned another game which was quite restrictive on how much you can carry but Horizon takes it to a whole new level by requiring crafting of individual pouches for medicines, ammo, perks and materials. I found it all quite overwhelming and not that intuitive. I'm going to carry on with it because the game looks beautiful, the characters are interesting and there has been a few moments that in action the game plays really well, especially an early assault on an enemy camp. It's a game thats got a lot going for it but i'm not sure how much of thats for me.

I finished Golf Story (Switch) in quite a hefty seventeen hours. This came as quite a shock to me as I don't really know where the time went, it was a joyous experience throughout full of funny moments and different ways of interpreting the actions of a golf game into an RPG. It got glitchy in places, I froze up in conversations a few times and had Birdie Chance burnt into the screen for a section of the game strangely. Nothing game breaking but rather annoying. The final "boss" of the game was much harder than anything I'd played leading up to it and took me a number of attempts, at first I couldn't imagine completing it but then with a little bit of strategy, the wind in my favour and a glorious Eagle at the last I did it and the game wrapped up. It was strange that two of the main early story beats weren't really mentioned, one I thought would have been addressed (unless I missed some side quest). On the whole I really enjoyed the game, it was engaging and well written throughout. Well worth the price for entry. 

Earthbound and Dune 10.10.17

Where to start? After a long break from writing any kind of update, for no particular reason either.

The summer has been spent playing some great games, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Sonic Mania and Mario X  Rabbids: Kingdom Rush to name a few. Whereas the summer tends to be a wasteland for decent things to play and more to catch up on earlier in the year. This year it’s really felt like the quality of games over the has improved and made a year when personally I’ve been struggling to be inspired to play a lot of video games seem a lot better. Sonic Mania was an absolute joy to play, apart from the last two levels. The first chapter of the new Life is Strange was a fantastic story and one I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did, and real surprise! Finally in terms of surprises Mario X Rabbids is a wonderfully addictive strategy game where the biggest surprise is how some of the Rabbid humour has stuck and actually made me laugh.

So onto what I’ve actually been playing recently and the last week or so I’ve played a ton of Golf Story (Switch). An RPG which is built around a more traditional three click way of playing golf, neither the depth of the golf or the RPG is enough to make a great game but by combining the two it finds a sweet spot where the game is funny, charming and addictive. The writing is very amusing, the sense of humour is very self depreciating both to the sport of golf and the characters. Every achievement made in the game is downplayed by the supporting cast, from your drive being too short to when you finally win a tournament. The early hours of the game are all perfectly fine but the game really hits its stride when it builds a relationship between the character being played, the coach, your rival and her coach. There is a particularly memorable dinner scene between the four. 

The game itself beyond the story isn’t as much golf as I was expecting, playing a few rounds here and there, interspersed with less traditional tasks like hunting for treasure and hitting targets. That being said the golf in the game is perfectly serviceable and when I was playing rounds in tournaments and against other characters it was exciting and fun, more so because the sport is used so sparingly. It also introduces disk golf, which was at first infuriating as the game has a whole new system of mechanics for it. Once I picked it up though it was a nice respite from other tasks. 

The game is nothing special to look at, suffering slightly from an oversaturated market on 16bit style games, but still has a certain charm. The courses themselves have a nice variety on traditional grass courses. The music is the worst part of an otherwise great game, the looping of the music on some levels can sound a bit like a child practicing an instrument. Sound effects are great though and the HD rumble is used to great effect!

By the looks of it I’d say at around 6 hours in Im half way through the game and it’s only getting better as I go. 

Posted by Pip

Earthbound and Dune 10.07.17

Snuck in a bit of time with Until Dawn (PS4) this week. Taking cues from a classic teen horror setup it placed me in control of various characters as the holidayed on a imposing mountain. In the prologue to the main game while introducing the controls it also introduces the core concept of the game, choice is a massive part of it. Do I wake one sleeping party goer when I see something freaky outside the window or warn everyone else at the party? (that one seemed quite simple). It also throws in the choice of path, go the quick route or the safe, the quick tended to be, so far, a sequence of quick time events while the safe was wrapped in more tension. The opening to the game ends in a choice that I can only assume has to end one way, it seemed quite important to what comes next. That didn't take much away from the devastating consequences of my choice. Once in the main game it continues down the same path a lot of choices while being introduced to a divisive cast. I could tell instantly I was going to like certain characters more than others and as I get further into the game and the fate of the characters rests in my choices it will be interesting to see where it goes. Running parallel to the main story is a psychiatrist’s evaluation of an unknown (at the moment) patient I liked this a lot, again your given the choice between different scenarios as it builds a picture of the character your playing, its a cool respite from the tension on the mountain as well as one of better integrations of the touch pad on a PS4 controller. My only complaint so far is that its another game which talks me through the butterfly effect for way too long, surely a concept everyone has a grasp of from years of it being used in film, television and video games.

 

I happened upon a copy of Tin Tin in Tibet (Megadrive) in a second hand store and picked it up on a whim. It’s a pretty decent looking late Megadrive game, looking close to a video game form of the books. It uses a neat mechanic where Tin Tin can run toward the camera to avoid things like children running with suitcases on they're heads. It’s a cool use of perspective in the game and makes the platforming, which has been basic early on, a little more interesting. Haven't got too far in it, ended up banging my head again what is probably a fairly simple puzzle but its an interesting game and worth checking out.

 

I was really excited about the announcement of Micro Machines World Series (PS4) I love the original game and its 16bit sequels but with the transition to 3D I felt the series lost its way quite a bit. My main problem with where it went was the more weapon heavy driving that was introduced which distanced itself from the original games and there focus on driving skill and remembering the numerous courses. I should have reserved some of my excitement for this latest entry it turns out, it again is focused heavily on combat, with missiles and mines being an option I couldn't turn off. There isn't a huge amount of courses on offer either, which is a shame and more predictably the machine used on each course is no longer limited, so there is the option to pit tanks against fire trucks etc. I couldn't stand my first few races, the first issue I had was that I was thrown into online play, with little knowledge that was what I was doing, even more confusingly I could pause the game so I stopped to check the controls and found myself being obviously lapped. The controls in trying to feel like the original series felt way too squirrelly, or at least for an analogue stick. I noticed after a couple of online games that everyone was tending to use the tanks so I gave that a go instead and found the driving a lot easier and they weren't significantly slower. I also found the meagre single player offering in the game (one off races against AI) which gave me the chance to practice a little but without any real purpose. There’s loot crates in the game, because this is 2017 and these unlock things that also cost a currency which I can't really work out how to earn? like new voice lines, skins and colours. The mode which most resembles the older games is the elimination racing, which the aim is to squeeze other racers off the screen. This was more fun, especially online, and tends to be where I gravitate to when I play the game now. I hate to add another annoyance to a list but I've not found a way of continuing to play with a group of racers I'm racing with either, so the game boots me back to searching for a match every time I finish a race. Its all a bit of a shame, because I feel the original games had something unique about them which could really work now.

 

 

 

Earthbound and Dune 24.06.17

So, once again I've not done this in a long while, the mixture of blazing heat and too much work hasn't deterred me from video games though. 

ARMs (Switch) was something that I'd made a pact with myself not to buy or play long ago, something about the connection with waggling Wii controllers in my mind didn't feel right. Nintendo made the wise decision to run a live demo over the weekends before release though and a few bouts in this arcady fighter and I was preordering to confirm my hypocrisy. Now its been out for a week or so I'm totally in love with its brand of accessible fighting. The caveat to this is that I jumped off of the motion controls pretty much instantly. Its a game which success relies heavily on the movement of the characters, don't be confused by the titular body part this game rewards the use of the legs. Each character has a double jump of sorts, theres a risk reward to jumping a lot as it leaves the fighter open to the opponents often devastating special, a meter builds up during the fight and with a button tap can unleash a flurry of blows to and unguarded fighter. The rock, paper, scissors mechanics are running throughout the game beyond this, punches can be blocked, blocks can be thrown and throws can be punched (if that makes any sense). The content seemed a little threadbare, theres a traditional arcade mode, a succession of fights & mini games leading to a boss battle, which gets ramped up beyond level 4 difficulty. Along with standard one on one fights, selecting a couple of mini games and a robust online offering. Mostly I've stuck with the arcade mode for now as its been my commuting game of choice and I've found a lot of depth in it. Reading the characters and there strengths is a big part of it, heavier opponents can destroy characters at close range so keeping distance is crucial whilst at the same time weighing up the risk of going in close for a flurry of blows to knock off the last remnants of health. This is where the game leaps above other fighting games in my opinion, fights never seem pointless or overwhelming theres always a chance to win (and the special meter carries across rounds so even when being destroyed I'm earning a currency to take into the next) and at the same time there is very little certainty of of a victory. In a good way i've found myself running away in a fight only to be pegged back and beaten because I'd got cocky or lazy in my attempts to whittle away the last snippet of health. 

It almost certainly won't be a game for everyone, the value proposition is a valid point i've seen raised (but with free DLC on the way that might be less of an issue), but I'm really liking the game. The character design has oodles of Nintendo charm, Byte and Bark is an Amiibo in waiting surely and the music is some of the most catchy stuff produced in a while. In a year where I'm already trying to quantify some of the best games I've played in a long time this game has thrown itself into the ring and is punching well above its weight.

Oh... Sir! Insult Simulator First 15 minutes.

Insults fly thick and fast as we learn to love 'Oh... Sir! Insult Simulator' in its first 15 minutes. 

First Learning to Love Games Stream, This one is done to celebrate the release of Friday the 13th:The Game

Earthbound and Dune 25.05.17

This week has all been about playing games I know I like, my time with video games has been limited so I didn't want to waste any time getting to know a game, oh and I played a bit of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck (Megadrive) mainly to try to appease my three year old daughter, watching a Mouse struggle with platforming controls and beat up bugs with his cape did nothing for her though. I've never been more proud.

I played quite a bit of NBA Jam (Megadrive) on my recently recovered original machine, with the volume slider and everything. The glorious thing about this machine is the foresight I must've had as a nine year old and have the scart adaptor for it, no fiddling about with an RF lead for me! I've spoken on here about this game before and for good reason. Along with Micro Machines (1&2), Dune 2: The Battle for Arrakis, Streets of Rage 2, James Pond 2: Robocod and Sonic the Hedgehog It's a game I know I can start playing and know I'm going to have a good time with it. Theres a whole load of nostalgia swaying this statement but I'd say (quietly) that the Megadrive is my preferred 16bit console, even though NBA Jam is supposedly superior on the SNES. In the game itself I swayed from a habit of a lifetime and played as the Timberwolves for a bit. Abandoning the perfect balance of Stockton and Malone for some new pairing, the only benfit I could find was one of the duo was pretty awesome at getting 3pts from all over the court. I lost a lot of matches but still had a good time with it.

I played a load more of Puyo Puyo Tetris (Switch) in particular the story mode, the one thing holding this mode back a bit is that it has some pretty lengthy cutscenes with a bunch of dialogue, not ideal for a commute or my inpatient nature. I skipped through most of it to get to the meat of the game and intriguingly by doing this found the jumping from space to the streets of earth and fighting dogs, robots and twins more interesting for it. Anyway whatever's going on I can confidently say that the reason I come to a puzzle game is not the story so I'm happy to have some strange doctor dog shout insults at me while I play. What the story is excellent for is the introduction of the variations of gameplay in the game. I was at first happy to stick with Tetris, a game I know and love, but as it slowly introduces the concept of Puyo Puyo, a more competitive, combo based puzzle. Certainly more frantic and then the idea of playing Tetris against an AI playing Puyo Puyo (and vice versa) where the upshot of getting the higher scoring moves (like 2, 3 or 4 line in Tetris or a combo in Puyo Puyo) is making the opposition have a harder time of it then finally the most ingenious addition a version which sees short bursts of each, maybe 20 seconds? then the board switches to the other puzzle game (in centre of the screen is a frozen image where the last board has ended) its a really hard thing to describe and probably sounds way more intimidating than it is. All I can say is its great fun and really tense and in the short space of a turn things can end up looking really bad and its hard not to look at the frozen board in the centre with a sense of dread for which the board switches again. I'm having a lot more fun with the game the more little bits I find of it and as a value proposition it seems like a fantastic thing. I've sunk countless hours into it and am still only 11% into the story.

I had a brief go on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) which has fallen by the wayside of some great games coming out for the system. I'll get back onto it more seriously at some point, I'd hate to not complete this wonderful game. This week though I was interested to see how my Wolf Link Amiibo would interact with the game and once I got round the overly complex process of enabling Amiibo with the game then working out Amiibo was another slot on my Sheikah Slate  I pressed the little wolf statue on the controller and into the world popped a pretty neat representation of the statue following me about and killing the wildlife. I'd go as far to say its the best use of an Amiibo in a game and pretty much what I'd assumed they would've done when they were first announced a couple of years back. Who knows maybe its a positive sign?

First groovy 15 minutes, Laser Disco Defending in Laser Disco Defender.

Learning to Love the First 15 Minutes - Alienation

Join us on the first episode of our Learning to Love the First 15 Minutes series. We start by playing the first 15 minutes of Alienation of the PS4.

Earthbound and Dune 19.05.17

So I've not written anything in a while for two reasons, one I'm lazy but actually at the same time we've been creating more content for our YouTube channel and you should totally check it out and while your at it subscribe.

Learning to Love Games

 

Learning to Love Games Learning to Love Games chronicles the relationship formed between man, woman and game.

 

But I've also been playing some games, What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4) I got through in a couple of hours. The few hours I spent playing it though were some of the best gaming experiences I've had in a long time. The basic premise is its an interactive storybook, charting the lives of members of one family. Who also seem to die at a worrying rate. Most of the stories experienced in the game revolve around there death and while there all tragic some are much more harrowing than others (the bathtub scene was particularly moving). It's from the makers of The Unfinished Swan so I was expecting to like the game and much like it I expertly mixes up different actions throughout the game to make it feel fresh throughout. I don't want to go into much detail as its a fantastic game and well worth playing for its short duration. Some people may have an issue with the value prospect for such a brief experience but I've since returned to it (after completing all chapters are unlocked to pick at will) to try to understand some of the more mysterious deaths in the game.

 

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) I wasn't so keen on picking this game up as I had all the DLC on the WiiU version and battle mode isn't why I play any Mario Kart game. Even though I had reservations I baulked to the pressure (and the rather sparse early line-up of games on the Switch helped) I'm pleased to say that I really, really like the game. It's a perfect fit for mobile gaming, I can usually chalk off two cups on a commute and I've been struggling through the 200cc courses to unlock the only new unlockable character in the game (and to call it new is a stretch). Its a really well selected bunch of courses, ranging from the chaos of Baby Park to the amazing Cloudtop Cruise. Having all the DLC in one package is the best way to play this game and while it would have been nice to have a new selection of courses added I've been away from the game long enough (and hadn't really given the newer tracks the time they deserve) I'm really pleased I picked this title up.

 

Puyo-Puyo Tetris (Switch) also came out in my sabbatical from writing this and I absolutely love it. Beyond the fact its got a really polished version of Tetris which is much more upbeat musically and visually than the last version released and also that Tetris has always been the perfect handheld game in my opinion. Its also got Puyo Puyo, which I think is just Doctor Robotnix's Mean Bean Machine a more frantic version of a falling block game and not as Zen an experience as Tetris and on top of that a mixture of both the puzzle games, which had way too much going on for my taste, I'll give it another go though. To wrap the package up its got an anime story mode that see a bunch of challenges with all three styles of game thrown into the mix. It's all over the place but in a great way the whole game has so much going on its a joy to play and great value. To be honest though I'd be happy with just Tetris so everything else is a bonus.

 

Ball Games, Student life and Zombies

Its been a while since I have written one of these.  But finally I have played some games that I have decided to write about.  No particular reason why these games are the ones that disturbed me from my game commentary hibernation. They are just the ones that I have played on the week I decided to write something on.

The first game that I played on this monumental week is NBA Playgrounds, from a distance this game appealed to me a lot.  I have loved the style of NBA Jam which this game appears to have borrowed.  Upon loading the game one is meet with a open card pack screen.  This dampens my interest slightly.  I have yet to find a game where the mechanic of opening a virtual card pack has really added anything to me.  I was an avid Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (Hero where I grow up, not Ninja) card collector as an sub 10 year old, the cards were stills from the 80s cartoon series flavoured by a hard stick of bubble gum that came with it, these held much more interest to me, I am yet to find the virtual equivalent to hold any such value. Any way, here the card packs represent selectable locations and players (all of which I don’t know, but to be fair unless it was the chap from Space Jam or that other guy from theShaq-Fu I’m unlike to know them).  With that out of the way I moved on to have an exhibition match, which is the only option open at the beginning of the game, it doubles up as a tutorials whose helpfulness is only slightly handicapped by the fact the controls are on the loading screens and you will find yourself staring at them for quite some time. The game is a hyper energy version of an 2 on 2 basket ball match, with over the top dunks.  Hampered some what by an unclear shot timing.  To shoot one holds down the shoot button and let goes at the right moment (what ever that means), as one inevitably misses, the game is decent enough to feed back either “late” or “early”, information I take on board and then recreate with subsequent attempts. Despite this I won the first game, then went on to have dubious success in the tournament mode.  Fickle fun.

Hello Life is Strange my old friend.  I have been waiting for the “right” moment to play Episode 2 - Out of Time for the best part of 2 years.  I completely and utterly loved the first episode and as such decided that the moment had to be perfect for me to play the second episode, this resulted in me simply not playing it at all.  With such lofty expectations could the second episode live up to them? Frankly it does. I refuse to go into details as the joy of the game is discovering the story but its great.  The game fills me with nostalgia, despite it not representing my university/college experience at all.  Beautiful, dramatic and ponderous.  Fingers crossed another perfectly “right” moment comes a long this year so I can sit down to Episode 3. 

Going from wine to cordial, Dead Rising 4, a boisterous blockbuster game which seems to be slightly stream lined version of pervious Dead Rising games. This one seems to fit the amount of time I have convinced myself that I have to play games more then pervious outings.  Seemly gone (or at least in the parts that played so far) are time sensitive survivors and restarting from the beginning of the game when you lose a life (this may have gone in part 3 to be honest I just can’t remember).  In general the game seems to be more friendly to a person who has no idea what they are doing like me, possibly to the detriment of keeping series fans satisfied.  But for me it seems like a pretty enjoyable way to pass the time.  I found case 0 and case 1 a bit too linear for my liking, that said when Case 1 finished and the game counted up the stats it appear I hand missed a considerable number of events and items which indicates that my sense of exploration was lacking some what and that maybe I should take some time to look around. Must do better. 

Also worth mentioning is Zen Pinball 2 which has been an on and off platte cleanser over the last couple of years. Currently my  number one choice of game that I play when I want to listen to a podcast at the same time.  

Earthbound and Dune 17.04.17

Sake Pass (Switch) is an unusual platformer in that it it takes the physicality of the snake you play as and limits actions to exagerated forms of what a snake could actually do. Theres not jumping or gabbing or punching, because, basically you've not got any arms. So the game is really a selection of small levels, which act as puzzles. The aim in every level i've played has been the collection of three brightly coloured items (which emit pillars of light so can be seen almost anywhere in the level) the challenge is getting to them. At first it was frustrating, it feels so different to other games, more so bearing in mind i'm played a lot of Zelda at the moment, a game which is incredibly free in its controls. To get up surfaces involves wrapping the body of the snake around shapes, gripping on etc. The learning curve is such that after a couple of levels I was on board with the game and like the advertising campaign had suggested I was thinking more like a snake. Like any good game at the point that I'd got to grips with the basics of the game it adds more complex elements, such as switches to be pulled and swimming. I've found it a really satisfying game to play in small chunks, a couple of levels at a time. The only glaring issue I have with it is that it doesn't suit the handheld nature of the switch too much, it feels like what it is, a port of a console game. Checkpoints are limited to the end of levels so I found myself a couple of times having to restart a level because I'd been commuting and reached my destination. This is an really early release for the Switch so hopefully future games will feel more tuned for the machine. Apart from that I've really enjoyed playing it and will certainly continue.

A much more intimidating game, which I'm under no illusion will take me a good long time to complete is Persona 5 (PS4). As i've aged I've come to the realisation that JRPGs are really up my street and not as hard to play as I always imagined. This is a great game to continue my education in the genre, because its bloody amazing. Taking control of a teenager who's got into some trouble and been relocated to Tokyo the game immediately impresses with some fantastic storytelling, expertly jumping between scenes and timeframes while also mixing up gameplay and wonderful manga cutscenes. I'm not far into it a couple of hours into something which I coming to terms with which will take me over a hundred hours to complete. I've started school and scratched the surface of the weird persona realm in the game and also met a very charming cat. It's the contrast between the mundane tasks like negotiating the rail system to get to school and the David Lynch like other world which is quite unnerving, especially as the gambit of capital punishment is thrown around very loosely. It all looks incredibly stylish and wonderful but so far theres a dark undercurrent running below the surface. My early steps have involved a little bit of combat here and there and its what i've come to expect from the genre made much more pleasant by really catchy music. Its a really good game in short, I'm set on a path of many hours playing it and can't wait to see where it takes me.

Earthbound and Dune 04.04.17

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) certainly is something, a sprawling world of mystery and adventure. I'm really starting to get the game, the more I play of it and the more I play of it on the go. It benefits being a handheld game much more than I'd expected, setting a few goals in the half hour I have here of there and just going for it. Even the dungeons have a save system which means that if I have to put the machine down or turn it off I can jump right back into them. Talking of dungeons, I'm now two down (of what looks like four) there much smaller in design and really feel like they can be approached in a number of ways, like most of the game. In one, where I was on a giant mechanical bird flying through the sky, I found myself relying on my glider most of the time, making daring leaps out of windows to bypass locked doors. It didn't feel elegant enough to be the designed route through the area but the genius of the game is the freedom it allows me. When the freedom is taken away, for setpeices which lead up to dungeons and boss fights it's  still spectacular. Boss fights now don't rely on that Zelda formula of use the item you found in the dungeon to beat them (as all the key items are received in the first hour) instead using items scavenged from the world. For the second main boss fight I depleted my reserve of bomb arrows, which I'd been holding back on using for the duration of the game and smashed up a very fine spear to strike the final blow. The destruction of the spear distracted me from my main quest, as I now need a diamond to make a new one.

With no idea where to find diamonds I've just been walking around the landscape picking off side quests. Two of my favourite have been leading up to hidden shrines, one involved killing three giant brothers. The way I approached it, or was forced to approach it was fighting the oldest (a presumably hardest) first, it was a struggle. Not helped by the smaller enemies he'd surrounded himself with but I got through it and then moved onto his younger siblings. By the last I'd got so good at my giant slaying that he never stood a chance, my sadness for the brutality of what i'd done turned to anger when I realised not one of the brothers had a diamond on them, instead where full of cooked meats and fish. The next shrine I found, nearby, made a puzzle out of entering it and the solution to getting in was ingenious.

Also on the Switch I played some of the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire (Switch)  over the weekend. Hour chunks of gameplay were offered at different times and while it was a struggle to fit them in around life I did get around four matches in. Not much seems to have changed from the WiiU game, the biggest thing I found was that I really missed the map being on the controller (which the WiiU offered) it was a strong visual clue onto how the game was going. Now the results at the end seemed to be more of a surprise, one match I played I was certain that we'd won, the area surrounding me was covered in our colours, it wasn't until the full map was presented though that I released that I'd been focussing on too small an area and we were well beaten. I'm sure this is something I'll get used to, the map is just a button press and it appears on screen so it is still there. The game is still wonderful, it could be a case of absence making the heart grow fonder but it looks sharper and more vibrant than I remember and still plays as well it always has. I'll be interested to see whats added to the game to make it a true sequel, hopefully a decent single player incentive will be part of the package.

Earthbound and Dune 18.03.17

Night in the Woods distracted me momentarily from the launch of the Nintendo Switch a few weeks back and now I've had almost two weeks with this curious little console I thought I'd write my impressions. 

The good news is that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) is as wonderful as all the impressions I'd read made it out to be. From the awakening scene where Link is presented with a sandbox of things to fight, climb, swim around and eat almost instantly the game then repeats this trick after about an hour of messing about and presents a much larger, almost overwhelming area to wander in. I've heard the go anywhere/do anything pitch numerous times attached to games and this is a rare occasion where it rings true and I did just this. The straightforward nature of the first task "Defeat Ganon" offered little direction but was a tantalising goal. There are a few conventional markers to follow but I was quick to get lost in the massive world. I walked the coastline for a good few hours, building ice stepping stones out to areas I was really underprepared for and quickly returning to the shore. Taking in all the time the amount of variety in the creatures, enemies and plants. When I decided to venture inland again I was in a lush jungle like place, as I ascended the cliff to enter this new world I heard the screams of a pair of truffle hunters being attacked by Moblins, the worlds intricate building feels lived in and almost unlike any other game i've played. There are things I'm seeing like a giant dragon looping the horizon at times which are mysterious and I can't wait to find out more about. The amazing thing being that I'm not being gated, I could just spent hours chasing beasts or sailing a makeshift raft. I did in the end follow the path I was being led down, which leads to the Zora domain, beforehand though there is a great approach which at first seemed to be too hard, the enemies swarming and much stronger than me. Through the language of the game though by the end of this section I was more understanding of the combat systems and weaponry in the game and much better at dealing with enemies. I've now completed the first traditional dungeon, which was a little underwhelming compared to other Zelda games. The blow of this softened by the fact the world is filled with shrines, which act as mini dungeons so it doesn't feel lacking. The main dungeon leads, as ever, to a boss fight which was great and once this was over I was given some cool new items then thrown into the world again.

It's a real wow factor of the new console being able to play a sprawling game like this on a train or at home. It wasn't until I played it on a commute that I really got what makes this machine so special. Somehow Breath of the Wild feels right in short bursts as well, aided by the fact I can save anywhere. Chalking off a dungeon in the 30minutes i'm on a train, or just getting a few steps closer to whatever goal I've set myself. I'm sure I'll be playing this game for a long time.

1-2 Switch acts as a demo of a lot of the new features of the controllers and while I like some of the mini games, like the Ball Count, Liar Dice and Safe Cracking (anything which utilises the HD Rumble really) others feel like an unwanted throwback to bad Wii mini games, a lot of blind waggling. Snipperclips is a much better demo of what the console can be and the accessibility of have a pair of controllers ready to snap off at any time and play multiplayer. Some of the puzzles are delightful, especially the variations on basketball.

Finally Super Bomberman R is a strange throwback to a game I really like. Multiplayer it adds nothing to the traditional Bomberman experience, and thats great. Again its a great proof of concept of a machine which allows multiplayer anywhere (I imagine when Mario Kart releases this crown will be taken). The single player campaign is a bit of a different story, It's got well acted cutscenes which are nicely put together but the actual game is a bit of a mess, its hard to see whats going on and when an enemy kills me (which happens a lot) there isn't too much of an impact, its all feels a bit airy. I might put some more time into it once I'm done with Zelda and I'm certainly pleased the game exists.

So thats about it really, I think the Switch is a curious little console. It looks nice, really quick to use and what I thought looked gimmicky about it, playing games on the screen and on the go and the tiny controllers which snap off, are actually great features. Its also really cool the rather small number of games out on it has been bulked up with a load of Neo Geo titles. Once there are more games in place and Nintendo announce whats going on with the Virtual Console I think that it could be a fantastic machine.

Earthbound and Dune 08.03.17

NIght in the Woods (PS4) was a game I've been anticipating for a few years now. Images I'd seen of the game in development showed an art style which was right up my street and as gameplay footage started to come out I got more excited for it. I played a bit of Lost Constellation, a free demo of sorts which was a precursor to the game itself and this tempered my excitement a bit. It looked lovely but I wasn't blown away with the game itself. With my expectations lowered though I was absolutely blown away with what a strong game that Night in the Woods is. A bit of context straight off the bat, I tend to read books that deal with a lot of talking and the mundane nature of suburban America, authors like Jonathan Franzen and Paul Auster. This game takes on a lot of these issues and is brave enough to have a protagonist (Mae) who is honest in her creation. She's unlikeable a lot of the time, her actions seemingly selfish. Especially toward her parents, who like every character in the game perfectly balance humour and a serious tone. There was one scene between mother and daughter late on which was particularly harrowing when a few revelations came out. I stepped back from the game an realised than it had subtly building to this moment, as I'd been messing around hanging out with my old school friends and making mischief there was a bigger, sadder story being told and it was right in front of me. To go back to what the game is, it's a platformer with a lot of dialogue, interspersed with some choices but the bigger choice is what you do each day. Or more specifically who you hang out with each day out of the small group of characters Mae calls friends. This choice is all the harder as each of this small group again are written so wonderfully. I tried to balance things out between Gregg (a rebellious fox) Bea (a goth alligator) and less time with Angus (a quiet bear, who's also Gregg's boyfriend). The things done vary from smashing up lightbulbs, building robots and hacking water fountains. The game gates the story in such a way that I could only hang out with one character each day so the idea that another play-through would give me another bunch of dialogue and stuff to do is really enticing. Things move along toward a few key moments where the story reveals more, leading to a few set pieces I assume have to be completed, an embarrassing party and an alternative to Halloween. These moments reminded me how fragile all the characters are, I took such care picking the lines for the Halloween play, not because I wanted a high score or an achievement but because it actually seemed to mean something to Bea. Her story was the most harrowing to me, and the revelation of the life she's leading toward the end was especially painful but then in a moment of genius this is broken up with joyful little dancing mini game (along with even more charming dialogue).

 

The other element of the game is a lot of the nights, would at bedtime lead to a dream sequence which was a bit more surreal. This was when the game is most stylish, beautifully combining illustration, lighting an music. A few of these moments went on a bit too long for me but the issue I tended to have was that I wanted to return to the next day and see where the game would take me next (in the confines of a small town). The meaning of these sequences became apparent as the game wore on but weren't too forced. The games deal with a lot of big issues, death, cancer, suburban decay, depression, the economy, god and it never feels pretentious or preachy. The choice of designing the game like a Richard Scarry book gone wrong is key to this, had the game presented a lot of these subject matters through a more realistic eye it may well have fallen short. Everything builds toward a conclusion, a mystery runs throughout the game and I was concerned that it would suddenly be forced to the forefront of everything I was doing. The conclusion of it though was satisfying and had the slightest hint of The Wicker Man which is always going to be good in my book.

 

By the end of the game I knew everything I wanted to know about Mae and could understand every one of her decisions, however harsh they seemed. I was worried as I always am that it wouldn't nail the ending, that it would go on a beat too long and wrap up one issue that I felt should be left unspoken, possibly the biggest in the game. I needn't worry though because like everything in this game its timed to perfection and left me feeling like everything will be okay. Maybe.

Earthbound and Dune 27.02.17

The Order:1886 (PS4) I've played through the majority of this game this week. With a new Zelda game on the horizon I wanted something not too time consuming and simple enough to get into and it met both these requirements. It's very much like a Gears of War game, in gameplay and in terms of technical achievement, I remember the first time I played Gears of War and thinking that it really did look like a new generation of game, while this game isn't as great a leap it still uses some nifty tricks (like a slight letterbox to the picture and gating where I could go quite severely) to make it look very nice. The premise of the game is the knights of old have hung around to shoot werewolves in London, leading to some lovely looking environments. Such as lavish houses, old hospitals and underground stations. Traversing the environment is cool, and while I felt I was being pushed down corridors most of the time its still nice how the game ties together winding streets and old houses. Moments where I was jumping out of windows or climbing along walls were highlights. The game gets a bit more imaginative with its weaponry, instead of sticking to technology of the time guns are spruced up and a lot of fun to play around with. My personal favourite was the concrete gun (or whatever its called) which blasts a cloud of dust at enemies and then with the other trigger the dust is ignited to create an explosion. There are a couple of novel weapons like this, indeed I thought the game really hit its stride when I was introduced the "Q" type character at my headquarters. At times it uses other forgotten parts of the Playstation 4, like tapping out morse code on the touchpad which was a nice little gimmick. The plot is fairly basic but moves at such a pace that its kept me interested and after a pretty dull first boss battle, which involves repeating the same trick a few too many times the other encounters with werewolves are a lot more tense affairs which mix up the more basic QTE's with an element of skill. Overall I like the game quite a bit, by being a more refined and shorter experience it was perfect for what I was looking for.

If they can condense this duel screen nonsense to a single screen

for the Switch i'll be there day one.

I also indulged in a farewell of sorts to my 3DS, with the Switch inbound hopefully that will be my handheld console for commuting so I played a bit of Super Mario Land, I say a bit I completed it three times. The virtual console has presented me with the shocking revelation that Super Mario Land is a very short and very odd Mario game. Few enemies are familiar and even the ones that are now blow up instead of abandoning they're shells. Beyond the Goomba's and Koopa's that are now explosive, theres weird flying mice, easter island heads and zombie humans that jump about. The setting or location of this land is hard to pin down, it could be earth I guess. Theres certainly more elements of our planet I recognise than the Mushroom Kingdom. Its such a brief little game that i've got no issue at all playing it a couple of times in a day, I can get it done in about the fifty minutes or so it takes me to get home. Finally I think I like the 1-1 theme music more than the standard Mario tune. I also returned to my stable of poorly named horses to play a bit of Pocket Card Jockey once more. Time has been kind to this game, it's still exceptional, time had also been kind to my young horse Red Rum 2. Such a fine young filly that she got me to bits of the game I didn't know existed, I now have a rival who was pretty impressed with my ride, and flew a few insults at me. Basically this horse wouldn't stop winning races, incredibly lucky and was winning me so much money I could be frivolous in the shop, buying gloves and carrots to keep the winning run going. It all came crashing down though when she went into mature mode. Once she'd passed her peak of three years old she was pretty much useless. I might put her out to stud now or whatever you do with a really good horse. I really, really hope that games like this find there way onto the Switch eventually, its such a fun and unexpected game. 

Earthbound and Dune 21.02.17

This is my life again. For now.

I knew, like with any addiction it wouldn't take much to get me using again, and the introduction of over 80 new Pokemon in Pokemon Go (iOs) made me feel dirty, used and not as satisfied as the first time I experienced the game. There was a initial hit when I woke up and saw shadows of four new creatures all within walking distance and my first encounter was with the utterly adorable Hoothoot (yep, pretty much just an Owl). What I soon found was that the most consistent thing about this update is how much nicer generation two of Pokemon look compared to the first batch. Some are lazy, the aforementioned Hoothoot or Ledyba (a ladybird) aren't he most original but they all look so much nicer. If I was being cynical I'd suggest that by the time this batch of creatures came out the Pokemon Company may have realised the millions to be made out of soft toys and keychains but for now its nice to have a variation on the Raata's and Pidgey's that still litter the world. My biggest regret beyond the fact i'm playing this game still, I never got the Hitmonlee or Tangela to complete my generation one and that looks less likely with all the new monsters popping up. There are things I really didn't miss about playing this game also, like looking like a moron standing outside Cannon Street Station at 6am trying to catch a Noctowl before I jump on the tube or the fact my battery is depleted after a 90 minute commute. Changes for the better have happened to the game, it now doesn't dim the audio of music or podcasts while playing, so the game can take its place as a secondary task once again, there are more ways to customise my avatars look and not all cost real world money which is nice. Also new items from Pokestops such as purple bananas and rarer items to evolve Pokemon have been added and refreshingly it continues to avoid the trappings of a free to play game and there is no option just to flat out buy these items.

This additional content is essential for this seven month old game to continue to be played and relevant, I'm not too sure how long I'll play it now I've returned, almost certainly it won't be as long as those balmy days of generation one. While I'm also a massive fan of this new batch of monsters, i'm not sure its going to be the sweeping success it was this time round, most people would be able to identify a Pikachu or Charizard and I can't see the Piloswines and Woopers of the world appealing to the masses, however cute they are. The sad truth is though I'm still an addict and once the shine of these 80 new creatures wears off all it will take for me to bounce back in is the offer of a couple of new monsters, which for the time being they have plenty of.

Continuing on the seedy theme I played a bit more of Yakuza 0 (PS4) as well. After finishing up on The Last Guardian last week I wasn't looking for too much story stuff so instead I wandered the streets for a good while, enjoying the random fights an tasks that pop up at a regular pace. The fighting continues to be great fun, balancing its ernest tone with stupidity, whacking people with Pachinko signs never grows old. I've gone down the path of upgrading and got a flying kick which fails to connect more often than not, but the animation of failing to hit the target is also really amusing. Side activities are really varied in both content and quality, I can't see myself returning to the toy car racing any time soon and the watch a girl in a bikini take a bath videos are a real low point of the game, it really doesn't need to lower itself to the BMXXX audience and even taking it for what it is, its not erotic. Other side activities are wonderful, I happened upon a nightclub in the middle of the day, and upon speaking to the DJ a dancing mini game starts, which is as much fun as the Karaoke game I played earlier, again this lack of seriousness is where the game shines. Along with this just the density of what to do in the streets is great, attempting to track down a students girlfriend (who he is accusing of prostitution with little evidence) I stumbled across baseball batting cages which again had a fun little mini game inside. I've yet to find the students girlfriend, i'm in no hurry as I don't think she's in any danger and he struck me as a bit of an idiot.

 

Earthbound and Dune 16.02.17

Not a Hero (PS4) Played quite a bit of this fun little 2D shooter this week. From the makers of Olli Olli (and its sequel) its quite a drastic departure in terms of subject but in terms of look and gameplay in places theres similarities. The setup from the game is to aide a character called BunnyLord rise to political power through shooting, stealing and turning on billboards. The levels are small and set up a main objective at the start with bonuses for completing other things, such as getting to the end of the level without being shot a number of times or completing it under a set time. There is where the challenge tends to lie, and I found it fun to attempt these, especially when they were more obscure things like stealing a hidden item or meeting with some news reporters before a timer ran out. It took me a bit of time to get to grips with the controls, even though they are fairly simplistic. Ducking behind cover is essential to succeeding in the game as most of the enemies do the same and reloading isn't automatic which has taken me some time to get to grips with, using cover or breaks in the frantic shootouts to do this is really important and health regenerates in this downtime too. It's a very British affair, the first two characters unlocked have been Scottish and Welsh and played a bit to these stereotypes, hopefully as I unlock more there will be a bit more depth to the humour. Beyond a new accent I've not really seen the appeal of playing as the new characters i've unlocked, the cockney dude I've started as is balanced enough that he seems the easiest way to get through the game. Broforce is a game that springs to mind when I'm playing this mostly aesthetically, I don't think this comparison is helping at the moment as in Broforce I loved the anticipation of a new character unlocking as well as the humour. Not a Hero seems like it might be the better game though and i'm looking forward to playing more of it.

What has been more of a chore though has been finishing the last few hours of The Last Guardian (PS4). I don't think I've ever played a game that can be so varied in quality, and this is consistent throughout. After an impressive and tense boss fight near the end and helping Trico recover with one of the more interesting collecting barrels bits of the game the game then moved me across impressive vistas atop of Trico, it was almost a highlights reel of the game so far, jumping up buildings and darting up staircases as we ascended to the top of the games world. I forgave Trico's lack of compliance to my orders and waited it out as he saw where to go and when to take run ups for his leaps. When we reached our goal, a gleaming white tower which has been on the horizon for the entire game, it then descended to everything thats bad about this game. Waves of enemies attacked us, and combat is at best easy and at worst completely random in this game. Trico will pretty much trash any enemy with ease, so its more a case of waiting it out on his back until an enemy type he cant do anything about appear and then either attempting to shoot them with the shield. A pretty much fruitless task when your on his back because the button prompt to shoot is the same as to stroke Trico, so instead of laying waste to the bad guys I tended to give Trico a reassuring pat on the back. Using the sheild as a weapon on the ground is pointless 9 times out of 10 as it takes way to long to charge and I got picked up by an enemy, which then becomes a frustrating button mash to escape they're grip. The best tactic therefore I found to be rolling into this last wave of enemy type and rely on chance, a small window of time before they pick up the weapon Trico hates so much again where Trico can stamp on them. Once getting through this I was presented with a coliseum like room, daunting because it seemed like the place where waves of enemies would attack me but surely so soon after completing a section which does just this it wouldn't repeat the trick (especially as its the least fun thing the game does) but nope, waves of enemies attacked me an Trico, I waited until the last wave and repeated my rolling trick to finish them off. Its just not fun. Then the game did something completely unexpected, it found a task even less fun, removing Trico from a combat section, where I ran around in circles escaping the grip of enemies (by button mashing) pressing a stupid amount of buttons. Once I got through these tasks the game reached its conclusion, the final sequence is fantastic. A genuinely fun puzzle, followed by some harrowing moments and a satisfying finale while also presenting a glorious reminder of the hours i've put into the game. 

Throughout the game there is an emphasis on stubborn mechanics, whether it be a creature that barely responds to me, combat which is complete luck or puzzles which are roadblocked by chance. I do really like the game and am really pleased to have played through it but its certainly something which I'd rather have been removed from the gameplay more often.