The internal clock on Bowsers Inside Story (3DS) continues to tick on, standing at thirteen hours as I edge toward the conclusion of a game I wanted to finish in a week. I still intend to finish and quantify my thoughts on this charming game at some point, just not this week.
Standing at a more impressive fifty hours or so was my playtime to get to the (real) ending of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4). I say the real ending, I've watched the lengthy credits twice and have a conclusion to the story of Big Boss circa 1985, but at the same time i'm back in my helicopter with one more important side op to complete (I think I did two missions out of sync which could lessen the drama of the way things play out). Without going into the final events of the story I really liked it, it was powerful, even to me who hasn't played that much of the other games. From my understanding this game was meant to be building toward Big Boss being the villain of later games, and it certainly does that while also angling toward what will happen with Solid Snake. One aspect of the finale I found really frustrating but could understand why it played out that way, perhaps it didn't need to go on that long though. On the whole its a fantastic game, which I've had so much fun with, I've got a bit more clearing up of side ops to do, but once thats done it would take me a while to return to it as most of the joys I had from the game were from either discovering an inventive way to complete my objectives or attempting to unravel what was going on in the story.
I played a small amount of the Battlefront (PS4) beta over the weekend, and while it looks and sounds pretty much exactly as i'd have hoped I found the other players were already at such a higher level than me that a lot of the enjoyment was sucked out of the game pretty quickly. Especially the battle of Hoth gameplay, which is a fantastic recreation of the second films opening battle, I wanted a chance to have a root around the world but sadly I was being picked off with ease (whatever side I was on), sometimes it was humorous, either being stomped on by an ATAT or coming head to head with Darth Vader in a trench but more often it was being sniped from miles away by someone at a much higher level. I found the loadouts and weapons seemed to benefit the higher level players too much, and the idea of getting to they're level seemed like too much of a grind for me (thats because I'm inept at these sorts of games though) other issues I had could well be ironed out in the full release though like every time I found a vehicle, the glee of taking control of it was taken away from me as I tried to fudge the controls, the training mode offered in the full game will help with this. For a beta I guess this did what I'd have wanted it to do, get me interested in the final product as there was more promise in the hour or so I spent with it than I was expecting.
Finally I've been playing through Gauntlet (PS4) with a friend online, and it's been a really enjoyable experience (and also the perfect antidote for all the Metal Gear seriousness i've had going on) it takes itself really lightly, perfectly illustrated by the commentary from both the narrator and the characters we're playing. Whats most impressive about it is how it strikes the balance between arcade nostalgia and more modern games, there is a surprising amount of finesse to the combat and different attacks that can be purchased, and so far we've not found a level which has overwhelmed us or seemed impossible. So bits have been tricky, but after a few attempts we've got through everything thrown at us. It looks lovely, lighting in places especially shines (bad pun). Character design is pretty generic, but every once in a while a boss like an anthropomorphic crocodile is thrown at you which looks better than it should. It's taken us about 20 levels to release the cash we've been accumulating can be used to buy other attacks and armour, which led to a spending spree then a less harmonious approach when we see treasure in caves from then on. The end is in sight, which is another design choice I really appreciate (you can see the path to the conclusion mapped out for you) on the whole i've loved my time with it since joining up to play with someone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment