Earthbound and Dune 16.02.2016

After finally completing the main story of Fallout 4 I wanted a shorter more sedate experience, so I turned to Firewatch (PS4) which while a brief game (i completed it in two sittings) was not a serine exploration of the wilderness. From what I got out of it it's a game about how I deal with problems, right off the bat the story presented me with a major issue to deal with and the flexibility to decide how to deal with it. Initially the choices given didn't seem too varied which helped keep the narrative tight while also for me felt more human, whatever path I went down seemed like a shitty thing to do, but more believable than giving polar opposites. I'm being specifically vague as its a game driven by the the story it tells and so short I'd find it hard not to recommend playing while knowing nothing. The things I really liked and won't ruin any surprises are the design. At times it looks incredibly real, only being brought down to earth by a glance at the lead characters cartoony physique. There's a neat workaround for the conversation choices made too, all character interactions are though a walkie talkie and buttons mapped to the shoulders of the controller, it has a satisfying clunk on screen and helps to immerse in the world. I wasn't too keen on setting the game in the 80s, it seemed like a cheap way of justifying the lack of modern technology like GPS and not any other reason. The few bits that reminded me here and there that it was a period piece, Totos Africa or a Walkman felt too knowing. That's a minor gripe with the game though, especially as it justifies the use of a map and compass throughout. It doesn't take long in the game before it becomes an exercise in orienteering, and I thought it was really cool how by stripping back mechanics which are commonplace like arrow markers it made me think more about where I was going. It also made what was actually quite a small physical space feel much more expansive. As the story continued while I got frustrated that some areas where fiddly to get around (without a jump) I was also surprised to see it taking tropes from Metriod and Zelda in making new areas accessible when new things were found. 

One thing I found early on in the disposable camera was ambiguous throughout, here and there I'd take snaps (aware of the limited film in the camera) sometimes of things I thought important but others of things that looked pretty, a butterfly on a log or ruined jet-ski. The payoff for this was a wonderful thing, and even more so that it wasn't constantly reminding me to take pictures. The payoff for the story itself I liked, it suited the tone of the game for me, if it had gone another way it could have been jarring. That's all I can really say about Firewatch without getting into what happens, I liked it a lot.

Earthbound and Dune 10.02.16

SPOILERS BELOW

So after a long slog which included a break for about a month around christmas I finally got to the end of the main story in Fallout 4 (PS4). Whats really interesting is how split opinion i've read about the game is. Every issue I've read in the game seems to be if you've taken another path or faction to what i've taken. Performance issues on the Playstation 4 I didn't experience (apart from a few points of minor framerate drops) but I could see where they would be if i'd joined another faction, presumably if I'd gone with the Brotherhood of Steel I would have controlled Liberty Prime at some point or at least been flying about in helicopters instead of shooting them down. Its not hard to imagine these mechanics would have been more straining to the console. After reading the other endings (I'm not inclined to play through again) It seems that three endings are very similar and the other (which I took) is more bespoke, and while I can see that thats frustrating, I can't be too upset because I found the ending I was given satisfying. 

What struck me most about the game is how morally ambiguous it is throughout, there didn't seem to be a right or wrong path. Introduced early on through the ark of the character Kellogg, and not subtly as I walked through his memories at one point seeing what made him become the child snatching/wife killing/age defying assassin he is by the point I met him. The game at this point was getting me to side with him, understand what pushed him to becoming the primary antagonist early on. Whilst I sympathised with him I still was inclined to kill him quite mercilessly when given the option. My justification was he had the information I needed and he would do the same. From then on (and this happened to me around a quarter of the way through my play-through) I didn't encounter another antagonist, or at least to the same degree. Every opponent I met from Paladin Danse to my own son where distinctly grey in terms of whats right and wrong. I decided the right thing for me was to support my son and his goals. Quickly I realised the path I was on was essentially the same as that of Kellogg, the Institute was using me and my knowledge of the wasteland to they're gain. The point this was forced home hardest was when being sent to deal with the Railroad faction. Father (my son) assigned me the task. On the word wheel of choices I admitted I'd formed a bond with them, that I was reluctant to kill them. Fine he said, talk them down. So I went to see them, and quickly it became apparent this wasn't an option, my only option it seemed was to kill them all and they put up little fight. When completing this mission and looting the corpses of characters who'd helped me earlier find my son, I had accepted that I was quickly becoming a bad person in this game. It was before this mission that I found out that Father was dying and that he wanted me to take over his work. The son who I'd spent half the game finding to discover he was an old man who had not only survived all these years, but thrived and helped create a society was for the first time in need of me to act as his father. Thats how I justified killing the entire faction of the Railroad. 

This was my darkest moment in the game, the Railroad had done nothing wrong, certainly I had more misgivings about the behaviour of the Brotherhood. I'll get to that in a bit. The next few missions for me where me trying to make a small difference to the bigger picture, it was obvious that the Institute where not going to change they're attitudes toward synths or people surviving the wasteland but I could make an impression through a few choices and it seemed to work. When I was confronted with the Minutemen again prior to capturing a scientist they didn't act with hostility, I could reason with them. The Minutemen where the only other faction I considered going with, I still use Sanctuary as my base of operations and its populated by a mixture of mutants, synths, dogs and Minutemen I've met along the way. Not seeing Preston drinking at the bar I'd built or Sturges wandering about would have been quite distressing. Toward the end of the story, lines of dialogue I'd decided on start to play out over the radio, a reminder of the fairer more accepting wasteland I was trying to build. Ideally my Sanctuary would be a microcosm of the Commonwealth, but this would take time (and obviously wouldn't be achieved in this game). What I did achieve though was getting rid of the Brotherhood. 

Whereas the mission to destroy the Railroad felt like a downer the end of the Brotherhood was the Hollywood ending to the game I wasn't expecting. I mixed up combat with sniping down helicopters from afar to stealing missile launchers and blowing up the infantry. When I got closer to my goal I started to call in Synths to help, short bursts of conversation with them saw them regard me with fondness and respect. The Brotherhood retaliated by sending in named characters, people I'd had dialogue with, but instead of feeling reluctant to kill them like the Railroad, they're twisted vision of the world in the game made me embrace killing them. As I slowly chipped away at the waves of Brotherhood soldiers Paladin Danse showed up, he'd given me a gun early in the game as a mark of respect and thanks for completing a mission. I took this gun out and fired a few fatal shots at him, it was when I looted his corpse that a few hints toward him being a synth came up. Presumably this may have been touched upon with different story choices, but the idea of him being something his faction was actually trying to destroy was a powerful concept.

There where plenty of cliches and things that I would've liked seen done differently in the time I spent with the game. I can also see quite clearly how if I'd taken another route through it I would have had a different opinion on the story but that in itself is fascinating to me, that whole arcs of characters are locked out following one decision. I'm now chipping away a a few missions which I hadn't completed and they do get repetitive, as much as I like Preston as a character he keeps asking me to do one more mission, invariably killing some ghouls upsetting a small settlement. My final thoughts on the game though are it's one hell of a thing. Dense with story, at times so much so that fantastic plot lines can be missed. I stand by it being the best thing I played last year and for a long time but it's such a personal journey I completely understand why people disliked or where disinterested in it.  

Earthbound and Dune 28.01.16

I started Life is Strange (PS4) this week, the game hadn’t really caught my attention until a few weeks back, and even then it didn’t seem like the type of game which would appeal to me. Turns out I was very wrong, usually I don’t play episodic games, and I don’t care much for adventure games either but the fact that this came packaged up neatly as all episodes on a disk really helped me get over my misgivings and my feelings on adventure games are changing as I realise a lot of the games I love take tropes from them. Anyway back to the actual game without going into too much detail, you control an 18 year old girl who goes to boarding school and flies fairly under the radar in terms of social groups. Max (the girl you play as) is a really refreshing character, in that she doesn’t fall into the stereotype girl sent away to boarding school bracket. She has a strong relationship with her family, cares for her friends and is generally a pretty cool girl. Interactions with other characters are the players choice and they tend to not be to grey in terms of a good or bad answer, for example after inflicting some revenge on a bully your given the opportunity to either pick on her or console her. Moments like this will also effect your game in some way (highlighted by a butterfly on screen) actions and choices seem to be very important. At the end of the first episode I was given a list of the actions which will effect my game going forward and thats a great touch, although with one of these things, seeing it on a list made me regret my choice. The other mechanic which is unique is Max’s superpower of sorts, being able to reverse time. Introduced early on it means that you can manipulate time to rethink your actions, the tutorial for this mechanic is great at showing you how the power can work. Personally I’m avoiding using it too much to reverse my choices, but its fantastic to use it to stop a girl having toilet roll thrown at her or whatever. The soundtrack is lovely, and I’ll got into the look of it the more I play, its sudo-realism suits the themes of the game. Above all of this the story is the most impressive thing about the game, and I don’t really want to go too much into it without saying so far its avoided most of the cliches I associate with teen dramas and there is a big mystery looming over everything which I can’t wait to unravel.

I also started The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS). I never really got into A Link to the Past or any of the top down Zelda games, I played a big chunk of The Phantom Hourglass but wasn’t feeling it at all. So I started this game with some reservations, again these where blown away almost instantly. Its really accessible from the start, the new mechanic of being able to become a drawing of Link to be able to merge into walls is great, I love the little touch of the music becoming more diluted when your in this 2D look. The dungeons are really well balanced for a portable console, I’m three dungeons in, and each one so far has been easy to drop out of and save then jump back into later in the day. It looks a lot better than in the screenshots and videos i’d seen, due at times to some great use of 3D and the world is just big enough to wander across quickly while at the same time feeling varied, and thats without any nostalgia for A Link to the Past. The new trick of being able to rent all the items from really early on makes the game feel more open, certainly to which dungeon to approach first of all but the combination of these items to other things given to you in the story (usual Zelda fare, flippers and bracelets) means there is a structure to the game which feels more familiar. I’m really enjoying it so far, I always know where I am with a Zelda game but this time a lot feels fresher about it.

Earthbound and Dune 23.01.16

I got round to playing some Pony Island (Steam) this week, a weird little puzzle game which is set in an arcade cabinet. I wasn't deterred by the cutesy cheap looking menu, which lasts mere seconds before it becomes a completely different style both visually and conceptually. Basically the devil takes control of the machine (or might always have had control) and the game then becomes me trying to outwit the devil with a number of different puzzles, and a few kind've platformy/skill based bits (which are awful on a trackpad, so I'd advise a mouse or controller). It has more narrative than I was expecting, bits where I broke out to the operating system of the "game" and spoke to another person trapped where both funny and inventive. These are refreshing little chunks of the whole experience which I've really enjoyed, and certainly more since I dug out a mouse. It looks cool, and the music is a good mixture of catchy and creepy, it doesn't look like there is much more to the game but I like it a lot.

I came off my Splatoon (WiiU) sabbatical for a few games, which turned into a healthy couple of hours of gameplay, it's still really good. The most remarkable thing about the game is how accessible it is. I've probably stated before that I never feel like I'm not good enough or am being overwhelmed by better players, and I'm only level 16 or so, I've got my gun of choice which suits my tactics and I always feel useful and decent at the game. Even games like Rocket League are starting to be swamped with people either destroying me for no reason or giving me some fruity language for not performing a miraculous save, so the fact Splatoon hasn't devolved into an exclusive club for people who've played it religiously for the last 10 months is a remarkable thing. The last couple of levels which they've added are really cool too. 

Finally I played a ton more Downwell (iOS) while commuting and sometimes in a lunch break, it's fantastic even though I'm pretty terrible at it! That it's helped me go cold turkey from Animal Crossing on a train is an added bonus.

Earthbound and Dune 13.01.16

Still in a bit of a rut with what i’m playing at the moment, I gave Hardware: Rivals (PS4) a go. It wasn’t a fun experience really, I was hoping for a Rocket League like surprise, but it was more conventional car combat and the controls a lot less intuitive. I drove about for a bit getting picked off by people who’d managed to get there cars (or tanks) onto roofs and once I’d found the fire button was bored with the whole experience. Not very memorable at all and probably won’t return to it.

I did return to another game though, Pikmin 3 (WiiU). I completed this when it came out and really enjoyed playing through it, for some unknown reason I had an urge to play some more of it. There’s a downside to playing the story again from the start, in that you have to erase all your progress (it only allows one save slot apparently) but I wasn’t too bothered about that. The only other complaint I have about the game is it came out at that time when the WiiU really didn’t know what it was, the range of controller options are overwhelming and the best I remembered was a Wiimote and Nunchuck arrangement. So after dusting off my preferred controllers, syncing the to the machine and finding AA batteries I was ready to play. From now on all i’ve got to say about the game is positive, it still looks great, especially the landscapes and fruit. The soundtrack is some of the best video game music i’ve heard and it oozes charm. I’d forgotten the integration with the gamepad where you get a call from other members of your party elsewhere on the planet and you answer a video call on the gamepad, a lovely touch. The game itself is a RTS game set within tight time constraints, a day is around 10minutes, and in that time you’ve got to get fruit for rationing to your crew (which never exceeds four) and all your Pikmin back to there ship, failing this gives a rather bleak cutscene where monsters come out at dusk and devour all the remaining Pikmin. Early on your given an introduction to core elements, rock Pikmin can smash glass, red Pikmin are stronger, blue Pikmin can swim etc. The rate of introduction to the new Pikmin is such that its never overwhelming, and its got that Metroid thing going on where you can see areas which will be accessible only once newer Pikmin types are available. I didn’t play the earlier games but I think the addition of more than one playable character is new, this allowing me to separate my Pikmin between them and moving them about the map (another good use of the gamepad). I got through a few days, and amazingly only a couple of Pikmin have died at my command. How much further i’ll get in the game I don’t know, as I’ve already completed it, but its still a lovely thing and I’d almost forgotten how much I enjoy it.

Finally I continued with Grow Home (PS4) slowly i’m growing my plant to the next level, mastering jumping from a high point, feathering the jet pack and deploying the flower to float to the red buds to get that little bit further toward my ship. Its a really relaxing experience, while also spectacular when I step back and look at the vines which I’ve manipulated toward my goal. The way the game goes from one little plant in the ground to this vast sprawling thing is amazing.

Earthbound and Dune 05.01.16

While the Playstation Network was down for some maintenance this week I took the opportunity to play a bit more of Grow Home (PS4) and while the first time I picked it up I nothing really grabbed me about it, this time I really liked it. At first glance it looks like a modern 3D platformer but in terms of gameplay the only things it seems to have taken from the likes of Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie is an occasionally erratic camera and some item collecting. The robot I was in control of is purposely loose in his movement, even on the rare occasion you find yourself on stable footing he wobbles about, it looks really charming. The big concept in the game is climbing, the shoulder buttons relating to which hand grips to the surface to ascend higher (I’m making it sound way more complicated than it is) and pretty much at the start I was given a large plant to get up (like a beanstalk) with the aim of getting back to the robots spaceship. It wasn’t long before I was at daunting heights and a mistake with my grip saw me tumbling back to the bottom. Checkpoints appear at different heights in the form of pads you can teleport too. The placement of these seem well balanced, neither too easy or hard. Soon other concepts are layered on, like growing parts of the plant to get to other platforms (and grow the main stalk of the plant), a flower which acts a consumable parachute and a jetpack, the game doesn’t seem intimidating at any point because you can always see where your aiming to get to high up in the sky. There have been some delightful touches scattered through the game so far, like finding a dodo running about in a cave. The humour has been good so far too, apart from one joke about making a .GIF of me falling, which seemed out of place. 

Once my Playstation was back online I had a chance to play a bit of the Destiny (PS4) expansions, getting through the Dark Below missions in a sitting and I’ve moved onto the House of Wolves levels. Its been interesting playing through it after all the dust as has settled, the first expansion seems really short, especially for the original price, good to have more to play of it. The second seems to be reacting to the fact that its predecessor is so limited, its much harder, with some more inventive touches. The whole package seems like good value now it comes with the third expansion as well (and it certainly seems like good value if bought with the base game) and now everything in the game seems much clearer in terms of how to level up and follow quests the proposition of a sequel or further expansions this year is really exciting.

Earthbound and Dune: Game of the Year 2015

Like my list last year this list is purely what I’ve played this year, i’ve not played every AAA title, some of which I think would have been close to making this list (Dying light) and others I played a bit of but I couldn’t get into (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt). I’d have love to found a place on this list for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, just to justify the amount of hours i’ve sunk into it, but it also falls short because A. It came out a long time ago and B. I’m not sure its a game.  

Some fantastic games fell short of my list, reissues of Grim Fandango, Resident Evil, The Last of Us and the Unfinished Swan as well as Everyones Gone to the Rapture, Destiny (post patch), Yoshi’s Wooly World, 80 Days, Downwell, Gauntlet and Cities Skylines.

10 Her Story (Steam) Weirdly this was the most memorable thing I played for the weekend I played it, then instantly I forgot it. While I was getting through this mysterious game most of my time not playing it I was thinking of phrases and words to look up to help me unravel it, I’m not sure if the experience could be repeated or copied in other games but it was a remarkable and unique experience.

09 FAST Racing Neo (WiiU) With F Zero forgotten about for the time being this game snuck in and filled all my futuristic racing needs. Beneath the sparse menus lies a deep game with a variety of unique environments to race on. Adding a mechanic that involves changing the colour of your ship to boost at points makes some races feel like a rhythm game, the only downside is the cost of making a mistake can seem fairly harsh, but the speed of the game makes sure that the pack of other racers are always in reach. On top of all this it looks great, has robust online play and is relatively cheap too.    

08 Rocket League (PS4) Playstation Plus has become a great place to find gems like this. Simple in its concept, football with cars, but the delicacy of the controls and physics of the ball add much more depth. A great game online, although failed attempts at clearing the ball or stopping it on the line left me with nowhere to hide on a few occasions (luckily the community is forgiving). Not much more to add about this game, great fun and really addictive.

07 Journey (PS4) The HD reissues of this and The Unfinished Swan gave me a chance to experience two games I'd been interested in for the first time. Journeys relatively short and sombre story of a characters travels through a desert is fairly ambiguous but delves into some deeper concepts toward the end. Gameplay is fantastic, and it's a game which gives you new mechanics quickly then takes them away so nothing really gets repeated or feels overused and awesome moments like gliding down massive sandy dunes are more memorable because they feel unique. Bumping into other players made me feel connected whilst almost more alone on my journey, especially the harrowing moments when they exit your game. Loved it all the way to its emotional conclusion.

06 Splatoon (WiiU) In many ways the antithesis of an online shooter. Short easy to understand bursts of gameplay without voice chat and oozing Nintendo charm. Playing it never feels too overwhelming, and while other players are at a higher level than me (and better at the game) I always feel useful and that winning matches is within my grasp. Add to this the constantly expanding roster of levels and weapons, the surprisingly deep single player campaign and the robust online play (I've never been kicked out of a match or experienced any lag) and Nintendo have made one of the most inventive and addictive shooters i've played.

05 Bloodborne (PS4). I doubt I'll ever finish Bloodborne, and I didn't get much over halfway through the game. The time I spent with it though was unlike anything I'd played before, addictive while unsettling at the same time. Progress is painfully slow, but played at such a rhythm that I wanted to keep coming back, in fact if and when I return to it I'd be tempted to start again as the game relies so much on knowledge of the areas your in and enemy placement. The few bosses I beat took everything I'd learnt in the game to beat, and none of them felt easy while at the same time they all felt beatable, a hard thing to balance. On top of all this it's probably the best looking game of 2015 with some fantastic art direction.

04 Mario Maker (WiiU) As the WiiU began to seemingly wind down its output of games Nintendo shook things up with one of the best titles I can remember them releasing in years. A simple enough idea, give the player the tools to make a Mario game through 4 different styles, is made all the better by the ease of use and fantastic UI. Its only flaw, is a personal one. Beyond creating levels with a theme, my abilities, or patience are limited and I don't get to experience the full extent of the creative tools given to me, instead I play others levels in awe of whats made. On top off all this its got a great integration with Amiibo (and possibly the best) and continues to be supported with updates.

03 Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (PS4) I had so much fun with this game, a large sandbox with dozens of bases to approach in countless ways, and it allowed a lot of leeway for my appalling stealth ability. The game gets a lot better story-wise in the second act, with the final revelation being fantastic (although predictable). I had a couple of issues with the game, it went beyond frustrating with a couple of missions (including the fantastic climax to Quiets story) and the character Quiet was way over sexualized, which is such a shame as she was a great character with an interesting story to tell, its hard to take any of that seriously when she's parading about almost naked for little reason. These issues were minors blips though in a great game. 

02 Undertale (Steam) Charming, witty and dark at the same time. Amongst a small group of games which have made me laugh aloud (intentionally) and I found it hard not to adore its twisted cast. Along with this it keeps messing with traditional turn based combat, turning most encounters into fun, skill based mini-games (think Warioware with a story). I thought it looked great, simple graphics but well done, especially at points when it played with weather and light. The ending I got was a brutal fight with a boss, but leading up to that there was a touching message from the game which made the 6 hours or so I spent with it worthwhile. Despite being wrapped in an RPG shell, probably the most accessible game on this list, and the one I'd recommend the most. 

01 Fallout 4 (PS4). Since Fallout 3 I've grown to love the world the games exist in. Whereas a lot of RPG worlds feel created or false, Fallouts world feels beaten up and lived in. Rifling through long dead peoples belongings can be tragic or funny while useful at the same time. The step up to the new generation of consoles has made the world seem less grey, small settlements are now filled with neon and storms of a bright green rage from time to time. It's still a buggy game in places, and some mechanics are either still a bit fiddly or are added and a whole new type of contrived (base building for example). Beyond that though its a fantastic experience, features added like a more streamlined weapon customisation, power armour which runs on fuel and the aforementioned base building fit into the game seamlessly and makes the hoarding through junk meaningful. Storylines unravel throughout the map as you wander about and can be funny, unsettling or sad. There was a weight to the choice of what faction I choose to join, or at least support, and instead of going with the most powerful group I actually toyed with the morality of my choice. Its a game I'll keep coming back to and is everything I'd have hoped for.