Last Game You Finished And Your Thoughts V3.0

Zero wrote:

So happy that you've loved it, Jas. Roll on The Metroid Prime Four!

(Morph ball) roll on indeed.

Shame to see you had some control issues with the circle pad though & from talking to Jay he's had some as well, I did have a wee adjustment period myself because it does some things differently to the other 2D Metroid games but it clicked into place for me after 20 minutes or so and now I don't think I could go back to the old ways.

I really am gonna have to jump on the Metroid sooner rather than later . . .

Samus Returns is a fine game - they've remade it to feel like Super Metroid, effectively, and it does. I found it tough and was glad

Spoiler:

Secret of Mana

Bloody did it. They don't make them like this any more. Well, they probably do. Shrugs.

I bloody loved this. I never really felt like I got the hang on the pseudo-active-time-battle that goes on (I have a feeling I was a burden to my CPU buddies), a couple of times the girl one and the sprite one got stuck in the walls, I did spend quite a bit of time grinding (which was my fault for doing suicide runs to bosses during the middle of the game), the translation was definitely a 1995 translation, and it suffers from last level syndrome, where the last hour or so has to be repeated if you fail. But it's really really charming - there's a sense of fun that no modern RPG (certainly no western modern RPG) seems to have any more. And, I vastly prefer the game's odd mechanics to the standard turn-based fare of the time.

9.00000000/10.00000000

Fabulous! Glad you liked it, sir - one of the era's classics, in my humble, unsubtle and often wrong opinion.

It was - using the Rice System - a banger. And as far as I can tell, I only completely failed to do one sidequest...

Just finished SWD2 and what a nice metroidvania x dig dug game and is one of the better single player experiences I've had on Switch so far. I would even go as far as saying this might one of the must download games if you (or when you do) have a Switch.

8/10

Seconded, mas. Seconded.

Picross S



It's official - I'm not going to buy a downloadable Picross game ever again. S both upgrades and downgrades the recent 3DS Picross e series: upgrades, in that you can now play it on the TV with a Pro Controller (surprisingly satisfying), there are more hint options, a two-player mode, and a nice choice of music. Downgrades because there is no Micross, the 300 puzzles reveal the same 150 images because Mega Picross simply reuses the Picross results, and there's no touch screen option when you're playing undocked. The main issue I had with the game was a personal one: about halfway through the Mega Picross puzzles, which I did first, I'd had enough. There were lots of other games in my backlog that were calling out to me: Golf Story, Pokémon Gold, FIFA '18, Superstar Saga... and yet there I was, sitting in front of the screen for hours to mark a wee X after doing nothing for a couple of minutes and ironically tell myself that that would crack the case. There was no pleasure in it.

Trying to be objective rating: 13/20

Personal rating: 7/20

So it's more Peecross then Picross then? *runs*

Given that I pretty much agree with your 'personal' score, I'd say you could probably dock a few points off the 'objective' one! It's pretty similar to the post I made about it in this thread. Speaking of which, shouldn't this have gone in there for you? Doesn't sound like you finished it, only finished with it.

Balladeer wrote:

Given that I pretty much agree with your 'personal' score, I'd say you could probably dock a few points off the 'objective' one!  It's pretty similar to the post I made about it in this thread.  Speaking of which, shouldn't this have gone in there for you?  Doesn't sound like you finished it, only finished with it.

I tried not to let my personal feelings get in the way on the objective score: it plays a competent game of Picross, after all. And I did finish it: all 300 puzzles have a finish time, so I've got the rosettes for both game types on the Mode Select screen. If I can finish a game, I will. /

You finished it? Man alive. Doesn't sound worth the trip. Plus points for staying through to the end, I guess...

The other half of the post devolves into 'can reviews be objective', which is a subject for another thread if that. I'd say your criticisms are reasonably objective of the franchise's unwillingness to change, and thus its staleness for long-term players.

Balladeer wrote:

'can reviews be objective'

No.

End of discussion, no need for thread.

...well you heard the man, Zero, get rid of that 13/20 this instant!

I wrote this back in May 2016:

Oxenfree came out at the start of the year for PC & Xbox One, but just this week came to the PS4 and has been updated which I will talk about in another topic which Andy made. From starting this afternoon after lunch and just finishing my 1st go, I can say I enjoyed it, not as much as I was lead to believe how good the game would be as in January this was talked about as a GOTY contender.

That's based on my current play-through which I did like the story, art style, voice acting, soundtrack is okay not as great as I thought it might have been seeing there's a collectors vinyl for it.

If you don't know what the game is, it's basically a story driven almost point & click adventure but with out the pointing and clicking along with Telltale style dialogue choices as you try to get off a island.

If you liked anything like Life is Strange, Firewatch, Stanley Parable you know the story based indie darlings.

7/10


I just finished the Oxenfree on Switch last night and reading back my little review I'm slightly harsh on the game as i do think I put in my Top 5 games of 2016 or was very close to and the story still playing again has that impact.

The only thing like watching a movie you may have already seen, you star notice things and in Oxenfrees case it's stupidly long load times, how Alex walks is weird and sometimes the characters tagging along with you just stand there and even had a some frame-rate drops.

Some of that might be down to the Switch as the game recently was on games for gold and it had above average load times on that from what I've heard from people who have now played it.

This does have the claim of being the best of this sort of game on Switch and it is a odd one as we've got the upcoming Wii U vote and I know there are great games on Wii U that I played elsewhere which are better then some of the things I did play on Wii U like a Mass Effect 3 (Other systems have this as well like The Last of Us being on PS4).

This is sort of the same bracket as it is maybe one of the better games on Switch but not something I would ever sort of recommend for the Switch part from maybe the odd few people like Zero but if some random person was getting a Switch and as me what to get on it then it would be Zelda, Mario + Rabbids, Kart, SteamWorld etc

Golf Story



As amazing as it is to construct a whole - and good, and funny - game whose main mechanic is the classic three-press one to set up your golf club's swing, GS is a little rough around the edges. It takes a suspiciously long time to load, for a start, and there are occasional flashes of screens that were done with a few seconds ago. The music is also very up and down. That said, its looks have a retro charm and there is an awful lot of good stuff to do in both the main quests and the worryingly numerous side quests. As long as you're prepared to swing a golf club often - almost as often as you'll find yourself digging in SteamWorld Dig 2, actually! - you should enjoy this beast. Only available on Nintendo Switch.

15/20

I've heard GS is actually, properly funny, which has me more than intrigued.

It is! A lot of thought has been put into the script and some of the characters even have a bit of depth to them. It's a recommend from me.

I think this remains the best of the Mario & Luigi series, but it's very difficult to know how others will react to it. Those who have played the game before will, well, have played the game before; and may not, unlike m'self, be the sort to play it through on repeat several times. Those who haven't will likely have played a later M&L game. In which case, will the spin jump, high jump, and burrow-under-ground moves seem old hat? They certainly did in later all-new instalments of the franchise.

But. I don't think it's possible to deny the strength of the characters, or the script. Even in an era where 'I HAVE FURY' is as memetic as the memes that spawned it, there are several other forgotten gems that made me chortle. (See signature.) The characters display interesting designs and personalities of a kind Nintendo seem to be afraid of these days (Luigi x Peasley OTP). The world itself, in taking place in the laughter-focussed Beanbean Kingdom, stands out from the fire-ice-lava-ghosties of the Mushroom Kingdom, even if it hits some of the same beats.

The battle system is solid as ever. I personally don't like what they've done with the Bros. Moves in the remake, but think they're still better than those in the rest of the series. They tie in with the field moves, instead of conjuring up a random red shell or whatever. And the enemies you fight include a sentient hourglass, a yoyo-swinging Koopa, and a fizzy drink.

It's not outright better than the original (homogenised Toads, Bros. Moves, removal of one cut-scene), but the music is a damn sight better. And it's got Bowser's Minions if you care about such things. Recommended.

Does the 7 take in to account you've played through before because your review reads better than that. I think this is the only Mario & Luigi game I've missed so I'll be picking it up somehwere down the line.

It does, although at the same time I'm trying to imagine what it would be like for someone who hasn't played it before coming in afresh. I rolled my eyes when I was taught the spin jump and burrowing move in DTB and Paper Jam, so I imagine it'd be somewhat similar here; whereas obviously my memories have this game as the first use of those.

At the same time, I try to use more of the 'out of ten' scale than most. 6/10 means 'above average', 7/10 means 'good', 8/10 means 'great' etc. So a 7/10 is still a recommendation from me.