Last Game You Finished And Your Thoughts V3.0

If you’re considering it as a Yoshi series game, I’m right; if you’re considering it as a 2D Mario series game, you’re right, mas. I do still believe that the evidence for it being a Mario series is circumstantial, in that he is in the game. The mechanics that make the game what it is are pure Yoshi.

I think Mas is right either way - his post doesn't actually say it's a 2D Mario game. And none of the NSMB games have held a candle to Yoshi's Island, in my opinion.

Gave Shu a shoeing over the weekend. Much like Zero Jones said two pages back, it's held back by quite a few things. Along the way, it's a peculiar sort of game, irritating as often as it is soothing, with a nuanced and expressive style and flow that's a little bit let down by annoying obstacles and abilities. Short and to the point, solid indie-riffic platforming, 6/10.

I'll have extended thoughts on this at some point, but I polished this off yesterday. It's definitely a relic of the past in a lot of its design decisions, although the PSP port did its best to update it visually and mechanically with such features like replacing the antiquated magic system with a more conventional MP magic system.

From a story standpoint it's bare bones in its plot, but the thrill came from putting together a customiseable band of heroes and then exploring a wide open world. I can see why this would have captured the hearts of many back in the day as wandering the world and finding new cities or caves was a treat even playing this over 30 years from its original release date. The incessant random battling and the somewhat skeletal battle system... less impressive.

Still, the blueprints are definitely there for the series as a whole, but time's not been too kind to this one.

It was alright this - essentially a Metroidvania with a cute flying robot. It's the sort of game where you want to spend ages finding all the hidden bits; there were a couple of neat puzzles. However, a lot of it involved flying into areas that looked like they might have something hidden behind them. Music and graphics are atmospheric, but, as much as I would normally champion telling a story without words and cutscenes, it was a bit "oh that's the end then I guess". This is not an eloquent review. But 7/10

I'm going to keep this brief as not much more to say then this gets an absolute must play and will be hard to top for game of the year and is likely one if not the best game only available on PS4.

A bit of an odd one as I'm using the picture of the 20th Anniversary Edition for Rise of the Tomb Raider which came to PS4 a year after Xbox One exclusivity was over.

20th came with all the DLC plus extras for the anniversary which was Croft Manor a story like mission, and a Zombie Mode also on PS4 it was VR compatible.

Well RotTR is on Game Pass and Xbox One has really great cloud saving that I downloaded RotTR of Game Pass and could continue on from where I left off in 2015 which was the story all done but I didn't play any of the DLC and what I've been saying about Game Pass is true as I went bought the 3 single player pieces of DLC for £7 in a sale which was the pieces before 20th came out and Croft Manor which was added in to the Xbox version like a month after the PS4 relese.

One was a challenge map which you can find in the challenge/score attack menu but does have a slight story to it.
The second part is the big one at 3 odd hours - Baba Yaga which you play through it in the actual main game and has Ashly Burch in it.
Last is Croft Manor which was fun as someone who's first PS1 game was Tomb Raider to get that #Nostalgia and I did play the Zombie mode which was okay but the worst of the bunch of things from the 3 single player pieces.

For £7 for 5hrs of decent content and checking out this on One X was well worth it, and now I'm excited about Shadow of the Tomb Raider this year even though I've got a feeling much like Rise will come out at a bad time to do really well and I'm not sure about Eidos Montréal being behind it instead of Crystal Dynamics (who are doing Avengers, wonder if that will be at E3?).

Before anyone brings it up yes there is also an Endurance Mode which was another piece of DLC and that had CO-OP but not my sort of thing but if it is then buying the Season Pass would have been cheaper and you'd get a few other things like new weapons & costumes if you were to buy that instead of me just going for what I wanted.

I still also highly recommend both games from the second reboot.

Have been dipping in and out of the Tomb Raider reboot myself, so I'm glad to hear Rise of the Tomb Raider is worth a purchase. Probably one I'll pick up when it's on sale.

Is the engine any different to its predecessor? I love how Lara moves, it's a lot more enjoyable than dragging Drake around Uncharted.

I think it's the same one, yeah I would say Lara controls better than Drake.

I had some money left over on a Game voucher and bought a pre-owned copy of this several weeks ago. Colour me very impressed. There are little aspects here and there which detract from the overall experience: It's at times exposition heavy, dialogue is sometimes poor (odd statements of "kick his ass" feel a little out of place in a post-apocalyptic, pseudo-primal world), I'm not totally sold on the combat, and sometimes I'd get confused as to where exactly the developers wanted me to climb.

However, most of these frustrations come from a place of being so utterly enamored with the world design and attention to detail in certain plot-points. I wanted to tear through this game like I would a Song of Ice and Fire novel, always increasingly disappointed with the accursed human condition necessitating sleep over the past few days! There's a whole lot of love and creativity that has been poured into this game, manifesting itself into something special.

I just kind of wish it was a film or a book rather than a video game.

I remember Quinns of Cool Ghosts once saying something along the lines of, "I'm always disappointed in the narratives of games because I can't help but compare them to literature or films and they're just nowhere near as good." I think that's sadly what I feel about Horizon: Zero Dawn. I would have loved seeing a talented author or screenwriter & director trim the fat and leave us with something truly exceptional.

Don't get me wrong, the above comes from a place of love. I highly recommend Horizon: Zero Dawn, and that's a testament to how good it is given that Open-World games really aren't my thing.

That's exactly how I feel about the Danganronpa titles. Apart from anything else, I'd be able to enjoy DR3 more easily!

Quite sad to say that I've reached the end of A Hat In Time on PS4, as I thought it was absolutely brilliant. As well as being very animated and self-assured, it's got a lot of imagination, spark and feeling. It's a very earnest and big-hearted nod to the greats of the genre (like Super Mario Sunshine and Banjo-Kazooie) that booted me right in the nostalgic tadger. Genuinely, it nails the characters, humour, tunes, level variety and the quality of the platforming itself in a way that would make you think that Rare developed it when they were in their prime. It's definitely got a personality of it's own though, and it's a lot more inspired than I've made it sound. It just got more creative, fun and all-round better as I got further into it. A Hat In Time, A Fantastic Time, 9/10.

Thanks for the reviews, I'll be downloading that soon.

I've heard very good things about AHoT, but there's a small rather large petty part of me that begrudges their very definite statements that it'll never come to Switch. Maybe it would be really tough to port over, I don't know. All I know is that I have no other active machines apart from my Mac, on which I've struggled to play the one Steam game I have.

Also 3D platformers should never be played without an analogue stick. A shame.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

I polished this off today. I've written about the individual cases: 1, 2, 3 and 4, so I won't go into too much detail.
Ultimately, this is probably the weakest game I've played in the series so far. That isn't to say it dips into being a bad game. It was still a brilliant little story, and a quality entry in one of my favourite game series. There were just a few weaknesses in the writing and the way the player interacts compared to the classic trilogy. I'm glad I played it and I'm excited to carry on.
10/10

Drunkalilly wrote:

Ultimately, this is probably the weakest game I've played in the series so far. That isn't to say it dips into being a bad game.

I think that's a completely fair way to sum up the game. Also the main villain is, in my opinion, up with the series' best.

Balladeer wrote:

Also 3D platformers should never be played without an analogue stick. A shame.

Switch Pro Controller now works with Steam and it seems like the Dual Shock 4 it has a light on it which shows which player you are, yet the Switch doesn't seem to use this.

It's a notification light & is also on the home button of joycons too, I assume it's meant to be connected to the news tab like the wii U was but for whatever reason it isn't active.

Oh okay, I only saw a quick tweet about it.



I've just beat OG Xbox exclusive Panzer Dragoon Orta which is sort of still stuck on that system unless you have a 360 or ONE due to backwards compatibility. Orta like a lot of early OG Xbox games from SEGA was meant to be for the Dreamcast and was one of the games that sold me on the OG Xbox back in day.

If you don't know what Panzer Dragoon series is (part from Saga as that's an RPG) well it's an on-rails shooter like Star Fox but better for me personally due to the setting and story.

The biggest thing in common as well is that it's short, it's taken me 3hrs but I did play on easy as this a hard game even if I was good enough for normal it still be short, however you have different paths to go down, high scores, ranks and a boatload of unlocks including sub missions and the original game from the Saturn.

I'm not sure it's a must play but I could see gJones enjoying it along with anyone else that likes the genre and wants a bit of a cult classic his for you.

I've never played a Panzer Dragoon game, but hopefully someday. Perhaps my biggest gaming regret was not picking up Panzer Dragoon Saga (and Enemy Zero and Deep Fear) for £15 each in my local Gamestation before it shut down, because I was too skint. 

~



I've built everything that came packaged with the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit, and I've arsed about with all the games for a few hours now. I'd planned on typing about each of them separately, from the Make, Play and Discover points of view, but truthfully, I'd be repeating myself. 

To Make each of them isn't too tough at all, and it's hard to make mistakes if you closely follow the instructions, but it can get a bit stop-start and dull over a long period of time. Still, it's massively satisfying when it all comes together, they're all fantastic to handle, and all five constructs are solidly built. Maybe too solidly built, to be honest: they're taking up loads of space on my shelves. 

To Play each project is amazing to experience and great fun to play, and they all work very well, but none of the games are that engaging after a while. I'd love to see (free) DLC for the Fishing and Motorbike as they seem to have the most going for them, but I'd be happy for more Piano and House games too. There's not enough of anything, in my opinion. 

To Discover them, it really depends on what you want to do with Labo. It's not my sort of thing, but it's clear to see that other folk have got loads of mileage out of customising their kit and programming their Joy-Con and Switch. 

From my experience, I'd give Labo full marks for inventiveness and how for well it demonstrates what the Switch can do, but now that everything's all built and done, I don't think that there's not much else going on. For me, it's too short-lived, shallow and Wii-like for sixty quid, but, as I said, it's massively satisfying to play and experience. Make sure you do, but hold fire for a price drop, 7/10.

I think that's a fair assessment, although I was happy to pay the 'newness' tax.

Hopefully it's part of SEGA AGES Panzer is some form but I think due to it being on Saturn and then OG Xbox where that sort of game wasn't going to do well its sort of becoming a Cult Classic even though it really shouldn't be and like I said I think it's better than StarFox unfortunately just wrong place at the wrong time for it.

Shame you missed out on those games, I remember not when it was shutting down but when the stopped doing retro after the GAME merge, getting my second Virtual Bout for £15 and a bunch of PS1 games like SOTN for a fiver each. I said to the guy who always seemed to be a bit of a snob (in that PC Master Race way) that was dealing with me, do you know what these are and he was like of course but I'm not going to buy and flog on as I don't want to lose my job (how that go for you).

Even Balla would buy SOTN on PS1, it was that cheap.

Anyway posting as I beat


Forza Horizon 2: Fast and Furious is basically DLC but is a standalone game which has a 1000g to unlock etc which puts you into the FH2 game world in a smaller setting trying to win cars which will get shipped off to Dom, I guess.

It's fine and I kinda like it as I'm not a big racing fan no matter how good Forza Horizon 3 I own is, I'll never finish it but this is just about right.

Double Post



Halo Wars 2 is the best Halo game I've played since Reach back on the 360, it's fantastic. I've always liked the RTS genre but I've never had the patience to play Command & Conquer but this is quick and all about the action and the universe is great to be in, also the multiplayer is rather good as well.

I feel this is a must play for Halo fans and is on both One and PC also part of Game Pass.

Just got the Platinum dinger for this. Wow, exceptional game in terms of its narrative. The developers sought out advice from Psychosis experts and it absolutely shows. There are a bunch of really clever little things - such as Senua never looking directly into the camera unless she's focused on something that blots the voices out - casting you as one of the voices in her head, or at the very least showing a form of anxiety. The game is a testament to what the interactivity of video games can do with storytelling to give us an insight into its themes in ways other mediums can't.

Even though it'll rank highly in my top games list, it's not one I'd recommend for everyone. As thoroughly well told as it is, the game is deeply dark and depressing. There are also several annoying little niggles such as doors not opening unless you're stood in the perfect spot, and I found some of the puzzles a little obnoxious.

If you're looking for something gritty, this isn't something that should be overlooked. I got it on sale, but it's worth full-price too in my estimation.

I personally didn't like it but I'm pleased that Ninja Theory is getting there dues along with touching on difficult subjects, that I give it praise.