Last Game You Finished And Your Four-ghts

Control sits on an 84 on Opencrtic and after finishing it last night (I even did some side quests), I would tend to agree as it's that sort of game if it did one or two things different or better it could be a must-have top tier title.

Just it has performance issues on all consoles and I've seen on PS4 where most of you would play it drops under 10fps, the ending makes sense for the game and the whole twilight zone stuff, just it maybe could have been better.

Cool collectables like it brings up Alan Wake if you do read those, side quests can be fun with the objects of power like the fridge.

It's a vey good game and I hope Remedy does have succes with this as they're a great studio but most there games haven't set the world on fire.

I enjoyed Control too, the performance didn’t seem to be much of a problem outside of pausing the game which seemed to confuse it (though it did crash during the end cutscenes for me )

Enjoyed the gameplay, story was utter dross though.

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Mario + Rabbids Kingdom battle

Finished this off last night and while I did enjoy it overall it didn't really do anything I haven't seen before in the genre, I also think they missed a massive opportunity to have this be a fully voiced Mario game (not for Mario, natch but the other characters like beep-0 & Bowser Jr etc.) plus I actually expected it after that very Pixar-like opening cut scene & then again with that great boss fight in world 3.

So, yeah it was good but I've played better TBT games before.

You're a bit of a genre expert, aren't you Jas?  At Western ones, I mean (I know you can't be doing with the weeb stuff).  

Also I don't think it's entirely fair to say it's done nothing new when it's both a Mario & Rabbids crossover and Mario's first strategy game.  Maybe not in the gameplay, but I think overall it's done enough to give itself some leeway to be fairly standard on the gameplay side, at least in this first game in what might become a franchise.  Of course I made very little progress and am not a genre expert and am a big Mario fan, so my view is obviously skewed.

Black Bird

I bought this a couple of weeks ago when it was half price, primarily because it's the latest game by the brilliantly barmy Yoshiro Kimura (of Little King's Story, No More Heroes and Million Onion Hotel fame). It's short, even for a shmup - only 4 levels, each with an accompanying boss - so I'm not sure it would be worth paying full price (£15) for. But it's beautifully weird, and a lot of fun, and it has unusual mechanics - and is obviously designed to be more of a score attack game. I really enjoyed it. I award it one Asparagus Man

Balladeer wrote:

 
Also I don't think it's entirely fair to say it's done nothing new when it's both a Mario & Rabbids crossover and Mario's first strategy game.  Maybe not in the gameplay, but I think overall it's done enough to give itself some leeway to be fairly standard on the gameplay side, at least in this first game in what might become a franchise.  Of course I made very little progress and am not a genre expert and am a big Mario fan, so my view is obviously skewed.

Oh don't get me wrong as it definitely stands out in other ways for sure, but for me gameplay is king and although it done it well (I liked the game) I've just seen it before is all. If sequels happen I'll be keeping an eye out for them but I probably just won't be balls to wall excited for them.

Balla wrote:

You're a bit of a genre expert, aren't you Jas?  At Western ones, I mean (I know you can't be doing with the weeb stuff).

Have I hit an anime nerve or something? As you've replied a bunch to me recently with digs/jokes like this, I'm quite open to most genres obut as above the gameplay will have to be really good to sell me on them. (Astral Chain is the perfect & most recent example of this)

No no, it's just I don't remember you trying the Fire Emblem games either, although I will admit that I didn't think you liked anime full stop.

Nah, some Ghibli stuff is top notch.

You use a Pro don't you Andy, I think the rest part from Jay uses a base PS4. Trying to cover most people and how they will play Control.

Anyway

I'm a big fan of Until Dawn and games like it such as Heavy Rain, that Man of Medan was always going to catch my eye. And it's nowhere near as good as Until Dawn, I can sort of let it off as it's a £25 budget title that is part of this Dark Pictures Anthology which is held together by the curator who is telling you the story.

That when Man of Medan ends, you get a trailer for the next game and it sort feels like what Telltale was doing but instead of episodes, you get 4hr games each year.  

If you like these sort of games and for the price, it might be worth a look and maybe the multiplayer movie mode would be fun with mates as someone could be the dick and try to get everyone killed.


Catherine Full Body is an enhanced version of the 2011 game which has gained a bit of a cult status. It is a game that's remained in and around my Top 25 for years as it oozes style much like Atlus Persona series and going back to it after playing Persona more, I get the vibe even more.

This enhanced version adds new endings, scenes and Rin. I got to say I really liked Rin, out of the three Catherines shes te most likeable but I still ended up with the ending I got the first time I played it.

Now in 2019 some of it is even more questionable then it was in 2011 in regards to some of the characters, now I'm not sure if this is how some people would react in real life or not, is debatable and others have written/spoke about it who have a better understanding of this than me.

I still don't think that new ending is that bad as some make out, though.

The_Jaster wrote:

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom battle

Finished this off last night and while I did enjoy it overall it didn't really do anything I haven't seen before in the genre, I also think they missed a massive opportunity to have this be a fully voiced Mario game (not for Mario, natch but the other characters like beep-0 & Bowser Jr etc.) plus I actually expected it after that very Pixar-like opening cut scene & then again with that great boss fight in world 3.

So, yeah it was good but I've played better TBT games before.

I think the focus on movement and traversal, to the point of almost being a platformer in a sense when you are chaining together jumps to damage enemies and boost your allies up onto ledges, definitely sets the game apart in the genre. Are there other games like that I'm missing out on?

While I can't think of any specific game off the top of my head right now there's plenty units/characters in the genre that will focus on movement being their main strength.

Gears 4 was a tad disappointing and at the time I thought here we go again after Halo 4/5/MC a new studio has taken over and the games were just okay treading the same ground.

Now here we are with Gears 5 which might be one of the best games of the year let alone on Xbox One, the only real issue it has is

Spoiler:

apart from that, it looks great, VO is top-notch (Laura Bailey to win at TGA?), the new semi open-world elements bring a new dimension to the series as well.

Plus this came out on Friday on Game Pass Ultimate and I've only just finished as I've been playing a lot of multiplayer, plus I've not touched Escape or Horde yet. Tons of content, in various ways to chainsaw your enemy.

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Just going to edit this one in


If you watched MS conference from E3, you may remember this one as how it starts off I thought we were getting a new Silent Hill. It turned out to be Blair Witch instead which came to Game Pass last month.

With some bigger games around at the moment I've just got around to playing it and it's a-okay horror game, it's certinaly fitting for Game Pass as it's something I wouldn't have paid £25 to play but still enjoyed playing it.

I guess it come PS4 and I couldn't see why a Switch version couldn't be done at some point.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses



I finished this last night at around 3am. It's been all I can think about ever since. At the gym this morning I was just listening to various versions and covers of the main song, getting emotional when bits of cutscenes and stuff showed up.

Right. I'll just come out and say this. I loved this game. Absolutely, positively, unequivocally loved every single aspect of it and how they came together as a whole. I was attached to the characters, their stories and the relationships between them. I was gripped by the main plot and how the characters' motivations and beliefs and relationships aligned in the grander narrative. I was addicted to the various systems and mechanisms that made up the gameplay. I know compared to some of you guys it may seem like I haven't played much, but in only a month I piled more than 60 hours into this despite having a full-time job, a girlfriend in town, podcasts to work on and a new exercise regime.

Loved it.

I played as the Golden Deer, mainly because that seemed slightly less Tory than going with a kingdom or an Empire. I was briefly disappointed when I realised that decision put me on one side of a certain conflict, but overall I did agree very strongly with Claude's principals and ideals, and by the end I was extremely satisfied with my outcome. That being said, various moments throughout the story have made me excited to play through the other stories!

I played the game on Hard and Casual. Ultimately, I think that was the right choice for this playthrough. The difficulty made it feel like I really needed to know what I was doing to get through battles without losing lots of units. Occasionally someone did have to be  sacrificed, and while I've no doubt it does lend a certain dramatic weight if they can be lost permanently, my desire to save them and subsequent resetting and restarting of battles to get them just right would have hampered my enjoyment.

I reckon for my other playthroughs, I'm gonna do the Black Eagles on Normal but with death - ruthlessness feels appropriate there, but I don't want to make it too hard for myself if I'm gonna do both second halves. Finally, I'll do the Blue Lions as hardcore as possible. I get the impression their story is all about suffering, anyway.
That all being said, that'll be a while off yet. I've got other stuff to play, stuff to write and record, trips and so on, and this game was a pretty dominant presence in my life!

Besides the combat, I also really enjoyed the school life, soap opera aspect of everything. Like I said, I loved all my friends. I actually wasn't disappointed by the stripping back of the romance stuff. My defence in Awakening was to liken it to shipping characters in any other work of fiction, but getting to play matchmaker. My approach had always been to try to set couples up if I liked their relationship after their first interaction. That aspect still existed, but with much less control it felt less like eugenics or something clinical and digital. If I liked the way a relationship was going, I would try to pair them up but there was no guarantee, and I just had to watch it play out, or imagine it in my head.

Some favourite characters/ pairings.:

10/10

Definitely my GotY so far, but I've got a new Platinum game and a new Pokemon game to be going on with yet . . . and a sort-of-new Zelda, a mech game which may or may not be shite, and lots of indies.

Drunkalilly wrote:

Occasionally someone did have to be  sacrificed, and while I've no doubt it does lend a certain dramatic weight if they can be lost permanently, my desire to save them and subsequent resetting and restarting of battles to get them just right would have hampered my enjoyment.

Honestly, the rewind mechanic avoided the need for resets like in Fire Emblem games of yore. With NG+, you'll start out with loads of rewinds as you can use your renown points to build up those statues in the cathedral from very early on.

Drunketh wrote:

Finally, I'll do the Blue Lions as hardcore as possible. I get the impression their story is all about suffering, anyway.

Yes, that's pretty much right.

Katamari Damacy REROLL

My first ever Katamari game! It oozes character in a way that a lot of games barely even begin to, and despite occasional frustrations (I got wedged in small spaces that ended up whittling down my katamari so things abruptly and quickly went flying off it without a chance to fix it - twice) I can't help but have fallen a little bit in love with it.

"My, Earth really is full of things."

Pretty much how I feel about it. I'll come back to it someday. Someday!

I was going to wait till Apple Arcade went live on tvOS as it's been heavily pushed by Apple as one of the standout games, which makes sense due to the devs history (anyone play Year Walk on WiiU) and how the game is laid out.

The story mode is split into 23 tracks or levels (I think its 23) with some of them being super short and would be great on an iPhone or where I ended up playing thanks to ibbsters on Switch as quick level on the move.

Once you do the story mode you unlock album mode which I have to say is the better way to play it's a 45min right though no stops between tracks. I'd liked have seen it the other way around with album mode the story then you can play the tracks when and how you like.

As this is like playing an album the soundtrack is great and I was evening looking at the vinyl, some of the tunes, especially with lyrics, remind me of Chvrches along with the game having elements of other games.

I really enjoyed it, maybe to short for some at £10 but if you're good at it you could go for all the gold ranks and try to work out the zodiac puzzles to get more out of it.

I'll likely play again on Apple Arcade to see how it compares in terms of graphics, fps etc to Switch in what might be my eShop game of the year.


I continue this Switch eShop double bill (get it) with UGG which I just finished the story mode of as well. I still have more to do in the harder mode I guess you call it and the timed challenges.

Much like SWH it could be seen as too short especially as it's a tad more expensive but what is there is very fun, both of these are quality over quantity. I do think SWH is better but UGG is something more people will like as it's just a daft game, reminds a bit of Katamari and those sort of games.

Well, I'll be getting onto both of those in a bit. In the meantime, I FINALLY FINISHED SOMETHING


If you're interested in next month's Tangle Tower release on Switch, and have heard that it's a sequel of some sort, you might want to know whether the original game on iOS, Steam etc. is worth playing.  I'm here to tell you that it is.

(Note that the original original game is this free flash offering.  I didn't play it.  I missed out on several callbacks to the original, but hopefully nothing material.  Jay can tell you about that.)

You basically act out the detective portion of a Phoenix Wright game, with a couple of (simple, barely noteworthy) Layton-esque puzzles.  You explore the swamp trying to find out as much as you can about the murder of a fellow with a huge nose.  The gameplay's typical for these sort of things, visual novel with a hint of point-and-click.  Don't expect to be challenged, but it does the job.

It's the trappings that make this worth playing.  There's a small cast, but they're more interesting than your average AA NPC, partly due to them all being impeccably voice acted.  The dialogue they're voicing is also notably strong: Grimoire is a bucket full of slightly out-of-his-depth snark, and the people he meets get in on the game too.  The visuals and music are decent, but it's in the voice acting and the writing that this genuinely shone.

The game, if you're searching for 100% completion, does rely a bit on 'show thing/person to person until reaction'; and it's not long, maybe a couple of hours if you look into every nook and cranny.  It's only £3 though, and definitely worth it at the price.

I just played through Sayonara Wild Hearts (Shen is playing our copy of Astral Chain) and I adored every second of it.

You may recall that I was quite fond of Thumper, and this feels like a good counterpoint to that game. They are both music-focused on-rail action games with very similar level select screens. While Thumper perfectly captured a brutal, metal kind of vibe, Sayonara perfectly encapsulates the optimism and positivity of pop music.

This game is far more forgiving than Thumper, but I can definitely see myself replaying levels to get all those golds. I think I'll alternate it with chasing Mario Kart 8 lap times. I also really appreciated that when I kept dying on one stupid bit, it gave me an option to skip this part- but also included the response "never ask me again". Ideal!

If you're not one for replaying and score-chasing, this one might seem steeply priced. On the other hand, it didn't cost much more than the latest Taylor Swift album, and I enjoyed it on a similar level.

Mas-turbator wrote:

Once you do the story mode you unlock album mode which I have to say is the better way to play it's a 45min right though no stops between tracks. I'd liked have seen it the other way around with album mode the story then you can play the tracks when and how you like.

I can see why you'd like it that way, but my plan is to get every gold and then do my album play as like a victory lap.

It would have just made more sense to me abit like Mario Kart a Cup have tracks all together then you go do the tracks individually to get the best times or gold ranks in the case of SWH.

Do let me know what you do unlock if you get gold on all tracks, also curious what you get for the zodiac puzzles.

Not sure what sure you can add to a 23 track album, maybe played in reverse or something is unlocked.

Drunkalilly wrote:

If you're not one for replaying and score-chasing, this one might seem steeply priced. On the other hand, it didn't cost much more than the latest Taylor Swift album, and I enjoyed it on a similar level.

Bah. Oh well, if it's sufficiently mad-feeling (and it looks it) I'm sure I'll cope!

Balladeer wrote:

Jay can tell you about that.

I wish I could, but I don't remember enough about the original Flash game beyond echoing your thoughts that the writing seemed good from the bits I can recall. Part of the appeal back then was having this fairly substantial Flash game to play for free, which as a skint teenager was greatly appreciated. For £3 and the prospect of full voice acting, it sounds like the iOS sequel is worth it. The original had little grunts and mumbles, but no voice acting from what I recall.

Drunkalilly wrote:

This game is far more forgiving than Thumper, but I can definitely see myself replaying levels to get all those golds. I think I'll alternate it with chasing Mario Kart 8 lap times. I also really appreciated that when I kept dying on one stupid bit, it gave me an option to skip this part- but also included the response "never ask me again". Ideal!

Yes, super down for all of this. Thumper was just too tricky for me and I wasn't able to finish the game, let alone get into the score attack appeal of it all. SWH sounds up my alley.

Balladeer wrote:

Bah.  Oh well, if it's sufficiently mad-feeling (and it looks it) I'm sure I'll cope!

Have you thought about giving it a go on Apple Arcade instead? It might be worth the £5 for a month's subscription or what have you to try out SWH to see if you like it amongst the other games on the service.

Er, I... kinda already bought it. Felt I had to support my GNamer League wildcard!

I did

Ratchet and Clank

I'm finally making peace with all of the "platform mascots who aren't Mario" - and I have to say this was quite charming. Clank is much less annoying than Daxter, and generally the funny bits are actually funny. I did find the shooty bits a little tiresome (which doesn't bode well to try any of the original sequels - I understand it gets a bit more blasty), but there was enough fun stuff to do - it didn't outstay its welcome either. It also helped keep family entertained during some quiet times.

I give it an 8.8/10, which is a score.

OFFICIAL RUNNING AND JUMPING MASCOT RANKING:

Wish it was the 90's and Sonic was cool, dudes