Last Game You Finished And Your Four-ghts

Ha! It only does that on your first game, and it wasn't even a thing when I started.

Also, bots in this game don't move anything like human players. Bots walk around like actual humans, but as as soon as a gunfight starts, most human players are hammering the jump button to be harder to hit.

I don't have much to say about Fortnite, but I'm here  in this thread because I ACTUALLY FINISHED AN ENTIRE GAME THAT I ACTUALLY LIKED ACTUALLY




'Platformer-Metroidvania?' I hear you cry (in my head in the version where you're all engaged with my posts #foreveralone).  'Balla the Metroidvania is a platformer sub-genre anyway, you're typing nonsense-speak again.'  Well, yes - and no.  The focus for me of a Metroidvania is discovery, unlocking using items, and exploration - and Monster Boy does have that.  It's just, a lot of the time it feels like it would rather be sticking you in front of a one-room platforming challenge and having done with it.  That's not necessarily a negative: I like hard 2D platformers!  It's not what I expected is all.

That said, Monster Boy does have a fair chunk of that 'unlocking to discover' element.  It's a spiritual successor to the Wonder Boy games (and when I say 'spiritual successor', I mean 'direct references and lifting the beach music outright'), which means that you gain the ability to morph into different animals and use their powers.  While the first two are rather irritating, the latter three* give you new movement abilities and they're really satisfying to use.  Jin goes from a weedy fellow with a kinda annoying jump to somebody who's a pleasure to control over the first half or so of the game.  They boost the exploration too.  

This is all backed up by high production values and a soundtrack so good I'll still be humming it weeks later, both of which combine for an anime-style intro. that's pure Balla-bait.  It's a chunky game too, weighing in at 15-20h; and it's filled with nice set-pieces, fun moments, and interesting uses for your abilities, like the bit where it randomly becomes a shmup for a while.  In short, it does very little wrong.

So why don't I love it more?  There was a point, round about where I unlocked the third transformation, that I thought I would; but it died off some time afterwards.  I think the biggest part of that is that it feels like several platforming levels sewn together, rather than a cohesive world.  Part of that is the level themes being videogame tropes (beach sewers forest ice sky fire), and the enemy designs are the tropes that fit those tropes.  It's not Hollow Knight, dripping ambience and with a distinct feel, and has very little plot (either explicit or hinted at).  That's probably why I found it difficult to finish, letting it lie for a good long time when I reached the generic-as-heck haunted mansion with the generic-as-heck ghosties.  In slightly less short, it does very little wrong, but also doesn't feel like it was pushed to do a lot right.  

Oh: and the ending, against a very generic final boss, is really abrupt.  

That doesn't mean it's not great: it just feels like with a bit more imagination, it could have been something truly special.  Instead, it sits alongside Luigi's Mansion 3 at the bottom of my Top Ten Switch Games, as another really good game that didn't quite fulfil its potential.  I'd say it would suit those who want a fun cheery adventure that's more old-school 2D platformer than Metroidvania, but has a bit of the latter.  Oh: and anyone who played and enjoyed the Wonder Boy games, presumably.

I've never taken the plunge on Monster Boy because I've never been sure if it'd be worth it. I tried Wonder Boy but (despite the lick of paint) it shows its age, but this sounds a lot more absorbing.

I just finished:



SteamWorld Heist

I am not typically a fan of turn-based strategy games. However, once in a blue moon there is one that holds my attention and convinces me that maybe they're not all bad. SteamWorld Heist is one of those rare ones (sitting pretty alongside Fire Emblem: Awakening). I'm not especially good at turn-based strategy, but Heist has 5 different difficulty levels and you can change before each mission if you want to. I played it on Regular (the second-lowest) and while there were a couple of frustrating moments early on in the game, I ultimately didn't really struggle while playing through it. I took a similar approach with FE:A in that I picked the "no permadeath" option (sorry purists).

Anyway, back to Heist. Something that sets it apart is that it's played as a side-scroller rather than top-down. You pick between 1 and 4 steambots (usually 3) to complete a mission (e.g. defeat the enemies, collect the money, disable the alarm, etc). Missions aren't very long (typically 10-15 minutes at most?). You ultimately end up with a team of 10 bots with different weapons and different abilities, so you can take on these missions how you like (shall I use a sniper? Someone who can cover more ground? A big buff tank?). If you look at the screenshot above, the orange line indicates spots you can move to and also perform an action (e.g. shoot an enemy). The blue line indicates spots that you can move to, but you can't perform an action on that same turn. Simple, but tricky!

Each map is procedurally generated, but there's always a set structure (e.g. a mission might rely on you traversing a lot of ladders - the ladders won't always be in the same place each time you try it, but the idea is that it's a tall level). Boss fights and important setpieces are always fixed, though.

At the beginning of the game I tried different missions with all the different recruits, trying out different weapons and strategies. And the game encourages that! You can progress through missions easily without having to focus on levelling up a select few. I ended up with my favourites, though, hitting the max levels for Piper, Payback and Ivanski by the end of the game. The dialogue is fun, with each character having a distinct personality and a little bit of a backstory that comes out the more you level them up.

The plot has some nice connections to both SteamWorld Dig games, and is similarly slick, funny, and well-balanced. It took me almost exactly 12 hours, and there's a New Game+ mode where you can play with everyone unlocked from the start, and a whole load of new fun hats. Oh yeah - you collect enemy hats throughout the game. You can shoot them off the top of their heads (and they can do the same to you) and while they serve no purpose, it's a super fun touch (I think there are about 100 hats in total to collect if you are so inclined). It means you can have every steambot charging into the fray with a Cloud Strife wig, if you like.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed SteamWorld Heist, even though on paper it's absolutely not a game I would normally go for. It's been said before, but the studio's ability to produce great games of completely different genres is laudable. I imagine it's only a matter of time before I buy SteamWorld Quest...

I will also add to the Monster Boy love - I saw potential in Wonder Boy even though it eventually was too dated to enjoy. Monster Boy is a solid banger.

I'd have been all over Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom if I didn't have Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap and SEGA AGES Wonder Boy In Monster Land sitting in my backlog for literal years. I was floored by how good Cursed Kingdom's demo was. 

masofdas very kindly gave me a Wii U copy of Steamworld Heist years ago, but I just couldn't stick it. A turn-based strategy game has got to be really "slick, funny and well-balanced" for me to get into it (or just be Hogs of War on the PSone).

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

masofdas very kindly gave me a Wii U copy of Steamworld Heist years ago, but I just couldn't stick it. A turn-based strategy game has got to be really "slick, funny and well-balanced" for me to get into it

ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR

Rum wrote:

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

masofdas very kindly gave me a Wii U copy of Steamworld Heist years ago, but I just couldn't stick it. A turn-based strategy game has got to be really "slick, funny and well-balanced" for me to get into it

ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR

You're all liars really, my reviews are the only ones that are true. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is only fractionally better than Funky Burn, that's a fact that everybody needs to accept.

Critical consensus seems to be that Monster Boy's a fair bit better than the game that inspired it: Metacritic's not the be-all and end-all but it's 86 vs 79, which matches up with Nintendo Life's 9 vs 8.  I'd still say Monster Boy has that old-school feel to it, but it definitely felt like a new game.  You know me Rum, I hate retro stuff!

As to whether it's 'worth it', you do have to consider that at full price it's a whopping (I believe) £35. That said, it's often on sale for 50% off and is definitely worth it at that price point.

I didn't like Image & Form's Metroidvania(s), so I doubt I'd like their procgen TBS.  I did like Quest a lot though.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Funky Burn

I've got a couple here I realise I never spoke about.

Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas



The appeal here was that it looked a bit like Wind Waker and any game that tries to imitate art can't be that bad right? Well yes and no, this doesn't try to do anything out of the ordinary, it basic Zelda type gameplay turned down to 5.

It had some needlessly frustrating moments as well as some bloated backtracking but a good base is a good base and I did find myself getting a bit in to it for the dungeons. That being said I'd rather have just replayed a proper Zelda game.

4/10


Splasher


Picked this up a while ago on sale after a recommendation from yer man Scullion and I can safely say it was worth every penny. Some really tight platforming mixed with a paint spraying mechanic that gets more interesting and creative as it goes on.

The difficulty feels on point too, not a breeze but forgiving enough to play through without much trouble but also featuring a Speedrun mode with rankings which can add more to the package should you need it. The only real downside for me was the lack of variety in the types of enemies and the fact there's only one boss fight at the end of the game as I felt they could have done a lot more with it. Well worth a look though if you're in the mood for a 2D platformer.

8/10

I have never heard of Splasher. I'm not currently in the mood for another 2D platformer, but it's always nice to read about good games I didn't know!

It's one of those games that can get easily lost on the eShop, I even forgotten that I owned it, it's worth a spot on the wishlist for sure as I think it was fairly cheap recently.

I liked Oceanhorn it reminded me of Wind Waker but also a tad of Super Mario 3D Land/World in terms of a 2D style in 3D and felt like the Zelda version of that.


I finished Missed Messages a few weeks ago now as it's a small game as in takes about 15mins to finish, does have four endings which I have two of them that feel like the worst and best of the bunch.

Actually really only played it as I followed what gJones and Muss were saying about STEAM elsewhere and MM was recommended to me because of playing If Found. MM being free to play did put me off a tad but this is genuinely a free game with the only paid thing being a soundtrack. Do feel a bit bad for not buying the soundtrack as the game is very good for what it is that I bought the dev a coffee (that what it says) instead.

Why I am posting now though is I just finished the PS4's swansong


Ghost is a very good video game, that might sound daft but everything about Ghost is very video gamey in terms of how you open up the world and level up Jin. That's not a bad thing and Ghost does do some cool things with how the wind shows you the way or the bird will guide you to neat things.

I know I've not played much of them but does feel like the modern Assassin's Creed, that style of open world but the setting being Japan and this might be mean on AC but I'm only basing it on personal experience Ghost is more polished all round as well.

With the real standouts being the cinematography, soundtrack and the world as a whole is just stunning where things like random NPC's & a few other things aren't quite as good. The combat is also fun and does take some skill to learn.

I think most would enjoy it and is certainly a game that will likely being challenging the Top 5 for my GOTY 2020 and one of the best exclusive offerings on PS4 but just misses the heights of a God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding and The Last of Us Part II etc

I'm well up for Ghost of Tsushima right but it feels like one I might not bother with if I don't play it soon as the buzz and seeing some of the lovely screenshots is what's driving me to play it more than anything.

Oceanhorn is fine I guess, if I'd have played it earlier in the Switch's life I'd probably have enjoyed it more, I just knew there were so many more games worth my time on the system.

I can see Ghost of Tsushima being forgotten about in a year or so time, where the others I mention won't be forgotten about. It's not quite top tier, but would be above a bunch of games if we were doing one of those tier list things.

Ghost is definitely on my list when I eventually get a PS4, for obvious reasons. I am a little disappointed that it basically doesn't feature any real samurai or locations, though.

You may have seen me post elsewhere that I started UFC 4 as having an active EA Play (new name for access) sub, I can play certain games like UFC 4 for 10hrs in a trial mode. Well with 53mins left to spare I finished the career mode becoming the G.O.A.T which is the ultimate goal.

Outside of career mode (where I got all the achievements part from MP), not a lot to do part from multiplayer be it online or local that if I paid £40 I may be a tad annoyed but then again I've played full price games this year that are shorter than 9hrs.

I believe UFC 3 had some sort thing like FUT but due to backlash was scrapped but maybe they could have kept some sort of team camp mode where you have to recruit the best fighters on your team to keep the game going longer.

The actual gameplay is great and sure it's not Fight Night but damn close that if you liked those might be worth checking out, especially as I played kick boxer and my character had all her stats around the striking game, which also meant against some fights the opponent would go for the takedown and utilise the ground game as that was my disadvantage.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney



I just finished the original Ace Attorney game (in the form of its release on the Switch as part 1 of the trilogy). I played it on WiiWare in, I dunno, 2008 maybe? And as such I remembered bits and pieces but couldn't remember enough to blaze through all the cases with abandon.

I think most of us have played it in some form, so I don't really need to go into any great depth, but - it's still good! Minor gripes include not being able to access all places from all screens (e.g. you can't access the prosecutor's office unless you're in the car park, which I guess makes sense from the perspective of travelling around from place to place, but since you're not really 'travelling' in the game it is a bit tiresome - does that makes sense?), and occasionally having no idea what you're supposed to present to whom at what point to move the story ahead even if you know where the story is going. The latter I found happened several times in the last case, the one with Lana and Ema Skye - you amass so much evidence it can be hard to know which stuff is relevant. (Although when in doubt, it's probably that jar.)

All the characters are great, and it's nice seeing Edgeworth progress from total bumhole to sympathetic non-bumhole. The graphics took a little while to get used to - I prefer the original pixel art style - but I stopped noticing them, and since all the sound effects remain unchanged, it retains most of its charm. (Also, I got the trilogy for £15 I think, so that's a fiver a game. Worth it!)

Looking forward to playing the next two, which I have never ever played. I know Justice for All has some guff cases but I'm sure I'll have a nice time nonetheless!

YASS RUM! I too was a late Ace Attorney-er and it's fair to say that I've been fully converted. I too played it on mobile as well, and I agree about the graphics. Do note for JfA that you can skip cases in the mobile version if I remember correctly - I know Cappa never got beyond case 3 and case 4 is an utter belter.

I think in the Switch port you can pick your cases as well, though I'm hoping to have the patience to play through them all as normal!

---

A Short Hike



One of the titles announced in the Direct the other day, I bought and beat A Short Hike last night. I've spent a couple of hours with it, and I haven't 100% completed it but I've done quite a bit (judging by the in-game achievements list, anyway).

It's a really lovely game. Pretty straightforward, easy to pick up and get stuck into, with well-written characters and no sense of danger or urgency - just take things as they come. Your main goal is to make it to the top of the tallest peak on the island, but to do that you need to collect golden feathers, with each one allowing you either an extra jump or stamina when climbing/running. Once I'd reached the peak I still had other stuff to do and there were NPCs that I hadn't found hidden in different nooks and crannies.

Visually it's very reminiscent of the DS era, though there are two graphics options ('big and crunchy' or 'small and smooth', I think) so you can have it slightly sharper if you want (personally I liked the chunky look). It's a sense of nostalgia that not many developers have capitalised on!

It's not complicated, rather simultaneously simple and evocative; a lovely little package. At the moment it's only about a fiver on the eShop and while you probably won't spend a whole lot longer than an hour or two with it (you might be able to eke out three?) I would say it's well worth it.

Picked A Short Hike up after Rum's review as it did look good in the Showcase but wasn't sure if I should be bothered to by & download. I found it to be okay, sort does what it says on tin and that's fine for around £5 for an hour of what is good little game.


Another game in the Showcase was T&H which is also around a fiver and an hour long. I personally preferred this of the two indies, as I liked the stop motion style mixed with a neat little JRPG which all about getting your little bro excited about playing the game you're making.


Battletoads is such an odd game as it tries to do so much, with some of it being pretty decent then you'll get the worst mini game in video games I've ever played. The other problem is this would be best played 3 Player CO-OP yet it's local only, where we've seen this year alone Streets of Rage 4 have online.

I think the 90s throwback animation style is neat along with the humour over the 5hrs it takes to finish in what might be a perfect Game Pass game as I'm happy I played it but may have been ticked off  if I had bought it for £17, which I may have done because Battletoads.

I think I've read enough about A Short Hike to make me go ahead and download it. Cheers gents 

TSR has what I like about it and CTR over a Mario Kart a story mode.

Why hasn't Mario Kart had one, as you'd think they could easily do one if they can in Tennis games?

And TSR plays fine, not as good as a Mario Kart fine with the only real issue being the whole team thing as I had to redo some GP's in the story mode as my teammates came near the back of the pack that we didn't score enough points.

That if they do a sequel get rid of the team nonsense, maybe replace wisps with sonic universe power ups, you can keep it as just Sonic or a few friends outside of Sonic but I want a bigger roster like Mario Kart has such as

1. Sonic
2. Amy
3. Tails
4. Knuckles
5. Shadow
6. Silver
7. Dr Eggman
8. Metal Sonic
9. Rouge
10. Cream & Cheese
11. Blaze
12. Espio
13. Charmy
14. Vector
15. Big
16. Chaos
17. Tikal
18. Infinite
19. Sticks
20. Princess Elise
21. Billy Hatcher
22. Nights
23. Ristar
24. Amigo
25. Avatar

masofdas wrote:

15. Big

No.

masofdas wrote:

21. Billy Hatcher

Ok that's better.

The Sonic cast isn't strong enough imho. Should have kept with the Sonic All Stars formula. I'm guessing it plays the same.