Last Game You Finished And Your Four-ghts

Just finished Fenyx Rising, and it is a good Action Adventure RPG thing which is nice and colourful that I think a lot of you would like as it does take some things from BotW and Assassin's Creed in a nice mix.

The thing I did think of afterwards was this is Greek mythology, and we have a few things with Norse mythology, yet I can't think of anything really that touches on Roman mythology with the likes of Mars, Neptune & Venus.

That’s because Roman Mythology is inherently linked with Greeks, you’d barely tell the difference.

I know, just thought someone would have gone hey let's use Roman gods and godesses instead.

Every time they say Hercules instead of Heracles, that's the Roman gods.

Its literally the same dudes with different names, and the Greek names are the originals so I guess we're more likely to go to those 9 times out of 10.

Assassin's Creed did use the Roman Gods in their modern day stuff, so they've got you covered Mas

BALLADEER HALL OF SHAME:

Yes yes, lap it up. You were all right - I was dramatically, badly wrong.

Still, better late than never, right? I came back to Yoku's Island Express in the last couple of weeks, fresh off the back of a couple of relative stinkers, and found it - as Smurf says - one of the best things I could play in these extraordinary times. The first thing I said upon the loading screen starting was, 'Aw, he's so happy!' That mood continued for most of my second crack at this lovely game.

My second crack went much better. Why was that? Well, I'm playing it in early 2021 and a games drought, rather than in later 2019 when every game and their mother was coming out: that helped. Truth be told, though, Yoku easily trumps most of the games I was playing or looking forward to that at that point. Pokémon Sword/Shield? Link's Awakening? Dragon Quest Chuffing XI!? None of them fit to roll Yoku's boulder. I'd say that it would even give the Nintendo tour de force of that time, Luigi's Mansion 3, a run for its money. And honestly, some of the stuff I said back then was plain nonsense. 'It started to feel just a little formulaic,' did it!? 'I had to push myself to start it up'? Ludicrous gubbins. I'm glad I left that idiot behind in 2019.

'...more than a little fiddly: turns out there's a reason that pinball isn't the default movement style for most Metroidvanias'... okay, that one's still valid. Combined with Yoku's bad habit of making one way around much easier than the other, and an iffy-at-best mode of fast travel, there were times when it felt like I was being punished for exploring. That's not a good thing in a genre where exploring is bread and butter. Also: at times the pinball controls were hugely frustrating, and conversely, at times the lack of any significant failure state was really felt when the bosses were trying to seem imposing. (The final boss in particular was not great at all.) So yes, like many mixes of genres, it's noticeably flawed where the pieces don't quite match up.

It's also the best Metroidvania I've played on Switch, and the only one I've 100%ed (more or less, I got all the Wickerlings and chests... with some walkthrough help for the last few ). What's more, I think it might be on sale on the eShop for £4 right now, from what I've heard. Go grab it if you haven't. Be better than I was, and treat yourself to one of the best things you could play in these extraordinary times.

I'm really glad you liked it, it's definitely a happy feel-good game! But then, so is Link's Awakening which is definitely still better >_>

Yes the pinball mechanics can be fiddly (which is pretty much unavoidable, that's pinball) but the low stakes for dying are there to balance that. I think it's better that way resulting in some unthreatening bosses than risking causing genuine frustration.

I really dug Yoku's, though I'm abysmal at pinball so it wasn't a favourite for me. I actually enjoyed watching my then-girlfriend 100% much more than I enjoyed playing it myself.

Just finished Lara Croft's 2013 adventure and I enjoyed it. Honest.

Don't get me wrong, this is basically Uncharted with a tough lass instead of a smug Bond reject, but it's great nonetheless. The combat feels satisfying and the story is fairly interesting, centring on an island with storms controlled by otherworldly forces. You just have to mow down hundreds of cultists occupying the island for game reasons. That is ultimately where Tomb Raider falls flat and for me, isn't as strong as Uncharted. The start of the game is brilliant and the visuals are still impressive, considering this originally released on Xbox 360/PS3 and is running on what, 2005 hardware? You get a sense of who Lara is and the voice actor nails it, but the character development does go out the window a few hours in when you're learning brutal melee moves (like sticking your pickaxe in someone's head) and casually upgrading your machine gun so it can fire grenades. It quickly goes from a potential coming-of-age tale of overcoming hardship into "this is Gears of War without the grunting". That doesn't mean it's a bad game by any means, just it misses the mark from being a truly great game. It's still fun to play and killing bad guys is certainly entertaining. There was a bug I encountered that crashed my game (during a cutscene as you jump to a helicopter, you get a blue screen error) but that's apparently a common issue. In fact, the biggest gripe I have with Tomb Raider 2013 is its set-piece design. I died once on the final boss in what was a gripping battle yet died 20 times trying to cross a bridge. The room for error isn't necessarily the issue, but the insta-kills. There are so many times you can just die immediately, whether it's a stupid QTE or one of the many cliff climbs going awry. It just breaks any sense of immersion.

Nitpicking aside, this game has a stupid amount of collectible gathering which I'm a sucker for. Burning flags, blowing up mines, shooting medallions in trees... and that's before the relic finding. And don't get me started on the tombs. Some have decent puzzles, but I just flat out gave up on one that is a dark cave filled with explosive gas, so you need to light your torch then extinguish it but it's pure trial and error. And there's little real benefit from raiding the tombs because you don't even see what is in the big chest at the end except...get this..."You found a Shotgun part". There are weapon upgrades in ancient tombs...

I really really like the core of this game, but it had too many annoyances for me. I have Rise of the Tomb Raider so hope that's better.

7/10

That both sounds exactly like my sort of thing ("fun to play and killing bad guys is certainly entertaining") and not at all like my sort of thing ("a stupid amount of collectable gathering"). In fairness, I've never given Tomb Raider a proper go. I'm still stuck in that mindset that Tomb Raider 1 on the PSone was a pile of rotten arse to control. It's probably quite likely they've addressed that fault in the last twenty five years...

GJones should play Yoku instead, you get more interesting things out of ruins.

Buskalilly wrote:

I really dug Yoku's, though I'm abysmal at pinball so it wasn't a favourite for me. I actually enjoyed watching my then-girlfriend 100% much more than I enjoyed playing it myself.

I'm not good at pinball either! Fortunately, as OR says, the game takes this into account by the penalties for failure never being too stringent. (There was still the odd moment when I shouted 'OH COME ON' out loud, mind.)

OrangeRakoon wrote:

Yes the pinball mechanics can be fiddly (which is pretty much unavoidable, that's pinball) but the low stakes for dying are there to balance that. I think it's better that way resulting in some unthreatening bosses than risking causing genuine frustration.

Aside from the fundamental fiddliness of pinball, I do think the issues I mentioned could have been circumvented at least. A more effective fast-travel system and more forgiving backtracking would have worked wonders. As for the bosses... I think the style just needed to match the substance. The second boss, for example, is built up as this horrifying deadly thing, which didn't fit the actual confrontation at all: the third boss worked much better in that regard. The final boss... Much though I hate them, a generous time limit might have worked there, just to add a little bit of tension.

It's all nit-picking really though, the game's great.

Oxenfree

At 79p on the PS Store, I couldn't ignore Oxenfree any longer. And I'm glad I didn't because this is a neat little adventure. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but a bunch of teenagers heading to an island for a few drinks on the beach that turns into a mysterious thriller (with a dash of supernatural horror) - it worked a treat! It was a bit wanky at points, with a ton of small talk that did border on the annoying, however, it's really well written so it's forgivable. The time-loop mechanic didn't really click and I was none the wiser when the credits rolled about what exactly happened - but then I struggle getting my head around the science of time travel. I understand the game is designed to be replayed to explore the different characters through the alternating conversation choices and I reckon I'd wrap my head around the mystery more, but not sure I can sit through all the chitchat for another 4 hours.

This is a beautifully crafted adventure game that is a bit like a 2D Life is Strange (the protagonist is even a blue-haired teenager and instead of a polaroid camera, you're using an analogue radio) but it left me a little empty when it finished.

8/10

Oxenfree is a great game and I really should have played for a 3rd time on Xbox whilst it was in Game Pass for some achievements.

I wasn't big on the follow up Afterparty though.

I enjoyed LNII, don't think it was as good as the first which at the time felt different with its Burton-esque aesthetics in a horror platformer. Where here it's the same but longer along with puzzles with two characters.

I did get some jump scares and this one section as I died a lot.

Still worth a play and I paid like £22.76 for it and sold for £20, that in a few months time can see it being £15 or less, and it's worth that.

I liked Oxenfree. Crteepy radio audio horror gets under my skin much better than anything visual, so that stuff was great.

Oxenfree's audio design was really well implemented. There's the creepy radio stuff of course, but the way that dialogue is handled is very strong. A lot of games struggle when making things seem natural when players have the option of interrupting conversations, but the by and large Oxenfree doesn't have any of that which I think goes a fair way towards making the characters feel that much more engaging.

I'd forgotten about the conversation stuff but I think it was pretty interesting, right? When you responded and missing the opportunity was a thing.

I finished Dark Grim Mariupolis yesterday, basically a easy 3000g in one that takes 1.5hrs (one point was 15min part of a update then changed back due MS rules) in what is a weird point & click adventure.

Hopefully next game I finish is something like Bravely Default II and more interesting but knowing me could be anything.

I was hoping that my disappointment the first time round (that it wasn't Super Mario 64 Part 2, and the water-y movement slowed Mario's fun movement down) would be diminished without the burden of expectation.
Er... no. Of course it's better than most other games, and some bits are naturally more comfortable with a Switch Pro Controller, but there are still big problems. The hover nozzle is not as fun as a Long Jump, and with a finite water supply, in the worst-case scenarios you have to partially abandon your progress to find a water source. And there's far too much time-wasting elsewhere that seems so out of date now: Being kicked out to the hub world on losing a life, and having to jump back in to get to your level (yes, Mario 64 does that, yes it is also a problem there). Following that, spending several minutes getting back to the area that defeated you. The bit where you have to get the Yoshi onto a boat and onto the island and onto another boat and onto a small tower and onto another boat, without hitting the water once, taking about 10 minutes, and then you end up in the unpredictable poison water leaf raft level. But this time I've gone in with 10 lives! Ha h-oh I died. Oh I died. Oh I missed a red coin and can't get back so I died. Chucksters. Working out what constitutes having cleared up enough electric goop. The pachinko level. Spending 10 minutes trying to flip over the right squares and not the others.

That sounds like a lot of complaining; of course there's loads to like about Sunshine - the dialogue is genuinely funny with the slightly snooty Piantas, and the new Toad Brigade. The "Secret" levels with which make no attempt to exist in a "real" world are very clever (and easier once I had a controller that didn't drift!). Yoshi's Fruit Adventure isn't remotely as hard as I remember - I blame Martin Kitts for that fear. But it is just disappointing in terms of Mario-ness.

/

I think I enjoyed Sunshine more than you did, but I can't sit here and say that any of what you said was wrong. . .



Just finished this one off. This was always gonna do the job for me; I bloody LOVE Spider-man, have done my whole life, and this is absolutely overflowing with Spidey love. Charatcers, costumes, villains, even the city itself, everything was rammed with easter eggs and references.

The story was the kind of Spider-man story the films are never able to reach; he's an adult man, he's been Spider-man for a while and has history with the villains. It actually moves forwards and stuff.

As a game, it wasn't quite the kind of thing I'm used to. It's from that modern AAA sensibility that does a lot of stuff for you; automatic freerunning and quicktime events and that. The web swinging didn't have the physicality that put my heart in my throat like Spider-Man 2 on the gamecube. Being that my favourite games are stuff like Dark Souls, Monster Hunter and Mario where the play is directly responsible for everything the character does, this was kind of frustrating at first. After a while, though, I was able to just enjoy the ride and appreciate that these kinds of mechanics for allowing Spider-man stuff to happen that my feable human reactions couldn't do.

I did all the sidequests and collectibles and that. I still have to solve more random crimes around the city and I have the DLC but this is the closest I've been to 100%ing a non-nintendo game since Tekken 3 on the PS1.

Oh! And I had a few bugs, some weird glitches and even a crash. Not a large number, but noticeably more than in a First Party Nintendo game.

Anyway,
10/10
Especially if you're as much of a Spider-man fan as me.

Interesting read as I found Spider-Man to feel very video gamey and how your write reads sounds like that.

Surprised about the bugs as Sony first party are highly polished, shame PS5 wasn't.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Although it's pretty short and very easy, I enjoyed the puzzles, graphics, music and gameplay enough to give it my recommendation. It's 70% off on the eShop right now, I think it's £3.29 or something like that. For full price, no chance, £10.99 is a total scadge. But for it's current sale price, it's a nice (albeit inessential) way to spend an evening. 7/10, if on sale.

Donut County

I beat this yesterday, also in one sitting. It was an enjoyable Sunday morning and I agree with Cappa's summary from last year. The actual gameplay feels a bit rubbish - imagine dragging a circle around in Microsoft Word and that's exactly how this feels. Like it could be snappier, considering my PS4 could do this with its eyes closed. If it had eyes. The art style and even the premise (of a snarky raccoon selling donuts) is enjoyable enough, however there are a couple issues that stop me from even attempting the Platinum (as Mas did). The menu seems to be all mouse-driven, which is a strange decision on console. It's like the hole mechanic was applied to the navigation of the (pointless) mobile phone bits. And as Cappa says, I'm glad I got this for a couple of quid in a sale.

An enjoyable couple of hours but room for expansions/sequels that can make Donut County fulfill its promise if it wants to earn that Katamari Damacy comparison.
7/10

Jimbob wrote:

/

Much though I love numbers, I am also all the way here for scores that are Weird Thing 1/Weird Thing 2.

masofdas wrote:

how your write reads sounds like that.

This is my favourite sentence anyone has ever written.