La5t Game You Fini5hed And Your Thought5

I kind of feared something similar about Unpacking, and that's why I've never picked it up: viz that it might be unclear how to finish rooms in 'the right way', and is there even a right way? Or is it just playing on the player's compulsion to keep things tidy? And if so, why should I care about whether this random woman's house is tidy? Anyway, that score means I'll continue to steer clear.

You care because of the story told through unpacking her stuff throughout the years.

Glad you did like my sorta GOTY (isn't two years old) 13 Sentinels in the end.

Double post and doing a Rum


This is of course DLC to last year's Forza Horizon 5, which copies Forza Horizon 3 by bringing back Hot Wheels. Meaning get loop to loops on the classic orange track, those sorta things, driving hot wheels cars such as the bone shaker around in a new story which gives ya a history lesson on the toys, then cool end events per level like racing against hot wheels plane.

It is fine, but even though I never played the DLC on FH3 did feel like I have been here done it before that I hope the next expansion is more different.


The first new Plus game and what seems to be an Internet hit Stray, which is a decent game from Annapurrna but do feel it lands in a place like Untitled Goose Game of hey look at the Goose that honks, replace that with Meow instead.

Then outside the novelty after an hour or so, does lose something and the rest of it is a pretty straight forward action adventure game.


BMI somehow is on Switch and the current gen systems which get RT and 120fps modes, here it is just the standard game that I feel does look decent enough along with being really fun to play in an old school 2000's FPS with bosses at the end of levels etc

Just it is under 2hrs long and the story is meh, plus I think it is £20 where I got a code, I say wait for a sale when it is around £8.


As Dusk Falls is one of only a few games from Xbox Studios this year, and seems like a Mas game as very heavy story based game which I have seen reviews comparing to Telltale etc

Yet it is way more like a VN as you only make choices on the screen, no controlling directly one of the few characters. The story is good and why I played till the end, and then I don't know if it is the end as feels we will get a Chapter 7 as DLC (make sense being Game Pass) or maybe a second game to continue this on.

Story might be good and so is the VO along with music, I do hate the artstyle of putting weird celshaded real actors into game worlds.

Out of these four I say play Stray first then Forza DLC, then Bright and As Dusk last

masofdas wrote:

You care because of the story told through unpacking her stuff throughout the years.

That might be why I'd care about her.  I doubt it's going to make me care about moving her gubbins around.

I am very keen to have a go, or watch The Lady having a go, at Stray.  Comparisons to my 16th favourite game of all time do nothing to assuage that.



I'm going to take a step into the great unknown.  Or rather, it is known, and it is known to be full of failure and despair.  I'm going to recommend Cappa a game.

And the rest of you too I guess.  I really enjoyed Neon White, and I shouldn't have, so you'll probably enjoy it more than me.  I hate the restrictiveness of the first-person camera, hate many takes on first-person platforming, don't care at all for speedrunning, and can't aim and hate games that remind me of that fact.  Neon White is a first-person speedrun-focussed puzzle platformer with guns, and I really enjoyed the gameplay.  It's a fast slick ballet of running, jumping, shooting, discarding a gun to propel yourself to new heights, and repeating the process.  I got the gold on every level, which isn't very tough (although I got the ace on the last super-long level which was) but speaks to at least some desire to play these levels again, but better next time.  I wouldn't have done that if White hadn't felt great to play as.

Shame he has to go open his mouth really.  I would recommend that Cappa in particular, but also everyone, give only the most cursory of glances to the dialogue, and mostly muffle your ears when it comes to the voice acting.  I don't care how prestigious Steve Blum is, the lines he's spouting are mostly dire and neither he nor his supporting cast can pull them off.  'Special mention' to Neon Violet, the Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl, who can get in a ditch and stay there.  The gameplay isn't perfect either, it must be said: I didn't think the presents were always fun to find, some levels are too long for the quick-restart action to be at its strongest (Marathon ), and Violet craps the bed again with her spike-filled gamuts.  These are in the minority though.  For the most part, it's fun just to move in this game.

It's wrapped up in a visual style I've seen described as 'Dreamcast-like'.  If ever there was a point to finish my recommendation with, I feel like that's it.  This is a fine platformer, and I think GNamer's platformer king would enjoy it.  I'm very prepared to be wrong, but there we are.  Gun-cards on the table.  

Whatever you would call feeling both unexpectedly happy at Balla liking the game but still disappointed at his disliking some of the also very good parts, I'm feeling that! I loved the va and script as much as the brilliant gameplay

I am glad you got on with it regardless!

Yeah well, you like Violet's spikey hellholes too you deviant.

They're, uh, like a 3D Celeste! No?

Having to agree with OR, glad you liked the game and hopefully it now being highlighted by us three others on here check it out.

Yet you're wrong about the VO, Balla

I’d seen the scores for Neon White and naturally took an interest. I used to shut off anything that wasn’t a platformer/sports game/racer/side scrolling brawler, but I’ve had good enough experiences with the likes of Chrono Trigger and Wind Waker that I’m a lot more open-minded to try different styles of games if the critical reception is as unanimously positive. It sounds unmissable - I think it’s a safe bet that I’d like Neon White.

While it's always good to be more open-minded about stuff (and I wouldn't have played NW if I wasn't trying to be the same!), the game's looks are misleading. If I had to cram the game into one genre of its puzzle-platformer-shooter, it'd be platformer. Hope it works for you either way.

I haven't played Neon White yet because A) I might get an OLED and B) a pick-up-and play game like that will be perfect for my UK trip

HFW is very much building on HZD, that if ya didn't like that then you most likely won't like HFW, but if you did then you're in for a treat with one of the best games on the year. Which looks great, fantastic gameplay, engaging story and wonderful performance from Ashly Burch.

Not Not – A Brain-Buster is quite a crafty and addictive little puzzler. In a game that’s all about quickly processing new information, you control this little nameless figure on top of a cube who completes levels in a predetermined number of steps. In its most simple first stage, Not Not will tell you a straightforward direction to move, thirty times in a row. Follow it's instructions to ‘Go left, go down, go down, go up’ (etc etc), and that’s the level complete. Yet as the game progresses it becomes really challenging, introducing new themes and adding in all sorts of new guidance with a really unforgiving countdown timer. To navigate along this cube demands fast thinking, while quickly figuring out how to move in line with the colours, directions and double-negative statements. What starts off as ‘go left’ soon becomes ‘go not left and not not up and not blue’, while the text is typed in a yellow font and the upper exit is coloured green. See what I mean?

It best reminds me of that old Bop It! toy that I played with when I was wee. If you’d enjoyed that like I used to, I think you’ll find Not Not to be a decent little time waster. That said, if you’re dyslexic, colourblind or simply someone who doesn’t work well under pressure or to tight timescales then I don’t think you’d have fun, I think it would just stress you out. 89p for the pleasure either way, a fine 6/10.

~



If you like Panel de Pon, Pokemon Puzzle League and/or Tetris Attack, it’s safe to say that you’ll like Flipon too. It’s a similarly colourful and light-hearted puzzler that uses mostly the same horizontal panel-flipping mechanics. Having touchscreen controls makes Flipon feel pleasingly immediate and responsive, and that’s essential in a game that’s as fast-paced and frantic as this.

It’s challenging, engaging and thoughtfully designed. That said, there’s plenty of moments where Flipon feels more luck-based than skill-based, and the illustrations and animation looks like it was done on a budget of 12p. And despite its many gimmicks and twists I’m not sure the core gameplay has got enough variety between its various Campaign, Score Attack and Challenge modes either. I guess you’d rather have too much than too little though.

It’s not as good as any of its inspirations - and it's kind of humped now that Pokemon Puzzle League got re-released as part of Nintendo Switch Online - but Flipon has just about enough uniqueness going for it. It’s dead cheap too – I think I got it less than a quid in a Google Play sale. Yet another fine 6/10.

Not Not sounds like it's not not not for me, and as I was reading your Flipon write-up I was thinking exactly what you said - I've got Pokemon Puzzle League, why would I bother my arse with this?

Yakuza Kiwami 2



Welp, that’s 200 hours chalked off my brief existence, and only the third Yakuza game complete. I freakin’ love these games, but I’m confused now where I stand on the series. On the one hand, these are the most fun I’ve had in years, but on the other, I’m drained from the way they dominate my gaming time. Kiwami 2, itself a full-blown remake of Yakuza 2 from the PS2, is a better game than Kiwami 1 but the story isn’t as strong. The love interest is a refreshing change but the ridiculousness and convenience of the story is completely ludicrous. In the first two games, I thought the story was their strength, acting as the well-crafted drama that counteracted the bonkers side stories and obscene levels of violence. Here it darts about with no real rhyme or reason,

includes spoilers:

However, there’s a reason I spent so much time in this game. It’s full of stuff to do, the cabaret mini-game is another 10-20 hour time sink and I enjoyed the Majima construction game too even if the final optional level is impossible. The arcade was meh, given I have no interest in Virtual On or Virtua Fighter 2. The side stories aren’t as strong as previous ones, but the infamous baby one is one of the best in the series so far. The underground fighting tournament, the street bosses, the actual fighting mechanics and leveling up are probably the best it’s been. The game is just as bad as the Assassins Creed games for ticking off tasks, but the core bits of "game" to get those things ticked is often fun. I’m sitting here trying to learn the rules of Mahjong ffs just to get 10 XP.

I just love the environment, and you actually eke out every bit of life in this city given even the buildings you can’t enter, are necessary for visiting to expand your Cabaret club. The fact that wandering down a street could trigger a mission is something many blockbuster games sorely lack with their vast emptiness. I will likely play Yakuza 3, but not until 2023. One of these games each year is more than enough, but this is definitely a good (if ridiculous) entry.
8/10

You make Yakuza sound very, very appealing. I'd think it's too time-consuming for me though, it's a rare event for me to play much that goes past the ten hour mark these days.

~



I had great fun with Mighty Goose. Mechanically it takes heavy inspiration from Metal Slug, having that same feeling of solidity about it's controls and robustness in it's gameplay. It’s got those same chunky visuals too, exuding that rare type of NeoGeo-esque quality that you don’t see replicated as often as, say, the presentation of a NES or SNES game. The arsenal of weapons you have at your disposal is nearly identical to Metal Slug as well – “Shotgun!”, “Heavy Machine Gun!” and “Rawket Lawnchair!” are all here. Arguably it pays homage to Metal Slug a bit too closely, not presenting too many new ideas of its own. Metal Slug is class though so I’m not minding, and Mighty Goose remains a very rich and stylish game.

There’s some right odd design choices though. Checkpoints are spread out unkindly, and there’s an in-game currency system that resets to pennilessness after each level. There’s a couple of secondary abilities that are totally pointless too – in fact, the one that you automatically start the game with is so useless that I soon taught myself to ignore that button altogether.

It’s got no issues that I think are that severe though, and so I think Mighty Goose is interesting enough to be worth trying. It’s too short to be worth it’s full £15.09 asking price on Switch, but I was very satisfied after getting it for half price. I read that Mighty Goose is on Game Pass though, and it’s perfect for that. If you’ve got that subscription, set aside a couple of hours and give Mighty Goose a go pronto. 8/10.

I reckon I'll stick MG on my list to grab at some wild sale price.

Aye, I'd agree with all of that about Mighty Goose. It's not going to blow your bollocks off but it is fun and the oversized shotgun was a highlight for me.

Balladeer wrote:

masofdas wrote:

It's in Game Pass, so I might give it a try but I'm deep into XC3 and likely get to games I've bought before ones in a sub after that.

Mas did, of course, finish XC3 less than four days after posting this.

masofdas wrote:

Got to love 11hr sessions

Balladeer wrote:

...you absolute madman.

Yeah, I did finish XC3 on Sunday or Monday actually at like 1am, as I've been engrossed in the story of Noah & Mio (I'm not crying you are) which the main path has been done, that I do have some questions on I have asked elsewhere.

Beyond that, I also got all the heroes which most are tied to the main story, yet some are optional ones which I did do as I wanted to see what all of them are like and to get more of the classes to use and done some of the side stories which talking to Balla on Discord all the main characters & heroes might have them, I've only done the main six characters that you use throughout your journey though. Still quite a bit for me, as you know, I'm often just do main story guy but be less than Balla who I reckon comes here with his review doing every side quest known to man.

I thought XC3 overall was fantastic, to steal Balla rating though I do think it is one for fans as even though I feel it was excellent and my current GOTY, I would not recommend the game to Cappa for instance, in the same way I guess I wouldn't recommend the best sim racer to Balla.

Oh yes, XC3's a Balla 9/10 (absolute must-play for RPG fans) not a 10/10 (even Cappa should have a go). Jolly good 9/10 though, and I'm glad you finally got into the series Mas!

Can confirm I'm doing every side quest known to man.

Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation – The Endless Seven-Day Journey was a fun silly game especially after XC3 going around doing the quests for the town folks but not sure if worth the £35, well I paid £28 with a eShop voucher as it's a full retail game in Japan and if we had a retail game here I'd likely would have bought then sold it, now it lives on my Switch forever and doubt I'll go back to it at least not anytime soon.

Another in the fine tradition of Mas reviews that tell us next to nothing about the actual game. Shame too, I'd like to hear more about that one.  I like 'chill Japanese summer' vibes, but I'm not sure I'd actually like Shin-Chan.

Yeah certainly chill vibes in Japan, going around catching bugs or fish along with doing quest for town folks which is mostly talking to people to process the story on which is about saving newspaper along with other things which not a spoiler (even in trailers).

masofdas wrote:

other things

WOAH

Quote :

which not a spoiler

Oh, okay

I should have put "which I won't spoil" even though it's in the trailers, as I know how Balla feels about those things looks at Pokémon.