Last game you finished and your thoughts

More than a month after ZJ, I've plugged through

Picross e4



It's kept me entertained for a good few bus and tube journeys, so it doesn't deserve lower than a 5; but it improves so little on its predecessors than it doesn't deserve higher than a 7. How can a picross game improve? When even SNES-era Mario's Picross has post-puzzle animations, it seems incredible that this doesn't; and I wouldn't mind seeing some 3D Picross as an extra mode.

Anyway, this is more picross, along with Micross (dull) and Mega-Picross (not dull) from 2 and 3. Fewer flower-based puzzles than 3, otherwise very similar. And there are extra puzzles for those who have played the series' previous entries as well. Unoffensive.

6/10

Nothing against these games (as Balladeer mentioned, they are inoffensive, and inoffensively made as a result), but it's pretty sad that Jupiter haven't had anything else to work on. Or am I mistaken?

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Year Walk




Just finished this interactive adventure/story. It was great. You can really tell that developers Simogo were heavily creatively influenced by the DS and its new inputs (as mentioned in an interview), as this game does for the iPhone what CiNG would have done on DS: masterfully blending in the little user experience touches throughout iOS with the gameplay, and having a few puzzles that can only be solved using device-specific features.

But it's the atmosphere and presentation that excel even further: you develop a sense of dread as you continue exploring the woods (Year Walking was an old tradition done at the New Year's to look into the future, as it were) and meet all these mythical creatures, and I was genuinely frightened at points to the extent I wanted to stop using headphones (I'm glad I didn't!).

And then there's the companion app, which adds a whole new dimension to the game. To say why would be to spoil it, but otherwise this game comes highly recommended if you're looking for something new and a story that can only be told through the interactive medium that is games.

So, if you've got an iPhone or an iPad pick it up, and it was recently remade for PC with new puzzles and controls.

Mario Kart 8



There's not a lot I can say about this game that hasn't already been said. It will all sound like hyperbole and all be absolutely true. This is just the most beautiful game, visually, musically and in terms of silky smooth racing. I've just finally got a gold on the last cup on Mirror Mode (I work through the cups in a rainbow pattern, so I always end on Rainbow Road.)
That's not to say the game is done, back in the box, forgotten about. I'm sure I'll keep going and get the full three stars across the board eventually and obviously this will be a multiplayer fixture for a long time to come; probably until Mario Kart 10!
Obviously, this game deserves the famous Drunkalilly 10/10.

Also, wrote a poem! It's primarily about my all-consuming love of Mario, but it does feature a video of me driving on Moo Moo Meadows.

I don't think that I'll ever say that I've "finished" MK8 - not until MK9 comes out, anyway.

fronkhead wrote:

Nothing against these games (as Balladeer mentioned, they are inoffensive, and inoffensively made as a result), but it's pretty sad that Jupiter haven't had anything else to work on. Or am I mistaken?

Do they have the imagination/skill to work on anything else, I wonder.

Same, but I thought it deserved a little write - up all the same.

High-Score but it's deserved, Balla & I put are reviews in last game you didn't finish as is there a end or not. I guess doing all the cup would count as a end like doing sp in cod but people still play that & this for time after for the mp.

Here's a game that I definitely have finished:

The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker HD




If there's one thing Wind Waker does well, it's ambience.  Two illustrative examples: setting off on the Great Sea for the first time, the beautiful cel-shaded waves splashing against your bow, and that tune striking up; and setting off on the Great Sea after something has gone wrong, with the driving rain, continuous darkness, and that tune's off-kilter rendition being more than slightly unnerving.  

Wind Waker is far and away both the prettiest Zelda, and the Zelda with the most character.  It's those big eyes more than anything - they can convey so much more emotion than those of TP Link or OoT Link.  But it's also characters like Tetra, Tingle, Salvatore, and definitely Ganondorf.  It would make for a brilliant film, especially with that ambience, but also with the sense of scale that the Great Sea conveys.  It's also a great game.


Not a brilliant one, though.  For all the sense of scale of the Great Sea, it's too sparsely populated, with large sections of empty space and several islands containing little more than one Treasure Map/Heart Piece.  But the biggest empty space comes between the second and third dungeons, where another one should obviously be... but isn't.  

Speaking of the dungeons, they're fine.  Just fine.  Several are spoilt by some frustrating moments (continuously using the Command Melody springs to mind).  And combat, overly dependant around the A-counter, is the easiest in the series.  That said, both are redeemed somewhat by the best last two hours of any Zelda game.


As for re-making it on the Wii U, there are both welcome changes, and obvious omissions.  There's a lot of work that's gone into making the game flow better, with fewer interruptions and unskippable nuisances: things like eight Triforce charts becoming three, the Fast Sail, the inventory on the gamepad etc.  And twelve Picto-Box slots are very welcome.  Miiverse support doesn't quite stop selfies from being the worst Internet fad since YOLO (don't tell me which came first, I really don't care), but it comes close.

But there are still frustrations: why is that Grappling Hook cut-scene, shorter though it is, there at all?  Why do I still have to faff about with the Command Melody, instead of (say) assigning it to a button?  And why is the Fast Sail, that great timesaver, hidden away as a randomly-appearing item in the initially pricey Auction House?

I'm also struggling to see why some obvious gamepad uses have been omitted.  Why can't I use it as the Tingle Tuner?  Surely that's a beyond-obvious use?  And why can't I mark Treasure Maps with the stylus?  Phantom Hourglass allowed me to do that seven years ago.

Perhaps the biggest and most disappointing omission, though, is the extra dungeons.  Originally cut for time reasons, there's no reason at all they couldn't have included at least a Nayru's Pearl dungeon in this remake.  It would also have prevented me from feeling like I've seen all of this before, which is the reason I didn't shell out on the game in the first place.


If this is your first time playing WW, you're in for an atmospheric emotional treat; and maybe you should add a mark to my score.  Although considering that it cost me precisely naff-all, maybe I should reflect value for money and give it 10000/10.  At full price:

8/10

Good review, I've always had this weird feeling about games like wind waker hd, how do you review as like you said if it was the first time you played it you'd most likely ad a mark and give it 9/10 but as you played before it's now a 8/10 (when did you play it last proper as I played it like 10 years ago). But the game hasn't changed (well has a bit but the core hasn't), so surely the score should stay the same.

Same goes with VC games of course some age and last of us is coming up on PS4 which I would imagine will get 9's & 10's from everyone.

See, I did play the Wii U one for the first time, so it wasn't an issue for me. Luckily were not a paid for publication so we can we just give personal opinions

How did you miss on Cube, wasn't that first system you bought.

It was just random thought on game's like wind waker HD.

I did pick it up but I was so, so bad at games back then so it never got played much past the first dungeon or two.

masofdas wrote:

Good review, I've always had this weird feeling about games like wind waker hd, how do you review as like you said if it was the first time you played it you'd most likely ad a mark and give it 9/10 but as you played before it's now a 8/10 (when did you play it last proper as I played it like 10 years ago). But the game hasn't changed (well has a bit but the core hasn't), so surely the score should stay the same.

Same goes with VC games of course some age and last of us is coming up on PS4 which I would imagine will get 9's & 10's from everyone.

I do try to make my views at least slightly objective, but all reviews are personal opinions in the end. So while I appreciate that less effort went into WWHD than making the original WW (I assume), that's not a huge issue. More importantly, do I think that playing WWHD is 8/10 levels of enjoyable, or 9/10 levels?

The lower score really boils down to this: when I mark a new game, I make the assumption that someone's coming into it fresh. They have to figure out the gameplay mechanics, solve the puzzles and beat the bosses having not done so before, adding an extra layer of accomplishment.

For WW, this is doubly important, because as I said above it's a game that thrives on the experience it presents. The first time you step out onto that Great Sea, appreciate the scale of the world you're in, hear that tune, you'll probably go "ooh", or at least crack a smile. Second time? You'll appreciate it, but you won't be amazed by it, because that's already happened before.

There were things I'd forgotten in WW, nice touches, that still made me make little noises of appreciation when they cropped up. A lot of Link's expressions, for one. And that's how I'm assuming that most replayers will come into the experience - they'll remember the big moments, but have forgotten some of the touches. (Incidentally, I first played the game on release, but people still remember games like this... don't they?)

That said, I only said "maybe". The first time I played WW, a lot of the annoyances I outlined were still present, and not all of them have been corrected. If you forced me to give a mark for newbies to the game, as someone who is not, I'd probably give it a ZeroJonesian 17/20.

Rattled through 530 Eco Shooter on WiiWare earlier this evening.



"Developed by INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS and overseen by Kensuke Tanabe of Metroid Prime fame", in case you didn't know. While the core mechanic of being a half-and-half mix between shooting and refueling/recycling is a bit different, it never impresses, and at three piss-easy levels long is well short of being worth the money. It could be something of a posterchild for WiiWare: a bit limited, a bit expensive, and a bit forgotten. The end-of-review scores cries out for a decimal point, but I'll round it down to a 4/10.

Another game beaten today, this time it's Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth from WiiWare.



It's a nice throwback to the 1old, more traditional 6-bit Castlevania games (particularly The New Generation on the Mega Drive) with the odd modern twist chucked in. I'm not big into Metroidvania stuff, and happily this is none of that. Extremely playable and enjoyable, I'd say it's one of WiiWare's best remaining exclusives. 8/10.

NES Remix 2

I 3 star'd all the stages on this earlier today, seems a little easier in places compared to the first but can also be really frustrating in later stages (mainly the bonus remixes) over all still great retro fun. They might have done more with it though like a proper multi player hot seat mode that tracks each players scores over so many stages.

7/10

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Guacamelee Super Turbo Champioship Edition

This has jumped slightly ahead of Scram kitty as my favourite wii U e shop game, controls great, looks beautiful & has a tonne of great gaming references & other non gaming ones too with my favourite being a costume you can wear that basically turns you into eccentric Mexican Goalkeeper Jorge Campos.   

Also when I wasn't playing the game I was often humming the music from it, its just a really fun game & who doesn't like fun?

9/10

Agreed on NES Remix 2 - despite having the far better NES games, there was still something lacking about it compared to the original. Hmph.

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Inazuma Eleven GO: Light

"Say it ain't so, Zero! Another Inazuma game?!" Yes! I am an Inazuma Eleven HO, after all. The first IE designed from the ground up for the 3DS, GO sweeps the continuity on ten years, leaving lots of opportunity for cameos of players from the original trilogy (which gets to the stage of noticing who doesn't turn up rather than who does) and remodelling everything (in a similar way to the differences between Pokémon Gens V and VI). The gameplay differences are enough to keep things compelling, although the story hits a lot of beats that the original games did. It remains an unusual title that RPG fans should experience once.

16/20

Beat the latest episode the Walking Dead Season Two.

Spoiler:

Last night I joined the ranks of people who've beaten

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition

Mexican-themed Metroidvania beat 'em up? A strange combo, maybe, but it just works. Bright, colourful, punishingly hard in places, but always with a massive grin on its face, Guaca is a great summer game. The relative lack of Miiverse activity for the game is hopefully not an indicator of sales because that would make me sad. If you've not experienced it somewhere else, please get the Wii U version. Guacamelee!? Guapamelee!, more like!

18/20

ZeroJones wrote:

Guacamelee!? Guapamelee!, more like!

I had to Google that, but stunning punnery there ZJ.   

I thought it was a fruit, until Jay typed that and I realised I'd been getting it mixed up with "guava".  Puntastic, that one.

I haven't posted anything about it on Miiverse yet, personally.

When I had anything to say about it I normally used wii U image share & posted it to twitter but then again I am using miiverse less & less these days.

Why so, Jas? Fed up with the ocean of morons? I can't imagine it's any better on Twitter.  

There just seems to be less conversations popping up on miiverse & you can control who you follow etc better on twitter, also did you just call most of the GNamer users morons?! RUDE!