Posts : 15082 Points : 15260 Join date : 2013-02-25 Age : 34 Location : Nagano
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Tue 12 Nov 2019 - 22:40
That was certainly a Scullion review.
masofdas The Next Miyamoto
Posts : 24018 Points : 24418 Join date : 2013-01-18 Age : 34 Location : VITA Island
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Tue 12 Nov 2019 - 22:46
I'm certainly up for another go at crap game, even if it's as simple as one of ya picking something from my backlog or know I can play as it's on Game Pass.
Balladeer DIVINE LONELINESS
Posts : 26468 Points : 25302 Join date : 2013-01-16 Age : 35 Location : Admintown
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Mon 30 Dec 2019 - 21:07
I am, tentatively, going to cover Nippon Marathon in this thread at a later date. That's not to diminish the value of Mas' gift, as it did have a 'so bad it's good' feel to it; but I feel I could do some entertaining slagging off of the game so long as it doesn't offend the giver.
masofdas The Next Miyamoto
Posts : 24018 Points : 24418 Join date : 2013-01-18 Age : 34 Location : VITA Island
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Mon 30 Dec 2019 - 21:33
I'm fine with it as you're still using, the other game I was looking at was Our World has Ended for you.
Last edited by masofdas on Tue 31 Dec 2019 - 17:33; edited 1 time in total
The Cappuccino Kid Mani Mani Statue
Posts : 6742 Points : 6905 Join date : 2013-02-25 Age : 105 Location : East of Mombasa
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Mon 30 Dec 2019 - 23:47
Balladeer wrote:
I do have an idea for reviving this project, incidentally, if Cappa wants to hear it; but it’s probably one to save for a less game-filled time.
This is me just reading this now, two months after you'd posted it. I'm all ears, but batter away with any ideas you've got
I always thought Nippon Marathon looked all right! Never heard of masofdas's game though. I'm looking through my Switch games, and I only own one that I think is genuinely crap (Mecho Tales). I've got Garfield Kart on 3DS though!!
Balladeer DIVINE LONELINESS
Posts : 26468 Points : 25302 Join date : 2013-01-16 Age : 35 Location : Admintown
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Tue 31 Dec 2019 - 13:37
It's pretty simple:
Use Meta/Opencritic to find eShop games that have < 40%;
Check which of those games have a price of under a tenner;
Everyone who wants to play is given a game to buy and review.
It'll cost a bit more, of course, but it's less than the GNSS budget and hopefully not too much for a bit of fun. I guess I'd suggest waiting for (a) a sale and/or (b) for the hectic Switch autumn's aftermath to die down. Open to other suggestions, natch.
For now, though, let's do this. Thank you for letting me do this, Mas: I remain delighted by the very 'me' present, and will be playing up the slagging off for comic effect.
NIPPON MARATHON:
The shot's slightly low resolution, but that's okay: so's the game. And so, amusingly, is the banner image on the game's eShop page. All very apropos.
This is a joke game that has two jokes. One: 'LOL Japan is so KERAAAAYZEEEE'. Two: 'LOL random LOL'. The first joke feels like it borders on the racist at times, especially with the transparently non-Japanese announcer doing his worst Japanese accent. 'I cannot berieve this is happening!' 'Snuguru Maestro has been hit on the head! Do not try this at hoooooome.' It's all very Banzai, if you remember that. I checked up where the developer, Onion Soup Interactive, is based - it turns out they're a British company, and if you're being kind you could call this an affectionate parody of how the outside world views Japan. The announcer, though, feels bad. It elicited the sort of non-giggle I gave when my grandma said she was a 'big Boris fan' this Christmas and I know they're old and I had to spend another two hours in their company.
As for joke two... Let me take you through The Lady's and my playthrough of (part of) the titular Nippon Marathon. First you have to choose a character.
Squarely fitting into the bounds of both jokes. I opted for Elizabeth (you can imagine it's not pronounced that way) Nishibori, a 'narwhal enthusiast' and professional onesie-wearer. That left The Lady as Snuguru (Snuggle?) Maestro the humanoid dog, which the game's page tells me is a 'wannabe dating-agency owner'. Incidentally I'm toying with the idea of referring to her as such from now on, to see if I can incite her to violence.
The anime art's in the eShop link above, and features in the menus and the cut-scenes; but this is who you see in-game. I think the game's trying to trade off 'janky charm' regarding its character art, and also most of the visuals. The trouble is that to have janky charm, you need to be charming.
Onto playing the game. The basis of the gameplay is to run through the obstacle course, avoiding such KERAAAAYZEEEE obstacles as oil drums, pedestrians, market stalls, temple-sweeping monks, and macaques in the snowy areas that (sadly) we didn't reach, faster than your three opponents. Do this for long enough and you get a star, which translates into points at the end of the course; and then the next segment begins, until one of you crosses the course's finishing line. There are power-ups along the way, mostly fruit; but they seemed to be as likely to be power-downs, so I largely ended up avoiding them and still did all right. The most common obstacle, though, is shiba inu. Yep! The game is trading so heavily off the 'shibe' meme that I'm surprised it didn't pop up in Comic Sans. The bastards cover most of the running track, and appear at least three times per course. You run into them, they bite you, the announcer goes wild, and it's funny for all of about... actually sorry, it wasn't funny.
Oh yes. Every so often, the 'race' will be interrupted by a quiz segment, or an anime doctor with his shirt open ushering you through a maze. Doing this correctly gains you points. The CPU, incidentally, knew exactly the right route through the maze; and the quiz, again, trades heavily off 'LOL random LOL' regarding your answers, and the points you get for them.
The racing is not fun. Some of the wacky obstacles may get a small laugh, like pratfalling over a barrel, but they get thrown at you repeatedly and the joke doesn't change. It's like me telling you the same bad pun every week for five years and expecting you to laugh - this, incidentally, is the approach taken by the least popular of Snuguru's D&D group. The route itself seemed to go on for about half an hour, as we all pratfalled and got attacked by shiba inu until our sides split. Every so often the game refrained from telling us in which direction we were meant to be going, presumably for a laugh. Sudden right angle off the road hrough a temple! What, you didn't realise? Too bad, the CPU did and you 'ruze a sta'. That said, by our second race (through cherry blossoms that would have been picturesque rendered in possibly any other game), Snuguru and I were topping the charts consistently: the CPU, it seems, had become keener on participating in the game's joke than in winning.
I mention the CPU, and that's clearly not the point of this game: it's a party game, and you probably are laughing more when there's four of you drowning out the announcer. The worst jokes can become funny with friends and alcohol, and in the hands of less cynical people than us. However, there's also a story mode for each character. While it's nice that it's there should you want to find out more about how Zenbei 'XEN BAE' the Japanese schoolgirl got trapped in an old man's body, I can't help feeling that without any human interaction this would be an unfun game at its least fun. The exception is probably if you stream it online: I imagine at least one PewDiePie wannabe has recorded himself going 'OH MY GOD YOU GUYZ THIS GAME IS SO FUNNY I GOT MAULED BY SHIBES MUCH RANDOM LOL please like and subscribe.'
Snuguru summed it up neatly: 'It seems like the sort of game that was hoping to build a cult following, and didn't.'
masofdas The Next Miyamoto
Posts : 24018 Points : 24418 Join date : 2013-01-18 Age : 34 Location : VITA Island
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Tue 31 Dec 2019 - 16:06
See your rules go out the window for me as I played likes of Where the Bees Make Honey in 2019 on purpose.
Treesmurf Dry Metal Baby Princess
Posts : 4204 Points : 4206 Join date : 2013-01-17 Age : 34 Location : Manneh
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Wed 1 Jan 2020 - 20:57
That sounds a lot worse than I was expecting it too, no wonder it was available on the cheap.
Would be totally up for that idea although I'm willing to bet I too will play games like that on purpose, I mean I've put a whole tonne of hours in to Ark over the last few years.
JayMoyles Galactic Nova
Posts : 15896 Points : 15061 Join date : 2013-01-21 Age : 31 Location : The Shibuya River
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Wed 1 Jan 2020 - 23:37
Christ, that announcer sounds genuinely awful.
Top write-up, Balla.
Balladeer DIVINE LONELINESS
Posts : 26468 Points : 25302 Join date : 2013-01-16 Age : 35 Location : Admintown
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Thu 2 Jan 2020 - 10:17
He is by far the worst bit. Like I said, I'm talking the crapness up a bit for comic effect, but... yep, hard to recommend.
Jimbob Bargain Hunter
Posts : 4637 Points : 4663 Join date : 2013-01-15 Age : 42 Location : Milton Keynes
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Sun 5 Jan 2020 - 17:58
Oh boy! I always hoped I'd "missed something" and it wouldn't be as try-hard-y as all that! Well, thanks for the warning Balla!
Muss Shiny Shuckle
Posts : 2557 Points : 2575 Join date : 2015-04-03 Location : The 5th Dimension
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Mon 20 Jan 2020 - 18:32
Thanks for that Balla, twas a good read.
Balladeer DIVINE LONELINESS
Posts : 26468 Points : 25302 Join date : 2013-01-16 Age : 35 Location : Admintown
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Mon 20 Jan 2020 - 19:55
I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's a gift that's given a lot of amusement.
The_Jaster Din
Posts : 11972 Points : 12064 Join date : 2013-01-15 Age : 40 Location : Underground Corpse Pile.
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Sat 18 Apr 2020 - 15:57
This could be one for this thread maybe....
JayMoyles Galactic Nova
Posts : 15896 Points : 15061 Join date : 2013-01-21 Age : 31 Location : The Shibuya River
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Mon 20 Apr 2020 - 2:06
There must be a simulator game for everything now on Steam, surely?
Buskalilly Galactic Nova
Posts : 15082 Points : 15260 Join date : 2013-02-25 Age : 34 Location : Nagano
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Wed 22 Apr 2020 - 12:42
I bet someone has already made a steam simulator on steam.
Balladeer DIVINE LONELINESS
Posts : 26468 Points : 25302 Join date : 2013-01-16 Age : 35 Location : Admintown
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Thu 1 Oct 2020 - 21:05
Castle brought back a lot of NGamer memories with this piece. He even referenced Kittsy in the comments!
The Cappuccino Kid Mani Mani Statue
Posts : 6742 Points : 6905 Join date : 2013-02-25 Age : 105 Location : East of Mombasa
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Thu 1 Oct 2020 - 21:59
Cheers for linking that, it's not a review I'd have clicked on otherwise. What did Matthew Castle do after NOM? Was he not a writer for an XBox One magazine?
Buskalilly Galactic Nova
Posts : 15082 Points : 15260 Join date : 2013-02-25 Age : 34 Location : Nagano
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Fri 2 Oct 2020 - 2:05
He was the editor at OXM for a while, yeah, then he went online at maybe Rock Paper Shotgun or Yogscast or something like that? He just recently lost that gig so I guess he's freelance just now?
Balladeer DIVINE LONELINESS
Posts : 26468 Points : 25302 Join date : 2013-01-16 Age : 35 Location : Admintown
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Mon 5 Oct 2020 - 19:36
RPS, yep. He seems to spend most of his time with his cats these days.
JayMoyles Galactic Nova
Posts : 15896 Points : 15061 Join date : 2013-01-21 Age : 31 Location : The Shibuya River
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Sat 17 Oct 2020 - 18:02
"It’s rare to see a designer shrug and go back back to bed in real-time, but there it is."
Top notch review - cheers for sharing, Balla.
Balladeer DIVINE LONELINESS
Posts : 26468 Points : 25302 Join date : 2013-01-16 Age : 35 Location : Admintown
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Sat 17 Oct 2020 - 18:19
Agreed, that's a top line. I quite enjoyed Scullion's review of FIFA 21 Legacy Edition too, although there's a hint more of proper anger to that one.
JayMoyles Galactic Nova
Posts : 15896 Points : 15061 Join date : 2013-01-21 Age : 31 Location : The Shibuya River
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Sat 17 Oct 2020 - 18:37
Yeah, that review didn't have that NGamer kicking that I enjoyed reading, but it was definitely necessary to write and warn people about the laziness of the game they put out. The stuff about delisting the old versions... oh dear.
Muss Shiny Shuckle
Posts : 2557 Points : 2575 Join date : 2015-04-03 Location : The 5th Dimension
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Sun 18 Oct 2020 - 16:54
Not to bat for EA, they deserve a bollocking, but there could be licensing reasons for their older games disappearing. I know that football manager games are only available digitally for at most the current and previous season. That said, anti consumerism is EA's calling card so it wouldn't come as a surprise if this was their choice!
As for the review, I'm surprised he put so much effort into it. Certainly more than ea have!
Dusty Knackers Bandana Waddle Dee
Posts : 894 Points : 919 Join date : 2013-01-15 Age : 39 Location : West Midlands
Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread Fri 15 Jan 2021 - 21:57
Balladeer wrote:
It's pretty simple:
Use Meta/Opencritic to find eShop games that have < 40%;
Check which of those games have a price of under a tenner;
Everyone who wants to play is given a game to buy and review.
Do you still do anything like this on a regular basis? Was thinking it might be fun/interesting/painful to do something like this with the discounted 8p games on the Switch eShop.
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Subject: Re: "A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread
"A Big Pot Full Of Bum": GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread
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Tue 12 Nov 2019 - 22:40
