Moot_Geeza wrote:

Progression slows but I think it took me 3-4hrs to do the main game. Maybe a touch more, but the game clock app doesn't update for ten days so I can't be sure. 100% doesn't seem to be the end of it though, despite credits rolling. Apologies if that's a spoiler but sticking it in a spoiler box would be confusing.

That's fine.

It may be something I just pick up now and again on the odd occasion I'm not playing in front of the TV. Seems like a good option for a quick go between other things.

That scores about right. The South Park bits are great but as a game it’s just ok. Goes on a bit long and the combat gets rotten by the end.

monkey wrote:

That scores about right. The South Park bits are great but as a game it’s just ok. Goes on a bit long and the combat gets rotten by the end.

Yeah, that’s a pretty good review in itself. Would’ve been better at half the run time.

33. Monster Boy in the Cursed Kingdom - Switch

AKA Ultimate form Wonderboy III.  The more I played the more absolutely everything grew on me - at first the visuals were merely fine, but by the end I'd decided they were quite stunning; parallax scrolling has a new champion and some of the late game locales are spiffing.  It's perhaps not quite as gorgeous as the recent Dragon's Trap redo, but it's definitely a looker.  The main switch up from The Dragon's Trap is the ability to change characters instantly, meaning the puzzle possibilities for any given screen are far deeper than just 'mouse dungeon' and so on.  The controls are still [old school], so it lacks the ultra precision of many modern games.  As an updated homage though, this works perfectly.  If you want a meticulously designed Wonderboy III sequel with controls you're already familiar with - and I assume you do if you've read this far - this may be one of the highlights of your gaming year.  I finished on 14hrs 52mins, and I'm heading straight back in tonight (honest guv, I know I often say this) because I've got maybe an hour's worth of things to mop up.  Is it worth £35?  Yes, if you fall in the target audience.  Should it be £35 though, considering what's available elsewhere for less (*Hollow Night coughs from stage left*)?  No, it's a moronic decision.  Back to the game though - some of the dungeons towards the end, crikey.  I've never seen anything quite like it, they're absolutely epic.  I'm sure one of them took me well over two hours to chip away at.  What's that, how are the bosses?  Super, thanks for asking.  

I have a few complaints, but they're all small potatoes in the scheme of things.  Ball rolling physics are odd, the potion/death/savepoint system sort of works, but an ability you get midway takes a lot of the sting out of the difficulty if you can be bothered to use it regularly (plus it can be used to farm gazundles of cash at a very obvious point, which of course I did).  Pressing Y to read signs or talk to people should've been patched, as the prompt disappears regularly and you have to shuffle away and back again to highlight it again.  Minor, but annoying.  That's about it.  

The Master System port of Wonderboy in Monsterland is in the top half of my top 100 in The Stu's Top 100 thread, and this is better than that.  I got fully addicted in a way that I haven't since Hollow Knight and probably averaged an hour a day on it since I started.  One of the best games this gen.  [9]

34. Ape Out - Switch

This is currently receiving some well deserved forum love.  It's hard to fault really, the main game is all over in a couple of hours but the arcade mode adds longevity.  The close quarters Hotline Miami/jazz fusion is immensely satisfying to the eyes and ears (and err thumbs) and it's definitely a 'play how you like' type.  In fairness your choices are limited to careering through stages vs the slow and steady or a mixture of both, but it rarely feels like it's strong arming you into a particular approach.  The random level generation didn't bother me at all, in fact it probably added to the experience as the route remains the same even if the layouts chop and change.  Presentation is faultless and it absolutely deserves to be played at either slightly too loud volume or with headphones thanks to the way the audio apes your actions.  Another absolute win for Devolver Digital.  [8]

Thanks for the heads up but I'll stay out of that thread; postage would probably be a bit of a killer for me.

Anyway couple more done away with

22: MLB The Show 2019 (PS4) 6/10

Retired from my baseball career at the ripe old age of 22 this time.  A combination of several things, but mostly I'm over this series and shouldn't have brought the '19 version.  It's pretty much the same game but you level up in a slightly different way.  It doesn't feel better or worse.  Regret the purchase!

23: Diablo 3 (Xbox 1) 8/10

Had an awful lot more fun with this than I did with the original PC release.  Playing the always-online single player mode and getting kicked out of my own game was a bit of a joke!  

I played it's Story mode on Normal difficulty, which was very easy and seemed like it was intended as an introduction to the game's other modes.  But that sort of thing generally doesn't interest me.

It does a great job of encouraging you to play on, you're always leveling up, gaining new skills and finding new items.  Found it really hard to put down, which says a lot given the actual action was a bit dull, the story was fine but washed over me (also, I was fine with the audio logs, but whenever it stopped for the sake of dialogue or a cutscene, I was mostly bored and skipped it.  Little need to stop the action in a game like this!), and while the visuals were find you don't see too much that captures the imagination.  Was always excited to find new rare equipment (even though it remained a quite easy game and thus didn't have a great effect), and trying out new skills.

As mentioned, not tempted to continue with the other modes, but could easily imagine revisiting this game once every couple of years.

That's on PC gamepass, so I'll be having a crack soon too I reckon.

36. BroForce

Pixel art run and gun with low level level randomisation and a colossal smorgasbord of 80s/90s action hero characters.  Gameplay is simple - you can only fire straight ahead - and the environments are destructible (occasionally to the point of no-win situations).  The forced character switching is a neat idea - rescue another member of the Broforce and you'll gain an extra life while switching avatar to whoever you rescued, meaning you could lose Brobocop for Bronan, which is a nooooo, and there's a randomiser on your replacement character upon death too.  So you could lose Brobrocop for Bronan and then, to add insult to injury, have him replaced with Indiana Brones.  

Most of the time you'll just grab the extra credit and hope for the best, but occasionally tactics come into play.  Crumby characters are beneficial to the overall fun in the long run, and their names will probably make you chuckle even if you're the sort that'd be desperate for them not to.  Checkpoints are generous and the whole thing is set to hard but doable, with the optional single life missions providing the real tests.  Good fun, probably would've been a strong [7] but the co-op element pushes it over the line to an [8].  More Devolver goodness.  

Check out the gif for something I didn't know you could do until the penultimate stage:

  

I wondered what the AK47 speech bubble meant.

After caning it solidly for a month a few years ago, and then never touching it since, I still get the occasional Diablo 3 itch. But it’s a time sink and I’m best off out of it. The levelling system is like crystal meth.

If it helps it received a 6 originally, then I changed it to a 7, then I changed my mind again and reverted to a 6.

39. Hyper Sentinel - Switch

Stylish 80s inspired arcade shooter - It's basically Uridium, apparently, which I haven't played myself.  It's a great template.  You're constantly moving towards the right or left of the stage (hitting the far edges spins you back in), switching direction puts you in an invulnerable state for a split second, with a rechargeable speed boost and a rapid fire blaster at your disposal.  Along with an occasional item pick-up (usually attack based), that's it.  You've got to destroy all ground targets in a stage, usually between 20 and 50, which triggers the level guardian.  The bosses are actually quite good, which is unusual for a game whose inspiration stretches so far back, and each requires individual tactics that you can just about work out during the battle, but will occasionally requite a couple of attempts.  It's simplistic, which of course is the point of these homages, and it'll surprise no-one to hear that it's absolutely ripe for score chasing.  

It's not a tough game, thanks to the generous (and rechargeable) shield, but it always manages to feel tricky as you vanquish a stage by the skin of your teeth.  It's seriously legit at what it does, and really shows up Black Bird imo, which I played earlier in the year.  I paid £1.99 but it's been available for under a quid since.  Quality. [8]



Can only find a gif of the beta build - the finished article looks more swish that that.

I played through Brothers... with a very small E sleeping on my chest, the controller propped on her tiny bum (it fit perfectly between the two controller grips). A couple of those emotional moments were pretty affecting.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

40. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - Switch

Glad you liked it. My thoughts.

It’s an Edge [7], I’ll have you know.

41. Pato Box - Switch

Ever craved a B&W Punch-Out clone where you play as a boxing duck without a duck button?  This may scratch that itch, but take heed - the frankly ridiculous padding vomited out between the memory/reaction/rhythm style boxing bouts ruin the main game.  The standard single player mode probably weighs in at a [5] overall, thanks to the overwhelming in-betweeny bits, but it would be a shame to ignore its various merits.  As an arcade box the bosses game it's very good, and it's not like we've been inundated with these types of late.  Anyone who fancies this should go straight for the arcade mode - eight bosses that'll take between ten minutes and an hour each to learn and defeat. Spoiler: the last boss is all the bosses.  Ruiner: The last boss in the standard game has to be played as a turd-tier third person battle, rather than the pattern style that presumably everyone who bought the game would've wanted.  Just scrapes a [6] due to the mostly well designed square circle baddies.  Stylish looking and backed by a decent score, but it's as bloated as Butterbean.