Mortal Kombat 11 (Story Mode) 7/10

Jolly good fun, this mode.  A great balance of being a cheesy action story with a lot of fan service.  They've really got this down pat now.  I think if it was a movie most people would give it 1 star, except for MK fans who would give it 4.  

The other single player stuff seems to be a bit of a dogs breakfast.  A real mess of various currencies, loot boxes, craftable consumable items etc.  It seems a real step back from Injustice 2, which in itself was very bloated, but at least you were regularly getting stuff that was somewhat interesting.

Regret preording and going the season pass!  One of the old, 'this might be quite good when the complete edition launches in a year' jobs.

You finally realised you had a family to spend time with?

Ok. You’ll notice them at some point I’m sure.

6. Sekiro (PS4)

10/10. Might actually put some mini review here. But it lived up to my expectations. Almost perfect.

13. A Plague Tale: Innocence [7]
This is a decent narrative-led action/stealth game made quite a bit better by the quality of world and character building. Gameplay is simple enough to keep it moving at a good pace, but the real stars of the show are the kids, the views and the rats. It all lacks a bit of polish, but that's easy to forgive when the characters and situations drive it forward so well.

Edit: I'll call it a 7, but it was borderline 8.



14. Heaven's Vault [7]
Indie sci-fi archeology joint. You go around looking for ancient stuff and translating inscriptions, in order to discover new sites of interest. There's also an interesting story going on about the peoples from different moons and some themes about how we understand history. The best part of it is exploring new sites and finding new stuff to translate. When you start to put the language together it's fascinating. The main issue with it though is that it all moves just a little too slow, especially sailing between locations, and the interface can be a bit clumsy.

15. Devil May Cry V [7]
The focus and purity of this is very commendable - it's all about the combat - and the systems are clearly refined and deep. What I'm not sure about is whether it assumes too much prior knowledge. I've finished it on Devil Hunter mode (Normal, effectively) and I feel like I've learned 100 different moves but I haven't really been taught how to play it. It's like there's another game running parallel to the OTT button-mashing hack and slash thing I played, but it doesn't want to tell you what it is. Instead it keeps loading on new techniques and controls, until there's too much to remember. Fair enough to an extent, in terms of giving you plenty of approaches and styles, but it makes it all kind of confusing. The other issue is the level design is pretty bland for the most part, so whether it's worth going through all those levels again just to improve skills is questionable. It probably isn't for me, but I did have a laugh with it for the most part. The spectacle, especially with bosses, was strong and the action was frantic and fun. I can understand why some people would love it, but my experience was merely good.

Yeah, I can see there's potential to get a lot more out of it, it's just not necessarily clear how to go about it. For something that wants to be replayed it could do a better job of indicating why to those of us who aren't series veterans.

I've slowed down a bit recently, bouncing around a few games without finishing many yet. 

28 & 29. R-Type Dimensions EX (PC)
R-Type 2 is the best shmup I've played. Later ones (namely Gradius V, R-Type Final, Ikaruga and I want to complete my personal favourite UN Squadron) are on my 'to play' list so that might not hold. But R-Type 2 doesn't waste a second. It's continually chucking new things at you, not a repeated enemy pattern or anything. A smorgasboard of invention. Both the R-Types have something weird about them, like it's the base template for how all shooters should control and play and all the others have something a little bit off about them because they're not R-Type. It feels completely natural. 
I'm less sure about Dimensions EX as a product. You can play infinite mode (infinite lives and instant respawning) or classic (fuck all lives and you die quickly). Infinite is the only choice for me, which is even more forgiving than save states because the inconvenience of reloads is eliminated completely. And unlike something like the Gradius collection, you don't actually have to complete a section to pass it. Just fail repeatedly while getting shots in. To bring in some rough form of challenge, it uses lives used as a means of scoring your run through. 
So, ok, it's a pair of short games, the levels are short and you can replay them individually and get better over time. They've increased the difficulty though, it's above normal arcade difficulty, and you can't change it. So, while enjoyable, there isn't really an option where someone of my skill can get through this without an embarrassing number of lives used and you're not really getting good at the game as you play either. I assume the difficulty was played with to counter the breeziness of playing through the game without being able to properly die. But instead it sort of detaches you from the game. These are side issues I suppose. The original mode is still there.  
Another USP of this game is being able to switch between original 2D and new 3D graphics on the fly. But the 3D graphics are so sterile that I don't know why anyone would choose them. If you do, you're bad and wrong.
Still, there's an hour and a bit of amazeballness gaming and explosive popping eye candy to pick up and plough through. I've done two playthroughs and can see myself doing a few more in the future. 


30. Prince of Persia (Snes)
Not completed but finished with it. I've made it to the penultimate level - a boss rush - with about two minutes left, which just isn't enough time to do it. Pain in the arse. If I'd kept some earlier saves I might have been able to shave enough time off but I didn't so I couldn't. I think I had this on the master system but I don't know how far I got. It's pretty unforgiving so doubt I made much headway and I doubt the MS port is all that good. I hadn't realised how much Flashback owes to this. The movement is a bit more fluid in Flashback but still kind of stilted, probably due to the difficulty in combining smooth rotoscoping with responsive controls. The level designer is a demented genius and a malicious sadist. Amazing environmental puzzling but probably a bit dated - scouring around looking for out of place floor tiles, then rushing to get to a gate that's quickly closing, god knows where. 
Still amazing levels and puzzles, great soundtrack, some moments of pure genius. The swordplay doesn't really hold up which is a shame because there's a fair bit of it.

I should get that R-Type thing at some point. I do like me a bit of R-Type.

32. FutureGrind - Switch

A Thursday punt pays off at last.  £1.52 this cost me, and as it came out in January, according to Google, it's game of the sodding year.  It's a course based auto runner where you grind on (or on the underside of) rails, only touching them with a wheel of the corresponding colour.  You can double or triple jump, depending on your vehicle, hang from rails by holding jump, and spin the craft forwards or backwards.  That's pretty much it, the rest is just built around the near perfect basics.  At first you have to try to get through the track unscathed, then additional parameters are added (don't touch the purple rails, for example).  The progression system doesn't give you much leeway, you'll mostly need to complete all three challenges per stage to move on.  This would be annoying in most games but I was up for doing that anyway - because it's fun - so it gets a pass.  Combine Unirally, Trials, Colour Guardians, Bit.Trip.Runner, Thumper and Olli Olli and you've got a game better than most of the other ones mentioned in this sentence.  It's constantly tricky but the tasks are always doable, even when it feels overwhelming practice will see you through as although it's mostly skill based, and can be played as such, memorisation can give you an edge eventually.  I can't recommend this highly enough, would've happily paid full whack for it. [9]

Moot_Geeza wrote:

32. FutureGrind - Switch A Thursday punt pays off at last.  £1.52 this cost me, and as it came out in January, according to Google, it's game of the sodding year.  It's a course based auto runner where you grind on (or on the underside of) rails, only touching them with a wheel of the corresponding colour.  You can double or triple jump, depending on your vehicle, hang from rails but holding jump, and spin the craft forwards or backwards.  That's pretty much it, the rest is just built around the near perfect basics.  At first you have to try to get through the track unscathed, then additional parameters are added (don't touch the purple rails, for example).  The progression system doesn't give you much leeway, you'll mostly need to complete all three challenges per stage to move on.  This would be annoying in most games but I was up for doing that anyway - because it's fun - so it gets a pass.  Combine Unirally, Trials, Colour Guardians, Bit.Trip.Runner, Thumper and Olli Olli and you've got a game better than most of the other ones mentioned in this sentence.  It's constantly tricky but the tasks are always doable, even when it feels overwhelming practice will see you through as although it's mostly skill based, and can be played as such, memorisation can give you an edge eventually.  I can't recommend this highly enough, would've happily paid full whack for it. [9]

OK, I've just bought this. It is ridiculously cheap and seems like a good quick game to have handy for portable play.

EShop tends to be all over the place with sale pricings, but I half suspect it's supposed to be down to £11.50ish rather than £1.50ish.

They're designed to be played with you know.

I still don't know the answer though. Might be worth asking in the Switch thread.

So Futuregrind seems solid. Very much Trials simplified, and easy to get into high score chasing and looking for the best lines and flip opportunities.

I've done 20% of it so far, in about half an hour. So it may only be good for a few hours (depending how difficult it gets). It would've seemed pricey at £16, I think. But it was £1.50, so major bargain.