Sky Force Anniversary (PS4)


Been a while since I shmupped, which showed as I find the later levels not a walkthrough even on easy. Unlocked medium on most and insane on a couple, only to discover a "nightmare" mode become available. Fuck that nose, I'm too old for this shit lol.

I quite want to give it an 8 but can't quite justify it. So a reluctant [7].

acemuzzy wrote:

KAMI (PC) Simple concept for a puzzler, but very well executed, and surprisingly fiendish at times.  Gold on all the 'classic' puzzles, but still a few 'premium' to go, but I'm going for a stingy [7] at this stage anyway.

Now completely completed. Still probably a [7], but some nice cerebral challenge towards the end.

Celeste

Wow. Loved this.

I died 1,706 over a 7 hour playtime and - although some of the challenges felt like my dexterity was being pushed almost too hard - it never felt cheap or that one more go wouldn't get me over the line.

I thought the protagnotists simple story was very clever and was equal parts light and dark. The quirky supporting characters were well realised too.

I'm going to give it a break before looking at the .

The Final Station (Switch)

Really enjoyed this for the most part as the style, music and sound design create a great atmosphere. The mix of side scrolling corridor shooter, resource management and (very light) train sim provided enough variation to keep things interesting. Also true of the gradual introduction of different enemy types each with variation in how they attack, difficulty to kill or both which is bolstered by the combination of these enemies in any one encounter, requiring thought in how to tackle them. There's an element of trial and error to that too but that only very occasionally became frustrating.

The only real problem is the shooting but because it's so integral, it did begin to affect my appreciation of the game. It can be tricky to tell exactly where you're aiming and because getting headshots on enemies can be the difference between using one bullet and three (when ammo is incredibly precious) it leads to unnecessary deaths and repetition.

It seems intentional that you have to let enemies get close to improve accuracy but there's little consistency in the amount of damage done when factoring in your aim, distance, etc. Some of the upgrades help with accuracy but then these are taken away from you towards the end of the game for no apparent reason.

There are other clever elements such as a simple crafting system, keeping train passengers healthy and maintaining your train. The maintenance element seemed like it would increase in complexity but never does so it's very little effort, bordering on a bore, in later stages of the game.

The way the story unfolds through conversations, scraps of paper or messages, and background actions was well managed. It's light on detail in some areas but I think intentionally to leave it open to interpretation of the player. A slightly predictable ending aside, it was plenty to keep me engaged.

The highlight is certainly planning the attacks on enemies using the environment and objects where possible to conserve ammo and improve your chances of success. There's enough variety in how the environments are created to keep this interesting throughout. It's a shame it's let down by a core mechanic but I'd still happily recommend it with that in mind.

[7]

Good write up there Cos. Cracking atmosphere and doesn't outstay its welcome. I enjoyed it.

Thrown myself into escapism over the last few months so I have a few completes to log.

Monster Hunter World

My first MoHan and not the last. Held my life in a firm grip for weeks after release and checking Gaijin Hunter's channel every lunch time. Then burnout and work and other games happened. Some of the best nights with badgers I've had as well since joining the forum. I'll dip back in for this spring festival event.

[9] badly designed/integrated social hubs out of [10]


Into the Breach

Great in a way FTL didn't quite manage for me. I got a lot less frustrated anyway due to the fairer, more logical piss milking of the player in this.

[9] but possible [10] once I get back in the groove of it.


Warhammer: Vermintide 2

Yo fam let's make the surprise best L4D game since L4D2. And I thought the first one was luke-tepid. I like maining the strangely chill for a dwarf, Dwarf who comes with motivating quips and a flamethrower.

[8.9]


Cradle

The Pitch: A relatively short exploration/puzzler by the Russian art designer who worked on the STALKER games. The very beginning sees you inside a Yurt (had no idea what this was) on the Mongolian mesas about 50 years in the future and mankind has gone through some hefty social changes in the interim. I think I spent at least an hour and a half in that Yurt initially just reading all the believably discarded notes, old newspapers and family photos of Mongolian life to flesh out the world. Then the plot starts and I have to go to an abandoned spooky theme park to find robot body parts. 

Intensely focused in certain areas and while it kind of droops as you play on towards the end, I'm really glad I played it.

[7] what the hell is wrong with your Golden Eagle's chest cavity's out of [10]


Grim Fandango Remastered

Some of Schafer's best writing (*On finding out Glottis, a daemon solely created to be good at driving, is also a good pianist* "He must be good at anything with keys."), character and world design is in this alongside the great bebop soundtrack. Some of the most memorable of all point and clicks I've played probably which justifies the nostalgia train that helped get this remastered.

But with that come some of the most oblique puzzles in the genre and a horrible inventory system. It's a monster of bad design in the wrong lighting and it's a shame Schafer didn't come back to the setting instead of making the forgettable Broken Age.

[6] I'm gonna buy a Manny Calavera mug's out of [10]


The Signal from Tolva

I liked this. It's an entry in the marmite genre. STALKER-lite in a more rudimentary map where you go about collecting "signals" and slowly uncover THE HORROR of what this alien planet actually is. But you do it by hijacking a faction of robots who you can then eventually hack to accompany you across the rolling hills and under the rusting giant rib cages of long retired war machines that have built up over the centuries as other rival factions of robots tussle over territory. I found it quite relaxing really. And a bit Operation Flashpointy in how frequently lethal and kinetic the combat is. Robot patrols both your own and enemies are attracted by laser fire and a small skirmish can quickly turn into a three-way team death match with constant reinforcements till one side gets momentum.

Also there's a creepy, minimalist story going on about the planet being haunted and robots can't really make sense of the supernatural goings on.

[7]


Mountain 

I can't remember if I mentioned this way back in an early post here but this is a glorified screen saver/digital fish tank and I love it to bits. A Mountain floating through space with its own atmosphere occasionally "thinks" out loud and you can if you choose to, clean it of all the junk it accumulates flying through space like breeze blocks, small cars and human brains.

[Disqualified as it isn't a game]

I'm terrified I'm idling it one day when I'm out and the aliens event happens and it blows up (beautifully, mind you).

You can induce it manually with a specific song but it has a very tiny random chance. You can spam notes to create a shield that protects poor Mountain otherwise it is obliterated.

That's The Evil Within 2 done. A far better title than the first, and a superlative horror/shooter. I'm a big resi 4-6 (yes, 6) boy, so anything over the shoulder popping zombies is great by me. This was simply fantastic. About 5-6 good boss fights throughout, and enough silliness to keep you going. Only about 2 actual jump scares in the game, but yeah, this is a real good end for old Sebastian.

Far Cry 5
So we can safely say better than 2.

It goes 3>4>5>1>2

regmcfly wrote:

That's The Evil Within 2 done. A far better title than the first, and a superlative horror/shooter. I'm a big resi 4-6 (yes, 6) boy, so anything over the shoulder popping zombies is great by me. This was simply fantastic. About 5-6 good boss fights throughout, and enough silliness to keep you going. Only about 2 actual jump scares in the game, but yeah, this is a real good end for old Sebastian.

Hmm. Could be tempted..

How is resource management/ wanky boss battles?

digi wrote:

Bob wrote:

Far Cry 5 So we can safely say better than 2. It goes 3>4>5>1>2

4 is shitter than all of the others. (except 5 i ain't played 5)

its better than 5, 2 and 1.

XCom 2: War of the Chosen

Very much in two minds about this.

On one hand it builds on an already top tier turn-based strategy game with a whole load of new features and content, which pretty much means it's about as good as the genre gets. There are major new enemy types, including 'the chosen' themselves which sort of function as bosses that intervene at various points, plus 'the lost' - zombies, basically - which can change how battles are going when they turn up, and a few other regular unit types. Then you've got three new troop classes which are all well thought out, new equipment, mission types, covert ops, a version of the buddy system from Fire Emblem, and so on and so on. it's pretty much everything you could stuff into this sort of game and it's all well-balanced.

But. Even when you add all that up it doesn't feel like a £35 expansion. Once you get passed the first few hours, when it introduces all the new elements, you're mostly playing the same game as before. i was really expecting more narrative strands away from the base game but there's none of that. in the end, the lost don't really feature very often and don't develop into a more interesting adversary during the game. Even the Chosen aren't that big a deal really. i only paid £22, but i'm still not sure it was worth it when you consider the overall difference.

And then there's the other problem. i may have got more out of the new features by playing the game on a higher difficulty, but (on a regular PS4) there are so many bugs, glitches and performance issues that actually interfere with play it would be an incredibly frustrating experience. Playing it in the infamous 'ironman' mode would be completely out of the question. it's not only that a crash could wipe your entire progress, but also that sometimes enemies disappear so you can't shoot them, or you move a character to one place and the game decides to put it somewhere else. These things can be crucial differences between success and failure. And besides all that the framerate is terrible. Somehow it runs worse than the now-patched base game, even though it doesn't seem to be doing anything different most of the time. My intention was to up the difficulty and do another run, but there's no way i'll try before a major patch.

So, this is still arguably the best turn-based strategy game around. But then it isn't because it doesn't run properly and hasn't been fixed in months and because the publishers got a bit greedy again with the pricing (not including the first lot of DLC in the console release was already rather stingy).

So you're saying that 4 is a.... far cry from the earlier ones?

Three had the sharks, which were simultaneously the best and worst thing about it.