Hidden Gems Part 5

 It's been a while since the previous post and indeed a while since I actually played these games but I'm back talking about a sale that now ended several weeks ago, still, I bought all these games on a whim and by gawd I'll talk to the ether about them, so here we go.

DEFUNCT

No, not the first person platformer Refunct (that no one has heard of), but a 3D platformer of sorts that focused on speed. A little robot fell out of his spaceship and must get back onboard after landing on the planet below. This is done by zipping through levels, in a way that somewhat reminds me of a 3D sonic game, but also not. The robot has a single wheel, think Claptrap but not as annoying, who's old and broken down, I guess you could say it's defunct... The main idea of the game is to keep up the speed, by going down hills, jumping and picking up speed boosts, it can be exhilarating (ok, calm down) when you can sustain a high speed for a long time, but often times frustrating after being slowed down and struggling to pick up speed again. The game is certainly at its best when shooting down linear paths that are designed to keep you going, again like a 3D sonic game, but less so when it opens up to send you collecting ords to repower electrical doors to let you advance. If, like me, you enjoy a short, 3D semi platformer, this might be for you at a low price, especially being so short as to not overstay its welcome. To have the most fun you gotta go fast. 6/10

HARD RESET REDUX    

From the makers of the Shadow Warrior game series comes their first game, an FPS initially released in 2011 and now updated for modern day (if it were still 2016). Much like Shadow warrior before/ after (depending if you count the remaster as after) this is a fast paced, classic style arcade shooter along the lines of Timesplitters or Goldeneye and not what Call of Duty has turned them in to. Of course Doom 2016 took this style and redefined it, but considering this game was originally released 5 years before that titles, it's a good effort. There's not much of a story, robots have taken over the planet and you must stop them, like daybreakers but with automatons rather than vampires. The story doesn't matter though as it comes together through the gameplay which stands out. If you have played Shadow Warrior (or the superior Shadow Warrior 2) it's basically the same gameplay wise, except without the powers. A run and gun game where cover doesn't matter as, like Kevin Keegan believed, a good offence is the best defence. Interestingly there are only 2 weapons, a rifle and an energy gun which offer enough variety as there are upgrades for the guns throughout the game which change them in to rocket launches, shotguns, plasma beams and so on. This is another short game, about 6 hours which is not long for a AA game of this nature, unlike something like foxyland which is cheap so the lack of longevity is expected and indeed welcome. The look here is not good though, nearly every level looks the same and the dark colour pallet gets stale after a while. The game is pretty fun and I had a good time playing it. 7/10

MIDNIGHT DELUXE

Who remembers Angry Birds? This game is slightly different in that you have to throw a single guy down a hole. Obviously there's obstacles, would be pretty pointless otherwise, and you get a few attempts, it will just affect the grade on the level. This is another easy platinum game that doesn't need to be finished in order to obtain it, which I didn't. There isn't a whole lot to say really, I've basically described everything about it here, It is fine for £1 or so (as long as you're not one of those people who feels dirty for getting a cheap platinum trophy (obviously I'm not)). This game is also on PS Vita (I have one, although it's just gathering dust) where it would be much more at home, like angry birds or any other game of that nature it would be okay to play on the bus or during a work break (what are they?) much more than playing it at home. (it's also on switch too but that doesn't have a trophy/ achievement system so forget that). 5/10

There was going to be one other game, a god game called 'Reus', but I hit a game game breaking bug during the obscenely long tutorial so gave up due to annoyance. Anyway, that's the lot now for these 'hidden gems', some worth playing and some not (though my trophy score has shot up). Got my PS5 pre order which is exciting, although the Xbox sure is tantalizing. No doubt I'll have a series X in a couple of years and inevitably change to that being my primary console as always seems to happen. Of course this means some 'end of the generation' content would be appropriate. Let's see if I actually do it or not.

Hidden Gems part 4

 Good news, I got the platinum on grass cutter without too many hairs pulled from my head, I thought you should know. Anyway, here's some more games from the sale that is now over, but best to know what's been missed, though people could just pay full price.

I WANT TO BE HUMAN

After a whole post without 2D platformers, both the most frequently appearing genre in budget titles and of course my favourite, they return. I want to be human is one of those intentionally super tough games like Super Meat Boy or Celeste but without the quick checkpoints, speedy game play and many more cheap deaths. You get a life bar and a gun to shoot your way through the levels. the first world is actually pretty fun and challenging (with very easy bosses, yay), but then you get to world 2 and the difficulty spike is so sharp that it might take your eye out. Suddenly there are laser beams, hidden spikes, bombs, turrets, death pits and more absolutely everywhere (plus all the enemies shooting you that seem like an unnecessary nuisance when trying to get the platforming just right) and the long checkpoints means you'll need to do a near perfect run to get through, which makes this game a hell of a grind. I have long since known and said that platformers with a weapon are never as good as pure platformers like the ones mentioned above or of course, the 2 infamous Icons of this genre, Bubsy the Bobcat and Aero the Acro-Bat. That means this is already a 'lesser than' game in my eyes even before I wanted to put my controller through the television. On the plus side though I absolutely love the art style and the music is pretty good, it's just a shame that the character has to shout 'ow' in the voice of a 5 year old girl every time you take damage, which as mentioned, is a lot. If, like me, you like challenging platformers, it may be for you, depending on the amount of gamer rage you get. Overall I paid less than £1, and the first world was fairly good, which means I'm gonna give it a 5/10. I could try and 'get gud' but I can't be bothered.

MOTHER RUSSIA BLEEDS    

We got a brawler here. This one is a classic brawler game (like Streets of Rage (there will be many comparisons coming up), walking around the screen, beating people up, you know the drill. Set in Russia, the plot obviously involves drugs, slums and governmental conspiracy, as that happens 24/7 over there. After being abducted from your slum, as one of 4 swappable characters you have to figure out the source of the drugs that have broke down your home slum. There's a few interesting mechanics here. Your life is restored by using the drug, which you refill by draining from dead enemies plus there are also other uses for the drug, the primary one being a berserk mode which lets you instantly execute enemies. There are other types of drugs to unlock in the arena mode (arenas you unlock throughout the game which is a horde mode that I didn't bother with (there's too many games to get through)) but personally I found this to be a waste of the resource that was much better used on the health benefits (like crystal meth). The game also supplies a different way to implement lives (certainly different to SOR4 anyway (or indeed, any Streets of Rage)). Instead of the traditional method of having a certain amount of lives at the start of the level whereby losing them means you have to restart the whole level, there's only 1 life but with checkpoints. It makes each fight tougher as one death means restarting from a checkpoint, but not as frustrating as having to start the whole level over again. I approve of this change. It's got one of my favourite differences too, loads of blood and gore, always fun to see. It's not perfect though, certainly the most annoying thing to me is the hitboxes, where I often found myself missing punches because I was a slight millimeter off the enemy and felt like every enemy character was living as a 2d character in a 3D plane. Guns are the other annoyance to me, sure, it's good to pick them up and wipe out all the enemies but  no so good when a character comes off screen wielding a fire arm that you have a split second to notice, let alone react to and pops a cap in yo' face a couple of times which kills you. Overall though, this is a very good brawler, with a decent story to boot, I can highly recommend this one, and if, like me, you enjoy a good retro style brawler, this is for you. I'm not sure it's quite as good as SOR4 (though that is aided by a nostalgic edge), but MRB certainly runs it close. 9/10. Oh, there's also up to 4 player local co-op, which would be good if I had any friends.

SUPER BLOOD HOCKEY

Like Golazo! before, we're back to an arcade sports game, and another pretty entertaining one. Now, as an Englishman I know very little about Ice hockey, my only real experience being from NHL 2k7, which I enjoyed quite a lot. This is nothing like that other than it's the same sport (so I guess it's kinda like that). A side on 16 bit style game that is more to do with bashing the opposing team about than actually scoring. A lot of the focus on this game is the brawls, which will leads to injuries to the brawls losing team, some temporary that they soon recover from, some disabling that take them out of the rest of the match and some fatal, meaning in certain modes that player is gone forever (also, it too has a lot of blood, another plus). Although it's a fun game to play, franchise mode is where it gets good (though it's no master league). After getting your kidney harvested to start up your franchise (I Believe that's the American term for sports team (I don't know why, they're not opening up a McDonalds) you have to build your squad from a selection of players, which you can add to over time when you get the cash, and you will need to. These players can then be improved through performances in game and training, as well as changing their diets to increase/ decrease their weight (no I can't actually tell what difference that makes) and buying illegal drugs from the dealer in the back alley. The thing really to watch is brain damage, the higher it gets, the more likely to get injuries in a game, and the more chance they get a disabling injury to leave them unavailable for a while (and you have to pay their health bill, or you can pull the plug on them and cash in oth the compensation) or indeed fatal injuries, removing them forever. You can set them to train on losing the brain damage but I find it never really keeps up with how much is received during matches, which leads to you needing a squad so you can rest your better players up to recover. This game isn't perfect though with a couple of gripes that often run amok in these arcade style sports game. Firstly, the AI team mates don't seem to know what's going on at all, I'm pretty sure I know more about Hockey than they do as they wander out of formation constantly and their positioning when your on the puck (is that the term, like one the ball?) is useless as it seems by far the best chance to get a goal is to square it across goal but frequently your team mates will come and stand right next to you, which offers no help at all. The other issue is the player swapping, it can often be infuriating trying to get control of the right player when trying to defend, leaving the team susceptible to conceded goals, this seems to be a common issue in these cheaper arcade sports games. I did like this game and might even go back and play it again (though I never did with Golazo! after thinking the same thing) and try to retain my franchise crown (and maybe turn it up from easy mode). 8/10.

SNAKEY BUS

Time to hit the streets in the fastest thing on 4 wheels, a bus! This is a cross between Crazy Taxi and Snake, and it comes together very well. As a bus you travel from stop to stop, gaining points and extra carriages as you pick up passengers. The objective, to survive as long as you can. The game is not quite as punishing as Snake, as you can hit other parts of the bus going round and round the map, but when you get stuck, or depending on the level, fall off the edge, it's all over. The bus flies around at high speeds and the bus jump high into the air, as all busses should. You have to plan your route if you want to score high so the challenge is not only in driving around but thinking both ahead of time and on the fly to keep yourself going. I really enjoyed it and the enticement of yet another platinum trophy kept me going. This time it's not an easy one, but also not the hardest, perseverance will pay off, assuming you actually gain skill at playing the game, like how all games work. Because of this shiny carrott at the end of the stick, it made me care about high scores for the first time since Geometry Wars 2. There is a lifespan on this game as there's only a handful of different areas and bus types, but it is great fun while it lasts. Certainly worth a few hours of time. 8/10

Some good games this time, which makes a nice change, maybe I've learned after all this time that the best games aren't the ones where you get a platinum trophy after less than an hour, but are actually good enough to not get fed up of them after barely any time has passed, with extras to keep you coming back. Who knew? Anyway, still more games to go, this ain't over yet. 

Hidden Gems Part 3

Uh oh, the sale ended. Well, I've purchased all these games now, so better carry on regardless.

GRASS CUTTER, MUTATED LAWNS

Finally a game about one of the more mundane chores (that said, all chores are rather mundane), mowing the lawn. I do not have Pac Man fever, don't get the big deal and that is clearly an inspiration for this game. You have to go around a garden cutting the grass, avoiding enemies and traps, though unfortunately you can't eat any ghosts. There's a variety of different lawnmowers you can unlock which have different special moves for which you get the coins to unlock them quickly so can gather up the different vehicle types quickly. The problem is that I am so bad at this, coupled with me not enjoying this genre of game anyway means I won't be amongst the 75% of players that got the platinum trophy. It seems harsh to give this a bad score as I can see how it might be enjoyable, but if, like me, you're not a fan of Pac Man (i'm sure others exist) style games, avoid this like the plague. 3/10

CONCRETE GENIE

Back to the AA games then and this was a Playstation second party exclusive released late last year to little fanfare. I wasn't interested at the time as it looked like a pretty average kind of game but there I went and bought it anyway. So, you're some street artist (but the non criminal type) called Ash (Piantem) who has to paint walls to make friendly Genies appear who help traverse the areas, unfortunately these genies neither grant wishes not perform Robin Williams impersonations. The areas are blocked by light puzzles and a group of bullies who take away your magic paintbrush and throw you in a skip. The auto setting for the game is to use motion sensitive controls (thanks a bunch Nintendo), but fortunately you can turn that garbage off and use the right stick as soon as the tutorial is over and move it to the right stick, however you can't invert the Y axis on the painting even though you can with the regular camera. What is with the bullying of the inverted users going on (mind you, people who invert the X axis are clearly evil)? After you get through 2/3 of the game, the bullies put some black stuff all over your walls, which turns the genies evil, thus starts a rescue mission to save the bullies (if it were me, I'd have just left them all to die). The game then switches to become a third person action game (who would have seen that coming from a Playstation exclusive), where you skate around and attack the evil genies to turn them good again, and save the bullies (gotta save 'em all). After about an hour of the complete shift it game, it ends, the bullies now like you because you saved them of course (they never had a friend like Ash), thus proving the only way to stop a child being bullied is to wait until they're in mortal danger, then save their lives. It's a weird game and kind of short (thankfully). At least the developers (pixelopus) tried something new but didn't really commit as it ended in more standard fair. It's an acceptable game at a reduced price. 6/10

ONE NIGHT STAND

This is one of those choose your own adventure type games. Waking up next to a girl in a bed, with a mega handover and a bad case of the forgotten evening (sounds familiar (except the waking up next to a girl part)), the objective is to figure out what happened. The game is only a few minutes long and requires multiple playthroughs to get all 9 endings, some good, some bad. It deserves multiple playthroughs too, there is plenty to learn about this mysterious girl and it's an interesting concept. Of course, if like me, and you like platinum trophies you'll end up ruining it after the game has largely played out, by then consulting a trophy guide and having to play it over again several times to get the exact required outcomes. That is my fault though, and not that of the game (that said, over half the players have the platinum so maybe it was to be expected (though I think this was a mobile game first so maybe not)). Anyway, it's a quick and interesting game as you try to get close to her, as long as you don't overstay your welcome (and she kicks you out after trying to smuggle out her panties). 7/10

CONCEPT DESTRUCTION

Do you like Micro Machines? Do you like Destruction Derby (the game, not the redneck hick passtime). Do you like cars made out of cardboard that look like they were designed by a person with no fingers, holding a pen between their stubs? If you said yes to all 3 then stop the presses right now. So, it's a quick, easily approachable racer. Like flatout 4 you drive around bashing in to other cars in races and derby events (last one standing wins the prize), so, simple really. The game is extraordinarily easy as the opposition don't put up much of a challenge and again comes with an easy platinum (if someone looked at my trophy list with all these cheap Platinum trophies they'd think I'm a total loser with no life (oh, wait...)). This game is fine for a couple of squid and indeed it's also fine for the couple of hours it lasts (it has multiplayer but good luck trying to convince anyone to play this with), I don't hate it, the price should tell you all that's needed, it's £4 at full price now the sale has ended, which is a pretty spot on price for it. Better recommendations here would be Wreckfest, Table Top Racing or indeed, Fl4tout, but, if like me, you enjoy budget games that waste a couple of hours that you didn't really have anything else to do with anyway, then this is for you. 5/10

More games yet to come, a non stop thrill ride of indie games and other budget 'gems'. Maybe I should go and cut my actual grass instead.

 

Hidden Gems part 2

Despite the fact I already purchased a dozen or so games on the sale, I've only gone and purchased another 8. I need about a months holiday from work now if I ever intend to play them all, many of them are much longer from the 1 to 2 hour experiences I went through before. Maybe I could throw myself down the stairs and break my leg? Anyway, more games on the sale coming up.

88 Heroes

2D platformer again, and one with an interesting concept. you have 88 minutes to complete the 88 levels with 88 lives. However, this isn't lives in the usual sense. There are 88 different playable characters that are selected randomly as you play, some good, some bad. Love has gone in to all the characters, each wildly, or slightly different from each other and many of them references to other games, movies and TV from Mario and the Ninja turtles to Snake (as in the mobile game, not of the solid variety). This game is hard, sometimes because I make a lot of mistakes due to the the rush of getting through levels (which is the point) to some that are unavoidable. Some levels are either impossible or extremely difficult to complete with some characters and the only way to change character is to die, then you're down a life/ hero. Additionally (and more frustratingly) is the level scrolling. The first time I played it through I didn't even know you could look around as it never tells you how, or indeed that such an option exists. On top of that the scrolling takes time, vital seconds, and as silly as it sounds you're racing against the clock and stopping to look at what is coming multiple times a level eats up way too much, personally I think the the clock should be stopped when you do this. One more problem, each character comes with a bio, which are fun but they cover up most of the screen so when there is an early danger in a level, you can't see it coming. Overall this is a very  inventive game that I would love to see a sequel of, with some of the niggles ironed out. It's close to being something really special but for now I'll have to give it 7/10.

HORROR STORIES

This is a top down survival game of sorts. In the event anyone has ever played Party hard (where you're a top down 1 screen guy who has to silently slaughter everyone on screen), it's the opposite of that. It's a one screen affair too but this time the player is the one in peril. The protagonist has to sneak around the screen, hiding from a masked killer that is somewhere between Jason Voorhees and Leatherface (and later on other classic horror villains (or so I hear)) in order to set traps to escape. It's not quite that simple, every trap involves needing to find a specific item that sets up a separate, specific trap in a different location on the screen. This frustrated me as setting the traps in one would speed the play up, they could even add more traps but without the required items and that would work better. To be honest, this is a poor game. After playing the first level you get the whole game as it repeats just on seperate maps. The enemy spotting can be very frustrating, you are often seen from a mile away, yet also frequently not spotted right buy in front of the killers face. Additionally as soon as the slasher spots you, there seems to be no way to escape no matter what wardrobe you try to play in and you must start over. This game is dull and repetitive and not as quick paced as I would like for such a simple set up. To be fair I only played this game for about 20 minutes and didn't want to carry on, but from some gameplay videos I can tell I wouldn't want to. I paid 50p and I'd quite like it back. 2/10 (it didn't crash so it is not a 1/10)

GOLAZO!

Yes! football. There has, of course, been a lot of football games down the years and I have played a whole lot of them, from Pro Evo 4 to Actua Soccer 3 (to be fair, I liked that game based on Villa park being in it and the ability to leave footprints on the snow) and it was time to add another to my vast collection. An arcade soccer game that is a cross between Red Card Soccer and Sensible soccer (ugh, 'soccer'). The view is is side on like modern day games and has little rules and no fowls (apart from in the penalty area for reasons), there's a few power ups, speed, tackling and shooting which amounts to a simple, yet enjoyable arcade football game. there are no real licensed players, obviously (though unfortunately no teams made of different names of cheeses) with only a couple of modes, exhibition, world cup and league. There is local multiplayer (shame I have no friends) but unfortunately no online. The game adds a handful of collectibles, different kits etc. to unlock, but at the rate you gather in game currency it would take weeks to collect them all. There's no platinum here, though it would seem achievable if time is put in, which i might have had there been one. This is a perfectly acceptable football game if, like me you enjoy football games. For about £2 on the sale it's worth a purchase even though it gets long in the tooth relatively quickly. Like Gravity Duck before it the rating will get a bump for the low price which means 7/10.

BOUNCY BULLETS

 

Yes! easy platinum again (btw, all these easy platinums are coming from publisher 'Ratalaika Games', who are known for releasing cheap easy platinum games, but at least they actually make an effort to make an actual game, unlike some other easy platinums out there like Energy cycle or My name is Mayo, which are not really games at all). So, a first person 3D platformer with a major flaw. Like approximately 10% of gamers I play with an inverted Y axis. It just makes sense to me. This game does not have an option to invert and thus what should be a simple game turned into a frustrating endeavour. Each level has a time trial element to get 3 stars but I ended up with 1 star on basically every level as a result of this major issue. this is an ugly game, with simple colours and ordinary platforming, with the enemies taking the form of whacky, not waving, not inflatable, armless rectangle men. Even if you could actually could control the game it's extremely forgettable (I assume) and if, like me, you play inverted then completely avoid it, I could barely get through it. 2/10

This list was much poorer than the previous round of games unfortunately, but I purposely picked these games because they were short (there is replayability in 88 heroes and Golazo! but seems unlikely). Better start actually playing some of these longer games now, so the next post will likely be more of a wait. 

Hidden Gems

 After finishing Burial at Sea, I looked around the upcoming games and realised nothing interesting was coming for a while. So then I looked around all the old ps plus games I'd picked up and never played and realised I've already played the ones I had any interest in before. So i went to the PS store and saw the hidden gems sale. Now, there are some good games on there, and then there are some other games. Not necessarily bad but when you're spending £1.50 on a game on PSN you can't expect GTA 6, or even something like Freedom planet. But, somewhere there will be something of interest, I thought to myself, staring hopefully at the terribly designed PSN store layout. So, here's some of them/

FOXYLAND

This is the exact kind of thing I would expect for the low price. It's a 2D platformer (so already in the top 10% of games ever made) that would look at home on the Sega Master system (and that other, more forgettable console from the same time). You're a fox that has to save his girlfriend (good job it's not a Bandicoot for gimmick infringement as that's the only other time I've seen that set up)., so you chase after her by jumping on stuff (y'know platforming). It's an acceptable game that, had it come out in 1988, I might have remembered fondly (albeit I would be 1 years old (yet Alex Kidd in Miracle world came out 2 years before that and I have fond memories of that (wait a minute, that game was awful)), but in this crazy world of games like Guacamele, Super Meat Boy and Super kelemania it's a very forgettable entry in to the greatest genre of gaming. There's an easy platinum trophy here to get, which I did (first since my name is Mayo (Vita edition (already had the PS4 one))) so that was something. There are certainly some cheap deaths where you can't see what you're about to fall on (surprise, it's spikes) that you could only possibly know from trial and error, which led to some frustrating moments for me. After I got the platinum about half way through the game I turned it off and deleted it from the library as I didn't have any real reason to go on or indeed ever play it again. It's far from the worst game ever made but I can't really recommend it even at that price unless like me you're a platform enthusiast. 4/10

Turns out there's a sequel *goes back to the PSN store.

FULL BLAST

Now we move on to a different 2D perspective, a top down one for a shooter. It's a classic scrolling shooter, going upwards, like my favourite ever from this genre, Mega Drive classic, Truxton. This ain't no Truxton. The setting is he very over used flying over some cities and it doesn't look great stylistically, the enemies, which I think are alien invaders (maybe) are very generic and forgettable and this is the same game that seems to have come out hundreds of times (figuratively). Much like Foxyland it's not terrible but very forgettable and doesn't need to be played unless you're a scrolling shooter enthusiast, unlike me. There's another easy platinum, which I got (first since Foxykand) that you can obtain by the end of the third level, which was of course where I again dipped out and deleted the game. What am I doing with my life (and money)? 4/10

GRAVITY DUCK

Back to 2D platformers and another easy platinum trophy. This time there's a twist. instead of jumping up and falling, you swap gravity to the opposite side and in another twist, it's pretty good. This amounts to a sort of puzzle platformer with a clear path to take on each level, requiring perfect runs as the game draws to it's conclusion. There are lots of levels over 4 worlds but they're all very short, somewhat reminding me of 10 second ninja (in the unlikely event people have heard of that game (also very good btw)). I must say it's a very well implemented use of the gimmick. A great pick up and play game, if you've got a few spare minutes you can blast through a handful of levels. Even though the game is on sale the usual price is only £3.99 and I would seriously recommend this one for yet another 2D platformer enthusiast (yes, like me again). Much like the last 2 games you can get the platinum (which I did (first since Full blast)) less than half way through the game, but unlike the other I kept playing, all the way to it's conclusion. For the price this is, 8/10 (yes, really) and I'd rather play this than many 'Triple A' games. I like 'em short and at just a couple of hours long it's the perfect length.

FLATOUT 4

Or Fl4tout: Total insanity if you want to call it by it's 'inventive' cover art. Obviously this is a full game at an A level which separates it from the other games covered here and it was over the lofty price of £4. I remember, way back when I really enjoyed the original PS2 game, yes more than Destroy all Humans, yet it's the only game in the series I played. I loved the stunt games where you launch your guy from the car window to take out skittles and score a free kick and anything else that resembles a target you can hit. There are a lot of similarities with Wreckfest, though the Flatout series came first, though Destruction derby, the original game made by the makers o f Wreckfest was on PS1, so potentially an inspiration for this series. Graphically it's pretty good and the courses are varied and interesting and has a fully licensed rock sound track so there has been a real effort put in to the games presentation. But how does it play? Turns out pretty good, a real fun time bashing cars about tracks and fighting to the finish line, but there is a serious flaw. On every race you from the back of the pack, presumably to add to the difficulty, however many times I found the number of cars and randomness of opponents flying all over the place lead to me being well out of the race withing the first 30 seconds and a whole lot of race restarts. When you can get past this chaos the game opens up and is a lot of fun, but I frequently had to restart races to get to that. As for the infamous stunt games that were fun 15 years ago, they are disappointingly exactly the same after all this time and the online is long dead (to be fair it is a 3 years old A level game so it's to be expected). Overall it's a lot of fun, depending on the game mode, albeit often frustrating. The game is usually £15.99 which is probably the right price if, unlike me are, you a racing enthusiast (though I do enjoy them from time to time). I wouldn't have made the purchase at that price but the sale dragged me in. Obviously with the size of the game it doesn't have an easy platinum, and I sure wont be getting that one. 7/10 (it's no Gravity duck, but what is?).

I've got many more to come and I'll likely have something to say due to being on holiday from work, which has become the only time I write on here now. I like exploring the lesser known games as often there's some 'Hidden gems' (as the sale title implies). I like to have a good grasp of what is going on in a world I really enjoy exploring.

 

Destroy All Humans

 The remake, obviously. It's been a while since I've posted thought I've written, or stated to on a few things about other games but didn't think I had enough to say, for example the last of us 2, I had a few opinions (mostly on the dated gameplay) but they weren't exactly fresh. A couple of other mentions as well. Firstly, I've been replaying Bioshock infinite and it's darn good, the gameplay is a lot better than I remember and the twisting story keeps it fresh, though the setting is not even close to the intrigue of Rapture. Mention for maneater too, I like a collectathon from time to time and this was a good example of one. Shout outs also to the fun romp of 'Saints Row the third remastered'.

So, speaking of remake, Destroy all Humans remastered. I played the old one 'back in the day' (although my day was more the early 90's and not the mid 00's) and it was a good PS2 game with an interesting setting in the 60's though I hardly thought it was ground breaking at the time. So why did I even play it? I've been asking myself this too as I'm not really sure, I guess I wanted a slice of the past and to remember what games were like 15 years ago. I have to mention though that although I was in to it at the time, the Ps2/ Xbox 1 (not that one) was the worst generation for me personally. Very few games stand out for me then as there wasn't much invention, SD was getting old, western RPG's hadn't yet took off and my favourite game type, 2D platformers had been dropped for a series of mediocre mascot 3D platformers, something that had seemed interesting in the generation before but had mostly remained the same or even regressed since then. (there was the GTA3 series though) What was I talking about again?

Ah yes, Destroy all humans. You're an alien invader with 'cool' alien powers like mind control, assuming forms of others, jet packs, skating (for unknown reasons) and the old reliable ray gun. The classic sci Fi tropes are endless and intentionally so as that's what this game is aiming for. The missions of this game are mostly similar throughout the game, sneak past some enemies by disguising yourself as a human, then shoot some guys on foot, then shoot some building in your saucer, the game is fully realised by the 4th or 5th mission and then just repeated multiple times over. The plot turns out to be forgettable apart from the big twist, ooh, the big bad (well, I guess good in this case) that was covered head to toe turns out to be a woman. OMG!  

It plays like a game from it's time period, passable at past, feeling a lot like one of the mascot platformers of the time, just replace the platforming with shooting. There's the option to go outside of missions and explore towns and do some side quests and shoot some of those damn dirty apes, but it's hardly Vice city or San andreas. The areas are small and samey and once you've played a hand full of missions there's nothing here that a player won't have already experienced several times over (granted this is the same for many, many games but they're usually more fun).

I may be a cynical person but this game is a relic of the past, an average game for it's time that is far from the standards of today's offerings with little to nothing more to offer than a nostalgic pop. Sadly it is not worth playing in 2020.

I've been playing (and in some cases replaying) those 'other' Sonic games, someday I'll rank them all (well, mostly all) one day, maybe. I don't want to have played Sonic dash 2 for nothing, that would make it a total waste of my time rather than simply largely a waste of my time.

Streets of Rage 4

26 years in the making. I'm a huge Mega Drive fan, its' what I grew up on. Master system might have been my first console but the Mega Drive turned me in to the the person who now spends way too much time playing videogames in his mid 30's that I am today. Streets of rage played a very small part in this. I never owned one but rented them several times and was always terrible at them (unlike Alien storm). To be honest, brawlers have never been one of my favourite genres but 'Foul play' really turned me round when I played that a year or so ago. A good brawler, with the nostalgia addition (something that always works for (see my long Term Sonic obsession)) got me hyped, and I was not let down.

Needless to say I haven't played as a single new character, starting as Blaze and moving on to Axel I was really struggling, it was when I unlocked Adam half way though the game that things really took off and I actually got semi capable at the game. SOR4 is not the most advanced game in this genre by any stretch but it builds a little on the originals, really recreating the spirit of the originals, a simple few button maneuvers, no gimmicks and all the roast chickens you can eat. It fells like a true sequel to the original series.

The game is absolutely beautiful, I was a sceptic when I first saw the trailer (like many others) but it fits in with the series so well, the music is great for the same reasons too. They bring back many of the old enemies while adding a few new and remixing some classics, Electra a particular stand out with a new story of being a total wineo (is that how you spell it?). 

If you like older brawlers this will be right up your street (s' of rage) but don't expect any frills. A love letter to the series and I for one was delighted by it. A must play for the Sega kids out there.

There's not a lot of exciting upcoming games out there it must be said, Saints Row 3 and Destroy all humans remakes could be interesting and the recent Ghosts of Tsuhima gameplay footage has me interested in that game for the first time. Unfortunately I've had the last of us 2 spoiled for me, but that might be a bit of a blessing in surprise. For me Naughty dogs games haven't played that well for a long time, Uncharted certainly being overrated for me and The last of Us 1 certainly being dragged along by a great story, but it seems like the sequel certainly doesn't go the way I want. it could be handled really well, who knows but the length has me worried most of all. 2 disks? really? Uncarted 4 seemed to go on forever and this is supposed to be significantly longer. Anyway, I might get it yet, at this point I'm undecided.

Been playing a lot of these games that are on sale on PSN at the minute to mixed results (why are the loading times for The Crew 2 so insanely long?). Maybe it's time for the Sonic rankings, Just want to play Sonic and the Lost world first as it was during my forgotten surgery year when I first played it so have basically no recollection of it.

Resident Evil 3

Good news (for me), I'm going through some of my missed/ forgotten Sonic games to make my long ranking list. There's no way I'm including every single game mind you just most of them. That's not what I'm here for now though, it's resi 2 remake (obviously). Now, I've noticed I get substantially more views for more niche games (I'm talking 10-20 more time) but I'm doing this for myself to alleviate boredom anyway.

So, the remake of 2 got my 'prestigious' game of the year award (comparisons to that game incoming) for last year so the (worryingly) fast release of the sequel was always gonna be one for me to look forward to. Good news (again), it's good. I like the more sprawling setting with more different environments from the predecessor as well as the slightly speeded up gameplay. Jill and Carlos are both good characters (I would certainly choo choo choose Jill over Leon) that kept me invested in the story.

Most importantly of all in the positives column was that Nemesis only turned up for set pieces, something the game gets a lot of criticism for but I could not disagree more. Mr. X annoyed the hell out of me in Resi 2, not because he scared me (as I said before, 'scary' video games don't scare me anymore despite how much they did when I was a child), but because he was a nause, appearing when you're trying to get around the police station to fetch things, but then up he'd pop, you'd have to go back to a safe room and wait around in there until he went away, then go back to whatever task was being accomplished before, what a time sink. Still, it wasn't as egregious as Amnesia, the most overrated horror game of all time. What was I on about? Right, I was worried before the game that Nemesis would be the same as Mr. X, but for the entire game, hence more annoying but fortunately he was not, only appearing for set pieces and boss fights.

The one very predictable major negative here is that it's extremely similar to the last one. As mentioned, it was only a year since Resi 2 was released, which was probably not enough time to do any more than create the new world and sprites but the game engine is basically the exact same. Obviously this isn't the worst thing possible as I really liked it before, it just seems lazy. It seems likely they sped it up to release it alongside the long in development Resident Evil resistance multiplayer mode (yes I played it and, meh), but they really should have delayed that or put it out as a budget game whilst they finished actually making this properly. Oh well, guess they want to get to the 'money maker' (the inevitable Resi 4 re-re-remake).

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Seems like Resident Evil 8 is next, and I really enjoyed 7, which was, bizarrely (given I've been playing videogames for about 30 years now) my introduction to the series (as I said, the original trilogy at time of release scared me too much). Anyway, looking forwards to it.

Streets of Rage 4 is out now! and I like it a lot. that's next.


P.s. I would take my own screen shots but that seems like a ridiculously small thing to buy a capture card for.

Doom Eternal

Doom 2016 a truly fantastic FPS campaign, so naturally I was hyped for the sequel. As it turns out Doom Eternal is a very different game, some parts better, some worse yet, nevertheless a terrific game.

Eternal is a lot more of a tactical game (the thinking mans' way to blast demons), it keeps the same frantic gameplay from the original but now there's more to keep in mind. There is an addition of a chainsaw and a flamethrower which you need to gather ammo and armour respectively whilst glory kills net you health. It really makes you pick your spots, using the smaller enemies to gather resources, then taking out some of the large enemies, then repeat (not as boring as it sounds). I really did not like these changes at first, all I wanted to do was run around and shoot some baddies plus it made the game much more difficult early doors and I nearly gave up on it, then suddenly it all clicked and I fell in love.

There's a lot to love here. A great array of weapons which all have more to offer with attachments and all of which are still useful right up until the end of the game. This leads me to the gory nature supplied, chopping off body parts with the chainsaw, shooting arms off enemies, glory kills that could put Mortal Kombat to shame (no animalities unfortunately). There's great mobility in the arena battles as well, usually spread over several heights, with jump pads and hooks to swing off (it must be said I did keep falling off the edges, fortunately it just does a small amount of damage). I didn't mind the bosses either (shockingly), especially the last one which turned out great even though it was full of boss tropes I normally don't like (went on forever, loads of side enemies).

Some gripes. Number one, platforming. It's a widely believed fact that third person platforming always has been, and always will be dreadful. Why would anyone do this (Yes I have played Mirrors edge (it was bad and if you disagree you're wrong)). Another annoyance was the levels seemed too long. Granted there's multiple checkpoints where you can save and exit the game but I always feel like I have to finish a level, plus it means fewer interesting environments (that was the same as in the first one mind you) though it does hide some nice collectibles and useful items (namely '1 ups' (y'know, extra lives (yay 90's))). Didn't care for the story either, I preferred the more nuanced (I.E not having to to turn off my music to listen to dialogue), hidden away story in the first.

Overall I'm not sure which of the games I liked more, I would have to go back and play Doom 2016, which will never happen. Great game either way and I'm really glad I plugged away, something that normally makes me spend hours playing a game I don't enjoy because I 'have to' finish it (stupid mindset).

You may also like: Halo 3

So, Resident Evil 3 (remake, obviously) next, then who knows, there isn't really a game I'm interested in (except Gears tactics which I highly doubt would run on my laptop so gonna have to wait for the console release) until late May with Maneater, which might be delayed anyway what with everything getting delayed with this damn Corona virus, why does it have to effect videogames and football? selfish lockdown.

P.S To the powers that be, please port Bubble bobble 4 friends to PS4 and/or Xbox (also change the name as it's dreadful).

Ori and the will of the wisps

I want to talk a bit about a few games this year that I'm the most excited for this year, we'll see if I feel the same way when I'm done with Doom Eternal.

The first Ori was a great game, and as you know by now I love my 2D platformers, so I was always going to be excited for this one. In addition it's nice to see an Xbox exclusive that I'm actually excited for, even though I've migrated over to Playstation as of late I've got a lot of gamerscore to add to due to my love of the 360, my second favourite console (Sega Megadrive being first, obviously).

This game has a really sad story about Ori and his pals, including a young owl whom you save by turning in to a tree. I Just deleted a whole paragraph here to avoid spoilers (and it was boring, but mainly the first bit (and yes I know this is all boring but that deleted paragraph especially so)).

As far as platformers go, this controls great. I've been playing some not so great ones recently, namely Sonic Forces (for a second time) as it was a PS plus game, and although the 3D stuff was great (as 'great' as 3D Sonic can muster anyway), the 2D gameplay was very unresponsive (I had memories of this being nowhere near as good as Sonic Mania (the game originally released not long before Sonic Forces) of course, but crikey. Sonic Forces is so, so bad by comparison it's not even funny). This was a huge relief when I moved on to Ori and perhaps even made the game feel better to me. It is was also refreshingly simple. I find a lot of Metroid-vanias' get bogged down in way too much tracking back and go past their welcome. I really enjoyed 'The Messenger' for example, but it went on forever. That game was also punishingly tough whereas this was not so hard. Not particularly easy, but I never got stuck in any areas for too long and felt like the right amount of challenge.  

There's great style too, it looks beautiful and there are many different environments (albeit classic Metroid-vania tropes (or indeed most 2D platformers overall)  like a calm grass-landy area (like Emerald Hill), caves (like Mystic Cave), a water bit (like Aquatic Ruin) and some stuff high in the sky (like Hill Top) (Thanks Sonic 2 for the examples). The score works so well in the areas as well, nicely backing up the look, even including good sound effects. 

My one major gripe is the distance of the save points. Some are very close together, but one in particular took me quite a while to get to, which means I had to get through it before I could save and walk away (yes, I know the Xbone stays on and runs in the background but I prefer to unplug it as it seems like a waste of money on my energy bill (that's right, I don't care about saving the planet, just the money in my pocket (no I'm not being sarcastic))). I also learned playing this game that my elite controller was broke, I had been having problems with menus for a while but no problems with games, now finding that L3 didn't work and returning to the default controller it turns out the menus actually worked, and here was me thinking for months that it was because the console itself was getting old.

What was I talking about again? oh yeah. Wonderful game here, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes these kind of games, certainly one of my favourite in this genre. It took a couple of months this year for a 'must play' (for me anyway) to come out, but the first one has not disappointed.

You may also like : Guacamele 2 (1 is also good).

Next time on here: Doom Eternal (maybe).

Game of the year 2019

Better late than never! Happy Covid 19, I hope you are enjoying not having to go out to work, I do though, so I am expecting your sympathy.

It was like one of those old odd years (as in number, not strangeness), 2014 and 2016 again. By which I mean it was a year of a lot of good games, but nothing that will go down as an all time great here (I said that at the time about 2013 and that looks pretty foolish now (note, I don;t think The last of us has aged that well, lets hope 2 does).

First the honourable mentions. A trifecta of first Person shooters. far cry new dawn was classic far cry game play (always fun) but with a very forgettable story, something about evil sisters. Rage, an even more forgettable story with a totally unnecessary open world but with fantastic gun play. Finally Borderlands 3,another fun game but way too long despite barely doing any of the side quests (how ever did I used to have the time to do them all in the first 2, seems completely impossible now (maybe there were just less good games)), could've been with doing half the length. Next, Team Sonic racing, probably my favourite carting game since Sega and all stars transformed)  though i'd be the first to admit I'm biased by the IP (but I'm pretty certain that's how basically every carter is judged (that said, top tip, Cars 2 a pretty decent example of the genre (thanks gamepass)). I want to just mention Death stranding, much like with Read dead 2 last year I'm not being a hipster by not mentioning it , it was good but much like Borderlands went on way too long. Same goes for Days gone. And finally, the game that basically comes 5th which is Shakedown hawaii, I did a whole post on that many months ago, unlike any other game coming up so you can go and read what I thought about that elsewhere.




Outer worlds

Finally, a new Bethesda games studio game, and it isn't full of bugs and doesn't look like it was released in 2009 rather than 2019. Oh wait a minute, this was Obsidian and not Bethesda, who would have thought? (except for everyone like me that knows Bethesda games studios last great game was Fallout 3 (released in 2008, 12 YEARS AGO!), which came out before Obsidians' Fallout new vegas, a game they made for bethesda to keep the IP relevant). Anyway, this game looked great, the story was great and condensed, it was only 25 hours long as well (yes,this is a long time, yet still about 1/4 of the likes of Skyrim or Fallout 4). It looks great as well, especially for a game with such a wide variety of settings. Finally the game I've been waiting for, for over a decade, however, as you can gather from my preamble it's not exactly the most original idea for a game and although it floors the last decade of Bethesda game studios games it didn't leave me in awe in the ways Oblivion or Fallout 3 did.

You my also like: South park the stick of truth

Resident evil 2 remake

Never played it before. The first Resident evil game I played was 7 Then 6, sighing noise). Crazy, right? The reason is as a kid I was terrified of horror games, and I carried this stigma for the best part of 20 years and have missed so much, especially that now I love horror films. This game was totally fresh to me and despite it featuring some 90's cheese, it plays great, the setting is great, the story is great, all the good stuff. Even without playing the original I can see why this is a classic. My only real problem with it is Mr. X, not because he was scary (funnily enough, despite my love of horror films, basically nothing scares me anymore (well, not in entertainment media anyway)), but annoying as hell. I'm trying to play a game here mate, not constantly having to go all the way back to a safe room just to get back to fetching an item like I was  doing before you wasted 10 minutes of my very un-valuable time. For this reason I recon I'm not going to Like Resi 3 remake as it seems like Nemesis does this the whole entire game, at least this only lasted for about a third of it, sheesh.

You may also like: The evil within 2


Bloostained: ritual of the night

The symphony of the night successor i've wanted my whole life, by which I mean since around 2016 when I played it for the first time (yet another classic I missed by holding on staunchly to my Sega Saturn (Robopit FTW)). So, after Konami decided to stop actually making games (apart from PES (better than FIFA)) when Kojima left after MGS 5, it became pretty clear there wouldn't be another Castlevania game, but Koji Igarashi said no, I'll make my own damn castlevania game (without the license). So, if you ever played Symphony of the night, you'll get this game straight off the bat, the deliberate gameplay (that means slow, but not crap), the exploration (did someone say Metroid-vania, or can't you use this here? (metroid-stained? (seems like a description of a Nintendo fanboy (AKA every member of the gaming media))) and the puzzle solving. It feels great to play, the setting,atmosphere and music are all fantastic and it even looks great, especially as it's 2.5D (lazy bastards). Great addition of some rudimentary RPG systems as well like making your own weapons and health kits. My one real gripe is the bosses, as you should know by now, they annoy the hell out of me, and some of these were infuriantly tough.

You may also like: Castlevania symphony of the night, obviously

Control

Finally Remedy made a game I really liked. Personally I found both Alan wake and Quantum break decent, but nothing special, but this really clicked with me. I thought the fighting, especially for a third person action game was really solid, especially with some of the psychic powers, it felt really hard hitting and real (or as real as pulling chunks of rock from the floor with your mind and throwing them at enemies can feel). I really liked how the games' progression worked, the addition of new powers and upgrades to your weapon felt well timed and always important. Yet gain, I loved the setting (that seems to be coming up a lot) and it looked beautiful. The story seemed really intriguing but could have done with more fleshing out and seemed to have a lot of plot holes in it.

You may also like: Gears of war (pick one).

And the winner is... Resident Evil 2 remake. I just really liked it.

To catch up, this means:
2013: last of us;
2014: South Park: stick or truth;
2015 Rocket League;
2016: Doom,
2017: God of War;
2018: A hat in Time;
2019: Resident evil 2 remake

That's how you use semi colons, right?


It's got to be said though, 2020 looks like a banger. Doom Eternal (out now!) last of us 2, Ori 2, Cybrepunk, Biomutant, Resi 3, man-eater and whatever the new consoles bring (let's be honest tough, early new console games usually suck.)

Addendum, There may be a lot of spelling and especially gramatical errors as the spell check isn't working.