Your 2016 Gaming Diary

Not to rag on about SF Zero (I've done that enough this past week!), but I'd just like to point out that SFZero IS exactly like the first two games. What makes the first two games so great is that they're short and sweet, arcade style experiences that you play through over and over again for better scores. It's basically a 3D Shmup. You wouldn't want Gradius or Life Force to last for 40 hours and Star Fox is certainly in that same category.

My comment was in regards to keeping the action fast paced with a traditional control scheme, rather than forcing a weird control scheme or slowing things down with Gyrowing.

No I wouldn't want a 40 hour Shmup but I would have liked more than a couple hours gameplay given how gaming has evolved over the years. You also wouldn't pay £30-40 for a Gradius or Lifeforce game in todays market, something which I pointed out. It's more suitable for the download scene now.

You could also lengthen the game by simply adding an online mode, something that many have been craving for.

No I wouldn't want a 40 hour Shmup but I would have liked more than a couple hours gameplay given how gaming has evolved over the years. You also wouldn't pay £30-40 for a Gradius or Lifeforce game in todays market, something which I pointed out. It's more suitable for the download scene now.

Star Fox's development budget demands a certain pricetag though. It's not a low budget title; the stages are large, detailed and the production values are huge. The game had two of the best Japanese studios behind it, a large number of development staff and support studios working on it (fun fact, Inis of Elite Beat Agents fame helped out in developing this one ) and a development cycle of around 1.5-2 years. There's no way it could be released as a budget title... Which has always been one of the big issues that has prevented us from getting proper SF games released that aren't filled with tons of padding and bloat, meaning that in order to justify the price tag...

You could also lengthen the game by simply adding an online mode, something that many have been craving for.

... they chose not to add an online mode, but to include Star Fox Guard into the same package. A game with, by all accounts, a meaty single player component, with lots of stages and heavy online integration. I've not played Star Fox Guard myself yet, but it's certainly something not to be discounted when considering the full package you get for the price.

Maybe they need to look at how a game like this is being made and sort their budget out then. Look at Alienation, which is releasing next week. It's very much an arcade twin stick shooter, it has online co-op, amazing visuals and is launching at around £14. It looks to be exactly what an arcade style game should be in this day and age.

Maybe they need to look at how a game like this is being made and sort their budget out then. Look at Alienation, which is releasing next week. It's very much an arcade twin stick shooter, it has online co-op, amazing visuals and is launching at around £14. It looks to be exactly what an arcade style game should be in this day and age.

It's an arena based top down twin stick shooter; something that you can make on the cheap by reusing lots of assets and using automatic asset generation and randomisation. It's not a game which has the kind of intricate level design, elaborate enemy and boss design and such that Star Fox does...

Star Fox is just stuck in that awkward position where it can't be made cheaply, but its design dictates that it needs to be short. So they need to find other ways to up the value proposition; be it including things like online multiplayer or Star Fox Guard in the package.

I'm just gonna leave it at that as we clearly don't see eye to eye on the subject. You like it, I was meh on the experience. Nuff said.

This is exactly why I didn't post my thoughts in the SFZ thread. I thought this one may have been a safe haven. Clearly I was wrong.

I'm just gonna leave it at that as we clearly don't see eye to eye on the subject. You like it, I was meh on the experience. Nuff said.

 

This is exactly why I didn't post my thoughts in the SFZ thread. I thought this one may have been a safe haven. Clearly I was wrong.

Nothing wrong with anything you've said. It is indeed a short experience and the value proposition is indeed very questionable as a result. It's just a difficult issue to approach because a big part of the game's appeal comes from the fact that it is indeed short and free of padding. So how do they go about straddling that line? I think it's an interesting question and I think that the approach they've taken here is an interesting one.

You're absolutely right to call them out on it. Don't mean to tread on your toes here, just sparking a discussion that I thought was interesting

Managed to mop up the last trophies and grab the Platinum on Volume last night, but by god did I make it hard on myself.

The game doesn't keep track of the texts that you read so you can't tell for sure which ones you're missing and from which level they're in. It also has a nasty little trick up its sleeve in that if you read a text but get caught/killed before you can make it to a checkpoint or the end of the level, it scrubs that reading of it so you have to go and read it again until you reach a checkpoint/finish the level. I only found this out the other night and being half way through the game at that point I just continued on making sure I hit a checkpoint after every text file I viewed. But it meant I had to go back to the earlier missions and re-run them.

Sadly, every time you finish a mission, you head back to the menu and if you're replaying earlier missions (having finished the game), you'll have to scroll through the missions every time from the last one to get to where you want. So ended up just resetting the story and starting again to make it easier. 2 hours or so later, and Platinum achieved. Some would've said it wasn't worth it and it's definitely put me off of wanting to play any more but I did enjoy being able to blitz through the missions as quickly as I did when it took a bit longer first time around.

With the platinum nabbed on Bloodborne, I was now able to move on and start Ratchet & Clank (PS4) on Saturday afternoon. I ended up finishing it on Sunday morning and loved every second of it.

Insomniac have done a fantastic job of retelling the original game. I was worried certain characters may have changed or removed but they all seem to be intact. I was chuffed to bits to see the plumber was still in the game.

The game looks absolutely stunning. Many of the reviews were saying it looks like some kind of Pixar movie and they aren't wrong. Bright, colourful worlds bring the game to life in a way that really draws you in.

The hilarious writing that the series is known for is still present and accounted for in this game. I was in party chat with my oldest nephew, who was also playing the game, and we were both laughing our backs off at various cutscenes. The Mr. Zurkon weapon has some hilarious 80's Arnie style dialogue, as he flies around you shooting enemies.

Speaking of weapons, the game doesn't disappoint. The Groovitron ( makes enemies dance ) and the Sheepinator ( turns enemies into sheep ) are hilarious to use. I actually spent a bit time creating a video on the Share Factory to show off a bunch of dances. Sadly, I was unable to upload it due to not having a FaceBook or YouTube account.

After finishing the game I restarted it instantly in challenge mode. I spent a couple of hours just grinding bolts and exp to level my weapons up. I've nearly maxed every Omega weapon to its full power, so now it's just a question of finishing the game again to nab the platinum. I should be done with this tonight, once I get in from work.

Right, about time I talked about Bravely Second: End Layer.

Bravely Second is the sequel to the 3DS RPG Bravely Default. It came out on the same console Feburary this year.

The game starts off by pulling a Golden Sun: The Lost Age and completely spoiling what happened in the first game.

You play as Yew Geneolgia, who is thrown straight into a unwinnable battle against some bloke who calls himself the Kaiser. This Kaiser then kidnaps Agnes, the latest pope of the Crystal Orthodoxy. So you know, go get her back.

Without going into spoilers, I will say that the story is probably this game's weakest point. The twists are too obvious, and it feels like an excuse plot at times. I mean, after the first game, this one just falls flat.

But, to be frank. I didn't get this game for the story...

Like it's predecessor, it's a turn-based RPG and the battle system it employs is pretty much exactly like the first game. While that may sound kind of lame at first, there's a very good reason for not changing things too drastically...

It's because Bravely Default's battle system is far too brilliant in the first place.

I mean, why fix what's not broken?

In case you don't know, the key mechanic is "Brave" and "Default".

Every participant starts with 0 BP (Brave Points) at the start of each turn. When you take an action, you spend 1 BP, which will probably put that character at -1 BP. Meaning they can't move until the next turn, when they'll have 0 BP again.

Selecting "Brave" allows a character to take an extra action, letting them do 2 things in one turn. However, this costs 2 BP, which means they'll be at -2 BP. Making them vulnerable until it goes back to 0 BP. You can actually take up to 4 actions doing this.

Then there's the "Default" action, which puts the character in a defensive stance, halving damage taken. This also allows them to save BP, meaning they can spend the next turn doing 2 actions without leaving themselves vulnerable.

If you're not quite grasping my explanation, here's a video of the second boss that showcases the basics of Brave and Default. Keep an eye on the screen on the bottom right and see how BP works.

But this battle system is masterfully complimented by it's Job system.

If you've played Final Fantasy 3 or 5, you should know what to expect.

As you progress through the game, you'll fight bosses that hold "asterisks"

When you beat them, you'll get a new job, which allows a character to change their role in battle. (From healer, to magic user, to all out attacker, there's a job for every situation)

There's 30 jobs in total, and the possibility for customisation is astonishing.

So right, picture this, I have one character with the Ninja job (Basically, a glass cannon attacker)

Now I can assign another job that character has so that they can use the skills they learned from that.

So for example, I can assign the Bishop job (Healer whose spells recover a set amount of HP, no matter how bad they are with magic).

So now I have a fast heavy hitter that can also provide emergency healing.

There's so many possibilities that it's just fun experimenting with different job combinations and seeing what mental strategies you can come up with.

It's worth noting the super convenient features this game has.

Game too difficult? Lower the difficulty whenever you like. (Or raise it if it's too easy)

Speed up the battle animations to up to 4 times the normal speed!

Sick of random encounters? Turn them off completely from the menu!

Feel like you need to grind? Double the encounter rate instead.

And if you manage to demolish random encounters in 1 turn, you can get into another fight straight away and get a bonus multiplier for EXP, JP and money depending on how many fights you can chain together.

Graphics wise, there's not much to say about Bravely Second.

Well, except for the 3D. Which is very nice, especially in towns.

The music is a bit of an oddity for me.

You see, it's not done by the same composers as Bravely Default and I wasn't a big fan of the new music at first.

But it kinda grew on me, and I started really liking the more intense, electric guitar focused battle themes.

	Audio

So overall, I think Bravely Second is an improvement on Bravely Default.

It knows what Default did great and refines it just a little. And that's all it really needs. Because the gameplay is the star of the show here.

If you like RPG's, you're doing yourself no favours by skipping this little gem!

Managed to finish up a couple of other games over the last couple of days. First up, I’d decided it was about time to have another play through of Mirror’s Edge and so started it up on Friday night and promptly finished it up on Saturday lunchtime. Though the years haven’t been kind to the game in terms of the visuals, the gameplay still holds up remarkably well. When you get things going, it’s very fluid in allowing you to string together wall runs, jumps, slides and vaults and in some of the missions that I originally found it difficult to string things together and keep a good pace (such as the Jacknife level and even in some of the later ones), I was managing to breeze through them no problem, easily spotting my route and capitalising on it.

Really enjoyed the speed and fluidity of the gameplay. It’s something that I cottoned onto when I played it on release back in 2008 and I’m amazed at how well it still holds up now compared to more recent games. Has me in high hopes that the movement will be just as fluid in the new game, though having certain skills behind XP unlocks is something that I might take bad to now thinking about it just with how easy it is here to utilise all your skills to manoeuvre through the levels.

Still not a fan of the hand to hand combat in this, though like getting through the levels, I was managing to pick up routes and string together wall runs and leaps to hit the guards with. Specifically, I really dislike how the last level forces you into hand to hand confrontation and the level boils down to running circuits of the room to try and isolate targets to give you the best chance at taking them out before running off again. When you’re purposefully trying not to use weapons, it really puts a dampener on the late game.

I played the game originally on the 360 but played it this time on the PS3 and I have to say, I don’t remember any of the screen tears that were showing up frequently throughout my play through. It was a little off putting at times, as though this particular build couldn’t keep up with the pace that you get up to. Obviously, with it running on an older version of the Frostbite engine, it’s showing its age a bit and the visuals looked grainy throughout. I still love the general aesthetic of minimalistic colour as it hits home for that dystopian feeling the game creates. Hopefully this is handled just as well, a sparse use of colour, in the new game. And the soundtrack, as ever, is still as excellent now as it was back when the game was released. Something I still go back to time and again to listen to and love it.

A short but sweet return to what still is one of my favourite games. Really enjoyed it and it’s only got me more hyped for Catalyst when it released in a couple of weeks.

Next up, I decided to give Blues and Bullets a go as I saw that both the first and second episodes were being sold for a bundle on the PS Store for under £6 so I took advantage. I played through the first episode and have to say it was enjoyable but I feel that for an opening episode of what is going to be a 5 part game, it didn’t really tick all the boxes to set things off.

Coming from a new Spanish dev team, A Crowd of Monsters, the game centres around an alternate telling of the after events of Al Capone’s incarceration. You play as former detective Eliot Ness, the person who was responsible for putting Capone away for tax fraud, as he is brought back in to help solve a missing child’s case, specifically that of Al Capone’s granddaughter. It’s got a nice atmosphere that puts it in that particular era of jazz music and gangsters (anyone who has played White Night will note the similar themes in setting) and throws in some occult stuff that is presumably going to be expanded on as the episodes come.

The first episode more or less sets up the location and a handful of characters while giving you a couple of choices that you have to make that will have some form of repercussion somewhere down the line. As I’ve only played the first episode, it’s hard to see how the decision will pan out but I’m hoping there’ll be a mix of immediately apparent and long running ramifications from them.

The game is very linear in its approach, very prescribed in what it lets you do and interact with. You’ll be looking for clues in some locations or just simply walking from one point to another. You could argue that it’s pedestrian but the game attempts to spice things up by incorporating some on-rails third person, cover shooting parts. These are simple affairs of popping out of cover and shooting enemies before the game moves you up to the next cover to rinse and repeat. It adds a little something extra which helps to flesh out the atmosphere of the game’s era but for a game centred on solving a crime, it’s a little odd and maybe not wholly necessary.

First episode was done in about 2 hours, which is a little on the short side of things as there didn’t seem to be much set up by it. Hopefully the second will take it much further and give a bit more back. Still, it has an interesting setting and I’m hopeful that it’ll go somewhere interesting with the case and gameplay.

Finally, bought and finished up Octodad: Dadliest Catch last night. Had been eyeing it up for ages and finally decided to jump at the current sale price and really enjoyed it. Very simple premise but a lot of fun trying to act as normal as humanly possible for an octopus, completing household chores or amusement games at the aquarium.

The controls play a big part in that, controlling the appendages of the octopus, and it lead to a lot of laughs being had from getting stuck on objects or trying to grab something but always ending up grabbing something else instead. At times, the controls can be a bit annoying and it would be nice for them to be a bit more precise but it’s something you adapt to and is ultimately part of the charm to the game.

The experience is a short one but the couple of Shorts that are included give a little more substance and it was in these that I had a bit more fun than the actual story (and certainly more laughs when the missus and I took it in turns in the hospital one). Still, glad I picked it up as I enjoyed the experience.

My 2016 gaming schedule will now likely consist of absolutely zero Nintendo home console gaming!

April is almost over and I haven't completed a single game. Most of my gaming time has been spent with Call of Duty: Black Ops III Multiplayer. Managed to reach Master Prestige and made some progress towards completing all challenges for the weapons (i.e. getting the Dark Matter camo). I'll gladly say it again: Most fun I've had with an online shooter since Counter Strike 1.6. And I'll keep playing this for quite some time. : peace:

Went on a "shopping spree": Bought Severed and Hitman GO for the Vita and Dark Souls III and Alienation for the PS4.

From the time I've spent with each game I can say: Money well spent

I intend to complete them all by the end of May (including Uncharted 4).

And with that there won't be a GOTY - April from me.

Just cross posting from the other threads to keep everything in one place.

Wahey! I can finally add something new to my list!

Now I'm not gonna repeat anything I've said in any of the reviews I've done recently, so I'm just gonna skip those...

Right! First on my list is...

So, as the 4th game in the series, this game is a bit weird in that it seems to expect you to have played previous games and yet it also acts as if you haven't. It starts you off by throwing you in the deep end and you quickly encounter characters from the previous games, but then it proceeds to mollycoddle you throughout most of the rest of the game...

Now, all Mario RPG games are keen on tutorials and this game doesn't actually deviate much from that, despite what many people seem to state. It works in much the same way in that regard... However, with this game, there's a problem... and it's a big one. Quite frankly, the game's puzzles are incredibly brain dead simple; all the way up until the end of the game. As this game keeps introducing new mechanics each time you go into the Dream World, it has to continuously teach you how to use them. Not enough time is spent in each Dream World "dungeon" to allow the game to come up with puzzles that allow you to figure things out for yourself. As soon as the game is done teaching you how to use each new Luiginary ability, the dungeon is over; effectively making the first 2 thirds of the game or so feel like an extended tutorial.

On top of that, quite frankly, the world of Pillo Island is boring and I mean BOOOORRRRIIIINNNGGGG!!!!

You got beef with us? Or do you have beef with mountain?

The Mario RPGs are known not only for their memorable characters, not only for their battle systems, but also for the blend of platforming and action elements that the mainline Mario series are known for and the variety of minigames and challenges scattered throughout the world, with nice exploration and hidden things to find and do. Dream Team is a huge letdown in this regard. Ironically enough, despite being in S3D (more on that later on) Pillo Island feels very flat. There's very little in the way of platforming in comparison to previous games and up until the end of the game, there are hardly any minigames either... The world itself is just a bit dull really compared to the BeanBean or Mushroom Kingdoms as there's not much meaningful interaction with the environment outside of the Dream World.

So it's not sounding very good so far is it? Perhaps Mario & Luigi should've stayed in bed... Well... that's what I would say, were it not for the AMAZING battle system!

Thank goodness I had that damage nullifying badge on!

Make no mistake, this is the meat and potatoes of this game. The battles have never been better in a M&L game! They are fantastic, incredibly creative and absolutely ROCK HARD! This game will put manly hairs on your chest (yes, even if you're a woman) and is easily the hardest game in the series, by far. Oh and that's before if you're a true sadomasochist, there's even an unlockable Hard Mode, which ratchets up the difficulty from rock hard, to FU@!ING ridiculous! Dark Souls ain't got nothing on this as this demands nothing short of perfection! Even the tutorial will two shot you to death and the majority of enemies in the game will either two shot or one shot you, no matter how strong you are (oh, did I mention that you're only allowed to carry 10 items MAX as well? Good bloody luck!)

But putting difficulty aside for the moment, the battles are brilliant. This is clearly where the game truly shines and it's also another 3DS game that makes fantastic use of the S3D for gameplay purposes. It joins the likes of Super Mario 3D Land, Kirby Triple Deluxe and Zelda ALBW where the S3D is used for the gameplay in fundamental ways...

That's what you get for not turning that 3D Slider up

It's strange that the game spends so much of its time teaching you these Luiginary abilities and so little time letting you figure things out for yourself using them, considering how ridiculously long it is! It took me more than 40 hours to beat it. That's longer than Mario & Luigi 1, 2 AND 3 combined! And yet, it still manages to fail to teach the player the necessary lessons in a concise manner. It's a shame, as is the lack of interesting minigames and environments until right towards the end of the game, because in many ways it feels like they have all the components in place to make a game that is every bit as good as Bowser's Inside Story, but so much of the game was mishandled that it never quite manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. The music is fantastic, the visuals are amazing, the humour is on point and the characters are lovable, the battles are brilliant and the Luiginary abilities are a great idea that make great use of the touch screen, but it never manages to really come together as it should do. It's strange, but really, it feels like the individual parts of this game are actually better than the sum of them. Thankfully, the battle part of the game is so incredibly good that it manages to carry the game to the end, despite the significant issues I have with it. It's better than Partners in Time, but I can't rate it as high as Superstar Saga or Bowser's Inside Story, despite having parts that are better than both of them.

Phew! Right! Onto the next one...

As Rodin would say, this game is Beautiful! And it's beautiful in all regards! It's more of what made the original game so brilliant, with a few new tricks thrown in for good measure.

So what IS new anyway? Well, not only are you treated to a slew of new weapons (ALL of them being new), but you also are pitted up against an (almost) entirely new cast of baddies. I wont spoil anything in that regard, but there's a good few unexpected surprises that will surely bring a or a to your face when you see them.

In regards to the combat though, the biggest change by far is the introduction of the Umbran Climax...

See that R button? Yeah! You should press it!

You remember the Torture Attacks in the original don't you? Of course you do! Don't you wish you could've used those on multiple enemies though? Didn't it sometimes feel like a bit of a waste to use up all that magic on one enemy? Well it seems that Bayonetta agrees with you because she has a new trick up her... err... hair?

You now have a choice about how you'd like to expend your magic when you hit that full meter mark. You can still use them on a Torture Attack if you want to, OOOORRRRR, you can now choose to unleash Umbran Climax, which adds Wicked Weaves to EVERY SINGLE ATTACK! This Is Awesome!

It nicely balances out the magic meter, now encouraging you to put more thought into how you should use it in each encounter. Should you use Umbran Climax and take down all the smaller enemies, or should you save the magic meter for the larger enemies and use a Torture Attack to take them down more quickly?

Otherwise, you have new transformations that I won't spoil and the addition of underwater combat which works very well. In short though, it's more of the same (which also means more of the different, because it's just as varied and filled with interesting level design and unique gameplay gimmicks as the first) and it's every bit as good as the first, if not a bit better (which is a huge accomplishment considering how good the first game was!)

About the only thing I was disappointed in was how the map screen doesn't look quite as cool as the original's and I don't feel that the ending is quiiiittteee as satisfying, but it does come damn close! In short, this game is every bit the masterpiece as the original.

Finally we have something a bit different...

This little gem was the last game in the Panzer Dragoon series and having finally gotten my hands on an original Xbox again recently (and having beaten Star Fox Zero) I felt that it was the right time to finally play through this one.

So for those who've never played a Panzer Dragoon game before, it's basically SEGA's answer to Star Fox... and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus (wait, didn't the first three games predate those? Eh, whatever!)

Like Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2 (but not Saga), it's a 3D rail shooter from start to finish. No All Range Mode, no on foot sections, nothing other than aerial rail shooting gameplay. Where the Panzer Dragoon series deviates from Star Fox however in terms of gameplay though is in the execution. Unlike in Nintendo's series, you cannot speed up or slow down; in fact the music itself (and here I'd like to point out that, to my knowledge, the first game in the series was the first ever video game to get an original orchestral score and is utterly gorgeous!) is timed to the gameplay itself; also you are given the ability to swivel the camera around 360 degrees, in order to combat enemies that come from starboard, port and aft.

Where it also deviates is in the storytelling and world building. The Panzer Dragoon series comes with a sense of grandure in minimalism. Much like Sony's Ico and Shadow of the Colussus, the Panzer Dragoon series takes place in a desolate and mysterious world that has a storied history that is told in the environment itself. Taking on a Show-Don't-Tell approach, little is given away about the overarching story through dialogue and much is conveyed through silence. It certainly has a unique style that no doubt was an influence for Sony's own team when making Ico and SOTC.

Right, so why am I banging on about the series as a whole instead of talking about Orta? Well that's because it actually deviates from past games in the series quite a bit!

You don't need to tell me that buddy!

Unlike past games, this one was not made by the original Team Andromeda, but by the then fairly new SEGA team, Smilebit (which did consist of some of the members from Andromeda, but I digress). As such, it feels a bit different in terms of both presentation and gameplay. There's a lot more dialogue in this game than in the first two games and in a sense, it does sort of betray the minimalistic beauty of the original games as a result, in favour of something that feels a bit more contemporary. The story is pushed towards the forefront moreso than before and its very descriptive, with outright narration being given in-between chapters. It's an interesting tale being woven here, but it does sort of go against the series' foundation; as such I feel a bit conflicted about the approach taken in Orta as a result.

What also goes against past games in the series is the introduction of boosting and braking. Yes, like in Star Fox, you are now granted the ability to speed up and slow down, breaking more series tradition; but it is handled in a different manner from Nintendo's own series. The way that Orta does it is more "digital" if you will, with it being mapped to a button press that pushes you forward or backward a step, with no analog precision. This comes into play during the boss battles, which require you to fly around the boss in question by boosting and breaking as appropriate in order to dodge attacks and expose weakpoints. I actually feel that these work pretty well and it calls to mind Panzer Dragoon Saga, which employed a similar system in a turn based RPG setting (for those who've never played it, call to mind Skies of Arcadia's airship battles and you're on the right lines), only here it's done in real time.

Does exactly what it says on the tin

Speaking of call backs to past games in the series, it also brings back the dragon evolution mechanic from Panzer Dragoon Zwai and combines it with the form changing system from Saga. Like Saga, you can switch between Attack, Base and Agility forms at any time and like Zwai, you can level each one up and make it stronger based on how you use them; and by picking up pick-ups that are dropped by felled foes. This is probably my favourite addition to this game as it encourages you to switch between forms on the fly in order to dodge enemy fire and deal damage at opportune moments; keeping you on your toes that little bit more.

The stages themselves however are too long for their own good and though they feature interesting set pieces and varied foes, they can feel like a bit of a slog as they go on and on and on... Some stages can go on for upwards of 15-20 mins which, in a rail shooter, is simply too long. The fact that this game is not easy and completely bereft of checkpoints before a boss is also an issue with stages this long as well as failure means going through the WHOLE STAGE AGAIN!

It's a good thing that the game is good fun, because the length and lack of checkpoints would be a big turn off otherwise.

Overall it's a great rail shooter, even if it's a bit of a departure from the rest of the series. It was made by a different team and feels a bit like a tribute to the series from a group of fans in many respects, but it's a worthy entry into the series for sure. The music is great, visuals are great, story is well told (even if it's done in a very different way to past games) and it's good fun to play.

And with that, that's me up to date! I'm currently playing through Star Fox Guard and I'm also doing a co-op run of Yoshi's Wooly World with @Glen\-i. In short, this game is hilariously chill, illegally cute and surprisingly funky fresh!

Finished Doom 3 on the original Xbox yesterday.

Bit of a random game to play but I picked it up for £1 a couple of weeks ago at a car boot and thought why not, it'll only take around 5 hours to finish, how wrong was I.

Playing around an hour or 2 each night from last weekend to last night, must have took me 10+ hours to finish it.

I'm surprised how much I enjoyed playing it, I was engrossed in the story from start to finish with the graphics looking pretty good for an Xbox game in 2005.

Its pretty much a survival horror game with the number of dark corridors I was going down with my flashlight.

It was starting to get a bit repetitive about halfway through but after coming back from hell, it became fresh again.

I've not really played on my xbox much before this so I didn't realise how comfortable the xbox controller is.

This one, not that other one

Doom 3 was a cracking game. I played it back when it was first released and throughly enjoyed it.

The Xbox S controller was an amazing piece of kit and you can see how they evolved it slightly for the 360 controller.

You should keep your eye open for Riddick, @lostmario. It's another cracking game on the original Xbox and it probably goes for pennies now.

I've not really played on my xbox much before this so I didn't realise how comfortable the xbox controller is.

 

This one, not that other one

 

Yeah, same. Playing PDOrta made me appreciate the Controller S. It's not a bad (not so little) controller really. It's a damn sight better than the 360 controller (has a working D-pad for starters!) and the PS2/PS3 controllers. Shame about the black/white and the start/select button placements though.

You should keep your eye open for Riddick, @lostmario. It's another cracking game on the original Xbox and it probably goes for pennies now.

Yeah, that and Conker Live & Reloaded are on my watch out for list.

Car boot I went to last week, one seller had about 30 xbox games in a box for 50p each but unfortunately nothing I wanted.

He did have Def Jam Fight for NY, which was developed by AKI who did the wrestling games on the N64 but I eventually passed after picking it up about 5 times.

The last month has been a bit of a blur with the birth of my son and a serious, but anticipated, lack of sleep

With that, gaming has taken the back seat a little but I probably better update what I've been playing in case I forget something

The Dreamcast was my main focus throughout February and March and this brought with it a strange desire to add 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker to my collection.

It would have been less expensive to purchase the game on either the Gamecube of PS2 but I simply had to have it on the Dreamcast I had originally played the GC version many years ago but didn't give it much time as it wasn't really doing anything for me. Time seems to have altered my tastes, somewhat, and I had much more fun with the game, particularly the parking challenges which became the highlight of the game and perfecting each stage reminded me of some of the feelings I get during Pilotwings

18 Wheeler may not be amazing, but I'm glad I experienced it again and appreciate it for what it is : peace:

If you follow me on Miiverse, you may have noticed that I've also been playing Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash on Wii U after borrowing the game from my brother recently.

I was originally very critical of the game but I have warmed to it a little and don't believe it is quite as bad as I thought. Having said that, the coins you get from playing the game make it too easy to unlock all of the content the game has to offer, not that there is much of it

Finally, and staying with Wii U, I cleared Starfox Zero earlier this week

So far, it has progressed exactly as I imagined. I liked my original journey from beginning to end but going back to better my scores, collect medals and unlock other stages is making me love the game..

It's awesome

I'll have to do my list and game of the month for April once I get back to work on Tuesday. For now, May is off to a flying start with Lego Avengers (Vita) beaten and I also got the platinum.

After seeing Civil War I was in the mood to play something Avengers related. I seen both this and the PS4 version were on sale at a couple of places and decided to pick up the Vita version on Saturday morning.

They've once again changed things with the handheld version of the game. At first they were watered down versions of the console games. Then they changed them ( for the better IMO ) to smaller levels that had tons of replay value. Now they went back to the original formula but also added a hub world due to fans crying out for one in the handheld games.

The hub world works fine but due to the Vita/3DS limitations the hub is quite empty and has a very shoddy draw distance. This made getting some of the collectibles at bit of a pain.

Another negative is the controls for the flying sections of the game. Whoever programmed them wants shot. They are so twitchy and all over the place. It took a while to do flying races that should have been easy if the controls were fine.

Apart from these minor faults, the game was a blast to play. I can always rely on Lego games to make me smile while playing and this one was no different. I look forward to the Lego Star Wars Vita version next month!

I'm going to do something different and include a "Did Not Finish" pile.

First up, Darksiders.

Sorry, @Hero\-of\-Time. I tried. I actually enjoyed this towards the start but it gradually becomes more annoying and more tedious to play. I didn't enjoy the Tiamat fight one bit. Everything after that was also a bit tedious. The Anvil's Ford section with the angels was not great, imo. It went on for too long and just became a bit of a chore to play through.

It's got Zelda influences, but it also comes with its flaws, too. I don't really connect with any of the areas that I'm playing in and there's no real urge to keep playing. Everything I don't like about Zelda games (underwater sections, lack of real interaction with characters, lack of dialogue) is present here.

Just got the Tremor Gauntlets and have to move a piece of machinery across the platforms. I was in the middle of doing that puzzle (no real idea what I was doing or why I was doing it anyway) and just said, "Life's too short, fuck it, I'll do something else" and turned it off. I may go back to it in the future, but I wasn't having a good time with it and there's no real reward for playing it. A bit of a shame because I found it enjoyable in pieces.

Games of 2016

Flower - Finished

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Finished

The Unfinished Swan - Finished

Grim Fandango Remastered - Finished

Race The Sun - Finished

The Wolf Among Us - Finished

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Story Finished

The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone

Ico - Finished

Tokyo Jungle - Finished

Grand Theft Auto 5 - Finished!

Batman: Arkham Asylum - Finished

Batman: Arkham City - Finished

Did Not Finish

Darksiders

That was pretty much my experience of it too. Any resemblence to Zelda are the bad parts and the game was just slow and boring to play through. Tried playing through it twice with a year or two inbetween but gave up both times. One of very few games(like out of three or four) that I have ever returned to the store.

Currently playing Nights of Azure, but I'll write more about it later.

*shrugs shoulders*

I thought it was awesome, as did my mates. I remember when one of the lads finished it he rang me up straight away, hyped as hell at the ending.

A fantastic cross between Zelda and God of War. It certainly had a more gripping story than most of the recent Zeldas and the voice acting by Mark Hamill was top notch, as always.

Anyway, i've just completed Severed (Vita). Here's the crack from the thread.

Yeah, this game is something really special. I bought it at 7am and have been playing it the best part of the morning. I've just defeated the second boss and will be heading back into the maze once I've had some lunch.

 

The art style, music and setting are all give off a sense of melancholy. It's hauntingly beautiful. The music piece at the starting area is especially sad and soothing at the same time.

 

Some of the music reminds me of certain pieces from the movie Labyrinth. Im not talking about the David Bowie music but just some of the mood music when Jennifer Connelly is walking around the maze. It's very fitting.

 

The touch controls are flat out amazing. Probably the best use I've seen for touch controls in a very long time. While I'm not usually a fan of gimmicky control methods, Drinkbox have absolutely nailed it with this game.

 

EDIT: And the credits have rolled and the platinum obtained.

 

 

The last boss was a pushover, even more so the second time ( had to fight him again once I got everything to unlock a trophy ) as I had all the power ups at my disposal. The lead up to said boss was beautifully done though. Very touching.

 

The hardest fight was probably when trying to get a certain item. You get jumped by 3 enemies, all have buffs and you're against the clock. It took me a fair few goes to get it done.

 

I seriously can't get over how good this game is. It's a shame that the game will never reach more of an audience, due to the platform it's on and the control method it uses.

 

Speaking of the controls, this is an example of how to make a game with a unique control method but not at the sacrifice of the gameplay. I played through Star Fox Zero recently and comparing the two in terms of control schemes and enjoyment level is like night and day. As I said earlier, Drinkbox nailed it with this and in no way does it feel like you're being hindered while playing the game. Everything feel very natural.

 

Colin and Greg were hyping up the game a lot on PS I Love You XOXO and I feel that the hype was justified. Well played, Drinkbox.

Managed to round out April by finishing up the second episode of Blues and Bullets. Where the first one plodded along a bit too much in places, this definitely moved things up a bit, but it still felt very prescribed and pedestrian in places despite an extended shooting sequence.

Story wise, the game's moving forward and now bringing together the two threads of mob life and finding Capone's daughter and the occult under themes but it feels as though there could've been a bit more on show here as there were a couple of flash backs which helped to flesh out the characters and giving you some decisions to make which may have some fruit to bare later on. It could still do with a bit more pace to the proceedings as some of it really does plod along, owing largely to 2 sections where you're essentially walking through environments, not able to interact with anything, having an extended conversation. It's par for the course with these kinds of games but giving the themes of the story, it would have been more interesting had they kept this as a cutscene and focused more on actually integrating and immersing you in the narrative a bit more.

The crime solving was a rather interesting and harrowing experience as you uncovered what has been going on in relation to one of Capone's former friends though and the whole narrative surrounding that helped to really bring the two narrative threads together. There's definitely a story that's piquing my interest more but hopefully they'll tweak to make the delivery a bit more punctual. The ending I got, as a result of my final decision, left me wishing I was playing Life is Strange as I wanted to rewind and reverse that decision.

So yeah, it's slowly moving in the right direction and hopefully the next episode will really start to kick it up a notch, whenever that hits.

First mission of Nioh done!

I consider this as completed, even though there's a second stage. If you want to know more about my final boss fight head into the dedicated thread