Whatcha Been Playing?

[Pitwar]

I've been on a bit of a VR kick recently, and picked up Astro Bot Rescue Mission yesterday.

I'd heard nothing but great things about this game, and all the praise is warranted.

I've only played through the first world but it's full of charm and clever little mechanics.

If you've got PS VR then it's a must buy, and seems to be on sale everywhere at the moment.

[Suits]

I must get Astro Bot - I really must.

I was about to get Tetris Effect too, due to all of the hype but then saw that it was £35 and digital only in the UK. Which put me off a tad.

Im still paying Pro Evo and Fallout 76.

I do also have Kirby:Planet Robobot on my desk, which I traded a slim PS2 for. This game is surprisingly hard to get hold of for a good price, so took the opportunity to get rid of some spare hardware and get a game I want - enjoyed the demo, looking forward to getting stuck into that.

I have also, got hold of a nice copy of Golden Axe 2 on the Mega Drive - which I don’t think I’ve ever played.

[Pitwar]

I was about to get Tetris Effect too, due to all of the hype but then saw that it was £35 and digital only in the UK. Which put me off a tad.

I was in exactly the same position as you with Tetris Effect, £35 does seem pretty steep.

However, since biting the bullet and grabbing it I'm in no way disappointed with my purchase. It's a great game with so many different modes to keep things interesting.

Add that to the fact it looks absoluetly amazing in VR, I'd consider it a must buy, even at £35.

[Suits]

Add that to the fact it looks absoluetly amazing in VR, I'd consider it a must buy, even at £35.

I have already accepted my fate.

[Pitwar]

I have already accepted my fate.

That's the spirit!

[Chopper]

I'm at a loss to explain why 11-11: Memories Untold is so terrible. It seems to have all the ingredients of other games with no real gameplay - there's a story, a distinct visual style, some nods to gameplay with awful minigames. But the characters are non-events; their motivation is suspect; the attempts to inject them with humanity through writing letters to ostensibly sympathetic characters back home fall flat. It's quite possible that these things work for someone other than me though.

I feel because it is a short game I should finish it and get it off the list, but I really don't want to.

[ratsoalbion]

Would you speculate that it’s the subject matter and/or the involvement of Aardman that has led to the game receiving mostly positive reviews (average 80%)?

[Alex79]

I'm at a loss to explain why 11-11: Memories Untold is so terrible. It seems to have all the ingredients of other games with no real gameplay - there's a story, a distinct visual style, some nods to gameplay with awful minigames. But the characters are non-events; their motivation is suspect; the attempts to inject them with humanity through writing letters to ostensibly sympathetic characters back home fall flat. It's quite possible that these things work for someone other than me though.

I feel because it is a short game I should finish it and get it off the list, but I really don't want to.

That's a shame, I was quite interested in this.

I had a similar reaction to Valiant Hearts, which seemed to garner near universal praise but I really couldn't stand it.

[Scrustle]

So, uh, playing more Forza Horizon 4. They just released a new update for the game. Guess what it does. It fixes the online traffic issue. Just a few days after I spend all that time venting about something I didn't really want to spend so much time complaining about, and it almost instantly got fixed. How's that for convenient timing? So yeah, that's pretty cool. Back to having traffic cars getting in the way and ruining my drift combos! Lots of fun. Seriously though, it's good that it's fixed, and definitely makes the game feel a lot more alive and populated. I think it also improves the issue of players not spawning around you too. I feel like I've been running across other players much more frequently. I have a hunch that these issues may have only been temporary, since I feel like there was a time previously when it seemed like both these problems weren't there, but I didn't mention that in my last post, as memory can be fickle. Wasn't sure if that was really the case, or I just didn't notice. Either way, now it's better. Disregard former doom and gloom. Everything it fine. False alarm.

That's not the only thing the update did. They also added in a bunch of cool new little customisation features. They added in some more wheels, and added in some new options for painting your cars too. You can now paint individual sections of wheels any colour you like, which is really cool. Nice way to add a little flourish of style to your car by giving the lip or inlay of the wheel a different colour. It also fixes the problem of certain wheels that come with multiple colours by default having their look ruined when you pain them a custom colour that paints the whole wheel. Similarly cars which have two-tone paint jobs from stock now let you pick custom colours for each part. Only small additions, but ones that you can get a lot of mileage out of in terms of style.

Also still going at Killer7. Still not entirely sure what to think of this. I still dig the style and weirdness of it, but I'm not sure I'm so keen on the mechanics. I appreciate the novelty of it in a way. There's certainly nothing that plays like it. But there's a couple of things I'm not too crazy about. The actual aiming feels pretty clunky and not that great. It's kind of a pain to hit stuff that is moving, or is a really tiny target, with how slow the crosshair moves, yet how twitchy it is with small movements. Could really use with a modern style aim assist. I'm not too fond of the way you have to be rooted to the spot to fight enemies either. A real pain when you can see something coming but there's nothing you can do to avoid it because of your restricted movement. This is especially true of the level I'm currently on, with the Giant Smiles. They are pretty much impossible to deal with as far as I can see. You get so little chance to get a hit on them, and they are too big to avoid. Or at least they are when they throw three of them at you at once the second you leave the save room. Those things are horrible. I looked them up to see how you're supposed to deal with them, and the Grasshopper wiki literally says to just run away and don't even try to fight them. I can't say I'm really following the story either. Some international conspiracy about some people who either want to blow up Japan or take it over and make it a proxy state for the US. Not sure who is on what side, or what role you're supposed to be playing it in.

But I'm still intrigued by the game and its oddness. I'll keep plugging away at it I expect. It makes me think about why I never played this game before though. I was actually aware of it around the time it first came out, but I didn't really get what it was supposed to be, and just thought the idea of this awkward rail shooter wasn't my type of thing. Playing it now, even though it's not as restrictive as I thought it was, I think I probably still wouldn't have enjoyed it back in the day. I probably would have had the reaction to it that I was expecting to have.

[Chopper]

Would you speculate that it’s the subject matter and/or the involvement of Aardman that has led to the game receiving mostly positive reviews (average 80%)?

I'd be a bit loath to say that (though it IS tempting!); I've read a couple of positive American reviews where neither WWI Remembrance activities or Aardman should be sacred cows.

I'm a bit ambivalent because it is quite possible the fault lies with me here, that the different elements just don't match what I'm looking for at the moment and it just doesn't hit the right spots for me. Would be good to hear some second opinions if anyone has it lined up.

Alex! I LOVED Valiant Hearts, so that means you should get this game, I think.

[ratsoalbion]

It’s not about being at ‘fault’ Chopper, it’s about different people enjoying different things (and - as you say - at different times).

[Chopper]

Indeed! I am just trying to rationalise from a third-party perspective; I myself can obviously do no wrong

[Flabyo]

Assassin’s Creed Rebellion on iOS is pretty good. Yes, it’s f2p and it has all the usual mechanics you’d associate with that, but if you’re fine with Fire Emblem Heroes it’s not doing anything worse than that is (that I’ve seen so far anyway) and the actual gameplay loop is pretty fun.

An actually decent mobile game from the Ass Creed franchise, I never thought I’d see the day.

[Alex79]

It really is, isn't it! I'm really enjoying it.

[Simonsloth]

I’m currently doing something I really hate which is playing multiple things at once which are frustrating me with their difficulty.

I did something dangerous yesterday which was revisit super meat boy and at the first attempt do a level I had tried hundreds of times before! 2 hours later and I hadn’t managed any more progress.

I’m on the last section of the game although my counter says 9% or something ridiculous. Can I say I’ve finished it if I get through the final 5 “the end” levels and the boss? Please say yes.

[Alex79]

To be honest, I class a completion as seeing the credits roll, regardless of how much more content there is. That doesn't mean I always stop playing once I'm 'done', but just my own personal thoughts are that I've finished a game once the main part is cleared.

[Simonsloth]

To be honest, I class a completion as seeing the credits roll, regardless of how much more content there is. That doesn't mean I always stop playing once I'm 'done', but just my own personal thoughts are that I've finished a game once the main part is cleared.

Thanks Alex! This was exactly the answer I was hoping for so I just need to finish the game before anyone else says differently

[Alex79]

Haha, you know you can just make your own rules up...?

[Suits]

Just bit the bullet and bought Tetris effect.

I enjoy Tetris a lot so I’m excited for this.

I also have PSVR, so this could well be very good.

[Stanshall]

Taking things easy with PSVR so I don't end up in the foetal position again but Tetris Effect is an absolute marvel. Low intensity from a motion POV but really emotionally intense from an audiovisual perspective. Beautiful game.