Whatcha Been Playing?

[Magical_Isopod]

I think this boss fight alone is why some RE fans don't like this game. It has the potential to stain an otherwise great experience. Steve aside.

Oh Steve. Maybe he will find redemption in resi 8.

Steve didn't bother me much when I was teenager, interestingly. But revisiting the game deep into my 20s, I'm just thinking, "Wow, this guy is one of those jerks that actively make women uncomfortable online." As for his appearance in RE8, uh...

Spoiler: show

He kinda dies in Code Veronica.

[Jon Cheetham]

I don't know how I got past that tyrant fight on the plane when I played it as a kid. I hadn't saved up anywhere near the ammo I should have had. Just bashed my head at it like 20 times, I think. I didn't end up beating the game as it's pretty long but overall remember it fondly. Really liked the Cane and Rinse ep on it too.

[Simonsloth]

I think this boss fight alone is why some RE fans don't like this game. It has the potential to stain an otherwise great experience. Steve aside.

Oh Steve. Maybe he will find redemption in resi 8.

Steve didn't bother me much when I was teenager, interestingly. But revisiting the game deep into my 20s, I'm just thinking, "Wow, this guy is one of those jerks that actively make women uncomfortable online." As for his appearance in RE8, uh...

Spoiler: show

He kinda dies in Code Veronica.

Yeah I know but apparently he had a spare ink ribbon so.... hehe

[Suits]

Iv'e been playing this over the last three/four days.



I'm a big fan of the Wario Land games, especially the original GameBoy games.

Relying less on quick platforming techniques, these press more on the exploration and puzzle/sequence solving aspects of platformers.

Action Platformers they are not though.

This 2D side scrolling Wii entry is made up of five worlds, that need to be explored in order to locate a key in each, that gets access onto a boat to save a thing, that has lots of treasure on board....

Basically, Wario has been hired to rescue someone that along the way and their ultimate location holds a great treasure.

Each Works has 5 stages and a boss fight.

The first 10 hours or so are a breeze, perhaps as I'm familiar with Wario's moves, techniques and approach to puzzle solving, make the first two worlds fodder completely.

I understand and welcome the approach though.

Mind, once you get to the later parts of World 3 it ramps up tremendously in challenge.

So, each, stage has a number of tasks.

Each stage will have three treasures that are to be located, it will also have various tasks that you much achieve to tick off, such as, Don't get wet, find the golden enemy etc... pretty fun and encourage re-play after re-play and poking around in the stage.

Then, the most interesting mechanic in this entry I think, is that once you reach the end (or furthest right) of the stage, you rescue a little fairy. You then have to haul Wario back through the stage to get back to your ship and flee the stage with your rescued fairy before a set timer expires and the really nasty things come out to get you.

It's fun, because as you are making your way through the stage you have one eye on thinking, I have to get back through here - quickly, so you're clearing the way, or remembering which route has the least path of resistance.

It's the first time I've seen anything like this, that plays out in such a Wario way, its cool.

Anyway, I'm on World 4 now and struggling to scrape together enough coins to pay for the next map to uncover the next World.

I need to mop up some previous Worlds it seems.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

I'm 100% focussed on Bay Bridge (medium track) at the moment and have raced that circuit a crazy amount of times in the last week trying to get first!

No matter what I do, I can't get above 2nd, with a best time of 3:15.56. It's driving me insane!

To top it off I've been watching videos of other people winning with times slower than that! WTF!!!

That’s a great time. My best is a second slower, and that wasn’t the one time I won it! I’m fairly sure when I started going a bit insane with it, I noticed the lead car go into a spin on the right hand turn after the road closure on the left. I caught it on the way past but it gave me hope there was a scenario (and I’m still not exactly sure what it is) that you could take the lead there. And eventually that’s what I did, going past when it span, after which you just have to make sure you don’t screw up the last couple of turns.

What I would give for a spin out! No such luck sadly. The bastard is relentless!

Just recorded a 3:14.68 - still not good enough!

Earlier I was actually nailing it so well that I'd got into first place with a lap to go, but I panicked and bottled it. I nearly cried.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

That’s a great time. My best is a second slower, and that wasn’t the one time I won it! I’m fairly sure when I started going a bit insane with it, I noticed the lead car go into a spin on the right hand turn after the road closure on the left. I caught it on the way past but it gave me hope there was a scenario (and I’m still not exactly sure what it is) that you could take the lead there. And eventually that’s what I did, going past when it span, after which you just have to make sure you don’t screw up the last couple of turns.

What I would give for a spin out! No such luck sadly. The bastard is relentless!

Just recorded a 3:14.68 - still not good enough!

Earlier I was actually nailing it so well that I'd got into first place with a lap to go, but I panicked and bottled it. I nearly cried.

I DID IT! YYYYEEEEEESSSSS!!!!

Another 3:14.68 dead on, but this time it was enough. Took the lead midway through the final lap and was ahead by the time I reached the corners he always lost me on.

I am never racing that circuit again...

[Magical_Isopod]

I'm guessing Wario Land: Shake Dimension is the same game as Wario Land: Shake It? I've never seen that box art before. I have Shake It though.

[Suits]

I'm guessing Wario Land: Shake Dimension is the same game as Wario Land: Shake It? I've never seen that box art before. I have Shake It though.

Yeah, it’s got a few regional names I think.

I really don’t care much for the shaking it’s got to be said. I wish there was a button that did it instead of having the grip and shake the Wii mote. Awful.

[stvnorman]

I DID IT! YYYYEEEEEESSSSS!!!!

Another 3:14.68 dead on, but this time it was enough. Took the lead midway through the final lap and was ahead by the time I reached the corners he always lost me on.

I am never racing that circuit again...

Congratulations! Know the feeling. I’ve never been back to that one either! Amazing time. Did you see where you are in the leaderboards with that? Pretty high I reckon.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

I DID IT! YYYYEEEEEESSSSS!!!!

Another 3:14.68 dead on, but this time it was enough. Took the lead midway through the final lap and was ahead by the time I reached the corners he always lost me on.

I am never racing that circuit again...

Congratulations! Know the feeling. I’ve never been back to that one either! Amazing time. Did you see where you are in the leaderboards with that? Pretty high I reckon.

Cheers!

I've not got a Nintendo Switch Online subscription and apparently that means I'm not allowed to submit my times to the leaderboards or even view other people's! Ridiculous!

So I can't see where I rank sadly. I've had a look but can't find anywhere just on the internet where you can view them, so must be in-game only

I've now hit a brick wall on Acropolis. Can get second every time but I'm miles behind first, with a best time of 4:13.93. I can nail every corner apart from the hairpin, which I can take without spinning out or hitting the verge, but I'm way slower than the leading cars. I've tried loads of different approaches to taking it but none are getting me through as quickly as I'm seeing people do it on YouTube. They seem to just be able to take it really tight and bomb round it without losing much speed! HOW?!

Hoping it's just going to 'click' at some point!

[DomsBeard]

Just met a new character

Spoiler: show

Roche

in FFVII remake and I can't get this out of my head as a comparison

[Stanshall]

Hahaha.

Real talk, that's the low point of what I've seen in the game and I'm 75% in, I understand.

[Magical_Isopod]

I've been playing the original FF7 with heavy mod support, and while it's got some stability issues (crashed 3 times for me today), I'd say it's the best way to experience FF7, period. I think I would have much preferred a shot-for-shot remake, because the original still holds up remarkably well.

It's well-paced, the gameplay is still phenomenal... The only complaints I have are from the somewhat incomplete state of the mods... Some backgrounds are really crisp, and clean, and look like they were remade from scratch. Or perhaps they had the original renders to work with. Others, it's pretty clearly just AI upscaling, of varying quality.

The dialogue could also use a little more elaboration at times - but certainly not to the degree FF7R did it, which was beyond overkill. "Let's take this single line of dialogue and stretch it into an hour-long story mission." Kay there, bud.

It's really not the nostalgia goggles speaking; the original FF7 is simply better than the Remake.

[DomsBeard]

FFVII remake has made me either smile, laugh and happiness every time I've put it on. I've played my Switch version of the original till Kalm ironically so I'll carry on when I finish remake.

Poochie aside I'm really enjoying it and like the slow pace and changes.

[Jobobonobo]

It's really not the nostalgia goggles speaking; the original FF7 is simply better than the Remake.

While I enjoyed the demo of the remake a fair bit I have to say that the original FFVII really does deserve a lot of the praise it gets. I only played it for the first time two years ago so that is not just blind nostalgia speaking for me. Aside from some dodgy minigames and overly long summons I had a really good time with it and the claims of some that it has not aged well don't really make sense to me. Even in terms of visuals I find something charming about the Playmobil style of the characters with their stumpy arms. I don't even like random battles but the rest of the game was engaging enough that event hat was not a problem. This could also be partly due to me being raised on the PS1/N64 era and so many of the quirks of that gen I can overlook as I was just used to how things were back then but still there are games from that gen that have aged WAY worse than FFVII.

After Yakuza Kiwami, I thought I would chill out with something a little more relaxing and small. I seen Locoroco2 for cheap on the PS store and kinda liking the original, I picked it up. Why pick it up if I only kinda liked it? Because while the characters, music and world are cute and endearing I really struggled with the controls. One level I was on had bouncy floors everywhere and you had to do relatively precise jumping to access certain areas. Due to you not controlling the character directly but instead the world the amount of failed attempts with me bouncing all over the place was the epitome of frustration. Again it has enough charm to balance out the bullshit but yeah, those controls will require me to adapt a fair amount.

Also, the main antagonists are a bit dodgy, racially speaking. Real early Loony Tunes vibe there

[stvnorman]

So I can't see where I rank sadly. I've had a look but can't find anywhere just on the internet where you can view them, so must be in-game only

I've now hit a brick wall on Acropolis. Can get second every time but I'm miles behind first, with a best time of 4:13.93. I can nail every corner apart from the hairpin, which I can take without spinning out or hitting the verge, but I'm way slower than the leading cars. I've tried loads of different approaches to taking it but none are getting me through as quickly as I'm seeing people do it on YouTube. They seem to just be able to take it really tight and bomb round it without losing much speed! HOW?!

Hoping it's just going to 'click' at some point!

I can only see my rank on the global leaderboards (down to 350 since I last looked) and the top 50, which stops at 3:13.25, so you’re probably in the top 100 somewhere. Acropolis never really clicked with me and I didn’t realise I was in first when I won it - had to watch the replay to see where it happened and it wasn’t very exciting. Just felt like a good run. Didn’t play anywhere near the length of time it took on Bay Bridge and never felt I’d got really good at it. Definitely never worked out the perfect hairpin!

[Magical_Isopod]

Still hammering away at FF7, but I also started Azure Striker Gunvolt - a game I'd bought and nearly finished on the 3DS, but never quite did. The 3DS copy of the "Striker Pack" physical release is surprisingly pricey, so I listed my copy on eBay and picked up the marginally more expensive Switch version.

And man, does this game ever benefit from a Switch port. One of the biggest issues with the 3DS version is just how cluttered the screen is. In order to make it fit on that tiny screen while preserving the super-detailed UI elements, you wound up losing a lot of screen real estate. I don't think the UI-to-screen ratio is any different in the Switch version, but simply having the bigger screen - a 4k TV in my case - does wonders for making a lot of graphical and gameplay elements really "pop". Everything just feels more visible.
And on top of that, certain graphical elements like the character portraits and some UI elements have been upscaled to 1080p(?), and they look sharp as hell. Really a shame this one only ever got a Switch port, I think it could have done well on PS4.

I've also been play Apex, as usual. Been getting into playing Revenant, which is the newest character. He received some buff and tweaks in the last update, and oh man, this is one fun character to use. His passive abilities to climb twice as high and walk at full speed while crouching have become some of my favourite skills. He's built for stealth, and it's got me playing an entirely new way. His Ultimate summons a "Death Totem" that effectively let's you scout out the enemy, engage them, and then respawn in safety. His Silence ability prevents enemies from using their own abilities. So I've gotten into this loop where I'll set the Totem, rush the enemy to scout out where they're encamped and what Legends they're using, Respawn at the totem, tell my teammates to rush them with the Intel I found, heal up, and then follow as the cleaner to pick off anyone who runs or who's left standing. It's been incredibly successful, and it's really jiving with. Oh, and Revenant is totally silent when climbing and crouching. So it's very easy to infiltrate a way-defended space and start wreaking havoc. :3

[dezm0nd]

Been playing gears 5 with suits and sloth.

A technically sound game but like halo 4 and 5, the world doesnt inspire me. The combat is still fun but ultimately the characters and world arent doing much for me. Hoping it picks up, mind.

Also the button prompts are tiny, pedantic and inconsistent.

X to climb over a thing in the exact spot it tells you after looking for the tiny button prompts but also some bits of the level require you to take cover and vault over them. Very inconsistent.

[stvnorman]

I’ve been playing a load of Super Fantasy Zone and Road Rash 2 on the Mega Drive Mini. I only discovered the Fantasy Zone games a couple of years ago, but I’ve lapped up most of the series since then, and very little else has had a look in on this console since I got it for Christmas – it’s just such a joy to play and to look at!

Had I not been so obsessed with that, I might have noticed Road Rash 2 on there sooner; this is much more challenging than the first game and you’re in for a real scrap once you’ve been around the tracks and levelled up a bit. Looks great, moves at a lick and once you’ve got the controls you’re non-stop making tiny, natural movements. Apart from Animal Crossing, this really is my go-to game at the moment!
 
Speaking of joy to play - once I’ve manually adjusted the laser for 10 minutes every time I turn it on aside - Timesplitters 2 for PS2 arrived! I’ve played the first four levels and it’s wonderful. Builds on everything the first game did, and you can still feel its pioneering spirit in the genre. So much content too. It’s brilliant.

[rob25X]

Clouds & Sheep 2 (XB1).

So I played this one to completion on PS4 and quite enjoyed it so I decided to do it again. The game is really a lot of fun to play with a very nice learning curve but sadly becomes very unfair in later stages as the sheep get sick or die far too quickly and easily with no chance of saving them or reacting due to the painfully slow processes required to build up resources.

I really don't understand why developers make games aimed at young audiences punishingly difficult to play.

Still a good game overall. 4/5