1. I have been curious about Animal Crossing: New Leaf since I went to Japan a bit before its Western release and noticed that pretty much everyone I StreetPassed was playing it. I only got around to it like six years later. Whoops! Turns out it is some kind of do-your-chores sim and that is more fun than it sounds.
2. There is no avoiding this fact: the point of this game is to waste your real life time. There's barely any skill-based challenge, there's no thrilling story nor captivating conclusion. It's not that there's nothing going on, it's just that stuff just sort of happens and it's no big deal. You while away time doing whatever you see fit and when you are done, you are done.
3. The setup is you arrive to a new town and your task is to build a life for yourself. You are also mayor because this is a video game so of course you are the center of the universe.
4. You are given a few hours worth of tasks to start out w/ to learn the ropes and after that you are pretty much free to do whatever you might want. Mostly, you will do chores to make money and then use that money to by stuff. You can also just wander around, fish, chat folks up and do whatever the hell.
5. This is really a game that's meant to be played in relatively short sessions over the course of weeks, months and years. Everything is tied to real world seasons and time. From the outset, there are important events that require you to wait at least overnight to occur--and I do mean overnight for you, not your character.
6. It is also just kinda boring to play in marathon sessions. It makes up for this by having a really satisfying gameplay loop that works for an hour or so at a time.
7. Your moment to moment activity will largely consist of item collection. There's bugs about, fossils to dig up, fish to fish, fruit and flowers to pick. Your inventory is limited enough that you have to be constantly deciding when to go back and get rid of some of some of your stuff.
8. You have a few options as far as what you do w/ the stuff you find laying around. You will sell most of it but some items can be collected in a museum and some can be planted. The money you make can be used to upgrade your house and build structures around town.
9. You can invite friends to your town or go and visit your friends' towns but, let's face it, its 2018 at the time of writing this and nobody has friends anymore. That ship has sailed.
10. There are a couple things that are a little tricky, specifically fishing and catching bugs. Eventually, you find a few time based type challenges you can engage in as well but Animal Crossing is definitely a game that veers very strongly into relaxing territory. The biggest challenge here is generally just choosing how you are going to waste your time.
11. At first I was impressed by how little you actually had to do any particular thing in this but then I realized that is pretty much the case w/ any game. You don't have to play any of them at all! This just has a striking absence of clear goals.
12. There are a lot of instances where you've got to go through a lot of button presses and waiting to do simple things in this. For example, you endlessly go through the same few conversational prompts upon entering a store for the entire duration of the game. It's like Ground Hog's Day. Given that the object of this game is just to spend time playing it, this is not really not as big of a negative as it would generally be in a normal game.
13. What ends up being remarkable about Animal Crossing: New Leaf is how it can manage to steal an hour or more of your free time by stringing together semi-boring tasks and that you don't even notice it. You are walking around and find a promising spot on the ground to dig up but you are already loaded on fish and flowers so you wind up taking a detour to go to the store and sell off some stuff and get distracted by bug catching before you ever get back to dig up whatever it was you wanted to dig up earlier. There are loops w/in loops and there is always some distraction that seems a little better than whatever you are currently doing. I think this describes very well how it works as a game. It's not the most fun thing in the world but definitely seems better than whatever else you were doing in real life.
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
13 Points on Borderlands - Gearbox Software - 2009 [PC]
1. If you like Diablo and also enjoy the mass murder of human beings from a first person perspective, this game is for you.
2. It is impossible to overstate how cool the art style is on this. The sort of not-quite-cel-shaded look is often remarked upon but it bears repeating just how instrumental this is in creating the overall vibe Borderlands is going for.
3. The overall vibe Borderlands is going for is kind of a pulpy spaghetti western thing only set in outer-space w/ a million murderous psychopaths running loose. No big deal.
4. I had numerous technical problems running this on an AMD card in Windows 10. It crashed every ten minutes or so on my R9-based system--though it looked amazing for those ten minutes, running smoothly in QHD w/ most settings turned up to max. Ultimately it ran just fine on a budget laptop w/ AMD R6 (whatever that is) integrated graphics w/ all the settings turned down in 720p. The thing is even w/ those diminished stats, it still looked awesome. This is the power of good art. See number 2.
5. I had to go into .ini files to fix screen tears on both PCs. Come on, people! How hard is it to put VSync options in the damn game menu.
6. This game has no plot. I mean, it does, technically but it can be summed up as follows: you are looking for a thing for some reason and you just do everything anyone tells you to and eventually you *spoilers* succeed in finding that thing.
7. Despite not really having a plot, I think Gearbox did a decent job w/ universe building. There are an array of inter-planetary mega corporations pulling strings and you get the feeling there is a lot more going on beneath the surface beyond what is revealed to you. The set and setting here are good but they are not used to their fullest potential.
8. The only song that struck me as being terribly good in this whole thing was the music that rolls during the end credits. That song is called "No Heaven" by DJ Champion and it's a good time. I thought the score was competent and set the mood reasonably well but it is not the kind of thing that sticks w/ you after you've finished playing the game.
9. The sound design was borderline excellent. I loved the gun sound effects. I felt like directional sounds of approaching enemies could have been done better though. More than once while I was playing w/ headphones, I had to check if I had the ears reversed because I kept turning the wrong way to find enemies based on sound.
10. I played this w/ a controller because playing it w/ mouse and keyboard just made me feel like a huge nerd. It's a console game at heart--not that there's anything wrong w/ that.
11. The planet you are on seems to have been used for some failed mining venture. I think they would have been better off just selling all the ammunition that constantly regenerates everywhere forever all over the planet. I played nearly thirty-five hours and worried about ammo exactly twice the whole time playing.
12. I played through just once in single player. I guess a lot of people think this game is more fun when you have a bunch of people online w/ you exercising their inalienable right to use an alt-right vocabulary (but only when their faces are well out of your punching range).
13. This is the first game in the series and shows great potential. It could definitely use a little polish in terms of the menu and map systems and, especially, could deal w/ a better developed plot. This said, this is not necessarily the kind of game you buy because you want to be diving in menus or watching cut scenes. If you are looking for a good time and want to kill some virtual people, you are ultimately going to have to look to later games in this series if you expect to find anything better.
2. It is impossible to overstate how cool the art style is on this. The sort of not-quite-cel-shaded look is often remarked upon but it bears repeating just how instrumental this is in creating the overall vibe Borderlands is going for.
3. The overall vibe Borderlands is going for is kind of a pulpy spaghetti western thing only set in outer-space w/ a million murderous psychopaths running loose. No big deal.
4. I had numerous technical problems running this on an AMD card in Windows 10. It crashed every ten minutes or so on my R9-based system--though it looked amazing for those ten minutes, running smoothly in QHD w/ most settings turned up to max. Ultimately it ran just fine on a budget laptop w/ AMD R6 (whatever that is) integrated graphics w/ all the settings turned down in 720p. The thing is even w/ those diminished stats, it still looked awesome. This is the power of good art. See number 2.
5. I had to go into .ini files to fix screen tears on both PCs. Come on, people! How hard is it to put VSync options in the damn game menu.
6. This game has no plot. I mean, it does, technically but it can be summed up as follows: you are looking for a thing for some reason and you just do everything anyone tells you to and eventually you *spoilers* succeed in finding that thing.
7. Despite not really having a plot, I think Gearbox did a decent job w/ universe building. There are an array of inter-planetary mega corporations pulling strings and you get the feeling there is a lot more going on beneath the surface beyond what is revealed to you. The set and setting here are good but they are not used to their fullest potential.
8. The only song that struck me as being terribly good in this whole thing was the music that rolls during the end credits. That song is called "No Heaven" by DJ Champion and it's a good time. I thought the score was competent and set the mood reasonably well but it is not the kind of thing that sticks w/ you after you've finished playing the game.
9. The sound design was borderline excellent. I loved the gun sound effects. I felt like directional sounds of approaching enemies could have been done better though. More than once while I was playing w/ headphones, I had to check if I had the ears reversed because I kept turning the wrong way to find enemies based on sound.
10. I played this w/ a controller because playing it w/ mouse and keyboard just made me feel like a huge nerd. It's a console game at heart--not that there's anything wrong w/ that.
11. The planet you are on seems to have been used for some failed mining venture. I think they would have been better off just selling all the ammunition that constantly regenerates everywhere forever all over the planet. I played nearly thirty-five hours and worried about ammo exactly twice the whole time playing.
12. I played through just once in single player. I guess a lot of people think this game is more fun when you have a bunch of people online w/ you exercising their inalienable right to use an alt-right vocabulary (but only when their faces are well out of your punching range).
13. This is the first game in the series and shows great potential. It could definitely use a little polish in terms of the menu and map systems and, especially, could deal w/ a better developed plot. This said, this is not necessarily the kind of game you buy because you want to be diving in menus or watching cut scenes. If you are looking for a good time and want to kill some virtual people, you are ultimately going to have to look to later games in this series if you expect to find anything better.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
13 Points on Canabalt - Finji - 2009 [Android]
1. This is Canabalt:
"Okay, one more try and back to work."
*dies in under a second*
"I mean one more real try."
*2000000000000000 tries later*
"Okay, one more try and back to work."
2. This game is amazing. You can play it in a browser for free but it's worth buying just because I like giving money to people for doing things that I like that they did. You can also play it when you don't have an internet connection.
3. I purchased this many years ago have installed it and played it on every single Android device I've owned ever since.
4. I love the bassy atmospheric soundtrack. One reason I install it on my phones is because you can then set the music as your ringtone and whenever anyone calls you, people know you are the kind of person who installs Canabalt to their phone so they can play it when they have no internet connection. This is nothing to keep secret, people. Shout it from the mountain tops!
5. This game works by attaching a button on your mouse or keyboard directly to your brain. Or, that's what it feels like.
6. You run right and use your brain button to jump. This is both more and less complex than it sounds.
7. There are a variety of special challenge modes that mix it up a bit. This is not necessary but welcome. The pace and timing of the various modes are subtly different in ways that doesn't essentially change gameplay but can keep things feeling fresh if you play for a relatively extended time period.
8. The graphical options have an anti-aliasing setting. Seriously?
9. There is a multi-player mode if you have friends. (You don't.)
10. There is something very polished about the rhythm to this game. It has this very forgiving sort of collision detection so that even if an obstacle thrown in front of you seems impossible, you can actually (almost?) always get past it w/o dying if you react close to instantaneously.
11. Do you hear me? You will blame it on the game but it's your own fault you died.
12. Number 12 is not that important.
13. You can pick this up on Steam to get a bunch of Steam badges relatively quickly for cheap. That's a stupid thing to want to do but you can do it.
"Okay, one more try and back to work."
*dies in under a second*
"I mean one more real try."
*2000000000000000 tries later*
"Okay, one more try and back to work."
2. This game is amazing. You can play it in a browser for free but it's worth buying just because I like giving money to people for doing things that I like that they did. You can also play it when you don't have an internet connection.
3. I purchased this many years ago have installed it and played it on every single Android device I've owned ever since.
4. I love the bassy atmospheric soundtrack. One reason I install it on my phones is because you can then set the music as your ringtone and whenever anyone calls you, people know you are the kind of person who installs Canabalt to their phone so they can play it when they have no internet connection. This is nothing to keep secret, people. Shout it from the mountain tops!
5. This game works by attaching a button on your mouse or keyboard directly to your brain. Or, that's what it feels like.
6. You run right and use your brain button to jump. This is both more and less complex than it sounds.
7. There are a variety of special challenge modes that mix it up a bit. This is not necessary but welcome. The pace and timing of the various modes are subtly different in ways that doesn't essentially change gameplay but can keep things feeling fresh if you play for a relatively extended time period.
8. The graphical options have an anti-aliasing setting. Seriously?
9. There is a multi-player mode if you have friends. (You don't.)
10. There is something very polished about the rhythm to this game. It has this very forgiving sort of collision detection so that even if an obstacle thrown in front of you seems impossible, you can actually (almost?) always get past it w/o dying if you react close to instantaneously.
11. Do you hear me? You will blame it on the game but it's your own fault you died.
12. Number 12 is not that important.
13. You can pick this up on Steam to get a bunch of Steam badges relatively quickly for cheap. That's a stupid thing to want to do but you can do it.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
13 Points on Subsurface Circular - Bithell Games - 2017 [PC]
1. I meant to play Subsurface Circular and Quarantine Circular in the order they were produced but screwed up and played Subsurface second. Doing this made it feel like all it did was lay the groundwork for the type of narrative presentation that made Quarantine Circular so great. I dunno, if you just wanted to know which game is better, it's Quarantine Circular. No need to read the rest of this review.
2. Subsurface Circular is a text based adventure w/ a graphical presentation. That might sound weird but it works naturally in reality. The graphics just reinforce what is written.
3. The setup is you are a government employed private detective who stumbles on a missing persons case while chatting up people on a train, the titular Subsurface Circular. You take this up on your own accord even though you aren't supposed to. The twist is you, everyone you talk to and the missing persons are all ro-bots.
4. The story is told through a series of conversations your character has w/ various ro-bots who fortuitously filter through the train car you are on and apparently stuck in. You talk to each of these and, from them, you begin to form a cohesive picture of the world you are living in.
5. Your only means of interacting w/ the game is from choosing what you say next from a list of options during these conversations. You are a detective so this makes perfect sense. You goal is to collect information.
6. The variety of characters who happen to get on your car and talk to you prove to be a very fortuitous mix of different ro-bot types. From them, you learn of the various relations ro-bots have to humans. How, in you area, ro-bots are all nominally free but that just means they are all under compulsory government service while in some places ro-bots are still owned by private citizens or completely autonomous.
7. As per speculative fiction's Grand Constitution and Bylaws article 57 section D, because there are ro-bots in Subsurface Circular, Asimov's Three Laws of Ro-botics must be brought up even though they have no bearing on how ro-bots are actually built now and there's no reason to suspect they will play into how ro-bots will be built in the future.
8. There are also references to some of Bithell's other games which were not overdone and definitely put a smile on my face when I ran into them.
9. Unlike Quarantine Circular, Subsurface Circular is from a single character's perspective. This could be said to arguably give the game more focus but in equal measure it limits the storytelling potential.
10. Similarly, Subsurface does not quite give you the same sense of agency as its successor. When you are conversing w/ the various NPCs, you can normally find a question or response that suits you but you never really get the feeling you are having too much of an effect on how the story actually plays out. The conversations might be different but the world remains the same.
11. There is one major choice you do make and the game makes it obvious when this is. Your decision has broad implications in terms of human/ro-bot civilization that are uncertain and nuanced whichever way you decide to go.
12. If you are curious about the Circular games, you can't go wrong w/ either. I recommend Subsurface to be played first because after Quarantine, it just seems a bit simplistic in comparison.This understandable as Subsurface came first but even if it is a bit overshadowed by its sequel, it still stands as a great game on its own. If you are into text adventures or ro-bots, it is definitely something that's not to be missed.
13. Yes, I find it endlessly hilarious to spell it "ro-bot" over and over. Yes, I do realize it's only funny to me. No, I am not going to stop.
2. Subsurface Circular is a text based adventure w/ a graphical presentation. That might sound weird but it works naturally in reality. The graphics just reinforce what is written.
3. The setup is you are a government employed private detective who stumbles on a missing persons case while chatting up people on a train, the titular Subsurface Circular. You take this up on your own accord even though you aren't supposed to. The twist is you, everyone you talk to and the missing persons are all ro-bots.
4. The story is told through a series of conversations your character has w/ various ro-bots who fortuitously filter through the train car you are on and apparently stuck in. You talk to each of these and, from them, you begin to form a cohesive picture of the world you are living in.
5. Your only means of interacting w/ the game is from choosing what you say next from a list of options during these conversations. You are a detective so this makes perfect sense. You goal is to collect information.
6. The variety of characters who happen to get on your car and talk to you prove to be a very fortuitous mix of different ro-bot types. From them, you learn of the various relations ro-bots have to humans. How, in you area, ro-bots are all nominally free but that just means they are all under compulsory government service while in some places ro-bots are still owned by private citizens or completely autonomous.
7. As per speculative fiction's Grand Constitution and Bylaws article 57 section D, because there are ro-bots in Subsurface Circular, Asimov's Three Laws of Ro-botics must be brought up even though they have no bearing on how ro-bots are actually built now and there's no reason to suspect they will play into how ro-bots will be built in the future.
8. There are also references to some of Bithell's other games which were not overdone and definitely put a smile on my face when I ran into them.
9. Unlike Quarantine Circular, Subsurface Circular is from a single character's perspective. This could be said to arguably give the game more focus but in equal measure it limits the storytelling potential.
10. Similarly, Subsurface does not quite give you the same sense of agency as its successor. When you are conversing w/ the various NPCs, you can normally find a question or response that suits you but you never really get the feeling you are having too much of an effect on how the story actually plays out. The conversations might be different but the world remains the same.
11. There is one major choice you do make and the game makes it obvious when this is. Your decision has broad implications in terms of human/ro-bot civilization that are uncertain and nuanced whichever way you decide to go.
12. If you are curious about the Circular games, you can't go wrong w/ either. I recommend Subsurface to be played first because after Quarantine, it just seems a bit simplistic in comparison.This understandable as Subsurface came first but even if it is a bit overshadowed by its sequel, it still stands as a great game on its own. If you are into text adventures or ro-bots, it is definitely something that's not to be missed.
13. Yes, I find it endlessly hilarious to spell it "ro-bot" over and over. Yes, I do realize it's only funny to me. No, I am not going to stop.
Friday, August 10, 2018
13 Points on Neon Chrome - 10tons - 2016 [PC]
1. It always feels a little cheap to just describe a game in terms of its genre characteristics but it works really well for Neon Chrome. It is a rogue-lite twin stick shooter with a cyberpunk theme and destructible environments. It is exactly equal to the sum of its parts and that is not really a bad thing.
2. The setup is you are an elite hacker who has entered a giant building, which is named Neon Chrome... for some reason. You goal is to stop the overseer of this enormous structure... for some reason.
3. Neon Chrome is divided up into into a couple dozen levels, which are procedurally generated outside of boss battles and a few set pieces. Your character will obtain both temporary upgrades and currency on each playthrough. You lose the temporary bonuses on death but can use the currency to buy permanent upgrades before your next run. This is what a rogue-lite is. Welcome to gaming college, nerds!
4. I would describe the graphics in this as perfectly functional. Neon Chrome is not an outstanding looking game on any level except that you can absolutely always tell what's going on. You know where you are facing, you can tell the difference between enemy types at a glance, where they are facing, what environmental hazards there are, everything you need to know. I find this focus on gameplay over glitz to be really refreshing.
5. There are some really outstanding tunes on the soundtrack but there were definitely few enough that it got a bit repetitive. When you really get in the zone though, repetitive can be kind of good.
6. The sound otherwise is only okay. I liked the sound of most of the guns and explosions but there wasn't much to enemy noises and such. You don't really need directional sound in a top down game so this is all fine.
7. Gameplay has an appealing rhythm to it. There is a bit of stealth but it mostly veers towards more frantic action, sometimes reaching ever so slightly into bullet hell territory. I tend to approach each situation as I frequently do in open world action games. I sneak around the fringes to pick off as many enemies as I can before going in guns ablaze. This lends to a nice sense of tension and release.
8. This has a saving feature that I wish all games in this genre had. It doesn't allow you to save and retry the same section over and over but you can quit the game on any floor and resume when you start the game back up and there's not much progress lost. This keeps you from having to end runs prematurely or leave your system running for hours if something that can't wait pops up in real life.
9. I tried both keyboard and mouse and a controller for this and wasn't crazy in love w/ either. I ended up using a controller mostly. Both methods were responsive and everything but somehow neither felt quite right. Trying to explain this would be a waste of time.
10. You don't unlock the ability to buy the permanent upgrades until you beat the first boss in the game. This makes for kind of a weird early difficulty spike and I actually started Neon Chrome and stopped playing once because of it. It is only after you open the ability to unlock the permenant upgrades that you can really get sucked into the addictive upgrade loop.
11. After each death, you can start either all the way at beginning or at a few checkpoints in the building. I found that you could build up cash the fastest by starting at the highest level it let you but you were unlikely to progress unless you started from the beginning, picking up upgrades throughout the playthrough. This meant I kind of subdivided my runs into money-making vs. serious attempts to beat the game. A full run could take over an hour on its own so you've got to be ready to put some time in.
12. The final floors in Neon Chrome have another strong difficulty spike because there starts to be a lot more enemies and traps that can take serious health off you for making one quick mistake. It kinda sucks to blow yourself six way to Sunday after forty-five minutes of excellent play but that's the breaks. The final boss winds up being pretty easy after that and feels a little disappointing.
13. Neon Chrome ultimately feels like a very competent effort--and a game worth the time you put into it--but no particular instance of it every felt quite special. It is possible it might benefit from some more well-thought-out fixed levels rather than the procedural ones or maybe just needs a bit more panache in the graphical or sound design. Still, I got really pulled into this during many of my sessions w/ it and I don't have any major complaints. If you like twin stick shooters or roguelites, check this out. It is not going to find its way into some indie game hall of fame or anything but you'll probably dig it.
2. The setup is you are an elite hacker who has entered a giant building, which is named Neon Chrome... for some reason. You goal is to stop the overseer of this enormous structure... for some reason.
3. Neon Chrome is divided up into into a couple dozen levels, which are procedurally generated outside of boss battles and a few set pieces. Your character will obtain both temporary upgrades and currency on each playthrough. You lose the temporary bonuses on death but can use the currency to buy permanent upgrades before your next run. This is what a rogue-lite is. Welcome to gaming college, nerds!
4. I would describe the graphics in this as perfectly functional. Neon Chrome is not an outstanding looking game on any level except that you can absolutely always tell what's going on. You know where you are facing, you can tell the difference between enemy types at a glance, where they are facing, what environmental hazards there are, everything you need to know. I find this focus on gameplay over glitz to be really refreshing.
5. There are some really outstanding tunes on the soundtrack but there were definitely few enough that it got a bit repetitive. When you really get in the zone though, repetitive can be kind of good.
6. The sound otherwise is only okay. I liked the sound of most of the guns and explosions but there wasn't much to enemy noises and such. You don't really need directional sound in a top down game so this is all fine.
7. Gameplay has an appealing rhythm to it. There is a bit of stealth but it mostly veers towards more frantic action, sometimes reaching ever so slightly into bullet hell territory. I tend to approach each situation as I frequently do in open world action games. I sneak around the fringes to pick off as many enemies as I can before going in guns ablaze. This lends to a nice sense of tension and release.
8. This has a saving feature that I wish all games in this genre had. It doesn't allow you to save and retry the same section over and over but you can quit the game on any floor and resume when you start the game back up and there's not much progress lost. This keeps you from having to end runs prematurely or leave your system running for hours if something that can't wait pops up in real life.
9. I tried both keyboard and mouse and a controller for this and wasn't crazy in love w/ either. I ended up using a controller mostly. Both methods were responsive and everything but somehow neither felt quite right. Trying to explain this would be a waste of time.
10. You don't unlock the ability to buy the permanent upgrades until you beat the first boss in the game. This makes for kind of a weird early difficulty spike and I actually started Neon Chrome and stopped playing once because of it. It is only after you open the ability to unlock the permenant upgrades that you can really get sucked into the addictive upgrade loop.
11. After each death, you can start either all the way at beginning or at a few checkpoints in the building. I found that you could build up cash the fastest by starting at the highest level it let you but you were unlikely to progress unless you started from the beginning, picking up upgrades throughout the playthrough. This meant I kind of subdivided my runs into money-making vs. serious attempts to beat the game. A full run could take over an hour on its own so you've got to be ready to put some time in.
12. The final floors in Neon Chrome have another strong difficulty spike because there starts to be a lot more enemies and traps that can take serious health off you for making one quick mistake. It kinda sucks to blow yourself six way to Sunday after forty-five minutes of excellent play but that's the breaks. The final boss winds up being pretty easy after that and feels a little disappointing.
13. Neon Chrome ultimately feels like a very competent effort--and a game worth the time you put into it--but no particular instance of it every felt quite special. It is possible it might benefit from some more well-thought-out fixed levels rather than the procedural ones or maybe just needs a bit more panache in the graphical or sound design. Still, I got really pulled into this during many of my sessions w/ it and I don't have any major complaints. If you like twin stick shooters or roguelites, check this out. It is not going to find its way into some indie game hall of fame or anything but you'll probably dig it.
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
13 Points on The Park - Funcom - 2016 [PC]
1. The Park is a quick first person horror game than can be played in about the same amount of time as it takes to watch an episode of American Horror Story. If you are into horror, it is a perfectly reasonable way to spend your evening.
2. You have about an equal effect on its outcome as you do a television show as well. Yes, folks, this is a walking sim. If you don't like it, head on home.
3. It's set in the world of the MMO Secret World Legends. As such, it kinda feels like a bit of fan fiction but it's made by the original developer. I am not sure what this makes it. Official fan fiction? A very special episode? Who knows for sure.
4. The setup is you are, for some reason, the last person in a vacant parking lot outside of an amusement park after it closes. You are a single mother, Lorraine, and your son, Callum, is telling you he forgot his teddy bear inside. You go to ask the information desk if they've seen it and, in the meantime, the little bastard runs inside. The helpful man at the desk lets you in to go chase down your son in the now vacant amusement park at night. Horror ensues.
5. As you might expect, Callum proves rather difficult to track down. You can see the sucker but if you could catch up to him as easily as an adult could actually catch up to a small child, there wouldn't be much of a game here. You'd be in the car and driving home in two minutes. Instead, you lose him in the shadows and are forced to shout and try to track him down by following his responses.
6. This is one of those games that takes it upon itself to tell you to play wearing headphones but even with them on--and even w/ following Callum's voice being a central mechanic--the directional sound is still not very good. I'd have to turn myself perpendicular to the path I was following and shuffle along sideways in order to track which direction the sound was coming from.
7. As you awkwardly shuffle through the titular park, you come upon rides, which you ride because apparently it is more important to create storytelling moments than it is to find your son.
8. The overall story that gets told is not really about your time in the park but the events in your life that lead up to you having a kid and raising it on your own, which are revealed through said storytelling moments. Your time in the park seems like it might just be the ending of that story.
9. There is really only one voice actor with significant lines in this, Fryda Wolff, who plays Lorraine. She does excellent work, I think, but unfortunately it was wasted on this script. It's riddled w/ angst-laden, over-the-top monologues on the trials of life and child rearing. It feels like someone peeled a chewed piece of gum from a goth kid's boot in 1995 and translated it into English.
10. The fact that this was made in the constraints of an existing IP takes away from the story somewhat. The Park is psychological horror but since the story is tied to Secret World, you know it's in a setting where all the supernatural stuff is at least possible. Had it been ambiguously set what might be the real world, you'd get a lot more questions in your head about what's going on and consequently a lot more tension.
11. Credit where credit is due, this had one of the best jump scares I've ever experienced in any media. I was looking around, sliding deeply into a stupor of boredom and readying myself for a very obvious jump scare which did not come until a few seconds after I decided it was a false alarm. The timing on this was immaculate. Unfortunately, I don't think it would have worked had I not been extremely bored beforehand so whatever.
12. The ending sequence is really cool in concept, you explore and re-explore an area as you gradually either fall into insanity or actual reality is revealed to you depending on your interpretation but, like many things in this game, it is not executed all that well. It winds up overly drawn out which severely softens any impact it might have had. For what it's worth though, while not everything is tied up in a neat little package, the ending does pretty much complete the narrative making the game a complete experience on its own.
13. I guess it should be pretty clear by now that I did not think too highly of The Park in terms of being a good game. I will say though that I did enjoy its atmosphere and, faint as this praise may be, it is a reasonable stand in for a horror flick when you might be in the mood for a bad movie night. I can't give this a full-throated endorsement but if you already picked it up in a bundle or it's on sale, it might still be worth checking out.
2. You have about an equal effect on its outcome as you do a television show as well. Yes, folks, this is a walking sim. If you don't like it, head on home.
3. It's set in the world of the MMO Secret World Legends. As such, it kinda feels like a bit of fan fiction but it's made by the original developer. I am not sure what this makes it. Official fan fiction? A very special episode? Who knows for sure.
4. The setup is you are, for some reason, the last person in a vacant parking lot outside of an amusement park after it closes. You are a single mother, Lorraine, and your son, Callum, is telling you he forgot his teddy bear inside. You go to ask the information desk if they've seen it and, in the meantime, the little bastard runs inside. The helpful man at the desk lets you in to go chase down your son in the now vacant amusement park at night. Horror ensues.
5. As you might expect, Callum proves rather difficult to track down. You can see the sucker but if you could catch up to him as easily as an adult could actually catch up to a small child, there wouldn't be much of a game here. You'd be in the car and driving home in two minutes. Instead, you lose him in the shadows and are forced to shout and try to track him down by following his responses.
6. This is one of those games that takes it upon itself to tell you to play wearing headphones but even with them on--and even w/ following Callum's voice being a central mechanic--the directional sound is still not very good. I'd have to turn myself perpendicular to the path I was following and shuffle along sideways in order to track which direction the sound was coming from.
7. As you awkwardly shuffle through the titular park, you come upon rides, which you ride because apparently it is more important to create storytelling moments than it is to find your son.
8. The overall story that gets told is not really about your time in the park but the events in your life that lead up to you having a kid and raising it on your own, which are revealed through said storytelling moments. Your time in the park seems like it might just be the ending of that story.
9. There is really only one voice actor with significant lines in this, Fryda Wolff, who plays Lorraine. She does excellent work, I think, but unfortunately it was wasted on this script. It's riddled w/ angst-laden, over-the-top monologues on the trials of life and child rearing. It feels like someone peeled a chewed piece of gum from a goth kid's boot in 1995 and translated it into English.
10. The fact that this was made in the constraints of an existing IP takes away from the story somewhat. The Park is psychological horror but since the story is tied to Secret World, you know it's in a setting where all the supernatural stuff is at least possible. Had it been ambiguously set what might be the real world, you'd get a lot more questions in your head about what's going on and consequently a lot more tension.
11. Credit where credit is due, this had one of the best jump scares I've ever experienced in any media. I was looking around, sliding deeply into a stupor of boredom and readying myself for a very obvious jump scare which did not come until a few seconds after I decided it was a false alarm. The timing on this was immaculate. Unfortunately, I don't think it would have worked had I not been extremely bored beforehand so whatever.
12. The ending sequence is really cool in concept, you explore and re-explore an area as you gradually either fall into insanity or actual reality is revealed to you depending on your interpretation but, like many things in this game, it is not executed all that well. It winds up overly drawn out which severely softens any impact it might have had. For what it's worth though, while not everything is tied up in a neat little package, the ending does pretty much complete the narrative making the game a complete experience on its own.
13. I guess it should be pretty clear by now that I did not think too highly of The Park in terms of being a good game. I will say though that I did enjoy its atmosphere and, faint as this praise may be, it is a reasonable stand in for a horror flick when you might be in the mood for a bad movie night. I can't give this a full-throated endorsement but if you already picked it up in a bundle or it's on sale, it might still be worth checking out.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
13 Points on WipEout Pulse - SCE Studio Liverpool - 2008 [Sony PSP]
1. I have always thought of this series as being a grown up version of Mario Kart. This isn't really fair as everyone I know who plays Mario Kart is as old as I am which is thoroughly grown up--well, from a legal perspective anyway.
2. The most notable difference between these two combative racing franchises is strictly presentation. In Mario Kart you wing around dirt tracks in a go-karts, playing as cute well-known character that drops banana peels while gophers pop out of the ground. In WipEout, you hover in sleek, futuristic vehicles. fly around hover tracks and blast competitors w/ missiles and gravity shock waves. Nothing pops out of the ground and you play as nobody in particular.
3. There is a much more meaningful difference beneath this, however. Specifically, WipEout has a much great emphasis on realistic racing mechanics.
4. I use the term realistic pretty loosely here. We are talking about hover cars that fly at multiple hundreds of miles an hour after all but there is an emphasis on holding racing lines and maintaining speed that most kart racers just don't have. This is an arcade style racer for sure but if you like the feeling of really nailing a lap in Gran Turismo, there might be more here for you than you might expect.
5. As of writing this, the servers for online play have long been shut down so, unless you have friends (you don't), you are going to be playing WipEout Pulse in single player mode. Thankfully, the career mode is awesome.
6. You get several grids of many events that gradually unlock as you successfully complete challenges. These involve all styles of play, not just races, and there's an absolute tone of them. If you are some kind of completionist nutbag, this is going to take you many dozens of hours to complete--and that is if you are already familiar w/ the series. I could see this getting into the hundreds of hours if you really want to 100% everything.
7. This glut of content would be worthless if it wasn't fun and challenging but it is. Don't you even worry about that.
8. Racing is the centerpiece of course. It's tense and satisfying. Esp. when you start out at a new speed class, you will find yourself careening about the tracks all over the place. Crashing into walls or falling off the edge will not only set you back but eventually end your race all together. Getting from the point where racing feels like it requires super human reflexes to where you can smoothly slalom through corners w/o effort is enormously pleasing.
9. To this end, I found that either turning off combat or just playing through the several time trial modes to be even better than racing. W/ no other racers--and none of the half dozen odd projectiles and obstacles they can add to the mix--it's just you and the track. I found this completely engaging. It is rare where I find a racing game where I get the highest level achievement available in any event and keep playing just to improve my personal best but WipEout Pulse is one of these games.
10. The music in this is slightly worse than in its predecessor, WipEout Pure. The series started in 1995 and kept the same style of music throughout. By the release of Pulse in 2008, you could see how that well of music might be getting a bit dry.
11. On faster speeds, esp., the analog nub on the PSP becomes a problem in WipEout Pulse. It is just really hard to give that thing just a tiny tap in white knuckle situations. You get better at it w/ practice but it's going to make you drive into walls more often than you'd like.
12. Just to be sure to touch on the one notable difference between this and WipEout Pure, there is one new mechanic: some sections of track that are magnetic (or so they say) and that makes your ship not only control a bit differently but allows for steep vertical climbs and drops as well as some upside down sections. It's all very cool looking but does not make for a vastly different experience.
13. Do you wanna go fast? You wanna go fast. And WipEout delivers fast. Any game is an adequate into to the series to be honest. If you are a PSP person, between Pulse and Pure, I found I got way more into Pulse but, you know, my mood fluctuates w/ my hormones and the phase of the moon so maybe I was just ready for a deeper dive into a racing game than when I played Pure. In any case, if you are a fan of the series already, Pulse is pretty much a must have. Get on it.
2. The most notable difference between these two combative racing franchises is strictly presentation. In Mario Kart you wing around dirt tracks in a go-karts, playing as cute well-known character that drops banana peels while gophers pop out of the ground. In WipEout, you hover in sleek, futuristic vehicles. fly around hover tracks and blast competitors w/ missiles and gravity shock waves. Nothing pops out of the ground and you play as nobody in particular.
3. There is a much more meaningful difference beneath this, however. Specifically, WipEout has a much great emphasis on realistic racing mechanics.
4. I use the term realistic pretty loosely here. We are talking about hover cars that fly at multiple hundreds of miles an hour after all but there is an emphasis on holding racing lines and maintaining speed that most kart racers just don't have. This is an arcade style racer for sure but if you like the feeling of really nailing a lap in Gran Turismo, there might be more here for you than you might expect.
5. As of writing this, the servers for online play have long been shut down so, unless you have friends (you don't), you are going to be playing WipEout Pulse in single player mode. Thankfully, the career mode is awesome.
6. You get several grids of many events that gradually unlock as you successfully complete challenges. These involve all styles of play, not just races, and there's an absolute tone of them. If you are some kind of completionist nutbag, this is going to take you many dozens of hours to complete--and that is if you are already familiar w/ the series. I could see this getting into the hundreds of hours if you really want to 100% everything.
7. This glut of content would be worthless if it wasn't fun and challenging but it is. Don't you even worry about that.
8. Racing is the centerpiece of course. It's tense and satisfying. Esp. when you start out at a new speed class, you will find yourself careening about the tracks all over the place. Crashing into walls or falling off the edge will not only set you back but eventually end your race all together. Getting from the point where racing feels like it requires super human reflexes to where you can smoothly slalom through corners w/o effort is enormously pleasing.
9. To this end, I found that either turning off combat or just playing through the several time trial modes to be even better than racing. W/ no other racers--and none of the half dozen odd projectiles and obstacles they can add to the mix--it's just you and the track. I found this completely engaging. It is rare where I find a racing game where I get the highest level achievement available in any event and keep playing just to improve my personal best but WipEout Pulse is one of these games.
10. The music in this is slightly worse than in its predecessor, WipEout Pure. The series started in 1995 and kept the same style of music throughout. By the release of Pulse in 2008, you could see how that well of music might be getting a bit dry.
11. On faster speeds, esp., the analog nub on the PSP becomes a problem in WipEout Pulse. It is just really hard to give that thing just a tiny tap in white knuckle situations. You get better at it w/ practice but it's going to make you drive into walls more often than you'd like.
12. Just to be sure to touch on the one notable difference between this and WipEout Pure, there is one new mechanic: some sections of track that are magnetic (or so they say) and that makes your ship not only control a bit differently but allows for steep vertical climbs and drops as well as some upside down sections. It's all very cool looking but does not make for a vastly different experience.
13. Do you wanna go fast? You wanna go fast. And WipEout delivers fast. Any game is an adequate into to the series to be honest. If you are a PSP person, between Pulse and Pure, I found I got way more into Pulse but, you know, my mood fluctuates w/ my hormones and the phase of the moon so maybe I was just ready for a deeper dive into a racing game than when I played Pure. In any case, if you are a fan of the series already, Pulse is pretty much a must have. Get on it.
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