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Senran Kagura Peach Ball (NSW) by jp (Aug 13th, 2026 at 20:18:02) |
Last time I was in Japan (this year!) I didn't really have a list of games I wanted to find, but while there I was tempted, so I pulled a short list together of oddities/indie games - plus this title. It's a pinball game, and I've always liked videogame pinball games, so I thought I'd try to find it. I had no luck at all (and I tried in LOTS of places). I was able to find all the other indie games...which was nice, but this one was no luck.
Once back in the US I was talking to a colleague and I mentioned this game - and he said something about the developers (or was it the publisher) sort of being in trouble and that their games were now getting attention in the collector market and that if I was interested I should pick it up sooner rather than later. So, I bought a copy (the US release) on ebay and here we are.
The game is kind of weird - not in the "ooh, it's a bit perky/risqué".. I assumed that from the series (senran kagura games), but weird in that there aren't that many tables to play (only 2!, but there are variations which aren't that interesting either) - but you play horizontally and it's kind of hard to see what's going on. It really made me want to play it vertically. I've been playing the story - getting to the end with all the characters, which isn't that much fun. I mean the table play is fine and I've enjoyed that, just that it's a bit of a grind to get to the end with each character. All of this in hopes that I will unlock something fun?
THere's a creepy "spray water on characters" voyeur mode - and the characters get naked (but PG - everything is covered up by hands and the right camera angles), but it gets old really fast (not that it was that interesting to begin with).
The table physics feel a bit too floaty, but it's ok - and there's an interesting scoring/goal system. You have to meet certain goals in order to advance to a mini-pinball game, once you clear that you can beat the level and then move on. The end credits are also pinball...and there's lots of "smacking" the characters (who lie about inside the table play areas) with the pinball. The ending are the worst in this sense, since you're literally targetting their bosoms/read ends with the pinball...or sometimes smacking them with the paddles. Still all PG...so, weird?
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Deep Rock Galactic (PC) by jp (Aug 13th, 2026 at 20:02:56) |
I've played this a few times in the last week - and I had not played in a long time. I was surprisingly better at the game since I last played? I just have a recollection of getting really lost and unable to get back to the pod/ship and that being very frustrating, but now...it was fine?!
I was playing with my kids though, who are much better at it than I and now where to go and do stuff, so I think that really helped. Also, I've been unlocking things and I think I finally am able to play all the different types of missions. Some are more fun than others, for sure. The most recent one I unlocked was sort of a heist mission...sort of. Really it was about wrecking another dwarven mining company's stuff - but it ended with a major boss fight that was pretty fun.
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Donkey Kong Bananza (NSW2) by jp (Aug 13th, 2026 at 19:57:47) |
Had to stop playing because I had to return the game and Switch 2 as I changed jobs. Sigh. Was fun while it lasted!
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Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (NSW) by jp (Aug 13th, 2026 at 17:10:31) |
I started playing this a while ago now - in June. I'm only posting now because...well, the site was undergoing major maintenance. But, it's back now!
So, I picked this game up earlier this year on a trip to Finland. I had no idea it existed, the metacritic score seemed decent enough, and I have a soft spot for Lodoss War since I first watched (some of it) way back in the 90s. (and watched the entire thing a few years ago). I always liked the idea/knowledge (which may not be true?) that the anime was essentially someone's D&D campaign. So, sort of like fan fiction that later gets published, but this one became an anime. I should probably look up more info so really know the history...but whatever.
Generally I'm not a huge metroidvania fan, mostly because I sometimes tire of the backtracking, but also they are often harder than I'm willing to practice/train for. So, I play until I hit a wall, give it a few goes, and then move on.
This has not happened yet - which has surprised me! Though to be fair, I haven't played in 6 weeks or so, so who knows what will happen when I get back to it. I think I'm about 1/3 of the way in, reaching chapter 3? And, going from memory, I think I got to a point where was feeling lost and not sure where to go next. So, not the "ugh, this boss is too hard for me", but rather - "where am I supposed to go next?".
I'm actually enjoying how complicated the game feels like it is, with how much progress I'm able to make. THere's two energy systems you charge up, and you really want to be maxxed out, but you have to swap between them - and there's sometimes attacks that come in one energy type (and charge you up instead of hurting you). So, it has a mechanic I'm familiar with from 2D shooters! I'm not really following the story all that much and it's been a while so I don't remember the NPC/non-party characters, but it seems like the whole thing is going in the direction of "this was all a dream".
There is an inventory system, but I haven't engaged with it much, and I seem to have interesting weapons to use so the shops have been a waste of time in that sense? Maybe it's too early for now...
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Smashing Bottles (PC) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:16:28) |
Heard about this one recently and got stuck playing the demo on itch (though it's also available on Steam) for a few hours until I got to the final (demo) ending!
It's an incremental game with some interesting things going on - you have a bat and smash bottles, but you have a limited time to do so (in seconds, like max 25 or so after all the upgrades?). When time runs out you can go again or go to the shop to buy upgrades. As expected you want to get more money from smashing bottles and there's ways to do that - spawn golden bottles, champagne bottles (when they smash the corks fly out and can smash other things), and even molotov cocktails (that explode, smashing other things).
There's a few things I thought where nice/clever:
a. The game has two distinct phases (once you unlock molotovs, everything changes, really) - the "you smash" and the "maximize money in the time allowed". In the latter, the game mostly plays itself as the molotovs keep everything getting smashed.
b. The "you smash" has rotating bottles, and since the smashing can take a few hits, there's some interest in smashing champagne such that the cork flies in a certain direction for more damage.
c. The champagne corks are pretty clever - since it gives you a reason to, in the short time you have to smash, choose what to smash a little more carefully. Go for golden or champagne hoping for a productive chain reaction?
Of course there's also a prestige/reset mechanic - from which you can lock a separate bat that smashes.
I'm curious how far things will go once the full game is out - and what the nature of the upgrades will be. I'm really hoping for more variety in the experience beyond the simple "number go up" - in that sense the molotovs seem like they're capping the experience in a detrimental way (even as they were super fun to smash when I first unlocked them.
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GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
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2323 registered gamers and 3360 games. 7897 GameLogs with 13394 journal entries. 5122 games are currently being played.
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Goldeneye 007 (N64) by blahquabats |
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most recent entry: Wednesday 31 January, 2007
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I lost the Jungle level after reaching the end, because I apparently missed a drone gun that I was supposed to destroy. So I couldn't bring myself to replay it, and instead replayed the first levels on Secret Agent mode. The difficulty levels are well-executed in this game; as a real 00 agent, one couldn't be expected to simply run through and escape from the dam in the first level; there are objectives to achieve which require more skill and time. In this manner, the game implies that to truly be playing as James Bond, one must play on the hardest difficulty, although one could play as a regular or Secret agent for the purposes of the game.
The level designs are based on the movie, of course, but most of it is pure innovation on Rare's part. There's a good mix of wide-open outside levels and corridor-filled inside levels. The Cuban jungle level in particular does quite well at emulating a jungle while allowing enough freedom of movement that it's possible to get lost, but not so much that the designers can't direct the player experience.
In general, I think that given the hardware and capabilities of the N64, the enemies are stupendously well-crafted. The AI leaves a lot to be desired, of course, but this is made up for by the many and varied animations (reacting to a bullet striking near them, several styles of shooting for each kind of gun or guns being wielded, several amusing and realistic idle animations, impressive walking/running animations). I have played lots and lots of shooters, but never again did I virtually shoot someone with so much satisfaction as I did in Goldeneye. There are even reasonable physics which take effect during explosions; enemies will fly away from the explosion, other objects might fall off a destroyed table or crate (although the fact that the tables and chairs explode is a bit strange).
The story had to be stretched to fit around the number of levels in the game, but then i wasn't looking for narrative involvement anyway.
In short, Goldeneye embraced the strengths of its console while working around the weaknesses, as well as seamlessly integrating fantastic level and game design with a pre-existing property without defying or limiting either one.
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