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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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Donkey Kong Bananza (NSW2) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:07:32) |
Still playing!
It has an interesting structure in terms of its levels and such - the core metaphor is that you're going deeper into the planet with each level, and they're both thematic and numbered. I got to a point where there's a bifurcation - go right into what I thought was "jungle land" or left into "snow land". I went right did a few more levels, cleared the boss (it was plant/poison land) and in order to continue going deeper I was then told to go back to "snow land"! There's a fast travel/teleport system involving giant worms that can move your around, so it was easy enough to do this, but I was surprised to learn that the fork was just a "choose what order to do these" situation... and also, the entire "fork" makes little sense thematically so I'm curious to see how it's explained and communicated in the interface - will it look like a fork in the "hole" going into the planet's core?
The titular ability (bananza mode!) was a bit underwhelming - you turn into a bigger DK and can now punch things you couldn't before - it lasts a limited amount of time. But, I've since unlocked a new one - DK-bird - where you can glide around (and after paying to unlock) and drop an egg on enemies. The gilding around was important/necessary in the plant/poison levels, and I'm expecting it to be similarly required in the snowy ones. We'll see!
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Hollow Knight: Silksong (PC) by dkirschner (May 13th, 2026 at 14:58:07) |
Kicking myself for not writing an entry when I was playing this 6 months ago. I am cleaning up my wishlist, backlog, and etc., and the FEELING I get when I see Silksong "in progress" is anxiety. I had jotted a few notes in December, as follows:
"It’s true, Silksong is hard. Like, really, frustratingly hard. Like punishingly difficult. I hit a wall at the end of Act 1 trying to beat the Last Judge. The game likes to place benches far away from boss fights, such that retrying boss fights involves slogging back through tough platforming and other sections of the map."
I did kill the Last Judge and complete Act 1. I remember that took a very long time, and that after the Last Judge, I died a few more times and, probably, with shaking hands and rapid heartbeat, said, "I can't do this anymore." Actually, it may have been in one of those rooms with waves of enemies. This innovation is new and unwelcome to Silksong, rooms that lock upon entering and spill several waves of challenging enemies at you. Yeah, I think that is what got me, just being pummeled over and over in one of those rooms, getting tired of exploring the maze-like map, tired of dying, tired of corpse runs, just exhausted. The game became a chore.
Besides that, I loved it, haha. I was definitely into it for a while. It was sublime until it wasn't.
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Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (PC) by dkirschner (May 12th, 2026 at 17:20:35) |
I meant to quickly beat this back in April so I could have a "completion" for the month, but I got really busy after spending barely an hour one afternoon with Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, a bizarre little twin-stick shooter about a turnip...who robs a bank. The game builds off previous games in the series, which I have never played, in which Turnip Boy commits tax evasion and, according to this game at least, seems to have started a war. Work has slowed down for the first time in nearly two months, and while I wait for my next contract to begin, I figured I'd knock this out.
The whole game is silly. The world is populated by sentient fruits and vegetables. You are employed by a pickle / mafia gang leader to rob a bank of a garlic bulb / bad guy / killed your dad. You have a base, where you can get new weapon loadouts by bringing weapons from the bank (always try to return with something new or high-powered!), purchase progression items from the "dark web," and upgrade stuff at another vendor. You go on "runs" to the bank, which are timed (starts at 2 or 3 minutes, goes up to 5 or 6 with upgrades). Runs are over when you die or when you exit the bank. Die and you lose half the cash you accumulated in the run. Survive and you are handsomely rewarded. Upgrade stuff. Go back to the bank. It's a roguelite too.
The bank has a specific layout of rooms, but you'll encounter some randomized areas too, and enemies and treasure are somewhat randomized. Throughout the bank are tons of NPCs with little fetch quests that usually reward you with pictures (fun/ny to look at) or hats (fun/ny to equip). A blueberry might want you to find its wedding ring, a lime wants you to get divorce papers from her lemon husband, a scientist pineapple wants you to find a philosopher mango and ask it an ethical question about experimenting on fruits, etc. I had some good laughs.
In each corner of the bank is a boss. Boss fights were fun, but the most challenging were early on. Once you start upgrading stats, the game becomes easy. It definitely ends up being an "upgrade everything and go nuts on all the enemies!" type game, experience being overpowered.
I haven't played a twin-stick shooter in a while, and while this wasn't revolutionary or anything, it was fun and scratched the itch. I gotta get back to Divinity: Original Sin 2. I might have some extra time till my next gig, so maybe I can boot it up, remember what I was doing, and make some progress this week.
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Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) by jp (Apr 27th, 2026 at 22:04:52) |
I got to that point where I hit a monster/boss that just wasn't that much fun, and then I got a bit lost in terms of where to continue making progress, and the backtracking started to get a bit tiresome...as I explored and searched for different paths. So, time to bail!
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Crysis 2 (360) by dkirschner |
| Pretty and pretty fun ------------ Yep, solid game. New York looks great. |
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most recent entry: Thursday 19 April, 2012
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Going to write an entry while I download multiplayer 'how-to' videos from Xbox Live, since I'll try multiplayer out later and see what it's like. Crysis 2 was good, but I think I overhyped it. My Crytek games from favorite to least favorite are Far Cry, Crysis, Crysis 2, Crysis: Warhead, and Far Cry 2. Crysis had more memorable moments for sure. The aliens there were also scarier. These aliens were mostly just stupid. Also, I remember bitching that Crysis only had one boss battle. At least it had one. Crysis 2 has 0. That bit is really lame. There are a couple typical 'gunship' fights and 'giant robot' fights, but I wouldn't call them boss battles. The gunship fight wasn't hard at all. You just had to line up a rocket when it was hovering or strafing in a straight line. The only remotely difficult part was trying to hit it with all your ammo and not run out. The giant robot fights were STUPID. I honestly hated them. They epitomize a gripe I have with the enemies in general, which is twofold:
(1) enemies have the uncanny ability to know exactly where you are even if you are stealthed and your little 'detect meter' is low, so the enemies really shouldn't be able to know where you are. There's a difference though, right, they don't 'see' you really. But they know where you are. Means they don't walk up and shoot you, but they'll just camp your position, and they'll walk right toward you, and if you move around, they'll just follow you with their gun. Like this is when your detect bar is nonexistent. They should have NO CLUE where I am!
And the second part is that a couple enemy types use this anti-cloaking ability that drains your suit energy or just reveals you. So to sum up and narrate what typically happens. I've just stealth killed an enemy. My detect bar is low and I'm stealthed. I walk into a far corner. 3 enemies come to my remote corner even though it's 50 feet away from their dead squadmate, and stand facing me. Then one of them will do his anti-cloak skill. If I move around them while they're standing facing me, they just turn and follow me with their guns. So these giant robots do the same damn thing except you can only damage them from the rear. If they're always facing you then HOW THE HELL DO YOU KILL THEM? Seriously, I think the first one you fight is in like this library type place where you can walk around the giant robot 360 degrees. No matter where I went, I would pop out, and he'd be facing me head on. Like he knows where I am. You just have to wait and EVENTUALLY he'll turn around. Those fights take like 15 minutes and they're just frustrating.
One other dumb thing is that in the mission intel parts, they're always like "We have 10 minutes to rescue the civilians!" "In 15 minutes, everything will explode!" But there is NEVER an actual timer! There is no sense of urgency at all. It seems like there is, but nothing happens on a timer. They really shouldn't keep giving time frames for things if they're not going to actually time it. Now that I got all the bitching out of the way...
Crysis 2 is a pretty sweet game overall. It reminds me of Crysis, obviously, and also of Metal Gear, Splinter Cell, and other 'stealthy' games. You don't have to stealth a lot if you don't want to, but I so love stealthing. The game reminds me also of a game I haven't played yet, but have read about, the new Deus Ex game, because from what I gather in that game, there are numerous ways you can accomplish objectives by being creative. I'm sure Crysis 2 is a lesser version of this, but your nanosuit has 4 modes - stealth, power, speed, and armor. If you want to stealth kill everyone, you can. If you want to activate armor and be a juggernaut, you can. If you want to be a hit-and-run parkour marine, you can. Also, the tactical visor helps you get a feel for the area. Using it, you can mark enemies and ammo caches like you could do in Crysis and Far Cry (I think in both...). In Crysis 2, it gives you 'tactical options' too, which means it will point out where it may be good to stealth, to ledge grab, to flank, or where you can use a mounted turret. Actually I found the tactical options a bit silly. I'd rather explore the map on my own and find the mounted turret than have the HUD just tell me. I did like the tactical visor for marking enemies. Since I stealthed most of the game, it was invaluable to know whether or not other enemies were around so I could time my kills and slink back into the shadows unnoticed. At first this nanosuit system felt constraining. I was always stealthing only. Later on once I got used to the controls and the game a bit more, I began changing it up some. In the end, in addition to stealth, I spent a lot of time with Armor activated and sprinting to enemies and meleeing the crap out of them. That was intense. I started stealth killing enemies out in the open to alert all the others. Then I'd hide, and when they came near me (facing me and doing that stupid anti-stealth skill), I'd just pop armor and rush the group. I almost died doing that probably 20 times.
You can upgrade the suit by getting this stuff off dead aliens. You get enough to pretty much learn all the suit's modifications throughout the game, but some of them are definitely useless or near useless. Actually nearing the end, probably the last 1/4, I realized that only aliens gave me the upgrade material so I really didn't need to kill humans anymore. I began just stealthing through them. Then shortly after I realized this, I realized that I'd upgraded everything I wanted to on the suit, so I really didn't need to kill aliens anymore either. I just stealthed through most of the end bits of the game unless I had to kill. I still can't believe there was no boss fight. At least New York looked freaking amazing. Crysis 2 definitely has that going for it. It's a beautiful looking game. But, like in Crysis 1, this is countered by the silly bugs. Practically every firefight there was one enemy who was stuck, walking into a wall or wedged in a doorway. I got a lot of easy kills, even on some bigger enemies like the shielded alien, because they were just stuck.
Yyyyyep. All my multiplayer videos downloaded, so I'll watch those and play around with it at some point. Good times.
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