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Phantom Abyss (PC) by jp (Apr 6th, 2025 at 19:14:27) |
I'd heard of the game's hook (or gimmick if you will) as, everyday it's a different 1st person platforming game/run, and if you die - that's it. Play a different run later.
I'm guessing stuff changed along the way, though the concept is still here - it's a reasonably challenging rogue-like 1st person platforming game. I've had fun, you have a whip to help you climb and each level has different modifiers (the whip has an ability) and you can pick up boons in your run (if you have enough coins to afford them) and hopefully make it to the end. BUT, you see a bunch of ghosts for everyone else who played this level - if someone died, you can collect their spirit or something for a small heal! During each run you collect keys you can use to buy permanent upgrades, and so you go up the progression ladder of many roguelites...
Someone described this as first person temple run, which is close enough? I mean, the levels themselves are a lot more interesting than the "mere" reaction times that temple run goes for, here you can side-step/etc. stuff - and there are different paths, and in all you can be a bit creative for how you approach stuff...I've had fun so far - unlocked all the green levels and I've started on the blue ones!
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Cuphead (Switch) by jp (Apr 6th, 2025 at 13:37:03) |
I only get to play this when my son comes around - and we play together and I realized, yeah - I need to either start practicing seriously or just give up. And, I enjoy playing it co-op, so there's not much sense in practicing, so I decided to give up.
We did make it to the 2nd island(?), and played some of the levels there - but I was clearly starting to see a steeper path to success. As in, it too us (mostly my fault) more and more tries to make less progress. He's already played it, beat it too? So, not much point for him really.
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Sonic Rush (DS) by jp (Apr 6th, 2025 at 13:34:08) |
I started playing this from the saved game - with new(?) character Blaze on "area 2" (I don't remember the exact name). And, I just could not beat the level - it was set in the casino world, and everything was moving super fast and on "automatic" - so, you just press move and the character zips along, bounces, etc.
It's actually quite boring! Because you just do this, at some point you hit an enemy (very few enemies in the game!), lose your rings, and then carry on. But, I'd lose because I'd fall into a bottomless pit, lose three lives and then out.
I'd say it wasn't so much frustrating as it was a disappointment. Yes, the point of Sonic is that it's "fast" - that's it's thing. But I find that there's little interaction to the game for most of the levels - you just "go along with the direction". It's neat when sometimes you get bounced around automatically, but for the most part I like to control the character.
So, I deleted the save file and started a new one, this time with Sonic in the equivalent of green hill zone. This level has two areas and then a boss. So, it's like 3 levels make up a level.
And, the experience was pretty similar - run on automatic for a while, lose rings suddenly or die, repeat with a bit more caution...etc. I did make it all the way to the boss fight - which I almost beat one too many times, and I just realized - ok, this is dumb - at least the boss fights have more gameplay ( you dodge, make an attack when the weak spot is open, etc.) - but it's still a pretty boring/uninteresting platforming experience.
So, off to the shelf it goes!
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Secret Files: Tunguska (DS) by jp (Apr 4th, 2025 at 19:16:25) |
I think there's a weird moment in time when everyone thought that point-and-click style adventure games were dead, but they were not. And, I think this game is an example of a game that was under the radar of "mainstream" games press at the time? Or at least under the radar of the average consumer of videogames...
This particular game is also a strange little time capsule - it's a port of what I think was a PC game...also at a time when people where porting all kinds of things to the DS. And, it works! Well, from a UI perspective at least. And it works pretty well. At least compared to another adventure game I played recently on the DS whose name I'm blanking on as I write this. I bounced on that one because it had some character/3D interactions that were awkward and unintuitive. Here, they were much smarter about it (I'm assuming they made UI "concessions" because it's on the DS). So, while you have a 3D character that navigates a static space - you don't actually have to move the character around directly in order to interact with objects/places in each scene. Press one button and all the interactive spots highlight, and you can just tap on them directly. I LOVE this solution - especially because I was never a fun of the "hunt for the pixel" approach that many games had (on PC) - and I'm super glad it didn't come across into this DS version (for all I know, the "here's all the highlights" was also possible on PC).
But, the UI triumph aside, I still kind of bounced off this. I got stuck on a puzzle (how typical!) - and what I had to do was leave a location to visit another location and then continued...this seemed really "unfair" to me - as in, unintuitive - mostly because I had assumed I could not leave the locatio in the first place. It wasn't entirely unintuitive - but it was the sort of puzzle where I was sure I should be able to (in this case) get the key out of the aquarium - but it turns out that no, I had to leave the place, do some other stuff, and then come back. At this point I was well into the tried-and-true "try all the things with all the things", except that I did not know I could leave the location I was at. Sigh.
So, from glancing at my list of DS games I still need to play...well, I wasn't THAT interested in the story so far and the puzzles didn't feel particularly interesting either..so, it was an easy game to put on the shelf.
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Shogun Showdown (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 4th, 2025 at 18:33:00) |
Clever little tactics roguelite. It reminds me of Into the Breach and other tactics games where you are given clear information about what enemies will do each turn. It's also reminiscent of Into the Breach because of the small play space. Basically, the game takes place on a 2d plane that is divided into like 8 or 9 spaces. Any given character occupies 1 space and can move left or right. You build a "deck" of "tiles" that include attacks and other special abilities, many of which involve movement (e.g., a forward dash that moves to the nearest frontal enemy and deals 1 damage). Your goal is to build up your tiles and progress stage by stage until you kill the Shogun.
During each run, you can purchase and upgrade tiles, mostly increasing their damage or decreasing their cooldowns, purchase passive abilities, use items, and other standard roguelite stuff--make yourself stronger by strategically handling whatever random things you get.
Most every action you do takes a turn, and all characters take turns at the same time. So, you move right (1 turn) and all the enemies do a thing (one might move left toward you, one might queue up an attack). Then you queue up an attack, and those two enemies might queue up an attack and attack, respectively. Actually, it also reminds me of Crypt of the Necrodancer, which works like this, where all characters act simultaneously. In that game, when you move, everything else moves. Shogun Showdown is like that. When you do something, the enemies do something.
I beat the Shogun for the first time this evening, which was maybe my fifth run or so. I had what felt like extremely overpowered weapons, a sword that I'd leveled up to deal 5 damage with only a 2-turn cooldown. I also had a bow-and-arrow with 4 damage and a 3-turn cooldown. The kicker though was a curse that doubled the next damage on an enemy. So, I'd just queue the curse, the sword, and the arrow. That took literally half the Shogun's health bar. Did it again, dead and into phase 2. No problem. Did it two more times. Dead. Easy. When you beat the Shogun, you unlock "day 2", which is the next difficulty level. You can also unlock additional characters with different skills, and you can keep unlocking new tiles and stuff. I consider it beat after taking out the Shogun once. It's a fun game, really tight, and makes you think ahead. It doesn't do much that you haven't seen before though.
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2285 registered gamers and 3255 games. 7787 GameLogs with 13264 journal entries. 5110 games are currently being played.
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Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command (PSP) by jp |
| I thought I wouldn't like it, but I've found that it does have a very distinct feel and some nice gameplay polish that moves these kinds of games forward. In all it's a step forward in a genre that was getting tied down too much to convention. So long grid! |
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most recent entry: Friday 10 October, 2008
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I've finished playing this game (as some might have noticed given that I've started writing about Patapon!) and while the last two missions weren't particularly memorable, overall I am very excited about the interesting direction I feel that tactical games can take. Given my (positive) experience with this game I was curious to see what professional game reviewers felt.
What a disappointment! As of this writing, this game has a 68% rating overall (Gamerankings.com) I decided to take a look at the reviews on IGN and Gamespot to see what they complained about. My hunch was that people would complain about the game not having a grid and maybe that it was too short. (15 missions sounds pretty short on paper, but in my experience it was just about right).
I wasn't too far from the mark.
This is what IGN had to say:
"With that said, let's get right into the inevitable sadness that comes from these mechanics. First and foremost: there's no grid. Strategy games rarely (if ever) work on consoles and portable systems when there's no grid; that's why most good strategy games can be found on the PC.
I agree with the author's sentiment that games without a grid rarely work. Grids are nice to the player because you can play the game like a puzzle. You know exactly how far you can go, how far the enemy can go, and so on. WH40K, the original miniatures game, isn't set on a grid (for practical reasons) and is essentially played with ruler in hand. Your guys can move 12" and that's it. Of course, on the tabletop this can lead to all sorts of trouble. (hey! that's 12.5"!) Can you measure before you move? People also get into all sorts of trouble when working out line of sight and all that other stuff. So, Squad Command actually takes SOME of the good elements of the tabletop game (the freedom of not having a grid) and deftly removes many of those that are problematic (figuring line of sight, measuring, etc.).
Yes, many times you leave a unit on a corner and you aren't really sure if it's covered completely. That's ok, it's more "realistic" in a sense. You have to judge it by sight.
Yes, you have to be very careful when you line up some shots because you don't want to hit friendlies that might be in the way (it happened to me, I learned my lesson). Sometimes you can even pull off shots that seem "impossible". It's more "realistic" because there is a slight margin of error. A tight shot is tight because it's narrow, sometimes you make them, sometimes you don't.
Yes, there is not grid. It's wonderful. But there sort of is a grid. The UI was pretty well designed here to let you know where you could go, how many points it costs to get there and if you'll have enough points left to fire your weapon.
Heck, the UI in this game is probably one of its best features PRECISELY because it helps ease many of the issues of not having a strict grid and having a ton of scenery (most of it destructible) that can get in the way.
Yes, you can't really do anything with the camera. I missed that in the beginning, but I quickly learned to appreciate how NOT having to deal with the camera (and focus on the tactical map instead) led to a more streamlined play experience.
So, although I'm not one to argue over scores and whatnot, I guess I have somewhat of a bitter taste in my mouth as I put this game away. Am I deluded or did (most?) of the reviewers for this game simply not get it? Have we reached a point where there is no room to explore something slightly new and different?
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