 |
|
Gris (PS5) by jp (Apr 20th, 2025 at 20:25:52) |
I distinctly remember Gris getting a "meh" review score in Edge magazine. So, I was expecting to be underwhelmed gameplay-wise though wowed visually.
And yes, I was wowed visually (and aurally too - playing the PS5 version that makes use of the speaker controller in a cool way)...and the gameplay was sort of meh - but, it got better and better the longer I played!
Not counting the "hub" area, the game has four zones/levels that each introduce a mechanic, as well as some in-world things to interact with. And so, the game really goes from less to more as later levels incorporate more in-world mechanics as well as require use of the character mechanics you unlock. It also all makes sense with the game's theme and story and balblabla (ludonarrative harmony is what my students brought up).
That being said, it's a pretty relaxing and flowing kind of game - nods to Journey in there as well - and there isn't really a fail state, though you can get stuck on puzzles and some dexterity-timing dependent puzzles. There's some swimming bits that are just glorious - as you dash from "water bubble" to "water bubble" (blocks of water in the air) - and I loved swimming up waterfalls.
What impressed me the most though were two things:
1. I kept on trying to "go the wrong way" and most of the time, it was the right way.
2. The onboarding and tutorials are really, really well done. You notice a thing, or do a thing, and then that's the thing you have to do later to solve puzzles and so on. It feels very natural and very normal.
So, I'm actually excited to try Neva now...
read all entries for this GameLog 
- add a comment 
|
|
Lost in Blue 2 (DS) by jp (Apr 18th, 2025 at 18:46:41) |
Perhaps the strangest thing for me about this game is that it's a bona fide survival game on the DS. In my mind, the genre is more recent than 2006! I'm thinking of all the indie survival games (craft stuff, gather food, don't die of hunger or thirst) and then ones on Steam..and here's this game - a sequel no less - and it's straight up THAT. Survival. And there's two characters to boot - and you can die (I did, pretty soon it turns out).
I guess I was surprised by how quickly I did die - and, from a novice perspective, it felt sudden and a bit unfair. As in, CLEARLY there was nothing I could have done differently to survive. I spent too much time exploring was probably the main problem, and I left the boy behind in a cave we found, and I'm not sure that's what you're supposed to do? You have to keep both of them feed, hydrated and energized, and I felt like I had my hands full with just the one character.
I think my biggest mistake was probably not getting the spear for fishing made sooner? But then, I'm not even sure how you're supposed to use it - and all the other food I kept scavenging wasn't really doing much. Like, you'd eat it and not see a huge effect. I'm guessing there's something I'm not understanding and it makes me wonder if a full reset makes the most sense? (instead of loading into a saved game that's already doomed/too heavily stacked against success).
Perhaps the strangest thing (for me) about the game is that there's a super simple mini-game for cooking! You collect stuff to cook and also stuff to use as spices and then need to sort of trial and error recipes - though I could set the boy (the character I was not controlling directly) to cook and he'd come up with his own stuff... it's weird.
And it's a sequel? I guess I should look up if this is a port to DS from someplace else? It would make more sense in a way - the game is also low-poly 3D as you wander around the environment. Still...I might just put it on the shelf.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
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!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
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.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
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!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
|
|
|
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.
[latest site fixes and updates]
[read more]
|
view feed xml
|
 |
|
2286 registered gamers and 3257 games. 7789 GameLogs with 13266 journal entries. 5110 games are currently being played.
More stats
|
 |
|
Blair Witch (PC) by dkirschner |
| Creepy, lots of wandering in the woods and getting turned around. Dog companion is great but makes me nervous! -------- Overplays the PTSD, becomes tiresome. Still creepy though. Great atmosphere. |
|
most recent entry: Tuesday 28 May, 2024
|
Finished tonight with Patrick. We've been playing this one for the past couple months and made a push to wrap up. What is this game about? Well, you're this guy Ellis with some serious PTSD. You go into the woods looking for a missing kid, against the wishes of your wife and the sheriff, who regularly allude to your mental illness (usually in flashbacks or hallucinations). A man with childhood trauma related to woods (??), who then joined the military and got his squad killed in an ambush, "accidentally" killed a civilian, came back and became a police officer, and shot an unarmed man, is totally the one you want getting lost in the woods with the Blair Witch.
Luckily, you have a faithful canine companion, Bullet. Bullet is the best, and our biggest regret is that we gave Bullet dark colors, which made him impossible to see at night. Most of the game occurs at night. Suggestion: make Bullet the lightest color you can and give him a bright collar. Bullet searches areas for you, sniffs out items, follows trails, and is a happy, good boy. He makes you feel less alone in the woods, but also makes you feel more unnerved. Because Bullet is so lovable, you know that something bad will happen to Bullet. You just don't know what or when it will happen.
I think that the game is split into two main parts: the woods and the house. I mostly enjoyed the woods, but mostly did not enjoy the house. In the woods, you are following the trail of the kid and whoever might have abducted him. The woods become creepier the deeper you go. You get turned around. There are monsters. There is a man with a coat of human skin. It's deeply unsettling. You occasionally find a tape for your camcorder (this is the Blair Witch, after all!). Some tapes are just story tapes; watch them to get info. Other tapes are interactable. If you are looking at a spot in the environment where something happens on tape, whatever happened on tape will happen in the environment. For example, a fallen tree is blocking your path. On the tape, the tree falls. Pause the tape before the tree falls, put the camcorder away, and voila, the tree will not be fallen. You'll use this trick to get through doors, find objects, and so on. It's neat, though can be annoying when (a) you can't figure out what has changed or what you are supposed to be paying attention to, or (b) you know what you are supposed to do but you can't trigger the change because you aren't lining up in just the right way or whatever. Those are the woods. Probably 2/3 of the game. Maybe 3/4.
Then there's the house. I think this is the house from the movie, or at least a very similar house. This is where, if you weren't sure yet, Ellis descends into madness and (if you got the bad ending like us at least) becomes a terrible version of himself (again) under the Blair Witch's influence. The house segment lasted far too long, with extremely repetitive hallucinations and flashbacks, with us having to see and hear the same things we'd been seeing and hearing for the entire game, as if the game didn't think that players knew Ellis was unhinged. This was established far earlier! The house appears to have three stories, but you will go up and down roughly 50 flights of stairs. Seriously, it lasts foreeeeever, just wandering through the house, here's a flashback, there's a hallucination, here's another monster to avoid, there's the screen shaking, here's the same room you already were in 10 times ("sigh," Ellis says every time--for real, me too!), here's another text message to read, and there are the stairs yet again.
Finally, it ends. With the bad ending, Ellis is trapped. With the good ending, Ellis is freed. You will get the bad ending, but this will free you from Blair Witch. Overall, I leaned toward enjoying it. The atmosphere is great, especially the sound design. It's creepy. But it's not a psychological horror game I would easily recommend.
[read this GameLog]
|
|
|
