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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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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,
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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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most recent entry: Thursday 6 March, 2008
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This entry is spoiler-free!
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GAMEPLAY
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Okay, continuing on my comments from last time, another great aspect of the Rock Band experience is the distinct artistic style featured in the game. Everything has a classic rock feel to it, from the vintage typeset, to the fuzzy DV-style camera effects, to the selection of cities you can play in, even to the - how do I describe it - "red shine tint" effect (like from a vintage movie) from menu to menu. Together, these stylistic choices make you feel like you're seeing your band in some sort of vintage "Legend of Rock" movie.
Another really nice aspect I forgot to mention previously that adds a nice touch is the integration of your customization choices through the game. Yes, of course these characters appear in the game while you're playing - it would be silly if they didn't. But what impressed me is how they use these customizations outside of gameplay. You'll find many times that loading screens will feature dynamically-created pictures from the road that include your characters in a variety of poses, vehicles you've unlocked with your band name printed on the side, and/or posters from your latest gig. There's also times when the loading screen will show a random factoid about the song you're about to play instead. Also, for each gig your character plays in, they independently gain money, which in turn they can use to purchase new clothing in the store.
There were a couple of minor irritations I came across while playing the game. For one, the Bass is, at times, too easy. I found that, playing on medium, I was barely doing anything on some of the songs. On the other hand, the bass is probably a good instrument to use to introduce someone new to the guitar. Also, there were some sets that were Fan Requests, where the fans would pick the songs that the band does the best on. This is great, in theory, until you end up playing "Here It Goes Again" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" over and over and over again. After a while, the songs kind of lose their charm. Once again, though, these were minor inconveniences and didn't stop me from truly enjoying the Rock Band experience.
A new feature I tried in my second gameplay session was the single-player tour mode. This mode more or less echoes the style of the Guitar Hero series. You have a setlist of five songs in each venue, with each venue's setlists increasing in difficulty as you progress. Yes, the single-player experience was still fun, but after playing the multiplayer band mode, it felt like something was missing the entire time. Essentially, I felt like I was practicing to get better for the World Tour mode. Still an enjoyable experience, however.
DESIGN
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Rock Band, in terms of its gameplay, doesn't stray too far from its Guitar Hero roots. Essentially, the gameplay all comes down to fulfilling actions with your respective instrument in sync with on-screen cues. Yet, the move from a typically single-player experience to a multiplayer-based experience has created a significant difference between the two series. Now, the series moves beyond the typical game-to-user interaction and adds in a social experience that is addicting and amazingly fun to participate in. This is exhibited in much of the gameplay, from having the Overdrive multiplier affect the entire band, to using Overdrive to save a fellow band member from failing.
Overall, the game is well-polished, from the core gameplay mechanic to the stylistic choices made in presentation. The song selection offers enough diversity to offer something that most players can relate to, yet the selection is still quite cohesive as a top song list from rock history. The graphical presentation of the game adds to the classic nostalgic rock feel, choosing not to go with sharp graphics that convey a more metal feel, but with a softer general rock feel that looks like an old filmstrip. Finally, the ability to customize your band's members, as well as see those customizations applied to elements both inside and outside gameplay, help convey the sense that, ultimately, this is your band, not some computer-generated creation that has been given to you.
Collectively, all of these design choices create a cohesive, enjoyable experience that is a delight to be a part of. The item that Rock Band excels at that many games fail to include is the idea of collaborative multiplayer. Seeing a game based around this mechanic creates a fresh experience that the masses can enjoy, rather than watch.
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