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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,
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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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: Saturday 12 January, 2008
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SUMMARY
Released over 2 years ago, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a point and click adventure that follows the career of Phoenix Wright, an aspiring lawyer and the main character that the player controls. Players present evidence and disprove false testimonies to prove that their defendant innocent.
GAMEPLAY
I admit that I am a fan of the point and click adventure – a genre that has only found a niche market in America. Yes, the genre is called “point and click†and with good reason: interaction with the characters of Ace Attorney, is mostly comprised of using the stylus to “click†choices. Ace Attorney stays very close to the norm of the genre in this aspect – an aspect that has always kept this genre dull and repetitive.
But if the interaction between the character and the player is so uninteresting, why is it that I continue playing point and click adventures? Storyline. This is one part of Ace Attorney that clearly divides itself from other games of the same genre. I often play point and click games where I must find the murderer using clues that I gather. In Ace Attorney, I am clearly shown the murderer before the trial. It is certainly different from say, Famicom Detective Club: Part II, where one must find both the murderer and the murderer’s rationale for committing the crime. Once the intro is finished, I hope that I will no longer know the murderer beforehand.
Instead of revealing the murderer, the goal of Ace Attorney is to prove that your client is innocent through questions and evidence, ultimately reconstructing the event in question before the courtroom and the player. While Ace Attorney does contain a level of uncertainty in understanding the murder’s rationale, it also shows the murderer before the case begins and therefore, lacks a feeling of reward at the end of the case. This new form of presenting the story has left me disinterested.
Regardless of this fact, there is no denial that this is a novel take on a genre that is on life support. While I am not a fan of the game, it is certainly worth considering.
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A Second Look:
I now realize that one element of most point and click adventures that I missed from Ace Attorney was the investigative element. While the trainer did not contain this element, it is refreshing to see this element reappear in all other chapters. Once again, I happily find myself snooping around and interrogating characters. As Phoenix Wright is trying to gather clues about the event to better understand the case, so am I. It makes me feel better connected with my “token†in this game and better connected with the game as a whole.
One of my biggest initial gripes with Ace Attorney was that it made no use of the DS in advancing the point and click genre’s game play. After playing this game a little more, I realize that I was wrong and I have come to appreciate this game’s use of the DS. I admit that yelling “Take that!†or “Objection!†into the DS’s microphone has become a guilty pleasure and one that adds to the game’s overall charm. Furthermore, the touch screen makes answering questions easier while making room examinations more intuitive. It is refreshing to see DS unique functionality used in point and click game.
DESIGN
Nonetheless, Ace Attorney’s continual presentation of the murderer before the trial is certainly a let down. While Phoenix is gathering clues to find the murderer, the player already knows who it is. At one point, Phoenix accepts a case because he feels that the defendant has no one else to turn to. However, the player will believe that Phoenix should accept the case because the defendant was not the murderer as illustrated by the opening scene – something that Phoenix could not have seen. Because there is no way that I could communicate this to Phoenix, there is ultimately a difference in my knowledge of the case and Phoenix’s. It separates me from my token and therefore, I feel more frustrated then emotive in playing as Phoenix Wright.
Looking at the game as a whole, I can safely say that the writing is top notch. It not only contains pop culture references, its characters are so outlandish that it becoming both charming and engrossing to read what each person has to say. With a character who’s last name is Butz, a bumbling detective known only by his last name, Gumshoe, and a girl who is literally named April May, these characters will keep the story interesting. Furthermore, their animations exaggerate their emotions so much that it is a charm to watch them move. One character’s wig flies directly up when he is shocked and when he was charged with the murder, the throws his wig and exclaims “Shutupshutupshutup! I hate you!â€. These animations only highlight the personalities of each character and of the game as a whole.
While I did not enjoy this game as much as I had hoped, I recommend that people interested in this genre seriously look into this game. Ace Attorney offers a charm that is lacking in many games and the game puts a unique twist to traditional point and click games' storylines.
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