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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...
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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.
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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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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)
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2287 registered gamers and 3258 games. 7789 GameLogs with 13266 journal entries. 5110 games are currently being played.
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most recent entry: Wednesday 20 February, 2008
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GAMEPLAY (Session 2):
Playing through the game was really fun. It’s a 2D platformer with Mario as the leading character. The beginning world is pretty much an introduction to the rest of the game where you learn how to control Mario and is powers. I remember playing this game when I was younger and getting frustrated because my sister knew many tricks to get further in the game and I didn’t know what she did. But as I was getting older I found some hidden secrets and it’s the same today although I don’t remember exactly where they are. I really like that Nintendo added a lot of hidden surprises within this game because it lets the players choose whether or not to play through the whole game, level by level, or jump to the last level to see what happens at the end of the game. I must admit that I haven’t actually played through every single world. I always used an item to get me to the end, which I like because I wouldn’t like to play every level just to see the ending. I really enjoyed this game because of the oldschool feel to it. It reminds me of when I was younger, which is why I guess Nintendo put it on the Virtual Console.
Along with being a fun game to play, it was interesting to play as well. Going through the levels lets you see the different looks of each world. You could tell when you were going to play through a water level or you could see that you would be fighting a Hammer Bros. Some of the levels are not really challenging, but other can get you a bit frustrated if you don’t time your jump correctly, which happened to me a couple of times, but that’s part of the experience; trial and error. Just seeing what different powers Mario could get is really cool and wanting to get through a level just to see the outfits he wears is reason enough to play through a difficult world. And the music is really familiar and everyone likes to hear the familiar Mario tunes while playing the game.
DESIGN:
I thought that the level design in Super Mario Bros. 3 was really good. You have many different enemies placed in different places on each level (even though there is only one way to get through the level). The way the backgrounds look is really good for each world as it matches exactly what the world contains. Within each level you have different challenges to beat and sometimes they are really rewarding (for me it’s the water levels because I really don’t like those levels. It feels hard for me.), and some just are there to continue the game. The worlds are really colorful with bright colors and not many dark colors, although the last level is really dark because that’s where the final boss battle is going to take place. Many of the powers that Mario gets let him do things better depending on the world that he is in, like a frog suit to let him swim better. Very cool looking outfits for all of his powers and I can’t wait to play a new Mario game to see what new powers he will have.
So this game is a bit challenging if you haven’t played it in a long time. Many of the platform elements can be done pretty easily but there are some levels where you can get frustrated a lot. There are some levels where you have to continuously grab a Star so that you can run across deadly plants. If you don’t, you die. I found this in one of the worlds and it got me frustrated because I couldn’t get one Star that I needed to continue so I got stuck on a brick with nowhere to go. Much of the other levels in the game have you dodge every enemy (or kill them) just by jumping or running, but there are some enemies, like a giant fish, that can’t be killed unless you have a weapon power (like fireballs or hammers). You need to have good timing with jumping to get past some of the levels because if you don’t time it correctly, you’ll have to start it over and sometimes it is fun doing it over, but if you die over and over, it loses the fun so try to get it right in a few tries. Most of the game isn’t really difficult, but it is challenging, especially when you ride the battleship to get to the boss for that world.
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