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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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most recent entry: Wednesday 20 February, 2008
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Gamelog #2:
Entry 2
GAMEPLAY:
This second session although I still played mostly SMW, I also played Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3 (in 2 player battle mode). The fact that this cartridge has varios Super Mario games contributes to extended play because the player can switch to different games depending on his or her preference.
Again, there isn’t much narrative in most of these games. The format is the same, get through a level, reach the boss, fight the boss, go on to the next level. In almost all the games, the goal is to reach Bowser (final boss) and save the world, Peach, or other friends. Obviously the reason I kept playing was because the puzzles are enough to keep me satisfied, the story isn’t too much of a factor.
What I liked most about SMW is that the worlds aren’t as linear as Super Mario and Super Mario the Lost Levels. In SMW there are various short cuts and hidden doors and bonus goods that you can collect (not just coins). Also, sometimes the worlds have more than one exit. I also liked that sometimes after getting through one level you were left a simple small Mario but you could always return to other levels and regain you Super or Fire status or pick up a Yoshi.
In Super Mario Bros. 2 I remembered more of the secret “warp†holes and I really enjoyed skipping certain worlds to get to my favorite (the ice world). Unfortunately this allowed me to advance maybe too quickly and I became stuck because I got to more complicated parts in the game without much experience and therefore had a hard time passing some levels (the desert world).
GAME DESIGN:
In SMW and Super Mario Bros. 3, the grafics and the worlds seemed much more developed and colorful. One of the things that characterize Super Mario is the cartoony animation and vivid colors, and the absurdly endearing koopas and other villains. The musical score is also a very important factor in the aesthetic design for these games. The Super Mario tunes are infamous and are very upbeat and very encouraging to the player’s ears.
One thing I noticed is that Super Mario and all its versions are meant to be played with no interruptions. You have a counter and in the older Marios there’s a scrolling screen to keep you moving. If you don’t finish before time is up, you die. If you don’t move and the screen scrolls, you can be squashed by the edge of the screen and a wall or rock.
Also in each of the games as you advance into a new world, all the levels within the world have a similar theme (or a complimenting factor). Also as you advance into a new world some new features (like the Super feather in World 2 in SMW) are offered and sometimes they can be a handy tool to get through the rest of the world or worlds there after. Also with each new level, the puzzles become a little more complex.
For example in SMW, almost all the worlds have 1 ghost house level. The ghost house levels are all very similar in that they have the same music and are the worlds with darker colors and elements that add to the creepy and eerie level design. They are also different from the other levels in that the way out of these Haunted Houses isn’t as linear as the rest of the levels in the game.
The puzzles in the houses are sometimes a lot trickier and there is often trick doors that lead you back in the level rather than forward. Sometimes you have to move backwards and find certain objects and do certain things to unlock the doors. The exits aren’t obvious and the clues to get out of these levels are often times more subtle. These levels also tend to be slower than with the other ones.
This is also true of the Boss Castle levels, which are characterized by stone brick walls, a lava component and sometimes a “climb up†rather than “move right†gameplay aspect.
I really liked that the games also tended to provide the player with the tools they would need at various parts throughout a level. For example there are various Mushrooms and Question boxes that can contain feathers and Fire Flowers in case you got hurt by a tricky or unseen opponent. Even in levels in which Yoshi are especially useful will offer you a Yoshi egg at least once within the level. I also kind of liked that the levels wouldn’t change. After going through the earlier levels various times (to collect fire flowers or Yoshis) you can actually memorize the pattern and number of opponents coming. So in other words, you already new what is coming so you can actually begin to do speed runs, or explore and find hidden or bonus “vines†or “tunnels†that take you to maybe a new exit or “coins-galoreâ€.
With that said, there was a feature in SMW that sometimes was useful and other times annoying. That was the mid way marker, which were two poles with a blue bar connecting them. If you were a small Mario and you went through the Bar you saved the game at the midway point and because a large Mario. What this did is that every time you would go to a level which has been saved at half way, from that point you’d start the level. This could be a good thing so you don’t have to restart each level from the beginning. However, I found that sometimes the reason’s I’d go back to a level was to collect objects that were offered at the beginning of a level. So when I returned to a “saved†level I would have to move back to the starting point and then retrace my steps back and continue to the exit (which can be a huge waste of time and be annoying).
Super Mario is also characterized by the massive reward structure. There are coins everywhere and every enemy you stomp on gives you points. Also the end of the game offers you points depending on how “high†you cross the finish line. Collecting 1 hundred coins, or five dragon coins get you an extra life. Getting 100 finish line point sends you to a bonus round where you hit boxes and try to match up pictures on a 3 by 3 square formation. Depending on how many tic tac toe style match ups you get, that many 1 ups are offered. Although there are all these rewards they are all the same extra life reward. After a while I did wish for something else. Often times I got tired or needed a break from the game and I’d still have 10+ lives accumulated.
I think SMW and most of the Super Mario games in the cartridge have the same weakness and strength: the simplicity. The goals, the artwork, and even the gameplay concept is pretty simple. Unfortunately this can make the game drag. I do get bored of sitting and playing for two hours straight. However, its simplicity is what makes it classic and also make it have replay value. I can’t sit for more than two hours playing it without getting tired or moving on to maybe one of the other games but I have no problem returning to it the next day or the day after. SMW is best served in small dosages each day. Not so much a very long game play session in one day.
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