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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)
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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 1 February, 2017
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SPADES
--THE RULES--
**The Cards**
Spades is a card game meant for an even amount of four to eight players competing in teams of two. Players do not know what cards their teammate has, however. The game is played with standard playing cards without Jokers. Cards are shuffled and distributed throughout players until all the cards are given out. How many players in the game will determine how many cards each player gets. Each card has a different value, with Ace of Spades having the greatest value and two of Clubs having the least. Spades have a higher value than any other suit, and Clubs have the lowest.
**The Setup**
The game is played in rounds where each player receives multiple turns within a round. At the beginning of a round, each team has to bet or "predict" how many sets they will receive throughout the game. This is usually determined by how many face cards and Aces a player has in their hand. The goal of the game is to place down a card with a higher value than the cards the other players have already played. If the card in play is higher, that player gathers all the cards, and this is considered a set which equates to a point for a team. That player then places down the first card for the next set of turns.
**The Game**
Players start by laying down their lowest Club at the beginning of a round, once everyone has bet on how many sets they will win. Whoever places the card with the highest value takes the set and starts the next turn. They, then, lay down a card of any suit they want for their turn. Players then have to place down a card that matches the suit of the first card, trying to eliminate their less valued cards while also trying to win the appropriate amount of predicted sets with their more valued cards. If a player does not have a card in their hand that matches the suit of the first card played during a turn, they have the choice of either choosing a Spade, which will automatically win the set unless someone plays a higher Spade, or a card of another suit, which will automatically lose the player that set. However, a Spade cannot be placed as the first card in a turn until one is played during another turn. The round ends when all players run out of cards.
The team with the most sets wins the round; however, if a team bets too little or too much, their score can be affected and earn them less points. It is easier to under bid than the over bid.
--THE GAMEPLAY--
**Round 1**
Round 1 was played with four players. At the beginning, my team bet eight sets. My cards included the Ace of Spades (highest valued card), Queen of Clubs, Ace of Clubs, and Queen of Hearts which led me to predict I could win four sets. The other team bet six.
My team did terribly during this round. I messed up when it came to remembering which player put down what card. This allows for better decision making when it comes down to picking which card to place. Many cards were thrown away when I could have saved them for another turn in order to win a set. In the end, my team over bet on how many sets we would take, winning only seven out of the eight we predicted. We ended round 1 with -80 points (boo!). The other team had 60.
**Round 2**
Once again, Round 2 was played with four players. My team predicted six sets, and the other team predicted seven. My hand was not very good. I only had two face cards which were the King and Queen of Hearts.I predicted I would win two sets. However, it also did not help that the first card placed after the Clubs was the Ace of Hearts which would ultimately take one of my two only really high valued cards.
In the end, my team did better than the first round. I was able to win three sets when I only predicted two. My team won seven out of the six predicted. The other team, however, did the opposite and only won six out of the seven they predicted. Our final score for Round 2 was -19 to -10 with my team being the losing team.
**Round 3 (I know we only had to play twice, but I'm competitive!)**
Round 3 was also played with four players. My team predicted to win seven sets. The other team predicted six. I predicted to win three sets since my hand included the Queen and King of Clubs and the King of Hearts. Once again, my hand was not the best. I only had the five and eight of Spades which were not very high cards, so I could not really afford to play a Spade.
Although I tried another round, the other team was still victorious over my team. I was only able to get one out of the three sets I predicted, making my team only have five sets out of the seven we predicted. The other team won eight sets when they predicted six. The final score was -89 to 52.
--OVERALL ANALYSIS--
Even though my team did not win, Spades is still a really fun and quick game that combines both luck and strategy. It is important to pay attention to other player's cards and when they were played. However, the hand you are dealt can also benefit your team if you make careless mistakes (like I did in Round 1. Oops). Spades requires some thought, but the rules are pretty simple and easy to grasp once the game is played a few times. We all had a really fun time.
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