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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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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: Monday 31 July, 2023
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I got this because my Dad loves trains and I thought it would be neat for him to see a train simulation game - though I had no idea what they're about outside of the generic "you drive trains". He's visiting so I installed it (that took forever) and then I downloaded the update (which also took forever) and I took it for a spin - me playing and he watching...
Things started off pretty well - the game hops into a few tutorials so you get a feel of what's going on (you walk around, control the camera), understand what some of the UI means (when you're driving the train), and also walks through the basics for getting the engine started. There are different engines, each with their own way of operation (I hesitated to type UI - because here I mean the actual levels and switches inside the cab of the engine, which is technically UI but not videogame UI). And off you go!
So, I did all these tutorials and then hopped into the first "campaign" mission (Sand Patch Grade). And here things started to go wrong...
This first mission has you hooking up to some cards in a siding and then you have to bring them back to a specific location. So, I start doing all the stuff to get the engine ready...and it takes me a while because I forget to turn on the generator field or I forget to put it forward, etc. Eventually I remember what I had to do and turn the throttle to "1" (lowest setting) and nothing...the amps go up, the mph stay flat. Weird. I eventually get the train moving at 6 throttle or so (way higher than I ever did on the tutorial - where the train moved super smoothly on 1 or 2)...and I'm moving along and...what? there's another train coming my way.
Huh. That's weird. The game sort of gets stuck, so I restart. I figure I should have gone down a siding...and wouldn't it have been nice to know that?
2nd attempt:
Ok, this time I get the engine moving quicker, starting rolling along (going slow because you lose points if you go above a certain speed - which is low 15mph). I stop before a switch, switch manually, get back in...and I'm moving along and...the other train comes along and it's on the other track. No problem! All this time I'm also wondering where the heck the cars are that I'm supposed to pick up - the "UI marker" seems off to the side and pretty far away too... So I keep on going until, after 10 mins or so...I see the cars and they're on a different siding, like 10 tracks away..to my right. WHAT? How am I supposed to get there? Geezz.. Maybe I have to go past, and then switch and come back?
I realize there's a map in the settings and you can zoom in and see all the tracks and the sidings and switches and stuff.. and I'm thinking this is stupid, how am I supposed to know where to go...so I reset.
3rd attempt:
This time I start the engine up, get moving and I'm looking at the map and I realize the route I'm supposed to follow is sort of marked - the tracks have a greenish hue...and I follow them along and see that it leads to the cars. Neat! I now realize I should not have gone down the wrong siding...but, according to the map, all the switches are set to the correct positions! I should just be able to go straight until I get to the cars! So, I do...first few switches are correct...and then there's one that isn't. I stop, hit reverse, go back, change the switch, now go forward, etc. This is taking time and supposedly this was a 15 min mission! I'm like 20 mins in and this is getting a bit tiring... I trundle along, trying to keep close to the speed limit, eventually get to the cars, hook up and I'm good to go!
I also realize that the map has the option for you to toggle the switches from the map - but despite the UI saying "press X" nothing happens as far as I can tell...
Now, the train actually has two locomotives, back to back, so rather than hit reverse I think it would be cool to swap into the other one and go forward instead! So I do, and it doesn't work, and I don't know why - and it's getting annoying and tiresome.. I go back into the original, try from there, and now that one doesn't work! I leave everything in neutral, change locos again, and now it works!
Sigh. So, I'm heading back to where I should go, the switches are fine, until there is one that isn't. Ugh. Same operation, and this time - as I'm heading down the correct track I get a message saying I violated some thing or another (like passed a red light or something) and it's game over.
Here's where I mentally flipped the table and say "screw this, I'm done".
What do I think happened?
The simulation seems finicky in that sometimes things work and sometimes they don't - but I never know WHY. So, the tutorial left me ill-prepared in that sense. But, most of all I think the the mission settings were messed up - like, why not have all the switches be correct? Why can't the game warn me when I've made a mistake? It all seemed way more effort than I was willing to put in, and thought I could save along the way I still had that feeling that I might just be digging myself into a hole if I saved past the point where I screwed up, for instance.
Also, I was annoyed that the game wanted me to register for some account with the company ( no thanks!) and that it was splashing ads in the loading screens for Train Sim 3! Also, no thanks!
I quick search did turn up other people complaining about similar things (locos not starting, missions not progressing) so I 've decided to cut my losses as it where. This is the sort of game that REALLY benefits from a solid manual, which it did not include (printed) though I've found pdfs for each of the locomotives and, they're not simple (which is fine, it's a sim after all), but the false sense of understanding I got from the tutorial was the problem.
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