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« on: December 28, 2017, 08:22:05 pm »
Games Finished / Beaten
Luigi's Mansion - One of my favourite Super Mario Spin-offs, the drastically direct style and theme across Nintendo games as a whole makes this interesting enough to try out, I've played and beaten this game on an annual basis. While I usually notice more blemishes each time, the amazing game feel and intuitive control scheme make it a perfectly enjoyable (albeit quite short) romp.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (Hard Core Mode (NS) - The transforming returns after being notably absent from 'Pirate's Curse'. I prefer these hand drawn characters over the previous pixel sprites, characters details aren't crushed anymore. The controls are responsive, though there's a bias towards the monkey, the other transformations don't have nearly as much versatility. When playing on Hard Core mode, (I have beaten it before so yes, I did enjoy this game) there's quite a difficulty spike because you start the game with very little health and half of the enemies will be able to one-shot you. Checkpointing is far more frequent than in Pirate's Curse and exiting level and returning to levels is hassle free, once you get your hands on some key abilities. One of the criticisms I've heard for this game is the absence of a level map, which I didn't need myself.
Pikmin 2 (GC) - While leveraging the very feeling of dread from it predecessors due to the lack of a day limit, the improved Pikmin AI, more prevalent Pikmin strengths and weaknesses as well as incentive to protect certain Pikmin types makes tactical approach just as important as it was during our first visit to PNF-404. Surrounding monsters are more bizarre and intimidating than before.
Professor Layton and Pandora's Box
Super Mario Odyssey - What a delightful Mario game to have on the equally delightful platform. Nintendo once again proving that 3D platformers can be tightly crafted and polished experiences. All of these transformations presenting you with bizarre and elaborate platforming set-ups. It steps away from Galaxy (lots of smaller levels with stars to collect & recycling themes occasionally, more often in Galaxy 2) but instead looking back to Super Mario 64 (Larger worlds with a variety of tasks and areas to explore).
Spyro: Year of the Dragon - This is the Spyro game I played as a kid, so it set the bar once I had the chance to play the prior 2 games, I believe this is the superior game. The worlds are far more varied in its visual & audio styling, Spyro's platforming feels a bit more tight and rewarding. The boss battles got some well needed attention, more consistent, better designed & music tracks for an actual fight.
Rayman Legends (PS4) - Previously finished this on Wii U. One of the most entertaining games I've played without a single line of dialogue, no extensive story because who cares. The platforming feels like a natural evolution of Rayman 2. Plenty of levels, remixed levels (Invasion), the music levels are really fun, costumes and recolours for characters and the Back to Origins levels really help build up the value for money (Not a shred of DLC, everyone gets everything!). Strangely enough I think the Wii U version was a little bit more enjoyable, because the Murfy levels were reduced down to just a button press on PS4.
Beyond: Two Souls [PS4] - Free through PS Plus so not much investment in this one, I am not a fan of these cinematic experiences and it has more action sequences than I remember in Heavy Rain, instead it just makes me realise how bad all this 'realism' makes the game feel, always got to have the awkward nude scenes. I like the idea of a spirit of some kind anchored to a human through there life. I don't like it jumped all over Jodie lifetime. I'll finish this before I unistall this, could do with the extra disc space anyway.
Final Fantasy XV (PS4) - First FF game I've finished and yeah I know it's still action oriented at its core, I still believe it's justified since it does it well and it's not pretending to be more traditional than it is. The story gets a bit hazy at times, but it didn't leave me as hopelessly alone as FF XIII did with the beginning moments of the game. The party characters are likable, and at least they're not the ones rattling off all this backstory nonsense. The whole adventure being framed as a long road trip was also a cool idea.
Ratchet & Clank (PS2) - Now despite being a little rough around the edges as an action game, it's still an enjoyable run, the weapons design in the first installment are much more grounded but you can see the budding of some of Insomniac's more wacky inventions. Because weapons don't level up and increase in power or versatility, that means that all the weapons can be potent from the moment you acquire them till the very end. I love the premise of Ratchet & Clank, it's concise enough that it's straightforward for a younger audience, but has the undertones and commentary of a idolized superhero becomes a corrupt businessman while a new hero duo is invented, keeping an older audience engaged with the story.
Megaman X (Legacy Collection (NS) - I did fall back on a couple walkthroughs, but nothing that spoiled the challenge for me at least. I love how a good handful of the bosses will still pose a threat even when you use the weaknesses. It's a really good feeling when you take each one down because X feels more agile than his original incarnation, but boss attack patterns have been adjusted accordingly. The moment I landed that final hit on Sigma I got that excited rush that I would get when I beat any game as a child, because I finally conquered the game after several hours, I hadn't felt that in a while but I'm thankful Megaman X1 delivered. Bring on X2!!
Picross S -
Kemono Friends Picross -
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