Saturday 21 May 2016
Press 'X' to Play: Overwatch Public Beta
So, I finally got around to editing this because I was able to justify it to myself as being work for Multimedia. This will probably be the last bit of content until ~18/06, when Exams have properly finished.
Thursday 19 May 2016
Press 'X' to Deal With Exams
So, there was something I promised myself when I started this blog: that I wouldn't prioritise this blog over schoolwork, and that I wouldn't hesitate to suspend posting for a few weeks if school got hectic. I've been walking the line with that for the past two months, and now I'm entering exam season. This blog will continue to get regular updates once exams finish in 3-4 weeks, and they'll probably be able to be about bigger games due to the fact that it'll be the holidays, but for now this is goodbye. See you on the other side, Ray.
-Harry
-Harry
Sunday 15 May 2016
Press 'X' to Rant: The Nerf Hammer
A.N. I've been asked to put in a short glossary for (and I quote) "Those reading from the outside looking in." So, for those wondering:
A "Nerf" is a patch in a game that makes a weapon or ability less powerful, usually because of player data indicating that it's being over-used or becomes incredibly obnoxious to deal with.
A "Buff" in this context is pretty much the opposite of a nerf: a patch that makes something more powerful because it's under-used or useless in all but a handful of rare situations. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
So, I'd like to start off by apologising for the lack of a review this week; I had a math test on Friday, and revision for that seems to have made up a decent portion of my time recently. I did manage to play the Overwatch Beta last weekend, but I decided against reviewing that for two reasons. The first is that I intend to do a review on the full game once I can actually get my hands on a copy, and the second is that it was in beta and as a result, not entirely finished. At least, I hope it isn't entirely finished yet, because there are still a few characters that definitely need a whole bunch of balancing.
This is actually a topic I've been meaning to talk about for a while, but let's start by focusing on Overwatch (or more specifically, the character Bastion). Bastion's main "thing" is that he can walk around normally and do reasonable damage, but he can then turn into a freaking minigun-turret. It's absolute BS. Everyone playing knows it's BS. Even the people playing as Bastion know it's BS, as they do to the enemy team what power tools have been known to do to swans (and in around the same time frame, too). I once played against a team of five of the buggers, and I nearly left on the spot.
A "Nerf" is a patch in a game that makes a weapon or ability less powerful, usually because of player data indicating that it's being over-used or becomes incredibly obnoxious to deal with.
A "Buff" in this context is pretty much the opposite of a nerf: a patch that makes something more powerful because it's under-used or useless in all but a handful of rare situations. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
So, I'd like to start off by apologising for the lack of a review this week; I had a math test on Friday, and revision for that seems to have made up a decent portion of my time recently. I did manage to play the Overwatch Beta last weekend, but I decided against reviewing that for two reasons. The first is that I intend to do a review on the full game once I can actually get my hands on a copy, and the second is that it was in beta and as a result, not entirely finished. At least, I hope it isn't entirely finished yet, because there are still a few characters that definitely need a whole bunch of balancing.
This is actually a topic I've been meaning to talk about for a while, but let's start by focusing on Overwatch (or more specifically, the character Bastion). Bastion's main "thing" is that he can walk around normally and do reasonable damage, but he can then turn into a freaking minigun-turret. It's absolute BS. Everyone playing knows it's BS. Even the people playing as Bastion know it's BS, as they do to the enemy team what power tools have been known to do to swans (and in around the same time frame, too). I once played against a team of five of the buggers, and I nearly left on the spot.
Saturday 7 May 2016
Press 'X' to Review: Out There Somewhere
Out There Somewhere
Platform: PC/Steam,
Developer: MiniBoss, EQ Games
Premise: After crashing on an unknown planet, you must find a way to get your ship working again to continue your pursuit of Grigori, who's...bad...I guess.
Release Date: 14/03/2016
Out There Somewhere is a Metroid/Vania retro-stylised platformer. On paper, it sounds like it would be a good game: taking inspiration from Cave Story (A Good Game), Super Metroid (A Good Game) and Portal (A Really Good Game). In practice it's still good, but a lot of the mechanics aren't quite as polished as they could be if it weren't a pile of mechanics from vastly different games Frankenstein-ed together. It's also a bit short, but I find myself constantly falling back on the argument of "what can you expect for $1.99?" in these reviews.
Let's talk about the tutorial. One of the core mechanics is that once you shoot the teleporter gun, it has travel time, meaning that if you jump just before it hits a wall you can get additional height out of it. However, the first time it's brought up you aren't given any indication as to how you're supposed to go about doing this, or even that it's what you're supposed to do. On another occasion, you're put in an alien village and told that the way forward is a tunnel under one of the houses. However, you cannot enter any of the houses except one which look exactly like the rest except it doesn't have a hit-box. I only found the way forward by accidentally falling into the hole while walking past the house that had the tunnel under it. I get that a game claiming to be Metroid/Vania without central exploration elements is like a cake without icing but it would be nice if I was given any indication as to how I'm supposed to use the central exploration elements.
Platform: PC/Steam,
Developer: MiniBoss, EQ Games
Premise: After crashing on an unknown planet, you must find a way to get your ship working again to continue your pursuit of Grigori, who's...bad...I guess.
Release Date: 14/03/2016
Out There Somewhere is a Metroid/Vania retro-stylised platformer. On paper, it sounds like it would be a good game: taking inspiration from Cave Story (A Good Game), Super Metroid (A Good Game) and Portal (A Really Good Game). In practice it's still good, but a lot of the mechanics aren't quite as polished as they could be if it weren't a pile of mechanics from vastly different games Frankenstein-ed together. It's also a bit short, but I find myself constantly falling back on the argument of "what can you expect for $1.99?" in these reviews.
Let's talk about the tutorial. One of the core mechanics is that once you shoot the teleporter gun, it has travel time, meaning that if you jump just before it hits a wall you can get additional height out of it. However, the first time it's brought up you aren't given any indication as to how you're supposed to go about doing this, or even that it's what you're supposed to do. On another occasion, you're put in an alien village and told that the way forward is a tunnel under one of the houses. However, you cannot enter any of the houses except one which look exactly like the rest except it doesn't have a hit-box. I only found the way forward by accidentally falling into the hole while walking past the house that had the tunnel under it. I get that a game claiming to be Metroid/Vania without central exploration elements is like a cake without icing but it would be nice if I was given any indication as to how I'm supposed to use the central exploration elements.
Friday 6 May 2016
Press 'X' to Shamelessly Self-Plug
This post is going to cover a few topics, not the least of which may have been given away in the title. The first is that I have another blog on here for a web-book/novel thing, An Ace Up My Sleeve. For any of you who are reading this blog because of the writing style as opposed to solely for the witty (or so I'd like to think) video game commentary, you can find that HERE. The first chapter will drop at some point over the weekend, probably today or early tomorrow.
UPDATE (08/05/16): The first chapter dropped at ~5:30 last night, and can be found HERE.
For those who are just here for the (arguably) witty video game commentary but skipped over my Author's Notes in the last two posts, at some point over the next week I'm planning to release some Let's Plays/Highlight videos based on my experience in the Overwatch Public Beta. So, for those of you who are interested in seeing me be kinda-maybe witty in a format where you can actually hear the inflections, I'll be posting them on this blog as well as on my YouTube Channel HERE.
UPDATE (08/05/16): The first chapter dropped at ~5:30 last night, and can be found HERE.
For those who are just here for the (arguably) witty video game commentary but skipped over my Author's Notes in the last two posts, at some point over the next week I'm planning to release some Let's Plays/Highlight videos based on my experience in the Overwatch Public Beta. So, for those of you who are interested in seeing me be kinda-maybe witty in a format where you can actually hear the inflections, I'll be posting them on this blog as well as on my YouTube Channel HERE.
Press 'X' to Review: Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley
Platform: PC/Steam
Developer: Concerned Ape
Premise: After acquiring your grandfather's old farm in Stardew Valley, you are handed a large plot filled with weeds and told that if you have any intention of doing anything with the actual farm, you should probably make sure there isn't a patch of weeds here tomorrow.
Release Date: 27/02/2016
A.N. For those who didn't read the last post, I'll get you up to speed: last week's post disappeared into the ether due to the fact that I was in Tasmania on camp, so this is the second part of a double-update to make up for it. In addition, the Overwatch Public Beta dropped recently, so expect some Let's Play/Highlights type content coming from me on that in the near future. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Stardew Valley is a farming sim that basically plays as a slightly more advanced version of Farmville, except without having to pay micro-transactions or deal with actual people. There are a lot of things I don't like about Stardew Valley. The movement speed feels a bit too slow even while sprinting, the in-game time goes by way too fast to get much substantial work done in a day, NPC shopkeepers occasionally get the urge to go out and see the world (during which time you cannot buy or sell things to them, which wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that the shops are only open for certain time windows), and your characters energy wears down a lot faster than it should, and doesn't regenerate.
All that being said, it's got to be doing something right because in the four days after getting it I somehow managed to rack up 12 sodding hours of playtime. For all the little things that start to rub me up the wrong way like a pair of bathers filled with sand, there's still something terribly relaxing about falling into your little routine, watering crops and occasionally delivering specific items to NPCs to complete little fetch-quests.
Platform: PC/Steam
Developer: Concerned Ape
Premise: After acquiring your grandfather's old farm in Stardew Valley, you are handed a large plot filled with weeds and told that if you have any intention of doing anything with the actual farm, you should probably make sure there isn't a patch of weeds here tomorrow.
Release Date: 27/02/2016
A.N. For those who didn't read the last post, I'll get you up to speed: last week's post disappeared into the ether due to the fact that I was in Tasmania on camp, so this is the second part of a double-update to make up for it. In addition, the Overwatch Public Beta dropped recently, so expect some Let's Play/Highlights type content coming from me on that in the near future. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Stardew Valley is a farming sim that basically plays as a slightly more advanced version of Farmville, except without having to pay micro-transactions or deal with actual people. There are a lot of things I don't like about Stardew Valley. The movement speed feels a bit too slow even while sprinting, the in-game time goes by way too fast to get much substantial work done in a day, NPC shopkeepers occasionally get the urge to go out and see the world (during which time you cannot buy or sell things to them, which wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that the shops are only open for certain time windows), and your characters energy wears down a lot faster than it should, and doesn't regenerate.
All that being said, it's got to be doing something right because in the four days after getting it I somehow managed to rack up 12 sodding hours of playtime. For all the little things that start to rub me up the wrong way like a pair of bathers filled with sand, there's still something terribly relaxing about falling into your little routine, watering crops and occasionally delivering specific items to NPCs to complete little fetch-quests.
Press 'X' to Review: Destiny (April Update)
Destiny
Platform: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4
Developer: Bungie
Premise: Step 1: Shoot stuff until it dies. Step 2: Collect the new pants that the thing you just shot dropped. Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you reach the max level.
Release Date: 09/09/2014
A.N. Before we start, I'd like to start off with a quick bit of housekeeping stuff: Last week's post didn't happen because I was on an Outdoor Ed camp around Tasmania, a place that isn't really known for having stellar internet. Or, given that teachers are a bit iffy about phones on camp, any internet at all. However, this week will be a double-update to make up for the slack, and the second post will be put up a few minutes after this one. One last thing before I go: The Overwatch Public Beta has just dropped, so if you're interested in that kind of thing then you can expect to see some Let's Play/Highlights type stuff coming from me about that. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
With the April update having dropped just a few short weeks ago, and the promise of the other two DLC packs and Destiny 2 on the horizon forming a silhouette against a darkening sky in the shape of the words "Shop at Eververse Trading!", I realised that I never actually got around to reviewing Destiny. This is probably because this blog was but a wishful twinkle in my eye at the time that it actually got released. I decided that I should remedy this given that I quite like Destiny, for all the flack I give it. The shooting mechanics feel tight, the PvP is quite fun (balancing is admittedly an issue but it's at least one that Bungie regularly make an effort to fix), the PvE is...well, for the most part it's just happy to be here. But that's the base game, which hopefully I won't have to go into to much detail about because I've got enough to talk about with just the stuff that they changed in the update.
Let's start with the story mission. I like that they're adding in more story-based stuff for the events/updates funded with the money they make off of Eververse, but it would be nice to know that it was a "supposed-to-lose" fight, so that I didn't spend half an hour dying from all the ads out of a need to do more boss damage, where you're supposed to just wait until he makes his getaway so that you can face him in the Grasp of Malok Strike. The strike's alright, although the constant Shadow Touch-ing started to get uncomfortable after a while, in more ways than one.
Platform: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4
Developer: Bungie
Premise: Step 1: Shoot stuff until it dies. Step 2: Collect the new pants that the thing you just shot dropped. Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you reach the max level.
Release Date: 09/09/2014
A.N. Before we start, I'd like to start off with a quick bit of housekeeping stuff: Last week's post didn't happen because I was on an Outdoor Ed camp around Tasmania, a place that isn't really known for having stellar internet. Or, given that teachers are a bit iffy about phones on camp, any internet at all. However, this week will be a double-update to make up for the slack, and the second post will be put up a few minutes after this one. One last thing before I go: The Overwatch Public Beta has just dropped, so if you're interested in that kind of thing then you can expect to see some Let's Play/Highlights type stuff coming from me about that. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
With the April update having dropped just a few short weeks ago, and the promise of the other two DLC packs and Destiny 2 on the horizon forming a silhouette against a darkening sky in the shape of the words "Shop at Eververse Trading!", I realised that I never actually got around to reviewing Destiny. This is probably because this blog was but a wishful twinkle in my eye at the time that it actually got released. I decided that I should remedy this given that I quite like Destiny, for all the flack I give it. The shooting mechanics feel tight, the PvP is quite fun (balancing is admittedly an issue but it's at least one that Bungie regularly make an effort to fix), the PvE is...well, for the most part it's just happy to be here. But that's the base game, which hopefully I won't have to go into to much detail about because I've got enough to talk about with just the stuff that they changed in the update.
Let's start with the story mission. I like that they're adding in more story-based stuff for the events/updates funded with the money they make off of Eververse, but it would be nice to know that it was a "supposed-to-lose" fight, so that I didn't spend half an hour dying from all the ads out of a need to do more boss damage, where you're supposed to just wait until he makes his getaway so that you can face him in the Grasp of Malok Strike. The strike's alright, although the constant Shadow Touch-ing started to get uncomfortable after a while, in more ways than one.
Press 'X' to Review: Saira
Saira
Platform: PC/Steam
Developer: Nicklas Nygren
Premise: After a teleportation accident causes the disappearance of the entire human race save for two people (counting yourself), you must put together another long-range teleporter to reach the only other human and figure out where everyone else went.
Release Date: 12/12/2009
It does occur to me that with the exception of The Forest, the only thing I've actually reviewed on this blog has been 2D puzzle platformers, optionally with Metroid/Vania elements. That being said, here's Saira, a 2D puzzle-platformer with Metroid/Vania elements that I'd like to say upfront that I quite liked. You play as the titular "Saira" after a teleportation accident leaves you the only human left in the universe, save for one other bloke who disappears in the intro sequence so that the rest of the game can be spent jumping between planets to find pieces to build another teleporter (because that worked so well last time) to try and find him.
The design aesthetic is quite good, although it does occasionally fall into the uncanny valley with photos occasionally side-by-side with drawn graphics. Each planet feels distinctly different from the others, while still keeping the undercurrent feeling of being totally alone throughout the game. Crumbling ruins of once-mighty colonies tower in the background as nature reclaims its territory on one planet, and another in the same system might be a garden world that humanity never made it to. Several planets also have gameplay mechanics unique to that planet; for example, there's a planet where your health constantly ticks down except for certain safe spots due to high toxicity, another does a lowered-gravity kind of thing, and another does a really interesting thing with electricity that I'll endeavor not to spoil.
Platform: PC/Steam
Developer: Nicklas Nygren
Premise: After a teleportation accident causes the disappearance of the entire human race save for two people (counting yourself), you must put together another long-range teleporter to reach the only other human and figure out where everyone else went.
Release Date: 12/12/2009
It does occur to me that with the exception of The Forest, the only thing I've actually reviewed on this blog has been 2D puzzle platformers, optionally with Metroid/Vania elements. That being said, here's Saira, a 2D puzzle-platformer with Metroid/Vania elements that I'd like to say upfront that I quite liked. You play as the titular "Saira" after a teleportation accident leaves you the only human left in the universe, save for one other bloke who disappears in the intro sequence so that the rest of the game can be spent jumping between planets to find pieces to build another teleporter (because that worked so well last time) to try and find him.
The design aesthetic is quite good, although it does occasionally fall into the uncanny valley with photos occasionally side-by-side with drawn graphics. Each planet feels distinctly different from the others, while still keeping the undercurrent feeling of being totally alone throughout the game. Crumbling ruins of once-mighty colonies tower in the background as nature reclaims its territory on one planet, and another in the same system might be a garden world that humanity never made it to. Several planets also have gameplay mechanics unique to that planet; for example, there's a planet where your health constantly ticks down except for certain safe spots due to high toxicity, another does a lowered-gravity kind of thing, and another does a really interesting thing with electricity that I'll endeavor not to spoil.
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