The_Kopite Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 (edited) I forgot about the Doctor Who rankings! Better scroll back through and find them! Who is number 1 for the mighty Mr Clarke? *scrolls through previous pages* Seems there has been some timey wimey mischief! (I'm probably using this completely incorrectly, I'm not a Doctor Who fan but the wife is and I've heard this so screw it lol) Where's the list?! (Remember I'm not even a Doctor Who fan lol just think of the actual fans who were interested in this list!) Your paying audience demands answers!!!! Edited February 23, 2023 by The_Kopite 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insaneloki Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 On 26/01/2023 at 7:39 PM, rjkclarke said: Was it game of the year for 2022 in my opinion? As this is the only game I’ve played from 2022, I can’t actually compare it to anything else, but my gut feeling says that it probably isn’t, but it is a very enjoyable experience nevertheless. Well that sums it up here too. Didn't play too much of 2022 and its line up but stray was like a breath of fresh air. It allows you to just take a moment and I think I found it incredibly relaxing to put a few hours into. I wasn't onboard with the hype that surrounded it and I think I still feel the same but by no mean am I subtracting from the effort and enjoyableness ( not a word, I know) that Stray presented. As much as I know your feeling on anime tropes, may I suggest 13 Sentinels? I think it will surprise you and deep down i honestly believe you will enjoy it and I wanna see your opinion. Though ill say, you won't see the pay off till later. Love Reading the reviews dude, super enjoyable and you have some interesting view points. What's next? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted April 21, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 21, 2023 (edited) We Were Here... And Here's a Long Overdue Review! Platinum #364 We Were Here (PS4) The Curse of Castle Rock Obtained all We Were Here trophies A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 14 November 2022- 2.15.48AM Time Taken to Platinum : 3 hours, 26 minutes, 2 seconds Platinum Rarity - 42.76% Trophy Number - #17,312 It’s been a little while since I wrote one of these, so thankfully I’ve got something fairly simple in We Were Here, to be able to ease back in with. This is in no way a deliberate effort to write something shorter, it’s merely a side effect of the game itself being quite short. With that in mind, despite the game being fairly short, I do think it’s still very much worth your time, and if you can find a good co-op partner to play this game with, there’s an interesting and enjoyable time to be had by the both of you, but the why of that, is what I’m about to elaborate on. So without further ado, let’s get into this properly. Released all the way back in early 2017, We Were Here, was developed as a student project by Total Mayhem Games, and essentially takes the form of a co-operative puzzle game. Usually, I’d give a summary of the plot – but, in all honesty, and this really isn’t to the games detriment at all, I could probably sum it up in just a line or two. I know.... if you’ve read anything I’ve written before, thank goodness you’re probably thinking, he’s not going to ramble. Essentially, you can boil We Were Here down to this, you play as two Antarctic explorers, who get trapped in a Castle, between you, it’s your job to solve some puzzles, and find your way to the exit. That description seems like you’ll have a fairly limited experience on first impression, but it’s not, the game has a decent amount of variety and substance, considering what little there is of it to actually experience, and for a student game, it really is quite excellently crafted. From a gameplay perspective, it’s fairly simplistic, button-wise, you can move your character, and the camera, with another button assigned for interactions. Whilst it is possible to play this game solo, with a second account or controller, after my own personal co-operative experience with this game, I really do feel like that’s the way you’d enjoy the game the most, which I’ll get into in a little more detail, further into the review. In essence, you can boil the gameplay down to this; one character is required to actively solve the puzzles primarily, and the other player is required to relay instructions via walkie-talkie, on how to solve said puzzles. I played through the game doing both things, and each perspective did feel different enough to keep the game fresh. Visually the game is a little rough around the edges in places, that’s to be expected though from a game with clearly an incredibly limited budget. However, the design of the Castle itself, the areas in which you visit, and the overall design feel uniform and very much part of the same place, which is something that sometimes gets easily, and unfortunately lost in a game like this. When dealing with games set in just one predominant location, games so often fall into the trap of aspects of those locations feeling completely out of place, and that was never something that I personally experienced whilst playing We Were Here. Whilst I usually like to go into details on the sound, or sound design aspect of a game, I don’t feel like I can in too much detail, as the soundtrack is fairly limited, as are the sound effects themselves. Although, it must be said, that what there is of it – is both atmospheric, and interesting. These pieces usually end up ranging from both ambient, to tension building electronic music. If you’d like a comparison of sorts, the soundtrack feels very evocative of nineties era video game soundtracks, where one distinct musical piece usually permeates throughout one area, and can at times add some real character to it, whilst others end up feeling a bit repetitive and intrusive if you spend longer than you mean to on one specific puzzle. The area, in which We Were Here really shines however, is in its gameplay, and the coordination that comes alongside that. In this games case, due to the very nature of it, coordination is key, so this is a good one to play with a very good friend or a partner. I chose to play this with my girlfriend, and we ended up having a very enjoyable experience with it. In terms of the puzzles themselves, I don’t think there’s any aspect of the game that will really test you all too much. But despite the games limited nature – let’s not forget, this game can be finished easily in under an hour, yet despite this, the puzzles are rather varied, and usually offer something new each time. When I said coordination is key, I meant it – a perfect example of this, is that I hadn’t communicated that I didn’t actually know how to play Chess, and one puzzle in particular requires a very basic working knowledge of chess to solve. So down to my incompetency this took us a little longer – well, that and the fact the game didn’t make it clear which piece was the Queen, as you know, Queen’s don’t traditionally have facial hair, so that one threw us off more than a little bit too. At times in We Were Here – sometimes the real puzzle comes in the form of explaining something to your partner, in a way that they’ll understand. This was an aspect of the game that I particularly enjoyed, as it encourages not only good communication, but working out an almost shorthand between the two of you. My girlfriend and I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the symbols were designed deliberately for this kind of purpose. Perhaps our minds were in the gutter, perhaps they weren’t (let’s face it, they probably were haha) however, there’s certain puzzles in the game that require reading symbols in a book, to solve a puzzle and one of the symbols in particular looks, well, to be perfectly honest it looks phallic. So our short hand for that was often, “the one I’m looking at, looks like a thin, thick, big, or choad dick, with a line through it.” Yes, it was funny, no that’s not the only silly short hand things we found, the game is absolutely full of things like that, especially with one with paintings, where you can both see paintings, but you have to describe what you both see. She unfortunately had to try and translate what my brain, which has a tendency towards surreal imagery anyway, was trying to communicate, moments like these ended up often being very enjoyable and memorable. At the end of these I often find myself asking the question, would I recommend this? In this games case, I absolutely would, I’m more than a little interested to play the other entries in the series, and whilst this experience is a very short one, it’s one that I retain very fond memories of, so whether you play this with a friend, a partner, or yourself, there’s plenty of enjoyment to be found within, and as a nice little bonus none of the trophies are all too taxing either. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I thought it was about time I started actually catching up on reviews, especially as work has become a little lighter lately, so I've had a tiny bit more free time, so looks like I have a fair amount to catch up on, but nevertheless, some interesting games that I am pretty excited to share some of my thoughts on! This one is a nice one to revisit review wise, and it was an absolute blast to play this one with @Redblaziken8 , who to this day still won't let me forget that I just left her behind on our first playthrough of the game.... Oops Flipping Death is next,platinum review wise, on the catchup list, but I'm tempted to detour into reviewing Uncanny Valley, as Coffee Talk, reminded me that Uncanny Valley sort of feels like an inferior Lone Survivor, so I might hop into that one soon. Red, and I have been powering through some David Tennant era Doctor Who as well, which is making me pretty eager to finally revisit my Doctor Who rankings, as well as giving me a few more ideas for some Doctor Who content to bore you all with..... Yay you're thinking ...... NAAAAHHHT I hope none of you get offended that I kind of neglected to reply to some of the most recent replies in here, I'm happy to do it, I just wanted to get this review out, and figured I'd left it a stupidly long time to do it anyway. We'll see, either way, I'll catch you all in the next one! It's nice to be back! Edited April 21, 2023 by rjkclarke 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baker Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 Great timing to see you back again! Because ofcourse I have to ask: enjoying the WC snooker so far? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 49 minutes ago, Baker said: Great timing to see you back again! Because ofcourse I have to ask: enjoying the WC snooker so far? Haha thanks dude! You know, I am enjoying the Snooker a lot thanks, or any of it that I'm managing to catch, it's been pretty good quality so far, bit surprised to see Judd Trump go crashing out in the first round.... Hope you're enjoying it, too? I'm definitely hoping for a Ronnie O'Sullivan or Neil Robertson win though As I'm planning to be back writing a bit more frequently again, it might be an idea to knock another of the Snooker games off my list of games to review, I seem to do this fairly regularly this time of the year as well.... For some reason ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baker Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 51 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Haha thanks dude! You know, I am enjoying the Snooker a lot thanks, or any of it that I'm managing to catch, it's been pretty good quality so far, bit surprised to see Judd Trump go crashing out in the first round.... Hope you're enjoying it, too? I'm definitely hoping for a Ronnie O'Sullivan or Neil Robertson win though Nice. I watched pretty much everything so far and it’s highly enjoyable to me. So my quick two cents. I don’t know what’s up with Robertson but it seems this tournament is cursed for him. He played very bad today. I hope he can turn it around tomorrow. ?? I also don’t think O’Sullivan is in the best of forms but maybe his match against Vafaei will ignite some spark. With Williams out the road to the semi’s is wide open. Sad to see Trump and Murphy go out this early but they seemed very nervous to me. But that young Chinese guy was very impressive. ?? If I had to put my money on someone it would be on the person I would like to win the least: Selby. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted April 22, 2023 Author Share Posted April 22, 2023 14 hours ago, Baker said: don’t know what’s up with Robertson but it seems this tournament is cursed for him. He played very bad today. I hope he can turn it around tomorrow. I also don’t think O’Sullivan is in the best of forms but maybe his match against Vafaei will ignite some spark. With Williams out the road to the semi’s is wide open. Sad to see Trump and Murphy go out this early but they seemed very nervous to me. But that young Chinese guy was very impressive. If I had to put my money on someone it would be on the person I would like to win the least: Selby. I don't mind Mark Selby as a person.... I just find him unfortunately a bit dull to watch play Snooker ? .... so the fact that he's won the world title four times, and Robertson who is probably my favourite player, has won it once makes me a bit like..... WHYYYY.... He's so supremely talented, and if I was going to suggest anyone try and replicate a technique when actually striking a ball, it would definitely be his. That Chinese guy is really quite impressive I agree - he showed a lot of grit and determination to put away Murphy like he did. I think of all the people left in so far, Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen both seem like they could potentially be in with a good shout of lifting the title I reckon. But I'd like Kyren Wilson to win about as much as we'd probably both like Selby to win so..... Not a lot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baker Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 2 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I don't mind Mark Selby as a person.... I just find him unfortunately a bit dull to watch play Snooker .... so the fact that he's won the world title four times, and Robertson who is probably my favourite player, has won it once makes me a bit like..... WHYYYY.... He's so supremely talented, and if I was going to suggest anyone try and replicate a technique when actually striking a ball, it would definitely be his. That Chinese guy is really quite impressive I agree - he showed a lot of grit and determination to put away Murphy like he did. I think of all the people left in so far, Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen both seem like they could potentially be in with a good shout of lifting the title I reckon. But I'd like Kyren Wilson to win about as much as we'd probably both like Selby to win so..... Not a lot Well. Thanks Hossein Vafaei for awakening O’Sullivan. The road to the final is completely open for him. I can’t see anyone else from that side of the schedule making the final. Robertson won’t make it. But that side of the schedule still has Selby, Allen, Wilson and Higgins. Definitely the much harder side. Selby - O’Sullivan final would be pretty cool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 22 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Platinum #364 We Were Here (PS4) RJ IN THA BUILDIN!!!! Always awesome to see you posting, my dude? So the escape room angle with this one, okay! I've never played a co-op with puzzles, that's such an appealing concept! Which reminds me, Vice and I were talking about playing Operation Tango, I may break my no-new-game-buying streak at some point this year and cop that one! Also, I'm surprised you're not a chess player! For whatever reason, I guess I just assumed that of you. And you know what they say about assuming, it makes an ass out of you and the Ming Dynasty. Wait, is that how... yes, I'm sure that's how it goes. I like how the symbols gave your minds a trip to the gutter! "It's the one where they're 69ing standing up!" "Oh yeah, next to the one with them peeing on each other?" "Exactly." 22 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I thought it was about time I started actually catching up on reviews, especially as work has become a little lighter lately, so I've had a tiny bit more free time, so looks like I have a fair amount to catch up on, but nevertheless, some interesting games that I am pretty excited to share some of my thoughts on! I can relate homie, I can relate. I'm glad to hear that you'll have a bit more free time! All work and no play and all that, it ain't good for ya! 22 hours ago, rjkclarke said: This one is a nice one to revisit review wise, and it was an absolute blast to play this one with @Redblaziken8 , who to this day still won't let me forget that I just left her behind on our first playthrough of the game.... Oops ??????? Nooooo, you can't be doin that! Mark my words, ten years from now you'll forget something and she'll be like "THIS IS JUST LIKE THAT TIME YOU LEFT ME BEHIND WHEN WE PLAYED WE WERE HERE!" And she won't be wrong, so you'll have no retort. ...not that I speak from experience or anything! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Vice Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Welcome back RJ! Looking forward to more reviews. On the subject of Coffee Talk, are you going to get the sequel? I'll be looking at your (and any other guinea pigs) before getting around the sequels to We Were Here. Mrs Vice and I enjoyed the first one. We moved a 2nd TV and 2nd PS4 into the same room and faced the opposite ways... was a good afternoon. We liked the chess puzzle and the opening room but didn't like the puzzle in the theatre (way too janky). And it was definitely disappointing when we went to do a second playthrough (swapping roles) to find that every puzzle was identical on the second go around. 12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Which reminds me, Vice and I were talking about playing Operation Tango, I may break my no-new-game-buying streak at some point this year and cop that one! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baker Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 My god man. Wilson is getting destroyed. Not a Wilson fan but I feel kind of sad for him. @det_gittes What are your thoughts about the tournament so far? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
det_gittes Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 On 23.04.2023 at 8:46 PM, Baker said: My god man. Wilson is getting destroyed. Not a Wilson fan but I feel kind of sad for him. @det_gittes What are your thoughts about the tournament so far? Thanks for the question, though I don't have much to say this time as I have barely watched the championships so far. As every year, I paid for the Eurosport subscription some 2 weeks ago, but I haven't had much time lately and I only watched some bits of Ronnie's previous matches; last night I caught the last frame of Ronnie vs. Luca Brecel, which gave Ronnie a four-frame overnight lead, and today I was planning to entertain myself with their last session on a 4-hour train journey. Well, you know very well what happened in that session ? So with all the players I enjoy watching out of the tournament (Ding Junhui, Stuart Bingham, Ronnie - of course!, Neil Robertson and probably a few more), I guess I won't mind the final between Luca Brecel and Mark Selby. If they both make the final and Brecel wins, he will make history, but beating Selby, especially in the final, is a tall order for a player that, as I heard, never won his match in the Crucible before. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted July 3, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 3, 2023 (edited) This Game Bears An Uncanny Resemblance To Something Else! Uncanny Valley (PS4) A Few Trophy Stats 100% Achieved - 13 November 2022: 12:41:51 AM Time taken to 100%: 2 days, 1 hour, 45 minutes 100% Rarity - 7.19% One of the last reviews that I wrote in this thread was of Coffee Talk, a game that I really liked, but couldn’t help but make the obvious comparison to a game that I much preferred. How is any of this relevant you ask? Well, in truth, I had the very same problem with this game that I did with Coffee Talk, with one slight exception, which we’ll get to before really diving into it further into the review. In all honesty, Uncanny Valley is a pretty unremarkable game, and alongside that, a pretty unremarkable experience. It’s not bad, not a single thing I can think of really could be considered bad on a conventional level – in any way, but it’s also not particularly great either. So, in that case, why the Coffee Talk comparison? Well, whilst Coffee Talk is similar to VA-11 Hall-A, I still very much enjoyed Coffee Talk, whereas with this game, I was just a little underwhelmed, especially when compared to the game it’s so similar to, and that is, Lone Survivor (a review of which you can find in the little link before these brackets if you wanted some extra optional context). I’ll elaborate more on both things in more detail further into the review, so for now, let’s first explain what exactly Uncanny Valley is, for those of you who aren’t aware. Uncanny Valley was released in 2015, and was developed by Cowardly Creations; the game itself is a mixture of genres, but, more on that in a moment. You play as security guard Tom, who works a night shift, in a large facility, where some rather unusual occurrences begin, not long after your arrival. You as the player can explore the story in a fairly open ended manner, unravelling the mysteries of the facility and its contents, with some genuine intrigue in places thrown into the mix. In essence, you could describe it a few ways – there are elements of survival horror, and puzzle solving, with the gameplay having an emphasis on your actions very much having consequences. All of that sounds good on the surface, yes? I thought so too, and the Steam description of the game would have prospective players thinking the same thing, that this game indeed offers far more than it actually does. However, this becomes less apparent the further you delve into it. I am admittedly quite the sucker for interesting retro pixel inspired art-styles. They can either be done really well, or in this case, just very unremarkable in how they're realised. There are brief glimpses of real genuine charm among the game. For example, I think the way in which some of the “creatures” that you encounter later in the game appear, are genuinely rather unsettling, and the facility and surrounding areas the game takes place in have some genuine charm. An aspect I do think is worth mentioning though is – does it need to be in a stylised pixel-form? It’s obvious to anyone who has played Lone Survivor, how much inspiration this game took from it – but to me, I wonder if perhaps, it took a little too much inspiration. I think if you remove the pixel focused art-style, you instantly have a game with a little more of its own identity. I do wonder if even a change like that could have helped separate it from Lone Survivor, and help it carve out more of its own identity. Exploring the sound in Uncanny Valley is an interesting one for me, as whilst I think it’s a little drab and unimaginative soundtrack-wise, equally nothing about it is particularly bad, and in some aspects actually very well implemented. One area that Uncanny Valley really does excel in, is the sound design itself, and whilst it doesn’t utilise it and take advantage of it in quite such a creative a way as Lone Survivor does, it’s plain to see that a lot of care and attention went into making the individual sound effects themselves, cars or footsteps being prime examples of this. Instead of just sourcing them for free, like the sound team could easily have done. I can absolutely respect that, as neither thing is particularly easy to do. To be brutally honest, from a gameplay perspective, whilst everything I listed above is present, there’s little to no depth to how it’s all implemented. To me it felt as if certain elements were put in, purely to make the game feel a little more fleshed out, and less barebones. Unfortunately, it’s impossible not to compare it with Lone Survivor, they’re just – pardon the pun here – uncannily similar. A shame, as Lone Survivor is a game that I really loved and played months before this one. On paper they’re fairly similar; in reality they’re anything but. Lone Survivor whilst very small scale had a breadth of features and depth. They pretty much all work, and they all feel as if the game would suffer if they weren’t present, contributing to a more depth filled product overall. Uncanny Valley however, does not – but it really wants you to think that it does. It’s a shame, because once you scratch beneath the surface, you begin to see just how tacked on some of the features feel. I don’t like saying this, as I feel like it’s diminishing the effort of the developers, but to me, they just feel superficial, as if they’re there just to say “Hey, look play our game, it has all these things in it” when in reality, they’re all things that aren’t implemented particularly well, and tend to be more of a hindrance than a worthwhile inclusion. The game does deserve some praise for ingenuity though, and that’s in the way in which your individual actions have consequences, which can be fairly far reaching. Say for example you take damage to the leg, or the arm and haven’t used a med kit, you are then unable to move in the same way, and move significantly slower, prompting you to re-plan your movements, and by extension, tactics as a result. This aspect of the game I absolutely thought this was well implemented. There’s good and bad with this of course – your actions having consequences can sometimes put you in an unwinnable position fairly often, I think to the point where I had to restart an entire playthrough, which, as you can imagine – is less than ideal. Do I recommend Uncanny Valley? This is a tentative yes, and I’d put a very important caveat upon that. I’d only go out of your way to play it if it’s already part of your backlog, or like me, you really enjoyed Lone Survivor, and wanted to play something a little similar to that. If it was a choice between only one, pick Lone Survivor every single time, you’ll have a much better time with it. Otherwise it’s one you could easily just never play, and not feel like you’ve lost a potentially worthwhile gaming experience. If you did choose to, the trophies are quite straightforward and the game is only likely to take you five or six hours to finish all the trophies. I sound like I didn’t enjoy it, but I did, I just find it impossible not to compare it to Lone Survivor, a game with so much depth, complexity, and intricacy, whereas this has so little of everything I just mentioned. It’s a little ironic, as if you’ve played the game at all; the idea of something, being similar to something else in an uncanny way is explored in this game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So back again briefly with another long overdue review, I'm planning to properly start updating this place again, and instead of just doing bits and pieces where I can, just make the time to do it, even if gaming has to take a little bit of a sideline, as I'm now almost twenty platinum reviews behind. I've also got some games that I thought were really interesting in the pipeline to review in the coming weeks and months, so I'm very much looking forward to getting to those in more detail. If you're wondering what they are, I have been updating the second post on this thread on the first page, where I put all my completions, ready for when I do get back to reviewing more regularly, so those games in there that don't have review links yet - those are the ones that you can expect to see soon in here, for the ones I'm trying to prioritise getting to next. Apologies to Baker and det_gittes for not responding to all the Snooker talk, needless to say I loved watching the Snooker World Championships this year, thought they were a breath of fresh air, and even managed to get my girlfriend into watching them too, as she seemed genuinely interested in that gargantuan battle between Selby and Brecel. Flipping Death is next on the agenda as far as catching up with reviews go, so hopefully expect to see that one in here soon. Catch you in the next one folks!! (haven't said that in a while haha) Edited July 3, 2023 by rjkclarke 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted July 6, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 6, 2023 Flippin' Eck, I've Only Gone And Written Another Review (If you weren't already, please read the previous title in the voice of Danny Dyer, because apparently I am occasionally doing that on top of puns for these silly titles now ) Platinum #365 Flipping Death (PS4) The whole story Unlock all trophies A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 27 November 2022: 10:34:43 PM Time Taken to Platinum : 1 day, 22 hours, 57 minutes Platinum Rarity - 49.11% Trophy Number - #17,325 I flipping love this game, pun absolutely intended, there I said it, and yes, yes you should read that in as cockney an accent as possible. Is that my accent? Absolutely not, but that’s not the point. Anyway... just so that I don’t trail off too much into the realms of mindless ramblings let’s get into exactly why I loved this game. I guess first of all it would probably be prudent to explain exactly what Flipping Death is. So let’s start with that one, nice and easy. Flipping Death was released in 2018, was developed by Zoink Games, and can be roughly described as an adventure and puzzle game. That is, of course, a very broad description – as this is much more in the vein of a Tim Schafer, Double Fine type puzzle experience. As the player, you take on the role of Penny, a sassy and sarcastic young woman, who dies under very mysterious circumstances (this isn’t really a spoiler, it happens within moments of the game starting). From this point onwards you find yourself literally filling Death’s shoes... yes, THAT Death, the one with the penchant for black robes and scythes, as you become his temporary replacement. With the powers of Death at your flat angular fingertips, you are granted the ability to switch between the worlds of the living and the dead. These all lead to some fascinating ways of solving puzzles, exploration and progression. I’ll delve into the gameplay in much more detail further into this review, but for now, let’s talk a little about the look and feel of the game. Quirky, a fairly innocuous sounding word, sure, but I think it’s a very good descriptor, for the type of visual style and the humour found amongst certainly Stick it to the Man and Flipping Death, the two games by Zoink I’d played up until this point. Flipping Death is no exception in that department, it has a very similar visual style to that of Stick it to the Man, with each character feeling and moving as if they’re crafted from sheets of paper, or at the very least something remarkably flimsy. With that in mind, it’s terrifically creative, as you’d expect from something described like I just did. I always very much enjoyed the way in which this game brought to life, or death I suppose in this games case, some truly fascinating and interesting characters, and that’s just on a visual level alone. An additional element of the visual side of the game that I absolutely appreciated was that every new area that you visit felt distinctly different from the last. There are no drastic shifts to make it feel like a different universe, but there’s enough uniformity for you to think that everything feels right, and as it should be, yet still also feeling like somewhere new. This – to be perfectly honest is something that quite a lot of video games don’t actually manage to achieve unfortunately. I remember very distinctively when I played it just having a blast exploring the new areas and seeing if there were any returning characters to interact with. That reminds me – characters, my goodness is this game an absolute gold mine of unusual and off kilter characters. These ranges from absolutely goofy and hilarious, to incredibly dark and sinister, where you find yourself thinking... “Oh, they actually went there.” Many of which you’ll likely still have memories of, whenever you think back about your time with the game. If you’ve played Stick it to the Man, then you’ll find that there are more than a few familiar faces that make an appearance, firmly establishing this in the same universe as that game, another aspect that I was personally very fond of. It would be fair to say that without some excellent voice performances, the characters themselves would be much less memorable, or leave quite so lasting an impression. Some of them are just plain unusual, but in the best possible way. It fits perfectly with the general feeling that this game imbibes. On a personal level two characters in particular got a very wry smile out of me. If you’ve played it then you’ll likely instantly know which ones I mean. I won’t name them for spoiler purposes, but for those who have played it, they’re the two that stand around and declare every single reason why they love each other, and exactly why, in very great detail for a very long time. Even when I played this I couldn’t help but think that everyone else’s reactions to them are similar to what a lot of people are probably thinking, but not saying, when my girlfriend and I end up acting like those two. They really made me laugh and gave me a serious reality check of “Oh..... Oh no, we don’t sound THAT insipid do we?” I still found all of those interactions hilarious though, something that was only strengthened by some absolutely quality voice performances, adding so much more character to the game overall. In fact, all the elements of the games sound contribute towards this; it becomes more and more obvious the more you play it just how unique Flipping Death is. After all, where else are you likely to find a 1920’s and 30’s inspired Jazz and Swing soundtrack, accompanied by visuals and audios that are evocative of Henry Selick’s filmmaking style, mixed with a Nickelodeon art-style and vocal performances? Almost nowhere I’d argue – and if you did, I imagine none of those things would mesh together in quite such an effective way as in Flipping Death, and I absolutely loved these aspects of the game. I really do hope that this isn’t the last time Zoink Games make a game set in this universe. I did say I’d cover the gameplay in more detail further in, and it looks like it’s about that time, so let’s delve a little more into that. One of my overarching criticisms – and, admittedly, it was quite a small one – with Stick it to the Man, was its reliance, on stealth sections, or in some cases a mixture of both stealth and platforming gameplay. Neither of these things work particularly well, and tended to just slow you down. Flipping Death however, appears to have learned from those mistakes, and tried to streamline the experience as much as possible – instead, this time giving the game a much greater focus on both puzzle solving and fairly fluid movement. Whilst adding some fairly minimal platforming thrown into the mix. At an initial glance, you might think that the amount you can do from a gameplay perspective is pretty minimal it’s in fact not. The more you play of the game the more access you have to some of Death’s powers. You can read thoughts (I recommend doing this with everyone by the way, it’s hilarious, yes, even animals), and even possess characters, letting you use items they’re holding, or even talk to characters that aren’t willing to talk to you. That alone puts plenty of options at your disposal. The added ability to be able to shift between the world of the living and the dead was a genius touch too, as this adds an extra layer to the way in which you have to approach puzzle solving. And, for anyone that knows me pretty well, yes, I got some big time Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver feelings from the ability to switch between these two planes of existence. This side of it I found really charming, as some of the solutions to progress forward in levels often require some quite old school point-and-click adventure outside of the box thinking, and I always find myself really enjoying when a game steers me in that direction. All in all I think the gameplay of Flipping Death is – despite the games short length – very detailed, and contains rather a lot of depth. Nothing about it outstays its welcome, and the introduction of some slightly different mechanics further into the game, is done in a way that feels rather natural. Now, for the question literally nobody has been waiting for.... Do I recommend Flipping Death? This is, in truth, one of the easiest answers to that question I’ve had to ask for a while. Yes, I absolutely recommend this game; it’s funny, quirky and absolutely brimming with interesting characters and ideas from start to finish, both in narrative execution and gameplay. It’s also not going to set you back much more than about ten hours of your time either, as far as attaining the trophies go, so all around I’d definitely say it’s worth peoples time, effort and money. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay two reviews in the space of a week, this is good. I'm starting to get back to a bit more efficiency, which is nice. Most importantly of all, from my perspective at least, in all of this, is that I'm actually starting to enjoy writing again. I just needed to start doing it again for the bug to bite me again properly. Now that I'm starting to make the time though, even if gaming takes a little bit of a hit I don't mind. There's some really great games I've played over the last couple of months that I'm really looking forward to diving into in a lot more detail. So I'd better start writing until my fingers bleed I guess, considering how behind I have become ..... Only erm, seventeen more platinum reviews until I catch up (don't remind me about the 150+ classic reviews I still have to write either haha). Concrete Genie is up next, which is a bit of a tricky one subject wise, so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to tackle that one, as I feel like that game missed the mark a little bit in what it was actually trying to achieve with its message, but I guess that's potentially a debate for another day. Anyway, catch you all in the next one! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 Noice! Unremarkable Valley and Flipping Death in one week! Yeah, I know which one I’d rather play ? Had an inclination you’d dig Flipping Death, given your affinity for the Gilbert and Schaffer variety of nonsense - glad you dug it, (and agree with me that it’s the better game than SittM, as fun as that one is!) Excellent write ups as always m’dude! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 20 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Noice! Unremarkable Valley and Flipping Death in one week! Yeah, I know which one I’d rather play Had an inclination you’d dig Flipping Death, given your affinity for the Gilbert and Schaffer variety of nonsense - glad you dug it, (and agree with me that it’s the better game than SittM, as fun as that one is!) Excellent write ups as always m’dude! Thanks man! I appreciate the kind words, as always. You know what, Unremarkable Valley would have been a better tagline for the review instead of what I went with, and somehow I managed to not say during the entire writing process about how remarkably unremarkable that game actually is. It's one of those "you should be soooooo much more, but why aren;t you?" type of games..... like completely inoffensive, and fine, but it is only that, just fine I suppose. I really did have a good time with Flipping Death, I'd really dig another game set in that universe, but they'd kind of need to find another unique hook that's not just doing what the other two games have already done. I'm looking to make it three this week, as I'm just in the process of writing the review for Concrete Genie which is going to be a bit of a minefield I guess I'm going to have to walk into ..... As I kind of think that games message massively misses its mark, but I guess I'll save that for the review itself. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted July 7, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 7, 2023 Concrete Genie? Or a Djinn Made From Cement.... Platinum #366 Concrete Genie (PS4) The Artist of Denska Known as "the street artist who brought Denska back to life". A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 3 December 2022: 2:10:16 AM Time Taken to Platinum : 2 days, 10 hours, 20 minutes, 14 seconds Platinum Rarity - 39.08% Trophy Number - #17,379 I’m going to go ahead and make this very clear now – I have got incredibly mixed feelings about Concrete Genie as an overall product. Although, overall I do like it quite a lot. I’ll delve into precisely why that is in quite a bit more detail further into the review, but if you’re expecting this to be one of those games where I just gush about how great it is throughout the review, this probably won’t be it. I must say, I do like it, quite a lot actually – I just feel as if the game misses its mark on both a surface and subtextual level. Still there’s a lot I really do like, so it’s not like I’m going to be ignoring any of that either. Anyway, I’m getting way ahead of myself here, let’s, as per usual, start this off with a little synopsis of what exactly Concrete Genie is. Concrete Genie released in 2019, and was developed by now defunct studio Pixelopus. A lot of the descriptions I’ve seen online describe this game as an action-adventure experience. I don’t really think it’s quite as black and white as that, but that certainly fits, so that’s what we’ll go with. As the player, you take on the role of Ash, a young teenage artist, on a small port town named Denska. The town has been abandoned ever since an oil tanker spillage, so the only people you’re likely to encounter are a group of teenagers who seem to see their main aspirations in life as making Ash miserable and not a whole lot else. Ash happens upon a magical paintbrush, and makes it his mission to transform the drab, grey dull and lifeless town of Denska into an artist’s paradise. I hope you’re still following along so far, but that’s the amount of story I’m going to mention. I’ll talk vaguely around story happenings, but the story will be there for you all to experience for yourselves, should you choose to do that. From that admittedly brief description of Concrete Genie, you can clearly see that this game is going to appeal to the creatively minded. In all honesty – this is one of the best realised aspects of the game – and is very much enhanced through the gameplay. Concrete Genie seeks to give the player as much freedom as possible, wherever possible. There’s a satisfying fluidity to movement in Concrete Genie, as you move around Denska as Ash, bringing life and colour back to the dilapidated walls and buildings. I didn’t really find anything about the controls to be awkward. Add to that – the fact that the pseudo-stealth sections where you were blocked from progression by bullies never really felt too much of a hindrance or frustration, keeping the gameplay as a whole fairly fresh. The use of “Genies” having slightly different abilities, and the way in which these pieces of “living art” we’ll call them, that you paint onto surfaces are rather well realised too. These serve as helpers when solving puzzles to progress further, and whilst many of these were quite simple, I appreciated their inclusion, as it added another layer of variety to the gameplay. One thing I truly did appreciate from Pixelopus, was the choice given to you of using the touch pad to paint with, or the thumbsticks. I personally chose the thumbsticks – I tried to use the touchpad, I just found it a little finicky, but I do think from the perspective of you essentially creating your own art installations all over the town, the touchpad controls probably evoke the feeling of organic control a little better. I personally really appreciated the way in which the game encourages creativity at several turns. Especially good was the way in which it incentivises you towards that creativity. The games collectibles come in the form of customisation options for both your personal art and the genies themselves – allowing you to make them feel as much your creation as the game possibly can. So as we’ve established, the gameplay is pretty smooth, so let’s keep this positivity rolling on shall we. Visually this game is gorgeous, it is of course, very stylised. But in no universe does stylised mean bad. I’d probably say that comparison wise, what comes to my mind is something like the visual style of Coraline, where the characters look and are human, but there’s obviously something unconventional too, with a bit of classic Disney animation thrown in for good measure. I think that uniqueness really works in Concrete Genie’s favour, especially considering the story beat they’re trying to push about Ash being a little bit of an unconventional societal outcast. Thank goodness it is too, because I feel like in a game in which you play as an artist, there ought to be rather a lot of creativity on show. I really do think the art-style is very well realised. It’s at times wondrous and so effective when the game wants to motivate you to rejuvenate an area. I mentioned the Disney style animation, some areas of Denska really reminded me of what a freeze frame of a Disney movie would probably look like if you drained the entire colour palette out of it, and then said to someone “How would you colour this?” In that aspect, Denska really does feel like a playground. To go alongside that playground is a fantastic soundtrack, reminiscent in places of Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings, and in some areas adding plenty of whimsy, that’s also subtly tinged with sadness in certain aspects. For me, listening back to it whilst writing this review, the soundtrack itself really is quite excellent, it’s well paced, emotive, and at times emotionally weighty. The sound effects themselves are excellently done, I particularly enjoyed the “swooshing” noises that accompany your brush strokes, and cathartic rush as areas are rejuvenated thanks to your artwork. With all that in mind, Concrete Genie really does do a fantastic job of both creating and maintaining atmosphere, the problem is there’s a but coming... a pretty huge unavoidable one too. Okay, I’ll level with you here; did you notice I mentioned playgrounds earlier? That was in fact deliberate. In any playground there’s a chance you’ll encounter bullies. This, this is in all honesty where my main issue with the game stems from, and although it doesn’t sour my opinion of the game any, I think this is what stops a good game being truly as great as it perhaps could have been. For all the positives you can say about Concrete Genie – and there really are plenty, trust me – the way in which it handles bullies is absolutely not one of them. This game is quite clearly aimed at an audience a similar age to Ash – so we’re probably talking between the ages of about twelve and sixteen here. A tricky age for sure. I might be generalising here, but I’m going to call on some of my own life experiences here, and those of my friends and go as far as to say that in that position you’re either: being bullied, you are the bully, haven’t been bullied yet, but have it unfortunately looming in your future or in fact, you will become the bully. Without getting too deep into spoiler territory, Concrete Genie perpetuates the quite frankly dangerous idea that all bullies are just misunderstood people with troubled pasts, when unfortunately that is just not the case. I have been bullied as a teenager (I was a fat nerd who liked Doctor Who before it came back to television and became popular, so in a sense I was royally screwed). Not all bullies are misunderstood people who come from a broken home. Even into adulthood I’ve encountered plenty of people who are purely just incredibly unpleasant people, for no other reason than that’s what they are by nature. Only they – and they alone – have the power to recognise and change that, but very few of them ever will. Which – yes, I know is a completely separate discussion, but I do think it’s worth mentioning here. Unfortunately Concrete Genie puts forward the quite dangerous message that perhaps you should engage with the people that are bullying you, that they are just misunderstood or that their home lives are bad, so that excuses their actions. I used the word dangerous on purpose, purely because it is dangerous – Concrete Genie is very much geared towards people who are by nature empathetic. Imagine this scenario, a thirteen or fourteen year old plays this game, who they themselves are experiencing similar ridicule to Ash, and they think what works for Ash might work for them, only for their act of kindness or brave step forward would get thrown back in their faces. Can you imagine how cripplingly difficult that would be to face that kind of rejection, and how much of an impact that could have on their mental health? I’m not suggesting that would happen always, after all I’m very much not a cynical person, I believe humans always can, and should “be better” but I feel like Concrete Genie’s overarching message about bullying is a very misguided one. Not only does it undermine how debilitating perpetual bullying can be on someone’s psyche, but it also excuses bullying itself. I’ll bring it back to empathy as an example again. Can you imagine a bully playing this, then realising their actions have been disgusting and making someone’s life miserable? I struggle to see it; all I’d see is the message of “My home life is awful, it’s fine that I am routinely making someone’s life a misery.” Whilst this might be a personal pet peeve of mine that people will use any excuse available to them to excuse their disgusting behaviour, I don’t think Concrete Genie remotely helps in this regard. Especially when no character really takes ownership of what they’ve done per se, and as a result the game kind of undermines itself. It likes to propose the idea that creativity and joining together through art, and the freedom that affords you is all you need to break down those barriers between people, but it’s a cloudy message that gets a little too brushed (pardon the definitely not on purpose pun) under the carpet, or in fact, not explored in as meaningful a way as I thought it should have been, this I thought was a real shame. Would I recommend Concrete Genie? It would have to be a tentative yes. I do think the game is incredibly enjoyable, and also an altogether relaxing experience, and a worthwhile one too. But if you’re looking for a story that’s incredibly deep – exploring the effects that bullying can have on both the victim and the bully (like perhaps it could have been), this isn’t it. But this game is absolutely worth people’s time, it’s just more than a little flawed. Having said that, there’s not very many games I can think of that really give you that euphoric creative feeling that you’re the one that’s really in control of what you’re doing, and that you’re truly free to do what you want. Off the top of my head I can only really think of The Artful Escape, so make of that what you will. If short platinum’s are also something you’re particularly interested in, this one won’t set you back more than about ten hours, and the trophy hunting experience can be a very relaxing and tranquil one. So if you need something a little calmer, this might be the thing for you, too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nice, that's three in a week, which I think sadly might have been more than the amount of reviews I'd actually written up to this point this year, never mind I'm catching up now. I guess that's what I have to tell myself haha. Next up is Puyo-Puyo champions, and how much can I realistically say about that one. So mercifully for a lot of you that one will probably be fairly short. Until then though, it's feeling nice to have been bitten by the writing bug again. I'll catch you all in the next one! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post YaManSmevz Posted July 8, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2023 Ayyy he's back in full force!! Always good to see some Clarke reviews, and you have done spoiled us, sir! Quote Uncanny Valley (PS4) I feel you on bein a sucker for retro pixel stuff, but I've been pretty fortunate where that goes. What a bummer to play something that seems to have that charm and it's like "oh... you just wanted to look like this other game. Ew, you're doing the same gameplay features too?? That's some Single White Female shit, I'm out!" Good observation on the sound, it's cool that they went to those lengths so it isn't damning with faint praise, but with so much else lacking in originality it does make you wonder "there's clearly talent and forethought, why couldn't this have been applied elsewhere??" This was also a good reminder to look into Lone Survivor, so thanks for that! Quote Platinum #365 Flipping Death (PS4) Love this game, love that you loved it, long live Zoinks and all that good shit. Agreed mad hard on the world building, the delightful wackiness (there's a lot to be said for implementing just the right amount), and the balance of light and heavy. Also, that couple.... Jesus, man. When I realized exactly what that trophy needed me to do, I couldn't help cracking up? Quote Platinum #366 Concrete Genie (PS4) Being a total lose- uh, I mean gaming completionist, I've kinda let the whole VR thing being needed for an S rank deter me from this one (having gotten it for free on PS+ doesn't help either). It's dope to see this game is the vibrant encourager of creativity it seemed to be, but I agree on the whole bullying thing. Like you, I don't like seeing stuff like that shrink-wrapped into some cheesy, feel-good After School Special shaped package, it's a little glib and I could very much see that taking away a bit of enjoyment. I figured the approach would've been more like "there's a lot of fucking bastards in the world, but look at all this great art you're creating, they can't take that from you" rather then "but those poor bullies, it's on you to take the time to understand them." Barf. Solid work as always homie, you still got it? I need to take a cue from you and get off my ass and get back to writing my damn self. Or wait, wouldn't it be to get on my ass? Get in m-... ? Nevermind. Again, great work, and great to have you back? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Next up is Puyo-Puyo champions, and how much can I realistically say about that one. So mercifully for a lot of you that one will probably be fairly short. Bring it on! Grind, grind, grind!!!!!!! lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taruta13 Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 I really like the title card, you took that from a screenshot of Dark Arcana: The Carnival, did you? I like it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 (edited) On 08/07/2023 at 7:56 AM, YaManSmevz said: I feel you on bein a sucker for retro pixel stuff, but I've been pretty fortunate where that goes. What a bummer to play something that seems to have that charm and it's like "oh... you just wanted to look like this other game. Ew, you're doing the same gameplay features too?? That's some Single White Female shit, I'm out!" Good observation on the sound, it's cool that they went to those lengths so it isn't damning with faint praise, but with so much else lacking in originality it does make you wonder "there's clearly talent and forethought, why couldn't this have been applied elsewhere??" This was also a good reminder to look into Lone Survivor, so thanks for that! Haha yes! I realised afterwards that you definitely could have shortened my Uncanny Valley review down to "Here's a bunch of reasons why you should go and play Lone Survivor.... so erm, do that." Like, Uncanny Valley was fine..... but is that really enough? In an age where we have so many awesome new and exciting experiences at our fingertips that are both sometimes dirt cheap, really short, and worth your time.... It's tough to really justify playing Uncanny Valley. On 08/07/2023 at 7:56 AM, YaManSmevz said: Love this game, love that you loved it, long live Zoinks and all that good shit. Agreed mad hard on the world building, the delightful wackiness (there's a lot to be said for implementing just the right amount), and the balance of light and heavy. Also, that couple.... Jesus, man. When I realized exactly what that trophy needed me to do, I couldn't help cracking up Stick it to the Man and Flipping Death have definitely converted me to a believer in Zoink - whatever deity that might be........ Wait, did we all unknowingly join a cult? Typing that totally didn't make me think of this.... Oh well, you know what considering how fun those games were, I'm good with being indoctrinated by Zoink..... Wouldn't have played those two bangers without you and Doc though, so I definitely appreciated the push in the right direction. On 08/07/2023 at 7:56 AM, YaManSmevz said: Being a total lose- uh, I mean gaming completionist, I've kinda let the whole VR thing being needed for an S rank deter me from this one (having gotten it for free on PS+ doesn't help either). It's dope to see this game is the vibrant encourager of creativity it seemed to be, but I agree on the whole bullying thing. Like you, I don't like seeing stuff like that shrink-wrapped into some cheesy, feel-good After School Special shaped package, it's a little glib and I could very much see that taking away a bit of enjoyment. I figured the approach would've been more like "there's a lot of fucking bastards in the world, but look at all this great art you're creating, they can't take that from you" rather then "but those poor bullies, it's on you to take the time to understand them." Barf. Solid work as always homie, you still got it I need to take a cue from you and get off my ass and get back to writing my damn self. Or wait, wouldn't it be to get on my ass? Get in m-... ? Nevermind. Again, great work, and great to have you back I do know what you mean on that whole being hesitant to add Concrete Genie because of those VR trophies, but I think I just thought screw it, I've got some unobtainables anyway, so adding a few more trophies I'm not likely to get probably can't hurt. It's a funny one Concrete Genie, it;s very very god in some aspects, and in others it is completely tone deaf, and a little more shallow than I think it should have been, but the way it handled bullies,and bullying - yes, that was just a massive mistake. You instantly came up with a better alternative of conveying that message, and that should probably have been the one they went with. It's more powerfu, and if you're artistically inclined anyway, I think that would speak to people more anyway. Great shout with that one. I don't think it should stop you playing it though if you ever fancied it, as it's still a very enjoyable game, just a little bit misguided in the way it decides to put its message across. As you can tell from the review, there's still loads to love... It's good to be back man, and! Even if I keep slipping into a big gaming hole, and making my catching up on reviews a harder task ? - and erm, take a week and a bit to reply to this as well I'm looking forward to your own inevitable writing return too.... and, obviously, I have no doubt that you won't have missed a beat On 08/07/2023 at 8:36 PM, Taruta13 said: I really like the title card, you took that from a screenshot of Dark Arcana: The Carnival, did you? I like it! I'm glad you like the title card... I didn't know it was from Dark Arcana: The Carnival - my buddy @DrBloodmoney made it for me. So he deserves all the credit for how good it looks. That game is definitely one I should probably get around to playing. Especially as I don't think I've actually played an Artifex Mundi game since about 2021.... So I'm probably due another one soon really. Edited July 21, 2023 by rjkclarke 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted July 21, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 21, 2023 (edited) I Popped Some Puyo's...... Several Hours Later, This New Platinum Appeared! Platinum #367 Puyo Puyo Champions (PS4) Puyo Grand Champion Obtained all medals. A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 14 December 2022: 12:56:19 AM Time Taken to Platinum and 100% : 1 week, 3 days, 8 hours Platinum Rarity - 4.75% 100% Rarity - 4.62% Trophy Number - #17,441 I'll level with you all, I quite literally bought this game, because I really enjoyed the mini game from playing it in the Yakuza series. I loved it there, as a full game, well, you're going to read shortly, how I think it holds up as a full package. So let's get into it. I suppose the first thing we all have to ask ourselves is, what on earth is a Puyo? Hey, I'm all about fun here, so let's have some. And as this review really isn't going to be very long (famous last words haha), I thought it might be fun to add this little bit in here. So I decided to ask google that question, what is a puyo? Google has answered stranger questions, after all, one of my best friends once asked google the question "What is paella" this was also when he was a twenty-nine year old, grown human man, who did not live under a rock... and no, this friend was not me. But, I digress, I actually was quite interested in what Google gave me back as an answer to my question, and it reads like this.... " "Puyo" is a Japanese onomatopoeia used to represent the movement of a soft, gelatinous object." Consider my curiosity satisfied I suppose. Curiosity, is in this instance a pretty important word. I essentially played Puyo Puyo Champions out of curiosity, and here I am now, with the platinum. So let's review it. Puyo Puyo Champions was released in 2019, and was developed by Sega's Sonic Team, development team. In essence it's a tile matching game, with Puyo Puyo Champions putting an incredibly heavy focus on the competitive element. Usually, I would emphasise some brief story elements, but this game really hasn't got any. The main thrust of this game is essentially competitive multiplayer, which is a good idea in theory, and in practice, as playing it competitively can be very enjoyable. Playing this in the dying days of 2022 was a little troublesome however, as the online component of the game was largely dead. Visually, Puyo Puyo Champions is incredibly bright, colourful and vibrant. It's filled with several anime styled looking characters that range from the regular to rather surreal. Let's be honest how many tile matching games out there are there, where you can play as a talking fish - and you guessed it, I played exclusively as the talking fish. This is actually a small holdover from my days of playing this mini game in the Yakuza series, as I seemed to always lose every good run I ever had to that one fish, so I thought that if I played as the fish, then that might lead to some karmic rebalancing, or something. An aspect of the visual side of Puyo Puyo Champions was the customisation options. The ability to mix and match what colours appeared in your games and even some of the different shapes and sizes adds plenty of variety. There's even some shaped like Sonic characters for all you Blue Hedgehog fans out there. I very often dedicate a lot of time to audio in these reviews, but there's not that much I can really say here. As the game is pretty limited to just its core game modes, you can only really talk about the music and the sound effects, both of which are pretty good. All of the sound effects are really well made, and they're a mixture of both satisfying and quirky too, both fitting in nicely with the games all round aesthetic. A particular favourite of mine was the way in which the sound of the puyo's popping increased in volume as you build larger and larger chains, sending a bunch of "garbage puyo's" straight onto your opponents board, only for the character they are controlling to reference their impending loss. Is it sadistic that I got satisfaction out of that? Maybe, but it adds a fun element to it, and it's just as fun when it's happening to you. Trust me - a fish yelling angrily is worth the price of admission. The game features rather a large selection of music, but you have to go out of your way to listen to it, as the game just automatically plays the first track unless you set it to play something else. These are interesting to explore though, and cycling through them during some of the monotonous parts of the trophy hunting experience will definitely help! The most important feature of Puyo Puyo Champions is easily the gameplay. It's the thing that brought me to the game in the first place. I think it says quite a lot about something if I am willing to buy a game purely on gameplay alone, and its appearance within another game. Nothing has changed there in the slightest, I still really love the gameplay on offer here, and that isn't likely to change. This version of the game is even more detailed than its appearance in Yakuza too. It's got plenty of customisation settings, so that when playing against the CPU you can tailor it to your own play-style a decent amount. Whilst on the surface it's what you'd expect from a tile matching game, there's plenty of strategy involved, and when facing off against the harder CPU and human players you'll quickly find there's plenty of viable options and advanced strategies at your disposal to give you an advantage. The gameplay is honestly excellent, it's fast paced, and it can be absolutely adrenaline fuelled under the right circumstances, but there is a slight issue that goes along with it, the online in this game is practically non-existent. As a result of this - and I'm going to mention something I rarely do - the trophy hunting side of this game suffers as a result of it. There's no way around it, this game is a grind, and honestly the way the online landscape of the game is, that's only going to get worse. Now, bear with me here - the gameplay is fantastic, that's a given, and it really does hold up well to long periods of sustained play. The problem is, as the game is built with competive multiplayer in mind, one of the requirements is popping 100,000 Puyo's. This would be fine, if there was a densely populated online and plenty of human players to play against. As you'd amass plenty just from natural play. Here's the kicker though, after doing every other trophy in the game, I was still left with around 70,000 popped puyo's left to amass. So the final stretch of the game turned into a bit of a mindless grind unfortunately. Oh this game also has DLC... Challenge Trophy Set This DLC is a little bit of a missed opportunity to be honest. I considered not even mentioning the DLC in this review, but it's there, so I'll bring it up. It's free, so that's a bonus, I like the small scale changes this makes to the game. But I also feel like adding some trophies to the DLC pertaining to the challenges themselves might have made the platinum a but less of a grind, and given you a more organic route to popping as many Puyo's as is required. Do I recommend this one? I think I'd only recommend this on the condition that you enjoy its appearances in the Yakuza series, or are already interested in games similar to this like Tetris Attack or Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine - in all honesty, this will scratch the itch for a game like that. I just had to make people aware that the actual trophy hunting side of the experience ends up being rather a dull one by the time you're finished with it. I must stress too, this isn't the games fault it's the fault of the dead online landscape. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, that went a little longer than I'd envisioned it. But I said all that I needed to say about it I think. Next up is Nexomon, so I'm looking forward to diving in with that one. Ironically, much like Puyo Puyo that's another game I played purely because of my love for another game series. I'm also planning to finish off my Doctor Who rankings very soon. I meant to do it a while ago, and then after watching a lot of the new series with my girlfriend I've had to re-rank the top five slightly. Now she's firmly in the whovian camp, I'm tempted to show her some stories from the Doctor's she's not seen that make up the top five too. Either way, I'll catch you all in the next one, which hopefully won't be too far off. Edited July 21, 2023 by rjkclarke 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post YaManSmevz Posted July 23, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2023 Quote Stick it to the Man and Flipping Death have definitely converted me to a believer in Zoink - whatever deity that might be........ Wait, did we all unknowingly join a cult? Typing that totally didn't make me think of this.... Come back! Willie still loves you, oh great one!! Quote Wouldn't have played those two bangers without you and Doc though, so I definitely appreciated the push in the right direction. I pass all credit over to Doc, without him I may have never given Zoink a chance! Quote It's a funny one Concrete Genie, it;s very very god in some aspects, and in others it is completely tone deaf, and a little more shallow than I think it should have been, but the way it handled bullies,and bullying - yes, that was just a massive mistake. Maybe it was made by bullies, and they were trying to be slick and get the kids they bully to play the game, be suckered in by the message, and then be easier to bully around. And, as if for sadistic extra credit, they added trophies for different hardware to bully trophy hunters too! THEY'RE OUT OF CONTROL. Quote You instantly came up with a better alternative of conveying that message, and that should probably have been the one they went with. It's more powerfu, and if you're artistically inclined anyway, I think that would speak to people more anyway. Great shout with that one. I don't think it should stop you playing it though if you ever fancied it, as it's still a very enjoyable game, just a little bit misguided in the way it decides to put its message across. As you can tell from the review, there's still loads to love... Thank you, sir! And yeah, I've no doubt that it's worth a spin, and I still may do so, but there's so many caveat-free games waiting to be played... you know how it is. Quote It's good to be back man, and! Even if I keep slipping into a big gaming hole, and making my catching up on reviews a harder task - and erm, take a week and a bit to reply to this as well I'm looking forward to your own inevitable writing return too.... and, obviously, I have no doubt that you won't have missed a beat I'd argue that the gaming hole is where we all belong? and thanks so much man, I really appreciate that. I'm certainly hoping so??? On 7/21/2023 at 8:01 AM, rjkclarke said: Platinum #367 Puyo Puyo Champions (PS4) Between you and Doc, suddenly I feel I'm at risk of not having enough Puyo Puyo? Well, maybe not this specific version, as I'm definitely not in the market for anything with that level of grindiness, but still! We all need our charmingly simple and colorful puzzle games to help pass the time. Especially if they're Yakuza worthy! Glad to see you're back on your Doctor Who rankings! I'm not the biggest fan, but even for an outsider n00b like myself, you make it interesting and fun? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted October 6, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 6, 2023 I Threw A Platinum Nexotrap And This New Review Appeared! Platinum #368 Nexomon (PS4) Nexomon Unlock all other trophies. A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 11 January 2023 1:49:05 AM Time Taken to Platinum and 100% : 2 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours Platinum Rarity - 42.45% Trophy Number - #17,527 It’s been a while, hasn’t it? It sure seems so anyway, that wasn’t a deliberate decision as such, it’s just a case of me having a little less free time these days, so I’m going to have to start going out of my way to make time for review writing. This is something which, obviously, I really love, so it won’t be any kind of chore at all. With that in mind, I have a lot of catching up to do, and I’m going to probably flit between writing reviews of games I’ve played in the last year, and some I’ve played years ago, as I still do want to stick to my intention of reviewing everything I’ve played. As you can tell by the title, Nexomon, is where we’re going to be starting on this little catch up trip, so let’s dive on in shall we. I have a question for you all? Doesn’t worry, this isn’t one I’m necessarily expecting an answer from – so if you like, treat this as rhetorical. How often do you go into a game completely with your eyes open, pretty much knowing exactly what to expect? I only ask that, because that was pretty much my own personal approach to Nexomon. Going into Nexomon, I had a few things in mind, that it’d have quirky humour; it would very much be a Pokémon-like and that it’d possess quite a bit of individuality and charm. Those are all good foundations, I’d say. There really is something to be said for going into something with your eyes open – around the time I played this, I just needed something relaxing and not very taxing to enjoy some of my free time with, as it was pretty stressful (the less said about that the better haha). I’m also dating someone who has a Pokémon in her username – plus, every now and then I find myself wanting to explore games that have animal/monster taming mechanics. That urge presented itself once again, and so Nexomon was where that took me. Of course, as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit, perhaps I ought to give a little context to Nexomon, the game itself, instead of just assuming anyone reading knows what I’m talking about. Originally released on PC in 2020, and then later released onto consoles in 2021 – a curious little fact, is that the original released on consoles after the sequel did. An unusual curiosity. The game itself was published by VEWO Interactive Inc. In essence Nexomon is an animal tamer/monster taming game, very much in the same vein as Pokémon, this game specifically mirrors the older style of Pokemon, from around Generation three and four, from what I can gather most. You catch Nexomon, you train Nexomon and you evolve them, all in the pursuit of freeing the world from the clutches of the oppressive Nexoking. I’m not being hyperbolic, that’s just the kind of language the game uses to describe the events. You know what though? I love that, the game doesn’t take itself seriously at all, and that’s reflected in the story. It’s incredibly light hearted, with a great sense of humour to boot – one of the things I was most appreciative of, was how self aware it was. The game knows it’s a Pokemon, clone, you know it’s a Pokémon clone, and it’s even made reference to without uttering the “P” word throughout the story – but totally owns that, and is unashamed about it, as it should be. I could summarise the story – but it’s actually quite long winded, and technically the game has two stories, when you factor in the post game content (which is excellent by the way). I understand it’s a big ask, but trust me on this one, the story is actually pretty engaging, and it never particularly trails off into absurd territories, it plays within its own rules and boundaries, which is something that I very much liked. You never stay in the same location too long, and you find yourself interacting with plenty of characters that range between completely bizarre, to ones I found myself hoping would get expanded upon in a little more detail. As is probably quite obvious at this point, from some of my other reviews, and what I’ve already said about this game – for me, charm goes a long way – and Nexomon is absolutely brimming with charm, it really is. Nexomon’s art-style is reminiscent of Pokemon, sure, but it’s not derivative of it, it’s pretty much its own distinct thing. I felt personally as if its art style shared some common ground with Evoland 2. It’s no bad thing, as that game had a lot of charm itself. The location design is very well realised, and each of the areas where you’re most likely to find elemental Nexomon, look and feel as if they should. You’ll literally scour Nexomon’s entire globe at some point in pursuit of the platinum, so that aspect of the game will give you a deeper appreciation for the lengths the developers went to for level design. The designs of the Nexomon themselves are – for the most part at least – very well realised, from a design perspective. I would say perhaps fifteen percent of the Nexomon feel a little uninspired – but when you take into consideration they’re creating over three hundred unique designs, and the sheer amount of already existing Pokemon, when you view it in that context it’s still very impressive. Accompanying a very charming art style is a pretty great soundtrack – one I’ve actually changed my mind a little on after almost ten months without hearing it. It’s something I’ll get onto in a moment, but the repetitious nature of some of Nexomon’s content means you’ll be hearing what is a fairly limited pool of musical tracks a not unnoticeable amount of times. I feel as if, if I’d reviewed this right afterwards I might have been a bit unfair on it, as the repetitious nature of it was starting to grate on me towards the end, which is not the games fault entirely. From a sound design perspective, the game is honestly, a little limited, but what sound effects there is, happen to be well realised, most Nexomon have a unique call as they enter and exit battle, which is an interesting edition. The sound effects attached to the moves themselves also sound devastating when they need to, and suitably goofy for some of the more unusual moves your Nexomon can learn. Now, to the gameplay – honestly speaking, if you’ve played a Pokemon game, then you probably know what to expect here. However, Nexomon is a little more unique in that it wants you to at least strategise a little more in battles. You can’t easily just brute force your way through by overtraining your Nexomon. The game is wise to that, and it stops you earning decent experience points once you hit a certain level in each area. So instead you’re often fighting Nexomon at a higher level than you. Which require a broad team of Nexomon at your disposal – thus, requiring you to have access to a raft of different situational elemental attacks. allowing you to deal with your opponent accordingly. One thing that personally stood out for me about Nexomon’s combat, was that you can’t just blast your opponents away the moment they summon their next Nexomon, after you defeat one. They are always afforded one attack the moment that they enter the battle, which can be an element that you’re not prepared for, and can completely wipe out your Nexomon, or at the very least, put you in a tricky spot, forcing you to find another quickly. Through this gameplay mechanic it really does implore us as gamers to form a balanced team. An aspect of your pursuit of the platinum in this game is that you have to capture or have at some point had one of every unique Nexomon present in the game. You’ll either enjoy this process, or you won’t. Just because I enjoyed this aspect of it, doesn’t mean that everyone would, as you’re often running the RNG gauntlet and desperately hoping for that one spawn that never seems to want to show up. I would argue that the process for capturing the Nexomon is more than a little oversimplified – certainly in this game at least – I’ve heard the sequel fixes that issue quite substantially. However, in Nexomon, you have two options afforded to you – a regular Nexotrap, and a Golden Nexotrap, that’s it, the latter essentially serving as this games equivalent of a Master Ball (one hundred percent success rates trap, basically). You essentially end up getting a huge abundance of Golden Nexo traps through exploration and completion of both the story, and post game story content. So it becomes a case of once you’re at that point you can often just immediately catch some of the hardest Nexo’s with relative ease. A little side note, that I personally enjoyed was that each Nexomon has a rarity denotation, as Common, Uncommon, Rare and Mega Rare. Each one also tells you in a universal way, whether or not that Nexomon will evolve. Common ones won’t, Uncommon’s will once, etcetera etcerta, I’m sure you can see where I was going with that haha. As with Pokemon games, you’re granted the chance to choose a starter Nexomon, but unlike most older Pokemon games, you have no way to catch the other Starters, but in Nexomon, you can do just that, and eventually, if you so wished you could have a team made solely of the starter Nexomon and all of their respective evolutions. I fear that I have now said Nexomon so many times it has now lost all meaning, if it indeed ever had any. With that in mind, I think it’s time to take this review home. The question I always ask at the end here, is would I recommend this? Yes, I would, so long as you know what you’re getting into. It isn’t bland, it certainly isn’t generic, but it is very much a clone of another game, it knows it, and you should too, but that doesn’t make it any less worthwhile It isn’t the greatest game you could ever wish to play, but it is pretty good, and it will hold your attention rather well – in truth, for the entire time I played this, I only found it started to feel a little grind heavy towards the very end, when I was trying to track down the final few Nexomon. One of which required fighting specific trainers, all over the map, meaning I had to painstakingly traverse the map a second time. If, like me, you get an occasional itch to play a Pokemon game. Yet don’t have a Nintendo console with which to do so, then this absolutely is a game worth your time, it did for me, and I’m definitely going to be playing the sequel in future. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, that was a quick and fun one! It's nice to be back anyway, I need to stop taking such long breaks from writing these things, and I really am going to make a conscious effort to do just that. I need to actively make time to write these, as I always enjoy doing them, I just haven't really loved the idea of sacrificing gaming time to do it, but I think that's something I'm going to have to learn to balance. The Shapeshifting Detective review is up next on the slate, that should be a fairly quick and simple one, as there's not all too much I can say about it without dipping into spoilers, which I almost never do, so I'm hoping to get to that at some point next week! Either way, I won't leave it months before posting. I have updated the first and second posts at the start of this thread with most of my most recent completions, so I'm tempted to jump around and get to certain reviews faster, we'll see on that one.... but if you want some idea of what is coming up review wise, you can find my ordered platinum vault, on either the first post or the second post, and that'll give you an idea of what I'll probably be writing about coming up. Just open up the spoiler bubbles and you can see what's gonna be in the pipeline, some games I'm pretty excited to write about! Catch you all in the next one folks! 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Platinum_Vice Posted October 6, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted October 6, 2023 It's great to see you back here! 23 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: However, Nexomon is a little more unique in that it wants you to at least strategise a little more in battles. You can’t easily just brute force your way through by overtraining your Nexomon. The game is wise to that, and it stops you earning decent experience points once you hit a certain level in each area. So instead you’re often fighting Nexomon at a higher level than you. Which require a broad team of Nexomon at your disposal – thus, requiring you to have access to a raft of different situational elemental attacks. allowing you to deal with your opponent accordingly. One thing that personally stood out for me about Nexomon’s combat, was that you can’t just blast your opponents away the moment they summon their next Nexomon, after you defeat one. They are always afforded one attack the moment that they enter the battle, which can be an element that you’re not prepared for, and can completely wipe out your Nexomon, or at the very least, put you in a tricky spot, forcing you to find another quickly. Through this gameplay mechanic it really does implore us as gamers to form a balanced team. This is interesting and it sounds like a refreshing way to update the Pokemon formula. I had Gens 1-3 but then exited stage left when the games didn't develop down a path that I wanted them to (being able to complex a pokedex outside of Japan, developing a decent 3D RPG, ageing/maturing with the playerbase, or innovating to overcome flaws with the gameplay). It's good to see that Nexomon at least addresses the latter. I'm looking forward to your reviews as they come in, especially that 381-390 group, which looks stacked!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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