DrBloodmoney's Super Scientific Ranking of Games!

[rjkclarke]

11 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Hey - don't shy away from the credit - as far as I'm concerned, I would likely have sontinued to wallow in ignorance were it not for your prodding with these ones, so kudos! You can be sure I'd be laying the blame at your doorstep if I had hated them, so it has to work both ways 

 

I have just fired up Afterparty at @YaManSmevz's express recommendation, and thd same rules shall apply - if great, he gets all the credit, if terrible, he assumes all the blame! 

 

 

This is true I guess - and I would be fine with taking that blame if you did.

 

Funny you mention that - because once I finish up Oxenfree, Afterparty is the next one I'm planning to play courtesy of @YaManSmevz' recommendation as well - so I guess we'll have a fairly Afterparty heavy checklist section in the next week or so - especially as Cassy played it fairly recently too.

 

14 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Yeah...

.... I do wonder if, 6 months from now, I will look back and think that I gave Nexus a bum rap, given how close to Crack in Time I played it.

 I really didn't give it room to breath on it's own, and was constantly comparing it to what felt like a much better game. I guess I'll see, but it really did suffer for its proximity to greatness in my eyes!

 

Well, when I get to reviewing them myself - I suspect I'm going to have that same problem you just described - because, I just looked out of curiosity to see what my proximity to Nexus was after playing Crack in Time and it turns out - I got the platinum in essentially a day after getting Crack in Time's. Crack in Time was the 25th October, and Nexus was October 26th. It looks like I got the platinum in Crack in Time and then went straight into Nexus at like 3AM (I'll never quite escape insomnia, ?) In fact in the span of a year I played 9 Ratchet games -  woohoo for pointless facts right? So I'm worried my thoughts about those are going to just blend together. 

 

You might think that about Nexus further down the line - but I doubt it, I just don't quite think it holds up as well compared to Crack in Time. That one was just of a pretty high quality across the board.

 

24 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Hmmm - one thing I will say, is, Yes, by all means check out Uncanny Valley... but if you are in the mood for that genre, and haven't played Lone Survivor - THAT is the one to go for initially. I think that's the best example of the genre.... and I think you, specifically, would like it -  (I haven't reviewed yet, but when I do, there will be a lot of David Lynch movies referenced. Like, A LOT of them!)

 

 

Interesting - I think I bought that the other day, when it was on sale for like 57P (or something very close to that) - I mean you can't really go wrong with that kind of price -  so I guess I'll follow your expert advice and play that one first.

 

26 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Oh God, not half. I already had the game, but getting those DLCs was a Kafka-esque nightmare. How do you have a store with no payment option, and no visible "Buy" buttons?!?!?

 

It is pretty archaic at this point isn't it - going from even the PS4 to  the PS3 one feels like stepping out of Tesco's and then going straight to one of those Victorian Ice Market's on the Thames where you constantly feel like the ice could break away at any moment ?

 

29 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Yeah - there are lots of bad games out there, and mostly, they just make me sigh - but it's only when I feel like they are deliberately preying on people do I get actively annoyed - and when I think they are deliberately faking the 'emotional' side of gaming - the one genre that still struggles for acceptance and for credibility, even in 2021, I get really livid. If I thought it was made from the heart, and was just a bad game, that would be one thing, but the fact that it feels like a bad game which then tried to excuse itself by feigning emotional overtones...

... that really boiled my piss!

 

Definitely avoid that one. LA Cops sucks completely - worse than Lost at Sea...

 

...but Lost at Sea still got me angrier! 

 

Noted!

 

That's unfortunately one of the most transparent things too - when they are definitely trying to hit all those tickbox points they think they should to  make you - erm "feel feelings."

 

Yet all of those things are just so inorganic and - well you said it best yourself, fake feeling. That I guess you can't help but feel infuriated by that.

 

I genuinely would have fallen into the same pit of spikes with leaves over it, that you did with this game, so I'm very grateful for the fact that I'll be able to side step them and offer you a hand out of them instead of falling in myself, and having to write my own frustrated review.

[YaManSmevz]

The developers of Lost at Sea were told about your review and were available for comment:

 

First @GonzoWARgasm writes an excellent piece on Ratchet and Clank, and now you're tossin more gasoline on that fire with even more wonderful words. Well THAT DOES IT! You people have stood in my way long enough, I'm getting some R&C in my life!!

 

Also you heroically dove in between me and the bullet that is LA Cops, I'll always be in your debt for this! I watched a playthrough out of morbid curiosity and I was baffled at how they'd managed to make such a concept so dull. I was even forgetting the music as I was watching the video! And you certainly didn't mince words, I can only shudder to think how much worse it is that I'm not even privy to. Seeing it hit those depths of scientific analysis, I couldn't help but picture the determination of its quality looking like

 

As always Doc, excellent work!

14 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I have just fired up Afterparty at @YaManSmevz's express recommendation, and thd same rules shall apply - if great, he gets all the credit, if terrible, he assumes all the blame! ?

 

Woohoo!! Blame accepted?

 

"Actually, I hated it."

 

....fuck?

[DrBloodmoney]

9 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said:

Woohoo!! Blame accepted

 

"Actually, I hated it."

 

....fuck

Haha - well, I’m only a few hours in, but so far seems you are more than safe ??

[Platinum_Vice]

On 08/11/2021 at 5:26 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

 

 

 

This is a great idea.

 

 

 

On 12/11/2021 at 4:34 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Like some kind of magical Kerplunk marble, it manages to fall directly through the tree of Hotline Miami, yet be untouched by a single one of that game's many awesome branches, landing, instead, squarely in a pool of its own rotten faeces on the ground.

 

LA Cops is an abject mess.
Unoriginal, unimportant, unenjoyable, unsatisfying, unpleasant, uninteresting... and thoroughly unworthy of my, your, or any self-respecting gamer's time.

 

Space Overlords was a turd of a game, unsatisfying and unfathomably poorly designed... but the metaphorical butthole that that turd was ejected from was at least a semi-original butthole. 
LA Cops is being pooped out of a Hotline Miami-shaped butthole. That it manages to be just as bad - if not worse - than Space Overlords, without even attempting to be original, (in fact doing its damnedest not to be,) is a feat of truly remarkable illogic.

 

 

So... you didn't like it?

 

 

 

On 12/11/2021 at 4:34 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

 

 

That is enough to push A Crack in Time over the top, to take the crown as the current Ratchet and Clank pack leader!

 

 

I guess I'm Tom Cruise and you're Jack Nicholson, because I can't handle the truth ?

 

 

 

Quote

 

 

 

A big write up, even for you!

 

I gave this one a try on your recommendation... Didn't vibe with the tone (same core issue with the PS3 Ratchet games, I guess). For @rjkclarke's information though, Quantum Conundrum has a demo on the PS3 PSN store. Keen to hear your thoughts too!

 

 

 

Quote

 

 

That summary sounds good, doesn't it? 
The game it speaks to certainly sounds like a "DrBloodmoney darling". 
It hits a lot of the big points most likely to get a thumbs up from me:
Indie game? Check.
Walking Sim? Check.
Metaphors? Check.
Tragedy? Check.
Puzzles? Check Check Check!

 

 

Oh my god have I been there. Recipe for great success!!! ... or heavy disappointment. A shame, mate, a shame.

 

 

Quote

 

Remember:

 

SPECIAL NOTE

 

If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! 

 

 

For reals: whenever I nominate a game, there is absolutely NO RUSH to get to it, more than happy for others' nominations to be prioritised over mine, especially if they happen to be new contributors/followers of your checklist.

 

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

First @GonzoWARgasm writes an excellent piece on Ratchet and Clank, and now you're tossin more gasoline on that fire with even more wonderful words. Well THAT DOES IT! You people have stood in my way long enough, I'm getting some R&C in my life!!

 

 

My guy: go chronogical.

[DrBloodmoney]

 

!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!

 

 

The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

 

 

Gris
LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet 2
LittleBigPlanet 3
Oxenfree

 

With a minimum of 2 Bonus games this round, including:

Afterparty
Sackboy’s Big Adventure

 

 

 

Subject(s) in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT

[Care of @grayhammmer ]

 

 

That's right - another odd one here!

 

Due to the recently S-Ranked games being Afterparty and Sackboy's Big Adventure*, context decrees a necessity to my reviewing Oxenfree, (as the Night School Studio's game predating Afterparty,) and the original Little Big Planet games (as the progenitors of Sackboy's Big Adventure) in this round!

 

* (well, actually, Sackboy isn't quite platted at the time of this post, but with only one trophy to go, and the "Ripsnorter" challenge out of the way, I consider it a fait accompli... (how's that for hubris? ?)

 

Little Big Planet will be of the atypical format first rolled out for the rebooted Hitman Trilogy, (and probably the last of that format,) as they are the only other games I have the S-Ranks in that are really directly affected by their predecessors.

Given that a large portion of their content (in this case, the User-Generated content / costumes etc.) are imported directly from one game to the next, with each subsequent game benefitting from a sizeable chunk of the previous game's content, if feels right to review all three together!

 

 

As such, there is but a single "Priority Ranking" request being done this round, but I guarantee getting to at least one of @Xylobe's picks next time!

 

 

 

 

Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Hitman 3, maintain the title again?

 

Is new low-man-on-the-totem LA Cops going to be prodded out of the title of 'Least Awesome Game'?

 

 

Let's find out, Science Chums!

Edited November 15, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

I'm in the process of writing my big old Little Big Planet series reviews, and am getting in the mood by playing Spotify playlist of the licensed songs used across the series....

 

....and oh man - I hadn't really realised just how many songs from across that series have wormed their way it into my regular Spotify playlists over the years!

 

It's funny how some game series (like Life is Strange) I always associate as having great licensed soundtracks, and look forward to playing them partly because I know there is going to be some new tunes in my rotation afterwards - but Little Big Planet has, it seems, actually been the same all along - I just never noticed! ???

[DrBloodmoney]

 

  NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! 

 

 

Hello Science-Gents and Science-Ladies, as promised (and in some cases requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour!

 

 

Gris

 

Summary: 

Released in 2018, Gris, from Nomada Studio isn't so much an 'art' game, as it is 'art as a game'. That might seem an odd distinction to make, but I think in the case of Gris, it is apt, as the game feels not one in which a game has been artistically made, but rather a piece of art that has been envisioned, and the medium chosen to display that art to world just happen to be a game.

 

To be clear, the 2D Puzzle-lite Platformer has a story to it - a fairly poignant one in fact, concerning grief, loss, depression, and finding the tools to carry on - but the ways in which it conveys that story is not narratively per se, but artistically - and I mean that in the most traditional 'auditory and visual' sense. Gris is not conveying its message in the way even an artistically interesting or obtuse film or novel might, but rather, as a painting or a pice of music might. The comprehension of its thematic stylings and its message are open to, (and reliant upon,) viewer interpretation, but are entirely contingent on metaphor and emotionality of aesthetic, eschewing any prescriptive, or even vaguely descriptive, tendencies.

 

The player takes the role of the eponymous Gris - a young girl who, at the outset, is cast into a strange, foreign, whimsical land when the giant statue holding her up crumbles. After attempting to cry out (or sing out, depending on the player's interpretation,) she finds she has no voice.
She crosses a barren, crumbled landscape, and finds her way to a tower, which acts as the game's central hub, and from here, she travels to different levels - each distinct, and afforded its own specific new mechanic, aesthetic style, colour-palate and tone. Completion of these levels fills in more and more of a starry constellation above the tower, progressing the game towards its emotional denouement. 

 

I am not going to delve into the specific elements of the narrative, such as it is. That is partly due to Gris being a game that would likely be lessened by 'spoilers', but not solely so. It is also a practical consideration, in the sense that Gris' narrative is not only open to player interpretation, but actually relies on it for its reveals. Understanding the significance of elements of the art is as much a factor as platforming or puzzle-solving, and provides the most satisfying element of the journey. 
There is, potentially, a double-barrelled negative element to 'spoilers' in a review of such a game, as not only would they give away what happens, but would also require me to convey my own interpretation of what happened, and that is likely to stack the deck for anyone going in for the first time. While I don't tend to be overly concerned about spoilers in these reviews, I am wary of accidentally forcing my own interpretation of deliberately multi-faceted narrative elements, as hearing someone else's interpretations can be like hearing wrong lyrics in a song - once heard, they can be difficult to un-hear! 

 

What I will say is, I think the narrative elements are handled very effectively. There is no 'choice' elements to the story - it unfolds the same for each player - however, as with a lot of good emotion-based art, the areas left to player interpretation work very effectively. After completion, I had an absolute and solid notion of what I believed to be the 'right' interpretation, however, upon discussion with a friend of mine we discovered that, while we broadly agreed on the ending, we had significant differences in our view on some elements of the journey, and both felt valid. 

 

As said, the game tells its tale, and sets its tone not in narrative elements, but in aesthetic ones, and let's not mess about here: Gris is one of the - if not the - most impressive and striking games even made in the 2D, hand-drawn space. The game is incredible looking. 
Backgrounds and environmental design use a painterly, water-colour aesthetic that is sumptuous and naturalistic, yet it is offset by the the actual design which has an angular, straight-line element, a geometric precision and an almost mathematical devotion to artistic symmetry. The overall look is one that is incredibly unique - not just in the game space, but generally - a sort of Paul Klee by way of JMW Turner, but viewed through a mathematical lens. As if a pastel-shaded watercolour were painted over an architectural blue-print.

 

The individual levels are each distinct, and beautiful to look at, but more than that, each is very much crafted with the overall screen-visual firmly at the centre of the design aesthetic. The effect really is stylistically breath-taking. Lots of games look good, but Gris goes beyond the norm. It is one of only a handful of examples where I would pay good money to hang frescos of it on my walls - and I suspect even the most game-averse guest them would appreciate the art, independent and wholly divorced from the source.

 

That said, the incredible beauty of the visuals - and their position as the clear primary driving force behind the game - is also the source of the only real mechanical problem the game has. Because the visuals are so rich, it can often be difficult, when playing it, to interpret which elements of the art are in the 'interactable' plane. Levels can sometimes become difficult to traverse, as distinction between the elements that are, say, platforms, and which are simply artistic flourishes in the foreground or background can be blurred, and rely on trial and error. The game is not overly difficult and there is little consequence to failure however, and so the price payed in pursuit of an artistic triumph (which the visuals assuredly are,) feels an acceptable price to pay.

 

In terms of Audio - again - the game gets incredibly high marks. The original score is a modern-orchestral, ambient affair, and of such superlative quality that, like the art, it both immeasurably elevates the game, and stands tall, independent of it. (Full disclosure - I am a big fan of ambient music - I play it constantly while working and writing, and the Gris soundtrack has been saved on my Spotify for years. I have listened to it countless times, and have probably been listening to it while writing a bunch of previous reviews, in fact!)

 

In terms of gameplay, Gris is... fine. Mechanically, it is a simple game - easy to complete and not burdened by challenge (the focus here is on allowing the player to see the narrative through, and as said, the game is more a vehicle for the art, rather than the converse) - however, it is no Walking Sim. There are puzzle elements to Gris, and platforming elements, and while neither is particularly difficult, the puzzles are interesting at times, and the platforming, while simple, still requires concentration. 
The game's mechanics, it must be said, would not likely carry a 20 hour game. As games go, they are basic. Unobtrusive. However, the short length of Gris (around 4-5 hours,) and the variety afforded by the level-specific unique mechanics mean that the player has enough to do while appreciating the gorgeous art, the excellent soundtrack, and the esoteric narrative elements, without over feeling any drag.

 

It's worth noting - the game offers little in the way of traditional replay value - certainly there is merit to a replay, but only in the sense that there is merit to revisiting a museum. The experience does not change, (though the player interpretation might,) and really, replays are repeats - the joy is in experiencing the game, rather than investigating it.

Overall, it's hard to fault Gris on many aspects. The artistic side is certainly beyond reproach - Gris is one of very few games where I think footage of a complete playthrough could likely be cut down into a 90-minute 'artistic animation' movie that would be in contention for awards - and the audio is wonderful. 
The narrative is minimalistic and esoteric, but weaved in tandem with the visuals perfectly, and works very well. The mechanical gameplay is minimal, and not nearly as original or interesting as the aesthetic side, but it does the job, and works well enough - as a vehicle for the games' sights and sounds. 
If anything is going to pull a player back for a second playthrough, it is not going to be the mechanical aspects...
...but that's not really a denigration of them. It's just a testament to the other elements. Very few games could pull a player back for another full playthrough on the strength of the art and music alone.

Gris could.

 

 

The Ranking:

Ranking Gris feels a little difficult, as the game is really art-forward, gameplay-behind, and so in reality, it might actually be fairer to compare Gris to other artistic endeavours than other videogames... however, as a game, it is subject to science, and so, it must dance with the girl that brung it!

The category most appropriate in this list, is probably platforming puzzle games, in which strong art is on show, and there is a strong theme.

The one that comes quickly to mind is magical-realism soaked, hope-in-sadness simulator Rain. Rain is a game that also relies on striking visuals, and on puzzle elements, and uses a similarly minimalist, heavily metaphorical element in its narrative. 

As compared to Rain, while the puzzle elements are weaker, I do think Gris stands taller. The art is more striking, the message more profound (and more universally applicable,) and while Rain has some things to say about melancholy, Gris is going deeper, and with a defter hand, into genuine mental issues and grief.

 

That places it above Rain, but we have to travel a long way up the list to find the next example of an artful visual game using metaphor and minimalist narrative to tell a story - that of Limbo. As great as Gris looks - and it does - and as profound as it's message gets, it simply isn't Limbo. It cannot come close to competing as a videogame. Limbo controls better, and has much more interesting (in terms of videogames) puzzles, and while it's art may be lesser, it is no slouch there either - so we need to look in the big gulf between.

 

About half-way in-between, lies Superliminal. That game isn't telling a profound message - it is puzzles through and through - however, it is an indie of comparable length, and deals a lot in metaphor. While artistically, again, Gris is the superior entity, the gameplay still lets it down. This is a running theme in finding a spot for Gris, and a lot of it comes down to how highly one rates art over genuinely interesting puzzle gameplay, but in the end, I value to puzzles over the art, and so Gris falls lower than Superliminal. 

 

Further down, there is The Pedestrian, and I could basically carbon copy what I just said about Superliminal. However, that is the point at which it starts to get close. While The Pedestrian has great puzzles and an interesting motif (and a really clever twist,) the areas in which it can compete with Gris are much narrower. Music is nothing to write home about in The Pedestrian, and the game has no real emotional side, and so it becomes harder for the puzzles alone to outclass the sum of all other parts, and I think Gris beats it overall.

 

It is a close call, however, as The Pedestrian's puzzles are really good, I feel comfortable placing Gris just directly above it, and still one notch lower than Tim Schaffer's excellent, funny, witty, and seminal classic Grim Fandango.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

Little Big Planet Trilogy

 

Scientific Note

 

Like the Hitman trilogy, the Little Big Planet series benefits from the compounding effect of content carry-over. Levels crafted in LBP are available in LBP2, and in LBP3, so in the sense of the user-creation side, the games are very much building on top of their previous iterations successes. That means that - in that aspect - the games are virtually guaranteed to rank higher as the series progresses. 
However, unlike Hitman, the same is not true of the campaigns - the 'adventure modes'. In the case of adventure mode, each LBP entry is distinct, and non-transferrable. 

I'm treating these as a full series, with each reviewed together, then all ranked at the end - though I will note - while I would argue that the real tail of these games is, and always has been, the near infinite content pool provided by the 'Play, Create, Share' aspect of the games, this is still a trophy website, and I am still a trophy guy. As such, the campaigns, to me, have an equal weight in terms of judgement of quality and ranking, and so there is no guarantee of compounding ranking levels. 

 

 

Summaries: 

 

Little Big Planet

Releasing in 2007, Little Big Planet - the 2D party platformer and creativity-focussed level-building toolkit from Media Molecule - is a game that feels, in a very real way, like magic. 

 

The Playstation 3 exclusive spear-headed an entire new mantra within Sony - the 'Play, Create, Share' initiative - that would go one to expand beyond Media Molecule, finding it's way into other games, yet so hard did Media Molecule wrap its arms around the successful implementation of the mentality behind it, and to such high quality did they build their own games in that mould, that really, the initiative never really gained much of a foothold independent of them. 
While Little Big Planet as a series absolutely thrived with, and revelled in, the Play, Create, Share mantra, other games that attempted to dip their toes never managed even a fraction of the success. The games that followed the initiative with their entire package - most notably Mod Nation Racers - failed to outlast even LBP's freshman effort in the zeitgeist, and the games that implemented aspects of Play, Create, Share around the edges - inFamous 2, Echochrome, Joe Danger, to name a few - found those areas relegated to the sidelines - small pools of content from small user-bases, catering to a dedicated, but dwindling hardcore base. 

Part of the failure of the initiative to take off independent of its progenitor can, of course, be traced to hubris. Looking at the ethos of a single game as a replicable commodity to be repackaged and reappropriated, rather than lightning-in-a-bottle magic to be admired, is certainly a risky, rather foolhardy corporate decision - but it can also be traced to the supreme high quality of that initial outing. Commoditisation of a concept, when its initial instigator is so good, has a tendency to make all future entries look like also-rans. While this is not the case for the LBP series necessarily, or Media Molecule's output specifically, (and to some extent, that of Sumo, who picked up the mantle on the LBP franchise after Media Molecule,) it is exactly what happened to virtually all other games in the space.
Lightning in a bottle is, by its very definition, not replicable on demand.

The original game itself, is delightful. Presented as a magical realm of creativity that exists in parallel with and in the spaces between the 'real world', (and with requisite fatherly whimsey, via the soothing vocal stylings of comedic genius, actual genius, and god-damned-National-Treasure Stephen Fry,) The player is introduced to 'Sackboy' a burlap and buttons rag-doll who, even without a voice or a backstory, manages to have more personality in his tongue-flapping smile than half the videogame protagonists out there have in their long-winded monologues.

 

Throughout the narrative 'adventure mode', Sackboy ventures to the eight differently themed areas of LittleBigPlanet, meeting the eight 'Creator Curators,' - whimsical character, each more imaginatively designed and lovingly thrown together as the last - and solving problems for them, via loose, physics-based romps through a series of creative, patchwork-looking levels. 
Completing these levels, and discovering the huge amount of secrets within each one has one fundamental goal - opening up new avenues for creativity. Whether that is via costume items to customise Sackboy, additional options for crafting levels in the expansive creator side of the game, stickers for customising the hub area, or - most importantly - sparking ideas for content creation.

The narrative 'adventure mode' features levels created by Media Molecule, of course, however, for the most part, these levels could be recreated using the create mode by players themselves. The crux of the games development was on the toolbox, and the campaign mode was created with that toolset after the fact, meaning it serves as both the 'hobby shop' through which level-creation pieces are unlocked, and a demonstration kiosk - showcasing what can be created, and giving the player ideas to jump off from.

 

That level creation side of the game is incredibly deep and complex, (and would only get more so as the series progressed.) That is something of a double edged sword in terms of my personal enjoyment of it. While the crafting tools are - really - the most impressive aspect of the game, they are so in-depth, and so complex at times, that I really only scratched the surface of them during my time with the game. I tried my hand at crafting some interesting levels, but the staggering versatility of the creation tools mean that they can be overwhelming. The complexity of the tools means there is a resulting complexity to the learning of them. LBP user-creation lacks any of the 'pick-up-and-create' of a Hitman contract or, say, a Timesplitters snap-map (my other major foray into UGC!) Learning to craft amazing looking levels requires a level of tutorialising that would give Photoshop a run for its money. As such, while I can certainly reap the fruits of the creation tools, in the sense that I have enjoyed the myriad user-created levels it led to, I never really delved deep into creating my own. For me, LBP is a game I play, and enjoy the creations of others, but not one I create myself - and I doubt I am alone in this regard. Having said that though, even without creating much, there is more than enough game here to justify the cost of admission.

 

Mechanically, the game is very solid. The physics model used and the control scheme is loose and free, and not prone to much in the way of precision - which can feel jarring to a player attempting to view Little Big Planet as a pure 'platformer'. Certainly, coming from a more 'precise' platforming model - Super Mario World, being my go-to example - the spongey, imprecise controls of LBP will feel very jarring, however, to view LBP that way is to so massively miss the point as to make poor sackboy weep. In fact, the looseness of the controls are the very crux of why LBP works as well as it does. 
The fact that there is a careening, tumbling, stumbling, floaty quality to the movement of Sackboy (and, ideally, his Sackboy and Sackgirl friends,) adds to the craftwork, patchwork aesthetic, and sets the tone for the entire game - Little Big Planet isn't a game you play, it is a game IN WHICH you play. 
'Play' is the driving force here - true 'play'. The kind of 'play' you did as a kid. Creative, silly, wacky, imaginative play - where exploring and jumping and bumping into one another was fun in and of itself, and the person saying "come on guys, we need to get on," got only giggles (and possibly a wedgie) as a response.

 

That isn't to say there aren't objectives to the levels - there are - or that there isn't a solid platformer in here - there is. actually, one that can get quite challenging in spots - but that is not the primary focus. Even the challenging aspects of the game - generally in the 'acing' of levels (i.e. completing without deaths,) is something relegated to the sidelines - there for those who want it, but not terribly consequential outside of the trophy list, and surfaced far less than the more creativity-focussed, fun aspects.
In terms of S-Ranking, I will say, every LBP game has always had a deceptively challenging streak to it -  each game has at least a smattering of genuinely tricky levels to 'ace', and those are the areas where our trophy-hungry brains force us to treat LBP as more of a 'straight' singe-player platformer, but it is telling that the game is far more interested in presenting areas where multiple players are required to unlock specific costume parts or stickers, than in overtly surfacing a player's 'skill credentials' to those players. Media Molecule understand that some of us Trophy Fools want a challenge, but they would rather we had fun, used our imaginations, made some levels and made some friends!

Visually, Little Big Planet is a triumph. The worlds are patchwork quilts of ideas, built of well rendered brick-a-brack in 3-levels of playable depth, and contain more thematic and aesthetic variety than a Hollywood costume warehouse. The Blue-Peter toilet-roll-holders and sticky-back-plastic aesthetic is stuck to with 100% dedication and confidence, and it makes seeing what Media Molecule - and the talented users out there - can create with that a constant, consistent and limitless source of wonder and entertainment. 

 

Audio is great throughout. The sounds are fun and cartoony - the pop of collectible bubbles, or the zip-sting of level completion still give me a dopamine rush - and music is truly inspired. The general score is provided by the Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra, and is pitch perfect in tone, but there is also a smattering of licensed music, used to great effect. This first game has songs by personal favourites Battles and The Go! Team (I'd argue LBP basically re-contextualised The Go! Team's 'Get It Together' so completely, that it is impossible to hear it now without thinking of Sackboy!) It also features some tracks I wasn't aware of before, but became regular Spotify listens afterwards - by Kinky and Cafe Tacvba - which work wonders to add variety to the audio-scape of the levels. 

The original Little Big Planet is, to my mind, the premier example of a game that no one quite knew they wanted, but knew the second it released that they needed.
It managed to straddle the line between charming narrative platformer, exceptionally deep, nuanced and clever creation tool, and fun-for-all-the-family, party entertainment to a degree that is genuinely unique and entirely admirable. 
The game is endlessly playable - with user-generated content making that a literal, rather than figurative statement - tremendously fun, has challenge, charm, whimsey, great music, and works in solo, co-op or party play. 
Sony had spent 3 generations looking for a mascot to provide them with their 'Mario or Sonic' - with Little Big Planet, they finally found one. 
Its-a him, Sackboy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Big Planet 2

Little Big Planet 2 was a tough thing to get right. No one wants break a winning formula.
Media Molecule themselves are on record, post-LBP, stating that they were not enamoured of the idea of a sequel. They initially felt that doing so would potentially discard all the user-generated content built in the first game, split the user-base, and actively discourage user-creation going forward, if the dedicated creation-base felt there was a franchise-led expiry date on the longevity of their masterpieces. 
Those were all - it should be said - valid concerns. However when Media Molecule decided to go ahead with the publisher desired sequel, they did it in the smartest way possible, and avoided any of those issues. They did not overwrite anything - they just expanded it. Rather than change what was on the canvas, they carried it whole-cloth, and sellotaped it in the centre of a new, bigger one, keeping the original unchanged, but extending out in all directions. 

 

Every User-Generated level from Little Big Planet is playable within Little Big Planet 2, with the upgraded rendering and lighting tools making them look even better than before. In addition to those platforming level creation tools, users were given a plethora of new toys to play with, with which they could craft wholly different styles of gameplay within levels. Little Big Planet 2 was the point at which race levels, puzzles, shooter - even RPG elements could be incorporated into level design. Cut-scenes could be rendered and added, boolean programming elements baked into levels, and a vast array of new elements because possible.

 

This - of course - exponentially exaggerated different users approach to the series. If Little Big Planet was complicated in terms of creation (as it was for me,) LBP2 become completely baffling. However, for that dedicated community of gifted level-creators, the already high ceiling on creativity was completely blown apart. User-generated levels began, almost immediately, to go from interesting, to utterly fascinating. People like me, who's relationship to the creation tools is purely as a consumer, stopped being dazzled simply by choice, and began being baffled by the ways levels actually worked. 
The effect was staggering. 

LBP2 is where people began creating completely amazing things within levels, (I'm sure many are familiar with the level in which a someone managed to make a functional calculator using only the creation tool logic!) It meant that LBP2 is, really, the truest form of user-creation tool in the series - both Media Molecules realisation of the breadth of what they created in the original Little Big Planet, and a clear stepping stone towards their ultimate magnum opus - the complete abandonment of surrounding framework, and wholesale creation of the 'creation-tool-as-game' genre, with PS4 game Dreams. 

 

That might seem enough to justify a sequel alone - and it is - and one could have easily forgiven Media Molecule for using the massive expansion in the creation tool side of the games an excuse to sideline the single player 'adventure mode'. (It is clear, after all, given the direction they took subsequent to the LBP series, that that was always their desire,) but that was not what happened at all.The adventure mode of Little Big Planet 2 is, in fact, expanded and deepened to a similar degree.

 

Where Little Big Planet's story mode is essentially 8 separate demonstration kiosks - individual stories with only the loosest of overarching narrative beyond the 'creativity is great' motif - Little Big Planet 2 is given a true narrative plot.

An inter-dimensional being - the Negativitron (a vacuum cleaner to our 'worldly' eyes, but a demonic entity to little Sackboy,) is threatening Little Big Planet, intent on sucking it all into its scary plastic mouth. A group known as the Alliance is dedicated to battling with the Negativitron and defeating it, and after rescuing Sackboy from its clutches by one of their members - Larry DaVinci - he is dispatched on a quest to meet with different members of the Alliance, to learn different skills in order to save his cloth-and-cardboard world.

 

While the story is fun and silly - and still all-ages-appropriate, with nothing untoward for the littlest gamers, but plenty of fun for all - it now has stakes, a through-line, and a feeling of a true 'quest' for little Sackboy. 
Most of the levels retain the 'true' form of Little Big Planet - 3-plane platforming with clever, silly uses of it's loosey-goosey control scheme and more charm than you could shake a stick at - but the level design feels less like a demonstration of where users should begin their crafting journey, and more a demonstration of where they could take it, with enough practice. Even the early levels feel of the creative level of the later, stand-out ones in the first game, and the updated graphical touches and better lighting make the whole thing look absolutely gorgeous.

 

The mechanics and controls are completely unchanged from the original game - by necessity, of course, given the carry-over of previous built levels - however, there are a lot more in the way of level-unique mechanics, and some fun additions, in the form of the bespoke bonus levels, where a lot of the newer genre-defying creation mechanics are showcased. Rather than simple platforming from one level to the next, now you can be in a platformer one minute, a SHMUP the next, swinging from grapple hooks in the next, and in a tank battle soon after, across a sizeable campaign, meaning even the 'adventure mode' alone is worth the price of admission.

Audio remains a highlight, with voice work still top-notch and fun, the score retains its quality, and there is a wealth of new licensed music on show, including Passion Pit, Ochre, Paid and Ladytron (one of my favourite Ladytron songs, in fact!) 

 

 

 

 

Little Big Planet 3

Media Molecule's initial reluctance to sequalize their game may have been abated for Little Big Planet 2, but by the time another sequel was floated, that reticence could no longer be quashed, and the franchise mantle was handed to Sumo Digital - creators of, among others, the far-better-that-they-had-any-right-to-be Sonic All-Stars Racing games. 

 

While a Little Big Planet game from anyone other than Media Molecule was a source of some (well-founded) trepidation among fans, Sumo, it should be said, did a pretty good job as stewards of the franchise in Media Molecule's wake. 
The main, most important aspect - the, by this point monstrously large and unfathomably complex, network of user-generated content from both previous games was inherited, and remained fully playable within the new game, and Sumo clearly understood the necessities that this entails. 
The user-creation tools were not messed with, and remained untarnished, and the physics model, control scheme and 'feel' of the game remained true to the required formula, however, Sumo are not Media Molecule. They are game creators, not game creator-creators. As such, while some additions were made around the edges to the actual creation tools, there were relatively minimal, and driven far more by the additions they made to the 'adventure mode' than anything else. There was no enormous step up in the toolset, as with the jump from LBP to LBP2. there are additions - platforming levels can have more planes of usable depth, and the ability to create custom power-ups added a welcome compounding of complexity - but these feel more like variations on an existing theme, than true new areas of control. Levels being created in LBP3 had additional tweaks, but they didn't feel like as massive a sea-change as the levels in LBP2 had felt post LBP.

Little Big Planet 3, while solid, feels very much the first game in the franchise where the 'adventure mode' campaign is the driving force of the game, rather than the development of the creation tools. Yet, for all that, it is notable that the adventure mode itself never quite lives up to that of its immediate predecessor.

Adding three new characters, with additional, non-standard control schemes and nuances - Oddsock (a canine Sackdog,) Swoop (a Sackbird,) and Toggle, a unique looking version of Sackboy, able to toggle between a large and small version of himself - is not an inherently bad idea, however, given that user-generated levels need to be crafted specifically for them, they have a remarkably limited area of use. None of the millions, (literally millions,) of levels inherited from LBP and LBP2 are suitable for these characters, and because the adventure mode makes fairly limited use of them also, they have trouble feeling like integral parts of the game. Where they are used, they are used quite well, and to interesting effect, but those moments are fleeting and sparse.

 

The overall adventure mode does remain pretty good - the narrative is fun, this time concerning a new area - Bunkum - to which Sackboy is transported by the wacky Newton (played by Hugh Lawrie - in possibly the most appropriate casting choice ever made for someone to play the counter to Stephen Fry!) who is inadvertently turned evil by unleashing the Titans of Creativity on Bunkum. Sackboy, at the behest of new hero NanaPud, and along with his new Sack-thing chums, sets out on an adventure to stop Newton, and save Bunkum.

 

The theme in LBP3 is theatrics, and everything in Bunkum is presented as a sort of theatrical play, complete with curtains, stages, and loose parody of all aspects of theatre from vaudeville onwards, and retains the signature charm of the franchise completely. 
However, the adventure mode is short, and not quite as heavy on secrets, or challenge, than its predecessors.  Everything is still there - the fun, the whimsey, the sense of adventure and the party good-times, and for a fan, there is little they could point to specifically and say "that isn't as good", but the overall effect jut feels a little less... magical. Perhaps that's just the law of diminishing returns, but I suspect not - having played all campaigns games numerous times, I remember far more specific levels from the first two games than I do of Little Big Planet 3.

 

Visually, the game still looks great - the franchise always does - and the theatrical look works for the aesthetic very well. Sackboy and his (now bursting at the seams) wardrobe look fun and wacky as always, and the new characters are all delightful little things.
The audio is still great - licensed music remains inspired, though there is far less focus on pop music here, and much more on period hits to set specific tones. The use in-levels is, if anything, better than ever, however. 

While Little Big Planet 3 benefits from all the user-generated work of its predecessors, and the solid foundation Media Molecule laid, it just doesn't quite manage to keep up, in terms of the overall package. Sumo do a sterling job of curating the legacy, and many of the additions they make, while smaller, are welcome, but the responsibilities that come with inheriting a beloved franchise do seem hinder them somewhat. Standing, as they do, on the shoulders of giants, they are clearly reticent to mess too much with a working formula, and the changes they do make, while good, they are hesitant to lean into, and so they feel like decoration, rather than advancement.

 

In some ways, I feels like Sumo could have done a much better job playing to their strengths as game creators, by simply eschewing the creation toolkit side of the game, and leaning fully into the crafting of a narrative game using the charming, playful, adorable framework of Little Big Planet as pure aesthetic. While that would change the franchise somewhat - say, requiring a name change... - it would have allowed Sumo to concentrate on what they do best, as demonstrated in the Sonic Racing games - take an existing property, and craft a great new direction for it.

 

Actually, I don't FEEL like that.
 I KNOW that...
...because I've played Sackboy's Big Adventure.

 

 

 

The Rankings:

 

 

Little Big Planet

In finding a spot for Little Big Planet, we have to consider first, the platformer aspect. There aren't too many on the list, but one that jumps out is Rayman Origins. Rayman Origins is, of course, the tighter platformer, and looks gorgeous - I think the hand-drawn art-style of it does outclass the 3D patchwork look of the first LBP. Audio is basically a wash, as both are great, and both benefit from being tremendous fun in both solo and co-op play. Little Big Planet wins on whimsey and overall tone, while, Rayman Origins is the superior, longer and more interesting solo campaign. 
However, LBP has the entire user-creation side to it -  a side for which Rayman Origins has no answer, and which grants LBP a breathtaking variety Rayman cannot compete with and a longevity it cannot muster.
Factor both aspects in, and Little Big Planet has to take the win.

 

It is close, though. While the original Little Big Planet has charm all the way to the bank, it doesn't have much in the way of narrative through-line, and for a player such as myself, who only consumes levels, rather than bakes them, that is a material factor. Yes, there is longevity, but the levels are broadly similar - particularly in this first entry, where all levels are essentially variations on the same platforming theme. 

 

It makes comparison with something like Brothers : A Tale of Two Sons tough, as while that game is minuscule is scope by comparison, its short campaign does have a lot more heart, real emotion, and actually, potentially more variety of aesthetic. While Sackboy's adventures can take him anywhere that a users imagination can go, it is all of a type, and while deliberately so - it is frivolous. There is no emotional hook.

As such, for the first outing in Little Big Planet, I have trouble imagining it beating Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and so it find's it's spot.

 

 

Little Big Planet 2

Little Big Planet 2, on the other hand, has no such issues.

The campaign is longer and more varied, the narrative has actual weight (not emotional weight exactly, as this is still a whimsical, low-stakes adventure, suitable for all the family, but within that ethos, there is a real story,) and the variety of potential game types, levels and genres is enormous. It took the series from a platformer-builder to a game-builder, and as such, the longevity argument is no longer curtailed by any lack of variety.

 

It's probably clear from my reviews, that I consider Little Big Planet 2 to be the pinnacle of the franchise - it has the best campaign, and introduced all the best new elements to the user-creation toolkit, resulting in the most interesting levels. 

That catapults it up the list. It is virtually impossible for nearly any game on the current list to compete with the replayability or the variety of LBP2 - with a couple of potential exceptions: the Hitman trilogy - owing to the contracts mode, and Cities Skylines.

 

As compared to Cities Skylines, Little Big Planet 2 is already in rarified territory, but I think it is earned. While Cities Skylines has potentially more single-player fun to be had in crafting (certainly, I enjoy making a new working city more than I enjoyed crafting levels, when I tried,) however, there is no 'user-end' to Cities. The city you build is just for you, people don't get the benefit of your creation afterwards. 

In the end, I judge these games primarily as consumer games, rather than creation tools, and while I think I have, in reality, spent more time with Cities than with LBP2, it is close, and realistically, LBP2 does have more out there for me. I think, at this point, I have seen all that Cities: Skylines has in it - with LBP2, that task is impossible. 
Overall, as much as I love Cities Skylines, I do think the combination of factors in LBP2 mean it has to take the win.

 

That puts LBP2 in a spot where I need to take on the ranking based on feel, and little more. I cannot use the size of game content as the only factor - if I did, it would dwarf everything else, but cannot ignore it either, and need to simply ask the old, original question - would I play this game, before this other game. 

Where that question leads me, it turns out, is smack-dab in between two games that could not be more diametrically opposite to the LBP franchise - Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Seems bizarre, I know... but it just feels right.

I would happily replay LBP2 anytime, but if push came to shove, I would play Bloodborne again before it, but not Sekiro, despite my abject love of all three!

 

 

Little Big Planet 3

LBP3 becomes the more difficult wildcard then. While it certainly benefits from all the previous content, and has some nice little additions, the overall package doesn't feel as original or magical as the previous two games. The campaign is good - falling below that of LBP2, but significantly above LBP1, and there is a good amount of variety inherent to the new additions, and old inherited stuff.

Musically, I think it is, on balance, probably the weakest of the three, but that's not much of a negative - it's still great, it just doesn't quite appeal in the same way. The platforming is still solid, and I genuinely like the new characters, though they feel like a tease, they are so underused.

 

Overall, I do think LBP3 needs to fall lower than both previous entries though. The lack of really meaty, meaningful additions to the toolset meant there just wasn't the sea-change in level design the first upgrade saw, and the adventure mode didn't step up in the way it really needed to to compensate. It felt good, but not in the same magical way, and that lack of change meant the lack of originality hurts it a bit.

 

Basically, LBP3 is the first game in the series that needs to be judged primarily on its platforming adventure mode alone, and so comparisons become to other platforming games solely.
On the list, I do still think that LBP3 manages to outdo the original Jak and Daxter, which while fun, shows its age in a way other games of its era don't to the same degree. However, the game one spot above - platforming and creativity decoration-heavy Concrete Genie, is a game that seems to also take some inspiration from the LBP series, but does more original with it than LBP3 did, and while it has some ropey gameplay at times, and a slightly off-kilter message, it still has a lot in it's favour, including an originality that cannot be matched by the third entry in a franchise - especially when that 3rd entry is the weakest.

 

As such, I'm comfortable placing Little Big Planet 3 in-between Jak and Daxter, and Concrete Genie.

 

 

 

 

Oxenfree

 

Summary: 

The freshman effort from Night School Studio, supernatural mystery Adventure-lite / Social Simulation game Oxenfree is a game that has oozes a confidence that is usually reserved for games from much longer-in-the-tooth studios. 

 

Playing as teenage girl Alex, who is visiting the mysterious, spooky Edwards Island for a camping trip with her friend Ren, new step-brother Jonas, her dead brother's ex girlfriend Clarissa, and Clarissa's friend Nona. The site of a decommissioned military base, Edwards island has more than a few creepy mysteries up it's sleeves, and when, early on, Alex Ren and Jonas go spelunking in the island's caves, a radio-frequency related anomaly occurs opening some sort of temporal rift, resulting in a mysterious voice speaking to the kids, before they pass out and each awaken in different parts of the island. 

 

The supernatural elements of the narrative work genuinely well - there is an aspect of 'hard' sci-fi to the whole story, closer in spirit to the tone of films like The Jacket, Time Crimes, or Netflix's The Discovery (actually, I remember after seeing The Discovery, I was, and remain, convinced that the writer of that film had played and loved Oxenfree!) -  and it very much sticks to the ethereal elements of ghostly whispers for it's spooks, rather than going 'full-horror'. However, while those elements work extremely well, they are not the strongest card in Oxenfree's narrative hand - that is reserved for the dialogue, and the inter-group conversations and dynamics.

There is a naturality to the dialogue, and specifically to the levels of familiarity between the central characters that is rare in videogame dialogue. While some characters - Alex and Ren, or Clarissa and Nona - know each-other very well, like one another, and have a deft shorthand in their dialogue, others have varying levels of relationship, and of simpatico, and that is reflected particularly well. By having these performances be very well written, (and very well performed,) the game avoids the need for clunky or unrealistic expositional writing. The player infers as much about the characters from how they talk to one another, than they do from what they actually say.

 

Conversations between the different combinations of characters is the real crux of the game - an aspect leaned into particularly well, given that the player often has a choice as to which characters to complete sections with, in addition to the more pedestrian 'choose your dialogue options' within those section. Each character is very well defined, and has a distinct personality. While in many games (and, let's face it, many TV Shows and Films,) characters can tend to become different versions of the same 'voice', with the writer's own personality bleeding into each one, here, all five characters feel separate, individual, and interesting in their own right.

 

What makes Oxenfree a really smart game, is the way in which it's overarching narrative - that of the supernatural factors on Edward's Island, and the (spoiler) Time-Loop aspects of the story - directly support the replay-factor that the conversational and social 'choice-based' aspects of the game design. In many game where choice is a factor in a malleable narrative, (Quantic Dream games, for example, or Supermassive games, or Telltale games,) seeing alternate paths is simply a decision borne out of gameplay curiosity and little else. The narrative completes at the end, and the player can choose to see it through again to view alternate paths, but there is little narrative excuse for it. In Oxenfree, however, the narrative 'wraparound' of the game is actually designed in such a way as to support repeat play as a justified, in-narrative element. Not only does the game encourage replay by giving alternate paths to the story, but it wraps that story up with a path back to the beginning of itself, like a choose-your-own-adventure-Ouroboros, creating the springboard for the player to jump from once again. 

 

Aesthetically and visually, the game is very interesting, and great to look at. There is a stylised, painterly aspect to the backgrounds, which are moody and scene-setting, without being grotesque or overly horrific. The vibe of Oxenfree is certainly 'spooky', but never 'scary', fitting the teen-coming-of-age feel as much as the light-horror sci-fi elements. Character models and foreground environmental elements are polygonal, and 3D, but retain a cell-shaded, painterly look that meshes well with the background art, while still standing out enough that the player never loses the (sometimes quite small) character models in the screen.

 

The actual mechanical gameplay of Oxenfree is simple - generally simply choosing dialogue options and walking. The walking is remarkable simple, even. Given that the characters and foreground elements are 3D, the actual control is largely 2D. Characters will advance towards, or retreat from, the screen in the Z-Axis, however, this is done automatically. For the most part, the player is just directing them left or right, and the depth changes are purely visual and cinematic, rather than mechanical.

This leaves the player focussed solely on the story, narrative and dialogue choices - a lot of which take place while walking from A to B. This can make the pacing of the game feel a little stilted at time - while the movement is pretty much set based on the speed of the game, conversations are not always timed out to fit those journeys. Sometimes, a conversation will reach it's conclusion before the player has reached their destination, meaning a bit of silent walking, or - more often - the conversation takes longer, and the player will either miss the end, or (in my case,) deliberately drag their feet, in aid of hearing it play out before cutting it off. This is, however, a fairly minor issue. The game's environments are plenty nice to look at, and these walk-and-talks are great times to drink in that art-style, while listening to the narrative play out.

 

Audio is excellent across the board - as said, the vocal work is top-notch, buoyed by the writing, and every character feels like they have a distinct voice. The player is likely to have specific characters they like or dislike, but that is also likely to be malleable and change throughout the game, and that is in no small part due to the excellent voice cast. Music is minimal, but very well done and evocative, and sound design is very good too - textured and smart, and creepy/ alarming when it needs to be.

Overall, Oxenfree is a hell of a game. It's a little hard to define in terms of genre - part walking sim, part choose-your-own visual novel, part Adventure-lite, but that difficulty is only evident when sitting down and trying to think of a genre for classification. In game, the whole affair has a coherent and cohesive style and tone, and every aspect of the game - from the narrative, to the dialogue, to the look and feel, and even to the speech-bubbles and the fonts of the text - feeds into that. The overall effect is a very intriguing, extremely well-crafted indie-sci-fi narrative driven by a group of distinct, interesting and largely likeable characters, wrapped in an approachable and compulsive game. 

 

 

The Ranking:

The comparison points for Oxenfree fall in both the Walking Sim camp, and in adventure games, but there are three that are currently quite close together on the ranking that I think jump out - Dear Esther: Landmark Edition, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Firewatch.

 

Of those three the highest ranked is Firewatch, and I think it is probably closest aligned, in the sense that its writing and dialogue is conversation between two parties, rather than monologued. There is also a similarity in the sense of isolation and wilderness of the locations, and in the spooky tone - though of course Firewatch uses this is a very different way towards the ending. 
Both games are very strong, though I do think Firewatch still takes the win. While Oxenfree has a lot more choice and variable stuff, and have very well defined characters and voice work, the voice work in Firewatch is incredibly impressive, and outdoes it, and there is something to be said for Firewatch's ability to completely personify characters, neither of whom we ever actually see.

 

Dear Esther, on the other hand, is a closer call. The eerie Hebridean island has a similarly moody aesthetic, and is arguably more artistically exceptional, though its realistic art-style is perhaps a little less striking or unique as Oxenfree's. The actual quality of the writing in Dear Esther is genuinely poetic and beautiful, but it is a monologue - we get a sense of the main character, but only his perspective, and when it is played, it is played - there is little benefit to replaying beyond simply re-experiencing it, as opposed to Oxenfree, where the story is malleable, and the gameplay elements change the narrative.
Overall, I think Oxenfree takes Dear Esther in the fight.

 

I think Edith Finch does manage to take Oxenfree, however. It benefits from the multiple stories, and the multiple art-styles, every one of which looks great, and has the overarching narrative elements to add weight and heft to the whole thing. While it also doesn't change based on player choice, there is enough variety of visuals and a high enough quality of visuals and music to manage to outdo Oxenfree, even on its great parts.

 

Just below, is Limbo, and I think that game also manages to retain it's place against Oxenfree - there isn't the dialogue or defined characters, but the art-style is superior (still,) and the puzzles and flow of that game is incredibly strong, and the mood and atmosphere even more palpable than Edward's Island is, even at it's most creepy aspects.
This one, though, is very very close, and so Oxenfree falling just below Limbo feels like the right call.

 

 

 

BONUS GAMES

4 Additional eligible S-Ranks earned this round!:

 

 

Afterparty

 

Summary: 

After the success of their freshman effort - supernatural coming-of-age indie Oxenfree - Night School Studio followed it up with a new game - supernatural coming-of-age indie Afterparty.

Same thing again then?

Well... yes and no. 
Partly yes. 
Mostly no.

 

Where Oxenfree certainly cemented Night School Studio's strengths - strong writing, sharp dialogue, inter-party dynamics and choice-based dialogue as focus with overarching narrative as texture, and a strong visual style - and those strengths are all certainly still on show in Afterparty, Afterparty is very much its own beast. While Oxenfree aimed often for witty and sardonic notes in its interpersonal dialogue, that tone was very much an additive element to a generally straight-laced and 'serious' sci-fi narrative. Afterparty, on the other hand, while also doing witty and sardonic, is broad comedy. 

 

Long-term friends and recent graduates, the unsure, misanthropic, self-deprecating Milo and the dead-pan, dyspeptic, self-effacing Lola, find themselves in Hell. How they died, they aren't quite sure, but as they wander around, looking for where they are meant to go, and get quickly swept up in the bureaucracy of personal demon assignment and torture selection, their sarcastic, cynical view on the world remain unchanged from life. Finding that Hell is not quite the place3 they imagined - people are tortured by demons by day, but free to drink and party with them by night, they discover they arrived at the perfect time - clocking out. Left without a torture assignment due to it being the end of the working day, they meet up with Sam - a Psychopomp cabbie - who gives them the lay of the land, and quickly lets them in on the rules of escape. Out-drink and out-party Satan himself, and you win your ticket back to life.
Thus begins the story, as Milo and Lola navigate the different areas (and bars) of Hell, looking to find a way to get into Satan's big-ticket party in his personal residence, with a view to outdrinking him.

 

The tone of Afterparty is what really sets it apart from Oxenfree. While a lot of elements are similar - the gameplay is generally of the walk-and-talk dialogue choosing variety, interspersed this time with various drinking games, (beer-pong and glass-stacking,) and with a new choice-based element, whereby different responses are available depending on what drink is being consumed from the many cocktail bars, the background setting couldn't be further from Oxenfree. Gone is the moody, painterly backgrounds and the sombre tone, replaced with a psychedelic, heavy-metal and gothic-neon inspired rendition of Hell. Imagine, if you will, Oxenfree, but printed on laminate, and placed on top of an amalgam of Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle... basically, Afterparty feels like, to some extent, 'Tim Schaffer's Oxenfree'.

 

It's a tone that, I think, works well. While there is something lost in terms of originality - Oxenfree felt like a game that was difficult to convey the tone of via other games, while Afterparty's raucous, silly, fun version of Hell is something that feels akin to Grim Fandango, as well as Supergiant's recent Hades,) - however, that's not to say that Afterparty feels like a rip-off. Far from it. While the building blocks of the setting have clear roots, there is a distinct flavour to Afterparty's rendition of them, and a lot of that is down to the one element of the game that is very much still 'Night School Studio' wheelhouse - Milo and Lola themselves. 

 

Where Oxenfree had five principle characters, Afterparty is much more of a two-hander. There are, of course, far more characters overall - Oxenfree dealt with a deserted island, while Hell is teaming with other people to talk to - the two principles here are where most of the dynamic conversation happens. Both characters are distinct, yet similar, in a way that makes sense for their backstories. It is both believable that they have been lifelong friends, and that that friendship is not necessarily great for them. Lola, clearly wished to brach out, and do more with her life, Milo did not, and was content to make do with what he had and where he was from, but the pull of their long-term friendship was both a crutch and an anchor - buoying them above their own insecurities, and allowing them to wallow in them, in a state of arrested development.

The game treats that friendship well, and there is a subtlety to the narrative that pays of very well later in the game. While both characters can be controlled at different times, the player will naturally favour the decisions and ideas of one more than the others, and there is a well written, dynamic change in the narrative near the end, where these decisions are shown to have been taken into account.

 

The side characters - Lola and Milo's persona demon Wormhorn, Sam, Satan himself and most of the supporting cast - are uniformly well crafted, have distinct personalities and the voice work of the game remains impeccable. This is, of course, doubly important in Afterparty, as humour is much easier to fluff than straight dialogue - but here, a lot of the game is genuinely funny.

On the comedy aspects, it should be noted, I think they work far, far more often than they don't. Humour is a much more taste-based endeavour than straight sci-fi, of course, and so there is more room in Afterparty for the game to simply not be someone's cup of tea, but it was mine, and I found the jokes and concepts to work very well. There is also an aspect of bait-and-switch to the narrative humour that I think really works well - there is so much in the way of comedy going on, that the sneakily serious message of the game, solidifying in the final denouement can really catch you off guard - which is exactly what it is supposed to do, and works a treat.

 

There is replay value to the game - not baked into the narrative as it was in Oxenfree, though that would be a little rote to do a second time - and what it lacks in narrative justification, it makes up for in variability. Unlike Oxenfree, the choices available in the game are not simply dialogue or party-member based - there are entire sections of the game where the path can diverge, resulting in entire areas and scenes being different, and meeting different characters, so a second playthrough (at a minimum) is really a must.

 

Visually, I am a little torn on Afterparty, as it relates to Oxenfree. The whole environment is much more 3D - there aren't the same painterly backgrounds or still images, here everything is polygonal - and while there is a lot more variety, and more design work gone into the areas including a lot of good visual jokes, particularly in the outside areas) I don't think the overall effect is nearly as striking as Oxenfree's was. The larger character models, and greater level of articulation is necessary, as it allows for physical humour, but the character models - outside of the main characters -can be a little similar.

 

Audio remains great - voice work of course, but also music, audio stings (I really like the signature sting when Wormhorn is about to appear!) and foley work is all good. 

 

Overall, Afterparty is a great sophomore effort after Oxenfree, and a solid game in its own right. I don't think it quite has the impact of Oxenfree - despite the humour working well for me, comedy is a little less compelling as a narrative than sci-fi - but I do think both Milo and Lola, and Sam, Satan, and some of the Archdemons are very well drawn, and memorable, and the overall narrative is one that I found consistently funny and wanted to explore every choice within.

It's unlikely to be remembered as being better than Oxenfree - that game would take a lot of beating - however, it's admirable that Night School Studio was willing to try something as different as a broad comedy as a followup, and even more impressive that it worked as well as it did.

 

 

The Ranking:

The obvious comparison to Afterparty is, of course Oxenfree, and I think it is pretty clear that, while I very much enjoyed Afterparty, and really admire how well constructed it is, and how well the humour and writing works, it isn't going to quite rank as highly as Oxenfree. The art design is more copious, but lacks a little of the artistic flourish that Oxenfree had, and while comedy is arguably harder to do than Sci-Fi sombre, I still preferred the Sci-Fi sombre tones a little more.

 

The game remains strong, however, and in moving down the list, while I think Afterparty does lose out to a few of the heavy hitters that Oxenfree managed to best, there is another element in play - the comedy.

A few games have distinct senses of humour to them here, but the one that jumps out is Void Bastards. That game, more than most, uses well implemented comedy to enhance its gameplay, and while it works, I don't think it works as well as Afterparty. The actual gameplay aspects of Void Bastards do potentially hold up for longer than Afterparty's, and I would argue it's art-style is the superior of the two, but Afterparty has so much good writing, and enough good stuff in the branching story paths that, on balance, I think it manages to take Void Bastards in the fight - just.

As such, I'm happy putting Afterparty just one notch above Void Bastards.

 

 

 

 

 

Sackboy's Big Adventure

 

Summary: 

Sumo Digital had a difficult task in assuming the helm of the Little Big Planet franchise with Little Big Planet 3. They were inheriting a franchise borne primarily out of creation tool design - a highly specialised area of videogame design - from one of, (if not the,) premier studio's in that rarified space. 

While Little Big Planet 3 was never bad, there was a definite sense that Sumo were having difficulty 'riding the mechanical bull' of the franchise - they had to create their work on the back of a continually in-motion and ever expanding mechanism of user-generated content, which they could not mess with, had not instigated, and are not necessarily wholly equipped to master. Where Sumo's skillset lies is in level design, and in the re-appropriation of existing assets into new facets design, not in the curation of a toolkit - the changes they made to the 'adventure mode' within Little Big Planet 3 were actually quite good ideas, but they were hindered by the need to cater to the existing requirements of the franchise at large.

What Sumo really needed, in order to excel, hand-in-burlap-hand, with little Sackboy, was a streamlining of the environment. Eschew the user-creation, toolkit side of the franchise (and along with it, the Little Big Planet name, and the baggage that branding entails,) and instead, concentrate on making a game that feels like a Sumo game, rather than a Sumo impression of a Media Molecule game.

So we get - Sackboy's Big Adventure!

 

The extent to which Sackboy's Big Adventure feels directly in the lineage of Little Big Planet is, really, in the eyes of the Beholder. For the players who were deep in the rabbit-hole of content creation in the main franchise, Sackboy's Big Adventure, I'm sure, feels a rather frivolous, thin experience. There is a solo campaign, and co-op / party play, of course, but the extent to which the creativity side of the game has been deduced would feel severe. Not only is there no toolkit with which to craft levels, even some of the less impactful areas of customisation have been removed. Stickers are now simply an award for level completion - placed automatically in a specific place in a sticker-book, rather than 35 times on the wall of a home-pod (or your Sack-friend's face.) Costumes remain, and are editable, but previously gained pieces are not importable, and so the pool of available costumes is more limited. 
However, for those players (like myself,) who's relationship to the user-creation toolkit was always primarily as consumer - playing created levels, rather than crafting them - and who therefore valued the narrative 'Adventure Modes' of the three Little Big Planet games on par with the creation elements, Sackboy's Big Adventure does not feel as jarring. In fact, it feels like simply the next game in the franchise, breathing new life into the games in a way not seen since Little Big Planet 2.

 

Mechanically, Sackboy's Big Adventure is, to Little Big Planet, as Super Mario 3D World is to Super Mario World. Rather than operating as a 2.5D platformer with a side-on camera, Sackboy's Big Adventure operates as a full 3D plane, with levels tending far more towards an open-plane, expansive playfield, with the camera positioned isometrically above. It's a move that works well - surprisingly so, given that the controls of Sackboy feel very familiar, and if not identical to those of Little Big Planet, I'd be hard pressed to identify specific areas that are different. 

The traditional problem of 3D platformers, as opposed to 2D ones, are present - namely the difficulty in properly gauging distance in the 'Z-axis', however, Sumo do a fair few smart thing to alleviate them. Sackboy's shadow works well as an indicator of position, and he has been given an increased level of 'floaty hovering' available via holding the jump button, the window on which allows correction of errors in jumping very well. 

 

The narrative of the game retains all the charm and family-friendly aesthetic of Sackboy's previous adventures - this time, Sackboy must defeat Vex, a chaos-flavoured Harlequin intent on enslaving the Sack-people of the town of Loom, to create his invention - the Topsy-Turvy Machine, with which he can take over all of Craftworld. With the help of the last of the 'Knitted Knights' - Scarlet - Sackboy must once again save Craftworld - with a spring in his step, an a goofy smile on his adorable little face.

Vex is played to a tee by Richard E Grant, and Scarlet nicely by by Dawn French (after Stephen Fry and Hugh Lawrie, these seem among the most appropriate of choices - presumably Emma Thompson was busy!) and the game never once drops the variable aesthetic, creative design or seam-bursting charm of the franchise it sprang from.

The game is fairly long - certainly Sackboy's Big Adventure has the longest campaign of any Sackboy game to date - but never feels like it drags. There are 6 themed worlds, each with a plethora of unique mechanics and a smattering of non-critical levels (including a fair number of 'multi-player only' levels, impossible to play without a friend. Most of these are relatively easy - indeed, individual levels are, on average, easier to 'ace' than levels in the previous games, however, a set of 16 challenges unlockable by finding secrets - the Knitted Knight Challenges - do provide so genuinely tricky goals to meet - in particular the final one, the 'Ripsnorter', which requires all previous challenges to be completed back-to-back, without error, and under a time-limit. (I don't mind admitting, completing the Ripsnorter took me about 6-7 hours of practise!)

 

The game looks absolutely gorgeous on PS5 - as said, the aesthetic style is inherited almost completely from the Little Big Planet games, however, that patchwork look has never felt so tactile or so good. Textures - whether wood, cardboard, cloth, burlap or wool - look perfect, and that texture verisimilitude really adds to the look of the game enormously. Sackboy's animations are upgraded, and in cutscenes, he is able to convey a breadth of emotions that is surprising, given his muteness.

 

The audioscape of the game follows that of the Little Big Planet games too - a whimsical, high quality original score is buoyed by occasional, smart use of licensed tracks, (this time from Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, The Chemical Brothers and Kool and the Gang among others,) and this time the game really leans into some of these - taking a cue from the musically themed levels of Rayman Legends, certain levels are actually metered - with the level designed to be played 'to the beat' as it were.

Overall, Sackboy's Big Adventure is a great 3D platformer. It has charm, wit, visuals that cannot be denied, a soundtrack that is catchy and fun, and carries the narrative, aesthetic and tonal legacy of Little Big Planet onto the new console admirably. While the removal of the creation side of the game does make Sackboy's Big Adventure a much more fleeting prospect than any of the Little Big Planet games - once it's done, it's done - and does cut off the portion of the user-base who yearn to get their creative juices flowing, this game, far more than Little Big Planet 3, plays to Sumo Digital's strengths, and there is a confidence and level of design nuance on show that was never visible in that previous game. 

 

 

The Ranking:

Sackboy's Big Adventure is arguably the easiest of the Little Big Planet (adjacent) games to rank, as it can be treated solely as what it is - a 3D Platformer. It doesn't have any of the user-creation side of the game to complicate things for me!

 

That platforming-only aspect ensures it isn't likely to get near LBP or LBP2, however, but that isn't necessarily the case with LBP3. It had the entire wealth of the user-creation side of the game to boon it, but did so little to that stuff, that I didn't really feel comfortable making a case for it there, and judged that one primarily on the campaign mode. 

 

I think the single player content of Sackboy's Big Adventure is superior enough in this game, as to outdo LBP3 handily. It beats LBP3 on visuals, for sure, but also on level design, and benefits from the originality factor of the game going 3D too.

 

I think the overall aesthetic, great visuals, charm - and most importantly and positively, excellent co-op play, are enough to push Sackboy's Big Adventure up the rankings a bit, passing heavy-hitter single-player 3D Platforming games such as the original Ratchet and Clank, but where it begins to lag is a Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus.

That game has a great visual style, and while a little dated now, was wholly original, wheres Sackboy represents the best looking version of a tried-and-true formula, albeit one slightly reappropriated into the 3D space. 

 

In between those, it comes down to feel, and while the co-op elements of Sackboy are doing a lot to buoy it, for me, I think the most appropriate place feels like just above Dead Space Extraction, but below GTAIV.

 

 

 

 

Lost Ember

 

Summary: 

Lost Ember, a Kickstarted project from Mooneye Studios in 2019, is an odd game, falling somewhere between the conceptual aspects of Tokyo Jungle and Seasons After Fall, but with the narrative and explorational aspects of a Walking Sim, and the gameplay elements of Everything. (Everything the game, that is, not everything the... everything.)

 

The player takes control of a wolf (initially) whom they come to realise is the reincarnated spirit of a member of an ancient tribal people - long gone now - and a spirit walker, able to hop from one animal to another at will. At the outset, a disembodied ball of light - another spirit - asks the wolf for help, and becomes the games sole voice and guide. It explains that it is also the spirit of one of the same tribal people, but is unable to proceed to its final end - entry to the 'City of Light' - for reasons it cannot fathom. There are barriers in its way, and it wants the Wolf spirit to help it achieve it's final passage. 

The game follows a fairy simple premise - as the Wolf spirit, the player explores the lush, returned-to-nature environment of the once great empire, traversing to, and through, the ruins of its once great city - Machu Kila - while unlocking memories of the past. Essentially, the pace of the game is set by these memories, which act as both primary plot (following the tale of the downfall of the civilisation and the principle players in its revolution / destruction, of whom both spirits were a part,) and as the driving force of the narrative reveals. The player learns, and deciphers, which characters each spirit once belonged to, and which one is, in fact, the 'Lost Ember' - the one denied entry to the City of Light - and why.

 

The narrative works pretty well. The memories of the past are shown in interesting ways - a statuesque, still, 3D image art-style is used for these, conveying an interesting tale with a nice, if never overly impressive aesthetic. There is genuine poignancy to the story on a few different levels - both in following the straight, historical tale of how the civilisation crumbled, and in the interplay of the Wolf and the Ember as they discover their own past-life relationship to one another - and the whole thing is paced nicely. The dynamic relationship ebbs and flows based on new information, and I found myself genuinely interested in finding out which had committed so cardinal a sin that their fate was sealed, why they did it, and how the game would end. Without going into spoilers, I think that final reveal and ending is done very well.

 

Visually, the game looks nice, if never incredible. The environments are lush and varied, and in some spots - particularly the ancient, ruined architecture, quite fascinating to explore, though the aesthetic is somewhat marred by the technical side. There is a fair bit of pop-in on show, and the game has some feeling of an indie that bit off a little more than it could chew. While areas look good, the environments are highly prone to some of the standard mechanical irritations that can plague natural-looking environments - invisible walls, awkward corners and ledges that can cause 'geometry sticking' and clipping issues. 
These are generally par for the course in larger environment indie games, however, because Lost Ember relies on its core mechanic - switching on the fly from one animal to another - it really exacerbates the issue at times. Switching from a small animal to a large one can often result in the geometry being clipped in the wrong way, trapping the player inside a rock, or outside the playable area. Also, certain areas -small enclosed caves, for example - can easily cause the player to trap them self if they switch animals. The wolf is the 'standard' animal, always possible to return to at any time, however, all other animals must be approached to swap to. If the player switches to the wolf after traversing a small tunnel, and the small animal scurries away, the player is left stranded, necessitating a 'restart to checkpoint'.

 

The audio in the game is really excellent in terms of music. The ambient, in-level music is soothing, pleasant, and exactly what is needed for such a game - and when the narrative requires tension, it is helped enormously by the score. 
Where the audio failed to work for me, however, was in the voice work. The vocal performance of Ember is not poorly done - it's fine - however, it feels jarringly mis-cast. The voice provided is a regional English accent, and it feels totally antithetical to the South-American tribal tone and setting. Personally, I could imagine feeling significantly more invested in the game if the voice were in an era and setting appropriate language, and subtitled - this would have immeasurably added to the flavour the game aims for.

 

In terms of gameplay, Lost Ember gets tricky. On the one hand, the basic traversal / narrative of the game - exploring the lush environments, learning the story, and travelling to the game's climax are all pretty good, end enjoyable - even despite the issues with clipping and some awkward controls. Playing as different animals is fun, and finding a new one to try out was always a pleasure, (even if only 4 or 5 of the 15-odd animal varieties have any real gameplay benefit.)

However, that good portion, despite being the real focus of the game, only accounts for around a third of the gameplay, if the S-Rank is desired.

 

It's been a long time since I brought up the trophies in one of these reviews, (I think I'd be going all the way back to RAD to find the last instance,) however, they need to be discussed here. I think Lost Ember is a game that is immeasurably harmed by its trophy list - and it's a shame, because the problem could have been so easily avoided!

Lost Ember has hundreds of collectibles. There are around 50 memories, (good, and worth getting all of,) around 80 Relics, (interesting, and provide some insight into the lost culture, and often have some good lore attached,).... and around 160 mushrooms. These are not a good addition. Not only are the mushrooms of no narrative value, and often difficult to identify in the foliage-filled environments, but they are also overtly burdensome as a collectible, as they are not trackable, and do not disappear from the environment once found. They change visual slightly, but not enough to identify from a distance. While there is a per-chapter 'collectible tracking' screen, indicating how many of each collectible has been found, there is no real way to tell what variant the player is looking for, and finding the last few can be very tiresome.

 

It is a shame, as a simple change in the trophy requirements could easily have fixed this. After my first playthrough, I had around 60% of the collectibles. I replayed the game specifically for collectibles, and ended up with nearly 90%... but then was forced to concede that finding every one would be impossible without help, and resorted to using a guide. That suddenly made the game drop from a fun, peaceful, very enjoyable experience to a laborious exercise in guide following, as it was impossible to tell which ones had been missed the first two times, and required essentially following a full collectible guide, whole-cloth.

This is a bug-bear of mine, and Lost Ember feels like the perfect game to illustrate why. 
Collectibles are not inherently a negative in games. They provide a good reason to explore, to see more of the game, and an incentive to enjoy and experience the game's traversal mechanics and artistic flourishes in their pursuit. 
Trophy lists should, absolutely, encourage the finding of collectibles where they exist - however - the difference between requiring, say, 90% of collectibles to be found, and requiring 100% is massive in terms of the impact on the game experience. Asking for most of the collectibles to be found encourages exploration. Asking that all collectibles be found just encourages guide use - and actually discourages the player from exploring themselves, as they end up following guides to the letter.
Had Lost Ember asked me to find most of the collectibles I'd be coming away from the game remembering, primarily,  the good narrative, fun premise and nice environments.
Because it asked for all of them though, I am coming away remembering most a painful guide-following exercise.

 

Overall, Lost Ember is a game that takes an interesting, relatively original premise, and does it pretty well. It has some jank issues, though nothing outrageous, and these can be dealt with fairly happily in pursuit of seeing a good narrative through. 
The collectibles aspect of the game, however, is really hurt by the S-Rank requirements, and as such, it is a game I have difficulty heartily recommending to the trophy-hungry or the completionists out there without caveat. 
There is genuine fun, and a soothing, interesting, unique experience to be had with the game - just know that if you want that platinum, you're going to have a lot of busy-work to do at the back end, and that part isn't likely to be much fun.

 

 

The Ranking:

The best comparison point for Lost Ember are probably things like Flower, Deer God and Proteus - games where the pleasure is in the relaxation a meditative experience, rather than the heavily 'gamified' stuff.

 

Lost Ember has a lot of good things to offer in that side of gaming - certainly it's visuals, while not matching up to the unique look of Proteus or Deer God, can take Flower in a fight, and the more narrative elements and the concept are arguably more interesting than all three games...

...however, the collectible issues, and the technical issues do let the game down a bit. For all that I think Lost Ember is fundamentally more interesting than many of those games, it is the only one that has any really jarring issues. 

 

The lowest of those games currently is Flower. It has issues of it's own - specifically the difficult controls and lack of the precision it demands for completion, however, when one combines the technical problems Lost Ember has, and the game-design issues with the collectibles and the ability to 'trap' oneself in places, I think Lost Ember loses out to Flower. 

 

It's not a massive win, for Flower, however, and the games are close, so looking at the few games just below, it comes down to feel. I think the current best of Artifex Mundi - Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala - takes Lost Ember, but I think I would rather spend an afternoon running around the natural environment as a wolf than replaying Uncanny Valley. 
On merit, the two games in-between those two both probably manage to outdo Lost Ember too, and so it finds a spot, just above Uncanny Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

The Touryst

 

Summary: 

The Touryst, from Shin'en Multimedia, feels like a game with roots everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It's a game that is difficult to classify, not because it falls into no categories, but because it quite deliberately replicates aspects of so many - yet does so with a whimsical, playful touch, throwing them all together in a package that is silly, light, sweet, and - most of all - tons of fun.

 

If RPGs are apple pies, platformers are chocolate brownies, puzzle games are lemon merengue pies, dungeon crawlers are peach cobblers, metriodvanias are sponge cakes, rhythm games are fruit salads, and arcade games are candy bars... 
...The Touryst is the pack of Jelly Belly jelly-beans that has all those flavours in it.

There isn't much substance to the individual tastes - they are individually fleeting, but there is merit in the abundance and the variety within, and the recreations of the flavours are surprisingly accurate. There is an overall sweetness and consistency, and the pack is tremendously addictive - you just find yourself munching until it's all gone.

 

Playing as a Tourist (nay, Touryst!) arriving for a nice holiday on Touryst Island, you quickly discover an ancient monument, and within, and old tourist, named... Old Tourist. He mentions that he has been trying to decipher the meaning of some ancient symbols inside, and in short order, the player is tasked with the primary goal of the game - travelling to the various relics around the 7 different Islands that make up the Touryst Archipelago, solving the puzzles and defeating the 'bosses' within, to uncover the mystery of the ruins. 

Really though, while that aspect provides the through-line narrative, (and, for what it's worth, the final climax, which is as bat-shit silly and fun as anything in the game!), the real meat of the game is as a delightful romp through an RPG-lite-lite-lite, as you hop from one island to another, unlocking new locations, playing fun little mini-games, talking to other tourists (each of whom has some favour to ask,) playing old arcade games, finding treasure, deep sea diving, surfing, canoeing, organising raves, collecting coins, and generally having a goofy, fun time.

 

Each island is small, and differently themed - one based on Ibiza, one on Fiji, one on Hawaii etc. and each contains a handful of small missions, a plethora of discoverable secrets, and some puzzle-based, unique dungeon elements. These are actually, while fairly short, often quite clever, and can sometimes be tricky to figure out, though the game is good about keeping puzzles to a minimalist end - a room might seem baffling, but there are no red herrings. If a room has three carry-able block in it, you can bet the puzzle needs all three. If it has only one element that stands out - that is the key. Figuring it out might take a minute, but the game isn't trying to trick you - just challenge you a little!

 

What really makes The Touryst work, is that while if feels partly like a mini-game collection, given how many little one-off games there are to play (and helped by the inclusion of a racing game, and Arachnoid clone, and a platforming Arcade game in the island arcade,) the overall tone and the monument delving narrative, while only forming a portion of the gameplay, ties the whole game together with a loose, but defined structure. Elements of Metroidvania, via purchasable upgrades (dash / double jump etc.) and the ubiquity of money as currency for both unlocking new islands, and buying various mini-game required specifics, means there is a compulsive quality to the game - the player is always just one or two purchases away from unlocking the next thing to do.

 

The game looks absolutely stunningly good. The art-style is one very familiar to anyone who played FROM Softwares under-appreciated gem 3D Dot Game Heroes (and if you haven't, what are you doing reading this?! Go play it! It's great!). A 3D take on 2D pixel-art, in which 3D, blocks replace old-school pixels and the entire world looks like lego. However, 3D Dot Game Heroes was a PS3 game - the Touryst is on PS5, and the step up in that art is really incredible. Lighting is gorgeous, the worlds look Pixar-level good, and everything moves with a buttery-smoothness that would make Call of Duty blush. 

 

Audio is good - the general soundscape is ambient and amiable, and the character sounds - jumping, dashing etc have a Mario / Zelda quality to them that keeps the tone light and fun.

 

Overall, The Touryst is a hell of a good little game - it's slight, of course - deliberately so - however, lightness and slightness should not be mistaken for insubstantiality. There is an attention to detail in the environments, and in the puzzle design that, while simple, is really laudable - and crafting a game that would work exactly as well for a 10-year-old as it did for my nearly-40-year-old-ass cannot be easy, and should be admired. There is charm coming out of every 3D-Pixellated pore, and the game succeeds completely at doing what it intends - making me feel like I was on a little gaming vacation!

 

 

 

The Ranking:

The Touryst is a tough one to rank, as there is nothing really quite like it on the list.
The limited nature of the game does keep it from brushing with the upper end of the ranking, despite my genuine surprise at how fun the game was, and just how damned good it looks!

There's a playfulness and self-aware lack of seriousness to the whole game - it knows what it is, and never tries to be anything else, and in that aspect, two games come to mind - Castle Crashers and Astro's Playroom. 

 

I do think, in comparison to both Castle Crashers (which despite it's cartoonish visual style and similarly off-beat sense of humour, had a deeper game hidden in there than one might expect, and also benefitted from co-op,) and Astro's Playroom, (which was so far and above what was expected, that it made a whole game out of a tech demo,) The Touryst falls a little short, however, vs. Astro's Playroom, that gap is pretty narrow. 

 

Sound Shapes, just below, is also a playfully silly and addictive game, but that one does best The Touryst on originality. Just below that though, is Arcade Archives: Gradius, and there, I think The Touryst manages to holds its own. While The Touryst may feel slender, there is still 10 hours of pure joy in there, and a variety that no single arcade game could outmatch. (After all, The Touryst has 3 arcade games baked right in!)

 

As such, The Touryst finds its sunny spot!

 

 

 

 

 

So there we have it folks!

 

Thanks to @grayhammmer for putting in a request!

 

 

 

 Hitman 3 remains as 'Current Most Awesome Game'!

LA Cops stays as the worst-of-the-worst, with the title of  'Least Awesome Game'

 

 

What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the top spot... or the bottom rung?

That's up to randomness, me.... and YOU!

 

Remember:

 

SPECIAL NOTE

 

If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! 

 

The only stipulation is that they must be on my profile, at 100% (S-Rank)....

 and aren't already on the Rankings! 

 

 

 

Catch y'all later my Scientific Brothers and Sisters! 

Edited November 22, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[gruffiiti]

Great writeup on Touryst. Like I mentioned to you on PSN Ive had my eye on this one since it released.

Its now waiting to be added to my list as well. Thanks for your continued contributions to the scientific community!

[grayhammmer]

I just saw that you've completed LA Noire quite some time ago, and given your utter disdain for LA Cops I thought it would be funny for you to analyze a game in the same city but with 100 times the budget and effort.

[DrBloodmoney]

9 hours ago, grayhammmer said:

I just saw that you've completed LA Noire quite some time ago, and given your utter disdain for LA Cops I thought it would be funny for you to analyze a game in the same city but with 100 times the budget and effort.

 

Good shout  ?- I'll flag it on the Priority List with your name - fair warning though - it might be a little while before I get to it, as I will likely be taking a short break soon, and looking at the end of year awards... 

[YaManSmevz]

Man, I tell ya. You could write reviews on the rates that different types of paint dry at and every time I saw a notification I'd still be like "NEW REVIEWS, WOOOO!!" As usual, excellent work!

 

I LOVED Gris, and agree 100% - the art and music absolutely steal the show, but not in a way like "everything else is shit though." Think I'm saving reviewing that one for a time that I'm in the feels.

 

Appreciate the Little Big World schooling! All I knew about those games was that they existed. Do I have a Sackboy shaped hole in my heart and never knew it??

 

Also I love Ladytron. Thank you, Party Monster!

 

I dug the Night School reviews, of course! You and Mr. Clarke killed it with Afterparty, both of you posting reviews at the same time was a huge treat for me?. I agree that Oxenfree's visuals had a more striking quality to them, which is quite a feat, as Afterparty was no slouch - and that it's a bit more engaging narrative and mood-wise. TLDR - I feel exactly the same in comparing the studio's two games!

 

Agreed that Afterparty's humor worked better than it should have - when your humor has that scent of "edgy," it's so difficult to come across as genuine and not trying too hard, or worse, being more than a little too pleased with yourself - far too many pieces of media fall prey to that. Thankfully, Night School's writers are sharp as a tack - their characters are consistently well fleshed out, and their dialogue is always crafted with a lot of thought.

 

Lost Ember sounds really interesting, excessive collectibles notwithstanding, and I've been seeing The TourYst popping up more and more... your pleasant review has made me put a mental check next to it.

 

Whew! Had a lot to say on this batch. Great work, Doc!

[DrBloodmoney]

2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Man, I tell ya. You could write reviews on the rates that different types of paint dry at and every time I saw a notification I'd still be like "NEW REVIEWS, WOOOO!!" As usual, excellent work!

 

Thank you mate!

You know.... a part of almost wanted to do a parody review of paint drying, as a response to this...

...but I'm worried that Paint Drying would still beat LA Cops and Space Overlords, and end up being on the list...

 

 

Quote

I dug the Night School reviews, of course! You and Mr. Clarke killed it with Afterparty, both of you posting reviews at the same time was a huge treat for me. I agree that Oxenfree's visuals had a more striking quality to them, which is quite a feat, as Afterparty was no slouch - and that it's a bit more engaging narrative and mood-wise. TLDR - I feel exactly the same in comparing the studio's two games!

 

Yeah, I think in the long run, Oxenfree is likely to remain their 'prestige' game in the common view, - and probably the one they'll be most associated with (especially considering the next game seems to be Oxenfree II) -  but I'd be genuinely surprised if Afterparty doesn't become one of those "Did you know they also made this one?!" games, where people are pleasantly surprised by discovering it!

 

Quote

Lost Ember sounds really interesting, excessive collectibles notwithstanding, and I've been seeing The TourYst popping up more and more... your pleasant review has made me put a mental check next to it.

 

Yeah, know what you're in for with Lost Ember, and I think there's enjoyment there - I would advise, if going for the plat, just go straight into a guided collectible walkthrough after the first run though. I think I made it feel a bit long by trying to see if I could get them all myself in a second run - I ended up missing between 2 and 5 in each chapter, but not having any chapter fully complete, so the guided walkthrough stuff still had be done for everything! 

 

The Touryst through - that's a gimme, just fun through and through!

Edited November 25, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[YaManSmevz]

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Thank you mate!

You know.... a part of almost wanted to do a parody review of paint drying, as a response to this...

...but I'm worried that Paint Drying would still beat LA Cops and Space Overlords, and end up being on the list...

 

???

 

I'm picturing finding "Paint Drying" in the Indie Sale, and in the description seeing "Dr. Bloodmoney praised Paint Drying, saying "well shit, it couldn't be worse than LA Cops, now could it?"

 

Also Lost Ember and The Touryst are definitely going under consideration?

[DrBloodmoney]

2 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

 

I'm picturing finding "Paint Drying" in the Indie Sale, and in the description seeing "Dr. Bloodmoney praised Paint Drying, saying "well shit, it couldn't be worse than LA Cops, now could it?"

 

?

 

Paint DryingTM

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

"All the excitement of Lost At Sea, with the raucous gameplay of Aabs Animals, and the compulsive narrative of Space Overlords!"

- DrBloodmoney, Game Scientist

[DrBloodmoney]

 

!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!

 

 

The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

 

Bastion
Black & White Bushido 
Lumines Remastered 
Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders
Pyre

 

 

 

With a minimum of 1 Bonus games this round, including:

Gods will Fall

 

 

 

Subject(s) in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT

[Care of @Xylobe ]

 

 

 

 

Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Hitman 3, maintain the title again?

 

Is electronic-seepage LA Cops going to be mopped off the floor of 'Least Awesome Game'?

 

 

Let's find out, Science Chums!

[rjkclarke]

So full disclosure here man - I did read all of your latest batch a couple of days back (or the bits I hadn't read already,) but like I said in my own thread I kind of took a few days off from posting, as i wanted to be in a little better headspace when I actually gave you some feedback here.

 

As always though, fantastic reads - not that I expected anything else.

 

On LBP and Sackboy

 

I'm sort of in the same boat as Smevz with this one - I pretty much knew little to nothing about them until your review of them..... What a great read though.

 

Smevz already said my thoughts best

 

On 25/11/2021 at 4:56 AM, YaManSmevz said:

Appreciate the Little Big World schooling! All I knew about those games was that they existed. Do I have a Sackboy shaped hole in my heart and never knew it??

 

So I'm just going to +1 this - as this was pretty much my feeling coming away from those reviews.

 

On Gris

 

I kind of knew before I read the review of Gris that it would be the kind of game I'd probably dig - I haven't actually bought it yet, I probably will do fairly soon, although I might not play it for a while, I've inadvertently spent a lot of time in the last two months playing quite a few games that are - well,  games as art, or games as experiences as opposed a more traditional video game, but I'm definitely going to have to play it sooner rather than later.

 

From reading your review - I'm absolutely certain I'd probably enjoy my time with it.

 

also...... I can't help but bring up this.......

 

On 22/11/2021 at 5:59 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

(Full disclosure - I am a big fan of ambient music - I play it constantly while working and writing, and the Gris soundtrack has been saved on my Spotify for years. I have listened to it countless times, and have probably been listening to it while writing a bunch of previous reviews, in fact!)

 

That makes me feel so much less self conscious about doing that myself - so I'm glad you mentioned that you do that too.

 

Ambient music is so underrated in that regard - it always gives me a nice calmness and inner peace, that I wouldn't get from listening to more conventional music while writing - I always find with more conventional stuff I get caught up with getting into the music too much.

 

So much in fact when I was going back over to edit a script I was writing a couple of months back - only to find out  I'd inadvertently written song lyrics into some of the dialogue.... So I prefer to listen to meditation music, or more ambient or low key things.Just to stop things like that happening.

 

So thanks for mentioning this Doc - you've made me feel a little less loopy for doing that, knowing I'm not the only one - well obviously we won't be the only ones either..  Eurgh - you know what I mean I'm sure.

 

The Night School reviews

 

These were great obviously - but I don't need to give you my thoughts on those - as you already know them.

 

I loved reading them though......

 

and I really love the fact that we posted our respective Afterparty reviews  at practically the same time in the same minute.

 

On Lost Ember

 

That sounds interesting - I can at least get behind the idea of it.

 

I think I'd probably just go in guide first - if I was going to play it, which I certainly haven't ruled out. I pretty much feel the same way you do on that one regarding collectibles - that they can really enhance the experience if implemented correctly, it just doesn't sound like they were in Lost Ember's case.

 

On 22/11/2021 at 5:59 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

The vocal performance of Ember is not poorly done - it's fine - however, it feels jarringly mis-cast. The voice provided is a regional English accent, and it feels totally antithetical to the South-American tribal tone and setting. Personally, I could imagine feeling significantly more invested in the game if the voice were in an era and setting appropriate language, and subtitled - this would have immeasurably added to the flavour the game aims for.

 

Out of curiosity, what kind of regional accent is it?

 

Like  if it was a  West Country one - I can't imagine a little floaty ball of light sounding like half of my family ...... Who quite honestly sound like they sit on hay bales drinking Cider all day ?

 

That's a particular thing that grates on me in games as well actually, I know for sure I'd be thinking the same if I played it, that it'd be better just in the appropriate language with subtitles.

 

I feel like anyone that played The Town of Light for example, probably got a much more inferior version of the experience if they played it with the English voice acting enabled. I've played both for comparison and it's almost a world of difference, that Italian voice acting added some real weight and depth to that game, where the English voice acting, is fine, it just doesn't quite feel appropriate.

 

 

The Touryst

 

Oh man - this game sounds awesome.......

 

That sounds so far up my street - I'm surprised I haven't seen it ride past on a cute little cartoon-ified bicycle. shouting "PLAY ME, PLAY ME"

 

Even if it ended up being a relatively short experience, it still sounds like a really enjoyable time from start to finish.

 

Guess that goes on my backlog too at some point - is this just going to become some silly tennis relay between us? Where we're constantly adding to each others backlogs at a growing rate..... It certainly feels that way haha. ?

 

Looking forward to your latest batch too man........

 

I'll say this now - I'm so glad that Bastion and Pyre are already installed on my console - so that they'll be easy to access once your inevitably awesome reviews get me wanting to actually, y'know take the plunge and start them.

[DrBloodmoney]

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

So full disclosure here man - I did read all of your latest batch a couple of days back (or the bits I hadn't read already,) but like I said in my own thread I kind of took a few days off from posting, as i wanted to be in a little better headspace when I actually gave you some feedback here.

 

Man - I know the feeling - I'm like 3 write-ups behind on commenting on yours - I've read them, but at the weekend I'm generally confined to the phone, and typing responses becomes a labour in that instance - especially when you go and get emotion involved...

 

(plus, I've just managed to add to my own not-inconsiderable workload, as I've voluteered to take over the badge-making duty for the Trophies for Cancer event, as the original (actual) artist is unable, so I imagine i'll be a little later on my next batch, as well as keeping up with the checklists for a little bit!)

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

 

On LBP and Sackboy

 

I'm sort of in the same boat as Smevz with this one - I pretty much knew little to nothing about them until your review of them..... What a great read though.

 

Smevz already said my thoughts best

 

 

So I'm just going to +1 this - as this was pretty much my feeling coming away from those reviews.

 

It's funny - LBP always felt to me like one of those franchises so synonymous with the Playstation brand, that I'm actually surprised how many folks haven't dabbled with them - I think I got the first one when it was pretty new, and it became such a staple of co-op in the Bloodmoney household that you forget it's not just mailed to everyone with their voting cards and littlewoods pools ?

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

On Gris

 

I kind of knew before I read the review of Gris that it would be the kind of game I'd probably dig - I haven't actually bought it yet, I probably will do fairly soon, although I might not play it for a while, I've inadvertently spent a lot of time in the last two months playing quite a few games that are - well,  games as art, or games as experiences as opposed a more traditional video game, but I'm definitely going to have to play it sooner rather than later.

 

From reading your review - I'm absolutely certain I'd probably enjoy my time with it.

 

also...... I can't help but bring up this.......

 

 

That makes me feel so much less self conscious about doing that myself - so I'm glad you mentioned that you do that too.

 

Ambient music is so underrated in that regard - it always gives me a nice calmness and inner peace, that I wouldn't get from listening to more conventional music while writing - I always find with more conventional stuff I get caught up with getting into the music too much.

 

So much in fact when I was going back over to edit a script I was writing a couple of months back - only to find out  I'd inadvertently written song lyrics into some of the dialogue.... So I prefer to listen to meditation music, or more ambient or low key things.Just to stop things like that happening.

 

So thanks for mentioning this Doc - you've made me feel a little less loopy for doing that, knowing I'm not the only one - well obviously we won't be the only ones either..  Eurgh - you know what I mean I'm sure.

 

Man, absolutely - writing especially, I find quite difficult without some kind of music playing, but anything with lyrics tends to get in the way, so there are certain things that have ridiculously inflated spotify play counts - Aphex Twin / Goldie, and all that type of stuff, or Mogwai / The Donkeys / Tortoise, plus soundtrack albums (Gravity / any Ennio Morroconi/ that Gris Soundtrack... and bands like Helios or instrumental stuff like Tracy Chattaway is always on the go!)

 

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

 

On Lost Ember

 

That sounds interesting - I can at least get behind the idea of it.

 

I think I'd probably just go in guide first - if I was going to play it, which I certainly haven't ruled out. I pretty much feel the same way you do on that one regarding collectibles - that they can really enhance the experience if implemented correctly, it just doesn't sound like they were in Lost Ember's case.

 

 

Out of curiosity, what kind of regional accent is it?

 

Like  if it was a  West Country one - I can't imagine a little floaty ball of light sounding like half of my family ...... Who quite honestly sound like they sit on hay bales drinking Cider all day

 

Ah, now this is where my tin-ear for specific accents is gonna fail me - I can't quite place it - it might actually just be a particular London accent, for all I know - but basically a kind of soft English accent is the best I can muster!

I did actually look the guy up to see if I knew him from anything else, and he's basically a voice-actor for hire (you can hire him to read stuff via fivver actually!) - no shade on him from me - like I say, the actual performance is good and well delivered - it just felt pretty oddly miscast for the tone and setting of the game... definitely a weird decision.

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

That's a particular thing that grates on me in games as well actually, I know for sure I'd be thinking the same if I played it, that it'd be better just in the appropriate language with subtitles.

 

I feel like anyone that played The Town of Light for example, probably got a much more inferior version of the experience if they played it with the English voice acting enabled. I've played both for comparison and it's almost a world of difference, that Italian voice acting added some real weight and depth to that game, where the English voice acting, is fine, it just doesn't quite feel appropriate.

 

I'm 100% with you there - I know I played Town of Light in italian, but I can't recall if I ever tried it the other way. I do tend to try and listen to stuff that is set in a particular place in that language if I can - I used to play the older Assassin's Creed games in Italian (which works to a point, though, weirdly, there is no setting to have Desmond in English, and Ezio in italian, which always felt a weird oversight!).

 

One I definitely remember thinking was miles more immersive was A Plague Tale - I played that one in French, for flavour, and I think not only did it give a bit more verisimilitude to the game generally, but I actually felt like - talking to other people about it - I got a slightly different experience in terms of relationship to the characters. I remember a lot of people talking about really disliking the younger brother character, but I never felt that way, and I wonder if maybe the French voice actor gave a slightly different shade of performance...

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

 

The Touryst

 

Oh man - this game sounds awesome.......

 

That sounds so far up my street - I'm surprised I haven't seen it ride past on a cute little cartoon-ified bicycle. shouting "PLAY ME, PLAY ME"

 

Even if it ended up being a relatively short experience, it still sounds like a really enjoyable time from start to finish.

 

Guess that goes on my backlog too at some point - is this just going to become some silly tennis relay between us? Where we're constantly adding to each others backlogs at a growing rate..... It certainly feels that way haha.

 

Dude - that seems to already be happening - the number of adventure games in my backlog has skyrocketed already... and there's a snooker game on my list now, for crying out loud! ?

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

Looking forward to your latest batch too man........

 

I'll say this now - I'm so glad that Bastion and Pyre are already installed on my console - so that they'll be easy to access once your inevitably awesome reviews get me wanting to actually, y'know take the plunge and start them.

 

haha - yeah... I think it's a safe bet that neither of those games is going to be getting anything but a strong recommendation in this thread!

[rjkclarke]

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Man - I know the feeling - I'm like 3 write-ups behind on commenting on yours - I've read them, but at the weekend I'm generally confined to the phone, and typing responses becomes a labour in that instance - especially when you go and get emotion involved...

 

(plus, I've just managed to add to my own not-inconsiderable workload, as I've voluteered to take over the badge-making duty for the Trophies for Cancer event, as the original (actual) artist is unable, so I imagine i'll be a little later on my next batch, as well as keeping up with the checklists for a little bit!)

 

Damn dude - when are you going to have time to, y'know sleep and function.

 

That's going to take a while - loads of people have jumped in and contributed to that event - which I love and that part is awesome - but I definitely feel for you that you're on badge making duty....

 

.... I know you will - but make sure you take care of yourself and don't push yourself too hard, just try and strike a heathy balance - I don't think people will mind if they have to wait longer for badges or anything like that.

 

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

It's funny - LBP always felt to me like one of those franchises so synonymous with the Playstation brand, that I'm actually surprised how many folks haven't dabbled with them - I think I got the first one when it was pretty new, and it became such a staple of co-op in the Bloodmoney household that you forget it's not just mailed to everyone with their voting cards and littlewoods pools 

 

It does seem a bit strange to be honest, and I don't think I'd be able to tell you exactly why I didn't ever try them out. I certainly can think of more people I know that have played it than haven't.

 

Once I have a PS5 though I might have to jump aboard with Sackboy though..... The fact Richard E. Grant is in it is incentive enough -  I'd love it if they'd borrowed a line from Withnail and I when Sackboy shows up and he says something like " Ahh Sackboy you seem to have come on holiday by accident, time to perish" or something like that. 

 

I just want more Withnail and I representation anywhere I can find it

 

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Man, absolutely - writing especially, I find quite difficult without some kind of music playing, but anything with lyrics tends to get in the way, so there are certain things that have ridiculously inflated spotify play counts - Aphex Twin / Goldie, and all that type of stuff, or Mogwai / The Donkeys / Tortoise, plus soundtrack albums (Gravity / any Ennio Morroconi/ that Gris Soundtrack... and bands like Helios or instrumental stuff like Tracy Chattaway is always on the go!)

 

Aphex Twin huh - yeah I could see how that'd be half decent writing music - I might have to try that one myself. The film soundtracks are a good shout - I find myself doing that pretty often myself, although Ennio Morricone soundtracks invariably just end with me stopping what I'm doing and watching For a Few Dollars More ?

 

Although if someone finds me licking a window - I'm holding you responsible ?

 

I can listen to some music (although it is limited) with lyrics whilst writing - it depends how involved it is - I really like Celtic and Gaelic music.So I listen to a lot of Clannad, Tim Wheater and Aoife Ní Fhearraigh, those kinds of people. They just about have the right balance with their music to not make me too sidetracked by that if it makes sense. 

 

 

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Ah, now this is where my tin-ear for specific accents is gonna fail me - I can't quite place it - it might actually just be a particular London accent, for all I know - but basically a kind of soft English accent is the best I can muster!

I did actually look the guy up to see if I knew him from anything else, and he's basically a voice-actor for hire (you can hire him to read stuff via fivver actually!) - no shade on him from me - like I say, the actual performance is good and well delivered - it just felt pretty oddly miscast for the tone and setting of the game... definitely a weird decision.

 

I was curious, so I went and had a little look for myself on YouTube..... I'm not 100% sure myself - it's definitely a Northern accent - it's not too dissimilar to the accent they have in Sheffield, so it's kind of Yorkshire-ish.

 

He does sound fine I agree - but, I agree pretty out of place given the setting.

 

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I'm 100% with you there - I know I played Town of Light in italian, but I can't recall if I ever tried it the other way. I do tend to try and listen to stuff that is set in a particular place in that language if I can - I used to play the older Assassin's Creed games in Italian (which works to a point, though, weirdly, there is no setting to have Desmond in English, and Ezio in italian, which always felt a weird oversight!).

 

I played it in Italian first and then stuck the English voice acting on for the cleanup just to see how different they were - and there is a huge amount of difference - I don't think I would have liked the game half as much had I not listened to it in its native language.

 

I've never done the Assassin's Creed games in their native language, might have to try that - I've only done a few  sections of Unity in French - which are surprisingly good actually. In fact all of Unity is surprisingly good, I know it had its fair share of graphical glitches and what not, but there are plenty of AC games I'd happily avoid replaying, but would definitely give Unity another go through down the line.

 

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

One I definitely remember thinking was miles more immersive was A Plague Tale - I played that one in French, for flavour, and I think not only did it give a bit more verisimilitude to the game generally, but I actually felt like - talking to other people about it - I got a slightly different experience in terms of relationship to the characters. I remember a lot of people talking about really disliking the younger brother character, but I never felt that way, and I wonder if maybe the French voice actor gave a slightly different shade of performance...

 

I'll have to keep that in mind when I play it - I didn't realise that was set in France, so I'll have to do that once I eventually play it. I nearly did, and then PS5 version got given away free, so I guess I'll be playing that version now.

 

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Dude - that seems to already be happening - the number of adventure games in my backlog has skyrocketed already... and there's a snooker game on my list now, for crying out loud! 

 

Sorry NOT SORRY  ??

Edited November 29, 2021 by rjkclarke

[DrBloodmoney]

28 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

 

 

The fact Richard E. Grant is in it is incentive enough -  I'd love it if they'd borrowed a line from Withnail and I when Sackboy shows up and he says something like " Ahh Sackboy you seem to have come on holiday by accident, time to perish" or something like that. 

 

I just want more Withnail and I representation anywhere I can find it

?

“Are you Sackboy?”

 

“Stop saying that Withnail, for fucks sake! Of course he’s the fucking Sackboy!”

 

Quote

 

Aphex Twin huh - yeah I could see how that'd be half decent writing music - I might have to try that one myself. The film soundtracks are a good shout - I find myself doing that pretty often myself, although Ennio Morricone soundtracks invariably just end with me stopping what I'm doing and watching For a Few Dollars More

Haha - yeah, that’s always the danger - or suddenly everything you write has inexplicable three-way standoffs appearing in it! ?

 

 

Quote

 

 

I was curious, so I went and had a little look for myself on YouTube..... I'm not 100% sure myself - it's definitely a Northern accent - it's not too dissimilar to the accent they have in Sheffield, so it's kind of Yorkshire-ish.

 

He does sound fine I agree - but, I agree pretty out of place given the setting.

 

 

I played it in Italian first and then stuck the English voice acting on for the cleanup just to see how different they were - and there is a huge amount of difference - I don't think I would have liked the game half as much had I not listened to it in its native language.

 

I've never done the Assassin's Creed games in their native language, might have to try that - I've only done a few  sections of Unity in French - which are surprisingly good actually. In fact all of Unity is surprisingly good, I know it had its fair share of graphical glitches and what not, but there are plenty of AC games I'd happily avoid replaying, but would definitely give Unity another go through down the line.

Yes! Unity for the win!

 

It’s not been scientifically proven yet, but Unity is, I think, actually my favourite one in the series! I know it suffered terribly early on for being a glitch-riddled nightmare factory (we all remember the skinless Arno memes!), but I played Unity quite a while after everything had been fixed, and I loved it!

I really think the setting is the biggest factor in an AC game - and Paris in Unity is just such an iconic and well rendered one - it combines all the good traversal stuff, with a real feeling of place and time, and feels so lived-in - in a way even the hugely impressive, massive maps of Origins and Odyssey never quite compare to!

 

Quote

 

I'll have to keep that in mind when I play it - I didn't realise that was set in France, so I'll have to do that once I eventually play it. I nearly did, and then PS5 version got given away free, so I guess I'll be playing that version now.

 

oh, I reckon you’ll dig that one - it’s another game that does place and time really well - and for all that it is very much a ‘b-movie’ story, the characters (in particular Amelia) are incredibly well rendered and genuinely likeable and interesting. ?

 

Quote

 

Sorry NOT SORRY 

?

Edited November 30, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[YaManSmevz]

On 11/29/2021 at 11:47 AM, rjkclarke said:

I loved reading them though......

 

and I really love the fact that we posted our respective Afterparty reviews  at practically the same time in the same minute.

 

And we're reaping all the benefits???

 

On 11/29/2021 at 1:30 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

Man - I know the feeling - I'm like 3 write-ups behind on commenting on yours - I've read them, but at the weekend I'm generally confined to the phone, and typing responses becomes a labour in that instance - especially when you go and get emotion involved...

 

(plus, I've just managed to add to my own not-inconsiderable workload, as I've voluteered to take over the badge-making duty for the Trophies for Cancer event, as the original (actual) artist is unable, so I imagine i'll be a little later on my next batch, as well as keeping up with the checklists for a little bit!)

 

 

It's funny - LBP always felt to me like one of those franchises so synonymous with the Playstation brand, that I'm actually surprised how many folks haven't dabbled with them - I think I got the first one when it was pretty new, and it became such a staple of co-op in the Bloodmoney household that you forget it's not just mailed to everyone with their voting cards and littlewoods pools 

 

 

Man, absolutely - writing especially, I find quite difficult without some kind of music playing, but anything with lyrics tends to get in the way, so there are certain things that have ridiculously inflated spotify play counts - Aphex Twin / Goldie, and all that type of stuff, or Mogwai / The Donkeys / Tortoise, plus soundtrack albums (Gravity / any Ennio Morroconi/ that Gris Soundtrack... and bands like Helios or instrumental stuff like Tracy Chattaway is always on the go!)

 

But.. but who's gonna make your badge?

 

Am I the only person exclusively visiting this site on their phone? Also I mis-labeled Little Big Planet, what a dummy!

 

Hmm... puttin two and two together, maybe that's why I'm always here on my phone...

 

I love Aphex Twin! Although you may have guessed? I'll have to peep the Donkeys. Definitely a big soundtrack fan as well, most recently Nick Cave/Warren Ellis and Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross stuff.

 

On 11/29/2021 at 3:47 PM, rjkclarke said:

Aphex Twin huh - yeah I could see how that'd be half decent writing music - I might have to try that one myself. The film soundtracks are a good shout - I find myself doing that pretty often myself, although Ennio Morricone soundtracks invariably just end with me stopping what I'm doing and watching For a Few Dollars More

 

That's how I am with Thomas Newman scores?

[DrBloodmoney]

20 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I love Aphex Twin! Although you may have guessedI'll have to peep the Donkeys. Definitely a big soundtrack fan as well, most recently Nick Cave/Warren Ellis and Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross stuff.

 

Hey, yeah the Donkey's are great - nothing ike Aphex Twin mind you - it's more mind of awesome road music - that's how I got introduced to them, I reckon if you listen to attack called "lower the Heavens" you'll know exactly what they're like and if you dig it - that's both my writing/working soundtrack, as well as my "driving at night" soundtrack!

 

Oh man, you just reminded me how awesome Trent Reznor soundtracks are!

 

 

[Shrooba]

On 29/11/2021 at 6:55 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

Bastion
Black & White Bushido 
Lumines Remastered 
Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders
Pyre

With a minimum of 1 Bonus games this round, including:

Gods will Fall

Back again, and I look forward to the future updates doc! ? I'll have to catch up to about a month's worth of batches, starting from your GoW read! ? I'll get started tomorrow, but it's good to see you're still at it!

[Shrooba]

Just finished reading through your batches! There are a few games here and there I don’t have enough knowledge to adequately comment on, but for every game that I did, I’ve pitched in my two cents! For some reason, try as I might, I cannot quote things from different pages. ? In the past I’ve dealt the hard way that quoting something and writing a long spiel, then clicking to the next page sends all your progress to the shadow realm. So, I’ll put it all in this one post (also so that I don’t leave multiple messages that clutter the thread).  
 

Bejeweled 2:

 

Now here’s a classic. As cringy as it sounds, I like to think of this game as the Candy Crush of yesteryear, yet I mean this in a good way, not in jest; I love Bejeweled. It was a titan back then, alongside Plants Vs. Zombies, PopCap was on a roll. I think you sum it best with the statement alone that over 10 billion hours had been played over 500 million downloads. For a series that reigned in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, that is a phenomenal feat. It being released on console given it’s pick up and play nature seemed to be at odds; I think Bejeweled would’ve been excellent on a handheld like the Vita if anything. Thanks for the trip down memory lane doc! ?

 

Final Fantasy VII:

 

I’ve played the entire KH series, but I haven’t platinumed a single Final Fantasy yet! ? This one is one of the most popular in the series; even for those who haven’t played the games, Sephiroth is one of gaming’s most iconic villains. I reckon I can comment on this one since I'm familiar with the characters and seen gameplay.
 

Interesting how you note the Sony + Nintendo partnership on their potential console. If they had done the deal, I’ve got no idea what the current gaming giants would be like today. Would Xbox even exist? Could the original Xbox stand the chance of facing two titans that partnered up? ? FF7, alongside other stand outs like Crash and Spyro really solidified Sony’s independence, and the game, alongside the console itself, remain an important part of PlayStation’s legacy. Another worthy aspect you mentioned was the differing art styles; I’ve never played the original FF7, but I’ve seen gameplay and the different styles of the characters differs greatly between the overworld, and battles as you said. Funny how the PS1 in and of itself was a very experimental console, and even stuff like FF7 was through it's art! I can’t comment on much else since I haven’t played this, but it IS on sale right now… ?

 

 

GoW III:

 

God of War III… Man, this game is something else, ain’t it! ? Like you said, it pretty much dialed up everything; it doubled down and pulled all the stops! There’s some cool behind the scenes videos of the game’s development, and the Poseidon fight at the beginning had a ton of planning in it, and it ended up being one of the coolest fights, being only the first one at that. At this point in time, devs had figured out the PS3 to a T, and games around this time like GoW III really rose above and, pretty much as you put it, started blurring the line between the PS3/PS4.
 

On a side note, it’s remarkable how far gaming has come. When once upon a time games like San Andreas were the peak of graphical fidelity, we now have gorgeous games like the upcoming Gran Turismo 7, FF7 Remake, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart… Even with the usage of motion capture, human movement in cutscenes is now realistic more than ever. It’s insane that we’ve come this far and looking at the end of the PS3 era truly feels like a last hurrah, with GoW III filling in a part of that history.
 

Kratos’ character in the PS3 games is quite an enigma; he isn’t someone to be heralded as a hero at all, yet he paradoxically evokes this feeling of tragedy. That’s what I love about Greek mythology; the gods, as all-mighty as they are, are flawed like us. Ares in the original game, even with his war-like knowledge, was in and of himself a dishonourable person, pinning Kratos to kill his family unbeknownst to him, cursing him with their ashes even through the current Norse narrative.
 

Ares, the first villain, is the one I find to be one of the more interesting characters in the series. Typically in war we hear about the “chivalry” and “honour” of our fellow soldiers, yet Ares disregarded Kratos like a mere pawn. The Greek gods are flawed, and I think making Ares do this was a good set up for Kratos’ motives.
 

However, and as you said, Kratos in GoW III was ALSO willing to kill innocents. Whatever aspect of tragedy I had felt for Kratos was gone now. While his hesitance to sacrifice Pandora at the end was interesting, I feel as though making him kill innocents stripped him of that morally grey anti-hero area. The one thing that gave Kratos any semblance of heroism with his defiance against Ares is now stripped away, because now he’s no better.

Kratos in the PS3 games is so paradoxical to me; he feels one-dimensional at times, yet he has so much going for him at the same time… it’s hard to explain. ?
 

But indeed, GoW III is an exciting spectacle for sure! That is something that's never failed in the series.

 

Sly 2: Band of Thieves

 

I find that there’s always a hit game in each decade of gaming. For the 2010’s, that was both Breath of the Wild and Fortnite, in which we now see an abundance of battle royales and open-worlds galore… (Granted, I don't think Fortnite is a good game but it's impact on the market as a whole is undeniable).
 

But in the 2000’s? That was GTA, I agree with you doc! ? It had a huge impact on Jak II as you said, and while I don’t know much about the Sly series, I know based on Jak II that changing your formula to mirror something else can yield varying results. With everything sprawled all over the place, I can see how pacing is an issue. I wholeheartedly agree that pacing can make or break one’s will to replay a game. For instance, I replayed Persona 5 without hesitation because the story was well spread out even if it was a 100+ hour game, but having games where you play for hours on end with seemingly no progress becomes very tiresome. This quote you said here was quite important too:

“The addition of a huge number of mini-game style mechanics, (from dancing, to turret sections, to chopper sections, to escort missions etc,) might add variety, but when they are all less fun than the primary game mechanics, it just feels like the player is constantly being pulled away from what is fun, in favour of what isn't.”
 

This here makes me think of Crash 3. I love Crash 2 as it improved on the formula, but with Crash 3, you could tell Naughty Dog didn’t know what else to do with him so they started throwing in gimmicks and seeing what would stick, like piloting airplanes for instance. But rather than improving upon the pre-established formula of its former game, it did something entirely different for the sake of filling in levels. I don’t know how this is with Sly 2, but in the case of Crash 3, it is technically admirable that they would at least try to shake it up, but it ends up feeling like the state of the recent Sonic games; straying too much can either work well like Sonic Unleashed or end up a confusing mess like Sonic Lost World. So, to see this sentiment with Sly 2, I can see why it would be a disappointing game. I haven’t played it, but I can relate to experiencing bad pacing and gimmicky gameplay.

 

GoW 4:

 

This was the big game changer in the series, both thematically and literally!

One of the smartest things the writing in this instalment did was take the weird writing of the PS3 era and use that to turn Kratos into a genuinely awesome character. It took the lemons and made a beautiful Nordic lemonade. As you said in this quote: “but the negative aspects - the edge-lord plots and Kratos himself - were weaponised and re-contextualised into some of God of War(2018)'s greatest assets too.“ That pretty much sums it up, I agree 100% doc!
 

By this point, Kratos isn’t an old, withered man per say, but he is tired of his past. He is no longer vengeful, he’s simply tired of it all. Tired of all conflict with the gods, and tired of facing his past. Afraid of it, even. It's indeed interesting that the GoW 4 writers took that enigmatic persona of Kratos in GoW III, with killing innocent people stripping away any semblance of his heroism, and making that a reason why Kratos shut his past from Atreus. He couldn't atone for what he did, but he could at least guide Atreus to live a normal life.

What we’re left with is someone, like the Last of Us’ Joel as you said, now a father figure. Unlike Joel however, and as you said, Kratos is indeed someone with an unlikable past, and it really is awesome how the writers took that past and made it the focal point of his development in this entry, especially in relation to his son, Atreus. Kratos used to embrace his genocidal tendencies, but now he’s a tired man who no longer wishes to embrace that side of him, even “ending the cycle” as he puts it himself when ending the strife with Baldur. It’s beautiful writing, and I can’t wait to see how Ragnarok will turn out. Good review, doc. ?

 

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time:

 

A Crack in Time, this one has a cool premise indeed. While Rift Apart introduced Rivet who was a cool character, I did find the relationships between the characters to be a bit too buddy-buddy and less snarky like the originals (this is an issue I have with the reboot and movie as well). Granted, I don’t want Ratchet games to be an edge-fest like 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog, but when you compare Rivet to Alister, there’s a big difference. I don’t know much about Nexus so I can’t comment on that game, but I can definitely remark upon A Crack in Time purely because he was such an interesting character. He wanted to rewrite the injustice of the Lombax’s history, yet he was flawed and willing to put everything at stake. His story made me sympathise with his actions even if it was in a grey area. But with the dimension hopping being a new staple in the series, maybe in one way, shape, or form, he’ll come back. With all that said, it’s tragically ironic that I’ve uh… never actually played the game myself! ? I looked at one of the threads for the game on here and apparently there’s this weird patch issue that apparently prevents you from getting the plat? I’m not sure… Regardless, its story is one that definitely stands out to me.

 

And as a side note, well done with the LBP series! I can’t really comment much else since I haven’t played any of the games, but I’m well aware of the series especially since Sumo Digital took the reigns as you said. I might maaaaaybe pick up the latest PS5 entry at one point, but well done on those completions! ?

 

And lastly, I look forward to the Awards Season!

Edited December 4, 2021 by Shrooba

[DrBloodmoney]

 

Quote

Final Fantasy VII:

 

I’ve played the entire KH series, but I haven’t platinumed a single Final Fantasy yet! This one is one of the most popular in the series; even for those who haven’t played the games, Sephiroth is one of gaming’s most iconic villains. I reckon I can comment on this one since I'm familiar with the characters and seen gameplay.

 

That's funny - I'm the totally opposite ?

 

I think I've played every FF game (outside of a few of the spin off ones, and the two MMO ones, but aside from a little of the first KH, I've never touched them. I got the original KH on PS2 during the fervour when it released, but I think at the time that was because of the Squaresoft aspects, and when I loaded it up, I think the fact that it was more action combat didn't work for me when I was very much an RPG guy...

...I remember being like  "What is this?! This isn't turn-based! Squaresoft my ass!" and pretty much dropping it ?

I guess at some point I really should check them out again, but the series seems completely impenetrable now, with all the weird naming conventions and side-games and stuff - from the outside, it looks like it needs a Wiki open at all times just to follow what's going on ??

 

 

Quote

Interesting how you note the Sony + Nintendo partnership on their potential console. If they had done the deal, I’ve got no idea what the current gaming giants would be like today. Would Xbox even exist? Could the original Xbox stand the chance of facing two titans that partnered up?

 

It's a good question - I think that decision and that partnership falling apart is probably the single most influential butterfly-effect the industry has ever had really...

...like you say, if Sony never enters as their own entity, then probably MS never does either, and maybe partners with Sega or something, and we enter the new gen with the same original rivalry, albeit with new weaponry and allies backing them? 

 

 

Quote

I can’t comment on much else since I haven’t played this, but it IS on sale right now…

 

Do it!

 

 

Quote

GoW III:

[...]ever, and as you said, Kratos in GoW III was ALSO willing to kill innocents. Whatever aspect of tragedy I had felt for Kratos was gone now. While his hesitance to sacrifice Pandora at the end was interesting, I feel as though making him kill innocents stripped him of that morally grey anti-hero area. The one thing that gave Kratos any semblance of heroism with his defiance against Ares is now stripped away, because now he’s no better.

 

That's actually a really good point - I guess that could be argued to be the overall message: War is grotesque, and the purview of petulant children, and so the only people that can rule as the "God of War" are stunted, immature men with inferiority complexes - Ares first, then Kratos... both men who cannot see past their own bloodlust, and live in a state of arrested development as a result 

 

Quote

Sly 2: Band of Thieves

 

I find that there’s always a hit game in each decade of gaming. For the 2010’s, that was both Breath of the Wild and Fortnite, in which we now see an abundance of battle royales and open-worlds galore… (Granted, I don't think Fortnite is a good game but it's impact on the market as a whole is undeniable).
 

But in the 2000’s? That was GTA, I agree with you doc!  It had a huge impact on Jak II as you said, and while I don’t know much about the Sly series, I know based on Jak II that changing your formula to mirror something else can yield varying results. With everything sprawled all over the place, I can see how pacing is an issue. I wholeheartedly agree that pacing can make or break one’s will to replay a game. For instance, I replayed Persona 5 without hesitation because the story was well spread out even if it was a 100+ hour game, but having games where you play for hours on end with seemingly no progress becomes very tiresome. This quote you said here was quite important too:

“The addition of a huge number of mini-game style mechanics, (from dancing, to turret sections, to chopper sections, to escort missions etc,) might add variety, but when they are all less fun than the primary game mechanics, it just feels like the player is constantly being pulled away from what is fun, in favour of what isn't.”
 

This here makes me think of Crash 3. I love Crash 2 as it improved on the formula, but with Crash 3, you could tell Naughty Dog didn’t know what else to do with him so they started throwing in gimmicks and seeing what would stick, like piloting airplanes for instance. But rather than improving upon the pre-established formula of its former game, it did something entirely different for the sake of filling in levels. I don’t know how this is with Sly 2, but in the case of Crash 3, it is technically admirable that they would at least try to shake it up, but it ends up feeling like the state of the recent Sonic games; straying too much can either work well like Sonic Unleashed or end up a confusing mess like Sonic Lost World. So, to see this sentiment with Sly 2, I can see why it would be a disappointing game. I haven’t played it, but I can relate to experiencing bad pacing and gimmicky gameplay.

 

That's interesting - I never played much Crash (I wasn't a fan of the original game,) but it does feel like virtually none of those character action games of that era were immune to the "just keep adding side stuff!" mentality - even games where they managed to curtail it a little, and where the game still works (Sly 3, I'd argue, and Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal,) had it too - they just managed to shine anyways.

 

 

Quote

GoW 4:

 

This was the big game changer in the series, both thematically and literally!

One of the smartest things the writing in this instalment did was take the weird writing of the PS3 era and use that to turn Kratos into a genuinely awesome character. It took the lemons and made a beautiful Nordic lemonade. As you said in this quote: “but the negative aspects - the edge-lord plots and Kratos himself - were weaponised and re-contextualised into some of God of War(2018)'s greatest assets too.“ That pretty much sums it up, I agree 100% doc!
 

By this point, Kratos isn’t an old, withered man per say, but he is tired of his past. He is no longer vengeful, he’s simply tired of it all. Tired of all conflict with the gods, and tired of facing his past. Afraid of it, even. It's indeed interesting that the GoW 4 writers took that enigmatic persona of Kratos in GoW III, with killing innocent people stripping away any semblance of his heroism, and making that a reason why Kratos shut his past from Atreus. He couldn't atone for what he did, but he could at least guide Atreus to live a normal life.

What we’re left with is someone, like the Last of Us’ Joel as you said, now a father figure. Unlike Joel however, and as you said, Kratos is indeed someone with an unlikable past, and it really is awesome how the writers took that past and made it the focal point of his development in this entry, especially in relation to his son, Atreus. Kratos used to embrace his genocidal tendencies, but now he’s a tired man who no longer wishes to embrace that side of him, even “ending the cycle” as he puts it himself when ending the strife with Baldur. It’s beautiful writing, and I can’t wait to see how Ragnarok will turn out. Good review, doc.

 

Yeah, that game is a total enigma in some ways - because the recontextulisation works so well, it actually made me glad that Kratos was such a piece of shit in the previous games, because it now feels like necessary background to how you feel playing the new one...

I do wonder how The Last of Us might have felt, if they had had, say, a flashback section, where you played as Joel during his "dark days" - playing as him say, 2 years after the intro, where he is still raw from his daughter, and willing to kill innocents and do the terrible things he alludes to in the game, but we never actually see... I wonder if that would change peoples reaction to him at the end of the game? 

 

 

Quote

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time:

 

A Crack in Time, this one has a cool premise indeed. While Rift Apart introduced Rivet who was a cool character, I did find the relationships between the characters to be a bit too buddy-buddy and less snarky like the originals (this is an issue I have with the reboot and movie as well). Granted, I don’t want Ratchet games to be an edge-fest like 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog, but when you compare Rivet to Alister, there’s a big difference. I don’t know much about Nexus so I can’t comment on that game, but I can definitely remark upon A Crack in Time purely because he was such an interesting character. He wanted to rewrite the injustice of the Lombax’s history, yet he was flawed and willing to put everything at stake. His story made me sympathise with his actions even if it was in a grey area. But with the dimension hopping being a new staple in the series, maybe in one way, shape, or form, he’ll come back. With all that said, it’s tragically ironic that I’ve uh… never actually played the game myself!  I looked at one of the threads for the game on here and apparently there’s this weird patch issue that apparently prevents you from getting the plat? I’m not sure… Regardless, its story is one that definitely stands out to me.

 

Well, I can say, A Crack in Time wasn't an old game I went back to - I loaded it up from scratch when I played, and all the patches and everything installed just fine - it's possible I was just lucky, but it certainly feels like it still runs fine and everything unlocked as it was supposed to...

...the only issue I had was the game doesn't have proper integration for the dualshock 4 controller (the / buttons don't work,) so I did have to find an old Six-Axis controller, but aside from that, I think you'd be fine to I've in if you fancied.

 

 

Quote

And as a side note, well done with the LBP series! I can’t really comment much else since I haven’t played any of the games, but I’m well aware of the series especially since Sumo Digital took the reigns as you said. I might maaaaaybe pick up the latest PS5 entry at one point, but well done on those completions!

 

I think it's well worth it - I was impressed with that new Sackboy's Big Adventure!

 

Quote

And lastly, I look forward to the Awards Season!

 

Got my Tux at the ready!

that actually brings up a point....

 

 

☢️☢️SCIENCE ALERT☢️☢️

 

I realise that things have slowed a little (I have been less prolific in the last week, as I had Badge-Making duties for to Trophies for Cancer event to deal with,) butI think after the next batch, I'm going to cool off on the science for a little bit, as it will be getting to Awards Season ?

 

After this nex batch is posted, I will likely take the foot off the gas for a few weeks, as real life is getting more hectic, and I want to write up the awards posts.

 

As such, I'll do any Mini-Game DLC write ups that come along, and will write up any new S-Ranks to past as their own batch, but will probably leave doing older games until the new year...

...assuming the pull of Science doesn't get a hold of me before then! ?

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

MINOR SCIENCE UPDATE

 

Superliminal has had some new DLC added (Yay! ?)...

...but it's apparently broken right now (Boooooo! ?)

 

It's been added to the Grey pile for now, but hopefully the DLC will be fixed soon, for an upcoming Mini-Game DLC update, as I hear it's good on PC...