Smevin's Regular, Every Day, Normal Ass Gamer Attempts at Trophy Hunting

[AJ_Radio]

10 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said:

Hey thanks a lot man, I really appreciate that! You more than know your way around difficult trophy lists, so that means a lot

I sure as hell won’t 100% GTA V. If it involves difficult multiplayer, I’m out.

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #57: Flipping Death

 

Shed your skin and float it down the river

 

Of all the cool scenarios I never knew I wanted to experience, bumbling into taking over Death's job is easily one of the best in recent memory. I love me a playful take on death, especially when it's got the high level of imagination that Zoink brings to the proverbial table. Plus, it gives me something to say in case somebody's experiencing a mortality crisis.

 

"Haven't you played Flipping Death? It's not gonna be scary when you die, it'll be a very humorous and entertaining situation!"

 

I was a big fan of Stick It to the Man not just for its rampant silliness but for how wildly creative it was, so much so in fact that I dug this game out of the backlog pretty much immediately after playing it. For whatever reason it's taken me a while to put pen to pad but I'm happy to report that Flipping Death builds on nearly every quality that made its predecessor such a good time!

 

Firstly, the trademark Nickelodeon-on-crack animation style is back in full force. The town looks great, complete with misshapen buildings and streets that make no sense. The colors are loud and vibrant but not like a Saul Goodman suit or something, it might just be me but i felt they did a better job of sticking with color schemes this time around. The character design is on point too, with everybody looking the right kind of off, if that makes sense. You need look no further than Pokeman, who runs around in full superhero attire just poking things with his finger. And upon reading his mind, you see that it's honestly all he thinks about - it ain't a gimmick, he lives it. "Urge to poke, RIIISING!"

 

In fact, the game thrives in general when it comes to the characters. Penny is a fun protagonist and a joy to have along for the ride. The ghosts you help out are very entertaining as well, but Zoink saves the real zaniness for the peeps in the living world, which pays off wonderfully (including the aforementioned superhero that nobody could ever have possibly asked for). When you take over their bodies, they have this awkward flail to their movements that cracks me up. The voice acting is spot on too, and does a top notch job of bringing everything to life. In particular, I found it impossible to not at least smile during that horn player's vocal tics.

 

The largest leap though I'd say is in the storytelling. Is dying, bumping into Death as he is about to embark to the Moon on vacation (if it ever were possible to do this, "Nobody dies on the Moon!" would be a great selling point for tourists), then uncovering a conspiracy involving your body being stolen utterly ridiculous? Of course. But as sure as I am incapable of writing short sentences, Flipping Death has this dedication to its story. As wacky as everything is, the touch of macabre is never lost on us. There's an urgency to try to find out what's going on, to help the souls who are in need, that I'd argue wasn't quite as prevalent in SIttM.

 

The final chapter in particular sells this - all throughout the game, the music is a light jazzy affair, more or less stripped down to upright bass, horns, and piano. Here though, the cheery frolicsomeness is gone, and I wasn't exactly fooled into thinking I was playing SOMA or anything, but it was definitely a sharp switch up that I couldn't help but appreciate.

 

The actual gameplay is solid as well, with basically the same set up as SIttM but with a few added features. We're still essentially running around to see what different people are doing and how we can match them up (Hmm, so this mermaid needs a chainsaw... oh wow whaddayaknow, here comes a chainsaw salesman, what are the odds??) but there are added challenges for us to do on top of the already necessary problem solving. I also liked the Hints system, which is essentially a series of semi-cryptic illustrations depicting what needs to happen next. The platforming is tightened up a bit, and I liked the scythe ability, but this department is still more passable than especially good. Which is fine, given how fun everything else is!

 

I would absolutely recommend Flipping Death. It's a bit short, but the story is fun to follow, and while it's no Witness I'd definitely say that it's a good time figuring out what to do next. If you like silly humor and over the top animation, you really can't go wrong here.

 

Stray Observations

 

- In her own way, Penny reminds you that ultimately we all want the same things out of life: food, movies, and smooches.

 

- The bizarre humor of Stick It to the Man may have been dialed back a hair, but there's still so many hits here. Gotta love the dude stabbing people with his ice cream cone, and when you ask him for specifics on his ice cream flavor conspiracy theories, he responds with an indignant "oh yeah, like I'd tell you, VOICE IN MY HEAD!"

 

- Switching in between worlds will always be a cool mechanic, #changemymind.

 

- That couple singing to each other in the first flashback was outstanding... and the fact that we had to listen to their absurd song on loop for a challenge? Well played, Zoink.

 

- It's slightly unsettling how in the dark realm you can see your occupied body but can't approach without taking damage. In general I felt there was a good sense of danger throughout the game, I liked having that to cut the goofiness just a tad.

 

- Unrelated to the game, but I happened upon an AV review for a show we'd been watching and instantly remembered that they do this 'stray observation' bit. I completely ripped them off without realizing it. Booo! I mean, too late now, but damn. I really thought I'd thought that thought all on my own... I'm a fraud?

 

THAT Trophy: Gotta Catch 'Em All

 

Possible Heart Condition gets a nod because taking over the dentist and chasing his patient with a drill was absolutely hysterical.

 

Completing all challenges in every chapter was technically the trickiest, but that's not saying much! I still say this was a much needed layer - sure it's padding, but I feel they did enough to make it fun.

[AJ_Radio]

I caught that Pokémon reference. Any 90s kid who watched anime like me knows it like the back of their hand…

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #62: Syphon Filter

 

The weapons now are chemicals, in water and in air above

 

"My God... Syphon Filter!"

 

Having played this as a teenager way back when it first came out, seeing a trophy supported Syphon Filter pop up as a PS1 classic was quite a pleasant sight! It made me think two things, though:

 

1. I can just buy it, right? I don't want to upgrade my PS Plus account, but I swear I have money.

 

2. I absolutely remember loving this game, but classic? Symphony of the Night is a classic, this was just a cool game I played way back when. Make with the Metal Gear Solid!

 

Ew, am I a 90s Konami fanboy?

 

As it turns out, yes, I could buy it outright. And also yes, I was not the only one who enjoyed this game's initial run, it's deserving of its given classic status and I was just being a mean girl. My bad.

 

Syphon Filter came out in February of 1999, a very unfortunate time for a stealth-based 'stop the terrorists' type game to come out, as it was a mere five months after the mighty Metal Gear Solid was born. And sadly, yes, I did wonder if the game was a rip off of MGS, because I was sixteen and had no idea how video game production works. Turns out that Syphon Filter was in development long before that, with Sony wanting a game blending stealth and action from the perspective of a spy, with only Goldeneye as a blueprint. There were even some painstaking re-writes upon Metal Gear Solid's release, as several boss fights were deemed too similar.

 

I remember enjoying this in 1999, and I gotta say that it's held up surprisingly well. You play as Gabe Logan, your standard secret agent type who's chasing a terrorist organization behind a series of biological weapon attacks. What follows is a plot filled with all the intrigue, suspense, twists, and action movie staples you'd expect from a good espionage story. The cutscenes really help keep things engaging too - sure, they look like Lego figures with fully formed limbs, but I fucked with it!

 

Gameplay does a surprising amount of lifting here - I really liked how the objectives pop up and change at a fast rate, as it keeps you on your toes, fully immersed and always wondering what's next. There's a great diversity to the objectives, as well. You have to mark bombs, protect agents defusing them, find enemy combatants, and destroy their equipment all while alternating between guns blazing and stealthy approaches, and that's just the first level. No GTA-itis here!

 

Something that likely nobody is thinking: "Ooh, a PS1 game? I'll bet the controls are awesome!" Sadly, they are not. But while movement and free aim are definitely clunky, they're really no worse than a lot of great PS2 games. Strafing and crouching are done well enough, and the auto aim is surprisingly fluid. Not to mention that the control scheme can be changed to pretty much whatever you want, a great feature that I wish had become a common thing. You can also reverse the inverted aim, thankfully... dear lord, why did everybody think that was a good idea back then?

 

Playing through this again reminded me that Syphon Filter has some pretty tough stretches (especially the latter half where everybody got a damn vest on), and that it's largely a very hands off experience. You're gonna have to do a lot of looking around to figure out where you're going next, and the primitive graphics do not make every crawlspace or hallway easily visible. And while enemies do have almost impressively bad aim, eventually you get to a place where they're in such high numbers and are so well armed that them being dumb isn't going to help you.

 

Having said that, a rewinding mechanic has been introduced. Does it make the game easier? Yeah, but it doesn't exactly hand it over to you either. It isn't going to do you much good if you can't find your way around or aren't making the proper adjustments after getting surprise killed, but it cuts down massively on the frustration of having to start over and hear a mission's opening dialogue repeatedly. I just like that it encourages you to stay in the action, particularly if you're a newcomer who's put off by dusty old controls.

 

So yeah, I don't know how I'd forgotten just how much fun this game was, but it really is. I had a great visit with an old homie, and I encourage both peeps like me who beat this back in the day and the uninitiated alike to give it a go.

 

Stray Observations

 

- Man, that opening "NOYNEeightNOYNstudios" brought back a flood of memories.

 

- The first thing I did was bust out the taser and latch on to some poor bastard til he let out that ridiculous scream and burst into flames. Still isn't old!

 

- As a sixteen year old I'd watch Gabe run and think to myself that he looks like he got a load in them pants. Now, as a mature 39 year old man... I still see it. He really looks like he shit his pants before all this business with the virus started and just never got to change them.

 

- The Girdeux fight is awesome, but the voice actor's French accent is decidedly not. I actually have a friend named Logan whom I met in high school, and more than a few times that poor guy had to deal with me being like "You can't vin, Logan!" Speaking of which, I should give him a call...

 

- The half-hearted read of "please, don't kill me" that Phagan gives actually had me thinking "yeah, just shoot him." Also, am I nuts or did they use the exact same recording again in the catacombs?

 

- Love Gabe's frustrated "Dammit!" every time your cover is blown. It's like he knew what I was gonna say next!

 

- Again, it's a pretty good story. A lot of stuff you can see coming, but it's not at all without its moments. The incoming transmission at the beginning of Mission 17 had a bombshell I'd completely forgotten about, I was like "oh shit!"

 

- I don't think much about trophy screens, but the fact that they're largely ancient memory card prompts is pretty funny to me.

 

THAT Trophy: Rescue Phagan

 

Even with the rewinding, playing this mission reminded me what a pain in the ass it was on my very first run. Here, it's so much quicker to assess where exactly to aim your headshots and where you can safely be out of sight, and without all the restarts I realized just what a short segment it really is! It really is a dope mission, but if there were trophies in '99 this would've won the dubious honor hands down!

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #63: Salt and Sanctuary

 

Under the fog, there are shadows moving

 

It certainly took me long enough, but I finally got around to my first Soulslike! I know Salt and Sanctuary is of a more stripped down nature, but I thought it was a good introduction, and I had a pretty good time. It made me want to revisit Symphony of the Night and gave Bloodborne a huge bump up in priority!

 

Dark Souls? Eh. One of these days!

 

Salt and Sanctuary was developed by two people, a married couple no less (cuuute!), which is absolutely mindblowing to me. The gameplay is tight, the lore is extensive, and the hand drawn animation looks great. I've heard criticisms of this game having a drab look, but I liked the almost Edward Gorey look to the game. Plus, the dashes of color went a long way - Hager's Cavern in particular is gorgeous with its shades of blue and pink. I was also really impressed with the design of the enemies, obviously most of all the bosses. As much of a hassle as some of them were, just looking at them was a real treat.

 

So you start out by choosing your class, look, and name (I was a paladin named Dipshit the Mighty with a Keith Flint haircut). You can even pick where in this world you're from, which I thought was neat, even though it doesn't seem to have any bearing on the experience (that I could spot, at least). You are shipwrecked on a mysterious island, tasked with rescuing a princess, but beyond that it's just kind of a boss rush with platforming and revelations of lore, be they from scattered bottles or NPCs who are on quests of their own. I really liked that aspect, and how you find out more about what may be going on. A branded body of a slave in royal attire? That shit sounds interesting as hell. And make way for the talking scarecrow that seems to follow you everywhere! Ayo what's good, scarecrow homie??

 

"When it kneels, it will kneel not in acquiescence, but in the darkest despair it will ever know."

 

...oookaayyyyy, bro... can you come along for the whole journey? You are just a peach.

 

I'll be real, I was definitely feeling overwhelmed at first, but then I remembered that an action RPG is still an RPG, and before long the leveling up, skill tree, and weapon upgrading was all working for me, and the combat got a lot easier.

 

I will say, though... as cool as the bosses were, and as challenging as the game could be, things started to feel a bit simpler than they initially seemed. More often than not, just bum rushing the bosses and spam attacking as quickly as you could would end fights before they'd really get started, and for the ones where that wouldn't work, catching onto the telegraphs and rolling out of harm's way wasn't that tall of an order... though maybe this is my Cuphead training talking?

 

When I started this game I was anticipating just getting my ass beat nonstop, but it's absolutely a game you cab adjust to and git gud at with reasonable ease. Also, I ended up going with a guide before long, it's way too easy to get lost or accidentally stumble upon a boss when you haven't saved in a while. Without that, my completion time of a week would've ballooned to a month. Very glad I got around to playing this one, it's definitely the gem I've heard it to be, and it's given me a nice lil nudge towards the Soulsborne neighborhood!

 

Stray Observations

 

- Sanctuaries are cool, and I like the idea of needing one for a save point/life restoration. Or that you can build them up with guides and blacksmiths and all that. They really make a big thing of those, you'd think "Sanctuary" was in the name of the game or something!

 

- For an RPG, Salt and Sanctuary doesn't force too much grinding on you. Whatever items I needed, or if I ever needed a quick salt boost to gain another level, nothing was ever too frustrating to farm. I liked that.

 

- "Whenever you're scared and alone, remember that you are your own hero." Fuckin right✊️

 

- It's silly, but the merchant's parting words always bugged me. "Seek more gold?" Bruh, I just bought a bunch of salt off your ass, don't act like I'm broke or some shit! The shaaade...

 

- The whole system of every death being recorded and having all your salt taken by whatever enemy killed you, with the opportunity to avenge yourself and get it back, was super inspired. When you'd fall to your death though, particularly carrying around 20k salt that you could never recover... PAIN.

 

- The Still Palace at the end looked so dope, I loved the sharp black and white look. Didn't love that you have to take damage from a fall before the Nameless God starts dashing around you, though. It's Bird Day on the Isle of Salt, cuz that shit is cheapcheapcheap.

 

- Speaking of the Palace.... the Nameless God? That fool is faaaast.

 

- Both endings are seriously rad, I can't decide which I like better. One is just bad ass, and the other one treats you to your first taste of color in the entire game.

 

THAT Trophy: The Unspeakable Deep

 

I was very stubborn and tried to kill this thing right away, with no real idea of what I was doing. It took me 19 tries, and I know this because you have to start a whole new game for each attempt and you can only have so many save files. The damage you do to the Deep with each strike is a joke, and as long as it takes to defeat it with these tickles you're giving it, you're permitted a maximum of two miscalculations before it kills your ass.

 

Apparently you're not supposed to win here, but that shit ended up being clutch af, I got to start with a metric ton of gold and salt, and my understanding of the mechanics was that much better. The Tree of Men was probably the trickiest boss for me, but the Unspeakable Deep genuinely had me like "what the fuck did I get myself into..."

 

I was gonna end this write-up with a pun, but I don't want anybody to be salty towards me.

 

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #59: Transistor

 

I'll stop the world and melt with you

 

Transistor is one of those games that came with such universally high praise that when I started playing and didn't quite get it, I got to experience that familiar anxiety of "but everyone else likes it... what's wrong with me??"

 

Even before it really clicked for me, in spite of my struggle to enjoy myself while playing it, I could see quite plainly that Transistor is an objectively great game. The soundtrack is spectacular, the design looks cool as hell, the story keeps you wrapped around its finger, and the gameplay is, I mean let's just call a spade a damn spade, genius.

 

You're given a wide variety of functions, each of which has three functions of its own - an attack, an enhancement for an attack, and an enhancement for the player themselves. You can mix and match these in any way you choose, as there is literally no combination that you can't make viable for combat. And as if that wasn't enough, they serve as your HP too! Each function comes with its own life bar, so technically the more you have equipped the more lives you have. There was clearly a great deal of thought put into this system, and I really can't compliment it enough, it's just brilliant.

 

It wasn't until the end of the first playthrough that everything fell into place for me, and it was a number of things that got me there:

 

1. Ironically, the acceptance that nobody is ever obligated to like anything. I fell into the trap of "But I'm supposed to like this," which will never do you any favors.

 

2. Finally seeing the fruits of experimenting with functions. This game can be a 6/10 difficulty or it can be a 2/10 based on what rollouts you can come up with.

 

3. That ending. That song. Be?au?ti?ful?. And they follow it up with a seamless transition into new game+, so you're all fired up and ready to give it another go.

 

So throughout the second playthrough, things I felt a great deal of respect for the first time around became things I adored. The cyperpunk cityscape is stunning and so fun to get lost in, plus Red and her buster swo- er, I mean transistor just look so fuckin dope. The soundtrack is as excellent as it is diverse, which is a genuine feat. Darren Korb dabbles in grungy rock, blues, drum and bass, there's even a bossa nova sounding jam that reminded me of the Costa Del Sol theme from FF7. It's not easy to dip your toes into that many pools while both maintaining high quality and a cohesive sound, but he nails it.

 

This one is a must play, hands down, no debate, all FOMO justified. It's got that rare combo of smart and fun, a total dreamboat that makes me wanna snuggle up into its big, muscular chest like the slutty little gamer I am.

 

......

 

 

Stray Observations

 

- Logan Cunningham's titular transistor had what sounded to me like a weird Bruce Willis/H. Jon Benjamin amalgam. I can't explain it exactly, but I was about it. Also dug that glow in the transistor when he'd speak.

 

- There's so much to praise that unfortunately not everything can get its due, but that art style is as gorgeous as it is unique. Those quick stills with Red were always a treat!

 

- The tests were cool, and a great way to show the player how easy this game can be if you just let it. One test did kinda go off the rails, but more on that in a bit!

 

- I thought the enemy designs were cool and really liked the diversity in their attacks. The Mans, though... I hate the Mans.

 

- Again, this is one of those soundtracks that's gonna creep into your rotation. If you ever find yourself getting tipsy and singing along to Paper Boats at the top of your lungs, I want you to have expected it.

 

- There's more than a few moments in the story I wish I could talk about here, especially that powerful ending. Ya just gotta play it, I guess?

 

THAT Trophy: Performance ()

 

I thought the rest of the tests were pretty breezy, even the Agency ones, and only really had trouble with this one. 

 

At first these challenges are easy, but they get out of hand eventually and are a serious test of your Transistor mastery. You're given random functions to work with, and shit just gets more and more hairy as you progress. By the time you're almost done, you've got rabid dogs running at you, long distance bombs getting lobbed, invisible enemies that only appear to launch proximity missiles at you, giant angry robots, rapid firing enemies that leave a ton of eggs behind once you kill them, small satellites making them invincible and weeds comin out of the ground that heal them at all times, and so many of these things are on the screen at once that at times you can barely even see yourself, and I'm just like sixteen waves of this, are you out of your fuckin mind????

 

But yeah. Consider me a proud Supergiant convert!

Edited August 4, 2022 by YaManSmevz
Spellcheck my ass

[KindaSabbath]

On 24/07/2022 at 2:59 AM, YaManSmevz said:

Platinum #63: Salt and Sanctuary

 

Under the fog, there are shadows moving

Very enjoyable read but that is always the case in here! 
 

I picked this one up in a recent sale and all I’ve heard regarding the game is positive. Sounds like you had a great time with it too! So that’s just another nudge toward starting it! 
 

Love how you took on the boss you’re not supposed to beat at the beginning of the game! You’re a certified badass, but you know whatsup ??

 

How did this compare to Cuphead enjoyment wise? I loved Cuphead and objectively speaking there’s definitely a few similarities between the two games!

 

 

[YaManSmevz]

23 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

Very enjoyable read but that is always the case in here! 

 

Ayyyyy thanks mah dawg?

 

23 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

I picked this one up in a recent sale and all I’ve heard regarding the game is positive. Sounds like you had a great time with it too! So that’s just another nudge toward starting it! 
 

Love how you took on the boss you’re not supposed to beat at the beginning of the game! You’re a certified badass, but you know whatsup 

 

Haha thanks man, that's straight up praise from Caesar right there!

 

100% YES, I could see you having a great time with this one. 

 

23 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

How did this compare to Cuphead enjoyment wise? I loved Cuphead and objectively speaking there’s definitely a few similarities between the two games!

 

I still enjoyed Cuphead more, but I'm a total Cuphead fanboy so take that with a grain of salt? Definitely agree on the similarities, big bad bosses with dope visuals, that's a hard combo to go wrong with! Seeing the fine work you did with Sekiro got me eyeing that one as well?

[Platinum_Vice]

4 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Darren Korb dabbles in grungy rock, blues, drum and bass

 

Hot damn this game sounds so good!

Your review game is lit lately, Smevz. ?

[realm722]

On 7/23/2022 at 9:59 PM, YaManSmevz said:

When I started this game I was anticipating just getting my ass beat nonstop, but it's absolutely a game you cab adjust to and git gud at with reasonable ease. Also, I ended up going with a guide before long, it's way too easy to get lost or accidentally stumble upon a boss when you haven't saved in a while. Without that, my completion time of a week would've ballooned to a month. Very glad I got around to playing this one, it's definitely the gem I've heard it to be, and it's given me a nice lil nudge towards the Soulsborne neighborhood!

 

Ay great job with this one! Salt & Sanctuary 100% qualifies as a Soulsike. I'd heard of the game and even seen it on sale but held off due to the difficulty as you mentioned. The fact you said the game was created by a couple got me curious and I found this interview by them. Boggles my mind as you said that a team of just two people can make a game, let alone a good one! Kinda tempted to check out their latest title (Salt & Sacrifice) next time it goes on sale so thank you for that!

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Transistor is one of those games that came with such universally high praise that when I started playing and didn't quite get it, I got to experience that familiar anxiety of "but everyone else likes it... what's wrong with me??"

 

Hahaha it's funny that you and I had the EXACT same experience with the game. Transistor stands out so uniquely because of the fact I had the same phenomena. Sorted by more trophy earned dates, I played the game in mid-January, was honestly pretty "eh" on it on every front and didn't understand why it was so highly rated. i had never played a Supergiant Game before. Hell, I pissed off for 3 weeks to enjoy the new Mavel's Spider-Man that had been released. But when I came back to it in mid-February when I was near the end of my 1st playthrough it all clicked. The awesome customization for combat. I had appreciated the music and visuals well enough but it's what took the game to a new level for me and made me so glad there was a New Game+ trophy that allowed me to appreciate the game properly. I say this all to say, I relieved my experience through your review haha ?

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

But yeah. Consider me a proud Supergiant convert!

 

Do not leave Rukey waiting my friend! Play that Pyre before 2023!

Edited July 27, 2022 by realm722

[YaManSmevz]

17 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

Hot damn this game sounds so good!

Your review game is lit lately, Smevz. 

 

Thanks homie! And yeah dude, the soundtrack alone makes it worthwhile?

 

19 minutes ago, realm722 said:

Ay great job with this one! Salt & Sanctuary 100% qualifies as a Soulsike. I'd heard of the game and even seen it on sale but held off due to the difficulty as you mentioned. The fact you said the game was created by a couple got me curious and I found this interview by them. Boggles my mind as you said that a team of just two people can make a game, let alone a good one! Kinda tempted to check out their latest title (Salt & Sacrifice) next time it goes on sale so thank you for that!

 

Thanks my dude! Good look on the interview, I really enjoyed that! Yeahmann, it's stupendously impressive how much work just two people can take on, and to see how well it came out is crazy. I'd definitely recommend it, though I've heard some mixed things about Sacrifice so I'd definitely suggest you poke your head around before jumping in, just in case?

 

19 minutes ago, realm722 said:

Hahaha it's funny that you and I had the EXACT same experience with the game. Transistor stands out so uniquely because of the fact I had the same phenomena. Sorted by more trophy earned dates, I played the game in mid-January, was honestly pretty "eh" on it on every front and didn't understand why it was so highly rated. i had never played a Supergiant Game before. Hell, I pissed off for 3 weeks to enjoy the new Mavel's Spider-Man that had been released. But when I came back to it in mid-February when I was near the end of my 1st playthrough it all clicked. The awesome customization for combat. I had appreciated the music and visuals well enough but it's what took the game to a new level for me and made me so glad there was a New Game+ trophy that allowed me to appreciate the game properly. I say this all to say, I relieved my experience through your review haha 

 

Haha yooo I gotta be real, I'm still just a lil bit salty that it took me two months to complete it? Just wasn't feelin it for the longest time. Agreed pretty hard on the New Game+, that saved the whole experience for me too!

 

19 minutes ago, realm722 said:

 

Do not leave Rukey waiting my friend! Play that Pyre before 2023!

 

That reminds me of the Sublime song 'Waiting for My Ruca'?

 

Everything I've heard about Pyre has intrigued the hell out of me... I think you're right, that one should be coming up sooner than later?

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #64: Super Time Force Ultra

 

Let's do the time warp again

 

This one was a bit of a joint recommendation, as @DrBloodmoney's excellent write-up put this on my radar and @rjkclarke was quick to encourage me to hop on the absurd current price of $3.74. And after plowing through this thing as quickly as I did, I remain convinced that these two fellas are incapable of making a bad rec, because once again, the game slaps.

 

Super Time Force Ultra is a wild, goofy, and most importantly fun piece of side scrolling pixel worship. I love the manic pace, the absurd humor, and the faithfulness to its retro theme and influences (a few of the bosses are straight out of Contra III). It's the gameplay that steals the show though, of course. We're given a pretty standard bullet hell side scrolling shooter with that sweet SNES aesthetic, and as it is, that's already done well, but it's the rewinding mechanic and how it's handled that really elevates this one.

 

It's a pretty simple thing, but the way Capybara Games implements it is everything. You're given 30 rewinds but also a time limit, and put up against bullet sponge bosses and more foes than you could realistically take on in a one-hit death type situation. This balances the playing field until you really get the hang of the rewinding feature, and perhaps the most crucial part - the fact that upon rewinding, the previous incarnation of yourself is still there up to that point, taking out enemies and picking up collectibles, and the more you rewind, the more of them there are. It adds an excellent element of strategy to a game that could've easily just been a run of the mill side scroller.

 

The story is great dumb fun. To give an idea, there's a level where the commander's favorite restaurant, Medieval Funtimez, is in danger of closing down after a horrifying mishap resulted in a lawsuit, so they do what any rational people with time travel capabilities would do: Go back to the actual middle ages and steal the mythical holy grail, so they can come back and sell it online today. Not simply prevent the actual mishap, don't be silly!

 

The characters add even more silliness. You start out with three and can hunt down many, many more, which is a lot of fun. There's a magnum-carrying turd named Squirty Harry, a depiction of Da Vinci whose special attack is shitting out a shooting contraption (okay probably not, but it looks like it), and many more. How can you not love a name like Dolphin Lundgren, and is it just me or is Zackasaurus clearly based on Robbie Sinclair from the 90s show Dinosaurs?

 

I was initially intimidated by the fat stack of UR trophies on this list, but getting the plat was far less difficult than I'd anticipated. I can see how it might be a discouraging plat path, seeing as dying over and over and over is never fun, and it can take a bit of time before all the benefits of the rewinding system become clear, but ultimately it's one of those games where the rarity and difficulty don't match. Personally, I'd really like to see that rarity jump up!

 

So yeah, this one comes heavily recommended. It's a lot of fun and surprisingly inventive, and it's seriously made for people who love anything with a Contra flavor but also have a silly sense of humor.

 

Stray Observations

 

- If someone showed up rockin two eyepatches claiming to be you from the future... I mean, I'm sure you'd be at least a little curious.

 

- This game is drenched in 2010 type humor. Ironic puns, deliberate misspellingz, ridiculous exaggeration... but I'unno, something about it just felt so charming to me. It's very much of its era, I guess!

 

- Save our Dino-Bros and Dino....spouses? Okay Repeatski, I see what your game is... but I won't put you on blast, if only because seeing a Triceratops playing basketball complete with sporty attire cracked me up.

 

- One of the collectibles, the glorbs, sounds like a word made up from Rick and Morty. I got a few at once and said "What up, mah glip glops??" but then remembered it was meant to be a racial slur in that show... plus I dropped the hard P, my bad?

 

- My favorite use of the rewinding mechanic was piling all of my characters on the bosses at the end. More than a few times, I'd have 5-10 seconds left, but enough rewinds to have an ungodly amount of blazing guns taking the bosses out. That replay at the end was always a beautiful sight?

 

- I'm just glad that when the apocalypse comes, it will not be because of the Super Time Force, but rather the dastardly Shoober Chime Forps. I was concerned for a second there!

 

THAT Trophy: Decked Out

 

The Helladeck challenges are basically puzzles where you're given a certain character to figure out a path to a glorb. There are fifty of them, which sounds like a lot, but they're surprisingly diverse, and given the brevity of the base game they're a very welcome addition.

 

For the most part, these challenges are pretty chill, but a solid handful of them were actually quite difficult! You're more often than not given ample rewinds to use, but I have to admit to legit struggling a few times - the awkward platforming/bullet hell/speed run trifecta of Level 50 alone took me a lot longer than I'd care to admit!

[YaManSmevz]

Monthly Update with Ya Man Smevz

July 2022

 

 

Another good month, hooray! Was actually on track to get even more done, but the wife and I have fallen victim to binge watching entire seasons of MTV's The Challenge. Reality TV is very much her thing, and she'll often watch stuff that doesn't interest me in the least, but this time around I'm just as hooked as she is?

 

Anyway! Let's get to it, shall we?

 

88.75% Overall Completion (-0.40)

441 Unearned Trophies (+19)

3.42 Trophies Per Day (+0.04)

64 Platinums (+5)

Level 352 (+8)

 

Game of the Month

 

Once again, we're pretty stacked. New (to me) games like Super Time Force Ultra and Salt and Sanctuary, blast from the past Syphon Filter, and a game that qualified as both, fellow S title Shredder's Revenge!

 

It's another toughie, but rather than any of these, it only feels right to give it to Cuphead.

 

The new DLC is gorgeous and ridiculously fun, reminding me why I was in love with this game in the first place. There's just so much to be said for something making you think "this is frustrating the shit out of me, but it looks and sounds AMAZING, I can't stop playing it."

 

Rating the Month

 

Another month of five platinums, including the slain GTA V! And while the overall completion percentage suffered from the extra games added, I ultimately had another productive month. The main regret was that only Resident Evil 4 didn't see any progress - well trophy-wise at least, I made it to 4-1 of my first playthrough but yeah, it takes a while for shit to start poppin again?

 

Classic good but not great, so we're awarding July four out of five Wallops!

 

August Goals

 

1. Engage in some non-trophy play, which this month's Hitlist will further explain.

 

2. Some clean-up on the Profile. Other than Guacamelee 2, I'd rather avoid new games I won't be quickly finishing this month.

 

3. Complete my current challenge, and decide what I'm doing for the next. Might be time to start clearing out those PS3 games...

 

Gaming Hitlist

 

1. MultiVersus

 

Yeah... I got talked into playing this one with some homies. Gonna be a bunch of online grinding, but it's with friends so I'm hoping for a quick, fun experience.

 

2. Guacamelee! 2

 

At the recommendation of some trusted forum friends, this has gotten a push up the backlog and will be my last game for the Summer Challenge. Will most likely be the trickiest of the bunch, but I'm down?

 

3. Cuphead

 

Yeah, I've technically regained my S rank, but the DLC lacks one trophy featured on the base game - completion of Expert mode. The game file doesn't give me full completion without it, and I just feel like I can't write about the DLC without finishing it properly!

 

4. Hitman 3

 

Another S rank, so no new trophies, but who cares. New level, gimme gimme gimme.

 

5. Anything with outstanding trophies

 

Doesn't matter. If it's on my profile and is incomplete, it's fair game.

 

Not the victory lap that last month was, but still solid. Hoping for more of the same now that suddenly Summer is almost over?

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #65: Old Man's Journey

 

I know I'll often stop and think about them

 

Back on the "Saw it on sale and thought 'why not'" tip with this one!

 

As a person who's approaching middle age, Old Man's Journey caught my eye right away. All this talk in the presskit about life's precious moments and broken dreams, the complexities of heartache, regret, and hope through an old man's eyes, that shit spoke to me. While I'm not a senior citizen quite yet, at the same time I will never again be a wild teenager or debaucherous twenty-something, and soon I'll no longer be the finally-figuring-it-out thirty-something either. But I see shit that reminds me of each of those eras all the time, and I know even peeps plenty younger than me can relate to that on some level.

 

Old Man's Journey is a point and click(ish) game with a focus on story without dialogue and simple but charming gameplay. We start with our Old Man receiving a letter, and off he goes from his quiet secluded home onto his titular journey. Throughout its duration we're treated to many quick images of his memories, which do a lot of the heavy lifting story-wise, gradually getting a bit more emotional kick as we go.

 

I love the look of this thing, it's like the art from a childrens' book but with the detail taken up a notch. The houses and hills, people and animals, even transportation have this super cute look to them, but cutesy in a Wes Anderson type of way. The memories are of course cut from the same cloth, but they go full force, with lots of little details selling the emotional poignancy of the moment. In particular, the ones with a boat always seemed to dazzle me the most!

 

The gameplay is just you guiding the Old Man by adjusting the landscape to ensure that he can make it through, figuring out how to clear his path by changing the levels of the foreground and background hills. It makes for some very light puzzle work, so while there technically is a challenge present, it's just enough to where you can still be chill and just enjoy the story.

 

So the visuals carry the story and the gameplay is mostly along for the ride and lets it do its thing, but I'd argue that the soundtrack is what really gives the story its feels. Andrew Rohrmann, who also has soundtracks for Night School favorites Oxenfree and Afterparty under his belt, does some spectacular work here. The themes of resignation, loss, and ultimately hope are magnified beautifully. There's this gentle, melancholic undertone all throughout, and it couldn't fit the tone better.

 

I went in expecting a laid back experience with a good story that would tug at my heartstrings, and that's exactly what I got. The package was put together even better than I'd anticipated though, and I gotta say this is a strong recommendation for anybody who's looking for, well, a laid back experience with a good story that will tug at your heartstrings.

 

I gotta start keeping track of how many gambles have paid off as opposed to haven't, feels like I've been pretty fortunate with these!

 

Stray Observations

 

- The story is wordless, but it feels like they're trying to make up for it with the trophy descriptions. "Adeline likes to think she is always in the know of the latest events in the little village." Really? I clicked on a window and some old lady just shook her fist at me, I certainly didn't get all that.

 

- Every single time I guided him to a waterfall, I couldn't help feeling terrible about basically making him fall on his ass.

 

- Does anybody remember those old Budweiser commercials with the frogs? There's a section with 'singing' frogs that made me think of that. If this doesn't ring a bell then congratulations, you're not an old fuck like me?

 

- The way that truck hops at every turn is so adorable to me, getting the trophy for the extra mileage was a treat cuz I just got to keep watching that!

 

- What a great ending! A lot I wish I could talk about here, but I mean you could beat this game in a few hours, I say see it for yourself!

 

THAT Trophy: Smooth Ride

 

With a game like this, the most difficult trophy is simply the time where you feel the least relaxed. That still counts for somethin though, as when you're in chilled out mode, even stuff that isn't that difficult can take you a bit by surprise!

 

Our Old Man is taking a train, and it's up to us to align all the hills and bridges so it doesn't have to bust out that E-brake. We been manipulating the background for some time now, but the train moves fairly quickly, and we gotta be on our toes here. It feels like it goes on for a while, but you more or less memorize it pretty quickly and it should only take a handful of tries. Not exactly a platinum blocker, but definitely makes sure that you're paying attention - and you should be, cuz this game is great!

Edited August 2, 2022 by YaManSmevz

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #66: Telling Lies

 

Don't make me expose you to them folks that don't know you

 

@DrBloodmoney comes through with yet another top notch write-up that resulted in a top notch experience. Yeah, Doc! Yeah, science!

 

After completing Erica and seeing how quickly my time spent with that game soured, FMV games were more or less slapped with persona non grata status. Any time I saw any FMV game on sale, my PS4 was quick to remark:

 

 

And indeed, that shit received no play! But then I was presented with the combo of a suggestion from the Doc, Annapurna, an exceptionally good deal in the PS Store, and the fact that I wanted another chill game while I figured out what to play next. I mean that's some perfect storm shit right there, who was I to resist?

 

Telling Lies starts with a woman running up to her apartment, getting on the computer and going through video files on a USB drive. She puts in a search for the key word 'love,' and we're able to watch five of the videos that pop up. This is essentially the tutorial, cuz it's what we're going to be doing: searching for more videos to watch. And personally, I was eager to get into as many more videos as possible, cuz I had no clue what was going on! Starting off completely in the dark is very much the point though, so that's all I'm gonna share where the story is concerned. The whole idea is to piece things together yourself, and it's not something I'd want to take from anybody!

 

Everything we see is from a video call of some sort, either on a phone or computer, and there are ten hours worth of material to sift through. It's tempting to only praise the five hours of people talking and denounce the five hours of people listening, as the latter really could've been a drag, but the acting is excellent in this thing. I only recognized Alexandra Shipp of Straight Outta Compton and Shaft (2019) fame, but she, Logan Marshall-Green, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan are all up for the task and provide outstanding performances. The quiet bits where they're reacting to one another could have easily dragged, but watching them react to one another really added a lot.

 

Plus, there's a genuine "ooh!" moment when you realize you've stumbled upon the opposite end of an interaction you first found a while back. I think it's easy to get lost in trying to string all this dialogue together into a cohesive plot. I went from just willingly going down rabbit holes to paying attention to dates and forming a timeline in my head. A lot of the conversations became a matching game of sorts, and by the time I finally had a proper understanding of all that was happening, I was pretty impressed by the story that Furious Bee had tasked me to find.

 

You could very easily complete this inside of an hour, but I strongly recommend against it. I only consulted a guide when I was fairly certain I'd seen everything, and after watching all (okay, and fast forwarding some) of the video footage, it still didn't even take a day and a half. I really appreciated the unique take here, and it did what I thought impossible: restored my interest in the FMV genre!

 

Might finally be time to check out that Dr. Dekker game Mr. Clarke recommended a year or so ago...

 

Stray Observations

 

- The searching was dope because even though you can type in whatever you want, there's so much dialogue that a fruitless search is pretty unlikely. I even typed in "Sam Barlow is a zaddy" and it made the platinum pop!

 

- Nainita Desai has a pretty gripping score that unfortunately kinda comes and goes. I say that because sometimes you'll watch some footage that'll have you like "wait, what??" and you rush to type something in and... the music stops while you type, only to slowly build back up while you watch more videos. I know it's two separate mechanisms bumping into each other, but it kinda takes you out of the story a bit, especially towards the end!

 

- A rare game where the wife took interest! Double edged sword though, cuz she's a movie talker... so it was cool to see her paying attention out of the corner of my eye, but not so much when she started with the Who's Thats and What's Happenings?

 

- Also, if you do end up playing this? Here's something that would've saved me a bit of time: just hit search when the cat jumps up... don't worry, when it happens you'll know.

 

- New Post-Platinum Play Posse entrant! Not necessarily because I'd play it again, but the people you choose to focus on can affect the ending you get, and there are three of them. After I got the platinum, I had to keep playing cuz I wanted to see all the endings!

 

THAT Trophy: Missing King

 

Funny story!

 

I saw that one of the requirements for this plat was to complete a game of solitaire, and was actually excited. I hadn't played that in yeeaaars, and thought "Ooh, that'll be fun!" Yeah, it wasn't.

 

Every time I played, I kept getting stuck somewhere. It felt like I was having the worst luck imaginable, and was starting to get frustrated. Then to add insult to injury, a trophy popped, which I didn't even realize this game had, because I'd reset the game a certain amount of times. Suddenly I was surprisingly irritated - why can't I complete this stupid game?? What was I doing wrong?? That's when I looked at the guide to see if I wasn't getting something and it said that a King card was missing.

 

Aha!!

 

No wonder this is so hard! How the hell am I supposed to do this, then?? How has everybody gotten this pla-

 

...

 

That was when I accidentally moved an Ace card into position, up top to the right. And I suddenly remembered a fairly large part of how the game works, which I'd somehow completely forgotten. Then, completely embarassed by my unwarranted annoyance, I promptly finished it without issue. The missing King, of course, had nothing to do with it. It was an easy task, I'd just forgotten a large chunk of the rules, made it more difficult for myself, and got bent out of shape over it.

 

Ugh. What a dork.

Edited August 7, 2022 by YaManSmevz

[Aceterix]

On 5/5/2022 at 1:02 AM, YaManSmevz said:

Platinum #54: My Memory of Us 

 

Thank you for taking the time to link me to this review sir it is very much appreciated, I finished it a night or so back and have been very keen to read someone else's musings on it, but I'm quite inept at finding my way round these forums.

 

I love your point about the arbitrariness of prejudice, I feel the game sold that message so keenly without losing the game with the message, although I think it's an excellent game for any age I'd love to see this used as a tool for discussion in education.

 

The memories of heroic Poles were excellent the same as you I binged them at the end of the game and I found them really touching, the treatment of the entry for the main antagonist was also really well though out, simplistic but the right touch.

 

It felt like every small touch worked well against the intention, I'm relieved to see you also found some of the solutions convoluted, but as you say none of them outstayed too much and while the controls and mechanics were occasionally fiddly it in no way detracted from what they were trying to achieve.

 

Thank you again for the link, it's felt very cathartic seeing your thoughts on it, I will proceed to check out more of your reviews!

[YaManSmevz]

1 hour ago, Aceterix said:

Thank you for taking the time to link me to this review sir it is very much appreciated, I finished it a night or so back and have been very keen to read someone else's musings on it, but I'm quite inept at finding my way round these forums.

 

Think nothing of it, man. Thank you for paying a visit! I'm always happy if something I post can be of any help?

 

1 hour ago, Aceterix said:

I love your point about the arbitrariness of prejudice, I feel the game sold that message so keenly without losing the game with the message, although I think it's an excellent game for any age I'd love to see this used as a tool for discussion in education.

 

I tend to be turned off when a message or point gets too literal, so I really enjoyed the approach they took here. I definitely agree that this would be a great game with that sort of education in mind!

 

1 hour ago, Aceterix said:

The memories of heroic Poles were excellent the same as you I binged them at the end of the game and I found them really touching, the treatment of the entry for the main antagonist was also really well though out, simplistic but the right touch.

 

Aw man, the memories hit pretty hard! My wife walked in while I was reading those, and the next thing I knew we were watching Schindler's List and crying? It's truly powerful stuff. The memories were clearly very important to the devs at Juggler Games, and I'm so glad I saved them for last!

 

1 hour ago, Aceterix said:

Thank you again for the link, it's felt very cathartic seeing your thoughts on it, I will proceed to check out more of your reviews!

 

I appreciate that, thank you so much??

[YaManSmevz]

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Trophies!!! #2

 

Finally, the one-off becomes a true series!

 

As much fun as the Godfather post was, it turns out that thinking up games with a slim to none likelihood of trophy support to write about will result in a lot of overthinking and eventual self-doubt. In fact, it's not entirely unlike the social media comments I'd passionately type up before suddenly deciding that nobody wants to read it and promptly deleting a solid paragraph of blab.

 

But this one felt right, and the urge to write about it never went away - in spite of the fact that there's already plenty written about it as it is. I am periodically hit with phases where I'm consumed with the thought that surely there's something like it on my chosen console, but if I'm bein real, nothing has ever been able to truly scratch that itch.

 

StarCraft

Released on March 31st, 1998

Played on PC, Nintendo 64

 

I didn't grow up in a particularly wealthy setting, but thankfully a few of my friends did - they were those kids that had both Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis growing up and thought of it as the most normal thing in the world - and halfway through high school, one of them had become determined to get me into PC gaming. At that point all I knew was that it was the original home of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, so in retrospect I can see his urge to intervene!

 

We'd go to his house after school, and it was thanks to these afternoons that I got to play games like SimCity 3000, Diablo II, and Quake. Head and shoulders above the rest though was StarCraft, namely its Brood War expansion, which served as my introduction to not just the franchise, but Real Time Strategy games and even the concept of online play as well.

 

StarCraft sees you play as a commander who oversees a military campaign for one of three races: the Terrans (human), and the Zerg or Protoss (aliens).

 

 

When you take control, you're tasked with building a base, training fighting personnel, finding your opponent on the map, and implementing whatever tactics you can to eliminate all their units and anything they've constructed while defending your own as best as possible. It's so simple but so brilliant, and while I've only so much experience with PC games, I am yet to see this done better.

 

My friend had a LAN with his and his father's computers, so he would play in his parents' room and I would play in his, and we'd go at it in multiplayer for hours. I remember one time we were taking turns playing in his room, and this dude just kicked the shit out of me. So what does my friend do? He reaches over me and types out something like "Nice hack, you piece of shit" and the guy basically responds like "What hack, it's not my fault that you suck at this game" and I'm just sitting there like great, well now I lost AND look like a prick, thanks a lot!

 

The three races are extremely well balanced, all with their own strengths and limitations. Across all three, we are treated to such a vast and diverse array of units, and that balance takes the place of mere equivalence. For example, Protoss and Terran have cloaked units and the Zerg don't, however most of their ground units can burrow, basically rendering themselves invisible (A great recon tactic, incidentally).

 

And there are so many strategies at your fingertips - do you wanna send a cloaked unit out for reconnaissance? Double down and find another area where you can set up a second base? Unleash the dreaded Zergling rush? Stay put and just build a base so impregnable that you can watch repeated attacks flop as you leisurely build up your own gargantuan force? This even extends to the actual battles themselves - anything you can think to set up, be it an ambush or multiple thronged assault, you can do it. The freedom of choice is staggering, and that combined with the ever present anxiety of a ticking clock and almost never knowing exactly what your foe is up to can make for a truly intense experience, and when shit starts goin down, even if you end up getting your ass beat, it's insanely fun.

 

Vanilla it may be, but I gotta say sometimes I liked getting a quiet opponent, because that meant they were toiling away at building their defenses and getting their upgrades, something I always loved doing myself. Drawing the opposing forces out into a base that screams "DO YOUR WORST" and following them back to their own with waves of units backed by a massive fleet of air support is immensely satisfying.

 

 

I also loved the silly film references you get when clicking on different units, especially one of the marines grumbling "How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?" Sidenote: the Terran Explorer unit's voice actor was a dead ringer for Harry Shearer doing Mr. Burns, and we were sure it was him. It's not, but it was still nice to have a unit tell me that it liked the cut of my jib!

 

So the Multiplayer is incredible, and I immediately fell in love with the gameplay. Eventually I got a cheap computer for the purpose of typing up assignments for class, but seeing as we had no internet (though my mom did get us WebTV, does anybody else remember that shit?), once I got my own StarCraft and Brood War discs, I was gonna be limited to single player... and it's crazy to think that if not for that, I may never have found out that the story is actually pretty fantastic as well.

 

I dove right in, absolutely loving every second. Each game has three chapters, one for each race, and the story gets pretty wild, man. We're far into the future, humans are colonizing planets, and they encounter each of these aliens and chaos ensues. There's uneasy alliances, infighting, and betrayals galore, all on top of the fact that you're deep in outer space with countless beings trying to kill you. It's a fuckin ride, man - so much so that apparently it's even been novelized.

 

The introduction for Brood War blew me away too - at this point I was used to seeing blocky Cloud, cartoonish Leon, and the nose and lips that passed for Solid Snake's face, so the right away graphics hit for me. I just remember staring at that cigar and bein like "WOOOOWWW."

 

 

The story's format is great too, and in its simple way does a great job of including you in all the madness. I love how every mission starts with a briefing that feels all official n shit. All the big players show up, and you're privy to all their planning, shit talking, and backstabbing. Then it's back to the battlefield!

 

 

While The Godfather has licensing issues that make joining the PSN family exceptionally unlikely, StarCraft has a painfully obvious impracticality when it comes to consoles in general - it's CLEARLY made with a keyboard and mouse in mind. I didn't quite understand this when StarCraft 64 was announced though, so I hyped it up mightily to my friend around the way with a 64. I was sadly disappointed, but thankfully he loved it, so at least it was a good rec?

 

While the developers of the N64 port put a surprisingly strong effort into making the PC to console translation, four hot keys just ain't gonna cut it. It included the base game as well as Brood War, plus a bonus mission, plus bots for skirmishes, but it also unintentionally made a joke of competitive multiplayer and was utterly out of its league where sheer console strength was concerned, as the second the screen got a bit busy, the game slowed to an agonizing crawl.

 

However...

 

If StarCraft was ever released on a modern PlayStation console, it would still be a first day purchase, one of those "I don't care if the trophy list is impossible, we are doing this" games, full stop. This game got me hooked on the RTS genre, but not on PC gaming, so naturally I've been strapped for alternatives and stuck with impossible standards. Command & Conquer: Red Alert on PS1 was actually a lot of fun but just never felt the same, and Halo Wars on the 360 looked promising but for whatever reason I never got very deeply into it.

 

I understand that the original StarCraft and Brood War are available for free download on the Blizzard website, so there's still a good chance that I'll succumb to nostalgia and try playing it again on a laptop. I'unno about going back online, though... there's some E-Sport fools still playing this after 20+ years that would utterly crush me in minutes. They're like that Japanese soldier who hid in the Philippines, unaware that World War 2 had been over for almost thirty years... I wouldn't have fucked with him either!

 

But yeah, this is a stupendous game highly deserving of its classic status, and the event that any PC gamers are unfamiliar with StarCraft is so absurdly implausible that I'm just gonna leave it there?

[DrBloodmoney]

There are many things I expect to see on PSNP, my friend, but seeing a loving tribute to Starcraft on here wasn't one of them! ?

 

Great post man, I played very little Starcraft in my time (Warcraft 2, for sure, but strangely, Starcraft eluded my own machines completely!) but even for me, you hit some nostalgia beats, and gave me a better insight into the game! ?

 

[DrunkenEngineer]

Smevz, I loved that you posted this. I dabbled in RTS when I was a kid on the PC, and always loved the “concept” of them, but was far far too impatient to get their nuances and always went back to Half-Life and DOOM!

 

The RTS genre is alive and well on PC and console. Have you thought of giving XCOM2 a whirl?

Edited August 21, 2022 by DrunkenEngineer

[Copanele]

Huh...so that's what it means to be dropkicked by nostalgia  

 

Many thanks for the Starcraft post @YaManSmevz, that was one crazy trip down the memory lane! I will never be good at Starcraft (not while South Koreans lurk the servers) but damn if it ain't one of the finest RTS games out there!

Except this part  

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Unleash the dreaded Zergling rush?

I have a bit of allergy to Zergs because my god all they know is throw units at me.

 

Also this game...was on N64...? Wow...for a game where you need the entire keyboard and a mouse for peak precision, how did they make it work on a console even?

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

If StarCraft was ever released on a modern PlayStation console, it would still be a first day purchase, one of those "I don't care if the trophy list is impossible, we are doing this" games, full stop. 

+1 there, no contest.

 

Too bad RTS and consoles never mix well  

[DrunkenEngineer]

5 hours ago, Copanele said:

Too bad RTS and consoles never mix well  

 

Yah, I hesitate to suggest Smevz checks them out on console just because of that...but if he's cool with touching something and not worried about getting the S-Rank, I think there are some good options here.

[YaManSmevz]

On 8/20/2022 at 4:33 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

There are many things I expect to see on PSNP, my friend, but seeing a loving tribute to Starcraft on here wasn't one of them! 

 

Great post man, I played very little Starcraft in my time (Warcraft 2, for sure, but strangely, Starcraft eluded my own machines completely!) but even for me, you hit some nostalgia beats, and gave me a better insight into the game! 

 

Thanks homie! I almost mentioned Warcraft II but I felt I was already on such a tangent? I didn't play that one anywhere near as much but that one was a great time as well! I mostly remember being able to use ships and the builder guys bein like "Yes, m'Lord" with this dullard tone that always cracked me up.

 

21 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said:

Smevz, I loved that you posted this. I dabbled in RTS when I was a kid on the PC, and always loved the “concept” of them, but was far far too impatient to get their nuances and always went back to Half-Life and DOOM!

 

The RTS genre is alive and well on PC and console. Have you thought of giving XCOM2 a whirl?

 

Thanks, Engie!

 

.....okay scratch that nickname, we can definitely do better?

 

In your defense, Half-Life and DOOM were the shit! And it's funny you mention XCOM, I actually played Enemy Unknown on the 360 after finding it in a Google search for 'games like Starcraft!' I own XCOM 2, but it's in the same boat as Red Dead 2 where I know I'll definitely get into it eventually, but it intimidates the hell out of me?

 

21 hours ago, Copanele said:

Huh...so that's what it means to be dropkicked by nostalgia  

 

Many thanks for the Starcraft post @YaManSmevz, that was one crazy trip down the memory lane! I will never be good at Starcraft (not while South Koreans lurk the servers) but damn if it ain't one of the finest RTS games out there!

 

Haha agreed, I can't see myself rising any ranks either, those players are insane!

 

 

COT-DAMN!!

 

21 hours ago, Copanele said:

Also this game...was on N64...? Wow...for a game where you need the entire keyboard and a mouse for peak precision, how did they make it work on a console even?

 

Yeeeaaahhhh.... it was not good. Like if you had never played it on PC before you'd be like "holy shit, this is AMAZING" but otherwise you'll just look like Shrek in that Welcome to Duloc snapshot?

 

I remember it being awkward for sure. They used the yellow arrows for hot keys and since those were next to the main buttons it wasn't toooo terrible, but ultimately everything just took that much longer. Mildly annoying moments like when a unit would fuck off and do its own thing after a target was destroyed, for example, would end up being twice as problematic as they had to be. 

 

21 hours ago, Copanele said:

Too bad RTS and consoles never mix well  

 

Dude, no lie. I had to learn that one the hard way?

[Platinum_Vice]

I loved this review, Smevz. Is this where the term 'zerg rush' comes from?

 

StarCraft escaped me back in the day but I lost many many hours to Age of Empires I & II (the discs were FREE in some cereal boxes for some reason!) and Age of Mythology (my god, I adore that game).

 

Halo Wars was huge let-down, right?!.

 

Age of Wonders: Planetfall is burning a hole in my backlog and I can't wait to get into Iron Harvest on the PS5. It is a video game extension of a great 4X board game called Scythe which is pretty slick. A few late sessions with the boys have been lost to Scythe...

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by Platinum_Vice

[DrunkenEngineer]

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Thanks, Engie!

 

.....okay scratch that nickname, we can definitely do better

 

In your defense, Half-Life and DOOM were the shit! And it's funny you mention XCOM, I actually played Enemy Unknown on the 360 after finding it in a Google search for 'games like Starcraft!' I own XCOM 2, but it's in the same boat as Red Dead 2 where I know I'll definitely get into it eventually, but it intimidates the hell out of me

 

XCOM generated all sorts of memes.  Like having a 90%+ shot completion chance with a shotgun, your soldier one square away from the Sectoid and it MISSES!  THAT'S XCOM!

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Thanks homie! I almost mentioned Warcraft II but I felt I was already on such a tangent I didn't play that one anywhere near as much but that one was a great time as well! I mostly remember being able to use ships and the builder guys bein like "Yes, m'Lord" with this dullard tone that always cracked me up.

 

I 'member(berries) a bunch of those quips.  Man, I think it was 6 months ago or something my little brother - who plays a shitload of World of Warcraft and Blizzard games, in general - came over and he was helping out with moving some wood in the back yard.  Without missing a beat he's got this stack of wood, looks me in the eye and says "zug zug".  Never can I recall such an abrupt wave of nostalgia hitting out of nowhere.  Hadn't heard that phrase in 20 years, and knew EXACTLY what it was (the orcs from Warcraft).