TheBusToYoker - His Pure Quality Checklist & Other Quality Checklist's

[TheBusToYoker]

 

Greetings trophy travellers, PSNP people, it is I. TheBusToYoker. Your resident highly cultured, yet quintessentially parochial Scotsman, bringing you his pure quality check list. 

 

I will be beaming down to you from my space ship in Edinburgh all my trophy goings on, and other wisdoms should they come with it. Together on the back of a cosmetic highland cow we will boldly go where no trophy hunter has gone before.

 

While I could talk out of my own arse about myself while you all worship me like the Scottish god I am. This is a forum, you've come here for information. And it is there for my duty to give you posts here that are as balanced as possible so the information of my experiences shine through for you. So feel free dropping us any questions you may have. I'll happily try and answer them for you. Cheers. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by TheBusToYoker

[TheBusToYoker]

Streets Of Rage. A game series that masterfully chronicled an average Saturday night in Glasgow....

 

For those of us pastured out by our parents onto home consoles of 8 & 16 bit pixels the existential question of how we were reared in gaming, is, was our childhood as good as we remember it? Has nostalgia now in our adult brains mushroomed into a 32X? Have those of us who owned a Sega console in the early 90s all become Tom Kalinske's ourselves? Forever trying to sell never ending ad-ons of superlatives for a form of gaming that's lifecycle is long over. There is many a lesson to heed from gaming's history indeed.

 

It is why I’ve tempered my expectations for any recreation of those 8 & 16 bit days. If you are not careful in what you give extension too, then all you might stand to gain is pale imitation. After all, just like those who made our favourite childhood games, we ourselves are now programmed differently, and our limitations in creativity have since yesterday vastly changed. You could build the Colosseum again, but it would not be the Colosseum. Or so I thought.

 

So, I had been hesitant about Streets Of Rage 4, even if Dotemu, Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games being French does suggest they know everything about 90s Sega there is. Just all this "revival" is far too Jurassic Park for my liking. And I get Dr Ian Malcolm levels of scepticism about bringing anything back. But like the secrets of Roman concrete, they have cracked this, and given the series new structure and form in the same classical two dimensions as before.

 

It is a reverent retelling of the legendary Streets Of Rage 2, mixed with parts of Streets Of Rage 3 mythology, and a few twists it could be said of what if thrown in. That 2D gaming had continued as the norm in the 5th generation, the Saturn was a massive success in the West, and Yuzo Koshiro & Spencer Nilsen had a baby together. A modern yet retro Sega fairy tale that’ll make you laugh like Mr X from Streets Of Rage 2 with a smug sense of satisfaction that, yes, our millennial gaming childhood was indeed better than yours zoomers!

 

Sorry, not sorry Zoomers

 

 

 

For me, there’s nothing quite like side scrolling back to a time where the fear of crime and violence spiralling out of control was prevalent, sometimes omnipresent. In 1991, the year when the first Streets Of Rage game was released, 2,571 murders were recorded In New York City alone. Though it was to those not so rosy backdrops of 80's and early 90's socio-political & socio-economic ills that a period of popular culture bloomed that has never withered. A period bookended in my head by the films Robocop in 1987 and Strange Days in 1995. There’s always been a warmth for me returning to these works of visual media and interactive visual media like Streets Of Rage. Streets Of Rage 4 felt like that to me. A big loving hug from a beautiful creation born out of that societal sludge.

 

My Bus Journey To 100%

 

The base game trophy list was mostly a pleasant experience with almost everything coming through natural gameplay. A very much welcomed change for me coming off the back of Bioshock 1, constantly needing to reference a video for audio diaries and a smorgasbord of other stuff. Streets Of Rage 4 I could just select Axel on normal difficulty and relax into.  After my initial playthrough and unlocking several miscellaneous trophies, my priorities turned to knocking out Maniac (Get an S-Rank on all stages on Hard difficulty or higher) and 100 Yen (Clear the Arcade mode on Hard difficulty or higher) to break the back of the plat. I used stage select for Maniac, searched for online co-op partners, finding highly skilled players were in abundance.

 

This approach was also applied for my 100 Yen run, though trying to keep one person around for an entire run proved problematic. I had a number of people quitting out after Stage 9. I then once that was completed cleared the one stage required on Mania difficulty for netting me the trophy All Too Easy. Thus just leaving me with the remaining character playthroughs and a couple of miscellaneous trophies for finishing off the base game. This is where fun starts to end…..

 

Most sane trophy hunters would approach the game at this point just chipping away at it, rather than purposely turning it into a grind. But I chose the grind. I had Blaze, Cherry, Floyd, Adam, an SOR 1, 2, 3 characters to playthrough on easy via stage select, and eventually the three DLC characters as well. In the words of Papa Roach, cut my life into pieces…..

 

After my Adam playthrough, I broke things up briefly by doing some of the Mr. X Nightmare DLC, getting to level 18 in the survival mode with online co-op again, unlocking a new move in the process, and using Roo’s default star move three times in a row for the hidden trophy Clown Wars. Then it was right back into finishing off the base game playthroughs for a SOR 1, 2, 3 character....

 

With that craziness concluded, only Bleeding Knuckles (Reach a lifetime score of 5,000,000) remained standing between me and the plat. Which could be accomplished with the three remaining playthrough trophies for the DLC characters. So, having had enough of that delightful experience for now, my focus was on getting to level 30 in survival. I used online co-op again to do so, and was hampered by even more frequent quit outs.

 

Once that was done, I went back and completed all the stages with two of the DLC characters, leaving the final one for popping Bleeding Knuckles, the Plat, and 100%. The time had now come for the games ultimate grind fest. The Possibilities Are Endless (Unlock all alternate moves). Speaking as someone who is survivor of playing survival for 15 hours in a day and still did not fully meet the requirements for unlocking this trophy. Don’t do this to yourself, please. Go out to your local park, make friends with a squirrel. I'd even recommend root canal treatment as a better and less painful way to pass your time.

 

My final playthrough was with Max and, at the end of Stage Five, Bleeding Knuckles then the Plat popped. All I had to do was now get this slow brute through the next 7 stages for the 100%. 

Edited November 3, 2022 by TheBusToYoker

[TheBusToYoker]

Chicken Police

Full Disclosure: this is just going to be me giving some thoughts on the game, No bus journey to platinum for this one...again.

 

Zootopia Noir....

 

 

Continuing on with dipping into my rather hefty library of free games, and ticking them off. Chicken Police is another wacky point & click adventure game, but with photos of animal heads on human bodies. If that wasn't enough to sell you on it already, it is also a film noir inspired point & click adventure game with photos of animal heads on human bodies. Whoa! How much? Nothing, it's free (sort of)! On PS Plus Premium.....

 

Emphasis should be given to the word inspired when talking about the "noir" of Chicken Police. While it gives the game an atmospheric visual style, the nuts & bolts of its story, Chicken Police is very accessible for everyone who is so interested in a point & click. It is not required you have seen Bogart's Warner Bros. films, or have read every Raymond Chandler novel. Only that the game is much better if you have. This is faithful and rich Chandler-esque dialogue modernly executed, and, with capturing such a menagerie of animals in Chicken Police. Many threads of relatable social commentary are present throughout Chicken Police's dialogue as well.

 

The voice of Kerry Shale gives main protagonist Sonny Featherland a touch of the Bogart rasp to go along with the err.....chicken Bogart archetype. Sonny though still feels like his own unique character, more a prisoner of the archetype because of the fact he's a police detective, yet isn't defined by it. His partner, Marty MacChicken, is a game long gag of a character being in the wrong genre. He's an 80s action guy with a predilection for guns, wanting to insert them into every situation as a solution, while wearing a similar jacket to the M65 as was worn by Rambo. I could not stop laughing, and adds a great dimension to the already awesome dynamic and chemistry between the two chickens.

 

Some people have apparently not liked the mini games, but I thought they were fine. They break up the gameplay, don't hang around long. Chicken Police is a fantastic game overall, and should be a must if you like point & click games.  As for a sequel, I'd like to see it based on In A Lonely Place (the film version).  

Edited November 7, 2022 by TheBusToYoker

[TheBusToYoker]

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Edited November 18, 2022 by TheBusToYoker

[TheBusToYoker]

 

 

 

I don't understand how anyone can be completely apoplectic towards Scrat's Nutty Adventure. What do you exactly expect from a publisher who acquires licenses for developing into children's games?  I mean, getting angry at license games in general is like being mad at office stationary. A grudge against a hole puncher for not offering more than its banal functionality, when all it was ever made for was that function. Scrat's Nutty Adventure was designed to be a mediocre product. A few hours of vacuous distraction for kids who's parents will relinquish some of their disposable income for the privilege.

 

Don't ask Just Add Water to answer for taking a handsome pay day from a publisher exploiting intellectual property on their books. Maybe it's us adults who need to ask ourselves searching questions why we've played it....

 

In the thirteen hours straight (yes straight) I played Scrat's Nutty Adventure for, I did find in this Poundland Crash Bandicoot a modicum of appreciation for small game studio budgetary management. The allocation of which here was mostly given to the graphics, particularly the character models and textures, and that expenditure has returned a respectable yet deceptive visual quality throughout the game. As the initial impact of the colours quickly fade to a shade of boring grey from limited and repetitive gameplay. Your enjoyment though may vary for endlessly waggling the right analogue stick to orientate the camera, mashing square for ice age karate on enemies, mainly bugs. Why are these games are always so prejudice against bugs?

 

 

It wasn't the mighty fleet, it wasn't some fancy new weapon. It was a saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat that karate kicked a bug.

 

The physics for this nut grabbing extravaganza have been given the least amount of extravagance. They are both literally and figuratively shoestring, and as loosely tied together as this game is, I didn't have any glitches that caused major hindrances in my progression through the game. Just brief inconvenient incidences.  Falling out the map, Scrat failing to grab a wall, jumps that didn't registered. I wasn't however trying to play the game at anytime in a fashion that I felt was out with its conventions. 

 

Your objective across four levels split into four sections each is to get four purple crystal nuts (probably acorns, I don't know). Technically each section is a level so there is actually 16 levels in total, with one hub level (The Forgotten Temple) in the centre of the map. There are in the third section except for level 3 a boss battle, and they are all easy. I'm sorry to report the Ice Age 3 baby is not a boss sadly. 

 

You will upon completing section 4 of the first three levels and getting a nut be given a power up.  It's after level 12....section 4 on level 3....whatever. With all the power ups I began the games actual GRIND. Backtracking the first three levels for the collectables....

 

 

For all you cartographers out there, a map

 

I'll include the videos in spoilers for the collectables. The first is the IBadDriverI video , probably the most common video, though it's very fast paced. So I'll also link for those who prefer a much slower pace Trophygamers video series. Ignore though some of the comments on Trophygamers claiming he has missed some collectables. These videos are not in a play list, so are not in the exact order, but should be easily navigable to find the one you need. I think one video is missing though. 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

 

Don't worry about the 500 crates trophy. That ironically comes with doing the actual grind of backtracking for collectables, as everything regenerates every time you do a level...section...whatever again.

 

After getting the collectables from the previous three levels, I moved onto level 4. These sections in fairness have a welcome injection of complexity that is missing from the previous three. It all feels a little late though. 

 

Well that's Scrat's Nutty Adventure. The very definition of a game you'd only play for the platinum. You'll after getting the fourth nut, providing you've unlocked every other trophy, pop the platinum when the cut scene begins. I highly recommend just as I did you close the application, and give it a much needed deletion form your hard drive it deserves. Out the airlock, bye bye....

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by TheBusToYoker

[TheBusToYoker]

THEBUSTOYOKER LIVES

 

 

You can't kill the messiah, but you can try and make him your autistic fall guy, and will fail eventually. That was weirdly specific...

 

I'm very, very tired right now PSNP people. But, after some initial hesitance, I'm going to be putting more effort into my checklist thread. For me, and you. Do I have any idea what a checklist actually is? No, not a clue. Which I guess makes this all the more fun. Is it like a weather report on games?  Press  and stuff goes jump?. What I'm giving you here is my abrasive takes on games I've played; and if you like them, great. However, liking something doesn't mean you can steal it. That's not me saying my stuff in this checklist thread is worth stealing,  just that I have had stuff stolen. Which has been one reason for my hesitance. I might live in Scotland, but I'll find whomever shall ever take what isn't there's to take; and fire my Ion Cannon at them.

 

 

So what is the plan here then? Well, I'm going to have the previous stuff I've wrote deleted, with the intention of going back to do a proper review for Streets Of 4 in the future. First up though is Wolfenstein II, then I'll be doing something for Frostpunk. So on with the show as they say.

 

 #94 - WOLFENSTEIN II: The New COLOSSUS 

 

 

 

 

The end of the Viking Era 12th century AD. In the kingdom of Sweden, Christianity was vanquishing the norse gods of old and, Uppsala, was becoming the kingdoms new de facto religious capital. The parallels of history often run in the strangest of places, and even stranger is how they run into us. I certainly wasn't expecting a schism in the Swedish gaming industry that lead employees of Starbreeze on a journey to establishing their own studio in Uppsala, their own kyrka (Church) of game development. Would eventually lead me on one of my greatest, and worst journeys in gaming. The Wolfenstein II 100%.

 

Although I got enjoyment from this Nordic gaming product. When it takes almost all my dogged determination to face the dogma of its creators, there isn't much reason for me not coming away feeling some kind of righteous indignation towards their game. And, especially in my case of playing Wolfenstein II again.  Where I had hundreds of hours of witnessing what is fast becoming the real gospel about Machine Games. 

 

In their continuing re-envisioning of Wolfenstein, Machine Games vision with Wolfenstein II is now looking more blind to anything that doesn't support what they have envisioned for their studio. In their mind, it's like venerable intellectual property is only in service of their congregation of developers, their own kyrka of game development. They made a fine impression of showing genuflection to the pressures of game development to begin with. When Bethesda might have crucified them should it, their first game, have received a baptism of fire on arrival.  But they bent no knee for the sequel.

 

The writing was already on the wall for the franchises American direction being so heavily laden in race relations. Out of the oven Wolfenstein II's story came, at best a half baked exploitation of Blaxploitation, at worst a naked piece of capitalisation on hatred towards the Trump administration; and throwing another N word around like confetti that wasn't Nazi. In my book, the story is written with all the blatant caucacity you'd expect from two Swedish white guys. Who I don't think had any outside consultation for bettering their frames of cultural reference. Maybe if Machine Games hadn't nickel and dimed so hard I hate white people, addressed racism with more seriousness, and not in pulpy plot points for putting a lot of shock, but not much aww in their plethroa of cutscenes.  Then they might have gotten more attention and better sales figures in America; and all less at the expense of us gamers.

 

No one fondly remembers political ephemera, or treasures a reactionary narrative beyond the present in which it was written. Often story driven games that aren't fuelled by our shared humanity will drive most gamers away. In The Last Of Us, which it is the greatest Triple A game ever made (you can make a drinking game for every time I say that), Joel is a paragon of a thematical example of the strong man struggling with emotional weakness. He, like Blazkowicz, is physically every bit the buff and gruff Texan, but Joel's traumatic character doesn't suffer from the baggage of the Swedish national character.

 

While both men are loaded with stoicism owing to their worlds of hardship, unlike Joel though, the always battling Nazis Blazkowicz is more often found retreating when he's faced with emotionally engaging the other characters of his world.

 

The head of this Swedish Blazkowicz has now well and truly been cut off from his body in Wolfenstein II. So severed is his emotional connection, he can no longer leave any meaningful impression on the player. Indeed, all feelings in this game are held at a distance. Only expressed in the shortest of breaths, and whatever soul Wolfenstein II has left, is suffocated by a soulless soul sister.

 

In contrast to The Last Of Us, which is the greatest Triple A game ever made. It holds the Fireflies and their politics at a distance from Joel and Ellie. They are always kept in the games shadows, even when it reaches the hospital. While Wolfenstein II isn't set in the aftermath of humanity's worst fungal infection ever. Stories on any stage they are set are always working within a finite amount of space; and no storyteller is immune from that fact.  It's important what takes centre stage in your story, because that is what will ultimately become the story of your story.  And the main story of Machine Games Wolfenstein reboot for me, and should have continued to be, was BJ & Anya.

 

It's hard to fathom how this talented group of Swedes have gotten themselves so far off course. They are like Vikings who have just accidently sailed to North America. No longer in their European safe space, deep in foreign territory, and aren't cognizant or confident in delivering a competent product. Did they just not have the necessary resources to survive in these uncharted waters? It's possible their involvement in Doom (2016) might have left them marooned. Machine Games have shown a fetish for saying yes to everything Bethesda asks of them; and always have been a Swedish gaming brothel begging to be prostituted by a publisher. As professionals of course, they would be reticent in showing embarrassment for any gimping they've been be receiving. A little bit like Swedish Blaskowicz actually. Well, as he'd say, sometimes Christmas, sometimes birthdays, sometimes mayhem, suffering and death.  And sometimes people just want to make video games, even it doesn't feel so good. 

 

Moving onto the gameplay. Poor difficulty scaling isn't a problem exclusive to Machine Games, or any other studio. It's an entire industry problem. Wolfenstein II is an industrial case of how wet toilet paper can get on higher difficulties, but it isn't just a case of you're dead in under ten hits on "Death Incarnate" & "Mein Leben". In having dragged Wolfenstein back into concrete corridors, it now plays as ugly as its environments. Even while I'am calling Wolfenstein II a colossal failure of FPS conflation, it would still be egregious of me sitting here and not saying the fact they tried isn't commendable in of it self. For all the complaining I could do about the number of enemies, the damage you take, and the level design. It can't be ignored Machine Games have still successfully collaborated together all their artforms into a single piece of artistry. Artistry that you can till appreciate in those separate pieces, but altogether bad when brought together as an interactive experience.

 

It's a demanding artistry that is reflected in a trophy list that also demands and expects too much of us, the trophy hunter, and forcing us even more into playing Wolfenstein II in unconventional ways. Making it feel more like a relief than a reward when you do finally complete it, get the platinum, or 100% it. Where as in The Last Of Us, the greatest Triple A game ever made. Grounded mode forces the player at the highest possible level into the deepest engagement with the games mechanics, and in so doing, you're interacting with the game at its deepest overall level. If Wolfenstein II wasn't still grounded in excellent gunplay, I can't think of any objective reason you should engage with it. Well, The Last Of Us is out on PS5 now. I recommend you play that instead. It's the greatest Triple A Game ever made.

Edited February 5, 2023 by TheBusToYoker

[TheBusToYoker]

THEBUSTOYOKER WOULD LIKE TO CHECK IN ON YOUR CHECKLIST THREADS

 

And in aid of doing that, I'm making it official policy in my checklist thread that you can post your checklist thread when you have new content. I'm doing this not only cause it's easier for me to read other members content, but also for getting this forum in order. There are too many threads around here that aren't getting enough attention, and many members for their efforts being left looking like they are talking to a brick wall. Wanting attention on a forum isn't a bad thing. Not when you want to share your thoughts, feelings ect on a game for the purposes of initiating discussion. And it seems like only a few people round here are getting that.

 

While we might disagree on the reason why threads are being buried from inactivity, we can all agree they should stop being buried. And I ask I be given the time and space in which to do that by the staff. Cause I have done things like this before, though more from the home video corner of the internet. When it wasn't a wasteland of course.

 

So what does an open door thread entail?

 

An open door checklist thread is one which publicly states it is open to other members free posting their own checklist threads. This can be for a variety of reasons. Looking for an audience, just discussion ect. Once a member has posted their checklist thread after updating it with new content, it is then the job of the open door member to post in that persons thread some meaningful activity for furthering or starting discourse. While I do think it would be good if everyone can do this, you really shouldn't unless you think you can. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by TheBusToYoker

[DaivRules]

2 hours ago, TheBusToYoker said:

And I ask I be given the time and space in which to do that by the staff.

What exactly do you think you need permission for? People’s Checklist threads are their space to do almost anything in any way they choose. Breaking forum rules will still be moderated, but otherwise they should feel free to do what they want, in the manner they want to do it. Sometimes it’s just for themselves, sometimes it for an intended audience. Your permission ends where they say it ends in their own threads. If they feel harassed by even one uninvited post there, then their feelings are valid and your posts will be moderated as appropriate. 
 

If you’re looking for specific time and space to do something specific; you should be much more concise in what it is you’re asking for as this overall post seems a bit of a ramble. 
 

[TheBusToYoker]

16 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

What exactly do you think you need permission for? People’s Checklist threads are their space to do almost anything in any way they choose. Breaking forum rules will still be moderated, but otherwise they should feel free to do what they want, in the manner they want to do it. Sometimes it’s just for themselves, sometimes it for an intended audience. Your permission ends where they say it ends in their own threads. If they feel harassed by even one uninvited post there, then their feelings are valid and your posts will be moderated as appropriate. 
 

If you’re looking for specific time and space to do something specific; you should be much more concise in what it is you’re asking for as this overall post seems a bit of a ramble. 
 

 

I ain't asking for any permission. I'm trying to be clear in my motivations after certain instances, and thus the possibility exists because of that, certain members start reporting to you guys I'm doing this as revenge against them. I'm not. And I 'am, was anyway, going to fix said ramble now I've eaten.

 

Edit:

@DaivRules

And now it has been

Edited February 5, 2023 by TheBusToYoker

[DaivRules]

1 hour ago, TheBusToYoker said:

I ain't asking for any permission.

 

3 hours ago, TheBusToYoker said:

And I ask I be given the time and space in which to do that by the staff.

 

I’m not sure how to interpret this then? I don’t understand how anyone wouldn’t find these two statements contradictory. 
 

 

[TheBusToYoker]

44 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

 

 

I’m not sure how to interpret this then? I don’t understand how anyone wouldn’t find these two statements contradictory. 
 

 

 

The interpretation has been sent to you.

[trampgav]

RIP Benny Harvey 

[TheBusToYoker]

8 minutes ago, trampgav said:

RIP Benny Harvey 

 

Miss the big man.

[TheBusToYoker]

IT'S CALLED, ERR. UNDER CONSTRUCTION

 

 

The construction work continues in my thread. After sanding down Wolfenstein II with some professional German abrasives, I decided today I'd tear down a piece of my initial content, and re-write it. My original take for The Artful Escape was woefully shit by my standards, and I would usually fire myself for such sloppy work. But that probably would make some people too happy around here.

 

ACKNOWLEDGE ME!

 

This is a section of my posts where I'm going to be acknowledging other members who are active in Checklist Land. 

 

So in this post I'd like to acknowledge @Darling Baphomet . Who posted a seriously mammoth review for the Serious Sam Collection along with Orcs Must Die! 3 in their thread recently.    

 

 #88 -The Artful Escape

 

 

The Artful Escape is one of the most artful little games of emotional manipulation I've played in a long time; and no sooner had I started playing it, did I just want to escape from it. With the platinum trophy of course. 

 

A short game that is forever longing to earn an unearned attachment with the player. If The Artful Escape wasn't so busy shredding out pretention, and struck the right chords more often for a note worthy experience. Then it might have won more of my affection. But if you're using a guitar this much as your crutch, it's just lame. A high strung fretboard shouldn't be used this much too elicit emotions in your game. 

 

Where in The Artful Escapes story was I suppose to have a shred of sentiment that wasn't attributed to its guitar shredding? Was it when I met Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Ruined A Whole Generation Of Women? How about in meeting Black Rufus? Perhaps he had a tragic origin story involving a nasty transporter accident that fused his matter with Geordi La Forge. That vat of redundancy at least sounds more intriguing to me than what audible plot and characters weren't drowned out by the games music.

 

What was also frustrating about the The Artful Escapes story is it spends less of its short time actually having Francis Vendetti searching for his inner alter-ego, and more on just searching for himself. I guess that's kind of the point. That in order to find your inner self you have to first discover yourself.  But he shouldn't be searching in dimensions that exist out with his own reality. Francis's Earth and universe is suppose to be all about the music, and when his mind wanders so often into our realm, it gives a disposition that makes him seem more like a prisoner of his world, not a living participant.  A character already gaslighted and kidnapped in the middle of the night is vicarious enough, and doesn't need any more windows into their self. Besides, for his lack of conformity, Francis cosmic odyssey feels forced in general; rather than being about his own voyage of self discovery, and the master of where his musical truths are taking him. And because of how forced it does all feel, I'm by the end wanting Francis Vendetti's coming of age story to be about how he escaped artistry. To see him buy a three bedroom semi detached house, get a dog, married, and settling for a nice prosaic life not defined by anyone else, or any one thing. The Artistic Escape, directed by Ken Loach.

 

In a game that's this small scale but big in ostentatious celebrations for generations of venerated musicians and their music. You'd think The Artful Escape would be as big if not bigger in paying reverence towards gameplay in its limited budget as well. The Artful Escape though is a game that treats being a game as an inconvenient and very vexing afterthought. That only out of obligation to its medium, does it perform the bare minimum of simplest actions in a perfunctory manner to get around the fact it is a game. It's like you're playing a simulation of a car stuck in traffic lights at all times, and at a time the game reluctantly decides to give you the greenlight when to play it. Those traffic lights in The Artful Escape being alien creatures that you have to press buttons for. Look, if you wanted to make movie, then why didn't you just make a movie? I think The Artful Escape would have made a most excellent Bill & Ted clone instead. In time, maybe. It has the most outstanding potential. But like most video game adaptations of films, The Artful Escape is bogus.

 

 

 

What's worse is the innate lack of failure in the gameplay means you can't feel the inherent fear of artistic failure which informed the music of all beloved musicians at some point. Indeed, why David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust in the first place. Francis doesn't have to die for his art, but in his traveling throughout the cosmic extraordinary, say he stalls at a set of traffic lights, tailgates an alien, flips off someone by you pressing the wrong button. Then put some points on his license for fuck sake. While I'm not sure if the Cosmic Lung can be wheel clamped, I'm definitely sure it can somehow be impounded.

 

Its parallax scrolling vistas of psychedelic space and music are fantastic when viewed and listen to in isolation from one another. But not when they are infused together to manipulate the senses into thinking the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It's a gaudy experience which feels longer than a Bruce Springsteen Concert. And any comparison to The Boss really should be more of a compliment. You might not agree with my take on The Artful Escape, but at least we can all agree we'd rather be at a Bruce Springsteen concert than playing this game.

Edited February 7, 2023 by TheBusToYoker

[Darling Baphomet]

I kept meaning to reply to this topic but haven't had as much energy for forum interactions of late. Oops.

 

On 11/7/2022 at 7:12 AM, TheBusToYoker said:

Continuing on with dipping into my rather hefty library of free games, and ticking them off. Chicken Police is another wacky point & click adventure game, but with photos of animal heads on human bodies. If that wasn't enough to sell you on it already, it is also a film noir inspired point & click adventure game with photos of animal heads on human bodies. Whoa! How much? Nothing, it's free (sort of)! On PS Plus Premium.....

 

It's cool to see you enjoyed this game! I kept seeing it but never really caring enough to try it. While it still has a few hundred games on my backlog to compete with, your review has given it a bit more of a fighting chance.

 

A shame you didn't like the Ice Age squirrel game (sorry, not scrolling up again to remember how to spell his name), but that seems about right from what I've heard about the game. The consensus seemed to be that it was a 'just okay' licensed game that wasn't going to win any GOTY awards, and that would appear to be the case. Might bump it down a few notches on the ol mental backlog.

 

On 2/4/2023 at 8:12 AM, TheBusToYoker said:

The writing was already on the wall for the franchises American direction being so heavily laden in race relations. Out of the oven Wolfenstein II's story came, at best a half baked exploitation of Blaxploitation, at worst a naked piece of capitalisation on hatred towards the Trump administration; and throwing another N word around like confetti that wasn't Nazi. In my book, the story is written with all the blatant caucacity you'd expect from two Swedish white guys. Who I don't think had any outside consultation for bettering their frames of cultural reference. Maybe if Machine Games hadn't nickel and dimed so hard I hate white people, addressed racism with more seriousness, and not in pulpy plot points for putting a lot of shock, but not much aww in their plethroa of cutscenes.  Then they might have gotten more attention and better sales figures in America; and all less at the expense of us gamers.

 

Wolfenstein 2's writing was definitely a bit over the top, although I would suggest that, especially in the light of the political ugliness of the last... shit, it's almost been a decade now - I think some in your face politics in games have merit. Especially since people (you know who I'm talking about) seem to be completely illiterate when it comes to political themes in media - there are people out there who genuinely believe that Star Trek, with its post-scarcity utopia and direct criticisms of modern day (well, 90s) capitalism and racism, is a conservative franchise, and who played Bioshock and came out with the understanding that Andrew Ryan Ayn Rand is awesome. (You may think I have those backwards, but the number of people who decided to read Atlas Shrugged because of Bioshock is far more than it should be.)

 

So even if the writing suffers for it, I can still appreciate the utility of a game just holding out a big middle finger that no amount of cognitive dissonance can erase. I did also appreciate some of the themes in Wolfenstein 2 which people probably saw as over the top, particularly the stuff with Blaskowicz (not sure how to spell that and autocorrect suggests "glassblowing") and his father, as someone who comes from an abusive home. It's not something you see much in mainstream popular media, and when you do it's usually as trauma porn featuring a battered, lifeless protagonist.

 

On 2/6/2023 at 6:46 AM, TheBusToYoker said:

The Artful Escape is one of the most artful little games of emotional manipulation I've played in a long time; and no sooner had I started playing it, did I just want to escape from it. With the platinum trophy of course.

 

Hm. This review isn't favorable in the slightest, but I didn't know this game had a platinum trophy. Perhaps I was confusing it with one of the other PS+ extra games I've dismissed due to the lack thereof. (And before you judge me, look, I've got hundreds of games in my backlog - at this point any criteria to filter out potential new games is good criteria.) So in a paradoxical way despite the scathing review I am a bit more inclined to try it. Though I will be on the lookout for pretense, as it appears this game has it in abundance.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Darling Baphomet