Ratalaika Review

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy 2,535]

That's right! Another Ratalaika post!

 

So I bought a bunch of them on sale in like April or May because I really felt like playing my Vita again and they were the only people dropping stuff for it, plus they hadn't had a sale since like September so when they finally did I was stoked, but now they seem to be having at least some games on sale every other week, oh well. Anyway, the first few I played were genuinely really fun and I was like "so why are these copping so much shit, beyond trophies?" and anyway, I've now done a fair few of them and I'll keep it real, aside from the odd one, I actually really like most of these games, they remind me of the Minis range on PSP, that I also used to buy in bulk whenever they'd go on sale for $2 a pop, some of them I played to death, NOVA, Hero of Sparta, Echoes, Car Jack Streets, etc. there was some bangers. Anyway, same idea with Ratalaika really, there's some proper good bangers in there and here I am to go over them all now because, if you haven't seen me on here before (which is fair, I've popped up here and there for a while but been on a loooong ass break basically), I fucking love a good ramble. After the post the other day about them releasing 82 games (https://forum.psnprofiles.com/topic/92140-ratalaika-games-have-published-82-games-on-the-ps4-according-to-their-website) I was like "well now I have to do this". So here we go, in order of when I played them first, here's every Ratalaika game I've completed, let's go. Plus it's boring in lockdown and I'm running out of games to play so now I'm gonna talk about games instead I guess. I'll add more whenever I can be fucked. Also I never played 2 player in any of these, so I don't know what multiplayer stuff is included, but I'm just putting it as a sidenote in the breakdowns, I think it's nifty, odds are given how small most of them are, it's just a coop version of the main game, I doubt they'd have anything locked away only for multiplayer.

 

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SQUAREBOY vs BULLIES

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

So this is a game I wanted to buy before I was even aware of Ratalaika. See, the Nintendo Switch eShop is a cluster fuck of awful cheap games made in 10 minutes by any old idiot and then they're on sale every week to get more notoriety, there was over a thousand games on the sale section last I looked, ridiculous, I rarely even look anymore which sucks. But anyway, this was another one of those quick "throw it on Switch" kind of games. So it was $6.50 and looked like a fun little beat 'em up. I was gonna get it, but then I bought Brutal Justice or whatever it was called, a much nicer looking beat 'em up on Switch. No regrets. Anyway so I bought it on PSN on sale and know what, it's pretty sick. You play as this little fucker, Sqaureboy, and you go up against these other little fuckers, the Bullies. The end. So it's a 16 bit looking game, an ugly one at that, but it's prettier than 8 bit, so lets call it a 12 bit game in the middle. There's 10 or so attacks you can do, you can jump and stuff, and you have to beat up the bad guys until you get to the end of the level. Imagine if Streets of Rage lost all it's personality and was the same basic game but just uglier (and without the special move), that's what you get here. It's a fun, competent little beat 'em up. The first 80 percent or so of the game provides not all that much challenge, but the last couple of levels can be a real pain in the arse to finish, which took my by surprise considering Rata's reputation for being piss easy games. There is a jump attack you can spam that makes it pretty well impossible to die if you keep doing it right, but if you just play the game properly, yeah, it has a good bit of challenge near the end. For a normal play through to platinum, there's probably a good hour and a half or two hours or so worth here, but given the nature of beat 'em ups, the game is inherently replayable, so I'm happy to finally have a nice lil beat 'em up on my Vita I can chuck on when I go poopies. 

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yes
Is the game worth full price: Yes
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Double yes
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Yes
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yes
Overall time to platinum: 2 hours or so, can be done quicker, but 2 or 3 hours is fair
Did I actually finish the game: Yes
Two player content on PS4: Yes

 

36 FRAGMENTS of MIDNIGHT

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

This is completely different to Squareboy, in that instead of being a beat 'em up game, this game makes the bold decision to be a game that is NOT a beat 'em up game, crazy. So in this one you're a little cube fucker called Midnight. The name doesn't matter because there's no real story and if there is, well, fuck, I missed it. Okay, so in this game you, you little cube fuck, oh it's a 2D platformer by the way, well not a platformer, but there's platforms. So in each level, there is 36 of these little collectible fragments you have to pick up. Each level is randomly generated, meaning you can keep playing endlessly if you wanted, though, as much as the game is fine, I don't really think many people are lining up to do that. Anyway, the aim is to pick up all 36 of these fragments and get back to the place you started at. Throughout each level is an assortment of obstacles that will kill you, spinning blades, pointy sharp spike things, lazer beams and whatnot, basically you the whole idea of the game is to make your way through randomly generated levels with half a dozen or so layers to find all the collectibles and get back to the start without dying. It, like most of their published games, funnily enough is an easy platinum, and since one of the trophies requires you to actually finish a level, and there's really only one level since it's all randomly generated, that makes us two for two, with every game thus far actually requiring you to beat the game for the platinum, but I'm sure that percentage will be skewed soon enough.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeah
Is the game worth full price: Nah
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yeah
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Nah
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yeah, but there's only really one level
Overall time to platinum: Varies greatly with luck and skill, but well under an hour
Did I actually finish the game: Yes
Two player content on PS4: No

 

INKSPLOSION

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

This game takes the Ratalaika formula and flips it on it's head, instead of being a beat 'em up, or a non beat 'em up, this time it's a *shoot* 'em up. Well, sort of. Anyway it's a twin stick shooter, remember those? Well it's no Dead Nation, but it's pretty good. So there's a few different modes, an endless one, a hard one, an arena one, waves, I forget the names. Basically there will be 4 enemies that will come at you and try to shoot you with varying different weapons, each wave your weapon will change too, from good ones like the shotgun and assault rifle-esque weapons, to annoying shitboxes like the rocket launcher which sounds good, but it takes forever to fire. Anyway, this is a proper fun little arcade twin stick shmup, there's not much to say about it because it's more or less the most basic twin stick shooter I've ever played, I can say it gets it's name from the ink that explodes out of everyone as you shoot them, not from being an awkward Splatoon knock off like I thought it might be, and kind of hoped. I'm keeping it in on my Vita, but you should know performance on Vita is less than that of it's PS4 brother, the game slows down sometimes and I'm pretty sure they removed the ink explosions on some bits to speed up the game but they may have patched it or I may be misremembering. Anyway, it's a fun little romp, I'd definitely recommend it for the right price, as much as it's a great game to play on the toilet, the PS4 version is probably the way to go though.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Heck yeah
Is the game worth full price: I don't remember full price
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: But I'd pay 3 or 4 bucks again for it
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Look, I am
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Sort of, fulfilling score requirements unlocks the next mode and you have to at least get one kill in the last mode, so you do have to unlock everything I guess
Overall time to platinum: Can easily be done in under an hour
Did I actually finish the game: Yes
Two player content on PS4: No

 

SUPER DESTRONAUT DX

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Here's another shmup, but this time it's a scrolling shmup not unlike Space Invaders, but on crack. You ever play that game Space Invaders Extreme from like 10 years ago? How about Space Invaders Extreme 2 from like 9 years ago? It's basically that, but again. So it too has a few modes, there's your typical endless mode, a hard mode where the enemies fuck you the fuck up, and a mission mode which is quite nice and also reminded me of Extreme. So you play as the guy from Space Invaders but he's a bit down on his luck and he's whoring himself out to any developer that will have him, fuck, right, there's also a time attack mode where you take on waves for X amount of time but can't die, anyway there's no actual story. You're basically playing a cool modern version of Space Invaders with power ups and enemies that do different stuff and falling enemies that can fuck you up and god the graphics, the visuals are so fucking nice in this game. I never bought into the OLED bullcrap on Vita because I had several OLEDs and a couple LCDs and while the burning level in Uncharted might have looked a little more rich on the OLED, it never really mattered, but the point is, daaaaaamn this game's colors are vibrant and beautiful, like holy shit, I know Space Invaders is a basic game, but it has just never looked better, the game is gorgeous. There's 30 odd challenges in the mission mode, there's your usual endless mode, time attack, and a hard mode, also has online leaderboards and shit. It's honestly a really well made homage (see; knock off) to Space Invaders, and it does basically everything you would want a modern take on Space Invaders to do.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Fuck yeah
Is the game worth full price: I don't remember the price, but fuck it, yeah, for under 10 bucks, I'd go it again
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Hells yeah
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Heck yeah
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: No. You have to unlock all modes, but complete only 12 of 30 challenges
Overall time to platinum: Can be done in under half an hour no problem
Did I actually finish the game: Not yet, I'm like two thirds of the way through the challenges, been playing other stuff
Two player content on PS4: Yes

 

ZEROPTIAN INVASION

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

If Destronaut was a modern take on a classic that updated and revised and, fuck it, I'll say it, *improved* the game. Then Zeroptian is a modern take on a classic that does fuck all to change the formula and is more or less just the aborted foetus of Galaxian and Space Invader's frat party love child. It's black and white for the most part with some enemies getting color later on. There are boss fights every few levels which are a fun shake up, some of the enemies shoot different projectiles and you can get a shield and some power ups, okay fuck it, look it's nowhere near as cool or different as Destronaut, but I suppose I should put it as "if Destronaut is Space Invaders on cocaine, then Zeroptian is Space Invaders after a couple of beers and feels a little frisky but is still largely the same kind of thing". This game is absolutely fine, it's fun, it's a lot more challenging than Destronaut as the game goes on, and look, if you like scrolling shmups, you really can't go wrong with either one, but yeah, I would advise you get Destronaut on personal preference. Honestly the whole bit of Zeroptian has just been me saying "buy Destronaut instead" so with that in mind, I'll wrap up and say buy Destronaut instead.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yes
Is the game worth full price: No
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yes
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Honestly not if you have Destronaut, but otherwise yes
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: No
Overall time to platinum: Under half an hour, no problem
Did I actually finish the game: Not yet, this fucker ramps up in difficulty as you go and there's no saving so when you quit you restart the whole thing
Two player content on PS4: No

 

FULL BLAST

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Okay so here's by far the game with the highest production value on here. This game is very nice to look at. Detailed, cartoony, quasi semi realistic all at the same time. So this is a vertical scrolling shmup, a bullet hell cu-nt fucker if you will, and you play as the legendary hero [whatever his name is] fighting against the tyranny of [whatever the generic aliens are called] to save [whatever planet you're on]. There's actually a story and dialogue and shit which I will give them credit for, but I totally skipped over. The game is kind of like an easier version of Ikaruga. So in the game there's a good bunch of powerups you can get, there's a dozen or so enemies to kill, there's a boss or two in each level that is completely unique and have different tactics and whatnot, and the visuals are absolutely aces, the game looks lovely. I know the PS4 version has a two player mode, I'd imagine it's the whole game in coop, but I can't comment, but this is cool. So the platinum only requires you beat the first 3 levels, but there are 12 levels total, so you only have to see a quarter of the game at minimum, which is a shame because it's a really nice game, and I look forward to finishing it off, but I absolutely won't lie, I went onto the next game once I popped the platinum and am yet to come back and finish up the job, but I will sometime soon because fuck it, I am actively running out of new shit to burn through and there's only so many times you can run through the entirety of Simpsons on Disney Plus before you contemplate suicide. Point being, this is a game with a good deal of content, each level (based on the first 3) have a good 5 minutes or so of shooty shooty action pants which is pretty good when you consider there's 12 meaning if you're any good you've got at least an hour or so of shoot 'em up action, and since shmups aren't generally known for their long runtimes, I'd say in the genre that's actually a pretty fair amount of content, not to mention this style of game is inherently replayable too.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Fuck yeah
Is the game worth full price: Look yeah, but I personally wouldn't bother, but it's worth it I think
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Hells yeah
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Yeah, I'd keep it, all these Rata games are fucking tiny anyway
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: No, you can plat it with only the first quarter of the game done
Overall time to platinum: Under half an hour
Did I actually finish the game: Not yet, but I look forward to it
Two player content on PS4: Yes

 

ONE NIGHT STAND

 

PS4 only

So this is quite different from the rest, and honestly I love the variety here, like I said, I was buying these mostly to play on Vita but this one (and one more which will come later) piqued my interest too much to ignore (once it finally went on sale, anyway) and I'll be honest, I needed a platinum that started with the letter O to round out my alphabet list. So anyways, this is a sort of choose your own adventure game. The basic premise is you woke up in bed with some chick you have no idea about, and you have to piece together what happened and also choose how you're going to go from here. You can end up her friend, her boyfriend, thrown out, wearing her panties, all sorts of shit. You don't really move around or anything, it's text and click based, it's not too bad. I mean it's not what I was expecting either, but it's alright. I'd probably wait on a really good sale though. There's some intrigue and bullshit going on and a couple of fun screenshots, plus when you get to put in your name I called him "suck my dick" and then she said that but with a question mark at the end and I sent that to a buddy, that was fun I guess. Point being, it's no Catherine, in fact, the art style and sex/relationship based concept really had me thinking the whole time "wow, I really wish I was playing Catherine again", I'm really bummed the Vita version never got localized, now we wait for the Switch port to go on sale. I found out the other day the new Catherine (this time with a Q!?!>!) is trans and honestly, I was like yo, just when I thought I couldn't get more interested, you do that to me. 

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeah, it's alright
Is the game worth full price: Nah
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Honestly no, $4.55 was too much, wait for a better sale 
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Not a chance
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yeah, there's like a dozen outcomes and stuff and you need them all
Overall time to platinum: Hour or so
Did I actually finish the game: Yup
Two player content on PS4: Nope

SUPER WILOO DEMAKE

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Here's a nice little platformer. You ever play Wario Land on Game Boy? It's basically that but in color. Like Wario Land, this is like Mario Land, nice short levels, plenty of power ups you can get, cutesy aesthetic and shit. It's great. But also like Wario Land, the sprites are way bigger than they need to be and the levels are piss easy. But this is a fun one. So it's basically another Mario platformer clone, don't know if you've ever played it, but I think this Mario guy is gonna be a big deal some day. So there's 5 worlds, each with 10 levels in it, 50 levels total, each one takes a minute or two to finish if you're running through it normal speed but if you're a bit more trepidatious, it could take longer. There's a good couple hours here and that's before you come back for a 100% run if you so choose, so it's got a good bit of content in there. Though tbh if you're wanting to burn through the game, you can just die three or four times, which will auto give you the bee suit / power up, which will let you just mash the X button to fly over everything and get to the end nice and quick, but then, that kind of defeats the point of playing the game, but I mean, it will make your plat easier. But no, it's a fun little game, no fucking challenge, but it's fun and cutesy enough, definitely a good one if you have younger kids who wanna play a game with you, but hate dying or "gitting gud".

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeah
Is the game worth full price: Nah 
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yeah boi 
Is it worth keeping downloaded: At least until you finish it
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Nope, only the second of five worlds
Overall time to platinum: Hour or so, two at most, give or take, fuck all basically
Did I actually finish the game: Yeah, eventually, I did drop it for a while though
Two player content on PS4: Nah brah

METAGAL

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

So we had a knock off Mario, we had a knock off Space Invaders (or two), now we have a knock off Mega Man. I was fucking looking forward to playing this one when I bought a bunch of them a few months back, and it did not disappoint. I'm far from a Mega Man fan, but I do love me a good platformer with shooty shooty. Blaster Master Zero was the second game I bought on my Nintendo Switch, loved the thing. Which doesn't matter because this isn't really like BM0, but it's a fun game, go get that too (on sale). So some evil cu-nt has kidnapped the stereotypical Professor Oak, I mean whatever Mega Man's old man is called, and you have to go save him. Like Mega Man, you have to take on X number of bosses at the end of their respective levels, unlike Mega Man, these bosses are your sisters. I think they got reprogrammed by the bad guy or something, you're not really playing it for the story. Anyway, there's 8 levels to do supposedly, though I wouldn't know, I only beat the first three so far. Honestly, in the breakdowns I could put a "what game does this knock off the most" and that alone would likely say enough about the game. But it's a competent little Mega Man clone, reasonable level of challenge so far, and the first few levels all took anywhere from 10-20 odd minutes (counting retries and whatnot) so there's probably a good couple hours in here easy enough. Look, it's better AND cheaper than Mighty Number 9, something something cry like an anime nerd on prom night.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeah
Is the game worth full price: Ehhhh, look if you like Mega Man, probably 
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Definitely
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Look, I'm not gonna be replaying it any time soon, but I have tonnes of similar games to burn through
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Nope, level 1 will suffice
Overall time to platinum: Again, an hour or so, can easily, EEEEEEASSSSSILLLYYY be done in less though
Did I actually finish the game: Nope, not yet
Two player content on PS4: Nah buddy

DAGGERHOOD

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

So this is the first one in what feels like a hot minute (sorry, One Night Stand, I know you're nothing like Catherine, but you keep making me think of Catherine) that isn't a direct imitation of something. So Daggerhood is an action platformer made for phones, and it shows in the quick pick up and play style design of the levels in the game, being designed around getting all the collectibles and everything in as quick a manner as possible, since every level has 5 collectibles that linger, a 6th that disappears after a short amount of time, and a goal time to finish in that awards a star rating out of three. If you want to 100% the game, you will be replaying each level a few times to make sure you fulfill all requirements. There's around a hundred levels from memory, and lets be generous and say each level takes a couple of minutes to 100%, you've easily got a good few hours of gameplay here, easily. So each world (5) has it's own theme, the first one for example, which is what most of you will only know since you can plat the game entirely by the 12th of it's 20 levels, is caves and caverns and shit and you make your way through the levels either avoiding or killing enemies with your weapon/s. You start off with this dagger which you throw with square but while it's travelling you can press square again to teleport to where it currently is, which is how you can get over gaps, between spikes, etc. which is pretty cool. You can also jump and wall jump to get around. It's an A to B platformer as most are, but the dagger gimmick is quite fun and makes level traversal, and improving your best times, somewhat unique. As you go through the game you will get upgrades to your dagger that can turn it into a box smasher for example, which for reference, was the original name for the game*, but then apparently it was "insensitive" to name your game after the act of fornicating a female (never done it before myself, but I've heard good things). *May or may not be true.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeah
Is the game worth full price: Yeah, fuck it, there's a lot of content in here 
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Absolutely
Is it worth keeping downloaded: idk, it's not as replayable as the other more arcadey games, I wouldn't keep it when done
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Nope, not even the first of five worlds need be finished
Overall time to platinum: Half an hour or so, not long
Did I actually finish the game: Not yet, still on the third world somewhere
Two player content on PS4: No

TETRA'S ESCAPE

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Alright, good one to start back off with. Tetra's Escape, in a word, is fucking great. Well if you count that as two words I'd say it's good, because I don't feel comfortable calling it great without an expletive that weirdly enough makes it seem less great to me. Anyways so it's a sort of puzzle game, and you can easily beat the whole thing in an hour or so if you're racing / replaying the cross buy version for a second plat. So the basic premise, is each level is a single screen platformer ala Donkey Kong, no side scrolling it's just the one screen, and in each level there is a portal thing that you have to get through to get to the next level. There's also 3 stars to collect and if you get all 3 then a trophy will (in game collectible trophy, I should clarify) appear and you can grab that too. So you have to work your way to the portal in each level. You play as Tetris pieces, aka Tetrominos (which yes, I did know was their name before this game, but what I find funny is that if that's their real name you'd think they'd have copy right'd that too instead of allowing everyone to use it, like one of my most played PSP Minis was "Tetraminos" which was a deadset 1:1 Tetris clone but fuck it whatever, maybe the Russians made it public domain, not the point), anyway so you're Tetraminos and well not yet. So you're actually little cubes. Each level will have different numbers and placement of these cubes, but what you do, they are Tetrominos, so you then activate them and they can't move anymore and they just stay still as their shape. I'm explaining it poorly, Google some gameplay, you'll get it. But basically everyone's a cube until they transform into their selected Tetris shape, and then what you do is you climb over them and use them to platform your way to the end of the level. Each world has a different theme, basic bitch, ice bitch that makes you slide, fire bitch that burns your guys, and more forgettable just aesthetic ones. There's 8 worlds from memory, each with somewhere between 8 to 10 levels in them (I forget, there could even be more, but if 8x8 is 64 then I can at least guarantee over 60 levels. Some of the later levels do take a little bit of thinking, I got stuck at a couple on my first time for a while. Anyway, good little game, it's one of the few I'd say it's worth YouTubing some gameplay because I'm not really explaining it very well, but yeah, it's a good little game, for cheapsies I would definitely give it a go.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeaaaaaah
Is the game worth full price: I really should look up the full price for these, I'm gonna say 7 bucks AUD or so or less it's worth
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid:  Yup
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Nah, once you finish it there's really no reason to go back beyond 100%ing
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Nah, you can tap out at the end of world 6 of 8
Overall time to platinum: An hour if you're good, good couple / few hours if you're just chillin' 
Did I actually finish the game: Yeah, actually. And I think some of the best levels were in world 7 and 8 after platting
Two player content on PS4: Nope

BOUNCY BULLETS

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Fuck yeah, we got another good one. Alright so Bouncy Bullets is a first person shooter, but a colorful happy first person shooter you could play with your kid (no 2 player though). So the world is colorful as fuck, it's like an assortment of Fisher Price colored bullshit fucked a polygonal and not very detailed game world and voila. So you start each level in a spot trying to make it to a portal at the end somewhere else, which sounds like Tetra but that's the only similarity. And they're both colorful. So you have to work your way through the level to get to the portal, there's enemies that can shoot you and shit on the way, lazers, moving lazers, hidden behind a box lazers that you can't see from behind the box but when you shoot the box because you hate the box it decides "surprise lazer time" and you get fucked on. Lots of lazers. There's also spinny blades, spiky spikes, and gravity working against you. So your guy right, he can fire pink bouncy bullets (the bullets hit the ground/walls and rebound) with R2 (or L2, I forget) and he can fire yellow bouncy bullets with L2 (or R2, I forget) and they can kill the correspondingly colored enemies. Then there's black enemies that need to be shot by a bullet of any color after it's rebounded (though depending on their standing, you can spam them with any bullet to keep knocking them back and just knock them off a ledge) there's also jump pads and shit on some levels, pro tip: turn up sensitivity to maximum if you don't wanna spend half an hour turning though, anyway. It's good shit. There's also grey enemies who can't do anything so I guess they're not enemies, they're just there, don't shoot them, you will fail if you do. So there's 42 levels between 3 worlds though they all just autoplay and the worlds mean nothing so just say there's 42 levels. And then there's 3 special worlds that you'd think might have cool new shit and whatnot to do when you beat the main game, but are just the same levels but harder with more enemies and bullets and shit, still, think of it like a harder new game plus I guess idk. Each level takes anywhere from like 30 seconds to a minute two or so actual gameplay, assuming you don't die a bunch, but you very well may. Despite there being 42 levels I wouldn't say you've got more than a few hours at most here though and that's stretching it, so the hard mode, sorry, "special worlds" are a welcome addition to pad the length. But then I suppose they give you two versions of the game with most of these so I guess double your pleasure?
 
BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Abso-fucking-lutely
Is the game worth full price: Yeah, fuck it. It was only like 7.50 or something anyway
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Heck yeah
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Nah, but it's a fun replay on an alt. account
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Not even half of it
Overall time to platinum: Says I did it in 15 on the missus' account, so quickie there
Did I actually finish the game: Not yet, but I did a lot more than was required for the plat
Two player content on PS4: Nope, which is a shame tbh because I'd love to play this w/ the 4 year old

JACK n JILL DX

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

So here's one I did play (briefly) with the 4 year old (she technically popped the platinum on the Vita version, so I guess you guys got me after the LBP2 fiasco, now I'm admitting to having other people earn my platinums) and it's nothing special. Like sorry, but it's not, especially after the previous 2 games that I really enjoyed and thought were at least somewhat unique and or creative. So you play as Jack (or Jill) in a black and white side scroller that looks like an OG Game Boy game being played on an emulator, like the style is there but the visuals are all cleaned up and no puke green screen. So this is probably the longest Rata game by far with 140 levels (!!!) and mini games to boot. The levels are relatively short, and I'll be honest, I kept it on my Vita to go back, but I haven't touched it since popping the plat, at the end of world one, of seven, meaning I played only the required 20 levels so far. So it's an auto run side scroller which I actually like, it's like a better version of this game called Kid Tripp I bought on Switch for like 6 bucks. They're actually quite similar except this one is more fun, and a lot fucking louder, like seriously, who mixed the audio on this bitch it's loud AF. Anyway so your guy will start running to the right automatically you can only jump. You jump over gaps, obstacles, spikes, other shit, enemies, etc. There's also a double jump thing from time to time and likely (though not confirmed) a lot more other shit later on (hopefully). So you as Jack (or Jill) have to work your way to Jill (or Jack) and every time you hit a wall you turn and go the other way, that's how it handles left and righting I guess. It is actually quite fun though, and I did leave it on my Vita with nothing but the most genuine intention to finish it fully, all of these games, many have been finished, but all will be eventually, I just had the idea of popping a plat every day in June so that's why they got plat'd and dumped, tbh think of it as playing just enough to review them for you because I love you. And that dress does make you look fat, sorry, but you said you wanted me to be honest.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeah
Is the game worth full price: Not a chance, don't care if you got nearly 150 levels, they're very samey, half that would be just as fun if not more
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yeah fuck yeah
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Not once you're done, but I wouldn't delete it until you're done
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Nope, world one of seven only
Overall time to platinum: Says I did it in under 10 minutes on the missus' account, I think my estimates may be a bit high now
Did I actually finish the game: Not yet, there's a lot of game there
Two player content on PS4: Nah :'(

ACCESS DENIED

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Okay so this is a bit of a mixed bag. It's a puzzle game, every level presents you with a new puzzle to solve, some are button puzzles, some are number puzzles, some are spin this cog thing puzzles, mix and match puzzles, memory, maths, sliders, there's lots of different puzzles. 36 I think, but 30 something I know. It's a mixed bag because on the one hand, I thought a puzzle game would be great to have on the Vita to slowly chew through. And it was for the first faaair few levels. Then they start to make you really fucking think and I was like oh fuck this I don't even understand the logic behind the puzzle, I'm a dumb fuck, fuck off, where's BadDriver when you need him, and went and looked up a guide for the puzzles. No shame, some of them are fucking confusing as fuck and I am lazy and stupid, so I channeled my inner American and gave up to let someone else do it for me. If you're playing this without a guide, you'll have a good time actually thinking, but I swear if you're gonna throw it on your Vita in bed at like 11pm to wind down before bed, it won't help you. I can't knock the game, it's a puzzle game and it puzzled me and that's the idea, but it wasn't one of those ones where you want to overcome it and feel good when you're done, it just pissed me off tbh. Your mileage may obviously vary but yeah, there you go. It's a puzzling puzzler, not much else to say on this one. At least it's the first one in a good while that you have to finish for the platinum, shame though because I'd have rather finished Bouncy Bullets

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: At times, when not ripping my hair out
Is the game worth full price: No
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Ehhhhhhhhh, I guess?
Is it worth keeping downloaded: No
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yes
Overall time to platinum: 40/50 odd minutes if using a video guide, hours and or days if using your caveman brain
Did I actually finish the game: Yes
Two player content on PS4: No, thank fuck, I don't need to make anyone else pop a blood vessel in their head

MIDNIGHT DELUXE

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

So this game is called Midnight Deluxe, from the people who did 36 Fragments of Midnight. You'd be forgiven for thinking it's an extended version of that game, maybe there's 37 fragments this time. You'd be wrong, dead wrong. This is a whole other fucking thing, and honestly a much better one at that. So same aesthetic and shit, you're still midnight, same enemies and whatnot are around, but it's single screen gameplay this time. So you can't walk or anything, what you do is shoot yourself (which is what I wanted to do during Access Denied) in the direction you want to do. So you point the left stick with as much strength as you want and then press X to fire off. Fun fact, I didn't know you could use pressure for the longest time. I made it to like level 20 just pushing the stick full cock and jumping, I only found out about pressure when I got stuck on a level and was adamant I had done everything (in the context of full cocking the stick, I did do everything) and had to Google it. Anyway so there's spikes and lazers and moving shit and other stuff and if you hit the walls and fly out you're dead and balls what crush you, normal day to day life stuff. You have to get yourself to a portal via this point and jump mechanic. Most of the levels are pretty chill, but you WILL spend a good deal of time on some of them, even if you know how to play it properly and don't full cock every shot. There's 70 levels and I'm at about 50 or so but you only have to do 40 off them I think for the plat, so there's that. Later on they do get a lot more complex and challenging, but then, the thing says the quickest achiever was like 10 minutes so maybe I just suck? It's a fun little game, I'd give it the "grab it when it's on sale for under 3 or 4 bucks" badge of honor.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yeah, even better when you figure out you've been playing it wrong the whole time
Is the game worth full price: Yeah, I mean if you like that sort of thing (not that there's anything wrong with that)
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Absolutely
Is it worth keeping downloaded: After platinum, yes, after finishing every level, nah
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Nope, bit over half of it
Overall time to platinum: I'd say a good couple hours but then, 10 minutes number 1 achiever, I might need to replay
Did I actually finish the game: Not yet
Two player content on PS4: No

RED BOW

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

So this game is fucking weird, there, I said it. The story is all over the place and I skipped a lot of it because it was so weird and had the vibe it was written by one of those high school nerds who like, you know the kind, they think they're really deep because they know of HP Lovecraft and they wonder why every girl doesn't like them instead of the cool bloke over there who doesn't spend his whole life in a basement. Like the style just felt off to me. Whatever, ignoring the weird writing style (which will come up again in Just Ignore Them, which is what really tipped me off to this point because before that one I just thought this game was weird and moved on), it's a top down(ish) game where you play as this person who's fucking about on their day when they encounter this ghost thing and a chick who killed herself. It's nuts. So you're going around and in this hut there's a girl hanging from the roof (spoilers, but it's 5 minutes in, not even) and you have to go take one of three things to the ghost to progress the story one of three ways and then that girl comes back as a spirit and is pissed and you can either kill her, kill her and her (I think) ex, leave them be, fuck, I don't even remember, I'm kind of blending it with Just Ignore Them I think. I preferred Just Ignore Them though, if you're gonna buy one of these two, buy that one, awkward writing (like the bit where you break down the door and come into this girl's room and go oh hey there was a monster gonna kill you and she's just like okay cutie I mean come up with a better like but hey cutie. She says cutie like 3 times there alone and that's when I really realized it was the weird high school writing, and that's with me skipping all dialogue tbh, anyway). Look it's fine, but if you buy this, I'll be real, you're buying the platinum. At least if you buy it after reading this. I bought it for Vita game and curiosity over the setting and I got what I deserved, some weird bullshit and a quick platinum I don't care about. You do at least have to finish them both, I guess.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Not really, it's fine, but not really
Is the game worth full price: No
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: No
Is it worth keeping downloaded: No 
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yes
Overall time to platinum: Under an hour with a guide, just use a guide
Did I actually finish the game: Yes
Two player content on PS4: No

FOOTBALL GAME

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

This is a better version of Red Bow. If you want a shitty story and some weird pointy clicky style nonsense, go this one. So it's a side scrolling point and click, when I bought all of these, after picking the ones I knew I wanted, I picked a couple just for the different genres to try out, like the last one and this one, anyways. So you play as this one cu-nt and he's trying to find his girlfriend or something. You have to go through your house, you have a present for her, but your mom took it, it's a bit weird. I'm gonna spoil the story based on my memory of it so skip if you want, but it was weird. So you start in your house looking for your gift but you can't find it and there's beer bottles around and your mom ends up implying you got drunk and there's blood somewhere so you make her a nice cup of tea because... okay, and so then you find your prezzie in her bedroom drawer after you break into her room, weird. So you go to the football game at what I think is your school, ask around for the missus and fuck about with the people. There's random flashbacks here and there. And then at the end it seems like she's dead, the end. It's fucking weird. Also you get smokes for the cool kids and then rat them out to the teacher, what a shitlord. Story is a bit goofy and out there, can't say I'd really recommend this one, but then you win some lose some. I know most of y'all are buying for the trophies anyway, and for that, I mean, using a guide it's done in under three quarts of an hour easily. I just thought the story was weird. But at least it didn't give me MAJOR incel vibes like the bloke who did Red Bow and Just Ignore Them. So there's that. And you have to finish it's story to get the plat, so good for you, actually finishing a game for a change.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: It's fine but whatever
Is the game worth full price: No
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Probably not honestly
Is it worth keeping downloaded: No
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum:Yes
Overall time to platinum: Guide, under an hour easy. No guide, hour or two
Did I actually finish the game: Yes
Two player content on PS4: No

PARADOX SOUL

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

OH THANK GOD. The next 3 are actually really fucking good ones, God, I got dragged down a bit by the last few dodgy titles. Okay so Paradox Soul is once again a game where I have no idea what the fuck is happening story wise, but I didn't skip everything this time, I just have no idea. Fitting that I have Blink-182 on right now and as I sad that it was the end of the song Fighting the Gravity and Mark is just saying "this makes no sense this makes no sense this makes no sense" over and over, anyway, it's only 75% relevant to the review. Speaking of not that relevant, I'm probably gonna get pizza for dinner tonight with the misso, but so Domino's have a 50% off deal (never get anything less than 40% off) and that's good but it's gonna have the 10% Sunday surcharge so it's really only 40% off and their pizza isn't that good anyway, but whatever, I was about to go on about the food I have here. Okay so this is a sidescroller too, Metroidvania style actually, with backtracking and key cards and shit. You also have a nice lil gun. So there's robots and robot dogs and other enemies and shit to kill. You have to make your way room to room killing enemies, bosses, getting keycards, fucking bitches and getting money, the usual affair, normal Tuesday night stuff. There's 50 rooms, some take 10 seconds, others take a minute or two, some have lots of enemies, some have none, you get the idea. So you gotta make your way through all the rooms, and there's some back tracking and stuff to get upgrades like the electro smash thing that unlocks some doors, that then leads onto the boss, which gets a card to the next room, it's basically Metroid lite in many ways. Know what was a surprisingly good Metroid lite? Spider-Man Web of Shadows for DS. I shit you not, fucking great little game, dunno if I ever finished it though. Which is fitting, because despite my map showing all 50 levels in this as having been explored, I couldn't tell you for the life of me if I finished it, I killed 3 or 4 bosses, that's about all I remember. There you go. It's fun. If you like Metroid and trophies, give it a whack. I'm taking a break now because I was already pretty aware my shit was getting a bit over the place, but I've also lost interest which leads to worse rambling, it's one thing to ramble relevantly, but just babbling defeats the point. Good day, cobba. The next two games are two of my absolute faves from Ratalaika though so that's cool. I'm uploading this now, and I feel bad to have diverted most on this one, it is genuinely one of the better Rata games, well worth a Google if you're even half interested at least.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Absolutely
Is the game worth full price: Yeah fuck it, they're all under 10 bucks anyway for the most part
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yupppp
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Until you finish it
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: No
Overall time to platinum: Did it on my alt in just over half an hour
Did I actually finish the game: Yes...I think? I kept playing after plat, that's all I know. Maybe?
Two player content on PS4: No

CYBARIAN the TIME TRAVELING WARRIOR

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

So this game is fucking killer. You play as Cybarian, he's this viking cu-nt or something, and he's in the future and shit's fucked, imagine like Mad Max's kind of vibe (not the forth one though) but in a neon setting, that's your future. So it's a side scroller, beat em up, rhythm (that word sucks to spell, I'll never remember it) game thing. You progress left to right as you do in most side scrollers, and when you encounter enemies, combat is all about the timing. So you have your sword right, and you swing it with square, mash it and you'll fall over, time it right and you'll execute a small combo. Basically a double hit really. Each level you clock you get something new. Finish level one, you learn to dodge roll Guacamelee style. Beat level two, I think it was the sword throw, etc. There's only 4 levels which is a bit of a bummer, but the time you take to learn the mechanics and whatnot can extend play time, and there's a hard mode (stronger enemies, less health, same layout and shit though) which is cool. So I plat'd it on an alt account in a bit under half an hour and you have to beat the first 2 levels and then get to level 1's boss on hard, so not the whole game, but I mean, yeah look if you're gonna run through it you'll only get an hour or so. If you take your time and you're not replaying it for the forth or fifth time like I was at that point, it will take a bit longer. It's a very fun little game and I do wish it was a bit longer, but there you go. The only complaint is that it's over so quick, this game is a gem, I love a time / rhythm based side scroller, even just timing combos right in Shovel Knight makes me happy. This game is very well made. It's visual style is quite nice, audio quality and shit is good, it's one of the better Ratalaika published games, and one of my favorites if it wasn't obvious already, definitely in the top 5 of all the Rata games I've played, probably top 3 too but there you go. Definitely check it out on sale, come for the plat, stay for the well made fun lil gameplay. 

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Fuuuuuck yeeeeah
Is the game worth full price: Length wise, no. Enjoyment wise though, like if you don't mind a short game, yeah
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Hells the fuck yeah
Is it worth keeping downloaded: idk, I'd burn through it again a couple times but probably not keep on my machine forever
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: No, furthest you have to make it is level 3
Overall time to platinum: Did it on my alt in just under half an hour
Did I actually finish the game: Yeah, several times
Two player content on PS4: No...unfortunately

DEEP SPACE RUSH

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

This is another favorite. I don't love it as much as Cybarian because it's much more repetitive but it is very fun. So this is kind of a side scrolling endless runner not unlike Super Mario Run, except it's actually fun and worth your money. So there's no real story, you're a dude on a space ship running through corridors away from aliens and shit. You have a gun that you can upgrade (there's like 4 or so guns you can get too), and some shields and stuff, it's pretty basic in the shop department. But so what you do is you run left (or right, it depends, the game flips on start every now and then which direction you'll go), and you run, shoot, and jump your way through as far as you can make it. There's a large variety of enemy types, lil slug things, lil fuckers that drop off the roof onto you, these cu-nts that run at you and suicide bomb (and take out the floor under them, so even if they miss you you gotta jump), flying ones, running ones, stationary ones, lazer ones, there's a good deal of variety. But it is at the end of the day still an endless runner, and how much you like the idea of Jetpack Joyriding your way to finish is going to dictate how much you enjoy this game. JJ is actually a good thing to compare it to, this is kind of a more interactive Jetpack Joyride in many respects. You still move automatically, and pick up random shit, while avoiding enemies and whatnot, but there's more involvement from you, including the ability to actually shoot whenever rather than just if you have a dragon powerup or whatever in JJ. For a few bucks, I'd rather buy this than play JJ for free and get asked on every death if I want to buy a new life or watch an ad or something. Give it a YouTube search and see if you like the aesthetic because you'll be looking at it for a while, the environments are very samey, which is a common thing with endless runners. Nonetheless, an absolute blast if you have 5 minutes to kill and a Vita in your pocket...in the second half of 2020 though, unlikely, but there you go. I give it two solid reacharound's and a finish yourself off out of a possible three reacharound's. We gotta get a scoring system.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Shit yeah
Is the game worth full price: Depends how much you'll play it
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Absoy Luuute Lee
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Yes. It's one of those time wasters that's always good to have on your portable
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: No, I guess. I mean it's an endless runner, can you ever finish it?
Overall time to platinum: Under 12 minutes on the alt account
Did I actually finish the game: Look, I bought all the upgrades and shit which is not required for the plat, so I guess? It's kind of endless
Two player content on PS4: No

NEON JUNCTIONS

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Neon Junctions is one of those beautiful puzzle games that require enough thought your brain has to be turned on, but not enough that you need to actually really pay attention (cough cough, Access Denied). So it's a first person 3D platformer style gameplay (!!!) and what you do is you need to make the connection between a terminal and an end point. Basically there's a big orange box at one end of a level and a big black box at the other end of the level and through the gameplay you make a connection between the two things to trigger the black to go orange and open into a portal to the next level. So there's grids and shit across each level, and what you need to do is run and jump your way around to grab enough connections to connect them. So there's a path (usually) from A to B and you have to find the boxes and figure out how to get them to where they need to be (the boxes are conductors I guess, go with it) and once it's done, you can go to the next level. Outside of one or two levels that left me stumped for a second, most of the game can be pretty easily figured out as you go along. I'm not really explaining the concept of the game very well, it's kind of a puzzle game, you need to complete the line from A to B, and it's simple polygonal look makes the game look simple while stylish and stands out from the majority of other Rata games and their 2D perspectives. At the end of the day, I recommend it wholeheartedly (for the right price) but more than anything, I would say YouTube some gameplay because it's a fun little time waster but I feel like I'm not capturing it very well. The game can be done in an hour or so without much effort, assuming you don't get stumped on any levels anyway, so it's not crazily long, I'd recommend waiting on a sale, but for the right price, it absolutely gets a good 1.5 reacharounds out of 3. Okay we should figure out a real score. Out of 10 I'd give it a solid 7 or so, again though, that's provided the price is right. Paying a tenner for an hour of basic platforming puzzles isn't really something I can recommend. But there you go I guess. And hey, it's the first one in a hot minute you actually have to finish, so that!

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Absolutely
Is the game worth full price: 5 or 6 (AUD) or less, go for it
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yes
Is it worth keeping downloaded: I can't say I'll be replaying it any time soon
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yes
Overall time to platinum: Under an hour easy if gunning. An hour or two if just chilling out
Did I actually finish the game: Well I've got the plat 4 or 5 times and you need to finish it to plat it, so you tell me
Two player content on PS4: No

SHADOW OF LOOT BOX

 

PS4 only

So this is one of the best ones and you might have noticed to qualify as "one of the best ones" you basically just need to be a 3D game, and that's fair to be fair. 'Kay, so this is gonna piss off the dude that said I'm overwhelmingly positive, but this game is proper fun. So it's an absolute piss take, which you might have guessed I'd enjoy. Like I should really say it's nothing special, it's not an amazing game, it's just a fun interactive piss take really. You play as [game guy] and you have to quest your way through a fairly basic set of levels against a tonne of game tropes and shit. There's tutorial missions, "ads" you have to wait through for money, oh and your enemies are literal walking loot boxes you have to shoot. It's just a piss take on a bunch of gaming tropes / conventions, and the current state of the industry (level 9 I think it was, has nothing but a sign saying they'll patch in content with the next update), it's just a good fun lighthearted romp. Definitely not worth the full price since it's only about an hour long and has no real replayability or post game content to be seen, but for a fiver or less, it's good for a laugh and a quick platinum. I mean if you're just here for trophies though it's hard to recommend since it comes without the Vita stack like all but one other game on this list so far do, which is a bummer. Oh right I should probably say it's a 3D first person shooter, and despite being fairly rudimentary and piss takey at that, it's a perfectly competent one, there's 3 or 4 different guns and shit and you will run out of ammo so it's not like a just point and shoot at everything and leave situation like there is some actual gameplay here, but again, it is just a basic little piss take of a game. Buuuuut, I love me a piss take.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Ab-soy-lutely
Is the game worth full price: Fuck no
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yeah, I reckon, think I paid $4.55 AUD
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Nah
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yes, there's a trophy for killing the final boss
Overall time to platinum: Hour or so, give or take, no guide needed
Did I actually finish the game: Duh
Two player content on PS4: Nuh :'(
 

TWIN ROBOTS

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Oh no, he's really not going to like me now, this was one of my favorite Rata games too. First off, since it's been a while, YES, this game DOES have 2 player content on PS4. The ENTIRE game can be played in 2 player couch co-op which is fucking great because there's a lot of times in this game you have to go deal with puzzles and shit and you have to swap a good few times between robots and honestly, 2 player would be the way to go if you and a buddy both wanna knock off a fun lil plat in a few hours. Okay so this is a side scrolly platformy puzzle solvey robot smashy game. You play as a robot right, and you have to make your way to the end of the level....buuuuut. Your twin is trapped in a room and is gonna get crushed if you don't make your way through the level and find the button to open the door to let them out in time. From there, you both (well you can finish the level with just one of you, but the plat requires both) make your way to the end of the level. Your health bar is a battery and you can recharge your battery from various pickups throughout each level, running, jumping, etc. will exert your energy so you have to stay on top of this, you can and likely will run out of battery several times during your playthrough. The visual style, while relatively basic, is quite nice and the colors contrast each other very well, it's a purdy lil game. There's spikes and poisonous gas and smash smashy walls and all sorts of shit to make your way around throughout the increasingly complex levels. Around the second half of the game the levels will on average take a goooood few minutes to do on your first go, not counting retries either. It's a well made little platformer with a (somewhat) unique concept of ever depleting health bars on two characters and you have to send energy back and forth between them and shit to stave off death, but to open the exit door you need to deposit 100 energy (about half a health bar, IIRC) which can prove troublesome if you've only just made it to the end of the level and then realize you're fucked. Anyway there's 35 or so levels, I have 36 in my head but I could be thinking of Midnight again, and they're all playable in single player or co-op, which is sick. Not every level, but a lot of them, have a hidden collectible or two that you have to find for the plat too, on top of beating every single level with both robots surviving, as far as Ratalaika games go, this is one of the ones that makes you work for the platinum the most I guess.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Yes, even when it's a little frustrating
Is the game worth full price: Honestly, yeah probably, especially if you have someone to play with
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Yes
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Unless you're planning to do a re-rerun through with a bud, nah
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yes, and get all the collectibles and shit along the way, plus make it out with both guys each level
Overall time to platinum: A goooood 3 or 4 hour sitting, maybe more
Did I actually finish the game: Twice even!
Two player content on PS4: Yes! The entire game can be done in co-op
 

JUST IGNORE THEM

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

Man, fuck this game. First off, I confuse it with Red Bow easily. Like you know what, I'm still rooting for Spider-Man 4 to happen, I loved that Kingpin from Daredevil was in the '03 Spidey series (while I'm here, fuck Spectacular Spider-Man, shitty visuals, forgettable show, shit theme song, all of it, blows, most overrated Spidey shit out there), I love me some good connected shit basically, you know, except when there's 50+ Marvel movies to watch to get the next one and I get bored. Point being, connected shit, good. This however doesn't feel connected, it feels like the same shit. They play largely the same, they look largely the same, to the point I'm pretty sure there's some reused enemy sprites and shit, just all of it. The game is too fucking similar to Red Bow...which is a shame, because if you recall, Red Bow fucking sucked ass man (there you go, guy who said I was too positive). So this is like some "horror" quote unquote game where you're fucking around, fuck this is the hotel one, the other one was the sewer one. Okay so you're in a hotel for a bit and the manager is filming the girl in the other room and there's a demon monster or something that tries to come in and the girl turns out to be your mom, or a metaphor for your mom, and you go and do a science experiment to bring your mom back and kill the girl and there's an aeroplane and shit, it's just all over the fucking place, it sounds like I'm mixing it up, and I am, but honestly not by the much. Like give it a go if you just want a whacky ass weird little stupid time platinum, honestly if you have low expectations you could enjoy it, but to me, I thought it was just a very basic top down cartoony looking shit show with god fucking awful writing and dialogue. I was glad when it was over. A plat in under an hour is about the most good thing I have to say about it. I mean I don't mind the art style, but fuck me, this pixel art gothic shit has been done to fucking death too so it's not like it's charming or anything like 10 years ago when this stuff started getting big again, it's just cheap in 2020. So blow me, Red Bow guy. 

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: Not really, no
Is the game worth full price: Fuck no
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Only if you really want a plat
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Nah
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Yeah, like 3 times for the different endings
Overall time to platinum: Hour or so, give or take, quicker with a guide
Did I actually finish the game: Duh
Two player content on PS4: Nope
 

SUPER DESTRONAUT: LAND WARS

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

What's this? One of the better Rata games got a sequel? Fuck me, I thought sequels were reserved for Midnight. And Foxy Land, Devious Dungeon, and basically all the games I didn't bother to buy. Anyway, so this is not at all like Super Destro one outside of the enemy sprites. So that game was Space Invaders on crack and I gave it my "whatever the fuck award I gave it, I don't remember" award for being so good. Well this is a first person shooter, and unfortunately it's not as frantic because if this was turned up to 11 this game would be genuinely worth keeping on your machine, which is about the best praise you can get for a Rata game. So you're on the ground now in a 3D neon soaked first person shooter world, taking on those evil motherfucking space invader things and collecting the coins that spill out of their corpses in lieu of blood. Crazy aliens. So the game is gorgeous, like most, it's very basic, but the style is super cool, it's like if Tron decided in Tron 2 it wasn't gonna go for sex appeal but reeeeeally steered into neon blocks territory. It's that kind of 80s/90s looking computer color matrix prism world shit, it looks very nice. There's 20 something odd missions like the first game and they follow the same idea, do this goal in this time, fuck off done. The meat and potatoes of the game though is in the endless modes. So there's a few varieties. 1. normal mode, which sees you taking on wave after wave of endless invaders going for a high score, simple enough. 2. hard mode, which is the same thing but less health and they're stronger. 3. snail mode, which is normal mode but you can't jump or run fast. 4. which is something I forgot but I know there's 4 modes. There's a good deal of guns to pick from, don't remember how many but I'd say it's fair to say about 10 or so, and you can buy them and swap them out willy nilly with the coins you pickup throughout your murder session game time. There's a ping ping kapeeew lazer game what one shots most cu-nts, there's a rocket launcher and you can guess how it works, shot gun, assault rifle, all the basics. The enemies have varying levels of strength and kill value accordingly as you'd expect. If this game had a mode of just "fucking kill me, send a million bad guys at me right the fuck now" I'd love it, because the game itself is great but it's just too damn easy. Like there's a trophy for making it 300k in normal mode and I was at 5 or 6 hundred k and it didn't pop so I was like shit do they mean 3 million or something and I killed myself and it popped then so like, that was maaaaybe 4 or 5 minutes of killing at most, probably less, it's just not hard at all, I'd love a third Destro with some fucking challenge tbh. But otherwise, yeah, I liked it a lot, good job Destro guy, you're 2 for 2 which is pretty sick. That Petite Games or whatever that did a few of the shmup ones on here are your only real rival for consistent quality, so nice work buddy.

BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: YEEEEEEEES
Is the game worth full price: YEEEEEEEEES
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: DOUBLE YEEEEEES
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Honestly, idk maybe
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: Nah, you only have to do like half the challenges, same as Destro 1
Overall time to platinum: 50 odd minutes no problem
Did I actually finish the game: Nah, endless mode interested me a lot more than doing another 15 or so basic challenges
Two player content on PS4: Nope :'(

HEROES TRIALS

 

PS4 and PS Vita, BOGOF

It's a shame I have to end my list (so far) on this one, especially after busting out a few good ones in the last few (not you, Just Ignore Them, I'm going to continue Just Ignoring You, you fucking shit), but here we are. Heroes Trials is probably the most basic Ratalaika game I have played thus far, which is saying something. It's like a PS1 tech demo coming from the SNES and an average one at that, it's honestly if you told me this was a PS1 CONVERSION of a SNES game I'd believe it. And say it was pretty shit for the time too. You know, there's one thing I can in retrospect give just about every Ratalaika game on here, and that is props for at least working every time without fail. I'll give them that, I mean I've heard the trophies are so easy so they don't have to bug test them so I mean I don't know about their QA, but yeah, their shit works, I'll give them that. This game, not so much, or at least, not as much. So let's get into it. Heroes Trials (no apostrophe) is a top down dungeon crawler Zelda lite fairy tale what the fuck ever. You play as one guy at a time, but swap between two guys, these two guys are on their way to becoming Knights of Dahrule or however the fuck the spelled it, which made me think of Da Hui the whole fucking time, good song, go Google that while reading this, I mean it's a bit late since this is the last one, but go Google it anyway, I'm about to right now. Here, I did it for you https://youtu.be/mXKy8k0b_5I?t=73 so there you go, that minute and a half or so of song is more fun than the game. Anyway so it's top down and shit and you have to do the "Heroes Trials" ... even though I'm pretty sure it started off by saying you were doing the LAST heroes trial at the start and then you finish and it goes here's number 2 lmao. So first off, lets talk about how lazy this shit is, your guy runs with his harm held back like he's holding a sword...he is holding a sword, it's your main method of attack, but you wouldn't know it, since the sword is apparently invisible until you hit someone with it so he just looks like he's running like a moron the whole time. The other person you play as, she shoots magic and shit which is basically a G rated gun but there you go, and I'll tell you what, with both of them but ESPECIALLY her, this fucking sucks that they don't have the second stick available to aim. You just attack directly in front of you, so say an enemy charges you and you have to move, you won't be able to walk backwards and keep firing on them or anything, which drags out ALL encounters a GREAT deal...at least until you get realize outside of bosses you don't have to kill anything and it's more fun to just walk through the fucking game as quick as possible and leave it behind. Visuals are fucking trash, shitty "script" and whatnot with crazy typos is shit too (I have them here, I don't care I'm bitching on the internet for free, they want you to pay for this), combat is trash, sound design, enemy design, map/level design, all of it. Once I noticed how much better it'd be with the second stick I started to wonder if this was an old PSP Minis release and they didn't bother adding second stick support, honestly looping it all back to PSP Minis is kind of poetic for me...but not for you, the general consumer, for you it's just a shit game. And that's what this is, a shit game. It's shit to look at, it's shit to play. It's honestly quite fine, I mean it's a fuck tonne better than Red Bow and JIT, but like, congratulations on being below average but better than *absolute* horse shit I guess. You only have to play the first 7 missions, I don't know how many there are in the whole game, I'd wager 10 though because the game seems as though it's wrapping up by mission 7 anyway, but thank fuck, because I was happy to get the fuck out of here. The whole thing reeks of laziness / inexperience. Like sorry to rip you to shreds, you're playable and FAAAAAR from the worst thing I've ever played but I mean I absolutely can't tell someone to buy this. Anyway, the PS4 version worked fine for me, but the Vita version was so shitty at one point I started taking notes on my computer to include here, and here they are verbatim as I wrote them a week or so back playing it, like the people behind this game, I can't be bothered updating it to make it look better. 
...first off i beat the first mission and it didnt register, it let me run around aimlessly and then time out and die
....second i made a new game and got half way through the first mission only for it to not load one of the enemies you have to kill to progress forcing a reload
....despite saying it was loaded, the game then froze on the loading screen for a good 40 odd seconds before i did a restart
....this happened again later during the same mission when i died.
 
BREAKDOWN
Is the game fun: No
Is the game worth full price: No
Is the game worth 50% off or so like I paid: Not unless you want the platinum, even for free I wouldn't bother downloading it, and I have unlimited internet 
Is it worth keeping downloaded: Wasn't even worth finishing
Do you have to finish the game for the platinum: No, thank fucking God
Overall time to platinum: 40/50 odd minutes
Did I actually finish the game: No, nor do I really intend to. Well I might, I'm getting pretty bored in lockdown, but any other time, no
Two player content on PS4: Nope 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Super-Fly Spider-Guy

[FFATMA 624]

Out of your list, I've only played 36 Fragments and I really actually like the game!  There's obviously not much to it, but it's fun for a few minutes here and there when I've got my Vita and I'm looking to kill a few minutes.

[Yuno Gasai 7,724]

Same here. I've bought almost 95% of Ratalaika Games and they have done a superb job with the easy platinums. Let's not forget Lightwood Games and others did a great job as well.

[TurtlePM 950]

24 minutes ago, UltraFire121 said:

Same here. I've bought almost 95% of Ratalaika Games and they have done a superb job with the easy platinums. Let's not forget Lightwood Games and others did a great job as well.

 

Damn, I almost thought you were about to say they have made superb games, that's why you bought 95% of their them. But then it ends "with easy platinums". That was disappointing, considering some reviews from the OP. But it's nice to admit you bought all those games for easy platinums 😊

And I must agree: they do the BEST JOB with super easy platinum

[Helyx 8,274]

36 Fragments was one of their few games I didn't really care for.

[Property_Damage 1,607]

Theres a handful of releases they published that actually did entertain me for a few minutes, further than just popping a fast platinum..iron snout comes to mind..but in recent developments, they stopped supporting the vita?  With my experience, their catalog runs way better on the handheld.  RIP

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy 2,535]

2 hours ago, FFATMA said:

Out of your list, I've only played 36 Fragments and I really actually like the game!  There's obviously not much to it, but it's fun for a few minutes here and there when I've got my Vita and I'm looking to kill a few minutes.

I've got 10 up now. I think I've played about 25 different games from them, so I'm not even half way. If this list was a Ratalaika list, they'd let me finish now and leave the other half undone entirely.

 

1 hour ago, UltraFire121 said:

Same here. I've bought almost 95% of Ratalaika Games and they have done a superb job with the easy platinums. Let's not forget Lightwood Games and others did a great job as well.

Honestly, we should all pool in one one account made just for Rata games. Say you get ten of us, we all kick in a buck for every time a new game comes out (they all seem to be around 8 bucks on average, but some are 12, some are 5, it varies), and pass the account around as an alternate on our PS4s until we all have the platinum. Especially now that they're dropping Vita ( :'( RIP in pepperoni), hell, this is actually a great idea. Someone PM me if you wanna go halvsies, thirdsies, however-many-interested-people-sies with me on this. PS @ mods, I'm not asking for game sharing, fuck off, leave me alone, it's a joke. I mean. Well it is a joke, but if someone does hit me up I wouldn't say no.

 

Sometimes You also have a few easy ones. Did they do Skytime? I bought Skytime on Switch and then found out it had a piss easy list and was honestly kinda bummed I didn't get it on PS4 instead, especially since I dropped it after five minutes, nothing special of a game.

 

1 hour ago, TurtlePM said:

 

Damn, I almost thought you were about to say they have made superb games, that's why you bought 95% of their them. But then it ends "with easy platinums". That was disappointing, considering some reviews from the OP. But it's nice to admit you bought all those games for easy platinums

And I must agree: they do the BEST JOB with super easy platinum

Look I wanted to play my Vita, but I was very aware I'd also snag a bunch of stacks. 

 

1 hour ago, Helyx said:

36 Fragments was one of their few games I didn't really care for.

Compared to most others, yeah, it's a lesser one. But it cost me I believe just under a dollar for 2 versions of it, costs me more for a single ball of gum at the shop than the game did, no ragrats.

 

57 minutes ago, Property_Damage said:

Theres a handful of releases they published that actually did entertain me for a few minutes, further than just popping a fast platinum..iron snout comes to mind..but in recent developments, they stopped supporting the vita?  With my experience, their catalog runs way better on the handheld.  RIP

I am unaware of Iron Snout, I'll have to give it a Google, I have most of their stuff in my wishlist but no idea of that one, maybe it's not in Aus? Yeah, what happened with the Vita situation is a bugger, just as I finally started getting back into my Vita, this happens. I cleaned up the first two Ratchet plats, Jak 2 and 3 finally, Hitman and Lara Croft Go, and several others. Then bought all these Rata games, and I'm like fuck yeah Vita over here, only for that to happen. Shame, really. I can't wait for Colin Moriarty's Breakout clone thing to go on sale too, probably gonna be the last (at least non Ratalaika) Vita game I'll ever buy the way it looks now.

[AJ_Radio 18,455]

I just wish they made you play to the end.

[AffectatiousDonk 4,758]

@Super-Fly Spider-Guy nice write up, it is a refreshing change to see an actual critical reasoned opinion. Ratalaika is only the publisher these games all have interesting stories behind their developers. Many of the Developers that have published with Ratalaika have managed to use the $ the games make to pay off student debts, further studies or go on to refine and make new games. It is great to see the success both Ratalaika and the devs have enjoyed over the last few years.

 

I hope you find more gems in the catalogue, who knows how many little fuckers might be worth a look, then look forward to you sharing them with the general fuckers on this site that so enjoy expressing their views

 

Have fun

[DaivRules 13,419]

21 hours ago, Super-Fly Spider-Guy said:

PS @ mods, I'm not asking for game sharing, fuck off, leave me alone, it's a joke.

I chuckled at your suggestion 

[Mayellie 1,055]

I don’t care about Ratatouille games or their trophies, but boy, was this fun to read. You have a certain “no bullshit, here’s how it is” attitude about these games. 

[Cryogenicide_X 442]

Some of there games are enjoyable.

[dieselmanchild 2,831]

The issue that many in the trophy hunting community has with Ratalaika games is the ridiculously easy trophy lists & stacks attached to them, not the games themselves. Like them or not, I don’t think any rational person can successfully argue that they haven’t done a lot of harm to this community and the leaderboards, which is the actual reason why people take issue with them.

 

With that said, I found your post interesting, and a nice deviation from the usual debate in Ratalaika posts. It’s pretty rare to see a thoughtful discussion about the actual games themselves rather than the consequences of their trophy lists. 

 

I think you make a pretty good case for some of them, but unfortunately not enough to convince me to actually put any of these on my list. A valiant effort though! 😉

[DaivRules 13,419]

10 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

Like them or not, I don’t think any rational person can successfully argue that they haven’t done a lot of harm to this community

 

I don't think they have harmed this community. This community is just a bunch of people (and bots?) that play games or enjoy games and talk about games. Rataliaka publishes games for people here to play and talk about.

 

The leaderboard has always only been who has the most points. For many members here, there's always a bunch of people who would have had the advantage over them by having more money and time to increase their points and their ranking. Ratalaika (and some others) made games that make points cheaper and quicker. Just as before Ratalaika you could just get more time and/or more money and increase points to increase ranks. That part hasn't changed.

 

They didn't harm the community, and technically they didn't harm the leaderboard. They just changed the game.

 

As far as the thread, there's a lot of people who have only read people shitting on Ratalaika games because they were bad. Many people who tried to claim some games were good were shot down and dismissed, and readers wouldn't be looked down on for believing that all their games were just bad. I'm glad this thread goes into more detail about the games themselves and (mostly) ignores the faster trophy points. Maybe some people will be able to find a title or two that has what they're looking for in playing a game to play a game, not climb a leaderboard.

[IntroPhenom 2,909]

16 hours ago, Spaz said:

I just wish they made you play to the end.

 

Interesting the affect trophies have had on gaming, isn't it?  The definition of what it means to be done with a game has changed.  No longer is it necessarily playing through the end; popping the platinum (or final) trophy now carries an equal sense of accomplishment, at least to some. 

 

Has the player lost a bit of (self) control over the situation, I wonder?  If you (or anyone) really enjoyed a game, but popped the platinum before seeing the end, would you feel compelled to quit, and move on to another game with trophies, or would you push through to the end, knowing no more trophies were coming?  I'm sure answers depend on several factors, of course, but I know I didn't play every puzzle in the Sudoku POWGI game, as I didn't have to.  I did beat the final boss in Oceanhorn, however, despite the platinum popping earlier in the game.  Quite a power that little virtual ping of a trophy popping has.

[djb5f 2,691]

10 minutes ago, IntroPhenom said:

 

Interesting the affect trophies have had on gaming, isn't it?  The definition of what it means to be done with a game has changed.  No longer is it necessarily playing through the end; popping the platinum (or final) trophy now carries an equal sense of accomplishment, at least to some. 

 

Has the player lost a bit of (self) control over the situation, I wonder?  If you (or anyone) really enjoyed a game, but popped the platinum before seeing the end, would you feel compelled to quit, and move on to another game with trophies, or would you push through to the end, knowing no more trophies were coming?  I'm sure answers depend on several factors, of course, but I know I didn't play every puzzle in the Sudoku POWGI game, as I didn't have to.  I did beat the final boss in Oceanhorn, however, despite the platinum popping earlier in the game.  Quite a power that little virtual ping of a trophy popping has.

I too wish the Rata games made you play through the whole game but it would not really change much when all is said and done.  And Rata is not the only ones who give out the Plat without finishing the game.
 

A Way Out is another example where you can get the Plat long before the game is over.  Great game btw and Absolutely worth finishing the whole game.

 

48 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

The leaderboard has always only been who has the most points. For many members here, there's always a bunch of people who would have had the advantage over them by having more money and time to increase their points and their ranking. Ratalaika (and some others) made games that make points cheaper and quicker. Just as before Ratalaika you could just get more time and/or more money and increase points to increase ranks. That part hasn't changed.

 

They didn't harm the community, and technically they didn't harm the leaderboard. They just changed the game.

Yes, absolutely.  Leaderboard chasing has always been a exercise in futility. Just about who has the most time or money and nothing before normalized difficulty or time of plats anyway.

[Joe Dubz 2,584]

I had a bad addiction to the easy trophies for a while there, mostly to pass up one of my real life friends who was talking shit! I gave it up about a year or so ago, but I will agree with you that they released quite a few games that were actually worth playing! My favorites were Devious Dungeon 1 and 2. I didn't see them on your list, but those games were both a lot of fun and I very much recommend them!

Edited July 23, 2020 by integra_93GS-R
grammar

[FFATMA 624]

One rata game I'm playing right now and having a blast with is League of Evil.  I actually very much recommend it as a fun game regardless of whether you're getting it for trophies or not.  There's actually some challenge to it, even though the overall plat achieved rate is still in the 60% range for this site.  Actually, now that I think about it, a 60% plat rate on a rata game is quite an oddity!  It's basically a "get to the end of the stage in under x amount of seconds to get 3 stars and collect a briefcase in each stage along the way" type of game.  I'm not the worlds best platformer by any stretch of the imagination, but some of the later levels in just chapter 2 are taking me 50+ attempts.  The restart after you die is lightning fast though, so it's not bad at all!

[NOWITSREYNTIME17 506]

1 hour ago, IntroPhenom said:

 

Interesting the affect trophies have had on gaming, isn't it?  The definition of what it means to be done with a game has changed.  No longer is it necessarily playing through the end; popping the platinum (or final) trophy now carries an equal sense of accomplishment, at least to some. 

 

Has the player lost a bit of (self) control over the situation, I wonder?  If you (or anyone) really enjoyed a game, but popped the platinum before seeing the end, would you feel compelled to quit, and move on to another game with trophies, or would you push through to the end, knowing no more trophies were coming?  I'm sure answers depend on several factors, of course, but I know I didn't play every puzzle in the Sudoku POWGI game, as I didn't have to.  I did beat the final boss in Oceanhorn, however, despite the platinum popping earlier in the game.  Quite a power that little virtual ping of a trophy popping has.

yeah thats why i love trophies and dislike them at the same time because of things like this

[dieselmanchild 2,831]

3 hours ago, DaivRules said:

 

I don't think they have harmed this community. This community is just a bunch of people (and bots?) that play games or enjoy games and talk about games. Rataliaka publishes games for people here to play and talk about.

 

The leaderboard has always only been who has the most points. For many members here, there's always a bunch of people who would have had the advantage over them by having more money and time to increase their points and their ranking. Ratalaika (and some others) made games that make points cheaper and quicker. Just as before Ratalaika you could just get more time and/or more money and increase points to increase ranks. That part hasn't changed.

 

They didn't harm the community, and technically they didn't harm the leaderboard. They just changed the game.

 

As far as the thread, there's a lot of people who have only read people shitting on Ratalaika games because they were bad. Many people who tried to claim some games were good were shot down and dismissed, and readers wouldn't be looked down on for believing that all their games were just bad. I'm glad this thread goes into more detail about the games themselves and (mostly) ignores the faster trophy points. Maybe some people will be able to find a title or two that has what they're looking for in playing a game to play a game, not climb a leaderboard.

I should clarify that by “this community” I was referring to the broader trophy hunting community in general, not the people who hang out on PSNP.
 

I know everyone hunts for themselves and for their own reasons at the end of the day, but there IS a reason we all band together on communities like PSNP, why leaderboards exist, why players display their trophy stats in their signatures etc. It’s a hobby that comes with a competitive spirit, and we all like to share our gaming accomplishments with one another, and look at one another’s profiles to see how we measure up against other players. 

 

The business practices of this company HAVE harmed the community whether you realize it or not, because they’ve devalued platinum trophies to the point where they’re almost completely worthless now as any kind of measure of accomplishment. I’m personally not a really competitive hunter myself (in terms of leaderboards), as I entered the game far too late to have a chance, but I’ve seen numerous top pagers speak out about their disdain for the way these games have “changed the game” as you say. Many front pagers have spoken of how the ubiquity of these games has “forced” them to buy and stack them, and how it’s sucked all the life and joy out of the hobby because there is simply no way to remain competitive if you don’t do this.

 

I can’t answer this myself as I don’t play these games, but I wonder  - what is the point in being a “trophy hunter“ when you remove the hunt from the process? 
 

Where is the feeling of accomplishment when unlocking a trophy no longer requires you to master a skill, perfect a difficult combat scenario, or complete an objective?

 

How do you derive any satisfaction or pleasure from this hobby when you’re instantly gratified by unlocking meaningless trophies every few minutes for no reason at all and adding another platinum to the pile every 30-60 minutes? What is even the point anymore? 
 

In my opinion that is when you’ve transitioned from a trophy hunter, to a trophy whore. Excuse my French.

 

edit: I forgot to ask, what did you mean by this community being made up by bots? 

Edited July 23, 2020 by dieselmanchild

[DaivRules 13,419]

7 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

The business practices of this company HAVE harmed the community whether you realize it or not, because they’ve devalued platinum trophies to the point where they’re almost completely worthless now as any kind of measure of accomplishment. I’m personally not a really competitive hunter myself (in terms of leaderboards), as I entered the game far too late to have a chance, but I’ve seen numerous top pagers speak out about their disdain for the way these games have “changed the game” as you say. Many front pagers have spoken of how the ubiquity of these games has “forced” them to buy and stack them, and how it’s sucked all the life and joy out of the hobby because there is simply no way to remain competitive if you don’t do this.

 

You have simplified trophy hunting to (Number of Platinum trophies). If you define trophy hunting as looking to obtain every trophy while playing games you enjoy, then trophy hunters have not been harmed at all. 

 

Yes, the game has changed for those at the top of the leaderboard. So what? Games change all the time, adapt or lose your place. Someone else will play by the new rules better and then they will dethrone you. By oversimplifying trophy hunting to only "look at their platinum number", that devalues everything else that trophy hunting can encompass. THAT is what harms the trophy hunting community. 

 

11 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

Where is the feeling of accomplishment when unlocking a trophy no longer requires you to master a skill, perfect a difficult combat scenario, or complete an objective?

 

How do you derive any satisfaction or pleasure from this hobby when you’re instantly gratified by unlocking meaningless trophies every few minutes for no reason at all and adding another platinum to the pile every 30-60 minutes? What is even the point anymore? 

 

See my response above for answers to these questions.

 

12 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

In my opinion that is when you’ve transitioned from a trophy hunter, to a trophy whore. Excuse my French.

 

I don't agree. The trophy whore is someone who doesn't care about enjoying what a game offers and only looks at the trophy numbers, as if they tell a story about accomplishment. They are the ones who count the platinums and think it means something.

 

14 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

edit: I forgot to ask, what did you mean by this community being made up by bots?

 

You never know!

[ShadowSigmaX 470]

I appreciate the effort you put in this thread OP. Of the ones you have listed I have Inksplosion, Super Destronaut DX, Metagal, and Fullblast. I enjoyed them alot. Loved Fullblast and Super Destronaut since I enjoy those types of arcade games. I actually had a bit of trouble with Inksplosion at the time. Metagal kind of bugged me from a trophy stand point. I didn't like how you could get all the trophies in the first couple levels. I completed it though. Foxyland and Foxyland 2 were also enjoyable as platformers. I even had some trouble beating the first Wolf Brother in Foxyland 2. While I understand the hate Rata games get from the community, it doesn't really bother me much since I don't care about leaderboards at all.

Edited July 23, 2020 by ShadowSigmaX

[ladynadiad 4,025]

2 hours ago, dieselmanchild said:

The business practices of this company HAVE harmed the community whether you realize it or not, because they’ve devalued platinum trophies to the point where they’re almost completely worthless now as any kind of measure of accomplishment. I’m personally not a really competitive hunter myself (in terms of leaderboards), as I entered the game far too late to have a chance, but I’ve seen numerous top pagers speak out about their disdain for the way these games have “changed the game” as you say. Many front pagers have spoken of how the ubiquity of these games has “forced” them to buy and stack them, and how it’s sucked all the life and joy out of the hobby because there is simply no way to remain competitive if you don’t do this.

 

You say that like platinums had a value to begin with.  The value they have has always been up each person because all they really are is a set of pixels you earn for completing a set of tasks in a game.  No one is forcing anyone go to earn these trophies or to try and maintain a top spot on the leaderboards.  That's a choice others are making.  Trophy hunting is supposed to be about having fun while earning plats and if that stops being fun for someone, that person needs to re-evaluate what they are doing because gaming is supposed to be fun.  While there can be a sense of satisfaction from earning a plat, it is definitely true that some people are taking it too far and it sounds more like they have an addiction that is an actual problem rather than just a fun hobby like most of us.

 

All Ratalaika is doing is smart business.  They are appealing to a niche of gamers who have money and a willingness to buy their games.  It's not just trophy hunters they are appealing to, it also appeals to more casual gamers who like short and easy games.  It won't ever earn massive profits, but it's clearly earning enough profit to keep them in business and able to make new deals to port indie games.  They clearly are doing something right and without them there are many fun games that wouldn't have seen the light of day on PSN, Xbox and Switch.  They also aren't the only dev doing this.  The dev of the POWGI games and Pic-A-Pix games do the same.  To a lesser degree there is also Kemco and their short RPGs with easy plats (though longer than POWGI and Ratalaika since those average 10-20 hours).

 

What it boils down to is that there is definitely a niche of gamers who are interested in short games.  This honestly isn't too surprising because gaming is appealing to a broader audience now and many people who game also work full time and have families and other hobbies.  The typical length game isn't going to be as appealing to people who are busy and have little time to game but a fun short game will be very appealing to them.  A lot of people are also getting tired of the same old AAA fare and looking to indies for something different as well.  These sorts of people are the sorts that Ratalaika games would appeal to.  If you don't like them, then don't buy them.  However that is your business and there is nothing wrong with someone who buys them and enjoys them.

[RedDevil757 797]

Unfortunately a lot of gamers see the retro graphics and immediately think that equals crap.

[reiner- 1,099]

3 hours ago, DaivRules said:

The trophy whore is someone who doesn't care about enjoying what a game offers and only looks at the trophy numbers, as if they tell a story about accomplishment. They are the ones who count the platinums and think it means something.