Things have been pretty weird as of late, as I’m sure you all know. I’ve gotten behind in my blogs and so have to dump a lot of games I’ve played over the last four or five days. Here they are.
Shantae Half Genie Hero finally got to me with a difficult platform section. This one has you go upwards as you’re being chased by a giant toothy beast. You have to climb, and shape shift your way up but sometimes you can’t see what’s above the edge of the screen. So, I died a lot and had to repeat the section a lot, and that got to me. There’s nothing worse than trial and error gameplay. It might as well be torture. Maybe I’ll come back to it sometime. I love the art design and the basic controls. I want to finish it.
Steamworld Dig started out really great. It’s like a modern take on Dig Dug with some platform challenges in the mines. I got stuck deep underground trying to get out of a mine where you have to use your steam powered jump to get to a wall edge to climb. I could leap almost to the wall edge but not quite. Over and over I sucked up water and used the steam jumper to jump vertically without success. There was no other way out, so I just stopped playing.
Steamworld Dig 2 seemed to be an improvement, at least in graphics, but I didn’t get very far. I don’t’ even remember what got me stuck, but I moved on kind of quickly. I’ll probably revisit it sometime. It’s such a fun world to be in.
Sonic Generations was certainly exciting. You run so fast that it’s hard to see what your coming up upon. There are third-person segments that make the sense of speed even greater. I liked those parts. I played a few worlds and stopped because I think I got a game over screen. It’s hard not to hit things going as fast as Sonic does.
XCOM Enemy Within was engaging. I got farther than ever before, which still isn’t very far. The same thing frustrated me as the last time I played it, my soldiers keep dying before they can sufficiently level up and get good equipment or upgrades. I made a genetics lab and enhanced several soldiers only to watch them get killed on their first mission post op by a fellow soldier turned into a zombie by a new alien type. Those things kill you in one turn. Totally unfair!
I think the object isn’t to get attached to your soldiers and focus on equipment upgrades instead but then why do they let you customize your soldiers with unique names and give them medals? I had fun anyway, even if I didn’t finish it.
Bioshock 2. I dove right into the Minerva’s Den DLC to see what people have been talking about all these years. I thought it would be a walking simulator but it wasn’t. It was just more Bioshock gameplay. I had it set to “hard” because the game suggested that if you’d played lots of shooters, which I have, you should choose hard. It’s too darn hard though. You get tiny amounts of ammo and enemies with gigantic health bars. It’s a totally stupid way to play a game with a strong story and great atmospheric environments. I was too demoralized to replay on lesser difficulty, so I moved on. Maybe another day.
Mr. Pumpkin Adventure. I picked this up for $2 because it looked interesting and was on an easy achievement list. I got really hooked into this point and click adventure puzzler. It has a quirky but cute art style and a slightly creepy story. I had some trouble with the math oriented puzzles and some that were just very obscure and somewhat random. I occasionally watched a playthrough for tips when my brain started hurting. I played it through once and then again to mop up some achievements I missed. I really enjoyed it.
#IDARB is a 2D sports game that seems to combine soccer, Joust and a platformer. I swear they borrowed a sound or two from Joust. I think the controls even feel like an old arcade game. I played a real player one on one, and it was really fun. I lost but I almost caught up with a 5 point shot from mid court. I only lost by one point. There was some slowdown too probably because of so much online activity right now.
World II Hunting Boss. This was originally a mobile game from Korea. You just fight bosses sort of similar to Monster Hunter. It was also on an easy achievement list and $2. I enjoyed it. I got through all of D and C level bosses. Then things started to get tough. Eventually you have two AI players to help you, but they are pretty dumb. Clearly this is meant for co-op the way it was on mobile. I think I could’ve searched for teammates but maybe not. I just stopped when I kept getting eaten by this giant red dragon that shoots cannon balls out of its mouth.
Cluster Truck. This is a creative new twist on platforming. What if you used a convoy of trucks as your platforms and had to jump from one to the other as they crashed and avoided obstacles. I made it through the first world but got stuck on the second. It’s hard to see below you accurately in first-person. I tipped the camera down a bit to help, but it kept leveling out on me and I’d lose accuracy. There are only so many times I’ll replay a level before I want to move on.
Sleeping Dogs. I am still playing this and am pleasantly surprised by how good it is. Call it a Chinese GTA, I guess, except that you are an undercover cop and not a thug. Of course, you end up doing all the thuggy things anyway, but at least it’s for a could cause in the end. I really like the fighting mechanics. They remind me of the Batman Arkham games. I mostly wait for an enemy to be highlighted so I can counter their punches, then I grab them and throw them into things in the environment. You can throw them over fences, into ventilation ducts, store windows, slam them in car doors, whatever is around. Most of the environment can be used for special slam moves that finish off the enemy. It’s a lot of fun. I also love the driving. There are many driving missions in the gigantic city. Controls are good. Last thing I did today was bet on a cock fight. I didn’t’ think they’d show it, but they did. That’s a first for me. I’ll be deep into this game for a while, I think.
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