PixlBit

Two things I disliked in games the last few days were niggly piggly exact platforming and stealth. Two things I liked in games this week were tough melee fighting and exploration. 

Gauntlet IV (Sega Genesis)

I think this is my favorite of the classic Gauntlet games on console, although I haven't played Gauntlet II NES yet, but it's coming in the mail in a few days. The reason why it's my favorite is that it has Quest mode. Yes, you can play it like a real action RPG. You start in the entrance way to a castle where your health restores automatically and you can buy items and save your game. Attached to the castle are four towers that are just like arcade Gauntlet. They are mazes full of enemies. Each tower has ten levels and you go until your health gets critical and then, amazingly, you can escape and restore your health at the castle entranceway and try it again. Wonderful. What I always wanted. I'm not sure exactly what the object is but I imagine you have to clear each tower and then the castle doors open up. I love it. Favorite Gauntlet of the classic style. 

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One Game Pass)

I played it again for a game pass quest with full intension of trying to finish it even though I didn't have to. I got past that first boss this time and got quite a ways into it before getting really frustrated with pixel perfect jumps. I mean, does every developer of platform games have to put things just out of reach. You know how that wears on a person after a while? Ugg. At least I got to see more of this beautiful game. 

Neir Automata (Xbox One Game Pass)

For a game pass quest again. I played it before but, like Ori, got stuck on the first boss. This time I beat that thing and got to the main part of the game, which is exploring a ruined earth and fighting, and making nice, with the robot invaders. I got pretty deep into it, beating the boss in the amusement park, but it became a bit tedious to me after a while. I love the story of it. I sort of know key elements of its story already, the bizarre twists and awesome reveals, but someday I'd like to see it play out for myself. 

Dante's Inferno (Xbox 360 on Xbox One)

I thought I would finish it but got stuck on a challenge in the ring of thieves. There is a section of the game where you enter an arena, have to complete a fighting challenge like kill all enemies in the air, and then climb to the next one. It began to feel like an extended tutorial late in the game. What happened to the interesting level design and discussions with Virgil? Anyway, I was hoping ot get past these challenges but there was a lot of them and the last one asked me to not break my combo chain for the whole battle. That was seriously difficult. Every darn thing interupts your chain like getting hit hard, or not constantly doing damage. I kept at it a long while but finally got tired of it and quit. What a disappointment.

Dead Rising 4 Mini Golf (Xbox One Game Pass)

I bought this dlc add-on for DR4 because it seemed fun but it wasn't. It's cool to smash zombies with your shots as you go for the hole, but these courses are pretty narrow and a slight miss hit sends your ball out of bounds for a one shot penalty. I did get a hole in one eventually but most of the time I was way over par. You'd think they could keep your ball in play even if you miss hit a little bit so that you could watch more zombies explode. That was the point of it anyway, right? So bad. I regret the purchase, on sale, of a piece of DLC for a game I don't even own because it's on Game Pass.

Deliver Us the Moon (Xbox One Game Pass)

I couldn't stop thinking about this game after I beat it so I reinstalled it and went for all achievements, and I got it just a few hours ago. It was a lot of fun reexploring the game and finding those few things I missed before like the leftover moonbuggy from the real moon mission. There were a few areas I didn't like replaying though like the area where you have to avoid a bunch of rampant robots and another area where you have to jump precariously over electrified water. The rest of it was a joy to play again though. Love me some magnificent desolation.