PixlBit

I have a few half days of gaming in my week that I thought, from hear on out, I would devote to handheld games. Then I'd attack the console stuff on full days off from work. That is, barring any other distraction. So this week I played 3DS and then returned to Xbox Series S. 

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Velentia (3DS): This is a remake of the second Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem Gaiden, which came out on Famicom in '92. I didn't know that when I bought it years ago in 2017, I just knew that I liked it right away, even better than Fire Emblem Awakening (2012). I always found the recent FE games a bit overly complex, weaving so much relationship development and equipment tweeking. This Echoes game is way more streamlined, which I like a lot. Additionally, there are real-time dungeon crawling segments where you can explore a little bit. 

I played this almost through the second act before losing a major character and getting a "game over" screen. I had even just beaten the Necrodragon, gee criminey. It was just an ambush at the entrance to a castle by a magic user I underestimated. Well, how was I to know that jerk did as much damage as he does until it was too late. Well, I put the game down for now. Next week might be Persona Q. 

Xbox: 

My weekend was Xbox Series S again. I got whipped good by Breakout Recharged and Doughlings: Invasion (a great spin on Space Invaders with catchy as heck music I got on a recent sale). Both take some practice and repeat plays to progress. I'll return to them in January I'm sure for my deep retro plays. 

Then I got frustrated to rage quitting in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (a replay) and Hard Reset Redux. Tiny Tina's FPS gameplay just drove me crazy with its bouncy, irratic aiming. I felt like I was just aiming a hose at the enemy and hoping something would hit after a while. Then I was deep into Hard Reset, an excellent Quake-like retro FPS set in a distopian, cyber-punk world where you fight robots, weird cyborgs and giant machines with all sorts of metal and electrical shooting weapons, and even an energy sword that made me think of the Shadow Warrior remakes of recent. Well, I played on Normal difficulty, and it was satisfyingly challenging until I made the mistake of sticking to two favorite weapons, a rifle and a electric grenade launcher, too long and realized they weren't going to take down these two rampaging metal gorrillas. I hate it when you find yourself underpowered in a game. Still, a totally awesome game I got on sale for $8. My friend, after watching me play it, bought it at $20 (it's regular price) and he loves it too. When I get over my rage, I'll return and beat the darn thing. 

Finally there's Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga I got on sale for $14. I played through the first three movies and most of Force Awakens. It's solid, and I'm excited to collect and fly every darn space ship in the universe. Why is it that the Force Awakens settings are so interesting to me but the story so meh? This'll be a long haul game. 

So, that's a week.

PS: I picked up a few games at Game Junkies for January like one called Break 'em All for DS, Space Invaders for GBC and Namco Museum Remix (Wii) (which I thought I already owned but apparently don't according to my notes). I'm still looking for anything called Arkanoid on any retro system (except DS, because I own that one). I'll be hitting three other indie game stores in my area over the next month and a half. 

PPS: I forgot to mention the year end reviews you can get from Xbox and Playstation this year. I logged 1264 hours on Xbox and 56 hours on Playstation. I got to even that out a bit next year.