PixlBit

I'm all over the place lately. I'm trying to do games set in the 50s and keep up with the new stuff. I eventually just reduced it all to playing the largest files size games first on my hard drive. It's all a mess now, but I'm having fun, so I guess it's all good. Here's the sloppy story.

OG Xbox

Wings of War - This is just what I wanted for a WWI flying game but the controls for shooting are jerky at best. Maybe I can tweak it in the settings, but it frustrated me so much I stopped while trying to shoot down spy balloons. 

Temco Classic Arcade - I happened across this the other week at my local store and picked it up because I've always wanted it, being a fan of arcade collections. I played all the games. I especially remember Pleiads, a fixed screen shooter, from the arcades. Shmups Star Force and Strato Fighter were entertaining but the rest really didn't grab me. Bomb Jack was interesting though. 

PS4

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth - A RPG I used to own on PS2 and PSP and finally got to play via digital download on PS4. I got an hour or so into it before I was asked to do a combo move without instruction. I'm guessing it was choosing two fighters at once but it didn't break the enemies block and so I died and got a game over screen. Wah?! I guess I've got some research to do next time I try it. It seemed pretty cool though. It was part of my turn-based RPG theme last month. 

Xbox Series S

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 - I finished the main story levels and then just wandered around Chronopolis doing side missions and grabbing collectibles. Some of these side missions are inscrutible though. I'm supposed to take pictures for various task givers. I got the character with the camera but how to register the pics for the quest is a mystery. Still, doing other things in the city, which is a collection of stolen locations around Kang's tower, is fun. The flying and driving works a little better than in the first game. 

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - I've done a lot in this already and decided to go hunt for the last two capitol ships I don't have. You have to enter space around planets and fight until one shows up and you don't know which capitol ship will show up. So I just went from planet to planet fighting enemies until the right one appeared. One did and I destroyed its defenses and boarded it. The space fighting is really fun. I had to remember all the skills needed when I was on board to get all the collectibles. It came back to me eventually though. 

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 - I finished the main story finally. I liked the story and the gameplay for the most part, but when I tried to do co-op side missions it became clear that I am not a big fan of the melee fighting. Your character is a tad slow to react to commands making for a lot of missed blocks and dashes. I almost wish it was more shooty like Gears. I tried to make it so but you can't hang back and shoot away for very long before being overwhelmed by enemies and have to duke it out. But, it was fun. 

Doom The Dark Ages - Of all the previous games that had issues with controls, or sluggish responces, this does all that to a complete perfection. Your shooting and hand-to-hand fighting are equally fast and satisfying. I ended up using the flail as my main melee weapon and it just has such weight and devistating power, it's just a joy to behold as it cracks armor and pounds skulls to fragments. I also love the shredder weapon which grinds up skulls to create sharp shards as ammo. Hilarious. I end up just switching to whichever weapon has ammo however. 

The levels are long and often wide open allowing for some exploration and secret hunting. I'm only at level 9 of 22 after 6 hours of play time. You also fly a dragon in some levels or a huge mech. My friend who was watching me immediately ordered the game for himself. I'm playing it on Game Pass, which I reinstated this week after realizing how many of my wish listed games were playable on the service. 

Destroy All Humans! - Doom needed an update, so I revisited this, the original version, as a digital back-compat game on Xbox. Oh boy, this is fun stuff. It's a very funny game with excellent controls. You can cloak yourself as anyone in the game to conceal your movements as long as you continually scan brains and listen to their silly thoughts. It's a great way to deliver funny stuff while you are doing a mission. You can jet pack around or jump in your saucer and burn stuff up with your death ray. I've always enjoyed this game. 

That's a bunch all muddled together. What's cha been playin'?