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97: I’m Feeling A Bit Squiffy
97: I’m Feeling A Bit Squiffy
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December – Is it that time of the year already!

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Play

Wordle, Strands & Connections (Android)

Still playing these three games on a daily basis, Wordle streak is at 65 days! Connections is the tougher game of the three and my max streak is 37 days with 21 Perfect Puzzles & Strands is all perfect, 67 games played with 100% solved.

It Takes Two (PS5)

Very slow progress on this, always waiting for my co-op partner to be available. But I do like beating her at the mini-games

 

Lost Records Bloom & Rage - Tape 2 (PS5) - Completed

Continues from the first game with the girls reliving their memories and looking for closure. It's a telltale-like game with freedom to explore but does have the dreaded timer to pressure you into decisions.

Hole.io (PS5) - Completed

Sometimes the simple games are the most fun, perfect for a few minutes of gaming.

 

Of course I end with a Waterfall video from Pacific Drive which I started but just could not gel to it and enjoy.

 

December Gaming Plans

Hopefully some more time enjoying It Takes Two, starting and completing As Dusk Falls & Sword of the Sea (both of which are short games, according to HLTB) & deciding which of my physical games I start for Christmas?! I'll leave that as a surprise for next month's post!

 

Backlog

Digital Games (31) - No change including no new purchases!

PS+ Subscription (4) -  Reduced by 1, I completed Lost Records Tape 2, I did add Pacific Drive & Thank Goodness but then promptly took them off (see bin)

PS+ Monthly (20) - No change

Physical Games (12) - +1 in Dragons Dogma 2

Total = 67 Games


Shopping

Purchased Steamworld Dig 2 & Steamworld Build on digital & Dragons Dogma 2 on Physical (I had £10 bonus points to use on Game Collection), and yes I still need to play the first game! 

Want

Wishlist is reduced by 2 because Pacific Drive & Thank Goodness were added to Playstation Extra 

Bin

Trophies - I've now turned off all notifications for trophies to allow me to just enjoy games the way I want to and not have some tickbox exercise, it really helped me enjoy Lost Records Tape 2 not having to worry about collectables or pointless trophies.

Pacific Drive

I was curious about this but maybe it's the UI or playing with a controller I found it quite cumbersome and got bored of the crafting. It did have a waterfall in the game!

Thank Goodness You're Here

Another game that was on my wishlist and I'm glad I did not purchase, yes it's a comedy game but it's very crude comedy with sexual innuendos and yeah not for me, deleted!

 

 

 

 

 

97: I’m Feeling A Bit Squiffy

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G’morrow beautiful friends! Here to waft away the damp, darkened skies of the season (or maybe make them damper and darker), it’s Episode 97 of the ugvm Podcast. The podcast you love to subscribe to but hit skip when it comes up on the playlist. Yeah, we know. It’s OK. We don’t get paid either way.

In this episode, deKay, Kendrick and Toby “entertain” you with fun game related news and chat, which this time round includes speculation on Valve’s new hardware triple combo, a show report from the Valorant Champions event in that there Paris (France, not Texas), and one of the team became A Magnificent Man in a Flying Machine. Oh, and Kendrick has bought a new VR headset. Yes, Hell has finally frozen over. Not only that! We have gaaaaaaaaames!

  • Luigi’s Mansion
  • Piffle+
  • Souldiers
  • Shin chan: Shiro and The Coal Town
  • Dance Rush Stardom
  • Power Shovel
  • Qix Neo
  • Arcania
  • Dusk Diver
  • Yakuza
  • Hunt Showdown

Plus the usual delicious waffles and deviations. Packed.

(Direct link here)

Intro music credits: “Clear Starlit Sky” from the Yakuza soundtrack.

Don’t forget, if you want to contact us with questions or comments for or about the show, you can email podcast@ugvm.org.uk or publicly shame us https://mas.to/@ugvmpodcast on the Mastodons.

A Building Full of Cats: up on the roof

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I like cats. I like Little Kitty Big City, I like Pix the Cat, I even liked Blinx. If I like games with a few cats in, then I am almost certain to love games with hundreds of cats in, right?

In this case, yes. A Building Full of Cats is a hidden object game where the objects are cats. Lots of cats. Each floor of the building has fifty cats in plain sight, and some (I think ten) hidden in cupboards, behind curtains, and so on. There are two rooms per floor, including a bathroom, meaning that you can’t see everything at once, and there’s one cat who moves when you click on them, until you find their final hiding place. When you start a level, there are a great many cats who are easily visible, but by the time you get to the last few you’re searching for a couple of ears sticking out of a vase or similar.

The monochrome art style makes the cats pop out once you click on them.

I’ve completed floors 1 and 2, and also the roof off the top of floor 5. I find it a very relaxing game, so am saving other floors when I need to destress.

I’ve actually played and completed another game by the same people, Hidden Cats in London. I mainly started that because I needed the trophies for one of the TrueTrophies events a while ago, but it was just as charming as A Building Full. I see there are others set in Paris and other cities, so I may need to investigate those in future.

Lonely Mountains Downhill: feeling stylish

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One of the things I really appreciate in a game is if it makes me look good, full of style, skilled in a way that I’m not in real life. Elaborate swordplay leading to combination hits; parkour across a cityscape; flying through buildings and structures with no effort and no fear. Many games make me feel stylish – or maybe the correct word is cool? – but there’s something about Lonely Mountains Downhill which excels in this aspect.

It seems an unlikely match. Mountain biking is hardly the most graceful of sports, with constant bumps and rattles; the game isn’t effortless either, with me constantly feeling just a tiny bit out of control. Nothing illustrates this better than the Free Rider mode of each mountain, which loses all checkpoints and tasks you with getting to the end without crashing; I’m managed to do this on just two courses. By the end of the course I was almost shaking with nerves, so much so that on one attempt, with just a couple of corners to go, I just cycled into a tree.

Not stylish at all, right? But the feeling when you get through a checkpoint, when you successfully land a jump off a cliff onto a sloped stone below, when you barrel down a steep hill and turn sharply at the bottom to meet the longer path – it’s exhilarating, and makes you feel that you can do anything.

Oddly enough I don’t get the same feeling from Lonely Mountains Snow Riders. Maybe it’s because that is a bit easier to control (skis are less unwieldy than a bike) so I don’t feel like I’ve beaten the odds every time I complete a section.

I’ve finished all the beginner challenges from the first two mountains now, and a few of the expert ones. The game is really lovely to look at, with a stylised art design which feels solid and complete. Sometimes scenery gets in the way of the path you’re following, which is an intentional decision but maybe removes you from the game a little. It’s pretty much never getting in the way though.

Which is more than you can say for the trees.

Xbox 360 – "Happy 20th Birthday"

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20 years old this year, Happy Birthday Xbox 360

 

Microsoft Xbox 360 S 320GB (Slim) Video Game Console Black + GAMES BUNDLE 885370472806 | eBay UK 

The "Xbox 360" has a special place in our household; it was, and still is, the "best" console ever. I am outvoted by my five kids!

Around 2004/5 (PS2), I was done with console gaming and went back to the PC. In 2008, whilst browsing Gumtree, I came across a listing for an Xbox 360 with 20+ games for £240! which was a stupidly cheap price. Phoned up, and it was still available. The seller was leaving the country and could not take it with him.

Games included Halo 3, Burnout Revenge, Perfect Dark Zero, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Skate & Crackdown

I was partway through playing Bioshock on the PC (still haven't completed it!) and was gobsmacked by Halo & Burnout.

It was my kids' first "family console", sorry, Nintendo. My kids were 11, 8 & 6, and they loved Halo 3, Skate & the indie games like Keflings. It cemented the joy of local co-op gaming, started the "Claptrap Boys" (a group of friends that I played with every week), and I have played some of the best games ever on the 360

Notable Mentions (2008 to 2014)

Halo 3 - The best local co-op experience playing with my son & Halo 3 Forge mode kept my kids entertained for years! Duck hunt, anyone?

Fallout 3 - Bethesda at their best!

Shadow Complex - One of the best Metroidvania games I have ever played

Batman: Arkham Asylum - which I purchased for £1 from a car boot sale!

Borderlands - The start of the "Claptrap Boys"

Assassin's Creed Games - They are still making them? Why am I still playing them?!

Limbo - A masterpiece of "indie" gaming

Skyrim - Bethesda at their best! It was all downhill after that!

Mass Effect Trilogy - Who knew that there would be a better sci-fi video game than Halo!

Red Dead Redemption - "Chef's kiss"

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Will this IP ever come back alive?

Skate, Toy Story 3, Keflings, Geometry Wars, Forza Horizon, Walking Dead, Dead Space, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Minecraft, Left 4 Dead, Braid, Trials, Peggle, Plants vs Zombies, X-Com, Puzzle Quest, Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons & lots more I can't think of at the top of my head & the kids are not around to chime in with their favourites.

So for the Khan household, the XBOX 360 is the GOAT & it is still set up so the kids can have a nostalgia trip whenever they want.