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Block Droppin (Evercade): COMPLETED!

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A simple Game Boy puzzle game where you match three or more shapes to get points. Matching more than three triggers special blocks that erase a whole column, row, or shape from the grid. If you’ve played a match three game, ever, then you know the deal.

Arcade mode is, it seems, endless, but there is a Puzzle Mode where you have to get rid of so many of each type of block in a maximum number of moves, and it’s this mode that I completed.

It isn’t tricky, and I’d have liked a lot more levels, but it’s fine.

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Sadly not the full Metroidvania experience I was expecting (the reason it ended up on my wishlist in the first place, following a review), Momodora still feels like one. Creepy town with a creepy castle, a curse, a map to explore, and pixel graphics? It certainly has the look of one.

What’s missing is all the extra powers that open up new areas. Sure, there are some, but very few. That means it is more a standard explorey platformer, hence my disappointment, but luckily it was still good!

Apart from the ending. I got a bad ending after defeating the final boss, but there was no explanation why it happened and seemingly no exposition as I was playing that it was possible. After that, I returned to the game and found a couple of extra things I’d missed and that allowed me to get the good ending, but it took some extensive exploring without really knowing what I was looking for, or where to look.

Apparently this Momodora is the third game in a series of (currently) four games. The first two are mostly lost to the winds, and the fourth came out fairly recently. I might pick it up if it’s cheap.

River City Girls 2 (Switch): COMPLETED!

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My daughter and I were big fans of the original River City Girls so the sequel was sat on my wishlist for ages waiting for a bit sale. That came around, and we played it through together.

It’s more of the same, really. A side-scrolling, semi-open-world beat-em-up with RPG elements set in the world of Kunio-kun/River City Ransom and made by Wayforward, just like the first game. It has a great cartoon style, loads of in-jokes (with both River City adjacent links, like Double Dragon and Crash And The Boys, and Wayforward properties like Mighty Switch Force) and satisfying and upgradable combat.

As it’s set in the same city as the first game, many locations are back – like school and shopping centre) although they have been modified so aren’t a complete copy-and-paste. There are plenty of new areas though. Similarly, there are both returning and new characters, although I don’t think most of the new ones are as good as the ones in the original. Also returning is another soundtrack from Megan McDuffee, which is also excellent.

The plot is mostly concerned with revenge on the Girls taking down the bad guy in the last game, although there are a couple of twists.

Gameplay-wise there are a few tweaks to improve stuff from before. Shop purchases work slightly differently, and there’s seemingly a lot more money available with which to buy them. The game seems easier too, meaning less death (which causes both progress and money loss).

It’s not all improvements though, sadly. Loading times are particularly bad, but also there are a number of bugs like items getting stuck out of reach, sound cutting out, and a few full crashes. Nothing major because of frequent save points but annoying nonetheless. Some of the new areas, like the overdone game trope of the “forest maze”, aren’t great either, and I’m sure there’s more backtracking this time round too, hindered by the aforementioned loading times.

That said, the fun, humour and style of the game massively outweigh the issues. It’s maybe not quite as enjoyable as the original, but doesn’t miss it by much.

Metaphor ReFantazio (PS5): COMPLETED!

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I seem to have really gotten back into long RPGs again in the last year or so. Sometimes they can seem daunting to start as you know you’ve 75 or 100 hours ahead to invest, and usually they’re a slow burn getting used to the mechanics. But, Metaphor came highly recommended and once Xenoblade 2 was out of the way I gave it a go.

I wrote a bit about it the other day already, so I don’t have a lot more to add now I’ve finished it except to say it continued to entertain, and there were plenty of plot twists along the way. Also, I was worried that going into the final area would lock off both the remaining time in the game (all events have deadlines, time passes each time you do anything, and you’ve a finite number of days to complete the game) and the ability to grind to level up, but luckily the game deals with that do you need not be concerned.

Overall, I’m not sure it’s a good as Persona 4, but then, very little is. It improves on the mechanics of that game, but as intriguing as the characters and world in Metaphor are, those in Persona 4 just beat it. It’s still amazing though.

The Good Time Garden (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

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This was a quick play after Thank Goodness You’re Here!, and it’s sort of a prototype for what that game ended up being. It’s more abstract, but still very silly.

This time, you’re a sort of naked onionman thing who has to find food for a creature in order to progress. There’s not a lot to it, but it was enjoyable enough – and free on Steam! Bargain.