deKay

Retro City Rampage (360): COMPLETED!

Posted on 25/02/2014 Written by deKay

What a totally nuts game. So many ideas, parodies and play styles all thrown together, seemingly randomly, with intentionally terrible (well, great retro but terrible modern) graphics ¹ and sound and garnished with groan-worthy puns and not-so-subtle innuendo.

And it’s brilliant.

One minute you’re in the sewers beating up ninja turtles, the next you’re a Ghostbuster, before taking part in a clone of Smash TV (where at one point you end up in the wrong TV studio and interrupt Phil Fish being interviewed), all via some Solid Snake Inna Box and pretending to be Batman. Not to mention Paperboy, Super Hang On, ‘Splosion Man and so many more. And GTA, which the main game overworld apes so obviously.

There are references to retro and modern games, TV and films everywhere. The developer pokes fun at terrible practices at large gaming companies at every turn. Games programmers, reviewers, PR people and “celebrities” pop up all over the place. There’s so much fun to be had before you even play the game.

Thankfully, the game still stands up as a game worth playing. Somehow, stitching these tropes and parodies together actually works. The game even riffs on itself by apologising for the tedious bits, using some deus ex machina to skip some sections that are obviously going to bore you (one fetch quest is cut short with a never used again warp whirlwind, a-la Mario 3). In fact, even some of the more difficult stages give you the option of skipping them, or you’re loaded up with better weapons to make things a bit easier. Add to this instant restarts and pretty frequent checkpoints and it’s clear the developer doesn’t want you to get bored.

Unfortunately, some of the stages are still a bit on the hard side (especially the final few), but that’s to be expected, I suppose. I did put some of the deaths down to a bizarre problem my 360 pad has developed where it moves to the left by itself. Odd.

Overall, well recommended. And other off my Pile of Shame. Phew!

Notes:

Which you can change to make look even worse! Like it’s a C64 game or it’s running on a Game Boy! ↩

Pokémon Rumble U (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 23/02/2014 Written by deKay

With Mario 3D World completed in 2-player with my daughter (after completing it in single player), we moved back to this. It turns out there weren’t actually that many levels left, and with our ridiculously overpowered White Kyurem NFC character we didn’t exactly struggle.

I’m not going to sing the game’s praises too much. It’s a very simple button basher (even more so than the Wii and 3DS precursors), with very few differences between levels. Even having different Pokémon means very little, providing they actually have some decent HP and moves. Yes, there are “defend the fort” levels, and “beat the boss in under 120 seconds” levels, but ultimately, you play every level the same – point your ‘mon at the baddies and hammer A and sometimes B.

Having said all that, there’s not actually much to dislike. It’s fun, it’s colourful, and it’s multiplayer. Shallow and repetitive aren’t features many 5 year olds care about, and frankly, I didn’t really mind either.

My only real complaint is that you can’t upgrade your non-NFC Pokémon. It’s not important; As I said, there’s little reason to change character, but when your co-player wants to use “the little crabby one!” with “power” of 150 on a level that recommends 1500+, it would have been nice to be able to spend some of those coins you win bumping Little Crabby’s stats up a bit.

Bit.Trip Presents… Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 23/02/2014 Written by deKay

As it turned out, I was still on World 4, and not World 5 as I though. Still, I was close to the end of World 4, and World 5 was indeed the final world, so I wasn’t that far from complete.

Now I’m even less far from complete, having completed it.

I may have mentioned it’s hard. Oh boy is it hard. I’m not sure it actually got harder on the final world (aside from throwing me a bit by changing the graphics, and by changing how some of the enemies appear – some now move when they didn’t before), but that’s probably just as well as it was hard enough already.

So many times I had the checkpoint (yes, I used checkpoints) or end of level in sight, but still died before passing them meaning I had to do it all again.

And then for the final level the worst fly in the ointment happens. You have to run from right to left, but the controls stay the same! So A is still Block, where Y would make more sense. Death after death. Not helped by having no idea what to do with the walls you come across (tip: turns out you have to slide-jump through them).

Which all sounds like a complaint, doesn’t it? It really isn’t. It’s a wonderful game which is just very hard. Unlike some games, though, it doesn’t suffer as a result. The short levels and instant restarts stop you getting totally frustrated, and the levels and controls are such that all mistakes, except perhaps the first time you hit something you didn’t see quickly enough, are entirely your fault. Hard but perfectly fair.

I should point out that I’ve not 100%ed it. I don’t have all the gold in all the levels, I don’t have all the bullseyes, and I don’t have all the chests, keys or anything like that. I won’t be trying to 100% it either – I feel it’s really beyond me. I almost 100%ed the first world and that was difficult enough, and although I know it would be a great achievement to perfect the entire game, I don’t think I’d enjoy doing it. Next!

Things I’ve been playing recently

Posted on 21/02/2014 Written by deKay

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (3DS)

Have I posted about this yet? I can’t remember. It’s the main game-on-the-go-that-isn’t-called-Animal-Crossing on my 3DS at the moment, having started it soon after finishing off Zelda. So far, it’s a slight deviation from previous Layton games, as there are a lot of locations and travel between them. This makes the game seem a lot bigger, but as you’ve the option of finishing up several of the locations in any order (or at least, it seems that way) so it feels almost open world.

In addition, there are millions of downloadable puzzles this time round. Possibly literally. I’ve spent a few hours on those as well.

Bit.trip Presents… Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (Wii U)

In between bouts of Duck Tales (Woo-oo) I’ve been running (ha!) through this. It is so very, very hard. Leaving it for a couple of weeks and coming back is not a good idea, as you forget all the controls. Still, an hour or so’s play and it mostly comes back, and I’ve managed to reach world 4. Or 5? Yes, 5. Which I think might be the final world! The end is in sight!

Advanced Lawnmower Simulator Advance (GBA)

Actually, I’ve been playing it on an emulator on the iPhone. There’s one called GBA4iOS which you can install without jailbreaking and you don’t go through the App Store, which makes me think it’s just going to vanish one day, but until then… Advanced Lawnmower Simulator Advance is there.

It’s the best game ever, which of course I would say because 1) it is, and 2) I wrote it. Marvellous.

Steel Diver: Sub Wars (3DS)

This nice little FPS in slow motion (submarines aren’t known for their speed and manoeuvrability) is, for the cut-down version at least, free on the 3DS eShop, and was a surprise offering during last week’s Nintendo Direct.

I’ve not played a lot of it yet, but it seems fun enough.

Duck Tales (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 21/02/2014 Written by deKay

In my unprompted quest to clear some of my backlog (see Wonderful 101 and NES Remix), this was cued up next on the list. Previously on Duck Tales, Woo-oo ¹, I’d completed the first and second levels, and then… stopped playing.

As has happened before, many times, with many games. Stay focussed!

It’s not a very long game, so I thought I’d get it wrapped up. And I did. Turns out it wasn’t as hard as I’d thought previously – perhaps the first couple of levels were actually the easiest in the game? I don’t know, but I barely had a problem for the rest of it. Even the bosses were easier as I progressed.

I don’t recall a great deal about the NES original. I know I’ve played it, but not very much, so I didn’t come to it with a great deal of nostalgia. I do know however, and this is a Known Fact, that 8-bit Disney platformers are fantastic and 16-bit ones are terrible, so I was expecting to enjoy it. Thankfully, I was right as I did – very much so. It is true that it’s nothing terribly special, and it is also true that platformers have moved on somewhat in the intervening years, but that matters not. In fact, it’s nice to have a simple game like this every so often, without the constraints of the older consoles but with the “pure gaming soul” of the titles. Oh yes, and the Wii U version having the map on screen at all times is a nice helpful thing.

And that music. Joy.

Notes:

Or should that be, aha, “Duck Tales, Wii U”? Hilarious. ↩