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Currently Playing 19/11

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Blogger have gotton rid of the widgets feature where I used to update my Currently Playing, so I'll now post on a regular basis instead.

After completing Yakuza Kiwami 2, I'm taking a break from these games until the new year. I've also finished with this Season of Fortnite having got up to level 151, so lots of Fifa 22 especially now that I have completed my LFC squad with Salah. Also playing through some of my back catalogue with Guardians of the Galaxy TellTale Series & picked up a small indie puzzle title off the store that has been in my wishlist in Islanders.


Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PS5) – Completed

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The continuation of a story with the same cast and locations is a very strong selling point to any entertainment medium. It gives you the viewer, reader or player familiarity, Yakuza uses this formula with Kamurucho & Sotenbori as it’s key locations and Kiryu Kazama as their main protagonist. You have some returning cast members but also lots of new characters to either loathe or enjoy in Yakuza Kiwami 2.

The story continues from the previous game with the introduction of the Jingweon Mafia and an interwoven plot which even delves into Kiryu's past and events that occurred many years earlier. There is also a nice recap at the beginning of the game which retells the events of the previous game. 

Gameplay also has some nice quality of life improvements in that you can now place a marker on the map which will point you the way and sidequests are now shown at the start of each chapter so you no longer have to walk around trying to find them.

Levelling up is much easier with you gaining experience points from almost every activity including eating. Combat is limited to one fight style but you can unlock a vast number of moves and skills. The hostess mini-game is back and a nice surprise is the new Majima Construction mini game which is tough to master, Yakuza game tutorials have always been poor with a wall of text and screenshots. So either watch a tutorial on YouTube or Trial and Error to figure it out. Talking of Majima he also gets a 3 chapter story which is separate from the main game to tie off his story loose ends.

The story is the main reason I am drawn to these games and Kiwami 2 does not disappoint. After playing Yakuza 0 to Kiwami 2 back to back, I will take a break for a bit before starting Yakuza 3 in the new year.

Puyo Puyo (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Yes, it’s essentially the same game as Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, which I completed a couple of days ago. But this one has cute Japanese character voices and cuter graphics and no stupid fake Sonic enemies.

Other than that, though, it was no different to play. I didn’t find the end boss as difficult, but that’s probably luck and/or practice rather than it being easier than the Sonic reskin.

M.U.S.H.A. (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Until this appeared on the Switch Online Mega Drive collection thing, I’d never realised that “MUSHA”, “Aleste”, and “Musha Aleste” are the same game. I’d never played any of them before, either.

It’s a vertically scrolling shooter with big robots and great music and impressive graphics. And it’s hard. And I completed it, eventually.

The bosses were, mostly, much easier than some bits of the actually levels, it turned out. Aside from the “final” 1 one with the almost unavoidable things that stick out of the wall, with the walls already having become really narrow!

Notes:

  1. Spoiler: it’s not final. ↩

Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Just in case I didn’t have enough games to play already, and I have a copy of this already on my Switch in the Sega Mega Drive Collection thing, I decided to play the one in the new Sega Nintendo Online collection. No, I don’t know either.

I’ve played it before. And completed it before. But not for a while.

Mean Bean Machine is just a reskin of Puyo Puyo, and I have to say, I prefer Puyo Puyo. This Sonic themed version is full of the stupid badniks from (presumably) Sonic the Comic and/or one of the cartoon series and I don’t like them. That makes no difference to to the gameplay of course, but still.

The game was really easy until the final three opponents, where the speed is just too fast. Robotnik himself, especially, seemed to fill my well (careful now) before I had a chance to even drop a few beans, so it was only by blind luck I managed to nail him in the end, I’m sure.