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Maquette (PS5): COMPLETED!

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Maquette is a very clever idea married with a nice story but neither has much to do with the other. It’s basic premise is that you’re in a world and in that world is a miniature representation of the same world, and at the same time the world you’re in is a small version of a larger world. It’s turtles all the way down.

But they’re not just models – items that exist in one sized world also exist in the other sizes, and you can pick them up and move them from, say, the smaller world to the “normal” world, and then they become tiny in the small world. Or vice-versa to make them big. Puzzles revolve around this, with you needing to make keys for doors bigger or smaller, or place items on the other side of the small walls so they’re there in the larger world where the wall is too big to jump over.

It’s very clever, but flawed. A number of times the physics thwarted me by bouncing an item out of reach. Or I fell through a floor that had no solidity. A later puzzle involves slotting Tetris-like shapes into a partly populated grid, but the controls and “snapping” of items made dropping them in exactly the right place incredibly frustrating.

Much like what I thought of the game itself once completed.

The final chapter involves the you being able to move the domed structure you’re in (the maquette of the title, presumably) by moving a smaller version of it already inside it. While the brainknots this causes are impressive, it all seems a bit too much for the, uh, feeble PS5 as it carrying the dome around makes the game chug along with sometimes more than one frame per second. And it crashed twice, once taking a saved game with it – thankfully I had a “spare”. Not what I expected from The Most Powerful PlayStation.

The story, which has no real bearing on the game bar the basic tone and the odd object that’s referenced, is actually about the chance meeting of two people, them getting together, moving in together, and the relationship stagnating. It’s not twee, nor is it sad, but it doesn’t fit with the game.

So, Maquette is a clever puzzle game ruined a little by technical issues, while you listen to a podcast about a young couple who met in a cafe.

The post Maquette (PS5): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

The Outer Worlds (PS4): COMPLETED!

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I didn’t know as much about this game, aside from people saying it’s a bit like Fallout only in space. That in itself was enough to buy it, but I didn’t realise it wasn’t just a bit like Fallout in space, it was Fallout in space.

OK, so the main story is shorter, and areas are smaller, and you have to use a spaceship to get between them, but everything Fallout (New Vegas, mainly) is here. Factions. Companions. Weapon deterioration. Scavenging and stealing from containers. A form of VATS. Consoles to hack and doorlocks to pick. Skills and perks. A similar run-down retro-futuristic aesthetic. Your character waking up from a long time in suspended animation. Power armour. In fact, if it had a radio station with 50s songs to listen to, it’d be indistinguishable.

And you know what? It’s really bloody good. The plot starts with you, having been awoken decades late on a space ship heading to a new human colony, trying to obtain the things necessary to rescue (or not) the rest of your frozen friends. The colony you were supposed to be setting up is already well up and running by another ship that wasn’t left floating in space, and everywhere is run by a group of corporations, each with their own agendas.

What this comes down to is standard Fallout stuff. Go to a factory or abandoned library to clear them of creatures or bandits in order to get a vial of something or a reference book for someone. Help one faction defeat another faction. Find lost people, avenge dead people, help injured people, upset powerful people, and kill evil people. If you’ve played Fallout 3, New Vegas or 4 then this will be very familiar,

But that’s OK, because I like those games. And I very much liked this one too. For the record, I was a Very Good Girl, helped as many people as I could, and saved all my ice lolly chums. And I only did stealing when nobody could see me, so that doesn’t count, right? Oh, and I played it on my PS5 which no doubt made it look a bit nicer and mostly obliterated load times, which probably added to the enjoyment a bit too.

Oh yeah, and there are loads of toilets, but sadly they’re almost all the same as each other.

The post The Outer Worlds (PS4): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 5 Review

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I only got back into playing Fortnite because my daughter wanted someone to play Duo's with her, 4 weeks later and I have completed the 100 level battle pass!

Everyone knows the Battle Royale formula and Epic have perfected it to a fine constant loop, keeping you playing for that next target. Be that a level upgrade, quest completion or daily task. If the dice rolls in your favour and you have luck or skill on your side, you can go all the way and get the fabled Victory Royale.

The enjoyment for me has come mainly in playing with my daughter, nephew & niece. I am constantly in awe at their skills to either single handily take out a squad or build a Burj Khalifa skyscraper in 4.6 seconds. The unlocks from the battle pass reward you mainly with cosmetic items but occasionally you will unlock a new Skin or Emote that you will enjoy.

For me, this season just starting with The Mandalorian and upgrading his beskar armour was enough but at level 100 you are also rewarded with Baby Yoda. There is also an enjoyable Predator quest line which will unlock the skin for you to play.

The many years of playing multi-player FPS games like Quake, Unreal, Halo & Call of Duty has taught me to just go for the kill which works until I come up against a wall built of wood, stone, or metal. I hate builder players; they will build a box around them in seconds or a tall skyscraper before you can reload your gun. Hopefully in my inventory I carry fireflies or grenades and just destroy or cook these builds in seconds but on most occasions, I have neither and then end up dying whilst trying to figure out where the opponent is in their build. 

With advice from my daughter even with my poor building skills I managed to get 13 Solo Victory Royales this season, I especially enjoyed the win where I destroyed the last remaining two opponent’s skyscraper builds and they fell to their deaths.

Getting to level 100 is not that difficult of a task because you are rewarded with xp for even the smallest action, collect an apple 25 xp or open an ammo box 100 xp. With the daily quests and weekly quests you can very easily run through the levels to complete the battle pass. I also have to thank the rllmuk members on the Fortnite thread who have given me advice and helped me complete the battlepass.

The current season ends on the 16th March, what will happen to Zero Point & what will the new season bring in terms of rewards. I will be there next season screaming "Yes Fam" when we get our first win.

Bowser’s Fury (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Included with the Switch port of Super Mario 3D World, Bowser’s Fury reuses all the power-ups, enemies and gimmicks from that game but adds cat ears to literally everything and gives you a fully controllable camera. It’s also one complete open world, a bit like an extra large Super Mario Odyssey level.

Bowser has gone out of control, and you need to collect Cat Shines to keep him in check. Every so often he rises from the black goo that covers the world, tried to kill you, and you send him back with the shines. As you collect more shines, you reveal more areas by getting rid of the goo.

Working in two player mode, with my daughter as Bowser Jr (who is concerned his dad is a bit too evil now), we collected all 100 Cat Shines in a few hours. It’s not a massive game, but it is excellent and something new in the Mario world.

The post Bowser’s Fury (Switch): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

45: Undiscovering Locations I Haven’t Undiscovered

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今日は! That’s right, Episode 45 of the ugvm Podcast is in Japanese! Really poor Japanese! For all of 20 seconds after which deKay runs out of vocab and reverts to The King’s English!

In this episode, deKay, Jaimie, Kendrick and Luffer fill your ears with vocal splurts covering such topics as the recent and long-awaited Nintendo Direct, EA and Codemasters Sitting In A Tree, gaming birthdays, the no-news about PSVR2, MiSTer, Apple and Epic Shenanigans, and SNK games on the Switch. Plus more chat about the continued lack of PS5s, and these wonderful and not-so-wonderful video games:

  • Ni No Kuni 2
  • Immortals Fenyx Rising
  • Syberia 2
  • Syberia 3
  • Animal Crossing
  • River City Ransom
  • The Witcher 3
  • Red Dead Redemption 2
  • Hexceed
  • Yakuza 4 Remastered
  • Yakuza Like a Dragon
  • Golden Axe Beast Rider

Plus some random stuff including an in-depth explanation about how to squeeze up to 7 Raspberry Pis into a Commodore Amiga. I mean, it’s why you tune in, right?

(Direct link here)

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 @ugvmpodcast on the Twittors.