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Minecraft Dungeons (Switch): COMPLETED!

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When you pay for the Switch Online service, every so often they give you the full, complete versions of retail games for free – for a few days. Then they stop working. This week, they let you download and play Minecraft Dungeons, and my daughter and I completed it before our free trial was up.

That’s not to say it’s short, although it’s nowhere near as long as I expected (partly because two large additional areas are walled off behind DLC payments), it’s just we played it a lot in a short amount of time.

Although it looks like Minecraft, and has a lot of the same creatures and sound effects, Minecraft Dungeons is actually more like Diablo. You take on a series of isometric levels, killing loads of baddies, getting better loot, and making Numbers Go Up. It’s much more simplistic than Diablo, and it doesn’t have anywhere near as much content, variety, or items to collect as Diablo III, but it’s also more suitable for kids and there’s literally no learning curve just to figure out the character and weapon upgrade system.

It’s also a lot easier. The only time we had any problems is when we started a level that was waaaaay above our current player level. Sure, when you complete it there’s a much harder New Game+, and yes, for most levels you can pick a higher recommended player level than your current one, but that seems to make it impossible rather than “harder”.

We did enjoy it a lot though, and if I’d have known it was as good as it was beforehand, I’d probably have ended up buying it. However, if you’re going to, I’d recommend the PlayStation or Xbox versions instead of the Switch if jerky, stuttering framerates are likely to offend – the Switch version is full of it. Not enough to put me off, but that’s mainly because I wasn’t paying for it.

Earth Defense Force 5 (PS5): COMPLETED!

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I realised for the first time while playing EDF 5, having played all (I think) of the previous titles in the series, that I think the reason I enjoy them so much is that they’re basically musou games only with guns and aliens. Sure, there’s less base defence and area capture, but the gameplay is surprisingly similar.

After I’d played a few levels, my daughter noticed it was two player and so asked to join in, which made it even more like musou games like Pirate Warriors and Hyrule Warriors that we’d played together.

If you’ve played an EDF game you’ll know exactly what to expect from Earth Defense Force 5. Millions of giant insects, cities that get levelled, hundreds of weapons and the best worst voice acting ever. Only this time round, it’s all with a rock solid framerate rather than sometimes dropping to seconds-per-frame, even in split screen. I suspect running this PS4 game on my PS5 counts for some of that though.

The game also adds new enemies to the series. The “Hector” robots are gone, replaced with giant frog soldiers (that your teammates refer to as ”just like us” – are they blind?”) and armoured giant alien soldiers. There are also a few more varieties of ants and spiders and stuff. Otherwise, it’s basically more of the same. Which is no bad thing of course, and exactly why I bought it!

51: Surprise Bacon

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Back to boring old noises-only podcasting, here’s Episode 51! Probably for the best you can’t see our fat greasy faces anyway.

In this episode, deKay, Kendrick, Luffer and Toby talk about Serious Things like war and stuff with some discussion about Six Days in Fallujah, Moderately Less Serious Things like how Among Us is now in Fortnite and how naughty that is, and some Very Much Less Serious Things like some upcoming remasters of GTA III and Exhumed. And hardly any mention of Yakuza at all, sorry. But we did drop bars on these games:

  • Mafia: Definitive Edition
  • Overcooked 2
  • Pixel Puzzle
  • Colour Switch
  • Spec Ops: The Line
  • Cotton Reboot
  • Darius Burst Another Chronicle EX+
  • Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus (you’re making these up now)
  • Animal Crossing
  • Earth Defense Force 5
  • Free Guy (this isn’t a game, Toby)
  • Hades

And! Some! Questions! Answered! Including one where deKay makes himself sad when he comes up with the idea for Castlevania Warriors and then realises it ain’t ever gon’ happen.

(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.

The First Tree (PS5) – Completed Review

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The First Tree is an indie exploration game with two stories, the first is the fox you play as trying to find it's missing family & the second is about Joseph who is dealing with the loss of a loved one, his story is told mostly through spoken dialogue.

Playing as the fox you have the ability to run & jump to collect orbs of light that guide you on your path through the world. Later on you can collect butterflies which allow you to jump higher. The gameplay is ok but does have a few frustrations in the later levels where I was unsure of where to go and some of the orbs were very difficult to collect. Be warn if you want to complete all the trophies in this game you will need to get all of the collectibles and orbs before completing a level, there is no chapter select option.

The game has a nice soundtrack but oddly only plays each track once so you spend most of the level wondering around listening to sound effects of the fox dashing or jumping.

What is impressive is that this game was made by one individual David Wehle, so whislt it is is rough in some gameplay sections it tells a story that is worth enjoying and can be completed in a couple of hours.

Next for me is Mutant Year Zero a turn-based xcom style strategy game.

Rebel Galaxy (PS5) – Completed Review

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I have tried to play Elite Dangerous a few times but the learning curve is too steep, No Mans Sky scratched my space travel itch back in 2016 but I had the urge again. After completing Spider-Man Miles Morales I looked through my PS+ library and found Rebel Galaxy and after watching a couple of reviews on youtube it deserved a try.

Three hours later and I was hooked. Transporting goods around the system, fighting pirates, saving merchants from attacks and playing the market to make some credit on Gold Ingots.

The combat is naval-style where you use broadside cannons to line up attacks & turrets target fighter ships. When you have enough credits you can look at either upgrading your weapons, defence or engine components.

Make sure you visit stations on a regular basis because these are also what trigger the auto-save feature. I had a couple of game crashes on the PS5 and lost some of my progress.

When you are either brave or strong enough to leave the first system you will get access to missions which offer a better reward and you no longer need to play the trading game. I was completing missions that would offer 100K which quickly made me save enough to purchase the Tennhausen ship. Thankfully all of your previous ship upgrades carry over and you just need to focus on the extra turrents on the new ship. There are quite a few ships in the game everything from nimble frigates to Destroyers & Dreadnaughts.

There is a simple story which will have you travelling through many systems and facing up against many foes. There is a staus bar for each faction but I found it almost impossible to get on a neutral footing with any of the pirate factions so just stuck on good terms with the Militia and destroyed anyone else that got in my way.

If you are looking for an 'Elite-lite' then Rebel Galaxy scratched that itch for me perfectly, next for me is The First Tree an indie exploration game.