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Micro Machines: a lack of momentum

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I have played a lot of Micro Machines in the past, mainly on the Mega Drive, and mainly with friends.  I did complete the single-player games in both MM and MM2, but they weren't too tricky when compared to trying to keep ahead of Kieron and John.  Revisiting them on emulators reveals them to still be tightly controlled, fun games.

This isn't a blog post about them.


The NES game isn't as pretty, obviously, but the graphics are functional and clear.  It's obvious which car (or other vehicle) is yours, and the sprites are well designed to help you with navigating.  It felt that there were fewer directions than the Mega Drive game, but I'm not sure if that was actually the case.


But it does feel more clunky, and there's a definite lag in controls - and that's not due to playing on an emulator, unless it's very specific to one game.  The cars have the wrong momentum, they don't turn as quickly, and collisions are more punishing.


The difference in handling is most evident on the time trial stages, which I found the most difficult.  The time constraints were pretty tough and it took me a few tries to succeed.  Nothing was too difficult though, and I completed about half the trophy cabinet before getting a bit frustrated by how different it felt to the Mega Drive games.  I think I'd prefer to play them instead.

Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens (PS4) – Completed

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This was good fun, a nice long session at the weekend & we completed the game. It's been fun playing with my youngest letting here figure out the puzzles & giving her clues along the way if she got stuck.

The drop out feature works nicely for changing characters because she always wanted to be the main character in each chapter be that Finn, Rey, BB8 or Han Solo.

I enjoyed the sections where you were piloting a starfighter, some of these were really enjoyable.

Pokémon Sun (3DS)

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I have reached Po Town! Which is a bit grim. Imagine Team Skull were secretly evil Inklings, and it rained all the time. That’s Po Town – dark, covered in paint splatters, and a bit wet.

You even have to pay a dodgy lady who definitely is not Nurse Joy $10 to heal your pokémon! Pff.

The post Pokémon Sun (3DS) appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Tiny Rails (iOS) – Completed

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I've been enjoying Tiny Rails the past couple of weeks, you start off a small train company & slowly expand to cover all of America & Canada. Collect your passengers & cargo to deliver them to their destination.

There are various train engines you can unlock throughout the game by completing objectives. I went with the Behemoth engine you get for completing the game. The carriages I have all match the engine so I get bonuses for cargo & passengers. Each station you visit require a certain cargo which if you deliver gives you gems you can then use to fast track your upgrades (these have a time limit to unlock).

Europe will apparently be added in a future update but once you have completed the campaign story there is not much else left to do except complete the cargo wanted for each station to get 100%, that is not for me I have enjoyed the time spent playing with Choo Choo trains.

SteamWorld Heist (3DS)

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Imagine, if you will, a cross between Worms and X-Com. Only instead of worms and space soldiers, you have steambots, of the sort found in SteamWorld Dig. That’s SteamWorld Heist: A 2D, side-on, turn-based tactical shooter strategy game. And I really should have bought and played it months ago because it is excellent.

steamworld heist

Each level involves you and a few steambots, each with different abilities, entering a ship and taking out the bad robots within. These abilities include being able to wield weapons from various classes, move further each turn, and so on. More abilities unlock as you play, increasing your health, adding secondary shooting modes, or giving you higher critical rates or steadying your aim.

The evil robots are similarly varied, and coupled with fixed gun turrets, exploding red barrels, flammable goo, orbs that provide shielding, and baddie-dispensing spawn points, the levels are pretty diverse. There are boss fights too, with some huge metal goons that, naturally, have way more energy and some unique skills and attacks.

steamworld heist

All these things are great enough on their own, but the game is taken to even higher echelons of awesomeness through the graphic style, the humour, and the levelling system. You’re rewarded for grabbing all the loot stashed around during each mission (in fact doing so is more important than offing the bots), and most levels net you an improved weapon. With each level having a possible score of three or four stars, and you can only obtain all of them by 1) not dying, 2) getting all the loot, and 3) completing the objectives, there’s replayability here too. Even more so when you realise that you can attempt any mission again only on a harder setting to boost the XP bonuses.

steamworld heist

I’ve loved every minute so far, and as I’m just over 2/3rds of the way through (I’m guessing, based on Events In The Game That Would Be Classed As Spoilers), with most stars obtained so far, I’m slightly saddened to think it might all be over sooner rather than later. But wait! There’s DLC! Yay!

The post SteamWorld Heist (3DS) appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.