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SteamWorld Dig (3DS): COMPLETED!

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steamworldendbossFirst game of 2014 to be completed! Woo!

I was a big fan of the 360 indie game Miner Dig Deep, and many years ago loved Diggers on the Acorn and Amiga, and it was my enjoyment of those two games that made me want SteamWorld Dig. The stars aligned and I was given some eShop credit just as this was on offer, and so I snapped it up.

I’m glad I did. It’s very much in the same vein as those two games I’ve already mentioned, with more combat and much more impressive graphics. Being able to wall jump gets rid of the concern you might dig your way into an inescapable pit, and the ability to carry a teleporter (which takes you back to the surface) means you never need to be too far from home, and the upgrades shop.

It’s a short title (I clocked it at just over five hours), but it’s well worth the journey. The only real downside to the length is it’s difficult to stop playing so the end comes all too quickly.

Attack of the Friday Monsters (3DS): COMPLETED!

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aotfm_16_fullThis is another one of those “Guild” games – short, experimental titles that were originally in a compilation in Japan, but were released in the UK as separate digital only games. I’d been interested in getting it for a while as people had said it was a fun little story in a slightly bizarre setting, and I’m a fan of strange and obscure Japanese games. However, when it came out I had lots of other games to play and no eShop credit.

It’s currently on offer, so a couple of days ago I bought it. And, within three hours play, it was complete – not that the shortness matters, as I went into the game knowing it was short.

The plot is a bit confusing, consisting of a quiet 1970s Tokyo suburb, its residents, and giant 70′s style monsters that appear each Friday night, which somehow doesn’t really concern any of the locals. Coincidentally, or not – you decide – the local TV station films their show about giant 70′s style monsters on Fridays. But then there’s some other plot about aliens, and how they may or may not be controlling, responsible for, or fighting the monsters.

You play as a young boy who has recently moved to the area, and much of the game is his interactions with other children from his school, his parents who run the local laundry, and other local residents – some of whom are a little… odd. You help solve minor incidents, riddles and relationship issues, all the time collecting “glims”, which you exchange for playing cards. You use these cards to “battle” the other kids in a variant of scissors, paper, stone. If you win, you get to be their “boss”, and they open up more information for you.

Anyway, the story is sort of gentle and sweet in a Ghibli sort of way, and certainly kept me hooked. Once completed, the game lets you continue to tie up a few loose ends and finish your card collection, but there’s no obvious way to solve all of the remaining side stories and a search of the internet shows pretty everyone else is also stuck, so I’m not sure I can proceed. Still, at least the main story is done.

2013 Review inc Game of the Year

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Looking back at my 2012 end of year review I managed to stick to my routine of watching less TV/Movies & enjoy gaming more this year. I also predicted last year that 2013 was going to be an amazing year for gaming thanks to my back catalogue, I did not manage to complete all the games I mention but compared to the 10 completed in 2012 I managed to complete a staggering 28 games !!

Scribblenauts Remix (iOS)
Uncharted 2 (PS3)
Skyrim (360)
Halo 4 (360)
Rolando (iOS)
New Star Soccer (iOS)
Little Inferno (iOS)
Ni No Kuni (PS3)
Borderlands 2 (360)
Fifa 13 (360)
Tomb Raider (360)
Lego City Undercover (WiiU)
Journey (PS3)
Clash of Clans (iOS)
Walking Dead (XBLA)
Forza Horizon (360)
Bastion (XBLA)
Walking Dead 400 Days (XBLA)
Red Dead Redemption (360)
Uncharted 3 (PS3)
The Last of Us (PS3)
Dead Space (360)
Mass Effect (360)
Spec Ops The Line (PS3)
Gears of War - Judgement (360)
XCom - Enemy Unknown (PS3)
Remember Me (PS3)
Assassin's Creed 4 (PS4)

Some of these games were truly an amazing experience & it was very difficult for me to choose a game of the year because there were so many great games that I had played from Skyrim, Ni No Kuni, Tomb Raider the amazingly fun Lego City Undercover to the beautiful Journey, Walking Dead, Last of Us, X-Com & Assassin's Creed 4. But above these all it was Red Dead Redemption that was my game of the year. I have always loved watching western movies from the classic John Wayne, Clint Eastwood's to the modern Tombstone, & 310 to Yuma. Rockstar gave gamers the chance to realise their love for the western genre in Red Dead Redemption & what an action packed gun touting adventure it was, like many others I look forward to the next game in the series..

Splurge wise it was a complete failure and I quote "I am really going to try and spend as little as possible this year on gaming, I will not be buying any of the new consoles on release & have no desire for a Wii U. With my iOS stack of games, back catalogue of 360/PS3 games & steam pile of shame I think I am spoilt for choice" I don't need to say any more apart from the fact that "I AM WEAK"

2014 Predictions then I plan to continue delving into my back catalogue especially to complete Deus Ex HR, Mass Effect 2/3 & the Bioshock games but my main focus will obviously be on the PS4 & waiting for the new games like Destiny, The Division, Watch_Dogs, Mad Max, The Order & hopefully Fallout 4. From the hardware I own the PC & the Vita have been neglected quite a bit so hopefully in 2014 I hope to at least complete a few games on each.

Happy new year !!

Super Mario 3D World (Wii U): COMPLETED!

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Spoilers_By completed, I of course mean I have beaten Bowser. Like New Super Mario Bros U, from around this time last year, that’s only the first half of the game. The post-game mop-up of stars, flags and stamps will continue for a long time, I’m sure.

Apparently, it took me just under 5 hours to get this far. That’s shorter than NSMBU by some way. It certainly felt shorter, and was certainly easier. Yes, I found a warp (by accident) which skipped most of World 4 (this is why there’s a fairy missing in that screenshot), and no, I’ve not done every single level, but then I didn’t do all of NSMBU before Bowser either.

Being easier was a surprise. NSMBU had some tricky levels, and a few really hard ones, but the vast majority of those were in the special post-game worlds. NSMBU was a very easy game, but getting to Bowser in 3D World was a complete walkover. There is just one slightly hard level en-route – Grumblump Inferno, near the end of the game – and that was much easier once I realised you’re supposed to walk on the blocks as they rotate (as the mice do) rather than jump.

I know that 100%ing the game will be much harder, but I’m still amazed as how easy this has been so far. It’s the easiest Mario game I’ve ever played, by a considerable margin.

But that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because the game is fantastic. It oozes charm, quality and variety. Every level has something new, or a twist on something that came before. The graphics and the music are some of the best in any game ever, and the gameplay is nigh-on platforming perfection. But only nigh-on. Somewhere in the transition to 3D, the platforming precision of NSMBU has slightly veered away from perfect. The controls are not as tight. The into and out of screen jumping is a little vague in places (and some of the swimming levels are a little broken with this extra plane to deal with). These are very minor complaints, however, and it’s only because NSMBU was so recent that the comparison has to be made. 3D World is still a masterpiece, it’s just there’s another Wii U Mario game that stands a little taller.

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara (Wii U): COMPLETED

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Done__What_a_confusing_game.Firstly, it seems this is just half of the “Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara” game on the Wii U eShop. It’s a conversion of the 90′s coin-op, and is the sequel to D&D: Tower of Doom, which is also included in the package but isn’t selected by default and isn’t actually obvious that it’s there at all. At some point I’ll be playing that.

The main reason, aside from it being on offer this week, for getting D&D:COM at all when I’m not a D&D fan was down to other people enthusing about it, and saying it was a sort of Golden Axe game with almost Guardian Heroes type RPG-lite levelling. Sold!

It was fun too, insofaras the smacking things with swords goes. I’ve no idea what else was going on half the time, since the inventory system is never explained and I’d got half way through the game (as an Elf – Gauntlet favourite, y’see) before I realised you could change which magic spell you’re using, and I was almost on the final boss before I accidentally discovered I had a bow and arrow. No idea what the daggers and hammers and oil I could buy in the shops did. I’m not even sure how the levelling up works either, and I started on level 8, was told three times I’d levelled up, but finished the game on level 10. I’ve “bought” a load of unlockable things with… some sort of currency or points I’ve accumilated which look like they’ll make a second run through easier. Which I might do – there’s a load of branching paths through the game which would make repeat plays different.