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the site of uk.games.video.misc

Super Metroid: nearly dead

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I've been waiting for this to be on special offer since I got my Wii U.  The first Metroid game I played was Fusion on the GBA, which pre-dated this blog.  Metroid Zero Mission was completed in 2005, after an intensive playing time.  I've since wanted more of the 2D games, but there wasn't an easy way to get either the second game or Super Metroid - I have a feeling that the latter may have been on the Wii Virtual Console but I never thought to look there.

Anyway, I've started this now.


Oh no!  And that's where the last Metroid is!  I'd better go back!


But nobody's home.

Eventually I got through to the end of the space station, where a big bird thing stole the Metroid and fought me.  I was massively underpowered and nearly died - but luckily the enemy scarpered before I died.

Arriving on the planet, I descended down a shaft until I found a blue door.  Going through ... and I could go no further.  Huh.


After a bit of exploration, I finally found the morph ball, meaning I could go through the tunnel.  A little way.  There was a block just a way down a tunnel.


A bit more exploration ...


This meant I could go through the tunnel at last.


There wasn't much at the end (a bunch of missiles), but at least on the way back I could take a shortcut.


At least I have a few upgrades now, but I still feel pretty underpowered - so walking into this room I was rather apprehensive.  Luckily it appears to be a statue, or at least it is at the moment.


I found another lift down, but I didn't want to go down until I'd coloured in the blue.


There's quite a way to go ...

Heavy Rain: pedestrian

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I played Heavy Rain back in late 2011, getting to a thoroughly miserable part where my character's life changed completely. It says something about the quality of the story that I still remember that and as I continued the game last night I could identify everyone.

I'd forgotten, though, how incredibly slow everything moves, and how awkward it is to move around the world. Placed in the run-down house with my son, I found it rather jarring when he didn't comment on my character constantly walking into walls and turning light switches on and off.  The son (Shaun) was pretty poorly animated at times as well. Maybe this is something I glossed over before, or maybe it just wasn't evident in the first two chapters.

The game is trying so hard to be a film, but it suffers from pacing issues. Nothing really happens for long periods, partially because of the character's slow walking speed and partially because of the fact so much time is spent on minute details like getting Shaun a snack or watching him eat dinner. Maybe that's partially because of the way I'm playing the game - sitting with my son while he eats is something I'd do (although I'd probably at least try total to him). In some ways it's reminiscent of Shenmue, but with more awkward controls (particularly given the idiotic shape of the controller's triggers).

And then I'm given control of a different character and there's a fight scene which is almost too fast paced, particularly given the fact that after 16 years of owning PlayStation systems I still don't know which way around square and circle are.

And then I'm given control of an FBI detective who looks a bit similar to the first character. I have to investigate a murder scene.

Again, I'm not sure whether such character switching works well in games. I was building an affinity with one person and then I'm switched to another. One character seems to have an odd moment of being transported elsewhere, but even though I'm playing as him I'm not told if he's dreaming or not - it seems from the game not, but it's not clear.  Before I can find out, I'm playing as someone else.

The story remains intriguing but elusive. I've worked out that there's a serial killer who leaves origami models behind. The murder investigation was for such a killing. The model in the dead man's hand was the same as the model in Ethan's hand during his dream sequence but Ethan's not dead. Piecing things together like this works well for a two-hour film, but it remains to be seen if it works in a much longer game that I'm going to be playing over a matter of weeks. Or years!

Lego City Undercover (Wii U)

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legocity100

100% Complete! Just 61 hours! Phew! I’m not really sure why there’s a big lock symbol in the middle of the bottom row, though. It’s supposed to show I’ve completed all of the Free Run challenges (which I have done), but sometimes it comes up with a lock and sometimes it doesn’t. I suspect it’s a bug.

Anyway. What an utterly fantastic game. So much so I’ve plugged another five hours in since completing it!

Mark of the Ninja: sneaking

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I evidently bought this a while ago in some sale, but had forgotten about it until I was looking through my purchased games list.

It's a good game.  There are multiple ways of getting past any section, and I'm doing well at not alerting any guards.  It takes me a while to get through each level, and there have been times when I've caught myself holding my breath in real life as a guard walks past.

I may well complete this at some point, as long as it doesn't get too difficult.

Wii U – Family Time

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I have never completed a game on the Wii, the only time I would play any games would be with the kids. So either Wii Sports or one of the Mario Party games.

Time to test out the Wii U in the same capacity, firstly you will need wii remote controllers. Ideally the motionplus variant because Metroid Blast & Zelda do not work without them, so I could not test those two games.

Mario Chase has the tablet player running around the map with the other players chasing him down. A simple game which after a few plays loses interest.

Luigi's Ghost Mansion is great fun, the tablet player is the ghost & the others Luigi playing ghostbusters trying to capture the ghost. It's easily the most fun game on Ninendoland.

Animal Crossing Sweet Day has the tablet player whacking the other players who are trying to gobble sweets. You can have two players on the tablet each controlling one stick, it has a nice team-play element, this might grow on us the more we play it.

Pikmin Adventure is very enjoyable team based quest adventure, quite a surprise really & could easily be a full game release with more content, one that I look forward to playing when we have more time.

The first few days of the console were disappointing mainly due to NSMBU but I am now starting to enjoy it more, I love that you can turn the tablet on without needing the television to access certain features of the OS. It feels like a XXL DS console but not too heavy to hold, just wished the battery life would last a bit longer.