completed — Page 181

Heavy Rain: completed!

Posted on 13/08/2015 Written by Xexyz

Started in 2011, continued in 2013, and completed in 2015. Heavy Rain is a game that I've always wanted to see the end of, and had admired from a storytelling perspective, but the first couple of chapters in particular didn't enamour me to the game itself. In the last update I posted, I talked about how the switching characters felt a bit jarring, and made the game feel quite disjointed. It's not a huge surprise that it's taken me until now to finish it off, then.

Now, part of what I want to talk about is the story, and that's an integral part of the game experience. If you've not played the game, and intend to do so, I recommend that you don't read any more.

A problem that all story-based games have is that you, as the player, are often obliged to do something that you ordinarily wouldn't. This happened many times in this game - shooting a drug dealer dead, cutting off your own finger - and what makes it worse is that in this game you can theoretically reach the end of the game without doing these things, but if you don't do them, you know that you'll end up with a bad ending. The game's too long to play through many times, so you want to see the end properly, so you end up doing stuff that distances you from the characters. The game gives you the perception of choice but you are aware that some choices are better than others.

So I played through the game not the way I wanted to but rather the way I assumed the developers wanted me to. I slowly grew comfortable with each of the characters - understanding the desperation of Ethan, the weariness and honesty of Scott, the panic of Madison, and the angst of Norman. Even though they were doing stuff that I wouldn't, I could empathise with their searches for the killer.

However, half way through the game, after a lot of character switching, it was starting to become obvious that one of the characters was going to be responsible for the murders. This was a huge disappointment. When playing the game, you assume that you are the character - even if you have to do things that you ordinarily wouldn't, you are doing things that the character would do.

Really, don't read further if you've not completed the game.

So, when it turns out that Shelby is the killer, I felt cheated. All those chapters where I was controlling him, the information that he was the killer was being withheld. Nothing in his behaviour indicated who he was. Why was he investigating the killings if he knew he was the killer?

Maybe things would make more sense if I were to replay the game. If I could replay chapters, and fill in a flowchart in a chapter select menu, I might do that. As it is, I was left suitably downhearted to make such a replay unlikely.

3D Streets of Rage 2 (3DS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 09/08/2015 Written by deKay

Streets of Rage 2 was always so much better than Streets of Rage 1 in so many ways. Better graphics, more moves, none of those stupid Blaze clones who are impossible to beat, and so on. It was also easier, but sadly the music isn’t quite as good. Ah well, you can’t have everything.

I played through it today on the 3DS (in lovely 3D), as Blaze (because Blaze is best and not because you can see her knickers oh who am I kidding of course it’s because you can see her knickers) and completed it faster than I was expecting to. I was certain it was at least two stages longer, but perhaps I was misremembering some levels from the other Streets of Rage games. It has been a while, I suppose.

Once completed, the game unlocked “Fists of Death” mode, which I’ve started a playthrough of, as Skate (because Skate is worst). In this mode every enemy takes a single hit. Even bosses. It’s hilarious. I managed to do the first three stages without getting hit myself (I suspected I’d die in a single hit too, but luckily that wasn’t the case).

Princess Nom Nom (PC): COMPLETED!

Posted on 05/08/2015 Written by deKay

A really quick one this. You know Cookie Clicker? Well, imagine something like that without the frantic clicking. With a fat… blob that appears to be a princess. And you have to feed her. Feed her enough, and she produces minions from her bellybutton, and these minions can gather food and so produce more minions.

Unlock new places to get better food from, produce more minions to collect it all faster and in greater quantity, and make the princess even fatter.

Eventually, she’s satiated and you win. And I won. Yay! If you want to play, it’s free from this site here.

Never Alone (PS4): COMPLETED!

Posted on 01/08/2015 Written by deKay

Well that was short. Apparently Never Alone is about three hours long, but I appear to have completed it in little over half that time.

Probably just as well, actually, as after the first 45 minutes of “ooh” and “ahh” over the graphics and the setting and how unusual it all appeared to be, Never Alone quickly became a tedious platformer with bugs and glitches and some rubbish jumps. Relying on the wind to carry you further frustrates as there’s no way of telling exactly how far it’ll take you, often carrying you past the platform you want to land one and into the sea/hole/baddie instead.

Restarts are quick, thankfully, but it’s seemingly random how far you go back. Sometimes it’s a mere couple of steps, other times (like during on of the chase sequences) it’s back 20 or more screens.

Often I found it difficult to tell where to go next, either because I’d not “activated” an invisible spirit with my fox chum, or not panned the camera round in a completely different direction to where I’d expect to go, or simply not realised what was solid ground to walk on and what wasn’t. Things were complicated later on when your fox becomes a boy (spoilers, sorry) and the whole way you play changes – for the worse, in my opinion.

Your bolas attack too is overly complicated. You have to hold back in the opposite direction to where you want to hit (which is fine), but then flick it in the direction you want to fling it. I now realise the PS4 stick isn’t ideal for this, and especially during the frantic sections of the game where you’re not given time for a second shot, I feel that just letting go of the stick, or pressing a face button, would have been a better idea.

I sound harsh and it isn’t really a terrible game, it’s just yet another one of those arty games which has a lovely story and fantastic graphical style, but forgets to do something a bit more interesting (and controllable) with the gameplay. As it is, it’s just another slightly annoying platformer.

Anyway, here’s the last hour or so. Spoilers, of course.

Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS4): COMPLETED!

Posted on 30/07/2015 Written by deKay

Well this was a surprise. The Mortal Kombat series left me cold after UMK3, and although this isn’t technically a Mortal Kombat title, it clearly is a Mortal Kombat game. It’s the same team, it’s a fighting game, it’s a followup to Mortal Kombat vs DC, and it’s even got Scorpion in it. And I enjoyed it.

There’s little depth to the fighting, and in many ways the fights just seemed like the gaps between the story in single player mode, but something made me want to keep playing to the end. I liked how you’d flit from character to character as the story progressed too. Perhaps this is how more recent MK games have done things anyway, but it’s way better than the standard “tower of fighters” of old. It forces you to play as roughly half the roster as well, including some I’d never have picked through choice (Aquaman? LOLZ) who turned out better than expected in many cases.

I don’t think I’ll bother with multiplayer (I did try to play online, but I was alone), but the free PS+ rental was well worth a story mode playthrough.