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SteamWorld Heist II (Switch): COMPLETED!

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It may have taken a while for me to finally get round to playing SteamWorld Heist II, but when it – and all the other SteamWorld games – were reduced in a massive eShop sale I was reminded it was the only SW game I hadn’t completed. And now, it isn’t.

Like the first game, it’s a 2D, side-on, turn based strategy game. In that respect it’s more of the same as the original, and I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to figure out what that means in terms of gameplay as the internet surely can provide. What I will talk about instead, is just how good and well balanced it all is.

Each character in your party can have different classes, weapons and skills (and you can switch between missions as to what, if you like, and “borrow” skills from other classes with the right items as well) so your team is incredibly customisable. Sometimes, it’s good to have a few short-range but powerful weapons, other times sniping with accuracy from a distance. Or maybe being able to move further, or move twice, in a turn is helpful. There’s tradeoffs between sniping being great from a log way off but you waste a turn reloading, or big explody weapons dealing lots of damage to several clustered enemies, but it’s a bit hard to aim and can damage you, or your cover. There’s a lot to think about! As characters level up you get to choose more skills too.

It’s also really addictive. Most missions are probably only 15-20 minutes long, so the urge to do just one more mission is strong. Or, you missed out some (probably unnecessary) loot in a level, so you replay it just to make sure you’ve collected everything. Or, you boat around the overworld seeking things to destroy for other bonuses and see another thing to get, explore, or beat on the map somewhere. There’s always one more thing to do.

Oh yes, the boat. You see, you have a submarine to traverse the world, and as you progress you can upgrade it with better firepower or more oxygen for underwater boating. The seas are full of enemies that need to be run from, or defeated, for fun and profit.

There’s a lot to the game but the real pull isn’t the excellent gameplay, it’s the (as always) perfectly crafted SteamWorld, er, world. The humour, the silly robot characters, the puns, and the references to other games in the series. Plus the excellent gameplay, of course.

Moss Book II (Quest): COMPLETED!

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I don’t know why it took me so long after completing the first Moss game to get into the second one, especially since I bought it almost immediately after reaching the end of Moss Book I. Maybe other games came along. Maybe dealing with charging and updating and wearing the VR headset was just hassle. Maybe I forgot. Who knows.

Anyway, it’s here and done now. And of my, what an experience. Book II follows on directly from the first game and is, really, more of the same. Beautiful little dioramas of action and puzzles with a cute mouse and her sword (and, later, deadly frisbees and a massive hammer). Objects you directly manipulate, creatures you can fight, or, in some cases, use to fight on your behalf.

Somehow, it’s even more beautiful than the first game. Especially when you bear in mind that I’m playing this on a Quest 2 which is the VR equivalent of a Citroen 2CV. Some of the areas are just incredible, and being in VR you can look around and even behind things with never gets old or fails to impress. There’s a massive boss later on – a blacksmith with a hammer – where the graphics and scale and VR-ness all combine to give quite the experience.

Adding additional weapons, some of which are needed for puzzles (like a dash power or a massive hammer blow), as well as some extra gimmicks like portals and walk-on-walls type gravity flipped areas mix up the formula from Book I too. There’s also a few scary and distressing sections (nothing too strong, though) which add heart to the cute.

I think I said before that I’m not a big fan of VR, but Moss (both books) makes it difficult to maintain that stance. It’s not what you’d expect from a VR game, at least, not what I would, but I’d happily play more games like this.

The Sword of Stone (Evercade): COMPLETED!

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Searching for this online is a pain because Google thinks you’re talking about the animated film “The Sword in the Stone”, which this Game Gear game, hidden in the Evercade’s firmware, has nothing to do with. Instead of being related to that, the game is essentially a visual novel, albeit one that plays out more like an RPG.

You pick one of three characters, and then have a quest given to you. The world you all inhabit is, well, here’s the blurb:

The world of Mindevil is in danger! Begin a journey as one of the three heroes in order to put an end to the conflict between the four kingdoms. Complete all 7 chapters revealing a complex story with many branches and save the world… with a twist at the end!

So your quest plays out differently depending on which character you choose. You’re initially limited to different areas of the map each, as you have different skills that allow you to fight different types of monster blocking each route. Once you complete it with one character, you’re encouraged to do it with the other two, and you’ll see how their stories link. After completing all three, three further quests are possible by making different choices eventually unlocking a final quest where all three characters work together.

I found it a little frustrating to play, with lots of repetition and backtracking, and so much repeated dialogue it really slowed down progression. If you can get past that, though, there’s a decent little game here with some really clever gating and interwoven storylines.

Metal Slug 2 (Evercade): COMPLETED!

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Another SNK cartridge (actually, two) arrived for the Evercade and since my daughter and I enjoyed playing the first Metal Slug in co-op recently, we did the same with the sequel.

Naturally, it’s more of the same. Only now you can ride camels as well as tanks, and after a few levels it becomes clear that Definitely Not Any Real Middle Eastern Military Dictator is in cahoots with actual aliens.

It still has the slowdown issues of the first game, but it’s silly fun regardless.

Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town (Switch): COMPLETED!

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I do like a Kaz Ayabe game. I’ve played a few recently, including the previous Shin chan tie-in. They’re all set in sleepy Japanese villages where very little happens and this one is the same. However! Shin chan’s dog, Shiro, wanders off and finds a mysterious train that take him (and, when he is led there, Shin chan) to Coal Town – a mining town that nobody in the village seems to have heard of.

Your days are split between the usual Ayabe tasks of catching fish and bugs, running errands for your family and neighbours, doing a bit of gardening, and making friends with the local kids. It is never explained why there are children and pensioners in this village, but nobody inbetween (aside from one childless woman and a visiting chef) so who are the parents? And why doesn’t anyone care they’re all out after dark? Anyway, yes, your time is split doing that stuff, and also visiting Coal Town and helping out there.

It seems the mayor of Coal Town has, now the mine is running low on coal, gone a bit mad and is doing evil nefarious things which I won’t spoil. It’s your job, as a five year old so obviously best qualified, to help out and stop this happening. Which mostly involves cooking things, collecting items for an inventor, and – crucially – mine cart racing. Of course. Without giving too much away, the plot seems heavily borrowed from the Your Name anime, wrapped up in a Ghibi bow. No bad thing, though.

Unlike other games in the series, there’s no deadline for getting everything done. In previous titles, you’d have a summer, or a month, or a repeating week timeloop, but here you don’t seem to be able to run out of days. Which makes the whole thing even more laid back and relaxing than before. In fact, only the arcadey mine cart races are anything but.

So not a huge change to the formula. It’s back to mostly static (as in, not fully 3D) environments of the past after the Natsu-mon game changed it, but then I’m not sure which order the games were originally released in in Japan. It does mean a return of the “hold left to walk off the screen and enter to the left on the next screen and so walk off again immediately” issue, but it’s a minor thing.

Definitely a recommended play if you’re a fan of Ayabe’s work.