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Later Alligator (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Alligator New York, the setting for this game, is like Real New York only everyone is an alligator instead of a human being. If I were an alligator, I’d probably struggle to wear human clothes, drive human cars, and use human tools, but apparently instead of alligator things, human things work just fine. And alligators can have moustaches and hair? Of course.

As a mysterious alligator, decked out in a 1920s Speakeasy-going suit, you’re convinced by paranoid young alligator Pat to discover What is Going Down later on. He’s pretty sure The Family are going to Take Care Of Him, so the game is for you to talk to all the alligators, most of which appear to be related to Pat, and figure out what really is happening that evening.

It’s bloody obvious about five seconds into the game, but still. It’s about the journey!

Interacting with many of the quirky relatives triggers a mini-game of some sort, which, if completed, makes them reveal some more about what The Event is. These games are generally standard mini-game faire – a slide puzzle, Towers of Pancakes/Hanoi, a UFO catcher, matching pairs, etc. but they’re nicely presented and some have unusual rules. The pancakes, for example, are on a toy train’s carriages, which drives around a track while you try and move them.

It’s not a tricky, or especially long game, but it is very funny and you really want to talk to all the bizarre characters as you play. There’s a great art and animation style, and the music is excellent – especially the alligator who plays the guitar (although the music is actually brass!). There’s also scope to replay, as time passes in the game and you don’t get a chance to visit everyone or everywhere.

A silly little game, but well worth playing if you like point and click adventures, silly little games, or alligators.

Pokémon Scarlet (Switch)

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A rare (these days!) post about a game I’m playing but have not yet completed!

So I’ve very much enjoyed recent, as in, 3DS onwards, Pokémon games. Partly because I’ve played them all while my daughter plays the other game (Violet, this time) and we sort of race to the end. Naturally, I win.

This time around there has been more than usual in the way of complaints about the game. Mainly to do with bugs and performance issues, and because of these I’m posting. Mainly to say, they’ve not been a problem for me! I’ve completed all eight gyms, have taken down three Titans, and beaten three Team Star camps, so it’s fair to say I’ve seen a good proportion of the game so far. And yes, I’ve seen bugs and glitches. But literally none of it has affected the game itself.

The main issues I’ve come across have been visual. Frequently, in battle, the trainers are spaced so far apart the camera can’t include them both in a wide shot so it often ends up inside a cliff, a pokémon (especially if mine is huge), or facing completely the wrong way. It means you don’t see much of the action, but it doesn’t make any difference to how it plays. Also visual, sometimes pokémon in the wild will spawn right in front of you. Not usually a problem, but can be annoying if you’re riding your Koraidon fast and run into them.

I’ve mentioned before that framerates mean nothing to me. I can’t tell the difference between 30 and 60fps, and sometimes 15fps and 30fps look identical too. I do, however, notice fluctuating framerates and dropped frames, and that has happened a few times. In particular, the forest area around Atticus’ Team Star base slowed to a crawl. But, it didn’t affect the gameplay – it just felt like wading through water. I’ve seen complaint about moving objects and characters in the distance animating at a low framerate. Yeah, that happens. I don’t care, because it doesn’t affect anything. It’s also a pretty common thing these days and not just on the Switch.

Much has been said about how ugly the game is too. It isn’t. No, it isn’t as good as Horizon Forbidden West or the new God of War (gee, I wonder why). It’s also not as good as Breath of the Wild, or, some of the time, even as good as Arceus, which is a bit more baffling. But it’s not a bad looking game – just not as good as it could, or perhaps should, be. And some areas still look amazing, not least in how you can see for miles.

Well, there you go. Some issues, for sure, but I believe many people have been over-complaining about them, and almost none of them actually affect the core gameplay which is one of the best pokémon experiences there is. I would have liked the “catch without having to fight” mechanic from Arceus to have come through, but the autobattles sort of make up for it. Everything else? Excellent. Especially Lechonk.

A Building Full of Cats (Switch): COMPLETED!

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This is a little “find the hidden cats” game. You literally just have to click on all of the cats, of which there are about 300, and then you “win”.

Some are hidden in drawers or behind curtains. A few move and have to be found several times. Some blend in with the wallpaper, some don’t actually look much like cats, and some are tiny.

But it’s a nice, quiet little game and passes the time, and sometimes, that’s fine.

Blaster Master Zero 3 (Switch): COMPLETED!

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The end of the trilogy! Jason finds himself in jail and Eve, his support droid Metal Attacker co-pilot slash creepy love interest is now queen of the mutants and poses a threat to the safety of the universe or something. It sort of makes sense if you concentrate really hard on the in-game dialogue but actually it just means more jumpy-tank fun across two separate dimensions.

It’s back to being mostly set in the one “world”, unlike the galaxy hopping adventure of the second game, but it still has a lot of variety, And, a number of returning bosses, which seems a little lazy but it’s fine really. You get some new powers, access to several types of on-foot weaponry from the beginning, and the “other” dimension is an eye bleedingly pink assault, but the core gameplay remains unchanged. Which is great because the core gameplay is the best.

There’s supposedly a “bad” ending, which I didn’t get as I somehow figured out the way to trigger the good ending (unlike the last game, you don’t have to Collect All The Things – just press the right button combo at the right time), which (spoiler) resulted in Jason and Eve being reunited, somehow having babies, and those babies being sent to Earth to be looked after by one of Jason’s ex-enemies.

Or something. Frankly, it’s utter nonsense. But doesn’t matter in the slightest.

It’s a bit of a shame I’ve finished the series now, as it means there’s no more to come. Unless they start a new trilogy of course!

Paradise Killer (Switch): COMPLETED!

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I’ll admit, I went into this expecting a somewhat different sort of game. In my head, it was a bit Phoenix Wright or Murder By Numbers, but it actually turned out to be a more-interactive-than-usual visual novel with a make-your-own-ending, in first person with platforming. Neither the reviews nor the screenshots suggested the platforming was even a thing, but it is – and it’s a pretty big part of the game.

So, my interpretation of the world in which this is set (which may be incorrect) is this: In an afterlife, an island is constructed to be paradise to a select few, and a residence for a number of less important people who are there to serve the important people. However, the island is inherently flawed, and so a new, better island is created and when the time comes all the servants are killed and the important people move on to the new one. This happens over and over, with demon invasions and corruption causing each island to end and the cycle to repeat. However, this time, things are different. Island 25 is supposedly perfect, and it is the end of days of Island 24. Preparations for the move have started, but then the entire council of people who run the island are seemingly murdered. But whodunnit?

As Lady Love Dies, an investigator who herself was exiled for allowing herself to be consumed by a demon, you’ve been allowed back into Paradise to figure out not only who did the deed, but also how. As well as uncover a number of possibly related smaller crimes.

You explore the island, solve a few puzzles, scan stuff with your PDA-type device, and interrogate those people who are still around. A strange collection of people with equally strange names, like Doctor Doom Jazz, the island medic who has had every woman (and probably man), including you. Or Sam Daybreak, a red skeleton who was an assassin when he was human but is now a bartender who brews his own whiskey, sometimes from illegal ingredients. You can build up relationships with these characters, and eventually they may open up to you with more information to help your investigation.

After you’ve conversed and explored as much as you feel you need to in order to put together a portfolio of evidence and a timeline of events, you can speak to Judge to start the trial. It seems to you do this whenever you wish, but if you’ve not collected enough of a case, you won’t be able to convince Judge that your Truth is the Truth, and so the murderer(s!) will go free. The reason I say “your” Truth is because it’s possible to weave a narrative to fit pretty much anyone in the frame without contradiction, and this is where the game massively departs from the likes of Phoenix Wright – you’re not guided towards the truth in court, you have to guide the court to your truth. There’s no last minute revelations here which turn the case upside down – once you’re in court, you should have the case solved. It’s very clever how all these possibilities work, if a little vague how you know if you’re doing the right thing. Ultimately, it’s your decision: If you have the evidence to back it up, at least.

The platforming, then. Although the ability to roam (mostly) freely around the island in first person is good, some items are only reachable with some tricky jumping, and the game engine clearly isn’t Mario 64 or Mirror’s Edge. The platforming is hazy and inaccurate, and often I found myself reaching places through clumsiness and glitching rather than skill and timing. It’s not that you die or anything, but falling a long way means a tedious re-tread. It’s unclear how high you jump related to walls and fences. It’s imprecise how you walk on narrow ledges. It just doesn’t quite work, and if you’re hoarding blood crystals (a seemingly finite source of currency) you’re not going to spend them on fast travelling so there’s a lot of awkward jumpery.

Aside from that, though, it’s an amazing game. There’s such deep characterisation and lore, that you really do want to exhaust every avenue of both questioning and island exploration even if the reward is just a few throwaway lines or the history of a long extinct failed island precursor and has no relevance to the Crime to End All Crimes. Or, it might. Paradise Killer is extraordinarily well-written, not least because it’s not a 2D story. There are layers, overlapping and underlining, and it all seems to make sense even if you miss bits or decide to assume one person’s testimony is a lie. In fact, I’d say it isn’t written at all – it’s crafted.