Your 2016 Gaming Diary

I bought, played and nabbed all the trophies for Guacamelee (PS4) last night. I had to do various tasks with the boss characters. One was a bit of a nightmare as I had to clear out 2 very hard arenas in co-op mode. The co-op is local online, so I had to sit and juggle 2 controllers, while fighting a stupid amount of enemies, all on the hardest difficulty.

That is both games fully complete now.

Carrying on with my Drinkbox obsession, I snapped up and started playing Mutant Blobs Attack (Vita). Loving what i've played so far ( about halfway through).

The game is essentially a 2D version of the Katamari games. You roll around as a space blob, eating everything in your path, and getting bigger in the process.

Going from A to B seems simple enough but there are 2 hidden blobs on each stage and gold medals to achieve if you get a high enough score. I've been replaying levels over and over again until I get the gold and only then will I move on.

I brought my Vita to work, so I will be playing a bit more of this great little game during my lunch.

Mutant Blobs Attack is awesome. One of my first PSVita games. I think I never completed it, though... But there will come a time when I get back to it

Been having a lot of fun with Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition. I slowly make my way through the story missions but most of the time I end up doing optional stuff

It's great that collectibles are shown on the map after you've completed dates with the game's ladies. : peace:

Combat (both close combat and gunplay) is amazing. So much fun. I have only been in one shootout but it's been such a joy. The slomotion after vaulting over cover is great. :awesome:

The races are freaking awesome, too. So much fun. Rubberbanding actually works here as it makes races quite intense and not frustrating. Not being able to respawn when you fall of a bike can be frustrating, though...but it's only annoying in very long races.

Also:

Yes, totally planned.

 

Yes, totally planned.

That's freaking hilarious.

I can't believe you only made up one place!

Mutant Blobs Attack (Vita) complete and all trophies nabbed! What a fantastic little game. Well done, Drinkbox. : peace:

Also:

 

 

Yes, totally planned.

Physics? What are those?

Man, I've been neglecting this thread, so I'm just gonna dump a whole bunch of games I finished, but don't feel like typing long write-ups on.

I did every puzzle in My Nintendo Picross on the 3DS. I never really tried Picross before, mainly because it didn't interest me. But seeing as this was basically free through My Nintendo, I thought, why not?

I'm sure there are people out there who find this sort of thing fun, but after a while, it just got tedious. I don't regret trying it, but I'm certainly not gonna follow up on the rest of the series.

Pocket Card Jockey (3DS) on the other hand, was loads of fun. It's a solitaire game crossed over with horse racing.

Yes, that's a stupid concept, yes, they play the whole thing up for laughs.

It also has one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a game this year. The track used in the final race at King's Gate is something that is immensely special.

I've been playing a whole lot of Monster Hunter Generations on my 3DS as well. It's got a few new tricks, a few new monsters. But I've already written up about Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate last year and I didn't bother trying to explain that one either.

I also used my My Nintendo points to get WarioWare Touched (DS) downloaded to my 3DS, because what else is there to get?

It is my least favourite WarioWare, it's certainly not bad (Except for the Mike stage, which is a bit one-note), but nowhere near as amazing as Twisted.

I finished Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES) as well. Fantastic Platformer. Way better than the first one, not quite as good as the third. Animal Antics is one of the most unfair and unfun levels in that trilogy.

And finally, Kirby Planet Robobot (3DS), which I think is one of the best Kirby games to date. I talked about it a lot in the thread for it, so I won't write about it here too long.

But @Dcubed, did you pull it off? Or is it still a case of...

Wait, who the hell is that chick in the background?

Certainly not a Kirby character, that's for sure.

I left out a handful of games that I do want to give detailed impressions on, but that's for another time.

And with that...

I've been playing Alienation occasionally these past few days, slowly plucking away at the requirements for one particular trophy:

By the Power of Weird Alien Artifacts, I Have the Power!

Insert 12 maximum level cores into a legendary quality weapon.

You need 12 level 6 cores and of course one 12-slot legendary weapon. Slowly but surely I've collected 11 level 6 cores but that legendary just wouldn't drop.

20 minutes ago...Playing a mission I suddenly see an orange weapon on the ground. I walk towards it and out of habit just pick it up without taking a closer look.

After the mission had ended, I checked my gear and HOLY FUCK, can you guess what I saw? YES. 12 slots on a legendary Heavy Machine Gun.

So the most random aspect of that trophy is completed. Now to collect some more cores and maximize its powers

After that I have to level up one class that I use in co-op play with a mate, finish the game and reach level 30 with a hardcore character and complete a couple more events and assignments.

The Fall

Enjoyable, but short, atmospheric sci-fi adventure game. Some of the puzzles were a bit too obtuse and it's a little too simple over all, but the presentation is fantastic from the stylised visuals to the excellent voice acting. I wish I'd waited for the sequels to come out before starting it though as it felt like it ended too quickly and i'm keen to see how the rest of the story plays out.

Finished another short game today too, Super Mario Land on the 3DS virtual console. I remember playing it a lot as a kid but I don't think I ever got passed the first world so I didn't realise quite how short a game it was. At only 12 levels in total it must be the shortest ever Mario platformer but it's impressive in how they shrank the formula down to work on a handheld, especially given it was a launch game for the Game Boy.

There are a few issues with the controls, it doesn't have the usual precision you'd expect from a Mario game but it's a lot of fun and certainly offers a stuff challenge at times. Reading up on it, it comes as no surprise to find it was made by a completely different team to the original 'Super Mario Bros.' and was produced by Gunpei Yokoi rather than Shigeru Miyamoto, the setting and the characters are really unusual for a Mario game and it even features two 'Gradius' style shoot-em-up levels where Mario takes control of different vehicles. I think the music might be among the best in a Mario game, I just wish there was more of it.

Spent the last few days at my girlfriend's so not a lot of gaming happened.

I did, however, spend some more time with Downwell (PSVita). Such a lovely little game.

Finished my first run just now and unlocked hard mode. Managed to get every trophy besides the hard mode trophies over the weekend, too. Enjoyed every second of it and I can't wait to beat the game again on the highest difficulty. : peace: Another Platinum will be mine soon, hopefully

(it's currently 2.99€/£2.49; even at full price (4.99€/£3.99) it's a steal).

Oh, and Sleeping Dogs...Don't text in real life and drive in a video game, people.

So I finished up Bound the other week and I must say that it left me feeling rather indifferent to it. I'd seen a trailer here or there but went into it not really knowing what to expect and what the end product brought to the table was something that felt a bit flat.

You play as a character who is clearly a ballet dancer but no context is given to this or why you do ballet. Narrative, something I mention below, isn't the game's strong point but this lack of anything to place character and actions is disjointing from the off, especially more so when you find the actual ballet isn't really a necessity for the gameplay.

You'll be running, jumping and leaping through levels in typical platforming style. There's very little here that hasn't been done on that front and as mentioned, the ballet itself is used sparingly and never implemented in a way that makes you think that the game actually needed it. There are a handful of moments where using it will protect you from "danger" (I say it like that because you can't actually die, you merely become frightened and incapable of moving) but other than that it's never really needed to progress. The platforming itself is very much run-of-the-mill but isn't as well done as contemporary titles and a bodged camera really hinders some of the sections as it makes it to judge distances for jumping or to simply see where you're going.

There's an underlying story about childhood trauma, parental unrest and the leaving of a father but it's divulged in static diorama-esque scenes where you walk through them and they unveil themselves before you walk through a door and return to the standard game. It's not a particularly effective or efficient way of conveying what is clearly supposed to be a strong emotive tale and maybe because of this, it didn't really leave much of an after effect on me. Even the bits of story you get through the gameplay or through the rather odd pregnant woman walking along a beach sections do little to bring together a strong enough vessel to carry the themes at play here. Sometimes spoken words do better than leaving you to piece together visual cues.

It's a shame then that story and gameplay aren't quite up to snuff because visually, the game looks great and the amount of stuff happening on screen at one time without a drop in frame rate is very impressive. The abstract look of the levels and the way they morph as you walk through them, constructing and destructing platforms and entire sections, is beautiful and sections, such as the one with all the paper planes, are incredible for the shear amount of stuff happening. However, there are some downsides courtesy of the more realised sections taking place in the real world which, while looking great environmentally, don't hit the same notes with the character models which look ropey. Musically, the game hits a similar note with a share of both highs and lows.

That last sentiment perhaps best encapsulates the game. The highs of a beautiful art style and incredible animation for the ballet moves and the way you transition to them (it really is virtually flawless in how seamless they are. Kudos to Plastic for this at least) are let down by bog standard platforming and a narrative that doesn't really pull together the way it should. At best, it's a passable title but nothing that immediately sets itself apart as something which has to be played.

I played and finished Metrico (Vita) over the weekend. It's a game I got from PS+ and i'm glad I didn't pay for it myself.

The game is a puzzle platformer. It uses just about every feature of the Vita, whether it be motion control, camera detection or the touch screen, everything gets used at some point during the game.

I found the game to be very bland and soulless, something that I don't want when playing a platform game. It was also very frustrating at times.

I've still got a couple of trophies to get from the thing but i'm not sure if i'm going to bother, especially as the game isn't that fun or even great.

Next up I played, finished and platinumed Rise of the Kasai (PS4). This is a sequel to The Mark of Kri, a game that I played earlier in the year. I loved the original game back in the day and never had the opportunity to play the sequel as it never got released over here.

The game plays very much like the original game but now you have an AI partner running around with you. This AI has to be one of the worst i've ever seen in a game. Having an AI partner with you means the game is setup in a way that requires both characters to split up, find switches and help each other out but because the AI is so poor you end up having to do everything yourself.

There are a couple of levels that are reused from the original game and the end of the game seems very rushed. It's as if they ran out of time and just quickly shoved it through the door.

Despite all of these problems I still found it enjoyable, if a little annoying. It does lack a lot of the charm that the original game had and having had a quick look I see the sequel was handled by a different developer, which explains a lot.

It's a shame that Sony threw this IP to the dogs because I think it had some real potential. The story, art style and gameplay are very unique and its sad that the series has died.

Finally, I was wanting something fun and colourful to play and ended up playing Nintendo Land (Wii U).

As you can see, I never did finish the game and see the credits, so i've set out to try and achieve that.

I decided to tackle Donkey Kong first, as I had read nightmare stories about how hard this was. When I originally played this I had zero patience for the thing but this time I seem to get to grips with it quite quickly. Area 9 was a bit of a nightmare though. I had a read through the NL topic we have on here to see if anyone else struggled with it and @RedShell gave a fantastic tip about how you should just tap the R button instead of holding it. Once I read this then I managed to pull off the win.

I completed the two multiplayer games, nabbing a star for each of those. I tried a couple of others but I need some more time with them, especially the F-Zero one. I think that will be my toughest star to get.

I ended up playing through the Metroid Blast game some more, nabbing Master Rank on each of the Gunship stages and then playing a bit of the advanced levels.

I've really enjoyed my time with the game. It's great to revisit it and get a greater appreciation for the title, something which I never done when it first got released.

I decided to tackle Donkey Kong first, as I had read nightmare stories about how hard this was. When I originally played this I had zero patience for the thing but this time I seem to get to grips with it quite quickly. Area 9 was a bit of a nightmare though. I had a read through the NL topic we have on here to see if anyone else struggled with it and @RedShell gave a fantastic tip about how you should just tap the R button instead of holding it. Once I read this then I managed to pull off the win.

Kind of tempted to revisit NL myself now.

I'm absolutely delighted to see some love for Nintendo Land

I actually haven't seen the credits yet myself as my friends and I haven't put anywhere near enough time into the Animal Crossing attraction. I'll probably have to just do that by myself

I actually haven't seen the credits yet myself as my friends and I haven't put anywhere near enough time into the Animal Crossing attraction. I'll probably have to just do that by myself

Yeah, I had to do those ones by myself.

It's been fun playing it. I can't wait to get in and fire it up again.

Recently, I finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE on the WiiU.

Geez, how do I explain this one?

OK, so three years ago, a Nintendo Direct announced that Nintendo was working with Atlus to release a collab game between Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei.

Some people got very excited over this, I was mildly interested because to be frank, I had no idea what Shin Megami Tensei was. It was actually this announcement that got me to try Shin Megami Tensei 4 last year.

But then, very little news came afterwards, for a whopping 2 years. We didn't even know what kind of setting we'd get for it.

But last year, we saw some footage, and it's safe to say no-one quite expected, well, this.

Is... Is that an audience?

So yeah, Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a turn-based RPG heavily based on the Shin Megami Tensei style of battles with a small hint of Fire Emblem. And for some bizarre reason, centers around a Talent Agency for Japenese Idols.

Not making this up.

You play as Itsuki, who is most certainly not Marth.

Nope, nothing at all like Marth.

He's friends with some chick called Tsubasa, and she's trying to become a Pop Idol, because she wants to be famous and all that and certainly not for other reasons that reveal themselves throughout the game, no sirree! While auditioning, something goes wrong and Tsubasa is taken to a strange alternate dimension place called the Idolasphere. Itsuki (Remember, not Marth) goes in after her and ends up in all sorts of bother when he's attacked by things called Mirages.

But for some reason two of these Mirages actually turn out to be pretty cool, because one of them is Chrom. Yes, that Chrom. The one from that game. You know, Super Smash Bros.

What, you don't see the resemblance?

Anyway, Chrom can turn into a sword for Itsuki to use for some reason, allowing Itsuki to transform into someone who looks even less like Marth and fight against Mirages.

Yeah, the story is dumb. The premise is dumb. The whole setting is dumb. But I don't care. I like how ridiculous it all is, and it just makes for a good old fun time!

The main story is nothing to sing about, but throughout the game, you can do optional side stories revolving around the other main characters, who all have their own aspirations and dreams, and they normally end with them getting a gig that puts them one step closer to stardom.

The coolest thing about these is that they actually translate into battles somehow.

Yes, even that fizzy drink advert can become a devastating attack.

If you read my write-up on Shin Megami Tensei 4 last year, then you should understand how the basics of battles go. It's all turn-based and revolves around hitting an enemies weak spot. The main difference being that if you manage to hit a weak spot, the other members of your team may follow up with extra attacks.

So exploiting weaknesses is the key to progressing, but be careful. Because enemies can do this to you too.

It's a very rewarding battle system, and as you go through the game and complete side stories, your characters get more powerful attacks, whether it be super powerful skills that use up a portion of your "Special Bar", attacks that have a random chance of occurring or duets that can happen at the end of a long chain of attacks, which normally involves an elaborate dance number.

Skills are learnt from the Fire Emblem Characters that accompany your party members and what weapon you use determines what skills you learn. So there's plenty of customisation opportunities.

It's a really solid RPG, although it can get quite tough if you're not prepared for certain fights. Then again, there's always Easy mode if you get stuck.

The visuals in this game are, well, spectacular. I genuinely think this is the best looking game on the WiiU to date. There's colour everywhere, the menus are slick and stylish and some of the animations are very memorable. Especially when it comes to those dance numbers, which are genuinely entertaining, if only because how ridiculous it is to break out into song and dance in the middle of a fight to the death.

Naturally, given the setting of the game, the soundtrack should be at least good. Thankfully, Tokyo Mirage Sessions has a great soundtrack. Loads of toe-tapping tunes and all sorts of Japanese Pop which will no doubt make you smile.

So overall, this game is great. It's certainly not what anyone expected from a crossover of two pretty serious series, but it works well and is a must-have for any RPG fans out there.

Have you played Persona 4?

Another Code R: A Journey Into Lost Memories

As a big fan of Cing's Nintendo DS titles, playing this has been a long time coming for me. I remember being super excited when I saw the reveal trailer but I was too busy or poor to get the game when it came out so I was glad to finally be able to right that wrong and play through it. It's a worthy follow up to the DS original and contains all the requisite charm and interesting characters of Cing's other mystery titles. The whole game is controlled with just the Wii remote, movement being mapped to the D-pad and interacting with the environment through the Wii remotes pointer so the lack of interaction takes a little while to get used to.

The anime/pop up book art style is wonderfully suited to the game and its characters and the presentation on a whole is fantastic, my only gripes being a few issues with poor fonts, dialogue not being properly aligned and a couple of the items were poorly rendered, looking more like assets from a PS1 game than that of a Wii game. In terms of gameplay it was exactly what I expected offering very little interaction beyond traditional point and click mechanics and light puzzle solving. My main issue with the game definitely arises out of the puzzle solving as the motion controls are often inaccurate and clunky which can make solving simple puzzles needlessly taxing.

Gameplay isn't the main draw of Cing titles though and while I can see how this game might not appeal to some people, the visual mystery novel genre is right up my street and in terms of storytelling the game is right up there with Cing's other offerings.

I started Super Metroid a few weeks ago and completed it last night. What a game!! I can't believe that I had never played it before. I just loved everything about it. I didn't use a walkthrough. What I really liked about the game is the way that it is entices you into it without having much of a story. There is the narrative at the beginning but thats about it. The game is really atmospheric too.

Also there is absolutely no hand holding at all. I really enjoyed exploring and finding secrets, paths and upgrades. This is a game all about exploration but, for me, done correctly. There is a purpose and a reason to explore rather that a certain recently released game that seems utter pointless.

If I had this game as a kid (back in the day when I only receive games for birthdays and xmas) I would have carried out so many reruns of the game that I would have discovered everything.

The bosses are fantastic with each one better than the rest. I loved the ending too! Spectacular! The game has aged brilliantly.

There were some extremely frustrating bits, that almost caused me to smash my Wii U pad, namely wall jumping (fuck my life).

Top marks here Nintendo. Excellent game albeit not the best in the series. That game goes to Metroid Prime (my very first Metroid game). Although I can definitely understand why Super Metroid receives countless praise.

@Blade I was checking miiverse the other day and noticed you were playing this. Good to see you enjoyed it.

Have you played Fusion and Zero Mission yet? I loved Fusion to bits but i've have yet to play through Zero Mission.

It's great to see some Nintendo love in recent posts with several games I'm familiar with

Seeing talk of Super Metroid, Another Code and Nintendo Land just makes me want to stop what I'm playing right now and go jump into my big pool of Nintendo gems

What I'm actually working through at the moment, though, is Dino Crisis 2 on PS1. It's OK and a considerably more action-oriented than the original. My biggest problem so far, unfortunately, is that the game won't let me equip the 'Flame Launcher'. As soon as I put it as my main weapon and exit the menu, I'm left with a black screen and have to reset the console

Have you played Persona 4?

Nope, don't have the console. I imagine, being another SMT spin-off, it'll share similarities with Tokyo Mirage Sessions though.

I loved Fusion to bits but i've have yet to play through Zero Mission.

You need to fix that. It's the most tight Metroid in terms of just playing the game.

My main issue with the game definitely arises out of the puzzle solving as the motion controls are often inaccurate and clunky which can make solving simple puzzles needlessly taxing.

Yeah, Another Code R definitely could use some refinement in the motion controls department.

This game does have one stand out puzzle near the end of the game that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life.

@Blade I was checking miiverse the other day and noticed you were playing this. Good to see you enjoyed it.

 

Have you played Fusion and Zero Mission yet? I loved Fusion to bits. If I remember rightly its the one with the samus look alike stalking you but i've have yet to play through Zero Mission.

I definitely played through Fusion back in the day but I am unsure about Zero Mission. I think I played it but I can't remember.

This game does have one stand out puzzle near the end of the game that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life.

Man, the Another Code series really was something else. Both games were some of the freshest takes on the Point&Click genre I've seen. What it lacked for in exploration, it made up with genuinely intriguing, outside-of-the-box puzzles. I also liked how Ashley, against all genre conventions, wasn't a kleptomaniac: she only took items from their shelves if she had already seen the puzzle that required them.

And the best puzzle in the series for me is in the DS game

@Blade you enjoying A Link Between Worlds?

@nekunando i'm claiming blame for you now playing Nintendo Land again!

@Blade you enjoying A Link Between Worlds?

 

@nekunando i'm claiming blame for you now playing Nintendo Land again!

Well.. It is your fault

I took a 'new leaf' out of your book and starred the Animal Crossing attraction by myself. I made it even more of a 'sweet day' by getting my final platinum trophy in the Ninja Castle too

I do play the game every now and again but you inspired me to finally see the credits