WackerJr

Was it last year The Game Awards were criticised a little for not recognising the growing number of layoffs? I might be misremembering that…. Nice to see this being rectified this year and Satvat comes across very well and likeable.

My wife and I really enjoyed It Takes Two so looking forward to this one.

Spyro Reignited (PS4) Having played Crash Bandicoot and not really enjoying it, I ventured into more PS1-era platforming by giving Spyro a try. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this a lot more! I played through all three games in chronological order. The platforming was pretty standard, but I can imagine being incredibly impressed if I’d played this on PS1. It’s no Mario 64, but the item collecting and platforming are perfectly playable. As Spyro you’re tasked with collecting the abundance of gems hidden throughout each level. While ultimately the levels are quite linear in the route needed to reach the exit, they’ve been designed with plenty of opportunity to explore just off the main route. It is necessary to explore everywhere in order to locate every hidden gem. Thankfully Spyro has a dragonfly companion who points in the direction of the nearest gem, which alleviates some frustration as some are sneakily tucked away in orifices I wouldn’t initially have thought to have explored. Spyro’s basic controls involve jumping, with the ability to float a little, and blasting fire from his mouth to defeat enemies (he is a dragon after all!). The games are enhanced by the bulky animated characters and enemies that ooze with personality. One of my favourite moments is knocking rock monsters into lava, at which point they look at you forlornly and wave farewell before exploding! The trilogy increases in quality from the first to the third game. Frustrations in the first get actioned in the second and third, and while the gameplay doesn’t really change between them, there are just enough tweaks to iron out issues and give more structure to levels (for instance, each level of the 2nd game introduces a character to help, which is then the main goal of that particular level). In the first game you were also finding other dragons to rescue and they’d also give tips when rescued. 90% of these were completely pointless though! It would often be a tip on how to use one of Spyro’s abilities, but you’d often have to have actually used it to rescue the dragon in the first place! It’s almost used mockingly that they tell you how to defeat the enemy guarding them, having already spent time working out how to defeat them to carry out the rescue in the first! Imagine if after getting past Bowser in world 1-4 of Super Mario Bros and the Toad telling you that you could jump on the axe at the end of the level!?? The developers know this too as Spyro even references this later on! As is common in early 3D platformers the difficulty is pretty variable. It’s ok for the most-part and certainly doesn’t cause Crash Bandicoot levels of frustration, but there are some points, such as the early flying challenges and most of the first games over-reliance on chase sequences, where the difficulty unexpectedly spikes. In all games the camera being so close to Spyro causes some of this. I think my expectations were a little too low going into this, and everything impressed me more than I expected it too. For me, the gameplay still holds up today and the coat of paint it’s been given highlights the personality and charm the characters have been designed with. A good remaster. (Link to my 60-second video review: Link)

I get the line right just a fraction of the time and for a split second I thought I’d nailed it! 😂. I didn’t realise until watching it back how my Mii briefly turned to look at you in a despairing “look what you’ve done” expression! I couldn’t help laughing to myself at the time either!

I hadn’t really twigged this game before. As a brief game and someone who’s never played P.T. I’m actually interested in what ‘Platform 8’ is like. Has anyone played the prequel ‘Exit 8’ and is it worth trying?

Oh I’m intrigued by this now. I’d admittedly not heard about these. I see they’re both visual novels and I loved the Zero Escape series. How do these compare to them?

Thanks all. That was good fun tonight, even though I was terrible! 😂

Random question about Banjo-Kazooie in NSO: on the original N64 cart I recall that once you had collected the ice key and any eggs (either through use of Game Genie or the Sandcastle cheat codes) they would remain on the cart, even when you tried to delete all the data. This meant you could only capture each one once per cartridge. Does anyone know if they remain in your game on the NSO version? So once collected they remind on there (unless you use a different profile). I’ve tried looking online but I can’t seem to find the answer to this anywhere. Or am I simply remembering it wrong about them remaining permanently on the N64 cart?

Haha! I read that line and had to read the rest!

Thanks. I’m so pleased to hear they’ve got the emulation right for Banjo-Tooie. I’ve been looking forward to replaying this for years, and was worried after hearing the issues with the XBox version. Can’t wait to play this again (apart from Canary Mary naturally….).

Thanks. I’m so pleased to hear they’ve got the emulation right for Banjo-Tooie. I’ve been looking forward to replaying this for years, and was worried after hearing the issues with the XBox version. Can’t wait to play this again (apart from Canary Mary naturally….).

Plus announcing it now would no doubt harm sales of that Mario Kart Switch bundle that gets pushed each Christmas….

16:01 and I’ve failed in my application as the number have already been filled! 😥

Some fab write-ups there. That hand in Balatro was just insane too! I was trying to work out how you got there, and has made me realise just much I have to learn in that game!

I thought this was a joke post at first, but it really is a thing! They’ve actually turned it into a 2D platformer, as if it couldn’t be more retro and back when developers took a licence and turned it into a 2D platformer! I know this link is what they’re going for, but it’s still bonkers to see this. Weirdly though, I’m interested 😂

So I picked this up on Apple Arcade a few days ago and wow is this thing addictive! I’ve completed the eighth ante three times so far, but still don’t feel as though I’ve got a decent strategy. Any tips?

That’s interesting to know so far. I’m definitely going to watch it, and while I’m sure Netflix will do their best to drum up interest, they’re not going to risk burying the company with their recent buy-out. With the lawsuit still underway I imagine there’s only so much they’ll be able to cover on it. Until season 2 anyway… 😉

Those TLC matches were so good! I wondered what they could possibly do differently in that one, but the addition of Lita, Rhyno & Spike were brilliantly done. Such a shame how the Invasion angle turned out, considering how hot it started.

Oh thank goodness for that! I’m still not sure what the justice is in Gex having 3 entries and the, from the sounds of it, decent 2nd Glover game not getting a release. At least it’s not down to someone somewhere having a ludicrous number of Gex discs/carts sitting in their loft!

Wow, so Glover sells 150,000 copies and couldn’t get a second game, despite being decent from the sounds of it, yet Gex somehow shifts 15 millions copies and is rewarded with 3 games across multiple platforms? It’s not just about the critics is it?

I realise that we’re now midway through September and some of the games I’d have originally chosen have already been released, but the topic was too good not to get involved in! Stroopwafel: Monument Valley 3. The original games were so clever and excellent mobile games. The game looks very similar to the others and I don’t know if developers Ustwo can create some more original puzzles or come up with new mechanics, but they seem to be taking their time developing it as the five years since number 2 doesn’t jump out as being a rush job! Surströmming: Epic Mickey Rebrushed has already been mentioned, but I agree. I recall being excited by the concept of the original, but then it came out and was a real disappointment for both me and my wife. Graphically it was dark and dull, and the gameplay just became a bit laborious. Interviews with Warren Spector suggested Disney forced them to tone down the decision making process of Mickey acting good or evil. I loved the history lesson and bringing Oswald back, but I was desperate for a better experience. The remake sounds like it will look better, but they’ve a lot to do to update the gameplay to improve this, and with the short time between announcement and release I, sadly, can’t see that happening. Soufflé: This was going to Astro Bot and the reviews suggest it would’ve been justified. I can’t wait to get this. Since it’s already out though, I can’t resist the lure of a new Zelda game and while I’m on the fence with the open-ended style of solving puzzles, I’ve learned to trust the Zelda team. Hopefully they’ll do the Princess proud!

I’ve never played Splatoon 3, but judging by the videos, pictures and comments plastered throughout my social media, it looks as though Nintendo pulled off a fantastic event!

I think £400 is the upper price for me at launch. I still have plenty to go through in my backlog. The Switch itself was the first console I didn’t get on day one since the N64 and I didn’t feel as though I missed out due to the backlog I had at the time as well. If they suddenly came out with specs surpassing that of the PS5 and Xbox Series then I’ll reconsider this, but even without the rumours no-one’s realistically expecting this to happen. The launch line-up will be particularly interesting. They’ve had a bit of time to develop them, and others have mentioned the potential ports that would have an impact on Switch 2. With such a high user base and so many titles to go through, they need to demonstrate why people need a Switch 2.

The trailer doesn’t really reveal a lot. I hope they continue to use Gina Rodriguez as Carmen’s voice, although I couldn’t tell if it was her or not in the trailer and their website doesn’t say. Still, my daughter really enjoyed the interactive game on Netflix and I thought the humour in it was good. Will keep an eye on this as one she could potentially play. Does anyone else get the Carmen Sandiego theme song in their heads btw? 😂

That makes sense then, and the fact that you could guess the publisher based solely on how atrocious the game played gives a great indication of their reputation! I’d been keeping an eye on ‘Outright Games’ for the shortcuts they take in their family-friendly games (although reading reviews it sounds as though they’re at least improving… possibly!).