WackerJr

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!).

Miraculous: Rise of the Sphinx (PS5) How can a game be so fundamentally broken in the main mode it advertises you to play in? A game starring two superheroes and promotes the ability to play local co-op is a steaming pile of glitchy irritation when actually played in local co-op. There’s a decent concept here, but ultimately gameplay that feels unfinished and further emphasises that publishers care more about the picture on the box than its contents! For those unaware, Miraculous is a popular children’s show starring high school students and latex-wearing superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir. My daughter is a big fan, and the game sees you playing as the heroes in a new storyline facing a few of the game’s recognisable villains along the way. The premise is actually ok, split between action levels and exploration sections. The action levels see you play as the two heroes in single-player or 2-player co-op, negotiating linear 3D levels leaping platforms and collecting orbs. Encountering enemies forces you to fight them. The exploration sections see you playing as the female student Marinette (the female equivalent of ‘Peter Parker’ I guess, with the locals unaware of her superhero alter-ego) walking around a small suburb of Paris, talking with friends to move the story along. In a very basic Persona-style nod you’re occasionally given dialogue choices with friends to improve your friendship level. The characters look like they’re taken straight out of the show and it even includes plenty of voice acting for the main characters. So far so good. Then you come to the actual gameplay…. Glitches, janky animation, twitchy controls, all there to cause immense annoyance! The game involves a LOT of jumping between platforms, you tap the control stick to move and your character will shoot off in the direction you push, while jump distance doesn’t seem to change no matter how long you press the button for and judging landings is incredibly tough. In single-player you can switch characters on the fly. The option for two-player co-op is great for an adult to play with their child, except the game is painfully unfair to the second player. The camera is automatic with no manual control. It usually follows player one and the view is pretty zoomed in. Should the other player veer off screen, even slightly, they’re forced to respawn. As a result, player two will frequently disappear off screen and reappear elsewhere. Characters move so quickly that often in co-op by the time I’d respawned, the place I was respawning to would no longer be in view, so subsequently forced to respawn again and again! It’s infuriating! Besides this, sometimes orbs will be collected, other times the game randomly decides it’s not going to let you pick them up, and you’re forced to leave them behind, lonely and desolate. Spot the orb. It’s not going anywhere! Single player seems less glitchy to be fair, but the general lack of polish is evident throughout. I will give it some credit for the boss battles. A couple of difficulty spikes notwithstanding, the method to defeat them is varied, from simple battles to quizzes on the series (my daughter loved the latter one and carried us through it!). Playing on PS5 there were some design decisions I find just bewildering in the modern day. You have one save file with no option for loading or even deleting your game. Orbs are gone forever once collected, so once you’ve finished the game, while you can still re-enter levels, the collecting aspect is essentially voided once you’ve collected all the orbs. You are given the option to play the full game one more time once the final boss is defeated, but then that’s it. I understand the decision that once orbs have been collected they’re collected, but the inability to even start a new game (more than one time) is perplexing. Especially as my daughter would’ve been quite happy to play this again with other unsuspecting friends or family. I guess I could go into the system settings and delete the game from my PS5 directly? I figured that at least the trophies would be easy to get… Hah! Even these are buggy. Some involve reaching maximum friendship level with each character. However, it turns out there’s some RNG shenanigans as to how much your choices improve your friendship level. So even selecting the best possible answers in conversation is by no means a guarantee you’ll max it out. Since the game doesn’t allow you to load, you’re given your two playthroughs to get the trophies (more if you delete the game from your settings of course). I’m not that desperate, but for trophy hunters this is a kick in the teeth knowing that success is down to how lucky they get. Given time to fix the issues, this could be a good game. My daughter enjoyed her time with it, but then she got to be player one throughout, while my wife and I exasperatedly battled with controlling player two. Sorry I feel I’ve taken up your time with this post simply venting! I’m just fed up with publishers getting away with cutting so many corners when it comes to games aimed primarily at a younger age group. Needless to say I didn’t fork out an additional tenner to get the DLC (consisting solely of just three outfits). *Deep breath* Thanks for indulging me and allowing me to pour out my resentment towards this game! 60 seconds of me reviewing the game

Haha! Tell me about it! My parents produced a box of old games they’d found in their loft. They find it hard to throw things away! I got my daughter to try some of the games to make sure everything still worked/was there. She managed 5mins of the LCD games before she got bored! 😂 Disappointingly though when selling the Subbuteo, my team Exeter went for just half the price of our rivals Torquay!

Thanks for the advice, that’s really useful and much appreciated. Reading up I’m worried I’ll make a dogs dinner out of fixing it, so if you would like it then I’m happy to send it to you. I’ll drop you a PM (no pressure so if you change your mind it’s no problem). I’ve got a Space Adventure LCD game that’s on eBay finishing tonight, although no bids yet though and it’s the 2nd time of asking with no bids. I’ve got Sonic 2 by Tiger which I think I will put on eBay. If nothing else, I recorded some gameplay of it working and I want other people to suffer the horrendously repetitive and grating music that I had to experience! 😂

So my parents have found some of my old LCD games. I’ve discovered one of them (Formula 1 by Systema) is missing a spring and battery contact. Does anyone know if this is fixable? To be honest I’m simply selling them all on eBay and it’s to know whether I can realistically sell this or if it’s destined for the bin!

TOEM (PS5) Looking like the abstract doodles of a talented artist, I found TOEM charming and a rather delightful little adventure. It all takes place in a monochrome world with hand-drawn graphics and no combat. You’re gifted a camera to take while you explore a dozen different diorama-style locations. You meet a whole cast of off-beat characters, most of whom will task you to show them a picture of a certain creature or object, with the request taking the form of a simplistic clue to what they want to see. Whipping your tool out switches to a first-person viewpoint. The simplistic graphics make this transition quick and smooth, good since you’ll be doing it a huge amount. For each request you fulfil you’re rewarded with a stamp. Earn enough stamps in a location and you’ll be allowed to catch the bus to the next location (apparently money is not a thing in TOEM’s world). Each location is comprised of maybe a dozen small areas, each only taking a few seconds to travel through. Despite the simplistic graphics and lack of colour, the design makes these locations all distinguishable from one another, whether it be a jungle, a beach, or a snowy mountain for instance. While small, each area is pretty filled with characters or things to find. There are creatures found everywhere, usually in plain site, sitting on rocks or trees. Most requests refer to things located within the location you’re in as well, so it’s fairly quick to explore everything within each location. There could be 20-30 requests within a location though, so everything feels swift. Most requests are fairly simplistic, simply spotting the object needed. Thankfully there are puzzles to solve, such as finding mysterious cubes which alter part of the surroundings (one example is a grandmother who’s car has been upturned and the cube will cause it to flip the right way). As well as stamps, you’ll occasionally be rewarded with items, usually in the form of clothing. While these are mainly aesthetic, some have practical uses, such as glasses that enable you to see ghosts (who of course have photo requests of their own). You even get attachments for your camera, such as a horn which you can use to create new paths to explore. While it may be fun for some, I wasn’t too bothered with the camera filters you earn. If you so choose, you can simply take photos of your surroundings using a myriad of different filters. With the exception of using them for a couple of puzzles I had no desire to spend my time trying to take obscure-looking photos of a monkey, or adding comical sunglasses to a tramp! Each to their own I suppose though. Due to the game conditioning me that so many rewards and items were purely cosmetic, I was thrown by some of the smarter puzzles that actually required me to use some of them. I think I’d have appreciated those more had there been more requests using your items to solve puzzles as opposed to the higher number which were along the lines of ‘I’m going to give you a hint as to the object I’d like a picture of’. It was short at only a few hours long, and didn’t overstay its welcome. As you can probably tell, I rather enjoyed this! Admittedly I like Pokemon Snap and the photography aspects of Beyond Good & Evil, so this ticked the right boxes immediately. Oh, and praise too to the DLC (which was free alongside the game, which I picked up when it was a PSPlus monthly title), which managed to add some new gameplay aspects and enhanced the overall package. Link to my video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV0HgNv6_4E

That’s brilliant and I never realised you could do that. Thanks @Julius I think I’ll try that!

Wow that looks great. It’ll be interesting to see whether there’s an interlocking story or whether they’re 15 standalone episodes. I wondered how they’ll cover Pac-Man, but that teaser certainly gives a hint (one I wouldn’t have guessed!). Excited to see how this turns out! 😁

Thanks both. Certainly an option to simply add it would be easier, and appreciate the risk of it starts to get abused. I haven’t tried image-hosting sites like Imgur before, but will give it a go in the meantime. Linking to X seems easier, but I’ve found (on the older version anyway) that having too many X links on a page causes it to take a long time to load, and in some cases was causing a page to simply crash. Of course the hard work on the update may have fixed that (I’m not criticising) I haven’t looked. I appreciate your help and replies on this.

Thanks Ashley. Yes that’s exactly what I mean. Not a problem about Tapatalk for me, I only used it in occasion when I wanted to upload my own image. For me, at the bottom when I reply I only get the option to “insert image from URL” and have to choose a web address. Is this what you and others do? Is there a way to insert your own images? (I’d add a screen grab of what I can see, but… you know! 😂)

Apologies if I should have found this elsewhere, but what’s the best method for including images within a post? I know you can insert an image via a url link, and in Tapatalk you could add your own images. With the updated forum (which I’m liking the look of) not working for me anymore in Tapatalk, is there a way to add in your own images? Thanks!

Congrats to her. The abuse hurled has been ridiculous and it was a great sight to see the medalists all celebrating together on the podium. I don’t think “trans” has ever been officially used, yet people have made assumptions on it and are constantly talking about it. There’s so much unknown with the whole story. Not helped when even the official explanations are contradicting each other. What a Games overall though. Thankfully the actual sport has been fantastic. I’ll be sad to see it stop. So pleased for Bryony Page of Team GB for her gold and in being selected to be flag bearer (ok so I’m slightly biaised being involved in Trampolining and being friends with her coach), she is so humble and likeable. Even today the Bhutan athlete who finished 90mins behind the marathon winner, while setting a new PB. The crowds were behind her, and she still did it in a time I couldn’t imagine doing in my wildest dreams!

Great topic! For how much I love gaming, there are quite a few major/popular aspects that I’ve missed. Souls-likes: reading this thread I’m glad to see I’m not the only one out there! I do have Elden Ring in my backlog though, so one day I’ll get around to having my butt kicked over and over and over again! MMOs: I don’t have any close friends who play these either, and I’m more a fan of games with a definitive start and end, or that I can play in my own time. Fortnite: Played it once, I was dreadful, didn’t have any desire to keep playing. Call of Duty: FPS aren’t my favourite genres (I don’t completely discount them, Goldeneye & Perfect Dark remain some of my favourite games), but I’ve never tried a CoD game, nor really mustered the inventive to do so. I think I’ve got one free via the PS+ monthly games, but I fully expect it’ll remain in my library gathering (digital) cobwebs. 3D Final Fantasy: Ok here I do start my gaming regrets. I loved Final Fantasy VI, but I don’t know where to start with the 3D games. I’d like to play 7 at some point, but don’t know if I should play the original or FF7 Remake. Any advice anyone? I admittedly still have Chrono Trigger (DS), Golden Sun 3 (DS) and Xenoblade Chronicles (3DS) in my backlog yet to play and I know whatever RPG I start will be a big investment of time. Metal Gear: I had a conversation recently with a colleague who’s a huge MGS fan, as I have never played a game in the series. With the majority of the games now available to play on Switch (& I have V via PS+) I could finally experience the series, as it seems such a major one to have missed out on.