WackerJr

Good idea for a thread! Here are a few off the top of my head: Sonic Adventure 2 DX (GameCube) That camera! Oh, that camera! Sega were still getting to grips with how to get Sonic to work in 3D (some would say they still are…) but this was a huge improvement over the first Sonic Adventure game. While the speed of the Sonic / Shadow levels were the better ones, the mix of gameplay types for the different characters added variety, but every good idea was completely ruined by a terrible, TERRIBLE camera and the frustration it caused. Star Fox Adventures (GameCube) I was excited when this was first shown as Dinosaur Planet on the N64. A Zelda-esque adventure from a games developer on great form sounded like a sure-fire win. When development moved to the GameCube and the Star Fox crew were swapped in, the game looked wonderful (the fur, look at the fur!). The linear gameplay though, was just so dull though. I didn’t mind the flying sections, which were short and broke things up. It was just the on-foot action, which had little flexibility and just had something missing. Smash Bros 3DS (3DS) Cramming everything onto the small 3DS was a monumental achievement! Before the Switch was a thing, being able to play Smash on the go was a marvel. I found it a real shame that they removed so many of the single player features from previous games in the series. Smash Run couldn’t fill the void left by the lack of other modes. Local multiplayer I’m sure would’ve been a blast, but sadly I didn’t have other friends with the game, so I was left with the lack of single player modes. Settlers IV (PC / iOS) I loved Settlers. I spent hours playing Settlers 2, and Settlers 4 seemed to play similarly, but improving the interface and ease of placing buildings. The Dark Tribe was where the game shifted down into mediocrity and frustration for me though. It was tough, very tough! Settlers was never an easy game, but the relentlessness and volume of Dark Tribe enemies obliterating any plans was soul destroying. In a game where you had to trust the CPU pathfinding skills, the game created a element where if any characters came into close contact with bad terrain they were killed instantly, meaning you lost many of your characters when you simply had no control. I feel I’ve used my reply to simply vent about some games I had such high hopes for, and ended up so disappointed with the experience I ended up having! Thanks! [emoji23]

I have friends that volunteered at the 2012 Olympics and they loved it. Good for you @Sméagol, how did it go? I hope you get it! I’m the Head Coach of a Trampoline Club and we’re run completely by volunteers. I absolutely love it & it’s such a buzz seeing someone’s delight at successfully pulling off a skill they’ve been working hard towards & knowing you’ve contributed to that feeling of excitement. I’m actually pretty highly qualified and could charge a decent rate. I’ve been asked before why we do it voluntarily and myself and others do it as we love it, plus we can make it much more affordable (we are one of the cheapest sports clubs in the area) and so more people can do it. We have a British Champion, and myself and the other volunteers get just as much of a thrill whether someone’s completing a routine at a National competition, or whether it’s someone landing their first ever somersault. I’m a huge fan of doing sports and the benefits of it. I know it’s not the same type of voluntary work as helping those in need, so I’m not going to pretend that it affects society in the same way. I love doing it though, and was humbled to be shortlisted for the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ at a regional Sports Awards evening a few years ago.

I agree. Wrestling needs stories and variety. Great wrestling is important of course, but seeing just great wrestling matches with no story one after another gets a little stale. Some light-hearted was sprinkled in can help and provide amusement, when done right of course (and wrestling of course has more than it’s fair share of cringe over funny moments). I thought Wrestlemania was a really fun weekend. Night 1 was so much better overall than night 2, which had some good matches, whereas Night 1 had solid and fun matches and stories throughout I thought. I’m now very jealous of my sister, who has just secured tickets to AEW at Wembley in August. I fully expect them to go all out (excuse the pun) on making their first stadium ppv an exciting event.

Following @Dcubed’s post about Tim Stamper, the Rare co-founder is back to tease us all some more!

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX (PS5) The initial bars of the intro music brought a smile to my face, as I owned a Sega Master System and spent many hours playing the original Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Being built into the console, the music would start up if there wasn’t a game inserted, and over the years I used to be surprised to hear it as the console all-too-regularly failed to recognise the game I was trying to play, and so reverted to starting Alex Kidd up instead! Sadly, this remake was a huge disappointment for me. Poor controls and very questionable collision detection made it a frustrating experience. The developers kept this aspect faithful to the original, and while 30 years ago it was acceptable, it’s just puts a dampener on the whole thing. The development team did update the graphics now, and the colours are much more vibrant and have heaps more character than the original sprites. The only downside to this is that I occasionally lost enemies, who became fairly camouflaged in the new backgrounds. There are a few short extra levels, to help make it a more “deluxe” version, and while keeping with the tone, are largely insignificant. Most levels have new music too, although it feels very generic and a little bland compared to the original. The only other extras are some collectables hidden throughout the game (which are for achievements only), a slight change to some of the later boss patterns to make them more challenging, and a ‘boss rush’ mode. This would be ok, if it not for the fact there are only 4 bosses included, it takes one hit to die and, most importantly, each battle is preceded by a 40-second unskippable game of rock, paper, scissors! I know the rock, paper, scissors was a key component of the original, but I didn’t understand the need for it then, and I still don’t see the need for it now! Deluxe in name only, and for me a missed opportunity. Not even my rose-tinted glasses could make me recommend this now.

I gave my Wii U to my parents around Christmas and they had the error on start up. I assumed it was an issue with my console and bought a 2nd hand one to replace it. Now I hear that the issue is commonplace, which is a little frustrating! Still, at least now I have a working one and Nintendo transferred over my account. I bought Kokopolo 3D as my final purchase on 3DS. I did realise I had some Themes I’d bought for free with Platinum coins that I’d failed to download. Thankfully Nintendo have extended the ability to use codes for another week, so I’ve been able to get them.

Great stuff @Cube, really enjoyed your write-ups. I thought I was aware of most Sonic games, having owned some of those Tiger LCD ones, but the sheer volume and array of titles you’ve managed to find is astounding! 👏🏻

Good trailer, not that it needed much more to really hype the movie up mind. Doesn’t spoil much, but if you’re going to see the film anyway and are worried about seeing too much beforehand then you’re not missing out here. They really are including plenty of gaming references and displaying a strong knowledge of the franchise. So far, so good!

I’m hoping this waves surprises me as it’s the one I’m least excited about so far. It’s probably the volume of Tour courses, which all begin to merge into one as look so similar with their aesthetics. I am looking forward to the new course, and seeing how the GBA course plays now it’s revamped. It’s always nice to have more courses so I’ll keep an open mind and let’s see how it goes!

Even Disney seemingly promoting it, with this poster-I’ve-never-seen-before being displayed on the side of the IMAX cinema outside Disneyland Paris:

A joke not lost on Rare it seems… 😂

I loaded this up because I can finally play those extra Super Mario 3 levels that were originally e-Reader ones. I’ve played the first few and enjoying them. Having a slightly smaller screen area take a little getting used to, but this was a great little bonus. Loved the Oracle games and how they linked up, so looking forward to revisiting those.

It Takes Two (played on PS5) I played this through with my wife and really enjoyed it! It initially seemed a questionable decision to put ourselves in the shoes as a bickering couple who are getting a divorce, but thankfully it all ended well and we're still together! The fantasy scenario where the main characters are shrunk down and objects in the house take on anthropomorphic forms isn't new, but allows for a lot of very creative levels. I liked that there was a lot of variety in this adventure game. One minute you might be playing as a typical 3D platformer, the next you're both given a different type of gun, then a racing game, then an on-rails shooter, etc. Each level boasts it's own gameplay style and while a couple last maybe a little too long, the variety and way it works in the need to play cooperatively really helps the game. I thought they did a good job of making the boss battles seem harder than they were. Lots of elements would be thrown at you to make players panic, but when you understood what to do then most seemed intense, but were easier (although not easy mind!) then they initially appeared. The length was about right, and I know there are the obvious restrictions of being forced to play with another person, but I wish there were more couch co-op games adventure games like this.

So tonight is my 2nd favourite event of the wrestling calendar: WWE Royal Rumble. Despite some exciting moments & surprises over the past couple of years (Mickie James & Christian for example) I’ve been disappointed overall. Here’s hoping tonight can get back to the fun, unpredictability & surprises that this event can bring. My predictions are for Cody Rhodes to win the Mens, with Rhea Ripley winning the Females. They surely too favourites for each? I know there are rumours of The Rock and Stone Cold and while I’d love to see them, I think they are just rumours. Still, surprises I would love to see, despite their unlikeliness, include Nick Aldis, Mickie James, Matt Cardinal, Chelsea Green, and Dark Asuka. Watch me look back on this post in the morning and how wrong I was about it all…. 😂

Thanks! Found it strange that they’d promoted the release of the figures on Twitter, but didn’t have them on their own store. Glad they got them up in the end. Sounds like they’ve been snapped up in the few others places they were being sold at.

Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~ (3DS) A download-only game that will be lost after March. I got this for free years ago through My Nintendo, and I have to say that playing it now I'm so relieved I didn't pay anything for it! It's an incredibly short visual novel crime mystery where you read a few short interviews between detectives and a few people involved in an explosion a few years prior. Occasionally you choose an answer to a question, but getting them wrong isn't really punished as a 'Game Over' reverts you to the start of the conversation. One short case later and that's it. Where the likes of Phoenix Wright have enigmatic characters, the few here are really devoid of personality. I despised the lead detective, who spends most of his time shutting down and insulting his colleague, belittling her with comments such as "idiot" and insulting her in front of others. This was apparently made from some of the Hotel Dusk developers and you can see their fingerprints on it (despite appearances the detective is not Kyle Hyde!), and the writers clearly understand how to write a crime story, but the whole presentation of it and lack of gameplay makes this all feel like a one-hour pilot or a demo to try and create a larger game or series. Why this was released as an actual game I'm not sure.

Yep, well kind of. I did finally manage to open it, although I did get a little help. Like you, when I discovered what you were supposed to do I was flabbergasted (in the best possible way!).

Tunic (Switch) One of the last games I finished in 2022, and a wonderful and perplexing game! I'll keep my brief thoughts spoiler-free. I can only add to the accolades that it's received. It took me a while to actually get into, and I wasn't sure about the lack of obvious map to begin with, but once it clicked and I understood (or at least thought I understood) what was happening it was great! The boss battles were tough, and I wish I had discovered the penalty-free "No Fail" option before completing it! I admit to looking online for a little assistance as got stuck on a few bits, but overall a very clever and enjoyable title.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of this before, but will try to give it a go over the next couple of months. How would you rate the difficulty (if you can remember!)? Thomas Was Alone was a good difficulty to play alongside my wife, so I'm wondering whether it would be a good game for us to try together.

Merry Christmas to you & to everyone here! Hope you all have a great time this festive season. 🎄

Thanks, I finally got around to watch it this week and I ended up binging it. I thought it was great! With so many people I was worried it might struggle as you wouldn’t get to know or care enough about the individuals. I was wrong though, and even if you didn’t care about them, the intrigue of how each vote would go was immense. No spoilers - glad I watched it though! @EEVILMURRAY if they do invite you to apply for any future seasons you should do it! 😃

Thomas Was Alone (Switch) So I'm around 10 years too late, but I finally got around to playing Thomas Was Alone following its Switch release (despite being available on virtually every platform available in the last decade!). I can see why this won a BAFTA, as somehow the writing and Danny Wallace's narration give personality to a bunch of quadrilaterals! A 2D puzzle-platformer, where each 4-sided shape has distinct controls (e.g., one may jump high, one is small, one floats in water, etc.) and you have to utilise their skills to reach the goal in each of the 100 mostly well-designed courses. Each level is short, and the whole game only took a few hours as it's more about solving how to get each shape to the exit as opposed to challenging platforming (well, except for the DLC). I played this with my wife and we both enjoyed this and its charming writing.

I absolutely think there should be a new Switch soon. Sales-wise it’s still excellent, which is obviously good. While there have been some strong games this year and ones that have used the Switch’s capabilities to its fullest, I am finding more and more that are struggling on the Switch hardware. The obvious recent titles notwithstanding, I’m finding a great disparity now with the multi-platform games. I understand that graphically it’s hard to compare, but when performance and gameplay is becoming an issue that’s where it gets frustrating. Tunic did well at hiding it’s graphical differences, despite longer load times, we’ve seen Sonic Frontiers’ differences, but even things like the Two Point games which look good, have had to reduce gameplay elements (such as maximum number of buildings) to compromise. I love the portability of the Switch, and if the differences are minor then I’d usually opt for the portability of the Switch version. As these differences get larger it’s making the argument to get the Switch version harder. I also worry about Zelda: TotK as I desperately hope that the Switch hardware doesn’t stop this becoming as amazing a game as it should be. Finally, a fresh start to the eShop! Please! There is so much rubbish on there now it’s increasingly difficult to navigate. At least a new Switch would be a fresh start. Even if the current games still work, at least they could be filtered out, or Switch-specific could have their own section or app on the new machine.

Yes for Sports Story! A great finale & lovely surprise! (Ok a surprise for me, sounds like everyone else predicted it! 😄) Can’t wait to try this one.

New Pokémon Snap (Switch) Improved upon every aspect of the original and I really enjoyed it. While my wife saw it and thought it looked really repetitive, thanks to the updates there are a surprising number of stages, and there’s variation within them by playing them in day or night. I didn’t always find it clear how I got a Pokémon to behave in a certain way, so a lot of poses were achieved by blind luck, and some of the more secret Pokémon have a very set, but unclear method for finding them, so you have to be patient enough to try things. I liked that it felt as though you were traversing a world filled with Pokémon and so was thoroughly satisfied with it.