ACORN Tactics is available now on the Nintendo Switch and is priced at £8.99.
Strategy games feel so natural on the Nintendo Switch. I think we can all say that we have enjoyed a good little strategy game from time to time, even if it isn't the genre of game you generally turn to when you want a few hours of entertainment. I have put countless hours into Defense Grid 1 and 2 on the Xbox in the past, I just find that gameplay loop completely addictive. But I have to admit that - on the Xbox One anyway - seeing games like Defense Grid next to the big AAA titles I often found my head turned. I mean, if I'm getting to use the TV for anything other than a kids' TV show then I want to make the most of it!
I think we all suffer from something I like to call "backlog guilt" from time to time. You know you have those big releases queued up, and in some cases you bought them on release day, intending to play them straight away. Now though you can pick it up for a tenner and your £40 copy is still in the shrink wrap on the shelf because you kept getting distracted by newer games, or by the gems you had forgotten you owned. It's a struggle I'm sure we're all too familiar with. There are so many games released these days and we all typically have less time to play. The Switch changed that for me and I'm SO incredibly grateful for it.
You see now I can jump into a casual little game in handheld mode, whilst my kids are playing Minecraft. One that I used to feel guilty about playing after I'd got my kids to bed and I could have been playing a more cinematic game. I love that my Switch library offers huge variance in the type of games I can play without making me feel guilty about abandoning other games.
Anyway, I've digressed a little. ACORN Tactics is a neat little strategy RPG that sets you in a post-apocalyptic world where humans live on man-made islands in the sea. These little islands are now being invaded by aliens and it is up to you to save us. It's a fun little story set across 25 missions.
If you've ever played a SRPG before then you will know what you're doing from the off. You move your battalion of mechs around the island board and kill the aliens. Each turn your mech can move and shoot - if an enemy is in range, of course. You create your mechs in your garage but there isn't as much room for customisation as I had originally thought. You basically pick the size of the mech, which dictates which weapons it can carry and you can choose a colour and a name for your creation. It's all very standard fare - snipers, shotguns etc.
There are perks you can pay for along the way, but I have to admit to finding purchasing these tiresome. You always unlock a new perk when you have ample coin available for it and I never found myself having to make a tough choice between upgrades because I didn't have enough for both, so it just kinda felt like extra button presses for the sake of it.
If you lose your mech in a battle they are gone, which can hurt. They are easily replaced in the garage though so it is easy to brush yourself and get back into the battle. Your mechs level up with their kill score though, so you do lose some of those perks when you let your mech fall in battle.
ACORN Tactics is a fun little game but it does play it safe. It's cheap though and kept me interested whilst I was playing through it, I just wish that there had been something a little different about it.
Thursday, 12 April 2018
Thursday, 22 February 2018
Millie (Switch) - Review
Millie is available now on the Nintendo Switch and is priced at £4.49.
There are a lot of games on the Nintendo Switch eShop that started life as a mobile game. Millie was originally released on mobile and Steam a few years back for a little less money up front but a fair few micro transactions once you got stuck in.
I hadn't really heard of it until it came to the Switch store. I was intrigued. I'm almost 30 and so I spent much of my teen years playing Snake on my Nokia 3310. No phone since has ever been as loved. Millie looked enough like Snake to pique my interest, so I fired off an email and got to playing it the minute the code came through.
Millie isn't a Snake clone. It's actually more like what would happen if Snake and Pac-Man had a baby in that you do grow as you eat pellets but the pellets are spread around a maze-like level a la Pac-Man. And these maze-like levels can be incredibly tough to get around when you get bigger every time you eat.
There are 100 levels that are spread through three environments and the first few left me feeling pretty confident. I was doing alright. But then the levels suddenly seemed to get a lot bigger and it was a hell of a lot tougher to not keep smacking Millie's head into her butt. I had to give up on my perfectionist preferences pretty soon. Until then I had been getting every last pellet and not bumping Millie into herself at all, but I soon began moving to the exit the minute it became open and after I had quit out a couple of times because I had made Millie headbutt herself, again, I gave up on that too and accepted the time penalty that came with it humbly. Ish.
You do get some items that will help you along the way, but I tried to stay away from them for as long as possible. It's not possible to for long though. Well, I guess it probably is, but I don't know how much fun you'd have. As I mentioned before, the mobile version had micro-transactions built in. These micro-transactions included things like scissors that cut a little bit off Millie (ouch!), and clocks that allow you to rewind slightly after you've got yourself into yet another pickle. Luckily for us Switch players these are bought with the stars you earn in game, rather than real money. I did find it annoying though that after using some of them in a level only to have to restart it anyway, I lost what I had used. I was kinda expecting that you'd get them back if you failed the level after using them.
Millie is a fun little game, but wow does it test your patience. It would have even the most seasoned of gamers moaning with frustration, especially in the later levels. Kids might enjoy the first few levels they would definitely tire of how tough it is a little later on.
There are a lot of games on the Nintendo Switch eShop that started life as a mobile game. Millie was originally released on mobile and Steam a few years back for a little less money up front but a fair few micro transactions once you got stuck in.
I hadn't really heard of it until it came to the Switch store. I was intrigued. I'm almost 30 and so I spent much of my teen years playing Snake on my Nokia 3310. No phone since has ever been as loved. Millie looked enough like Snake to pique my interest, so I fired off an email and got to playing it the minute the code came through.
Millie isn't a Snake clone. It's actually more like what would happen if Snake and Pac-Man had a baby in that you do grow as you eat pellets but the pellets are spread around a maze-like level a la Pac-Man. And these maze-like levels can be incredibly tough to get around when you get bigger every time you eat.
There are 100 levels that are spread through three environments and the first few left me feeling pretty confident. I was doing alright. But then the levels suddenly seemed to get a lot bigger and it was a hell of a lot tougher to not keep smacking Millie's head into her butt. I had to give up on my perfectionist preferences pretty soon. Until then I had been getting every last pellet and not bumping Millie into herself at all, but I soon began moving to the exit the minute it became open and after I had quit out a couple of times because I had made Millie headbutt herself, again, I gave up on that too and accepted the time penalty that came with it humbly. Ish.
You do get some items that will help you along the way, but I tried to stay away from them for as long as possible. It's not possible to for long though. Well, I guess it probably is, but I don't know how much fun you'd have. As I mentioned before, the mobile version had micro-transactions built in. These micro-transactions included things like scissors that cut a little bit off Millie (ouch!), and clocks that allow you to rewind slightly after you've got yourself into yet another pickle. Luckily for us Switch players these are bought with the stars you earn in game, rather than real money. I did find it annoying though that after using some of them in a level only to have to restart it anyway, I lost what I had used. I was kinda expecting that you'd get them back if you failed the level after using them.
Millie is a fun little game, but wow does it test your patience. It would have even the most seasoned of gamers moaning with frustration, especially in the later levels. Kids might enjoy the first few levels they would definitely tire of how tough it is a little later on.
Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Kingdom Come: Deliverance (Xbox One) - Review In Progress
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £54.99.
This review will be a work in progress. As of now I am roughly 16 hours into the game and have played it literally as often as I could for as long as I could (out of choice, not because I have to). I will come back each week to update this review until I have finished the game. I felt like this was the fairest way for the game to get the coverage it deserves at launch. As ever I will not include any spoilers.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an open world RPG that sees you play as a young blacksmiths apprentice. The world is incredibly well crafted and feels really different to most other open worlds I've played around in, in that this game allows you to just live in the world it has created. Don't get me wrong it isn't fit to burst with side-quests and extra games - though there is an incredible dice game I've just encountered that I know will take up a lot of my time in the future - but you don't wind up using the wait function for hours on end in KC:D and come on, we've all done that in Skyrim. This can probably be attributed to the fact that your character gets hungry and tired over time and obviously you can't fight as well on an empty stomach or when you're dead on your feet. Because of this you end up just walking around the town, waiting for your next quest to become available.
I am still running an original Xbox One on a plain old HD screen and the game still took my breath away. All of you lucky Xbox One X owners are in for a treat for the eyeballs as the game is Xbox One X Enhanced. I have encountered a fair few graphical glitches though. There is a lot of texture pop every time I enter a town, which is unfortunate. I've also had a lot of chat scenes where my character and the character I'm talking to have kinda merged into one being. Not great.
The lip-syncing leaves a little to be desired too and makes the game seem older than it is. It's not a big issue by any means but it's a far cry from the likes of LA Noire. The voice acting, however, is brilliant and feels really authentic.
When the game is initially loading you're shown a video that tells you about the games world and the tough times that they are in. It tells of a beloved Emperor who's son, Wenceslas has taken the throne and basically disappointed everyone with his actions. Wenceslas has a half brother though, Sigismund and he has decided to challenge Wenceslas' right to the throne by kidnapping him and laying siege to many of the towns that were loyal to him. This story drew me in from the beginning. Once I'd got past the pretty long load I was treated to cutscene after cutscene filled with brilliant characters and plenty of drama. The first time I loaded this game my kids' had a party later that day and I didn't turn the game off until I was gonna be late. The prologue was insane. By the time the credits started I felt drained - in a good way - and couldn't believe that everything that had taken place was just in the opening act.
Combat takes a lot of getting used to. I lost my first few fistfights and I actually had to go running back to my mum so she could patch me up after I picked a fight with a man that owed my dad money. No, really. Once you get a sword though it begins make more sense (for me at least) and it is very satisfying when you finally manage to do it right! The character you play as is a young blacksmiths son who hasn't really used a sword before so it kinda works, he's not going to be a great swordsman from the off. The bad fist fight was on me though. The game isn't hand-holdy at all, obviously there are some tutorials but honestly they're handled in a terrific way. The only real tutorials are to do with the different fighting skills and trust me you'll be glad of those! The fighting mechanics are completely realistic; there's no marker for where your arrow will hit when using a bow and arrow and you have to move your right stick around to strike from that direction with your sword. It is the most truly in-depth swordplay I have ever encountered in a video-game.
Things can escalate really quickly, if you fail to complete a quest one way it will urge you to complete it another way. This lead to me being caught trying to pick the lock of a chest in the guard's quarters. Once caught I had a few options; pay the massive fine of 750 Groschen (to put that into perspective I had 6.8 at the time), sweet talk my way out, fight or flee. When I told the guard I couldn't pay he kindly offered to let me reside in jail until my fine was paid up.
There are autosave points; mainly after important cutscenes or, as I've found out straight after you've messed up. The game will also save when you sleep. If you ever want to save in between you have to use Saviour Schnapps - a liquor. It will save your progress whenever you decide to use it, but it does count as drinking alcohol and has the negative affects that come with that. It's a really cool mechanic that has stopped me from flicking to my dashboard quickly when I've messed up really badly, which I admit I have done with other games. What can I say, I'm a perfectionist!
I want to show a little love to the in game map because it is really pretty cool. The art style of it is lovely, and it's super easy to navigate. Anywhere you haven't ventured to is covered in fog, but once the fog disperses you are left with a detailed map of the town. Each quest shows up on there as a colour-coded letter which makes it incredibly easy to head to the correct quest marker, unlike so many open world games where you have to set your own marker near to the one you actually want to head to, or disable every other quest. You can keep as many of your quests active as you'd like on here. You have a little icon that shows where your character is and when you choose to fast travel it plots a route for you and you watch this icon make it's way across the map.
Henry, the games protagonist is a young lad who is training to be blacksmith like his father. He is naive, but eager to prove himself. You can choose to play Henry a few ways I guess, but from what I feel I've learnt of the character (at least thus far) he has a strong set of morals that he won't want to part with easily. So with that in mind, I play Henry as someone who is unwilling to loot corpses or complete the shady jobs for people and will look for an honest way to earn the coin he needs to pay his debts. I am willing to change this later if at some point in the story it seems like Henry has changed - which may well happen - but for now I'm very glad to be telling crooks that I will not help them steal from graves. The quest marker is still in my log if Henry ever changes his mind. My Henry also eats pretty much only cabbage, unless someone kindly lets him eat from their pot of stew. Hey, don't judge! Cabbages seem to offer the best nutrition to price ratio I have found so far.
I think this is what I like the most about this game so far. It's an incredibly well-crafted story - one that has had me dying to experience more - but it still has the freedom to create your own story like in Skyrim. Yes it can be very, very difficult but I honestly find that so much more immersive. Henry is a flawed 'hero'. He isn't already a gifted swordsman or a master archer. He's not even a great blacksmith. He's learning as he goes, which does make it easier to accept the crushing defeats I have experienced all too often. At 16 hours in I have only killed three men, all of whom threatened me when I was on my way back to my home town and wouldn't yield when I miraculously managed to get them on the back foot. I love that this game really charts Henry's progression through the story and I can't wait to carry on with his journey!
This review will be a work in progress. As of now I am roughly 16 hours into the game and have played it literally as often as I could for as long as I could (out of choice, not because I have to). I will come back each week to update this review until I have finished the game. I felt like this was the fairest way for the game to get the coverage it deserves at launch. As ever I will not include any spoilers.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an open world RPG that sees you play as a young blacksmiths apprentice. The world is incredibly well crafted and feels really different to most other open worlds I've played around in, in that this game allows you to just live in the world it has created. Don't get me wrong it isn't fit to burst with side-quests and extra games - though there is an incredible dice game I've just encountered that I know will take up a lot of my time in the future - but you don't wind up using the wait function for hours on end in KC:D and come on, we've all done that in Skyrim. This can probably be attributed to the fact that your character gets hungry and tired over time and obviously you can't fight as well on an empty stomach or when you're dead on your feet. Because of this you end up just walking around the town, waiting for your next quest to become available.
I am still running an original Xbox One on a plain old HD screen and the game still took my breath away. All of you lucky Xbox One X owners are in for a treat for the eyeballs as the game is Xbox One X Enhanced. I have encountered a fair few graphical glitches though. There is a lot of texture pop every time I enter a town, which is unfortunate. I've also had a lot of chat scenes where my character and the character I'm talking to have kinda merged into one being. Not great.
The lip-syncing leaves a little to be desired too and makes the game seem older than it is. It's not a big issue by any means but it's a far cry from the likes of LA Noire. The voice acting, however, is brilliant and feels really authentic.
Combat takes a lot of getting used to. I lost my first few fistfights and I actually had to go running back to my mum so she could patch me up after I picked a fight with a man that owed my dad money. No, really. Once you get a sword though it begins make more sense (for me at least) and it is very satisfying when you finally manage to do it right! The character you play as is a young blacksmiths son who hasn't really used a sword before so it kinda works, he's not going to be a great swordsman from the off. The bad fist fight was on me though. The game isn't hand-holdy at all, obviously there are some tutorials but honestly they're handled in a terrific way. The only real tutorials are to do with the different fighting skills and trust me you'll be glad of those! The fighting mechanics are completely realistic; there's no marker for where your arrow will hit when using a bow and arrow and you have to move your right stick around to strike from that direction with your sword. It is the most truly in-depth swordplay I have ever encountered in a video-game.
Things can escalate really quickly, if you fail to complete a quest one way it will urge you to complete it another way. This lead to me being caught trying to pick the lock of a chest in the guard's quarters. Once caught I had a few options; pay the massive fine of 750 Groschen (to put that into perspective I had 6.8 at the time), sweet talk my way out, fight or flee. When I told the guard I couldn't pay he kindly offered to let me reside in jail until my fine was paid up.
There are autosave points; mainly after important cutscenes or, as I've found out straight after you've messed up. The game will also save when you sleep. If you ever want to save in between you have to use Saviour Schnapps - a liquor. It will save your progress whenever you decide to use it, but it does count as drinking alcohol and has the negative affects that come with that. It's a really cool mechanic that has stopped me from flicking to my dashboard quickly when I've messed up really badly, which I admit I have done with other games. What can I say, I'm a perfectionist!
I want to show a little love to the in game map because it is really pretty cool. The art style of it is lovely, and it's super easy to navigate. Anywhere you haven't ventured to is covered in fog, but once the fog disperses you are left with a detailed map of the town. Each quest shows up on there as a colour-coded letter which makes it incredibly easy to head to the correct quest marker, unlike so many open world games where you have to set your own marker near to the one you actually want to head to, or disable every other quest. You can keep as many of your quests active as you'd like on here. You have a little icon that shows where your character is and when you choose to fast travel it plots a route for you and you watch this icon make it's way across the map.
Henry, the games protagonist is a young lad who is training to be blacksmith like his father. He is naive, but eager to prove himself. You can choose to play Henry a few ways I guess, but from what I feel I've learnt of the character (at least thus far) he has a strong set of morals that he won't want to part with easily. So with that in mind, I play Henry as someone who is unwilling to loot corpses or complete the shady jobs for people and will look for an honest way to earn the coin he needs to pay his debts. I am willing to change this later if at some point in the story it seems like Henry has changed - which may well happen - but for now I'm very glad to be telling crooks that I will not help them steal from graves. The quest marker is still in my log if Henry ever changes his mind. My Henry also eats pretty much only cabbage, unless someone kindly lets him eat from their pot of stew. Hey, don't judge! Cabbages seem to offer the best nutrition to price ratio I have found so far.
I think this is what I like the most about this game so far. It's an incredibly well-crafted story - one that has had me dying to experience more - but it still has the freedom to create your own story like in Skyrim. Yes it can be very, very difficult but I honestly find that so much more immersive. Henry is a flawed 'hero'. He isn't already a gifted swordsman or a master archer. He's not even a great blacksmith. He's learning as he goes, which does make it easier to accept the crushing defeats I have experienced all too often. At 16 hours in I have only killed three men, all of whom threatened me when I was on my way back to my home town and wouldn't yield when I miraculously managed to get them on the back foot. I love that this game really charts Henry's progression through the story and I can't wait to carry on with his journey!
Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Pic-A-Pix Deluxe (Switch) - Review
Pic-A-Pix Deluxe is available now on Nintendo Switch and is priced at £6.99.
I became somewhat addicted to nonograms last summer. It was my dad that started it, during the long hours in the hospital he had downloaded a few little free monogram games onto his phone and showed them to me. I have a Windows phone (yeah, silly me right?!) so there were very few for me to choose from, but I managed to find a couple and quickly lose a few hours trying to decode the pictures.
I imagine that everyone reading is familiar with the idea of a nonogram puzzle, but they may not be familiar with the name as they can go by so many others. Basically they're like a crossword but for coloured blocks. Each column will have a number - and sometimes colour - attributed to it and you need to find where these coloured blocks reside. Do this for each column and you're rewarded with a pretty, pixellated picture. They are stupidly addictive and whilst they may sound simple enough, they can be incredibly tricky.
There are a couple of games like this available on the Switch now, Picross S and Piczle Lines DX. I have only played the latter but found myself losing an hour at a time rather than the ten minutes I had previously thought I'd play it for. I completed puzzle after puzzle in huge marathon sessions with Friends on in the background. It was the perfect game for the slump I found myself in at the time, allowing me to completely veg out. I completed it very fast.
So when I saw that Pic-A-Pix Deluxe was coming to Switch I knew I had to try it out. I downloaded the free Christmas themed demo first and whizzed through it one sitting, absolutely hooked on the simple gameplay and intuitive controls. I didn't use the touchscreen capabilities at all, for me it felt so easy with the Joy-Cons in handheld mode that I didn't even consider attempting a different control method. It made sense to me.
I was sent a review code on the Friday just gone and have spent the weekend snatching moments to play it whilst the kids are watching TV, or while I'm overseeing dinner. Then when they're in bed, when I could be playing LA Noire - which I'm in the middle of - I've found myself instead succumbing to marathon sessions of Pic-A-Pix Deluxe. So much so that by Monday I had finished the coloured puzzles, most of them with medals - which I think are given for not using the 'Fix' option or blank space markers. I never use blank space markers anyway, but I have used the Fix option a couple of times when I've been left flummoxed. I know I'll go back to get the rest of the medals one day though, it's nice to see them hanging over the finished pictures in the menu. First of all though I'm going to finish the rest of the Black and White puzzles found in the Extras menu, I believe I still have about five pages of puzzles left in there.
Pic-A-Pix Deluxe also includes a multiplayer mode which makes for some rather frustrating fun. I guess I'm more controlling than I thought, because I found it really difficult to work with someone else to complete the puzzles! We split the puzzle into segments, but I found it really difficult to relinquish parts of the picture for someone else to solve. It was a lot of fun though and it's certainly something I haven't done before. I found it much better to go back and do puzzles I had already completed on my own beforehand, I think it helped me feel like I wasn't missing out on solving the whole thing for myself. Silly, I know.
Overall, I've loved almost every second of the time I have spent with Pic-A-Pix Deluxe and I will be sad when I've completed all the puzzles. There is the promise of extra puzzles to be added in the future as paid DLC packs - one of which is available now for £3.49 I believe. These packs will typically include around 150 puzzles which offers pretty good value for money. The one at the minute includes the puzzles that were included in the Nintendo DS release, so if you have already played those puzzles save your cash for the next DLC pack.
I'd definitely recommend Pic-A-Pix Deluxe to Switch owners. It's a perfect fit for the console, especially in handheld mode which is how I primarily play my Switch. It doesn't tax the battery so you can get plenty of hours of nonogram goodness in a single charge and it is SO satisfying when you complete the puzzle that you've been struggling with for a little while and get a pretty picture!
I became somewhat addicted to nonograms last summer. It was my dad that started it, during the long hours in the hospital he had downloaded a few little free monogram games onto his phone and showed them to me. I have a Windows phone (yeah, silly me right?!) so there were very few for me to choose from, but I managed to find a couple and quickly lose a few hours trying to decode the pictures.
I imagine that everyone reading is familiar with the idea of a nonogram puzzle, but they may not be familiar with the name as they can go by so many others. Basically they're like a crossword but for coloured blocks. Each column will have a number - and sometimes colour - attributed to it and you need to find where these coloured blocks reside. Do this for each column and you're rewarded with a pretty, pixellated picture. They are stupidly addictive and whilst they may sound simple enough, they can be incredibly tricky.
There are a couple of games like this available on the Switch now, Picross S and Piczle Lines DX. I have only played the latter but found myself losing an hour at a time rather than the ten minutes I had previously thought I'd play it for. I completed puzzle after puzzle in huge marathon sessions with Friends on in the background. It was the perfect game for the slump I found myself in at the time, allowing me to completely veg out. I completed it very fast.
So when I saw that Pic-A-Pix Deluxe was coming to Switch I knew I had to try it out. I downloaded the free Christmas themed demo first and whizzed through it one sitting, absolutely hooked on the simple gameplay and intuitive controls. I didn't use the touchscreen capabilities at all, for me it felt so easy with the Joy-Cons in handheld mode that I didn't even consider attempting a different control method. It made sense to me.
I was sent a review code on the Friday just gone and have spent the weekend snatching moments to play it whilst the kids are watching TV, or while I'm overseeing dinner. Then when they're in bed, when I could be playing LA Noire - which I'm in the middle of - I've found myself instead succumbing to marathon sessions of Pic-A-Pix Deluxe. So much so that by Monday I had finished the coloured puzzles, most of them with medals - which I think are given for not using the 'Fix' option or blank space markers. I never use blank space markers anyway, but I have used the Fix option a couple of times when I've been left flummoxed. I know I'll go back to get the rest of the medals one day though, it's nice to see them hanging over the finished pictures in the menu. First of all though I'm going to finish the rest of the Black and White puzzles found in the Extras menu, I believe I still have about five pages of puzzles left in there.
Pic-A-Pix Deluxe also includes a multiplayer mode which makes for some rather frustrating fun. I guess I'm more controlling than I thought, because I found it really difficult to work with someone else to complete the puzzles! We split the puzzle into segments, but I found it really difficult to relinquish parts of the picture for someone else to solve. It was a lot of fun though and it's certainly something I haven't done before. I found it much better to go back and do puzzles I had already completed on my own beforehand, I think it helped me feel like I wasn't missing out on solving the whole thing for myself. Silly, I know.
Overall, I've loved almost every second of the time I have spent with Pic-A-Pix Deluxe and I will be sad when I've completed all the puzzles. There is the promise of extra puzzles to be added in the future as paid DLC packs - one of which is available now for £3.49 I believe. These packs will typically include around 150 puzzles which offers pretty good value for money. The one at the minute includes the puzzles that were included in the Nintendo DS release, so if you have already played those puzzles save your cash for the next DLC pack.
I'd definitely recommend Pic-A-Pix Deluxe to Switch owners. It's a perfect fit for the console, especially in handheld mode which is how I primarily play my Switch. It doesn't tax the battery so you can get plenty of hours of nonogram goodness in a single charge and it is SO satisfying when you complete the puzzle that you've been struggling with for a little while and get a pretty picture!
Friday, 8 December 2017
Quest of Dungeons (Switch) - Review
Quest of Dungeons is available now on the Nintendo Switch and is priced at £7.99.
You may feel a little deja vu reading the title of this review. Yes I have reviewed this title before, way back in the September of 2015 when it was released on the Xbox One. I loved it and gave it a massive 9/10. So when I realised it was released on Switch I didn't hesitate to reach out to the lovely game developer David and ask if I could review it again on the Switch. I had a feeling Quest of Dungeons had found it's true home.
How right I was! Everything I loved about the game initially has been magnified tenfold by the fact I can now take it with me!!! It really does feel super special on the Switch, I've played it for hours on the TV and when my kids want to watch a film I get to carry on playing. I'm one of those annoying parents that turns up to pick the children up from school half an hour early (in my defense if you don't do that you don't get anywhere near the school) and having Quest of Dungeons on my Switch has been the perfect companion to those last few minutes of peace.
In fact I'd go so far as to say that the experience of playing Quest of Dungeons on the Nintendo Switch has made me reconsider how highly I rated it on the Xbox One. I'm not going to go back and change the score but if I was going to score this now, on the Switch, I'd give it 9/10. I can't give it a ten because there could be more of it - the option to reenter a dungeon you liked would be a sweet addition for starters - so it's not quite perfect. But it is definitely closer to perfection than it's Xbox One counterpart is. It feels like the definitive edition of the game.
That being said though it does feel like a little more could have been added for this re-release. There have been some tweaks and new additions - mainly in the form of a new achievement like system that keeps track of your feats and a new "mansion" level that has some new enemies. I might have liked an extra character or two but what I really, really wish we'd seen come to the Switch version of Quest of Dungeons would have been a little co-op mode. Ah that'd be truly glorious. A Joy-Con each as you try and make your way through the dungeons? It's be the perfect way for me to introduce my kids to this type of game. They're too young yet to appreciate the type of game where one mistake can mean you start again from the beginning, but if I were able to support them through it I'm sure we could have a lot of fun together. Hint, hint David!
You may feel a little deja vu reading the title of this review. Yes I have reviewed this title before, way back in the September of 2015 when it was released on the Xbox One. I loved it and gave it a massive 9/10. So when I realised it was released on Switch I didn't hesitate to reach out to the lovely game developer David and ask if I could review it again on the Switch. I had a feeling Quest of Dungeons had found it's true home.
How right I was! Everything I loved about the game initially has been magnified tenfold by the fact I can now take it with me!!! It really does feel super special on the Switch, I've played it for hours on the TV and when my kids want to watch a film I get to carry on playing. I'm one of those annoying parents that turns up to pick the children up from school half an hour early (in my defense if you don't do that you don't get anywhere near the school) and having Quest of Dungeons on my Switch has been the perfect companion to those last few minutes of peace.
In fact I'd go so far as to say that the experience of playing Quest of Dungeons on the Nintendo Switch has made me reconsider how highly I rated it on the Xbox One. I'm not going to go back and change the score but if I was going to score this now, on the Switch, I'd give it 9/10. I can't give it a ten because there could be more of it - the option to reenter a dungeon you liked would be a sweet addition for starters - so it's not quite perfect. But it is definitely closer to perfection than it's Xbox One counterpart is. It feels like the definitive edition of the game.
That being said though it does feel like a little more could have been added for this re-release. There have been some tweaks and new additions - mainly in the form of a new achievement like system that keeps track of your feats and a new "mansion" level that has some new enemies. I might have liked an extra character or two but what I really, really wish we'd seen come to the Switch version of Quest of Dungeons would have been a little co-op mode. Ah that'd be truly glorious. A Joy-Con each as you try and make your way through the dungeons? It's be the perfect way for me to introduce my kids to this type of game. They're too young yet to appreciate the type of game where one mistake can mean you start again from the beginning, but if I were able to support them through it I'm sure we could have a lot of fun together. Hint, hint David!
Catching Up
In the lifetime of this blog I've had to write a fair few of these apology posts. But none were as hard as this one. Because even though I'm sorry to my followers and the developers I've let down by not being here and reviewing the games I said I would I can't say I'd have behaved any different. I couldn't.
As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I lost my beloved Mum to cancer at the end of September. She was just 48. The last six weeks or so of her life were spent in the hospital. Actually she spent much of the last six months in and out of the place. But in the last six weeks it was clear there wasn't much time left. So I was there pretty much every day, spending all the time I could with her and attempting to support my dad through this horrific time.
In the now two and a half months that has followed - I can't actually believe it's been that long since I last saw her face - I have been trying to spend as much time as possible with my family. I'd like to say helping them, but sometimes I fear I've been more of a hindrance than a help. Also my Dad has surprised me with his strength and hasn't needed me as much as I've needed to feel like I could help. If that makes sense. I'm realising now, that as much as we may not want it too life has to carry on. We have to pick ourselves up and carry on through every day, knowing full well there will always be a huge black hole in our hearts that can never be full again. It isn't easy. It doesn't feel right, or fair. But this is the hand that life has dealt us so we adapt and keep going.
So I guess instead of apologising I guess I'm asking for understanding. I'm going to start catching up on the reviews I should have been doing these past couple of months, starting today. Because I have to carry on - even if I want to shy away from the world.
As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I lost my beloved Mum to cancer at the end of September. She was just 48. The last six weeks or so of her life were spent in the hospital. Actually she spent much of the last six months in and out of the place. But in the last six weeks it was clear there wasn't much time left. So I was there pretty much every day, spending all the time I could with her and attempting to support my dad through this horrific time.
In the now two and a half months that has followed - I can't actually believe it's been that long since I last saw her face - I have been trying to spend as much time as possible with my family. I'd like to say helping them, but sometimes I fear I've been more of a hindrance than a help. Also my Dad has surprised me with his strength and hasn't needed me as much as I've needed to feel like I could help. If that makes sense. I'm realising now, that as much as we may not want it too life has to carry on. We have to pick ourselves up and carry on through every day, knowing full well there will always be a huge black hole in our hearts that can never be full again. It isn't easy. It doesn't feel right, or fair. But this is the hand that life has dealt us so we adapt and keep going.
So I guess instead of apologising I guess I'm asking for understanding. I'm going to start catching up on the reviews I should have been doing these past couple of months, starting today. Because I have to carry on - even if I want to shy away from the world.
Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Agents of Mayhem (Xbox One) - Review
Agents of Mayhem is available now for the Xbox One and is priced at £49.99 on the Xbox Marketplace.
This review should have been up a while back. Yeah home life has been hectic, but actually the biggest problem I have had with this review has actually just been in the writing. I've had severe writing block where this game is concerned, because I'm still not sure where I stand with it. Helpful, right?!
Agents of Mayhem is an open world game by Volition, set after events in Saints Row 4: Gat out of Hell. On paper that game sounds amazing, an open world, with plenty of different heroes to play as in a battle against the guys who are trying to take over the world. But somehow, it falls flat.
I wanted to love it. I wanted to be dying to jump back in every time my playtime was rudely interrupted by yet another kid's party. But I just wasn't all that bothered about getting back to what basically ends up being a rather lifeless world. The open world of Seoul just doesn't seem very full, generally there are only a few NPC's, vehicles and just general signs of life. Don't worry though there are some collectibles dotted about to flesh out the world. Oh goody.
This is where my issue in writing this review started - who will believe that Volition have managed to make a world that's stale and boring after the first hour?! But everything about this game does feel stale - at least to me. The characters only ever managed to raise a slight smile, although mostly the attempts at humour made me cringe. Agents of Mayhem just doesn't hit the silly comical heights that the Saints Row games have managed to before.
There are a lot of characters to choose to play as in Agents of Mayhem, but again this just doesn't feel right. I wish they'd made a few less characters and put more effort into writing the ones that stayed. There are too many that just feel completely interchangeable. It's such a shame. Some of them are pretty interesting and have fairly decent backstories but these may only standout because of how dull the others are. You pick three of them to take with you to your missions, and can switch between them at will, utilising their different special abilities to wreak havoc on the baddies. Unfortunately there's no way to control the people you're not playing as, which feels like a big missed opportunity. If you'd had some squad control elements this game could have been a lot more interesting.
The gunplay is alright, it doesn't break any molds but it all works pretty much how you'd expect. I had some issues in some of the bigger battles with stuttering, but it wasn't too bad. The worst thing about the battles is how repetitive they feel, the same baddies will appear over and over and to top it off they feel a bit bullet-spongey.
The biggest problem with Agents of Mayhem is that it feels very much like a game that you'd stick on for half an hour or less to just do a couple of missions. Which would be fine if there weren't plenty of games like this already available that are better. I found myself playing this and dreaming of Overwatch and ultimately putting it on for a while afterwards to take the sour taste out of my mouth.
This review should have been up a while back. Yeah home life has been hectic, but actually the biggest problem I have had with this review has actually just been in the writing. I've had severe writing block where this game is concerned, because I'm still not sure where I stand with it. Helpful, right?!
Agents of Mayhem is an open world game by Volition, set after events in Saints Row 4: Gat out of Hell. On paper that game sounds amazing, an open world, with plenty of different heroes to play as in a battle against the guys who are trying to take over the world. But somehow, it falls flat.
I wanted to love it. I wanted to be dying to jump back in every time my playtime was rudely interrupted by yet another kid's party. But I just wasn't all that bothered about getting back to what basically ends up being a rather lifeless world. The open world of Seoul just doesn't seem very full, generally there are only a few NPC's, vehicles and just general signs of life. Don't worry though there are some collectibles dotted about to flesh out the world. Oh goody.
This is where my issue in writing this review started - who will believe that Volition have managed to make a world that's stale and boring after the first hour?! But everything about this game does feel stale - at least to me. The characters only ever managed to raise a slight smile, although mostly the attempts at humour made me cringe. Agents of Mayhem just doesn't hit the silly comical heights that the Saints Row games have managed to before.
There are a lot of characters to choose to play as in Agents of Mayhem, but again this just doesn't feel right. I wish they'd made a few less characters and put more effort into writing the ones that stayed. There are too many that just feel completely interchangeable. It's such a shame. Some of them are pretty interesting and have fairly decent backstories but these may only standout because of how dull the others are. You pick three of them to take with you to your missions, and can switch between them at will, utilising their different special abilities to wreak havoc on the baddies. Unfortunately there's no way to control the people you're not playing as, which feels like a big missed opportunity. If you'd had some squad control elements this game could have been a lot more interesting.
The gunplay is alright, it doesn't break any molds but it all works pretty much how you'd expect. I had some issues in some of the bigger battles with stuttering, but it wasn't too bad. The worst thing about the battles is how repetitive they feel, the same baddies will appear over and over and to top it off they feel a bit bullet-spongey.
The biggest problem with Agents of Mayhem is that it feels very much like a game that you'd stick on for half an hour or less to just do a couple of missions. Which would be fine if there weren't plenty of games like this already available that are better. I found myself playing this and dreaming of Overwatch and ultimately putting it on for a while afterwards to take the sour taste out of my mouth.
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