GRcade

Where the Wild Things Are on PS3. This started out as a pretty fun platformer but by the end I had grown quite tired of it. Furthermore for what is supposed to be a kids game it grew annoyingly difficult toward the end with an over reliance on a frustrating mechanic where you have to protect the assorted Wild Things from shadowy monsters. It makes no sense at all, these are ten foot tall monsters that can smash through rocks, break down trees and even eat your character if you annoy them enough yet they can’t protect themselves against a few shadowy bug monsters.

This started as a 6/10 but ended up a 5/10 instead.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:Where the Wild Things Are on PS3. This started out as a pretty fun platformer but by the end I had grown quite tired of it. Furthermore for what is supposed to be a kids game it grew annoyingly difficult toward the end with an over reliance on a frustrating mechanic where you have to protect the assorted Wild Things from shadowy monsters. It makes no sense at all, these are ten foot tall monsters that can smash through rocks, break down trees and even eat your character if you annoy them enough yet they can’t protect themselves against a few shadowy bug monsters.

This started as a 6/10 but ended up a 5/10 instead.

Back in the day when I used to play all the gooseberry fool kids movie tie-ins, I remember that one being well above average. I seem to remember it having a rather lovely visual style, especially towards the end. Mind you, this did come after playing awful stuff like Jumper and The Golden Compass. Protip: Never strawberry floating play The Golden Compass.

more heat than light wrote:

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:Where the Wild Things Are on PS3. This started out as a pretty fun platformer but by the end I had grown quite tired of it. Furthermore for what is supposed to be a kids game it grew annoyingly difficult toward the end with an over reliance on a frustrating mechanic where you have to protect the assorted Wild Things from shadowy monsters. It makes no sense at all, these are ten foot tall monsters that can smash through rocks, break down trees and even eat your character if you annoy them enough yet they can’t protect themselves against a few shadowy bug monsters.

This started as a 6/10 but ended up a 5/10 instead.

Back in the day when I used to play all the gooseberry fool kids movie tie-ins, I remember that one being well above average. I seem to remember it having a rather lovely visual style, especially towards the end. Mind you, this did come after playing awful stuff like Jumper and The Golden Compass. Protip: Never strawberry floating play The Golden Compass.

It looks nice and the voice acting is good, there was nothing especially wrong with the game so maybe 5 is a little harsh but I was so tired of replaying sections over and over to save Wild Things from Shadow bugs.

Not gonna lie, I’m playing games like this purely for the trophies. I don’t believe Golden Compass on PS3 has them so I’m safe.

The Turing Test. Though the gameplay should have been a huge clue, I didn't realise this was by the same people as Pneuma: Breath of Life until I got to the optional room in (I think) Chapter 3. That forming staircase was instantly familiar, and it was a delight to suddenly be in a Pneuma level.

The game overall was quite clever, though never hugely challenging, and I enjoyed it while it lasted.

If I'd bought it: 7/10
As a GWG freebie: 9/10

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:Not gonna lie, I’m playing games like this purely for the trophies. I don’t believe Golden Compass on PS3 has them so I’m safe.

Ha, you don't need to apologise about that to me dude, I've played pretty much all of them. I kinda miss those shitty kids platformers.

rinks wrote:The Turing Test. Though the gameplay should have been a huge clue, I didn't realise this was by the same people as Pneuma: Breath of Life

Ooh, me neither. Loved Pneuma, so I think I'll start that as soon as I've finished Lococycle.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

Gameplay - 7/10

SP humour - 10/10

Tomb Raider Anniversary - 5/10

+ Looks pretty good.
+ Varied locations.
+ Some good puzzles.
+ Some good level design.

- Forgettable and laughable plot.
- Some bad level design.
- Some tedious, way-too-drawn.out puzzles
- Shitty, unresponsive controls.
- Lara frequently refuses to do what she should (i.e. refusing to grab a ledge) which can lead to falls, deaths, and redoing sections/puzzles.
- Dodgy hit detection, whereby enemies won't be affected by bullets unless they're in the 'correct' phase of an animation.
- While the checkpoint system is useful, you still have to end up re-doing things if you die.
- The game demands pin-point accuracy and exact angles for jumps and timing, but doesn’t give you the controls or camera angle to let you do this.

I liked some of the puzzles in this and the environmental navigation, but the terrible controls really let it down, leading to failing things time and time again through no fault of your own. If you're a fan of being let down by the camera and controls, being frustrated by repetitive and tedious puzzles, and having to re-do sections over and over and over and over again when you inevitably fail, this is the game for you.

Alex the Kidd in miracle world.

The only miracle in this game is : thank Frank this has a save feature. I did enjoy though.

3/5

Altered Beast (Raaaaaaawwwrrr)

In short you play a big bad buff dude wearing P.E shorts from school & built like a gooseberry fool brick house & you have to save the pretty blonde with the big boobs from that sniggering bald headed son of a bitch.

Keep laughing mummy strawberry floater, cos if you come back I’ll turn into a werewolf & slap that bald headed bonce of yours.

Nearly a 5 but loses a mark for been really short.

4/5

Ah, you’ve committed the cardinal sin of retro gaming... Kidd is his surname there is no the

It proper triggers me when people add a superfluous “the” to Alex Kidd.

Wolfenstein: old blood. Think it's called that.

First console game I've finished in genuinely about 5 years as I'm living with my mate for a bit and he's got a ps4. Graphics have moved forward somewhat.

Really really enjoyed it, thought most of it was great fun. Right strawberry floater of a last boss though. Perfect length too, not a fan of long games at all.

9/10

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters - 9

FINALLY beat this after getting stuck against Laurence and shunning this since January I managed to run through it in a couple of nights. Very good, could have dome with a couple of additional areas to explore though, hence the 9.

In terms of boss fights Maria > Kos > Ludwig > Laurence > Living Failures

Ori & The Blind Forest: Definitive Edition.

This game pissed me off. Not because it's bad (far from it, it's absolutely stunning in places) but because there are so many game design decisions that are terrible. Manual strawberry floating saving? In 2017? Why the hell do you have to repeatedly press X to shoot? It's tiring, especially with the more bullet spongey enemies. Also there are moments where you're just wandering around trying to work out where to go (granted, this is a problem with most Metroidvania games, maybe the genre isn't for me) and some puzzles that are a little obtuse.

Some amazing visuals and superb set pieces redeem things somewhat, but I think I spent more time in this game being annoyed than entertained.

6/10

Also... Lococycle!



Worth playing just for the thought of a stuffy Edge writer having to review it.

3/10

The Last of Us (Remastered) - 9/10

Hadn't played this before, so was quite a treat. The gameplay elements do become a bit familiar and it has sporadic difficulty spikes; but it's (movie worthy) story and cinematic quality propel it to the higher echelons.

On to Left Behind now, followed by some multiplayer action.

dmin wrote:The Last of Us - 9/10

Hadn't played this before, so was quite a treat. The gameplay elements do become a bit familiar and it has sporadic difficulty spikes; but it's (movie worthy) story and cinematic quality propel it to the higher echelons.

On to Left Behind now, followed by some multiplayer action.

Just started TLoU again myself, (PS3), it really is a top notch title. Have never tried the DLC though. Might pick it up along with the improved PS4 version at some point.

Yeah, forgot to mention it's the remastered version I have. It was in one of the recent sales with a ps plus discount on top, so couldn't say no to that!

Alien Isolation: 8/10 (9/10 until the last 3 hours)

This is still one of the best looking games I've ever played. I don't know how they managed it* but even three years on this look absolutely stunning. Thematically indistinguishable from it's inspiration, it's also surely the most faithful film to game adaptation ever. In fact, myself and a friend were recently discussing the whole Alien franchise and settled on Alien, Aliens and Isolation as the only entries in our personal canon. It just a shame it outstays its welcome, ratcheting up the pressure until the final few hours become a series of run-die-repeat encounters where survival is entirely based on luck.

Such a shame we're unlikely to ever get a sequel.

*Lighting

So, finished TLoU Left Behind, while not particularly substantial, it's absolutely worth it for the expansion of the back story.

I Am Alive

Dreadful. This game had so much potential but man, this was a total disaster from start to finish. The main complaint is the 'stamina meter', a device seemingly put into the game to destroy any fun that was once here. It decreases every time you run, jump, climb or (hilariously) stand in some dust. It means any kind of exploration has to be in short burst, or your bar starts to permanently decrease. So you end up climbing up a pole to a safe zone, sliding down into the fog, running around for a bit then jumping back up the pole before you run out of energy. It's farcical. Oh and you have limited retries, so if you die you end up having to use one or replay the whole chapter.

Combine this with some woeful platforming, shooting that requires zero skill whatsoever, a dull story and non-ending and appalling visual style (you can barely even see half the time - realistic, granted but zero fun) and you're left with a real stinker of a game. Absolutely joyless.

3/10

The Turing Test - PC

This is a good first person puzzler in the vein of Portal that manages to do some good things with its mechanics but the story isn't as clever as it thinks it is, certainly compared to the Talos Principle which goes in a similar direction but more effectively to me. Its not very long and only just begins to outstay its welcome by the end. It was also one of the Games with Gold on xbox last month so you may already have it and its worth a go.

Lotus wrote:Tomb Raider Anniversary - 5/10

+ Looks pretty good.
+ Varied locations.
+ Some good puzzles.
+ Some good level design.

- Forgettable and laughable plot.
- Some bad level design.
- Some tedious, way-too-drawn.out puzzles
- Shitty, unresponsive controls.
- Lara frequently refuses to do what she should (i.e. refusing to grab a ledge) which can lead to falls, deaths, and redoing sections/puzzles.
- Dodgy hit detection, whereby enemies won't be affected by bullets unless they're in the 'correct' phase of an animation.
- While the checkpoint system is useful, you still have to end up re-doing things if you die.
- The game demands pin-point accuracy and exact angles for jumps and timing, but doesn’t give you the controls or camera angle to let you do this.

I liked some of the puzzles in this and the environmental navigation, but the terrible controls really let it down, leading to failing things time and time again through no fault of your own. If you're a fan of being let down by the camera and controls, being frustrated by repetitive and tedious puzzles, and having to re-do sections over and over and over and over again when you inevitably fail, this is the game for you.

Horses for courses!

TR: A is one of my favourite games ever. I personally like it for its lighting, atmosphere, environments, sense of isolation and also - yes - the weighty, rhythmic platforming.

But I think that's because I don't play it on a controller but on PC using mouselook. The slight detach of 3rd-person camera and movement is removed and you can just glide through the levels in sync with your gaze like with an FPS.

It's transformative.