More game reviews-Kickstarter edition

Hello.

 

So here I am yet again with more mini reviews of games I am playing from the massive backlog I have in my library.  And THIS time I did something a little different.  Three of the five games I am reviewing I backed on Kickstarter.  How well did I pick?  Let us see…

Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded (Replay Games):  Sometimes nostalgia can be a good thing.  And other times it can go horribly wrong.  This is one of the latter.  While it plays more or less like the original game (with the exception of toning it down a bit to get wide release), the rest of the game got some major upgrades.  More voice acting, more scenarios, and a graphical facelift were all part of the deal when this was put onto Kickstarter.  Well, they did as they promised…but ultimately failed.  The dialog is repetitive and unfunny, the extra scenarios are uninspired, and the graphics look like bad Flash animation.  Not worth getting, I am sad to say.

Shadowgate (Zojoi):  Another point and click adventure game of the past given new life via Kickstarter.  And unlike the above, this one is worthwhile.  While the graphics seem a bit much for the game compared to the original, it still plays head and shoulders above LSLR.  Not as good as a Telltale Games property, but it passes the time well.  Worth a look.

Evoland (Shirogames):  An interesting take on the evolution of RPG games, from old school 8 bit graphical to more modern HD poly graphics, with a lot of the advancements each generation brought.  For the first 2/3 of the game it is a fun look at how much the games have changed .  They also have an interesting mechanic where you can change eras and go between older 2d graphics and modern 3d, where you have to utilize the differences between the two to advance.  Then comes the final 1/3, where they seem to run out of ideas and just go for parodying common tropes in RPGs.  And there it runs out of steam.  A shame, because for the most part the game is pretty fun.  Give it a shot, but realize it gets old quick.

Mercenary Kings (Tribute Kings):  A retro style shooter in the style of Contra and Metal Slug with graphical artwork by Paul Robertson, well known bit artist.  It is a game that I feel I have barely scratched the surface of.  While the controls are a bit frustrating, I think this is one I will be coming back to play some more of when I get a chance.  So yeah, it seems a good purchase to try.

Defense Grid 2 (Hidden Path Entertainment):  The final game of this session, this was another one I backed on Kickstarter.  And I have to say this one was well worth it.  A tower defense game that has a story dealing with sentient artificial intelligences, humans, and an invading alien force.  Great graphics, voicework, gameplay, the works.  This is one I am glad to have backed and is one I will fire up when I can’t decide what I want to play.  Definitely worth your time to play.

More Mini Video Game Reviews

Hello.

Yet again it is time for me to play and review some of the games in my library that I have bought and never played.  So without further ado…

No Time to Explain (tinyBuildGames):  You are at home, just dancing, when a future you bursts through the wall trying to recruit you but tells you there’s no time to explain (hence the title) before they get taken and you have to go save your future self.  You use the weapon dropped from your future self to fight and jump/fly limited distances as you go through various time portals trying to save yourself.  An interesting idea ruined by horrible controlling.  You aim the gun with the mouse, which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t too damned sensitive.  Trying to use the gun to fly when the slightest nudge to the mouse sends you wildly off course is a definite road to rage quitting.  I played about 10 minutes before quitting.

The Wonderful End of the World (Dejobaan Games):  The world is about to end.  This doesn’t mean you can’t save as much as you can using your super sticky puppet to grab it all.  Yes, basically this game is Katamari Damacy.  This is not a bad thing, snce that is an amazingly fun game where you collect objects to become bigger so you can collect larger objects, which is what you do in World.  World has some of that fun, but only a slice of it compared to Katamari.  Still, it is rather enjoyable and worth a look if you are jonesing for some Katamari-style gaming on the PC.

Wizorb (Tribute Games):  Imagine combining Breakout (or Araknoid) with a RPG game and you have the basic idea of this game.  You go from town to town, fighting monsters to earn money to rebuild your village.  You beat said monsters mainly by breaking objects (mainly bricks) with a magic orb deflected by your wand.  Entertaining, but like Breakout, can get rather monotonous.  Fun for a little while, but gets old quick.

Sugar Cube (Bittersweet Factory) (Turtle Cream):  You are a sugarcube trying to get out of the evil factory before it makes you into yummy treats.  A platformer where the gimmick is the background behind you changes when you move.  Platforms will appear and disappear, different routes will show when you jump, etc.  This gimmick was rather sloppily used and made a mediocre game horrible.  I played maybe 5 minutes before figuring out it is garbage.

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse  (Sega):  A remake of a 90s Genesis platformer game with all new graphics, much like Duck Tales.  However, unlike Duck Tales, the game just really didn’t click with me.  It’s not bad, it’s just not really good either.  I played for a while, and while I don’t hate it, I don’t really think it’s worth too much time and effort on one’s part.

So there you have it, five mini reviews, with only one being worth it.  Next time, I will be doing mainly games I helped back on Kickstarter.  Was it worth my investment?  We shall see…

Into the (Cinematic) Woods

Hello.

So last June on my yearly trip to Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare festival, I had the pleasure of seeing the musical Into the Woods, a mashup of several different fairytales into a cautionary tale about wishes and the consequences that can happen from them coming true.  It was a delightful experience, one of the highlights of the trip.

Well, I soon found out Disney was bringing the musical to the big screen with some big names.  My curiosity was piqued.  I was wondering how they were going to bring a 3 or so hour musical to the silver screen; what would be cut, what would be changed, etc.  Well, after seeing it, I can now tell you.  I in general will keep it as vague as possible for those who have seen neither.

If I had to describe the film with one word it would be this:  condensed.  I will give them credit; more was kept than I thought would be.  And to be fair, the condensation actually helped the story in a few parts, particularly in regards to the Baker and his wife’s story arc.  But even with this they still had to cut, and while some you don’t notice, more of it suffers due to it.

First, they cut out the story arc of the Narrator.  Yes, it is still narrated, but the fourth wall breaking that concerns him is no longer in existence, which was a pity since beside narration, the Narrator was there to show that no one was safe in the story.  Also, they cut almost all of the Baker’s father role in the film too.  This at first seems wise since he wasn’t a main character and most of his actions could be given to other individuals.  The problem is they kind of forgot to do that for some of what he did, which led to some questions, mainly in the first part of the tale, particularly when it came to the cow and how the Baker ended up with the corn.  (Not spoiling anything here to say the Father (in disguise) gives the Baker the corn to help find the cow after she wanders off.  Seems trivial at first, but the corn becomes very important in the story…)

Two other characters whose story arcs are truncated are the second prince and Rapunzel.  The second prince I can kind of understand, since most of his story arc could be accomplished with the main prince, since they end up about the same, although because of this some rather humorous scenes are omitted which is a pity.  But Rapunzel’s arc was drastically changed and her purpose in the story altered as well.  It’s kind of hard to talk about this without revealing anything, so I will just say this:  she was in to ultimately be a condemnation of the Witch, which in both versions are accomplished, but it was done in the movie in such a way that defied a lot of the themes the musical was trying to tell.

The third biggest change, and the one least noticeable, was with the Big Bad Wolf and Red Riding Hood.  Disney being Disney, they couldn’t have the sequence appear TOO unseemly, so they removed a lot of the sexual undertones out.  While sad, it’s not something to important for the tale, so not a big deal in the end.  There are other changes as well, but you wouldn’t notice them if you have never seen the musical.

So would I recommend this film to others to see?  You know, I would.  It’s not a bad effort, just that if you go into without some foreknowledge it may seem a bit of a whirlwind.  It does what it is supposed to do, it is just tightly packed.  It becomes a bit difficult to sort out what is happening, and some scenes are not as well done as others, which can lead to some confusion.  But ultimately it’s not a bad film, and it passes the time nicely enough. 

If you love musicals or fairy tales you could do far worse…

Backlog Blastthrough

Hello.

As I tried (and miserably failed) to resist the recent Steam Winter Sale, I took a hard look at my game catalogue I have.  Not just from them, but other services as well.  I realized I have well over 300 different games and I have only played but a handful.  So in lieu of a New Year’s resolution, I decided to try for something a little different.

I have decided to undertake the task of trying and giving mini reviews to 100 (and maybe more) unplayed games from my libraries.  I shall try to spend at least an hour with each I try, at which time I decide if they are worth the time to keep playing and being on my system.  I already did an earlier post of about half a dozen, and I will try to do 6-7 per week time permitting.  I am limiting it to games I purchased in 2015 or earlier, since I KNOW more will be bought this year soon enough.  I will also be limiting it to games I have never actually played before, since some of my backlog is games that I haven’t played in decades.  (However, I WILL include remakes of games I have played.  Confusing, but hey, my blog, my rules.)  I have already weeded out some that I was not enjoying after a small play-through, and I expect much more to fail the test. 

But we will see how well this goes and where it takes me…

Quick review of The Interview

So I just finished watching the film The Interview. Now, if you will indulge me, I have a few thoughts about it.

It was not a bad movie, but it was from from their best. This is a shame, since this movie had some great ideas marred by too many bathroom humor jokes. In fact, there were moments of pure genius in this, in my opinion. The Eminem scene I couldn't stop laughing at. I liked the running gag about Katy Perry. The whole 'who's honeypotting who' was better done than I expected. It's just that they went to the outhouse a bit too much.

Compare this film to their last big film This is the End. Yes, it had a lot of the same humor, but it didn't use it as a crutch like Interview did. And their trying to put some of what worked in This is the End into The Interview just didn't work. I am speaking mainly of the XTC scene. It felt out of place here. i could go on, but the basic thing is this: they had a good idea and set pieces, but instead of taking a little extra effort and mining the concept for all the gold, they decided to dredge shit river for some turd nuggets. Worth a watch, but not really worth a rewatch.

A shame, really...

Making a dent in the Steam backlog

So among the many things I did this weekend, I did something TRULY amazing:

I actually PLAYED some of the games I bought from the Steam Winter sale.  So quick reviews time!

1.  Tales from the Borderlands (Telltale games)-  Played for about 20 minutes.  Liked what I saw so far, with the game combining the best features of the Borderland series and the game mechanics of Telltale Games.  I am stopping for now since only the first of five episodes are up, and I tend to marathon these series.

2.  The Binding of Isaac Rebirth (Team Meat)-  I owned the original game and am SO happy they did this remake/upgrade.  Being able to actually use a game controller makes this a better game in my view.  VERY hard, VERY disturbing and VERY fun.

3.  Epic Mickey 2 (Disney/Ubisoft)-  For a long time this game's port to the PC was thought to be dead in the water.  But it is out now, and having tried it a couple years ago at PAX, I wanted to delve more into.  Sadly, you can tell it is made for slightly younger audiences than I.  Not bad, just a bit... generic.

4.  Southpark:  The Stick of Truth (Ubisoft)-  Simply one of the funniest and most fun traditional RPGs I have played in a LOOOOONG time.  Far shorter than most, which works to the subject matter nicely.  One thing I liked was I got a serious Earthbound vibe to it, which never hurts.

5.  Super Time Force Ultra (Capybara Games)-  Another PAX game I have been waiting for.  Complex mechanics hidden under a retro skin.  Sadly, this game makes me realize how much I tend to suck at run and gun games.  Doesn't stop me from enjoying them anyways.  Worth a look at.

6.  Broforce (Free Lives Games)-  Another retro style game in the style of Bionic Commando, which was a personal favorite back in the day.  Funny, irritating and very enjoyable, this game sucked up a LOT of free time.