What You've Been Playing This Week

[dataDave]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 over RGB SCART. JFC, how good is this? It’s like Galaxy 1 with what little fat that had trimmed off. Looks utterly sensational on the CRT too.

[fuse]

Not had the most time lately, but have just finished up NeverAwake to a degree that I'm happy with. Got both endings, but the last few trophies look like they're going to take a lot more effort than I can be bothered with, so it's time to move on.

[Atticus]

I finished the Dead Space remake last night. It's a decent game but didn't feel quite as special as playing the original did. The Ishimura just didn't have quite the atmosphere this time. Solid enough though.

[CMcK]

Just started Sol Cresta on PS5. It has a few technical issues with some stutter and the background scaling but the game is solid. Manipulating the components of your docking fighter allows you to change weapons and use powered up attacks but does increase your vulnerability. An interesting idea. Special shout out for the in game music too. It’s properly retro.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Neo Drift Out on Fightcade. Averaging around 7m20s for a full run, which is making me wonder how I used to get 7m3-5s each run!

[CMcK]

I also recently picked up Q-Yo Blaster in a sale and it’s really surprised me. It’s a cracking wee hori shmup with a great art style and an eclectic mix of styles. Mechanics are straightforward with a regular shot, temporary upgrades to your shot, a special which depends on collecting gems left by destroyed foes and a charging assist. You can also earn upgrades between levels. It won’t trouble seasoned shmup fans on normal difficulty at first but is really enjoyable.

[QualityChimp]

I also recently picked up Q-Yo Blaster in a sale and it’s really surprised me. It’s a cracking wee hori shmup with a great art style and an eclectic mix of styles. Mechanics are straightforward with a regular shot, temporary upgrades to your shot, a special which depends on collecting gems left by destroyed foes and a charging assist. You can also earn upgrades between levels. It won’t trouble seasoned shmup fans on normal difficulty at first but is really enjoyable.

I'd not heard of that! Looks great!

[wakka]

I have been playingl Rondo of Blood, the PCE CD version, with the fan translation, on the Analogue Pocket.

I've dabbled with this game before here and there but I'm actually trying to properly play it and get good enough to finish it this time. So far it's not going well. I'm stuck on the stage 2 end boss

The music is brilliant and it plays great, though. I just need to git gud.

[Finsbury Girl]

I finished up Ghost Recon: Breakpoint.

I had played the open beta back in the day and was completely turned off by what they had done to one of my favourite franchises.

I knew they had done a tonne of work to fix it in the intervening years so when it was on sale I picked it up and gave it a go. I played on immersive settings, solo at first and with AI teammates later on (more on this a bit later).

Solo on immersive was the way to play the game, stranded, alone, survival mechanics were really good, they had the rough starting point and could have made this such an awesome experience. The problem? The map is far far far too big. Oh my God, fast travel back to base to get a chopper when you were stranded in the middle of nowhere was not fun in the slightest. And then to fly somewhere took forever, even worse the chopper didn't unfog the map. Very frustrating, I had to resort to using binoculars and looking for smoke stacks to try find bivouacs everywhere so I could fast travel. This took a very long time to do the whole map and was a deeply unpleasant experience.

Running around solo was fun but the bases and map is so big it takes forever to do anything, the lack of solo shot drones didn't help. So I had to resort to using a team which was fine but because it was an add on all the story and cut scenes are all about the lone wolf etc so it did annoy me that there was this dissonance. Yeah I know but this **** really bugs me for some reason. Also due to the tedious nature of travelling I had to turn on vehicles at the bivouacs which I didn't want to but found it essential.

Overall I had a good time playing, the loop of finding bases doing recon etc and taking out the tangos is fun. The combat was great, traversal and character movement was good and the injury stuff I actually enjoyed. I hardly used rations or that stuff it was superflous and could have been a really good game mechanic but just wasn't implemented well at all.

There was a bit where I turned on gear scores for the trophies and wow it was so bad as I remembered from the beta. Lucky I had played all of Act 1 or Mission 1 before I did this.

They have added so much content I can only commend the team, am I invested to do Mission 2 or 3, probably not. I might revisit later to get the Rainbow 6 team and there is some Lara Croft stuff but the game hasn't really grabbed me to keep playing.

PVP wasn't great - up against veterans who have all the gear, know the maps etc wasn't fun BUT there was enough there to make me think it COULD have been awesome. There is a compelling loop but getting slaughtered while getting up to speed is just not fun.

Overall it could have been a really good game, a much smaller map using the immersive settings with better gadgets for solo play would be very cool to play or next time build the game around a team whether AI or player controlled as that is also very good fun.

Let's hope they don't butcher the new Splinter Cell game!

[Atticus]

Having fun with Like a Dargon: Ishin straight away. I wasn't expecting it to take hold like it has ... half anticipating I'd just be longing for the neon lights of Kamurocho and the like. But the samurai world of Ishin is great. You wouldn't expect the same level of atmosphere but there's a real vibrancy, especially when the sun goes down and the golden lights and inky blue skies kick in. The drama/story is well delivered but it's the downtime I enjoy ... fooling around, helping fools, smashing fools ... building your character up, getting to know the locals ... all very addictive. Love the shooting mechanic in the combat too ... the skilltree full of sayisfying and devastating moves.

[wakka]

Nice. Really want to play that.

I have been playing Super Mario World, the SNES original, on the Pocket.

It's my first time playing through this. Yeah, I know, but I never had a SNES back in the day, then never owned it on GBA either. It's a game I've occasionally dabbled in but never gotten serious about that, and it's finally been time to change that.

I actually struggled a little bit with it at first. I did my first ever proper 120 stars playthrough of Mario 64 just a couple of years back, and by contrast that clicked with me almost immediately. It's a game that was so mindboggling innovative for its time - not to mention extraordinarily well made - that it has hardly aged in the intervening 25+ years.

World, however, feels far more rooted in 1980s gaming. There's little margin for error, an awkward saving system, and initially that playful videogame-as-toy magic of Mario wasn't immediately evident to me.

I'm now at ~75 exits, and I've just started World 7, though I've unlocked Special World too and I've got that on the go in parallel. And as the game has unfolded, I've come to see just how brilliant it is.

On a structural level, its design continually surprises and delights. What seems like a straightforward world map of consecutive levels quickly becoming a game in its own right, as you work out what connects to where and what you need to do to get to where you want to be (usually taking a few unexpected detours en route). Ideas like allowing you to glimpse World 7 at a much earlier point, with its spooky music and flashing 'BOWSER' sign, makes the world feel genuinely interconnected rather than simply a parade of levels.

This carries over to the gameplay, where figuring out the controls of the cape, the abilities of the Yoshis, and how they apply to finding the secret exits always makes you think one or two steps ahead - "I just need to find the red Switch Palace, then I can go back and see where that path leads..."

I guess I can sum it up by saying that the world feels full of mysteries, and I as a player want desperately to solve them. How do I reach that pipe over there? What happens if I manage to fly the cape under the goal gate on Cheddar Bridge? What aboout if I link up all the levels on Star Road? And so on and so on.

I can totally see why so many people think back on this as a magical experience. It's like a toy box that gradually reveals itself. Genius, really.

[Atticus]

That's really cool SMW can still work its magic all these years later. As you say, a big part of that magic is the sheer amount to discover.

[wakka]

Yeah, it totally does. There's a part of me that knows if I was ten years old, this would be a lot more incredible - I'm slightly chuckling round my pipe, wry smile on my face at its subversions of 1980s gaming convention, as an adult, rather than simply sucked in by the magic - but it absolutely works. I've been glued to it every chance I get. It's such an incredibly well made game and you can really see how gifted Miyamoto and his team were in their 90s pomp.

I do think 64 is a greater achievement. But World is brilliant. It's interesting to compare it to the NSMBs, which I've played all of. They have all the form of this game, and yet none of the substance. There is a very special alchemy to how this game is designed and structured.

[Golgo]

Resi Evil 3 Remake. After the majesty of playing 2, 7 and 8 relatively recently, I'm finding it a grind and a chore. Drab recycled environments and uninteresting characters. No charismatic villains. And the Nemesis, who has been made even more annoying than in the original release. Attritional boss battles where the only way to succeed is to trundle around until the ammo that you just piled into the bullet sponge boss respawns. I'm only playing it thru coz a mate offered me a lend, so I'll rinse it and send it back with thanks.

[dataDave]

That's really cool SMW can still work its magic all these years later. As you say, a big part of that magic is the sheer amount to discover.

Wait until he gets to LttP.