La5t Game You Fini5hed And Your Thought5

Ohh the shooting in Alan Wake is not great, why said gameplay aged but story still good. Still think you're mad about Control which literally talked-about replaying on PS5 this week as it's do good.

I polished off Metroid Dread last night with 100% item completion to boot last night, clocking in at about 9 hours of gameplay. I do think I let myself get swept up in the pre-release hype somewhat with this as I do think it's been reviewed a little too highly by the games media as a whole, but that's not to say this isn't still a great Metroid game and one of the better installments in the series.

The minute-to-minute gameplay of traversing each zone, shooting up space baddies and moving Samus about towards her next upgrade is great. For the most part, Samus controls excellently and that goes doubly so once you're working with a fully upgraded bounty hunter. Zipping through each zone and obliterating once tricky enemies and platforming challengers is a delight. The controls aren't perfect by any means - I did find things like the Grapple Beam and Speed Booster/Shinespark to be fiddly at best and frustrating at worst, but other than that the game controls well.

I think the overall map design - arguably one of the most important aspects of any Metroidvania - works well on the whole. The majority of the game cleverly funnels you towards each power-up via use of one-way exits and things like that, which does on a negative note prevent constant exploration during your adventure for collectables and whatnot. However, more often than not I find it's rarely worth exploring every nook and cranny as inevitably you'll come across a collectable that needs a powerup you don't have. I think funnelling the player throughout the core game before opening the map up entirely before the final showdown is actually pretty great map design, so I was happy with how it worked as whole. There were a couple of moments where I found myself getting lost, but it didn't lessen the adventure for me.

What did lesson the adventure for me at points were the encounters with the game's trickier foes, namely the bosses and the EMMIs. There are some really standout boss battles in this game, but some of them are way too overtuned in terms of difficulty. I'm not adverse to a challenge or anything, but some battles were a guaranteed Game Over fest for the first few runs. That's closer to a Souls game in tone in my book, and I'm not sure I liked that in a Metroid game. The final boss battle in particular was a proper bastard, but I can somewhat forgive that with it being the last challenge in the game.

As for the EMMIs, we've spoken a bit about them in the thread for this game. I think they serve as a good change of pace for the game and add some genuinely tense moments at points, but the final two EMMIs again are overtuned in terms of difficulty. The core tools you've had to counter them - mobility, invisibility - are taken away from you and it goes from being a suspenseful encounter to an ultimately frustrating one. You dread running into an EMMI zone, but for all the wrong reasons.

I will say the presentation for the game falls a bit flat too, sadly. Visually, it's perfectly serviceable and there's some neat background details in some zones, but other zones feel a bit flat by comparison. The music is mostly nondescript sci-fi bloopiness as well, which doesn't add anything to the atmosphere. Comparing into the wonderfully atmospheric OST of Super Metroid really makes you wish they'd done a bit more with this game's presentation.

I think I've sounded a bit down on this game, and maybe that's just because it's juxtaposed against an outpouring of praise from reviews and whatnot. I do think the game has flaws, but it's still a fantastic experience when it's firing on all cylinders and I'd still recommend it to everyone here.

I have not started playing this myself as I'll probably wait until Christmas to get on it. Been keeping an eye out on people's thoughts though and it sounds like Dread is overall a good time if not quite the dream. I'm not sure how I feel about the EMMIS. I think I like the idea but I won't know until I've tried it.



As for me I finished this a while back and thought I'd spare some thoughts.

If you like Pokemon because of the monster designs, then what you'll find here is much more lacking in comparison. I don't think the monsters suck in this game by any means but they're more function over form here.

On the other hand, anybody looking for a more involved combat system from a Pokémon like game should probably take notice. All the battles are 3v3 fights in this game, except trainer battles which are 3v3 but you will swap in your 3 reserves as monsters faint. Each monster has its own skill tree, and so things get a lot more complicated than Pokémon.

There are a lot of different combinations of strategies you can use: poison, bleed, buffing, chilling, debuffing, barriers, DPS. I went with a tanky poison team, something I would never bother doing in a regular Pokémon game. I think all of those strategies are viable - albeit some easier to execute than others. In this game, status effects stack so they can end up being really powerful which is very satisfying once your system is rolling.

There also isn't evolution in the way that it works in Pokémon. Many monsters can evolve but it's more akin to specialising them slightly differently as opposed to just upgrading their stats. This means monsters you get at the start are viable if you really want to stick with them, although you'll probably find you need to ensure lots of synergies as you move through the game. The difficulty is quite high, but there are options to tone it down if that suits.

I really enjoyed the soundtrack on this game, and I was happy with the pixel art. I was less enthralled by some of the metroidvania aspects that are in the game as I got a bit confused about where to go a few times. I would say that the platforming is some of its weakest elements. There are a few tight jumps and glides etc that are required, which was never really what I was there for.

Still if you see this on a sale I could easily recommend giving this a go. It isn't a perfect game by any stretch, but it does have a really good combat system and everything else is at best also very good, and at worst functional.

8/10

Jay wrote:

As for the EMMIs, we've spoken a bit about them in the thread for this game. I think they serve as a good change of pace for the game and add some genuinely tense moments at points, but the final two EMMIs again are overtuned in terms of difficulty. The core tools you've had to counter them - mobility, invisibility - are taken away from you and it goes from being a suspenseful encounter to an ultimately frustrating one. You dread running into an EMMI zone, but for all the wrong reasons.

I must've lucked out on the the final two EMMI's then because they barely got a look in my play through. (which I've just finished)

That's a pretty fair write up though especially the bits about overtuned bosses (two instantly spring to mind for me) along with some abilities being a bit fiddly to control and the general presentation. The latter does sting a bit especially off the back of Axiom Verge 2 which oozes atmosphere with it's story beats & other worldly music, but if I'm honest it has played out like I expected & even mentioned somewhere on here before in that Metroid has all the action nailed down with some great encounters with the EMMI's/bosses etc whereas AV2 lacks a lot of action but it's story and interesting alien world pushes you on to find out more and try to piece it together.

I love both games but for different reasons & if both could be merged we'd probably have something that could top Super Metroid.........maybe.

Jumping onto the 'I've finished Dread' bandwagon.  I think I'm faintly more positive about it than either of you.

For example, I was pretty fine with the Soulsy boss quality.  Die once, come back, get further this time.  This extended to the final boss, which I've seen a lot of complaints about but I thought was pretty well-pitched, and beating him really felt like an achievement (and I didn't get to the post-boss section and die happily).  I was more up-and-down on the EMMIs: for example, I was pretty down on EMMI 6, and then pretty up after EMMI 7, including how I retrospectively felt about EMMI 6.  They were probably my least favourite parts of the game though, especially in places.  I do agree with the fiddlyness of the Grapple Beam and especially Shinespark bits: the game explains Shinesparking pretty poorly, and some of the things you do with it are a massive frustration jump above anything else in the game.

As for the presentation, this felt to me more like an upscaled handheld game, and that's the sort of thing I want to see more of on Switch.  The machine's meant to be taking over from both a handheld and a home console, and therefore complaining when a game's visual complexity seems more like a handheld game would be churlish from my perspective.  It probably contributed to the game's smooth running and cut down on development costs and time.  No excuse for the lack of a single decent tune in the soundtrack mind.  

I really agree with Jay's point about the world design: I thought that was a standout.  I barely got lost at all, sharply reducing the frustration.  MercurySteam did a stonking job with how the map's set up.  I will say that on the run back for 100% there were some irritating moments where I should've been able to progress from one room to the next, but couldn't because reasons.  There was also the occasional bad moment with Otherwise Indistinguishable Destructible Blocks, my bane of the genre.  However, with the Pulse Radar and the flashing zones on the (really good) map, these were less of a problem than in most Metroidvanias I've played.  LOOKING AT YOU HOLLOW KNIGHT.

I think this is going to be 2D Metroids for a while under MercurySteam.  They'll be challenging and fun, but they'll perhaps lack a sprinkling of true Nintendo magic: the things that elevate a game from a good time to borderline artistic.  Part of that's the aesthetics, part of that is budget, and part of that is a certain creativity I don't think we saw much of.  A lot of the game revolved around the concept of 'use coloured weapon to unlock similarly coloured door', rather than using, say, the ice power-up to cool down an overheating reactor, or the Screw Attack to turn a mechanism.  That's not ideal but it's fine for me, personally, if it means we get more than one 2D Metroid in 15 years.  (Credit your employees though MercurySteam, don't be asshats.)



I'm not interested in Monster Sanctuary at all, for the reason Muss addresses in sentence 2 of his review.  Any monster-catching game where I can't make an unreasonable attachment to my fictional monster friends is not one I'm interested in.

Hey, I did mention that I loved it & it easily slots into one of my favourite games of this year.

I'll get to Dread in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, I just saw Credits on

New Pokémon Snap



It took me a few levels to get into this game, but once I did I absolutely adored it.

As you may have heard, I love Pokémon, and this game is one big exercise in stoking that particular fire. Every level is jam packed with the thing I crave above all else; Pokémon living and existing very naturally, with natural behaviours and in natural environments and with gorgeous graphics. It hit me in the underwater level; the lighting and everything was absolutely spot on, so it had the feel of an Attenborough documentary like the Blue Planet, but with Pokémon. Then you have scenes like Tyrantrum rampaging through the volcano like something from Jurassic Park or Tyranitar doing a Godzilla impression, down to cute little Scorbunny dances in a quaint countryside.

As an actual game, this just takes the format of the first game and runs with it. Levels are still very much theme-park rides through environments, but the amountof fantastic animation playing out in front of you would be sufficient even without the hugely improved degree of interaction. Pokémon will react to you and to eachother and to the environment, leading to numerous different scenarios in every environment. On top of that, you can level up routes, which introduces new creatures, behaviours and set-pieces.

There are more than 200 'mon to photograph across the various locales, and each one also has 4 different behaviours/ poses which can be catalogued. Sniffing out every monster and eliciting each different behaviour from them can be a real puzzle; this was the magic of the original game, where one or two monsters or routes had to be puzzled out, but here it's writ large.

In a typically Nintendo move, although I've "finished" the game, there's loads left I could be going back and doing. The old Pokémon Snap is a game I like to revisit now and then just because it feels nice to exist in that world and spend time with Pokémon. This game has all of that, but also loads more game and content to actually stick my teeth into.

Where I've seen complaints, it's been at the actual formula, rather than the execution. People seem to want a game with free-roaming, but that isn't this game nor was it ever supposed to be. This game is about being directed towards adorable, exciting, hilarious, majestic or just downright bizarre scenes of Pokémon. I don't think it would be improved by an option to walk around and see the backside of the Pokémon roaring at me, or to choose to follow the Piplup that ran away and watch it cower in a cave.

Ultimately, if the idea of watching Pokémon be Pokémon appeals to you, this game nails it extremely hard. If that doesn't appeal to you, why are you even looking at a game called New Pokémon Snap anyway?

The_Jaster wrote:

Hey, I did mention that I loved it & it easily slots into one of my favourite games of this year.

2021 has to be your favourite year a Monster Hunter and Metroid.

It has been pretty good yeah, hopefully it get's capped off with Windjammers 2 being finally released as well. (Now that I've said this I bet it won't be. )

I didn't play that much Snap but I did watch a fair amount of it.

I personally would have liked a few quality of life features, like being able to fast-forward your travel. Maybe that would have been too janky but if you're trying to get a specific shot of a late level Pokémon then it's annoying having to sit through the slow journey there again. I don't remember there being a fast forward but maybe I'm misremembering?

There were some people that were disappointed with Snap and I didn't really understand way. Aside from some tweaks here and there I agree that it pretty much nailed the formula. And besides, that formula was quite transparently advertised beforehand.

There is a fast-forward but you get it towards the end (and it isn't that fast). I think the game is deliberately designed for you to play through the story and then go back and get other pictures, as you get the boost and a burst mode for the camera at the end. I can imagine some frustrations for the kind of player who wanted to get every picture in a level and then move on.

Deathloop is fantastic. Having not looked into any of the pre-release stuff, I didn't really know anything about it beyond some time travel before going in. I had high expectations because the game was getting a lot of hype, even though I didn't really know what I was expecting and whatever those nebulous expectations were they were surpassed.

I've said this elsewhere but this game is a lovely synthesis between a real mixture of games and genres. It's easy to get through the main story because you have those Bethesada style mission markers all over the place, so if you that point A to B guidance, it's here. But there are also loads of secrets to find that aren't spoon fed to you, and you can't even look up all the passwords because they're unique to each save file.

This meshes harmoniously with the game's narrative. You play Colt, a bloke who wakes up on the beech without a clue as to what is going on. And yet, subconsciously, Colt does know what's going on since we're in a time loop and Colt is able to retain memories when he loops. So it kind of works that you have this linear guidance, but equally it works that there are all these secrets about because Colt's memory isn't reliable. Within all of this Colt wakes up daily with a single motive - break the loop.

You'll do this by killing off important characters during the loop, and if you can kill all of them off in one loop then you can break the loop. Like the Hitman games, you'll gradually uncover how best to murder people, and also how to kill within the right timeframes for your overall objective. Don't get me wrong, this isn't as open as the opportunities system in the modern Hitman games, but the ethos is there and although you're guided through it all by the mission markers, there is very much still a joy in seeing how it all unfolds.

There aren't that many areas to explore, about 4 maps in total, but they'll change based on the time of day you explore them so there's really quite a lot to see. They're also a really good mix between being dense enough to feel intricate, without being so overwhelming that you'll be lost all the time. As you advance through the game you will unlock loads of powers that you take from the important characters that you can augment Colt with. Some of these include teleportation, invisibility, and telekenisis. You can only equip two at a time, but the teleporting combined with the double jump and quite responsive controls makes navigating these maps a joy. Each of the maps features a good amount of verticality, alongside multiple ways to approach problems, so it's always a good time having a nosey about.

My first impressions of the gunplay was that it was quite floaty, and that's kind of true but the aim assist is really strong in this game so once you get that down you'll be a monster. The AI leaves a lot to be desired at times, with enemies generally behaving quite stupidly. And yet I can forgive this entirely. The people living in the island don't remember the loops, aren't trained soldiers, and so it makes sense that they're a bit clueless.

There is one other character who knows what's up though, which is where the invasion aspect comes in. As busy as Colt is trying to break the loop, the other box character, Juliana, is trying to maintain it. This means you will be periodically invaded by other players (or an AI if you're offline). In my experience Colt has a better loadout and powers than Juliana, Colt has to die 3 times in a level before it's game over whereas Juliana has a cloning power that lets her swap skins with other NPC's. But I think that's fine. The players going through the story should win, but there's always that risk another stronger player could come in and take you down. This gives the game a perpetual sense of tension. Sometimes invasions are boring. The maps aren't so big that you shouldn't ever cross paths, but a very passive Colt might choose to stay invisible somewhere obscure. Generally though most people seem to approach this with the right attitude. It'll be interesting to see how the game fairs in a few months. Juliana should be played once you know the maps to get the most out of her, and sometimes waiting for a match can take a while. But while this multiplayer mode might have a shelf life, it's worth experiencing if you're interested. Beyond that, the only thing that's annoying is that being invaded can get in the way of some of the trophies you might be after if that's something you care about.

The soundtrack to this game and the way it looks are absolutely incredible, and the time travel I think is handled surprisingly well. It's woven well enough into the narrative and the game mechanics. In your early days with this game you'll probably be feeling a sense of risk/reward whenever you pick up some good new gear that you want to save, whereas later down the line, with many of the game's mysteries unravelled, you'll probably feel much closer to a speed runner checking things off at a fast pace. There's a sense of player/character growth here that I don't think you find in many games, and I think the looping plays a part in that.

There are a few things to pick at with Deathloop; it's propensity to crash every now and then probably being the chief offender. I think people who don't want to be handheld might be a little disappointed with the way you're guided through the main plot, and there might be some for whom the multiplayer doesn't work. But overall I really don't have much negative to say about it. This is my current game of the year without a shadow of a doubt.

10/10

You make it sound good and from elsewhere seems Andy might like it. Still I'm more than happy to wait till it's on Game Pass.

I'm sure you will enjoy it whenever you get around to it. It's not going to crack my top 5 or 10 games of all time, but I think it would be fair to call it a modern classic. Some people will disagree but I think anyone who plays this will, at the very least, appreciate some of the risks the game took.

I think OMG Police – Car Chase TV Simulator is a cracking idea for an action game. Basically, all you’re doing is running away from the police across Los Angeles or the Area 51 military base while being part of live broadcast news. Your goal is to survive for as long as possible and earn money to buy faster and more durable cars. This idea – as well as the appealing Crossy Road-esque visuals - made OMG Police something that I thought I’d really enjoy.

But naw. Even at 44p (90% off it’s usual RRP), OMG Police was a big disappointing pile of barse. The issues are clear as soon as you begin in your first game, when you realise that you’re only able to afford a campervan that’s too slow to move and no fun to drive. That’s an issue which is compounded by relentlessly and brutally aggressive AI. The police unavoidably drive at you like kamikaze pilots, and with too few places to repair your car on the map and with very little damage resilience, this makes games of OMG Police typically last between forty and sixty seconds. That’s nowhere near enough time to have a police car chase (I’d assume, never done one before). With nowhere near enough time to earn enough cash to quickly upgrade your vehicles, this in turn, this makes for unacceptably slow and grindy game mechanics. You’d probably have to play hundreds of rounds before you’re unable to unlock anything half-decent…unless you do what I did, which is find somewhere to hide and watch the game’s AI lose you on the map or crash into something else before they do:



I have about two hours playtime for OMG Police on my Switch activity log, but in truth maybe about thirty minutes of that was spend playing the game – the rest of the time was spend letting the game run while my car was hidden and while I was away doing other things. After a while, I earned enough money to buy the fastest and most damage-proof car in the game. Using the best car in the game made OMG Police feel a little bit more like a police chase, but in all honesty that still didn’t change the boring map design, the one-note and unthrilling gameplay, the lethargy of the controls, the absence of over-the-top commentary or that one really sh*one music track that plays throughout the game.

This is really poor stuff. OMG Police feels like it wasn’t playtested, and it’s a shameful waste of a really good idea. 2/10.

Haha nice wee write up. A while back when me and Dusty were playing a game online we ended up searching for weird/cheap games on the eShop and I remember us laughing at this one in particular.

Ah, that's quality.  A lovely bit of the old N64 Magazine spirit of putting the boot right in.  When did we last have a 2/10?  A rare and special breed.



I don't think this is the audience for talking about a really traditional visual novel with sad gothic art, even if said visual novel is thought so highly of that it's still at 97 on Metacritic.  (Yes yes I know, can't trust numbers - but when the number's that high you can just think of it as, 'Basically everyone who plays it loves it.')  I'll chuck most of my thoughts in a spoiler, then - but yes, I love it too.

Spoiler:

I'm just annoyed I didn't first buy on VITA and as it's now expensive (£100+ which is less than I thought).

Metroid Dread

(can't be arsed finding a picture because there have already been a few)

I liked it a lot!

I love a Metroid game and it was awesome to play through a new 2D instalment. The one thing I think Dread absolutely nails is that feeling of becoming an absolute powerhouse by the end of the game. Before you take on the final boss, you blitz through the entire planet taking everything out with total ease because you're a total machine. And the journey to get there is great - the melee counter is satisfying, the repertoire of moves feels bigger than ever (even if it's not actually that much larger) and the pacing of getting each new item feels pretty nippy.

I am not a massive fan of a big challenge - Samus Returns did my nut in a little bit with some of its bosses - but honestly I never struggled hugely with Dread's bosses. By that I mean I definitely got loads of game overs, like Jay says, but I think without fail I got further each time I reattempted each boss and it never took me too many tries to take them out. In that regard I feel like the game really nailed the fact that you have to fine-tune your approach; nothing ever felt cheap.

I also didn't mind the EMMIs - while the first few were stressful, I actually ended up consistently pulling off the melee counter so by the time I got to the last few I only got caught and killed by them once or twice on my first run through the EMMI zone. I then got caught a whole bunch of times when working out where I needed to take them out using the Omega beam thing but it was a similar situation to fighting the bosses, whereby I progressed a little more each time and worked out how to do it after a few tries.

The final boss was a good challenge, but it wasn't insane - the second phase took me a little time to get used to but once I'd beaten that I took out the third phase first try. And that isn't supposed to be a flex - like Balla, I consider myself a pretty mediocre gamer at the best of times - just that the game made me feel like I was a rad guy, and it felt like it was by design. I also liked the story and how it all played out.

Gripes? I agree that some of the controls were a little fiddly. However, I didn't struggle particularly with the grappling - it was generally the speed boost/shinespark sections. I finished the game at 87% item completion, mainly because there were a bunch of items you needed to get using a shinespark, and I just thought life was too short. That said, I have never really liked the shinespark and I found it fiddly in all the Metroid games before Dread, so no change there.

A more noticeable downside was that the areas didn't all feel distinctive enough. There were elements to each of them that were great - the nature area, the fire area, the water area - all those stereotypes ironically felt interesting. And I really enjoyed Ferenia - there was a sense of reverence and history conveyed in its design. But overall, the areas didn't feel super different and interesting. That said, I thought the map design was amazing and the interface for navigating around the world was really good.

Is it the best Metroid? I dunno. I don't have a particular standout in the series if I'm honest - I had a great time with all of them (although I do have very fond memories of Fusion). But I thought Dread was fab. I spent quite a lot of time just dicking around because Samus was fun to control and it all felt really slick and well-made, and that's not something I can say about many games.

All in all, top banana.

And also:

Pretty much agreed with all of that, even if I didn't quite come out the other side feeling quite as chuffed as you! Still a very good game mind.

masofdas wrote:

I'm just annoyed I didn't first buy on VITA and as it's now expensive (£100+ which is less than I thought).

On the one hand, the Switch version has all the DLC in.  On the other, it is weirdly missing the 'backstage' option from other versions of the game.  Maybe they thought the out-and-out comedy didn't really suit the story's tone?

JENNY LECLUE:

I finally got around to finishing my first Metroid in Metroid Dread, which took me awhile as I was pretty dreadful at it, especially some of those last bosses. Even with that said, I do thinking it's the best game of this year I've finished so far.

Most of you already shared your thoughts, and I'd just be repeating most of you, but I did think it looked great and looking forward to Prime 4 now.

Nice one mas, I think you should definitely go back and play the other 2d Metroids but rather than going right into Super Metroid maybe build yourself up to it by going in this order: Samus returns, fusion, zero mission & then finally Super.

I might and do have access to a few, just having the time etc to do so.

Psychonauts 2

Was it worth the 16 year wait for the sequel? Or the 6 year wait for the thing I purchased? Yes. This is exactly the sort of thing I needed in the space year 2021. A platformy adventure that is charming and positive, instead of a reminder that the human race is doomed (looking at you there Kirby, what's going on mate?) Yes the combat is a bit dull, and there's still a little bit of a slog if you want to 100% everything; but that's not what the game is for anyway. It's all about the exploration, with mental worlds that get to bend the laws of reality (the cake tunnel is neat, and after a while you just assume that the room on the other side of a door couldn't exist based on where you're standing), and characters locations and dialogue that are actually funny. Like the first game, a lot of downtime between levels was spent running backwards and forwards in case someone had another thing to say. And it even - because it happens sparingly as opposed to bashing you round the head with it - manages to hit some emotional notes.

The graphical progress also helps, in that the characters look like a wacky cartoon now (the first game occasionally went a bit Boglins).

A few reviews have said "none of the levels are as good as the milkman level so its more bad". Firstly, there should be an apostrophe in there. Secondly, although that may be true, it's only the milkman level that holds up; every mental realm in this game is an improvement over the rest of the previous game.

And also - this isn't really a spoiler - it acknowledges you've finished the storyline, and then lets you carry on and 100% things, and talk to all the characters post-dilemma.

11/11