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Alan Wake 2 (PS5) by dkirschner (Oct 30th, 2025 at 14:28:23) |
If I had to offer one word for Alan Wake 2, it would be “ambitious.” The production on this monster is next-level. It integrated live action video and gameplay in ways I have never even imagined. There is a part where you, as Alan, have to navigate the backstage area of a talk show production while the talk show is ongoing and being displayed on screens throughout the backstage. Except you are also in the talk show, and except instead of talking, the show is being sung, to the backing of original heavy metal music complete with a band performing, choreographed dancers, and a light show. Add to this that sometimes the characters in the live action portion appear to be interacting with you through the screens, pointing you where to go, following you with their eyes, singing to you, and so on. And during this massive metal backstage area, enemies begin appearing and so you are fighting them with all of this going on around you. This was my favorite part of the whole game and one of the most mesmerizing parts of any video game I’ve ever seen.
The ambition extends to the story, which I think is really interesting. It’s a direct sequel to the first game after Alan disappears into Cauldron Lake and the Dark Place. He spends this game trying to get out of the Dark Place, and in so doing, messes with some of his characters' lives, one of whom is the other playable main protagonist, an FBI agent named Saga Anderson. Saga and Alan's stories intersect time and again, and in the game you alternate between playing them. However, I wish the story was presented more concisely because this game can drag.
There were so many neat ways that narrative was presented and ways that narrative moved forward, but this works to the game's detriment too because it beats you over the head reviewing plot details in so many different ways. For example, a key feature of the game is entering Saga's "mind place," a sort of supernatural room in her mind where she can think about cases. You might find a picture as you are exploring, or speak to an NPC, or whatever, and be prompted to go to the mind place. Go there and you are presented with a giant corkboard where Saga places pictures, notecards, and connects everything with string. You have to place clues/pictures/pieces of information on the corkboard in the correct spot. You read the description of the clue, then when you place it, some writing appears providing a little more information from Saga, and when you complete a string of clues, Saga chimes in with her thoughts. You may also have a manuscript page that says more or less the same thing you put on the board. Then you may need to profile someone in the mind place, and they may say basically the same thing you already found out. Then you go back to the game and Saga will comment again the same thing you already found out. Sometimes you have to go through all this to move things forward; other times placing all the clues on the corkboard (literally probably 200 throughout the game) seems optional. It's just like...SO slow, tedious, and repetitive. I love the mind place in theory, and I thought it was unique and engaging at first, but I became so tired of it by the end. Saga will say "So I need to go to the cabin in the woods to get the Clicker" (or something) and I am like "OMG I knew that 15 minutes ago, but I had to profile someone who told me the same thing, then go to the corkboard and pin clues that told me the same thing, and I already heard you Saga say that I need to go to the cabin in the woods in the mind place 3 times, and the person I profiled said it again, and Alan Wake narrated it because it was also in a manuscript page, AAAAAH!" The game wants you to "get into the heads" of the characters, and it certainly succeeds, but sometimes less is more.
The other frustrating aspect of the game, unfortunately, was the combat. Alan and Saga control like tanks, while enemies can be much faster. I died probably 50 times. I have no problem dying in a survival horror game, don't get me wrong! But these deaths often felt unfair. I got backed into a corner and couldn't see to get out or couldn't dash past enemies. I didn't hold R2 down long enough to heal all the way and so the health kit failed. An enemy changed direction at the last second and there is just no way Alan or Saga could turn fast enough to shoot. I couldn't pick up what I needed during a fight from the ground because I would get killed while waiting for the "pick up item" animation, and even if I did pick it up, I can't equip it in the middle of combat because pulling up your inventory or map doesn't pause the action. Timing dodges, especially with fast enemies or thrown objects, is really hard to do. Etc. At some point, I realized I could run past a lot of the regular enemies, so I quit engaging except when necessary. Also, I definitely enjoy the flashlight mechanic less than I remember from the previous game.
In the end, I was glad for this to be over. The story (while really interesting) and combat (while generally fine) just seemed to like bloat the game because of the repetition and slow speed. There's also Remedy's whole tie-in to the Federal Bureau of Control now, which, again, while interesting, adds a bunch of extra layers to a story that already has like 5 layers of reality going on. I'm impressed by the game. It's technically pretty amazing and the story is wonderfully complex. I liked the game. But I didn't love the game, and it went on for nearly 30 hours, which is really long for survival horror.
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Returnal (PS5) by dkirschner (Oct 28th, 2025 at 15:53:42) |
I started this about a year ago on a PS Plus subscription and dove back into it for a while on this current subscription. If I recall, it was about 6 hours last time and another 12 or so this time, so I had some really in-depth sessions last week. My initial notes last time just read "hard, grindy, neat vibe." I can say after another 12 hours that these three descriptors are still accurate!
Returnal is a third-person shooter / roguelite / bullet-hell game made by Housemarque, who is known (to me) for shoot-em-up / bullet hell type games like Outland, Resogun, and Nex Machina. The move to a AAA third-person shooter somehow works and retains the insanity of a typical 2d bullet hell. You play as an astronaut named Selene who crash lands on an alien planet after following a mysterious signal, and then finds herself stuck in a time loop. There's the set-up for a roguelite then. When you die, you restart at the crash site, slightly better off than the time before thanks to a slow-and-steady drip of persistent unlocks and upgrades.
Selene explores various biomes, following objective markers. The biomes are pretty big and have randomly generated layouts, so every run is a bit different (though after 18 hours, biome 1 was getting really fucking repetitive). Layouts are also branching: there are main and optional paths. Following the main path will eventually get you to whatever objective marker you're following, the boss, and the way out. Optional paths feature all manner of special rooms, which can have everything between great loot to deadly minibosses. The randomness in the design makes runs ridiculously intense. You constantly have to make decisions where one outcome could help (from slightly better than neutral to overpowered boon) or hurt (from a slight annoyance to dooming the run). Such decisions can involve whether to open a chest, use an item, go into a room or not, switch weapons, acquire a parasite, pick up a health kit now or later, spend more time in the current biome or leave it for the next, and so on.
Here is the anatomy of my 18 hours so far:
0-6 - Learn the basics in biome 1, die die die. Not sure if I ever even made it to the boss.
6-12 - Re-learn the basics in biome 1 after not playing the game for the better part of a year, and feel like I'm starting to get a good grasp on mechanics, enemies, strategies. Make it to Phrike, the biome 1 boss, a few times.
12-16 - Have a godly run where I finally kill Phrike, and then proceed to one-shot biome 2 and nearly one-shot biome 3. I would have one-shot biome 3 except that I FORGOT TO USE A HEALTH KIT during the battle! Uggggggggh! The boss and I were both almost dead. Like 3 more seconds and I would have killed it. I was so engrossed in the battle that I forgot I had purchased a major health kit that would have restored me to full life. I cannot believe I did this. /cry
16-18 - Demoralization makes me suck at the game. Never make it back to biome 3. Cry some more over the unused health kit.
I learned that when you beat biome 3, then you forever after can start your run in biome 4. Since I failed to use a health kit, and therefore did not beat biome 3, I had to start back in biome 1 AGAIN. This was really demoralizing and after playing a couple more hours, I decided to start another game instead of beat my head against this one. Although, I know that I can best Returnal! I just need more time. The run where I did so well (and every run before that), I meticulously explored the maps, killing lots of enemies (and therefore leveling up my weapon proficiency, which makes you find stronger weapons), getting lots of good parasites and artifacts, and boosting my max HP. After the run where I forgot to use a health potion, I was just zipping to the next biome as soon as I found the teleporter, but as a consequence, my weapon proficiency was lower, my max health was lower, and I didn't have many good parasites or artifacts, which meant that everything was relatively harder. Although my skill had increased, it didn't make up for having like 25% less proficiency, health, etc. So, I need to (a) continue getting better at the game and/or (b) continue moving slowly and completely exploring biomes as I go so that I will be strong enough to tackle the challenges that the game springs on me. Since I'm on a PS Plus subscription, I have other games I want to play, so I don't want to spend too much on this one, as it could potentially take quite a long time to beat. If I have time left after finishing the others I want to play, then I'll come back. Or I might just buy this next time I see it on sale, or perhaps I'll just wait for its spiritual successor to come out next year.
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Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (PS4) by jp (Oct 21st, 2025 at 12:33:36) |
I played this for a few hours. Mostly I wanted to see where things were at with Super Monkey Ball. I wasn't expecting to find a wildly different or innovative game - just super monkey ball... which is what I found, though I did spend more time on the minigames.
I've never been a huge fan of Super Monkey Ball - and I'm sort of surprised by how little love it gets in the context of people who like to play games that are really hard. This game is like Super Meat Boy (oh wow, I just realized they're both SMB! Which is also Super Mario Bros...). I mean, clearing some levels isn't THAT hard - but to get all the bananas AND record times? This is some serious dedication IMO. Lots of practice and real finesse.
Cool stuff?
Well, I quickly unlocked Kazuma Kiryu (Yakuza series), Sonic and Tails, and "Jet"? (the skater from Jet Set Radio). I thought it was a nice touch that when you pick these characters instead of bananas you get pill bottles, rings, and spray cans! (like in their original games). The sounds are even different! (with the Sonic ring sound being particularly memorable for me).
I then played all the mini-games. Some are more fun than others - and the be fair I was either playing solo or against AI, which is probably the less ideal way to play. I was surprised by how hard some of the games were! There's one in which I was only able to score once! (forget the name, but it's the one where you roll down a ramp and then up into the air - you're supposed to open the capsule to glide/drift to a target to get points. I only landed on a target ONCE. Everything else was a splash into the water because I fell far, far, short of the intended target. So, clearly there's something going on that I didn't understand - how to glide or whatever. And, many of the games have more sophisticated/complicated control schemes than you'd expect for a "mini-game". I thought it was interesting how they're all adapted to "your character is in a ball" - while still being "true" to the original game they're riffing on (lots of sports mini-games - the baseball one was interesting because it's sort of like a pinball in that you have to hit targets to get on base and stuff like that)
Anyways, it was fun - but I decided I wouldn't spend all this time on it either...
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The Wizards (PS4) by jp (Oct 18th, 2025 at 19:08:11) |
I'm slowly dragging out the PSVR games to play them. Strangely this one was a more recent addition - it was cheap, and the back of the box lists all sorts of awards.
But...
I must have played for 30 minutes or so? Didn't finish the tutorial. I started to get nauseated - not uncommon in VR. But, the game wasn't really working for me either, which was a shame. Especially since it took me a while to get everything ready since I had to charge up both move controllers (one at a time!).
The premise is simple, and fun enough, you're a wizard! And you cast spells with your hands doing different motions. I only got to see three things - the teleport action, creating and throwing a fireball, and summoning a protective shield. This was fine. The bigger problem I had was that I was never able to figure out how to adjust the facing. It always felt like I was facing to the side (90 degrees away from the TV) and never re-centering. And, since I was mostly facing away from the TV - lots of the hand gestures worked poorly because my hand/arm was obscured. Weirdly, this seemed like the default setting! So, I'm sitting, facing ahead, and the game then instructs me on how to do the fireball with "ghost" hands - that are off to the side...
I went into settings and stuff and couldn't figure it out. This might be a "user error" situation? Anyways, the nausea was enough of an excuse for me to just uninstall the game. A shame really. I wonder if the version that won all these awards was on a different platform?
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Crow Country (PS5) by dkirschner (Oct 15th, 2025 at 16:25:14) |
Bought a new TV (old one died two weeks after moving), ditched the aging surround sound system (waiting on a sound bar for replacement), and upgraded my HDMI cable so that the PS5 can output 4k at 120hz. So naturally, I subscribed to PS Plus to bask in my upgraded setup and promptly selected a PS1-style game that could probably run on a toaster.
Crow Country is better than it has any right to be, a totally adept and captivating survival horror game. You play as Mara, a woman investigating a derelict amusement park near Atlanta, Georgia. I was so surprised to see it set there that I thought the devs might have been from there, but no, they are British. I am still curious if they are familiar with the old (unfortunately named) Dixieland (now renamed "Fun Spot") in Fayetteville. Anyway, the park has been closed for a couple years and there are rumors of monsters. Mara discovers that, yes, there are monsters, and that there is quite the mystery to uncover.
None of this sets up Crow Country to be particularly great or anything, but every aspect of the game clicks just right. It's like a small-scale Resident Evil or Silent Hill. The story is interesting and leads you deeper and deeper into the park. The characters are intriguing, each with their own motives related to the story. The Crow Country amusement park itself is detailed, well laid out with several distinct areas, and creepy. The enemies are gross and dangerous. The puzzles are relatively simple yet clever (I got 8/15 secrets). The combat is very old-school-survival-horror, frustrating as that can be. Aiming can be a pain in the butt, but the thing I liked least about the combat was that enemies can corner you. I died probably 5 times, usually from getting cornered (though one time from ignoring a warning about pulling a book from a shelf that was titled something like "Sudden Death" and getting a spike to the face) and each time, you go back to your last save, which could have been a while ago, thanks to some old-school design.
I'm most impressed by just how tight everything felt. There are "staff memos" all over the park that give you clues as to how to acquire items or solve puzzles, and I was never truly stuck. If I thought I was, I'd go back to the collected staff memos and flip through them for a reference to something I hadn't done yet, then focus on that. A couple times, not knowing where to go after getting a new key, I stumbled on a room that needed that key. Locked doors are marked on the map, and unsolved puzzles are circled, but there is never any indication of what items are to be used where (i.e., all locked doors are red on the map; there is no differentiation between those that need a silver key or a gold key or whatever, even after you have discovered the doors). Luckily, the map isn't very big, and there is, if not a "fast travel" system, a "faster travel" system that you gain access to later on. So being stuck means there are only so many places you can look.
Definitely recommend for a short survival horror experience. It doesn't reinvent the genre or anything, but it's just so solid.
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Shadow of Mordor (XBONE) by AlexCerv |
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most recent entry: Friday 19 January, 2018
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I've completed the game. I enjoyed the game and i am looking forward to play Shadow of War. Anyways, I'll share my final thought about the game overall.
The game design feature on the game to have a control an orc army against Sauron sounds very fun especially if you're a Lord of the RIngs' fan! I love how they brought Golem into the game. However, Golem still continues to be a mystery because he can see the Bright Master somehow?
I was disappointed about the final boss battle, the Black Hand, because it was too easy again. There was no climax or something to make it challenging. Also, some of the missions felt the same like on how to go up against war chief or building an army. I mean the Mordor felt like playground for me to mess around after my character was too strong. Basically, it can get boring once your character feels invincible.
Overall, i loved the story. Furthermore, i cannot wait to play Shadow of War. I wish it was on the list so i have homework reasons to play it, but i can play after the Spring semester.
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