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Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (PS4) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:26:13) |
This game is way more interesting than I initially gave it credit for (and I might even play all the cases, I'm that curious!)
There's a bunch of cases, you're Sherlock and you gather clues, investigate locations, use your special "eyesight", interrogate suspects, and more. So far, this is what you'd expect.
Some clues become more important and they show up in your "brain" where you can pair it up with another clue (if it's the correct one) to deduce something. Once you have enough of those, you can reach a conclusion. ALSO, once you've reached a conclusion you can decide how to act on it (usually it's either call the cops or call Mycroft - i think...).
What's really wild is that in the brain-connecting clues interface, you can reach lots of different conclusions! (I think it's 4 per case, at least it has been that so far and I've completed two cases). OH! And, as far as I can tell, the you can get it wrong! And, you just move on...the game calls some of them moral choices - which I'm confused by. But the idea that you could arrive at an incorrect conclusion and the game just moves on to the next case is pretty wild. So far, I've gotten both right (because there's abutton you can press that even warns you - like "spoiler alert" and it shows my result in green - which I assume is that I got it right).
Anyways, that's super cool!
Oh, and the game haslots of little mini-games that you play once, and they're part of the story (e.g. taking sherlock's pulse, or arm-wrestling with a sailor)..
The 2nd case is pretty neat - it takes place in the UK, there's a missing train...and there are rich Chilean (and Mexican) businessmen involved! Whoah.
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Fights in Tight Spaces (PC) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:19:38) |
This one's a bit weird and I'll confess I didn't play it that much (just played one mission - which is like 1/5 of a full run?). It looks like it wants to be SuperHot, but it isn't - that's ok. But, it has a "play the movie" of what you just did in a level that you would think would play fast and smooth and super action-y. But now, it's slow and it even pauses between card plays...so it looks rather boring, which is a real shame.
As for the game, there's interesting stuff going on, but I haven't fully understood everything:
a. There's a typical energy system for casting, but a secondary system (combo) that lets you play some cards with a combo cost. If you move in your turn you lose combo so it's sometimes tricky to get everything to pull off.
b. While playing I was disappointed (because it seemed unfair) that there are objectives (bonus ones) in each level - and I wasn't getting any because I didn't know what they were! Apparently they're actually shown on screen, but in a place I did not see or notice.
c. The game seemed a bit slow - I was just moving and getting out of the way as I waited to draw into a good hand of cards. This cuts the momentum for sure and also made it hard/impossible to accidentally hit the secret (not really secret) objectives. So, I'm curious to go back and try again with awareness of the objectives. They should help a lot - in that I'm more likely to try to "solve the puzzle" of each turn and hopefully get the bonus objectives.
d. It's strange that you have to pay to heal, but I thought it was neat that you can upgrade several cards (if you have the money) and that some cards are cheap to upgrade - there's different pricing for them!
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Hadean Tactics (PC) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:11:34) |
Ok, I've now cleared the game (not unlocked everything, of course) and it really is quite fun and interesting. The 3rd character (which I was waiting on to try out because I wanted to clear the game with the 2nd one) is pretty neat as well though as I write this all I can really remember is that it has an orb mechanic similar to one of the characters in Slay the Spire.
The harder ending is basically another 3 levels, but they get shorter! The last one, if I remember correctly, is just the boss. I don't remember what deck I was running, but it was pretty good - in the sense that I had picked up some good combos..traps and all.
I'm going to stop playing, for now, mostly because the list of games too look at keeps on growing - one a week - because of the design seminar I'm teaching.
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Before Your Eyes (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 14th, 2024 at 13:51:13) |
I've been looking forward to playing this, especially after playing One Hand Clapping, which had a singing mechanic. That game activates your mic and you use your voice, raising and lowering pitch, to interact with the game. Before Your Eyes was similar in that the game activates your webcam and uses your eye blinks as input. Before Your Eyes works WAY better than One Hand Clapping, and it's the better game all around. I figure that detecting blinks (yes/no) is easier than detecting notes along the range of human vocal pitch, so kudos to One Hand Clapping for trying.
Blinking in Before Your Eyes doesn't do anything unless you do it over a prompt (mouse over the prompt, then blink to interact) or unless you do it when the metronome icon is visible, which progresses the story to the next scene. The rules are simple, and it became a game in and of itself for me to blink strategically. I imagined that at the end of A Clockwork Orange, Alex's eyes are forced open so that he could successfully complete this game. At times, I felt like holding my eyes open with my fingers. This is because your eyes will get tired/dry/itchy while playing and you will screw up and blink when you don't mean to, skipping dialogue or ending a scene early. That's frustrating enough. Make sure you do the blink calibration, but I think that no matter how well you do it, it will still occasionally register some non-blinks as blinks. This really didn't happen much for me; through calibration, I think I turned the sensitivity way down, and I wonder what effect wearing glasses had. But like I said, it works surprisingly well.
So, the game itself is narrative-heavy. It's an obvious play on the idea that a life can pass in the "blink of an eye." You're picked up by a ferryman of souls who asks you to tell the story of your life. Back in time you go to remember it: your childhood, your parents, your career, etc., blinking your way through each scene. I won't spoil the story, but there is a twist that I absolutely did not see coming (though I should have paid more attention to the mysterious dark scenes) that changes the narrative and the tone of the game. This is one you can spend time reflecting on.
Aesthetically, it's got a simple visual presentation, sort of painterly, with some really nice piano music. The voice acting is good, with the exception of the girl-next-door (who sounds the same at 10 as she does at 40). For some reason, they also used the same voice actor for your dad and her dad, which made the one scene with her dad calling her very confusing ("Why is my dad at her house?!"). But I liked the dad and mom's performances. I was wondering through the whole game if your character was mute and/or on the spectrum because he doesn't talk--only through a typewriter later in the game--and otherwise expresses himself through his prodigious musical and artistic talents. But I think he's just a silent main character, not actually mute.
Anyway, the game won a BAFTA for a reason. It didn't blow my mind, but it's a neat experience that's worth having. It's short too, doesn't waste your time. I'm considering incorporating it into a class.
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Stray (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 13th, 2024 at 12:00:39) |
Patrick and I have been playing this together this semester, and finished it a couple weeks ago. We were talking after beating it about despite how simple and straightforward of a game this is, it manages to be something new. Playing as a cat (and being able to do cat things like curl up and sleep, scratch things, knock objects off tables, etc., so cuuuute) was novel, and the setting and story were interesting. But really, playing as a cat. I smiled a whole lot throughout the game. The lil companion robot was cute too.
On the other hand, I was often tired and bored while playing, and literally fell asleep during several sessions. Patrick would be making dinner or something in the kitchen, and I'd snap awake, cat walking into a wall, and I'd pretend I had not fallen asleep, and that I was just watching the cat walk into the wall and thinking. Like how my dad always used to claim he was "resting his eyes" when he'd fall asleep on the couch.
I would not call the game exciting. It was a lot of wandering around the city and talking to robot NPCs, fetching things for them. The city is a really good-looking dystopia, and the robots are quirky, but I wish they had more dialogue. You don't get a sense that many of them have personalities besides whatever one-note thing they do. I mean, the lack of dialogue makes sense, and it's not really "dialogue" since the cat can't talk. The fact that you are a cat adds a whole layer of silly to the game. Like, why has this lil robot befriended a cat? Why are all these robots putting all their faith in a cat to save them? Cats don't understand what we're saying to them, and cats do whatever they want! Playing as a cat in a game where you're doing fetch quests (fetching is dog stuff!) and doing things to help people is very un-cat-like.
But, you know what? The ability to play as a cat and do cat things trumps how little sense it makes, and I would play as a cat in this dystopia again. Idea for next time: more cats. And what do you think? Were there cats at the end?! Optimistically, I think so.
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King of Tokyo (Other) by ejt73 |
| Just complicated enough to be competitive but easy enough that anyone can play it. The only downside is the game often ends before you get to explore all of the card combinations. |
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most recent entry: Tuesday 9 February, 2016
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King of Tokyo is multiplayer game meant to reenact the Godzilla type monster movies with each of the players being a different kind of monster fighting for control of Tokyo. The game play is best described as a mix between a deck building card game and Yahtzee.
Players: Each player controls one of the six monsters. Though they all look different there's no difference between them functionally. Each monster starts with 10 hit points and if their hit points are reduced to 0 they are removed from the game.
Objectives: In order to win the game you either have to be the last monster standing or be the first to accumulate 20 victory points.
Dice rolling: As mentioned earlier King of Tokyo plays a lot like Yahtzee. The main action a player can take on their turn is rolling 5 dice. The dice have the numbers 1 - 3, an energy symbol, an attack symbol, and a heal symbol. The players roll the dice three times each time they roll they can choose to to keep any number of dice and roll with the remaining dice. For example if they wanted to heal and they rolled two health symbols they would choose to keep those and roll with the rest. Each symbol of the dice does something different. The numbers are ways to earn victory points. If the player rolls three of any number then they get that number of victory points. Each additional number after that is one extra victory point. So if a player rolled 4 2's then they would get 3 victory points, but 2 2's wouldn't get them anything. The energy symbol grants the player an energy token for each dice that lands on it, energy tokens are used in purchasing cards. The attack symbol lets players attack other monsters. Finally the health symbol heals 1 hit point for each dice that lands on it.
Cards: Cards are the other major component of the game. When the game starts the deck of cards is shuffled and three cards are revealed from the top. Each card has an associated energy cost and after any player is done rolling dice they can choose to purchase a card if they have enough energy, that card is then replaced with another card from the top of the deck. Alternatively they can choose to spend two energy to discard the three cards out and replace them from the top of the deck. Players can choose to play a game of asset denial by removing cards that combo with cards other players have. The cards all have varying effects and most of them combo well with other cards. For example one card (solar powered) allows you to gain 1 energy a turn if you have none and another (friend of children) lets you gain 1 extra energy each time you gain energy.
Tokyo: The sub goal of the game is to try and occupy the city of Tokyo, represented by placing your monster's token on the game board. If more than 4 people are playing the game recommends you use the additional Tokyo bay space, but I am going to focusing on the typical style of play that doesn't use this space. At the end of a player's turn if Tokyo is currently unoccupied they can spend a victory point to occupy it. If they remain in Tokyo until the start of their next turn they gain 2 victory points. While in Tokyo the monster can't heal from dice rolls and when they attack they hit all monsters not in Tokyo. Likewise monsters outside of Tokyo have the ability to heal from dice rolls and when they attack they hit only the monster currently in Tokyo. Whenever a monster in Tokyo is attacked they can choose to flee Tokyo leaving it empty for other monsters, typically the one that just attacked them, to take it for themselves. On a side note I typically play with a house rule the Tokyo can't be occupied until turn 3. I do this because one of the major flaws of the game lies in the ability to fairly quickly win the game by entering Tokyo on turn 1 and racking up victory points while the other players don't have a solid method to stop you other than lucky dice rolls. While being in Tokyo is very dangerous it's the quickest way to earn victory points without the aid of cards. It's important to note, however, that you can win the game without ever entering Tokyo.
Game Play: I played two games back to back with my room mates. I've played it several times while they have all played it once before. I played Cyber Bunny in both games.
Game 1: Before going into Tokyo Cyber Bunny bought total devastation (if you roll one of each symbol gain 9 victory points in addition to other effects) and nova breath (your attacks damage all other monsters). Meka Dragon bought extra head (use one extra dice in all rolls). The Kraken bought urbavore (gain one extra victory point per turn and one extra attack while in Tokyo). Finally, Giga Zaur bought friend of children (whenever you gain energy gain one extra energy). Because of urbavore Kraken went for an agressive strategy where they stayed in Tokyo for as long as possible. They supplemented this quickly by buying camouflage (for every point of damage roll a dice if it's health you don't take that damage). Unfortunately for them they didn't do well on their camo rolls so they had to leave Tokyo quickly. Giga Zaur took tokyo after them but because of strong attacks from everyone else they also had to leave quickly. On leaving Giga Zaur bought monster battery (put as many energy from your reserve on to this card as you want, match this amount from the bank. At the start of your turn take two energy from this card. When no energy is left on the card discard it). Because of friend of children Giga Zaur had a lot of energy and each time he drew from monster battery friend of children meant he would get even more energy from it. Because Cyber Bunny had nova breath though they could attack every monster even when they weren't in Tokyo. Because Kraken and Giga Zaur were at low health Cyber Bunny was able to kill them with nova breath. Seeing that Cyber Bunny had the upper hand Meka Lizard took Tokyo and bought alpha monster (gain one victory point each time you attack) hoping to win through victory points. Cyber Bunny attempted beat Meka Lizard to 20 victory points by using total devastation. Cyber Bunny never got the right roll and Meka Lizard won through victory points.
Game 2: Early into the second game Kraken bought one of the best cards in the game shrink ray (when you deal damage to a monster place a shrink token on that monster, that monster rolls with one less dice for each shrink token on them. A monster can use a heal to remove a token). Because of this early purchase everyone else bought cards specifically to counter shrink ray. Meka Dragon bought wings (spend 2 energy to negate damage) and smoke screen (put 4 smoke tokens on to this card. You may spend a token to perform an extra re roll. When this card has no more tokens on it discard it.) Giga Zaur bought stretchy (spend 2 energy to change one of your dice to any result). Cyber Bunny opted to go for a more aggressive strategy and occupied Tokyo as fast as possible and used cheap one use cards to heal and attack. Due to heavy attack rolls by everyone else they were quickly killed. Meka Lizard was the next to take Tokyo and was trying a similar strategy to the first game, stay in as long as possible and get victory points as fast as possible. Because of the effects of shrink ray however they never had enough energy to use wings damage negation consistently even with the added re rolls of smoke screen so they were killed. Since Kraken believed they had the upper hand with shrink ray they took Tokyo and tried to kill Giga Zaur from inside. Some good rolls from Giga Zaur in combination with stretchy meant they healed enough to remove the shrink tokens and still managed to deal damage. When Kraken left Tokyo to heal themselves Giga Zaur bought fire blast (discard: deal 2 damage to all other monsters) and then followed it up with an attack from Tokyo to kill Kraken and win.
Conclusion: It's very easy for even the newest player to build up a successful set of cards and develop a unique strategy around those cards to win. The length of the game could stand to be a little longer. At the end of any given game it doesn't feel like you got the most out of your group of cards like you were only one card away from having a good combo going. It's also fairly easy to win by just refusing to move out of Tokyo and healing with cheap one use cards. You can get a lot of victory points this way before everyone else has the chance to buy cards good enough to stop you so it feels a little unfair. Despite these downsides though the game is very entertaining. Save for a few exceptions all of cards are fairly balanced the cost of the card generally is proportional to how good it is. In addition to the cards being balanced I have yet to find a strategy that is consistently more reliable than other strategies aside from the one mentioned above, and if one exists the small amount of cards you use means it's unlikely that you'll be able to duplicate it perfectly in the next game. Additionally there are enough cheap one use cards that players can remain competitive in the game even if they don't have any particularly good cards that work well with each other. With the right group of people King of Tokyo can be a quick and easy to learn game with enough strategy to keep it competitive and interesting.
The makers of King of Tokyo have recently released both a general and Halloween themed expansion and I have yet to play either of them. They may have fixed some of the issues I had with it or made them even worse. This review only applies to the original release of the game with no expansions.
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