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Smashing Bottles (PC) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:16:28) |
Heard about this one recently and got stuck playing the demo on itch (though it's also available on Steam) for a few hours until I got to the final (demo) ending!
It's an incremental game with some interesting things going on - you have a bat and smash bottles, but you have a limited time to do so (in seconds, like max 25 or so after all the upgrades?). When time runs out you can go again or go to the shop to buy upgrades. As expected you want to get more money from smashing bottles and there's ways to do that - spawn golden bottles, champagne bottles (when they smash the corks fly out and can smash other things), and even molotov cocktails (that explode, smashing other things).
There's a few things I thought where nice/clever:
a. The game has two distinct phases (once you unlock molotovs, everything changes, really) - the "you smash" and the "maximize money in the time allowed". In the latter, the game mostly plays itself as the molotovs keep everything getting smashed.
b. The "you smash" has rotating bottles, and since the smashing can take a few hits, there's some interest in smashing champagne such that the cork flies in a certain direction for more damage.
c. The champagne corks are pretty clever - since it gives you a reason to, in the short time you have to smash, choose what to smash a little more carefully. Go for golden or champagne hoping for a productive chain reaction?
Of course there's also a prestige/reset mechanic - from which you can lock a separate bat that smashes.
I'm curious how far things will go once the full game is out - and what the nature of the upgrades will be. I'm really hoping for more variety in the experience beyond the simple "number go up" - in that sense the molotovs seem like they're capping the experience in a detrimental way (even as they were super fun to smash when I first unlocked them.
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Donkey Kong Bananza (NSW2) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:07:32) |
Still playing!
It has an interesting structure in terms of its levels and such - the core metaphor is that you're going deeper into the planet with each level, and they're both thematic and numbered. I got to a point where there's a bifurcation - go right into what I thought was "jungle land" or left into "snow land". I went right did a few more levels, cleared the boss (it was plant/poison land) and in order to continue going deeper I was then told to go back to "snow land"! There's a fast travel/teleport system involving giant worms that can move your around, so it was easy enough to do this, but I was surprised to learn that the fork was just a "choose what order to do these" situation... and also, the entire "fork" makes little sense thematically so I'm curious to see how it's explained and communicated in the interface - will it look like a fork in the "hole" going into the planet's core?
The titular ability (bananza mode!) was a bit underwhelming - you turn into a bigger DK and can now punch things you couldn't before - it lasts a limited amount of time. But, I've since unlocked a new one - DK-bird - where you can glide around (and after paying to unlock) and drop an egg on enemies. The gilding around was important/necessary in the plant/poison levels, and I'm expecting it to be similarly required in the snowy ones. We'll see!
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Hollow Knight: Silksong (PC) by dkirschner (May 13th, 2026 at 14:58:07) |
Kicking myself for not writing an entry when I was playing this 6 months ago. I am cleaning up my wishlist, backlog, and etc., and the FEELING I get when I see Silksong "in progress" is anxiety. I had jotted a few notes in December, as follows:
"It’s true, Silksong is hard. Like, really, frustratingly hard. Like punishingly difficult. I hit a wall at the end of Act 1 trying to beat the Last Judge. The game likes to place benches far away from boss fights, such that retrying boss fights involves slogging back through tough platforming and other sections of the map."
I did kill the Last Judge and complete Act 1. I remember that took a very long time, and that after the Last Judge, I died a few more times and, probably, with shaking hands and rapid heartbeat, said, "I can't do this anymore." Actually, it may have been in one of those rooms with waves of enemies. This innovation is new and unwelcome to Silksong, rooms that lock upon entering and spill several waves of challenging enemies at you. Yeah, I think that is what got me, just being pummeled over and over in one of those rooms, getting tired of exploring the maze-like map, tired of dying, tired of corpse runs, just exhausted. The game became a chore.
Besides that, I loved it, haha. I was definitely into it for a while. It was sublime until it wasn't.
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Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (PC) by dkirschner (May 12th, 2026 at 17:20:35) |
I meant to quickly beat this back in April so I could have a "completion" for the month, but I got really busy after spending barely an hour one afternoon with Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, a bizarre little twin-stick shooter about a turnip...who robs a bank. The game builds off previous games in the series, which I have never played, in which Turnip Boy commits tax evasion and, according to this game at least, seems to have started a war. Work has slowed down for the first time in nearly two months, and while I wait for my next contract to begin, I figured I'd knock this out.
The whole game is silly. The world is populated by sentient fruits and vegetables. You are employed by a pickle / mafia gang leader to rob a bank of a garlic bulb / bad guy / killed your dad. You have a base, where you can get new weapon loadouts by bringing weapons from the bank (always try to return with something new or high-powered!), purchase progression items from the "dark web," and upgrade stuff at another vendor. You go on "runs" to the bank, which are timed (starts at 2 or 3 minutes, goes up to 5 or 6 with upgrades). Runs are over when you die or when you exit the bank. Die and you lose half the cash you accumulated in the run. Survive and you are handsomely rewarded. Upgrade stuff. Go back to the bank. It's a roguelite too.
The bank has a specific layout of rooms, but you'll encounter some randomized areas too, and enemies and treasure are somewhat randomized. Throughout the bank are tons of NPCs with little fetch quests that usually reward you with pictures (fun/ny to look at) or hats (fun/ny to equip). A blueberry might want you to find its wedding ring, a lime wants you to get divorce papers from her lemon husband, a scientist pineapple wants you to find a philosopher mango and ask it an ethical question about experimenting on fruits, etc. I had some good laughs.
In each corner of the bank is a boss. Boss fights were fun, but the most challenging were early on. Once you start upgrading stats, the game becomes easy. It definitely ends up being an "upgrade everything and go nuts on all the enemies!" type game, experience being overpowered.
I haven't played a twin-stick shooter in a while, and while this wasn't revolutionary or anything, it was fun and scratched the itch. I gotta get back to Divinity: Original Sin 2. I might have some extra time till my next gig, so maybe I can boot it up, remember what I was doing, and make some progress this week.
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Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) by jp (Apr 27th, 2026 at 22:04:52) |
I got to that point where I hit a monster/boss that just wasn't that much fun, and then I got a bit lost in terms of where to continue making progress, and the backtracking started to get a bit tiresome...as I explored and searched for different paths. So, time to bail!
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GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
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if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
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2323 registered gamers and 3358 games. 7895 GameLogs with 13390 journal entries. 5126 games are currently being played.
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Super Smash Brothers (N64) by pwn*zambini |
| FALCOWN PAUNCH! |
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most recent entry: Thursday 21 February, 2008
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Entry #2
GAMEPLAY:
The second session of gameplay made me fall in love with Super Smash Bros all over again. The intensity as you struggle to get yourself back on the stage, or when you curse at your opponent for being an "edge camper" as you vow vengeance in the next life (which takes only a few short moments) is unmatched in any other multiplayer game. As you progress through single-player, you start unlocking new characters and maps to play on, which is a nice reward for your hard "work." Super Smash Bros continues to be the exact opposite of a stale old game, still being fun to play after 8 years.
Gameplay in SSB is still a heart-pounding action-packed slugfest that can only be made better by incorporating the best of Nintendo's characters. There are very few and far between stop points in SSB, usually only when there are two players left and one of them getsKO'd . It is nearly impossible to not be involved in the main brawl in SSB unless you actively avoid conflict, which usually gets people saying "Ok, I'm goin after you then" and winds up with certain doom. The timing and coordination of moves, dodges, rolls, and smashes (more powerful than a basic attack) is beautiful to watch, and even better to be a part of. The only thing that you can do after winning an intense battle is stand up and dance for your victory, and try not to yank the cord out of the console.
The unlockable characters are somewhat better than the original counterparts, but they still have their weaknesses, such as slower but more powerful attacks, which can be stopped or avoided by a quick punch or dodge. Captain Falcon is my favorite character to use in SSB, and with good reason. He is one of the fastest characters, with a nice combination of powerful attacks and artful maneuvers. He also holds the all-powerful "Falcon Punch," which is a move that, if mastered, can send your opponent flying off the back end of the stage before they can even scratch you. There are alsounlockable stages, which add to the excellent level selection, which range from nice and open battleground to skinny platform mayhem.
DESIGN:
Super Smash Bros is one of the best designed games for the N64. Not so much in amazing graphics, like most modern games do, but in innovation of the world you play. The innovative items system is brilliant, and often requires your attention as soon as an item drops. Items can be anything from the mega-destructive Hammer (from the original Donkey Kong), to the always needed Maximum Tomato (from the Kirby universe) or Shimmering Heart (from the Zelda universe). This brings about another brilliant design aspect of SSB, in that it ties in a vast majority of Nintendo's universe into one game.
The levels also play into the Nintendo theme, and take place in other Nintendo universes, which broadens the field you can play through generations of games. One of my all-time favorite levels is from the Pokemon universe, atop a tower where Pokemon randomly pop their heads out of the stairwell door and perform a move. You also travel to the Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, and Starfox universes, with each of the levels displaying the main theme of the game through music and events.
Super Smash Bros has one of the most challenging enemies known, a human. Granted, the level 9 CPU (the AI has 9 different levels, each one harder than the last) is somewhat challenging, it can't hold a candle to a human. This creates a massive combination of play methods and unique conflict for each person who challenges you. This also makes the game much more interesting the longer you play, as you can learn new combos and techniques to use to achieve victory. This human element may also help bring players together to defeat a common enemy (or the opposing team while doing a Team Battle).
Overall, Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64 is still one of my all time favorite games. Not only is it fun to play, its design is quite revolutionary for its 2D-fighting genre, which is plagued by button mashers and boring sword/ninja/magician/old man beat-em-ups.
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