TheBarrylad
2023
The charming, other-worldly vibes of Cassette Beasts hooked me very quickly. Sadly, a Pokémon-style RPG just isn't my bag - so I bounced off soon after. But anyone looking for a game in that ballpark would do well to check this out.
2023
Approximately half way through the story, and Dead Island 2 isn't really showing much in terms of changing up the mission design to keep it interesting; so I'll wrap up my time with it now.
To be fair; it's a very fun zombie-mashing simulator. In the spirit of a cool-but-flawed PS2 game, it has a gnarly gimmick but doesn't design an interesting enough game around it.
The gore and zombie mutilation tech on show here is genuinely impressive. Rather than having preset deform points (decapitate, chop arms off at the shoulder etc), every single enemy has a highly responsive, highly specific damage model based on how and where you attack. Blunt items hitting jaws will cause them to unhinged, blades will chop off hands at the exact place you strike, individual organs can be seen wobbling about after you explode a torso. It's a giddy thrill for any old school zombie film nerd, and a super impressive technical feat -- which are getting rarer and rarer in the modern graphical arms race.
There isn't enough of a game stitching it all together though. You walk, you smash enemies, you pick up mcguffins, you get stilted unfunny cutscenes, you repeat the process. The gore and weapon customisation (fire damage butcher knife!) keep you interested for a few hours, but not much beyond that.
Bonus points for having an Irish character who says actual Irish people things like bure, feen, gom, and so on.
Steam Deck notes: can play at a rock solid 30fps on a mix of medium and low settings. Can get to a locked 40 if you want to mess with the settings more, but I never bothered. Will chew through battery, obviously.
To be fair; it's a very fun zombie-mashing simulator. In the spirit of a cool-but-flawed PS2 game, it has a gnarly gimmick but doesn't design an interesting enough game around it.
The gore and zombie mutilation tech on show here is genuinely impressive. Rather than having preset deform points (decapitate, chop arms off at the shoulder etc), every single enemy has a highly responsive, highly specific damage model based on how and where you attack. Blunt items hitting jaws will cause them to unhinged, blades will chop off hands at the exact place you strike, individual organs can be seen wobbling about after you explode a torso. It's a giddy thrill for any old school zombie film nerd, and a super impressive technical feat -- which are getting rarer and rarer in the modern graphical arms race.
There isn't enough of a game stitching it all together though. You walk, you smash enemies, you pick up mcguffins, you get stilted unfunny cutscenes, you repeat the process. The gore and weapon customisation (fire damage butcher knife!) keep you interested for a few hours, but not much beyond that.
Bonus points for having an Irish character who says actual Irish people things like bure, feen, gom, and so on.
Steam Deck notes: can play at a rock solid 30fps on a mix of medium and low settings. Can get to a locked 40 if you want to mess with the settings more, but I never bothered. Will chew through battery, obviously.
2007
Better than Hit and Run, and also one of the funniest comedy games ever. This is MAJORLY slept on.
[emulated for PS3 on Steam Deck, where it runs perfectly with only minor, rare graphical issues. A controller disconnected error will pop up at first launch, but you can fix it via a patch]
[emulated for PS3 on Steam Deck, where it runs perfectly with only minor, rare graphical issues. A controller disconnected error will pop up at first launch, but you can fix it via a patch]
2023
Having a lazy Saturday, so I decided to work through my Game Pass backlog; including finally giving Redfall a spin.
Not going to slap a rating on this based off two hours of play, but as someone who loves Arkane's style of game this was kind of soul destroying. A current-gen only experience that looks this bad, runs at 30 fps, and has awful, storyboard animatics for cutscenes -- it doesn't put its best foot forward with presentation. The gameplay is just a ho-hum version of their infinitely better games which you can also play on Game Pass or grab on Steam with change from a tenner. When I died during the second mission and it sent me all the way back to the starting safehouse, I had my 'IM GOOD!' moment and uninstalled it. What a terrible bummer.
Not going to slap a rating on this based off two hours of play, but as someone who loves Arkane's style of game this was kind of soul destroying. A current-gen only experience that looks this bad, runs at 30 fps, and has awful, storyboard animatics for cutscenes -- it doesn't put its best foot forward with presentation. The gameplay is just a ho-hum version of their infinitely better games which you can also play on Game Pass or grab on Steam with change from a tenner. When I died during the second mission and it sent me all the way back to the starting safehouse, I had my 'IM GOOD!' moment and uninstalled it. What a terrible bummer.
Now that the dust has settled after launch, and most players have figured out the basic layout of the levels; the real game has begun.
It was very overwhelming at first because you have to dodge your enemies, while also trying to figure out what the hell you're doing. With the core mechanics down, the real game of cat and mouse is revealed, and I found the game somehow even more thrilling after getting to grips with the maps. The balance between killer and victim is pretty dang great; and I had numerous close calls as both, which I was actually able to recover from. Hiding in tall grass is shockingly effective, as killers have more to do than simply hunt, many don't take the time to comb an entire area - they don't have the luxury. So a well timed hiding can change the time of the game.
I can't wait to see how this continues over time. It's a bit light on content now, and sadly some cosmetics are already locked behind real money, but hopefully there will be a steady flow of updates.
It was very overwhelming at first because you have to dodge your enemies, while also trying to figure out what the hell you're doing. With the core mechanics down, the real game of cat and mouse is revealed, and I found the game somehow even more thrilling after getting to grips with the maps. The balance between killer and victim is pretty dang great; and I had numerous close calls as both, which I was actually able to recover from. Hiding in tall grass is shockingly effective, as killers have more to do than simply hunt, many don't take the time to comb an entire area - they don't have the luxury. So a well timed hiding can change the time of the game.
I can't wait to see how this continues over time. It's a bit light on content now, and sadly some cosmetics are already locked behind real money, but hopefully there will be a steady flow of updates.
2022
A top notch Steam Deck time killer, with tonnes of charm in its presentation and characters. Initially, I was enamoured with how many new things Dave kept throwing at me. New mechanics, new areas, new metas. But at a certain point, it felt like diminishing returns. I was less and less interested in the latest thing, and kind of wished it spent more time fleshing out the restaurant aspect.
Unfinished currently, but will likely go back to it. (17 hours logged)
Unfinished currently, but will likely go back to it. (17 hours logged)
Roughly half-way through the story, this game feels enhanced over the original in almost every way - but I am kind of shocked at how badly optimised it is on PS5 (and seemingly everywhere). Very frustrating, but it doesn't derail the game too much.
Can't quite settle on a rating for this. Will certainly revisit later, and wrap up the main quest.
Can't quite settle on a rating for this. Will certainly revisit later, and wrap up the main quest.
2002
God bless the ambition and the heart of this thing - I can see why it has a following -- but it is just not very good.
The tone and the fear/trust mechanic had me hooked early on, but the latter is not fleshed out nearly enough, and feels a bit like window dressing. Then the game descends into a quite terrible action adventure/third person shooter in the second half, with awful boss design and checkpointing, squandering any good will earned earlier on.
Just watch the movie.
The tone and the fear/trust mechanic had me hooked early on, but the latter is not fleshed out nearly enough, and feels a bit like window dressing. Then the game descends into a quite terrible action adventure/third person shooter in the second half, with awful boss design and checkpointing, squandering any good will earned earlier on.
Just watch the movie.
2023
A truly excellent platformer with a demented style (in a great way). It obviously wears its Wario adoration on its sleeve but it's also better at doing Sonic stuff than most Sonic games. It also has some of those failings where, sometimes, you're going so fast that you can't really anticipate whats ahead which can feel counter intuitive.
But man, what a game and what a finale. I just love the style of this thing. I would watch a cartoon with all these weirdos in it.
But man, what a game and what a finale. I just love the style of this thing. I would watch a cartoon with all these weirdos in it.
1996
Capital W WACKY~! Barely a Die Hard game, but a fun 90s brawler nonetheless.
2023
I've kind of hit a wall with this, progress wise, and as much as I loved it initially - I can't say it's really hooking me in to break through that wall.
It makes a tremendous first impression. It looks and sounds incredible; a super satisfying top down shooter that looks to expand on some of the groundwork laid down by Hotline Miami. Lofty goals! But I think it does an admirable job, with its own innovations and sense of style that makes it feel more unique. But as the difficulty spikes and I don't really feel that I'm 'learning' per se - I think I'll just take a breather from it right now.
Hard to stick a rating on it, so I won't just yet.
It makes a tremendous first impression. It looks and sounds incredible; a super satisfying top down shooter that looks to expand on some of the groundwork laid down by Hotline Miami. Lofty goals! But I think it does an admirable job, with its own innovations and sense of style that makes it feel more unique. But as the difficulty spikes and I don't really feel that I'm 'learning' per se - I think I'll just take a breather from it right now.
Hard to stick a rating on it, so I won't just yet.
2017
This current season is a blast - not as many huge, game changing things as recent years, but a fun map, set of quests, and rewards.
The new modes, or I guess games, are very much a work in progress. The fake Rock Band and the non-football Rocket League feel very bare bones, and Lego seems... Cool but just another one of those.
Battle Royale remains one of the best way to have fun with your pals.
The new modes, or I guess games, are very much a work in progress. The fake Rock Band and the non-football Rocket League feel very bare bones, and Lego seems... Cool but just another one of those.
Battle Royale remains one of the best way to have fun with your pals.
2015
Fired this back up after the Furiosa trailer got me back in the Mad Max Mood™.
It remains a very cool but less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts open world game. The look and overall vibe of the Mad Max world is awesome, and will scratch that itch. The hand to hand combat is meaty, and satisfying - with the vehicles combat also delivering.
But this is the most 2015 open world ass open world game ever, and the repetition and boredom starts to set in basically instantly once you're let loose on the map. You're instantly grinding and clearing things off a list to make any progress and it just takes the fun out of the very solid mechanics.
But still; it's cool. And I wish we had more ambitious licenced games like this.
It remains a very cool but less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts open world game. The look and overall vibe of the Mad Max world is awesome, and will scratch that itch. The hand to hand combat is meaty, and satisfying - with the vehicles combat also delivering.
But this is the most 2015 open world ass open world game ever, and the repetition and boredom starts to set in basically instantly once you're let loose on the map. You're instantly grinding and clearing things off a list to make any progress and it just takes the fun out of the very solid mechanics.
But still; it's cool. And I wish we had more ambitious licenced games like this.
Charming as absolute heck, crammed with memorable moments, and 'aha!' gameplay mechanics.
I'm definitely in the camp that wishes a few of said mechanics were expanded upon more. The rapid fire nature of the games changing abilities and level structures keeps it super breezy but also can feel skin-deep at some points. You can give Mario a grappling hook in this game, and I don't think they made a big enough deal out of it.
I'm definitely in the camp that wishes a few of said mechanics were expanded upon more. The rapid fire nature of the games changing abilities and level structures keeps it super breezy but also can feel skin-deep at some points. You can give Mario a grappling hook in this game, and I don't think they made a big enough deal out of it.
I love so much about this game, and I'll write about why in more detail once I finish it BUT I am shelving for now because I've been soft locked three times lol.
Twice I accidentally glitched out of a zone/through a door I wasn't supposed to open yet and was locked out of progress, and once I just couldn't end a conversation with an NPC. I needed to close and reopen the game all three times, and make up between five and ten minutes progress. I'll revisit this in a few months when hopefully it has been patched up.
Twice I accidentally glitched out of a zone/through a door I wasn't supposed to open yet and was locked out of progress, and once I just couldn't end a conversation with an NPC. I needed to close and reopen the game all three times, and make up between five and ten minutes progress. I'll revisit this in a few months when hopefully it has been patched up.