Titan Quest (Xbox One) Review

Nostalgia can be a powerful force, even in small doses.  Years ago, I finally got around to playing a Diablo-style game on the PC called Titan Quest.  I didn't end up playing very long (part because I don't play games on the PC very much, and part because I wanted to do multiplayer with my wife), but I enjoyed the game and wanted to go back to it.  Once the game came to Xbox One and PS4, I was excited to give it a try.

Right off the bat, I was thrown into the character creator.  My excitement quickly dropped when I realized just how limited it is.  You can set gender and tunic color.  Even if most things would be covered by armor, I was hoping for a bit more.  Also, the game disappointingly only has single player and online multiplayer.  I know this won't effect everybody, but no couch co-op is a negative point for me.

Once in the actual game, my excitement started to make a comeback.   You can hold the X button down to auto attack, but it only works when there are enemies around.  That makes logical sense, but sometimes you want to try out a weapon's speed, or a new skill in safety.  Aiming attacks feels strange.  Instead of facing the direction you want to attack, your character will instead lock on to one in range.  To change targets, you hold down the attack button and point the left stick towards the new enemy.  There are plenty of times I tried to change my direction to change where I would attack, only to have it not work.  It's just cumbersome and not intuitive.

From there, the controls don't get any better.  The A Button picks up items and interacts with npcs/items/etc.  While it normally works fine, you can interact with your summoned creature.  It doesn't seem to do anything, but when you inevitably do it while trying to pick up loot, you will just stand there for a second, unable to do anything.  It's...just not good.  Oh, and the A Button will not pick up loot that has fallen through the map.  Sadly, it happened to me over a dozen times.  My son watched me play the game for an hour, and saw it at least three separate times.  That's also not good.

It bugs me that official screenshots usually lack the HUD

Health and magic potions are well labeled, though.  They are set on the bumpers, and are quick and easy to use when you need them.  Skills you learn will be set to the d-pad.  Yes, you read that right.  That's okay for buffs and other similar things, but just awful for attack skills.  But at least you get eight slots.  You can set a skill for the Y Button, but it doesn't feel responsive.  Maybe it's the few skills I tried there, but I had a lot of trouble getting them to activate, even when the target was in range.

The B Button will swap between your two weapon sets.  While this does allow you to set something else on the Y Button for the second set, it's not a function I would use with any regularity.  How often are you switching weapon sets?  Certainly not enough that you would want a face button dedicated to it.  It seems like that should be relegated to the d-pad instead of skills.  Even if they didn't want to copy something like Diablo 3, they could at least take the skill setting idea from the X-Men Legends games.  They did it right, and before Titan Quest originally launched.  Instead, they tried to invent a wheel, but ended up with a rectangle.

Okay, so that doesn't sound so great, but there is something good in the game.  There are nine different skill trees, many of which look fun to me.  Every level gives you three skill points, which can be used to buy or power-up skills, or increase the rank (and stats) of the class itself.  The higher the rank, the more skills you can learn.  It took me a minute to figure out how it worked, but I actually really like the skill trees.  I at first settled on an earth mage, and it was pretty fun.  A few of the skill made me think it would work really well with a melee fighter, but it was a mage set.  However, at level eight, you can choose a second class.  It's entirely optional, which is pretty cool too.  You don't gain any extra skill points, so there is a drawback to doing so.  However, there are several skills that work fine for a class, but much better when paired with another.  It's a great class and skill system that I am eager to play around with.

As for the game's story and quests, they are fairly limited and linear.  There are less quests than I expected.  Also, they are basic "go here and kill these things" types.  Turns out, that's fine by me, as the system for tracking quests and showing information on them is very, very basic.  Actually, it's probably less than basic.  It basically says what you have to do, but not exactly were to go, or have any kind of counters.  Side quest destinations are not far from where you get them, so it's not an issue.  The maps look really nice, but there is no variance in them.  The predictability makes it easier to complete quests, but having some variance in them other than chest contents would be very nice when going through with other characters.  I want to try out multiple classes, but it's a bit of a downer that all the areas will be the same.

Many years ago, Titan Quest was a great game. Since that time, the genre has evolved. Playing the game on a current console really drives home how archaic it is. It might not be fair to compare it to Diablo 3, but that game showed us how great this style of game can be (and play) on a console. Titan Quest, while somewhat fun, just can't compare to that, or other similar games on the same consoles. Instead of just a face lift, this 11+ year old game really needed a full-on remaster to bring it up to current genre standards.


The Good:
Multiple job class combinations to play around with.

The Bad:
Feels dated, controls are awkward.

The SaHD:
I'm really hoping it gets a couch co-op patch, but I may have to settle for getting a second Xbox One to play some co-op with the missus.

(Review code for Titan Quest was received from the publisher)

Masters of Anima (Nintendo Switch) Review

Masters of Anima is a third-person action adventure game where you control a small army of creatures to fight and solve puzzles.  Your character, Otto, is a newly minted Shaper when he is thrust into a battle to save his fiance.  Along the way, there will be puzzles to solve, collectibles to find, battles to fight, and new guardians to summon.

Otto can attack enemies on his own, and can even learn a few special moves.  Since the game is focused around the guardians, you won't be the primary means to damage enemies, but every little bit helps.  Otto also needs anima (energy shown in the lower right of the screen) to summon.  The controls to do the summoning and directing work well, but I still mix up the buttons at times.  While the level length makes sense for pick up and play, it's much better to play for longer periods.  When I did so, I didn't mess up the controls as often.

Half the time, guardians are used to solve quick puzzles and help you move forward.  They can push things in the way, hit corruption crystals, and activate various mechanisms.  For the most part it works fine, but sometimes the timing on these puzzles is too strict.  One type involves creating a purified area that Otto can take with him.  It will shrink as it wears off, which isn't a problem for Otto, but can be for his guardians.  If you don't run exactly to where you need to go, it will wear off as you near the destination, probably killing a chunk of your minions and wasting anima energy.  Later there are barriers that the commanders can lift to protect you from the wind.  Again, the timing has to be near exact, otherwise you are losing another chunk of your minions.  You might still lose them if you do it correctly, since they will likely stick out further than the walls.  If the timing was less strict, the puzzles would be fine.

Using the guardians in combat is a bit trickier.  The game teaches you effective ways to use each type of guardian, but in reality it isn't so easy.  The soldiers get in the enemy's face, but are easily hit and will eventually get wiped out while you are trying to set other groups up.  Archers can hide in the grass, but are still quickly targeted by enemy golems.  They deal very good damage though.  Basically, you need some of the (supposedly) sturdier guardians  in front of the enemies, while the others stay back and do their thing.  Trouble is, the enemies can easily target them, and will.  So to save them, you move the distance ones away.  This actually works when you fight one enemy, but three or more means you just can't pay attention to everything.

It's a bit of a downer, too.  The combat would work fine if ranged guardians were targeted much less frequently, or if the melee ones kept enemy focus while they hit it.  There's only so much room on the screen, you can't see everything, and will end up losing a lot of guardians while trying to set things up, or fix them.  Instead of setting up guardians to do what they do best, you end up having to move them around a lot.  I found it's better to stick with the basics and only use the more specialized ones for puzzles.  Combat just feels too frantic for what the game gives you.  I'd prefer more planning and less scrambling.

One of the harder fights was versus four enemies at the same time.  Given how hard it is to keep track of everything, it wasn't long before I was down to my last few archers, and no energy to summon anything else.  I found that using my character as a distraction while the archers destroyed the golem was effective at picking them off one by one.  It wasn't fast, though.  After a bit, lightning bolts started to hit the ground, but I was able to dodge them.  Then, as if incensed, the game covered the ground with them.  Left with no way to dodge them, I just died.  So, this childish display teaches you that the game REALLY wants you to use the guardians.  It would be nicer if you could employ effective strategies that aren't "just keep throwing guardians at them".

While going through all the missions will set you back several hours, there is some replay value.  Mostly you will want to replay missions to grab the collectibles you missed and get extra experience.  I know that not everybody would want to grab all the extra stuff, but most of them help increase your health or anima energy storage.  The extra experience also helps with the harder fights because you can have extra skills.  Several of the skills are very useful, too.  It's also easier to get a higher grade on the fights when you replay levels.  Though I'm still not fond of being graded after every encounter.

Overall, Masters of Anima can be a pretty fun game.  Ideally, if combat were tweaked a bit, making it less hectic, and puzzle timing less strict, it would be a really fun and easy to recommend game.  As it stands, if you liked games like Overlord, I'd recommend at least trying Masters of Anima.


The Good:
Bite sized levels are good for portable mode, and there are good reasons to replay them.

The Bad:
Fights against more than two enemies are a bit much to easily handle.

The SaHD:
Playing this reminds me that I need to go back and finish Overlord...and start the sequel.

(Review code for Masters of Anima was received from the publisher)

Mulaka (PS4) Review

Mulaka is a third-person action adventure game based on the actual mythology of the Tarahumara people in Mexico.  It does cover a few terms, basics, and deities during the course of the game and on the loading screens.  As a person who really likes mythology, I was happy about that.  It's also a good premise for a game.

We will start by looking at the action portion of the game.  Your main character has a spear to attack with, and the range is pretty decent.  The only issue I have with it is how hard it can be to hit the small scorpion enemies.  To compound this issue, they are the first enemy you encounter in the game, which doesn't really give a great impression.  Most enemies are not too hard or annoying to fight, despite their generous attack ranges, but can become a hassle when you have to fight them with other enemies.  It can be hard to dodge while trying to attack vulnerable enemies.  Like the dodge roll, it doesn't always work.  The worst fight I've had was with the frog boss.  It involved a lot of fighting little enemies while watching the big enemy, dodging its attacks, and trying to actually be in a position to make it vulnerable to damage.  Yes, there was a fair amount of swearing at that part.

Besides your melee attack, the spear is able to be thrown.  This works better in theory than in practice.  Aiming doesn't feel quite right to me.  The game wants you to be very exact, which isn't easy to do quickly.  To make matters worse, the camera angle has your character cover up a large portion of the screen, usually where you need to aim.  Throwing the spear to hit switches was okay, since you aren't rushed, but in combat was another matter entirely.  I found it easier to just jump and hit the flying mantises, rather than trying to hit them with the thrown spear.

Now we will move on to the adventure portion.  While combat has its ups and downs, the platforming and adventuring is well done.  I rarely had a problem landing on platforms while jumping around, and the camera is usually well-behaved.  As you go through the game, your character will get animal transformation powers that mostly serve as ways to move around.  The bird allows you to glide forward much longer distances than your jump can cover.  It can also give you a little extra height on a jump, which you will need to use a lot.  The bear can smash certain rocks, the jaguar can leap up special plants to get to higher ground, and the snake can swim across the water.

It takes magic to do these things, so you can't do them for as long as you want.  What I really appreciate is how they can be used in conjunction.  There are several times where you use the jaguar to run up a rock, and then must transform into the bird and glide to another platform, or vice-versa.  The snake can freeze bunches of vines, which the bear can then smash.  It's a cool design element, but I do have one minor gripe.  The jaguar leaps up pretty fast, and if you have to use the bird right after, you won't always know, or have time to react.  You just have to start the sequence again, but it seems like something that could be slightly altered to make it play better.  Otherwise, I really like the transformations, and how they can work together.

One last feature of the game are the four potions the main character can use.  At certain points, you will learn about a new plant that must be harvested to use these potions.  They are assigned to the d-pad, and have various functions.  The healing one is self-explanatory.  There is an explosive one that can break down cracked walls.  Rage makes you stronger for a time, and is obviously best used in combat.  Last is the shield, which will make you immune to damage for a short time, as shown by the shrinking bubble on your character.

It's fine to use them when you need them, since there are several places to grab all the ingredients you need.  You can even jump back to the second area and grab a lot of the aloe needed for the healing potions if and when you use them.  My only complaint with using them is the character must dance when doing so.  I'd be fine with that if the action stopped so he could do that, but it keeps going.  So, like Monster Hunter, you have to be completely safe when using it so you won't get hit.  This is especially bad for the shield potion, since if you get hit while starting, you will lose the potion and not get its effect.  Sarcastic excitement!

Mulaka might not be the most polished action adventure game, as I did hit a few bugs, but it can be really fun.  It's not the longest game, with each area only taking an hour or so, but it has a lot of unique charm.  Learning a bit about another culture's mythology is always a cool thing, and I really liked how the animal transformations were used to explore the environment.  It's worth checking out if you like third-person action adventure games.


The Good:
Fairly solid game.  Has some basic info on Tamahumara mythology, and the animal transformation aspect is well done.

The Bad:
Some enemies are a pain to fight, especially that frog boss.  Ugh.

The SaHD:
It was fun to learn about the Zelda reference trophy by accident.  I totally tried to break the first pot I found.

(Review code for Mulaka was received from the publisher)

Iconoclasts (PS4) Review

Iconoclasts is an action/adventure game in the vein of Metroid. Robin, a mechanic, just wants to fix things and make life better for people.  As the game progresses, she gets caught up in a giant battle between classes and ideologies.  However, much like the triangle motif prominently displayed in the game, the first half is a climb toward greatness, while the second half is a slide to rock bottom.

First off, though, the game looks great.  It's very colorful, enemy designs are solid, and the animations are awesome.  Some of the music is pretty good, too.

Exploring starts off fairly basic, but you learn a few new tricks along the way, and gain new abilities to make it much more intense.  Sadly there is no double jump, but Robin can use her charge shot to get a little more height on a jump.  This is a useful maneuver that is easily forgotten.  Robin's trusty wrench (spanner for those of you across the pond) will also be used many times throughout the game to open doors, hang from things, bop enemies on the head, and swing across gaps.  It took me a bit to get the timing/range for this, but after an hour or so I was traversing with it like a pro.

You will also be fighting enemies as you make your way around the world.  Robin's gun gets a few different shots, each of which can be charged, and are used for exploration as well as combat.  The basic shot also has one of the best functions I've seen in a game like this.  The shots will automatically angle at opponents that are close, but not in, one of the four cardinal directions.  This is super useful, and a great addition to the genre.

Further in the game, there are plenty of enemies that have to be taken out in specific ways.  For instance, maybe only a certain shot will work, or having to stomp on them first.  While it does add complexity, it gets annoying more than it is inventive.  Using the wrench to reflect back the occasional shot can be fun, but having to use it to parry a boss' sword attack is not.  Things like this make some boss and enemy fights too gimmicky, which readers may remember is one of my gaming dislikes.  The difficult parts are often annoying, not "challenging".

This is also true of the puzzles the game throws at you.  Some are easy to figure out, as they are simple, or look more complex than they end up being.  Some are able to be worked through, as a little trial and error will have most people figure them out.  The rest just had me stumped for minutes at a time.  There are unfortunately boss fights that are like that, too.  The game gives you a bit of information, but has no help if you are stuck.  I know that some old school gamers love that kind of thing, but I'm against too much or too little instruction.  If it isn't built in a way that someone can figure it out quickly enough, then it needs to be more clear.

All of the game's main power-ups are story-based, but there are treasures to find.  These all contain materials that are used for the game's crafting.  I'll admit that I have no idea how to get some of the treasures.  Robin can craft several different bonus skills that do things like allow an extra hit, or make the wrench attack stronger.  Up to three can be equipped at a time, and there are multiples for stacking purposes.  These bonus effects will quickly disappear when you take damage, but can be repaired as you destroy enemies and small statues.  It's a fairly nice skill system overall, even if they are overly fragile.

The story of Iconoclasts is actually pretty good.  It's a tale of oppressive religions and how cultures clash, which may lead to everyone's demise.  This story is much more of a focal point than I thought it would be.  However, it feels a little sporadic at times.  It's a lot heavier and gorier than I would have suspected, and at times a little too realistic.  Most of the characters are huge jerks that just don't learn their lesson or change their ways, much in the way many people refuse to improve themselves.  I'll give the game bonus points for letting you control other characters at a few points in the game, even if it forces you to re-learn a few basics.

Going through the game without much backtracking (or getting stuck) takes about 10 hours.  It will be a few more than that if you track down every treasure chest.  As strange as this is to say, I think the game could have been a bit shorter.  There are several times, especially near the end, where the game just throws out-of-place things at you to pad its length.  It's not The Return of the King's many endings, but more like moving the goal posts.  The first half of the game wasn't that hard, as you had time to learn boss patterns.  The second half got devilishly difficult, filled with inescapable damage, multiple hard enemies at the same time, and gimmicky boss fights.  Again, it was more annoying than hard.

I'm torn on Iconoclasts.  On one hand, the game looks awesome, and I really liked the game for awhile.  On the other, it got very annoying and the fun just disappeared.  It has some really good ideas, but also flounders on others.  If you are one of those people that still has fun while getting smacked around trying to figure out what to do, then you should play Iconoclasts.  While the game is impressive for its eight year development, I think it needs a few more tweaks to be as great as it could be.

The Good:
The art and animations of the game are wonderful, and the first half of the game is really fun.

The Bad:
The second half is loaded with annoying "difficulty", and stretched out a bit too much.

The SaHD:
Each culture having its own save statues was a nice touch.

(Review code for Iconoclasts was received from the publisher)

Blaster Master Zero (NS) Review

Blaster Master, one of the classic games on the NES.  I remember it for its two distinct styles, having both side-scrolling and isometric views, plus the old pause trick.  I'm sure more people remember that from Mega Man 2, though.  Anyway, I remember not being very good at the game, and seeing people go through the game years later, it could easily benefit from a remake.  Inti creates brings us that remake, with some very good additions.

After one of the nice new story scenes, the game starts in a side-scrolling section, where Jason is piloting the Sophia vehicle.  You can roll around, jump, and shoot in 5 directions.  The R Button helps lock you in to shooting diagonal or upward while moving side to side, and is a very helpful function to get down.  As you go through the maps, there are several upgrades you get, giving you different charge shots, sub-weapons, and even letting you climb on walls.  The Switch's d-pad buttons make controlling the action feel good.  My only real complaint with movement is that the car has some momentum to it.  This can make it hard to precisely jump and land on platforms, which you do need to do at times.  I did eventually get used to it, but it's not something I like in games.

Jason can and has to jump out of the vehicle at various times to progress.  While doing so, you can enter one of several dungeon areas, where the game switches to an old-school Zelda-like isometric view.  I prefer the analog stick for these sections, since it was easier to hit the diagonals with them.  The R Button is used to strafe, and it might even be more useful here than the side-scrolling sections.  Jason's blaster can also power-up by collecting the right item, but powers down when taking damage.  It's a very old-school concept that I'm not too fond of.  However, once I figured out that I could change shots, and how to do so, I saw the ridiculous power it holds.  The final shot is amazing.  The ones leading up to it are less so, but one or two of them have solid uses.  Many of the dungeon segments (and boss fights) were a lot easier with the final blaster shot, as long as I could hold on to it.

I got the normal ending and credits at just under 6 hours.  I then went back, grabbed the two or three things I missed, and got the true ending 3 hours later.  It would have been shorter, but I really don't like that last area.  After getting the true ending, you unlock two more modes.  Shortly after release, there were additional DLC characters that were free, but now are paid extras.  As free additions, they can be fun to mess around with.  Personally, I didn't feel like playing the whole game over after completion, but will likely use the DLC characters after some time has passed.

The difficulty of the game felt right.  There were parts and boss fights that were hard, but they didn't feel too hard.  The game does get noticeably easier once you have (and use) the highest level of Jason's blaster.  It's a nice reward for going (mostly) unscathed.  It was really easy to get hit, both in and out of Sophia, and I'd personally like a tad more invincibility time after taking damage.  It was a little too short for my tastes.

Overall, Blaster Master Zero is superior to the original.  Adding save points was a huge plus, and giving directions in some of the more questionable decisions (after area 3, go all the way back to the beginning for area 4...what?) makes a huge difference.  I always wanted to like the original more than I did, and Blaster Master Zero proved that there was a good game hiding inside.  It also proved that remaking the right game in the right way can make it a fun experience.

The Good:
Great update/remake of the original.

The Bad:
Sophia momentum took getting used to, easy to get hit at times.  Oh, and slippery ice areas are never fun.

The SaHD:
Having to have your transponder on for the final area is a strange requirement.

(Blaster Master Zero was purchased from the E-shop on sale)

Blossom Tales (Switch) Review

What is a grandpa to do when his grandkids demand a bedtime story they haven't heard before?  Make one up, of course!  I really like this premise for Blossom Tales, a retro-styled game obviously inspired by the old 2D Legend of Zeldas.  To better fit that premise, there are times the story has added elements as the grandkids chime in.  There are even a few scant places that have player input, with minor changes.  While a great idea, it would have been better to throw in a few more of those choices to make its unique inclusion better stand out.

At first, the controls felt odd to me.  A is your sword attack, but other usable items and sub-weapons can be mapped to B and X.  After playing for a bit, this configuration worked well and I got used to it.  It is strange that the Y Button can't be mapped to a third item, or do anything at all.  I really like that each non-consumable item just takes your magic meter, which refills over time.  No more running out of arrows or bombs!  The only minor gripe I have with the items is the bow.  You have to hold the button for a second before the arrows can be fired.  I get that it is to represent drawing the bow, but it can be very inconvenient.

Combat in Blossom Tales is pretty good.  The sword's range is decent, but it is strangely weaker than all the sub-weapons, even the boomerang.  It's easy to get hit, but there are plenty of hearts in destructible things.  Plus, the game is generous with money and gives you a good chunk of healing items for free.  I do have a few problems, though.  There are times when there are many enemies on the screen.  Boss fights can get really chaotic when they have fancy effects, attacks, and enemies all over the screen.  Usually at this point it's best to ditch tactics and just keep smashing and heal as needed until the fight is over.  Bosses don't display their health, but the screen flashes a bit when they take damage.  As they do, the flash changes from green to red.  When all the effects are flying around, it is nigh impossible to make out this element.  I'll say it doesn't ruin the game, but some of these aspects should be tweaked to better work together.

Being so inspired by Zelda, there are of course many puzzles to solve in Blossom Tales.  While not nearly as hard as the brain twisters in Ittle Dew 2+, they have their fair share of problems, too.  I'll admit I do like some of the puzzles.  One where pieces are rotated to make connected lines (like the old Pipe Dream game), shooting arrows through torches to light other torches, sliding block puzzles, and walking over a pattern of tiles without stepping on the same block twice were pretty fun to do, and required thinking.

Probably my biggest gripe with the puzzles I don't like is that they just go on for too long.  I can tolerate them in short, small bursts, but they just keep going, which increases my agitation.  There is a Simon Says-like memory mini-game that I really disliked.  Having to remember 3 to 5 in a row is fine, but they sometimes go up to 7+!  That might be passable, but they only show it once, the patterns are random, and messing up at all starts all the way over at the beginning.  If I'm having trouble with 7 in a row, I don't really want to have to re-do 3, then 4, then 5, then 6 in a row before attempting the 7 in a row again.  My short-term memory isn't that great, so you might have better luck than me at these puzzles.

There are also sections where you have to walk along narrow paths without falling.  Again, sounds okay until they have crumbling paths that mean you have to rush.  Oh, and they also throw in enemies, traps shooting at you, and conveyor belts pushing you toward the edge.  Definitely another pain in the butt, amplified by having to do the whole room over again if/when you fall, even if there is stable ground in the middle of the course.

If you rush through the main part of the game, it will last about 8 hours.  If you are poking around for all the secrets and items, it will of course run you a few more.  Unfortunately, there isn't a way to mark which caves/holes/etc you have been in, and which still have something to collect.  There are a few side quests to collect various item drops from enemies.  While these quests aren't tracked, you will basically need 20+ of each item dropped.

Overall, Blossom Tales is a lot of fun.  Even though I have some small issues with the game, it's still worth a playthrough for old 2D Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past fans.


The Good:
Fun game that harkens back to two of my favorite 2D adventure games.

The Bad:
The puzzles/sections I don't like last too long, and boss fights feel too chaotic as you progress.

The SaHD:
If you are playing for fun, I wouldn't stress about money or getting every heart piece.  You should have plenty by the end.

(Review code for Blossom Tales was provided by the publisher.)

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Xbox One) Review

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens was not an entirely unexpected release (they have done the other movies before), but one that's different from the normal release.  Instead of following multiple movies, it follows one.  Because there isn't quite enough content from just that one film, there are added levels to help flesh out characters or plot points.  At least it follows the story better than the Disney Infinity set for the same movie.

Like the other Traveler's Tales LEGO games, this is a third person action adventure game.  You go through each level, fight some bad guys, solve some light puzzles, and get to the end.  The levels in The Force Awakens are pretty good at following the movies.  They also intersperse the vehicle sections into the normal levels.  The LEGO games I played usually had those as their own separate level.  There are lots of collectibles in each level, and goals to complete to unlock things.  You can't do everything the first time through the level.  Once you unlock more abilities, you can revisit the levels and get the things you couldn't before.  While this is par for the course, you now have to finish the story mode before you can do free play for a level.  While it's a good idea to do that anyway, it seems like an odd restriction.

I haven't really played many LEGO games since the first LEGO Batman, so some of these changes might not be new.  Different characters have different abilities, although now most of those have an associated mini-game to them.  Grapple pulls require mashing, which makes sense to me.  Strength requires...a timing one?  You'd think mashing would make more sense there.  Protocol droids have to match a series of symbols.  Astromech droids have to match wheels.  This one actually makes some sense, as it reminds me of Artoo's spinning robot plug.  Still, on the whole they feel unnecessary.  I don't really like to do them, nor do I want to.

Speaking of unnecessary and not fun, they also added cover-based shooting sections.  These mimic third-person cover-based shooters fairly well.  You stay in cover by default, and have to hold the left trigger to peek out so you can shoot.  They at least warn you when an enemy is targeting you, but it's still a pain to aim and shoot most troops.  Sometimes it auto-aims, which helps, but other times it won't, despite someone really close to where the cursor starts.  I get what they are going for, but it just doesn't work.  Considering the developers don't bother to fix problems with the game, I doubt these will ever get better.

Following only one movie instead of three also comes with another pit fall: length.  There's much less story to go through, making the game rather short (to be a stormtrooper).  My wife and I were able to get through the entire story in less than 10 hours.  There are the extra unlockable levels and other activities to do if you are so inclined.  Also, lots of collectibles to find and characters to buy.  Sure, a vast majority are in no way necessary, but I guess it adds to the playtime.  This release also features the biggest variety of non-characters that nobody really wants to play as, just to give more "content".

Like the other LEGO games, it isn't too hard to go through the levels.  If you die, you will just lose some studs (currency) and respawn.  The only real challenge is trying to figure out what they want you to do at times, from having to do a new mini-game, to figuring out what you have to do to move forward, to fighting with the flight controls.  Most times it didn't keep the inverted control settings for either player.

If you have enjoyed all the other Traveler's Tales' LEGO games, you should enjoy The Force Awakens.  My wife and I had enough fun to finish the story.  Still, it didn't change my opinions on these games.  Instead of fixing the problems, they just add things, most of which are unnecessary.  I don't want a mini-game for every ability, and I certainly don't want those shooting sections.  The extra levels of things not seen in the movie are a decent though, but also feel unimportant.  The fact that the game only covers one movie is another thing that hurts this release.  If you want to play it, I would recommend renting it, as you can easily beat it in that time.


The Good:
Some of the silly stuff is actually pretty funny.

The Bad:
Character ability mini-games and the shoot out sections are not necessary nor fun.

The SaHD:
Let's hope the inevitable LEGO The Last Jedi incorporates some of Rogue One to pad out its length.

(LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens was rented from Redbox)

Ittle Dew 2+ (Switch) Review

I'm not familiar with Ittle Dew 2+, as I had not even heard of the first game.  Given that it was on mobile, PC, and Wii U, that's not surprising.  When I saw a screenshot of the sequel, I knew I wanted to play it.

If you have played the old (and awesome) top-down Legend of Zelda games, Ittle Dew will look very familiar.  Same perspective, similar idea.  As Ittle and her flying fox friend Tippsie, you must brave the eight dungeons to rebuild your raft, and continue your adventure.  The game also looks really good.  It mostly appears cel-shaded, but with a hand-drawn style mixed in.  Character portraits are very expressive, and the dialogue is pretty funny, too.  It obvious from the get go that the game doesn't take itself too seriously, all the way through the end credits.

As you wander around the island, you will fight many enemies.  Or, run past a lot of them, as I ended up doing.  Combat is pretty solid, save for the hit detection.  It feels like it was a bit too easy for me to get hit, especially when trying to attack foes.  There are weapon upgrades that give extra range to your attack, which helps this problem, but doesn't do much for the first couple of hours.  There is a roll, but the timing of it never quite clicked with me.  I could get it to work sometimes, but most times it just didn't work out.  It's also way too easy to fall into pits.  I lost track of the number of times I would just slide in, while feeling I had room.  That got annoying.

Besides your melee weapon, you eventually find a wand, ice ring, and dynamite.  The wand is not very strong, but gives you a distance advantage.  It's also really hard to aim.  Using the d-pad buttons on the switch, I could aim in the 8 standard directions without much trouble, but enemies could be at any angle.  Using the analog stick to precisely aim was a huge pain.  It reminds me of aiming in twin stick shooters, which is something I am really bad at.  So, if you are comfortable with those, aiming the wand might not be so hard for you.  The overly sensitive nature of the analog stick may be why I was filling into pits so many times.

The ice ring creates a block of ice, which can be pushed.  It can also damage enemies.  The range of the attack is abysmally short, because it's a ring, so I barely used it for that purpose.  It is the only thing that can damage the slime enemies, which thankfully you don't encounter very often.  The stick of dynamite is slightly more useful as a weapon.  You put it just in front of you, and it will explode after a short time.  If you have used a bomb item in any similar game, you will get the idea.  It's still not the best weapon, as you have to get close enough that the blast will affect the enemy, which can get you hurt.  At least the explosion doesn't hurt you.

These weapons also double as puzzle solving devices, which is pretty neat and pulled off well.  The stick can hit switches and light fires (when the weapon itself is on fire).  The dynamite can destroy some blocks, but also trigger switches with a delay.  This is used more than you might think.  The blocks the ring makes can be used to depress pressure plates, which is absurdly useful.  The wand is used to hit switches from a distance.

While these may seem mundane, the way they work together is impressive.  You can hit the ice block and shave a part of it off, making a diagonal surface.  This allows you to reflect the wand attacks, or push it at an angle.  The dynamite can be frozen, giving you more time to move away before it blows.  The wand can also be used to move push blocks at a distance, or even diagonally.  That last bit tripped me up at a puzzle late in the game.  The puzzles are a decent spread of easy, medium, and hard ones, but boy are those hard ones difficult.  The dream world has a dungeon for each item, where you can only use that item.  Sadly, I can't figure half of them out.

While the map can be a pain to access (hitting the Minus Button on the Joy-con isn't really convenient), it is very detailed, and I like it.  Since so much of the game is exploration, all cave and building entrances are marked on the map once you find them.  Caves that link multiple areas are clearly marked, and if you find all of the stuff in a place, it gets a check mark so you know you don't have to go back there.  Dungeons get a little crown on them if you have found everything inside as well.  There are maps that tell you where some of the secrets are, and it marks these locations with an "X".  Overall a great map system.

The first half of the game felt very fast, which then slowed down in the second half.  Probably because I starting dying a lot.  Enemies do a lot of damage, which is exacerbated when they shoot out way too many projectiles.  Oh, and did I mention the projectiles have decent tracking on them?  Yeah, that's pretty dumb.  That's why I ended up just running away from enemies, as they started getting pretty cheap.

I took less than 8 hours to complete it, so it's a pretty short game, but there's good replay and speed run potential.  I didn't do all of the optional and dream dungeons, mostly because I'm not good enough to do them.  The dungeons can be done out of order, and there are shortcuts in each if you do so.  There's also lock picks that you can use instead of a dungeon key, which will be fun to see which ones people skip.  I'm actually very interested in seeing a speed run of this game.

Old school top-down action adventure fans should definitely check out Ittle Dew 2+.  It scratched a gaming itch I've had for awhile, and looked awesome doing it.  It had a few flaws that grew as the game progressed, but I ultimately enjoyed it.  If you want a fun game..."Ittle Dew".

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)


The Good:
Great map, lots of exploration, inventive puzzles.

The Bad:
Enemy attacks, damage, and sliding into all of those pits.

The SaHD:
So, are the health potions alcohol or something?

(Review code for Ittle Dew 2+ was provided by the publisher)

The Mummy Demastered (PC) Review

What happens when you mix WayForward's wonderful sprite animation, their metroidvania pedigree, and a blockbuster movie license?  Well, you end up with The Mummy Demastered, a 16-bit looking side scrolling action adventure...that needs better mixing.

Off the bat, the game looks really cool.  The sprites and animation are top-notch, and what I expect from WayForward.  The music ranges from average and forgettable to downright annoying.  You control your agent to run and gun through several areas of the map that don't always feel like they should match up.  I mean, if you are that close to the headquarters, why would you take a helicopter to the starting area?

Anyway, the map isn't the point of the game.  The action is.  Too bad it's just not that good.  Hit boxes seem off, the damage is too high, and there are too many enemies on most screens.  Crows move in medusa head patterns, and are somehow not the most annoying enemy.  Screens have lots of little crawling and jumping monsters that can be hard to aim at.  Many enemies have cheap placement just off screen so you hit them when you are trying to advance.  Most things take too many shots from your default gun, which drags down the fun.  To top it off, you can't even damage things that are too close to you, but of course they hit you, even if it doesn't seem like they even touched you.

You will get new weapons to use, but they all have limited ammo.  So, you may be like me and save them for bosses.  Even so, you will quickly run out of ammo in those fights.  Outside of boss battles, there are plenty of ammo drops, but still not enough to replenish what you use just to go anywhere.  If you are full of an ammo type, it will still be dropped.  Why not replace that with health?  Health pick-ups don't drop near frequently enough, considering how much damage enemies can do.  Plus, there are no rooms that restore your health to full, meaning you have to grind to restore it.  Not a good design decision.

Boss fights aren't much better.  The first was fine, but the second was just a horrible experience.  Lots of damage, lots of time, and it didn't always stick to its patterns.  In fact, they all take way too much time if you just use the default gun.  Because of the death mechanic (see rant below), you won't get any spent ammo back if you die.  So, you have to either hope you win, take forever, or grind for drops.  Not a great choice.

How about the platforming?  Well, it's not that great either.  It feels a bit stiff.  I'm not sure if there is a slight delay in jumping, or maybe the floor properties of the ledge aren't great, but there were plenty of times I tried to jump off a platform only to fall down.  I was playing with an Xbox 360 controller, and it didn't feel like it was a peripheral issue, just an issue in the game.  There's also plenty of low and inconsiderate ceilings that can get in the way of jumps.  I will admit the ceiling grab you get is really cool, even if the environment designs quickly limit how much you can use it.  It's like Mark of Kri all over again.

Now we can move on to the unique mechanic in the game that I alluded to earlier: the death mechanic.  If/when you die, your agent revives as a zombie.  At first I thought it was a cute animation, but nope, it's an actual enemy you fight.  Oh, and did I mention that it has your stuff?  Well, it does.  So, now you have to kill it.  With the default weapon.  And the default health.

You read that right, you have no upgrades whatsoever, because this is a new agent.  So you have to fight an enemy that has the weapons you did, but with the default stuff.  Ugh.  Oh, and you will only get back the ammo you lost.  Did you have 5 shots left in that machine gun?  That's what you recover.  Never mind that the zombie agent shot at you with that same gun 50 times, or threw 10 grenades, since you clearly didn't have that.  Somehow, he did.

It's a nice idea.  It fits with the game theme.  It's also not fun at all, and in fact sucks out any fun you were having.  You just end up in a worse position than when you died.  Thankfully if you die on a boss, the undead agent won't be with the boss, but the room before.  Since it automatically saves when you die, you have to get creative to avoid it.  Once I reached a new save point, I would quit out and copy that file to an empty slot.  If I died, I would copy it back and continue on, so I could avoid the annoyance.  That's not an effective way to play a game, but made it less stressful.

Like other metroidvanias, there are secret rooms and items to collect.  The teleport rooms are nice, as it's just a chopper that you ride to other drop zones.  The elevators to other areas are rappelling stations.  Another nice fit.  I'm also a fan of opening up some blocked rooms with grenades and their upgrades.  All three of these things are very appropriate to the setting, and are pulled off well.  Past that, we also get collectibles.  Not upgrades, actual little trinkets you pick up that don't really do anything.  I guess they ran out of useful stuff for players to find.  While I'm not opposed to collectibles in games, these don't feel like there was any care put into them.  The medallions are seemingly placed at random, and rarely hidden.

I'm not sure I have to reiterate my overall feelings on the game, since it should be pretty obvious.  The Mummy Demastered is far from WayForward's best work, and also not a very fun game.  It has promise, but fails to deliver in just about every way.  I wouldn't recommend it to metroidvania action/adventure fans.  Maybe if you really liked the latest movie, but even though I doubt it.  Well, at least it doesn't have a melee counter that you constantly need!


The Good:
Graphics and animation are good.  Some elements seem very appropriate to the setting and license.

The Bad:
Too many enemies; too much damage; hit, ledge, and jumping detection feel off; the death mechanic, and really just a lot of things, big and small.

The SaHD:
I shudder to think what the game would play like if it came out when the movie did.

(Review code for The Mummy Demastered was provided by the publisher)

Morphite (Xbox One) Review

When I first heard about Morphite, it sounded like No Man's Sky, but with a story.  It's a space exploration adventure game.  You guide Myrah and travel from planet to planet to find out the secrets of the legendary Morphite.  Plus, there are tons of extra planets that are randomly generated when you land on them.

When you first see the game, it can be a jarring experience.  I immediately thought it looked like a child colored an N64 game.  I'm not meaning that in a negative way, that was just the impression I got.  The worlds are very colorful, and not big on detail.  What they are big on is visible polygons.

The story isn't really ground breaking, but it's enough of an excuse to hop from planet to planet and battle bosses.  The story worlds are not randomly generated, and have some light puzzle solving.  My main complaint with the story is that it's trying too hard to be funny.  However, they do succeed with your robotic companion Kitcat, who I find very humorous.  Maybe I just have a weakness for sarcastic robots.

Exploration involves a lot of moving around, jumping, scanning creatures, and later on, some grappling.  There are a lot of things to scan, from plant life to creatures and even some minerals.  There are even variations of each one: strong, weak, and even rare.  Trouble is, there was little to no visual difference between them.  So, you end up running around, trying to scan anything and everything to see if it's a new one.  Little and quick creatures are also annoying to scan.  It's not the quickest scanning, and the lock-on is really bad for it.  Scanning kind of a pain, but you do need the money and rare scans.

Story locations are marked on the star maps, but on the actual planets very little is.  Objective markers would have been nice for the times in the second half of the story where I was lost and confused.  The maps in general just aren't good.  Sure, they show the outline of the land, but no detail.  Oh, and they are limited to your current elevation, meaning they change a lot when going up or down.  Ugh.

Besides scanning and jumping, you will also be shooting.  After all, not everything in the universe is friendly.  Fighting on foot is very basic.  You aim with one stick, move with the other, and shoot with the trigger.  The Left Trigger locks on.  It works slightly better than it does for scanning, so it's best not to rely on it.  Ammo can be pretty scarce.  Thankfully, the basic pistol will slowly refill to 5 shots if it runs out.  It's not a huge help when your max is 100 shots, but at least you won't be left defenseless.  Switching between the different weapons and the scanner isn't very quick, either.  While I didn't die that often (at least from health loss), you can die pretty quickly if you aren't careful.  The boss fights aren't very hard, either.

Moving in space is little more than picking a destination from a star map.  You can only go so far as you have fuel.  Fuel will regenerate over time, so it's best to hang out in a space station and do some trading, or explore a planet and do some scanning.  There are some random events while traveling too, like finding items, losing money, finding traders, and getting jumped by enemies.  Like land battles, space battles are very basic.  You are in a stationary turret, and try to aim at the enemies.  Every shot produces heat, so you don't want to shoot so much that you overheat your gun and have to wait.  There's also a dodge that you can use every few seconds to try and avoid damage.  The space battles function, but they aren't terribly exciting.

What else can you do?  Well, you can sell your scans.  Rare scans and harvested minerals can be used for various upgrades to your suit and ship.  The necessary rare scans come from similar sources.  Need heat resistance?  Get a rare scan from something in a hot environment.  It makes sense, but can be a hassle trying to track down the last few you need.  Ship improvements are just pure money, and weapon upgrades require money and mineral resources.  Minerals are gained from shooting the appropriate rocks randomly on planets.  Sometimes you find a good amount, and sometimes there is only one.  The improvements get pretty substantial though, so it's worth doing them.  I'd recommend fuel first, so you can go to farther systems much faster.

As with most games, there are problems abound in Morphite.  There are holes in the environment and strange invisible walls.  I'm betting most of these are because of the random worlds.  I've fallen through the map several times, and some even on story stages.  I've gotten stuck in the environment and on various places on planets.  Some of these can be solved by quitting to the menu.  It thankfully saves very often, but the worlds are generated when you land on them, so even if going back to the same one, it will have a different map.  One story planet kept locking up while I was trying to load it up.  My last big gripe is that I can't adjust the viewing area.  This cuts off text on all sides of my screen and just bothers me constantly.

So is Morphite just No Man's Sky with a story?  Not as much as I would have thought in the beginning.  It has a distinct visual style, and an unremarkable plot saved by a back-talkin' bot.  The randomly generated worlds can be nice, but feel too much like each other to stand out.  The shooting aspects are very basic.  Scanning everything can be fun as you try to find the rare scans you need for the next upgrade, but you will end up doing it a lot.  It's not a hard game, but does have annoying parts that keep it from being a relaxing experience.  Overall, it's worth trying, but likely won't end up being memorable.


The Good:
Many worlds to explore, upgrades to purchase, and story to uncover.

The Bad:
Lacks polish or depth in many areas.

The SaHD:
How awkward was that scene where you learn about the grapple gun?  It just sounded like a video game.  It wasn't natural at all.

(Review code for Morphite was provided by the publisher)

Mystik Belle (PS4) Review

Mystik Belle is an action-adventure platformer made by Last Dimension and published by Wayforward.  After seeing the humorous trailer, I knew I wanted to review it.  It doesn't hurt that the graphics look like sweet 16-bit candy.

On its surface, the game is basically a Metroidvania.  However, it's also littered with point and click adventure game-like puzzles, and it works really well.  You'll find items that you have to use a certain place, usually to get another item to use elsewhere.  If you have played something like Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, or Disc World, then you get the basic idea.  Sure, mashing fetch quest puzzles with exploration does increase the likelihood that I'll get stuck (which I did several times), but both aspects of the game didn't clash with each other the way disparate elements sometimes do.

The only limitation of this that I don't like is the limited inventory space.  Belle can only carry so much.  Thankfully there are several warp chests around the map, that you can put items into and retrieve at another (at least on the normal difficulty setting).  Anything you leave will stay where you left it, which is a nice touch.  Even so, you will probably make a few trips to these chests to grab things you need.  Also, there is an apple you get at the beginning of the game (the hall pass).  If you don't have it, an invincible reaper will creep around and kill you instantly if he catches you.  So, you will probably want to carry that with you at all times.  If you never leave a screen without it, you'll also get a trophy.  What a good student!

The combat portion of the game is pretty solid and enjoyable.  It's also not very hard.  Belle can jump and shoot.  After each boss fight, you get a new spell, which will eventually get you a charge shot and a dash, both of which have combat applications as well as exploration.  The charge shot especially is great on boss fights.  Even so, boss fights aren't really that hard.  In fact, few parts of the game are actually hard.  When you come in contact with something, it damages you, but you also damage it.  This happens frequently because Belle's sprite is fairly big.  You take very little damage, unless you come into prolonged contact with it.  Since there is no invincibility time on a hit, it will basically drain your health while you stand in or on it.  There are no save rooms or items to heal your health, so you have to rely on drops from enemies.  There's just enough of them that it isn't really an issue.

The only really "hard" fight is the final boss of the true ending route.  Even then, it's only because it doesn't follow the normal gameplay.  I'm not going to ruin what's going on, but you must do something completely different to everything you've done up to that point, and they don't even provide instructions as to what the controls are.  That, and you will die in like 4 seconds, leaving you almost no time to figure out what you are supposed to do.  I was very frustrated at that part, but I wasn't going to give up while standing on the finish line.  I made it through, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

The platforming aspect didn't quite feel as good as combat.  There are a few jumps that are at the limit of Belle's jump, either distance or height.  The game feels pretty loose when she's near a ledge, which would sometimes cause me to fall when I was making sure I was far enough that I could actually jump the gap.  Sometimes the dash or double jump just didn't want to work.  Most times a missed jump is just having to get back up, so it's not the end of the world when it happens.  It's just an annoyance.

While the game is fun, it's also short.  It took me just under 3 hours to get the "good" ending, and that was done in one sitting.  I was only missing four items to get the true ending.  Finishing that up took only another 30 minutes, although I did use a list for those last items, since they aren't marked on the map.  It turns up I had seen two of them, but forgot they were there when I could actually get them.  Doh.  The only real replayability is for the achievements and trophies, of which there is a speed run one.

Mystik Belle is a fun action adventure platforming game with some point and click adventure puzzle solving thrown in for good measure.  It's a quick game, and not really difficult.  The art and animation is wonderful.  It's worth playing if you are a fan of Metroidvanias.


The Good:
The gameplay, the art, and enemy design are pretty top notch.

The Bad:
Felt a bit short for the cost, and the true ending boss fight is not fun.

The SaHD:
It took me way too long to get the "Belle?  BELLE!" trophy joke, but once I did, it made me laugh.

(Review code for Mystik Belle was provided by the publisher)

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles (PS4) Review

At the start of Yonder, you survive a shipwreck and wake up on a mysterious island.  After meeting some friendly locals, you then set about helping clear the island of the murk that is slowly taking over.  To do so, the Cloud Catcher must be repaired.

Despite how the game might sound, there is no fighting whatsoever in Yonder.  It's just nice, peaceful, and fun.  You go around the different biomes, collecting materials, items, and solving quests.  To gather from various places, you need the appropriate tool, which you just switch to with the L/R Buttons.  Gathered materials are sometimes used for quests, but mostly for crafting and trading.

The island is pretty big, but not as big as it looks.  This is actually good because you will be running around it a lot.  There are a few teleport places, but some are only active at certain times of day, and others have to be unlocked.  Until then, you will be hoofing it.  Also, some of the teleport points aren't in the most convenient locations, or even that close to what you need.  Admittedly, having a ridiculously good teleport system would kind of ruin parts of the game, but for the first half of the game, I really would have liked a better fast travel method.

Crafting is not quite what I thought it would be like.  Since you can get a lot of materials, I figured you would use a lot of them to make stuff.  In reality, you will use some, but most crafting materials are things you have to trade for.  You don't buy and sell, but instead trade what you have (all items have a value) for other things.  Different places offer different stuff, and some items will have a discount or markup.  Unfortunately, you will be doing a lot of trading to be able to do crafting, so you will have to learn how best to exploit the system.  I ignored it for several hours, until I figured out my flour/wood strategy to get started, and then I was only held back by places not having enough materials that I needed to trade for.

You also unlock several farms as you play the game.  On these plots of land, you can place material conversion machines (butter churner, etc.), planters to grow stuff, and animal shelters.  To actually adopt an animal, you have to give it food it likes, then lead it back to the pen.  It's a little painful, but thankfully you don't have to do it often.  There are really useful things you can do on your farms, but it's a section of the game I ignored for many hours.  Partially because crafting the items you need is very expensive, and partly because it took way too long before I actually got items from my first animals.  I think that second part was a glitch, though.  Once I was near the end and finally sat down and did a ton of crafting and trading, I realized just how useful the farm is, and that I should have tried to get it all together much earlier.  Now if only it wasn't so expensive to hire a helper...

The expensive crafting and the sometimes awkward jump physics near walls aren't my biggest gripes with the game.  That is saved for the inventory.  It strangely doesn't sort very well, and there is no button to press to sort it for you.  Yes, you can filter, but it's also a pain to cycle through the filters, instead of being able to pick one.  Auto sorting would be a much, much nicer option, and I really wish it were there.  It makes crafting more of a chore, since you will have to really look through all of your stuff.  Plus, it can be hard to know how many stacks you have of something, since they won't be next to each other.

If you so choose, you can focus on just the main story quests.  I'm not that kind of guy, so I spent a lot of time wandering around, trying to find everything.  I don't know how long it took me to go through most of it (I haven't finished every quest), but I'd estimate around 20-25 hours.  You could do it much quicker if you focus, but it would take you longer if you decide to 100% the game and get all of the trophies.

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a fun adventure game.  I really like exploring in games like this, so it really hit the spot for me.  Sadly, some people will be turned off because there isn't any fighting and/or a lot of collecting, but it's a great game to relax and play.  Most times I wanted to just keep running around and find more stuff, or complete one more quest.  It's definitely worth the money, and a definite recommendation for adventure fans.

[UPDATE]
As I go to post the review, there was apparently a patch drop earlier today.  One thing addressed is the limited number of basic trade goods needed for recipes, plus a way to craft them.  A second is giving a tree and plant growing place when you first get a farm...definitely useful.  I haven't tested it out yet, but these will definitely improve the experience.


The Good:
Super relaxing adventure game where you run around and collect stuff.

The Bad:
Inventory really needs a sort option.  Sometimes it can take awhile to get all the crafting stuff you need.

The SaHD:
Troll Island...ha ha ha.

(Review code for Yonder was provided by the publisher)

The Silver Case (PS4) Review

The Silver Case was Grasshopper Manufacture's first game.  Originally a Playstation game released in 1999, it was recently remastered for a PC release, and now it's on the PS4.  The game is a crime drama adventure game split into two parts, Transmitter and Placebo.

Transmitter follows the main character (that you name) and their story through 7 chapters.  While the stories don't always appear connected, they are in sometimes obscure ways.  I was able to follow most of the plot, but a few points escaped me.  Some of these are things addressed in the Placebo portion of the game.  Placebo only has 5 chapters, stars a different character, and gives a different perspective on the happenings of Transmitter.  As already mentioned, it fills in a few gaps, so it isn't as ancillary as it first appears to be.  Also, finishing all the cases on one side unlocks a bonus one for the other, which is new content not from the initial release.  Sure, they are really short, but new is new!

Being a Suda 51 game, you know it has to be dripping with a unique style.  In that respect, The Silver Case doesn't disappoint.  Part of the game's style is the background imagery.  There's lines, letters, symbols and other things floating around.  At first it was really distracting, but once I was used to it, I thought it was pretty neat.  Plus, it helps that every chapter had its own color and thing going on in the background, making them all feel unique.

In addition to that, there are also a myriad of ways the game shows things.  Many characters have portraits (that are different for the two "sides" of the story), there are still images, 3D models, animation and even some live action videos.  It's all kind of crazy, but since it uses them at least a few times each, it kind of works.  There is little spoken dialogue, so the game uses a text noise when writing the dialogue.  It actually has a few different noises, which is nice.  However, it just kind of cycles among them, instead of having certain people's sound one way, as a way to differentiate people from others.  That would have been cool.

When you aren't scrolling through and reading dialogue, you will likely be moving around the game's limited 3D environments.  These sections are the weakest part of the game.  It's also the only "gameplay" you get, which is what makes it an adventure game and not a visual novel.  Anyway, the controls for them half make sense, but are still jumbled.  I get the movement, but selecting what thing to do (movement, system, etc.) with the wheel feels very cumbersome.  There's an alternate way, where you hold the L1 button and use a face button, that feels more natural.  One of the characters even points out that it won't makes sense, but that you will get used to it.  They don't say that it gets better, mind you, only that you'll accept it and move on.  While these sections aren't fun, in the Placebo story, they feel superfluous.  Many times, you basically move a square forward and interact with something to advance the story.  I guess it at least gives you time to save.

Early in the game, my dislike for these sections was cemented.  I was moving around in the first room you can move in, and I couldn't go anywhere.  I examined what I thought it wanted me to, but all I could find was a door it wouldn't let me though, a panel that I could type stuff in, and a blurry picture that seemed like it would be important if it was legible.  After about 10 minutes, I found a comic book near the ground.  "Ok, great the game is going to have collectibles during these parts," I thought.  I wandered around for a few more minutes, just not understanding what I was missing.

Then I tried to walk though the door again.  And it worked.  "What?!" I yelled (actually, there were more expletives in what I yelled).  I apparently had to pick up a silly and useless collectible in order to go through the door.  Sadly, that wasn't the only time I would not know what to do, only to find out it was look up or down on a specific panel and a specific direction.  Sigh.

In the Transmitter half of the game, several of the 3D sections have puzzles to figure out.  The first ones I came to didn't really give any indication of what I was supposed to do (remember that panel I mentioned?), and being already confused, I didn't know what to do.  There's a little magnifying glass icon, that when hit, solved the puzzle for me.  So what was the point of actually doing it?  I don't know.  After completing all of those ones in the same way, I figured out what you were supposed to actually do to solve it.  On one hand I think it's silly to just easily give the solution like that with no penalty, but on the other I appreciate that you aren't stuck when they just dump a puzzle on you with no explanation.

The other puzzles don't have a button to solve it for you, and they aren't very hard when it comes down to it.  I will admit I got stuck several times, but it wasn't usually because of an actual puzzle, but more that I didn't know what part of the area I was supposed to walk to, or look up or down or something else that feels pointless.  Luckily getting all the questions right in the 100 question kumite isn't actually a puzzle, since that wasn't going to happen.  (Apparently, they always ask in the same order, meaning a guide will get it done.)

While I do have some big problems with The Silver Case, I think the story is interesting.  There are parts that don't feel as well explained as they should be, and there's a few twists that feel unnecessary, but I enjoyed it overall and kept playing to find out what was going to happen.  I'd enjoy it more as a visual novel, since the movement sections were far more painful than they should have been.  The style is the game's strongest point.  Still, if you are a fan of some avant-garde design and story telling, The Silver Case is worth a playthrough, especially if you have played any of the related Suda 51 stories.


The Good:
Pretty interesting story, very unique style.

The Bad:
The 3D environments.

The SaHD:
One of the characters nicknames the main character "Big Dick", which makes for some hilarious lines...which I unabashedly took screenshots of.

(Review code for The Silver Case was provided by the publisher)

ReCore (Xbox One) Review

ReCore is a third person shooting action and adventure game where the main character, Joule, must team up with three robot companions and brave the harsh environment of Eden Prime.  It's a pretty good looking game overall.  Sure, the prismatic cores look a bit...weird, but I'd say it is solid otherwise.

Another really good aspect of the game is Joule's movement.  She starts with a boost dash, that works in midair, and a double jump right off the bat.  She can also dash before jumping, and still gets her air dash.  This allows her to cover a lot of ground quickly.  Plus, it is super vital for many of the harder platforming segments.  In addition to that, one of the robot chassis can pull Joule up special tracks, and another allows her to glide, giving you even more movement and exploration options.  I loved how many movement options Joule had right from the get-go, and that a few were added later.

Sure, it's not perfect, since there were plenty of times I had trouble landing on small platforms because it can be hard to know where exactly you will land, but that's a problem in many 3D platforming games, so while I can complain, I don't hold it against this game only.  Many of the platforming checkpoints aren't too far back, but a few are annoying.  Plus, it is annoying that you can only take 2 of the 3 cores with you, also leaving behind 3 chassis.  Overall, though, I didn't find the platforming too hard, especially considering some of the other games I've played this year.

The shooting in the game is pretty solid, and it even has an automatic lock-on.  Since enemies can run around a lot, this is very, very helpful.  Predictably, it can be hard to pick which target you want when there are numerous enemies clustered together.  The lock on also has a far range, which is sometimes inconvenient in its own way.  Joule's rifle eventually has 4 different colored shots, each effective against enemies that share the same color.  It works much better than I thought it would, and it is worth your time to switch when fighting strong enemies.  If an enemy has one of the colors that Joule can't replicate, hitting it with either color that makes it up (hope you non-artists remembered your color wheel!) will get the bonus damage.

Besides the main dungeons, there are several optional ones.  Well, ostensibly optional.  You need to gather half of the prismatic spheres to actually beat the game, so you will probably need to try out the extra dungeons at some point.  There are three types: combat, traversal and adventure.  Combat involves only fighting, traversal is only platforming, and adventure is a mix of both.  To get the bonuses, you have to shoot all 8 hidden switches, get the yellow key, and do it under a time limit.  That would all be well and good, but unfortunately, you also have to do all of them at the same time for the last bonus.  Yuck.  (I unabashedly used the time cheat to do this, since I don't want to run each dungeon 5+ times.)

However!

I have to also talk about why the game was likely released at a budget price.  It's simply not finished.  This is most obvious in the large areas of the map that have little to no things for you to do.  Sure, they have collectibles and a few chests thrown in there, but you can tell that there is so much  more they could have done.  One area isn't even technically accessible until future DLC makes it traversable (although there is a glitch that can get you out there).  Also, once you are near the end, you have to basically stop and go around to collect prismatic spheres to get through the final dungeon.  This just extends the game unnecessarily.  If it wasn't so obvious, it might not be as distracting.

Is ReCore a fun game?  Overall, I'd say yes.  It's clearly not finished, but I enjoyed playing it.  It took me 20 hours to get to the final dungeon, but several more to track down the cores needed to proceed, which I would have done anyway.  The game was easily worth the price I paid (Black Friday prices).  I would easily recommend the game for action-adventure fans.


The Good:
Fun game, Joule has great movement options and there is lots of exploration.

The Bad:
The game is obviously not complete, but still released.  Having to do all of the dungeon challenges in one run without a cheat isn't fun.

The SaHD:
You know, I'd actually like to see a sequel to this game, but I'm sure it didn't sell well enough to get one, which is a shame.

(ReCore was purchased by reviewer)

Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (Xbox One) Review

Following in the heels of its...sequel, the first Darksiders game comes to the current generation of consoles in this port remaster.  I'm not sure why the first game was remastered second, but like its brethren, it boasts graphical and lighting upgrades.  It also has a super smooth frame rate, for better or worse.

Unlike the sequel, the first Darksiders is pure action and adventure.  You attack with War's really cool sword, named Chaoseater, using the X Button.  He can continuously chain his attacks together, and also use several purchasable upgraded skills.  The Y Button attacks with War's sub-weapon, either a scythe or gauntlets.  War can block some attacks, but also parry and counter them if you block at the right time.  This is really useful, since the game is pretty generous with the timing.  It helps add extra damage to tough foes while conserving your health.

You can also buy, upgrade, and equip 4 special attacks that take Wrath (the yellow energy under your health).  These are actually pretty useful.  There are other special attacks you can buy and upgrade, but are used with special input commands.  Not fireball motions, but things like targeting an enemy and holding back from him while attacking, or holding the attack button in the air.  It's best to try them all out to see what works with your tactics, but I ended up not using very many of them, and used my souls to buy things that I deemed more important.

On his quest for redemption, War agrees to help defeat the Destroyer, a malevolent being of immense power that probably doesn't play well with others, based on its name.  To do so, he must first find and slay its strongest minions and give their hearts to the one who would show War the way into the Destroyer's black citadel.  Each minion is holed up in a different dungeon.  Inside these dungeons, there are special items and weapons that will not only help you defeat them, but also give you new ways to traverse the environment and collect treasures.  If that formula sounds familiar, it's because it is very reminiscent of the Legend of Zelda.  Even so, it is definitely "inspired by" and not a direct copy, as the games feel very different.  War can even ride his horse in many of the open areas, and teleport from shop to shop, so you aren't stuck walking everywhere.

Since this is an action/adventure game, if there are any hard parts, you just have to get better at the game.  Grinding won't do much for you.  Even so, the game is perfectly complete-able on the Easy and Normal setting, although Hard gave me a lot of trouble back when I played the original.  Beating bosses and other difficult enemies is all about reading patterns and using the right tool or attack.  The game has several dungeons, and runs about 15-20 hours depending on how much extra treasure you want to find.  While there is no real new game plus, you can keep the abyssal armor if you manage to find all 10 pieces, which makes the harder difficulties much more manageable.  Achievements and trophies are the same as they were for the original release, so if you got them there, you can do it again.

As mentioned at the start, the game looks really good.  The graphics and frame rate are smooth, and the lighting looks natural.  Besides the too smooth graphics when rotating the camera, I have two other problems with this remaster.  First, explosion sounds don't always play when they should.  If you are right next to them, they make noise, but being a bit away from them (which you really should do for explosions) makes no sound.  Another thing that cropped up was random graphic effects just appearing on the screen.  Stuff like lava bursts and the energy the swirls around the flight orbs would just appear at random places of the screen sometimes.  I'm not sure what it was tied to, but it would go away after closing out the game.  It's not a big deal, as it didn't impede gameplay, but it was noticeable.

I enjoyed playing both Darksiders games, even with the differences between them.  Small annoyances aside, this is the best version of the first game, and well worth playing for action/adventure fans, especially if you like visceral combat and light puzzle solving.  Upon release several years ago, the original was likened to God of War crossed with Legend of Zelda, which is accurate, but I enjoyed Darksiders more than either of those.  If you skipped it last generation, then I recommend playing the game.  However, if you already have completed it, the Warmastered Edition doesn't add anything new except a very pretty coat of paint.

The Good:
The best looking and running version of a good and fun action/adventure game.

The Bad:
A few odd graphic and sound glitches.

The SaHD:
The dungeon with the Portal-like gun gives me a headache.  Hopefully, this and Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition sold well enough to justify a third game.  I want to continue the story of the Horsemen!

(Review code for Darksiders: Warmastered Edition was provided by the publisher)