JimTheSchoolGirl
1998
Bunked off college the day I got this, had to uninstall everything else and put all settings on minimum to get my PC to run it. Went through it pretty slowly, partly out of awe and partly out of fear, having a blast all the way up to the Xen bits when I got frustrated and bored. I cheated to finish it, luckily keeping it fun and not abandoning it disappointed.
Sometimes in my dreams I die and it's like in this where you're fixed to the ground but can still look around.
Sometimes in my dreams I die and it's like in this where you're fixed to the ground but can still look around.
2005
I used to sit on the 45 minute bus home from work just making funny noises with this, gently scrubbing away the day's crap with colours and shapes and sounds x
Five minutes into the game, I'm talking to a guy in the opening area base camp, he's guarding a door or something, then BAM we're in combat
One of my team is immediately killed, then I'm bombarded with tutorial popups (whose text formatting is all fucked up because I set text size to "very large" in a vain attempt to make it easier on the eye)
Another team member goes down, a few more popups, I half wonder if this is a scripted thing so I play along, the remaining two team members die
GAME OVER
Aye, agreed
One of my team is immediately killed, then I'm bombarded with tutorial popups (whose text formatting is all fucked up because I set text size to "very large" in a vain attempt to make it easier on the eye)
Another team member goes down, a few more popups, I half wonder if this is a scripted thing so I play along, the remaining two team members die
GAME OVER
Aye, agreed
2021
Looks and sounds pretty rad, and the skating is great (when the camera isn't flipping around and killing your momentum), but following a trail of breadcrumbs while the main character simultaneously patronises themselves and you is just not my idea of fun :/
Also the combat is completely unnecessary, wish they'd been brave enough to strip it out completely.
Also also tiny text and no resize option.
Okay I'm done.
Also the combat is completely unnecessary, wish they'd been brave enough to strip it out completely.
Also also tiny text and no resize option.
Okay I'm done.
Something really satisfying about tapping and swishing and slashing and scribbling like you're writing BAM AHA YES FUCK YOU DIE AAAAAAAAAAABOOOOSH
Something really satisfying about gradually transitioning into more thoughtful motions like you're using brush strokes to write the characters for a very specific combo that weakens a tough enemy before setting them up for an izuna drop.
Something really satisfying about a dev using the strengths of the DS to create something really satisfying.
Something really satisfying about gradually transitioning into more thoughtful motions like you're using brush strokes to write the characters for a very specific combo that weakens a tough enemy before setting them up for an izuna drop.
Something really satisfying about a dev using the strengths of the DS to create something really satisfying.
2021
The game starts, a voice pipes up, subtitle reads "Nara: I'm Nara", and I do a little laugh and point at the screen like "that's Nara".
In this game, you play as Nara. Except Nara is actually on the sofa next to you, nudging you in the ribs with whispered hints, following up every piece of dialogue with whispered speculation about what's really going on, whisperingly pointing out things you might have missed. It's like if someone made a game about themselves, then sat with you and whispered at you as you played it to make sure you enjoyed it. It's a special edition blu-ray of a pseudo-intellectual space blockbuster, with a mandatory in-character whispered commentary track. I just paused a cutscene to mutter "please shut the fuck up" at the TV and figured I might as well stop there and write here instead.
Space combat is fine, though dogfighting usually devolves into playing chicken with the enemy as they fly towards you, guns blazing. I hear it gets a bit more interesting, but let's face it: Star Fox Zero is still king.
Think the main issue is it's all just a bit boring. Blank, empty, space.
Also the text is way too small! Should the guy with the $600 TV not be able to read the menus? COME ON!
In this game, you play as Nara. Except Nara is actually on the sofa next to you, nudging you in the ribs with whispered hints, following up every piece of dialogue with whispered speculation about what's really going on, whisperingly pointing out things you might have missed. It's like if someone made a game about themselves, then sat with you and whispered at you as you played it to make sure you enjoyed it. It's a special edition blu-ray of a pseudo-intellectual space blockbuster, with a mandatory in-character whispered commentary track. I just paused a cutscene to mutter "please shut the fuck up" at the TV and figured I might as well stop there and write here instead.
Space combat is fine, though dogfighting usually devolves into playing chicken with the enemy as they fly towards you, guns blazing. I hear it gets a bit more interesting, but let's face it: Star Fox Zero is still king.
Think the main issue is it's all just a bit boring. Blank, empty, space.
Also the text is way too small! Should the guy with the $600 TV not be able to read the menus? COME ON!
2012
What a rush!
Weird mix of frantic and chill, cruising around in a mech that makes my ass look great, blasting cool tunes and anything that moves and a few things that don't.
Love a good stylus game.
Weird mix of frantic and chill, cruising around in a mech that makes my ass look great, blasting cool tunes and anything that moves and a few things that don't.
Love a good stylus game.
I've been in love with the end credits theme since I heard it on a Club Nintendo CD years back, but I never thought to actually play it, maybe because I don't have a lot of Gameboy nostalgia and I didn't want to risk breaking the spell. But then the other day Casey tweeted the title screen and I thought ah why not.
Imagine my delight to discover it's a masterpiece. Charming and funny right from the start, a combat system that makes exploring the cool little world a top priority, a JoJo reference, some proper head-scratcher navigation puzzles, and a brilliant soundtrack. At one point I stopped for a few minutes to tweet a screenshot and a joke, and all of a sudden Totaka's song started playing. Just lovely, lovely stuff all round.
When I finally got to the end, and the theme started playing, my eyes got a little bit moist. I love this game with all my heart x
Yeah it's a bit obtuse occasionally, but nine times out of ten the answer is "become frog".
Imagine my delight to discover it's a masterpiece. Charming and funny right from the start, a combat system that makes exploring the cool little world a top priority, a JoJo reference, some proper head-scratcher navigation puzzles, and a brilliant soundtrack. At one point I stopped for a few minutes to tweet a screenshot and a joke, and all of a sudden Totaka's song started playing. Just lovely, lovely stuff all round.
When I finally got to the end, and the theme started playing, my eyes got a little bit moist. I love this game with all my heart x
Yeah it's a bit obtuse occasionally, but nine times out of ten the answer is "become frog".
Honestly stuff like this just makes me feel mental, like I've been playing the same game for well over a decade but they keep patching it and gradually removing all the aspects I found compelling. Please consider something new.
2000
Recently found out that one of my friends did the motion capture for this!? Decided to go back and replay it, but emulation is...not good. So we rely on memory.
Janky framerate aside, this game kicked fucking ass. The sheer number of ideas they crammed into the weapons and gadgets was astonishing. Emptying a clip and throwing the gun itself which then explodes? Never got old. 4-player deathmatch with x-ray sniper rifles? Consistently hilarious. Dual wielding automatic pistols while riding a hoverbike around Area 51? I was the ultimate badass.
Remote controlled missiles. Spy cameras. Disguises. Multiplayer bots with a range of behaviours. Co-op and competitive 2-player story mode. Aliens. An own-brand Sean Connery. The list goes on. Love love love it.
Janky framerate aside, this game kicked fucking ass. The sheer number of ideas they crammed into the weapons and gadgets was astonishing. Emptying a clip and throwing the gun itself which then explodes? Never got old. 4-player deathmatch with x-ray sniper rifles? Consistently hilarious. Dual wielding automatic pistols while riding a hoverbike around Area 51? I was the ultimate badass.
Remote controlled missiles. Spy cameras. Disguises. Multiplayer bots with a range of behaviours. Co-op and competitive 2-player story mode. Aliens. An own-brand Sean Connery. The list goes on. Love love love it.
2005
From Wikipedia: "Meteos was inspired by the video game Missile Command (1980), the film The Matrix (1999) and the television series 24 (2001-2010)." Was it bollocks.
Fans of Sakurai's mad menus, please take note of this one.
Fans of Sakurai's mad menus, please take note of this one.
2014
There's only one way to ring in the new year: finishing 3rd Climax on the gamepad in the Link costume
I grumbled early on when I realised how much I'd have to play an abstruse card game, but they built in a way to cheat that feels 100% appropriate to the character of King Knight. Everything about this is perfectly pitched, a joy from start to finish, and the 3D looks fantastic, AND it was FREE!?
Been in a funk recently, but this has perked me right up, loving games again :)
Been in a funk recently, but this has perked me right up, loving games again :)
Surfing down slides? Squeezing through gaps? A Jedi craves not these things.
2018
I missed the Dreamcast first time around, so for me Shenmue existed only as a vague imagined experience, scant details stolen from flicking through magazines in shops, an unknowable Valhalla. A few years ago I borrowed a Dreamcast and a bag of games, played with it for a month or so, and returned it with a note saying simply "Shenmue is rubbish".
Having just finished 1 & 2, I feel like I've been on a huge roundabout journey where I am now able to both stand by this statement AND vehemently argue against it.
I'm not sure any game has ever made me think so much about what games are, what they could be, whether I'm understanding or assuming the creator's intentions, the limitations of the concept of "less is more"...I almost don't want to write any of it down though, as my thoughts (much like the game) are an absolute jumble, and I feel like it's already been dissected to hell and back. I think I want to just read and learn as much about it as possible, because honestly I cannot currently fathom the mind that made so many of the decisions shaping the entirety of what it is I think about when I hear the word "Shenmue".
I keep writing things and deleting them. Shenmue has broken my brain, wide open, and shit is falling out everywhere. I can't possibly score this game. It's been something I have come to consider as an essential experience, but also one I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to repeat, because without the epiphanies about games and myself, what's left is more often than not a frustrating mess. I loved it and I'm done with it.
installs Shenmue 3
Having just finished 1 & 2, I feel like I've been on a huge roundabout journey where I am now able to both stand by this statement AND vehemently argue against it.
I'm not sure any game has ever made me think so much about what games are, what they could be, whether I'm understanding or assuming the creator's intentions, the limitations of the concept of "less is more"...I almost don't want to write any of it down though, as my thoughts (much like the game) are an absolute jumble, and I feel like it's already been dissected to hell and back. I think I want to just read and learn as much about it as possible, because honestly I cannot currently fathom the mind that made so many of the decisions shaping the entirety of what it is I think about when I hear the word "Shenmue".
I keep writing things and deleting them. Shenmue has broken my brain, wide open, and shit is falling out everywhere. I can't possibly score this game. It's been something I have come to consider as an essential experience, but also one I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to repeat, because without the epiphanies about games and myself, what's left is more often than not a frustrating mess. I loved it and I'm done with it.
installs Shenmue 3