Nancyfly
2021
Sad to see even putting it out for free on PS Plus and lowering the price couldnt make this live long. It took me over five minutes to find my first match, safe to say the game is dead. Maybe if it was free to play or came bundled with the ps5 like Astro it would of done a lot better. The game has a lot of charm and personality to it, especially with all the characters. It looks very good too, just unfortunately theres hardly any content and despite the fun gameplay concept it gets stale pretty quickly. Unfortunate, could of been good.
46/100
46/100
2022
I'd really love to get better and enjoy this series but jesus christ Nintendo servers won't even let me finish a match! I just wanna play the game ;-;
I get launch day severs and such but good lord -_-
I get launch day severs and such but good lord -_-
Recently I've been trying to raise my overall completion percentage and have been trying to get the rest of the trophies in games I never got far in. For some reason I decided I wanted to play a shitty game, so I chose this one. I wanted to play something bad and be able to say hey look, I did it. And goddamnit did I do it, platinum and all.
This game is like, twilight for forty year old men. Does your dad have a lot of tattoos and wear shirts that say "Don't Tread on Me" or "Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings"? He'd probably like this game.
Originally I couldn't even beat the first level before abandoning it. I gave it a half star, did a quick rant and called it a day but now am I so glad I finished it because everything about this game was unintentionally hilarious. It tries to take itself so seriously, there is not a single hint of irony or self awareness. This game thinks its cool as fuck, as evident by the ridiculous title - and that is the only saving grace.
Make no mistake, this game doesnt get the honor of "so bad its good" Its just bad. But it is the laughable-ness that will keep you sane through the 8-12 hour runtime. So many parts of this game are silly that at one point I told my boyfriend I was worried that there was so much I'd forget some of it for this review, and honestly thats probably true.
Firstly the character models are all pretty ugly. Most of them look like stock assets. All the characters suck too. The main character, Cahal, looks like discount Captain Price and has about as much substance as an empty jar of peanut butter. None of the characters are really all that likeable or memorable, the only one i thought was cool is just because he has an eyepatch, and the only one I kind of liked is just killed randomly offscreen. The story itself is also pretty pisspoor, and I tuned out for nearly the entirety of it. Tries to throw in some weird dialogue choices like the game actually earns to share a similarity to Mass Effect. None of these choices matter until at the end where you can chose between two endings, but both are bad. The game tries to be emotional at a few parts but the acting makes it funny and its not like you care about whats happening to begin with.
The animations, particularly for takedowns are also very goofy. Outside locations have visual variety but nearly every single indoor combat/stealth section looks almost identical. You will see the exact same assets over and over again.
That leads me to the gameplay itself. There are a few hub world areas where your main groups camp is literally within a mornings stroll away from enemy bases and military strongholds. Its not like you're in hiding either, it is explicitly shown the enemies know that you're right next to them. Its just incredibly silly and the game would of worked better if it kept to being linear. Theres not much to do in these areas either, except for a few collectibles and sidequests. These collectibles come in two types: notes and "spirits". The notes Im being honest I didnt read a single one I couldnt be bothered to give a fuck about the game. Maybe they gave more about the lore but the game doesnt even bother to explain itself outside of it so I couldnt be bothered either. The spirits are things you can only see in your enhanced vision™ that every third person game has. Theyre basically like magical plants that Cahal just stands there and sniffs for experience. Yeah, its funny. The sidequests are all just busy work with objectives similar to what you do in the base game already. These are completely pointless, and all they serve to do is give you more experience. If you dont plan to platinum this (which frankly having a sub 1% platinum is the only reason you should play this) then you can skip them and nothing of value is lost. This experience is used to upgrade your skill tree. Mostly to give yourself more combat abilities, with some being tactical. These are all fine, I guess. Maybe about half the abilities are actually useful, and you can get to one of the ultimate ones incredibly quickly anyways.
Now there is the combat itself. Most sections allow you to do stealth. The stealth is bad. The areas are poorly designed, mechanics are only introduced in the first few missions and just continue through the rest of the game. Plus it creates a very big disconnect, if you cause a huge ruckus and get reinforcements called on you in one area, the next area wont have enemies on alert anyways. You have a crossbow that you can upgrade to allow you to shoot cameras and turrets to disable them, but the aiming on that is terrible. Also a lot of levels towards the end have big enemies guarding exits that can neither be taken down or killed in a timely manner with the crossbow, making stealth basically useless. Which is okay, because most of the time you're just gonna opt for the actual combat because its a lot more fun.
In all honesty its the only good thing about the game, but even then its not great. Its basic hack and slash stuff, you'll get some new moves from the skill tree but nothing will make you change up your gameplay. Theres a few different enemy types but you can fight them all basically the same. There is no incentive, not even cool combos, to do anything other than spam your moves until you win. Id say at least visually it looks nice but... not really. Outside of one boss the enemy designs are all pretty meh. There is a lot of blood but absolutely zero gore which is another thing that makes this game so hard to take seriously despite its desperate attempts. It especially makes the executions look terrible. and the enemies dont even get bloodied themselves. The game isnt particularly hard either, but it does get kinda bullshit as you go on, lots of battles just go on way too long with so many enemies and its really more annoying than anything.
The combat is passable for the most part, but by the end you're gonna wanna opt for the terrible stealth instead so you dont have to sit through another shitty battle. Except you cant. Because remember? Big enemy boy is camping the exit.
This has no effect on the quality of the game itself, but I feel like it has to be mentioned. The trophy list despite the low percentages is really easy. Just nobody wants to get far in this game. I however only gave this a second chance because of trophies, and am still a bit shocked at me actually going through with this. The game does have a lot of miscellanious trophies which I do like, but they are so incredibly easy that by the end of the second mission I had every single one of them besides one for an enemy that hadnt been introduced yet. Theres a silver trophy for killing 250 enemies that I got in the first level. Theres also a few times where you will get two story trophies at the exact same time, for just doing one thing. Theres also one for getting every single spirit. There is no way to track them or even chapter select so if you miss one you'll have to play the entire game a second time and I hope nobody puts themself through that. You also get one for each ending choice. You can continue from your completed save but it just puts you after you made the choice anyways, which is a bruh moment, Thankfully you can just restart the mission. Like I said it doesnt really matter, and going for trophies helped me get through it, its just a bit hilarious how poorly they were all thought out and is kind of an example of how the rest of the game is.
So thats Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood. If I did have one positive, its that I like the metal song on the title screen. Other than that I hope Ive demonstrated how much of a mess this game is, and I didnt even cover everything. This game is far from the worst I've played, but its definitely one of the worst I've beat. Thanks for reading <3
God I hope theres a sequel. And I hope its not much better.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #213)
Time Played: 12 hours 21 minutes
Nancymeter - 36/100
Game Completion #115 of 2022
September Completion #5
This game is like, twilight for forty year old men. Does your dad have a lot of tattoos and wear shirts that say "Don't Tread on Me" or "Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings"? He'd probably like this game.
Originally I couldn't even beat the first level before abandoning it. I gave it a half star, did a quick rant and called it a day but now am I so glad I finished it because everything about this game was unintentionally hilarious. It tries to take itself so seriously, there is not a single hint of irony or self awareness. This game thinks its cool as fuck, as evident by the ridiculous title - and that is the only saving grace.
Make no mistake, this game doesnt get the honor of "so bad its good" Its just bad. But it is the laughable-ness that will keep you sane through the 8-12 hour runtime. So many parts of this game are silly that at one point I told my boyfriend I was worried that there was so much I'd forget some of it for this review, and honestly thats probably true.
Firstly the character models are all pretty ugly. Most of them look like stock assets. All the characters suck too. The main character, Cahal, looks like discount Captain Price and has about as much substance as an empty jar of peanut butter. None of the characters are really all that likeable or memorable, the only one i thought was cool is just because he has an eyepatch, and the only one I kind of liked is just killed randomly offscreen. The story itself is also pretty pisspoor, and I tuned out for nearly the entirety of it. Tries to throw in some weird dialogue choices like the game actually earns to share a similarity to Mass Effect. None of these choices matter until at the end where you can chose between two endings, but both are bad. The game tries to be emotional at a few parts but the acting makes it funny and its not like you care about whats happening to begin with.
The animations, particularly for takedowns are also very goofy. Outside locations have visual variety but nearly every single indoor combat/stealth section looks almost identical. You will see the exact same assets over and over again.
That leads me to the gameplay itself. There are a few hub world areas where your main groups camp is literally within a mornings stroll away from enemy bases and military strongholds. Its not like you're in hiding either, it is explicitly shown the enemies know that you're right next to them. Its just incredibly silly and the game would of worked better if it kept to being linear. Theres not much to do in these areas either, except for a few collectibles and sidequests. These collectibles come in two types: notes and "spirits". The notes Im being honest I didnt read a single one I couldnt be bothered to give a fuck about the game. Maybe they gave more about the lore but the game doesnt even bother to explain itself outside of it so I couldnt be bothered either. The spirits are things you can only see in your enhanced vision™ that every third person game has. Theyre basically like magical plants that Cahal just stands there and sniffs for experience. Yeah, its funny. The sidequests are all just busy work with objectives similar to what you do in the base game already. These are completely pointless, and all they serve to do is give you more experience. If you dont plan to platinum this (which frankly having a sub 1% platinum is the only reason you should play this) then you can skip them and nothing of value is lost. This experience is used to upgrade your skill tree. Mostly to give yourself more combat abilities, with some being tactical. These are all fine, I guess. Maybe about half the abilities are actually useful, and you can get to one of the ultimate ones incredibly quickly anyways.
Now there is the combat itself. Most sections allow you to do stealth. The stealth is bad. The areas are poorly designed, mechanics are only introduced in the first few missions and just continue through the rest of the game. Plus it creates a very big disconnect, if you cause a huge ruckus and get reinforcements called on you in one area, the next area wont have enemies on alert anyways. You have a crossbow that you can upgrade to allow you to shoot cameras and turrets to disable them, but the aiming on that is terrible. Also a lot of levels towards the end have big enemies guarding exits that can neither be taken down or killed in a timely manner with the crossbow, making stealth basically useless. Which is okay, because most of the time you're just gonna opt for the actual combat because its a lot more fun.
In all honesty its the only good thing about the game, but even then its not great. Its basic hack and slash stuff, you'll get some new moves from the skill tree but nothing will make you change up your gameplay. Theres a few different enemy types but you can fight them all basically the same. There is no incentive, not even cool combos, to do anything other than spam your moves until you win. Id say at least visually it looks nice but... not really. Outside of one boss the enemy designs are all pretty meh. There is a lot of blood but absolutely zero gore which is another thing that makes this game so hard to take seriously despite its desperate attempts. It especially makes the executions look terrible. and the enemies dont even get bloodied themselves. The game isnt particularly hard either, but it does get kinda bullshit as you go on, lots of battles just go on way too long with so many enemies and its really more annoying than anything.
The combat is passable for the most part, but by the end you're gonna wanna opt for the terrible stealth instead so you dont have to sit through another shitty battle. Except you cant. Because remember? Big enemy boy is camping the exit.
This has no effect on the quality of the game itself, but I feel like it has to be mentioned. The trophy list despite the low percentages is really easy. Just nobody wants to get far in this game. I however only gave this a second chance because of trophies, and am still a bit shocked at me actually going through with this. The game does have a lot of miscellanious trophies which I do like, but they are so incredibly easy that by the end of the second mission I had every single one of them besides one for an enemy that hadnt been introduced yet. Theres a silver trophy for killing 250 enemies that I got in the first level. Theres also a few times where you will get two story trophies at the exact same time, for just doing one thing. Theres also one for getting every single spirit. There is no way to track them or even chapter select so if you miss one you'll have to play the entire game a second time and I hope nobody puts themself through that. You also get one for each ending choice. You can continue from your completed save but it just puts you after you made the choice anyways, which is a bruh moment, Thankfully you can just restart the mission. Like I said it doesnt really matter, and going for trophies helped me get through it, its just a bit hilarious how poorly they were all thought out and is kind of an example of how the rest of the game is.
So thats Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood. If I did have one positive, its that I like the metal song on the title screen. Other than that I hope Ive demonstrated how much of a mess this game is, and I didnt even cover everything. This game is far from the worst I've played, but its definitely one of the worst I've beat. Thanks for reading <3
God I hope theres a sequel. And I hope its not much better.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #213)
Time Played: 12 hours 21 minutes
Nancymeter - 36/100
Game Completion #115 of 2022
September Completion #5
2022
First off I just want to say I love the water theme/setting to this. The underwater city is awesome especially with neon signs - Memoir Blue is the best thing like this since Shark Tale. I wholeheartedly enjoy the surrealness to it. The strand-type genre is over I want more games like this that make you feel like you're playing an aquarium storybook.
It also has some pretty music! It doesnt play much but Its very soothing when it is there. The gameplay is pretty standard for these types of games, but I didnt mind it and thought it worked quite well in some instances. The game is also quite short, but short games are my thing and short works better for this genre. Unfortunately this game feels too short and doesnt leave you much time to get invested with the characters or the plot much. The plot itself is good I think, and it tells an emotional story. The problem is that its just not super engaging.
Reading interviews from the creator of this game: it's clearly a passion project with a very personal message. The game just doesnt really do anything new or impressive to make the story resonate. Beyond the awesome visuals the game just feels a bit generic. Indie games have grown so much and these days need a bit more to excite, otherwise ones like this will just end up feeling like the Call of Duty's or Pokemon's of the genre. There is a lot of promise from this team though, and for their first game I think its a good foot in the door.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #212)
Time Played: 1 hours 28 minutes
Nancymeter - 60/100
Game Completion #111 of 2022
September Completion #1
It also has some pretty music! It doesnt play much but Its very soothing when it is there. The gameplay is pretty standard for these types of games, but I didnt mind it and thought it worked quite well in some instances. The game is also quite short, but short games are my thing and short works better for this genre. Unfortunately this game feels too short and doesnt leave you much time to get invested with the characters or the plot much. The plot itself is good I think, and it tells an emotional story. The problem is that its just not super engaging.
Reading interviews from the creator of this game: it's clearly a passion project with a very personal message. The game just doesnt really do anything new or impressive to make the story resonate. Beyond the awesome visuals the game just feels a bit generic. Indie games have grown so much and these days need a bit more to excite, otherwise ones like this will just end up feeling like the Call of Duty's or Pokemon's of the genre. There is a lot of promise from this team though, and for their first game I think its a good foot in the door.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #212)
Time Played: 1 hours 28 minutes
Nancymeter - 60/100
Game Completion #111 of 2022
September Completion #1
2016
Superhot VR is proof that VR is good for more than just porn. Its a must play and definitely the most fun I've had with the system so far.
The main game was fun, and to this date is the rarest and possibly hardest platinum I have. But after playing this, I can't imagine ever wanting to go back. It translates so well to VR its incredible. Dodging bullets in slow mo is both the coolest thing ever and also a great workout. Your enjoyment with this is probably gonna vary a lot with how much space you have and how active you are. You can beat this game stationary pretty fine, but it is at its absolute most fun when you are diving behind cover yourself or dropping to the floor like wannabe Max Payne.
The game is a bit short and can be beaten under two hours, but for an early VR game thats not really a big deal. Any longer might have overstayed its welcome. Plus if you want more out of it, completing the main missions unlocks quite a few modes, namely endless and alternate takes on the main campaign with harder challenges like one life or headshots only - so theres quite a lot to get out of this.
The game can be quite hard, and having to restart a level completely if you die can be frustrating. You'll be moving around a lot in this and might find yourself having to recenter when you jump to a new section a lot which led to a handful of deaths but ultimately is the only real negative I have about this. I do wish they added more campaigns or levels but as is I can't recommend it enough
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #110 of 2022
August Completion #30
The main game was fun, and to this date is the rarest and possibly hardest platinum I have. But after playing this, I can't imagine ever wanting to go back. It translates so well to VR its incredible. Dodging bullets in slow mo is both the coolest thing ever and also a great workout. Your enjoyment with this is probably gonna vary a lot with how much space you have and how active you are. You can beat this game stationary pretty fine, but it is at its absolute most fun when you are diving behind cover yourself or dropping to the floor like wannabe Max Payne.
The game is a bit short and can be beaten under two hours, but for an early VR game thats not really a big deal. Any longer might have overstayed its welcome. Plus if you want more out of it, completing the main missions unlocks quite a few modes, namely endless and alternate takes on the main campaign with harder challenges like one life or headshots only - so theres quite a lot to get out of this.
The game can be quite hard, and having to restart a level completely if you die can be frustrating. You'll be moving around a lot in this and might find yourself having to recenter when you jump to a new section a lot which led to a handful of deaths but ultimately is the only real negative I have about this. I do wish they added more campaigns or levels but as is I can't recommend it enough
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #110 of 2022
August Completion #30
2017
Normally the heart-warming/breaking short indie game with minimal/puzzle gameplay and a great artstyle/lovely soundtrack is one of my favorite types of games to play. Old Man's Journey is another one of these, but it misses the mark.
Yes it does look and sound pretty, and it does attempt to tell a wholesome story but it really just feels shallow. Im not trying to rag on indie games too much! but this game just feels so uninspired and samey. The "emotional" story isnt really anything all that different from what we've seen plenty of times in the past. From the silent memories we see the titular old man isnt a particularly sympathetic character anyways and it makes it hard to get invested in his journey. Despite being admittedly relatively unique, the point and click-esque gameplay doesnt really do much but get in the way. All this combined makes Old Man's Journey a very unengaging 1-2 hour experience. Its not a bad time. But Its not a memorable one either.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #211)
Time Played: 2 hours 21 minutes
Nancymeter - 49/100
Game Completion #109 of 2022
August Completion #29
Yes it does look and sound pretty, and it does attempt to tell a wholesome story but it really just feels shallow. Im not trying to rag on indie games too much! but this game just feels so uninspired and samey. The "emotional" story isnt really anything all that different from what we've seen plenty of times in the past. From the silent memories we see the titular old man isnt a particularly sympathetic character anyways and it makes it hard to get invested in his journey. Despite being admittedly relatively unique, the point and click-esque gameplay doesnt really do much but get in the way. All this combined makes Old Man's Journey a very unengaging 1-2 hour experience. Its not a bad time. But Its not a memorable one either.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #211)
Time Played: 2 hours 21 minutes
Nancymeter - 49/100
Game Completion #109 of 2022
August Completion #29
2021
The best way I can think of to describe Last Stop is if David Cage directed a Black Mirror miniseries in the form of a minigame. That is to say its a very interesting game, with lots of enjoyability and intrigue, but a plot that is incredibly inconsistent both in tone and quality as well as terrible "gameplay" mechanics and uncanny - often funny - animations.
This game was such a rollercoaster.
It doesn't start with a great first impression. The menu looks really pretty with all the signs, but then you're thrown into a very rough and very obviously unity looking world, shown one of a few "gameplay mechanics" (pretty goofy looking run animation where you have to spam L1 and R1 to speed up) and its just not a very good opening. You're given very little context, are shown a portal to another dimension and boom you go forward like 30 years.
The game isnt much of a looker and with the very silly animations I was pretty apprehensive about playing the rest of the game. But it was stuck on my trophy list, I had to continue on. As you play you'll get used to it, even to the sometimes weird scene transitions. The stories all are a little weird to begin with, but as you go through each charcaters story I was honestly really enjoying the storylines through each of them. I was excited how to see how theyd play out. I didnt even mind the occasional "minigame" that was just something you'd see in a Quantic Dream game but that controls even worse. I didnt even mind that basically all the dialogue options are basically the extreme versions of telltale and mass effect memes, basically a guessing game to see if your character will say anything similar to what the option says. Seriously, one of the options is just the word "Kafkaesque" and another time picking one just made the character say one of the other dialogue options. I didnt even mind the overall level of jank, how recaps or lines would occasionally just randomly skip themselves halfway through. I didnt mind the slow sections of just running with fixed camera angles that made you have to stop moving to change direction because the cinematography was good. The voice acting isnt perfect but all of the main cast was great and I enjoyed the intrigue of their stories a lot, despite all the flaws.
But all things have to end.
The final chapter, after going through six chapters with each of the three main characters individually, brings everyone together. Its a pretty weird tonal shift, even weirder than one of the three stories being a (surprisingly good if cliche) comedy and the other two being dark mystery/dramas. The game has already shown us some out there things at this point, but the way it brings everyone together is uh... its a bit crazy lmao. But just like at the start of the game, even though I was apprehensive about it I was coming to like it, and there were some actually pretty good character moments there.
Then it has to really end
I thought i'd have an idea on the final choice of the game, choosing one of the three to stay behind so the other two can make it out. I think that would of been a good conclusion. But no. Everyone makes it out and you're given a choice between each of them.
All these endings fucking suck, man.
Maybe one of them is bittersweet, the rest of them are just all complete downers. Made playing through this whole thing feel like a slap in the face. Built up so much and just said "fuck you :p" at the end of it. This game was definitely gonna be a 4/5 for me, It was really good to me. But damn man. There are so many questions left unanswered, and theres nothing you can do over the course of the entire game to change the outcomes. Just choices at the end that all leave the characters in fucked predicaments with zero closure like a goosebumps ending when RL Stine is bored of it.
The platinum was mostly pretty fun to go for. But one of the more annoying trophies has the worst checkpoint in history. You have to run through those previously mentioned slow and mostly unnecessary fixed camera angle, go through a bunch of dialogue just to start a minigame that sucks and you're not allowed to miss at all with. Wasted an hour of my life on that man, fuck lol. Had to come back and try again after I beat the game. Most trophies are choosing dialogue options and stuff, so its a mostly easy time. Mostly good trophy list.
It was so close to being great. But I guess its just sorta good.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #210)
Time Played: 9 hours 6 minutes
Nancymeter - 71/100
Game Completion #107 of 2022
August Completion #27
This game was such a rollercoaster.
It doesn't start with a great first impression. The menu looks really pretty with all the signs, but then you're thrown into a very rough and very obviously unity looking world, shown one of a few "gameplay mechanics" (pretty goofy looking run animation where you have to spam L1 and R1 to speed up) and its just not a very good opening. You're given very little context, are shown a portal to another dimension and boom you go forward like 30 years.
The game isnt much of a looker and with the very silly animations I was pretty apprehensive about playing the rest of the game. But it was stuck on my trophy list, I had to continue on. As you play you'll get used to it, even to the sometimes weird scene transitions. The stories all are a little weird to begin with, but as you go through each charcaters story I was honestly really enjoying the storylines through each of them. I was excited how to see how theyd play out. I didnt even mind the occasional "minigame" that was just something you'd see in a Quantic Dream game but that controls even worse. I didnt even mind that basically all the dialogue options are basically the extreme versions of telltale and mass effect memes, basically a guessing game to see if your character will say anything similar to what the option says. Seriously, one of the options is just the word "Kafkaesque" and another time picking one just made the character say one of the other dialogue options. I didnt even mind the overall level of jank, how recaps or lines would occasionally just randomly skip themselves halfway through. I didnt mind the slow sections of just running with fixed camera angles that made you have to stop moving to change direction because the cinematography was good. The voice acting isnt perfect but all of the main cast was great and I enjoyed the intrigue of their stories a lot, despite all the flaws.
But all things have to end.
The final chapter, after going through six chapters with each of the three main characters individually, brings everyone together. Its a pretty weird tonal shift, even weirder than one of the three stories being a (surprisingly good if cliche) comedy and the other two being dark mystery/dramas. The game has already shown us some out there things at this point, but the way it brings everyone together is uh... its a bit crazy lmao. But just like at the start of the game, even though I was apprehensive about it I was coming to like it, and there were some actually pretty good character moments there.
Then it has to really end
I thought i'd have an idea on the final choice of the game, choosing one of the three to stay behind so the other two can make it out. I think that would of been a good conclusion. But no. Everyone makes it out and you're given a choice between each of them.
All these endings fucking suck, man.
Maybe one of them is bittersweet, the rest of them are just all complete downers. Made playing through this whole thing feel like a slap in the face. Built up so much and just said "fuck you :p" at the end of it. This game was definitely gonna be a 4/5 for me, It was really good to me. But damn man. There are so many questions left unanswered, and theres nothing you can do over the course of the entire game to change the outcomes. Just choices at the end that all leave the characters in fucked predicaments with zero closure like a goosebumps ending when RL Stine is bored of it.
The platinum was mostly pretty fun to go for. But one of the more annoying trophies has the worst checkpoint in history. You have to run through those previously mentioned slow and mostly unnecessary fixed camera angle, go through a bunch of dialogue just to start a minigame that sucks and you're not allowed to miss at all with. Wasted an hour of my life on that man, fuck lol. Had to come back and try again after I beat the game. Most trophies are choosing dialogue options and stuff, so its a mostly easy time. Mostly good trophy list.
It was so close to being great. But I guess its just sorta good.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #210)
Time Played: 9 hours 6 minutes
Nancymeter - 71/100
Game Completion #107 of 2022
August Completion #27
2020
Dying is a scary thing. It's a common fear and I'm not afraid to admit its my biggest one. I Am Dead knows how sensitive of a topic this is, and I was surprised with how well they handled it especially with such a positive outlook. A game with a title like that turning out to be so charming and wholesome was a very welcome surprise. Most games arent afraid to bring up things like death, but I think this games greatest strength is how boldly it serves as a little beacon - or a lighthouse, if you will - of hope. It doesnt beat you down and make you depressed about one of the most depressing facts of life but it gives you a little nudge on the shoulder and let's you know that just maybe, everything will be alright.
You play as Morris Lupton, recently deceased. One of the best indie game protagonists quite frankly. He is just the absolute most swell down to earth guy, the kind you really would want as a friend in life. His voice is as soft as he is, and a big part of this games personality is how warm of a presence he is throughout the story. He cares about the island so deeply and you can feel that through every thing he says. Most of the game is about viewing the memories left behind of other ghosts on the island. This is basically the main theme of the game: even when dead we live on in the memories around us. Whether its a lover or a passing acquaintance, memories of us keep us from truly being gone.
The voice acting, graphics and art style are all lovely like everything else encompassing this game. Shelmerston is a hell of a place, largely fiction but it feels so alive. Very intriguing lore, head to toe in fun little details and an abundance of colorful characters and landmarks. Without the great voice performances, calming music and picture book-esque art a lot of this games wackiness may not of been appreciated. But it all just works so well, and it feels like it could be real somewhere out there - fish people included.
The gameplay is mostly finding hidden objects, mementos of folks past. But this game puts a very fun twist on it. You can click on each individual object and splice it, giving you a peak inside. It's a little hard for me to explain, but it makes looking around the environments really engaging. Everything is packed with detail and little easter eggs, and its always fun to see the inside of a pie or splice into a water tower and find a little octopus just chilling in there. You also splice and manipulate certain objects into certain angles for the collectibles. You never have to get it exactly right, as the game is generous making finding them all yourself very fun and intuitive. There are also optional riddles each level that are really gonna pick at your brain and expect you to find some of the most well hidden things. These are pretty hard, and for some reason are timed which makes it so you basically have to either be sure on the object before starting the riddle or play a really frantic guessing game. Its unnecessary. I used a guide for most of these, you don't get much as a reward but it is a pretty funny one.
The only thing that stops this from having enough points to be a 4.5/5 with rounding is that the ending is just... not all quite there. I think it says enough and gets across what it wants to. It's wholesome much like the rest of the game, but I think It would of greatly benefited from just being a hair less vague about how things all come to a close.
I can't think of a better compliment to give this game than just this: I'm a little less scared now.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #208)
Time Played: 7 hours 54 minutes
Nancymeter - 84/100
Game Completion #105 of 2022
August Completion #25
You play as Morris Lupton, recently deceased. One of the best indie game protagonists quite frankly. He is just the absolute most swell down to earth guy, the kind you really would want as a friend in life. His voice is as soft as he is, and a big part of this games personality is how warm of a presence he is throughout the story. He cares about the island so deeply and you can feel that through every thing he says. Most of the game is about viewing the memories left behind of other ghosts on the island. This is basically the main theme of the game: even when dead we live on in the memories around us. Whether its a lover or a passing acquaintance, memories of us keep us from truly being gone.
The voice acting, graphics and art style are all lovely like everything else encompassing this game. Shelmerston is a hell of a place, largely fiction but it feels so alive. Very intriguing lore, head to toe in fun little details and an abundance of colorful characters and landmarks. Without the great voice performances, calming music and picture book-esque art a lot of this games wackiness may not of been appreciated. But it all just works so well, and it feels like it could be real somewhere out there - fish people included.
The gameplay is mostly finding hidden objects, mementos of folks past. But this game puts a very fun twist on it. You can click on each individual object and splice it, giving you a peak inside. It's a little hard for me to explain, but it makes looking around the environments really engaging. Everything is packed with detail and little easter eggs, and its always fun to see the inside of a pie or splice into a water tower and find a little octopus just chilling in there. You also splice and manipulate certain objects into certain angles for the collectibles. You never have to get it exactly right, as the game is generous making finding them all yourself very fun and intuitive. There are also optional riddles each level that are really gonna pick at your brain and expect you to find some of the most well hidden things. These are pretty hard, and for some reason are timed which makes it so you basically have to either be sure on the object before starting the riddle or play a really frantic guessing game. Its unnecessary. I used a guide for most of these, you don't get much as a reward but it is a pretty funny one.
The only thing that stops this from having enough points to be a 4.5/5 with rounding is that the ending is just... not all quite there. I think it says enough and gets across what it wants to. It's wholesome much like the rest of the game, but I think It would of greatly benefited from just being a hair less vague about how things all come to a close.
I can't think of a better compliment to give this game than just this: I'm a little less scared now.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #208)
Time Played: 7 hours 54 minutes
Nancymeter - 84/100
Game Completion #105 of 2022
August Completion #25
2017
I didn't know much about this game but it was one of the very first on my wishlist when I got a switch. To my surprise while randomly scrolling the other day I saw that this was on as a nintendo online time trial, which is how i played TWEWY last year. Its one of my favorite things nintendo does, and seeing as I doubt I'd pay full price for this let alone the sale price of 40: I went in knowing absolutely nothing about this game and seeing if I could beat it in three days before the trial ended.
I did it, bitches.
Now, Pokken Tournament is a fighting game. DX is a wii u port that as far as I know doesnt do anything different besides all characters being unlocked at the start. This game also has voice acting! its terrible. There's not a whole lot to do in this game really. There's the "story" mode and then online battling, but I am a cool girl and I play fighting games for story and characters almost exclusively. That mode has remain untouched. And really thats all there is too it. There's not minigames or shit either. You can customize your character with some nice oufits but you're nothing more than a voiceless lifeless 2D husk so there's not a lot there (a common theme with this game) You do have an advisor named Nia that follows you around and is basically the main voice of the game, You can dress her up to but this is about all she's good for. She's cute but her voice acting is not great and she likes to take credit for your wins despite being a terrible coach with nothing more than generic tips repeated endlessly in her half robotic voice.
The story mode is uh, a thing. You basically fight in four separate leagues and work your way up. For the most part you will be taking in sets against 5 opponents. If you beat them all, you get the rank of the highest leveled opponent you beat. Rank has no effect on difficulty or anything. You can actually refresh the sets to find higher ranked opponents and optomize your playtime. Since the story mode is literally almost entirely this, I'd reccomend it. After you make your way to the top 8, you can take place in a little tournament. These are probably the easiest parts of the game, I never had any issue with them its just two back to back battles instead of 5. Once you do all that you'll be the highest rank and can fight the grandmaster of the league. These are usually the more annoying battles but they're nothing special. After each league, for the first three, you'll get attacked by a very overpowered shadow mewtwo but you're only required to beat him to move on after the third one. After said third fight you'll take a bit of a detour for actual story to talk place. You'll fight a few special battles with small modifiers until it all cultivates in a final showdown with mewtwo so you can save him. Its pretty enjoyable for what it is. But after you defeat him, the story just kind of stops. Everything feels resolved but you're told to just shamble on and groggily beat the fourth league before unceremonious credits. And thats it. The mewtwo stuff is interesting but definitely don't expect much from this. Basically its just 100 2 round fights against AI of wildly varying difficulty until its over. The fourth league is actually quite the pain in the ass. The first couple are quite easy but suddenly in the fourth it feels like the ai is cheating and reading your inputs. I had a blast playing through most of the game with Shadow Mewtwo but had to switch things up pretty drastically at the end. Since they can just read your inputs they can also combo you into oblivion, and since you can't escape a combo in any way if they get you you're basically fucked. So i had to say goodbye to my trusty pal, hello to Suicune and do the true fighting game story mode strategy: spam ranged attacks for victory, although even then quite a few battles got pretty hairy. There's supposed to be a 5th league but thankfully thats post game and time is running short, i think ill pass on that.
Most of this review has been nagging but there's a reason this game gets a 3.5 despite being a simplistic repetitive experience. Its just damn fun! The roster is excellent, I haven't tried every character yet but all the pokemon feel fun and for the most part pretty unique. You also can have support pokemon that charge up and have various abilities to aid you in battle that are an awesome addition. Having even the OP pokemon available from the start in DX does take away from a bit of the spectacle though, and I wish I could of experienced this game unlocking new pokemon as I went on. But man its just a really fun and competent game from the battle standpoint. Even despite the story being so repetitive and even grindy, it was so fun that I was utterly addicted.
This game is nowhere close to perfect, but its an awesome idea for a game and despite the rocky execution its a really fun time to be had. If they ever gave it a sequel, with an actual story mode and some more modes... hell I'd be all over that.
Your reward for beating the game is a suit outfit for Nia. Hot.
Time Played - N/A
Nancymeter - 74/100
Game Completion #104 of 2022
August Completion #24
I did it, bitches.
Now, Pokken Tournament is a fighting game. DX is a wii u port that as far as I know doesnt do anything different besides all characters being unlocked at the start. This game also has voice acting! its terrible. There's not a whole lot to do in this game really. There's the "story" mode and then online battling, but I am a cool girl and I play fighting games for story and characters almost exclusively. That mode has remain untouched. And really thats all there is too it. There's not minigames or shit either. You can customize your character with some nice oufits but you're nothing more than a voiceless lifeless 2D husk so there's not a lot there (a common theme with this game) You do have an advisor named Nia that follows you around and is basically the main voice of the game, You can dress her up to but this is about all she's good for. She's cute but her voice acting is not great and she likes to take credit for your wins despite being a terrible coach with nothing more than generic tips repeated endlessly in her half robotic voice.
The story mode is uh, a thing. You basically fight in four separate leagues and work your way up. For the most part you will be taking in sets against 5 opponents. If you beat them all, you get the rank of the highest leveled opponent you beat. Rank has no effect on difficulty or anything. You can actually refresh the sets to find higher ranked opponents and optomize your playtime. Since the story mode is literally almost entirely this, I'd reccomend it. After you make your way to the top 8, you can take place in a little tournament. These are probably the easiest parts of the game, I never had any issue with them its just two back to back battles instead of 5. Once you do all that you'll be the highest rank and can fight the grandmaster of the league. These are usually the more annoying battles but they're nothing special. After each league, for the first three, you'll get attacked by a very overpowered shadow mewtwo but you're only required to beat him to move on after the third one. After said third fight you'll take a bit of a detour for actual story to talk place. You'll fight a few special battles with small modifiers until it all cultivates in a final showdown with mewtwo so you can save him. Its pretty enjoyable for what it is. But after you defeat him, the story just kind of stops. Everything feels resolved but you're told to just shamble on and groggily beat the fourth league before unceremonious credits. And thats it. The mewtwo stuff is interesting but definitely don't expect much from this. Basically its just 100 2 round fights against AI of wildly varying difficulty until its over. The fourth league is actually quite the pain in the ass. The first couple are quite easy but suddenly in the fourth it feels like the ai is cheating and reading your inputs. I had a blast playing through most of the game with Shadow Mewtwo but had to switch things up pretty drastically at the end. Since they can just read your inputs they can also combo you into oblivion, and since you can't escape a combo in any way if they get you you're basically fucked. So i had to say goodbye to my trusty pal, hello to Suicune and do the true fighting game story mode strategy: spam ranged attacks for victory, although even then quite a few battles got pretty hairy. There's supposed to be a 5th league but thankfully thats post game and time is running short, i think ill pass on that.
Most of this review has been nagging but there's a reason this game gets a 3.5 despite being a simplistic repetitive experience. Its just damn fun! The roster is excellent, I haven't tried every character yet but all the pokemon feel fun and for the most part pretty unique. You also can have support pokemon that charge up and have various abilities to aid you in battle that are an awesome addition. Having even the OP pokemon available from the start in DX does take away from a bit of the spectacle though, and I wish I could of experienced this game unlocking new pokemon as I went on. But man its just a really fun and competent game from the battle standpoint. Even despite the story being so repetitive and even grindy, it was so fun that I was utterly addicted.
This game is nowhere close to perfect, but its an awesome idea for a game and despite the rocky execution its a really fun time to be had. If they ever gave it a sequel, with an actual story mode and some more modes... hell I'd be all over that.
Your reward for beating the game is a suit outfit for Nia. Hot.
Time Played - N/A
Nancymeter - 74/100
Game Completion #104 of 2022
August Completion #24
2021
The Artful Escape is a visually spectacular, emotionally compelling and audibly gorgeous game. It has basically everything I want from an indie game. I'm not even sure if I can give this a proper review because Im running out of cool adjectives. Nearly everything about this video game was dazzling, its a hell of a time and exactly why Annapurna is one of my favorite publishers.
Usually gameplay is secondary to me, of course I love some games like Hotline Miami because of the gameplay, but for indie games especially I always value a good story and experience over gameplay itself. All that is definitely here in this, but for some reason the gameplay in this just didnt feel enough. Most of what you do is holding square to shred, and often this effects the wondrous backgrounds in a really fun way. but theres still a few too many sections where shredding does little if anything and you're just platforming jankily. There's also rhythm game-esque moments that while fun are short and felt like they should of evolved in a cooler way by the end. Theres really only two or three segments where you actually get to play what you want and I wish there was a bit more than that. It just feels like there should of been a little more. Collectibles or more than a small handful of miscellaneous trophies would of went a long way I think.
Seriously though, those are just nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. The game has more than enough brilliance in its art style and fun writing. Every bit of this game brims with character. Its a cool time, man.
There's also a section roughly 2/3rds through where you get to dress your character and can make Francis as feminine as you'd like, and you can essentially turn him into a femboy or even a goth femboy. And thats dope as hell.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #207)
Time Played: 6 hours 9 minutes
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #103 of 2022
August Completion #23
Usually gameplay is secondary to me, of course I love some games like Hotline Miami because of the gameplay, but for indie games especially I always value a good story and experience over gameplay itself. All that is definitely here in this, but for some reason the gameplay in this just didnt feel enough. Most of what you do is holding square to shred, and often this effects the wondrous backgrounds in a really fun way. but theres still a few too many sections where shredding does little if anything and you're just platforming jankily. There's also rhythm game-esque moments that while fun are short and felt like they should of evolved in a cooler way by the end. Theres really only two or three segments where you actually get to play what you want and I wish there was a bit more than that. It just feels like there should of been a little more. Collectibles or more than a small handful of miscellaneous trophies would of went a long way I think.
Seriously though, those are just nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. The game has more than enough brilliance in its art style and fun writing. Every bit of this game brims with character. Its a cool time, man.
There's also a section roughly 2/3rds through where you get to dress your character and can make Francis as feminine as you'd like, and you can essentially turn him into a femboy or even a goth femboy. And thats dope as hell.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #207)
Time Played: 6 hours 9 minutes
Nancymeter - 90/100
Game Completion #103 of 2022
August Completion #23
Uncharted 4 is a near perfect end to the series. The three games before it all led to this, and its a very satisfying conclusion. The story is great and it is very fun to play, there's not really much more you could ask from a game.
Firstly I really love the story in this. There are a lot of parallels between Nate, his brother Sam and the antagonist Rafe as well as the story of Libertalia - a long lost pirate utopia - and how obsession and greed can cause you to lose sight of what's really important. Uncharted has never been known for great villains, but I think Rafe is undeniably the most compelling one, even if in the end he's a bit underused. Nadine is also quite the badass, and I look forward to seeing more of her again when I replay Lost Legacy. Sully makes yet another return, and while I wish he was in the games more than he is, he's still one of the most lovable old bastards in gaming. The addition of Sam is great, it does lead to a few inconsistencies from previous games but him and Nate play off of each other very well. But what really sells this game for me is the relationship between Nate and Elena. Its been a budding on again off again thing across the series, but now they're married and attempting to lead a simple life. The interactions between them are fantastic, and the exploration of who they are, through their highs and lows is what makes this game so good for me as well as such a fitting conclusion especially with its wholesome ending. This is all brought together because of the really incredible performances by the entire cast across the board. The attention to detail and facial expressions add so much. The graphics are beautiful and help bring each character to life, while still sticking to the charm of the older games. Naughty dog is always great at writing banter and I think the dialogue in this is their best work yet, even moreso than The Last of Us, but some times when characters don't say a thing at all is when they say the most, which again is just another testament to the quality and care put in by everyone involved. Impressive all around, zero complaints in this department.
The gameplay is a big improvement too. I never had any problems with the shooting in this series but most can agree its a step up from the original trilogy. The melee combat in this compared to what they tried to introduce in 3 is like comparing getting fucked in the ass to getting fucked in the ass with lube. Its a night and day difference, and even if its not always viable it just feels so much better. They also do what every good sequel should do, and add in a grappling hook which adds both to standard traversal and combat. There's also a lot less linearity in this game that the others. There's a lot to explore, and quite a few open ended levels that are a good change of pace. There's also the return of the outright fantastic set-pieces the series is known for, and In my opinion the entirety of Chapter 12 is the absolute best part of the series. It showcases all of Uncharted's strengths and is a joy to play the whole way through, even ending with a fantastic story beat contrasting all the fun you just had. Anyone wants to know what this series is all about, show them that sequence.
Alas, as every game goes, it is not perfect. There are a few things that drag this game down. The climbing is fun for the most part, but there are a few chapters, namely the one taking place in Scotland that just go on way too fucking long. There's always great banter between characters, and the long segments are usually rewarded with a fun action set piece, but there is at least 3 or 4 sections in this game where you do nothing but climbing or puzzling for entirely too long, and instead of helping the pacing like it should it destroys it. I don't know why these sections are so long, it's one of the only things that stops this game from being perfect in my eyes. Adding onto this is just the sheer abundance of collectibles. If you like getting trophies like I do, I implore you to not bother looking at the trophy list until you've finished your first playthrough. This game has a legitimately absurd amount of collectibles that if you go out of your way for will make the slow moments of this feel like an eternity.
Despite a few complaints, I hope this review gives a good idea bout the overall quality of everything about this. No game is without its flaws, but Uncharted 4 more than makes up for that.
Playthrough Time - 12 hours 4 minutes
Nancymeter - 95/100
Game Completion #101 of 2022
August completion #21
Firstly I really love the story in this. There are a lot of parallels between Nate, his brother Sam and the antagonist Rafe as well as the story of Libertalia - a long lost pirate utopia - and how obsession and greed can cause you to lose sight of what's really important. Uncharted has never been known for great villains, but I think Rafe is undeniably the most compelling one, even if in the end he's a bit underused. Nadine is also quite the badass, and I look forward to seeing more of her again when I replay Lost Legacy. Sully makes yet another return, and while I wish he was in the games more than he is, he's still one of the most lovable old bastards in gaming. The addition of Sam is great, it does lead to a few inconsistencies from previous games but him and Nate play off of each other very well. But what really sells this game for me is the relationship between Nate and Elena. Its been a budding on again off again thing across the series, but now they're married and attempting to lead a simple life. The interactions between them are fantastic, and the exploration of who they are, through their highs and lows is what makes this game so good for me as well as such a fitting conclusion especially with its wholesome ending. This is all brought together because of the really incredible performances by the entire cast across the board. The attention to detail and facial expressions add so much. The graphics are beautiful and help bring each character to life, while still sticking to the charm of the older games. Naughty dog is always great at writing banter and I think the dialogue in this is their best work yet, even moreso than The Last of Us, but some times when characters don't say a thing at all is when they say the most, which again is just another testament to the quality and care put in by everyone involved. Impressive all around, zero complaints in this department.
The gameplay is a big improvement too. I never had any problems with the shooting in this series but most can agree its a step up from the original trilogy. The melee combat in this compared to what they tried to introduce in 3 is like comparing getting fucked in the ass to getting fucked in the ass with lube. Its a night and day difference, and even if its not always viable it just feels so much better. They also do what every good sequel should do, and add in a grappling hook which adds both to standard traversal and combat. There's also a lot less linearity in this game that the others. There's a lot to explore, and quite a few open ended levels that are a good change of pace. There's also the return of the outright fantastic set-pieces the series is known for, and In my opinion the entirety of Chapter 12 is the absolute best part of the series. It showcases all of Uncharted's strengths and is a joy to play the whole way through, even ending with a fantastic story beat contrasting all the fun you just had. Anyone wants to know what this series is all about, show them that sequence.
Alas, as every game goes, it is not perfect. There are a few things that drag this game down. The climbing is fun for the most part, but there are a few chapters, namely the one taking place in Scotland that just go on way too fucking long. There's always great banter between characters, and the long segments are usually rewarded with a fun action set piece, but there is at least 3 or 4 sections in this game where you do nothing but climbing or puzzling for entirely too long, and instead of helping the pacing like it should it destroys it. I don't know why these sections are so long, it's one of the only things that stops this game from being perfect in my eyes. Adding onto this is just the sheer abundance of collectibles. If you like getting trophies like I do, I implore you to not bother looking at the trophy list until you've finished your first playthrough. This game has a legitimately absurd amount of collectibles that if you go out of your way for will make the slow moments of this feel like an eternity.
Despite a few complaints, I hope this review gives a good idea bout the overall quality of everything about this. No game is without its flaws, but Uncharted 4 more than makes up for that.
Playthrough Time - 12 hours 4 minutes
Nancymeter - 95/100
Game Completion #101 of 2022
August completion #21
2019
Deliver Us The Moon is yet another narrative adventure game taking place in an abandoned space/research station. It even has puzzles and a robot sidekick. I feel bad for ragging on this game too much but there really just isnt an original bone in its body. If i wasn't compelled to platinum it I dont think I would of played long. I can commend the puzzles for being a bit more grounded than usual in this type of game and pretty enjoyable for the most part, plus theres a few fun setpieces. The game just isnt really memorable. Perhaps a 3/5 is a bit too high, but i really think the game is just okay. The story was interesting but the whole learning everything from watching holograms and listening to audio logs/reading files approach makes it very unengaging. Plus some bad lag spikes when autosaving. If you like space games you'll probably get more out of this than I did. It does have a sequel coming early next year, and I think ill try it out. There's potential.
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #206)
Time Played - 6 hours 45 minutes
Nancymeter - 58/100
Game Completion #100 of 2022
August completion #20
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #206)
Time Played - 6 hours 45 minutes
Nancymeter - 58/100
Game Completion #100 of 2022
August completion #20
2022
Another solid short little platformer from a pretty respectable mobile dev. However despite being called Tightrope Theater, its not a very tight experience at all.
The main premise is you're platforming in a circus with a unicycle, but most of this is just window dressing. Its basically just a normal 2d platformer. There are 100 levels across 5 different stages, ranging from incredibly easy to frustratingly difficult. Every level takes place on a single screen, and you're probably gonna die a lot so be prepared to get sent some ads every few times you die with the free mobile version.
For the most part this game is pretty fun, but it has some pretty annoying issues. First of all is the level design. Each level is made to look like you're on a theatre stage which, obviously. But the thing is theres like these massive columns on either side that for some reason arent walls of the level, so you'll constantly just be like, falling off the sides. Its not the biggest deal but it feels really silly and led to more deaths than it should of. Theres also a handful of levels where you're supposed to jump high enough that you literally go over the ceiling. It just is a little annoying. But the thing that really holds this game back for me is the controls. While it fits the whole riding a unicycle thing, the main character controls as slippery as wet pussy. Most of the things you're jumping on are very small ledges, and theres levels where you have to very narrowly dodge things like canons and balls of fire. This does make the game feel pretty challenging, but the character flinging himself around like an idiot does not go well with the precision platforming most of this game requires. Luckily its easy to get into and the music is fun, its one you're gonna have a hard time putting down.
6/17 Google Play Achievements
Nancymeter - 57/100
Game Completion #92 of 2022
Mobile Game Completion #7 of 2022
August completion #12
The main premise is you're platforming in a circus with a unicycle, but most of this is just window dressing. Its basically just a normal 2d platformer. There are 100 levels across 5 different stages, ranging from incredibly easy to frustratingly difficult. Every level takes place on a single screen, and you're probably gonna die a lot so be prepared to get sent some ads every few times you die with the free mobile version.
For the most part this game is pretty fun, but it has some pretty annoying issues. First of all is the level design. Each level is made to look like you're on a theatre stage which, obviously. But the thing is theres like these massive columns on either side that for some reason arent walls of the level, so you'll constantly just be like, falling off the sides. Its not the biggest deal but it feels really silly and led to more deaths than it should of. Theres also a handful of levels where you're supposed to jump high enough that you literally go over the ceiling. It just is a little annoying. But the thing that really holds this game back for me is the controls. While it fits the whole riding a unicycle thing, the main character controls as slippery as wet pussy. Most of the things you're jumping on are very small ledges, and theres levels where you have to very narrowly dodge things like canons and balls of fire. This does make the game feel pretty challenging, but the character flinging himself around like an idiot does not go well with the precision platforming most of this game requires. Luckily its easy to get into and the music is fun, its one you're gonna have a hard time putting down.
6/17 Google Play Achievements
Nancymeter - 57/100
Game Completion #92 of 2022
Mobile Game Completion #7 of 2022
August completion #12
Lego Builder's Journey is a puzzle game where you build things with legos. Yeah. That's the best premise for a puzzle game, and surprising it took this long for something like it to come out. Obviously there have been many lego games but those are more just platformers with a lego theme. When i was kid I was all over legos, they were a big part of my childhood. So as you can imagine i was pretty excited for something like this.
And, its good. Its not a great game. But its good. For something as creative as legos this game feels surpisingly restrictive. Lots of levels only give you a select few pieces and while you can technically complete them in any way you want, there isnt really that many options. Not to say some levels arent pretty clever. And there were quite a few I liked a lot but seemingly just as many with weird mechanics that expect you to think outside of the box despite the majority of the game being very straightforward.
The story is... there I guess. Theres definitely something but its all about the visuals and music. Its a little abstract and I didnt particularly care for it, but Im also terrible at picking up on things so maybe its actually pretty good. Thankfully what the story is made up of, those aformentioned music and visuals are really good. The music is very peaceful and fits the game well. Obviously everything is lego but the little diorama-esque levels are all very pretty looking with some fantastic lighting.
The game happens to be quite short which may make it seem a little expensive for the price tag but its just a little puzzle game, I dont think these types of games need to be long and I prefer wanting more than overstaying its welcome. Quality is over quantity and this game has the quality. There is also a creative mode where you can build sandcastles as your leisure which is neat but also feels as restrictive as the main game. Still holding out for a game thats just minecraft creative mode but with legos.
Trophy Completion - 100% (no platinum)
Time Played - 3 hours 2 minutes (some idle)
Nancymeter - 72/100
Game Completion #90 of 2022
August completion #10
And, its good. Its not a great game. But its good. For something as creative as legos this game feels surpisingly restrictive. Lots of levels only give you a select few pieces and while you can technically complete them in any way you want, there isnt really that many options. Not to say some levels arent pretty clever. And there were quite a few I liked a lot but seemingly just as many with weird mechanics that expect you to think outside of the box despite the majority of the game being very straightforward.
The story is... there I guess. Theres definitely something but its all about the visuals and music. Its a little abstract and I didnt particularly care for it, but Im also terrible at picking up on things so maybe its actually pretty good. Thankfully what the story is made up of, those aformentioned music and visuals are really good. The music is very peaceful and fits the game well. Obviously everything is lego but the little diorama-esque levels are all very pretty looking with some fantastic lighting.
The game happens to be quite short which may make it seem a little expensive for the price tag but its just a little puzzle game, I dont think these types of games need to be long and I prefer wanting more than overstaying its welcome. Quality is over quantity and this game has the quality. There is also a creative mode where you can build sandcastles as your leisure which is neat but also feels as restrictive as the main game. Still holding out for a game thats just minecraft creative mode but with legos.
Trophy Completion - 100% (no platinum)
Time Played - 3 hours 2 minutes (some idle)
Nancymeter - 72/100
Game Completion #90 of 2022
August completion #10
You know what, I really like this game. Maybe thats because its the only fighting game I actually had fun in the online with or felt any semblance of good at, but I dont care. For all its flaws I enjoyed my time with this a lot.
I just typed out the rest of this review like I usually do, listing a bunch of small critiques I have and then an ending conclusion paragraph talking about the things I liked and my thoughts overall, but I sat with it a minute and decided I dont want to do that this time. Im sure everyone has already aired out their qualms with this and I just want to be more positive about this. I am not generally a fighting game player. Call me a casual if you want, but usually i try out the most popular ones and honestly I enjoy quite a few of them, especially the ones with actual well done story modes. Im not very good at them, and the only time before playing this game I didnt have the absolute worst time playing the online modes was when I played Smash Ultimate with friends (and even then I got my ass handed to me half the time).
And then this game got added to playstation plus a few months back.
I had some interest in this but never bothered after it seemed to get a pretty mixed reception, so this was the perfect time to try it. Plus the trophy list looked actually pretty doable for a fighting game so figured I could at least do the easy single player stuff. I did a bit of that, trying out the arcade mode on easy with a few characters until i ended up playing April O'Neil and enjoying her quite a lot. I also found that the maps were fun (besides one or two gimmick ones) and the music despite being simple was really quite catchy. I was having a good time. I even was able to defeat three level 9 CPUS at once. It felt great. I got some trophies and noticed the one for completing 50 online matches. I didnt need to win them so i figured id just let myself get pummeled and earn it because there was no way Id be good enough or not get unlucky enough to get matched with a sweaty move spammer. But then something happened. Being it was just recently added to ps plus and a game featuring cartoon characters, there was for once felt like characters matching my skill level. I really got comfortable playing as April and before I knew it i unlocked the trophy in one sitting, i estimate i won at least 90% of those fights. I dont care about deep mechanics or the fighting game "meta" or anything like that, so im sure theres plenty of ways to discount my experience as just me beating up children or the game being easy or hell maybe even April is overpowered, I dont know. But I do know that for once I actually felt confident and happy about an experience I had fighting against strangers online.
Then there was the truly daunting trophy, defeat an opponent with a higher rating than you in online mode 5 times. Despite how much fun I had online i really doubted my abilities with this, and at one point I was gonna force my boyfriend to download this so he could help me boost it. But for some reason I dont know, I felt compelled to give it a shot for real myself. By this time the fanfare around the game had well died out and so I only was able to find one other opponent playing ranked. And for all intents and purposes he was way better than me. He wiped me quite a few times but no matter how close I got and how well I thought I was playing with April it felt impossible. So when I left the lobby only to try to join a new one and got added back it was quite defeating. But for some reason i was determined. For the course of the next hour or two we played at least two dozen matches. They fucking destroyed me. At one point I just ran off the edge an entire round because I was just so defeated. But eventually, I started getting either luckier or better and despite all the swearing and bitter sadness I did it. I won the five times. And then I was done. I did it somehow, I won against someone way too good at this game. I didnt jump up triumphantly or anything silly, but I felt at peace knowing I was able to do it.
I had a plan to get 5 platinums in one day to celebrate my #200th planned to be vanilla Persona 5, so I left this game with just one last trophy until then. That day was today. It had been about a month since my last time, and all i had to do was clear arcade difficulty on the hardest difficulty. A few spots were rough, but with April I ended up making through it just fine and finally earning the platinum.
This game is far from perfect, but I can say its one of my favorite fighting games I've played.
And god April is hot im going to have to become a TMNT fan now
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #203)
Time Played - 14 hours 25 minutes
Nancymeter - 80/100
Game Completion #89 of 2022
August Completion #9
I just typed out the rest of this review like I usually do, listing a bunch of small critiques I have and then an ending conclusion paragraph talking about the things I liked and my thoughts overall, but I sat with it a minute and decided I dont want to do that this time. Im sure everyone has already aired out their qualms with this and I just want to be more positive about this. I am not generally a fighting game player. Call me a casual if you want, but usually i try out the most popular ones and honestly I enjoy quite a few of them, especially the ones with actual well done story modes. Im not very good at them, and the only time before playing this game I didnt have the absolute worst time playing the online modes was when I played Smash Ultimate with friends (and even then I got my ass handed to me half the time).
And then this game got added to playstation plus a few months back.
I had some interest in this but never bothered after it seemed to get a pretty mixed reception, so this was the perfect time to try it. Plus the trophy list looked actually pretty doable for a fighting game so figured I could at least do the easy single player stuff. I did a bit of that, trying out the arcade mode on easy with a few characters until i ended up playing April O'Neil and enjoying her quite a lot. I also found that the maps were fun (besides one or two gimmick ones) and the music despite being simple was really quite catchy. I was having a good time. I even was able to defeat three level 9 CPUS at once. It felt great. I got some trophies and noticed the one for completing 50 online matches. I didnt need to win them so i figured id just let myself get pummeled and earn it because there was no way Id be good enough or not get unlucky enough to get matched with a sweaty move spammer. But then something happened. Being it was just recently added to ps plus and a game featuring cartoon characters, there was for once felt like characters matching my skill level. I really got comfortable playing as April and before I knew it i unlocked the trophy in one sitting, i estimate i won at least 90% of those fights. I dont care about deep mechanics or the fighting game "meta" or anything like that, so im sure theres plenty of ways to discount my experience as just me beating up children or the game being easy or hell maybe even April is overpowered, I dont know. But I do know that for once I actually felt confident and happy about an experience I had fighting against strangers online.
Then there was the truly daunting trophy, defeat an opponent with a higher rating than you in online mode 5 times. Despite how much fun I had online i really doubted my abilities with this, and at one point I was gonna force my boyfriend to download this so he could help me boost it. But for some reason I dont know, I felt compelled to give it a shot for real myself. By this time the fanfare around the game had well died out and so I only was able to find one other opponent playing ranked. And for all intents and purposes he was way better than me. He wiped me quite a few times but no matter how close I got and how well I thought I was playing with April it felt impossible. So when I left the lobby only to try to join a new one and got added back it was quite defeating. But for some reason i was determined. For the course of the next hour or two we played at least two dozen matches. They fucking destroyed me. At one point I just ran off the edge an entire round because I was just so defeated. But eventually, I started getting either luckier or better and despite all the swearing and bitter sadness I did it. I won the five times. And then I was done. I did it somehow, I won against someone way too good at this game. I didnt jump up triumphantly or anything silly, but I felt at peace knowing I was able to do it.
I had a plan to get 5 platinums in one day to celebrate my #200th planned to be vanilla Persona 5, so I left this game with just one last trophy until then. That day was today. It had been about a month since my last time, and all i had to do was clear arcade difficulty on the hardest difficulty. A few spots were rough, but with April I ended up making through it just fine and finally earning the platinum.
This game is far from perfect, but I can say its one of my favorite fighting games I've played.
And god April is hot im going to have to become a TMNT fan now
Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #203)
Time Played - 14 hours 25 minutes
Nancymeter - 80/100
Game Completion #89 of 2022
August Completion #9