Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Ralizah I didn't get along with Bastion either, can't quite remember why, I think maybe I didn't quite gel with the combat. Really liked Transistor though, I imagine it is quite well suited for the Switch too.

@JohnnyShoulder They're low-impact indie games, so yeah, I imagine they run well on the Switch. I actually own Transistor on PC AND have access to it via PS+, though, so I'll be playing on one of those.

Bastion was... I dunno. The story was vague and kind of poorly presented, imo, and it relied too heavily on the folksy flavor of the omnipresent narration. The gameplay was alright, but I didn't get a lot of joy out of running along narrow paths in the sky shooting arrows at enemies. The presentation was pretty gorgeous, and I expect the same to be true of Transistor.

There's a lot of potential to be found in the game. Hopefully Transistor is better. That'll determine whether I go on to play Pyre or not, I think.

Sonic Mania

Platform: PS4

Level of Completion: Normal Ending (vs the true ending, which I assume you get for collecting all the chaos emeralds)

What I Liked:

• Elegant balance of old and new content. Aside from a new stage or two, most of the content here is a mix of old and new. In general, Act 1 replicates the classic design of a stage from a previous 2D Sonic game, while Act 2 switches things up and adds a ton of new mechanics and features to make it feel like a brand new thing entirely. It's an interesting way of keeping this an homage of sorts to classic Sonic games while also making it feel like a new title with its own identity and unique content.
• Gorgeous pixel art. The people who worked on Sonic Mania clearly poured their hearts and souls into this game, because everything is gorgeous here. The classic parts of stages look as good as they ever did (only in HD this time), but, in the newer content you usually see in Act 2 of a stage, there is some really gorgeous and detailed pixel art. This is evident, for example, in background elements, as well as the new bosses they introduced to this game.
• A lot of the bosses here some of the most creative and engaging encounters in the entire series. This was an element that disappointed in a lot of older Sonic games. I also like how every stage has a mid-Act boss and then a proper Stage boss, so there's a lot to work with here.
• This game manages to capture and almost perfectly replicate the nuanced level design and momentum-based gameplay of the older Sonic games in a way other homages do not (see: Freedom Planet, which has broken platforming physics and levels that almost feel endless)
• The music is fantastic, both old and new. Some of the best tunes in the series can be found here.
• The difficulty is more balanced than in previous Sonic games for a variety of reasons. In general, it's a lot more managable and approachable than the Genesis classics were.
• Seems like there's a wealth of additional content. I didn't encounter it, though, as I won't be replaying it.

What I Disliked:

• As usual with classic Sonic games, the level design finds an uneasy medium between speed and proper platforming. One that I feel it never manages to properly capture. This is not, by the way, a criticism of this game in particular, but the level design in all Sonic games. The problem is more pronounced in 3D iterations of the series, but it never attains the functional elegance of something like Super Mario, Rayman, Yoshi's Island, Ristar, Rocket Knight Adventures, etc. You'll spend long sections of a level being bounced around from place to place automatically, only for the game to throw a bunch of spikes in your place, or to punish you for engaging with these aspects of the levels by hiding secrets as you're being bounced around a stage.
• The game persists in refusing to explain itself, provide clear context for what's happening in the game, or even introduce you to its new mechanics. Good luck figuring out the drop dash is a thing if you didn't read up on it beforehand. This sort of stubborn refusal to engage the player clearly is more understandable in older entries, but there's no reason for it to pop up here, other than the fact that the designers were so intent on making a classic Sonic game that they even replicated the flaws of these games.
• The labyrinthine level design feels like such a complicated mess of different elements that I rarely bothered to explore. I never got a feel for the overall geometry of a level, because, more often than not, it felt like there was no greater overall design to it.
• The ring mechanic has always felt like a sort of unrealized inheritance from a Mario game. You're rewarded with an extra life for collecting 100 of them, like coins in a Mario game, but the degree to which you're punished for hitting an enemy (it seems like ALL your rings spill out at once) kind of negates this feeling of reward for collecting a bunch of them, as I knew I could lose almost all of them at any moment. This feels unbalanced. Then, of course, there's the fact that you can sort of ring-scum boss encounters by collecting the same few rings that spill out from you when you're hit, making it where you can get hit numerous times and still survive, all but negating the need for skill in these encounters. Just make sure to abuse the invincibility window and grab a ring or two and you're perfectly safe.
• The lack of balance extends to the extra stages as well. There's no room for error. You have to fly around a level collecting 90+ blue orbs most of the time, but make the mistake of hitting one red orb and your minutes of work go to waste all at once. Again, it's such a pain that it feels like it's not worth the effort. The stages where you collect the chaos emeralds feel much more well-designed in this regard.
• With that said, despite not getting the true ending, I feel like some of the chaos emeralds are too hidden, with too few clues to their location in time and space, to jusitiy the effort spent in tracking them down.
• Puyo Puyo shows up in a boss fight. While I think this is pretty creative, good luck winning this encounter if you've never played this game before and have no idea what to do. Again, the game refuses to explain itself.

Conclusion: Sonic Mania is a beautiful work of passion that so painstakingly seeks to recreate the magic of older Sonic games that it ends up recreating a lot of their problems as well. If you have no issue with the design of classic Sonic games, then this is probably no issue for you, but I do feel, this being a modern game, I have somewhat higher standards that I expect to be met.

Verdict: 6/10

@Ralizah Very much in agreement, based on my experience so far. And as usual, you said it much better than I could. I’m doubtful to be able to finish it, but I’ll keep it on my hard drive for now.

@Th3solution How far did you end up getting?

@RogerRoger Ah, good to hear I'm not missing too much with the true ending. Honestly, this review could sort of function as a review of most of the older games in the series. I like this well enough, but I've always had some gripes with their game design, and I finally had an opportunity to articulate them here (versus shouting them into the void or annoying random Sonic fans with my opinions, LOL).

I've heard people suggest multiple times since this game released that SEGA should just turn the franchise over to its fans, and, while I agree that this is a really solid effort and better than numerous entries in the series, I feel like there must be a type of game design path for Sonic to follow and evolve into a truly good series. I don't feel like wallowing in the past forever is the correct way forward for this series. Christian Whitehead (or whatever his name is) clearly loves the series and knows it like the back of his hand, and that's great. I think this was an awesome love letter to classic Sonic fans, and I'm glad it exists. But I'm not sure I want any more Sonic Manias for a while.

Props to Sony for including games like Sonic Mania. I don't play online, and haven't bought much on sale lately, but the IGC is solid enough that I still feel like I'm getting my money's worth in gameplay out of it.

@Ralizah I’m embarrassed to say I only made it to the second stage (?), or world (?) I forget the term they use. It’s the chemical factory. I kept getting caught in the ... chemical, whatever it was. The pink or orange stuff that slows you down and then there’s the blocks that rotate and I’d end up there and get squished by a block and killed over and over and didn’t know how to keep from getting stuck in the pink goo. I’m not opposed to try again when I get an itch for a 2D platformer, but I have another PS Plus freebie waiting in the wings, Rayman Legends, which might be easier for a novice of the genre.

@Th3solution Ah, the Chemical Zone from Sonic 2. That stage is a classic. <3 Getting trapped under the water is always stressful, though, especially when you start drowning and the world's most stressful music starts playing.

Rayman Origins and Legends are very accessible, and two of the best 2D platformers ever made, so you're in for a treat!

@Th3solution Rayman Legends i found starts easy enough but I quickly hit a brick wall. I've not gone back as I've got be in the right mood to play these 2d platformers, and whenever I look at it I can't face playing it again.

The main thing I appreciate about Shovel Knight is how much support it has gotten since release. I bought it at launch on 3DS when it was just the main campaign and, since then, two of three other full campaigns have released for me to play for free. Very cool.

It's an alright game. Not one of my favorites, but it's a fun experience.

@Th3solution @JohnnyShoulder Rayman Legends is excellent and I especially loved the musical levels at the end of each world. The bonus “remixes” of those at the end of the game are really tough though.

That game has a couple of ridiculous trophies though; one of which means having to log into the game repeatedly for at least a month to get.

@Kidfried Congratulations! Yeah, if you go back and look, I think several of us share the sentiment that the epilogue was just too much in a way and may actually detract. It’s got a very ‘DLC’ feel to it, as the ‘first ending’ is quite impactful and satisfying and the rest just seems like extra bonus content. Some people have come in the defense of the extra Marston storyline after Arthur dies saying they thought it was great, but it dragged a lot and affected the pacing of the overall experience to me. I give Rockstar credit though for including all that content (and RDO to boot!) in the base $60 game where most developers would hold back anything outside the core story and sell it separately to us as DLC or add-on packs. So, I try to look at it through that lens and it makes me feel better about it. Because otherwise, I was starting to get rather upset at the game when I was playing it because it just wouldn’t end! 😅
You may find it interesting to go back and read some of the discussion in the game-specific thread where different people weighed in about these issues a few months back.

Regardless, I bet your happy to have seen it through to the end. What’s your next big gaming project? Assassin’s Creed? NieR? Persona 5? Another Yakuza game? God of War? A Soulsborne game?

[Edit: I did go back to the RDR2 thread out of curiosity and revisit some of our discussion back in February when I was finishing the game and I wonder if you still feel as you did back then. We were comparing RDR1 and RDR2 and discussing the pacing and whatnot even then. Interesting read.]

@Kidfried @Th3solution Congrats on finishing. I think, given time and space to think about it, I kind of feel the same way about the epilogue. The 'ending' of the main storyline was so good, that whatever followed was going to struggle to top it.

I'm glad I played the epilogue, though. I thought it was superb in its own way, it just had a completely different vibe. Looking back, I should have had a break from the game before playing it. The epilogue would have worked very well as DLC, but had it been a separate thing, I'm not 100% sure I would have ever got around to it, so I'm glad it was included with the main game.

Finished Contra (NES) on the Contra Collection last night. Of course I used the 30 man code but I just wanted to do a quick run.

@Kidfried Oh? Is there a significant chunk of gameplay between RDR2's climax and the end of the epilogue?

@Kidfried It sounds like the game is one big rebellion against the idea of less being more.

I do intend to get around to it someday, but I'll confess, hearing about the terrible controls and weighty movement really put me off of it. I like my video game movements to be snappy.

Guacamelee 2 - I loved the first one - which I replayed last summer - so very much looked forward to playing this. Like the first game it is a Metroidvania luchador inspired beat-em-up and plays extremely similarly, even retaining the same moves (which are gradually unlocked as you progress through the game).

Despite the familiarity there are a lot of new ideas and the gameplay is considerably more complex - particularly in its often elaborate level design. At times I thought "wow this is clever", but others I swore repeatedly at the TV. Some of the platforming sections are difficult if not downright frustrating, giving the impression that the developers assumed players will have completed the first game beforehand. There is quite a lot of satisfaction in eventually completing a difficult section.

The biggest criticism I have is that controls are a little slow, with a slight delay when using certain moves. In a game that often requires moves to be used in quick succession, it's something that could be a little tighter.

Aside from level design the area that has seen the most improvement is the "chicken transformation". In the first game it was largely a gag and used to move through small paths, but here the chicken has its own moveset and is very effective in combat.

Like the first game there are a lot of "optional" rooms and areas where after completing a particularly difficult platforming challenge you are rewarded with a prize (typically coins, heart or stamina pieces). One late game "chicken illuminati" dungeon is perhaps the most difficult platforming I have ever done in any game.

On the subject of chicken illuminati (yes, a chicken cult), the game has a rather offbeat script that is infused quite a lot of humour.
The game has a pleasing visual style that has been embellished since its predecessor. The vast majority of the music is the same as the first game, however, which I found a little disappointing.

Overall, despite its often high difficulty I enjoyed Guacamelee 2 a lot.

@Kidfried It's about the same, though I thought dodging was slightly off at times - particularly with enemy projectiles. However, because many of the platforming sections are a lot more intricate - requiring lots of different moves to be used in quick succession - the slight delay is sometimes more of an issue there.

@RogerRoger Have I mentioned I thoroughly enjoy reading your game impressions when the game is bad. 😂 Great stuff!

@RogerRoger Wow!

I only ever played the first one on the OG XBOX - enjoyed it, but just didn't bother with the series afterwards.

@RogerRoger Lol, awesome. And I should amend my statement. I enjoy reading all your game impressions, not just the bad ones. But the descriptions and analogies like steering a milk float are especially humorous and insightful. 😛