Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

... Certainly one interesting review there @KratosMD for Symphony Of The Night!

I'd like to hope I'd react more positively towards the game if I ever get round to playing it myself but from what you describe it does seem to show it's age quite notably.

Let's hope if we play Bloodstained soon for the game club you feel more positively towards it!

It does bring back the same composer I believe so at the very least you'll most likely be enraptured by the music! (And there's some great tracks there you embedded!)

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy There's a demo for the Mega Man X collection? Wasn't aware of that!

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the MMX games, either. I bought X4 for my Vita out of pure nostalgia, because it was one of my first three games for the PS1 when I was a little kid (alongside Mega Man 8 and Spyro the Dragon), but I was never a fan of their mix of supremely stupid boss names (honestly, add a "the" between names like Chill Penguin or Frost Walrus and you end up with Sonic the Hedgehog character names, lol), edgier tone, or level design/mechanics.

When it comes to Mega Man, though, I feel the original games are the best (and some of the later sequels, which I'll get to when I cover the second Legacy Collection).

I was definitely very mixed on Gunvolt myself, but it at least tried to do interesting things with a vaguely Mega Man-ish formula. I started the second game, but... I think I'm kind of burnt out right now.

I also want to get around to the Zero/ZX games someday as well. It's time I properly explored this series.

Except for the Mega Man X games.

RE: Witcher 3

Thanks! I was afraid my review came off as too nitpicky, but I felt like issues I had with it were ones I never hear being discussed by other people, and I wanted to properly convey my feelings about them.

It is a really solid experience, though, and I'm very excited to see how their game design improves with Cyberpunk 2077 (as CDPR has indicated it'll be a large-ish evolution from what came before in TW3, which, as you state, was already on that cusp of being great).

@Rudy_Manchego Bit late to the party (in my defense, I was away at the time), but I just wanted to chime in and congratulate you on achieving the platinum trophy for Bloodborne. You say it's not worth bragging about, but I think mastering a game that you even admit you're not particularly skilled at is more impressive than someone with better reflexes doing the same thing, since it speaks to your willpower and willingness to throw yourself at something utterly challenging for you.

I wasn't a fan when I first played it in 2015 or so, but it's one of those games I've always wanted to go back to and give another chance. I just didn't see this amazing story within the game itself, and I'm a bit jealous that everyone is having this great experience that didn't somehow translate for me. Maybe now that I'm a tad bit more versed in the design language of From Software's Souls games (I'd never tried one before playing BB), I'll have an easier time with it.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

@Thrillho Interesting! re: Tropico 6. I actually have Tropico 3 in my Steam library, but I never knew what it was and, frankly, was a bit too lazy to research it.

I'm not typically a big simulation game person, but I'll admit that the idea of running a sort of banana republic in the tropics sounds more appealing to me than it probably should.

@Ralizah Thanks and welcome back! Hope all is well with you.

I understand what you mean - I am jealous that I couldn't get on with Sekiro because I don't doubt that the game is great and I know a lot of people on here really liked it and I trust their judgement. I do need to give the Souls games a good go but I keep putting it off (or returning to Bloodborne). I do find getting into it a bit overwhelming. I know some Souls fans think the weapons and upgrading to Bloodborne is too simple but for me it was perfect as the weapons and their strengths/weaknesses was pretty clear.

@Ralizah Even in a game designed to be played kind of like a dictator, I still try to appease rather than oppress my people.

Well, apart from rebels who get sent to the asylum and return to society as some of my biggest fans!

For such a simple premise Megaman has to be awkward with naming conventions doesn't it?

Sorry @Ralizah I meant Megaman ten... or eleven. Whatever the newest mainline megaman was with the gear shifting mechanic.

If they re-release Witcher 3 for PS5 I might actually get it to through the DLC content which does sound actually worthwhile compared to pretty much every other DLC.

It'd incentivise me more to get past the broader magical macguffin follow the Ciri plotline in the main game (seeing as I've only played the vanilla version) because as much as you can say it's more about the journey then the destination... It is unfortunately a bit weak, especially when you already know you chase ciri around for-bloody-ever.

I too am also looking forward to Cyberpunk. I'll wait for the PS5 version though just so my PS4 doesn't melt (or more likely have some framerate issues like Witcher did)

@Rudy_Manchego Yeah I thought the weapons were just about right too. There is much more to choose from in the Dark Souls games, but much of the different types of weapons all feel the same within there different categories really. And not everyone likes having so much choice as they could find it overwhelming. One of the reasons I disliked Nioh, injustice threw too much useless that at you continuously.

Congrats on the play btw, can't remember if said so or not. I am totes wely jely.

@KratosMD Alucard has to be one of the most appalling names for a character ever! Ohllirht doesn’t work quite as well..

It’s funny how a game that has helped spawn what is now such a fundamental mechanic can hold up so badly though. Backtracking for the sake of length of a game is one of the worst gaming mechanics though so I’m not surprised to hear you struggled with it.

It made for a nice write up though!

Going to go completely off the beaten path in terms of what I played, but I'm going to comment on a wonderful little game I played via Apple Arcade called 'Little Orpheus'. I'm a huge fan of the Chinese Room, a small British indie studio that created 'Dear Esther', 'Amnesia: A Maching for Pigs' and 'Everybody's Gone to the Rapture' - one of my all time favourites of this generation.

The studio went through some hard times and basically closed after Rapture because funding fell through for their next game but the studio was effectively reopened under Sumo Digital and this is their first release. Obviously it is currently an Apple Arcade exclusive, produced by Apple I believe. I think it will get released on other platforms as they don't tend to force exclusivity deals but the only way to play will be with an Apple subscription and of course, with an Apple device. I played on my iPad with controller (and Apple TV).

So the plot of the game is you play as a 1960's Russian cosmonaut who has been missing for 3 years after he took a bomb to the centre of the earth for an experiement. The narrative is told via flashback as he recounts his tale to a disbelieving Russian General who is threatening him with a firing squad if they can't find the bomb. The game takes the form of a 2.5 platformer with light puzzle and platformer elements but like their previous stories, gameplay takes a bit of a backseat to story. This is not Braid or Super Meat Boy type game - it is really a comedy adventure story set within a platformer.

From a gameplay perspective, nothing to write home about. I played with controller and had a few instances of lag on the controls BUT I do think this was my controller rather than the game. You can play via touch pad and it works fine but I prefer controllers and I have an MSI compatible controller - though both the XB1 and DS4 works on Apple products now with no adapters needed. Some minor graphical glitches but that's it. Basically, if you don't like story games and want the gameplay to speak for itself, prob not for you - though I would say the game is never boring because of the story and asthetic.

Graphically, the game is stunning for what is a mobile game. It is a hefty 3.3 gb but the design is very 1960's, emulating Russian animation from the Soviet period in cutscenes and titles and the worlds are bright and creative. Tying it together is just a hilarious story of a hard to believe and quite cowardly cosmonaut trying to explain an incredible tale to a giant and dour Soviet General. The dialogue, timing and cut scenes are just so funny, and the voice acting is superb. It also helps if you know or are interested in Soviet history because it ties into the paranoia and space race era of the Soviet Age. If you are a fan of music, Jessica Curry returns with a collab with another composer for a great orchestral and very retro flavoured theme - a bit like old tv shows of the 1960s. It had a great end which I won't spoil and genuinely made me laugh out loud a few times.

The only real downside is that this is only available on Apple Arcade at the moment and handheld is the perfect place for this adventure but the audience will be limited. The Apple Arcade service is amazing, btw, for the money and the amount of good indie games but ultimately, you have to have access to those devices capable of running them. Still, if you can, a months trial is free and this is a great little narrative adventure comedy.

I'm what I assume is near the end of Days Gone and I say it's a totally underrated game. Not amazing, not breaking all the rules, not redefining gaming, but what does? It's a totally good open world zombie I'M NOT SAYING FREAKER game and I like the characters and the hordes and stuff.

That said, I do have quibbles.

But it's still much better than I was led to believe.

@JohnnyShoulder Thank you wise Hooonter

@Rudy_Manchego Sounds fun and comedy is such a hard thing to get right in games.

Jessica Curry did a series on Radio 3 (there’s a radio 3?) at the end of last year on the sound of gaming which I’ve been meaning to check out. I didn’t realise there was an episode of 65daysofstatic either (great band; did the No Man’s Sky soundtrack).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009rfn

@Thrillho Yeah I listened to the series and the 65daysofstatic one was a great interview and a great soundtrack. I am a huge soundtrack fan. I tweeted how much I liked the game and got retweets and likes from Jessica Curry and her husband who is creative director of Chinese Room an because I am loser I geeked out this morning. My wife wasn’t as impressed though.

Iconoclasts
A Magnificent Sunflower

I love a good villain.

There's the tragic ones whom you end up empathising with. The ones that are just plain evil that you love to hate. The perhaps once righteous hero that has now lost thier way...

Iconoclasts for me nailed a well realised villain in Agent Black. I loved her from start to finish and was without a doubt my favourite character in the entire game.

But let's back up a bit first.

Iconoclasts is a story driven platformer with metroidvania elements.

... I know some of you reading this just saw the word "Metroidvania" and probably ducked for cover but it's not that prominent in it's design choice (Well at least to me though I've only played two)

Stop hiding behind those bushes like Robin!

There's admittedly one area that's particularly maze like in it's design that requires some backtracking through it. The game also has puzzles revolving around the enviroment and the few various items Robin has at her disposal but otherwise it's a pretty linear and straightforward adventure I found.

There's definitely no moment where you have to run round the entire map trying to find that one place to use that triple jump you just unlocked to find the next new area to get another new item to then go to another area etc... (There are materials for the tweaks system that do use this sort of philosophy... But that's not really important at all if you're just playing through the story)

Iconoclasts even has your current objective written on the pause screen for where you should be heading.

This game is a passion project made by one man over the course of six years. He's called Joakim Sandberg. He's swedish and every now and again there is a sentence or a word or two that just doesn't come out quite right in the game's text... But it's a remarkable effort in my opinion.

And as you can clearly see from the the screenshots it's without a doubt a visual treat with some lovely pixel art and smooth animations for said pixel art!

Don't let it fool you. Iconoclasts isn't all smiles and sunshine.

I found it's also a rather splendid audio treat as well with some very catchy music across a variety of styles (These aren't necessarily my favourites, just showing off the different styles)

(There's one I'd really love to put but... It's one I think has to be experienced with the boss fight. Moonlight/VS Ivory Beast is easily my favourite track though)

Iconoclasts is a rather story driven game despite what you might think of when you hear the word platformer.

You play as Robin whose father has unfortunately passed away recently.

She secretly moonlights as a mechanic to help the nearby town that her brother lives in, only for the religious governmental faction called "The One Concern" and it's agents to drop by and accuse Robin of fixing things without obtaining a job from the One Concern (And they helpfully fill you in on who Robin is too)

Naturally things don't quite go to plan...

And Iconoclasts does a lot of things in it's ten hour or so runtime. There's a bunch of religious & theological themes on display here and there's a good focus on the characters too.

As already said at the start one of the main villains is my favourite character and even characters I didn't like Goddamn f***ing Elro I thought were written well and could generally see where they were coming from even if I don't agree with it.

And the boss fights are really fun too. All of them feel quite different from one another. Whether there's a simple dodge it's attacks boss or a more puzzle based one (One even involves stealth mechanics in a more deadly game of hide and seek) there's a good variety on display here mechanically yet alone visually.

The Silver Samurai Watchman fight

If there's one thing I have to negatively say is that the platforming elements weren't quite as interesting to me. They got a bit more interesting as they went on but it's probably the weakest element the game has.

I'm kinda glad I actually took so long in writing this review too as after playing Day's Gone and just thinking about Iconoclasts more clearly after all the stuff I've played recently...

... This does a lot of interesting things and I'm looking at it very fondly compared to just after beating it. Where I still thought it was the best of the bunch I'd played so far at that point but I hadn't quite appreciated what it had done.

I feel a bit bad I didn't buy this even (Thanks to winning it in a competition/giveaway) as it is something I feel is rather unique and worth the effort that was put into this.

I believe it was given via PS Plus at some point and if you redeemed it but haven't played it yet, I'd urge you to at least give it a try.

The end is finally in sight!!!

I give Iconoclasts an low 9/10.

I'm looking forward to going back to it again sometime and taking on the secret boss or two that's apparently in it and maybe going to collect all the materials.

I'm sure you're already aware that my "objective" score is essentially me covering my ass by going a bit more positively if I don't like a title or going more negatively if I do like it.

It's impossible for me to be completely objective and if I somehow was the review would be completely pointless for you to read as I'd be contradicting myself every two seconds.

I guess it's a nice little acknowledgement on my part that there can be things other people may or may not like about the title in question or something that didn't bother me that could bother you?

I could honestly probably ditch the scores as well but there's just something about assigning a grade (or rather a number) that pinpoints how I feel about a game more or less. It just feels right.

Anyway rambling aside for Iconoclasts I guess your milleage may vary with the story in particular as it does a few things that could surprise you (For better or for worse) or that the characters don't quite gel with you.

But there's nothing I feel it does wrong mechanically at least besides the general platforming being a bit mediocre.

So perhaps a low 8 or maybe a very high 7 is apt for being a touch more subjective?

See ya real soon!

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Great write-up! The presentation in Iconoclasts is absolutely phenomenal. I know people cringe when they hear "pixel art indie platformer," but there's no reason these games can't be gorgeous and highly detailed.

I'm glad you enjoyed the thematic and narrative complexity on display here. The setting itself is great, and it's hard not to be impressed with the large, distinctive cast.

And yeah, I also felt like the platforming was mostly a miss for me. Additionally, the level progression (as you acknowledge, there's not a ton of exploration in this Metroidvania), upgrade system, and plot resolution in general were all a bit undercooked for my liking.

It's a messy game, but definitely one that showcases talent and potential. I'd love for the developer to find a proper team of people to help him develop more games in the future.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy A great review and fun read. Thanks!

I agree with almost all of it. I struggled with the difficulty though may have been due to playing on Vita with harder controls. However, the story really gripped me and Agent Black was a fantastic villain.

Thanks, glad you liked it @Ralizah!

This was actually part of a gigantic review post (nearly 4000 words) with three other games but I decided to give Iconoclasts it's own post by itself for a little more exposure.

I think I only struggled with Mother as a boss. I got really lost with her attack patterns (Panicking no doubt a bit thanks to that giant cat thing she was riding around on) but I somehow got past her on my second try. Other then that I thought the normal difficulty level was generally quite fine. Though of course I was playing it with a nice Dualshock 4.

It must look pretty nice though on the Vita @Rudy_Manchego!

Glad you enjoyed reading it too!

Just remembered (And wasn't quite sure whether to tag you as you may've already seen it and I don't think it really adds a whole bunch from our previous chat about it) but my Iconoclasts review is up above @KratosMD if you fancied a looksee

I had you and Th3Solution in mind in fact when writing about it's semi questionable genre assigment of Metroidvania in particular @RogerRoger cus If I recall you pair aren't quite fond of them... I thought the more sci-fi-ish setting might've intrigued you alongside the narrative focus!

I'm glad you liked section just before the closing thoughts... and I appreciate you wading through my waffling on too! Cus there was a fair bit of it! 😅

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Wow! What other games were you going to include?

I do like that subversive element of the space worm fight (fits well with the larger technological and metaphysical themes). Has a bit of a Douglas Adams flavor to it.

I found it funny how, after 'killing God,' so to speak, Robin just goes home and flops down on the bed to take a nap. Elro even tries to have a discussion, but she's too exhausted to even bother.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy It is defo a beauty on the VIta and it runs really well but I found the same with Undertale that I'm just not sure boss fights and reaction heavy games, particularly with small characters and a lot of detail on screen work as well on Vita. Or I could be rubbish - I found on Undertale the bullet hell style combat things were really hard on a small screen and with the controllers.

@RogerRoger Thanks! If you are interested in this era then it is a must play and I would say it is amongst the best games on Apple Arcade but yeah, I hope they will extend to other platforms though it does say in the credits it is produced by Apple so not too sure if it will. It is a shame if it doesn't as this would be great on other platforms too.