Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

This thread has certainly taken a weird turn so I last checked in!

@RogerRoger Thanks for yet another write up of a Sonic game that I had no idea even existed and I am rather intrigued by it! As others have said, the background of the development for the game was also an interesting read.

@mookysam Thank you for your suffering giving such a fun, succinct read. The image headings got a little giggle out of me. And another +1 for the Pat Butcher reference which has reminded me of this "iconic" scene..

Super Mario 64 (Super Mario 3D All-Stars - Switch)

While many are taking the opportunity to 100% the game, I'll admit up front that I finished with 73 Stars, pretty much doing the bare minimum for completion. For reference, I had played it off and on as a kid via rentals, but this is the first time I've completed it (as a kid I only ever explored the worlds on the castle's first floor).

Gameplay:

• A 3D platformer, and at the time of it's release the only one of it's kind, that introduced many design conventions that many games use to this day.
• It takes place on the grounds of Peach's Castle, which acts as a hub world that connects the various worlds (which are housed within magical paintings, or other objects, such as a clock) you'll have to traverse in order to clear the game. The further you get, the more of the castle you get to explore.
• There are 15 main worlds you're able to explore in the game, and each holds seven Power Stars to collect. These are the game's main collectable, and the more you collect, the more of the castle you're able to access. The game is pretty open ended in terms of it's progression, where even if you're playing one mission, if you find some other Star you're free to go after it instead, and there are nearly twice as many Stars in the game than required to beat it, so if you don't like a particular world or mission you don't have to push yourself to complete it (there are some exceptions of course, as if a world has a boss it'll usually only appear if you pick it's specific mission, and you need to beat Boswer stages to obtain keys to access different castle floors).
• In addition to the to the 15 main worlds, there are also 3 Bowser levels (straightforward platforming levels that end with a boss fight with the big guy), 3 Cap levels (straightforward platforming levels centered around specific powerups, upon completion of which you unlock that power up for use in the main worlds, as some Stars require them), and the occasional hidden mini world which house 1 Star for collecting their red coins (Bowser & Cap levels also house a red coin Star as well). Along with a handful of Stars that are just given to you by Toads in the castle, there are lots of extras to find.
• Thank goodness for it's open ended nature too, as the game is definitely rough in the gameplay department. Make no mistake, there's a great core here, and when things are going good Mario has a diverse move set that feels good, however the camera is finicky as heck & you often have to fight with it, and Mario is slippery as all get out which makes more deft platforming sections an exercise in frustration (also, the Wing Cap just flat out sucks. Great idea, a nightmare to actually try to controll unless launched via a cannon). I really think I did myself a favor by putting an end to it before reaching some of the later worlds which have reputations as absolute death traps. Granted, it apparently controls better on an actual N64 with it's stiffer control stick, but I'm not playing it on N64.
  
  
  The top screen looks like a fair enough challenge, but as for the bottom? No thanks!
• I personally had a really hard time with the Bowser fights too, as I just couldn't get the timing of when to throw him. I maybe could throw him into a bomb once for every 10 throws which isn't terrible for the first two fights which only require you to get him once, but you need to do it 3 times in the final fight, which really tried my patience (It probably took me 10 times to finally beat him).
• To end on a more positive note, I actually found myself really enjoying the game's water worlds of all things (Jolly Roger Bay's eel mission notwithstanding). I generally had no issue controlling Mario under water, I thought they had generally good design, and they just seemed overall relaxing. Big Boo's Haunt was decent as well.

Audio/Visual:

• While it naturally looks a bit rough these days, I think it looked pretty good overall cleaned up in HD. While they were probably impressive for their time, I don't think any of the worlds come across as anything particularly memorable today. I guess Shifting Sand Land & Rainbow Ride (and the other sky levels) were conceptually pretty neat looking, but they're some of the most irritating worlds from a gameplay perspective (Rainbow Ride in particular is one of those worlds that's so hard I really didn't try it). I guess I liked Hazy Maze Cave as a concept (and it had some of the trademark red scaffolding calling back to the original Donkey Kong arcade game), but it wasn't a particularly pretty world, even by SM64's standards. Again, I liked the relaxing vibe of the underwater worlds (even if Jolly Roger Bay looks a bit too drab when above water). There are some thematic stinkers though, such as Wet-Dry World (I think it's supposed to be a flooded city, but it comes across as a random jumble of floating platforms, which is a problem the first and last Bowser levels have too).
  
  
  
  Some environments. I liked the underwater areas.
• While it didn't particularly bother me, it's also weird in how "off brand" it feels in certain respects. While most of the iconic enemies (such as goombas, koopas, lakitu, and more) are present, as well as a few green pipes along the way, there are no "?" Blocks in the game (instead we get "!" Blocks), breakable bricks don't have their iconic brick texture, and series standard items like Super Mushrooms & Fire Flowers are nowhere to be found.
• As usual, I don't have much to say about music. Guess it fits the game, though.

Story:

• Mario gets an invitation to Peach's Castle only to find out that Bowser has taken over the joint and locked it up. Only by collecting the Castle's stolen Power Stars (which Bowser's minions have spirited away into magical paintings) can he further explore the castle & stop his old rival. Nothing more to it than that.
  
  Bowser's at it again.

Overall:

• There's definitely a solid core here, and it can definitely be fun when things line up just right, but there's definitely a lot of rough edges to cut yourself on along the way. Which begs the question, should Nintendo have given it a bigger overhaul? While their decision to make the collection as bare bones as it is was more than likely a decision based on frugalness, I don't think it's inherently a bad decision. If we are to posit that games are an art form, I think it's important that they should be playable in their original forms with minimal updates, warts & all (especially in a collection such as this, which is meant to show how the franchise has evolved over the years). Granted, whether you personally think that's worth the money is up for debate, but I think there's some merit to it, and should be tried out of curiosity's sake, even if you're just in it for the more modern titles.
  
  I will say that as someone who only dabbled in the game during it's original release & hasn't much thought about it since, there was something satisfying & affirming about actually seeing it to the end, even if it wasn't the most positive experience at times.

@mookysam Just read your rather superb review and yes - Pat Butcher quote was a classic.

Having been playing Sunshine (or best say 'revisiting') I think you are right to count this as a full remaster as opposed to a basic port (which it is). I think these games need the Wind Waker HD styler remake - keeping what worked and tweaking what didn't. However they didn't and I have not enjoyed Sunshine half as much as I did back in the day. I would have loved an Odyssey engine remake of these games but alas - not to be.

I love retro games but I have never agreed with some view that games can truly hold up to today's scrutiny and that's FINE. It is unfair for them to.

@RR529 Nice post. I also like the diversity of screen grabs on display.

I agree there's a solid core underneath the INCREDIBLE amount of jank and frustration here. The platforming moves on offer are excellent as well, but the weird lack of traction that makes it feel like Mario's always barreling to his doom kinda ruined it for me.

You should revisit the later levels one day. You haven't known suffering until you're played through Tick Tock Clock multiple times.

@Ralizah, @RogerRoger, thanks for taking the time to read! I'll definitely give the later levels a crack one day. Rainbow Ride in particular looks aesthetically neat (tilting the camera up and seeing the airship high above was neat looking. You can tell playing around in 3D space was novel at the time, as while games are infinitely better looking nowadays, it seems like you don't get moments like that much anymore).

A Hat in Time
Platform: PC
Completion Status: 40/40 time pieces and all missions cleared

Indie developer Gears for Breakfast's A Hat in Time is another one of the early video game success stories on Kickstarter. What was promised was a nostalgic throwback to N64/Gamecube-era "collectathon" 3D platformer game design, and, to the game's credit, that's largely what was delivered. AHiT has a very heavy dose of Mario 64/Mario Sunshine in its blood, although it also struggles to live up to the standards set by Nintendo's early classics in some respects. Although it can perhaps be argued that if a fresh-faced developer is being compared in any way to one of the grandmasters of the medium, that is its own sort of compliment.

Players take on the role of "Hat Kid," a humanoid alien with the appearance of a small child dressed in a cape and top hat, who is confronted by mafioso demanding she pay a toll as she passes over a strange, unnamed planet. When she refuses, her spaceship is damaged, causing her fuel, portrayed in the game as "time pieces," to spill out over the planet, leading Hat Kid to become stranded on the planet until she can track down her fuel sources. While on the planet, she falls into the middle of a conflict between Mafia Town (a government run by and representing mafioso, apparently) and the troublemaking Mustache Girl, another small girl (who, yes, sports a mustache) who sports an unexplored resentment against said government. Mustache Girl agrees to help Hat Kid find her missing time pieces if she'll help to take down the leadership of Mafia Town.

The structure of this game is eerily similar to a 3D Mario platformer. In this case, the hub world of AHiT, which is Hat Kid's ship, which gradually opens up as you find more time pieces, and the space theme in general call to mind Super Mario Galaxy. Different unlockable rooms on the ship will sport telescopes which, when looked through, will grant access to different locations for Hat Kid to explore. Like in a 3D Mario game, each location is divided into a variety of missions, which also contain collectibles and offer the player a significant degree of freedom when it comes to exploration.

One immediate contrast between AHiT and the games that inspired it is how original the level themes feel compared to almost anything else I've ever played. Locations in this game are pretty wildly diverse — you'll explore, of course, a large town filled with mafioso; a haunted forest where you quickly find yourself under the thumb of an evil supernatural entity known as The Snatcher; a gigantic free roam area composed of mountainous islands; and a movie studio where Hat Kid becomes embroiled in the fierce rivalry between two bird film directors.

Aside from the time pieces you'll acquire at the end of any given story mission in a location (similar to the stars and shine sprites you'd earn in early 3D Mario games), you'll also be hunting for relics, yarn balls, and rift tokens. There aren't a huge number of relics throughout the game's levels, but collecting and assembling them all will open up special "time rifts" (more on that in a moment), accessible via Hat Kid's hub ship. Yarn balls, when collected in specific numbers, will unlock new hats for Hat Kid, each of which grants her a special ability when equipped. Finally, rift tokens are least necessary, but will unlock cute little randomly selected bonuses in the game: some will change the color of Hat Kid's outfit, some will unlock special remixes of the musical tracks that play in given worlds throughout the game, and so on. The rather prolific dispersal of these (mostly) optional collectibles means that exploring the levels in these games almost always turns out to be worthwhile, and they can help to pad out environments that are otherwise rather sparse.

I'd also like to briefly mention the badge system in this game. As you explore various worlds in this game, you'll come across a creepy merchant (he sort of reminds me of the merchant in Resident Evil 4, actually) who you can buy various badges from with the in-game currency, orbs you'll collect throughout the game's various levels. You'll eventually be able to equip three of these, and they have a variety of effects: some wildly useful (drawing in items to you; breaking your falls; making it where you don't bounce off walls you dash into; etc.), some largely ornamental (one, as I recall it, will change the way people sound when they speak in the game), and some even largely detrimental to your health (one badge, in particular, makes it where you die in one hit, versus the four you can normally take). It adds a nice layer of customization to the experience.

Some of Hat Kid's time pieces have broken and opened rifts in the space-time continuum. These special, bite-sized levels are accessible when the player locates an area where there is an obvious tear in space. Quite distinct from the coherent, heavily thematic designs of environments in story locations, the time rifts feature very sparse and abstract scenery and platforms. The aesthetics and gameplay of these rifts are HEAVILY inspired by the secret levels in Super Mario Sunshine, although, strangely, unlike that game, Hat Kid isn't deprived of her hat abilities (compared to Sunshine, where Mario is deprived of his FLUDD water gear and forced to rely on pure platforming skill to survive). These rifts frequently open up in previously cleared worlds after surpassing certain progress thresholds as well, which compels the player to revisit those locations to find the new rifts, which recalls the comet mechanic in Super Mario Galaxy. Interestingly, the game doesn't make it easy for you to find these rifts; instead, you're presented with pictures showing a zoomed-in view of their location, and that's the only hint you're given as to the location of any given rift.

In a lot of other platformers, this wouldn't be much of an issue, but AHiT's worlds, perhaps because they're low in number, tend to be sprawling. And this leads me into perhaps my first major criticism of the game: the level design is not great. As Hat Kid, you'll be forced to trudge back and forth across gigantic maps where everything sort of looks the same attempting to complete level objectives. Additionally, you don't have access to any sort of in-game map, so you just have to sort of muddle your way around, frequently getting lost in the process. The most irritating map is perhaps Subcon Forest, because, being a forest, it's difficult to tell where you're supposed to be going at any given time, but the world where the size becomes truly ridiculous is Alpine Skyline. Each island is enormous in and of itself, and you're supposed to navigate across multiple, complex islands to find a number of time rifts. It's probably easy to understand how the player can become turned around. Thankfully, the game features a built-in hint system in the form of Hat Kid's default top hat, whose ability is to point her in the direction of the nearest level objective. This often isn't helpful in missions with multiple objectives, which are usually the ones you'll want the most help with, but, early on, it can be invaluable when you're trying to find your bearings in these large landscapes.

Hat Kid's moveset is simple, but the game uses every move in her arsenal to full effect. Thus, while the game doesn't allow for tremendously absurd displays of platforming skill, it does frequently force the player to consider difficult platforming tasks in the context of smaller and less complicated movements. Hat Kid often feels just barely up to the task of reaching distant platforms in her path. One thing I'd like to mention, briefly, is that the player's control over her double jumps feels great thanks to being able to mid-air cancel out of a jumping animation. Hat Kid is, more broadly, a joy to control: she feels almost weightless, controls very tightly, and there's a satisfying tactile feel whenever she interacts with surfaces in her environments.

With that said, I did encounter a weird problem in the PC version. The game controls well with a controller (I played it using Sony's DS4), but, at one point, my controller died due to forgetting to charge it the night before, and so I transitioned to playing with a mouse and keyboard for a while. This was... OK, but the issue I had was that the game, for whatever reason, doesn't allow the player to remap key bindings within the game, which is a VERY weird oversight for a game that started on PC. The PC version has even received the majority of the developer's attention via patches and DLC. If you want to change the default key binds, you have to exit the game and alter one of its INI files, which players shouldn't be expected to do.

The game attempts to weave narrative in throughout the game's various missions, but these efforts often fell flat for me. As a result, the story/characters felt a bit underdeveloped and lacked emotional resonance. This became clear to me at the end when various characters you've met throughout gather to support you in your effort to defeat the final boss, and I was just left thinking: "I don't really know or care about any of these people." The designs aren't bad, and the concepts behind them are often interesting or creative, but something really got lost in translation for me, and it kind of took the air out of the game's climax, IMO.

In general, many aspects of this game are... just OK. The characters are just OK. The presentation is dated (although, given the efforts of this game to feel like a throwback, I'd argue this is perhaps more justified; it really does look like an HD conversion of something you might have played on the Gamecube or PS2). The music is perfectly acceptable, but never really stands out aside from the game's delightful main theme (linked below). The difficulty is pleasantly balanced, but it also lacks some of the memorable-ness of a 3D Mario game (I can cry about Mario 64'S jank all day, but its levels are permanently seared into my brain now).

The area where the game succeeds most fully, I'd say, is in terms of the personality it exudes. I expected the game to be cute and perhaps charming, but I didn't expect the writing to be so consistently sarcastic and funny. It's comparable, in some respects, to the Paper Mario games, except even your diminutive protagonist, despite her adorable looks, is quite the snarker. She's actually kind of a little brat at times! This is communicated in her body language, such as the way she'll stick out her tongue at mafioso when running by them, or in her optional "smug dance" taunt (itself a reference to a similar dance in Animal Crossing, another classic Nintendo game). But it especially becomes evident when you unlock a ground pound-esque ability and discover her secret pillow fort, which houses a diary. If you read the diary after any given story event or completed mission, you'll read Hat Kid's take on the situation, which is often... well, suffice to say, she looks adorable, but the personality perhaps doesn't match. It's a super fun little secret, though. The hub is actually full of fun little easter eggs and optional activities. My favorite is when you discover that a computer on her ship can play a sort of text-based adventure game. I mean, yes, it's short, and primarily a gag, but it's a great thing to just stumble across.

This also kind of ties into the game's great balance of platforming and exploration and the way it rewards player curiosity. There's always SOMETHING to collect in this game, and the collectibles almost all have some sort of larger gameplay function.

The game does need some QoL updates, though. It's really stupid that I can't look at the pictures showing off the location of a time rift when I'm actually loaded into a level. I kind of wish that worlds other than Alpine Skyline allowed for a free roam mode for when the player needs to go back to pick up collectibles as well. Most crucially, it's really frustrating that players can't go back and read previous diary entries Hat Kid has written throughout the game. And, thanks to the design of the game's mission flow itself, there are certain diary entries that can't even be viewed normally over the course of the game. It's a dumb, obvious oversight that should have been patched out. And, as mentioned before, key rebinding should be a thing in the PC version.

I do also want to mention that the third-person camera could use some work, as it has a tendency to get stuck zoomed in on Hat Kid, or even stuck on objects in the environment. Coming off Super Mario 64, I'm finding it difficult to get too worked up about this issue, as the camera in AHiT works well 90% of the time, whereas the camera in Mario 64 works well exactly 0% of the time. It's also less troublesome than the camera in Yooka-Laylee. With that said, again, the game could use some attention in certain places.

So, at the end of the day, I think A Hat in Time, as the first game by a novice indie developer, is a resounding success, but not necessarily a top-tier classic like other famous indie games such as Stardew Valley, Undertale, and Papers, Please turned out to be. It's full of charm, wit, and, even if the game's inspirations are perhaps a bit too evident in the way its designed, it's still very solid in terms of the fundamentals you'd want from a 3D platformer. AHiT is also one of the few games from the explosion of successful Kickstarters in the early 2010s to release with a minimum of drama or disappointment associated with it. It's an easy recommendation for anyone who likes the genre and, hopefully, will lead to future platforming classics from a developer that is clearly swimming with talent and passion for the medium.

Solid 8/10

@Ralizah That's a nicely written review. I always love 3D platformers, plus the game is just oozing with charm, so naturally I'm a big fan of this game.

Were you planning on getting the expansions? Seal the Deal was alright, but the Nyakuza Metro expansion is excellent. That has a large hub area to explore and plenty of charm to it. Also, it's a pecking metro run by yakuza cats.

@crimsontadpoles Thanks for reading.

My nephew owns the game on Switch, along with all the DLC, so by the time I'm ready to dip back into this world again, I might just revisit that version. I've heard conflicting reports about good a port it is, so I've been curious to try out one day anyway.

I've been quite interested in A Hat In Time myself @Ralizah from the glimpses I've seen and few things I've heard about it so it's good to hear your time with it has been rather positive and from your review it sounds quite charming!

Some great screenshots to go with it and the main theme sounds good too

Also good stuff @mookysam & @RR529 for the slightly contrasting Mario 64 reviews!

I've... actually only ever played Super Mario All Stars way back on the SNES for a "mainline" Mario game. I've played a few of his Karting games and Smash bros brawl but otherwise I've not really had much dealings or affinity with the itallian plumber 😅

Very enjoyable reads none the less and it's interesting to see the reactions from everyone regarding this title in particular in the switch thread!

@Ralizah Nice review - I actually have AHIT from Steam in a recent sale on a slight whim. Reading your review has probably dropped it down my list. A major bugbear of mine is a lack of maps as my ageing brain just can't take it. It looks like what it aims for in terms of design etc.

@Ralizah A good read that and it's funny how maps and objective markers are pretty much expected in games these days.. but for good reason!

Two Point Hospital

System: PS4

Amount played: Completed the 15 base levels (the PS4 version includes two parts of the DLC which each contains another three areas).

Basically what you're thinking is "I loved Theme Hospital back in the day, so will I like this too?" to which I say "don't be so damn impatient”.

Every description of the game uses the phrase "spiritual successor to Theme Hospital" so let's get that one out the way already. It's no surprise that it has this label though as a few of the original Bullfrog team are involved in the development of this game and the basic game mechanics are pretty similar.

That said, the team have done well to make the game feel different enough with a whole host of new features and the game is certainly more complex than the original. However, you will essentially be guiding a group of patients with variably hilarious conditions from their arrival at the reception desk to receiving their treatment in variably hilarious ways.

Reception desks are certainly larger than they used to be! (and mission objectives tougher)

As in That Other Game, you're tasked with taking over a number of different hospitals of increasing difficulty, each with various objectives you need to hit in order to progress. Each level has three stars which you can obtain, with each star ramping up the expectations on your hospital. Only one star is needed in each hospital to progress but there's no way I can move on without seeing all three of those golden celestial beings alongside the name of my hospital.

Training your staff is more important than ever

Hitting a number of successful cures is a pretty standard objective in each level, as is getting your hospital to a certain reputation or value. There are a handful of clever levels which I really enjoyed such as the public hospital where no money is earned from curing patients but instead from fulfilling additional objectives. My particular favourite sees you in a teaching hospital where all staff start with no specialist training and it's up to you to get them up to scratch. More frustrating/boring objectives see you needing to get staff morale to a certain level, get hygiene levels up, or (most frustratingly of all) getting your "cure rate" to a certain level.

Some of these are fun but plenty are frustrating. Lots of them also require sitting around just waiting for the game to tick over while you wait for the objective to complete; hitting 3* in the final level needs you to cure 1000 patients which takes a good while. Some objectives can be beaten by gaming the system which feels a bit cheap; why bother trying to cater to staff needs to get their morale up when you can just double everyones pay to hit that objective and then move on?

A bit of R&R always helps keep morale up

Staff and patients have plenty of needs that you will have to keep on top of otherwise they will certainly start moaning. Toilets are a must, and food and drink are always needed but you will also need to keep fun levels up and make sure they're warm/cool enough too. Most of these aren't a problem but it can be frustrating to see a patient storm out as they're hungry, thirsty, bored, and need the toilet when all facilities are provided.

The hardest thing in the game though (unsurprisingly) is trying to keep the patients alive. A health meter starts ticking it's way down as soon as the patient appears on the map. And this goes down QUICKLY. Keeping on top of queues is essential to make sure their health isn't dropping too much while waiting, making sure your staff are trained as best possible, and you have the best and most upgraded kit. Training in this game can be in specific roles which are needed to use rooms (e.g. radiology to use the MEGA scanner and surgery for surgeons) or more general areas such as increased diagnostic or treatment abilities, or increased happiness levels.

However, when patients die that isn't the end of their involvement in the game. They sometimes become ghosts who scare patients and staff but who can be literally hoovered up by trained janitors which also gives you research points.

Epidemics. URGH.

Epidemics are another addition where one of only two disease may cause an outbreak in your hospital and you need to scour the map for the telltale signs of the condition so you can vaccinate those with the disease. This is a royal pain in the ass on larger maps and unless you need the cash from successfully preventing the outbreak (or it's the map where you need to vaccinate people), I just left it alone and took the penalty.

All this means there can be a LOT going on in your hospital at any time and it can be difficult to keep on top of. A bit of chaos is obviously what the game is about but throwing earthquakes (and even volcanic eruptions in one level) into the mix feels more frustrating than challenging.

Treating a case of premature mummification

Pushsquare forum reviews love to mention the sounds and music of games. There’s another nostalgia hit here with tannoy announcements through the game which are a mixture of amusing and informative and the voicing sounds so similar to that used in That Old Hospital Simulator. The soundtrack itself is presented as a hospital radio station with a couple of different DJs talking between songs and the tracks are perfect for this kind of game in that they blend in to the game without overwhelming it but are also quite catchy.

Overall, I thought the game did a good job of making itself feel fresh with little improvements like being able to make rooms that aren’t just squares to fill awkward spaces, and the ability to copy a room if you need another GP office rather than designing one from scratch. The level of humour is fun without being too try hard and the game is challenging too.

That said, the game had loads to introduce with new roles, new conditions, new challenges, and new items to unlock but by about the halfway point it doesn’t add much more so the last few maps felt a bit repetitive, even if the challenges were quite different. The two levels I mentioned earlier that were standout ones were from quite early in the game.

It also has the problem that many strategy games have that once you’ve figured out a system that works, it quickly becomes a bit repetitive. Once I figured out increasing the price of everything in the hospital by 100% made you shed loads of money but also made things easier by keeping patient numbers down, it became way easier for instance.

A classic case of lightheadedness and jest infection

So to answer the obvious question from early on, you will certainly like it if you liked Theme Hospital and it is good fun but I’m glad to have picked it up in a sale. I will probably go back for the DLC levels (which do introduce new illnesses and rooms) but I had certainly had my fill by the time the third star pinged on the final level.

@Thrillho Sounds like a fun simulation game, although I confess I have no idea what "Theme Hospital" is.

"They sometimes become ghosts who scare patients and staff but who can be literally hoovered up by trained janitors which also gives you research points."

This sounds like such a great crossover opportunity for something like Luigi's Mansion. 😂

Good review. How well does a sim game like this handle with a controller, BTW? I can't imagine not using a mouse for this sort of thing.

@Rudy_Manchego The no maps thing would be as big a problem if areas were more organized and memorable. Or smaller. But large areas with complex layouts + no maps is a recipe for frustration. Although, admittedly, this only REALLY became an issue during the final world, which is just so huge that it can be hard to find your way to where you're supposed to go.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yeah, I think, if you're in the market for a cute game, it does the job well. Really, I'm just so happy to play a platformer that doesn't constantly fill me with stress and rage now.

@Thrillho nice review of two point hospital, I've played the first level on the computer but haven't gone back to it because my chair gives me a back ache. I used to love theme hospital as a kid though, awesome game! I'd be interested to know how it controls with a controller too actually. I was waiting to get it on Switch but they didn't end up adding touch screen controls to it so I just bought it on steam in the end

@Ralizah I am genuinely surprised you don't know Theme Hospital as I thought it's one of those games that even non-gamers know; even my wife has completed it! Admittedly, it's pretty old now being mid/late 90s and you can probably even get it for free legally. It was on PC but it was released on PSone (I had it on my PSP via the PS3 store).

But in response to you and @ralphdibny the controls are mostly fine. Square is the magic button that gets you to most menus (building, hiring, finances etc) with R1/L1 for jumping between those menu screens. Triangle jumps to messages. It can sometimes get a tad fiddly building rooms but on the whole it's fine; it certainly works better than Civ 5 but I still got used to that easy enough.

The only thing the game never explained well (and it is probably easier on PC) is that for certain rooms you can make specific alterations. The main example (shown below) is that you can get more than one nurse to work in a ward at once and some rooms (also like the ward) that can be used for diagnosis and treatment of patients, you can select to use it for just one of these functions. Some facilities can be altered to only allow certain people (like in the toilets below, you can make them staff only, patient only, one gender etc).

On the images you can see that there is the square button highlighted next to the screen which moves the cursor there but it seems weird that you couldn't just move up onto it. I only found out this was possible when reading a tips article. There is also the button map in the bottom left which says "switch panel focus" but it isn't clear what this means unless you already know.

But overall there wasn't a moment where the controls hindered me doing what I wanted.

@Thrillho nice one, cheers for the detailed response! Most mouse/keyboard games can translate well to a controller if the Dev is clever about it but I just don't get why they don't throw in mouse and keyboard support anyway. Especially as all the consoles support it as evidenced by other games. Also for you and @Ralizah , Theme Hospital is available on GOG and is regularly discounted to a couple of quid if you need a blast from the past

@RogerRoger Thanks for reading.

The keyboard controls are still workable, but the lack of a rebinding tool in the menu is just absurd. I typically use a controller, though, so it's not a massive concern to me overall. I might try replaying it on just the keyboard sometime, though, because I've noticed that the DOOM games are DRAMATICALLY improving how skilled I am at playing with M+K. I've started DOOM 2016 now (because I'll be largely unavailable on Sat/Sun when we're supposed to start), and I'm actually... pretty comfortable jumping around in 3D space with that setup. It's super comfy using the mouse to aim as well. It's such a change from even earlier this year.

And yeah, I do think it ended up being one of the best Kickstarter success stories. Maybe not quite as much as something like Shovel Knight, but I'd love to see them revisit this IP in a sequel or something. Hat Kid feels much more like an actual video game character you'd recognize, as opposed to some random indie game protagonist. The character design is really on point.

@ralphdibny @Thrillho Sim games aren't really my thing, but if I see it on sale, I might just grab it anyway. Apparently it's a part of gaming history.

@RogerRoger Thanks for reading! If you're interested in the game then it is certainly worth picking up. And I wouldn't say it was exactly cheesing the game but once you understand the mechanics better, even though the levels have different challenges and objectives you end up just following the same pattern of building and design to follow what you know will work.

It's worth saying that you can jump between levels as and when you want (once they're unlocked) so you can progress in the game to unlock stuff and then go back to get the second or third star but I never found I needed this. Conversely, you could stick with a well run, money making hospital once you've got the third star and cheese the game slightly by using your researchers in an older level to unlock stuff, rather than worry about doing so in the new level.

@ralphdibny No worries. Like I say, I rarely had a point in the game where the controls frustrated me, more that there is so much stuff you have to find for yourself. For instance, there's a menu where you can select "go straight to treatment" after the patient has a diagnosis made. If that's not selected, they'll go back to a GP first. Why would I want to waste time and add to the GP queue if I can send them to treatment instead?

@Ralizah Theme Hospital is good fun and much simpler than this game. It is an utter classic in the genre, particularly for it's humour. Even many non-gamers will know about bloaty head disease!

@RogerRoger I've been playing all of the DOOM games with KB+M. I was actually originally planning on playing them all via Switch, but I found the aiming to be so much more accurate with a mouse. In general, I find trying to aim with analog sticks to be frustrating and imprecise.

I was thinking DOOM 2016 might be an issue playing on KB+M, since it has more complex movements/platforming elements/etc., but moving the Doom Slayer around via keyboard has been fine.

In a way, this series is ideal training for using that control set-up. The early games only demand the user aim left or right and move around in four directions. After that training wheel stage, DOOM 3 experiments by giving the player a full 3D game to play, but limits the platforming elements a bit. Now DOOM 2016 is the next stage of the evolution: full movement in 3D space, including significant platforming elements. As I understand it, platforming becomes even more prominent in Eternal, so that'll really test out my mastery of the control scheme.

@Ralizah I’d always play shooters on PC with KB&M but I used to play loads of Counter Strike so my reflexes are fairly good using them.