Game 26 - Doom Eternal - Week 15 - April 20

oom fucking Eternal son. Now strap the fuck in this is gonna be a long one (with a lot of fucking cursing).


Doom 2016 

If Brutal Legend felt like getting sucker punched by a big fat guy, Doom 2016 (or DOOM) felt like getting haymakyred by Doom slayer. I was not expecting anything near to what I got when playing this game. It uplifted the original DOOM format into the modern era so damn well that it made anyone who played it forget about how terrible Doom 3 was as a sequel. DOOM was easily the best shooter of the decade for me (yes, the decade ends in 2019. I don't care if there was no year 0). To me DOOM was a perfect game. And it came in three forms.

Gameplay loop - Shoot demons with guns until they stop bleeding. That hasn't changed. What did change was the glory kills. No longer do you run away like a bitch to find a health kit when you're low. Get in there and fuck shit up, because executing enemies now gives you health, it feeds a loop encouraging the player to get deeper and deeper into the fight is what leads to those intense moments and supported by strong foundational shooting mechanics put Doom 2016 back on the throne.

Sound design - Every time I recommended this to someone I said it "felt like Heavy Metal the game". Every fight was amped up by not only one of the greatest soundtracks I've ever heard, but how the sound designers weaved it into those intensifying gameplay moments.

Legend of the Doom Slayer - The nuance of the story in this game went understated (and we'll get to that more in Eternal). It was very clear from the moment that you get off that slab, cock your pistol and bitch slap the demanding voice away on the monitor that you're pissed, and you don't want to talk it through, you want to kill fucking demons until it goes away. It was a common complaint that there wasn't much story, and I couldn't disagree more, because those people didn't read the codex's. That's the beauty of Doom 2016, the story was nonobligatory, if you just wanted to just kill demons like Doomguy does you could. The voice log Bioshock style character performances were excellent, particularly Hayden providing the voice of doubt for you to constantly surpass (who returns to do the same in Eternal) and the mystery of how Doom Slayer ended up leading a group of cyber templars through hell was fantastic.

Doom Eternal

Now here we go.

The Good

Soundtrack - Mick Gordon you beautiful Australian bastard. You did it again. I'm not sure what else to say other then the soundtrack is dope and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Gameplay loop - so remember how I said Doom 2016 gameplay loop was so phenomenal that it became my game of the decade? Well I'm not sure how to feel about the fact that Doom Eternal surpassed that so much that it's probably the best shooter I've ever played, and in 2020 it could be the shooter of the decade. A dash has been added making the game even faster (along with Monkey bars). The platforming was mixed for many but I enjoyed it. Glory kills are taken to the next level. Need health? Snap a neck. Need ammo? Chainsaw. Need armour? Belch fire onto the unholy. I played on Ultraviolence in my first play through and it very quickly became apparent that clinging to this like a 6 year old to his mother's leg before his first day at school was the most effective path. Everything is additive. Weapon mods are now more in-depth, allowing you to unlock perks for mods. Praetorian armour has perks that enhance movement or grenades. Then there are runes that drastically change your gameplay style. All this is synergised in such a masterfully designed way. For example I first upgraded my suit so grenades do more damage and recharge quicker. My first rune made those abilities recharge quicker if a foe died under their effect. Allowing me to dominate with that health-armour-ammo generating loop. You can't adhere to a few weapons anymore, every enemy has there tool and ammo is shared/limited so unless you're playing on easy you'll need to mix it up. All this rapid weapon switching like Jesse James on meth amphetamine felt even more like Doom then Doom 2016 did. Unlike it's predecessor I don't want to move on and I don't think I could go back.

God it feels good...

The Bad

The Marauder - This naughty boy wasn't hard (shoot & dash back, repeat). He was just boring. In a game that requires such fluidity, movement and mastery of the environment around you an enemy designed to demand your attention is the antithesis of everything that is good about the game. He was cool as a boss, he should have remained that way. Or hell, maybe he gets away and brings a few extra (of the many many) tools he has with him in the next fight. A nemesis to rival the doom slayer.

Bethesda - You know what's worse at interrupting flow then the Marauder? "But Bethesda didn't develop it and isn't in the game you say?" Yes they are. Even the taint of Bethesda's slow corporate corruption from within can be felt here. It's felt every time I get taken out of the action because of a Bethesda account pop up saying I disconnected from their shite servers. There's nothing worse then being full immersed in a fight as it ramps up and you're carving a killing field and then BAM. You're sitting in the menu wondering what happened. Give us an option to disable this for fuck sake.

The Doom Fortress - Now don't get me wrong, standing over a ledge as you peer down at a Demon infested Earth is phenomenal. The general sense of power as you orbit Earth from your floating castle is fantastic. And the home for your collectibles, unlocks, and hub in general was fun to explore.

But I like the many Demons that lay in my wake, am torn. I felt like overall it created a mission and story structure that was vastly inferior to 2016. I'm the type of guy that feels RPGs are at their peak during long dungeon crawls, the type of fight that feels like you've put everything you have into it and you're throwing punches that feel like they're in slow motion with every ounce of energy you have left pouring out of you and each blow you throw feels like it might sap the last of life you have left. What do you do when you have nothing left? In other words, any experience or story of this nature is at it's best when it requires struggle.

Doom Fortress is not that. You're Superman launching yourself from Solitude into whatever the fuck you want to do whatever the fuck you want. And hey, that's pretty darn cool. It's all additive to the badass mythos overall that is Doom Slayer.

Witness the Legend of the Doom Slayer - this leads to my next point. While I like a lot of the story beats in Doom Eternal, Slayer's million yard death stare, any human or demon cowering in your presence. The story overall felt less nuanced then 2016 and this as a result made the game feel less complete. There were a lot of cool cut scenes, but they were overused. I don't want to witness Doom Slayer do something I want to do it. Even if more of those scenes are in first person. Why do I see a scene of Doom Slayer raising his shotgun to the Hell Priests as they cower and flee, witnessing it from the periphery and not in first person? There are a few moments where this does happen and I asked, why didn't I get to pull the trigger? Such as the tentacles at the gore nest or getting to blow a fucking giant crater in Mars with a planetary BFG.

The game does tell a story in nuanced ways such as the human resistance reporting on your demon slaying, adding to your sense of badassery or audio logs of a scientist turning from skeptic agnostic to devout believer in your absolute divinity and godhood. I didn't really care for the general plot as well and felt the mystery from the first game was more alluring then the truth of Eternal. Heaven and hell is overdone and the Makyr's did not really interest me at all. I believe a story between humanity and hell would have been far better, not these two alien entities that I'm happy to commit methodical genocide against (where's some human betrayal? human cults? human greed and sin?). Overall I felt the Makyr inclusion dampened the mystery of the Night Sentinels. I was never surprised. Hopefully the next game is set around the alluded to "Father" or the hooded figure who gave Doom guy his divinity.

I've harped on about the bad far more then the good. But I think comparative to the colossal gameplay it's still minute. I criticize out of pure infatuated love and considering how every single criticism has a big fat asterisk next it is a testament to how good this game is. In a lot of ways it's vastly superior to its counterpart, I simply felt for it's time those few mixed issues were holding it back from greatness. From becoming the masterpiece that was the complete Doom 2016 package.

I miss Deathmatch </3 id please just remove the auto-minigun and let us tear each other in half. Or mod support. Yes. Do that.

The Ugly

So what's ugly about Doom Eternal you ask?

Well how about this?

Or this? 

Or these?

Yes. I made a collage to Doom Slaying....

Well, I'm going to back my safe space to....RIP AND TEAR! 

Game 25 - Deeprock Galactic - Week 14 - April 20

eeprock Galactic has a funny story attached to it. The video that convinced me to buy this game Leave No Dwarf Behind (A Deep Rock Galactic Music Video) by CrimsonGamer99 also got me to listen to the song behind the video Diggy Diggy Hole by the dwarven themed Wind Rose. I've probably listened to their album Wintersaga a dozen times in a month now and comparitively in their respective genres, I like it far better then Deeprock. But a dozen times in a month.... that's like my Top 20 albums. This game is fantastic, but not Top 20 good. What's there to say? You drink. You dig holes. You sleep and you repeat. Occasionally you get together with a few friends and kick every barrel you have in the space station into the dropod and launch yourself into the stratosphere only to be surprised by that ding and an achievement.

This game is the perfect game to just chill with a few mates, knock back a few beers and slaughter space bugs as you mine for those precious resources. The hub world is fantastic and feels like how a space dwarves hub should feel (a high tech bar with a lot of toys). The upgrade system is well done with equipment upgrades tied to specific resources and perks received for completing missions. And that's what this game is, synergy and drunken brotherhood. There are four space dwarf classes that have combat and traversal abilities. The best miners will work together and tactically coordinate abilities. Naturally I choose the best one for killing bugs, the flamethrower wielding Digger. Also best for digging down and down into the deep because who knows what we'll find beneath? Diamonds, rubies, gold and more that'll be hidden in the mountain store. If you want to play creatures born underground, suckled from a teat of stone and raised in the dark, the safety of a mountain home, look no further.

ROCK AND STONE!

I should note that this game is in Early Access. It's a game I'll continue playing and likely do an update or second post with my thoughts. Making sure to not double-count of course.

Game 24 - Call of Duty: Warzone - Week 14 - April 20

all of Duty: Warzone is a breath of toxic and fresh air. On the one hand it's probably the best Call of Duty I've ever played. On the other the playerbase is just as toxic it was on MW2. Whoever made the decision to allow you to hear the last thing someone says on mic after they die is a fucking GENIUS. This should be in more games, it's HILARIOUS. While it couldn't surpass Apex Legends as king of Battle Royals it certainly gave it a run for it's money. It showed me how tight the gunplay was in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare remake and convinced me to buy and play through the campaign at some point where I'd otherwise decided I would not. I don't think I've had this much fun with a Modern Warfare game since the first Black Ops (where my interest really stopped afterwards). Not only does each gun feel different and satisfying to kill, but the sheer amount of gadgets on display here is fantastic. Heartbeat sensors as a standout. The extent of weapon customization is insane, to the point of stripping an AK47 down to no scope or barrel until it's functionally an SMG. Most weapons have over 7-8 attachment slots! With half a dozen plus in each. The actual gameplay is fresh. Find money in chests or dead people (a long with weapons of course) and buy killstreaks, equipment, protection or even your team mates back. This keeps the flow going (cough PubG) and the matches intense. The parachute is your best friend. Taking an elevator shaft cable line to the top of a skyscraper, duking it out and then launching yourself off it to skydive in pursuit of an enemy is phenomenal. In one example I was in that exact situation but on the receiving end. I jumped off the building but came back around, parachuting into the side stairs, returning up and gunning down two enemies. Special shout out to plunder/blood money which was chaotic fun. Collecting and exhilarating bags of money you liberate from chests and corpses (with unlimited deaths) was great fun, particularly around the hotspot collection points. The best moment had to be jumping in a chopper with my cousin, as we did drop by collections and he launched himself from roofs back into the chopper as we flew off. When it's good it's good, and while it doesn't push the envelope to the nth degree and is marred by selective technical issues (my cousin had constant desync and stuttering), the tight shooting and intense moments make for a very fun distraction.

Game 23 - Halo: Combat Evolved (MP) - Week 14 - April 20

Now you might be wondering "dude, why have you been posting so little compared to when you started?" Well the answer is in March, as the next three games will prove, I've been on a multiplayer binge.

alo: Combat Evolved. Not sure what to say other then it still holds up. The glorious gameplay, warthogs on acid, unbalanced weapons (looking at you sniper and magnum). A silent sniper rifle with no recoil just... ridiculous. Though no where near the shit show that is DMRs in Reach, rebalance the sniper and this would be a flawless game. Shotguns, frags, rocket launchers, wraiths, ghosts, camo. It all feels good. Blood Gulch, my god, that is up there with Dust 2, Facing Worlds and Nuketown in the pantheon of fantastic designed maps. Halo does and always should harken back to the arena shooters of old where skill and map control trumps loadouts.

Classic

Game 22 - The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game - Week 13 - March 20

I acquired in the Humble Australia Fire Relief Bundle in support of the great fires of 2019. I'd be lying if I said that was the only reason I got it, as there were several games like Hollow Knight and Hands of Fate 2 that had been on my list for a while. But I typically keep the games I want and give away the rest. I did not expect that a game I'd never seen,
he Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game would fall into the former category. It wasn't until about a third of the way in that I'd realize this was probably intended for kids. The writing and characters are kooky, though like most cleverly written fiction for children there was enough there to make an adult laugh. Examples you ask? Well how about collecting toothpaste and wool to create dynamite so you can blow a cave open and uncover the mystery of the haunted island, only to find it's the king of islands best friend who's been practicing for the upcoming dance competition (which you're the defacto judge for, of course). It was a cool game, reminding me of the games I use to play in daycare and I'd recommend it to any parent.

Game 21 - Slain: Back from Hell - Week 13 - March 20

lain: Back from Hell is a solid Metroidvania game. It felt like Doom's heavy metal style meets Castelvania. From the Celtic inspired setting and enemies to the no-nonsense story (you're a revenant brought back from the dead to purge the corruption from the land) to the headbanging after murdering a boss to honour the metal gods (see below). The overall experience is just oozing metal as much as your foes are oozing blood or ectoplasm The gameplay is typical of a tight action platformer, frustrating at times and very satisfying otherwise. Mastering your limited abilities, spells and timing is everything. Getting a perfectly timed counter and a follow up attack always sounds and feels just tastily brutal. The stages however visually are just stunning. And really captured a druidic world of spirits and foul creatures.

Game 20 - Primordia - Week 11 - March 20

rimordia to me is a very special game for multiple reasons. Chief among them are the novel post-apocalyptic world and art design. A world where humanity is extinct, leaving only their "children" in their wake. Many of whom worship them as the allfathers, not excluding our titular protagonist Horatio Nullbuilt. How could they not? Humans are perfect beings who created them in their image. In this world robots are named after their creator. If it's a robot it's their first name, for example Horatio's sidekick Crispin Horatiobuilt. Manbuilt if you're an OG, or Nullbuilt if you're an unknown, etc etc. This is one example of a nuanced setting just oozing lore. Look at the image below Metropol "the city of lights" is run by a rogue rail system turning on all its contemporaries and disregarding all laws. The story is a fascinating journey. As we follow the two characters form their derelict ship to recover their stolen power core at the heart of Metropol, uncovering mysteries and avoiding disaster through wit. This is not a game that holds your hand, and it is a game that requires you to think. Sadly that's not what I look for in my games, typically if I get stuck I search the walkthrough instead of connecting the dots or stumbling through trial and error. This is the only way I can play these games, as I love the stories and world but would grow tired of them otherwise. This is the only game I ever remember greenlighting on Steam, I was instantly attracted to it and I'm glad I had finished the journey 8 years later.

Game 19 - Stillness in the Wind - Week 10 - Feb 20

tilness in the Wind as the name suggests is a pure experience of the calm before the storm. From the charm and radiant warm emanating from the art to the cute characters and humble design of managing a quaint farm. I felt quite at ease in the 2 hour session I played this. I was actually going through some personal issues at the time, that week was a struggle for me and others close to me, and this game was the most at peace I felt while playing it. Feather had a similar experience, but nothing compared to this. It's hard to describe, but the synergy of art, gameplay and sound just create a symphony of serenity. Upon return, this quickly changed. Wolves appear. The messenger you rely on comes less. When he does come his gossip changes. He mentions passes he can no longer take and how many bullets he is finding. The letters you receive from your family in the city become more and more disturbing. People are disappearing. You have disturbing dreams of cities, pollution, death and the afterlife. And then rapidly... the storm hits. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this peculiar experience.

Game 18 - No Time to Explain - Week 10 - Feb 20

o Time to Explain... is frustrating at key moments but definitely a cool game. The ray gun is a fresh mechanic and mixed up well from level to level. With stand outs being the dual-fire shotgun/ray gun from two of your clones being combined into one. The failed experiment from the green evil clone and it's sticky ability and the inverse when you're escaping from his prison. The top highlight was certainly the "art" level which I found quite clever both in the mockery of games as art debate and ray gun paint brush level design. The time travel story, well....

Game 17 - Total War: Shogun 2 - Week 9 - Feb 20

otal War: Shogun 2 was like many others, a game I would have liked to play in it's release year but fell to the wayside for whatever reason. A good reminder that I should still play new games during this challenge, lest I find myself here again in 5 years. 

Off the back of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun I wanted to continue my feudal journey. Initially I found it slow, but once I learnt the systems (and lost in my warm up) I was quickly sucked in and ready to begin my bid for Shogunate.

I'm a massive fan of the Civiliation series, and there are a lot of similarities here with the overworld. Managing resources, building, taxes, happiness, etc. However what stands out here is how well the personal stories develop from a number of design decisions. The depth of ranking between units, generals and agents. Being able to manage your bloodline, adopt, marry off daughters, risk and exchange a hostage, develop character retinues through retainers etc etc. What about my right hand ninja with a legendary ninjato and a braggart Samurai, never failing an assassination in 30 years of service with a career until the age of 63. Or a Metsuke who keeps a commoner repressing guard dog at his side, ever watchful over my capital city. No garrison required. Or my heir and general who is a master swordsman, who has a beautiful wife and a foxy mistress on his conquests, for the utmost bravado in battle. 

 I started my journey as the Shizamu clan and quickly found myself backed into a corner, having overused my Ninja (because why wouldn't I!?) I saw my enemies fall very quickly. While effective in battle, it did not last long as my early clan economy plummeted. No army could stand against my hardened veterans, the greatest Katana wielding Samurai in Japan (a Shizamu trait). However, when a legion of christian monks came over the hill I could not withstand the Christian revolt that had been bubbling. It rapidly devoured my upstart from the inside. The final scene shows my defeated Daimyo sitting at a table ceremony, reflecting as the rising sun bleeds through the Sakura trees. 

A nigh skirmish won

Distant blue wave emerges 

Lone Katana raised 

The Daimyo wakes up in his bed, safe in his fortress, sweating. Reflecting upon the nightmare as an omen, he reflects for the second time that night. To become Shogun, he must not follow the ways of his father as the sword has only limited them to this pocket of Japan. Bushido can wait, for he must focus on Chi as the path of balance. Following my first warmup campaign I focused almost exclusively on the right side of the technology tree. Where left is warfare, right is economics and diplomacy. Specifically I focused on markets and farms. Can you take Japan with a single well trained army? Not easily. However Koku buys swords and food feeds an army. To suppress conquered cities I'd build sake dens and temples, training monks and ninja to further suppress and sway religion. I quickly took the south island, and Kyoto was conquered after 19 years, 10 years short of the 1580 objective. A few years after being Shogunate my Daimyo's son and heir took the reins, a great warrior and swordsman. At this point my arts switched to warfare and by 1984 the new Shogunate had united all of Japan. 5 years permitting for one final glorious battle. 

Daimyo of the Shizamu clan as he recalls a pyrrhic victory on his path to Shogunate.

A statue of my Shogun in modern day Japan - nice twists like this add to the overall experience and personalize it to you.

While the battles are quite impressive generally - raining down arrows is always satisfying and pulling off a risky strategy or cavalry flanking maneuver will make your day - it's the real choreographed Katana fighting that make the game so satisfying to watch. Dodges, pirouettes, parries and follow up slashes with a coup de grâce. Blade deflected, elbow into chest, upward slash. Dodge side ways, grabbed helmet, thrown down to ground and downward strike. I could watch these absolutely beautiful animations all day and their only highlighted by the coolest unit in the game. Samurai Hero. Like other hero units, you can only have one and for good reason. These legends have three times as much melee prowess compared to your typical Samurai. They'll charge into the maw of 200 soldiers and come away slaughtering 80% without a single death. Fucking. Amazing. Such a satisfying end-game unit. They also have unique animations, doubling down on how fun Samurai are to watch.  Building these stories through warfare are what make this game so special. Creative Assembly nailed that. I can't wait to play Rise & Fall of the Samurai when I come back to this one day. And the dark dark well that is Total War: Warhammer I & II still awaits. 

The greatest katana wielding Samurai that ever existed, as the Shizamu thirty plan to Banzai!  

A fierce Taisho prepares for battle. 

The Samurai Heroes of Shizamu Banzai charge 180 archers in their first battle. Only 2 fall in the charge. Slaughtering the first wave with minor casualties they move on to the second. Struggling against the second wave of veteran Bow Samurai they achieve a narrow victory. As the survivors flee, Kisho Ninja hidden in the trees hunt them down with explosive slings. 6 Samurai heroes remain.  

The contingency plan...

Game 16 - Feather - Week 8 - Feb 20

eather is a perfect game. What I mean is that it is so clear in what it wants to be - a complete Zen experience - and hits the mark perfectly. See those rings? They're not objectives, they change your feathers or the melody that accompanies you on your flight among this island. Simple controls, no UI and a pulchritudinous artistic style. I still feel as though there are areas left unexplored after my initial 40 minutes experiencing the alar freedom. I think I'll keep this one installed for a while, for those particular days after work I need to distress.

Game 15 - Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Week 8 - Feb 20

hadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a game that demands to be played with subtitles set to English and audio set to Japanese. If you don't you will miss a genuine enthralling setting and story. Imagine missing out on witnessing a dying and defeated Daiymo as he sings a soliloquy, heralding spiritual revenge on the one about to perform the final act of seppuku beheading him. All unbutchred by an English translation. The story reminds me of WarCraft III or StarCraft, great gameplay with interesting characters sprinkled in. With cutscenes between missions and dialog spread intermittently throughout levels for character growth. Every line is a joy to listen to as you become invested in the characters. It is a shame that I had to watch all the cutscenes on YouTube, having no option to add subtitles once you switch the language. But it was a small price to pay for an overall fantastic optical experience.

The gameplay however is where Shadow Tactics hits the mark dead on. As the name suggests with a stealth focus you're thrust into specific scenarios with clear objectives. How you reach those is up to you and the tools at your disposal. Enemies patrol regular routes with a limited cones of vision and two radiants/ranges. One can see you while running (long) and the other while crouching (short). You can only see one enemy's at time which adds to the tactical challenge. There are various bushes, water and furniture/objects you can hide in. Or you can take the advantage of higher ground and stalk your prey. Assembling a Z-team (Z is for Zany in this case) is organic with each having their own toolkit to fit their personality. The begrudging ninja strikes suddenly and indiscriminately, the kunochi lures targets through charm, the old man attacks from a far, the Samurai duals other Samurai and lays waste to guards, while the child uses wit and cunning to make up for her lacking experience. Achieving your objective typically means moving the group (especially in later stages) to a final objective. The issue is not all can climb, run and hide effectively. So success is dictated by methodically eliminating patrolling guards to get said Z-team to the objective. Herein lies the core fun of the experience. You can sync and stage actions through your strongest weapon "shadow time". Throwing a rock to distract one guard as you throw a shuriken at another, have the child and kunochi stab two more, the old man gun down a fourth and the samurai slaughter a group of three in a matter of seconds is one of the most satisfying experiences you will have in a game. And entirely befitting of Japanese lore and legends as you become one yourself. Abilities fit into two categories, kill or distract. Distractions like Sake to lure, disguising the kunochi as a Geisha or using a pet Japanese raccoon dog to lure guards makes every situation play out differently. This is only exceptionalised even further by making each character able to deal with unique enemies better depending on the situation. Guard in tower? Old man rifle. Samurai? Samurai. 1v2? Shuriken + Kenjutsu. Everything feels tight and responsive, if you die it's always your fault, creating an exciting gameplay challenge. Characters respond to actions adding to the immersion, such as switching from Ninjato to fist for non-lethal as Hayato says "Taijutsu" - Japanese for unarmed martial arts. Finally the soundtrack is an absolute win, full of beautiful instrumental woodwind pieces. The art fits the setting perfectly, with each exploring a fresh inspired environment. And surprisingly even plays into the stealth mechanics! Visibility is different at night, rain puddles make more noise and snow leaves suspicious footprints for Guards to follow (into your clever traps, naturally). Overall there are 13 story missions and each runs from 1-2 hours of stealth action packed joy. With time and space, I'll definitely be returning to this one.

The last point I want to make is on the place of realism in game design. I read a well thought out article with it's major criticism being everything I just stated. The culture, Japan is wrong. The lengthy criticism (which was the bulk of the review) which dug deep into cultural inaccuracies was preluded with "you'll likely find this to be a nitpick". Such as Samurai not wearing armour away from the battlefield or the Japanese language used being too contemporary. He was correct, it was nitpicky. While it might sound like an excuse on the developers behalf it seemed the writer forgot to keep in mind that this is a game and such design decisions are often made intentionally for the betterment of the overall experience. The Samurai wears armour because it's his character design, the same reason Bart Simpson never changes out of his iconic shorts. It makes him slow, yes this is the intention, better to fight Samurai and soak up more bullets. He has the most health but is also slow and lacking agility, which is where you make use of other characters that have this strength. Good game design is full of compromise, and you can't criticize historical accuracy or realism to such a granular degree and praise how good the gameplay is. Because you wouldn't have it without those historical and cultural compromises. Some examples are valid to a degree, like a few language differences. Likely the developers ran out of time or just made a mistake but to a white boy like me it sounded authentic enough spurred on by the performances. And other situations such as a 1 minute cutscene, where characters wear shoes indoors and objects were out of place. No excuse for that one, but I can understand how the developers might have missed it under the weight of limited research, budget, deadlines, etc. Everything else, Shinobi only act during the night, suggesting seppuku is only done during a ceremony turning a short tense cutscene into a 3 part scene interrupting the flow of the game, etc - are all way off the mark. Addressing by ones first name? Watch the Karate kid. Hara-kiri and not seppuku? I've heard of one of those... The final point was when Japanese devs create a game set in the West, they typically get it wrong. Well I love that, it makes for a more interesting take loosely set, not purely set game with artistic liberty taken for the "artists Japan". Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid. All fantastic games with a weird take on Western society. I don't think the developers were trying to make a historically accurate masterpiece but rather a fantastical fun game with an authentic feeling setting. And unless you're a feudal Japan buff and chronic nitpicker, that they achieved in aces and spades.

Game 14 - Total War Battles: Shogun - Week 6 - Feb 20

otal War Battles: Shogun would be a very enjoyable game to play on iOS. But like almost any other iOS port excluding the rare exception like Framed, most just don't make the cut, where any potential depth is gutted by the limited hardware.

The mobile game has a variety of interesting historical units with the caveat that they can only move forward, the strategy comes from preplanning lanes. The rest has as much combat depth as Civ6, line up ranged behind melee and play rock-paper-scissors. Like everything else the art is good for iOS, I commend Creative Assembly for making an excelent mobile game. The ability to buy XP used to unlock buildings and abilities with real money however, is just trash. Another example symptom of microtransactions that festered in the satured free-to-play race to the bottom (aka mobile market) and eventually spread to PC and console games. The ever present black bars are obnoxious and the hub world for the campaign reeks mobile. This is without a doubt a lazy port. 60 minutes in and I'm content to move on, write this post and forget about the game.

Game 13 - Regular Human Basketball - Week 6 - Feb 20

egular Human Basketball. My god, what a game. When I acquired the Humble Australia Fire Relief Bundle and looked at the trailers for the games to decide if I'd add the game to the library I knew. I knew this would be hilarious fun for the whole family and it was an instant add. 

Assume the role in a team of alien/mutant teletubbies regular humans (see below); roll, rocket jump and catch/throw your basketball via 1 magnet arm in this 1v1 fight to win it all. I was only able to remote play with 1 other (a cool feature) in which you share a keyboard remotely with WASD and arrow keys. So you only need 2 copies to play with 4 people! A true cooperative sport. The best part of this game is absolutely rocketing your human into the air only to sky jump out of your human into their human and quickly sabotage their slam dunk by pressing all the buttons!

Game 12 - Her Story - Week 6 - Feb 20

er Story is one of those games that comes along and is so different, so unique and abstracted from the medium norms that it instantly demands the attention of the indie community.

About 30 minutes in I was ready to write her story off as a boring interactive adventure and prematurely throw it on the content pile. There are over 160 clips, many longer then 60 seconds. And they often repeat. But something happened, I didn't stop playing and I came back two more times still until the credits rolled. The driving force is purely mystery, finding out more about Hannah, Eve and various other characters as her partners death is investigated. If nothing else it's an incredibly fresh and novel take on interactive storytelling and I'm glad I took the time to piece it together.

Game 11 - Devil Daggers - Week 5 - Jan 20

evil Daggers like this post was short and satanic. Anyone looking to make their first game, look no further. Devil Daggers is the peak example of what your first game should be. Tight, polished but most of all, the moment to moment gameplay is addictively fun. If it isn't the simple akimbo machine and scatter daggers it's the bunny hopping to dodge and weave the floating skulls. Additive to this is the Doom inspired visuals with its own character wrapped in an overall creepy sombre atmosphere and general ambience. A masterpiece in game design. Simple to grasp, impossible to master. Just when you think you're done with the game you'll accidently discover you can bounce daggers off the floor as a far more effective option for reducing the swarms of skulls.