The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled (PS4/Vita): Not A Review (Yet)

Posted on October 2, 2017 by geelw

A few years back, when I liked certain games I tended to go mildly berserk and buy a few versions of it (if it made it to multiple platforms). Hey, don’t look at me like that! I’m far from the only one who dis/does this (although I’ve cut down on that significantly over time thanks to me not exactly rolling in dough these days). Anyway, InXile Entertainment‘s The Bard’s Tale from 2004 was one of those games I snapped up on anything it appeared on thanks to its use of Snowblind Studios’ wonderful game engine and often hilarious parodying of RPG tropes including subtle nods to the original game.

Flash forward to late last month when The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled appeared without fanfare as a digital-only release on PSN. Ten bucks for a cross-platform HD remaster (PS4 and Vita) with a cross-buy/cross-play feature that allowed players to take the game on the road and use cloud saves to continue at home? SOLD. I didn’t hesitate at all or bother to even bug InXile about a review code. This was certainly going to be the best version of the game to date and yep, the ability to play anywhere and go home to continue was going to keep me grinning long into the wee hours. What could possibly go wrong?

Well… a few things folks. Thankfully, cross-play and cloud saves are flawless, but in terms of other things on the technical front, this version of the game (done by Square 1 Games) needs patching. Badly. I was initially going to write up a full review, but have decided to wait a few days to see if the problems can be fixed as the older console versions were great overall and this remaster needs to be as good or better in terms of consistent performance. Right now, it’s not.

Continue reading →

PS Plus October Surprises Incoming

Posted on September 28, 2017 by geelw

Well, this is nice. Given that I’ve never played Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain or the second game in the horror focused Amnesia Collection, next month’s two big PS4 freebies are making me grin in anticipation (or want to hide under the bed as the first Amnesia game on PC scared the hell out of me) The only problems are deciding what to delete from my current library as I only have a 500GB Slim model and I’m working on completing a few RPGs I don’t want to put on that digital shelf.

The other issue is it takes so long to download larger game files that we’re at the point where some titles allow you to play after they’ve downloaded a certain percentage (which is good). But seeing that “Download complete” notice something like two days later (yaaah!) makes me want nothing but discs. Except that these days, even disc games have updates that automatically queue up and download

Anyway, other FREE PlayStation Plus games this month include:

Monster Jam Battlegrounds, PS3
Hustle Kings, PS3
Hue, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
Sky Force Anniversary, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4 & PS3)

Of course, finding time to play the first two games will be tricky, especially with a bunch of other titles vying for attention (Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is my go-to game of the month already, but we’ll get to that in a different post).

-GW

Red Dead Redemption II Trailer II: Old West’s Newest Best Bet Yet

Posted on September 28, 2017 by geelw

Ooh, look what I found! I’ll just leave this here:

RDRII_ps4 There’s not too much to say other than Rockstar Games has got it all covered, no worries. I get a big hearty chuckle out of those sites that over-analyze every second of these reveals when all you really need to know is the all excuses you’ll be using to get off work so you can spend a week or more playing through as much of Red Dead Redemption II as humanly possible.

If you’re in school and begging for this as a gift, suck it up, kids – your pops will see this in the store and want it all for himself, so expect your system to be “temporarily confiscated” so you can “concentrate on your schoolwork” which really means Daddy-O will be playing cowboy on his own TV when he should be at work. Yee-haw!

That’s pretty much all I have to say, as a mere minute and twenty eight seconds is very hard to judge a game trailer by. Well, other than how fantastic it looks running on the PS4 hardware. Anyway, as I said earlier, Rockstar has got this. I’m not worried in the slightest. Nope, not at all.

RDRII_6-1080p

Spring 2018, huh? Well, I’ll just need to clear out a whole month or two of backlogged games in anticipation, then.

Review: The Solus Project (PS4)

Posted on September 23, 2017 by geelw

Survival/Crafting games are a dime a dozen these days (or cheaper if you poke around at PC game bundle sites, heh), but a game like Teotl Studios and Grip Games’ The Solus Project manages to rise above the digital ton of games that are less “survival” oriented and more about scampering around shooting at assorted organic life with food and water meters acting like gas and oil tanks in an arcade racing game.

What’s here is a also a fine sci-fi adventure game where the environment on planet Gliese-6143-C is possibly your worst enemy, but other things can also do you in if you’re careless in your roaming. Interestingly enough, the game later dips a toe (okay, its entire being) into horror elements and the unsettling sense of dread the early exploration brings turns into moments where you might be too freaked out to take another step. That the game slides through a few genres along the way ends up being a nice touch because it’s completely unexpected.

Continue reading →

Review: Mary Skelter: Nightmares

Posted on September 22, 2017 by geelw

Idea Factory/Compile Heart games can be hit or miss affairs, but their latest, Mary Skelter: Nightmares is (for my money) one of their best games (and best dungeon crawlers) to date thanks to taking chances with a few tried and true formulas and smacking most them right in their sweet spots. It’s got the turn-based dungeon crawl aspects of the Wizardry series mixed in with real-time chase/combat scenarios, excellent production values and yep, a bit of M-rated fan service lightly sprinkled on top for good measure.

While parts of the plot can be somewhat pedestrian in their usage of familiar anime/manga tropes, things take a few interesting turns as the game goes on. The use of well-known mostly female characters from popular fairy tales works quite well provided your brain properly detaches them from any imagery you might recall (or: you need to re-imagine everyone as anime gals). Of course, the gameplay is where it’s at and what’s here will keep you hooked in to the very end (and then some). If you’re a fan of the aforementioned Wizardry, Etrian Odyssey, Demon Gaze, and Dungeon Travelers 2 among other dungeon crawlers, this one’s a drop everything and go kiss your Vita if you own one event.

Continue reading →

Project CARS 2 Launch Trailer: Beep Beep Yeah

Posted on September 20, 2017 by geelw

PC2_key-art Wait, Project CARS 2 is out already? I still haven’t completed the first game! I guess I really need to pay more attention to this stuff, huh? Actually, I was very likely storing up a stack of free time for .hack//G.U. Last Recode and a few other games coming from Namco Bandai, so this great-looking sequel temporarily slipped my mind. Okay, the ongoing medical stuff had something to to with my slower than usual posting, but it’s getting a lot better, folks.

Loads of improvements (those weather effects now include snow!), 180 cars (and more to come, I’ll bet), and yes, those lovely visuals all add up to what’s looking like a must-have sequel. I guess retiring that first version for this followup is the sensible thing to do at this point. Me doing something sensible? Well, that’s a welcome change of pace, right?

-GW

Raiders of the Broken Planet Beta Hands-On

Posted on September 18, 2017 by geelw

I’ll admit straight off that I’ve been a big geek for MercurySteam‘s games ever since I got a review copy of American McGee Presents: Scrapland way back in 2005. Their attention for detail grabbed my eye and I’ve followed each game they’re released always looking forwards to what the team can cook up. Currently, they’ve two big games out or on the way, Metroid: Samus Returns (Nintendo 3DS) and Raiders of the Broken Planet, currently in beta on PC, PS4 and Xbox One with a release date set for its first of four campaigns September 22.

As I’d been slowly killing off my MMO/online gaming phase (not enough time, too many me-too game, no way to enjoy them offline), I initially planned to ignore this one until I found out it had a solo campaign mode as well as a unique “4 vs 1 counter-operative campaign” that lets you play both sides of the conflict if you so choose or team up with friends to tackle some challenging missions against really pesky AI opponents. While the beta had a few matchmaking issues online (hey, it happens!), the gameplay is quite fun and very challenging in terms of solo play.

Continue reading →

Review: Infinite Minigolf (PS4)

Posted on September 17, 2017 by geelw

An apt title if there ever was one, Infinite Minigolf ($14.99 on PSN) is yet another successful attempt by Zen Studios to monopolize all your free time. While it’s short on included courses (three variants with scaled difficulty with two more on the way), a fairly easy to use course editor will hook you in and extend the lifespan somewhat, um, infinitely. The pick up and play appeal is high right out of the gate so casual to expert players can hop in and start putting away within a short amount of time.

In fact, the game relies so much on players just diving in that it eschews any sort of tutorials or tips popping up in your face every few seconds. Of course, I’m not sure many gamers groove on announcers blabbing away while they’re trying to sink a 30-yard putt around a spinning radio control 4×4. But this game is almost too calming with the super-clean HD art, relaxing mall muzak score and cheery-looking generic characters. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. This is exactly the sort of game to relax with after a crazy day (or after watching the evening news, ha-ha).

Continue reading →

Review: MAIZE (PS4)

Posted on September 16, 2017 by geelw

As a big fan of offbeat games and bizarre humor, Finish Line Games’ first-person 2016 adventure MAIZE was one of those instant must-play titles based on the concept alone. Well okay, I didn’t get to it until it hit PS4 this past week, but it was worth the wait. Sentient (mostly) British-accented corn created by a pair of not right in the head scientists, a cranky Russian-accented talking teddy bear and a silent protagonist out to figure out what’s going on? What’s not to love?

Of course, if you’re going into this game expecting something action-heavy with bouncy platforming and happy tunes to hum along to as you’re bouncing, you’re in the wrong game and should leave immediately before Vladdy finds out. He’ll just call you mean names and not let up until you split. That, and all the corn will ignore you and run off for a nap while you sit there looking for a “Jump” button. Everyone else, listen to Miss Davis below as you line up, single file for what’s to come:

(Thanks, SentimentalSentient!)

That, by the way is both good (the game is a hoot) and not good (some technical issues), but we’ll discuss that below. Huddle!

Continue reading →

Review: ARK: Survival Evolved (PS4)

Posted on September 4, 2017 by geelw

At the climax of Billy Wilder’s brilliant 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) pumps three slugs into Joe Gillis (William Holden), leaving his body floating in her swimming pool and shortly thereafter gives us a classic line of dialog as well as one of the best endings in movie history.

ARK: Survival Evolved is, in its own quirky manner, a digital Norma Desmond all made up and ready for her close-up and you’ll be playing the part of poor Joe Gillis, but in a remake of Groundhog Day with a hell of a lot more dinosaurs and without the romance angle. Translation: expect to die in this game. A lot. That out of the way, the sheer amount of things to do here makes it somewhat fantastic if you put aside a few nagging “warts and all” issues. Then again, hell, it’s basically like dumping all the best toys you ever had as a kid onto the floor and making the biggest, craziest “epic” playset you can think of. Except the toys bite back harder and might make you want to bite your controller in half on occasion.

Based on that last bit alone, Studio Wildcard‘s game is worth the $60 with a few caveats. On the technical side, expect performance highs (great looking creatures and often gorgeous environments) and lows (frame rate dips, assorted glitches, too tiny font text) along with plenty of patch updates (five since release day). Unlike poor Joe Gillis, the game is also bullet-proof (and unlike Norma Desmond’s career, critic-proof) thanks to a very dedicated legion of longtime players since it first appeared on PC as an Early Access game back in 2015 who don’t give a hoot what anyone says. The overall kitchen sink sandbox approach works quite well on one hand as the game is never shy about giving you a ton of choice in most areas. But yes, it’s a case where patience and even more practice is required in order to fully enjoy all the rides in this Jurassic Park meets Minecraft meets sci-fi/action survival hybrid.

Continue reading →