XBLA/PSN Games

[Kungfro]

Good bump, forgot all about this thread. Shovel Knight came to the WiiU, 3DS, and steam a little while ago. Does that oldschool feel better then any other game I've played. If you grew up playing games like megaman or ducktails you really should check it out.


Shovel Knight Release Trailer☼＋X

[Thorpesaurous]

Shovel Knight got really good reviews. I may have to check it out.

A lot of these DL games are perfect size for my schedule.

[Kungfro]

The Swapper is another recent game that's been reviewing well. Out on Steam/ps3/ps4/vita. I still haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but it looks interesting.


The Swapper - Gameplay Trailer HD PC

[Kungfro]

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - While it is a stand alone expansion of far cry 3, it doesn't require the original game to play. Currently $5 on XBLA and $15 on psn. Awesome visual style, great soundtrack, and pretty funny. Not real long, but absolutely worth checking out.




Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon Intro
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Soundtrack) 10 - Sloan's Assault

[Thorpesaurous]

I finished CounterSpy last night. Good but not great. If you're into stealth, you'd almost certainly like it for 10 bucks. It's got some replay value because you can't come close to maxing out all the goods in one playthrough, and since the levels are procedurally generated, it's not like you can memorize the layouts and enemies and just waltz through it after a while. Although I did find I started to memorize certain rooms. For instance there was a latrine room that had signs so I recognized it, so I knew what to expect for layout if not location of enemies. And that room could appear in any level.

[Thorpesaurous]

I just last night bought Axiom Verge.

It is either a Metroid knock off, or a Metroid homage, depending on your taste. But either way, if you are a fan of retro gaming, and a fan of the original side scrolling, vertical maze, unlockable puzzling, of the original Metroid, then this thing is an absolute no brainer for 20 bucks on PSN.

From what I read, it opens up to be a little more diverse later on, but in the early going where I'm at, it's classic Metroid game play, right down to the crawling on the platform enemies, and the bad guys dive bombing from the roof. It allegedly opens up both enemy wise and in terms of weapons later on.

The reviews seem to be sitting around 4 outta 5. And the short hour I got to play last night was awesome.

Youtube trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U04mprotZU


Screenshot:

[Thorpesaurous]

I just last night bought Axiom Verge.

It is either a Metroid knock off, or a Metroid homage, depending on your taste. But either way, if you are a fan of retro gaming, and a fan of the original side scrolling, vertical maze, unlockable puzzling, of the original Metroid, then this thing is an absolute no brainer for 20 bucks on PSN.

From what I read, it opens up to be a little more diverse later on, but in the early going where I'm at, it's classic Metroid game play, right down to the crawling on the platform enemies, and the bad guys dive bombing from the roof. It allegedly opens up both enemy wise and in terms of weapons later on.

The reviews seem to be sitting around 4 outta 5. And the short hour I got to play last night was awesome.

Youtube trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U04mprotZU


Screenshot:

This game has been really awesome for what it's worth. There's a ton of backtracking as you get new skills that allow you to reach areas you couldn't before. There's enough there that I at least can't remember what was blocking me at any particular point on the map, so when I get something new, I almost just have to start running backward through the map and looking for spots that don't show an enclosure and going and checking them. And even then it may map may be missing a secret drill hole or something you just haven't seen yet.

The story leaves a little to be desired as far as I'm concerned so far.

[Thorpesaurous]

I'm bumping this again, from over a year ago, for two games.


First, BroForce, which my niece and I enjoyed the hell out of. Couch Co-Op in an old fashioned 2D multi level side scroller, sort of like a Contra or Ghosts and Goblins. Classic 8-Bit art design, totally over the top exploding shooting action. There are tons of characters, all parodies of classic action heroes. Each guy has fairly unique gun, and a special move.

The levels are laid out in relatively small set pieces, making it an easy game to pick up and put down. The story is ridiculous Bro-tasticness, about Murica, and hunting down Satan and killing his red ass.

The play mechanic has you freeing characters from boxes, which bring your partner back to life, or if he's alive, lets you keep that character as an extra guy. It really works. I thought the thing was excellent.



Second game is Firewatch. An extremely polarizing game, that I really loved, in spite having some issues with it. It's a first person exploration game, completely story driven, about a guy who's wife is sick, who takes a job as a forest post lookout, where his only contact is via a walky talky to his boss Delilah. It's tons of dialogue choices. It even makes sense to me as a watch through if you don't want to play it. I won't give away too much, but I really liked. The art design was awesome, and the story really worked for me, although I admit some frustration with it, and if you're not into games where you're not going to shoot anything, then this just isn't for you. But it's worth at least looking into. I'd love to talk about it more, which is why I'm bumping this thread, but it's not something many people seem to have played.

[Thorpesaurous]

A few more.

Shortly after finishing Firewatch, I picked up Gone Home, which while a little older, got brought up a lot in articles about Firewatch. It's sort of the genesis of this semi rebirth of these "walking simulators", which are really sort of redesigns of the old point and click adventures from my early PC days. They've twisted up the genre scope though, as it just doesn't make a ton of sense to have a full on adventure like this anymore, so they've written these as small personal stories.

I'm not sure which I liked better. I definitely liked the art design of Firewatch better. And the dialogue was a little more variable. Gone Home has pretty much no interaction, so it's really all finding stuff. The basic plot is you're a college undergrad, coming home from a year in Europe. The family has moved to a new creepy house left to them by a deceased recluse creepy uncle. You've never been to the house, and when you get there, it's late, rainy, and the house is empty. You explore the house (which is ridiculously huge), and through voice overed diary pages from your younger sister, and tidbits of left around items that spell together clues, you discover how the last year went for your family. The thing I liked most is that it plays like a horror game. It's got a tension like the original Resident Evil mansion, even though the threat isn't a shambling zombie. It's also in a setting I appreciate, Grunge era 90s. The main story is about the little sister coming of age. But the stories about each parent, and the creepy uncle, are all just as, if not more interesting, and a less accessible, requiring you to really piece together the story. Overall it was a really cool experience, although upon finishing it, there was a sense of what was the point of all that.

I picked up Life is Strange at the same time, for similar reasons, but haven't played that.

I also bought Oxenfree, which intrigued me as it is also sort of an exploration based story game, although it's done as a side scrolling Metroid sort of way. It's high school kids on a creepy vacation island beach in New England, which I've actually been. And it's got a bit more of a horror / sci fi vibe. I only got a little bit into it though.


And then most recently, I picked up Inside. It's from the same people that did Limbo, which was an excellent game, and I'd say this is better. Semi straight side scrolling platforming with some simply designed by functionally just difficult enough puzzling. It's the art design that sells these games though. Limbo was pure black and white, and used it's shadows in the game play. Inside is more grayscale, with little splashes of muted color. It tells a really good story without a single line of dialogue, which Limbo didn't really do. You're a boy running from a group of evil scientists who make labor zombies. Pushing and pulling blocks, swimming, climbing, swinging, it's all pretty basic. The death is creepily real feeling though. If you liked Limbo, this is sort of a must buy. But I'd recommend it regardless.