Lol

55. It Takes Two - Xbox Series S (10hrs)

Split screen teamwork centric 3D platformer, this was prime stay at home, saves lives gaming.  Many thanks to Yossarian for inviting me to tag along from my sofa (online play requires one full copy of the game).    
   
You play as a couple on the brink of D.I.V.O.R.C.E, a state of affairs that seems to be troubling their waxwork mannequin android daughter of no fixed age.  #Drama ITT.  Something happens (I've honestly forgotten what) and they find themselves trapped in clay doll avatars that look nothing like their supposedly human forms.  The entire game is played in T.O.Y form, which is a relief as the H.E.L.L.I.S.H representation of human faces comes across as part Little Nightmares, part massive nightmares and seems to straddle three or four generations at once.  The daughter looks like she's escaped from a CGI intro to a mid-tier 32-bit vs fighting game, and it's slightly unsettling.  Fortunately, the vast majority of the game looks either pretty good or very nice, think Grounded meets Honey We Shrunk Ourselves.       

The story sections are bizarre, mawkish, bafflingly unfunny and occasionally alarming, plus both characters are doggedly annoying, but somehow these things combined to create a marvellous medicine concoction that I would say was a one-off, if not for the fact that Josef Fares pulled off the exact same trick in A Way Out.  I'm going to call it a happy accident; it's an inadvertent alchemy that's part Bobby Braddock and part Tommy Wiseau that exists somewhere between an earnest small play and the David Cage sweet spot.  I can't explain why I love it and I refuse to even try, other than to say that it's cromulently wonky.  You know how Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was slightly ham-fisted but achieved a certain level of success due to its mute central characters?  Imagine that but with giant inflatable ham hands and incessantly chatty leads in a story that can't decide if it's for kids, adults or the Biomutant target audience.   

At one point I thought this was going to be a genuine all-timer but without being able to pinpoint precisely what let the side down the halo slipped slightly over the course of the game.  Make no mistake, this is still exceptionally good fun, it's just not quite world class.  The relentlessly high quality dual player focus and constant variety it chucks at you is very impressive and still a rarity in a non-Nintendo 3D platformer, imo.  Tearaway had the invention and the whimsy, Arise: A Simple Story had the gameplay hook, but neither played an A game beneath the artifice.  Yooka Laylee felt right but tasked you with doing things that were wrong.  Mechanically this is at the very least 'good', and in practice the results are excellent - the game never forgets that it says it take two on the tin and pretty much everything of note is built around having the characters assisting one another to progress.  Some abilities get a more enthusiastic thumbs up than others (throwing nails beats to create platforms beats singing at things), but none drop into total bobbins territory, which is quite an achievement in a 10hr platformer.

I probably haven't been as enthusiastic about this as it deserves.  It's a concept that feels original, with A Way Out working as a dry run of sorts.  Two player experiences are important to me, whether its couch co-op with a mate, Sunday morning gaming with my daughter or in this case, headset badger sessions online.  This does so much right I considered sticking a [9] at the end here.  Unless it's a vintage year this should make an appearance on my GotY list. [8]

50. Hades - Switch (10-12hrs)

Believe the hype.  I didn't, which is why I took so long to try it.  It's the first roguelike I've played that got its claws in because of the rogue aspect, rather than in spite of it.  I wouldn't even be vaguely tempted to click my fingers and turn this one into a linear affair with progression saved - the beauty is in the way each run plays out.  Typing that probably makes me a bollockless brass monkey's uncle eating his own humble hat pie in frozen hell, but there it is.  Adapting to what the game offers you is key, whereas in ScourgeBringer - which plays a slightly better screen to screen game, imo - the kindness/meanness on top of the perpetual meanness is often an added irritant.  I had some misgivings about the isometric viewpoint when I started but my fears were allayed pretty quickly - combat is the game's beating heart and it's very, very good.  From the first couple of hours I knew I wouldn't stop playing until Westly the Dread Pirate Roberts Zagreus had reached the surface, and even though I used the helping hand of God mode to get there I was still happy to lift the trophy, and will continue playing.   

Everything that needs to be said about it has already been said by others on these boards, it deservedly landed the silver medal in last year's GotY thread.  I'm even sitting here listening to the glitch prog metal soundtrack ffs.  It's a stunning looking game too, with excellent dialogue/voicework and an overall sheen that everyone involved in the development process should be proud of.  It's an all-timer folks. [9]

Note to Muzzy: This is about as mutton as the BFG.

51. Witcheye - Switch (2hrs)

Devolver again.  This one's a surprisingly original side scroller that blends Breakout with a traditional platformer.  You control the titular witch eye by setting the direction it travels in with the stick or pressing a face button to make it stop on the spot.  It works with touchscreen controls too, which I didn't fancy, but otherwise that's it for the moveset.  There are six worlds that each contain up to a dozen or so stages, and in each of them your task is to get from the left to the right without dying (while collecting optional gems, if you so wish).  Basic stuff, nothing is too taxing - this is an easy game - but it's all fun. There's not much to it but they do quite a lot with what its got, with some well designed enemies, hazards, ultra lite puzzling and bosses.  A very enjoyable [7], I've not played anything quite like it and the experiment is a success.

Had to watch a vid but kinda yep. Looks like you have full control of the Wizzball (and can shoot) but this one is constantly moving until you freeze it (and you kill things by bashing into them).

52. Headmaster - PSVR (3hrs)



In 2019 I wrote.....

Moot_Geeza wrote:

17. Headmaster - PSVR Channel your inner Steve Bruce as a student at The Football Improvement Centre.  Coming off the back of a poor season, your aerial prowess will be put through its paces in a series of hands free tests designed to improve your ability to get your nut on the end of it.  Balls are launched into the air and you head them at the bits of the scenery that add to your score - that's basically it.  Part VR coconut shy, part Aperture Science facility, this is a bona fide PSVR gem and one of the best experiences I've had with the unit.  The script is strong and everything is just about accurate enough for you to deal with the stringent testing.  Even when tests feel like they're asking too much given the not quite perfect mechanics, practice will make you closer to perfect fairly quickly.  It's easy enough to get two or three stars on everything and the gating for the exams isn't strict.  It might look like a wonky Kinect cast off from screenshots but there's a surprising level finesse to the whole thing considering what you're being asked to do and how you're required to do it.  I only paid £3.99 but with the party mode taken into consideration I'd say this is absolutely worth the full £15.99.  I'm torn between an 8 and a 9, it really is that good, so since it doesn't matter in the slightest I'll given this one the coveted [8.5] High five for @Diluted_Dante

Which I agree with for the most part, but I'm upping it to a [9].  Absolutely one of my favourite games of the gen.  

NB:  The party mode has been fleshed out since launch, which was already the best multiplayer VR game for everyone and their nan to at least try.  Paid for DLC arrived in mid 2020 which I've downloaded as I'm desperate for more.  I don't think @DavyK has a PS4, and ergo no PSVR, but I'd be astonished if this wasn't up his tin can alley. 

It's a riot.  VR is the best place for the light gun style games these days, even though this is obviously a slightly different kettle of fish.  It's Hillbilly Moonshine meets Boom Blox, everyone in my house loves it.  

54. Headmaster: The Lost Lessons - PS4 (90mins)

Paid for DLC level set added three years after launch.  It's trickier than the main game - I had to settle for one star on a few of the stages - but it's a worthwhile addition and adds a smattering of variants that work.  

I really hope this gets a sequel or a spruce up for PSVR2.  If they can sort of the slight whiffiness of aiming at targets way off to the right or left it'll be almost perfect for what it is.  Playing the main game again was genuinely one of my favourite revisits of anything ever and the lost lessons are the icing on the cake.     

[7] for the extra stuff, £7 pricepoint considered.  Buy the main game and I dare you to resist though.

12: Returnal (PS5) 10/10

This game is an arthouse 3rd person bullet hell rogue.  You play as Seline who is not your typical space marine.  And what a game it is!  Funnily I wasn't even interested until about a week before launch.  Was happy to wait for a half price sale but the pre release hype ended up getting me.  And I'm glad it did.  The unique PS5 gamepad stuff is fantastic - mapping primary and secondary firing modes to the same trigger is a real winner, never mind the detailed vibration stuff (to the point I played a little Mass Effect last night on an Xbox gamepad and it felt a little dull).  It might not have those God of War/TLOU2 billion dollar graphics but it still has a really vibrant unique look and crucially loads seamlessly and runs fast.

It's not perfect.  It famously doesn't yet have a save and quit option.  Come on Housemarque it's not 1992 anymore!  
There are issues with crashes; I think everyone has had a good run ended because of a crash.  There's a fair bit of luck involved in what weapons and shit you get each run, and it's hard enough even when things are going your way, so this is just not good enough.  Made me yell at the screen like I was Jim Ross going off at a wrestling baddie.




It'd want to be a good game to make you come back for more after that.  It did!  For me at least.  It took me 48 hours and 101 deaths, that well off the average.  It was an unbelievable moment at the end of the final fight, realising it was finally over.  It had felt unbeatable several times through the game.  But it's a hard but fair game' even still it was great at encouraging me; playing those levels over and over until the unbeatable challenges became trivial gave me the confidence to know I would eventually win.  And at the end my heart was going crazy but I stayed as calm as possible and kept shooting the weak spot for massive damage, and the boss fell like I knew it eventually would.  Was a great feeling.  

A game no parent or PS5 owner can afford to miss.

Cheers Minnesanger - appreciate your work in the Returnal thread, willing everybody through the game.  

It's really great to see one of the first big PS5 exclusives (the first?) be such a weirdo.  Not sure if it's down to covid throwing off the timing with other games, but I'm down for more if this is a taste of things to come!

You end up playing a lot of games thanks to this thread and something I've noticed over the last few years - even for a lot of games I enjoy on the whole, I'm often pretty sick of them towards the end.  Just going through the motions in the last boss fight, while Neo Hitler morphs into his final form and screams about how you can't beat him.  You know a game's special when you're still keen to play after the credits, but also read up on the things you missed, new strategies, story theories and all that.  Like, I'm tired of the old 3 hour youtube critique of entertainment by now, but I'm absolutely clicking on the first Returnal one I see.

I reckon it'll be right up your alley mate!

Nice one Wario. Great review that and yes I think the hype built quite late on this one with Cinty being no small part of that. Definitely worth the full price and can’t wait for the daily challenges to start.

20. World Splitter [6]
A decent parallel worlds platform puzzler, with the twist that rather than just switching between worlds you control the line that separates them, moving and rotating it around to reveal just the right parts to make a path forward. It does just enough with the concept to be engaging without ever pulling any really clever tricks out of it. The local co-op mode (which I've only played briefly) also has potential, with both players controlling their own line and character, demanding a lot of careful co-ordination.

Did you review Detroit?  I can't find it ITT

I started playing it last week, I'm scoping for some forum takes.