104. The Excavation of Hob's Barrow - Switch (6hrs)

A very British point & click adventure that sits somewhere between a 1970s BBC adaptation of an MR James short story and The (Woowar) Wickerman.  It's yet another genre that was very briefly my favourite as a kid - along with Vs fighters, JRPGs and 'action RPGs' - mainly thanks to schoolmates who let me play The Secret of Monkey Island and Simon the Sorcerer on their Amigas.  Mind blown as a console only gamer; I remember being particularly envious of Full Throttle in magazines.  The obsession was short lived though, and 30yrs later I've really not played that many others.  A good handful not starring Guybrush - Broken Sword/Sword II/Age, the good half of Lair of the Clockwork God, Procession to the Calvary, Backbone, The Red Strings Club (if it counts) - a few then, but definitely not gazundles.  It was clearly just a fad for me, but the OG Monkey Island will always be bobbing around my top 20 games ever, and I was very happy with the recent return to form of Return to.

I saw this in a PC Gamer review at work a while ago, popped it on the watchlist at launch on Switch, and foolishly ignored it until last weekend (when I realised I was being silly).  It's £13.99 full price, and it hasn't budged since release, but if it had released at £19.99 I definitely would've snaffled it at 25% off.  So I had a word with myself for being a sales obsessed moran and bought it.  Note to self: no-one gives a shit, stop starting reviews with discount waffle.

Stuff about the actual game: I'm happy to report that the adventure mostly lived up to my expectations.  It's perhaps a little too reliant on optimistically revisiting areas to find something new at times, and the third act puzzles take a turn for the worse imo (before the wrap up pulls it back), but it absolutely nails the feeling of insular, pervasive dread.  Set in the fictional northern English town of Bewlay in the late 1800s, you take charge of a young antiquarian named Thomasina Bateman who has received word of the titular barrow.  Barrows (and excavations thereof) are very much her jam.  And also her bread and butter - she's writing a book about her experiences.  So what's a barrow, I hear you ask?  It's like a mound of earth raised over a burial ground of course, everyone knows that [*stares disparagingly at my slightly younger self*].  From the outset it's clear that Thomasina is due to come a cropper whether you like it or not, as the game opens with her writing a letter to her mother, and the set up for what unfolds as you play is pretty much 'this is how it all went wrong'.  Which is great in this instance, because it sets up a complete story that builds to an agreeable payoff, rather than offering multiple choices that lead to multiple endings (which players like myself will never bother with), or worse, presenting the illusion of choice while all roads end up at same destination.  Much like Nintendo themselves she's essentially doomed, and it's your job to piece together the how/what/why's.  Which isn't always the simplest of tasks as the locals clam up whenever you mention the barrow.  It's very traditional in its point & clicking, without ever being truly obtuse (one solution aside - which was something I only tried after exhausting pretty much all other possibilities), and I'd say it errs on the simpler side for the most part.  Which is a good choice for a modern P&C without a hint system, imo.  It's easy to complain about fetch quests in most other genres, but you'd be hard pressed to moan about errands, chain of event checklists and suchlike in this type of game.  There's plenty of to-ing and fro-ing ofc, plus all the usual combining of inventory items and dialogue choices to chip away at.  There aren't a huge amount of areas to visit, even once the destinations have mostly opened up, which works in its favour as these games can start to wobble when they overwhelm the player.

It has a very different sense of humour to the Shafer/Gilbert games, but despite the general dark horrowfulness there's lightness too, chiefly provided by the irascible townsfolk who mostly want you to fuck off back to London and aren't backwards in coming forwards (provided you start the conversation).  THERE'S NOWT FOR YOUR SORT HERE, etc.  There's some great dialogue, backed up by strong voice acting on the whole.  Overall it's easily one of the best games I've played in the genre.  I loved Bewlay and its inhabitants, and the folk horror tale it tells had me on the hook too.  Atmosphere is key here, and I drank it in.  Highly recommended.  [8]

There are a couple of issues with the Switch port.  X is supposed to bring up your inventory but it often doesn't, so you have to move the cursor to the top of the screen anyway.  No big deal - it's easy enough to pretend there's no shortcut - but definitely a glitch that should have been ironed out by now.  Plus it can be tricky to get the analogue sticks to behave properly when you want to highlight a tiny item that the cursor insists on sweeping past multiple times....





Couldn't choose between the gifs so both will have to do.

@LivDiv :eyes:

16. Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom - ?? Hours - 8/10 - Nintendo Switch

Yeah…only an 8…there’s no denying how great it is…but it also just feels…very ‘been there, done that, met them’. Wasn’t a fan of The Depths at all and the Sky Islands were interesting but the game hardly ever took you there or made use of them in the main quest. I’ve loved almost every Zelda, and played almost every iteration, but this just didn’t grab be anything like the others. Just too much of…the same.

Yeah it’s systems are incredible, it’s play tested to perfection, it’s beautiful, still full of win in almost every department, especially the Shrines,-the absolute best bits, and the awful Switch Cons made it worse as well to be fair…but at the end, I was kinda glad it was done. If they were gonna use the same map I wish they’d have just filled it in more and made more in that world somehow instead of creating shadows of it.

Still, great game, just not incredible…almost a little let down by it…8/10.

As do I. I loved BOTW and spent an age in that world enjoying what they’d made, would’ve liked something different this time. Plus I don’t mind the breaking weapons, but being without the Master Sword and Shield for so long doesn’t…feel right.

The overfamiliarity damaged this from the start for me as it meant there was no real discovery right from the off…this’ll grab you I imagine dude as it is a terrific game. It’s just it’ll grab you with just the one hand and tell you it needs you and not grab you with both hands and tell you it loves you!

I’m not totally loving it if I’m honest. I’ve forgotten the layout so it’s not the familiarity that’s doing me in either. And choosing to do a giant underground map in the dark with a system not really capable of pulling off a half decent lighting solution is very wtf to me.

I've only played MS3.  I was terrible at it so needed the 99 credits option, but it's a good'un.  I checked some online lists and 3 is generally considered the best.  It's definitely one of the nicest looking games I've ever played.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

I've only played MS3.  I was terrible at it so needed the 99 credits option, but it's a good'un.  I checked some online lists and 3 is generally considered the best.  It's definitely one of the nicest looking games I've ever played.

I'll definitely get to that one in the coming weeks!  I have 3 and X on Steam so glad to hear 3's the best of them.

Really liking that SNK 2D art.  I've been tempted recently to get SNK Vs Capcom Chaos (which has the Street Fighters done in the King of Fighters style), even though it's supposedly pretty ordinary and I'd only probably play it once.  But damn it looks nice.

109. Monomals - Switch (3.5hrs)

Quality little checkpoint course/music maker hybrid with bundles of inventive charm and a strong 'Nintendo' feel. Not necessarily the real Nintendo though; the one you might think of when describing a certain type of game (such as this one!). The Big N's EShop only offerings aren't exactly plentiful, and while they're mostly decent (The Stretchers, Box Boy/Box Girl and Part Time UFO spring to mind) there are some duffers too (the wonky Good Job, for example, and I cant say I thought much of the Game Maker Garage demo). There's a strong average to the multitude of short stay mechanics here, and they tend to feel intuitive as soon as they're introduced.

It's a surprisingly polished experience, but some issues have slipped through the cracks. It crashed on me twice, and the checkpoint resets occasionally leave you without key items, necessitating a full stage restart. It didn't happen often, but it happened often enough to put me in 'please don't glitch' fingers crossed mode during any longer level.

The music maker element is good - according to Tilly anyway, who quickly lost interest in the main game but encouraged a full completion from me so she could buy certain effects with accrued coins. The main event is tricky in places but really doesn't put up anywhere near as much resistance as some of the reviews suggest. Not that there are many reviews out there, it seems to have got lost in the vast sea of indies. In terms of checkpoint stuff it's definitely on the easier end of the spectrum, which suits it.

Overall it's not quite outstanding, but it's much closer than I would've been satisfied with, and at 50% off I'm having this as one of my most rewarding bargains of recent years. One of those weird indies that has all the hallmarks of something that should rightfully be a bit more popular. Good stuff. [8]

Great resolution for the SeS

20. Firmament [6]
The new thing from the makes of Myst, Riven etc. Colourful vistas and industrial sized puzzles. It's quite smart, but also quite dull when you're having to shift all this big machinery around, and some of the logic is a little off.

21. Amnesia: The Bunker [8]
Genuinely nerve-wracking horror game in the vein of Alien: Isolation. The single, insta-kill monster feels like a constant threat even when it's not visible, and the save system, which is limited to a central safe room, makes for some tense return journeys each time you venture out into the bunker. Light is your friend and noise is your enemy, and you're constantly having to consider both as you improvise your way around traps and locked doors.

22. Trepang2 [7]
Mid-2000s FPS action with an extra bump of modern scale and spectacle. Bullet time, dual-wielding shotguns, chucking enemies towards their mates with a live grenade attached, and so on. It's loud and chaotic and evil grin inducing. What's missing is much of anything else to pin the one-note violence together. It doesn't really know what to do with itself in the downtime between scraps. It's also far too edgy and serious for such an absurdly OTT experience.

23. Oxenfree [7]
A flawed experiment in game dialogue that feels like a valiant effort even though it doesn't always work. It's easy to get hung up on the times when conversations overlap or cut off for no good reason, but the flow of interactive chat overall is superior to most games, and the writing is pretty strong. Makes for an absorbing, if uneven, spooky teen adventure. I'm hopping onto the sequel right after, so it'll be interesting to see how the experiment has been refined in the last 7 years.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

@LivDiv :eyes:

Just seen this.
Bloody hate them things. Love that zone though, shame the music changed in Origins.

OG music always reminds me of this.

20. Mega Man 11 (Switch) - 6hrs 

Fantastic return to form for the blue bomber. I've not played a ton of games in the series, but I have completed 2 and X that seem to be the most highly regarded, and I'd put this right up there with them.

I think the levels are very well designed, and they're a lot longer in length compared to the older games, packing a decent challenge.

The game introduces a Double Gear system. One is called Speed Gear, which slows everything down to half speed. The other called Power Gear raises the damage you inflict and modifies special weapon attacks. Both of these make the game a bit more manageable, but not in a cheap way.

Graphics are superb and a great upgrade after the somewhat lazy 9 and 10 entries. Only negative is the music, which is usually a high point from the series. Nothing here is bad, it's just a bit forgettable.

Good stuff.

8/10

My list

112. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope - Switch (21hrs 07mins)

Finally got the green light to play this without Tilly slowing me down - we were supposed to be playing pass-the-pad but long battle tactics stuff isn't ideal for that sort of thing and she lost interest.  And then refused to let me plough ahead solo because it's her cart and she wanted us to play it 'at some point'.  She relented in the end, probably because Splatoon 3 and Tears of the Kingdom are similarly backed up.

I loved the original, so much so that I gave it a big fat [9] in the first iteration of these threads:

TDLR: fantastic game, shame about all the block pushing.  I enjoyed the Donkey Kong DLC too.

So I was massively looking forward to the sequel, despite being slightly miffed that the grid system had been dropped in favour of an area of movement (in hindsight this really doesn't matter all that much and works very well/in much the same way).  In some respects it's still magnificent, and I really like the core tactics which remain fundamentally similar here.  Team jump/dash damage abilities are still legit, and you can set up some rewarding attack chains with a spot of planning (I merked a ton of baddies with a dash/overwatch combo).  Some of the level design leans too heavily into gimmick over the course of the adventure though, with not enough 'kill all enemies' or 'reach exit zone' stages for my liking, which were the original's bread and butter (there's loads of 'protect this', 'survive X amount of waves', 'destroy obstacles' and whatnot, which doesn't always play to its strengths imo).  The bosses are a smidge weaker too, with nothing on par with the opera scene in the original.  Plus the Sparks system - which is actually a strong addition on paper - offsets the balance of the game a little as there are so many buffs and boosters at your disposal they almost felt like cheat codes at times.  'Unseen' for example, which can last three turns when fully upgraded, turns certain characters into absolute wrecking balls.  It's not hard to roll with a deadly mix of abilities with a little menu tinkering, all of which can be upgraded as you progress.  Whereas I lost numerous battles in the previous game and had to redouble my efforts and plan meticulously, the challenge wasn't really there with this one.  The sparks and this game's equivalent of overwatch (which three characters have) made it feel like I was holding all the aces and only one battle gave me any real bother on standard difficulty.  That's ideal for a Mario + Rabbids game I guess (I'd say the original difficulty was pitched wrong considering the target audience is presumably youngish), it's just not what I expected from a sequel given what came before.  Higher difficulties are there and I didn't choose them even when it became obvious that the campaign wasn't putting up much resistance (even with zero side mission grinding), so it's an odd complaint really.  Perhaps not doing side missions kept it breezier, as enemies in these things have a tendency to level up alongside you, which I've never really liked.  If I choose to grind I want it to give me a leg-up really.

Graphically it's had a weird upgrade/downgrade overhaul.  It seems to run on a different engine and there's more scope to the environments, it just looks a bit more flimsy as a trade-off and lacks the polish of a six year old game.  It doesn't look bad - in places it looks rather nice - but some of the sheen has gone missing.  They've ditched the block pushing for the most part, thank fuck.  The stuff they've replaced it with isn't much better though.  Once again only the actual battling is worth the price of admission, the rest of it is just good intentioned clutter imo.

When I was in the groove it was great.  Grid tactics games are one of the few genres where I don't find myself clockwatching while playing.  I might struggle to put a 2 hour single session shift into most things without feeling the call of a nap, but 3 hours can pass in the blink of an eye if I'm on the hook with something like this.  I'm torn between a harsh [7] or a generous [8], so a coin toss had to settle it - [7].  I couldn't get enough of Kingdom Battle but I don't think I'll bother picking up the DLC for this one unless the price is slashed significantly.  Who really wants to play as Rayman anyway (even in Rayman games)?  Legends and Origins are quality and I had a soft spot for Rayman 2 on Dreamcast, but crazy lifetime sales figures & decent games aside he wouldn't get a seat at the mascot royalty table for me.  James Pond is probably higher on the tier list, and he's just a pun with a gun.  Anyway, this was good but I had my fingers crossed for GotY 2022, and it's definitely not that. 

114. Splatoon 3 - Switch (8hrs)

Underappreactiated Nintendo sp goodness. There's something about splat-the-territory multiplayer turf war battles that will always leave me cold (ergo I've spent maybe 20 minutes trying that mode across the two games I've played).  The campaign is worth the price of admission though, imo, ymmv.  This one isn't quite up to the standards set by Octo Expansion unfortunately, but it's very good on the whole, and roughly on par with Splat2.  The bosses were slightly disappointing and the final boss was absolutely awful, but the bitesize checkpoint stage stuff hits a high average.  It's a good mix of annoying and easy-ish - there are a handful of areas that might take a few attempts, so it's not a complete pushover.  It felt like a much easier game than its predecessor though; I don't remember being able to pay to continue mid-stage last time around, which makes the whole thing much less troublesome to push through.

It's definitely more of the same, so I can't be bothered to go into it at length.  A very well designed highly polished slightly throwback sp adventure. [8]

Japanese version on Mega CD (emulated).