Mobile Friday - Age of Empires Mobile - It Tells You, Lets You Do Soo Little It's Like Playing A QTE

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried Age of Empires Mobile from TiMi Studio Group on my #iPhone 14 Pro.

I’ve known of the Age of Empires series for a long time, it’s always been a game I’ve been curious about but I’ve never really had a PC/Laptop that could tackle it. When I saw there was a mobile version, I was really curious as to what they were going to do. Would it be a straight up PC port, would be a bespoke version of the game. Well, after trying out this mobile version, what ever it is I’m no longer interested in trying out other games in the series. 

I say it in the video, but this must be one of the best looking bad games I’ve played all year. Bugs aside, the game has issues throughout. However, it starts really strong setting up what I expected to be an interesting story and that’s essentially the last time I saw the story in this one hour video.

Age of Empires Mobile has this issue where it introduces something and then never brings it up again or never explains it. I’ve mentioned the story, but there are gameplay elements. There was a need for a scout, and it never happened again. There are bodies strewn about that we talk about but never acknowledge. We start in someone’s abandoned house but only spend a few minutes there as suddenly a whole town, with castle has been built, but not by us. Tho later we are able to put down things to be built, but it’s once everything has been built. 

Another issue is the game failing to answer the question “why”. This happens throughout this video so I’ll keep it to two. The first gameplay mechanic is our boat. I never built it. It was never introduced. It was just there and were tasked to go to an island and beat the bad guys there. Once done, we start earning a coin. Again, it’s never introduced what that coin is used for or that we earn it per hour.

We start the game with a French hero. We have play as that character in a very medieval European world. The game has built a medieval European town for us. And then the game stops and we can change civilization. WHAT? I don’t know why, it’s never told. I have no idea why and it was extremely frustrating at the time. I picked England, as I’m from England, and the game continues as if nothing has happened and it’s not discussed. 

Age of Empires Mobile feels like a game with many parts that are not connected. It doesn’t feel like an accessible game for new players, either. I don’t know how fans of the series would react to this game, it doesn’t feel like it was designed for them either. So I don’t know who this is built for, and as it is it’s not worth playing as in a way, do we even play it beyond pressing a button to complete a mission. 

Version 1.3.101 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - Train Sim World 5: Free Starter Pack On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation4 version of Train Sim World 5: Free Starter Pack from Dovetail Games. 

This is the free to play Starter Pack for Train Sim World 5 that focuses on the Training Center with 3 trains. for this video, i did the first hour and only used the British Class 323 Electric Multiple Unit. i don't know how far away i was from trying out a different train as the Train Sim World 5 does a poor job showing what you've already done, as can be seen at the end of this video.

I don't have many complaints about this Train Sim World 5 free to play game, Dovetail Games have done a great job at creating a decent tutorial for someone like me, someone who has little to no previous experience playing train games or someone who has little interest in trains themselves. i wanted to try Train Sim World 5 as it would be a new interesting experience and i wasn't disappointed. i would recommend this Free Starter Pack for anyone just wanting to give it a go. 

I did find that the writing and the voice over didn't quite match. at times, it felt like there was more emotion in the writing than there was in the voice over. but the voice was clear and went at a useful pace. also, it did feel like the loading on PS4 was a little longer than i wanted. but they didn't get in the way of the experience. 

My main issues with Train Sim World 5 are what it doesn't teach. i used My First Gran Turismo as an example of a serious game that really tries hard to teach using visual guides. the biggest issue i had when playing Train Sim World 5 was how little i understood braking and how poorly the game does in trying to teach me. i would have greatly appreciated a system like Gran Turismo where they visually show on the track when to brake. Gran Turismo also uses videos to demo what it wants to do, something that could be useful here as for people like myself who aren't familiar with this. touches like this could've really elevated this good tutorial to a great tutorial.

this video ends with a frustrating section. i ended up exploring a new section of the menu and kept coming up against issues. there were sections of the menu that i couldn't access, and when i wanted to check out a custom designed train it seemingly sent me elsewhere. i think this menu system needs to be adaptable for which version of the game you have and maybe even have it's own tutorial.

But i do think that this Free Starter Pack is well worth trying. the tutorial is good, but the game around it isn't as good.

Backlog Conquering - Poison Control On PS4 - Part 12 – Belle's Hell 22

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

With Part 12 is a little different as it's the first video where i only managed to complete 1 Bell's Hell. the hell in this video was much much longer than i expected but it did play into the story of the hell so it was still interesting in that respect. There was a nice surprise for finishing this hell but there also seemed more tension between us and the White duo so i wonder if that'll come to something soon.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/zYr-gRR3IOc

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/DNYEIWBChQA

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/zT1rBNYyQjk

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/XMMKLAVubzg

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/esbFvPyDyy0

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/eO_uzz3XnD0

Part 7 - https://youtu.be/1sfrvextYrc

Part 8 - https://youtu.be/qGCgasaYvpM

Part 9 - https://youtu.be/vaKxj_dOyG0

Part 10 - https://youtu.be/f7Th7Wa1OKM

Part 11 - https://youtu.be/WG_t2X4Dc18

Stories on Tuesday - Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi - Part 6

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 PSN version of Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi. I've not played an Otome style game before and whilst this style of game may not be marketed or aimed at me, i'm still curious to try it out and see what the story is.

Part 6 was just as rough for our character as Part 5 had been. Things aren't going as well for the Shinsengumi either with a character getting sicker, trouble amongst the ranks, and things happening in Japan. it feels like the story is heading towards some big event and i'm excited to see what happens and how it happens.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/H-TuXJyK05Q

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/hQJtjsH3jeo

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/DTXxfdyFOrg

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/Mu7t-UIiecg

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/1olfaNjwmHM

Mobile Friday - Infinity Nikki - A Game On Mobile Rather Than A Mobile Game

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Infinity Nikki from Papergames on my iPhone 14 Pro.

As you see from this video, Infinity Nikki makes a bad first impression on mobile. first there's an additional 7GB download, then it has to verify the extra data. next it wants to restart the game, which actually means closing the game to the phone home screen. when you restart the game it then spends 4 minutes or so compiling shaders. In all, it took nearly 20 minutes from starting the game to actually getting to play the game. Infinity Nikki is a game that you must start on Wifi, tho i don't remember if ever warning us that it's additional data download wouldn't be suitable via a mobile network.

Graphically, at first glances it looks amazing but if you look around the edges you can see, and not unsee it, that Infinity Nikki is pushing my #iPhone14Pro to it's limits. there is continuous pop-in, to a distracting degree, and the frame rate appears to suffer fairly often. As the end of this video shows, the game still has some bugs, too.

For me, i found it's soundtrack to be just as impressive as the graphics but it too seems to have issues. there are moments when there's no sound and it really sticks out as the back ground music and sound effects in this game is rather good. there were a couple of moments where the chilled relax nature of the soundtrack didn't match the action on screen or the seriousness of the story either.

This mismatch of tone was something i felt throughout the demo. it wasn't just the music. the game has a clothes making mechanic that has no fanfare about it and is just text on screen. whereas the clothes summoning mechanic has more flash around it and feels more of an event. In this video our characters travel to 2 new worlds and seem surprisingly fine about it all. even the locals they meet don't seem to mind a walking talking teddy bear looking character. it reminds me how weird this similar situation felt in the free to play game Palia, https://youtu.be/B-MIuLyos1g. But the one that really stood out the most, and annoyed me the most, was the tutorial. Infinity Nikki has a fantastic tutorial that makes it an obvious choice to gamers who haven't played too many games. and then there are times when the tutorials revert to simple text boxes. it often tells us what button to press to get out of menus, but also at times doesn't. it mostly puts things into context, too, but it completely drops the ball at the Tidal Guidance section.

This leaves the story and honestly, i don't think even after an hour, i fully know what's happening. Infinity Nikki seems to be a bit of a slow burn at the start and i wouldn't be surprised if it would take another hour or two to fully grasp what's happening. We're teased something about our mum, in the first place we visited, but our character seemed not to notice it. We didn't learn too much about the second world we're in or if we're meant to do more than just find the mythical clothes.

I can't help but wonder if the console experience of playing Infinity Nikki is much better than playing it on iOS. this really did feel like i was playing the lesser version of this game, so much so that i don't think i would recommend it to those who could play it on console. there's the ability to log into the game with a PlayStation account but it never really says if there's cross save between phones and PS5. For many games with rough launches i keep the game on my phone and would check back in on my own time. but for Infinity Nikki, i've already deleted the game. 

Version 1.0.1 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - My First Gran Turismo On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of My First Gran Turismo from Polyphony Digital.

This is a free to play download from the PSN so it's not quite a DEMO, but i thought it was applicable as it's a way in for new players to the series. with this in mind, one thing i was looking for with My First Gran Turismo was whether it was accessible or not to new players. after this first hour with it, i can say that My First Gran Turismo was very approachable and i would recommend it to anyone who's Gran Turismo curious.

The game has a very relaxed approach. it repeatedly makes it clear to the player that they should progress when they want. the game has some great tutorials, too. as well as text on screen and pictures showing specific points, My First Gran Turismo has a demo that uses gameplay to show how it should be done. this can be watched repeatedly so players can pay attention to many different details.

You'll see in this video that retries are very quick in this game as i use it quite a few times. the initial load isn't an issue but i imagine that it's quite a bit longer than the PS5 version. My First Gran Turismo looks great and mostly runs smooth. i did notice a few times some slow down. this was mostly happening in replays. i also noticed some pop-in during replays, too. but when i was actually racing i think i only noticed one drop.

My First Gran Turismo isn't a huge game. by completing a license, you unlock a gameplay mode. there are 4 modes to unlock and in each mode are maybe 3 races. there's also an achievement section that'll show the cars unlocked. i got 10 of the 18 in this video. there weren't any trophies for My First Gran Turismo, but there are leaderboards for many modes so chasing the times of your friends could be fun.

i would recommend My First Gran Turismo for anyone curious about the game. i think it's good for players who like racers in general. i do think the tutorial is good enough for those who aren't experienced with racing games. the relaxed approach is also very welcoming. it's unknown if there'll be updates in the future, but at 11GB it's just small enough for me to keep it on my PS4 to see if there are updates to it, and additions, in the future.

Backlog Conquering - Poison Control On PS4 - Part 11 – Belle's Hells 20 And 21

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

With Part 10 being as shocking as it was facing off against the Black Poisonette, i wasn't surprised that Part 11 was a little more back to normal. there wasn't any story stuff for our characters, but there were some interesting stories in the Hells we visited. 

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/zYr-gRR3IOc

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/DNYEIWBChQA

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/zT1rBNYyQjk

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/XMMKLAVubzg

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/esbFvPyDyy0

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/eO_uzz3XnD0

Part 7 - https://youtu.be/1sfrvextYrc

Part 8 - https://youtu.be/qGCgasaYvpM

Part 9 - https://youtu.be/vaKxj_dOyG0

Part 10 - https://youtu.be/f7Th7Wa1OKM