Demo Play Thursday - Night Swarm DEMO On #Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Night Swarm, from developer Fubu Games.

When you start the demo, it doesn't actually say you're playing the demo! when we get access to the Map, we get the first mention of this being a demo and we can make a guess as to what we can do in it. but as this doesn't say that it's a demo, nor give us any indication if this is from the final build of the game or something earlier, it's difficult to come away from this demo satisfied. i have other questions like does our save carry over to the retail release, if it saves at all.

In this video i experienced the start of the game and it sets up the story well enough but it doesn't really tie in some of the mechanics to it, for example when our run ends we re-spawn back at home and no reason is given for this. There is a tutorial at the start but it mostly focuses on what some of the controls do rather than also explaining how to play the game. it's frustrating, but i am able to make some educated guesses when it comes to the roguelike mechanics.

In Night Swarm, a surprising amount of stuff is carried over from run to run. in this demo, the only thing that wasn't carried over, of note, was the money earned in each run. the loop of the game seems to be that we head out into the world, we progress, we  do tasks, maybe we stumble across someone we know, and we earn stuff along the way. when we inevitably fail, we re-spawn back at base and can then take the stuff we earned and improve our stats, abilities, and equipment so we can go further next and earn more.

I quite liked the game's art style and the music worked well with it. but it did lack feedback to the player when it came to the enemies. i didn't find it too satisfying taking out enemies. there was no rumble in the controller and not much sound to indicate when an enemy has been defeated. there wasn't much feedback when we were attacked either. so i could see the action taking place but i wasn't get much back from the controls or audio. so whilst the combat and action was fine, it was noticeably lacking.

Whilst, as a demo, it's not great the game itself does come across as a solid one of these games, a Hades-Survivor-like style game. the story seemed interesting but whilst there's not too much shown in the demo there was enough for it to get it's hook into me. i'd recommend giving the demo a try or wishlisting it if you're a fan of this type of game.

Backlog Conquering - Puppeteer On PS3 - Part 1

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.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 game Puppeteer. this game came out in 2013 and was developed internally by Studio Japan. this game can be played in 3D and with PlayStation Move controllers, but for this series i'm playing with the DualShock 3.

This Part is perhaps a little shorter than what the other parts will be. this video focuses on the first part of the first act of the game, basically it reveals the story and gives us a tutorial. it makes a fantastic first impression. it may not be 1080p, but the art style and the presentation with the stage are fantastic. it's all go at the start of the game so for quite a lot i'm quiet as i'm also trying to take it all in. i've never played this game before and after this fun first part, i'm interested to see where it goes next.

Cloud Monday - Space Ace - Part 2 - Getting A Finish, Exploring Options, And Finding Manual Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS3 version of Space Ace via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

This was recorded whilst i didn't have a computer. This was made on my iPhone 14 Pro using it’s microphone, iMovie, and the video I recorded on to SD Card.

In Part 1, https://youtu.be/_16gd4HBGaw, i questioned if there was a manual save. at the time i couldn't find one, but in fairness Space Ace is quite intense when you first start it and it's possible i missed it then 'cause in this part i did find that there is a manual save option. this will be great if there is a disconnection warning but also if you're trying to get all the achievements. 

I turned on infinity lives and completed the game's story, or so i thought. after i recorded this video i went back and and watched the whole movie and it turns out the story i got was maybe as little as 3/4 of the whole story. i imagine playing the game at the hardest difficulty unlocks all of the story, and that's how such high scores were recorded for this game.

iPhone Friday - Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG - Looks And Sounds Good, Easy To Play Buy And Merge RPG

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG from 5minlab on my iPhone 14 Pro. 

Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG is a combination of a few different popular mobile games into one. it has the limited item spot mechanic tied, there's a merge mechanic, there are RPG mechanics, and there's a strategy mechanic. what also caught my attention about Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG is that it was available for pre-order here in Japan. that's not too common so i had the presumption that this wouldn't be just any old Ai made game, that this had the possibility of being something different. 

It starts strong with a tutorial that details some of the game's basic mechanics but i feel that it fails as a complete package. there are aspects of the gameplay that it doesn't quite cover and Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG suffers from the home screen problem that soo many games do in that not all aspects of it are detailed. at least it's not all unlocked at once and when something is unlocked we're pointed towards it. but this does feel a little ruder than the early tutorial in that we're told what to do but not really why. Something that this game did well was tell us what to do when we lost, that we should level up and get stronger.

The gameplay loop in Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG isn't too complicated. you pay, earn money, use it to level up, go further next time and earn more money, level up, and go further next time.  but there are some nice ideas here. when you level your character up 10 levels, their rank changes, their base stats increase and reset to that new higher level, and you level them up again another 10 ranks. Later in the video we unlocked the gear mechanic which further makes us stronger, and near the end we unlock the pet mechanic which also makes us stronger but the pets themselves have their own stats, levels, and abilities. all these aspects are simple but i think they've been woven together in such a way that they compliment each other and don't feel overwhelming.

With the randomness of what weapons appear, there's the chance that Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG could feel unfair and purely luck based. but there are some cool ideas here to help mitigate that. you're able to re-roll the store or even use a power-up to make better items appear. you can fill your inventory but you still have a separate inventory that doesn't interact with the gameplay. so you're able to be more defensive or more attacking when needs be. items can be combined or you can lock an item to prevent this. Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG feels like a game that's easy to play but tough to master.

In all, i had a great time with Overgeared Hero: Merge RPG and will be keeping it on my phone. i feel like it's one of the better games i've played this year and would highly recommend people check it out.

Version 1.31.4 Played

Demo Play Thursday - Rune Dice DEMO On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Rune Dice, from developer Smart Raven Studio.

Rune Dice initially comes across as a great demo. we're greeted with a warning about it being early in development, we're told that the save file won't carry over, we're even teased by what the full game will have and that there's a bonus in the full game for those who play the demo. that's the best approach to take to a demo and i really do appreciate it. 

The demo starts with the tutorial. but quite quickly it becomes clear that it's not so much telling us what buttons do what, and rather just telling us how it plays. quite quickly after the tutorial we're faced with dice and options we've not seen before. whilst it's not that difficult to work out what to do, the fact this happens so quickly after the tutorial really puts how poor the tutorial was into context.

In this video i played until i lost. i don't know how much longer the demo goes on for, but i guessed that the level i was playing on might've been the only one in the demo. the dice aspect of the game is simple to understand but i'm not too sure it's possible to really master it as we don't seem to have any control of them after our initial launch. there were times when the slight miss made sense and felt fun. but there were other times when it looked wrong and made it feel a little unfair. ultimately, i did have fun with the dice merging mechanics, but throughout the video i kept on thinking of ways that it could be done better, hoping that these ideas were in the game and were unlockable.

On the more positive side, i did enjoy the art style and i thought the music was good, too. even though it wasn't explained, i did enjoy the reveal when my run ended of how the game's unlock system worked. by doing things in a run a certain number of times, you're able to unlock all sorts of items to help the next run. it gave a reason for why you'd want to go back and try again. 

overall, it starts out as a good demo but when it switches the game itself, there are aspects of the game that are lacking. i do think the game is fun, but maybe not in long play sessions. i could've tried again in the demo, but by the time my run was over i had had enough for today.

James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod - #PS1 Classic On #PS3 - Part 2 - I Had Enough

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.

Our new game is the PlayStation Classic version of James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod played on PlayStation 3.

I think 2 parts is enough for me to have an opinion about this game. i said it in the video that if i had this on Mega Drive there's a good chance i would sit and play it because we had few other games. but nowadays there are plenty of other games i could play. i wasn't really enjoying the graphics, music, art style and level design! basically, there was very little about this game i was actually enjoying. i will keep it installed and keep the save file, so never say never, but for now i'm done.

Cloud Monday - Space Ace - Part 1 - Tough, But Worked Well Being Streamed From The Cloud

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS3 version of Space Ace via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

This was recorded whilst i didn't have a computer. This was made on my iPhone 14 Pro using it’s microphone, iMovie, and the video I recorded on to SD Card.

iPhone Friday - Card Crawl 2 - A Welcoming Easy To Play Hard To Master Card Game With Great Art

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Card Crawl 2 from Tinytouchtales on my iPhone 14 Pro. 

I've played a couple of games from Tinytouchtales, like Miracle Mart https://youtu.be/kpCxEvBWk4w and Geo Gods https://youtu.be/SeqUTw1sL_o, and i've always enjoyed the art style and characters in the games. with those two, the gameplay has always been solid but perhaps felt like it maybe lacked a little depth. But with Card Crawl 2 i feel like this has it all, it has the art, the music, the gameplay, the tutorials, and the depth that makes it a card game that's easy to play but hard to master.

Firstly whilst i did just praise the tutorial, it does fall just a bit short. it explains how to play the game and it's mechanics very simply. we're told what to do and it makes us do it. we're then tasked with beating a character using what we know before moving onto learning something else. that's done great. the tutorial also introduces some of the home screen, as by completing different parts of the tutorial more of the game opens up and more icons appear on the home screen. But it doesn't explain all the buttons. the Challenge Mode needs a tutorial as, from what i played, it seems like that if you don't play on Monday, it's pointless to play the other days of the week because there's a weekly bonus. also, the eye symbol was very unclear and i wasn't impressed that it launched into an advert with no warning.

Other than that shortfall, it's hard to find much else wrong with Card Crawl 2. maybe those who are great at the game may feel like they're being held back by having to complete tasks before things are unlocked, but personally i appreciate this approach. i agree that it may feel like it artificially lengthens the game, but it opens up the game in such a way as to not overwhelm the player. the better a player gets, the more they can unlock. if things are tough, it'll take longer but the player is also able to replay the easier stuff whilst retrying the harder stuff.

the gameplay is a little different to other card games i've tried out. in Card Crawl 2, you have a hero card. the goal is to defeat all the tavern's cards whilst making sure your hero card has health. the Tavern's Cards consists of monsters you have to beat, shields and swords you're able to equip onto each of your two hands or put into your one backpack slot, health potions, coins, and there are spell cards. so simply, use the swords to attack enemies, shields to defend from them, and spell cards to do both. just remember to heal when you need to, there are times when your hero must attack the enemy themselves. The coins act like a high score, so the more you're able to collect the higher the score. But what's really interesting with Card Crawl 2 and that adds a lot of depth to the gameplay is that you're able to remove any of the non monster cards and get money from them. this means you can get a higher score, but it also means you have less cards to deal with the enemy so the risk reward is real for those chasing a high score.

Overall, i highly recommend this game for those looking for a card based game. i'd also recommend this for those looking for some strategy. the art is great and will appeal to gamers, too. some may not get much more out of the game than the easy levels, but there's a lot here to unlock and master for those who enjoy it.

Version 1.0.12 Played

Demo Play Thursday - Bubsy 4D DEMO On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Bubsy 4D from developers Fabraz.

I didn't enjoy my time with this DEMO. you'll hear me get ever more frustrated to the point where i can't recommend people get the game, let alone try the demo. 

The Bubsy series of games isn't known for their amazing quality over the years, but i didn't go into this thinking that. i went in with hopes of having a good time. i've never played a Bubsy game before and i don't think this is the best one to start with.

It doesn't do a great job welcoming new players. there are mentions and call backs to previous games that i don't get and we start with a bunch of toxic individuals talking down to us in such a way it comes across like they're bullying us. The science guy is perhaps the worse but Bubsy himself doesn't come across as much of a likeable character either.

Nothing about the story is explained in much detail, we seem to accept it as it is. thankfully, the game does have a tutorial and it was here that i started having trouble with the feel of the game's platforming. unfortunately, the tutorial comes across as incomplete as in the first level we're faced with platforming that wasn't covered in the tutorial.

The platforming gets worse from here. at no point in this demo did i ever feel like i was in complete control. the feel of the platforming felt straight out of the PS1/PS2 era to the point where i actually wondered if it's a Call Back to the PS1 Bubsy game as modern platformers don't have platforming this bad. if it's all fixed in the retail version, then this demo does a disservice and should be removed entirely. 

It's not just the platforming that's an issue as i was also fighting the camera at times. more than once i tried to move the camera to get a look as to where to go next and it failed to provide that information. with the camera and platforming in the state it's in, there are times when the controls don't feel great. there's a sense of inconsistency with the controls and it's impossible to know if there are bugs with them or if the platforming is the main culprit. 

If i had to pick some good points from the demo, i may go with the music. but that's not enough to justify people try this demo, unless they're seeking out an unfun time. i found the upgrade system to be pointless. the game shows a video/gif of what the move will do, but for one of the videos it seemed to show Bubsy failing to make a jump. personally, i couldn't think of a time when the unlockable move was better than the better moves i already had. there are unlockable customs, too, but these seem to be purely cosmetic.

So the characters come across as bullys, the platforming is bad and feels outdated at best, the upgrade and unlock systems seem pointless, and the story is shallow at best. there are many more issues i have with the demo, so you'll have to watch the action unfold, but ultimately i wouldn't recommend this.

Cloud Monday - Monster Hunter: Stories - Not Clear When It Auto Saves, Long Wait For Manual Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS4 version of Monster Hunter: Stories via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

Monster Hunter: Stories originally came out on the 3DS, which i got wrong in this video as i kept saying it originally came out on #Switch as the Nintendo Switch version was released alongside the the PS4 version. But my hope that a game built around a portable system might have design decisions that make it just a suitable for being stream from the cloud were still valid.

This coming out on 3DS does make my comments about the sparseness of the game more believable than if it came out on Switch first. it may help explain why some of the art design seems a little inconsistent with the monsters and cats looking great and the people characters looking weird and unpleasant. 

Not too much happened in this part, the focus was the introduction of the characters. but the jumping around in time from the future to the past to a year ahead was a little rough. i'm not sure i fully understand the game's battle mechanics either. you'll see that after a couple of fights i try something different to what's been described in the tutorial and then i don't understand why it worked the same as the other battles. i'll need to check the video again to see where the misunderstanding came from. but as an introduction, i didn't have too much fun with this part.

iPhone Friday - Dicero! - Good Art, Easy To Pick Up And Play, But Poor Tutorial And Maybe Too Simple

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Dicero! from HABBY on my iPhone14Pro. 

Dicero! is a recent release on the Japanese App Store, but since it came out i've seen many adverts for the game, especially when it comes to adverts in other free to play mobile games. A lot of shovelware games have had similar advertising pushes so i came into this not really sure what to expect. the App store page has screenshots, but they're less useful than the adverts i had previously seen.

Unfortunately, Dicero! starts off with a bad first impression as it downloads data without warning, without permission, and it never says what it downloaded. it's not a big download, but it is there. 

The game starts right away. there's no opening cinematic, there's no story, it's straight to gameplay. there is a tutorial that tells us what to do, but it doesn't really explain the why. before you know it, the tutorial is over and i found there to be many things left unexplained. the gameplay from this first hour is simple enough and with some reading and experimenting it's not too difficult to work things out. but again, it's the first impression that the game's stumbling with in a market where the really good games focus on the tutorial and explaining things. for example, there was a powerup using a term i hadn't read before. it would've been great to have a gif showing what it actually does so i could make a better informed decision about using it.

What i really liked about Dicero! was the artstyle. the characters and enemies looked fantastic and there were small animations everywhere. the boss monsters really stood out. graphically it maybe somewhat simple but it is really nice to look at. the general background music is also nice. the track that plays during most of the gameplay effortlessly loops without me noticing. but when it came to the boss music, it was very energetic and appropriate but it was also really noticeable when it looped.

Throughout the video, i kept on coming up with ways to enhance the gameplay. what i played was easy to understand, but there didn't seem to be much depth or strategy to it. Dicero! is very much a pick up and play game but it also came across as one where you don't really need to think much about what's happening.

On the whole, i did enjoy playing Dicero! there are good aspects of the game but there are maybe more average aspects of it. it may not make the best first impression, but if you play a couple of levels you'll get the hang of it and it seems fine for most people. being able to play the game with one hand makes it a fine choice for commuters and with things being as simple as they are it would help pass the time quickly.

Version 1.0.1 Played

Demo Play Thursday - Etrange Overlord DEMO On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation4  version of Etrange Overlord, from developers Gemdrops.

The PSN Store page for this demo doesn't have a lot of information and it has no screenshots. all i knew going in to this was that the save file would carry over to the retail version of the game, which the demo itself never said, and that there was some sort of musical aspect to this game.

Etrange Overlord starts with our death and with all things considered we seem to handle it well. we awaken in hell and it becomes clear quickly that the residents of hell should be the ones scared of me, not the other way round. this opening sequence acts as the game's battle tutorial and whilst it's light on information, it's not the only time we see this tutorial as more aspects of the game's battle systems open up as we play.

What struck me early on is how good the game looks. you may hear in the video that this demo was pushing my PS4 quite hard. all the enemies and characters we come across are vibrantly colored and whilst they may not have fine detail, they do look great. the art style used in this game throughout is nice. a good compromise was reached letting this game look as well as it does whilst also performing as well.

The biggest issue i had was that it was never clear when the game was saving. i admit i got the manual save wrong at the end of the demo, but up to then the only time i could say for sure i knew that game had saved was when i changed some options at the start of the demo.

the biggest, and pleasant, surprise goes to the game's musical aspect. at no point was i expecting the characters to burst out into song. what's impressive is that it fits well in to the game itself. it was surprising, but once i got over that, by the end of the demo i was looking forward to these little bursts of song. another aspect of the game's story telling that i enjoyed was the banter between our main character and some of the demons. they're not afraid to talk behind our main character's back, and she's not afraid to remind them who's the boss and that she can hear them. that sort of comedy wasn't over played and i feel like it worked well.

From the start of the demo, it suggests playing it on Sweets Mode, which makes the combat easier so the focus moves to the story telling. i'd suggest leaving this on as the combat, but the end of the demo, was starting to get a little difficult. the combat systems are good. i enjoyed how combat bonuses appeared and how they can help us. But what i wasn't expecting was when the game had a Capture An Area battle situation. our team had to battle to gain and hold parts of the battle world to win the fight. it was refreshing and i do wonder what other twists are instore later in the game.

I really enjoyed trying out this demo for Etrange Overlord. i never finished it so if you enjoyed what you see, i'd recommend trying the demo for yourself or just get the game. there's nothing here, in the demo at least, that comes across as hardcore. i think it's a decent introduction into RPG's for those who are a little older. i think some of the game's humour might be wasted on kids. 

Backlog Conquering - ToeJam & Earl On PS3 - Part 5

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.

Our new game is the PS3 version of ToeJam & Earl. this version came out in 2012 as part of the Sega Vintage Collection and was developed by M2. Prior to this playthrough, i hadn't played ToeJam & Earl before but on Mega Drive i had played ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. 

Part 4 ended with me dying and realising that i hadn't saved since i reached the previous level. that meant the first thing i had to do in this video was to, once again, complete the stage and take the elevator up. thankfully, this didn't take too long. i got the ship part and found the elevator up in just a few minutes. Stage 16 went even easier, especially considering it killed me in the last part, with the elevator going up being found quickly. But 17 took around 20 minutes to finish. i had some of the worst luck with enemy placement and random exits. i made an attempt at 18 in this part but once again i didn't have any luck so called it a day.

Check out the previous parts:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/AA7N46YYLbQ

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/CdzaIAn3lfs

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/ew7qQ5r4Yjc

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

Cloud Monday - Wall-E - Pt2 - It's Fine And Not Too Difficult With Local Multiplayer Mini Games

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of Wall-E via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1, it was clear to see that these PS2 emulated games on PS4 and PS5 are a great fit for cloud streaming because you can press the Options button at any point and save. this is true for the PS1 and PSP emulated games, too. so with Wall-E is becomes more of a question if the game is worth playing or not.

For me, someone who is a fan of the movie, i'm going to say yes. the interactions Wall-E has with things it finds are just as endearing as they were back when i saw the movie in the cinema. when we met Eve for the first time it was a nice feeling. the game doesn't follow the movie's plot strictly, the start of the game works great as a tutorial for not only controlling Wall-E but also in how the game is built. but as soon as that lazer light appeared i was excited for the stories to converge somewhat.

The HD upscale helps with the graphics. they're not fantastic, but the upscale helps make them look clear and vibrant. the controls are perhaps the weakest aspect of the game. there are moments where they feel too sensitive and moments when they don't. i wonder if this is a result of the emulation, like the game used to run at 30fps on PS2 but now it runs at 60fps and the controls are also doubly sped up. that's just a guess but if you know please put it in the comments.

For me, Wall-E is a fine game to stream from the cloud. but for others, i think that it might be closer to a "Maybe". But these are my thoughts and that tips it into the "Yes" category.

iPhone Friday - Astro Defenders : Capt.Couch - A Simple Yet Fun Wave Based Tower Defense Style Game

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Astro Defenders : Capt.Couch from PLAYHARD STUDIO on my iPhone 14 Pro. 

I downloaded this game a while ago and it's been constantly updated ever since, so it does seem like the developers are supporting the game. the screenshots on the app store page seemed very accurate as to what the game is.

Astro Defenders : Capt.Couch is mix of tower defense, wave based shooting, merging, and idle. the game starts with a tutorial that takes things nice and slow. by the end of it i felt i had grasped how to play it. the tutorial is also extends to the game's home screen. but it's here that it falters. the game play mechanics are covered when they're unlocked, but the rest of the icons on the home screen seem to be ignored.

The game is free to play and there don't seem to be adverts inbetween stages. but it does have an energy mechanic. it costs 10 per stage you play. but what i really liked was how clear the game makes the recharge time. it says when the next charge is ready and when it's fully charged, each with their own countdown.

If i had to point to an issue it's the placement of your troops on the stage. before a wave starts, you're able to freely move your units, call new ones, and change your team. but moving them was tricky. when i record these videos i have the game playing on TV, via the HDMI out i record from, as well as my phone's screen and it was from this i realized i was having trouble moving characters. because of how zoomed out the camera is when moving them, i couldn't see the shadow under the characters so for a while i wasn't able to place them exactly where i wanted. in the end, i switched to watching the game play on tv so i could place the characters more accurately. i wonder if it's possible for the developers to zoom in the camera whilst you're moving characters around so it's easier place them exactly where you want.

From the time i played Astro Defenders : Capt.Couch, i think it's a great introduction to this style of game. i think the tutorial makes it easy for newcomers whilst the merge mechanics offer something new for more experienced players. i hadn't unlocked everything by the time i was finished so there's a good few hours of content at the very least. i'd recommend giving it a go.

Version 1.1.13 Played

Backlog Conquering - ToeJam & Earl On PS3 - Part 4

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.

Our new game is the PS3 version of ToeJam & Earl. this version came out in 2012 as part of the Sega Vintage Collection and was developed by M2. Prior to this playthrough, i hadn't played ToeJam & Earl before but on Mega Drive i had played ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. 

i lasted around 4 minutes into playing Part 4 before i had to reload the save. i'm grateful that this feature is here as ToeJam & Earl continues to be a tough game. i don't know if there's an element of randomness about the game or if everything was specifically placed there by the developers. for example, i would get stuck dancing, hit by a cherub arrow, all the while trying to doge the mole. another example would be the tomato firing ducks being placed in areas where there isn't much space to avoid them. By saving and reloading i am making progress and getting ship pieces, but there are times when it feels like i have little or no luck.

Check out the previous parts:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/AA7N46YYLbQ

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/CdzaIAn3lfs

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/ew7qQ5r4Yjc

Cloud Monday - Wall-E - Fairly Average Gameplay But You Can Save Any Time With PS2 On PS4

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS4 version of Wall-E via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

Wall-E is one of my favorite Pixar movies. i knew that there were video games, but i never looked to see what they were about. all these years later, Wall-E is now on the PSN store as a PS2 game emulated on #PS4. i was curious as to what kinda game this actually was and so far i enjoyed it much more than i did when i checked out Ratatouille.

With it being soo many years since i last watched Wall-E, things like the music seemed unfamiliar. there's a chance it's the same music in the movie but i don't remember it. The music didn't seem to match what was happening on screen, like they focused on the music being from a supermarket to fit the theme of the game/movie but not what was actually happening in the game. Though i did like that there was a button devoted to playing your own music. i accidently triggered it a few times and it was always nice to hear.

As a PS2 game, it was always going to look a little rough. the cutscenes, for example, don't appear to be full screen nor a particularly high resolution. the game itself is upscaled but not to 1080p on PS4. playing the game is a much more enjoyable experience than watching a cutscene as i think the graphics and art style hold up fairly well. the game, so far at least, is somewhat zoomed in to Wall-E so he's big and easy to see and so are the areas we've played in.

Controlling Wall-E isn't too difficult. there's a fantastic section at the start that uses a maintenance check to go through the game's tutorial. i really appreciate it when games are able to incorporate the tutorial into their story. going from tutorial to the games first level was a surprise as we're having to run away. the tutorial is nice and slow but suddenly the action ramps up and before we know it it's over and things have calmed down. it took me by surprise but it was fun.

I look forward to Part 2 where, hopefully, Wall-E will get to do more different things and perhaps we'll get to see EVE or even get to space. but so far, streaming Wall-E seems like a good way to play it.

Demo Play Thursday - Ariana and the Elder Codex DEMO On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Ariana and the Elder Codex, from developers Hyde, Compile Heart, and Idea Factory.

I didn't know anything about this demo going into it, but after playing it there's still more about the game i want to know. the demo shows one area not quite from the start of the game in what i assume to be a way to avoid story spoilers. but after playing it, i feel like we're not given enough information about the game's story and some of the game's mechanics. if this is a demo trying to sell itself to us, it falls short when it comes to the game's story.

Ariana and the Elder Codex DEMO doesn't run perfectly on Switch. in the game's options, i had the option for the game to prioritise frame rate or resolution so i picked frame rate. but there were many moments in this demo where the framerate dropped a lot. if you tried it with the focus on resolution, it would be interesting to know if you had even greater issues with framerate than i did.

Other than the game's music, there's a lot to like with the demo. i appreciated that it's honest from the start that the save won't carry over to the retail release and that things may be different in the retail release. whilst we only get one segment to play through, it's about an hours worth of content. but it doesn't take place from the very start of the game so there were some gameplay mechanics not explained. but for the most part, enough was explained clearly for us to enjoy the demo. 

I found the combat to be satisfying. it's pretty fluid and i found it easy to pull off different attacks. what's cool about this combat is how you can stagger the enemies with repeated hits of magic and when you defeat an enemy with magic they explode. this explosion can then stagger or defeat near by enemies in a cool looking combo system.

It felt like the area we got to play in has more secrets than i found, but because of the type of demo this is, there's no indication whether we would be able to go back and explore the level later in the game to get a 100% or if we only get one chance at it. it's just another example of how the game didn't quite sell to use the potential or the possibilities of Ariana and the Elder Codex DEMO.

I did enjoy playing this demo and if you're interested in Ariana and the Elder Codex DEMO it would be worth playing. but i don't think it's going to answer all the questions you'd have about the game. it would be worth checking out written or video reviews to get a better sense of what you'd get. at the very least, it does look nice on Switch. i just worry that performance wise, people should look at getting Ariana and the Elder Codex on Switch 2.

Cloud Monday - Final Fantasy VII: Remake - Part 2 - Great To Stream From The Cloud

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of Final Fantasy VII: Remake via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1, the streaming experience wasn't great. it frequently disconnected me. but, the game let me save manually so it wasn't a problem in that part and i slowly made progress towards the first boss of the game.

In this part, the first thing i had to do was deal with this boss. it's a long fight. there were moments of macro blocking and there was a warning about the connection. whilst the issues didn't get in the way of the gameplay, it did lessen the spectacle of it.

that's the main issue with Final Fantasy VII: Remake. streaming the game isn't an issue with how easy it is to save and how frequently the game auto saves. but streaming it seemed to lessen the spectacle. the music had occasional issues, the graphics did too. so if this is the first time you've played the game it might be best to download and install the game to ensure the most optimum playing experience. 

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/060PqqvE7YY

Switch Funday - Tetris 99 - 52nd Maximus Cup - Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2

There is a Maximus Cup this weekend in Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. The 52nd Maximus Cup is for the Wii games Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2. By getting 100 points, you can unlock it all.

Whilst i wasn't able to get my first win in Tetris 99, i did manage to get close to the top 10. i felt quite rusty and there were a few mistakes. Even though Tetris 99 had been updated, it did seem like there was a bug with the "Watch Out" warning at the bottom of the screen sticking around for longer than it should.