Cloud Monday - Bluey: The Videogame - Part 2 - Frequent Auto Saves Work Well With Game's Design

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Bluey: The Videogame on #PS4, via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model #PlayStation4.

Returning to Bluey, after Part 1, let me focus more on the game's design. we learned that it does not have a manual save and we know what to look for when it auto saves. Now i could focus on the gameplay, it was clear just how frequent the Auto Save in Bluey actually is.

There is a story in Bluey and each part of that story is broken up into segments. each of those segments is broken up into small gameplay chunks. a good example in Part 2 is when we went looking for treasure. the story was we went looking for it with our family and grandad. but that is broken into walking sections, platforming, and cleaning sections. each of these is tied together by conversations. so you'd walk for a minute, some talking would happen, then it auto saves as you start the next platforming section.

When PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service is going to disconnect you, it only gives us a 20 second warning. across both parts it's clear that if this happens during the story there's a high probability you've just triggered the auto save or are about to. if you're disconnected, your only going to loose a minute or two of gameplay.

Walking around and collecting stuff outside of the story mode is even better as each time you pick up a collectable, it auto saves. early on this means you're saving very frequently. if you get the disconnection warning, i don't see it as much of an issue. you have either just picked up something, are about to pick up something, or are looking and now know where not to look.

I will say that Bluey is a great game to stream from the cloud. But, whilst the game's design works well on the platform, it's fair to say the game itself comes with it's own amount of jank. so whether it's worth playing or streaming is up to you.

Check out Part 1 for more:

https://youtu.be/wtJFAazufNE

Cloud Monday - Bluey: The Videogame - Part 1 - No Manual Saves But Very Frequent Auto Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Bluey: The Videogame on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

It's been a while since i had a look at a kids game as part of this series, and a modern one at that. The emulated PSP games on PS4/PS5 include kid's games like Up and we have seen with Daxter, https://youtu.be/5-KKF2d-rv4, that those games are easy to recommend to stream from the Cloud. i was wondering if a modern PS4 release would be designed with the Cloud in mind itself.

The quick answer is I don't know! Whilst Bluey: The Videogame doesn't have manual saves, it does save very frequently. it's possible this design decision was made with kids in mind rather than streaming it from the Cloud, but what ever the case streaming it does benefit. It would be nice if the game said what the auto save icon was. after playing a while i noticed a green insect appearing in the bottom right so i tested it. i quit the game after it appeared and reloaded the save. i was right back where i was with all progress.

So, if you're curious about Bluey: The Videogame, but don't want to download it. it does seem that streaming is a good way to play it. an added bonus to streaming is that the game is already up to date, so i was playing with all the additional content and fixes. but Bluey: The Videogame is still a bit rough and jankey. it's not the best game playing experience. 

Cloud Monday - Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures - Part 2 - It's Own Issues Make It Not Fun

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures on #PS4 via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model #PlayStation4.

In Part 1 we discovered that there was no way to do manual saves in the game. As i said back then, this is bad because with PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service you only get a 20 second warning before being disconnected and without manual saves you are relying on the game's auto save. we have seen that the game will save when you buy collectable cards, but other than that it's been somewhat mixed. With this in mind, this Part 2 look at the game let me focus more on the game itself.

Thankfully, the streaming experience this time was much better than in Part 1. this means that the lag in the controls i noticed are likely game based and not a result of the game being streamed to me via the cloud, but i should also admit that being streamed isn't helping. when this is combined with the obvious poor draw distance, on a technical level it really does feel like i'm playing a worse version of the game, tho i don't have a PS5 to compare it to so it could be equally as bad on there as it is on the PS4.

But it's not just the technical issues that make playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures a bit of a chore. i learnt between parts 1 and 2 that the movie voice cast didn't return for this game so my thought that the voices were a little off was correct. there are gameplay elements that make the game frustrating, too. combat shouldn't be a grind like it is. i have a powerful move that seemingly does little to the enemies, all whom can attack me quicker than i can use that move. the character also gets stuck in animations as they seem to have priority or take a fraction to long. i unlocked the high jump move and when i initialise it i jump up straight vertical, but in order to actually move forward to the ledge i have to wait for the jump animation to finish and then transform into a bat to get some forward momentum. the timing for such a move is tighter than it needs to be.

The premise of the game is good but the execution falls far to short to make it a fun experience. it's also not designed for being streamed from the cloud. not only do i not recommend streaming this from the cloud, i don't really recommend playing this version, at least, of the game. maybe you can try downloading the PS5 version of the game. but as it stands, on PS4 i can't recommend Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures.

Cloud Monday - Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures - Part 1 - No Manual Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I haven't done many games aimed at a younger audience as part of this series but when i saw there was a game from the Hotel Transylvania universe i thought this would be a good one to try as i've seen the first 3 Hotel Transylvania movies and enjoyed them.

None of the actors from the movies return to voice their characters in this game and for the most part it was fine. the only character that was really noticeable was Dracula. he's voiced by Adam Sandler in the movies, but here i felt that his character in the game sounded the most off but that could also be because he does the most talking in the game.

Much like the previous game i tried out for this series, Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures doesn't have a manual save system. there is an auto save system but it's difficult to trigger. what's really unclear is whether or not there is a checkpoint system and if it's tied into the auto save. i did perish and when i respawned it wasn't at the start of the level but rather somewhat close to where i failed. But there's nothing shown on screen to indicate that there's a checkpoint and i don't remember spotting the auto save whilst traversing a level. So that does mean, even just from Part 1, that i wouldn't recommend playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures from the cloud.

The game itself is a little rough. i did find myself fighting the camera a little but some of that could also be down to a little stick drift in my controller. the camera had some lag which could be down to the game being streamed but i suspect that it's an trait of the game as this is something that very rarely comes up in this series. There was some extreme pop-in as well, which is down to the game and not that it was being streamed. you can see fairly close to the camera that objects, shadows, and background elements would appear when directly in front of the camera and disappear when i moved the camera.

After just 1 Part, Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures doesn't feel well designed for being streamed from the cloud but itself has some issues as well.