Mobile Friday - LEVELS II - A Simple Well Executed Gameplay Mechanic That's Difficult To Master

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out LEVELS II, from Flow inc., on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I had played Favo from Flow inc. before and i'm familiar with tile merging games so i had a rough idea of what to expect from LEVELS II, but i was more curious if and how they'd lean into the RPG aspect of the game. Games likes Three's and 2048 have a simple idea and you play until you can't make any moves and that's it. it's all a little basic. so i came into this hoping that as a sequel, LEVELS II might offer more than just a gameplay mechanic.

It doesn't. LEVELS II doesn't even have a home screen, it loads straight into a game. there's no dungeon theme either, it's a plane white screen with the game board. thankfully there is a great tutorial waiting for us and it goes over nearly every aspect of the game simply and straight forwardly. apart from the Lightning mechanic. what i took away from the tutorial and what actually happens in the game were two very different things and it really needs to be made clear that the tutorial gives you a free one to use and after that, you have to watch an advert to get another or pay for the premium version of LEVELS II.

The adverts in LEVELS II come when you finish a game and start another. there's no warning, but thankfully that was the only time when an advert would start. As i say in the video, if the button was worded to say "watch an advert and start a new game" then i would've had no issues with an advert then starting.

There's nothing wrong with the mechanic of merging tiles, LEVELS II has done it in such a way that there's great depth of strategy to it. it works well with the minimal style of the game. But with this being a sequel, i was expecting more than just gameplay refinement. this could have a fun Quest mode where you're given tasks to defeat a certain number of specific enemies. there could've been an option for a dungeon background instead of plain white or black. there are no summons, no persistent character level, and none of the money we collect carries over for us to buy stuff. we could use the coins and buy decorations to decorate the game screen. It wouldn't surprise me to see LEVELS II re-skinned in the future with a different theme, like Christmas, because there's so little to it.

I would highly recommend getting LEVELS II, it is fun and there's a lot of strategy, and maybe luck, to it's gameplay. But there's nothing else to the game.

Version 1.0.6 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - Crypt Custodian On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Crypt Custodian from Kyle Thompson and publisher Top Hat Studios.

I was interested in this because i really liked the art style, but i didn't know what it was before i started playing. Starting the game is pleasant as the initial load starts with a black cat that then turns ghostly white. i didn't understand the significance until the game starts with the revelation that we have died.

It's a good first impression, the art used for the icon is the same as the art in the game. the game uses the game world to do the tutorial, not worrying about linking it to the narrative. And then we get a broom and i can't believe that i called it, that i guessed correctly how this game would get us to being the custodian as we're only using the broom to clear the way.

I won't spoil the story, but once we get going the game kinda forgets to give us a purpose. up to this point, the game had been clear about what we're doing, where we're going, and then we're dropped into a new location. we know why we're there, we know that we're a custodian, but the game doesn't give us a reason to actually be one. regardless, i set off to explore this new area and it showcases some smart design decisions that aide accessibility. 

The one i spotted quickly was that there's always a marker under our character, so when we're jumping gaps it's very clear our position in the world and it was never difficult. Another great thing is that every enemy we encountered has a "tell" as to when they're going to attack. sometimes it's the game showing us with an arrow where an archer is aiming, or a red marker showing an enemy is jumping to attack. for other enemies you can watch their movements and know that when they move their head up they're about to attack.

Couple those examples with nice environmental puzzles, and Crypt Custodian was a joy to play. But, it wasn't long before i realized that there's seemingly no way to heal outside of specific points on the map. after a couple of deaths i wasn't keen working my way to where i died to continue exploring. With no way to heal, it meant some of the trickier enemies started to become a chore and i became less keen on exploring. One thing i bought was an Objective Marker for my Map. at least i knew where i was meant to be going now.

Whilst travelling to our destination, the music was the perfect balance of BGM whilst also being interesting. the environments looked great on PS4, too. and when we got to an underground temple, the new story we learned was told very well.

But the lack of healing became frustrating again as there were only a couple of heal spots throughout the big dungeon. Thankfully there was one before the boss 'cause i died a few times and if i had to travel a long distance back to it i wouldn't have tried so many times and this would've been a shorter video. But i did try and i did succeed and then the demo does something great. it gives us the choice to end the demo OR we can take a newly learned and improved move and continue exploring the world. I chose to stop, but i appreciated being given the choice.

For me, Crypt Custodian felt like Cat Quest in many ways, but the lack of healing and some high level enemies also made it feel like it's more difficult than those 3 games in that series. But, if like me, you're a fan of the Cat Quest games and are wanting something a little more difficult, or maybe a more relatable serious story, than i do recommend Crypt Custodian. On PS4 it played great, it never felt like i was playing a worse version of the game. If you're unsure, i also highly recommend trying out the demo.

Backlog Conquering - Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut - Part 4 - Missions 9 and 10

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.

Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut is a game from Born Ready that i've had on PS4 since it game out on the PSN. 

I once again came close to dying as i was getting too close to enemy ships. i've played all 4 parts on easy and i'd recommend that to anyone who plays the game. but that doesn't mean i can stop paying attention to what's happening around me. i need to keep checking my shields and armor and where i'm flying. but when it works, flying through an explosion is really cool in this game. the story is still difficult to follow but the Ai twist really makes it difficult for us to trust it. i can't help but think there's more twists to come!

Stories on Tuesday - Star Trek: Resurgence - Part 9 - Act 3 Part 23 to Credits

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Star Trek: Resurgence, from Dramatic Labs. 

This is the final part of my playthrough of Star Trek: Resurgence. it wasn't easy, i failed a couple of times to complete a task. but i will say that it was satisfying and i found it exciting. 

I have included the credits to the game which is one reason why it's as long as it is. i'll put that as a chapter below if you want to skip past them. but the music is quite nice to listen to.

Switch Funday - Cassette Beasts - My First Hour

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This week, 4 full games were free to play for Switch Online Members; Tetris Effect: Connected, PowerWash Simulator, Enter the Gungeon and Cassette Beasts. of those, the only one i hadn't played before was Cassette Beasts and i remembered that it got a lot of attention when it came out. In the video, i mistakenly say that the game came out this year when in fact it came out last year, 2023, across many platforms.

I didn't know much going in and i tried to not have many assumptions about the Cassette aspect of the game. i was curious if the developers would lean into the "retro" aspect, maybe give the game an 80's influence, or more into the modern revival of cassettes. after the first hour, it's much more a modern interpretation of cassettes. there was no mention of different materials, there was no 80's aesthetics. 

It's always interesting playing a "monster collecting" type game when Pokémon is such an established type, and one i have a lot of experience playing. i need the game to tell me what it is, to describe it's systems, to show me how it differs from such a known playstyle. i feel that Cassette Beasts didn't quite nail it. they went hard with the story, but left too much unknown and talking to other people didn't provide the extra information i was looking for. There were plenty of battles and i feel that their tutorials were fine, but then they mention types and failed to actually explain it in any detail. i did like that when it came to the "why" of cassettes, the answer was we don't know but it works.

This Switch port also had some issues. the obvious one was the pop-in of in-game elements. with a world as sparse as this, it was very obvious when something, like a tree, would pop-in. unfortunately, it happens quite often throughout this video. another issue i noticed at the beginning was that the background didn't seem to scroll smoothly, there was a stutter. Loading was frequent but thankfully not too long, and then near the end there was an instance where the game seemed to freeze for 2-3 seconds. this is a case where i feel like i'm playing an inferior version of a game. i wouldn't say it's very inferior, this Switch port of Cassette Beasts is playable. but it's noticeable enough where i feel that a Xbox Series version would be a smoother experience.

Cassette Beasts does have some interesting ideas. i liked the idea of Fusion but it felt like it took a long time for that to power up and i only got to use it once. having a shared pool of monsters was also an interesting decision, but without knowing types and what's effective against what it wasn't too useful. there's also a feature where you can "Rewind" a cassette to bring a monster back to full health, but there's no way to know what the health is of any of the monsters from that screen. The whole Monster Catching mechanic was interesting, too. but i don't think it was explained as well as i could've been. unlike Pokémon, when you go to catch a monster it can take several turns and when you do it's more like you saved a copy of the monster to tape and the original monster is still there on screen for you to defeat.

After my first hour with Cassette Beasts on Switch, i'm not too sure i want to buy the game and continue. i don't think that it's a great hour. the game does tease at the game's story and other activities like trying to become a Ranger, but the technical issues and little things like the writing don't give me enthusiasm to continue.

Online Saturday - DRAGON BALL PROJECT:Multi - BETA - 6 Matches, 5 Wins

For Online Saturday i went back to DRAGON BALL PROJECT:Multi on my iPhone and played 6 more games. the first 4 matches were with Android 18, the 5th match was with Krillin, and the final match was with Vegeta.

When i played it for Mobile Friday, https://youtu.be/TbtJ0tSpA_M, i only used Goku and Android 18 so it was nice to try a couple of other characters. they each do play differently and i enjoyed using Krillin more than i thought i would. There's a little talk about framerate in this video, but other than that it's focus is on beating the opposing team. 

Version 0.8.0 Played.

Mobile Friday - DRAGON BALL PROJECT:Multi - BETA - Good Gameplay But Hard To Follow The Action

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out DRAGON BALL PROJECT:Multi, from Bandai Namco, on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I didn't know about this BETA until i saw DRAGON BALL PROJECT:Multi high up in the game charts on the App Store. so going in, i really didn't know what to expect. the screenshots they used didn't really give many clues either. all i knew was that it was an online multiplayer game that's 4 vs. 4.

Unfortunately, it starts with an extra 1 GB download so it's best to do this on Wi-fi. about halfway through the download there is the option to start the tutorial, but for this video i decided to download everything first. there is no trailer, no art, no screenshots, and no music during this process.

the tutorial for DRAGON BALL PROJECT:Multi is too basic. i'm not familiar with #MOBA type games, with Pokémon Unite being my main experience, so i wanted and needed more information that it gave. i found it difficult to read the map in the top left and difficult to follow the tutorial instructions on the middle left as the action takes place on the right side. there was not enough verbal instructions from Whis and Beerus, and the map is far too small to be glanceable. 

A lot of things were far too small in this BETA. i do HDMI out to a TV so i can check what the Dynamic Island is covering but i ended up having to look at the TV as a lot of text was tiny, especially Japanese Katakana names, and character thumbnails were useless at times.

The action on screen is also often too small. because we get to see a lot of the map, many of the characters are small. the enemies have labels, but they're even smaller than the characters. with things like grass blocking views, at times it was hard to work out who was friend and who was foe. the Z Fighters are a little easy to spot because of the Red "uniforms" but then again Android 18 doesn't wear a uniform and is harder to spot. when there's Gods of Destruction, Enemies, Team Mates, Opposition Players, and a Zeno all on screen at the same time, it's essentially luck and chaotic.

But i'm not saying that the gameplay is bad. a lot of it makes sense and how things progress make sense in how they describe it. there is some good solid action. the next layer of flashiness also works. there's flair when going Super Saiyan and the camera zooms in close. the same happens when doing a solo finishing move or with a team mate. it adds a satisfying sense of epicenes and power to the action. 

I recommend people try this beta. for Dragon Ball Z and Super fans, it'll be fun. for MOBA fans i think it'll be something simple and easy to play. but i hope that there's enough time for the developers to overhaul the tutorial, to add a main menu tutorial, and to add the option for players to zoom into the action a little more. The developers also need to work on iPhone specific aspects. the Dynamic Island got in the way a little here and there. the PC style graphic options make little sense on iPhone, more so when there's no visual example of what any of them do, and very few games get my iPhone that hot and keep it so hot that the screen remains permanently dimmed throughout the video.

Version 0.8.0 Played.