Demo Play Thursday - On Your Tail On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of On Your Tail, from Memorable Games and published by Humble Games .

This game knew it was a demo and i enjoyed how it leaned into it. where ever there were invisible walls, the game had something to say. even tho effort had gone into this demo version of the game, it was a little surprising that the title screen didn't have a link to the game's #eShop page to pre-order it.

There isn't too much to do in this demo. i don't think it starts from the beginning of the game, but it's fairly close to it. we're given a short list of things to do and let loose into the world to do them. there's no map and no markers pointing the way. but there's also no time pressure to get things done quick. some areas we couldn't explore because it's a demo, and it wasn't too difficult to find our way.

But the first thing i did was find a guy and talk to them. they offered to be my tour guide, and then preceded to never lead. we had to lead and the guy quipped in now and then with things not too useful or he talked about things we weren't looking at. if it was meant to be a way to introduce us to the town, it didn't work. but it's difficult to know if that's because it's a demo or because that's how it is.

The other thing we had to do was talk to a restaurant owner about a theft. this was far more interesting as it showed of the game's core mechanic. we have a timepiece that lets us look at items in the past. we had to find 3 that had been changed in the past. one we did, we had to put them onto a timeline and watch the crime take place. this may sound complicated but it was surprisingly simple. i failed a few times and there's no punishment for it. it would've been nice if it was clearer what had succeeded and what had failed. especially as this is a demo and i suspect the first time we've done this sorta thing. i expected a bit more of a hands on tutorial for this, or a tutorial via inner monologues. 

After we solved that mystery, that seemed to be the end of the demo. and yet it didn't end. so i explored the town and met as many of the people living there as i could. i was wondering how the demo expected us to end it. would it end the demo, treat us to a trailer or screenshots before putting us back at the title screen. or did it expect us to end it by quitting the game. unfortunately i never found out as it crashed and that's where i ended the video.

Overall i had a good time with the demo. it did feel a little rough in places with textures taking a long time to load, and some popping in and out once they did. it also felt a little bare bones at times. i feel much from the background noise and would've preferred a more calm, relaxed, maybe even lo-fi background music instead. there wasn't much life in the town. very few people out and about. whilst i enjoyed the core detective mechanic, i worry that the bits between that may not be as fun or exciting. with the demo being this short and this bereft of content, i just don't know.

So i do recommend people checking out the demo, it's not quite enough for me to say it's an instant whish list or pre-order. but it's well worth checking out reviews and then getting it and it does have some nice ideas and it was a nice time.

Backlog Conquering - Tearaway: Unfolded On PS4 - Part 10 – The Final Part

I finally finished Tearaway Unfolded. i would argue i had seen at least 3 possible end game moments before i got to the actual end game moment. for that, that's the only blemish this game has. for me, the fun and story ended when the scraps were delt with. post that, the story lost me and i don't think i got what the developers were trying to say. it almost feels that the stuff after the scraps could've been DLC for the messenger in our controller.

I never really got that whole there's another messenger part of the game. the idea of being in our controller is cool, but it didn't look anything related to Sony or the games, it was generic. there was no talk about how the messenger got in there either. any why was it that i only became aware of the other messenger right before we met them. it would've made much more sense if my controller would play their song every now and then. like i said, it would've made a lot more sense if this last section was DLC to let us help get the other messenger out and to safety. 

Stories on Tuesday - Star Trek: Resurgence - Part 2 - Act 1 Part 4 to Act 2 Part 5

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

In this video i play through Act 1's "Storm Surge", "The Price of Duty", "All I Ask is a Tall Ship...",  and Act 2's "Cast Adrift",  "A Provocation to War", "Navigational Complexities", and "Seat of Power"

Cloud Monday - The Sly Collection - Part 2 - Not Perfect But The Best Version Of Sly Cooper To Play

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS3 version of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1, https://youtu.be/6y9KGJK1P84, our time with the game was cut short by PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service terminating our session. but there was enough time to start to compare it to the PS2 version of the game that's recently come out via emulation on PS4 and PS5. visually, the main differences between them are that the PS3 version is widescreen with more muted colours whilst the PS2 is 4:3 and more vibrant. i found the controls more responsive on PS3 and more modernised. 

But in this video, Part 2, i finally got to see what would happen without the emulated version's rewind feature. i lost all my lives. i was genuinely concerned about what would happen. but thankfully i needed not worry. the game isn't too concerned that i lost my lives and was happy to give me 5 more and restart me back at the boss fight. With lives being nothing to worry about, it makes the advantages of the PS3 version really stand out.

Both versions have quick saving, and while the PlayStation 2's ability to save anywhere is a bonus, it's not that big of a bonus as the game has frequent checkpoints. The only big difference between the emulated PS2 version and this PS3 version is that you can download and play the emulated version on PS4 and PlayStation 5. the PS3 version is stuck on PS3 and on this cloud gaming service. 

Which ever one you play, it's a fun time and i do recommend you give either version a go. it's one of those games which can be played by many ages and skill levels, but there's something for those wanting to complete the game too.

Switch Funday - F-Zero 99 - Trying Out Patch 1.40's Team Battle Mode And Festival Events

For Switch Funday i'm back with F-Zero 99 as the game has been updated to 1.40. this brought some new additions, including the new Team Battle mode i tried out and the current Festival Event.

Online Saturday - The First Descendant - A Great First Hour!

For Online Saturday i tried out The First Descendant on #PS4. i had heard some good first impressions of  The First Descendant from Nexon , and i was keen on playing an online game similar to Destiny. but i knew next to nothing about The First Descendant so i was hoping for a good tutorial.

I can say that the tutorial in The First Descendant was fantastic. it smartly used gameplay and instructions to teach me the controls. for the more simple stuff, it was a text box on screen. but for more difficult stuff they'd stop gameplay and put up a bigger box with a video showing what you need to do. but with the gameplay stopped, i didn't feel a rush to read everything and could take the time to slowly read it and try to understand. for the most part, the tutorial was smartly implemented throughout this video whenever something new would happen either in-game or in menus. only once did it get in the way when it tried to teach me how to equip better items in the middle of a shootout and i had to dismiss it was gameplay didn't stop as this was during the online section.

I didn't know when the online section was going to come. in the beginning, the game was focused on telling it's story and world building. and then, we were online with everyone! after the story, we were dropped into a hub world full of other players. it wasn't clear which region i'm playing in. i didn't see anyone with Japanese or Asian names and the game didn't ask me what region i wanted to play in.

Whilst this section took me by surprise, the game was much more explicit when it came to the next mission. it used a quick tutorial to talk about public or private play, tho it i must've missed in the tutorial where that selection was. so for the second half, it's all online. the open world elements had enemies randomly attacking and i could engage with them with others in the world. then there were story sections where i could choose to play said section publicly or privately. i chose public each time and each time i either joined someone else playing or someone joined my game. each time was seamless with a simple addition of a player name to my screen.

the first thing i noticed about the gameplay was when i pressed L2 and zoomed into the enemy. it felt much quicker than i expected and there wasn't any lock-on to the enemy either. this isn't a bad thing, it's just one way shooters differentiate themselves. what i found odd was how my character was a big bulky guy and yet moved like someone much nimbler. i may not have fully got used to it during this video, but i was overall satisfied with my progress and the shooter in general.

i had a great time with The First Descendant. it does very well introducing the world, the story, the characters, and the gameplay mechanics. as a free to play game, it's easy to recommend to anyone looking for a shooter in a similar vain to Anthem and Destiny. I'm looking forward to playing more of this game in the future.

Mobile Friday - Dadish 3D - Controls And Adverts Get In The Way Of This Charming Game

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Dadish 3D, The latest Dadish game from Cat Cup Games  and Thomas K. Young. i hadn't played any of the other Dadish games, but it was a series i had heard about. i played this on my iPhone 14 Pro.

from the app store page, this game was overflowing with nostalgic charm so i was excited to play it. but after trying out the mobile version, i don't think i can recommend it. i'd imagine the PC version would be a better experience than what i played.

For me, what was the most frustrating thing were the adverts. i think i had 15 adverts in less than a hour. it was shocking and abrupt the first time it happened and every now and then i'd be blasted by adverts with their volume so high. it looks like the game is using Unity and Lunar and i'm concerned that these are going to eat through your mobile data. i played the game on Wi-fi, but imagine you're commuting 5 days a week, an hour to and from work. that's 150 adverts each week just playing the game. by cutting the adverts from this video, i cut out around 4 minutes. that's like 40 minutes a week of adverts.

Unfortunately, adverts weren't Dadish 3D's only problem. whether it was using the touch screen or Bluetooth controllers, i couldn't trust the controls. with the Bluetooth #Xbox controller the lag was so great that it got me killed. i show in the video it felt like nearly half a second between pressing the button and it happening in-game. the controller doesn't work with the adverts either so you'll need to pick up and play on your phone anyway. but i never really trusted the touch screen controls. there were many instances where it was like my character had momentum when landing and walked off an edge or into something. there were other times when it felt like we barely made a jump.

That's one of the weirdest things about playing this game, i found it really difficult to navigate the 3D environment. sure, my character had a shadow so i could see where i was, but it was really difficult to judge where in a 3D space everything else was. sometimes i would have to move the camera side-on to make it a 2D experience to judge it. other times i'd hope. and sometimes i'd just repeatedly fail until somehow i didn't.

I had other issues with Dadish 3D that got in the way of my enjoyment. mostly they're question i had whilst playing it. the game has one good tutorial moment and then stops it. so when i found a star and it had little to no fanfare, i had no idea what was happening. or when other foods appeared, i didn't know if they were out to get me, if i could defeat them, or what. i had no idea how many stages were in each area or how many kids i was to get. for some reason the game never sent me to the overworld menu screen. there, i got some of my answers. but i only discovered that screen right at the end. the game never communicated it to me.

There are some other small issues, but ultimately they all combine into a gaming experience that i cut short of my usual hour play time because i stopped having fun and was more frustrated than anything else. So i can't recommend the mobile version of Dadish 3D. i don't know how it plays on #Switch or PC, but after this experience i'm not that keen to find out.

Version 1.02 Played.