Bounce Defense: Brick Breaker - Wave Based Auto Ball Shooter With Roguelike Elements - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Bounce Defense: Brick Breaker, from #cookapps, on my iPhone 14 Pro. 

The game's App Store page listed it as a Roguelite Pinball Defense game, but from the screenshots i wasn't so sure as it reminded me more of Monster Strike. either way, i did like the art style and i was curious about it so i decided to give it a go.

Bounce Defense: Brick Breaker isn't a pinball game, but i can understand why the developers might have picked that as it's hard to describe what genre of game this is. there are elements of Puzzle Bobble, for example, too. it's an auto shooter where our character could just as easily be a turret. waves of enemies are approaching us and we have to fight back with balls.

we start with normal balls. when we defeat an enemy we get experience and after a certain amount we level up. this grants us access to a power-up which is either an active skill like different balls to attack with or something passive. there is a limit of to each at first but there are other upgrades which enable us to fuse balls together into something new, but critically that free's up a space for a new ball to be used. 

It's easy to play and i did most of this video with one hand. the only tricky part is that the game expects you to touch where you want the ball to go. but there's also the ability to touch and drag for more accurate aiming. but that initial press on the screen could be wildly off if you're not careful.

the rogue element of Bounce Defense: Brick Breaker is very generous. in a run we collect money and ball scrolls. with enough of each you can upgrade your balls. by the end of the video i was approaching the point where i would need to grind a little to get the resources needed to level up, so i could make progress.

With the simple mechanics, controls, and a fairly decent tutorial, Bounce Defense: Brick Breaker is a very approachable mobile game. the graphics are nice, the music is a bit repetitive, but overall i enjoyed it and will be keeping it on my phone.

Version 1.0.10 Played

Unrailed 2: Back on Track DEMO On Switch - Demo Play Thursday

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Unrailed 2: Back on Track, from developer Indoor Astronaut.

This game looked easy from the screenshots, but after reading the #eShop page it was clear that this was more than just a track laying game. the tutorial is helpful until it isn't. it tells us the controls and some of the basics, but in this demo you'll see that i fail a couple of times because i kept being blocked. i also found that the tutorial didn't quite cover the ai of my companion that great and i mostly found out by trying.

By the end of this video, i got a basic understanding of how to play Unrailed 2: Back on Track, how to manage access, and how to progress through a level. But by this point i wasn't having too much fun. it felt like i had solved a problem and was waiting for the next thing that didn't quite come.

There are rogue elements to the game where if you fail you carry over some progress into the next attempt. for example, you no longer have to start right at the beginning if you accessed a new biome and some of the currency you obtained can be spent before your next run.

Puppeteer On PS3 - Part 4 - Backlog Conquering

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.

The location in this part was fun and unique. playing on a ship has been done before, but not quite like this. the same with inside a whale, under the sea, and on an island. the bosses in this part were different to what has come before, too. instead of one and done, they were a persistent threat throughout. the only thing holding back the game is how the platforming isn't quite as good as i'd want. but so far it's been a lot of fun.

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

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/Ti2e3_u6Hxc

Part 3 - Act 2 - https://youtu.be/AyXafK0G4KQ

Gitaroo Man - Part 1 - Missing The Beat - Cloud Monday

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

Gitaroo Man is a different style of rhythm game to Bit.Trip Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, that i previously checked out for Cloud Monday. Runner 2 lets you finish the level as long as you cross the finish line. but with Gitaroo Man, it's more of a "traditional" rhythm game where you finish when you beat set conditions. In this game that means beating an enemy.

I found Gitaroo Man to be a lot harder than expected. one of the disadvantages of the game is that there is nothing else to do but replay levels you have completed. but because it's soo tough to get the timing right, i could only replay the tutorial and first boss.

the timing of button presses in Gitaroo Man is very tight. i'd go so far as to say that it's tighter than in  #Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line, a game i've lived streamed on this site. there is no easy mode to increase it, there's no calibration mode in the options to help with the timing. Gitaroo Man feels old in how bare bones it is.

If it was easier and that i could make progress and see more of the characters and story, it wouldn't be much of an issue. but streaming it from the cloud, in this part at least but we'll see in Part 2 for sure, seems to be introducing additional delay/lag in the controls which means i can't rely on when the the prompts are on target. i have to judge it slightly earlier. Gitaroo Man is one of the very few games where i've not only noticed the lag in the controls from playing the game in the cloud but couldn't compensate for it. if the game had a practice mode where i could do levels over and over i feel like i could get close.

But there's another downside that did hit Runner 2 and that's the odd stuttering. every now and then, the game would stutter and i'd completely loose any rhythm i had. you can see at the end that i had a great internet connection, but of course i'm unable to check for bandwidth.

Pokémon Champions - An OK Battle System With A Poor Story And A Poor Tutorial - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Pokémon Champions, from The Pokémon Works, on my iPhone 14 Pro. 

I had downloaded this on Switch but i haven't played it yet because my favorite Pokémon wasn't in the game. But now it's out on phones, i decided to give it a try, even if Jumpluff still isn't in the game. Honestly, i do think that is a negative for Pokémon Champions. there are over 1,000 thousand Pokémon now, so there are over 1,000 possible favorites. it's an unenviable task to try and get all of them in the game from the start. so they're always going to make someone unhappy with their choices.

I had heard a little of this game from PokéYouTubers but i was surprised to discover that this game tries to do a story. it's something i had heard nothing about and after trying it i can understand why. logically, even in a Pokémon world, it makes no sense. you could pretty much cut it out of the game and the game would continue as normal.

It could be argued that the story is there as an introduction for newcomers to Pokémon, unfortunately the game's tutorial makes it clear that this game isn't for them. very early on the tutorial says my Pokémon is faster than the opposition. but there's nothing in-game for me to see that information. the tutorial kinda makes it clear that to play this game you need an extra device with Pokémon stats on because this game won't provide them.

The tutorial also feels old, it's more that it tells us what to do rather than telling and showing before letting us try. having a wall of text with still pictures is something not done much nowadays, something that even console games have started moving away from, so it felt kinda old getting it in Pokémon Champions' tutorial.

This is a menu based game, though the language used in the story did make me think that i would be navigating a 3D world, going from place to place to do each thing. so when we get a menu, that's the end of the main tutorial and nothing about that screen is explained. i also found it odd that the game's language doesn't quite match that of the mainline Pokémon games. for example, i don't think i ever saw an attack be supper effective, mostly likely being extremely effective, and yet the text on the move said it was super effective.

The battles themselves are fine. the stage is fairly lifeless and the Pokémon models aren't too detailed, but some of the moves did look cool. but to get to the information you need, you have to go into menus and all of this happens within a timer. it feels like they're not taking full advantage of the screen and should give us more customisation options. Oh, i couldn't find any accessibility options for this game. not even an auto play on the story.

The start to Pokémon Champions just isn't very welcoming to new players or more experienced players. there's a lot of fluff around the main fighting and i don't know who it's for. it feels tact on and not fully realized. 

Version 1.1.2 Played

Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker DEMO On Switch - Demo Play Thursday

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker, from developer Gentle Troll.

the only other one of these style of games i've played before is Coffee Talk, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyEBkNKW1vypuMv71F7pUPRIiSjqdAmDV, and whilst that was an interesting experience there were aspects of it's gameplay i wasn't fond off. having a demo for Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker is useful for me because i get a chance to see how it's gameplay compares with what i've experienced before. 

Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker starts off by saying that this is a demo, but at no point during it is there any mention as to whether or not the save file, if there is one, will carry over to the retail game. but the start and end of the demo does make it clear that this is a demo and it does have a somewhat personalised touch that was nice. but that extra information at the start or even a trailer at the end would've been nice.

i enjoyed playing Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker. it seems to be a demo of the first day. we have an optional tutorial for the 2 main gameplay mechanics we came across. the first one shows how the drinks are made. in Coffee Talk i kept on forgetting how to make the drinks, but in Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker you're able to not only bring up the list of drinks you know, you also have an assistant that'll let you know what you've made or if it's correct. if you make a mistake it's fine to discard it and start again. this calm approach to the drink making was greatly appreciated. But there was a point where i misunderstood what i was required to do and the game didn't seem to notice what i was doing so offered no reminders or additional help.

The second tutorial we got is for a game mechanic that sets this apart from Coffee Talk, but it's also one i never really got to fully experience. when we chat with customers we hear rumours. at the end of the day we're able to combine related rumours into a quest. but as the day ending ended the demo, i never saw how this worked out. but it seems like customers would be able to take on these quests. only the correct rumours would combine into a quest and for the rumours we didn't use we can still keep, as i imagine they might combine with others later on.

the only aspect of gameplay that wasn't explained was our HUD. for me, it was quite obvious what does what. but seeing as the two other mechanics had optional tutorials, it felt a little strange that this aspect of the game had nothing. i tried the pause menu and could see any save options so i don't know if or when the save system works. my guess is that it saves at the end of the day, but i don't know if there's an auto save as we go. that, too, wasn't explained at all.

This first day was nice. we were introduced to several characters. they seemed well written and even the final two who came across as a bit of a stereotype were nicely written that it was still fun. i don't know what the overall story is for this game, though i did have a guess in the video. but so far it's all quite pleasant and i wishlisted the game when i was done with it.

Puppeteer On PS3 - Part 3 - Backlog Conquering

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.

the first two parts cover the first act of the game. in this part i decided to see how long a video would be if i did the whole of an act so this is Act 2. as ever, it was just fun to watch the story unfold. i did find some of the platforming a little awkward. it's not quite as satisfying as i would like. thankfully, the combat and puzzle element to the game is good. the boss fights here are all very different from each other and just as fun. they're not overly complicated but still quite epic to be part of.

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

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/Ti2e3_u6Hxc