Backlog Conquering - Teslagrad On PS4 - A Beautiful World That Fails To Tell It’s Story

This is part 1 of playing the PlayStation 4 version of Teslagrad, from developers Rain AS, as part of Backlog Conquering. From looking at my Trophies, after i finished this video, it looks like i played the game a little back in 2015 probably on PS Vita. But as you'll see in this video, i clearly had no memories of it. But it could explain why i maybe didn't get some trophies.

The game starts by showing us the story rather than telling us. For the most part it works, but it cuts straight to gameplay without even explaining what the jump button is. I've played enough games to know what to do, but it's surprisingly unwelcoming to new players. Visually, i really like the art style and the presentation and i was able to look at the world and understand what i needed to do.

This first section makes it clear where you need to go. The woman points you to the right, you're chased to the right, and it all feels natural. i'm going where the game wants me to go but it feels like a natural way to do it. After that tho, it really did feel like i was on my own. And it's the biggest complaint i had throughout playing this part. Once the game let me go, it all felt aimless. not once did the game tell me where the map screen was, and when i found it, it was next to useless. 

Some games are built around you exploring and discovering the world. But they also excel at the story being told this way. Teslagrad may be set in a nice looking world with strange creatures and technology, but it's failing to tell that story with gameplay alone. I don't know what's happening but worse than that is i don't know where to go. once again, the game fails in driving the player to the next goal. 

But it is early on in the game. it's possible that the pacing, story telling, and player direction will improve once i get to a next section or new area. So there will be a part 2. But if it continues to frustrate, i don't know if i'll do more than 2 parts.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition Quest Mode: All 15 Dungeons From Start to Finish

Welcome to the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

This is, from start to finish, all 15 dungeons in the Quest Mode.

Cloud Monday - Brink - Part 2 - It's Not Designed For The Cloud, But It's An Experience Worth Having

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS3 version of Brink via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4. I have previously uploaded the PlayStation 3 XMB game Previews for the Beta to Brink, version 1.00 https://youtube.com/shorts/uWjRVuGWWZ0 and version 1.01 https://youtu.be/AQGrYqGH7Bg, but it was so long ago i don't really remember much about the game. 

In Part 1, https://youtu.be/M9xZ-ufWVl0, it became clear that the game isn't designed around being played in the cloud. whilst it has some ideas that feel modern, there are a few aspects of the game stuck in PlayStation 3 past. But actually playing in in the cloud was fine. i didn't notice any lag, nor were there any video issues. across both days, it was a great experience playing Brink in the Cloud.

Whilst it's not designed for it and it will be frustrating if you're kicked off the service whilst playing it, i would still say it's worth trying out. There's an aspect of preservation about being able to play Brink on PS3, an experience worth having whilst the game is still on the service. It has it's quirks, but i'd also argue there's some good worth playing too.

If you enjoy it, then you can get it for free on Steam and join in the the community on there. But outside of that, it's difficult to recommend. 

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - February's Weekend Splatfest Tricolor - 15 Battles 5 Wins!

Welcome to Switch Funday.

It's day two of February's Splatfest weekend so today's video focuses on the Tricolor game mode in Splatoon 3. Things were only a little better than yesterday. Matches generally took a minute to be found, there was one game disconnected and a couple of games where teams played with one fewer player. Check out yesterday's video at https://youtu.be/qAMJOuPzT_8, it took an hour 45 to play 15 games then and today it took an hour 30!

The goal of Tricolor is for all three teams to play together. two, with only two players on each team, would team up against the third team, who has four players. Unfortunately, this doesn't often work brilliantly and i've never played a Tricolor Sunday with all games working out like that. often it ends up with three of the same team going up against each other. This week, i only did 3 "proper" Tricolor battles and it felt bad. i really did start to lose enthusiasm by the end. I also only ever played as the defending team 4 times so again it was boring doing the same thing soo many times.

Online Saturday - Splatoon 3 - February’s Weekend Splatfest – 15 Battles 6 Wins!

Welcome to Online Saturday.

It's a Splatfest weekend so today's video is on the "What's the best day of the weekend? Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?" Splatfest in Splatoon 3. I chose to join Team Saturday.

The biggest takeaway for me from today, Saturday, of the Splatfest is how bad the online was. I had 4 games disconnect during gameplay and more in lobbies waiting for games. on top of that were times when i waited minutes for a game, with one wait 3 minutes or more. Splatoon 3 has incredible matchmaking in that the wait is typically 20 seconds or less. so for it to be soo long today sticks out even more. i recorded nearly 1 hour 45 minutes of video and cut out the waits and disconnections and the video is about 1 hour 2 minutes. that's 40 minutes of waiting. By the end i was really fed up and my enthusiasm had dried up. i just wanted the 15 games to be over. I can only hope it went better for you.

Mobile Friday - Disaster Town Tycoon - One Of The Best Idle Games From 2023

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Disaster Town Tycoon from Rogue Harbour Game Studio. I Played this on my iPhone 14 Pro, but it's also out on Android.

The screenshots and video on it's app store page make it look fun and inviting. It certainly got my attention. But it also left a lot unanswered and i was very curious about how a lot of the game would actually work. So i went into this looking for answers and i would say i came away with plenty.

As ever, one of the first things i look for is how the screen is used. all to often, games are ported to Apple from Android and things like the UI haven't been changed to fit iPhone screens. That's not the case here. the Dynamic Island has plenty of space at the top and never gets in the way and at the bottom, the Dock has some room too and i never caught it instead of hitting a button. Another important answer i want to know is how the game integrates adverts. Once again, it's a positive answer in that they're optional. we're given bonuses for watching them and none are forced upon us.

Something many games get wrong or fail to see through to a logical conclusion is the tutorial. If a game has one, they're typically too short and/or lack all the information you need. In Disaster Town Tycoon the tutorial takes you through a lot of the early game. it often simply explains things as well as showing how the game is played. Every new menu is explained, too. if i can complain, i would say that the tutorial could tell you to click on things to get an explanation and that it could be expanded at the start to help explain how to complete certain tasks.

Disaster Town Tycoon is one of the most polished games i've come across. it did come out in 2023 and it has been updated a lot, but i think it does the basic well enough that it would've been in my 2023 Free To Play Mobile Game Of The Year Awards, https://youtube.com/shorts/bF8H8VqQVVQ. The game is colorful and it works great with the art style and building designs. the characters have a fun look to them that doesn't look out of place. I even enjoyed the humour and greatly appreciated how it told us near the beginning why there are people living in a disaster prone city. that was such a small detail that really helped create a world and a reason why.

I hit the grind by about 20 minutes but was able to continue for a little while longer before needing to stop and wait. In some games that's come across as a lack of things to do and that the game doesn't have much depth. I didn't get that from Disaster Town Tycoon. more than once it tells us that we could come back later for free stuff and the pacing of the game goes very naturally from somewhat speedy to somewhat slow so that when the grind starts it feels like a natural time to put it down and let it idle.

I highly recommend Disaster Town Tycoon. I also think it would appeal to more than just the idle crowd. the graphics, the art style, the humour, and more importantly the initial tutorial make this one of the most approachable games i've played on iPhone.

(Version 0.10.1 Played)

Demo Play Thursday - Quadroids On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Quadroids, developed by Blue Loop Studio and published by Fabloo Games and Just for Games.

The screenshots for this game on the PSN got me really interested in this game. But i was very aware that this was a puzzle game with a lot of death and i'm typically not good at them. so i was keen to try out the demo.

It starts out with a very informative video that shows off the basic loop of the game, you play, you die, and it helps you get to the end. We do get a bit of story before a all too brief tutorial that really didn't help that much.  We don't get all the levels from the first section of the game so it's possible that there are other tutorial sections, but i don't think that's the case. I don't typically mind a poor tutorial, but the game is monitoring how many moves you make and it is scored. i would've liked a practice room, or a practice dream, just to try and get the basics done. it's very much level after level.

By the final level, i was already out of my depth and struggling to play it. i am concerned that it'll just keep on getting more difficult. that's why i'm glad that there is a demo. it's clear that the game has some great ideas, but i'm happy to have tried out the demo and learnt that it's not for me instead of paying for it, struggling to progress, and ending up regretting a purchase and possibly souring my thoughts on the game.

Trying to manage four screens, each uses a different button, with a surprising amount of timing required to manage and progress, was a bit too much. at the end, the game has a demo end screen and in the bottom left it lets you try out a later level and i couldn't do it. This ending screen is nice but it's the most that the game acknowledges that it's a demo. the developers were perhaps a little too focused on trying to the theme of the game going over treating it like an actual demo.

But i do recommend you try out the demo. Playing the game does a better job of explaining it than just screenshots and a trailer. actually having to kill your character in the right spot, having to manage the timing of two characters so they meet at the right time, it's something that's better experienced through playing. the levels we get to try seem to be a good collection of new ideas. my guess is that in the game you'd get a level with a new idea, and the following level is that idea used in a different way, whereas in the demo we got to try out all the new ideas and mechanics.

Give it a go and don't worry if it's difficult.