Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade - Redout: Space Assault - The First 40 Minutes

This sixteenth video in the new Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade series is on Redout: Space Assault. I Played this as part of my Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade series, but the game has been out for a few years on Apple Arcade and is now out across other platforms.

When i chose to play this game, it didn't cross my mind that this game would be from the team who made the Redout racing games. I only found that out later. i also didn't go in knowing that the game was going to be as on rails as it was.

But that didn't detract from the game. in a way, it being on rails let me focus on the enemies and story. the same applies to the game taking over shooting controls. when my ship had a target locked, it would shoot. when there wasn't a ship there it wouldn't. this meant i had to control my ships movement along the path and the missile power-up. later, when i had switched to a controller, i would gain the ability to barrel roll dodge manually.

controlling the game with my fingers wasn't that bad. it was pretty responsive and accurate. the controls were also located to the side of where the main action took place so it didn't get in the way. when i switched to the bluetooth controller, initially there wasn't any change to the screen. but not long after i started trying out the buttons, on screen prompts appeared saying what some buttons did. this continued into the game and with new tutorials, too. i felt that the game did control better with a controller, i think you'll notice that i died less with a controller in comparison to not using one.

The game did have some issues. the biggest one is that the game crashed to my phone's home screen after completing the first mission. thankfully, the game had saved so when i restarted the game it was ready for me to start the second stage. i also noticed some slow down and minor stutters. they didn't get in the way of what was happening but they were noticeable. The Dynamic Island also got in the way now and then. the biggest issue was that on the right side there were often labelled character portraits. the Dynamic Island got in the way of most of the picture and the character names. 

Redout: Space Assault is a good game to show off Apple Arcade. Even tho it's an older title, it still looks great. the music is good, too. what's cool about this game is that whilst on a TV, iPad, or older iPhone it'll look better than on a newer iPhone 14 Pro due to the Dynamic Island getting in the way, it's still a great match for the phone because of how short the levels are. most i did were under 5 minutes long. Also, because the game helps with the controls, holding the phone is also easy and stable. The only downside to playing on the phone, and something i forgot to mention at the end of the review, is that my phone got hot. most games in this series get my phone to varying levels of warm. but for this game i would say my phone got hot to touch. not too hot, but still hot.

Backlog Conquering - Papo & Yo - Part 4 - Getting Stuck on a Puzzle

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

Today's video is part 4 of playing Papo & Yo on PlayStation 3.

Part 3 was a long video where i managed to complete puzzle after puzzle. i had a good time doing so and it felt great to work out some of the more tricky ones. But today, i couldn't complete this puzzle.

This video is nearly 40 minutes of me trying to complete a single puzzle. i feel like i had the right idea, but i couldn't get it to work. please offer some tips in the comments. i'll check out a guide or two before Part 5.

Backlog Conquering - Papo & Yo - Part 3 - An Hour of Puzzle Solving Gameplay

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

Today's video is part 3 of playing Papo & Yo on PlayStation 3.

Part 3 turned out to be much longer than expected. This game doesn't have many breaks as it mostly flows from puzzle to puzzle, story to story. the previous two parts ended after the game switched to a real world event. but i didn't get to the next one in this video.

i found this part to be a little more difficult than the other two videos. i needed more time to solve the puzzles, especially the house stacking puzzle. But i was pleased how i solved the soccer pitch puzzle. this game handles puzzles really well, everything is there.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Pixel Nevan Cup - Achievement Run

Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!

I play and earn all the achievements from The Pixel Nevan Cup! (2023/3/20 9:00～2023/3/27 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

As there were no objections in the previous video, i once again have edited this one a little to make it shorter. but as you can see it's still a long one.

This week's cup didn't go well. i did get a win, but it was surprising how difficult it was. i thought i understood what the gimmick was this week but it didn't seem to be that powerful. Many of the other human opponents i was up against also got low scores or scores close to mine so it seems like it was a fairly common problem. maybe if i played more i would've worked it out, but the point of this series is to go out and get all the achievements. 

But the time it took shows i got some real low positions. let me know how it went for you, maybe you can see what my strategy was and offer some tips as to what i needed to do differently.

Switch Funday - Super Fantasy Zone - My First Time

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This week i decided to try out the Mega Drive App that's part of the Nintendo Switch Online. i had a Mega Drive growing up so i have played many of the games on the app. one game i hadn't played was Super Fantasy Zone. but i had played the Master System original on, i think it was, the Wii.

So going in i knew it was going to be a side scrolling shooter, i thought that it might be similar to Gleylancer that i played as part of my Backlog Conquering series. because i had that expectation, when i saw i could change the amount of lives i had i did. i also made sure i remembered how to rewind the game when i died as i was sure i was going to die a lot.

And i wasn't wrong. the first couple of levels do go by quickly but i did die a lot. this kept happening up until i decided to stop playing. you can hear in my voice how frustrated i was getting. so i stopped before i got too angry.

the game does look great, everything is clear and distinct. the soundtrack is amazing, too. but there were some choices made that negatively affected it's gameplay. the level before i stopped playing, my biggest complaint was that enemies kept on respawning. the boss enemies were also becoming bullet sponges in a way that felt like they had leveled up faster than my own character.

So i'm glad i tried it but i doubt i'll go back and play it again. i did save it just in case i do.

Online Saturday - Gundam Evolution - 3 Games, 3 Losses!

In the previous Gundam Evolution video, https://youtu.be/wNde7QzflVw, i changed my region and i got to play games more regularly than before. So today's video is simply me playing games.

But the title does hint that whilst i got 3 games in under an hour, i didn't manage to win any of them. a couple of times they were heavy losses, but in the second game my team did manage to win a match and it felt a little closer.

Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade - LEGO Builder's Journey - A Beautifully Frustrating Time

This fifteenth video in the new Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade series is on LEGO Builder's Journey I Played this as part of my Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade series, but the game is out across many other platforms. 

I had known of this game for a while and went in knowing how it plays. but there were many other aspects of the game i didn't know about. for example, i had no idea it would take 15 minutes to get to the title screen. the game's tutorial levels are very good and show off a lot of the concepts and play styles in a way that leads the player to discover them organically rather than being told how to do it. But the game also knows when to offer some advice to the player.

The story being told in each level wasn't a big surprise as it had been revealed by many websites and YouTube channels i watch. but it was still nice to see it unfold. the problem i had, and what lead to the frustration in the video title, was controlling the game. whether it was my fingers or with a controller, it never felt precise enough or natural enough.

i would like to be clear that i'm not saying the controls were horrible and that the game is unplayable. i'm not saying that. but i am saying that little issues made it a frustrating experience, especially in comparison to everything else about the game. it is a beautiful game full of style and uniqueness. many of the UI stuff is great, too. but at the end of the video i didn't like that i couldn't work out how to get to the "home screen." it felt like there wasn't one.

Unfortunately, i won't be playing the game again as i have already deleted it from my phone. i found the controls to be too frustrating. there's a chance i might try this on a console, but i doubt it. i feel like i got a lot from this time with the game. the negatives from my experience outweigh the positives, to the point where even the story isn't enough to get me back playing it.