The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 version of XBlaze Lost: Memories from Arc System Works and Aksys Games.
This is the third part and it starts from the third memory sequence, after we collected all the memories in Part 3, and ends when we descend down from the fourth Shadow Field into the fifth.
This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS4 version of The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.
Whilst i've played several of the LEGO games since the PS2 era, Ninjago isn't a LEGO property i've ever watched or engaged with. so as well as playing this as part of the recent look at "kids" games being streamed from the cloud, i was also a little curious.
Many of the "kids" games i've checked out recently have not had manual saves and The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game is not an exception. LEGO games typically have different types of game mechanics so finishing a stage or reaching a checkpoint can take more or less time depending on what you're doing. in this video, the tutorial wasn't too long but the flying chapter went really quick, and we finished with an on foot section that took maybe half of this video. this means that the auto save is sometimes frequent and other times less so. and then there's the snake. the game has not explained the snake. i'll check out the snake and menu saving in Part 2.
The stream this time wasn't as smooth as it had been recently, and i don't mean the sore throat and cough i currently have. there were examples of Stream Tearing where we saw occasional bits of grey on the screen. more frequently were what was either resolution drops or bitrate drops, or both. this wasn't much of an issue as i could just attack anything and make progress. but what got a little annoying my end was the audio. it was like the audio was peaking or clipping at the high end. it doesn't get in the way of gameplay, but it is a little annoying when listing to game audio. maybe dropping volume in the setting could help it sound less harsh at the top end. i didn't notice any issues with the controls and found the game to be quite quick and responsive.
For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Fire Emblem Shadows from developers Intelligent Systems on my iPhone 14 Pro.
Nintendo surprised released Fire Emblem Shadows this week. nothing was known about the game before it came out so it's been interesting playing it. the game's description on the app store is that it's a Real Time Tactics & Treachery game. one of the easier comparisons people will make is that it's an Among Us style game in the Fire Emblem universe, but after spending an hour with it that's not quite true.
It's disappointing to report that Fire Emblem Shadows has not one but two additional data downloads. thankfully the game lets us know, it suggests doing the download over wifi, and gives us the choice whether to download it or not, unlike some other games which'll just download the data. the first one isn't big, but what was nice was the video that played during it. the video has no words and yet successfully get's across the treachery aspect of the gameplay as a member of the group turns on the others. it's a bit of a shame that this same video plays during the second data download. it's unclear how this video fits into the game's story.
It's a high quality video that plays during the data downloads. the art is also high quality. the style of it is also quite striking and has an HD feel about it. it's very noticeable every time a new character appears and we get to see some great looking art. what's unfortunate is that there's not enough of it. the art isn't animated. so when characters start talking, the art will rarely change. each character has maybe 2 or 3 art pieces with slightly different faces, each showing a slightly different emotion. this means there were a few occasions where the story was being serious and the artwork had a big smile. tonally, what's being said and what's being shown can be quite hit or miss.
The key aspect of gameplay is the treachery system. when our team is attacking enemies, we need to pay attention to not just the enemy but also our team mates. someone on our team is working for the enemy and will attack the characters on our team. we need to pay attention to see what attacks are used by both our team mates on enemies and then on ourselves. during the tutorial, this came across quite well. but in gameplay, things move so quickly that this system actually becomes tough to follow. we have to check out health, the health of our team mates, who's attacking who, and then it ends with a vote before we've certain who's the bad guy. i did guess correctly each time, i did have a reason for choosing who i did, but it did feel a little lucky and not too satisfying.
The way the story is told didn't work for me. that's not to say i didn't enjoy the story. i would like to get more of it and learn more about who the enemy really is. but the way it's told not only feels cheap, it feels disjointed and is hurt by the pauses when the loading screen hits. towards the end of the video we learn about what happened before the game start and it sounds like it would've made a fantastic video rather than just the few sentences it gets.
The tutorial in Fire Emblem Shadows starts off good. the game's pace is slowed down and each aspect of gameplay is briefly mentioned. but it's not long before things get confusing. there's a bar top middle and it came across that we can only do actions when it's our color. but the game, outside of the tutorial, starts doing stuff outside of the player/enemy color. then much later we get the scenario where our characters are knocked out but we're still able to attack and the whole revive mechanic wasn't explained in this scenario. the tutorial also kinda fails on the main home screen. the game suggests checking out the red dots but the tutorial explanations feel even shorter here, to the point that i didn't initially grasp how the online has to be played to progress the single player story. The Online mode gives us a choice between wanting to play as good, bad, or let the game decide. Our team fights an enemy. but we have to watch out for the bad guy. get it right, we get points, get enough points and the story unlocks the next chapter.
There are many aspects of Fire Emblem Shadows that individually are good, or have good ideas, but they don't really come together in a satisfying way. i'll keep the game and see what updates come to it, but as it is Fire Emblem Shadows isn't for me. i do think it's worth checking out because of it's interesting ideas. but as a game, as a whole, it doesn't quite land.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Formula Legends from 3DClouds.
I'm a fan of Formula 1, and racing in general, and i'm always keen on trying new arcade style racers. what interested me in Formula Legends was the inclusion of many different era's of cars, teams, and drivers. the game doesn't have the license for official names so the alternatives they've come up with work well enough.
The makes it clear that it's a demo. but what the game fails to explain is how the demo differs, if it does, from the main game. the issues include not knowing what tracks are included in the game. i pondered whether the game would focus on famous tracks of the eras or just focus on the tracks which are in all eras included. the demo doesn't have all the teams and drivers from some, if not all, the eras included and doesn't detail at any point if this will continue into the main game or not. some games will provide more information, whether via a bullet point list or trailer, as to what more content the retail game has.
i did enjoy the art style, all the cars looked great. the team have taken some liberties with the tracks, shortening them significantly but trying to keep iconic parts of them. But the Switch version seems to have an odd issue with the tyres. they seem to be in a constant state of vibration and never really look like round tyres. it gave the impression the the cars were floating on the track rather than racing on them. i also thought the engine sounds were off when driving the 90's cars.
The demo didn't start with explaining how the controls worked. the demo loads into the main menu with Story Mode being highlighted even tho it's locked and not in the demo. the two modes we can try are Time Attack and Custom Mode. I chose to start with Time Attack to learn how to play the game. unfortunately, the tutorial was in Custom Mode, so i didn't get to experience it for a while.
I felt that the demo for Formula Legends failed to get the message across the players about what the main game is and includes. whether it's a technical issue or limitation of the Switch, the graphical and audio stuff makes me not want to play this version of the game. if there was a trailer showing the game running on other platforms or from the final game then maybe i'd have a different opinion. But the demo as it's presented doesn't do a great job showcasing the game and i honestly wouldn't recommend the Switch version.
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 version of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy from the 2012 The Jak and Daxter Trilogy that remastered the games and brought them into HD. This series is my first time playing any of the games from the initial trilogy, tho i have played the PSP game Daxter.
The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 version of XBlaze Lost: Memories from Arc System Works and Aksys Games.
This is the third part and it starts from the third memory sequence, after we collected all the memories in Part 3, and ends when we descend down from the fourth Shadow Field into the fifth.
This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS3 version of Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.
In Part 1, we learned that the game doesn't have manual saves but the auto save is frequent enough. after playing this part, it feels like that if there is a disconnection you could lose as little as 5 minutes of progress. it's not perfect but it's better than a lot of games we've played in this series.
Playing a couple of hours of Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension has also shown how many different gameplay styles there are. in this video we have some traditional platforming, we have a flying sequence similar to Space Harrier, there's even a sequence where we set up turrets and fight off waves of enemies. none of these gameplay types over stay their welcome which means for me that across both parts time seemed to fly.
I've said a few times now that i've never watched an episode of Phineas and Ferb, nor have i watched the movie this game is tied-in with. there are some characters and situations i don't know the back story for. but in general, the story has been fine, the characters have been good, and it's not been too quippy either. with the shifting gameplay styles and mini-game breaks, i would recommend Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension as a game that's good for kids to play, but also for those who, like me, don't know much about the show and haven't watched it as the game doesn't require this knowledge from it's players.
