Life with the Splat Brella

The sky above is clear but there are clouds in the distance. You can tell it’s about to rain. Luckily, you are a Splat Brella main. Lift it up and catch the wind. If it flies back in your face then a storm is coming. You must charge up your own rain to counter it by inking everything around you. Throw that sprinkler down. Launch that canopy across the bridge. Jump around and shoot ink all around the camp yelling Booyah! People will give you weird looks but to use a Brella effectively you must be prepared to take in your surroundings.

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Metagal – Please Nerf

A Mega Man clone for $5? Heck yeah! What could possibly go wrong? Well how about everything. I bought Metagal because of its price and felt a wave of regret almost immediately after seeing the first low quality cutscene art and blurry text. This is an unfinished game that lingered as a Steam green-light title for 3 years with no approval, and has now been dumped on consoles for a few bucks. The very first screen on the Switch version is a blurry Joycon Grip diagram with white background, and it doesn’t really get better in the cutscene. Instead of a full-blown review this is going to be a short impression piece, since I could only stomach playing 4 of the game’s 8 levels. There are zero reviews online listed on Metacritic so I feel a sense of duty to warn people about this game.

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Forza Community Spotlight

Forza started with a bang on the original Xbox, but by the time Forza 5 rolled around it was gaining a lot of negative press based on the way they were exploiting consumers. I even wrote an article about it here back then and subsequently avoided the Xbox brand for 5 years. Times have indeed changed as I’ve found myself absolutely blown away by the latest Forza games and the state of the series. Not only has Forza Horizon created one of the most fun experiences in gaming with a new open structure, the core Forza sim series has righted all its wrongs and now exists as a wholesome, playable and welcoming game.

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Pokemon Let’s Go – Almost There

Could it be? A traditional Pokemon RPG on the big screen? Technically yes, but Let’s Go has a bit of an identity crisis that needs addressing first. To sum it up, it’s a remake of Pokemon Red and Blue that removes wild Pokemon battles for catching encounters. It’s meant to be more accessible but developers Game Freak have a very interesting definition of accessible. I want to first say that I enjoyed the game immensely, but it has some disturbing problems.

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Blaster Master Zero 2 – Blowing Away Expectations

BOOM! CRASH! PSKTWOOO! PEW PEW PEW! That’s the sound of a brand new game launching out of the blue. Not just any game, but Blaster Master Zero 2! Yes Zero Two or 0 2, because it’s the sequel to Blaster Master Zero, the semi-remake of the original Blaster Master! Makes perfect sense. Unable to watch the Nindie Direct at 3am local time, I woke up to this previously unannounced game being already available to buy on my Switch. I was a big fan of Blaster Master Zero at the Switch launch so jumped right into this without hesitation.

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Fear Effect Sedna

Fear Effect and it’s sequel were breakthrough hits at the turn of the millennium. Releasing late in the life of the original Playstation, they stood out with their stylish cel shaded graphics and sexy bisexual lead character, which was a big deal at the time. And then the series died. 15 years later Square Enix, who inherited the property after buying out Eidos Interactive, put out an open call for expressions of interest in bringing Fear Effect back. A (barely) successful kickstarter followed and last year French developer Sushee shat Fear Effect Sedna out.

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Travis Strikes Again – No More Perfect Heroes

Videogame quality can be measured in a lot of arbitrary ways. Graphics, gameplay, content, and length can all be judged objectively, but what if a game can deliver all these without being fun to play? Is it still a good game? There’s something else, and while trying to describe to myself and others why I like Travis Strikes Again so much, I’ve pinpointed one of my favourite aspects of videogames; their personality.

Travis Strikes Again is a mediocre game by many measurements and made with a low budget, but it is absolutely exploding with charm and wit. The gameplay or graphics aren’t bad by any means but this game is carried hard by great direction and writing. The structure propels the serviceable gameplay to a new exciting level, while the art direction excites the imagination. I was unsure I would like this game, or even the aesthetic because it’s been so long since the first two No More Heroes games came out. I forgot what a game like this felt like. The moment I sat at the title screen it all came flooding back. The immense attitude of No More Heroes with a brand new setting and story. To be clear, this is not No More Heroes 3 but still bares the soul of the series in a big way.

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SteamWorld Dig 2 – Going Deeper

It’s been 89 days since Rusty went missing. From the small desert town of Tumbleton I’ve found myself in a brand new mining town, El Machino. This place is huge. It’s quite high up on a hill, full of houses, buildings and machines, has a population in the triple digits (so the sign says), and there’s even a rocket! The people here are quite simple minded and they are all trying to make a living, but still they are quite welcoming. Everyone wants to do business and The Mayor is happy to stand around and brag. The overall feeling is that there’s a lot more going on here than Tumbleton. Even the music is on a new level with a very funky baseline and more elements than I’ve heard before. Wait, what music? Must be in my head. I’ve come a long way to get here.

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Every Game has Flaws, Zelda has a Motorbike

Disgraceful, unforgivable motorbike sullying Link and The Legend of Zelda froever.

The Legends of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a great game, by any measure one of the greatest ever made, but the final instalment of DLC inflicted the most egregious assault I’ve ever seen on a video game. At the end of an uneven extra quest Link is rewarded with a motorbike. I invite you on a personal journey with me to learn about why the bike is so bad, how it came to this, and the personal toll it inflicted on me.

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Driving Simulator 101 – Challenging Yourself

G’day fellow racer, I’ll be your instructor today. My name’s Grubdog but you can call me Grub. I’m not a racing god by any means but I’ve had my fair share of struggles and success to share some words and hopefully help someone out. There are many different ways to enjoy driving simulators and many people will choose the passive approach with all assists on and easy AI, just to enjoy the sights and sounds of the racetrack. Mmmmm, nothing like the smell of sweet asphalt and burning rubber on a Sunday afternoon. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that approach and it can be a very chill way to spend your gaming time. There’s no right or wrong way to play a game that has this many options.

For people who DO want to challenge themselves as much as possible, there is a whole new world waiting for you. Whether it’s Forza, Gran Turismo, Assetto Corsa, Project CARS or F1 you have a lot of difficulty options at your disposal that can change the game significantly. With every assist you turn off, your car will get faster as you unlock more potential from it. It will also get more difficult to control. Playing these games without assists can be daunting at first, but it’s very satisfying if you find your groove. A big strength of these games is mastering all different sorts of cars and tracks, kinda like using different weapons in a shooter, or different movesets in a fighting game. Instead of going in-depth about driving technique, this article is going to be more about the mindset of change, and approach. For advanced driving there’s far more qualified people and articles out there. I’m going to keep it simple and throw up my biggest personal tips for a console gamer without much driving experience.

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Repairing My Left Joycon – A Real Time Blog

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For a while now the thumbstick on my left Joycon has been acting up, drifting up mainly but it can do other directions if it feels like it. I blasted it with some compressed air which fixed it for a couple of weeks but now it’s worse than ever. A few weeks back, thumbstick drift caused me to lose the final Smash Bros Ultimate Challenge, and even when I play Tetris 99 the drift can cause me to target other players are random. So I ordered a replacement thumbstick off ebay and found a guide on iFixit and thought I’d share my repair journey as I go. This would be a liveblog but we don’t have that WordPress plugin, also traffic to this site probably doesn’t warrant it, so instead you can follow my progress by looking at the timestamps I provide.

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Ys Origin – Comfy Action RPG

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It all starts with an oof. When the first humans walked the Earth and saw each other they said oof. When they rolled out of bed for the first time they said oof. Then again the second time. When cowboys got trod on by their horse they said oof. Or was that hoof? We’ll never know. Like those great moments in history, it’s also how the Ys series started.

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The Khushrenada Contrivance – The 2019 Game Plan

I’m ticked off, dear reader. Once again, an idea I’d come up with in my mind has been implemented in life before I got the chance to execute it first. In this case, I was shocked to see this article by Roland on his 2019 goals. You see, with the new year, I was looking over the Backloggery account I use to keep track of my games. I was able to wrap up a few games in December and cross them off my list. As I thought about doing an article on what I played in 2018, I also thought about looking ahead and what I’d like to do in 2019. It seemed like a perfect follow-up to look forward after reflecting. I didn’t mention this plan to anyone yet during the 12 days it took me to write that article about 2018, Roland has beaten me to the punch making me look like a copycat. So, I’ve altered my plan a bit and my first goal in 2019 will now be to kill Roland to keep him from telepathically stealing any more ideas from me. It seems like the only solution to this problem.

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