Instant Replay - January 2014
I didn't play many games in January. Why? Besides the fact that not many came out, well...not many came out. I played a new game, and caught up on a few that I had wanted to try.
Olli Olli is the new game, and how much I loved it surprised the Hell out of me. To be honest, when I requested the review code, I was just wanting something to write. I had heard of Olli Olli, and I was not interested in the slightest. But since I had slacked off so much at Critically Sane (where I write on a more...professional?...level), I needed something to get back into the groove of things. Olli Olli was that something. I didn't want my first review of the year to be Lightning Returns, and write a piece of crap because I was rusty.
Anyhow, Olli Olli was fantastic!! I loved it, especially drunk. I mean, I almost hurled my Vita across the room a few times because I couldn't see straight, which in turn made me screw up, but I loved it. Olli Olli is yet another reason to own a Vita. But before I ramble too much about iit, read my review here:
Olli Olli Review @ Criticallysane.com
I also spent a little time with Dragon's Crown on the Vita. An RPG, side scrolling brawler, this game had some interesting ideas..but I blame Atlus. You heard me right. Years and years ago, when I first got into podcasting with my best bud Chris Carboni (aka Retrocore_RCVGM on Twitter), I started sampling games to "review". Some of the cooler games were Atlus games, except...they really weren't cool. They were cool IDEAS, buried in bland gameplay, which made for a mess. So I stopped playing Atlus games. This is the first Atlus game I gave a chance to in years.
That said, I don't regret my decision, it simply cemented my disapproval for Atlus even more. But people like them, and people liked Dragon's Crown, which is fine. I don't.
I recently tried Injustice: Gods Among Us on the Vita as well, but haven't played enough to give a good or bad word. I enjoyed the console version, but we'll see how it carries over to the Vita.
A game I was very interested in, Starbound, let me down, too. There was no way to change the key bindings, and I was not happy with the default controls. So I stopped playing it. That sucked, but oh well. It's still in Early Access, so I will return to it after a few updates.
Lastly, I spent a LOT of time playing Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign. I play this game every chance I get. They recently tweaked it, and a lot of people are bitching about having to spend gold coins on things that you used to be able to buy with ISO-8 (like the "stock pile all colors" perk), but I don't mind too much. I've also spent a little money on it. I didn't for a long time, but since I'm still playing it religiously for over a month, I thought maybe it was time to show a little appreciation.
That's about it for January. February has Lightning Returns, hopefully the Terraria 1.2 console update, and I just bought the Conquest of Paradise pack for Europa Universalis IV.
How was your January gaming experience?
