#mattzere

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Slay the Spire - Aspire to Greatness

Available on: PC (reviewed)

The best part of any roguelike, in my opinion, is when you get just the right combination of mechanics to utterly wreck all of the things. In my time playing Slay the Spire this occurred on the second floor, whilst playing as The Defect. Now, The Defect uses orbs that have various abilities however my wombo-combo didn't count on them at all. The first part of my combo had actually been with me for a while - an attack card called Hyperbeam, which does a bunch of damage but weakens your aforementioned orbs. It also costs 2, which had previously been enough to make me second-guess using it.

The next part of my game-smashing combo was a relic called the Necronomicon. It cost me a fair bit of health to obtain but its passive ability was well worth it: the first 2+ cost attack played each turn is immediately played a second time at no additional cost.

The finishing touch was when I obtained another relic. This one was called Bottled Flame and it let me select one attack card to always be in my opening hand. Can you see where this is going?

A battle begins. Thanks to Bottled Flame, I open with Hyperbeam, which I spend 2 energy to use. With my current strength, this does 33 damage to ALL enemies. The Necronomicon kicks in and does ANOTHER 33 damage to any remaining enemies. Boom. 66 damage to all enemies and I even have 2 energy and 4 cards left over.

Slay the Spire is full of combos that feel way OP. It lets you have them, if you are lucky enough to stumble upon them. There's no "up to a maximum" or "does not stack with" hampering your schemes. Until the end of your current run, you might simply be overpowered and that feels awesome! And then your run ends. Back to square one. But, when square one is open to so many possibilities, it's a great place to be.

Slay the Spire gets a big ol' 👍 from me!

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Invisible, Inc. - Sneaky Blinders

Available on: Steam, iOS, PS4 (reviewed)

The alarm is level 4, and rising. Internationale, my crack agent, is stuck in the teleporter room. She is babysitting three unconscious guards, and if they wake up… Well, it’ll make extraction a lot more tricky. 

Another guard stumbles into the room and it all gets a little too much. I send the solemn Shalem 11 back to give her a hand. They take turns pinning down each of the guards to stop them waking up. Meanwhile, Banks is downloading vital data from the other side of the map.

Eventually, Banks is ready to head towards the teleporter. She steps out of the server room and gets about a quarter of the way before running out of action points. The enemy turn begins and things take a sudden turn for the worse. From nowhere a guard charges into the room Banks occupies. He immediately spots her and readies his gun. Banks has no ranged weapon and nowhere to hide. As I’m pondering how to survive this, another guard bursts into the teleporter room and spots Shalem 11. Damn.

My turn begins again and Internationale steps into action. She climbs off her currently pinned guard and steps behind the new foe. With one swift blow she knocks out the assailant. No time to rest, though; Banks is still in dire need of assistance. But she is half the map away!

I remember that Shalem has a rifle, which would help if it weren’t empty… Ah, Internationale has a charge-pack for it! She has just enough AP left to step over to Shalem and pass him the charge. Shalem rams the pack into his weapon, bursts through the door and by sheer chance has direct line of sight, 3 ROOMS AWAY, to take out Banks’ arrestor.

The kill raises the alarm further, and it takes another two turns for Banks to arrive at the teleporter room. The alarm reaches its max level (6) and the big guns get called in. They enter a room filled with unconscious guards just in time to see my three agents vanish. Mission accomplished.

Invisible Inc. is full of these nail-biting, skin-of-the-teeth moments. They seem to play out like the best scenes from Mission Impossible, even though what you are playing is an isometric tile/turn-based strategy game. I’ve played through the campaign a couple of times now, and I’m just itching to dive back in.

The truly wonderous thing is that each level is procedurally generated, yet they all WORK. They are rarely too hard or too easy, regardless of what agents, skills or items you have.

Changing your starting agents and hacking abilities mix things up nicely, and different difficulties and modes help keep things fresh as you play and unlock new agents and hacks.

I have lots of good things to say about Invisible Inc. and very few negative, so of course it is getting a 👍 from me. So much so that the console edition is one of my 3 2016 Gs of the Y!

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Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - horsing around

Available on: Wii U, Switch (reviewed)

She is as stubborn as she is beautiful. Midnight black. Flowing hair. The equine epitome. I MUST TAME THIS HORSE.

I sneak up from a distance, jump on, and everything goes wrong. Bucking madly, she knocks me flying. I recover as quickly as possible, but she is away. I give chase.  She reaches the crest of a hill and slows to a trot. Thinking this my chance, I sprint as close as I dare and then drop to a crouch. Softly softly, catchy horsey.

Music kicks in and I realise my mistake. On the other side of this hill, a Guardian resides. The horse bolts and I am left to flounder. The Guardian locks onto me, and (in vain) I lob my sword at it. I try to run, but to no avail. One blast from the Guardian incinerates me. The horse, I realise, is lost to me.

My second attempt at horse-taming begins much more successfully. A pure-green horse with golden hair becomes my ally, after a bit of sneaking. I name him Kale and set off for the nearby stable to register him. At this point, I am about four hours into the game. I confidently trot up to the stables and request to register Kale. It surprises me when I hear that this costs 20 rupees. I have... One. Four hours into a Zelda game and I have a measly ONE rupee. I found it under a rock a short while ago.

Refusing to give Kale up (and worried that he might abscond the second I dismount) I set off on a horse-ridden quest for the remaining 19 rupees. Crossing a bridge, I see bokoblins attacking a fellow Hylian. Thinking my heroism might net me a reward, I vanquish the monsters. The traveller grumpily thanks me, but offers me nothing for my aid. Onwards I gallop. 

Eventually, I happen across another stable. They also want 20 rupees. No-one here will help me out, and I am just about to ride off when I spot him. A friend I first met on the blue seas of Wind Waker. Not the hero Hyrule deserved, but the one I needed. Beedle. I sell him some bits and some bobs... Et viola! I have enough rupees to register 20 horses! Kale becomes mine. 

It's easier to list my problems with Breath of the Wild rather than its successes. The former are few and the latter are legion. But here are my problems:

The gyroscopic puzzles.

That one quest where you have to follow a korok.

The "realistic" way horses too far away won't come to you.

The fact that (after an hour of hunting, sneaking and riding) the stable refuses to register a bear.

I've played 40 hours of BotW and I have not even gotten close to finishing any single element of the game. My map is half full, Ganon still reigns, many quests and trials yet remain. I don't have the Master Sword or a Hylian shield or hero clothes (I don't even know if the latter two are IN the game).

I love this game. It has the adventure of Wind Waker (my previous favourite Zelda game) and delivers on the "open air" nature that Nintendo promised. The world is free, changing and alive, and I truly love it. The puzzles are puzzling and the combat is cracking. The fact that weapons and shields break should be horrible, but I actually adore that it makes you try different (fantastic) combat options.

This is game design literally at its finest and I cannot recommend it enough. Whether you are a LoZ fan or not, you NEED to play this game. 👍 from me (obviously).

[ifearnofish]

mattzere

 “hello pals i am a whole 24 years old today ”

Happy birthday!!

thanks!!! 

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No Man's Sky - can't take the sky from me

Available on: PS4 (reviewed); PC

I pick up the first Gravitino Ball and immediately all hell breaks loose. I was expecting to freak the local Sentinels out, but the Grabcrab (discovered and named by yours truly) surprises me. It nips me from behind, unfazed by the squadron of steel oppressors and their laser-based assault. I am thoroughly fazed, however, and subsequently leg it.

Alternating between running and jetpack-ing I dart from one Gravitino Ball to the next. I planned this route, and try not to panic each time I get zapped by a Sentinel laser. Grabcrabs and their larger cousins (Grobsterlobsters) mob around me each time I land, forcing me to recharge my exo-suit's shielding, but this halts me for long enough that I am overwhelmed. I very nearly succumb to the natives, but blast into the air just in time. I can see my ship. 

Hauling an inventory brimming with Orbs, a swarm of foes behind me, I plough into my ship. What a blue-and-white miracle. What a saving grace. What is this message? "Launch thrusters out of fuel". All I have on me are Gravitino Orbs and they don't make ships fly. I sit in my ship (it has some boring default name like "Dunchist 104H") and wait for my suit's shielding to recharge. Grabcrabs and Grobsterlobsters squeak at the cockpit. Mocking me with laughter...

My favourite activity in No Man's Sky is cataloguing each new planet's fauna. The scanner makes this a satisfying and simple enough task, except on the occasions where:

A) one particular animal is especially elusive - maybe it's a cave dweller, or just really-lesser-spotted.

B) your first knowledge of a new animal is its aggressive destruction of your behind. 

C) it's one of those damn birds that fly round in circles really unpredictably so you can't hold the scanning reticule over them for long enough and also the planet is really freaking hot so you keep having to run into a nearby shelter to cool down oh my gosh that was so frustrating and my reward was pretty measly considering I almost fried am I right? 

The starship flight is pretty basic both in and out of atmosphere, but it is thrilling boosting onto a new planet, or into a new spacebase. The combat in-ship is basic too, but it works well enough, much like the combat on-foot.  In fact, the whole game is pretty basic. Once you get into the flow of it, you will either find things relaxing or boring. If you enjoy the process of gradually building up your knowledge of a game's lore, there's plenty of that - and it's really well penned. If you like the repetition of mining (and sometimes crafting), there's plenty of opportunity for that.

Ultimately, I enjoy NMS because I love exploration. The joy of discovering bouncing mushrooms chasing after stunted veloceraptors is akin to nothing. But you have to want to explore. NMS suits me pretty well, so I'm giving it a 👍, but I understand that others might not see it so favourably. 

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Lifeline - Help a (space) guy out?

Available on: Google Play (reviewed); AppStore

Sat in a dark corner of the Showbar, I huddle away from the abuse of children’s live entertainment and turn to the familiar comfort of my phone. I have a new message to check, which is notable because Wales is a digital black hole within which no phone signal can reach.

I realise, opening the app, that this isn’t a text but a message from Lifeline’s protagonist, Taylor - a Science student stranded on a distant, desolate moon following the crash of his host spaceship. 

I quickly become engaged with Taylor’s heartfelt communication, which manages throughout to be both moving and humorous. 

Taylor’s messages paint an excellent picture of his current situation and disposition whilst remaining succinct, ensuring it is possible (and recommended) to check in with him briefly and frequently. 

Current is the operative word, as you aren’t just a reader here. Taylor needs help and support throughout this experience, and reacts in a manor that simulates real time; suggest that Taylor takes some time to rest up, for example, and you won’t hear back from him for a while. This waiting really piles on the tension in places.  

Occasionally Taylor will require help in the form of research-based advice; should he camp out next to that reactor giving out 150 rads of warmth? These interactions add an excellent sense of realism to the story - I had to steel myself the next morning to check on Taylor and find out whether the radiation had been too much. Unfortunately, these type of interactions are rare and the majority are more hunch-based (Should Taylor walk clockwise or anti-clockwise around this crater? Pop a pain-pill now or save it?). 

Ultimately, Lifeline provides a wonderful and engaging narrative presented in a novel fashion. The real charm of the game is in Taylor’s personality, and though he can be a bit grumpy at times (he IS stranded out in space after all), his communications are mostly endearing with just the right amount of self-referential sarcasm. 

The story itself twists a fair bit over the few days the game runs for, and though it would have been nice to have some of my decisions come back in more meaningful ways, I had a very good time with Taylor.  

Lifeline gets a 👍 from me. 

[airdramon]

Your room was so awesome that I had to follow you. Very impressive collection c:

Thank you :)

[lorem-ipsam]

Hey, Listen! - Some thoughts on "Listen"

My relationship with Doctor Who has been taut of late, stretched out all thin and fragile, and upon viewing "Into the Dalek" a couple of weeks ago, it reached a breaking point. Shattering fantastically. I claimed the episode 'an embarrassment to British science fiction' and deleted the timer recording from my generic telly-recording-apparatus.

I had been so looking forward to seeing what Peter Capaldi could do, but Doctor Who had been dwindling in my eyes for a couple of series now and this was the final straw. Series 8 of 'new who' was, to all intents and purposes, dead to me.

With this said and done I failed to see Robot of Sherwood, and 'Who' only came back into my mind a couple of weeks on when a friend asked if I'd seen "Listen".

"No" I said "I'm boycotting it".

"Oh you mustn't" they replied.

So, because I trust them, I watched a repeat showing of Listen.

THIS! THIS IS WHY I LOVE DOCTOR WHO!

These standalone episodes that exist to just explore concepts, not to try and draw out an overly long and convoluted canon. They live outside of that and become interesting and innovative "what if" pieces?

These episodes which aren't overly Doctor Who-esque but are still somehow all the more Who for being so.

I'm thinking of episodes like "the girl who waited" and "the doctors wife" and of course... Blink!

Blink is the classic example of this and Listen was a perfect counterpart. It also has to be the most chilling episode I've seen since The Empty Child. The central concept was wonderful, akin to Silents in under-the-skin post-viewing creepiness and the cinematography during the orphanage scene was Spielberg-level brilliance.

So my question is, why aren't there more episodes like this rather than averaging one every two series.

Or maybe Doctor Who isn't the place for this sci-fi, maybe we need a new show, a sort of Twilight Zone series of one off  stories written by the best in dark science fiction. Oh gosh can we have this please, I want this now.