Sunday, April 27, 2014
Marvel Puzzle Quest, Octodad, Trials Fusion, Second Son, and More...
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It’s been a while since my last post, so apologies to my
regular readers who were wondering about the delay… I was holding off on new
entries in the hopes that I’d have a formal announcement to make (a good one!) but the time is not quite here yet. Soon! In the meantime, it’s
business as usual…
Games: First, a quick check-in on Marvel Puzzle Quest. I'm
still playing daily, and it’s still quite a bit of fun. If you haven't been
following the game closely for a while, you might be surprised at how many
changes have been instituted lately.
Although it's hard to quantify exactly how much, it seems to me that the penalties of losing to PVP opponents have been greatly reduced, so it’s not nearly as soul-crushing as it used to be. Also, ‘Alliances’ are now a thing that have been integrated into the game overall, so grouping up with friends pays great dividends. There's been a steady trickle of new characters added to the roster, and some events have been re-worked and broken up into seasons. For example, it didn't make a lot of sense to play the S.H.I.E.L.D. Simulator mode in the past, but now that there’s a deadline for point accumulation, it's a more worthwhile endeavor.
Much respect to Demiurge for keeping development going and
constantly instituting changes that make the game bigger and better. This is a quality
product that I'm happy to support with my dollars, and it's giving me who knows
how many hours of entertainment in return. If you haven’t checked it out yet,
now is a great time to jump in.
In other games news, I just played and reviewed Octodad:
Dadliest Catch on PS4. I won't say much about it now, except that it was
hilarious and a fantastic amount of fun to play, and the developers are
extremely clever people.
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| Embrace difference. |
I've heard some people complaining about the difficulty of
the game, but I found it to be quite easy in most regards. I'm not trying to
say that I'm some kind of phenomenal games player or anything, but honestly, I
think the chatter about the difficulty was overblown.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a must-have for the PS4,
and doubly so if you have kids… Sit your little ones down beside you and be
treated to a family-friendly good time.
Over the last few days, I also completed and wrote a review
for Trials: Fusion, although I’m both surprised and disappointed to say that my
opinion of this installment is much less positive than I expected. I'm a huge Trials
fan and enjoyed the hell out of both HD and Evo (still play 'em!) but Fusion just doesn't match
up at all.
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| Bleh. |
I'm still chipping away at the Extreme tracks (I even streamed my struggles
with the Rock of Rages track last night, and it ended in a finish!) but I'm already
noticing that it doesn't have the same pull over me that the previous ones did.
If you've never played a Trials, I'd say go for either of the two older games
before this one.
In my last bit of PS4 news, I tried inFamous: Second Son for
a day, but didn't find it to my taste at all. Though it was a very beautiful
game that had some cool ideas, the general feel of the gameplay was more
irritating than anything else.
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| Y'know, I'm pretty sure 520 doesn't lead straight into Queen Anne... |
Full disclosure, I'm tired of open-world games that don't
have a unique spin or a real justification for being open, and giving me a big
area dotted with random objectives to complete doesn't cut the mustard anymore.
In this respect, it definitely didn’t impress. Even so, I might have powered through it just because except
that I found it to be completely irritating to play.
The inFamous titles always come
off like shooters disguised as superhero games, and this one is no different.
Whenever going to any location, I got really tired of being surrounded by a
huge number of enemies firing at me from all directions, and it's just not what
I'm looking for.
(Random side note: being someone who lives in Seattle, I
found the depiction of the city disappointing. It's not like I
expected things to be re-created block for block, but although you
could catch occasional glimpses of what the real city looks like, it just didn't
feel right to me at all. Oh well.)
Parenting: The other day, my wife went to the Wendy's
drive-through and the person at the window asked if we wanted the girl’s or boy’s
toy in the kids’ meal. I realize there was probably no ill intent in it, but it
would be great for society to get to a point at which toys are not immediately gendered.
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| It's fun for all kids. |
After all, kids of both sexes are often curious about all
sorts of toys, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s perfectly fine for little girls to play
with action figures, and for little boys to dress a doll. The way we constantly
reinforce gender roles as a society is disappointing, and something that we’re
consciously trying to correct as parents. Let’s just let kids be kids!
Television: Finally, just a quick shout-out to a new show
that the wife and I started watching called My Mad Fat Diary.
We've only
seen the first episode, but the story about a big girl who's coming to
acceptance with her size and society is both brutally honest and incredibly
funny. The entire first season is available for free on YouTube, so check it
out if you're in the market for such a thing.
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