The Backlog Check-in Vol. 336: 6/8/24: Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Life is Strange: True Colors

Finished: Life is Strange: True Colors

Playing: Life is Strange 2

Added: Nothing

Games releasing this week
Alan Wake II - Night Springs
Bodycam
Dark and Darker
Deep Rock Galactic - Order of the Deep Pack
Fantastic Haven
The Fertile Crescent
The Heroes Around Me
Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge
Last Spartan: Glory Over Madness
Magical Drop VI
Monster Hunter Stories
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin
Neon Squad Tactics
Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked
Rocky Raccoon’s Pinball Panic
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Slime Rancher 2
SunnySide
Taskmaster VR
Tracks of Thought
V Rising
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Biomes

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Mafia: Definitive Edition

Finished: Mafia

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 37


I noticed Mafia in my library, probably from PS+, and decided to give it a try, having loved the second and third games. It's a great time... fun missions and a compelling mob story. Didn't take very long to go through... beat it last night.

Sadly, though, the awesome 1930s open world isn't really integrated with the story. It's just something you can explore in "Free Ride" mode, with nothing much to do. What a waste of a cool setting.

Having said that, I'm going to spend some time rounding up the collectibles/cars just to spend a bit more time in that world.

[argyle]

Games added: Nothing

Last week: Finished Slay the Spire, played Cookie Cutter.

This week: Hope to finish off Cookie Cutter this week, and we'll see what else.

So I'm sure I'll still play some STS off & on because it's just that type of game, but I *finally* managed to beat the final-final boss last week.

Cookie Cutter is more good than bad, but it's not a perfect game. There are some frustrating parts that feel like they weren't tested enough, and it could really use difficulty options to help with those spikes. Occasionally the game will lock you into a room where they spawn a ton of enemies and you have to beat them all to get out. They're tough, but the real problem is when there's this many enemies on screen often you just cannot tell where you are or what's going on. There's way too many flashy animations going on all at once. To make matters worse, as I mentioned before the enemies hit HARD and you can get hit by multiple enemies at the same time which will basically one-shot you. I've had enemies overlap in these rooms where it looked like there was a single enemy when in fact there were two. It's madness. I'm hoping to finish the game off this week, but the only thing that might stop me is another difficulty spike with a boss - which is a real possibility. I'm not beyond calling it "finished" without seeing credits if it comes to that, I don't want to drag this one out much more. The story is odd, and not really that captivating. The game reminds me a little of a sidesploerer I played last year, F.I.S.T., mainly because of its industrial-esque environments and "rebels vs the system" plot, but F.I.S.T. is a much, MUCH better game. Again, that's not to say that Cookie Cutter is bad, it does have things going for it - I love the colorful look of the game (when it isn't interfering with the gameplay) and the combat can be a lot of fun. I will say this - I didn't have "play a game with a talking robot vagina companion character" on my bingo card for the year.

[isthatallyougot]

Sadly, though, the awesome 1930s open world isn't really integrated with the story. It's just something you can explore in "Free Ride" mode, with nothing much to do. What a waste of a cool setting.

Reminds me of The Getaway on PS2. I don't know if you played or remember that, but it was similar in that the city was more or less just a cool backdrop without too much interactivity other than cruising around. The narrative and voice work was really well done, but they forgot to add enough of the fun-juice.

I've never played any of the Mafia games despite having them all. They look fun from what I've seen though.

I will say this - I didn't have "play a game with a talking robot vagina companion character" on my bingo card for the year.

*****************


I'm still playing Morrowind and having a great time, but I'm trying to mix in some smaller titles given the length of time this one will sit on my plate just so that my end of year games played count doesn't offend me. Plus it does keep things fresh when you'll end up playing the same things for hundreds of hours.

[argyle]

I will say this - I didn't have "play a game with a talking robot vagina companion character" on my bingo card for the year.

It's name is "Regina".

onrj3-3a.png (191.68 KiB) Viewed 3005 times

[canedaddy]

Reminds me of The Getaway on PS2. I don't know if you played or remember that, but it was similar in that the city was more or less just a cool backdrop without too much interactivity other than cruising around. The narrative and voice work was really well done, but they forgot to add enough of the fun-juice.

Somehow I never did play that one, although it was totally in the wheelhouse of the stuff I loved at the time.

The Mafia cool-world-with-nothing-to-do-in-it also reminds me of LA Noire.

It's name is "Regina".

onrj3-3a.png

[isthatallyougot]

The Mafia cool-world-with-nothing-to-do-in-it also reminds me of LA Noire.

Oh yeah! That's a great example. Man, the facial mo-cap technology, premise, era and overall vibe were really excellent, but yeah, it just didn't hit the right notes often enough where it really mattered for me either. I enjoyed for what it was, but it was a 3/5 for me.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Windbound, Stellar Blade

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 44 games

Been busy with travel and things so I have not played much Stellar Blade recently. Gonna get back to it this weekend though!