It's been a good three months since I've had my PSVR on my head, since I beat Resident EVII. I have been itching for another good PSVR game to come along, and I recently heard of a game that might fit the bill: Farpoint. It's a sci-fi first-person shooter. I quickly learned that it came packaged with a new controller called Aim, a weird looking gun controller that had all the buttons of a dual shock on it. I was a bit skeptical of the game, so I decided to wait on reviews. They started coming in, and for the most part, the game itself is decent, but the experience is amazing. Because of that, I decided to get it, but then I couldn't find it anywhere. Everyone was sold out online and no stores within 50 miles of me had it. I lucked out and tried BestBuy.com the very next day, and they had them in stock again, so I ordered one and it came today.
I played the game for a few hours and what do I think? Pretty much what the reviews have said. The game does absolutely fuck all to advance the FPS genre forward. You only have two guns: a rifle and a shotgun. They both have unlimited ammo, but they also have secondary firing modes that do have limited ammo. The rifle has a laser guided rocket launch and the shotgun has a grenade launcher. The enemies also are uninspired. Little jumping spiders, bigger ones that spit acid, even bigger ones that hock green balls at you and even bigger ones that have thick armor.
But again, as the reviews say, the experience is amazing. This is the closest to an FPS in PSVR that I've experienced so far, and it's all thanks in part to the Aim controller. The game does not support the Move controllers (although it does support the Dual Shock, but I heard you're actually at a major disadvantage playing that way) and I can see why. The game just wouldn't feel the same with them. Holding the Aim controller in your hands and seeing a rifle or shotgun in the game feels real; you're instantly connected to your weapon.
Even though the game's combat isn't really anything special, again, it's being in virtual reality and having this Aim controller that makes it seem real. Changing between rifle and shotgun by flicking the controller up past your shoulder feels natural. The rifle's holographic aiming sight is a cool little trick, and the shotgun feels pretty punchy thanks to the entire frame of the Aim controller rattling around in your hand.
The planet's environment hasn't really impressed me much so far. Yes, it's meant to be a barren desolate wasteland, so there's rocks and dust and rocks and more dust, but Robinson: The Journey outclassed this title in terms of extraterrestrial landscapes. What I'm liking a lot right now is the mystery of who you're trying to find. You were sucked into a wormhole, split up from two space scientists who entered before you. They're trying to find you, and you're trying to find them, but there's a twist that I won't spoil for you. Let's just say it was a 'whoa' moment.
I also know that I don't have much time left with the game. I've heard initial playthroughs are around five hours and I've played it for at least two and a half. I'm hoping for a bit more enemy variety before the game's end, and I am exited to experience more of the story. What I really am wishing for, though, is that Sony continues to support this Aim controller. It really is a nice feeling and functioning controller, and PSVR needs to have an epic FPS to go with it. Farpoint is bit far away from being that title, but it will tide me over for now.
Monday, May 22, 2017
Sunday, May 21, 2017
All Digital Stores Should Have a Refund Policy
Because I seriously need one for Tumbleseed. It's a bad game. It tries to sell itself as a challenging roguelike, and yes, I did read the reviews and knew what I was getting into, but you don't really KNOW what you're getting into when it comes to a video game until you're actually playing it. People said Dark Souls was really hard, and it was, but it was hard for the right reasons. Tumbleseed is hard for the wrong reasons.
I have no history with roguelikes. To be honestly, I don't really understand what they are, or where the name came from, but I do know they're challenging games that randomize their levels and power ups. I guess Binding of Isaac is a roguelike, which I played and absolutely loved, but it was also a game where you still had a fair chance of surviving if shit hit the fan. And shit hits the fan all the time in Tumbleseed, and most of the time it's out of your control.
If you don't know what Tumbleseed is, it's a game where you move a seed vertically across a floor with holes and enemies using a vine stretched across the screen. Each end of the vine is raised and lowered independently by the left and right stick. Left side higher, seed rolls right, and vice versa. You can raise both ends together to rapidly move the seed further up. The problem with this kind of locomotion is that it doesn't afford you the agility needed to get yourself out of harm's way. For instance, you're moving up, but then you're rolling towards a hole, so you try to stop yourself. At that very moment, you're hit by an enemy as it jumps itself onto you.
There are other problems with the game as well. Holes can open up directly under you with no warning. Spikes are an instant game over. Most of the time, vital power ups that you need are not there when you need them, and some require opportune placements that just don't present themselves. Whenever you lose all your hearts, you have to start from the ground up, but it does have a teleport system ... that you have to work very hard for. I got the first teleport to the next level, but in order to earn another one, a quest chain I have to complete has me stumped because of a very BAD mini game that I need to complete that doesn't spawn all the time, and doesn't let me repeat it when I fail.
The game is frustrating; cheap; infuriating. I've pulled my fist back several times, struggling not to punch this 300 dollar screen and I've been successful. So far. The only reason why I keep coming back is because I'm deluding myself into thinking I'll get better; I might have better luck and get farther next time. I made it to the third level... and that fuels my disillusioned hope. Whenever I DO get to the third level, I instantly die. I try to play the game speeding along to avoid everything.. and die. I take my time to save up crystals to buy power ups... and die. Whatever I do, I die.
I haven't gotten rid of a game in a very long time, but I want to get rid of this one. My OCD keeps me playing it, only because I still have it on my Switch and history has shown that if I delete a game, I'll only redownload it. I want to return it. I want my money back, or at least a partial refund, and then I know I won't play it anymore because I'm not going to buy it again. But the problem is, most digital store fronts don't have refund policies. Steam does, with a very narrow window of playing the game for no more than two hours, but it's something. I learned within two hours that I don't want to play Tumbleseed anymore... but, I can't return so I keep playing it... GAH!
I get why most digital stores don't offer refunds. Once you buy the game, they got you. When you buy a physical game, you can return it at most places, or resell it, but you can't even resell digital copies. It would be nice if publishers and store fronts didn't have such tight control over their digital products because in my opinion, they should be treated the same. It's the same product, just a different delivery method. And your right as a consumer should be to get your money back, or at least part of it, if you're unhappy with the product.
Also, I think it would be in their best interest to offer refunds, because there are a lot of gamers out there that don't want to take chances on digital purchases knowing they'll be out money. If they knew they could get some of their money back, they'd probably take more chances on games. That would have been the case here with Tumbleseed, but it would have failed for this publisher, because Tumbleseed is a bad game. And I want my money back.
I have no history with roguelikes. To be honestly, I don't really understand what they are, or where the name came from, but I do know they're challenging games that randomize their levels and power ups. I guess Binding of Isaac is a roguelike, which I played and absolutely loved, but it was also a game where you still had a fair chance of surviving if shit hit the fan. And shit hits the fan all the time in Tumbleseed, and most of the time it's out of your control.
If you don't know what Tumbleseed is, it's a game where you move a seed vertically across a floor with holes and enemies using a vine stretched across the screen. Each end of the vine is raised and lowered independently by the left and right stick. Left side higher, seed rolls right, and vice versa. You can raise both ends together to rapidly move the seed further up. The problem with this kind of locomotion is that it doesn't afford you the agility needed to get yourself out of harm's way. For instance, you're moving up, but then you're rolling towards a hole, so you try to stop yourself. At that very moment, you're hit by an enemy as it jumps itself onto you.
There are other problems with the game as well. Holes can open up directly under you with no warning. Spikes are an instant game over. Most of the time, vital power ups that you need are not there when you need them, and some require opportune placements that just don't present themselves. Whenever you lose all your hearts, you have to start from the ground up, but it does have a teleport system ... that you have to work very hard for. I got the first teleport to the next level, but in order to earn another one, a quest chain I have to complete has me stumped because of a very BAD mini game that I need to complete that doesn't spawn all the time, and doesn't let me repeat it when I fail.
The game is frustrating; cheap; infuriating. I've pulled my fist back several times, struggling not to punch this 300 dollar screen and I've been successful. So far. The only reason why I keep coming back is because I'm deluding myself into thinking I'll get better; I might have better luck and get farther next time. I made it to the third level... and that fuels my disillusioned hope. Whenever I DO get to the third level, I instantly die. I try to play the game speeding along to avoid everything.. and die. I take my time to save up crystals to buy power ups... and die. Whatever I do, I die.
I haven't gotten rid of a game in a very long time, but I want to get rid of this one. My OCD keeps me playing it, only because I still have it on my Switch and history has shown that if I delete a game, I'll only redownload it. I want to return it. I want my money back, or at least a partial refund, and then I know I won't play it anymore because I'm not going to buy it again. But the problem is, most digital store fronts don't have refund policies. Steam does, with a very narrow window of playing the game for no more than two hours, but it's something. I learned within two hours that I don't want to play Tumbleseed anymore... but, I can't return so I keep playing it... GAH!
I get why most digital stores don't offer refunds. Once you buy the game, they got you. When you buy a physical game, you can return it at most places, or resell it, but you can't even resell digital copies. It would be nice if publishers and store fronts didn't have such tight control over their digital products because in my opinion, they should be treated the same. It's the same product, just a different delivery method. And your right as a consumer should be to get your money back, or at least part of it, if you're unhappy with the product.
Also, I think it would be in their best interest to offer refunds, because there are a lot of gamers out there that don't want to take chances on digital purchases knowing they'll be out money. If they knew they could get some of their money back, they'd probably take more chances on games. That would have been the case here with Tumbleseed, but it would have failed for this publisher, because Tumbleseed is a bad game. And I want my money back.
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Why I'm Glad Nintendo Never Did Achievements
To be honest, I could just title this blog "Why Xbox One is the WORST console I ever bought", because I'm in that mood tonight. I'm really upset with Xbox right now, because thanks to their rampant glitches, I have to end a nearly 10 year long tradition.
You see, back when I bought my very first Lego game for the 360, Lego Star Wars, I never cared much for finishing a game all the way through and grabbing all the achievements I could. But, I fell in love with someone over Xbox Live and we started playing games all the time together, and she wanted to achievement hunt, so I decided to start going after achievements with her.
Long story short, our relationship didn't continue, but my compulsion for 100 percent playthroughs and 1000/1000 achievements for Lego games kept right on going. So every Lego game I bought I bought for the Xbox 360, which I then played through until 100 percent completion and sought all the achievements. This tradition carried over to the Xbox One, even though I preferred to play on my PS4. In fact, I rarely played my Xbox One, and four times it's gotten attention was because of Lego games. It's pretty pathetic, honestly.
The tradition died today. Why, do you ask? Well, I've been playing Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the past week and a half and just got 100 percent completion, so I go to the achievement list to see what achievements I need to unlock to get 1000/1000 (well, it's now out of 1250 thanks to DLC, which really irritates me). That's when I notice that several of them are for stages that I already completed. I'd have to replay through them in hopes that the achievement would unlock like it's supposed to, IF it would even unlock at all.
I did some research into this and it appears to be an issue associated with Xbox Live, which may have been compounded by the fact that the game's already ridiculously glitchy. The game would hang and crash, sometimes have audio skipping during the opening intros for chapters, and several times would reset itself when I woke the Xbox One out of sleep. Whatever the reason, I'm just so done and tired of this shit. I'm not going to replay several fucking levels over again to just to get a few extra fucking achievements. Sorry for the profanity, but I'm pissed and fuck a filter.
So it also turns out that my achievement list doesn't even show every game that I've played, because one I know that should be on there is a 1000/1000 for Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (fuck, that's a long title), and it didn't even show on my list period. Then, I see one for 950/1000 for Viva Pinata, a game that I do own BUT NEVER FUCKING PLAYED. How the fuck do you not give me credit for a game I 1000'd, but then 950 me for a game I NEVER STARTED. I HATE this achievement system!
Achievements are what's wrong with gaming. Not everything that's wrong with gaming, but a good part of what's wrong with gaming. It's making you game for the wrong reasons. You open up your game and play it, but then instead of just having fun with it, you start looking at all these arbitrary goals to achieve. Kill 100 enemies with this weapon. Put a car in a ridiculous place. Die a certain number of times. You're doing shit you would never have any intention of doing otherwise. Hell, most achievements are just given to you for showing up and playing the fucking thing. VERY RARELY are achievements even used cleverly, like in The Simpsons Game, a game that takes a shot at the achievement system itself by giving you an achievement just for pushing the start button.
I don't even keep up with my Xbox One anymore. I just noticed they rearranged everything on the dashboard and did a few things for achievements including trackers and leaderboards. It's bad enough that people have to keep stroking their e-penises, but now there's monthly leaderboards to see who can get the biggest e-penis at the end of the month?!
I hate achievement farming. My score (if it's even fucking accurate) right now is 61,313. This may seem a lot, but this is a score that was achieved over 10 and a half years. If you break that down, that's about 486 points per month, which isn't half the points a typical game offers. But, I did try to boost my score back when I was really active. By boosting, I mean doing shit in games I'd never do and playing games that I never would. I used to buy a lot XBLA games just for a quick 200. Stupid, but not nearly as stupid as people who buy Barbies games, and definitely not as stupid as people who pay other people to play games on their accounts to raise their scores.
As of today, the highest gamer score is 1,542,480 by Stallion83, the same Stallion83 that became the first gamer who broke the 1,000,000 mark back in 2014. In JUST three years, he's amassed over half a million more points! I couldn't find enough to play in 10 years to even break 62.000! What was he playing? Everything?! Regardless of quality? He purposefully endures shitty games just to stay on top, which he currently is? He's become a slave to this. Every achievement hunter has become a slave to this. I get people who find a game that's so fun that they'll play the hell out of it and do everything they can... but if you HONESTLY tell me they're having just as much fun on EVERY game they're playing, you're lying. You're fucking lying....
Ok, ok... enough vitriolic anger rage blogging. Back to the title. Nintendo doesn't do achievements. And I'm glad they don't. They don't need to do the same things Sony and MS are doing, and this allows something to happen to their games that achievement systems don't allow. Nintendo allows the joy and fun of their games to occur organically. You want to spend all your time in Zelda because you WANT to be there, not because there's an achievement for finishing the 120th shrine. You want to drive yourself crazy trying to earn every gold cup in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe because you KNOW you can do it, not because there's a 50 point achievement carrot being held in front of your nose. There's no constant pressure to compete with someone else's gamerscore that will make you do things in games you don't want to do and play games you don't want to play. There's just the games. Just the gameplay.
I hope Nintendo never implements an achievement system. I get the idea behind achievements, because sometimes they encourage you to do more than you normally would but on the flip side of the coin, they're also used to pad the game's length making you do things you honestly would never do to begin with. It can be used to measure one's enthusiasm when it comes to gaming because you can see which ones they loved playing based on how many points they earned but again, the downside is that it can also be used to judge a gamer's passion and establish a sense of elitism among their peers. I remember a falling out that happened on a forum I used to post at. A poster who eventually became a staff writer wrote a review for a game and another poster tried to discredit him for not having completed a certain amount of achievements for it. As if an achievement score is somehow a certification of a reviewer's score...
Just throw the whole system out. I can guarantee you gamers will have more fun on the whole when they discover things about their games that excite them instead of going to XboxAchievements.com to research what they need to unlock while they play. Please Nintendo, don't ever make your fans wade through this muck.
You see, back when I bought my very first Lego game for the 360, Lego Star Wars, I never cared much for finishing a game all the way through and grabbing all the achievements I could. But, I fell in love with someone over Xbox Live and we started playing games all the time together, and she wanted to achievement hunt, so I decided to start going after achievements with her.
Long story short, our relationship didn't continue, but my compulsion for 100 percent playthroughs and 1000/1000 achievements for Lego games kept right on going. So every Lego game I bought I bought for the Xbox 360, which I then played through until 100 percent completion and sought all the achievements. This tradition carried over to the Xbox One, even though I preferred to play on my PS4. In fact, I rarely played my Xbox One, and four times it's gotten attention was because of Lego games. It's pretty pathetic, honestly.
The tradition died today. Why, do you ask? Well, I've been playing Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the past week and a half and just got 100 percent completion, so I go to the achievement list to see what achievements I need to unlock to get 1000/1000 (well, it's now out of 1250 thanks to DLC, which really irritates me). That's when I notice that several of them are for stages that I already completed. I'd have to replay through them in hopes that the achievement would unlock like it's supposed to, IF it would even unlock at all.
I did some research into this and it appears to be an issue associated with Xbox Live, which may have been compounded by the fact that the game's already ridiculously glitchy. The game would hang and crash, sometimes have audio skipping during the opening intros for chapters, and several times would reset itself when I woke the Xbox One out of sleep. Whatever the reason, I'm just so done and tired of this shit. I'm not going to replay several fucking levels over again to just to get a few extra fucking achievements. Sorry for the profanity, but I'm pissed and fuck a filter.
So it also turns out that my achievement list doesn't even show every game that I've played, because one I know that should be on there is a 1000/1000 for Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (fuck, that's a long title), and it didn't even show on my list period. Then, I see one for 950/1000 for Viva Pinata, a game that I do own BUT NEVER FUCKING PLAYED. How the fuck do you not give me credit for a game I 1000'd, but then 950 me for a game I NEVER STARTED. I HATE this achievement system!
Achievements are what's wrong with gaming. Not everything that's wrong with gaming, but a good part of what's wrong with gaming. It's making you game for the wrong reasons. You open up your game and play it, but then instead of just having fun with it, you start looking at all these arbitrary goals to achieve. Kill 100 enemies with this weapon. Put a car in a ridiculous place. Die a certain number of times. You're doing shit you would never have any intention of doing otherwise. Hell, most achievements are just given to you for showing up and playing the fucking thing. VERY RARELY are achievements even used cleverly, like in The Simpsons Game, a game that takes a shot at the achievement system itself by giving you an achievement just for pushing the start button.
I don't even keep up with my Xbox One anymore. I just noticed they rearranged everything on the dashboard and did a few things for achievements including trackers and leaderboards. It's bad enough that people have to keep stroking their e-penises, but now there's monthly leaderboards to see who can get the biggest e-penis at the end of the month?!
I hate achievement farming. My score (if it's even fucking accurate) right now is 61,313. This may seem a lot, but this is a score that was achieved over 10 and a half years. If you break that down, that's about 486 points per month, which isn't half the points a typical game offers. But, I did try to boost my score back when I was really active. By boosting, I mean doing shit in games I'd never do and playing games that I never would. I used to buy a lot XBLA games just for a quick 200. Stupid, but not nearly as stupid as people who buy Barbies games, and definitely not as stupid as people who pay other people to play games on their accounts to raise their scores.
As of today, the highest gamer score is 1,542,480 by Stallion83, the same Stallion83 that became the first gamer who broke the 1,000,000 mark back in 2014. In JUST three years, he's amassed over half a million more points! I couldn't find enough to play in 10 years to even break 62.000! What was he playing? Everything?! Regardless of quality? He purposefully endures shitty games just to stay on top, which he currently is? He's become a slave to this. Every achievement hunter has become a slave to this. I get people who find a game that's so fun that they'll play the hell out of it and do everything they can... but if you HONESTLY tell me they're having just as much fun on EVERY game they're playing, you're lying. You're fucking lying....
Ok, ok... enough vitriolic anger rage blogging. Back to the title. Nintendo doesn't do achievements. And I'm glad they don't. They don't need to do the same things Sony and MS are doing, and this allows something to happen to their games that achievement systems don't allow. Nintendo allows the joy and fun of their games to occur organically. You want to spend all your time in Zelda because you WANT to be there, not because there's an achievement for finishing the 120th shrine. You want to drive yourself crazy trying to earn every gold cup in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe because you KNOW you can do it, not because there's a 50 point achievement carrot being held in front of your nose. There's no constant pressure to compete with someone else's gamerscore that will make you do things in games you don't want to do and play games you don't want to play. There's just the games. Just the gameplay.
I hope Nintendo never implements an achievement system. I get the idea behind achievements, because sometimes they encourage you to do more than you normally would but on the flip side of the coin, they're also used to pad the game's length making you do things you honestly would never do to begin with. It can be used to measure one's enthusiasm when it comes to gaming because you can see which ones they loved playing based on how many points they earned but again, the downside is that it can also be used to judge a gamer's passion and establish a sense of elitism among their peers. I remember a falling out that happened on a forum I used to post at. A poster who eventually became a staff writer wrote a review for a game and another poster tried to discredit him for not having completed a certain amount of achievements for it. As if an achievement score is somehow a certification of a reviewer's score...
Just throw the whole system out. I can guarantee you gamers will have more fun on the whole when they discover things about their games that excite them instead of going to XboxAchievements.com to research what they need to unlock while they play. Please Nintendo, don't ever make your fans wade through this muck.
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Games I Want to See On the Switch
The Switch has barely been out two months, and already, I'm clamoring for more games. I don't just want old games and indie titles and ports of Wii U games. I want some big AAA Nintendo titles, and I want to see Nintendo revisit some long forgotten franchises as well. What follows is a small list of what I want to see on the Nintendo Switch. Most of these titles will probably be a given. But, considering some of these franchises never showed up on the Wii U, or even the Wii, they can still be considered as wishlist games. So let's begin.
1. F-Zero
F-Zero is one of the many long running Nintendo franchises. First introduced in 1991 on the Super Nintendo, F-Zero became the home of extremely fast futuristic racing. Unfortunately, we stopped seeing new F-Zero games after F-Zero GX on the GameCube in 2003. The Wii and Wii U came and went, and no new F-Zero was seen. To add insult to injury, Nintendo added F-Zero themed tracks and carts to Mario Kart 8 as DLC, fueling my desire to want a new F-Zero. Granted, we have the Fast Racing series, with Fast Racing League on the Wii, Neo on the Wii U and RMX on the Nintendo Switch, but these aren't F-Zero games. Fast RMX is doing rather well on the Switch, so it would behoove Nintendo to release a new F-Zero for the system.
2. Wave Race
One of my favorite Nintendo 64 titles of all time, Wave Race was phenomenal. I used to be in complete awe with the fluid physics, which probably hasn't translated very well by today's standard. Wave Race: Blue Storm was one of the launch titles I bought for the GameCube, and I was really impressed with how beautiful it looked back then. Thanks to A Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I already know how beautiful games can be on the Switch, and seeing what it can do with a new Wave Race really "wets" my appetite.
3. PilotWings
Launching alongside F-Zero as a launch title for the Super Nintendo back in 1991, PilotWings was a lot of fun. You could fly a plane or rocket pack, skydive, hang glide, and even fly an attack helicopter. I got PilotWings 64 and although it was a lot of fun as well, I didn't put nearly the same hours into it as I did with the original. PilotWings Resort for the 3DS gave me a lot of good times, but it seemed like it should have been a much bigger game. A new PilotWings for the Switch would fill a much needed game in Nintendo's library: aerial simulation. I could only imagine how much fun it would be to play this game on the go. With the joy-cons, I could even see some motion controls for the rocket pack among other things.
4. Mario Paint
Remember Mario Paint? I do! I had so much fun painting and doing pixel art and even trying to make 8-bit music. If one of the Switch's selling points is that it's a gaming tablet, then a new Mario Paint game would feel right at home. Just one problem, though. For being a tablet, it doesn't have a stylus. That's not to say a stylus couldn't be included in a Switch Mario Paint. After missing the CLEAR opportunity for a new Mario Paint on the Wii U, I feel it's only just that we see one grace the Switch.
5. Animal Crossing
"But, we got an Animal Crossing on the Wii U!" What, Amiibo Festival? That shit doesn't exist! I'm talking about a proper Animal Crossing! A game where it's just you, not a bunch of Amiibos dancing around a game board! The GameCube, Wii, DS and 3DS all got a proper Animal Crossing and I want the Switch to have that same treatment. New Leaf improved so many things in the franchise, yet there's still room for a lot more and the Switch would be the perfect platform for it. Being such an addictive game, you could take it along with you and keep pulling weeds unabated!
6. Metroid Prime
What "Games I Want to See on the Switch" list would be complete without a Metroid Prime game? Seems the Prime series has been all but abandoned by Nintendo. The Wii U never got a Metroid game and Federation Force's existence is seldom acknowledged. Reggie didn't really confirm or deny that a new Metroid was in the works for the Switch, but... watch it be Federation Force 2. I would not put it past Nintendo to be so absolutely clueless that they would release it thinking it's what we wanted.
7. A sequel to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Yes, there have been several Paper Marios since the original N64 game, but only The Thousand Year Door do I acknowledge as a proper installment. The rest have tinkered with the formula and mechanics too much for me to embrace with the same love and enthusiasm as the other titles. Nintendo always has to experiment with things, and they tend to forget what made their fans fall in love with their games in the first place. They need to take a serious look again at what made the Thousand Year Door so beloved and build on that. If they could just go back to making a serious Paper Mario RPG again without stupid sticker and card based combat, that would be swell!
8. A sequel to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
We'll just need to accept that this will never happen. The Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi games are considered to be Super Mario RPG successors, but damn it if that doesn't stop me from wishing for them! Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was an epic true JRPG in full Squaresoft fashion. It made the rest of the Paper Marios and Mario and Luigis pale in comparison. To see a full-on JRPG with an entire roster of Mushroom Kingdom characters on the Switch to take and go wherever I wanted... well, that would just be a dream come true.
9. Excitebike
This is another game I want to see on the Switch thanks to Mario Kart 8. Being able to make Excitebike tracks on the go and race them with friends or co-workers would just be awesome. It's a beloved Nintendo franchise that all the old school gamers know, yet, the last installment we ever got was... Excite Truck. Noooooo thank you.
10. Virtual Console
Ok, this doesn't really count, because it's not a game - more like a delivery system for games - and it's on the way. But... when? This service should have been ready from launch, because there are a lot of older games that I could have gotten on my system already and had been too busy with them to dream up a list of games I want to see come out. Actually, it would have just given me a bunch of ideas for other games of the past that I wanted to see updated....
1. F-Zero
F-Zero is one of the many long running Nintendo franchises. First introduced in 1991 on the Super Nintendo, F-Zero became the home of extremely fast futuristic racing. Unfortunately, we stopped seeing new F-Zero games after F-Zero GX on the GameCube in 2003. The Wii and Wii U came and went, and no new F-Zero was seen. To add insult to injury, Nintendo added F-Zero themed tracks and carts to Mario Kart 8 as DLC, fueling my desire to want a new F-Zero. Granted, we have the Fast Racing series, with Fast Racing League on the Wii, Neo on the Wii U and RMX on the Nintendo Switch, but these aren't F-Zero games. Fast RMX is doing rather well on the Switch, so it would behoove Nintendo to release a new F-Zero for the system.
2. Wave Race
One of my favorite Nintendo 64 titles of all time, Wave Race was phenomenal. I used to be in complete awe with the fluid physics, which probably hasn't translated very well by today's standard. Wave Race: Blue Storm was one of the launch titles I bought for the GameCube, and I was really impressed with how beautiful it looked back then. Thanks to A Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I already know how beautiful games can be on the Switch, and seeing what it can do with a new Wave Race really "wets" my appetite.
3. PilotWings
Launching alongside F-Zero as a launch title for the Super Nintendo back in 1991, PilotWings was a lot of fun. You could fly a plane or rocket pack, skydive, hang glide, and even fly an attack helicopter. I got PilotWings 64 and although it was a lot of fun as well, I didn't put nearly the same hours into it as I did with the original. PilotWings Resort for the 3DS gave me a lot of good times, but it seemed like it should have been a much bigger game. A new PilotWings for the Switch would fill a much needed game in Nintendo's library: aerial simulation. I could only imagine how much fun it would be to play this game on the go. With the joy-cons, I could even see some motion controls for the rocket pack among other things.
4. Mario Paint
Remember Mario Paint? I do! I had so much fun painting and doing pixel art and even trying to make 8-bit music. If one of the Switch's selling points is that it's a gaming tablet, then a new Mario Paint game would feel right at home. Just one problem, though. For being a tablet, it doesn't have a stylus. That's not to say a stylus couldn't be included in a Switch Mario Paint. After missing the CLEAR opportunity for a new Mario Paint on the Wii U, I feel it's only just that we see one grace the Switch.
5. Animal Crossing
"But, we got an Animal Crossing on the Wii U!" What, Amiibo Festival? That shit doesn't exist! I'm talking about a proper Animal Crossing! A game where it's just you, not a bunch of Amiibos dancing around a game board! The GameCube, Wii, DS and 3DS all got a proper Animal Crossing and I want the Switch to have that same treatment. New Leaf improved so many things in the franchise, yet there's still room for a lot more and the Switch would be the perfect platform for it. Being such an addictive game, you could take it along with you and keep pulling weeds unabated!
6. Metroid Prime
What "Games I Want to See on the Switch" list would be complete without a Metroid Prime game? Seems the Prime series has been all but abandoned by Nintendo. The Wii U never got a Metroid game and Federation Force's existence is seldom acknowledged. Reggie didn't really confirm or deny that a new Metroid was in the works for the Switch, but... watch it be Federation Force 2. I would not put it past Nintendo to be so absolutely clueless that they would release it thinking it's what we wanted.
7. A sequel to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Yes, there have been several Paper Marios since the original N64 game, but only The Thousand Year Door do I acknowledge as a proper installment. The rest have tinkered with the formula and mechanics too much for me to embrace with the same love and enthusiasm as the other titles. Nintendo always has to experiment with things, and they tend to forget what made their fans fall in love with their games in the first place. They need to take a serious look again at what made the Thousand Year Door so beloved and build on that. If they could just go back to making a serious Paper Mario RPG again without stupid sticker and card based combat, that would be swell!
8. A sequel to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
We'll just need to accept that this will never happen. The Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi games are considered to be Super Mario RPG successors, but damn it if that doesn't stop me from wishing for them! Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was an epic true JRPG in full Squaresoft fashion. It made the rest of the Paper Marios and Mario and Luigis pale in comparison. To see a full-on JRPG with an entire roster of Mushroom Kingdom characters on the Switch to take and go wherever I wanted... well, that would just be a dream come true.
9. Excitebike
This is another game I want to see on the Switch thanks to Mario Kart 8. Being able to make Excitebike tracks on the go and race them with friends or co-workers would just be awesome. It's a beloved Nintendo franchise that all the old school gamers know, yet, the last installment we ever got was... Excite Truck. Noooooo thank you.
10. Virtual Console
Ok, this doesn't really count, because it's not a game - more like a delivery system for games - and it's on the way. But... when? This service should have been ready from launch, because there are a lot of older games that I could have gotten on my system already and had been too busy with them to dream up a list of games I want to see come out. Actually, it would have just given me a bunch of ideas for other games of the past that I wanted to see updated....
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
The Switch Has No Games, Yet It Does
So today marks the Nintendo Switch's two month anniversary. Apparently, the Switch still has no games. That's what someone would tell you if you read the comments on just about any Switch related article. The Switch has no games, yet I own six of them and have already beaten four of them. Technically, you could include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe based on my definition of a beaten game (when you see the end credits roll), but I won't consider that beaten until I've gotten all the gold cups.
Anywho, if we're being literal, then "the Switch has no games" is about as true as "there's no such thing as climate change." Let me run through the eShop and count how many games are currently available on the Switch. One moment please.
Anywho, if we're being literal, then "the Switch has no games" is about as true as "there's no such thing as climate change." Let me run through the eShop and count how many games are currently available on the Switch. One moment please.
Thanks for waiting. *ahem* At the time of this writing, the Switch currently has 43 games. In two months time, the Switch has FOURTY THREE GAMES! That's a huge number! Now, before you get too excited about that, most of these games are indie, old, ported, or Neo Geo titles. Zelda and Mario Kart 8 are really the only blockbuster system sellers, and they're both Wii U games. So in the realm of unique AAA exclusives, then who ever says "the Switch has no games" is correct.
Now, if you're that type of person who only plays AAA titles to validate your existence as a gamer, then I feel somewhat bad for you. There's a lot more to experience in the gaming world other than Grand Theft Auto, Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty. You might laugh at The Binding of Isaac being a launch line up title because it's been out for so long, but I and a lot of other gamers have never played it before, and I must say I had a lot of fun with it. I could take it to work and play on my breaks, and get a few dungeon runs in while laying in bed before going to bed. So let me talk about the games I do have.
One recent game I got was Puyo Puyo Tetris, a puzzle game that's also available on other machines. It's a fun little title, and both Puyo Puyo and Tetris are addictive puzzlers. Putting them together is just crack. Now, you might try to discredit it as not being a game because it's also on other platforms, but let me tell you what you can't do with the game on other platforms: bring it to work, slide off a joy-con and pass it to a friend to throw down while on break.
Then there's I Am Setsuna, an indie JRPG some call the spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger. Again, you may try to discredit it as a Switch game because it was already released on other platforms last year, but again, you can't take it with you. Imagine this if you will You're playing it on your PlayStation, delving into a long dungeon crawl, but you're running late for work. With no save point in sight, you put the machine into sleep, but it's storming hard that day. While you were gone, a lightning strike hit a power pole and knocked the power out at your house, completely turning off your game. You come home to flashing numbers on appliances and a game's dungeon waiting to be run again. With the Switch, you don't have to worry about that. You simply take I Am Setsuna with you and continue on your breaks. Even if you left your Switch at home docked, it's power outage proof, because it has its own battery. Yes, the Switch is the only home console that is power outage proof.
Super Bomberman R is not a game, because you loved Bomberman, yet you wouldn't be caught dead buying a Nintendo platform again, so Super Bomberman R doesn't exist, therefore not a game, right? Again, I feel sorry for you. Super Bomberman R is great. Fun campaign, online play, and just like Puyo Puyo Tetris, you can slide a joy-con off and pass it to a co-worker and blow each other up on break! The Switch's hybrid functionality is worth its weight in gold, and that makes every multi-platform title on the Switch that much better.
And of course, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe don't count as games because they're also on the Switch, right? I'd ALMOST give that one to you, except, again, you can play these games wherever you go. And these are brand new games to people who never owned a Wii U, just like The Last of Us Remastered was a brand new game for people who never owned a PS3 and Halo: Master Chief Collection were brand new games for people who never owned the previous Xboxes....
Be honest with yourself. The Switch HAS games, just not games that you want to play, or more likely, games that you'd be too embarrassed to play if your friends ever caught you.
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