Well, I tried. I kept it going for five issues, at least. The thing is, I just wasn't feeling that happy about the format. It just seemed to me that I was looking for things to talk about just to have content in my blogs. I also felt that the stuff I was talking about at the beginning of the blog was already outdated by the time I posted it on Saturday. Last week, I also was a bit busy with things and didn't have much time to browse gaming news. I don't want to feel like I need to be pressured to fill my blog with content. I want them to come naturally, organically. So, I'm going back to the old ways of blogging when I feel like blogging. This means you'll see some frequently, some sporadically. I'll try not to leave month long gaps like I did in the past, but I'm hoping this will ultimately be for the best.
Since I have you here, I want to give you a gaming update. I have beaten Motorstorm Pacific Rift finally. Now, when I say I beat a game, I mean I played it up to the point where I got a credit roll. Beaten is not to be confused with finished, which some people do. "How could you beat the game
? You didn't do everything!" I ... beat the game. I did not finish it. So, I did not finish Motorstorm Pacific Rift because I forced myself to stop trying to get first on every event. I was doing fine settling for second and even third for a few events, but one event had a time condition of 4:40 in order to unlock the last event in its series. I tried and tried and tried to win that race in under 4:40, but no matter how well I did, even doing a perfect race with no crashes and wide turns, I couldn't get it. I was beyond done with the game at this point and told myself, "You saw the credits, that's all you need." So, I let it go...
... because I really wanted to play this:
I have wanted this game for the longest time not only because I was looking for a reason to get back into my PSVR, but I also heard it's one of PSVR's best games. I got it for a gift last week but was waiting to finish Motorstorm Pacific Rift, which I ultimately had to give up on.
Stop it.. *ahem* So I started Astro Bot last night. I only played a little bit of it, a few levels, but it was something I desperately needed. I was getting so stressed out from the other game that I started to actually hate gaming, so I need this change of pace. Astro Bot is an absolute joy. It's so unabashedly cute, there's no way you can't play it without smiling. You can easily see that it's heavily influenced by the 3D Marios, but that's not a bad thing at all. In fact, Astro Bot is Sony's example to Nintendo on how VR gaming should actually be, not in a cheap cardboard imitation of VR.
In Astro Bot, your goal is to find your fellow robots that got blasted off their spaceship by a greedy alien. They've been sent to worlds in different parts of the galaxy, and you have go through the levels locating them all. I've only played three levels so far, and I've only missed one of them that I had to use a walkthrough to find. For the most part, they're pretty easy to find, but some can be tricky. There's also a chameleon that you have to find and when you detect it, you need to stare at it until it loses is camouflage. Once that happens, you unlock a challenge that's based on the theme of that level. Of the challenges that I've played, two have been clearing stages in under a minute and one scoring as high as possible in a ball throwing game. They're not really challenging, but they are fun.
I've also really enjoyed the music as well. It has the lively free-going feeling that, again, was most likely inspired by Mario games, and I can't wait to hear the later tracks. It's also one of the best looking VR games that I've played. Having a PS4 Pro really helps in this department because its increased frame rate allows you to enjoy the environmental details that much more. And there's no sudden jerks or split-second refreshing like in some VR games that cause people to get headaches or nausea. If you have a PSVR, you should definitely add Astro Bot to your collection. If you don't have a PSVR, maybe it's time to consider getting one. There's a good number of great VR games to check out, this one included.
I'm also still playing Puzzle Quest on the PSP making a good bit of progress. The thing is, I get distracted very easily in RPGs when I'm able to do other things. In Puzzle Quest, you can actually get mounts by capturing creatures that you've beaten a few times. You can train them by challenging them to battles where their levels go up, increasing their benefits to you in future battles. I keep getting new mounts that I want to try, so I kept training them. I do enjoy the game, but I wish I could get myself to focus on the story so I can get this game finished... sorry, beaten... and move on to something else. I feel like I should be making more progress in my backlog, but I haven't.
I think I've decided what my next two games will be. I'm still doing only one game a month, so for this month, it will be:
I've been watching this one for quite some time. I had hesitations because I wasn't sure how the gameplay would be, but it's been getting good reviews. So far, it's at an 81 at Metacritic. Not bad for a game that didn't have anywhere near the promotional backing of recently released games such as Rage 2 and Days Gone. My game for June will be:
I was contemplating getting SMM 2 for a while, but wasn't quite sure. I really enjoyed the first SMM, but what I didn't like was how I'd spend hours on a level and then hardly anyone would play it. I'm afraid that's going to happen more so in this game, but with the recent SMM 2 Direct announcing new things such as a story mode, I decided I'm going to take the plunge. Plus, I really did thoroughly enjoy making my own levels. If not that many people play them, well, that's ok.
I think I'll end this blog by talking about the next 10 games that got announced for the Sega Genesis Mini. They are:
- Mega Man: The Wily Wars
- Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition
- Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Beyond Oasis
- Golden Axe
- Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
- Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
- Vectorman
- Wonder Boy in Monster World
It's another solid list. For starters, Mega Man: The Wily Wars is a compilation of the first three Mega Man games with Genesis-exclusive levels that's never been released before in the States (aside from a Sega Channel exclusive), so I can't wait to play these exclusives levels. I was curious whether or not the Genesis was going to get SFII, because it needed the six-button controller, but only came with the three button original. Sega said they're working with 8-Bitdo to make a six-button controller for the Mini, so I'll have to get one of those. I wish they put the six button controller in to begin with. Ghouls 'n Ghosts I don't particularly care about, because I have that on the SNES Classic. I don't remember playing Alex Kidd, Beyond Oasis, or Wonder boy and I know I haven't played Phantasy Star IV, so I'm looking forward to trying those. Vectorman I couldn't really care about, but I can't wait to play Sonic Spinball again. I had that game and played it all the time. Loved it!
We still have 10 more games to be announced, and already I think the Sega Genesis Mini is shaping up to be a better Classic console than the NES, SNES and PS combined!
As always, thanks for reading!
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