Is Minigolf Big-Pinball? Experts are divided.
So we’re kicking doors and polishing floors this week with Neva, as the title to this very thread subtly implies. It’s from the same peeps as what made GRIS, which I know is a darling among a sizable chunk of the peeps as are reading this thread. It’s also a game I haven’t played since it doesn’t really scream being an Octo sort of game, but I can hardly hold that against it. As for this, well, it’s a thoughtful emotional journey of a lady what wants to walk across the land with a dog. And also everything is dying because of the corruption of the natural world. Chances are pretty good you’ll cry if you okay it. Cry like a dang baby.
Anyway, I infer it’s Princess Mononoke but without the cool monsters fights.
Speaking of fighting cool mutated monsters we have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed, a tie in to the recent movie. TMNT games are *on average* pretty good, since almost every combination of words in the name of the franchise lends itself pretty well to video games. This seems to be an open world, co-op Turt-em-up where you’ve got to explore New York and administer incredible levels of violence in service of making new friends with a heap of new mutants that have cropped up all over the ding dang place.
And speaking of long running franchises that got their start in the 80s (or… umm… mid-late 70s at least) we got a two pack of platformers based on long running horror franchises. Halloween and Ash vs. The Evil Dead. I suppose that second one is based on the show but whatever, I ain’t revising history by pressing the backspace button. I’ve said my goodbyes to that sentence as soon as I pressed the period key.
…where was I?
Oh right, video game summaries.
Anyway, they’re pixel-y action platformer where you’re either the most famous Shape in cinema, Shrek himself (or star of true Lies and Virus, Jamie Lee Curtis) or else Bruce Campbell/Dana DeLorenzo and got to make your way through a whack of levels chopping up random-ass people/Deadites.
Speaking of general camaraderie; we’ve got two different games for partying, with party people, when it’s party time! Just Dance 2025 and Super Mario Party Jamboree!
Both come out damn near every year, neither has changed up the premise in all that time. One is about doing the ol’ Shinmy and Shake to all of the chart topping hits you can shake a stick at, and the other is a board game where victory or defeat is completely out of your hands and also you will assuredly obliterate your hands.
Speaking of obliteration, we’ve got Storm Edge which… I *i think* is a co-op Hades-em-up, but without Bonesy or Dusa so what is even the point.
Speaking of games similar to beloved dungeon crawlers (of a sort…) we have Dungeons 4! Which is basically exactly Dungeon Keeper! Except they still make these, and there hasn’t been a proper Dungeon Keeper since the mid 90s!
You’ve got an aspiring Queen who has a dark empire to reign over, and parties of RPG heroes keep saying “Frickin’ quit it, lady” and you say “No, *you* quit it” and then you build a monster fortress stronghold to assert your claim.
The Switch port has a bunch of DLC that the other versions of the game had to pay money for; suckers!!
Speaking of spiritual throwbacks to beloved 90s games, we’ve got 8-Bit Adventures 2, which certainly has the visual oomph of a mid-to-late 8-bit RPG. The eShop description certainly made much hay about the ridiculous amount of video game they crammed into this fake NES game, so… like… expect a robust hunk of video style entertainment game.
And for a different, and much more immediately appealing application of Fake 90s game, especially for this time of year, we’ve got Crow Country! Which I’ve heard a huge amount of good things about. This here is more of a Resident Evil-em-up where your a gal who wandered into the happiest place on earth, a dilapidated theme park full of crows and supernatural horror, and figure “Well, I better solve a bunch of puzzles from an old weirdo and blast some monsters”.
And speaking of giving the supernatural remnants of man a brain full of artillery, we’ve got the latest Nightdive re-release of some FPS nobody has given a second thought to in 30 years. Killing Time Resurrected is a gussied *all to hell and back* remaster of the 3DO classic. Or at least as classic as a 3DO game could be. It’s somewhat similar to 7th Guest, except with baffling Myst style puzzles replaced by the ability to blow a ghosts entire head apart with a Tommy gun.
Also everything is FMV and motion captured, so visually it’s a real treat.
I’m… kind of completely on board with this?
And finally we’ve got yet another Japanese PC re-release, but it’s one that I suspect works a lot better when one isn’t burdened by a lack of fluent literacy in Japanese, Egg Console Undeadline is a shooter with some RPG elements that immediately brought the likes of Knightmare and Kings Knight to mind.
Okay I guess that’s everything. Stay tuned for next week when you wallet dies.
So we’re kicking doors and polishing floors this week with Neva, as the title to this very thread subtly implies. It’s from the same peeps as what made GRIS, which I know is a darling among a sizable chunk of the peeps as are reading this thread. It’s also a game I haven’t played since it doesn’t really scream being an Octo sort of game, but I can hardly hold that against it. As for this, well, it’s a thoughtful emotional journey of a lady what wants to walk across the land with a dog. And also everything is dying because of the corruption of the natural world. Chances are pretty good you’ll cry if you okay it. Cry like a dang baby.
Anyway, I infer it’s Princess Mononoke but without the cool monsters fights.
Speaking of fighting cool mutated monsters we have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed, a tie in to the recent movie. TMNT games are *on average* pretty good, since almost every combination of words in the name of the franchise lends itself pretty well to video games. This seems to be an open world, co-op Turt-em-up where you’ve got to explore New York and administer incredible levels of violence in service of making new friends with a heap of new mutants that have cropped up all over the ding dang place.
And speaking of long running franchises that got their start in the 80s (or… umm… mid-late 70s at least) we got a two pack of platformers based on long running horror franchises. Halloween and Ash vs. The Evil Dead. I suppose that second one is based on the show but whatever, I ain’t revising history by pressing the backspace button. I’ve said my goodbyes to that sentence as soon as I pressed the period key.
…where was I?
Oh right, video game summaries.
Anyway, they’re pixel-y action platformer where you’re either the most famous Shape in cinema, Shrek himself (or star of true Lies and Virus, Jamie Lee Curtis) or else Bruce Campbell/Dana DeLorenzo and got to make your way through a whack of levels chopping up random-ass people/Deadites.
Speaking of general camaraderie; we’ve got two different games for partying, with party people, when it’s party time! Just Dance 2025 and Super Mario Party Jamboree!
Both come out damn near every year, neither has changed up the premise in all that time. One is about doing the ol’ Shinmy and Shake to all of the chart topping hits you can shake a stick at, and the other is a board game where victory or defeat is completely out of your hands and also you will assuredly obliterate your hands.
Speaking of obliteration, we’ve got Storm Edge which… I *i think* is a co-op Hades-em-up, but without Bonesy or Dusa so what is even the point.
Speaking of games similar to beloved dungeon crawlers (of a sort…) we have Dungeons 4! Which is basically exactly Dungeon Keeper! Except they still make these, and there hasn’t been a proper Dungeon Keeper since the mid 90s!
You’ve got an aspiring Queen who has a dark empire to reign over, and parties of RPG heroes keep saying “Frickin’ quit it, lady” and you say “No, *you* quit it” and then you build a monster fortress stronghold to assert your claim.
The Switch port has a bunch of DLC that the other versions of the game had to pay money for; suckers!!
Speaking of spiritual throwbacks to beloved 90s games, we’ve got 8-Bit Adventures 2, which certainly has the visual oomph of a mid-to-late 8-bit RPG. The eShop description certainly made much hay about the ridiculous amount of video game they crammed into this fake NES game, so… like… expect a robust hunk of video style entertainment game.
And for a different, and much more immediately appealing application of Fake 90s game, especially for this time of year, we’ve got Crow Country! Which I’ve heard a huge amount of good things about. This here is more of a Resident Evil-em-up where your a gal who wandered into the happiest place on earth, a dilapidated theme park full of crows and supernatural horror, and figure “Well, I better solve a bunch of puzzles from an old weirdo and blast some monsters”.
And speaking of giving the supernatural remnants of man a brain full of artillery, we’ve got the latest Nightdive re-release of some FPS nobody has given a second thought to in 30 years. Killing Time Resurrected is a gussied *all to hell and back* remaster of the 3DO classic. Or at least as classic as a 3DO game could be. It’s somewhat similar to 7th Guest, except with baffling Myst style puzzles replaced by the ability to blow a ghosts entire head apart with a Tommy gun.
Also everything is FMV and motion captured, so visually it’s a real treat.
I’m… kind of completely on board with this?
And finally we’ve got yet another Japanese PC re-release, but it’s one that I suspect works a lot better when one isn’t burdened by a lack of fluent literacy in Japanese, Egg Console Undeadline is a shooter with some RPG elements that immediately brought the likes of Knightmare and Kings Knight to mind.
Okay I guess that’s everything. Stay tuned for next week when you wallet dies.
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