{"id":4018,"date":"2014-02-01T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/?p=4018"},"modified":"2014-02-08T01:24:38","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T06:24:38","slug":"monthend-video-game-wrap-up-january-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torrentialequilibrium.net\/?p=4018","title":{"rendered":"Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: January 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another year is upon us, and with that year comes a long a whole buttload of new games that I’ve purchased on both Nintendo eShops and Steam. Because those year-end sales were absolutely mad<\/em>. And not “angry” mad, but “British” mad. Of course, I’m not playing all of those games at once, so you won’t see them all here, and that kind of defeats the purpose of mentioning them at all.<\/p>\n

2014 is going real<\/em> swell so far.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, January was absolutely swamped with short games that I was able to beat in a\u00a0matter of\u00a0hours. So this is a big one. Hold onto your butt.<\/p>\n

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~ Now Playing ~<\/h2>\n

Super Mario 3D World<\/strong> (Wii U) – The wait to Christmas was absolutely killer<\/em> in 2013, because I was waiting for this very game. And yet, I did not burn through it in a week like I could have. No, I find that a new Mario game is best when savoured a few levels at a time, and man oh man, have I ever been savouring this one. This is the special kind of game that you buy a system for. Technically I have beaten it, but there’s so much more to do that I’ll leave it in Now Playing for the time being, and move it to Game Over once I’m good and done with it.<\/p>\n

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Dark Souls<\/strong> (360) – Yeah, I’m still at it. I play more than once a week though, so I’m way ahead of the weekly blogs.<\/p>\n

Chibi-Robo: Photo Finder<\/strong> (3DS) – It can’t possibly live up to the standard that I set by the original Chibi-Robo game, but it’s still got a lot of the heart that made the first game a winner. The real problem here is the game’s main gimmick: taking pictures of stuff. It would\u00a0come off\u00a0a lot better if the 3DS’ camera wasn’t awful. Heck, it would probably even be a lot of fun with a decent camera. Alas. I have no idea how long this game is going to be, but I’ve filled up two museum displays so far.<\/p>\n

Plants Vs. Zombies 2<\/strong> (iOS) – My wife and I are racing to see who can get to the end first, and neither of us are making progress quickly. Me, because I play like once a month, and her because she’s stuck on a particularly hard level. She’s also quite a bit farther than I, so if she gets over that hump I might be in trouble! Oh, and EA? If you’re going to insist on locking stuff away behind micro-transactions, please make them reasonably priced. There’s no way I’m going to buy any extra plants or power-ups at $3 a pop. If they were $1 each, I’d probably already have them all.<\/p>\n

Valdis Story: Abyssal City<\/strong> (PC) – This is like, my dream game (after Super Mario 3D World). It’s a colourful metroidvania with multiple playable characters, a focus on combat, and a Borderlands-style perk tree. Now if only I could play it with a controller from the comfort of my couch on an actual Video Game Machine. Sigh… PC exclusives make me sad. I really have come to loathe playing games on my computer.<\/p>\n

Super Monkey Ball<\/strong> (iOS) – Logic would denote that playing a game whose main mechanic is tilting the playfield would work great with tilt controls. That’s not quite the case, as Monkey Ball on my iPhone is very difficult to play, and even harder to enjoy. If you need a Monkey Ball fix, I’d recommend just picking up one of the GameCube games. Maybe the one on Wii. I never played that one though. I’m on World 2 of 5, but I doubt I’ll bother finishing it.<\/p>\n

Long Live the Queen<\/strong> (PC) – I’m not into text adventures or anime princesses, but for whatever reason, I felt like I needed to own this game. And it’s sort of blah. All you really do is choose which skills to learn between scripted events, and hope that Elodie doesn’t get murdered along the way. Finding all the ways she can die is probably the most fun you can have with this one though. To date, I’ve only played enough to suffer one death. Here’s<\/a> a really good review that makes me wish I appreciated it more.<\/p>\n

Body Harvest<\/strong> (N64) – Yes, I started my N64 game for February early, but my goal is simply to beat one per month, not to only play one a month. Also I’ve never played Body Harvest and have no idea how long it’ll take me to finish it. Currently I’m on part three of the\u00a0second mission, and I’m fairly impressed. It’s long since become obsolete, but if I’d played this when it was new, my mind would have been blown wide open.<\/p>\n

~ Game Over ~<\/h2>\n

Picross e3 <\/strong>(3DS)\u00a0– It’s the weirdest thing, this game had been out for months, and I wasn’t even slightly inclined to buy it. Mostly because I was waiting until I’d finished Paint It Back, but also a little bit because I may have overloaded on picross in 2013. If that can even happen. Burned though it in a week though, because I’ve got to burn through something<\/em> in a week.<\/p>\n

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team<\/strong> (3DS) – Wifey gave me this for my birthday last year, and I played it until the game decided to send me back to all the corners of the map that I’d already explored for a big fetch quest, and my enthusiasm petered out.\u00a0I spent most of January slowly slogging through the second half of the game, and I’ve got to say that the guiding\u00a0principle behind the whole project must have been making everything twice as long as it needs to be.<\/p>\n

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Gone Home<\/strong> (PC) – A game about wandering around a house, trying to find out where your family has disappeared to. It’s a cute little game with a lot of heart, but it’s not something I’d necessarily recommend. Not at full price anyway. If you see it on sale and narrative-based wandering games are your bag, go for it. Maybe I’d have liked more it if my PC\u00a0had been\u00a0able to run it at full speed.<\/p>\n

Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale<\/strong> (3DS) – Gameplay-wise, it’s very similar to Gone Home, but I liked this one so much better. Maybe because it has a more fantastical story, or maybe because it’s much more lively. I don’t know, but I really enjoyed this one. I just don’t like that you have to grind for collectables to truly finish it. :p<\/p>\n

Bugs Vs. Tanks!<\/strong> (3DS) – Exactly what it sounds like; you play as an officer in a battalion of tanks that have been shrunken down, and have to combat insects to survive. It’s not a superb game by any means, and can get somewhat frustrating at times, but it’s fun. Also, it’s one of the exceptionally rare 3DS games where the 3D effect actually adds something.<\/p>\n

Brain Age Express: Sudoku<\/strong> (DSi) – I finally finished all the sudoku puzzles in there. Guess I wipe it now and start again? Nah, probably not.<\/p>\n

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP<\/strong> (PC) – I actually finished this game in December, but totally forgot about it. That’s because despite the fact that I want to say I like it, it’s a pretty forgettable game. Also it has a stupid mechanic where you have to wait\u00a0entire days<\/em> to make certain critical events happen, and that’s just a huge pain in the butt. And making me wait to play a game more often than not makes me forget about the game altogether. It’s still pretty good, though.<\/p>\n

~ Reruns ~<\/h2>\n

Kirby’s Dream Land<\/strong> (GB) – I tend to play through this one every few months or so. It only takes half an hour, and I think it’s pretty fun despite the simplicity. Also I love the music.<\/p>\n