Well we’ve come to the end of another year and once again
I’ve bought more games than I’ve got a hope of playing through. I’ve not beaten
anywhere near as many games as I was expecting, although I would attribute a
change in my personal circumstances and an almost compulsive need to keep
myself busy to at least some of that.
Of course, there are games out there that I have played and,
for whatever reason, I haven’t beaten them. Maybe they’re too long, maybe
they’re too hard, maybe they’re not supposed to be ‘beaten’ in the usual sense.
Maybe in some cases they weren’t very good. As I write this I’m still trying to
get through a couple of games in time for the New Year but I’m not going to
force it, since that sucks a lot of the fun out of playing video games for me.
Nonetheless, there are a few games that I’ve had a lot of fun with, and I
thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you about some of them:
Mordheim: City of the
Damned
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| A battle in full swing... |
I love this game. Mordheim was always my favourite of Games
Workshop’s intellectual properties, and when I heard a video game was in
production I really hoped it would be good (as Games Workshop have taken a
somewhat cavalier approach to licensing their property for video game
development, this isn’t a guarantee!) What we got was a game that grew on me as
I was going along, to the point where I can look at my Steam screens and see
that I’ve sunk 140 hours into the game. Not since XCOM: Enemy Unknown have I
played a game so obsessively, and it certainly filled a strategy game-shaped hole
left when XCOM 2 failed to engage me in the same way.
There’s plenty that I like about Mordheim. Firstly, the
tutorial is kept separate from the main game. Far too many games these days
introduce the mechanics as they’re going along; useful in itself but makes
replaying the game far from a joy as you’re basically following a scripted
sequence for anything up to the first hour. Mordheim shows you the game
mechanics in the tutorial, but after that, you’re on your own. It’s up to you
to learn your warband’s various strengths and weaknesses, what strategies work
best with each faction, and what loots and rewards you need to be aiming for.
Developing your warband into a fighting force that can take
on the game is a fulfilling experience when you know what you’re doing in terms
of customisation. The skills and stats they build up along the way are always
fun to apply, and even the injuries they pick up contribute to the organic
story that you’re telling. Character development, when done well, can be a
game’s greatest asset and this one is pretty good.
Finally, the game lets you go at your own pace. You have to
collect enough Wyrdstone in a certain amount of time, and the game is over on
the 4th time you fail to do this (I’ve never had this happen to me,
yet!) Other than that, it’s up to you. If a large percentage of your best
fighters are injured, you can make the decision not to go on a mission while
they recover – there’s no penalty other than wasted time. There are campaign
missions which you have to do at some point, but if you want to raise the value
of your warband so that you can beat it more easily – but risk more injuries in
the process – that’s up to you.
Unfortunately the game is let down by two major flaws: Game
breaking bugs and the Ironman saving system. There have been times when I’ve
reached a certain point in the game – and put a significant number of hours
into the relevant save file – to find that I’m unable to complete a mission
because the game will not end it. Either the AI won’t take their turn, or one
of your objectives doesn’t register. You have an option to abandon a mission if
this happens but this comes with penalties that could potentially cripple your
warband. And while the idea behind an Ironman save system – the game is
constantly saving on one file so you can’t go back and load a previous save –
is great for a game that relies on the consequences of the choices you make, it
also means you can’t reload a save file if it is effected by a bug. Things came
to a head when playing the 4th campaign mission with the Sisters of
Sigmar warband I’d spent weeks building up, and I couldn’t complete the
objective without abandoning the mission. I quit out of the game and haven’t
played it since. I probably will again at some point – but I have other games I
could be playing for now.
Rogue Legacy
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| Dodge this, squire... |
Since watching some TotalBiscuit videos I’ve been hearing
the term ‘Rogue-like’ bandied around a lot, with Rogue Legacy being the
crowning achievement in the genre. Now that I’ve played the thing, I’m starting
to see why it’s so popular! The gameplay is excellent – tight controls, a
charming art style and competent procedural level generation. Even better is
the upgrade system, where you upgrade your skills and equipment after every
run.
Because of course, that’s the whole point of Rogue-likes:
You’ll never beat them all in one go but nor are you supposed to. Instead of
that, you’re supposed to carry on until you die and then use what you picked up
along the way to improve your chances of getting further next time. I have
actually played a few games with so-called ‘Rogue-like’ elements and this one
has been by far the best, for this reason: You’re always clear on how well you
need to do for your next upgrade. You buy the upgrades for a certain amount of
gold, and provided you know where to take your next upgrade, you always know
how much you need to aim for. This might seem like a minor detail, but in
actual fact it does a really good job of gauging the success of your run,
rather than champing at the bit all the time.
It will be a long time, if ever, before I beat this game.
And even if I do, I understand there’s quite a bit of post-game content to
enjoy as well. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with it so far, so it made
my honorary mentions list.
Super Mario Maker
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| Spiny's can go upside down? What devilry is this? |
Well how do you beat a game that has ongoing and almost
entirely user-developed content? The answer is that you don’t; you just have
some fun with it. And fun I have had! It’s good to fight your way through
different levels made by other people, it’s good to have a go at some
dev-designed levels that don’t appear in the Super Mario games that these are
based on, and designing your own levels and seeing how they challenge people is
a rewarding experience.
You make your own fun with Super Mario Maker, and when I’m
building levels I try to make a gimmick for each one; a puzzle or a challenge
to overcome. Whether that’s building a set of pipes in the shape of a hill,
sending several Bomber Bills flying at you, or creating levels that look like a
chandelier, I want to make a level that challenges low-mid level players on the
right level. I may never reach the giddy heights of designing a level where you
don’t have to move; just let the platforms carry you. And I may never build a
super-difficult level that only the most precise platforming can overcome. But
I like to build what I would consider to be challenging levels.
I come back to this game sparingly as I tend to prefer games
that have an ending that I can aim for, but for a bit of creative fun every now
and then, you could do far worse than this.
Hand of Fate
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| I'll beat you in the end, dealer. Oh yes. |
