Last Week's Games: Sonic Transformed, Streets of Rage, Midnight Wanderes

What's it like to drive with no tyres?

As I resolved to play one new game every week, I tend to do that at the start of the week to make sure I’ve done it and give the game a chance to engage me. I didn’t do that this week, starting with a game I’d been playing a few weeks before: Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed. I had a fine time with this a couple of weeks ago but had left it alone for most of the previous week; it took a few goes to get back into the rhythm of the game. I had a go at the final section of the World Tour, and chose Vyse for this part of the play through as one of the achievements are tied up in his lap times and I wanted to level him up. However, after a few races, it became apparent that I’d got as far as I was going to get by playing through on Normal difficulty. I tried switching to Expert and got utterly destroyed, so I settled for Hard difficulty and played through the first few races again to earn some stars. This is going to take a while but it’s the sign of a good game that I’m willing to come back to it!

The three original heroes. Shame Adam
didn't appear in any more games!

On Wednesday night Kirsty and I had a go with the original Streets of Rage on the Xbox 360; I downloaded the compilation trilogy when it became free on Gold. I chose Adam for the play through and Kirsty played as Axel. It was good fun going through the game and hearing Kirsty come up with names for the enemies: Stabby McGee, Streetwise Prince Harry, Purple Zombie Dude, Yellow Turtle Guy and He-Man were some of my favourites! We actually did quite well; we got as far as the last stage but we fell down to the Big Ben bosses. The game is re-balanced to accommodate two players, and when Kirsty ran out of lives and continues, I couldn’t handle two of the Big Bens on my own with Adam as he moves quite slowly. It didn’t help that I kept forgetting not to throw them in this edition of the game!

Metal Slug with a crossbow...

So what was my new game for this week? Well, a while ago, I watched one of Metal Jesus’ videos, Discover HIDDEN GEMS in Game Collections and Compilations, which he did with his friend John Riggs. In that video they talk about some excellent games that were part of compilations, and Jason (Metal Jesus) was often surprised to hear John talk about a game he didn’t realise that he owned on a compilation! The same applied to me when John talked about a game that appeared on Capcom Classics Collection vol. 2: Midnight Wanderers: Quest for the Chariot. This was actually hidden in a multi-game, called Three Wonders, so wouldn’t necessarily happen across it. So I gave it a try. It is a platform/shooting game similar to Metal Slug in gameplay, where you control a hobbit called Lou on a quest apparently taken on a whim to find a chariot. I gave it a go and it’s a pretty decent game; I like the way it plays, the jumping feels a little off but it very often did back in the early 90s when jumping mechanics weren’t standardised. The enemy design is really good as well. I didn’t get too far with it since I didn’t have long, but I had a decent amount of fun and I’ll probably come back to it at some point – although, it has to be said, that compilation has a lot of other good games on there that I should probably check out too!

I managed to find time to go to Warlords ‘n’ Wizards and continue to paint my Chaos Cultists. I’ve done the vast majority of them now; I just need to do the flesh and the base and we’re away. I’ve got another ten to paint after this, and I’m hoping to get a Dark Apostle done after that. That will be 500 points of Word Bearers painted, so I might move on to something different after that; I was inspired to paint Blood Angels by Regicide after all!

Last Week's Games: Sonic Transformed, Catan, Exploding Kittens, Eternal Crusade and 911 Operator...

This week was busier than I expected!

Let's not worry too much about why a Hedgehog who is
the fastest thing alive needs a car...

My new game for this week was Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, recently downloaded for the Xbox360. This is a kart racing game with the usual line-up of Sonic characters, plus another several characters from Sega’s other properties such as Alex Kidd, Super Monkey Ball, Shinobi and, bizarrely, Wreck-it Ralph. I was expecting to play a few rounds of this and then put it to bed, but I was astonished and delighted by how much fun this game is! I’m working through the World Tour at the moment, which is great for introducing the game’s modes – racing, battles, time trials, drift challenges, that sort of thing. The races are pretty easy – you don’t need to win the race to beat the level; you only need to come third – but some of the other challenges are pretty tough. The drifts, in particular, require a lot of precision. I initially chose Sonic for my play through, because you don’t buy a Sonic the Hedgehog game not wanting to play as Sonic, but when I’d levelled him up as high as he’ll go and couldn’t progress him any further, I tried playing as Danica Patrick, who handles very well. I wondered what Sega game she was from and was surprised to discover that she is, in fact, a real person! I’ve got to the end of the World Tour – just the Bonus levels to do now – but the game still has a lot to offer and I’m nowhere near fed up with it yet, so I’ll keep going for a bit longer!

It’s a little strange how that works out as I tend to prefer games with storylines. Or, at least, I think I do. But a competently-designed racing game has a very addictive “just one more go” mentality that is proving every bit as fun as an engaging plot. I enjoy having a nice balance between the two.

A mixture of non-sequitur and smarmy self-reference
often mistaken for comedy by the same sort of people
who describe themselves as "random..."

Later in the week I had a Wednesday afternoon in Warlords and Wizards, and played an enjoyable game of Catan with a couple of the lads in there which I was very pleased to win! I also had a go with Exploding Kittens; it’s a card game where you have to avoid picking up certain cards from a blind draw. The art is amusing, though very much “of its time,” and the game mechanics work even though it is based on luck. But to be honest I didn’t think much of it. It’s far too reliant on luck for me, and the theme doesn’t lend itself to a compelling plot or reason to be doing what you’re doing. The kids in the shop enjoyed it, and if someone got it out at a party I’d join in, but I won’t be spending any money on Exploding Kittens. A change of schedule means that my regular visits to Warlords and Wizards on Wednesdays have now come to an end, but I will still pop in when I can. It’s a great little shop!

I had a few rounds of Eternal Crusade; what I’ve started doing with that is trying to progress with one character until I’ve reached a Requisition Points Bonus; there are usually three available bonuses worth 1500 points each, and once I’ve achieved one I’ll move on to the next character. The reason for this is that the one you’ve won takes a while to be replaced, and could be replaced with something you could have been working on while you were playing. It also lets me have a go with some of the other factions, which is always nice.

The level I'm stuck on, funnily enough.

Finally, I continued playing 911 Operator, which I originally tried way back in February (I had to go back through my blog to find that out.) It’s odd to play games about going to work, but I really enjoy the core gameplay loop! I think the campaign could have done with fewer cities and a bit more time to develop in each city, as the improvements you make usually only occur once before you have to move on. The map doesn’t make much difference to what’s going on.

Let’s see what I’ve got time for next week…