Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Blast robots and collect loot in this twin stick roguelike.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/63018/dust-n-neon-switch-review
This generation of gaming, particularly in the download arena, could be described as “The Roguelike Era.” What was once an obscure gameplay style has seen its elements make their way into a wide variety of titles, with varying degrees of success. Dust & Neon combines that formula with another well worn idea, the twin stick shooter, but brings enough creativity to the table to stand out and feel fresh.
Dust & Neon tasks you with going through a series of wild west-themed levels, shooting robots and collecting loot. The most important thing in a game like this, before you factor in any of the details, is that those core shooting mechanics feel good, and Dust & Neon nails those. Cover can be used, and there’s a handy combat roll that helps you avoid enemy fire, but it’s mostly just moving and shooting. The one unique thing about the combat in this game is that you have to manually reload your gun, and I mean press the button to reload each individual bullet. This is a bit jarring at first, but as I went through the game I came to really enjoy this. It adds a level of tension where you always have to keep an eye out for how your ammo is holding up, and find the right opportunities to reload. In hectic moments I was running wild and hammering on the Y button to be able to finish off the oncoming hordes of enemies.
Where the roguelike elements come in is that over time you build up experience that can be used to permanently upgrade your character even after you die and have to be cloned again, as well as items that can enhance your base stats to give you better starts. While it’s accurate to call them roguelike elements, this is very much on the lighter side of that type of thing. The penalty for dying isn’t that steep, especially once you unlock the ability to rebuy the weapons you had when you died, which happens very early in the game.
Apart from those upgrade components, the main thing you collect in Dust & Neon is guns. At any given time you can carry one pistol, one shotgun, and one rifle, with many different types of each scattered around the levels and in the shop. These vary in terms of power, accuracy, chance of critical hit, and clip size, with that last one being very important given the reloading mechanic. The only problem is that once you find a really good gun, you don’t have a ton of incentive to try different things.
The levels you play through are pretty straightforward, with a handful of different objectives that can keep things from feeling too similar. There are also boss fights in each major region that pit you against powerful enemies with unique patterns that reward you with major upgrades to your base. One of these is Tonics, power-ups you can buy that are only in effect for one or a few missions that can help give things a different feel at a point in the game where you might feel like you’ve seen everything. Even with all that, though, the game does sometimes feel repetitive, as most games of this type can.
Even with that repetitiveness, the core mechanics feel so good that I really enjoyed jumping in for a few missions every now and then on a regular basis. Dust & Neon manages to combine several common game tropes in a new and interesting way, with a surprisingly fun reloading mechanic that makes it stand out in a crowded field.
A fast-paced puzzle game with surprising depth.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/62525/the-punchuin-switch-review
The match-3 puzzle genre is one of the most well-worn styles of game, to the point where it’s easy to overlook new entries that pop up on the various digital shops. It takes a lot to stand out in that crowded field, but The Punchuin and its action-focused twist on that genre is well worth your time.
The Punchuin starts with the standard premise of a vertical playfield with blocks continuously falling from the top. But this time, instead of moving the blocks themselves, you’re controlling a penguin with boxing gloves, the titular Punchuin, who jumps around the level pushing those blocks around. Each level has a specific number of color matches you have to achieve to clear it, as the blocks steadily fall and build up.
The mechanics are very simple. If you punch a block, it moves three spaces over, unless it hits something on the way. Punching a block that’s right up against something else bounces it one space toward you. Nailing the specific moves you need to get blocks lined up can be tricky, and the quick pace of play creates a hectic but exciting race against the rising tide of blocks.
The Punchuin keeps this formula fresh by mixing up the level design, with different types of terrain within a level, like hills and bottomless pits you have to navigate, which changes some of the strategies involved. There are also ice blocks that you have to break, which can contain coins to purchase upgrades, or power-ups that help you clear things within the levels.
In addition to the standard levels, there are puzzle levels where you don’t have the time limit but have to solve them in a specific way to clear all the blocks without getting stuck. These levels are fun, but can get very challenging. There are also other levels with things like a minigame or a boss fight that use the same mechanic as the main game, but these are less interesting and feel kind of out of place. Unfortunately, the structure of the game requires you to collect gems to progress to later worlds, and you won’t have enough of those gems without completing at least some of those levels.
The Punchuin is at its best, though, in its core puzzle gameplay, and it’s worth fighting through the other stuff to see that. Its unique blend of action-puzzle-platforming is really fun, and easy to jump into and out of in bite-size chunks.
Mine ends in a little less than a month....
I plan on looking into the D+ Hulu adless bundle, or the triple package if my computer continues to skip the ads on Hulu, which it was doing just fine, until this weekend. I can also get ESPN+ in a bundle for cheaper than D+ and Hulu adless bundled, then I might go that route.
I 'm guessing it has something to do with a Chrome update, but i"ve had adless Hulu for years without paying for no ads. Now when I encounter an ad... everything just stops. Not sure how to get past it.
But I believe there was a D+ thread as well.
on the other hand, Netflix is supposed to be launching a Ad Based tier for $6.99mo or something like that. so maybe that will also become an option.
He can want it to be canon, but it's not. Paramount has been pretty clear over the years that only movies and TV shows are considered canon in Trek. Maybe he meant they tried to keep in in line with the show, similar to how some book writers try to keep their books in line with the canon but they are not canon either.
(3D World? A Wii U game? Really?)
