I haven't played much this week aside from more Advanced Warfare, but I have been making a game. If you haven't seen already, I've acquired the licence for Chris Bratt, and am making Bratterz: The Official Video Game. I'll keep everyone up to date on my progress on VideoGamer's Facebook page, but I warn you that progress will be slow. I'm following GameMaker tutorials from GunPoint creator, Tom Francis and I've currently got our Hero's face gunning down his nemesis with rapid-fire horses. Next week, look out for exploding enemies!
The time has nearly arrived. On Monday 19th of January 2015, you'll finally be able to find out what I make of Resident Evil HD Remaster, which I've been playing. Except that, really, you already know, don't you? I think it's my favourite game of all fucking time. But you need a number: shhh, I understand. And a number you shall receive. On the 19th of January.
Anyway, apart from that I've been playing Far Cry 4's Escape From Durgesh DLC. Check me out being awesome (ahem) at it here.
I'm still not sold on it. On paper Evolve sounds like a cracking idea, but in practice it seems overly tedious, cluelessly tracking a monster for minutes at a time before either a) trapping it within a forcefield and turning the battle into a mindless brawl, or b) chasing it as it flees, firing pop shots in the hope that at least one bullet will graze it.
Being rotated into the same map repeatedly didn't help, of course, but I don't know if the gameplay is strong enough to hold players' interest for as long as Turtle Rock would want. As I said on last week's podcast, Evolve needed a strong beta that left strong first impressions to convince players it's worthy of their time, and I'm not sure this is it.
That said, I still hope Turtle Rock can win me round with the final game. I like the concept and admire its ambition to create something new in the online shooter space. But at the moment, I'm uncertain of how well it actually translates into a game.
I started playing Ocarina of Time again in anticipation of Majora’s Mask’s release next month. I assumed I could simply speedrun the thing in a matter of days, free of guides, considering how many times I’ve completed it. But I was wrong. Very wrong.
OoT is a very tough game, and I forget how much of Hyrule is just empty space. I’ve found myself lost countless times, and as always, pissed off with Navi’s constant need for attention. I can’t imagine how someone playing for the first time would find their way without any form of assistance.
Nonetheless, it’s still amazing, and a great warm up for getting through Majora’s Mask in a few weeks. Hopefully I’ll be done by then, if I can remember how to get past Zora’s Domain
My two eldest children became obsessed with Minecraft toward the end of last year. They started messing around with the Xbox 360 version, one of the dozens of pointless things I’ve bought off XBLA and then never played, because the lizard part of my brain enjoys throwing tenners into the abyss.
I encouraged their obsession, because It’s Creative, and Being Creative, whatever that is, is to be encouraged in young children. But in doing so I have fashioned a rod for my own back, as every screen in the house is now mostly occupied with Minecraft worlds. They now regularly have the PS4 version on the telly and the PC version on the desktop while Mr. Stampy Cat videos play on the laptop. This is their most notable creative endeavour; a sort-of never-ending Minecraft blitzkreig. I don’t even like Minecraft. This is happening in my house and I don’t even like Minecraft. The tyranny of small children.
So, nipping murmurings of getting the iPad version in the bud, I declared the last screen in the house as mine and scrounged around the app store for something to play on it that isn’t Minecraft.
What I found was Bridge Constructor. Another sodding game where you build stuff.
And it’s brilliant.
It’s very iPaddy. All the usual mobile-game accoutrements are present and correct - the level structure, the three-star ratings, sub-objectives and optional piss-taking microtransactions. But the educational physics-based puzzle game underneath is exquisite.
Each level is some sort of gap, chasm or river over which you must build a bridge. You’re given a selection of materials, a budget, and freedom to use them as you see fit. There are always multiple ways to complete the levels, and bridges that come in well under-budget without compromising safety will earn bonus points. A testing phase rounds off each stage, where you send progressively heavier vehicles across your precarious construction. If they make it to the other side, you win.
This is where the game excels – making you watch and wait to see if your bridge does the job, like a civil engineering X-Factor results show, is a genius move. It hooks you in, iron-cladding your resolve to redesign when everything collapses, and triggering all the right contented pangs when you’ve cracked it.
I highly recommend it to anyone who needs something to do as they’re sobbing in the bathroom because their TVs have been seized by tiny Chairman Maos of their own making.
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