April 17 – April 23

Section: 

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-5877.jpg)   Greg "Doubtingthomas396" Decker

Sometimes, some games
Get HD re-released but
this new bundle
Is bringing 8-bit back
There’s a bunch of nostalgia games to see
it's a day-one purch for me
Chip-chip-chip-chip and Dale (Rescue Rangers)
And Duck-duck-duck-Duck Tales (and there's Talespin)
Never has there been a Week Ahead
That needed less thought from my own head
Chip-chip-chip-chip and Dale (Rescue Rangers 2)
And Dark Dark Dark Darkwing (Duck!)
It's Disney Afternoon!

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/picture-111373-1483294321.jpg)   Chris "C" Cesarano

It's Monday morning and, like my savior (though much less impressively), I've risen again, though in my case from a ham and chocolate coma. So, a pretty blasphemous comparison, all things considered.

What else has risen is the list of indies coming in for all platforms. For those always eager for another Telltale adventure, the first episode of their Guardians of the Galaxy series releases this week. I've not played any of Telltale's comedic games since the first episode of Strong Bad's Game for Cool and Attractive People, but hopefully Guardians will carry much of the charm and charisma of its film counterpart. The adventure game on my radar, however, is Full Throttle Remastered. It's the only LucasArts game my brother ever owned on PC, and sadly it was also a game that didn't run too well on my father's computer at the time.

When it comes to my pick of the week? Well, that's gotta be Flinthook. Tribute Games makes some delicious titles with a gorgeous pixelated art style, and the idea of leaping about a level making use of a grappling hook is nothing short of delightful. That's my nod for game of the week.

IMAGE(https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/pictures/pictures/picture-13445.jpg)   Felix “Nothing good happens after 3am” Threepaper

Full Throttle Remastered is like the Blu-Ray version – it comes with developer commentary. I’d like to think Tim Schafer will give you increasingly obvious and snarky clues if you get stuck. If you want a game that looks like a jaggy '90s LucasArts adventure game but with a Lovecraftian story, try Chronicle of Innsmouth.

But speaking of remasters, Suda51 fans get a chance to dig deep into the back catalogue with the PS4 release of The Silver Case, which originally came out in 1999. If that’s too weird but you still want something nostalgic, try the re-release of Battle Chess.

Otherwise, there isn’t much in my wheelhouse this week. For sheer novelty, I’m voting for Late Shift, a FMV interactive crime thriller. It has the production values of a Netflix original – will the branching story be as slick?

This week:

PC

  • < / reality >
  • Aesthetic Melody
  • Army Gals
  • Battle Chess
  • Bounty Killer Pushed to next week
  • Brawlout
  • Chronicle of Innsmouth
  • Colourise Moved to VR section
  • Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition
  • De-Formers
  • EVERYTHING
  • Flatspace IIk
  • Flinthook
  • Full Throttle Remastered
  • Games&Girls
  • GunHero
  • Jidousha Shakai
  • Kimmy
  • LASER STRIKERS
  • Late Shift
  • Magic Heroes: Save Our Park
  • Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Episode 1: Tangled Up in Blue
  • Master Shot VR Moved to VR section
  • Perso
  • Planet Nomads
  • Scar of the Doll
  • Schlocks moved to VR section
  • Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom
  • The Disney Afternoon Collection
  • The Falconers: Moonlight
  • Theatre of Doom
  • Voodoo Vince Remastered
  • WaveLand
  • Weebish Mines

PS4

  • ATV Renegades
  • Art of Fighting
  • Bandit SIX: Combined Arms
  • Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition
  • Flinthook
  • Full Throttle Remastered
  • HeroCade
  • Late Shift
  • Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Episode 1: Tangled Up in Blue
  • MechRunner
  • Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom
  • Rise and Shine
  • The Disney Afternoon Collection
  • The Silver Case
  • Spear of Destiny
  • VR Invaders Complete Edition
  • Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
  • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Narco Road
  • De-Formers

Xbox One

  • ATV Renegades
  • Cities: Skylines - Xbox One Edition
  • Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition
  • Flinthook
  • Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Episode 1: Tangled Up in Blue
  • n Verlore Verstand
  • Race The Sun
  • Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom
  • The Disney Afternoon Collection
  • Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
  • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Narco Road
  • De-Formers
  • Voodoo Vince Remastered

Switch

  • Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap

Wii U

  • Orbit

3DS

  • DON'T CRASH GO
  • Runbow Pocket

Vita

  • Deemo; The Last Recital
  • Full Throttle Remastered

RIFT

  • Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality
  • Master Shot VR
  • Colourise

Vive

  • VR Dungeon Knight
  • TennisVR
  • Schlocks
  • Master Shot VR
  • Colourise

Comments

Strong Bad? Well, I forgot that was a thing. Trogdor!

Late Shift is one I'm all over. I do hope it ends up super cheesy.

I do hope the "new" Wonder Boy is good. I'm not sure how much I want to play a retro 2D Metroidvania atm, but they've done some amazing stuff on the art and sound front:

Definitely interested in Flinthook after seeing their post on the Playstation Blog. I had not heard of it before reading this post but I have enjoyed the Ninja something something game that was free on PS+ by the same developers.

Huh, Flinthook looks like it could be good. Looks like a lot like Rogue Legacy. Those devs also did Mercenary Kings, which was almost really good.

For the iOS Boardgamers, Terra Mystica is out on the 20th.

Wonderboy is at the top of the list for me, followed closely by The Disney Afternoon Collection. Then there's Full Throttle Remastered and Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy Ep. 1.

All of the above will get attention some time in the future, though definitely not the near one.

garion333 wrote:

Huh, Flinthook looks like it could be good. Looks like a lot like Rogue Legacy. Those devs also did Mercenary Kings, which was almost really good.

@#$!. That's out this week? That's high on my radar and almost worth dropping Zelda over.

What a crazy good week.

Felix Threepaper wrote:

If that’s too weird but you still want something nostalgic, try the re-release of Battle Chess

Curiously, you're not talking about the modern 3D version "Battle Chess: Game of Kings" which came out a couple years ago. I guess Interplay figures there's a handful of people out there who don't know about GOG where it's been available for ages?

Thanks for putting this list together. I have been feeling out of the loop on PlayStation news since the "PS I Love You XOXO" podcast went on sudden-and-indefinite hiatus.

Bandit Six looks mildly interesting - reminds me of The Dam Busters game on the Commodore 64...

shoptroll wrote:

Curiously, you're not talking about the modern 3D version "Battle Chess: Game of Kings" which came out a couple years ago. I guess Interplay figures there's a handful of people out there who don't know about GOG where it's been available for ages?

Yup -- looks like a straight-up re-issue of the old game, on Steam.

garion333 wrote:

Huh, Flinthook looks like it could be good. Looks like a lot like Rogue Legacy. Those devs also did Mercenary Kings, which was almost really good.

They had me until "rogue lite". The movement mechanics look neat, and I like the style. But I've never gotten along well with 2D rogue lites.

Wonderboy looks right up my alley, though.

dewalist wrote:

Bandit Six looks mildly interesting - reminds me of The Dam Busters game on the Commodore 64...

Huh, that's a C64 game I've never heard of. *looks it up* Yup, never seen that before. Playing as a gunner, bomber, etc. That's pretty novel, actually.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Huh, Flinthook looks like it could be good. Looks like a lot like Rogue Legacy. Those devs also did Mercenary Kings, which was almost really good.

They had me until "rogue lite". The movement mechanics look neat, and I like the style. But I've never gotten along well with 2D rogue lites.

The demo I played at PAX East easily could've fooled me. Each level is effectively just a randomized Metroid-style mini-dungeon if I recall correctly. There's supposed to be perma-death but there's some element of persistence to it, so you're still making progress even when you die.

Really hoping the reviews are good for it. I'm kinda surprised how under the radar the coverage has been for it to date.

I'm not, this year has been one amazing high profile release after another and Mass Effect. That was a lot of noise. Rogue lite platformers are likely to get drowned out in the relatively oversaturated roguelike/lite market.

Flinthook looks interesting. I'm also looking forward to De-Formers impressions as it looks pretty fun.

garion333 wrote:
dewalist wrote:

Bandit Six looks mildly interesting - reminds me of The Dam Busters game on the Commodore 64...

Huh, that's a C64 game I've never heard of. *looks it up* Yup, never seen that before. Playing as a gunner, bomber, etc. That's pretty novel, actually.

It was interesting and surprisingly tense at times. I am not sure I ever got all the way through it though.

With my wife's interest in the now-defunct NES Classic, and my son's interest in video games, I think one of my near-term projects is going to be building an emulator system on a Raspberry Pi. I'm looking forward to showing my son things like Beach Head II and Raid Over Moscow.

What tune is that supposed to be sung to?

jrralls wrote:

What tune is that supposed to be sung to?

That... is a very interesting freeze frame for that video.

Whatever is happening, the chipmunk on the right seems to be enjoying it.

MeatMan wrote:

Whatever is happening, the chipmunk on the right seems to be enjoying it.

That's not far from the show's core conceit, actually.

Nobody mentioned Voodoo Vince! That game was so great on the original Xbox, hope it holds up today.

garion333 wrote:

Late Shift is one I'm all over. I do hope it ends up super cheesy.

So, Late Shift isn't super cheesy in the way the FMV stuff was back in the late 90's, but it is a decent thriller. Production values here are quite high, so that's a huge step up from other FMV/Choose Your Own Adventure movie/game things (ie. Night Trap). There were only a few times where the production fell on its face, but overall it could easily have been put on Netflix and no one would've been much the wiser. The acting is generally good, so that helps.

Where it falls down, however, is in story. You're along for the ride and it's going to be ridiculous in some instances. Whether it's the main character morphing from a high end valet to quasi-thriller hero figure or the love interest aspect which has no time to develop, you have to suspend quite a bit of disbelief over it all. Really, the whole plot is fairly preposterous and feels almost like a day dream the main character had when he fell asleep at his post. This is mostly forgivable to me. I didn't go into this expecting a great, coherent story. I came in hoping for some interesting choices that led me down different paths

In contrast to something like what Telltale does, there are actually quite a few different paths you can take to a handful of different endings. Telltale makes you feel like the choices you're making are going to impact the ending of the episode or series, but mostly you're being given the illusion of choice, with endings written being dictated by the devs. Heck, Until Dawn fell into the same trap. Sure, your choices impacted who lived and who died in Until Dawn, but the game was always going to end the same. There I'm okay with the shoe horned ending because you spend a lot more time with the characters in Until Dawn, which makes the "are they going to die?" aspect engaging as a player. I'm less enthused about how TellTale handles it because they try and make it seem like your choices have huge impacts on where characters end up, but you really have none in the end. So and so is going to die at some point no matter what you do. With Late Shift you have less attachment to the characters due to the running time being anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half, based on choices, but the choices do matter.

Outside of, say, having the main character in Late Shift die halfway through, which will never happen, you're given a wide range of paths to go down here. Yes, you will always take part in the heist, but what your role is and what you do afterwards has a surprising number of differences. There are 14 chapters in total and our first watch hit on 12 of them. Looking at some of the other paths and chapters, it's amazing to me how much time and effort went into this aspect.

One big knock against the design is that there's no way to skip through scenes, so when you go to re-watch and try different paths you'll end up seeing a lot of repeated scenes. YouTube will likely be your friend after the second time...

Overall, Late Shift isn't perfect, but I think it works if you're willing to forgive some of its shortcomings. It isn't a great film and it isn't a great game, or much of a game honestly, but it's definitely a worthwhile experience to me. There's nothing currently out there quite like it and isn't afraid to have actually different multiple endings. That's something. A true Choose Your Own Adventure, though you won't end up dying by page 10.

tldr If you liked Until Dawn you'll probably enjoy Late Shift.