a slightly inept gamer playing ARMS

 

ARMS is the newest Switch release from the team behind Mario Kart 8. Their previous game is probably the only racing game I've bought in years, because it’s easily the most accessible racer and the best for having a multiplayer laugh. ARMS is their entry in a genre that I find completely inaccessible, the fighter...

Even Smash Bros, Nintendo's family friendly take on the punch-em-up is a game that I fooled myself in to thinking I could play only to then go online and get my ass kicked repeatedly.  At one point yesterday I had a similar reaction to ARMS, encountering three opponents in a row who were bound to be laughing at me as I took a beating and barely sneaked in a hit. This purchase was looking like a tortuous mistake.

Thankfully my luck improved and I came up against some folk as average as me. Or maybe I got a lot better, but I doubt it. It’s a game of boxing, all about dodging and swinging punches. Those punches happen to come from Mr Fantastic style extendable arms with a range of gloves that shock, burn freeze or just generally slap the fudge out of your opponent. The extendable arms set it apart from Wii Boxing, that game which turned into a farcical swinging of Wii-motes until someone tired first. With your rival usually kept at a distance you’ll find yourself constantly moving and trying to avoid attacks as much as getting your own hits in. That movement is why I like it and why I think I might be able to avoid embarrassment online.

Multiple matches went down to the wire and the feeling of claiming a win when I was one punch away from defeat is a beautiful thing. Some fights had me unloading fists in a flurried frenzy whilst others had me retreating from a stronger attacker, timing my punches and throws better in a battle of wits. Some fights had me doing a bit of both but no fight ever felt the same.

Then I played some local matches against my wife who just so happens to be the most competitive being I’ve ever known. What started as “ill play your new game if you make the dinner,” turned into about ten rounds across the various modes of victories, defeats and gnashed teeth. I was not immediately better than her. Even when I did win it felt close. She got punches in and cheered, I retaliated and she swore. It was all really good fun.

Apart from the standard fights there’s also versions of volleyball and basketball which change things up and provide more chuckles. The fighters all have unique traits but I haven’t picked a favourite yet because they’re all so well designed. Each character is like something from a Saturday morning cartoon and the games visuals are a colourful blast to the eyeballs. It’s a charmer and a looker.

All in all I’m really impressed so far. The point of this not-really-a-review though was to say that it’s an easy one to pick up and play, even if you’re normally rubbish at the likes of Street Fighter/Injustice. I’ll still get my face punched in repeatedly but I’ll be enjoying the flip out of it regardless. Unless my wife gets on a real winning streak, can’t be coping with that.

E3: the Nintendo show

Last E3 blog! And it’s a bit late as after Nintendo’s Spotlight I had to go outside to a place filled with people and air and that kind of weirdness. The benefit is that as I write about Nintendo now I may have seen their showcase twice…

It was ok. My first impressions were a lot higher but upon reflection it was an ok presentation with some brilliant elements. The opening segment was another one of those lifestyle trailers showing the young people doing sociable things like going to parties, playing football and spinning cars around a garage like some kind of Fast and the Furious fanboys. All very stylish but it also makes me wonder if I’m using my switch wrong. I took it on a train once but I’ve yet to get invited to a rooftop party with it. 

Dropping during that bit was our first new announcement, Rocket League. The indie football-with-cars game that every fan has been asking for since the switch got announced. It’s a multiplayer favourite and we want all the multiplayer games on the Switch. I’m happy to see it there but I also only own it on the PS4, am I going to buy it again?

Kirby and Yoshi both had new titles announced for 2018 which is pleasantly early for their franchises. Both are nice additions to the library but again I can’t guarantee I’ll be picking them up. The indie scene has been filling my 2d platforming needs (where’s SteamWorld Dig 2?!) and probably will until I get some more Donkey Kong in my veins. 

Xenoblade 2 got reconfirmed for 2017 and showed more of its battle system and story. It’s a JRPG and another game that’s just not for me. Can’t get in to that genre but I know plenty who do and I recognise that this is release is a big deal on Nintendo’s schedule. The question you may have now is what the flip does this blogger actually like and is he buying anything?

Metroid Prime 4. Ooh sweet saints of Nintendo. There wasn’t a single game I wanted more and when that logo started appearing… My jaw dropped, my arms went up in the air, there was some tingling in my underwear. The hype consumed me. Only problem was there was no blooming game shown at all, just a logo but still… We now know what Nintendo are doing with Metroid. We needed to now, it’s been 10 years since Prime 3. 

In a similar fashion we got told that a main Pokémon title is in the works for the Switch. An inevitable title really but after last week’s Pokémon direct showed another 3DS update there was a bit of an online tantrum. Well those fans now know it’s coming, just not when or what it’ll look like.

And that sums up Nintendo’s showcase really. They always said they were focusing on 2017 games but dropping in names for what’s coming after is what e3 is all about. to We also know what we’re getting this year and two of the biggest titles are getting their own separate slots at E3. ARMS and Splatoon 2 tournaments will show those off but I’ve already got the pre-ordered and they’ll occupy my summer. The Zelda DLC packs had also been purchased before this spotlight gave details on what I’d paid for. Its Zelda, I don’t need to know anything. Take my money. Those titles and a bunch of indies are a good first year for me, but there’s one more title that shifts it to greatness.

Super Mario Odyssey. Trailer of the show, my highlight of the whole thing and a grin inducing beauty. We all knew Mario would be jumping and exploring and we had seen in January that he can now throw his hat. Didn’t think that would lead to the hijinks we got in that trailer though… You can transform in to nearly all of the things. Goombas, bullet bills, tanks. The gameplay opportunities are huge and Nintendo know how to give us a digital playground. Plus you get dress Mario up in more than just his trusty dungarees. I want my poncho and sombrero wearing Mario and I want it now. Unfortunately I have to wait until October but even that’s slightly earlier than expected. This trailer was just full of goodness and lifted everything else around it. Nice job Nintendo.

E3: the PS4 Show

Sony’s conference has just finished, it’s 3:16 am and I’ve had loads of sugar. This blog may be nonsense. 

Holy fricking Spider-Man!!! That looked gorgeous and fluid, like a cross between the Batman titles and Uncharted which could be a blooming lovely combo. Swinging and quipping, that is definitely a Spider-Man game and I want it right now. 

Ok, calm down Joe… Let’s talk about the rest of the show. It’s a tricky one to describe. In many ways it was a lot better for me than the Xbox conference but then it also happened to be disappointing. Which it shouldn’t have been, as I literally blogged a few days ago how I predicted few surprises as they had a lot to show for what was already announced. That’s exactly what this was. It felt like part two of last year’s show, an update on the big surprises from then but lacking in any new reveals to get me excited. 

Last year they announced God of War, Days Gone and Spider-Man with all three getting extended looks this time. As noted above, Spidey was my favourite and easily the best showing of this e3 for me. God of War also looked epic. I was never in to the series and barely played any of them for more than an hour but this looked different. Brutal and lush, it’s definitely a technical showcase but I’m hoping it’s fun to play too. 

Days Gone looked ok but it didn’t offer anything new. More open world, more zombies. I feel like I’ve played it already. Uncharted Lost Legacy was a brilliant opener and after 4 thrilled me I’m all set for more. I’m letting that one off for lacking originality because its going to be faster paced and shorter and because I just like it, dammit. Let me contradict myself. Horizon DLC is another thing I’ll buy but I haven’t even finished the main game yet.

Surprises? Hmm... Monster Hunter World is technically a big one but I’ve never been a fan of that series. Still a good reveal of course, it’s a popular series and it’s returning to a non-Nintendo console. Being a Nintendo fan my first thought was about Nintendo losing a third party exclusive as opposed to the game itself (although I know there’s more to it, looks like two different Monster Hunter series?) Same thing happened when I saw Skyrim VR, that’ll take the wind out of the portable versions sails a bit. 

VR had a big section which is nice for VR owners. That doesn’t include me so I got bored here, but hey it’s doing well and Sony want to sell more. I shouldn’t really complain. Call of Duty and Destiny were other boring bits but again that says more about my tastes since I’m not interested in what will be the biggest two games still to come this year.

That feeling seems to be the main one here. This wasn’t a bad show at all, it just had a lot that wasn’t for me personally. At the same time it had games which are exactly what I want, big exclusive single player titles. I was unimpressed by Xbox because they had nothing like this but yet here I am being down on Sony for only showing like five exclusives I want and not announcing five more. I’ve just got greedy, but that’s their fault for putting on such a good show last year. This stuck to what I’ll be playing in the next 18 months and I should be pleased with that. A sensible E3 for a man who should have had more tea and less sugar.

E3: the Xbox show

I’ll start by reconfirming that I don’t own an Xbox and I’m a Sony/Nintendo boy… So a good conference would have been one that made me look in envy at all the games I’ll not be able to play unless I buy a new Microsoft box of tricks. This conference did not do that at all.

However… It was a decent conference. Contradiction? Nope. It was a strong showcase for upcoming games and there was plenty that I want to play but the problem for Microsoft is that I’ll able to do so on my PS4. The marketing approach here was that the shiny new Xbox One X will be the best place to play these games, with everything looking even prettier than smoother. As geeky as I may be I’m not the sort to be impressed about more pixels or frames. Probably a side-effect of being a Nintendo fanboy. Still, that new box will have an audience and it does sound like impressive tech.

Games then! Exclusives first… Crackdown 3 looked like a lot of fun. I liked the comic style visuals and the whole super-powered cop gameplay. I did not like Terry Crewes introducing it but then I just want to see the fricking games and would be happier if there were no humans during these shows. Blooming people. Sea of Thieves is one I want to like as I have fond memories of Rare from their Nintendo days but this game does nothing for me. Parts of it looked fun but I’d rather it was a 3^rd person solo adventure as opposed to an online teamwork shenanigan. Forza 7 is more Forza so that’s that. State of Decay 2 is more zombies and survival but despite coming out in an over-saturated genre it didn’t look like it was the best at anything. 

Third party multi-plats made up the bulk of the show and there was plenty shown. The new Assassins Creed got demoed but got to admit that I found it slightly disappointing. Two years since the last entry and all pre-reveal talk was of how the series would be revamped. Origins looked decent but I didn’t see anything really new or unique to the franchise. Metro Exodus was a stunning trailer visually but as it went on it became more obvious that it was scripted as opposed to being gameplay. I get why developers do it but don’t most of us viewers just want to see real gameplay? 

The new Mordor title had one of the longest sections but filled it well. Looks like more of the first game but expanded and improved upon. Luckily the last game was pretty good and when playing it I kept thinking ‘a sequel will be nice, that they can expand and improve upon…’ Well here we are. The nemesis system returns and even produced some laughs in this demo. How that whole concept hasn’t been copied is beyond me but I look forward to more of it in this world. Going to be an entertaining game.

Other stuff…Ori looks beautiful. PlayerUnknowns was a good announcement and a well-timed get for the console considering its popularity on Steam currently. Backwards compatibility felt like a big deal and I’m sure Xbox fans will be loving it. There’s that problem again though, everything shown here would please folk who already own an Xbox One. There was nothing that would convince the majority of PS4 owners to change their console of choice and that’s the task Microsoft have ahead of them.

The last game shown was Anthem, Biowares new sci-fi franchise. It looked superb. Visually the best title of the show and the player’s jetpack aided movement through the world came across as a lot of fun to play. Looking forward to giving it a go when it releases on the PS4 as well…. So that’s the first big conference done and it wasn’t bad at all by Microsoft. Next up are Bethesda and Ubisoft but for me they’re just filling the day out until we get to Sony’s show. Hurrah!