What are you currently playing?

[laggyteabag]

I finished Halo CE earlier today, and yeah, my thoughts on it haven't really changed from my previous post:

TL;DR - Mechanically, the game has aged gracefully. The levels are terrible though, and really put a downer on the experience.

Now im onto Halo 2, which has traditionally been my least favourite of the Bungie-era Halo games... but, I actually quite like it, now? It has been a few years since I have played all of the Halo games in series, so it is really interesting to do it again - and on PC this time!

And oh my god, Halo 2's levels are a masterpiece, compared to CE's. They definitely aren't perfect, and there are some sections that drag on for way too long (im looking at you, level 5's lift section), but funnily enough, all they needed to do was not have dozens of repeated rooms, and identical hallways, and dammit, im sold.

Sure, the sandbox might be a bit muddier with all of the additions, but the levels are so much of an improvement, that I honestly do not care about the intricacies. Halo 2 also plays a lot more like modern Halo (for better or for worse) so it is a lot more immediately familiar to me, whereas CE definitely has a few quirks and growing pains, being the first game in the franchise.

The story is also a lot more interesting, too. Whilst the first game is a simple "You've crash landed. Stop the baddies. Escape!" story, 2 dives more into the politics of the Covenant, and reveals more about their faith and motivations, as well as the different races within the group. Sure, it isn't Shakespeare, but it is a definite leap from the first game, and a lot more mature in tone, too.

Its weird shaking up my hierarchy of the series, seeing as I have been pretty confident with my ordering for years.

Thanks for showing me that you are actually pretty good, Halo 2!

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Remind me what boss is this?

The second fight against Riku.

 

[Worgen]

I finished Halo CE earlier today, and yeah, my thoughts on it haven't really changed from my previous post:

TL;DR - Mechanically, the game has aged gracefully. The levels are terrible though, and really put a downer on the experience.

Now im onto Halo 2, which has traditionally been my least favourite of the Bungie-era Halo games... but, I actually quite like it, now? It has been a few years since I have played all of the Halo games in series, so it is really interesting to do it again - and on PC this time!

And oh my god, Halo 2's levels are a masterpiece, compared to CE's. They definitely aren't perfect, and there are some sections that drag on for way too long (im looking at you, level 5's lift section), but funnily enough, all they needed to do was not have dozens of repeated rooms, and identical hallways, and dammit, im sold.

Sure, the sandbox might be a bit muddier with all of the additions, but the levels are so much of an improvement, that I honestly do not care about the intricacies. Halo 2 also plays a lot more like modern Halo (for better or for worse) so it is a lot more immediately familiar to me, whereas CE definitely has a few quirks and growing pains, being the first game in the franchise.

The story is also a lot more interesting, too. Whilst the first game is a simple "You've crash landed. Stop the baddies. Escape!" story, 2 dives more into the politics of the Covenant, and reveals more about their faith and motivations, as well as the different races within the group. Sure, it isn't Shakespeare, but it is a definite leap from the first game, and a lot more mature in tone, too.

Its weird shaking up my hierarchy of the series, seeing as I have been pretty confident with my ordering for years.

Thanks for showing me that you are actually pretty good, Halo 2!

The biggest weakness for Halo 2 at launch was a combination of the really sudden ending and the fov being garbage. The collection fixes one of those. But yeah, the story in 2 is really interesting without getting into some of the dumber things that more lore heavy games can do and Halo started to do that in 3.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

After getting stumped for a bit(and taking some time to get my PS2 emulator working because my PS3 is dying), I finally made some headway in Blasphemous. After doing some reading on forums and such I realized that going into the snowy mountains first was a VERY BAD IDEA, and apparently quite a common mistake for a lot of new players. So I took the other branch near the big bridge and ended up undergound, which was tricky but somewhat less difficult. After a couple tries I took down Ten Piedad(I see what you did there, Games Kitchen), and got some upgrades going. Apparently somewhere there's a way to increase my health potions/bile containers because I've found a couple empty ones, and that would help a lot. I guess there's also a way to increase the amount of rosary beads i can equip at one time as well.

But yeah, it feels like I'm getting the hang of it finally, but the difficulty ramps up FAST and there's a lot of instat death drops/spikes which makes up for a big chunk of that and your character isn't an agile as a game like Hollow Knight, so you either parry hits or figure out when you can slide under these guys who are 2x-3x bigger then you. At least the game puts a bonefire just before the boss rooms thus far, because it would suck a lot to run back to these guys each time.

Also, as a side note, I've noticed that like Lothric in Dark Souls 3, Cvstodia seems to have a mostly church based economy, because almost every building looks like a church of some sort. Which really must suck if you want to do anything else but go to church, but as zealous as the people in Cvstodia are, maybe it just doesn't bother them much.

Ten Piedad is the ideal first boss. You probably want to go down and to the left from Albero for your second area, leave the snowy area for last. Kind of a mean trick from the devs to put it right and up from your starting position, since that's the direction most people would shoot for naturally. Also note that there's a timed sidequest that triggers as soon as you enter that snowy area, so that's probably gone for good until you replay the game. Goes against completion rate but won't lock you out of anythingin the long run, I think.

You can increase your bile flask count, your rosary bead slots and also upgrade health/magic. Not to spoil how you go about doing it, unless you want me to.

 

[Dalisclock]

Ten Piedad is the ideal first boss. You probably want to go down and to the left from Albero for your second area, leave the snowy area for last. Kind of a mean trick from the devs to put it right and up from your starting position, since that's the direction most people would shoot for naturally. Also note that there's a timed sidequest that triggers as soon as you enter that snowy area, so that's probably gone for good until you replay the game. Goes against completion rate but won't lock you out of anythingin the long run, I think.

You can increase your bile flask count, your rosary bead slots and also upgrade health/magic. Not to spoil how you go about doing it, unless you want me to.

I think I figured it out, thanks. I found the "Bathtub" that allows you to increase the bile flasks(once you found them) and found an...ineresting dude who can apparently make my flasks more potent at the cost of losing one. And man, this game has lots of way to spend your money though considering you don't lose it on death I can see how that balances out.

And yeah, I feel like I've screwed myself on the quest for the poor dude who is growing into the tree(or the tree is encasing him) but oh well. I'm definatly making more progress and connecting more of the map so I don't have to backtrack as much to get somewhere.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think I figured it out, thanks. I found the "Bathtub" that allows you to increase the bile flasks(once you found them) and found an...ineresting dude who can apparently make my flasks more potent at the cost of losing one. And man, this game has lots of way to spend your money though considering you don't lose it on death I can see how that balances out.

And yeah, I feel like I've screwed myself on the quest for the poor dude who is growing into the tree(or the tree is encasing him).

You can eventually get to the place tree dude would've unlocked for you, no biggie. And in typical Dark Souls fashion everybody seems screwed whether you help them or not. 'Help' being very liberally defined, too. As for the flask weirdo, I remember being kinda torn about sacrificing one flask to improve the healing rate of the others. I find that it works best in the long run, once you've grown the health bar considerably. At the beginning it might feel like shooting yourself in the foot.

Here're some tips that I wish I'd read up before playing the game. Discovering stuff on your own is half the fun, but some of it is infuriatingly obscure, so up to you if you wanna read them. Won't spoil the 'plot', not that there is much of one.

About 'bonfires': They can be upgraded to work as fast travel centers by donating 20,000 tears at the church in Albero, once it opens. Doesn't have to be all at once, it's cumulative . Nobody will ever offer or explain this in the game. I think there're rewards all the way up to 100,000 tears (or more), though the fast travel is the best one imo.

About Albero: A townsfolk will die for every boss you kill - again, not that anyone will warn you. To avoid this (and not miss out on super important items) you're meant to give the Kissers of Wounds special items, one for every boss you face, BEFORE you face them, usually found around boss doors (some kind of herb or edible 'medicine').

About fervor: A concept that's never introduced and you might find accidentally - you can regain fervor at the expense of some health by holding down the button for your long range attack. Once you can regain health at 'bonfires', the tradeoff loses any downside. Useful for some puzzles too.

 

[Drathnoxis]

The second fight against Riku.

Oh, and there's a lot of cutscene before the fight I'm guessing? The fight doesn't stick out in my mind at all despite playing the game a couple of times, the last only a couple of years ago.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Oh, and there's a lot of cutscene before the fight I'm guessing? The fight doesn't stick out in my mind at all despite playing the game a couple of times, the last only a couple of years ago.

Not so much that there's a lot of it, it's about two and a half minutes. The issue is that the fight is difficult, so you're likely (if you play the original PS2 version) to get very familiar with it. Thankfully in HD Remix you can skip cutscenes in KH1.

 

[Dreiko]

So this gorgeous pixal art Arpg just came out.




I randomly caught someone in my friend list playing it and it looked cool so I checked it out, turns out it's like a mix of trials of mana and megaman, with a bit of a nier automata flavor thrown in too. Also the devs are from brazil which is a pretty random place that you don't normally think of when you think of game development but if they're this talented I will definitely look out for more lol.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

So this gorgeous pixal art Arpg just came out.




I randomly caught someone in my friend list playing it and it looked cool so I checked it out, turns out it's like a mix of trials of mana and megaman, with a bit of a nier automata flavor thrown in too. Also the devs are from brazil which is a pretty random place that you don't normally think of when you think of game development but if they're this talented I will definitely look out for more lol.

Really not sure what to think of this without playing. The gameplay stuff looks decent in terms of visual design and animation quality, but cutscenes remind me too much of something that could’ve just been made in Mario Paint.

 

[Dalisclock]

You can eventually get to the place tree dude would've unlocked for you, no biggie. And in typical Dark Souls fashion everybody seems screwed whether you help them or not. 'Help' being very liberally defined, too. As for the flask weirdo, I remember being kinda torn about sacrificing one flask to improve the healing rate of the others. I find that it works best in the long run, once you've grown the health bar considerably. At the beginning it might feel like shooting yourself in the foot.

Here're some tips that I wish I'd read up before playing the game. Discovering stuff on your own is half the fun, but some of it is infuriatingly obscure, so up to you if you wanna read them. Won't spoil the 'plot', not that there is much of one.

About 'bonfires': They can be upgraded to work as fast travel centers by donating 20,000 tears at the church in Albero, once it opens. Doesn't have to be all at once, it's cumulative . Nobody will ever offer or explain this in the game. I think there're rewards all the way up to 100,000 tears (or more), though the fast travel is the best one imo.

About Albero: A townsfolk will die for every boss you kill - again, not that anyone will warn you. To avoid this (and not miss out on super important items) you're meant to give the Kissers of Wounds special items, one for every boss you face, BEFORE you face them, usually found around boss doors (some kind of herb or edible 'medicine').

About fervor: A concept that's never introduced and you might find accidentally - you can regain fervor at the expense of some health by holding down the button for your long range attack. Once you can regain health at 'bonfires', the tradeoff loses any downside. Useful for some puzzles too.

Yeah, I've gotten the impression that Cvstodia and the people that lived there are fucked no matter what I do. I might be able to save like one or two along the way but most of these people are doomed by supernatural shit that most of them seem to embrace as deserved or justified. Hell, in one of the bits of flavor text there's a brief tale that a missionary left to go civilize the barbarians outside Cvstodia. He was denounced as a heretic when he came back and said that he couldn't find a place less civilized then Cvstodia. And presumably this BEFORE the miracle turned the nation into a hellscape, because the borders are apparently shut since then(unsure who or what did so, but honestly could be anyone with good reason).

Thanks for the heads up though. The game does remind me of dark souls where it doesn't really explain some things to you( didn't know about exchanging health for fervor). Sacrificing the flasks aren't a huge deal right now since it's both expensive and I've found a grand total of one thing of quicksilver so far.

I finally made it to Jondo and that place feels wrong. Like, I've played Dark Souls 1-3 and Bloodborne and Hollow Knight, but for some reason Jondo just felt extremely creepy and unsettling to me in a way those games rarely were. It might be because when you first approach it you just see...something...in the background that starts to look more and more like walls until you realize it's a Massive pit in the ground, and then you have to go down and realize it's a massive upside bell. And it's not just that it's dark down there and hostile, it made me feel uncomfortable and I wasn't sure why. I actually turned the game off for a little while before I was ready to go back and explore more. The fact it reminds me of depictions of Hell from Dante's Inferno(Hell is depicted as an inverted cone that goes to the center of the earth) but when someone pointed out that Inverting something else also inverts it's meaning, so an inverted Bell would be a symbol of unholiness(Welcome to Cvstodia!)

Aso, I found this and honestly thought for a second it was a real NG+ thing to placate the people who love it when the game is HARD(NO, HARDER THEN THAT!) and complain that Dark Souls No Hit Runs are too easy.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Yeah, I've gotten the impression that Cvstodia and the people that lived there are fucked no matter what I do. I might be able to save like one or two along the way but most of these people are doomed by supernatural shit that most of them seem to embrace as deserved or justified. Hell, in one of the bits of flavor text there's a brief tale that a missionary left to go civilize the barbarians outside Cvstodia. He was denounced as a heretic when he came back and said that he couldn't find a place less civilized then Cvstodia. And presumably this BEFORE the miracle turned the nation into a hellscape, because the borders are apparently shut since then(unsure who or what did so, but honestly could be anyone with good reason).

Thanks for the heads up though. The game does remind me of dark souls where it doesn't really explain some things to you( didn't know about exchanging health for fervor). Sacrificing the flasks aren't a huge deal right now since it's both expensive and I've found a grand total of one thing of quicksilver so far.

I finally made it to Jondo and that place feels wrong. Like, I've played Dark Souls 1-3 and Bloodborne and Hollow Knight, but for some reason Jondo just felt extremely creepy and unsettling to me in a way those games rarely were. It might be because when you first approach it you just see...something...in the background that starts to look more and more like walls until you realize it's a Massive pit in the ground, and then you have to go down and realize it's a massive upside bell. And it's not just that it's dark down there and hostile, it made me feel uncomfortable and I wasn't sure why. I actually turned the game off for a little while before I was ready to go back and explore more. The fact it reminds me of depictions of Hell from Dante's Inferno(Hell is depicted as an inverted cone that goes to the center of the earth) but when someone pointed out that Inverting something else also inverts it's meaning, so an inverted Bell would be a symbol of unholiness(Welcome to Cvstodia!)

Aso, I found this and honestly thought for a second it was a real NG+ thing to placate the people who love it when the game is HARD(NO, HARDER THEN THAT!) and complain that Dark Souls No Hit Runs are too easy.

Jondo's wonderfully creepy. Probably the Valley of Defilement/Blighttown of the game in terms of platforming hell and general air of misery - especially once you reach the bottom. I think they do a great job pacing your discovery of the area. The preceding Mountains of Dusk (?) feel like a very ominous goodbye to the surface world. Then the "real" Jondo begins and yeah, it's very upsetting and disorienting. I think what it is too is that the enemies in this area feel more hostile or aggressive than in others, where they seem to be in pain and having as bad a time as you. Couple that with the constant peril of instant death... And also the constant bell ringing, which on top of sounding foreboding (and coming from off screen) it usually triggers some kind of death trap.

It also plays with your expectations by having a black background for the most part. You already know the game's capable of beautifully detailed graphics, so the prolonged "pause" on background detail creates tension. Like what are they hiding/what's coming up next?

And I 100% believed that April Fools. They've released free DLC a couple of times now in the interest of complicating the game further. Thank god they're above creating a spike mode.

 

[Dalisclock]

Jondo's wonderfully creepy. Probably the Valley of Defilement/Blighttown of the game in terms of platforming hell and general air of misery - especially once you reach the bottom. I think they do a great job pacing your discovery of the area. The preceding Mountains of Dusk (?) feel like a very ominous goodbye to the surface world. Then the "real" Jondo begins and yeah, it's very upsetting and disorienting. I think what it is too is that the enemies in this area feel more hostile or aggressive than in others, where they seem to be in pain and having as bad a time as you. Couple that with the constant peril of instant death... And also the constant bell ringing, which on top of sounding foreboding (and coming from off screen) it usually triggers some kind of death trap.

It also plays with your expectations by having a black background for the most part. You already know the game's capable of beautifully detailed graphics, so the prolonged "pause" on background detail creates tension. Like what are they hiding/what's coming up next?

And I 100% believed that April Fools. They've released free DLC a couple of times now in the interest of complicating the game further. Thank god they're above creating a spike mode.

Mountains of (Endless) Dusk is correct. And I'm gonna just mention that because of the Spanish theme/cultural aesthetic, I'm actually playing the game with Spanish VA and English Subtitles, because it feels more "Authentic" and I normally read the subtitles and wait for the VA to catch up anyway. It's interesting, to say the least. I don't know any Spanish but I appreciate the extra ambience.

But yeah, the fact Jondo has hints of something in the background(and even the occasional moving shadow) is unnerving, like I keep expecting something is back there but I don't know what. The spooky sounds and music also really doesn't help and the fact Bell ringing is ominous and dangerous is also part of the charm/dread. Unlike Blighttown, there's also this "Why does this place exist?" going for me as well. Blighttown is basically a shantytown built in and around the Lordran sewers and Swamps by the undesirables. Jondo is a massive Megastructure built apparently to shake the world, but along the way it became a hell of clockwork traps and spike pits along with the poor souls who live down there. Aside from the fact it was built at all, it feels like these people became trapped down there or something and cannot get out...because it's hard to see why they'd want to live there as compared to anywhere else in that wretched land

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Mountains of (Endless) Dusk is correct. And I'm gonna just mention that because of the Spanish theme/cultural aesthetic, I'm actually playing the game with Spanish VA and English Subtitles, because it feels more "Authentic" and I normally read the subtitles and wait for the VA to catch up anyway. It's interesting, to say the least. I don't know any Spanish but I appreciate the extra ambience.

Interestingly the original dub is in English. Initially they only had enough money for only one VA and went with the most commercial option. Once the game was a success they threw in a Spanish dub. Which probably sounds more like what the devs envisioned (and with more detail too; the characters have different regional accents - the Albero townsfolk and the travelling merchant have a more rustic accent), although I think the English VA is pretty good. I'm a Spanish speaker and still haven't played the Spanish dub. Nothing against the work. Just that "Spanish from Spain" always sounds a bit off (bit too stuffy or flatly comical) to us in Latin America, and Ye Olde Speake sounds a bit too modern in Spanish. But I'm saving it for NG+ just to add something new to the game.

Anyway, Jondo's awesome and macabre. I don't remember much lore about it other than the storytelling in the enviroment, and that the boss fight is a fitting climax to all that descending. Some of the best lore in the game you're gonna find at the top of the snowy area you tried earlier.

One tip I forgot about guilt fragments: If you die to a boss, you might be tempted to pick up the guilt fragment ASAP once you get back to the arena, but sometimes it's better to just leave it there until you've taken some damage since touching it will heal you. It's essentially a free heal. And it's not like you're risking anything by not immediately retrieving it, like losing currency for not touching your bloodstain in Fromsoftware games.

 

[Dreiko]

Really not sure what to think of this without playing. The gameplay stuff looks decent in terms of visual design and animation quality, but cutscenes remind me too much of something that could’ve just been made in Mario Paint.

It's mainly the gameplay that has me hooked, the cutscenes are not that focal or numerous. Though I will say I like their look, I take the "jankiness" they certainly do have as part of it being a new indie dev without boundaries just giving it an earnest shot.

 

[Dreiko]

So playing for a few more hours of Unsighted, the game definitely has a souls vibe in the gameplay with a strict stamina system, but the way it works here with the story of the game is very interesting.


Basically you're playing as the last warrior from a dying group of androids who are running out of the substance that lets them keep having a consciousness after a fierce battle with the humans and if you run out of it completely you go mad, or Unsighted (Hollow basically), and your role is to somehow save everyone, pretty orthodox so far. But the twist is everyone has individual lifespan timers that are constantly ticking (you see them whenever you talk to them) and periodically you will find these items that extend an android's life by 24 hours, so then it becomes a speedrun thing where you're always under pressure to solve puzzles and beat enemies quickly so that you can save everyone, but it also can be a thing of choosing who to give the resources to in case you don't have enough.

The way this interacts with the typical souls-like mechanics is very interesting since I find myself just abandoning the bolts I drop upon death (souls basically) and just forging ahead instead of retracing my steps. This pressure you feel all the time, that feeling of carrying everyone's lives on your shoulders is very unique. It's also fun in combat too cause it made me go for this huge battleaxe that 1shots things after you parry but uses up stamina like a mofo, as well as equipping this chip that makes dashing use up no stamina so I can dash all the time and cut down traveling time. At least the game is nice enough to not have time tick when you're in menus or dialogue or when fishing, and it does let you turn off the time thing entirely as well if you don't enjoy the tension and pressure (if you suck at the game and die a ton like in souls games you will end up with a village of dead androids in this game), but I find it adds a ton to the experience so after some initial hesitation I decided to keep it on and be what it may.

So far my largest time waste was in a very early puzzle where I had the right idea but I overlooked a hint in my rush which caused me to waste a good 10 minutes looking around. In combat I just use a bunch of heals and other things to not have to redo em. I've beaten the first major boss so far and it was a ton of fun, it had multiple stages and stuff.


Also this game has a huge windmill shuriken like in the first ninja gaiden and you can kinda direct it to solve puzzles, gotta love that lol.

 

[Dalisclock]

Like an idiot I'm starting another game while already playing one. Since I've been griping about the entire AC series and the only game of note I've yet to play is Unity and because I actually own that game(which I bought for cheap like 5 years ago and never installed it) I decided to fucking bite the bullet and actually install it.

Mostly this is because while I like Blasphemous, it's stressful and some nights I don't feel like smacking the difficulty curve of it. AC games are generally fairly easy to progress in(which explains the bloat) but also because doing my gripeathon in the other thread got me curious just how good/bad the game is.

And so far, it's okay. I got to the point where the Storming of the Bastille happened, finished it and then turned it off for the night. So I'm probably gonna be jumping back and forth between Unity and Blasphemous for a bit.

All I can really say right now is that Paris is fucking lovely and I'm concerned that I'm seeing the French Tricolor.....in 1789. Like a good 5 years too early. Seriously Ubisoft, this is your home turf, both geographically and historically and you couldn't be bothered to get the flag right? Also, the use of French and English is really all over the place. Characters will be speaking English but then suddenly say a couple words in French and it's fucking Jarring. In some places, the main dialogue will be in English but the background speech will be French. Is it too much to ask you make up your fucking minds here?

I'm gonna save most of my gripes for the thread when I finish the game and do a write up there. Just some initially quick impressions of the first 90 minutes or so.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Also, the use of French and English is really all over the place. Characters will be speaking English but then suddenly say a couple words in French and it's fucking Jarring. In some places, the main dialogue will be in English but the background speech will be French. Is it too much to ask you make up your fucking minds here?

They do that with Italian in the Ezio trilogy as well. Supposedly in that game it was explained as being a glitch in the Assassins' Animus, which led to bad Italian accents and words not being translated sometimes. Considering that Unity's story is a hack sent out by the Assassins, that's probably what did it.

I mean, the explanation probably won't make it less annoying, but at least there is one.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I just got the credits roll in Celeste. I've found 170 strawberries and am just missing the blue heart from the temple.

The game is a lot of fun. I really enjoy tough as nails platformers and this one feels very good to play. The only problem is that sometimes the game demands extreme precision with the air dashing that the d-pad on my DS3 just cannot provide. I'll be holding right on the d-pad but because I'm pushing it ever so slightly upwards Madeline will dash up right, killing herself on spikes. It's pretty frustrating sometimes, and the first time I've had any problems with the DS3. I even tried two different controllers to see if my usual one was wearing out.

Another frustrating thing is that the game features a fair bit of branching exploration with many unmarked points of no return, so levels will require a second or third playthrough to find missed collectibles. Thankfully you get the option to start at various checkpoints and get a list of missed strawberries upon replay so it's easy to tell roughly where you've missed one.

The presentation of the game is fantastic with the art and music being very good. One visual aspect that was used to fantastic effect was the animated character panels. In one scene involving a confrontation with a dark spirit version of the main character they actually start crawling out of the character panel box. It was super creative and I've never seen that before, and it just made the scene feel "holy crap!" intense. The characters were enjoyable enough, and weren't annoying. The story was fine, it might have been pushing a bit of a message about anxiety or self discovery or something, but it was understated enough that I'm not actually sure exactly what message the game was trying to push. Which I'm fine with. It felt climactic without being overbearing.

All in all a good game. I'm not sure if I'm going to do the B-side levels yet. I tried one immediately after I finished the first level and it took me like an hour and 500 deaths to beat. It was actually surprising how difficult it was. The B-side of the very first level had a difficulty pretty close to Cotton Alley from Super Meat Boy (well Cotton Alley excepting that one level that took me 10 hours). I'm kind of scared to try level 2.

 

[BrawlMan]

Super Monkey Ball: Banana-Mania. A remake of the first Monkey Ball game with a load of bonuses. You got the main story mode, party modes, multiplayer modes, rankings, unlockable characters, etc. There's challenge modes from the first two Monkey Ball games remade to their exact detail. Done in the Unity engine. They have their own difficulty modes that have to be completed in a single setting. Restarting means re-doing all of the courses. Though failing a course thankfully means, you retry as much as you want in the challenge modes. Story mode is fun, but does not take long to get challenging.

Sega put out all the stops to make this game high quality and jacked with replay value. At a price of $40.00 too. That is defintely an excellent buy. Why couldn't they give the same love and care to Sonic Colors HD? They must have two different teams working on the games.

Side note: Got tired of the lame late game in Crysis, so I'm doing a playthrough of Crysis 2 now.