Article - How to survive in Fortnite if you're old and slow

Just thought I'd mention another Keith Stuart article that popped up on my Twitter feed - "How to survive in Fortnite if you're old and slow".  Some invaluable tips for parents who want to play Fortnite and not look totally rubbish and embarrassing!  This amuses me.  :-D

Game Review: Knack

So, this was a PSPlus game in February.  Knack is rated PEGI-12 but seems fine for much younger children!  (I'm not sure why it's a 12.)  It's nothing but fun cartoon violence, bloodless, no bad language or dodgy themes.  We've all had a lot of fun playing it.

The premise is that you're Knack, a creature formed from an orb and various 'artefacts'.  You can collect more artefacts and grow larger, and can absorb different materials to have different characteristics (for instance shiny crystals to make 'stealth Knack').  You're trying to find out why the goblins have become so technologically advanced and are attacking humans, but also you're trying to stop Viktor, who despite saying he'll help at the beginning turns out to be a despicable villain.  On top of that there's a bunch of stuff about the strange technologies that form Knack, which humans are using to power their own machines even though they don't understand them properly.

I finally managed to sit down and finish it, so here are my thoughts!  It's great fun to play, though levels often seem harder at the beginning when you're tiny Knack.  As you progress and absorb more artefacts you get bigger and bigger, so by the end of levels you feel invincible.  If you die you get sent back to a point slightly earlier, and keep all your things.  So if you keep dying you can keep collecting sunstone energy, thus making it easier for you because you can use your special attacks to get past the hard point.

I'm honestly not sure why this game does so poorly on Metacritic.  The story isn't amazing, but it's certainly not the worst story, and it is for small kids!  It's not like the stories in 'PJ Masks' are amazing and kids seem to love that rubbish.  ;-)

It's a game that's fun to play, doesn't punish you overly for failure, and keeps you interested.  Certainly worth a look if you haven't tried it already.

Plus it has the best end credits of a game I've ever seen!!!

Retro Gaming - Amiga 500

Found this today.  The computer of my childhood!

£399.  Not  bad really.

Still watching - Sqaishey

We've been fans of Sqaishey in this house for ages  now (Dad is less of a fan, but what does he know?).  This week she uploaded this video about her mental health issues, because it's Mental Health Awareness week.  I'm so grateful to her for uploading this, since it's an really important issue.  Kids should know that a) it's common b) you shouldn't be ashamed and c) you should always be able to talk about it. 

Learning about mental health issues at a young age can only be a good thing - I know that I've suffered since I was a teenager but was only just diagnosed with severe atypical depression (I'm 38!).  I wonder if I had started to deal with things earlier whether I would have ended up where I did.  Thankfully, with support and medical help you (and those around you!) don't have to continue suffering.  Like Squaishey says, it's a long process, but you don't have to feel like you're alone and no-one can help.

In an age where everyone is posting only the best (sometimes faked) parts of their lives on Facebook and Instagram, it's refreshing to see such an honest video from someone a lot of kids look up to.  Thanks, Squaishey!

Nintendo Switch Online announced

Today I received an e-mail about Nintendo Switch Online.  This is Nintendo's take on PSPlus and Xbox Live Gold.  Like PSPlus, you'll need it to play online games, and you'll get the ability to cloud save.  At the moment they haven't said you'll get new games every month, but the service will give you access to a library of classic Nintendo titles.  It's launching with 20 NES games: Ice Climber, The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight, Soccer, Tennis, Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros., Dr Mario, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Donkey Kong, plus 10 more titles.  There will also be exclusive offers for members, which presumably are reduced price games, and a iOS/Android app that offers different in-game features and voice chat whilst playing on your Switch.

The service will launch in September 2018.  Individual membership for a year will cost £17.99 and a Family membership will cost £31.49.  From May 15th there will be an account setting that allows you to group up to eight Nintendo Accounts (including Child Accounts) together as one Family Group.  With PSPlus, though I'm the member everyone else on the PlayStation can play the games I've downloaded/bought, and play online, but they don't get the cloud saving.  With Nintendo Switch Online it sounds like you'll all have to be part of the Family Group to play the games with your own account (though if you don't care about playing under your name, I suppose you can just use the member's account).

Xbox Live Gold is £39.99 a year, PSPlus is £49.99 a year, and this will be £31.49 a year (with the Family option).  So whatever the fine print, it does come in cheaper than the other consoles.  It very much depends what ends up in that game library.  I'm quite excited to play old games on the Switch, and Seb will definitely want to play the Mario games...

May 2018 PS Plus Goodies!

A couple of weeks ago Seb decided he REALLY REALLY wanted Rayman Legends (PEGI-7).  He was saving his pocket money and telling everyone he met that was what he was doing.  Imagine his excitement when it turned out that one of May's PS Plus games was Legends!  For a while he seemed convinced someone at PlayStation had heard and were giving it just to him.  I don't think he really understands the PSPlus subscription thing..!

Rayman Legends is certainly a classy game, though.  I bought Origins on the Vita ages ago since it's one of the better Vita games.  Legends is quite different but very, very fun.  It's a strange game in that it almost looks like it is built for micro-transactions, with different worlds and unlockables, but it doesn't have them.  (Thankfully!)  Basically there are various world settings where you have to save the Teensies (little creatures living in monarchical groups) and collect Lums (bug-like creatures).  The idea is to save all the Teensies in each level and by doing so unlock more worlds.  There are also some interesting mini-games.  And you can play it (locally) co-op with up to 4 players.

Rayman has a 'trademark lack of limbs', which apparently is because it was too hard to animate limbs when he first appeared on the scene in the 1990s!  Also, he is French.  Those are my two 'facts' about Rayman.  ;-)

One of the best things about the game are the music levels, which are nothing short of genius!  A truly polished game and well worth a download.

The other games this month are BEYOND: Two Souls (PEGI-16) (which I have wanted to play, so that's good), Risen 3: Titan Lords (PEGI-16), Eat Them (PEGI-16), King Oddball (PEGI-3) and Furmins (PEGI-3).  The two PS4 games do seem to be the ones you'd want to download - at the rate things are going it isn't a great loss there won't be many more PS3 and Vita games on PSPlus...  (I mean, Risen 3 has a Metascore of 36...)