A family adventure in gaming. :-) We're currently playing... P1 (Dad): Tiny Tina's Wonderland; P2 (Mum): Skyrim; P3 (Seb): Noclip VR. Written by P2 (Mum).
I played this on holiday too. Or I should say I was still playing it. And still am. I dread to think how many hours I've spent on it. It's kind of relaxing. Like colouring. Or jigsaws. It often near enough sends me to sleep at bed time! So yes - Level 100. Ack...
Incidentally, the last fishing tournament was fixed to impossible levels unless you spent the in-game currency 'leaf tickets'. I don't really approve of this, I'd like the option of grinding my way to victory... With the terrible 'loot box' fortune cookies and impossible challenges, and more craftable items that you can only craft using leaf tickets, I don't like where the game's headed. Grr. You can send feedback in-game via 'More Options' > 'Misc' > 'Feedback'. They have been known to listen...
We've been on holiday, so we've played several mobile games while we were away, some of which have only just come out. I'd just started playing MM Mobile 2 (which was in our Google family library) before the holiday, then Motorsport Manager Mobile 3 (PEGI-12) came out! It bills itself as the 'ultimate race team strategy game'. I don't know about that, but it is fun, and certainly more in depth than a lot of mobile games. The only thing I can compare it to is Kairosoft's Grand Prix Story (PEGI-3), which is a rather sillier take on things!
MM Mobile 3 is more complicated that MM Mobile 2, with additional things like the 'supply chain', which gives you bonuses when you acquire assets. '3' basically takes '2' and makes it, er, more complicated. I find it a bit sad that whilst I've read reviews that say it's more realistic than '2', '3' has taken away the setup options for qualifying and replaced them with a blackjack type card game to establish your car's setup. (I am a fan of F1, so bear that in mind; it might be at least partly why I like games like this and why I dislike the card game aspect here that my husband finds appealing!)
You have to build new parts for your car, which means you need engineers with the right stats to produce good parts. You need good mechanics for both drivers, who can give extra bonuses when they have a good relationship with the driver they're paired with. Halfway through the season you can put money into developing next year's car. You need 'appealing drivers' so that good sponsors are interested in the team. The drivers develop, gaining points that you can put into different things like 'overtaking', 'braking', 'smoothness' and so on. You can put money into a young driver development programme, which is definitely worth it since you can get some good drivers into your team for not much money. You have to negotiate contracts with your drivers, and this time round it gives you hints as to what they find important.
On top of all this, there are various types of racing - sports cars, open wheeled cars, etc. Some formulae you need to worry about tyres, refuelling and energy recovery systems as well as the insanity of things like reverse grids instead of qualifying. The formulae are split into four 'tiers' that you have to work through. There are also 'invitational' races that pop up and give you the chance to try something different.
It has to be said there are a LOT more women involved in motorsport in this game than in real life. Unrealistic, but I like it. :-)
All in all it's good fun, in depth for a mobile game, and it looks great. POLE POSITION!
It costs £3.99 on Android and iOS and can be shared via your Google family library.
[We have been playing using a Samsung Galaxy S7 and a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge]
Saw this on my Twitter feed today: "More than half of parents let their kids play 18+ video games". This is no surprise, I'm sure if you're a parent you know other kids who are playing games they shouldn't, even if you don't let your own kids play GTA! I'd quite like to see the survey data for this, it seems a bit like an advert for the people who (rather inexplicably) conducted the research, but hey! It's relevant to this blog. :-)
Seb's decided to start playing Tearaway: Unfolded (PEGI-7) again on the PS4. We have a total love affair with the Tearaway games. If you don't have Unfolded, buy it! And if you have a Vita you should DEFINITELY own the original Tearaway (PEGI-3) game. It may well be the best game made for the Vita. (Metacritic ranks it 8th out of 257 games.)
Hmm, I don't know why the original game was rated PEGI-3 and the PS4 version is PEGI-7, since they are both essentially the same game. (Though slightly different.) Anyway...
It's a joy watching Seb play it now - last time we played he couldn't really read. Now (apart from some tricky words) he's pretty much reading all the text himself.
The game was made by Media Molecule, who were the geniuses behind Little Big Planet. They're currently working on Dreams, which is hard to describe, though bound to be awesome. :-)
The Vita version, which came out in 2013, is the only game I've come across that uses all the Vita's strange functions - the rear touchpad, the touch screen, camera, etc. It doesn't use them in a stupid "oh this exists so we might as well add a slightly pointless thing to use it" way, but instead a way that gives them purpose for perhaps the only time in the history of the Vita. (Especially that odd rear touchpad.)
The game looks amazing - it looks like it's made out of paper! What makes this even more exciting is that you can collect papercraft models in the game then go to the Tearaway website, print templates, and make the things in real life out of card. The instructions are easy and we've made some great models that really replicate what's in the game.
Two of our creations!
Then there's the amazing music, such as 'The Orchards' (below) by Kenneth Young. The game has a wonderful soundtrack that we've sat down and listened to on more than one occasion. It totally goes with the folksy and eccentric feel of the game.
The game is telling a story - the story of a messenger (his head is an envelope!!) called Iota or Atoi, whose adventures lead him/her to the You (that's you, in case you were wondering). There is a hole in the sky and the villainous 'scraps' are falling into their world. There are so many fun adventures in the game - it's anything but a typical platformer. The crows are super sinister. Then there are times when you'll just want to stop and look at the world. The level with the lighthouse was beautiful. And I'll always fondly remember decorating the pig and riding it afterwards. :-)
The PS4 game was released in 2015. It's still a great game, but it loses something without the integrated Vita stuff like the rear touchpad (which you could use to rip through the paper of the world with your finger). It does use the PS4 controller's abilities though, like the light, which you shine like a torch onto the screen to hypnotise scraps. It also uses the touchpad to do things like cut out shapes in paper, though this is oddly fiddly.
Both games are atmospheric, quirky, original, brilliant fun, and you'll want to replay them. If only to collect some of the papercraft plans you missed...
I can hardly believe another month has gone by! Unfortunately, this month is (again) not a very exciting month for family friendly games. On the PS4 we have Absolver (PEGI-12) and Heavy Rain (PEGI-18), on the PS4 and Vita Space Overlords (PEGI-7), on the PS3 Rayman 3 HD (PEGI-7), on the PS3 and PS4 Extreme Exorcism (PEGI-7) and on the Vita Zero Time Dilemma (PEGI-18).
Absolver is a fairly well regarded multiplayer (online) fighting game, rated PEGI-12 for its 'frequent scenes of mild violence'. I have read that there are some technical issues with the online matchmaking, but I haven't experienced this myself. You can play it co-op with friends.
I was put off Extreme Exorcism by the title, but it's not the terrible evil game you might think. Though it may lead to some questions about exorcism. And I've found people think your child is watching things they shouldn't when they start talking about games that have odd things in them. Like exorcism. (Hehe...) But this is a platformer where you use various weapons to destroy ghosts in a non-threatening haunted house (think Scooby Doo here, people), with non-scary 8-bit retro graphics. Most of the game can be played with friends through local co-op. This might just be this month's family friendly pick! I will let you know what we make of it when we've tested it further...
As for the other games, Rayman 3 HD is fun for younger kids, but having been gifted the excellent Rayman Legends in May it seems a bit rubbish to be given an older Rayman game. I'm also disappointed that Heavy Rain is here, even if it is remastered. I played it on the PS3, I don't think I can be bothered to play it again, even if it is prettier! (But if you haven't played it, it is good, just don't play it with kids around!) I'm also interested to try Zero Time Dilemma (again, not one for kids!) but I use my Vita so rarely these days it always needs charging when I do pick it up. Poor Vita.
