June 2018 PS Plus Goodies!

Bit late in blogging about this because, well, basically I'm not that excited about any of this month's games!  The games you get free this month are not the most child friendly in the world...  There's Trials Fusion (PEGI-12), XCOM 2 (PEGI-16) and a bonus of Call of Duty: Black Ops III (PEGI-18) on the PS4, as well as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier (PEGI-18) and Zombie Driver (PEGI-18) on the PS3 and Squares (PEGI-3) and Atomic Ninjas (PEGI-7) on the PS Vita.

What I'm probably more excited by is the 'Days of Play' offer for a 30% saving on a year's PS Plus subscription.  That makes it £34.99 instead of £49.99, which is a pretty decent saving.  The offer runs out on June 19th so you don't have long to take advantage of it.  And don't worry if you're already subscribed, it will extend your current subscription.

That's about all I have to say about June's games!  (Not a lot...)

Game Review: Pokemon Quest

Pokemon Quest (PEGI-3) - a free Pokemon game on the Nintendo Switch?  Sounds great, but things become clear when you realise it's a mobile game...  (The Switch version is out now, with the mobile version out later in June.) 

It's very different to your usual Pokemon game.  The art style is the first thing you'll notice, with very simple, cute, cubist graphics.  The story is different too: you are exploring Tumblecube Island, it's not the usual marching around levelling and beating Gym Leaders.  Then there's catching Pokemon.  You don't beat them down and throw Pokeballs at them, rather you cook food in your base camp (by combining five ingredients) and the food attracts different sorts of Pokemon.  And the combat itself is very different.  Your team of three Pokemon sets off for an expedition entirely by itself, searching out enemies.  You can set the combat to auto if you want, or set off the two moves your Pokemon have and hit 'scatter' sometimes.  (I have to admit I did set this to auto after my first few fights.)

The skill comes with managing 'Power Stones', which you put into the charm that each Pokemon carries.  These increase attack, hit points, or give other effects.  You can train your Pokemon to give them new moves.  One of the biggest things you can do to win or lose battles is to choose the right Pokemon.  A wheel shows what sorts of enemies are in the level, so if you choose Pokemon that do more damage against those enemies you should do well!  Before you start the level it does clearly state which sort of Pokemon is best, but there will be other enemies in there too, so it's all about balance.

As with most mobile games, there are a lot of cooldowns, so you can't keep battling endlessly.  You have to wait for your battery to recharge or pay to recharge it with PM tickets.  The game gives you 50 tickets every day, though if you pay for the DLCs you can earn up to 190 tickets a day.  You can't just buy tickets with money.  The DLCs also give you rare Pokemon and other benefits.  You'll also need to spend your PM tickets to increase your inventory space for both Pokemon and Power Stones.  There are other ways to earn tickets; completing Quests gives you tickets (in much the same way that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp earns you Leaf Tickets by catching certain numbers of fish, etc.).  I suspect that after initially earning lots in this way it will soon get harder.  (Possibly you will run out of Quests if you play it a lot, if it's anything like Pocket Camp.)

It's fun, though, and it's free ('free to start', is how Nintendo describe it).  It's not exciting when compared to other Pokemon games, but it seems like it will be a fun game to carry around on your phone, when the mobile version releases.  And its simplicity may well make it popular with younger kids. 

Certainly worth a look, especially since it doesn't cost anything to try it!

Though I have spent far too many hours playing Pocket Camp, so I may not be the best person to advise on games like this..!!!  :-D

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...)

Article - God of War: Games no longer where actors careers 'go to die'

This isn't a family game, but I read this article about God of War this morning and thought I'd mention it.  It's interesting from the point of view of the quality of acting and scripts that games have these days.  I have to admit I also find it cool that Christopher Judge is the subject of this interview, since I was a massive Stargate SG-1 fan 20 years ago.  I even had a Christopher Judge fan site called 'Jaffa Kree!'... 

Game Review: Plants vs. Zombies

I know, it's another old mobile game (ok, so it wasn't on mobile first), but what a game!  Plants vs. Zombies (PEGI-7) is a complete work of genius.  Originally released in 2009 it has spawned all sorts of other games, including Plants vs. Zombies 2, Garden Warfare, Zen Pinball and Heroes.  Originating as a tower defence game, it has successfully crept into card game territory and even third person shooter territory.  Considering its premise this is remarkable!

The idea of the game is that you are defending your house from a zombie apocalypse.  You do this by planting special plants in your garden that have different defensive abilities, from the sunflower (which creates your sun currency) to the peashooter, to walnuts, tallnuts, cherry bombs, chompers and so on...  The zombies also become more dangerous, beginning with a basic zombie and progressing all the way up to monsters like the gargantuar.  And at the end, there's Dr Zomboss to defeat.  The levels also have different settings - your front garden is just grass, your back garden has an ornamental pond, and in the end you're battling the undead on your roof.

There's a zombie on my lawn...!!

The game has a simple but engaging storyline, improved further by the addition of Crazy Dave (he's pretty hilarious).  It progresses well, being tricky without infuriating.  When I originally played it on iOS I think I ground through and unlocked a lot of things without paying - sadly the 'free' Android version we have now makes that impossible.  I don't think you'd be able to avoid paying real money to unlock some of the extra things.  That said, the main game is free, albeit with adverts.  (I know you can pay to get rid of the adverts, but it's not in the Google Family Library, so I don't want to do that on all our devices.)

The game really got into Seb's imagination.  We've been making zombies with air drying clay, pipecleaners and cardboard, and we've drawn MANY zombies onto paper and laminated them.  Once they're laminated you can play a live action PvZ game with the laminated cards!  (That's what he makes us do...)

This is a great game for all the family.  We've all been playing it - it's simple enough for Seb and complicated enough for mum and dad.  Thoroughly recommended.

[We have been playing using a Samsung Galaxy S7 and a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge]

Still playing - Animal Crossing Pocket Camp: Gulliver Must Die!

I don't get what the point of Gulliver is, he's taking all my things for very little reward!  Having Googled him, I see I am not the only one who's getting annoyed.  This thread made me laugh.  Basically he takes ten of your things on his ship, sails off somewhere, and comes back with one or two "treats" you can give to your animals, or if you're lucky one of three new guests.

If you're not bothered about the "treats" (and why would you be!) and just want to get the three new guests he can bring with him, you can basically send anything.  It has been suggested that Minimalist Lamps and Dharma Heads are the way to go.  (I have been crafting many Dharma Heads and so far have two of the three villagers.  I play this game too much...)

The thread went a little like this...

parKb5: I would like to take Gulliver behind my camper, put a lost pouch over his head and beat him with a lost book.
MamieKate09: So perhaps the game developers corrupted + turned Gully away from his previous task of delivering interesting historal stuff. (Is that what he did? I kinda get that from different posts.) He has become a greedy, penny-pinching conman.
RibbonQuest: He used to smuggle historic artifacts and exotic treasures. Now he runs a shady import/export business with "special treats" and "new friends".
MamieKate09: I was starting to think he might have been a smuggler. And he didn’t need to be corrupted just turned. Well dealing in illegal trade in animals is the 3rd biggest money maker after weapons + drugs.
CrescentShadow: I miss when Gulliver had a UFO.
parKb5: Now I wish a UFO would kidnap Gulliver and use him in horrible experiments.
Alex_Masterson: They already did. The Gulliver we are dealing with is his evil alien clone who is taking all our stuff and laughing at us.
Melanielll: Okay - suitable punishments...his ship sinks under the weight of all of the dharmas. He manages to cling to one for a few moments to avoid drowning. But - he is knocked in the head by one of the minimalist lamps floating up from the wreckage. He loses consciousness, drowns, sinks to the ocean floor and is buried by thousands of amps.

Easily the most infuriating event ever!!!