Game Time - August 2017

Despite the fact that games were coming out, I took the time to finish my playthrough of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. I did almost everything there was to do, and it took about 50 hours. Sometime in the near future I will be recording the August podcast about the experience. Let's just say that the game aged a lot better than I would have thought.

Outside of HD re-releases of PS2 games I played a ton of new stuff too. Sonic Mania, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and Mario + Rabbids are all excellent games in their own ways. I didn't expect to like any of them as much as I did. Let me tell you why. It's game time!

Sonic Mania

It's crazy to think that Sega was once going head to head with Nintendo in the console market. The lovable plumber Mario was going up against the speedy blue hedgehog Sonic. Back then, Sonic was considered by many to be a great game. In fact, many people still hold the Sonic games on the Sega Genesis in high regard. It is the popular belief that Sonic lost its way when the series transitioned to 3D. I personally don't agree with that because Sonic Adventure 2 is my favorite Sonic game. However, even I can agree that the series took a turn for the terrible during the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox era. Sonic has been in a rut for years and Sega has largely been at a loss as to how to turn the franchise around. After years of failing to capture the Sonic nostalgia people crave Sonic Mania came along and changed everything.

Gotta go fast!

As someone who didn't own a Sega Genesis I don't have a huge amount of nostalgia for Sonic 1-3 like a lot of people do. Even without that I think Sonic Mania is brilliant on many levels. For starters it feels exactly like the Sega Genesis games of old. On top of that it combines classic stages with new and interesting mechanics. It's baffling that in 2017 I'm excited to play and talk about a Sonic game. Fans of the franchise have been burned so many times, but are finally being rewarded. Sega did the right thing by hiring the creators of Sonic fan games to make an official game. The movement and speed are top notch, and the music is superb. I can't praise it enough.

There was a period before Sonic Mania released where I began to question whether the old Sonic games were ever really good, or if they were just the best that Sega had to offer in the early to mid 90's. Sonic Mania quickly put my suspicions to rest, and actually reinforced how good the games were back then. The stages are huge and filled with a multitude of paths that most other platformers just don't have. It's nice to see a Sonic game both capitalize on nostalgia while trying to keep things fresh. If it was just a trip down nostalgia lane I wouldn't be nearly as impressed.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Naughty Dog as a developer continues to baffle me. I thought that I was done with the Uncharted franchise after the 3rd game. It seemed played out, and had a decent enough ending. Then 4 came out and blew me away. The game ended in such a conclusive way that I thought we'd never see anything from the Uncharted franchise ever again. Hell, they even announced they were making The Last of Us 2. Yet, here I am about to tell you about the Lost Legacy. It's my understanding that it started off as a shorter downloadable experience, but the team had so much fun working on it that it morphed into a full game similar in length to the original Uncharted.

The Lost Legacy follows Chole, the smooth talking Australian thief from Uncharted 2. I always found her to be one of the more interesting characters that didn't get a whole lot of screen time. She's in India trying to find the Tusk of Ganesh. As with all Uncharted games she has a sidekick, and it just so happens to be Nadine Ross one of the main antagonists of Uncharted 4. At first they're at each other's throats, but as time goes on they get to know each other. It's an interesting dynamic that makes for a lot of interesting banter between the two.

Chole and Nadine murder just as well as Nathan Drake.

At its core it's just another Uncharted game, which I thought I'd be sick of at this point. However, I enjoyed it from start to finish. Sure the climbing and shooting can get a little tired, but the character interactions and set-pieces are always top notch. If anything the Lost Legacy proves that Uncharted can be about things other than Nathan Drake. If they decided to continue the series and follow different characters 8 to 10 hour adventures I'd definitely be along for the ride.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

I want to start off by saying that I've never liked the Rabbids. When they first appeared under the guise of a Rayman title on the Wii I immediately disliked them. Weird, dumb, screaming rabbits just aren't for me. To be fair, they weren't supposed to be. They're geared towards kids. So when Ubisoft announced that they were actually making the long rumored Rabbids + Mario crossover for the Switch I was blown away. I was even more shocked that the game looked good, and I can confirm now that it is actually good. It's really good...

Mario now was a gun. That will never not be weird.

Normally Nintendo doesn't let anyone touch their intellectual property with a ten foot pole, so it's crazy to see what Ubisoft got away with. Mario and pals were given guns and turned loose into a strategy RPG similar to XCOM. It's not nearly as difficult, but it has similar mechanics and ideas. Everyone moves along a grid. can hide behind cover, and shoot. At first it all seems a little too basic, but once abilities and upgrades are introduced it can get pretty tough. The main thing separating it from XCOM is how the movement mechanics work. Mario and friends can dash through enemies to do damage, and jump off of their friends to trigger special effects and move further.

I've been having a lot of fun with the game so far, and it's even making me like Rabbids a little more. While I still think that they're not funny, I no longer get upset when they're on screen. In fact I think Rabbid Luigi is the best character in the game. His dash attacks do a ton of damage and steal health from enemies! Rabbids crossing over with Mario is not something I ever would have imagined, but somehow it works. Hopefully the general positive reception of the game makes Nintendo consider other collaborations and genres to enter the portly plumber into.

The Season is Upon Us

In years past the release of Madden in late August would signal a deluge of Fall video game releases. While that is still the case, game releases never really "dry up" anymore. However, I would say that the Fall is still prime time for Blockbuster releases specifically. For me personally September is a bit odd, because there are games coming out at the beginning and the end of the month. Nothing is really happening in Between.

The more obscure Monster Hunter Stories is going to be delivered tomorrow. Why Capcom decided to make a cute Monster Hunter RPG is beyond me, but I enjoyed the demo so I'll give it a shot. Then I pretty much have no interest in anything until Danganronpa V3 drops on the 26th, and then Cuphead a few days later on the 29th. There may be some other indie releases I pick up, but nothing comes to mind currently.

I'm kind of glad that I'll have a large gap between releases, because I'm a bit behind at the moment. Next time I write one of these I'll hopefully have played a whole lot of video games.