Topic: The PlayStation Fan Thread

Any one here play Zen Pinball (Pinball FX)?

I'm looking for suggestions on a good sci-fi themed table (thinking a Star Wars or Aliens one, though I'm open to other suggestions). Any ideas? I already have the Portal, Mars, and Earth Defense! tables in terms of sci-fi stuff, and don't like the looks of the Doom or Fallout tables.

BTW, I'm playing on my tablet, but as smart device gaming threads don't last very long around here, and as the series is multiplatform, I hope I can get some help. Thanks in advance.

@RR529 Sonic Spinball I definitely the best pinball game.

Redout coming to the PS4 in August. It's a great year for those who like anti-grav racing games. Fast RMX, Wipeout Omega Collection, and Redout.

I believe it was coming to the Switch too, but no word on that...

@RR529 I actually found Pinball Arcade to be more enjoyable but I think that's mainly due to the fact that they use actual tables. While Zen Pinball isn't bad I find myself playing Pinball Arcade more.

@Tasuki, don't get me wrong, I like TPA too, it's just that I only have a little over $2 left over in my Google Play account, which isn't enough for any TPA tables, but is enough for a Zen table, which is why I'm seeking suggestions there.

Today is a good day.

Firstly:

Q-Games (those who gave us the awesome PixelJunk series) are teasing a new game for the PlayStation 4 on Twitter.

Secondly:

We can indeed confirm that the original team at DONTNOD are working on a brand new Life is Strange game.

And last but not least, and most importantly!

Fumito Ueda about his next game...

"Now I've completed The Last Guardian and spent so many years in that game, maybe I may go back to the Shadow-type environment."

@Octane That's an interesting box art. 505 games??? It was supposed to be out on Switch last month. Then got inexplicably indefinitely delayed. The publisher was originally to be Sega in the US. Then it became Nicalis. Now suddenly it's coming to other platforms and is published by 505 with entirely different box art. This thing has been through a publishing NIGHTMARE.

What's next a delay to December and a publishing contract with EA?

@Peek-a-boo ''Shadow-type'', as in SOTC?

@NEStalgia Huh, weird. Haven't really followed its Switch release. I only saw the game earlier this week and I remembered it from last year. It got announced this week, and I don't see any reason for a delay. I don't know what's going on with the Switch version though.

@Octane I still have an Amazon preorder for Redout with a release date of July 25. Is that what you are talking about?

@Octane Sharing the ethos of Shadow of the Colossus, yes.

ICO and The Last Guardian were mostly linear in its world design, whereas Shadow of the Colossus had an structured 'open world' feel about its sense of place. I imagine that that's what Fumito Ueda is saying, and a part of me hopes he does go back to a 'Shadow-type' experience for his next game.

It is probably due to come out in 2023 though...

@Ryu_Niiyama PS4 version? Release date is August 29.

@Peek-a-boo SOTC was still pretty linear though, but I get what you mean. Either way, SOTC is one of my favourite games, so that's some pretty awesome news right there. I hope it doesn't take another 10 years.

@Octane Switch version (since you were asking about it). Sorry I should have clarified. It could be placeholder but it has been pretty steady for several months (there was an adjustment a few months ago).

@Ryu_Niiyama Probably a placeholder in that case. I've been looking for official confirmation, but I couldn't find anything. I found this interview from last month. They said they were going to announce the release date ''soon'', but the Switch wasn't included in the announcement from two days ago, hence my remark.

@Peek-a-boo Team Ico new game will come out in 2030

I found a shy over a hundred Pagies, and went onwards to fight Capital B.

I gave it seven attempts before ditching the game altogether.

It is rare for me to become so aggravated with a game, and to stop me from potentially getting even more wound up, I decided to quit the game and told myself that I am done (with it).

Yooka-Laylee.

A game that offers a very even split of providing an abundance of fun and not giving or feeling any satisfaction or joy.

Here's my final thoughts on this game:

What I liked:

• The characters are both funny and fun to be around. Yooka and Laylee are pleasant individuals with distinctive personalities. I think Trowzer has the best personality in the whole game, as well as those shopping carts and the slot machine guys in the cashino world.
• The music is really good, even if it isn't the promised live orchestra. It is so refreshing to have a game like this with an unashamedly melodic score.
• General look of the game is one of its strengths. It's a low-ish budget game that appears to be punching above its weight. At least two of the worlds offers an organically designed playground and have a relatively grounded sense of place.
• When you can ignore the way its delivered, some of the dialogue is really well done, especially some of the British humour that British folks would appreciate more so than others. Like me!

What I disliked:

• Bosses start off as unpredictably terrible and almost unfair (Rampo) and by the end, I was actively skipping them (never did the boss for Cashino, and I actually gave up on the Galleon boss and Capital B, the latter of whom is quite simply an utter cretin).
• Tasks that involve juggling 4 or 5 things at once that are so inflexible that you'll end up with a cheap death.
• The camera and controls, in some situations, are truly terrible.
• Bad design choices; timing of those berries in the last boss is awful. I am well aware that they built a lot of gameplay around that mechanic however, it makes the game so joyless to play. A lock-on targeting system of sorts would have done wonders and erased half of the combat related complaints!
• Miserly checkpoints and stingy health in at least half of the bosses. When I die, I get sent to a completely different area as opposed to carrying on from where I left off. Also, when you quit the game, you are sent back to the Hivory Tower, regardless of which world you were previously playing around in. Why?!
• And when one or more of these bad elements add up to make a compound of misery, it is just... URGH!
• Those voices. Who gave the go ahead for these? One or two grunts per sentence should do, not every single blooming word.
• Gloomy Grotto. Please shoot the person who designed this with a paintball gun.
• Having to dismiss conversation text with exactly the same button as accepting something was a pain in the backside.
• Oh, and those quizzes. Seriously, who thought that nonsense, with the painfully slow crawling text that cannot be skipped along with that annoying voice work, would be fun for anyone?

Basically the 'jank' and the slavish devotion to recreating a 'warts and all' versions of Banjo Kazooie and other N64 era platformers conspire to make a game that is stuck in the past for all the right and wrong reasons. Mostly the latter reasons, unfortunately.

So, that's it for me. I am glad I backed Yooka-Laylee however, I cannot see me going back to this nor would I feel particularly compelled to chip in for a crowdfunded sequel.

I would only play a potential sequel if it addresses a lot of what I didn't enjoy about this because by the end of the game, my dislikes pile was bigger than my comparatively shallow pile of likes.

5/10

OH MY GOD! How on earth did I forget about that snow plough that you transform into?!

That was the single most worse thing I have ever had to endure in a video game since I begun playing video games. Please wag your finger furiously at the guy or gal who designed that abomination.

@Peek-a-boo And the moral of the story, wait for Super Mario Oddesey for a true platformer this year.

@Peek-a-boo What's unfair about the fight with Rampo?

Interesting impressions. I'm surprised you like the OST.

@Peek-a-boo Your opinions mirror mine. Interesting we both came out of it disappointed. I didn't even get far into world 2 so...well done

@Ralizah Unfair in the respect that if you die, you get sent back down to the bottom of the temple that you have to climb aaallllll the way back up just to fight the boss again. Unfair in the respect that the three different phrases are more of a memory test - along with a hint of luck - as opposed to skill. Unfair in the respect that whilst the game does teach you how to roll, it doesn't teach you that you are able to roll up a hill and to be able to jump (over the logs) at the same time.

It was a 'try and work it out for yourself' moment. Usually you feel quite chuffed when you find out something all by yourself, and yet I felt the polar opposite when I realised that you could jump over those logs.

And it is so aggravating when you reach the crest of the top, only for you to slide down the ramp whilst hitting every single log that's in your path, because you cannot jump over them! Then you die! Then you get sent aaallllll the way back down at the base of the temple, again and again.

This game actually works me up by just thinking about it. The boss in the fourth and fifth world are truly awful, and the last boss altogether is the example image you find next to the word 'joyless' in the dictionary.

I'd rather buy an N64 on Gumtree and pop Banjo-Kazooie into the cartridge slot, muddy and juddery visuals and all, than go back to Yooka-Laylee. Upon reflection, I think I am being quite generous with my final score...

@Peek-a-boo So I haven't played Yooka Laylee yet but what's the worst world? I heard bad things about the Casino World.