I just beat __

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Out There Somewhere

This game is a puzzle platformer where the main plot is to get the required item to fix Yuri's (the main character) ship, before engaging battle with the villain. The game starts in a horizontal shoot-em-up sequence, which is a hopeless battle because the boss doesn't get defeated. Obviously, they did this because the meat of this game is in the platformer and not the shooting segment.

The main character has two types of actions he can perform, besides the standard jumping: one is a teleporter gun where shots landed will teleport the player to the place, and another is the Gauss gun where the player can attack enemies and breakable blocks. The teleporter gun is more versatile than the Gauss gun since it conserves momentum and puts the player in a desired position faster than moving manually, so it's especially useful in a speedrun.

Even though the appearance of this game has a Metroid vibe, the game is rather linear since there is no reason to backtrack to a previous location except to advance to the next one, which is a given since this game doesn't have upgrades. What this game do have are collectibles, which come in the form of health upgrades and Abandoned Cores. The former is self-explanatory: they increase the HP of the player, but the latter affects the battle of the villain after the player finished the objective. This game is made for repeated playthrough, since there are a lot of secret areas that the player might not be aware of in the first playthrough. However, I am done with this game, which once completed, is a rather short game, clocking at less than 2 hours.

Thank you for reading.
 
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (Wii; also on PS3, X360, PC, iOS)

At last, I've finally beaten Episode 1! That final boss sure was tough. You have to fight every boss in the game, one after another, before fighting the true final boss (I won't spoil). His final attack was the hardest one for me to counter, as he literally destroys the entire floor if you miss. That was by far the hardest boss fight in the game.

I still need to 100% the game by getting the remaining Chaos Emeralds, but other than that, I'm done! Episode 2 isn't available on Wii, so I'm stuck with either the $10 PC version, or the free iOS version with the awful controls.
 
I just beat

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Soldier of Fortune is a FPS by Raven Software released in 2000, based on the infamous magazine of the same name. You play as John Mullins, a true 360 no scope patriot hired by an outfit called "The Shop" to shoot up a bunch of places and stop an evil plot to drop a neutrom bomb on New York or something. The game's main selling point (which predictably got it banned in several countries) was its gore system, which modelled damage across 26 areas of every characters. It's great fun and basically impossible to talk about in detail without sounding like you need to be institutionalized.

Gameplay-wise, SoF is an interesting half-between in the evolution of the FPS genre: There are some very slight concessions to realism: you have a weighted equipment system that only you to carry up to 4 guns at a time and your accuracy is notably penalized when you are firing while moving. Under the influence of Half-Life, levels are mostly linear and contain light puzzle-solving and platforming, but nothing that's going to stump or frustrate you. On the other hand, all your weapons are extremely accurate when you're not moving and you can sprint around like you're in a Quake 3 match. It's not Doom but we've not quite reached Call of Duty yet.

The actual shooting is great fun: not (just) because of the gore, but because your weapons feel powerful and enemies actually react to your every hits and what body part you're hit: hit them in the leg and they may writ around in pain, hit them in the hands and they may drop their gun and surrender. Moving aorund is smooth and fast. You can customize your weapon loadout before each mission, which is a good feature in theory, but if a weapon you pick is not found in the mission, you're not going to find any ammo for it. You might as well stick to what you find.

The biggest problem with the game is that it's quite buggy: I've had multiple instances of scripts not triggering or my character getting stuck in thin air. Fortunately levels are all short so you never lose too much progress when this happen. All in all Soldier of Fortune is good times.
 
Gore system reminds me of Gib Mod from Garry's Mod or that one GTA V mod where you can gib people too that I forgot the name one, where the evisceration of parts is caused by zeroing out the mesh part that is rigged to that particular bone.
 
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (Wii U)

This version of the Shovel Knight campaign is basically the player using Plague Knight instead of the titular Shovel Knight, and when you play it you will notice the difference. The main thing that differentiates Plague Knight from Shovel Knight is his weapon of choice. Rather than using a melee weapon, Plague Knight instead relies on bombs that you can adjust the properties of: the throwing method, the explosion type and the fuse timing. This basically opens up to myriads of combinations, and while I do not know if all combinations are all viable, the individual properties are all useful.

A drawback that Plague Knight has is his movement. You see, unlike Shovel Knight, Plague Knight has lower traction. Moreover, Plague Knight has a low jump height. On the upside, he can double jump, and if you charge an attack, an extra jump can be made. This too, can have adjusted properties, but for me, I stick with the tried-and-true Float Burst, which allows Plague Knight to float after doing the extra jump, which given his traction, is a godsend that I can't live without.

Because of Plague Knights focus on his bomb's versatility, the game is easier in some ways compared to Shovel Knight. For one, Plague Knight doesn't need to get close to bosses due to his projectiles. Even then, there are some combinations that work great at close range, so he's not so helpless at close range either. There are several bosses that are much easier than when I used Shovel Knight, though ironically Plague Knight never actually won against Shovel Knight in his battles against him.

The levels are, for the most part, manageable, but there is one thing that is different compared to Shovel Knight: extra areas that Plague Knight can access. The areas are naturally tailored for Plague Knight, since he is after all the only one to be able to access them, and because of that, they are generally challenging. The reward for each of his character-specific areas are relics that can be exchanged for Arcana. Unlike Shovel Knight's Relics, these can practically be infinitely reusable, since they are used on a charge metre. Each of them have their uses, but I find myself using Vat a lot, which basically creates a platform beneath Plague Knight. On emergency situations, I would resort to Smoke Bomb, which creates smoke that renders Plague Knight invincible while in it, and this is mainly used during bosses. Because exchanges are based on money, I found myself generally richer compared to when using Shovel Knight.

It's a really fun campaign, and when I checked the Challenges in regards to Plague Knight, I doubt I can cross them since they are based on his unique abilities, and the problem is I am not that skilled as to use them properly. I think I will continue with the Specter of Torment when King of Cards gets released in the future.

Thank you for reading.
 
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)

After completing the game 100%, I went back and replayed the game. It took me a while since I also played a whole lot of Kirby during that time, but I've finally beaten it again. Will I go for 100% again? Possible, but not anytime soon. Probably going to keep replaying Guest Star mode on Kirby Star Allies for now.
 
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

main story done in 06:31:36 with 100% item collection, which I'm fine with. great game, although I think I liked Pirate's Curse a bit more
 
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Splice (PC)

Also available on: Mobile, PS3, PS4

Splice is a puzzle game that requires arranging cells to fit an outlined structure. Each cell can branch out to two different strands, so each structure is similar to a branched tree. The interface is lacking in static blocky text standard for games, and instead uses floating text to make everything look like they are flowing and floating. It certainly is very creative and ambient, but takes some getting used to.

The first levels are focused on arranging cells, but in later levels, mutated cells are introduced that can be activated, but the one nearest to the core will activate first, which makes for interesting puzzles. This cumulates to multiple mutated cells, making puzzles more complex. If that's not all, later levels even added the ability to detach a cell branch from the structure entirely. There are seven stages with seven levels each, totaling to 49 unique levels before the post-game. Yes, there are four more sets of levels and they are generally tougher than the first seven. The final two levels are especially tough that a guide is the best way to understand how to solve them.

Certain puzzles allow the player to complete below the number of allowed moves (called "splices"), in which case the player gets an "Angelic" ranking. Interestingly, there is an achievement for getting every puzzle where it's possible to do so. However, the game doesn't signal if a level can possibly be cleared within the number of moves, so I used a guide to check those that allow for efficiency.

The game is short, but one thing that this game does very well is the music. The game has piano tunes that are pleasant to hear, and makes the whole experience better overall. Personally, I love good piano music, so it's a great thing that this game has it in spades. To cap it, here's a tune from the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0HAKr_7oE

Thank you for reading.