KAO, Saints Row IV and Breathedge

Single player silliness.

Kao the Kangaroo

In this very Australian children's action platformer you play as the titular kangaroo (who for some reason is good at boxing but not so great at jumping) who goes on a quest to find his sister. Very bright colors and silly enemies are everywhere you look, and while there's nothing wrong with the game per se, it doesn't really have anything that made me want to keep playing. Not recommended.

Saints Row IV

In a bid to continue to up the craziness ante, this time the Saints are early on captured by aliens and put into a virtual world as "torture" - and to rip off the Matrix. Clearly the alien overlord is an idiot since you basically get super powers in that environment, which negates the need for the many vehicles and to a lesser extent, weapons, that previously featured in  the previous outings.

While there are familiar faces aplenty it does feel like the stakes are lower for most of the game as it's "not real". Did those seventeen people you just exploded actually die? More than likely they were just strings of code. Anyway, this makes the parts of the game where you aren't in the simulation much more interesting but alas those are very few and far between. Still a fun distraction if you like the series though!

Breathedge

Dubbed an "ironic outer space survival game", there was no survival to be had at all as the install just never worked. Might be an unfair judgement but as other games had no problems with installing for me, this one must just be a lousy, worthless game if it can't even do that. The consumer should never need to "work" to make your product run.

December 2022: Virtual Reality

I'm back from a nice vacation where I got to try out a couple of VR tech things - firstly the Oculus, which is a headset and a controller for each hand that has a variety of buttons and joystick thingies, was really interesting. Pressing button combinations let you pick up, throw, point, push, holster (or back holster) many digital things and you can "cast" what the player is seeing on a TV monitor if you want an audience.

For a simple game like Beatsaber, where you just hold two light sabers and have to hit incoming boxes in the correct direction, it was fine. That game is really more like repetitive exercise since your memory is what will win you the stages.

For more complicated ones like Walking Dead all those hand things are far more important as you'll not only be picking up, crafting or healing yourself (by getting bandages and virtually wrapping them around your arm) - you'll also need to be stabbing walkers. Velocity is a thing so light hits won't kill the zombies  and the system is smart enough to know if you are doing a two handed strike, or holding the walkers head before you strike etc.

My main problem with the Oculus might just be a "me" thing: for the Walking Dead I got super dizzy because while your arms are functional, you move using the thumb controlled joysticks... it just felt super unnatural.

Then we also tried Far Cry VR at a Zero Latency arcade - its basically a large room you book for 30 minutes or so and pay per head. Again you get a headset but this time your controller is a rifle - and that's it! Six of us went in this cooperative game to play against Vaas and his goons (though it can go up to eight) and it splits you into two teams for most of the match. Expect to be moving a fair bit to take cover and don't worry about what you look like in real! :P

For safety if you move towards a wall or another player in the real world bit red caution shields appear to warn you of the fact. That wasn't a problem for us though, and no one ran into any walls or each other. Super fun experience that I highly recommend and want to do again. Oculus? Not so much.

Any who, that's all for now - hope you've all had a good Christmas and are having a Happy New Year! :) 

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Absurd Game Ideas - Dr. Extractor (VR)

[Part of the Absurd Game Ideas folder]

Many game bloggers, including myself, usually talk about our ideal games or how to improve the games we currently play. Well I thought it would be fun to flip the script and share our most absurd and silly game or game mod ideas! You are invited to blog your own crazy ideas too! :)

For today I give you...

Dr. Extractor (VR)

This feel good game uses cutting edge Virtual Reality technology where players step into the shoes of Doctor Extractor to use their own hands and precision tools to squeeze, pull, stretch, and coax out pimples, black heads, cysts and more from randomly generated patients until they are fully purified. Catch the sebum in your own hands and experience Dr Extractor (VR) today!