Holiday Gift Guide: Video Games

Mike - For the gamer who just wants to have fun

 

Super Mario Odyssey by Nintendo - Nintendo Switch

 

It may not provide the most in-depth gaming experience, but Mario Odyssey is the most entertaining game I played in 2017. It brings back the magic that Mario 64 had an is a platforming masterpiece. Loaded with Easter Eggs, intuitive gameplay, and a wedding, Odyssey more than lives up to the hype and makes me a very happy Switch owner.

 

 

brian - For the gamer questioning the meaning of life

 

NieR: Automata by Square-Enix - Playstation 4, Microsoft Windows

 

NieR: Automata asks a lot of questions. It'll start with "can an android be alive?" and goes from there. You'll have to get over spending most of the game as a sexy anime lady, but NieR: Automata will go places that games don't go. Even if you're no good at games, you can dial down the difficulty and automate the combat. The game won't hinder or judge you. It just wants you to play and experience what it has to offer. It's a desolate, sometimes grim, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking game that has few equals.

Zhaoyun - For the gamer who wants to get a little weird

Torment: Tides of Numenera by Techland Publishing - Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Xbox One, Playstation 4

Everyone loved Planescape: Torment, and if the game-obsessed in your life don't already own this loose sequel (or at least, a similar and quite fun game with very similar rules), chances are good that they'll like it as well! Is it as good as Planescape: Torment? Probably not...but then, what is? On second thought, why not just get the gamers in your life another copy of Torment!

 

 

brian - For the gamer with great headphones

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice by Ninja Theory - Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4

Hellblade does a lot of things right, but the thing it does right the most is the sound. A great pair of a headphones goes a long way as Senua battles the Norse men and the demons that haunt her as she seeks revenge for the death of her lover. Hellblade won't break your bank account either, as it's only $30 and well worth every dollar. 

The G - For the gamer who can't get enough Stranger Things

Stranger Things: The Game by BonusXP - iOS, Android

Did you love Stranger Things? How about The Legend of Zelda? If you answers were "yes" and "hell yes," as they should be, then Stranger Things: The Game is your dreams come true. It is, after all, an 8-bit Zelda clone set in Hawkins, Indiana. You play as Hopper, Nancy, Lucas, Mike, Will, Dustin and Eleven, each with their own peculiar strengths and weaknesses. Hopper has a super punch; Lucas has his slingshot; Nancy's bat with nails on it can bash through fallen tree trunks; Mike can ride his bike to escape various baddies; and so forth. The game is reasonably difficult, but never cheap; and it's oozing with old school retro charm. Oh, did I mention it's also free? 

brian - For the gamer who wants to solve space mysteries

Tacoma by Fullbright - Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Xbox One

You could spend all of Tacoma watching a loading bar fill up. Instead, why not watch scenes from the past as the crew of Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma try to survive imminent death and learn why they abandoned the station? These scenes play out in an innovative AR interface which allows for rewinding, following particular characters, and getting more insight into the events than your typical cutscenes. It's an evolution of the "walking simulator" genre that shouldn't be missed by anyone.

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POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014

Microreview [video game]: Tacoma by Fullbright (developer)

Enhanced Space

Tacoma is the not-at-all related followup to the critically acclaimed Gone Home and Fullbright's second game. The sophomore game stereotypes suffer the same problems as a sophomore album from a band. Can they repeat success? Will they try to strike out in a different direction and potentially lose their fans with a bold change, or will they try to recapture and build upon the success of their first release? In Tacoma, you will find less of the former and more of the latter. 

You are Amy Ferrier, a contractor for Venturis Corporation. Your task is to retrieve the AI named ODIN from Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma. While you're there, you can also learn the fates of the crew who are mysteriously absent. It doesn't take long to find out that a disaster aboard Tacoma is the cause of their disappearance. 

Playing Tacoma is going to feel extremely familiar to fans of Gone Home. You're in space, on a space station, but you're still largely picking through other people's stuff and listening to their stories as you collect data on ODIN. The mechanical twist to Tacoma is that the stories are told mostly through wireframe mannequins of the crew presented in an alternate reality (AR) interface. ODIN was recording these scenes and allows you to view some of them. You can fast-forward, rewind, interact with physical objects and AR interfaces as you follow the crew through these scenes. The way these scenes play out is easily the most natural feeling presentation of video game cutscenes I've ever seen. A scene may start with half of the crew present, but some will walk in, others will walk out, and you can follow them through the scene to catch different conversations. It's really cool to watch in motion, and allows the game to present multiple storylines in an extremely seamless way. 

Tacoma is packed with little side stories. If you were to solely follow the AR scenes or watch them only once, you'd absolutely get the gist of the main plot. However, in almost every drawer there's highly detailed notebook or tablet full of details that make Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma a place in the world, and make the wireframe cutouts into people. Tacoma accomplishes an incredible task of humanizing a seven person crew, in a video game, in a short amount of time.

The short play time is what will cause the most heartache for people. Like Gone Home, my personal playtime with Tacoma clocked in at a brief two and a half hours. I'm thorough too; I watched every AR cutscene multiple times to follow all of the characters in each scene, I read every AR interface, and I unlocked every locked door. A speedrun of Tacoma would only be limited to the amount of time it takes to watch each AR scene once, which is likely far less than 30 minutes total. If the short playtime doesn't discourage you, looking for anything more than a futuristic, AR-enhanced version of Gone Home might also bring disappointment. Make no mistake, for better or worse, Tacoma is very much a product of the team that made Gone Home. It didn't suddenly turn into System Shock or The Walking Dead. The puzzles to be solved are simple, and there is almost zero player input. In some ways, Tacoma would almost entirely complete itself without the player. In fact, you don't even need to watch the AR scenes. You can accomplish your mission by watching slow moving progress bars fill in over the course of three hours. 

But you should watch those AR scenes, and interact with the objects around you, and get attached to these very human characters. Tacoma has some of the finest video game storytelling you will ever find. Just don't go looking for something more than that, because you won't find it. Tacoma is excellent, but it rides on the shoulders of Gone Home.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 9/10

Bonuses: +1 AR cutscenes are a unique and well-done method of storytelling

Penalties: -1Gone Home in space isn't too far off the mark

Nerd Coefficient: 9/10 (very high quality/standout in its category)

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POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014

Reference: Fullbright(developer). Tacoma [Fullbright, 2017] 

Summer Reading List 2017: brian

Harry Potter 1 - 7 by J.K. Rowling

This is the Summer of Harry Potter for me. I never read the books when they were new (I felt like I was a bit old for them at the time), and now I'm going back to see what I've missed. I'm reading each book consecutively, with the movies inserted as I finish each book. Definitely reading each of the canonical seven books, maybe adding on other Potterverse novels or media when I'm done. I'm excited about the Summer of Harry Potter because that world has been a big blank spot for me, and these novels mean a lot to people I know.

Well, that's it for my summer reading. Seven plus novels, that's about all I can handle if I even finish them before the end of the season. But it doesn't really fill out this post, so let's shift gears.

Summer Video Gaming List 2017

Tyranny by Obsidian Entertainment (developer)

This one is something I've kept an eye on for a while, but was recently encouraged to play sooner rather than later by a recommendation from our very own The G. I've played an awful lot of enormous CRPGs, and I don't think I've finished a single one, but Tyranny interests me for its developer, Obsidian, and its premise. It's a game world where the bad guys won. It's reportedly shorter than most CRPGs, which appeals to me because many of those other CRPGs I've never finished are because I lost interest before reaching the conclusion.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands by Ubisoft (developer)

I liked Tom Clancy's The Division, and Wildlands is kind of like The Division combined with Just Cause. It makes for a sort of uneven tone, because it's about the serious topic of taking down a drug cartel, but so far the cutscenes have been very Hollywood action movie. My initial assessment of the structure makes the game look enormous, so here's hoping it has enough variety in action to keep me playing.

Tacoma by Fullbright (developer)

As a long time Idle Thumbs fan, I simply cannot pass up a game that's a product of that group of people. I loved Gone Home and Firewatch, and I don't care what Tacoma ends up being. I'm going to play it. And I'm in luck because Tacoma combines a few things that I like a lot; strong narrative, environmental storytelling, and space!

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POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014