Another week goes by, 2019 is already ticking by really quickly. Just means we’re getting closer to some big new games to release. Here’s a round up of last weeks activities.
Ratchet & Clank
I touched on Racket & Clank a few Geekly Reviews back that I’d made a start on it when I’d got for Christmas. Such is life with a baby, games get put down and picked up at random stages, and this is the case with Ratchet & Clank. Saturday night I was given the opportunity to spend some time with my PS4 as my wife took parenting duty solo to give me a break. I went back to Ratchet with my time.
Saturday evening saw me tackle 4 levels of Ratchet & Clank. Nebula G34, which isn’t a planet, Gaspar, Batalia & Quartu.
I enjoyed Nebula and Quartu as you tackled some of the puzzles on the levels using Crank. The different bots you use to progress through the levels such as the power bot or bridge bot made for some unique and fun little puzzles to crack. Slowed the pace down a bit from the frantic blasting and bashing away of enemies while playing as Ratchet. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Gaspar and Batalia though as you attain new skills and items such as the jet pack and grind boots.
Each planet so far has been really different and the levels although linear are all interesting to progress through. Some of then do open up more like Gaspar when searching for brains. And Batalia was just fun all round given the battle that’s taking place on the planet and around the sky above.
Still really enjoying this game, the unique planets, the crazy fun weapons, the on going narration as you play through the game, and I still get blown away with the game visually. It is a gorgeous looking game. Not sure how far to go to complete the story now, but looking forward to heading to the next planet Pokitaru which appears to be a tropical planet.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Thursday evening saw me looking after the boy while wife returned back to her pole fitness class. Now normally this is a disaster as come 6pm, it’s like there’s a switch that is pressed and the boy turns from cute and content to demon spawn. But I lucked out Thursday night and he fell asleep at 8:30pm not waking up till midnight by which time, my wife was back, But that’s beside the point. During his spell of being knocked out I managed to get around to watching a film, one I’d wanted to watch upon first release and one that had been collecting accolades all over the place for best animated film including an academy award.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
This was one hell of a super-hero movie. Obviously the accolades and overall glowing reviews should have been a clue that this film is great, But I wasn’t expecting it to be this damn good.
The scenes and reasoning as to which Miles becomes Spider-Man are pretty damn heart breaking. Then the introduction of the other Spider-Verse Spidey’s is incredible. There’s lots of humour throughout the film, and the animation itself is suburb. The way its drawn out as a comic book style throughout with the artwork on the characters or background in different colourised styles like dot paint, it just looks like you are watching a comicbook in motion.
The menacing sound that plays during the scenes that the prowler is on screen are so on point.
Not to mention the cast itself, I had no idea that Chris Pine, Nicholas Cage & Mahershala Ali were all in this.
I’m trying to avoid writing much about the plot it-self as I don’t want to give spoilers out as I know a fair few people are still keen to see this their selves. I hope they do because I need to talk about this film properly dammit.
– Murr
Fimbul
A few months back I posted a ‘One to Watch‘ about Fimbul, it was a game that I thought looked interesting, had a cool art style to it and some decent looking gameplay. The comic book style story telling also looked a neat touch.
Well it released a couple of weeks back and I’ve been getting a decent amount of hands on time checking out what the first few hours of the game has to offer and I have to say that so far I like it.
Fimbul combines intense Viking battles with a deep story that unfolds through in-game comics to bring the frozen world of the Norse sagas to life. Immerse yourself in the blistering winter preceding Ragnarok — The Fimbul Winter!
Fimbul has a pretty unique look about it and I can’t quite put my finger on how best to describe it, it’s almost cel-shaded but not quite. Either way I think it looks pretty good, although I did find it a little jarring at first and it took some getting used to. There is a very minimalist approach to it’s looks, but it brings some good looking gameplay.
The combat in the game is pretty decent so far too, it’s as you might expect with a lot of hack and slash style games, where one button does a heavy attack and another a lighter attack. You can combo these together to deal a lot damage in blade swishing, smooth style. I wouldn’t say that it’s very difficult so far as long as you don’t try and rush fights. It’s better to take a little time and try to single out targets, get a few fits and then back off waiting for you next opening.
I have noticed a couple of bugs, but nothing game breaking which is good. Although there was one instance of an enemy shooting me from inside a rock during a boss fight, thankfully I didn’t need to kill him to win the overall fight, otherwise that would’ve been very annoying.
A full review of the game will be coming, but I need finish it first, however, first impressions of Fimbul are good!
-Will
