Hello! Time once again for my not so regularly unscheduled blog. This time I've written about Furi, The Talos Principle, Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, and of course, yet another Overwatch update.

Furi

Furi, if you haven't heard of it, is one of this month's (well, July's, given that I'm squeezing this blog in so late in the month) free PlayStation Plus games. It's one part overhead dual-stick shooter, one part Platinum style action melee game, one part Punch-Out, and all rad. Or, at least I think the game is rad, but between its relatively limited scope, and high difficulty, I can see how it wouldn't appeal to some.

The "Punch-Out" comes from the part where the game is all about boss fights, learning their moves, when to counter, etc. In terms of game play, it really isn't that much like Punch-Out, but without a big open world to explore, that was a closer comparison than Shadow of the Colossus would have been. Either way, there's no regular enemies to fight between the bosses. Instead, all you do is walk slowly and stoically whilst an NPC talks to you. You don't even need to manually walk; you can just hit a button and it'll simulate the walking for you.

But the meat of the game are those boss fights, and I think they're really good boss fights. They're a fun and challenging mix of bullet hell style shooting sequences, and up close duels. Well, technically the shooting parts also let you whip out the sword for melee attacks (often recommended or necessary), but the duels don't. Those restrict you to a much smaller space around the boss, and the right stick is used for a special sword charge instead of shooting. It also slows down your movement speed, because instead of running, you can only slowly walk around the boss. It makes sense in context, trust me.

Speaking of, the combat in this game isn't especially deep, but it is tightly honed and focused in a way that makes it feel really good, and fun to pull off. Furi guy (he doesn't have a name, at least not one mentioned in the game beyond "Stranger") only has a four hit combo, a regular charge attack (hold the attack button), a dodge (used to dodge through attacks, can also be charged), a parry, that special charge (which makes the next attack more powerful, but the charge is lost if you get hit), and the gun (rapid fire and a charge). Compared to something like a Platinum game which has all sorts of elaborate combos, different weapons to equip, etc, it's pretty simple.

However, it's that "simplicity" that makes it work, at least for someone like me. With only a handful of different moves and abilities to get good with, I was able to actually, for once in a game, get good with them. I beat this game on the hard setting (Furier), after all. Sure, I got a D as my overall rank (the lowest one), and it took me longer than it probably should have, but I did it. So far as video game Achievements Trophies go, I'd include this along with other difficult things I've done in the last few years, like platinuming MGSV and Bloodborne. No, I didn't platinum this one, don't be ridiculous. I'd have to get an S Rank for the game on Furier, and I do not have the patience to attempt that.

And don't get me wrong, there's definitely depth to the game beyond what I said. The parry does different things depending on your timing. Time it perfectly, and the boss will get stunned, and you can get off a special attack. The same happens if you can land a fully charged attack. With there only being ten bosses in the game, there's a lot of variety to them, and a lot of the depth comes in mastering each boss. Some things that work on one won't work on another.

For example, one of the later bosses will effectively counter your perfect parries in the second half of the fight. When you do it, you go into a little stick shaking minigame, and if you succeed in that, you don't take any damage, but neither does the boss. In that case, you're better off with imperfect parries, so you don't take damage, and still get a little health back (parrying heals). Well, if you could dodge perfectly, it might be faster to dodge and attack, but because the dodge can be charged, you dodge on release of the button (it's got that negative edge (I don't know if it's negative edge, I just like saying that phrase)), so timing that stuff can be tricky until you get used to it. And even you get used to it, because the timing gets pretty tight.

I should point out that the higher difficulty mode isn't just a change in the amount of damage you do and take (though I do think some of the bosses at least take more damage to go down, but I'm not sure). Instead, they have different attacks and patterns, especially during the bullet hell sequences. That's the right way to do it, so I'm glad they went the extra mile. And for the most part, they are significantly harder. A couple (including the one I had the most difficulty with my first playthrough) didn't feel like they had huge changes, but were still more difficult.

After getting midway into Furier, I went back and replayed the first four bosses, and it was almost shocking how much easier they seemed. Keep in mind, there's no upgrades or anything like that in Furi. This was just a case of me going in with much greater skill and being able to destroy bosses that once were destroying me. And that's a great feeling.

On top of all that, Furi has a fantastic art style, helped by character designs from Takashi Okazaki, the creator of Afro Samurai. However, I'd say these are actually better designs than what I remember from Afro Samurai, but you can definitely tell with some of it that it's from the same person (in a good way). And the soundtrack perfectly compliments the style, and the game. It's from a variety of artists, most of which I'm not really familiar with at all, but it's superb. I've been listening to it quite a bit outside of the game.

For the most part the game runs well (I assume 60 FPS, but I dunno), but every once in a while there is a little, I dunno if it's a frame rate hitch, or a screen tear thing. I'm not a tech person, but I know sometimes a thing happens like that, but only ever for a split second, and it never got in the way of the game. But I guess keep that in mind if you were to choose between the PS4 version and the PC version. They have patched the game after launch, and the notes said something about screen tearing, if I remember correctly. Maybe that was it, like I said, I dunno.

If you have PS+, and are reading this before the next batch of those games are out (next Tuesday as of this writing), I very highly recommend this game. It's the best PS+ game of the year so far, and the best one since Rocket League last year, I'd say. If you don't, I'd look into the game before dropping $25 on it. I certainly loved it, and got a good amount of time out of it, but it's a hard game. That's a decent chunk of money to drop on a game if you aren't sure, or are put off by high difficulty. It does have an easy mode, but I haven't tried it, and that disables Trophies, which are the only reason to play games anyway (sarcasm).

So, yeah. Furi is rad. Give it a shot!

The Talos Principle.

This is a game that I've wanted to play for quite some time, but never did. First because it was only on PC, and then because it was $50 when it came to PS4 (with the expansion included). But, I waited for a sale, and finally bought it a few weeks ago when it was closer to $13 (as soon as I bought it I dreaded that it'd be free the following month, but at least that didn't happen). And, lo and behold, I really enjoyed it.

If you haven't played it, it's a first person puzzle solving type game. I'd say that it's more Portal than The Witness in terms of structure (I'd also say it's a better game than either of the Portals). Rather than one big area to explore like in The Witness, it's a bunch of discreet puzzles that are all clearly marked and self contained. There are a whole bunch of secrets to collect that involve doing things between these discreet puzzles, but those are optional. They're really hard though, I ended up using a guide for a fair amount of them, because more of the discreet puzzles are locked behind those (as is one of the game's endings).

I think the game is really smartly designed, in terms of letting you know which puzzles you have and haven't solved, what you need to unlock new items, or new areas, etc. Kind of a refreshing change after The Witness, which doesn't tell you anything. Not that I'm saying one is better than the other, I like both. But for The Talos Principle, I like the way that stuff is designed.

It's also a pretty thoughtful game in terms of its narrative. Lots of stuff about what it means to be alive, religion, and a lot of stuff about legacy. Like, what would people leave behind if they were to be...gone. I don't want to spoil any of it, if you haven't played the game. It's good. Especially considering that it's from CroTeam, who you might remember from games like Serious Sam. The game has a sense of humor, for sure, but it's used sparingly. But it's about as far removed from Serious Sam as you can get otherwise.

Well, aside from the visual aesthetic. Lots of ancient ruins, including a lot of Egypt. Serious Sam, naturally, was about traveling back in time to ancient civilizations to fight absurd enemies like headless guys with bombs for hands that run at you screaming. Like I said, a slightly different experience than what you get here.

I guess I haven't written about the puzzles themselves. They're really good! Lots of things like connecting lasers to things, moving boxes around, making sure lasers don't cross, etc. Later in the game there's a thing that lets you record everything you do, and everything done with items. It leads to some pretty cool puzzles. After you finish recording (you can record up to five minutes, but I never needed anything nearly that long), a hologram of you goes around doing what you did, as do holograms of all the items. But, crucially, you can then move the actual versions of those items around. Then you can do things like connect the real laser connector to a hologram one. Like I said, cool puzzles.

That's about all I have to say about the game. At least without getting into spoilers, which I don't want to do. I think the story stuff in the game is good, but nothing crazy in a way that I have to talk about. The included expansion, The Road to Gehenna is also really good. Some of the (optional/secret) puzzles in there are by far the hardest (for me anyway) in the whole game. Took me a long time to figure out.

Oh, the game does have some frame rate issues on PS4. For the most part, it's fine, but when taking elevators between areas, it hitches up a bit, and sometimes in some areas it just randomly gets a bit chunky (sometimes very chunky) in a way that doesn't seem warranted. It's not a bad looking game, but Uncharted 4 it ain't. Just seems like not as well optimized as it should be. But, it didn't ruin the game at all, because the majority of the time it's fine. And very little of the game is reliant on any sort of timing; even when it does, it's loose enough about the time you need that you have plenty of it, so frame rate wouldn't get in the way. Unless you're using the record thing and not giving yourself enough time.

The Talos Principle is also highly recommended by me! If you like puzzle solving games, you'll most likely like this one.

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell.

Gat Out of Hell (GOoH) is something I didn't expect out of a "post The Third" Saints Row game. In a word, it is disappointing. It's not especially well written by Saints Row standards (though there's a couple of funny bits), the game is almost inexcusably short, there's very little to it, and what's there isn't especially good. I might even go far enough to say actually a step back from Saints Row IV in terms of game play.

I guess in an attempt to one up IV's super powers, GOoH lets you just straight up fly. Well, at least at first, it's more like a really extended glide, but by the end, you can do it for so long, and gain enough extra height that it might as well be flying. And what can you do whilst flying? Collect glowing orbs to upgrade powers and...that's about it. Now, I enjoy collecting glowing orbs to upgrade powers. I did in Saints Row IV, and I did in Crackdown back when it was a new thing ("new" thing). Here? I kinda enjoyed it at first, but after a while it felt like I was collecting them more out of my collectibles obsession than because they were fun or needed. Kinzie even makes a comment about how collecting them is bad for her OCD.

The flying also helps to disconnect you from the city to the point where it doesn't really matter at all. Say what you will about the powers in IV (I liked them), but at least that game had you mostly running through the streets. Here you can still do that, but flying is way faster, and that's where the orbs are, so that's what I did. Ended up making the city (already bland, especially for LITERAL HELL) even more forgettable. The enemies you fight and basically just generic demons, so they don't help matters either. They will ride in on monster trucks, which is a nice touch, but still doesn't hold a candle to the luchador gang from Saints Row The Third.

And the powers you get are not especially fun to use. There's a super stomp, a blast, a summon, and an aura that gives various buffs and whatnot. Each has different versions that you can unlock, but really they're not that fun to use, and the game is so easy that you don't need to have any finesse or strategy to how you use them. The same goes for the weapons. Just a whole lot of shrugging as I played the game.

Now, that'd all be fine if this game as as funny and inspired as The Third and IV. But, it's not. There's exactly one bit in the game that felt like it was on par with the stupid stuff from those games. Not because it was that funny on its own, more because it was weird and unexpected in the way you want Saints Row to be. Specifically I mean when characters in a cutscene break out into a musical number. And it lasts for several minutes. For better or worse, not a big, huge musical number with a chorus or anything, just a couple of people singing back and forth at each other. It's cute, I liked it.

And aside from the end boss fight, it doesn't really have story missions either. It has a handful of (I guess) optional missions to recruit people to your cause, but those are about as bare bones as you get. They're not fun, and even when there is a decent idea behind them, it's executed poorly. Take Vlad the Impaler. He's in jail, which in hell means a daycare where he has to listen to children's songs for eternity. So, you go in and break him out. Sounds like it'd be a classic Saints Row mission, but it's short, not fun, and not really funny in the way it probably sounded on paper.

Without story missions to progress the, you know, story, instead you just get cutscenes when you pass specific spots on a meter. What raises that meter? Doing side activities, killing enemies, that sort of stuff. It's super jarring too, because it happens basically without warning, and when the cutscene is over, it puts you back at the Ultor building (the closest thing to a base or "crib" in the game), rather than wherever you were. The game has basically nothing in the way of customizing things either. Not for your base, not for your homies (which you can't call for help in this game, not that I really did in The Third or IV), not for your outfits, vehicles, or anything (you can't store vehicles either, not that you'd need them).

And while Kinzie is in most of the cutscenes, the story is clearly focused on Johnny Gat, which would be fine if there was anything more to his character than "I want to shoot/punch Satan in the face." That's all there is to him in this game. And even Kinzie, who I liked in The Third and IV, doesn't really do or say anything memorable here, but at least you can play as her instead of Johnny. Except for the final boss, where the game makes you play as Johnny for no good reason.

Oh, and the game even makes a joke about how there aren't any actual story missions. File that under, "Game pointing out a game design problem in a way that is only slightly funny and in no way makes up for that design problem."

Now, I get it, making games is hard. Especially when the budget is small, and you're making something that is limited in scope. But this? This is just depressing. I LOVE Saints Row The Third and Saints Row IV. Those are games that also clearly have issues, but they also have lots of absolutely amazing moments in them. They're full of memorable missions, great characters, and tons of humor.

Gat Out of Hell has none of that. Even for free on PS+, this game isn't worth the like, three or four hours (tops) it'll take to get to the end boss. Unlike The Third and IV, where I felt compelled to complete every activity in the game, I couldn't bring myself to keep caring and spend the time to keep doing that after beating Gat Out of Hell. It just made me sad.

Overwatch Update!

As you may know, there's been some changes to Overwatch recently, both great and small. The biggest change, of course, is that Lucio's shockwave attack no longer can wreck the wall panels in the ready room/ship thing on some of the maps. And I am OUTRAGED at this. I don't think it's because of anything they did to Lucio, because I don't think they changed that attack for him, and it seems to take longer for D.Va to wreck those panels too. But I have no idea why on Earth they would make that stuff harder to wreck, especially when blasting them all off at once with Lucio was so fun. I hope it's a bug or something, and they eventually fix it.

Oh, and also they added a new character, rebalanced others, and changed some of the Overtime rules. Ana, a support sniper, is really cool. And, for once, is a sniper character in this game that I can play well enough, and have fun with! I think she's a good addition to the game. And it's cool that Blizzard added Trophies for her too. I didn't realize you could add Trophies to PS4 games without it being a paid add-on. Maybe it usually is, but Blizzard got them to bend the rules, I don't know. It's a little silly to have there be an add on Trophy thing for the game with just two Trophies in it, which is the case. They're separated in the Trophies menu on the PS4. It's silly. I got the one for hitting an enemy with the sleep dart whilst they are ulting. It wasn't especially hard, as I hit Roadhog, and with his prodigious girth, he's an easy target.

Other changes include stuff like damage range changes, damage number changes, and the most valuable method of balancing: Changing a character's health by 50. Actually, I'd say D.Va got the biggest change, with her shield now working more like Reinhardt's. Definitely allows her to be more effective defensively, or offensively, really. Smart change. And her self destruct blows up faster, and doesn't damage her, so that's a lot more useful. Getting kills with it a lot more often now.

I'm not as fond of the changes to Overtime. The respawn timer gets increased by two seconds, and if Overtime lasts long enough (twenty seconds?), the meter starts depleting faster. The intent seems to be to make Overtime not last as long, which is "fine," but I like long Overtimes. It's not bad, but it's not what I would have done. But I guess that's why I just ramble about games in a blog instead of working at Blizzard on game balance. Long overtimes are still possible, too, you just have to work harder for it.

But Blizzard, if you want to hire a writer with no experience writing games, feel free to hire me! I could use the money!

Anything else?

That's it for games I've been playing recently. As for stuff on the horizon, I'll definitely play Yakuza 5 once that's on PS+. Weirdly enough, I was just thinking about what if that game was free hours before that was announced that day, which was a bit spooky. I'll have to clear up a lot of space on my PS3 to play it. Might play one or two of the other "recent" PS3 PS+ games whilst I'm at it. Or just replay Saints Row The Third. That was a fantastic game.

And for new releases? Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is next month, and I will definitely play that. Not so sure about No Man's Sky. $60 is too much "just to know," so unless that game is actually good and fun, I'd rather spend that money on smaller games. That ballet platformer (Bound) looks cool, and Hyper Light Drifter is on PS4 now. I might play those.

Otherwise, I'll just keep playing more and more Overwatch. Pretty safe to say Overwatch is my favorite online multiplayer game of all time at this point. It's certainly the one I've spent the most time playing. Well, I forget what my Destiny playtime was, that might still be higher. But I spent most of that grinding out stuff on my own, I don't think that counts.

Anyway, thank you as always for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day!