Yoku's Island Express

Gamerscore might be the most toxic thing to come out of gaming. It obligates me to one console. For me it was all XboxOne for the entire generation, until i broke my arm. I took 3 months off work and reluctantly picked up a PS4. I had shunned Nintendo for their treachory with the release of the original Wii. On one of my idling in the parking lot days, doing everything but game, I decided to partially lift my sanctions (by buying used) and picked up a Switch.

I had long given up on 3-d gaming since they all seem to be the same. With the situation in the Ukraine playing "murder, death, kill" games (war not exclusive to the western world but very much in the forefront today, i like my writing in the forefront) seems insensitive. One wonders if Advance Wars shadow drops without further marketing, if it comes out at all. Microsoft has been stockpiling and cornering the market for all of the game developers but there products all seem to be gun games. If you're okay never playing one of those puppies again then i'm okay with never shooting someone in the face ever again either. Deal? Deal!

Since i started traveling for work again post-post-surgery with plenty of covid-protocol-based idling in parking lots I started consuming games that cost $10 new instead of $60. After game of the year i picked up every indie game that graced podcasters lips. All the big budget titles were games I had played some version of before. I was fresh off of an expired gamepass sub of 2 years and itching to spend some money. In my haul of Switch games i've spent probably $150 and have picked up so many titles that I have actually beat, mostly 2D, since the Switch excels at 2D. After I finished Unpacking I decided to pack up my XboxOne for good and play games exclusively on Switch (I'm not allowed to play at home anymore so i don't feel the guilt of putting in those 4 and 5 hour sessions I hear about other gamers putting in which is something that i can't justify with a limited time and no continues on the game of life. I only play on the road. It makes me play games longer than I want to or should but since I'm not playing at home I'm okay with it.

Gamepass and games with gold are no longer an option. At the time of this posting the games with gold were announced for march 2022. They are some of the worst bottom of the barrel games available. Over the last few years of games with gold we have suffered with mediocre options. Gamepass games are either too long or the right length, though you don't feel like you're getting your money's worth on a $5 game so you bypass it. One of the benefits of brief moments with all these games, not including the fact that the 360 games are permanent (so who knows what friend is going to beam at your game collection), is that I have just tried out a lot of games just so I could feel like I got my money’s worth. I've beaten and love Tales from the Borderlands. Having GWG meant that I could find a beloved series in Gears of War and Dead Space. It had value. Conspiring on gamepass subscription purchases (with the aid of perpetual coupon clipping interneters) has stopped. Today, I have finally freed myself from the gamepass and games with gold subs. The only thing i subscribe to in life is the gym and the auto-billpay for life's essentials. 3 years might be the longest i've kept a cellphone provider or continous service since the the inception of the service (who has my old numbers? what were they?). I'm working on a life plan that involves more permanence. Including and up to having children. That doesn't mean these movie or game services don't have value. This means I have dipped my toes into a number of games (or movies and i've got enough to last a lifetime) that I have come to love (even alcoholics probably think a wine subscription is a bit much) that are extremely cheap on Nintendo switch. Their wish list system that sends emails when games are on sale has made choosing my next game easier, or harder depending on how you look at. Gamepass and games with gold have run their course for me like . I have purchased my last iOS game (maybe This War of Mine for iOS to support the Ukraine *shrug emoji*). I used to have to manage space on old iPhones or iPods. Now I’ve gotten better at managing my space and have no cares for phone gaming. Battery life is precious for phone reviews and hotel door codes. Good for photos and scanning documents. I have fully made the switch (Nextlander and british humor overused word play in full effect).

Multiball is lacking in this game. I love pinball but without frequent multi-ball this game may be made by people that only ever played sonic spinball. I was fortunate enough to have a pinball machine in my cafeteria during high school with peers always trying to best scores. We could also smoke cigarettes. We did. And I do. 1 quarter could get you far in theatre of magic or the twilight zone. The sounds are conjured on queue in my brain. They aren't going anywhere. How did they get there. By choice. Jeff B and I don’t see eye to eye on much. His ‘i feel like the thing is,’ affectation for ‘mario, (deliberate, grating, on par with giving yourself a nickname calling card)’ that somebody needs to call him out on the podcast once and for all. PLEASE STOP! . He is right about two things. 1. Hockey is the greatest and most well organized team sport in america for adults. Shame that people quit before they even learn how to skate. 2. Pinball is fun and probably deserved a spot on game of the year (this site has links for pinball **see above**. I’d pick a pinball table over a pool table in my home any day of the week. Over an arcade cabinet. Maybe not a ping pong table.

Yoku island express brings pinball home for me in a pleasing enough manner. Navigation through the world however is annoying. There could be a way better job of marking the environments or naming the environments. On a second playthrough I might find navigation a little easier. But on a first play through it can be painful. Maybe gamepass paranoia affected game length or game padding. There is a strong lack of signage or distinct map labeling. They want you to get confused enough so the meter of payment (however they get paid) ticks over to the next dime. I would have preferred individual self-contained maps over the thrown together map with the traversal by use of the beeline. The hd rumble is great on the switch joycons. Fear not, however, if you can’t traverse. I came to realize powers are unlocked at a healthy enough clip to force you to explore. Elden ring is out and i won’t be compelled by any of the glowing reviews written by fans of the series because those games are preaching to the choir. Enough of my game collection is inspired by review scores, yes scores matter Jeff G, that i know as a gamer my tastes may not line up with another reviewers but as the pendulum of life swings they eventually may. If you're a fan of videogames this game is a 4. If you're a fan of pinball too (digital pinball is an apt digital translation of a thing.. but go do the real thing) then this game is a 5.