@Ralizah That's a nicely written review. I always love 3D platformers, plus the game is just oozing with charm, so naturally I'm a big fan of this game.
Were you planning on getting the expansions? Seal the Deal was alright, but the Nyakuza Metro expansion is excellent. That has a large hub area to explore and plenty of charm to it. Also, it's a pecking metro run by yakuza cats.
My nephew owns the game on Switch, along with all the DLC, so by the time I'm ready to dip back into this world again, I might just revisit that version. I've heard conflicting reports about good a port it is, so I've been curious to try out one day anyway.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@Ralizah Nice review - I actually have AHIT from Steam in a recent sale on a slight whim. Reading your review has probably dropped it down my list. A major bugbear of mine is a lack of maps as my ageing brain just can't take it. It looks like what it aims for in terms of design etc.
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
Amount played: Completed the 15 base levels (the PS4 version includes two parts of the DLC which each contains another three areas).
Basically what you're thinking is "I loved Theme Hospital back in the day, so will I like this too?" to which I say "don't be so damn impatient”.
Every description of the game uses the phrase "spiritual successor to Theme Hospital" so let's get that one out the way already. It's no surprise that it has this label though as a few of the original Bullfrog team are involved in the development of this game and the basic game mechanics are pretty similar.
That said, the team have done well to make the game feel different enough with a whole host of new features and the game is certainly more complex than the original. However, you will essentially be guiding a group of patients with variably hilarious conditions from their arrival at the reception desk to receiving their treatment in variably hilarious ways.
Reception desks are certainly larger than they used to be! (and mission objectives tougher)
As in That Other Game, you're tasked with taking over a number of different hospitals of increasing difficulty, each with various objectives you need to hit in order to progress. Each level has three stars which you can obtain, with each star ramping up the expectations on your hospital. Only one star is needed in each hospital to progress but there's no way I can move on without seeing all three of those golden celestial beings alongside the name of my hospital.
Training your staff is more important than ever
Hitting a number of successful cures is a pretty standard objective in each level, as is getting your hospital to a certain reputation or value. There are a handful of clever levels which I really enjoyed such as the public hospital where no money is earned from curing patients but instead from fulfilling additional objectives. My particular favourite sees you in a teaching hospital where all staff start with no specialist training and it's up to you to get them up to scratch. More frustrating/boring objectives see you needing to get staff morale to a certain level, get hygiene levels up, or (most frustratingly of all) getting your "cure rate" to a certain level.
Some of these are fun but plenty are frustrating. Lots of them also require sitting around just waiting for the game to tick over while you wait for the objective to complete; hitting 3* in the final level needs you to cure 1000 patients which takes a good while. Some objectives can be beaten by gaming the system which feels a bit cheap; why bother trying to cater to staff needs to get their morale up when you can just double everyones pay to hit that objective and then move on?
A bit of R&R always helps keep morale up
Staff and patients have plenty of needs that you will have to keep on top of otherwise they will certainly start moaning. Toilets are a must, and food and drink are always needed but you will also need to keep fun levels up and make sure they're warm/cool enough too. Most of these aren't a problem but it can be frustrating to see a patient storm out as they're hungry, thirsty, bored, and need the toilet when all facilities are provided.
The hardest thing in the game though (unsurprisingly) is trying to keep the patients alive. A health meter starts ticking it's way down as soon as the patient appears on the map. And this goes down QUICKLY. Keeping on top of queues is essential to make sure their health isn't dropping too much while waiting, making sure your staff are trained as best possible, and you have the best and most upgraded kit. Training in this game can be in specific roles which are needed to use rooms (e.g. radiology to use the MEGA scanner and surgery for surgeons) or more general areas such as increased diagnostic or treatment abilities, or increased happiness levels.
However, when patients die that isn't the end of their involvement in the game. They sometimes become ghosts who scare patients and staff but who can be literally hoovered up by trained janitors which also gives you research points.
Epidemics. URGH.
Epidemics are another addition where one of only two disease may cause an outbreak in your hospital and you need to scour the map for the telltale signs of the condition so you can vaccinate those with the disease. This is a royal pain in the ass on larger maps and unless you need the cash from successfully preventing the outbreak (or it's the map where you need to vaccinate people), I just left it alone and took the penalty.
All this means there can be a LOT going on in your hospital at any time and it can be difficult to keep on top of. A bit of chaos is obviously what the game is about but throwing earthquakes (and even volcanic eruptions in one level) into the mix feels more frustrating than challenging.
Treating a case of premature mummification
Pushsquare forum reviews love to mention the sounds and music of games. There’s another nostalgia hit here with tannoy announcements through the game which are a mixture of amusing and informative and the voicing sounds so similar to that used in That Old Hospital Simulator. The soundtrack itself is presented as a hospital radio station with a couple of different DJs talking between songs and the tracks are perfect for this kind of game in that they blend in to the game without overwhelming it but are also quite catchy.
Overall, I thought the game did a good job of making itself feel fresh with little improvements like being able to make rooms that aren’t just squares to fill awkward spaces, and the ability to copy a room if you need another GP office rather than designing one from scratch. The level of humour is fun without being too try hard and the game is challenging too.
That said, the game had loads to introduce with new roles, new conditions, new challenges, and new items to unlock but by about the halfway point it doesn’t add much more so the last few maps felt a bit repetitive, even if the challenges were quite different. The two levels I mentioned earlier that were standout ones were from quite early in the game.
It also has the problem that many strategy games have that once you’ve figured out a system that works, it quickly becomes a bit repetitive. Once I figured out increasing the price of everything in the hospital by 100% made you shed loads of money but also made things easier by keeping patient numbers down, it became way easier for instance.
A classic case of lightheadedness and jest infection
So to answer the obvious question from early on, you will certainly like it if you liked Theme Hospital and it is good fun but I’m glad to have picked it up in a sale. I will probably go back for the DLC levels (which do introduce new illnesses and rooms) but I had certainly had my fill by the time the third star pinged on the final level.
@Thrillho Sounds like a fun simulation game, although I confess I have no idea what "Theme Hospital" is.
"They sometimes become ghosts who scare patients and staff but who can be literally hoovered up by trained janitors which also gives you research points."
This sounds like such a great crossover opportunity for something like Luigi's Mansion. 😂
Good review. How well does a sim game like this handle with a controller, BTW? I can't imagine not using a mouse for this sort of thing.
@Rudy_Manchego The no maps thing would be as big a problem if areas were more organized and memorable. Or smaller. But large areas with complex layouts + no maps is a recipe for frustration. Although, admittedly, this only REALLY became an issue during the final world, which is just so huge that it can be hard to find your way to where you're supposed to go.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yeah, I think, if you're in the market for a cute game, it does the job well. Really, I'm just so happy to play a platformer that doesn't constantly fill me with stress and rage now.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@Thrillho nice review of two point hospital, I've played the first level on the computer but haven't gone back to it because my chair gives me a back ache. I used to love theme hospital as a kid though, awesome game! I'd be interested to know how it controls with a controller too actually. I was waiting to get it on Switch but they didn't end up adding touch screen controls to it so I just bought it on steam in the end
@Ralizah I am genuinely surprised you don't know Theme Hospital as I thought it's one of those games that even non-gamers know; even my wife has completed it! Admittedly, it's pretty old now being mid/late 90s and you can probably even get it for free legally. It was on PC but it was released on PSone (I had it on my PSP via the PS3 store).
But in response to you and @ralphdibny the controls are mostly fine. Square is the magic button that gets you to most menus (building, hiring, finances etc) with R1/L1 for jumping between those menu screens. Triangle jumps to messages. It can sometimes get a tad fiddly building rooms but on the whole it's fine; it certainly works better than Civ 5 but I still got used to that easy enough.
The only thing the game never explained well (and it is probably easier on PC) is that for certain rooms you can make specific alterations. The main example (shown below) is that you can get more than one nurse to work in a ward at once and some rooms (also like the ward) that can be used for diagnosis and treatment of patients, you can select to use it for just one of these functions. Some facilities can be altered to only allow certain people (like in the toilets below, you can make them staff only, patient only, one gender etc).
On the images you can see that there is the square button highlighted next to the screen which moves the cursor there but it seems weird that you couldn't just move up onto it. I only found out this was possible when reading a tips article. There is also the button map in the bottom left which says "switch panel focus" but it isn't clear what this means unless you already know.
But overall there wasn't a moment where the controls hindered me doing what I wanted.
@Thrillho nice one, cheers for the detailed response! Most mouse/keyboard games can translate well to a controller if the Dev is clever about it but I just don't get why they don't throw in mouse and keyboard support anyway. Especially as all the consoles support it as evidenced by other games. Also for you and @Ralizah , Theme Hospital is available on GOG and is regularly discounted to a couple of quid if you need a blast from the past
The keyboard controls are still workable, but the lack of a rebinding tool in the menu is just absurd. I typically use a controller, though, so it's not a massive concern to me overall. I might try replaying it on just the keyboard sometime, though, because I've noticed that the DOOM games are DRAMATICALLY improving how skilled I am at playing with M+K. I've started DOOM 2016 now (because I'll be largely unavailable on Sat/Sun when we're supposed to start), and I'm actually... pretty comfortable jumping around in 3D space with that setup. It's super comfy using the mouse to aim as well. It's such a change from even earlier this year.
And yeah, I do think it ended up being one of the best Kickstarter success stories. Maybe not quite as much as something like Shovel Knight, but I'd love to see them revisit this IP in a sequel or something. Hat Kid feels much more like an actual video game character you'd recognize, as opposed to some random indie game protagonist. The character design is really on point.
@ralphdibny@Thrillho Sim games aren't really my thing, but if I see it on sale, I might just grab it anyway. Apparently it's a part of gaming history.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@RogerRoger Thanks for reading! If you're interested in the game then it is certainly worth picking up. And I wouldn't say it was exactly cheesing the game but once you understand the mechanics better, even though the levels have different challenges and objectives you end up just following the same pattern of building and design to follow what you know will work.
It's worth saying that you can jump between levels as and when you want (once they're unlocked) so you can progress in the game to unlock stuff and then go back to get the second or third star but I never found I needed this. Conversely, you could stick with a well run, money making hospital once you've got the third star and cheese the game slightly by using your researchers in an older level to unlock stuff, rather than worry about doing so in the new level.
@ralphdibny No worries. Like I say, I rarely had a point in the game where the controls frustrated me, more that there is so much stuff you have to find for yourself. For instance, there's a menu where you can select "go straight to treatment" after the patient has a diagnosis made. If that's not selected, they'll go back to a GP first. Why would I want to waste time and add to the GP queue if I can send them to treatment instead?
@Ralizah Theme Hospital is good fun and much simpler than this game. It is an utter classic in the genre, particularly for it's humour. Even many non-gamers will know about bloaty head disease!
@RogerRoger I've been playing all of the DOOM games with KB+M. I was actually originally planning on playing them all via Switch, but I found the aiming to be so much more accurate with a mouse. In general, I find trying to aim with analog sticks to be frustrating and imprecise.
I was thinking DOOM 2016 might be an issue playing on KB+M, since it has more complex movements/platforming elements/etc., but moving the Doom Slayer around via keyboard has been fine.
In a way, this series is ideal training for using that control set-up. The early games only demand the user aim left or right and move around in four directions. After that training wheel stage, DOOM 3 experiments by giving the player a full 3D game to play, but limits the platforming elements a bit. Now DOOM 2016 is the next stage of the evolution: full movement in 3D space, including significant platforming elements. As I understand it, platforming becomes even more prominent in Eternal, so that'll really test out my mastery of the control scheme.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
Over the weekend I finished up Trials of Mana (PS4)! Given how limited my PS4 time has been lately, it was a journey a few months in the making, even though the game (including post game) only took me about 30 hours.
Gameplay:
A full on remake of a previously Japan only Super Famicom action RPG. It's pretty standard fare in terms of base gameplay, but the way you progress through the game has a pretty unique twist.
Upon startup you pick 3 of 6 characters (each of which fills one of the typical roles, such as Duran being the "Knight" archetype, Hawkeye the "Thief", Angela the "Mage", etc.), and while you'll run into all 6 on your journey, it's these 3 that will join your party on your quest (with the first selection taking the role of the "main" character). Your character selection determines where in the world you'll start the game, and ultimately, even which final boss you face (more on this later).
Battles take place in real time directly within the environment (no random battles here, though there are some scenarios, usually near a treasure chest, where a group of enemies will pop up when you get close), though there is a surrounding ring that denotes the "battle area". With a few exceptions such as boss battles, by pressing up against the edge of the area you'll build up a meter that lets you disengage the enemy & escape. More powerful enemy attacks will be telegraphed with a red area of effect, giving you a chance to get out of dodge before they hit (bosses will have some super powerful attacks that encompass the entire battle area, and you'll usually have to destroy some objects that have blue life bars in order to interrupt the attack, usually stunning the boss in the process). Also, you can only use up to 10 of any given item during a fight (for example, you can have 53 Cups of Wishes on you, which revive a fallen party member, but you can only use 10 of them in the middle of a fight).
During combat, In addition to basic light & strong attacks (with the latter being effective at breaking armored enemies barriers), you'll unlock a series of special attacks that are mapped to L1 + a corresponding face button (these use up an energy meter). By pressing up or down on the D-Pad you'll pause the game and bring up one of two ring menus (one of which houses usable items, the other your character's spells). You use L2 & R2 to switch between characters (this works outside of battle too, unless you're in a town, where you must be the "main" character), and you can dodge & guard too (though I honestly never did the latter outside of the tutorial).
When it comes to powering up your characters there are multiple ways to do so. The most standard ways are simply levelling up via battle experience (which works as expected), and obtaining new gear (in a pretty straightforward affair, the battle equipment available to you when you arrive in a new town will be unanimously better than what the last one offered). However, you also earn training points when you level up which can be spent on further stat increases, new spells, and "Abilities" (while the extra stat increases & spells are immediately applied/learned, "Abilities" are passive buffs that must be equipped once learned, and each character can only have 4 equipped at the start). While some "Abilities" can only be equipped by the party member that unlocked them, there's actually a good amount that can be equipped by any party member, no mater who you unlocked it with. The last and most important way to upgrade your characters is obtaining new Classes...
At certain points in your adventure you'll be able (and are expected) to transform your party members into new Classes. Doing so grants them a new look (though you can switch back to earlier costumes in the menu), massive overall stat boosts, a new special attack, the ability to equip 2 more "Abilities" than before (so after your first Class change you go from equipping 4 to 6, then up to 8 during the next Class change), as well as an extension of your basic attack combo. At every juncture you'll be asked to choose between Light & Dark transformations, each of which has it's own look & abilities (this doesn't affect story, as you're not becoming "evil" by choosing the Dark version of a Class over the Light version, it just changes the focus of the stat & "Ability" upgrades, such as a more attack focused upgrade versus a defensive one). New to this version is a 4th Class, which you can only unlock during post game, and doesn't have Light or Dark variants (it's mentioned as having the benefits of both the Light & Dark versions of Class 3, merged into one).
Class 1 & Class 3 forms of my party.
Fields & dungeons are pretty linear in terms of design, with only slight exploratory elements such as treasure chests off in little alcoves or a fork in the road that lead to different locations. Dungeons may have simple platforming elements, dangerous terrain such as poison/lava, very simple puzzles (such as flipping a switch to unlock a barrier), and occasionally an unlockable shortcut once you get far enough in (incase you have to leave & come back). Like with most RPGs of this type you'll eventually unlock sea & air travel which make traversing the world easier, and you are actually given the opportunity to choose your next objective at certain points, giving it some open elements.
Oh, there's also a character called Lil' Cactus hidden in most towns, fields, & dungeons (sometimes in two places in the larger areas), and you unlock certain perks for finding him enough times (such as free stays at inns, revealing the locations of unopened treasure chests on your map, ocassional doubling or tripling of battle exp, & more).
Also, you obtain Item Seeds (which come in different rarities) from treasure chests & defeating enemies that you can plant in pots at inns (and near select save areas) that harevest a variety of items (such as usable items or even equipment). Sometimes you'll obtain equipment that's better than what you'll get in nearby shops (by endgame I was unlocking better equipment through seeds than what was available to purchase at the best shop).
Audio/Visual:
It clearly doesn't have the budget of something like Final Fantasy VII Remake, but it has a bright & vibrant look that I really liked. Despite the fact that it's based on a 16-bit game, I found that the environments, while not really complex, played with verticality quite well (if I hadn't known beforehand, I don't think I would have been able to tell it's retro origins).
I couldn't think of one or two environmental pics to post, so I picked them all! You later cross in the shallows of the lake below, and the mountainous bridge high above.
The music fit the game I felt.
Story:
The nations of the world are growing closer to conflict, and as the main character you chose you set out from your home country to put a stop to the fighting. Not soon after you meet up with Fairy (a fairy named Fairy) who reveals that Mana (the world's magic energy) is waning, evil forces are on the move (likely behind all the strife), and only by obtaining the legendary Mana Sword can things be made right. The thing is there's actually three different villainous factions, and while you scuffle with all three on your journey, your party makeup determines which one becomes dominate and ends up the endgame villain...
Duran & Angela are after the Crimson Wizard, Reitz (spelled that wrong) & Hawkeye have to contend with Belladonna, while Kevin & Charlotte are up against some sort of marionette dude. If you choose a party that doesn't have one of those pairs (let's say Duran, Reitz, & Charlotte), you face off against Duran & Angela's boss by default.
The Crimson Wizard has been cornered.
Otherwise the game is a pretty standard JRPG fantasy tropes.
It does have a post game that's new to the remake that features a superboss that's the same no matter who you pick. I won't dwell on it too much due to spoilers, but it adds a couple hours to the runtime at most.
Overall:
Really just a great comfort food JRPG, and I had a good time with it.
@RR529 Trials of Mana exceeded expectations, apparently, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more remakes like this in the future. S-E is finally realizing there's a sweet spot between zero budget mobile phone remakes and AAA, cutting edge of development-tier remakes ala FF7R.
So when a character transitions to a new class, there are two alternate looks for them depending on whether they opt for "light" or "dark" transformations?
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Nice review overall. I really need to get to this someday.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@RogerRoger Absolutely my favourite Sonic game and I wouldn’t even put that down to nostalgia. The sound mixing is absolutely horrible, with music blaring at 5 billion decibels while Sonic attempts to scream through it but the plot does actually stick, especially the Dark story, I definitely agree. The soundtrack is awful enough to enjoy, especially the Knuckles raps although a couple of the beats in those are legitimately great. I think I enjoy the treasure hunting levels the most, with the mech levels bottom mostly for the ear splitting beep when you lock onto enemies. The only proper annoying section of the game for me is the final Shadow/Sonic level and boss fight near the end. It’s just a proper solid game that really is more than the sum of its parts. Plus the Chao Garden is amazing, spent so much time in there.
@Ralizah, yeah, you get a completely different costume if you opt for a Dark transformation over a Light one, plus a different focus on your overall stat increase, and different abilities/spells to learn (for example, when Reitz transforms to Class 2, if you go with Light she will be able to learn spells that buff your party, however if you choose Dark she will learn spells that nerf enemies instead).
@Kidfried, great write-up. It doesn't sound like my kind of game, but it does look to have a stunning aesthetic.
@RogerRoger, thanks for reading, and I really enjoyed your Sonic Adventure 2 write-up as well. My best friend when I was younger had the GameCube version & we played it a lot, oftentimes switching off between levels, but mostly just raising Chao, lol. I also really dig the "City Escape" & "Live & Learn" tracks, and usually have them on my phone, lol.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Focus on You (PSVR). I had actually went through this months ago, but didn't want to do a write-up until I played around in the post game mode, which I recently did.
Gameplay:
A VR dating sim spread out across 8-10 chapters or so, taking you a few hours at most. In each chapter you'll be in a different location (such as a park, classroom, cafe, home, beach, etc.) where you'll be in a stationary position (though you can look around obviously, and at certain points you'll move to a different area in the room) and interact with objects & people in your immediate vicinity.
Most of the gameplay revolves around dialogue choices when talking to Yua (the girl whom you are trying to woo) or texting a friend on your in game phone, and taking photographs with your in game camera (more on this to come). Otherwise there are ocassional small minigames where you'll have to make a cup of coffee or a smoothie for Yua when you are at work in the cafe, and other things of that nature.
As I mentioned before you take photographs, which is the main gameplay element. There's a shoot in almost every chapter, and in these segments you're sort of taken out of VR (when pulling out your camera) and look at things through a flat image floating in the void (I guess simulating looking at the screen of a digital camera). You can rotate the screen to portrait & landscape orientations & implement a "beauty mode" (which focuses on Yua, or whatever else it is you're photographing, and blurs the background), and you can ask her to do one of three different poses in each scenario (you'll have the option to move on after the first couple poses, but you can take as much time as you need).
While you can effect some things (such as choosing between 2 different outfits for Yua to wear during a chapter), I'm not really sure if it's possible to "lose" the game or get a bad ending. I know you get a trophy for doing things like making her favorite type of coffee or smoothie, but as there's no way to figure that out other than trial & error, I don't think it effects the end outcome (maybe the reward is just seeing her response in the moment).
Upon clearing the game you unlock a post game area where you can listen to the game's soundtrack, look at all the photos you've taken, and replay the game's chapters in a "free play" state, placing Yua in any outfit & hairstyle you like (you can unlock outfits not worn during the story, so maybe that's the reward for doing things like making her preferred coffee during the story?)
Come now, you can't go swimming in class.
It is possible to play with Move controllers (which I don't yet have, but should be getting), but you can play with the Dualshock as well.
Audio/Visual:
Graphically it looks stunning, seriously one of the best looking VR games I've played. Sure, that leads to some blurriness in some of the more detailed environments, but as the vast majority of things you interact with are up close & there's no quick movements, it's never a problem. Whatever the case, my inner weeb was excited about getting to sit in a Japanese style classroom
Anyone like "Rony" brand electronics (actually, it does a good job looking like Sony when not right up on you due to the resolution).
The soundtrack consists of soft melodic tunes & piano riffs that fit the romantic tone of the game.
Story:
You play as a student in an Arts high school into photography, and after noticing your skill while in a local park, fellow student Yua Han recruits you into one of her own projects. You see, she's an aspiring fashion designer & she needs someone to shoot her in some of her designs for an upcoming competition. Along the way you two will become more than partners on a project.
I won't say it's award winning or anything, but the VR setup makes it many times more engaging than any traditional VN dating sims I've tried.
Conclusion:
It was something a bit different, but I'm glad I gave it a go, as I found it to be a unique experience and much more investing than a traditional dating sim.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@Kidfried Hooray, KR0 and Hollow Knight are probably the two games from this gen I'd love to be able to talk about more with people!
I utterly loved the art style of the game and the soundtrack is one of my favourite. The bluegrass tracks are fantastic; THAT scene, and the music in it, is an absolute iconic moment; and the music that sees out the final act is chilling. The rest of the minimalist ambient music is just perfect.
Like you say, the choices in the game are cleverly done as they make it feel like your story but without affecting the direction the game takes. Act 4 has the most choice, and encourages a second play through, as you can see the story from different perspectives.
The pacing was a little weird as Act 4 was a behemoth and I had to take a little time away from the game afterwards.. but then Act 5 is done and dusted in no time. I would have been pretty miffed if I'd waited the years it took to make after Act 4 came out!
It is absolutely one of the most unique games I've ever played and one hell of an experience.
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