Vimster

So I picked this up the other week as people said it's worth playing rather than just going straight to the new one, and I'll hold my hands up and admit I wish I'd played this when it came out, or at least when I got my Switch in early 2018. It really is a classy game with a real quality feel to it. Not sure how much time I've put into this as the profiles on Switch never proper reflect it like every other system (typical Nintendo), must be a good 10 hours, off the initial area, trying to find shrines and do a bit of exploring. That's all good. What I feel will break this happy spell is the combat beyond a bit of bashing, i e the left-trigger + stick stuff like blackflips to open up attacks. When you find the shrine that tries to teach that even though the enemy in there is really lenient on you it took me bloody ages to get my fingers around it. Sort of reminds me of playing Yakuza, was fine initially as I could just smack enemies about but when you had to start doing proper attacks it got frustrating fast. Plus I can't wait to give those Guardians a fucking good pasting as I'm getting a bit fed up of finding an interesting place only to see them wandering about, lasering me from half a mile away. Somehow managed to get up a tower with three of the arseholes constantly targeting me. Will persevere as I enjoy the exploration and the satisfaction from completing shrines. Need to pick this up a bit though as having 4 hearts really makes things tough.

Hooligan Escape (2019) Oh how I've missed you, ultra-low budget Brit crime/hooligan cobblers! Some 'ooligans kill a Russian guy at the 2016 World Cup, nasty Russian fella wants revenge, so these four boys end up in his warehouse. Considering the budget on this was probably minimal it at least sticks to what it intended to do, namely grim action between largely unlikeable characters backed by the unused lobby music from a recent Call Of Duty. Highlight was probably the rendition of Here Comes The Bride with the lyrics replaced with "you are a cunt, you are a cunt, nobody likes you cos you are a cunt". Come on, you knew all this just looking at the title. 2/5

Trancers 4: Jack Of Swords (1994) Jack's back, this time finding himself going back to medieval times where trancer'd nobles are bothering the peasants. Charles Band's involvement in this looks like it was reduced to exec producer, not the only thing reduced either as the budget appears to have been slashed, especially noticeable at the beginning. It does feel different, not just because of the setting and budget. But generally it has a fun feel, comes over like a theatre rep company bathing in the absurdity of it, even if it isn't all that arch. Main baddie is lacklustre, but thankfully Jack has some great lines, action towards the end is breezy and spirited, Tim Thomerson is clearly comfy in the character and does lift the whole thing up somewhat. 3/5

I like to think there is a wave of cancellations which are making Netflix think twice, but let's face it most people will end up either accepting it or getting the sharers to pony up anyway. My brother wouldn't know the first thing about piracy or ripping media to a NAS. It's either streaming or nothing, and they won't have that.

13. Upgrade by Blake Crouch - raises some interesting ideas about genetically-engineered humanity but squanders them in an occasionally mawkish supermarket SF thriller, emphasis on family cobblers, not my bag, sorry. The epilogue part in particular stuck right in my craw.

If he makes any mistakes at all during his talk loudly shout GAME OVER.

Trancers 3: Deth Lives (1992) Definitely feels different from the first two, more action sci-fi than noir, largely due to this having a different director, no doubt. It's no less enjoyable though especially if you're invested in the series. Helen Hunt and and Megan Ward show their faces but they take more of a back seat here. Probably lacks some of the humour of the first two as well. Original soundtrack gets re-used here again, and it fits just as well. 3/5

Yeah have to agree the recommended games lists sheet is a great resource for the best games on a system.

12. Man From U.N.C.L.E: The Finger In The Sky Affair by Peter Leslie - was chatting with my brother about pulp novels as he likes to pick them up, he recommended some and I had a go at this. 125 pages, no fat on it, just delivers the sort of pound-shop Bond-esque fun you require. Need to search out more pulp.

This was a really solid and interesting game. Welcome to the 76 Club, The Club.

Something is definitely off with whichever publication's HR department that decided to employ reviewers immune to fun.

Had that album on this morning at work, really solid stuff.

Disappointing, and I'm willing to give Bandcamp themselves the benefit of the doubt and blame it on chancers Epic, until I'm convinced otherwise.

It's a non-starter. Prices for BOTW are ridiculous, £40+ for a second-hand one, and eBay auctions are getting bid to shit. I know it's probably not the best time to buy it as this has just come out, but I'm thinking get the new one and just enjoy it for what it is.

Sorry if this has been asked but I've not played Breath of the Wild. Should I skip that and just play this?

Trancers 2 (1991) Jack Deth is back, this time battling trancers being created by Whistler's brother in the shape of Richard Lynch. Pretty simple really, if you got into the first one you'll enjoy this just as much as it sticks firmly to what that did best but with some added touches of low-key humour. Maybe it was the re-used soundtrack, which was great anyway, but despite this coming out six years later it feels firmly mid-80s, although it isn't any worse for it. 3.5/5

Came in under the wire today. Waffle is the only one of these word-guessing games work doesn't block.

This one has a Noctua fan in it, so I'd say £35 delivered.

I have an unused digital IO board going spare too.

It does annoy me they keep changing the cover art in the app because you're idly scrolling through and think "oh, what's that?"

11. Arrangements In Blue by Amy Key - Not normally the sort of thing I'd read but had this recommended to me and really enjoyed it. Never heard of Amy Key before, she's a poet but this is autobiographical prose, with her talking about her life living without romantic love, using Joni Mitchell's Blue as an inspiration. I did appreciate her thoughts on not having love in your life but not necessarily letting that be a bad thing, as society often reminds her.

Yeah I don't want to watch that trailer and just go in cold as the first one was tons of fun, the fun and silliness of The Asylum but with much better production values.

10: 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang - very readable and never-too-complex debunking of several aspects of free-market capitalism's accepted narrative. The author appears to be largely in favour of capitalism but feels the race towards free markets, deregulation, monetisation of everting is making things worse.

I should be getting a few for myself so I could get a few out if people want them. I've had a couple of other people asking elsewhere about it.

Con Air (1997) I'm giving this four stars for the sheer bombastic lunacy of the Las Vegas finale alone. It epitomises that period of Jerry Brickhammer productions in the 90s: all-American blowing shit up in the most basely satisfying way, unashamed escapism that takes every opportunity to amp it. 4/5