The Blog With No Name (Yet)

Little Nightmares

December 2, 2017 at 13:00 (Games, Misc, PS4)

It’s a while since I finished playing Little Nightmares and I can’t remember what I was going to say but in attempting to write about all the games I play* I thought I’d write something. I played this straight after Resident Evil 7 and this smaller game is far more effective; it’s creepier, more engaging and just a lot better. There are flaws, most notably a control scheme seems to require you to contort your fingers across several buttons to perform simple actions. Not mastering the controls means a lot of death and restarts and this is frustrating but not as much as RE7 and here there is a drive to carry on. I was captured by the look of Little Nightmares when I first saw it and it really does seem like this is the main feature of the game. The art style is so fantastic that I wanted to see what was next, I didn’t mind the setbacks or the simple puzzles (nor the few obscure ones), or never being entirely sure what to do (run or hide – a similar problem to RE7). It felt like it was the right length as well (not sure how long I played it for), leaving me satisfied without ever feeling like there was too much filler as with most games. It may not have always been fun to play but it was still a great experience.

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Arkham Knight

June 20, 2016 at 14:09 (Games, Misc, PS4)

I think it’s fair to say I hated Arkham Knight but with a huge caveat of I also really enjoyed it. This was the first game of this generation in which I had any interest but so-so reviews weren’t enough to make me purchase hardware. When Arkham Knight picked up the Best Game Bafta it felt like a good time to give it a go. By the time my end credits rolled I thought it was embarrassing that this game had won the BAFTA. I didn’t take to the game at all and certainly not as much as any of the other games in the series including Origins. The controls have been mangled so so actions learned over three other games now open pointless menus and makes it so much harder to do simple things like switching gadgets so they just don’t get used. Another button quickly calls the Batmobile which is also something you’ll hardly ever want to do because that is another huge problem with the game. Perhaps it’s because I don’t like driving games but everything about it feels wrong and doesn’t feel like Batman. Any Batmobile section brings the game to a grinding halt and destroys any momentum and forgiveness of other flaws that may have developed.

The story is another big problem. I didn’t like it, it’s uninteresting and didn’t make much sense and was full of pointless and obvious twists. It always felt like it was the story that was getting in the way of the game an idea that was only solidified after probably spending as much time in the game after completing the story. Because when it boils down to what the game actually is, it is still great fun. It’s great to be Batman, everything about the other games is still great here. It just gets interrupted by a car chase, race or shoot out. I did keep coming back for more, it’s unlikely I’ll get to 100% but it felt like it was worth working towards it and again apart from the Batmobile sections (apart from the Riddler trophies the only other part I’ve yet to complete are the mines) they are more fun than the story. It made me realise that nearly every open world game has it the wrong way around and it’s all the smaller side quests that should be the focus. A story could come along and interrupt things and that would make much more sense. The Riddler’s presence is much more prominent than any of the other villains in the game and that should have been the focus. As you’re trying to sort him out other “plot” could happen around you. I thought the same thing about other games such as Tomb Raider where exploring and collecting trinkets was more enjoyable than the story. It’s something I hope the new Zelda game will get right.

So a love/hate relationship. The mechanics (once you get over the dodgy controls and stop opening menus) are hugely enjoyable and the reason why I kept coming back. Definitely more fun once the story was out of the way and the Batmobile was never required.

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