PlayStation Plus Catch Up - November 2014.

At this point I've run out of preambles for this feature, so I'm just getting into it. Actually, I should say that I already played (and wrote about) SteamWorld Dig on PS4, and I didn't play The Hungry Horde because it was Vita only. SteamWorldDig is a good game that I recommend, if you missed my previous blog about it.

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.

This is one of those games where I ended up having a much different reaction to it than I expected I would. At least to the game play. Between watching all (yes, all) of the streams Patrick did for the original game, and the Wrath of Lang (er, Lamb) expansion, I felt like I had a pretty solid grasp of what this game was, and that I probably wouldn't care for it. And at first I didn't. Only being able to shoot in four directions didn't feel great at first. And to be fair, it still doesn't feel "great," I've just gotten used to it.

That's the thing with this game. It feels kinda bad at first. But if you stick with it, get to know the systems, the "feel" of the game, it can get really fun. And kinda addicting. Not for me, but I have an internet friend who has played A LOT of this game. Like, borderline worrying amounts of it. But not quite. But I can see how that would happen. I hate to use the term, but this is one of those rogue-like-like-like-like-like games. You know, the whole every level is procedurally generated, and it's meant to be played in one sitting (though, unlike say, Spelunky, this game will save your progress and let you continue from pretty much anywhere) thing.

But unlike a lot of those games (like Spelunky), not everything is available at first in Binding of Isaac Rebirth. The first time you play it, the farthest you can get is the first battle with Mom (if you don't know what the game's story is, it involves a naked little boy trying to escape his homicidal mother who believes that God told her to sacrifice him). But, once you beat her, it unlocks new levels, and you can go deeper in and defeat Mom's Heart. And it just gets crazier and weirder from there, involving fights with Satan, and other characters I shan't spoil. And there's plenty of other items, both passive and active, and tons of other things to be unlocked. Different characters as well, which create really different ways to start off the game. A character that can fly and uses charged energy beams plays a lot differently than the ground based ones that shoot tears, for example.

And that brings me to the thing I don't like about Binding of Isaac Rebirth. The art. Granted, the kinda pixelated-y style is definitely better than the original Flash game art, but I still don't really like it. Not even so much because of how the art is made, but more because of what it is. This game is pretty disgusting, when you get down to it. The blood and guts are mostly fine, but it's all the poop. It's just disgusting. Poop enemies, poop just lying in the world, poop bosses. I don't like it. It's gross. A lot of the items and things are gross too, like toenails, and cancer. Cancer is literally an item in this game. Actually, there's TWO cancer items. One is the health related thing that is really bad in real life, and the other as an astrology related this.

It's a weird game. But it's also a really fun game, and a surprisingly fun game. Of the PS+ games for this month, I'd say it's definitely the standout one, and definitely worth your time. Though, I have heard that the Vita version's framerate might be terrible. Oh, and Trophies are kinda broken on PS4. There's a bunch that I didn't get that I should have, like one for a bunch of the characters that I unlocked. But I've gotten other Trophies, so it's not completely broken. But I'm still irked about not getting Trophies that I should have gotten. That said, if you haven't played this game, it's worth your time if you have PS+.

Judgment: Really good, totally worth your time. I know I'm going to play a lot more of it.

Luftrausers.

Now that I think about it, Luftrausers is kinda similar to Binding of Isaac. At least in that it follows that start over after dying and occasionally unlock new things model. But that's about it, because Luftrausers is a lot more like the arcade games of olde, except you unlock new plane parts that change how you fly around and shoot stuff. Honestly, this game is pretty thin, in terms of what's there. You fly around (in sidescrolling 2D fashion) trying to destroy enemy planes, ships, and eventually even a giant zeppelin (that I was never able to destroy). There's challenges, a score multiplier-combo thingy, and high scores to beat. The longer you go, the more intense the action becomes. But that's about it.

The different plane parts do make some pretty drastic changes in how the game plays, though. Turning speed, regular speed, type of projectiles, and other things all change. Want a ship that can stay underwater forever, and doesn't take impact damage from hitting enemies? Sure! Want to explode in a giant SKULL SHAPED explosion after dying? YUP. Want your plane to be propelled by BULLETS? Anti-gravity that basically lets you float? All in there.

It's fun too, which is the most important part. And addicting in the way that good old arcade games are. It's also really hard in that way that old arcade games are. Like I said, I never beat that zeppelin, so for all I know there could be something bigger and worse after that, but that would be kinda absurd.

But as fun as it is (I played it for three hours straight one night), like I said, it's pretty slim. I haven't played it since that initial three hour burst. But part of that is because it's a PS3 game (and maybe Vita too?), and that's kind of a hassle at this point. A small hassle, but still a bit of one. Granted, that's mostly because I try to only play with a DS4 on my PS3, which takes a little bit to properly sync up. But it's worth it when the controller is so much better.

So, if you have PS+, I'd say give this a shot. I don't know how much it normally goes for, but I wouldn't pay a whole lot for it, given how little there is in the game. I mean, unless I missed some other mode or something.

Also the game has fake Nazis in it.

Judgment: Pretty fun, but not a lot to keep me going.

Escape Plan.

Escape Plan was originally a Vita launch game, if I remember correctly. Which means it feels like it's just a bunch of Vita gimmicks thrown together with a kinda interesting-ish art style. Which is why the PS4 version is not a good game at all. All you do is try to guide a couple of characters (that are either auto-walking or stopped) through small rooms, and afterward it scores you. You do this by moving the right stick around and interacting with things like you would by touching a Vita touch screen. I think the DS4's touchpad was also used for something, but frankly, at this point I've kinda forgotten most of this game.

But hey, maybe it's better on Vita? It did at least look like it was upscaled nicely for PS4.

Judgment: Not good, and not recommended.

Frozen Synapse Prime.

Remember how Rainbow Moon had set a record for fastest "I'm done" with these PS+ games? Well, it's been beaten. I couldn't even start Frozen Synapse Prime. Seriously. I try to load it up, get to a screen where it tells me to set the screen boundaries, but when I hit start to move on, it just hard locks the PS3. Granted, I only tried it twice, so maybe I should have a third time, but I wasn't that interested in it.

So instead I'll just link you to the Quick Look of the original Frozen Synapse, which was a kinda interesting looking game.

Judgment: Apparently completely broken.

And that's it for this month's PS+ games. Binding of Isaac Rebirth, SteamWorld Dig, and Luftrausers are all pretty good! Go play them if you haven't!

Mario Kart 8 DLC.

That's not all I've been playing though! I also downloaded and played around with the first pack of Mario Kart 8 DLC. And guess what? It's really good! But what do your hard earned dollars get you in the DLC?

First off, you get three "new" characters! Two of them are furry variants of Mario and Peach, which I wouldn't really be upset about if it weren't for the fact that Birdo still isn't in the game, but Link is. And that's cool. It's Skyward Sword Link too, which I love because Skyward Sword is probably my favorite Link design. I know lots of people always point to Wind Waker's art style and everything, but I never cared for the character proportions in that game. Heads are too big (though I really need to finish Wind Waker HD one of these days). Also, Link whips out the Master Sword and Triforce when he does tricks, which is cool and silly. I also think Link is a good character to play as, which is nice, because I can make use of the DLC instead of playing as Waluigi from now on.

There's also four new vehicles, one new set of wheels, and one new glider. The vehicles include Link's horse shaped motorcycle (including matching wheels and the glider), The Blue Falcon from F-Zero, and a couple others that don't matter as much. Though, sadly, the Blue Falcon is not the fastest vehicle in the DLC, that goes to one of the others, the name of which I don't remember. That's a little upsetting, but whatever. BLUE FALCON.

And then there's the tracks. There's 8 of them, 3 of which are remakes of older tracks (one from Double Dash!!, one from the SNES game, and one from the Wii one). And all of them are good, but the standouts are the Excite Bike one, the Zelda one, and Mute City from F-Zero. Those are all really fun, and have fantastic music. But Mute City is my favorite, by far. Super fun. And instead of having coins strewn about the track (to make you go faster), the energy recharging sections from the F-Zero games give coins, which is a neat touch. The Zelda track has similar things, like making the coins into ruppees, and even having a section of the track where activating little crystal things (by driving into them) opening a ramp for a shortcut. That's really neat.

And there is a playlist for playing online that includes the DLC tracks, which was smart on Nintendo's part. Makes it easier to play with people that have the DLC (though I believe you could play on the non-DLC playlist with DLC characters and vehicles, because the game makes you download a patch that I assume has that stuff in it to get online).

And it's reasonably priced too. $8 for that one pack, or $12 for that and the next one (coming in May of next year), plus you get bonus Yoshi and Shy Guy colors for getting the bundle. Or, at least I think you do, that may have been a pre-order only thing. Which is a shame, because no one should be without Pink Shy Guy.

I'm also still playing Advanced Warfare. I even prestige'd for the first time last night! It's still a lot of fun, especially with friends. I hope to keep playing it for the time being.

In other news...

I am no longer a moderator on Giant Bomb. I wasn't going to mention it in this blog, but I figured I might as well so people don't notice sometime later and pester me about it on the forums or in private messages. I mean, I know this probably wouldn't stop all of them, but whatever.

But that's all I'm going to say about it, so that's it. I really enjoyed my time moderating the site, and I'm going to miss working with the others.

I was on a podcast!

So, some of my goofy internet friends do a podcast every other week, and for some reason they invited me to do it. It's pretty long (3 hours and 44 minutes). So long that we actually recorded it in multiple sittings last weekend. We were also going to do a segment on the Metal Gear Solid series, but it got kinda long, so we're recording the MGS one later this week.

Anyway, here's the link, go give it a listen!

Pax East!

Against all odds, I am going to Pax East next year! Not much else to say about that, other than that I am very excited, and am looking forward to it immensely! It's going to be a ton of very, VERY stupid fun.

And that's it! Tune in next time, where I'll write about Far Cry 4! And maybe Dragon Age Inquisition and Super Smash Bros for Wii U! I own FC4 (really liking what I've played so far), and am planning to get the others too. I'd also like to get GTA V on PS4, but it's hard to justify spending another $60 for that game right now, with so many other new games to get.