deKay's Lofi Gaming

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Switch): COMPLETED!

Well look at this – it’s another Metroidvania game that I’m playing. Only this one is based on a series of Japanese books (I think!) and looks a lot like Touhou Luna Nights. Not least because it’s running on seemingly the same engine and is by the same team. And it’s really good! Whereas Touhou Luna Nights “borrowed” the bullet grazing mechanic from the Touhou shooters, in Deedlit there’s a Radiant Silvergun-style colour swap system, where you flick between fire …

Fillum review: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Somewhat ignorantly, I didn’t realise this was all in Spanish with subtitles. Not that it matters (and I usually prefer the original language with subtitles than dubious dubbing), but I was a little surprised. I was also surprised by how nasty the film was. I knew it was considered a “fairytale for grown-ups”, but somehow this made me expect something more akin to Stardust, when, in fact, it seems to bear more resemblance to something like Platoon. Sort of. A …

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Switch): COMPLETED!

The first of what will hopefully be many games completed on the Sega Mega Drive Classics collection on the Switch. I was going to play Fatal Labyrinth, but the lack of a manual and the terrible video options (which don’t affect Alex Kidd so much) put me off for now. Instead, this. The Mega Drive Alex Kidd game isn’t as good as the Master System “Miracle World” title. There. I said it. It looks prettier (although it’s still almost Master …

Tearaway (Vita): COMPLETED!

When Little Big Planet was announced, there was a lot of excitement over how innovative and clever and creative it was. And it was all those things, and it looked fantastic and everything. Then we all realised that it was just a platformer with horrible physics and a rubbish, game breaking and unnecessary third dimension. The fact that virtually all of the user made levels don’t bother with any level depth speaks volumes. Despite the lovely narration by Stephen Fry, …

Shantae (3DS)

You know when you stumble into the eShop and you’ve credit in your account and you see a game you’d been intending to get for a while but haven’t because you’ve loads of other games to play and you “accidentally” buy it? That. Shantae is a gorgeous looking GBC platformer, with some fantastic sprites and animation layered on top of a pretty hard platformer. It’s essentially a Metroidvania, where you enter labyrinths (which have several puzzle elements) to both rescue …

The Pound-a-Mile Challenge 2012 – Final Scores

With 2012 at an end, and 2013 begun, it’s time to look back at how my cycling/game spending hybrid challenge went. Surprisingly well, as it turned out. My original plan was to cycle 900 miles in the year, to cover my expected game expenditure at a rate of one pound for every mile cycled. Hence the name “Pound-a-Mile”. I hit this early, and extended the target to 1000 miles, and then again to 1250. As of the 31st December, I’d …

Pound-a-Mile Update – 500 Miles!

I’ve not done an update on this for a while, but since I hit a milestone last night I thought I should. Yesterday I passed the 500 miles cycled so far this year mark! OK, so I managed 200 miles in the first month, then took 3.5 times that long to go just 1.5 times that far, but bear with me and my excuses. Firstly, I have tried to go out – honest. Nearly every week I’ve at least gone out …

Sonic the Hedgehog (DS)

T’other day I found myself in HMV and happened upon Sonic Classics Collection (Sonic 1-3 and Sonic & Knuckles) for the DS. I’d heard about it ages ago, but don’t remember it actually coming out. As is the way with Sonic games of old (and sadly, often of new), I had to buy it. So I did! And it’s the most faithful version of Sonic I’ve played on a handheld. OK, so it seems the screen resolution is slightly too …

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 (360): COMPLETED!

Shall we not even start on the “but you said”s and the “why did you”s please? Thanks. That makes it much easier, as I feel bad enough already. In between bouts of Progress Bar Champion, I actually got time to play the 360 version of Sonic 4. Shush. We agreed! Time to play – and complete it, in fact. Perhaps it is best to compare this to the iPhone version, rather than just repeat myself. Firstly, there are two different …

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 (iPhone)

I said I wouldn’t buy it. I wasn’t going to buy it. I really didn’t want to buy it. Really. But of course, I did. Rubbish. But is it actually any good? Could it be a surprise? In many ways, it does a lot right. Like, very right. Splash Hill, for instance – it’s ace. First level of Lost Labyrinth? Excellent. Mad Gear 3? Lovely. But some of it, like the nonsense of “get 100,000 points!” in Casino Nig^H^H^HStreet 2, …

The Very Quick Megadrive Ultimate Collection Review Selection

A list of all the games (from Wikipedia, sorry) and some indepth reviews of each title: Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle – great! Alien Storm – rubbish! Alien Syndrome (arcade) – OK! Altered Beast – rubbish! Bonanza Bros. – OK! Columns – Not as good as the Master System version! Comix Zone – great but hard! Decap Attack – amazing! Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine – great! Dynamite Headdy – not as good as it used to be! ESWAT: …

Sega Megadrive Ultimate Collection (360)

I could say this is completed, as today I unlocked the last of the achievements. However, it isn’t really a game like that – it’s lots of games, and I only completed one of those – see next post. This really is a great package. Some thoughts on other games I’ve played since Monday on it:Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (excellent), Decap Attack (amazing), Story of Thor (not as good as Zelda), Fatal Labyrinth (an amazing surprise – never played it …