deKay's Lofi Gaming

Doctor Who: An Unlikely Heist (iPad): COMPLETED!

This is a bad game. Do not play. You want more? Sigh. Fine. Doctor Who: An Unlikely Heist, which was renamed in an update to “Doctor Who: Hidden Mysteries” presumably because there was no unlikely heist in the game, is a hidden object game. I’ve no beef with hidden object games. They can be fun but they are very shallow, and usually, that’s fine. However, it’s not just a hidden object game because there’s a tenuous Doctor Who story here …

Kid Chameleon (Switch): COMPLETED!

It’s been a while, but with it recently popping up on the Switch Online service, I gave it another go. This time, I’d remembered how damn difficult it was, but even so, a few later levels (especially one which was an autoscroller) are properly brutal. Yes, I used save states. You have to, and not even because it is difficult – it’s just so, so long and there aren’t any built-in save options or passwords or anything. All you can …

The Procession to Calvary (Switch): COMPLETED!

One question I’m sure you often ask yourself, is what would a point and click adventure game animated by Terry Gilliam look like? It’s something I’ve certainly pondered hundreds of times, and now there’s a conclusive answer: The Procession to Calvary. Mechanically, it’s “just another adventure game” in the style of Monkey Island or Sam & Max. The humour is veering that way too, via Monty Python. But graphically, it’s like nothing else I’ve ever played. You see, all the …

Forgotten Worlds (Evercade): COMPLETED!

Aside from a demo for the Spectrum version of this scrolling shoot ’em up, I don’t think I’ve ever properly played Forgotten Worlds before. I know Your Sinclair raved about it, but the controls (which are crying out to be twin-stick before that was a common thing) always seemed too fiddly to bother with, so I never really tried. Turns out, that I was right. OK, so in the arcade you have a stick to move, and a rotary dial …

Metroid Fusion (Switch): COMPLETED!

Like Minish Cap, Metroid Fusion is a GBA game I haven’t played for a very, very long time. Also like Minish Cap, I have it on my 3DS, also unplayed. But let me not talk of what I haven’t played, for this appeared on Switch Online and I did play it. Metroid Fusion is a more linear than usual Metroid title. That’s not to say there isn’t any backtracking or hidden things, more that it’s very hand-holdy and you’re told …

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Switch): COMPLETED!

Another Nintendo Online Service game. I have played this before, but maybe only once? I didn’t remember any of it apart from the bunny ears and the deformed Wario sprites. It was so, so easy though! I didn’t die at all! Every boss was easy. Every level a cinch. I ended up with more lives than it’s possible to ever use. But, it was enjoyable. A bit jerky, but very impressive when you consider this was a Game Boy game …

About An Elf (Switch): COMPLETED!

It was only a few days ago when I was saying about playing baffling games, and, well, here’s another one! About An Elf is somewhere between a visual novel and an RPG, where you play an elf trying to rediscover Elftopia or something. The plot is nonsense and, frankly, not what you’re going to be focussing on if you play it because that art style. Are the characters real people dressed up? Are they CGI? Models? Some combination of all …

Time on Frog Island (Switch): COMPLETED!

Seems that “cosy” is an actual genre these days, and Time on Frog Island pretty much fits in that box – there’s no chance of death, no real time limits (a couple of A-B time trials aside), and seemingly no way to fail. The story follows you, a sailor who, having lost his wife (her having turned into a plant or something?) has shipwrecked on Frog Island. So called, because of all the frogs wot live there. And a toad. …

Pokémon Scarlet (Switch): COMPLETED!

Well, completed insofar as the story is done. Actually, there are four stories – three “paths” to take, then a final story available once you’ve done all those. As with other recent Pokémon games, getting to the “end”, beating the Elite Four, then completing the story and defeating the final “boss” was all very, very easy. Yes, you need suitable Pokémon for each part, and yes, they need to be sufficiently levelled, but I was totally overpowered by the time …

Pokémon Scarlet (Switch)

A rare (these days!) post about a game I’m playing but have not yet completed! So I’ve very much enjoyed recent, as in, 3DS onwards, Pokémon games. Partly because I’ve played them all while my daughter plays the other game (Violet, this time) and we sort of race to the end. Naturally, I win. This time around there has been more than usual in the way of complaints about the game. Mainly to do with bugs and performance issues, and …

Garden Tails (iPad): COMPLETED!

Yes, it’s the same damn game as Zoo Keeper World and Simon’s Cat and Puppy Blast and 50% of the games on the App Store, but it’s polished and cute and as it’s on Apple Arcade has no IAPs or wait times or other nonsense that gets in the way of, you know, just matching three things and clearing the board of whatever it is that needs clearing. And sometimes, that’s all you want. Simple, pretty, puzzle fun.

Pac’n Roll Remix (Switch): COMPLETED!

No, I have no idea why I played this either. It’s one of the games on the somewhat hit-and-miss Pac-Man Museum+ collection and although it’s not really bad, there’s nothing special about it. Not least because the USP of “stroking” Pac-Man with your Nintendo DS stylus in order to twang him around the levels is totally lost. That’s said, I did enjoy most of it, aside from a couple of later levels where there are some nasty jumps-in-3D with no …

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 …