Just got back from Florida! I didn't play as much as...ok, not sure what is expected, but I didn't play that much!
PLaystation All-Stars Battle Royale: Beat the game with Kratos, Parapa, Radec, Fat Princess, Sweet Tooth and Sly Cooper. Why those? Because that's the order they appear in the game, figure easier to keep track of stuff that way...shut up about how the game PLAINLY LISTS your completion rate with these characters. Thoughts on each so far...
Kratos: Boring. They didn't even bother trying to make him balanced; he's got a bunch of iffy moves...then one ridiculously overpowered move that basically spam it -> win. HIs level 2 and 3 Supers are really good, his level 1 sucks and doesn't seem to have any reliable hit confirms. He's the exact kind of overpowered that is bad for a game like this:
Stupid easy to use and promotes using bad habits (eg spam one move -> win.) Why is said move so good?
Good range, faster than it should be, builds up good amount of gauge (aka the only way to kill things), massive knock back (making it combined with the range hard as hell to punish), AND TRACKS OPPONENT. The other moves aren't necessarily bad, but have obvious flaws and balance factors...the forward Square has none of those.
Parapa the Rapper: For a character you'd think would be gimmicky...he's actually a good beginner character for getting a hang of the game. Surprisingly basic, moves are straight forward, attacks are intuitive, etc. It's really no shock they made him the tutorial character. Also is one of those "have fun" characters as opposed to "look at me I'm bad ass" so you just get a better sense of having fun playing him.
Fat Princess: ...confusing. She's gimmicky but I can't figure out what her gimmick is! All I know is I've heard "CAKE, PLEASE!!!" too many times and it's kind of an awkward level 1...and I mean that in more than simply execution!
Sweet Tooth: Fire Breathing Clown with guns and a machete, whose level 3 is basically Truck-Mech with missiles, what's not to love? Ok, he's kind of awkward to use being slow, and moves don't combo too well, but his level 1 is just fun to watch when you hit it (He shoves a bomb on the person, sparta kicks them, they explode while aireborne; said explosion can kill others in splash damage thankfully.)
Radec: Long Range whore, as you'd expect from an FPS (?) character. Not much to say; he shoots things, they go flying, though his level 1 is kind of annoying because you have to aim it. Level 2 is nice and reliable though, so often just ends up being worth it to use that. Not exactly a fan of his fighting style overall though, for all that his Morph Ball -> Teleport back spam move is fun to abuse.
Sly Cooper: ...ok, now here's one I really liked. Sly's basic attacks are all straight forward and seem good, his specials are gimmicky but fun to muck with, and he's got status and such, but nothing that really leads to Level 1 Hit Confirms so they don't feel broken. His level 1 is summoning his big side kick thing (never played the game, so I don't know who this is), and is surprisingly reliable too. Level 2 is a power up style, which are often good, and lasts short enough time that he will only get 1 kill per opponent as by the time Respawning Immunity wears off, the super will have detracted. His Level 3 is all kinds of hax, and easy to get 6 kills (two per opponent) with...but then, it's a level 3; if it's not hax, then not worth using.
Game is fun, and actually a good Smash Rip Off, main flaw being the draw of characters. Sony's characters just aren't as intriguing as some companies though they at least had the sense to use a few 3rd partiers (even if Raiden and New!Dante are obvious "hey, promote our games coming out in 2013!", they still add some flavor.)
Medieval: Decided to download this because why not give it a shot? Also lets me appreciate one more character in the above game, and Sir Dan's design always brings a smile to me.
The gameplay is...dated. Camera is awful and sometimes goes spinning arbitrarily. It's a game that had some good ideas, but yeah, best way to put it is it's a 3D Action Game pre-Devil May Cry. To the game's credit, the humor is quite good, so worth playing for that.
Currently at the SIlent Village trying to figure out what to do with the Crucifix Cast and all that. Gotten all grails thus far, and beaten the Pumpkin King.
Lego Batman 2: This game came with the Vita. I've just beaten the section where you first get to use Superman.
Actual Voice Acting is funny compliment to this game, because Batman's completely serious, Joker...is the Joker, Robin's a fanboy, and Superman is sort of a subtle parody of himself. It works well, and I can see why they made the shift.
Gameplay...it's decent at first but then gets repetitive because it's "Find suit for Batman/Robin, use it to get through next section." they don't really introduce much new...
That is until you get to play as Superman and he's got a plethora of tricks neither character in any of their suits can do, and the game gets a lot better there. Looking forward to getting the other Super Heroes for that reason alone, because that feels like what will be the game's strength.
