August Progress Picks: Fallout 3, A Hat in Time and Red Dead Redemption

August was another productive month of backlog assassinating, it feels like I’ve regained that enthusiasm for gaming! I also have some news that I’ve finally upgraded my PS3 to a PS4, I couldn’t resist with all the amazing exclusives playstation has, plus the upcoming Spyro remaster may have something to do with it! I definitely want to use my console more, I’m torn between the Last of Us remaster (never played the PS3 version), starting the Uncharted series, God of War or Horizon Zero Dawn?

Play or Pay - chosen by Verd

• A Hat in Time
  

  25 hours playtime

  31 of 31 achievements

• INFRA
  

  39 hours playtime

  73 of 74 achievements

• Little Nightmares
  

  13 hours playtime

  21 of 22 achievements

• SUPERHOT
  

  10 hours playtime

  19 of 26 achievements

A Hat in Time - Yes this really is that much better than Yooka-Laylee! I had so much fun with this and it was great to see the news of upcoming DLC to look forward to as I wished it was longer. I was surprised by the amount of variety in the different worlds which kept it fresh with completely different themes, the final one, Alpine Skyline was my favourite and not just because it looked amazing jumping around above the clouds, it was great to have a big free roam level with some decent platforming challenges. The boss fights were well designed and I loved the Snatcher in particular, the voice acting on that guy is hilarious, FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

INFRA - The last game of the month which delayed this post was INFRA, I never expected this to be so long! It’s not without it’s flaws, firstly I think it’s too long, the game inconveniences the protagonist by forcing him to take the long route round every single time, meaning there are a lot of detours and it did start to get tedious when the metro tram I was supposed to take back to the office decided it wanted to fall through a fragile floor mid journey instead, meaning about ten hours of extra underground before getting where I needed go, and that’s one example of many. The city of Stalburg is falling to pieces, with your job being to check for any structural faults and you’re given a camera and flashlight to document it, things turn out to be much worse than expected… it makes for an intriguing story when you piece together why the city is in the state it is and I liked reading the conspiracy documents you can find in areas you shouldn’t be, the nature taking over look to the decaying buildings was also great to look at, and it was interesting how it appears the developers acknowledge feedback from the first episodes as you find many more batteries for your equipment, including a battery shop and being provided with a new flashlight with some amusing dialogue in the final episode. It is a puzzle game and I did have to look for help on many occasions which I’m not ashamed to admit as the game has you fixing a nuclear power plant at one point! Overall I really liked it but you need a lot of patience and if you’re going for achievements good luck without a guide. That one I’m missing requires an entire replay which was nice to discover right at the end lol.

Little Nightmares - This was simply fantastic, while the game made me constantly feel uncomfortable I can’t help admiring the levels themselves with so much detail in each scene and I wanted to know more about this place I was trapped in. The only criticism was some of the platforming which could be frustrating at times and it was occasionally difficult figuring out how to proceed when it wasn’t clear what can be interacted with in the backgrounds and foregrounds, it’s hard not to compare it to INSIDE which I think was solely 2D and I can’t remember having as much of an issue because of it. But as a consequence the areas felt more open and made finding secret areas an especially nice reward. Like INSIDE the chase sequences were very stressful, the enemies that you need to avoid look so creepy and repulsive that you’re not in any doubt which direction you need to run in these parts - anywhere away from them!

SUPERHOT - It’s easy to see why it was talked about so much, it is a really well done idea and so cool seeing the replays in normal speed of a successful level completion. I found some of the later levels to be a decent challenge that took a few attempts and felt satisfying to beat once you’ve learned all the enemy spawn points, what weapons can be found where, and when you need to turn around to avoid a bullet in the back. Recommended! I’ll spare you from reading the usual stuff…

• Fallout 3 - Game of the Year Edition
  

  41 hours playtime

  no achievements

Fallout 3 - I think the biggest turn off for me playing this sooner was all the talk of technical issues that made it apparently unplayable, thankfully that’s not the case, maybe I was just lucky but I followed a great guide on Steam and had maybe about 10 crashes in 40+ hours which I don’t think is bad at all, I was also very cautious and did plenty of quick saving to prevent any frustration when it did happen! So that was a big relief as I did feel guilty skipping ahead to New Vegas as my introduction to the Fallout series. I don’t think it’s as good, it’s much more linear in terms of story options and ways to finish quests, for all the complaints I’ve read about the Strip being split up into sections I much prefer that to the torture that is Rivet City and navigating all the tunnels underground Washington DC. Despite the exploration being generally less enjoyable you still encounter plenty of interesting places with their own secrets to uncover that makes the lone wandering worthwhile with a main story that takes you around the map looking for your Dad, I liked the Brotherhood of Steel vs Enclave conflict even if there was never any doubt whose good or evil, there were also some nice set piece sections I appreciated like the Behemoth and mini nukes. It features some great characters with my favourites being Liberty Prime (“embrace democracy, or you will be eradicated” - I love that quote), Moira Brown and Three Dog. I also played all the DLC, Operation Anchorage provided a nice change of scenery, the alien one was easily the worst and felt like a waste of time, with the Pitt I liked losing all my gear as if starting again as well as giving you some actual story dilemmas, Point Lookout had Desmond the ghoul whose cream suit, constant profanity directed at me and ungratefulness made him one of my favourite characters ever, and Broken Steel which is absolutely essential as I can’t imagine the game ending as it does without it, plus it was nice to put on a firework display.

Red Dead Redemption - It only felt right to play this classic before shelving the PS3, the upcoming sequel also provided a bit of extra motivation. It doesn’t look bad at all for a game released 8 years ago, the sunsets especially had me panning my camera around and wishing there was a screenshot button, it’s a nice bonus to see that’s an option on the PS4. The story was engaging and I appreciated the build up in taking down your former comrades even if it felt at times like I was never going to get their whereabouts after a lot of false promises. But it was the ending, or last chapter really, that was especially noteworthy for me, I don’t think I’ve ever had such unease in a video game as it just didn’t feel right after the climax, all the violence, why am I back herding cattle again!? Oh. It was also great to experience the Far Away Mexico horse ride for myself, that was special.

Next month - chosen by Verd

• Homefront
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 47 achievements

• Project CARS
  

  4 hours playtime

  0 of 45 achievements

• World to the West
  

  7 hours playtime

  0 of 36 achievements

I think Verd must be as familiar with my backlog as I am! Couldn’t be happier to have him pick again after a fantastic August, this time games outside my priority list were chosen to hopefully provide a surprise or two. I’m aiming to play all three, maybe fit in a PS4 game, catching up on last month’s challenge to play Bioshock Infinite, and have my eye on replaying and finishing New Vegas… and I’ve just started playing Rocket League again which might not turn out to be the best idea, we shall see!