danielpholt

Whats the over/under on how long Burnham has before the right-wing media (and thus) the general public turns on him? A year, a week? I'm no fan of Starmer, and I hate the fact that I'm out here defending him but I honestly think he's been the best PM we've had since Blair and this is the first government we've had since the coallition that's actually been able (or willing) to get things pushed through parliment. We keep looking for the silver bullet. The silver bullet doesn't exist. Politicians keep pushing the narrative that there's a viable quick fix to the mess we find ourselves in. The media is intent on generating clicks through salacious story's that they'll push and push and turn the slightest storm-in-a-tea-cup into a PM toppling scandal and the people are either too thick or too lazy to see what's happening. Does my gourd in. Don't like Starmer, but it's ridiculous that we're in this spot. I say that as a member of the public, and as a Labour member.

Advance Wars This little thing rocks. I suck at it. I'm going to have to use a guide to get to the end of the main campaign, but it still rocks. The mad bastards made an adorable little RTS game that's full of so much charm and character that I can't believe it never made a more successful jump over to the big-boy consoles.

Super Mario Bros 3 Played this whilst on holiday last week. It's the first time I've actually played it through from front to back and for the most part I really enjoyed it. It's actually kind of amazing to me that this and SMB came out on the same system. This game feels lightyears away from what came before it. The final few worlds felt also like a Super Mario Maker world-set, and that's both good and bad. A few of the levels towards the end (notably the fortress levels) were a little too much for me, and I had to resort to a guide to keep off frustration. Still. Got through it. Can't wait to play it again (probably the GBA remake).

Grabbed this on Steam. Looking for something to play whilst on holiday and I'm hoping this'll be it.

Gun-Nac I was playing around with shaders whilst setting up my new retro-doodad and found myself really digging this thing. Ultimately ended up playing it through over a few sessions. It's a super cool (and fairly accessible) NES schmup with some nice enough art and a steller weapon/upgrade system. It also may have opened up a new genre to me.

Forza Horizon 6 I'm not versed enough in the series to give you a real idea about how they've changed things up. I am however, once again having a good time with the game. It looks beautiful, it's immediately fun to just drive around and the racing is engrossing enough that I'm perfectly happy to just bounce from one race to another whilst knocking over road signs and whatnot. However. However. The game fucking tanks my XBOX Series X man. It'll be running fine and then suddenly and without warning it'll full on crash the console and the entire system turns off. I've googled it and it seems to be an issue with the first year's Series X. Perhaps overheating? I've cleaned the unit inside and out and there's no dust, so the working assumption seems to be a CPU paste issue. Oh well. I can probably muddle through it until I run out of interest in a few weeks (as always happens with these games; they take over my free time and then just vanish without a trace once I'm done with them - see Animal Crossing).

Directive 8020 It's another one of 'those' games from Supermassive Games. Only this time it's got a science-fiction theme to it and you're in space. If that appeals to you then you'll likely enjoy this, if not then...probably skip it. For what it's worth I enjoyed it, but I've enjoyed almost everything they've put out. If I had to pick some nits I'd say the stealth sections are far too frequent and some of the animation/dialogue didn't seem to match up, which seems like an oversight given this is what that studio is famous for. I believe it's another 'Dark Pictures' game rather than a full-on standalone game. So closer to Man of Medan and Little Hope than it is The Quarry or Until Dawn.

I'm weak. Also grabbed:

I'm a massive Cuphead fan and I've got mixed feelings about this. The spin-off? Should be neat. I'm glad they've gone in a different direction for that, both in terms of gameplay and aesthetic. Can't wait to get my hands on it and they're even releasing it on cartridge. The sequel? I'm not so sure. OG Cuphead is for my money, one of the best 'they nailed it' games I've ever played. It's damn near flawless in my opinion. And I'm a little bit worried that whatever they try next is going to feel like a failed comparison. That said, I've got faith in these guys to deliver for the fans. I just hope they've not bitten off more than they can chew.

Can't decided between one of these or the Retroid Pocket Classic. I know they do two totally different things, but I can't really justify having like four of these fucking things around (Steamdeck, Switch1/2, Anbernic RG40XXV, Pocket and Thor). Lies Of P Overture Really struggled to get into this one and I think it's down to the fact that I downloaded a safe file and played it on Deck. Eventually we got there but I spent a good few hours pushing up against the fact that it doesn't tutorialise (is that a word) the new DLC very well, which is a problem when you've not played the game for a solid 2 years. When I did finally get into my groove it's exactly what I expected; more Lies of P, for good and ill.

Flirted with the Steam version as it apparently runs fine on Deck, but I didn't want to take any chances so ultimately decided on the PS5 version.

Dynamite Headdy I love this game, I hate this game. It's a Genesis/Mega Drive platformer from way back. Beautiful visuals and a really fun soundtrack with some genuinely unique takes on the genre as a whole...but damn man they went too hard on the difficulty. I'm using save-states like a motherfucker and I still can't beat it. Apparently the Japanese version of the game is significantly easier than the US version (which I must be playing). Either way, my time with this little thing is at and end. Real fun, real cool...but just too damn hard for me. Sektori This game should have made my top-5 games of last year. It's taken a Super Hexagon styled grip on my free-time and shows no signs of letting go. Heck, as I get better at the game I find myself reaching for it more and more to scratch that itch. It really is fantastic, even more so on Steam Deck. Lies of P: Overture So originally I played this on Xbox Gamepass. However, well no thanks. CD Keys had a steam key of the two games going for £30 so I grabbed it on their and plan to play it on 'Deck. It runs well enough (45FPS at medium settings) and my experience of beating Dark Souls III on the handheld has made it viable for these sorts of games. Anyway. Given it's been almost two years since I last played this game, I'm having a really hard time in actually getting back into it. I can't remember any of the systems or mechanics. I guess I'm going to have to just gtgud right? Should add, I downloaded a save game file that allows instant-access to the DLC area as it's fairly deep into the game and I didn't fancy a full on replay.

Sektori It's Geometry Wars with a shiny coat of paint and some really great animations. I don't normally go for these games, but I'd heart it recommended on The Besties podcast and yeah, it's absolutely perfect if you're looking to kill 10-15 minutes. Honestly, if I'd had more time with it I could see it creeping into my top five of the year list. Super cheap too.

Not technically a game, but I got this for my Clone Hero playing on Steamdeck. Grabbed the GT Live controller a month ago, and I'm enjoying it enough to convince me to drop £120 on this thing, and actually play the songs I love with a 5-fret for the first time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time After getting through Hades II I wanted to play a something a little lighter, so I grabbed the retro-console and gave this little slice of 90's gaming a look. Now, I'm not really a fan of the beat-em-up; it just wasn't something I played a lot of growing up, and as such it isn't something I gravitate towards. That said I had a good time with this. It's fairly brief, but that's to be expected from this sort of game. Had a good time with it though and I'm probably going to try and play more games in this genre going forward. Any recs? Hades II Technically I beat Hades II. Took me some 50 hours, but I finally hit credits and unlike Hades 1 I didn't have to enable God-mode. Go me I guess? I am however, not yet done with this one though. I want to get through the prologue before I consider putting it down. Dispatch Man, I fucking adore this game. It's been a breath of fresh air and a game I've been delighted to return to twice a week for the last month. I had some minor issues with the games 'tactical' mini-game (which may well be down to me not fully understanding the mechanics), but everything else from its story to it's characters and it's overall presentation was superb and I can't wait to see what Adhoc has in store going forward.