Tag Archives: Pinball

July Games

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Well I didn’t finish any games this month, but managed plenty of gaming. Also made it up to Newcastle for one of my favourite gaming events, and attended NERG 2023. Lots of arcade games and pinball were played there.

Games played during July

Octopath Traveler II - 2023 in Games

Octopath Traveller 2 – PlayStation 5

Properly into this now and progressing nicely. Was a bit worried for a while that I was going to struggle getting back into it but all is well.

It’s on Switch and PS4 as well, which may suit. I was glad to get another reason to play some PS5 though, and picked up this physical edition*.

Hollow Knight - July Games

Hollow Knight – PlayStation 5

I was helping my mate with the hornet boss fight, and started a new playthrough to get back into the controls. Ended up playing quite a bit, don’t think I’ll finish it again but it was a lot of fun. I do wish they’d crack on and release the new game, Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Tekkens

A Variety of Tekken

My Newcastle trip involved a lot of Tekken, various editions of the game on multiple platforms. All of them involving my “Paul” smashing my friend about. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the game.

Animal Crossing - June Games

Animal Crossing New Horizons – Nintendo Switch

Still playing a bit everyday, trying to complete more collections but also doing some island improvements.

Surely you’ve got this already, but it’s here if not*. (And yes I will call you Shirley.)

Pinball FX3 - July Games

Pinball FX 3 – PC & PS5

Thanks to playing a bunch of pinball at NERG, I found myself getting back on this when I got home.

Vampire Survivors - July Games

Vampire Survivors – Xbox Series X

I noticed they’d added a few more achievements in another free patch, so I spent a couple of hours mopping all those up to maintain my 100% completion.

Mario Kart 8 Booster

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Nintendo Switch

Another wave of the expansion pass courses came out last month, and I have been enjoying playing the 8 new tracks. I still maintain that the gaps between the releases have been much too long, but I do enjoy the prompt to go back to the game when a new set of tracks appears.

Rollers of the Realm - July Games

Rollers of the Realm – PlayStation 5

Not sure how much of this I’ll play really, but I started replaying it on my PS5 just because I’m on a pinball kick. It’s fun but not really very polished.

What’s been on the arcade?

Guitar Hero Arcade

Didn’t spend a lot of time on my own cab, but thanks to the trip to NERG 2023, I did play a lot of arcade and pinball games. Definite mention of Guitar Hero Arcade, for being great fun and reminding me how much fun those games were back on the 360.

Pick ups during June

Tekken 7 Deluxe Edition - Xbox Series X

Tekken 7 Deluxe Edition – Xbox Series X

Obviously prompted by all the Tekken we played, I grabbed this in an Xbox sale. Just need to find time to play it online with my mate now.

Humble Bundle - At Home Arcade

Humble Bundle “At-Home Arcade” Bundle – PC

A few games that I largely own on my consoles, that I was mostly grabbing for potential future use in an arcade machine. The bundle included Mortal Kombat 11, House of the Dead Remake, Redout 2 and a couple more games, but also included the Indiana Jones table for Pinball FX3 and Pinball FX. The Indiana Jones table is one of the digital replicas of the real life machine, a table that I played a bit of at NERG. Very pleasing.

Wrath of the Elder Gods - Pinball FX

Pinball FX tables – PlayStation 5

I grabbed the Williams bundle 1 and Wrath of the Elder Gods tables on PS5. I mostly prefer pinball on my PC with my pinball controller, but wanted a few tables on PS5 so I could high score chase with my mate.

Arkanoid Eternal Battle - PC

Arkanoid: Eternal Battle – Xbox & PC

Another friend suggested this was a fun game for a couple of quid. It plays very well with my Spinner too.

Halls of Torment - PC

Halls of Torment – PC

The best Vampire Survivors clone I’ve played since the actual game. This is still in early access, so I’m looking forward to it gaining more content, but it is already very promising. It plays as a cross between Vampire Survivors & Diablo. Very well done indeed.

God of War: Ragnarok - July Games

God of War: Ragnarok – PS5

Criminal how long it has taken me to get this, but I traded in a couple of games at CeX and managed to get this without spending any money. Only thing is I want to finish Octopath before I start it…

Amazon link*

*As usual, these links are affiliate ones, which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.

January Games

January Games

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Off to a reasonable start for the year. Even sort of managed a completion. Albeit one where I imposed my own definition of “complete”.

Completed this month

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4

Finally calling this ‘finished’, although I’ll no doubt be playing it for considerable time to come. I have wrapped up the story, finished all the exploration (map & bonus boards), hit max level, ‘prestiged’ and bought all the in game houses. I’m never going to even attempt 100% completion on these games as long as there is a requirement to complete ‘drift’ events.

Also played this month

Worms W.M.D. – PS4

Managed to get quite a bit of this on in multiplayer recently, remains excellent and I think has become my favourite in the series. Finally toppled Armageddon & Worms World Party.

God of War – PS4

Managed to make a bit more progress with this, still loving it but could do with a day or two to just sit down and play.

Pinball FX2

Pinball FX2 – PSVR

You’ll spot a bit of a pinball trend this month, it’s been ongoing since last October or so as we’ve been preparing for a Pinball Episode over at Maximum Power Up. Look out for that soon. Playing Pinball in VR is a revelation, although I’m currently trailing in my leaderboard battles and need to get back on that.

Demon's Tilt promo

Demon’s Tilt – PC

Played quite a bit of Demon’s Tilt in January, pinball everywhere. Read my full Demon’s Tilt Preview. It’s now available to buy, and pretty much essential if you like video pinball.

Pick-ups during Janaury

Wi-fi and Bluetooth Card

When adding my new microphone (link) to my computer last month, I discovered I was somehow using all the rear USB ports. Rather than just add more ports, I picked up this card. I was previously using a USB Wi-Fi adapter so it freed up that port, but also a wired Xbox 360 Controller. I’ve now switched to a Bluetooth Xbox One pad, so I’ve reclaimed two ports. My local Wi-Fi is now 2.5 times faster than it was before too, and is much more reliable for my SteamLink and streaming my PS4 and Xbox One to the PC.

Gears of War 4 – Xbox One & PC

Gears of 4

Already had this as a physical copy for the Xbox One, but it cropped up in a sale for £3 digitally, so I re-bought it so I could also play it on my PC. Looks and plays better on there and still worked perfectly to play online co-op with my mate. Managed to trade my physical copy in at CeX for the two games below as well. Result.

Flipnic & Taito Legends – PS2

Essentially free thanks to trading in Gears of War 4, I was very pleased with these pick ups. Flipnic is an interesting curiosity, although not really any good. Was good to get hold of it for the upcoming podcast episode though. The Taito collection is excellent, and a nice addition to my recent PS2 acquisition.

Rollers of the Realm – PS4 / Vita

A game I completed on PC back in November, I couldn’t resist buying it again when it popped up in a PlayStation sale for less than £2. It’s crossbuy so you get both the PS4 and Vita versions, and it’s absolutely perfect for the Vita. A rare game I’m happy to replay.

GameBoy pickups January

Game Boy Games

In January we visited a retro games shop in Brighton, Ninja Games Den. I was pleasantly surprised by the prices and it was fun to choose a handful of Game Boy games. The only one of these I’d played before was Wave Race so it was a bit of a gamble but I’ve had a little go on each and I’m happy with the selection.

Kirbys Pinball Land

Kirby Pinball – GB

One more Game Boy title to round out the January games pick-ups, although I took to eBay for this. Continuing my recent pinball game kick, this is great, and one I missed out on previously.

Demon's Tilt - December Games

Demon’s Tilt – Game Preview

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This is a game I’ve been following in development for some time. As mentioned in my December round up, we have been in the planning stages of a pinball episode of the Maximum Power Up podcast since October. The fine folks at WizNWar & FLARB were kind enough to provide me with a beta code back in November, so I’ve now spent a fair bit of time trying the game out.

Although the pinball episode should be out soon, [edit: pinball episode is out now] Demon’s Tilt goes into Early Access on Steam next week, on 22nd January 2019. I wanted to share some of my thoughts in time for that, and hopefully contribute a bit to the conversation around the Early Access launch.

Overview

Demon’s Tilt is a 2D Pinball game, very much in the style of the 90s Crush Pinball games series from developers Compile and Tengen. From the screenshots it’s easy to see these influences, not least by the presence of a large head in the middle of the playfield. The game utilises pixel art and mega drive style music to present an experience reminiscent of the era, but with modern HD displays in mind.

Demon’s Tilt also takes some influence from ‘bullet hell’ shmups, with the various bosses in the game more than happy to fill the screen with projectiles. While this can look a little confusing in screenshots, it soon makes sense when you are playing. This is pinball, so pretty much every element is there for the same thing, to give you more opportunities to increase your score.

Graphics

Like Devil’s Crush, Demon’s Tilt takes a heavy occult influence for it’s aesthetic. This is focused on the creepy nun in the middle level of the table. Given the success of the Conjuring series of films and its descriptively named spin off “The Nun”, it would appear creepy nuns are very much ‘in’.

The lowest level of the table is where the various mini-boss enemies appear as the game progresses. This starts with the Hermit, the gatekeeper for the Cathedral. He gives way to increasingly disturbing horrors, my personal favourite being the mass of tentacles that is Shub Calamari.

Once you’re at the top of the table, you’re met by the overlord of Demon’s Tilt, the dreaded Manticore. Part lion, serpent and scorpion, the Manticore looks great, and is a deserving headline for the game.

Screenshots

TATE mode

A recent update has added TATE mode (support for a monitor rotated 90 degrees, to have a ‘portrait’ display). Short of playing in full VR, TATE mode is my preferred way to play Pinball games. It is much more satisfying to have a whole pinball table on the screen, rather than the screen to scroll with the ball. Demon’s Tilt is still great in the standard view mode, with the screen scrolling with the action, and making some impressive use of zoom.

  • Title on a vertical screen
  • Just look at that full table!

Music

demon's tilt ost

Composer Charlie Heinrich has created a soundtrack to the game that is pure Mega Drive. To get the authentic sound, he emulates the sound chip from the Mega Drive itself. The image above is a soundcloud link to the tracks so you can check it out. The music really suits the occult aesthetic of Demon’s Tilt’s and evokes those classic games. Especially when the bell tolls for MULTIBALL!

Thoughts & issues

There have been continued updates since I was first given access to the game. While there were initially several bugs that you can expect in beta software, those I experienced have almost all been eradicated. The main one I suffered was that I had to exit the program after each go in order to start a new game. As it happens, that was almost a useful feature. Demon’s Tilt nails the “one more go” element of the best pinball games. When your last ball slips down the gutter, it’s impossible not to think that you’ll do better next time. At least having to close the game and restart it helped me pull myself away after just one or two goes. Rather than the five or six credits I now play.

The only issue I have now is that the frame rate can drop some when things get particularly frantic (and they can get frantic). It has been improving with each update though, and doesn’t put me off wanting to play.

If you enjoy pinball at all this is easily worth a look. If you’ve got any love for the Alien Crush and Devil’s Crush/Dragon’s Fury, then Demon’s Tilt is pretty much essential.

Pre-release leaderboards make me look better

Interested?

I can’t wait for the final release of Demon’s Tilt. I’m even looking forward to the game entering Steam Early Access and for more people to get their hands on it. Even if it does mean I get pushed down the leaderboard.

If you want to check it out for yourself, the Steam page is here.
You can also follow developments via the game’s official Twitter and Facebook.

December Gaming

December Games

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Well I did manage to finish one more game during December to close out the year, and also picked up a bunch more. Oops.

Completed this month

Yoku's Island Express

Yoku’s Island Express – Xbox One

I was originally going to skip this one. Although I was interested in the premise, the demo felt like a poor Ori & the Blind Forest knock off. However, back in October I started preparations for a pinball related podcast we were due to record towards the end of 2018. Due to scheduling conflicts, we have put this episode back to early 2019. I saw the retail version of this cheap in a sale and thought I could squeeze in some playtime before the recording, and talk about it good or bad on the podcast. I’m glad I gave it another chance though, it was a real joy to play. The pinball mechanics really come into their own as the game progresses.

Also played this month

Still in love with my GameBoy

Solar Striker – GameBoy

I was playing this in a high score challenge, a bit disappointed that I didn’t manage to complete it in one credit, but I put in some respectable performances all the same. Really enjoyable to be playing this on my backlit modded GameBoy, rather than needing to use an emulator.

Forza Horizon 4: Fortune Island – Xbox One

The first expansion for Forza Horizon 4 arrived in December. I haven’t had a lot of time with it yet, but first impressions are good. Looking forward to getting into it properly in January.

Pick-ups during December

One of the best prize bundles ever

Super Bomberman R Goodie Box – PS4

I was lucky enough to win this on Twitter. The game is a pretty solid Bomberman, although some of the timing seems a bit off compared to previous versions and may take a bit of getting used to. As well as a copy of the game, the box had some really good stuff. Three T-Shirts, a beanie hat, stickers, a poster and the box itself is really nice.

Pang Adventures – Xbox One

Had my eye on this for a while, and it appeared in the Winter sale for a couple of quid. Hopefully it’s as good as the original games.

Pinball Gold Pack – PC

Another one I’d got on my wishlist waiting for a sale. I paid £2.40 for this pack on Good Old Games, containing 20 tables from the old school pinball classics: Pinball Dreams 1 and 2, Pinball Illusions and Pinball Fantasies/Pinball Mania. These are the DOS versions which aren’t as highly regarded as they were on the Amiga, but still some solid pinball.

Jazz Jackrabbit 2 – PC

Another pick up from Good Old Games. Although I did have this already, it was based on a dubious copy I’d acquired many years ago, and I’m glad to have it join my digital library. For more info on the game, do checkout the Run N Gun episode of the Maximum Power Up podcast, where I try to convince my suspicious co-hosts to play it.

Pinball FX 2 VR – PSVR

Yet more pinball! I already own all these tables in my Pinball FX3 collection on PC, however I have been meaning to get the VR version for a while. At this point the PSVR library is better than many consoles.

Witcher 3: GotY – Xbox One

This was a bit of a panic buy when I got an email from Microsoft saying I had £16 of credit that was going to expire in January. There wasn’t anything else I fancied in the Winter Sale so I plumped for finally picking up The Witcher 3. I have been interested in it for a while, as I enjoy the Witcher novels, but I’m not sure how I’ll get on with the open world. Now we’ll find out!

Sega Power Stick – Mega Drive

A surprise bargain I just saw in the windows of my local CeX. This is the stick I used to have for the Mega Drive before I sold my previous collection. Delighted to get it again, and it’s already improving some of my scores. Would still like to pick up a 6 button version, but it’s not really necessary for shmups.

Darius Burst Chronicles DLC – PS4

Probably a bit of a mistake since I’ve barely spent any time with the full game, I grabbed the Cave and SEGA DLC packs for this as they were on sale. Hopefully I’ll try those out at some point at least.