We love you, pink sphere
Plus new "free" games, The Sims 4 still rules, and 2012 is retro now.
Welcome back! It’s a relatively slow week for new releases, but the industry has filled the gap this morning with two expected but major announcements. The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will not hit this year as planned, with Nintendo now aiming for this time next year. And Sony is retooling its PlayStation Plus subscription to include a library of free games old and new. The existing $12 per month version will stick around, but in coming months you’ll also be able to kick in some more for access hundreds of PS1/2/4/5 and PSP titles. Exciting!
But enough about the future. This week on Press Any Button, Tim gets a renewed love for Kirby and feels his bones turn to dust from the passing of time, and Alice sinks into the warm comforts of The Sims and Carcassonne.
Kirby is gaming’s perfect on-ramp
By Tim
I don't really remember learning to play video games. In my earliest memories they were already there, and I knew how to use them, even if I didn't know how to read.
So I'm fascinated to watch my son, who is five, learn to interface with games. It's astonishing how immediately the plastic young human brain grabs something as abstract as using one stick to walk and another to rotate a camera, with seemingly no effort.
We've both been playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land for a few weeks, which he's picked up flawlessly despite not having played a 3D game before, and it’s made me realise how much design stuff I take for granted.
I noticed he was playing the same levels over and over while ignoring newly unlocked ones. Turns out he felt bad leaving Waddle Dees behind (you rescue them when you achieve hidden objectives) and was taking a 100% rating for each level very seriously.
He was also completely freaked out about boss battles, to the point of avoiding progressing at all. He'd developed the idea that failing too much would end the game, and I guess the idea of a one-on-one confrontation was too much.
Luckily, Forgotten Land is perfect for exploring these common gaming concepts, and rewarding persistence and experimentation. Most hidden objectives can be achieved just by keeping your eyes open (there’s an unlit oil lamp, what could it mean?), and we practiced the idea of learning by failing in the difficult side-challenges that force you to get good with certain power-ups. For bosses, I could jump in as the secondary helper character while he floated around avoiding damage, learning the patterns. He nailed the second boss solo on his first try.
While Kirby has a reputation as being “for kids”, I prefer to think it’s for everyone, and Forgotten Land especially so. The shift to 3D makes for a more modern and intentional design that will give practiced players heaps to do, while it’s still perfect for kids picking up a controller for the first time.
What to play
You don’t always need to play games as they release, but I’m (Alice) also loving Kirby and the Forgotten Land so much that I think it is worth picking up when you get a chance. It’s just so adorable and absurd that folks of all ages will be charmed by it completely.
Moss: Book II is out for PSVR this week, and so if you have a VR setup I (Alice) highly recommend picking up the original for $40 and having a play this weekend. It’s an action-adventure puzzle game starring a mouse and is a wonderful way to escape the world for a few hours. It’s on PSVR, Steam and Quest.
A remaster of the simple but unputdownable snowboarding game Alto’s Adventure is out now for Apple Arcade, which is a little weird because the sequel Alto’s Odyssey is already on the service. The new version of the original is free from ads and microtransactions, and also adds a new character and area.
We’ve mentioned this before, but PlayStation players should make sure they check out the “Mega March” sale before it ends tomorrow. A lot of recent Ubisoft, EA, WB, Capcom and Square Enix games are more than half off, so it’s a good time to fill a gap in your library. Personally I (Tim) would look at Shadow of the Tomb Raider for $18 (or Rise of for $8 if you missed it, it’s the best one), Jedi Fallen Order for $14 or Resident Evil 2 for $22. There also isn’t much time left for PlayStation Plus members to claim their free games for March, so don’t forget to grab Ghost Runner, Ark: Survival Evolved and Sonic Team Racing while you still can.
Over on Xbox Crusader Kings III, which is an adaptation of a PC grand strategy game that we never thought we’d see on console, has just been added to Game Pass. You control a noble family and need to amass power and influence over multiple generations, keeping a keen eye on events across the kingdom that pose dangers or opportunities for your line. Tomorrow Game Pass gets Weird West, which is kind of like Diablo meets Dishonored, but also American frontier meets supernatural creatures. So if you like gunslinging, randomised levels AND zombies, you’re in luck.
Revisiting The Sims 4
By Alice
Every reviewer has their own go-to test for how to tax a computer that claims to be the most powerful, fanciest thing ever. As an occasional TV producer, it’s easy to assume that I’d try editing videos. But, while I do that as part of the process, I much prefer firing up The Sims 4 and just adding expansion packs until the fans get too loud. It’s just such an amazing way to force a computer to process more than it would like, in a way that’s fun.
That’s why I’ve been playing so much more Sims 4 than usual these past two weeks. I loaded up the Mac Studio (with M1 Ultra and 128GB of RAM) with 31 expansions and kept trying to think bigger and bigger until the computer couldn’t handle it anymore. I built a 5-storey house, had Kara and Lena adopt as many children as possible, and didn’t even hear the fans.
What did happen, though, is that I had a wonderful time. If you haven’t played The Sims 4 in a while, it’s worth jumping back in now. The developers clearly know what the people want; vampires, lavish weddings, and lots of ways to customise your homes and characters. The new Wedding Stories expansion really adds to the game and is perfect fan-service.
A person’s Sims style tells you a lot about them, so I’m sure this is revealing too much. I oscillate wildly between playing out elaborate stories with my favourite characters from TV, and making a delightful family that never communicates with each other because they’re too busy perfecting all of their skills. Of course, I also turn their needs off because who can be bothered eating and sleeping when they could be gaining knowledge?
However you play, there’s currently a sale of up to 75% off Sims 4 expansion packs, so now’s the time to stock up for a stress test.
Bricks, Boards and Beginnings
by Alice
There is an age-old question when it comes to board games: how many times do you play before grabbing the expansions, or moving to a different version entirely? In this COVID world of reduced movement, my wife and I play at least one board game every day, and have done for almost two years now, so we’ve been taking this opportunity to rediscover games we’ve had for ages and then teach my parents how to play whenever we go to visit.
The flavour of the month at the moment is Carcassonne, because it’s such a simple and easy game to play over breakfast and enjoy with my folks who don’t play many other games. But, while I love the simplicity of the base rules, the time is coming where I’ll need more challenge and interest rather than just strategically trying to get in the best field.
When we were having regular board game nights with my cousins, we moved from vanilla Ticket To Ride to Ticket To Ride Europe in about four games because my cousin Josep is as competitive as I am. While my knowledge of the USA was superior to his, he had the upper hand on getting around Europe because he grew up in Spain, giving him an edge on that board (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
Moving to other versions of Azul with my parents took around 50 games, when we’d really wrung all the strategy available from those tiles. After fewer than 10 games of Carcassonne, I’ve ordered the Carcassonne Big Box so we can try everything the game has to offer. The unfortunate thing is that there is no hard and fast rule, you just have to jump and hope the element of familiarity catches you.
Retro Esoterica
by Tim
At the end of each month, I thought it might be fun harrowing to reflect on three games or systems that have just had a major anniversary. So get your old ligaments ready, here we go for March 2022:
Now 10: Journey. Since realising this game is a decade old, I relate harder than ever to its whimsical, whistling protagonist. Specifically the part where they crumple uncontrollably and repeatedly in their old age while in the final stretch of their life-long pilgrimage. The stripped-back and playful mechanics of Journey, as well as its joyful secret online multiplayer, led to it becoming something of a turning point in the "games are art" discussion, and opened the door for an incredible decade of more emotional play experiences.
Now 15: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I stared at the Oblivion box in my local indie game store so much that it (plus Mass Effect) became a key reason I finally bought an Xbox 360. When I first emerged from the dungeons into the sunlight of Cyrodiil it was the most beautiful game I'd ever seen, and I still love playing Oblivion on Xbox Series X, where it inexplicably runs at 4K and 60 frames per second with instant load times.
Now 30: Kid Chameleon. A huge success for Sega in 1992 that has — in a historical sense — been kind of overshadowed by the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, playing Kid Chameleon today is like gazing upon the ultimate late 80s artefact. You're a kid with sunglasses and a leather jacket who's sucked in a VR arcade game, and can equip special helmets to change forms and become a samurai, a skater, a skeleton in a tank, a knight, or straight ripoffs of Jason Voorhees, Cyclops from X-Men and Jeff Goldblum from The Fly.