So last night I played UFO 50 past midnight....way...way past midnight, checked socials later to find... a couple of things, twitter is looking to change how blocking works so that users you blocked can still see your posts and tumblr ceo and carhammer explosion victim matt mullenweg is being sued for slander by wp engine for refferring to them as a cancer to wordpress.
So I guess i'll cover the news first. Muskrat is looking to change how blocking works so that its less effective at what it does ie blocking people. In a way its like banning someone from your store for being a nuisance, with the potential change coming to twitter essentially allowing those same people to legally loiter outside your shop, staring in through the window. Making your account private will likely be the only way to maintain privacy until that itself gets changed so we'll see how this develops. Verge article below.
Verge article
Our next bit of news comes from tumblr ceo matt mullenweg, owner of the queerist site on the net, when its not erasing transfolk for merely existing. At some point matt, being the genius he is, decided to go on a tangent and described wp engine as a cancer to wordpress, despite the fact that wp engine have actually given wordpress special preferential treatment before. As a result wp engine are now suing him for slander with their letter addressing this lawsuit. Link here
Wp engine letter
Honestly? Good for them, hope they win.
So now we go to the game of the evening
..... or games. Yes UFO 50. Now, you've ever heard of Action 52? If you did, was it from the AVGN episode? Cause thats where I first heard of that project. The idea of selling a nes cartridge for over 100 bucks with the promise of 52 games sounds good on paper but paper is flimsy and can be torn and Action 52.... was working on wet paper which doesnt hold up at all. Its lauded as a failure for its game either being broken, bad, derivative or all 3 at once. So when mossmouth, the spelunky devs decided to recreate that idea with the aim of every game being "good". Its certanly an ambitious if not foolhardy idea.
I mean, good is subjective especially to the person making the game. What may be considered good for one person maybe considered crap for someone else. Of course im just being pedantic. In the end you're getting 50 games for barely a third of a full price game. So for this Midnight Gaming post, I thought why not play a bit of all 50 games for this edition? Well, this was a terrible idea since it took till 3:30 in the morning to play a bit of each game and write down notes for them. This isnt really a review, more a first impressions look so i'll post my thoughts from last night (and in brackets i'll write some recent thoughts today).
Ready? Here we go!
Barbuta: not really ideal my kind of platformer (A lot of Barbutas platforming is based on timing and precision across various rooms with a limit of 6 lives. Honestly my thoughts onnthis would be better if I spent more time on it)
Bug hunter: tough to wrap my head around but was kinda neat puzzler. (It took a few goes to realise I can shoot the cubes to create a blast that van destroy bugs and that buying a move replaced a preexisting move and it wasnt just random. Deevolve is very good btw)
Ninpek: why can i spawn right on an enemy after i die, only to die again? (This was a run an gun and there were a few times I spawned onna enemy and died. Again if I had spent more time)
Paint chase: like pole position meets splatoon. New mechanics get added overtime. (It seems that dealing with the red rollers was a necessity since they can easily paint over your blue, especially the grenade ones. I like this one)
Magic garden: like snake but you need to drop off blobs on stars. I ran into a wall too many times. (This took a few goes to understand how it works, its neat as an arcade kinda title)
Mortol: platformer with limited lives, which you sacrifice for platformer, bomb or a block. Grabbing lives a must since lives dont get replinished between levels.
(Funny to see lives you do arrow ritual on get stuck headfirst into a wall)
Velgress: think an upward version of downwell. (Every platform your on crumbles in some way so you are pressured to keep moving but the damn bats can easily buml into you)
Planet zoldath: sort of a zeldalike? You go around an overworld and collect items. You have two slots for equipment, its also a random world so yeah... (you would need to juggle your two equips depending on what you need, also why does one sentient race can speak english but the other needs a translator?)
Attactics: units move per turn forward in a lane. Get your units to the enemy castle to damage them. (You can potentially get yourself stuck in a death spiral and fail if you mess up and cant recover)
Devilition: place mons to create a chain reaction to kill devils but spare villagers. Cant see the blast area of mons once placed so screw you if you forget. (UFO50 has a terminal where you can input codes and one of them is a cheat that fixes the issue with devilition.... why is it a cheat?)
Kick club: very bubble bubble vibes. Kick a soccer ball at sports related items.
(No joke, very bubble bobble vibes)
Avianos: grand strategy birb game. Not really a thing for me but cool concept with worshipping a different ancestor each turn granting different moves. (Not great with grand strategy but this is a cool concept)
Mooncat:very odd controls for a platformer. Still, was fun to time bounces on enemies. (This lil bouncy jelly bean is kinda fun to play once yoj figure the controls out)
Bushido ball: pong but with japanese characters, with some special moves. Yeah this is kinda fun. (Shooting a projectile at the ball does help get it past the guy at times... at times)
Block koala: puzzle game moving blocks. Not my cup of tea honest (pretty sure this type of game was played before on like skygames or playjam?)
Camouflage: puzzle game where you need to camo to sneak past predators and make to the end, collecting extras along the way. Yeahs its neat. (Sun and cloud really just said "your weak as fuck, your gonna die, heres a power to hide like a wee bitch)
Campanella: fly a ufo through levels, slashing some objects along the way. (Dont know where this coffee I was supposed to find along the way where?)
Golfaria: golf rpg like golf story? Wasnt sure where to go, ended up running out of strokes too often.. ehhhh (how do you reset your strokes? I got to one hole but I was still low, the heck was I supposed to go?)
The big bell race: racing version of that saucer game. (Attacking other racers seems a bit iffy and not very effective? Unless you have a powerup to help)
Warptank: control a wall attached tank where you can warp to an opposite wall.
(Yeah this fucks, not sure what else to say)
Waldorfs journey: hop across islands as a walrus, try to reach the end. (The one game I actually beat in this collection)
Porgy: a wee metroid kinda game witha submarine. Submarine a cutey. (Yeah grabbing any extra fuel tank is a mjst of longevity. Sub is a cutey)
Onion delivery: drive a car, reach destinations, dont drive into cars. Kinda not great to steer though. (Dunno seems a bit iffy, if I spent more time....)
Caramel caramel: space shooter where you can snapshot enemies and the enviroment like a photo. Lotta food, why start with 0 lives? (Like seriously why? It seems a bit odd to start on your last life)
Party house: host a party and depend on rng. Do not add mr popular he is an ass who can overflow and cause a day lost.
(Also getting dancers and, cash raising guests and the comedian is important to get that alien for the stars. Theres other scenarios to play through too)
Hotfoot: dodgeball but you control 2 players switching a button, which is also how you pick and throw items. Not really digging it tbh. (Seems a bit iffy to manage both chars with the same button as the pick up and throw. You need to keep an eye on the ring under your player)
Divers: 3 lizard bros swim the depths in an rpg. Gotta love that this is one those rpgs where if you choose all 3 bros to attack one enemie and it dies, the remaining turns are wasted. (Again, more time was needed on this)
Rail heist: sort of a tatics game where you need to move through, plan out how to take out lawmen with out getting shot. (Can get a bit frantic with managing the situation along with the time.
Vainger: sort of a metroid kinda game with a gravity mechanic. Can be a bit tricky to manage but is promising. (Again, more time needed)
Rock on island: caveman tower defense game. This was a lot of fun since you can help throw projectiles at dinos. (The dinos were "cursed with intelligence", hence why they try to kick humans out, just seems funny like, THEY KNEW.)
Pingolf: golf game but with pinball inspirations and graphics. Thats cool as hell, i mean cmon. Also you can dunk the ball down for some control. (this is something you could get "real" good at it with enough practice)
Mortol 2: sequel to mortol, you have a limit of 100 and you can choose different classes, thing is you may not always know what you so at times it may feel like you end up picking the wrong class you need and wasting a life. (Again, more time would've improved my feelings on this)
Fist hell: river city ransom but with zombies. I am not a beat em up kinda guy so I didnt get very far. (Kinda neat to throw a zombie head at another)
Overbold: smash tv rougelike where you can use money to buy upgrades and can raise the stakes for a bigger payout but deal with more enemies. Yeah its alright.
(Betting your money against your own evaluation of your skill, very interesting)
Campanella 2: sequel to the ufo game, here you explore a station and can leave your saucer to walk around or enter caves for a section to get an upgrade. Thing is you are very vulnerable and can die quick when out of your saucer unless you enter a cave, then you need to not take your time or an invincible skull enemy follows you.
(Why can you die from one hit outside the saucer but in the caverns? You have a proper health bar??)
Hyper contender: fighter where you need you get enough rings to win. Block and dodge while hitting your opponent to steal their rings. This would be fun with friends.
(Fuck that guy with the hook claw, annoying ass)
Valbrace: dungeon crawler where combat is real time action. You move, block and attack. Thats freaking cool as hell. Kinda rushing to get all this done over the limit but cool game. (Very cool game)
Rakshasa: run and gun contralike to fight some demons. Each time you die you need to avoid enemies while in spirit form and collect items to live again. Games where you can kill yourself right at the start if you're impatient. Not a fan. (Really was feeling the lateness here)
Star waspir: shootem up, you can pick one of three ships. Thing is if you want powerups you need to get three of the same letters to get it, get one thats different, you only get points and not the powerup. Also they be too close to enemies and their projectiles, making it suicide to get. Nah, i hate wasps and i kinda hate this a bit too. (Kinda frustrating, wasnt a fan)
Grimstone: final fantasy but in the wild west. Yeah you pick 4 characters from the start to be in your posse and roam the world gaining xp in random battles. Thats pretty neat. (I could spend a lot more time on this if I could)
Lords of diskonia: strategy where your troops are disks you need to launch into enemy disks to damage them, kinda like snooker in a way. Managed to win the first battle and sent them to running to base but then they got some reserves and had more gold so they could build up a strong retaliation. I did not have enough units or gold to hire more to survive the rematch. Yeah thats... thats a great feeling to have for your game.... (why do I feel a bit punished for winning a battle? I didnt get gold or units for winning or for falling back to base to recoup? Also I only get to move one space but the enemy moves 2 spaces?)
Night manor: point and click horror game, yeah this is genuinly kinda scary, atmosphere does help build tensions and trying to navigate the manor while running from the killer is a thrill. (Poor Baxter :[ )
Elfazars hats: play as animals from magicians hat. Run and gun sort of stuff but you do have a dodge move which I like a lot. (It has the same power up thing as waspir but now as irritating or unfair)
Pilot quest: im guessing this is the idle game that folks were talking about. I didnt put much time in it cause in a rush but yeah, its an idle game. (Its an idle game, it plays itself... start here I suppose)
Mini and maxi: platformer where you can grow and shrink to explore. You also pick up objects to throw at enemies kinda like super mario bros 2. (Like how you can skip some platforming if you grow, go to where you want and shrink on it to go there)
Combatants: ant strategy game, yeah i dont know how i can play this well. Kinda reminds me of simant. (Needed to spend more time on to understand it better)
Quibble race: you bet on worms to race, you can buy certain items to cripple or protect your bet. Yeah thats the game. (Money management in dirty bookkeeping... ok)
Seaside drive: shooter where you drive a car left and right to avoid bullets and shoot either vertical or horizontal. Shot power depends on your speed so you need to keep moving. (This was pretty fun to play, not gonna lie it was fun)
Campanella 3: its the saucer again but now its a space shooter with a sort of attempt at 3d, ok yeah thats, a bit of a depature but kinda cool. (Its sort of a neat lil game... more time)
Cyber owls: the last game which I guess is meant to be the cheetamen of this collection. Each mission is a different gameplay style it seems and if you fail one you have to select one of your remaining characters to go free them. Why in the hong kong level is it that when you can only shoot forward, enemies you kill can actually one shot you with their corpse if you dont avoid them. Thats fucking stupid, thats is really fucking stupid why did they feel that was a good idea, what the fuck were theg thinking? Its way too fucking late. Goddamn it. Its 3:30 in the morning. Fuck this was stupid. (I was real tired and went to sleep right after, Im still tired as I write and I need to go pick potatoes soon...sigh)
This post was probably, like Action 52, an ambitious idea that sounded good on paper but in practice was awful to go through. At the very least for what its worth, UFO 50 is definatly worth your money because even if some games arent great, you'll find some games that are fun to play and again, 50 games for a third of the price for one full price release, is a hard thing to beat.
Thank you reading Midnight Gaming. I am gonna skip tomorrows post to try and recuperate from this post. Feel free to leave feedback or game suggestions. Anons are currently on.
Go to bed folks.
