Macmillan Cancer Support is a charity close to my heart, so, when my wife brought the Macmillan Game Heroes (24 Hours non-stop sponsored gaming) incentive to my attention I decided to do it for Gaming the Pandemic: Day 100.
Despite my original plan to play games from across my collection of 30 or so consoles, technical issues meant that, as I entered the early hours, I restricted myself to PC games in the name of simplicity.
Game 16: Little Racers STREET (PC)
A game that came up in conversation while playing SpeedRunners, this little top down racer is a lesson in the dangers of building a game around online features.
At 4am, having been awake for 22 hours and playing games for 21, I propped open my blurry eyes, took on the game's daily challenge, and came first in the world.
Of course, I was the only person in the world playing this 2014 release, but had the campaign mode been better structured I wouldn't have been looking for other modes to entertain me. It's not that the campaign is light, more that it just appears a little directionless, almost random, and offers no real sense of progress.
In the races it's good, chaotic, fun, with a generous boost recharge that can make the difference between winning and losing. I imagine this game could still be brilliant in multiplayer, but as that wasn't an option for me, I moved on.
Game 17: Retro Game Crunch ( (PC)
Back in 2012, at the height of mainstream interest in indie games, three solo developers teamed up to create a Kickstarter campaign with a pretty unique twist.
Having honed their craft at three-day game jams, the concept was that every month, for six months, they would develop and release an entire game from scratch based on a theme or ideas from the community of backers. At the end of the six months the games were collected into a package and released along with the Jam game that inspired the collective, as Retro Game Crunch.
I didn't know any of that as I started the game, so, to my shame, I went into this for a quick simple fix; expecting these 8 bit themed games to be more style than substance.
I first played GAIAttack, a basic beat-em-up in which you control a cute creature and ascend ever upwards, taking on scores of enemies as you go. It looks and sounds very nice indeed, but it's hard, perhaps due to the four player co-op support, so in my sleepy state I wasn't really up for a game this challenging.
So I moved on to Paradox Lost, which was a mistake.
Don't get me wrong, I think maybe this game could be exceptional, but playing a stripped back Metroidvania after being awake for 23 hours is one thing, playing a stripped back Metroidvania that takes place over three concurrent timelines in such a state, is quite another.
My poor sleep deprived brain just couldn't cope, so I banked this for another day and searched my game list for a simpler pleasure. Rest assured, I will be returning to give these two a fairer shake, and to check out the rest of the games in this collection, in due course.
Macmillan Cancer Support is a fantastic charity that does amazing work whatever else is happening in the world. Find out more about them and the 'Game Heroes' programme HERE.
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