Day 81: The Novelist (PC)

My ongoing efforts to play one title from my 553 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

The Novelist for the PC
Previous days' entries can be read HERE.

In a roundabout sort of way the indie game blow up of a few years ago is a large part of the reason why my backlog is quite so big as it is. 

Back then, when the boom was fully booming, my trusty laptop was suddenly unable to play the kind of small independently produced games that weren’t available on consoles.

With the success of Xbox Live and PSN smaller games were getting more attention, XBLIG saw even smaller games get some of the spotlight, and by the time Nintendo embraced this market with it’s ‘Nindies’ showcase coverage of small, arty, games with development teams whose number you could count on one hand were as important to traffic on most games websites as that of the latest COD or [insert name of competitive multiplayer game no-one really cares about].

So to continue playing indie games that weren’t coming to console, or were but at a much later date or hugely inflated price, I had to join the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race. 

I often wonder if people who seriously profess to be part of the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race understand that the name ‘Glorious PC Gaming Master Race’ was actually coined ironically? And that by continuing to describe themselves as members of the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race they are only further highlighting the ridiculous attitudes that the name ‘Glorious PC Gaming Master Race’ was making fun of?

What am I saying…? Of course they know… Right?

Anyway, I bought a PC which meant, at the time, getting games from Steam, which meant Steam sales and Humble Bundles, which meant a huge backlog of games I bought for 50p and never played.

I’ve got in the habit now of regularly ‘Marie Kondo’-ing my digital games but, despite regular pruning, they still make up a sizable chunk of my collection and my backlog.

What was I talking about again? Oh right! The Novelist. The Novelist was one such game.

Day 80: NBA Street Showdown (PSP)

A portable version of the best hoops games ever? Where do I sign? Continuing my efforts to play one title from my 553 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

NBA Street Showdown for the PSP
Previous days' entries can be read HERE.

It’s amazing to think that, given the company's reputation with gamers today, EA was once the home of the E.A. Sports ‘Big’ series of games.

'Big', for those out of the loop, was basically a sub-label of E.A. Sports that focused less on trying to accurately recreate a given sport and more on taking the aspects of each activity that made it entertaining and exaggerating them in the name of OTT style and fun. 

A lot of these games had official licenses and, unrecognisably from the EA we know today, were possessed of an almost reverential respect for each game’s history; these games, from the most soulless corporation in gaming, had heart.

Over the 8 years it was going, Big released 21 games with installments based on Basketball, Football (Soccer), American Football, Wrestling, Motocross, Rallying, Skidooing, and, most famously of all, Skiing/Snowboarding (with the SSX series). 

I’ve played 14 of them, and they are all various kinds of amazing fun.

Five of the games comprised the ‘NBA Street’ series. Volumes one, two, and three were put out on sixth generation consoles, Homecourt was the fifth in the franchise and was an early generation seven release. Fun fact: It was the first game of that generation to be native 1080p resolution.

But back when ‘NBA Street Vol.3’ was being released onto home consoles, ‘NBA Street Showdown’ was released for the PSP. 

I picked it up cheap from eBay last year in the name of completionism and it turns out the box and manual of my copy are both in Chinese! 

Luckily, the game itself is identical to the US version.

Day 76: Evasion (PC VR)

Some co-op VR makes the latest dent in my 560 game backlog. I'm playing one a day, every day that the UK is in lockdown...

Evasion for the PC (VR)
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

At the beginning of my recent blog post for 'Brute Force' on the Xbox, I talked briefly about the state of VR, about how it’s waiting for the individual elements of greatness that are slowly emerging in disparate software to come together (with cheaper hardware) to create a game that will bring the platform into the mainstream.

It’s only fair that I make it clear from the start that Evasion is not that game.

Way back on day 7, I played 'Space Pirate Trainer'; a VR game that ostensibly has a lot in common with Evasion, but which is not as successful thanks to the high level of repetition that leads boredom to set in very quickly.

Evasion and SPT share similar weapons, similar shields, and even a similar ‘leash’ mechanic, but Archiact’s 2018 game adds two things that help it to hold off the yawns far more effectively; Environments (with the requisite ability to move through them) and co-op play.

'Evasion' marks the third attempt by me and my brother-in-law (let's call him Bob, as that is, after all, his name) to play something in VR multiplayer since lockdown.

The first endeavour involved freebie social gaming platform ‘Rec Room’ in which we wandered around, got beaten by 12-year-olds at paintball, and ended up with me depositing my lunch into the nearest suitable receptacle during the intense VR activity of ‘Ten Pin Bowling’. 

Note to self: Leave the Cubre Libres until after VR in the future.

Day 75: Slipstream (PC)

The spirit of OutRun is invoked in today's randomly selected title from my 561 game backlog. I'm playing one for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

Slipstream for the PC
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

OutRun is one of the most iconic, and for me one of the very best, video games of all time. As such, it’s imitators are legion, and have been arriving regularly ever since its original release back in 1986.

I’ll save you a long monologue on Yu Suzuki’s masterpiece now, as I’ve already written about it at length before, and, as I said the last time this came up, the fact I titled it ‘A Love Letter to OutRun’ should give you a clue as to my feelings.

Slipstream is one of the more recent games to pay homage to the old master, with the whole OutRun series serving as inspiration, and a dollop of ‘Initial D’ added for good measure. It began life on Kickstarter in 2016 and finally gained release exclusively to PC (including Linux and Mac) in 2018.

I saw it originally on Rock, Paper, Shotgun in mid 2015, when the developer released an initial demo onto their itch.io page. I saved it to my Google Keep and promptly forgot about it. A digital tidy up brought it back to my attention three and half years later, and this time I immediately took myself to itch to buy it… and then forgot about it for another six months. 

Which brings us to today.

Day 74: Brute Force (Xbox)

A game billed as a 'Halo Killer' is today's randomly selected title from my 563 game backlog; one played for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

Brute Force for the Xbox
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

One day, probably in the not too distant future, VR is going to catch on, properly catch on and slowly become the norm for video games.

It will take a few things for this to happen. Hardware prices need to come down, obviously, but more importantly software quality needs to improve.

VR is currently a growth market, and more and more games are trying to take their piece of the pie. Yesterday I played ‘PayDay 2 VR’, a free add-on for the main game that was itself free on one of the major platforms not so long ago. It was a bit of a mess; a low effort grab for a slice of the VR pie, but another game ticked off the ‘unplayed’ list nonetheless.

There are very good VR games out there. ‘Half Life Alyx’ may not be the giant leap that many claim (Valve’s control-freak tendencies sadly ruin it’s potential) but it’s a great tech-demo for what can be achieved on the format in terms of presentation and, when games start to emerge with the playability of ‘Superhot VR’ or ‘Robo Recall’ and the polish of ‘Half Life’, VR will finally become the next chapter in the ongoing history of video games.

And make no mistake: Video games need this to happen. The medium has been stagnant for two decades. The last notable step forward was when consoles entered the online space in their sixth generation, and all that has happened since has just been the application of layer upon layer of polish.

When VR finally sticks it’s landing, the knock on effect will be that games from the turn-of-the-century will finally be believably categorised as retro - and first in line for that (dubious) honour will be games like ‘Brute Force’.

Day 70: Puyo Puyo Tetris (Switch)

Quite a recent game by my standards, chosen randomly as I continue to play one title from my 564 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

Puyo Puyo Tetris for the Switch
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

I started this blog to maintain a feeling of control for my life when it was in upheaval. It was a thing I had control over and a daily routine where otherwise there would be none.

Now, as America burns and the British government implodes, it has also become a welcome distraction. 

70 days ago the atmosphere in the UK was one of resolve. As a nation it seemed we were looking inward, finding the best in each other, and steeling ourselves to come together and make the best of a bad situation.

For the first time in a very long time the news wasn’t led by stories from America, China, Afghanistan, or elsewhere; the most important world events for the UK were happening in the UK. 

For a while even politics took a step backward - half the nation didn't want Boris Johnson in charge, but in charge he was, so in these crazy times we would listen to what he had to say and do as we were told for the good of the nation and those most at risk.

70 Days later, I don’t think things could be more different. 

America dominates the news again for the most horrifying and tragic reasons, politics lead the agenda, and politicians are, again, acting exactly like politicians. 

The rules we strictly and unquestioningly lived by for so long are being chipped away by selfishness, boredom, warm weather, and massive distrust towards the people imposing them.

It is, and I don’t use the word flippantly, depressing.

But I’ve always preached that it’s folly to be affected by things that you yourself cannot affect. As terrifying as the events and attitudes are in America there is no practical way for me to influence them beyond expressing solidarity and encouraging the few Americans I know to vote when the next opportunity arises. 

As for closer to home, I live in a nation that endured two consecutive unelected Prime Ministers followed by a general election in which the choice was literally between two evils, of which who was the lesser is still entirely unclear. So I’ll just have to bide my time for a general election in the UK and hope that enough people of my nation are not fooled by populism and bluster again.

And, as I wait, wishing I could do more and frustrated that I can’t, I’ll distract myself, as always, with video games.

Day 69: Pogo (ZX Spectrum)

The ZX Spectrum returns in my ongoing efforts to play one randomly selected title from my 564 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

Pogo for the ZX Spectrum
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

It’s going to be a short one today because ‘Pogo’ is... well... it's ‘Q*bert’ - and what new could I possibly find to say about ‘Q*bert’?

Lets see...

Day 68: To the Earth (NES)

Busting out the NES Zapper in my ongoing efforts to play one randomly selected title from my 565 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

To the Earth for the NES
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

Did you know there are only seventeen games for the NES ‘Zapper’ accessory? That’s sixteen games that no-one has ever played because they aren’t ‘Duck Hunt’.

Okay. That’s not fair. 

I know there are fans out there of ‘Wild Gunman’, ‘Gum Shoe’, ‘Hogan’s Alley’, ‘Operation Wolf’, and ‘Freedom Force’. And a lot of people know of ‘Bayou Billy’, and ‘Barker Bill’.

But I reckon that about does it for the Zapper games that most people could name off the top of their head; not even half of them, by my maths.

Which is a shame because there’s a couple of games in the ‘other’ half that are better than most of the better known games. I don’t own SNK’s ‘Mechanized Attack’ as it’s US only, but I was able to play it at a game show a few years back and it’s definitely one of the better games for the peripheral and deserving of attention for more than it’s infamous debug screen. 

And then there’s ‘To the Earth’, which, incidentally, has possibly my favourite box art on the system; the lettering alone is pure joy to behold.

Day 67: NBA Playgrounds (PC)

Hitting the courts in my ongoing effort to play one randomly selected title from my 566 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

NBA Playgrounds for the PC
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

"All opinions are valid" is a nonsense statement. 

On a more important scale than video games there are far too many opinions based on prejudice or ignorance that have been expressed loudly, and protected inadequately, by the concept that an ill-informed opinion has the same value as an informed one.

Back in the world of video games this isn’t as dangerous or scary, but it's still annoying.

I touched the problem way back on Day 14 with Mr Shifty; a game that isn't, and isn't trying to be, Hotline Miami - but was still criticised often for not being Hotline Miami; which is not a valid opinion.

NBA Playgrounds is not NBA Jam. This is obviously a fact, but it's also been expressed often as a negative opinion. However, the validity of this rests on the answer to a different question: 

Is NBA Playgrounds trying to be NBA Jam?

Day 66: Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure (Nintendo DS)

This fun hybrid platform/puzzler is the latest randomly selected title from my 566 game backlog, from which I'm playing one a day while the UK is in lockdown...

Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure for the DS

Previous days' entries can be read HERE

I was recently reading a review on Eurogamer of a Nintendo DS game called 'Scurge: Hive' (a cracking isometric Metroidvania), in which the writer was lamenting the fact that so many DS games only used the lower display as a map screen. 

I don’t deny this is a fair point, but it is one mostly limited (luckily) to the sort of game I don’t really play.

I’m actually struggling to recall a game (other than 'Scurge: Hive', obviously) that didn’t have some practical or interesting use for the second screen. Even Sonic Rush (which I bounced off pretty hard on day 56) looked beautiful split across the dual screens, and now here’s 'Henry Hatsworth', the very next DS game I play, wherein the second screen is not just used well, but used to play almost a completely different game to that being played on the top.

This is a game that combines an action-platformer, played on the top screen, with a match-three puzzler, played on the bottom. And ‘combines’ is the correct word, it would have been easy for the two, very different, games to seem disjointed or only have a faint connection, but Hatsworth brilliantly manages to ensure that actions in one game directly affect events in the other.

Day 57: Spiderman (PS1)

Doing whatever a spider can in my ongoing efforts to play one title a day from my 586 game backlog...

Spider-Man for the PlayStation
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

Comic-book timelines and character iterations are complex at the best of times, but, although I'm not speaking from a position of any great knowledge, Spider-Man, Marvel's almost 60-year-old web-slinger, seems to gravitate more than most towards alternative versions; with many plot elements that are cannon to some arcs, but not to others. 
Moreover, Spider-Man's fictional convolutions have manifested themselves into the 'real life' story of the IP, with the machinations around rights ownership between Sony and Disney being only the most recent in a long and twisted history.

On the plus side, this gave us the fantastic 'Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-verse' movie, perhaps the best animated superhero film ever. On the downside, as a member of a very casual audience, trying to figure out where this Spider-Man (No number, no subtitle) fits into the great scheme of things is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Day 56: Spec Ops. The Line (PC)

There's potential for subversity and spoilers as my assault on one title a day from my 587 game backlog continues with...

Spec Ops. The Line for the PC
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

What’s the expiration date on a spoiler? I’ve seen some people say as little as six months, which seems ludicrous to me. More often a year is touted as a good amount of time before all info is fair game, but that also seems too soon for me; why should we expect everyone to have seen a film or played a game just twelve months after release? Sometimes it takes almost that long just to get a film to Blu Ray, or, in the case of video games, for a timed exclusivity deal to elapse.

Personally, I don’t think there is a need to ever spoil anything for anyone. That’s my rule. Ask me about Citizen Kane, a movie first released 60 years ago, and I’m going to tell you I think it’s quality and importance are overblown. Ask me more specifically about Charles Foster Kane’s last words, and I’ll tell you to go watch the film, form your own opinion, and find out for yourself.

So. Below, after the jump there is the potential for spoilers about Spec Ops. 'The Line'; an eight year old game that many, many people know all about already.

I’ll do my best to avoid specifics, however, if you have any interest in this game and (as I luckily had) have managed to avoid spoilers until now, I suggest you go and play it; it’s pretty much the best modern game about shooting soldiers in the face.

Otherwise, read on.
Oh, and get comfy; this is a long one.

Day 55: Everybody's Tennis (PS2)

It's Strawberries and Cream time as my quest to play one title a day from my 588 game backlog continues with...

Everybody's Tennis for the PS2
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

I was recently perusing my PS2 collection and noticed that I had a game for every letter of the alphabet except ‘E’ and ‘Q’. Having a bit of an obsession with this kind of thing (as anyone who read my post on 'Xtreme Games' will know) I immediately set about putting this right.

I was always a big fan of ‘Everybody’s Golf’ on the original PlayStation. It’s a great, relaxing game to play alone, or a screaming deathmatch of rage and frustration when playing a friend - although that may have been due to my propensity for taking the flashiest, riskiest shot available while Dave, the friend who I’d more than likely be playing against, had a tendency towards a more practical approach. This led not just to many hours of entertainment, but also the coining of the verb to ‘Don Johnson’, a reference to the fine movie Tin Cup, meaning to play the safest, or most boring, shot available.

So with this in mind I ordered a copy of ‘Everybody’s Tennis’. 
I’ll be grabbing a copy of ‘Quake Revolution’ at some point to round out the full A-Z, but as it’s not something I’d be in any hurry to play I figured this is not the time.

Day 54: Super Monaco Grand Prix I & II (Game Gear)

The Game Gear is loaded up with six AAs as my ongoing efforts to play one title a day from my 590 game backlog additionally tries to plug the hole left by the absent F1 season...

Super Monaco Grand Prix I & II for the Game Gear
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

Here’s a challenge for you: Open up another tab in whatever browser you’re currently using and, using all of your well honed Googling skills, find out everything you can about Ayrton’s Senna’s Super Monaco GP II for the Game Gear. Not the first one, the sequel.
Go on, take your time, I’ll be here when you get back…

Weird, isn’t it? I can only assume that by 1992 the confusion caused by Sega’s 3 Console strategy and the success of the Game Boy were both at their peak and this game just passed everyone by.

What did I learn from trying to research this game?
Well: It came out in 1992, it’s apparently better than the Master System version, and everyone who has uploaded footage of it to Youtube is terrible at it.

Day 53: The Light Corridor (ZX Spectrum)

Back to the beautiful ZX Spectrum as my efforts to fend off lockdown boredom by playing one title from my 589 game backlog continue.

The Light Corridor for the ZX Spectrum
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

Originally released for £10.99 in 1991 (£25 adjusted for inflation) ‘The Light Corridor’ found itself free on the front of Your Sinclair just 18 months later. An inauspicious fall for sure, but not an uncommon fate for games lacking a license or well known IP in the final years of this hardware.

In the original blurb for ‘The Light Corridor’ players were urged to “capture the light rays in order to accomplish the ultimate challenge: the illumination of the stars in a newborn universe” - pretty grand words considering what we have is, ostensibly, 3D Breakout.

Actually that’s not entirely fair. Yes you control a paddle and use it to deflect a ball, but besides that there really isn’t a lot here that’s similar to Breakout - or any block-breaking game for that matter. There are no blocks to break, for starters.

Using wireframe and some filled polygon graphics, the game is played from a first person perspective, and the goal is to travel as far as possible into the titular corridor as possible.
In this regard it has far more in common with Starstrike, or the trench run from Star Wars Arcade - albeit at a more sedate pace and with forward progress entirely under your control.

The two styles; Starstrike and Breakout, come together to create a game where you deflect a ball into the corridor and basically chase after it. Sooner or later it will hit an obstacle and come back at you - at which point you need to deflect it again and attempt to carry on after it again. As you travel ever further inwards the obstacles become increasingly larger, more mobile, and more complex, there are power-ups too, with most being classics such as sticky or dual paddle modes, but there are also some clever original twists on those themes. 

One of my favourite little touches comes when you reach a new stage. These seem to be set distances, and are denoted by ‘Lvl 02’ (or other stage number, obv.) being written out on a half-screen obstacle wall, furthermore, the next wall you pass will have a four digit code written on it that can be entered on the menu screen to begin at that point on future runs. I love this sort of seamless ‘in world’ information, it’s classy programming of a kind that is often not acknowledged, let alone applauded. It reminded me of the end of S.T.U.N. Runner when you physically pass the high scores of players who have come before you.

And that is pretty much that really. It’s a great little game; a simple idea, well executed. There are versions for the Atari ST and Amiga which I’m sure are more polished (and there’s no doubt mouse control would be beneficial too) but the Spectrum version does incredibly well with the power available; there’s even a level maker toolkit with the ability to save and load your creations to challenge friends - granted that's fairly unlikely in 2020 - but it's a fascinating and welcome option to see in a 30 year old game.

The Light Corridor - A bit of a curate's egg really, but one it’s very easy for you to check out as it can be played online HERE.

Day 52: Blade (GBC)

It's open season on all suckheads in my efforts to play one title from my 590 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

Blade for the GBC
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

This is another of those games that I have no idea how I came to be in possession of. 
The best guess is that it was part of a bundle that included something I was looking for, although there’s also a chance I was doing some midnight eBaying and picked it up for a pittance out of curiosity. Either way, it’s here, Selectron™ has spoken, and so, let's find out if it’s any good.

Obviously my expectations are neutral from the outset, but when the name of Hal Laboratories appears in the opening credits I admit to being intrigued. A quick trawl of wikipedia doesn’t turn up much info but, with Kirby’s handlers on board and my (at this point well documented) affection for Game Boy movie tie-ins, my interest is piqued.

Day 51: Wario Land: The Shake Dimension (Wii)

Can the bad-boy of Nintendo overcome my aversion to their platform output? Find out as I continue to cope with lock-down by playing one title from my 591 game backlog every day.

Wario Land: The Shake Dimension for the Wii
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a bit of a personal taste paradox when it comes to Nintendo products. I own and love nearly all of their mainstream hardware, but I’m really not a fan of most of their mainstream franchises, having fundamentally failed to connect with them - be it the ‘Mario’ platformers, the ‘Zelda’ series, ‘Donkey Kong’, or ‘Smash Bros.’.

Interestingly, or at least I think so, there’s a lot of Nintendo IPs that are developed by ‘2nd party’ studios that I find it much easier to enjoy - I’ve loved most of the ‘Star Fox’ series, a good half of the ‘Metroid’ games were developed via this route; I even found the Capcom developed ‘Zelda: The Minish Cap’ easier to enjoy than the other games in that franchise.

One such developer that has recently risen to prominence is ‘Good Feel’. Their big break came with ‘Kirby’s Epic Yarn’ and even more so when they retooled the striking aesthetic of that game for ‘Yoshi’s Woolly World’. They’ve continued in a similar vein with ‘Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World’, ‘Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn’, and ‘Yoshi's Crafted World’ but their first game for Nintendo was this ‘Wario Land’ effort, subtitled ‘The Shake Dimension’, ‘Shake it’, ‘Shake’, and ‘Shaking’ in various territories, and which is arguably even more of a visual departure from the Nintendo norm (Nintendorm?).

Day 50: Fire Emblem Warriors

Thanks to the wonderful people from the r/consoles subreddit, who, given five random options, chose this as the game for me to play to ‘celebrate’ day 50 of lockdown.

Fire Emblem Warriors for the Switch
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

It seems crazy to think that I started this project 50 days ago. That’s fifty days of no work, stuck at home, when, as the whole Covid-19 thing started to take hold, I was working for 3 of 5 days a week 250 miles away. 
I was travelling by train from my home on England’s south coast to Manchester in the north west on Sunday night and returning on Wednesday. To help cope with the nine hour round trip, my brother generously bought for me what he called an ‘early birthday present’; a Nintendo Switch. 

For as long I was staying in hotels for half the week I was doing a really good job of sticking to a self imposed ‘complete one - buy one’ rule for games, but when I got furloughed and the travelling stopped I may have accidentally bought  two or three titles, including this one,  that have added to this ridiculous backlog.

Day 49: Xtreme Sports (GBC)

Xtreme-ly happy to back on the GBC in my ongoing efforts to play one title from my 593 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown...

Xtreme Sports for the GBC
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

A little over a year ago I was compiling a large imgur post titled An A-Z of great Dreamcast games. I had a really good game that I was already familiar with for every letter of the alphabet except one...
I do quite a lot of video game A-Zs, it’s a good way to mix up the format rather than trotting out the world’s millionth ‘Top 25’ list, and usually ‘J’ is the problem letter - but obviously this is not the case with the Dreamcast - the phenomenal ‘Jet Set Radio’ has that more than covered. 
No, it turns out the Dreamcast has only one game in it’s entire library that starts with the letter ‘X’, and  technically that's only in North America where the game otherwise known as ‘Sega Extreme Sports’ or ‘Pepsi Max Extreme Sports’ was given the radical new name of, simply: ‘Xtreme Sports’.

Obviously I had to do some research and play the game to include it on the list, and in the course of that research I discovered that alongside the Dreamcast & PC game was another, completely unrelated, game of the same name for the Game Boy Color, and what’s more it was developed by none other than WayForward Technologies, a developer of whom I am quite a fan. So I bought both versions.

Day 48: All Walls Must Fall (PC)

One title from my 595 game backlog played every day that the UK is in lockdown...

All Walls Must Fall for the PC
Previous days' entries can be read HERE

There’s been a couple of occasions, playing these games and writing these posts, that I’ve tried and failed to connect to a game to such a degree that I’ve not bothered to do my usual 5-700 words. I’ll just mention it in this opening bit and move on to something that clicked with me a little more.

All Walls Must Fall came very close to receiving this fate, and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the game, but it’s at least interesting enough to warrant the proper word count.