PowerWashing a Classic

The Steam Autumn Sale (aka "Black Friday") has been rolling along for the last few days and looks to continue until Tuesday.  I've decided to restrain myself since I just recently purchased the magnificent Dave the Diver and instead invested in the most recent DLC for on of my favorite oddly soothing games, PowerWash Simulator.  The "Back to the Future" pack offers up the chance to wash some very filthy vehicles and locations related to the now classic three film series from the 1980's and 90's.  But is it worth those $8?

Pros:

+ If you're a fan of the movies it's fun seeing some of the iconic locations and vehicles again.  I can't even remember the last time I actually watched the movies and was marveling at the amount of detail in the vehicles.  At first I was a little bit skeptical of this pack--a film series that's not exactly recent seemed like an odd choice, but the nostalgia factor turned out to be enjoyable.

+ Fun animations and achievements.  I always kick myself because I never look at the achievements before cleaning and wind up missing them (many require you to clean in a certain order).  A couple of the vehicles you clean surprisingly will move and animate!  It shocked me but adds something novel.

A very filthy time machine waiting to be cleaned.

+ A mix of buildings and vehicles to clean.  Doc's van, the DeLorean, the steam engine (from the third movie) are the vehicles featured.  The locations to clean include the clock tower (from the first movie) and the movie theater (from the second).  The DeLorean and steam engine are remarkably detailed with tons of little parts (I'm curious if they had to look up what all the tiny parts were supposed to be) that we all undoubtedly missed in the films.

Cons:

- Most of the reviews on Steam mention the fact that the DLC is short and doesn't include any large maps.  Some reviewers claimed that they finished it in two hours (I might just be cripplingly slow, but it definitely took me much longer than that).  

- All those fun small details on the vehicles can be somewhat frustrating to clean, but are definitely doable.  My advice, just spray from every possible angle, no matter how illogical or silly it seems.

- No new items/skins (if that's your jam).

Recommendation:

I am thrilled for any new PowerWash content and thought the choice of theme was a bit odd (are the children of today even familiar with Back to the Future?  I'm guess they aren't the target demographic for this game), but I found it enjoyable.  For only $8 you get more power washing fun times.  If you enjoy the soothing, oddly pleasant joy of cleaning virtual dirty surfaces, go for it!  If you are hoping for some large maps or content that isn't tied to a movie series from almost 30 years ago, maybe give it a skip. 

It's Got Depth--Dave the Diver Review

I am constantly on the lookout for new, interesting, and positively reviewed games.  It was a bit of a surprise that a certain pixel graphic game with a simple title kept popping up.  Since the post-Stardew Valley glut of pixel games came out I've been a bit skeptical.  After consistently seeing overwhelmingly positive reviews, I decided to set my skepticism aside and give Dave the Diver a try.  It was a great choice and it has quickly become one of the best games I've played this year.

What is it?

The first thing that's worth stating about Dave the Diver is that comparisons to Stardew Valley are fairly off the mark.  They do share some characteristics, but I walked into Dave expecting a gameplay loop that was similar, and it's so much more than that.  My advice--drop any preconceived notions about what to expect.  The Steam tags describe it as a singleplayer adventure RPG and to me that's much more aligned with the gameplay.

Each dive is slightly different.

Each day is split into three phases--morning, afternoon, and night.  During the morning and afternoon Dave can take dives.  The game touts the fact that there are some roguelite elements--each dive the environments are slightly different.  Dave is equipped with a harpoon and dive knife and can utilize those tools to catch fish.  The Blue Hole where Dave takes his dives is also scattered with crates, objects, plants, and treasures that can be collected.  The RPG elements come into play because as gameplay progresses, Dave can upgrade his gear allowing him to dive to even greater depths, carry more items, and wield more powerful weapons.

Catching fish is one of the central activities because at night Dave helps out in Bancho Sushi--a small, struggling sushi restaurant.  The gameplay in the restaurant portion is more management oriented--you get to pick the menu (based on the fish caught previously) and help serve drinks and food to the customers that arrive.  Eventually you unlock the ability to hire more staff and then the management gets slightly more complicated as you need to balance training and placing them where their skills are best suited.  You want to do a good job in the restaurant portion because the money made each night determines the ability to purchase upgrades (for Dave's gear and for running the restaurant).

The part that surprised me the most was that there's a central story and boss fights--the Stardew Valley comparisons that I had read made me think the game was mostly about the daily gameplay loop.  The story is fun and provides more depth than I was expecting.  It also helps give the game more playtime--I completed the story at around 35-40 hours--not too shabby for a $20 game.

Pros:

+ A cast of goofy, fun characters that grows as you progress through the story.  Each character offers something different to help Dave or provides more tasks--Duff, the anime-girl loving weapons expert can craft and improve Dave's weapons; Sato teaches Dave about collecting Marinca cards (a Pokemon-like collecting task--each fish you catch or photograph unlocks a new card--Gotta Catch em' All); Leah offers up Ecowatch objectives to gather certain items to unlock rewards...and there are many more!

+ The gameplay and story takes a lot of surprising turns.  You might find yourself in a boss battle with a giant shark or completing rhythm game-like QTE's as part of a character sequence.  They're always fun and provide a lot of variety to the gameplay.  Random characters arrive at the sushi restaurant throughout the game and will provide opportunities where certain ingredients need to be gathered.

+ Low requirements.  Even if you have a PC that's on the more potato side of things, it should run like a charm.  I had zero performance issues.

+ The daily loop gets more complex and there's more management as gameplay advances.  Eventually you unlock the ability to grow fresh vegetables and manage a fish farm to supply ingredients to the restaurant.  Both require making decisions around where to spend resources and what crops to grow/fish to stock.

+ Plenty of collectibles and side goals.  There's Marinca card collecting, seahorse racing, catching rare fish, and completing Ecowatcher goals (which include things like collecting certain plants or eliminating invasive species).

+ Diving is fun and challenging.  Each depth (which must be unlocked through upgrades to Dave's diving suit) has unique fish and features--there are also aggressive fish (such as sharks) which must be avoided or killed.  The diving environment does change slightly with each dive and certain unique biomes can appear on a dive.

+ Boss fights that are challenging, but not too tough.  This is where I think some people who are walking into the game with Stardew Valley expectations might be a bit surprised.  The game is mostly a casual affair, but some of these sequences might be tough for gamers hoping for a truly casual experience (there is a menu option to automate button tapping sequences--this might help some people).  Some of the boss fights are optional, but others are part of the story.  The nice thing about the boss fights is that you don't get penalized for dying (if you die on a dive you can only loot one item and must return to the boat--basically you lose a chunk of time during the day and almost all of your items).

Dave's boat with a lightning skin unlocked from an event.

+ Personalization options for the restaurant and Dave's boat.  As you progress you unlock interior decorations for Bancho Sushi and can choose the look of the restaurant.

+ Tons of upgrades and unlockables to choose from.  You can opt for powerful weapons--good for dispatching aggressive fish--or net guns/tranquilizer guns which are better for catching and capturing fish in good condition.  Each weapon has multiple branches of upgrades so you can pick the options that best suit your preferences.

+ Gameplay continues beyond the end of the story.  There are some pretty lofty goals related to the sushi restaurant that will keep you playing.

Cons:

- Certain parts of the gameplay aren't explained very well and you might find yourself having to Google.  There aren't a ton, but occasionally you might find yourself stymied about some aspect of the gameplay.  I had to look up what the little arrows on the seahorses (one side activity is seahorse racing) meant because I don't think it was ever explained.  I also didn't understand how enhancing dishes in the sushi restaurant worked and didn't do it for a long time (which impacted the amount of money I made).

Recommendation:

For only $20, Dave the Diver is an absolute bargain.  The game has a surprising amount of depth and so many fun, unexpected moments.  I would highly recommend grabbing it--even at full price, it's well worth it.  It has been one of the best games I've played this year (and I'm still playing it).

N7 Day Leaves Unanswered Questions

When November 7th rolls around each year the nerdy Mass Effect fanbase gets all a tither.  November 7th roughly aligns with Commander Shepherd's N7 rank in the series and has become the date on which BioWare rolls out some info about upcoming Mass Effect projects.  This year they rolled out several teasers filled with cryptic binary codes and challenged the most ardent fans to decode tiny tidbits of information.  I'm a member of two fabulous groups on Facebook--one dedicated to Mass Effect and the other to the Dragon Age series--and the ME group was buzzing about a new poster release that is supposed to be chock full of clues as to the next entry in the series.  Take a gander:

The description of the content of the poster on the BioWare gear store is one sentence:  "Prepare for a bold new future with this brand-new art print commemorating #N7Day 2023!" Absolutely no hints as to what any of this actually means. There was much conjecture about different aspects of the poster--is it depicting a new protagonist? Could it be Shepherd reborn? Much of the guessing was focused on the lower portion--if you zoom in there's what appears to be a depiction of a bar/nightclub scene. In that scene you can plainly see the original ME races depicted--there are Turians, Asari, Salarians, Humans, and Quarians. Some very keen eyed folks also pointed out the fact that they could see what appears to be a Geth and an Angara. Does this potentially suggest that there is going to be some sort of tie-in with Andromeda? There's plenty to question in this very cryptic teaser.

Much of the debate seemed to center around two things--firstly, who will be the protagonist in the next game. There is definitely a faction of fans who very much hope that they plan to bring Shepherd back in some form (this, despite the fact that the multiple endings of ME3 all pointed at the demise of our favorite commander). Many pointed out the fact that the teaser trailer from last year showed Liara picking up a fragment of a broken N7 helmet which would indicate the the next game at least has some sort of tie with the original series and could potentially be steering itself away from the redheaded stepchild that is Andromeda. The figure in this poster appears to be female (which doesn't mean much since the series features a male/female option for the protagonist), is rocking a very cool Cyberpunk-esque jacket that gives off a sort of assassin vibe, is carrying what looks like a silenced pistol, has the signature N7 red stripe, and is wearing a helmet that is vaguely similar to the helmets in Andromeda. Personally, I don't love the Shepherd theories and think the series needs to move on to a different protagonist. Many were also proposing ideas about potential descendants of Shepherd (supposing the game does take place in the future), but that seems even more far-fetched to me.

The second area of debate centered around the bar/nightclub scene depicted in the lower portion of the jacket. Hardcore internet sleuths dedicated a lot of bandwidth to zooming in and trying to pick apart every detail in the scene. Some claimed to see Garrus and Liara; there's supposedly a Geth and Angara in there too. Does this suggest that the game will take place in the Milky Way with some sort of link to Andromeda? If so, the timeline would be odd--it would need to be far in the future (at least 600+ years). The teaser from last year also seemed to point to this scenario with many people pointing out that Liara looked much older in the trailer. Many fans were declaring a hope that the remnants of the crew of the Normandy would be involved in some way--to me, if it does take place in the future, that would be tough. Some of the species are long-lived, but not all of them, and 600 years is well beyond the supposed lifespan of many of them. I also think it would be unwise to completely pretend that Andromeda didn't happen and that it would be beneficial to tie it to the original series. It would be nice if the Andromeda series continued in some way.

So, what did we actually learn from this smattering of cryptic information? Not a whole heck of a lot, to be completely honest. A new game is being developed. That's basically it. One of the hotter post-N7 Day takes came from PC Gamer who rolled out this article openly criticizing BioWare for essentially stringing fans along and not really providing any substantial information about the development of either of its flagship games--Mass Effect or the more upcoming Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Sadly, most of the news out of BioWare lately hasn't been good--ugly layoffs and staff protesting over getting severance pay. As much as I want to disagree with the author of this article, I really can't. There hasn't been anything meatier than the N7 day teaser trailers. I don't want to be pessimistic, but I don't have high hopes for either the new Dragon Age game or the much farther off Mass Effect. I believe the era of strong writing, memorable characters, and stories in singleplayer RPG's is basically over...sadly replaced with more gameplay that centers around microtransactions and continuous profits. Many other fans have also bemoaned the fact that that BioWare's golden age has likely passed. People will point to the last two games as clear evidence--the flop that was Anthem and the much maligned Andromeda.

But we can always hope, right? Here's to hoping--and here's the full teaser trailer:

Riding off Into the Sunset--My CyberPunk 2.0 Adventure Comes to an End

Phew!  After a lengthy playthrough of the newest (2.0--which is now 2.02 thanks to a couple of small patches) iteration of CyberPunk 2077 I'm ready to move onto my next adventure.  So...is 2.0 all that CD Projekt said that it would be?  Sort of...that's my verdict.

What's good:

+ The new and improved talents seem to offer up more variety when it comes to builds.  I opted (and then regretted) for my stereotypical stealthy talents with some shooting and hacking mixed in.  There's an interesting new avenue in the "cool" talent that is built around throwing knives which I wish I had given a chance (I found throwing knives to be completely pointless in the OG game--basically you can equip one knife and have to fetch it after you throw it.  I didn't like this at all--even if it does make some sort of logical sense).  Overall though, I didn't think the talents felt too different (there are definitely a few that offer up some unique abilities), but have been improved.

+ I love the new wardrobe function!  I'm not 100% sure it was something added strictly in 2.0, but as someone who does like to play around with clothing, it's fabulous.  Every article of clothing you loot is automatically added to V's closet (you can sell it all and still use it).  You can save up to 6 different outfits that can be swapped out at any time.

+ All rippers sell all items--there's no need to search up which ripper offers up which specific high level pieces of cyberware.  In some ways this sort of detracts from the uniqueness of each ripperdoc--instead of interacting with more than one person, I found myself returning to good ol' Viktor.  I guess the loss of some lore-related interactions is worth the convenience.

+ There is lots of new cyberware and being able to utilize it is pretty easy.  Opting for a stealthy build, I found the optical camo to be particularly nice for navigating tricky situations.  There's a stealth talent that allows you to sprint while crouching and will automatically engage your optical camo system.  There's definitely much more room to shape your cyberware around your build.

+ Iconic weapons have new, special abilities.  I enjoyed using Jackie's pistol for its crit chance increase based on headshots and chance to randomly ignite enemies.  Picking out a favorite is a lot more fun than in the past.

+ There's some new dialogue with friends & associates.  I had several new text exchanges with Judy and Panam--one of the best was with Judy's grandmother who is very curious about V's relationship with her granddaughter.  It's fun and adds a new layer of depth to some of the key relationships in the game.

+ Making money is much easier than in the base game.  I didn't try to purchase all the vehicles for the one achievement, but it seems like it's more doable than in the past.

The stereotypical Us Cracks selfie.

What's lackluster:

- The 2.0 release video really tried to upsell a couple of "improved" features that turned out to be a lot of nothing.  The first major feature is vehicle combat.  I didn't encounter a single mission or situation that required me to engage in vehicular combat.  The addition of a few new, cool weaponized vehicles is fun, but I expected to be frequently engaging in full out gun battles.  Maybe it's more of a part of "Phantom Liberty," which I haven't played.

The other major "improvement" was supposedly to the way the police function--the video hinted that the cops would be much more of a factor in V's activities in Night City.  If you're hoping for the pulse pounding escapes from a police chase ala Grand Theft Auto--well, keep holding your breath for GTA 6 because this ain't it.  Basically, it seems like they added in more police, so there's a much higher chance of engaging with them (meaning running them over due to out of control driving).  Even if you do make direct contact with the po-po, the most you'll face is a need to quickly exit the area to avoid any other police in the area.  I never saw my wanted level rise above 2 stars and found it extremely easy to evade their notice.  You'd pretty much have to launch an all out assault on the police to enjoy 5 star chaos.

- Some bugs STILL have persisted.  I'm talking mainly about the bugs that impact drops of iconic weapon crafting plans.  I missed out on 2 sets of plans because they simply didn't drop.  I also opted for the nomad ending and noticed that my V was buck nekkid (again) when Saul decides to gift her with the Aldecaldos jacket.  Le sigh...they just can't get a handle of these things.  I was also getting weird crashes like every time I exited out of the game (I was given a prompt to send a bug report, but I had already quit, so it didn't impact the actual game--annoying mostly, but 2.02 seems to have fixed it).

Overall, there have been many nice, quality of life improvements to CyberPunk and it's definitely gotten better.  I think they oversold some of the 2.0 changes, but if it has been awhile since you stepped into V's shoes, you'll definitely notice the differences.  I'm going to wait awhile to purchase "Phantom Liberty" and might wait till it starts going on sale (hopefully the holiday sale)--its reviews have been positive and players are saying it's good.