The very very late weekly update - the world of gospvg

Currently I am playing Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens & World of Final Fantasy on the PS4. We (daughter & I) completed another two chapters on Force Awakens at the weekend, there are some nice puzzles in the game that require a bit of thinking & she still enjoys playing mainly as BB8.


World of Final Fantasy is my main game at the moment, you play as two characters who collect mirages (think pokemon) & meet the various character, locations & lore of the many previous Final Fantasy games.

Since my last update where I had completed Dragon Quest Builders I have also played and completed Tales of the Borderlands & Rise of the Tomb Raider. I've not uploaded any gameplay videos of either game which is a shame because both games have some great moments but I was just focusing on playing them with the extended xmas break.

Tales of the Borderlands is one of the better telltale games, even I had started to get bored with the formula & Rise of the Tomb Raider is more of the same just looking more prettier, some nice set pieces & thankfully less gruesome death scenes than the previous game.

I have added some new sections to the PWB box with Shelf, which lists all the game I have yet to play in the hope it may stop me purchasing some more! & Pre-Ordered which I don't think will ever have that many games because I rarely pre-order games.

Edit - Completely forgot about iOS gaming!
I am still playing the usual in Carcassonne, Lost Cities, Clash Royale & Pokemon Go.

Reigns is my latest enjoyment on iphone. You are a king, how long can you survive whilst keeping all parties happy. It has simple swipe the cards to say yes or no to your choices but each choice will have an effect on one of the parties you are trying to manage.

On the iPad it is either 8 Ball Pool, Rodeo Stampede or Crashlands which is a sci-fi survival game, Your ship has crashed, mine, craft & build your way off the stranded planet.

Lara Croft Go (iOS) - Completed

Now that I have an iPad of my own that the kids cannot nick I have gone back to playing some games on it.

Lara Croft Go was my first choice, it's a turn by turn based puzzle game that has you obviously searching for treasure whilst avoiding pitfalls & either escaping or killing creatures like snakes/lizards.

I only managed to get stuck on one level for a while until I figured it out but the majority are pretty straight forward & fairly simple. There is also a Hitman Game which use's a similar play-style which I have not yet played. There is a new Monument Valley style game called Dream Machine which I will start next but for now back to Batman.

Lara Croft Temple of Osiris - Completed

Our first PS4 PMG completed, the last boss fight was much easier than I thought. No idea about the plot Egyptian gods fighting against each other or something but it was an decent twin stick shooter with a few puzzles.

Twin stick shooters unfortunately seem to be the norm for most 4 player games, there really should be more choice by now.

We still have Gauntlet & Helldivers to play but next on the play list is the daddy of them all Diablo 3.

Tomb Raider - Completed

Apart from my obvious hate of QTEs the game itself is very enjoyable, I enjoyed running, jumping & climbing around the map to get the collectables. The storyline is not bad with pretty decent voice acting.

The tombs were much simpler than I thought and the puzzles were a tad on the easy side. 

I hated the gore especially the death sequences, I did however like the Metroid touches of collecting/upgrading weapons to return to previous sections that were inaccessible.

Fire arrows are easily the best weapon in the game but disappointed that Lara did not have her two signature guns or the cartwheel move. The developers should have played the original playstation games & have some Easter Eggs relating to the previous games.

There are obvious comparisons with the uncharted games but I found Tomb Raider more enjoyable that the two uncharted games I have completed.

It's good to pick up a game & play to completion without getting distracted by anything else. Not a bad record for me two weeks from start to finish.

Next then some Forza Horizon with the very possible distraction of Lego City on the Wii U.

I understand Lara did not sell in the numbers SquareEnix wanted, I for one hope this is not her final game. She can be so much better & hopefully next generation will see her return with her next adventure.

New Game - Tomb Raider

My initial thoughts when watching the trailer videos & reading some reviews was oh Lara! what have they done to you?!

Taking the girl out & dropped her into an Uncharted game. I'm not a big fan of button press sequence gaming and within minutes of starting the game you are asked to hammer away at the X button :(

They even stripped out the cartwheel move you could pull off when climbing a ledge. Maybe she needed to be reinvented to survive? Or otherwise she might have been gone to the character graveyard & joined Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon & her other playstation friends.

The sales figures whilst strong did not meet their targets, so will she be back? Or is this a farewell?

Maybe she was released too late this gen thus when playing the game you cannot help but think that the developers have taken the Uncharted template, mixed in some Assassin Creed & topped it off with some Batman Arkham Asylum.

The formula is not wrong, for all it's button presses the game is very playable but it's not the Lara Croft Tomb Raider game I wanted.

I have just completed the second area of the game and unlocked fast travel. This lets me return to previously used camps to continue searching for any missed collectables.

For now Lara is a distraction to stop me playing Forza Horizon but she should have & could have been so much more.

Lara Croft Guardian of Light - Completed

I started playing this with Abbas back in December 2010 & after running out of retail co-op games to play we have returned 16 months later to complete the game.

It a top down action puzzle affair, you take the role of Lara or Totec (a Mayan warrior) to defeat Xolotl & imprison him back in the Smoke of Mirrors.

You travel across various locations solving puzzles & collecting artefacts. Co-Op play is needed to solve some of the puzzles you come across & useful for reviving the other character if they have fallen in battle.

Easily a 5 or 6 hour campaign that leads you to the ultimate showdown against Xolotl.

There is a nothing new in co-op gaming to play from retail released games so we may have to stay with Xbox Live Arcade for our next game. We do have Portal 2 but I do not want to play that until I have completed the first game. Time for EA to release a new Army of Two game or Rainbow Six Vegas 3?