Weekly Round-Up Wednesday - 19th October 2022

Screenshot of a level from Snow Problem
Hmmmm where have I seen this before? Maybe on the Dark Side of the Moon?

The following post is part of a series of posts that are published every Wednesday to update readers on what I've been playing during the week (this also includes games on my "Pile of Shame"). The games to target are picked by Choicest Games contributors Choona, Luke and myself. As I'll be talking about my progress through these games, there may be spoilers ahead, especially for games containing a narrative. Consider yourself warned.


Battlefield 2042

  • Picked by Me
  • Percentage Complete = 100%

Been having a few bad games of Battlefield 2042. Breakthrough can become a real pain when you're up against a well coordinated team (or ones with hackers obviously). Definitely not much fun and seriously wondering whether I should continue playing - or just finding ways to not blame myself when things go wrong (it doesn't help that there are toxic teammates who aren't afraid to remind you of how bad you're playing - but thankfully I've only encountered this situation maybe twice so far).

Every time weekly challenges come up though, it's a fun distraction and keeps me from worrying about my KDR and actually allows me to experiment with other Specialists and weapons. So I'm glad they still have these as part of the "live service".


Snow Problem

  • Picked by Me
  • Percentage Complete = 61%

I was about to give up on this game as I've hit a brick wall. I've completed more than 60 of the 100 levels in the game but can't make any further progress. In fact, I've probably spent a decent hour trying to get one particular level done to no avail. This tells you two things about the game already.

In terms of a positive, it's addictive, and I guess many puzzle games can be. Since each attempt at completing a level only takes a matter of seconds, it doesn't take long to try it several times. Time will get away from you if you play this game, a bit like having "just one more turn" when playing Civilization as you keep trying new strategies to complete the level.

On the down side, I feel like I'm really stuck. Everybody has a limit to how often they're willing to try something before they give up and I consider myself a pretty stubborn person. So, if I say it's time to give up, it probably is. This means the game is probably a bit too challenging for those that aren't into these kind of puzzle games but after reading some reviews that have already been posted for this game, it seems that you can adjust the difficulty by giving yourself more time to set things up at the beginning. Definitely something I should investigate first!

Otherwise, I can't fault much about this game. The jury's out on whether the game is too difficult for mere mortals like myself to complete, but the game is fun, addictive and has a chill soundtrack with many famous classical pieces of music. Sure, the graphics look oldschool/retro but that's probably because it runs off a modified AGS engine, an engine usually reserved for Sierra-style point 'n' click adventures (so again, kudos to Dave for developing a game that is a totally different genre to what you'd expect). Gameplay is similar to Lemmings and a genre of games I've never played before called "falling-sand" games.

LINK: [ The Pile of Shame ]

Comments

  1. Hey Mark! Glad you enjoyed the game up until you hit the wall :-D Just out of interest, have you tried increasing the pre-fall timer? This makes the game a little easier as it gives you more time to put things in place before the snow actually begins to fall.

    Difficulty level is a really tricky thing, I have been admittedly a little evil in the design of some of the later levels, but on the other hand I made absolutely sure that every level IS possible even on the hardest difficulty level.

    You're the second person to liken it to Lemmings; I'm considering re-naming it "Sand Lemmings"!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah since increasing the pre-fall timer it's definitely given me the extra few seconds I need to complete more levels (so I've completed 20 more since writing this post :)).

      Yes, many of the levels are admittedly close calls even on hardest difficulty, so no doubt there is a way to solve them but I suspect it's all about efficient placement and not making any mistakes while drawing the lines I guess!

      I'm kind of partial to Snow Problem but I like puns. I'm weird like that!

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