WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[The Gaffer]

Figured this might be of interest to some of you.

Love finding an under the radar, non-shouty, meticulous Dull Men's Club retrospective like this. That's the evening sorted!

 

[Devon Malcolm]

Started playing Broforce. Obviously really good and the references are really funny but it's also a lot harder than I was expecting so I'll probably be at it for a while.

[The King Of Swing]

Broforce has been sitting in my library for lord knows how many years. Gonna have to give it a go one day. 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

If you liked Vampire Survivors and want to play an Arkanoid variant of it, then Ball x Pit is a wonderfully/horrifically addictive experience. It's out on everything and on Game Pass.

I expect this will swallow up all my gaming time until Powerwash Simulator 2.

 

[FLips]

Baland Wonderworld

I’ve finished this now and I do think that despite some very bad flaws, it got a bad wrap on release. The biggest flaws out of the way first;

There’s a minigame called Balan’s Bout which is 4 or 5 quicktime events and if you don’t get it perfect on each one you fail the game and don’t get the trophy (this game’s Mario 64 star required to complete the game) but it also doesn’t have a retry option so the only way to retry them is to either hard quit the game before the minigame finishes, or to redo that world’s boss to respawn them. It’s absolutely awful and the main reason I have no interest in 100%ing the game.

The second biggest flaw is the costume system. The game boasts 80 unique costumes all with different powers, but if you compare them all about 20 of the costumes have the power of “jump” and about 10 have the power of “fire projectile”. Some powers are very specific for reaching minimal unlockables, like one that places a ladder or one that pushes blocks. Narrowed down to useful powers and removing duplicates there’s maybe 20.

That being said, outside of those flaws I really enjoyed this. Obviously I had the benefit of paying less than a fiver for it but as I said before, it’s very much got a vibe similar to a cult classic Dreamcast game. The music has some really great stuff in there that I think if the game wasn’t panned would get talked about more. It has replay value with a lot of backtracking with new powers to get secrets you couldn’t before, and when you finish the main game it unlocks new areas and collectables so has decent endgame content.

If you want something in the same leagues as a Billy Hatcher or Nights into Dreams, and can get this at a good price (I would say £25 is the most I would pay but you can get it for much less) then I highly recommend it.

Rad Rodgers

Gave this a proper go too and I’m about halfway into it now. It’s a short game of only 10 stages but the levels take about 15 minutes on average due to the classic euro-platformer “collect 4 keys to unlock the exit” style gameplay. It’s very much what it presents itself as, a throwback run and gun platformer shooter almost identical to Ruff N Tumble on the Amiga. The music is fast paced and pumping, there’s fun weapon options and multiple characters to play as.

The biggest negative with this one is they gave you a foul-mouthed sidekick and so between him and some gobshit NPCs there’s just so many distasteful jokes about shit and piss and stupid childish stuff. Game would be a ton better without it but if you want something that really scratches a classic itch and plays absolutely fine, it’s another recommendation.

Redout

Another I had a proper go of but let me tell you I am rubbish at this. It’s a Wipeout/F-Zero/Fast RMX clone with optional control options for those who mainly play the latter and a focus moreso on driving clean and boosting. There’s a few unique game modes including Elimination, Time Trial and Race modes that make up the campaign. It’s fast, it’s fun and you have a lot of choices for customisation and upgrades to your ship so you can play it how you want, e.g add weapons to slow other racers, increase your drifting, increase top speed and so on. 
I made it through all the Class 1 races with Gold Medals but got onto those Class 2 races and I am getting destroyed to the point I’m watching Youtube Tutorials on how to play.

If you want something like this and can get it cheap, it’s another good pickup. It’s rock hard mind so hopefully you’re better than me!

Final Fantasy Stranger in Paradise

I’m only a few stages into this one but it’s been a welcome surprise so far. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of Final Fantasy post X, aside from XII Zodiac, what I played of XIV online, and VII Remake Part 1. This one is more along the lines of a Remnant, or Monster Hunter style hack and slash game. The focus is on completing stages and looting gear and upgrades off enemies and bosses to get stronger, with very light dodge/parry mechanics like a Souls game (but I wouldn’t call it a souls-like). It has multiplayer options but I haven’t tried those.

There’s a nice Final Fantasy flavour to the whole thing with an excellent Blue Mage style parry-to-learn mechanic on abilities, proper mainstay enemies like Cactuars, Tonberries, etc. It has in-depth Job Systems and Skill trees. Very pleasantly surprised by this so far if you like this type of game.

[Merzbow]

Isn't that Final Fantasy a reimagining of one of the earliest titles? I've been tempted but the last gen version is one of the worst downgrades around and not worth it.

22 minutes ago, FLips said:

Final Fantasy Stranger in Paradise

I've gone back to playing Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl on the PS4, it's wild these games were ever ported to consoles especially as it was almost two decades old at the time and wasn't even remastered... Pure Eurojank but I honestly think I prefer it to Fallout at times, bags of charm and bugs and I wouldn't have it any other way. Shame that Stalker 2 (the fourth game..) is a huge step back in many ways despite it being on a modern engine. 

[FLips]

25 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Isn't that Final Fantasy a reimagining of one of the earliest titles? I've been tempted but the last gen version is one of the worst downgrades around and not worth it.

I've gone back to playing Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl on the PS4, it's wild these games were ever ported to consoles especially as it was almost two decades old at the time and wasn't even remastered... Pure Eurojank but I honestly think I prefer it to Fallout at times, bags of charm and bugs and I wouldn't have it any other way. Shame that Stalker 2 (the fourth game..) is a huge step back in many ways despite it being on a modern engine. 

I believe it’s a prequel to 1 but I could be wrong. Thankfully current gen got a free (91gb!!) update to it.

[RedTwoster]

Ball X Pit on Switch 2. If you’re looking for a Vampire Survivors/Balatro-style ‘just one more go’ game, this is for you.

It’s sort of Vampire Survivors meets Breakout, with a land management sim added in there for good measure.

My first run took just over a minute but I gradually improved and one minute of playing turned into one hour, which turned into…longer than that.

I highly recommend this one. It’s stupidly addictive.

[Chest Rockwell]

Been enjoying Hades 2 and am really glad I waited for full release. It's the kind of game I am really happy to play a polished and well balanced version of, especially after having played so much of the original, I think I would have burned myself out on this if I'd started it before. I was resistant to the omega moves at first because I was just like 'let me play this how I played the game I already know how to play', but am now embracing the differences and getting to grips with some of the less straightforward weapons and it is a blast! 

Also still been playing sf6. Still enjoying Sagat, and have taken him up to Diamond 3. I'm finally not spamming raw DI which is probably the biggest change in my gameplay. His 5hk is such a brilliant anti air as well. Everything about him continues to just be so satisfying to execute.

Had a play with Viper in training and I don't think she will be for me. Fun to fight against though. The mecha Zangief skin is amazing! I know we don't get a lot of costumes in this game compared to previous installments but the quality is high. 

Edited October 20, 2025 by Chest Rockwell

[Your Fight Site]

Bit of a rant, but I’m getting fed up of replacing PS5 controllers. Think I’m on maybe my third due to stick drift. 

[TildeGuy~!]

2 hours ago, Your Fight Site said:

Bit of a rant, but I’m getting fed up of replacing PS5 controllers. Think I’m on maybe my third due to stick drift. 

Yea, bought my third recently too.

I was playing Silent Hill F on release day and thought there was some sort of bug with the game, it took me about 4 hours of game time to realise my controller had stick drift.

[The Curious Orange]

I've had hall effect sticks installed on my pair of PS5 controllers that had stick drift and haven't had any issues since. I used a site called SkinPixel if that's any help 

[waters44]

Never ever had stick drift in the countless hours I’ve been playing consoles since 1998. What are you guys doing with your controllers?! 

[JLM]

I somehow escaped it with my Switch Joycons despite it happening to almost everyone. I live in constant fear of it because controllers are preposterously expensive.  Did get through five Xbox 360s due to RROD though. 

[The Curious Orange]

Never had an issue till the PS5 either,  there does seems to be something about it that wears quickly compared to other controllers