#54 - Get To Work

Get To Work is a tongue-in-cheek game about climbing the corporate ladder.  But it's more metaphorical than literal, as you spend the game on your hands and knees, rollerblading your way up difficult obstacles (and falling back to the ground level) just for the slightest recognition in the workforce.

It's one of those climbing games, like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, or Only UP!, or A Difficult Game About Climbing, except you're on rollerblades instead of climbing with your own two hands.  This game just released two days ago, so it's very new.

I like the title screen of this game.  It's designed to look like a business magazine, while showing off the main character and your game options.  Your character reminds me of the political activist Charlie Kirk, with his tiny face on a large head.

I also love the article call-out for Sam Bankman-Fried.  In case you're not familiar, he was considered the poster boy for all things crypto, having founded FTX cryptocurrency exchange.  That is, until FTX went bankrupt and he was arrested and charged for fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. As of this year, he's serving 25 years in prison and was forced to pay back $11 billion.

Get To Work opens in your bedroom, with you staring at a poster encouraging you to climb that corporate ladder.  So you set off, with rollerblades on your hands, feet, knees, and elbows.  There is no walking or standing in this game; you rollerblade everywhere.

You reach your first room of obstacles, with the goal being to show up for your first interview.  You may notice that there's a clock in the top left corner, giving you a subtle tracker for how long you struggle throughout this game.

A narrator explains the jist of this game for you, essentially claiming that NFTs were more far-fetched than a game about rollerblading up the corporate ladder.  If you can't read the narration subtitles at the bottom of this screenshot, click the image to see its full 4K resolution.

Hidden around each room are these spinning logos for The Grindset, a podcast about business.  They have short (usually funny) discussions about corporate life and what you need to know to succeed in today's work climate.  As if the climb wasn't hard enough, most of them are in hard-to-reach areas.  But there are three achievements for collecting these, so grab every one you can find!

Here's an excerpt of unprompted narration.  It sounds silly and preposterous, but is also real in America and kind of sad.  Two of my close friends are in this exact situation right now, having spent the past year job-hunting and still not having any luck being seriously considered.  And one of them has a Harvard degree!

I'm almost to the interview...

You finally get to your first interview, only to find that it's not going to be that easy.  We've gone so far metaphorical now, it's wrapping back around to literal!

You finally get an offer letter!

...Only to be rejected and fall all the way back to the start.

Thankfully, you have a family member who can hook you up with a warehouse job in the meantime.  So you set out again to climb a new corporate ladder.

The game starts to get really sassy at this point.  I got stuck in this room for about an hour, and the more I fell to the ground, the more the narrator had to say about it.

Eventually, the game gave me a GIVE UP button to press, for when I'm "feeling like this game is too much and it's time to give up."  They also started mentioning shoes a lot, claiming it would probably be in my best interest to buy a pair and just walk my way to the top instead.

I finally made it to my first pay raise! ...Only to learn it wasn't feasible at this time and instead I received a pizza party.  Goddamn, that's too real.  But at least there's a manager role that I can promote to, so I'm not done yet, right?  RIGHT?

I finally made it to the promotion to manager!  Woo!

Only to have a brick wall literally pop up in my face, proclaiming that a college degree is required.  Which I apparently don't have.

This was the first time my character seemed to be in real despair.  Normally if he fell, he'd immediately pop back up and be ready to go.  But after this one, he just lied there, unmoving.  I had to jiggle the controls to get him back up.

There was a hallway off to one side that led to an unpaid internship, the only option left for a warehouse worker with no degree.  Sigh.

After climbing this next room of obstacles and getting accepted for the unpaid internship, I finally had to call it a night.  This humor in this game was starting to get too real and painful.  And I spent an hour and a half just to get this far!  You will eventually work your way up to CEO before the game ends, so I still have a long way to go.

By the way, I couldn't resist making this:

Get Stick Bugged lol

#53 - LocoCycle

LocoCycle, despite its appearance, is not actually a racing game, but an action/adventure fighting game that happens to take place on the open road.

LocoCycle opens with a live action B-movie cinematic.  We get a few of these cinematic cutscenes throughout the game.  We see important military leaders from China, Russia, Africa, and America, along with a ton of other guests in elegant formal wear, gathering at a secret formal event in Nicaragua.  It's a gallery held by the arms dealer Big Arms, to show off two new motorcycles: the sentient combat bikes S.P.I.K.E. and I.R.I.S., with advanced AI and powerful weaponry.  The bikes will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Yes, that is James Gunn in the background.  He plays the host of this event, showing off the two bikes.  The girl in blue (Lisa Foiles) actually performed the AI voice for I.R.I.S., and S.P.I.K.E. was voiced by Robert Patrick, the guy who played the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

A thunderstorm starts brewing and the party is moved indoors.  Some armed guards are asked to move the bikes to the garage, but while one steps away to take a call, I.R.I.S. is hit by lightning!

We're then introduced to I.R.I.S.' mechanic, Pablo, who is asked to repair her.  Her circuitry is fried and she needs to be fixed up before the auction begins.  Pablo only speaks Spanish throughout the entire game, which makes it impossible for him to communicate with I.R.I.S., whose database of 5,000 languages is now corrupted.  If you don't know Spanish, make sure you turn on subtitles!

While Pablo is fixing her up, I.R.I.S. scans the magazine he was reading, then watches a commercial on the nearby TV about a Freedom Rally being held at the fairgrounds in Scottsburg, Indiana.  She's inspired by the ad's tagline: "Live Free. Ride Alive."

She decides she needs to find this rally in Scottsburg, IN and she invites Pablo to tag along.  Problem is, Pablo's pant leg is caught on I.R.I.S.' rear wheel frame.  When she takes off, he finds himself dragged along!

The rest of the game is I.R.I.S. racing to find Scottsburg, IN while dragging Pablo on the pavement behind her.  That trip is over 3,000 miles long!  I hope Pablo is wearing some durable britches.

I.R.I.S. breaks out of the Big Arms facility and is quickly pursued by men in black suits and heavy firearms.

You'll quickly notice that I.R.I.S. drives on her own, and you only control her other functions. You can steer her back and forth, attack with front or rear wheels (Pablo himself usually being the rear-wheel attack), shoot unlimited rounds from her forward guns, and boost forward for a limited time.

Despite occasionally aiding I.R.I.S. in combat, Pablo insists that he's being dragged along against his will.  He begs for help from anyone who comes after them, but is mostly ignored as they do everything they can to take down I.R.I.S.

There are several types of enemies you'll encounter.  The armed men in black being the most prevalent, but there are also guys with jet packs, helicopters, and even rocket launchers.  I.R.I.S. can counter all their attacks with quick-time events, including throwing rockets back at their launcher.

S.P.I.K.E. himself will come for I.R.I.S., but she refuses to go home with him.  So he resolves to take her out and you get a boss fight with him.

When S.P.I.K.E. realizes that Pablo is a "powerful human ally" in I.R.I.S.' escape, he decides to get his own human companion.  He grabs the first lady he finds at a campground, who willingly goes along with him despite being dragged on her back for miles of gravel and pavement.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I.R.I.S. is just holding onto Pablo; he's not actually stuck.  Because she can throw him like a ninja star to attack ranged enemies!  He always boomerangs back to her and ends up with his pant leg "stuck" on her again.

Because I.R.I.S. is technically malfunctioning, there are times when she might shut down completely and stop in the middle of the road.  Then Pablo has a limited amount of time to fix her up before a pursuing semi truck catches up and runs them both over.

It's a little tricky moving Pablo around until he finds problems to fix, but the various fixes themselves are relatively easy to complete.

This is an extremely campy and silly game, but very fun to play!  Combat is mostly button-mashing and swerving around obstacles on the road, with some quick-time events to either counter an attack or dodge an obstacle.  There are three skill trees to improve I.R.I.S. and Pablo's abilities, and the more stuff you unlock, the easier the game becomes.  The whole game is 5 levels with 3 missions per level, plus a final boss fight level.  You could probably beat the whole thing in a few hours of gameplay.

Here's a shot of S.P.I.K.E. eating a sweet corn and black raspberry buttermilk ice cream cone:

#52 - Sonic X Shadow Generations (Shadow Generations)

Good morning!  Today I'm going to be looking at the latest game in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise: Sonic X Shadow Generations.  This game is a 2024 remake of the 2011 game Sonic Generations, which itself was a modern tribute to Sonic's past games fighting against Dr. Eggman.

Side note: His name was Dr. Robotnik in the old American version of the games, but he's always been known as Dr. Eggman in the original Japanese.  The game Sonic Adventure fixed the discrepancy by making "Eggman" a teasing name Sonic called Robotnik.  Robotnik liked it enough, he made it his official moniker and he's been known as Dr. Eggman ever since.

The original Sonic Generations inspired the creation of new games in the classic side-scroller series, including Sonic 4 Episode I and II, Sonic Mania, Sonic Origins (which was an updated collection of Sonic 1-3 & Knuckles, Sonic CD, plus 12 Game Gear games), a cameo of "Classic Sonic" and his side-scrolling adventures in Sonic Forces, and recently, Sonic Superstars.

Sonic Generations firmly established in the canon that the 2D side-scroller Classic Sonic was a younger Sonic.  Every game since his redesign in Sonic Adventure is the 15-yr old "Modern Sonic," whose 3-dimensional third-person games continue to this day.

Today, though, I will be focusing specifically on Shadow the Hedgehog's story in Sonic X Shadow Generations, since this is the "Year of Shadow" according to SEGA.  He's going to be the new villain in the live-action film Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which is releasing late next month.

I do my best not to spoil the games I review, but I need to be extra careful with this one, as the opening cutscene basically explains Shadow's whole tragic past.  For those unfamiliar with Shadow's games and don't want his story spoiled before they see the live action film, I will be avoiding any revealing details concerning his past.

Shadow Generations starts out with a brief glance at Shadow's past aboard the space colony ARK, a massive station orbiting Earth.  This was where Shadow was created 50 years prior, by Professor Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather.

Shadow lived on the space station, alongside Gerald's young granddaughter Maria, who was a constant ray of sunshine; the only beacon of optimism and light in Shadow's life.  The two of them were the best of friends.

Long story short (skipping a lot of revealing backstory), Shadow ended up captured and contained in a cryogenic tube for 50 years, where he was awoken by Dr. Eggman in the game Sonic Adventure 2.  After losing a half century of time and everyone he's ever known in his life, the despairing hedgehog agreed to team up with the grandson of his creator to fight Sonic and destroy the world that ruined his life.  Later, he realized he was fighting for the wrong side (and for the wrong reasons).  He eventually teamed up with Sonic to save the world instead, then went off to become an anti-hero, searching to discover the truth about his dark past.

Cutting back to modern-day Shadow, we find him exploring the ARK because of an unusual bio-signature detected aboard the space colony.  He's contacted by his partner, Rouge the Bat, who claims he's missing Sonic's birthday party.  This was the opening for Sonic Generations, showing that Shadow's story takes place at the same time.

Suddenly, Shadow comes across a creature from his dark past: Doom's Eye!  This tentacle starfish alien creature is an extension of Black Doom, a world-conquering alien from the game Shadow the Hedgehog.  Even though Shadow defeated him in the past, he's somehow back!

Doom's Eye can warp reality, trapping Shadow in a Doctor Strange-esque mirror dimension of sorts.

Shadow fights Doom's Eye and after giving him a solid poke in the eye, Doom's Eye runs away through a portal, exclaiming that they'll meet again soon.  You receive an alien-looking artifact that's in the shape of the Black Arms symbol, the mark of Black Doom's alien army.  If you ever played Shadow the Hedgehog, you'll recognize this symbol as part of the game's logo.

As if there weren't enough trouble, the Time Eater from Sonic Generations shows up, trapping everyone at Sonic's birthday party in a time anomaly!

This was the latest plot by Dr. Eggman, to control the Time Eater and thus control time itself.  He planned to rewrite past events and erase Sonic from existence!  Shadow finds himself caught up in the anomaly, although he lands in a barren land of his own past which is frozen in time.  There is a floating orb in the sky with eyes surrounding it, which awakens from the Black Arms symbol you collected.  Every one you collect throughout the game brings it more to life.

Having no way out of this "White Space," you start exploring various stages, reliving places and villains from Shadow's past.  Every stage has two acts, which bring life and color to the area as you complete them.

This area is different from Sonic's White Space in Sonic Generations.  Sonic explores a 2D White Space, where all the frozen stages are lined up in a row.  Shadow gets more of an open map to explore, like the recent open-world Sonic Frontiers game.

Eventually, you find others who have been trapped in the time anomaly, like E-123 Omega, Shadow's other partner; Orbot and Cubot, Eggman's robot lackeys; Big the Cat, a friendly fisherman whose looking for his best friend, Froggy; and... Maria and Gerald Robotnik?!

These two familiar faces from Shadow's distant past are a sight for sore eyes.  Vowing to protect them, he runs off to save more of the time-frozen realm and stop Black Doom, the main villain of Shadow's past. Black Doom plans to use the time anomaly to accelerate his plans and destroy the world before Shadow has a chance to stop him.

Shadow, as the "ultimate life form," has his own powers, including Chaos Control.  It's a way he can use chaos emeralds to warp time and space, which he usually uses to teleport.  In this game though, it freezes time for a few seconds while Shadow continues moving.  It's used as a way to freeze impossible obstacles so Shadow has a moment to cross, destroy, or escape them.  It also freezes your game clock, giving you a few spare seconds to complete an act without dropping to a lower final grade.  Destroying enemies fills the Chaos Control gauge at the bottom center of the screen.

You also unlock Doom powers for Shadow, allowing him to use the dark energy for new abilities.  But the stronger Shadow gets, the stronger Black Doom gets, making your inevitable fight a tough one.

There was an act in Sonic Generations where Sonic goes back in time to a race/fight with Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2.  This fight was retconned in this remake, where modern-day Shadow runs into Sonic in the time anomaly and they chase each other into the past act where they originally raced.  Sonic is looking to take the Chaos Emerald that Shadow has on him, because he needs it in order to stop the Time Eater.  But Shadow needs it to perform Chaos Control, so he has an advantage against the Black Arms.  Who do you think will win this fight...?

This game was a masterful remake of a tribute to the classic games in the Sonic franchise.  Not only modernizing graphics and gameplay, but also adding more lore, exploring Shadow's past games, and introducing his gameplay to elements of more modern games, like Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers.

The gameplay is fantastic, seamlessly blending action and speed with the controls so you actually feel like you're moving at mach speeds while controlling Shadow.  And the visuals are just incredible for a Sonic game! Like in the Kingdom Valley stage, where you ride an eagle several times throughout the two acts!  This is a throwback to the game Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), where the eagles provided characters transportation throughout Kingdom Valley.

This game is full of references and updated levels of older Sonic games, but you don't need to play the previous games to get enjoyment out of this one.  There is plenty of story and lore to fill in the gaps, so you don't feel left out.  The important details are fully covered, while also giving you a new full story to enjoy.  The only thing that might stop you from playing it is Shadow's backstory, which might ruin parts of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film that's about to release.  But that film series is already deviating quite a bit from the original games, so you probably won't spoil much of the film if you play this game.

As a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan for over 30 years now, I can say that I really enjoyed this game!  So much so, that I'm actually going to go back and re-play some of the older Sonic games from my childhood.  I wish I could play Shadow the Hedgehog, which introduced Black Doom and his Black Arms, but it only released for the PS2 and it never got a port to any other console.  We need a modern port and/or remake, SEGA!