While we here at Operation Rainfall love covering the latest in gaming news and sharing our reviews of titles new and classic, we also just enjoy playing games in our downtime. So with that, sit back, relax, and check out what the oprainfall gaming crew have been up to this week!
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined
This week, I finally received my copy of Tengo Project’s latest release, Kiki KaiKai – Kuro Manto no Nazo, which will be released in the West next month as Pocky & Rocky Reshrined. Like Wild Guns Reloaded and Ninja Saviors before it, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is the latest retro revival from this humble team. They took yet another Super Nintendo cult classic the team previously worked on called Pocky & Rocky, and completely revamped it to turn it into something that is much more than just a remaster. In fact, calling it a “remaster” can be a bit of a stretch as both the levels and the story deviate rather heavily from the Super Nintendo game it’s based on after the second stage. Still, this overhead run-and-gun shooter is one that should be on your radar. The graphics are nothing short of mesmerizing. Every single frame is packed with detailed sprites moving around and interacting with you and the environment. It’s the kind of game where you can easily be distracted and take several hits or even lose a life because you’re too busy taking in all of the sights. While the game is overall easier than the SNES game, it still packs a solid challenge with some levels throwing some very tricky obstacles and seemingly endless hordes of enemies your way. Thankfully, you are given unlimited continues and the game allows you to continue at certain checkpoints instead of the beginning of a stage with the checkpoints usually being before a boss. It is a short adventure at only eight stages, but with a surprisingly interesting story and a great cast of playable characters with unique gameplay elements, it’s a release that fans of the series or people who enjoy 2D arcade style games won’t want to miss. There are a couple flaws, however: the “Extra easy” mode needs to be unlocked by collecting 3,000 coins dropped by enemies; and the two player co-op mode will only be available after you complete the Story mode. Both of these are rather baffling design choices but ultimately did not ruin the experience for me. – Justin
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 / Torna ~ The Golden Country
For whatever reason I haven’t been gaming a whole lot these past few weeks. I’ve been hopping between only a few different games and playing them all for a small amount of time each. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to start my Torna new game plus run after all. Nonetheless, since my update last week, I’ve made a little more progress. I told you all in the last article that Hugo had just joined the team. Well now I’ve got not only Hugo, but also Minoth, the final blade character who joins us in the prequel. I did a little bit of grinding once I had everyone collected and I made my way to Aletta, Addam’s domain. I spent some time there doing some more leveling and then started the journey towards the capital.
Along with making progress in Torna, I also did a little messing around in the main game. Like I mentioned last week, I periodically go back to the main game to raise blades and sidequest further. This time around I went to a special area in the Uraya titan’s stomach I believe and attempted to farm some legendary core crystals off a high level, unique enemy there. I used up all my bonus exp a while back to raise my party to 98, so I was more than ready. Unfortunately, my luck hasn’t been so great. I still have yet to acquire KOS-MOS. But I did unlock one of the last few new game plus blades I’m missing. – Jenae
Stardew Valley
I played a smidgen of Stardew at the end of the week. I actually got started on a new multiplayer farm, we’re only at the very beginnings of it. I got a little starter crop area set up and I’m trying to collect some wood. I forgot how weak you are in the beginning and how slow the game is overall at this point, stamina runs out fast and you can only do so much each game day. This new farm is on the hilltop map which I’ve never used before. Having played a good amount of hours now on both PS4 and Switch, since originally getting into Stardew Valley, I’m starting to wanna change things up on new farms. I’ve been doing that by trying out different maps and using the remix option for the community center bundles. However, now I’m potentially getting the urge to start another new solo farm and try out yet another unique farm layout. It might be time to try out either the river or beach map. Plus, I haven’t ever sold out to Joja before and I marry Shane every single time. I’m wondering if perhaps I should finally try out a new spouse and bow down to the big corporation. – Jenae
What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!
