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!
So after last week’s unceremonious sd card wipe, my sister and I finally got some good playtime into Popful Mail. Not only did we get past the Wind Cave, meaning I was finally seeing new content in this game after 20+ years, but we made it to the entire next zone and recruited another party member. I definitely favor playing as Tatt due to his default long-distance attack, despite him being made of wet paper. Mail is a good all-rounder who can take a hit but her long range options don’t feel as rewarding, and getting up and close and personal with the enemies in this game is often frustrating. I would like Gaw better if he wasn’t as slow as molasses, because his attacks hit hard and I love the higher jump. He’s great in open spaces, less so in narrow corridors. All the characters have distinct personalities and quirks, as well as plenty of WDisms that have, quite frankly, not aged well, but it’s still charming. Despite myself I found the above exchange amusing, for instance.
One of my biggest gripes with the game so far is the lack of invincibility frames. When you take damage, there’s no grace period to get away from a monster before taking more damage, resulting in often getting ping-ponged or stuck against a wall and immediately obliterated, even with the more forgiving un-Working Designs version we’re playing on. Bosses especially will throw projectiles or change the environment in a way that you cannot anticipate so it’s easy to take damage no matter how vigilant you’re being. You can use an amulet for temporary invincibility, but it also makes all monsters impervious to damage. I used it a few times to get out from being trapped against a wall and a boss, but it’s frustrating. Plenty of it is likely my own skill level, but getting bounced around between enemies without a real chance to get out of it while enemies have massive invincibility time periods feels bad to play. That being said, I’m still having a lot of fun and I’m excited to get to the end of the game because despite it all, it’s charming. – Leah
What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!
