Pixeljunk Burnouts around Monkey Island

This time next week, Rabbit and I will be on the way home from PAX Aus. It may not be obvious to people, but I am rather excited about this!

The downside of work leave is of course the last-minute crunch. Trying to get everything sorted before going away is stressful. The good news is that I am through all that, and am on leave right now! So I hope to enter PAX refreshed and raring to go. Bring on Melbourne!

This did mean a bit of a lull in gaming last week. I squeezed in a little though, with Saturday morning being a bit of a spoiler if you follow me on Instagram. Also, next week’s Journal will be a bit delayed as I will be travelling. There will be something for you next Monday though, and I hope you enjoy it!

Looking forward to so many things coming together. Let’s have a look at what I played last week.

Burnout 3: Takedown

So I thought it would take a couple of weeks to finish the last two race events for Burnout 3. Saturday morning, I had a little bit of free time and thought I would try the Grand Prix. I figured that I would try and make some headway, and get a little closer to finishing. Well, 20 minutes later I could say goodbye to the US Circuit Racer!

20221003 - Burnout 3 - It may be a just won but a win is a win
I may have only just won the Grand Prix, but I will take it!

This led to one more race. The final race of Burnout 3. The vehicle and reward – the Euro Circuit Racer. The description is ‘faster than the real thing’, and I can believe it.

Burnout 3 takes all the benefits of the US Circuit Racer in terms of speed but adds some more steering control. it then pretends the car is made out of tissue paper.

The Euro Circuit Racer looks amazing, but it doesn’t take much to crash. And in a game called Burnout 3: Takedown, guess what everyone is trying to do to you?

20221003 - Burnout 3 - We only just started the race and I am getting belted
I got taken out in the first second of the race!

I was pretty happy finishing the F1 Grand Prix. I didn’t think I would do the final Grand Prix straight after. Burnout 3 races can be pretty tiring. But I was mistaken. To cap my Saturday and start my work holiday eve, I collected gold medals in every Burnout 3 event!

Now all I need to Complete Burnout 3 is to get 2 bus, tram and trailer takedowns in one race. Add to that 5 more signature takedowns that I have missed, and about 950 more takedowns. Then, I will have 100% Completed the game!

20221003 - Burnout 3 - Not much to fully Complete
So close, and yet so far!

So I will likely stick to a road rage event or two at lunch every couple of days. This will let me slowly but surely make my way through the takedown totals. Then, I will turn my attention from Burnout 3 to Burnout Revenge! 🙂

Pixeljunk Monsters

I played a little bit of Pixeljunk Monsters last week. There were a couple of nights where I felt like a safe fun level before bed and a couple of nights where I tackled new levels. I haven’t tried the four-tree level yet – I was too busy and tired for that much of a challenge.

To be fair, I could probably beat the level in a try or two. It’s the timing for the rainbow I didn’t feel like committing myself to right now.

But Pixeljunk Monsters has a lot to offer, so I moved on to another island. The only thing is I think I may have moved to the wrong island. I jumped onto the smaller Gati Gati island. The order might be Toki island after the original Tiki island.

20221003 - Pixeljunk Monsters - Exploring new islands
I think this was the second DLC island. Maybe I should go back to the other island first?

The only downside to this would be tackling some levels without some earned power-ups. It’s been fun playing them through the small handful of levels again. But something had been eating at the back of my mind. What is the difference between Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe, and Steam’s Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate?

The platform is the easy answer. Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe is on PSP. Ultimate is on PC. But Deluxe had some tweaking, and you start with more towers without having to unlock them. That’s all I could remember. There might have been something a little more in there I couldn’t remember.

And in a weird way, there was. Target resolution. Yep, Steam’s Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate looks much nicer on my laptop screen!

20221003 - Pixeljunk Monsters - Ooooh Sharper graphics
Ooooh, prettier graphics!

I haven’t gone very far into Ultimate. I am already missing some towers like the Ice tower available in Deluxe from the start. But that also gives me another level of the puzzle to play. Can I work out the level without relying on extra towers?

For now, I think I will stick with Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe as my longer comfort game. Playing handheld on the couch with something on the TV is nice. But there will come a time I finish it all again. When that day comes, I may tackle Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate again on PC in the future.

20221003 - Pixeljunk Monsters - I need to unlock towers I have become used to having
On PC, I need to unlock towers I have gotten used to having from the start on Deluxe

Return to Monkey Island

Work had been a large obstacle to gaming last week. The largest part that disappointed me about this was the lack of Monkey Island time. Once work was complete, I had a solution. This made Sunday a deep-cut ‘Return to Return to Monkey Island’ time!

Continuing Act 3, I spent a fair bit of time running around Monkey Island finding clues about LeChuck. You need to find out some personal facts about LeChuck to break a spell. A little bit of commentary about cryptography and social engineering there?

In any event, I enjoyed exploring the island. I also laughed at quite a few creative solutions to get the required information!

20221003 - Return to Monkey Island - Funny Deaths
I got a little confused and kept waiting for Sierra’s “Funny” deaths

One optional part of Return to Monkey Island has been the trivia cards. Some have been ‘have you been paying attention’ type questions. Others have been facts about the series overall. I have been doing well with these ones, but I have messed up a few in-game questions so far.

On the Switch, I don’t know if I want to find all the trivia cards. It’s not that I am not enjoying the challenge. I spoke last week about the occasionally frustrating controls with the Switch. I assume the inevitable Return to Monkey Island console releases will have the same quirky behaviour.

Missing an item because the interface decided you aren’t in the right spot is frustrating. Doubly so if it’s a collectable. It’s not a huge negative to the gameplay experience, but it isn’t a seamless bump either. Hopefully, Return to Monkey Island can continue to work on this aspect over time.

20221003 - Return to Monkey Island - Trivia
Some test my memory more than others

I am looking forward to finishing Return to Monkey Island soon. Worst case, I will be playing on Switch on the way to PAX Aus later this week! I can think of worse ways to amuse myself on a flight.

One thing though – the title of Act 4 sounds like a normal day at work for me though!

20221003 - Return to Monkey Island - Part 4
Things have a way of doing that

What about you?  I hope you got some great games in.  Or are you looking forward to a new one?  Let me know! 

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Until next time,

JohnHQLD