We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.
3DSSwitchWiiU

Episode 497: 8 Minifigure Heads in a Duffel Bag

by James Jones, Greg Leahy, Jon Lindemann, Jonathan Metts, and Guillaume Veillette - October 30, 2016, 5:23 pm EDT
Total comments: 9

LEGO Radio Free Nintendo the Video Game, coming 2019 to Switch.

Download in AAC Format

Subscribe to AAC Feed

Download in MP3 Format

Subscribe to MP3 Feed

Subscribe via iTunes (Please rate and review, too!)

Jonny decided to join us to discuss LEGO City Undercover this week. While a guest is always nice, sometimes it comes with unforeseen costs...namely some lost audio in the first segment. Please Understand.

Jon kicks off New Business with some more thoughts on Nintendo Switch, and the announced January Switch event. Greg considers a return to Pokemon, with a look at the Sun and Moon demo. He also acquired an original copy of Thunder Force III, just in time for Sega to announce its addition to Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 3. Guillaume is looking to engage in more random acts of violence, so he tries out RetroActive alumnus River City Ransom. Jonny goes on an adventure with Dragon Quest VII; we don't spend a lot of time on it - it's Dragon Quest. James closes out New Business with thoughts on bloody adventure game Corpse Party; he is struggling, to say the least.

After the break, it's time for our RetroActive for LEGO City Undercover! We talk about the humor, the gameplay, the style, and...
...
...
...the load times. Thanks to everyone who played along with us!

We'll be back to a traditional episode next week, so you can load our inbox with your questions!

This episode was edited by Ghoullaume Veillette. The "Men of Leisure" theme song was produced exclusively for Radio Free Nintendo by Perry Burkum. Hear more at Bluffs Custom Music's SoundCloud. The Radio Free Nintendo logo was produced by Connor Strickland. See more of his work at his website.

This episode's ending music is Breaking and Entering from LEGO City Undercover. It was composed by Simon Withenshaw. All rights reserved by TT Games Publishing Ltd.

Talkback

I haven't even listened yet but had to give special due and my continued apologies to Gui for having to deal with my mangled audio file in the first segment. Editing this show is a tough job even when everything goes right. I used to be more vigilant about my recording gear, but retirement has dulled my wariness of the technology and how easily we can misuse it.

WanderleiOctober 31, 2016

"The loss that keeps on losing"

If you're wondering how to sink Pokemon XY's framerate, go to Route 20 and get in a horde battle against Trevenant.

ejamerOctober 31, 2016

Sorry if this is a spoiler, but wow! The LEGO City Undercover discussion felt so incredibly negative.

Not going to argue with the criticism: it's warranted, and any points I might disagree with are either subjective or require you to get far enough into the game to unlock different features or abilities.

In the end, I just enjoyed what the game did offer enough to overlook the flaws. For me, the humor and production values were consistently strong enough to justify our time with the game - of course, as a parent with two young kids that might change my perspective. It also helps that I tend to compare it against other LEGO (and other family-friendly) games instead of general open world games that might have a different focus.

Shame that you guys had to spend so much time slogging through a game that you (mostly) didn't enjoy.

EnnerOctober 31, 2016

Really enjoyed the Retroactive. I didn't have time to get and play LEGO City Undercover, but the discussion has me interested in getting it soon.

On pokemon and it's garbage framerate...


From what I've been told, the pokemon models they use for X, Y, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, and now Sun and Moon are actually very high poly to essentially try and stave off the need to really do much touch-up on them. the reason they look bad is because everything in those pokemon games has this weird Aliased effect to still sorta make it look like pixel art. Still, X and Y's engine was very unstable. the framerate dips happen in Lumiose city and various other places that use the over the shoulder perspective or have lots of NPCs around. if you turn the 3D on during battles, the framerate tanks, if there's more than 2 pokemon or if certain pokemon with complex designs are on the field, the framerate tanks.. hell, the framerate even tanks during the super training mini-game, which makes that kinda hard to use. usually the hardest framerate hits come from triple battles and having it in 3D.

There does seem to be SOME engine improvement for x and Y, given that we're keeping trainer models loaded while battles take place and such, but yeah. it's unclear if there's any performance enhancement going on with New 3DS or not.



Also, I'm... not going to blame you on River City Ransom, Gui. :P

ejamerNovember 01, 2016

Quote from: ClexYoshi

...
Also, I'm... not going to blame you on River City Ransom, Gui. :P:

You're not doing it right.
;)

Quote from: ejamer

Quote from: ClexYoshi

...
Also, I'm... not going to blame you on River City Ransom, Gui. :P: :

You're not doing it right.
;)

He also sounds like he enjoyed it a little more this time around after taking the Nintendo Power approach to it. River City Ransom was important for it's time, but I can't necessarily give it an instant recommendation... especially if you find 2D Beat 'em ups shallow.

Quote from: ejamer

Sorry if this is a spoiler, but wow! The LEGO City Undercover discussion felt so incredibly negative.

Not going to argue with the criticism: it's warranted, and any points I might disagree with are either subjective or require you to get far enough into the game to unlock different features or abilities.

In the end, I just enjoyed what the game did offer enough to overlook the flaws. For me, the humor and production values were consistently strong enough to justify our time with the game - of course, as a parent with two young kids that might change my perspective. It also helps that I tend to compare it against other LEGO (and other family-friendly) games instead of general open world games that might have a different focus.

Shame that you guys had to spend so much time slogging through a game that you (mostly) didn't enjoy.

The funny thing is, despite how apparently aligned my feelings are on the game with James Jones, I don't regret playing it.  I think the game is worth playing IN SPITE of my grievances of the world feeling largely uninteresting, gated, etc for the very exact reasons you find it worth playing - because they clearly took time and effort into the humor, dialogue, and silly homages they insert into the game.

James hit on another nerve I didn't realize I had for the game - for me, sandbox games have to be inherently enjoyable to just traverse from one point to another, and while I had limited fun getting little lego cars to explode, the general modes of transportation were largely uninteresting to me.  I've been spoiled by Spider-Man 2 and inFamous with how much sheer fun there is in scaling through the entire city.

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement