Tea And Video Games

The Teacup Awards! (2019)

So, as holes begin to form in the parachute of time and we fall with gathering speed towards the hard ground of inevitability, we must bid good day to 2019. Another year of political upheaval as the Brexit circus marches on, the American president continues to document every thought in the form of a tweet and the English public prove themselves to be the best foot marksmen around. It was also a year of upheaval in my own life, with a new job and a new home to grapple with.

Still, it was an interesting year for games. In part because of how few 2019 releases caught my eye. Because of that I looked back over the last few years, helped by the Humble Monthly bundle, and found a few gems that I missed. So, as usual, these awards will go to games I wrote about this year, rather than just released this year. Otherwise they’d be a little bare. Oh and I’m afraid we’ve lost the horror game award, due to lack of games. I’ll bring it back next year.

The ‘Tea Stained Page’ Award For Best Writing

Runner Up - Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

There’s a strange thing in visual media where less writing can actually be better. Overwriting something can lead to it becoming weaker, as all mystery and personal connection are systematically destroyed. Hellblade understands that better than most. Most of its writing is given to the voices inside Senua’s head and offer up different interpretations of what’s going on. Some of them are hostile, while others offer encouragement. It’s a fairly unique way of setting up the protagonist. Tied in with the intriguing nordic setting, it makes it one hell of a well written game. Shame about the gameplay, but you can’t have everything.

Keep reading

• 2 Jan 2020
• Comment
• 12

The Teacup Awards B-Side (2018)

Not every game fits neatly into an awards category. Think of these B-sides as the participation awards. They are something worth talking about but only when all of the hard hitters are out of the way.  I played a real mixed bag of games last year and didn’t play too many of my usual sort. Very light on survival games, for one, and there weren’t as many stand-out indie games as the year before.

Still, some interesting stuff did come out of the year so I don’t just want to disregard ninety percent of it. It was a year of catch-up really, playing through some of 2017’s biggest hits. So now let’s make up a bunch of different awards and give to games from last year that I think are worth a mention.

Two Point Hospital

The ‘Fly in the Cup’ Award for Killer Problem

I liked Two Point Hospital quite a lot when I first started playing it. It felt like a return to form; back to Theme Hospital, which I enjoyed a lot. It was refreshingly similar but with new diseases and additions that kept me excited. I recorded myself playing it and then created a different save to play in the downtime, something I didn’t do often. So I was obviously enjoying myself. Yet as I got through the game, something started to nag at me. It took me quite a while to find out what it was.

Keep reading

• 10 Jan 2019
• Comment
• 5

The Teacup Awards (2018)

So, the cruise liner of time has set sail and crashed into the iceberg of inevitability and with it has sunk the year of 2018. I would normally say something about what happened this year but in truth, it flashed by so fast that I can barely remember half of it. I checked my archive for this year and I swear I don’t remember the entire first quarter. But hey, at least we had a few gaming scandals to keep us going.

As usual, I’m going to be using games that I’ve reviewed this year, regardless of release date. I’m also adding a new award because it’s not like these things are physical. I could add in an award for best horse bollocks if I liked, as long as I could make a tea pun out of it. Red Dead 2 would win it, by the way.

The ‘Tea Up My Nose’ Award For Scariest Game

Runner up - Lust For Darkness

I had a lot of problems with Lust For Darkness but it deserves the runner up spot for taking the Lovecraft inspiration and running with it. It didn’t slow things down with investigations and chatter, but threw us head first into a cult. It quickly steps things up as it takes us on a wild ride through murderous orgies and otherworldly hellscapes. There’s little in the way of censorship here too, which adds to the fear factor. While the actual game part of Lust For Darkness is lacking, as an experience it delivers some definitely creepy notes.

Keep reading

• 3 Jan 2019
• Comment
• 10

The 2017 Awards B-Side

The main awards have come and gone and once again there are a few games that have been relegated into the sidelines. If I were a parent, I would be feeling mighty guilty about all of these neglected children, bereft of christmas presents. Thankfully, I’m not (so I don’t), but I still want to give a final word to some of these games. So while they don’t get big shiny awards, we can award some scout badges to make up for it.

Looking back over the games that I reviewed this year, I actually reviewed a lot more modern games than I thought. I’ve a tendency to slip into reviewing older games simply as a cost-saving measure. I buy all these games with my own hard-earned cash and when it comes to a contest between video games and food, I kind of have to go with the latter. But I digress, let’s get on with the B-Side Awards:

Prey

Handyman Award For Best Crafting System

Like most of the space debris that surrounds Talos 1, Prey just kind of drifted past me. It wasn’t bad and there were moments here and there (particularly in the opening) where it really gripped me. Particularly when the mimics were first introduced, which caused me to hit damn near everything that wasn’t nailed down with a wrench. And a few things that were. After that it gradually become less interesting for me but there was one thing I appreciated from start to finish: the crafting system.

Keep reading

• 11 Jan 2018
• Comment

The Teacup Awards (2017)

So as the wellington boot of inevitability comes crashing down on the innocent snail of time, we must say so long and farewell to 2017. It’s been something a tumultuous year full of disasters and political upheaval but at least we can now boot it out of the door. On the gaming side of things, there have been a fair share of scandals and nuisances but through all of the mess some quite decent games have emerged. So it’s time to do the proper thing and order them into categories before we limp into 2018.

As usual, I’m limiting my awards to games that I’ve either written about or recorded at some point, regardless of release date. Of course ‘written about’ can include the smallest of articles but hey, I make the rules so I can bend them. We’ve got a few new categories emerging this year but let’s start with an old hat, shall we?

The ‘Tea Up My Nose’ Award for Scariest Game

Runner Up - Thumper

I don’t think Thumper has ever been marketed as a horror game. Wikipedia has it as a ‘Rhythm Violence Game’ which sounds silly until you play it. You quickly realise that you’re not so much listening to Thumper’s music as being beaten over the head with it. It’s deep, rumbling and aggressive. Above all, it’s sinister. That’s helped along by the fluid, metallic quality to everything. Clinical yet unsavoury. Things just sort of rise up out of the netherworld, curling and flexing like metal tentacles. If hell doesn’t turn out to be full of fire, then Thumper’s aesthetic would be my second guess.

Keep reading

• 4 Jan 2018
• Comment
• 4