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52 Games. 1 Year. 2022.

71-80

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Game 71 - Tetris DX - Game Boy Color - 100/100
This game has had a permanent residence in my Game Boy advance for almost a decade. I play it all the time. This is the best version of Tetris. No infinite spin, no gimmicks, clean background with no distractions, snappy, tight controls. It's absolutely just Tetris exactly as it should be. With every new version of Tetris they release they try to change things up and all it does is take away from what makes Tetris great.

Game 72 - Tetris - Game Boy - 40/100
This is the version of Tetris most people know. Like DX, it's Tetris and nothing else, no gimmicks, no added shit. Unfortunately it's a Game Boy game and plays pretty sluggishly compared to DX. Seeing as controls are 100% of this game that's a tough situation.

Game 73 - Guardians of the Galaxy - PC - Finished playthrough - 80/100
This game was a huge surprise to me. I hate constant banter in games. I hate exposition being piled on me. I hate just pressing up on an analog stick while both of those things are happening. This game does all of that, but the banter is fun, the exposition is meaningful as everything on screen is entirely fictional the environments I'm walking through are actually interesting. Great writing, great voice acting, well directed cinematics and the gameplay was a ton of fun on top of that. Gameplay options were also a huge plus, the option to turn off the shitty QTEs was very welcome for example. The game looks absolutely stunning and the performance was awesome. My GPU isn't exactly new anymore but I was running around 100fps the whole time with maxed-out settings. It was seriously the biggest surprise of any game I've played in a long time. I'd rate it higher but towards the end of the game a couple pretty annoying gameplay-related things happened. I have been recommending this since I played it.

Game 74 - Trip World - Game Boy - Finished playthrough - 60/100
This is an unbelievably good looking Game Boy game. Tons of detail everywhere and I swear I'm seeing more than four shades of grey. You're a little furry forest creature making your way through the levels though what exactly you're doing is a bit unclear. The game controls really well, but the game itself is odd. Most enemies don't really attack you unless attacked first and just sort of push you around. Also not explained at any point is the ability to transform that you have. You can grow "wings", turn into a ball, etc. At no point does the game show you how or why. Eventually you fight another furry thing just like you and save a furry princess or something... I have no idea.

Game 75 - Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins - Game Boy - Finished playthrough - 75/100
I played the shit out of this on my old toaster-size Game Boy back in the early 90's. At the time visuals like this on Game Boy seemed crazy. The game is typical Mario fare, jumping and hitting blocks, but the environments were all unique to this game as were the enemies you faced. This game even had it's own unique villain with the introduction of Wario. You had very specifically themed worlds like a giant toy Mario statue, the moon, a haunted Halloween, etc, all with special enemies catered to those environments. The game also featured unique music for each of those worlds and to this day each of those tracks are still permanently engrained in my brain. The game is by no means perfect, stages are often way too long, or way too short. You can fly right over entire stages with the new bunny ears and their infinite hover ability. Bosses are among the easiest in a Mario title and the game is plagued with slowdown on original hardware or using correct emulation. In the end though it was a fun game to play through again.

Game 76 - The Gunk - PC - Finished playthrough - 65/100
One of the first things I did when I played this was shut off the dialogue. It's not enough the voice acting is awful, but they constantly tell me how to do everything all the time. The game and the "puzzles" in it are about as complicated as the flusher on my toilet and I got that figured out within a few minutes of being able to reach it as an infant. The visuals are a mix of fantastic for environments to dog shit for character designs. The game itself controls well, exploring the world was mostly interesting but it all culminated in a cliche villain who, based on his actions and motives, was apparently just retarded or something. Overall it's a very forgettable and very short indie game that could have been a lot better if more time had been spent making more interesting puzzles and more challenging gameplay in place of whatever time they wasted recoding voiced dialogue. I've already forgotten most of this game.

Game 77 - VIP - Game Boy Advance - Abandoned - 60/100
I started this game up as a joke. I recently got a GBA Everdrive and have about 2000 games on it so I was picking the worst looking games. This game is so strange in a good way. It plays like a Gunstar Heroes or Contra style shooter, but you're tits on a stick Pamela Anderson. You have diagonal aim, you can duck, crawl, you can jump into or out of the backgrounds, grab ledges, there are a ton of enemy types, the graphics are actually good, you can play as multiple characters from the show each with different weapons and abilities (Vallery uses her purse as a melee weapon for example). I'm not saying this is a great game but I can't believe how good it actually is. I got about as far as I'm going to get and decided to call it. Honestly I had fun with it.

Game 78 - Final Fantasy - Game Boy advance - Finished playthrough - 80/100
I recently played Final Fantasy X after a 20-year hiatus on the series (I stopped at IX) and putting it nicely I thought is was absolutely a piece of shit. To cleanse my RPG pallet I've decided to run through the original games again to see if the original was as good as the later games I did play. It was great. Right away I'm sent to go beat up a knight who kidnapped the princess. I kick his ass, find out I'm part of some destiny 2000 years in the making and am given the big opening to the series. Go beat up a Pirate's entire crew and just take his ship, find my way around the world by listening to NPCs and using their clues, find a buried airship, ride in a submarine made out of a barrel to save some mermaids, find some useless piece of shit to show Bahamut so I can get ripped and wreck shit, close a nonsensical time loop and kill Chaos. For being the OG, the adventure is pretty great in both scope and execution. Every step is memorable and no time is wasted on animated attacks that take several eons to execute (every single time). I'd never actually finished this game before as Final Fantasy VI was my first introduction to the series and I'd only gone back as far as Final Fantasy III on the DS, but I'm very glad I did. I'm very much looking forward to Final Fantasy II.

Game 79 - Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge - Game Boy Advance - Abandoned - 60/100
Just started this one and it's better than the absolute trash-pile I expected it to be. I keep forgetting I started it though and really don't feel a need to go back so it's going on the abandoned list. It's just a bit better than meh overall.

Game 80 - Final Fantasy II - Game Boy Advance - Completed playthrough - 70/100
This game is very interesting. It was a massive departure from the the first Final Fantasy in many ways. Your party no longer has levels, instead each individual stat for each character has to be trained. Missing enemies with attack increases your accuracy. Using spells makes them stronger but also makes them use more MP. Taking damage raises defense and HP. it makes you seek out not only stronger enemies to fight, but special types of enemies who can help you buff particular stats. Dialogue in this game is very ahead of it's time for a console RPG. In dialogue you learn keywords that can then be used in conversations with other NPCs which often reveal secret information related to your quest. This can help you figure out what do do next or reveal location you might otherwise overlook. The party structure is very different too with three permanent characters and a forth that is constantly swapped out throughout the game. The story is great, the power-mad Emperor of a powerful Kingdom invades your kingdom. You and two friends survive the invasion then along with other survivors and the royal family form a resistance. You travel the world to find a way to fight back and drive the Emperor out of your kingdom. People die a lot and I mean a lot. Several times in the game entire towns are entirely wiped out, party members routinely get killed off and at every turn things only get worse. Very compelling given how limited things were back then. Now for the bad. Combat in the game is often infuriating and at many points in the game I got to see the title screen again every second battle. Almost every enemy type poisons you on each attack or causes dizzy which cancels your turn, many enemy types can cause petrify with regular attacks. More often than not the battle is an ambush situation where the enemy attacks first and also attacks again before your turn has completed. In a battle with eight Cockatrices it's pretty common to get entirely wiped out with the first volley. The same can be said for enemies that cause confusion or cast spells that affect the entire party, often your whole party will end up confused in one shot then kill each other. The other major issue is the dungeons are filled with empty "trick" rooms that are entirely empty but have massively inflated encounter rates. Of all the doors in the game only a handful don't just lead to an empty room. Despite that I had a lot of fun playing this and it game me better understanding of how things changed further on in the series.
 
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17. Needy Girl Overdose

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9:12h. All endings.


Oh nooo a cutesy Visual Novel that for some reason exploded in popularity all over the Internet! And people in imageboards are spamming memes like "I can fix her!" or "🙏BLESS🙏". I wonder if there's something special about it? More than meets the eye? A plot twist, mayhaps?

Yep, it's one of those.

I'm not saying this as a pure negative. It's just that the Surprise Creepy trope is not longer, well, much of a surprise. After DDLC and others went viral, you come to expect this sort of twist. But Needy Girl Overdose (I'm not calling it by the new name, it's dumb) is a great game. More of a Raising Sim than a Visual Novel (Think Princess Maker) NGO stars Ame, a very cute, very disturbed girl that by night becomes the ace streamer KAngel. Your role as his boyfriend/producer is to direct her daily schedule and make sure her stats don't go too high or too low (like in Reigns) lest you trigger an early bad ending. During her short career, Ame can experiment with different types of streaming (From being a camwhore to a regular letsplayer) drugs, paranoia, therapy and even Tinder. The denpa style soundtrack is full of bangers, and the localization is absolutely god-tier; at first I thought it was another "animesque" western game, but it's actually Japanese.

There's 22 endings and none of them 100% good, because you CAN'T fix her. Only she can fix herself.. The worst ones are... well, you can imagine. I personally enjoy Raising Sims more than linear Visual Novels so I've had a blast with NGO. If you enjoy this kind of agressively Japanese game even when it's not porn, you can safely add a star. If you don't like the denpa aesthetic and music or you're tired of games trying to upset you from behind a cute facade, you can remove two stars.

🙏BLESS🙏

My Score: ★★★★☆


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Pantz

Member
First 10 games done. About 6 weeks behind?
Original Post
Here are my first 10 rearranged from favorite playthrough (left) to least favorite (right), not necessarily a measure of quality.
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I think I will work on the Zero Escape games next then AI: The Somnium files. Need to get ready for the sequel or I'll be in trouble with Boss Danjin.
 

marcincz

Member
Last game in April:

Game 21 - Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (XBO) - 10h 51m
Beat 30/04/2022 - my score: ★★★
 

yamaci17

Member
so in April i got caught up in work and stuff. but managed to finish these two very cool games. mafia nominated by game club so thanks to GC :)

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11. Marvel's Guardians of Galaxy - 32 hours

quite a fun game ! gameplay gets stale as most others would say. starlord's abilities are shadowed by the others. others have amazing animations, abilities and talents that all go to waste because you can't admire them to their full extent in the chaos. yes, the gameplay is also chaotic. when its stale and chaotic, its not a good mix. i can see why combat got so much flak. it could've been handled better.

but have they overall achieved a good sense of them being very powerful ? absolutely. combos, teamwork, AOE attacks... they have it all. and they're COOL while doing all that. that's what GoTG is all about , and that's a point movies lacked! combat was a second thought in movies. these are competent warriors.

characters have more depth, more weight to them in the game... but of course a video game have more time to convey these, so its understandable. it is why i love video games more than movies for story telling :)


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12. Mafia: Definitive Edition - 13hrs

i never played the original, it was a fresh new experience. missions get stale at times and i'd prefer more shooting than driving.. regardless, the story and dialogue and characters are authentic and i value that a lot. therefore it was worth it. a great GC nomination. i had no short term plans on playing this but turns out it did not need heavy time investment either. quite short. i could actually would love if this game had more variety in missions and was extended to 15h-18 hrs. there are very big gaps between some crucial story milestones. actually the first half had narrower gaps and felt more natural ,but towards the end it felt the story was a bit rushed. that's okay though they wanted to stick to the original content maybe. and doing a game in 2000s was no easy task



sooo... 12 games in 4 months. i have to speed up a bit :)

i will start mafia 2 . just a quick story re-run. back then i spent maybe 30 40 hrs on that game, collecting all collectibles. it was the only mafia game i've played up to this point. i want to revisit the story. then maybe i'll finally give mafia 3 a chance.

21 may edit!

mafia series are over. it was a fun ride overall.




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Pros: practically the mafia 2 we know
Cons: practically, no improvement. nothing "definitive" about it. no additions. game had a very "subpar" ending. if you're going to make a "definitive" edition, make it worthwhile. or do not make anything at all. any kind of graphical enhancements that can make use of new generation of hardware? absolutely no. bugs that did not existed in actual game? hell yeah.


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Pros: main branch of questlines had no fillers. memorable questlines. fantastic places
Cons: post-main quest filler quests that caught me off guard

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Pros: memorable story, Donovan is a fantastic character, so is Lincoln Clay. outside of filler quests, in times where actual action takes place, the game gets pretty good but it all goes downhill once you are done with the quest, since you need to go through endless amounts of racket take over for the next "cool" quest to capture another capo
Cons: copy pasted racket take overs to kill small bosses... kill two small bosses to unlock a capo. then take over two copy pasted racket in the exact same style to reveal where capo is. repeat and rinse for 10x times.
 
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18. Yakuza 4 Remastered

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48:33h. Normal difficulty. All substories and character specific activities. Around 40% completion.

This is the first multi-protagonist Yakuza game, starring the worst cop, the worst criminal, the worst moneylender and the worst hitman solving an overarching story that goes all the way to Yakuza 1. It's also one of the unintentionally goofiest stories, with the famous magical RUBBER BULLETS plot twist and the highest amount of characters shot in the literal back in a single game. For many, this is the game where Yakuza jumped the shark, though Yakuza 5 and 6 and especially Yakuza 0 and LaD disproved that notion.

Goofiness and all, this is a very good game. Three of the four protagonists have the right amount of charisma to work (I'll let you guess which one doesn't. Hint: it's the one that doesn't come back later). Also, the fighting styles of the main characters are different enough to keep things fresh, and the way their stories entwine at the end is actually pretty smart and makes for a satisfying conclusion. After Yakuza 2 and 3 took us to Osaka and Okinawa, however, Yakuza 4 lacks this extra oomph of having a second "playground" for us to prance in (No, Little Asia and the rooftops don't fucking count). So, as the first game since Yakuza 1 that doesn't take us out of Kamurocho, it ends being a little tiresome after a while - but never enough to make you want to abandon.

My Score: ★★★★

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19. Dôkyûsei: Bangin' Summer

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22h-ish. Easy Mode. All Endings.


Do you remember those old ass Japanese titty games dating sims where you had to look, talk, think etc. in each location before being able to move on with the story? True Love, Season of the Sakura, Tokimeki Memorial, etc.? If you don't, the Famicom Detective Club games play a lot like these, minus titties. Well, the original Dôkyûsei is one of those. In this game you control your hormone-addled late teen totally 18 year old guy in a quest to get his willy wet with a wealth of willing women (Around a dozen of them in fact). This game is pretty much a cult classic in Japan and was never released here, until now, with "Bangin' Summer", an HD remake with all gorgeous graphics, all new voice acting and all the trimmings.

I'm selling this game short, actually. Dôkyûsei isn't porn. You can in fact play it without any sex scenes and when there are sex scenes, lots of times they don't really go anywhere (The girl falls asleep, the MC gets cold feet, etc.). Dôkyûsei is a window into the 90s style of dating sims, where you usually prowled around diferent locations in town trying to locate girls to advance their routes. If you played Love & Sex Second Base or Summertime Saga is a lot like this, only much much milder in the sexual themes. The perverted protagonist and game weirdly fourth-wall-breaking sense of humor are relics from this era, like the girl's stereotypes (Teacher, school nurse, cutesy pink girl, school princess, sporty childhood friend... you don't get more 90s than that)

Unfortunately... this game is marred by the poor difficulty options. You see, you have two choices: the first is Classic Mode, which apparently requires you to be a 90s otaku with dozens of hours of free time (Since you don't get barely any hints except from those from the Gypsy, which are cryptic and you have to pay for them) and you have to actually pay attention to the conversations to deduce where the girls may be at any particular time. There's also Easy Mode, which could easily be a regular Visual Novel because you not only get indicators of where the girls are, but you're also shown the correct conversation choices and in the off chance you get sidetracked you can simply go to the options menu and select the Flag List to instantly teleport to the date and time required to woo your choice lady. I tried Classic mode and found it impossible, then I tried to play a mixture of both, by selecting Easy Mode and vowing to never use the Flag List, but the game was still far too easy for my tastes.

I understand it's hard to adapt a hard-as-balls difficulty curve from the 90s, but there ARE examples of modern nanpa games that do this well (Like the two I mentioned before). Maybe they'll get it right for a possible Dôkyûsei 2 remake...

My Score: ★★★

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marcincz

Member
Game 22 - art of rally (XBO) - 16h 38m
Beat 03/05/2022 - my score: ★★★

First time I saw this game on yt, last year and I was intrigued. Finally have a chance to play it. Very good racing title. Almost fantastic, but only a few countries for so long carrer is a weak point of this game.
 
1. Max Payne (XSX) - 7 Hours - 1/1/22 - 3/5
While it definitely shows its' age, it's a great time. I've been bouncing between it and MP2 which I've almost wrapped up as well. I haven't played them since they originally released on PC. I had very fond memories of the original and thought the sequel was a disappointment but upon replay, MP2's improvements really help it stand the test of time far more than its' predecessor.

2. Red Dead Redemption 2 (XSX) - 40 Hours - 1/2/22 - 3/5
Really mixed feelings on this one. This is probably the most consistent story that a GTA or RDR has ever presented. There are far fewer sophomoric quick laughs that are often found in these games and there are some genuinely sweet moments that will stick with me for a long time. Still it can feel clumsy at times particularly with Arthur's redemption arc and how they portraited his bout of tuberculosis. There are some wonderful characters to be found. Sadie and Charles were great before the prologue. Lenny, Hamish and Charlotte were wonderful. I was sad when Hamish died and decided to retire my horse and ride Buell in his owner. And then I was really bummed out having to whisper goodbye to him. I was pretty mixed on Arthur, I wanted to like him but the narrative forces you down some messed up paths that made empathy for him sort of difficult. Micah and Dutch were like cartoon villains towards the end and I was a little annoyed I was forced to go along with their schemes.

RDR2's world is beautiful but the mission design completely betrays it. Everything is far to scripted and the missions rarely take advantage of that world. It really feels like the designers wanted it to be Uncharted. Go to this yellow cloud on the map and do an action until the next yellow cloud appears on the map. It really leaves no room for creativity or the randomness that a well crafted open world can provide. The action is serviceable but it tends to throw twice as many enemies at you as there should be and becomes tiresome in the process. I do appreciate the idea of the moving camp and letting quest givers stick with you much longer than what you see in Rockstar's typical open world formula. It really helps a lot of those characters develop and helps bolster the strong elements of the writing even more. I had a pretty good time until the prologue. That was a complete slog and could have been dealt with in an hour instead of three to four. I never really liked Abagail or Jack and this game did them no favors. Worse yet, I think the portrayal of young John is a little too annoying and detracts from the character we all appreciated in RDR. The prologue did nothing to bolster this, in fact it diminished some of the characters I liked in the main story.

The game is also pretty buggy. I had a stranger mission bug out, saw lots of t-poses on checkpoint restarts and the my horse would often glitch out. Lastly, the fishing mini game is fucking terrible.

3. Overwatch (PS5) - 15 Hours - 1/3/22 - 4/5
All Winter Wonderland 2021 items collected.

4. Max Payne 2 (XSX) - 6 Hours - 1/3/22 - 5/5
A lot of game play and controller improvements make this game hold up remarkably well.

5. Tetris Effect (Switch) - 2 Hours - 1/3/22 - 5/5
Finally got around to finishing the Switch version which is a great port. This is the ultimate peanut butter and chocolate game combining everything great about Tetris and Rez. I love it dearly.

6. Burnout Paradise (Switch) - 10 Hours - 1/9/22 - 4/5
All smash locations and billboards.

7. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (PS5) - 1/11/22 - 5/5
I got stuck in one part and I probably missed a contextual conversation (wearing a bracelet to open a door). I really love this game though. On to Aria of Sorrow!

8. Deathsmiles (PS5) - 1/11/22 - 5/5
Pure Arcade Bliss

9. The Gunk (XSX) - 1/15/22 - 2/5
Disappointing in every facet.

10. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - 1/16/22 - 5/5
While it's the best of the Castlevania GBA games, I do think it's a little too straight forward.

11. Forza Horizon 5 (XSX) - 1/23/22 - 4/5
The map is wonderful. The Forza Horizon structure is getting long in the tooth. They really need to rethink the progressions system. I still had a lot of fun with this.

12. TimeSplitters Future Perfect (XSX) - 1/24/22 - 3/5
It holds up really well consider when it released. It is corny as hell. Some of the later levels are a little bit of a slog.

13. Monster Hunter Rise (Switch) 1/30/22 5/5
Advanced: Born of Paradise and all other quests complete.

14. Earth Defense Force 3 (Switch) 1/31/22 5/5
Normal mode cleared.

15. Halo 2 (XSX) 2/3/22 - 2/5
MGS2 was a pretty big disappointment for me but there are things I can appreciate about it. It along with Halo 2 made me stop hyping games. Replaying Halo 2 all these years later and I can't say there is much to appreciate about it. The Arbiter switcharoo feels like Bungie ripped off Kojima's playbook. The biggest problem is replacing Elites with Brutes. Brutes are just a boring fucking enemy to fight and it saps most of the joy out of the game. And where I loved Halo's light touch on narrative, Halo 2 goes off the deep end.

16. Max Payne 3 (XSX) 2/5/22 - 3/5
Dear Max, please shut the fuck up. Self commentary every time you pick up or take health medicine is so annoying. I get it, you are a drug addicted shit bag. I think it misses the mark tonally for what Max Payne is but that's not surprising coming from Rockstar. A lot of the level design is a drag but things like the police station (kill house) and airport are a lot of fun. the action is pretty great but everything surrounding it is kind of bad.

17. Overwatch (PS4) - 2/11/22 - 4/5
All items collected for Year of the Tiger

18. Cuphead (PS5) - 2/13/22 - 5/5
Amazing game. It's amazing how hopeless you can feel against the levels and bosses and then ten minutes later it all just clicks.

19. Streets of Kamurocho (PC) - 2/20/2022 - 2/5
Even though the Yakuza series is an evolution of the side scrolling brawler, I really hate side scrolling brawlers. I'm not sure why I'm so excited for the new Turtles game either.

20. Espgaluda II (Switch) - 2/21/2022 - 5/5
Just so goddamned fun. Arcade bliss.

21. Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (XSX) - 2/22/2022 - 3/5
Yahtzee said it best: "It's okay."

22. Inscryption (EGS) - 2/22/2022 - ?/5
What?

23. Unpacking (XSX - 2/24/2022 - 2/5
Moving is one of the most miserable exercises I can think of. Turns out doing this in video game form isn't much more entertaining. I do think the game is super creative with telling a subtle narrative based on the objects you unpack (old, new) throughout the years. I'm really not a fan of the art though which at times can have readability issues.

24. Elden Ring (PS5) - 4/4/2022 - 4/5
Maybe my least favorite FromSouls game. While the world is lovingly crafted and you get some of the traditional Souls design, a lot of the extra dungeons feel like filler and the game just doesn't have enough unique content (bosses, items, etc.) to justify its' size. Still a great game.

25. Gran Turismo 7 (PS5) - 4/5/2002 - 5/5
Finished up the café missions. The game is a love letter to automobiles.

26. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch) - 4/5/2002 - 4/5
This was a pleasant surprise. I've never been a Kirby fan. The mouthful transformations are great as is the variety in level design.

27. Halo 3 (XSX) - 4/12/22 - 3/5
Some high highs and really low lows. The last two levels are an absolute slog.

28. Overwatch (PS5) - 4/13/22 - 4/5
Level 1300

29. Overwatch (PS5) - 4/19/22 - 4/5
All Anniversary Event items collected.

30. Tetris Effect (Switch) - 4/24/22 - 5/5
Journey Mode (Expert)
You should put a spoiler alert for Rdr2 dude ..
 
20. Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster

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10:02h. Almost 100% (Missed 3 chests and 2 enemies from the Bestiary)

Gotta be sincere, I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did. This isn't as much "Final Fantasy" as "Japanese D&D: The Game". The Vancian magic system, the monsters (Ankheg, Beholder Evil eye, the different flavours of Dragons with the appropriate breath weapons...). Most of the FF mainstays aren't there yet, but you can see the seeds being planted, up to the initially-nonexistent plot that has a very FFesque twist at the end, one that I bet that blew some minds back almost 40 years ago. The graphics are actually really serviceable and feel "right", and the music is, well, the same amazing music as always but in a nicely rearranged orchestral version.

As per length and difficulty, I've read Final Fantasy I is pretty merciless but really, Pixel Remaster is way too easy, except for the lack of guidance. I've only died twice in the whole game, both times in the final boss battle. This while running with a very offensive party with no dedicated healer (Fighter, Thief, Monk and Red Mage). This is likely due to the ton of QoL improvements (quicksave, etc.). The game is short, but it's a NES game so it's to be expected, and it's still longer than the first Dragon Quest. And it's not expensive, so the bang you get for your buck is still really great.

My Score: ★★★★☆

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21. Holedown

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5h-ish.

A Breakout-inspired puzzle game where you have to break blocks launching balls down instead of up. That's all she wrote. An inoffensive divertimento that won't get any awards nor it wants to.

My Score: ★★★

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tav7623

Member
Time to create a new post as I've hit the character limit for a single post (30,000 characters)

21. Evil Dead: The Game - PS5, est Playtime: 10+ hrs, played 10hrs of online matches as a survivor on 5/15/22
I'm a big Evil Dead fan (I've met both Ted Raimi aka Chet/Henrietta and Bruce Campbell aka the man the myth the legend Ash Williams) as well as a big fan of the Friday the 13th: The Game (I'm also a big F13 fan in general) so this game was a day one purchase for me (I got the Collector's Edition) and I gotta say overall I'm enjoying the game so far despite the main mode (Online multiplayer) pretty much only having one massive map with repetitive objectives (Collect the pieces of the map, collect the dagger & pages from the Necronomicon, expel the demons, protect the book) & it being really challenging at times especially the 5 single player missions. I definitely plan on playing this game a lot more especially considering that I haven't even played a single match as a Demon so far.

22. Freedom Planet - Switch, est Playtime: 4+ hrs, beat the game's story mode on 5/28/22
About a month ago I ended up attending the Grand Opening for the Limited Run Games retail store in Cary, NC and one of the games (that wasn't going to be a present for my nephew) I got was this game (ended up going back a week later and got physical copies of Double Dragon Neon, The Mummy: Demastered, Takedown, & Star Wars Episode 1 Racer) , which had caught my eye upon finding out it was inspired by the 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games that I loved playing as a kid. Overall, the game was fun, but really challenging at times (according to the end stats screen I died 94 times and I know I used at least a dozen or more continues) and imo felt it did a really good job of capturing the speed & (to a degree) essence of the 2D Sonic game while adding it's own unique story, characters, & gameplay elements. All in all I really enjoyed the game and despite beating the game's story mode I feel like I haven't even come close to seeing/doing everything this game has to offer (it has in-game achievements which require a minimum of 3 playthroughs, 1 for each of the game's playable characters, a time trial mode, and a gallery that requires getting all of the collectables in each level in order to 100% complete) so I'll probably be revisiting this game in the future.

23. Scooby Doo: Night of 100 Frights - PS2, est Playtime 8 hrs, beat the game's story mode with 91% completion on 5/28/22
I recently found out about a new retro video game store in my area and decided to check it out, one of the games that caught my eye was this game. The main reason it caught my eye is because I grew up a fan of the Scooby Doo cartoons (when I'd have to stay home from school because I was sick I'd grab a blanket, curl up on the living room couch, and pretty much spend all morning watching nothing but Scooby Doo re-runs) but had never really played any of the Scooby Doo video games outside of spending a few hours playing Scooby Doo Mysteries for the SNES so I decided to give this game a go. Graphically it hasn't really aged all that well and some of the gameplay mechanics are kinda archaic by today's standard, but overall it definitely felt like (in a good way imo ) a lengthy interactive episode of the classic Scooby Doo cartoons complete with a laugh track & Don Knots appearances. I also liked Tim Curry's vocal performance as the game's main villain "The Mastermind" as well as the vocal performance of the rest of the cast. My only real gripes with the game are it's sudden difficulty spikes (though thankfully it doesn't have a lives or continue system so when you die you're sent back to either the previous checkpoint or to the beginning of the stage you died in without losing too much progress), which along with the fact that it doesn't really hold your hand or guide you to where you need to go can lead to some frustrating moments that'll have you checking a guide/walkthrough just to figure out what to do next. If you're a big fan of the old Scooby Doo cartoons and can overlook the game's age (and associated flaws/issues) I think you'll find this game to be an enjoyable homage to the classic Scooby Doo episodes as well as a fairly solid 3D platformer.

24. Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore - PS2, est Playtime 4+ hrs, beat story mode with all 12 playable characters on 6/14/22
This was another game I had picked up at the new retro video game store I mentioned above. I mainly picked it up because I originally had it for the PS2 way back when (around 2003) before trading it in at a local game store and wanted to revisit the game. Overall it's somewhere in the middle for me, the combat's fun & fluid (it's so fluid at times that it almost looks like a choreographed fight) and looks pretty good for the era, also since it's an Itigaki game it's got the obvious T&A which I didn't find too distracting ;P. On the flip side the AI is really cheap at times regularly interrupting your combo with a reversal throw/combo throw (which shouldn't be possible if you're in the middle of a combo and yet these f*****rs are somehow doing it), and the final boss is at times headache inducing due to a gimmick that gradually blurs the screen with each hit they land on you, so if you want to be able to see what's going on you gotta land a lot of hits without taking a whole lot in return.

25. Tekken 2 (PS1 Classics) - PS5, Playtime: 6 hrs, beat Arcade mode with every single playable character on 6/16/22
I've been a long time fan of the Tekken series and have fond (& sometimes frustrating) memories playing this game shortly after it came out. So when I heard it was being added as part of the new PS+ Premium service (or if you were like me who had purchased it digitally on the PS3 PSN store and got to play/download it without paying for PS+ Premium) I figured I'd revisit this classic 3D fighting game. Overall I enjoyed my time with it even though it graphically hasn't aged all that well (in the New York stage you can even see the World Trade Center in the background) and was at times just as frustrating (damn cheap AI fighters) as I remember. My favorite characters to play as were King, Lei Wu Long, Kazuya, & Lee as they were the ones I used to main when I was originally playing this game and returning to them felt so satisfying.

26. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - PS5 (via PS4 Backwards Compatibility), est Playtime: 3 hrs, beat the story mode with Michaelangelo & 100% collectables on 6/16/22
As someone who grew up loving the 80's TMNT show, toys, and the NES version of the TMNT arcade game (I've played, but never beaten the original TMNT NES game though I did make it past the Dam level as a kid) this game upon watching it's announcement trailer felt like a love letter to my childhood. Playing it & beating it pretty much confirmed it for me and to be honest I was pretty much grinning the entire time I was playing it (my only real complaint is that Shredder's voice seemed inconsistent to me, if felt like they used a few clips from original Shredder voice actor James Avery, who passed away about 10 years ago for certain classic lines and for the rest they used a piss poor imitator who imo didn't come close to matching Avery's voice) seeing classic enemies/characters, characters I'd long forgotten about. I enjoyed playing this game so much that I'm happy I double dipped on it (I got it digitally for my PS5 and pre-ordered the physical version for the Switch through LRG) and even though I've beaten story mode I'll definitely be revisiting this game a lot (just like Streets of Rage 4) and eventually attempting to earn the game's Platinum trophy which looks to be a bit more manageable than the Streets of Rage 4 Platinum.

27. Hot Shots Golf - PS5 (via PS+ Premium), est. Playtime 5+ hrs, unlocked/beat all characters on 6/28/22
I'd heard a lot (mostly positive) things about this game series over the years but never really tried it, but with the first game being added as a classic title for PS+ Premium members I decided to finally give it a go. Overall it hasn't aged well graphically and there are more technical/in depth golf games out there (in this game you can't even control spin of the ball), but it was still a fun & solid golf game that acted as a nice change of pace for me.

28. AVGN Adventures (AVGN Adventures 1 & 2 Deluxe Collection) - Switch, Playtime: 2hrs 56 mins, 100% completed on 8/5/22
Up until the past couple of years (when it was clear he had stopped giving a fuck and was just going through the motions) I'd been a big fan of the Angry Video Game Nerd and had really enjoyed playing both AVGN games (which I played on Steam) shortly after they came out. So naturally I jumped all over the physical release which contained both games (along with some additional content) via Limited Run Games. The first game is pretty much the way I remember (which is to say it was a fun but very challenging 8-bit inspired 2D Action Platformer) it except that all the cameos from the original game have now been replaced by "The Future Nerd" because I guess they lost the rights to use them. Which kinda sucks but also didn't really do anything outside of just being neat little easter eggs.

29. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - PS5, est Playtime: 22 hrs, beat the story mode for all 9 episodes on 8/5/22
I ended up picking this game up about a month or so when it was on sale mainly as something to play with my 8 yr nephew for whenever he visits since he is really big into LEGO games and the Star Wars franchise (even though he's only actually sat down to watch 3-4 of the movies). So for over the past month or so we've been slowly playing through the story for all 9 Star Wars movies (basically I'd complete one trilogy by myself with him watching & having me explore/do things he wanted, he'd then complete a trilogy with me watching & giving him hints on what to do, and then the final trilogy we'd do together in 2 player) and today we finally finished it. All in all, I've enjoyed my time with the game and had a blast watching my nephew's reaction to things (the face he made when he realized Anikin & Vader were the same person and that they were Luke's dad.....priceless, also calling laughing my ass off when he called Obi Wan Kenobi "Obi Wan Cannoli") as we went through the game. I know that even though we've finished the story for all 9 movies we'll probably be going back to the game and trying to complete it.

30. Samurai Shodown (via SS Neo Geo Collection) - PS4, est Playtime: less than an hour, beat the game with multiple characters and earned all related trophies on 8/12/22
Earlier today I was at the Limited Run Games retail store and ended up picking up the Samurai Shodown collection (along with a few other games) which contains arcade versions of Samurai Shodown 1 - 5 as well as 2 alternate versions of SS 5. I picked this collection up mainly because I hadn't played many SNK games (I've played one of the Metal Slug games, but didn't beat it), let alone many of their fighting games (I've played some of King of Fighters 13 Steam Edition as well as some of the Samurai Shodown remake for the Xbox One, I also recently picked up KoF XV) and wanted to change that. Overall, I found the game to be challenging at times and outside of one character (Earthquake....seriously f**** **** **** *********** ***** that ******* ********* shithead) I didn't really encounter any rage inducing/protracted fights as I was able to zip through most fights without losing a single round with Earthquake and the Final Boss being the only exceptions. As for the game's story, well like most fighting games it was kinda basic (it's set in 18th Century Japan and involves a group of people coming together to fight this evil demon dude hellbent on bringing darkness & chaos into the world).

31. Samurai Shodown 2 (via SS Neo Geo Collection) - PS4, est Playtime: 1 hr (though it felt longer), beat the game w/ multiple characters and earned all related trophies on 8/13/22
I found this game to be a whole lot harder than the first game in the series (and that's without even changing the collections & the individual game's difficulty settings) and that the AI in this game was even more infuriating than Earthquake was in the first game for me. Though instead of it being a straight up difficulty increase it was primarily due to this game's AI being such a cheap cheating motherf****r that it made Shoa Khan (from Mortal Kombat) look tame by comparison. This game's enemy AI was somehow canceling their attacks mid animation and the second I land behind them (while they are still in their attack animation) they instantly turn around & f^^* me up (mostly with throws) as well as ignoring my attacks (which would clearly land yet it wouldn't count/show up on the enemies health bar) and somehow in the middle of my combos getting free (they'd normally be in an stun state and wouldn't be able to attack) & attacking me even though I'm mid combo. This wasn't just the boss enemies this was happening with every enemy after the 3rd (of 13) fight(s) and was so infuriating as to make me want to use this version of the game's save state feature to save scum my way to victory (via incremental saves) instead of using it to save score data/pick up where I left off playing. Also, just like the first game in the series the game's story is kinda basic (the evil from the first game is back possessing someone else, everyone comes back to fight it) and is imo not really this game's biggest selling point.

32. King of Fighters XV - PS5, Playtime: 14+ hrs, beat the game with every official/"registered" team from the base game on 9/17/22
When I started playing this game last month, I had been on something of a fighting game kick, but between work and stuff I ended up taking a break from fighting games by playing more MLB the Show 22 so I didn't play this game a whole lot until recently. Overall, I really enjoyed the game (to the point where I want to go through & unlock all the endings for the "hidden" teams) though there were a couple of mechanics (like doing the EX moves & the different levels of Super finishing moves) that were kind of a pain to get nail down.

33. Samurai Shodown 3 (via SS Neo Geo Collection) - PS4, est Playtime: 1 hr (though it felt like 3), beat the game with multiple characters and earned all related trophies on 10/8/22
Even though it doesn't seem like it I did take a break from playing fighting games (played some MLB the Show 22 as well as some Cyberpunk 2077, Forza Horizion 4 & 5) before deciding to come back to the Samurai Shodown games due to how infuriating the second Samurai Shodown game was. Overall, this game (so far) is my least favorite of the Samurai Shodown as it pretty much carried over all the stuff, I hated about the second game in the series and then ramped it up to 11, though one thing I did enjoy about the game was the stage design as some of the stages (imo) look awesome.

34. Samurai Shodown 4 (via SS Neo Geo Collection) - PS4, est Playtime: less than 1 hr, beat the game with multiple characters and earned all related trophies on 10/8/22
So far this is my favorite of the Samurai Shodown games I've played and it at times evoked the feelings/visuals of the Street Fighter Alpha games, which are among my favorite games in the Street Fighter series. This game imo really cut back on the BS that was pissing me off in the first 3 games (and especially in the 3rd game) to where it felt a bit fairer & more balanced so when I lost it wasn't (for the most part) because of the cheating AI and questionable hit detection but rather because I made a mistake (whether being too aggressive or too defensive) that opened me up to attacks. I also really enjoyed that each character basically had their own story that was told during arcade mode ala little intros/dialogue text boxes between characters at the beginning of each match.

35. Samurai Shodown 5 (via SS Neo Geo Collection) - PS4, est Playtime: 1 hr, beat the game with multiple characters and earned all related trophies on 10/8/22
Didn't like this one as much as I did Samurai Shodown 4 as they brought back some more of the BS from the previous games, fortunately they only tied it to a small handful of characters, though with one of the characters (Sankuro....... aka the Motherf***** G*******n Cheating piece of S***) they really went overboard as this f****r can summon food to heal himself as well as 3 companions that can either attack you or hold you in place so you can't move. The rest of the other BS characters are thankfully imo nowhere near as egregious, though the final boss & Yumeji (who can morph into pretty much the entire cast of characters in the game and can essentially insta block/ignore the game's equivalent of the super move from the Street FIghter game) do come close.

36. Samurai Shodown 5 Perfect (via SS Neo Geo Collection) - PS4, est Playtime: 1 hr, beat the game with multiple characters, earned all related trophies & earned the overall Platinum Trophy on 10/9/22
I was initially planning on skipping the 2 alternate versions to the 5th game in the series but seeing that I was 3 trophies away from getting the overall Platinum Trophy (my first one of the year YAY!) and it required beating the last (and previously thought lost) version of Samurai Shodown 5, which was a special inclusion for the Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection at least once (if I did it right) I thought what the hell I'll give it a go. After beating it (and getting the Platinum Trophy) I went back and played the other alternate version of 5 (Samurai Shodown 5 Special) just to see how it played though unlike the other games in the collection I didn't beat it with any of the characters. Overall, this is by far my favorite version of 5 and I liked it so much that I went through it again despite already earning the Platinum Trophy at the end of my first playthrough. If I had to rank the games in the collection it'd go something like 4, 5 Perfect, 5 Special, 5, 1, 2, & 3 and if there was a game (or games) in the collection that I'd be more than happy revisiting it'd have to be 4 and 5 Perfect.

37. Ryse: Son of Rome - Steam/PC, Playtime: 8 hrs 12 mins, beat the game on Soldier (Normal) difficulty on 10/12/22
I first got & played this game back in 2015 (at the time I didn't have an Xbox One, but I did have what I thought was a semi decent PC that could possibly run the game...I was wrong) but after having some issues with the game playing on my computer (even at the lowest settings @ 540p & FPS Locked it would still stutter) I abandoned my playthrough of the game, until now. A few days ago I was looking for a short game to play as a "palette cleanser" and while browsing my Steam library I came across this game, which I'd gotten about halfway through before giving up on the game in Oct 2015. Within a few hours of returning to the game I'd managed to get to the final half of the game, so I figured what the hell I'll finish the job, which I managed to do within 2 hrs of starting the game today. Despite the time gap between playthroughs I was able to get back into the story (which was kinda eh imo) though it did take me a little bit toto get back into the full swing of the gameplay/combat which was imo decent though kinda got repetitive after a while. Overall, I thought the game was ok (my favorite part of the game were the middle chapters especially the creepy swamp you gotta traverse at night), but a little too easy (imo) on Normal difficulty. Still I'm happy to have finally finished this game even though it took me about seven years and I for the most part enjoyed playing the game to the point that I may end up revisiting the game next year on a higher difficulty and while I'm at it maybe wrap up all the missing collectables & fully max out the game's main protagonist, Marius.

38. Bayonetta - Switch, Playtime: 14 hrs 6 mins, beat the game on Normal Difficulty on 10/18/22
A few weeks back I picked up the physical Switch release of Bayonetta as well as a physical copy of Bayonetta 2 for the Switch in anticipation for the upcoming release of the 3rd game in the series. Funnily enough this playthrough marks the 3rd time I've played and beaten this game (the previous playthroughs being on the PS3 in 2014 and the Wii U in 2015), each time I seem to like it a little bit more than the previous playthrough even though I apparently suck at the game (or am extremely rusty.... no....I suck at the game :p) given the number of stone awards I "earned" during my playthrough. Still, I did enjoy my little walk down memory lane and hopefully it should provide a good warm up for my second time through Bayonetta 2 (first time was when it came out for the Wii U), which I'm gonna try to knock out before Bayonetta 3 comes out.

39. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) - PC/Steam, Playtime: 13+ hrs, completed the campaign on Normal Difficulty & achieving all but 3 of the 18 currently earnable Achievements on 10/22/22
I've been a long time CoD player (my first CoD game was CoD 2 for the 360 back in 2005) and one of my favorite sub series within CoD has been the Modern Warfare games. I especially liked what they did with the rebooted story in MW 2019 so picking up this game was something of a no brainer and was more of a matter or whether to pick it up for the PC now that I have a pretty solid gaming PC or for the PS5 since I don't have a Series X. In the end I went with the PC/Steam version for a number of reasons 1. to test/push my recently acquired graphics card, 2. I finally regained full (non PSN) access to my account (it's a long story and I don't want to get into it) so I could now finally play on my account outside of PSN and 3. I want to play this game online, but since I'm not going to renew my PS Plus subscription when it expires the PC version (which doesn't require a separate paid subscription to play online) became the logical choice. Since I pre-ordered the game digitally I got early access to the campaign on Thursday and due to the timing (I basically have Fri & Sat's off) I was able to tear through it as well as attempt to get as many of the Achievements as I could (there were 24 Achievements, but only 18 were available since 6 of them are tied to the Spec Ops mode which isn't currently available, I got 15 of them only missing 2 story related ones & 1 tied to beating the game on Veteran or Realism difficulties) in a single playthrough. Overall, I enjoyed the campaign as there were definitely a couple of moments/sequences that I thought were really awesome so I can definitely see myself revisiting the campaign again down the road (especially if the rumors about story DLC expansions turn out to be true) and trying to get the rest of the Achievements I missed.

40. Bayonetta 2 - Switch, Playtime: 9 hrs 7 mins , beat the game on Normal Difficulty with at least half (26 of 50) of the in-game Achievements earned on 10/23/22
I first played this game the day it came out on the Wii U and I absolutely loved it, so much so that thought that it was light years better than the first game. In anticipation for Bayonetta 3 I decided to replay (and re-purchase) the first 2 games making this my first playthrough of the game since I first played it almost 7-8 years ago, and to be honest I still loved playing this game even though I found it to be a lot easier than the first game (I overall didn't get a single chapter based Stone Awards in this game, whereas I got at least 3 in the first game) was to playthrough.

41. Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose - PS5, Playtime: 3 hrs 11 mins, beat the DLC campaign on Normal Difficulty on 10/30/22
I really enjoyed my time with Resident Evil: Village so picking up the DLC campaign Shadows of Rose was a no brainer, now that I've finally played it I'm kinda mixed on it. There were some good scary moments within the DLC campaign, and I enjoyed the gameplay overall, but there were also some frustrating moments (involving insta deaths during certain sections of the game with the biggest culprit being a game of stop & go with some creepy as Mannequins ) towards the middle of the campaign. I was also kinda disappointed with the way it ended ( look it's the exact same cutscene from the end of Village, but now with some added context, Yay! :p ) as I was expecting it to setup RE 9, but that didn't happen.


42. Bayonetta 3 - Switch, est Playtime: 19hrs, beat the campaign on Normal Difficulty on 11/5/22
I came into this game with mixed feelings, I really enjoyed the second game in the series (the first one was okay) & was excited with the announcement of a 3rd game in the series but was bummed to find out that og Bayonetta voice actress Helena Taylor wasn't coming back (this was before the whole lying debacle and all the terrible things she supports) to voice the character. Now that I've finally played all the way through the game, I'm still mixed on it, graphically it looked really rough especially compared to the previous game, Jennifer Hale's voice performance as the new Bayonetta was ok, and the story was eh (though the ending was imo kinda solid) . I did enjoy the gameplay, the large number of weapons & collectables, and outside of the Parry mechanic needed to activate Witch Time for Viola I enjoyed playing as her. If I had to rank the games, my ranking (atm) would look something like this 1. Bayonetta 2, 2. Bayonetta 3, & then 3. Bayonetta.

43. Bright Memory Infinite - Steam/PC, Playtime: 2 hrs 30 mins on Violent Difficulty on 11/6/22
I first saw this game being showed off a few years ago at one of the big console manufacturers game showcases (my CRS has kicked in and I can't remember if it was Sony or Microsoft who showed this game off) and was really intrigued by it at the time. Well flash forward to a few months ago, I find out it got a quiet release and was available on Steam, since I'd just upgraded the graphics card & figured what the hell and picked it up on Steam. I ended up playing it for about an hour before getting frustrated with a couple of temporarily game stopping glitches (prompts needed to continue to the next area wouldn't show up and in this particular part of the game you needed that prompt to pop up or else you couldn't advance, thankfully all it took was a couple of checkpoint restarts to get it to finally work) then eventually sidetracked by other games. Seeing someone post about it on a different message board reminded me I hadn't finished it so I popped back in and finished it. Overall, it was ok, graphically it was stunning, gameplay wise it was ok, story wise well it was short but still eh at best, and in all honesty given how short it is I wouldn't recommend picking it up at full price.

44. Bloodrayne: ReVamped - PS5, Playtime: 7 hrs 15 mins, beat the game on Normal difficulty achieving all but 1 trophy on 11/11/22
I first played & beat this game when it came out on the PS2 and recall having decent time with the game so when it along with the other BloodRayne games (2 & Betrayal) got re-released on PS5 and got a physical release via Limited Run Games (which is what I went with) I figured it'd be nice to revisit these games especially Bloodrayne 1 & 2 since I hadn't played them since they originally came out. Outside of updating the textures & adding trophies this game looks & plays pretty much like it did when it first came out and boy it was (imo) rough, especially the controls & antiquated save system (you can save whenever you like, but you'll start from the beginning of the level instead of the exact spot where you saved, same goes for when you die), which made playing through parts of the game more of a pain in the @$$ than it should have been. Outside of these issues it was a fun little romp that reminded me just how far along games & game design have come since the early 2000's.
 
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22. Vampire Survivors

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33h-ish. All levels released so far beaten


Haha what? This game has no right to be as awesome as it is. They describe it as a "Reverse bullet hell" and it's an apt moniker, but really, it's basically a twin-stick shooter with (mostly) aimed autofire (Single stick-shooter?). It's stupidly fun and addictive and it costs like 3€. Give it a try.

My Score: ★★★

Original post
 
23. Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster

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14:05h.

It's really fun to start playing the previous entries of a famous series one after another and see how they've evolved during the years. While Final Fantasy I was definitely "Not a Final Fantasy", Final Fantasy II has upgraded that to "Almost a Final Fantasy". Lots of series mainstays debut in this game (Chocobos, Ultima, Cid) and instead of the nameable mutes of the first entry, you now have defined characters with personalities and dialogues, and a full story, albeit simple - but with a couple twists, strong villains, betrayals and double crosses, and a lot of characters who die. Most of those are to be expected now, but they were absolutely revolutionary at the time.

Still, this game was much maligned by fans for its standout leveling system, similar to those you find in games like The Elder Scrolls; you level up stats by using certain weapons and doing certain actions. While weird for a FF game, it's mostly unobtrusive in the Pixel Remaster and won't prevent anyone from reaching the end of the game. Moreover, if you want to finetune your characters to specialize in certain weapons and magic, this allows you to do exactly that - but it's perfectly possible to beat the game by just equipping the strongest weapons and Attacking the fights away.

Frankly, I thought I wouldn't enjoy this game as much as I did. Like FFI, it's a museum piece - but one that can be perfectly enjoyed today.

My Score: ★★★

Original post
 
24. Kirby and the Forgotten Land

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+15h. 79% of the game completed, including postgame.

I feel nobody was expecting this game to be as good as it is, and I don't fault the fans - most Kirby games go from ok to subpar. But this one really hits the spot. The production is surprisingly high (The music is particularly awesome) and the stages feel lovingly handcrafted, as opposed to the many "paint by the numbers" feel of the games that are being released recently. The weird post-apocalyptic setting seems jarring at first, but you know what? It works, somehow. Your pink wad of chewing gum doesn't seem TOO out of place because everything is still cutesy and colorful enough (most of the time) and unlike Mario Odyssey, there are no weirdly realistic bosses - the art, basically, is consistent in its weirdness and that makes it work.

The gameplay is closer to Mario 3D World than Odyssey, and Kirby's ability to sort-of-fly-ish doesn't break levels as much as I thought it would (mostly because it's been limited). The copy abilities are fun and useful, too useful at times. For example, once I evolved the Ranger ability to max, I basically never used anything else because of it broken it was. In fact, the only niggle I can find is that the game is (to the surprise of no one) too easy, but the difficulty ramps up near the end and becomes genuinely challenging by the postgame and the latter two coliseum fights. Nothing ragequit-worty though, just... harder than before.

My Score: ★★★

Original post
 

marcincz

Member
Game 23 - Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) - 30h 37m
Beat 12/05/2022 - my score: ★★★

Game 24 - Asterix & Obelix: Slap them All! (XBO) - 09h 23m

Beat 16/05/2022 - my score: ★★★

My 2nd playthrough of Horizon and still one of the best game on previous gen. I am ready for Forbidden West.
Asterix is very mediocre title. Expected more. Probably 3/5 is too many.
 
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yamaci17

Member
Game 23 - Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) - 30h 37m
Beat 12/05/2022 - my score: ★★★

Game 24 - Asterix & Obelix: Slap them All! (XBO) - 09h 23m

Beat 16/05/2022 - my score: ★★★

My 2nd playthrough of Horizon and still one of the best game on previous gen. I am ready for Forbidden West.
Asterix is very mediocre title. Expected more. Probably 3/5 is too many.

the title "asterix & obelix" itself would also make me give it an at least 3 :) i loved their films and cartoons ! looking back they're not even that good but fond memories definitely play tricks with mind!
 

marcincz

Member
the title "asterix & obelix" itself would also make me give it an at least 3 :) i loved their films and cartoons ! looking back they're not even that good but fond memories definitely play tricks with mind!
The worst are fps drops. In beat'em up it's a huge trouble. Besides very repetitive levels and boring fights. Throw, dash, throw dash, throw, dash and you can beat this game.
 

Cryio

Member
Game 5 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves - 8/10? - RPCS3

Finally finished this game after starting it last summer. I thought I could do more Sly Cooper After the 1st one and apparently I could not.

Sly 2 is the kind of sequel that makes the previous game look like a prototype. Think Uncharted 2, Dead Space 2, Portal 2, Mass Effect 2.

Significantly better visuals, animation, as a game it's 3 to 4 times the length, a lot more mechanics and huge "by Sly 1 standards" hub worlds where the missions happen.

The fluidity of motion is what I end up appreciating about these games most of all. The writing is also surprisingly competent.
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
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Game 19 - Rogue Legacy 2 - PC / Steam - Completed May 22nd, 2022
I absolutely loved the first Rogue Legacy game, so when I saw they were making a sequel I was pretty excited. I picked it up when it first released to Early Access (about two years ago!) and played it a couple of times while it was in development. Now that it got released a few weeks ago to 1.0, I've been playing it a lot lately. It's very much like the first game but better in (almost) every way. The only real letdown was that some of the Fairy chest rooms were pretty bullshit this time around. This game had a lot better traversal, with the ability to permanently unlock shortcuts to each area. If you liked the first game, be sure to give this a try!
 
25. Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster

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18:50h


FFIII is the first game of the series that goes from "Good for its time" to "Genuinely good". If FFI was "Not a Final Fantasy" and FFII was "Almost a Final Fantasy", FFIII is finally "A real Final Fantasy", if a primitive-ish one. The job system introduced in the first game is much more meaty now - and in fact, lots of stuff are call-backs to the first game (Like the return of the elemental Crystals and the Archfiends, or the Vancian magic system that, fortunately, never comes back after this game [I think?]) and while the characters are again nameable, faceless blobs, they do have a semblance of background and personality. The story, in fact, is much less barebones now, and the NPCs start carrying their own weight instead of just being moving props. There are optional bosses, summons, missable ultimate weapons (plural)... in Japan, players consider that FFIII and FFIV shaped the whole saga, and I m starting to see how.

Furthermore, the game is now balanced enough to pose an actual challenge; In FFI, I only died twice and both times it was in the final boss battle. In FFII, I don't remember dying at all. Here I got stuck several times, mosty in the final couple dungeons (Ahriman and Echidna were total bitches) and I actually had to grind for a bit to beat the Cloud of Darkness, as my chosen party (Ninja, Ninja, Sage, Devout) was somewhat underleveled and I had spent my Shurikens somewhere else). All in all, this trip down memory lane is starting to get good now, and I'm really looking forward to play the SNES entries now.

My Score: ★★★

Original post
 

marcincz

Member
Game 25 - Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (NS) - 10h 27m
Beat 26/05/2022 - my score: ★★★★★

I seldom give maximal notes, but DK is just amazing. I've played many platformers, but this is probably the best. Level design, lenght of game, great visuals and audio, quite challenging (especially last world). Great title.
End of the may and almost half way to 52 games. Good pace.
 
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26. CARRION

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5h-ish


A decent Metroidvania where you play a sentient blob of hamburger meat killing humans in its wake. Being The Thing and eating defenseless scientists is extremely satisfying, though the combat lacks challenge (No room ever took me more than a couple tries) even when facing drones and mechs, which can shred you to ribbons in a couple seconds but take approximately the same amount of time to be torn apart by your tentacles. The controls take some time to get used to, but once you do you will be cruising around surprisingly fast. Moving around like an hypersonic Meatwad while listening to the eerie OST skirts masterfully the line between creepy and silly, never completely crossing it in a specific direction.

While the game is fun, some design decisions are annoying; namely, needing to become smaller (which requires using special pools of water that may or may not be nearby) to use certain abilities, and not having any sort of map (you need to use echolocation to more or less orient yourself in the general direction of things). Still, the premise can keep you hooked until the ending which basically peters out without a real climax, and leaves you with a "That's it?" feeling which ranks amongst the worst feelings you can get from a videogame.

It's free on GamePass though!

My Score: ★★★

Original post
 
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Chastten

Banned
Oh man, I've always wanted to participate in these but the type of games I generally play just doesn't allow for it. Even in the past two years, when pretty much all I did was working, sleeping and gaming, I ended up at 34 and 36 games respectively. This year I'm only at 12 so far.

I gamed a hell of a lot in May, but even then I could 'only' finish four games. I knocked out Triangle Strategy, Cruis'n Blast, Kirby and the Forgotten World and Monster Hunter Stories 2. I just started the recent Blue Reflection, which is probably gonna be another 40+ hour experience.
 
81-90

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81 - Doom - GameBoy Advance - Finished playthrough - 65/100
I only started this because I wanted to see how awful Doom on GBA would be. It turns out it's not awful at all. The ultra low resolution is an issue as enemies go missing in the distance, but the game plays just fine. Movement is handled by the d-pad and the shoulder buttons activate the strafe left and right. After a few minutes of adjustment I was breezing through levels like it was second nature. It's definitely not perfect, the GBA sound is not great, the resolution is not great and it seems a bit silly playing this version when even the version on the PC in your workstation in Doom Eternal is better. That's the thing about Doom though, if you start playing it there's a pretty good chance you'll be finishing it.

82 - Final Fantasy III 3D Remake - 3DS - Finished playthrough, 100% completion - 60/100
This is not a great version of Final Fantasy III. Play the Pixel remaster or the original version. This version was a 3D remake that not only looked horrible, but played worse than the original. The battle openings, load times and battle animations required me to take almost double the time to complete the game. The game itself is fine, it was the last of the NES Final Fantasy games and as such things had advanced a bit from the first two in terms of character development. The job system in this game became a bit of a chore requiring leveling for the jobs themselves and thus this was the grindiest Final fantasy yet. While in a typical JRPG if you explore, find all the chests and chart each environment the random battles you fight should keep you levels up enough to the point you can beat the upcoming boss without grinding. While my level was always enough I constantly found myself heading back to goblin town grinding up job levels. I am glad I finally finished this though, I originally played it over a decade ago but never got around to finishing it.

83 - Bugsnax - PC - Finished playthrough, 100% completion (two achievements won't trip despite completing the requirements) - 65/100
This game had all the makings of a fun little first-person exploration game with minor puzzle elements. It's a game about muppets called grumpuses who eat food-themed creatures and turn into those foods themselves. So obviously the first thing the game does is shows you a cutscene of a female archeologist grumpus who just discovered the most important archeological find in history, Snaktooth island. The cutscene is interrupted by another female grumpus who runs on camera and tells the audience they are lesbians, then literally says "they need to know!". Imagine Indiana Jones finding the Ark, turning to the camera and saying "I like man ass, you need to know". This continues through the game about muppet-like creatures clearly targeting children where you help set up the gay grumpus couple so you can get the much required gay kiss scene between muppet-like things. Don't worry though, there's a straight couple. The husband is a complete dumbass and all they do is fight, as all straight couples in media must be portrayed to do now. The annoying thing about this is that the actual gameplay isn't that bad, I was actually having fun catching the bugsnax and solving the dumb puzzles which were not exactly big-brain material, but were fun regardless. Getting hit over the head with this sexuality horseshit took away from the game itself and was absolutely of no value.

84 - Horace - PC - Finished playthrough, 100% completion - 90/100
This game was brilliant. The game is a narrated Metroidvania with some tricky platforming and a wonderful story over top of it. You're a robot built by a nice person with a nice family. Then everything goes to shit. It just gets worse and worse. The game absolutely does not pull any punches when it comes to the story and I genuinely felt extremely sad at points playing the game. It really is a grand adventure full of roller-coaster rides for your heart. The gameplay is gravity based, you have special shoes that make you the focal point of the universe and the world revolves around your character. Walk off a ledge and instead of falling down the screen rotates 90 degrees allowing you to walk down the side of the ledge. Continue and you'll be standing on the bottom of the platform while the world is upside-down. You can actually jump off a platform upside-down and launch yourself into orbit. This leads to some very clever platforming and puzzles. Just as clever is when they take your ability away and the reasons they come up with for it. Sometimes the gravity works normally, sometimes the screen stops rotating but you can still stick to all surfaces which really messes with your head. The control is extremely tight and if you die it was on you. The pixel art is superb, not too complex, not too simple, it hits that sweet spot where it doesn't feel like pixel-shit but isn't too detailed. The one downside to the game is as the game progresses the platforming becomes more like Meat Boy than earlier sections where any wrong move is death. I found it frustrating to no longer be able to experiment as much as earlier in the game. In the end this has been one of my favorite games I played this year. Definitely give it a shot.

85 - Nobody Saves the World - PC - Finished playthrough, 100% completion (only missing the NG+ achievement which requires a second full playthrough) - 90/100
Right on the heels of Horace I was told by a friend to play this. What a fun game. It's a top-down dungeon crawler with rogue-like elements. The humor is well done and the "story" is about as complex as it should be, meaning it's not. You travel an overworld looking for dungeons to clear out so that you can piece together who you are and stop the calamity that threatens the world. You have the ability to change form into other creatures like a rat, an archer, a knight, a bodybuilder, a ghost, etc. Each form has unique moves and it's own progression with new moves unlocking as you play. You can also mix and match abilities between forms to create some pretty unique moves. The art reminds me a lot of games like Castle Crashers or Alien Hominid with tons of color. The combat loop is a lot of fun, I found myself redoing dungeons over and over even when I didn't really need to just to try out different ability combinations. Definitely a fun game and surprisingly ended up being another favorite this year.

86 - Hardspace: Shipbreaker - PC - Finished playthrough, 100% completion, all achievements - 65/100
This kind of game always appeals to me. I love taking things apart and this game is basically just that. Load a ship into the bay and using the very good controls, figure out how to tear it down. There are puzzle-like elements to the game. The ships hulls are pressurized, have reactors, radiation, electricity and can have fuel running through them. A mistake can literally blow up half the ship, damaging all the valuable salvage and even killing you. The controls take a minute to adjust to like in Everspace. Once you get them down you'll be flying around the yard like it's second nature, latching onto parts as you fly by and blasting them into the right location for salvage. This game was an easy 80 for me. Unfortunately this is another game that ambushed me with politics and sexuality in it's worthless "story". They really wanted it to be a big part of the game so I'll factor it that way in my review.
Between shifts you return to your "hab" to upgrade equipment and fix an old spaceship. Unfortunately you also get calls from a self-insert cunt of a character who immediately tells you she wants to unionize and then goes into detail about her lesbian relationship. This unlikeable cunt calls you almost every shift and it's non-skippable. Eventually she e-mails everyone union material and the company who you all signed a contract with decides to investigate. They send the most laughably mustache-twirling villain of a representative to make sure things are being done right. I'll assume this guy was based on one of the writer's previous supervisors. Of course the cunt keeps rattling cages anyways and sending off emails full of anti-company verbage. Eventually she snaps when the supervisor talks to the biggest fuck-up on the crew "mano-a-mano" and gives him another chance despite constantly blowing shit up and generally being dead weight. Eventually the company holds everyone to the contract they signed which makes the company evil (as all corporations are), but doesn't make then all idiots for signing the contract in the first place. Eventually you fix everything by destroying a bunch of property and almost getting one of your crew killed which the writer somehow thought was a "good thing". The cunt goes on to be a political figure for the union who will likely take kickbacks to look the other way in the future, at least it's accurate there.
In short the career features an un-skippable dog-shit story written by a brainlet who has obviously never worked a second in the heavy-industrial sector or even looked into what the work is like. I just wanted to take shit apart, not get fed union propaganda through a game, I get enough of that shit when union stooges sometimes wait outside my work trying to convince us that we need two bosses instead of one. It actually struck a chord with me but not in a good way. The saddest part was watching the credits and seeing the concept art. There were originally much more complicated designs planned that would have made the puzzle element of the game so much more complex but at some point it's clear the focus became the story and not the actual meat and potatoes gameplay.

87 - Final Fantasy IV - GameBoy Advance - 100% complete, all chests, completed Bestiary - 90/100
I've played this game before, about 20 years ago. I remember it well but having played Final Fantasy 1-3 I couldn't stop just as I got the the SNES era. This was kind of a restart for the entire series and it goes back to the roots of the series while also taking it forward in terms of scope and scale. This game is fun. The adventure is fun, the new active battle system means no farting around picking your moves. It's always go, go, go. For a turn-based game it's pretty fast-paced. Battles last mere seconds and the encounter rates can be pretty high. New completely unique characters are constantly introduced and seem to die just as fast as they appear, often hilariously, only to have somehow survived. One guy jumps off an airship holding a bomb that explodes, caving in a volcano entrance to the underworld. You later find him sleeping it off. Locations are also unique with multiple world maps all with several memorable encounters. You see castles, caverns, you go into the underworld and meet a civilization of Darves (Lali-Ho!), you unearth a space ship shaped like a whale and fly to the moon. The charm in this game is off the scale and I enjoyed every second of it's completely bananas story again. The Game Boy Advance version is not as good as the SNES one or the pixel remaster but it's still great. The small additions are nice, but the GBA sound is not the same as the SNES and the slight scale-down in the graphics means the game doesn't look quite as good as it did originally. I'm very glad I'm running through these old Final Fantasy games, it's reminded me why I fell in love with JRPGs in the first place. Great game!

88 - Pac-Man Museum - PC - WIP
I love the concept of this game. An entire arcade you put together with parts you got from playing through the history of Pac-Man. I'm actually pretty good at Pac-Man, possibly one of the only things I've been able to claim that about. My issue so far is that something feels off about the gameplay. I'm missing turns I shouldn't be missing in the original games which feels like an input delay. I'll keep at it and just remember to start my inputs early but it feels a bit wrong.

89 - Mighty Goose - PC - Complete playthrough - 80/100
This game is so stupid. I love it. Basically a Metal Slug game but you're a goose. Pixel art is good, pretty big pixels but I can from 240 resolution days so it's fine, the designs are great. This game really reminded me of back when we'd rent a game that we were iffy on but we'd discovered a hidden gem. This game controls well, it's decently hard but not unfair at all and the music is great. Definitely give this game a chance and have a fun afternoon with it. My main gripe with the game is just how short it is, again just like the games we used to rent back in the day. After completing the game you unlock what's essentially hard mode but even with all that it's not a long game. Honk.

90 - Batman: Arkham Knight - PC - 100% Completion, activated Knightfall Protocol - 80/100
This game really surprised me. I loved Arkham Asylum and I really liked Arkham City. I expected to merely like this game but after 80 hours I can't think of many things about the game I didn't enjoy. The story happens mostly as you play and not in annoying 10 minute+ long cutscenes. It's very well done with lots of twists and turns and was a great finale for this series. The various villains scattered around Gotham were all just like I remembered them in the other games, but with a very nice new coat of paint. The game looks absolutely stunning despite it's age and with modern hardware runs amazingly well. I expected the Batmobile sections to be absolute crap but again I was surprised. The Batmobile is an absolute joy to drive and in tank mode it's extremely controllable, in the end for me it was a very welcome addition to the game. As far as downsides, some things are rinse/repeat, padding the play time. Some of the shock enemies could get annoying, but once you figured it all out they were fine. My biggest gripe is the grapple shot quite often would target buildings behind me a few city blocks away instead of the one I wanted it to which meant redoing things on occasion. I wasn't a fan of the cutscenes that play every time you die at all but they go back to the first one so it's nothing new. Overall though not too many complaints for a game this long. I was actually sad to see the game's credits as this series to me is the pinnacle of superhero games. Overall it was a fantastic game I couldn't put down.
 
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marcincz

Member
June update:

Game 26 - Super Mario Odyssey (NS) - 11h 03m
Beat 05/06/2022 - my score: ★★★★★

Game 27 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (n3DS) - 80h 26m

Beat 12/06/2022 - my score: ★★★

Next Nintendo titles. SMO is awesome. Probably my favourite 3d platform game, I've ever played.
Xenoblade is good, but too much grind near the end.
 
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27. Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition

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32:48h. Normal difficulty, 100% of the galaxy explored, all quests done.


I don't quite recall enjoying Mass Effect 2 this much the first time I played it. Maybe the enhanced graphics allowed me to enjoy it more, compared to the choppy PS3 version. As it stands, I believe Mass Effect 2 is the best thing Bioware has ever made. It's an incredibly detailed universe, teeming with lore, things to do, and likable (and hateable) characters with more depth and nuances than the whole cast of Skyrim combined. Every decision feels weighty, every conversation seems important. The interpersonal relations of your crew, their fights, the fact that they CAN and will die if you do not do your job... it's an awesome feeling. This is helped by the incredible voice acting, and yes, I'm including "I should go" Mark Meer, whose military-style deadpan is perfect for the do-gooder war hero type of character.

Right now, I'm dreading the moment I have to start Mass Effect 3 because I'm not sure about how the decisions I took will affect the upcoming story. The fact that I already played ME3 doesn't help, because I'm aware that some of my choices will affect the upcoming war with the Reapers. Also, I cheated on Liara with Tali and I'm not ready for that conversation. Modern games simply can't recreate that feeling of being a part of a living, thriving universe.

Also, yes, the cover shooting is dated and feels random at times, the probing planet mechanic wasn't good before and isn't good now, the facial animations are right out of the uncanny valley, the art is aggresively late 2000s (the "Bald space marine era"). But believe me - you won't care.

PS: I don't forget Bioware reduced the butt shots. I'm scoring the game, not Bioware. Playing ME2 is like rummaging in the pockets of a long-dead corpse and finding a thousand bucks.

My Score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Original post
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
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Game 21 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Xbox Series X - Completed Jun 17th, 2022
My son and I played through this game completely in a single afternoon while completing all of the optional side quests and uncovering all of the secrets in every level. A really fun game that I'm sure I'll be playing through again and again. I'm always in the market for a good beat em up, because I feel it's the ultimate "party game" with friends or family over. Thankfully, this one is low skill level which means even my wife enjoys it. Even though it's on Game Pass, I'm planning on buying this probably a few times.
 
28. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

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5:38h. Normal difficulty.


The year is 2012. The place, an unnamed high-rise apartment somewhere in Shinjuku. An unrelenting storm has been lashing at the Japanese capital for a while now, and Hideo Kojima, the moody genius, is calmly looking at the nightly rainfall through a window. His personal assistant waits patiently, standing up behind him.
'It's almost over' says Kojima all of a sudden, after a broken, tired sigh. 'My time at Konami nears its end.'
'I'm sure you're imagining things, sensei' says the anonymous assistant, obediently. 'If I can speak frankly, they won't get rid of their golden goose. After you're gone, what do they have left? Pro Evo? Lifeless MMOs based on the IPs you created? Pachinko machines!? You're Konami's best man! A hero!'
'You're way too naive. Real heroes are never as polished as the legends that surround them. No, I know they plan to get rid of me. Oh, sure, they call me a genius, but I can see how the stares when they think I'm not looking. The giggles when they think I'm not listening! My time has ended. My war is over. But there’s one more thing I must do.'
'And that is...' gulps the poor asistant, tensing his muscles as if getting ready for an upcoming punch in the gut.
'I'm going to make the most videogamey videogame ever made. It will have cyborg ninjas running up buildings. It will have samurai duels at sundown. It will have a punching match with an 8ft tall american senator. It will have the cheesiest dialog ever written! And memes will be made about it until the end of time. I'm going to free my creativity of its shackles and just do whatever. The fuck. I want.'
'That's what you've been doing up until now, sir.'
Kojima's raspy cackle is almost drowned by the sudden rumble of thunder. Almost. A chill shoots up the poor asistant's spine. Now Kojima is shouting, with tears of madness glistening in his eyes.
'That's what you think. That's what you all think! But I'll show you how wrong you were. Tell the boys in the studio to initiate project "Revengeance".'
'That's not a word, sensei.'
'It is now.'

My Score: ★★★

Original post
 
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Wozzer

Member
I like to go into hibernation and hide from DM's until the second half of the year when folks typically overcome the channel. BusierDonkey BusierDonkey decided to just finish the challenge in little over a month, so belated but congrats to being the first to get onto the latest Hall of Fame :messenger_grinning_sweat:

 
I like to go into hibernation and hide from DM's until the second half of the year when folks typically overcome the channel. BusierDonkey BusierDonkey decided to just finish the challenge in little over a month, so belated but congrats to being the first to get onto the latest Hall of Fame :messenger_grinning_sweat:


No Starfield, Forza Motorsport or Zelda has all but guaranteed my 104 goal this year! And to think my parents never thought I'd amount to anything.
 
29. Kill It With Fire

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5:12h. Completed the secret ending, but was too lazy to unlock the Wondrous door.


This is not really much of a game, more of an interactive digital spider killing toy. For someone with mild arachnophobia, the first levels of this game were fucking survival horror. The spiders appear all of a sudden, with a creepy musical sting if you don't disable it) and seeing them burst out of the toilet or the inside of a nightstand... it triggers the "creepy crawlies bad" neurones in my monkey brain.

Luckily, the game becomes much more absurd in later stages, to the point that you end killing explosive spiders with a rocket launcher in a japanese garden, for example, which dials down the arachnophobia triggers quite a bit. Some of the puzzles are clever-ish, but the main draw of the game (killing lots of spiders) doesn't remain entertaining for long. Luckily, the game is quite short and can be completed in two goes.

Also, works perfectly in SteamDeck, so if you want to kill toilet spiders when you're sitting in the throne yourself... (But then again, why would you want to do that!?)

My Score: ★★★

Original post
 

marcincz

Member
Update:

Game 28 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (XBO) - 03h 06m
Beat 18/06/2022 - my score: ★★★

Another very good beat'em up by Dotemu. However I like SoR4 more.

Game 29 - Dante's Inferno (PS3) - 11h 45m
Beat 20/06/2022 - my score: ★★★

My 2nd playthrough. First was around day1 in 2010 on X360. Still solid and good game.

Game 30 - Trek to Yomi (XBO) - 07h 17m
Beat 23/06/2022 - my score: ★★★

Impressive AV and quite good story. Didn't like final boss fight and chapter 5.

Game 31 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! (XBO) - 03h 36m
Beat 24/06/2022 - my score: ★★☆☆

I always want to try this series. Played all tracks (around 70) without drums and it is boring. Maybe should try with drums?
 
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NahaNago

Member
Game 1 tnmt shredder's revenge :messenger_tears_of_joy:.

Game 2 is Ys 1. 9 hrs I know its suppose to be shorter but I kept not knowing what to do and forgetting to save so many times. I loved it and hated it and ended up losing patience for it near the end. I'll take Ys 2 a bit slower and play other games while I go through it.
 
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30. Donut County

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4:10h


It's... OK I guess? I feel this is one of these games that thinks it's way, way smarter and funnier than it really is. It feels like they wanted to reinvent Katamari Damacy, but substituting the subtle surreal humor and charming visuals for hipsterish "comedy" (DONUTS! RACOONS! IM! EXPENSIVE COFFEE!!) and soulless Corporate Memphis artstyle. The game doesn't drag, though, which is a plus, and the gameplay is fun while it lasts. But the envelope it comes in is annoying.

I don't mind the 2€ I paid for it (It's on GamePass, but my kid wanted to play it in the SteamDeck) but I don't think I will play it again either. It's on the positive side of meh, but just barely.

My Score: ★★

Original post
 
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marcincz

Member
Game 32 - God of War: Chains of Olympus (PS3) - 07h 48m
Beat 29/06/2022 - my score: ★★★

Game 33 - God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PS3) - 06h 39m

Beat 02/07/2022 - my score: ★★★

Another titles on PS3, another slashers.
Finally I've beaten all God of War games. CoO is decent, but GoS completely blow my mind. Brilliant game and probably my favourite GoW title in "old style".
 
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31. Bioshock Remastered

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14:24h. Normal difficulty. Rescued all Little Sisters (Because I'm not an asshole, see)

Bioshock was a milestone in gaming. Unlike most FPS before it, it's neither a droll military shooter nor an overly complex "immersive sim" (god how I hate that term) RPG. It's just a simple shooter, whose gameplay is perfectly serviceable but will not win any awards. The gunplay is sufficient, the weapons and powers are more or less what you expect, the enemies are ok (a bit bullet-spongey) and its length is just about right. However, Bioshock lives and dies by its presentation - and its presentation is nothing short of perfect.

Rapture is, to date, one of the best game settings ever. Its oppresive art deco ruins take front and center to become the real main character of the story (Not to disrespect our controllable guy, but come on, "Jack"? He could as well be named Shooty McShootyourface); you get to see glimpses of its past and decay via recordings and environmental storytelling, and then you get to experience its death "live". It's a cathartic experience, sort of a mix of watching a movie and being in an amusement park ride. Every NPC is a cog in this well oiled storytelling machine.

One of those games that has to be played, regardless of if you like the genre or not.

My Score: ★★

Original post
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
61WQ57CWA3L.jpg


Game 27 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Jul 22nd, 2022
I really enjoy the JoJo manga and anime, but I never played the PS1 fighting game that was made by Capcom for the Stardust Crusaders story arc. The sprite work is really good, and very faithful to the manga. The gameplay was (mostly) great with a lot of variety in the different fighters. The only section of the game that I didn't enjoy was the levels that were 100% QTEs, because the timing required on those was literally insane. I probably played the gamer level about 100 times before I was able to finally beat it - having to enter 15 random buttons with less than a second each is a bit over the top. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this game and might play through the arcade mode with a few of my favorite characters.
 
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Game 27 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Jul 22nd, 2022
I really enjoy the JoJo manga and anime, but I never played the PS1 fighting game that was made by Capcom for the Stardust Crusaders story arc. The sprite work is really good, and very faithful to the manga. The gameplay was (mostly) great with a lot of variety in the different fighters. The only section of the game that I didn't enjoy was the levels that were 100% QTEs, because the timing required on those was literally insane. I probably played the gamer level about 100 times before I was able to finally beat it - having to enter 15 random buttons with less than a second each is a bit over the top. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this game and might play through the arcade mode with a few of my favorite characters.
I have the Dreamcast version of this. Great game.

This is a CPS-3 game (same arcade hardware that has the Street Fighter III series) that Capcom somehow managed to port to the PS1. Almost a miracle all things considered.
 

marcincz

Member
Hot july update:

Game 34 - Creaks (PS4) - 08h 13m
Beat 08/07/2022 - my score: ★★★

Game 35 - Resident Evil 5 (PS3) - 17h 46m

Beat 16/07/2022 - my score: ★★★

Game 36 - Sonic Mania Plus (PS4) - 08h 44m

Beat 20/07/2022 - my score: ★★★

Game 37 - As Dusk Falls (XBO) - 06h 12m

Beat 22/07/2022 - my score: ★★★
 
32. PowerWash Simulator

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20h-ish.


At first, I thought this wasn't much of a game, just... like an interactive toy. And make no mistake, that's what it is. But there's an overarching plot, and at the end of the game the jobs get more and more crazy (You go from cleaning houses and vans to cleaning time machines and temples of lost civilizations). Still even with the plot? twist? PowerWash Simulator is still not much of a game. But for some reason, I couldn't stop playing. It's like coffee; it tastes bitter, but it's addictive.

My Score: ★★

Original post
 
33. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

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35h-ish. Did most secondary quests. Played until the first ending because the secret ending requires a grind-a-thon and fuck. That.


For me, the problem with musou games is their staying power. When you start this sort of game it's simply pure fun, but the repetitiveness of it all makes it a bit of a slog to get through the end. AoC manages to mostly avoid this with its engaging story, the high production values, the variety of charismatic playable characters that you instantly recognize without having to study three years of Chinese history, and it being Zelda-themed, which is always a plus. But even with all of this, the game struggles to keep your attention for 40 fucking hours, plus a secret ending that requires at least 10-15 hours more if you're lucky.

Still, the game is very worth a play through, particularly if you're a Zelda fan - you can power through the story missions, through you will be underleveled and you will need skill. If you can do it, go for it, you won't be disappointed.

My Score: ★★

Original post
 
34. AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative

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26:54h. All endings plus bonus Somnia.


Let's get the obvious out of the way; in my mind, AI 2 (No way I'm writing the full name more than once, even as an acronym) is a completely improved sequel that does everything better than its predecessor. The character cast is stronger, the story is generally more engaging, the Somnium are less reliant on dream logic and are actually beatable without a guide...). Uchikoshi and Co. sucessfuly identified the strengths of the first game and reinforced them. The result is that AI2 is a better game, unapologetically dark, hilarious at times and ridiculously horny at others, but with very smart writing all through. It's not the classic whodunnit - it's more of a "howdunnit". But it makes you think nevertheless. The visuals are great, the music is catchy (This game's version of Invincible Rainbow Arrow, while not AS catchy, it's still pretty hummable) the writing is smart... a perfect blend of Visual Novel and puzzle game.

There's something pretty important preventing AI2 from being perfect, though. It's also a series of giant, game-ruining spoilers, and I'm going to tag it accordingly: It's not a fair howdunnit. Somnium files commits the worst possible sin in suspense stories; hiding information from the player. And not once or twice, but constantly. The biggest example is that there's no way to know there's a second, 6 years older Mizuki (that somehow dresses the same than Prime!Mizuki and has the same bike) unless you're some sort of autistic savant. Even the hints with the Masked Woman are not enough; most people are going to say something like "Oh, she's Mizuki from the future! or "She's Mizuki from a different timeline!") not "Oh! You were controlling a different, older Mizuki for more than half the game!"). Not knowing this prevents you from feeling "smart" during reveal time, as there was no way in hell you could have followed the funky internal logic of the game world.

Also, there's no way to know that you're not watching the HB murders in cronological order, but scattered over two different timeframes. The game outright lies to you in order to hide this information, and for mystery stories this is a capital sin. Characters don't age or even change their wardrobe from one timeline to another (And except for Shoma, they don't really have a plot excuse). This is not laziness; non-plot important characters, like Ota and Iris, DO age. It's done on purpose and it's very noticeable.


Even though this issue prevented me from fully enjoying this game, I did nevertheless enjoy it greatly. The AI"verse" is a very well made one, with lots of inside jokes, clever science facts, interesting trivia, believable characters in believable relationships, giant mood swings from serious to horny to funny to horny to violent to sad and back to horny, metric tons of clever info and easter eggs just waiting to be found (The bonus Somnia... if you're an Uchikoshi fan, don't stop playing until you unlock it. I'm serious.). Also, I noticed the pandering, AI2. Be glad that you're too good for me to care much.

My Score: ★★

Original post
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
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Game 28 - The Quarry - PC / Steam - Completed Jul 31st, 2022
I love Supermassive's games, and this one was no exception. It's easy to see that this was bigger budget than the Dark Pictures games, and it's length rivaled that of Until Dawn. I think I actually liked this better than Until Dawn, even though the story was quite a bit weaker. I feel like this game had better characters, and better choices. It also had a more accessible couch co-op play mode that I used to play through this with my son. Overall, an instant classic.
 
33. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

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35h-ish. Did most secondary quests. Played until the first ending because the secret ending requires a grind-a-thon and fuck. That.


For me, the problem with musou games is their staying power. When you start this sort of game it's simply pure fun, but the repetitiveness of it all makes it a bit of a slog to get through the end. AoC manages to mostly avoid this with its engaging story, the high production values, the variety of charismatic playable characters that you instantly recognize without having to study three years of Chinese history, and it being Zelda-themed, which is always a plus. But even with all of this, the game struggles to keep your attention for 40 fucking hours, plus a secret ending that requires at least 10-15 hours more if you're lucky.

Still, the game is very worth a play through, particularly if you're a Zelda fan - you can power through the story missions, through you will be underleveled and you will need skill. If you can do it, go for it, you won't be disappointed.

My Score: ★★

Original post
How's the performance? Was it a steady framerate?
 

marcincz

Member
Next 3 titles from Game Pass:

Game 38 - Forza Horizon 5 (XBO) - 24h 07m
Beat 29/07/2022 - my score: ★★★
Game 39 - Inside (XBO) - 04h 15m

Beat 03/08/2022 - my score: ★★★☆☆
Game 40 - Unpacking (XBO) - 04h 01m

Beat 04/08/2022 - my score: ★★★☆☆
 
35. Earth Defense Force 5

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35:29h. All missions completed in Normal mode.


Everything about this game is ridiculous, in the best possible way. The stakes are ridiculous, the battles are ridiculous, the weapons are ridiculous. It's the epitome of a B-movie style game, and it's a blast from start to finish. It's not the first EDF I play, but it is the first EDF I finish, and I feel this is because the QOL changes (Weapon pickup area, etc.) made it much more palatable than the clunkier previous entries in the series.

I didn't want to score it with 5* because it has lots of faults: graphics are barely PS3 level with PS4 level physics and resolution, the dialogues are cheesy as hell (and there is no subtitles, which is bad for us foreigners). But I can't help it because it was SO MUCH FUN. Even when it was infuriating (The battles are so hectic that there's an element of randomness that can fuck you up easily) it was pure, unadulterated fun. The comfort food of games.

SteamDeck:
Works well with max settings/40fps. Can reach unstable 60fps with lower resolutions.

My Score: ★★★★★

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