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[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Game 1 - Dangaronpa 2 (Switch) - 33 hours

Beat 01/03/2023 - my score: 7.0/10



I loved the first game. I thought this was decent, but it was more of the same. Not to mention I figured out the plot twists



Game 2 - Dangaronpa 3 (Switch) - 48 hours

Beat 01/09/2023 - my score: 5.0/10



The endgame soured me on the game. It felt like I was being lectured at and I was just rolling my eyes. I felt the twist was obvious and it had the same been there done that I felt from the 2nd game, but much worse. I heard the developers of those games, hate making those games. I’m just glad it finally ended.



Game 3 - Legend of Dragoon (Vita) - 58 hours

Beat 1/31/2023 - my score: 9.0/10



This was a surprise. I ended up loving it despite the flaws it has. The English translation is horrible but the story is still easy to understand despite that. The characters are cookie cutter. I actually like the story, but it’s not that memorable. Now the battle system is fun, every command in the menu has a timed element to it that helps the party member. Using attack, you have to press button combos to deal more damage, using items especially against enemies, you can boost attack power of the item to deal more damage, go into Dragoon mode, same idea. I had to pay attention in battle instead mindlessly pressing the attack button. Each Boss Battle had really unique elements to them, making them memorable and having you think about how you are going to go about defeating them. The prerendered backgrounds are beautiful. The soundtrack is great. Overall a great game



Game 4 - Tales of Arise (Steam) -

34 hours

Beat 02/11/2023 - my score: 6.0/10



I ended up really enjoying it in the beginning but the more I played it, the more I started to hated it. This is a good example of graphics don’t make a game better. I found the cast boring, the story boring, and the gameplay was fast but I enjoyed better battle systems in Tales games. I feel like the developer focused too much on graphics. Another cookie cutter Tales game. Yawn=



Game 5 – Resident Evil 2 Remake (Steam) - 09:54 hours

Beat 02/19/2023 - my score: 9.0/10



Never played the Original. I played through the Clare Redfield Route. Had a ton of fun with it, loved exploring. The gunplay is great. The story, and setting is great. The graphics and soundtrack/sounds are phenomenal



Game 6 – Resident Evil 3 Remake (Steam) - 05:58 hours

Beat 02/19/2023 - my score: 9.5/10

I enjoyed this more than RE2REMAKE due to it being shorter. I never played the original. I thought it looked better than RE2REMAKE. The gameplay is fun, not to mention running away from Nemesis was terrifying for me. Also Jill Valentine is WAIFU. PHEW



Game 7 - Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion (Switch) - 17:18 hours

Beat 02/23/2023 - my score: 9.0/10



Never played the PSP game. Not a big fan of Final Fantasy VII. I ended up loving this one. Zack is a great protagonist and really positive. Which was really refreshing. I hated the villain Genesis, the lines he would spout out, sounded so pretentious and cringy. Other than that though the gameplay is great. The story is great and I loved most of the cast. Overall a great prequel.



Game 8 - Legend of Mana(Switch) - 32:28 hours

Beat 03/12/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



Best in the franchise. Loved putting the relics on different parts of the map due to the non linearity. The gameplay is the same 2D action rpg gameplay that Mana is known for. The 2d Sprites and 2D Background are beautiful to look at. The story is really good. The Soundtrack is fantastic. I ended up not being able to see everything though. This is one of the games I’ll go back to 100%



Game 9 - Trails To Azure(Switch) - 43:09 hours

Beat 03/19/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



I’m a huge fan of The Legend of Heroes Franchise. This is my first time playing this game. I absolutely loved it. I loved exploring the world and talking to the NPCs. The story in this is fantastic with of course another fantastic cast of characters. I love the world building this game has. Overall a fantastic experience



Game 10 - Vagrant Story(Vita) - 65:34 hours

Beat 04/15/2023 - my score: 9.0/10



The battle system is a lot of fun but extremely complex. Best looking PS1 game, I was playing this and it still looks great. The story is short but great. It felt like I was watching a movie at times. The music is great. The cast is good. As for the final boss, that took a lonnnnngg time for me to beat but I was able to beat him. Wish there was a sequel



Game 11 - Kena Bridge of Spirits(Steam) - 14:27 hours

Beat 04/19/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



One of the best looking games I played this year. The world I explored is vibrant and dense with detail. The story was good and the cast was good. The combat was fun but took me awhile with certain buttons to get used to. The soundtrack is fantastic and the voice acting is well done. This was a great ride. Hope they make a sequel



Game 12 - Star Ocean 6 The Divine Force(Steam) - 43:45 hours

Beat 04/23/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



Huge fan of this franchise. 3 is my favorite out of the franchise but this is a close 2nd. The battle system is fun and fast. The exploration is fast and fun to use the ARMS system to get to hard to reach places to discover more secrets. The Item Creation is great. The cast is forgettable but that’s the case with every Star Ocean game for me. Same with the story. But for me, I don’t play Star Ocean for the story and characters, I play it for the gameplay. The environments were huge and I was playing at 60 FPS. At times the game didn’t look that good, but as I said I play Star Ocean for the gameplay. I love the Star Ocean music. I’m planning on 100% this game. Overall, a great game. I hope we get a Star Ocean 7 but I doubt it since I heard this one didn’t sell well



Game 13 - Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERmission (Steam) - 4:17 hours

Beat 04/24/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



As before, Yuffie Kisaragi was a refreshing peppy main character you play as. The game was short and sweet. It’s gonna be interesting to see what they do with FFVIIREMAKE PART 2. Also, Yuffie Kisaragi is WAIFU.



Game 14 - Xenoblade Chronicles Future Redeemed(Switch) - 29:44 hours

Beat 04/28/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



My game of the year. As much as I loved Xenoblade Chronicles 3, it was still somewhat of a disappointment. This DLC was much better in the story department, not to mention I wished the game was longer. Not that the story was bad in Xenoblade 3. The twists and turns were actually surprising and makes me excited for the future of whatever Monolithsoft decides to make next. As for ranking this is a close second behind Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as my favorite Xeno game



Game 15 - Star Wars Jedi Survivor(Steam) - 26 hours

Beat 04/30/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



Playing this game on PC, oh boy. It ran like shit at times. At times looked like a PS2 game. But the gameplay was so good, I loved exploring the environments. Graphically, I played this before the patch and the game would look fantastic at times and would look like a PS2 game at times. Platforming with this massive framerate drops was a pain. I just really wanted to play this since I love the first game. The story was great and the cast was great. The music was fantastic. Overall a great experience despite the bugs



Game 16 - Stray(Steam) - 04:50 hours

Beat 4/30/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



I would say this is a chill game but that would be wrong. There’s gameplay segments in the game that can get intense. It was fun just being a cat messing with people and stuff. It was short game but I enjoyed the time I had with it. Now I want a big budget game with a dog.



Game 17 - Resident Evil Village(Steam) - 17 hours

Beat 05/01/2023 - my score: 9.5/10

This was a surprise. I only played a few first person shooters. I ended up loving this one. The action is intense and fast. The story is great and the cast is good. The situations with certain bosses were memorable. Let me just say The Dollhouse Segment was a good break from the action. Graphically looked fantastic. Soundtrack is good. Overall a great game. Wonder what they will do with RE9



Game 18 - Nier Replicant(Steam) - 40:41 hours

Beat 05/05/2023 - my score: 9.0/10



I played through Automata first when that came out. I ended enjoying this one less than Automata. This is still a great game but the flaws can get annoying. Like no fast travel. The gameplay is action rpg hack and slash. The story and cast are just good. The soundtrack is fantastic as usually. The graphics were hit and miss, looking beautiful at time, and not so much. Overall a enjoyable experience



Game 19 - Call of The Sea(Steam) - 07:22 hours

Beat 05/06/2023 - my score: 8.0/10



Ended up enjoying this which is a surprise since I found the protagonist annoying at first. Graphically looks amazing. Figuring out the environmental puzzles to progress the story was fun. Also there’s a cosmic horror vibe throughout the whole thing. Being a big fan I appreciated it



Game 20 - Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Steam) - 46:48 hours

Beat 05/14/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



Another surprise. I never played the original. The gameplay is fantastic. I was surprised at how varied the objectives of each stage was. The graphics aren’t bad but I had to get used to them since I hate the fact that they do the white borders. The 2D look is great, but I feel like without that added white border effect it would have looked way better. The story and cast are fantastic. I actually laughed out loud at some of the humorous situations in the story. The story is full with dark twists and turns. That last battle was annoying though. The music is great and the voice acting is fantastic. I never understood why Valkryria Chronicles was beloved by so many since the aesthetic kind of turned me off. But ever since playing this one, now I understand. Such a fantastic experience. I’m eventually gonna to play the first game.



Game 21 - Sakura Wars (Playstation 4) - 40 hours

Beat 05/17/2023 - my score: 9.0/10



I love the the visual novel/exploration section of the game. Now the gameplay section isn’t that good, it’s not bad but not great. I would say just good. I wish it wasn’t a hack and slash Action RPG. Not to mention you don’t level up in this game. I wish this was strategy. The game shines in the exploration section. In this section, you can befriend the girls and each choices you have to make comes with a timer so that you have to make a quick decision before the timer runs out. You can also befriend non romancable characters too. I really enjoyed the story and the cast was fully fleshed out and interesting. It was like I was watching an anime at times. The 2D Cell Shading is fantastic and at time looked like I was playing a 2D Anime. The WAIFUS were are great. My only issue is that they censored one of the romanceable girls. Hated that. Overall a fun experience despite my issues with it.



Game 22 - Suikoden II(Playstation) - 43:18 hours

Beat 05/29/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



I originally had this on Vita and got far in that version but my save file got deleted for no good reason. I think that version is buggy. So I just played it on emulator and overall it ran much smoother. Now onto the game. The game is great example of a sequel being bigger and better. I wasn’t able to get all 108 Star of Destiny, but I still enjoyed the ending I got. The story is fantastic and the cast was memorable. My only issue is that Luca Blight just seem two dimensional psychopath. I like the other main villain in the game better. The music is great and the 2D graphics are beautiful to look at. Ranking wise I would put this game right behind 3. Suikoden 5 is my favorite Suikoden with Suikoden 3 being my second favorite. I can’t wait for Eiyuden Chronicles. Overall had a great time with this game and can understand why this game is considered the best of the franchise.





Game 23- Prey (Playstation 4) - 26:10 hours

Beat 06/01/2023 - my score: 9.5/10



Another First Person Shooter. This game was a surprise, I ended up really enjoying it. It has a great sci fi story. The twists I didn’t see coming. The mimic enemy abilities are great. It can disguise itself as a chair or a coffee cup, etc to sneak attack you. I just wish the rest of the enemies were as inventive as that one enemy type. Graphically looks amazing on the PS4. The gameplay was really good, and I like how there were multiple ways that you can defeat the enemy, and multiple ways to progress the story. I really liked that aspect of the game. Too bad this didn’t sell well, since I would have liked a sequel

Game 24 – Psychonauts 2(Steam) - 15:17 hours

Beat 06//2023 - my score: 9.5/10



Another pleasant surprise. The game has a feel of Saturday Morning Cartoon with Dark Undertones. The setting is memorable and interesting to explore. Each mind stage is fun and have a great theme to it. The story is great with funny and dark moments. The cast are funny and have lot of personality. The platforming is fun and fair, I never got stuck on a platforming section for too long. I like that the game doesn’t hold your hand and you have to pay attention to figure out where to go next. Graphically, this game has a bright colorful look to it that a joy to play through. Soundtrack is good whacky fun. Voice acting is great with some good comedic bits. Had a great time with this one.

 

[TuFaN]

Games: 21-23

21. Super Mario Land 2 - Game Boy⠀|⠀07. Apr - 3 hours⠀|⠀91 - Amazing
⠀⠀-One playthrough with Jill Valentine
⠀⠀⠀⠀Objectively speaking, it is hands down the better game when compared with its predecessor, Super Mario Land 1. But it did not hook me as much. I was
⠀⠀⠀⠀basically inhaling the first one, together with Tetris, being the first two games I owned on the Game Boy. Amazing platformer with a huge variety
⠀⠀⠀⠀of places to go and levels to discover. I loved the freedom of going wherever you want right from the start and deciding for yourself which area
⠀⠀⠀⠀to tackle first. The only thing I don't like about it are the FPS stutters, it is either the Game Boy not being able to keep up with the fidelity
⠀⠀⠀⠀of the game or the game being unoptimized. It didn't bother me in the 90's, since I had no idea what lags, fps, stuttering and so on was.
⠀⠀⠀⠀I thought that stuttering was part of their design philosophy and nothing to worry about.

22. Contra: Hard Corps - Sega Genesis⠀|⠀10. Apr - 5 hours⠀|⠀84 - Great
⠀⠀-Three playthroughs, two as Ray and one as Sheena 1.Missile Ending; 2.Bad Ending; 3.Big Magnum Ending
⠀⠀⠀⠀Oh gosh I miss being in my 10s and playing Contra III Alien Wars with friends and family. Showing off my skills and finishing the game without
⠀⠀⠀⠀dying once. Now that I'm in my 30s I feel my age kicking in, I died way too many times during these three playthroughs haha. This game is difficult,
⠀⠀⠀⠀yes, but it delivers everything you'd expect from a Contra game. This was my first time playing Hard Corps, I enjoyed it a lot.

23. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch⠀|⠀08. Jun - 223 hours⠀|⠀99 - Masterpiece
⠀⠀-One Playthrough, completed all Shrines & Lightroots, collected and upgraded all Armors, collected 430 Korok seeds
⠀⠀⠀⠀Here I am, 223 hours into this game and unfortunately at the end of my journey for now ^^ ToTK ended up being my 2nd favorite game of all time.
⠀⠀⠀⠀I never thought that I'd put anything even close to my top 5 (1. Super Mario World; 2. Ocarina of Time; 3. FFX; 4. Resident Evil 4;
⠀⠀⠀⠀and 5. Bloodborne) anytime soon.

 

[TuFaN]

24. Command & Conquer Remastered Collection - PC⠀|⠀11. Jun - 88 hours⠀|⠀79 - Great
⠀⠀-100% Achievements
⠀⠀⠀⠀I liked this remaster a lot and was entertained almost for the entire 88 hours.

 

[Jack Videogames]

17. Warhammer 40K: Boltgun

17h. "Angels fear to tread" difficulty

I'm an idiot and I overwrote this review and I don't feel like writing it again. Bottom line: me like.

SteamDeck: Perfect OOTB, trackpads are a bit sensitive so changing weapons can be a bit annoying.

My Score: ★★★★★

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

18. Forgive Me Father

11h. Variable difficulty (More below)

I feel that reviewing Forgive me Father after finishing Boltgun will not bode well for FmF. The thing is, I started fiercely disliking this game, I started liking it around mid-game, and it became a chore in the late game. Like a shitty version of the sphinx's dilemma.

The thing is, this game does everything right, just not at the same time. The first act or so, the level design was horrendous, reminding me of pre-Doom games; room after room after room full of the same three mobs, with only a couple boring weapons. Easy as hell even in the hardest difficulty. Then in the next two acts, level design was sensibly better and the fact that you already have a good arsenal (that you can personalize and improve) and the improved enemy variety made it fun and engaging.

Then the final two acts. Oh boy. Level design reaches its peak, but the game difficulty shoots through the roof (I'm not kidding when I say that "Easy" felt like Boltgun's "Hard") and the sheer amount of spongey enemies with different movement and attack patterns, some of which can two-shot you, becomes frankly overwhelming and made me abandon the game for a couple months. And the high point of weapon variety and customization becomes moot once again as using anything else than the hardest hitting couple weapons you have is a recipe for disaster.

So yeah, FmF is a game with a boring beggining, a great middle, and a stressful end. You can generally find it for a couple bucks, so if you're in the market for a boomer shooter and you've finished the two dozen of excelent offerings in the market, then...

PS: Devs, never, ever, EVER bind a skill to "R" in a shooter, particularly one where you don't have to reload at all. You don't know how many camera flashes I've used by mistake.

SteamDeck: Some weird performance problems that didn't get quite resolved with FSR. Overall playable, but I wouldn't bother.

My Score: ★★★☆☆

Original post

 

[BusierDonkey]

31-40

31 - Toree 3D - PC - Completed playthrough - 1 hour - 70/100
This is a cute little indie platformer which controls extremely well and was fun, but very short. I finished the game and felt I could have played it for hours. The visuals are straight out of the Saturn era, and it feels like an old Sega game but that isn't a dig at the game, I actually thought it looked great. Difficulty was non-existent, but that may be due to my skill level, which is super high because I'm so great.

32 - Toree 2 - PC - Completed playthrough - 1 hour - 70/100
This game had a lot more to do than Toree 3D, but it suffered in areas the first one didn't. Quite often it was hard to judge your exact location in the air when jumping. Again, it was a very short indy game which could easily have been hours longer, but it was fun while it lasted. The Saturn/Sega visuals were used once more, everything is so vibrant and pleasant in the game. Again, the difficulty isn't on the high side.

33 - The Outer Worlds - PC - Completed playthrough including all DLC expansions - 103 hours - 80/100
This is actually the second time I've played through this game, the first being right after launch on Gamepass. This time I bought the game on Steam and modded it as much as I could. I found the game was better the second time through, I really enjoyed the companion characters like Vicar Max, Ellie and Felix and many of the NPCs like Phinneas Welles. Gunplay isn't exactly industry leading but it's pretty decent as is the overall gameplay loop. It's like a Bethesda RPG but mixed with Bioshock. You can go anywhere and do anything, but only sort of. The story is fun to unfold, with a few interesting twists and more if you dig a little. This time around I played the expansions. Peril on Gorgon was just okay. It takes place on an asteroid where you uncover the shady history of one of the corporations in the game. I found the area to be difficult to navigate using the limited map in the game and by the end I didn't care much for the story going on throughout. It was worth playing in the end, but I didn't get a lot from doing so. Murder on Eridanos however was a ton of fun. You become a detective trying to solve a murder which takes you all over a resort asteroid being tugged around a gas giant's atmosphere by massive rockets all powered by a giant hot rod engine. You even get a magnifying lens gun. Definitely glad I played it again.

34 - Everspace 2 - PC - Completed playthrough - 108 hours - 80/100
I absolutely loved the original game, the controls were sublime, and it played so smoothly. Unfortunately, the game was built around a rogue-type system where if you die you start over with a few holdover items. It was fine but suffered the same issues all games in the genre do, fatigue from doing the same loop over and over. This game starts fresh and takes the form of a shooter RPG where you explore several systems at your choosing, you upgrade and expand your inventory, buy and equip new ships and level up through an experience system. I found it extremely addicting and was playing it a lot. The ship designs are modular and look really cool as do the environments. The story is told through a series of animated painting as cutscenes similar to the original and it's a pretty typical sci-fi fare but was enjoyable. The controls are lifted directly from the original, though I found the ships to be much slower this time, even the tiny attack class Hornet felt a little slow even with full upgrades and high-level add-ons. As a whole it's a pretty full package with tons to do and dozens of hours of gameplay.

35 - Operation C - Game Boy - Completed playthrough - 2 hours -70/100
It sometimes surprises me just how faithful some Game Boy games were to the original or NES versions of the same game. Operation C is pure Contra. Movement is a bit slower but with so much less screen it has to be to remain fairly playable. Everything is easy to make out, enemies appear at manageable rates and the game was run to run through. It's a short Contra game and a bit on the easy side for the series but I can't think of anything that stood out as bad especially given the platform.

36 - Advance Guardian Heroes - Game Boy Advance - Completed playthrough - 5 hours - 80/100
This game really surprised me, I thought it was a tuned-down port of the same game I recently played on Saturn but it's an entirely different game. The characters from the Saturn game appear in this, but they are spirits that have long passed and show up to help your character defeat the new evil. The game was fun to play with plenty of variety in the stages, fun boss fights and some pretty decent music for the famously awful Game Boy Advance sound chip. Visuals were pretty good too, the art was miniaturized for the small resolution screen, but the animation kept the original feel intact, and the backgrounds were full of detail and color. It was decently long for the genre as well without feeling drawn-out.

37 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch - Completed playthrough - 360 hours - 100/100
I do not give out a 100 lightly. Only a handful of games in my history of gaming I consider worthy of a perfect score. Right now, I think this might be my favorite game ever released. That isn't to say this game is flawless. Performance is anywhere from 30fps to flip-book fps, the camera is sometimes frustrating in it's speed and it's ability to get hung up and certain mechanics like the hot-cold armor switching are tedious. That being said, I have 360+ hours in the game and I already wish it wasn't over. There is so much to do in the game, and you can do any of it anytime you want. The world is super fun to explore, and I was able to do it all on my terms. I went everywhere but where I was being subtly directed by NPCs. I found my way to placed I wasn't expected to visit outside the game's story and Nintendo had reactions ready for that instance. The game is by no means bug-free, but in all that time nothing broke in the game despite my best efforts to break it. How a game this open to player choice can be this polished is mind boggling. Even the new abilities seem like they must have taken years to playtest to prevent outright destroying the game. The new additions to the map, the sky islands and the depths were fun to explore, I chose the hard route, going down and spelunking in the depths with no health or stamina. It took me forever to find all the light roots and navigate the dark using limited resources, fighting enemies that could all one-shot me along the way. By the end I collected every Korok, found every root, every shrine, every Bubbulfrog, and finished every quest I could find. There are a few things I need to finish, and I'll enjoy doing so but I'm looking forward to the expansion when it comes.

38 - Contra: Anniversary Collection - Switch - Completed playthrough - 2 hours - 55/100
Here's a secret, I suck at a lot of games. Contra is one of them, but I still like it. This collection is a fantastic collection of all the best games in the series and rating it on that alone it's amazing. My issue is that I wanted to play the arcade releases I'd never played all the way through because I didn't have $50 in quarters back then. Unfortunately for me the arcade versions don't include dip switches to enable free play, so you get the same number of lives you did in the arcade, which was designed to consume your quarters. The "insert coin" feature in the arcade games also don't increase continues, it only lets you play again, which you already get to because it's not an arcade machine. One of the arcade games also suffered from some pretty heavy slowdown. Overall disappointing despite the quality of the games included in the collection.

39 - Final Vendetta - Switch - Completed co-op playthrough - 1 hour - 75/100
This game is a very convincing attempt to capture the feel of the SNES-era side-scrolling beat 'em up. The visuals match, the music matches, the level design matches, even the cutscenes and character designs are spot-on. The big giveaway are the animations which are much better than your typical SNES game. This was a great game to blast through with my brother. It ticked all the boxes I look for in the genre but unfortunately it was a very short game which also matches the era. It was fun while it lasted.

40 - House of the Dead: Remake - Switch - Completed playthrough - 1 hour - 65/100
House of the Dead is a great game, it was great in the arcades and the tuned-down Saturn version was still great, though a bit hampered by the hardware of the day. I was excited to play through a remake of the original, with hope that it would keep the style and feel of the original game but upgrade it with modern visuals. First, the menus are unreadable with a terrible font choice. The menus themselves are set up pretty badly too. When you get into the game itself, you're greeted with visuals that would have been considered just passable in the early Xbox 360 days. On the bright side the game itself was not butchered, the gameplay being basically untouched from the original version but allowing you to use the joycons as pointing devices which worked pretty well, certainly better than using the sticks. The terrible voice acting was also preserved, I think it's actually new recordings, but were intentionally poorly acted to keep the campy feel intact. Unfortunately, the extra characters from the Saturn release were not in the game, though perhaps they're hidden behind an unlock after playing the game several more times.

 

[Jack Videogames]

19. Cassette Beasts

24:20h. Normal difficulty. Completed all the available quests before postgame. No postgame.

Of all the Pokémon ripoffs inspired games I've tried, and I've tried most, Cassette Beasts is the only one I've finished. That must mean something I guess?

CB does a lot of things right. It has an overarching theme of music (quests are named after songs from the 80s, like in CP2077) and the mons are cute instead of hideous like in most of its competitors. The story and setting are pretty interesting; I liked how those quests I thought were just side stuff ended up being connected to the main plot. There's a "defeat the 12 Gym Leaders Ranger Captains" questline, but it's sort of secondary and even feels like a bit of an afterthought compared to the more "meaty" story about the Archangels. Also, the fights can be real hard sometimes, as some opponents use strategies that you have to counter effectively if you want to survive (No "spamming Earthquake" for you)

The game world is something close to a sandbox open world, where you have to use several mon-acquired powers to explore, which is a welcome departure from the cumbersome "Go to menu, select HM" system of the past, and it feels more similar to PL Arceus'. At first, this is really fun, but unfortunately the world map is small, samey and somewhat boring, so after some time it becomes a bit of a chore. ToTK this ain't. With a more fleshed out game world, exploration and traversal movement could have been an experience out of this world.

But hey, in a world where new Pokémon games are just mid (although I still loved Scarlet and Violet), it's really refreshing to see some companies trying to make their own Pokéclone with a unique personality.

SteamDeck: Perfect OOTB.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[marcincz]

Game 22 - Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS5) - 60h 40m
Beat 11/06/2023 - my score: 9/10

Game 23 - Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (PS5) - 10h 50m
Beat 21/06/2023 - my score: 8/10

Yakuza is one of the best jrpg I've ever played. Really great game and huge surprise for me.
Crash 4? Damn, that title is tough. Very, very, very tough. In my opinion the hardest Crash game in history.

 

[Chastten]

June is almost over, and as expected I'm getting nowhere close to the 52 mark, but whatever.

Game #8 - Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate (Switch) - 6/10

I'm a casual fan of the anime so decided to try this out. It follows the first season, visual novel style mixed with pretty basic dungeon crawling. Not a great game, but for the €4 I paid for it on discount it's servicable enough if you're a fan of the franchise. If you're not a fan, you're better off picking any of the numerous other games in this genre.

Game #9 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) - 9/10

Breath of the Wild is one of my favorite games ever, and exploring Hyrule once more was great. Obviously it didn't have the same impact as the first game did 6 years ago, but between both games and the Age of Calamity, I love everything about them.

Game #10 - Diablo IV (PC) - 8/10

Solo it's a solid, polished and decent game, but not the greatest experience ever. Four played co-op is where it shines though. Not sure how long we'll keep playing this, but for now we're having a blast.

Game #11 - Trinity Trigger (Switch) - 7/10

For the most part, it's a really solid throwback to the classic JRPG's of yesteryear and I had great fun with it. What holds it back however, is the game's obsession with environmental damage combined with incredibly braindead AI companions. the final boss was especially bad as he does loads of AoE damage, and both my companions died literally every 10-15 seconds because they kept running right through it. I would've given this an 8/10 if it wasn't for that, now it's a solid 7.

Next up: Rune Factory 4 and Mario Strikers: Battle League Football. As july is upon us, I just wanna focus on some casual games I can play in handheld mode while not being stuck to a big screen so Rune Factory seems to fit that bill. I've been meaning to play a RF game since the DS days or something but somehow it just hasn't happened so far.

 

[jshackles]

Game 29 - Star Trek Resurgence - PC / Epic - Completed Jul 5th, 2023
I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, and this game hit all the right notes for me. Dramatic Labs took the Telltale formula and applied it very successfully here to the Star Trek universe. Decision making always felt like it had weight to it (even though I knew all along it was an illusion, like all of these games). The writing was amazingly good, and the situations made the stakes of every decision feel high. It also took place during my favorite Trek era (after Voyager), and didn't have any elements of Discovery or "nu Trek". A very fun adventure!

 

[marcincz]

Game 24 - Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) - 46h 57m
Beat 09/07/2023 - my score: 9/10

Not FF of my dreams (combat system is a pure slasher game), but I really liked characters, story and English voices.

 

[MagnesD3]

BIg games ruin this shit lol. Ive beaten 19 games and have spent hours on DA Origins, TOTK and Sf6 that im not done with lol.

 

[Jack Videogames]

20. Warhammer 40K: Space Marine

6:06h. Hard difficulty.

I wanted to get this done before the second game releases, and luckily, it's a short and sweet game. A weird mix between Darksiders and Gears of War, it's as manly and bloody and testosterone-filled as one can expect. I'm saying this as a good thing.

The balance between pewpew and melee is pretty well done, with an "execution means healing" system that predates Doom Remake's by 5 years. The difficulty curve is a bit uneven: the game is generally easy, but there are a couple difficulty spikes (The ork dropship, for example). But who cares about all that? Gimme me more orks to slay in the name of Jimmy Space.

SteamDeck: Perfect OOTB.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

21. TMNT: Shredder's Revenge

4h-ish. Okay difficulty. Used Splinter most of the game, then Leonardo.

I'm not a super fan of the original TMNT games, but I've played them, and gotta say, this game touches all the right nostalgia notes. Of course, the game isn't as hellishly hard as it used to be, mostly thanks to self-replenishing lives and the game saving after each level, but it's still a decent workout and if it didn't have those QoL improvements it would also be hard as balls. The game has a weird difficulty spike near the end, when the rock guys are introduced, but then the end boss(es) are underwhelmingly easy.

I wouldn't recommend buying buying it, but giving it a go through GamePass? Absolutely, particularly if you're running out of time in the 52-games-per-year race (ahem)

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[jshackles]

Game 31 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed - Nintendo Switch - Completed Jul 13th, 2023
An absolute masterclass in storytelling. I had high hopes for this DLC, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Expanded greatly on the story of XC3, while also helping to tie it together with the first two games. Seeing older Shulk and Rex was really heartwarming and nostalgic. The expansion was also super meaty, I clocked in about 30 hours and there's probably another 4-5 hours of post-game stuff I could do (with the super secret optional seventh party member!). I really wonder where the series is going next...

 

[Jack Videogames]

22. Sine Mora EX

3h-ish. Normal difficulty. I've read there's a New Game+ with a golden ending but honestly, nobody got time fo' dat.

A forgettable bullet-hell shmup with absolutely stunning graphics and art direction (the backdroups could easily be out of a Final Fantasy game) and a confusing story that can be summarized as "Prevent furry Hiroshima with time-travel". Actually, the story is almost interesting, it's just that it has too little time to develop in a 3h game where the story mostly occurs in cutscenes.

Apart from that, this game is famous for its difficulty but at least in the standard difficulty level Sine Mora EX is piss-easy, both levels and bosses (EXCEPT FOR DOMUS. FUCK DOMUS). It's a bit like a worse, more pretentious Astebreed. If you're interested, check your Amazon Gaming free games, it's likely there.

My Score: ★★★☆☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

23. Dawn of War

9:42h. Normal difficulty.

Been on a WH40K mood lately so after Boltgun and Space Marine, I decided to try something else. Alas, the years have not been kind to DoW. It requires several fixes and tweaks just to be decently playable in 1080p and above and still the graphics look like they've been made out of milk cartons. The controls are a bit clunky (Not being able to move the screen with arrows or WASD?) and the dub is wuxia movie levels of bad...

... but it's fun as hell. Corny, SPESS MEHREENS, dumb fun. Dawn of War is one of those old-school RTS where in lower difficulties you can zerg your way to victory. May not be honourable, but it's extremely satisfying to see a horde of armored Space Marines tear up through a horde of orks. And in the immortal words of Reggie "if it's not fun, why bother?"

So, bother.

SteamDeck: Basically unplayable due to controls.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

24. The Procession to Calvary

114 min. Saw all three endings.

A bitesized, darkly humorous adventure game, with an original art style consisting on roughly animated medieval/renaissance art, and an OST to match (even though the first song in the game is Stars and Stripes Forever, for some reason...)

The game is basically a game-long chain of deals, but manages to never be boring because, well, it's not long enough to be boring, and it's also pretty fun. It's like a sometimes-gory Monthy Python sketch. It's not worth 15€ by any stretch of the imagination, but at a deep deep sale, it's a good, sensory-pleasing way to waste away a couple hours.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

25. Zool Redimensioned

2:47h. Standard difficulty settings

(I'm on a roll lately! I gotta play more short games) This shit was my childhood. I remember playing a pirated DOS version of it when I was a tween, and it blew my brain. I never got past the Music world though, as the game was famously hard, like every other game back then. It was like the PC's Sonic; fast, unforgiving, colorful and somewhat edgy.

So when I found Zool Redimensioned for like 2€ in one of those key shops, I decided to gave it a try. And frankly... age has not been kind to it. It's supremely 90s and supremely mid. The garish color palette is godawful even with the thoughtful in-game contrast setting turned on, and it makes item collecting/obstacle dodging night impossible. Also, the new camera & difficulty settings make the game too easy and disabling them makes it too hard; leaving the defaults is a bit of a "happy medium" but the game is still on the easy side.

Still, it has its good things. It's fun to play through, it requires some exploration (the levels are not just "move right" like they are usually now in 2D games) and it's full of little neat secrets, like the shoot'em up stages, that can be actually pretty cleverly hidden. It's also short as fuck, though. Which is really not that bad.

Where are the Chupa Chups ads though? The game is not the same without those. As a Spanish boy (Chupa Chups is a Spanish brand) seeing Chupa Chups adverts in a video game confused me to no end. I spent most of my childhood convinced they were hacked in by the cracker. Did you know that the Chupa Chups logo was designed by none other than Salvador Dali?

SteamDeck: I only played it on SteamDeck. As you can imagine, being a remaster of a 30 year old Amiga game, it worked well. There was some strange slowdown at times when things got too hectic.

My Score: ★★★☆☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

26. Goodbye Volcano High Snoot Game

15h. Got Ending 3 in my blind run, saw all 4.

Let's get this out of the way: I'mnotafurrybut...
Now in all seriousness; I'm going to spoil lots of stuff that has impressed me about this game. I'm going to try to spoilertag it, but I'm not the most consistent person, so reader beware.

Snoot Game has been much maligned, mostly by people that have not played it or that have a certain agenda. It's been labelled as transphobic, LGTB-phobic, and lots of other-phobic. It has been the object of negative attention by those people in Twitter and joints like Kotaku, so you know it has to be good. And as a VN enthusiast, I do like it a lot. It's one of the very few games not called Yakuza that has had me laugh out loud. Keep in mind though, most of the humour is crass 4Chan humour, so it might not be for everyone.

Leaving the humour aside for a minute, the plot is simple as they come, but it's handled very well. As you can imagine by reading Kotaku's article (not recommended) Snoot Game doesn't really villainize the LGTB community. In fact, it doesn't have any villain at all. Only a bunch of dumb teenagers, some of them egotistical, some of them with good intentions, all of them looking for their niche. Trish is not evil, just toxic. Naomi's not evil, just insufferable. Anon is not evil, he's just an autistic idiot. Fang is an idiot with a chronic need to belong. Naser is a bro and an idiot. Everyone is an idiot (Except Reed, he's just high). It's high school after all. During the course of the game you learn to like these idiots (Which makes Ending 1 all the more poignant)

The thing that has impressed me the most is how flags and relationship points are handled. If you play Snoot Game like a typical dating sim, you're going to get Ending 3, the honest-to-god "4Chan Tradwife" ending which is perfectly satisfying if you haven't been paying attention. I was paying attention, and I was miffed, because in Ending 3 none of Fang's issues are solved. But then it hit me that your choices aren't about making Fang fall in love with Anon. There are two separate types of choices; one is about making Anon less of an uncaring shut-in, and the other is about rebuilding Fang's self-confidence. To get the perfect ending, you have to score high in both. This is something I haven't seen before in a Visual Novel and I thought it was neat. It fits really well with the overarching theme of "You're not the only person in the world".

All in all, Snoot Game is an achievement. They took Goodbye Volcano High's bland, extremely 2023-friendly character designs and made something beautiful with them. A 15h free game (GVH is expected to last 5h-ish according by the devs) full of humour, character development, poignant situations, introspection, and a lot of snoots. Thanks for your contribution to the making of Snoot Game, KO_OP. Now GTFO.

Download it here. If you're not convinced, watch the trailer as I thought it was pretty awesome.

My Score: ★★★★★

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

27. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

28:48h. Jedi Knight difficulty except for a certain fight near the end (yeah, that one) that I had to do in Jedi Padawan.

By all standards, Jedi Survivor should be the perfect sequel. Does everything Fallen Order does, only better. The environments are lush and beautiful, the combat (with its new shiny stance system) is a joy to watch, particularly when you face another lightsaber user (something the game totally knows, as it throws lightsabers at you constantly with no respect to established lore). Traversal movement is fantastic, and the open world is chock full of things to do and little stuff to discover. The game feels like a mix of Uncharted and a Diet Soulsborne with a small splash of Red Dead Redemption. It looks, sounds, and plays great, and it's also suitably long and meaty ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Why am I scoring it with a 4 then? Well, it's super badly optimized. I purchased it at launch, and I was only able to finish it now that I basically got a brand new computer. I started with a 10400F and a 3070, which made the game barely playable even at 1080p low RT off because of the low FPS peaks and the voracious way the game eats VRAM. After upgrading to a 7800X3D and a 4070, the game works at 1440p 60fps mostly stable even with RT on, but I SHOULDN'T need a top gaming CPU and 12 GB VRAM to get "mostly stable" 60fps. I generally don't downscore games because of technical issues, but this tickled my pickle the wrong way.

SteamDeck: With the lowest settings, resolution set to a bare minimum and heavy FSR, the game looking like you're watching it through a layer of vaseline... Maybe gets 20fps sometimes. So no, it's not a good fit for the Deck.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

28. Cultic

7h-ish. Normal difficulty.

On today's episode of "hey 90's shooters were cool, remember?" we have Cultic. Cultic is pretty much Blood if it took itself very seriously, down to the color-coded hood-wearing enemies, the ludicrous gibs and the lots of fun you can have with dynamite sticks. Unlike Blood, though, Cultic only has 10 levels, though they're expansive and full of secrets, easter eggs and little things to discover. The graphics are retro (and DARK!) but good, but the music is basically insufferable. Also, Cultic is a game developed by a single guy, which is always amazing.

Like most boomer shooters, Cultic can be hard. Enemies are numerous, hit like a truck, can snipe you from far away, and you only have so much ammo. When you find the weapons with the biggest stopping power, though, the game becomes significantly easier. Nothing like finding a high place and removing cultors one by one using the sniper rifle. Be warned though; as the AI of the enemies isn't the best, they will generally not care while their friend's brains are turned to chili paste, so some levels can be turned into walks in the park using this strategy.

SteamDeck: Mostly good, but there are some slowdowns here and there.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

From now on I'll post my completions in threes to keep the spam to a minimum!

 

[Dacvak]

I didn’t know this thread was a thing until now, but here are my current beaten games of 2023, along with platform, date, and a score out of 10.

A Week of Garfield (NES) 1/8

High on Life (XSX) 1/12

Super Mario Bros. (NES/SW) 1/18

Slay the Spire (iOS) 1/23

Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES/SW) 1/24

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES/SW) 1/31

SMB Lost Levels (SNES/SW) 2/2

Super Mario Land (GBC) 2/2

Gargoyle’s Quest (GB/SW) 2/10

WWF Wrestlemania (SNES) 2/11

Mortal Kombat 4 (GBC) 2/17

Super Mario Land 2 (GB/SW) 2/22

Trip World (GB) 2/25

Shaq Fu (GB) 2/25

Nicktoons Racing (GBC) 3/2

WarioWare, Inc. (GBA/SW) 3/20

Gunstar Heroes (Gen) 3/22

Marvel vs Capcom (Arc) 3/22

Parappa the Rapper (PS1) 3/24

Resident Evil 4 (PS5) 3/29

Toejam & Earl (Gen/SW) 4/9

Um Jammer Lammy (PS1) 4/10

Super Mario World (SNES) 4/29

Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) 5/30

Sonic Advance (AP) 6/6

Grimace’s Birthday (AP) 6/17

The Lion King (SNES) 6/25

Super Mario 64 (N64) 6/28

DoDonPachi (ARC) 7/2

Zhadnost The People’s Party (3DO) 7/11

Fatty Bear’s Funpack (3DO) 7/11

Twisted Game Show (3DO) 7/11

Ninja Spirit (GB/AP) 7/17

SMW-My QLDC Level (SNES) 7/24

Mars (ARC) 7/25

 

[March Climber]

I don't have dates, but I can list what I've completed so far this year:

1) Island Saver - Rating B

Island Saver is a free PS4 game about recycling, cleaning, and keeping the economy of the island well with a vacuum gun that also shoots water. It also is sort of a teaching game(good for kids) as it will tell you how recycling helps the planet, how saving money helps in the long run, how savings work, and how loans work and how loan sharks work. It does this all with fun gameplay systems They make the experience more fun by adding platforming and creatures to ride, along with changing the gameplay loop with each part of the island you venture to. It has that old school PS2 quirky platformer feel to it and the music does as well as it's very relaxing:




Like many older 2000s games, it's simple, to the point, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome. It's an easy 100% earnable trophy rate if anyone decides to try it out.

2) Resident Evil 4 Remake - Rating A+

This game improved upon everything it needed to improve upon in terms of the original RE 4. Capcom let the lore masters run the show here and make the experience more cohesive in terms of how everything is set up with the village, castle, and island. Rooms(like the mine cart area) feel less random because of that and they made very smart cuts to certain areas and bosses that simply did not fit that cohesion(like that weird lava room). The knife parry system is an amazing addition too and makes both Krauser fights feel way more intense and engaging(rather than just using QTEs). It can be kind of an easy 100% achievement/trophy if you take the right measures and precautions in going for some of the harder difficulty ones. This game is in the running for my GoTY.

3) Hogwarts Legacy - Rating C

The hype around this game was insane, but the game itself is just an alright freshman effort at a Harry Potter game by this studio. What really makes it work is it's attention to detail of the school and the insane amount of secrets and lore they put within it that's accurate to the books and movies. However, it feels like there was quite a bit left on the cutting room floor. Your custom room(where you grow plants and groom creatures) feels half-baked and it feels like something was missing from this. The story, was supposed to have a morality system but you can tell how gutted it is due to certain choices not really leading anywhere aside from ending a quest a bit earlier. No one really talks to you that differently no matter how good or bad you treat them. There's no renown system where you're notorious or hero. The areas outside of the school aside from a couple of towns and the end game area, feel like Ubisoft-esque copy and paste plains and enemies. Also, a lot of the caves and small secret nooks and areas that feel Skyrim inspired, 9 times out of 10 end up being 1 out of 6 puzzle types, and end up giving you just a piece of clothing loot that usually was below my level in stats. Very disappointing stuff.

From saying all of that though, it was enjoyable for what it was and I was forgiving because this studio isn't known for this type of game. The stealth and battle systems help alleviate the navigation issues as when you've upgraded enough, you really feel the bump in power like you would in most RPGs and you end up blazing past many outposts that would take longer earlier in the game. There were times where I would do an MGS V stealth style perfect run in an enemy camp in record time, and moments like that felt great. The changing of magic and the parry system also felt pretty good. Things can get a bit hectic with lock-on but once you started unlocking AoE abilities it wasn't much of a big deal anymore. All in all it was just...alright

4) Remnant: From the Ashes - Rating A

Even though I kind of beat this(first run) in late 2022, I did go back to do the DLC and platinum it in early 2023. This game is the perfect example of how to mix third person shooting with soulslike and everything they did to ensure that it felt just as good as a shooter as it did a soulslike, they did really well. There's even some things that they have unique to their game that Fromsoft could take from, like areas and scenarios changing each time you load into them(sort of Diablo-esque). I did runs again and again and had a blast. My one and only gripe was that there were 2-3 bosses that did damage so ridiculously high and fast, that I never wanted to fight them ever again. Those were the only bosses in the game horribly balanced imo, but otherwise amazing game.

5) Quantum Break - Rating C

Quantum Break was a game that tried to mix video games and television shows into one, and it ended up being an odd, yet still fun, narrative experience about a guy with time powers and A-side, B-side choice system with the plot. Unfortunately, the plot feels cyclical (who would have guessed, time travel right?) and the choices don't make too huge of an impact early/mid-story as their impact is mainly felt near the end of the game. The time powers and combat scenarios were fun enough at least, and the game did not outstay it's welcome. It's an easy 1000/1000 achievement points. Also, unfortunately, it's not optimized for Series X.

6) High On Life - Rating B-

High On Life is a fun game that takes Megaman-style levels(boss selection) and Metroid Prime-style shooting mechanics and molds them together using Rick and Morty humor with an artstyle reminiscent of old games like Earthworm Jim, Boogerman, and Adult Swim cartoons. I decided to turn on the option for the gun(your companion) to be silent throughout the whole experience except for cutscenes and important information. It made my experience much more fun because there wasn't constant chatter. There's still quite a bit of chatter, and it's not my style of humor at all, but the game's world is so odd and interesting that it kept me hooked for a considerable degree of time through to the end. Even if you're not a fan of the humor, I'd say play it as a game on sale or a gamepass game just for the fun moments. Oh, and great soundtrack too



For this next set, I'll either come back and edit my thoughts back in or make a new post(if it's too long)

(For all of these Gears games, this is me playing them years after everyone already has without any judgment or bias, and me not playing any of the PvP at all)

7) Gears of War 5 - Rating B-
8) Gears of War 4 - Rating B+
9) Gears of War Judgment - Rating A
10) Gears of War 3 - Rating B
11) Gears of War 2 - Rating C
12) Gears of War - Rating A

13) Tom Clancy's The Division - Rating B+
14) Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - Rating C+
15) Assassin's Creed: Unity - Rating A-
16) Final Fantasy 16 - Rating B-
17) Doom 64 - Rating A+ (Modern release version)
18) Halo: Infinite - Rating A- (Campaign Only)
19) Exoprimal - Rating B+

I have no idea how you guys can do 52, but more power to you for doing so. I have been dragged back into ESO thanks to it's latest expansion and class...at least until Wayfinder comes out, but I'm thinking I'll be caught up with these two MMOs for a while. So afterwards my numbers of completed games will start to dwindle pretty fast.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Wow cool, I will be joining this thread with what I have completed soon

 

[marcincz]

July update:

Game 25 - Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse (PS4) - 12h 58m
Beat 13/07/2023 - my score: 8/10
Game 26 - Toki (NS) - 03h 15m
Beat 16/07/2023 - my score: 6/10
Game 27 - F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch (PS5) - 13h 24m
Beat 23/07/2023 - my score: 8/10
Game 28 - Dragon's Lair (PS4) - 01h 02m
Beat 23/07/2023 - my score: 7/10
Game 29 - Space Ace (PS4) - 00h 49m
Beat 23/07/2023 - my score: 7/10
Game 30 - Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp (PS4) - 00h 45m
Beat 25/07/2023 - my score: 6/10
Game 31 - Resistance 3 (PS3) - 09h 34m
Beat 30/07/2023 - my score: 8/10

Currently playing Unit 13 on PSV. Later AC III Liberation.

 

[Phase]

Man I really miss gaming. It's great reading through all of these and seeing all of the impressions though.

 

[Jack Videogames]

29. Viscera Cleanup Detail: Shadow Warrior

2:15h. 90%.

I like those "comfy cleaning games" but this one was eh. The rubbish detector is shoddy and hard to read, and whoever decided that the game should be about cleaning blood and guts in a giant room with RED WALLS should be fired. In fact, I'm not even sure why I have this one. Humble Bundle, possibly.

SteamDeck: Untried.

My Score: ★★★☆☆

------

30. Day of the Tentacle: Remastered

2:25h.

When I was a kid, I used to play this game when I got bored. Now, like 30 years after, I decided to give the Remastered version a go - and unfortunately, my brain still remembers the game's walkthrough step. by fucking. step. So I can't really judge this game, as it's ingrained in my psyche. But I'm still giving it 5 stars because frankly, would you give it any less?

My Score: ★★★★★

------

31. The Darkside Detective

3h-ish. All cases, including all three bonus cases.

I beat more Amazon Prime games in the last month than in the previous 5 years. This one was real fun! The adventuring itself was just OK, but the artstyle and the humor were nice and I really liked the characters and their chemistry. The quality of the cases is pretty all over the place, though; some can be beaten in 10 min and some (particularly the bonus cases) are a bit more of the "cat hair moustache" variety, and could benefit from some guidance. Still, I'm playing the sequel for sure.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

Game No.53 - CRYMACHINA
Playtime: 34 hrs. 18 mins.
My Rating: 18 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: Nintendo Switch

Game No.54 - ATLAS FALLEN
Playtime: 16 hrs. 07 mins.
My Rating: 18 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: PlayStation5

Game No.55 - DreadOut 2
Playtime: 05 hrs. 35 mins.
My Rating: 18 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: PlayStation5

 

[marcincz]

August games, so far:

Game 32 - Unit 13 (PSV) - 10h 59m
Beat 07/08/2023 - my score: 7/10
Game 33 - Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (PSV) - 12h 37m
Beat 14/08/2023 - my score: 8/10
Game 34 - ClayFighter (EC) - 00h 56m
Beat 15/08/2023 - my score: 6/10

 

[jshackles]

Game 34 - Warhammer 40000 Space Marine - PC / Steam - Completed Aug 16th, 2023
I wanted to play through this before the sequel launches later this year, and I'm really glad that I did. This is just a fun, fairly short, no-nonsense corridor shooter - the kind that they don't really make any more. The game is a decade old now, but it still holds up incredibly well especially technically, as I was able to play in ultrawide at 60fps without having to jump through any hoops. The game's over-the-top violence, combined with it sending you waves and waves of enemies to kill, just felt really good. It took me about 8 hours to finish, which honestly felt just right without any bloat.

My only complaint is that the 2/3rds of the game's achievements are for multiplayer, which is obviously quite dead.

 

[Jack Videogames]

32. Final Fantasy XVI

48-ish. Normal difficulty.

I've noticed Square tends to diametrally change Final Fantasy in the search for the "perfect" game. After FFX was somewhat critiziced for its linearity and its very anime-like setting, they made FFXII a much less linear affair and the plot more "serious", western-style fantasy (Well... Japanese-style western-style fantasy, at least). Then they did the exact opposite for FFXIII, making again very japanese game with a super-linear plot until the end. Then they did another 180º for FFXV. Now, this means FFXVI should be a linear game with heavy anime influences, right?

Well, yes and no. While the game is indeed very linear (no more than FFX, though) the setting is dead serious. In fact, it's definitely probably the humourless, darkest and bloodiest entry in the series. There's even a certain amount of gratuitous sex. I'm not sure if I like it, but I don't hate it. It definitely makes the plot interesting as fuck, particularly for the first 2/3 of the game before Anabella dies. The worldbuilding is very reminiscent of Game of Thrones (at some points it looks more than inspired by it...) and the political intrigue is frankly interesting and fascinating. But like in Chained Echoes, once the plot becomes a more stereotypical Kill God affair, my interest waned noticeably.

FFXVI is not a great JRPG, because it's not a JRPG. It's a 50h Devil May Cry-style action game with great worldbuilding, setpieces that will leave you speechless (particularly in boss fights) and a banging, BANGING soundtrack, maybe the single best I've ever heard, but definitely up there. It's not my GOTY, and it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but if FFXV left you lukewarm, I think you will like it.

My Score: ★★★★★

------

33. The Shell Part I: Inferno

17:48h. Got "Toko's Phantom" blind, then saw all routes except for a couple game overs.

I was a bit scared of this one because I'm sort of squeamish, but since it's so highly regarded, I decided to give its remaster a go. And I've thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Think of The Shell like a long episode of Bones written by Junji Ito. You're a detective investigating a series of grisly murders of young girls in the Japan of the 50s. Most of the gameplay is just reading and selecting choices, but it has some investigative sequences reminiscent of Phoenix Wright or point-and-click adventure games. While the writing is really smart (love the way the plot threads come together at the end) some of the whodunnits are really predictable. As it's usually the case with horror/mystery anime, don't trust young handsome men.

I was a bit miffed that the game doesn't really have a happy ending, but it's the first of 3, so I hope future games alleviate the pain a bit. I totally recommend this one but again, while it's not Maggot Baits or even Gore Screaming Show, Kara no Shoujo has gore. And let me tell you, even if it's comparatively little compared to those games, it's not pretty. And the game is really not worth it without it so if you can't stand it, pass.

SteamDeck: Had to use ProtonGE and it skips the intro music, but apart from that, works flawlessly.

My Score: ★★★★★

------

34. Warlords 2: Rise of Demons

Easily around 10h. Easy difficulty. Beat the game with Undead, Demons, Orcs of the South and Arnolds.

Yeah I'm counting this one. So what. It took me longer than most of the "real" games in my list.

Is it good? Eh. It's satisfactory. Conquering provinces and seeing the map change color tickles that part of my brain.

My Score: ★★★☆☆

Original post

 

[jshackles]

Game 35 - Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary - PlayStation Vita - Completed Aug 25th, 2023
I've been playing around with my old Vita and getting it loaded up with emulators and stuff. Installed a 1TB SD card. I found out that there was a partial English translation for Itadaki Street 30th and decided to try it out. Then, promptly lost and entire day and a half. I've played a lot of different iterations of this game, so I knew the rules and jumped right in. This version has a good career mode (that I finished), you get gold medals for completing challenges and use them to unlock new characters, artwork, etc. Even though I finished the game, I'm sure I'll be playing it here and there on the go in the future.

 

[marcincz]

Next Evercade titles from Interplay collections:

Game 35 - Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure (EC) - 02h 57m
Beat 25/08/2023 - my score: 5/10
Game 36 - Incantation (EC) - 01h 53m
Beat 27/08/2023 - my score: 6/10
Game 37 - Battle Chess (EC) - 02h 25m
Beat 28/08/2023 - my score: 5/10
Game 38 - ClayFighter 2: Judgment Clay (EC) - 00h 46m
Beat 29/08/2023 - my score: 5/10

 

[NahaNago]

Well why not lol.

Game 1 - Hogwarts legacy 64 hours I'd give this an 89
Game 2 - Final Fantasy 16 60 hours This game gets a 75
Game 3- Knack 2 I'd rate it 78

I know its weird I rate Knack 2 higher than FF16 but Knack was straight to the point. The biggest knock I had for Knack 2 is replaying that first chapter again later in the game and dodging not being a regular button to press. Plus I just beat it and enjoyed it so it might have some recency bias. FF16's great moments are the kaiju fights, the music, and a small amount of great sidequests. I was honestly going to give Knack 2 an 80 but replaying that level really bugged me.

I'll try and beat 2 games from my backlog by the end of this week.

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

Game No.57 - Getsufumaden
Playtime: 32 hrs. 25 mins.
My Rating: 22 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: Nintendo Switch

Game No.58 - Sword of The Vagrant
Playtime: 15 hrs. 10 mins.
My Rating: 16 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: Nintendo Switch

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Game No.57 - Getsufumaden
Playtime: 32 hrs. 25 mins.
My Rating: 22 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: Nintendo Switch

Game No.58 - Sword of The Vagrant
Playtime: 15 hrs. 10 mins.
My Rating: 16 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: Nintendo Switch

I have Sword of The Vagrant on Switch too. I was wondering what are your thoughts on it ?

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

I have Sword of The Vagrant on Switch too. I was wondering what are your thoughts on it ?

it feels like a worst Odin's Sphere; and kinda soulless. I also didn't care for the story or the art. Art , Music and story have always been the most important part of games for me.

 

[Jack Videogames]

35. Airborne Kingdom

6:58h. Normal difficulty.

Very relaxing city builder. Having to actually move your city around to get resources and do quests is a very novel idea, and balancing concepts like inclination, buoyancy and speed (and noise) with townie happiness make this a very novel experience. It can be considered the anti-Frostpunk: the resources are scarce (particularly in some late-game areas) the early game is challenging, and the late game is more about economizing and keeping your townies happy than about resource gathering. But instead of a stressful post-apocalyptic setting, it's a nice and chill post-apocalyptic setting.

My Score: ★★★★☆

------

36. Brotato

26h-ish. Beat all Danger levels with different characters. Tried to beat D5 with all characters before realizing I don't have 200h to spare in a twin stick shooter.

This opinion may get me kicked out of the forum but I think Brotato is actually better than Vampire Survivors. Yes, really. While the side part is obviously pretty lacking, it has a shitton of characters most of which play very differently and it's just pure, unadulterated fun. I had to actually tear myself off the screen to avoid spending 10 times the hours I spent just maxing everything.

SteamDeck: Works flawlessly.

My Score: ★★★★★

------

37. Duke Nukem: 20th Anniversary World Tour

12h-ish. "Damn I'm good" difficulty.

This is one of those games I've been trying forever to beat because it never "clicked" with me. Every time I tried it it seemed to me like a bad Doomclone with bad gunplay and ugly graphics, too preoccupied with shock value and grossout humour. Now I realize I've been unfair. Yes, the graphics are... unpleasant (not bad technically, just unpleasant) and the juvenile humour has aged badly (not the tits, I'm always up for tits. I mean more like the stuff Duke does to the bosses after beating them) the weapon variety is not great and the gunplay can be frustratingly bad. But DN3D does some great stuff too. The traversal is fantastic, particularly when you get the jetpack, and the game world is full of little secrets, gags and easter eggs that make it feel more "alive" than the cardboard levels you got in most games of this era. While this version of DN3D overstays its welcome (Understandably since about half of the game length are expansions and fan levels) it's enjoyable to play through.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[jshackles]

36. Brotato

26h-ish. Beat all Danger levels with different characters. Tried to beat D5 with all characters before realizing I don't have 200h to spare in a twin stick shooter.

This opinion may get me kicked out of the forum but I think Brotato is actually better than Vampire Survivors. Yes, really. While the side part is obviously pretty lacking, it has a shitton of characters most of which play very differently and it's just pure, unadulterated fun. I had to actually tear myself off the screen to avoid spending 10 times the hours I spent just maxing everything.

SteamDeck: Works flawlessly.

My Score: ★★★★★

I feel like Brotato and Vampire Survivors are so fundamentally different, that it's okay you like one over the other. So, you can stick around.

I personally enjoyed VS more, but also really liked Brotato too. The ability to stack so many different passives in a single run makes Brotato a bit zany in the later rounds. I also like the weapon upgrade system in Brotato and how you can sell any weapon at any time and replace it with another, or combine two of the same weapons together to make it stronger. It's a pretty fresh twist on the formula, so I always recommend this to VS fans.

 

[Jack Videogames]

I feel like Brotato and Vampire Survivors are so fundamentally different, that it's okay you like one over the other. So, you can stick around.

I personally enjoyed VS more, but also really liked Brotato too. The ability to stack so many different passives in a single run makes Brotato a bit zany in the later rounds. I also like the weapon upgrade system in Brotato and how you can sell any weapon at any time and replace it with another, or combine two of the same weapons together to make it stronger. It's a pretty fresh twist on the formula, so I always recommend this to VS fans.

I feel like Vampire Survivors pretty much shows its cards from the get go but Brotato is a game that has a lot of depth, but reveals it very carefully. It seems like every new character plays just a tiny bit different than the previous one, or has a quirk here and there, but then you start unlocking weirdos with strange gameplay like the Glutton and the Masochist or the Bull. Those are the ones I enjoyed the most.

I probably enjoyed both games about the same, but I feel Brotato may be more my jam

 

[Psychotic_Mantis]

HUGE UPDATE - Main Post

Completely failed at updating thoughts on games. So just going to list what I have completed year to date.

19. Battletoads Arcade - Rare Replay (Xbox Series X) - 6/10 - basic and doesn't do much to the formula.
20. Bowser's Fury (Switch) - 9/10 - awesome and I hope they expand on this formula
21. Sonic Mania (Switch) - 8/10 -
22. Gris (Switch) - 8/10
23. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4) - 9/10 - best CoD I have played in a long time (I only play the campaigns)
24. Grabbed by the Ghoulies - Rare Replay (Xbox Series X) - 6/10 - meh
25. Donkey Kong '94 (3DS) - 9/10 - holds up, fantastic
26. Resident Evil 4 Remake (PS5) - 10/10 - I think I love the OG more but this was still on the same pedestal.
27. Penguin Patrol (3DS) - 8/10 - awesome hidden gem I found during the shop closing
28. 3Souls (Wii U) - 5/10 - cool ideas with painful execution. I actually am still shocked I was able to get to the end.
29. Angry Video Game Nerd II: Assimilation (Steam Deck) - 7/10
30. Simple Story - Alex (Steam Deck) - 7/10 - short but interesting
31. Bike Rider DX (3DS) - 7/10 - fun last minute eshop purchase
32. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U) - 9/10 - solid HD handling of the game. I liked it more this time than when I played it back on Wii launch
33. Super Mario All Stars: Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (SNES) - 6/10 - basically DLC for the original. I just am not a fan.
34. Super Mario All Stars: Super Mario Bros. 2 (SNES) - 8/10 - NES sprites are still the best, but the gameplay is still solid
35. Gears of War: Judgement (Xbox 360) - 6/10 - super short and super average
36. The Cave (PS3) - 8/10
37. The Pedestrian (Steam Deck) - 8/10
38. Shank (Steam Deck) - 7/10
39. Red Faction (PS5) - 7/10 - Hard to figure out where to go but overall this was a solid old school FPS
40. Glass Masquerade (Steam Deck) - 9/10 - amazing puzzle game, can't wait to play the others
41. Detective Holmes: Trap for the Hunter (Steam Deck) - 7/10 - decent hidden object game
42. Timespinner (Steam Deck) - 9/10 - fantastic metroidvania. Short but solid.
43. Hidden Object: Detective Holmes (Steam Deck) - 6/10 - basic hidden object game
44. Super Kiwi 64 (Steam Deck) - 7/10
45. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) - 8/10 - I really enjoyed it but the story lost me at many times. It had the potential to be a top tier FF for me...but probably ends more int he middle.
46. Milo's Quest (Steam Deck) - 7/10
47. NecroWorm (Steam Deck) - 7/10
48. Bramble: The Mountain King (PS5) - 9/10 - Could be a potential GOTY contender for me. Has some jank but man, what an awesome game. Loved the presentation and variety. Check this one out!
49. The Forgotten City (Xbox Series X) - 7/10 - It was fine, I think it got more praise than maybe it deserved.
50. Spectacular Sparky (Steam Deck) - 8/10 - Super solid platformer.
51. Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars (Steam Deck) - 8/10 - Never finished this as a kid and now I feel a little more complete.
52. Raptor: Call of the Shadows (Steam Deck) - 7/10 - Same for Raptor! I wanted my 52nd game to be one that was missed when I was younger and could never push through. This game is hard as hell...but somehow, I pulled it off. Very solid but difficult and old school.
53. Wax Museum: Seek and Find (Steam Deck) 7/10 - Another average hidden object game with some creepy aspects.

 

[marcincz]

Game 39 - Prehistorik Man (EC) - 05h 03m
Beat 08/09/2023 - my score: 6/10

Game 40 - Eastward (NS) - 27h 03m
Beat 22/09/2023 - my score: 7/10

Game 41 - Earthworm Jim (EC) - 04h 33m
Beat 24/09/2023 - my score: 6/10

And probably nothing more this month.

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

Game No.59 - Granblue Fantasy Versus
Playtime: 06 hrs. 12 mins.
My Rating: 20 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: PlayStation5

Game No.60 - Lies of P
Playtime: 66 hrs. 17 mins.
My Rating: 18 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: PlayStation5

Game No.61 - Daymare: 1994 SandCastle
Playtime: 08 hrs. 15 mins.
My Rating: 17 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: PlayStation5

Game No.62 - Fort Solis
Playtime: 03 hrs. 10 mins.
My Rating: 18 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: PlayStation5

 

[jshackles]

Game 42 - The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails - Nintendo Switch - Completed Sep 30th, 2023
When this game was originally announced that it'd be coming west, I think I pre-ordered it almost immediately. An action RPG that's set in the Trails universe (though not in the regular Trails chronology) was right up my alley and exactly what I was looking for. Falcom obviously has an amazing track record with these types of games (from the Ys series), and this did not disappoint. The music was great. The story was really good, and had me really caring about the characters by the end. Overall, an amazing experience.

 

[Jack Videogames]

38. Quake II

6h-ish. Normal difficulty.

I tried to beat Quake II several times and I never could bring myself to do it. I don't know why. Maybe it was the way it was super easy to get lost in the gigantic levels. Maybe it was the terrible way the enemies reacted to being shot in the face. Even the RTX version got on my nerves pretty fast.

This all changed with the recent "remake". Enemies are now much smarter (and more dangerous) and actually react to being shot. The compass is a fucking godsend, and even the graphics look nice (though I would love if they integrated the new game with the RTX version somehow). One of the best boomer shooters you can play today and it's not even a boomer shooter.

SteamDeck: Works flawlessly.

My Score: ★★★★★

------

39. We ♥ Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie

16h-ish. Found all the Cousins, got all the Achievements. No Rose Nebula progress.

Sometimes I ask myself. Is there such a thing as a perfect videogame? Most people would say, no, you're crazy, by default perfection can't exist. Others would say, sure, it's The Last of Us/Super Mario Galaxy/Breath of the Wild/whatever. There are as many opinions as there are gamers.

For me, it's this. I don't think I can put in words why. It's just so full of joy. It's the most fun I've had with a controller in my hands. The music is god-tier, the gameplay can't be beaten, it's quirky, it's happy, it allows you to turn off your brain for a few hours. Just like Super Mario Bros or Tetris, W♥K is a distilled form of THE videogame, free of pretentiousness or unnecessary padding.

SteamDeck: Works flawlessly and it's a fucking joy to play.

My Score:

------

40. Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

20h-ish. No DLC or Detective Gab.

I fully understand and support that Spike Chunsoft want to distance themselves of the Danganropa brand. I love Danganronpa to bits, but by design I can imagine it's a kind of game that's very, very hard to develop. At some point you run out of ways to surprise the player. All three Danganronpa games managed to surprise and upset me even though by the second I was fully expecting the game to toy with my feelings.

This said... I feel Rain Code ain't it. It follows enough of the Danganronpa formula to be familiar, but the open world feels unnecessary and cumbersome, and the investigative mechanics feel inferior to both Danganronpa, Phoenix Wright and other similar games. The game is carried by the setting and the characters, which are strong as ever, but the (tbf) pretty terrible graphics and the irregular quality of the cases, which range from pretty great (Chapter 0, chapter 2, chapter 4) to pretty meh (Chapter 1, chapter 3). This said, I did really enjoy the final mystery and the denouement, and I was truly and pleasantly surprised by way the global mystery was handled; it brought memories of Danganronpa to my mind, and there's no higher praise I can give.

Even though I've been harsh with Rain Code I'm up for a sequel.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original post

 

[Jack Videogames]

ED: Wrongpost

 

[BusierDonkey]

41 - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Switch - Completed Playthrough - 39 hours - 80/100
This was a pretty cool game. The game tells the story of a group of students who are tasked with saving the world. The story skips back and forth through different time periods from the past to the distant future in 40-year intervals. The students all pilot mechs to combat a robotic force trying to invade the Earth in each time period. The story has some legitimately great twists and some great characters driving the plot along. The gameplay mostly consists of you moving a single character around to interact with the other students and people in each timeline. As you uncover more of the strange happenings with each student, other students get unlocked, and a top-down strategy game takes place where the students pilot the mechs against the attacking machines. It wasn't the most complex gameplay, but it was fun to jump into between revealing the mysteries in the game's story. There are time-based scenarios where you will repeat events multiple times trying to find a way forward, some were decent head scratchers. I really enjoyed the game.

42 - Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Switch - Completed Blue Lions Playthrough - 85 hours - 80/100
I'm a huge fan of Fire Emblem but I never got around to this game until this year. Graphically it's a massive turd, it runs poorly, the geometry of the environments is legitimately PS2-era. The game itself though was a pleasant experience the whole way through. I liked pretty much all the characters in the game and the characters I was supposed to hate I found myself reviling. I played through as the Blue Lions and stayed true to the church. It was interesting to discuss the game after finishing it. My brother had chosen another house and taken a different path. From my end the choices I made seemed to be the right ones, but from his end, I had made all the wrong choices. It's kind of how the real world works, people see events from their point of view and miss important context surrounding events which can lead to disagreements, or worse. The gameplay was alright, it seemed to miss some of the complexities of other FE games I've played, for instance I found there to be less dialogue events during battle than other FE games. Overall, it was a great game I intend to replay in the future to try another of the houses.

43 - Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - Switch - Completed Playthrough - 59 hours - 85/100
This was the first Warriors style game I've played. I immediately fell in love with the "high stakes but actually not that high stakes" madness of the game. It's me vs hundreds of enemies and I just steamroll them at every turn. There is a small element of strategy involved but basically you switch between characters and use them to just wreck entire armies of Ganon's minions. It's a ton of fun, the action is great and the setting really pulled me in as I really like the BOTW world. The setting in 100 years before BOTW and runs through the story of Link becoming Zelda's appointed knight, bringing on the champions to pilot the divine beasts, and Calamity Ganon's rise in Hyrule. Tons of fun.

44 - Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore - Switch - Completed Playthrough - 70/100
This game is a bit on the "friendly" side for me. Everyone is a bundle of roses and even the villains are only like that because of an outside, super evil force working on them. The setting is a talent agency for movies, TV and music performers, but an outside evil force is stealing everyone's "perfoma" so they can do evil things with it. The tie-in to Fire Emblem is that there are a handful of Fire Emblem characters in the game. They don't look like they do in FE, and they mostly don't really act like the same characters in FE, so it's kind of a wasted cross over. Gameplay is standard JRPG fare, overly spacious dungeons without a lot of unique areas and enemies spawning in to fight. These are just annoying. They just float around aimlessly until you get close, then they beeline at you. You can whack them to avoid them but once in a while a special type appears that matches your level and on higher difficulties is almost guaranteed to wreck you, you can whack these too, but they immediately recover so there is no point. Might as well just put the controller down and go get a drink, the game just shits you right back out before the fight so there's no consequences in doing so. You get sent back to the same places over and over to complete the side quests and "requests" which is almost always a fetch quest for a shiny object in the map or defeating X number of enemy types. This is pretty standard for JRPGs, Xenoblade Chronicles does this a lot as well for example, but that game will have you explore new sections and areas of the much more interesting and diverse map while this game has you basically teleport to the spot you need to find the object/enemy and get flooded with more dialogue. Apparently, this version of the game has been censored, losing a goofy bathing suit dungeon and the related outfits. I doubt the dungeon would have raised my score, but I do hate when shit gets removed from games. On a final note, the last boss screams at the top of its lungs every time you attack it in what I'd call an "annoying Japanese man voice" and might actually be the most annoying thing I've ever encountered in a game. I'd say the high points were the animated cutscenes you'd be rewarded with for advancing each character's career, they were nicely done. The music was strangely memorable. I played this game over a period of several months while other releases came and went and the whole time, I found myself humming the goofy jazzy tunes from this.

45 - Quake II - PC - Completed Playthrough - 7 hours - 70/100
This game was decent, but I honestly preferred the first game. Enemies were all rushers which mean a lot of walking backwards emptying clips. The map design was a little more all over the place. No map was big enough to get lost in, but the designs weren't exactly fluid in many of the areas. The drastic setting change from Quake was the big surprise. It went from battling demons to space marines fighting aliens. I'm trying to be fair to this game's age with a score here but honestly the game is pretty forgettable even compared to many games in the same genre from the same period. Goldeneye wasn't as advanced, you couldn't even jump, but I remember every second of it. I had to look up a video of this game to jog my memory of it, and I just played it a couple months ago.

46 - Streets of Fury - PC - Completed Playthrough - 1 hour - 70/100
Remember photo dojo on the DSi? Probably not, but this feels like someone played that and it inspired them to make a brawler. It's actually a pretty good one too. You'll go in seeing all the goofy digitized characters based on social media personalities and think "this looks like absolute shit", and you'd be right. The game has some pretty decent gameplay though, decently deep for a brawler, and the goofy art just makes it all fun to look at while you play. Try it, I think I paid $1.25 for it on a sale.

47 - A Short Hike - PC - Completed Playthrough - 2 hours - 75/100
This was a pleasant little game that is very appropriately titled. You literally go for a short hike and the game is done. The short time spent on this island is time well spent however with a fair number of activities and small quests to do for the other animals inhabiting the island. Your goal is to scale the mountain in the center of the island, helping others along the way. For such a short game it felt like it was longer than it was.

48 - Super Mario Land - Game Boy - Completed Playthrough - 1 hour - 75/100
Considering the hardware this game holds up remarkably well. Compared to mainline Mario games on the NES it lacks in several areas but as one of the first titles released on the Gameboy it's actually pretty good. Controls are tight, even on the old system the visuals were designed to be easy to make out and the music is easy to remember, you'll find yourself humming it years later. I played this again on a modern FPGA handheld, so I didn't have to deal with the LCD bleed, but I still remember the game on my old Game Boy and it was fun to go back through the game after all these years.

49 - Planet of Lana - PC - Completed Playthrough - 4 hours - 65/100
I wish I could give this game a higher score but the reality is that I spent about 60% of the game just holding right on the d-pad. This is another one of those games like Inside where you basically do nothing while the background puts on an indie film for you to watch. This one doesn't have any real hook though as the story unfolding isn't great, for a minute I thought it was about to get really deep, then it just didn't. The game's setting is that your village is invaded by robots from space, they kidnap everyone but you avoid capture, then you try to catch up and save them. It's pretty shallow. The few action and puzzle areas in the game are great and fun to figure out, but there are so few of them and so much walking right that I found myself bored more often than entertained.

50 - Alleyway - Game Boy - Finished up to level 74 - 7 hours - 70/100
This is a pretty decent breakout clone. There's not much to say, you break bricks with a ball using a pill-shaped ship. This one is as bare-bones as you get. No powerups, no lasers, no multi-ball, just bounce that ball at the bricks until you die. There's no story and really no music either, just bricks and a ball.

51 - Adventure Island - Game Boy - Completed Playthrough - 3 hours - 70/100
Game Boy games have to be taken on a "It is what it is" basis. Adventure Island is a game you'd imagine would work awful on the OG Game Boy with its poor visibility and the struggle against ghosting on the old LCD screen. This version of the game has been slowed down from other versions to accommodate those issues. The game is a fun little adventure tossing weapons at creatures minding their own business and didn't deserve to be assaulted by a psychopath in a grass skirt, except the snakes, fuck them. Boss battles are simple affairs consisting of mainly finding a safe spot and spamming attacks, which isn't a knock against the game, more a product of its time. Controls are snappy and the game does exactly what you tell it to do flawlessly.

52 - Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise - Game Boy - Completed Playthrough - 3 hours - 70/100
Mostly everything that applies to the first Game Boy Adventure Island applies here. This game is a trip back in time with music and gameplay that will fold space and time like a piece of paper, then stick a pencil trough it to demonstrate how it works.

53 - Castlevania: The Adventure - Game Boy - Completed Playthrough - 2 hours - 30/100
This game features the most delayed reaction to inputs I might have ever encountered in my entire life. You can't jump and whip, you can jump, then if you're lucky you can whip but it may or may not happen resulting in your stiff (perhaps partially paralyzed character) getting hit by that slow, shuffling monster that you saw coming from a mile or just plummeting to their doom. For its day, if this game had responsive controls, it would have been pretty damned good. Too bad.

54 - Castlevania: Belmont's Revenge - Game Boy - Completed Playthrough - 3 hours - 65/100
This is more like it. In contrast to the first Game Boy Castlevania, this game controls near-perfectly. Jump, whip, turn around and take out the monster you just vaulted over all in one clean motion. This is what the first game was missing. Unfortunately, the game isn't perfect. The music, although not bad, sounds like it would fit better in a Contra game than Castlevania and the stage design relies too heavily on near-empty rooms with lots of rope climbing.

55 - Castlevania Legends - Game Boy - Completed Playthrough - 3 hours - 40/100
This one sits between the other two Game Boy Castlevanias. While the gameplay is much less stiff than the first it's not as good as Belmont's Revenge, I found often Sonia was not doing the things I wanted her to, as if the first game's input delay was hiding in the shadow, ready to ounce when I least expected. While the levels feel more varied than Belmont's Revenge, they are riddled with more annoying enemy types. While the music is distinctly Castlevania fare, with many remixes of iconic tracks, it's as if the dude playing it all did all the cocaine in Transylvania first. More notes/second in music is not always a good thing.

56 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Game Boy Advance - Completed Playthrough - 11 hours - 65/100
Not a bad first effort on the GBA, it switches from the early stage-based layouts found on the Game Boy to a Metroidvania format started with Symphony of the Night. The game looks great, even by modern standards. The music is excellent by GBA standards, with tracks seemingly ported directly from the console games. Then we come to the gameplay, this is where the game has issues. For starters, the card system is poorly implemented, and you will not be getting the best cards until long after you're ready to defeat Dracula. There is a colosseum in the center of the map that will require grinding for days to complete and features some legitimately cheap enemies like Lilith who appears to have ingested a lot of acid, flying about randomly at the speed of light. Even then, card drops are random so you might need to do the full colosseum multiple times. At the end of the day, I decided to cut my losses and leave it unfinished, and I hate leaving Metroidvania's unfinished. The other issue is that the player character, though more capable than the Game Boy entries with dash, slid and angled whip attacks, has a major speed disadvantage compared to the enemies in the game which can lead to frustrating encounters where you just can't get turned around fast enough to catch an enemy behind you in time.

57 - Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Game Boy Advance - Completed Playthrough - 11 hours - 60/100
This game has much more fluid gameplay than Circle of the moon, with the dodge mechanic from Symphony of the Night battling enemies is fun, inputs are immediate, and you can cancel actions. The game features a ton of boss fights to the point it felt like there was another fun boss fight around every corner. I thought I must have burned 20+ hours in this game just backtracking and was shocked to find I'd only put the same hours in as Circle of the Moon. The map design in this game is confusing to navigate. The game features two castles, as the castle itself is being created by your friend Maxim's good and evil sides. Navigating between the two is difficult as both look very similar and making matters worse, the portals you use to flip between them sometimes don't always line up and some aren't marked on the map. Constantly throughout the game, you run into locked doors that require keys, magic or breaking a seal. These doors will mostly remain locked until the very end of the game. For some reason at the very end of the game you unlock a whole bunch of new portals and receive all the keys to all the doors you kept running into throughout the game that are now effectively worthless because by that point the castle has been fully unlocked and explored. The other big issue is the castle design itself relies heavily on elevators and long boring corridors to connect the various areas which makes the game feel tedious at times. Navigation aside, the game also suffers from a mostly mediocre soundtrack, artistic design that is all over the place ranging from goofy caverns make out of giant bones to repetitive background sprites. Boss rooms were the exception, from a laboratory filled with experiments to a sprawling observatory with a map of the stars spread across the far wall, it's unfortunate that this much detail wasn't present throughout the castle.

58 - Starfield - PC - Completed Playthrough - 435 hours - 75/100
This is going to be a longer review as Starfield was my most anticipated game, probably ever. I grew up with Star Wars, my name is shared with an optimistic young Jedi. Science fiction is my favorite genre in movies, games, books, you name it. Add to that, this was Bethesda, makers of games which have always allowed me to do anything I want as long as it doesn't involve land vehicles. Starfield is a tale of "almost" and "just about" being held back by poor choices and lack of risks. This game went the safe route in terms of just about everything. For example, Bethesda's games have featured dismemberment and bodies turning to ash for decades. Blow heads off, blow legs off, chop parts off, turn people into a puddle of glowing goop, it's become a staple. That's all gone in Starfield. There is always a pristine, untouched corpse left after blasting an Ecliptic Merc with a massive laser. Sexual themes no longer exist either. While Bethesda have always been prudish in this respect, you still had implied sexuality like the Memory Den in Fallout 4 where a woman in a red feathered dress rents out VR pods for "pleasure". Starfield features a city whose economy is based on space Exstacy, but it's seediest club features a few slightly pudgy people dressed as teletubbies "dancing". The only sexual material this game features is the shoehorned in romance dialogue that always feels incredibly inappropriate and out of place. A good example is a companion quest where I'm taking a man and his incredibly annoying daughter to find his ex and fix their shitty straight relationship (required for ESG score). Multiple times in this quest I'd reach a point where the guy wants to talk about things. He tells me all about his history with this woman and his daughter. In the middle of it I'm offered several responses that fit the situation, but every time there is what amounts to "Let's get the gay on" which has no place in the conversation and feels incredibly forced (and required for ESG score). Frankly, the writing in this game is atrocious and the companion characters range from merely okay to downright awful and unlikeable self-insert trash. Every single character in the game seems to dislike every action you take, and even if they do like you their dialogue then becomes infantile drivel as all they do at that point is praise you endlessly any time you get near them. Also, what the fuck is with games and writing centered around coffee shops? Of the six major corporations in this universe half of them are coffee-based and every other damned NPC just needs to tell you how much they enjoy their coffee. I get it, you're hired by Bethersda for diversity and have no actual talent and you see your Starbucks cup sitting there, but it's not creative to just use what you see and write down your daily activities as a questline.

So, although the story and writing could have been done better, gameplay is what matters most as it is a game right? Well, they sort of dropped the ball here too. The game lacks things like corner peeking, the slide mechanic is too short to be of use and the boost packs are an all-or-nothing action. On low gravity planets using the boost packs often cause you to jump several meters into the air, hanging there as a target regardless of how quickly you tap the button. Different packs have different boost but changing packs mid-fight requires carrying several heavy boost packs in a game where you're constantly over-encumbered. Weapons are alright, look great and have plenty of upgrades. Ballistic weapons will push you back in zero gravity which is cool, but you rarely fight in zero gravity. Enemy AI is on the dumb side, regardless of difficulty chosen they simply become spongier. Traversal is the game's biggest offender. There are no in-atmosphere vehicles like buggies or air vehicles, although you see land vehicles all over none of them ever move, even driven by NPCs. That brings us to the spaceships. I love the spaceships and their modular designs. The shipbuilder is a time vampire and I loved making interesting new designs myself. Unfortunately, even here they fell short. Any time you alter your ship, even a little, everything inside the ship gets stuffed back in the ship's cargo menu. Unless you are 100% certain you're never going to alter the ship again there is no reason to decorate the interior as even switching the ship's weapons with erase any work you've done. You also can't purchase and store ship parts which means in order to access all the parts you have to fly to different star yards and purchase the parts there, attach them randomly to the ship, then fly to the next yard and continue doing so until you have all the piece you think you need to make what you want to make. It's incredibly annoying. Bethesda completely drops the ball with the ships, while you get to fly them, it's only above the planets, things like asteroid fields look great but are almost entirely unused, just sitting there. No spaceship races, most of the space battles are just you versus a handful of ships. Only one instance in the game felt like a real space battle and it was over as fast as it started. There are a handful of large ships in the game but nothing massive and there were a lot of missed opportunities with the space battles, but that's this game in a nutshell.

Performance is terrible. I was able to lock the game at a solid, stable 72fps (half my monitors refresh rate) but that required a DLSS mod as this game did not implement DLSS at launch (and still doesn't officially), I needed a mod to adjust FOV, I needed a mod to fix the limited inventory menus, I needed mods to fix the ship HUD which ran at 30fps, I needed mods to make every NPC in the game stop staring at me and comment every time I came within 100 feet of them, I needed mods to allow distant rocks and trees to cast shadows, I had to file-dive to enable any sort of reflections in water more than 50 feet away, etc. While I'd argue Bethesda was telling the truth that this was their least buggy game at launch (in 435 hours it crashed just twice on me), it was also their most unfinished game, it has a feel of a game where programmers set things up but moved on without fully using that thing they just made. It's easily my second biggest disappointment this year. Maybe in a year or so the game will have been improved upon and be a better experience.

59 - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Game Boy Advance - WIP - 80/100
I'm almost finished this one. It's really hitting all the right marks for the most part but feels a bit smaller in scope than entries like Symphony of the Night or even Harmony of Dissonance. It's a more straight-forward entry in the series.

60 - Forza Motorsport - PC - Completed all SP events - 115 hours - 60/100
This game is a massive disappointment. Forza Motorsport is the series that dragged me from the Playstation platform over to the Xbox. Gran Turismo was it for me, I didn't even consider Forza Motorsport on the OG Xbox. That changed when I played it at my cousin's house and painted up a Neon SRT4 and took it out on Blue Mountain. Fast forward, a group of people on a car forum I frequented were getting together on Sundays to play Forza, I grabbed an Xbox 360 and Forza 2 and from that day forward I put thousands of hours into the series. The series has had ups and downs, Forza 2 had issues with traction, making RWD cars hard to drive, Forza 3 looked drab, and handling was too skewed to AWD cars to the point we outlawed them in our group races, FM4 released and was by far the best entry to date, hitting all the right notes. FM5 released with the least content in the series but was a massive visual leap in terms of tracks and texture detail. FM6 introduced weather effects but a downgrade in track visuals to accommodate the effects. FM7 released in a relatively poor state but had a massive car list and a decent track count. It received more visual downgrades to accommodate more TOD and weather effects, many tracks were starting to look barren compared to the FM5 version, with removed details in foliage, buildings and background elements. Each entry was made in just two years which made it even more impressive that the games always ran at absolutely locked framerates regardless of conditions.

That brings us to the new Forza Motorsport. This game took six years to build, three times longer than any game in this series. The handling model is perhaps the best it's been, car traction doesn't seem to become unsettled like a switch like in previous entries. Bumping cars lightly doesn't seem to cause other cars to violently react. Tire walls blocking short cuts have been replaced with a pretty decent penalty system and the handling as a whole is just much smoother across the board than any previous entries. Unfortunately, while the bones are solid, everything else is a mess. At launch, the game featured a relatively low track count, a terrible UI riddled with loading screens, questionable visuals with a DOF effect that destroys the game's IQ. The AI is dumb as a stump, I've watched them brake hard in the middle of a straight, I've watched half the field brake and turn into a wall in unison, the AI still slows for turns on track layouts where the turn isn't being used and I've lost count of the times the AI has left a clean racing line and ruined its own chances in a race just to block me. The AI also still seems to completely shut off once you pass them. I can spend two entire laps trying to catch a car with seemingly unlimited grip and horsepower and once I pass him it just fades away behind me like it just gave up entirely. The menus are terrible, there is a constant narrator explaining things that require no explanation and the only way to shut it up is to just disable all voice audio completely. The garage is once again a poorly rendered room which only allows you to display a few cars. The lighting seems to be all-or-nothing. I either can't see shit or there is a nuclear beam of sunlight shining down on the track washing out everything. In the hundred or so races I've run so far, I think maybe three took place on a clear day. It's either night, foggy, raining, sun directly in my face, or a combination of those making visibility the only real challenge in the game. Car models are recycled from as far back as the series' roots and are at best touched-up but still fall so far behind Gran Turismo in accuracy and detail it's become laughable. Tracks suffer the same fate. Sur the trees look better now, but they just randomly slapped them around the tracks, ruining the track's sight lines. Despite the "ground up" claims, the tracks are still full of inaccuracies going back years in the franchise. Even the livery editor, one of Forza's main draws for me, is now broken. The paint booth is located in a dark cave I assume. The paint editor is not as good as in Forza Horizon 5 and lacks features from that game which makes no sense whatsoever. Of the cars I've tried to paint roughly half of them have glitches that don't allow brake calipers or entire sections of wheels to be painted. In some cases, the car's paint becomes a void with a glitchy, artifact-filled black and grey static effect replacing the paint. It's clear this game was not play-tested at all.

I expected after six years to see a Forza Motorsport that was the best in the series in every aspect. Best looking, best playing, best UI, best music, this game should have been Turn 10 dragging their nuts across Polyphony's face after GT7's fairly disappointing launch. The end product at launch is the most incomplete game they've ever released. Even rated on it's own, not comparing it to older games in the series it's a bug-filled mess missing any sort of character or charm. It's just a product dispensed by a seemingly uninterested crew whose best days are far in the past.

Edit: I hopped back into the game after the "big update". Framerates are better, for a while, then the game turns into a stutter-fest regardless of settings and requires a restart. Broken cars are all still broken, graphical options are still bare-bones, DLSS still either has no effect on performance or reverts to blurry FSR. This game is a lost cause at this point. What a shame.

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

Game No.63 - Stranger of Paradise: FF Origins
Playtime: 38 hrs. 57 mins.
My Rating: 23 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: XboxOne

Game No.64 - WO LONG: Fallen Dynasty
Playtime: 58 hrs. 02 mins.
My Rating: 13 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: XboxOne

Game No.65 - DOLMEN
Playtime: 23 hrs. 46 mins.
My Rating: 22 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: XboxOne

Game No.66 - LORDS OF THE FALLEN
Playtime: 73 hrs. 02 mins.
My Rating: 12 out or 25
Completed: Finished Single Player
Version: PlayStation5