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5. Sonic CD (PS5, via Sonic Origins Plus) - I wanted to revisit Sonic CD for mostly academic reasons. I reference the game a lot for its unique history, that being launching for an accessory on the Genesis that I and many others didn’t own and in doing so becoming something of a hidden gem in a not-at-all hidden gem of a series. I coveted the game as a child because of this relative rarity and for its passionate following online and in gaming magazines. My thirst for the game got even stronger when the opening movie was included in Sonic Mega Collection, a compilation that inexplicably lacked the title in question.
Anyways, let’s talk about the actual game! I was disappointed the first time I played it. I thought the much ballyhooed time travel wasn’t nearly as engaging as I hoped. It felt like you were just constantly zipping between eras without much control over when and where you did it. Playing it today, I can see that I was kind of wrong! The player definitely has a lot of control over their chronological journey, but it still isn’t enough for me to care about the mechanic at all. I find Sonic level designs, especially those on display in Sonic CD, make exploration too maddening an endeavor to pursue. I was more annoyed than anything when Sonic reached top speed and sidetracked my session for a couple of seconds to travel to a seemingly identical point in the past or future.
Ultimately I can see why some still swear by Sonic CD. It is pretty ambitious in its own way, creating levels with multiple tiers of exploration across multiple periods of time was especially novel during the 16-bit era. For me, it is just a little too cumbersome and annoying to seriously engage with.
The music slaps, though.
Rating (out of 5): ️️ Meatbag Approved Rating (out of 5): Sq. Root of 4 + 20/100 for the OST and opening animation.
1. Super Mario RPG (Switch)
2. Metroid Fusion (NSO)
3. Super Mario 64 (3D All-Stars, Switch)
4. Dredge (Switch)
5. Baten Kaitos I (Switch)
6. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (NSO)
7. A Highland Song (Switch)
8. Super Mario Sunshine(3D All-Stars, Switch)
9. Chants of Sennaar (Switch)
I absolutely loved this and it retroactively shoots up my Best Games of 2023 list. Reflecting on last year's games, I'd probably place this and Cocoon ahead of Tears of the Kingdom and (from what I've played so far) Baldur's Gate 3.
This felt like something that could only work as a game. I did have a couple of niggles - the final level of the tower was disappointingly brief and the stealth sections somewhat clumsy - the elegance of the concept, art and how cohesive the game felt really clicked with me. Puzzling out the languages and using them to progress in each area was immensely satisfying.
• A Highland Song
• Baldur's Gate 3 (now playing)
• Baten Kaitos I
• Baten Kaitos II
• Dredge
• EarthBound
• Final Fantasy II
• Final Fantasy III
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
• Metroid Fusion
• Star Ocean The Second Story R
• Super Mario 64
• Super Mario Sunshine
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Mario 3D World (+ Bowser's Fury)
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Chants of Sennaar
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Ristar
• Crusader of Centy
• Bayonetta Origins
• Unicorn Overlord
Know what, sure, keep that mystery locked up tight. We shall let our minds swim in the endless ocean of possibilities. Maybe it's Troll and I. Yes, it must be so.
10. Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain (PC): I'll admit I didn't love the original Celeste the way most people did (I thought it was fine, but the constant praise/hype always felt a little exaggerated imo), so I wasn't really in a rush to give this a go. However, we got a huge dumping of snow a while back that put me in the right mood to give this a go, and I'm glad I did. Definitely grading on a bit of a curve here since it's a free game that was made in like a week, but it's pretty dang good. It's not quite all the way there yet, but it's a lot closer than it has any right to be. I've got some nitpicks about finer details like the camera, readability, and the stiffness/responsiveness of the controls, but tbh I've also had similar complaints about some other 3D platformers that I paid actual money for. I think if the Celeste team wanted to they could probably work out the kinks and turn this into the basis for a very solid full game some day
11. Splatoon 3: Side Order dlc (Switch): Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion was imo one of the best DLCs Nintendo's put ever put out, so that was always gonna be a tough act to follow. Side Order didn't quite reach those heights for me, but it's still really damn good. Probably my biggest gripe with the Splatoon series as a whole is it's played things a lot safer than most Nintendo franchises do by their 3rd installment, and so I really appreciate that Side Order is trying something so different from previous Splatoon campaigns. It took a bit for me to warm up to it, but once I got in the groove I ended up clearing runs with every single weapon; I don't know if it's the kind of mode I'll come back to very frequently, but I really enjoyed my time with it
While I think Octo Expansion still stands as the best individual Splatoon experience, I think Side Order pairs well with Splat 3's Return of the Mammalians campaign and multiplayer offerings to make this latest game the best overall package so far
(Also between this and Hitman Freelancer, I'm officially "roguelike mode in non-roguelike games"-pilled. More of this please, ideally starting with Pikmin)
12. Halo 3 [Master Chief Collection] (Steam Deck/PC): Not gonna lie, I'm finding this series as a whole frustrating because I keep coming so close to really liking these games, but they just keep ending up one third "this is actually pretty fun" and then two thirds "complete slog", ranging anywhere from "keep throwing yourself at a sea of enemies until things happen to fall into place and you reach the next checkpoint by sheer luck, except also the checkpoint sometimes just decides not to trigger for some reason" to "figure out what you're meant to do/where you're meant to go via unhelpful instructions and poorly-signposted level design". The clever part is that they're very good at making sure the third of it that's actually pretty good always bookends the games and sorta smooths over your overall impression by playing some cool electric guitar over a get-hype set-piece. I just wish the visual language of this series gelled with me more
Anyway, drive-by one-liner I thought of halfway through: More like Mid-ster Chief, amirite? Gottem
13. Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (PC): Fallen Order is a pretty fun time that mostly hits the right notes; there's some frustrating elements that I think could have been smoothed over, some story beats that feel out of place or rushed, and there's some major "the everyman main character is by far the least-interesting part of the cast" syndrome (seriously, what is it with Respawn and pairing cardboard cutout-tier dudes with bursting-with-personality robot sidekicks?). I also kinda felt like the game was setting up a "was told he can trust only in the force -> learns that no, actually he can trust his friends" arc for Cal that it never really brought to a head. Overall it's the kind of game where I had fun pretty much mainlining the 15-ish hour story with the occasional poking around here and there, but it's also not exactly something that left me raring for more or eager to dive into the sequel right away
One complaint that isn't exactly unique to this game and veers more towards the dreaded "straight-up just talking about Star Wars on the internet" danger zone, but I can't not mention it: Star Wars is just so reliant on stories about Jedi that somehow escaped "the purge" and I'm over it. Like I get it, they're written into a corner because the Original Trilogy iconography is so emblematic of the franchise and obviously everyone wants to play as the super-powered space wizards with laser swords because, well, duh. But every time they play this card, it makes it seem even goofier that the original movie had people calling the force a hokey dead religion or that you had dudes like Han Solo thinking the Jedi are made up when in practice it feels like you couldn't go 5 feet without tripping over a Jedi "in hiding" waving a lightsaber around and picking fights with Darth Vader. And that's not even getting into the concept of Inquisitors; now it's not just Vader publicly Sith-ing it up but a whole gaggle of evil magic laser sword folks are also in play because ... reasons. At this point I'm gasping for a new Star Wars game that's neither about an Order 66 survivor nor set during the Empire's rule
Also on the second visit to Kashyyyk, I made a note in my phone that simply reads "This game is just Skyward Sword but Star Wars". Make of that what you will
14. Virtual Boy Wario Land (3DS): The release of Red Viper, a Virtual Boy emulator for the 3DS that supports stereoscopic 3D, finally gave me the incentive to start checking out that system's library. And naturally, VB Wario Land seemed like the place to start, since it's the one Virtual Boy game where the consensus is "no really, it's actually pretty good".
It definitely plays more like a sequel to Mario Land 3: Wario Land than the Wario Land 2, 3, and 4 that would come later; levels are mostly linear with no branching pathways, there's more conventional power-ups rather than transformations, that kind of thing. My overall impression is that yeah, VB Wario Land is pretty good for what it is, but also that if this was the best the Virtual Boy had to offer then I can kinda see why it didn't catch on. I will say that the 3D is pretty neat though; 3DS games didn't really wow me all that much tbh, but here the effect really pops in an impressive way. Maybe something to do with the simpler color palette making it more noticeable?
Also y'know that meme about Cloud wondering why Tifa doesn't wear her cowboy hat anymore? That's me but about Wario and his safari hat. They should bring that back
Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (PC): Fallen Order is a pretty fun time that mostly hits the right notes; there's some frustrating elements that I think could have been smoothed over, some story beats that feel out of place or rushed, and there's some major "the everyman main character is by far the least-interesting part of the cast" syndrome (seriously, what is it with Respawn and pairing cardboard cutout-tier dudes with bursting-with-personality robot sidekicks?). I also kinda felt like the game was setting up a "was told he can trust only in the force -> learns that no, actually he can trust his friends" arc for Cal that it never really brought to a head. Overall it's the kind of game where I had fun pretty much mainlining the 15-ish hour story with the occasional poking around here and there, but it's also not exactly something that left me raring for more or eager to dive into the sequel right away
One complaint that isn't exactly unique to this game and veers more towards the dreaded "straight-up just talking about Star Wars on the internet" danger zone, but I can't not mention it: Star Wars is just so reliant on stories about Jedi that somehow escaped "the purge" and I'm over it. Like I get it, they're written into a corner because the Original Trilogy iconography is so emblematic of the franchise and obviously everyone wants to play as the super-powered space wizards with laser swords because, well, duh. But every time they play this card, it makes it seem even goofier that the original movie had people calling the force a hokey dead religion or that you had dudes like Han Solo thinking the Jedi are made up when in practice it feels like you couldn't go 5 feet without tripping over a Jedi "in hiding" waving a lightsaber around and picking fights with Darth Vader. And that's not even getting into the concept of Inquisitors; now it's not just Vader publicly Sith-ing it up but a whole gaggle of evil magic laser sword folks are also in play because ... reasons. At this point I'm gasping for a new Star Wars game that's neither about an Order 66 survivor nor set during the Empire's rule
This just unlocked a core memory for me that I got this game for free with my graphics card, have it installed on my PC, and legit just forgot about it ...
I haven't played the first one yet so idk if I even bother, don't know if they ever fixed the PC version or not
Oops, meant Jedi Survivor not Fallen Order but you get my point
1. Octopath Traveler II - 9/10 - 100% in 110 Hours
2. Metroid Prime Remastered - 8/10 - 100% in 45 Hours
3. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - 7.5/10 - 64% in 102 Hours
4. AI: The Somnium Files - 8.5/10 - 100% in 41 Hours
4. AI: The Somnium Files | Platform: Steam | 100% Completion in 41 Hours | 8.5/10
I had a weirdly hard time putting down my thoughts about my time with this game. I think that's partially because it often fluctuates between a 10/10 experience and a 7/10 experience.
The narrative is clearly the main draw, and it delivered well above my expectations. It alone is basis enough for my recommendation. I'm no
connoisseur of the genre, but I can safely say it's leagues better than anything I've experienced in Danganronpa (1-2), and even eclipsed the Ace Attorney games I've finished (1-4). I won't give any spoilers, but the 'putting the pieces together' moment was incredibly memorable for me and a highlight of my year so far.
Humor is an important factor in any adventure game, Ace Attorney being the gold standard for me. At the best of times here, it's... so absurd I can't help but laugh. At the worst of times, it comes off as either poorly translated, nonsensical, or questionable. At the very least, it gives the experience a unique flair, which I can appreciate, but I can't recommend it off of that alone. It's very possible it just doesn't suit my personal tastes, though.
For a game that's so fresh in its narrative structure, I find it disappointing that the gameplay is easily the most boring (and at times frustrating) of the genre I've experienced so far, despite being clearly quite ambitious. This game doesn't have trials like Ace Attorney or Danganronpa, instead, it has segments where you have 6 minutes to uncover a clue in what's basically a dream sequence by walking around a 3D environment. Conceptually, I think it's pretty cool. But the time limit and inherent illogicality of dreams make for an experience that's less about 'solving' and more about trial and error until something happens. To be frank, I'm hoping the sequel completely overhauls this system. If I had to be more constructive, maybe the decisions could be more 'on rails' and the timer would always be counting down to keep the sense of pressure.
On a more positive note, the cast of characters here is particularly strong, which gives the narrative that much more weight. I don't want to mention specific characters and their arcs because of spoilers, but I came away impressed (and intrigued to start the sequel). The English voice acting is also top-notch!
Both art direction and score were... pretty solid. Not award-worthy or anything, but pleasing nonetheless.
Also, it's worth mentioning that I had no issues with performance or bugs (on the PC version, at least).
8.5/10 - An easy recommendation if you're a fan of the adventure genre (coming from an Ace Attorney / Danganronpa fan). I'd note that it's worth going in as blind as possible because I would consider even knowing about the specifics of the narrative structure to be spoilery.
I haven't updated my list in some time, but I'm here now to fix that
Hunter X: Codename T
The sequel to Hunter X. Not much to say about this one as it's very, very similar to the first game. There is a new map and a new main character and story, but it's all incredibly similar to the first one. I think that the parry worked better in the first game, this one seems to account for when you release the block button instead of when you press it, but I'm not completely sure about it, I never managed to nail it down like I did with the first game.
If you liked Hunter X you'll enjoy this one as well, but I'd suggest leaving some time between them due to how similar they are.
Deflector
Small roguelite with a combat system based on directional parries. I didn't play it a lot, it's very enjoyable but at the same time it didn't grip me completely. I still intend to go back to it and play it some more in the future. There are a lot of good ideas in the game but there's something missing to make it really addictive.
Panzer Dragoon
I had bought this a year ago when it was heavily discounted, as it was one of those legacy IPs that I had never played. I didn't like it much, I felt like I was getting through the game without really learning anything or having to improve. There are records to entice you to replay the levels and master them, but when the standard gameplay isn't hooking me I can't find the motivation to invest myself into that. After 4 or 5 levels I ended up dropping it and I don't intend to return to it.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma
I love action-heavy, gameplay-based games, DMC and Bayonetta are 2 of my favourite series but I still had only played the first Ninja Gaiden. I got this as part of the Master Collection and it's an amazing game I like the high-octane, demanding gameplay and I prefer the more linear approach of the game compared to the first one, this one feels more streamlined and gets straight to the point. I have a couple of complaints though:
First, some bosses are crap (specially the big ones like the Statue of Liberty or the final phase of the last boss). They aren't too difficult but they felt very, very janky.
Second: A lot of times I was progressing through the game without doing great. After every encounter you recover most of your health and it was almost always more than enough to get through the following encounter, and the next one, and so on. I wish the game were more punishing so it forced me to engage with the combat system more as I was mashing and going through with some basic techniques a lot of the time.
Third: This one applies to the whole series. The movelist is incredibly bloated, showing every sub-string of a combo like a proper combo with its' own entry. Imagine if Bayonetta displayed the "PPKP" combo as 4 different entries like "P", "PP", "PPK" and "PPKP"; The movelist would become unwieldy. NG does just that and it makes learning each weapons' moves much harder than it needs to be.
Anyway, these are not very big problems. When I finished the game I almost went through a second lap in a higher difficulty, but ultimately decided to give NG3RE a try first. I may still come back to this one, I really enjoyed it a lot and it deserves all the praise it gets.
Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge
I'm currently going through this one and I think it's my favourite at the moment. It has the linear structure of NG2, but encounters are HARD and I find myself having to give it my all and develop new strategies to be able to beat each of them. I love the Steel on Bone mechanic where you can counter enemy grabs and turn them into a series of instant enemy executions that also gives you health back, it's a really cool mechanic and it's very well done. However, it's also a bit unclear, as most of the times I'll get it by dashing through an enemy and then attacking with a heavy hit, but others dashing won't even save me from the enemy grab (like against sorcerers) and other times it just triggered with a heavy attack without having to dash first. Looking online it doesn't seem to be completely clear how to make it work 100% of the time.
The game lacks tutorials to explain some basic stuff and QTEs are just trial and error of pushing buttons until you find the right combination.
Some encounters tend to go on for too long by just spawning more and more enemies.
It also has the same flaw as the rest of the games: The movelist is huge, but the game does nothing to teach you how it's supposed to be played. This is not like DMC or Bayonetta: Here enemies are VERY aggressive and they won't allow you to pull out even a quick 3-hit combo in peace: The moment you start hitting an enemy another one runs behind you to attack you from your blind side. Enemies will constantly attack from outside the view so you constantly need to keep a map of the battlefield on your head, which is incredibly hard as enemies can and will spawn outside of your view. In the end this forces you to learn each encounter and how the enemy waves will spawn, positioning yourself as you kill enemies so that you're on an advantageous place when a new wave jumps in.
It's difficult to remember and consult all the moves in the heat of battle (again, movelist = BAD) so a lot of times I end up falling into the same reduced moveset, but with time I'm incorporating more and more techniques in my arsenal like shurikens, Guillotine Throws, enemy jumps, counters and such. Still, the game should have tutorialized this in some way. I know that this is the third entry in the series, but I think that no game has bothered to do it properly. In a way NG3 is the best one in this regard, as the high difficulty of some encounters will force you to try new tactics and use new moves to beat specific enemy types, so you will improve and add more moves to your belt in an organic way.
Death's Gambit
It's a soulslike that focuses on the parts of Souls games I like the least: Bloated inventories with cryptic descriptions, over-importance of builds and stats, never ending menus...Animation is very lacking as it's done using 2D sprites with interpolation to be able to animate all the possible armors and such, but it results in lifeless movement which makes combat impactless and weak. I felt this specially hard after coming from Moonscars, which doesn't have frantic combat, but thanks to the incredible animations it feels much more fluid and powerful than DG. I got tired pretty soon of all the cutscenes, tutorials, many shallow mechanics and lackluster combat and dropped it after little more than 1 hour.
If you like stuff like Salt & Sanctuary you'll probably like this too, but for someone more interested in pure gameplay it's not my piece of cake.
Game 18: Sonic Adventure 2
PC | Finished 25/03/24 | 8 Hours Played | 6/10
This was... disappointing. Highly so, honestly. Everything I've seen pointed to this as the quintessential 3D Sonic title, the apex before the franchise 'fell off the proverbial grind-rails', never to fully 'get there' again. And, whilst I can see why this is the case - there is a hell of a lot to appreciate here in terms of its place as a 'sequel to Sonic Adventure' - for me the game actively frustrated me in too many ways for my own experience of it to be actually enjoyable. It's the rare game that genuinely had me experiencing stress headaches at some moments, and that's simply not my idea of fun.
So, why? It really comes down to how it's fundamental level design feels like a regression from its predecessor. Where the first game's levels felt as if they took advantage of 3D gameplay to remove the pratfalls inherent to 2D gameplay, this game feels as if it shoves all those back in. Sonic & Shadow's linear stages are, just that, too linear and, frankly, too large. Some are really good (City Escape is a deserving classic), and some are just decent, but so many are so filled with elements that demand memorization to not, at least, lose all your rings to. They're larger, significantly so, but I simply did not enjoy them nearly as much as Sonic's - albeit briefer - run of levels in the first game. Grind rails specifically were just not fun, and made Sonic's last main level into one of those 'stress headache moments' (and this was with a mod to remove the broken leaning system).
Then, as with the first title, there's the rest of the game... and, again, this also feels like a step down. It's a commendable idea to narrow the idea-field down to the three gameplay styles most distinct - and most memorable - from the first, but in doing so it also makes it so that previously brief diversions are turned into these long, drawn out levels. Ones that are screaming for more than just a single action button, as the simplicity of these styles actively drags them down for me. In Rouge & Knuckles' cases, also screaming for a better draw distance, and the ability to look down. They simply feel too long and repetitive to abate the actively frustrating elements in the way the far-shorter non-Sonic levels in 1 did.
Of course it's not all bad; if it were, I wouldn't have given it such a 'relatively' high score. The game looks incredible, with that incredibly-distinct and unique charm that comes from 6th-generation graphical limitations. The soundtrack is, again, amazing. The story - whilst still not exactly told brilliantly - is decidedly more interesting, with far better cutscene direction this time (though the obvious mocap... isn't great). Whilst many - maybe most - don't work that well for me, it was also great to see so many new ideas. Ones that go a long way to disguise the heavy asset reuse throughout its two campaigns.
It's just that, when a game actively stresses me out like this, those positives are never going to be enough to make things equal. I'm really sure that if I put a bunch more time into this, aiming to get some of the A-ranks and such, then I would appreciate the subtleties of its level design, and game mechanics, more... but hot off my first runthrough, I can't feel anything more than straight-up disappointment.
First I heard the song Let It Go and then I heard 3d Sonic music.
Pretty good game with some problems. Not sure what score I'd give it more than 8 less than 9 I think.
1. Another Code 1
2. Another Code 2
3. Saga of the Moon Priestess
4. Mystery Switch game. (A good 2d platformer game. Not a banned game.)
5. Mario Vs. Dk
6. Apollo Justice
7. Dual Destinies
8. Spirit of Justice
9. Star Ocean 2 Second Story R
10. Princess Peach Showtime
I was tempted to 100% Peach but it seems pretty slow to do it so I probably won't. Onto Unicorn Ovorlord I think.
8) Donkey Kong Country (SNES NSO): 7.5/10
Hopefully no one sees this score as sacrilegious. This is my first time playing through DKC and I loved the style and music! The gameplay was fairly challenging and unforgiving personally. I may just be getting soft though. Thank god for rewind and save points otherwise I don't think I would have finished for a long time lol. Overall, very glad I played through a classic and can definitely see why it has the title.
One thing I want to do less of though on future NSO playthroughs is excessive use of the rewind/save state feature. I hardly used it initially until I lost my last life and didn't want to have to re-do anything. I eventually found myself just rewinding after every small mistake (which isn't a bad thing), but I found myself running through levels as quickly as possible until I made a mistake that could have been avoided. I then become annoyed at the inconvenience of having to rewind, which may have impacted my enjoyment of the game. All this to say, I think I'll be using save states more and rewind less in the future.
Not sure what'll be the next completion. I've been vibing with Starfield recently and think I'm getting close to finishing for the first time? Side Order and the second part of the Pokemon DLC are also still calling my name. It'll probably be one of those while I'm in-between some rounds of Helldivers
1. Light Crusader
2. Prehistorik Man
3. Golden Sun/Lost Age
4. Quest for Camelot (/)
5. Mario Golf GBC (/)
(/) =Half Complete, when I use excessive rewind.
Mario Golf on Gameboy NSO
This game is... good but difficult. I feel like I grew a whole love hate relationship with this one.
Presentation: The world of a Golf game shouldn't be this intricate, but it is. But it's intricate in a way that weirdly clashes with the Mario aesthetic. Like, you're in a Mario inspired landscape, but there's so little about this world that is Mario. All the humans are kinda normal and they are justifiably disconnected from "Mario World" via Rainbow. Sometimes Shy Guys will drop your ball; Bloopers are in the water; and Toad is the OB goalie, but none of these guys appear in the overworld. It's like New Donk City all over again in a way though this time it's extra weird because you feel like you are trying to ascend to heaven to fight God, the way these golfers talk about Mario, and he only has one line this whole game.
Mario: Oh my!
But aside from all that, this really just feels like some Golf RPG that got a Mario coat of paint splashed on it. It doesn't help that the game has essentially two endings. 1. Where you beat all the normal club tournaments and are progressing like normal. 2. What is essentially a post-game ending where you beat Mario in tournament.
It's so weird to me that until this "post-game" you could barely call this game "Mario Golf."
But hey, it's an enjoyable quirky world.
Music: Now dat's some really good gameboy chiptune there!
Gameplay: It does a really good job simplifying the more intricate mechanics of NES Open Golf (Or Mario Golf 1). And the ball has great physics. The leveling system is a nice touch, even if it really sucks that your other skills go down if you don't keep everything balanced. It's nice, and it helps you to feel like you are getting better as the courses get harder.
The game feel is good. And the courses are all so so fun.
...
....
....
....
...SO WHY DOES THS GAME MAKE ME WANT TO CHOKE A GOLF CLUB EVERY TIME I GO UP TO PUTT?!!?!?!?!?!?!
Where you will screw up the most, and cost the most amount of score will be on the green. And not always for reasons that feel intentional. When you go to putt, the game tries to aim in the most ideal place for your ball to land, but not always. But even taking into account things like hills that are trying to take your ball down you are likely to miss.
Why?
Because of the resolution. The resolution of the GB screen means that the hole is not big enough for you to tell whether or not you are on the mark or waaay off. Even a light tap on the D-pad could send your ball way off course when you see it zoomed in on the hole. It's an infuriating nightmare. A nightmare that the computer doesn't seem to have a lot of problems with.
Other than that. It's good ol' Golf which you can have a fun time with.
I rate this Divot/10
Also, this is me crying out against the crimes of an old game, but it's pretty clear to me that Kid was intended to be black, and a reference to Tiger Woods back when he was a golf legend. Ingame, he's the only character with a consistently dark color palette very regularly, outside of the closeups in the intro. But you look at his artwork, you see he has the prominent blackface lips you'd see on 20th century anime characters. And if you look into transfering Kid to the N64 version, he's black!
Clearly someone at Nintendo figured this shouldn't fly, and so their solution was... half ass a recolor of him being white. Instead of just redesigning his lips they figured the best thing was to half ass him white, but leave prominent evidence of him originally being black like as if that was better. Fucking hell...
And aside from the lips, Kid is a perfectly fine protagonist. What a shame that this design stuck into the GBA version.
8) Donkey Kong Country (SNES NSO): 7.5/10
Hopefully no one sees this score as sacrilegious. This is my first time playing through DKC and I loved the style and music! The gameplay was fairly challenging and unforgiving personally. I may just be getting soft though. Thank god for rewind and save points otherwise I don't think I would have finished for a long time lol. Overall, very glad I played through a classic and can definitely see why it has the title.
One thing I want to do less of though on future NSO playthroughs is excessive use of the rewind/save state feature. I hardly used it initially until I lost my last life and didn't want to have to re-do anything. I eventually found myself just rewinding after every small mistake (which isn't a bad thing), but I found myself running through levels as quickly as possible until I made a mistake that could have been avoided. I then become annoyed at the inconvenience of having to rewind, which may have impacted my enjoyment of the game. All this to say, I think I'll be using save states more and rewind less in the future.
Not sure what'll be the next completion. I've been vibing with Starfield recently and think I'm getting close to finishing for the first time? Side Order and the second part of the Pokemon DLC are also still calling my name. It'll probably be one of those while I'm in-between some rounds of Helldivers
I beat DKC 1 on original hardware ten years ago or so and I remember it being a very frustrating experience. I replayed the first levels a lot because the animal buddies’ bonus stages were the quickest way to farm lives, and that wasn’t much fun at all. I assume it would be way more fun with save states.
I have wrapped up Yakuza 6, 8, and now Ocarina of Time. A game a month isn't too scary but I wanna see if I can up the backlog annihilation. [I hadn't touched ocarina of time in about 15 years]
Forgot to add in the 2023 topic, but finished Pokémon White yesterday. Currently ping-ponging between Pokémon White 2, Pokémon X and Super Mario RPG. I also want to make a start with Metroid Prime Remastered but I still keep playing other stuff .
I have finished Elden Ring (finally I started after 2 years) and finished Unicorn Overlord . Next games will be Tales of Arise, Persona 3 Reloaded and Super Mario RPG.
Ah... the SNES FF that avoided us in the 90s. I have no idea why Square didn't localize this one back then, but because of that I never got around to playing it, despite being a big FF fan in the 90's/early 00's. Anyway, I finally got to try it thanks to the Pixel Remaster, so... yay!
Final Fantasy V is a pretty standard FF game, with a medieval setting with hints of modernity and the classic ATB turn based system. Compared to other FF games from that era (like IV, VI and VII), V strays more on the silly side with characters and plot. Because of this, it takes a little bit for the game to land, since the first few hours are very vanilla. One of the most notable aspects of FFV is its job system. Characters don't have defined roles, instead you assign jobs (like White Mage, Knight, etc) to them. Each job has a set of abilities that you can learn to eventually customize your characters a fair amount. Thanks to this system, you can take Lenna, the usual princess trope, and turn her into a badass Ninja Mage instead of the usual healer role she'd have in a regular FF game (which is, ironically, the role I gave her). At the beginning of the game you are limited to a small amount of jobs but the system really opens up as you progress through the game.
Overall, I think this game is great. After its slow-ish start, the plot becomes pretty good and features some awesome moments (like that scene with Galuf). In terms of gameplay, the job system makes it stand out from other FF games thanks to the ability to customize your characters. I don't think FFV manages to move VI and IX from their spots as my favorite FFs, but it's definitely up there as a very high quality entry in the franchise.
I will start by stating that I did not really have nowhere near the amount of complaints other people had about the first one. I was fine with the no interaction between the characters and I enjoyed the original Octopath. The major trait to me to really improve was the grinding: tedious given the longer battles against common foes that really drag the game down at times. The sequel really went above and beyond and certainly delivered.
Firstly, even though I am nowhere near an expert at this (quite the opposite), the soundtrack is superb. The title screen theme is phenomenal and I left the whole animation play just to hear it since it was that good. Top tier stuff at all times.
The combat system certainly improves the first one and solves the main issue of the longer battles and adds more layers of depth with the additional classes and the inclusion of potentials, to the point that certain classes such as the merchant and apothecary are now very good compared to the first one. The Hunter also received a huge boost and is honestly one of the best classes (certainly the best of the "basic") in the game. On top of that, they also balanced the level requirement more and there is no barrier/level spike like in the first one (maybe at the end, if anything).
The story to me is somewhat better: certainly the interactions are nice to have but as I stated I was okay with the first game structure (I would say that with the exception of the ending, that ties things together much better than the first game did, it was quite overblown and every character story is somewhat "independent" with minimal interactions besides support conversations. I would say that the "average" story has improved significantly and, unlike the first game (where the apothecary and the merchant felt quite dull, despite the apothecary's chapter 3), the bar is raised in that sense. Partitio (the merchant) is honestly my favorite story, although Castti (apothecary) is a close second. The point I found interesting was that not every character's path is structured into four chapters, which really felt a more "customized" approach.
Overall, a great classic J-RPG (it has random battles, so if you despise them that is the only "draw" that I have against playing it if you are a fan of the genre), but be aware that is an investment in terms of time: I did almost everything (minus 3-4 sidequests and Galdera) and took me 85-90 hours. I would say it is a Top 10 Switch Game for me (tp 5 TBD, let's wait till the generation ends for that), but I would put it under Xenoblade Chronicles 2 an Triangle Strategy and above Dragon Quest XI, maybe in the same level as Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
4. Saints Row the Third Remastered
Just for context, I only played IV of the series prior to that. Honestly, they are sort of similar, but the mechanics on IV were great and so fun due to all of the superpowers. As a result, the extra activities were overall remarkably more fun. Nonetheless, this one has substantially better missions/mainline story, and the final 30-35% of the game really delivers and has great missions. The only thing I was kind of let down about was the last mission on Mars, very underwhelming and a filler that left a sour taste at the end. I recommend the game for everyone looking at a GTA-like on Switch. Plus, they tend to be heavily discounted on sale, I believe I bought it for 2 euros.
9) Splatoon 3: Side Order (Switch): 9/10
I love rouge-lites and I love splatoon, so naturally this was a match made in heaven. I think they did a very fair job with difficulty vs. run length, and the upgrades between and during runs helped make you feel powerful as the game progressed. While I typically don’t replay games, rouge-lites have always been the exception for me so I’ll definitely be back, especially to finish out the other weapons! My only complaints are consistent with what others have said: I wish there were more types of bosses/enemies and few other floor objectives to try. Hopefully a future version brings these around.
Can’t believe I got another one done in March! Up to 5 this month, although it’s a pattern I don’t expect to repeat as I’m running out of half-finished games and DLC’s from my backlog. Helldivers will likely be my fun for this weekend with maybe some Starfield. Horizon Forbidden West could be soon though as I’ve been waiting for that to come to PC after adoring the first.
Super Mario RPG (Switch remake): Great game, had a blast. I never played the original and was very excited when they announced this beautiful remake. The characters are very unique and charismatic and the combat dynamics are fun.
However, there's one part near the end of the game which nearly tarnished my "road to the end" enjoyment. I'll just say "6 doors", if you know, you know. Worst part of the game for me. Also the endgame is a little bit too filled with combat, but still a great experience. The ending cinematic was wonderful.
With the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake - hopefully! - due out this year, I thought it was finally time to get around to the game which started the series - the original Dragon Quest. While not strictly required to play the remake, I did hear it was advisable to at least play the first game... so here we are!
Our story takes place in the world of Alefgard. Long ago, the legendary hero Erdrick rid the world of evil, with peace taking the form of the Sphere of Light. However, many years later, the Dragon Lord came about, stealing the Ball of Light and Princess Gwaelin and plunging the world into darkness. Enter you, a descendent of Erdrick, who rocks up - totally uninvited, I should add! - to the King's throne, requesting permission to retrive the Sphere of Light and the princess. Somehow the King recognises you as a descendent of Erdrick, and he gives you permission to set off. After retreiving the artefacts once used by Erdrick, including his sword, armour, and the Rainbow Drop, you set off for Charlock Castle and defeat the Dragon Lord. The game draws to a rather adorable close as you can freely wander around the world for a 'victory lap' of sorts. While nothing particularly interesting by modern standards, it does introduce the legend of Erdrick, who remains an important character in the series even today. The game does a particularly good job of worldbuilding, as the NPCs in each town are rather enjoyable to chat to despite their use of "ye olde" English.
As one of the first JRPGs, alongside the original Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest is a rather simple game nowadays. You explore the world of Alefgard and the occasional dungeon, partaking in random, turn-based encounters. These are fairly pedestrian 1-on-1 affairs; party members weren't added until the sequel. You can attack and use some select magic spells you unlock as you level up. JRPG staples such as critical hits, sneak encounters, dodging, etc, all orginate here; despite the relative simplicity, such battles are still enjoyable nowadays. There isn't much strategy asides from timing the use of magic, particularly Heal/Healmore, or Fizzle/Snooze (the former being a magic disabling move), but back in the 80s this must've felt rather exhilarating!
The main hook, at least in my view, is the risk-reward of exploring Alefgard. Venture too far out and you'll encounter stronger enemies... but if you don't, you won't level up. While the Switch version reduces the grind significantly, you still have to do some - probably around 2 hours worth - so resource management on long trips away from the King's castle is key: an aspect even modern Dragon Quest games retain. That said, while Alefgard has some good world-building... it is rather simple and empty feeling by modern standards. At least it looks nice - the Switch version uses the Super Famicom / GBA / mobile versions as a base. Just don't look too hard at human characters; their sprites aren't scaled properly, so they do stick out a little.
Likewise, the simplicity extends to the music; there's probably less than 10 tracks overall, although they were re-orchestrated for the mobile release. They sound nice (very typical Dragon Quest fare by modern standards), but you'd better get used to hearing them! One area that the modern games built on this game was with the selection of weapons, particularly when multi-enemy fights were added in the sequel; here, there is no real player agency in the equipment you can use. You simply need to grind gold to get the strongest equipment you can get... and some magic keys on the side. At least finding Erdrick's artefacts is more enjoyable - NPCs leave hints that are just cryptic enough to figure out, contributing to the overall enjoyment of exploring Alefgard.
In terms of Switch specific additions, the game has a quick save feature - nice for saving before the handful of fixed encounters the game has. Some additional tutorials seem to be available in the menu too, which are good for those who are new to RPGs generally.
In all, this is a very simple, yet still very enjoyable game even (nearly!) 40 years later. Bring on the Dragon Quest 3 remake! Until then, this is a solid
7/10 (by modern standards - I've played simpler, less enjoyable "modern" RPGs!)
Yooka-Laylee (05/01/2024, 7/10)
Buckshot Roulette (06/01/2024, 8/10)
Another Code: Recollection (19/01/2024, 8.25/10)
Saga of the Moon Priestess (24/01/2024, 7/10)
Super Kiwi 64: Doomsday [Update] (26/01/2024, 7.5/10)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (03/02/2024, 8/10)
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (15/02/2024, 8/10)
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (22/02/2024, 8.5/10)
And Yet It Moves (27/02/2024, 6.5/10)
Mario Golf (GBC) (15/03/2024, 7/10)
Psalm 5:9-13 (17/03/2024, 8/10)
Crypt of the Necrodancer: SYNCHRONY [DLC] (18/03/2024, 8/10)
Before Dragon's Dogma II released I figured it'd be an Evil Dead 2-like sequel: a reimagining that adds a lot of things on top of a previously existing experience.
This isn't quite true. Dragon's Dogma II effectively is just Dragon's Dogma remake all the way through. It doesn't even include the number on the title screen until the very end.
I'm of two minds on this. DD1 was obviously an overambitious game that couldn't do what it set out to achieve. However, 10 years later I do wish for something more than just Dragon's Dogma But World Is Bigger. That's not to say it's a bad game. The pawn system returns, better than ever; exploration is a blast; the story is way better and contains way more memorable characters.
The exploration is sublime and with bigger world it achieves that Zelda feeling of constantly having something to see. However, the way DD2 goes about creating its world is drastically different from any other open-world game. While fast-travel is somewhat limited, there's a reason for it. The game doesn't have any sprawling fields. Your minimap, in fact, mainly shows you the roads, which are usually surrounded by mountains. Even if you were to travel from one place to the other there are at least 5 different ways to go which will usually sidetrack you into a boss, some chests, and caves.
One thing about exploration that's decidedly worse in this game, however, is almost complete lack of dungeons. Sure, Steam achievements may call caves "dungeons" and tell me I've found around 60, but unfortunately most caves are shallow and samey naturally occurring rocky mazes. The rewards in said caves are nice, but nothing in the game compares to the original's dungeons which were all different: from flooded ruins to castles, spires and crypts.
There is maybe only ONE optional cave that feels like a Dragon's Dogma dungeon, and I never got why open world games feel the need to shy away from indoor places, especially when corridor-y roads already make the game feel quite claustrophobic compared to other titles of the same nature.
Still, it's been a while since I've seen a map so big where I wanted to see everything it has to offer. If we don't count recent Zeldas, it might just be the best game to just walk around in and stumble across new stuff.
The combat is the real star of the show with tons of vocations and various skills, some of which you can find in the wild, which helps with somewhat repetitive enemies. The enemy variety, unfortunately, stays about the same as DD1, but even if I wished there was more, I was never bored with trying out new skills. Vocations are always a joy to try out and their ranking up feels just right so you never have to grind them out.
Unfortunately, the game is still quite janky. From frequent crashes and bad performance to strange behaviour, it never quite sucked me in with its quests and NPC interactions as it did with exploring. For example, one of the first quests I did featured a bedridden NPC suspecting someone of illegal activity. Throughout the quest the supposed criminal glitched the door and stayed in one weird place for hours doing nothing, while the bedridden NPC has disappeared at one point for no reason. There are several quests that have glitched out to me, and just following some discussions it seems that a lot of people are having trouble with NPC behaviour. It's a shame because it made me not want to engage with the world as much as I could've because I was afraid to break something even more, and for a game with some interesting failure states it's a big issue.
The quests themselves are way better than DD1 in both story and lack of unspecified timers. A lot of them have many ways to complete them, and not just because they ask you a question a-la Mass Effect. Most solutions to quests are hidden and you have to find them yourself. This makes me wish the game wasn't so buggy, because when I figured something out, I felt like a genius.
Ultimately, I've enjoyed Dragon's Dogma II a lot, but I can't help but wish there was more to it, because it's effectively a more polished Dragon's Dogma with bigger world, which unfortunately means it's not even as ambitious as the original, as nearly all its ideas come from the first game.
Alone in the Dark games are all weird. In-between Carnby getting killed by ashtrays and rats that sound like eagles, him putting on a Santa outfit and mowing down zombies that shout "HELLO SIR", turning into a lion or having wildly glitchy almost imsim adventures it's hard to say what Alone in the Dark should even be.
The new game is a reimagining of the 1992 classic, perhaps the best game of the series, and, depending on who you ask, the only good one. It features Derceto, now rewritten to be a mental hospital and features plethora of references to all the games in the series.
The game is visually nice and features a number of locations for you to teleport to, and it's gameplay is fine. Pretty much nu-Resident Evil.
However, this is a Lovecraftian story, and, in my opinion, what that means is that 80% of the story nothing will happen. The game benefits from having characters, and the big text logs are well-written, but it only gets legitimately interesting in the last chapter, and even then about halfway through it.
Unfortunately, the game doesn't really have the best gameplay. Central location is often ditched for small dungeony places which, while look nice, kind of strip away the identity, and the simple survival horror almost point and click style is hit or miss.
The puzzles range from fairly smart to useless, mostly featuring jigsaw tile puzzles where you have to rearrange and rotate pieces, and the exploration is dire. There are collectibles, and weirdly many of them, but they barely do anything. You find random items that complete sets of three and most of the time you'll be given just a little text log to read by completing it. In fact, unlike Silent Hill or RE games there's basically nothing to actually unlock in the game.
The combat is also quite uninspired, featuring some obvious weapons, throwables that can be used to hit or distract enemies, easily breakable melee weapons, and a stealth option that I've never used.
Is the game scary, however? I'd say no. I've never felt the dread from lack of resources, and enemies felt fairly uninspired. The coolest thing the game does is change its scenery around like Eternal Darkness sanity effect, but it feels like a graphics showcase more than anything else.
Aside from a few bugs I've run into, the game's probably the most competent AitD title, but it's also possibly the most safe. At times I wish it was a straightforward remake of the 1992 game because no matter how janky and evil that title was, it was at least a memorable unique time.
Despite all this, I did like some of the characters and there were a couple of really smart moments. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to this game, but if it surfaces, I hope it has more of an identity.
10) EDF2025(ranger normal)
Oh I’m nowhere near done messing around with this but the credits rolled and I had a good time
1) Riccchhhhhaaarrrrd Metal Wolf Chaos XD
2) Toree 3D
3) Piczle Cross Adventure
4) Macbat 64
5)Metroid Prime Remastered
6) Good Job!
7)Golden Sun
8) Crash 4
9)Star Wars Starfighter SE
My first time playing this game since I imported in 2010. I have a much more favorable view now that I can actually understand the story. I remember the general view was that it was a waste to release a new generation of games with the 3DS right around the corner, but some of the sprite work is genuinely impressive and I think most (NOT all) of the Pokémon look much better here than they did in the Gen 6 games.
Pokémon White assumes you are very familiar with Pokémon games at this point after the success of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. I consider the Gen 4 games to be the moment when Pokémon as a series was treading water, but White has some unique spins on the formula that keep things moving and will make you smile if you're tired of going through the motions in these games and it works well.
The biggest strength of the game by far is it's insistence on having completely new Pokémon. Even Pikachu isn't capturable by normal means until after you've seen the credits roll. A lot of the Pokémon come off as retreads/Great Value wannabes, but even the most obvious examples have their own flavor and charm. There aren't really any huge misses even if there aren't a ton of stand out classics, and forcing the player to interact with only them really makes your journey stand out from other Pokémon games.
The worst part of the game is Unova as a region, to the point I can safely call it the worst region in a mainline Pokémon game. I can only imagine Black and White were developed before Game Freak made a habit of taking extravagant vacations for inspiration, because the region is haphazard and confused to the point where it lacks any identity besides "the place with no old Pokémon". Things start up strong all the way through Castelia city (an obvious New York City stand-in), but soon after you're running into ancient ruins, vast deserts, secret templar orders, kings, knights and castles that belong in a different region entirely. I get the impression that Game Freak wanted to push the DS hardware by making their own version of New York City, but also wanted to tell a story that would only make sense in Europe (somewhere in the former Holy Roman Empire would be a great fit). Honestly if you took the evil team and story of Black/White and Sword/Shield and made them switch places, both games would probably be better off for it.
All in all though this is definitely a game worth playing for all Pokemon fans, even if you're used to the much easier easy breezy games they put out now of days. The second half of the game clashing with the first half is a real shame because the ending stretch is really exciting and fun. I think this is probably the best credits drop in a Pokémon game. I'm going to keep playing for the post game and to build as close as I can to a living dex (I think I know why Zoroark never became as popular as Lucario) before moving on to White 2.
Side note: Not the game's fault, but playing this after the shut down of Dream World and even WFC is pretty depressing. Hopefully Pokémon fans find a way to bring back the former like they already did the latter.
1. Spider Man 2 (PS5)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
3. Kuru Kuru Kururin (GBA NSO)
4. Persona 3 Reload
5. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this game. I had some issues with certain quests and fights that got me down on Rebirth towards the end, but it's still one of the best games I have played on the Playstation 5.
There's a decent chance it could be my personal 2024 GOTY - I think the only thing that could beat it out is Metroid Prime 4, if it comes out this year AND lives up to the hype I've had for nearly 7 years now. To me, Rebirth was a 10/10 game that turned into an 8.5 or 9, only because of all the forced mini-games and some fights that were borderline cheap. Still, it's high points are very high, and probably the best Final Fantasy game I've ever played.
Before playing Origins, I wanted to get into the original first, it’s been… 18 years since I played the GC release? Its still heaps of fun. Unbalanced decks can still overturn you. I also like the fact that we don’t have to listen to the terrible English VA’s.
I have never played a Digimon game before this. My knowledge is just the anime and the games never seemed that great to me.
I do like VN’s and the gameplay seems like a simplified Devil Survior during the battles…. so why not try it? And I enjoyed my time with it. Storywise it’s a bit “my first videogame VN” with twists and turns that are a bit phoned in, but the way it’s handled is nice though. Especially the darker parts, which did surprise me.
Gameplay isn’t that deep and fairly straight forward; if Hyde ever want to develop a full SRPG with more depth, I’d definitely play it. Overall it’s a nice game and was cool palette cleanser.
The worst part of the game is Unova as a region, to the point I can safely call it the worst region in a mainline Pokémon game. I can only imagine Black and White were developed before Game Freak made a habit of taking extravagant vacations for inspiration, because the region is haphazard and confused to the point where it lacks any identity besides "the place with no old Pokémon"
definitely the most frustrating part of the Gen 5 games for me
Kalos and Alola and Galar are so all-in on being Poke-France/Hawaii/England, and then Unova is just kinda this awkward in-between where there's obvious cues being taken from New York (and some New Jersey), but then also like you said there's ruins and deserts and knights and (in B2W2) whatever Humilau is supposed to be that don't mesh with the theming at all and it just feels like this weird half-measure. I'd love to know what a Unova region designed with Gamefreak's more recent "let's be really blatant and detailed about our inspiration for the regions" design philosophy might have looked like
1. Spider Man 2 (PS5)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
3. Kuru Kuru Kururin (GBA NSO)
4. Persona 3 Reload
5. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this game. I had some issues with certain quests and fights that got me down on Rebirth towards the end, but it's still one of the best games I have played on the Playstation 5.
There's a decent chance it could be my personal 2024 GOTY - I think the only thing that could beat it out is Metroid Prime 4, if it comes out this year AND lives up to the hype I've had for nearly 7 years now. To me, Rebirth was a 10/10 game that turned into an 8.5 or 9, only because of all the forced mini-games and some fights that were borderline cheap. Still, it's high points are very high, and probably the best Final Fantasy game I've ever played.
Question about Skyward Sword HD. Did you play it with the pro controller? I've heard they didn't optimize the controls for that gamepad and that they are terrible.
Question about Skyward Sword HD. Did you play it with the pro controller? I've heard they didn't optimize the controls for that gamepad and that they are terrible.
I played SSHD with both motion controls and button controls, and I used the button controls on both the joycons and the Pro Controller. Never had a single issue with any of the control schemes in that game.
Question about Skyward Sword HD. Did you play it with the pro controller? I've heard they didn't optimize the controls for that gamepad and that they are terrible.
I played with the pro controller. It tool some adjustment to get used to using the right stick for the sword, and sometimes it was hard for me to swing the sword in the right direction in places that required more precision. The camera was also really weird because you have to hold down L every time you change the view.
It certainly wasn't perfect - maybe not even good - but it was playable and I got used to it. Button controls were a lot easier for me to handle than motion controls, at least.
I'm sort of annoyed that I left it so long to play this, given its reputation.
A reputation that, after playing, is richly deserved. I don't think there's a game quite like Portal, in both its mechanics and general vibe.
The central mechanic of creating portals is very simple to grasp, but the designs at Valve manage to wring as much out of it through clevel level design that tests your spatial awareness and the exploitation of its physics systems.
Like any good puzzle game, the act of figuring out the solution - the "a-ha!" moment, if you will - is very rewarding. The game does not beat you around the head with tutorials either, instead allowing the player to discover any given concept and how it works themselves.
Given how short and laser focused the game is on its level design, it would usually be hard to say much more on Portal given how much it excels at that. Thankfully Valve decided to also throw in one of the great antagonists of the medium into the mix as well.
I am of course referring to GLaDOS. Her sardonic commentary initially contrasts with the sense of isolation that you feel as you begin your journey. This atmosphere takes a turn for the creepy as you discover the increasingly mad ravings of those who came before you, which in turn coincides with GLaDOS becoming increasingly hostile as you discover the truth behind the facility you are traversing.
This all culminates in a wonderful final battle which, while not massively difficult in terms of mechanics, builds on the spatial awareness you have been building up to this point. All this while an increasingly unhinged GLaDOS talks at you, her rambling going from bizarre non-sequitors to petty insults - often in the same sentence.
It's probably obvious at this point that I think GLaDOS is an absolute triumph as an antagonist. Equally scary as she is funny, she helps lift what is an excellently designed puzzle game into something truly special. Ellen McLain is an excellent performer for the character as well, and deserves all them kudos she received.
Portal really only stumbles in a couple of areas. It's a very short game, and while I do think the game is well paced, it does feel a little lightweight in terms of the main campaign.
Exacerbating this is the lack of variety in the locales. Until near the end you mostly travel through sterile white rooms. They absolutely fit the vibe, but it can get a little repetitive. The UI and presentation can also be a bit basic in general.
Still, these are small complaints in the grand scheme of things. As the excellent credits sequence rolled, I believed that the sequel would not find it too hard to iterate on this effort and become truly magical.
Which brings me to....
Portal 2 (Single Player) - 10/10
Everything I said about the original Portal above rings true here - but everything has been improved upon and refined to an almost absurd degree.
Level design? It's still excellent, and the variety of new mechanics brought in and iterated upon is something to behold. The various gels that are introduced in the second half of the game are my favourite with how they effect your movement and your relationship with the levels and the portals you create.
Locales? You're still going through a lot of white rooms, but now you're in a facility that is starting to collapse after years of neglect. Nature has started to dominate the mechanical contraptions behind the sterile veneer, leading to a much more grubby and dirty feeling at points in the game. The latter point of the game strips away the veneer almost completely, as the facility desperately tries to rebuild itself while everything is falling apart.
This is to say nothing of the ancient facility you fall into at the halfway point of the game. Rust and decay take centre stage as you climb back up. Interspersed with these older test rooms are abandoned office spaces that hint at a more prosperous period that eventually fell to the wayside.
Characters? GLaDOS is back and she's still amazing, and Valve were wise enough not to have her repeat the same arc as the first game. Her role is different here, and while I won't spoil too much, you see another side to the AI which may be surprising coming off the first game.
Of course, Portal 2 also introduces us to Wheatley and Cave Johnson. Wheatley is a loveable moron who doesn't know what he's doing, and serves as a great contrasting companion to GLaDOS in the first game - at least initially.
Cave is the original founder of Aperture, and his ignorance and delusional comments accompany you during your trip through the old facility. They are very amusing, though layered with a hint of tragedy that provides depth where there otherwise wouldn't be.
Stephen Merchant and JK Simmons lend their voices to these characters, and along with the returning Elen McLain, do an excellent job in bringing these characters to life. The script is even more hilarious and sharp than the first game, while managing not to feel like a retread.
The final couple of chapters, where everything starts to go completely insane, are concluded with a wonderful final boss with a truly memorable ending. This section of the game is when everything - level design, locales, characters, script etc - all come together to deliver a fantastic final straight.
Portal 2 is magnificent. It pretty much addresses all of the small issues I had with the first game and iterates on all of its strengths. I'd heartily recommend it to anyone - I got both in the Companion Collection for Switch for under £5, and I still felt like a bit of a thief to pay that little, even a decade later!
Tekken 8 Story Mode
Baldur's Gate III
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Mario vs Donkey Kong
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Portal
Portal 2
Finished in 2024 #16: Mario Golf (Game Boy Color | NSO)
It's the first of the not very Mario-y portable Mario Sports titles!
Mechanically, this is a pretty solid recreation of Mario Golf 64 in 2D. Mario Golf used a lot of different camera angles to showcase the courses and the green, and some of that is lost on Game Boy Color, with a little less precision when it comes to aiming. Even so, you have the same power/aim meter mechanic, the same choice of clubs, a similar putting mechanic (translated as arrows pointing the elevation and curves of a 2D plane), and an original set of golf courses.
The real appeal of this game is the RPG story mode, where you choose one of four characters to progress through the courses. You can explore an overworld to reach each golf club and play mini games, participate in tournaments and match plays against the club champs, and, of course, level up to customize the growth of your golfer. This world is decidely un-Mario like, featuring only human characters until the very end. Mario is instead presented as this legendary golfer, with the final Mario themed golf course being the final challenge to overcome. Very strange but also very funny!
This was meant to be a companion piece to the N64 Mario Golf. Using the Transfer Pak, you could import your character from the GBC game onto the N64 game, letting you play as them in the N64's exclusive courses/modes. This is not available on NSO, sadly, which means slightly less opportunities to level up without replaying courses on GBC. Thankfully, this still works as a standalone golf adventure with a Mario-themed finale, so if you enjoy golf games (or played the N64 game), then this is definitely worth a shot.
Screw it, I'm counting DLC with the games this year. Separating them is too much of an effort! Lol
2) Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Cindered Shadows - 8/10 - approx. 6 hours played
I'd been putting off this DLC for a while, but since I want to do a third run of 3H, I decided to do the DLC to make use of all the benefits. It took a while to get into, but I ended up really enjoying it! I initially tried playing on Hard, but since nothing transferred from the main game, I found it incredibly difficult and it wasn't much fun, so I turned it down to Normal and instantly had a much better time. The story was alright, albeit somewhat predictable. I figured out right at the start that Aelfric was the villain, and since that was the main twist, most of the surprise factor was gone. I did enjoy learning a bit more about Byleth's mother and I felt that was a good thing to include in the DLC side story. Unfortunately, the voice acting for the new quartet was pretty bad compared to the characters from the main game... I found Hapi in particular to have very poor voice acting, but Yuri and Constance weren't much better. In fact, Constance's writing and voice acting just ended up quite annoying and I found the character fairly unlikable. Regardless, the battles were a bit longer and meatier than many from the main game, and the additional benefits you get in the main story as well as exploring Abyss (and that amazing music in Abyss!) still made this well worth the money. I love Three Houses, and while this DLC wasn't quite up to the same quality as the main game, it's still definitely worth playing for those who really enjoyed the main game.
Here's the thing with this game: I had a blast during quite a bit of it, especially at the beginning. I thought the transformations were a really cool idea. It's similar to Kirby, except when you transform, the whole genre of gameplay basically changes which is an awesome concept. I also felt this was a major step in the right direction for Peach games after Super Princess Peach on the DS. I was ultimately really happy with this experience and I hope that this becomes a series similar to what happened with Luigi's Mansion.
With that being said, the game is far from perfect. I found it to be really easy in that it offered basically no challenge whatsoever. I get that the target demographic is young kids, but I'm still going to review this from MY perspective since this is commentary based on MY experience with the game. It just had no difficulty whatsoever. A hard mode would have been nice, even if it was still relatively easy in general. It was still a fun light-hearted romp, but much of the time I felt myself going into autopilot and just gaming mindlessly since no effort or brainpower was required. Even with something like Mario Odyssey, which is far from the hardest game out there, I never had that happen during my playthrough. The other issue is in the game's length, which I feel is too short to justify a full price tag. I'm not trying to start a debate on pricing because I don't want to derail the thread, but I do think this game was a bit pricey when other similarly-priced games offer multiple times more content. I think short games are fun and there's totally a place for them, but I would argue they should be priced accordingly.
All in all, I'd recommend this to anyone with a few bucks to burn on a new game who thinks the concept is interesting, but to those who are a bit more frugal, I'd probably recommend you save your money for a game with a bit more value in the package.
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As of writing, the next game I'm working on is an all-time classic, so (assuming I actually finish it) there'll be a review for that one soon!
Jan
#1 Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series [NSW]
#2 Stormgate (kickstarter) [PC]
#3 Prince of Persia - The Lost Crown [NSW]
#4 Batman: Arkham Trilogy [NSW]
#5 Spiritfarer [NSW] (already have it digitally, so strictly a collection purpose)
Feb
#6 Eastward: Octopia [NSW]
#7 Pikmin 1+2 HD [NSW]
Mar
#8 Unicorn Overlord
Beaten
Jan
#1 - Ghost Trick [NSW]
#2 - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown [NSW]
Feb
#3 - Super Mario RPG [NSW]
#4 - Hoa [NSW]
#5 - Little Nightmares II [NSW]
Mar
#6 Batman Arkham Asylum [NSW]
#7 Dr. Mario [NSO-GB]
Bought: Unicorn Overlord
Beat: Batman Arkham Asylum and Dr. Mario for the Gameboy on the NSO app.
In short: I get that Batman was considered pretty amazing at the time - design is a bit dated these days but I still enjoyed it.
As for Dr Mario, I think this is harder than both the NES and N64 versions of the game, but as always a very good time playing Dr Mario.
As for purchases, I did get Unicorn Overlord and I've been playing it ever since - Great game, I think I might be past the half point by now
Ace attorney, case 1: Started playing this game with friends, with us voicing all the characters. I voiced Payne, giving him a voice that can only be described as a high pitched Frieza. The game is very fun so far, and has some great characters and an appealing art style to boot. This is the intro case, so obviously it’s not the most interesting, but it’s still fun even now. 8/10, can’t wait to play further (and voice Edgeworth!)
The death of Akira Toriyama hit me unexpectedly hard so I've been drawn to a lot of stuff he had a hand in creating. As luck would have it, I started a replay of the Zenithia trilogy a while ago but got a bit burnt out after IV and V and left Dragon Quest VI unfinished for months. Well, I've fixed that now.
My feelings on this game have always been that coming off the excellent and comparatively tight DQV it can be a bit overwhelming and messy. It starts out characteristically strong and then sadly a third way in it opens up and ends up losing some of its forward momentum and narrative drive. The world is huge and by that point you're constantly zooming around, trying to keep track of multiple things until it finally comes back in the third act and builds up to a spectacular finale. In some ways it feels like a bit of a half step between V and VII and neither comparison is very favourable to VI. But in true Dragon Quest fashion it still ends up better than most other games so it doesn't matter all that much. There's just so much cool, cute, funny, horrific stuff in here that it's difficult to hate. I also know that the ending has some of its detractors but I really like how bittersweet it all feels.
One note about the vocation system: The freedom and flexibility to use learned skills regardless of the character's active vocation is really cool but once you start mastering a few vocations the combat menu gets super messy. VII had the decency to split the abilities into types, it's a bit of a shame they didn't do the same for the DQVI remake on DS (not sure how the mobile port handles this).
Either way, this really put me in a mood for more DQ so I might replay VII as well since it's been a while.
Even though I've been playing work has had me going days sometimes without making serious progress in anything story heavy. I got so close to finishing Fire Emblem on GBA and I really need to go back to it.
But... I've finally "finished" one game at the very least this year: Vampire Survivors. I started it during the free game trial, subsequently bought it, and subsequently let it sink its teeth firmly into me for 40+ hours. I've seen the fireworks and gotten most of the unlocks and secrets, so I'm considering the game "beaten". I want to keep away for a while because it's just a bit too moreish and the deeper into it you get the harder it is to complete the achievements. I did 95% without a guide, but some are very obtuse.
It was well worth the few quid I paid and I'll pick up some DLC in the future, but for now, wherever that vampire is, they'll just have to wait...
A 5/5 for sure, and a great introduction to the "bullet heaven" genre.
Now back to Makoto Wakaido's Case Files... And hopefully Fire Emblem, and all those other games that are 2/3 or 3/4 finished...
1. Unpacking (Switch) - 7.5/10
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch) - 9.5/10
3. Ori and the Blind Forest (Switch) - 8/10
4. Advance Wars (Reboot Camp) (Switch) - 8/10
5. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (Reboot Camp) (Switch) - 8.5/10
6. Super Mario Sunshine (3D All Stars) (Switch) - 7/10
7. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (Switch) - 8/10
8. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch) - 9.5/10
9. Art of Balance TOUCH! (3DS) - 9/10
10. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - 8/10
What can I say? There are a lot of different opinions out there for the New Super Mario Bros. games and I often see this one pointed out as the weakest one. After replaying the game for the first time since about 2013, I actually have a higher opinion of it than I remembered. The gameplay is great and is just purely fun platforming. The big issue is that NSMB2 is really derivative and doesn't push boundaries enough for a sequel. This was the third NSMB game, and the powerups just aren't as good as the first two, the levels themes aren't evolved much at all, and the coin gimmick is really underutilized/weak. Overall, good game, but not impressive. The 3DS deserved better for its 2D Mario entry for sure BUT I can't really lower my opinion too much because it's still really enjoyable.
Looking forward to hearing more about your quests! Bless Akira Toriyama.
And @JR436 I am delighted that you enjoyed both Portal games. Especially loved hearing the glowing praise for Portal 2, I find that it's underappreciated simply for being an iterative sequel!
I really felt this after finishing XI. "Man, this game has so many options, I'd really love to do another run and see if it's possible to complete it without using magic or something. But it took me like two months to finish it..."
I really felt this after finishing XI. "Man, this game has so many options, I'd really love to do another run and see if it's possible to complete it without using magic or something. But it took me like two months to finish it..."
This is one of the reasons why I've left XIS barely touched after playing vanilla first. If you're feeling spicy you don't have to play the last act but have you actually played it then...?
GAME 19: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
PS5 | Finished 02/04/24 | 32 Hours Played | 10/10
Holy shit. This has got to have been one of the most exhilirating, frustrating, challenging, and satisfying gaming experiences of my life, and I can honestly say that I think it might be competing with the original Dark Souls when it comes to my favourite From Soft title. It's a distillation of all their games' disparate elements into a package altogether 'tighter' than their others. With all of its mechanics, storytelling, and thematics working hand-in-hand to do one thing: make you feel like the titular character of 'Sekiro.' (aka 'Wolf).
Noah Caldwell-Gervais' excellent video essay on the game puts it far better than me, in that "If you do not act like Wolf, you die. If you do not think like Wolf, you die." And it's true. Whilst I still fall on the 'there should be some form of lowered difficulty, even if it's not an explicit 'easy mode' side of that debate, the difficulty here is essential in the game's fantasy of loss-and-success. Far more, arguably, than in From's other titles, as the removal of so much of their 'regular' formula forces you to play the game on its own terms. To learn the game, and know what it wants, instead of what you want from it. Beating the game's final boss did not demand that I find a way 'around' him, it demanded that I focus, learn, and apply. Nothing more. And when I did, after three days and over a hundred - mostly ridiculous - defeats, goddamn did it feel amazing.
It's also just a plain beautiful title, with some of From's best-looking levels (a late-game area, alongside the giant creatures that bookend it, are particular highlights). The level design is immaculate, making excellent usage of your new-found movement and stealth abilities. Its lineup of bosses is simply amazing, to the extent that I didn't even mind that so many were reused. Albeit with the exception of the terror-based bosses, but those are mercifully the most optional bosses in the entire game. The story, whilst simple in its narrative scope (telling a local story with fundamentally local stakes), is perfect for the gameplay-narrative being told, with numerous moments throughout. Yet, in choosing to portray its narrative so relatively 'traditionally', it creates a level of in-the-moment thematic prescience that I found missing in the similarly allegory-free narrative of From's next big title, and so present within the allegory-laden DaS and Bloodborne. It's just all around hard to find fault here, as it feels like From managed to achieve exactly what it set out to do. Thankfully, what it set out to do was something I ended up adoring.
17th game finished for 2024! LEGO Builder's Journey is a casual puzzle game about messing around with LEGO blocks, which usually means building some sort of path or contraption to get from point A to point B. The real appeal of the game is experience what is essentially a children's storybook, playing out via beautiful LEGO dioramas. It's a darn good-looking game, for sure. There's also a creative mode if playing with virtual LEGOs is your thing.
How do some of you beat so many games in such a short period of time, considering we just started the fourth month? Like.. do you not work? are you super motivated to play all the time? Just curious lol.
How do some of you beat so many games in such a short period of time, considering we just started the fourth month? Like.. do you not work? are you super motivated to play all the time? Just curious lol.
For me it's:
1) I don't work full-time hours, so have more free time than most
2) I play a lot of shorter games. If you look at my main post, few are longer than 10 hours. Many are under 5.
3) I just don't have much going on in my life lol
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