52 Games. 1 Year. 2019.

32. NAM 1975


The shit I had to do to get the good ending @_@
Still as good as I remember it and it is fun for a short arcade romp too.

Master Post

35. Assassins Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis Episode 1 - The world looks beautiful and the upgrades you get are fun to play around with. I don't much care for the present day portion of Assassins Creed, but the ending did leave me curious as to where they're headed with the story.

36. Days Gone - Just rolled credits and whew! What a ride. All the storylines coming together at different parts of the game felt like a season of The Walking Dead. Really loved the world building and the characters especially best bro Boozer. The tech issues in the back half of the game were a real bummer and did drop the rating of the game which would've been a 9 down to a 8 for me. Great game nonetheless and bring on the sequel and time to find out what I still need to do to get the plat.

37. Life is Strange 2 Episode 2 - Didn't enjoy it as much as the 1st one as the little brother was super annoying in this episode. Interested to see where the bros end up next though.

38. The First Tree - Really good adventure game told thru the lens of a fox looking for her young. Solid OST as well. Can't really say much else without going into spoilers. If you enjoy narrative games with minimal platforming then I would recommend trying this game out.

39. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - What a weird game. Bosses were a big step down from the 1st game. The story fell apart in the latter half of the game. Bought the game down overall, but still enjoyed it overall and will continue my 1st playthrough of the series with 3 later this year.

40. Halo 3 - I've never liked the vehicle sections in the series and these were worse not the exception. The gunplay is amazing as usual and while I enjoyed it overall the game is not as great as I remembered.

41. A Plague Tale Innocence - Beautiful game with a great story. Really loved the characters minus a couple of interactions with Hugo. Really enjoyed the variety of ways you could use to get thru combat encounters and the soundtrack was amazing. Still not sure if I'm including Resident Evil 2 Remake in my GotY list, but this is either #1 or #2 on my list if I do include it.

Weekly update 17!

Still on track for around a 100 games total this year!


37. Forager (PC) | 22nd Apr - 21hrs | 5/5


38. Far Cry Primal (PC) | 27th Apr - 22hrs | 4/5


_____________

Master Post!

Game #50 - Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
Time: 18 hours

Another great entry in the genre-morphing Steamworld series, this time tackling the card game genre, and while I really liked it, I can't help but feel a little disapointed in the end. The art style is fantastic as usual, maybe even the best the series has looked, the soundtrack is great and the mubling "voices" the characters speak with are cute as usual, but it's the card mechanics where the game shines, but also ultimately fails. At first glance its a really solid card game, with some really interesting twists on the deck building and card management gameplay, but you eventually stick with one strategy and setup throughout the game simply because its just much better or effective than any other wacky combos you can come up with (the game has quite a lot of card variety actually). In the end its more of a adventure game where your attacks happen to use card mechanics than a actual card game, you cant take your characetrs and build your decks to duke it out in multiplayer for example (which would be great), there is a simple arena at a certain point of the game but its just a series of fights where you end up using the same deck/strategy you already do in the rest of the game. some sort of draft mode would have done this wonders, but like I said, its more of a adventure or rpg, and less of a card game. For what it is its quite fun, and meaty if you want to look for every treasure, but at the same time, the difficulty is all over the place (its way too easy on normal for most of the game but on hard the bosses are too punishing), it re-uses a lot of bosses, and the game doesnt let you explore all the mechanics it offers. Still well worth it, but not sure if the premium price tag is justified (its 24.99 vs 19.99 all the other games were at launch) for what is probably the weakest in the Steamworld series.

Main Post

32. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (19 hours)
It's mechanically the same as Justice for All, but this game's story is far more compelling overall. A nice cap to the original trilogy.

Full list to date

I forgot to post last month, so this is both March and April. Main post is here.

11) Re-Legion (PC)

Little indie RTS. Had some great ideas, but executed them all like hell. Wasn't good in the end.

12) When the Darkness Comes (PC)

Awesome free horror game. I highly suggest it 100%.

13) Drowning (Ps4)

Short 30 minute game where you walk in a line while a character monologues about depression. One of the endings implies that suicide is a good idea because at least you'd be a story for other people. The other three endings are all basically "I was depressed but then I chose to get better." Fuck this nonsense.

14) Devil May Cry 5 (One)

Needed like 50% more Lady in it, but was otherwise fantastic. V is the best, don't @ me.

15) Vignettes (PC)

Cute little puzzle game. Fun way to spend a few hours. Will probably forget about it after.

16) The World Next Door (PC)

I really wanted to like this "visual novel meets match-3 action" game, but it has a few small things holding it back. Still fun.

17) The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Ps4)

I cried at the end, you can't tell me otherwise. So glad it got finished.

18) Falcon Age (Ps4)

Ugh. The falcon is amazing. The game itself is terrible. Lame combat, tons of glitches, full of backtracking.

19) Heaven's Vault (PC)

I loved it. Fantastic game about doing actual honest to god archaeology. Super worth it if you want something different.

20) Ghost Giant (Ps4)

I also loved this. Fantastic VR game. Made me cry.

21) Katana Zero (PC)

I also also loved this. More for the gameplay stuff though. Cutting dudes and figuring out the twisted plot was awesome. The Halo 2-esque ending was not.

22) Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher (Ps4)

If Resident Evil 7 wasn't already "Resident Evil in VR", this is prolly the closest we'll get. Clunky, but fun and weird.

23) Jupiter & Mars (Ps4)

Meh. Empty world and mixed messaging doesn't work well. Playing a happy eurobeat song over someone's dramatic sacrafice was probably one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen in a game.

Main post here

Full April update:




16- Sekiro - 22h- 4/5

A brave new approach by From. Although the game didn't really "click" me until almost mid game and ended rushing the game with little to no exploration (good ending), the gameplay is fun and the world created is beautiful and immersive.



On the other hand, the lack of tools and variety of weapons really hurts the game, especially in the early game and re-plays. Also, the learning curve is weird, the game seems hard at the start but when you figure that you can parry your way spamming the parry button the game is really easy, by From Software standards.


17- Baba is you- 9h- 5/5


Amazing puzzle game with mind blowing stages where you have to push blocks, items and make phrases with words so you can clear the stage.



Most of the maps are diabolical and you need a good logic skill to solve the problems, but it's rewarding when you get it right. The game also has new mechanics, stage rules and whatnot almost every new map/zone to test your mind.



Baba is GOTY Indie, one of the best puzzle games I've played.



18- Ape Out -1h30m- 3/5

Fun, Crazy, bloody and beautiful, both on the visual and the audio part.



Short fast paced game where you push people from the POV of a vicious gorilla that wants to get OUT.




19- Fate-EXTELLA LINK -12h- 3/5

Massive upgrade from the last fate extella, NOW this one it's a great musou game, interesting story with a bunch of new characters and great improvement on the gameplay part.



Great game if you are a musou or Fate fan.


20- YS Seven- 18h18m- 4/5



Great RPG, surprised with the 180º change in the gameplay department in these "new gen" games. Now you can swap between characters to fight, each one with their own playstyle, weapon and skills, a nice new touch to the franchise.



As you can expect from a Falcom game, great OST.




21- Katana ZERO-3h- 3/5



Another great indie, with the combo: fun + short + fast paced + beautiful + great OST. Slash your way to the end of the stage, you die in 1 hit, but also does your enemies.


Surprisingly, the story gets interesting as the game goes on.



Now playing

-Lorelai
-ISLANDERS
-Slay The Spire

Main Post

April Update!



Game 30: [Early Access] Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (PC) | 5 Hours | 04/01/2019 | 8/10

An April Fools joke many years in the making, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator finally launched into early access this day. While some key features are missing and the bulk of the units haven't been put into the game yet, there is still plenty to be excited about. The units available are varied, fun and interesting and watching them interact with eachother is made entertainingly goofy with the game's AI and physics. The game boasts a large number of battles you have to beat using your wits and strategy, as well as a sandbox mode for general "What If" goofery. Overall, it's a promising start for the game and it looks like it'll meet my expectations. Also the newest patch fixed the constant fucking crashing issues it had at launch.



Game 31: Defunct (PC) | 1 Hour | 04/02/2019 | 5/10

Ur a one wheeled speedy thingy going real fast because all you wanna do is get back to where you once belonged. You explore levels, do some mild puzzles and go fast some of the time in a very short time. The game has some replayability in various challenges and what not but overall it's just a game that kind of exists.



Game 32: [Replay] Crash Nitro Kart (GC) | 5 Hours | 04/05/2019 | 7/10

I want to play that Nitro Fueled gimmick so bad this not even 2 month wait is gonna kill me. In the interim I gotta keep myself distracted, like playing other karting games like all the crash ones! We start with Nitro Kart because the content in the game is being brought to HD in the Nitro Fueled remake of Crash Team Racing and I haven't played it in years. Overall, it's fine; it's very CTR Again but due to control not being as good and the fact that most tracks are trying to evoke similar themes to tracks in CTR, it just becomes a game stuck in the shadow of its more successful prequel.



Game 33: Crash Tag Team Racing (GC) | ~6 Hours | 04/08/2019 | 6/10

What a fucking game this is. When it's not being some weird ass collectathon in the game's main single player mode, it's basically Twisted Metal as a racer. The idea that the game has racing in its title is asinine because while there is racing, driving is basically pointless. When you combine with another kart, something that can be done whenever so long as you're in close proximity of another kart and there's no downside to doing so, you have the option to man the turret on the back or drive. However, should you choose to drive, you get no credit for any murder that the person on the turret commits, and you get a lot of credit for murder. So basically races devolve into immediately combining with someone else and then just racking up like 20 KO's a race from nonsense weaponry and items with 800 active frames that do 100%. A good game.



Game 34: [Replay] Crash Team Racing (PS1) | 68 Minutes | 04/08/2019 | 10/10

I wanted to speedrun the adventure mode to see if I could beat it before the three hour wrasslin show ended and I severely overestimated how long it is. Considering it was a first run and I'm not familliar with some of the more insane shortcuts you can pull off I'm happy with my time. June 21st can't come soon enough.


Game 35: Nickelodeon Kart Racers (Switch) | 3 Hours | 04/25/2019 | 5/10

My current addiction of karting games and a 50% discount caused me to buy this thing. The good news is is that Reptar is a playable character. The other good news is that the gameplay is far better than I expected going in. The bad news is basically everything else. The roster is barebones and seemingly random, there are no real standout music tracks, it features the bare minimum of game modes and doesn't have online play, there is no spoken character dialogue, there are like 3 blue shell equivalents or something. It's a completely mediocre time that played well enough to avoid my scorn.



Game 36: Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch) | 16 Hours | 04/30/2019 | 7/10

Monster Boy was a game I got interested about by the glowing word of mouth it had from varying sources. Hearing the physical was limited, I decided to jump in and felt that while the game is great my enjoyment of it was hampered by a number of different things. The biggest of which is the constant menuing. Switching animals, weapons, shields, boots and magic happens all the time and breaks up game flow. It's something the game even stealthily admits too, as every boot type you get after obtaining the double jump boots have double jump properties as well, making that boot type completely worthless afterwards. The combat is nothing special, the bosses are hit or miss and while there are some good platforming parts, they are few and far between from the rote moving between screens. Where the game shines however is in its colourful and charming as hell art design, as well as its engaging puzzles that push you to explore the world.

Game #51 - Life is Strange
Time: 14 hours

It's controversy time ladies and gentlemen, as I finally decided to finally this super acclaimed time travel story, and came out not only incredibly disapointed, but really wondering what people see in this. Dontnod tries to do the Telltale formula of adventure / story with choices, only to completely fumble (in my opinion of course) by having it's two lead characters be completely unlikeable, especially Chloe, who is by far one of the worst characters I've ever experienced in a vieogame. I ended up not caring about anything going on because I disliked the characters so much, so there was no personal involvment and I just wanted to get it over with (which also made me pretty much B-Line the story and ignore all the hundreds of objects you can interact with and get little scenes, which is a neat idea I'll admit). Fantastic soundtrack and a cool art style (even if plagued with a bunch of technical issues, at least for me) were pretty much the only things that made me keep going. Not sure if I can be arsed with Before the Storm, knowing it focuses on Chloe, but at least LiS2 is a whole new cast, so hopefully it resonates more with me.

Main Post

Rhaknar said:

by having it's two lead characters be completely unlikeable

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

There you go. These characters and how they relate is the largest reason why this game is so beloved. If they did nothing for you, you likely won't get the appeal. Which is ok.

Main post
I'm slowly catching up on the Assassin's Creed series, as I haven't played any of the games in several years, now starting Assassin's Creed Origins and Days Gone.

Game 5: Assassin's Creed Unity (Xbox One) | 25 hours | February 7th
Game 6: Inside (Xbox One) | 5 hours | March 20th
Game 7: Assassin's Creed Syndicate (Xbox One) | 62 hours | April 26th

S.T.A.R.S Beret - 29/52 Games (15 first playthroughs, 14 replays)

Game 25 – Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) – 9 hours, 2 minutes – 3/5

The puzzles are fun enough mostly but the story leaves a lot to be desired. Might give the series another try with the second game before writing it off.

Game 26 – Puzzler World (PC) – 52 hours, 30 minutes – 3/5

Like one of those puzzle books you find at gas stations or stores. A massive amount of content for how cheap you can get this. (Pretty sure I paid $1 each for this and Puzzler World 2 during a sale.)

Game 27 – Tomb Raider: Underworld (PC) – 8 hours, 6 minutes – 3/5

Probably my favorite of the first Crystal Dynamics TR trilogy. It still has really janky platforming, even to a more annoying extent than the others but the atmosphere and such goes a really long way. This is the most TR feeling of the trilogy (I don't count Anniversary as much because it is a remake of TR1 but even at that it felt like it missed so much) and I absolutely loved the exploration and mostly minimal combat. It felt so good to go through the whole game and not encounter a single bad boss fight.

It's too bad the DLCs never left 360 because I'd love to have played them. Maybe I'll watch them on youtube.

Game 28 – Unavowed (PC) – 8 hours 18 minutes – 4/5

Potentially my favorite Wadjet Eye game or at least on par with Blackwell Epiphany. Loved the open ended nature of the cases and overall story here. Will be back to replay with a different main character background in addition to taking different characters out for different cases.

Game 29 – Resident Evil 2 (PS1) – 2 hours, 1 minute – 3.5/5

Continuing my annual RE series playing, did Leon A. RE2 has always been my least favorite of the classic trilogy and this run didn't exactly change my mind. The police station is a great setting but other than that this doesn't have as much going for it. The difficulty is cut back heavily in comparison to either 1 or 3 and the puzzles might as well not exist. Even still it's nice that the A-B scenarios actually overlap and make sense instead of just being haphazardly implemented.

Playing this made some of my issues with the remake stand out more.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Only three games beaten in April, with Supraland having taken up much of my time since (just beaten, but not in time for April and, in any case, I'm not yet done with it):


22. Tetris Effect (PS4) - 2 April 2019
Completed Journey Mode on Expert difficulty. It's really amazing the difference that this exceptional presentation can make to the Tetris experience. Although largely the gameplay here is 'just' basic Tetris, the use of complementary graphical effects and - especially - music makes the game a hugely engrossing experience (and this is without having tried its VR capabilities, which can surely only enhance this further).

The one significant gameplay change is the introduction of "the Zone", a mode that can be triggered by filling a meter from clearing lines, which temporarily pauses new tetrominoes from dropping until you decide where to place them, while collecting all cleared lines during the mode together, to be cleared all at once when the "Zone" time has elapsed, allowing for more than the usual four lines to be cleared at once, with generous bonus point potential. This brings a nice strategic twist as you decide when the best time to trigger "the Zone" will be.

The game has a main 'campaign' ("The Journey") progressing through levels with a wide range of different musical/graphical sequences, but beyond this, there's a nice range of customisable game modes - from classic 'marathon' through to interesting twists such as targeting specific 'infected' blocks for bonus points - and potentially there's a huge amount of gameplay time to come from this, though ultimately I'm satisfied with my time with the game after completing The Journey on Expert and attempting each of the custom game modes a handful of times


23. Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch) - 20 April 2019
100% complete, including all flowers collected and all costumes unlocked. While the core platforming gameplay is undeniably on the easy side, key to fully experiencing the Yoshi games is going after all of the collectibles - and Yoshi's Crafted World is no exception. Evolving the yarn theme from Yoshi's Woolly World, this latest game now sees its levels being built from papercraft, and in doing so, there's some exceptional creativity on display - levels range from jungles to space and from rivers to haunted houses. Pretty much every level brings something new to the gameplay, including races, shooting and magnetic platforms to name but a few, ensuring that the game stays interesting despite the relative lack of difficulty.

When it comes to collectibles, there's the typical flowers, red coins and hearts to collect in every level (though there are now often more than the five flowers seen in earlier games), but these are now complemented by a range of 'souvenir' papercraft sets that the game challenges you to collect, with several different designs hidden in each level. These aren't ideally implemented, however, as only one type can be collected at a time, necessitating multiple attempts at every level which becomes overly repetitive - it's a nice idea, but there are about twice as many as would have been ideal in my mind.

The other notable downside is the game's music, which is very bland, especially when compared to the excellent soundtrack of Yoshi's Woolly World. While I didn't let this detract too highly from the otherwise excellent presentation, it's definitely a disappointing aspect.

However, despite these two notable issues, overall I really enjoyed my time with Yoshi's Crafted World which stands up well against the other recent games in the series and really shines in creativity above all.


24. Pikuniku (Twitch) - 21 April 2019
Complete playthrough. Pikuniku is a charming, if fairly simplistic, puzzle platformer, with players taking control of an alien creature that looks simply like a long-legged 'blob', exploring an outwardly whimsical world and helping out the various creatures that populate it. The setting and puzzles are often delightfully bizarre, including fights against giant robots but also kicking a rotund worm back through a cavern system to its mother, all in aid of foiling a evil plot to destroy the world with a giant volcanic eruption. The simple graphics suit the game's general lightheartedness very well, alongside catching backing music, which kept me smiling throughout its short (2-3 hours) time to completion.

Original Post
20/52

16. Super Mario Bros. (NES) | 23rd April - 30mins | 3/5

I don't think this is a replay. I used all the shortcuts I knew to get to the end. I was disappointed that world 8 looks the same as all the others, but I was really impressed with how large the final castle was. It's a good game.

17. Castlevania Legends (Game Boy) | 28th April - 2hrs | 1/5

Woof, and I thought The Adventure was bad. This was the most miserable Castlevania game I've ever played and I only finished because it was so short and I didn't want to have wasted all that time for the game to beat me. It has all the same issues as the Adventure but with worse visuals, longer levels (the worst part), and the music isn't even good. Also at one point you just murder Alucard?? I'm glad this one is forgotten now.

18. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Game Boy) | 29th April - 2hrs | 3/5

I went in really hoping to like this game, but it has a few issues that keep me from liking it definitively over Dream Land. The game is a little too long for what it is. Some of the few copy abilities are worthless and barely any are better than just inhaling/puffing. The animal friends are there but all but the owl actually make all of your abilities worse so I just always avoided them. But I love the visuals and the hidden ending is a cool idea.

19. Kirby's Adventure (NES) | 4th May - 3hrs | 4/5

I think I miss the black and white, but this game is really solid. I played Nightmare in Dreamland back in the day but I think this is all around better. The progression from Orange Ocean to Fountain of Dreams is really great, and it's the original Kirby Lovecraftian twist. I love how wholesome the ending text crawl is. It drags a bit in the middle though, I could have done without the Grape World.

20. Kirby - Nightmare in Dreamland (GBA) | 4th May - 1.5hrs | 2/5

This is a replay. I played this back to back level by level with Adventure. And I think it's way worse. The colors are all washed out, the sound is GBA quality, the levels cut stuff out compared to Adventure, the bosses are too easy, it doesn't have any unique ideas of its own. I didn't like how slow and large DeDeDe and Nightmare were either. I was super disappointed.

Ongoing:
My Nintendo Picross: Twilight Princess
Picross 3D Round 2

Next up:
Mario Land 2
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Kirby Superstar
Kirby Superstar Ultra

Weekly update 18!

Feels like it was yesterday I wrote the last post. The weeks go by so fast all of a sudden.


39. Supraland (PC) | 30th Apr - 13hrs | 5/5




40. Himno (PC) | 1st May - 2hrs | 3/5




41. The Count Lucanor (PC) | 4th May - 5hrs | 5/5



_____________

Master Post!

13. Redout (Steam / Steam VR WMR, 2019/04/21, 21 hrs)

This futuristic racer sits somewhere between Wipeout's physics model and F-Zero's sense of speed. The core gameplay rings true. Controlling the crafts is super fun and satisfying. The AI behavior and certain track designs left a bad taste in my mouth. Blind corners leading into hard turns, after loops. 5 minute laps of track configurations with hard to land jumps in the last third. AI bouncing all over the place, but all magically passing the player after one mistake destroying any winning chance after 12 minutes of leading the pack. My most hated track of all time is Jupiter/Europa: three or four chances of wipeout per lap, survival merely depending on luck. Then there are minor polish issues like an unreadable score board, after races, with overlapping UI elements. The campaign events a never ending list, which over stays its welcome. BUT Redout was still fun enough for the most part with great racing moments. I really enjoyed playing the game in VR. Visuals and presentation are striking too.

14. Fight'N Rage (Steam, 2019/04/22, 7.9 hrs)

Pretty amazing work by a single person, but unfortunately also a bit up its own ass. This feels like an off-brand beat'em up by Kemco, not as cool as Capcom's big boy brawlers, but with 100% more furry characters and bouncing pixel titties. Like those B grade MegaDrive and SNES titles, which had smaller roms and were therefore cheaper. Technically spot on, excellent presentation, rocking metal soundtrack, great sprite work and stellar CRT scanline shaders out of the box. The controls are very polished too. Brilliant first impression, challenging and fun; BUT then you hit a brick wall at around stage 4 or 5. Here comes the "up its own ass" part into play. You have to give up to find out, there's a training mode you can purchase with in-game coins. Coins you gained from earlier struggles. Oh and easy mode is also up for purchase, nice gate keeping. Oh and the training mode shows you important stuff, e.g. how to parry. Stuff which introduced the previously mentioned friction. The difficulty sports insane spikes even with the newly gained knowledge. Fight'N Rage is hard to pick up and hard to master. The game rubbed me the wrong way and I'm glad to be done with it.

15. Thumper (Steam VR WMR, 2019/04/28, 7.3 hrs)

You are a chrome bug on a cyberspace rollercoaster down the VR rabbit hole. The whole experience was made to brutalize all senses. You race down a track, slam drift through corners and thump dots. Every of these actions is violent, accompanied by screen shake, sparks, controller rumble and industrial sounds of metal hitting metal. The soundtrack and game FX form a staccato of noise, which is same amounts unsettling and exhilarating. The speed is turning things from 11 to 13. The gameplay must sound daunting, but I've never got this easily into the zone. The visual and audio queues make everything subconsciously manageable. The more you think about it, the worst you will do. Just switch off your brain, just be, just go with the flow and everything snaps into place. Playing the game in VR is the way to go. The headset works like horse blinders and helps to maintain peak focus. The high refresh rate of 90fps drives down the input lag and ups the responsiveness. The game is already smooth as hell, read perfect frame pacing and VR just amplifies that. This game is pure, grandious, basic, epic, simple and straight forward. Thumper is perfect and an instant timeless classic.

16. Tetris Effect (PS4, 2019/05/01, 3-6 hrs)

The recent 30th anniversary of the GameBoy reminded me how much I love Tetris. Time to catch up with nowadays. Effect is a brilliant. This take adds so many bells and whistles without diluting the classic core game. There's a campaign and a whole bunch of classic modes. The visual presentation and music seals the deal. This game got Mizuguchi written all over it and feels very rooted in the Child of Eden and Rez universe. Tetris Effect is now my go-to home release of Tetris.

[index]

Main Post

#16. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
Beat this game a little while back but forgot to make a post for it. Anyway, excellent little 2D Zelda adventure with a lot of charm. There are some mildly frustrating issues (such as item switching), but nothing that diminishes the experience to any significant degree.
5/5 - "Great"

#17. Yakuza 5
If I had to rank this game's story among the other Yakuza games I've played (0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 4), unfortunately Yakuza 5 would fall on the lower end of the spectrum (if not dead last). But it's still a Yakuza game, which means it's still a great time... and even though the story might be relatively lacking, the gameplay sure isn't. Combat feels great, and they went all-out with the side content.. even in comparison to newer games in the series. It's pretty ridiculous. And even though the story might be subpar by Yakuza standards, it's still a fun and emotional ride filled with likeable characters. Lastly, goddamn.... for a PS3 game, this one sure is a looker. Image quality is significantly sharper than Yakuza 4. The framerate occasionally suffers for it, but it's rare enough that it's not really a huge problem.
5/5 - "Great"

Main post.

8. God of War (PS4) 6th May - ??hrs | 5/5
The 3rd 5/5 I've given out this year and this is arguably the best of the bunch. One of the most well-made, well-directed and compelling games I've ever played. As much as I adored RDR2, I actually think this was even better.

Currently playing:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Switch)
Battlefield V (PC)
Forza Horizon 3 (Xbox One)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)

Immediate backlog:
Far Cry 5 (PC)

April was another unproductive month when it comes to chipping away at this challenge. That said, I did play through a few Genesis/Mega Drive games so the month wasn't a total wash.



16. Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, MD/Gen) ★★★☆☆
Never played these games before, so now is a good a time as any. I quite enjoyed this one, it's less about speed than pop culture led me to believe. There's several zones where you need to be more precise and exact with your timing, or wait on platforms/air pockets, where I don't see how blindly speeding ahead would work unless you know the worlds by heart. Music is catchy, the stages are pretty varied and introduce numerous zone-specific ideas. I don't love the weighty feel since I prefer to play cautiously, but it's a good game.



17. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992, MD/Gen) ★★★☆☆
This one makes more sense to play fast. The zones are shortened, the music is better, and you're less likely to stall halfway a ramp due to insufficient speed as you now how the spindash move. Wish the spindash was a bit more flexible in execution than apparantly only working from a standstil. I liked the casino stage in this one best, and the Metal Sonic battle is fun too. Hate the final Robotnik fight though, since you have no rings it's a one-hit kill constantly. The zones before it are pretty tough too, so I'm glad I found the level select cheat to get back quicker. Still took me a lot of tries. I think I prefer the first game over this one, since it has less frustrating parts.



18. Disney's Aladdin (1993, MD/Gen) ★★★★☆
Gorgeous action/platform game based on the film which... I'm not sure I've seen? Definitely know the songs, and they have neat, tinny renditions on the Genesis here. But not all of the levels struck a bell with me, so either the game deviates a bit from the film's plot, or I've just never seen it entirely. Anyway, the game kinda feels like a cartoony take on 2D Prince of Persia, right down to the spikes, scimitar, and Middle-Eastern rooftops. It's way less difficult though.
I'd say this one has held up well over time, it's really helped by having a healthbar instead of 1-hit-kills. The only decision that's a bit irksome is that bosses can seemingly only be harmed by chucking apples at them, which are a limited commodity. Had an unnecessarily difficult time against the final form of Jafar since I'd ran out, and the only apples in sight were on a platform that's on fire a lot of the time.

Game #52 - Last Epoch
Time: 18 hours

I very rarely purchase early access games, as I struggle to keep up with constant updates, and just in general prefer to play the finished products as Im not much into replaying games. But I couldnt resist this diablo-like because as a pet fanboy, it seemed to have classes right up my alley, and the genre is made to be replayed anyway so I should have no issue going back to it after a few months or when its live. And I'm glad I did, as I really enjoyed what is in here at the moment, and I think this shows some real promise for when it goes live next year. It's very reminiscent of Grim Dawn, and while they are propping up the whole time travel as its big gimmick, its really the class system where the game shines. Five classes (only 4 present in early access so far) each with three different masteries gives this a ton of build variety and possibilities, and then you have the fact that each skill in the game has it's own skill tree, so even the same masteries can be built differently, and it gets really crazy and exciting. I'm sure in the end there will be the usual best builds as usual, but it sure is refreshing and fun to mess around with the various ways you can customize each skill. As for story content you get 2 acts (out of at least 4 it seems), with the time travel gimmick of revisiting the same locales in different eras, which is neat. There are "end game" modes in the game atm, a dungeon-run with a boss at the end and various affixes on the mobs, very much like the Diablo 3 rifts, and then a arena mode which is basically horde mode with endless waves of mobs and you try to get to the highest wave possible (getting loot every 5 waves). Nothing amazing but it should get the job done for loot grinding needs. They still need to add multiplayer, and A LOT of polish, but like I said, its very promising and the class system is fantastic. Hopefully it pans out when it releases next year.

And thats 52, guess I'm done with playing games this year >_>

Main Post

Main Post

#18. Shenmue 2
Having beaten the original Shenmue for the first time last year (which I wholeheartedly loved), I've now finally gotten around to playing through the sequel in preparation for Shenmue 3's supposed August release date. While I didn't like Shenmue 2 quite as much as the first game, it was still a highly enjoyable experience and I'm looking forward to playing the next chapter as soon as it releases.
5/5 - "Great"

Main post

So have been bad at keeping you all updated. Is already way behind even that a lot of mobile games have helped me out. For the moment uncertain on what next game is. I have however just finished a couple of good games.

11, SteamWorld Dig 2, in total 13h with a restart.
Great game, I am not sure if I would say it is better than SteamWorld Dig 1. Some stuff was clearly better but I am not sure if I needed all the cogs and artifacts. For me SteamWorld Dig 1 might have been more streamlined.
4/5 Really good.

12, Project Blue NESDev edition, NES
This was an entry to NESdev competition 2017. A really good single screen platformer that I really liked. Am looking forward to the bigger version that hopefully will be kickstarted soon.
4/5 Really good.

COMPLETED | 23
MAIN THREAD



#20: New Super Mario Bros 2 (4/18/2019 ) | 7/10 | 3DS XL | ~ # 4.5 Hours | Recommend: M
# Overall -7 | Well crafted levels that lack the charm and character we come to expect from Mario
Gameplay -7.2 | Game controls well but disappointing re-occurring generic boss fights hold the game back
Sound -7 | The game sounds well but didn't do anything different or special from what we have heard before
Story/Online -NA | SAVE THE PRINCESS! MARRRIOOOOOOOOO
Asking Price-7.33 | Some well hidden coins could keep you coming back for more but when the credits rolled I didn't feel the need to come back

Was the game enjoyable? Sure. Was it a good Mario game? Not really sold on that one. I actually think the level designs where fairly cool but there was something missing from this game. That something was important though as it felt like a generic but good platformer instead of a Mario game. These games normally fill me with joy and when the credits rolled I felt no different then I had when I began the game.


#21: Just Cause 4 (5/2/2019 ) | 7/10 | Xbox One | ~ 14.5 Hours | Recommend: M
# Overall - 7| What could of been a great game misses the mark with the main stories gameplay
Gameplay -7 | Huge, beautiful interesting world held back by the main story making you play each mission on a generic base.
Sound -8 | Explosions sound great, VA's did a decent job with what they where given.
Story/Online -6 | I am okay with whimsical stories but I was generally confused for the first 2/3 of the game
Asking Price-7 | There is a lot of side content and places to explore if you enjoy doing everything on a map

This game almost was incredible. It made a lot of cool side content, a giant but awesome map that had cool details hidden away. The biggest miss was that all of the main story missions focused on syncing at a computer station on one after another generic base. These bases generally did not take advantage of the maps locations or vertical scales offering you a only alright gameplay experience.


#22: Mario Tennis (5/3/2019 ) | 8/10 | GBA | ~ 7 Hours | Recommend: Y - R
# Overall -8 | Loved the GBC game in the past and it still holds up excellent in 2019
Gameplay -8.2 | Singles, Doubles and mini games all pack a punch and challenge your wits
Sound -8 | Some nice tunes , still enjoy them almost 20 years later
Story/Online - 8 | Its generic story but the content is well crafted and engaging
Asking Price- 9.33 | Game is brimming with content and has even more once the main story ends.

I don't replay games, this being my first in over two years. I wanted to see how this game held up since it was one of my favorites in my younger days. To this day I still really enjoy this game, with fantastic content that always challenges you to get better. While the story is nothing to write home about, the content that complements the story is fantastic and I hope future Mario tennis games take the young buck climbing the ranks at the academy approach.


#23: Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (5/7/2019 ) | 8/10 | VITA | ~ 26.5 Hours | Recommend: Y
# Overall -8 | A good story that developed nicely and excites me for whats next on the journey
Gameplay -7.8 | The game boast some gorgeous art. Battles are fairly simple but are a nice change from text
Sound -9 | Great VA and the soundtrack was well done.
Story/Online -8 | The first 1/3 of the game was slow but the last 1/2 gripped me to come back for more.
Asking Price- 8.33 | The game has great content and production value.

Bought this game on a whim from an Era thread in September. Having barely dipped my feet into the Visual Novel (999 series) genre and even less into the Anime genre I went without knowing what to expect. During the first 10 hours I was questioning the purchase but soon after that I couldn't put the game down. The game is filled with a great story and characters. It biggest success though was opening me up more to other games in the visual novel genre and has made me buy and add a few games to my backlog to play after I beat the next iteration of this story.

33. Supraland (10 hours)
The environments blend together, and combat is generally weak, but for the most part, this game does a solid job at bringing Metroidvania gameplay to 3D.

Full list to date

33. Stranger Things The Game


A rather nice Action Adventure game. The final few dungeons had some annoying parts to them but IMO it has the foundations of a solid game design. Wish it were available on PC and other platforms though :/

34. Velocity Ultra


Yowza did the final stages get tough. I didn't enjoy this game the first time I played it but having play 2X recently I feel it is worth giving it another shot. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot more than I expected, but still find 2X to be the better game.

38. Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain (PS4) | 7th May - 80hrs | 5/5
I loved this game. Not enough to go for the platinum because I don't want to replay every mission multiple times
SPOILER
Sure it was weird not having Hayter in it, and that's a big reason I waited this long to finally play it. But I really loved the missions and gameplay and the characters. Definitely needed some more boss battles and the end needed some more story. But the gameplay is so good I can definitely overlook the rest. Now on to Peace Walker and MGS4... eventually.

34. Life Force (<1 hour)
I found this one much more agreeable than Nemesis, although the last few stages are still some bullshit.

Full list to date

Main Post part 1

-------


13. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Episode 2 - Strong Badia the Free - 3 hours
Strong Bad season surprisingly keeping a good pace with untypical for Telltale games amount of new and diverse content between episodes. After the first episode, which was more or less introduction to this crazy universe and its characters, the second episode already going crazy and turning everything upside down. Withing first 10 minutes of the episode Strong Bad starting a revolt against King of Town because of outrageous taxes on using e-mail services, and after his inspirational speech, everyone else also creating their own kingdoms (with flags and borders, of course). Most of the time you'll spend on trying to unite all those rebels under your own empire in order to gather an army and attack the King's castle, and all your future vassals have their own terms and requirements that you need to meet.

Gameplay hasn't changed since the first episode, but because of new rules and non-trivial storyline new episode feels like a completely new game. Set of minigames was also updated, this time you can play a parody on Streets of Rage, where instead of regular enemies you fight algebraic functions. They even made a proper turn-based strategy minigame, where you need to move your leader and armies through the tiled world map while trying to evade or distract enemies troops. Puzzles are mostly intuitive and pretty easy to solve, except that slightly annoying moment where you need to hunt for "artifacts" with a metal detector without knowing where exactly those artifacts hidden or at least knowing if there is anything left to find on the current location, that part was really boring and unnecessary.

A good amount of quality satire and unexpected plot twists really stand out this episode not just compared to other Telltale games, but to adventure games overall. It really packed with interesting events and keep surprising you until the ending, writing in this game is consistently awesome. It's hard to imagine that they'll manage to keep up the pace and remaining 3 episodes will be as great, but I'm hoping for the best and looking forward to playing them soon.

Game #53 - Steamworld Dig
Time: 5 hours

Wanted to replay this before playing the sequel since I imagine it would be harder to go back to it after, and it still holds up nicely. Great art style as usual for the Steamworld games (looks super sharp on the Switch screen too), great responsive gameplay and the addictive loop of digging for money to buy upgrades to dig for more money never gets old, especially because the game isnt very long so it doesnt overstay its welcome. Some call it a proof of concept for the sequel but I still love the first one, even in it's simplistic design.


Game #54 - Steamworld Dig 2
Time: 8 hours

Fantastic sequel that improves on the first game in every way possible, becoming overall a much more complete package and game. Better visuals, more locations, a lot more powers to get, a new upgrade system that really makes you want to search for upgrade items, and the same adictive dig for money -> upgrade loop the first game had, but much more of a actual metroidvania this time. One of the better and more improved sequels I've ever played, and hopefully Image & Form makes goes back to this series, even tho I wouldnt necessarely mind a sequel to their other Steamworld "genres".

Main Post

Good job Rhaknar!

I'll be joining soonish. Taking it a bit slower this year. :D

Joining this thread late! (congrats on the the first completion Rhaknar !!)

I wont make long posts for each of the games completed previously this year and instead will list them down and start longer descriptions with Game #28. For the thread games were updated to be given times when I was able to see them and a score our of 5. The art has a check or X.
For a quick easy glance X is anything below 3/5 and a check will be anything above that. Thoughts about the game will be given under each post although size will vary depending on how much I have to say about the game.

1. Monster Prom 3.5/5
2. Resident Evil 2 5/5
3. Red Dead Redemption 2 5/5
4. Spyro the Dragon 3.5/5
5. Hitman 2 3.5/5
6. FFXV Ignis 3.5/5
7. FFXV Gladio 3/5
8. FFXV Prompto 4/5
9. Apex Legends 4/5
10. Crackdown 3 3.5/5
11. One Leaves 1/5
12. Tetris 99 3/5
13. Smash Bros Ultimate 3/5
14. FIFA 19 3/5
15. Dig Dug 2.5/5
16. What Remains of Edith Finch 4/5
17. Rocket League 3.5/5
18. Fuzion Frenzy 3/5
19. Kingdom Hearts 3 4.5/5
20. Mortal Kombat X 4/5
21. Overcooked 3/5
22. Trackmania TM Turbo 3/5
23. The Witness 3/5
24. Aftercharge 2/5
25. Creature Romances: Kokonoe Kokoro 2/5
26. Dead by Daylight 3/5
27. Dreams 3/5

Game #28: Mortal Kombat 11 (Xbox) 4/5

Killer Kombo!

I mainly picked this game up to play the story but it does encourage me to keep playing as it bring the customization from Injustice 2 that I really loved
Im not one for fighting games typically but Injustice 2's story was so damn good I just had to jump on the next game which brings me here!

Its a great looking game, it plays well and the story is fun and enjoyable even for people like me that may not know everything about these characters.
The game can prove to be grindy though if you want everything, which would have been amazing as a kid with not that many games and only enough money for one game but these days I have a backlog that kills me
every time I look at it, I just don't have the time for it.

It will go down as one of the best fighters this gen I think at least for me along with Injustice 2 and Killer Instinct. Worth the pick up especially at lower than $60.


Game #29: Hades (PC) 3.5/5

The Binding of Hades

Picked this game up for pretty damn cheap on the Epic Store sale, its important to note the game is still in Early Access and is getting new updates.
The game is fun and if you enjoy the previous games from the team I think you will really enjoy it. Personally I would have preferred a game more in line with the older ones
instead of it becoming rouge like. That being said unlike something like Binding of Isaac that sets you completely fresh every time you die, Hades instead lets you build up your character with each death
making it easier and more natural to progress deeper and deeper into the game.

The game is filled with lovely art and some pretty fun gameplay, worth a pick up for sure especially during the current sale.

Game #30: Mordhau (PC) / 12hrs / 3.5/5

Chivalry is dead

Mordhau is a first (or third) person combat game where you are placed in the age of knights, it has quite a few modes, tons of weapons and armour which can lead to a ton of fun.
If you are a fan of the previous game similar to this Chivalry then I think you will definitely enjoy this game.

The current price may be a little high unless you know you are into these games but I think it could be worth it. At sale price later this year it can definitely be something worth looking into.
for now I wait for some buddies to get on so we can mess around again in some free for all shenanigans.

Game #31: Final Fantasy XIV (PC) 4/5

A Multiplayer Fantasy

So more recently I have desperately wanted an MMO to get into as its been a while since one really hooked me, and the wait for WOW Classic (at least to try it) is brutal.
Its a fun game and has a pretty decent trial version you can play and try it out. Not sure how much more ill play it but thats more due to things happening outside of the game, it has scratched my current mmo itch
and is for sure one you should consider if you are looking into getting into a new mmo. The game is also getting a new expansion in 2 months for those curious about what the future of the game looks like.

Game #32: Overwatch (PC) 4/5



So Overwatch has been out for a while but only these last couple months have I actually owned the damn game.
Overall its still a fun mp game that you can enjoy solo but the real fun imo is playing with some friends as the game chat is toxic (think CSGO level if you have played).

The new characters for the most part are pretty fun to play and Ill keep coming back to it from time to time. The game for sure needs more consistent updates or at least larger updates if they are gonna keep the same pace. It doesnt nearly get enough new content to really keep in the rotation constantly.

Game #33: Monster Hunter World (PC) / 35hrs / 4/5

A Whole New World

Monster Hunter is a series I have always enjoyed but have always hated that the only place I could play it was on 3DS for example, so now that the latest instalment is on PC,PS4 and Xbox One
it was waaaay more interesting for me.

After playing this with some buddies and my gf this game took over our lives in the best way. It was fun and engaging with huge monsters and awesome armour to get from them. The game will be receiving an expansion later this year and I hope I am able to take part in it.

The game can be found for pretty cheap so go ahead and buy it and for everyone on Xbox it was more recently added onto Gamepass. With friends this is a must play.


Game #34: Void Bastards (Xbox) 3/5

Lost in Space!

Void Bastards is a comic book come to life.
It has some pretty neat gameplay as you try and survive out in space with a handful of enemies aboard every ship you encounter

Its pretty good and definitely worth looking into on Gamepass

Game #35: Just Cause 3 (Xbox) 3.5/5

Welcome home Rico!

Just Cause 3 is a game I have wanted to get into for a while but I just never got around to it, with its inclusion in gamepass it was my chance.
Im happy to say that its a load of fun. The world is vibrant and action packed with so many things to go around and blow up.

A perfect podcast game if thats what you are looking for!

My only complaint would have to be that it didnt get a Xbox One X enhancment although I know this game was a little earlier in the gen. Its a shame though as Just Cause 4 which I may add later in this list just doesnt hook me like this one.

Regardless this is one you should look at especially on sale and on a good PC!

Game #36: Surviving Mars (Xbox) 3/5

Science the shit out of this

In Surviving Mars you are tasked with creating a colony of humans on the face of mars. But with no air, water or food it can be quite the challenge.

You start off with nothing but a ship and some upgraded Wall-E's as you begin your journey to bring people to mars. Its pretty fun and can be something to play with a podcast or video in the background for sure as it can be pretty quiet.

Game #37: Grip (Xbox) 3/5

Its aight.

This game is alright, with some friends it can be pretty enjoyable and something you play for an hour or two and the move on to something else.
Again I give it a check as it was on Gamepass so for me the money I put into this game is next to nothing so I dont feel burned or anything.
That being said unless its on sale I dont think I would completely agree on buying it.

Again with friends or solo for a little bit its not that bad.

Game #38: My Friend Pedro (PC) / 5hrs / 4/5

John Wick: Maximum Payne

Wow this game is pretty damn awesome. Its a more acrobatic Max Payne in a 2.5D plane filled with a ton of enemies and of course a ton of bullets!

This game also has a very cool feature where it creates a GIF from your gameplay as a highlight taken from every level


This game is totally one you should put on your list!

Game #39: Supermarket Shriek (PC) 1.5/5

Spoiled Milk

this is another game I tried out on Gamepass and man...I was hoping for something a little bit better.

Never played with someone else but man solo play was just not fun. Just skip unless you have someone else and are both playing via gamepass.

Game #40: Bridge Constructor Portal 3/5

Now you are building with portals

This a game I downloaded for those nights you just want to relax and and build some bridges.
Its pretty decent and if you have played another bridge constructor game you know the deal but now you just mix in the portals from Portal (duh)

Game #41: Splitgate: Arena Warfare (PC) 3.5/5

Now You're Fighting With Portals

This is essentially Halo meets Portal. Its fun and fast. The only downsides I can imagine is that small pool of maps and weapons but everything is pretty damn well polished so im not too concerned. The game is also completely free so hey go give it a shot.

Its a great game to have let alone one to entertain you while you wait for actual Halo to release on PC with MCC and later with Infinite.

Game #42: Stardew Valley (PC) / 32hrs / 4/5

A Farmers Life For Me

So I recently finally picked this game up during the current steam sale and I am hooked.
First night my gf and I started a life on the farm and umm....totally didnt play for like 15hrs without sleeping (good thing we werent busy next couple days)

Its great fun especially with friends and is really the only game that has interested me in the farming side of the game instead of other aspects like adventuring in the mine or romancing other characters around town.
Its great fun and should for sure be considered.

Game #43: Missed Messages (PC) 3/5

goth gf has sent you a message

This is a pretty short experience with 4 endings to it. Completely free so the length is not a concern.
I feel like its important to note that game once you start does warn you that you will come across images of self harm and suicide. For those easily affected by that you may want to walk away from this one. I will say though that if one were to consider Doki Doki Literature Club a 10 in that aspect then this is less than a 4 its not that bad but I thought it would be important to mention here.

Other than that its short, free point and click game and different from many other games so its a refreshing thing to have in your list of games as you play them all.

Game #44: The Game of Life (PC) / 5hrs / 4/5

Its all just a big game

Life is a game and its a decent one. Start life choosing to go to post secondary or not, get a job as easy as picking a card, get married and then have some kids!

jokes aside its decent but wouldn't it be awesome if we had a "Game of Life" that was rated r? i dunno I feel that would be pretty neat.


Game #45: Rainbow Six Siege (PC) / 120hrs / 4/5

Counter-Terrorists vs Counter-Terrorists

So this is an older game and one that I have played a ton but I decided to add this to my completed games this year because I havent before and I recently switch to PC from Xbox and so got back into it and saw all the new content I had missed since then (its a lot)
Ill keep it short since the game is a bit older. Its fun competitive objective based multiplayer with a load of different operators all which are divided between defenders and attackers and all of them have something unique that they do. maps are cool and diverse (same with the abilities of the operators for the most part)
Destruction is turned to 11 in this game which is exciting and infuriating when someone has a pin sized hole angled towards objective lol. Regardless strong game with continued support and more coming.

Game #46: Mario Maker 2 (Switch) / 12hrs / 3.5/5

If its so easy why dont you make the game then! ....again!

Its Mario Maker 1 but with different designs based on newer Mario games although I wish there was more of that. New pieces to add and now all on the go for Switch!
Its a fun game to have from time to time, if you liked Mario Maker 1 just consider this for the most part the exact same thing but now future proof as its on the new console (no more need for that damn wiiu!) and you can take it on the go.

Game #47: Gears Pop! (Mobile) / 8hrs / 3/5

Pocket Gears

So this is a game I thought I would end up playing for like 30mins and then dropping its digital ass but...nope. Its actually pretty fun.
Yeah sure at E3 the concept was kind of a joke outside of the obvious appeal to the mainstream mobile market but honestly it kinda works in game. You don't see them and go "oh its a funko pop" it just looks like a cartoony Gears character and the giant heads help distinguish them from all the different characters
Its a fun PVP or PVE (yes horde is in the game!) 3 lane multiplayer game. my only problem tho is at the high level it can start getting pay to win but honestly at least right now there are many people that dont spend anything like myself so its still a bunch of fun. Id reccomend it, its free and hey its Gears to hold you off until the launch of Gears 5 next week!

Game #48: Last Day of June (PC) 3/5

Whatever it takes.

You take part in a story of a man trying to do everything he can to avoid the fate he has been dealt with. Its a touching story and one with a great ending if you decide to stick with it. The gameplay though doesnt help, its a little slow and there is some backtracking but overall its a short game which was free on EGS a while back so you
may have it already.

You will try to solve puzzles and find solutions to help this man in his time of need all to save his wife. If you can deal with the slower gameplay this very touching story is worth checking out for sure. Oh and the game looks like it was made in Dreams, its so soft and vibrant so thumbs up to the artists!

Game #49: Blair Witch (PC) / 4.5hrs / 4/5

Just an ordinary day in the woods...

Blair witch puts you in the shoes of a man who takes his trusty companion named Bullet into the woods in search of a missing boy.
This being Blair Witch of course things quickly goes sideways for our protagonist as he continues to push on to the nightmares and the unknown of the forest.

Its a cool little adventure game and on Gamepass its definitely one you should play although if you are not interested in Gamepass then please do wait for a sale.
The game last roughly 5hrs for an average playthrough although getting everything in the game will drag it out a bit longer. I enjoyed my time with it and overall my only 2
complaints would be it needs some polish (but by no means is it a complete mess) and the final chapter could have been shortened a little bit. Go play!

Game #50: Ape Out (PC) 4/5

Jungle Beat

Ape Out is a really cool game where you play as an ape (surprise!) and you try to escape different locations varying from labs, office buildings or even large trading ships.
The game also has a really cool art style mixed with unique music you rarely hear something similar in other games, quite frankly it definitely is one of the main appeals of the game

Overall its a cool "Hotline Miami" type game where you kill and throw enemies with a great mix of visuals and music!

Game #51: Celeste (PC) 3.5/5

Overcoming a mountain

Ok so I have some mixed emotions on this game. I like the characters and the story its telling, the world is a little lame because its all about climbing this mountains so hey
I guess we got a lot more than one could expect but still it all felt rather similar with each chapter just getting essentially one gameplay gimmick separating it and the difficulty was sometimes just kind of annoying.
I find it hard doing diagonal commands on a dpad for platformer but then relying on the thumbstick sometimes caused the character jumping straight vertically or horizontally.

The game is also very challenging, it does provide an assist mode which can make the game an absolute cake walk as I found out as I tested it out but overall you wanna play it as intended
unless you are having a lot of issues of course. Its a pretty short game consisting of 7 chapters (pretty much 7 large levels is the way id explain it) and an 8th chapter you unlock after letting the credits roll.
The game is currently free on Epic as of writing this so go grab it, if not well you will like it if you are into things like Super Meat Boy.

Game #52: FarCry 3: Blood Dragon (PC) / 3hrs / 3/5

The Billion Dollar Killing Machine

So this is a game I have owned on Steam pretty much since it came out and yet I never got passed about 20 minutes in.
Well yesterday I finally said fuck it, redownloaded and begun this little FarCry adventure.

Overall its still fun FarCry 3 gameplay with a cool aesthetic that makes it stand out from FarCry even today in 2019. The story is short and cliche but thats the entire point
so as long as you know that going in then you will be fine. Outside of the gameplay and fun cliche story though the world is kind of empty and boring. Nothing like a proper FarCry entry which is to be expected but like damn.
You essentially just have like 20 bases to go clear out and that's what the map has to offer for the most part outside of the main story missions. At this point im sure the game is damn cheap so if you want a short FarCry game then by all means
that being said I would reccomend FarCry 3 or 4 any day of the weak over this since I imagine especially 3 is close to the same price range.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
That marks 52 games completed in 2019!! More games to be added of course although maybe at a slower rate.
Its been fun so far entering this little race with myself to see what I can do in a year. Iv had some issues both mentally and around
stopping me from completing earlier but im just happy I did it! Happy gaming to everyone <3
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Weekly update 19!



42. Downfall (PC) | 6th May - 9hrs | 3/5




43. Lorelai (PC) | 7th May - 11hrs | 4/5




44. Gothic (PC) | 9th May - 32hrs | 3/5



_____________

Master Post!

Game #55 - The Technomancer
Time: 23 hours

Another janky-ass Spiders action rpg, and mediocre outing from this strange developer. The Technomancer, a sort of sequel to Spider's previous Mars War Logs starts off well, it looks nice, the combat is ok-ish but the story is interesting and it has quite a few mechanics that you expect from a big budget rpg, from various sidequests, relationships with your companions, companion quests, you name it. The problem is that after a few hours and you leave the first main zone, you realise the whole game is spend mainly in two zones, and if like me, you tend do to all the quests, the game keeps sending you back and forth between these two zones, with a ton of mindless combat in between you and your objectives, always in the exact same spots (because enemies respawn), and it just becomes a huge chore. It's ok for a budget-Mass Effect, but its hard to recomend, unless you have a soft spot in your heart for these janky Spiders rpg I guess, and even then, I struggled to finish it. Bummer :/

Main Post

15. Crazy Taxi (XBLA)

This is one of my favorite games of all time. This has the be the game where I double dipped numerous times as I own the game on Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Steam, Android and iOS.

I didn't always love it though. I remember when my buddy bought a Dreamcast, back in the day, he showed me Crazy Taxi and back then I didn't "get it" at all? I grew up with arcade games and know they have a timer and that you play them for score but I think the PlayStation made me forget that somehow? At the time I had played games like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and Driver. I remember that the controls felt wonky and the timer bugged me as I couldn't drive around and explore....

It wasn't till years later with the Xbox 360 re-release that I got REALLY into the game.

And now I absolutely love it. When you learn the techniques and figure out the map and where everyone wants to go, it's an absolute blast to play. I push myself to get a higher and higher score and I'm getting quite good at this.

It's a shame that the new releases on Android, iOS, Steam and Xbox Live Arcade don't have the original soundtrack as those are really a part of the experience that is Crazy Taxi. I will admit though, that while the new songs are not as good as the originals, there's still a few good ones in there that I really like.

The re-released version on consoles, steam and mobile devices are not a true port of the arcade game like the 6th generaton consoles got. Aside from the obvious, that it now plays in 16:9 widescreen, there's also slight changes to the physics and they introduced what I call a "half dash" where you get a smaller speed boots by pressing Drive + Accelerate instead of the regular Revere -> Drive + Accelerate.
Character placement and their patterns are stille the same though.

5/5





main thread

Main Post part 1

-------


14. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky - 16 hours
As much as I love S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, I still think this game is a huge disappointment and worst in the entire franchise. Clear Sky feels more like undercooked beta-version, with lots of ideas and features that don't work as intended. Not to mention huge amounts of bugs and glitches that weren't fixed even after all patches (of course, it's not as bad as it was back then in 2008 on release day, at least game can be completed from start to finish in its current state).

First of all, factions war is really underwhelming. It's an interesting idea, but it's not working at its full potential, squads of your faction attacking enemies points completely random, you can give any order to them, and it's impossible to completely wipe out enemies faction. When I tried to join Loners, the final goal was to capture Bandits base, but no one ever tried to actually do this, so I gave up waiting and decided to do all on my own (and it was really hard to do so). But once I left the base and walked away far enough, suddenly out of nowhere it was occupied by enemies again - and I've not even left the map! When I decided to switch my faction to Duty, few squads finally tried to attack Freedom (our enemies) base and we've managed to kill there everything that moves, but same shit happened again - with the difference that enemies squads respawned right when Duty squads were inside the main building of the base, and it was locked down once hostiles appeared on base territory so Freedom squads couldn't reach them and technically base remained occupied. But in the end, it didn't matter at all, I just pissed off Freedom faction and it only made it harder for me when I proceed through the storyline because I had to deal with them too.

With faction war connected another problem, related to the reworked Emissions system. Unlike in original, in Clear Sky deadly Emission can happen at any moment, and to survive you need to find a shelter. Great concept, but one time game suggested me to hide... At my enemy faction base, and I had no idea where else I can try to hide. Even when the game suggested non-hostile shelters, after arriving at them I was finding abandoned bases and buildings, even on factions bases, everyone including merchants and faction leaders were disappearing without a trace. And after Emission end, all missing stalkers literally popped up in front of me out of nowhere, as nothing happened - and moments like this really hurt the atmosphere and worldbuilding of the game.

Because of bugs and problems like this S.T.A.L.K.E.R. world didn't feel alive anymore in Clear Sky. Sidequests are not limited by the stupid time limit anymore, but all of them were downgraded to boring fetch quest templates, and after completing them there will be no new missions to complete and nothing to do except move forward the storyline. Artifacts become invisible and you need to look for them with detectors, but they are mostly useless now and just become a money source now, sidequests about looking for specific artifacts were removed as well. Devs added the ability to fast travel around the game world if you pay money to specific NPCs, but some places like Great Swamps remains dead ends, so once you teleport there you won't be able to come back the same way and you'll need to run again to another map and find NPC who will be able to teleport you anywhere else. Map and missions journal was improved, but for some reason, you can always see now exact locations of all mutants as well, like they have PDAs with GPS too, and because of that there is no element of surprise, you always know what to expect and where is probably not the best place to go unprepared, which again hurts the overall atmosphere of the game. It's always like that in Clear Sky, they did some things right, but then also made few steps backward and ruined the working system, that was relied on scripts before too, but it was not so obviously lifeless and artificial.

The last thing I wanted to complain about is Clear Sky story and its last hours in particular. GSC did the same mistake again and closer to the end transformed the game into a very linear popcorn FPS, only with anomalies and radiation. The more you play, the more plot losing its track and becoming nonsensically stupid, and the more game becomes annoyingly restrictive - walk right there, help those guys, jump into that anomaly, take this weapon and shut up. Everything completely turns to shit after reaching Limansk - like Pripyat in original, it's amazingly looking abandoned city, where you have nothing to do except run forward and shoot everything that moves. In next location, you have very stupid FPS cliches like a helicopter with life bar and machinegun points that you need to flank and kill with grenades. And ending, oh god that ending... It's just pure trash, one of the worst endings I've ever seen in games, it's really hard to recommend this game after that.

Honestly, Clear Sky is not THAT bad as a game, as I've said it's playable and you can finish it from start to end if you just follow the main storyline without looking much into everything else, it's good enough to play, especially if you are the fan of the series. Problem is, it's not a bad game, but it's a bad S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, more like a prototype of what could have been a great S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. It's good looking (especially for its age) FPS in interesting decorations and a unique setting, but it feels more like empty and lifeless beta-version, that you can play once, but nothing more. I've completed original Shadow of Chernobyl 11 times at this moment, and I'll probably play it once again someday, I played Call of Pripyat 4 or 5 times as well. This is my second full playthrough of Clear Sky and I won't ever touch this game, because it's just a flashy amusement park, not a proper game from this series. So, I can only recommend it to the new fans of the series - if you played and liked Shadow of Chernobyl or Call of Pripyat and want more of the same, then go for it. But other than that, just don't bother, it's not good even as a nostalgia trip, because all I remembered is how broken this game was at the launch day in 2008 and how massively disappointing it was for me.

35. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1 hour)
Beyond the usual goodness you can expect from Genesis-era Sonic in regards to gameplay and soundtrack, this one also makes a solid attempt at conveying a narrative.

Full list to date

I've FINALLY hit 20, so I'm reserving this post for my next chunk of completions.

#1-20

21. Puzzle Bobble Universe (3DS) - 22/05/19 - ~6 hours (Credits)

I played Bust a Move recently for the first time in about 15 years. I've always found the core game is a bit too luck based, especially when playing competitively in versus mode, but it's hard to deny the game's underlying charm. Working angles to make matches is satisfying in the same way that simple pool or billiard games are, just with cutesy Bubble Bobble sprites instead of leery men in an old boozer.

Universe is about the most recent game in the series I could find. I remember it reviewing very poorly at the 3DS's launch due to lack of content. Whilst that is certainly true, the roughly 2 hour puzzle mode was enough to satiate my desire for Puzzle Bobble, and given its reduced price due to its age, a decent enough investment of my time.

The other playtime came from beavering away at the challenge mode - a classic 'endless' mode a la Tetris got pretty addictive for a spell.

22. Club Nintendo Picross (3DS) - 27/05/19 - ~13 hours (100% Complete)

Remember when Nintendo reward points actually got you stuff?

In Japan it even got you free digital games sometimes, like Club Nintendo Picross.

Basically an additional entry in the Picross E series, all of the puzzles are themed around Nintendo properties or hardware. It's lovely, with a decent level of challenge in the later stages and the larger Micross boards.

23. Kids (Mobile) - 28/05/19 - ~40 minutes (Credits)

I love stuff like this. Is it a game? Is it an interactive animation? I don't honestly know.

It does however, tap into something extremely human despite essentially only really being about manipulating and manoeuvring groups of 'beings' (it feels weird saying that it's about manipulating minors!) through very simple obstacles.

It feels like this is a game about peer pressure, of group mentality, of survival. The score is reserved and complements the beautiful animation well. I would have liked a little more to play, but equally, I think it would be very easy to over egg the pudding with a concept this pure. Surprisingly affecting.

I played through once solo, and once with my girlfriend - enjoyable both times. Likely that it'll stay on my iPad for a while.

24. Fairune (Switch) - 01/06/19 - ~3 hours (Credits)

I blew very hot and cold on this one. I loved the overall feel of the world, and it's reliance on item based puzzles and basic traversal and environment memorisation. However, for every 5 'puzzles' or 'steps' that I was able to work out naturally, there'd be one that relied on noticing an out of place pixel, or in some cases totally hidden walkways or exits.

I think this is supposed to hark back to NES-era challenge where a big part of making progress came from shared playground experience and discussion, but this element just didn't work for me. I may go back and play through the game again at some point in an effort to unlock the remaining 'achievements', including a one hour speedrun and a deathless playthrough, but we'll see!

On Switch (and I believe Steam at least?) the game is now sold as a bundle with its two direct sequels, and a chump spin-off. A pretty great value package, even if the game itself wasn't my favourite experience.

25. OKO (Mobile) - 01/06/19 - ~30 minutes (Credits)

A bizarre art / puzzle game hybrid. High resolution satellite images are fragmented by spinning circles that you must catch with your finger and then rotate back into place. The game starts out simple, with the contrast between sections of the image a deliberate juxtaposition to make it easier to 'fix' the puzzle. By the end though, some 30-odd individual pieces are spinning, intersecting one another, even becoming dislodged after you've set them if you dawdle. Additionally, the complexity of the background images becomes more intense.

A stressful, anxiety inducing game. The soundtrack is ambient, pulsing, drone which builds upon completion of each stage, resulting in an almost pummelling, industrial soundscape by the games end.

A mite short, especially given that the concept seems ripe for some sort of procedural mode using a constantly refreshing bank of satellite imagery.

26. There's This Girl (Mobile) - 01/06/19 - ~20 minutes (Credits)

Another short confessional 'game' in the vein of Florence. It does much of what Florence did, but with less of the polish, and, owing to its shorter length, less commitment and investment from the player. Art was lovely, but the message and story itself was a bit hackneyed.

The 'playable' elements didn't feel as considered as Florence either. Some of that games most affecting moments utilised the touch screen and interface of a phone itself really well. Here, aside from swiping between scenes or connecting dots, the medium doesn't feel that important to the experience. I seem to play a lot of narrative games these days, but even the much-maligned 'walking simulators' are more interactive and immersive than something like this, owing to the direct control you have over the framing of each scene, and the order in which you may discover or interact with items or key story beats.

I don't want to discredit games like TTG, but it really feels like an animation or short film would have just as much, if not more value as the director would then have full control over the pacing of the experience.

27. Skyward Journey (Mobile) - 01/06/19 - ~1 hour (100%?)

A self-professed art game by Data Wing's Dan Vogt.

Other than its developer, Skyward Journey shares nothing with Vogt's previous game. Instead, this is a meditative touch controlled experience where you guide growing flocks of birds to interact with glum looking humanoid figures. Each stage offers inspirational quotes (urghh) on perseverance and human endeavour, whilst each stage end rewards you with actual quotes from friends of the developer that speak of personal regret.

Some of these ending quotes were genuinely moving, but I think their presentation, 'released' as they were into the wild by the birds, seemingly as a way of letting go and moving on is a bit twee. This feels especially jarring when some of the quotes I uncovered were about child abuse, infidelity, loneliness, etc.

Each stage includes a special quote attributed only to 'Elderly Person', a character I read as being fictitious, and just a way to draw the experience together. Similar to the celebrity quotes, (do I care about Winston Churchill or Bob Ross when I'm reading quotes about human hurt, frailty or fuckups?) I feel these actually harm the experience. I feel that a few of the design decisions taken here were made mainly to try to pad or sugarcoat some of the anonymous quotes. After the confidence exhibited in Data Wing, I was surprised that Skyward Journey, as different as it was, didn't feel as refined in its focus.

28. Zeroptian Invasion (Vita) - 02/06/19 - ~30 minutes (All Trophies [PSN])

A Space Invaders / Galaga clone. Literally nothing else to say about it. Trophies were the usual cynical milestone gubbins I've come to expect from Ratalaika ports. Like I said previously: love that they're supporting the Vita, but they know full well what sells, and are very aware that a sub-standard Space Invaders pastiche is unlikely to sell on its own without the endorphin rush attributed to an easy won platinum trophy.

29. Peasant Knight (Vita) - 05/06/19 - ~1 hour (All Trophies [PSN])

A really weird platform / runner game that's all about knowing when to stop. Acceleration is automatic, so each stage's obstacles need to be beaten by pausing your character's movement at exactly the right time. Immensely frustrating at times, even when levels were never longer than ten seconds or so when beaten perfectly.

Half way through the game a new mechanic is introduced that allows you to reverse your movement, allowing you to travel right to left rather than left to right. This also flips the 'brake' button from pushing left on the stick to pushing right. This was so disorientating I almost quit the game. Remarkable how in such a short space of time your brain just accepts one way of doing things as being correct and refuses to adapt beyond that point.

Overall, decent.

30. One Eyed Kutkh (Vita) - 15/06/19 - ~1 hour (All Trophies [PSN])

A short, incredibly slow paced, point and click style game. It put me in mind of Samorost with its environmental poking and tinkering. None of the puzzles were challenging (I'm not even sure if they were ever intended to be), and the experience wraps way too quickly to feel satisfying.

Art style is nice, but is let down by constant screen tearing any time the game scrolls between events or screens.

31. Bouncy Bullets (Vita) - 16/06/19 - ~1 hour (All Trophies [PSN])

A modern FPS that doesn't allow you to invert look.

I'll just repeat that again: a modern FPS that doesn't allow you to invert look.

32. Gem Smashers (Switch + Vita) - 18/06/19 - ~5 hours (100% [Switch], All Trophies [PSN])

A Switch port, of a PS4/Vita port, of a 3DS release that was a sequel / remake of a GBA game.

Got that?

I beat the Switch game 100% and mostly enjoyed it. Thought I'd revisit on the Vita too for the trophy hype. I go through phases of playing for trophies / playing for fun, and sometimes a simple trophy game like this can actually help me focus on a single game rather than jumping violently between as I often do.

You bounce up and down, destroying blocks in a sort of Arkanoid fashion. Death comes if you hit a 'skull' block, but the penalty is so minimal that almost all stages can be beat on autopilot, just loosely guiding your character left and right, nudging them towards the gems, good, rather than the skulls, bad. Every boss is the same, change to a corresponding colour, boop them on the head, avoid an attack.

The very definition of an average game.

33. FullBlast (Vita / PS4) - 18/06/19 - ~1 hour (All Trophies x2 [PSN])

Another 5/10 with a bullet. A perfectly serviceable shmup, just with none of the polish you'd associate with even a 16 or 32bit shooter.

Stages are bland, enemy designs are bland, music is repetitive AND bland. The Platinum trophy unlocked after beating stage 3 (of 12) so I thought I'd persevere until I at least lost a life. Didn't happen. Instead I chucked in the towel on stage 9. Not hard, just boring.

34. Super Grab Bag of Indecipherable Japanese Visual Novels (Vita) - 18/06/19 - ~4 hours (All Trophies [PSN] x7)

I go through phases of hunting trophies or achievements. This can be on PSN, Xbox Live or even RetroAchievements.

I recently got in a package of some Japanese visual novels for the Vita having won them quite cheap on eBay. All are pretty much undecipherable for me outside of the menus and art, but using guides online, each seemed to be 'beatable' in under an hour.

I've grouped six together here as it feels disingenuous to claim I've beaten each game properly, being that I have no idea what happened in each.

Grisaia Vol 1+2 and Vol 3+4 were the shortest playthroughs being that each volume is a kinetic novel (animated story without player interaction). The art suggested it was by the numbers high school drama, although there did appear to be some action by way of military intervention in some sections?

Sumika Mikagami's Uniform Activity was another kinetic novel. No idea how the translated title corresponded to the actual story.

Karumaruka * Circle was the longest to beat, with branching paths that centered around going on dates with a variety of girls in order to unlock their individual story paths and endings.

Amatsutsumi was pretty dull. Very few choices, very little of interest to be honest.

Soi Kano was.. the bustiest of the games I played?

Sweet Pool seemed the most unique / interesting. Like the others, this was a visual novel that I knew nothing about, but read online that rather than being a traditional high school slice-of-life thing, this differentiated itself by being a same sex dating / relationship game, as well as including a mechanic that presents all decisions to the player as binary choices between 'instinct' and 'reason' as opposed to traditional dialogue choices.

The art was intriguing, and as I understand it there is a somewhat finished translation patch for the PC release. Maybe I'll give it a go one day? Or maybe I should just play the stack of actually translated Vita VNs on my shelf a go instead of grinding through stuff like this without thinking or engaging.

35. Lucky the Lucky Lizard Lives Again (Vita) - 18/06/19 - ~1 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

A high score chasing arcade type affair that looks as if it were made by one person in their bedroom as a coding homework before inexplicably appearing as a free to download title on PSN.

Audio visual design is dreadful, likely the base assets from a 'my first Unity project' starter pack, but the mechanics are a bit more interesting, like an inverse Mr Driller (you go up almost like Doodle Jump rather than drill down), using a Worms style Ninja Rope to propel yourself upwards from anchor point to anchor point.

Once I found the rhythm of the swinging mechanic I actually quite enjoyed playing. Not one I particularly recommend, even at the bargain cost of free, but if you've an hour to kill, maybe give it a look.

36. Cybarian: The Time Travelling Barbarian (Vita) - 18/06/19 - ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

A very good action platformer. It used a sort of Megaman style single room design, but with art and sound that put some in mind of Mega Drive / Genesis titles rather than NES era 8-bit games.

It rips off sound effects from Sonic and Knuckles, Streets of Rage, and possibly Gunstar Heroes wholesale, but it seems more in homage than as plagiarism.

The game revolves around an interesting sword combo mechanic. Your character can swing their sword three times in one combo, with surprisingly demanding timing required. Failure to hit this rhythm means you are stunned and open to attack. Dark Souls this isn't, BUT it's interesting to see this style of control coupled with the requirement to memorise enemy attack patterns in a 2D game of this style. Quite difficult overall, but very solid.

37. Accounting+ (PSVR) - 23/06/19 - ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

Firstly, if you're not into the surreal, conversational, often downright abrasive humour and writing of Justin Roiland, give this one a big miss.

If you're into it though, you're gonna have a great time in a game that repurposes some basic point and click adventure game rules and tropes into a 3D VR experience, not too dissimilar on paper to the Psychonauts VR game that came out a few years back.

Each 'stage' requires you to interact with offbeat characters and solve basic spatial and object based puzzles. Your first playthrough is likely to be short, but a combination of meta jokes, mechanics and narrative as well as clever 'hidden' trophy requirements makes sure that a 30 minute experience is easily stretched to a good few hours.

Graphically, the game is functional, but as always when using a VR headset, the sense of place immediately transcends any issues of fidelity - there's a reason why people love the Labo VR despite its inherent limitations.

Recommended.

38. Noby Noby Boy (PS3) - 29/06/19 - ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

One of the first things I picked up for my PS3, almost a decade ago. It's sat half finished over ten long years, begging to be played. It's a toybox really, with the trophy list helping to add a bit of structure of an otherwise largely directionless experience.

Despite its age, it still feels timeless, even if the esoteric control scheme rankles more now, for me at least, than it did on release.

39. Datura (PS3) - 29/06/19 - ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

No idea when I bought this. I imagine I was swayed by the PSN exclusivity since the 360 was my daily driver that generation. Either way, never got round to playing it until today.

A first person narrative puzzle game with a woolly morality system. It uses a hybrid contextual button / six axis gyro control scheme which is truly horrible, but also supported 3D TVs and the move controllers for a proto-VR experience. I imagine if I'd played this game in VR I would have enjoyed it a lot more, but seeing as a VR version doesn't exist,, that's just wishful thinking.

Gorgeous visuals though (ignoring the character models). This would have blown me away on release. Even if it's appeal is dulled somewhat by playing it this late in the day, he painterly texture work is still a real treat.

40. Ridge Racer (Vita) - 29/06/19 - ~22 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

Ridge Racer on the Vita is a fascinating look at how the industry believed gaming was moving around the time of the Vita's launch. Endless, mobile style connectivity. A dearth of content that could just be propped up with DLC later. A massive push for flashy graphics to play up the 'premium' nature of Sony's then coveted handheld.

This is a good game, because it's a Ridge Racer game. It is however a barebones affair that shipped with something ludicrous like three tracks, and a paltry selection of vehicles and music. All of these areas were addressed, but the main issue with the game remained: no outright single player mode, something made more galling by the the fact the earlier PSP entries had done this BRILLIANTLY.

I've played this game in dribs and drabs now for over 7 years. This is a testament to the core mechanical quality of what is, incredibly, the last mainline RR game at present, but also to how lacking the game still feels in content. My final trophies were for grinding an obscene amount of currency, and completing 50 three-lap time trials. Urghh.

#41-60

CURRENTLY PLAYING
Tetris 99 (Switch)
Ni No Kuni (DS)
Travis Strikes Back (Switch)
Clone Hero - hahahahaha (PC)

36. Castlevania (2 hours)
They are some parts, particularly in the second half of the game, that I would struggle to call fair. However, it's still a fun game with a cool gothic horror theme.

Full list to date

37. Hidden Folks (3 hours)
Translating Where's Waldo to the video game medium is admirable, but I found this game to be overwhelming, to be perfectly honest.

Full list to date

1. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix HD PS4
2. Kingdom Hearts III PS4
3. Devil May Cry HD PS4
4. Devil May Cry 2 HD PS4
5. Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered PS4
6. Doom 2016 PS4
7. The Last Guardian PS4
8. Crash Bandicoot Remastered PS4
9. Assassin's Creed Chronicles China PS4
10. Heavenly Sword PS3
11. Rage PS3
12. Crash Bandicoot 2 Remastered PS4
13. Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped Remastered PS4
14. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix HD PS4
15. Devil May Cry 3 HD PS4
16. A Plague Tale: Innocence PS4

Hitting that point where I'm falling behind. Mostly doing this to see how many games i end up playing, but i'll be honest, the numbers are very enticing.

#15. Katan Zero: Bought it on the recomendation of a friend and despite the cliff hangery ending, I just dug the raw style of this game. Tunes were good, themes were good, the weird greek play angle was good. lots of stuff I dug about this that only really takes a blow with its last minute.

#16. Ace Attorney: Another recommended by a friend. Super enjoyed it. Weird to see where Danganrompa got all of its inspiration from. Extra weird to see what Danganrompa improved upon in terms of gameplay too. It was a bit rough here and there but i can't lie if the charm didn't win me over. Also that cornered theme. God dam am I going to be listening to that for a bit in the future.

#17. Halo Wars: Always meant to play this but never got around. The campaign is fun and honestly, I had way better control with the xbox controller than I thought. That said, very unit spammy. I'd do a few combinations but it would mostly be spamming the Hornets and that got me through the bulk of missions. Really it mostly just made me want to get into those old Halo books.

Main Post

11. Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies - Finished on 5/12/2019 Time: ~35 hours

Really good AA game. The three protagonists made it a real treat to go through the story. At first I didn't like Athena that much, but it changed in the course of the game. Apollo looked really cool with the bandages and Phonix has his characteristic goofiness. I surely will play the next mainline title

Coming up: Just bought AC Odyssey in the sale and downloaded the monthly PS plus games so I will play something of those.

Another 10 games completed. (I honestly wasn't expecting to have this next list out so quickly, but I had a little free time and went a little overboard with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection.)

Main Post

31: Sonic The Hedgehog 1 (Start: & End: 4/28/2019)

I had felt the urge to replay this game when rumors were preparing us for a trailer for the movie. Those rumors were true (but I digress). This game is still holds up reasonably well, although some of the changes made to the franchise do make this a weird one to go back to (only 6 Chaos Emeralds, no Super Sonic, etc.).

Played as part of Sega Genesis Classics on Switch.

32: Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Special Edition (Start: 4/25/2019. End: 4/29/2019)

My DMC marathon continued with the last game on the DMC HD Collection. This game was definitely a much better game than its predecessor, and it's easy to see why DMC stayed a thing even after 2.

Played on PSNow.

33: Devil May Cry 4 (Start: 5/2/2019. End: 5/11/2019)

I continued my DMC marathon with the 4th game. And it's a fine game. Although I did have a particularly negative experience when it crashed on me (and not because of my internet, which was working at the time). I didn't now PSNow games could do that. (I beat it the next day.)

Played on PSNow.

34: Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition (Start: 4/22/2019. End: 5/14/2019)

Confession time, I actually did play the original Vesperia on 360, but I fell out with this series after this entry. And it's not because I dislike it or anything (I actually think this is a great RPG). But I have been thinking about getting back into it. And I think this is the perfect note to come back to Tales with. Also, playing relatively modern RPGs without fast forward takes awhile.

Played on PS4.

35: Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Start: 5/16/2019. End: 5/18/2019)

One of the last "major" Resident Evil games I had never beaten before (I never played it before). I decided to correct that. The episodic nature and auto-save only feature weren't as much of a problem as I thought they might be. It's been interesting playing through these different types of RE games this year. Definitely curious as to where the series goes from here. (Also, Claire remains my fave RE protag.)

Played on PS4.

36: Kid Dracula (Start & End: 5/18/2019)

I'd never played Kid Dracula before. So I made it the first game I went through when I began playing the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. This is an odd game, and it is actually easy to understand why Konami passed on it all those years ago. Still fun, though.

Played as part of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on Switch.

37: Castlevania: The Adventure (Start & End: 5/18/2019)

My Castlevania streak continued with this game, another Castlevania I had never played before. I had heard it wasn't very good, and I can confirm that I agree with that assessment.

Played as part of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on Switch.

38: Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Start & End: 5/18/2019)

My Castlevania streak continued with yet another Castlevania I had never played before. Probably one of the biggest improvements to a sequel I had played since... DMC 3, lol. But seriously, it is absolutely shocking to me how much better this game is to its predecessor.

39: Super Castlevania IV (Start & End: 5/18/2019)

My Castlevania streak continued with a game I had beaten before (several times, in fact). I honestly didn't want to play too many of the same games I played in 2018, but I couldn't stop myself from playing Super Castlevania IV again.

Played as part of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on Switch.

40: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Start & End: 5/19/2019)

New Day, New Game. I decided to break up the Castlevania streak with a playthrough of Sonic 2. I had been meaning to go through this one again after the first one, and after the movie trailer. And while I did enjoy my time with the first game, I think its sequel is even better. It's easy to see why Sonic was Mario's Rival back in the day with a game like this. (Too bad that streak didn't last.)

Played as part of Sega Genesis Classics on Switch.

Alright time for the biweekly update, I'm running out of short games lol. No replays this week.
Original post here

21. Super Mario Land 2: Six Gold Coins (Game Boy) | 4th May - 2hrs | 3/5
Super Mario Land is one of my favorite Game Boy games and one of my favorite 2D Mario games. This... just isn't as good. The vibes are off for me. I like that it embraces the weirdness that Mario Land 1 started, but it goes too far in a few ways. I hate the slightly too large sprites that you see in a lot of Game Boy games. It's not a bad length and there are some good ideas, but the vibes are so off that it comes across as like a Mario fan game to me and I just can't get invested in it too much. That said it's objectively pretty good, just not my favorite.

22. Super Castlevania IV (SNES) | 11th May - 4hrs | 4/5
I love the vibes of this game. I think it has arguably the best realized world in the series, and there's something special about Simon going by himself to murder Dracula that is really special to me. People say it's too easy because the whip is so long, but I don't think it's that long. The difference is that all of the sprites are larger so it seems to reach further. I have some issues with how large the sprites are, as there can be some annoyingly difficult sections where you'll die because you got clipped by a small fire ball above the wrong pit, and it's a little slow, but it's mostly just a good time. The music hits in the last stage are amazing 10/10 stuff, and the final Dracula fight is the best.

23. Castlevania (NES) | 13th May - 3hrs | 5/5
This is the first time I've ever tried to get good enough at this game to get past the Medusas in stage 2, and omg it's amazing. The controls are perfect. The music is amazing. It has the Simon vs Dracula 1 on 1 story I love. The game is just the right length where you can blow through it when you gotta stratch that itch. Whew. It definitely left me wanting more and actually made me go back and lower my Super IV score in retrospect. And all on their first try too.

24. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PS4) | 15th May - 2hrs | 4/5
Similar to Castlevania, I bought this on release and never got past the first level. The more I played the more I was impressed. The way they incorporate all four of the characters and the way their abilities can combine and build off of each other was really clever, and the music and enemy designs were very good if not great. The final level really elevated it for me, I love how much of an escalation it is. I'm still not sold on the alchemist/gems stuff or whatever but I'm more excited for Ritual of the Night now.

25. Akumojō Special: Boko Dracula-kun (NES) | 17th May - 3 hrs | 2/5
I was pretty disappointed by this. It's a good idea, but it's really sluggish for some reason (when Castlevania was already done so well on the same console) and it definitely goes on far too long. The music was pretty grating too, and sitting through the minigame stuff after each level took wayyyy too long. It was fun to fight Spiderman I guess.

26. Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis) | 18th May - 2hrs | 2/5
This was for sure one of the biggest disappointments of the list so far, and it was the reason I bought the PS4 Castlevania collection. It just feels so... off. I like how you can swing kick with the whip. I like that the candles that give you subweapons only have one flame. I like almost nothing else. Similar to Mario Land 2, it just feels like an off-brand knock off of a real Castlevania game and it's one of the most visually dated games I've played in a while. I'm pretty glad it seems to be largely forgotten.

27. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy) | 18th May - 2hrs | 3/5
It's crazy how much of an improvement this was over The Adventure. It covers similar areas and themes with the same character but basically does all of it better. That being said I didn't think it was anything special. It's still too slow (although that makes sense since Christopher is like 50 or whatever) and I personally dislike the Castlevania games that do globetrotting stuff instead of just sticking to Dracula's Castle. But it's a good length and I recommend trying it at least once.

28. Kid Dracula (Game Boy) | 18th May - 2hrs | 3/5
This is basically the Belmont's Revenge to the Famicom game's The Adventure. It basically does the same thing but better across the board. It controls better, the pacing is better, they removed or tweaked the most annoying sections. There's some good stuff where it subverts expectations based on the assumption that you played the first game as well. It's good!

Next up:
Castlevania the Adventure: Rebirth
Simon's Quest
Castlevania III
Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance

Long term games:
Pokemon Crystal
Twilight Princess Picross
Picross Round 2

Weekly update 20!

Just one finished game this week even tho I have been playing more than most weeks. The other games just refuse to end.


45. Lara Croft GO (iOS) | 13th May - 5hrs | 5/5



_____________

Master Post!

38. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (4 hours)
So long as you're playing with a walkthrough handy, this is a very fun version of Transylvania to explore. The easier difficulty of combat certainly helps.

Full list to date

Main Post
Game #29: Hades (PC)

The Binding of Hades

Picked this game up for pretty damn cheap on the Epic Store sale, its important to note the game is still in Early Access and is getting new updates.
The game is fun and if you enjoy the previous games from the team I think you will really enjoy it. Personally I would have preferred a game more in line with the older ones
instead of it becoming rouge like. That being said unlike something like Binding of Isaac that sets you completely fresh every time you die, Hades instead lets you build up your character with each death
making it easier and more natural to progress deeper and deeper into the game.

The game is filled with lovely art and some pretty fun gameplay, worth a pick up for sure especially during the current sale.

Game #30: Mordhau (PC)

Chivalry is dead

Mordhau is a first (or third) person combat game where you are placed in the age of knights, it has quite a few modes, tons of weapons and armour which can lead to a ton of fun.
If you are a fan of the previous game similar to this Chivalry then I think you will definitely enjoy this game.

The current price may be a little high unless you know you are into these games but I think it could be worth it. At sale price later this year it can definitely be something worth looking into.
for now I wait for some buddies to get on so we can mess around again in some free for all shenanigans.

Game #31: Final Fantasy XIV (PC)

A Multiplayer Fantasy

So more recently I have desperately wanted an MMO to get into as its been a while since one really hooked me, and the wait for WOW Classic (at least to try it) is brutal.
Its a fun game and has a pretty decent trial version you can play and try it out. Not sure how much more ill play it but thats more due to things happening outside of the game, it has scratched my current mmo itch
and is for sure one you should consider if you are looking into getting into a new mmo. The game is also getting a new expansion in 2 months for those curious about what the future of the game looks like.

35. One Finger Death Punch 2

Main campaign cleared. There are a few difficult stages left but I've beaten much of the main campaign's stages to be satisfied.

36. Mirror's Edge
Neat fps platformer adventure game. Later stages got more frustrating esp. if you mistime your jumps but the overall game really felt satsifying.

Master Post

42. Rage 2 - One of those swimming in 7's game. Really great combat while everything else is mediocre at best. I wanted to like the characters, but they're basically just there to move what little story there is along. Clearing out a bandit camp is really satisfying with all the options at your disposal.