Did 70+ last year, I'll take part in this year's as well.
JANUARY
Game 01: Yooka-Laylee - 4/5 - 24:48 hours (09/01/2018)
Got all pagies, achievements and beat Capital B. The biggest problem is that the game tries way too hard to ape Banjo, way too hard, yet it doesn't really have the charm and personality to compete: it borrows simply too much. The menus are reskinned Banjo-Kazooie menus, same with the the dialogue boxes and most of the moves, Yooka has the same exact personality of Banjo, Laylee has the exact same personality of Kazooie, etc.; they could've borrowed things from the past while reworking and modernizing them at the same time: the game simply doesn't stand on its own, it's too much of a homage that it ends up lacking identity. The gameplay is in-between Tooie and Kazooie, worlds are bigger than those of the former but filled better than in the latter. The first world falls kinda flat, not that inspired or visually appealing, especially with how empty it was before the expansion, the second one is way more interesting and has cool lighting and atmosphere, the fifth one is amazing in terms of creativity and variety of challenges, the third one is a little too dark and samey, while the fourth one, which I thought I'd hate due to the pre-release vids, I liked a lot, you can see the improvements and I appreciated the unique mechanic. Graphically the game is nothing exceptional: some textures are legit worse than N64 Banjo ones and the art direction is all over the place, with very generic effects, yet super curated NPCs, janky animations, but smooth frame rate. I also encountered several bugs and glitches and the last move you learn really breaks the game: you can bypass half the platforming challenges with it and travel beyond the usual scope of the levels... to meet your doom by going out of bounds. In 2017 the many invisible barriers and going out of bounds using an in-game mechanic signify really poor design, especially since there are super hidden collectibles not even tracked in the menus, that you're not incentivized to search, because you never know where you can truly go. The hub in particular lacks a unique atmosphere, the OST alternates between great and mediocre and the arcade games are trash. That said, the characters quickly grow on you with each encounter, useless doctor aside, and the expanding mechanic kinda works. Also the levels are very rich and feel much more adventurous than those of other 3D platformers, like Super Mario Odyssey, that are built around platforming, more open-ended and give out rewards like sweets. It's a game clearly stuck between past and present, but I had plenty of fun after the initial shock; going in with lowered expectations helped a lot, I guess. I think Playtonic learned a lot from making the game and their next project will turn out much better thanks to this one.
Game 02: Human: Fall Flat [with friend] - 3/5 - 07:54 hours (21/01/2018)
Reached the credits, got more than half the achievements. Physics based puzzles have reached a prominent presence in videogames ever since Half-Life 2 release, so they could risk to be obvious or overplayed, but it goes to the game's merit that I found them fresh and unique instead; of course, there are a few box on switch ones, but the vast majority are fun to tackle and feel new. When the game starts you feel clumsy and lost, due to the sparse environments floating in the sky, the eerie atmosphere permeating the world and the way you control your featureless humanoid blob; soon though, you'll master the movements and you'll be introduced to the most important mechanics: climbing and clinging. Everything is seamlessly built around these two mechanics and your interactions with the environmental props you find in each level: from simple buttons, levers and sticks, passing by swinging lanterns, wooden carts and electric wires, to reach rowing boats, forklifts, catapults and even a cargo ship, all elements operated by hand and adhering to physics. The levels themselves, especially the later ones, are structured in an open way, with different possible routes and plenty of shortcuts and skips, hidden with various degrees of secrecy; this makes the game feel like a sandbox to play in and has you feel rewarded for figuring out the smartest and quickest way to pass an obstacle. The presentation of the game is cubic and polygonal, with simple colours and a flat, cartoon like, shading, the game lacks any kind of narrative, besides a few maxims in the intro, the music rears its head seldom, when you enter new areas, and has a misterious vibe; that coupled with the dreamscape-like levels, give an enigmatic air to the game. A game not very varied in its content, very focused on what it tries to do, which succeeds in presenting it in a compelling way.
Game 03: SteamWorld Dig 2 - 3/5 - 12:05 hours (23/01/2018)
Finished the story, got all treasures and gears/unlockables, even though you have to grind enemies quite a bit for money in the end, which is a shame. The adventure feels more structured and variegated than what the first game offered, with long randomly generated shafts alternating with meticulously designed challenges and sections. The story covers the gap between Dig and Heist, offering some narrative interconnections, but nothing more, besides being set in the same awesome steambot world. The main character and her interactions with NPCs are surely more interesting than what Rusty could offer, the game feels more like an adventure with many different chapters. The presentation is very similar to the prequel, but more colourful, the music is nice, but simply background noise. The customization and gear system is where the game gets addictive and rewarding: you unlock new upgrades, that need more gears to be equipped, so you search for more gears and you get more money to buy new equipment at the same time, and the cycle continues; an excellent gameplay loop that sucks you in and won't let you go. The new traversal options are also interesting, but the last one in particular renders traversal trivial, and in general, by the end of the game you feel simply too overpowered. The main gripe I have with the game is that it's simply a better structured "more of the same", with a super rushed and unsatisfying conclusion, but damn if the journey isn't addictive.
Game 04: Professor Layton Vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 4/5 - 39:42 hours (25/01/2018)
Solved all the mysteries of Labyrinthia, went through all the extra episodes. The beginning is a bit shocking, with the two artstyles and worlds clashing together: the cartoony and lighthearted one of Layton and the serious yet comic one of Wright. After that initial shock though, the two sides of the game mesh well together, and you soon forget the main characters are from different series, especially since they're thrown in a new setting, new to both cast of characters, that acts as a middle-ground where everyone can acceptably exist, with an artstyle that takes bits from both worlds. The structure of the game doesn't manage to achieve that same mix: the Layton sections and Ace Attorney sections are clearly confined and autosufficient: the overworld travel plays like a Layton game, the brief investigations and the trials play straight out of an Ace Attorney game. This brings forth a problem: sometimes you'll wish to solve some riddles, yet you'll be locked in a long trial section, some other times the opposite will happen; almost nothing of Layton leaks in the Ace Attorney parts, absolutely nothing of Ace Attorney leaks in the Layton sections. The end result is that the Layton part of the game feels much more underwhelming than the Ace Attorney one: the puzzles are all but a few action based, unlike previous games, so it's a matter of moving things until you get it right, instead of guessing the correct answer: there's way less tension involved; the Ace Attorney part is much more tense, offers an interesting, albeit underdeveloped, new mechanic with the multiple witnesses and offers more depth (but still require some weird leaps of logic at times, as usual for Ace Attorney). This is also due to the fact that Layton's characters are pretty monotone and stereotypical, with the professor and Luke being the most boring of the bunch, while the Ace Attorney cast and the original characters are more layered, quirky and offer some needed comic relief: it's a case of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, where it's easier to get attached to the unlucky, more human character. The plot is more akin to a Layton game, and it's definitely better than most of Layton's stories and setting; the game succeeds in making you care about the characters, and even though there are some super obvious twists, that you see coming miles away, the conclusion has you on the edge of your seat. The special downloadble episodes are bonkers in terms of writing but super fun to read. In the end the adventure is a successful joint of two series that you play side by side, but don't mix at all mechanically.
Game 05: The Sexy Brutale - 4/5 - 09:00 hours (27/01/2018)
Completed the game andgot all achievements. I'm a fan of time mechanics, so I loved the game, despite the clear lack of complexity put into the few puzzles. What stands out in the game is rather the characters and beautiful setting, which are perfectly contextualized through the collectibles you find, that give access to lots of interesting background information. Every element of the game feels in its right place and is given an explanation as for why it is there and it does what it does; discovering the meaning of these elements little by little, through your own gameplay achievements, is super rewarding and feels natural: it's like unraveling an incredibly messy tangle. The environments are marvelous pre-rendered artworks interwoven with polygonal elements, and surrounded by a bombastic jazz soundtrack, that changes and adapts to the various sections of the mansion. The plot is pretty simple in the end, but it's charming to see how each chess piece fall into place by freely acting through the twelve allotted hours; the devs successfully try to lure the player into believing in several wrong outcomes, but the ending doesn't feel forced or bad due to that. The theme of the game, once again, like in Rime, is grief, its overcoming and the acceptance of your own past wrongdoings, a point that comes across quite well. A timed adventure with plenty of character and charisma to sell.
Game 06: Lume - 2/5 - 01:30 hours (27/01/2018)
Returned the power back on. Short interactive adventure with puzzles that go from hyper easy to maddening: you go from connecting a few circuits, identifying objects from their shadow and using a few items, to cyphers and the frustratingly obtuse hidden numbers puzzle. The adventure is clearly thought to be nothing more than a bite sized flash game, but the difficulty level is all over the place, hampering the enjoyment of the lovely handmade pre-rendered cardboard backgrounds.
Game 07: Chibi-Robo! - 5/5 - 24:20 hours (28/01/2018)
Got to the end of the story, found all stickers. In the beginning you feel quite lost and you end up wandering somewhat aimlessly, due to the rather cumbersome controls, unexplained mechanics and obtuse game structure: you keep working towards trivial tasks, such as cleaning stains and throwing garbage, in a vastly inaccessible world, which is far too bigger than you, without an obvious objective in reach or in the distance. This soon changes as you get comfortable with the reward-based progression system, the day/night cycle and the way exploration works. The gameplay loop shows its face and works just fine: you clean to get rewards, which are in turn used to increase the distance you can traverse to explore, so that you can clean even more and so on. Exploring has you meet the vast cast of crazy characters, who are the main dish of the adventure; in fact the house that's the setting of the game is gaming's version of Toy Story's house: all the toys are alive and personality-wise would feel at home in a psychiatric ward. You're quickly deep into their stories, trying to help them solve their personal problems, while also keeping up the exploration and the householding. What's interesting is that you're never quite certain if what you achieve serves to progress the main plot forward or if you're just playing into one of the countless sidequests: the various parts of the game are interwoven seamlessly. The game opens up with the introduction of more and more weird characters, the structure of the game feels truly organic and new things happen all the time, without you ever noticing what triggered them: you can get a cutscene simply by entering a room at a certain moment, you may find a character in an unexpected place or stumble upon new tasks simply due to the game's inner cycle of "events" having place periodically. The most surprising fact is that you never end up roaming around in search for new things to do until the very end of the game, when going for 100%, and there's only one instance of a cryptic progression element you have to trigger three quarters of the game in, needed to put the last piece of the main plot in motion. The longer you spend with the quirky cast, the less time you'll spend actually cleaning: the rewards for helping the characters, progressing the story and exploring are much heftier, and you'll honestly be curious about how each toy's problems will reach a final resolution. Exploration is done by degrees, you always get a bit more but not everything at once, due to the time and battery limit, making you come back to go further and further. It's fun to search for new paths in this colossal, yet cozy, setting, to wonder how to get to something high up, only to be caught by surprise by unlocking the actual way to do it through an item or a character changing something. The plot itself is simplistic but doesn't really need to be anything other than that, there's fun to be had in following the daily lives of the toys and family members, there's no need for some bigger, complicated storylines; the conclusion feels nice and adequate to the adventure, giving you a sense of closure but leaving you the option to do more if you want to. Speaking of which, there's a massive amount of tasks to perform, missions to accomplish and collectibles to find: the game gets significantly lengthier if you try to do everything, but loses some steam by the endpoint. The sound department features mostly happy go lucky music and upbeat sound effects; one fantastic idea put into the game is that each material you walk on and each action you perform with an item results in a distinct but abnormally musical sound, as if you're composing the soundtrack itself with your actions. Graphically the game holds up to this day, mostly thanks to the low-polygon, clean looking approach: everything is blocky but super solid in appearance, with vibrant colours and simple yet distinctive animations. I was blown away by how different the game is from everything, and how full of content it is, still managing to make the process of playing through that content always fun and interesting in new charming ways.
Game 08: Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut - 3/5 - 04:06 hours (31/01/2018)
Concluded the campaign, found all secrets, tried and got a few golds on time trials. A short first person puzzle adventure that borrows heavily from Portal for the setting and structure, with inventive physics based cube puzzles that feel a little more rigid than usual. The puzzles themselves strike a perfect balance between boring and complex, I've never felt frustrated, but still felt I achieved something when I completed them; new mechanics are costantly introduced and seamlessly linked with previous ones. The environments are all too familiar and don't change much till the very end, and even then they're still far too samey; that's in part probably due to the low budget, but in part surely due to the need of keeping the atmosphere oppressive and alien throughout the whole game. The plot starts as the same old trite "you're imprisoned/stranded, you have no memory and someone's lying to you", but the ending subverts all expectations in a clever, unexpected way; the voice over is nicely done and, especially in the ending, it really brings the point across. A cool take on the genre that doesn't try anything too innovative.
FEBRUARY
Game 09: The Silent Age [with friend] - 3/5 - 05:24 hours (02/02/2018)
Stopped the never-ending cycle. The various chapters the game's divided in don't all feature the same quality and difficulty, you can single out the ones without any time traveling as being particularly weak: the puzzles in the game are all rather obvious, bar a few, but that's mostly masked by the time jump element, which makes them appear more complex than they actually are. The voice acting is par for the course and doesn't add much to the experience; the same applies to the insignificant characters, but not to the plot, which is at least interesting and offers a few hooks that keep you playing to see what's next. The problem lies in how the whole storyline resolves and in how everything lacks internal coherence: time traveling and time paradoxes are treated with clear superficiality, and the developers never seem to get their minds straight about casuality and possibility to change a timeline or not. The presentation is clean and somewhat minimalistic, the soundtrack haunting, the settings scarcely populated and giving off a sense of dread, especially in the future time period. A game which joins traditional point and click adventure gameplay with an interesting time traveling twist, without reaching new heights.
Game 10: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Remastered - 5/5 - 11:25 hours (09/02/2018)
Saved the world, found a little more than half the treasures. Having never played this game, that was so influential for the HD era of gaming, I was surprised by how mild the cinematic aspects are in the end. I thought the game would've been cut-scene after cut-scene, being hardly in control through lots of long set pieces and so on, but I was proved very wrong. The pace of the adventure follows an incredibly natural rhythm, with explorative sections, where you climb and solve puzzles, alternating to shooting parts and everything sewn together tightly by by well directed cut-scenes. In comparison to the first title in the series the shooting sections have more of a coherent and interesting direction: each time you're in a gun fight there's something slightly different and the environments always offer clever ways to do away with the enemies. Another improvement is that the unending hordes of enemies coming at you in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune have been toned down: encounters are much more meaningful and less aimless as a result, even though late game features too many bullet sponges, and the pace of the game slows down a lot due to it. The climbing feels a little more free-form and less restrained, the collectibles are mostly placed in interesting places and it's nice to pause, look around and scan your surroundings to find the route you have to follow to progress. The characters are well crafted, both the returning cast and the new additions, bar the main baddie, who's disappointingly stereotypical and clashes with the rest; it's also cool the way your allies alternate a lot between chapters, keeping the banter fresh. The plot is grounded in reality till the conclusion, not unlike the first Uncharted, nothing exceptional but still serviceable, it's the script that shines instead, also thanks to a stellar cast of voice actors. During the campaign the player visits some awe inducing locales: beatiful cities, marvelous natural sites, cryptic architectures from the past, which are highlighted by the great visuals, still holding up pretty well from a technical standpoint, but lacking in art direction in some areas. Everything comes together in armony, underlined by a majestic orchestral score, giving off the sense you're really on a long globe-trotting adventure with long-time friends.
Game 11: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light [with friend] - 4/5 - 05:29 hours (15/02/2018)
Completed the game, got lots of relics, weapons and artifacts. So, the game has basically nothing to share with the "Tomb Raider" series, aside from Lara herself, who feels shoehorned into an adventure that isn't hers; that said, the game could very well stand on its own, without Lara as a protagonist. In fact the level design is surprisingly great, the puzzles challenging till the end and the top-down twin stick shooter gunplay engaging enough. Each character has its personal skills that must be joined with those of the other co-protagonist in a continous collaboration, to overcome the various obstacles blocking your way; sometimes a puzzle can even have more than a single solution. The graphics are serviceable, as is the sound design, the enemy design is particularly uninspired though. There are collectibles and points to rake up, so to incentivize re-playing a level, as well as tim,e attacks. The plot is terribly cliché and has no redeeming qualities, you may as well skip the cut-scenes completely, but that's not the focus of the game anyway. A surprisingly good adventure mixing puzzles and action, at least in co-op, the single player is duller and more "cumbersome".
MARCH
Game 12: Sara Is Missing - 2/5 - around 1 hour (??/03/2018)
Got to the end. Brief little horror game, has some kinda creepy moments but nothing too out there. A nice diversion with a "reality show" take on the genre.
Game 13: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Remastered - 4/5 - xx:xx hours (24/03/2018)
Finished the story. The game has the problem of keeping to close to its predecessors, both mechanics-wise and in terms of plot progression: the shooting gameplay is exactly the same, bar the fact they tried to address the bullet sponge problem the second game had during its later acts, mostly by introducing different, weird types of enemies, the story has the same highs and lows of the previous installments as well, and is completed by a rather obvious ending and few telegraphed plot twists. The graphics are still very inspired, the voice acting still om point, and some of the acts really stand out, like the young Drakes segments, the cruise ship and the desert ruins. While trying a few new things, especially location and story--wise, Drake's third adventure fails to live-up to its excellent prequel.
APRIL
Game 14: Golf Story - 3/5 - 19:54 hours (07/04/2018)
Reached the ending, got all story collectibles. Everything in this game is solved though golf, in fact, even though there are many different takes on the main mechanic (disc golf, galf, mini golf, etc.), maybe the game relies too much on the same set of skills. That's why one of the principal problems becomes the length of the campaign itself: after a banging start, things begin to grind to a halt and quests keep repeting themselves, with every new course having only a fairly inoffensive gimmick to set itself apart from the others. Things change a little with the last few courses, in particular with the haunted cemetery and the murder mystery detour, but aren't enough to fight the monotony. That said, the game offers plenty of content to play with if you love the golf mechanics. The plot is simple but elevated by the very humorous writing and by the weird situations you end up in; the characters are very hit and miss, with a few more developed ones, while the biggest part is made up by one note caricatures. The graphics are cartoony and loveable, the music apt and relaxing. One of the biggest disappointments has to be the experience system, together with the relatively few role playing elements: the scarce equipment you get has no stats, when you pump up your power your other stats decrease proportionally, forcing you to keep putting points in stuff you don't care about only to avoid big disadvantages, the amount of money and exp you get isn't really that accurate to the feats you accomplish, and that's it: the game's pretty much a funny golf journey with the extremely light RPG elements.
Game 15: God of War II - Remastered - 5/5 - xx:xx hours (22/04/2018)
Completed Kratos' quest for vengeance. Let's start with the plot, which is mostly laughable and can be summed up to: "argh, revenge"; that goes hand in hand with Kratos and how one-dimensional and little characterized he is as a protagonist. That said, the game's a blast: great action combat that make you always feel in control, without exceeding in complexity, well paced with explorative sections and balanced with nice environmental puzzles. The locations are one of the highlights of the game: never boring, never clichè, always imaginative and unique in their composition and aesthetic. Another strong aspect is the enemy design and the individual interactions you can have with them, especially when using finishing moves. There's way too many QTEs for my tastes; at the time of release they were just brought back by Shenmue, so it's understandable if there are so numerous, but they're definitely overplayed. The bosses are hit or miss, with the human ones in particular being underwhelming, while the monstrous ones are more cleverly implemented. The game is of a perfect length not to get repetitive, the graphics are old but stand the test of time thanks to a careful art direction, the sound design is ace. A cohesive package that never bores and costantly engages with the player in new, interesting ways.
Game 16: Ratchet & Clank (2016) - 3/5 - around 12:00 hours (29/04/2018)
Reached the credits, got all weapons and collectibles. A nice reimagining of the first game, though unbalanced towards the action and shooting gameplay of the "Future" series, rather than the platforming of the original. The graphics are top notch, both artistically and technically: it feels as if you're literally playing an animated CG movie; in fact there are a few scenes from the movie itself interwoven with the gameplay and normal cutscenes. The plot feels a tad too basic and streamlined, with less side characters and worlds to visit than the original, worlds that also feel too straightforward and samey at times. The shooting mechanics work almost flawalessly, too bad for the Groovitron, that is simply broken, letting you keep the enemies, bosses as well, on a long standstill while you empty your weapons on them; that lessens the already low base difficulty: it's a game that has to be played on hard if one wants a slight challenge. The card system adds very little to the gameplay and I didn't appreciate that you can't fully power-up the weapon on your first playthrough. A beautiful remake of a classic that has been rushed through the gates.
Game 17: New Super Luigi U [with friend] - 4/5 - 13:44 hours (29/04/2018)
Found all exits and got a five star savefile! Very different yet similar to its "Mario" counterpart, the level design aims at brevity with pretty straightforward obstacle courses, with little deviations and few secrets: you're almost always on the run, fostering a feeling of excitement and heightening your reflexes. The co-op could feel worse due to the stress put on rapidity, but thanks to well paced levels and the introduction of Nabbit, a vastly different character for player two, I've had less troubles than in the original title. The amount of content, for what is basically a standalone DLC, is staggering: dozens upon dozens of new levels, which are modified versions of the classic ones, but still different enough to be satisfying, secret exits and collectible coins. A super enjoyable, unusually quick paced, Mario platformer.