What games did you complete? 2023 Edition

[Quest]

I finished off another load of games but had to abandon that Lego Star Wars Saga because it was so boring. Perhaps I'll write some nonsense about them all later. We'll see. 

 

02/02 - Hi-Fi Rush (Series X) 

06/02 - Pentiment (Series X)

07/02 - Liberation Maiden (3DS)

09/02 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Switch)

09/02 - Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) 

10/02 - Ape Escape 2001 (PS2)

 

Currently Playing:

Splatoon 3 (Switch)

Bullet Witch (360)

Hazelnut Hex (Switch)

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA)

 

2023 List:

Spoiler

10/02 - Ape Escape 2001 (PS2)

09/02 - Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) 

09/02 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Switch)

07/02 - Liberation Maiden (3DS)

06/02 - Pentiment (Series X)

02/02 - Hi-Fi Rush (Series X) 

28/01 - Radical Rabbit Stew (Switch)

27/01 - Wheels of Aurelia (Mac)

26/01 - Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (Switch)

25/01 - Martial Law (Mac)

25/01 - Final Vendetta (Mac)

25/01 - HUNTDOWN (Switch)

23/01 - Haven Park (Mac)

20/01 - Cryohazard (Game Boy)

19/01 - Goof Troop (SNES)

18/01 - Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Series X)

17/01 - UnderDungeon (Switch)

12/01 - Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX (PS5)

12/01 - Star Parodier (PC Engine CD-ROM²)

11/01 - Franken (Mac)

10/01 - Novena (Bitsy)

09/01 - The Council (PS4)

06/01 - FAR: Lone Sails (Switch)     

05/01 - Z-Warp (Switch)

04/01 - Chicory: A Colourful Tale (PS5)

 

[thesnwmn]

  Hide contents

1 - 04/01 - Stacklands (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

2 - 05/01 - Patrick's Parabox (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

3 - 09/01 - FixFox (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

4 - 10/01 - Lego Builder's Journey (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

5 - 13/01 - Pentiment (XBox/Steam Deck via XCloud) [post]

6 - 15/01 - Baba Is You (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

7 - 17/01 - Citizen Sleeper (PC/Steam Deck via XCloud) [post]

8 - 23/01 - Lara Croft Go (PC/Steam Deck) [post]

9 - 02/02 - Hi-Fi Rush (Xbox) [post]

10 - 07/02 - Last Campfire (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

 

Doubling up today

 

11 - 10/02 - Dorfromantik (Steam Deck/PC)

 

This is one of those games it's hard to define when you've "completed" it. I was playing this a lot for a number of weeks in the second half of last year and then pulled myself away from it. I put it in my game of the year last year but I've gone back this week looking for a satisfying mix of puzzle game and fidget spinner to relax with in the evening. And it utterly excels at this.

 

Such an utterly lovely place to be for anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours. I find myself engrossed in the beautiful hexagonal landscapes I've created. The faint music, subtle sound effects, clean and gorgeous art, soft colour palette and perfectly pitched gameplay just make time pass in the blink of an eye.

 

This week I've been mixing my play between the basic play and hunting some achievements to increase the level of challenge. This might seem at odds with the relaxing experience but for the most part they just tweak your focus whilst playing and don't change it beyond recognition. As it stands I've got all but 5. I'll polish off one of them over time but the other 4 really change the way you have to play (preventing tile rotation and requiring only perfect edge matches) that they eliminate all of the chill from the experience.

 

I don't think I'm entirely done of course. It'll stay installed on my deck for the odd game here or there when I want to escape something more anxiety inducing or taxing.

 

But what a game. If you want your next relaxed puzzle addiction then this could be it.

 

 

12 - 10/02 - Season: A Letter To The Future (Steam Deck/PC)

 

I'd not seen anything of this until the Edge 9 but the moment I saw the graphics and heard the concept I was hooked on the idea and happy I'd only found out about it so close to release. I'm starting to wish nothing was shown more than a month before release. Think I'd be a much happier gamer.

 

A very sedate narrative adventure where you leave home with a polaroid camera, sound recorder, pencil and a sketch book and set out to discover and document the world before the end of the "season". What a season is or represents isn't clear but you understand it to be a change over which knowledge, memories and people may be lost.

 

With your mission to record the world for prosperity you get on your bike and explore a broadly empty world. Photographing signs and signs of life. Recording the sounds of the world. Drawing the down right gorgeous vistas. Mechanically it's sound. The navigation isn't perfect but it did me well enough. The bike wasn't great, bad not as some reviews made out: I still had some lovely journeys, sweeping down hills and over bridges. The camera is functional if a bit limited. I am glad it doesn't go overboard but maybe a few more filters or ways to be playful with it would be appreicated.

 

With all your photos, sketches, quotes and collected artefacts you fill in a journal. Pages dedicated to each place that you visit. Each little mystery you encounter. I enjoyed this process although it is quite limited. Little things like the fact all photos are polaroid style with the wide white borders (thicker at the bottom) make arrangement worse than I'd like (let me choose the border maybe between none or polaroid). Still, I loved flicking through the pages as I went along.

 

Along the way you meet a few characters and discuss their past, their present and their future. None of these outstayed their welcome and some brought genuine smiles to my face as they told me their tales. Your final two encounters are particular highs.

 

It's a twee game. I don't think it's really as profound as it might want you to think and is probably too on the nose for some. But it is a quiet and reflective experience and one I've massively enjoyed for the 11 hours I've spent with it.

 

Two problems...

1. After finishing the game you cannot reload and re-read your completed journal. It just plays the credits. Real missed opportunity. It should give you the option to view it. Maybe even export it as images or a PDF.
    
2. The developer has some questionable history. [1/10 - Wired]. I wasn't aware of it until after I bought the game and went searching for a thread on here. The reporting is a few years old now and some measures were taken but how do you ever really know if things are better? What does it mean even if they are? Does fixing the issues now mean the issues from the start of its development don't matter?

 

 

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Contlade - Normal, 1cc

 

Spoiler

Cotton Rock n Roll -Superlative Night Dreams- (PC) - normal 1cc, cotton, appli, tacoot, luffee, fine

Fantasy Zone (arcade) - 1cc (2-4)

U.N. Squadron (arcade) - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (GB)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GBA)

Zed Blade (arcade) - Easy, 1cc

Harmful Park (PSX) - Normal, 1cc

Scramble (arcade) 1cc

Tetris (GB) - B-Type

EX -Extra- - 1cc

Wizard's Star 2 - 1cc

Bomber Bomber Gaiden 2 - Normal, 1cc. Hard, 1cc

Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds: Kokusai Kyuujotai Juudou Seyo!! (SNES)

东方雪莲华 ～ Abyss Soul Lotus - Normal, 1cc

 

[RubberJohnny]

Signalis - Pretty good, this - the sort of quality level where it does everything well in a way where it doesn't leave you with much to say about it.

 

 

Mechanically, it's a fusion of genre influences into a satisfying whole, while the retrofuturistic anime world drapes that over a unique identity of its own (and justifies some of the more absurd puzzles that are a genre staple). If I had a couple of nitpicks, the section without a map and with a noneuclidian layout was a bit annoying, not helped by a massive increase in key items with the same inventory limit at the start of the game, a space upgrade or two would have been appreciated somewhere there. Still, at less than five hours it doesn't outstay its welcome. Recommended.

 

Spoiler

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

High on Life

Sonic Frontiers

Pentiment

[reprahm]

02 - 07/02 - Astro’s Playroom - PS5

 

Recently picked up a PS5 for the first time and this was just a wonderful introduction to it and gave me a big smile on my face for the duration of playing. Even though I’m two years behind it still gave me that new console, new generation feeling that I hadn’t felt for a long time. It also gave me a lot of nostalgia for the PlayStation brand that I didn’t know that I had. Lovely stuff.

 

03 - 09/02 - Last Stop - PS5

04 - 10/02 - Omno - PS5

 

2023:

Spoiler

01 - 13/01 - Crisis Core FF VII Reunion - Switch

02 - 07/02 - Astro’s Playroom - PS5

03 - 09/02 - Last Stop - PS5

04 - 10/02 - Omno - PS5

05 - 17/02 - Sackboy Big Adventure (co-op) - PS5

06 - 19/02 - Metroid Prime Remastered - Switch

07 - 24/02 - Kena: Bridge of Spirits - PS5

08 - 20/03 - Octopath Traveler 2

 

 

[Gabe]

11. 10/02/2023 - Tell Me Why (XSS)

 

I wouldn't usually do this, but there's not much interesting to say about this game so I'll just spoiler what I put in the dedicated thread for it (I didn't much like it):

 

Spoiler

Always well behind the curve of what's current, I've just finished this.

I find Dontnod really do have an ability to create a mood and setting, don't they? From Neu France in Remember Me, East London in Vampyr and whatever the place was called in Life is Strange, the slice of Alaska here just feels right. Whilst this perhaps lacks the connection of those other settings (because there's no real freedom of movement), it still feels like a real place and it looks beautiful at times - the ferry ride at the beginning was just a lovely chill moment and I put the pad down and just admired the scenery.

 

I thought Tyler was really well introduced and handled throughout too, allowing him to be defined by his actions, not by his transition. But that's about it for the good stuff, because it was a chore to play through. I actually think Dontnod would be better creating a walking-sim rather than this approach, because they suffer massively from so much padding. Most of chapter 2 was dull, slow and did very little to advance the plot, to the effect that despite this not being a long game, it still could've shaved off a couple of hours.

 

I suppose I would've cut it some more slack if the story had grabbed me. I've no problem with a low-key story, but the twist was obvious (and then nothing is actually done with that) and the reveal in chapter 3 feels so lightweight and lacking in any emotional heft that it was all a bit of a shrug of the shoulders; I think the main problem was that the central mystery never really felt much like one. I did like how they handled the ending though, allowing you to go with whatever truth you wanted.

 

Disappointing.

 

12. 13/02/2023 - Suikoden II (PS1)

 

Well this became a real hate-completion. I truly, utterly detest it, yet felt compelled to finish it for a stupid reason. Well, two stupid reasons.*

 

Anyway, Launchbox tells me I took 31 hours to finish it across 93 play sessions - which perfectly demonstrates how stop/start I was with it, and the reasons for that is because it's terrible. The script is abysmal, with the characters talking in the most infantile way and, a worse crime, is that it is incredibly boring. In a supposed tale of a land at war, there's no sense of urgency, of real danger or credible threat. The combat system is painfully simple, being a facsimile of that used in the first game more or less. You rarely need to do anything other than auto attack either for a lot of the time, making a dull game even duller.

 

Perhaps the most disappointing thing is that, like the first game you have the whole 108 Stars of Destiny stuff and, sadly also like the first game there's not a great deal that it actually adds to the experience. There's very little unique dialogue (some of the characters literally have their little recruitment speech and that's it) and no reason to care about these characters. There is also the issue that of the 70-odd that you can use in your active party, there's so little differentiation between them that you will doubtless have a core 10-or so that you just mix-up based on the situation and that's about it. It's a real shame that there just wasn't anything particularly interesting that they could think to do with the idea, and I assume that is still the case in the PS2 titles (which I have and was intending to play through too!)

 

This also doubled the playtime of the first game and that was a mistake, because it led to so much padding and travelling around a flat, lifeless world to talk to a character and then travel all the way back again. There's no real 'questing' here, it's pretty much talk to somebody and/or kill everything.

 

I'm just so annoyed at how bad it is, relative to the love it gets from all corners of the internet, and I just don't know why. There's no real characterisation going on, the story doesn't live up to its premise, the actual fighting is really slow, simple and unengaging and, as noted, the 108 characters offer little by way of compelling reasons to seek them out (I mean, you can hunt around and look for animals for your castle - why? It adds nothing other than an arbitrary collectathon.)

 

My depth of feeling on this is strong - I could write so, so much more - because I really was a) looking forward to playing through the 5 mainline games plus the SRPG spin-off and b) as per my little aside below, there were some sentimental reasons to want it to be good.

Sadly, on so many levels, the end result has been a bit of a disaster for me. 

 

*The first stupid reason is that I just don't like investing so much time into something and then dropping it - and for a while I thought it was okay, if not particularly special. No idea why this is so revered. The second, more poignant reason is this is the last game I had which I started whilst I was still with my ex (I think I originally started this around October 2021?) I had previously played (and completed) the first game pretty quickly during November/December 2020 and that was a happier time. I started this also in the run-up towards Christmas I suppose to capture a bit of that feeling I had before my relationship ended (which has broken me ever since). It didn't work, clearly.

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2023 - Bladed Fury (XSS)

2. 01/01/2023 - Routemania (PC)

3. 07/01/2023 - Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (XSS)

4. 09/01/2023 - Pocket League Story (PC)

5. 12/01/2023 - The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)

6. 14/01/2023 - Cookie Clicker (PC)

7. 14/01/2023 - Somerville (XSS)

8. 15/01/2023 - Bujangai (PS2)

9. 16/01/2023 - Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf (PC)

10. 29/01/2023 - Justice League Heroes (Xbox)

 

[shirubagan]

So far:

 

Spoiler

1. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5)

2. Somerville (Game Pass)

3. The Eternal Castle (Steam)
4. Resident Evil VILLAGE (PS5)
5. Mortal Kombat 11 – Story Mode (Steam Deck)
6. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Steam Deck)
7. Soul Calibur VI – Story Mode (PS)
8. Halo Reach (360 via BC)
9. Borderlands 3 – Moxxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot (XSX)
10. Borderlands 3 – Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck

 

 

 

Zzap! 64

 

 

11. Gears of War 4 (XSX)

No idea why I went back to this, a game I'd abandoned soon after launch. I think it was the robots. So many stupid, generic robots to fight at the start. probably killed any enthusiasm I may have had.

 

I picked up the story half way, precisely as the robots are phased out and the Swarm reappear and I had a great time. It's not incredible, but the linear structure and continuous gameplay just seem to be perfect for driving you onwards, like a big, popcorn Hollywood spectacle. Speaking of which, holy shit are the graphics incredible.A 2016 (?) release that looks good as many current releases - likely because it's a 112Gb install - with HDR implementation among the best I've seen. The lightning and electricity in particular are searingly bright against the environments.

 

Story- and gameplay wise, it's the standard guff. Shoot stuff, rescue someone, find someone else, shoot stuff, shoot more stuff, cutscene, blow something up, shoot more stuff - you get the idea. They do try and mix it up with Tower Defence-style sections, but I just never liked this style of gameplay, a product of the de rigeur mode of the 2010s. The combat itself is Gears, so you know what to expect if you've ever played a cover shooter game. The marines themselves are the bulky, nondescript models they've always been, but they've tried to insert some personality with dialogue and one-liners which works with mixed results.

 

Overall it's not bad. Good Sunday, switch your brain off OORAH garbage. 7/10

 

 

 

 

12. Gargoyle's Quest (Game Boy – Switch Online)

This was one of my favourite GB games as a kid and I was really excited to see it on the service. A spin-off of Ghosts n Goblins, this is an RPG-lite with a mixture of side-scrolling platforming and top-down RPG meandering with very frequent random encounters locking you in a mini side-on arena where you have to defeat the random enemy selection to continue. Story is bare minimum; bad guys taken over realm, get items, power up, defeat bosses - your bog standard JRPG checklist.

 

Graphics are gorgeous, I've always been a huge fan of the sprites and 2D environments, though thing do slow down and flicker when too many moving objects appear on screen. Audio is fine, but I played mostly with the sound off so can't give a proper opinion. 

 

Difficulty spikes horribly at times and I'm grateful the emulator includes save states. Some of the boss battles are tricky, often one-shotting you or due to the clunky controls. Firebrand can hover for limited amounts of time and cling on to walls which sometimes work against you as you try and dodge projectiles or instant death if you happen to touch a boss. How I completed this as a kid, I'll never know. Patience and time, probably.

 

I'm really glad I went back to it as it hit the nostalgia feels and holds up pretty well. I'm also thankful it only clocks in at around 2-3 hours in length. Any more and it would have very much outstayed it's welcome.

 

 

[Darwock]

On 02/01/2023 at 18:29, Darwock said:

1. 01/02 - Dissidia 012 Prologus

 

 

2. 02/12 - Ace Combat 7

 

This is a weird one to include as I got the platinum for it three years ago now, but I wasn’t *done* with the game because I wanted to get all S ranks for the DLC missions, in every difficulty. I finally managed to do that by finishing off Ace mode last Sunday. I had a policy of not using the super-sci fi planes to do it, and I could only get the flight stick set up about once a week which is why it’s been such a long time coming.

 

I managed to do all three in an F-14 (my favourite, looks absolutely beautiful in the replays). Mostly thanks to the Top Gun DLC for providing us with an F-14 with a decent weapon choice.

 

I’ll still muck around with the super planes in the DLC, but the game is going off the PS5 now and back onto the PS4 for use when I want a VR theme park ride. Waiting patiently for AC8.

[rafrasilecs]

Two nearly 30 year old gems that I'd shamefully never completed:

 

• Super Metroid - 1994
• Super Castlevania IV - 1991

 

I'm also close to finishing Yoshi's Island too. It's been a great couple of months.

[bradigor]

On 01/01/2023 at 17:17, bradigor said:

Right time to get this ready. 

 

Current Playing 

 

 

Side Games 

Against the Storm 

RXC 

Hades 

Dead Cells

 

Completed

Lil Gator Game (08/01)

ElecHead (22/01)

The Last Campfire (30/01)

Spider-Man Miles Morales (01/02)

Assemble With Care (14/02)

 

Parked 

Crisis Core Reunion

 

Abandoned 

 

Assemble With Care

 

Just beautiful, just a shy under two hours but it was such a lovely heart-warming game. Actually the second time I've finished it. I love how the repair stuff works and would love a sequel or a game just fixing stuff with those mechanics. 

[James Lyon]

6. Infernax - I try to stay on top of the news of most of the notable game releases but there's so many great sub-Triple-A indies these days that this one completely passed me by the whole year it was on Game Pass. So glad I gave it a go before it left as it's pretty good.

 

It's a NES-style action platformer with light Metroidvania elements. You battle through five dungeons, leveling up and picking up a smattering of abilities and spells to help you out with the boss at the end. It's both a love letter to Castlevania, with its grotesque menagerie of bosses to fight, and a modern action RPG with its own morality system to boot.

 

The morality system offers you overworld subquests and choices at certain points to help or hinder allies, turning your dial to good or evil. Not just for show, it completely changes the end of the story and leads to new areas and quests for each side, so it was worth playing through a few times to experience those. In parallel, a few secret playable characters change up the play style enough to keep it interesting next time through. It looks great for a retro-looking game as well.

 

It's a tricky game in its default setting where dungeons offer no health pickups and you go back to your last save at the entrance of you die. Thankfully, aside from one of two frustrating areas, I didn't find it too bad. There's plenty of accessibility options to help if you do , though, which I used to get the last few Achievements. Good show.

 

 

 

[thesnwmn]

  Hide contents

1 - 04/01 - Stacklands (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

2 - 05/01 - Patrick's Parabox (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

3 - 09/01 - FixFox (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

4 - 10/01 - Lego Builder's Journey (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

5 - 13/01 - Pentiment (XBox/Steam Deck via XCloud) [post]

6 - 15/01 - Baba Is You (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

7 - 17/01 - Citizen Sleeper (PC/Steam Deck via XCloud) [post]

8 - 23/01 - Lara Croft Go (PC/Steam Deck) [post]

9 - 02/02 - Hi-Fi Rush (Xbox) [post]

10 - 07/02 - Last Campfire (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

11 - 10/02 - Dorfromantik (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

12 - 10/02 - Season: A Letter To The Future (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

 

 

13 - 14/02 - Hitman: World of Assassination - First Campaign (Steam Deck/PC)

 

This is just the Hitman 1 campaign with nothing from Hitman 2 or 3 yet. Whilst I'm playing this as part of the recently rebadged World of Assassination I've decided to cover them as individual games. That way I get to put more games on my list but it also helps me maintain momentum and interest.

 

My game playing habits always tend towards the sedate, investigative or strategic, and when it strays towards adventure there often remains a focus on puzzles and narrative. As a result I have some blinkers. If a game heavily features lots of violence or action in it's vibe, or displays a lot of guns and other weapons, I'm going to skip it. They don't often get a second look unless something or someone somehow triggers that.

 

And Hitman's vibe ticks so many of the wrong boxes for me. Whilst conceptually stealth games should appeal my perception is (perhaps unfairly) that too many end up in, or force shootouts and I have zero interest in that route. The moment the shooting starts I don't want to be playing any more. But recently (over the last 6 months or so) listening to the Back Page Podcast guys mention Hitman over and over again and the puzzle elements, and then watching James from TGCS give it a go I begun to realise maybe this is one I had let sail by for all the wrong reasons.

 

So with the ability to pick basically all of it up earlier this year for not too much money I've finally dived in.

 

And wow. Just wow.

 

This is a fucking masterpiece. It looks fantastic. It sounds incredible and the writing is insane. The conversations between people in the settings is brilliant. It's not always sensible, in fact some of it is down right insane, but this is perfect. It captures the absurdity of the whole concept beautifully. It's mechanically a joy to play and, on casual as I've been enjoying it, it's not all that difficult but just so much fucking fun.

 

I cannot get enough of just wandering around and gathering evidence. Planning the perfect crime.

 

And then watching everything go to shit in seconds. Which might be an issue if it wasn't for the (almost) perfect save and reload system. Failure isn't harshly judged. You just reset that little bit and go again. Does it work if I'm one meter to the left? Or if I do draw him into that room instead of the other? Or if I spike his drink instead of hers? If I could change one thing it would be dedicated buttons for save and reload. Maybe on Steam Deck I can set that up using the paddles but my god that might be amazing.

 

There are missteps. The Colorado mission is (for me) terrible compared to the others in the first campaign. Even the finale in Hokkaido is a step below the others. But outside of that I've had an absolute blast.

 

For people who might want to relive a little of the feeling of playing it I've been indulgently writing up my level playthroughs in the Hitman 3 thread.

 

Paris - The Showstopper

Sapienza - World of Tomorrow

Marrakesh - A Gilded Cage

Bangkok - Club 47

Colorado - Freedom Fighters

Hokkaido - Situs Inversus

[Darwock]

On 14/02/2023 at 13:14, Darwock said:

1. 01/02 - Dissidia 012 Prologus
2. 02/12 - Ace Combat 7

 

3. 02/17 - Huntdown

 

Completed to platinum. Thanks to the forum for introducing this to me, I picked it up on the strength of the screenshots and Benny’s glowing praise, and it is a wonderful game. Normal mode seemed so tricky, but always fair - and experimenting with the various weapons was a joy. Hard mode just kind of got in the way of Badass mode, which was like learning the whole game over again. You really get to understand it in a way you didn’t have to in the other modes.

 

The presentation just elevates it to a whole new level. Obviously it’s a game made for people *exactly* like me with all the references and quotes from almost all of my favourite sci-fi movies, and the gameplay experience being such a call back to the days of Midnight Resistance/Turrican/Strider etc.

 

And there is still arcade mode and a co-op option to explore at some point in the future. Love it.

[Darwock]

On 13/02/2023 at 10:03, Gabe said:

The truth about Suikoden II

I just had to quote to say YES to this post, I played it back in the early 2000s and hated it every bit as much as you. With the added bonus of the version I played not even being fully translated or complete. It’s one of the shittiest RPGs I’ve ever played and I also don’t understand why it is always praised.

[bradigor]

On 01/01/2023 at 17:17, bradigor said:

Right time to get this ready. 

 

Current Playing 

 

 

Side Games 

Against the Storm 

RXC 

Hades 

Dead Cells

 

Completed

Lil Gator Game (08/01)

ElecHead (22/01)

The Last Campfire (30/01)

Spider-Man Miles Morales (01/02)

Assemble With Care (14/02)

 

Parked 

Crisis Core Reunion

 

Abandoned 

God of War 2018

 

Had to abandon God of War as it keeps hard crashing my Steam Deck and it an not enjoying it enough to push through. Sure there is a good game there but right now can't be bothered with it 

[glb]

January

#1 - Golf Story (Switch)

#2 - Actraiser: Renaissance (Switch)
#3 - Road 96 (Gamepass)

February

#4 - The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

 

Goodness me, would you just look at how beautiful the game is! And along with those lush graphics is a hugely enjoyable adventure, filled with engaging exploration on a dungeon-filled island.

 

Awakening offered up a solid 20-or-so hours of fun, and is a treat for anyone hankering after a relaxing Zelda game. That’s not to say there aren’t a few issues with signposting in a couple of dungeons, at least the solutions didn’t feel as intuitive as elsewhere in the game. There’s also the usual backtracking but the game does at least provide a basic marker system to allow players to drop pins on areas of interest they can’t yet complete. Being able to “phone” a character for subtle hints about progress is also a nice touch.

 

All in all it’s the Zelda I’ve derived the most glee from since The Wind Waker, and wouldn’t be mad if A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds or even The Minish Cap got similarly remade. Heck, even Spirit Tracks viewed through the not-quite-tilt-shift-lens would be a welcome surprise. Gorgeous game, with a enough depth to ensure its beauty isn’t just skin deep.

[cassidy]

Finally something to report. 

 

2nd game of the year

 

Monster Hunter Rise (series X) 

 

Just hit HR100 and what a journey it's been. Easily my fave in the series so far. 

 

Previously 

 

1. rainbow billy 

 

 

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Sorcer Striker - 1cc (2-2)

 

Spoiler

Cotton Rock n Roll -Superlative Night Dreams- (PC) - normal 1cc, cotton, appli, tacoot, luffee, fine

Fantasy Zone (arcade) - 1cc (2-4)

U.N. Squadron (arcade) - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (GB)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GBA)

Zed Blade (arcade) - Easy, 1cc

Harmful Park (PSX) - Normal, 1cc

Scramble (arcade) 1cc

Tetris (GB) - B-Type

EX -Extra- - 1cc

Wizard's Star 2 - 1cc

Bomber Bomber Gaiden 2 - Normal, 1cc. Hard, 1cc

Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds: Kokusai Kyuujotai Juudou Seyo!! (SNES)

东方雪莲华 ～ Abyss Soul Lotus - Normal, 1cc

Contlade - Normal, 1cc

 

[Kingpin]

On 03/02/2023 at 09:59, Kingpin said:

 

1. Golf Story - Switch

2. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - PC

 

I’m a sucker for slick action adventure type games so I was quite fond of this.
 

I was a bit concerned that the Souls bits would turn me off but they were fine, although I thought the respawn mechanic didn’t really add much - they were quite generous with the “campfires” so it wasn’t frustrating, but perhaps a bit pointless.
 

I did like the Tomb Raidering and exploring though. The level design was good, returning to old planets was really well done as you discover brand new chunks of the map and some of the shortcuts unlocked really helped avoid feeling like you were repeating runs too much. 
 

I’m not a big Star Wars person, but I really enjoy it when creators get it right (like the Mandalorian). This gave me the right kind of vibes - combat was satisfying enough, the set pieces and boss fights were impressive, the music and so on. I even enjoyed the story as “standard” as it felt for SW. It still looks very nice, apart from the Wookies obv. 

 

I’m definitely up for playing the sequel at some point. 

[klargon]

Five Dates (PC)

 

Thought this was pretty good for what it is. FMV game set in lockdown where you take 5 women on video dates. Figure out the responses to give them to keep them interested. Sometimes the acting feels forced, not helped by some of the personality ‘types’, but it’s also quite natural at times.

 

It’s a fun distraction from games that require more investment. Nice to take a 3 date journey through to conclusion and come back to it another time. Thankfully you can skip any clips you’ve already seen.

 

Sequel just came out last week. I’ll give it a go when it’s cheap.

 

Fancy giving it a go? Drop me a PM and I’ll grab you a Steam key.

[Unofficial Who]

Feb

 

19/02 Jumping Flash! (PSOne/PS5) I played the demo of this on the PSOne to death back in the day and then when I bought the game...I don't know. I just didn't get it? I found it a bit hard. There was something about the save system I didn't get on with. But thinking back I was starting to enter the phase where I was over working and I just did not have the time. Fast forward to now, almost 30 years after the game was released. Which makes me feel incredibly old. I have some free time this afternoon to mess about and because the PS5 emulated version has trophies I thought I'd give it a go. I breeze through the first set of levels. My partner is amused by the short FMV that makes little to no sense. So I push on.

 

An hour later? Finished. What happened?

 

I guess 30 years happened. Back when I first played it 3D platformers weren't a thing and I found the levels big, crowded and overwhelming. Coming back the levels are tiny. The controls while a bit sluggish (and digital) are still pretty good. It's a first person leaper but after the first jump the view switches to beneath your robot rabbit so you can see where you're going to land. You can shoot or jump on your enemies (including bosses). The big difference between how I played back then and now is that I didn't allow myself to get distracted in the levels. It's best to ignore the multitude of enemies and just grab the four carrots JetPods in the level and make for the exit pad. I don't think I made it past the first set of levels back in the day. This time I managed it in less than ten minutes. And while I had the safety net of saving where ever I wanted and rewinding I only saved at the end of every level and didn't have to rewind once. Even with my failing reflexes I didn't lose a single life (although I came close on a couple of the bosses.)

 

 

Worth playing now? I think it's worth a neat nostalgic trip into the pre Mario64 colourful worlds bouncing around for an hour. Two of the levels miss the point of the game by trying to be Doom levels and that doesn't work at all. But apart from that I had a pleasant time marred only by the visual corruption of the weapons HUD on the left but that didn't stop me from enjoying this.

 

Earlier this month

05/02 Pikuniku (PC)

04/02 Brainstorm (C64)

 

Earlier this year

Spoiler

5. 29/01 Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (PC)

4. 14/01 Alien Syndrome (C64)

3. 14/01 Alien Syndrome (Arcade)

2. 09/01 Nobody Saves the World (PC) 

1. 04/01 Marvel Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

 

[df0]

Mafia Definitive Edition.

 

Liked it a lot. Good writing and voice acting, great cast of characters, twists and turns. Its biggest detriment is the complete separation of Story and the open-world goodness. I was half way through the Story before I realized that typical open-world aspect of this genre is a different game mode altogether called Free Play Ride.

[strawdonkey]

Previously on "I should really make better use of my time":

 

Spoiler

01 - Tiny Rogues

02 - Needy Streamer Overload

03 - Yamafuda - 2nd Station

04 - Catlateral Damage: Remeowstered

05 - Fault: Milestone One

06 - Fault: Milestone Two - Side: Above

X1 - Starfighter R&D

07 - Faith

08 - Alina of the Arena (Rookie clear, Warrior)

08a - Alina of the Arena (Rookie clear, Pyromancer; Rookie clear + Extra Boss, Samurai)

09 - Dodonpachi Resurrection (1CC, Novice, Type-B Strong, 17bil)

10 - Escaped Chasm

11 - Planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~

12. Dweller's Empty Path

 

The sequel of sorts to Escaped Chasm, by Temmie Chang. This has real "I learned a lot of stuff making my first game" energy and this is so much more refined with yet another gorgeous soundtrack with contributions from Undertale Guy, Toby Fox. 

 

All you do is go and talk to a bunch of people, but the world and characters are lovely - from wandering through the forest and trying to get the animals to talk to you (some of them will, and some of them will turn their back on you in a huff which is the best), to prodding into the stories of each of the characters, to the sinister underlying plot that gives you only the odd nibble every now and again. And the fact tha tyou can come out of an underground cavern into a part of a city that's filled with skulls. And cats. Lots of cats.

 

It feels like a prologue to something bigger which may never arrive; everything takes place over the course of a single in-game day but I would really love to see what comes next, it's just been a really nice time hanging out in the world.

[partious]

 

Halo Infinite (PC)
Once by myself and again in co-op. I really liked it. I`ve only played Halo 1 and 2 on the original xbox in co-op and then a couple of years ago Halo 1 on MCC.
The grappling hook was an excellent addition. I really enjoyed the outdoor stuff. The indoor stuff was ok I guess, it was Halo. But yeah... the outdoor, open world aspect was by far the highlight for me. I loved the freedom you had in terms of how to approach the outdoor objectives.
I`ve seen a lot of people complain that this game was too short, but I can`t really get behind that complaint. I thought it was as long as I`d want such a game to be. I would have happily traded the last couple of indoor story missions for a bit more to do outdoors I guess.  Overall I really enjoyed it.

 

 

Streets of Rage 4 (Switch)
Feels a bit silly even mentioning a game like this in this thread, for a couple of reasons. It takes an hour or two to go through the game on normal difficulty and having done that there isn`t the slightest sense of closure or ticking the game off a backlog list that you get with story heavy games.

That said, if I don`t put it here I may as well just not post anything in this thread, since I see myself playing a lot more of this type of thing for the rest of 2023 and few/no AAA story games.
Anyway, I thought it was excellent. Gameplay felt like Streets of Rage 2 but slightly better. The music was good, if not as immediately catchy/memorable as the first couple of SOR games.
What is there to say really, without getting into the kind of superfluous waffle that modern game reviews are so prone to? It`s a scrolling beat em up. It`s a lot of fun, it has good music, it has very nice artwork. What more do you want?
A game I suspect I`ll still be replaying when I`ve completely forgotten about the AAA games I played in January.

 

Previously played

Spoiler

1) Spider-man: Miles Morales (PS5)

2) Ghost of Tsushima (PS5)

3) GTA5 (PC)

4) FF7 Remake (PS5)

5) Guardians of the Galaxy (PS5)

 

[Jamie John]

2. Metroid Prime Remastered (2023) - Switch

 

 

I've eulogised this in the dedicated thread, but yes - it's very good. I played the original back on the GameCube over twenty years ago and haven't played it since, so although nostalgia definitely contributed to my enjoyment, there was so much of this I'd entirely forgotten that most of it felt completely fresh, and seeing as the only thing that's really changed are the visuals, it's testament to the brilliance of the original's gameplay that this feels like a game which could have been made in 2023. Overall, I think Dread does the logistics of the actual Metroid genre thing slightly better than this does (back-tracking, finding secrets, exploring the map, and so on), but the atmosphere, music and 3D movement in this can't be beat.

 

A wonderful surprise at the start of the year that makes me very hopeful for MP4.

 

Played in 2023:

Spoiler

Completed:

 

1. Doom Eternal (2020) - Steam

2. Metroid Prime Remastered (2023) - Switch

 

Abandoned:

 

1. Ghost of Tsushima - PS5

2. XCOM 2 - Steam

 

[rafrasilecs]

On 14/02/2023 at 17:27, rafrasilecs said:

Two nearly 30 year old gems that I'd shamefully never completed:

 

• Super Metroid - 1994
• Super Castlevania IV - 1991

 

I'm also close to finishing Yoshi's Island too. It's been a great couple of months.

 

Yoshi's Island is now done too. This SNES mini is getting me finishing games again. No game pass dipping in and out on this. 

 

Next up, Punch Out and an RPG. 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order - XSX - 11/01/23 - 7.5/10

2. Assassins Creed Valhalla - XSX - 12/01/23 - 8.5/10

3. Guardians of the Galaxy - XSX Game Pass - 19/01/23 - 9/10

4. Bugsnax - XSX Game Pass - 20/01/23 - 6/10

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - XSX Game Pass - 23/01/23 - 9/10

6. Borderlands 2 - XSX - 24/01/23 - 8.5/10

7. Hi Fi Rush - XSX Game Pass - 31/01/23 - 9.5/10

8. Borderlamds - The Pre-Sequel! - XSX - 09/02/23 - 7/10

 

9. Hogwarts Legacy - XSX

 

 

That Potter game thing turns out to be a hell of a lot better than I expected it to be - that's down to a really good story, superb, flowing combat and above all, a meticulously crafted world which absolutely nails the look, atmosphere and feel of the franchise.

 

There's so many awesome little details thrown into this, from the countless codex entries scattered around Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmead village and the umpteen small hamlets dotted around the landscape.  A lot of them will be familiar to fans of the series, many names (surnames at least) will have links to the main HP books, beasts you encounter have also been seen in the Fantastic Beasts films.

 

Gameplay is a mixture of attending lessons, undertaking 'assignments' from various teachers which in turn lead to learning many of the spells the game offers.  These spells are useful in combat, in taming beasts, searching for hidden items, stealth sections, platforming puzzles.  There's an impressive amount to learn, from transfiguring enemies into barrels during combat, freezing them after sneaking up on them using petrificus totalus, exploding walls with bombarda, moving people and objects with depulso, accio, descendo, levioso, wingardium leviosa etc etc.  In fact, most of the spells familiar to fans of the series are here - including the unforgivable curses should you wish to learn them later in the game.  You can select any 4 spells at one time, and you can switch between 4 of these skill sets.  Swapping between spells is a bit cumbersome, I found myself equipping different spells depending on what bonus challenges were required for various battles (e.g. defeat 4 enemies with depulso, disarm 2 dark wizards with expelliarmus etc etc).  Combat is far more complex than expected, and it's such tremendous fun - so much so that there are many sections I could have avoided by flying over them on my broom, but I sought them out to practise new combos between spells and because it's so damn fun.  

 

There's a lot of Hogwarts Legacy that's been influenced by other open world titles but it never pretends to be original in that sense.  There's an insane amount of things to collect, there are fairly simple environment based puzzle minigames called Merlin Trials, there are challenge arenas that throw waves of enemies at you, there's also the Room of Requirement which acts as a base room where you can grow plants, brew potions, house beasts, conjure furniture/furnishings etc etc.  There might be some monotony here for anyone who doesn't enjoy such sections. 

 

Aside from the excellent main story (I've seen lots of criticism of this and I simply have to disagree with these views - I thought it was really good) there are tons of side quests.  These aren't that consistent.  Some of them are brilliant but there are too many 'fetch quests' for my liking.  Side quests involving some of your fellow students tend to be the best of them and act as sort of secondary campaigns - they're all well worth playing through.

 

One thing that is a bit annoying is the loot system, as you'll find the same pointless cosmetic items in chests across the whole of the map, and when inventory slots are stingy anyway, there's a constant need to organise your inventory, by discarding unwanted clothing items or finding a stall somewhere to sell stuff.  It's a bit of a pain - rewards for finding a well hidden chest often aren't worth the effort you put in to find them.  

 

I also don't think the charm and appeal of the game would be as strong without the HP license.  It really is a superb use of the license, but like Jedi: Fallen Order is a good game made better with the Star Wars license, I think the same could be said of Hogwarts Legacy, albeit I think it's actually a better overall game than the EA one.

 

I really enjoyed playing this - I went through the whole thing with my Potter-obsessed 12 year old daughter, taking it in turns to do puzzles, combat sections etc and it never outstayed its welcome.  It's a good, fun, open world adventure with tremendous combat and a really good, strong main storyline.

 

8.5/10

[Gabe]

13. 20/02/2023 - King Arthur (Xbox)

 

My goodness this made me angry, I even swore out loud because of it, and I rarely swear - but we'll come on to that.

 

Based on the bad 2004 film of the same name, this has a mixture of Arthurian myths and legends smashed together to form the basis of the plot and sees you taking charge of various characters from the film to kill some Woads and Saxons in pursuit of, well, I'm not really sure what the point of it all is. To provide some respite from the brawling there are some awful on-horse sections, but thankfully not too many.

 

The missions themselves will have objectives which always involve killing lots of people, but sometimes tasks you with protecting somebody whilst you do it, or rescuing static villagers who seem all too pleased to stand still and take a beating; high art this is not. At times, the brawling is okay and for a moment yesterday I was quite enjoying it and rattled through a fair few missions - but annoyance is never too far behind.

 

For starters, as with many games of the time, the controls are pretty imprecise and floaty and combined with some awkward camera angles you get stuck in the scenery a fair bit. You are also hit off-screen a lot from enemy archers with no way to defend yourself, and your own aiming when using a bow is sketchy at best, with a targeting reticule that loves to jump off your intended target right before you press the button. The biggest annoyance though is that enemies with shields are incredibly spongey - you have to destroy the shield first - and whilst this can be done with two smashes from your power move, that in itself is a slow move which can be interrupted and you can get almost stun-locked from the multiple enemies attacking you. Oh yes, that's the other thing - you are regularly facing down 10+ enemies circling you waiting to strike.

 

For the most part it wasn't too bad. It's annoying to get to the end of a long level and die due to a lucky arrow or being ganked in a corner by 5 shielded troops (no mid-level checkpointing or anything here!), but most levels I passed first time. No, the two particular sections that took a few tries are within the last 4 missions. The first is where you have to protect villagers whilst they try and close a big door, but they have little health, you have loads of enemies blocking your way and it they close the door so slowly. Once you've done that, you then have to face off against 40 troops (it even counts the number down for you) on top of some narrow battlements. This is still part of the same mission, so die here (as I did, a few times) and you get to do it all over again (and I failed a few times on the first bit too, because the villagers got killed before I could rescue them.) This was annoying so I went away and did something else for a while before getting through it first attempt later last night.

 

The one to really make me angry was the penultimate mission (the actual end boss is a doddle). You have to fight 40 specific enemies, but they are mixed amongst loads of normal enemies too, and the level is split into 5 different boxed-off sections where you are bombarded by archers, shielded enemies, the target enemies and normal goons. When you get to the very last section, you are stuck in a ridiculously small area and have at least 10 enemies at one time to face off, along with the last 20 of the target enemies (and if you only kill the normal enemies, they keep coming infinitely, so you can never thin the crowd.) You only heal if you get lucky and a dead enemy drops a health vial, so it becomes an exercise in trying to avoid being stuck in a corner, whilst trying to kill the target enemies and hoping you get lucky with the health drops. In my first attempt I got down to the last 2 enemies before being stun-locked and sucker-punched to death. The next 5 attempts I couldn't even get to the last section due to archers shooting off-screen and it did get me pretty angry, leading to my scream of 'FFS' with real venom behind it.

 

Fortunately the try after that I managed to get lucky with the health drops and kited my way through it, else I reckon I'd still be playing it now (whilst swearing a lot more.) 

 

Now I've written far more here than the game deserves because it's competent at best, but it did at least elicit some proper emotion out of me, even if that emotion was rage. Even the terrible games I've played over the last year or so *cough* Suikoden II, GotG, Ninja Gaiden 3*cough* have barely done much more than intensely boring me (though I really do hate them all) so I suppose this gets some points for inducing that old school impotent rage at a screen if nothing else. And it really is nothing else.

 

Suffice to say, this completely mythed the target. (Missed, geddit? What a clever pun )

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2023 - Bladed Fury (XSS)

2. 01/01/2023 - Routemania (PC)

3. 07/01/2023 - Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (XSS)

4. 09/01/2023 - Pocket League Story (PC)

5. 12/01/2023 - The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)

6. 14/01/2023 - Cookie Clicker (PC)

7. 14/01/2023 - Somerville (XSS)

8. 15/01/2023 - Bujangai (PS2)

9. 16/01/2023 - Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf (PC)

10. 29/01/2023 - Justice League Heroes (Xbox)

11. 10/02/2023 - Tell Me Why (XSS)

12. 13/02/2023 - Suikoden II (PS1)

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Alien Syndrome (arcade) - 1cc

 

Spoiler

Cotton Rock n Roll -Superlative Night Dreams- (PC) - normal 1cc, cotton, appli, tacoot, luffee, fine

Fantasy Zone (arcade) - 1cc (2-4)

U.N. Squadron (arcade) - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (GB)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GBA)

Zed Blade (arcade) - Easy, 1cc

Harmful Park (PSX) - Normal, 1cc

Scramble (arcade) 1cc

Tetris (GB) - B-Type

EX -Extra- (pc) - 1cc

Wizard's Star 2 (pc) - 1cc

Bomber Bomber Gaiden 2 (pc) - Normal, 1cc. Hard, 1cc

Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds: Kokusai Kyuujotai Juudou Seyo!! (SNES)

东方雪莲华 ～ Abyss Soul Lotus (pc) - Normal, 1cc

Contlade (pc) - Normal, 1cc

Sorcer Striker (arcade) - 1cc (2-2)

 

[bradigor]

On 01/01/2023 at 17:17, bradigor said:

Right time to get this ready. 

 

Current Playing 

 

 

Side Games 

Against the Storm 

RXC 

Hades 

Dead Cells

 

Completed

Lil Gator Game (08/01)

ElecHead (22/01)

The Last Campfire (30/01)

Spider-Man Miles Morales (01/02)

Assemble With Care (14/02)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (23/02)

 

Parked 

Crisis Core Reunion

 

Abandoned 

God of War 2018

 

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 

 

Never actually finished this back in the 90s as spent most of my time doing the two player races in it. Not bad not great.