Games Beaten 2020

[pook99]

72. Gato Raboto

This is a small metroidvania style game that has you playing as a cat in a giant mech suit, and it is absolutely adorable and charming.

The story starts out simple enough, you are a guy in a spaceship headed to a distress signal, your cat jumps on your control unit (as cats do) which then causes you to crash. You are not stuck in a crashed ship, trapped by debris, and it is up to your cat to don a mech suit, complete your mission, and save the day. It is simple and silly, but as the game unfolds there is more to the story than the game initially lets on, and plays out in cutscenes and random space logs.

Gameplay wise it is a metroidvania with a bit of blaster master vibe to it. You spend most of the game plodding around in a big mech, where you gradually unlock new abilities, that let you access new areas. However, sometimes you come across a hole too small to pass through, a giant pool of water, or some other obstacle that the mech cannot pass so you have to jump out of it and just play as a cat. Your cat has no attacks and dies in one hit, but is small, and can wall jump and wall climb. You will need to get out of your mech to find secrets as well as access new areas. It is done very seamlessly and was very reminisent of the blaster master series. Interspersed through the levels are a variety of boss fights, the boss fights are not too tough, and are generally fun to fight.

Graphically the game has a black and white color pallete and as you progress you can unlock different hues, it is reminiscent of a game boy title but with much sharper visuals and much faster gameplay.

Gato Raboto is not a long game, I think my initial play time was about 2 hours and 15 minutes, but it is just a ton of fun. The game oozes with charm, your cat is adorable, the levels are fun and offer a variety of different challenges and secrets, and there are frequent saves so you can just pick up and play for a few minutes and make progress if your in a hurry. I tend to enjoy smaller metroidvanias like this as opposed to some of the more epic ones, and I have to say this is one of the most fun and charming ones I have played, definitely worth a playthrough.

Props to prfsnl_gamer for recommending this, very cool game.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I’m glad you enjoyed it! Elkin and Popo recommended it to me.

What I really appreciated, in addition to the game’s brevity and charm, was the speed with which you could navigate its passages. The robot suit moves FAST, and you can move from one area to the next very quickly. This makes backtracking and secret searching a breeze, and IMO, is crucial to a game like this.

[TheSSNintendo]

Finally finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

[pook99]

73. Wolverine - feral instinct (snes hack)

Wolverine feral instinct is a rom hack of...take a guess...Super Mario World. It really is funny what romhackers think of and what they can do with games.

Mario sprites have been replaced with wolverine, although his figure is still that of Mario so he is a stocky wolverine. You can run and jump on enemy heads and you can slash things with your claws. You can also stick to any wall and climb them (think ninja gaiden 2). You only have one life and no continues to complete the game but there are health pick ups all over levels, and outside of the bosses, there is not really much of a challenge.

There are 5 levels here with 2 parts each and they end in a boss fight. The levels themselves usually come with one palette swapped enemy. So the first few levels are ninjas of different colors, then sentinels and final some mutant thugs. There are no bottomless pits here but there are spikes which drain your health if you fall into them. The levels are completetly new so you wont recognize any of them from the original game, but they are on the easy side, I think I only got hit once in the entire game on my first run through, barring the boss battles. The bosses offer more of a challenge but once you learn their patterns they are pretty easy, you just may die once or twice on a boss while you learn it.

In between levels and before boss fights there are cutscenes. I thought these were pretty cool, they are nothing elaborate but it was cool seeing x-men related cutscenes in a Mario rom hack.

This is not the greatest game or rom hack I have ever played, it was mildly entertaining, more for the novelty of it than anything else, but I am a huge wolverine fan so I did enjoy the asthetics here and it was better than most commercially released wolverine games of that era. The game is pretty short, I think it took me about 30 minutes or so to complete, so if your a fan of the source material or just want an example of some of the cool things rom hackers could do, than it is worth checking out, I'm glad I did.

[MrPopo]

1. Elite Dangerous - PC
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
10. Inbento - Switch
11. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - XB1
12. Doom Eternal - PC
13. Serious Sam 2 - PC
14. Black Mesa - PC
15. Descent 3 - PC
16. Darksiders II - PC
17. Resident Evil 3 (2020) - PC
18. Overload - PC
19. Final Fantasy VII Remake - PS4
20. Trials of Mana (2020) - Switch
21. Persona 5 Royal - PS4
22. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered - PC

MW2 Campaign Remastered is a rerelease of Modern Warfare 2's campaign on the Modern Warfare (reboot) engine. I'm assuming that they did that one and not the first because there was no good way to title a remake of the first game's campaign, which is the danger of rebooting and dropping subtitles. Unfortunately, it turns an already muddled story nearly incoherent, which, combined with the Call of Duty-isms turned up to eleven in this installment makes for a pretty mediocre experience.

The game tosses you in to a Middle Eastern conflict with no context, but also mentions that there's a guy named Marakov who is an evil Russian and alludes to Russia starting to get pissy. The game then cuts to a separate protagonist who is infiltrating a Russian installation to get back some piece of unexplained tech before going back and introducing the game's controversial mission "No Russian", which I'll get to later. The game then will bounce back and forth between commando missions and general infantry missions fighting off a Russian invasion of the US that was aided by the stolen tech apparently letting them get past the entirety of the US's air defense system somehow. So half the time you end up furthering the game's weak plot by pursuing Makarov, who is the driver behind the invasion (due to the No Russian false flag) and defending DC from Red Dawn. The latter serves no real point other than giving them an excuse to have the WWII style mass battles, complete with sections where random gunfire you can't stop will randomly kill you as you dodge from cover to cover.

Now, the game's story can charitably be called minimalist; there are short voice overs before each mission where one of the main characters talks briefly about the upcoming mission, but it's rare that there's any sort of exposition of WHY this mission makes sense, or how we came to the conclusion that this is the way to go. It's the barest amount of context, which really hurts the ability of the game to make you care about what's going on. It really feels like an overall excuse plot, and that's before it rips off Dr. Strangelove in a major ass pull that involves multiple coincidences to come together for it to be a plan.

Let's talk No Russian for a second. The mission has your undercover guy participating in a terrorist false flag operation; Makarov and his dudes shoot up an airport (and you can participate or not), then shoot up the cops who show up, then shoot you and leave you to be found. And when the Russians realize you're an American (somehow) they use that as pretext for invading the US (and I'm not even going to touch the absurdity of the logistics involved BEFORE we consider the inanity of the "they magically turned off the defenses" thing). And this was the first of many places I lost my suspension of disbelief. You were sent undercover to get close to Makarov because he's the current terrorist number one in the game's universe. And you are close enough that him and his goons will walk in front of you while arming you with a light machine gun. And you, at best, don't kill civilians. You could just as easily have rock and rolled them all from behind as they stepped out of the elevator (they don't do anything like force you to go first). And ANY operative would have done so, because there's no need to maintain cover at this point. You've got the big man himself, he's going to do something terrible, what the hell? There is no conceivable larger plan that could justify your protagonist being such an idiot. That's the REAL offensive thing about the mission.

Past that, the game has all your standard Call of Duty gameplay things. You've got your squad action where your squad does a shitty job of taking out enemies and hordes of enemies that don't stop until you reach checkpoints. Compared to the WWII entries this one features everyone wearing very similar uniforms so you'll fail a lot from either killing friendlies or dying because you thought they might be a friendly. What's egregious is your reticle has friend or foe identification, but only when you aren't aiming down the sights, so only when your aim is utter shit. As mentioned, during some of the DC segments you have WWII style "jump through the trenches and lines and behind these pieces of cover while long range gunfire not actually fired by distinct actors comes", which is cool on a Normandy invasion mission and utterly terrible everywhere else. The commando missions give you a much smaller squad and huge hordes of enemies; these don't respawn but somehow every pissant petty criminal is able to afford an army of people all ready and willing to trade fire with you at long range; why they didn't all nope out halfway through a mission is never explained. It's only on the last couple missions that the gameplay finally gets good; you have zero or one teammates, the enemies are in reasonable numbers that make sense, and the game rewards you being good rather than just being hopped up on pixie stix.

Honestly, I would feel worse about this game if I hadn't gotten it for free. I have no clue how the fuck it achieved such acclaim when it came out; I'm guessing from people who only played the multiplayer.

[MrPopo]

1. Elite Dangerous - PC
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
10. Inbento - Switch
11. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - XB1
12. Doom Eternal - PC
13. Serious Sam 2 - PC
14. Black Mesa - PC
15. Descent 3 - PC
16. Darksiders II - PC
17. Resident Evil 3 (2020) - PC
18. Overload - PC
19. Final Fantasy VII Remake - PS4
20. Trials of Mana (2020) - Switch
21. Persona 5 Royal - PS4
22. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered - PC
23. Sublevel Zero Redux - PC

Sublevel Zero is a Descent roguelike that came out a number of years ago, then had an updated Redux version come out when it was released to consoles (which was a free update for PC players). This update adds more replayability, with additional hulls to unlock and alternate level generation if you play enough to unlock that campaign. It's got a good difficulty curve to it, a good length, and the only real complaint is the gating of crafting.

The story is pretty bare-bones; something is collapsing in space time and you find this facility that might have the answer. You'll pick up logs as you progress (though you won't get the later ones until you've played a lot to unlock them even appearing), and these logs hint at what might have gone on, though they are intentional obfuscated with data corruption. It's all an excuse for you to dive through 4-6 levels of six-degrees-of-freedom action, blowing up a core at the end to pick up a piece for a special ship drive which may have caused the problem and might be the solution.

Now, I mentioned this is a roguelike. The levels are built from a collection of predefined rooms with various exits, and some might be blocked off in any given generation. It works pretty well; though the game does not have the maze-like backtracking of Descent it is full of twists and turns and you'll need to consult the map at times. There will sometimes be alternate dead-end paths; these will end with some form of treasure and possibly a miniboss fight guarding that treasure. Once you get to the end you'll unlock a teleporter which will bring you back to the branch that sent you off on that tangent, so that's a nice bit of thoughtfulness. Later in the game when you have to snag more key types you'll do more backtracking; frequently you'll start on one branch, get a key or two, need to go to a second branch to get the last keys you need, then back to the first branch to go to the end.

Since this is a roguelike you only have one life and you start fresh each game with a basic set of weapons. As you kill enemies and open chests you will get equipment drops and nanites; these both fuel the game's crafting system. You start off with a handful of recipes and unlock more as you complete playthroughs (including dying). These will always be in the form of combining two similar pieces of equipment for a better piece (e.g. two primary weapons for a higher ranked primary weapon). Like Descent you have primary weapons (which come in three ammo varieties, energy, ballistic, and plasma), secondary weapons (missile, dart, advanced missile), and can also upgrade your hull and engine. You have a limited carrying capacity and that includes the medkits that can heal you over time, so you'll have to make choices on what to keep. In general you should be able to keep fairly lean once you've crafted a high level item or two; your inventory is most constrained early when you're saving weapons to craft your way up to the best gear.

In between levels you will unlock one or more passive boosts that are selected from a set of three; you can also pick these boosts up from the aforementioned minibosses. All of them will stack when you pick duplicates which makes quite a bit of difference with some of them. Getting some good picks can be the difference between a good game and a losing game.

The game has a good suite of enemies that rams up in difficulty over time, but nothing of the level of nasty like the Medium Driller of Descent 1. The weapon stable is similarly great; the weapons are all either taken straight from Descent and Forsaken or are obvious upgraded versions of them. Unfortunately some of the best stuff needs to be unlocked, and unlocks occur randomly. It doesn't matter that you know a recipe from a wiki; you can only craft things you have the plans for. The goal was to encourage replay, but personally I think things like the alternate levels and lore drops are the better thing for that.

One final thing to mention is the boss cores at the end; like the rest of the game these ramp up over time. The first one just sits there and takes it, but consecutive bosses have stronger and stronger active defenses. They will test your skill (and your healing reserves) and are well designed to keep you on your toes without ever feeling too cheap.

If you're a fan of Descent-like games I recommend you give this one a try.

[prfsnl_gmr]

1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
10. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
11. Revenge of the Bird King (Switch)
12. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)
13. Gato Roboto (Switch)
14. Kamiko (Switch)
15. Night Slashers (Arcade)
16. Subsurface Circular (Switch)
17. Iconoclasts (Switch)
18. Wonder Boy Returns Remix (Switch)
19. Resident Evil 3 (PS1)
20. The Messenger (Switch)
21. The Messenger: Picnic Panic (Switch)
22. Samsara Room (iOS)
23. Heroes of the Monkey Tavern (Switch)
24. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch)

Sayonara Wild Hearts Is the video game equivalent of a really great pop concert. The music’s really catchy; the visuals are striking; its immensely fun; and it’s over in about 90 minutes.

The game, which is a love letter to catchy pop music, consists of about 25 levels rendered in deep blues, electric pinks, and purples. Interestingly, and although the game is very much about music, it is by no means a music-and-rhythm game. Rather, the gameplay is a mix of quick-time events and a variety of classic gameplay styles, such as arcade racing (i.e., Hang On, OutRun, etc.), rail shooting (i.e. , Panzer Dragoon, Rez, Tempest, etc.), and a few others (e.g., Geometry Wars, Star Wars (Arcade), etc.). Like a pop song, each level lasts between two and four minutes, and there isn’t much of a penalty for failure. Accordingly, the game is very easy to beat. You get a rank based on your score, however, and achieving a gold rank in each level, which I have yet to do, presents a tremendous challenge. The game is therefore as difficult or easy as you want it to be.

Because it is such a singular experience, however, I recommend playing through the entire game, preferably in one sitting, before revisiting levels for higher scores. The music is so good, the levels are so fast, and the experience is so good, that the game really took my breath away more than a few times, and playing through the levels continuously really makes for a fun, unique, and, ultimately, spellbinding experience.

Despite its short length, I loved Sayonara Wild Hearts, and a few of the game’s levels rank among the best I’ve played in years. Like a great pop song, I suspect I’ll experience it again with some regularity, and I really can’t recommend this game highly enough.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. ACA NeoGeo: Cyber-Lip (Switch eShop)
2. Pengo (Atari 2600)
3. Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii)
4. Knights of Xentar (PC)
5. Hoshi o Sagashite... (Mark III)
6. Dead Zone (Famicom Disk System)
7. Samurai Sword (Famicom Disk System)
8. High School! Kimengumi (Mark III)
9. Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES)
10. Sindbad Mystery (SG-1000)
11. Steins;Gate (Vita)
12. Champion Boxing (SG-1000)
13. Squidlit (Switch eShop)
14. Skyblazer (SNES)
15. Tokyo Dark: Remembrance (Switch eShop)
16. Bubble Bobble (Famicom Disk System)
17. Steins;Gate Elite (Switch)
18. Johnny Turbo's Arcade: Joe and Mac Returns (Switch eShop)
19. Johnny Turbo's Arcade: Express Raider (Switch eShop)
20. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Genesis)
21. Sword of Vermilion (Genesis)
22. Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace (Switch eShop)
23. Oink! (Atari 2600)
24. Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Famicom Disk System)
25. Super Castlevania IV (SNES)

As a youth, I didn't play any Castlevania games. This wasn't by any intentional design. There weren't any vampire-slaying adventures to be found at the local rental stores. As for the two games per year I could afford to purchase: eventually I shifted from Mario and Mega Man to fantasy JRPGs, leaving Simon Belmont and his pals behind. As an adult, I've been picking away the series (slowly). Impressions are mixed, but largely very positive. Which is how I reflect upon this particular game.

Super Castlevania IV is, of course, not actually "the fourth" Castlevania game released chronologically. Thrown into the jumble among the numbered titles we also find Haunted Castle (awful), Castlevania: The Adventure (also awful), Kid Dracula, and Belmont's Revenge. However, Super Castlevania IV is the fourth "mainline" entry, and it marks the series transition into the 16-bit realm. Konami seemed determined to cast a wide net during this era, as there were additional 16-bit entries to be found on the Genesis, PC Engine CD, and even the X68000. Released in 1991, Super Castlevania IV is a relatively early SNES title, with a vibe similar to that of Super Mario World. The DNA of the earlier games is undoubtedly present here, but everything's bigger, slicker, flashier, and... better? For the most part, yes indeed.

The game's plot is relayed brilliantly. During the opening sequence a lightning bolt strikes a gravestone. A menacing bat emerges, and story text begins filling up the screen in tandem with a rolling fog. Dracula has arisen, for the first time in one hundred years, and it's up to one Simon Belmont to whip him back to the underworld. Sound familiar? Yes, it's literally just a retelling of the plot from the first Castlevania. Make no mistake though, despite some reused assets Super Castlevania IV plays like a wholly original game, rather than an enhanced port. Why Konami went this route only five years after the original Akumajou Dracula hit the Famicom Disk System is somewhat puzzling. But it matters not: Dracula and his army of ghouls must be stopped.

Super Castlevania IV is a linear game, much like installments one and three. Stages proceed in a predefined order, with an enticing world map displayed between each one, indicating the player's progression towards the count's final lair. The "Belmont physics" will feel familiar to all who played the FDS/NES titles. Simon is a man who moves slowly and deliberately, as if he's on a stroll and just so happens to be slaying monsters along the way. Perhaps taking a cue from his run and gun pals from Contra, Simon can now whip in eight directions; this new range of motion surprisingly did not become codified into future Castlevania control schemes. There's also a strange "blocking" maneuver that can be activated by holding down the attack button, whereupon Simon can steer his whip to be used as a shield from projectiles. Belmont has always been a "stairmaster" and the copious amount of staircases can now be navigated via "moonwalking" backwards up them (my second review in a row with a Michael Jackson reference...). The familiar power-ups are here. Meat, usually hidden, replenishes health. And hearts are used as ammo (I'll never get used to this) for the special weapons. There are the horizontally-tossed daggers and boomerangs, arcing axes and holy water, and enemy-freezing stopwatches. No longer must the player rely on the clunky up+attack method to activate these weapons, as they are now mapped to the R shoulder button for easy access.

Given Simon Belmont's generally lackadaisical movements, enemies are best slain piecemeal. Anyone attempting to steamroll this one will find themselves zombie food soon enough. "Knockback" is present, so it's oftentimes the pitfalls and spikes that prove to be Simon's undoing, after a gentle shove from a skittering wraith. The enemy selection is quite large, the cast of fiends lifted straight from the earlier Castlevania outings. There are the sine wave Medusa heads, fire-breathing bone pillars, spastic hunchbacks, and much more. Enemy sprites are large and well-detailed, and the hit detection is excellent, punctuated by a big heavy "thunk" when Simon successfully lands a blow. Some fiends boast a bit too much HP, which slows down an already leisurely-paced experience. And there are those occasional moments of slowdown when hordes of beasts clutter the screen. Jumping is stiff, though appropriately so given the layout of most stages.

Bosses are a mixed bag. Most of the early ones are almost too easy, a strange departure from the typical Castlevania experience. Assuming Simon has a decently full lifebar, the first cluster of bosses can be toppled via button-mashing, with little reliance on tactics and special weaponry. Things get a bit more complicated as the game progresses. The two most riveting battles are those against Slogra (a skeletal pterosaur) and Death, both of whom boast some clever attack patterns and a wide range of maneuvers. As for that epic Dracula showdown... it's mostly just annoying. One of those things that's exponentially harder than anything else in the game, in a way that feels more lazy and cheap rather than cleverly devised.

As far as stage designs go, the first half of the game contains the most interesting settings. There are some fantastic outdoor environments, something sorely missing in the "explore the castle" Castlevania titles of recent years. The graveyard and waterfall segments look especially slick, with some fine attention to detail paid to the backgrounds. Generally speaking, the graphical presentation is quite strong. The color palette is varied, though kept appropriately subdued and dark. There's some dizzying Mode 7 that probably doesn't "need" to be here, but looks amazing cool. There are plenty of "gimmicks" to be found throughout the stages, which breaks up the monotony of simply jumping and slaying. One of the earliest stages features a cemetery gate which can be traversed from either side. In another, shifting water currents toss Simon various directions. And then there's the notorious "spinning room" where Simon must attach his whip to a hook and hang on for dear life. The final stages do have a tendency go overboard in terms of "gotcha" moments. There are falling blocks and rapidly-moving platforms and crumbling stairs -- things that feel better suited for a Mario game. Players attempting their first run should experience frequent deaths here, at least until certain segments are sufficiently memorized.

The soundtrack is exquisite, one of the best on the SNES. There's an interesting thematic progression at play here. The earliest tracks, featured in those initial slow(est)-moving "creepy" stages, are appropriately measured, with long-held droning synth notes and subtle eerie melodies. Once the game gets rolling the music increases in tempo. There are some rather tasty energetic tunes heard in the game's midsection, driving bassy rhythms that take full advantage of the SNES sound chip. As the player gets closer to the game's conclusion some "throwback" tracks begin to play, beautiful renditions of 8-bit favorites like "Bloody Tears" and "Vampire Killer." The orchestral ending theme deserves a special mention, the stunning crescendo hitting as clips from Simon's journey scroll across the screen.

In summary, this is quite a sumptuous platformer. It may not be one of my all-time favorites within the genre, but as far as Castlevania games are concerned, it's undeniably one of the strongest. I'd rank it a touch higher than Simon's Quest (which I do indeed enjoy) and a touch lower than Symphony of the Night (which is really a different beast altogether). It's also a mandatory playthrough for anyone interested in hitting all the "big names" on the SNES, the finest console we're likely to ever see.

[elricorico]

1. NBA Jam (GEN)
2. Astro Bot Rescue Mission (PSVR)
3. Bastion (PS4)
4. Octopath Traveler (NS)
5. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS4)

6. Final Fantasy Adventure (NS)

I beat Final Fantasy Adventure today playing the Collection of Mana on the Switch. I had a pretty good time with this one, but it isn't without flaws.

I never had a GameBoy growing up; portable gaming just didnt entice me back then. I was however a big fan of the Final Fantasy series, and I remember emulating the first battle or two many years ago. I really dont remember why I didnt play through it back then. Secret of Mana is an all time favourite of mine, so maybe I was let down at the time as it didn't immediately remind me of SoM.

Playing all the way through did push a few of my nostalgia buttons though. The character sprites a very much reminiscent of NES era Final Fantasy games, and more than half of the enemy sprites in this game clearly evolved into enemies in Secret of Mana. Gameplay reminded me of 8bit action RPGs like Crystalis and Willow from the NES.

The game is largely linear, with only a couple of locations that I felt could be explored out of order. The story was simple, but it did the job and had a bit of a melancholy ending. The music is fairly pleasant, but a couple of the songs repeated a little too frequently. The gameplay is solid, if a little limited.

I did find the game a little too far on the easy side, beating most bosses came down to button mashing to attack and curing when it was needed. The ending had a bit of challenge, but by then I was sitting on a bunch of elixers, so I had plenty of room for error.

The game shows its age in a couple of ways that were mildly annoying. I found there was way too much need to go into menus and change weapons. I wish that select could have been used to cycle through a couple of weapons instead of activating a secondary menu. Some of the puzzles were frustrating; not because they were difficult, but because you could be foiled by an AI sidekick killing something, or an item getting stuck against a wall when you can only push and cant pull. These weren't too bad, but required me resetting a room more times than I would have liked.

All that said, I had fun with this game. I enjoyed roaming the world taking out the regular enemies. I was pleased to recognize some of the original versions of such enemies as ducks with helmets and turtles throwing tridents. The bosses were well drawn and large considering the GameBoy's technology limitations. I would recommend this to anyone that fondly remembers the early Final Fantasy games and enjoys Secret of Mana.

[Ack]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)(Adventure)
2. Final Fight [Japanese Version] (Switch)(Beat 'Em Up)
3. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)
4. Magrunner: Dark Pulse (PC)(FPS)
5. The King of Dragons [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Captain Commando [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. Knights of the Round [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
8. The Witcher (PC)(RPG)
9. Tenchi wo Kurau II (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
10. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (PC)(RPG)
11. Lichdom: Battlemage (PC)(FPS/RPG Hybrid)
12. Star Wars: Republic Commando (PC)(FPS)
13. DOOM 64 (PC)(FPS)
14. Half Dead 2 (PC)(Adventure)
15. Powered Gear - Strategic Variant Armor Equipment (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
16. Torchlight II (PC)(RPG)
17. Battle Circuit [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
18. Hard Reset Redux (PC)(FPS)
19. The Stanley Parable (PC)(Walking Sim)
20. Waking Mars (PC)(Adventure)
21. Requiem: Avenging Angel (PC)(FPS)
22. Night Slashers (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
23. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD (PC)(Action Adventure)
24. Strikers 1945 (Arcade)(SHMUP)
25. SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC)(FPS)
26. Crysis Warhead (PC)(FPS)
27. Metro 2033 (PC)(FPS)
28. Good Job! (Switch)(Puzzle)
29. Blasphemous (Switch)(Action Adventure)
30. Two Worlds: Epic Edition (PC)(RPG)
31. Chex Quest HD (PC)(FPS)

Two Worlds: Epic Edition

I've seen Two Worlds called "the worst RPG ever made." Look, I've played the likes of Drakkhen, Secret of the Stars, and Revenant. Two Worlds is nowhere near as bad. It's a buggy mess that has a lot of problems, but it's nowhere near the bottom of the barrel.

In Two Worlds, you play a mercenary whose twin sister has been kidnapped by some kind of shadowy cult. Your family line has some mysterious powers and legends about them, so the cult wants you to gather up a relic that they can use to resurrect a god. You just want to save your sister, so you decide to try and go along with them for the time being. Why didn't they have your twin sister do it? That's because she's got brains and refused. You, on the other hand, are an idiot. From making bad attempts at jokes that annoy NPCs to willingly taking murder-for-hire jobs, to potentially causing the extinction of entire species, you're a well-chiseled dolt with no moral compass. Who better to possibly resurrect a god?

To do this, you'll engage in an "epic" quest, though in truth the first half of it really only consists of running around and talking to people. The second half, where you have to gather the relics and elemental pieces and then assault the cult's sacred city, is where the epic part comes in, though even that can be laughable at times. For instance, I was told of a terrible dragon who is supposedly guarding the Air elemental piece. I found his nest...and no dragon. I just walked up and took the piece I needed. That's it. The Earth, Water, and Fire pieces were a little more difficult, but only the Water piece had any actual consequences, and that just let to me looting a lot of dead people.

While Two Worlds drew comparisons to Oblivion on release, the better comparison is to the Gothic series. In this game, when you kill a monster, it stays dead. Permanently. This is what I meant by potentially driving species to extinction, because if you spent the time, you could actually cleanse the nation of monsters, wolves, bears, and so forth. It's also not even that difficult to do, once you learn the ins and outs of the combat system, which mainly consists of jumping backwards at the right time. However, the world is large enough that odds are you'll hit the level cap long before you finish this task. I still managed to exterminate nearly every creature in the northern reaches of the map, and let me tell you, it was satisfying work.

You know what else is satisfying? Alchemy. You level and get stat points and skill points to spend in Two Worlds, but the real trick to getting power in Two Worlds is through creating alchemical potions with permanent stat enhancements. I never spent a single stat point in my Willpower, which started at 5. I ended the game with it around 125 because I found so many stat enhancers. Same for physical defense, other stats, and resistance to the fire, ice, and electric elements. I could steamroll most enemies simply because I'd managed to make magic V8.

Equipment also has an enhancement process. As you level, shops carry better gear, and surprisingly so do bandits, but at a certain point your leveling slows, and you realize that true power comes from combining items. As you combine items, base stats improve, and magic enhancements are added and increased. While there are limits to how many enhancements a piece of equipment can have, you can make some ridiculously powerful gear. My suit of armor started with defenses in the 400s and was over 1100 by the end of the game. Similarly, my axe had a damage range of around 200-400 at the start and around 600-1400 when I was done, not including the bonus Spirit damage I tacked on over time. Shoot, the average damage rating was something close to 10k because I'd built the thing up so much.

This is what is so satisfying about Two Worlds. You kill off creatures that don't get to come back, and you watch yourself and your gear get more and more powerful. Sure, the plot has bigger holes than a ripped spiderweb, but as a self-indulgent power fantasy, it hits dead on. And that's why I loved it.

Chex Quest HD

Ok, so around 1996, Chex released a reskinned version of Doom where you used a spoon to fight extradimensional creatures hellbent on eating all of our nutritional supplements in the form of General Mills cereal products. I'm not lying, and it was amazing. Here we are, 25 years later, and they've released a 3D pseudo-remake that is incredibly short but still lets me jab a slime critter in the face with a spoon. And it's free. Hell yes.

Ok, so Chex Quest HD is not the original Chex Quest remastered for modern computers. Instead, it's been modified into fully 3D, with only five pretty simple levels. There isn't much in the way of difficulty options, and unless you have the secret codes for unlocking all the characters, there isn't much to do after finishing a relatively short run through the game. I knocked it out in less than an hour. If you do get the character codes (which are found in specially marked bags of Chex Mix apparently...but they're also all posted online), you can unlock the other characters to play. This is relatively superficial in terms of gameplay, but each character has a unique voice and dialogue, unique weapon models showing their hands, and a unique HUD, so at least there are some differences. The story cutscenes at the start and end of the game change to focus on your character. More importantly, you unlock multiplayer, so if that's what you want out of Chex Quest, that's what you get.

In the game, you do find some slightly different weapons which basically amount to energy beams that send your enemies back to their home dimension. This does include your melee spoon, though sadly gone are the electric sparks it shot out. The "weapons" do come in different types and don't share ammunition, so while it feels a little like Wolf3D's continuous upgrade to a single gun, that's not quite the case here. There isn't much in the way of registering when you take damage, and when your enemies take a hit, their eyes widen a bit, but that's all. Instead focus on when they teleport away, and know that once they begin to phase out of existence, your shots will pass through to hit any enemies behind them, so use that to your advantage even if you can't see an enemy that you know was coming up on you.

There are also secrets hidden throughout each level with little machines that have weird memos on them. You'll know you found a secret when you hear a flushing sound, but the Chex computer confirms it.

That's pretty much all there is. Hey, look, it's a free FPS meant to advertise a cereal product, what more do you need? I still had fun for the time I played it.