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marurun
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by marurun Fri Sep 23, 2022 12:58 pm

  1. Final Fantasy IX (Nintendo Switch)
  2. Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers (Nintendo 3DS)
  3. Streets of Rage 4 (Nintendo Switch)
  4. Pixel Puzzle Collection (iOS)
  5. Hero Emblems (iOS)
  6. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo Switch)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo Switch)

I got this game for my birthday with the rationale that I would play it with my child, on recommendation from a friend who played this game with their child. This game is mostly pretty good for that. I played in Spring Breeze mode, which is basically easy mode, to ensure that my child did not get frustrated with the experience as they have trouble with the controller frequently.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is basically a standard Kirby game but in full 3D, with a largely fixed camera angle to aid in 1: hiding collectibles just at the edge or outside of view and 2: ensuring a consistent experience for platforming. It succeeds on both those fronts. Kirby now platforms with full 3D movement. You might imagine this would create problems given Kirby can fly, but the game accommodates this by essentially putting up invisible ceilings for Kirby unless you find the "proper" way up, at which point you can then fly above that ceiling until you then drop back below it. If I read these words before playing the game I would think it sounds frustrating and arbitrary, and to an extent it is arbitrary, but the game isn't cruel and the way up usually isn't that hard to find, so it rarely if ever wanders into frustrating territory. The only truly frustrating bits are the ones I have with most Kirby and 3D platforming games: getting a "perfect" score on key challenges and finding all the various hidden and unlockable items and tidbits can be frustratingly hard (even in Spring Breeze) and platforming and aiming in 3D can be a PITA. Regularly I struggled with tapping the analog stick in one direction only to have the spring-back on the stick turn me in the opposite direction. And the platforming frustrated by me and my child. On levels with lots of pits (which are really just damage hazards) they would just start jumping into pits until they died so they could revive after that section of the level was finished. And this is a problem Spring Breeze doesn't fix.

Graphically this game is a joy. It's colorful, maintains good frame rate, and the art style is such that everything looks crisp and lovely. There's also a pronounced depth of field effect in some areas which blurs foreground or background visuals, but it never feels like it obstructs viewing the level because it's applied carefully. There are also some almost RPG-like elements in that as you explore and rescue Waddle Dees your home-base town expands, offering new mini-games and services. One of these is a shop where you can switch abilities freely. In some levels you can find scrolls and use rare stones earned by completing challenges back at the store to upgrade powers. Every power but one can be upgraded twice, with the upper level powers typically being more useful and more powerful.

Each level features 5 challenges. The first is always to complete the level, rewarding 3 Waddle Dees. Then there are hidden Waddle Dees throughout each stage, anywhere from 4-6, typically. This is always the second challenge. Then there are other challenges, ranging from eating 3 of a special food to getting through an environmental hazard area without taking damage from that hazard (falling, freezing, catching on fire, etc...) to finding hidden areas to touching or activating all of a key object in the environment. The challenges are all hidden (except completing the level) until you do the first example of a multiple-objective challenge, at which point it is revealed. And if you complete a level with any challenges not yet revealed, the next challenge in the list will be displayed so you at least know what to focus on next time you play the level. Bosses also have challenges, though they are more typically about beating the boss in a certain span of time or with a certain weapon or without taking damage, though each boss does at least have one unique boss-battle-specific challenge.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land introduces Mouthful Mode, wherein Kirby envelops some giant object and you then utilize some unique mechanic in the level for a bit or participate in what is effectively a mini-game. Sometimes these are challenging, though mostly they're just a change of pace to break up the platforming gameplay. Throughout the level there are special challenge levels called Treasure Roads. They are strictly single-player affairs. You're equipped with a particular power at a specific level and tasked with completing the challenge level within a minimum time. Doing so gets you a rare stone which you can use with star coins to upgrade your powers.

Forgotten Land's 2-player co-op mode is what makes this great to play with kids. If you play co-op mode the second player is a Bandana Waddle Dee with a spear who can stab, spear toss, and fly. The helper doesn't get to absorb powers, but is innately empowered. And when the helper dies, there's a Revive bar that replaced their health bar. When the Revive bar refills that player can tap A to jump back into the game. And like other Kirby games with helpers when 2P moves off the screen (the screen is largely centered on Kirby) they warp to Kirby. While this doesn't make platforming areas any easier for the second player (they may just want to die and sit out that bit) it does help with boss battles and more exploration and combat-oriented areas.

I very much recommend this game, for either single player or two-player play. It's great for parents with kids and also easy enough for novices, though it definitely has difficulty spikes, mostly revolving around various challenges and a few bosses.
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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by ElkinFencer10 Sat Sep 24, 2022 12:50 pm

MrPopo wrote:You know, I find that the NES port is actually the better game. The arcade game has the obviously better visuals, but the NES game has far more content (two extra levels and existing levels are longer, a new boss fight in the garage) and is better balanced to not lean so much on being a credit sink.

You're not wrong, but the controls feel smoother in the arcade version, and that wins me over.

Games Beaten in 2021 - 58
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)
1. Project MIKHAIL: A Muv-Luv War Story - Steam - January 1
2. Shin Megami Tensei V - Switch - January 9
3. Halo 2600 - Atari 2600 - January 10
4. Cruis'n Blast - Switch - January 13
5. Alan Wake - PlayStation 5 - January 15
6. Alan Wake's American Nightmare - Xbox 360 - January 15
7. Apsulov: End of Gods - Playstation 5 - January 16
8. Captain U - Wii U - January 16
9. Raji: An Ancient Epic - Xbox One - January 17
10. JankBrain - Switch - January 22
11. Would You Like to Run an Idol Café - Switch - January 22
12. Bury Me, My Love - Switch - January 22
13. A Normal Lost Phone - Switch - January 22
14. Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story - Switch - January 22
15. Cthulhu Saves Christmas - Switch - January 23
16. Armed 7 - Dreamcast - January 24
17. Satazius Next - Dreamcast - January 24
18. Wolflame - Dreamcast - January 25
19. Metal Slug 1st Mission - Neo Geo Pocket - January 25
20. Metal Slug 2nd Mission - Neo Geo Pocket - January 26


February (1 Games Beaten)
21. Pokemon Legends: Arceus - Switch - February 5


March (0 Games Beaten)
wow I suck ass lmao


April (3 Games Beaten)
22. The Last of Us Part II - PlayStation 4 - April 9
23. Metro 2033 Redux - PlayStation 4 - April 14
24. Sakura Angels - Switch - April 26


May (3 Games Beaten)
25. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures - Gamecube - May 8
26. Metro Last Light Redux - PlayStation 4 - May 14
27. Metro Exodus - Series X - May 28


June (11 Games Beaten)
28. Cyberpunk 2077 - Series X - June 11
29. Sniper Elite 5 - Series X - June 12
30. The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker - PlayStation 4 - June 15
31. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Xbox One - June 16
32. 007 Legends - Wii U - June 17
33. TimeSplitters 2 - Xbox - June 18
34. TimeSplitters: Future Perfect - Xbox - June 18
35. I Saw Black Clouds - PlayStation 4 - June 19
36. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified - PlayStation Vita - June 20
37. The House of the Dead Remake - Switch - June 24
38. Halo Wars Definitive Edition - Xbox One - June 29*


July (14 Games Beaten)
39. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - Switch - July 5
40. Halo Reach - Xbox 360 - July 6*
41. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - Xbox 360 - July 8*
42. Halo 2 Anniversary - Xbox One - July 9*
43. Halo 3: ODST - Xbox 360 - July 10*
44. Halo 3 - Xbox 360 - July 10*
45. Halo 4 - Xbox 360 - July 11*
46. Halo: Spartan Assault - Xbox One - July 12*
47. Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game - Xbox One - July 12
48. Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One - July 14*
49. Halo 4: Spartan Ops - Xbox 360 - July 17
50. Halo Wars 2 - Xbox One - July 18*
51. Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare - Xbox One - July 19
52. Maneater - Series X - July 20*
53. Maneater: Truth Quest - Series X - July 21*


August (2 Games Beaten)
54. Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse - Steam - August 5
55. Radian Historia: Perfect Chronology - 3DS - August 24


September (3 Games Beaten)
56. Silver Falls: Ghoul Busters - 3DS - September 3
57. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Arcade - September 9
58. Pokemon Red - Game Boy - September 13*


58. Pokemon Red - Game Boy - September 13*

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When Pokemon Red and Blue first released in the United States, it was like a spell was cast on America's children. I remember being in first grade and hearing kids on the playground talk about this amazing new Game Boy game. I didn't have a Game Boy yet - I grew up pretty poor - but my best friend was fairly wealthy, and he did have one. As soon as he got Blue Version, I knew that I absolutely HAD to get a Game Boy and Red Version. I spent months begging and begging my mom to get me one (since I didn't understand poverty or scarcity in general), and eventually, she - with the help of my grandmother - managed to get me a Game Boy and Pokemon Red for my birthday the following year when I was in second grade. That's when Pokemon Fever really took off, anyway, after a year of advertising and playground jealousy.

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Pokemon Red and Blue have you taking the role as a ten-year-old kid (canonically named Red) as you set off on your Pokemon journey across the Kanto region. Because apparently giving ten-year-old children horrifically dangerous monsters and setting them loose on the world to fend for themselves is seen as a good idea. Anyway, you get to choose one of three Pokemon as your starter - either the fire-type Charmander, the water-type Squirtle, or the grass-type Bulbasaur. If you don't choose Charmander, you're wrong. As you set off on your journey, you have two tasks - gather all eight gym badges so that you can challenge the Elite Four and become the Kanto Pokemon League champion, and catch all 150 (pssst it's technically 151) Pokemon in the Kanto region to complete the Pokedex created by Professor Oak, the guy who gave you your first Pokemon. Literally every single person who will ever read this knows all of that already, but I said it for the sake of thoroughness.

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The reason that there are two versions of what is, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same game is to facilitate trading. Also to take more of your money. It's mostly to take more of your money. Some Pokemon only appear in either Red Version or Blue Version, so if you want to "catch 'em all," you'll have to either find someone with the other version who's willing to trade with you, or you'll have to buy both versions and another Game Boy. There's also the issue of the starter Pokemon; you can ONLY find those three Pokemon by choosing them at the start of the game, so that means that if you make the correct choice and choose Charmander, you can never get a Bulbasaur or a Squirtle...unless you trade. It's an absolutely brilliant scheme, and a quarter of a century later, we still fall for it with smiles on our faces.

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Pokemon is really just a JRPG with a capturing mechanic. You find monsters, you enslave said monsters, and then you cosplay as Michael Vick and make them fight to the death. Okay, so they technically "faint," but whatever, close enough. Being the first game in the series on an extraordinarily weak piece of hardware, it's a simple game with a number of flaws. Box management - where you store your Pokemon once you have six - is an absolute pain. There are glitches galore, although most of these are the player's benefit rather than a detriment. Parts of the game just outright don't function like they're supposed to. Worst of all (at least from one perspective) is that the psychic type is absolutely broken and overpowered. Pretty much all of these issues would be corrected in future games, but going back in 2022 and replaying the 1998 games really highlights these shortcomings.

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It might sound like I'm not the biggest fan of Pokemon Red and Blue. This, while a reasonable conclusion given my mention of its various flaws, would be an extremely inaccurate assessment. On the contrary, I absolutely ADORE Red and Blue. I have Pokemon Legends Arceus, the newest game in the series, sitting in my Switch right now, but I still spent 48 hours replaying this on the 3DS Virtual Console. It's one of my top gaming comfort foods. I'm just able to admit that it's extremely rough around the edges. This may have gotten damn near every millennial in the world into Pokemon, but this is definitely not where Gen Z or Gen Alpha are going to want to start. The games are just too primitive on Game Boy unless you've got my nostalgia glasses or are already a fan of Pokemon and want to experience the game that started it all. Still, though, Red and Blue (or, in Japan, Red and Green) spawned the world's biggest multimedia franchise, and what started with 151 pocket monsters is now 905 and will break 1000 in a month and a half. Red and Blue may not have aged as well as JRPGs on the Super Nintendo did, but it's still an extremely nostalgic game that I can replay seemingly endlessly and never stop enjoying.
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Markies Sat Sep 24, 2022 3:43 pm

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2022!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*

1. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (PS3)
2. Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne (XBOX)
3. Streets of Rage 4 (NS)
4. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Master Quest (GCN)
5. Dirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2)
6. Darkstalkers (PS1)
7. Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device (SDC)
8. Ogre Battle 64: Person Of Lordly Calibur (N64)
9. Draogn Quest VI (SNES)
10. Batman: The Video Game (GEN)
11. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
12. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)
13. Pokemon Red (GB)
14. Wii Sports (Wii)
15. Splatoon (WiiU)
16. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS2)
***17. Final Fantasy IX (PS1)***
***18. Out Run (GEN)***
19. Assassin's Creed (PS3)
20. RBI Baseball 2 (NES)
21. Puzzle Kingdoms (Wii)
22. Operation C (GBC)
***23. Illusion Of Gaia (SNES)***
***24. Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES)***

25. Forza Motorsport (XBOX)

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I beat Forza Motorsport on the Microsoft XBOX this afternoon!

Forza is a series that has flourished on the XBOX consoles and they have gotten more interesting with each iteration. So, I was surprised to see that it got its origins on the original XBOX. Since I don't own any of the later XBOX consoles, I thought it would be great to dip my toe into the Forza series just for the first iteration. While shopping after beating my Backlog, I found a rather nice copy and thought it would be a good time. Racing being one of my favorite genres and it has been a while since I played one, I figured now would be a good time to try it out.

The makers of Forza were heavily influenced by playing the Gran Turismo series and it shows throughout the entire game. Forza is basically Gran Turismo on the XBOX with some subtle changes. In Gran Turismo, you pick one car and stick with it throughout your journey until you upgrade into a better car. For Forza, you need a new car for every cup that you do. So, after 3 to 5 races, you are constantly changing cars. You don't fall in love with specific cars, but it is interesting to try out new cars so frequently. Forza also has a driver assist mode where a line on the track tells you when to brake and I found that to be really helpful. With stunning visuals and great controls, the game very looks and feels like a fantastic simulation racing game. The cars feel great to handle and the variety is quite astounding.

However, the track design left a bad taste. There are so many long straightaways into hairpin turns or just so many tiny turns that it crawls to a terrible pace. Also, there are only about 12 tracks, so you repeat them constantly. But, the worst part is the music which is this generic butt rock that sounds terrible. About an hour into the game, I turned the volume off my TV and just listened to my own music, which is very rare for me to do.

Overall, I still really enjoyed my time with Forza Motorsport. The AI is quite inconsistent when it comes to the races, so some would be incredibly easy and others you would have to break the bank to upgrade your car to win. Besides all of that, the game is still a blast to play and I loved the slow progression of the game. It grew on me the more I played the game, but I just wished some more track variety or a trimming of the career mode would help alleviate the tedium. But, in short bursts, I can this game being quite enjoyable!
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by PartridgeSenpai Sat Sep 24, 2022 6:49 pm

Partridge Senpai's 2021 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
* indicates a repeat

1. Dandy Dungeon: The Legend of Brave Yamada (Switch)
2. Dandy Dungeon 2: The Phantom Bride (Switch)
3. Mon Amor (Switch)
4. Terraria (PC)
5. Puppeteer (PS3) *
6. Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon (PS1)
7. Project Altered Beast (PS2)
8. Devil Summoner II: Soul Hackers (Saturn)
9. Kirby Star Allies: Heroes in Another Dimension (Switch)
10. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
11. Tales of Vesperia (PS3) *
12. Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSi)
13. Super Robot Wars F (Saturn)
14. Super Robot Wars F Final (Saturn)
15. Super Robot Wars 64 (N64)
16. Knight Gundam Monogatari (SFC)
17. Knight Gundam Monogatari 2 (SFC)
18. Mega Man Legends 2 (PSP)
19. Mighty No. 9 (PC)
20. Mega Man Xtreme (GBC)
21. Mega Man Xtreme 2 (GBC)
22. Super Robot Wars Alpha (PS1)
23. Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden (PS1)
24. Vampire Hunter D (PS1)
25. Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 (PS2)
26. Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 (PS2)
27. Super Robot Wars 2: Complete Box Edition (PS1)

28. Super Robot Wars 3: Complete Box Edition (PS1)

I’d always heard that SRW 3 was a significantly harder game than its relatively easier predecessor, but after how relatively and surprisingly challenging the Complete Box edition of 2 turned out to be, I was hopeful that SRW 3 wouldn’t be *that* bad, especially once I learned that it had a true ending and true final mission locked behind beating the game under a certain total turn limit. I knew I was in for a bumpy ride, but after having so much fun with SRW3, I just had to give this one a genuine try. It took me about twice as many days, so I reckon about twice as many total hours, to beat SRW 3 as it did for me to beat 2, so probably like 60 or 70 hours in total for me to beat the Japanese version of the game on real hardware with the true ending.

SRW 3 picks up a few months after where SRW 2 leaves off, with our heroes’ battle against the Divine Crusaders not only resuming, but the impending alien threat that the DC were ostencibly accumulating totalitarian power to combat also finally arriving at Earth’s doorstep. In what the series would come to call The Inspector Incident, a powerful alien armada of enigmatic but bumbling galactic watchmen have come to destroy humanity. In gameplay terms, this means both more One Year War UC Gundam stuff (which is neat to see as it was in the last game) as well as fighting against this new threat. Though you aren’t alone in your battle, as this is when non-Gundam/-Getter Robo/-Mazinger franchises start gracing SRW, as Combattler V, Daitarn 3, and Raideen grace the series with the first of what would be many appearances (particularly for the former 2). As with the other Winky Soft SRW games, the writing here is hardly high art or going for any particular kind of pathos outside of the once in a while cinematic recreations of iconic moments from the represented shows (many of which are over comically fast), but it’s silly and quick-paced crossover fun that gets the job done to facilitate the action and never outstays its welcome. It continues to do a lot with just a little text, in that manner, which is something I’ll always appreciate Winky Soft’s approach for doing in such an entertaining way.

As for gameplay, this is effectively identical to how the Complete Box edition of SRW2 had changed the overall mechanics of the original Super Famicom game. There have been some changes in regards to balancing in regards to how good certain units are, with Gundams overall getting a bit of a boost and the Daitarn being better balanced than he usually is before this point, but the Getter Robo in particular still being strong yet nowhere near as dominant, but the bigger changes are in campaign and map design. As for maps, we’re getting closer towards what things would come to be like in F/F Final, where you have quite strong bosses, generally quite strong normal enemies, and reinforcements being much more common sights than they were in SRW 2. We thankfully don’t have reinforcements quite as numerous or mean as they were in the F series of games quite yet, but we’re definitely taking baby steps in that general direction. We also start getting a lot more units, more like basically every other game from this point on, so while it’s understandable in is execution, we’ve decidedly moved away from the whole “fielding your entire small army every map” design that SRW 2 uses so well.

It’s really the campaign design that’s one of the most interesting things about this one, however. As previously stated, this game has a true final mission locked behind beating it’s normal final mission in under 350 turns (lowered from the 420 turns of the SFC original). Now I managed to do that in about 310 turns as I played about as quickly and conservatively as I could (probably only could’ve gotten here 3 or 4 turns faster, realistically), so the turn timer isn’t exactly as strict as something like Alpha 3’s would turn out to be. However, what makes that total turn limit counter interesting is that this game doesn’t just have route splits (and is the first game in the series to do so), but this game also has outright shortcuts in most of them. It’s often stated to you in in-game dialogue (though I used a flowchart guide to help plot the most efficient route to the end), but many of the choices you get to pick your route split will give you an option between a longer route and a shorter route. These longer routes really add up as well, as the smallest amount of missions you can beat the game with is something like 34, while the highest amount is more like 51. You could always take the longer route and grind for more money and experience points, sure, and that’s particularly valuable in the first half or so of the game where you feel really remarkably outgunned by your opposition, but take 3 or 4 extra missions and you very might well push yourself out of the threshold necessary to get that true ending.

It’s gonna be *really* tempting to just take your time and do the extra missions too. That first third or half of the game, heck even the very first few missions, are damn hard and far too reliant on RNG to actually survive, let alone do well on them. By the end of the game, you’ll likely be hitting the soft level cap anyhow with a lot of your best troops (as once you hit level 60 you *can* still level up, but it takes twice as much experience now), so it ultimately doesn’t matter *that* much in the end game, but that true final battle is really brutal regardless. If you haven’t done your due diligence leveling up your super robots, you’ll very likely simply lack the firepower necessary to beat it, even with unlimited turns to do it (as was very nearly the case for me). This difficulty cliff you’ve gotta overcome right at the start is easily SRW 3’s biggest weakness, as even in this remake, it’s a significant problem whether you’re going for the true ending or not. This whole system of differently long routes and weird difficulty curves isn’t executed the best, even in this remake, and I’m kinda happy that it’s not an idea that they ever really revisit in this way, but it’s a neat idea that gives SRW 3 a certain special kind of charm, even if that charm is often more negative than it is positive.

If you’ve read my review of the Complete Box edition of SRW 2, there really isn’t any more to say here than there is there. The robots are still cool but very stiff in that old Winky Soft way, and the Inspector leader craft in particular have a neat and distinctive look to them. The music tracks of the new series are cool to see though, and I quite like this version of the Daitarn 3 theme in particular. However it is sad that one of my favorite tracks, the Great Mazinger theme (which is actually in this game after not being in 2 despite the Great actually being in that game), seems to not quite have been encoded correctly, as the first few notes are very clearly flat and the whole song sounds really off as a result. That’s hardly a truly deal-breaking error, sure, but it’s still such a weird and unmissable thing that I couldn’t not mention it here.

Verdict: Recommended. I certainly didn’t enjoy this as much as the CB remake of SRW 2, but this is still a fine SRW game, warts and all. It’s hardly my favorite, but particularly once you get past the start, the balancing is good enough that this game is plenty good fun to puzzle your way through ,especially if you’re not like me and don’t mind only getting a normal ending instead of the true one XP
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MrPopo
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by MrPopo Sun Sep 25, 2022 3:01 pm

Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

First 50:
1. Underworld Ascendant - PC
2. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair - PS3
3. Ni no Kuni - PS3
4. Operencia: The Stolen Sun - PC
5. RPM Racing - PC
6. Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem - PC
7. Pokemon Legends: Arceus - Switch
8. Ni no Kuni II - PS4
9. Everspace - PC
10. PowerSlave Exhumed - PC
11. Horizon Forbidden West - PS5
12. Elden Ring - PS5
13. Shadow Warrior 3 - PC
14. Ghostrunner: Project_Hel - PC
15. Triangle Strategy - Switch
16. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - PC
17. Nightmare Reaper - PC
18. Kur - PC
19. Gundam Versus - PS4
20. BIOTA - PC
21. Chantelise - PC
22. Xenoblade Chronicles - Wii
23. Forgive Me Father - PC
24. Xenoblade Chronicles X - Wii U
25. Steel Assault - Switch
26. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Switch
27. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Switch
28. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country - Switch
29. Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Switch
30. Toejam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron - Genesis
31. Postal Brain Damaged - PC
32. Valkyrie Profile Lenneth - PSP
33. Super Cyborg - Switch
34. Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 - Switch
35. Stray - PC
36. Live A Live - Switch
37. Subwar 2050 - PC
38. Radical Dreamers - Switch
39. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Switch
40. Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 - Switch
41. Soul Hackers 2 - PS5
42. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters - NES
43. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan - GB
44. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers - GB
45. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters - Genesis
46. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters - SNES
47. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue - GB
48. Molek-Syntez - PC
49. Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria - PS2
50. Exapunks - PC

51. Prodeus - PC

Prodeus is the latest boomer shooter to come out of the indie scene, with minimal story, lost of weapons, and enemies that explode in gore. It's fast paced and has a good balance to it, with all the weapons being useful, and more importantly being useful against all enemies. The devs clearly learned all the right lessons from Doom and Quake.

I think there's a story, but man, is it cursory. There's one force called Chaos and another force called Prodeus, and you need to shoot all of them. Aiding you in this task is a bevy of weapons using one of five ammo types. The first, and the one you'll never use again, is your fists. Now, these actually do a lot of damage, as you can hold down primary and secondary fire to do a rapid fire series of punches, but you came to this game to pew pew stuff. The bullet weapons are a pistol, dual SMGs, and a minigun. You have three types of shotguns; a pump action, a quad barreled breech loader, and an auto shotgun. A grenade launcher, rocket launcher, and swarm rocket launcher make up your explosive weapons. In the main campaign there is a single energy weapon, hte plasma rifle. And finally, there are three weapons fueled by Chaos; a lightning gun that spreads to nearby enemies, a high powered revolver, and a gun that lobs fiery projectiles that leave a burning patch. Ammo levels and consumption are at about the Doom (original) level, though you have lower shotgun capacity (but drops are a bit more common). You'll want to regularly swap weapons to level off ammo usage. Every weapon also has a secondary fire, most of which are quite useful.

Enemies are a standard assortment of baddies inspired by Doom. Pretty much all of them feel very fair, with generous hitstun that allows you to stunlock a single enemy with a weapon with a decent fire rate, which is critical for managing your health. There is one late game enemy that shows up in a couple levels that has a nasty homing shot that explodes when it gets near you, making it nearly impossible to dodge; this is priority number one to put down and was the only enemy I didn't care for.

The game levels are presented on a Mario 3 style world map, complete with a handful of alternate routes and some optional levels (such as the weapon trials). Armor and ammo are preserved between levels but health is always replenished. There is also a store that lets you use a collectable from the levels to purchase a handful of guns as well as some enhancements. You can get a double jump, a dash (usable in midair) and a bandolier to increase ammo capacity from 50-100% (ammo type dependent).

All in all Prodeus is a celebration of early 90s FPSs with a fun pixelated filter and missing animation frames to give you that "sprites on 3D terrain feeling". The levels are well designed, the enemies are well designed, and the weapons are well designed. The devs really knocked it out of the park.
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by PartridgeSenpai Mon Sep 26, 2022 4:01 am

Partridge Senpai's 2021 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
* indicates a repeat

1. Dandy Dungeon: The Legend of Brave Yamada (Switch)
2. Dandy Dungeon 2: The Phantom Bride (Switch)
3. Mon Amor (Switch)
4. Terraria (PC)
5. Puppeteer (PS3) *
6. Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon (PS1)
7. Project Altered Beast (PS2)
8. Devil Summoner II: Soul Hackers (Saturn)
9. Kirby Star Allies: Heroes in Another Dimension (Switch)
10. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
11. Tales of Vesperia (PS3) *
12. Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSi)
13. Super Robot Wars F (Saturn)
14. Super Robot Wars F Final (Saturn)
15. Super Robot Wars 64 (N64)
16. Knight Gundam Monogatari (SFC)
17. Knight Gundam Monogatari 2 (SFC)
18. Mega Man Legends 2 (PSP)
19. Mighty No. 9 (PC)
20. Mega Man Xtreme (GBC)
21. Mega Man Xtreme 2 (GBC)
22. Super Robot Wars Alpha (PS1)
23. Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden (PS1)
24. Vampire Hunter D (PS1)
25. Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 (PS2)
26. Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 (PS2)
27. Super Robot Wars 2: Complete Box Edition (PS1)
28. Super Robot Wars 3: Complete Box Edition (PS1)

29. Super Robot Wars EX: Complete Box Edition (PS1)

This is the last game on the SRW Complete Box collection on PS1, and I was very eager to see where the series (even in remake form) went after SRW 3 had such an uneven bent to it. This is the last game before the first one that I played way back in March (granted the F series games are a relatively significant remake of 4), so I was very curious on just what was this sort of missing link between my experiences with the series. Both to my interest and my chagrin, I got the answer to my questions and then some as I played through Masaki’s scenario to the credits. It took me probably around 30 or 40 hours to finish just that one scenario on real hardware. (I may play the other scenarios someday, but for the moment I’m leaving SRW EX as is).

Though Masaki, Lune, and Shuu had appeared in the previous two SRW games, EX is the first game to focus mainly on what would come to be known as the Masoukishin: The Lord of Elemental sub-series of SRW games (which themselves are a kind of precursor to the OG original games they’d start making later). Shortly after the events of SRW 3, many of our heroes from that game (but really mostly just the U.C. Gundam, Mazinger, and Getter Robo ones) are mysteriously isekai’d away to the world of Le Gias, the world within the Earth where Masaki’s mech, the Cybuster, is from. The story takes focus on Masaki (or Lune or Shuu, depending on whom you pick at the start) as you go through a very Fire Emblem-like story of kingdoms, betrayal, and dark demons as you try to free the land and return peace to the realm. This scenario system this game uses, where the easy, normal, and hard difficulties take the place of Masaki, Lune, and Shuu’s respective campaigns, is the main gimmick here. Though all of them are unique (and playing them in different orders can have small story effects on the successive campaigns), beating one does get you to the credits, so though I beat only one, I’m calling this one finished and worthy of a review because I seriously doubt my opinion will increase at all if I play through the other two scenarios.

The reason I sound so cross here is that, though we do have some returning licensed series as well as a couple new ones (Go Shogun and the significantly more popular Aura Battler Dunbine), these licensed characters really might as well not even be here. Narratively, they sometimes tilt the story in minor directions when they suddenly appear to tilt the scales of power in one battle, but really they’re just minor characters here to cheer on the original characters, and those original characters are boring. The Fire Emblem-lite, very generic story was one I found excruciating to have to follow along with, as it’s just so whip-lash paced around piles and piles of flat, dull characters. We have way more text than both of the previous two games combined, and it is used to great effect to make your eyeballs slog through the painfully generic and shallow narrative of the conflict. Even the new licensed series aren’t even really adapted here in any meaningful way, and come off more as token inclusions than anything else. The boring story is one of the big reasons I’ve avoided the OG games with a ten foot pole, but I’ve gotta cut Banpresto some slack here for how their original characters are written. Going off of this as a base, the rest of the PS1 era (and then some) of original characters being overly numerous, flat, and uninteresting is doing nothing but carrying on a proud tradition started way back in the Super Famicom era, and one scenario was so painful that I have zero desire to drag myself through another two more difficult ones.

Mechanically, things are also not quite so entirely sound either. At the most base level, the mechanics are still basically the same as the other two Complete Box remakes, with level ups, separate units and pilots, money to level up stats and weapons, and equippable items. But the more meaningful changes are in general stats as well as map and enemy design. Once again things have gotten a bit of a rebalance on returning party members, making many characters very different than they used to be. Some characters like Masaki in his Cybuster have gotten huge buffs that make them more terrifying than ever, yet some others like Lune in her Valshione have gotten nerfed SO hard (despite in her case being the protagonist of her own scenario) that they’re virtually useless. This is pretty bad, but thankfully stat upgrades have been put back more to where they’d be in 4, Shin, and the F series of games, where you get a lot more bang for your buck when upgrading stats. Most meaningfully, upgrading agility now gives 5 points instead of only 3 like in SRW 2 and 3, so you can make some dodge tank-like units, although they aren’t quite as horrifying as you could make them in the F series.

The biggest change, however, comes in the form of map design and enemy design. We start getting a lot more like how things would continue to be in the other later Winky Soft-era SRW games in that there are far too many super tanky bosses in almost every level. They’re never particularly hard to kill, but they take so much time to kill that it just gets boring. This compacted with the strange sort of un-crunched numbers with stats that I mentioned before, along with the sort of quadratic-scale that the damage calculation seems to use (in short, lower power attacks do far far less damage than high power attacks, so those without very big power are SOL when it comes to taking these big guys down) makes maps far more of a slog than they should be. Some maps in particular are *very* guilty of this, putting tons of massive (yet nonthreatening) damage sponges that will take you over half an hour to slowly whittle down. These huge damage sponges are something that don’t really ruin the game so much as slow it down in a way that just isn’t much fun in a world without skippable battle animations, and this is especially true when comparing it to the much more fun and fast paced nature of the map design in the other two SRW games on this collection.

The presentation is once again that SRW F series-level of just fine. There isn’t really anything new or interesting to report, given that this unsurprisingly uses the same engine the previous two games use. The only real things worth mentioning are the designs of the original robots, which are generally pretty good, and all the new original themes for the new main original characters, which are also generally quite good.

Verdict: Not Recommended. This is sorta a hard one in particular to outright not recommend, since I have plenty of SRW-liking friends who don’t dislike the original characters or their writing nearly as much as I do, but as far as my tastes go, EX is absolutely a SRW game to skip. Between the more slogging pace of the maps and the dreadfully boring writing, you can do way, way better with your time and money if you’re looking for a SRW game to play on the PS1. Even if you’re planning to play the other games in the original Winky Soft series, the licensed characters that take front and center importance in those narratives have *so* dramatically little importance here that, as far as I’m concerned, unless you’re the world’s biggest Shuu Shirakawa fan, you’re still missing nothing by just skipping EX and going straight from SRW 3 to SRW 4.
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Ack Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:31 pm

1. Record of Lodoss War - Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (PC)(Action Adventure)
2. The Citadel (PC)(FPS)
3. Gothic 3 (PC)(RPG)
4. Witchaven (PC)(FPS)
5. Unpacking (PC)(Puzzle)
6. Firewatch (PC)(Adventure)
7. Perilous Warp (PC)(FPS)

8. The Ascent (PC)(RPG)
9. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - The Secret Armory of General Knoxx (PC)(FPS/RPG)
11. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (PC)(FPS/RPG)

12. Kingdom of the Dead (PC)(FPS)
13. Monument (PC)(FPS)
14. Bloodwash (PC)(Horror Adventure)
15. Dead Estate (PC)(Isometric Shooter)

16. Lost in Vivo (PC)(Survival Horror)
17. Star Explorers (PC)(FPS)
18. Dark Souls Remastered (Switch)(RPG)
19. NAM (PC)(FPS)
20. WWII GI (PC)(FPS)
21. Necromunda: Hired Gun (PC)(FPS)
22. Quake: Dimension of the Past (PC)(FPS)
23. Quake: Dimension of the Machine (PC)(FPS)
24. Quake: Scourge of Armagon (PC)(FPS)
25. Quake: Dissolution of Eternity (PC)(FPS)

26. Huntdown (PC)(Run and Gun)
27. A.W.O.L. (PC)(FPS)
28. Hands of Necromancy (PC)(FPS)

You there, yes, you. Do you like Hexen? Does Heretic get your blood pumping? Did the Catacomb series drive you wild? Have you actually subjected yourself to Witchaven just because you want more fantasy-based FPS?

Excellent. I have a game for you.

Hands of Necromancy is about a wizard who wishes to grow his powers and bend the world to his knee. On his journey, he comes across a magnificent ruin, teeming with hordes of monsters found through various portals. Their masters: the three Undead Kings. In the wizard's bid to be the ultimate necromancer, he decides to study the Undead Kings' power, mainly by ripping them apart via a variety of magical weapons and spells all for the important purpose of discovering what their insides look like when on the outside. Mainly, you learn how everything dies.

Yes, Hands of Necromancy is a fantasy-based FPS. You may be wielding swords and spellbooks, but you use them like guns in Doom. Instead of pistols, rocket launchers, and shotguns, you're using a magic wand that shoots fireballs, a magic tome that lets you summon tornados, and...a shotgun. Ok, "shot-pistol", but you know full well what it does. And all of the weapons are good and viable against most enemies, though certain ones are better suited for certain enemy types. They also aren't all a 1-for-1 when compared to other FPS of their type, though certain weapons draw obvious parallels. For example, your melee is a magic sword. If you have power for it, it does double damage and thus is actually pretty powerful, but uncharged, you'll want to stick with something else. You get holy grenades, which yes, are a Monty Python reference and work as thrown grenades. But then you get things like the ice ring, which shoots a floating orb that hits and blasts out a small shockwave that can freeze enemies, or the fantastic tornado spell, which can pull enemies away from you, stick them to the wall for steady damage until they die, or toss them away across the room so you can focus on their friends and thin crowds. You even get a scythe that launches a penetrating projectile and causes further damage over time. Killing with it heals you a little too. These weapons certainly stand out from the traditional crowd.

Which is in spite of the enemies, since many of them don't really stand out. You have several types of enemy wizards, which launch different types of magic projectiles at you from small fireballs to exploding meteors. Snakes can spit poison. Little gargoyles charge you from the air and can spit fire at close range. Golems are big, heavy enemies that can take a beating, and the types determine the toughness and whether they use projectiles or area effect attacks. Ghosts fly at you for melee. Shielded knights reflect most of your spells. The enemies all feel like what you'd encounter in Heretic or Hexen, though the big rarer enemies, the giant gargoyle and undead dragon, feel like worthy, tough, and unique opponents when they show up. And though the bosses are palette swaps, each one offers new attacks and different levels of challenge.

To beat them, you have your weapons, but you also have an inventory system like in Heretic or Hexen. Various items boost your damage or defense, heal you, or illuminate the area. One item is the titular Hand of Necromancy, which brings back a slain enemy to fight on your behalf. Unfortunately these enemies are kind of dumb and get in your way a lot, and you don't get to pick who you're reviving when surrounded by bodies, so most of the time this is pretty much useless. But the best part are the transformations, where you transform yourself into an enemy based on a specific spell you find. These transformations are used both for finding secrets as well as breaching impassable areas. They also get unique attacks and regenerating magic power, which enables them to do two special attacks alongside their special abilities. The snake transformation lets you swim indefinitely and access small tunnels. The stone golem can break certain walls and can attack through them with a stomping shockwave. The hell walker is a fire elemental that can traverse lava without taking damage. And the final form, the wyvern, can fly, thus changing how many of the secrets are handled in the final episode.

Yes, Hands of Necromancy is broken into three episodes, each of which focuses on traversing a hub world, finding a series of keys, and then taking on a couple of levels and an Undead King in a boss battle. Level design is varied, ranging from booby-trapped fortresses to icy mountains, forlorn dungeons to massive cathedrals, but always with portals that enable you to hop back to the hub area for a breather. Enemies stay dead permanently in Hands of Necromancy, so any time you drop one, you're making progress and expanding your safe area. And the keys you find often unlock other areas in other levels, so you may have to leave and return again and again as you get further in your exploration. My personal favorite was a swampy village area in Episode 3 that required searching through three smaller dungeons for switches that open a door to a key, but a large pit at the back only becomes passable once you have the wyvern form. I flew across and snagged the key hidden on the other side, only to then have to engage in a massive aerial battle against gargoyles in what quickly became Hexen vs. Descent.

So if you enjoy Hexen, or you need an idea of what's worth playing in the massive subset of boomer shooters on Steam, Hands of Necromancy is well worth your time. I had a great time with it. I recommend it.
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by prfsnl_gmr Fri Sep 30, 2022 10:43 am

Great reviews, everyone! These are a joy to read, and there is a really nice mix of new and old games.

…..

First 50
1. Space Warrior (Switch)
2. Itta (Switch)
3. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (Switch)
4. Mask of Mists (Switch)
5. Metagal (Switch)
6. Foxyland 2 (Switch)
7. Submerged (Switch)
8. Back to Bed (Switch)
9. Thoth (Switch)
10. 140 (Switch)
11. Infinite: Beyond the Mind (Switch)
12. Ninja Striker (Switch)
13. Kid Tripp (Switch)
14. Miles & Kilo (Switch)
15. Neon Junctions (Switch)
16. Golf Zero (Switch)
17. 198X (Switch)
18. Macbat 64 (Switch)
19. Kiwi 64 (Switch)
20. Toree 3D (Switch)
21. Toree 2 (Switch)
22. #RaceDieRun (Switch)
23. Micetopia (Switch)
24. Tomena Sanner (Wii)
25. Contra ReBirth (Wii)
26. Unstrong Legacy (Switch)
27. Quarantine Circular (Switch)
28. Infernax (Switch)
29. Cosmos Bit (Switch)
30. Ape Out (Switch)
31. Return of the Double Dragon (Super Famicom)
32. Contra (Famicom)
33. Summer Carnival ‘92 RECCA (Famicom)
34. Bionic Commando (Arcade)
35. Shinobi (Arcade)
36. Super Meat Boy (Switch)
37. Chex Quest HD (Switch)
38. King’s Field II (PSX)
39. Mechstermination Force (Switch)
40. Swords and Bones (Switch)
41. The Solitaire Conspiracy (Switch)
42. Super Cyborg (Switch)
43. Blazing Chrome (Switch)
44. Son Wukong v. Robot (Switch)
45. King’s Field III: Pilot Style (PS1)
46. Kirby’s Dreamland 2 (GB)
47. Metal Gear (NES)
48. Vampire Killer (MSX)
49. Super Skelemania (Switch)
50. Just Shapes & Beats (Switch)

51. Super Cable Boy (Switch)
52. Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon (Switch)
53. Elden Ring (Xbox)
54. Rite (Switch)
55. Journey of a Broken Circle (Switch)
56. Don’t Touch This Button! (Switch)
57. Back Again (Switch)
58. What Remains of Edith Finch (Switch)
59. Bleed (Switch)


Journey of a Broken Circle is a pretty basic platform game where you play as a circle in search of its missing piece. Over the course of the game, you find some parts, such as a pinecone, a balloon, etc., that don’t fit quite right, but nonetheless allow you to move a bit differently. The gameplay is pretty straightforward, and the broken circle’s journey is almost exclusively left to right. While the platforming physics are a bit wonky from time-to-time, the game is so forgiving it doesn’t matter too much. The music is relaxing, and the game tells a solid story about different types of relationships and finding contentment through self-acceptance.

Don’t Touch This Button! is an extremely bare-bones first-person puzzle game. In it, you proceed through a series of sparse rooms doing the opposite of what is displayed on a green monitor. (“Don’t touch this Button” appears in the first room.) The puzzles are occasionally clever, and there is some very light platforming at the end. It’s very short, but it is fun enough to justify its $2 asking price.

Back Again is a surreal first-person platformer rendered almost entirely in shades of black, white, and red. It is very short, but the platforming is very solid, mixing elements from die-and-retry platformers, such as Super Meat Boy, with the first-person platforming of Jumping Flash. The voice acting is also consistently solid, along with the ambient background music. While the very abbreviated length makes Back Again seem more like an art project than a full game, it lends itself to multiple playthroughs and more than justifies its meager $2 asking price.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a beautiful walking simulator(?) in which you discover what happened to each member of the accident-prone or otherwise ill-fated Finch family. You play as Edith Finch, exploring her old family home after her mother bequeaths her a key. You come across objects that briefly transport you into the role of one of Edith’s deceased family members and play out, from very different perspectives, the last moments of their lives. One sequence has you transforming into a cat, owl, shark, and sea monster, while another reads like an old EC horror comic. One particularly heartbreaking sequence has you controlling a toy frog in a bathtub while The Rites of Spring plays in the background, while my favorite has you kicking your legs to swing more than a bit too high. While the game is, ostensibly, a walking simulator, you never know what to expect from it. I really can’t recommend this game highly enough, and it’s macabre subject matter is just perfect for this time of year.

Bleed mashes up twin-stick shooting and platforming in a way that I should like, but doesn’t quite work for me. In it, you play as a woman who wants to become the world’s top hero; so, she gleefully sets off to murder the world’s top five heroes using her two pistols and a unique ability to slow time. You use the left stick to move, the right stick to aim and shoot, and the shoulder buttons to jump and slow time. This control set up is the only way, I think you could make this work, but it just doesn’t work for me. (My Friend Pedro employs a similar control scheme, and it didn’t work for me there either.) The action and level design is solid, but I can’t play more than a few minutes without my hand cramping. Moreover, I never feel like I’m very in control of my jumping, which makes the platforming frustrating. Despite this, the game, which was released originally as an Xbox Live Indie Game, is very impressive for the work of (I think) a single developer, and I’ll likely play through the sequel in short order.
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Ack Sat Oct 01, 2022 9:57 pm

1. Record of Lodoss War - Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (PC)(Action Adventure)
2. The Citadel (PC)(FPS)
3. Gothic 3 (PC)(RPG)
4. Witchaven (PC)(FPS)
5. Unpacking (PC)(Puzzle)
6. Firewatch (PC)(Adventure)
7. Perilous Warp (PC)(FPS)

8. The Ascent (PC)(RPG)
9. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - The Secret Armory of General Knoxx (PC)(FPS/RPG)
11. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (PC)(FPS/RPG)

12. Kingdom of the Dead (PC)(FPS)
13. Monument (PC)(FPS)
14. Bloodwash (PC)(Horror Adventure)
15. Dead Estate (PC)(Isometric Shooter)

16. Lost in Vivo (PC)(Survival Horror)
17. Star Explorers (PC)(FPS)
18. Dark Souls Remastered (Switch)(RPG)
19. NAM (PC)(FPS)
20. WWII GI (PC)(FPS)
21. Necromunda: Hired Gun (PC)(FPS)
22. Quake: Dimension of the Past (PC)(FPS)
23. Quake: Dimension of the Machine (PC)(FPS)
24. Quake: Scourge of Armagon (PC)(FPS)
25. Quake: Dissolution of Eternity (PC)(FPS)

26. Huntdown (PC)(Run and Gun)
27. A.W.O.L. (PC)(FPS)
28. Hands of Necromancy (PC)(FPS)
29. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)(FPS/RPG)

The night sky is black matte against screaming advertisements rising into the sky over towering corporate monoliths and shitty housing. The sidewalks on some streets teem with people like ants crawling over trash, on others empty save the corpses, relics of some ganger's latest haul, blood sticky in the heat. The air is punctuated by distant gunfire, car engines and horns, and the latest pulse of electronic base as singers offer auditory sex and rebellion, the product of a corporate recording industry as adept at making you buy as the billboards offering you better fucking if only you buy just one more whatever. You can buy a gun for cheaper than a bottle of clean water. Do it, kid, you're gonna need it.

This is the world of Cyberpunk 2077, a world set in the near future of an alternate history that diverged from our own in the 1980s. Humans are enhanced through technology, robots are regular sights, and violence is a daily occurrence. And all of it is set in Night City, a city-state set on coastal California as a stand-in for Los Angeles. You enter this world as one of three backgrounds: a corporate wage slave, a streetkid tough, or a wastelander nomad. Once in Night City, you look to build credibility and money, always striving for more fame, more cash, more status. At least until shit goes sideways, and the real plot begins.

It's an interesting city, a sort of living thing that seems enormous and yet absurdly small. Eventually Night City's millions fit like old running shoes, and you know the players, the places, and the games. You build the plot through your interactions, and you make decisions that determine your fate. The story and characters is where the game excels. It also excels at the combat, where you have a variety of ways to focus. Fight far off with a sniper rifle, get in close with a submachine gun or shotgun, or get in real close with blades hidden in your arms. Go stealthy, rush in violently, or hack your opponents from afar to make them kill each other or themselves. While it's a good idea to go for a specialization in skills and stats, you have options to fit the game more to your play style.

Unfortunately, driving isn't the same. Motorcycles are great, but cars flip about like slimy dead fish covered in canola oil. And the game world is big enough, you're gonna have to put up with driving at some point. While fast travel places are plentiful in many neighborhoods, you have to find them first. And in the wasteland desert, they're much fewer and far between.

The game is generally gorgeous, as long as you can get past the fact people are tacky robot animals obsessed with sex and gore. Clothing looks from cheap to terrible, though CD Projekt Red thankfully just added a buggy wardrobe feature to set your appearance based on clothing you have encountered. It has some strange quirks, but it fixes one of the major fashion complaints.

Unfortunately, it also adds a few more bugs to a game that is now legendary for its problems. Those are still there. While I never had a hard crash or stability issues, I did experience slow loading and saving screens, subtitles or HUD components that would never go away, and audio quirks that would not stop. NPCs hovering in midair or suddenly folding in weird ways was less common but still happened. Shadows didn't properly render my character's headgear and actually clipped through my helmet at one point. It wasn't game breaking, but it did remind me why the game caught so much flak from the technical side on release, even if much of the worst has been patched for PC. I won't go into the social side of Cyberpunk 2077's problems, but suffice to say, our future holds a generally low opinion of us all is how I took it.

However, as a lover of the cyberpunk genre, the idea that I have a sort of Keanu Reeves take on the Dixie Flatline thrills me to no end. From Dr. Adder to Trouble and Her Friends, Snow Crash to Burning Chrome, these are the kind of worlds I love to explore and experience. And Cyberpunk 2077 gives me that experience, which is exactly what I wanted. It isn't perfect, but it fulfills my needs. And that's all it had to be for me to enjoy it.
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by elricorico Sun Oct 02, 2022 3:20 pm

1. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond (NS)
2. Metal Slug 3 (XBO)
3. Wii Sports (Wii)
4. Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse (GEN)
5. Arc the Lad (PS)
6. Rayman Origins (PC)
7. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC)
8. Final Fantasy IX (NS)
9. Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Wii)
10. Mario Golf - Advance Tour (GBA)
11. Cat Quest (PC)
12. Soul Calibur VI (PS4)
13. Hyrule Warriors (WiiU)
14. Mario Kart 8 DX (NS)

15. Flashout 3D: Enhanced Edition (PC)


Not long ago this game was a GOG.com freebie. I've been a fan of Wipeout and similar games for a long time, so this is one I was sure to install and play.

This is an unapologetic Wipeout clone for sure, and seems to try hard to match the feel of those games. It does pretty well with the feeling of speed when you get going. The control is pretty good, but not quite up to the best of this style of game. Music is pretty bland and repetitive electronic music, nothing to really stand out, and some tracks get a little annoying. The visuals are fine, my not-so-powerful PC can play this at the highest settings without any issues.

There seven "tours" consisting of 3 - 6 races. A fair bit of repetition through the tours with tracks that are the same or at least have repeating sections from other tours. You collect money, weapons and powerups strewn about the tracks and the better you place at the end of the tour the more money you have to upgrade your vehicle or buy a new one.

The game is pretty easy, I never had to replay any of the tours to get first place, only to make some money for upgrades or new vehicles. I've logged about 3 hours and only have a couple of achievements left, both of which are about finishing up buying all the vehicles and upgrades.

There's also a time trial mode - it would be more attractive if they tied some achievements to it though.

All-in-all this is a decent Wipeout clone that will give you a couple hours of entertainment if you are into it. For the price of free I was very pleased, but unless you are looking for easy achievements to pile up I wouldn't spend more than a few bucks on this.

Edit: I guess it is free on Steam as well, looks like it is being given out as part of marketing for a new entry in the series.
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