Games Beaten 2023

[PartridgeSenpai]

Great reviews, everyone! Especially you, @pidge. Those are epic!

Thanks, Prfsnl! ^w^
I didn't really intend to write a 2200 word review of Mana Khemia when I set out, but that's where we're at now x3

*Desire to acquire intensifies.*

Sorryyy xD
It's super worth picking up though! I think you'll love it if you can get your hands on it ^w^

[REPO Man]

Dead Island 2 for PS4 as Ryan. Easily a step up from DI1 but I still can't understand why all crafting HAS to be done at a workbench. Dying Light didn't have this issue, but then again they gave weapons a finite number of repairs.

I still have to finish the post-ending missions and then as soon as I get paid I'll buy the DLC.

EDIT: It turns out that the first DLC won't be out until Q4 2023. So I guess I'll be waiting awhile.

[MrPopo]

Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

1. Void Destroyer - PC
2. Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights - Switch
3. Raging Blasters - Switch
4. Citizen Sleeper - Switch
5. GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon
6. Hands of Necromancy - PC
7. Project Downfall - PC
8. Chasm: The Rift - PC
9. Cultic - PC
10. Kirby Super Star - SNES
11. Kirby's Dream Land 2 - GB
12. Kirby's Dream Land 3 - SNES
13. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - N64
14. Fire Emblem Engage - Switch
15. Mechwarrior 5: Rise of Rasalhague - PC
16. Kirby's Epic Yarn - Wii
17. Kirby's Return to Dreamland - Wii
18. Mega Man 7 - SNES
19. Mega Man 8 - PS1
20. Conquest: Frontier Wars - PC
21. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - Switch
22. Octopath Traveler II - Switch
23. Last Call BBS - PC
24. The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure - Switch
25. Dread Templar - PC
26. The Great War: Western Front - PC
27. GrimGrimoire OnceMore - PS5
28. Haegemonia: Legions of Iron - PC
29. Everspace 2 - PC
30. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - PC
31. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch
32. Warhammer 40000: Boltgun - PC
33. Diablo 4 - PC
34. System Shock (2023) - PC
35. Huntdown - Switch
36. HROT - PC
37. Armored Core V - PS3
38. Armored Core: Verdict Day - PS3
39. Aliens: Dark Descent - PC
40. Zone of the Enders HD - PS3

Zone of the Enders is a mecha game most notable for being purchased not for the game itself, but because it came with a demo of Metal Gear Solid 2. And it's probably a good thing it had that demo; as a solo retail release it would have been lambasted for being an obvious tech demo for a future game (which would eventually be 2nd Runner), not to mention an NES quality localization in the PS2 era.

The game is set in a space station around Jupiter. A hostile force attacks in order to capture two special mobile frames (mecha) that are on the colony for some reason. The main character, Leo, stumbles upon one of them when trying to escape the attack, literally falls into the cockpit, and ends up needing to fight his way free and link up with the ship that was originally supposed to transport the mech to its mission on Mars. Yup, it's Konami making Gundam without the Gundam license.

The most impressive thing in the game is how they managed to create the "always in midair" space Gundam combat with an intuitive control scheme. You lock on to enemies automatically and all your controls become relative to that enemy. In addition to forward/back/left/right, triangle and X will adjust your height, but you generally are only using that for dodging specific attacks, rather than aiming yourself. The game's camera auto follows and has a hard snap if you let go of the left stick. As a result, combined with some good attack animation chains and you have something that captures some of the magic of those Gundam fights you watched on TV.

That's it for the good. Let's talk about the mediocre and bad. The game has two and a half enemy types. There's the sword melee and the fist melee, which make up one and a half by virtue of the fist one being slightly different, but functionally the same. The melee guys are always easy; at higher levels they simply block a lot but never actually threaten you. Then there's the ranged guys, who have one of two attacks. The first is shooting out tiny pellets that do no damage. The second is a constant beam that they can just keep firing forever and track you and it does big damage. All your deaths will come from these assholes, as their beam attack takes advantage of the auto camera to force your flight paths into the beam.

You are equipped with melee and ranged attacks. The ranged attack is awful against regular enemies (they block it forever) but is essentially against bosses (trying to melee them causes you to take big collision damage). The melee attack will be your primary attack for regular enemies. Additionally, as you progress the story you'll pick up a bunch of ammo-limited sub weapons. Most are garbage, but a couple of them both have the necessary range and big damage to be worthwhile against bosses. As a result, you'll see everything the game has to offer combat-wise within the first 30 minutes.

The game is set up as a series of small battlefields that have enemy packs roaming on them. You will have some task in these battlefields, like getting an item or killing a key enemy. You can leave and go to the world map, which is a glorified menu to pick the next battlefield. You can go back to battlefields to collect more ammo, and there are a handful of optional SOS missions where you need to kill all enemies before they do damage to the buildings of the colony. There is zero reward for doing these. Many times your objectives are unclear; the game will tell you "you can't get through this barrier, go find something that can" and then leaves you to manually check all the areas you've been in before to see if any have changed and now have a key item for you. Finally, there's a handful of boss fights that involve a lot of dodging in between vulnerable periods. None of it is too engaging.

The game's story ends right as you've finished what you might consider to be an intro mission. It leaves off with you flying to Mars and leaving the greater "what's going to happen?" up in the air. The dialog mostly gets its ideas across, but the translation is clearly budget and the voice actors were all extremely isolated from each other or even the context of their lines, so it all lands really off. And there is exactly one mention of "Enders" in the opening cinematic that doesn't actually have any context or give you any idea of what an "ender" is, or why this might be a zone of them. This is honestly not a game to hunt down; I would be more disappointed except I'm playing it as part of the HD collection on PS3 and apparently the second game is actually a fully realized game, so there's hope there.

[KiddMarine]

I think the first ZoE, as fun as it is, in some ways feels like more of a proof of concept than a full fledged game. The sequel takes that concept and builds on it and is very good. It's a similar situation with Pikmin 1 and 2, come to think of it.

[REPO Man]

Beat Uncharted 3 last night. Funny how the last game I'll end up beating on my PS4 before I get my PS5 is a remaster of a PS3 game.

[elricorico]

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Arcade)(XBONE)
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:Turtles in Time(Arcade) (XBONE)
3. Kirby Super Star Ultra (NDS)
4. Metal Slug II (PC)
5. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (PS4)
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Android)
7. Horizon Chase Turbo (PC)
8. Streets of Rage 4 (XBONE)
9. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - Owltimate Edition (NS)

10. Legend of the Skyfish (Android)

I beat Legend of the Skyfish on my Android phone yesterday. This is a game that I've had on my phones for a few years now, I don't recall for certain but I think I got it for free from some offer.

I had a couple of longer flights over the last ten days and I find even though I take a handheld(this time it was my DS Lite) I tend to play on my phone more than anything. So I re-started Legend of the Skyfish and by the end of my trip I had made it to the final boss. This game is a puzzle adventure that basically works around a character that uses a fishing rod(hookshot) and a sword to make her way through short levels and eventually fight bosses. 42 levels over 3 worlds each with a boss level added. The levels are fairly short and the puzzles aren't too difficult.

I used touchscreen controls which I found somewhat frustrating when using the fishing rod, but otherwise they were fine. The short levels are well designed for a phone game, you can play for a quick 5 minutes if you want or it can keep you interested for slightly longer sessions as well. Variety is reasonable, but the overall experience is probably 2 or 3 hours long, so it isn't a great feat to keep the levels interesting.

If you like puzzle platformers and don't mind too much touchscreen controls this is a fine distraction. I wouldn't have wanted to pay much, maybe a couple of bucks, but it helped me pass the time and it gave me some satisfaction when I rolled the credits.

[Raging Justice]

I think the first ZoE, as fun as it is, in some ways feels like more of a proof of concept than a full fledged game. The sequel takes that concept and builds on it and is very good.

Yup. I don't remember if I even finished ZoE, but had a blast with the sequel. It's a pretty epic game.

[Ack]

1. Northern Journey (PC)(FPS)
2. Hatchpunk (PC)(FPS)
3. Might and Magic IX (PC)(RPG)
4. Star Wars: Empire at War (PC)(RTS)
5. Chasm: The Rift (PC)(FPS)
6. Real Heroes: Firefighter HD (PC)(FPS)
7. CULTIC (PC)(FPS)
8. Consortium (PC)(FPS)
9. Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (PC)(FPS)
10. Forgive Me, Father (PC)(FPS)
11. Teomim Island (PC)(FPS)
12. Regions of Ruin (PC)(Action RPG)
13. Void Bastards (PC)(FPS)
14. Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad - Single Player (PC)(FPS)
15. Quake: Scourge of Armagon (PC)(FPS)
16. Quake: Dissolution of Eternity (PC)(FPS)
17. Bioshock Infinite (PC)(FPS)
18. Chop Goblins (PC)(FPS)
19. Ravenloft: Stone Prophet (PC)(RPG)
20. Halfway (PC)(Tactical Strategy)
21. Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (PC)(FPS)
22. Might and Magic X - Legacy (PC)(RPG)
23. Civilization IV (PC)(4X Strategy)
24. Operation Body Count (PC)(FPS)
25. WW2 Rebuilder (PC)(Simulation)
26. Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos (PC)(Action-Adventure)
27. The Ascent: Cyber Heist (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
28. Bright Memory Infinite (PC)(FPS)
29. Tuin (PC)(Farming Sim)
30. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (PC)(FPS)
31. Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef (PC)(Run and Gun)
32. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (PC)(RPG)
33. Subnautica (PC)(Action-Adventure)
34. Frog Detective 3: Corruption in Cowboy County (PC)(Adventure)
35. The Shore (PC)(Horror Adventure)
36. Embr (PC)(Action)
37. That Which Gave Chase (PC)(Horror Adventure)
38. Witch Hunt (PC)(Horror FPS)
39. Amanda the Adventurer (PC)(Horror Adventure)
40. Shadows Peak (PC)(Horror FPS)
41. Berserk Mode (PC)(FPS)
42. Soul Calibur 2 (Arcade)(Fighting)

I continue my assault on the horror games I picked up during the Steam sale.


Amanda the Adventurer

Here is an original idea. Imagine you are trapped in an attic and must watch worn out VHS tapes of a show like Dora the Explorer to answer puzzles, only the show is strange and growing steadily more morbid with every tape you watch. And there are secret tapes to find that reveal the truth of what may be a little girl lost somewhere...out there. In the unknown. Thanks to a strange toy company.

This is Amanda the Adventurer, a children's educational program that you must study for clues to open locks, find needed gear, and try to understand what happened, though the game is sire to never really tell you, just give you partial pieces that may help you form an idea.

Now some of these locks can be opened at any time, so as you do one run and find the way to unlock a padlock, you can now do it at the start of the next run, providing you with a new or changed set of VHS tapes to explore, which get worse and worse.

Just remember, everything rots.


Shadows Peak

This is yet another horror FPS from the same developer as Witch Hunt and Skinwalker Hunt. Unfortunately, it's mired by diverging focus between supernatural and extraterrestrial elements that don't mesh. Apparently an incident causes you to see souls, and you have to murder for aliens to help them leave the planet, because human souls are great fuel for interstellar travel. However, they don't remove the ability, so you then have to go and hunt a Chupacabra to lose the ability to see souls. And then aliens attack, but they're actually trying to save you... it's a mess.

The shooting is solid though, so if you like the idea of wandering the wilderness, avoiding dark screwing souls while shooting grey aliens that come running at you, there is something for you hear. Or if you want to fight a demon-possessed teddy bear that hurls itself at you, you can do that too. The game doesn't really make sense. Witch Hunt still proves to be the best of this guy's games, and while I would recommend that one, I really can't recommend Shadows Peak.


Berserk Mode

Warrior, you must fight through six levels. You must run as each level drains your health. You must kill enemies, because killing heals you. You must find gold, choose from randomized gear, and upgrade your stats. But most importantly, you must kill quickly to transform: into a bear, a hydra, a chimera, a giant mantis. And then you must kill faster to briefly ascend in your bloodlust into a being which never tires and briefly slaughters with utter ferocity.

I love this game. I throw myself at its randomized levels, eagerly accepting curses and trying different routes for more loot to makee more powerful. I can brutalize goblins and skeletons and giant oozes with whatever weapon I so choose to try out, or I can kick them back or maul them. I can even find upgrades to my best form to give it skeletal claws or poison stings. But I have to go fast.

This is like if Hexen met Post Void and did the dirty in a back alley to the Devil Daggers soundtrack. How does that work? I don't know, but I know somebody wasn't wearing a condom, because Berserk Mode got birthed, and it lets me smack trolls in the face with an axe...or an ice axe. Or my bare hands. Or two shields, because yes, you can dual wield shields as weapons in this game.

All glory to the berserker!


Soul Calibur 2

I have played a lot of Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur 2 over the years. Over the weekend, I was at a district meeting for my union, and what did I spy, but a lovely arcade bar with sticky floors, a wall of pinball, and old cabs with broken buttons and light gun games that badly needed recalibration. And among these was Soul Calibur 2.

"Oh man, I haven't played Soul Calibur 2 in the arcade in like 20 years," I thought to myself. "Have I still got it?"

Yes. Yes, I do. Mitsurugi is still a beast, regardless of distance to the opponent, and once I remembered how to throw properly, the AI never stood a chance. While I am certainly rusty, SC2's flow of combat still feels good. I dispatched each opponent, swinging wide when they turned to sidestepping for defense, using vertical attacks for those that tried to flee or roll away, grabbing when blocked, parrying when attacked. Even the counter throws still felt smooth.

While no, SC2 arcade doesn't have all the characters of the consoles, and it doesn't have all the bonus character creators or extra modes and Star Wars tie-ins of later entries, you know what it did have? Good, clean combat, done well. It's tough to get past my love for Soul Calibur, but SC2 is still a favorite to play no matter where you find it.

Except on Xbox, because WTF Spawn.

[Markies]

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2023!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***

***1. Dragon Valor (PS1)***
2. Breath Of Fire (GBA)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (NS)
4. World Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse And Donald Duck (GEN)
5. XIII (GCN)
6. NES Remix Pack (WiiU)
7. Dr. Mario (GBC)
***8. Bully (PS2)***
9. Dragon's Crown (PS3)
10. Bangai-O (SDC)
11. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
12. Destruction Derby (PS1)
13. X-Men Legends II: Rise Of Apocalypse (XBOX)
14. Vice: Project Doom (NES)
***15. Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (PS2)***
16. Terranigma (SNES)
***17. Super Street Fighter II (GEN)***
18. Guitar Hero II (PS2)
19. Kirby's Dream Land (GBC)
***20. Gunbird 2 (SDC)***
***21. Stella Deus: The Gate Of Eternity (PS2)***
22. I Am Setsuna (NS)
23. DuckTales: Remastered (WiiU)
***24. The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES)***
***25. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers 2 (NES)***
26. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (GBA)



I beat Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade on the Nintendo GameBoy Advance this evening!

Back in 2019, I played through Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and I absolutely loved the entire experience. In fact, I ranked it as my favorite game that I played that year. So, obviously, I wanted to continue the series, but I didn't know how I should. Thankfully, when I beat my Backlog last year, I added the GameBoy Advance and that would be a perfect starting off point for the series. So, I made it a point to pick up the first GBA Fire Emblem game on the console during my initial buying surge. Looking for another GBA game to play, I decided I had waited long enough and it was time for me to get back into the series.

I absolutely loved the beginning of the game. You have a 10 map tutorial to the series and they are mostly easy maps to go through, especially after already playing through a Fire Emblem game. You play as Lyn and she is my favorite character in the game, so it was quite fun. After the tutorial, you are introduced to Hector and Eliwood who are the other Lord characters in the game. For the most part, there chapters are fun, but they quickly deteriorate near the end. I love the handheld feel of the game as I think the sprites look beautiful, especially those cute little horses. The music is top notch and the presentation of the story is really well done. Like most Fire Emblem games, the characters are fleshed out and the best part of the game.

Even though you have three Lords and several other powerful characters, these are some of the weaker characters I have ever seen. The stat growths you get are absolutely pathetic throughout the entire game. Most characters are dodge tanks, so if they get hit twice, they are toast. Near the end, you are fighting battles that take hours multiple times because the RNG screws you over and you lose a character or a Lord. And the final battles are so long with so little experience points, I didn't even come close to max level characters which made the final battles nearly impossible.

Overall, I would say I mostly enjoyed Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. I do miss having extremely powerful characters as these just felt weak and the final battles added some gray hairs to me. I would play Path of Radiance 15 times before wanting to play this one. But, I am still interested in the series and I would like to try the next entry on the GBA. I just need some to relax first.

[Note]

1. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
2. River City Girls (Switch)
3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
4. The Simpsons (Arcade)
5. Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch)
7. Shining Force III [Scenario 1] (SAT)
8. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (SNES)
9. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1)
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN)
11. X-Men Legends (PS2)



12. Snatcher (SCD)

[Posted my initial thoughts in the Summer Games Challenge thread, but expanding on them here!]

With an emergency apartment issue, I've had to pack up most of my games and pivot to playing things through emulation. I figured I'd go for some titles I don't own physical copies of and have been meaning to play or try, and Snatcher seemed like a good game to start with. As mentioned in the Summer Games Challenge thread, I don't have much experience with visual novel or adventure games similar to Snatcher, but I ended up really enjoying it. After playing this, I definitely would like to check out Policenauts and other similar titles. While Snatcher borrows a lot from Blade Runner and other sci-fi properties, it has its own unique cast of characters and take on the genre.

I found the graphics and animations throughout the game to be quite appealing. A few of the characters do resemble those from other sci-fi properties, but overall I think the development team did a good job with the look of the game. I'm glad they went with pixel art instead of a full motion video approach, which was popular at the time. I think the pixel art has helped this game age much better. The voice acting in the game is really impressive too. It's definitely better than voice acting experienced in some titles we would get years after Snatcher's release. Also, the humor that the partnership between Gillian and his robot named Metal Gear brings out some entertaining moments.

The menu and controls are quite simple, with a text menu appearing below the graphics. Every once in a while an action sequence will come up where you have to control the main character Gillian in a first person perspective and shoot down enemies. Since I was playing on emulation, I simply did these portions on a controller, which controlled mostly okay. However, there does seem to be a bug in Snatcher where sometimes your button presses for a shot will randomly go undetected. This really didn't affect the gameplay until the end of the game where there are two sequences that throw a lot of enemies at you, and you really have to be quick and accurate to get through the sequence. I think it could be fun playing through it again with a Justifier, something to contemplate for the future.

I was aware the title had more of an adult theme, but I was actually surprised by a few of the violent scenes included throughout the story. Also, I was caught off guard by the emphasis on Gillian's relationships with different women and his fondness for trying to hit on women. I found it to be a little off-putting, but as the player, you can skip some of these actions as well. I personally didn't find that aspect to be offensive, but I could understand why someone would be.

I can see why this game has grown a cult following over the years, as the gameplay is easy to jump into and the storyline is really strong and easily draws you in. I definitely recommend checking this one out if you haven't already! Also, if anyone has any recommendations on other visual novel or adventure games, shoot them my way!