Master Post


Game 45: Actual Sunlight - 1.5ish hours - October 5, 2016
Actual Sunlight is not a game for everyone. To be honest, I'm not quite sure who it's for, but I know that I felt touched by it. For someone who has lived with depression, I found the portrait of Evan to be convincing and honest, to the point that it brought tears to my eyes on a few occasions and forced me to put the game down for a few moments on others. I have a feeling that the writing might come off as too sharp, or too pretentious for some people, or that the interactivity might be too limited for others. Which of course, raises the issue of "who" the game is for. But I think the game is worthwhile for anyone curious at trying to understand or get a portrait of depression. A lot of popular media is too afraid to get deep with the topic of depression and usually just keeps a character's "depression" to something like a "ho-hum day" or maybe some bad nightmares. Or perhaps worse, they just deal with depressive episodes like after a familial death or a relationship ending. Evan's story and world is brutally crushing, and it's good that it's so crushing and real. His is an all encompassing depression that circles his life from relationships to hobbies to goals to work to the simple matter of cooking a meal. I think it's brilliant and I hope more people give it a chance.
Should I play Actual Sunlight? Maybe. Everyone should at least give it a chance, but don't be afraid to put it down if the theme cuts too close to home for you.

7:05h. Completed around 62% of the game, most (not all) Code Cubes.

During the first stage, my thoughts were something like "Welp, this is a Kirby game alright". Easy, cutesy, with very fun power-ups... a bit like "Baby's First Platformer". However, the game ramps up in intensity (but not in difficulty) gradually ending with a ridiculously epic, and slightly out-of-place, finale which is almost worth the price of admission by itself. Perfect as a "palate cleanser".

Updated OP

Im not gonna do it, ive veered hard the last few months from "story" games to "unfinishable" games.

First Overwatch, then WoW Legion for the last 3 months and for the last week or so Ive also gotten into Dungeon Fighter Online. Granted I would have more hours in any of those than any single player game and they would count for multiple games hours wise but thats not how our little game works.

Oh well, I gave it a shot in the first half of the year I guess, but Im not going to stop playing the games I do want to play just to complete this arbitrary artificial goal we have here (even if it was fun to try). I think I was at around 30 last time I checked, so even adding these I will be far off the 52, and I dont see myself stopping them in the next couple of months (hell Ill probably start playing other stuff unsuitable for the challenge like Paladins for example)

Archive Post


Game 31 - Forza Horizon 3 [PC] ★★★★
An absolute joy of a game. Forza Horizon 3 is just an endlessly fun motoring toybox. The Australia setting is gorgeous and varied, in both the vistas and the actual tracks you'll drive along. Like any open world game, there's a smattering of blips on a minimap to do some task, but unlike all the others, the act of travelling between these icons is this game's bread and butter. It's a driving game that fills the time between doing fun driving tasks with... fun driving. There are a few little niggles, though. Drift challenges are mostly broken in that the regular open world traffic will interfere with your runs constantly, and the PC version is a technical mess. But despite the frame rate issues and the stuttering, I never stopped enjoying myself, and I will undoubtedly return to 100% it.

Home run stretch. Let's see if I can make it without sabotaging my academic career and motivating me into suicide.

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40. Hyper Light Drifter - October 9th

It's basically indie 8-bit Zelda. I like it a lot, the pixel art is stunning and it's an intensely moody, atmospheric game, but it might play with its hand too close to its chest. Having no dialogue at all makes it difficult to connect with the people in the world, and sometimes the secrets are too well hidden, or at worst actually just behind invisible floors and fuck that noise.

I missed a lot of content and I liked it enough that I'll want to return to it.

41. Gravity Rush (again) - October 13th

Gravity Rush 2's delay gave me more incentive to dive back in, and what else is there to say other than that it's a masterpiece of creative gameplay design where the simple act of movement is incredibly fun.

42. Unravel - October 18th

It was nice and relaxing and it was what I needed right now.

43. Bloodborne (again) - October 25th

Platinumed the game. The amount of pride I felt when beating Defiled Watchdog and Amygdala can only be matched by the disgust I felt when the hidden boss was a complete and utter wimp.

44. Thomas Was Alone - October 26th

Decided to waste my evening playing this instead of doing something productive like moping and hanging myself. Why do I care for a group of basic geometric shapes more than basically any other characters in any game?

45. Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalyse (again) - November 3rd

Did another playthrough because why the heck not.

46. Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil - November 5th

With the announcement of a Klonoa movie (yes really) I decided to replay the Klonoa games.

47. REmake - November 10th

Disappointed in how often I had to use a guide (it's RE for god's sake), but I loved every minute, shitty gameplay and all. Here's hoping REmake 2 is even half as good.

48. Link to the Past - November 13th

Probably the best game in the series, and I say that as a raging MM fanboy. Apart from traveling between worlds being a tiny bit of a slog there's just nothing wrong with it.

I found the Chris Houlihan room again!

49. Doom - November 17th

I'm going to write a LTTP thread about this because this was the most awesome thing I've ever played.

50. Link Between Worlds - November 20th

With some fine tweaking to the niggling flaws, this could stand as one of the all time bests of the franchise. As it stands it's merely really really good.

Still like Link to the Past more, though.

51. Pokemon Sun - November 27th

Got some postgame stuff to clear but don't know if I want to. Definitely the best Pokemon game of all time and I'll double dip when Stars comes out.

52. Aragami - December 17th

There's a lot about Aragami I really want to like but there's also way too much wrong with it for me to able to. Hopefully the devs can learn from their mistakes here and give us the game they can really make.

There. I'm fucking done. Now I can go kill myself like I've been wanting.

OT

For 39 I finish Dementium: The Ward on the DS. It was actually a pretty fun first person survival horror game. Yeah the controls were a challenge but I knew that going in since well a FPS on the DS... The story was decent for what there was )it was light) The game play was cool with the limited view without the flashlight ala Doom 3. Give it a shot if you get the chance. Its short, about 4-5 hours.

Next up was Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X. This in another one of those games. That's not bad though. It was a lot of fun. The only thing I didn't like is the randomness to unlocking stuff that you need to help get better score/ Voltage meter. Other than that its fantastic like all the rest!

Original Post

Getting close to 52!!

49) Journey - 2 hours - 10/10
I have no clue why I waited so long to play this game, it was phenomenal. It's such a beautiful world and the music was incredible. I'm going to definitely revisit this at some point to get some of the other trophies and try to go through the whole game with the same partner because I ended up getting paired with quite a few.

Page 1 (Games 1-57)

Officially hit the post limit, so this will be my continuation.

Game 58: Alice: Madness Returns (PS3) - October 8 - 18 hours
A perfect example of a game that improves upon its predecessor in every way. I thought the original Alice was okay, but Returns is huge step up. Alice looks and animates well enough, but the real star of the game is the Wonderfully re-imagined Wonderland itself. The out of Wonderland level opening vignettes were cool, wish they could have been longer. My 16th Platinum trophy after some post-game hunting. It's a shame Spicy Horse couldn't bring us some more in the same vein.

Game 59: Styx: Master of Shadows (PS4) - October 13 - 22 hours
Underrated stealth game, and it's not hyperbole when I say it has arguably the best gameplay in the genre outside of Thief itself. Styx is a murderous bastard, so killing fits here, but combat is a death sentence outside of 1-on-1, as it should be. Hiding spaces, using the darkness and your dexterity to your advantage, it's all here. An absolute classic.

Game 60: Home (Vita) - October 16 - 4 hours
An quick adventure game with simple puzzles and an inventory, in full pixel graphics, found it worked out rather well on the Vita screen. A labour of love, even if you sniff out things early (hard not to), it's still well worth the play through. Had a bug preventing me from finishing, and had to do the entire game again. With a longer game, it would have been a sticking point, but not here.

Game 61: Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (DS) - October 22 - 65 hours
The turn-based TO/FFT gameplay is just about perfection for me, this is more of the same and that's ideal. Perfect handheld setup, jump in and do a fight whenever you wish. The story doesn't compare to the aforementioned classics, but it is better than FFTA and adventurous Luso is a far superior lead than the insufferable Marche. Why Square doesn't have a team cranking out a new title every 3rd year or so is beyond me.

Game 62: Painkiller: Battle out of Hell (PC) - October 23 - 5 hours
10 level expansion that I found to be of a higher quality than the base game itself. People Can Fly picked right up from the ending levels and kept the momentum going, an excellent old school shooter throughout.

Game 63: Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore (PS2) - October 27 - 2 hours
Not a fan of the series controls, but for 99 cents, why not? Beat the story mode with Tina and Bass, fiddled about a bit on other modes, and that's about it. Hard to keep going when I have SFIV installed.

Game 64: Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale (Vita) - October 30 - 13 hours
A Smash Brothers clone featuring Sony characters, and I actually preferred this to the Nintendo games. Some questionable roster choices (Two versions of Cole, but nobody from Final Fantasy?!) don't really hamper things, as everybody was fun and easy to use. Beat the short campaign with everybody, my favourite was Big Daddy from Bioshock. Wouldn't mind a Vita/PS4 sequel with some different All-Stars.

Game 65: Dead Star (PS4) - November 1 - 4 hours
Excellent premise, pretty much a multiplayer space shooter with various ships, Galaga-simple controls. Was very cool for the 10 or so games I got in before the server close. Another strike against multiplayer only titles, if there was a bot mode the game would still be playable today.

Game 66: Penumbra: Requiem (PC) - November 6 - 5 hours
The final Penumbra game. The controls and puzzles were as good as ever, if not better, but the horror aspects which got me into things in the 1st place are nominal, at best. Plenty of beef for an expansion. Still quite good, but the low point of the series.

Game 67: Hannah Montana (DS) - November 8 - 4 hours
Adventure game for kids who watched the TV show. 2 of my girls qualify there, so I play through the game while they tell me what to do. It's a point and click game, solving little mysteries and roller skating around. Really poor, but I'm not exactly the target audience.

Game 68: Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (Vita) - November 17 - 30 hours
Par for the series, with good characters and controls and how easy it is to jump into a quick game. Perfect for the Vita, Hot Shots on a handheld makes it my favourite Golf game ever. Problems? It's still morale-crushingly hard, where I have to play on easy to have a smidgen of a chance on any challenge after the second tier. Still fun, though.

Game 69: X-Men Destiny (PS3) - November 19 - 19 hours
Flawed yet interesting game, part action, part RPG, with a much-appreciated yet half-hearted mutant creation system. Power creep is way too sudden, and the one-city setting is a miss, and it seems like they could have canned the three pre-made characters in lieu of a fuller, make your own one. However, Destiny is a fun romp that brought me back enough to Platinum the game. Feels like a start to greater things in a sequel, but that's not going to happen.

Game 70: Persona 3 Portable (PSP) - November 24 - 51 hours
Best version of the best Persona game. Simplified controls for the PSP lose nothing of value, social links and SMT combat is all there, and the protagonist seems far less of a Mary Sue as a woman, oddly enough. Macabre themes, yet upbeat, good cast of supporting characters, actually makes school seem fun. Instant classic, in Atlus we trust.

Game 71: Broken Age (Vita) - November 27 - 8 hours
Old school Adventure game complete with inventory puzzles and silly Tim Schafer shenanigans. Excellent voice acting really added to the experience, and the characters were all charming in their own ways. Mid-game events were very cool and turn the game on it's head in a good way. I love the remasters they are making, but new adventures in this vein are what I really want out of Schafer. Double Fine continues to deliver as the heir to Lucas Arts.

Game 72: Tekken 6 (PSP) - December 7 - 4 hours
Huge cast, same Tekken fighting gameplay, which is fine by me. Beat the story/arcade modes with King and Nina, used Armor King and Anna as well. Fought the controls a bit where I had to simplify my style, but that's probably more on me than the game itself.

Game 73: Warframe (PS4) - December 13 - 45 hours
Shockingly good. The best kind of multiplayer, where it's all Co-op and on the same side. Superior movement speed and ease of controls, possibly the best I've ever played in gaming, actual Super-Hero/Ninja levels. Looks amazing, too, shiny futuristic metals mixed with nasty, slimy creatures. Great weapon sounds, a game where it's fun to simply watch. This is Digital Extremes at their best.

Game 74: Resident Evil 5 (PS3) - December 15 - 24 hours
Another excellent RE game, the series is always a pleasure. RE4's controls are back, and the partner system really added a ton to the game and was a natural progression from the Leon/Ashley setup of its predecessor. The early RE story connections were very cool, and Chris/Sheva make for a fine duo. Would have preferred less shooting and more horror. Final verdict, I loved it, a top 5 RE game.

Game 75: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky (PC) - December 17 - 22 hours
More STALKER goodness, an absolute joy to play. Superior atmosphere and weapons, bleak setting, challenging and brutal. Dozens of memorable firefights, some were missions and others unscripted. Even the faction names are cool and to the point. The ending sequence, from Limansk onwards, is 10/10 and better than the original game. An all-time great shooter in an all-time great series.

Game 76: Lone Survivor (Vita) - December 19 - 9 hours
Best description I can come up is that LS plays like a side-scrolling Silent Hill. Freaky monsters, scrounging for food and ammo, stuff that may or may not be entirely in your head. Post-epidemic setting with not a ton of detail, leaving the mystery up to your imagination. Took me a bit to get going, but once it did I found it hard to put down. Great game for horror fans, like me.

Game 77: Dark Corridors 2 (Android) - December 21 - 2 hours
Endless runner whose only redeeming quality is cute girls in schoolgirl skirts. Played for a tad, but I'm not grinding this just for unlocks. Added an annoying pop-up without asking as well, ugh. Not a great choice for breaking my GAF-record of 76 games.

Game 78: Passing Pineview Forest (PC) - December 23 - 2 hours
Quick Steam freebee, sneaking through woods at night, literally getting from point A to B with a possibility of dying. Looked good, sounds were good, liked the dark woods walk premise enough that I will buy the original game, which this is pretty much an advertisement for.

Game 79: Sound Shapes (Vita) - December 25 - 15 hours
Hard to quantify, like a rhythym-platformer. Relaxing and fun to play campaign, but that gives way to some tricky Death Mode challenges, and then Beat School lessons my tone-deaf self could not even scratch without a walkthrough. Gets major points for music and originality. A trophy goldmine, my 20th Platinum came easy after cheesing the Beat School.

Game 80: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS) - December 28 - 16 hours
Layton never disappoints, and this is the best of the 3 games I have beaten. My December lunch breaks were all about knocking some puzzles out over food, lovely. Charming in every sense of the word, always smiling while playing, a refreshing series of puzzles amidst the family-friendly setting. Best adventure series in gaming. Lucky I'm so manly or the ending might have gotten to me. Cough.

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49. Rebel Galaxy (PC, 2015) - 26:59
Completed the campaign.

Rebel Galaxy is a fantastic 18-hour game lurking inside a 27-hour game. It manages to capture the essence of the open-world space shooter, a go-anywhere do-anything place where you start as the pilot of a shitbucket and work your way up to command an intimidating dreadnought bristling with cannons and torpedo ports. But its various mechanics simply aren't up to the task of keeping things interesting the whole time, which means the game's opening hours are much more thrilling than its final ones.

Surprisingly, the issues have very little to do with the game's flight model. Unlike previous entries in the space shooter arena, from the venerable Freelancer all the way to more modern entries like the X3 franchise (and its somewhat unfortunate successor, X: Rebirth), Rebel Galaxy only pretends to take place in three dimensions. In reality, your ship is always constrained to a flat plane, though enemies can weave slightly above or below as they dodge and angle for a better shot on your hindquarters. Rebel Galaxy pulls off its trick because its space battles play out very differently from the fighter-jockey style popularized by Wing Commander, Freespace and its ilk. Don't think of aerial dogfights ala Red Baron, but instead of the broadside attacks and torpedo launches of a naval combat simulator--or, better yet, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. You should also forget any notions of Rebel Galaxy being a space sim; it plays like an arcade game through and through.

The issues, then, aren't so much with the minute-to-minute combat itself, especially when things get really tense and enemies are able to chew through your shields when you're not paying close enough attention. Instead, they're with the RPG framework the game sits inside. As befits a game where you start from nothing and become the ruler of frontier space, you'll upgrade your ship and its components as you earn money. It's really exciting when you buy your first ship, though the game is pretty bad at telling you what you should be upgrading first (spoiler: NOT your ship). Once you figure out the way the game wants you to upgrade everything and decide on a general strategy for approaching battles, though, you quickly find the variety of weapons and ships available to you are mostly meaningless.

Weapon upgrades are only ever incremental improvements over one another, and once you've found a loadout that works--missiles, lasers or projectile turrets, for example--you rarely if ever have a reason to change it except to swap out the one that does 60% more damage and has 20% longer range. Component upgrades are even more braindead, except for the add-on modules that confer bonuses in specific areas. Even then, there's little point; besides the repair bot upgrade, which fixes your ship's modules when damaged, you barely notice their existence.

So the only meaningful choice you really have to make when deciding where to spend your money is what type of ship chassis to use. Because your ship's shields and armor are entirely decided by components, the only differences in chassis are speed, maneuverability and weapon hardpoints. Do you want to fly a hulking behemoth that melts smaller ships in seconds, or would you rather play the light and nimble corvette that needs to make every hit count but can escape battles at will? Sadly, this is a decision you only make a handful of times in the game, and it's all too easy to stick with what already works. The only saving grace is that you can sell anything you buy for 100% of the purchase price, and ship costs take 100% of your current ship's value into account as well. Too bad there's precious little reason to experiment much. No enemies or encounters really benefit from different approaches to ship design, and there isn't even a concept of rock-paper-scissors weaknesses.

The other major issue with Rebel Galaxy is the amount of grinding you have to do just to afford those upgrades. Rarely have I seen the critical path of a game require so much grinding of side missions to make sure your build is up to spec. That would be fine if the game's sandbox were sufficiently interesting to make you forget the main story even existed. But for the most part, your side gigs play out pretty much the same: go somewhere, shoot some things. Sometimes you happen to be carrying cargo when this happens, and sometimes you have to make sure someone besides you stays alive, but the ebb and flow of the game remains the same. It's like the game couldn't decide if it wanted to be a sandbox game or a story-focused one, and so falls short of doing either one really well.

None of this is to say that Rebel Galaxy is a bad game, because for the first two-thirds of the game it was really easy to slip into the cockpit and take down swarms of pirate ships. A more thoughtful progression and more variety in encounters and ship design philosophies would go a long way, and I'd love to see a sequel that improves upon the original. But Rebel Galaxy is a game that presents really well but wears out its welcome. I'm reminded a bit of Space Pirates and Zombies, a game with a similar premise that managed to throw not one but two major change-ups during the course of its 40-odd hours of gameplay. Rebel Galaxy could use more change-ups.

[ugh, my internet is awful today, sorry for the double post]

Original Post

Larger update since last post:

20. Ratchet and Clank (PS4) - April
I think the later Ratchet and Clank games spoiled this for me, as I didn't find it as fun as A Crack in Time.

21. Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS3) - April
Like I said for the newest one, not as good to me when comparing to A Crack in Time but still a good game

22. Monument Valley (Android) - April
Enjoyable casual game I was able to play when I was stuck on the train or waiting around outside. Sadly, was you beat it once, it loses its appeal.

23. Uncharted 4 (PS4) - May
Probably one of my favorites of the year. I know alot of people thought it was pretty weak but I personally thought it was the best, story wise. Gameplay wise...more of the same

24. Journey (PS4) - May
Beat this on PS3 when it first came out and I wanted to check it out with updated visuals. Still an amazing experience.

25. Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone (PS4) - June
To me, Witcher 3 is one of the greatest games ever, and I could not wait to finally start the expansions. Amazing, absolutely amazing. Enough said.

26. Witcher 3: Blood and Wine (PS4) - June
I actually preferred this one over the other expansion, as it wrapped up the story for Geralt in a way I liked. I ned to replay it for different choices.

27. Mirror's Edge Catalyst (PS4) - June
I had such high hopes for this game. I think it would have been better if it wasn't open world and was structured more like the first one. Movement and visuals were great though, so there's that.

28. Inside (PC) - July
Great game. I had some high expectations after seeing the trailers and hearing about it from people who could not talk about it. Was not disappointed.

29. Gone Home (PS4) - July
I did not enjoy this one, despite critical acclaim. I didn't get the nostalgic feeling some people saw in it, so that might've been a factor. I mainly played it to get some of my PS+ backlog done.

30. Stacking (PC) - July
Another backlog game that I've been meaning to complete for a while. I love double fine and thought this would be fun. Just kinda blah to be honest.

31. Abzu (PS4) - August
Was expecting another Journey like experience. Kinda disappointed in it, but it was relaxing and I did enjoy the visuals.

32. Lara Craft Go (Android) - August
After Monument Valley I needed a new mobile game to go through. I enjoyed Hitman so I wanted to try the next entry for this Go series. Good puzzles and good time waster.

33. Bound (PS4) - August
Visually, I loved this game. I thought the aesthetic was cool. Everything else was just kinda a slog to go through.

34. Broken Age (PC) - August
I finally got through this one. I beat the first half but put off the second half for a while. I decided to just start from the beginning for this since I forgot almost everything. I thought it was ok, not great, but not terrible.

35. Braid (PC) - September
Another backlog game that I've been meaning to complete for a while. Maybe it's just me, but I found this one pretty hard, especially after World 3.

36. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC) - September
I never finished the last one, so I was worried I'd miss key story points of this one. Wasn't an issue, but I found the game pretty short and the ending unsatisfying. Plus, I'm terrible at doing stealth.

37. Virginia (PC) - September
I still don't know what to make of this one. I did not understand everything going on, but I loved the soundtrack. Need to go back and make sense of it again.

38. Bioshock (PS4) - September
Got the remaster so I could finally complete this game. I got so far in the original but never finished it. Good game, definitely glad I beat it now.

39. Yokai Watch 2: Fleshy Souls (3DS) - October
I don't know why, but I didn't enjoy this one as much as the original. I did as much as I could, but it felt like the original had more content.

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50) Bastion - 6 hours - 10/11
I picked this up on a PSN sale at least a year ago and I'm so glad I made the time to play through it. The setting, music, combat, and narration were all fantastic, the only issue I had was that the story itself was a little nebulous and hard to follow. Still, I really enjoyed myself and now I can't wait to play Transistor.

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#41: Balance: 2.5 hours

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Balance is another free mobile game made by an organisation to promote their work. In this case it's the Norwegian electricity distributor Statnett attempting to teach people how power networks function through a puzzle game. In Balance you are given an arrangement of power generators and cities of different types, along with a set number of the three sizes of power lines. It's your job to connect these elements together with a network that can power all of the cities without overloading. This can be complicated at times because power lines follow a simplified set of the rules seen in real life, longer lines have a higher resistance so they carry a smaller proportion of power. There are a few levels were meanadering lines of the same length are required to carefully balance a very high load.

Spanners are thrown into the works at regular intervals, with power lines being downed to test how robust your network is or changes in the weather to affect your solar and wind power levels. The game is actually very clever when it comes to random disconnects, if there is a weak point in your network that is invariably the spot that the events target so there's no setting up a good enough network and hoping for the best.

Balance is a good game, but a few things hold it back from being great. Firstly it's too short. I know I'm complaining about a free promotional game here but the fact remains that it's undercooked. It has a lot of interesting ideas, and only introduces an element in the last few levels that blows the design space wide open. It's disappointing that it's not able to fully explore its potential (a bit like the BoxBoy games). Secondly the scoring system needs tweaks, you're rated on your time taken on a three star scale and the time required is sometimes unbalanced. A few levels require you to set up a network in an absurdly fast time because you need almost all the time on the clock to actually run through the scenario. Lastly, and this one is much less important mind, I wish the game gave out more information. I want to have access to the power requirements of the cities without having to set up a line and fiddle with a stations output to do it, I want to learn more about how current splits across the network, it seems like a missed opporunity both as a puzzle game and an educational game.

You should still play Balance, it's a good example of condensing a complex area into a puzzle game. But with a bit more polish and content it could have been a great one.

Preview: I'm currently playing Ironclad Tactics, not sure if I want to go for New Game+ or not yet

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Game 36: Hatoful Boyfriend

Alright, I've wasted enough time doing world quests and farming for my professions - time to go back to something more productive and work on my steam backlog!

First up, I decided to install Hatoful Boyfriend. To be quite frank, I only bought this one because of a vague sense of curiosity after inserting it into a number of unrelated jokes, and of course because I got it for next to nothing during a sale. When I started it, I didn't know anything about it, other than it being a visual novel, and let me tell you, I'm sure glad I got to experience it unspoiled in all its wacky glory.

As I played through the different endings, I found myself going through an odd cycle. First, I found the surface-level design decisions bewildering, then off-putting, then ended up getting so used to them that I just ran with them. After a while, I realised that the characters and their stories are actually quite interesting, and I found myself frequently impressed by how dark some of the early moments were for what seems to be a rather upbeat story at first glance.

I figured that once I had unlocked all the endings, I'd more or less get a quick epilogue and some supplemental information to explain the broader lore, but, of course, just about all your notions about the game go out the window when you begin the BBL playthrough. I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll just say that I found the progression system quite interesting. In principle, you can 'beat' the game in just a few minutes, but getting the true ending requires a lot more work (if not really effort, since player interaction is so minimal).

Ultimately, I enjoyed it for what it was - bizarre, unconventional, tense, heart-warming. After having played all of it, I can unequivocally state that the avian character of the presentation is probably one of the less odd aspects of the experience. Finally, I'd like to give a shout out to the soundtrack, which I liked quite a bit (although much of it isn't original music), and which made playing through partially identical sections a lot less tedious.

Oh, and using humanoid character portraits is for casuals.

Index

49. Tricky Tower (PS4, 2016/09/25, 6 hours)

It's pretty much Tetris with physics. I've beaten all 50 single player trials and ended up hating myself for it. The first 30 are fun, but then the horror begins. Lots of cheap annoyances, to inflate the difficulty, spoil the fun quickly. The game manages to stack bullshit so masterful that even the most skilled player isn't able to recover in most cases. There isn't an instant retry button and this game could use one. Beating the game requires more patience and luck than anything. Really a shame since the core gameplay is really good.

50. Uncharted 4 (PS4, 2016/10/09, 18h35m44s)

This game is the poster child of a console exclusive. The production value is off the chart. There are very few games on this level and yet everything seems so effortless: stunning lush interiors and exteriors over-saturated with detail, incredible mo-cap, story telling baked right into the flow of the action, animation that blends super smoothly without getting in the way of playability. That's not even all of it. Uncharted 4 is also a technical show piece for the PS4 in terms of geometry complexity, global illumination, lighting, picture quality and textures. Its 30 fps sport close to flawless frame-pacing and is aided by the right amount of motion blur. Lovable characters, fantastic story and solid "comfort food" gameplay close the deal. I enjoyed this brilliant experience immensely.

51. DOOM 2016 (Steam, 2016/10/13, 15.7 hours)

I've played the original Doom back in '93, on my brand new 486DX2 with whopping 66 MHz (!). It ran super smooth and made the already great gameplay even better. Fast forward 23 years and I'm having an epiphany, it's happening again. I recently picked up a GTX1070 and wanted a nice state of the art game to burn in the new GPU. DOOM 2016 was already on my radar for hearing nothing but good things and its technical prowess (excellent Vulcan API support, insanely well optimized, etc). Yeah, like back in '93, I once again marvel at current tech while having a blast with pitch perfect gameplay. This game rocks, literal (dat OST) and proverbial. Input reads, movement, action, pacing, level design are all top notch. Few releases are this polished. It's a primal joy to tear up the place in this first person shooter. Well and then there is the before mentioned technical side. The GTX1070 is a very capable GPU, but the Vulcan API made it sing and dance even more. Ultra + Nightmare quality settings, down-sampling, the whole nine and the game never missed a beat, buttery smooth frame pacing no matter how thick the action. The story is only there as an excuse to enable the mayhem, but still ties everything together with Paul Verhoeven like dry humor and corporatism satire. Loved it, all of it.

52. PAC-MAN 256 (Steam, 2016/10/15, 4.2 hours)

Two hundred fifty-six is a lovely remix of PAC-MAN. Pixels got replaced by isometric voxels and instead of clearing single screens the maze continuously scrolls upwards while the player gets chased by a killscreen glitch at the bottom. The game is highscore driven, but unlocks and missions add another carrot on a stick. The power pellets aren't the only offensive measure anymore and many other random drops (said unlocks) help the player to keep the ghosts at bay. The highscore chase is endless, but I chalk this one up under beaten because of the "Mission Complete" achievement. I'm going to keep PAC-MAN 256 installed though. It's a wicked little gem for a quick game here and there.

...

Well, that's my 52 games ... but who am I kidding, there is plenty of 2016 left and way too many unbeaten games. <schwarzenegger>I'll be back.</schwarzenegger>

High5 to those who made it, keep on trucking to those who are still at it.

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51) Super Mario 3D World - 8 hours - 10/15
This is the first game I played when I got my hands on a Wii U and it was fantastic. I loved the world construction and some of the new powers like the cat suit. Also it's one of the most beautiful games I've played just because of all the great effects like the rain on the camera during certain stages.

Done my 52

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Game 16 - OutRun - 20 hours

I played the Genesis version of OutRun, and oh how I wish I could play this masterpiece in its arcade form once again. The perfect details, the branching paths, the fantastic music. It may have 16 bit graphics, but you can practically feel the wind in your hair. My best time is 5'19"10, finishing on the C path. It's likely I'll never not play OutRun, but I'm calling it played for this year.

Game 17 - Shadow of the Colossus - 13 hours

I've been waiting to finish Shadow of the Colossus for a few years. I would just get stuck on a Colossus and it would go back on the shelf for extended periods of time. But in the last few weeks, I've managed to get through the last 5 Colossi. Over a decade after this game came out, and it still accomplishes things that no other game, in my opinion, has equaled. Many boss fights are also puzzle platformers. Solving each puzzle/boss is largely done diegetically. My only issue, really, is that I suck at the game. By that, I mean that I often would understand the solution to a boss but be unable to execute it. This resulted in many bittersweet fights. My fight with Celosia exemplified my relationship to the game. On the one hand, seeing the arena and understanding that the only place to go to get out of its charge was the torch plinths resulted in a chunk of wood, which could then be lit, which could then be used to threaten Celosia over the edge of the arena. The interaction between Wander, the Colossus, and the Environment was so organic, and the animations completely sold it. The scene actually seemed inhabited as a result.

Too often the world in video games consists of window dressing- this is the case even, for the most part, in my favorite series, Dark Souls. From manages to nail avatar/boss interaction, but environment as well? Mostly not. If the environment plays a role, it's often poorly done- like the 1HKO lava pool in the Old Iron King fight in DkSII. In contrast, the fights in SoTC that succeed do so by figuring the Colossus into the environment, or by making part of the body of the Colossus the environment. The fights that shine the most do both, like riding Agro around Phalanx and then soaring above the desert sands.

But man, nothing makes that break down like my ineptitude. I must have taken 80 minutes on Malus just from falling off and having to climb back up. Not to mention not initially getting the tunnels under the field and trying to dash and get fragged. I also missed stabbing his hand to steady it, and shooting his shoulder instead of trying to boldly make a jump to his face, over and over again. When that happens, the music no longer seems dynamic, but repetitive. The structure holding Malus in place goes from seeming like an incredible cross between a robe and a castle, and instead just becomes a slippery, swaying hindrance. That was one of the worst of these moments, but they happened again and again. I would be thrilled, wondering at the design, and then 20 minutes into a fight, after falling again and again, the thrill would be gone. I couldn't believe that these fantastic creatures would outstay their welcome with me, but there it was. On the one hand, that's my fault. On the other, team ICO could have spent less time stunning and shaking the player. I would feel like I should just quit out and reload once I was stunlocked by Celosia or Cenobia. Or from missing the leap to Phalanx again and again because my jumping angle off of Agro wasn't tight enough, in the middle of the sandstorm caused by its fins digging into the earth. The game just needed to be slightly more forgiving, because in this state, I would sometimes get the feeling that it was wasting my time. If you knock me down, that's punishment enough. Don't make me wait over and over to get up. All I want to do is keep moving forward to see what's next in your incredible suite of textures, terrain, and animations. It's okay that I work for it (I do enjoy the feeling of success that results), but I need to be able to get back on my feet and go another round.

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#42: Ironclad Tactics: 18 hours

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Did I finish Ironclad Tactics? In some respects yes, in others no. But at this point I am finished with it. It's a game by Zachtronics (SpaceChem, Infinifactory, Shenzen I/O) but it's a completely different beast to his other games. Where most Zachtronics games are puzzle games based heavily on some real engineering concept Ironclad Tactics is a lane based strategy/card game.

You have a customisable deck of (exactly) 20 cards spread across 8 factions (though only two per deck) split into infantry (which can capture control points but are stepped on by Ironclads), Ironclads (which can score victory points by crossing the board), parts (buffs and weapons for ironclads) and tactics (healing, movement, etc). When you play a card into one of your sides of the field the unit walks forward each turn, attacking if things are in range unless it reaches the other side and disappears (potentially scoring points). Get a certain number of points and you win. It's a cool system, and I had a lot of fun exploring it but it has a number of flaws that really come to bear in the DLC missions.

So you have a hand of 5 cards, and you draw one per turn. These cards cost action points to play, which are generated at a given rate each turn (plus bonuses for control points). If you try to draw a card and you have 5 in your hand the oldest card in your hand is discarded to be redrawn later. You can move a card back to the front of your hand but it costs 1AP to do so which can seem like delaying the inevitable. Often a crucial card will fall out of my hand just as I'm able to play it, which is incredibly frustrating.

This wouldn't be as much of a problem if it wasn't for the fact that the cards must synergise with each other for victory. Infantry can attack immediately, but will get squished if not protected by Ironclads. Ironclads can protect infantry but will get destroyed if they don't have weapons, which are separate cards. If you don't have an Ironclad in your opening hand then the AI can quickly take control of the match which can often be a death sentence. This was perfectly fine for most of the game, the matches are quick and you can always try again. But then the DLC comes along and ruins that a bit.

The last mission of the first DLC campaign takes the form of eight missions in a row. You can take two decks into this mission and switch between them between segments but it's still a pain. I got up to the last one once after hours of trying to find a combination that could take on all the parts only to get thrown for a loop by the last section and rolled. One mistake, or a bad opening hand can tank a run and it's just a pain. I never finished that level.

Halfway through the second DLC campaign there's a two-part mission, the only other multi-part mission in the game. I could finish this eventually if I wanted to but after a few tries I'm done. The opponent starts the second half with long-range area of effect coverage on most of the map. Behind their lines is a mortar, which infantry can use to grind out victory points. So you HAVE to start with a hand that lets you rush across the map under heavy fire, with a deck that can also handle the first half. Once your rush takes care of the infantry they'll spawn another fairly quickly and I just can't figure out a build that can keep the pressure up and survive crossing the field.

So yeah the base game is a ton of fun, if frustrating at times due to bum draws. But the DLC levels that require you to keep the good luck up for longer periods tend to make the game falter a bit.

Preview: Next up, Resident Evil HD and Power Line

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Game 14 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD - 28:56
Finished June 28

This was the only console Zelda title I never played and I was surprised both by how many details I enjoyed and by how regularly the same frustrations I always have with Aonuma's directorial efforts (even Wind Waker, my personal favorite in the entire series) materialized. I fully accept responsibility for never quite mastering the specific control schemes each new weapon introduces, especially in boss battles, but for all of the precision I encounter each time I play a Nintendo platformer, I simply don't understand why chasing an ogre on horseback (or grappling onto a dragon's back or jumping a spinner track or fleeing in front of a floating hand) feels like handling the GamePad with oven mitts.

No need to be too negative, though. I loved Midna and the wolf and the way that animals scattered throughout Hyrule ran up to Link to "talk" on each of his trips through town, as if he's some crazy cat whisperer. The details are so charming, in fact, that I find myself, in the wake of one more Zelda credit sequence, already forgiving the production team for all of the tedious fetch quests and backtracking. But I do hope that Breath of the Wild does better.

Game 15 - Odin Sphere Leifthrasir - 33:22
Finished October 16

My second culinary tour with George Kamitani in 2016, after floating through Muramasa Rebirth in the spring. My mission from the beginning was to secure whatever trophy one earned from eating every variation of every ingredient found in the game--all the more pleasurable for the dining experience of a cafe-style table beside a bubbling cast iron cauldron on the top of some desolate peak, served with a smile by a chubby pooka in a chef's hat and food-stained apron. No one needs to hear a story twice, but I want to see Kamitani's take on a Boku no Natsuyasumi-style loafer of a game: maybe wander the coasts and byways of Japan in search of every masterpiece the writer of Oishinbo ever imagined. The most beautiful, most imaginative experience that I've had with the PS4.

I haven't had as active a commitment and pace to this challenge this year as years prior, but I'm hoping to finish. Here are my thoughts on Furi. I haven't really been writing my thoughts on games finished this year, not really motivated enough.

37. Furi (PC) - 3 hours
#Barring the garish Through the Looking Glass companion that accompanies Rider, the aesthetics of Furi are impressive; however, I found the game's difficulty settings to be extreme (on both ends of the spectrum). Furi, the recommended and default difficulty, causes the game to be a repetitious and infuriating waste of time, and Promenade, the lowest difficulty which the developers actively advise against, restrains not only the power of the bosses' attacks but also the number of rounds you fight each boss, resulting in almost no challenge. While the developers state this in the difficulty setting and have gone on record to say they don't believe in product testing because it waters down their vision, I think there should have been a compromise to include an intermediate setting and not berate the player no matter their choice.
Status: Beaten - 10/16/2016

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During September I completed three games

My progress for this challenge is 50/52

1. Pokemon Go – Finished on September 10 – 15+ hours played

I had some nice times just walking while carrying my phone. I've caught a ton of pokemon and more importantly got a ton of steps on my 3DS. I'm calling it done because if I never catch another pokemon or hatch another egg I'll be fine with the entertainment I have gotten out of the game. I'll probably keep casually playing as a passenger in a car or if a friend wants to go on walks to play, but I'm no longer going out of my way to play the game.

2. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – Finished on September 11 – 32 hours, 10 minutes

What can I say about this game? I got about halfway through once and stopped playing for some reason. This time I was determined to finish and I did. I took my time to grind out monster recruitments for things I wanted like Golem and King Cureslime. I enjoyed the game thoroughly. The entire setup where you go from being a son traveling with his father, to being a person traveling with a friend and them monsters, to getting married and having children, to teaming up with your family to save the world just works so well. Dragon Quest games are pretty simple and this story I feel works so well within that simple framework. This was an enjoyable experience from start to finish and I am glad I got to finish the game before Dragon Quest 7 comes out.

3. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice – Finished on September 25 – 60 hours, 8 minutes

I have no idea how the game took me this long. I enjoyed the game for the most part. It once again felt like something real was at stake in the Ace Attorney games. I had an emotional investment in the proceedings that I felt was sometimes not always there with the previous two games. I adore the cast of characters, so actually having Trucy involved a little this time was great. The story the game tells is also one of the best for the series in my opinion. Even the filler case was straightforward enough that I didn't mind how it did not tie in at all to the main story running throughout the other cases. Not sure where I'd rank this game because my experience with the first three games was almost taking them as one massive game. I like this a little better than Apollo Justice and definitely a bit more than Dual Destinies. Enough new stuff mixed in with the familiar and fun returning stuff that it was an enjoyable experience. Now give me that DLC case already!

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Game 42: The Silver Case (PC) - 12 hours

I've long wanted to play Grasshopper's first game, which is a crime visual novel. Despite being a complete remaster, the gameplay apparently hasn't seen much improvement. Even for a visual novel, the gameplay and controls are very clunky. What fares much better is the story and atmosphere. It's a dark detective story that goes into very weird places, even if not as over the top as, say, Killer7. Unfortunately, despite a great start and ending, there's a couple of occassions in which the plot doesn't feel all that interesting. The very low budget presentation might also make it harder to grasp certain situations and their impact. Yet, the art direction is far preferable to modern visual novels.



Game 43: Chase: Cold Case Investigations (3DS) - 1 hour

Where other games fully kick in after an introductional sequence ends with the game's logo, what follows here is the credits sequence. It ends on a cliffhanger, but I wouldn't be surprised if this brand doesn't continue. Because of its low budget nature and relatively ordinary writing, this title's little time also doesn't feel as interesting as its spiritual predecessor Hotel Dusk.

Game 44: Bloodborne (PS4 replay) - 18 hours

I just wanted to test a new PS4 and ended up playing through the entire thing again. There's still new things I discovered, it's great. Yet I messed up the true ending once again and the one thing that sucks is that it automatically goes into NG+...
Also, the load times are still shit even after the patch.

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Game 18 - The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - 20 hours

After playing the original on Steam a few years back, I mostly broke out sessions of Rebirth on the Vita. And it's good. I'll just never be a devotee like some of my friends. The furthest I ever made it was to the second ending. At this point, that's enough for me. I know there's more depth in there, but I've hit my limit on diminishing returns.

Game 19 - Spelunky - 40 hours

Much like BoI, I've played a bunch of Spelunky but don't feel like I have it in me to break through my ceiling. I've made it onto the Alien mothership and to the temple, but never to Olmec. I don't even want to attempt getting to Hell.

Game 20 - Rogue Legacy - 25 hours

While I'm at it with roguelikes, I'm going to cross Rogue Legacy off my list. A fun take on platforming, and the boss fights elevate it. I get a better sense of progression out of RL than Spelunky or BoI- past a certain point, navigating the different areas felt like second nature. Still, I think I'm set on this one without seeing the end credits roll. I have a new rogulike platformer in my life, Downwell, and it seems like it nails a few things that none of the above do for me. I'm still uncovering repeating patterns and spawns, and have yet to clear Aquifer on it, but sessions of Downwell leave me more satisfied than all of the above roguelikes.

Game 21 - Dustforce - 15 hours

10 of those hours come from steam, and 5 from the Vita. It's a shame that the Vita version is gimped, because the device is a far better home for this kind of platformer than my laptop. The soundtrack by Lifeformed is still on constant rotation, especially since Spotify will stream it over many games on my PS4. I adore the feeling of flow that the game gives. But there's only so many restarts that I can take on the gold key levels. I'm calling the game done, but it'll be many more years before I put down the OST.

Game 22 - Ultratron - 2 hours

I think I made it 4 bosses into this, and while the upgrade system adds a little spice, I'm not sure why this game exists. Seems like something that was made for a twin stick game jam. One of many.

Game 23 - Sunless Sea - 17 hours

Deliciously written, but I fell out of the gameplay loop. It's fun to conserve resources and see how much further I could make it in the Unterzee, but I want a little more interactivity. If only this was FTL, Lovecraft/Nightside edition, I'd be hooked for another 80 hours. Also, needs a better OST to keep me hooked in. The one they have is decent, but... well, since my comparison with FTL is already out there, c'mon. There's no comparison.

Game 24 - Tricky Towers - 33 hours

Upfront, I'm going to say that this game has the best couch multiplayer I've played all year. It also has some of the weakest single player. That's including PvZGW2's attempt. No effort at explaining mechanics or gameplay modes, and too few of each to make this game rewarding as a puzzler.

As a multiplayer game, though, holy shit! Fantastic stuff. Popped it on because we were looking for a new couch game and ended up passing controllers back and forth amongst a group of 5 people. Thoroughly excellent when you can talk shit and drop in and out. Surprising depth when you're motivated by competition, too.

The List!

38. Pokemon White - 57.5 Hours


It's Pokemon. 90% the same it's ever been. To my surprise I actually appreciated being limited to new Pokemon, it made the game feel more fresh than it would have otherwise. The rival's angle of wanting to free Pokemon from the shackles of being owned and forced to battle was interesting... until he used shackled Pokemon and forced them to fight to achieve his goal. A neat idea that had some serious disconnect between story and gameplay. Overall though, the Pokemon formula has run its course for me and even though I enjoyed White more so than not, I think I'll stick to checking in on the franchise once every 5-10 years.

39. Costume Quest 2 - 8 Hours


A sequel to a game that really didn't need a sequel. Though it's been a number of years since I've played the original, this feels largely the same but less inspired. A little too safe and a little too easy in execution. Absolutely brain dead combat with attack animations that take too long to resolve, and a few quests that are obvious padding make parts of Costume Quest 2 feel like a chore to get through. Fortunately the charm and the laughs are still there so it's not all bad and kept me engaged enough to see it through to the end. Environmental design is sublime, every area is gorgeous to look at. I can't quite put my finger on it but it all just feels kind of unnecessary. The game is fine but I'd rather just go back and play the original.

35:23h. Completed the game, no postgame, completed several side quests like Garlikid's and the Ninja Reunion. Team was Gellin, Archilles, Blubelrog, Voltasu, Fafurr and Nucleon. Warning: uncontrollable nuclear spoilers ahead.

This is my first Pokémon fangame: I went in blind, with zero hopes, and ended really satisfied. The "meat" of the game is a Pokémon game alright, with the eight gyms, the secondary plot that intermingles with the main game, etc., but as it often happens, the devil is in the details.

Pokemon Uranium is great because of the small things like being "assigned" a Starter after a small test instead of just picking it, the Nuclear Pokémon, the 7th gym (which really felt like the endgame sometimes) and, more importantly, the Tandor Championship, which should be the way "real" Pokémon games do the endgame instead of the "tried and true" Elite 4.

Also, the fakémon are mostly great. Yatagaryu, Archilles, Fafninter, Kiricorn, Nucleon, Tanscure, Splendifowl... most of them are as good as the real thing. Of course, there are "things" like Krilvolver, Titanice, Hazma or Garlikid... but all things considered, this is more Pokemon Diamond than Pokemon Quartz.

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The List!

40. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - 7.5 Hours


After the sublime perfection of Jedi Outcast this feels like a poor step backwards in many regards. After a number of games playing as Kyle Katarn with his trusty sidekick Jan Ors, Jedi Academy mistakenly decides to let the player "create-a-character" which really boils down to choosing between a handful of pre-made models and a half dozen or so lightsaber colors. Jan Ors is completely absent and Kyle Katarn is relegated to being the Luigi to Luke Skywalker's Mario. The structure of the previous entries in the franchise is also thrown out in favor of letting the player choose the order the game's missions are played in. This amounts to a bunch of levels that have little to no connection between them and the plot suffers because of it. My initial reaction to the game was that it feels like a Star Wars Greatest Hits then its own proper entry into the Star Wars expanded universe. It felt like I was being constantly bombarded with elements from the movies as though I was supposed to be going, "Oh yeah, I remember that!!" Hoth, Dagobah, Tatooine, Jawas, Tusken Raiders, Rancors, Speeder Bikes, Wampas, Boba Fett, the Millenium Falcon and on and on. The game seriously suffers from a lack of identity, cohesion and focus. Also making an unwelcome return is an expanded list of Force Powers, literally half of which go unused and unneeded for the entirety of the game since the game also once again lets the player acquire and upgrade them at their own will. The level design and puzzle-solving elements seem to have taken a hit as well, with the game instead relying on combat, combat, and more combat to flesh out the proceedings, which wouldn't be so bad if the game wasn't painfully easy to breeze through with only the lightsaber. Gone is the weapon balance of Jedi Outcast, requiring equal use of melee and ranged combat. Here, I was sprinting (Oh, how I longed for an ACTUAL sprint function) through levels, one or two-shotting every single enemy in my path with the lightsaber, or alternatively ignoring them entirely since a lot of levels are so open and underdeveloped you can physically avoid them, and more so because they pose so little threat to the player as you are able to regenerate about half your health at the press of a button. There were rare moments where I was teamed up with other Jedi facing enemy Dark Jedi in 2v2 or group battles where you could actually combo force powers with your allies lightsaber attacks that were real, bonafide FUN, but these moments were exceedingly fleeting. Upon reflection of it all, it's very telling that there was 4 years of development between Jedi Knight 1 (aka Dark Forces 2) and Jedi Outcast, and only 18 months between Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. To put a random number on it, about 70% of this game's content feels half-baked. However, the game actually ends on a bit of an uptick: the last two levels see a return of the focused, linear design the previous games did so well and would be rather enjoyable if the rest of the game wasn't so poorly conceived that by the time you reach them you just want the whole thing to be over already. This might be an acceptable game for a casual Star Wars fan and a broader audience in general, but for me it is an enormous misstep and Jedi Outcast remains the pinnacle of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight franchise and possibly even Star Wars games as a whole.

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#43: Power Line: 6.5 hours

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You rotate the blocks to connect all the doodads together. That's about it. There are 5 worlds of increasing grid size and 75 levels each, but you've pretty much seen all the game has to offer by the end of the first level so... yeah probably give it a pass.

Preview: Started Resident Evil HD on the PC last night, got overly cautious about saving and lost all my progress. Ooops.

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Game 37: Fire Emblem: Awakening

I'm finally starting to beat some games again. I currently have ongoing playthroughs of several 3DS and Wii U games, but for now, I finally (after over 3 years) managed to finish Fire emblem: Awakening]. I'm not quite sure why, but every time I started a new game, I eventually lost interest and whenever I pick it back up, I of course have to create a new save again (I'm having the same problem with Fates). Who knows, maybe it's because of all the nonsense you can do in between missions.

At any rate, I've always quite liked Awakening. The core cast is likeable, the overall presentation (especially the animated cutscenes) is incredibly stylish, and it introduced several improvements to the combat (and especially support) system. As far as the core gameplay goes, it's definitely on par with the rest of the series, if perhaps a bit easier (playing classic mode, I had to restart maybe 3 or 4 times in total). At the same time, it has a number of minor flaws that nevertheless bother me quite a bit, and probably contributed to my not being able to finish it until now:

• There is not a lot of mission variety. Outside of a few more standout scenarios that force you to rush, almost all chapters can be played by slowly baiting enemies to attack you and then inching your way forward to the enemy commander. I miss the higher objective diversity from the earlier games.
  
• There is very little narrative drive. While the story is presented in a dramatic and epic fashion, I mostly keep playing to get ahead, rather than find out how the story continues. A big part of this is that many of the scenarios are relatively badly contextualised, and for quite a few, I'd be hard pressed to tell you where in the story they occur. Things just kind of happen, and your characters react to them, but it feels a lot like the overall story gets lost in the middle of it (it probably doesn't help that the supposed antagonist changes several times throughout the game).
  
• While I like the characters at a superficial level, and while the support system is made much more user-friendly, I feel that character dialogue and development represents a huge missed opportunity. Rather than seeing characters and their relationships mature over the course of the game, many of the conversations are incredibly shallow, and most of the characters are little more than the personification of a trait.

That said, I still find the game very enjoyable. It is definitely much more 'pick up and play' than eg the GBA games, and the fact it's on 3DS gives it more flexibility than the console ones. Still, given the option, I would probably prefer to play 7 or Path of Radiance, instead.

1h-ish. A game from a different time, when games didn't need to be, uh, games at all. Fun for a couple playthroughs: getting the titular Executive Suite can be more tricky than expected if you don't know exactly what you have to do.

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Game 38: This War of Mine

I still have a lot of games in my steam backlog. I loaded this one up, thinking it would be a fun and quick little diversion, and while I do believe I've seen just about everything in the game after a few hours, I'm not sure 'fun' is a sensible choice of word here.

At a very basic level, This War of Mine is a survival / simulation hybrid, and a very competent one at that. If I was recommending it to someone else, I'd probably describe it as The Sims with resource management and scavenging instead of careers. And yet, there's a lot more to be seen here beyond the fundamental gameplay loop. If it was just for the survival elements, This War of Mine would be an entertaining experience, but the subject matter - civilians attempting to survive through war, gives it a much grimmer atmosphere. In many ways, my time with it made me think of The Last of Us, because of the tone and atmosphere, and because of the emotions it evokes and struggles it portrays.

There are many games that are about war, or armed conflict in general, but few of them take the time to consider the suffering of those caught in the middle, and instead focus on the soldiers fighting on either side. It can indeed be all too easy to forget the true victims of war, those who have little to gain from it and yet stand to lose everything. Experiencing their struggle, however muted it might be in video game form, can be eye-opening in times when too many people are too quick to deny assistance to the people fleeing from conflict, or trapped within it.

While an armed uprising is central to the situation presented in This War of Mine, it is only secondary to the ultimately more important day-to-day life of individual people, and the choices they must make in order to try to survive. It is here that you are presented with countless uncomfortable decisions. When your food or medicine becomes scarce, how do you ration it out, and if it's not enough for everyone, who do you give it to? When you are in desperate need of supplies, are you ready to steal from others who may need them more? When discovered while sneaking through occupied territory, do you flee, or do you stand and kill the other person in order to keep looting?

It's not often that a video game causes me to reflect on its subject matter to a greater extent, so it is all the more impactful when it does happen. A person can become cynical when following geopolitical developments, and it is good to be reminded from time to time what casualty numbers really represent, to be reminded what a privilege it is to live in peace, and how easy it can be to lose it. In that regard, This War of Mine certainly got its point across to me.

Game #43: The Master Chief Collection: Halo (XBO) - 12:18 h - 03/10/2016
Finally decided to beat it. Music is awesome. Setting of the game, too, but all the rest? Repetetive spaces in the buildings and the driving of Warthog are the worst thing in Halo. When I was - in chapter 6 or 7 - each floor was the same. Really Bungie? However it is a good game, but not great or incredible.

Game #44: Forza Horizon (X360) - 18:20 h - 17/10/2016
Yes! Yes! Just wow. Finished FH2 few months ago, but FH1 is even better. Colorado looks stunning. Climate of the festival is noticeable everywhere. 1 vs 1 races, normal races, vary challenges. Marvelous title and one of my favourite racers of all time. Can't wait to start playing FH3.

Game #45: Firewatch (PS4) - 05:04 h - 22/10/2016
This is a huge surprise for me. I am not a big fan of indie games, but Firewatch was one of the most anticipated games of 2016 for me. Beauty screens and interesting thematics. Grab it on the last PS sale and it was great move. Game is simply fantastic. Graphics, radio dialogues, mysterious incidents, story. Top 3 games of 2016 at this moment for me.[

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43) Forza Horizon 3-9/27-10/10

A game that went on longer than what it really should have. It is the type of game that is meant to be played 1-2 hours per session, as anything more it gets pretty redundant and downright repetitive. The soundtrack is A+, has tons of fresh music ranging from hip hop to EDM to classical to rock to of course new music from Australia as you’d expect given the setting takes place in modern day Australia and all. By no means is this a terrible game but it’s a game you have to pace yourself to play on how much you want to play because the mission structure in itself will continuously borrow and share similarties in what you have to do. Reach destination point…..get a certain amount of style points via drifting or getting enough air time…..win races in either 3 lap or 100% completion…..gain a certain amount of speed on a speed trap…you do these throughout the entire single player campaign. It’s a shame too because the few epic races you do get which has you racing boats or a train or a jet are FANTASTIC and I wish there was more variety. That being said, if you don’t mind repeating the same old mission structure continuously what you will get is a good 30 or so hours of content in a single player as you set out to expand your horizon festival throughout the country and try and make a name for yourself.

I briefly touched the online, not much really differs except you don’t have the useful rewind system which is a major help in the offline races and can and will stop you from reaching insanity levels.


My biggest gripe with the game would be the checkpoint system but then again I don’t know how else you would offer a challenge in a race….but to me, it restricts the wide open feel that you have in the game to have to race in between checkpoints to continue the race. Seems sort of against the whole “This is your race, be free and do what you want” mentality that the game hits on home throughout the game other than these races. Cars can push you(Yes they push you……) off those checkpoints and if you aren’t weary of your speed and surroundings, you will crash yourself out of the checkpoint and spin out of control in a frustrating means of burnout.

The car variety and type are fantastic and while I am not a car junkie, I am sure if you are one you will have loads of fun customizing a build for these cars. Me I just allowed the best upgrades possible to not take too much time in getting into these extreme details of a car but to each’s own. The barn finds can be frustrating to find and while they offer up shit cars(Not sure if the last one is good, it takes 20 years for that one to be built up), they are a nice little sidetrack sort of ordeal. A lot of the bucket challenges are hit or miss but there’s tons of side content in this game like photo mode and what not that makes this a game worth your time.

44) Shantae- 10/15-10/16

Finished Shantae on my 3DS, my best advice for someone jumping into the series, go straight to Risky's Revenge. This has a little relevance for the sequel's story but boy this game has aged terribly, so many awful game design choices for this game and after playing the 2nd and 3rd games, this game is just ass to be quite frank and that's so disappointing. You are not missing anything with skipping this game but if you must, start with this game just so you can see how well this game has evolved and aged and don't be like me and play the superior titles and come back to this.

Lets start with my big pet peeves:


1) Game design choices ranging from no map to the inability to see ahead or below an area....the problem lies in hand where unlike future titles in the series, this game punishes you severly by if you instantly touch spikes or fall, it takes a full life where unlike other games take a small chunk of health. I can live with that, I have dealt with worse.....but the problem is it teleports you back to the beginning of the screen which is brutally annoying and tedious. You don't even get your full health back when you lose a life, you start automatically at 3 regardless of how many hearts you have accumulated during the game, just awful.

Due to the spikes being such a problem and falls instant KOing you, it would help to take a page out of Sonic and allow you to see below or up above what the hell is there because often I would jump over an enemy(I'll get to that in a second) and than unfortunately get caught with a pitfall and have to replay an area. When you fully die and lose all your lives, you get brought back to whatever save point you last started from, that's standard.

Screw collecting collectables, because no map means you have to search long and wide to find squids or fireflies(Which are only showing up in an pointless and tedious mechanic which I will get to in a second) which I just figured just isn’t really worth it in the grand scheme of things.

Believe me, I get it….the game came out in 2002, it’s going to be outdated. No doubt about it but games like Sonic and Kid Chameleon which came out a decade before had the ability in seeing what lies ahead, there’s no reason for this game not to.

2) The hit detection is lousy in this game, the sprites maybe had something to do with it? In cases like the final boss, I ran the risk of trying to get hits with her signature hair whip attack due to getting so close to the enemy due to the lack of range. So many times I got hit(Which all enemies take ½ health off, all) due to just trying to get close enough to get an attack. You have no idea how frustrating this honestly becomes, the other games give your hair whip a nice amount of space where you aren’t forcing yourself into danger to get your offense going.

3) The meaningless day and night mechanic serves no purpose. Outside of fireflies that only appear at night(1-2 times a firefly has vanished just was I was about to get it due to this gimmick), if anything the night time actually makes the game worse since enemies take twice as much hits to take down and outside of 1 enemy, nobody acts any different between the time changes so it’s a rather pointless part of the game that I am glad was done away with in the 2 future titles.

It’s still a decent title but I do think the game does get frustrating since these are easy game changes and big hindsights that should have been thought forth before making it’s way to the final version of the game. These few complaints stop what would have been otherwise an enjoyable couple of hours which the 2 future titles of this series are.

45) Grabbed by the Ghoulies- 10/16-10/21
The game isn’t 5 days long, just I took my time with the game. Did not go into a full completion mode of the game either of getting every single rare book. I did end up getting half of then on my 1st playthrough however.

That being said, this game is actually really fun and is much better than what is credited for. I am not sure if this game gets flack for being the 1st post Nintendo project Rare did since joining MS but the game is a fun couple of hour 3D Brawler with tons of cute quirks that make this a Rare stamped game. The enemy variety is pretty well done, the challenges don’t feel impossible yet don’t feel like pushovers as you progress the game, the whole storybook telling is fantastic and it’s a game that is simple but in a good way(At least for me). Easy to pick up, easy to play, and it doesn’t change that way throughout the game. Some may not like the fact there’s no exploration with the game and that you are mandated to go area to area to continue the story and that’s fair but sometimes linearity within a game isn’t always a bad thing. The Reaper is my boy, he saved me more than killed me if we are being honest here so it’s little strategies like that….that allow you to play through a scene in a few facets whatever way you prefer.

As someone who got to play this game through Rare Replay, I felt as apart of a catalogue filled of games, this is awesome and anyone who bought Rare Replay for Banjo or Conker or Perfect Dark totally need to give this game a shot. I don’t know if the game was worth it as a stand alone title and maybe that was the gripe people had for it when it was first out back in 2002 for XBOX but I would def. play it as a part of the collection.

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Game 39: Papers, Please

In keeping with the depressing tone of my last game, this one definitely did not help to lift my spirits a great deal (despite the odd humorous moment - looking at you, Jordi). I'm quite glad I went in with close to no prior knowledge, leaving me with the satisfaction of trying to figure out how to play the game and what is happening behind the scenes. Of course, that led to my promptly getting one of the bad endings ( ), but after a short period of getting used to the different failure criteria, I think I've become quite efficient at verifying travel documents, as well as deciding when to cheat the system.

For such a seemingly straightforward game, I am pleasantly surprised at how much variability there is, and how many neat little side stories that can prematurely end your run you come across on top of the main plot. I think the way the story is told is a huge part of what makes an otherwise potentially tedious experience so unique, requiring you to listen to what people say, keep track of newspaper headlines, and read between the lines of the propaganda machine.

I'm probably going to dive back in to unlock the remaining endings (and achievements) eventually, so I'm glad there's an easy way to start from a given day and branch off dynamically, rather than having to start over from the beginning each time. For now, I'm glad I got around to giving this a try.

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Game #42: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Spirit Of Justice (3DS) - 35 Hours
Really enjoyed this one better than Dual Destinies, but I would still put this in the lower spectrum when compared to the whole series. I enjoyed the new gameplay mechanic where you get to see the victim's last moments and feelings, and use it to find contradiction in the interpretation of the vision. Game was pretty solid throughout with only a case that seemed out of place and would of fitted better as an earlier case than a later one.

Game #43: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS) - 80 Hours
Finished the game on Conflict difficulty (Normal). I felt that this game was a bit more challenging than SMT IV. Its kind of the same deal where the game is only really challenging in the beginning, but with this game there a few curveballs that might get you the first time. (and also the last few bosses were really challenging as well). Only thing I disliked about the game was how you can randomly get caught in a trap where you have mash your way out or else you get teleport in a random area of the dungeon. Thankfully it does not happen too frequently but it just disrupts the pace of the game.

Game #44: Parascientific Escape Cruise in the Distant Seas (3DS) - 5 Hours
Was first interested in this game when I saw that it takes some inspiration from Zero Escape. I wasn't expecting much from this game, but i thought it was a decent escape game. This would be a pretty good game to dip your feet into escape games. Puzzles are pretty straightfoward for the most part. The only real challenge of the game is navigating through the janky slide puzzles.

Game #45: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker (3DS) - 17 hours
Finished the Ronaldo route in the Sep arc while avoiding doing any free battles hence why the hours it took to finish the game is pretty low. This was my 2nd playthrough of this game so I was able to just coast through the majority of the game until the last few battles where my team leaders were starting to get killed off in one hit/turn.

Currently Playing:

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE: Reached Chapter 6. Im in the middle of moving houses so I will probably won't be finishing this any time soon

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate: Prepping to fight Apex Seregios. Never thought I would get this far.

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Game 45: Tearaway Unfolded (PS4) - n/a

Obviously, the game's presentation is the standout feature. It looks great, moments of individualisation can be clever, the writing can be quite fun and the soundtrack is decent (apart from weird steps into dubsteb). The gameplay, which is pretty much a giant parcour testing all kinds of different controller commands (including touch and motion), is fun enough. There are many stand-out moments, though the game seldom further builds upon them. It often is hard to keep track of events though, particularly if many different things are asked from the player, like multitasking both character movement and touch controls while being attacked during a zoomed out perspective, in which you don't look that different from enemies. The game would have been frustrating, if it wasn't extremely forgiving.



Game 46: Strider (PS4) - n/a

The 2D action controls and feels great, since it is both quick and precise. The cartoony visuals also look great, apart from generic enemy designs. There technically isn't too much to complain about, other than that its Metroidvania nature wasn't really needed. There's a variety in platforming and abilities, which is usually fun, but the eventual backtracking can feel boring. The reboot would have probably been better if it was stage based like its series' origin.

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50. Civilization VI (PC, 2016) - 10:27 and counting
Won a cultural victory with Saladin on a small map at standard speed, Chieftain difficulty. (Don't judge me.)

Of the many games I've bought at or near launch and then abandoned very quickly, Civilization V is probably the one that deserved that fate the least. I'm not sure why I bounced off Civ V so quickly, playing maybe two games total over twelve hours. The Civ Fatigure Syndrome continued with Beyond Earth, which in some ways was a reminder that no Civilization game is ever truly bad, but also somehow lacking character. All this meant the announcement of Civilization VI, something I should have been really excited for, landed with a bit of a thud for me. I worried that maybe I just wasn't a Civilization kind of player anymore. Maybe I had too many games to play now to give myself so fully to a Civilization game the way I did when I was young, when money, not time, was the constraint on my gaming habits.

I was fully prepared to wait Civilization VI out until a deep discount or a GOTY version. What finally convinced me to jump in now was the PC Gamer article that made the case for Civilization VI being as complex and fully-featured as any previous Civilization game was after its expansions had come out. PC Gamer was totally right, but that complexity is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it means you always have a wealth of options available to you, and unlike the occasional tedium of previous Civs (especially during the late-game phase), many of your choices feel more meaningful. This has been a design philosophy of the last few Civ games but it finally clicked with me here, such that I don't even really miss my armies of worker stacks terraforming the countryside in previous Civs.

On the other hand, it also means that I mostly sleptwalk through my first two games. I am the epitome of the amateur Civ player; I play on low difficulties and try to build everything under the sun. In recent years I've been trying to play the game more "normally," i.e. not scaling back the number of factions, increasing the map size, and decreasing the game speed to give myself as much time as possible to spam cities everywhere. But what that means in Civ VI is that a flurry of game mechanics are thrown at you early and often, and at low difficulty it's pretty easy to just accept a lot of things without thinking too hard. There is clearly some meaning, for example, to the various policy cards that define your governing style. But it was only in the late game that I started really thinking about which ones would benefit my current situation, as opposed to just sticking with whatever I'd picked 500 years ago. And I'm nowhere near the point where I can actually target specific technologies or civics to rush for in order to gain access to powerful policies or new governments; I don't even really know what the powerful policy cards are, let alone what I need to research to get them. More experience here will be necessary.

Luckily, some things have a gentler learning curve and reap obvious results sooner. The city districts mechanic is one of my favourite things about Civilization VI. In previous games it was much too easy to fill the build queue with the same set of buildings and then forget about a city for 50 or 100 turns, especially if you'd just conquered another faction and were busy getting 10 or 15 cities back up to speed. Districts mean every city is unique to an extent, because it's impossible to build everything you want. In my first non-tutorial game, I didn't give much thought to districts, but still had to at least think about what I wanted each city to be: a cultural center, a hub of commerce, Sin City, etc. Cities can be multiple things but the can't be all of them at once, not until they're positively massive. Figuring out how to get there is also more difficult now, thanks to the housing and amenities stats that put the brakes on unbounded growth.

There are still issues, of course. Religion could use a better tutorial; my nascent religion got nuked to holy hell by an early wave of Indian missionaries, and it took another century or two to figure out that a) I could still build missionaries and apostles of my own, but that b) they were all Hindu missionaries and apostles now and my religion was dead even though some practitioners still existed. Also, the massive waves of missionaries and apostles wandering the map feel like an odd throwback to earlier Civilization games, and seem out of place with the streamlining done elsewhere. But my biggest beef right now is also one I'm pretty sure will get fixed eventually: occasional bouts of constant crashes to desktop. I've had times when I played for five hours with only one or two crashes, and I've had times where the game would crash every ten minutes.

So I may have to give up Civilization VI for the short term, or see how far I get into a second game and stop at the first sign of crashes. But I do want to go back and apply everything I've learned from my first game. There are plenty of things to optimize, and being so close to a hard-fought space victory only to have the culture victory come out of nowhere (sort of) is hilarious but also a bit unfortunate. Maybe I'll just play one more turn, then.

OP

Game 45: FRAMED (Android) 01/10/16 - 01/10/16 2 Hours
I can't believe I bought this game over a year ago and had it installed the whole time but never did touch the game but I did remember it being recommended. Framed is like an animated comic book but you have the ability to change the comic panels around to change the outcome of the story to progress to the end of the game. The game kept me glued to the screen until the end which took me around 2 hours or so.

Game 46: There Is No Game (Android) 08/10/16 - 08/10/16 10-15 Minutes
I was just aimlessly browsing the Android Play Store because I was just bored and wanted to see if there were any new games I could find to play although I have a big enough backlog of games to keep me busy for a year or two. I found this weird game which was a winner the Deception Jam, which didn't really mean much to me at the time but I thought it was worth to check out since the game was also free. It is an interesting concept and I thought was clever for the time I spent with it, even though it was like 10-15 minutes.

Game 47: Evo Explores (Android) 08/10/16 - 22/10/16
Life has been really busy in the month of October that I haven't had time to really sit down and have a proper gaming session. Since I carry my phone with me at all times, I can get a quick session of gaming whenever I'm free.
This game was definitely inspired by Monument Valley. The puzzles are great and sometimes challenging. I didn't pay much attention to the storyline because it never caught my attention. It's definitely worth a play.

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51. Gears of War 4 (XB1, 2016) - 9:19
Campaign completed on Normal.

I hadn't realized it'd been five years since Gears of War 3, so I was somewhat unprepared for how difficult it was for me to get used to the trademark Gears feel: bullet-sponge enemies, spray-and-pray automatic weapons, active reloads, occasionally awkward cover controls, and the classic "roadie run" that feels less like a person running and more like a barely-controlled freight train. Throughout the tutorial I kept switching the camera controls between inverted and normal, that's how out of sorts I apparently was. And after dying more than a handful of times and getting knocked down even more often, I reversed my decision to play on Hardcore and go with the game's suggestion that I was "new" to Gears of War. For all intents and purposes, I basically was.

The main plot starts out with an intriguing but ultimately skeletal setup: a few decades after the Locust infestation was wiped out, humanity now lives in fortified enclaves under the watchful eye of the COG. Meanwhile, outsider villages try to eke out a living away from COG oppression. There's clearly a greater history here, but the backstory isn't important; all the game needs you to know is COG bad, outsiders good. Even that gets dispensed with, though, once the new bad guys strike. From that point on, Gears of War 4 turns into a monster horror movie, full of blood-soaked hallways and grotesque enemies. Really, it's not that different from the earlier games, which is kind of a shame given the new cast of characters and the different aesthetic of the first few acts. Gears of War 4 also has the most abrupt ending I've seen in a game in a very long time. You keep expecting a final act that never comes. And while I'd actually had enough of the gameplay and was okay with the campaign ending when it did, it still felt oddly sudden.

As Gears campaigns go, it's alright. There are one too many horde-mode sequences, and snatchers are maybe the worst thing ever invented for a single-player campaign. Nothing screams "this game is supposed to be played co-op" more than the snatcher. It's an enemy that knocks you down with a single shot that you can't dodge, then swallows you up and forces your party members to shoot it to release you or else you die. Great if you're playing with buddies; awful if you have to rely on your braindead AI partners.

I wonder how the game would have played if I'd bought it on PC instead; would mouse and keyboard controls alleviate my clumsiness? But maybe it's just that the combat in Gears games isn't for me. It's hard not to compare the game to Doom, which is essentially Gears of War 4's polar opposite. Where Gears emphasizes cover, Doom emphasizes mobility; where Gears prioritizes withering if inaccurate fire, Doom asks you to make each shot count. You'd think that in my old age I'd prefer the less twitchy game, but it's Doom that's likely to make my list of top games of 2016. Gears of War 4 acquits itself fine, but it's not making that list.

The List!

41. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis - 5.75 Hours


I will state up front that the time listed is the in-game completion time and does not include my numerous deaths, which increased my actual play time to somewhere in the 7-8 hour range. It's impossible not to compare Resident Evil 3 to its predecessor. While being quite a good game in its own right, it admittedly comes up just a little short of the Resident Evil 2's perfection. The first half of the game in particular, set in the sprawling streets of Raccoon City, lacks the focus and intimacy of the Spencer Mansion and the RCPD. Running back and forth between Uptown and Downtown collecting items feels less like clever design and gatekeeping and more like busywork with longer routes in between objectives. Fortunately at about the halfway point the game gets you off the streets and back into the more claustrophobic interiors the previous games are known for, and it's little surprise the game's quality increases as soon as it does. The Nemesis itself is also a bit of a mixed bag. Providing almost the sole source of tension in the game (zombies are easily dispatched here with the longer sight lines the streets provide, regardless of their increased numbers from previous installments), his appearances occasionally border on unfair as they are poorly telegraphed and it's possible to find yourself ill-equipped to tank his damage output while attempting to run past him. This really only happened to me once or twice, but compounded with my complaints about the design of the city streets the game hit a real personal low point on the third or fourth encounter that made pushing through that rough patch take some serious fortitude. Aside from that this is pretty much old-school Resident Evil as people know it, and even though you can see the sequelitis seeping in around the edges, Nemesis remains a worthwhile entry into the franchise to this day.

I made it!!!! At the beginning of the year I figured I'd give it a shot without thinking it would happen but now it's only October and I got my 52. Best year of gaming by far.

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52) Halo 2 Anniversary - 7 hours - 10/23
I was really looking forward to this when the Master Chief Collection came out, but I never played it because all the issues with the game turned me off on it. I just went back and played it for the first time since the original Xbox and it was fantastic, the new cutscenes were a real treat as well.

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Game 40: Broken Age

I decided to give myself a bit of a break after my more depressing recent game choices. I've always liked the LucasArts (and now Double Fine) adventure games for their presentation, their character, and for making me feel like a complete idiot. It is then perhaps a little strange that it took me this long to turn my attention to Broken Age, especially considering its importance to the industry as a whole as the first high profile kickstarter project. While discussions about the project's budgeting and development timeline probably deserve their own threads, I do want to come out and say right away that I'm glad Tim Schäfer decided to jump back into the fray and give us this gem with a small(ish), but incredibly dedicated and talented team (on a related note, I'm also very happy they have been systematically buying the rights to all their old games).

To me, there are 2 things that make this type of game so unique and fun:

1. Overall Presentation - it has a rather unique and deliberate art direction (in this case children's book-esque drawing) and subtle but effective sound design. The voice acting is absolutely on point, and all the characters, no matter how wacky or moronic, are instantly like-able. Overall, the story and its development felt really unique, and I loved
   Spoiler

   the way the two seemingly separate plots are tied together and the character roles then reversed in act II
   . In the moment-to-moment, dialogue or reactions to various objects or events can evoke a range of emotions, being just as likely to make you laugh as to make you very uncomfortable (the opening to Shay's part of Act I is horribly disquieting, in my opinion). All of this makes the game feel a lot like a well-crafted cartoon (in fact, I'm now pondering gifting it to a friend who's really into a number of Cartoon Network shows).
2. Puzzles - these are really what the game lives or dies by. If it was just for the above, you would have a competent animated feature on your hand, but the puzzles are what makes this a worthwhile interactive experience. I especially like how the puzzles are not self-contained riddles or mini-games with well-established rules. Instead, you are supposed to look at a situation or problem with a bit of common sense, while picking up subtle hints along the way. Not everything is communicated as well as I think it should be (
   Spoiler

   I got stuck for what felt like an eternity because I couldn't figure out how to get the snake in Shay's part of Act II)
   , but of course, once you do solve a problem, you feel all the more stupid for not having figured it out sooner. My personal favourites are probably
   Spoiler

   the Hope puzzle in Vella's act II, which combines the teleporter puzzle from Shay's act I with clue association in the trophy room, as well as the wiring puzzles at the end of act II (which have you use information from one character with the other)
   . If there's one thing I feel is a bit of a missed opportunity, it is that there aren't more puzzles that require both Shay and Vella to solve, and that the ones that are in the game are all close to the end.

Ultimately, I really had an absolute blast with Broken Age, so much so that I wish it could have gone on once the credits started rolling. It's a bit of a shame that this type of game loses nearly all its challenge on subsequent playthroughs. The only reason the game is as long as it is is that you frequently end up walking all over the place trying to connect the various parts of a larger puzzle. This is also why it's important that the game exudes as much character as it does. If it was just for the puzzles, the game would be a fun and challenging experience that loses all appeal after beating it the first time. It being so charming is what makes you go back to it again eventually.

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Game 41: Valiant Hearts: The Great War

While I'm burning through my steam backlog, might as well take a moment to address my uplay one. I actually bought and played through most of Valiant Hearts quite a while ago, but for some reason never finished it (the game's length only adds to the mystery of this).

Much of what I said about the character of This War of Mine applies here, as well. I still like that the game doesn't make much of an effort to romanticise WWI, or war in general, and instead focuses on personal stories. I understand why the decision was made to focus on a small number of characters and let the player grow attached to them, but I ultimately also feel that one could easily let the war speak for itself. Most armed conflicts are senseless, but there are few events in history that can reach the sheer horror and tragedy of this four-year slaughter. It's not even just about the numbers, or about the atrocious ways in which people on either side lost their lives, or about the fact that when the fighting was finally over, all sides seemed to have become losers. Instead, it's the fact that in the face of yearlong attrition, no diplomatic solution could be reached, despite the fact that virtually nobody had a half-decent reason to begin fighting in the first place.

Against this backdrop, you get to experience life on the front and behind it not as a war hero, but as someone who is hopelessly ill-equipped to handle the tasks at hand. Probably the most powerful scenario in the game is . You stand no chance against the force you face, and your only hope is to use the environment to your advantage to circumvent fortified positions. Most of the puzzles are relatively straightforward, but they do drive home the point that you could not hope to prevail in a head-on assault.

If there's one thing I'd criticise, it's that some of the 'set pieces' are a little over-the-top (which isn't really helped by the downright cartoony villain you regularly face throughout the first few chapters), simply because they wouldn't be necessary. The narrative is at its strongest when you get to see that there is nothing special about your characters, and that they receive no special treatment from either side. That is also what makes the ending so poignant, knowing that . As I was nearing the final mission, I was somewhat annoyed by the infirmary QTEs, or the fact that M+K are ill suited to some of the game's tasks, but all of that was blown away in the last scene, making way for the sad reminder that there really is nothing that sets the game's protagonists apart, neither their courage in the face of overwhelming odds, nor the pain and suffering they experienced. Whatever fate awaited them, it was likely shared by millions more.

All of this, adding to the simple, yet enjoyable puzzle design, yields a very powerful video game, but more importantly an even more powerful educational tool.

5h-ish?. Completed the game .

I've been wanting to try the "Choice of" gamebooks for a while, so I decided to start with the one that looked the most fun - and also was pretty cheap on Android at the time. I thought I was getting a power fantasy about how cool wrestlers are, but SLAMMED! is actually a pretty insightful word about the twists, treasons and swerves of the show business, and how the line between reality and show gets blurred every so often.

It's pretty obvious that the writer knows and loves the wrestling world as he uses a lot of wrestling terminology (if you don't have the first idea about wrasslin, don't worry, he goes out of the way to explain the most obscure terms). On a way, this gamebook reminded me of the excellent "The Street of a Thousand Blossoms" novel - give it a try if you can get it for cheap.

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I'm done! That's three years in the bag!

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52. Flame Over (PC, 2015) - 13:14
Ran through all levels and completed all missions in a single run.

Roguelikes are awful games for a 52-game challenge. For one, you have no idea when you'll actually be able to finish one; every time you fail, you have to start from scratch. But worse, the best way to play a roguelike is a little bit at a time every day--do one run, maybe two, and hope that this run is the winning one. It's a level of discipline I'm rarely able to bring to roguelikes under the best of circumstances, let alone when I'm trying to finish the 52-game challenge before I go on vacation next month. You constantly wonder if your time wouldn't be better spent on a game with reliable progress, which in hindsight is a terrible way to think about a game. I never made it past the first stage of Rogue Legacy, and I put so little time into Spelunky that I may as well not have played it at all.

Flame Over is the roguelike that completes my 52 games of 2016, and it only took twenty or so runs to do it.

I was intrigued by the game's premise from the first time I heard about the Vita release: instead of hacking enemies into mince meat, your job was to put out fires and rescue people. In practice, Flame Over plays like a particularly intense twin-stick shooter, only instead of bad guys you have endless waves of fire, and instead of lethal weapons you have a fire hose and an extinguisher. It's the most enthralling roguelike I've ever played, and also the most infuriating.

First, there's a timer. You're given five minutes at the start of the game to rush through all sixteen stages of the game and put out every fire. This is impossible to pull off, of course; you have to extend the timer by finding people and leading them back to the fire exit. Second, you have limited health. Even with all your fire gear, you can't survive the flames for long. The only ways to refill your health are either to buy powerups at the store every two levels (which may or may not actually have health on sale), or to rescue cats scattered throughout the levels. Third, your hose and extinguisher are limited as well. Every so often, you have to return to the fire exit or grab firefighting supplies to replenish your levels. This costs you time, especially if you're well into a map and you have to run all the way back to the start just to refresh your fire hose.

But the worst thing the game throws at you starts in the third of the game's four areas. The offices and executive floors are relatively sedate for an experienced firefighter. Yes, there are electrical fires, but once you cut off the power to the floor you can just hose everything down no problem. But the lab levels introduce a whole new set of dangers, like air vents that spit fireballs, gas leaks that erode your health if you don't have a mask, toxic waste spills that slow you down and hurt you, and toxic fires that take forever to put out. The first eight levels of the game, then, are just a way for you to bank as much time, health and gear as possible before you start the real game. Death is common here, both those of the people and cats you're trying to rescue and your own.

It's very intense to play. The motion of spraying water and extinguisher in wide arcs to put out as many flames as possible is taxing. I tense up, to the point where on this final run I'd managed to lock my upper back and neck into position, like I was bracing for impact. Flame Over is the kind of game I'd like to play again but also never ever want to touch again, because of how stressful it can be. But when everything goes right, or when the procedural level generator cuts you a break for once, it's fantastic. If roguelikes are at all your thing, you'll want to play this.

Been a looooong time since my last update. Went to Europe for six weeks and didn't beat anything in that time period, and haven't updated since I got back, so here we go!


Game 23: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
3DS - 25 hours - Beaten 25/09/16 - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
I really loved this game. Super charming world, quick pace getting from dungeon to dungeon, some nice puzzles, cool use of the wall merging mechanic, a neat new villain.
I enjoyed the freedom you have as well, you can tackle dungeons in whatever order you desire, which really made exploring the world worthwhile, as you never reached a dead end.
Definitely my favourite 2D Zelda, and I'd even rank it above some 3D ones.


Game 24: Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
3DS - 83 hours - Beaten 21/10/16 - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;
Ooof, this ate up some time. Was excited for it after playing through 4-6 the past couple of years, and it met expectations. The job system worked really well, and the game was long enough that you could actually max out the jobs you wanted. The stories on each island were great, and gave the game an episodic feel, and the overall story was better than expected with a great final boss.
Only real downside was the amount of backtracking, you constantly have to go back and forth through caves and the like, and you have to explore every island twice (past and present).


Game 25: Dragon Warrior
GBC - 10 hours - Beaten 23/10/16 - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;
And now back to the series roots! Played this one straight away as Builders is set in the same world, and I wanted to understand all the references (and having played ch 1 of Builders, it was worth the investment).
This was a really good, simple RPG. Charming enemies, simple combat system, and just exploring the world collecting what you need to take on the final boss. It is old school though, and 90% of the game is just grinding up levels, but being a short game it didn't feel too bad at all, and was almost relaxing.


Game 26: Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel
PS4 - 5.5 hours - Beaten 26/10/16 - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;
This was a decent DLC. Only two bosses, one of which was hardly a boss, but the other was brutal. One of the toughest fights From has created to date. The setting was cool, a snowy forest landscape, and the enemies were neat (wolves hunt in packs!).
Felt fairly short though, and I think it needed a third boss fight, but overall I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the second DLC.

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Up next is Dragon Quest Builders, put it on hold to play the DS3 DLC. Want to get the platinum in that and then play Rhythm Paradise Megamix before Pokemon Sun releases, hoping I can squeeze Dragon Warrior II in as well.
Given up on hitting 52, but it's still nice to chronicle what I play.

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Game 25 - Until Dawn - 10 hours

An excellent game, and one that deserves its place among the PS4's best exclusives. A few things stood out in particular: its unforgiving permadeath, it's narrative impetus, and its revival of fixed camera gameplay. The performances of the ensemble cast are also quite good, especially by the still-low standards of video game scripting and acting. The capture is somewhat incredible, especially in comparison to earlier efforts like LA Noire. As a horror game, this one was pitched at just the right speed. There are some decent scares, and the game is rightfully in love with its lighting as a way of preserving the feeling that you're moving through a moving environment. But the atmosphere never gets too oppressive, and deaths mostly feel consequential rather than cheap. In my game, It also stands as the best effort I've seen yet at interactive cinema in video game form. Give me Until Dawn over David Cage's efforts any day of the week.

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53) Halo 3 - 8 hours - 10/30
Been on a real Halo kick lately and 3 is probably my favorite since I've definitely played it the most through the years. Fantastic story and I love how everything comes full circle at the end.

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