A 2D beat'em-up with EXP/leveling up system. The early stages are very easy and quick to beat but the final stages with rank 4 or higher are quite tough that may require one to grind for some upgrade points to be able to survive.
I only completed Solange's route and that was enough for me The gameplay became way too repetitive but thankfully this was a pretty short game. While I hadn't tried the other characters I don't expect things to be any different if I were to play as them far as combat flow goes.
Solange's design is the worst in the game IMO, as most of the other characters had pretty decent designs. WHich is a shame as Kinu is among my fav. artists in gaming.

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#4 Abzu (PC) - 73 minutes - 29/01/2017


Wonderfull audio visual experience but fairly short. 7/10

Viridian6 - 8/52 games

1. INSIDE (PC) - 29 Jan - 6 hours - ★★★★
   Very atmospheric game with excellent art and sound direction. Puzzles were decent, more like part of the story than actually challenging. Not a big fan of the resolution
   Spoiler

   or lack thereof.
2. FTL: Faster than Light (PC) - 12 Feb - 5.5 hours ★★★★★
   Always happy to replay one of my favourite games of all time. The goal was to unlock Kestrel B so just played on Easy. Failed but did manage to unlock the slug cruiser. The final boss gave me more problems than I was expecting (I think the developers have tweaked it?) but nothing too nailbiting in the end. Will go for my second Hard victory later in the year...
3. The Sexy Brutale (PC) - 14 May - 11 hours ★★★
   I really liked the premise but the comedic tone actually did it a disservice. The art direction is good, to the extent that I would have preferred this to be in higher definition. Story and characters are ok - spending a very limited time with each character made them less memorable.
4. The House in Fata Morgana (PC) - 1 July - 31 hours ★★★★½
   A Gothic Japanese Visual Novel! The creators clearly intended to create a work of art, and for the most part they succeeded.
5. Masquerada: Songs and Shadows (PC) - 1 Aug - 22 hours ★★★½
   An RPG by fellow Singaporeans! Ambitious in scale - too ambitious in fact. The amount of worldbuilding crammed into this could easily have filled a 40 hour game. As it is the story felt very rushed, but definitely had its high points. The combat is acceptable - there is some depth in tactics, but overall my options felt lacking.
6. Gone Home (PC) - 1 Sep - 2 hours ★★½
   I've had this sitting in my backlog for ages. Finally got around to crossing it off - and found it somewhat dull. Only powered through because I knew it was short. Do appreciate the attention to detail by the designers. There is actually some good storytelling hidden away, but I only learned about this when looking up the game.
7. Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (PC) - 1 Oct - 0.5 hours ★★★
   Short game, suppose it's entertaining enough for what it is. Was expecting more of a punchline.
8. Oxenfree (PC) - 21 Oct - 5.5 hours ★★★★
   A novel implementation of those "choose what to say" adventure games, and with an actually intriguing story to boot!

#Game 4, Star Wars Jedi Knight Academy, ~10 hours.


Replayed Jedi Knight Academy on Jedi Master difficulty setting on PC, ended up going for a dual saber build all light side build.

Aside from some vehicle sections that were the very definition of jank due to the controls such as riding a tauntaun and a particular speeder chase, and lacklustre shooting, this game still remains as one of the best examples of stars wars light saber combat in gaming.
It's basically 90s fps game level design on ID tech3 but with a lightsaber and force powers.

For game #5, went down the Rune Factory 4 rabbit hole again, and will probably remain there for the next 100 hours or so.

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20. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate / 30 hrs

I had started this in 2015, but barely. I was so tired of the AC formula by then as I played Rogue and Unity that year, so I stopped playing. I'm glad I went back, as this was definitely a great entry in the series.

21. Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies / 24 hrs

Finally polished this one off too! I'm getting close to being caught up, finally. I love this series and this was no different. I didn't really notice a drop in quality overall. I am looking forward to SoJ one day, though I dislike the overly supernatural editions of these games.

21 games / 122 hrs

I think that'll be it for January...I can't believe I finished this many so far!

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Hadn't played this game in years, but I still managed to enjoy it. My biggest gripes though is that moving around is slow and you can't skip/fast forward dialog.
Otherwise a nice PnC classic.

I changed the rating system on this post but it may not reflect on other posts. It's intended to be more indicative of my experience, since I enjoyed all of these games to varying degrees so they were all ending up in like the 8-10 range.

1. Batman: The Telltale Series
9 hours
Rating: 5.5/10


I loved the story for this, but the gameplay was pretty lame. Too many dumb QTEs and glitches.

2. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
~25 hours
Rating: 8/10


I replayed through this with my girlfriend on Xbox One. It's pretty great on consoles. It controls well. I'll likely be revisiting this when seasons drop on consoles. There were enough differences from when I went through it on PC that I loved it all over again.

3. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
14 hours
Rating: 7/10


Great gameplay with a mediocre story. I liked the aesthetics and a lot of ideas in this game, but the story really felt like filler, especially when compared to Human Revolution.

4. Witcher 3: Blood & Wine
~30 hours
Rating: 10/10


Absolutely fantastic. I loved the base game and this was really in many ways better than it. The main story was great and there were a lot of twists to the sidequest formulas encountered in the base game and first expansion. Plus, the scenery is just beautiful.

5. Uncharted 4
~15 hours
Rating: 6/10


Beautiful, but I didn't have a whole lot of fun with the game. Not a fan of the pseudo-puzzle platform style, and other than some boring encounters with otherwise solid shooting mechanics, there wasn't much "game" to this.

6. Hitman
15 hours
Rating: 8/10


Fantastic game that I will be revisiting many times in the future. Great level designs and a wealth of options.

7. Dishonored 2
14 hours
Rating: 8.5/10


Feel the same way as Hitman above. It had some bugs when it launched (still has a few), but it's such a well designed game.

8. Mass Effect
14 hours
Rating: 7/10


My first time playing through this. I'm a fan of the design of the game, but the combat mechanics were pretty awful. I am hoping the sequel improves on them. I loved the story and the lore.

9-12. Mass Effect 2 + Arrival + Overlord + Lair of the Shadow Broker
30 hours
Rating: 10/10


I didn't think when I started this series, I would fall so far in love with it. 2 is just perfection on almost every level - the story, the characters, the combat, the lore. Everything just oozed quality and love for this universe. After 30 hours and completing most of the DLC, I felt I was "done" with this part of the series. An amazing experience.

13-16. Mass Effect 3 + Omega + Leviathan + Citadel
38 hours
Rating: 9.5/10


In spite of its faults, this is my favorite of the ME games by a landslide and that's saying a lot. The combat was fine-tuned to perfection. The interactions were meaningful without having to frame them around loyalty missions like in 2. They did away with the paragon system (thank god). There were just so many fixes and tweaks to the formula that made this experience one I wanted to continue with, so much so I spent a bunch of time doing side things and the DLC. Citadel is one of my favorite DLC packs. Needless to say, I'll be revisiting this series again in the future to play things out differently (with a lot of mods), even if my initial play through 1 wasn't all that great. I think it'd actually be better with M+KB than controller now that I know better, but we'll see.

17. SUPERHOT
3 hours
Rating: 7.5/10


The concept of the game is stellar and the framing device for the plot is pretty cool (if not very creepy). The whole thing is pretty awesome except for the fact that some of the "puzzles" are really hard. I spent 20 minutes on a few of them because I kept dying. It's kind of frustrating, despite being such an interesting premise for a game. Regardless, I enjoyed the time I spent with it a good deal.

18. Shadowrun: Dragonfall
20 hours
Rating: 8/10


While I was a bit skeptical about this game at first (as I am with like 90% of games), this game really surprised me. As the first true CRPG I've played and beaten, this game was a lot of fun and very engaging. The combat was a bit boring at first, but once you got into the rhythm, it was quick and satisfying. Meanwhile, the narrative gives a lot of options inside of its pseudo-linearity. What's more, the game has a lot of character and lore tied to it, which is a huge plus. Overall, a fantastic experience.

19. ABZU
1.5 hours
Rating: 5/10


I wouldn't really call this a game in any traditional sense, just like Journey, but I think it was a neat experience. I will say, it seemed a try a whole lot less than Journey and has a very humble feel about it. However, when all is said and done, it's not really my kind of thing.

20. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
~50 hours
Rating: 9.5/10


I'm not sure what can be said about this game that hasn't been said already, but this was definitely a game full of magic. I've not felt quite this way playing a game in a long time.

21. Mass Effect: Andromeda
39 hours
Rating: 5/10


So, I have mixed feelings about this game. I think it's a pretty good game, all told. The combat is great and I'll likely keep returning for more multiplayer (some of my hours went into that). The main story is actually pretty great, in my opinion. The characters are not awful, but they're not as good as some others in the original trilogy. I think the main part that messed me up and made the game drag on for me was that the side quest and exploration design didn't feel rewarding or like there was enough context for what I was doing. Whereas Zelda or other games have this huge and interesting open world with numerous secrets in it, this just felt like a map to run from point A to B in. What's more, the stories for the side quests weren't all that compelling so that I wouldn't mind that, like in The Witcher 3. However, I would still recommend this game for the combat, main story, and a few choice side missions alone.

22. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
7 hours
Rating: 7/10


I had heard that this game was recommended for fans of Mass Effect, so while playing Andromeda, I thought I'd pull it out and give it a shot. The campaign is a lot of fun, the writing is really strong, and there are some real jaw-dropping moments. I must say, I was not expecting such a high level of quality from a COD campaign, but there it is.

23. Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel
5 hours
Rating 8/10


Although short and PvP focus (which I have little interest in), this was a really well-crafted single area for the game. The main boss was exciting and terrifying. I had a lot of fun with this.

24. Final Fantasy XV: Episode Gladiolus
1 hour
Rating: 5/10


Really short, but there was some substance to it. I enjoyed it for what it was, and there were enough gameplay differences to make the experience worthwhile.

25. Persona 5
105 hours
Rating: 10/10


I really loved the hell out of this game. I am a fan of the franchise, so I kind of knew what to expect, but the game met my expectations spectacularly. So stylish and fresh, this is definitely the best turn-based JRPG I've ever played based solely on gameplay mechanics. Plus, everything else from the music to the story to the characters is just so unique. It's my GOTY so far.

26. Dark Souls III: The Ringed City
10 hours
Rating: 8/10


As the "finale" to the Dark Souls series, this was really fitting. I think the final boss really just encompassed everything about Dark Souls in such a fantastic way and the areas leading up to it were great in very unique ways. I am curious if there will be more Soulsbourne games in the future (hopefully yes) but this was a great way to close out this subseries.

27. Inside
3 hours
Rating: 8/10


Had I played this last year, it would have been my #2 on my GOTY list. This game is really something unique as only video games can present. The puzzles were unique and fun, the story was bizarre and weird in the best way. I really loved this game, but it was sadly over too soon. Still, it's just so well-designed, I almost feel sad I waited so long to play it.

28-29. Bloodborne + Bloodborne: The Old Hunters
50 hours
Rating 9/10


I started this game in 2015, then restarted a year later in 2016. Then, for some reason, I stopped playing... but picked up that same save file from a year ago and went from there. I must say, I really enjoyed the game for the aesthetics and design aspects, but there are certain things that really rubbed me the wrong way, such as the Blood Vial system and the warping - things that had been done better in a similar game just a year earlier. Despite this, I am really excited for a potential sequel. Also, the DLC is some of the best crafted stuff. Coming off of The Ringed City, this is equally as relevant to the themes of the base game. Some of my favorite encounters are part of that, but the game as a whole is just fantastic.

30. Limbo
3 hours
Rating 8/10


This game was really great, but coming off of Inside, it's definitely showing its age. Still, it was wonderfully unsettling and the puzzles were very well designed.

31-32. Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall & The Brigmore Witches
4 hours + 3 hours
Rating: 8/10


I love Dishonored. I probably should have finished these before finishing 2, but the DLC announcement poked me to go back and finish these to learn more about Daud/Billie. Needless to say, these DLC campaigns were both fantastic. I could always do with more Dishonored.

33. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (Main Scenario Quest)
Unknown (100+) hours
Rating 8/10


Finally finished the MSQ through 3.5 in preparation for Stormblood. Only took me 2 years! It was great, but I wasn't always full paying attention to the story. Still, the game itself is one of my favorite things ever.

34. Wolfenstein: The New Order
11 hours
Rating: 8/10


Action-packed, stellar story, and just absolute fun. I loved this campaign almost from the get-go.

35. The Sexy Brutale
6 hours
Rating: 9/10


This game really came out of nowhere. I heard a bunch of recommendations for it when it released and had had my eye on it, but when I finally got into it, I was really blown away. It's basically a point-and-click, but execution and style make it so much more. Wrapped up in a fantastic story, it's one of my favorite games of the year.

36. Nioh
19 hours
Rating 6/10


I was not expecting this to be a straight rip of Dark Souls, and it would be unfair to judge the game against that standard, but what I can say is that I did not feel as good a feeling playing this as I do playing the Souls games for a variety of reasons. I liked it well enough, but I got burned out playing it and had no will to continue. Everything just got really repetitive after a point and I feel like I've seen everything there is to see from this game.

37. Prey
16 hours
Rating: 7.5/10


Prey is a fantastic game with some great level design and makes for very interesting encounters. The story is a fun and twisty romp, and I really enjoyed playing through the game, even if it was really frustrating at times.

38. Hollow Knight
18 hours
Rating: 9/10


Hollow Knight is such an exceptionally crafted Metroidvania game. The music is hauntingly beautiful, the game is absolutely gorgeous, and the controls and gameplay design are tight. As a huge fan of the Castlevanias in this style, this game blew me away.

39. Firewatch
3.5 hours
Rating: 7/10


Light on gameplay, but the story was fantastic. I really loved how it subverted expectations that usually come along with this kind of game. Very touching and overall a fantastic experience.

40. Nier Automata
23 hours
Rating: 7.5/10


I think this game had some great bones to its gameplay, but due to some poorly planned encounter designs, it ended up being a chore to play through at times. The story was great, though coming off of watching the story for the other games in the Drakengard/Nier series, this one felt a bit more ho-hum. That said, I did enjoy it a fair bit and some of the best moments were just before finding out what the hell was going on, so I'll give it credit for that build-up.

41. Horizon: Zero Dawn
27 hours
Rating: 7.5/10


This isn't usually the kind of game that I end up loving, but the combat system really bolstered what would have been a boring Ubisoft-style game. This game is just fantastic from a gameplay perspective, and although I didn't end up enjoy Aloy much, I can respect her journey and thought the story was very touching.

42. Injustice 2
5 hours
Rating: 7.5/10


As expected from an NRS game, the story was very good. They really upped their tech with the character work, specifically the facial animations, so I am very happy. Also, the game looks stunning in motion. The gameplay itself feels very good after awhile and I'm eager to play the game some more past the main story.

43.Bastion
3 hours
Rating: 8.5/10


44-45. Assassin's Creed Unity + Dead Kings
13 hours
Rating: 5/10


46. LawBreakers
34+ hours
Rating: 9/10


47. Rocket League
14+ hours
Rating: 8.5/10


48. Gone Home
1 hours
Rating: 8/10


49. Danganronpa V3
43 hours
Rating: 9/10


50. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
13 hours
Rating: 7/10


51. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
15 hours
Rating: 7.5/10


52. Cuphead
9 hours
Rating: 8/10

Game #6 and the last game of the month of January - Doom
Completed on January 29th in 10h46m. Platform - PS4

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One of those rare AAA console games which targets 60fps and oh boy thank God for that. Gameplay is silky smooth and not only that but it's still manages to look amazing and on par with other best looking games of 2016 which ran on 30fps. Other thanopen world games I wish more devs would choose higher fps over everything else.
Gameplay was a king, guns were fun and soundtrack was great. Always felt pumped to blast more enemies.
Story was just there, honestly after game completion I couldn't tell what was going on there or any of the character names.
MP I still didn't touched and probably never will. There are plenty of better options.

Original Post

original post

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Game 9 - Bubble Bobble (NES) - 4 hours

Well, that was a surprisingly addictive arcade/action platformer. It controls well and has decent enough variety. Except in music, which becomes tiresome quickly. Also, the difficulty spikes are pretty random (and then there's some way too hard final boss out of nowhere).

Game 10 - Streets of Rage 2 (PC) - 1 hour

Well, what's that - SoR2 in my Steam library? Well, can't hurt to do a walkthrough then...

First time giving this a go. Some of these I finished earlier in the month and I'm cheating a bit with a few games I played late in December... I didn't participate in 52 Games last year so cut me a break!


January
1. Ys Book I (PC Engine CD-ROM)
Short action RPG, the game is basically the tower at the end. A few obtuse moments that I needed to look up to become unstuck but it was a nice change of pace.

2. The Oregon Trail (Apple II)
Yep, the original classic. I picked up the MiST, an awesome little FPGA console which hardware emulates a bunch of old computer systems (Amiga, Atari ST, C64, Spectrum ZX, Apple II, etc), and a few old consoles too (NES, PCE, Gameboy). If you've recently played The Organ Trail, that's pretty much an accurate remake of the original version. Still fun and accessible.

3. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
My HDMI AV Fami was having some video signal issues so I popped in my yellow Family cart of SMB one night. Ended up playing through the entire 8 stages, someone I hadn't done in many years. Still holds up and I was pleasantly surprised to get through it with minimal fuss despite my plasma's noticeable input lag.

4. Super Mario 64 (N64)
I went for 120 stars after my last go at 120 in 1998! This game... As awesome as ever and I'm so glad Super Mario Odyssey is going back to the 64/Sunshine format. What blows me away most is that the first 3D Mario is still the one where Mario moves with most precision and dexterity. I'll probably revisit this in a couple of years.

5. Super Mario RPG (SNES)
First Mario RPG I've played from start to finish. It was fun but pretty easy and at times a little repetitive in the battle strategies I used throughout most of it. Still very charming and so glad I finally set time aside for it.

6. Metroid Fusion (GBA)
I took a break from this one for most of the month but came back to beat it. My last playthrough was over a decade ago. TBH this game is now kind of disappointing coming from my first playthrough of Super Metroid in 2015, replaying Zero Mission in 2016, and playing AM2R (Metroid II remake) and Hyper Metroid (romhack) in the past couple months. It's a solid game but way too linear and independent exploration is an afterthought.

7. Metroid: Rogue Dawn (NES)
Hack of NES Metroid. The game is rough in some spots but it is very ambitious, literally a brand new game from top to bottom with completely different graphics despite being a romhack of NES Metroid (it feels a lot more playable). Totally worth a look for anyone interested in playing a NES Metroid that feels more like the SNES/GBA titles.

8. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past DX (SNES)
A romhack of LTTP with some of the GBA game's control enhancements. This version also has MSU-1 patched audio, basically a CD-quality audio soundtrack. Anyone who's a Zelda/LTTP fan needs to replay it with this audio patch. It's f'in awesome and every track fits so well it makes you forget what the original audio was like (in contrast, Super Metroid and Super Mario World with MSU-1 audio aren't a good fit in my opinion). My only playthrough of LTTP was in the 00s on GBA. I remember disliking the scratchy audio and kinda rushing to be done with it, so I definitely had a better overall experience this time.

9. Gunman Clive (3DS)
Nice little game. A lot shorter than I expected but it had my attention throughout the hour it took me to finish it. I've had this on my 3DS for a couple of years and can't believe it took me this long to finally play it!

10. Gunman Clive 2 (3DS)
I played the first one yesterday, so why not the sequel? I cycled through the characters, saw Chieftain Bob and picked him without realizing he only has a melee attack! I stuck with it for the extra challenge and managed to beat it in just under 2 hours. Quite a bit tougher than the first game but still a fun indie game.

February
11. Bonk's Adventure (Gameboy)
A couple of weeks ago I got a GB Boy Colour (GBC clone with a nice backlit screen). I have backlit-modded GBs/GBAs but I like the quirkiness of this clone, plus it's solid for only about $30, so I used it to play this Bonk game tonight. I blew through it in a little over an hour. It's basically a simpler, somewhat similar version of the Bonk 1 you can find on PC Engine or NES. It doesn't have all the same stages or bosses but many shared elements. Easy overall but I liked it well enough to play while watching TV!

12. TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)
One of those games I always started and stopped after a couple of stages. I finished in about 45 minutes, nice beat em up and it wasn't too tough. I'd like to finish without any continues (had to use three) and will probably try again someday to win on 1 CC.

13. TMNT II: The Arcade Game (NES)
I just got done playing TMNT IV. Why not revisit a childhood favorite? This time I set out to beat the game without the Konami code like I always did as a kid. Well, this game is easily much tougher than IV. Not so much the bosses, but the waves of Foot Soldiers and their increased aggression in the later stages. The ghost Samurai, Krang and Shredder are the exception to the easy bosses. I was hoping to win this without continues, but I still needed to use 3...kept getting caught by Shredder's insane devolution electric attack that fills half the screen and wipes out an entire stock. This game is still awesome and worth playing with a buddy.

14. TMNT III: The Manhattan Project (NES)
Had to follow up with this one! This game rewards different points depending on finishing attack, highest to lowest: basic ground attack > jump kick/throw > special attack. You get an extra stock every 50k points so that creates an incentive to use the basic attack (least safe attack) as much as possible, and rely less on spamming jump kicks (safest approach) or throws (OHKO foot soldiers) like in TMNT II. Controls are a little tighter than II which annoyed me at first, but I know I've felt the opposite after playing these in reverse order. They work well. The stages are freakin' long in this one, sometimes having mid-level bosses and second parts. No Konami code and I managed to Game Over/Continue only once. Highly recommend, it has some of the best music and graphics on the NES, more enemy/stage variety and amazing boss fights.

15. Retro City Rampage (3DS)
A few false starts but I finally stuck it out. Right off the bat, I have mixed feelings for this. I like the pixel art for the city and cutscenes, but I really dislike the tiny sprites. Some missions were fun, but some felt like the same fetch quest... occasionally fetch quests within fetch quests! Nice weapons but the stomp was annoying and the tiny sprites make it harder to land than was probably intended. Radio music was nondescript and barely audible most of the time. My biggest issue was the game's retro hipster aesthetic... too on the nose, excessive and off-putting. It comes off as pandering and I think it could have been a more effective parody without stuff like literally hunting down a 72-pin connector and playing it a little more faithful to the source material. I'm the type who prefers Predator and Bloodsport for an 80s fix and hates hyper-aware and referential modern takes like Kung Fury. I don't need the game to constantly bash me over the head with how it's soooo 80s and Nintendo-y. Anyway, I can say I was occasionally having fun while other times felt like I was just itching to get to the end. I put about 20 hours in and did quite a lot I think, a solid 81% completion rate, but don't feel compelled to do see the rest. Decent game but I hope Shakedown Hawaii is a major improvement. I may go back and finish my old save file of Chinatown Wars which tbh was a lot better than this.

16. TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
Continuing my playthrough of TMNT games, I gave this a try. I found it to be a little short and generally inferior to Turtles in Time. In the SNES game, they're actually traveling through time and it's all on theme... Hyperstone Heist just feels like a collection of semi-random stages and the hyperstones play no tangible role in the silly plot. I did enjoy it but it was also pretty easy and I managed to 1CC on my first go. As a follow-up to my earlier playthrough of TMNT II: The Arcade Game on NES (#13 on the list), earlier this week I finally managed to 1CC it without using the Konami code! My next 1CC challenge is TMNT III: The Manhattan Project which I recently cleared with one continue (#14 on this list).

17. Jackal (NES)
The last game completed in February. A classic from my adolescence. I didn't think of this as a shooter back then but since learned it certainly is! Not much I can say about this. It's quick, it's fun, controls are good and the game presents a bit of challenge requiring careful traversal of the stages. You can't recklessly charge into some areas and sometimes you get a branching path to work around some problems. I think this is an accessible, must-play for the people who don't think NES games hold up nowadays.

Games in progress
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64), Rondo of Blood (PC Engine), Super Metroid (SNES), Bomberman '93 (PC Engine)


Need to revisit after long hiatus
Bayonetta 1 (Wii U), Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U), Pikmin 3 (Wii U), The Wonderful 101 (Wii U), Custom Robo (GC)


Games I look forward to playing
PC:
Hyper Light Drifter, Gianna Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Undertale, The Walking Dead: Michonne

PS2:
The Thing, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, Metal Gear Solid 2/3, Devil May Cry

N64:
Paper Mario, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

GameCube:
Beyond Good and Evil, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Mega Man: Network Transmission, Metal Arms, Paper Mario: TTYD, Pikmin 2, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Super Monkey Ball, Tales of Symphonia, Ultimate Muscle, Wario World, Starfox Assault, Zelda: Twilight Princess

Wii:
Batman, Dead Space Extraction, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Endless Ocean, Fragile Dreams, The Last Story, Lost in Shadow, Muramasa, Okami, Opoona, Okami, Rodea the Sky Soldier, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Sonic Colors, Wario Land Shake It, Xenoblade Chronicles, Zelda: Skyward Sword


Wii U:
Yoshi's Woolly World, Bayonetta 2, ZombiU, New Super Luigi U, Lego City Undercover, Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze

Switch:
Zelda: BotW, Super Bomberman R

Mega said:

First time giving this a go. Some of these I finished earlier in the month and I'm cheating a bit with a few games I played late in December... I didn't participate in 52 Games last year so cut me a break!


January
1. Ys Book I (PC Engine CD-ROM)
Short action RPG, the game is basically the tower at the end. A few obtuse moments that I needed to look up to become unstuck but it was a nice change of pace.

2. The Oregon Trail (Apple II)
Yep, the original classic. I picked up the MiST, an awesome little FPGA console which hardware emulates a bunch of old computer systems (Amiga, Atari ST, C64, Spectrum ZX, Apple II, etc), and a few old consoles too (NES, PCE, Gameboy). If you've recently played The Organ Trail, that's pretty much an accurate remake of the original version. Still fun and accessible.

3. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
My HDMI AV Fami was having some video signal issues so I popped in my yellow Family cart of SMB one night. Ended up playing through the entire 8 stages, someone I hadn't done in many years. Still holds up and I was pleasantly surprised to get through it with minimal fuss despite my plasma's noticeable input lag.

4. Super Mario 64 (N64)
I went for 120 stars after my last go at 120 in 1998! This game... As awesome as ever and I'm so glad Super Mario Odyssey is going back to the 64/Sunshine format. What blows me away most is that the first 3D Mario is still the one where Mario moves with most precision and dexterity. I'll probably revisit this in a couple of years.

5. Super Mario RPG (SNES)
First Mario RPG I've played from start to finish. It was fun but pretty easy and at times a little repetitive in the battle strategies I used throughout most of it. Still very charming and so glad I finally set time aside for it.

6. Metroid Fusion (GBA)
I took a break from this one for most of the month but came back to beat it. My last playthrough was over a decade ago. TBH this game is now kind of disappointing coming from my first playthrough of Super Metroid in 2015, replaying Zero Mission in 2016, and playing AM2R (Metroid II remake) and Hyper Metroid (romhack) in the past couple months. It's a solid game but way too linear and independent exploration is an afterthought.

7. Metroid: Rogue Dawn (NES)
Hack of NES Metroid. The game is rough in some spots but it is very ambitious, literally a brand new game from top to bottom with completely different graphics despite being a romhack of NES Metroid (it feels a lot more playable). Totally worth a look for anyone interested in playing a NES Metroid that feels more like the SNES/GBA titles.

8. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past DX (SNES)
A romhack of LTTP with some of the GBA game's control enhancements. This version also has MSU-1 patched audio, basically a CD-quality audio soundtrack. Anyone who's a Zelda/LTTP fan needs to replay it with this audio patch. It's f'in awesome and every track fits so well it makes you forget what the original audio was like (in contrast, Super Metroid and Super Mario World with MSU-1 audio aren't a good fit in my opinion). My only playthrough of LTTP was in the 00s on GBA. I remember disliking the scratchy audio and kinda rushing to be done with it, so I definitely had a better overall experience this time.


Games in progress
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)


Need to revisit after long hiatus
Bayonetta 1 (Wii U)
Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)
Pikmin 3 (Wii U)
The Wonderful 101 (Wii U)
Custom Robot (GC)


Games I look forward to playing
PC:
Hyper Light Drifter
Gianna Sisters: Twisted Dreams
Undertale
The Walking Dead: Michonne

PS2:
The Thing
Shadow of the Colossus
God of War
Metal Gear Solid 2/3
Devil May Cry

N64:
Paper Mario
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

GameCube:
Beyond Good and Evil
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Mega Man: Network Transmission
Metal Arms
Paper Mario: TTYD
Pikmin 2
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Super Monkey Ball
Tales of Symphonia
Ultimate Muscle
Wario World
Starfox Assault
Zelda: Twilight Princess

Wii:
Batman
Dead Space Extraction
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Endless Ocean
Fragile Dreams
The Last Story
Lost in Shadow
Muramasa
Okami
Opoona
Okami
Roses the Sky Soldier
Silent Hill Shattered Memories
Sonic Colors
Wario Land Shake It
Xenoblade Chronicles
Zelda: Skyward Sword


Wii U:
Yoshi's Woolly World
Bayonetta 2
ZombiU
New Super Luigi U
Lego City Undercover
Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze

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As long as you had to play a couple minutes in 2017 to finish the game it's within the rules. If you didn't even play them on 2017 I don't see the point in including them.

But at the end of the day (or the year?), it's a competition with yourself, on one else will really care how many games you finished, that's why there's no problem that some people count episodic games as one game per episode. If there was something like a prize, then the rules would probably be more strict.

plidex said:

As long as you had to play a couple minutes in 2017 to finish the game it's within the rules. If you didn't even play them on 2017 I don't see the point in including them.

But at the end of the day (or the year?), it's a competition with yourself, on one else will really care how many games you finished, that's why there's no problem that some people count episodic games as one game per episode. If there was something like a prize, then the rules would probably be more strict.

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I ramped up my gameplay hours in the last half of December in anticipation of this 2017 thread... I wasn't in the 2016 challenge but really wanted to partake in this and couldn't wait for Jan 1. To make it fair, I'll set my 2017 cutoff to mid-December.

1st Post


11.Pokemon Picross
My first Picross game, I had no idea what I was missing. I play at least 20-30 minutes a day. Picross is a ton of fun and this game has so many puzzles.


12. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
This game has been sitting on my shelf far too long. I finally got around to playing through it and it was fantastic. The mechanics felt solid, which was not surprising for a Platinum Game. The soundtrack worked very well for the high energy game that they created and the story was appropriately insane. I still can't believe some of the crazy stuff that happens during the final mission. Metal Gear somehow always finds a way to be culturally relevant years after the fact.


13. Dishonored 2
A good game, though maybe not quite as good as the original in terms of level design. I also kind of wish I had played through as Corvo because I really prefer his move set despite the fact that Emily is a more interesting character. Despite all of this it was still a fun game, the stealth with powers formula still works, it's got a great aesthetic, and the seventh mission is fantastic.


14. Hitman Absolution
I can totally see why people were disappointed by this game, after the freedom of Blood Money it does feel restrictive. I had fun with it though, and they made some good improvements mechanically that carried on to the most recent entry.


15. Resident Evil 7
I was blown away by RE7, it managed to combine element of old school Resident Evil with newer indie horror games. Nothing quite reaches the highs of the first few hours but on the whole I enjoyed the variety of the game's various areas and felt like the game built atmosphere exceptionally well.


16. Mega Man
On a whim I decided to pick up the Mega Man Legacy Collection. There are some quirks of the game that were annoying to get through but on the whole I enjoyed it.


17. Mega Man 2
It felt like a pretty significant step up in a lot of ways from the previous game.

Just finished:

9. Tearaway Unfolded- Fun game lots of charm. Really enjoyed it.
10. Resident Evil Vll - Played the whole thing in VR and all I can say is Wow. Best gaming experience i have had in a long time.

Game #1 - INSIDE (Xbox One) - 1000/1000

Fantastic game as to be expected from Playdead and a nice way to start off the month/year. If anyone is sat on this as part of their backlog I'd recommend to play it as soon as possible you won't be disappointed.

Game #2 - Doom 2016 (Xbox One) 1000/1000

Overall I enjoyed it, however im not too sure why it gets such rave reviews from Gaf. Wolfenstein did a much better job from a single player point of view and with Overwatch as competition it isn't even the best shooter from last year.

Game #3 - Costume Quest 2 (Xbox One) 1000/1000

I think if you take this for what it is then it's an enjoyable little game. I did plan on playing this at Halloween last year but clearly that didn't happen, and whilst I don't think its quite as good as its predecessor if you're looking for a simple yet enjoyable game its worth a go.

Game #4 - Unravel (Xbox One) 1000/1000

Visually fantastic however I would say overall this was a bit disappointing, the gameplay mechanics get stale and frustrating fast and I felt like there is a lot of wasted potential. Still not awful considering it was courtesy of EA Access!

Currently Playing/Next Up:
Overwatch (Xbox One)
Forza Horizon 3 (Xbox One)
Resident Evil 7 (Xbox One)
Firewatch (PS4)
The Last Guardian (PS4)
+ 1 Large RPG (The Witcher 3/Fallout 4/Final Fantasy XV)

Plenty of options at the moment to keep things fresh, all backlog except for Resident Evil 7 which I purchased using left over Credit at CeX. Overwatch is still my go to multiplayer title and I love it, and then a mixture to hopefully clear some more space in the backlog before I undoubtedly cave into purchasing either Horizon or Mass Effect.

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5) The Last of Us: Left Behind - 3 hours - 1/29
I beat The Last of Us last year but decided to not go through this DLC right away so that I had some new content for later. It was just as good as I was hoping and while I knew A great piece of DLC that makes me even more excited for the second game to come out.

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6. Gravity Rush 2 (PS4, 2017) - 32:58
Completed the campaign on Normal. All side missions cleared.

I often despise Gravity Rush 2. The camera is often an antagonist. The controls are occasionally clunky, and your control over your gravity powers occasionally rough. Too often, the game resorts to taking away your gravity powers entirely. Objectives can be hard to determine, leading to a lot of trial and error while you try to decipher what the game actually wants of you. Challenges can often be intensely frustrating. Hell, many missions in the game can be intensely frustrating.

I also love Gravity Rush 2. In spite of its many flaws, Gravity Rush 2 is a joyous experience. The things it gets right are more than enough to wash away temporary frustrations. There's the rapture of falling through the air, something you get to enjoy at your leisure while flying from mission to mission. There's Kat's irrepressible charm, equal parts naivete and cheer. There are the completely mundane but totally lovable objectives you fulfill during the course of the game, which I know some people are kind of down on but I can't help but enjoy. And then there's that moment when everything changes. Twice.

I don't know if it'll make my GOTY list in December--there may come other games that entertain more reliably, that offer more elaborate characters or a more complex plot or a killer gameplay hook. But it's hard to remember another game in recent memory that makes me as happy as moments in Gravity Rush 2 do. In a time when the entire world seems ready to enter a new period of darkness, any light you can capture is precious. So I cling tight to Gravity Rush 2. It gives me life.

I am very close to putting a unfinished game on my list, as the rules allow it if I feel I am done with it. I had 1 in my 2016 list, I wanted to avoid it this year, but im really really not feeling Crush Your Enemies anymore after I finished the first campaign (its 3 campaigns), I just dont want to play or even like it anymore.

Rhaknar said:

I am very close to putting a unfinished game on my list, as the rules allow it if I feel I am done with it. I had 1 in my 2016 list, I wanted to avoid it this year, but im really really not feeling Crush Your Enemies anymore after I finished the first campaign (its 3 campaigns), I just dont want to play or even like it anymore.

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I would personally not count a game if I only finished a third of it. I think my thought about such situations would be that it can maybe count if I played a majority of it (in this case two of the three campaigns) and if I spent some significant time on it. Otherwise I would just abandon the game. Shit happens. It's a challenge about finishing games and I don't really see the point of counting stuff that wasn't even close to finished.
Others might see it differently and that's fine too

Spyware said:

I would personally not count a game if I only finished a third of it. I think my thought about such situations would be that it can maybe count if I played a majority of it (in this case two of the three campaigns) and if I spent some significant time on it. Otherwise I would just abandon the game. Shit happens. It's a challenge about finishing games and I don't really see the point of counting stuff that wasn't even close to finished.
Others might see it differently and that's fine too

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true, its not like im going to need it anyway at the rate im going (i also didnt need the one last year for the 52 btw, I finished at like 55 or whatever). I just like that this thread now acts as a personal record of what im playing, and if I dont add it, it will just be lost in the annals of gaming forever. Oh well

Rhaknar said:

true, its not like im going to need it anyway at the rate im going (i also didnt need the one last year for the 52 btw, I finished at like 55 or whatever). I just like that this thread now acts as a personal record of what im playing, and if I dont add it, it will just be lost in the annals of gaming forever. Oh well

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I think there could be a point in writing about it even if it doesn't count tho! Add it as a 00/null/X/whatever suits the format you're doing and write about why you can't stand playing it more. It's just as useful to others as the small positive texts we're mostly writing about our games.

9:07h. Got all 20 Cacklebats, Eight hearts. 92% completion.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a fun and cute metroidvania-lite. The fanservice is present but never gets obnoxious as it's done in a very tongue-in-cheek way. The graphics are cute and functional, the music is catchy, the jumping is nifty... all the pieces of a good platformer are set in place for a very enjoyable romp.

The biggest downside of the game is its very inconsistent difficulty curve. The first half of the game is a cakewalk where you won't die at all unless you're really careless. Then you get to Mud Bog Island and the game becomes much harder, full of tricky enemies that can and will give you a run for your money if you haven't taken the time to upgrade your abilities. The game gets easier again after that - only to punch you in the face with a remorseless last stage and a final boss doesn't allow room for mistakes. But as it's usually the case, the satisfaction you feel after the fight is almost cathartic.

As an aside, the Spanish translation of the game is ATROCIOUS, but that's not WayForward's fault and is not a big blemish in such a fun game.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original Post

I try this every year and I've never succeeded, but this year I'm taking a bit of a different approach in that I'm not explicitly going to set out to get to 52. There are a lot of classics I want to get through this year and I'm just going to try to do as many of them as I can.

Appropriately, I started with a big one this year...

#1: Super Mario Bros.
NES, 1985

I've owned this game for a very, very long time but never got around to beating it for whatever reason. I'm glad I finally did, however, because I enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that after my first time through I almost went all the way through again. There's a lot to say about this game:
- The controls aren't the best, but they feel quite good once you get used to them. The main challenge is the awkward momentum, whereby you'll be going quite slowly and then accelerate pretty rapidly, which in turn has significant consequences for timing and spacing jumps.
- The level design is excellent. It's obviously quite simple but you can see that they've really laid the framework for platformers to come.
- This is a surprisingly difficult game, but most of the difficulty comes from a good place. I'm not a fan of the sections where you must correctly guess your way through a maze, however.
- The graphics and sound are iconic. They're otherwise best described as "really good for 1985”.

5/5

#2: Super Mario Bros. 3
NES, 1988

Yep, hadn't beaten this either. I've been playing this for at least twenty years with family and friends but I never felt compelled to sit down and beat it myself. Overall, I was less enthused about this than I was about the original.
- The controls feel a lot more modern and I'd say they're generally better than SMB.
- The level design has gotten a lot more varied and sophisticated but I wouldn't say they're better. It's a bit ironic but I found the levels themselves to be largely forgettable.
- This is a fine looking game, but there are better from around the same time on the NES. The music is below average for a Nintendo game.
- I had fun, but I was bored by the end. This is a game that feels long.

3/5

#3: Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
Arcade, 1993

This is a game that I'd been hearing about for many years but never got a chance to play. Thankfully, a couple of weeks ago two friends of mine and myself had the chance to go through it and had a blast.

- I really enjoy beat-em-ups, but if there's one thing I can't stand it's when excessive super armor and invincible get-up attacks are used to reclaim quarters. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is one of the few arcade beat-em-ups that is almost completely devoid of these two things and feels very fair to play as a result.
- Pretty shallow considering how late it was released, but you have a lot of control over combat and a lot of ways to handle different situations.
- I wouldn't put this above the Fatal Furies (or my personal favorite, the original Streets of Rage), but this is a quality beat-em-up.

4/5

Next up are two PC games: Pool of Radiance and Overcooked.

Okay, so I have been slacking a bit in terms of following up with notes on the games. Thought a monthly update might help but this really turned into a mess. I'll keep em quick but happy to knock out at least 6 games this month.

1. Gravity Rush Remaster [PS4](2016)
Time: ~15 Hours
Completion Status: Platinum
Thoughts: I really enjoyed Gravity Rush on the Vita. It was a fun ride but I ultimately lost interest which is a shame. I have had the PS4 Remaster sitting on my HDD for awhile so I decided to give it a whirl before the sequel hit. Very fun but feels like there was always more they could do with it. If anything it really got me in the mood for Gravity Rush game without the hardware limitations. As for platinum, it was okay. The extras are really fun especially the challenges. They were a pain on Vita but I now realise that was because I was not upgrading properly. Fully worth a look but with the sequel out now it might be a hard sell.

2) Zero Time Dilemma [PSV](2016)
Time: ~25 Hours
Completion Status: Platinum
Thoughts: Oh boy... I dropped off on ZTD close to what would be some of the bigger story revelations, right before the game got into the "holy shit" moments. I loved my time with it but I have to say it was a real let down from VLR and 999. As nonsensical as those stories were I could at least enjoy the twists and turns. In ZTD it jumped the shark in some locations that really had me shaking my head. Despite my issues with the story and how it was told, I still got invested. Just a really disappointing way to end it. Oh and it still looks bad visually (graphically).

3) Ratchet and Clank [PS4](2016)
Time: ~ 25 Hours
Completion Status Platinum
Thoughts: So this was a pure Platinum run. Going through the game a second and third time for the trophies. It is always fun in these games to go in while super OP, even on challenging difficulty, but most of the time was spent grinding weapon levels. It helped going back on a shiny new Pro as the game looks gorgeous. Well worth a play by its own right but it really sings on a Pro. Still a hell of a lot of fun capturing that old PS2 action platformer.

4) Dishonoured 2 [PS4](2016)
Time: ~30-35 Hours
Completion Status: Platinum
Once again this was a Platinum run (I really needed something to do). This was another 2 playthroughs as Corvo and Emily (no powers run). It was a joy going back and playing in all new ways. That has always been the strength of Dishonoured and luckily the sequel captured that once again. While I still have some gripes on the use of level gimmicks I really started playing around and finding just weird ways to bend the game. Still not a fan of a kill happy play though but hey, still worth a romp. Even the second and third time, I still hate Mission 4. Not the main crux of the level, but that lead up is way too fucking long.

5) Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix [PS3](2015)
Time: ~75 Hours (Overall ~110 Hours)
Completion Status: Platinum
Thoughts: Oh boy... I messed up on this one. So I decided to do an easy playthough of KH2FM in an attempt to get what I thought would be a fun platinum. Go for the post game stuff and enjoy a soothing ride. Nope, nope nope. I did not enjoy the post game here as much as I hoped. I found myself frustrated as the tasks got more mundane. I get the point of a JRPG post game is to test your dedication and mettle but this really got tiresome quick. I love the weirder strategies out there but man those minigames overstayed their welcome. At least I knocked it off and have another KH platinum under my belt.

6) 2064: Read Only Memories [PS4](2017**)
Time: ~8-15 Hours
Completion Status: Main Game (2 Endings)
Thoughts: So finally off my platinum binge, I decided to jump back into Read Only Memories on the PS4. I played the PC version and really enjoyed it and I thought "What the hell, a nice simple Adventure VN with some new stuff could be fun". Lets get this out the way, the Voice Acting does not help the game. While the main cast can work wonders, some of the "Guest Voices" are bad. There is one in particular I was shocked to learn was there, and just generally annoyed me to listen to. Beyond that mess, it is hard to recommend right now due to the various bugs I ran into on PS4. After some patching it is definitely worth a go. Interesting world, characters, story and a killer Soundtrack.

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Apologies for the long ass post. Will try and keep it singular or double entries from now one.

Bard's Gold
Platform: PS4
Time: ~5:00
Date: 01.30
Score: (4/5)

I was eyeballing this game for awhile before I finally bought it on sale for $2. I didn't know anything about it going in, other than it had some sort of old-school aesthetic, but for $2 I was happy to take a risk.

Bard's Gold plays and looks like a first-year SNES game, with simple 16-bit-esque graphics and a run, jump, shoot, repeat flow to gameplay. The game consists of a dungeon constructed of four areas, each of which is comprised of 6 or so levels. Clearing an area allows you to resume from the beginning of the next area when you get a gameover, which is a nice compromise between actual old-school gameover screens and modern checkpoint sensibilities. Each level is full of enemies, treasures, and traps, most of which can be easily avoided if you are paying attention. There are shops to spend treasure at for temporary upgrades which are lost upon death, and any treasure remaining upon gameover can be spent towards unlocking permanent upgrades. There is even some randomness to the levels, which makes each attempt to clear an area far less repetitive.

I played on Normal difficulty, which may have been a bit too easy, but I enjoyed my time with the game quite a bit. It's simple enough, and even when you fail to make it to the next world you still have the comfort of knowing that you're character will be a little bit better off next time. For $2 or even $5, I wouldn't hesitate to recommended Bard's Gold to anyone who grew up on NES or SNES games. Not every game needs to be Dark Souls or Call of Duty, and I am happy to have games that can fill this small niche.

Original Post



Game #12: Spec Ops: The Line - 8 Hours, Completed on January 27, 2017
Platform: Steam
I've owned this game for....at least 3 years but just never got around to playing it. Replaying the beginning I understand why I stopped playing it after the opening levels. For the first few hours, the game is bland and very generic. Sand...military...shoot the bad guys. Once you trudge past all that crap, the game forces you to make immoral choices. You simply cannot make good decisions in this game without something bad happening.

Going from clean cut soldiers to tired, dirty, scruffy and beaten down soldiers is very visible in many ways by the end of the game. The story progression is top notch and the character development is mind blowing. About halfway through you realize this is not your typical military shooter and the onion layers begin to come off, revealing the dark truth of what really is going on in Dubai. This game will stick with me for quite some time and I will replay it at some point. Just a great game that deserves more praise. 10/10



Game #13: Shove Knight - 4 Hours, Completed on January 29, 2017
Platform: Vita
Just bought a Vita after not having one for a few years. Jumped on a deal at work for $60 which included 2 games and a 4GB memory card. I have a long backlog of games on the vita, so this'll be interesting with the limited space I have until I get another memory card.

This one is a replay since I have no saves for any of my vita games. Shovel Knight is a great game from the old school mechanics to the megaman type bosses. Can't wait to get into the DLC and my new game plus. 10/10

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Beat this in under 3 hours. Pretty simple PnC game although eventually one will find they need to use everything with everything interactable a few times to progress or find the right item.
The humor is light and I quite enjoyed it overall.

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5: Assassin's Creed Unity [PC] - 25h

From the main games, this was the one left to finish, for some reason I just didn't feel like playing AC for a good while after Syndicate (had skipped Unity because bugs). And after looking at that map, I just ignored almost every side quest or chest in the game, and once I focused on the main story missions, it was sweet. Much better than expected, and one of my favorite AC, the combat was really good, the parkour felt amazing (with a few glitches here and there) and I actually liked the characters and the evolving relations between them.

For me, gets a solid 8.

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7. Hitman - 58 Hours


Never been much a fan of the Hitman franchise but this game has sucked me in like no other. The level design and mission structure are in such harmony, it makes searching all the nooks and crannies and doing every 'opportunity' and every challenge fun and engaging. And the seemingly endless drip of content means I'll keep plugging away at this for a long time.

8. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - 44 Hours


Once you wrap your head around how the game is designed and 'meant' to be played there is a lot of fun to be found here. Though I found the presentation and pacing of content rather bizarre; notable side-quests and entire areas of the map are easily overlooked or missed entirely, and the main story kind of meanders along until the very, very end where it all seems to unfold at once, it wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying grabbing on to the back of every golem, griffin, cyclops, dragon and chimera I could find to bring them down in glorious David v. Goliath style. A flawed gem to be sure, but a gem nonetheless. It reminds me of Demon's Souls in some ways. I can see now why people who've played it clamor for a sequel.


9. Resident Evil 7 - 9 Hours


Though it's easy to nitpick its flaws (low enemy variety, a tad short/no extra content, little reference to past games, characters, etc) RE7 is mostly a success. It feels like a real meld of every 'type' of RE game that's come before it; the first few hours are prime 'classic' Resident Evil and frightening in a way few RE's have been before, which eventually gives way to the occasional RE4-esque horde shootout and at least one boss that is reminiscent of the franchise's more fanciful and over-the-top BOW designs from the more recent entries. There should be something here for most fans of the series, and for the first time in a long while I am genuinely excited to see where they go from here.

1. 999 (iOS) - 8/10 - ~ 6 hours
I played 999 at launch and remember being blown away by its really well realized approach to storytelling. I didn't remember story at all and wanted to revisit it, so I thought maybe iOS version would be a good way to experience the story again as I don't have a DS anymore. And it is exactly that. Best way to experience the story and only story. It's not a game TBF. All puzzles are removed and the only player interaction with story is the very limited choices you get to make. Its even in Books category in App store and not in Games category. But the story is still really good. This time I found some characters too anime and inconsistent, but the way it tells its story by making your choices really meaningful is absolutely amazing. Can't wait to play the sequel later this year on PS4.

2. Hidden game by Mom (iOS) - 6/10 - ~ 0.5 hours
Very weird but entertaining free puzzle game. Its worth a try. Will definitely play the sequel.

3. Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4) - 8/10 - ~ 16 hours
Messy story and some repetitive and unnecessarily boring filler missions aside, this game is just fantastic. Kat is a cute heroine and I really loved playing as her. Gravity manipulation in this game has made one of the best traversal systems in any open world game. Once controls clicked for me, I couldn't stop flying (falling) around and doing silly challenges. I'm also really close to platinum with this game. Only gold medal for two throwing stuff challenges and I'll platinum it. But I can't help but feel they could do a lot more with this game in terms of story and mission variety. Which is why the second game got made I guess. Will definitely play that.

4. Tearaway Unfolded (PS4) - 6/10 - ~ 8 hours
An absolutely charming 3D platformer with some really great ideas and level designs which unfortunately overstays its welcome in some levels. Also, everything in the game hinting at you finishing the game soon and suddenly game being a dick and telling we tricked you, its not the end game and you have to go a lot more deep (which happens twice) is a very bad idea and just annoying.

5. Rocket League (XB1) - 10/10 - 238 hours
I think I'm done with RL. Actually I still have fun when I play with my XBL friends (and make fun of them for not being as good as me) but I wanted to move on and deleted it today. I wanna focus more on SP games this year with a lot of Japanese games (and switch) coming. I just want to say that RL is a fucking masterpiece and I will remember my fond memories with it till the end of my life.

Will be closing out January with five games down.

February should put me in a good spot with Digimon World, For Honor, Halo Wars 2, Nioh and Horizon. Plus the backlog.

Game #20 - Evoland 2
Time: 17 hours

finished Evoland 2, one of my most pleasant surprises in years really. Would have been a top 10 game in whaever year it came out in tbh (I think 2015 but maybe last year?). Just fantastically crafted, loving homage to gaming throughout the years except this this time unlike the first one (which was more of a proof of concept), theres a great game wraped around it, with a shockingly decent time travel story. Highly recomended.

and thus, January wraps up. 20 games, not bad

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January update

Dougalism - Progress 16/52

Game 1 : Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD ReMix (PS3) - 4/1
Beat on easy with Ryu on remix mode. I'm still embarrassingly bad at fighters.

Game 2 : Mad Maestro (PS2) - 4/1
After 14 years I've finally beat that final concert on normal. It turns out playing a rhythm game from the PS2 on a HDTV with context sensitive buttons is actually quite difficult, also wow I don't remember the music being so tinny and synth sounding.

Game 3 : Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD ReMix (PS3) - 5/1
Beat x mode on medium with Morrigan. A game with fighter in the title that I'm OK at!

Game 4 : Woah Dave (PS4) - 6/1
Didn't like this at all.

Game 5 : Jumping Flash (PSOne Classics) - 6/1
Still holds up pretty well, also Professor Aloha is a great name for a bad guy.

Game 6 : L.A Noire: Complete Edition (PS3) - 20/1
I really enjoyed this and I'd love to see something another detective game like this. Also beat all of the DLC

Game 7 : International Track & Field (PSOne Classics) - 20/1
Won gold on easy. Either I'm getting old and my X O mashing skills are no longer up to snuff or using a controller with analog sticks getting in the way makes this harder than I remember it being.

Game 8 : Omega Boost (PS1) - 21/1
This still looks really, really good. Beat on Normal

Game 9 : Dead or Alive 2 (PS2) - 22/1
Beat will all characters. I'm trying to plow through the shorter games in my backlog and that means quite a few fighters, which unfortunately I'm pretty terrible at, this however has probably been my favourite thus far, that might be because it is really easy.

Game 10 : Entwined (PS4) - 22/1
A nice relaxing Sunday afternoon game.

Game 11 : PaRappa the Rapper 2 (PS2 Classics) - 23/1
Beat with the blue hat.

Game 12: Divekick (VITA) - 25/1
I actually managed to beat a fighting game on medium!

Game 13: King Of Fighters 2000 PS2 Classics) - 27/1
Back to Easy, although not the easiest setting so that's progress. Also did some cheesin' with Chang in party mode.

Game 14: Bishi Bashi Special (PSOne Classics) - 28/1
Beat all mini games on both hyper and super. This felt "off" on the VITA.

Game 15: Surge Deluxe (VITA) - 29/1
Another plus gem and a real one more go type of game. Current top score of 13.9 million

Game 16: Gone Home: Console Edition (PS4) - 30/1
Fantastic and also a game that my wife enjoyed watching me play, which is incredibly rare.

It kinda feels like cheating beating all these short games but hey that represents about 2.5% of my backlog and I've just started Mass Effect for the first time so February will be nowhere near as good.

Main Post - Part 1

#9: Nano Assault EX: 2.8 hours

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It's hard for me to describe Nano Assault without defaulting to comparisons of other games. Where do I even start? You play as a shrunken down space ship flying around cells trying to eliminate a virus in one of two ways. In most levels you are twin "stick" (8 directions for me since I don't have a second circle pad) shooting your way over the surface of a cell, which is a 3D object you can move around completely. Some regions spawn enemies, kill all the enemies that spawn to wear down the region's reserve and win the level. Then sometimes the game decides that it wants to be a rail shooter for a level, and it does a good job of that too. The game's boss fights span both kinds of level and some add their own twists to the gameplay style they utilise.

It's also worth mention that this game looks really nice (for 3DS anyway). Because most of the levels take place on relatively smooth and large 3D objects the levels really pop with the 3D turned on. And the textures, backgrounds and enemy designs all do a good job of selling the idea that the environment is biological and microscopic. It's pretty short but I didn't touch the score attack, boss rush, and endless modes so there's more time to be had if you're into that sort of thing.

My main criticism is definitely the difficulty. You accumulate more starting lives as the game goes on (I had 7 or 8 by the end), and dying recharges you special weapon meter. This means that most levels can be brute forced pretty easily which makes a lot of levels that should feel tense just... not. But it's still an enjoyable game and I'd definitely recommend it.


Currently playing: On the last episode of Tales of Monkey Island and a few minutes into Oracle of Seasons. I should pick up a longer game at some point because I'm absolutely blasting through all these short ones.

2: Watch Dogs 2 - 23 hours

I really liked the first game and I believed it could be a foundation for a great franchise with some tweaks. WD2 does a few things very well. The world is very dynamic and feels wonderfully alive. I felt like a story is a huge step forward too. The first game took itself way too seriously, while WD2 is a cool and edgy story about a group of activists trying to make the world a better place. Misson and optional content variety seems better too. I wish they could make gunplay better because it's still a huge waste of time, but atleast stealth is fun.

OP

Game 7: Ratchet and Clank (PS4) - About 6-7 Hrs (1/22/2017)

#This game is still great with me doing this replay in Challenge Mode. Graphics are amazing and the combat is great. The turret section still sucks for me, the music isn't that great at all and just feels like background noise and character interactions seem static-y compared to the original from what I remember. Overall, still a good game that's a lot of fun to play, especially since it's been on sale for about $10-15 at points.

I have gotten stuck with a bunch of longer games atm. I'm making Imaginators in Skylanders, playing three different characters in Dark Souls 2, restoring paintings in Paint it Back, blowing up stuff in Just Cause 2 and bashing my head against Catherine puzzle walls. Not making much progress with the challenge since more than a week but I'm quite happy with the amount of games in January anyway.



Alan Wake's American Nightmare - PC - Beaten Jan 15



Demon's Souls - PS3 - Beaten Jan 21


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Master Post

Game #5
Overwatch - Completed January 30, 2017


Obviously there isn't a way to "beat" this game, but I'm counting it after reaching level 25. I think that this is my favorite online shooter of all time, and it's certainly going to slow me down in completing other games. I've mentioned it before, but I'm not really one for shooters. I'm typically terrible at them, as I take the offensive more and leave myself open to being quickly shot and killed. This game offers so many options though, I've never had that problem in quick play. I've seen this said a lot, but it's just casual enough where you can jump in and play right away, but has an amazing amount of depth to it. I began playing as Junkrat primarily, as he was a fairly simple character to understand and offered me a way to eliminate enemies while not being amazingly accurate. After a couple hours of playing, I was hooked and trying out all of the different heroes. I now often play as Mercy, Soldier 76, Reinhardt, Symmetra. Torbjorn and D.Va. I find that I do prefer to play defense - there's something very satisfying about laying a trap against the enemy. I'd recommend this game to anyone who has the ability to play online - it's terrific, and so far my favorite game that I've played this year.

Five games down in the first month, with a huge dent into Pokemon Moon as well. On pace for 60 games this year, so it's going pretty well.

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Didn't really enjoy this game much mainly due to how movement is slow and I didn't find many of the puzzles that good (get rid of an evil snowman by eating MINTS that are too spicey Simon spews fire at the snowman).

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Game #6: Hitman GO (Android) - ★★★★★★★★★★

A really clever and great idea for a puzzle game that also expands the Hitman brand. Every level felt like a truly devious and interesting puzzle, and the game does a great job of teaching you how every rule works.

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Game #7: Inside (Xbox One) - ★★★★★★★★★★

This game completely took me by surprise, and I wish I had played it in 2016 so I could have included it in my game of the year list. The puzzles were exactly as challenging and fun as they should be, while also offering a really intriguing world. I really like that

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Game #8: Event[0] (PC) - ★★★★★★★★★☆

A little shorter than I would have liked, and I wish that there was a little more options with respect to interacting with the computer, but overall the game was pretty fun and I liked interacting with Kaizen and learning more about how everything went the way that it did. I looked up a bit of the YouTube video, and I saw people making Kaizen angry or upset, and I like that there is a way to make Kaizen like you more and that there is a right and wrong way to interact with her.

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Game #9: INK (PC) - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

I really wanted to like this game, but I found it kind of unfair and frustrating overall. Admittedly, it is fun when you figure out a level design and is pretty fun early on, but the final levels were really annoying. The homing enemies felt too tight, while the controls felt too rigid (comparing it to Super Meat Boy does not do it any favors).

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Game #10: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) - ★★★★★★★★★★

Finally got around to finishing it, and it is just as good as I remember, though I find that the time travel stuff is a little more tedious than I remember (I actually found it tedious in ALttP, due to having to position yourself just right. I am a big fan of how Oracle of Ages (and Seasons) builds up a world of unique figures and ideas, while at the same time using older ideas (ie, you can find the Happy Mask Salesman and some regular Zelda bosses and enemies in the game).

It's the Treyarch special!


#18 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 ★★★.5 PS3 - Jan 30th - 6.30 hours
It's alright


#19 Spider-Man ★★ Xbox - Jan 29th - 2.30 hours
It's shit

First update. Going to be doing these monthly rather than doing them every odd week or two.

Main post|Backlog Blitz main post


Game One
Call of Duty - Modern Warfare Remastered (PlayStation 4) - January 7
★★★★★ (5)

For better or worse, it's still one of the most influential shooters of all time. And one that still holds up rather well. Admittedly, I'm purely speaking of its single-player only here. But it's an incredible game and, even if it came as part of another game -one required to play the Remaster - if there was a boxed version of this down the line, I'd pick it up (albeit cheap). Speaking of the other game...


Game Two
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PlayStation 4) - January 9
★★★★ 1/4 (4.25)

This was a massive surprise for me in a big way. For me Infinity Ward lost its way after Modern Warfare 3 and Ghosts and I felt that it had become the third-tier Call of Duty studio after Treyarch's picking up of the mantle following the 2010 IW implosion and the first two Black Ops games being spectacular, plus Sledgehammer's solo debut effort in Advanced Warfare being great. However, with Black Ops III shitting the bed in spectacular fashion in ways that even Ghosts didn't (for me anyway), Treyarch have gone from the top studio to being back at the bottom. So this was a massive opportunity for Infinity Ward to help start its path to redemption.

The first trailer with that Bowie cover was not the greatest. Really bad, in fact. But as subsequent showings of it showed got better and better, surely you felt something could be on here. Turned it out it was.

If I had played it before I locked down my GOTY 2016 list, chances are this would have at the very least been in the lower end of my top ten list. It was a massive surprise in that not only it showed a long overdue return to form for Infinity Ward, but also for doing new things in the series in terms of story. I liked that.

So yeah, considering how the game leaves open a sequel, I'm definitely all in for a Infinite Warfare 2.


Game Three
Firewatch (PlayStation 4) - January 10
★★★ 1/2 (3.5)

A few technical stuff kept it from being at least a four for me. But it was certainly an interesting experience for sure. The beginning was a massively interesting way to kick off the game in ways that partly hit close to home. Doing it as a sort of Twine game too was an excellent kick to it.

Really enjoyed listening to Henry and Delilah have back and forths with one another, whether jokingly or serious, and how they built the bond and chemstry between the two was something I really enjoyed.

I'm certainly more interested in seeing what Campo Santo do next. I just hope they iron out the technical stuff for it on console at least.

OP

GAME #6 - Darksiders Warmastered Edition - 12 Hours - 6/10 - 1/31/17

A lot of people seem to love this game judging from a LTTP thread I made about it, but after beating it, I really can't fathom why. It's a really paint by the numbers game in everything except artstyle. The combat is as dull as dishwater, with no need to really do anything fancier than mash X with your main sword and occasionally use an unlocked item for certain enemies, puzzles range from brainless to incredibly frustrating, and a good half of the bosses are just boring mash fests with no real skill or thought involved.

I haven't played anything since the 15th, mostly reading. No real energy or desire to play anything; I feel like I should be building a bunker. Anyway here's delayed thoughts on the last 3 games I've played:

5. Thumper (PC) - 7 horus 12 minutes
Status: Beaten - 01/08/2017

6. DOOM (PC) - 9 horus 54 minutes
Status: Beaten - 01/15/2017

7. SUPERHOT (PC) - 2 hours 18 minutes
Status: Beaten - 01/15/2017

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Original Post

7. Wolfenstein: The New Order - 10/10, 15 hours

Genuinely one of the best FPS games I've ever played. It succeeds for a lot of the reasons Doom 2016 did. I would rate it just a bit below Doom's quality, but it's still phenomenal. Great level design and smartly crafted encounters where stealth and over the top action are both equally viable and equally fun. Plus, in 2017 where Nazis are actually relevant again, this game is pretty cathartic. And really, I think you gotta appreciate a game that lets you dual wield automatic shotguns. I'm definitely going to replay this eventually, and I'd like to try to get the platinum trophy - as it is, I'm pretty close to earning it anyhow.

Original Post

For the month of January I completed 11 games

My progress for this challenge is 11/52

1. Dragon Quest 1 – Finished on January 1 – 7 hours

I had never played the first three Dragon Quest games. Sitting at home over the holiday I was bored and looking for something new. I found the DQ games on sale on mobile so I bought the first one to test it out to make sure I could handle the touch controls. It turned out to be one of the most fun and refreshing experiences I've ever had. I enjoyed being able to level grind with one hand while I watch football or a twitch stream. For the fun of it I even hit max level just goofing around. Overall a fun experience I'd recommend to anyone who has not played the original game.

2. Mario Party Star Rush – Finished on January 6 – 15 hours

For completing this I simply wanted to win on all Toad Scramble boards and reach a party level where I unlocked all gameplay features. I also played a few of the side modes quite a bit. Mario Shuffle especially was mindless and dumb but really fun. I wish it was more fleshed out and had different boards. This game was an interesting take on the Mario Party series and was pretty fun. It became frustrating at times with the whole “partner” system because there are certain boss minigames that are incredibly difficult to win alone. I had one game in particular where I had a partner that was stolen so I did most of the game alone. I won the first three bosses but lost against Bowser Jr. and lost the entire board by a few coins. It was incredibly frustrating because it was clear the AI at the end was just playing into the hands of the Toad with all the partners. The game keeps everything close and everyone bunched up so even winning a ton of boss battles doesn't guarantee victory. I had quite a few games where had I lost the final boss to a certain Toad I would have lost the entire board. It feels cheap at times, like every game has a decent chance for a ridiculous chance time finish. I have no one to play local multi with so my experience is fully against the AI.

3. Dragon Quest 2 – Finished January 8 – 15 hours

I enjoyed this game more than I thought I would. I heard all the stories about how there are difficulty spikes and a really annoying dungeon and some imbalanced game design. I felt overleveled for most of the game because I didn't really struggle too much. I felt my party worked pretty well together and only had a couple instances where I felt an encounter really screwed me over because of a large ambush with enemies all using multi target abilities on me. The endgame of course was difficult and every encounter toward the final dungeon felt like a mini boss. Then the actual mini bosses and final bosses made me sweat. The Prince of Cannock of course was deceased when I struck the final blow on fearsome Malroth but what else can be expected? Overall for a game that many have at or near the bottom of their ranking of Dragon Quest games I had a fine time. I was a little worried about the late game difficulty spikes that everyone seemed to warn me about but I was able to hold my own.

4. Super Mario Kart – Finished January 15 – 2 hours, 51 minutes

Played on my new 3DS XL. I bought it partially for nostalgia and partially to test out how SNES VC was on the 3DS. This game is tough. I'm so used to playing modern Mario Kart games where your drift is a little bit different. The sweet spot for getting a good slide into a turn on this game is just different. Sometimes you hit it and sometimes you just slide way out like an 18 wheeler on ice. I felt like I was fighting the handling and controls more than anything. I used Koopa Troopa and any sort of hit totally wrecked him. Game even has some wonky physics moments where you do things that the game either doesn't account for or doesn't want you to do. Going over those strips that give you the speed boost at a weird angle sometimes sends you careening off into a completely different direction. Fewer item boxes overall means it is much harder to come back from being in last place. Also needing to finish in the top 4 means even if you are at the top in points after four races means if you screw up the last race over and over you can blow your chance. I played it like a baby around Rainbow Road to get a top 4 finish and was surprised at how well it worked. Overall the game is a lot harder than I remember as a kid. I really wish there was a way to play battle mode again. Some of the battle mode arenas in this game were pretty cool.

5. Kirby's Dream Land – Finished on January 21 – 30 minutes

Starting off the Kirby theme challenge by playing the classic. I got this game for Christmas as a kid and played the hell out of it. I think I only actually beat the game a couple times though. With no powers and only 5 stages, the game is really limited. A speedrun takes even less time than I took. I even died a few times, including a strategic death against King Dedede. I ended up killing him fine without taking a point of damage, which I never remember doing in the half dozen or so times I've beaten the game.

6. Kirby's Dream Land 2 – Finished on January 21 - 2 hours, 40 minutes

I started this game last year and finished the first 5 worlds. After finishing Dream Land 1 I decided to revisit this one. I also owned this game as a kid but never beat it. I always loved the animal friends from this game and how they seemed to all incorporate a different take on the copy abilities. My personal favorite has to be the fish partner Kine with the spark ability. Kirby is inside the fish and they shoot light bulbs out that explode on contact with enemies. The final boss in this game was definitely difficult. It took me many tries to be able to beat the first form with perfect health to have the best chance at the second form.

7. Final Fantasy 1 – Finished on January 21 – 12 hours, 30 minutes

Played this as part of a 30th anniversary celebration of sorts. The only Final Fantasy game I had finished previously was the Final Fantasy 3 remake for the DS, which I felt mixed on. I had played this game a little bit before a few times, lighting the first crystal on previous playthroughs but stopped for whatever reason. My team of Warrior, Monk, White Mage, and Black Mage was a balanced and fun team that tore through the game. The encounter rate was high at times but my team managed to fight their way to all four crystals and save the world. There are a few bonus dungeons that I may tackle at a later time, but for now I feel like moving on to the next game in the Final Fantasy series that I want to play.

8. Super Mario Land – Finished on January 27 – 1 hours

I had a tough time with this game this time around. A lot of deaths because of the game eating my jump. A lot of deaths because of bad jump physics. I honestly have had fun playing this game. It is quirky in spots. I enjoy the music. This playthrough left a bad taste in my mouth. The shmup levels as always are a blast.

9. Super Mario Bros DX (Super Mario Bros.) – Finished on January 27 – 1 hour, 12 minutes

Getting hit by stuff you can't see on screen: the game. I enjoy Mario platforming and normally handle the original Super Mario Bros very well but I found myself constantly getting hit by things from off screen, whether it was a random hammer bros hammer or a bullet bill from out of nowhere or heaven forbid Lakitu. 7-3 was easily the hardest stage in the game because of the flying fish and the game resolution being ass. I remember wanting this game as a kid and my mom telling me that Santa ran out of them because so many other good kids wanted them. I can safely say I'd rather play the all-stars version of the game. I honestly got through World 8 much easier than I thought but 7-3 was an absolute nightmare. Still feels good to finish the game I wanted and never got as a kid. Pray for me playing Lost Levels in this fashion.

10. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition – Finished on January 28 – 7 hours, 30 minutes

I completed all stages as the elf. I even had to fight the final boss battle twice because the first time the trophy popped and then nothing happened so I restarted the fight. The second time I achieved victory the ending stuff happened. I bought this game in a flash sale for $5 and I'd say it was about worth it. I'm not really an online co-op type so I imagine I'd get a lot more mileage if I was. The elf was fun but I really didn't feel much progression. The weapon I started with I felt the most comfortable with. Most other things I could buy didn't sound too appealing. I'm not a fan of summoning random things to fight with me or charming monsters that I'm killing quickly to fight alongside me. The one thing I got that increased movement and attack speed felt like something straight out of the Hunter class on World of Warcraft. I crutched hard on that spell in the third act of the game.

11. Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series – Finished on January 28 – 12 hours

I completed all chapters of this game and earned a platinum trophy for my efforts. I love stories like this that weave characters that didn't originally appear prominently in a story in and out of certain storylines without relying too hard on the original source material and without ruining the source material. Certain major events are happening during the course of the game and you as a member of the Forrester family are there for them but don't figure prominently in them. You have your own story and your own motivations. This is my first Telltale game and I enjoyed it but I do wish the decisions I made had more of an impact. Only a few times I can recall that choices I made meant anything. Often times I'd pick one choice only for the result of that choice to be basically the same as if I'd chosen something else. There are a few choices that I know change things but for the most part events unfold the same regardless of what you pick. I tried to be good and smart and it just didn't matter. I became a huge asshole with Mira later in the game and it felt like it didn't matter. It just felt a little disappointing compared to how much potential I thought the game had early on.

Master post

I've decided to do monthly updates this year, so here's my post for January.


L.A. Noire: 2016-January 5
Great setting. Fun to see the characters develop, such as how Rusty seemed like an asshole until you partnered with Earle or how Phelps turns out to not be such a great guy after all. Grew long in the tooth towards the end. Playing as Kelso was a nice change of pace that allowed you to see Phelps's flaws more clearly. The affair seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere and wasn't dwelled upon enough. I did like how Cole was actually the source of two of the game's big three conflicts, the morphine ring and the fires. Towards the end there was a lot of buildup towards corruption and figuring out how all the subplots funneled together, but then things shit the bed. The ending didn't address things adequately.


VA-11 Hall-A: January 6-8
The main draw of the game is the characters' backstories and development and the setting itself. You learn a lot about the futuristic world and its people—how the pieces fit together. Its short length is enough to keep the mind-numbing gameplay from getting too repetitive, but at the same time it stops the plot short. The story rises up and then falls off a cliff. The main conflict in the story doesn't even appear until halfway through the game, and it's not an all too interesting one. It's possible to miss out on a lot of characters' full stories, and I found little to no drive to replay the game to complete them.


DOOM: January 10-15
This is a lot like how Doom was back in the 90s, only a lot more fun. Combat is fast-paced and exciting. Level design is fantastic. The worldbuilding and storytelling are masterfully done with plenty of nuance in character motivations. Game is filled to the brim with lore and tiny details. The mere satisfaction of finding secrets is drive enough to compel any player to explore each level completely. The story is surprisingly good and deep for a Doom game. The enemy selection is just enough to lend a lot of variety to battles. Glory kills are the icing to the cake that is the game's combat. Such a tiny detail goes a long way in player satisfaction. The ending left me craving more Doom. The only marks against this game I could possibly make are for the features I'm not interested in enough to try, multiplayer and SnapMap. Doom is that good.


Orwell: January 15-16
Nice, self-contained game that gets you to consider the contemporary issue of mass surveillance. In contrast to the many works of fiction that advocate standing up to such a system, Orwell manages to give nuance to the matter. You, the investigator, get to see firsthand how such a system could genuinely be used to save lives. Sure, privacy goes out the window. Sure, innocent people would get suspected for no true reason. Is mass surveillance still viable? Orwell doesn't spoonfeed you an answer that the authors want you to follow. You get to decide for yourself in this morally diverse narrative. The biggest crime this game is guilty of is having no apparent way to see what happens if you follow the handful of different routes in the final case short of replaying the entire thing.


Sonic Generations 3DS: 2016-January 19
A far weaker game than the console/PC version. The level design is decent but not as engaging as the aforementioned port. The returning levels look so bland that they still feel like skeletons to levels rather than reimaginings of beloved classics. The soundtrack doesn't attempt to make the remixes truly feel like modern or classic spins of the original mixes. The bosses are just badly designed and easy. Half of them are rehashes of the Metal Sonic race from Sonic CD with the added obstacle of being attacked if you're behind but close. It was fine once, but this game does it thrice. I actually enjoyed the special stages, but they were also too easy. The game isn't by any means bad, but it is not the ideal way to play this title. Stick with the console/PC version.

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Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-: January 24-25
The series feels modern again. Subtleties like more personality in character animations. Pointless sidequests give you something to do. Tight gameplay, not easy as piss like KH2 was. It tied in nicely to KH1 for the most part, barring a certain on-the-nose wardrobe malfunction.


Gravity Rush 2: January 20-28
A sequel done right. Nearly everything is improved. The world is enormous. Mysteries from the first game are finally solved. There's just so much to this game's world. Lunar and Jupiter styles surprisingly do shake up the game's traversal and combat. Sidequests offer much in terms of worldbuilding and gameplay variety, so much so that I did them all. I rarely strive for doing all side missions in games. Shit gets real towards the end. Then things just get progressively crazier. There seems to be an unfortunate case of the pause menu flat out hanging with no way to fix it other than disabling your Internet connection or restarting the game. I have mixed feelings on the ending. Everything else is gravy, though.

Roberto Duran said:

Here's mine so far:
1) Castlevania Symphony of the Night (X-Box 360 version)
2) Picross 3D
3) Mega Man 2 (NES)
4) Castlevania Aria of Sorrow (GBA via Gameboy Player)

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Adding:
5) Mega Man 1 (NES)

Quit a bit harder than 2. Didn't think the music was as good, so I didn't enjoy it as much, but very good game.

Working on Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow right now. Then I'll play Symphony of the Night on my Sega Saturn.

This year I'll make monthly updates with shorter reviews instead of larger posts for one game. Anyway...

January 2017

#1. Super Mario Run (iOS)
Completion Level: Beat the entire game, collected all the coins and .

Super Mario Run is Mario's first mobile and, as many people expected, is an autorunner. That is, Mario always runs forward and you're only in charge of jumping. While this type of control strongly limits mobility, SMR at least gives you control over Mario's jump height, his air time (by doing stalls) and even his trajectory by swiping to the left when jumping.

In terms of game structure, SMR follows the classical Mario formula. There are 6 worlds with 4 levels each, the last one of each world being a castle/airship stage with a boss battle. Calling them "worlds" is overselling them a bit since there's no theming and no world map, just a menu with 6 rows of levels. In any case, level design in the game is very good. Levels follow classical Mario themes like grass, underground, sky and desert although there's no swimming or ice levels. Each level has 3 sets of collectible coins (pink, green and black) which are essentially difficulty levels. First, you collect the pink coins to unlock the green ones and then you unlock the black ones by collecting the green coins. Before playing a level you're given the option of choosing which collectible you'll hunt which slightly changes the level layout. This collecting gives levels quite a bit of replayability which I really enjoyed.

Finally, in terms of presentation, SMR follows the NSMB style both for graphics and music. Whether that's good or bad depends on your preferences. Personally, it does nothing to me, especially when you have Rayman games on mobile which blow away SMR in terms of presentation.

Overall, SMR is pretty good. The $10 has scared some people off but if you're the type of player that goes for collectibles and/or replays levels for fun, then there's enough here for you. SMR also has the Toad Rally mode which has you competing against other people's recorded runs. This mode is very addicting and can justify the entry cost if you get into it.

Screenshots:

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And that's it for this month... Slow in terms of actually beating games but next month should be better.

Currently playing:
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U): Just reached the , so I'm close to done.
- Advance Wars (GBA): Been stuck at the final stage in Advanced Mode for a while.
- Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS): Doing a draft run with GAFfers from the FE Discord. Currenly on Ch. 7.
- Pokémon Moon (3DS): Just reached Poni Island so there isn't that much left I believe.
- Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (iOS): Started a few days ago and it doesn't seem to be the type of game that's over quick.

I decided to do it by month this year, makes it easier

Main Post

January

1. Batman - Telltale Series (PC)


I liked it overall, probably my favorite Telltale game I've played. Only thing I don't like is how they change the origin story ( )

2. Walking Dead (PC)


Decided to get this one out of my backlog. I was surprised with how I already was spoiled on the ending and yet I still really liked the story for it.

3. Walking Dead - Season 2 (PS4)


I got this one for free with PS+ so I didn't get to carry over my save from season one.
4. Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers (PC)


From my Steam backlog. I don't really have any feelings towards it. It wasn't good nor bad, just meh.

5. The Old City: Leviathan (PC)


Another one from Steam backlog. I think it was trying to be overly artistic, or maybe I just didn't get it. I didn't like it either way.

6. Assassin's Creed 2 - Remaster (PS4)


I got the Ezio set for PS4 as a gift during Christmas, so I thought I'd start on them. Just as good as I remember.

7. Day of the Tentacle - Remaster (PS4)


From PS+, I have to admit, I hadn't heard of the game before. I didn't really like it, but to be fair, I don't really like point and click puzzles anyways.

8. The Swapper (PS4)


Another one from PS+, these puzzles hurt my head, but overall it was a good game. Rather short though.

9. The Order: 1886 (PS4)


I got this for $5 on sale and I enjoyed it. Yes the gameplay is medicore and yes the story isn't too impressive. But I thought it was enjoyable and not as bad as everyone made it out to be

10. Bioshock Infinite - Remaster (PS4)


The last of the Bioshock remasters for me to complete. I didn't enjoy it as much as when I played it the first time, and it was way easier than the original Bioshock. I'm still too much of a coward to try 1999 mode.

11. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - Remaster (PS4)


Second one from the Ezio trilogy, and my favorite one. I spent much longer playing this than 2 because I just enjoyed going around Rome, training Assassin's, and repairing the city.