52 Games Challenge 2020

[kamikazekeeg]

18 - Helltaker (PC 2020) - BEAT - I love coming across a game that appears out of nowhere, and I have no expectations for what it is whatsoever, and then it turns out to be super neat.  I questioned whether to count this, but I played it twice, put an hour and a half into it for both the regular and secret ending, and because I think it's awesome.  I stumbled across the game purely because of fan art I saw of cute demon girls in similar attire on twitter.  Looked it up, found a totally free, short, indie game that was up on Steam and ends up being a fun little puzzle game about a guy going to hell because he wants to create a demon harem.  It ended up having fun humor, good art for the characters and the puzzle solving is just hard enough to be a challenge. 

I super recommend it, because I mean, it's free, it's a competent, if short, puzzle solver game, and it's just charming.  I would've paid a couple bucks for this, but I ended up paying for the art book, which is really just the game assets and a few concept pictures the creator made, along with a pancake recipe I might actually try lol

[bikingjahuty]

Had a long overdue arcade jam session this evening and played one game that I never played until very recently as part of my last youtube Top 5 video on arcade exclusive SHMUPs and also got to play an absolute classic that it's been far, far too long since I last played in its original, best form.

31. Zero Gunner (Arcade): This is actually one of the best looking Sega Model 2 games I've ever played, which makes sense since it was released pretty late in that board's life, even after the model 3 came out. Audio is nothing special unfortunately, and sadly neither is gameplay. The game is mostly fun, however I found the game's lock on system with enemy ships and bosses to be more of a hinderance than a fun gameplay mechanic and it got me killed countless times. Still, the controls were pretty tight, the enemies and bosses were cool big aircraft and battle stations, and it was an enjoyable romp in a game I'd never played before. (5/29/20) [31/50]

32. Virtua Fighter 2 (Arcade): I probably won't be satisfied until I've played and beat every single version of Virtua Fighter 2 in existence, but you know what, this one is the best. The PS2 Sega Ages port is very very close in terms of quality, however i feel like something was either tweaked or maybe even lost when transferring over the gameplay from the arcade to the PS2. The arcade version just felt more balanced and fair compared to any other version of the game I've played. Maybe I'm just getting better at this game from having played it so many times over the years, but after spending some quality time with the arcade version this evening I can say I enjoy the arcade version just a smidge more than any other, which is the way it probably should be since it's the original version. (5/29/20) [39/50]

[telly]

Game 18 - Mega Man Zero 4 (PS4) - 15 Hours

Definitely on pace to beat my personal record for games beat this year! Let's check another one off the list and talk about the final entry in the Zero series.

+ My personal ranking for these games from worst to best would be 1, 4, 2 then 3. Gameplay and control wise, Zero 4 just as good as the other Zero games, so I won't spend a lot of time there. I will say that the music was probably the best in the Zero/ZX series, and the game has a really cool final boss and ending theme that ends on a very touching and personal note. You can see that my play time was quite long on this one, as the game bordered on frustratingly hard. Like Zero 3, I tried to get at least an A high ranking on every stage but kind of abandoned it towards the latter half of the game (because the game was more challenging overall).

- This game made quite a few changes to the formula established by the previous three games, and all were unwelcome. The way the game handles cyber elves required a ton more grinding than before, which was lame. Body, feet and head chips now need to be created from parts that are dropped randomly from enemies. And you don't know what the required recipe is for the chips, which is frustrating, as it's impossible to create them through random chance. Lastly, the claw weapon, while cool in concept, was left almost entirely ignored by the end of the game. Part of the problem is the range of the claw sucks, and you also don't get enough oomph from the weapons you steal from enemies, and some of them have limited ammo to boot. Lastly, the level design was by far the most ugly, boring, and uninspired out of all the Zero games.

[shfan]

I'm seriously suffering from try-new-game fatigue, the challenge is great for tackling backlogs (mine is ridiculous), but having shed a good 300 games in the past few years one way or another I'm really struggling to keep putting an hour or two (or way, way more) into games which I end up dropping and trading in. The Switch has been the worst for this because I've picked up a load of cheap JRPG-type things for it, which is the sort of thing I used to love, but these days I'm not enjoying it.

I'll be focusing less on trying/beating new games and more on replaying favourites like the Resi series.

[kamikazekeeg]

20 - Command & Conquer Remastered (PC 2020) - BEAT - I'm counting this as beat, even though I didn't do the NOD campaign or expansion stuff, but I felt like I did enough with a GDI campaign run, .  The game is a nice nostalgia trip with some good updates to the visuals and music, I love the music, but it's also a 20+ year old game and they kept all the old jank intact.  Personally I would've rather they updated the game, maybe make it an optional thing, but the game really needs improvements.  The AI is kinda awful, their pathing is bad, there are some poor level designs and there's maybe a few things they could've worked into the game that I know show up in Red Alert and there's some real goofy cheese mechanics.

The game is a cool, updated, time capsule, but it can be rough and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they have a history with the series and want to support it in the hope they do Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 next.

[Cartagia]

Speaking of C&C cheese, my favorite tactic was to build a sandbag wall all the way to the enemy base, and then wall them in.  The AI didn't recognize it as enemy assets, just paying obstructions, so they'd just sit in their base while I strip mined the entire map.

[kamikazekeeg]

Speaking of C&C cheese, my favorite tactic was to build a sandbag wall all the way to the enemy base, and then wall them in.  The AI didn't recognize it as enemy assets, just paying obstructions, so they'd just sit in their base while I strip mined the entire map.

I never thought to go that for with it, but I had to use that cheese to  block off certain paths which would either funnel them or block them off completely from my base, which was necessary in certain maps due to how annoying the AI could get.

[telly]

Game 19 - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS4) - 9 Hours

Compared to Uncharted 2, this game felt more like a lateral change compared to the experience I had moving from the 1st to 2nd game. There were some aspects that were improved, but others were not as good. So like Uncharted 2, while it was an enjoyable experience, I still have a hard time seeing all the 9 and 10/10s this game got at the time.

+ Many aspects of this game are just as good as previous entries in the series. The game looks gorgeous as always, the characters (other than Drake) and writing are fun and memorable. The set pieces were fun, though they feel very samey to the second game. One thing I thought was improved greatly was the puzzles. Some of the gameplay elements were improved like throwing grenades, and improved hand-to-hand combat. The game felt a little like the Arkham games when it would throw you into a throng of unarmed guys to beat up. I played the game on hard mode this time, and felt the additional challenge made the game more fun.

- My biggest issue with this game was the story, which feels copy-pasted from the second game but was not as interesting (with the ancient city, etc), and there were some padding issues once you get on the boat as well. There were also several elements to the story that were added in order to flesh out Drake as a character (like his name being made up) but weren't fully explored over the course of the narrative. The final boss fights were extremely anticlimactic and boring as well.

[Cartagia]

I beat The Surge, which was a pretty passable Souls-like.  It was way better than the developers previous attempt, Lords of the Fallen.  Unfortunately, the last area is a bit of a slog, and the last boss is kind of cheap.  All-in-all, I enjoyed it though.  I'll definitely pick up part 2 when it gets a good enough discount.

[kamikazekeeg]

19 - Terraria (PC 2011) - BEAT - This game was a heck of an experience, both good and bad.  As a crafting/build experience, it's enjoyable, there's a lot to collect, numerous things to use to build, lots of items to find, and it offers up a number of ways for you to play the game, it's something that I wish Minecraft had (I know there's mods), because there's just so much here and it can feel overwhelming at times.  The game is essentially split into two parts, a normal mode that you play until you beat the Wall of Flesh, and then instantly the game kicks you in the balls, all the gear and weapons you worked hard to get are near useless, and the game is so much harder.  From here, there's a lot of grinding, a lot of dying, so much more than before.  Numerous times I almost quit.  This game is hard (I am not playing the harder mode lol), though I will say it's not impossible, there's just these hurdles you have to keep reaching for and every time you think you've hit a good spot, some new crazy challenge appears lol

Where the game becomes mixed, is with the combat and bosses.  Generally it's good, but there's a number of obnoxious enemies and a number of bosses that I personally found were awful to fight or the only way to really fight them is with some real dumb cheesy mechanics that to me don't make for a fun fight.

Some of the frustrating grind and difficulty aside, this is a pretty solid game that is worth getting.

[bikingjahuty]

I've been so busy with other things that I've forgot to post on here recently.


33. Star Fox 64 (N64)

I've played, beat, and played Star Fox 64 hundreds of times since it came out nearly 25-years ago, and recently played through it again as part of a high score competition I'm participating in on Facebook. This game is truly a classic and is still the best Star Fox game on any console, period. The only part of this game I'm not totally crazy about is it's soundtrack, but it's still pretty good for the most part. Definitely a game that I don't need an excuse to play and one of my all time favorites on the N64


Gameplay: 10/10
Sound: 7/10
Presentation: 8/10
Fun: 16/20
Overall: 41/50

[Cartagia]

Game 19 - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS4) - 9 Hours
[...]There were also several elements to the story that were added in order to flesh out Drake as a character (like his name being made up) but weren't fully explored over the course of the narrative.

I was pretty sure that was from the first game?  But it's been a while since I played them.

Overall, my experience was pretty much the same as yours - I think they are good, fun experiences, but not necessarily the best games.  Playing them closer to release may have something to do with it, as there have been a lot of copycats since then - notably the Tomb Raider reboot, which I think is a much better game.  All that said I do think that 4 and The Lost Legacy are way better than the original three.

[telly]

Game 19 - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS4) - 9 Hours
[...]There were also several elements to the story that were added in order to flesh out Drake as a character (like his name being made up) but weren't fully explored over the course of the narrative.

I was pretty sure that was from the first game?  But it's been a while since I played them.

Overall, my experience was pretty much the same as yours - I think they are good, fun experiences, but not necessarily the best games.  Playing them closer to release may have something to do with it, as there have been a lot of copycats since then - notably the Tomb Raider reboot, which I think is a much better game.  All that said I do think that 4 and The Lost Legacy are way better than the original three.

I played all of them back-to-back and didn't remember hearing that Drake had a fake name but I could have missed it. Regardless, it would have been cool to see that explored a little more.

I definitely agree that the way modern games and copycats went over time probably diminished my opinion of these games than compared to if I played them at release.

[kamikazekeeg]

21 - The Last of Us: Remastered (PS4 2014) - BEAT - I've had this game sitting on my shelf for basically 4 years now, it was one of the games I bought for my PS4, just kinda planning to jump in and eventually play it, but never did, so here I am, the day before the sequel released, having beaten the game again lol I didn't super love the game back on the PS3, I thought it was fine, good story and characters, alright gameplay, and that's about my view now too.

While this game got all the accolades, I always felt like Naughty Dog's weakness for their games was their combat and that it wasn't till like Uncharted 4 that they mostly figured it out.  The Remaster didn't really change any of that, it just runs nicer than it did before.  Not sure if I'm gonna do the DLC or not, I might, but I think this is the last time I'll ever play the game.

As for the sequel, I'm not 100% sure if I'm grabbing it tomorrow or not.  Was gonna be a birthday gift to myself, but I've heard how the game is much more hardcore than the first one, not a lot of moments of light in all that darkness, and I'm not sure if I'm super in the mood for it right now.  I'll get to it soon though since it and Ghosts of Tsushima are the last big hurrah for the PS4.

[telly]

Game 20 - Game – Kirby’s Dream Course (SNESc) – 14 Hours

Spent a lot of time to beat this game because I kept replaying courses trying to get a better score. I ended up only getting one gold and a handful of silver and bronze medals so there’s definitely some challenge for those that want it.

+

Kirby’s Dream Course was a real treat to play. It’s certainly one of the most unique games I’ve ever played, and it takes the concept of golf and combines that with delightful stages and interesting and unique powerups. The controls were really smooth and the music was playful and fun. Just a game that makes you feel good while playing. Not much else to say other than I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

-

I do have some minor complaints. First, the goal is way too damn small. When you think about golf, the hole is easily several times larger than the actual ball. In this game, the goal is just barely large enough for Kirby, and this combined with Kirby’s bouncy and light physics leads to many frustrating moments when trying to make a short-range shot. Second, the range indicator for your shots will not go over ledges, nor change when going through water or bouncing on sand, movement tiles, etc, which gives you a pretty poor indication of where your shots are going to end up. Third, some stages contain powerups that are required to beat the stage. And if you lose a life, you loose access to those power ups if you already grabbed them, meaning you must restart the whole course over. Lastly, the final boss was really lame. Relatedly, I heard this game had a story that was completely cut from the North American release, which is dissapointing.