52 Games Challenge 2018

[bikingjahuty]

15 - Star Was Battlefront 2 (PC 2017) - ENDLESS - Well I was gonna try and beat the campaign on this, but it seems to be incredibly poorly optimized.  Both cutscenes and gameplay are just full of stutters and no amount of changing quality remedies this.  It's weird, because the multiplayer is fine to play.  A few hiccups here and there, understandable as it's a high end game and my hardware is a smidge dated right now, but I can still generally play most things near high, especially if they are optimized properly.

We of course know everything that went wrong with this last year and I said I wouldn't get it till they removed the Pay 2 Win aspects and it got a drastic sale to make up for it.  It finally did both.  It's ridiculous that all the work they had to do was to make the game what it should've been at the start.  That aside, it is a good game.  It's a fun, casual, shooter that's relatively easy to just jump into and shoot some droids or storm troopers.

Would've liked to have beaten the campaign, but unless someone on the help forums get some fix ideas to me, it's probably not happening.

Campaign isn't that interesting anyways so you aren't missing anything really.

[kamikazekeeg]

Campaign isn't that interesting anyways so you aren't missing anything really.

Yeah I heard it was kinda basic, but still wanted to go through it.  Problems with the Battlefront games aside, they look and sound amazing.  That would've been enough to get me through the campaign if it actually ran for me.

[bikingjahuty]

Campaign isn't that interesting anyways so you aren't missing anything really.

Yeah I heard it was kinda basic, but still wanted to go through it.  Problems with the Battlefront games aside, they look and sound amazing.  That would've been enough to get me through the campaign if it actually ran for me.

I really wanted to like Battlefront and Battlefront II. It looks and sounds amazing, and it is very true to Star Wars, but the whole online multiplayer thing really killed this series for me. I had a lot of hope for the 2nd game because of the single player campaign and at least for the first hour or so I thought it might be good, but it quickly falls apart.

[kamikazekeeg]

I actually prefer the Battlefront games for their multiplayer, always have, but yeah I think a lot of people were hoping for a really good campaign, being that there hasn't been a good Star Was game in years, (That isn't Lego or an MMO) since probably the Force Unleashed games and I never played those myself.

[azure]

Only at 5 so far, I blame Monster Hunter World. Gravity Rush was a bit of a suprise, really fun. Shouldn't have slept on it for so long, looking forward to playing the sequel now.

[wolfen]

6. Kirby Star Allies (Switch)

Not much to say about Kirby that hasn't been said before. Cute, easy, fun, and the Ultimate Choice is ridiculously hard as is usually the case with after story content in Kirby. Also Marx is ridiculously fun to play and the side games are fun as well. I definitely recommend it if you just want to have some fun.

Time: 15 hours

Still workin' on Horizon, i got all of the collectibles so far and finished most sidequests. I am very close to the end just a few more story quests.

[arkaneer]

12. Ni No Kuni 2 (PS4)

This game really clicked with me and rekindled my love of JRPGs.

The first draw is the Studio Ghibli vibe...the game is a real stunner and the music is great. The story is a bit tropey, but I enjoyed it a lot anyway and was attached to the characters by the end.

The combat system is fantastic and there is potentially a lot of depth to it. Unfortunately the game is so easy I rarely needed to do anything other than mash the melee button to win most encounters. There are a few hard encounters later on, and these were great fun as I was using the full toolbox to get the job done. I hope Level 5 introduce difficulty settings in a patch. I'd actually play it again for sure!

There is a also a kingdom building element to the game, which is enjoyable and actually meaningful to progression.

I really adored this game for the 60 hours I put in, I might even go back and platinum it as there is quite a lot for me to do in endgame including a 30 floor dungeon with a level 95 boss (I finished the game at level 60).

[kamikazekeeg]

16 - Far Cry 5 (PC 2018) - BEAT - Definitely the most refined take on the Far Cry formula, for better or worse. It's the culmination of everything, while also removing some things that aren't important anymore, such as tower climbing (They make you climb at the start and a joke is made that you won't have to climb them all the time) and crafting, but I think they make up for it with generally more interesting NPC's and side missions.  The villains this time are all pretty great.  Vaas has always been considered kinda the greatest potential the series could offer, but the big boss in that and the ones that followed in what I've seen of Primal and Pagan Min in 4, fell mostly flat.  The family members are all incredibly well acted and absolutely creepy.  Not that the story is the best at times. 

They do this thing with every family member as you take over territory, where you get captured, and you either are purposefully let go or escape.  You do this 9 times.  You having escaped like 3 or 4 times would be absurd normally, but to have it be 9? It's their way of putting you directly with the family member, giving you face time beyond doing it over the radio, and the interactions are intense, but still, it feels like a clumsy way to do this.  I understand, just maybe not the best execution when after like the 5th time, I'm telling the villains to just put a bullet in my head lol  There is one point where they did something pretty fantastic with it, but no spoilers.

This game could also end up being kinda controversial, not for its subject material, but something story related.  I don't want to spoil anything, I'm still processing it, but it's interesting and ballsy.  I don't fully understand it, which is slightly problematic, but yeah, still processing, which is not something I expected from my big dumb action game, so I can commend them for that.

If you didn't like Far Cry 3 or 4 before this, this game won't change your mind for the most part, but if you like the series or shooters generally like this, you'll probably think its pretty solid.

[wolfen]

7. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)

This game has one of the best stories ever in a videogame, tons of lore and everything really makes sense unlike a lot of videogame stories. The gameplay is also a lot of fun, but exploring is not very rewarding or important since anything that's important to collect or look at is specified on the map. Also Aloy was a great character with a real personality along with a few others in the world. Just a solid experience overall, no real glaring complaints except for some inconsistent game mechanics, even then it's not very common.

Time: 60-65 hours

Next games up are the Kingdom Hearts series through the 1.5 and 2.5 remix collection.

[justin8301]

3. Final Fantasy X HD remix (Vita and PS4) - I really wanted to try to platinum this game but it was just taking too much time. after putting close to 90 hours into it I just decided to wrap it up. The final bosses were a push over of course but oh well still a really damn good time.

[telly]

Game 4 - Metal Slug (PS2) - 4 hours

This game is great. It's probably one of the easier MS games, but it's still fun to play. I remember playing it all the time when I was a kid and it's nice to finally be able to beat it. The only issue is loading screens and some slow downs when things get busy, but it's not too bad.

Back to my list

[shfan]

12] Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (360)

The game itself was nothing special at all, but it was strange to play through one of the really early 360 games - how old it feels all of a sudden. While that's a little sad, it still feels good to be in a position where games which have long been left behind are finally getting played and beaten alongside games for current-gen systems, there's hope yet.

[bikingjahuty]

I love it when a game exceeds my expectations and also lives up the the hype and reputation surrounding it

22. Mushihimesama Futari (360): I knew about this game well before I got heavily into shooters due to it's final boss being referenced on Youtube and social media often as one of the "hardest bosses" of all time. Beyond seeing the endless shower of bullets and pretty, colorful graphics, I wondered if there was a decent shooter behind it all. And yes, yes there is; oh my god there is! Mushihimesama Futari is one of the best shooters I've ever played; it's excellent visuals, cool art style, varied enemy and level design, balanced and fun gameplay, and catchy soundtrack all amount of an excellent game. At first I wondered if I liked it as much as Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou, which I definitely did. Then I compared it to the first Mushihimesama, which I liked way less than Futari. And then I started comparing it to the original Dodonpachi which still stands as my favorite game by Cave and my third favorite Shmup of all time. After a lot of playing these games back and forth, comparing them, I came to the conclusion that I like Dodonpachi just a hair more than Mushihimesama Futari, but just barely. That would officially make Futari my fourth favorite Shmup of all time based off all the other games in the genre I've played. Mushihimesama Futari is the type of shooter I hope I get to play every time I try out a new one, and luckily it delivered beyond my expectations. (4/2/18) [43/50]

[justin8301]

3. Kirby Star Allies - This game was a bit of a roller coaster for me, but kinda in reverse. The game started out great! The new friend mechanic was really fun and I had a great time figuring out all the different combinations of powers for a little while. After the excitement of the new mechanic wore off I was left with an incredibly easy Kirby game, like too easy. Towards the end of the game the difficulty picked up a little, enough to make the game fun again to play but the real fun was the last boss. if there's one thing you can expect from a Kirby game its a fun last boss and this was no exception. 

[realpoketendonl]

Game no. 13!

• SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab (Wii)

As a Wii launch title this was one of my very first games for the Wii, along with Cars and, of course, Wii Sports. I didn't remember much about it though. All I remembered is Patrick being a superhero, Plankton running from a Krabby Patty, and then at some point I sold it or gave it away without beating it. But now I got it again, and it's a pretty short game, so I just marathoned through it. So, how is it? Eh.......just eh. To be honest, it's not that good of a game. At it's core it's playable, and near the end it does pay off with some cool sections and a cool final boss fight, but the majority of this game ranges from mediocre to terrible.

SBSP:CftKK changes gameplay style all the time, but at its core it's a combination of a beat-em-up and a collect-a-thon. There are also sections of 2D platforming, plane flying, and other small minigames to break up the pace, but the majority of the game is spent either running around collecting items or fighting enemies. Too bad nothing is really special about it. The worlds, while clearly attempting some creativity, are pretty bland to go through, and levels blend together a lot. The puzzles are simple. Now I would not mind that because I get it's targeted at a younger audience, and simpler puzzles are OK as long as the game is fun to play, but it just isn't. Another factor in that is the fighting, but it's nothing special. Just spam Z and the enemies will die, that's literally all the strategy you need for fights. There's only like 2 or 3 enemy types too, so fights very quickly turn incredibly boring. So to summarize, general exploration and combat are incredibly boring. And since that's your main objective that's a problem.

But the issues keep on going from there. Controls are a problem too. First of all, as soon as the game tells you to dash with a Nunchuk-waggle, ignore it and use the up-direction on the D-pad. Everyone knows the Nunchuk waggle is unreliable, and that goes here too. I get it was a launch title, and I can excuse it to a certain extent, but launch title or not, the motion controls are broken. This is most obvious with the winches. To turn this the game wants you to rotate your WiiMote, and it's just broken beyond belief. Let me explain to you: Hold your WiiMote completely straight up, slant it very very slightly to the left, and then move your arm in a circular motion while keeping the WiiMote upright, as if your WiiMote is the handle on a big wheel you're turning. I get that mimics the actual winch, but it's not explained well, so there you go. And apart from that, the motion control is just broken. The wheel does not work how you want it too. It's easily the most frustrating part of the game. With most other stuff (apart from the god awful plain sections) it's doable, but they're not great.

Also, we gotta talk graphics. This is an ugly game. It looks like it belongs on the PS2, and a low-budget PS2 game at that. Again, I get it was a launch title, but that's no excuse here. They do attempt some different art styles to spice stuff up, but the novelty of this wears off quickly and it's just completely booted out halfway through the game anyway. If you want a pretty Wii game, keep on looking.

So are there any goods? Well, I will say that the good of SpongeBob does shine through. All dialogue is voice acted, and the lines do reflect that classic SpongeBob humour we all love. From Plankton's sarcastic "Woohoo" to SpongeBob pointing out the obvious absurdity of everything going on, sometimes the SpongeBob charm does shine through. Also, again, the final sections with Plankton and the final boss are actually pretty good. I will not spoil what they are here, but those sections are enjoyable. Enough to warrant playing the entire game? Probably not, but hey, they are good nonetheless.

To summarize, Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab is sadly not a good game. It's not god-awful, I've definitely played worse, but it's probably a good contendor for top 5 worst Wii games in my collection. Now recently I've started backing up my Wii games to USB Loader GX and playing them from there, and that app allows you to use a ranking system from 1 to 5 stars. And if I were to put SBSP:CftKK on there, I think it would get two stars. Not the worst, but still pretty bad, and apart from maybe the final Plankton section not worth looking back to. But hey, a game beaten is a game beaten!

Full list: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075