52 Games Challenge 2020

[sonicfan53]

So far, here's my list of acquired games this year.

Sonic Jam (Sega Saturn) - A very good compilation of the Genesis/Mega Drive Sonic games, plus, the Sonic World thing is awesome!
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PlayStation) - My favourite of the original trilogy.
Sonic CD (Sega CD/Mega CD) - An underrated Sonic game. Like, REALLY underrated.
Sonic Heroes (Xbox) - One of my favourite 3D Sonic games.
Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive/Genesis) - The one that started it all
Sonic Spinball (Mega Drive/Genesis) - The best spinoff Sonic game on the Genesis/Mega Drive IMO
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive/Genesis) - Very fun
Sonic Advance (Game Boy Advance) - The start of an amazing trilogy

[justin8301]

8. Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch) - 2/27

I’ll tell you what, Nintendo really knows how to make a game! Every damn floor gets better than the last! This game is just so charming. The amount of thought that was put into this game just blows my mind, every corner has something to find and the sound design is just perfect!

[bikingjahuty]

16. Gran Turismo Sport (PS4)

When Gran Turismo Sport first came out I remember being incredibly disappointed, mostly because as the newest installment of the GT series it would put significantly more emphasis on online multiplayer than it would on the single player experience like the previous games. In fact, if memory serves me right, there was only an Arcade mode for offline, single player gameplay. Combine this with the fact that GT Sport only had like 200 cars at launch and I was all but certain I'd never want to play this game.


A little over a month ago I learned that GT Sport had added a ton of content to the game since it came out a few years ago, including a pretty robust single player mode complete with various tier level races, driving missions, and various other single player content that was enough for me to want to play this game. On top of that, the game's car roster had almost doubled, with new cars being released for the game almost monthly for no extra charge. From everything I could see, Gran Turismo Sport had fixed every issue I'd had with the game that made me shy away from it when it first came out.


Having played the game a ton over the last few weeks, the game is undoubtedly the biggest leap forward for the franchise since Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2, and certainly the best GT game since 4, also on the PS2. While GT Sport does lack the amount of cars, modes, and other extras of Gran Turismo 4, it instead takes a quality over quantity approach to the series that definitely works out for the most part. While improvements to GT Sport compared to its predecessors are plentiful, so are its shortcoming compared to many of those older games in the franchise.


For starters, the gameplay in Gran Turismo Sport is very, very good! It absolutely feels like the most authentic driving experience compared to any of the previous titles. In fact, it almost makes them fee arcady by comparison with how realistic the driving physics feel in this game. Of course, there is still that slight video game feel to the whole thing, however it's absolutely the next best thing to actually sitting in the actual cars in the game and driving them in real life. The sense of grip, handling, and other dynamic factors that define how a car drives have certainly been obsessed over in this game, and I really have to hand it to the devs for pulling off the level of realism present in the game.


As I mentioned before GT Sport does lack a lot of the modes of the previous Gran Turismo titles, but in terms of what it does have, it certainly gives you enough to keep busy for hours and hours. Fortunately there isn't a license mode in this game, but instead a driver leveling system that takes into account experience gained from races you've completed. As you level up, you unlock more advanced, difficult race events to compete in. For those that liked the license mode, there is something similar called racing missions that allow you to complete a variety of tasks using many different cars from the game like coming to a complete stop at a specified distance, or learning how to take difficult corners as fast as possible. There is an arcade mode as well, that allows you to do Time Trials and various other single player or local multiplayer challenges, all allowing you to use cars from your garage if you want. Sadly the amount of offline races and the various profession tiers you can play are more limited than in previous games.

There are several gameplay gripes and issues I had though, mainly having to do with the CPU controlled racers and their AI. GT Sport's aim for realism is absolutely present in how the cars handle, however that realism is spotty at best when it comes to your opponents. All the single player races begin from a rolling start and often you are placed at the very back of the race, or somewhere towards the middle. Essentially the challenge becomes overtaking the first place car at the very front before the end of the final lap. With almost no exceptions I found getting to the front of the race not terribly difficult, however as soon as I obtained the lead, it's as if the other cars in the race, especially the car or two behind me all the sudden went from being that scrub street racer who stalls his car out all the time, to freakin Senna. It almost motivated me to stay in second for a long as possible because as soon as I passed the first place racer, they were going to go from amateur to pro in an instant. Also, the AI opponents are very inconsistent in how they race around you; one minute they will drive with extreme caution, doing whatever they can to avoid swapping paint with your car, and the next they'll think you're actually in a demolition derby and ramming you off the track. This inconstancy in driver difficulty and interest in not crashing into me made the immersion of this game difficult at times.

One final issue I had with Gran Turismo Sport's gameplay was the incredibly nurfed tuning mode. In previous Gran Turismo titles the granularity of customizing your car's performance was outstanding. Just wanted an exhaust and intake, you could do that. Or if you wanted to you take a stock car and throw on a stage 3 turbo, racing slicks, giant brakes, an new manifold, and reduce the weight of the car by hundreds of pounds. While you still can technically tune your cars in this game, most of that tuning is controlled by a generic slider that allows you to boost power or reduce weight after you've paid for the next level of being able to do this. You can also control things like tires, tire pressure, and various other aspects of that as well, but sadly that's pretty much it. I do have to give the game extra credit however, for having a pretty good vehicle appearance editor, which dwarfs the previous games considerably in that regard.

Visually Gran Turismo Sport looks amazing! The cars, tracks, and visual effects actually look consistently PS4 quality unlike GT5 and GT6 on the PS3 which barely looked better than GT4 on the PS2. As I mentioned, there are fewer cars in this game than in previous games in the series, however the amount of detail given to the cars on offer is very impressive to say the least. The exteriors and interiors are detailed to stitching on the steering wheel, accurate climate control vents, and every other little detail present on the real life cars represented in GT Sport.  The tracks feel and look more realistic than ever as well, with not one track looking like it was just pulled from an older game, given a slopping texture upgrade and passed off as new. In fact, my only issue with the visuals has to do with the ridiculous damage effects on the cars; you could be rear ended by a car while going hundreds of miles an hour, yet the damage on the back of the car looks like a shopping cart hit your car in the parking lot of a Wal Mart. Likewise, hitting the wall at any speed looks more like you got your car repeatedly keyed rather than having made a high speed collision with a wall. I never expected the damage effects to look ultra accurate and realistic, but as is their just uneccesary and stupid with how they actually look.

The audio in Gran Turismo Sport is fairly good as fell, well, mostly. For the first time I can remember in the series, the cars don't mostly sound like a variety of vacuum cleaners, but like the actual cars represented in the game. This goes back to the games attention to detail and quality, over having over a thousand cars to choose from, and it really doe go a long way towards giving each car a memorable distinction over any other model in the game. Likewise, engine noises when accelerating are great and very realistic. My main issue with GT Sport's sound is an issue I've had with every game in the series I've played, the soundtrack. While some have certainly been better than others, the soundtrack in GT Sport sounds like the music was mostly picked from a bargain bin of cheap licensed rock music. The only exception to the mediocre to bad soundtrack is the menu music which is a combination of ambient and jazz like tracks which are fairly nice to listen to. Luckily you can mute the game's music and just listen to the sweet, sweet symphony your cars create while racing them.

I have to say, I haven't enjoyed a Gran Turismo game this much since Gran Turismo 4, which even after extensively playing GT Sport, is still my favorite Gran Turismo game of all time. Still, it isn't far off from being as enjoyable or good as that game, in fact it's very close. This game does however have a distinct advantage over GT4, which is the fact that it isn't 15-years old; as much as I love GT4, not having a lot of the better cars released since 2005 to choose from definitely diminishes the appeal of that game more and more as time goes by. However, GT Sport satisfies in this regard by having car models from as recent as 2019, and with new cars added frequently I'm expecting to see some 2020 models as well at some point. But regardless, Gran Turismo Sport is an excellent game for the most part with some minor flaws, but is definitely a step in the right direction for the series. (3/2/20)

Presentation: 9/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Fun: 14/20
Overall: 38/50

[wolfen]

4. Cuphead (Switch)

This game has the perfect balance of challenge and fun. I enjoyed how unorthodox the level/boss system was. I also love how each level introduces different patterns and enemies. The Devil was actually surprisingly easy compared to every other boss. So much work and effort went into the graphics and I really appreciated all the little details. Excellent game!

Time: 20+ hours

5. Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS4)

Finished the campaign on this. It's pretty fun, but it kinda just felt like a glorified tutorial for the game.

Time: 5 hours

[justin8301]

9. Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast) - 3/8

I’m honestly not sure if loved this game or it was complete trash. On one hand it was innovative, taking Sonic into the world of 3D with fun levels, cool new abilities, and a pretty “rad” soundtrack; but on the other hand, the game was kinda broken as hell. I can’t even begin to count how many times I got stuck in a wall or fell through a level. Not to mention how badly the camera sucked, the Dreamcast really could have benefited from a second analog stick but I still managed to get through it.

[ignition365]

Main List
Previous List

bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

73. Muppets Movie Adventure (PS Vita)
I'm a huge Muppets fan and saw this on a list of Vita exclusives, so I decided I'd give it a go.  I expected to abandon it quickly or something, but it looks like it's a super short game that I'll probably beat in a day or so.  It is no good so far, I wouldn't even recommend it as a Muppets fan because there is no voice acting, the writing is terrible, the director is annoying at death screens, and the gameplay is honestly mediocre at best.  But I'm committed at this point, so I'm going to try and finish the game.
Rating: Hard Pass.

74. Word Sudoku by POWGI (PS Vita)
I like games like this and saw that POWGI has a bunch of games like this, and then I saw they are all quick and easy platinums, so I'll probably be playing through all of their games.  Took a day or two to get through it.  I will hard pass all of these games for sure, but I like games like this so not an issue for me.
Rating: Hard pass.

75. Nier: Automata (PS4)
For some reason I started this game after I finished Titanfall 2.  Not sure why other than I beat Nier years ago and meant to play through this game.  I burned through Ending A pretty quickly, then burned through Ending B pretty quickly too.  I think I've got 35 hours in the game so far.  Each ending took my about 17 hours.  I'm having the problem that I really really want to count my two playthroughs as separate games on this list because each ending took a feature length game to get through and both provided basically the same ending.  I'm actually super frustrated that I bothered to play through a second time to get the B ending.  I rarely play through games more than once, so feeling forced to play through twice just to get the real ending isn't a concept I enjoy, having to play through twice to get the same ending twice so I can get the real ending in a 3rd playthrough?  That infuriates me.  I don't expect this game to be a recommended game, I expect it to be a hard pass, honestly.  Went back and looked and I really don't have much in the way of notes on the first game.  My recollection is it being purely hack and slash, this game is hack and slash with lots of shmup/bullet hell elements.  I think the only reason I've been pushing myself to get through Ending C is because I read that this game is an easy platinum once you get through Ending C because you can literally buy the rest of the trophies with in game currency and save scumming.  It sounds so bullshit I can't believe it and I want to see.  Story wise, I'm not too invested in this game, I don't particularly care for any of the characters.  I'll say the only thing I've enjoyed is the few scenes of interactions you see between Adam and Eve, which is mildly entertaining, but even that I sort of expect to get ruined through something story wise later on.  The introduction of hacking in playthrough B provided enough difference and sped up battles such that playthrough B wasn't much of a slog and I was able to just sort of burn through it.  Eventually I realized that you can basically run from all fights except boss battles so you can literally just run from boss to boss in your second playthrough and destroy the boss in 4-7 hack mini-games.  I'm probably going to count the game as 1 playthrough.
Rating: Soft Recommendation, I just don't get this series.

76. Crossovers by POWGI (PS Vita)
More POWGI puzzle games, I won't be tracking progress on these because I burn through the puzzles too quickly and they don't straight forward tell you progress.  Eh, I'm not big on crosswords, the game wasn't terrible, but not my thing.  My kid loved it just because it's a ton of letters.
Rating: Hard pass.

77. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (X1BC)
I actually started this game over ten years ago on 360, but I guess I abandoned it.  Transferred my save data from my 360 on to the cloud so I can play on X1.  I was actually pretty close to the end of the game so it didn't take my longer to get through the game.  Standard Sonic gameplay and Knuckles is a dick.
Rating: Soft recommendation

78. Sonic the Hedgehog (GG)
One of my earliest gaming memories is playing this game.  I feel like I never beat it before, but I know I played it a lot as a kid and I feel like I made it to at least the final zone. I don't know other people's opinions on these for sure, but I think most people hate the GG games, but this is one of my favorite Sonic games.
Rating: Soft recommendation

79. Word Sweeper by POWGI (PS Vita)
Another POWGI game, this time crossword minesweeper.  I still don't like crosswords, but I like minesweeper.  I'm probably going to hate this game though, from what little I've played.  It's not a terrible game, but meh.
Rating: Hard pass.

80. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG)
I read this is one of the hardest Sonic games, so wasn't really looking forward to slogging through this one.  Everything about this game is so different from other entries in the series. Honestly, this one wasn't anything special though.
Rating: Soft pass.

81. Sonic CD (GCN)
I hadn't planned on playing this one yet, but only because I didn't realize it released so early in the franchise.  Had to check the best way to play the game, I don't own it on XBLA so GCN it is, plus it's an opportunity to try out my GCHD.  Loading up the gamecube and then loading progressive mode... o.m.g. worlds apart in quality.  Game though, yikes.  Mostly not bad, but man was the Metal Sonic boss race/battle the worst.  Ending animation was interesting it being a first for the Sonic franchise.
Rating: Soft pass.

82. Word Maze by POWGI (PS Vita)
Another Powgi puzzle game, pretty simple puzzle mechanics.  Nothing special.  Words link together to fill the screen using all of the words.
Rating: Hard pass

83. Crypto by POWGI (PS Vita)
Oh look another Powgi puzzle game.  Generic Cryptoquip stuff, but with quotes from famous people.  Honestly, that alone makes this game more interesting and worth playing for me.  My wife watched me play a bit and she may play it too.
Rating: Soft pass.

84. Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos (GG)
I thought this game was going to be something special with the name, but it's really just another entry in the Sonic series.  Nothing special, the later levels get frustrating with the pipes, teleporters, etc.
Rating: Soft pass

85. Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball (Gen)
I really didn't want to play this one because I was sure it was going to be terrible... and it was.  This is my wife's favorite Sonic game... for some reason.  Honestly, this could've been a better game if the instructions were more clear and knowing where the emeralds are and how man you have and how many you have left.
Rating: Hard pass.

86. Sonic Drift (PS2)
I wasn't really planning on playing this one because it provides nothing, but I went ahead and played it anyway.  It's pretty terrible, like 80s arcade racer terrible.  Hopefully Drift 2 is more Daytona or Mario Kart.
Rating: Hard pass.

87. Sonic & Knuckles (X1BC)
I had started this game about 10 years ago, but only got like 10 minutes in, so I didn't bother transferring my save data up to the cloud and just started the game over.  A little upset with myself that I didn't plan that out better a decade ago and play through Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but it is what it is and I don't plan on replaying just to get the whole shebang all at once.  Game just seems to be more of fuckles being a dick.  Nothing really stands out here.
Rating: Soft pass.

88. Sonic Triple Trouble (GG)
Basically seems to be the GG counterpart to 3/Knuckles.  Again, nothing special.  Game Gear has massive frame drops in these games and that can get real annoying, but nothing that makes the game totally unplayable... except when the game isn't responsive during the framedrops.
Rating: Hard pass.

89. Knuckles Chaotix (32X)
I'd love to mark progress on this game, but it seemingly randomly decides what level you will do next.  It took me a bit to figure out playing this one.  I really didn't want to hook up my 32X to play this game, so I needed some alternative way to play.  Looked at running RetroArch on PSClassic, couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get a 32X core running on a device with no internet.  Looked at running RetroArch on PSVita, but it literally took 3 hours to download and install, by which time I had it figured out elsewhere.  Eventually I downloaded RetroArch on my phone, bluetooth'd my 500mil PS4 controller, and downloaded a Knuckles Chaotix rom.  Smart View'd my screen to my TV, plugged the phone into a fast charger, and went on my way.  Plays really well, even with the screen mirroring.  Kind of a game changer for me.  Anyways, on the topic of the game, I was very discouraged by the actual tutorial at the beginning of the game, further discouraged by the fact that I couldn't get past tutorial 2 without skipping it... but this game is actually really fun.  Honestly, that was super enjoyable.  Pleasantly surprised by how good this game was.  I think this is going to come out of this as my favorite Sonic game.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

90. Tails Skypatrol (GCN)
More sonic games, I've got a lot of spin off games in my future.  I'm burning through these games so quickly, but the 3D games are going to stick around for way too long, I'm sure.  Anyway, this one wasn't very good, but it wasn't the worst.  Tails flies around helicopter style, the game's basically a shmup without the shooting kinda.  Tails carries a ring that can be thrown at enemies and slings back to him.  It's interesting and telling of the designs of the time, not the worst, but it's not really a good game.
Rating: Hard pass.

91. Sonic Drift 2 (GCN)
I was originally going to play this on GG, but I already had the GCN up and running so I figured might as well.  It just makes it a little frustrating in that I like that my backloggery was getting filled with GG beats, but now GCN is getting populated with beats.  I was hoping this would be different from the first Drift game, but it really isn't.  It's more refined and totally playable, it was way less of a pain to get through than the first one, so I'll still say it's better than the original, but still not a great game.
Rating: Hard pass.

92. Tails Adventures (GCN)
More GG games that I could've been playing on the OG carts    Anyway, this is probably one of the longest Sonic games I've played yet.  It definitely felt longer because it took me 3 days to beat instead of like an hour.  This game is arguably a metroidvania game, and it's not terrible.  I'd argue it's a good game, matter of fact.  Shit, I'd go so far as to say it's probably one of the few spin off games worth your time playing, shit probably one of the few Sonic games worth playing.  Some of the mechanics can be frustrating and make you feel like there is no way to get through sections without getting hit, but health is pretty plentiful and there are no instant death mechanics, the game's pretty forgiving.
Rating: Soft Recommendation.

93. Sonic Labyrinth (GG)
Started this one right after Tails Adventures hoping to get into the game enough to understand the mechanics so I could finish it the next evening... but this game is short as fuck, I beat it in about 20 minutes according to the stats at the end.  My understanding is that this game is a precursor to Sonic 3D Blast, so I expect 3D Blast and subsequently Blast, to be more of this.  This honestly wasn't the worst.  The slow walking is pretty painful, but the spin dashing makes movement bearable.  Grab some keys, find the exit.  Eventually fight a boss.  Repeat.
Rating: Hard pass.

94. Sonic the Fighters (GCN)
Jumped into this one after finishing Labyrinth (Which was shooooort).  Just a standard fighting game, pick a character, run through all the characters, fight yourself, then fight the sub-boss and final boss.  Game was mostly easy until I got to Metal Sonic which was insanely difficult, and then Robotnik was a super pushover.  Wack.  I hate fighting games in general, so this was miserable.
Rating: Hard pass.

95. Sonic 3D Blast (SS)
My first Saturn game I've ever played and beaten now.  I decided to go with Saturn because it seemed like the definitive way to play the game, the quality and graphics are just worlds better than the Genesis version.  I played this game over the course of several days, it was such a slow play for me.  I used cheats to jump to where I left off since there are no save points or anything, so my final score in the game was butt, but appreciated that I didn't have to play it all in one go or leave my Saturn on for days.  Honestly, this game sucked major butt.  3D doesn't work very well in isometric perspective.  The final boss fight was a bullshit take no hits repeat the process twice go through 5 phases kind of boss.  This one has me constantly considering buying a Retrotink2x Pro to get a better picture out of it.  I have my retro setup split to two screens, an HDTV and a CRT, it obviously looks better on the CRT, but I mostly played on the HDTV despite.  I'm still on the fence about buying a retrotink2x Pro. 
Rating: Hard pass.

Special rant (Retrotink2x Pro)
Going to go on a tangent about that here because I want to talk about it, but I don't really need input from people I guess.  So in trying to justify Retrotink I posed myself the question of what would I use it for.  Anything pre NES isn't composite/component so moot.  NES, SNES, Genesis, SMS, GG, or GB/C/A I generally use Retron5 which already has a 2x scaler built in.  N64, I've got Super64.  GCN, I've got GCHD Mk II.  PS1, I would play on PS3.  PS2/Xbox are component already, I expect no real improvement of quality.  Saturn/DC would be useful.  32X/Sega CD could potentially be useful.  I don't really expect to ever play my TG-16, but it could use it if I did. 3DO is basically the same statement as TG16.  The other potential use is that I have an HDTV that only takes HDMI inputs, so this would convert any component/composite to HDMI even if no improvement, it gets the systems on that TV if I need it.  That all said, Saturn through composite on my 4k TV wasn't the worst, colors were a bit washed out, but it wasn't the worst.  Spending $150 (even if it's all in Amazon rewards money) just doesn't seem like a good investment right now.

96. Sonic Blast (GG)
Was sort of expecting this to be more of Labyrinth/3D Blast, but this game is totally just another 2D Sonic game.  Pretty short entry too, nothing special though.  Really don't have much to say, it's pretty forgettable.
Rating Hard pass.

97. Sonic R (GCN)
Immediately hopped into this after finishing Blast, took all of 20 minutes to get through the GP mode and beat the game.  Much better than the Drift racing series, but not great.  Some of the controls are confusing, the level layouts aren't intuitive all the time, so I got turned around a few times.  I almost look forward to playing the Riders/Rivals games, though I don't own any of the Riders games, so I've got to figure out what to do about that.  Still a hard pass though, definitely provides nothing of value.
Rating: Hard pass.

98. Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (NGPC)
I considered not playing this one because why, and because it's basically Sonic 2, but I did it anyway.  Again nothing really special, first level or two feels identical to Sonic 2, but then things get different.  Played this one on my phone through an emulator like Knuckles Chaotix.  This one had 2 act zones, which made the game go by pretty quickly.  I actually, in the order I was planning, shouldn't have played this one yet, but I felt like getting it out of the way before jumping into Adventure, because A and A2 could be back to back this way.
Rating: Hard pass.

99. Sonic Adventure DX (X1BC)
Such a controversial one this one.  I tried to gather what's the best way to play this one.  I heard DC is best because best textures and lighting.  I heard GCN DX is best because additional content, all Game Gear games, and updated visuals.  I heard XBLA definitive if you don't care about the GG games and have the DX DLC.  I heard PC with unofficial patches, but I don't own the PC version and had no interest in wrangling that together.  I chose XBLA via X1X mainly because there is no info out there on how it plays on X1X.  First thing I noticed, on the first level, I lost all but 1 life dying via falling through the level... at completely different points each time.  After the first level it never happened again though, so that's something I guess.  Voice acting is absolutely terrible in this game, like laughably terrible, which is sad, because you know they weren't going for campy so awful it's awesome VO work, but here we are.  Camera work is still pretty terrible and they even call that out at the very beginning "We know it's rough, but stick with it and you'll be fine"  uh what?  Other controversial thing... I only beat this game via Sonic's Adventure mode and didn't beat it with all of the characters.  I committed to playing all of the Sonic games, but I know I'll get burnt out if I re-play every game over and over to get all of the endings.  After Nier Automata, I don't think I can do that sort of thing again, so for now I'm just doing the one ending and calling it a day.  I don't want to say I might come back and do it, because I know I won't.
Rating: Hard pass.

100. Pokemon Picross (GBC)
Current Progress: 6-6
This game got released as part of a leak of Nintendo stuff, game looks to be complete and fully functional, which is frustrating because I would have imported the heck out of this.  Sounds like it's 150 puzzles, 1 for each pokemon in gen 1.  Just general Picross stuff.  What little text the game has is not in English, but it's picross so you don't really need it to play, and the text is mostly pokemon names and "Oh look, it's [pokemon]! You want to come with me?  Okay, let's go.  Yes, I got [pokemon]".  Totally playable.  Did all 151 puzzles and got initial credits and complete credits.  Unlocked Safari Zone and started that.  I don't fully understand what this mode is, I went through the translate for it, but it didn't make much sense.  The fact that all of the puzzles are pokemon, it's definitely more worth playing than your average Picross game.
Rating: Soft recommendation

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[bikingjahuty]

17. Goldeneye Reloaded (PS3)

Like many I have very fond memories of playing Goldeneye 007 on the N64, both the stellar single player campaign which did a great job capturing the movie, but also the classic multiplayer that I spent countless hours playing with friends. I remember about 15-years ago someone had recreated Goldeneye in the Source engine and I remember wanting so badly to play it, but unfortunately I didn't have a PC at the time that could run it. Several years later, this game was announced and my initial reaction to it was very, very optimistic. I didn't actually end up buying Goldeneye Reloaded until several years after it was released, which I'd say was unfortunately, but after playing through it I kinda wish I'd just downloaded the Source engine remake of the original.


Goldeneye Reloaded is what you get when you attempt to remake a game and story not only with the modern touch of what James Bond is now with Daniel Craig, but also attempt to shoehorn the innovative and fun gameplay of the original into the military FPS craze that was at its zenith around the time this game was released in 2011. Goldeneye Reloaded feels more like a Call of Duty Modern Warfare skin than a James Bond game. Sure, you are given objectives, but these involve little more then getting to a marked checkpoint, pressing an activate button, and then getting to the next checkpoint. In between, you'll encounter a variety of military goons and gun wielding mobsters that you have to take out while taking cover. The gameplay is essentially Call of Duty, which some people might not find fault with, but it just clashes so much with the James Bond theme, and ends up feeling more like Rambo or Commando in the end.


Speaking of being thematically off, Goldeneye Reloaded retells the story of the original Goldeneye movie, but replaces Brosnan with Daniel Craig, makes the story take place in the late 2000s rather than the 80s and 90s, and replaces most of the characters with generic, forgettable caricatures of much more memorable characters from the movie. Perhaps the only character to reprise her role is Q voice aced by Judy Dench, just like in the film. However, while Goldeneye Reloaded takes place in the late 2000s using the likeness and voice of the current bond of that time, many of the main villains feel straight out of the 60s and 70s bond films, making the more or less serious tone of this remake feel very strange; I feel like bond should be laughing at Xenia and Trevelians Reloaded interpretations rather than seeing them as legitimate adversaries. The whole plot, characters, and theme of the game just feels so confused and all over the place as a result.


As I said, Judy Dench voices Q in this game, as does Daniel Craig for James Bond, which is a cool touch. All the Reloaded versions of all the other characters are "modern" interpretations of them voiced by new voice actors that had no role in the original 1995 film. This didn't necessarily bother me, if it weren't for the fact that so many of these characters were just outright lame and forgettable. On top of that the voice acting for some of the other characters ranges from okay to pretty bad, and not so bad its good like in House of the Dead 2 or Shenmue.


The music in the game is very James Bond, and has that suave orchestral sound that is present in virtually all the movies and games related to James Bond. The guns sound good, explosions sound good, and pretty much everything you'd expect to sound good in the game does.


Visually Goldeneye Reloaded is pretty unimpressive. With the exception of some good background and weapon models, the character models are almost late PS2 quality. This might be acceptable if this was an early Gen 7 title, but it came out just two years before the PS4 was released. I will give the game credit for capturing the likeness of various characters, but the facial animations are just stiff and awkward looking. This game is certainly not a shining example of one of the better looking PS3 games available.


By the time I beat Goldeneye Reloaded I was just so ready for it to be over. I did find the modern interpretation of Goldeneye to be somewhat interesting at first, but that quickly wore off as I realized how significantly inferior it was to the movie's story. Also, the game itself is vastly inferior the the N64 game that it very poorly attempts to remake using the generic template of COD shooter which was popular at the time this game was made. There were parts of the game I did like, but overall I absolutely will never replay this game, and in fact I expect to pretty much forget all about my experience with this game in a few months to a year. Luckily Goldeneye Reloaded was a short experience and didn't consume too much of my time that I could spend playing much, much better games. (3/11/20)

Presentation: 6/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Sound: 7/10
Fun: 8/20
Overall: 27/50

[telly]

Game 4 - Red Dead Redemption II (PS4) - 55 Hours

This was quite the fun adventure. I haven't played the first Red Dead Redemption, which is kind of to my advantage, since I feel like playing the first game spoils the events of this game a little. My brother has the first game, so I'd like to play it sometime soon.

+

Graphically the game is astounding. The lighting and breathtaking landscapes feel super realistic and the towns feel alive and bustling. I never used the fast travel feature so I could take in the amazing beautiful environments. I did use stagecoaches and trains though.

The story overall was well told. The whole premise of making money so your gang can survive makes the actual things you do in the open world feel connected to the story objectives, which I appreciate when open world games accomplish. However, I felt like the story is really only good as the individual threads in each town you visit. For the most part you go through the same basic story scenarios over and over again (botch an important job, move to another campsite, repeat), so it felt like it wasn't going anywhere at times. I would say it's a fine story overall though.

The characters that make up your gang all have unique and interesting personalities, and it's fun to get to know them. When things start to go downhill with the gang, you get invested in the fates of all your comrades and it makes the people that die feel that much more impactful. The voice acting and writing were excellent too, which is pretty typical for Rockstar games I feel. The side characters were all pretty great as well. Even though Arthur is a little bland, he turned out to be a really likable character and he has some side quests that flesh him out a little more.

The game plays really well (for the most part). There's some clunkiness with trying to run and mount your horse, but overall it feels nice. The shooting works well, and for all the different mechanics available (fishing, hunting, etc.) it's all pretty fluid and responsive. There are also tons of random events that meld together perfectly with the game world and help make your experiences different from other people that are playing. There are some fun side quests and collectible quests too, though I didn't spend too much time on them. Needing to keep up your health, stamina and deadeye cores added just the right layer of strategy to the game without feeling overbearing.

There is an exquisite amount of detail in the world from the people you interact with, to the need to eat and keep your guns cleaned and maintained, to haircuts and fully realized general stores and gunsmiths. There are lots of different animals and plants to examine, and a lot of mechanics centered around keeping your horse happy and well equipped, which makes him/her feel like an actual partner as you play the game.

The sound design is among the best I've ever heard in gaming. Just walking through a forest desert or swamp you really feel like you're actually there. I could almost smell the trees and dirt while riding in the forests, it was really cool. The soundtrack was also phenomenal. Most of it was ambient music, but it fits the game incredibly well. There are some great standout tracks with vocals that really add to the moment after an impactful mission.

-

There were a few minor things that I didn't like.

I felt like the honor system was kind of stupid. You lose honor for killing or looting very specific people, but you can shoot up entire town's worth of lawmen in the story and it doesn't affect your honor at all. It's kind of arbitrary which actions are designated "bad" or "good" by the game and it can be frustrating when you're trying to max out honor.

It's really hard to find things to spend your money on. You can buy upgrades for your camp, but you don't need any of it (except the fast travel map), because you can pick up ammo, food and tonics everywhere you go. Or you can buy them from stores for dirt cheap. I found myself buying a lot of extravagant stuff just to burn some of the money I had lying around. Just didn't feel really well optimized in my opinion.

I didn't like the epilogue; it went on for way too long and was such a tonal shift after the last chapter ends that it really detracted from the overall conclusion of Arthur's story. I get that they were trying to tie together this game with the first Red Dead, but I almost feel like it would have fit better story wise for the epilogue to come out as DLC (though obviously more gameplay is nice).

[telly]

Game 5 - Mega Man ZX (PS4) - 15 hours

Knocking these games out with another one down this weekend!

Let me first say that this PS4 collection as a whole is really solid. Super slick and well put together. I messed around with the Z-chaser mode and it was enjoyable, but that's not all they added to this collection. All the cutscenes in ZX and ZX Advent are the pre-compression originals and and look so much better than their 240p counterparts on the DS. And all the voice acting in Advent has been updated with the original masters so it sounds fantastic. Really nice touches.

Now I haven't played every Mega Man out there, and I intend to play through all the Zero games and then come back to my thoughts on all the 2D Mega Man games as a whole. But as of right now, ZX and ZX Advent are without a doubt the finest 2D Mega Man games ever made. It's such a shame because they are so underrated, but in my opinion they completely blow every single classic, X-series and Zero game out of the water. These games were the peak of Mega Man for me. And after these came out, Mega Man was pretty much abandoned by Capcom for many years with the occasional throwback but nothing that really moves the franchise forward like these games do. I haven't played these games in about 10 years, so it will be exciting to revisit them.

+

The game takes on a Metroidvania style which feels like a perfect evolution of the franchise. Rather than pick a boss from a stage select and getting dumped in an area, all the bosses are in an interconnected world of areas with secrets that you can find. It's incredible. You still have to pick which boss you want to fight from the mission select, but now it's a bit more streamlined.

Hands down my favorite thing about ZX is when you defeat a boss, you not only get a new weapon, you get 4-5 new weapons depending on the biometal, AND gain an entirely new appearance and play style. Model H gives you advanced movement, Model L lets you swim better and find treasures, Model P lets you hang on walls and see in the dark. Again, it's such a brilliant improvement over the Zero and X games. And it melds nicely with the metroidvania style because your movement options open up new areas of the map for you to explore.

The game has a silly plot, but it's entertaining enough to get you through the game. Definitely better than a lot of Mega Man games, and this and Advent are definitely my favorites out of all the 2D games. There are some generic side quests that you can do as well, which are mostly fetch quests, but you do get something out of it.

The controls are so fluid and responsive, just like all Mega Man games. Really nothing much to say. And full controller remapping means I can map the dash button to R rather than A (circle) like I've always preferred. The challenge was perfect too.

-

I have two main complaints. The first is that the map is absolutely GARBAGE, for many reasons. It's probably the worst map I've ever seen in a metroidvania. Here's why.

1. The map consists of a generic linkage of areas with no details to help you figure out what corridors or rooms you haven't explored or what areas connect to where
2. None of the areas are connected in any logical way. For example, you might think area A-4 is connected to A-3, but it's not. It's connected to A-1. And you would think that A-4 might connect to B or possibly C, but nope. It's connected to area J and M. It's a total confusing intelligible mess.
3. You may think that an area located down and to the right of the area you're in on the map means you need to go in that general direction, but that's almost never the case. It's completely random which direction you need to go in.
4. None of the map is filled in at the start of the game, so areas you need to go to are completely obscured. And because of the three points above, you basically have to wander aimlessly until you either stumble upon a new area at random, or look it up online.

My second complaint is with the missions. If you abandon a mission, it teleports you back to the portal where you first accepted it for no good reason, which can be halfway across the map. It's incredibly frustrating. In general, the side content is pretty basic, and the secrets that you can uncover are expanded upon a lot with the sequel.

[sonicfan53]

Games I have played since last post:
Art Academy - An underrated DS game
Sonic Advance 3 - A really nice end to the Sonic Advance trilogy
(Am waiting on Sonic Advance 2 and the DS version of Sonic Colors)
(Lemme explain: I THOUGHT I got Advance 2, but apparently, I accidentally got two copies of Advance 3. So, I ordered a boxed copy of Advance 2 on Amazon.)

[Cartagia]

Two games to add to list:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was every bit as good as I had hoped.  The story was incredible.  It and The Mandalorian are easily the two best Star Wars stories that have been made since at least 2004 (KOTOR2) - maybe even 1983.  Combat was fun and engaging.  My only wish was that the travel system was a little more robust (fast travel, mainly).  The lack of that last feature is what is stopping me from going for the Platinum.  Traversing back through some of the worlds is a huge pain.

Dead Space 3 was not as bad as I had heard.  Especially the first third or so.  But, by the end it became too much of a repetitive corridor shooter.  Easily the weakest of the three games, but not as bad as its reputation would have you believe.

[sonicfan53]

Three new games: Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Colors DS, and Rayman 10th Anniversary.

[telly]

Game 6 - Broken Age (PS4) - 12 Hours

COVID-19 sure has been giving me plenty of free time to play more games 

Disclaimer: this is the first point and click adventure game that I've ever played, so I don't have much to compare this game to. I thought it was a fine experience, but it wasn't anything special. It may just be that these kinds of games are simply not my cup of tea though.

+ The best way I can describe the game is "charming". It wasn't particularly funny, but had a really delightful and pleasing aesthetic, art style and dialogue that all work together to pull you into the worlds you're exploring. I personally liked the characters, they felt really human and their dialogue was all well written. The music was a nice accompaniment too. I did have a few good chuckles here and there too. I liked the puzzle solving as well. Like I've said, this is the first game of this kind that I've played before, so it was fun to experience a new style of genre that's more focused on story and characters than action or game mechanics. I liked the story a lot in the first act, though not so much in the second (see below).

- All that being said, I think one thing that started wearing on me immediately with how boring the game is to play, funnily enough. When you get stuck trying to figure out a puzzle, the actual game became aggravating very quickly. You're confined to wander aimlessly and click on things 20 times over and hear the same dialogue over and over again. I also wasn't the biggest fan of going through the same areas in the second act. Felt a little cheap to me. Lastly, while I thought the story started out relatively strong, the ending really fell apart. The final villains are given so little screen time, and their nefarious scheme is given almost zero development. Most of it is conveyed through dialogue and you don't actually see any of what you're trying to stop. The ending left more questions than answers and felt incredibly unsatisfying; you barely even fight the villians at the end of the game. It felt very sloppy and rushed.

[kamikazekeeg]

10 - Doom: Eternal (PC 2020) - BEAT - Binged the heck out of this, getting myself through the story mode, killing demons, ripping and tearing, huge guts and while I had way more written, I just felt like tossing it all and going simpler.  There's a lot of changes and additions to the game, most of it good, though I think the game lost abit of something with aspects of its new gameplay loop and level design.  I saw it put that the game is more of a roller coaster, guiding you to your next battle, so its way more linear and the "secrets" are just very obvious and you'll very rarely need to use the backtracking feature to go back and get stuff you missed. 

There's also a poor thing where it feels like there is a prologue missing about what happened between the first game and this.  You end the first game on Mars and now you got a space station, new armor, you are on Earth, Hayden is nowhere, Earth is screwed, and there's talk of alien races and all sorts of other stuff.  The ongoing story is good, you get backstory on the Doom Slayer which is also good, but it just feels like I am missing something at the start.

Good game still, enjoyed myself for sure.  Not sure if it's better than the first one, in some areas it is for sure, but overall, I'd probably say I liked it as much as the first.

[bikingjahuty]

18. Doom Eternal (PS4)

After beating Doom 2016 my anticipation for a sequel was absolutely peaked. Doom 2016 ended up being one of the best games I'd ever played, and as it stands the best FPS game I've ever played. I knew I would like it, but I was genuinely surprised at how much I ended up liking it. However, when the first trailer for Doom Eternal dropped it just didn't look, well, Doomish.


There were a lot of weird, almost angelic stages with trees, blue skies, and weird mech angels. And just for whatever reason it didn't inspire my excitement the way the trailers leading up to its predecessor did. However, the last couple trailers Bethesda released before launch definitely changed my attitude about Doom Eternal, enough to where I went from thinking about getting it when the game was on sale for around $30, to absolutely having to have it on launch day. After playing through and beating Doom Eternal I can say that it's certainly a worthy successor to Doom 2016, albeit not as good.


I'll start with the gameplay, which surprisingly is where the majority of the changes between Doom and Doom Eternal took place. The buttery smooth movement and shooting controls make a return, as do the glory kills, item pickups, and projectile combat. However, ID made extra effort to increase the depth and complexity of the gameplay, and while they absolutely succeeded I don't feel like it really made the gameplay that much better. The game heavily relies on your ability to use glory kills to regain health, chainsaw attacks to obtain armor, and the use of a new weapon called the flame belch to obtain armor. While these things are present in the environment as pickups still, you will need to master the ability to harvest these resources from enemies during combat since you very quickly run out of ammo in this game. It does create a sense of tension and strategy to every encounter, but at the same time I feel like it comes across as a little superfluous and bloated; I felt like Doom 2016 nailed that balance of depth and simplicity while Doom Eternals gameplay just feels like too much of a deviation in terms of gameplay.


Where my main gripe with Doom Eternal's gameplay comes in is the huge increase in platforming and sections that require platforming. Doom 2016 had some platforming, but it was used minimally, and even when it was used I wasn't the biggest fan of it. However, there are many, many, many platforming sections in Doom eternal. These sections range from being mildly annoying to me wanting to rage quit because of how clumsy and frustrating they can be. The game adds a dash function as well as a grapple ability that allows you to climb walls of various textures as well, and are often implemented into the platforming. All these do is make the platforming that much more annoying though, and if it weren't honestly for the excellent shooting gameplay I'd probably have docked more points off the gameplay score for how dumb Doom Eternal's platforming gameplay is and how often you're forced to do it.


Visually, Doom Eternal is gorgeous. Beyond the textures, character and enemy models, and stages looking very polished and detailed, the art direction for the game is outstanding as well. There are a lot of different and varied looking environments in Doom Eternal, ranging from the typical hellish vistas we've all come to know and love, to almost serene Valhala/Heaven inspired stages with mountains, storm clouds, and more classic looking architecture.  There are also a nice variety of enemies in Doom Eternal, and the game doesn't seem to overuse any of the enemies with maybe the exception of the Imps, zombies, and soldiers, but since these characters are integral to the gameplay they become somewhat of a necessity. I literally have no complaints about the visuals or art in this game; they really nailed it from end to end.


The heavy metal and techno inspired soundtrack of the first game returns to Doom Eternal, albeit not as memorable. The music sufficiently gets your adrenalin going with heavy guitar and metal riffs, but it just didn't impact me the same way Doom 2016's OST did. The gun sound effects are excellent as well, as are the noises Doomguy and your demonic adversaries make as well.


One final thing I want to bring up has to do with Doom Eternal really emphasizing the lore and story of the Doom series. While it isn't anything super deep or earth shattering, there is a pretty interesting story and plot in Doom Eternal, certainly more than what we got in Doom 2016. Without spoiling anything you learn a lot about the Doomguy, his origins, and how he fits into the big picture of some age old arrangements between Hell and some angelic force in the game. Doom Eternal is also partially a remake of Doom 2 on the PC, although I want elaborate too much on this as not to spoil anything. I thought all the additional lore, story, and cinematic cutscenes were a welcome addition, however it sadly made the whole experience feel slightly less Doom-like, but maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing.


I really, really enjoyed most of my time with Doom Eternal and I'm happy I bought this game at launch. It does disappoint me slightly that I didn't like it at least as much as Doom 2016, but I liked it almost that much to feel satisfied with it as the sequel to one of my all time favorite games.


Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Fun: 15/20
Overall: 41/50