52 Games Challenge 2021

[bikingjahuty]

28. Psyvariar 2 (Dreamcast)

Unless I'm forgetting one, I've never played a shmup with a more gimmicky gameplay system, and worse a gameplay system that actually ruined what was otherwise a pretty cool game. Psyvariar 2 utilized something called buzz chaining with pretty much allows you to deal out huge damage to other ships by essentially grinding up against their projectiles without getting directly hit by them. The system honestly sounds cool on paper, but in practice it just isn't that fun, and really distracts from mostly anything great the game has to offer. That's a shame considering both Psyvariar 2's graphics and OST are really good; so while I was hating my time playing this game, at least I had something cool to look at and listen to. Not the worst Dreamcast shooter I've ever played, but not too far off either. (6/7/21) [24/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS5 2021) - BEAT - This was mostly for just the Yuffie DLC, which is a nice little bit of side story, but nothing too amazing unless you are just dying for some more bonus FF7 Remake content or to have fun with the little ninja firecracker, but I got a solid 6 hours out of the experience.  You get a run through the Sector 7 area again, letting you play the new Fort Condor minigame which I dug, and earn Ramuh as your summon, before going Shinra HQ to try and steal materia from them.  I like Yuffie quite alot, she could have very well be written to be more annoying, like a Naruto or something, but she's quite lovable.  Sonon your partner does a good job and I liked him in the story.  There's even some bonus post-FF7R stuff I wasn't expecting to get which is nice.  Nothing amazing, but a fun bit of time.

[kamikazekeeg]

Chivalry 2 (PC 2021) - ENDLESS - If wanting a shooter that's built around chaos, you go to Doom, and I think if you want that for melee, you go to Chivalry.  This one snuck up on me, I didn't even know it was coming out this month till the beta and reminded me how fun the game could be.  I didn't play the first game a ton, only a couple dozen hours, but I had some fun with it.  Chivalry 2 seems to be more of the same, some things cleaned up abit.  I do feel sorta like the game is missing a couple things as far as sequels go, like I remember flails being in the first game, but aren't here yet.  But that could be coming soon, I believe all the new maps and character classes/weapons are free, so I don't mind it being abit late.  Game can get real nuts and once you sorta figure out the general basics, it can be very satisfying, though I swear the hit detection for range weapons is quite questionable lol

[dhaabi]

23. Katamari Damacy Reroll || Nintendo Switch || 06.13.21

As a big fan of the Katamari series, I had actually not played the original game which started the series in many, many years. That being said, returning back to the series onset—albeit a port for a system two generations ahead of its original hardware—I had a great time with the game's simplicity that yields such fun.

For those unaware of Katamari's gameplay, the player-character controls a moving ball dubbed the katamari to pick up objects that stick to the katamari with the goal to create the largest katamari you can under a time limit. While it may sound boring, it's anything but. Katamari Damacy (Reroll) was perhaps the game to introduce a lot of quirky Japanese charm to Western audiences, and the game's popularity quietly grew into the long-running series it is today.

Having mentioned that my time away from the original game was long, perhaps I had forgotten how rough the game's controls are. Or, perhaps these impressions are based upon the port itself, although I feel as if it is the former. When moving the camera 180°, the time to do so may be longer than one would think. When confronting larger objects that aren't able to be picked up, I found the katamari to be incredibly sensitive, with absorbed items flying in every direction off the katamari. The katamari's sensitivity is much more lax in later entries, which is a much-needed improvement. I would often find collectible items only for them to have been knocked off at some point throughout the stage, which was slightly annoying. However, the worst gameplay instance I encountered is when my katamari was completely stuck for the remainder of a stage. I could move the camera around and try to move free from the tight space I found myself caught in, but I ultimately could do nothing but wait out the timer.

Ultimately, Katamari Damacy (Reroll) is a fine game. For someone who has played the follow-up entries, the game is simple in the controls it offers as well as its variety in stages. I did not experience the game's two-player mode or play the game with Joy-Cons detached, but my experience in playing the game undocked was smooth. There is a brief moment of lag during a portion of stage loading, but that is the only issue I encountered in that regard. Nevertheless, for those who have no means to play the remainder of the series and only have access to a Switch, Reroll still is a fantastic game to play. And, if that isn't the case and a PlayStation 2 is accessible, I can only recommend to playing the game originally as well as picking up the follow-up title We Love Katamari which is arguably the best game in the series.

[tripredacus]

38. Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders

A short game, point and click. Haven't done one of these in a long time. Some background knowledge is needed for this game in order to get some of the achievements. The main character is Poirot, who (at least to me) is famous from the British TV shows that we get on the public network in the US that my mother always watches. The reason why you need the background is that it is clear that you get extra points for choosing dialog choices that match what Poirot would actually say. Not having watched any of those shows since I was a kid or not ever reading any books does not help me to know what he would say. This does not impede the game at all, and in fact there isn't any way to actually lose the game. It progresses when you find things and the only obstacles you may come across are either the puzzles or not knowing where you need to click.

The puzzles are done very well. There are a couple of issues I ran into, such one instance of a pathing break. When doing the map puzzle, Poirot will say "I've seen these markings on the hunting trophies" but this dialog is just what he says everytime you enter the map puzzle. It is not dependent on you actually having seen the trophies. There is only 1 trophy you will see before getting to this point, the others are off to the side in the map room and I did not know they were there until much later. Also, this puzzle is one that didn't make sense to me and I solved it on accident.

The Chinese lock puzzle was interesting to me only in the reasons that I can tell how comfortable I have become with Chinese language. I can't read or write it, but it is no longer "Scary" if that makes any sense. It is because I have been doing Chinese translations using the pen tool on Google Translate for documenting video games on this site. I know that in the past I saw Chinese as moonspeak and would have balked at a puzzle that used Chinese words. Now I can actually recognise the shapes/strokes to a point where it isn't foreign. I'm sure that this puzzle would have caused me quite a problem if I had done it years ago and probably does cause people problems. Unfortunately, it was the easiest one in the game I think.

There are some issues with the writing using assumptions, such as "it could only have been this way" in multiple situation. It becomes an issue when you have to answer questions, but fortunately there is no real penalty for choosing incorrectly since there is no failure condition. There are two situations later in the game that that I think have the potential of causing bad endings. These are the only two times in the game where you can choose between multiple directions, but I do not think that it actually changes the outcome of the game. I think that one can certainly cause a bad ending, which I won't spoil it although I have not replayed to get this potential bad ending.

[dhaabi]

24. Persona 5 Royal || PlayStation 4 || 06.16.21

Well, I did it. After 150 hours, I'm done.

There is no way I can even begin to touch on everything that Persona 5 Royal offers. However—wow, what an amazing experience! I wish I could play it again with a fresh mind. Persona 5 was my first introduction to the series, and I will definitely be playing some of the other titles some time later in life. I highly recommend playing it. This game has got such a bold and unified visual style—its UI design is fantastic.

[kamikazekeeg]

Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA 2004) - BEAT - With Metroid Dread coming out, I figured it was about time I go play Metroid, a series I never really attempted to get into much, for whatever reason, other than I think I put some time into Metroid Prime.  I've played a bunch of metroidvania inspired games, but until recently, I only just beat a handful of Castlevania games 2 years ago, and Metroid now.  Initially I was going to do "story order", so Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super Metroid, and Fusion, but I think after playing this, I'm going to do Super Metroid next, Fusion after, and then end with Samus Returns since it's the newer game

Overall I was alright with Zero Mission, it didn't really wow me all that much, not that I think it's specifically bad, the game just didn't do a whole lot to excite me.  Movement and combat felt fairly stiff to me, took a while to settle into it.  Bosses were kinda weak, I just didn't really enjoy any particular fight, and that Mother Brain fight sucks, it's just not fun.  Also that epilogue mission they added wasn't good either, though I didn't get some enjoyment when I got the suit and I was able to just blast away the pirates.  I think most of what I liked is that it's good pixel art, the music was nice even though I think my emulator for the game was running it a little wonky, didn't feel particularly crisp like it should, and the general hunting of items was good.  So kind of a mixed bag, but I didn't hate my time playing it.

Super Metroid up next.

[bikingjahuty]

29. Breakers (Dreamcast)

This looked like a pretty cool fighting game that I'd only bee made aware of over the last few years. It has pretty good sprite art, animations, and stages, however the framerate is a little low. Gameplay is surprisingly good despite there seeming to be very little balance to it between characters. But it was cool having multiple specials to pull off with each character. And then finally the audio was pretty good, although nothing super memorable. This is a pretty generic mid 90s 2D fighting game that I'd say play if you get the chance, but it certainly isn't no Street Fighter or KOF, that's for sure! (6/15/21) [30/50]

[bikingjahuty]

Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA 2004) - BEAT - With Metroid Dread coming out, I figured it was about time I go play Metroid, a series I never really attempted to get into much, for whatever reason, other than I think I put some time into Metroid Prime.  I've played a bunch of metroidvania inspired games, but until recently, I only just beat a handful of Castlevania games 2 years ago, and Metroid now.  Initially I was going to do "story order", so Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super Metroid, and Fusion, but I think after playing this, I'm going to do Super Metroid next, Fusion after, and then end with Samus Returns since it's the newer game

Overall I was alright with Zero Mission, it didn't really wow me all that much, not that I think it's specifically bad, the game just didn't do a whole lot to excite me.  Movement and combat felt fairly stiff to me, took a while to settle into it.  Bosses were kinda weak, I just didn't really enjoy any particular fight, and that Mother Brain fight sucks, it's just not fun.  Also that epilogue mission they added wasn't good either, though I didn't get some enjoyment when I got the suit and I was able to just blast away the pirates.  I think most of what I liked is that it's good pixel art, the music was nice even though I think my emulator for the game was running it a little wonky, didn't feel particularly crisp like it should, and the general hunting of items was good.  So kind of a mixed bag, but I didn't hate my time playing it.

Super Metroid up next.

I've played several Metroid games, but have never actually beat one. I decided I want to change that before Dread comes out and am likely going to beat Super Metroid as my first. It seems to be the one that has the most love and praise around it with maybe the exception of Prime, but I'm mostly focusing on the 2D entries.

[kamikazekeeg]

I've played several Metroid games, but have never actually beat one. I decided I want to change that before Dread comes out and am likely going to beat Super Metroid as my first. It seems to be the one that has the most love and praise around it with maybe the exception of Prime, but I'm mostly focusing on the 2D entries.

I've been meaning to do this for years and when Switch put out their SNES games, I was gonna give it a shot then, but just didn't get motivated enough to go through it.  Figured it was finally time.  I'm not gonna do the same with the Prime games, I played the first back on the Gamecube years ago and thought it was just okay, mostly just didn't like the control scheme and I'm hoping Metroid Prime 4 is a proper FPS game or otherwise I'll probably pass on that one too.

[telly]

Game 13 - Far From Noise (PC) - 1 hour

Based on the reviews and previews of this game, I was ready to be blown away by a mesmerizing, beautiful experience. The game's premise is that you are playing as someone having a near death experience, and with the help of a spiritual guide you embark on an introspective journey about existence and personal meaning. I've been spending time with my family this weekend putting together a ceremony for my grandfather passed last year, so I thought this game would be a really interesting way to unpack some of those feelings.

All that being said, while this game does present an awesome concept in theory, I thought this game's execution was very sloppy, uneven, and just plain ineffective. I read through a lot of reviews to see if I just didn't get what this game was going for, but I have several major issues with this game.

First, whenever I play a game like this with very little to no gameplay, the storytelling has to essentially be outstanding for it to be a worthwhile. This game's narrative did not achieve that for me,  and didn't really go as deep as I would have liked. Furthermore, the pacing was fragmented and jarring, with some really powerful and beautiful moments heavily contrasting with just downright silly and dumb moments, which sucked me out of the game every single time it happened. The game's pacing felt like listing to someone desperately trying to hold a conversation with you and pulling anything they can out of their ass to try and keep things going. So with no gameplay to speak of and a story that I didn't like, this game became very difficult to get through almost immediately.

It's a shame too, because the game for the most part has excellent writing, with some really poignant and poetic scenes for you to read and reflect on. This is diminished however, by the main character, whos heavy reliance of all capital text and causal and juvenile phrasing sucks out the impact of the experience much in the same way that the general narrative did. On that topic, the character that you play as felt painfully underdeveloped, and there just aren't any big truths that you uncover about her life or her past to reminisce or reflect on, so you end up not caring that much about her at the end. At least I didn't.

I will say that this game has absolutely beautiful visuals and music. Loved how the scenery changes from sunset to night to a raging rainstorm and back to morning again. The music also perfectly encapsulated the mood that the game was going for, and also dynamically changes with the moments in the story, and it felt very well done.

Even though the game is only an hour long, Far From Noise still overstayed it's welcome. There are additional endings, so I might try to see if there is a different way to experience the story that will be more enjoyable for me. My girlfiend also played it and had a much better experience and shared some other scenes that I think I might have enjoyed more.

[telly]

Game 14 - Shantae (Switch) - 16 hours

With this game being finished, I've finally played through every game in the Shantae series. The original Shantae really lays the groundwork for all the future games, though it shows how little each game changes from entry to entry. I feel like the first three games are relatively interchangeable as a result. That doesn't mean that they aren't fun however. I really enjoyed my time with this game; it pushes the Game Boy color to it's limits and is extraordinary to look at, listen to, and play. The graphics and art are excellent, the gameplay is smooth, the animations are fluid, and the music is phenomenal. The game poses a pretty fair challenge, but you have multiple different items and upgrades to collect, and all within an impressively large and interconnected set of stages. The story wasn't bad either! It's quite impressive.

That said, this game does have some growing pains that are mostly due to it being on the GameBoy color, and as such, there aren't as many buttons to work with. I found pressing up and attack to use an item to be pretty annoying, as well as run and attack being the same button. Other than that, I think the hit detection when whipping your hair could have used a little more refinement as well, but this is fixed in later games.

[bikingjahuty]

30. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries (PC)

I have many good memories of playing Battletech at Dave and Busters in the late 90s; my local DnB had about a dozen of those sim pods that you'd get into and battle against other players in a large open area in a mech suite. As a 9 and 10 year old kid I thought it was incredible and it was always awesome getting a printout of how good you did afterwards compared to other players. Of course I always wanted the Mechwarrior games on PC, but unfortunately I never had a decent PC to run the latest Mechwarrior games until well after the series went dormant since the early 2000s. When Mechwarrior 5 was announced I was beyind excited and couldn't wait to relive those days of playing Battletech in the arcade. Unfortunately those memories were more enjoyable than the latest entry in the series.


Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Mechwarrior 5 mostly; it definitely rides that line between complex sim and accessible PC game well, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to make the game more fun overall. Durint the beginning of the game you'll have a blast playing it, but as soon as you get the hang of the controls the game becomes extremely easy. Combine this lack of difficulty with very repetitive missions and levels and by the time you're 10-hours into the game you're just sort of board with it. There is a storyline in all of. this, but it progresses so slowly and the story itself isn't the great anyways so you'll quickly lose interest in all of it. The OST and mech noises are pretty cool, as is the voice acting. The graphics are probably MW5's biggest drawback. I get that this wasn't developed by a massive studio like EA, and for what they had available it actually looks decent, however some of the damage graphics to both mechs and environments don't look that great, and as mentioned the levels you'll be playing it get somewhat repetitive over time. While Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries is a decent game it falls short of being a triumphant return of the franchise and is little more than a game that's fun to play here and there between playing other games. (6/22/21) [33/50]

[bikingjahuty]

31. Streets of Rage (Genesis)

I've played Streets of Rage many, many times over the years, but a) it's been freakin forever since I last played it, and b) I've never actually beat it. I decided to change that this evening and wow, this game is tough, but unfortunately not for all the right reasons. Streets of Rage is a pretty good beatem' up, but unfortunately has some questionable and annoying gameplay issues involving poor crowd control mechanics, bad stage design at times, and cheap bosses. These gameplay issues are enough to damper your enjoyment of this game and I remember getting pretty frustrated with Streets of Rage as a kid just as much as I did playing it as an adult. However, this game is a freakin showstopper when it comes to its presentation. Streets of Rage is an excellent looking game on the Genesis, and is highly atmospheric. Very repetitive enemies and recycled bosses become a little tiresome, but prety much all beatem' ups did this so it's not a huge deal I guess. However, the music in this game is insanely good! Like 10/10 amazing! Overall, it's easy to see why this game is so iconic and why it every other Genesis owner had it or its sequel. Great game even if it is let down by some annoying issues. (6/22/21) [34/50]

32. Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)

Streets of Rage 2 plays better and looks slightly better than its predecessor, however it's OST was definitely found wanting in comparison. With that said, Streets of Rage 2 still had a great OST that I really liked. Oh, and the super movies were totally gimped in this sequel compared to the first. In the end however, I found that I liked them both about them same, albeit for slightly different reasons. Both are absolute classics on the Genesis! (6/22/21) [34/50]

[tripredacus]

39. Control

This was available for free (just the base game) on Epic Store last week so I gave it a shot. I had previously watched some people on Twitch play it and I really liked how the environmental damage. The story was interesting, closer to a classic sci-fi type thing. Game gets a little easier as time goes on but some things I cannot ever find like the jukebox. Then there is a plateau period and then it really ramps up at the end, despite having more powers and upgrades. I did get to a point where I was constantly dying, mostly due to invulnerable enemies. Then I learned about the cheat menu so I put on invincibility. You can still die with this on and I did twice. But this made it fun to play the game again instead of before when it just got super frustrating. After seeing the final areas of the game with the enemy types that spawn, I couldn't imagine being able to get through it normally. Game has fake end credits but is the best fake credits I've seen.

Not a lot of bad with this. Outside of the invulnerable enemies, which as these black blob things that throw stuff around. The first time you encounter one you have to lure it into a certain place and "trap" it in there. If you try to trap it into the hallway, it will just respawn behind. Getting it to follow you is hard because its detection range is long, and the way it moves makes it hard to determine if it is following you or just how close it really is. You can use musical cues to determine if it sees you or not, but obviously this would be impossible if you had music disabled. Any other time you see those enemies you just have to avoid them.

Very few amount of invisible walls. You have freedom to solve some situations. Such as not using the path in the quarry, basically use it just so the enemies spawn and then climb up on the rocks where the enemies can't get to. They still shoot at you or throw things so it isn't perfect cover but it makes them manageable. There are some instances where you can outrange enemies so they do not aggro you. There are 2 types of this, one where you can see health bar and one without. This ceases to become useful once you come across armored enemies because you need to be close enough to use the throw power to get them to flesh.

The engine is very good and it makes me want to play other games like this. There are no outdoor areas so that might not be possible. Love all the old tech shown everywhere, wish I could press all those buttons. Some day a game will come out that lets you do that.