52 Games Challenge 2022

[bikingjahuty]

32. Starblade (PS2)

While playing Tekken 5 on the PS2 I discovered an amazing bit of information that not only are the first three Tekken games included on the Tekken 5 disc, but so is an arcade classic that I've wanted to play for a very long time, but have never seen the cabinet in the wild and unfortunately have been unable to get it working in MAME. That game is Starblade. To this day Starblade has an appealing aesthetic; I couldn't help, but think that Starblade looks like a modern indie game that someone made to mimic the look and feel of early 3D rail shooters like Star Fox or this game. But nope, this is an OG 1991 release and it still looks so vibrant, blocky, and very retro. Unfortunately the audio in the game leaves a decent amount to be desired. Throughout most of the game there will be no music, just the sound of your fighters laser blasts, explosions of enemy ships, and the pilot communicating with allied forces. When music does come on, usually during boss battles it carries with it some ambiance and a very retro sound that I would have loved to hear throughout the entire game. But when the OST does kick in, oh boy is it awesome! And then finally the gameplay of Starblade while nothing incredible is definitely serviceable minus some balancing issues with enemy ships and projectiles coming at you full force. You can see why this game inspired so many rail shooters during the 90s, which Starblade itself is inspired heavily by Star Wars (play it and you will immediately see what I mean). But for a rail shooter I was pleasantly surprised not only how much fun Starblade is, but how it still holds up in a lot of ways despite being a shining example of very early 3D gaming. (6/5/22) [35/50]

[telly]

Game 7 - Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Switch) - 12 hours

I feel pretty mixed about this game. On the one hand, the gameplay is super fun and addicting, there are a ton of levels, you get a wide variety of weapons and special items to use, the graphics and animations are fantastic, there's a lot of witty humor and a plethora of secrets, encouraging replayability, and the music is  quirky and fun. On the other hand, ZAMN is an extremely frustrating game with some programming and design quirks that pushed my tolerance level in terms of difficulty.

For one, there's no continue option. You get a password system, but you don't have any of the items you would normally be picking up along the way. These items are mandatory to progress in some stages, particularly keys and the bazooka. So the original game's password system is mostly useless. I was able to get to level 42 before getting my first game over. During that run, I was using this version's save states to save the game whenever the password screen came up so it made the passwords a little "better" than in the original. Some of the enemies have very weird hit boxes which is annoying given the games difficulty. In addition, there's no post-hit invincibility so it's easy to get overwhelmed and take a lot of damage. Lastly, the rescue neighbors mechanic is fun, but if you lose all of them you get an automatic game over regardless of how many lives you had. Just losing a life instead would have been a lot more forgiving.

[kashell]

35. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

I finished mostly everything. All that's left is to get the platinum. I've had a lot of fun (and frustration - as expected) with this one. More than I thought I would. Doesn't hurt that Jack is easy on the eyes, too.

EDIT: platinum trophy acquired!

[telly]

Game 8 - Battalion Wars (GC) - 10 Hours

I've never played any of the Advance Wars games, so my experience playing this spinoff was uninfluenced by the originals. I thought this game was going to be something more akin to Valkyria Chronicles where you have direct control over a series of units, but I was mistaken. This game plays more like Pikmin, where you really only can control one unit at a time and your other units are just kind of left to fend for themselves. Unlike Pikmin, however, you can't A) choose what units you want to bring with you at any given time, or B) make more units if your current ones fall in battle.

Subsequently, I felt like this game dumps a lot of useless units for you and most of them go unused and die over the course of any given mission. This is partly because tanks and other vehicles are very overpowered and you can use them pretty much exclusively until something in the air threatens you. The other half is that being a console game, Battalion Wars lacks a lot of the refined, precise controls and expansive options that other RTS games on PC typically offer, and I as a result felt like the game was missing a lot of potential.

That isn't the only thing that felt a little lackluster. The story is super cheesy, consisting of a cliche WWII/Cold War conflict with proxies for actual world powers, but it's not very compelling. It's a very casually-told war story that treats conflicts like a game more than an actual life-or-death situation (yeah, I know it's an actual video game, but I prefer war stories that don't downplay violence). The music was also pretty generic. Some of the vehicles control like absolute ass. Particularly the light/heavy recon. Even tanks you're not controlling can get stuck on each other if you're not paying attention.

In summary, Battalion Wars is a fun experience with some good bones behind it, but a lot of control and design issues that hold back the experience considerably. Perhaps the sequel irons some of those things out, would be interested in playing it someday.

[bikingjahuty]

33. Alien 3: The Gun (Arcade)

I discovered Alien 3: The Gun several years ago when I was trying to find fun lightgun games. I'd never seen this machine in an arcade growing up, which is odd to me since it's based off a very popular film franchise and lightgun games were all the rage in the 90s. But playing it now I can't say I feel a deep sense of loss that I didn't discover this one sooner. Alien 3: The Gun is an okay, maybe slightly above average lightgun shooter from 1993 that employs a similar gun cool down gauge similar to what was in T2 The Arcade Game; you can't just rapid fire your way through the game with the trigger pulled the whole time. Doing so will weaken your shot allowing the games enemies to quickly swarm and overwhelm you. In addition to your mostly automatic machine gun there is also a flamethrower you can pick up and health pickups too. The game takes place during the events of Alien 3, which is ironic since there was only one alien in that movie, however in this game you play a marine who lands on the planet and is greeted by more aliens than what's seen in pretty much all other alien movies combined. Liberties with the source material aside you have a decent spread of xenomorph aliens to kill also also man made enemies such as turrets, killer robots, and mini tanks. Unfortunately there ware only two grown alien types, the dog alien from Alien 3 and then the standard Xenomorph that we all know and love. There are also boss enemies at the end of each stage, but before you get all excited and think you're going up against queen aliens or some other mutated version of the Xenomorph like in AvP the game, you're instead just fighting versions of the standards enemies with larger sprites and a different color pallet. The final boss, which I was certain would be a queen alien was unfortunately just Bishop from the end of Alien 3 and he is laughably easy. Aside from these issues the visuals are overall pretty good and there are some cool stages and environmental effects. Finally the OST and sound effects are nothing amazing and there was a missed opportunity to incorporate music from the movies into the game. Overall, there are certainly worse lightgun games from the 90s, but there are also way better ones too. I'd say if you're a big fan of the Aliens franchise or lightgun games check it out, but it's really just a pretty mediocre game overall no matter how you look at it. (6/15/22) [30/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

16 - TMNT: Shredder's Revenge (PC 2022) - BEAT - Just what I wanted from this game.  Great nods to the old show, top notch gameplay, great visuals, it's pretty fun stuff.  I haven't done absolutely everything yet, you can level each character, so that's a completion thing, and each character has their own ending panel from the story, which is more along with some basic achievements.  There's an arcade mode, multiplayer, it's a dang good time.  Hopefully it does well enough for them to add DLC characters or skins for characters or really just about everything as I'll take it lol

[bikingjahuty]

34. Sunset Riders (Arcade)

My experience with Sunset Riders has been limited to the SNES port. While pretty fun, I've always found that game overly frustrating in that I felt like the gameplay seemed to set me up for failure. This wasn't helped by the limited continues that essentially require you to get very, very good at this game to see the final boss. I had the chance to play the original arcade version and what's crazy if my experience with that version was noticeably different than it was with the SNES port.


For one, I absolutely prefer the arcade version 100%. Not only does it look and sound better, but the gameplay actually feels noticeably better too. While it still is a but clunky and certain sections and bosses can be kinda cheap and poorly designed, overall the game just feels better to play. As I mentioned the graphics are also an improvement which is understandable since the arcade hardware is superior to the SNES. In the end I loved getting through this game and was surprised it actually has somewhat of a story. Sunset Riders is just such a charming game, not only its cartoonish wild west setting, but it just captures how fun, lighthearted, and interesting old arcade games used to be. I'm really happy I got to experience Sunset Riders the way it was meant to be played. (6/16/22) [37/50]

[bikingjahuty]

35. Harmful Park (PS1)

Since catching the SHMUP bug years ago, Harmful Park has been a bucket list game for me to play, mostly due to it being incredibly Japanese and weird, but also because I've heard it's a pretty good game too. Well, I'm here to say it was very weird, very Japanese, but only pretty good overall. The game's greatest strength are its vibrant, colorful graphics and its incredibly varied enemies which are rarely recycled from stage to stage. Unfortunately everything else about the game isn't nearly as impressive. The gameplay, while pretty good, especially the ability to change weapons on the fly is definitely a plus, but other than that the gameplay is pretty generic for a SHMUP and lacks anything amazing, innovative, or well polished. But it's definitely more than just playable and is pretty enjoyable to control your ship and take down the plethora of enemies and bosses. Finally the OST is nothing to write home about, but it is certainly appropriate given the quarkiness of the game and everything going on. Harmful Park is definitely one of the better PS1 exclusive SHMUPS I've played, but overall the game is only pretty good, albeit pretty memorable and entertaining. (6/20/22) [35/50]

[kashell]

36. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (sp)

A friend on another forum mentioned that the platinum for this wasn't too bad. So, I decided to do a quick replay with that as my focus. I skipped the majority of the story events so I could get through it quicker. As of now, I only have one trophy left.

EDIT: Platinum acquired!

[bikingjahuty]

36. In the Hunt (PS1)

Occasionally a play a game where I feel very conflicted over what genre it belongs to. My whole gamer life, well at least since I know of this game's existance, I've been told this is a SHMUP. However, playing the game feels way closer to games like Metal Slug, Contra, or Gunstar Heroes. This is mostly because there is no auto scrolling like in virtually all other SHMUPS and you are allowed to progress at your leasure (mostly). I just feel like I'm playing a Run N' Gun most of the time I'm playing save a few boss battles where there is auto scrolling. But regardless of where you'd place this game, it's a pretty good side scroller with decent gameplay, a fun OST and sound effects, but most of all the graphics in this game are AMAZING! And true to typical Run N' Gun (or SHMUP) fashion its hard as hell and definitely kicked my ass continually until I was finally able to beat it. While I'd say there are plenty of better SHMUPS (or Run N' Gun??) games out there, I'd say try this one out if you can. (6/21/22) [34/50]

[vivigamer]

26. Twin Mirror (PS4 on PS5) 18/06/2022
A lesser received game from DONTNOD - Life Is Strange creators. I personally thought the game was ok, it lacks the trendiness of LIS and can feel a little stale at times but if you like these type of interactive narratives you can still have a good time.

27. Draugen (PS4 on PS5) 21/06/2022
I'm very vigilant of walking simulators. The hurdles are as follows:
- The game needs to have a speaking main character that interacts with what is happening
- The game needs to have current events not just interacting with documents.
- The game needs to have a character model which actually picks up items in the world with their hands - No floaty objects.

This game passes the test on all that and you even have a companion with you similar to Bishock Infinite so it never feels boring. The game is set around two mysteries, one about your sister who has vanished on this island and the other finding out what happened to the village you end up on. It's well paced and genuinely quite tense at points. The story sadly doesn't quite deliver and leaves it up to the players to decide on what really happened to the village with the clues you gather... which isn't satisfying. But the experience was still decetn adn I'm glad to see the genre is getting better as a whole. If you liked Firewatch try it if it is on sale.

28. Resident Evil: Code Veronica X-HD (Xbox One X) 21/03/2022
I'm not a hardcore RE player but I like the series a lot more as a whole recently. I enjoyed replaying this game more than before but damn is it hard at points. I feel this is the point in the series where things got a little oot - certain characters getting superpowers which become comic-book silly. I did like the story regarding the Ashford family, it's quite compelling throughout and nice to have a human villian for the duration of the game. I still feel the game should have been remade next instead of RE4, it is hugely important to the RE series as a whole and could really benefit from being updated - And changing how annoying Steve is Glad we have the XBOX HD Port at the very least.

[justin8301]

23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (XSX) 6/26/22

Talk about an absolute fucking blast! I’m not the biggest beat’em ups fan, but after seeing all the hype, it was hard not to give it a shot. And after finishing I can see why everyone is talking about it; it’s pure nostalgia mixed with near perfect gameplay. I kinda want to try some other beat’em ups but somehow, I’m guessing it’s going to be hard to find one as good as this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfSdLPktom6/

[gngtiger]

9: Lego Batman: The Videogame Completed 6/26/2022


This one took longer then expected this. I've played both this and Lego Batman Two on and off for a while now, having gotten 100% on neither. Until now. I also wanted to get every achievement (played the 360 version) which was a pain in the rear. I'm glad to have finally completed it. It's kind of primitive, as Lego games go, but it still provides a fun experience with an unexplainable level of eeriness and darkness to it. I also want to try the Arkham games in the future to see how they compare to this series.
Also, at this point I'm happy with reaching 26 instead of 52 because of how cramped my schedule is. Plus I'll be on a retreat from July 2nd through the 12th (no opportunities for gaming, or interacting with this site) and that'll also kind of be another blow to the backlog. Let's hope I'll finish all three by the end of this year!

Side note: I have 100%'d Lego Batman 3, but I've never gotten all the achievements. Plus I might as well play three if I'm doing one and two.

[tripredacus]

9. Minecraft: Story Mode (abandoned)

Figured I should make a post about this game. Unlike previous abandonments, this one wasn't due to running into some bug or unfairly coded situation. This time it was because I didn't have any want to actually play it. And it wasn't due to mechanics or anything, it plays like any other Telltale game and it works fine. It was not what I was expecting. I had presumed it was some prequel to Minecraft and perhaps it is (it does give a clue to how Endermen got to the Overworld from The End) and I did not know it took so much license. The story was not interesting to me at all. I didn't care about any of the characters and they were all unknown to me going in.

I had just stopped playing this and even more, I had stopped playing other games also besides MLM and the two Flash games I play that I don't track on here. I had then just been playing pinball this entire time and didn't play an actual video game until 2 days ago when I fired up regular Minecraft. It has been over a month now. But I have uninstalled this Telltale Minecraft game and won't revisit it.

[justin8301]

24. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) 6/29/2022

I know I was going to love this game the moment I saw it’s first trailer and after finally playing through it I can say I was totally right. It felt like @emberlab pulled elements from some of my all-time favorite games and wrapped them up in a nice Pixar looking package. For this being the studios first game, I’d have to say they did an amazing job and I honestly cant wait to see what they do next; if they do a sequel it’d be pretty cool to see if they expand on the village restoration element. I’d love to see something like the town building in Dark Cloud..

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfaA_Dlu1UN/