52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

[telekill]

Removing Sonic Labrynth (Game Gear) from Sonic Origins (PS5). This is probably one of the worst Sonic games on the handheld.

Moved Texas Chainsaw Massacre (PS5) under completed. I've played as all the characters and been successful in killing all four "victims" as well as surviving as a "victim" multiple times. There's not really an end to this game so it is what it is.

Added Tomb Raider 2013 (PS4) to start replaying on my next day off.

[kamikazekeeg]

28 - I'm On Obversation Duty (PC 2018) - BEAT - I normally don't like to play most modern horror games, the sorta stuff that came out post Slenderman/Five Nights at Freddy's, there was a huge boom of copycat games or variations or stuff with that simple, indie, style in mind and most of them are basically just jumpscare simulators.  So normally I wouldn't like a game like this, it's just staring at cameras the whole time, but the gameplay hook is that within these cameras are rooms with set objects, furniture, paintings, etc...Eventually something will change.  A cup will move, a chair will disappear, an extra table will show up, a random person will appear, your camera will malfunction, and it's your job to identify what changed or what the issue is, and report that anomaly.

It's less of a jump scare sim (Which it still technically is) and it's almost a puzzle game, or like one of those games where you have to "find the object", but rather than find something specific, you have to find out what changed in the room.  That can get real challenging when it's small things.  You start to get tunnel vision, thinking you are on the ball, not recognizing that a painting shifted to a different version, or a shadow is out of place.  My big negative with the game is that I think the black/white visuals make it really hard to notice some changes, and it's less the nature of being a realistic challenge, it's just a problem of the visuals.  I'm positive there were things that changed that I didn't notice, specifically because the quality made it hard to see.  Also the "Anomaly Fixed" screen is like a damn flashbang with how bright it is.  I also don't like that are random noises that'll play, rather than being audio cues to something going on. 

Jump scares aside, which are not constant, they are used sparingly, they want tension to build, I really weirdly like the gameplay loop.  It's about pattern recognition in regards to pattern breaking, it's oddly engaging when I'm not talking to myself, getting mad that I know there's at least 3 things changed and I can't figure them out at all lol You basically have to last 6 hours (I think it's 20 minutes? Maybe I'm wrong?) and you can answer incorrectly all you want, but if 4 anomaly's are active, you'll auto-fail.

This is the first one, it's very short (I actually beat it in 5 hours, which is more than I thought, and that's just to do a complete run through only two levels), but also very cheap, I think it's fine for what it is and it looks like the sequels noticeably improve on the visuals and the actual locations, so I might keep going with the sequels.

[bikingjahuty]

40. The Last of Us: Part 2 (PS4)

This is my second complete playthrough of The Last of Us: Part 2, the game I originally abandoned due to its jarring, subversive mid game twist. But I decided to give the game another shot about a year after that and ended up liking it quite a bit despite some annoyances with the story, characters, and writing mostly. The game has stuck with my ever since I first beat it and I've been looking forward to replaying it again. And here I am, once again praising this game in nearly every way a game can be praised, except after my second playthrough, I unfortunately do not like this game as much as I did the first time. Maybe it's because I'm not constantly wondering what's going to happen next, but there were a lot of things with the story and characters that bothered me a lot more than they did during my first playthrough, and it was enough to diminish my enjoyment of this game somewhat. I'm still in love with the world of The Last of Us, and the amount of world building and snippets of what it's like to live in that world are what make this game and the first such compelling games despite annoyances I have with the writers for essentially ruining Ellie completely and also pushing some fairly mean spirited stuff through in this game that I can't help but feel is politically motivated. Regardless, the game was still a mostly enjoyable experience throughout. The graphics and sound are near flawless, and the gameplay, while having some fairly minor annoyances is still really damn fun and engaging. I don't plan on playing through Part 2 again for probably a while, but I'm glad I did revisit this game again, even though my opinion of it has slightly slipped since the last time I beat it. (9/14/23) [42/50]

[telly]

40. The Last of Us: Part 2 (PS4)
[/b]

My wife and I talk about this game all the time. It was one of her favorite backseat gaming experiences and we would talk about it hours after finishing a play session. She really wants me to play it again but I want to wait until season 2 of the show comes out. I'm curious what we will think on a repeat playthrough after knowing what happens in the story.

[kamikazekeeg]

I loved most everything about Last of Us 2, other than how they handled the story, just in execution.  It's the one thing I'm excited for with the tv show next season, because it means they can tackle it in a much different way that works better pacing wise. It has the potential to be a very impressive adaptation because of it.

[bikingjahuty]

41. Raycrisis (PS1)

I'm a huge fan of the Ray series of SHMUPs, which also includes RayForce and RayStorm, however it's third entry does not live up to the quality of the first two games not even close. In fact, Raycrisis is one of the worst SHMUPs I've ever played. Not only is the game painfully short, even for a SHMUP, but also has some of the most haphazard, lazy gameplay and stage design I've seen in the genre. More or less, the distribution of enemies and projectiles is completely imbalanced with the abilities afforded to you by your ship. The audio is okay for the most part and really the only slightly above average thing about Raycrisis. In a way, it's nice this game was so short because I didn't have to play it for very long before beating it. (9/14/23) [22/50]

3. R-Type Delta (PS1) - ABANDONED

One of my gaming confessions, if you will, is that I'm not a big fan of the R-Type franchise, like any of them. I find them to be way to difficult and their gameplay design leaves a lot to be desired in terms of balance. R-Type Delta is no different in that the game is bullshit hard to the point of ridiculousness, even on the easy difficulty. I can barely make it to the third stage before I run out of continues. Despite it's unfair difficulty, the game looks pretty good and the OST is pretty catchy as well. It's just a shame this game is so relentless because I'd say it's otherwise a cool, stylish PS1 SHMUP that reminds me of Einhander in a lot of ways. All well. (9/14/23)

[telly]

I loved most everything about Last of Us 2, other than how they handled the story, just in execution.  It's the one thing I'm excited for with the tv show next season, because it means they can tackle it in a much different way that works better pacing wise. It has the potential to be a very impressive adaptation because of it.

Yeah I agree. That's why I really want to make sure I've played through the game before the second season so I can know how the show might differ/follow the game. I'm hoping they make some slight adjustments to the story  in the show because there were some aspects of it in the game that I wasn't a fan of either.

[Cartagia]

I loved most everything about Last of Us 2, other than how they handled the story, just in execution.  It's the one thing I'm excited for with the tv show next season, because it means they can tackle it in a much different way that works better pacing wise. It has the potential to be a very impressive adaptation because of it.

Yeah I agree. That's why I really want to make sure I've played through the game before the second season so I can know how the show might differ/follow the game. I'm hoping they make some slight adjustments to the story  in the show because there were some aspects of it in the game that I wasn't a fan of either.

This is where I'm at with it as well.  For the most part I like the story, but the pacing is all out of whack, its a tad repetitive, and it goes on a bit too long.  But those are things that could be rectified in another medium.

[kashell]

47. Labyrinth of Zangetsu

This was a dungeon crawler that seemed to slip by everyone. I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as others I've played recently. I think this game was trying to emulate what Experience, Inc. has done with the genre but missed the mark. I still recommend it to dungeon crawler fans, though. I just warn them to use a guide when building a party. Don't do what I did and go in with your own ideas because the way stats, class changes, and alignments work can royally screw you over. Also, since the game has an autosave, you can essentially permanently lock yourself out of any hope of advancement. Some might find that challenging. I found it unfair. But, I finished this game by the skin of my teeth.

[kamikazekeeg]

29 - Far Cry 6 (PC 2021) - DROPPED - Man, I'm really dropping games this year lol I was only ever going to get this game if I could get it real cheap, and it got on sale for REAL cheap, so I figured why not, I'm generally fine with open world shooters, but I didn't get into this originally because I was kinda done with the Far Cry games.  I liked FC3 a good bit, FC4 was not great, FC5 was a little better, but I thought dragged with some aspects of it, and after about 6 hours in FC6 (Did not plan that), I think it's probably the best since FC3, overall solid, but I feel like this type of shooter is getting pretty burnt out. 

It's very familiar to the other Far Cry games in structure, it reminds me of the Just Cause games with the setting and all the "revolution" talk, its just not doing tons to keep me engaged, which is a shame as like I said, it's very solid, seems like a total 8/10 game.  I'm not too sure how you make this sort of setup interesting these days.  I feel like I would care more about this style of game if it was way more hardcore, survival-esque in a way, but I don't know.

I was just making my runs through the missions, taking over checkpoints, meeting the colorful cast, I've done this a lot before and I think I'm good for the moment.  A weird complaint I want to lodge though, this might have some of the worst feeling helicopters I've felt in a game in awhile lol It's 2023, we've figured out decent and even simple helicopter controls, just rip off Battlefield or something, other games figured it out too.  They just have no real physics or something, like they do, but it feels more like I'm controlling a scifi hover vehicle that perfectly moves around, while having the jitteriest aiming movement.  It's weirdly bad for no reason.

Not a bad game, I might attempt it again later on, I just have games I'm much more interested in playing right now.

[kashell]

48. Gal Guardians: Demon Purge

Both Labyrinth of Zangetsu and Gal Guardians: Demon Purge are helping set the stage for when it's time to get spooky-with-it when I get into horror games next month. Gal Guardians is inspired by classic Castlevania. It might as well have come from Konami. The difference is that it has Inti Creates' crisp polish and snappy writing. It's also a spinoff of Gal Gun. I never played any game in that series but I'm familiar with the premise. So, the story is wild and pervy in a hilarious way. The game is packed with content. There are tons of secret rooms, collectibles, sub-weapons, and there even multiple endings. The soundtrack is sadly forgettable, which is a surprise since the developers tend to make some real bangers. The ability to change difficulties at anytime is a great perk. I definitely recommend it to all 2D, side scroller fans.

[bikingjahuty]

42. Metal Slug 6 (PS4)

Being the glutton for pain I am, I decided to play the next installment in the Metal Slug series, however unlike the last few Metal Slug games I played, I actually enjoyed this one a little more. Don't get me wrong, this game was still brutal and cheap as hell at times, but at the very least it seemed a little more balanced. The only real issue I had with this one is that it didn't quite look as good as some of the previous games, mostly in regards to the stages, but other than that it was still a fairly fun game. (9/19/23) [30/50]

[bikingjahuty]

37. Garou: Mark of the Wolves (PS4)

It's been a very long time since I sat down and really played Garou: Mark of the Wolves. My only exposure to the game has been on the Dreamcast, which it sticks out in my memory as one of the best fighting games on the system. Having bought it on the PS4 some time ago I decided to spend my Friday night getting reacquainted with Mark of the Wolves, and I'm very happy I did. Without any question, Mark of the Wolves has the best gameplay of any Fatal Fury game I've ever played, and I've played most of them. While I'd say it's graphics are not as impressive as 3's imo, but they aren't far off. OST is also top of its class which is no small feat for this series. I'd say by a small margin, Mark of the Wolves is my favorite in the Fatal Frame series, however, I've never actually played any of the Real Bout games, which I've hear time and again are amazing, so who knows if it will remain at that top spot. Still, it's going to be very hard to beat as it's also up there with the best SNK fighting games i've ever played. (9/22/23) [37/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

30 - Lies of P (PC 2023) - BEAT - Did you like Bloodborne? Are you cool with a little Sekiro? Do you enjoy dark, twisted, takes on established stories? Then Lies of P is your game! As someone that does like Bloodborne a good bit and wish it had an updated version, remaster, PC version, sequel...PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING OTHER THAN STILL BEING 30 FPS ON PS4...This game did a lot to fill that craving I had.  Despite what I've seen folks try to say, this is absolutely trying to be a Bloodborne clone.  They mix it up a tad bringing in the parry/stagger mechanic and arm feature of Sekiro, but a lot of the setting, level design, execution of a number of different aspects are all very much Bloodborne or Souls in general. 

I personally don't find it being a clone as a negative, like if I was trying to give it more of an objective score, I would have to say it's desire to be Bloodborne so much, not really a "homage" or "spiritual succesor" or "influenced by", isn't a great thing, but of all the Souls-Like games out there, this is maybe the best one I've played.  Those that want to be the next Dark Souls tend to falter in some way, a boring story or setting, sloppy gameplay, etc, but this is a pretty great game.

It's not perfect, I think some parts of the gameplay needed a little more polishing, some bosses are infuriating with their attack strings, as certain Phase 2 fights are ridiculous and not even just in the usual Soulsborne way, it felt like they needed a little more tweaking.  The story does a lot for the game, it is absolutely trying to fit into the Bloodborne vibes a lot of the time, but the stuff with Puppets, more of a regular narrative so you aren't having to mostly pick through lore for it, is probably the one thing I would say is better than Bloodborne, but I've also never been a major fan of how FromSoft handles that aspect across most all their games to begin with.

If I had to score it, it would be like 8.5, quality game, nails being a Soulsborne-like, could've used a little more originality, but I'm hopeful the devs can make a sequel/new game that lets them take things beyond being just being Bloodborne with Puppets.

[kashell]

49. Grim Grimoire Once More

The game title is stylized as GrimGrimoire OnceMore but typing it out like that just looks weird to me. Anyways! I'm terrible at RTS'. I tried to play Warcraft III and just failed miserably every time I thought I was getting into a groove or making some progress. My problem was that I would try to brute force my way through things and that wasn't the way to go. So, normally, I wouldn't give Grim Grimoire a passing glance. But, Vanilla Ware's artwork and a seemingly adorable leading character convinced me to give this a shot. I'm really glad I did. First, there's a great story with a small but well written cast. Second, the game is just gorgeous to look at. And finally, I think I finally wrapped my head around RTS'. Having multiple difficulty options and a speed-up function really made this feel more accessible. There were still challenges, and even with the most powerful upgrades things could turn south real quick. But, I never hit a wall like I normally would. I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave this a shot. Major props for music: Sakimoto did the damn thing again.