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52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

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bikingjahuty:
24. Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC)

I got the itch to play a late 90s/early 2000s FPS game, so I decided to finally beat Return to Castle Wolfenstein, a game I have not played since around the time it first came out. A friend of mine was a diehard PC gamer back in high school, and we decided to rent the PS2 port while he spent the weekend at my house. Bar far, he was more into it than I was, but I still enjoyed it for the most part, and to this day the game has an pretty strong air of nostalgia around it for me.


I finally beat Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and while I don't adore this game like many others, I can still appreciate it as a really fun, and somewhat iconic early 2000s PC game. The gameplay has its issues when it comes to certain enemies and bosses being incredibly annoying and even poorly designed, and some weapons having few practical uses, but this doesn't distract too much from what is an otherwise enjoyable game. The visuals are also pretty good, although I feel like by 2001 there were certainly better looking games, FPS and otherwise. Audio is mostly good too, although I found the OST somewhat uninspired and a bit repetitive throughout the game. I also found the bad German accents to be funny and also have that early 2000s video game cheese that I usually really like. Still, I feel like in the grand scheme of things, it was more of a blemish on the audio and doesn't help this game age as well as it otherwise could. I would definitely say that Return to Castle wolfenstein is worth playing, but for me it's a game I likely won't be returning to, at least for a very, very long time. For what it's worth, I did enjoy it for various reasons, especially how much it brought me back to my life back around 2001/2002. (3/28/24) [35/50]

undertakerprime:
5. Afterimage (PS4)

Holy crap. Took me over 40 hours to get the good ending in this game. Not because it’s difficult (frankly, it’s on the easy side), but because it’s just so HUGE. By far the biggest world of any Metroidvania I’ve played.

Plus, it has 10 (!!!) endings. And to get the one, canon “good” ending, there’s so many steps I never would have figured it out without looking it up.
Anyway, here’s a rundown for the MV enthusiasts out there:

Pros:
- Absolutely GORGEOUS visuals
- HUGE explorable map
- Tight controls
- Fun combat
- Cool variety of weapons, each with their own advantages and special abilities
- A ton of secrets, things to do, and quests to complete
- Music is good, if unmemorable

Cons:
- Map might be TOO big, game takes too long to complete
- English translation is very iffy. Script desperately needs another pass by a native English speaker
- Story is very hard to follow, partly due to the translation issues mentioned above
- Voice acting is hit-or-miss. Some names and terms aren’t pronounced the same way consistently between characters
- Almost NO guidance (some might consider that a good thing, but IMO a map this big necessitates more guidance)
- Some powers and abilities are barely explained, or not explained at all (for example, the ability to heal yourself through prayer, or how to upgrade weapons)

dhaabi:
17. QWOP || Browser || 03.25.24



For many who have had some sort of online presence during the end of the 2000s and into the immediate years following it, the game QWOP will be familiar. It's also a game that I'm sure many of those same people have at least tried (and likely failed) at least once. I know that I'm one of those individuals, but I'm now also one who's completed its challenge.

To be brief, QWOP is a track-and-field game tasking players to reach the end of a 100-meter dash. Its premise is straightforward and simple, although the execution in how it functions is everything but, as the Q and W keys correspond to the movement of each thigh, whereas the O and P keys correspond to each calf. To make any forward movement whatsoever, achieving some sort of rhythmic pattern utilizing each of these four keys must be utilized. Otherwise, the titular runner Qwop will fail. In spite of the game's punishing controls, I reached the game's end after only three attempts, although this accomplishment was achieved with Qwop embarrassingly gliding along the track nearing the splits the entire way.

One thing to address is the game's difficulty: is it actually hard? That answer is yes. However, there is reason for that choice beyond designing it so simply for the sake of it, which is that performing an actual 100-meter dash is difficult. If it isn't immediately recognizable, this logic is the actual point to the game, far greater than its comedic tones. More than likely, a player will take several minutes to reach the goal, calculated by seconds. At the playthrough's end, the final numerical value is dropped, meaning that a time of 200 seconds translates to 20 seconds in-game. So, a player's time to finish could very well be a representation of real-world finishing times accomplished by professional athletes. (For perspective, the current real-world record for completing the 100-meter dash is 9.58 seconds, which would approximately be 96 seconds in-game.)

While playing, players may assume that Qwop is ill-fated to race altogether. After all, he moves like a ragdoll and is susceptible to fall in the most painful and non-lifelike ways. But perhaps we, the player, are simply bad puppeteers. This point goes hand-in-hand with the above comment as the player is likely not a professional racer equipped to speedily trek across 100 meters. Most people probably have little to no concept of the skill, form, and training required to perform such a feat in a competitive setting. So, this idea is replicated in a dramatized yet amusing way through QWOP. Whether a new player believes it or not, Qwop can be controlled with the movement of a real-world racer. Races can be accomplished with fluid motion, long strides, and well-timed jumps. But, for many like myself who manage to reach the sand pit at the path's end—or those who reject the game out of sheer frustration after having only moved mere centimeters forward or, even worse, fall backwards to a negative distance—they will instead resort to fumbling their upright body across the dirt as the only means of traversal.

At the game's start screen prior to player action, some brief introduction to what QWOP is may be read alongside the paraphrased closing quote "Remember, it's not about whether you win or lose." Which, to the game's creator Bennett Foddy, implies that it's giving one's best effort that's most important—not finishing the game. In this instance, instead of clumsily dragging Qwop's legs across the racetrack, would it have been better for me as the player to have studied the game's physics and practiced its controls to better execute them, even at the cost of never crossing the 100-meter mark? In how I'm interpreting creator commentary, yes. In organizing my thoughts, I came across a Reddit AMA from long ago which Foddy doubles down on this principle. He states that "you are free to [drag yourself along on one knee.] [..] I recommend you try to have some dignity, though" in addition to "if you're going to cheat at a game, why not just close the window and tell everyone you beat it?" Foddy seems to take the stance that games are designed to challenge their players and that failure only strengthens the experience while simultaneously denouncing the act of bypassing such design choices through exploiting any flaw in the game's mechanics.

In the end, whether I finished QWOP with merit or not means little, at least on an individual level. It gave me something to reflect about in detail, which is all that really matters.

kashell:

--- Quote from: undertakerprime on March 28, 2024, 05:59:43 pm ---5. Afterimage (PS4)

Holy crap. Took me over 40 hours to get the good ending in this game. Not because it’s difficult (frankly, it’s on the easy side), but because it’s just so HUGE. By far the biggest world of any Metroidvania I’ve played.

Plus, it has 10 (!!!) endings. And to get the one, canon “good” ending, there’s so many steps I never would have figured it out without looking it up.
Anyway, here’s a rundown for the MV enthusiasts out there:

Pros:
- Absolutely GORGEOUS visuals
- HUGE explorable map
- Tight controls
- Fun combat
- Cool variety of weapons, each with their own advantages and special abilities
- A ton of secrets, things to do, and quests to complete
- Music is good, if unmemorable

Cons:
- Map might be TOO big, game takes too long to complete
- English translation is very iffy. Script desperately needs another pass by a native English speaker
- Story is very hard to follow, partly due to the translation issues mentioned above
- Voice acting is hit-or-miss. Some names and terms aren’t pronounced the same way consistently between characters
- Almost NO guidance (some might consider that a good thing, but IMO a map this big necessitates more guidance)
- Some powers and abilities are barely explained, or not explained at all (for example, the ability to heal yourself through prayer, or how to upgrade weapons)

--- End quote ---

Thanks for this thorough write-up. I have it in my backlog for when it's time for another Metroidvania.

kashell:
I'm back from the Louisville Arcade Expo, and this year's might have been one of the best. It doesn't necessarily get better each year, but it consistently provides a good time. Especially post-pandemic era. I was able to sit down and knock out some excellent games when I wasn't marveling/playing the new pinball machines. Games I won't include as "completed" are Tekken 8, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Super Smash Bros., CarnEvil, The House of the Dead 2, Dragon Masters (another Street Fight II clone from the early 90s), Hatsune Miku Project Diva Future Tone, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting.

26. jubeat
Despite only playing this in arcades, I feel like I've gotten much better at it. The music really consume you, which makes tapping the cubes much easier than other music and rhythm games. This is also the most efficient music game; it doesn't take up too much space so I'm trying to rationalize having one in the house. ...half-joking.

27. Dance Dance Revolution Xtreme
I mean, if there's DDR, then you know good and goddamn well that ya boy is going to dance his ass off. I spent a lot of time with this one.  It was a blast, and proof that muscle memory is indeed a thing. As per usual, 1998 was the song I played the most. It's my favorite DDR song of all time. My DDR tattoo was admired during the process.

28. The Maze of the Kings
This one of the new games I played. It was first released in 2002 but didn't hear of it until now. It's a first person rail shooter that has a rogue-like element. So, the stages you move through and the enemies within are randomized. The gun is shaped like an Anubis head. The early aughts graphics were STRONG in this one, and the game was better for it. I love it when I encounter new things from yesteryear. But, this especially applies to one of my favorite eras of gaming.

29. Invasion - The Abductors
Just like The Maze of the Kings, this is another first person rail shooter I never heard of until now. And just like the above, it was released during that special period of gaming (1999) where 3D was the new big to-do. I went in with the lowest of expectations, but had such a good time that I ended up finishing it. There was a surprising amount of sleekness and polish to it that made it stand out from other games around the time like House of the Dead or CarnEvil. I would definitely sink quarters into this if I saw it outside of a free-to-play arcade.

30. Chunithm
It's like Guitar Hero, but with piano keys and a massive selection of J-Pop. Yet another game I never heard of. I think. There's a chance I played this last year but I've slept since then. This one was intense. The keys range in sizes, so the more difficult songs have smaller keys. There's also holding the keys, removing them at the right time, moving them across the keyboard, and elevating your hands at just the right angle. The music is intense and upbeat, and the way it all comes together with the keyboard is a musical masterpiece. Yet another one I hope to see outside a convention and in an arcade.

31. Rock Band
Normally, I wouldn't count Rock Band "completed" for something like this. But, I played A TON of this. Usually, I took vocals and would "sing" (see what I did there) while others played the instruments. It was a blast because it allowed me to meet and connect with other con-goers. Games and music are two things that tend to bring people from all walks of life together. Rock Band combines them in a solid way.

32. Music Gun Gun 2
I'm saving the best for last. Another game I never heard of until now. A shooting/rhythm game in all the best ways possible. Colorful graphics. A ton of music. Easy to pick up gameplay that is, naturally, close to impossible to master. Two-player options. Etc. In terms of gaming at the expo, this was the highlight. My favorite song to play was Cruel Angel's Thesis. All of the games above are fun, but this one is the one that would warrant a drive across state lines to play it. I hope to play this again in the near future, and I really hope this game comes back next year.

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