52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

[dhaabi]

2. Super Mario RPG

The big problem is that they added two things that trivialize the difficulty: the ability for timed attacks to hit all enemies and a kind of limit break group attack.  No combat encounter had any level of hardness. The only time I needed to use items was when I was focusing on filling out the monster compendium instead of killing enemies.  A shame, because it's still a fun and funny experience,  it's just fulfilling, like empty calories.

The only real detail I know about the game is that, toward the end, there is a platforming section that I've been told is quite challenging and unforgiving in the original Super Nintendo release. Has the difficulty been altered for that too?

I realized the other day that I actually do have the immediate means to play Super Mario RPG for SNES since I own a SNES Classic Edition. So, I may prioritize playing that sometime this year.

[dhaabi]

03. Flipper Lifter || Playdate || 01.07.24



Not knowing anything about Flipper Lifter prior to playing, I started the game not sure what to expect. After my playthrough, I will say now that it is arguably the Playdate's most arcade-style game yet, of the system's included batch of games.

In short, you as the player control an elevator by exclusively utilizing the system's built-in crank. The gameplay is simple yet quickly becomes challenging, as penguin passengers are needing to be taken to their preferred floor. At the beginning, there is only a small number of floors, with the fewest that some stages offer being two. However, floors are gradually added over time per ten points scored. On my very first playthrough, I managed to drop off 125 passengers while being jostled around up and down fourteen floors which forces the player to micromanage.

Offering only sixty seconds of available time, Flipper Lifter challenges the player to think efficiently. Despite what seems like a short amount of time, additional time is gained to increase the stage's length by unloading passengers, although that time is only a second or two. While passengers will seemingly wait forever to board the elevator, there is only a short amount of time they're willing to wait to exit. If failing to successfully drop off a passenger in time, the elevator temporarily breaks down, costing players valuable time. One detail I particularly thought added to the game's depth is that the elevator's descent is considerably faster than its ascent. So, this requires players to prioritize certain routes to allow one set of passengers to be dropped off first instead of others. At the same time, it is inevitable for the elevator to break down. However, one can utilize this punishment to their advantage, as they can still pick up new passengers to board during that time.

Fortunately, there is a small number of stages to unlock which helps add further depth to the game. Unlocked by the player's cumulative score across all currently available stages, each stage has its own unique layout and gimmicks. These include aspects like multiple elevator shafts, pulley systems, a predator which scares passengers, and more. In general, difficulty increases with each stage unlocked, so gaining high enough scores to unlock the later stages may prove to be difficult to some, but I personally had no issue. I will say that the game's fourth stage of five total is quite challenging.

Overall, Flipper Lifter makes great use of the system's crank on a classic puzzle-action game formula. It's similar to some other arcade-style games from long ago, but the crank definitely sets it apart. It's a welcome addition to the system's library.

[Cartagia]

2. Super Mario RPG

The big problem is that they added two things that trivialize the difficulty: the ability for timed attacks to hit all enemies and a kind of limit break group attack.  No combat encounter had any level of hardness. The only time I needed to use items was when I was focusing on filling out the monster compendium instead of killing enemies.  A shame, because it's still a fun and funny experience,  it's just fulfilling, like empty calories.

The only real detail I know about the game is that, toward the end, there is a platforming section that I've been told is quite challenging and unforgiving in the original Super Nintendo release. Has the difficulty been altered for that too?

I realized the other day that I actually do have the immediate means to play Super Mario RPG for SNES since I own a SNES Classic Edition. So, I may prioritize playing that sometime this year.

There are some challenge rooms in the second to last dungeon with some (slightly) irritating platforming, but you only have to clear 4 of 6 and only 2 are platforming.  I gave up on the second one because it was reversed controls, but I only tried once.  That's the only thing that I can think of that people might be referring to.

[kashell]

8. Lord of Arcana

This game is as generic and repetitive as it gets. Take mission. Fight monster. Build better equipment. Repeat. It was ideal for downtime during work or long meetings. I never played a Monster Hunter but I'm guessing that's what this is with a different setting and a horrible control scheme. I still don't know why dodging and locking on an enemy required so much effort. But, it's done. And it was entertaining seeing the QTE finishers since enemies would explode into Vandal Hearts pools of blood. This will likely be the only PSP game I play all year. My PSP's nub is in bad shape and staring at its screen just doesn't do it for me anymore. In other words, I need a new one. I'll always fight for the portable that never stood a chance against the DS.

[kashell]

9. Star Ocean: The Second Story R

This is a masterclass when it comes to remakes. I have a lot I can't wait to write about when it's review time. One of the things I'm most excited to talk about are all the little things that came together: town/dungeon quick jump, your party members following you, the Bodyguard specialty, ease of manipulating endings, the multi-use item creation, and a bunch more. And just because the credits rolled, it doesn't mean the journey on this file is over. I have a big, ol' Maze of Tribulations to go through. I just made it to the third floor. Then there are some super bosses. There's lots more star ocean-ing ahead.

[dhaabi]

04. Demon Quest '85 || Playdate || 01.11.24



As I've now completed my seventh Playdate game in the five weeks I've owned the system, I'm still greatly pleased with how capable this little device is at providing fun experiences across a myriad of genres and themes. Since most games have short playtimes, I've found myself playing all sorts of games that I ordinarily don't play but have enjoyed immensely, and Demon Quest '85 is no exception.

Based on the game's title, Demon Quest '85 could have been a game adopting any number of genres: first-person dungeon crawler, turn-based RPG, action-platformer, puzzle adventure, and so forth. However, what I wasn't expecting was for it to be an open-ended narrative adventure game akin to choose-your-own-adventure novels. The developers themselves are even on record for classifying the game as a visual novel, and I think that there's enough overlap with the genre to even classify it as such too. With all that said, Demon Quest '85 is all about summoning demons as a high school student, taking place in 1985.

With an ancient grimoire in hand outlining the darkest horrors of some of the most dangerous and cursed fiends from hell, you as the player-character gather three friends to spend an afternoon in your musty attic to summon these demons. Over the course of several days, your friends serve as vessels for the demons to communicate through. With the summoning requiring both a party of four and willing participants who meet certain criteria for each specific demon, three of the twelve who accompany you each day present problems for a demon to solve or knowledge for them to impart. And, surprisingly, as more summonings are performed, your influence over hell and its leaders becomes more paramount with increasing concern. Meanwhile, the influence each demon's effects has over your friends becomes either welcomed or worrisome.

To accomplish all of this, there is an involved process to prepare the event. While the hellish text offers a fair amount of overview, the most useful information will be gathered from the demons you summon, which will allow you to call upon the next. In time, you will learn about the demon's interests, what powers they control, their values, and their political alliances. With all this information, you will then need to set the scene: leaving a suitable offering, preparing the preferred musical ambiance, and inviting the correct friends to form a party of the demon's liking. Of the twelve classmates to choose from, there is some challenge, as only short blurbs for both who the student is and what kind of audience the demon demands are available. In truth, this step will likely require some trial-and-error effort, but it is a small puzzle to solve.

Having mentioned the game's genre above, I finished my playthrough surprised at the degree of narrative-branching that's offered. Demons may be summoned in a multitude of ways, largely with the combination of classmates to choose from being varied. Once the summoning is ready, only one of three is then used as the demon's vessel and only one may be influenced. However, whether they actually take that influence is also a presented choice for the player to decide. While human outcomes greatly vary, so do the outcomes for the demons themselves, as how you interact with one directly alters the next summoning. Of course, the game's ending operates is also varied, with my personal choices leading to a more lawful evil conclusion.

Since each demon can only be summoned once, the narrative progresses quickly. Because of that design, Demon Quest '85 offers an impressive amount of replayability which actually seems worth investing in. Once the player knows how to summon each demon, progressing is simple, meaning to play the game from beginning to end can be done quite quickly. Something worth mentioning is that, if one is interested in playing through a number of paths, the system's crank can be used to speedily scroll through dialogue.

In the end, Demon Quest '85 stands as one of my most preferred games bundled with the system, and I can easily find myself revisiting it. While open-ended narrative games generally aren't ones I gravitate toward, the game's short but serviceable length only made the experience more approachable.

[dhaabi]

05. Rusty Lake Paradise || PC || 01.12.24



Eager to begin the third and final Rusty Lake entry, I was curious to learn just how much there actually is in connection to the Vanderboom family's cursed history and, ultimately, Laura's end fate. After the previous Rusty Lake entry Roots, I wasn't expecting there to be that much more, but I was fortunately mistaken.

Set even further back in the past than what's been shown so far, Paradise takes place in 1796, nearly two hundred years prior to the game's most current events of 1981. With the player assuming the role of a son named Jakob, you return to your island home referred to as Paradise in light of your mother's death. On this small island in the middle of Rusty Lake, only your small family of now six make it their home. Upon your arrival shortly after your mother's death, a series of disasters plague the land and its inhabitants, with each one serving as a plot point which breaks the game into ten chapters. With a high number of plagues taking place, a good variety is introduced as problems to overcome, including water having turned into blood, diseased livestock, and an outbreak of boils.

At first, I believed the puzzles to all be simple, but, in hindsight, I feel as if the game's puzzle designs has a much better gradual increase of difficulty which nearly every other game before it ignores. However, one change I greatly welcomed is that most puzzles are self-contained and not just items interacting with another. There are dozens of small puzzles which come together as one single path to reach the game's ending, and I found them all fun to solve. While a few stumped me, those moments were almost all relating to me overlooking one small detail to inspect or not knowing how a certain item is to be used. After glancing back at all of the game's puzzles in a walkthrough, the percentage of puzzles solved out of total puzzles was perhaps highest for me this time.

Something routinely mentioned throughout the series is how events are interconnected through past, present, and future, and that thought is greatly present in Paradise. Everything, no matter when or where exactly it takes place, seems to be influential over what has happened or will happen. Through the Rusty Lake series, cultish texts and ideologies are read and practiced by patriarchal leaders which dictate that our memories belong to the lake, our past lives must reach some sort of balance with future lives, and there is a chosen one in the midst of it all whose status is reached through enlightenment. What I quickly came to appreciate is that the series excels at presenting strange and unusual, but also grotesque, scenes. In one instance throughout Paradise, the game veers strongly toward body horror.

Even after playing through all three prequel entries, there are narrative details which I don't understand. That said, perhaps the remaining entries can explain some of my misunderstanding. Speculating as to what's to come next, I really don't know what that could be. If the series has an actual ending, I don't know exactly how that will occur or what exactly is needing to be resolved. In truth, I'm quite fine with the idea that each of the remaining entries simply fill in details to expand upon what's revealed so far without some conclusive end. Nevertheless, now I move forward to play the next and final Cube Escape entry.

[moonlightvalkyrie]

1. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope (PS5)- I have to say that The Devil in Me update they gave to this game doesn't fit well. I still recommend at least a playthrough of this one! I am hoping to finish the Anthology this year!

[Cartagia]

3. Star Trek: Resurgence (PS5)

I'm a bit conflicted on this one.  The graphics and gameplay would have been outdated 5 years ago, and the branching path narrative is incredibly simple.  Despite that Resurgence might be the most purely Star Trek game to have come out in 30 years.  Moral dilemmas, big sci-fi concepts, cool technobabble.  It's all here.  There are some bits of the writing that don't really make logical sense in a chain of command style outfit like Starfleet, and it just kind of ends leaving a few dangling plot threads.

Overall it's a ok video game, but a very solid Star Trek game.

[bikingjahuty]

I decided to go all in on the Real Bout: Fatal Fury series tonight. I've played 2 of these games before, however, I've never actually played the first RB game prior to tonight, at least not that I remembered. But anyhow, here are my impressions.


6. Real Bout: Fatal Fury (PS4)

Supposedly a lot of people don't like this game. And yeah, I kinda get it, particularly some balancing issues with a few non-boss characters as well as the ring out mechanic, which I thought was kinda fun, but overall I liked this game mostly from a gameplay perspective. I liked it even more from a presentation perspective, as there are cutscenes, the stages look excellent, and the character sprites are all awesome. It does suck that there aren't more stages, but for what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality. I don't know, I think this is a pretty fun game in the series, despite openly admitting it has its flaws and you can certainly do better for a Fatal Fury game. (1/16/24) [33/50]

7. Real Bout: Fatal Fury Special (PS4)

It has been a long time since I played the original RB Special, however, more recently I played its updated PS1 port Dominated Mind. While Dominated Mind and the original have very noticeable differences, I still mostly consider these games to be the same entry. However, even though Dominated Mind is supposed to be enhanced, I actually prefer the original if only by a small margin. Both games look excellent, the gameplay is an improvement over the first RB, particularly the balancing and the removal of the out of bounds mechanic, and the OST is still awesome. This was my favorite RB game I played tonight and definitely one of the best games in the franchise. (1/16/24) [35/50]

8. Real Bout: Fatal Fury 2 (PS4)

I had really high hopes for RB2, mostly because I remember thinking it was really fun and also because most people consider RB2 to be the best Fatal Fury game, second only to Mark of the Wolves. While I think it's a fun as hell game, I actually didn't find it as enjoyable as RB Special. My main hangup was the game seemed to veer back into some bad habits with it's balancing. However, it mostly made up for this by having more character, stages, and retaining those excellent visuals. The soundtrack isn[t half bad either. I had fun with RB2, but honestly I felt like RB Special outshined it, if only by a little. (1/16/24) [34/50]

[dhaabi]

06. Cube Escape: Paradox || PC || 01.16.24



With ten games currently available within the Cube Escape sub-series of games which is set within the larger Rusty Lake universe, I've finally completed them all. Knowing this beforehand, part of me also felt that Cube Escape: Paradox was to offer some finality to the narrative, but I don't think that's the case.

Playing as Dale, you wake up in a small room, trapped by its locked door. He becomes quickly aware that things aren't right, and he knows there's more to his involvement with Laura's death than simply being the detective investigating but doesn't understand how or why. Looking for clues to escape, Dale reads an advert for Rusty Lake where it reads how it's "a place to empty the mind," which allows visitors to "reflect on the past, the present and the future." With that understanding, Dale does explore these moments in time, alongside an additional empty time, a sort of limbo, for the lack of a better term.

Something crucial to mention is how the game is divided into two gameplay chapters and a live-action film adaptation. This cross-media presentation is apparent at the game's menu menu, as it's possible to experience the three in any order. Stated by the developers, there is no structure as to where the game or film should be experienced first, but I opted for what felt like the most logical path, being chapter 1, chapter 2, and the short film. Even within the game itself, though, elements of the film are incorporated into puzzle elements and story, which was achieved effectively at a high quality. Both the film's footage and still photography were utilized, bringing a unique change to the unchanged visual style across the dozen games leading up to Paradox.

Throughout the game, puzzle design has the player gaining certain information, applying it to one of four environments, and repeating that process to reach the end result. It's a fun loop that varies slightly from most games, with the only other game adopting this specific setup being Seasons, the first game in the series. Pen-and-paper was again helpful, and the game regularly has the player discovering one element to the puzzle with one set of items, than using that element toward another puzzle. At times, puzzles become lengthy yet manageable and still fun to solve.

During chapter 1, I didn't use a guide at all. There were a few moments where I was tempted, but I kept dwelling on the puzzle at-hand a little longer to finally deduce the answer. However, as for chapter 2, I found it to be more obtuse for a sizable part of it. There seemed to be a clear spike in puzzle difficulty between the two chapters, but perhaps that's to be expected. That said, as I finished the first chapter, it honestly felt like it could have been a game all on its own with the amount of content it offers, so knowing that a follow-up chapter was still left was great.

Since it's part of the game experience, I will comment on the included short film. Made by the series creators, the film adds an appreciated visual element to the game. While it doesn't offer anything unique such as directly interacting with puzzle elements or the gameplay itself, that there is a condensed and slightly altered form to the story is welcomed. Even more than the games, the film features a shockingly high degree of quality and polish, as acting, screenplay, set design, and editing are much higher than I think anyone was expecting to be.

Finishing chapter 2, an ending is implied, or possibly confirmed, through the final events which show. As with most plot points in the series, what is and isn't is difficult to differentiate. There are still four games remaining in the series for me to experience, but I'm not sure how they connect with everything so far. In all honesty, the series is probably long from being over, which I'm perfectly fine with. It's also worth noting that, since the Rusty Lake franchise is still actively being developed for, additional Cube Escape games could be made. Once the remaining games have been completed and I'm then left with nothing else to play, I'll only be left waiting to see.

[vivigamer]

02. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS4 on PS5) - 18/01/2024
This is a really big deal for me as I have never beaten this game before due to rage quitting time and time again! The problem is late-game, enemies start to attack your MP & if you reach 0 MP your character dies... I still hate the concept! But I told myself I need to do this once & for all after being fresh off beat S.O. Second Story R.

So, how was it? Very good! Overall i like the story, I know there is much controversy to a few of the narrative points in this game but I like where it goes. I found the story engaging from start to finish and really valued the games decent production value (For the time).

Combat was a mixed bag, I already mentioned the MP snag but I also had a lot of problem with hit detection - Say if an enemy is getting back from being knocked on the ground it will be invulnerable until it reaches its upright stance. The game also has a bonus bar which you build up from attacking enemies & get bonuses like 300% EXP or 200% Money but sadly once hit can shattered the perk which is infuriating!

The game has one of the most convoluted set of customisation mechanics I've ever seen. In summary you need to recruit NPC's by gathering items for them. Once you have done so they will appear in one of your workshops, there you can form a team to work on Alchemy or Crafting or Cooking etc. BUT you can't even figure out what they're going to make, you have to cycle through a set of cost figures and hope it is what you want - or look up a guide. The game requires very precise combinations to which I had to often look online to figure out for a lot of this - Honestly, I feel like I have been studying a degree with the complexity of all these systems. It's something you have to figure out too or late-game enemies will trash you up!

One thing I have noticed about Star Ocean in general is it's 1-dimensional villains. They often don't get much attention thoughtful the story and the villain in this game was very underwhelming. That said, I did find the cast of characters charming and they're involvement into the on-going narrative relevant - Apart from 1, who I read up you can get earlier but I got him later without a choice and his story didn't make much sense.

The games dungeon areas are very maze like and frustrating. A guide is needed for most of them as it is really easy to get lost. The game also introduces features like breakable walls too so there is a lot going on. I like the games art direction and enjoyed the variety of locations.

Overall I packed a good 70+ hours into the game, there is post game content to dabble with which I may consider if the crafting isn't too much of a time sink. I've beat all S.O. games but The Last Hope now. Time is tight before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth though and I want to replay FF7R beforehand. But despite the problems I had with this game it does offer that true sense of adventure which I love from the genre and I had a lot of fun with it.

[realpoketendonl]

2. Sonic Mania [Switch]

So I've wanted to finish this game for a while, but what pushed me over the edge was my bff giving me this huge Sonic plush, which I love.



So I took the game back on, and turned out I was on the final zone of my first playthrough, so I could finish it relatively quickly. I know I'm far from done: I didn't even get all the Chaos Emeralds to unlock the true ending. But I played through it once and got credits, so I'mma count it. Also because I'm not sure how quickly I'll jump back in.
It's odd. I like Sonic and his friends a lot as characters. I really enjoy things like Sonic Prime and the second live-action movie. I enjoy the character designs, interactions, all that. But I often just can't seem to get into the games, especially the classic style ones. I can acknowledge all that's good about this game, but it just never clicked for me. Even towards the end I was a little puzzled on what I was doing. I don't know whether there's too much going on for me or whether I can't keep up or whatever, but I dunno. Happy for everyone who loves it, I can acknowledge it's good, but personally, I don't think I'll be picking it up again soon.

[dhaabi]

07. Omaze || Playdate || 01.16.24



Before first loading Omaze to begin playing, I had absolutely no idea what kind of genre the game would be. Its image among the system's library really gives no hints, so I was naturally curious.

As it turns out, Omaze is a logic puzzle game, although it has a elements of of action incorporated into it. In short, you as the player control a dot moving from one circle to the next, hoping to reach your end goal. However, this is obviously easier said than done, as each circle has its own obstacles to overcome in quick succession. While its complexities never become too involved or convoluted, the challenges presented and puzzle designs do gradually increase. Once again, I was pleased with the crank controls.

With that said, the two most basic controls are using the crank to rotate either clockwise or counterclockwise in addition to using the B button to manually cycle through one circle to the next. Along the way, there are openings which form the general pathway, so aligning to those connections will be needed to reach a stage's end goal. That said, I found some stages to offer more than one path to the end, which allows players to decide which sort of obstacles they want to overcome. Of course, obstacles are varied and require different reactionary outputs, so players will naturally opt for one path over another, depending on what is easiest for them.

In time, additional obstacle types are introduced. They range from self-rotating circles to enemy dots which rotate toward the player-controlled dot. Of course, when failing to overcome an obstacle, it results in a stage fail. On their own, puzzle elements are generally simple to overcome, but they will stack together to present a more challenging gameplay experience. Because of this, some moments involving auto-rotation paired with another other obstacle requires focused thinking and quick reactions involving both A and B buttons and the crank. At times, it is very much a challenge because there is little time to react with the player needing to move from button-pressing to crank-rotating. Even when not stacked together in one single circle, the series of obstacles before the player may feature numerous types, one after another, which is evident from the attached screenshot where seven unique obstacles are present.

Because of the screen's size limitations, the playing field can only support fifteen circles to traverse through, so stages are short. However, this isn't a criticism, as stages become tricky to execute as-needed in the moment. As I briefly mentioned before, Omaze is very much a reactionary game which will often require many repeated attempts. Near the beginning, I thought I had reached the game's end after only a short twenty stages. Fortunately, though, there are actually around sixty, as I initially overlooked the game's stage hub screen. Overall, I considered there to be a good balance of difficulty, as an area's first few stages introduce a new obstacle, with the latter ones being more challenging as multiple obstacles are layered. Something I'll also briefly mention is that there's even one puzzle obstacle which requires the crank to be mounted back into the system's crevice, which I found unique and unexpected. Also, what stood out to me the most is the atypical approach to how the system must be held. Instead of the left hand resting on the D-pad, it instead rests on the right side's face buttons while the right hand controls the crank. With the limited amount of system options to work with, I found Omaze to utilize just about everything it could in designing obstacles.

Being one of several of Playdate's pick-up-and-play type games that anyone can boot up with even just a few seconds to spare, Omaze was surprisingly a fun logic game with an emphasis on in-the-moment action. It isn't a game which warrants another playthrough, but it's a fun experience, nonetheless.

[bikingjahuty]

9. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F (PS3)

I'm a fairly big fan of rhythm games and I've had a long standing interest in the Hatsune Miku series of games. I've played Project Diva F before, but aside from playing it for about 30 minutes or so at a time, I never actually beat it. I've also played some version of it in the arcade as well. But I decided to go all the way and unlock every song in the game (at least on Normal mode) and see if this is a series I could get even deeper into.


Your mileage will vary considerably with this game depending on how much you are into Miku and the whole Vocaloid series. I appreciate Hatsune Miku for how Japanese the whole thing is, but as for the music and the whole persona surrounding Miku, I'm not a big fan for the most part. Still, this game has some very catchy tunes, and the gameplay for the most part does a good job at making this a fun, engaging rhythm game. My biggest gripe is some of the songs are bad at keeping a beat consistent with the button prompts required to get a passing score on each song. My other issue is sometimes the button press prompts are very hard to see or track with all the action and other animations occurring in the background during gameplay. But overall, this isn't a huge deal for the most part. Project Diva F also had a crazy amount of unlockables, ranging from songs, outfits for the various Vocaloids, and even food you can feed them. It's wild. I can't say Project Diva F is one of the best Rhythm games I've ever played, but it's still a fun time and a series I'm certainly going to play more of at some point. (1/20/24) [34/50]