52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[telly]

Game 6 - Super Empire Strikes Back (SNES) - 13 Hours

I haven't played an old school game like this in a long time, but I had (mostly) a really fun time with it. There's a lot to like about the Super Star Wars games. The controls are for the most part really smooth, the music and sound effects are top-notch, as are the graphics. The game feels like a scaled down version of the movies with a lot of love put into the cutscenes and voice acting. There's a nice variety of different flying and platforming stages packed with secrets alongside multiple characters to play as well. I really enjoyed most of the boss fights as well, particularly the final fight with Vader.

The game's low points for me were level-to-level with some really poor environmental design and insane difficulty - you're oftentimes swarmed with enemies that constantly respawn as soon as you kill one. The hit detection is really suspect as well and you have almost no post-hit invincibility which can add to the frustration. The game in general is very difficult, but thankfully there's a pretty generous password system to keep you going if you just persevere long enough. All in all, Super Empire Strikes back is probably 70% fun, 30% frustration but I enjoyed my time with it.

[Cartagia]

God of War Ragnarok is a good game, but definitely not as good as the previous one.  Great combat, and while the story was engaging, it was also super disjointed and the pacing was really weird.  tons of the game was just really slowly paced and it sucked all the momentum out of it, and made the game feel way too long, which is a shame, because I do like all of the individual pieces on their own.  Still boggles my mind that this team was able to take one of the most edgelordy characters and series of the mid-00s and turn it into a reflective, emotionally complex story, that doesn't forget what made it work in the first place for the most part.

[marvelvscapcom2]

19. Stubbs The Zombie: Rebel Without A Pulse [PS4] Finished April 2nd, 2025




Stubbs the zombie is a riot!  I liken to to the Gori Cuddly Carnage level of zany simplicity that meets OG Xbox Era goofiness.  And you get real humor.  Where Shaq Fu throws dung at the wall. This game is funny off premise alone. It doesnt have to try so hard.


You play as a zombie that desires to urinate into the cities municipal water supply and you bowl your own head like a bowling ball. What's not to love?

The gameplay is fluid, the trophy titles are even hilarious.  If you enjoyed the original Xbox only version of stubbs. This game is a faithful remaster. Not a remake. It has that old PS2 era feel to it.  But it's clean. And has many filter options which im glad because I hate film grain.


Stubbs powers consist of a detatchable hand, an exploding grenade pancreas and a giant fart. All have unique combat implications and get used often. 


Tanks, jeeps and machine guns.

The game is crude and silly. Fun and zaney.  And the boss battles are actually challenging. The difficulty curve is perfect. As is the run time. (Im a fan of games that dont outlive themselves or take themselves so seriously. Its fine to be concise)


Overall the only cons with Stubbs is their are at least 2 levels. Especially the caves that are drawn out.  The game also crashed on me twice. Which is unacceptable in 2025. Get with it. But the game overall is a blast and I can see why it became a cult classic.


Rating - 90/100

[dhaabi]

19. The Girl in the Window || Mobile || 03.30.2025



On a whim, I found myself playing The Girl in the Window. I really didn't know much about the game prior to playing, but its store page details and images seemed to indicate it to be similar to other puzzle games which I've played and enjoyed, so I was hoping for a similar experience.

Specifically, The Girl in the Window is an escape-the-room type puzzle game set within the context of a murder mystery narrative. Ironically, I only began playing this game after having forgotten my keys and being locked out from home for a while, so my situation was the exact opposite from the game's premise—I was wanting to get in, not out. The game's premise is simple: you as the unnamed protagonist enter an alleged haunted house in a derelict condition that's been this way since a horrific murder took place within it many years ago. While the doors are barred and the inside seems to remain untouched, there have been reports of ghostly apparitions being seen from outside through the windows. So, for some reason, the protagonist breaks in to investigate and immediately finds themselves trapped. Over the course of the game's event while inside while trying to get out, what are brief hauntings or maybe even remains of the past play out during certain key moments, though the ghost doesn't seem to be bothering the protagonist specifically but are rather making their presence known.

Inside, the player is limited to—or perhaps specifically stuck inside—a single small room and must search for items to use in a specific manner or in combination with others to solve puzzles. One step involved will present another piece of the larger puzzle needing answered to reach the main objective of leaving the locked house. Like many of its contemporaries, players are able to gain information and interact with each side of the room one at a time, and there are moments when certain screens indirectly interact with another. At first, I found myself thinking some of the puzzles were considerably obtuse, but there is really just a lot of moving parts to figure out how one set of clues should be used in conjunction with another. For that reason, I actually found the game's later sections easier than the beginning since more and more interactive set pieces had already become activated through earlier progression. So, naturally, there is less to piece together as the options available to use dwindle.

While the narrative does conclude, it is simple and not that important, although it does provide context for why the protagonist is drawn to this environment. In short, it serves it purpose for the actual gameplay. On that note, I did find myself using a guide for two or three segments. Perhaps I could have solved these sections with enough thought invested, but I didn't want to get too hung up on one small moment when there was clearly more to do. Also, I was locked out from my home for the majority of my playthrough, so I didn't feel quite as focused as I usually do while playing these types of games.

Overall, The Girl in the Window is fine. It's completely free, and advertisements are few and really not that frequent. The same developer has numerous other games which seem to be similar puzzle experiences, though I'm not sure if they're a part of a series or connected in any meaningful way. I may or may not visit more in the future, though hopefully it's not while being locked out.

[bikingjahuty]

42. Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis)

Throughout my youth, the Castlevania series somehow complete flew underneath my radar. Maybe it's because I was didn't have an NES during the 90s, or maybe it was because none of my friends seemed to know or talk about it either, but for whatever reason, it wouldn't be until the late 2000s that I'd finally dive into this series. Castlevania Bloodlines was actually my first Castlevania game. I remember liking it, but also thinking it had a lot of bullshit levels and sections as well. Well, unfortunately my opinion of Bloodlines is more or less the same as it was about 16 years ago, maybe even slightly worse.


Castlevania Bloodlines' saving grace is its presentation and music. Visually, Bloodlines is up there with some of the better looking Genesis games which is complimented by tons of cool bosses level set pieces, and the general horror setting and vibe of this game. The game is colorful and the sprites look excellent for the most part. The music is also excellent like it is in most Castlevania games. It especially sounds great through the Genesis' sound chip which has that distinct Genesis sound to it that I seem to praise in nearly every Genesis game review I write lol. But seriously, this is one you'd want to listen to in your car. The sound effects are also great and compliment the nearly top notch presentation this game is well known for.


Unfortunately when discussing Bloodlines' gameplay, my praise of this game is far less generous. Even compared to a lot of other classic, pre-metroidvania entries in the series, Bloodlines' has a ton of first time playthrough gotcha traps, which is one of my biggest pet peeves in older retro games. However, worse than that are some of its stages and sections which are just absolute crap in terms of design. With how good most of the other games in the series are, it surprises me Konami and Igarashi were okay putting some of these in the final game. Most appear in the final level, which sucks overall by the way, but there are platforming sections in this game that the controls seem ill equipped to handle. Whether you're playing a Eric or John, they both control very stiff for a game that wants to throw certain things at you that you are likely not able to handle given Bloodlines' gameplay limitations. It really is an example of a game being too ambitious for its own good. That's not to say there aren't some genuinely fun levels, sections, and bosses in Bloodlines because there definitely are, but there are enough of the bad ones where your enjoyment while playing will definitely be challenged.


Bloodlines is definitely a game that is hard for all the wrong reasons at many points in the game, and one I wanted to like more, but just couldn't. By the time the game was over I felt more relieved than happy that I just beat the game. Bloodlines is not a bad game, but its one that is definitely flawed and will test your patience at times despite it overwhelming your eyes and ears with its excellent 16-bit presentation. (4/5/25) [32/50]

[bikingjahuty]

43. F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa (Dreamcast)

As a 13-year old guy in the infancy of my love of cars which continues to this day, I remember seeing the deluxe version of the arcade cabinet for F355 Challenge at my local dave and Busters and nearly dying of excitement. The three panoramic screens, the surround sound audio of the 355's roaring flat plain crank V8, and maybe most of all, the gated 6-speed manual shifter made this the closest I could ever get to actually driving this legendary performance machine. Of course, I was never very good at this game, even years later when I'd come across it, but I still enjoyed the experience of playing this game whenever I was able to play this game in the arcade. While I have some prior experience with the Dreamcast port of F355 Challenge, I've always found it to be lacking in that overall visceral experience I get when playing the delixe arcade machine. This afternoon I decided to sit down with it and give the Dreamcast port a serious play through, and unfortunately it just doesn't scratch that driving sim itch that the arcade version provides.


F355 Challenge is still a pretty impression looking game, and in 2000 was a very impressive looking game. Really, my only major gripes with its visuals are some of the details of the tracks you race in and how some of the other cars looks in your rear view mirror and even when around you while driving. The audio is a mixed bag, but like the arcade game, the pretty realistic sound of the F355's roaring V8 sounds amazing. The soundtrack audio is very mediocre and not particularly memorable beyond the fact that there are very few songs in this game. Luckily that barely matters since you will just want to hear the noises coming out of your car.


Gameplay is less impressive in F355 Challenge. While not terrible or even bad, the driving mechanics in this game seem noticeably artificial while also trying to feel realistic. In other words, it feels like the game is compensating in strange ways in order to give the sensation of actually driving a Ferrari F355, even if it still falls short of being an approximation of what it's actually like. For the record, I've never drive any variant of a 355, but having driven other high performance, mid engine, rear wheel drive cars, F355 feels a bit to squirrelly to feel realistic. And then of course, the lack of the gated six speed in the arcade will also make you long to play that original version. The Dreamcast version does offer some additions not present in the arcade such as unlockable stages as well as more modes. Unfortunately, I found all this extra content still lacking and didn't bring my enjoyment on the same level as playing the arcade version. Sadly, I actually found the Dreamcast port to be kinda boring where I actually kept thinking I'd rather be playing something like Gran Turismo 2 or 3 instead (despite neither of those games having Ferrari's in them). Still, F355 Challenge on the Dreamcast does have its moments and does capture at least some of that magic present in the original arcade release. Unfortunately it's just not as enjoyable as the arcade game and never will be even if it still looks more or less the same and sounds about the same too. (4/5/25) [31/50]

[bikingjahuty]

44. Strikers 1945 II (Switch)

There are several SHMUPs that enthusiasts of the genre and gamers in general seem to adore that I simply do not get. And look, I'm not a hipster who has to go against the mainstream and call obscure, lessor known shooters masterpieces when in fact they're kinda crap. No, I generally carry a populist opinion when it comes to SHMUPs, but there are major exceptions with Strikers 1945 II and the rest of the games in that series being one of them.


Simply put, I do not like this game very much and think the love and praise it gets are way overblown. For one, the game's graphics are fairly flat and unremarkable, even back when it came out in the late 90s. All you have to do is look at some of its STG contemporaries from half a dozen other companies to see how bland this game looks in comparison. I will give Strikers 1945 II some credit and say its bosses are pretty cool with how they transform from a large, conventional war machine to some sort of cool mech, but overall the visuals are nothing special and I'd say are barely a hair over boring, generic, and just mediocre.


The audio in this game is sort of the same story. Nothing amazing, but nothing that offensive either. It's just sort of there and sounds uninspired while simultaneously feeling appropriate given the fast paced SHMUP action occurring on screen. Sound effects are good I guess, but yeah, this game's audio is the definition of serviceable but very generic.


Finally, Strikers 1945 II's gameplay is okay for the most part, but does run into some balancing issues mixed with outdated SHMUP mechanics, mainly having to restart levels again if you use a continue, but only on the later stages thankfully. The balancing issues I reference have to do with each of the selectable ship's speed being ill equipped to get you out of tight situations, especially against some of the more challenging bosses and later stages of the game. I also found your ship's hit box to be a bit on the large side, making it hard to pull off precise maneuvers between barrages of tightly packed bullets. You just sort of have to fly out of your way to an area less populated by bullets, assuming your ship doesn't get picked off before then due to the aforementioned relative slow speed of your ship. Speaking of the game's selectable ships, there are a decent amount of them to choose from, all with their own shot type and bomb/special attack. I appreciated this since at least to a degree in gives players choices in terms of a particular play style, to an extent at least. But yeah, even though the gameplay can be fun at times, it just has too many issues to be anything better than meh overall.


What's funny (or sad, depending on how you look at it), is this most recent playthrough of Strikers 1945 II is probably the most I've enjoyed this game since first playing it a long time ago. I always hope that the game will finally click with me and I'll see its unappreciated greatness the next time I play it. Unfortunately, I just can't see it no matter what aspect of the game I'm looking at. I guess you can place my feelings on Strikers 1945 II in the category of unpopular gaming opinions. I really wish I liked this game, but I simply don't. (4/6/25) [27/50]

[marvelvscapcom2]

20. Britney's Dance Beat [PS2] finished - April 6th, 2025




Review

So I really like Britney Spears, someone who basically became a consumable for paparazzo torture during my mid adolescence. I wish we coulda seen a world that cherished her as she blossomed. She is notable in history.  But above all else was and still is to a certain extent an icon. A piece of americana on par with the pepsi she promotes. And a really wonderful person at her peak. That possessed about every trait a popstar needs to be special. Britney is the 2000s. So it's only sensible I play a PS2 game (also 2000s) of her likeness. Does it live up?


No... it doesnt lol.


the game pissed me off to point of violence


The main issue with this game is not that its bad. Wanna know the truth? Its glorious. Its epic. The rythym system is so unique. The game is played by a green spinning circle that then highlights corresponding buttons. If a rival dancer gets better perfect combos than you. You will experience the following difficulty additions

. Double buttons (such as pressing X and <--  together)

. Blurry screen

. Rapidly swapping buttons

. A smaller radial meter to hit buttons in. 


The dancers look like dancers she has had. May even be. Me and my gf have enjoyed so much Britney content that I do recognize some. If they arent. They are inspired.  The soundtrack is licensed. And the dancing and movement of it is enjoyable.  I love the system. It is wonderfully bliss.


The issues.

The game is shorter than her first marraige

Like seriously.  I bet I spend more time writing this review than half the game.  I began at 2pm. It was done by 4pm. And that is with getting my ass kicked by the final boss like 2 dozen times. 

Normally I like a short concise game. But this is Britney! Shes up there with Madonna in terms of well... shes the damn Michael Jackson of girls. The princess of pop. The blonde anomoly that defined childhood for millions. And you give her 5 songs!!!  5 total songs. 


. Hit me baby
. Oops I did it again
. Stronger
. Slave 4 U
. Overprotected

I almost thought I was imagining the end credits. I assumed after you master these 5 songs you would get to experience 5 more.

. Lucky
. Drive Me Crazy
. Toxic
. Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman
. I love rock and roll (literally shows the sign for it in the background. 


So even though I genuinely love the game. It's basically dating a chef for 20 yrs and they only cook at work and leave you to smell lasagna fumes on their clothes with a bologna sandwich for dinner. Its a big giant tease.  The whole game needed at least 4x as many songs and boss battles. Sad part is. If it did? Possibly the greatest rythym game ever made. But it didnt.


Difficulty Spike


Because its so short. You go from entry level Nick Carter rip offs to dance against. They are easy. To within 1 hour facing a black woman named Carla that made me cry, slap my own leg and want to crawl under my bed in frustration.  Imagine quick time events. Giving you quarter second windows to hit.  If you miss? You lose power and Carla gains that power.  And trust me.


SHE DONT MISS.

Her combo can and will climb to 78+  78 notes straight it expects you to hit. All the while. Carla is hitting you with powers. It's what you'd expect. Hard as steel.


Overall the game unlike society hasnt given Britney her justice.  A new free Britney movement should be started to get her a longer game.  Its one game that I kinda wish was made in 2025 because itd probably have gotten like 2 dozen songs as dlc. And I woulda bought them too. 


Conclusion - Britney Spears career is explosive. She was a firecracker in terms of pop stardom. Attempting to summarize what being one of her dancers is about or the depth of her dance career in 1 1/2 hour of gameplay is truly a failure by thq. It is a wonderful, fun exciting game that ends to quick. It's the best date you ever been on ending after 2 mini golf puts.  It's the best dog you ever had but he runs away after a week.  It's the best pizza you ever tasted. But you're only allowed 1 bite. And that really really sucks. 


Rating - 71/100

[dhaabi]

20. Nour: Play with Your Food || PlayStation 5 || 04.06.2025



For quite some time, Nour: Play with Your Food has been a game that's maintained my interest. I remember reading an article about the game's development when its Kickstarter campaign was ongoing in 2017, but it wasn't until 2023 the game finally released. Now, all these years later, I was finally able to play with food.

Trying to describe Nour with words is somewhat difficult. To be as succinct as possible, though, it's an interactive audiovisual art experiment about food, which is still quite the mouthful. It's about how food not only relates to taste alone but the other senses as well, though it clearly emphasizes sight and sound. As its subtitle states, the game allows players to interact with food to evoke certain moods and draw out memories. To accomplish this, Nour takes on quite the free-form and exploratory approach as very little is actually explained, so players will naturally discover most of what the game offers on their own. There are no objectives, timers, or scores present, and the game's design, purpose, and value is all based on players' personal experience to the stimuli on-screen. Twenty stages which all do feel unique from another are designed, and I found it to be an appropriate amount that doesn't have the game overstay its welcome.

At the game's simplest, it is a simulation tool which players are freely able to spawn food in a sandbox playground environment. Each face and direction button corresponds to one single food item which drops down onto the level field, and other buttons may be used in conjunction with them to spawn even more items or to cause various effects. Players are able to rotate the field and zoom in, in addition to utilizing an array of tools and special effects that influence the nature of the food. For instance, there are effects which causes items to float in mid-air, grow or shrink in size, and even burn or freeze. At the same time, Nour makes use of the Dualsense controller's capabilities such as players being able to blow items away with a gust of breath and to levitate items when sustaining a held pitch. Knowing what all can be done is never known. And while there are no in-game objectives which emphasizes player discovery, the game's accompanying achievements system does provide some sort of task list that gives players direction.

While the game's rhythm elements are briefly introduced, I imagine the majority of players will ignore them or not understand completely what purpose they serve. After all, it's an entirely optional aspect to the game. While stages must be unlocked one at a time, there is no barrier aside from simply experiencing the current stage at any length. Regardless, icons indicating musical notes appear when pressing any button to a beat, though it's not outright explained why. When looking deeper into the game's menu, players will discover a section named rhythm controls, though they're all obscured until the player unlocks them organically through trial and error. Largely, these combos influence the stage's accompanying music which constantly changes and reflects a player's button inputs, such as initiating a key change. Still, these elements are not required to learn or to be engaged with in the slightest though, for the curious mind or those who wish to delve deep into the game's audiovisual experiences, there is plenty to explore.

Apart from gameplay which really isn't even Nour's focus, visuals and audio are standout components. Colors are vibrant with often a minimal presentation to the in-game stage environment. At times, stages are set within a color-filled void while others do feature a proper setting albeit still simple ones. Art design is heavily stylized which relies upon a glossy sheen that's almost plastic-like at times, though I think the game's use of environmental colors complement food assets well. And while music is a core aspect, I was more engrossed with the game's visuals. Still, there are various sound libraries which accompany stages, and I found this inclusion to greatly help set stages apart from each other while providing a powerful means of avoiding monotony. However, not everything is bright and colorful with accompanying upbeat sounds. There were several moments in my playthrough which saw the environment becoming dulled and gray with distorted, distant beats or even silence, and this type of event is influenced by a player's rhythm.

Ultimately, Nour: Play with Your Food has a standout presentation, and I think its execution is achieved nicely too. Its concept of play is unique, and the game's open-ended nature allows for it to become more than just a simulation tool but a simulation experience. It's not a game that I think most will find themselves wanting to play fully, but the right audience will greatly enjoy what's offered.

[bikingjahuty]

45. Confidential Mission (Arcade)

My only association with playing Confidential Mission prior to today was on the Dreamcast a very long time ago. Honestly, I barely remembered anything about it other than it being a light gun shooter and also it having a James Bond, secret agent theme to it. Unfortunately, I never came across Confidential Mission in the arcades back around the time it was released. Well today I felt like playing a fun light gun game and this game sounded right up my ally.


I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed Confidential Mission. In a lot of ways, this game actually feels like more of a worthy successor to Virtua Cop 2 than the actual successor to that game. Of course, it has a fairly different theme than the Virtua Cop games, but its core gameplay is very reminiscent of those other Sega gun games. Your enemies will pop out from behind every possibly object on the screen at some point, where a colored circle will appear around them that will gradually turn from green, to yellow, and then to red. If you don't shoot them before the circle turns red, you'll end up getting shot and taking damage. Confidential Mission essentially utilizes this same system and it works so well that you'd be forgiven for thinking this was another light gun game by Sega AM2 (Sega AM3 developed this one). Other than that, you'll be shooting a variety of objects to increase your score, get better temporary weapons, and even complete objects like shooting a grappling hook onto an adjacent building or blocking poison gas vents with rubber splat bullets. Light gun games can often feel very samey with their gameplay, but Confidential Mission does just enough to make it memorable which is the most you can ask of games from this genre.


Aside from the gameplay, the visuals are actually pretty good and very enjoyable to look as you play through Confidential Mission's three stages. All stages are colorful, detailed, and definitely fit in well with the whole secret agent aesthetic the game is going for. Aside from the repetitive enemy types, which to be fair all light gun games from this era were guilty of, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of destructible stage elements. Even games that overall don't look as good like Area 51 had a lot of things you could destroy in the background and having that in Confidential Mission would have made it that much more visually appealing. Luckily the game has some very memorable, fun bosses and how you fight them differs from how you fought the others. This is such a good looking game all around and I'd say is Confidential Mission's best quality.


Unfortunately this game's worst quality is its audio. Aside from some cheesy voice action which were par for the course from Sega light gun games of the time, the music in Confidential Mission is good, but not great. It fits in with the game's overall feel and vibe, but there aren't any really fun, catchy tracks like in House of the Dead or Virtua Cop. There are also a lot of explosion sounds and other cool sound effects that complement everything else this game is going for.


Confidential Mission is definitely a more unsung hero of 90s arcades, and one that is unfortunately overshadowed by some of the more famous genre titles of the time. I definitely wish I'd ran into this game as a 12-year old kid. I know I would have loved it, but even now as a guy in his late 30s, I still got a kick out of this one and definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys some good late 90s arcade gun games. (4/6/25) [34/50]

[marvelvscapcom2]

21. Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005) [XBOX] - Finished - April 7th, 2025



First time finishing 2 games in 24 hours. Possibly in my life? Idk.


Review

Have you played need for speed most wanted? If not here's a tour down memory lane. My dad got an original xbox from a pawn shop maybe 14 Earth Trips around the sun ago. These days almost felt as if the sun shined a tad bit brighter. My cousin lived downstairs. Cookouts. All nighters with video games until crickets chirped. And this game was one of the big 5.  I havent even played it since I was in 8th grade and even then that was my 2nd playthrough.  It was about time to rejoin an old friend. The air seemed crisper. It wasnt just connecting with mere black plastic and interactive media. It was a sort of nostalgia you can't bottle. But doing it as a almost 30 year old?  Thats about as close as you can get  


THE GREATEST NFS EVER MADE


I mean the need for speed community is in fairly consistent consensus about this. Rarely you come accross someone who says otherwise. Some say Carbon but Carbon is just most wanted but at night. Also a solid game.


Need for speed is imperfect perfection.  It has flaws. But somehow the flaws make it better. Like the flaws suck. But it also makes the game what it is. And if removed. It'd faulter because of it. 




The pros?  A sick soundtrack. The days of 2004 Static X, bullet for my valentine and disturbed make up a set list that is half Death emo alt metal and half bling era hip hop. It's pure silk on the ears!

The cars? Perfect balance of exotics, tuners and muscle. The game was the first need for speed to say. Hey want a 250mph ford gt? Here ya go. Enough mucking about. We are a full fledged racer now. And young me. Driving a Lamborghini Gallardo at 222 mph through a speed trap. Red blur off the taillights.  It's back. Hes me. I love him. I love this.


The customization isnt too much. Its not too little. Its just right. Complete with junkman parts. Unlockables. A fun card system and pink slips to rival cars.


The game comes at a time frame where EA releases the following

NFL Street 1,2 and 3
NBA street 1,2 and 3
Fifa Street 1,2
Simpsons Road Rage
Madden 2004-2008
MVP Baseball 2005 to 2006
BLACK
007 Agent Under fire and From Russia with love
Need for speeds underground 1, 2, most wanted and hot pursuit 2
Buffy the vampie slayer chaos bleeds

I mean you get the point. This company was NOT MISSING lol.  They dominated all that in one singular console generation. EA kicked major, wholesale, chuck norris levels of ass. And I love them even when they fail just off comroterie.


You make your way up a black list of 15 racers. Which overall is a tad lengthy but fairly paced.

You are guided by Mia Townsend. A sorta street racer turned bestie that is basically big sister that guides you through a wild west of rockport lunatics. From crooked cops to dudes who cheat to win races. It all has a good plot. To me the best plot in nfs history. Unbound coming close. 


One major issue with it is?

RUBBER BANDING


"Rubber band man, wild as taliban, 9 in my right. 45 in my other hand" lol.  The game pumps artificial difficulty by means of rubber banding your opponet. You can 100 percent drive flawlessly and still watch as an AI does game bending 300mph speeds to fly into the sky like a boeing 747 to shamelessly cheat.  Its hard. And unfair. But like I said before. Necessary.


Without the rubber banding the game would be a cake walk. This gived it some umph. Some moxie. You gotta earn beating it.

XBOX CONTROLLER PRAISE



So the game is unplayable on PS2. Graphics are 10x worst and controller is not designed for this type of racer. Imo abyway. Which led me to this glorious, beautiful piece of tech.  The original xbox.  I got lucky and got a 1.6 model from late 2004. With fixed clock capcitors. The controller honestly feels like it was designed in 2025.  Black and white buttons ⚪️ ⚫️ absolute chefs kiss. Its so smart. It might even be as good as Xbox One X controller or ps5. Im dead serious.  Its so comfortable for hours of play. So ergonomic. It has nice sensitivity. Rumble. I cant praise this beast enough. It definitely revolutionized racing and shooting games. Hence forza and halos dominance. You can just feel it. Nothing at the time was touching it to me. Its a beaut.


Conclusion - its a window into the best days of my childhood and most of all. Its nostalgic. And I got to play it on my dads original copy. From so many years ago. Almost 2 decades ago now. Jeez. It feels full circle. This was therapuetic to the soul.


Rating - 96/100

[bikingjahuty]

46. Death Crimson OX (Arcade)

I hate when I'm on a certain genre kick and there's that one game I play that's so bad, it takes me out of that mood and makes me want to play anything but another game from that genre. Tonight the game that ended my arcade light gun kick was Death Crimson OX. I've owned Death Crimson OX on the Dreamcast for a long time, but it's never a game I've ever got around to playing. Had I known it was as bad as it is, I'd have likely not wasted my time playing it in the arcade.


I've played a lot of light gun shooters in my life, and without a doubt Death Crimson OX is one of the worst. Its visuals are absolutely gross. Character models look both hilarious and disturbing with how disproportionate they look, enemies are fairly bland, bosses are recycled too often, most stages are kind of dull, and just overall, this game looks more like something from 1996 and not 2000 when it was released. I do have to give it some credit for having a few cool enemies and bosses, but none of them look that great, especially compared to many contemporary light gun games from Sega, Namco, and even Atari. There are also cut scenes within and between levels where the characters just stand stiffly with little to no movement. It just all comes across as ugly and bland for the most part.


Perhaps the only thing I did enjoy about Death Crimson OX was is OST. While not amazing, it was fairly catchy and enjoyable to listen to. It's too bad that was the only thing enjoyable to listen to since voice acting is only present when your character gets hit by an enemy or you die. There is a narrator voice at times, but only during select parts. Sound effects of guns and enemies is a mixed back, but mostly its not that great.


My biggest gripe with this game ended up being its actual gameplay. A combo of poor enemy balancing and placement, your character swaying for no reason to make the game artificially more difficult, and boss weak points that are difficult to determine, this game is not enjoyable to play. I did like how impactful the weapons feel and how the enemies and bosses reacted to getting shot, but there was little else to love about Death Crimson OX's gameplay. I will also say this game as the distinction of having one of the most annoying and tedious final boss battles in a light gun game I've ever had the displeasure of fighting. Seriously, it took me over ten minutes to kill it while many of the above mentioned issues with the gameplay made fighting it an absolute chore. Oh, and did I mention you fight it three times in a row, with the only difference between your encounters with it being its color palate. And that's not even mentioning the various other recycled boss fights throughout the game.


By the time the credits rolled at the end of Death Crimson OX, I was relieved it was over. I never want to play this game again and its one I have no lost love for or regrets not being able to play it back when it first came out. The game, like almost all bad games, does have a few redeeming qualities, but they are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things that it still makes this game crap no matter how you look at it. (4/7/25) [20/50]

[bikingjahuty]

47. House of the Dead III (Wii)

The House of the Dead series partially defined my arcade experience in the 90s. Between being completely blown away by the spooky setting and gore of the first game, and then the second game upping the ante with better graphics, the first two House of the Dead games were and still are some of my favorite light gun games ever made. When House of the Dead 3 came out you can imagine my excitement, however for whatever reason I never really loved it like I did the first two games. It's been a long time since I replayed through the third game in this franchise and I decided to revisit it again tonight to see if my opinion on it has changed any, for better or worse.

I guess depending on how you look at it, my opinion of House of the Dead III is more or less the same as its been for the last 20-years. The game is just as much fun to play as the first two games. Having the default weapon in the game being a shotgun instead of a wimpy handgun like the first two makes your shots more impactful and it shows with the damage done to zombies and other creatures you'll be destroying. It also has non-linier progression with there being branching paths and secrets that encourage replayability to an extent. All be it, the game lets you deliberately choose your path rather than it being more organic like in the first two House of the Dead games where failing to save a scientist or not killing an enemy fast enough will result in your taking a different path. I definitely prefer how progression was handled in the first two games better, and overall there is less alternate paths present in three which serves as a bit of a downgrade. Speaking of downgrades, despite House of the Dead III obviously being a newer game than 1 and 2, I never thought it looked as good despite running on more powerful hardware. The areas, monsters, and characters just look more cartoonish for lack of a better term, which kind of kills the excellent horror vibe of the first two games for me. I also didn't care for how Sega modeled the human chafracters who all have derped faces and giant hands like they're trying to be Looney Toons characters. Luckily the voice acting is still terrible and cheesy which is somewhat of a hallmark of a good House of the Dead game. Unfortunately, however, the soundtrack isn't on the same level of awesomeness of its predecessors, but is still pretty good for the most part.

I do really enjoy House of the Dead III, but I can still safely say it doesn't quite have that X factor that makes me still love 1 and 2 so much. Maybe it's my nostalgia for those games (even though I also played 3 at a fairly young age too), or maybe I just like the art direction and overall presentation more in the first couple titles, but either way, this will always be the inferior entry of the original three games. (4/9/25) [34/50]

[bikingjahuty]

48. The Last Guardian (PS4)

If there ever was a backlog game for me, it would definitely be The Last Guardian. I've had the intention of playing this game ever since it came out in 2016, but there was always something I felt like playing slightly more or I just didn't feel like playing anything at all. Years went by and finally a few days ago I said, enough is enough, I'm going to FINALLY play this game! And I've done just that! As always, I have a lot of thoughts I need to put out in the open.

When The Last Guardian was revealed during E3 2015 and then finally released the following year, I'd already played and beat Team Ico's other excellent game, Shadow of the Colossus (I've still never played Ico, so I don't have an opinion on it), and I expected to enjoy The Last Guardian about as much, give or take. In some ways, The Last Guardian met these expectations; the visuals are excellent and aside from semi-frequent frame rate dips, poor lighting in a few areas, and also there being a bit of repetitiveness in the various environments within the ancient ruins setting, the game looks absolutely amazing. It had me marveling at the ancient city Trico and I were traversing through and had me speculating on the lore behind it, which is only partially revealed throughout the game. On top of that, Trico's design and animations definitely do an excellent job of making him feel like a living, breathing creature, one the game does an excellent job at making you bond with and care about. I have very, very few complaints about the visuals, which are just barely shy of being perfect in my book.

There isn't much in the way of audio, at least when it comes to The Last Guardian's soundtrack. Most of the game doesn't have music playing and instead you'll just be hearing your character and Trico interact, as well as various environmental sound effects depending on what's going on. Still, there is a soundtrack there and overall I found it to be very enjoyable. Like the rest of the game, the audio definitely takes on a minimalist approach, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but I wish this game had more songs that complemented the atmosphere of various sections within the game.

While the visuals absolutely met my expectation of how good they'd be, and the audio almost did, The Last Guardian's gameplay is where I found myself the most disappointed. The Last Guardian's gameplay can be incredibly frustrating at times. I can't even count how many times throughout this game that I knew exactly what I needed to do, but I couldn't get the game and controls to do what I wanted. In other words, Trico wouldn't listen to me or perform the act I was clearly telling him to do. And look, I get that this was intentional, as Team Ico wanted Trico to act as much like a animal with his own free will, fears, and quarks as possible. But being a video game which you're supposed to, you know, play and control, this all proved to be way more frustrating than endearing. There are also a few other sections of the game that don't even involve Trico, well mostly, that are also very frustrating even though you're in full control. These include throwing food barrels into specific places, a part where you have to move a cage you're stuck inside of, and also a handful of platforming parts that were just downright annoying. This is all made even worse by the controls of the character you play as being kind of flimsy and unresponsive a large chunk of the game too. Things are not all bad in this game, as it definitely has some interesting and even fun puzzles I enjoyed solving with Trico, and also the excitement of exploring the ruins was mostly something that felt well within my grasp. So yeah, the gameplay is pretty meh, but does have its moments regardless.

However, maybe more than all of what I've just mentioned is the fact that The Last Guardian has an incredibly intriguing and heart warming story. I am definitely not going to spoil anything, but I loved bonding with Trico and finding out more about him just as much as I was finding out more about the main protagonist you play as. Also, the last third of the game was by far the best in terms of story. The very end of the game had me smiling and feeling good inside, when I was so certain at a few parts the writers were going to go in a completely different direction. It's honestly Trico, the little boy main character, and the overall story that made me love this game the most and what made me forgive the frankly sub par gameplay.

I think anyone with a PS4, or PS5, who hasn't played The Last Guardian absolutely owes it to themselves to play it at least once. It's a very unique game, unlike anything you've probably ever played, and it's charm will definitely keep you engaged, even through its often frustrating gameplay. The game may have not lived up to the immense hype and anticipation behind it prior to it coming out, but it's still a pretty enjoyable game and definitely worth a playthrough. (4/11/25) [36/50]

[dhaabi]

21. Snak || Playdate || 04.12.2025



After going a good while without playing it, I decided to revisit my Playdate handheld. I am still slowly playing through the bundled collection of games that are distributed with the console, and I found myself trying out Snak this time.

As one may imply from the game's title, Snak is a modern re-imagining the the classic action game Snake. For those unfamiliar to Snake, it's an arcade-styled game tasking players to amass the highest score by controlling the titular snake who consumes apples while avoiding both the edge of the screen and the snake's own body. However, each apple eaten lengthens the snake's body which creates more possibilities for the player-controller snake to collide with itself. (Does this mean the snake dies upon trying to eat itself in an act of ouroboros?) It's also worth mentioning that there is no penalty for missing an apple as they, in this game, move from one side of the screen to the next, and there is also no time limit. With that said, I did mention how Snak is an adaptation to these basic rules.

Just like how Snake tests players' reflexes, Snak also introduces new mechanics. First, the snake is now able to cross its own body but only during a short time window upon triggering a button. Second, apples which are not directly consumed by the snake's mouth but still make contact with the body become a part of the snake's body, although they do not count toward the player's score. Instead, the player is required to cross over the snake's body to consume this uneaten but stuck apple. When crossing over the snake's body, the ability lasts indefinitely so long as the snake stays overlapped. When uncrossed again, the effect must be triggered again or else the expected fail state will activate. From what I've gathered, I think that the snake can only cross over the same segment of its body once, and attempting to do so a second time will again end the player's current run. Before starting a new run, five difficulty options are available to select which range from Snak to Snaaaaak.

Seemingly at random, I've reached the game over screen despite not colliding with either the field edge or with the snake's body on several occasions. I think what may be happening is that an apple that's been lodged in the snake's body is directly colliding with another free-moving apple. So, players seem to be incentivized to successfully eat these apples too. Unfortunately, I can't know for sure exactly what's happened as the game over window covers the majority of the screen that shows my previous attempt. Still, this is the only possibility as to why I'd be reaching that fail state. And while this isn't a fault but instead a deliberate design choice, I'll still mention now how the game makes no use of the hardware's crank.

While not entirely original, Snak still offers fun in short bursts. Unlike its inspiration, it's much more interesting and strategic as a result of two small added mechanics. When trying to think to when I last played this kind of game, I think it was all the way back in the early 2000s when I had Snake preinstalled on some Nokia device. With that said, I highly doubt that much time will pass again before I revisit Snak.