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52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

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bikingjahuty:
60. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (PS5)

Toonami and Dragon Ball Z were my gateway drugs into anime back in the late 90s. I was OBSESSED with DBZ, as well as Dragon Ball and DBGT from about 1999 until 2002 or so when I started to lose interest. Back in the early 2010s I rekindled my fandom of the Dragon Ball franchise, albeit at about a quarter the intensity it once was. During this time i discovered many DBZ games that I probably would have had an aneurysm over if they'd existed at the height of my adolescent Dragon Ball fanaticism. One of those games in particular, DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (BT3) was one I sunk a ton of time into and thoroughly enjoyed around 2010 when I first played it. Over the years, I bought various other Dragon Ball games, none of which did it for me like BT3 did. Finally, after all these years when I found out Bandai was releasing an actual sequel to BT3, Sparking! Zero, I completely lost my mind in a fury of hype. Unfortunately, while Sparking! Zero is enjoyable no doubt, your mileage will vary dramatically depending on how much of a fan of the series you currently are.


 Sparking! Zero has a ton of content in it. Between many different modes and the fact that this game has by far the largest roster of characters to choose from, it's all hard to fault this game for not giving the player a ton of value for their purchase. Not only that, but I have to give Namco Bandai massive props for making the vast majority of this content accessible without the need to purchase additional DLC or season passes. You can unlock almost every character, stage, outfit, mode, or item just by playing the game and leveling yourself up. I miss when more games did this and it was truly a breath of fresh air to experience this in a fighting game released in 2024. The best part of all this is, if there's a Dragon Ball character you can think of, there's a good chance they're available to play in Sparking! Zero. Unfortunately, the original Dragon Ball series is sorely under represented in this game, probably to make way for inclusion of a ton of DB Super characters, but it's a fairly minor grip on the whole. Unfortunately the main thing holding Sparking! Zero's gameplay back isn't the lack of certain characters or content, but rather the experience of actually playing this game. While Sparking! Zero's gameplay isn't egregiously broken or flawed, it's a game that leans on emulating the flash of the anime series more than on making this a well balanced fighting game. And in making you feel like you're playing inside an episode of the show, the game absolutely succeeded. It's just too bad that getting locked into unavoidable special attacks and an over reliance on said attacks to win, make the game feel a bit one note to play. I also found battles to be a bit on the clunky side at times where my character wasn't doing exactly what I wanted to, causing me to get punished by my opponent. One other thing that can be seen and either a positive or negative depending on your point of view is how accurately the game scales the difficulty of characters based on their strength in the show. While you can technically have Nappa defeat Super Saiyen 4 Goku in a match, it's going to be way more difficult than if you chose SS4 Vegita instead. In all, the gameplay of Sparking! Zero is definitely enjoyable, but absolutely flawed.


Both Sparking! Zero's visual and auditory presentation are pretty damn good. Characters, stages, and everything else nearly perfectly capture the look and feel of the show. Aside for a few dull stages and the occasional character model looking the same as they have for a decade now in other DBZ games, there is little to complain about here. Most characters are voiced by their anime voice actors which really lends itself to how authentic this game feels. While I didn't mark the game down objectively for this, but on a subjective level, the changing of certain memorable character voices like Frieza and kid Gohan from the old Funimation dub I grew up with was a bit jarring, but I completely understand why they weren't able to reuse these voice actors in a game released long after those actors last reprised their respective roles. The music in Sparking! Zero also fits in well with the look and aesthetic of the game, although I didn't find any of the tracks particularly memorable or catchy.


Once again, I sorely wish Sparking! Zero had been around in the late 90s and early 2000s. It probably would have become one of my favorite games of all time, at least back then. Unfortunately as someone who still enjoys the Dragon Ball franchise, but on a far more casual basis, this game just didn't do it for me like I was hoping it was. If the gameplay had been a bit better, I might feel a little different, but even so, I still think my waning fandom for the series over the years impacted my subjective enjoyment of this game more than anything. In other words, if you adore the Dragon Ball series, I can almost guarantee you'll love this game. If you're just kind of a fan, or not a fan at all, this game is probably not going to win you over. (5/11/25) [34/50]

dhaabi:
27. Findi || Browser || 05.09.2025



The other day, I saw itch.io promoting Findi so, on a whim, I decided to blindly try it.

Before playing, I was under the impression that it was a simple hidden object game emphasizing the letter i in an overlapping field of similar shapes. Or perhaps presented in a fashion similar to the design of more abstract crossword searches which have puzzles centered around only a few letters. However, my expectations were actually wrong to the game's benefit. Instead, Findi is sometimes more like a logic puzzle game that offers twelve stages which task players with finding the letter i, but the means to do so require interactive input through various, and usually unpredictable, means.

While playing, nothing is explained at all which reinforces player discovery as puzzles must be solved through organic observation and trial-and-error. At times, puzzles even come across as deceptions—what may seem like a specific type of puzzle to be completed in a certain way sometimes isn't, and expectations are regularly subverted. Given the game's short time to complete, that this degree of surprise was achieved is, well, surprising. Throughout my playthrough, I experienced several aha moments when the answer finally became obvious, which was fun. This isn't to say that all puzzles are like this, though—some are more straightforward, but they all maintain a whimsical charm.

Despite only playing Findi for a few short minutes, I experienced some simple yet pleasant fun. I'm glad I noticed the game when I did.

marvelvscapcom2:
32. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time [PS4] - Finished May 12th, 2025



ONE BRUTAL BANDICOOT

Damn.. son.  That is one hard freaking game lol. And I love it!! :) As I type this. I have the thousand yard stare. Souls have been rattled by the barbarities of war. Sweat leaks from my brow. Not only is this game very important to me. I will get into why a bit later. The game is so massively, mind boggingly hard in such a purist way. That I can't begin to say how rewarding it feels to beat this one.  Now I wouldnt say its hard in the way NES games are sometimes.  But its hard in a cuphead sorta way.  I never found cuphead that unbeatable solely because its generous with checkpoints and save points.  Much like this game.

However...

The level "cortex castle" showed my death counter at 59. 59 deaths in one level and mostly one section lol.  The game is unforgiving. Challenging.  At times you have mere fractions of a second to alternate gravity to land in windows that have less than a fraction of a second to meet its requirements.  Theirs no room for error. And it doesn't always give you a checkpoint close to difficult sections. Sometimes you gotta backtrack and go through hell to get to satan so to speak.  And this and other things are why general consensus has this pegged as the hardest crash game. And I agree with that notion. Having beat them all. Both classic and remade.

Gameplay and Controls

Crash 4 is just fan service. Toys for bob is great with these two franchises Spyro and Crash. And have shown that they simply refuse to miss.  They seem to have fanatics involved in production and they genuinely get it... they just get the lovable marsupial and his many quirks.


The game allows you to now have 4 varying powers.  Slowing time. Vanishing blocks and platforming. Tornado crash. Gravity inverting. Each with its own aku aku god mask that accompanies it.  You also can play as Coco exclusively which I choose to do because I love coco and shes adorable. 

Wacko cocodrillo, and biker bandicoot also make appearances. Self given names I admit.

These powers just rock n roll. And add layers to platforming ive never quite seen before. The game is a really solid, accurate,.clean and perfect platformer. It really is. It is far greater than the ps one originals imo and the colors are gorgeous and glorious.  So many call backs. Ps one references.  Of course the elements you'd expect from a crash game. It all ties together beautiful with a bow on top.


This game is near and dear to me. I purchased it during heart of pandemic. Isolated and played it many times during bad times. I found myself engrossed in it during a death of my childhood great grandmother, dog, sicknesses.  Which kinda led me to drop it. And ive also been a fan of crash since I was about 4. Playing with my uncle on the glorious ps1. Which felt like a spaceship back then. It was spectacular.   The game entered my backlog about 25 percent through because it was always connected with them times of not only its wild difficulty spikes lol.  But also just Isolated society and to beat this is sorta like coming full circle. It's the rain forming a daffodil sorta scenario.  It is long long overdue. And I am so happy I picked it back up.  Because it is my favorite crash bandicoot I believe.  And I highly reccomend it.

Oh it also has inverted mode. Where you beat the game in inverted color pallet with less lighting basically in the dark backwards lol.  So any cynics might love that!


All and all. Horray 90s. Childhood reborn. Toys for bob rocks.



Also R.I.P to the great voice of aku aku. Mel Winkler. A staple of my childhood and the childhood of millions. Who died shortly before this games release. In whom they have dedicated the game to.

Rating - 98/100

kashell:
35. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - platinum'd

It's fitting that I took a little over 100 hours to finish a game with the word "hundred" in its title. Whew. What a journey this one was. The hours could have been cut down if I decided to not get all of the trophies, but me being me, I went for it. I really wanted an RPG to just sink my teeth into, chill with, and escape. That's what Hundred Heroes provided. Still, some parts of the game felt undercooked. The story was one of those parts. Things never, ever felt serious. Even during the "serious" moments, it seemed like one of the key players had to make a joke. The villain was kind of a goofball, too. For now, that's my only complaint with the game because it otherwise provided a traditional RPG journey that was equal parts contemporary and nostalgic. As for my next big game, that's going to take some time to figure out. Hundred Heroes was A LOT so I plan on palette cleansing a bit before diving into the next RPG.

dhaabi:
28. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition || PC || 05.10.2025



For around a decade or so, I've been aware of Dear Esther but never took the time to really learn what the game is about or why it's been deserving of praise. More-or-less, all I've known until now is its divisive reception as an adventure game which resulted in it earning the adverse label of being a "walking simulator."

As such a label implies, Dear Esther presents no real objective beyond following a linear path. Of course, there are some open spaces and forked trails to explore, but players are nonetheless required to move in one specific direction to progress the narrative. While there are no items to acquire, knowledge about the game's nontraditional story is gleaned both through environmental observation and narration. At times, these two aspects are interconnected as exploring certain places, including ones which stray from the main path, trigger narration opportunities. While the game begins on the shores of an uninhabited (though formerly inhabited) island with bountiful weeds and dilapidated structures being reclaimed by nature, its pastoral attractions later reveal other visual sights showcasing the island's beauty. It was for design choices like that throughout my entire time playing, I found the lack of an abandoned human presence both unnerving and awesome. Along the way across fields and stone, a high signal tower in the distance seemingly guides our unnamed protagonist.

Regarding narration, it comes in the form of the protagonist's monologues that I'm assuming are written diary entries or letters meant for the titular Esther. At times, some narrations come across more like introspective musings that question the very nature of humanity and of the island itself. At all times, though, narration adopts a reflective, poetic language. When going through a segment of the game again, I discovered that narration is somewhat randomized. While these moments are frequent occurrences, each trigger three or four variances. It's a small aspect to include, but it provides some degree of replayability as more of the vague story can be discovered upon subsequent playthroughs. It's also worth mentioning that what sort of narration occurs isn't tied to any game aspect such as play time. Certain scripted lines can also occur at various points of the game which naturally impacts the player's interpretation of what's being presented to them at any given time.

Working toward the game's one goal, players will explore a full 3D environment both detailed and empty simultaneously. I found myself regularly curious where all exactly I could go, so I spent a lot of time (slowly) moving around the perimeter, from one corner to its opposite. Of course, level geometry limits players' exploration which may result in their plummeting to death off a cliffside or even drown. Eventually, though, I didn't engage in this sort of exhaustive exploration as much so I could focus on the linear path, though I did still somehow manage to trigger all narrative dialogue opportunities. As one should presume from my description, Dear Esther is slow-paced and is more about establishing a mood more than reliably telling a story or providing objectives for players to complete. And I was fine with that, as the game's writing is praiseworthy.

The original version of Dear Esther released in 2008, so I'm considerably late to experiencing it. At the time of its debut, its status as a narrative-driven adventure game was much more of a novel concept. Still, on some level it remains an interesting gaming experience, though what it set out to accomplish has since been replicated to arguably greater success by later-developed contemporaries. Having finally played Dear Esther, I can now play its spiritual successor Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.

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