52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[bikingjahuty]

67. Killer Instinct: Definitive Edition (XBONE)

In what felt like a century, Killer Instinct: Definitive Edition finally finished installing onto my newly acquired XBONE and I got to play through my first actual XBOX One game! Going into KI:DE I was hoping for a much more refined, streamlined game compared to the first KI game I played through yesterday, which while memorable in many ways, was a bit of a clunky, overly cumbersome mess to play for the most part. Luckily, I for my wish with KI:DE, but there were also some concessions made as well.


Let's just get right into it; KI:DE's gameplay is WAY better than in the first game. Not only is the combat, controls, and overall mechanics way better than they were in the first KI, but certainly on par with modern fighting games of the time it was released. The combo system, which at times felt like doing a cheat code rather than a basic fight mechanic in the first game, feels intuitive and easy to execute in KI:DE. I never had issues with pulling off the insane combos or even executing combo breakers, which felt like some sort of privilege reserved only for elite players in the first KI game. There was also a much needed sense of character balancing, with certain characters not being insanely broken and OPed, and also there not being any insane difficulty spikes as you played through single player matches. Speaking of modes, there really aren't any in KI:DE. I know fighting game fans have become pretty spoiled in recent years with games now including robust, cinematic story modes and all sorts of other extras to extend the longevity of the game, but KI:DE seems to have missed that memo. As someone who typically doesn't dabble in extra play modes within fighting games, this wasn't a huge loss for me, but I'm not going to discount how important this is to others. Luckily, KI:DE's character roster is pretty large and filled with returning franchise characters, as well as many new ones, including guest characters from Gears of War and Halo, which is pretty awesome. There is a lot to love about this game's overall gameplay, even if it is a bit no frills otherwise.


The visuals in KI:DE are a bit disappointing in some ways. First and foremost, this game looks like a 7th gen game, despite being released for 8th gen consoles. Most character models, especially when viewed up close look fairly unattractive. This is especially true for human characters who looked like their models were pulled from some 2008, PS3 or XBOX 360 game. Luckily while you're actually in matches, some of this visual ugliness is phased out with some pretty fluid animations and decent, but ultimately somewhat underwhelming stages you'll be fighting in. One thing that does save KI:DE from scoring lower in its visuals is the fact that it has a really cool art direction which despite the outdated looking character models, still shines through. It's no secret that KI was originally trying to steal Mortal Kombat's lunch, but fortunately KI definitely distinguishes itself enough to where it has its own distinct identity and vibe, unlike any other fighting game I know of. This definitely shines through in the character design which I am a huge fan of now just in KI:DE, but in the older games too.


The audio, while not bad by any means, was also a tad bit disappointing. This is especially true when you realize Mick Gordon, the guy behind the insanely good Doom 2016 OST did the soundtrack for this game. You can definitely hear Mr. Gordon's signature sound in a lot of the tracks, but overall I didn't really feel like any particular track stood out to me, even though they all fit in well with the game itself. There is also voice acting for each character, which is always a nice touch too. Attacks and specials all have a meaty, impactful sound too which really adds to the enjoyability of this game as well.


Despite its shortcomings, it almost makes me sad that KI isn't a bigger franchise and really hasn't been since the 90s. KI:DE is such a fun, fluid, and fast paces fighting game that deserves more love, however it's clear that it just couldn't get enough love among many other excellent fighting games of the early and mid-2010s. I also feel like it was released on the wrong console, since it doesn't seem like fighting games have nearly as big of a base on the XBOX One as they did on the PS4. Regardless of why this game has more or less been forgotten about already, it still bums me we won't be seeing more KI in the future. I had a great time with KI:DE even though it still has obvious issues and flaws, and its one I'd definitely recommend XBONE owners go out and try if they haven't. (6/15/25) [34/50]

[dhaabi]

38. Balatro || PlayStation 5 || 06.14.2025



Since its release and critical success, I've become familiar with Balatro and mildly curious to try it out. Admittedly, I am not that knowledgeable or skilled in poker or other card games but do enjoy them with a casual interest on the rare occasion I'm presented to play. It always takes a fair amount of time for me to re-familiarize myself with the basic rules and structure of the game, so I was hoping Balatro would have a low difficulty barrier toward understanding its own rules and mechanics.

Fortunately, Balatro is an easy game to understand and to begin playing largely because, as a video game, a lot of processes are streamlined with instant feedback alongside annotated explanations. Instead of the standard poker format which has participants playing against another to see whose hand scores highest, I found that Balatro presents a much simpler goal since it's only ever focused on the player's hand. During each round, players have a finite number of turns to create hands to meet a certain point threshold which, once met, automatically advances the round. With each additional round, the point threshold becomes higher alongside certain conditions making it more difficult to succeed, and at the end of each phase, a boss encounter appears which has strict limitations to play by or hurdles to overcome. While this may not seem much different from standard poker at first, another aspect that's important to note is Balatro's deck-building gameplay. Both hand and deck size can far exceed the standard amount, and abilities are gained from a wide assortment of special cards which permits cards to modified or outright deleted. So, there is a major focus on strategy experimentation.

However, perhaps the game's biggest strength lies in its multiplier system. After each round, a random selection of special cards may be purchased with the sparse money collected. Though there are several types of special card types, it is Joker cards which allow for point totals to reach ridiculously high numbers through multipliers when used in combination with another and with playing cards. Joker cards are generally a permanent addition to the player's working winning hand build, though only a small number may be active at a time during normal circumstances. So, this alone requires thoughtful strategy to consider, and especially so consider the game's emphasis on randomization. Because of randomization that impacts both cards gained and challenges presented, players will never have one consistent strategy to win. As mentioned, there are other types of special cards to purchase as well with their own types of bonuses, though they're often single-use.

Because of Balatro's randomized mechanics, players are forced to adapt and play a certain way with each run. Typically, this involves playing specific hands in combination with upgrading specific types of cards to accommodate the types of Jokers that are presented. So, for instance, my winning run was able to focus on straights as the special cards I was able to gain allowed for such a hand to easily earn high point values. From what I've gathered, the path to winning is to make small progress in forming additive score bonuses only to slowly replace them over time with better ones. To reach the game's formal end, players must clear the eighth phase, although runs can actually be played endlessly. Still, for my purposes, I considered the game finished once clearing its immediate goal. I did keep playing to see how far along I could get, though, and I reached the end of phase ten before not being able to clear the needed point threshold. Both accomplishments were challenging, though I recognize that, by comparisons with more seasoned players, it is a low-barrier milestone to reach. It took me around 15–20 failed runs to finally clear the eighth phase, and it felt irritating each time it seemed like an okay run with good bonus modifiers (they probably weren't) ended in failure.

Without a doubt, Balatro has a lot of appeal, and it comes natural to want to try once more after failing or even again once clearing certain challenges. There are all sorts of other gameplay elements and unlockables too to entice players to keep playing more to accomplish even loftier goals, and it's certainly a game that avoids being dull. Were I less focused on playing a variety of games, Balatro may be one I'd want to play indefinitely, but I'm not that kind of person.

[kashell]

43. House of Ashes

It's always fun to play games like this with groups. I played The Quarry with the same group last year. This might be my least favorite of these games from these developers, but I still think it's a good game. It was a unique period drama since it took place in 2003 or so. That was such a weird time for politics, and life in general. The enemies weren't as scary and there wasn't as much intrigue, but I did like the characters. I managed to save all but one. I'll probably go through a wiki to see all of the possible routes. Up next is The Devil in Me!

[bizzgeburt]

06 - Schtroumpfs, Les (Sega Game Gear)
Highscore: 52.400
https://vgcollect.com/item/8598

Just a short title I wanted to accomplish before beating Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II. I have a lot of games of the Smurfs franchise, and this was the last one of them for me to beat. Interestingly, this version is almost identical to the Game Boy version, despite it's fully in colour.

It's actually a decent platformer, one of the more easy ones. My highscore is beatable, for I had to restart at Act 6 after game over.

I recommend this, if you want to beat an easy platformer in between longer lasting playthroughs.

Music - like in the GB-version - is decent. Graphics are nice, everything is clearly recognizable.

On to the next one! 

[telly]

Game 11 - Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar (Switch) - 16 Hours

I've now finished everything that I wanted to on the the Battle Network Legacy Collection, and it's quite a feat that I've managed to play every game in the series at some point in my life, including both versions of the double-version releases. The only one that I have not played is BN4: Red Sun. I also didn't play 2 on this collection because I beat it on the Wii U a couple years ago.

Of all the games in the series, BN6 holds a special place in my heart because it was the first BN game I ever played, after being turned on to it as a cooler, more kinetic alternative to Pokémon. I had Falzar, and I fondly remember doing link battles and trading chips with my friend, who had Gregar. I have not played it since way back then so I was looking forward to taking a nostalgic trip while also having all the previous games now under my belt to compare it to.

I am such a huge fan of these games, and BN 6 felt like a perfect way to cap off the series. In many ways, this one might be my favorite and is right up there with 3. The gameplay, graphics, and animations have been polished to a sheen over the previous 5 games and I can definitely say this game is such a treat to experience. I really enjoyed that the story starts off with you moving away from ACDC town which gives the game a fresh new beginning with some new faces. There are a lot of returning characters from previous games which as a kid I didn't really get but after playing all the other games that was a nice touch. I really liked the lore behind the Cybeasts and they were an interesting aspect of the story, even though 3 is still better in this regard. The virus capturing side content is really enjoyable and I liked that you get to spend extended periods of time as other navis, kind of like BN5.

I really don't have anything bad to say about this game besides what I've said in previous entries. It's a solid experience and some of the best the Battle Network series has to offer. I put over 100 hours into Cybeast Falzar as a kid and am excited to maybe go after some of the post-game content in Gregar! My final ranking is 3, 6, 5 (these three are very close together), then 2, 4, and 1.

[bikingjahuty]

68. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (PS2)

When it came to 6th gen Mortal Kombat games, I mostly sat that era out. Between MK4, Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon, I only sunk serious time into Deception, with MK4 being the game I played the second most, but still not that much. I actually owned Armageddon around the time it came out, but due to life circumstances around that time and the game being fairly underwhelming, I barely played it. That leaves Deadly Alliance as the game I've never played, not even once until just recently. Going into MK Deadly Alliance, I expected it to be a lot like Deception, and while in some ways it was, it was also fairly different too, and not particularly in a good way.


Deadly Alliance was a bit of a foundational game that was built upon heavily by Deception, and also slightly by Armageddon. It somewhat streamlined MK as a 3D fighting game in the early and mid 2000s, while also introducing a fairly crude, but serviceable Konquest mode as well as the currency driven Krypt where you can unlock everything from concept art to new characters.  Unfortunately, these extras are not fully realized in the way they were in later games, which makes them not as enticing as they would later be. The other issue I had is you unlock coins to unlock things in the Krypt by playing the game, which in itself isn't that much fun.


I do enjoy certain things about MK Deadly Alliance's gameplay, but there is a lot I don't. At the heart of Deadly Alliance's gameplay is its combat switching mechanic, which allows you to toggle three different fighting styles for each character, including one based around the use of weapons. All the styles have weaknesses and strengths, which do add some depth, but overall, I just felt this system felt a bit bloated and unnecessary. I also found MK Deadly Alliance's actual controls and fighting to be a bit dull and cumbersome. I struggled to get the hang of pulling of certain special moves, or at least using them to get an upper hand on my opponent consistently. I will fully admit that part of this might have been because I didn't sink as much time into this game as I needed to in order to git good, but having played through Arcade mode a few times, the gameplay and combat just never clicked with me despite it being decent and certainly an upgrade over what was found in MK4.


The visuals of MK6 are probably the most noticeable improvement over MK4, which character models and art looking quite a bit better. The one area I did zonk of this game when it came to visuals is the stages are probably some of the least memorable in any MK game I've ever played. Unfortunately they all come across as a bit underwhelming and generic, and also lack that special MK grittiness most other stages from other MK games have. I will also say cutscenes don't look the greatest either, but there are fairly few of these, and the in game graphics are good enough to where you'll mostly forget about those.


Finally, the audio in MK Deadly Alliance is pretty good, but also not amazing either. The soundtrack is appropriately MK sounding, but doesn't get me pumped in the same way many of the earlier MK OSTs did. There is also voice acting, which for an early 2000s PS2 game isn't half bad.


After all was said and done. MK Deadly Alliance is far from being a low point in the series, but it's also just not a particularly memorable or overly fun game. There was nothing in Deadly Alliance that I found down right annoying, frustrating, or broken, but overall the game is just sort of there and does little to inspire me or make me want to play anymore than I have to. Had I played this game back when it first came out, I'd probably have appreciated it more, but playing it close to 25-years later and also having some incredible MK titles released since then, this game just sort of feels like a relic reserved only for those with intense nostalgia for Deadly Alliance, or people curious about some of the earlier 3D entries in the series. I definitely below to the second camp, and after playing through a decent portion of Deadly Alliance, I'd say skip this one unless you're just that hardcore about your MK games. Just don't expect an incredible time when you do play this one. (6/18/25) [30/50]