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52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

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dhaabi:
57. WarioWare: Snapped! || Nintendo DS || 09.04.2025



Looking for something quick to play for some handheld device, I settled on playing WarioWare: Snapped! Before playing, I wasn't aware of anything about the game (or I had forgotten about it) other than the franchise it belongs to, so I knew it wouldn't take long to play through.

Like with other WarioWare games, Snapped! is a collection of fast-paced mini-games, or microgames, with time limits. However, one thing I did not realize at all until I started the game is that it has one major gameplay gimmick: camera controls. Instead of using the system's buttons and directional pad, players themselves become the controller in a way by utilizing the system's camera and, to a far lesser extent, microphone. So, interacting with the game's components is executed by player movement that acts as touching what's on screen without actually touching what's on screen (or the system itself, for that matter.) It's a fun little concept though one that's not novel by any means even at the time of the game's 2008 release. How this mechanic operates is that, before each and every single mini-game, players must position themselves so that they're aligned with an on-screen silhouette to help maintain camera functionality.

At the same time, there is one other important detail I wasn't aware of prior to playing, which is that Snapped is a DSiWare game. So, what this means is that, even when compared to other games in the WarioWare franchise, Snapped! is markedly short. By no means is Snapped! a premium title within the series, and this is especially evident in the amount of content it offers. From the stage select menu screen, there are four sections to choose from, and each section is comprised of five microgames. So, what this means is that there are only twenty microgames to engage in which is disappointing considering that an entire section can be cleared in under one minute. In fact, most of my time playing Snapped! was actually spent configuring silhouette alignment and camera recognition, which I'll discuss further below. What's worse about the content availability is that one of the four sections is strictly a co-op experience. So, those without someone else to play with them won't be able to experience one-quarter of the game. Even after getting someone else to play for a moment, we couldn't even get the system to successfully recognize the two of us at once to even play the final section.

Regarding gameplay and the sense of satisfaction it provides, it is slight and unrewarding. WarioWare is a franchise that's known for its humor, but a fair amount of what's offered isn't particularly interesting, and none of them are presented in a fun way. As previously mentioned, only five microgames are played at succession, and each of them are interrupted by a camera check. Simultaneously, there is little challenge involved in the actual goals to be completed, and there are no fail states—not really, anyway. Once a section is completed, a simple stop-motion photo reel of the player's movements through each of the five microgames is compiled and displayed. It's a small but appreciated reward of sorts that adds some humor the the game. But when players are unable to complete a mini-game in time, these captured images are withheld. So, I suppose that players are really only incentivized to accomplish each microgame so that they're provided low-quality photo captures that sometimes have silly filters over them. And, honestly, the photo captures are probably the game's main attraction despite not even being that amusing. While the games themselves are sub-par, it is a little fun to laugh at how dumb you look while you were playing them.

As far as the game's functionality, is unfortunately isn't that great either. I initially played in a room with lighting and background that I suppose was close enough to my skin tone so did have trouble calibrating the camera, but I eventually got it to work with some consistency. But then I kept having to re-position myself or move to a different location entirely that had better visual clarity for the camera to recognize, but I was still having issues. As mentioned above, players don't actually maintain grasp of the DS handheld while playing, but they instead set it on a flat, still surface. Players must maintain a certain distance away from the camera, but I found myself moving all around while trying to pass silhouette checks. Also, when a silhouette check is failed (which happened often for me), the entire play session closes and resets back to the stage select menu. So, needless to say, there is a lot of setup involved that greatly disrupts the game's flow.

So to my disappointment, WarioWare: Snapped! is a bad game. I try not to be too negative in my thoughts, but that a Nintendo game of this quality was actually published and sold is a bit embarrassing. I can confidently say that I didn't gain any enjoyment during my time playing besides only the most fleeting amount I experienced while looking at photo reels.

bikingjahuty:
95. Tetris (NES)

Every few years, I find myself somehow getting sucked into Tetris. What was meant to be a 15-20 minute play session before moving onto something else, ends up consuming the rest of my day as I tirelessly try and beat my high scores. For the record, I am far from being a Tetris pro or even being a competitive player. If memory serves me right, my highest score was around 150,000 points, and typically I struggle to break into the six figure range. But regardless of my skill or lack there of, I still really enjoy this classic falling block puzzle game Tetris is pretty much as iconic a game as they come, I'd say surpassing Pong at this point. It's so simple, yet so amazingly addictive as to what you're required to do. Stack blocks, line up a row, and try and prevent the screen filling up. Meanwhile, the speed that the shapes fall increases over time, naturally making things more and more difficult. Getting those coveted 4 row Tetris clears is oh so satisfying, even after the 500th time. Compared to other versions of vanilla Tetris I've played, I enjoy the music quite a bit in the NES version. Other that, I suppose it's an upgrade visually seeing how there is color, but really Tetris is pretty much Tetris no matter which version you go with. I imagine I'll be picking Tetris up again in the not so distant future again, but for now I thought I'd leave a review for one of my favorite versions of this video game classic. (9/6/25) [38/50]

bikingjahuty:
96. Beast Busters (Arcade)

I spent a lot of time in arcades as a kid in the 90s, however it never ceases to amaze me how many arcade games I come across still that I've never seen or heard of before. Such is the case with 1989's Beast Busters by SNK. It blows me away even more than I was completely oblivious that SNK of all companies made a horror themed lightgun game with some amazing sprite work to boot. Unfortunately those impressive visuals are about all this game has going for it. While lightgun games aren't a bastion of deep, engaging gameplay most of the time, the genre absolutely matured past the just mindlessly shoot shit on the screen phase by around the mid 90s. I would consider giving Beast Busters a pass here for its monotonous, horribly imbalanced, and cheap gameplay, but it's just so bad I can't. Perhaps the worst part of this game is you can actually run out of ammo. Yes, you read that correctly; you can actually run out of ammo in a lightgun game. Luckily there are copious ammo drops throughout the game's seven stages, as well as a variety of exploding weapons like grenades and missiles you can collect as well. Luckily I only ever ran out of ammo once while playing, most likely due to the fact that I'd die well before I ran out.


Unfortunately the audio in this game isn't all that much better than the gameplay. Beast buster's soundtrack sounds more akin to something from the early 80s arcades and not the late 80s. I mean, in 1989 we had games like Final Fight which proved how good arcade game soundtracks could be. And let's not even mention what Sega was producing around this time. So yeah, the fact that Beast Buster's OST just sounds kinda bad an antiquated is fairly inexcusable. Luckily some cool horror themed sound effects from the many enemies you'll be fragging really salvages things in the audio department. Still, this game would have benefited vastly from a better soundtrack and audio quality in general.


From what I've written you might conclude that Beast Busters deserved to become mostly an obscure relic of the dwindling late 80s arcade scene, however as I said earlier, this game's visuals save it from being completely lackluster. The sprite work of enemies, stages, destructible elements, and bosses is to be commended. There is an impressive array of basic enemies in this game, there a very creative looking sub bosses in each stage, and more bosses later on that show of a similar degree of creativity. You aren't just fighting your basic cliche horror villeins here. Instead, you're blasting away creatures and bosses that look like they belong in a metroidvania Castlevania game and not a late 80s lightgun game. Not only that, but it sometimes feels like everything in this game can be destroyed or dismembered. Standard enemies, which are mostly comprised of zombies gloriously explode into several bloody chunks. It's hard to imagine any other game being this violent in 1989 and I'm sure it attracted more than its fair share of teenage gorehounds back in the day. The visuals are just so good in this game and as I said, they salvage what would have otherwise been a somewhat bad arcade lightgun game otherwise.


I am genuinely happy I stumbled upon Beast Busters, especially with spooky season quickly approaching. I wish the gameplay in the game wasn't so poorly designed and just below average, because if it had even been slightly more thought out, I may hold this game in higher regard than several other acclaimed lightgun games I've played in my day. Still, for what it is, Beast Busters is worth at least a single playthrough if you consider yourself a fan of retro lightgun games or just like some fun, over the top horror games to spice up your Halloween festivities. (9/6/25) [29/50]

Cartagia:
Returnal is probably the best big budget rogue-lite ever made.  Good gameplay loop, good graphics, but I feel like they wanted the difficulty to mask the lack of unique rooms / features in the biomes.  I found my later runs were totally dependent on what gun happened to drop early on.

telly:
Game 21 - Silent Hill: Homecoming (PS3) - 9 Hours

Have you ever played a game where everything clicked? Where it seems like the game was made just few you? Well dear readers, Silent Hill Homecoming was not that game for me. This was one of the worst video games I have had the displeasure of playing in a long time. While Origins definitely had some moments, Homecoming is several steps down in quality from the previous entries in pretty much every conceivable way.

First, the game played like ass. Controls are stiff and awkward, with a “modern” 3D control scheme and camera, but the camera controls are too slow and moving left/right/backward feels incredibly sluggish. Dodge rolling has been added but it’s not very useful because you don’t gain enough speed to gain distance between you and enemies. Combat kept switching between getting combed to death or glitching the AI with your own combos and neither was particularly fun. I never really liked the menus used to swap weapons either.

Graphically, the visuals are murky, and there’s a constant noise filter applied which gave me eye strain trying to look at it. The ability to send tables and chairs flying just by walking into them is also a great way to kill the atmosphere. The game is mostly various shades of putrid mind-numbing gray and runs at a constant sub 30 fps. The visual design is also heavily borrowed from the movie, for better or worse, meaning that things are in this game that don’t match preexisting lore, including steaming cracks in the ground from the nonexistent coal fire to Pyramid Head wandering around yet James is obviously nowhere to be found.

Puzzles have always been a staple in Silent Hill, and in this game, seemingly like everything else, has also received a major step down – most puzzles are simple with no real connection to any major horror themes.  I mean come on, a sliding block puzzle? The last puzzle in the game is a pretty decent challenge however.

The final nail in the coffin was the story, which was better than everything else in the game in that it was just okay. The major thing that I liked about this game was the idea of another town outside of Silent Hill but still in the vicinity of the sacred power that could have also been affected by the cult practices and could be dealing with the fallout in a unique way. And I would be lying if I didn’t say I kind of enjoyed the brief romance scenes between Alex and Elle. But that's about all the nice things I have to say about the story. It just wasn’t done in a way that felt like Silent Hill; it felt more like Saw than anything. Most of the story consists of Alex running after his brother ad nauseum with none of the other details in the story being told until the final last moments in a long exposition from judge Halloway. The addition of branching dialogue choices were mostly superficial, though I purposefully got the worst ending so I could get turned into a pyramid head, that was fun.

A generally miserable experience, I was glad to be finished with Silent Hill Homecoming. Here’s hoping that Shattered Memories will be a little better.

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