52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[kamikazekeeg]

10 - Pacific Drive PC 2024) - BEAT - I love a good survival/scavenging game, especially one that has a real unique hook to it and I feel like this one is probably the most interesting since Death Stranding perhaps.  Everything is focused on getting around this post-apocalyptic terrain in a customizable and improvable car, utilizing it as your space space and mobile base.  Get out of the car to tear up things with tools or explore structures to find supplies, and then survive the area to return back to the garage and research new parts, tools, or ways to improve your next trip into the zone.

They nailed everything with the car here, the atmosphere of the zone, how it gets more chaotic and messed up the deeper you go, starting out in relatively normal forests with odd anomalies and hazards, all the way up to what I can only call a "cement filled hellscape".  Each area I believe is a set layout, road, exits, terrain, and then what changes in each run are buildings, hazards, anomalies, etc...Makes you want to do "one last run" more than once so you can try and find the more rare parts you need for the higher end parts.

Story is decent, characters are enjoyable, I think they could've had more missions and things to do throughout as there's not a lot of variety going on, same for the things you loot, it feels like there needed to be twice as many types of things to loot through because it gets very samey even early.  There are three general sections of the zone, so just when you start to feel board of the areas you can go to, progress through the story, get to the next section and you'll get a new area type, and that would then reinvigorate the experience.

I also appreciate how much customization this game has, where you can just hit sliders that make things tougher or easier and it's a lot of things too tweak, I love that this has become way more common in games.  It ended up saving me on a soft lock situation, where I couldn't progress because it forced me into a story situation that I couldn't complete, so I found out you could abandon trip, which is "death" in the game, sending you back to the garage, but that drops a lot of the loot on a rusted out version of your car that you can go get back, but if you change the death options, you won't lose anything, which let me just return to garage with no issues and I appreciate having that.

Also I felt it saved me being annoyed at certain mechanics, because you have to "hold e" to interact with most things, including turning the key and shifter every time you stop the car, which is immensely annoying and they realized that, so they gave the options to to just make it an instant click, which was such an improvement early on.

I think this is a cool game, it can get very addictive and definitely the type of game you like to see, bringing up unique gameplay styles you don't see often.

[bikingjahuty]

58. Yu Yu Hakusho Makyo Toitsusen (Genesis)

Being a big fan of the company Treasure and their games, I've come to expect when I play one of their games I've never tried before that I'm probably really going to like it. While I have played a few disappointing titles for them, overall they've had a pretty good track record in my book. Hell, two of their games, Radiant Silvergun and Sin & Punishment are some of the best games I've ever played. So a long time ago when I discovered they made a game based on one of my favorite 90s animes, I figured I was guaranteed to like it. Unfortunately that really didn't end up being the case.


Yu Yu Hakusho Makyo Toitsusen is a pretty boring, generic fighting game outside the appeal of its IP. Had I played this game back in the early 2000s when I first got into Yu Yu Hakusho, I probably would have got a lot more out of the game, however, even with my budding enthusiasm for the series, I still don't think I would have enjoyed this game very much. Makyo Toitsusen doesn't do anything particularly wrong, but it doesn't really do anything really right either. It's probably one of the most okay 16-bit fighting games I've ever played. Visually, the game looks pretty good for the most part aside from mostly bland stages and there not being a ton of them. The character models all look like their anime counterparts as you'd expect and they do have some of their more iconic moves for you to perform which kinda look cool. The audio does have some ripped tracks from the show, but for the most part it's all original. It isn't a particularly good OST, but not terrible either. There is also limited lines the characters call out when performing moves or when they get hurt. Gameplay is also just okay with controls being fairly responsive and accurate, and also special moves being fairly easy to pull off. This game borrows Fatal Fury's multi plain fighting mechanic, but unfortunately it's just as useless in this game as it is in most Fatal Fury games that utilize it. As far as character balancing or anything that might set this game apart or make it competitive, I wasn't able to identify anything; this game just sort of feels like a battle of attrition to see who can KO the other player faster. This is a large part why Makyo Toitsusen is sort of boring despite being decent enough not to be considered a bad game.


Your mileage with Mayo Toitsusen will vary greatly on how much of a fan of Yu Yu Hazkusho you are, but even if you're a super fan of the series, it's hard to imagine anyone enjoying this game for more than a single playthrough, which was the case with me. I use the word "enjoying" very loosely too. This is definitely one of Treasure's weaker offerings as well, at least of their games I've played. (5/4/25) [27/50]

[marvelvscapcom2]

27. Life Is Strange: Before The Storm [PS4] -Finished May 5th, 2025



RACHEL AMBER IS GOATED

Life is strange BTS is essentially the prequel to life is strange 1.  And where Life is strange 1 for one made me absolutely loathe Chloe's character. Her unforgivable need for disapproval, her condescending selfishness but most of all her trying too hard teen edge that is troped to death. I sorta just didn't vibe.

Life is strange 1 also leaves Rachel Amber this girl that is sort of blackwell academy Mythos.  This girl that is mentioned by name only so much she becomes sort of a fairy tale of "once was" and is this vague story.  The vagueness of Rachel Amber in LIS 1, does nothing but fuel the depth and ultimately plot power Rachel holds in LIS BTS. That was a very smart decision. Rachel was a sillouette. This game here has painted her to life.



(Rachel Amber Reinvents Chloe Price)

So it's no secret I am not the wildest fanatic of Chloe Price, Chloe reeks of desperate need to be angsty and although her trauma explains her personality it doesnt often excuse it. So many times she was borderline toxic to Max. Putting her own entertainment over Max's feelings, health and safety. It's so so one dimensional and cliche and for the first chunk I dreaded a Chloe centric game..

Until Rachel Amber..

Rachel Amber realistically brings out this softer empathic side of Chloe that the player never even seen with Maxine. It's like an oil soaked butterfly flapping its wings for the first time since a disaster. It makes the first game hit even harder.  And shows why Chloe cares so much for Rachel. Rachel and her hardships bring out a side of Chloe that isnt so much an Avril Lavigne CD gone bad. But is rawly empathic, massively focused on others and is drenched in personal turmoils.   Chloe now is more prone to generosity. Fearless in her grace.

Rachel Amber is charismatic and a complete opposite to Chloe. It forces Chloe to step outside of her judgemental bubble and sorta soul submit to a Cali extrovert. It's sorta Romeo and Juliet level bad girl falls for the fairest maiden. And you see the shell peel back a bit. And it's glorious to watch.

Without spoilers. The train sequence with Rachel is the first time I've seen Chloe be her true self without a hardened persona to self protect.  It feels rawly real. And you can feel the tension of bewilderment. It's amazing.  It makes me like Chloe more because as everyone says in the game.  Rachel is fairly awesome.  Shes for one very accepting of Chloes flaws and seems to be the only one in Arcadia Bay that doesnt have an angle to sell or person to stab in the back. She's basically a fly close to the sun Icarus kinda character.



Overall I am loving this series. This one in terms of plot and gameplay is tough to judge. It is shorter. It gets its footing late again. And I dont think its as profound as the other 2.  But it definitely is a much needed character developer for Chloe who I now hate less and grasp more.

It also gives a window into Rachel Amber who now isnt this ambiguous Max replacement. Shes now a story. It makes more sense now. 


Rating - 89/100

[Cartagia]

I hit credits on Alan Wake II last night.  It's one of the best looking games I've ever seen.  It does such interesting things with light and shadows.  And on top of that, the story is incredible, with killer voice performances and motion capture.  Unfortunately, while the combat is generally way better than the original Alan Wake it is still pretty clumsy and very slow (along with movement being super slow in general), which was a huge disappointment, because Remedy showed with Control that they can really nail the combat if they want to.  It also doesn't do a great job of tutorializing, which makes the early game learning curve pretty steep and kinda frustrating.  These couple things unfortunately really dragged the whole experience down, which is a shame, because the stuff the game does well it does really, REALLY well.

Like Ragnarok, I'm going to keep the game installed so I can get to the DLC, but I have to put it down for a little while because I was ready to be done for now.

[marvelvscapcom2]

28. Jojo Siwa: Worldwide Party [PS4] - finished May 6th, 2025



IT IS WHAT IT IS


My girlfriend described Jojo Siwa as a Lisa Frank art come to life. And I feel this embodies her personality flawlessly.  Between her and my niece who loves dance and Jojo. I have been roped into this game lol. And they got to pick my next 52 game entry and alas it is.  So judge not unless he hath not played thy shitty games before... The whole thing is think puking a bag of skittles all over a neon unicorn.

Jojo is a complicated cat. I have my personal beliefs of her and most of those are nuetral however one thing I feel radically strong about her career path and child stars in general is that being young and dumb should not be grounds for the sheer amount of abuse she gets on social media. And I had the same stance of Rebecca Black back when I was in 7th grade watching 40 year old men cyber bully her.  We all can be corny sometimes.  I find minimal things about Jojo that actually make me hate her.  But I am not exactly a scholar of her brand either.

 Now for better or worst Jojo's game isn't exactly targeted towards me.. a 20 some year old fan of resident evil 2 lol. However I will be reviewing it as a 20 some year old resident evil 2 fan who can legally drink and drive. Well not together lol. You know what I mean. So keep that in mind.  If you have a little girl. I mean under 7.  This game might be a good first rythym game to build motor skills with.  Any girl older than 7 will most likely already be in her minecraft/fortnite phase or be into Mario. The game has tons of positive messaging about loving yourself and being a dreamer.  Cant fault it for its G rated vibe. It's good for the audience it aims to entertain.

However... Im not a kid lol.  So its kinda bad.

Art Style




One of the few things it has going for it. Is the art style. I was never against embracing this world. I gravitate to colorful things. I think Unicorns are rad. I like pink. I enjoyed the barbie movie lol..  I enjoy that stuff alongside all the horrorcore, metal and edgy stuff I enjoy.  So Overall the characters are adorable. Its one big silly 90s lisa frank trapper keeper in come to life.  It's vibrant and fun to be mesmerized by.  It can just melt your mind and you can chill. I liken it to a visual asmr. I found myself tranced sometimes. Its gummy bears and colors. It's bold.  Sadly everything else is colorless and boring.


concept and gameplay

This is where the review turns.  The game is repetitive as all can be. Remember those kids bop music videos when we were kids?  Remember the dot that bounces over the letters to show where to sing?  Thats you in this game. Hopping to the beat of Jojo's songs.  Which.. umm... kinda suck.


Some are catchy. Particularly D.R.E.A.M. But her songs consist of a 19 yr old pretending to be 7 and saying "bows are my super power" 25x a level because shes playing up to her nickolodeon fanbase. Which is to be expected. But again. I cant review this from that demographic. For an adult. Especially a gamer with musical taste lol.  It gets old fast. And was a struggle to finish. It is so mundane for a game so colorful and bubbly.

Difficulty is inconsistent and the levels are super linear and dull.  Sometimes it gets random spikes of difficulty. I assume to indimidate babies. But its no dark souls. It's just a button mash rythym game.

It really has more boring drawn out sequences then its worth.  But it wasnt a complete waste of time.  I overall didn't hate it and I think if I had a daughter itd be 10x better to build core memories with it.  But its not good for an adult who has metacritic 97 games in their backlog while this gets played lol.  Ay yay yay. 


Rating -  65/100

[bikingjahuty]

59. POD Speedzone (Dreamcast)

The only reason I own a copy of POD Speedzone is because I remember it being plastered in so many gaming magazines in the early 2000s. One is particular featured a very attractive girl that 13-year old me kinda had a thing for, but I digress. Years ago when I found a cheap copy of POD Speedzone while hunting for games, I decided I was finally going to play this game and see if it lived up to its memorable advertisements. Aside from knowing it was a racing game, I had no idea what to expect going into POD Speedzone. While some Dreamcast games have unfairly been forgotten over time, POD Speedzone is not one of those games.


POD Speedzone has to be one of the most poorly designed racing games I've ever played, which is saying something since I've played some truly awful raving games in my day. The track design is pretty terrible in every course. There are multiple branching paths in each course, with some being fairly intuitive and obvious, while others are poorly marked and very confusing as to whether they are part of the track or not. I can't tell you how many times I found myself accidentally driving the wrong way or wondering if I was even still in the race with out confusing some of the courses are. The game will often tell you which way to go, but the way the track is laid out barely makes that useful. There are also a decent amount of unavoidable obstacles, jumps that you'll often miss even at full speed, and weird track topography that will cause your vehicle to flip or crash into a wall frequently. Like many futuristic racing games from the era POD Speedzone came out, there are various powerups at your disposal to help give you an edge in each race. Unfortunately there are only a few of them and none of them are particularly useful or just redundant as is the case with the boost powerup that doesn't seem to help you anymore than your vehciles built in boost which you can use at will until you've used it all up. Your vehicle also gets damaged for hitting walls, flipping over, or getting hit by opponent power up weapons. If your vehicle takes too much damage it will force you to retire from the race. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, tracks are so large that you'll often forget you are racing against other opponents seeing how only 5 racers can participate, including you. The end result is a dull, lifeless, and and annoying experience while playing POS...woops, I meant POD Speedzone.


It's not all bad though. POD Speedzone does have a few redeeming qualities particularly in its visuals and audio. POD Speedzone was essentially Ubisoft's late 90s/early 2000s attempt to cash in on the futuristic racer sub genre. Similar to games like Extreme G or Wipeout, you'll be racing on various futuristic tracks. POD Speedzone's tracks are no different and for the most part look pretty cool for the most part. Unfortunately there are so few of them (six I believe) that you'll quickly get bored with racing through them over and over again. Likewise, there are also only a few vehicles to choose from, most of which look like incredibly ugly futuristic dune buggies. Despite their questionable art design, the vehicles actually show of a fairly good amount of detail, including some damage effects if your racer takes too much abuse during the course of the race. If not for how little content there is to look at in PD Speedzone, I may have thought a little higher of the visuals, but as is, this game will not capture your attention for long given how little there is to see.


Last, but definitely not least is the games audio which stands as POD Speedzone's best quality. Sound effects are nothing special, however the soundtrack is a fairly catchy late 90s techno score which actually kept me going in the game despite wanting to quit after only about 10-minutes of playing. Once again, there are only a few songs to speak of in POD Speedzone, but for what they are, they're pretty good.


There is no question whatsoever that POD Speedzone is a crap game, however despite that, there was a subjective charm this game had over me as I was playing through it. The game definitely represents that amazing late 90s/early 2000s video game zeitgeist when even big name studios like EA and Ubisoft released jank like this game that might as well have been developed by some independent team in eastern Europe inside a canning warehouse. Between the soundtrack and visuals, and even to an extenet the sub par gameplay, this game just feel so representative of its time, which is a period of gaming I deeply cherish. Still, if you asked me if I'd ever want to play POD Speedzone ever again, even many years from now when the taste of its terrible gameplay finally left my mouth, I'd still tell you absolutely not. Beyond my own weird minor satisfaction with this game, it's not a game I'd recommend anyone play, even if it's short as hell due to its very limited content. Pass on this one, you aren't missing out on anything...mostly. (5/6/25) [22/50]

[dhaabi]

26. Roundabout || PlayStation 4 || 05.05.2025



Over the many years my shared PlayStation account has had an active PlayStation Plus subscription, dozens upon dozens of games I've redeemed yet never played have accrued, even when they seem like I may enjoy them. Roundabout is one of these games, and it's been something I've considered playing for a year or two. I think the decision to let our subscription lapse has been made, so I'm planning to prioritize my time playing these kinds of games—especially ones which are only available digitally—for the next couple of months.

To be brief, players assume the role of a taxi driver named Georgio in Roundabout. However, Georgio is not an ordinary taxi driver by any means, as they are the world's first revolving limousine driver. As a professional, you as the player are tasked with driving all throughout town to pick up and drop off all sorts of riders. And as your title suggests, the limo being driven remains in a constant state of rotation, so it's required to meander through twists and turns even to bypass the most basic of paths while dodging other roadway and environment hazards. When an objective begins, arrows help guide players toward the direction they're needing to drive toward, and there are several points of interest which serve as checkpoints to reach prior to the end goal. The game is designed with a top-down camera perspective, so movement controls are straightforward.

Tasks may seem simple, but players will inevitably fail as the limo takes damage easily and is quickly destroyed upon taking a few hits of collision as hazards are all-around. Fortunately, though, there is no major repercussion toward completing the immediate goal as players will respawn nearby. But, there are some negative effects which take place as a result of vehicle destruction such as losing the current combo bonus which impacts the player's score on leaderboards, though this is an aspect I had no interest in. Regardless, the game's lenient respawn mechanic was fortunate for me as I am not very skilled at actually controlling the limo. However, the respawn system only behaves this way when actively working toward an objective. If choosing to explore freely, respawning transports players to the nearest mechanic's shop which behave as the checkpoints too when not driving passengers.

While those only interested in the game's story path may not feel compelled to freely explore the three in-game areas, others may be as there are all sorts of collectibles to discover. Additionally, money is automatically earned through player performance which can be spent toward vehicle upgrades. Scattered properties are also available to be purchased which allows for greater financial gains to be collected later upon revisiting these sites. There is also a small achievements list players may work toward completing which grant various driving skills, though only one may be active at a time. I did not try out many of the skills I unlocked, although I did heavily rely upon the default skill which slows down time. This ability greatly allowed me to navigate through tight environments more easily, but skills can't be abused as there is a depleting meter for them.

By every account, Roundabout offers an arcade-like experience that's easy to pick-up in short sessions. Alongside its gameplay, though, is also underlying narrative which capitalizes on purposely bad yet comical FMV sequences. The segments are plentiful and appear for every passenger ride, and they provide a lot of charm and upbeat, cheesy humor which gives the game a lot of personality. While there are side story segments which add depth to the townspeople, the majority of segments are interconnected and tell one cohesive narrative which, while simple, is fun. Video playback performed well mostly, though I did encounter one segment where audio didn't play. Upon starting a new game, subtitles can be activated in-game, and they're a nice inclusion for if this sort of error were to occur. I didn't explore the main menu settings after beginning the campaign, so I'm not sure if the opportunity to activate subtitles can be missed, though I did note how they can't be toggled off once on in-game.

At first glance, Roundabout may not seem all that interesting from a gameplay perspective, but its FMV sequences instill a lot of charisma alongside what else is offered. Not long after beginning my playthrough, I was wanting to see how the story would unfold once one ridiculous event occurred after another and more outlandish characters were introduced. In short, Roundabout is just fun.

[marvelvscapcom2]

29. Undertale [PS4] - finished May 8th, 2025




The best non SNES.... SNES game


Wow folks!  Wow wow wow.  2025 has brought a lot of surprises.  From Batman Arkham. To Life Is Strange. Franchises and series entering my gaming life and shifting my perspective.  Undertale struck me by the way a lot of indie devs do.  Repackaging nostalgia. "Hey look. Its your childhood. 9.99 on sale" and we often bite. The screenshots looked beautiful and the icon of the game was a pomeranian. The game got me on the classic "old games done better" vibe. And so does usually the games that try that miss something.  I'm also almost never able to pick up on turn based rpg games. I can count on one hand the ones ive finished. Its not my genre

Were gonna need two hands... lol.

Undertale is a glorious game.  From the soundtrack, so gorgeously whimsical at times. So gritty and heavy.  So funny and old timey. To the humor which is rampant throughout. To the emotional depth of the characters.  It's also basically a great nod, an homage to what made that art style so great. But taking it to 100000 with modern hardware.

This game was crowdsourced and had a small dev team.  And the creator Toby Fox apparently was a fan of earthbound.  And it for sure is an earthbound inspired game.  Where as I cant get past 1 hour of earthbound. I binged this game last night until 5 am   To me its much better.


It may seem im glazing a lot of games this year. But I am finding it hard to find flaws.  The system the game uses for combat. Much like earthbound but you control a heart shape and dodge icon attacks sorta contra style. So it has bullet hell elements. It's like nothing ive played before. It's quirky. Dripping with personality and the big boy devs just cant go out and buy that stuff. Billion dollar budgets can scoop soul by the spoonfil. It just feels loved. It feels complete. It feels so 1994.


And for that I tip my hat. It's basically home cooking versus other games of the genre being digiorno pizza. This has that sensations of grandma's love in the fresh fudge. The quirky jokes. Dialogue and characters are all so cute. And fun. And make an impact as you play.

The concept of the plot is also deep. Impactful. You get multiple different versions of the game depending how you play.

And above all. It is challenging but to very fair appropriate levels. It blends cinema with action. And it also has pomeranians lol.  Which you know how I feel about pomeranians. Pomeranians add 5 points to almost any rating. Themz the rulez lol.  Jk.

Either way. I believe this game is a labor of love. I feel many developers try to bottle nostalgia and sell it wholesale. Most fail or miss by a centimeter.  This game is to rpgs what Cuphead is to bullet hell shoot em ups.  They take a vintage concept and show you humanity hasnt lost its heart yet.  Each fiber of this game is cool. And the characters show a sorta ying and yang of the duality of conscious decisions. Highly highly reccomend.

Rating - 99/100

[marvelvscapcom2]

30. Gone Home [PS4] - Finished May 9th, 2025




Review

Gone Home is a quirkly little thing. I barely know if I fully grasp its mysteries. Imagine coming home after a college retreat. Finding a giant middle American white protestant suburbian bungalow abandoned.  And pieceing together your childhood through exploring it.  Complete with memories. Journal entires and funny callbacks to the 80s and 90s.  That is Gone Home.


It's compact and concise which makes it hard to warrant whatever one would spend on it.  But its warm and laid back which makes it a unique experience. 


The game touches on themes of waining curiosity involving sexuality and coming of age teenage discovery of those topics. Which lends it the more serious and relatable route.  And the things to find are bountiful.  Id call this. 

Explore fancy house simulator.

Imagine having like 9 bathrooms? A softball team could go #2 simultaneously.  Yet theirs no sprint button. Thats a lot of slow walking lol.

I actually enjoyed it. It feels very real to what exploring a house would feel like. And the game for the first time in a while with games for me. Wasnt hyperbolic at all. It was just. Home.  Gone home... 

Rating - 85.75/100

[marvelvscapcom2]

31. Super Mario Land [GB] - finished May 10th, 2025





Review - Off to a rocket start in May .  Which I did to keep pace to my a goal of 10.  It's my birth month. So want to up the output. I also want to hit more retro games. And a gameboy icon marks my first handheld game in a while.


Cool controls

What super mario land does right is its checkpoint system. It was really ambitious for its time and I didn't expect it to be so comfortable to play.  I played half of the game not realizing I could fire rockets which made the game maybe twice as hard during submarine and plane sequences. 


The sprinting in the game feels concise. The screen colors don't lend the most richness but its age isnt showing as much as a game like castlevania adventures to me.  This game is essentially a gorgeous example of an NES game in your hand.  I wasnt alive to see the launch of this. But I imagine this really was like alien technology.  Comparing this to tiger handheld is ridiculous. It just is so revolutionary.

Ranking this in the scheme of other games is hard. It's shorter than William Henry Harrisons term in office and it doesn't allow multi directional jumping. It also has a few design choices I question.  Such as exploding Koopas.  And sometimes slightly off landing zones and hit boxes.


But it's all peanuts when compared to how incredibly ahead of its time it is. The airplane sequences is like right out of modern platformers. The themes and Mario being spelled out in coins feels like mario maker even 30 years later. Its super neat.

I wont spoil the ending. But that really just confuses me in a funny way. Huh?  I thought?... lol.  Idk.  If you dont care about spoilers. I'm sure many of you already beat this. Am I seeing right?  Iykyk. 

I also enjoy the green mono chromatic graphics. Using 2 shades to make a masterpiece is profound.

It just hits a special place and I am happy I got to time warp to a simpler day even before me and give this a whirl.  It's new coke, flock of seaguls and radio shack but in the palm of your hand. Now you're playing with power!


Rating - 88/100

[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.