Author Topic: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!  (Read 297564 times)

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #435 on: September 20, 2025, 06:31:22 pm »
5. Gunfright | 1985 | "Rare Replay" Collection | Xbox Series X | 1/29:

Doing this one to mainly progress in unlocking all achievements in Rare Replay. It could take me years to complete the entire collection or I may never complete it, but it's worth a shot to me. Out of the 5-ish games I've completed so far in this collection, this has to be probably the worst so far. It's not that it's aged poorly -- in fact, it's pretty straightforward: find the wanted criminal and beat them in a duel. It's just that: anything and everything will try and kill you. Cactus kills you, tumbleweeds kill you, walking into pedestrians kills you; it's never-ending.

Even after avoiding all obstacles in your path and getting to challenge your bounty to a duel, there's no guarantee you'll be able to kill them after the third level. There is an absurd difficulty spike after about the third level where the wanted target will give you almost no time to react to shooting them in a duel because you will already be shot dead by them. The only way to cheese this system is by using the Rare Replay "rewind" function to have good enough RNG to react in time and shoot them. The bounty can take less than a second to shoot you if you're unlucky or up to two seconds if you are lucky.

The basic premise of the game and its gameplay are both fun, but most of the game will be spent abusing the rewind button in order to complete it. Grade: D+

dhaabi

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #436 on: September 21, 2025, 03:12:55 pm »
Note: I'm pretty late to writing up reviews. I hadn't fully committed to it but I made sure to write down my thoughts after completing each game, with the possibility of uploading my chicken-scratch on the internet. It's my first time writing something about a game, so I wasn't really confident with what I was writing to begin with. So far however, I think I've improved from when I first started at the beginning of the year to where I'm at now. I went back to revise some of my earlier works and now I'm confident sharing what I've wrote! (albeit several month later).

Better late than never! I was the same way when I first started writing out my personal thoughts, too. If the effort is put in, there will definitely be improvement. I've always enjoyed reading others' thoughts here if they decide to share them. Hopefully you keep at it.

kashell

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #437 on: September 23, 2025, 09:43:03 am »
61. Resident Evil 4 Remake

Resident Evil 4 didn't need a remake. But, I'm glad it got one. This was one of the most fun and well-polished games I've played in a while. Tons of combat options. A good challenge. Great visuals and vibes. And, it really managed to capture both "survival" and "horror" equally. I was really impressed that they managed that. I also liked how they handled the characters. Leon is still great, but Ashley and Luis are great in this iteration. And Ada is fierce is always. If I had one complaint, it'd be the final boss. It was almost too "actiony" for the controls. Other than that, great game. I got a B ranking while playing on Standard mode. Fun fact: I got Krauser on my first try!

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #438 on: September 23, 2025, 12:29:35 pm »
61. Resident Evil 4 Remake

Resident Evil 4 didn't need a remake. But, I'm glad it got one. This was one of the most fun and well-polished games I've played in a while. Tons of combat options. A good challenge. Great visuals and vibes. And, it really managed to capture both "survival" and "horror" equally. I was really impressed that they managed that. I also liked how they handled the characters. Leon is still great, but Ashley and Luis are great in this iteration. And Ada is fierce is always. If I had one complaint, it'd be the final boss. It was almost too "actiony" for the controls. Other than that, great game. I got a B ranking while playing on Standard mode. Fun fact: I got Krauser on my first try!


I was shocked by how good this remake was. It's likely my second favorite RE game ever made.

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #439 on: September 25, 2025, 12:17:24 pm »
Better late than never! I was the same way when I first started writing out my personal thoughts, too. If the effort is put in, there will definitely be improvement. I've always enjoyed reading others' thoughts here if they decide to share them. Hopefully you keep at it.

Thank you!

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #440 on: September 25, 2025, 12:21:24 pm »
6. Import Tuner Challenge | 2006 | Xbox 360 | 2/7:

I love looking at niche early 360 titles, back when most of them still looked like PS2 games graphically. In case you don't know, this game is a part of the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series and the last one to release in the USA before the series' reboot in 2025. For someone that has never played any of these titles prior to this one, I can say that I'm pretty excited to dive into the series more (especially the new one). That being said: while the racing is pretty fun, I wish there was more to offer in terms of customization. Looking into it, apparently this game had a rushed development and it shows: not only with the limited selection of cars to pick from and roads to drive on, but also with the egregious amount of bugs and textures popping in and out from existence. I think the game's biggest strength for me is being able to beat opponents that have much faster cars than you while simultaneously saving money to afford that big engine upgrade that will have you beating those same opponents with ease. This game is pretty much a breeze towards the end once you fully upgrade your car, but those early moments where you're beating opponents by the skin of your teeth with your shabby ride is something special. Grade: C

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #441 on: September 25, 2025, 12:24:28 pm »
7. Balatro | 2024 | PC - Steam | 2/10:

This game is literally crack in video game form. I got the same feeling playing this for a short while as I did when I first started Binding of Isaac: Rebirth almost a decade ago. It's fun trying to come up with a build on the fly that will give you just enough points to make it past the ante. Similar to Isaac, some builds synergize better than others, so creating the right build that can "break the game" and make the rest of the run a breeze to go through is very rewarding. The only problem I have with this game is real-life time management (I checked the clock: it was midnight a minute ago, why is it 3 o'clock now?). Grade: A+

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #442 on: September 25, 2025, 12:27:51 pm »
8. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap | 2025 | PC - Game Pass | 2/13:

I haven't played any of the previous games in the series, so I don't have anything to compare it to. From what I've played, "Deathtrap" is more of a roguelite compared to prior entries: with larger maps and 4-player co-op now. Seems to me that they made changes that has left people polarized. Personally: I've had my fun playing the first few hours with friends, but it got stale after about hour 10. There's a lack of variety in the roguelite elements. You will get a lot of repeats of cards used to upgrade your traps & character every game, with like 4 bosses and 6 maps that the game pools from. In some ways, it does feel like I was playing an early access game and I did a double-take by checking the store page to make sure, and sure enough I was playing a fully-released game. It's a fun time with friends for a couple of sessions, but not a game I would go out of my way to purchase (and I definitely wouldn't recommend it for solo play unless you're a super fan). Grade: C-

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #443 on: September 25, 2025, 12:32:39 pm »
9. R.E.P.O. | 2025 | Early Access | PC - Steam | 3/6:

More than a year after its release, I still play Lethal Company regularly with friends. I think it's a testament to not only the greatness of the game, but also the lasting appeal that game has. Apparantly, other indie devs may feel the same as I do because there's been a recent influx of early access, horror co-op games on Steam with procedurally-generated areas and endless scrap to collect. Of the ones I've played so far, R.E.P.O. has probably felt closest to the Lethal Company experience. It's pretty silly, with the physics-based gameplay that has you navigating tight spaces and keeping loot from smashing into walls while hiding from monsters that will more than likely shatter you in one-shot. For an early-access game, it's pretty well-polished and a lot of fun. I can imagine it will be even better overtime with updates and mods, but the base game is good enough on its own to warrent a $10 purchase. Grade: B+

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #444 on: September 25, 2025, 12:37:42 pm »
10. SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated | 2020 | 100%! | Xbox Series X | 3/15:

This one's a real hood classic for me. This is my fourth time completing this game from what I can remember (2x the original, and now 2x the remaster). I recognize in this recent playthough that some of the aura and shine this game once had for me as a kid is a little more duller now. Some jokes don't land as well as they once did and parts that were once troublesome (puzzles, Kelp Forest, etc.) have felt way too easy this time around (that one bowling ball puzzle in the Mermalair still F'd me up though). Despite some faded nostalgia, I still have a lot of love for SpongeBob BFBB. It's simple yet fun to play and gives you just enough content that it never overstays its welcome. It's to me still the greatest, most immersive SpongeBob game money can buy (the point-and-click Employee of the Month game is a close second though).

I do wish the remaster devs were given a little more time for this game to bake in the oven. There were a lot more noticable glitches this time around, more so than the original game. There's also that "multiplayer mode" tacked on that may be one of the most unneccessary bonus modes I've ever seen in a video game. I will say: I am more appreciative of the saturated color palette used in the remaster this time around, as some areas in the original look almost too dark now (looking at you Kelp Forest). Grade: B

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #445 on: September 26, 2025, 09:36:53 pm »
23 - Dying Light: The Beast (PC 2025) - BEAT - I was a big fan of the first Dying Light, it had a long run of steady content added to the game, a great DLC expansion, they worked on that sucker for years before doing Dying Light 2.  That game had a ton of problems and when I got to it after they cleaned it up, it was just okay, it kinda missed the mark, I felt like they really wanted to make this bigger game, but it just wasn't as good.  The Beast fits in the middle, it's brought back Crane, the scale is smaller, feeling closer to DL1 than DL2 I think for the most part.  I did generally enjoy what I played, but it misses the mark in a few areas.

Dark Zones, which could be very intense in previous games are mostly nothing now.  Day or night, it's the same dozen or so zombies, a couple runners, and a screamer or two, all easy to fight, no variety, all to get one new gear or mod item and farm for supplies.  Vehicles are fine, but they aren't nearly as interesting as the customizable buggy from The Following and it's weird that like a decade plus after the apocalypse, there's just all these clean, nice, trucks strewn about.  The story is serviceable, though I think generally it's pretty basic and the finale is kinda lame for most of it.  Also I don't remember how bad it was in previous games, but constantly getting grabbed in this game is so annoying lol You eventually get something to counter the grab when you hit a level, and you can get out with some consumables, but daggers for some reason use a pretty valuable resource, wiring, which is used in lots of stuff, particularly building mods or upgrade weapons/mods/items, so you don't want to use them just to kill zombie trash all the time.  The grab can also have priority a lot of the time, so even if you are doing a big attack, and I've had hits do this, where it'll connect, show blood, make the sound, and then I'm grabbed.  Very frustrating.

I didn't hate my time, I actually like it being stripped back from DL2, more ambience with not having lots of people surviving around you, there's just things they missed the mark on and not really a 60 dollar price tag game despite being able to possibly get 30 to 40 hours out of it if you did everything.  Kinda just sits between DL1 and DL2 for me and actually got me interested to go back to DL1 to compare them, but maybe a little later as I have another game to play next.

telekill

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #446 on: September 28, 2025, 04:37:06 pm »
With the weekly challenges along with double and triple XP weekends, I went ahead and completed the full 60 levels of the Battlefield 2042 BF6 battlepass. So all BF6 unlocks will be available for me day one.

kashell

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #447 on: September 29, 2025, 07:45:46 am »
62. Resident Evil 4 Remake - Separate Ways

I mean, after seeing Ada's new look and hearing her new voice, I had to go through her story. Separate Ways was great. Simply take the great gameplay of Leon's campaign and give it to Ada. She has some maneuvers and tricks up her sleeve that separate (heh) her from Leon. And, unlike Leon's side, I never got frustrated with any of the bosses.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2025, 01:50:48 pm by kashell »

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #448 on: September 30, 2025, 12:40:42 am »
99. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS)

While I've replayed and beat Ocarina of Time countless times over the past 25+ years, I've only ever beat Majora's Mask a single time. In fact, the last time I beat Majora's Mask was as an angsty middle schooler back when it first came out on the N64. I remember really liking Majora's Mask, albeit not as much as its legendary predecessor. However, after replaying and beating Majora's Mask 25-years later, the fact that I haven't beat this game at least half as many times as I did Ocarina seems completely indefensible on my part.


Majora's Mask is nearly just as good, if not arguably just as good as Ocarina of Time. While its story and scope isn't as epic and grand as Ocarina of Time's, the game's focus on more dark themes such as death, loneliness, and grief absolutely make it just as memorable, if not for different reasons. One might also think the world of Termina is just a rehashed Hyrule. After all, many of the same characters and types of creatures you encounter in Majora's Mask are repurposed in Majora's Mask. However, the way they are repurposed makes them feel entirely fresh and new, while also introducing enough new characters, settings, creatures, dungeons, and mechanics to make a whole new game if Nintendo really wanted to. With all that said, I don't have a single complaint about Majora's Mask's presentation. As much as I love Ocarina of Time, I actually will admit that in some ways Majora's Mask absolutely surpasses it visually, which is saying a lot.


I also can't say a single bad thing about Majora's Mask's audio. In fact, I will say I absolutely prefer it over Ocarina's, which is also a 10/10 from an OST and audio perspective. The Song of Healing, the Observatory music, and the Final Hours theme are some of the greatest pieces of video game music I've ever heard. Koji Kondo is a freakin undisputed genius when it comes to his contributions to some of the best video games ever made and Majora's Mask is no exception. And despite there being no voice acting in this game, sounds and other audio effects you hear all surpass most of what was out there in games that were afforded the benefit of disc based tech, which obviously Majora's Mask was not afforded. Again, the audio is perfect in this game and I'd challenge anyone to say a bad thing about it.


Where Majora's Mask does falter slightly, if only a tiny, tiny bit is its gameplay. The same masterfully crafted gameplay from Ocarina of Time is present in Majora's Mask, but with the added bonus of the mask transformations. These allow you to take the form of other creatures that occupy Termina (and Hyrule) and include a Deku Scrub, Zora, and Goran. Each of these forms comes with its own abilities, mechanics, advantages, and disadvantages. The game fully leans into leveraging their mechanics to make dungeons and other exploration aspects of Majora's Mask to make the game highly enjoyable to play through, as well as distinct enough from its predecessor to make you feel like you're experiencing something new. Unfortunately, while the transformation masks offer a lot of new gameplay mechanics, playing as human link barely bring anything new to the table. The same types of weapons and upgrades are more or less available to Link in Majora's Mask as they were in Ocarina. This can at times make the gameplay as human Link feel a little stale, despite all these elements being implemented very well. However, this sameness with human Link's gameplay isn't why Majora's Mask falls somewhat short of being a 10/10 in terms of gameplay. Rather, it's because of another central mechanic to this game, the three day time cycle.


Majora's Mask is famous, or according to some, infamous for its three day time cycle which forces you to play the game out within the confines of three in game days before the moon comes crashing into Termina, resulting in a game over. An in game day is equal to about 20 minutes, which means you have around an hour to accomplish whatever it is you need to before needing to go back to the start of the first day. You do this by playing the Song of Time which transports you back in time so you can relive out the events of the three day cycle again, Ground Hog Day style. This mechanic was implemented in order to give characters and events their own distinct schedules which force you to do things at specific times and places in order to experience all there is to do in Majora's Mask. I applaud Nintendo for putting a system like this into a Zelda game, and in many ways it makes the game feel very unique and more interesting. However, another condition of you going back in time is losing all your non-key items and your money (assuming you didn't deposit it first). This gets annoying after a while, but maybe not as annoying and kinda tedious as seeing the same events play out the same way all over again, making it appear as though you never actually accomplished anything at all during the last three day cycle you played through. There are other methods of manipulating time, including a song that slows time and also another song that allowed you to jump again in time, but it still doesn't remedy the central issues with this mechanic. Another issue I ran into a few times with the three day cycle is almost running out of time before I was able to do everything I needed to, specifically completing dungeons. And that was with slowed time active. I will say that this time mechanic makes Majora's Mask more interesting and unique than anything else, but it isn't perfect and was the source of enough annoyances for me to make me dock a point off the overall gameplay score for this game.


Before I move onto my final thoughts on Majora's Mask, I wanted to address the 3DS version specifically. My original plan was to replay this game on the N64 as I had originally done back in 2000, however travel and other complications required me to either pick another game to play or play the portable 3DS version. The 3DS version, from everything that I can remember is just as good, if not slightly better than the original. The most obvious difference in this version is the visuals which are way more clear and refined than they were on the N64 back in the day. Also, while the game itself is 99% the same as it was on the N64, seasoned players who have no doubt played and beat the original version of this game way more than me, will undoubtedly notice small changes that have been made to the locations of certain items or characters compared to the first game. None of these impact the game in any really meaningful ways. If anything, they make the game feel a a tad bit more enjoyable by making certain things slightly more intuitive. I'd say nothing is lost by playing the 3DS version and I'd even encourage it if you have to play this game on the go like I did, or just want better visuals than what was offered on the N64.


I've made many comparisons between Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, and well, I'm about to do so once more. I still stand by Ocarina of Time as being my preferred N64 era Zelda, even when looking at the 3DS remakes as well. I feel like Ocarina is a more iconic game, and undoubtedly was far more groundbreaking when it came out, whereas Majora's Mask took the formula laid out in Ocarina and made many meaningful additions to it. However, another undeniable factor that has me preferring Ocarina over Majora is my own personal nostalgia for the former; beating Ocarina of Time for the first time as a 12 year old kid is up there with some of my most fond gaming memories. And as me beating it yet again earlier this year proved, Ocarina of Time is still very, very special game to me. Still, it cannot be understated how much I also love Majora's Mask and if anything, it's a game I'd like to replay and enjoy maybe just as much as I have Ocarina of Time since the late 90s. (9/29/25) [45/50]

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« Reply #449 on: September 30, 2025, 01:06:50 am »
I'm on the cusp of hitting my goal of 100 games beat for the year. With Halloween and spooky game season around the corner, I already know exactly which game will carry the honor of being that 100th game. It's a game I've never actually played before, but it does represent another milestone that I haven't known in 20-years. It'll probably take me the week or slightly more to beat it. Stay tuned ;)