52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[bikingjahuty]

3. Dead or Alive 3 (XBOX)

Despite how much I loved DOA2 on the Dreamcast growing up, I never once played DOA3 on the XBOX until this evening. While my fondness for DOA2 has faded in recent years, I still hold it in fairly high regard, especially with how impressive it was visually at the time it came out. DOA3 in many ways feels like an enhanced version of 2, rather than a sequel. The gameplay, while supposedly different than 2, feels pretty much the same to me. Visually, the game also looks pretty much the same despite being newer. If it weren't for the all new levels, more levels, and a few new characters, this really wouldn't feel like much of a sequel at all. But for what it's worth, most of the same things that charmed me in DOA2 did so in DOA3 too. I just wish DOA3 would have moved the needle a little more than it did to make it truly feel like the sequel I was hoping it would be. (1/3/25) [35/50]

[marvelvscapcom2]

3. Super Mario World [SNES] - Finished Jan 5th, 2025 (No Warps Or Shortcuts)




Review - I mean dawg, come on. It's super mario world lol. Now if I had to pick a game to show Aliens. To say. This is what gaming is. This is video games. Id choose this one and maybe tetris. The game is so accessible yet also a purist haven of collecting, secrets and later level difficulty. 

I love that its a game a 7 yr old can smile playing and a game a 45 yr old can smile playing. And that feeling carry over 3 decades. 

It used to be one of my christmas traditions. Id fire up the snes classic or my snes. And beat smw every Christmas. I wasnt alive to have played this game on christmas when it released. But I do it to try to feel what kids felt in the glory days. I havent done that tradition in years. But fired up some SMW and took her down

I have beaten this game maybe 7 to 10 times. And each time it doesnt lose its luster. The final boss is so fun. The level design is impeccable. It gives you just enough to plot your jump sequence but not too much to where it feels cruel.  Imagine a world where Bowser is called Tim the Tortoise. Ponder that. 

In general SMW is excellence in every way. The score is the John Williams of video games. The platforming is impeccable. And even with me trying to imply a very strict rating system. Its a flawless game. I cant name a flaw.  To me no mario side scroller has come close since and never will again.

Rating - 100/100


Time to beat - 5 or so hours.

[bizzgeburt]

02 - Slider (SEGA Game Gear)
Highscore: 95.330

https://vgcollect.com/item/8650

This is another game out of my Game Gear cartridge collection that I own for several years. I tried it once and almost beat it, but my handhelds screen gave up and had to be replaced (one of the best gaming investions ever for me).

Slider is a classic arcade/puzzle game where the goal is to turn all blue level tiles into red ones by stepping (sliding) over them to finish 99 levels filled with fast sliding, fireball-shooting or homing monsters and different types of tiles and traps.
Being able to shoot the enemies and even pick up different shots as pickups made playing this game a fun experience for me. Graphics are just fine for a GG game from early 92. Music gets kinda boring quite soon due to the fact that there aren't many scores in total and the ones given all seem kinda generic and yea ... boring. This doesn't affect the addictiveness of gameplay though. Every level has a password so progress can be 'saved'.
It took me three sessions of a few hours to beat this game. Some levels really are a pain in the rear but there's always a chance of getting a level-skip pickup if you're stuck.

I'm still grinding mages in Final Fantasy IV in daily hour shifts, so this game was another in-between ... more to come

PS.: don't consider this post a serious entry in this challenge. Most games I beat in one year was little over 30. But I'll submit as much as I can to give you guys my review of the games I finish this year. Nevertheless is this challenge a great way to keep on returning to my pile of shame

[dhaabi]

01. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories || PlayStation 2 || 01.02.25



As I near the end of my time playing through the Silent Hill franchise, the next entry for me to play was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Before playing, I was aware that this entry is regarded as the franchise's first major outlier, though for what reasons I wasn't sure. Later on in the fifth paragraph, I'll be mentioning certain aspects about the game which some would consider to be a spoiler, so be aware of that.

In a way, Shattered Memories is not an original entry to the franchise as it's an re-imagining of the debut title. The same general plot revolving around Harry Mason exploring the town of Silent Hill in search of his daughter Cheryl exists, but the details regarding them and the events which occur have been altered. Now, Harry is plagued with a severely unreliable memory after a car crash, and he moves forward in a constant state of confusion. While wandering, there is a lot to explore and discover, including hidden memories which serve as the game's collectibles. Some of these items of interest seem to relate to Harry, though others don't and instead to Silent Hill townspeople on a general level. Nevertheless, they're presented like fragments of reality or possible one's perception of it, and how they're interconnected to tell a story is engaging enough. They all come in the form of text messages or voicemails utilizing Harry's cell phone, which is one of the game's major mechanics emphasized. I'll also now mention the game's point-and-click type interactions. They're sometimes a sort of puzzle, though they're mostly a means to introduce simple motions controls to access items, as the game was originally developed for the Wii.

Throughout Harry's journey, there are plenty of world-building details which Harry comments on and interacts with. While almost entirely optional, another mechanic introduced is Harry's ability to make phone calls, which there are over fifty to find that yield some sort of conversation or voicemail to occur. They're an interesting inclusion and, as suggested, sometimes required to progress the narrative, though they're largely irrelevant to Harry or the story. At the same time, different environments are introduced which veterans of the series will have never encountered. In smaller-sized places such as indoor rooms, there is usually some detail that's nice to inspect, though more open areas suffer from becoming an empty expanse with little to see.

However, where Shattered Memories differs most is in its approach to horror. Unlike previous entries, there is no combat whatsoever. Instead, there are chase sequences with monsters that trigger in the same way as with other games, when the fog world transforms into the otherworld. During these segments, the player is needing to reach some end destination while navigating open-ended routes. Generally, they're not complicated although it's certainly possible to become lost, or at least running in loops. Though checking the map is recommended, I found myself not really ever having the opportunity to do so as I needed to prioritize Harry's safety. While running, enemies will lunge to grab at Harry, and a quick time event appears to throw them off, and multiple enemies can attack at once. Over time, Harry's speed slows down which makes the task more difficult. Flares may also be found which wards them slightly, hiding in large environmental spaces like lockers is possible, and other environmental objects can thrown to the floor to interrupt the monsters' path too.

Meanwhile, the game's exploration segments will periodically transition to a therapist's office at certain narrative checkpoints. Here, the Psych Profile system is implemented, though it's never outright divulged. Through the game, all sorts of simple tasks such as answering questionnaires and completing a Rorschach test are introduced. While they seem like just another foreign game mechanic to set the game apart from its predecessors, they're actually a complex system that influences a multitude of details about the game, and they're entirely dependent on the choices players make. For instance, how Silent Hill is designed which determines what's accessible or not is a major variable. But this isn't the only system. Small ways such as how the player controls Harry also influences certain narrative events and details. In no way was I expecting this level of personalization prior to playing, and I found it to be the game's greatest strength.

Before playing, I didn't really have any expectations for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, though I was aware of its somewhat mixed reception. There are certain aspects such as the Psych Profile that I think are executed quite effectively and to the surprise of the player which easily invites multiple playthroughs. Still, it's a game that would have benefited from more development time toward puzzle and environment design. Also, my opinion of the game's genre is that it's completely removed from the survival horror genre and instead a straightforward adventure game with horror elements much like most modern horror games. This isn't a criticism, though—I'm ultimately fine with this departure as it works well for this installment.

[telekill]

First game completed of 2025 -- Astrobot (PS5)

The Astrobot series continues to be charming and nostalgic. While I have yet to find every bot, I'm nearing the 300 mark and decided to look at who all had been included. My favorite renditions are of course Uncharted and Resident Evil, but there are literally hundreds of characters from various games throughout Playstation's history. Too many of the Ape Escape monkey's IMO, but it is what it is. Oddly missing from the roster are any from Mass Effect, Final Fantasy 7, Assassin's Creed and even Sony's own Twisted Metal. Perhaps those will be DLC levels?

Regardless, a fun classic feeling platforming game with tons to unlock and explore. The kids are loving their playthroughs as well.

[dhaabi]

02. Titanic Mystery || Wii || 01.04.25



Despite owning Titanic Mystery, it's not a game I purchased nor ever had any desire to play. Years ago, someone else in the household bought it for some reason—I suppose to purposely buy shovelware that looked promising or, at minimum, to buy a game that's objectively so bad that it could somehow be construed as fun to play and make fun of in a group setting.

Before describing gameplay, I'll first mention that Titanic Mystery does offer a narrative to follow, although I began skipping over most of it about a quarter-way into my playthrough. In short, one hundred years have past since the Titanic's shipwreck, and the centennial celebration has led for the creation and passage of the Titanic II. Aboard the ship, all of its guests and crew members are descendants from the original passengers of the Titanic. Shortly after the voyage has begun, though, it's revealed through found notes that someone aboard has hidden a bomb, and this person repeatedly leaves the player-character follow-up notes that more-or-less repeat the same sentiment each time for the majority of the game: that the terrorist is a passenger and that we'll figure out their identity as scattered diary pages are discovered all throughout the ship that can only be collected after hidden items are found. If not, the bomb will detonate. Simply put, it's a real never-ending effort for quite some time, and that the terrorist plans to abandon their attack once puzzles are solved shows quite the dedication they have toward the end goal. Alongside the terrorist's notes, the found diary pages were written from a guest aboard the Titanic, but I wasn't invested in this sub-plot. All of the game's dialogue and found notes are voiced, which was one of the game's fewest strengths, though voice work itself isn't particularly strong.

Concerning gameplay, it is chiefly characterized by hidden object puzzle-solving. In short, gameplay is terrible. Instead of crafted puzzles with items strategically hidden, items are instead littered about. Some items are quite obvious to find, but others are far in the background at such small sizes where they can't be discerned. No matter where they're located, items are presented with low resolution as bitmapped images, so understanding what they're supposed to even be becomes a challenge in itself. What's worse is that the experience is made much more irritating as a result of some items needing to be clicked on with certain unspecified precision, so formally finding them becomes an issue as players will either be unsure if it's the item they're needing to find at all or if they just mis-clicked. The play experience is even worsened as the game advanced, as areas are revisited 2–4 additional times. Fortunately, though, items to find and items shown on screen are randomized, so it doesn't always feel as if the same stage is being replayed (at least not entirely replayed.)

Alongside the main objective, there are also more traditional puzzles which appear periodically to solve. Unlike the hidden object puzzles, there is actually a good variety in puzzle type presented in this section, although the quality of them also vary considerably as some are elementary while others prove to be challenging. For some, the means to solve them are convoluted with broken systems resulting in failure even if the player action is done correctly. Fortunately, though, all of these secondary puzzles can be skipped entirely, which I did take advantage of on occasion after some annoyances. There is a penalty for taking such action, but it's not one I imagine many players would care about, as it relates to the player's high score that's determined by player completion time. Should the player desire, these puzzles can be revisited from the main menu.

Unsurprisingly, Titanic Mystery is an all-around bad game, and I can't in any way recommend to others to play it. I was taken aback some when finding out later on that the game received a modern port for Nintendo Switch.

[kamikazekeeg]

4 - Get To Work (PC 2024) - BEAT - I'm generally not the person that wants super hard experiences, I almost always play games on normal difficulty, I almost never play on whatever the hardest difficulty is, I don't replay FromSoft games to make them harder and harder, and I don't often play rage games.  There have been exceptions, such as Jump King, which I did for the art and it had a very straightforward control scheme (Still quite hard, still haven't been New Babe + yet), and I played a good few hours of Pogostuck, but that game was too hard and I dropped it.

This game won me over because I saw someone playing the opening area while blasting the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 to 4 playlist on Youtube lol

It's fun, basically you are a guy with multiple rollerblades on him, sliding up ramps and platforms as a metaphor for getting a job and climbing the business hierarchy.  It's goofy, but the game is entirely built around controlling your momentum, either leaning in to speed up, letting go to slow yourself, and grabbing if you need to stop.  It feels really good to get around and I think it offers a lot of leniency a lot of rage games don't do, like when you are done with a section (There's...6 or 7 separate zones I think?), you never return to the previous zones.  You can certainly have really bad falls that cause you to lose tons and tons of time, but it's never returning to the beginning of the game or previous zones.

I still have to beat the bonus endgame, which I will eventually, but I had fun with this, took me around 6 and a half hours to get through, Upper Management/Vice President was brutal, but I had a good time.