52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

[bizzgeburt]

02 - DanceDanceRevolution: New Moves (PlayStation3)
https://vgcollect.com/item/285865

Hardware: PlayStation3 Fat Lady / PlayStation Eye / Konami DDR dance mat / PlayStation Move
Playtime: about 40 Hours

This obscure item/game came into my collection years ago kind of unintented, but was part of me developing a favour for weird controllers and/or peripherals. Being fascinated by early rythm-games, I never really wanted to try out dancing games at all and considered it a fun game for girls mostly. And I guess that's what DanceDance Revolution: New Moves actually is … nonetheless, my stepdaughter stumbled upon it visiting my gaming room and started playing it. We both ended up playing this game together for a few weeks, and I took my time trying out every mode and functionality and - naturally - gathered a few more trophies for my trophy-collection. I won't dig to deep into details this time as these types of games aren't really my fav, neither do I have any experience nor expertise with them.

Developed and published by Konami (Digital Entertainment) on March 17th 2011 (German release), DanceDance Revolution: New Moves was (about) the 10th home console release in the reknown DanceDance Revolution series that started in 1998 with the famous arcade cabinets that set standards for rythm and dancing games in general. Home versions usually come with a soft dance mat that resembles the arrow-tiles of the arcade machines.
This particular version also contains a PlayStation Move compatible mode, so dancers can use their arm movement in addition to the already required foot movement executed on the dance mat.

Graphically, I guess it's OK, it works for what it is. I don't have any comparison at hand but the likes of Guitar Hero and it actually kind of Looks similar to me. Funny detail is the PlayStation Eye camera filming you while hopping around - you can also add some blurry visual effects on the screen using the trigger of the Move Controller.

Musically - though this game literally lives off it's musical score - I was deeply disappiointed to find 80% titles totally unknown and therefore irrelevant to me, only a few better known names are present on the tracklist. And guess what: my stepdaughter being way younger than me had an even harder time finding even one song she could actually dance to. For a game with this world famous background, I really expected more tbh …   

DanceDance Revolution: New Moves would have made an awesome party night gaming/dancing event back in it's day, but let's face the truth: especially the song collection in this particular version wasn't good from the start and didn't age well also. You like dancing-games? Try it out... everyone else should ignore it. 

Wow, 2nd. game finished in 2026 due to 270+hrs of TES IV: Oblivion - on to the next one 

[realpoketendonl]

15. Pocket Mini Golf



Well, I kinda beat this one by accident. I got this game for free on Switch years ago. This publisher has given away a bunch of their games for free. I downloaded it and then never glanced at it again. But today a friend wanted to play it. So we played the multiplayer, about 15 minutes later I had beaten 50 stages, and that's when I double-checked and realised: yes, that was all the stages. I think I can consider this game beaten.

Not that it really left an impression on me. I mean, just look at it. I think you can tell how horrifically bland, basic and barebones this is. It controls decently, but that's about all I can give it. All the stages are just as bland and basic as the one in the screenshot. The presentation is the absolute bare minimum, not helped by the horrifically generic royalty-free mobile game ad-style music. In the multiplayer mode, you don't even have an option to play with a par. It's just about beating the stages as fast as possible. Which might take a bit longer than you expect because when trying to start a game, we had issues with the game disconnecting our controllers.

Granted, there is also a campaign mode which I did not beat, which does have a par, but it's the exact same levels. Just with a gem to collect in each one, which is used to artificially lengthen the game, because you use them to pay for continuing once you lose a level. So you know what, I beat every course in the game in the multiplayer mode, I'm gonna count that as beating it. Is anyone really gonna hold that against me?

It probably goes without saying, but this is not worth your time. Not in the slightest. Even if you like mini golf (which admittedly, I don't, but still), I fail to see any real value here. I'm no expert but there have to be better mini golf games out there. I remember Golf With Your Friends being all right, I don't know. A game beaten is a game beaten, but trust me: this is a waste of your time.

(And they have the gall to put a button on the main menu to buy DLC for this. People, your game doesn't look finished.)

[tripredacus]

I will give 2 reviews of games that are not abandoned or beaten but I am not really playing for typical reasons.

7. Fortnite (PC)
When this game came out originally, I had watched a fair bit of it on Twitch, primarily on SandyRavage and Trexcapades' channels. So I already had some idea about it and the fact that I wouldn't be interested in building anything. In fact, I unbound the build key entirely. In its current state, it reminds me a lot of a mobile game with all of the purchase options. I won my first match on solo zero build and also my first 3. It wasn't until I tried other modes that I ran into the knowledge gap. As with most BRs, it suffers from the fact they make things too easy. The only other BRs I have played are H1Z1, Blackout and Warzone 1.0.

Ground gun variety is very low, which is surprising, or there is not enough discernable differentiation. Throwables don't have their own key. There are way too many control options in menus. SBMM being present isn't a big deal but the game does have EOMM present which is a big deal. Not going to complain about controller players having aim assist, at least it is not as aggregious as in Warzone. Downed players have too much heal, as is also common in modern BRs. There doesn't seem to be a headshot damage multiplier present.

I do like that it has settings for individual sound sources with mic, voice chat and game audio. Controls are quite smooth and had good turning radius speeds. I primarily used the DMR, ADS is ok going from 3rd to 1st but that transition is always a little weird.

In general, it is more of a game to play with friends for me, rather than something I am actually interested in.

8. Roblox (PC)
I didn't really know what Roblox was outside of seeing memes or news stories. I thought it was a Minecraft ripoff. It is interesting that crossplay functionality exists between PC and cell phone players.
What Roblox really reminded me of, in a low level way, was ActiveWorlds. AW wasn't designed for gaming as its primary, rather to allow the creation of virtual worlds. Games certainly exist(ed) in AW. I do not know what creative tools exist for Roblox, but they probably aren't as ad hoc as AW was. For example, AW ran on Renderware before RW had any real tools, before it got picked by Rockstar for use in GTA3. You had to build models and do texture mapping with a text editor bitd.

Roblox is obviously not designed to be used on a computer. First, the account creation captcha renders extremely small on a monitor, to the point where it is difficult to view the symbols you have to match up. I had to run through the captcha 18 times before I got it right. There is no clear direction on the site how to install the game on a computer that does not have access to the MS Store aka non-retail editions of Windows which my computers use. It is possible, using the "Player" application (as an LLM informed me) but you can't download that standalone from the site and the site doesn't mention it specifically. You only can DL the player when you try to run a game for the first time. There is also not any way to remap controls, so when you are in a game you have to figure it out and not all of the games use the same controls, specifically camera control with the mouse. Look speed is way to high as a base setting even using a low DPI setting. You can camera clip in a lot of games due to the mouse and (apparently) there is a significant brightness difference between cell phone and PC where some textures are only visible on PC. Also, if you are using a PC without a camera, it is impossible to do age verification.

In general, it is a party game, something to play with friends. There are some interesting things people have created, but nothing I had found really hooked me. Some things I found familiar to games I can play elsewhere and that are better.

[supremeusername]

21. Pokémon Pokopia | 2026 | Switch 2 | 5/3:



     I haven't been too keen on Pokémon in the past couple of years. It's not that I don't like it; Pokémon has been one of the biggest forms of entertainment in my life growing up. First it was playing the DS games, then it transitioned to watching the anime and collecting the card game (like a lot of kids my age growing up). I just haven't felt interested in Scarlet & Violet and whatever else Game Freak had been pumping out as of late. I pickup up Pokopia on a whim -- not knowing anything about it, but hearing the rumors that it was good -- really good.

     You are immediately dropped into a desolate world: remnants of buildings, dried-up Earth, and no other life in sight; only you and a sharply-dressed Tangrowth remain . Slowly, you start to bring life back to the land by making habitats that a Pokémon would want to return to. Most simple, smaller Pokémon are okay with coming back if you make a 2x2 patch of grass for them. Many other Pokémon, such as a Venusaur, require more time and a more complicated set-up to come back -- such as flowers surrounded by garden furniture. Sometimes you are given the outline for a habitat by another Pokémon, sometimes you may find inspiration in the wild by finding a glowing point on the ground -- or you may just end up making a new habitat by accident. It brings back the joy and fun of discovering wild Pokémon in the mainline games, just in a completely different way. Instead of battling Pokémon, you make environments that suit their needs.

     Some Pokémon are content with you just giving them food, a chair, and a toy to max out their friendship level; other Pokémon require much more effort. That's about the time when you're given the ability to make houses for them. You can either make pre-built homes with their own interiors that appear larger then what's on the outside, or you can build an actual house Minecraft-style: built block by block. You can get real creative this way but even if you are not the creative type, there is still loads of other things you can do. Just filling out the Pokedex alone will give you plenty of hours in entertainment value; same with the story.

     Pokopia's story pertains to the world. You're not given plenty of dialogue like the mainline titles; it's a lot more subtle in comparison. You learn about the world and how it came to be by doing the story quests, but you get more background by reading through the brief notes and pictures left behind. It's nothing groundbreaking, but I really like Nintendo going with this approach more in their games (I noticed this with DK Bananza as well). It makes what you're doing -- bringing Pokémon together -- feel important, even if it's just a video game.

     Bringing back Pokémon to the world is a lot of fun, especially seeing them faithfully recreated and animated for a modern game. Onix is actually huge in this game. Bellsprout is tiny and has a stick body so it's hard to see it. Squirtle waddles when it walks and it's pretty funny to watch. Pokemon will talk to each other like in Animal Crossing and use similar expressions and emotions (like using the exact same sound effect when a Pokémon is feeling 'Shocked', for example). Each Pokémon is given their fair-shake of standing out amongst the rest, even if there's some who may have gotten a little more love than others. Some of my favorite Pokémon are well-represented: Ludicolo, Gardevoir, and Dragonite all look amazing! Then there are Pokémon who I ended up loving much more than before: Paras is adorable in this game, and the whole Slowpoke evolution-tree is funny. Slowpoke & Slowbro are real slow and dumb, while Slowking is made out to be one of the smartest Pokémon in the game. It's written in its Pokédex description sure, but it's still cool to see Slowking, and pretty much every Pokémon for that matter, talking and having some kind of personality.

     I get the hype now. This is quite possibly the greatest Pokémon game in over a decade. Pokopia is the best advertisement for Pokémon that Nintendo could have made -- at least for me. I have started collecting more Pokémon cards again (the absolute worst time to do so by the way), and I'm interested in trying out Scarlet & Violet and seeing what kind of team I end up making. With all that being said, I don't consider this game to be in my all-time greatest or anything. More so, it reminded me of why I loved Pokémon to begin with.



Grade: A+

[supremeusername]

22. Sabre Wulf | 1984 | Rare Replay Collection | Xbox Series X | 5/7:



     Not too much to say about this one. This is just another game that I needed to complete in order to obtain the coveted 100% completion mark in Rare Replay. This is another "maze" type of game, alike many of Rare's earlier output it seems. You absolutely need some kind of guide to beat Sabre Wulf unless you either know the game like the back of your hand or you're actually insane. It plays out on a flip-screen grid, similar to the original Legend of Zelda. I wouldn't be surprised if someone from Nintendo saw Sabre Wulf and took some inspiration. You are navigating some kind of jungle in game, but it feels more like a dungeon labyrinth -- with all kinds of directions to go, dead-ends to see, and repeats of the same layout over and over.

     You fight many dangerous wildlife and even some kind of indigenous tribesmen. Most of these enemies can be destroyed with just one swipe of your sword but there are a couple -- like the aforementioned tribesmen or the sleeping rhinos -- who cannot be defeated at all. You can knock them back with your sword or use the flower power-ups that appear to get past. There is a big RNG factor in which enemies will spawn randomly on screen. It can be a more than a second or a split-second when they appear. You will have times where you move to the next screen and immediately get knocked down because a common enemy spawned on top of you, or a tribesman just so happened to be standing exactly where you're supposed to be after entering a new screen.

     You can definitely sense the ambition pre-Rare was going with this, especially since they had just released Atic Atac -- their first "maze" game -- not even a year prior. It's just that... it's not fun to play nowadays. Part of it can be contributed to the Rare Replay emulation: lots of slowdown and me questioning at times if there's some kind of input delay in effect. A ton of it can also be contributed to getting bad RNG all too often and getting knocked down constantly. I don't know if this is the worse game I've played in the collection so far, but it's up for consideration. Grade: F+

[kamikazekeeg]

17 - Abiotic Factor (PC 2025) - BEAT - Counting this as beat on the technicality that I was doing a second playthrough more specifically to check out the new items, pets, and Voices of the Void crossover, which I did, but I kinda hit the end of Reactors, which is a good ways through the game and it reminded me of something I felt with the full playthrough I did back then...Around Reactors, the action kicks up a ton, enemies get way more tedious and tanky, and the game begins to drag. 

The game has a lot of action, but it's more interesting when you are fighting aliens, scrounging for survival supplies, traveling to do interesting worlds/realities, but Reactor is many hours spent there, fighting dudes with guns, a lot of them, again, for hours.  After this is the Gatekeepers base where you fight a bunch of dudes, and then it's going to the Orders base, where you fight a bunch of different dudes, and then the last big area is interesting, but that whole chunk is so much just fighting dudes with guns.  It feels like the game turns into kind of a more...Like I'm playing Quake or something than a survival crafting game with action in it. 

I had the same feeling last year, same feeling again, but since I did the stuff I wanted, and I've put like 50 hours into the game on this second playthrough, I'm counting it complete for myself.  I'll come back again once they add the actual big new content update which I supposed to be out this year, but I feel a little burnt out and want to play some other stuff.