52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[kashell]

45. Mario Party Superstars

We played this enough throughout the weekend to a point where I'm counting it. Good times. Easy to get into. Extra fun to win.

[bikingjahuty]

69. Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed (PS3)

I almost have to divide my experiences with the kart racer sub genre into pre-Mario Kart 8 and post-Mario Kart 8. That game not only set a very high benchmark for all kart racers, but just racing games in general with how much I have loved playing that game for the last 10-years. In fact, Mario Kart 8 is a top 10 game of all time for me. I first played Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed (SaASRT) way back in 2013, two years before Mario Kart 8 came out on the Wii U. My then girlfriend, and now wife, used to play local split screen and we did are best to unlock as much as we could in that game, as well as just enjoy playing SaASRT because it was an awesome game. I haven't played SaASRT since around that time and before playing Mario Kart 8 for the first time, which had me worried that MK8 was just so good that it would more or less ruin all kart racers I played before it. I am very, very pleased to say that not only did MK8 ruin SaASRT for me, but SaASRT is actually way better than I remembered! So much so, that it almost gives MK8 a run for its money, as crazy as that may sound.


In the same way that MK8 and the other MK games are a loving tribute to Nintendo, SaASRT is the same thing, but just with Sega. There are so many characters from so many different Sega franchises on tap to play as in this game, even including characters from lessor known, or somewhat forgotten franchises like Alex Kidd. The same is true for the stages in SaASRT, with entire levels lovingly themed after games like Burning Rangers and Panzer Dragoon, in addition to the Sonic or Nights themed levels. There are a few guest characters thrown in, one being Wreck it Ralph, which I thought was kinda cool, but the other is NASCAR driver Danica Patrick for some reason...yeah. But anyways...whether it's the characters or stages, they all possess their own unique charm with how lovingly created they were for this game. The visuals in general are just vibrant, bright, and so well crafted that its hard for me to fault anything about this game. However, saying the visuals are absolutely perfect would be a lie, as there are a few rough graphical elements, mostly having to do with the character models of the vehicles at times, as well as a few weird clipping or geometry bugs I ran into fairly often. Luckily, these issues do very little to distract from what is otherwise a very visually appealing game with a lot of variety in its tracks and racers.


This variety absolutely seeps over into the gameplay of SaASRT where all 15 or so tracks are constantly changing throughout the course of your race and between laps. A section where you had to drive on a road during the last lap may sink into a lake, or maybe is completely destroyed, requiring your vehicle to transform into a plane. This brings me to one of the main gameplay elements of SaASRT which is the actual transformation system. Every character's vehicle has a car, plane, and boat mode, which automatically change depending on the terrain you encounter in the various levels. All three forms control dramatically diffferent, as well as have unique quarks to them which require you to strategize differently depending on form your vehicle is in. This makes races feel very dynamic and interesting as it's not uncommon for your vehicle to change into all three forms within a single race. Speaking of races, there are many different stage modes throughout SaASRT's campaign and GP modes. These come in the form of your standard races, but also battle races, boost races, ring challenges, and traffic mode where you have to avoid hitting traffic obstacles before time runs out. These are just a few of the various race types throughout the game, which really keep things feeling fresh and interesting throughout the entire campaign. Personally, I enjoyed all these modes, except a couple, especially Pursuit races which have you fighting a tank enemy while it fires projectiles at you. Those race types flat out suck and I won't pretend they don't.


The backdrop to all this is every character having their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to their stats. Some of this is negated by the fact that you can level each character up by using them, which allows you to unlock different stat layouts which can make certain tracks or race modes easier to complete. The entire progression system of SaASRT is based on unlocking more and more tracks, characters, stickers, stat modes for your racers, and various other things. This unlocking of content is part of what makes this game so fun; you always want to play a little more to gain enough stars to unlock a new character or new series of races. However, as you get to the Super Star races, which are the final set of races in the game, things get exponentially harder, especially if you try and complete races on Hard or Expert. Making the races more challenging comes with greater rewards if you win, but my God, some of these are just sadistically difficult, including the Star requirements to unlock the last few racers. Still, I'd rather have things this way than just make those final characters and stages be DLC of some other crap like that.


Everything described about makes SaASRT an incredibly dynamic, engaging, and fun kart racer, but not without its flaws. The biggest flaw in SaASRT is its item system. Like virtually every other kart racer out there, you can pick up items throughout the race that you can use to slow down opponents, defend yourself against other racer's items, or give you a brief burst of speed. SaASRT has all your standard fair kart racing power ups like this, including a really cool All-Star mode where each racer transforms into its own unique form, allowing your to go faster than the other racers while being able to inflict damage on them, all for a brief period of time. This might all sound well and good, but unfortunately most items are far less effective than I would like, and this is especially true in the flying portions of races where outside a couple items, you're pretty much not going to hit anything with an ice missile or blow fish. There is also no balancing to the randomness of these items, with it being just as likely you'll get the coveted All-Star power up in 2nd place as you will all the way back in 10th place. Aside from the issues with the items, there are some genuinely annoying sections of a few levels that are just poorly designed, and one stage in particular which is by far the worst in the game by a considerable amount. Like the issues with the visuals, these gameplay elements, while still a blemish, don't do a whole lot to distract from what is otherwise an incredibly well crafted game with tight, precise controls, and tons of depth to keep things interesting almost the entire time you're playing.


The only thing I haven't discussed yet is the audio of SaASRT. SaASRT's soundtrack is made up entirely of remixed versions of various songs from the various Sega franchises represented in both the characters and stages. While I really liked most of these remixed songs, I couldn't help, but wish Sega had just stuck with the originals instead since they are way better imo. Still, a remix of a good song is better than a bad song, and it definitely is nice being able to recognize some of my favorite Sega sounds as I'm playing through each stage. The characters in SaASRT are all voice acted and sound exactly as you'd want them to and expect them to sound. Sometimes, what they say during races...or I guess the odd noises they sometimes make when hit by an item or when slamming into a wall, can sound very strange and unlike anything you've heard come out of them in any other game, but it's overall not a big deal. Audio, could be better imo, but it's still great for the most part.


Beating SaASRT not only reminded me how amazing Sega can be when they create excellent games like this, but also reminded me how lucky I was to be a Sega kid back in the 90s. Sega as a company and many of their games are among the most special and nostalgic for me to this day. This game does such an incredible job of celebrating Sega's amazing legacy and translating it into an amazing racing game released well after Sega's glory days. If you love kart racers, I would go as far as to say SaASRT is ESSENTIAL! It is seriously that freakin good. It's almost tragic this game seems to have been mostly forgotten, which genuinely bums me out with how insanely fun it is. Definitely track down a copy of this game, or buy it on Steam (you get Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue if you do, which is reason enough to get that version lol). This game is absolutely incredible. (6/22/25) [43/50]

[kashell]

46. Kirby's Dream Land 2

I got one of those portable devices that comes preloaded with a bunch of games from various consoles. I decided to hop into the time machine and play Kirby's Dream Land 2. I love Kirby and I love nostalgia, but it's crazy to see just how basic things were back in the day compared to now. The aspect that separated this from Kirby's Adventure was being introduced to Rick, Kine, and Coo. Depending on the friend Kirby is paired with, the abilities would look different. It was necessary to have right animal friend with the right ability to get the Rainbow Drops which were scattered in the various worlds. If you miss one, you get the bad ending. If you get them all, you unlock the final bosses and get the good ending.

[kashell]

47. Kirby's Dream Land 3

A long day of meetings had me reaching for the device with all the installed games again, and for some more Kirby action. If I had to describe the game in one word, it'd be "unconventional". But, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The game looks and plays and just overall feels very different from Super Star (which came about a year before; the game that kind of set the precedent for the series going forward) and has a lot of randomness to it. It also has one of the most calming graphical looks which really juxtaposes the game's surprisingly dark tones. There's a creepiness to the doppelganger Kirby that walks around at random, and the final boss looks like it shoots blood. Also, the mini-games are no joke. Thankful for save states being a thing because trying to guess the number of Gordos in a split second is insane. I'm not sure how the hell we did this as kids back in the day.

[realpoketendonl]

5. Mario Kart World

Ah, Mario Kart. That raises the eternal question of "When can you consider this game beaten?" After beating all Grand Prix cups? After all Knockout Tour cups? After completing the Free Roam mode?

Well, I've now gotten gold trophies and at least a star ranking on all Grand Prix cups and Knockout Tour cups on 150cc. Doing that for Grand Prix landed me the credits too. Furthermore, Free Roam has like 750 or something things to find, which feels a lot more like a "completed" thing than a "beaten" thing, plus on HowLongToBeat the average beat time is 3,5 hours and there's NO WAY that's with Free Roam included, so with what I have done thus far I think I can consider it beaten.

I'm having fun with this game! But that's no surprise, it's Mario Kart. It's definitely a major shake-up of the formula though, with twice the amount of racers on the track, much larger and more open tracks, and gameplay that seems to be more about how you find your way around the tracks than the tracks themselves. Shaking up the formula makes sense, it would've been really hard to improve on what Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did. But is World better? I wouldn't call it better or worse per se, moreso just different.

Races are of course great fun, and feel like they have a different kind of chaos going on with the more open space and large amount of items flying around. Knockout Tour is really fun to play. I haven't had much time with the Free Roam mode yet, but I'm not sure that'll be my thing anyway. But that's a personal taste thing.

But the main thing that I think feels different in World compared to 8 is the philosophy in track design. World's tracks aren't just bigger and more open. You're actively encouraged to try to find shortcuts everywhere. By grinding on rails and tricking off of them, you can pull off some downright insane shortcuts if you've got the skill. Even basic shortcuts take some genuine technique to pull off. The thing with this, for me, is that often the alternate tracks or optimal paths aren't immediately obvious. Often they're flat-out hidden. And I don't know how I feel about that. I'm assuming that the idea is that you play Free Roam, try and look for shortcuts, and then implement them in your regular races. But I just feel like an idiot and like I'm missing stuff in the races. In Mario Kart 8, you can see just about every bit of road coming up ahead in front of you. How you handle that is all about your fundamental basic driving skills. But with hidden paths, it becomes more about how much time you've put into experimenting and how much you can remember of that. The shortcuts are too hidden to always be intuitive. You can still race over the standard road just fine of course, but if you only do that, tracks can feel barren, I agree, especially compared to 8's incredible track designs.

At the end of the day though, this is still Mario Kart. It's still well put together, colourful, exciting and fun, both solo and of course especially in multiplayer. The day after this game and the Switch 2 came out, I went to a gamer hangout space, and we had great fun with the game. So there's your endorsement for ya.

Edit: Also, I gotta add, this game's Rainbow Road may be one of the best and most exhilerating Rainbow Roads in the entire franchise.

[kamikazekeeg]

14 - Grounded (PC 2022) - BEAT - This continues to be one of the best all around survival crafting games I think.  It has a good story and setting, good variety of gameplay and creatures, lots of stuff to build, gear to make, it has a lot of great stuff going on.  No real negatives, mostly just nitpicks, it has me really excited for Grounded 2, though I'm not likely to get into the early access that I think starts next month, I try not to do that with games anymore and I'm just gonna hope it'll be out within the next year or so.

[bikingjahuty]

70. We <3 Katamari (PS2)

Back around the time We <3 Katamari first came out, I was working a crappy retail job. Two of my coworkers and I had bonded over our love of video games and anime, which led to one of them inviting us over to his apartment after work one night to play some weird game he had just bought. What ensued is the three of us playing We <3 Katamari until the sun came up the next day while listening to J-Pop and Dir En Grey. It was an excellent experience and beyond just the fond memories of that night, it also made me a fan of the Katamari series with We <3 Katamari being the game that started it all.


Replaying We <3 Katamari around 20-years after I originally played it, and having beat most of the other games in the series, it's hard for me to distinguish one entry from the other since they all share the same basic premise. You play as a weird little creature that pushes around a large ball, aka the Katamari, as you commence to role up objects, eventually being able to roll up larger and larger objects. In each stage, you're given an objective like rolling up a Katamari that is a certain size within a certain time limit, or to try and collect specific items or item types more than others. It's a pretty basic premise, but in the end it makes for an incredibly fun and cathartic gameplay experience.


As I was replaying through We <3 Katamari, I found that time just sort of melted away as I kept on completing just one more stage, then just one more after that, and then another. Before I knew it, hours had gone by and I still didn't want to stop playing. Despite how addictive and fun We <3 Katamari is, it's a far from perfect game. More than anything, the controls can feel a bit still and unwieldy at times. This can be frustrating when you're trying to steer your Katamari towards a specific object(s) and it just doesn't want to turn as quickly as you would like. There are also mechanics like climbing up short walls that sometimes don't work as intended which can also be frustrating. Overall, these gripes are not deal breaking whatsoever, but that do lead to frequent frustrations while playing.


We <3 Katamari is a very vibrant and fun looking game. None of the object, animal, or person models in this game look ultra detailed, but that seems to be deliberate, and goes along with the art style in this game perfectly. There are literally thousands of objects to roll up in your Katamari with some being fairly humorous. That leads me to how umm...weird We <3 Katamari is, as well as the other Katamari games in general. Everything from the characters like the Prince, the cousins, the Cosmo King, and practically everything else about this game will almost certainly be the strangest thing you've ever seen in a video game. It's the sort of game that could only have come out of Japan, and it is made better for it. There is actually a story in this game and also dialogue, but good luck making sense of any of it. It's still highly entertaining and funny in a weird sort of way.


Where We <3 Katamari falls short in its visuals is the reuse of stages and how limited those stages are. Most stages will take place in a very Japanese looking apartment, with some expanding out into the little town around it, but seeing how you will encounter these over and over again does get a little tiresome. There are a few different levels like a campground, a ski resort, and a race track, but the game always seems to default back to the apartment/town setting a bit too often. Other than this, I don't have anything else negative to say about the visuals.


Finally, the soundtrack of We <3 Katamari is a mixed bag. There are both some absolutely amazing songs in this game, but also an almost equal amount of really annoying songs. It all balances itself out to be pretty good overall in the end, but the real tie breaker that makes We <3 Katamari's audio transcend into really good territory are all the noises, sound effects, and funny reactions the various people, animals, Gods, and other creatures will have to being rolled up. It's all part of the strange charm this game has and those noises definitely do a decent amount to give the overall presentation of this game more depth.


Even though I have a difficult time distinguishing We <3 Katamari from the other entries in the series, it's still an very fun and oddly addictive game. We <3 Katamari will always carry a special place in my heart to for not just being the first game in the series I played, but also one that will forever remind me of simpler times, not just in my personal life, but in gaming in general. (6/25/25) [38/50]

[marvelvscapcom2]

70. We <3 Katamari (PS2)

Back around the time We <3 Katamari first came out, I was working a crappy retail job. Two of my coworkers and I had bonded over our love of video games and anime, which led to one of them inviting us over to his apartment after work one night to play some weird game he had just bought. What ensued is the three of us playing We <3 Katamari until the sun came up the next day while listening to J-Pop and Dir En Grey. It was an excellent experience and beyond just the fond memories of that night, it also made me a fan of the Katamari series with We <3 Katamari being the came that started it all.

This was really a cool read! Reminded me of a simpler time back when late night, a PS2 and some Dominoes Pizza, the dim lit glow of the screen is all you needed. Carrying a gamecube next door after work. Gaming felt so social back then.

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43. Lego Rock Band [PS3] - finished June 24th, 2025


I think Chinese water torture and dog dander scented nasal drops are better than this game.  It is probably the worst rythym game ive played. And I didnt expect that.  But thats just the blunt reality of it.  So let's begin there lol.


Lego rockband is yet another rythym guitar/ instrument made by hermonix. Now with lego branding and you level up and basically play multiple different brick venues.  But where lego rockband shines in cute lego fun.  It dies in its complete disregard for the human soul, its incessant reliance on repetition, it's overwhelming need for bloat like a beached sun rotted Salmon and lastly. It's cliche plotless joke of a linear path that makes you feel like you're sitting through a spoken word circle at the local rec center.  It gets old so fast.


Lego Rockband.... ya know. What can be said truly other than it was like sitting at the dmv attempting to finish this game and I couldnt quite put my finger on to why. I'll explain why later. I almost felt the game itself ruined Rythym based games for me... I had lost it. The love for it all.  until I began Guitar Hero III right smack dab after. Guitar Hero III was the catalyst to show me what went wrong.  The legendary epicness of that game where not a single song feels out of place. Not a single fret wasted.  Shows in mirror contrast how bad Lego Rockband is.  I now realize I stuck out the bloated soundtrack not because I was bad.  The game had me tangled in stockholm syndrome missing what could be.  A life I never seen. 

Lego Rockband divides your playtime which is already incredibly bloated into forcing you to play the same songs 27 times to progress.  Some venues require 40 stars to proceed. Which means you gotta sit there and play the games setlist over and over.  The same "choose 2 songs" that become stale because the game unlike guitar hero 3 doesnt roll out a buffet for you. It basically leaves two bins of cold leftovers and recycles that for 2 weeks.  I played the song "boys and girls" by good charlotte solely because otherwise id be delegated to playing synthy pop music on guitar, dad rock songs that have aged like crud.  And even the songs that are fun. Like Sum 41's in too deep. Are mapped like shit.   The notes feel mundane.  The solos?? It will pop up on screen "solo time" and it will require you the player to nail these action sequences. Except you can tell they spent no actual effort to make the solo harder, faster, funner or more epic. It feels like a bridge. The notes are bland and lifeless. On hard difficulty it feels medium. 

Then the game gets the idea to make a set list that is required to beat to progress.  Guess what that entails? You must beat 5 songs in a row. All about 5 minutes each. Without stopping. By force. So I gotta sit here. For 30 straight minutes and play the lifeless dad rock. It doesnt even have the class to let you get bored in 4 minute increments at a time lol.   Guitar Hero yet again at its peak would never insist on a 5 song binge because 1. Its a terrible idea that adds nothing to the game.  And 2. Perhaps more obvious is that you cant stop. Some people dont play long game sessions.  Fingers cramp.  Ect.   I just dont get it.  I really dont. 

Then you got the longevity.  Theirs a certain tact in brevity.  A bit of love in simplicity.  The greats like Beatles Rockband knew how to do this.  Imagine if beatles rockband like a clingy tinder date demanded "nope. Beat helter skeltet 7 more times.  Because we didnt count the 1st one.  Oh and do all these yoko ono B sides.  These bizarre John Lennon unreleased solo tracks. And perform the entire Ed Sullivan show without taking a break.  It'd ruin it all. 


Even the lego concept isnt done great.  All that is lego about the game is you play as a lego toy character.  Id argue thats lamer.  Games like Forza Horizon 4 prove how massively special a lego experience can be.  Why not breaking fret boards? Blocks smashing? Notes that are lego bricks and as you play you build designs?   Something more than a skin?  It feels just cheaply pasted.

Also here is the sheer bloat im talking about. The game has 260 gigs covering over 1200 possible stars to collect and 10 vehicles to buy.  While the game has numerous venues, each one is essentially the same in terms of gameplay, with variations mainly in the visual decor. So you end up repeating set lists. Because the game only has 45 songs.  And of them songs. Maybe 30 dont fit the style of play to be considered good. So whatdaya got? Lol. 


All and all. Lego Rockband suffers from a lot.  Nothing is blaringly bad at face but it has maybe 10 bad things that make it overwhelmingly mundane as a cohesive unit.


Rating - 32/100

[bikingjahuty]

70. We <3 Katamari (PS2)

Back around the time We <3 Katamari first came out, I was working a crappy retail job. Two of my coworkers and I had bonded over our love of video games and anime, which led to one of them inviting us over to his apartment after work one night to play some weird game he had just bought. What ensued is the three of us playing We <3 Katamari until the sun came up the next day while listening to J-Pop and Dir En Grey. It was an excellent experience and beyond just the fond memories of that night, it also made me a fan of the Katamari series with We <3 Katamari being the came that started it all.

This was really a cool read! Reminded me of a simpler time back when late night, a PS2 and some Dominoes Pizza, the dim lit glow of the screen is all you needed. Carrying a gamecube next door after work. Gaming felt so social back then.

It definitely was another time, that's for sure. I have so many memories around that time of playing games with friends. It really peaked for me when LAN parties became more of a thing. I even hosted a Halo 2 party at my mom's house when I was still in high school. We had three XBOX consoles, three massive CRT TVs, tons of junk food, a fist fight almost broke out at one point, it was awesome lol.

[bikingjahuty]

71. Mega Man X4 (PS4)

Not having an NES growing up, I completely missed out on the Mega Man franchise. It wouldn't be until the mid-90s when I got a Super Nintendo for my birthday in 1995 that I finally got to experience this series with Mega Man X. Despite how hard it was, I LOVED Mega Man X growing up. I never played X2 or X3 as a kid, and in fact, it wouldn't be until around 2000 when I finally got a PS1 that I experienced X's fourth entry. Like the first game, I was never skilled enough to beat it as a kid/adolescent, but it still left an impression on me. So much so that I've considered it one of the best games in the Mega Man series all these years despite my memories of that game fading more and more as time has marched on. After nearly 25 years since last playing X4, I finally decided to play it again with the goal of finally beating it. Well, I have, and unfortunately I kinda regret doing so.


No, I don't think Mega Man X4 is a bad game, however I will say it's overrated. In terms of level and boss design, it is vastly inferior to the first game, and even noticeably worse than X2 (I've never played X3, so I speak for that comparison). While it's been a long time since I've played X5 and X6, I do remember disliking those games more than X4 back in the early 2000s, however now I almost wonder if I might actually like them more now. There are just too many gotcha sections and moments in X4, and while some of the stages are decent, just as many are annoying as hell. I could say the same for the bosses which seem to range from incredibly easy to incredibly hard with very little in between. I'd also argue having the right power ups for most of the bosses makes them even a little too easy. But then not using that same power up and just sticking with the stock buster makes them insanely hard again. X4 is just a wildly inconsistent game whether you're playing as X or Zero, and neither character made me enjoy the game more unfortunately.


Visually, the game definitely improved over its SNES counterparts, at least X2 and X3, but in a way it didn't too. The visually fidelity of the stages, enemies, and bosses is noticeably better, however there is just so much about X4 that lacks the presence or personality of those SNES games. I guess it's just a less inspired, less memorable game despite still being visually impressive for what it is. There are also anime style cutscenes spliced into the game at various points and these, while cool, didn't really make the game any more enjoyable for me. They present a story that isn't particularly interesting and had me wanting to get through them just so I could play more of the game instead. Speaking of those added anime cutscenes...


Mega Man X4 contained voice acting, and well, it's pretty bad. While some of it does dip its toes into the so bad it's actually good territory, most of it is just bad to the point where you'd wish they hadn't even bothered dubbing them in English, or even had the anime cutscenes at all. Luckily, the game's OST makes up for this somewhat, but as good as it is, it still isn't as good as X and X2's soundtrack.


One of the risks I take when replaying games I played two or even three decades ago at this point is there's always the chance that my idealized opinion of that game is tarnished by my current point of view. Sometimes it also goes the other way where I wasn't able to fully appreciate how great the game was until I played it as an adult, and actually end up liking it more than I did as a kid or teen. Unfortunately, X4 falls firmly into the former category. Replaying this game in 2025 kinda shattered my once glowing nostalgic opinion of this game. As I said at the beginning of this review, Mega Man X4 is not a bad game, but it is certainly not nearly as good as I remember, and unfortunately I'd argue it isn't as good as a lot of people seem to believe it is. To each their own though. (06/26/25) [31/50]

[bikingjahuty]

72. Gitaroo Man (PS2)

Occasionally I'll play a game that is so damn charming that it allows me to enjoy it despite other major flaws the game might have. Gitaroo Man on the PS2 falls firmly into this category. The game just has so much personality and such a unique identity that i find myself enamored with it despite Gitaroo Man's borderline bad rhythm gameplay. There are two main phases in this game, attack and defend, and while the defend phase is fine, it's the attack phase that really makes this game way harder to get through than it should be. Essentially you have to aim the left analogue stick on the controller in a specified direction on the screen while pressing the circle button on timed notes. There is some margin for error, but especially during reverb or sudden pitch changes, keeping your analogue stick going in the right direction is an act of futility. Overall, it's a very poorly implemented system that would otherwise ruin this game if not for its outstanding audio and visuals.


While gameplay in a rhythm game is obviously very important, in many ways its only as good as its soundtrack. In Gitaroo Man's case, the soundtrack is near perfect with nearly every song being catchy and memorable. Particularly the game's main song, The Legendary Theme, is such an amazing song that pops up several times throughout. The audio is made even better by the quirky, hilarious voice acting from the various characters in this game, all of which fit in perfectly with the theme and visuals of this game.


Speaking of Gitaroo Man's visuals, they are also incredible. The entire game is done in this unique, cartoonish art style that is very vibrant and colorful, The level of imagination and creativity in pretty much every character, setting, antagonist, and prety much everything in between is truly special. My only regret is not being able to appreciate it more since my attention is almost always on the button prompts as I'm playing. There are also various inspirational messages and quotes throughout Gitaroo Man which only add even more to the game's undeniable charm and presence.


It really is unfortunate that Gitaroo Man's gameplay is so meh because if it were even slightly better, this game would be knocking on the door of my all time favorite games. Despite its gameplay issues, it's still a game I thoroughly enjoy going back to replay every so often and I game that never ceases to make me smile. (6/28/25) [38/50]

[telly]

Game 12 - Bloodborne (PS4) - 26 Hours

In my opinion you can break down three types of difficulty in games. Classic difficulty, where the challenge is based on gameplay, combat, bosses, and so on; progression-based difficulty, where the challenge is figuring out where to go and how to move forward in a game's story, and story-based difficulty, where the challenge is understanding what's the story the game is trying to tell you.
Bloodborne, along with the entire Souls series, is famously difficult in all three of these areas. While I don't mind games that are challenging gameplay-wise, when games are obtuse with the story and direction I tend to not enjoy them as much. I did enjoy Dark Souls and Demon's Souls particularly with the fluid, responsive yet difficult gameplay and the beautiful and exquisite worldbuilding... but really, really don't like the storytelling. Even though this game is different in name, Bloodborne in the broad strokes is essentially the exact same as these previous games, including pretty much all of the gameplay, leveling and boss structure, weapon and character upgrades, stats, storytelling philosophy, you name it. Just with a different name and look.

The one change I liked the most was the inclusion of the gun - I used it to counter enemy attacks way more than I did parrying and riposting in previous games. I also tried out some of the randomly generated areas too and found them to be pretty enjoyable. I think the game has been way more optimized since it came out, I experienced a very smooth game with minimal downtime from loading. I actually didn't have that much trouble with the difficulty. Other than a few hiccups here and there I found my progression in the game to be relatively smooth, which was good because honestly I was kind of anxious to finish it and move on.

Alas, most of differences in this game actually made me enjoy it less. I really didn't like the world of Bloodborne. It was too grey and messy for my taste, with the level design feeling more slapdash and random than usual. I got really tired of coffins, weird status and gravestones literally everywhere no matter how much they made sense. I much liked the variety offered previous games. That said, I didn't explore every nook and cranny but I found that this game felt very same-y and after a while it just got boring. The change to finite-use health potions led to a lot of backtracking to replenish my supply which got old very quick.

I'll perfectly admit that I'm just not hardcore to get into the story. I also think it hurt my experience that I didn't play online this time around. I just get so frustrated at the lack of any really explanation and I just couldn't be bothered to investigate further beyond the very basic "the worlds messed up, you gotta save it" because there's no way of telling whether my conclusions are correct or not. I tried looking up story explanations online and when the best-referenced explanation was only about 1/3rd evidence-based and 2/3rds speculation and interpretation, I knew this story just wasn't something I was going to enjoy. To me stories that are designed like a puzzle to solve are fine if the pieces are hidden in the game, but when there are so many pieces missing I just can't see how anyone can come to a reasonable conclusion. It severely limited my experience of this game and combined with an art style that just didn't do it for me this game just really wasn't my cup of tea. If you really love this game's story and world, I can totally see why it would click for some. Just doesn't do it for me, though I do feel pretty alone in this regard. Maybe I'll restart the story and try for one of the other endings someday, or the old hunters DLC and I might think better of the game by then.

[bikingjahuty]

73. Street Fighter 6 (PS5)

I've been a huge Street Fighter fan since SF2 was relatively new in arcades, however the series really clicked with me when Super Street Fighter 2 came out. That game specifically is one of my all time favorite fighting games to this day, especially its Turbo release. Over the decades, I've enjoyed most of the new mainline entries in the series despite Capcom's efforts to monetize practically everything in the game. What keeps me coming back in the amazing gameplay and characters I've grown up with my entire life loving. In some ways, Street Fighter 6 carries on the tradition of quality the series is well known for, but in others it really dropped the ball and took the series in the wrong direction.


Let's get one thing clear, SF6's gameplay is AWESOME! It is probably among the most balanced, well implemented, and polished fighting systems I've had the pleasure of playing in a bit. While the game is very tutorial heavy and the UI is trash, what really matters is the fighting gameplay and mechanics which I have a hard time faulting. It's easy to see, even from someone who doesn't play this game competitively, how it could easily be one of the most competitive fighting games ever released. There are also copious amounts of unlockables, mostly in the form of artwork and cutscenes, but it still adds value to what is already a very fun game to play.


Not nearly as good as SF6's gameplay is its audio. The music in SF6 is fine for the most part. There are a few tracks that I found catchy and appropriately upbeat for a game like this, but others that were downright annoying. The voice acting is equally a mixed bag where some of the performances are pretty good while others are just awful (and not good-awful, just awful-awful). All together, the noises you'll hear in SF6 is decent, if not pretty good at times, but there are many SF games will way better audio, especially in the OST department.


Finally we get to SF6's weakest area and honestly the aspect of it that kept me from wanting to play this game until it was cheap enough for me to justify buying it. Putting it bluntly, I hate the art direction of SF6. I never thought in a million years that the Street Fighter franchise would fall victim to the Fortnite/Zoomer shooter art aesthetic, along with all of its annoying cliches, but here we are. Nearly every returning SF character looks worse than they ever have in this game, while literally every new character to the series looks like crap from an artistic, design point of view. None of them make me go, "oh wow, that character looks so cool! I think I'll play as them!" In fact, my reaction to all the new fighters in SF6 is exactly the opposite. Thank goodness the in game graphics, including the stage graphics make up for the ugly character design, at times even make you forget all about it as you're playing as Manon or God forbid Marisa. Whoever was the art director for this game needs to be shown the door at Capcom HQ and banned from ever returning though since this game odes nothing to further the legacy of this series, and if anything sets it back some.


But even with my disdain for the art direction, I still do enjoy this game quite a bit and had a good time with it as I played it's various single player modes. For me though, classic Arcade mode is always where these games are at their best and really showed me how on top of their game Capcom still is when designing fighting games (from a gameplay standpoint at least). Here's hoping whenever SF7 eventually comes out, all or most of these crappy new characters are thrown away and are replaced by iconic, interesting designs like what we've got in pretty much every other SF game, minus a few of course. (6/28/25) [35/50]

[bizzgeburt]

07 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (2006) [DE] (PlayStation2)
https://vgcollect.com/item/117707

I like playing through series of games in a row, so after beating the evil undead warlord witch in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance with an forrest-elven sorceress, I was eager to continue the adventure around the city of Baldur's Gate threatened by an even more evil and powerful Alliance of foes yet to reveal itself! This time, I was using the human warrior class, Dorn …

In Dark Alliance II, the story kinda directly continues where the prequel ended - with the heroes of the first game stepping through the last shadowrealm gate into unknown Terrain - before being charmingly captured by the next bigger boss of baddies, a vampire Lord this time, one with a odd spleen for white clothing. This is where the scenery switches to our handpicked hero (Dorn), who, on his way to Baldur's Gate, stumbles upon a merchant caravan recently raided by Goblins …
The plot in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II thickens way faster and contains way more twists compared to it's prequel. It even ends with another twist like in the 1st game, but I can't remember a third part of this series (correct me, if you know of one - thx). The storyline seems a lot more captivating to me, though the presentation itself isn't really a big leap from the 1st. part.

In many ways, this game outshines it's prequel: a weapon and armor crafting system was implemented, you can choose between more different heroes, boasting a huge lot more talents and abilities than before. Graphics seem to have been boosted a little bit. All in all, Dark Alliance II plays a lot longer than the 1st part, whith optional areas being gained access to over time and many dungeons being a lot bigger. Besides those additions and improvements, the gameplay itself hasn't really changed.
Sidenote: I for myself consider the dungeons' background themes an improvement too, but that goes down to personal taste of music. Especially the House Bloodmore theme kinda got me 

Imo this game is great for what it is. During it's time it gave consolero's like me one of the first few titles with legit top view dungeon crawling/slashing rpg-ish action. And by today's gameplay standards it still makes a proper, medium-sized gauntlet-like to enjoy when overwhelmed by vast modern open worlds and countless possibilities. What I personally like in D&D-based videogames, is, that every attribute is based on the original D&D rules of the actual edition during that time. This makes fighting Goblins or Trolls the same annoying experience every time!  gotta love it

Another one finished in 25, on to the next one... ! 

[marvelvscapcom2]

44. NFL Street [PS2] - finished July 1st 2025



My Childhood

NFL Street was a core building block of my childhood. Back in the days when AOL discs littered the carpets of the 1 bedroom apartments of gamers. The days of yellow pages ordering that meat lover pizza from the local joint Timmy's pizza. The soft buzz of a CRT.  Back when tvs were smaller yet weighed 200x more.  But what was big was what was inside the tv... EA Big.  A company that was a subsidiary of EA as an umbrella of sports dominance. Known for making the SSX games, and many other street games for each sport.  But NFL Street was the most critically beloved of them all.  This was very much a walk down the cobblestoned pavements of memory lane.


The games intro brings nostalgia right away.  But while I beat NFL Street 2 maybe 20 times as a kid.  I never beat NFL Street 1.  And now I know why.  The game is fun, a catalyst for the greatest arcade football franchise of all time but it's also so damn poorly paced.  And is riddled with flaws.  Which sadly knock it off its pedestal at the end. But otherwise its an epic epic game.

No pads, no rules, just backyard beef, as we stiff armed my homework into eternal grief.  My PS2 hummed like a streetlight fight, while Ray Lewis trucked kids into parental oversight.  From adolescence to adult essence.  We digress into what made it special and not so.

It was bling era. MTV. Mike Jones.  The game is a window into that simpler time. 

Premise

So you basically form a team of new comers. The intent is to build a squad good enough to challenge not only every NFL team (you'll see how redundant that is) but also every afc and nfc championship team (theirs and if you do.  You get privilege to face the NFL Legends. Who essentially are jacked up HOF athletes with higher stats than anyone else.

Where the game is bliss is its rpg element system and the challenges.   Challenges will be presented. For example "stiff arm 2 times and score on your first play" and if you do that. It awards you development points.  Which can be used to upgrade players.  This cycle always changes because the challenges vary so wildly.  Not as wildly as nfl street 2 which perfects this formula.  (Please always note that nfl street 2 is another league of game far greater than this one) but these rpg upgrade elements really allow for a fun time.  If the game were just these. Itd be flawless.  You get to watch your team develop from project kids to essentially better than nfl stars.  You can physically feel and see the impact your upgrades have on field.  If you max a speed stat. He will be lightning while your other guys are molases on grass.  This formula makes the game a wild arcadey blast of building up your squad.


Gameplay is smooth.  I actually prefer its simplicity over 2. 2 added gamebreaker 2. Which is unnecessary and redundant.  Otherwise NFL Street 2 added so much depth and trimmed the fat off nfl street 1.  But the game is good mechanics wise.  Just a bit hard.  But now heres the flaws of the game.


REPETITION

Howlongtobeat.com has this game pegged to 10 hours.  It seems users go on there to simply lie about how fast they can beat a game.  Semi annoying.  Here is the truth.   In order to face the legends. You have to beat 8 all star teams from each conference.  If that was it? Climb the ladder and beat the greats? perfection.  Itd still be a long grind.  But no..  you must beat all 32 nfl teams to even face the 8 conference all stars.  Thats 40 games.  The games are to 36 points. So thats not a short game.  It's roughly 5 to 6 touchdowns.  For lack of a better word.  This is just damn redundant.  You didn't need to beat 4 teams in a row to get the allstar battle.  The allstar battle is all the best players anyway. That proves you are ready for the legends.  The rest is pure bloat.   Even if you do these games in 15 minutes each (doesnt always happen) the game is at least 20 hours of bloat.  It gave me carpal tunnel lol.  And that is NOT including the hustle of the challenges.  Some of those are massively drawn out. Most include beating those very same teams in games to 36, 40 and even 100.   So what you get is a game that had potential to be borderline flawless. But made you go through a marathon where a sprint was more appropriate. It becomes so repetitive facing the same teams on the same fields with no mix up.  The challenges alone are 10 hours minimum of gaming if you seek to actually max your teams stats.  NFL Street 2 eliminates the team nonsense and keeps it just as I said. Challenges only. It's flawless. To beat the entire league 3 times over? Yeah im sapped out.

Overall the fun building style of nfl street 1 is a beauty. And without it crawling with that formula. Nfl street 2 wouldn't have been able to run with it. It's a colorful window in 2000w hip hop culture. But it needed brevity.

Overall - 85/100