52 Games Challenge 2018

[mizzach86]

9.   BOXBOY! (3DS)
I bought this game from the 3DS eshop a couple months ago to play something different than I usually do. For a game that costs $4.99 USD there’s a surprising amount of content in it.

It’s basically a platformer/puzzle game with very simplistic visuals. However, the gameplay is pretty solid. You extend and retract extensions of yourself in order to navigate through various puzzles the game throws at you. The gameplay has a bit more to it than that, but that’s the basic jist of it.

Overall, it’s a worthwhile purchase. I think it’s a good example of how good gameplay can go a long way even if the other aspects of a game are very basic. Although, I still like my games to have it all. For example, I think I heard the same music in every level for almost half the game, which got kind of repetitive.

I also got pretty frustrated with some of the later stages of the game when I couldn’t figure out what to do. The game seems like it has a difficulty spike about two thirds through it. It might not be so bad if you’re more patient than I am.

I did manage to complete all the main worlds and get the end credits though. I haven’t touched the post-game content which includes some secret worlds and challenge modes. But I want to get back to playing some other games and put this one down for a while.

[kamikazekeeg]

45 - Mega Man X6 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - There were some very harsh feelings towards X5 by a few folks here that I certainly didn't share, as while it's flawed, I enjoyed it quite abit with the new additions it brought to the series.  X6 though? Screw this game. 

X4 and X5 were certainly easier games than the ones before, but X1 to X3 were genuinely challenging and felt real good to play (Ignoring the upgraded buster issues in X2 and X3).  Apparently Capcom thought they were going to easy on players and decided to just throw everything at you in the levels.  Nearly every level is designed around just tedious dangers from the enemies, to the design itself.  Remember in X1 where if you beat a level, it would then affect a separate level in a cool way? They brought that back, but now when you beat a boss, other levels will just be made more obnoxious.  It's kinda funny that after all this, it probably had the second easiest Sigma fight after I think X4 (The one with the multi-colored heads).

I'm bummed about this as in a few areas, they actually improved the game over X5.  The parts collecting is now a part of the bot rescue, making it easier to get the parts, and they fixed some of the dialogue issues by making them optional while playing unless story related.  The Japanese voice acting is fine, even if the actual dialogue is still clunky.

This game is so far at the very bottom of the X games.  I know I'm about to get into some real shit with X7, but honestly I don't care right now, my jimmies are so rustled after X6 lol

[realpoketendonl]

Due to trouble in my personal life I haven't been able to work through games as much as I would've liked, but now that I have summer break I finally managed to play through another game: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story! I was originally planning on getting Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey when it comes out next year, but then I found the original for half the price the remake would be, and I figured that would be a worthy tradeoff.

I first played through the game as a kid on my little brother's copy. And replaying it today, it still holds up as one of the best titles the DS has to offer. The game grabs you from the start and never loses any of its charm all the way through. The combat is a great example of easy to learn-hard to master, and it will keep both newcomers and veterans entertained. The game is definitely not super hard or anything, and it was definitely easier nowadays than when I beat it as a kid, but especially nearing the end it does offer you a reasonable challenge that will at least keep you invested. And on top of that the story of course has that undeniable Mario RPG charm. If you haven't played this title yet, I highly recommend you give it or its remake next year a shot. If you're entirely new to the Mario & Luigi series and want to play a fresh new RPG title, I definitely hold this one in high regard.

My full list: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075

[kamikazekeeg]

46 - Mega Man X7 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Welp, this games status is 100% true.  MMX6 was frustrating with its design for bosses and levels, but it was still a MMX game.  MMX7 is like the vague remnant of the MMX series.  I don't mind that they changed to the 3D design, I loved the Mega Man Legends games, but in the process, they failed to create a competent platformer.  Targeting is wonky, the camera controls are terrible when they are allowed, and everything from the level design to the boss design is either boring or frustrating.

I actually only have one thing to compliment it on and it's the idea of changing characters.  It's actually a great idea and would've been an interesting thing much earlier in the series when they added Zero to the games.  It gets ONE thing right lol

Pretty proud to say that I found out how to cheese the final form of Sigma.  There's a spot that you can stand on and two of Sigma's attacks won't you.  Playing as Zero you can deflect two other attacks, and the other is easy to get away from, so it takes what is a pretty miserable fight, even learning all of the tricks, and made it something I can actually manage to beat.  Also found a spot to cheese the hyena boss too so you really don't have to fight him if you are careful.

This game is bad, I'm glad I'll never play it again, and no one should ever play it.  It's not worth it.

[chrismb]

Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037
Part 2 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149778.html#msg149778
Part 3 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg150756.html#msg150756
Part 4 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152650.html#msg152650
Part 5 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg155281.html#msg155281

82. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia [18/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Visually it's probably my favorite out of the 3 chronicles games. I love the colors and the almost eerie vibe the game has.
- Definitely the best story out of the 3 games. I love that you can switch between the two main characters, and the ending is also pretty interesting if you know about the real story of Anastasia (The fact name Nikolai gave her was actually the name of a woman who pretended to be Anastasia). Nikolai is a very interesting and unique character compared to all the other assassins and I honestly liked him a lot!
-
- I still have issues with the fighting because you really can't fight tbh. You'll be dead before you even try to fight back.

83. Grand Theft Auto IV [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it's STUNNING! Even today the game is extremely impressive tbh. All the little details, the choice of colors... everything is just really realistic. The only thing that has aged imo are the characters but I've seen worse from that time.
- I loved the story and the characters. Compared to the other games, it's a lot more dark and serious. While the characters are still over the top, there are a lot more serious characters which fits well with the game imo (it would've been annoying if all of them were like Brucie lol). At first I wasn't really feeling Niko, he seemed like such an odd and different character from the other protagonists but I really quickly warmed up to him and he's now one of my favorite character from the franchise. He's just a good guy with a sad story and I was honestly amazing playing through his story.
- Amazing missions. A lot easier than the previous games but just as entertaining!
- Overall a better gameplay. I'm not a fan of it but it's a lot better.
- Overall just a classic game everybody should play at least once.
- Quality acting as always in this franchise.
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- The gameplay has aged a LOT. I love the shooting and fighting, but everything else seems so slow! I mean I get it Niko isn't the most athletic person but still he was in the army he should run at least a little faster lol. But honestly my biggest issue was the driving. It tried to be really realistic and imo they did a good job at it but I absolutely HATED it. It's weird because I can say the driving controls were bad, it's just that I personally didn't like it. The chasing missions especially mad me hat it even more lol.

84. Saints Row [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it was so much better than what I expected. Obviously it's pretty dated sine the game came out in like 2006 but it's actually not that different from Saints Row 2 imo.
- Loved the story, the first game was the only saints row I hadn't played so it was pretty cool to see where all the characters came from. You also have some antagonists from the second game as your friends so it's kinda weird lol (Julius, Dex...)
- Really fun missions. If you've played the second game it's actually relatively similar, even the activities (except there are a lot less in this game which makes sense). The side quests/activities are also really cool, especially mayhem which is one of my favorite side quest from the franchise.
- Really good gameplay. You can tell the game took a lot of inspiration from the PS2 GTA games when it comes to gameplay, however it is totally perfected and even today feels really great to play. I love the driving, it's really arcade-ish but it's really easy to control and actually fits the game.
- AMAZING soundtrack!! The first two saints row game have one of my favorite soundtracks ever in a video game! SO many amazing songs!
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- The streets can feel a bit dead. There are often no cars which is annoying if you don't have one and try to steal one lol.


85. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically it's stunning! I love the Life Is Strange franchise's art style and even if this demo was short it still blew my mind graphically.
- The story was amazing, short, but amazing! It really showed the life of an abused kid, and they made a really good job at making the game realistic. What I mean by "realistic" is that I truly felt like I was the kid and thought about every action I made before doing them to try to get the dad mad. The acting was amazing and overall I was really impressed by what they managed to do with a barely 2 hour long demo.
- A perfect "demo", it totally got me hyped for Life is Strange 2! Btw it's TOTALLY FREE so if you're a LIS fan definitely try it!
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/


86. Saints Row: Gat out of Hell [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- If you liked Saints Row IV (which you probably didn't lol but I did so yeah) you'll love this game. I personally LOVED Saints Row IV because it was just so funny, but this game takes it to a next level lmao. I mean where else have you seen the Devil and his daughter singing a theater song? The game is extremely over the top and I liked every moment of it.
- You play as Johnny Gat which is like the best thing ever. You can also play as Kinzie (which I didn't because even tho I like her Johnny IS Saints Row).
- A fun story with fun characters.
- Fun gameplay, it's basically the same as Saints Row IV with some variations.
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- I wish Hell was a bit more "fun". It's kinda stupid to say that because obviously it's hell but I wish it wasn't so bland in way. I think they could've done something more extreme.

87. Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Amazing story and characters. I LOVED Johnny, he's just like Niko, a really different protagonist than what we're used to in a GTA game. He's a good guy who does bad things, but at the end of the day always look out for his friends. It's actually pretty depressing playing with him knowing his fate in GTA V but it's what it is lol. I loved the story as a whole, and I also like that it's actually linked to GTA IV's main story.
- I loved how different the game felt from GTA IV, even tho it's a DLC it actually felt like a completely different game! The lighting is a lot darker and makes the whole vibe of the game a lot more sad and sinister.
- While I still hate the driving controls, driving the new bikes was actually really easy and lot less annoying than driving cars.
- Idk if the songs were new or I just never heard them in GTA IV, but the rock station is AMAZING.
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/

88. Yakuza 2 [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Amazing story once again! This story takes a bit more time to become interesting, in the first game I feel like you were thrown into the action right away, here t takes more time to build up but after a few hours it becomes amazing! I think I might even like the story more than the 1st ones.
- Lot of cool new characters like Kaoru and Ryuji. We also get to know more about some of the original characters like Date and Tereda. Also Majima is god.
- A new city, Kansai. Even tho it's smaller than Kamurocho, it's cool to have a new place to explore. Plus the main story is still mainly in Kamurocho.
- A lot more side quests (I didn't do a lot of them, I was focusing more on the main story tbh, but the few I did were pretty funny).
- People don't run up to you to beat you up every two seconds in the street ike they did in the first game. It still happens but a lot less.
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- Graphically I didn't really see a huge difference compared to the first game tbh.

89. The King of Fighters: Neowave [18/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- A pretty solid roster!
- Amazing stages! They actually reminded me a lot of the stages from 97-98 which were my favorites. The 3d effect also works very well here!
- Good soundtrack.
- Overall a solid game to finish the PS2 KOF era.
-
- A few fighters missing but not that bothering overall.
- Once again the difficulty but i'm not even mad at it anymore lol.

90. The King of Fighters XII [18/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it's just really refreshing to see something totally new after playing through all the previous KOF games. The stages are stunning and the fighters looks really great. The only one who I hate are Ralf and Clark. They made them look so big they don't even look like how they're supposed to look like lol.
- Great gameplay.
- One thing I liked is that it gave me a lot of OG SNK vibes, kinda reminded me of the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting games more than KOF tbh.
- Great soundtrack.
-
- Overall I just feel like a lot of things are missing. There's not that many stages and the roster is pretty small.

91. Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- The story and characters are amazing! This game has so many fun characters! Luis is an amazing protagonist, while he's not the most unique, he's very likable and actually reminds me of CJ who's one of my favorite GTA character of all time. Tony is also super funny and form a really unique duo with Luis lol. The story is similar to TLAD when it comes to showing a different side of events that happened in GTA IV, but it also has it's own unique characters and story line with the whole club managing stuff. Overall it's definitely the funnest and happiest story out of the GTA IV games, it has a happy ending where no one died which is rare lol.
- Really fun missions WITH CHECKPOINTS. I'm so so SO happy to finally have checkpoints lol.
- Graphically it's the same as the original game but just like TLAD it has new lighting which makes the atmosphere feel completely different. It's really cool to see Liberty City with more sun lol.
- Amazing soundtrack, by soundtrack I mean that one 80's radio station Tony is obsessed with lol.
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/

92. Yakuza 3 [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- The story is amazing! I love how we get to see a totally different side of Kazuma with the orphanage.
-  Amazing characters.[SPOILER] I thought that Kaoru leaving would be a bad thing but Kazuma and Rikiya's relationship is so much better imo. Rikiya's death was by far the saddest death of the serie so far! I also loved the kids at the orphanage, they added a whole new vibe to the serie and I found the chapter at the orphanage really fun tbh. Mine is also an amazing villain and the building up the finding he's the real villain was really good.
- New graphics! I'm so happy I don't have to play with that horrible camera angle anymore lol. The characters also look really good, the animations have aged a bit but it's still really beautiful to look at.
- Great voice acting.
-
- I'm still annoyed about the random people who wants to fight Kazuma all the time lol. He works in a goddamn orphanage now leave him alone lmao.

93. Agents of Mayhem [18/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Love the different characters. While it could've been overwhelming to have so many characters in one game, they're actually all really unique and memorable. Hollywood and Hardtack were my favorite with Gat obviously.
- Really fun gameplay. Each character has their own abilities and weapons so it makes the gameplay really diverse when it comes to combat.
- While the story isn't crazy interesting, the humor and personalities of the characters really make it super fun. I love how the game doesn't take itself seriously, and while you could say that it's similar to Saints Row, it actually reminded me a lot more of Sunset Overdrive which is a game I adored.
-
- The missions are a bit to similar. It's kinda always the same thing, fight legion soldiers, go the the lairs (that look identical) and activate some portals or whatever. It just needs more diverse missions.

94. Assassin's Creed: Origins [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Graphically the game is breathtaking. The map is huge and so beautiful, one of the most stunning open world game I've ever played. There are so many different locations and each city feels completely different. Also climbing the Pyramids is one of the most amazing feeling tbh. The characters and animations are also on point. Overall it's just perfect when it comes to graphics.
- One of the most interesting story if you're an Assassin's Creed fan. Playing as the first assassin's and finding out how the brotherhood came to life is really interesting. Bayek's story reminds me a lot of Ezio's (who's my favorite Assassin to this day), they both lost someone and then became a major piece of the assassin's brotherhood. Bayek is a really cool character, he's charismatic and can be pretty funny too but also has this aggressive side that the last Assassins didn't have (meaning Assassin's from Unity/Syndicate, not a bad thing btw since they were completely different type of characters) which makes him stand out more. I also liked Aya, even tho I thought [SPOILER] how she basically became super cold towards Bayek at the end was super weird. Maybe I was just blind through the whole game but Bayek and Aya's break up really came out of nowhere to me lol.
- Finally interesting side quests! One thing I always complain about when it comes to open world games from Ubisoft is the lack of interesting side quests, however in this game the side quests play a major part of the experience and I couldn't be happier tbh. I played about 90% of the side quests and all of them were very interesting tbh, some of them even had cut scenes which was surprising since side quests usually don't have any cut scenes.
-
- Overall I feel like the gameplay was just worst in every way compared to the previous games. Now i'm not saying it's bad and if I hadn't played any of the previous games I wouldn't have any problem with the gameplay, but I felt like Bayek was just a lot less athletic or agile or whatever compared to the previous assassins. Some of the jumps Bayek missed I could swear Ezio made them easily. Also the fact that you don't have to hold R2 to run fucked me up at the beginning lol. But the one thing that I truly didn't like was the fighting, it's so basic compared to the previous games imo. I really missed all the cool killing animations tbh.

95. NBA Live 19 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Some really cool new animations like the double dunk and between the leg dribble moves.
- Being able to play as a female is honestly super dope. Being a 7'2 female rim protector and blocking dunks is really satisfying for some reason lol.
- Stunning outside courts!
- New rep mode and new game modes that are pretty cool.
- Being able to upgrade your player easily just by playing the game is pretty good compared to 2K lol.
- Overall better gameplay.
- The WNBA is still a really nice part of the game.
- Court Battle is probably my favorite mode (I don't play ultimate team) because one of the things I hated in 18 was not being able to play with historic players and while I still wish they just added regular historic teams I can at least play with old school players without having to play UT.
-
- I really wish they added a league/franchise mode for the WNBA. The WNBA is one of the main reason I buy the game in the first place so it sucks that they only have a play now mode.
- It's not really the game's fault but the community is absolute ASS. I hate that it's matchmaking and not a park like in 2k because the gameplay is fun but it's ruined by people who either ball hog or have zero basketball IQ. Live 18's players weren't that stupid or at least I don't remember them to be lol.

96. NBA 2k19 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- While there are some issues with the gameplay, it's still way better than Live imo. It's a lot more fluid and you have a lot more control over what you do.
- Historic players. While they didn't add any new team they did add some new cool players (also took out some like Chris Bosh =( ).
- A way better prelude/story for career mode. Last year was cheeks, it made zero sense why you even was in the NBA after a simple street game, but this year you actually go undrafted then you play overseas and in the G League. While I wish it was more of a simple play in High School/College then do the Draft combine and get drafted, it's still a lot better then last year.
- A way better player creation mode. Last year was horrible, they completely downgraded the facial customization and I love to make players who aren't in the game (High School/college...) so I was kinda mad but this year it's probably my favorite customization mode of any 2K. I do wish they could've just taken WWE 2K's character creation because it's hands down one of the best character creator I've ever used, but I'm still happy it was at least improved.
- The cages is a really fun new mode tbh. Even tho it's kinda ruined by the trash player who can only shoot 3s in the cages, it's still fun.
-
- Like most 2k's not real huge difference, either gameplay wise or graphically compared to last year.
- I wish the story continued at least throughout our rookie year, after the prelude there's not story wish makes career mode a little boring.

97. Gears of War 2 [20/20]- Xbox 360 -
+
- I played the first game a few months ago but didn't want to play the second one right after because I played the Xbox One remake and was afraid I'd find the game ugly compared to the first one but it's actually pretty good. While it has aged I still found it beautiful even today.
- This game is a perfect sequel, took everything that was good in the first one and made it even better. There are so many great moments in this game but my favorite was probably in the mental hospital (or that abandoned house or whatever lol).
- Really cool characters. Marcus is a badass protagonist but imo it's his team that makes the game so great! Especially Baird and Cole.
- Amazing gameplay.
-
/

[kamikazekeeg]

11 - Metal Gear Survive (PS4 2018) - BEAT - This has to be the most "alright" game I've played recently.  It's not awful, it's not great, it's just...alright. 

At it's core, the gameplay is solid as it's just MGSV.  The survival aspect has enough to it to feel involved.  The setup and story works, keeping me interested enough to see where it went.  The problem is that nothing ever hits the point of being really well done.  Gameplay is still MGSV, but I found the melee action kinda sucks most of the time because the zombies aren't anything great to fight.  Better to have a bow or gun ready most of the time.  I'm sure some hardcore players could show otherwise, I just didn't feel like putting up with it once I was able to expand my slots to store more ammo.  The survival starts to hit that tedious level a lot, where it's hard to keep your base stocked up enough to manage your crew, making it so you want to get the boosters Konami graciously supplies for cash to speed up earning Kuban and production rates.  The story and needing to dive into dangerous dust storms seems cool at first, but then you realize you are spending hours barely being able to see further than like a 100 feet in front of you and with washed out color for so long.  There's also no way to improve this.  I beat the game and I saw no way to expand my oxygen or improve visibility in the storms.

Another aspect that felt lacking was the general gear and customization.  Very barebones selection in the singleplayer and seemingly requires a lot of co-op play to earn the cool gear.  Feel like they could've added a whole lot more and made it more interesting based on everything they can re-use from MGSV.  You basically only get a couple guns to use in singleplayer.

Setting aside the legitimate issues there are to be had with Konami over the game, I think it's just okay.  I was invested enough to want to grab it again, which I did for 10 bucks on a sale on Amazon, but I certainly can't recommend it to most people, unless you are a die hard MGS fan that just wants something that is KINDA like MGSV, and you are fine with kinda busywork survival type of experiences.

[kamikazekeeg]

47 - Mega Man X8 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - This was definitely the longest of the X series, with I think only Mega Man X6 coming close to it due to its difficulty.  Initially I thought the game was a lot tougher, it's just abit more annoying due to its long levels and some places where minor slip ups can cost you an easy death.  I do think the levels needed some trimming, more than a few feel like areas could be reworked a tad to fix up their pace. 

Overall it's actually a pretty good game, a gigantic step up over the flop that was X7 and this is what the game should've been. It has a good bit of content as there's upgrades for all three characters, different armor for each one, bonus levels for material grinding, and there's some new game+ stuff where you can play as the Navigators as essentially replacements for X, Zero, and Axl.

Not 100% sure on placement for the series, but I'm just gonna go with X1, X4, X5, X8, X2, X3, X6, and X7.

49 - Dungeons & Dragons - Tower of Doom (PC 2013) - BEAT - This was a long time coming, as it was a pretty nostalgic game for me, being that my local video store as a kid had it.  So many quarters spent and I probably only ever made it half way.  Absolute quarter muncher.  Really the only downside to it is how hard it is and many quarters it takes, and with no quarter limit now, it's just a battle of attrition.  It's short and it's got nostalgia, so I can't hate it, but it's not something I'd recommend a ton unless you got a few friends to play it with co-op, as that's where it gets real fun and nuts. 

Kinda funny how much I remember the Kobold screams and other sound effects so vividly still this many years later after hanging in that local video store so much and having it play in the background for years.  Me and my buddies once tried to talk to the video store owner to sell it to us for like 400 bucks at one point because we really wanted to keep it lol

50 - Dungeons & Dragons - Shadow over Mystara - BEAT - Figured since these are so short, that I'd burn through the other half of the collection, which I had never played before.  I got a lot of nostalgia for Tower of Doom, but this was an interesting experience, because it's a big step up from that one.  Better combat, better UI, deaths feel abit less cheap, though its still such a quarter muncher.  Love that there's basically an alternate version of each character, so when you respawn, you look different.  Ended up liking the thief the most because her mobility is great and she can spot chest traps.  If these were separate games, I'd recommend this one over Tower of Doom, it's a real good sequel in that way.

[bikingjahuty]

This is probably the most important game I will play all year given it's place as my favorite game of all time (and Shenmue II). After totally falling in love with Breath of the Wild last year I was worried that I might have to bump Shenmue to #2, but it looks like that isn't happening

54. Shenmue (PS4): This is the game I've been meaning to play all year; both Shenmue and Shenmue II are my all time favorite games and hold a very, very special place in my heart as a person and as a gamer. As a little disclaimer before I begin, I am reviewing Shenmue as a game, not as a PS4 port. In regards to the PS4 port it was done very well and the optimizations they made to the PS4 version are very much so appreciated. I did notice some sound glitches in this port, but nothing that dampened my experience with the game at all. But now back to my review of the game itself. A year and a half ago I played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which is the only game I've played since first beating Shenmue about 16-years ago that ever challenged Shenmue as my favorite game of all time. Being as open minded and honest as possible, I went into playing Shenmue knowing that it very well could be demoted to my 2nd favorite game ever after sitting at the top for so long. After binging my way through Shenmue and screwing my sleep schedule up severely from not being able to stop playing until the early hours of morning when I had to work the next day I can confidently say that Shenmue still holds its spot as my favorite game of all time, despite both it and Breath of the Wild carrying the same perfect 50/50 score. Shenmue is still to this day one of these most compelling, immersive, beautiful, interesting, and versatile games I've ever played. One minute you can be doing detective work, asking people for clues about your father's murder, the next you're at the You Arcade playing Space Harrier or a game of darts, and then the next you're fighting some thugs in an empty parking lot. There is so much gameplay variety and it is all done so well that it's hard to think of many other games, even games like GTA and Yakuza that offer so much to the player. While the gameplay does have it's faults, there is so much to love that it can easily be forgiven when the gameplay doesn't shine its brightest. The soundtrack is amazing, and while the voice acting can be bad at times, the fact that each character in the game is given distinct lines, a distinct voice, and a distinct personality, even the unimportant NPCs speaks volumes about the level of detail in Shenmue. The city is filled with the sounds that you'd hear if you were actually in a similar setting as well, and again, it is something I've never seen on this level in any other game. And then finally there's the story; while it is nothing groundbreaking and it is executed so well and so convincingly within the context of everything else in the game that it transcends your typical story of revenge. The steps you have to take to find your father's killer Lan Di are believable, as are the trials and setbacks that Ryo experiences on his journey. Hell, even getting a job later on feels believable and adds to this games stellar sense of immersion. Just like Breath of the Wild, I am hard pressed to find any fault that interferes with my overall enjoyment of Shenmue, and for every actual fault this game has, there are easily 20 other things I really enjoy about it. Shenmue is still an outstanding, incredible game to this day and one of the all time greatest games ever made, beyond it's place in my personal opinion. It broke so much new ground and similar to games like Chrono Trigger, Ocarina of Time, and yes, Breath of the Wild, it raised the bar so much higher than any other game at the time it came out and redefined what excellent games had to be in order to be amazing. While I still have to play through Shenmue II, a game I remember loving just as much as the first, I can say with absolute confidence that Shenmue is still my favorite game of all time, and could very likely always be. It is truly an experience unlike any other and one I will cherish forever. (8/27/18) [50/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

48 - Hollow Knight (Switch 2017) - BEAT - Pretty solid experience here, though I didn't fully love it.  After awhile I found getting around the map was a little more tedious than needed and in general there were a few things that just seemed abit obnoxious in execution.  The game really shines with the boss fights I think as nothing felt ridiculous, it all made sense and if I was failing, it was because I was screwing up, though a few of the extra fights, like the bosses you can fight twice are nuts.  There's a lot to this game.  I was at 70% with 20 hours, probably 30 hours at the least to complete just the main game.

The story, setting, and visuals didn't do much for me, especially with that ending.  I know there's multiple endings, but I just can't be bothered to work towards them.  The Dark Souls type of stuff is quite evident here, which I hate as a story telling means, but it's sorta at its worst here.  I have no clue what is going on.  Things went bad, a seal was placed, sacrifices were made, and that's mostly it.  I'm sure more info is revealed with the endings, but I didn't get enough story to care about while playing, so I don't really care enough to try and scavenge anymore details that I can.

Not that it's a bad game, it just didn't draw me in like I had hoped, compared to say Ori and the Blind Forest.  If you like metroidvania types of games and want something with real good challenge, this is totally worth it.

*****

And I have 52 games played already.  Pretty early really, at I played a lot of smaller games, such as the Mega Man X Legacy Collection and smaller games like the D&D ones, Tacoma, and a couple others.  Next is to try and get to 52 Games beat, of which I'm up to 42 right now with the Endless games added in, 36 without.  I think I can maybe do that.  Don't have too many things to catch up on and there's a a handful of games I plan to buy throughout the last 4 months of the year.

[shfan]

35] Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (PS4)

Light years ahead of Shantae: Risky's Revenge, it's good enough to sit alongside the likes of Wonderboy and Castlevania in my book, fantastic game, really pleased I managed to get an LRG physical copy.

I'm now well and truly behind, August was a dead month. The flip side is that this year's challenge has coincided with me taking a fresh look at the games I've actually collected - so much dead wood. I've also tried and got rid of 22 games so far this year, so they're going because they're in the wrong genres and they're going cos they're no fun. At this rate my collection will be updated and more representative of what I actually like.

[kamikazekeeg]

52 - The Messenger (Switch 2018) - BEAT - I actually can say I 100% this one.  In terms of getting all the Power Seals and upgrades and I don't see anything else available.  It's just a fun time and while it never hit the levels that Shovel Knight did for me personally, it's very much in that same vein of a charming throwback, but with modern sensibilities worked in.  Music is great, the visuals are great, and it's that very middle level challenge for me, where stuff could be a little tough, but nothing crazy.

My only real negatives are that some of the Power Seal challenge rooms maybe weren't designed super great and could be brute forced pretty easily and one of the levels had some rough framerate to it.  Also I'd say one or two of the boss fights aren't that great. Also, less of a criticism and more a nitpick, but getting fully upgraded happened pretty quick.  I still had a few of the key quest items to get when I was already done upgrading my guy and the only other thing you use shards for are hints, but by the end of the game, I had nearly 5k shards and nothing to spend them on lol Would've been nice to buy maybe some alternate looks or maybe some more weapon options.

With this and Hollow Knight, it's been interesting playing two games of basically the Metroidvania setup, but done very differently.  Personally I prefer The Messenger, it's more to the point, whereas Hollow Knight is just bursting with things to collect and search for.  Highly recommend The Messenger though, it's a good time.

[bikingjahuty]

I finished Shenmue II last night, and here is my longwinded praise, I mean review of it :p


55. Shenmue II (PS4): Before getting into the meat of my review for Shenmue II, I just wanted to preface by saying that this mini-review is for the game itself and not the PS4 port. I will say this port was very good, especially in the visuals department. My only gripe with the PS4 port was the voice audio in many parts was super quiet compared to the XBOX version of this game, requiring me to turn the volume up many times during cutscenes or when speaking to other characters. Overall though this was a great port of an excellent classic. Now to my review. As I said in my review for the original Shenmue, there was some question prior to me playing through these games that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might have surpassed both Shenmue and Shenmue II as my favorite game of all time. Within the first quarter of Shenmue II I knew that there was no possible way I liked Breath of the Wild more than Shenmue II, or its predecessor for that matter. In fact by the time I completed Shenmue II, I knew that Shenmue and Shenmue II were in a league beyond Breath of the Wild or any other game I have ever played, which is saying a lot given how amazing some of my favorite games are. Shenmue II is the most beautiful, magical, interesting, immersive, and captivating games I've ever played. While playing through this game I am constantly overwhelmed with various positive feelings of various types, and the further I got into this game, the more I fell more and more in love with it. There is so much to do, so much to see, so many characters to speak with and interact with that this game creates such an incredibly believable and immersive world that is unmatched by most modern games even. There are certain things that the first Shenmue does better, but likewise Shenmue II has many advantages over its predecessor including its much more expansive and interactive world, the pacing of the story, and the introduction of Shenhua which may be my favorite part of either game. However, it is impossible for me to say which of the two Shenmue games I like more or think is a better game; they are both incredible masterpieces that raised the bar for the entire video game industry in so many ways when they were released, making both games some the most important games of all time imo. Perhaps one of the best things about completely Shenmue II specifically this time around was the fact that I knew that Ryo Hazuki's saga was not over and that Shenmue III is now a reality that we will all get to experience in a year (assuming it isn't delayed). As a diehard Shenmue fan that is one of the best, most amazing feelings in the world after not knowing if I'd ever get to see this amazing franchise get continued for over a decade prior to the Kickstarter announcement for Shenmue III. But Shenmue II, and the first Shenmue are by far the greatest, most wonderful, most beautiful, most special games I have played and I am almost certain now that I will never love a franchise and its games more than Shenmue. (9/4/18) [50/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

53 - Spider-Man (PS4 2018) - BEAT - Man, I burned through this game, playing it basically all weekend long lol This game is just top quality stuff.  The visuals, the gameplay, the story, it's all real good.  It doesn't do anything particularly new or groundbreaking and have the impact like the Arkham games did, especially since it's clear those games were an influence on this, but it takes the familiar Spider-Man formula and just polishes it to a fine sheen.  It's definitely the best Spider-Man game I think.

One of my favorite things is how many different suits there are and that they are all unlockable in game.  One or two are locked to a side-mission and beating the main story, but otherwise just leveling will unlock new suits and most of them have special suit abilities.  Best thing is that those abilities can be used on any suit while unlocked, so did you like the mechanical arms from the Iron Spider suit, but want to be Spider-Man 2099? You can.  I ground my way through as much side content as I could to unlock suits.  There's something like nearly 30 suits.  My favorite was the Scarlet Spider, the MK III Armored, and the cartoon/comic suit which looks like a rotoscoped cartoon put into a real life movie, it's impressive how good it looks.

I actually got a pretty high completion amount upon beating the game, but towards the end, I realized the final suit unlock sucks, so I'm not gonna go for 100% since the reward isn't worth it.  Otherwise I loved this game, it's great and there's great buildup for the inevitable sequel.

37 - Enter the Gungeon (Switch 2017) - ENDLESS - Just gonna make this an endless one, as I simply can't progress any further than the 4th Chamber and I've only been there once.  I'm 0 for 3 on these rogue-like/lite games.  I couldn't get through Binding of Isaac, Rogue Legacy, or Enter the Gungeon.  The amount of bad runs I'd get would ruin me, either getting very little in the way of bullets, or good guns.  At least with Rogue Legacy I had some general progression, but there's nothing like that in Gungeon.  Sure, you free NPC's from the jail, but that never helps.  Heck, when I thought unlocking the elevator to Chamber 2 was great, I realized it didn't help me get through any better, because it's better to get gear through the first first chamber usually.

And I've put hours into these games, which is why I'm calling this "Endless" instead of "Abandoned" as I'll still casually try every so often, usually when I'm needing something simple while having my Switch portable, but I've stopped seriously trying to progress lol

51 - Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch 2018) - ABANDONED - And dropping this game unfortunately.  I played it abit, but Monster Hunter World ruined any chance of me getting into the old ones.  Had I played this first, maybe I would've managed, but the whole time I'm just wanting a better UI, better inventory, better world, etc...The only thing I feel it has over World is content, but that's not a negative against World since it's a new experience and everything has to be remade compared to Generations just being an expanded port.

[telly]

Game 14: Pokémon: Omega Ruby (3DS) – 34 Hours

Counted this game as beat when I finished the Elite Four and did the postgame Delta Episode

+ I really enjoyed this game, even more than Sun version. Maybe it’s the nostalgia showing as this was one of the first generations that I played through, not sure. I do think that this is in general a great Pokémon game, and it was really tough to stop playing at times. While it doesn’t do anything amazing in terms of a remake, it adds just enough extra content and updates from Gen VI to vastly improve the overall experience. Hoenn is such a beautiful region too, and the added soar feature made it a joy to experience without needing to use Fly. Will probably continue to explore some additional areas, go after the Regis and mirage spots, and try my hand at chain fishing looking for shinies.

 
- I have three main gripes with this game. The first is the HMs. They’re dumb. There are 8 of them that you need plus secret power and arguably dig, and while I was able to get by with just 4 of them, it’s such a pain to have to waste up move slots with them. Thank goodness they got rid of them with the next game. I also have a problem with some of the controls. In the overworld you can move around fluidly and it feels great, but inside, it’s changed into this horrible 8-direction angular, restrictive... nonsense. It’s jarring and it’s tough to move around precisely with the circle pad when this happens. The last gripe I had was that the post game was kind of lackluster. It felt like a lot of back and forth fetch questing and not much else. While getting to catch Deoxys was cool, it didn’t hold my attention for long.

Final Team:

Ken - Blaziken (lvl. 58)
Lorelai – Gardevoir (lvl. 56)
Feng-Tiang – Shiftry (lvl. 55)
Leviathan – Relicanth (lvl. 55)
Ixion - Manectric (lvl. 56)
Wyvern – Flygon (lvl. 58)

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[telly]

Game 15: Earthbound: Beginnings (Wii U) – 19 Hours

Hoo boy, was this game a stinker. Definitely the worst game I've played this year by far, and I’m overall really disappointed with it. I know this game came out in 1990, and RPGs were barely established at this point, but still. This game has not aged well at all.

+ There are a couple good things I can say about the game though. For one, there are some nice gameplay features that were unique for the time. When you die, you don’t get a game over and you get to keep all the experience you earned. Items like bread crumbs and the repel ring are helpful for navigating through dungeons and avoiding random encounters. And if you really try hard, you can see some of the charm that made Earthbound and Mother 3 so memorable. There are some really fun moments and dialogue here and there. Lastly, I really enjoyed the music, it’s fantastic classic 8-bit tunes, and is definitely the game’s best feature.

-Alright, here’s the laundry list of problems I had with this game.

• The story is absolute garbage. You get a text dump in the beginning, maybe two lines of story dialogue throughout the game, then another text dump at the end and a monologue from the final boss, and that’s it. There’s no progression in the story at all, and it’s lazy, boring and unfulfilling. I didn’t even realize I was at the final boss until the last two melodies came to me out of nowhere.
• The difficulty spikes are insane and incredibly annoying. The first few enemies will rock your shit when you first leave your home, and Mt. Itoi will completely destroy you too. The rest of the game is tolerable, but Mt. Itoi was so bad that I had to take a break from the game. Part of the difficulty comes from stupid instant-kill magic (PK Beam Gamma) and horrible status conditions that make your party members useless (stone, rope and asthma)
• The characters are all lifeless, even more so than in EarthBound. Also, having Teddy as a fourth member who “dies” after like 1 hour and becomes unavailable for the rest of the game was unnecessary and a total tease.
• The menus are actually even worse than in Earthbound, believe it or not. It doesn't help that you only have 8 item slots this time around, and only 3 characters. Equipping stuff is a nightmare because you can’t see how an item improves your stats until you actually equip it. Every time you use a spell it quits the entire menu so you have to reopen it if you want to use another spell. Item descriptions are useless, there are no descriptions for the dozens of spells you learn in the game... etc. I could go on with all the little annoyances in the menus.
• The random encounter rate is way too damn high. I’m not even exaggerating; play it, and you’ll see what I mean. We’re talking taking 2 steps for an encounter 5 encounters in a row kind of bad.
• New party members come in at level 1, so it’s really tough to level them up because most likely they’ll die before they even see the end of a battle.
• The cash management annoyances of Earthbound are even worse in this game, because the ATM is only in the Dept. Store. It’s really annoying to find out that you don’t have enough money for something and you have to run all the way back to get more money. Especially when you have to visit both the hotel and hospital to get fully powered up again.

It’s probably too much for me to expect more from a game from this era, but still. If games like Super Mario Bros. can still hold up to this day, I don’t think I should give this game any slack just because it was a miserable experience for me.

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