VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: bikingjahuty on December 27, 2025, 11:26:21 am
-
It's here again! With less than a week left in 2025, I figured we can get a 52 games challenge thread going to stir up excitement and also to reserve spots in the thread for next year.
For anyone who's not familiar with the 52 Games Challenge, it's essentially VGcollect members committing themselves to beat at least 52 games (one game a week on average) in one calendar year and reducing our backlogs. This challenge is a lot of fun, not just playing and beating games, but also seeing what others are beating as well. A lot of good game discussion happens here as we comment on each other's reviews and blurbs about games. When you beat a game, abandon one, or whatever feel free to write a small blurb about it, or a super long, detailed review too if you want.
Let's beat a ton of games in 2026 and make it another awesome year of gaming!
-
This year I have little doubt I'll reach 52 games beat again. Given how I play a pretty balanced combo of shorter games (lots of arcade style games and games that can be beat in under a couple of hours) and longer games (10+ hours), it won't be hard for me to beat 52 games again. However, where I might fall short compared to 2025 (I beat around 130 games) is committing myself to other things as well in 2025 that I either neglected or didn't put as much time/effort into as I should have. This will no doubt reduce my games beat output, but to what extent is to be seen. I'm estimating I'll beat around 80 games this year, but that number could go up or down depending on how things go in 2026. It's even possible I hit triple digit games beat, but again, my need to prioritize other, non-game related things in 2026 will likely get in the way of that. Anyhow, like always I'm super excited to complete the challenge again and look forward to seeing what everyone else beats too!
COMPLETED
1. Elebits (Wii) (1/2/26) [29/50]
2. Golden Axe (Genesis) (1/3/26) [29/50]
3. Splatterhouse 3 (Genesis) (1/3/26) [34/50]
4. Halo 3 (XBONE) (1/4/26) [36/50]
5. Dead or Alive 6 (PS4) (1/5/26) [35/50]
6. Castlevania (NES) (1/7/26) [29/50]
7. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (PS4) (1/14/26) [39/50]
8. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch) (1/24/26) [34/50]
9. Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5) (1/25/26) [42/50]
10. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (PS5) (1/28/26) [38/50]
11. Guitar Hero II (PS2) (1/30/26) [37/50]
12. Clayfighter 63 1/3 + Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut (N64) (1/31/26) [29/50]
13. New Super Mario Bros (DS) (2/7/26) [35/50]
14. Tobal 2 (PS1) (2/8/26) [32/50]
15. Pepsiman (PS1) (2/8/26) [25/50]
16. Omega Boost (PS1) (2/10/26) [33/50]
17. F-Zero X (N64) (2/19/26) [33/50]
ABANDONED
1. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4) (2/18/26)
-
Previous 52 Game Challenges: 2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg174802.html#msg174802), 2021 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185673.html#msg185673), 2022 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11713.msg193705.html#msg193705), 2023 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12127.msg199073.html#msg199073), 2024 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12641.msg204015.html#msg204015), 2025 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12935.msg207749.html#msg207749)
01. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg210957.html#msg210957) Cozy || PC || 01.04.26
02. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg210988.html#msg210988) Once Upon a Katamari || PlayStation 5 || 01.07.26
03. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg210990.html#msg210990) It Is As If You Were Doing Work || Browser || 01.10.26
04. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211066.html#msg211066) Resident Evil Code: Veronica X || GameCube || 01.21.26
05. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211088.html#msg211088) Pikmin || Nintendo Switch || 01.25.26
06. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211111.html#msg211111) Finding Father || Browser || 01.31.26
07. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211137.html#msg211137) A Space for the Unbound || Nintendo Switch || 02.02.26
08. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211225.html#msg211225) Gnog || PlayStation 4 || 02.09.26
-
Reserving my spot for this year! Unfortunately, I had a very rough year in 2025, and gaming had to take a major backseat. However, I am excited to once again give this a try! Good luck to everyone on your 2026 gaming goals!!! ;D
-
Finished:
1. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211038.html#msg211038) Mario Kart World (Switch 2): 1/14
2. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211045.html#msg211045) Crazy Taxi (DreamCast): 1/16
3. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211053.html#msg211053) Vital Shell (PC): 1/23
4. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211086.html#msg211086) Gears of War: Reloaded (Series X): 1/25
5. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211101.html#msg211101) Dr. Mario 64 (Switch 2): 1/30
6. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211226.html#msg211226) Power Stone (Switch 2): 1/30
7. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211227.html#msg211227) Power Stone 2 (Switch 2): 2/2
8. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211266.html#msg211266) Jet Grind Radio (DreamCast): 2/7
9. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211267.html#msg211267) Tomb Raider II Remastered (Series X): 2/18
-
I'll be there!
-
3. Snoopy & the Great Mystery Club (Nintendo Switch) | 1/21/26 | Time: 07:33 | Rating: ★★★★★ | Notes: none
2. Legend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Game Gear) | 1/11/26 | Time: 01:40 | Rating: ★★★★★ | Notes: played on Retron 5
1. Final Fight CD (Sega CD) | 1/10/26 | Time: 03:45 | Rating: ★★★★★ | Notes: played on Polymega
-
Participating once again. Let's see how far I get in comparison to previous years...
2023 - 27 Completed.
2024 - 17 Completed.
2025 - 17 Completed.
Currently Playing:
1. ARC Raiders (PS5)
Paused:
1. Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered (PS5)
- Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (PS2)
Completed: 04
1. TMNT Cowabunga Collection (PS5)
- TMNT IV Turtles in Time (Arcade)
2. Code Violet (PS5)
3. TMNT Wrath of the Mutants (PS5)
4. Indiana Jones: Great Circle (PS5)
- The Order of the Giants DLC
Planning to Play:
1. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis (PS5)
2. Zelda: Skyward Sword (Switch)
3. Expedition 33 (PS5)
-
1 - Peak (PC 2025) - BEAT
2 - Cassette Beasts (PC 2023) - BEAT
3 - ENA: Dream BBQ (PC 2025) - BEAT
4 - Dead Island 2 (PC 2023) - BEAT
5 - Hytale (PC Early Access 2025) - ENDLESS
6 - Doom: The Dark Ages (PC 2025) - PLAYING
7 - That's Not My Neighbor (PC 2025) - BEAT
8 - Palworld (PC 2023) - DROPPED
9 - Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5 (PC 2026) - BEAT
-
After managing to actually reach 52 for the first time ever in 2025 I'm going for it again! Slight switch-up in format this year, going to include a few extra data fields such as genre and misc data (adult game, setting etc.) in there and can the mini-reviews - I like reading everyone's in-depth posts about what they're playing and if a game moves me that much I'll do the same, time allowing. For games I get rid of I'll include a simple explanation for why (dull, difficult etc). Here goes:
Games beaten
01] Harem Rush! Impish Fantasy (STM, 2025) | 1 Jan | Action | Adult, Fantasy
02] Earth Defense Force 6 (STM, 2024) | 4 Jan | Action | Wing Diver, Normal Difficulty, Sci-Fi
03] Spy Bros. (Pipi & Bibi's DX) (STM, 2023) | 11 Jan | Action | Arcade
04] Yohane the Parhelion - Blaze in the Deepblue (STM, 2023) | 18 Jan | Metroidvania | Anime
05] Cult of the Lamb (STM, 2022) | 22 Jan | Action | Cute, Horror
06] Look Outside (STM, 2025) | 4 Feb | Turn-based RPG | Body Horror, Cosmic Horror, RPG Maker
07] Dino Quake (STM, 2025) | 19 Feb | Action | Arcade, Bubble Bobble Clone
Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of
01] Super Zangyura (NSW, 2024) | 4 Jan | Difficult, Dull
Previous Years
2025 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12935.msg207756.html#msg207756) - 53 beaten, 22 tried and discarded
2024 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12641.msg204045.html#msg204045) - 38 beaten, 5 tried and discarded
2023 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12127.msg199131.html#msg199131) - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185676.html#msg185676) - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173272.html#msg173272) - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162658.html#msg162658) - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149025.html#msg149025) - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg147415.html#msg147415) - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg132260.html#msg132260) - 21 beaten
-
Here we go again.
1. Star Trek: Armada 2 (PC) - Beat / Jan. 31
2. Mega Man X2 (Switch) - Beat / Feb. 5
3. Mega Man X3 (Switch) - Beat / Feb. 13
4. Stray (PS5) - Beat / Feb. 16
5. Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Deck) - Playing
-
Almost 2 years since took part in this. Let's go and howdy yall.
Beaten
1. Donkey Kong Country 2
2. Fallout 4
3. Capcom Fighting Collection(Darkstalkers-The Night Warriors)
4. Capcom Fighting Collection(Night Warriors-Darkstalker's Revenge)
Replay
1. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith(Expert)
2. Rock Band(Expert Drums)
Playlist(As of 2/15/26)
1. Robot Alchemic Drive
2. Cyberpunk 2077
3. Professor Layton and The Curious Village
4. Deathloop
5. Clair Obcur: Expedition 33
6. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience
8. God of War: Ragnanrok
9. Okami
10. Yakuza
Nope List 2026(Games abandoned)
-
Reserved.
Got in reserved somewhat early which is good. Been battling the nastiest Flu in a long time rn. But wish you all a happy New Years. But can't wait to hopefully at least match imput 2026! Heres to another happy backlog shredding season :)
BEATEN
1. The Bouncer [PS2]
2. GTA: Vice City Stories [PS2]
3. Madden NFL 2005 [PS2]
4. NFL Street 2 [PS2]
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
6. Jeopardy [PS1]
7. Centipede: Recharged [PS5]
8. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [PS2/PS4]
9. Mary Kate And Ashley: Magical Mystery Mall [PS1]
10. Super Mario Sunshine [GC]
Year Start Trophies - 3480
GAMES ON DECK
1. Clock Tower 3
2. Resident Evil Village
3. Castlevania Symphony Of The Night
4. Mario Sunshine
ABANDONED
1.
MONTHLY BREAKDOWN
January - 4 Games and 9 Trophies
2025: 60 Games Beat
-
Games Finished in 2026
1. Tactics Ogre: Reborn (Switch) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211014.html#msg211014)- 1.16
2. Coffee Talk (PS5) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211069.html#msg211068) - 1.18
3. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS5) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,13134.msg211070.html#msg211069) - 1.25
4. Subnautica: Below Zero (PS5) - 2.12
Additional Games Played in 2026 (endless or in-progress games are here)
Metaphor RE: Phantazio (PS5)
Goof Troop (SNES)
Monstrix: TCG Card Shop (PS5)
Pokémon: Emerald Rogue (Android)
Backlog - the priority games on my backlog anyway!
Silent Hill 2 (PS5 remake and PS2 original)
The Last Guardian (PS4)
Rain World (Switch)
Metaphor RE: Fantazio (PS5)
Resident Evil 5 (PS4)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (GC)
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
Tales of Arise (PS4)
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm and Exercise! (Switch)
Previous Lists
2015 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,5879.msg104675.html#msg104675) - 27 finished, + 10 played but not finished
2016 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg105642.html#msg105642) - 32 finished, + 16 played but not finished
2017 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg132293.html#msg132293) - 26 finished, + 13 played but not finished
2018 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017) - 23 finished, + 6 played but not finished
2019 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162665.html#msg162665) - 20 finished, + 9 played but not finished
2020 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173286.html#msg173286) - 45 finished, + 10 played but not finished
2021 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185672.html#msg185672) - 24 finished, + 15 played but not finished
2022 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11713.msg193725.html#msg193725) - 18 finished, + 11 played but not finished
2023 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12127.msg199090.html#msg199090) - 24 finished, + 16 played but not finished
2024 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12641.msg204027.html#msg204027) - 24 finished, + 9 played but not finished
2025 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12935.msg207761.html#msg207761) - 29 finished, + 14 played but not finished
-
3 - ENA: Dream BBQ (PC 2025) - BEAT - I don't know if I could explain this, I found it because I had seen the player character, Ena, in different things, but it's from this game which is a mixture of video game and someones insane art project as it was apparently just gonna be animation, before turning into a game. It's very much a nod to 90's PC games, a nod to low poly 3D platformers, with characters in so many different visual art styles and mediums, from anim-like characters, to crazy 3D models that feel like they are out of Reboot, to just very weird and abstract things. No character feels like they are done the same way visually, it's kinda crazy. It's a free game, it'll have chapters added over time, but there are multiple things to accomplish and different endings to find and this is one of the types of games I want to do more of everything, because I want to see new characters or what new animation they'll do next, it's a pretty ridiculous experience in the best way.
-
Met my goal in 2016 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg105641.html#msg105641), 2017 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg132350.html#msg132350), 2018 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php?topic=8821.msg149004#msg149004), 2019 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162655.html#msg162655), 2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173290.html#msg173290), 2021 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665), 2022 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11713.msg193710.html#msg193710), 2023 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12127.msg199078.html#msg199078), 2024 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12641.msg204016.html#msg204016), and 2025 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12935.msg207887.html#msg207887); with 2021 being 156 games, 2016/2017/2020/2022/2023 being 104 games, and 2018/2019 being 52 games as the goals. 2015 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,5879.msg103895.html#msg103895) I tracked the info super late and I had another really busy year that year.
2025 was another rough year. Physical therapy helped me out with my problems which come and go among other problems that come and go. My kid got transferred to a new school and the teacher and staff were great despite him being in an awful place. He started ABA therapy and got kicked out towards the end of the summer, which is kind of unheard of. His teacher quit to take a job elsewhere and the new teacher isn't as great. He's got decent support though and his medicine is in a better place, hoping it can keep up, but that took almost all year to get him to a good place. My wife had Lasik and braces, both with their own issues and failures. After several procedures and tons of recovery eyes are good now, braces are still on and she's finally, almost 6 months later, starting to be able to eat more solid foods. Work was awful with my boss tanking my eval and despite his boss being aware of the prejudice and bias, allowed the eval to go through so I got no pay increase from an eval for the first time ever, last year was no pay increase either for a different reason, so with inflation shit is getting worse. Basically told most of my coworkers not to expect me to help with shit since apparently helping all of you people meant I'm not performing my own duties, so fuck everyone. I obviously, again, didn't do well keeping up with notes and stats. I've basically abandoned physical collecting in favor of a steam library and it shows with most of my activity last year being mostly on steam. Yet here I am again, making a post on here. This might be my last year doing this here as I'm transferring all of my notes and information over to backloggery with the goal of catching up and doing notes there as I input play status... right now though, I do notes here and transfer them later.
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.
Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/ignition365)
Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/Ignition365)
2026 52 Game Challenge
- Donkey Kong Bananza (NS2)
- The Oil Blue: Steam Legacy Edition (PC)
-
Bloop reserved
-
Almost 2 years since took part in this. Let's go and howdy yall.
Welcome back!
-
1. The Bouncer [PS2] - Finished Jan 1st, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/J7ZtxN7w/20260101-003913.jpg)
I am so incapacitated by flu that it's almost depressing at this point. I cough in my dreams. I really wish everyone health and safety away from this strand. For whatever that's worth. But being bed ridden for a week sent me to this off the wall classic! I was able to sit as the ball dropped and get my first score on the board early just like last year! Beaten at 2:00 am EST of 2026. To ring in the year. And i'm happy with the choice off sentimentality alone.
This time with a very nostalgic childhood game. It is very symbolic for me. Even the title entrance voice thheeeee Bouncerrr. This is a lesser spoken of Squaresoft beat em up. My stance on it is that considering some people paid 60 dollars for this game at launch back in the early 2000s. That's quite the tough out. But as a small experience, I enjoyed my time with it. And my brother let me borrow this game when I was like 7 years old. So its full circle to witness end credits with it :)
The plot is I believe meant to pivot around choosing sion. I chose volt and leveled up only volt. It punishes you slightly with dialogue for doing this. The game is a bare bones rudementary beat em up that actually has stellar graphics for its time. Some of these cut scenes have such great visual light reflection effects that it looks borderline Ray Tracing!! It's very pretty for a game that I remember playing before passion of the christ the movie was even released. 2 decades or more of added onto my back like armadillo scales but the game remains what it always was. An easy. Anyone can do it beat em up for begginers of the genre. I was able to beat the game without buying any special moves.
The plot is ok... although rushed. Not as flushed out as say kingdom hearts but more flushed out than say dynasty warriors. The combat is ok although not very nuianced. I do think its simplicity is what aids its nostalgia for me because it is how I remembered the game being. Some of the fighting feels club brawl style and fist fighting fun.
Sion - Dollar General Sora
Volt - spike from buffy the vampie slayer
Other dude - the host of ink master Dave Navaro.
This is lamens terms of what were dealing with in terms of character development. And they seek to rescue A drew berrymore blonde girl from some disapperance or kidnapping. It's random and off the rails but it keeps itself somewhat glued with the well animated cut scenes. The blonde girl. Has secrets. So does All the characters really.
The game is very punch punch kick repeat. Unless you buy combo moves which I didnt.
Overall its a nostalgic cute simple beat em up for ps2.
77/100
-
Happy New Year, everyone! Let's do it!
1. Mega Man X7
I went through this game multiple times back when it was initially released in 2003 because I was a poor college student and didn't have many other options. It was bad then. Now, I had a video guide AND the Brady official guide next to me when I did this random replay. It's still bad. Why did I think it wouldn't be? I dunno. Maybe some of 2025 was still lingering in the background. Oh well. First is the worst. Get it out of the way.
2. Astro Bot - platinum'd
I technically finished this before the new year, but I'm marking it complete now because I got all of the additions from the Gacha Machine now. Man oh man. What a game this was. I loved every second of it. Seeing the celebrated history of Sony's gaming franchises (and many third party ones) getting their flowers with the various Bots was lovely. Of course, the game itself played like a dream and looked gorgeous. The physics were magnificent. I can't recommend this game enough to all types of gamers. Favorite deep cut Bots were: Arc the Lad, Mad Maestro, Chrono Cross, and The Legend of Dragoon.
-
Almost 2 years since took part in this. Let's go and howdy yall.
Welcome back!
Yuh!
-
All right! 2026 edition, let's go! Last year, I managed to beat 19 games (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12935.msg208031.html#msg208031), 17 of which for the first time (and one I beat twice). Not my highest score ever, but not bad. Let's see how I do this year!
Beat:
- Spyro the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy) [Switch]
- Chaos Faction [PC / Steam Deck]
- Chaos Faction 2 [PC / Steam Deck]
- inbento [Mobile]
- Metroid Prime 4: Beyond — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition [Switch 2]
(Purple = started it last year or earlier)
(Orange = already beat it before)
-
1. Spyro the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)
And that's the first game of the year beaten already: the remake of the original Spyro the Dragon, from the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. I started this game a few years ago, but I finished it just now. And well, sorry to start the year off on a negative note. I know the original Spyro and this remake are beloved, and I genuinely wanted to like it. But I'm sorry, I didn't. There's a reason I put the game down a few years ago. I found some parts to be fine, but in other parts it was tedious and finicky.
Some sections were outright annoying. I'm thinking of some precise glide jumps that I would repeatedly die to until I made them, with no idea of what I did differently. And the enemies you have to chase with your dash, they can get lost. I always had a little difficulty controlling Spyro, especially when it came to those long glides and in lining up my dash attacks. In some levels the game wasn't bad, but even there it also just never grabbed me. Many times when I died, I just didn't feel compelled to try again. I just wanted to stop playing and pick up something else.
It's a shame. I want to like this game. I love Spyro's character design. I like the idea of a world populated by cartoony anthropomorphic dragons. I know these games are beloved. But this game just did not do it for me. Funnily enough, the first Crash Bandicoot from the N. Sane Trilogy didn't either, so that's an extra thing Crash and Spyro share I suppose. Maybe Spyro 2 and 3 are better, that's possible, but I honestly do not feel compelled to pick them up right now. I've got other games in my backlog I'd much rather play than more of this.
Speaking of which, Metroid Prime 4, you're up.
-
1. Spyro the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)
If you ever do get around to playing Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon, I think you'll find them to be substantially better than the debut title, though they may still not be games you'll enjoy.
-
First game of the year down! I was rearranging my collection all day, making room for the few console collections which are still growing, and while moving the Wii games I grabbed a title I've been meaning to return to for some time.
1. Elebits (Wii)
I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get a Nintendo Wii at launch back in late 2006. The reason I was lucky was, a) they were hard as hell to find, and b) I was a broke ass college student who had no business spending the limited funds I had on a hot new game console. Regardless, I picked up Twilight Princess with my Wii and devoured that game over the following weeks. However, once I beat Twilight Princess and had extracted all the enjoyment i could out of Wii Sports at the time, I decided to use a Best Buy gift card I had burning a hole in my pocket to pick up a brand new game that was among the best to show off the Wii's then revolutionary motion controls. That game was Elebits.
It's been nearly 20 years since I last played and beat Elebits and in that time period I've been meaning to go back and replay it. Having finally done so, I can say that this game does a pretty good job with not only showing off the versatility of the Wii's motion controls, but unfortunately does so in a game that has some fundamental design issues and gets way too repetitive way too fast.
The basic premise of Elebits is you need to explore various confined environments to track down the chubby creatures whom the game gets its namesake. The Elebits are essentially beings made of electricity and the more you collect, the more you're able to explore and interact with various other parts of each stage, thereby allowing you to find and capture even more Elebits. As you progress through the game's 30 stages, new elements are introduces including new types of Elebits, new obstacles and hazards to contend with, new puzzles, and of course, new environments to explore. Unfortunately, the game does recycle stages, which is a shame since there aren't a ton of them to begin with, and many are just extensions/variations of others you've previous played. Aside from the recycled stages, all this might sound like this game remains fresh and interesting throughout, however the more this game adds, the worse it gets.
For example, there are stages where you are not allowed to break any objects like dishes or glasses, or you can't make too much noise while overturning furniture and other objects in search for Elebits. The games controls combined with the stage and time constraints you're required to contend with just don't mesh well enough for you to get through them in a matter than isn't either tedious and boring, or needlessly frustrating. With all that said, this is not a difficult game. It is also worth noting there are several Elebit bosses you have to fight throughout the game as well, and beating them requires some sort of unique action or strategy. Unfortunately these boss battles are somewhat half baked and don't make the game really any better, or I suppose worse either.
Elebits was a pretty good looking game for its time. Environments are fairly detailed and have many objects to interact with. This extends to the game's physics which are pretty fun and decently implemented. It's fun to use your Elebit capturing gun to throw objects like lamps, chairs, electronics, and all sorts of other things around a room like a manic lunatic in search of the colorful little creatures. The game is actually most fun when you just get to go insane on the sage environments and the objects within them. Unfortunately, these moments are too seldom and instead you are required to take a much more tedious, restrained approach to complete most stages. But anyhow, this game looks pretty good for what it is and certainly one of the better looking early Wii games.
Finally, there's Elebits' soundtrack which is surprisingly good, albeit not mind blowing by any stretch of the imagination either. There is a decent amount of voice acting too, which is all pretty terrible and wooden. Sound effects of objects being thrown about of the squeaks and cute noises of the Elebit creatures also help give this game a distinct, lighthearted identity as well. The overall sound quality of this game is good, just not amazing...other than the voice acting of course, which is fairly trivial regardless.
I have to admit, I am a tad disappointed I didn't enjoy this game more upon replaying it. I'd forgotten most of my impressions of this game from back in 2006, but do at least remember feeling more positive about Elebits than negative. Unfortunately my new opinion screws slightly more towards the negative side of things, mostly due to how limiting the gameplay can be and also how repetitive this game gets despite its best efforts to avoid that. Elebits served its purpose in late 2006 and Id say even through some of 2007 as one of the best showcases of the Wii's motion controls, however there are far better games that would do this in the years that followed during the Wii's lifespan. Still, this game isn't without its charm and it's certainly a decent little FPS game that you coiuld also play with young kids if you wanted to. (1/2/26) [29/50]
-
2. Golden Axe (Genesis)
While I never owned Golden Axe as a kid, one of my best friends did and it was one of our favorite multiplayer games to play whenever I was at his house. Having never played or even encountered the arcade version of this game growing up, this was my first exposure to the Golden Axe series. However, it's been easily 30 years since I last played the original Golden Axe and I was fairly sure my opinion of this game had likely changed in that time period. Sure enough, it has.
For a fantasy style beat em' up from the late 80s, Golden Axe is a decent game. The visuals do a good job of capturing that fantasy adventure feel as you quest through each of the game's stages on your quest to defeat the evil Death Adder. In true fantasy style your progression through the game is tracked on a ancient looking map which just adds to the great encapsulation of the fantasy genre. Levels are also pretty memorable as you fight your way through villages, on the sides of cliffs, and eventually inside an ominous looking castle. Enemy variety is unfortunately lacking compared to some other contemporary beat em' ups of the time; most enemies will be the same models, but just color swapped. Bosses are also less varied than I would like, with most just being big looking dudes with giant swords or axes. Still, despite this, the visuals are pretty good in Golden Axe, especially for a very early Genesis release.
The soundtrack is also pretty good. There are some very memorable tunes in this game that gave been burned into my brain most of my life thanks to those Golden Axe play seasons from the early and mid 90s. Listening to the soundtrack now, however, there is still some decent music in this game, but still not as good as I remember. Aside from this, there are cool, crunchy sounding Genesis sound effects when you strike and enemy or they hit you, as well as the cries of enemies when you finally vanquish them.
Sadly, Golden Axe's gameplay isn't great, but in a way not terrible either as far as late 80s beat em' ups are concerned. Beyond the typical repetitive gameplay games from this genre are somewhat infamous for, there is a definite lack of balancing and an undeniable cheapness to Golden Axe's gameplay. Enemy default speed is faster than yours, which is already really slow, which allows them to easy flank you. You can do a variety of things to deal with this, including jumping and a 360 degree attack, but what often happens is the hit detection seems inconsistent, and niot just when surrounded on both sides. The inconsistent hit detection in Golden Axe is honestly my biggest grip with the game seeing how you're almost certain your strike with hit a bad guy, but instead just passes right through them, but next time from the same distance it lands? Okay. The use of magic via potion bottles you collect by kicking the shit out of little elves with bags does spice up gameplays, especially since the more you charge up your magic the better and cooler the attack you unleash. Oh and the three playable characters all have different magic attacks too which is pretty cool. There are also mounts you can use to help you fight, although between trying to actually get on them with getting hit by an enemy and then hit again after just one attack on the mount kind of diminishes their relevance in the game.
I have to constantly remind myself that Golden Axe is pretty par for the course when it comes to beat em' up games from this era, however it still had me wishing the game just had a little more refinement. There are so many great qualities in the Genesis port of Golden Axe, it's just a shame they didn't come together as well as I'd hoped they would. And unfortunately, even my childhood nostalgia for this game wasn't enough to mask these issues and have me coming out the end mostly enjoying the game. Still, the game is super short on a single playthrough (I beat it in about half an hour) and based on that, I feel like if you have an itch for some 16-bit beat em' up action, Golden Axe is worth trying even if there are much better examples from the genre and time period to be played elsewhere. (1/3/26) [29/50]
-
I hope it's not too late for me to join. I don't think I could ever do 52 in a year, but I can see myself finishing 20-30 games.
My current active playthroughs are:
Tomb Raider 2 (Evercade)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (PC via emulation)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
I'm at level 13 of Tomb Raider 2, so I should be finishing that one in a few days. Then I'll play through Tomb Raider 3 on Evercade before moving on to the remasters of 4, 5, and 6 on PS4. I'm also planning to replay the Legend-Anniversary-Underworld trilogy on PS3 since that was my favorite TR trilogy and introduction to the series.
-
I hope it's not too late for me to join. I don't think I could ever do 52 in a year, but I can see myself finishing 20-30 games.
My current active playthroughs are:
Tomb Raider 2 (Evercade)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (PC via emulation)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
I'm at level 13 of Tomb Raider 2, so I should be finishing that one in a few days. Then I'll play through Tomb Raider 3 on Evercade before moving on to the remasters of 4, 5, and 6 on PS4. I'm also planning to replay the Legend-Anniversary-Underworld trilogy on PS3 since that was my favorite TR trilogy and introduction to the series.
It's never too late to join, not to mention we're only 3 days into the new year so we just started.
-
3. Splatterhouse 3 (Genesis)
Despite my countless trips to rental stores, as well as me and my various friends who owned Sega Genesis consoles, the Splatterhouse series was completely unknown to me until probably the late 2000s. Had I been a bit older during the early and mid 90s, I probably would have heard of it given how violent and spooky it was, but it's not a game that was ever on m radar until long after the Genesis was discontinued. More so, even after hearing about Splatterhouse and its various sequels, it wouldn't be until this year (2026) where I'd finally try one of these games out and see if it was truly something special or just another 16-bit dud. Splatterhouse 3 was always the entry that looked the most appealing to me so it's the one I decided to start with. And yep, it's pretty freakin good.
I'm actually surprised the Slatterhouse series didn't get way more popular after the third game given how violent, gory, grotesque, and at times even disturbing this game is. For a game released in 1993 it even gives Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 a run for its money in the violence department. But beyond it 16-bit carnage, Splatterhouse 3 has an excellent horror art direction that oozes creepiness and atmosphere. Every stage has distinct rooms to traverse through and most of these rooms look pretty different from one another. Especially in the mansion floor stages, one room might be a decrepit study and the next is an old garage or balcony overlooking a spooky forest in the background. There are mangled corpses laying around, blood and entrails on the walls and floor, and sections of this game that looks like hell is doing its very best to merge with ours.
Enemies are also very creative and appropriately scary. There is a decent variety of enemy types in Splatterhouse 3 with most reminding me of some sort of mix between Hellraiser and The Thing in terms of their design. Speaking of enemies, as the main character Rick beats the crap out of them, they will gradually show signs of taking damage and getting closer to death; when most enemies are around halfway through their HP, their heads will become visibly bloodied or even parts of their bodies will fall off. This also happens with boss characters as well which especially show off an impressive level of detail and creepiness in their design. Even Rick and his two forms look cool. If not for the parts of the later stages being a bit underwhelming compared to earlier stages, and maybe a little too much recycling of the same enemy types, this would be one of the best looking Genesis games I've ever played. It's still certainly up there though given its visuals and graphics are its strongest suit.
Before moving on from Splatterhouse 3's visual presentation it's definitely worth mentioning how surprisingly story driven this game is. Unlike most Beat em' ups which just given you a brief explanation of what you're doing and why you're doing it either at the beginning of the game or before it starts, Splatterhouse 3 continued to deliver a narrative through cool 16-bit rendered cutscenes that use a lot of digitized looking actor stills to tell a pretty interesting and creepy story. Splatterhouse 3 goes a step further, however and also has multiple, pretty different endings depending on whether you completed certain levels before the allotted time expired on those levels. All of this absolutely adds to and is a big part of why this game is one of the creepiest 16-bit era games. I've ever played and one that would have almost certainly given me nightmares had I played it around the time it originally came out.
Audio in Splatterhouse 3 is also great. There are actually vocal sound clips in this game that surprisingly clear seeing how this was a cartridge based game. Music is also pretty good with a variety of spooky tracks that definitely add to the action horror atmosphere of the rest of the game. Sound effects when you hit and kill enemies also sound pretty good too. Overall, the audio definitely compliments the overall great horror presentation this game is going for and excels at.
I feel like with most beat em' ups, particularly the ones most remember fondly, I get to praise their visuals and audio up and down, but when it comes to their gameplay, I have to take things down several notches and explain why they're maybe not the most enjoyable games to play. Unfortunately, Splatterhouse 3 is no different. Don't get me wrong, the beat em up action in this game is prety satisfying and well implemented at times, but there are just too many issues with this game's gameplay that hold it back from being anything better than just okay.
For starters, Splatterhouse 3 is an insanely hard game, even on easy difficulty. There are some basic enemies that will drain half your life bar with a single hit, meanwhile most bosses don't even hit this hard. Luckily you have unlimited continues, but you'll be sent right back to the beginning of the stage, meaning you're very likely to die again before completing it and moving onto the next level. Even the main character's power up ability which has him transforming into what he normally looks like, but on steroids does little to make getting through Splatterhouse 3 any easier. I'm not one to be overly critical of games for being "too hard" but when a lot of that difficulty is because of poor design or just general cheapness, I'm going to call it out. Splatterhouse 3 also suffers from some really annoying gotcha moments where enemies will instantly attack you before you have time to reach when entering a new room, and bosses spam certain movies which make dealing any damage to them a matter of out spamming them with cheap moves. These are not hallmarks of good game design for any better em' up or really any game at that.
However, there are some very noteworthy aspects to Splatterhouse 3's gameplay that certainly act as a buffer to its often frustrating, cheap gameplay. Splatterhouse 3 is the oldest beat em' up I've seen with nonlinear progression. Once you clear a room within a stage, you are often given multiple doors to choose from which take you into different rooms in whatever stage you're playing through. This allows you to get to your final destination in each stage differently, adding to this game's replay value. You're given a map to review when you press the start button which allows you to easily navigate through each stage and its rooms, do you'll never get lost. Exploration can definitely be enjoyable as it can reveal secrets, special items, health and power up items, and other oddities you'll be rewarded with for doing so. However, straying from a more direct path to the final room you're making your way towards often comes at a price of running out of time.
Yep, each stage had a time limit, which ties directly in with the story and what is occurring in each stage. You can still beat a stage and progress to the next one if you run out of time, however it will be at the expense of getting a worse story and ending in the game. I don't want to spoil anything, but the time limit is definitely a consideration if you're looking to get a better ending.
The bottom line is there is a ton to appreciate and enjoy in Splatterhouse 3, and this is despite the game's pretty blaring gameplay faults. Even with dying over and over again as I made my way through it, I still really enjoyed Splatterhouse 3 for the most part. It's presentation goes a long way to carry it, but even all things considered, this is one of the better Genesis beat em' ups I've played and worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre from the 90s. (1/3/26) [34/50]
-
4. Halo 3 (XBONE)
Despite Halo CE and Halo 2 coming out while I was in high school and it being all the rage at the time, I never "loved" Halo, but I certainly liked it. By the time Halo 3 got announced I had graduated high school and was living 1200 miles away out of state for college. My little brother and I shared joint custody of our XBOX 360 Elite console; I'd have it for about 3 months, ship it to him, and he'd send it back in another 3 or 4 months. Around the time Halo 3 came out, my brother was in possession of our 360, which was absolutely appropriate given he LOVED Halo, definitely way more than I did. Funny enough, he went to a huge Halo 3 launch event that was holding an all ages tournament and he ended up winning it along with a free copy of Halo 3, a giant Master Chief cardboard cutout and like $100. I guess that's what playing Halo 2 thousands of hours on XBOX Live amounts to. But anyhow, the combination of my brother having the 360 when Halo 3 came out, me living so far away from all my high school friends whom I used to play Halo with, and the fact that I was never crazy about Halo to begin with meant I didn't play this game back in 2007, or in 2008, or for the rest of the 2000s....or the 2010s. Nope, here we are in 2026, nearly 19 years since Halo 3 originally came out and I finally sat down and played through the campaign. Better late than never I suppose.
As mentioned, I only played the campaign which is where most of my interest in Halo games lies. I enjoyed playing local multiplayer in Halo CE and Halo 2, but in recent years I've only ever played the single player campaign in those games. Same goes for Halo 3. With that said, i am aware how robust Halo 3's multiplayer and map editor modes are and how this games legendary for its multiplayer back in the day, both locally and online. The reason I mentioned this is because your mileage will vary greatly depending on how much you value the multiplayer aspect of these games and my review may not reflect how balanced or enjoyable this experience might be. However, if you're just interested in the single player experience, read on if you'd like.
I'm a bit bummed to say, Halo 3 was not nearly as impressive and many have led me to believe over the years. With that said, I sort of expected to like this game roughly about as much as I did Halo CE and Halo 2, minus the nostalgia I directly have for those two games. And sure enough, I enjoyed Halo 3 about just as much. With me saying that, i have to stress that Halo 3 did have aspects about it that I did genuinely enjoy more than any of the previous Halo games, mainly how much better paced Halo 3 is. There isn't nearly as many chapters and sections that just drag on and on like they did in Halo 2, and especially Halo CE. This meant the action and story just kept coming and coming, which is something I really appreciate. Unfortunately, the final chapter to the original Halo story arch was not as cool as I had hoped, but at the very least ties things up nicely and the final chapter of the game was appropriately epic.
Halo 3 also luckily refined the gameplay from the previous two Bungie Halo games. Shooting feels a little more crisp, vehicles control way better, and level design is generally way better. Speaking of vehicles, there are a decent amount more to pilot compared to the previous two games, which makes the improvements to how they control that much more appreciated. Most of Halo's chapters are very well made, however the sections and chapters that aren't are so bad that I dare say they are some of the worst in the original Halo trilogy. Particularly, the double scarabs fight and the final couple stages that bombard you with flood to the point where it's more frustrating than fun. There are also more weapons, although many are just variations of other weapons that have existed in the series for some time. In saying all this, the gameplay of Halo 3 is certainly improved, but it still has some notable flaws that prevent this game from being the incredible experience this game was often lauded for around the time of its release.
Probably Halo 3's weakest quality is its visuals. That's not to say Halo 3 is a bad looking game, but unfortunately the jump in visual fidelity compared to Halo 2 just didn't wow me as much as I was hoping. Maybe I've forgotten how old 7th gen game graphics can look, but honestly Halo 3 didn't look that much better than Halo 2. This lack of visual sharpness and detail is most evident in character models and animations which again, don't seem to look that much better than how they looked in Halo 2 back in 2004. Sure, some textures are noticeably better, but overall the visuals crispness of Halo 3 is not the leap forward I thought it would be. The beefed up hardware of the 360 seems to have gone more towards the spectacle and scale of the battles that take place; there are definitely way more enemies and just general chaos during the game, and fortunately there are rarely any framerate dips or stutters when these large scale skirmishes occur.
Finally, there's Halo 3's audio which is just as epic as it was in the previous games. Keeping with the Bungie era Halo games, many memorable and iconic tracks from Halo CE and Halo 2 are also present in 3 as well. There are some new orchestral tracks which really complement the action on screen and also fit in well with those classic Halo songs as well. Voice acting is also competent and well done too, with nearly the entire voice cast from Halo 2 reprising their respective roles in this game. As you'd expect, there are a ton of explosions, enemy growls and screams, cool weapon sounds, and just overall the audio design in Halo is something that needs to be experienced. My only real compliant about the audio is sometimes the volume of character dialogue can sound really quiet, even during cutscenes. Seeing how I commonly play games with voice acting on this same TV and almost never have this compliant, this definitely seems to be more the game's fault than my setup.
While it's a shame I wasn't blown away by Halo 3 as I'd hoped, I'm at least happy to say I liked it about as much as Halo CE and Halo 2, with Halo 2 being my favorite of the three by only a small sliver. Still, despite me not thinking these three games are the unparalleled masterpieces thousands, possibly millions of other gamers seem to think, I can still appreciate these games for what they are, but also what they mean to gaming culture. The original Halo trilogy practically defined the zeitgeist of 2000s gaming. I have so many wonderful memories of playing Halo CE and Halo 2 with friends back in high school, and those are honestly just as special to me, if not more so than the games themselves. As for Halo 3, I obviously never played it until just the other day, but I certainly remember the almost indescribable hype surrounding it before and after release in 2007 and 2008, and also how at the time of its release, it was practically synonymous with gaming. In a way, Halo 3 and its predecessors have become a bit of a time machine for me, reminding me of the fun times back in my teens and early 20s. It's for those reasons that I will always hold Halo CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3 in high regard, even if I think the games themselves are just pretty good for the most part. (1/4/26) [36/50]
-
01. Cozy || PC || 01.04.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/OuqgGFU.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/Y8CvHld.jpeg)
While looking for a short game in my itch.io backlog to play, Cozy caught my attention. I don't exactly remember how I originally came across it, but I imagine it was from a while back when searching for free point-and-click games, or free horror games, or perhaps games with both genre tag descriptors.
Nevertheless, the game offers a casual point-and-click puzzle adventure experience that doesn't take long to complete, and its winter setting was a perfect complement to this time of year. When the game begins, the player-character has just driven into the wintry woods to check on their uncle, as he lives in isolation. When we finally reach his home, however, things are clearly awry; so, we as the player are required to interact with the environment to solve simple puzzles by using and combining found items to make progress toward continuing our search and then, later, escape the woods using our vehicle. Throughout the game, players will navigate a handful of rooms each with their own items to collect or to utilize in a specific order. And like in typical point-and-click adventure fashion, brief narration toward the actions being made or being attempted are present, alongside enough text relating to failed solutions that's engaging enough that will temporarily baffle players.
Despite its name, Cozy maintains an off-putting atmosphere that becomes more impressive as players venture further inside the uncle's cabin and the sun sets and then disappears to bring nightfall. To my surprise, the game actually managed to incite a sense of fear within me, though there is one trite implementation of a jumpscare midway through the playthrough, which is a tool I almost always find to be reductive toward crafting any meaningful horror. Regardless, the horror ambiance is subtle until it's all of a sudden not, which was unnerving. However, I didn't find the final moment before the game's end credits to be successful, as it botched the emotional turmoil that had just been elevated to a peak to instead deliver a lackluster concluding visual.
Overall, Cozy is an okay horror experience to pass a short fifteen minutes or so. It's not particularly original, but it manages to provide a thoughtful implementation of an interactive short horror story effectively.
-
And the first game I've completed for 2026 is TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (Arcade) from the Cowabunga Collection on PS5. Played some co-op with my son for a fun time.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/saAELu_Ll_XyX0NUmkH_nkYi56TaWQKX7R0xmar4fGRgwljLPoU77PxfE9d1Y2BJIBbWsCiIYOjL13nCAMXye5gtjagWkN0eP7e2WiK9ZwCUs6gJ8YswfsXIjw)
-
2 - Cassette Beasts (PC 2023) - BEAT - As someone that's fallen off Pokemon hard with the state of their games from the Switch era, it was nice to have a monster collecting game that calls back to the old sprite era, but doing it with a 3D world, and introducing some cool unique mechanics. It very much follows what you expect of a Pokemon-like game, but does it in a way that doesn't feel so hand holdy like Pokemon usually is. I know those are made for kids, but they just don't really take into account at all that a huge audience of the games is adults. Not that this is super mature or anything, but it feels less like a childrens game while still being family friendly.
Good art, good music, some light voice work to add character, it's all a real nice package, highly recommend it if i you want a more old school feeling Pokemon experience.
-
5. Dead or Alive 6 (PS4)
Up until last year, most of my love for the DOA series was the result of one game in the series, DOA2. I played the hell out of DOA2 on my Dreamcast and PS2 back in the early 2000s. The combination of its fast, action packed gameplay and umm...certain female character attributes heavily appealed to my teenage brain at the time. While I have dabbled in some of the later entries in the series, I'm a little bit surprised and disappointed I didn't play some of the later mainline DOA games more until 2024. Having played so much DOA relatively recently has definitely helped me decide which games I like better than others. In all honesty, they're all pretty good, some do stand out as being better than others for one reason or another. The final mainline DOA game I still needed to get my hands dirty with was the latest entry in the series, DOA6. And well, DOA6 was in many ways one of the most surprisingly good entries in the series while also being somewhat of a disappointing step backwards for the series as well.
I'll start things off on a positive note and say DOA6 might have the best gameplay in the entire series. Seriously, this game is so incredibly fun to play! Controlling nearly every character feels fluid, intuitive, and accessible than any other entry in the series. That's not to say this game is easy, but it certainly does make feeling like an absolute champion in a DOA game easier than ever as you're stringing together crazy combos and counters while the typical craziness of a DOA game plays out around you. This great gameplay is in no small part thanks to the knew Break system which acts as both a combo breaker and super system simultaneously. There is a gauge that fills up as you fight and once it reaches a certain level of fullness you can unleash a variety of supers on your opponent. The closest thing I can think of in terms of a similar system, both in implementation and how it looks (albeit WAY less violent) is the Xray special system in the newer Mortal Kombat games. I had a hard time wanting to stop playing this game, which isn't always the case when it comes to me playing fighting games.
Like most DOA games, DOA6 has many unlockables, mostly relating to costumes and accessories you can obtain for the fairly impressively sized toster of characters. Unfortunately, DOA6 has the distinction of having the most grindy unlockables system in any fighting games I've ever played. You don't just unlock costumes like you do in all previous DOA games. You literally unlock pieces of costumes by playing as the various characters, which also require you buy the costume with in game currency. Of course, being a modern video game, costumes and in game money can be purchased using real money, but I guess in a way it's nice they allowed you to unlock most of this content without needing to purchase it via DLC. Of course, there is plenty of content that is only paid DLC too, including a decent chunk of characters. But yeah, if you want to unlock anything decent in this game, be prepared to play this game for hours upon hours, sometimes for a single character costume. It's bullshit to be honest.
As mentioned, DOA6 was as much of a step forward as it was a fairly big step backwards. While DOA6 totes possibly the best gameplay in the franchise, it also tripped the series of a lot of its identity thanks to some questionable artistic decisions. Like it or not, DOA as a whole is loved just as much for its fun gameplay as it is for its overly sexualized female characters, over the top jiggle physics, and unapologetic promotion of TnA. While this part of DOA certainly appealed to me more as a guy in his teens, it's still an undeniable part of what makes a DOA game what it is and without it, the game just feels off. It's like if Mortal Kombat removed the blood and fatalities (MK vs DCU anyone?); it just doesn't work. Female characters have been undeniable defanged and the almost patented jiggle physics are almost non existent. I don't know whose decision it was to change these things or tone down the sex appeal of the female characters, but it honestly makes this game feel a bit generic and not as DOAish as nearly all other entries.
But even if DOA6 had all those staples of the DOA franchise in them, the game still doesn't look that much better than DOA5, a game originally released on 7th gen hardware. Stages are a noticeable downgrade as well. While there are a few memorable ones, many are simply generic looking Japanese villages or fighting rinks. There is far less verticality in stages too, meaning less opportunities to kick your opponent off rooftops or cliffs, and have them crash into the hard ground 50 feet below. Even the character models don't look as detailed or polished as they did in DOA5, which also includes the swear, damage, and dirt effects present in that game. This is still a fairly good looking game, but not nearly as good as a the previous entry in the series.
Finally, the soundtrack in this game is probably one of the worst in any DOA games I've ever played. DOA soundtracks jsut have this catchy, coolness to them that makes nearly all of them great. Unfortunately, DOA6 doesn't have a single track I really liked, yet at the same time none of them feel woefully out of place or offensive to the ears either. It's essentially a serviceable soundtrack, nothing more. Aside from the OST, the sound effects and voice acting is pretty good, at least if you turn on the Japanese voice audio.
I absolutely will be returning to DOA6 again at some point, albeit it will be almost exclusively for the game's stellar gameplay. It's a real shame this game didn't continue many of the staples the DOA series is known for or put more time and effort into the overall presentation of this game. This could have easily been one of the best DOA games ever made, if not the very best had they done so. But with how good this game plays, it's hard to be disappointed with DOA6 and I'd still strongly recommend people play it, even if it fell off the wagon in other ways. (1/5/26) [35/50]
-
First abandoned game of the year.
1. Castlevania (NES) - ABANDONED
Even though I was born in the mid 80s and many of my family, friends, and neighbors growing up had NES consoles, I'm still a bit ashamed to admit that the NES is just a little too old school for me. Most NES games I've played, even the ones that are considered among the best on the console, I typically get minimal enjoyment out of. The combination of archaic gameplay, annoying old video game mechanics, and just general technical limitations keep me from enjoying vast swaths of the NES's library. Still, with that said I'll occasionally I'll get the urge to play an NES game.
Given how much I've fallen in love with the Castlevania franchise in recent years, I decided I was going to play some of the game that started it all. Keep in mind this isn't my first rodeo with the original Castlevania. Many years ago when I still collected NES games and thought I liked the console way more than I actually did, I got my own copy of Castlevania, played it quite a bit for about a week, and then just never had any desire to pick it back up. I can't remember how far I got, but all I remember is not beating it back then. I decided I was going to try it out again and see if maybe I had misjudged the game or possibly I'd find myself enjoying it more if I played it now. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Like many "hard" NES games, its difficulty is more the result of technical limitation and poor game design than the deliberate planning of Konami back in 1987. The placement of enemies, the slow, stiff controls, the annoying knockback, and of course needing to restart a stage when you die, all will drain your motivation to continue playing. As you play through Castlevania more and more, you will learn to compensate and adjust to its meh gameplay, even at times tricking yourself into thinking it's maybe not that bad. But then you'll reach some section later in the level or on the next will will make you wish you were playing a better game. As I'll soon discuss, there is so much I do like about the original Castlevania, however its gameplay is definitely not one of them and had me quitting just before I reached the boss, Death. I do not enjoy playing this game or think it's fun, but that's not to say I hate everything about Castlevania.
From a visual and audio standpoint, Castlevania is a very appealing game. I'm a sucker for horror aesthetic and art direction in video games, and Castlevania nails it with its gorgeous 8-bit pixel artwork. The is a surprising level of detail in every stage. Enemies and especially bosses all look great and do an excellent job of representing whatever monsters they were meant to look like. This game's art is a true love letter to the horror genre and I could not get enough of it as I trudged through actually playing this game. Castlevania's audio is also pretty excellent and has some truly catchy and iconic tunes. I also am a fan of the sound effects weapons made and just the overall sound design Konami was able to accomplish here.
Castlevania is a game I really, really want to like. I can almost forgive this game for being the first entry in the series and creating the blueprint that future titles would improve upon (well, except Simon's Quest maybe). Unfortunately by the time i get to the Frankenstein boss battle, I'm just so burnt out and honestly a little bored with playing this game that I just don't really want to play anymore. At this point, I'm fairly certain I'll never actually beat Castlevania, but that's honestly okay with me. I've played enough of it at two separate times in my life to know this game isn't for me, and luckily i have a ton of newer titles that I enjoy significantly more. (1/6/26) - ABANDONED
-
1: Tomb Raider II
The first game was rough, but thankfully the second game was a massive improvement. By itself, getting rid of the horrible single-use save crystal system and replacing it with a save-anywhere system was such a massive improvement that it made the game playable without resulting to save states (though I still used them to avoid sitting through a loading screen every time I died). TR2 was also a considerable improvement both visually and in level design. There were two levels in particular, Barkhang Monastery and Temple of Xian, that I actually enjoyed playing and look back on fondly. I feel like TR2 will be the high point of the original trilogy. Now on to TR3, which I'm already 2 levels into... and brought back the damn save crystals... yeah, not looking forward to this one.
Completed:
Tomb Raider II
In Progress:
Tomb Raider III (Evercade)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (PC via emulation)
-
6. Castlevania (NES)
I'd originally given up on Castlevania yesterday due to how little fun I was having just prior to getting to the Death boss. After trying years ago to beat this game, and once again the other day, I fully realized once more that I'm not a fan of the first Castlevania game, or really most NES games for that matter. Still, a little voice in my head kept on egging me to return to it, if for nothing else than to say, "yep, I beat the original Castlevania." And stubbornly, that's what I chose to do. However, after beating Castlevania, I somewhat wish I hadn't.
Like most "hard" NES games, the game's difficulty stems more from gameplay limitations of the time, poor game design, and just really outdated mechanics. Castlevania is a prime example of this, and this game drives me crazy even when it's not at its most relentlessly difficult. Moving is very stiff and slow, jumping and even basic platforming is overly difficult, navigating stairs sucks, and certain sections of this game feel very half baked in terms of their design. This game is a literal test of patience and endurance over how many cheap shots and needless deaths the player can endure before wanting to turn the console off and just walk away. The gameplay isn't all bad however, but whatever it does right, it easily does two or three other things wrong.
The presentation in Castlevania is fantastic and I adore the gothic horror art direction of the game and how well the artists at Konami portrayed this with 8 bit pixels. Bosses and enemies are mostly all great and memorable, and there is a level of detail not seen in many other NES games for the time. The soundtrack is also very memorable and catchy and goes so well with everything else going on. In many ways, Castlevania's presentation really carries it and makes it a standout game on the NES.
While I am happy in a way that I beat Castlevania, I didn't necessarily feel a sense of accomplishment or even really relief. I was just sort of pissed off and a little annoyed with myself that I just HAD to go back and play this game again. I didn't enjoy it when I played and dropped it yesterday, and I enjoyed it even less getting through the rest of the game, include two of the most obnoxiously annoying bosses in the entire game. I definitely don't plan on playing Castlevania ever again and will instead spend my time with the newer entries that definitely refined nearly everything from the first game. (1/7/26) [29/50]
-
01 - uDraw GameTablet - uDraw Studio: Instant Artist [DE] (PlayStation3)
https://vgcollect.com/item/286773
Hardware: PlayStation 3 fat + uDraw GameTablet
Playtime: About 10 hours
I swapped this item and game along with Pictionary Plus, that I played and reviewed a few weeks ago. uDraw Studio: Instant Artist seems to be the must-have title to compliment the uDraw GameTablet and I enjoyed this game far more than Pictionary Plus.
The bundle uDraw GameTablet - uDraw Studio: Instant Artist was released in Germany on march 6th 2012 by publisher THQ. The game uDraw Studio: Instant Artist itself is the sequel to uDraw Studio and was delevoped by Pipeworks Software, a company based in Eugene/Oregon founded in 1999. Bought by Foundation 9 in april 2005 and then bought by Digital Bros in september 2014, and then again bought by Northern Pacific Group in february 2018 and renamed Pipeworks Studios, this company is responsible for developing a few known games such as Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones for PSP, Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening for Xbox360 and PS3 or Zumba Fitness for Xbox360, Wii and PS3, amongst some lesser known partially licensed titles.
uDraw Studio: Instant Artist is essentially a digital art studio to use the uDraw GameTablet as intended - for drawing.
Logically, the core gameplay-element (is gameplay even the correct term?) is the quite impressive drawing-editor, where you pick your tools, colors and so on and start drawing something. Being somewhat graphically skilled since childhood, this "game" actually appealed to me. It takes a little while to get used to the tablet's attached pen, but I was slightly blown away by the capabilities of this graphic drawing editor. The color palette to choose from offers literally endless options and there are more than enough useful and sometimes funny tools to choose from, such as pen, brush, spray can, paint bucket, and many more. This is where uDraw Studio: Instant Artist really shines in comparison to Pictionary Plus with it's own very simplified editor.
You can either use all those functions freely in the free drawing mode, or absolve a digital art course, or try out some of the minigames and drawing puzzles in the so called artist camp section. The drawing-with-numbers puzzle felt specifically relaxing and cozy within this section. I don't know if this was intentional, but one of the minigames (Alien Swatter) seems to be a modern ripoff of the fly swatting minigame in Mario Paint - C'mon, how dope is this please? :o
Graphics (menu, layout, minigames) are all humble and basic, and a game like this doesn't require anything more sophisticated. At the end of the day, the player's own paintings and creations are ment to build the graphical heart of uDraw Studio: Instant Artist. And, given all the different tools and options, it is really possible to create impressive pictures with depth, lighting and effects. It takes some practice though.
Same as with graphics and similar to Pictionary Plus, the music in uDraw Studio: Instant Artist is not worth examining in detail. But let me at least point out who's credited with this unmemorable, highly generic drivel: Michael Jones, American freelance composer and sound engineer, who already composed the soundtrack to uDraw Studio and actually won the 2021 MPSE Golden Reel Award for outstanding achievement in audio editing (game Audio) with his contribution to Call of Duty: Vanguard. I guess he himself doesn't consider this particular soundtrack as one of the milestones of his career...
Nevertheless and thanks to it's fine working editor, I totally enjoyed playing uDraw Studio: Instant Artist and am looking foward to getting more uDraw-titles to tinker with this funky uDraw GameTablet.
First game finished in 2026 - on to the next one 8)
-
2: Mafia: The Old Country
THIS is how you make a cinematic game. Straight to the point, no pointless busywork, no grind, absolutely nothing that distracts from the main story. If Rockstar is working on Red Dead Redemption 3, they need to learn some lessons from this game. It feels like RDR2 if that game was story-focused, had cars, and took place in Italy. And because there's absolutely nothing unnecessary to get in the way, it's a much more enjoyable experience. Mafia: The Old Country does more with its 11-hour run time than most modern games do with 70. Thoroughly enjoyed it, looking forward to playing it again some time.
Completed:
Tomb Raider II (Evercade)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
In Progress:
Tomb Raider III (Evercade)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (PC via emulation)
-
2. Chaos Faction*
3. Chaos Faction 2
(https://shared.fastly.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/3038340/ss_dc2eccf7c79edbb231aa4c96e83b5d0098029901.1920x1080.jpg?t=1738256448) (https://games-cdn.softpedia.com/screenshots/Chaos-Faction-2_3.jpg)
Well these certainly weren't games I was planning to add to the list this year, but here we are. Chaos Faction is a Flash game from back in the day that I liked a lot as a kid. I remember beating it on a school computer, with a friend watching, and I felt so cool when I did. I was surprised to find that Chaos Faction and its sequel were ported to native PC and rereleased together as Chaos Faction Legacy Collection on Steam. Hell, I didn't even know Chaos Faction had a sequel. But for nostalgia's sake, I decide to give them both a go again. Flash games are odd in general: do they even count for this? Well, I say they do. Sure, many of them are 5-minute long crap, but there were also some genuine gems on Flash, sometimes with substantial amounts of content. And I don't see how Flash games are that different from bite-sized experiences that we still see on platforms like Steam, itch or even the Nintendo eShop nowadays. So as far as I'm concerned, they count.
Starting with Chaos Faction 1, I played through the game again, and usually when I play through games for the second time I do count them with an asterisk here, so that's what I'm doing. This is pretty much a 1-to-1 port of the original Flash game. Almost to a fault: they didn't even bother to include built-in controller or Steam Deck support, so I had to manually map the buttons. That's a bit cheap guys, but thankfully the game is simple enough that mapping the buttons is easy. Apart from that, the only difference is some music and sound effects which I'm assuming is because in the original release they didn't have the rights (I mean, it was still an online Flash game).
Chaos Faction is a platform fighter. You jump around, attack your opponent, and collect items to attack your opponent harder. It's pretty simple stuff, but for a Flash game in the mid-2000s, this was legitimately good. Among the endless piles of junk and extremely basic or repetitive stuff on Flash game sites at the time (or, well, the Flash game sites I frequented as a kid), this game was a breath of fresh air. It's hectic, but with some strategy and skill to it. However, you really need to see it in that context of Flash games of the time. If you're looking for a platform fighter, there are so many options out there nowadays that are far better. The campaign mode has 15 stages and I beat it in half an hour. It's fun to look back on and still pretty enjoyable to me, but if you're not nostalgic for it like I am, there's probably little here to make it worth searching out. (And let's be real, if you're curious, you can also just try it through Flashpoint first.)
It's sequel, Chaos Faction 2, I played through for the first time. It also only has 15 levels in its campaign mode so that also didn't take too long to beat. Compared to Chaos Faction 1, there are some clear improvements here. More variety in the challenges per level, there's actual hitstun this time, movesets are expanded a little, in addition of course to the new skins, stages and items. It's clear some effort and skill went into this, and it's probably objectively the better game. However, my views on it are similar to Chaos Faction 1: if you're not nostalgic for these titles, they probably won't wow you. There's some fun to be had in these games, for sure. Including in multiplayer. Some of the items, if aimed right, can be blunt 1-hit kills, which creates a fun chaotic dynamic of trying to run for them and creating some "What was that?!" moments. If you're looking for a smooth, fast, hectic game with Flash-feeling fun, this'll do the trick. But I just find it difficult to see people who don't know already know these games really fall in love them.
So yeah, Chaos Faction was fun to go back to, and I'm sure I will again in the future when I'm feeling nostalgic again. But should you search them out? Well, if you're nostalgic for the mid-2000s Flash game era, maybe give them a try through Flashpoint, or support the developers by buying it if you want to (I mean, I'm assuming they're getting a cut). But otherwise, eh, as much as I will always have a soft spot for these games, you'll probably be all right skipping these.
(Also, if you haven't heard of Flashpoint yet: it's an archival project intended to archive as many Flash-based games and applications as possible, and make them playable on modern hardware. Do check them out and support them, they do great work: https://flashpointarchive.org/ )
-
02. Once Upon a Katamari || PlayStation 5 || 01.07.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/7Jsl5su.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/B6jIjqr.jpeg)
For about twenty years, I've been a fan of the Katamari series, and fourteen of those were spent long dormant apart from the occasional mobile title. So for much of my time as a fan, the series has long been dormant apart from the occasional mobile title, though I have spaced out my time playing the games released long ago and am still yet to play one original title which has been beneficial in some way for when I'm wanting to play a new game (to me) in the series. However, that's now changed after an original follow-up console entry was introduced, marked by Once Upon a Katamari (OUaK)'s release this past October. A new entry has been greatly anticipated for many years, and I decided to play it sooner than later this time.
Now, as part of a long-running series that's best summed up as an action-puzzle experience that tasks players with rolling up houses, cities, countries, the world, and beyond in an effort to create a mass of stuff, OUaK is the first game since the debut title that tries and succeeds on expanding upon its core mechanics. As its title implies, OUaK is a game that divides its myriad of stages into historical eras as players navigate throughout time. And, because of this gimmick, what's presented actually plays like a proper follow-up to the series that had grown stagnant which ultimately led to its lengthy hiatus. Before, every game centered around modern-day Japan, whereas now there are appropriately themed levels that brings forth a sense of innovation even from a design standpoint. And while there are still uniquely Japanese-themed stages, they too differ from past games that so regularly reused the same environments and assets.
At the same time, this new title introduces other mechanics and changes, most of which are welcome additions. The most important of these is the power-up items system, which are tools spread through each stage that help the player reach their goals more easily. There are only three tool types in total, and they're limited in number during each stage attempt. At first, I was hesitant about their inclusion, but they're fine additions since stages are designed with their use in mind. I'm still not thrilled by their inclusion, but I think it may have to do with how easy it is to find them. Should the game instead be designed in a way that their placement is random or even hidden from plain view like they presently are, it would make using these tools feel more fulfilling. Another aspect that's existed to some degree but is now expanded upon is the inclusion of narrative cutscenes. In certain stages, they'll feature short story scenes that provide context and the passage of time; while they serve no actual purpose to a game that largely features no plot, they're still fun animations. Meanwhile, perhaps the most interesting changes to the game is its single use of branching paths. Depending on what sort of actions one takes, the stage being played changes to one of two outcomes that results in a different environment to play and different items to collect. It's actually the kind of novelty I think would elevate the series in a stronger direction, so I hope that this mechanic returns in future installments and is more fully realized. And, lastly, a small but still negative design decision is the choice to feature the player's letter grade rank on-screen at all times, as it greatly trivializes the stage completion screen and how fun it traditionally is with The King's totally dismissive and selfish personality.
There's no disputing that OUaK is a content-rich game as it has the most amount of stages in any game thus far. However, it forgoes a lot of what makes these games feel concise while providing a cohesive sense of progression. In every past game, there was only ever one set goal to accomplish, whereas now there is a full list of objectives that, admittedly, are optional but seem so obtrusive to the experience. In short, there is a complete disregard to focus. Besides the main stage goal, there are crowns to find, tokens to earn, the performance rank to improve upon, and a series of objectives that can only be completed one at a time. As a result, OUaK abandons much of what makes the franchise great. There is a common opinion that most if not all of the games developed after series creator Keita Takahashi's departure suffer in a similar fashion, but as someone who's played nearly all of the home console titles, this is the only one that's imparted this feeling. Perhaps related to this emotion is the topic of this game's quirkiness, which the series is known for. Before, it was this strange amalgamation of consumerism and over-consumption paired with this far-out wackiness that's uniquely Japanese (especially for its debut) that shouldn't complement another but does while being so organic too. But now, that design philosophy has never before felt so forced and formulaic.
On the topic of stages, there's a little more to discuss. While the stage count total is at an all-time high, I do appreciate that some have condition barriers to meet before they're accessible. In short, this decision further incentivizes focused play and, more than likely, repeated stage playthroughs. Although unless I'm mistaken, only two stages have these sorts of unlock conditions. If implemented correctly, I think such a mechanic could make the play experience more engaging. Right now, I don't think how level conditions are being utilized is particularly successful, but though I do see greater potential in it. Conversely, an annoying aspect is that Cousins (alternative characters to play as) routinely appear one at a time after selecting a stage, even though the menu states that there's a higher number of Cousins to find. It's a small detail that's probably more annoying than anything else to the casual player, but this is a new change and only artificially inflates the time it takes to earn all the game's collectibles.
And, lastly, I'll mention some miscellaneous details worth pointing out. As any fan of the series knows, the games' soundtracks are almost paramount to the play experience, and without it, the game's ability to provide fun greatly lessens. On that note, the game's music doesn't manage to come close to the high standards that early titles established, meaning it's lackluster but fine. It really didn't leave any memorable impression on me even after a considerable amount of time was spent playing, which really means it serves as actual background music more than a crucial stage design element. Conversely, visuals remain fun. They maintain their low-poly, colorful nature but again, are much more varied and engaging than since the series began on account of the game's varied levels that go beyond modern-day Japan both in time and location. But even for some stages set in Japan, they're quite novel and more than just a simple room or neighborhood but something else entirely, and they're some of the best stages in the game because of it. I played through OUaK as a single-player experience, but there is a new co-op mode called KatamariBall that exists. While this minigame does offer capability to play with three CPU players, it's a bland experience that I imagine is far superior when played online though still significantly worse than the game's primary single-player campaign. This isn't necessarily a surprise, though, because no title has been able to provide a worthwhile multiplayer experience.
On a general level, Once Upon a Katamari has notable strengths and weaknesses, but it does show promise for what's to come in the series. Still, it's far too gimmicky with its multitude of systems and overload of in-game achievements. Perhaps that's ideal for some players, but for me, a game all about amassing a colossal ball of clutter doesn't need to be more complicated than that straightforward premise. Sometimes, what's simplest is best.
-
3. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero
No, Gehenna didn't freeze over. I completed (and for the most part enjoyed) a modern-ish The Legend of Heroes game with "Trails" in the title. The interest for this particular one started after a poll I ran gave exceedingly high praise for it. A lot of the of participants in the poll said it was a good game as a standalone, and it had better pacing than Trails in the Sky. About 45 hours later, I can attest to both of those claims being true. Indeed, this is an all-around solid RPG that doesn't require prior knowledge from other titles. While there were references, they didn't take away the spotlight from the main story and characters. I'll write a review soon, but I'll say my biggest complaint was with the fluffy yet required dialogue and story scenes. Seriously, being forced to go fishing or running five security sweeps on a theater halted pacing. Also, is it a Trails thing to make each Chapter 3 as slow as possible? The game started with a bang and continued up until the third chapter. Either way, a good RPG to finish at the start of the year.
-
03. It Is As If You Were Doing Work || Browser || 01.10.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/D2kmi5J.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/oFhQne9.jpeg)
While looking for a thoughtful game to play, I came across It Is As If You Were Doing Work among developer Pippin Barr's gameography, whose works were suggested from the developers of another game I played some time ago, Something Something Soup Something (SSSS). I was hoping to play something that was just as impactful as SSSS was to me or even close to it, as it's still a game I think about every so often.
To outline It Is As If You Were Doing Work as succinctly as I'm able to, it's an introspective gaming experience about the value we as humans attribute to the act of labor, no matter how tedious or fictitious such labor may be, and then gamifying it. And, strangely, it's successful. As the in-game About text file reads, the game (or, rather, the program we as the player-character are engaged in which acts as the game we as the player are playing) "is an application created especially for those humans who feel the need to recapture an appearance of usefulness through traditional human-computer interaction." Of course, the application only exists in a theorized world where almost no human works anymore as a result of AI machine-learning having replaced human labor. So when we as the player begin, we log in to the program as one would at an office job at their personal work station. The program is a mock substitution of white-collar desk work to grant compromised or struggling individuals in this new world the opportunity to feel fulfilled by some arbitrary metric, wholly devoid of earned income but instead fueled by the work itself and the routine job title promotions we inevitably achieve.
Regarding gameplay, it's comprised of assorted tasks we're to complete that appear as pop-up windows flooding the screen. While they're all straightforward to accomplish, the effort that's required varies. Some are elementary action prompts: select the correct field option, input the desired field value, or merely click the requested button. Meanwhile, other tasks are slightly more in-depth, such as finding the correct date on a calendar. However, the most interactive task players will engage in are text fields that are often presented in the form of responding to an e-mail. During these sequences, players will actually need to press keys on the keyboard, but what appears on-screen is a pre-written message. there is always a subject the proposed e-mail is about, but the text we're implied to be typing are inspirational messages, though not generic ones people tend to think of when envisioning office space. Instead, what's typed out reinforces the program's design in re-establishing a sense of purpose to those who use it. Interestingly, tasks cannot be ignored. Time may pass resulting in their expiration, but they'll remain on-screen otherwise, meaning they'll naturally overlap one another as windows continue to appear over time. Additionally, tasks cannot be completed incorrectly; so while the program does aim to provide self-worth earned through completing tasks that are objectively simple, it does still force users to put in the minimal effort of performing them correctly.
All the while, completed tasks and just about every individual action grants a point value that leads to the user's promotion. Of course, there are no changes in how the program functions once a promotion is reached, and there aren't even differences to the types of tasks being presented. After all, there doesn't need to be. Working toward job performance milestones to earn a nonexistent promotion and seeing that subtle job title change is all that we need as struggling individuals who long for some sort of work satisfaction to feel accomplished. So, we keep working, and working, and working—until at some point, maybe we don't need the program anymore. We'll either find the sense of accomplishment we strove for and feel temporarily fulfilled or, instead, maybe we'll begin to find it all worthless. But in the context of what this fictional program and actual game is, I don't think whoever we as the player are intended to feel anything but the satisfaction we so longingly missed.
Alongside tasks to complete, there are four desktop icons to open. None of them relate to anything remotely resembling computer work, though they strangely do still award promotion points. Intermittently, the program pauses and opens a loading progress bar signifying our need to take a break. Whether these moments really serve as an intended break for the player-character or instead a stopping point for the real-life player to reflect upon what they've been doing all this time and consider stopping, I'm unsure. Maybe it's both. It's easy to just go through the motions while completing these tasks, just as it is with the work being emulated.
Something I noticed after playing while skimming through press reviews is that my takeaway upon playing was much different than others. While there is some level of humor involved in such an outlandish premise (though maybe it won't be in the years to come), I was much more analytical about my short time playing. While the game itself states that the program is for the 5% of people who haven't adapted to the change in human labor not needing to be exchanged to support one's life anymore, it only made me think of the kinds of people who live for work, so to speak, or those without any hobbies, interests, or life passions. Even when those opportunities are freely granted—when you now have full control of your life without consequence if whether you'll financially fail from doing or not doing something—there will still be people who aren't able to fathom what life is without performing work that's almost assuredly unimportant in the grand scheme of things. It's not as if I've been unaware that some people are like this all this time, though. It's just a sad reminder is all.
What's especially thought-provoking is that, in the end, It Is As If You Were Doing Work actually is just some game and not some self-help program for addicted workers out of a real job. And somehow, Barr has been able to accomplish making a game with such a tedious game loop that really does feel like work yet simultaneously has the work present itself as the game it is with its systems. When you think deeply about the topic, it's not like other gaming works people would objectively classify as games are that much different: buttons being pressed and prompts being read are noticeable similarities, but even gaming objectives such as farming resources or min-maxing character stats take on a quality to that of menial work that's devoid of fun. Maybe the line between what's work and what's play isn't all that objective.
-
4. Mega Man Zero
I haven't played this series in a while and I've been meaning to, especially since they're all included in a nice, compact collection for Switch. I started with this one, and it's clear that the devs had some idea what they were doing. Their vision was there, but not fully realized. Still, for a debut, it delivers. The action is non-stop and seeing the words "level up" pertain to a weapon of Zero's is satisfying. Even more satisfying? Finishing off a damn boss! This game is indeed as brutal as they say, despite having played it a couple of times before. I plan on playing the games in order, so up next is Zero 2!
-
5. Mega Man Zero 2
I'll start with the good: multiple forms to unlock, more unique Cyber Elves, a story that makes me question the game's E rating (and graphics that do the same), and an overall fun adventure that lessened some of the brutality from the first game. When you begin the final battle, there's a blood-curdling scream from the enemy that is just...something else. The dialogue is still Woolsey-ish, but the themes aren't lost because of it. Things went DARK in Zero 2, which is fitting since a lot of the story revolves around a Dark Cyber Elf. Now for the bad. Namely, the bosses. It's common knowledge that touching an enemy will damage you. This just doesn't apply to Mega Man games - it's pretty universal. For some reason, it seems to be extra egregious here in Zero 2. All of my deaths were from an enemy running into me. Never an all out attack or a projectile, but of a collision. It was...kind of annoying. Now I'm determining if I want to jump to Zero 3 or save the best for last and jump to Zero 4, instead.
-
7. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (PS4)
Last year I beat my first GBA Castlevania game, Aria of Sorrow, and despite going into it with the expectation I'd enjoy it, I guess I underestimated just how much I'd enjoy it. It definitely inspired me to tackle some of the other handheld metroidvania Castlevania titles, so I decided to start this year with the first one released back in 2001, Circle of the Moon. Unlike Aria/Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia, and even Portrait of Ruin, I don't hear people talking about Circle of the Moon nearly as much. The game had a very tough act to follow with it being the first metroidvania style game in the series following in the massive footsteps of Symphony of the Night. Even though I was well aware that Kogi Igarashi was not involved in Circle of the Moon's development, that didn't stop me from wanting to experience this less acclaimed entry in the series for myself.
Like Aria of Sorrow, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Circle of the Moon. However, what makes me even more surprised is how I really liked this game despite some pretty big gameplay faults, as well as this game being WAY harder than either Aria of Sorrow or its predecessor, Symphony of the Night. Like those two games, you'll be exploring Dracula's castle while doing tons of backtracking and revisiting new areas once you obtain an a new ability that will allow you to do so. Where Circle of the Moon differs from this formula is the game remains very difficult to ridiculously difficult all the way through. A lot of this has to do with a lot of thought being put into enemy placement, but for better or worse, things like the lack of an item shop, very rare and random item and equipment drops, lack weapon variety, and very spread out save rooms all contribute to Circle of the Moon's noteworthy difficulty as well. Most of this does feel deliberate, albeit maybe a little on the ill advised side of things, but throughout Circle of the Moon you can tell the dev team spent a lot of time thinking about things like enemy placement, obstacles and other features to maintain a somewhat stable level of difficulty throughout the game.
Unfortunately, one of the game's key mechanics is also one of the things that holds this game back from being better than it could have been. Circle of the Moon uses a card based magic system called the DSS that allows you to mix and match cards you find throughout the game to unlock an impressive array of magical abilities to aid you on your quest to rescue your friends and kill Dracula. This would be all fine and dandy if cards were just scattered throughout the castle for you to find, but rather some bonehead at Konami decided it was better to have fallen enemies randomly drop them. Because of this, you either have to get very lucky to get certain cards or grind a ton to get them. Outside a few useful magical abilities, many of the abilities unlocked through specific DSS card combos aren't terribly helpful outside of maybe a few encounters or sections. You'll mostly be using the same 3 or 4 DSS abilities throughout the game, which makes the system in general feel ultra gimmicky. Despite how flawed the DSS system is, it doesn't drag the game down too much, but certainly does make add to its difficulty for the wrong reasons.
Speaking of Circle of the Moon's difficulty, this game has some of the most notoriously challenging bosses and even enemies in the franchise. There were a few that took me what seemed like forever to beat. However, one positive aspect to this is despite how hard some of the enemies, bosses, and sections can be, I never felt like beating them was completely out of my grasp or that they were just so insanely cheap that I'd have to get lucky if I were ever to beat them. This really kept me going in this game. Circle of the Moon does a tremendous job of straddling that like between hard but fair, with very few times where I felt like the game was being cheap or unfair. A lot of this is thanks to how well this game controls and how fun it is to play. In some ways, despite being a metroidvania game, it feels like almost a bridge between classic Castlevania games like the NES titles or Rondo of Blood and the newer, sleeker metroivania games like Aria of Sorrow and Symphony of the Night.
For a launch title on the Gameboy Advance, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was and still is a pretty impressive looking game. Sure, Harmony of Dissonance and especially Aria of Sorrow definitely showed what could really be done from a presentation standpoint on the GBA, but as a trailblazer not just for the series, but also for the platform it was originally released on. Some of the backgrounds for the various areas of the background can look a little on the flat side, again, especially compared to later entries, and many of the sprites in this game don't look nearly as good as what we'd get in Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow, but for what they are, nearly everything in this game looks pretty good. There are a ton of interesting, varied settings in the castle and even more enemy variety. Sure, there many recycled enemy skins that are given a color swap and new abilities, such as the skeletons and armors, but at no point did I feel like this game felt stale or uninteresting from a presentation point of view.
Probably Circle of the Moon's best quality is its audio. The music in this game is unfreakin believable! There are a lot of borrowed and remixed tracks from older Castlevania games, but there are also a decent amount of original songs in this game too. While I did play this on the PS4, it's audio is essentially unaltered from the original GBA version. What Konami was able to compose here is nothing short of excellent. There are also tons of great sound effects and other noises that really add to the fun, cool, spooky atmosphere of the game, creating a near flawless audio presentation as far as I'm concerned.
While I didn't like Circle of the Moon as much as Aria of Sorrow, and especially not more than Symphony of the Night, what's impressive is this game wasn't that far off from how good or enjoyable its aforementioned GBA counterpart is. I had a hard time putting this game down most of the time, and even when I was getting my ass thoroughly kicked by a specific area or boss, there was almost never a time where I didn't want to come back for more. Do not sleep on Circle of the Moon; it's a game worthy of your time whether you're a seasoned Castlevania fan or a complete noob. Just be prepared for a pretty hard game. (1/14/26) [39/50]
-
5 - Hytale (PC Early Access 2025) - ENDLESS - Couldn't help myself, but this was one of those situations where it's more about supporting a studio than anything, it's kinda of an interesting story for this game getting to where it is, coming from Minecraft modded days, to being supported by Riot Games to create their own game, to being shutdown, to the team getting the rights back so they can go indie with it.
What's here is really solid, it's years of work from what I understand and you do feel it. It's basically just base Minecraft, but with more QoL to it. I've seen some folks be real weird about comparing it to Minecraft, acting like that's unfair to compare it or something, trying to put it with Terraria or Valheim, and some building aspects lean abit that way, but the core of the game is just Minecraft, and that's fine.
Minecraft, base Minecraft, is boring, it's always been boring to most folks unless you are like a kid for the most part. Minecraft became great with its mod support. This feels like they are trying to make base Minecraft into more of a proper adventure game. It's got a long way to go, a lot of stuff that feels abit outdated, some old feeling textures compared to other stuff person/creature models feeling way more detailed, which will eventually get updated I'm sure. I'll play for abit though, it's got enough here to spend some time with it and then set it aside for like a year to see what they add lol
-
4. inbento (Mobile)
(https://play-lh.googleusercontent.com/KqEEnDJv4tr4uJUF4DzFsd-a0L3QZYbsqpgBTCf-Z6D_j3s5vn5bsMkZ10XLY8WNmVU=w5120-h2880) (https://play-lh.googleusercontent.com/ZmN0Ap_9FRQ-SuGn6bvKNn0OqlY--QZDh_SyANq2N1hdbsLc9kl3yF4Pd2ZsmRzdLw=w5120-h2880)
Fourth game down, and actually the first mobile game I've ever beaten. I almost never play mobile games, but I got this game on itch and it looked adorable, so I gave it a shot. And I quite liked it!
inbento is, at its core, a pretty simple puzzle game. You've got a bento box with some squares of food in it, a few tiles you can use to either put more food in the bento or move food around, and your goal is to recreate the pattern it asks you to. It's a pretty simple concept, I'm sure you can tell from a screenshot how it works. It's pretty addicting though. I quite enjoyed pulling out the game on the train or on the couch at home and finishing a few puzzles. Helped by the adorable plot of a small family of cats making bento, told through adorable illustrations you unlock as the game progresses. There are over 120 puzzles here. Some are really easy, others can get very tricky. But it's nothing impossible: there were only two puzzles I could not figure out on my own (at least, not before I finally gave up and looked up a hint).
This game is adorable and comfortable, and I'm glad to have played it! As someone who never plays mobile games, this was a reminder that there's a lot more on that market than the typical ad-filled dopamine-rushing Raid: Shadow Legends-type ordeal I think of when I hear the term. This game is available on platforms like Nintendo Switch and PC, but I actually recommend it on mobile. It's perfect for the platform.
Tip: Unfortunately on Google Play the game is tied to Crunchyroll for some reason, but the game is also available on itch (https://afterburn.itch.io/inbento), where after buying it you get an .apk file that you can install on your phone yourself. :) Also, did you buy the 2022 itch charity bundle for Ukraine, like me? Then you already own the game! So all the more reason to give it a try and show the creators some love :D
-
Game 1 - Tactics Ogre: Reborn (Switch) - 48 Hours
What a great game to start off the new year with. I've always really enjoyed the Final Fantasy Tactics games but have never experienced the series that really started this whole genre. True to the back of the box, this is the "crown jewel" of the tactical RPG and definitely earns that title. The gameplay is simply divine and combined with great music, graphics, and atmosphere, make for a truly engrossing experience. The storyline is also really interesting in the sense that it has multiple branching paths that lead to a very complex and highly repayable narrative that extends into the postgame as well. I did a Chaos story on this playthrough but I wonder about the other paths and how that would play out, especially since elements of the story change depending on who you do/don't recruit to your team. In general, all of the systems on display in this game are highly polished and near-perfect.
There are a couple things that I wish could have been better, the main one being elements of the game's storytelling. Much like FFT, the story just kind of drops you in and expects you to know everything that's going on in the world, and it wasn't conveyed very well - there is so much to this world that would have been better received if I was eased in a little more gently - but right away the elements of different political and ideological factions, religions, historical events, races and much more is just all kind of dumped on you and it's very overwhelming. My other criticism is I didn't really see the need to change classes. Unlike FFT, changing classes gives you benefits because you can take skills you learned in one class to another class. That doesn't exist in this game, meaning that it's more advantageous to just stick with one class for a character which limits the experimentation you could to.
I finished this game wishing there was more for me to experience, but other than the GBA game this series remains kind of limited which is a shame, because it's excellent. I'm planning on revisiting FFTA, and playing through The Knight of Lodis someday too, because there's just something really special about this series to me!
-
6. Roomerang
We had friends over and loaded up the ninth party pack on Jack Box. This was the only game we played, but it was a lot of fun as always. And I won! I rarely win at Jack Box. I played a "goody two shoes" so it was one of those art imitates life moments.
7. Mega Man Zero 4
Yeah, I'm glad I skipped one because I want to save Zero 3 for last and get this one over with. Hell, I may even do ZX and ZX Advent next because neither can compare to the pinnacle of Zero 3. Zero 4 isn't bad, it's just that it flipped the formula too much. You have to farm enemies for parts - kind of like an RPG. Normally I wouldn't mind something like this but not in a high-speed action game like Mega Man Zero. Also, his grabby claw weapon was only used for certain puzzles instead of serving as a good weapon substitute. I give a lot of points for creativity and effort, but ultimately it wasn't as fun as Capcom and them had hoped.
-
1. Mario Kart World | 2025 | Switch 2 | 1/14:
(https://imgur.com/Q7VjpUU.png)
First game of 2026 officially completed!, and why not start the year off right with some good old Mario Kart? I just received a Switch 2 around Christmas and was expecting to marathon through DK Bananza, but was pretty sidetracked at how fun this new MK game is -- and it's not only because of the racing. The open-world of MK World doesn't have any inspiring set objectives. The only objective officially given to you is finding and completing collectibles & challenges for car stickers that you hardly see on your own vehicle. However, I can't help but go back into the open-world (called Free Roam) after every few races. The world that's given to explore, to discover, to complete objectives, and to make your own, is very well-crafted and very Nintendo. Stopping at a bench with a Yoshi or Toad on it and having them wave back at you when you honk the horn is one of the many little things that gives this game life and makes me want to continue exploring Mario Kart's World.
The Free Roam and 10-hour long soundtrack alone make this a great game, but there just so happens to be a mode for racing other players as well. Grand Prix is pretty alright in my opinion. Mario Kart 8 is a complete game that would be nigh impossible for this game to compete with if they were to stick with the traditional track formula, so I don't mind the mix-up. That, combined with 24 players on the same track, leaves for some real chaotic fun & some frustration when you get hit by item spam (which WILL happen). The retro tracks are really cool with how they've been redesigned to fit with Free Roam, but there are some stinkers. Like, what happened to all the hills in Desert Hills? I'm curious as to what Nintendo has planned in terms of future updates cause there hasn't been anything of note aside from adding custom items to local multiplayer (which is admittedly cool, but nothing substantial). I would love to see a playlist mode where you can choose what music tracks you want to listen to or filter out during Free Roam (why this isn't a feature yet, I have no idea). As it is today however, Mario Kart World is a fantastic celebration of both past and present in the Mario Kart franchise & the Mario series itself.
(https://imgur.com/Y2EqSDA.png)
Grade: A
-
8. Mega Man ZX - Vent
This was a lot more fun than I remember it being. Mega Merging is a rad concept that keeps the action going non-stop, despite some forms being more useful than others. The water form is just about useless. The game was also a lot more challenging. While the save point issue is resolved in this collection, it still doesn't mean the game is simple. Enemies move fast and hit hard. And they're everywhere. This is a big game that clearly took advantage of the jump from GBA to DS. There's also a darker tone with the story. One thing I forgot about until I finished the first boss was that you have to be careful how you land your hits. If you damage a Maverick incorrectly, then your rewards are decreased. E Crystals can be used to make any repairs, but still. It's frustrating to see a Level 1 or 2 finish despite trying to be careful.
-
2. Crazy Taxi | 2000 | DreamCast | 1/16:
(https://imgur.com/XyOab6D.png)
Man, I didn't realize how fun it would be to replay Crazy Taxi again in the year of 2026. I played a couple of hours of the Steam PC version with restoration mods years ago, and I've probably doubled that time of recent with the OG Dreamcast version. I've since noticed that the open-world is smaller from what I remembered, that the game is very janky and many locations of the clients are the same each time you start over, and that I suck ass at pulling off the special crazy maneuvers that the game does a poor job of explaining to you. And yet, I don't see any of that as a negative. I've had a ton of fun with all my time playing Crazi Taxi again. And that's what matters at the end of the day. Grade: A-
-
3. Vital Shell | 2026 | PC | 1/23:
(https://imgur.com/YG83QfG.png)
Another addition to the Vampire Survivors, action roguelike-genre: we have Vital Shell. Right of the bat, you control a mech and fight 20 waves of various unique-looking enemies, ending off with a boss encounter. The visuals are chunky and glorious with a jungle,
drum-n-bass soundtrack to round it off. This could easily pass as a classic PS1 or DreamCast title if it were released back in the day.
It does play a bit different to how Vampire Survivors would. You get to upgrade your mech with new weapons, skills, and augments after each wave -- as opposed to when you level up. Leveling up here just gives you stat bonuses that correlate to the build of your mech. Augments -- which are colored gems -- give the game more flavor as you can only equip 4 onto each weapon. Equiping 4 gems onto one weapon will grant it a unique ability, which all depends on the combination of the gem colors. You also have a much more confined space to battle enemies compared to Vampire Survivors. Having enough speed or DPS stats to create openings for your mech is of utmost importance in this game.
This was a surprise to play considering that I kind of bought it on a whim. I had no recollection of wishlisting this game until I got the email from Steam that it was available to purchase & play. It is well worth the asking price of $6 and another great game to start off the year.
(https://imgur.com/BACsOeF.png)
Grade: B+
-
4 - Dead Island 2 (PC 2023) - BEAT - This is my second playthrough of the game as I had played it on Epic when it came out and got it insanely cheap with the DLC, which was the big reason to check it out. The main game is solid, coming off Dying Light 2 and The Beast, I like the linearity of this abit more, focus on bloody violence and some humor, it's more direct fun, a lot less open world roaming that drags. Dying Light still does movement stuff well, which DI2 could certainly use at times as you'd get situations that you wish you could charge through crowds or leap over better lol I don't want to see grappling hooks and all that, but there's definitely a little more room to improve general movement.
Forgot the ending was such a cliffhanger, you have some big bads teased through the game, but you only interact with one, in the DLC, and it's not to take her out, it's a big setup for a third game for sure.
DLC is overall solid, two favorite areas, Haus built around the artistically driven rich creeps creating a dark cult, built around a mysterious person. And then Sola, which is about a huge festival that's gone horrible wrong, Coachella with zombies. Both dive deeper into stuff with the Autophage, the thing that turns people into zombies, it's not simply a virus, and the way they expand on it I'm a little mixed, it's trying to make it such much bigger, almost makes me think of Death Stranding and I'm not sure how much I love that. Not bad, but it would take the next game to really explore it fully.
In the end, I kinda realized some things I disliked, the combat needs to be less stiff. There's a lot of times where you get locked into animations, heavy strikes usually doing these stationary animation attacks, or if you stun a zombie, you can then get some brutal attacks in, but they take way too long. The stuns need to be glory kills like in Doom 2016, fast, insta-death, and then I'd kinda get rid of the lock on heavy attacks just to move away from being stuck in place. The SOLA dlc in particular emphasized another issue where you could quickly get juggled into hits or stunned on the ground while taking environment damage, and really just lose large chunks of health fast. I died like a dozen times in the final two big SOLA fights because I'd suddenly lose 75% of my health or more and had no chance to recover.
Frustrations at times with the combat aside, I did have fun, I'm not doing most of the side stuff, this was purely a story run, but there's New Game+ stuff here and I think completion on the game, with DLC is probably 40 to 50 hours, so a good chunk of time for sure.
-
Completed: 02
2. Code Violet (PS5)
Code Violet's quality looked subpar to me early on from pre-release trailers and even more so after it released. But after remembering how eager you were for it, I'm curious if it managed to meet your expectations and if your thoughts differ from the general public's negative opinion after having played it.
-
5. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
And that's game number 5, the long awaited Metroid Prime 4. Including by me. This game has been divisive, with some people and reviewers praising it but many players heavily criticising it. And honestly, now that I've beaten it, I'm rather split on it too. Full warning: I will try not to spoil anything, but I will be generally discussing some aspects of the game. And yes, sorry, this is a long one, but I have a lot of thoughts on this one.
Let's start with the good, because there is a lot to like here. This game is visually beautiful. Its visual design in the environment and creatures is just as strong as it was in the previous Prime games. I really enjoyed the boss fights. Those are always highlights for me in the Prime games, and these bosses do not disappoint. The gameplay loop is satisfying. The various areas in the game, although linear, are still fun to explore, and constantly finding powerups to slowly beef yourself up feels as good as ever. I really want to stress: there is a lot to like here, and at times, that did shine through for me.
But yes, there are annoyances here too. The game feels strongly linear. You still explore areas and solve puzzles to progress, which is still fun, but in some way, this just felt stronger in previous titles. The games's locations are connected by an open world, and I know it's a desert but it still feels empty. I think I preferred the more directly interconnected areas from the previous Prime titles.
By far the biggest criticism online is the supporting characters, and unfortunately, I have to agree with the critics. Throughout the game you're accompanied by a cast of Galactic Federation characters. They call you, join you on quests, and will talk to you whenever they're around. And yes, I found them annoying and grading. Some of them instantly got on my nerves, to the point that once the cutscene ended I jokingly tried to shoot them (which the game doesn't allow but still). They instruct you on every new step which makes the game not only feel even more linear, but also takes away some of that sense of figuring stuff out more on your own. The previous Prime games also had objective markers, but they were far less intrusive. And on top of this, they're a hindrance in combat. There are multiple segments where you get into fights and they join you. And while they're constantly depicted as capable soldiers, every time they almost die and you have to stop fighting and go heal them. Often multiple times per fight. Several times I found myself almost screaming at my screen: "This would be so much easier if you would just GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
But a deeper issue with them is that, to me, they don't fit Metroid. A core aspect of Metroid, to me, is its sense of loneliness. That feeling of you, alone, on a distant, intriguing but hostile world, with nothing but your wits and your skills to aid you. One of Metroid's biggest appeals to me is that atmosphere. And these characters, to me, ruin that completely. If I ever got into that mental state of getting lost in the world the game was giving me, whenever these guys popped up it immediately took me back out of it. They break the immersion, and also break that sense of isolation and weight. I admittedly don't play many games with chatty sidekicks like this, but still: I would've enjoyed this game so much more if I was just left to explore this world on my own, and only interact with ancient messages and the main villain.
(Also, a little side tangent, but I do not understand why Nintendo thinks we like the Galactic Federation so much. Personally, I don't. At all. If you want other characters: Prime 3 had you interacting with other bounty hunters that turn from good to evil, all from different species with wildly different designs and abilities. They were cool! Prime Hunters's other bounty hunters are still, to this day, fan favourites! Yet from Prime 3 to gosh darn Federation Force to this, they keep focusing on the stupid space army. Drop them and focus on something cool instead! Hell, Sylux is right there. If you focused on just him, he could've been so much cooler!)
I think the biggest thing that stood out to me about Prime 4 is that it didn't feel as grand or epic as the previous games. The game does try to give your situation weight, trapping you in a completely unknown and isolated world, with a troubled history of a fallen civilization, but I rarely felt that weight. I don't know whether it's the world design, the npc's or whatever, but I never felt that immersion or weight. When I beat the original Metroid Prime games, I felt a sense of accomplishment, relief, grandeur, weight. With this game, I just felt like I had beaten another game.
And let me re-emphasize: that doesn't mean the game is bad. Tons of good games have left me without a major feeling at the end. And I did enjoy this game. I was always happy to pick it back up and keep playing, there are moments that did immerse me into the world and battles that are riveting. But yes, from Prime 4, I was also hoping to feel more.
I know that Prime 4 had an impossible legacy to live up to, but even seen on its own, I cannot ignore some of these annoyances. This is still a good game, there is no doubt about that. This is a high quality title that I don't doubt many people will enjoy. But to me, while I overall enjoyed my time with it, if I were to rank my favourite Metroid games, Prime 4 would not be very high on that list. I only just beat it, so maybe the positives will become stronger in my head over time. But right now, while this game is no doubt good and worth playing, I also don't feel comfortable calling it anything more than just "good".
-
8. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
Occasionally, my wife and I will pick out a local co-op game to play together. In recent years, this has typically been some sort of two player platformer. About a week ago we decided to finally play Kirby and the Forgotten Land, a game that we originally started playing in 2022, right before we moved into our new home. Unfortunately between the move and other games the two of us started around that time, Kirby got shelved until finally nearly 4-years later we picked it back up. While it wasn't the amazing game I hope all first party Nintendo platformers will be when I first start playing them, it was a still a decent little game overall.
Being a mainline Kirby game, Forgotten Land has most of the same mechanics of Kirby's previous main series adventures. You're sucking up various enemy types and absorbing their powers. All the power up staples of many previous Kirby games is here as well, with the added bonus of being able to power them up to become stronger and stronger. While powering up your umm...power ups makes them more powerful (I will try not to saw "power" again) and therefore making the game easier, this actually plays into Forgotten Land's greatest flaw, at least in my humble opinion. It's difficulty.
Nearly every mainline Kirby game I've ever played ranges for moderately easy to laughably, close you eyes and just press forward and auto win easy. Unfortunately, most of forgotten land leans closer to the latter and it wasn't until the last couple areas of the game where I felt like anything resembling a challenge presented itself. The result of all this was me being fairly bored throughout this game, and that's despite the pretty good 3D visuals and adorable Kirby game charm. In fact, had I not been playing this game co-op with my wife, I don't know that I'd have finished the game, simply out of sheer boredom.
The 3D stages and visuals are Forgotten Land's best quality. This is probably the best, most visually impressive Kirby game ever made. Unfortunately, that doesn't translate to this game being a stunner for the eyes. While there are a lot of recycled assets, both stages and enemies, my main issue is how a lot of the characters and enemies sort of clash with the setting overall. The forgotten land this game is named after resembles some sort of post apocalyptic world, more similar to a cartoonish earth than what we've seen on Planet Pop Star and in other Kirby titles. Some stages definitely feel like they fit better than others, but many of them just feel out of place for a Kirby game. This, however, is a fairly minor compliant to what is otherwise a pretty good looking 3D platforming game.
Finally, the audio in Kirby is fine for the most part, if not bordering pretty good. There are some pretty good tracks, although I never felt like any of them particularly stood out and really caught my attention. There is almost no voice acting of any kind unless you want to count little grunts and noises from Kirby, his allies, and some of the enemies and bosses as voice acting. The non-OST audio certainly fits, but just like the character visuals, it somewhat clashes with the levels and settings throughout the game.
I can't say Kirby and the Forgotten World is the best Kirby game I've ever played, but for what it's worth, it was a pretty fun, little game that I derived more enjoyment out of playing it with my wife than I did out of the game itself. I feel like your mileage with this one will absolutely vary depending on your tolerance for remaining engaged in easier games, as well as your love of the Kirby franchise. I definitely like Kirby, but there was enough I didn't care for in this game that beating it solo would have been more of a test of my endurance than I'd care to admit. Still, I beat Kirby and it was a decent platformer overall that I'd recommend other fans of the genre, or Kirby, try out if they can grab a copy for relatively cheap. (1/24/26) [34/50]
-
3: Tomb Raider III (Evercade)
Oh damn, this was the worst game in the original trilogy. Such a mixed bag of a game. It had a good weapon selection and some levels that I liked, but every level I liked was sandwiched between two that I absolutely hated. In the first two games you could see the cause and effect of pulling levers and pushing buttons right away, but here it was common to pull a lever and have no idea what it opened. And then there was the absolutely broken crap like the underwater segment of Lud's Gate where the underwater vehicle you had to use would constantly hang up on the walls without even touching them, causing you to run out of air. The final boss was godawful, you had to sprint around a narrow stone circle with slippery slopes and instant death lava pools on both the inside and outside edge, while stopping to fire at the boss who was constantly chasing you. And when you stunned him, you had to quickly sprint down a connecting pathway, pick up an artifact, and sprint back before he recovered and fired an undodgeable perfect-homing instant death fireball at you. And you had to do this FOUR TIMES before you could kill him! And even after he died, you still had to fight your way through his henchmen to the level exit. Seriously, that boss can fornicate with a full-size saguaro cactus until he becomes physically and psychologically dependent on the sensation. The Fire Giant in Elden Ring was easier and more fun.
Like Dark Souls II, Tomb Raider III was made by a different team than the first game, and was a potentially good game ruined by terrible design choices. Also like Dark Souls II, I refuse to ever play Tomb Raider III again unless it gets a significant upgrade. I might try the remaster because they let you change the controls and uncap the framerate, but vanilla Tomb Raider III has earned its spot as one of the bottom 5 worst games I've ever played. In closing, I'll rate the original trilogy:
TR1: 4/10 Subpar
TR2: 5/10 Average
TR3: 3/10 Bad
Now I've gone from the Evercade VS-R to the PS4 to play the remastered versions of Tomb Raider IV, V, and VI. I'm really liking Tomb raider: The Last Revelation Remastered so far. This might be the first classic Tomb Raider game to get a 6/10 from me, but it's way too early to tell as I'm still on the first level after the prologue.
Completed:
Tomb Raider II (Evercade)
Tomb Raider III (Evercade)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
In Progress:
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (PS4)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA)
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (Gamecube)
-
04. Resident Evil Code: Veronica X || GameCube || 01.21.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/tiV1e2Q.jpeg)
Despite not being a numbered title, Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (C:VX) is a game I've been aware that's quite renowned by fans of the Resident Evil franchise. There are a lot of rumors, speculation, and alleged facts as to the game's naming convention status that relates to it being a mainline entry or not, though it's ultimately irrelevant as it's the game itself that matters. So while being aware of the game's positive reception, I began playing with certain expectations.
With that said, C:VX is a lot different than the games before it from a narrative perspective. Set after the events of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, the game deviates from the epicenter of the zombie outbreak, Raccoon City, and instead is divided between two separate military bases as its setting. I wasn't particularly pleased with how the game's opening events transpire, though I did eventually recognize why they occur as it's only rational considering how the previous series entry concludes while transitioning the franchise narrative to a more global scale instead of a localized one. In fact, the story became far more engaging than I was anticipating while offering a much more focused look at what the T-virus is, the virus's origins, and what the virus can become alongside other experimentations parallel to Umbrella's own scientific efforts. As the story continued, I was surprised at how successful it expands upon the franchise lore more than any of the three previous games without directly being about Umbrella at all even. Looking back, I'm still not partial to how the game begins by dropping the player right in the middle of an ongoing event. From my understanding, this seems to be expected as the franchise continues, with greater context being provided much later in later series installments.
As the narrative unfolds, the game tries to introduce emotionally adult themes. However, the effectiveness of the majority of these scenes are widely mishandled for one chief fault: the quality of most of the cast's voice work. Even among the playable cast, vocal performances are generally awful and arguably the worst in the series so far as several devolve into cartoon characters. Generally, these characters and the situations they're in are over-the-top and too ridiculous for my personal tastes—I'd greatly prefer a more serious and mature tone with characters that reflect it instead. Accordingly, C:VX demonstrates how thin the line between horror and comedy is. It's a design philosophy I recognize and respect, but I do sometimes wonder how this franchise above all else led the thematic horror genre during this era. To a lesser extent, plot pacing and cinematography also regularly diminish the efficacy of emotion attempting to be conveyed. Fortunately, though, these performances contrast certain scenes that are eerie in tone, especially in regards to one of the central antagonists.
Regarding gameplay, it's largely split between two protagonists. They both control the same, have access to the same weapon types, and have the same functionality besides one of the two having the means to release certain locks. Despite the immense physical space between the two at times, item storage accessibility from one to the other exists somehow, though this isn't too far-fetched considering how unrealistic the system operates normally anyway. As the campaign continued, I found myself becoming more and more irritated with bugged gameplay limitations and unfair level design, such as only being able to interact with this one specific point of interest while remaining stationary unlike any other instance when it can be done in motion or a high-traffic hallway with numerous enemies that respawn and easily infect you with poison. It should also be made clear that, even on a fundamental level, C:VX's level design and level progression is not friendly to first-time players. It's common for first-time players to become softlocked during certain sections, which is an issue that's directly related to available resources from within item storage. How items are exchanged from one character to another (something that's unexpected for a first-time experience) has the opportunity to greatly bolster or worsen not only the immediate objective but what's to follow—sometimes both from effects from the same action. The auto-aim mechanic during combat is also rather mixed. There is a noticeable pattern of poor prioritization to which enemies are targeted such as aiming toward the downed enemy and not the one advancing to you that's mere paces away. But at the same time, I found the auto-aim mechanic particularly useful in this game as it reveals the presence and broad location of off-screen enemies. Perhaps that sort of functionality has been present for a while, though, but I certainly found its use during this game.
From a genre perspective, C:VX pushes survival horror to its limits. Well, that's how I felt through the opening hours, anyway. Like with previous titles, players start with basically no items at their disposal, and it seemed that resources available as the path continued—including save point typewriters and the ink ribbons to use them—were considerably sparse and spread out. But over time, the game becomes quite manageable even without playing conservatively. For much of the game, it really just felt like going through the motions when being bombarded by enemies. And as to be expected from the franchise up to this point, boss combat sequences are markedly unfair—in particularly, one at the game's midway point. While a challenge is to be expected, the design to these encounters is not balanced well, and it completely removes any and all sense of being terrified while playing as players will undoubtedly be forced to retry again and again and again. It was never dread felt during these moments but instead annoyance.
Other aspects of the game are worth mentioning too. While they're few in number, puzzles are slightly more challenging than the ones before it—they're certainly more thoughtful, anyway. Even the series of barriers that impedes exploratory progress have elevated in difficulty, in part to the game's reliance on backtracking that, while certainly irritating on a surface level, exhibits a more thought-out level design. One after another, there is also at least one immediate path being blocked for whatever reason. As has been the case with the three previous games, the the majority of so-called puzzles in C:VX are really just obstacles. In short, each one requires finding the key to unlock the path. To call the stage design itself a puzzle is an exaggeration, though players are required to remember a fair amount of information that sometimes isn't relevant for long periods of time and is an exercise in memory, for sure. Meanwhile, the Resident Evil series is known for its action sequences, and this game is no exception to that expectation. It's especially evident in the opening FMV and closing hour of the game, but it's simultaneously underwhelming, as what one segment in particularly demonstrates an intense showdown but is represented by FMV alone, entirely without player input. To say that this game is more concerned with action than horror would not be a controversial statement. Lastly, pre-rendered backgrounds have been retired with this title and have instead been replaced with real-time 3D environments. They've aged poorly by comparison and certainly remove the cinematic quality to play.
Despite coming across as rather mixed in my thoughts, my time with Resident Evil Code: Veronica X was more enjoyable than not. Its strengths and weaknesses are across a broad spectrum, but I'm nonetheless impressed with just how compelling the game's narrative is compared to the previous titles. Should its tone had been more mature, my opinion would undoubtedly be even higher.
-
Game 2 - Coffee Talk (PS5) - 6 Hours
I made a point to purchase as many "cozy" games as possible with some birthday money last year and here's a review of the first one I've finished!
Coffee Talk isn't the most engaging of a game from a gameplay perspective. It's mainly just reading text boxes and occasionally choosing ingredients to make coffee, tea and other drinks. If you're the person who likes engaging core gameplay, this won't be for you. But, if you like something that's very chill, and engrossing in a narrative and atmospheric way, this game is great. It's the little things that make the atmosphere special. The rain falling outside of the shop (although it rains every single day which is a little off). The movements of the characters, the music and sound effects, all of it blends together into a game that puts you into a zen.
I enjoyed the game the most when I limited myself to just one night in the coffee shop play session. If I tried to play multiple nights in a row it became less entertaining. I also found that for a game where the story is the main attraction, it actually wasn't that interesting. Some compelling threads here and there, but mostly superficial storytelling without a lot of pizazz that would really make it great. Part of the problem is the character you play as, the barista, who has no stake in any of the stories being told, which means as a player your investment in what's going on is significantly diminished.
Coffee Talk isn't a game for everyone, but I still enjoyed my time playing it. It's a kind of game that I don't really play that often, but I'm glad I gave it a shot.
-
Game 3 - Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS5) - 3 Hours
A very pleasant, light platformer with a cute story and characters, solid gameplay, and some really nice music. The game has a really unique atmosphere with a mix of dreamy and unsettling music, characters and dreamy atmosphere that really contributes to the game's themes. I wish Klonoa's attack had a bit more range to it, but I found the challenge to be just the right level and it was fun to master the controls. Really not a whole lot more to say about this one. It's pretty short, and there isn't any replay value, but I did really enjoy my time with it.
-
9. Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)
Having bought Cyperpunk 2077 (CP2077) on day one when it came out in 2020, I was one of those crazy people who stuck it out with the game despite glitches and game breaking bugs galore. Adding to the insanity of my perseverance even more, I purchased the game on the PS4, which was infamous for being the least optimized, poorest running, and most unstable release compared to all other platforms CP2077 was released on. The fact I was able to beat the game at all on the PS4 back in 2020 (I actually beat the game on 1/1/2021, but whatever) was a miracle akin to V dodging a cascade of bullets and coming out the other end unharmed. Maybe the craziest thing of all was I actually walked away from this early build of CP2077 on a console it probably should have never been released on to begin with, with an overall positive impression of the game. Sure, some of the bugs and glitches, and the fact there was terrible frame rate and pop in issues throughout certainly dampened my opinion of the game somewhat, but I still had a great experience by the time the credits rolled.
Hearing nothing besides how CDPR turned the game completely around and even made it way better with its expansion, Phantom Liberty, had be eager to replay CP2077 and see how much more I'd enjoy it now that the game was fixed and no longer borderline unplayable. Originally, I was going to review the base game of CP2077 and Phantom Liberty as one game, however after beating base CP2077 and completing what the internet tells me is the first 1/3 of Phantom Liberty, I just ddin't feel right lumping the main game and expansion together. Phantom Liberty, at least so far, is a very different experience in so many ways compared to the base game. Some of this, again so far (I haven't beat Phantom Liberty yet), is a good thing whole some I'm not quite sure about just yet. Either way, it just feels very jarring and shoehorned into the pretty solid, cohesive narrative present in the main game of CP2077. However, with that out of the way, here are my thoughts on CP2077 5 years since originally playing it.
CDPR has improved virtually everything in this game as of version 2.31. Almost every gameplay mechanic and system works way better, possessing a level of polish almost every feature in version 1.XX was missing. Stealth works a 100 times better, shooting is actually fun and effective now, hacking and completing missions or areas outside of the box now actually feels doable, and the leving/progression system is noticeably tighter and better thought out. Honestly, the only thing that still feels kinda crappy is driving, which obviously sucks, but it's a far cry from how almost everything in CP2077 was pretty busted back in 2020/2021.
The game offers an almost overwhelming amount of missions, side objectives, oddities to explore, and other fascinating things to see and do, that you'll rarely feel bored or underwhelmed by what CP2077 has to offer. Unfortunately, many of these missions do play out the same way more or less (break in, steal this, kill that guy), but luckily the writing does a fairly good job at spicing some of this side content up. Beyond just the combat and exploring Night City, there isn't a ton of more out of the box side experiences, which is a bit of a shame, but the core of CP2077 is so good now, that it hardly needs that side crap anyways.
The story of CP2077 is pretty good overall. There are so many ways to experience this game differently depending on what back story you choose, what dialogue and action options you decide to make, what side missions you choose to complete, and so may other variables, CP2077 can almost feel like an entirely different game between playthroughs. Whle the middle 50% of the game mostly plays out the same, the beginning of the game and the ending can look dramatically different depending on your in game choices. While I'm not going to spoil anything, the ending I got during the playthrough blew the alternate ending I got doing my 2020 playthrough completely out of the water! And what's even crazier is there are even more ending I could see depending on choices I make. Combine all this with some excellent character writing, dialogue, and a pretty original, gripping plot and you have a video game that rivals many sci fi books and movies in terms of how interesting it is.
Still, with all that said about the story, it still has a few parts that aren't as interesting or great. The writing in side missions can outstay its welcome at times. And if I'm being completely honest, the dynamic between certain main and semi-main characters can sometimes feel all over the place, even when not talking dialogue options into consideration. Still, these are fairly minor gripes to what is otherwise a really enjoyable, well made story.
I honestly don't have a single bad thing to say about the visuals or audio in CP2077 on the PS5. The game runs silky smooth, even during more hectic sections of the game. The amount of detail in Night City absolutely makes it feel like a real living, breaking place. There are random allies you can explore that look completely unique even if there is otherwise nothing remarkable or noteworthy about it. Just the level of visual detail is off the charts in CP2077 and I can say with absolutely certainty that this is one of the best looking video games ever made. Audio is also amazing. Great soundtrack, nearly perfect voice acting, amazing sound effects of all sorts. The audio is legendary and needs to be heard to be believed!
While some of its flaws and shortcoming do hold this game back for me as being one of my favorite games of all time, it's still no understatement to say that CP2077 is one of the best games ever made. It's nothing short of incredible how much CDPR turned this game around in just a few years and delivered the title we had all hoped for back in 2020. But as they sau, better late than never. Now, I just hope I enjoy Phantom Liberty just as much, if not more, even though that game is quickly turning out to be a bird of another color. (1/25/26) [42/50]
-
9. Grandia II HD - platinum'd
My second platinum of the year, and one step closer to 150! Compared to the first game, Grandia II is the better title for the most part. I don't like how drastically and quickly Ryudo changes personalities, but otherwise the cast and story is a step forward in development with a more mature story line to match. I played the game on Hard mode, which was a new addition to this HD collection. Overall, it wasn't that much more difficult than the standard difficulty. The two toughest fights were the Body of Valmar and the final boss. The final boss was tough because its speed was insane. Spell after spell after spell. Thankfully, I held onto all my important items like feathers and SP restoratives. The game is a true classic, but this port? Man, what a letdown. First, there's the sound quality. Moving the cursor up and down has this laser beam "pew" sound and it is loud. There's no way to adjust sound quality, either. Music will fade out, and then restart. That's not a big deal but it's noticeable in an otherwise epic soundtrack. Then, there's the freeze-framing that happens when a battle ends. It looks like the game is about to glitch - the character that does the victory pose will often freeze for a split second before finishing said pose. However, the only time the game crashed on me was in a random dungeon when I was walking. Annoying? Yes. But, RPG 101: save often, and Grandia's full HP/MP/SP restorative save points are everywhere. I lost all of 10 minutes of game time so, not a big deal but still something that happened when I wasn't expecting it. This is my third time going through the game. First was on PlayStation 2 and it was a passable port. Second was on the Dreamcast and it's crazy to think that this original version is still the best version. Now, we have this HD port and while the game is still a lot of fun, it's probably the worst way to go about playing it.
-
10. Mega Man Zero 3
I ended up jumping into this instead of Advent, and I'm glad I did. This is still my favorite from this sub-series. The Recoil Rod is a lot more fun than the special weapons from the other games. It's not used as much as the saber or gun, but still a fun little trick weapon. I managed to keep an A ranking the entire time. I also managed to get most of the secret disks. I'll probably do another run through this year and go for the ones I'm missing while attempting to get an S rank.
-
10. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (PS5)
When it comes to substantial bonus content and large expansion for games, I rarely complain or think the base game would have been better if the expansion never existed. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is no different in this regard, however I do feel like its inclusion, should you choose to play it, feel fairly out of place and jarring shoved within the CP2077 narrative. Taking place during the events of CP2077, and even offering up an entirely new ending should you make certain decisions towards the end of Phantom Liberty, the game really throws things askew plot and storywise from the main game. Base CP2077 is built upon Johnny Silverhand becoming imbedded within your psyche and your struggle to remove him and survive becomes just as much your story as it does his. However, in Phantom Liberty, Johnny almost takes a back seat to some of the new characters plot threads that have far less to do with him and his past and more to do with the what's going on with these new characters. In a lot of ways, regardless of what path you decide to take in Phantom Liberty, it undermines the story already established towards the beginning of CP2077 and abruptly ends a lot of the threads that game was established, which mostly all get resolved by the ending of the base game.
So in a way, choosing to play Phantom Liberty is done so at the expense of the main plot and story, even though it does do its best to tie into it and resolve certain problems that arise within case CP2077. What this all means for me is that I didn't care for the story Phantom Liberty had to tell even though I did find myself interested and even intrigued at times by what was happening throughout most of it. Again, Phantom Liberty just felt bluntly shoehorned into the overall story of Phantom Liberty, like someone who managed to bash in a square peg into a circular hole.
My issues with the story aren't the only problem I had with this game. While far more minor, I didn't care that much for Dogtown, the new main area offered in the Phantom Liberty expansion and where the bulk of that game takes place. Beyond it giving me some strong Escape from LA vibes and also being reminiscent of Kowloon City which was essentially an independently ran anarchy city nestled nearly Hong Kong during most of the 20th century until the entire city was eventually demolished, there wasn't really anything that interesting about Dogtown that made it stand out heavily from other parts of Night City you'd already seen. Sure, some of the building looked post apocalyptic as they sat there in a mid state of decay, but upon closer inspection, their layouts and features were just like any other place you'd already been in the base game. While you can venture out back into the rest of Night City whenever you want, the main story of Phantom Liberty as well as the new side missions offered to you nearly all happen within Dogtown or at least right outside it. Otherwise, this game, including Dogtown, look just as good as the rest of CP2077.
Phantom Liberty's gameplay is more or less yanked right out of the base game of CP2077, with a few noteworthy exceptions. For one, Phantom Liberty leans way more into action than the base game, almost becoming an action game first and an RPG second. The reason I won't say that, however, is the inclusion of Relic abilities and points which give the main character, V special abilities not offered in vanilla CP2077. Otherwise, you'll be leveling up the same and putting points into various character attributes like Agility or Tech. Because of the greater emphasis on action in Phantom Liberty, there is way more ammo and weapons just lying around, which you'll absolutely need given how much shit you'll be shooting in this expansion. In fact, the first third of Phantom Liberty is so action packed that I almost forgot I was playing CP2077 for a minute. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, although it does contribute somewhat to the jarring tone and plot shift I mentioned earlier.
Audio is still top notch in Phantom Liberty. The voice acting from the new characters introduced in this game is at the same high caliber seen in the base game. While my connection and investment in the new characters wasn't as strong as it was with many characters introduced in base CP2077, that had nothing to do with the voice acting or the performances given in Phantom Liberty whatsoever. Music and sound effects are mostly just lifted from the main game, which is by. no means a bad thing given how good that all was there.
While playing Phantom Liberty was something I always intended to do whenever I got around to replaying the base game again, one of the biggest selling points of Phantom Liberty was the proclamation of it "fixed" the ending of the base game. To be clear, the base game has five endings if memory serves me right, so I guess it's more accurate to say Phantom Liberty offers an additional sixth ending. The ending I got in Phantom Liberty was more a conclusion to the events of Phantom Liberty rather than a definitive ending to the story of CP2077. I did watch the definitive ending that is offered in CP2077 and found it to actually be less satisfactory than most of the endings in the base game. This is saying something since one huge thing is never fully resolved in the base game's ending and most are all somewhat bittersweet if not mostly negative. The same is true in Phantom Liberty's conclusive ending which just made me feel kinda depressed and unfulfilled. Obviously, this is more of a subjective thing, but I really feel like I was sold a false bill of goods with the internet collectively saying the ending of Phantom Liberty was so much better than the ones in base CP2077. It isn't and neither are the endings that just loop back into the events of the main game.
I feel like I had a lot of negative things to say about Phantom Liberty, but at the end of the day, it's still a game based on an already great game. While it does fall noticeably short in various areas compared to base CP2077, I would say that it's still worth playing through to make your own opinion on. Just be prepared for the game to shift tonally in a pretty sudden and jarring way if you decide to play Phantom Liberty. (1/28/26) [38/50]
-
4. Gears of War: Reloaded | 2025 | "Hardcore" Difficulty Solo Campaign | Xbox Series X | 1/25:
(https://imgur.com/IOhXDNe.png)
A leftover from 2025, I have finished playing Gears of War: Reloaded: a remaster of a remaster of the original game. I have played plenty of Gears of War 4 many years ago, but barely anything from the original trilogy. Rare props to Microsoft for handing me a free copy for owning the physical version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.
Anyways, this is 100% Gears of War through and through, love it or hate it. It's pretty surprising how much the first game got right with its gameplay, art direction, and characters. The campaign is nothing ground-breaking or life-changing, but it's still a solid few hours to play through today. What I am disappointed with is with the remaster. This is the third release of the same game and still has some of the worst friendly AI I have ever seen. You get the option to direct your teammates' (mainly Dom's) actions, but they do almost nothing. They may listen to you when you tell them to regroup, then continue to rush the enemy and get downed 5 seconds later. The enemy AI isn't much better either, and there were some graphical & gameplay glitches throughout my playthrough (I posted an image of one of my first glitch encounters above). You think someone at The Coalition would bother tinkering with the original game's code for once?
I did have more fun than I expected playing a solo Gears campaign that's almost 20 years ago at this point. There are a lot of memorable set pieces and locations that you trudge through -- which was more than I expected for a game that only uses gray, dark green, and sepia as colors. This remaster does make the game more pleasant to look at and play through, at the cost of the original game's gritty art direction. Overall pretty solid, but I do have to question if we will see an 8K resolution, Gears of War: Supreme Edition remaster of the first game another decade from now?
(https://imgur.com/VrQzOXD.png)
Grade: C+
-
05. Pikmin || Nintendo Switch || 01.25.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/G1IJAsR.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/DDYApcz.jpeg)
For nearly fifteen years, Pikmin has been a game I've been meaning to complete. It's been fifteen years specifically because it's been that long since I first played the game without really knowing what to expect at all, so it was both a franchise and a genre of games I was unfamiliar with. As to be expected from this specific game that offers three different endings dependent on player performance, I earned the worst possible outcome and moved onto something else. So since I never properly played Pikmin to completion, having it as part of my backlog all this time still has long bothered me. Fortunately, that's since changed.
To set the scene, Pikmin begins with the protagonist Olimar crash-landing on an alien planet while navigating through space. Needless to say, Olimar's ship is unable to take off once again as numerous parts of it—thirty, to be exact—have scattered around the surrounding regions, waiting to be found. To make matters worse, there is a grave sense of urgency to reclaim these pieces as Olimar's space suit only has enough power to filter out this world's toxic air composed of oxygen for thirty days. So, to be direct, Olimar has one month to repair his ship or else he'll die. Fortunately, however, Olimar isn't alone on this life-or-death mission but is instead accompanied by upwards of hundreds of alien creatures, the eponymous Pikmin, who eagerly aid his cause serving as tools at his disposal. So for thirty in-game days that are roughly 13 minutes in real-time, both Olimar and the Pikmin must accomplish their short-term goals of reclaiming one ship piece at a time which will enable the ship to navigate short distances across the planet from one region to the next at certain milestones, where other parts await to be found.
While Olimar's alone at first, it's almost immediate that he discovers Pikmin, this sort of hybrid plant-animal species. Quickly, Pikmin's numbers multiply as the they themselves harvest resources that enable them to reproduce at propagation pods. This is a slow process at times as they move slowly throughout it, but it's typical for the collective Pikmin to pool together their power at the whim of Olimar's direction that enables both parties to accomplish their survival goals. For without Olimar's command, the Pikmin are rather useless and fall prey to the numerous predators that roam the wilderness. While Olimar's chief goal is to bring back each fallen ship part back to their home base, it's often interrupted by predators and the terrain itself. So, even though the main objective is for multitudes of Pikmin to carry these parts—as there is strength in numbers—they must routinely clear the path for both Olimar and themselves to traverse safely which is, in itself, Pikmin's chief gameplay loop. At times, this is as simple as opening a blocked path or as dangerous as confronting a much larger, much more capable predator. It's often not clear what sort of resources are needed for each individual circumstance, so there is a fair amount of trial-and-error involved throughout a first playthrough. Discovering and understanding new information is paramount to making progress, and it's made easier by daily field reports from Olimar himself.
Even though Pikmin is quite approachable for anyone new to real-time strategy games with an emphasis on resource management, I found the experience to be somewhat challenging for me—for a while, anyway. And what I mean by that exactly is that, for the majority of my playthrough, I'd consider myself to have been bad at maintaining Pikmin's numbers, as they'd constantly die with high frequency. That being said, while the Pikmin population is an important factor to monitor and replenish, it becomes even more crucial to bolster the numbers of each individual type of Pikmin, which there are three: red, yellow, and blue. While each of these three types have the same basic qualities and can perform the same simple actions, they differ in more finer abilities and are required to be used in certain scenarios to continue progress. Since only one hundred Pikmin in total can be dispersed on the field at a time, it's crucial to balance the actions you assign them to maximize the limited time that's available each day, with tasks such as constructing bridges or collapsing wall barriers being the highest priority since these obstacles impede further progress. Of course, simply finding a ship part is only one segment of the game, as overcoming each region's trials and successfully bringing the part back to Olimar's ship is the real challenge.
Of course, Pikmin are more than capable of defeating their predators while following Olimar's commands. Using them as tools, Olimar can direct Pikmin to attack predators or even fling Pikmin on top of them to gain advantage. Still, it's to be expected that many of Olimar's forces will die. Together, they act as an army against much larger and more capable predators, but that doesn't mean predators will simply allow themselves to die. Alongside simply being eaten alive, Pikmin can die in scenarios such as falling victim to the environment itself that includes being burnt and drowned or merely becoming separated from the group and then being left in the wilderness overnight on their own where they'll be preyed upon. Olimar can also disengage any active Pikmin at any time that's made easier by separating them by color type, though it's sometimes more ideal to lead them back to their propagation pods where they're completely safe. As new regions are discovered, predators become more active, so any Pikmin that's on the field but not currently with Olimar are easy targets. Alongside typical predator creatures, there are also several boss-type predators in the far corners of each stage which guard ship parts. They require their own strategy, and it's best to come prepared with a full army.
Overall, the game's core objectives are straightforward to accomplish. While players are tasked with rebuilding Olimar's ship with broken-off parts, finding these parts is made relatively easy with a map that somehow has the location of every part marked. As days continue to pass, Olimar eventually reveals in a daily report that he believes only some of the lost parts are needed for the ship to properly function. So while there are a total of thirty parts to collect, only twenty-five specific parts are actually needed. However, the game doesn't reveal which parts are optional to reclaim. For there to have been a means to know which specific ship parts have been found from the stage select screen would have been ideal, but I suppose a mechanic like that serves little purpose unless knowing which parts are required. Regardless, collecting all thirty parts rewards the player with the best ending, whereas merely obtaining the required twenty-five rewards the adequate one. Meanwhile, anything less triggers the worst ending with Olimar unable to leave. Of course, this means that Pikmin does offer some level of replayability, though that replayability is largely related to besting one's own records concerning how many in-game days it takes to gather all thirty parts or how few Pikmin die.
After all these years, I'm glad to have finally completed Pikmin and being rewarded with the best ending. Obviously, my playthrough was far from perfect, but it's a game that's dependent on players learning new information regularly after both successes and failures. While I know some basic details regarding how the series changes, I'm curious just how different each sequel actually is from this debut title.
-
11. Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band were more or less a core part of the Millennial experience back in the mid to late 2000s. I was in college at the time, and these two games were everywhere. Parties, student unions, dorm rooms, retail stores, you name it. Despite me probably being the least into video games I've ever been around this time, I still was unable to avoid getting sucked into the plastic guitar game hysteria. Given how social these games were, they meshed well with my priorities of friends and dating during this time, and well, needless to say, I played a shit to ton of Guitar Hero and Rock Band between 2006 and 2008.
The first game I bought for my own personal enjoyment was the second game in the Guitar Hero series. I used to play this game all the freakin time, both alone and with friends. At one point, I actually got pretty good at it and was able to get four stars on most songs in hard mode. Being the first of these guitar rhythm games I really threw a lot of time into, Guitar Hero 2 holds a special place in my heart. Eventually, Rock Band would become my preferred series in this sub genre, especially Rock Band 2, but I'll always have a huge soft spot for Guitar Hero 2. It's been close to 20-years since I last played one of these games and the itch to replay Guitar Hero 2 has been strong for quite some time. Picking up my original red plastic Gibson guitar replica that came with the copy of Guitar Hero 2 I bought new 20 years ago, I jumped back into this game yesterday. And oh man, what an experience that ended up being!
Tons of wonderful memories game flooding in as I played every song through Concert Mode. Between trying to keep the rhythm of each song and not miss any notes, I was reminded of all the wonderful times I had with friends whole playing Guitar Hero 2 and all those other guitar/instrument rhythm games from the 2000s. And beyond just how nostalgic Guitar Hero 2 is for me, the game still holds up incredibly well, even to this day.
The gameplay of Guitar Hero 2 and other games in the series is fairly simple; you're simply pressing a combination of five colored buttons on the neck of you plastic guitar controller while flicking a switch which is meant to simulate the strumming of the strings. Button commands and timing do a fairly good job of simulating what you'd have to do while playing the actual song, albeit significantly simplified. There are other actions as well such as using the whammy bar during held chords and also doing a rocking motion with the guitar itself to go into a point multiplayer mode. However, at its core, you're going to want to hit as many notes corresponding with the guitar chores in the song to rack up as much points as you can while also not missing too many, causing you to get booed off stage by your digital crowd, requiring you to start the song over again.
Guitar Hero 2's simplicity is a massive part of why this game and others like it became so successful, however back then and even now, it does leave a bit to be desired at times. I also found that some songs leant themselves way better to Guitar Hero 2's gameplay far better than others. Still, for the most part, nearly every song in this game is synced up well with the guitar notes in the actual song, making for an engaging, fun experience as you play through all 30 or so songs.
Speaking of Guitar Hero 2's songs, there is a pretty diverse mix of rock tracks in this game, spanning four decades of music. You'll play some well known classic from Black Sabbath or Kansas, followed by playing something far more obscure and modern like Avenged Sevenfold or Reverend Horton Heat. It definitely keeps this game interesting, even though I wish maybe Activision would have acquires slightly more well known songs, bringing the overall song count up at least a dozen or so at least. My only other gripe with the songs in guitar hero is their all sang as covers by some vocalist Activision payed. The vocalists, both male and female, definitely do some songs justice far better than other, but some just sound borderline bad given how much the hired vocalist's voices clash with how the song originally sounded. This is a fairly minor gripe, but in a game with only around 30 songs, it's a shame about 1/6 or so of them sound kind of blah due to the original song vocals not being used.
Finally, there's Guitar Hero 2's visuals, which you'd be at times mistaken for thinking, "what visuals?" 98% of the time you're playing Guitar Hero 2 you're either looking at a menu between songs, or at the notes you need to press on your controller which is represented by a flow of colored prompts on a digital guitar neck coming towards you. In the background you have a motley crue (no relation to the band) of mismatched cartoony rock stars jamming out on various venue stages. You'll almost have no time to actually look up to see your cartoon rockstar avatar head banging or playing their guitar behind their back. Still, these 3D characters and their performances have a certain charm to them that certainly adds to the appeal of the game. But really. this game is more about its music and gameplay anyways, which means how good or not the 3D character models, stage props and other visual elements look is almost irrelevant.
Some games are absolute time machines for me, and Guitar Hero 2 is absolutely one of them. Nearly the entire time I was playing, memories of playing Heart Shaped Box or Free Bird with friends back in college came flooding back. It reminded me how much I miss a lot of them, some of which I haven't spoken to or seen in almost as long a it's been since I last played this game. The ability for some games to take me back to simpler and sometimes better times is part of why I love this hobby so much. And fortunately for Guitar Hero 2, it's still an awesome game that is a hell of a good time to play. (1/30/26) [37/50]
-
12. Clayfighter 63 1/3 + Clayfighter Scultor's Cut (N64)
This morning when I woke up, I felt the sudden urge to revisit the original Super Smash Bros on the N64. Despite owning most of the N64 games I care about and like, I play 95% of my N64 games off an Everdrive 64. To my surprise, for some reason I'd overlooked Smash Bros ans it was nowhere to be found in the list of N64 ROMS I had on the flash cart. Feeling too lazy to pull Smash out of its box protector and box, I decided to instead play some other game on the N64. Out of all the excellent N64 titles I could have chosen to play this morning, I landed on what is considered one of the more infamous games on the N64, Clayfighter 63 1/3.
While I never owned Clayfighter 63, I vividly remember renting it as a kid around the time it came out. I remember thinking the game was goofy and ridiculous, which as a 10 year old was all I required to like a game sometimes. I'm pretty sure that was the last time I'd played the game, so here we are nearly 30 years later and I decided it was high time I played through this game with an adult's perspective to see if Clayfighter 63 was as decent as I remembered it being or as terrible as the internet claims it is. Since I was playing Clayfighter 63 off a flashcart, I decided to play it and it's questionably enhanced, updated version, Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut back to back to see if one game was better than the other. Honestly, despite there being some gameplay and presentation differences, these games are still essentially 95% the same game, so I didn't feel right counting my playthrough of Sculptor's Cut as its own game beat. So when I refer to Clayfighter 63, I'm essentially referring to both games even though Sculptor's Cut does have more characters to choose from. But anyhow, with that out of the way, what did I think of Clayfighter 63 1/3 in 2026?
To my surprise and I guess delight, Clayfighter 63 isn't as bad as I expected it to be. Sure, the gameplay in this game is not great, in fact I'd say it absolutely leans in the direction of bad, but it's not so horrible that the game is unplayable or even unenjoyable to play, at least in small doses. Clayfighter 63 is a gag fighter through and through, and knowing this going into it definitely makes it a more enjoyable experience rather than thinking you're getting some competitor to Super Street Fighter II or some other way better game. Most of Clayfighter's gameplay issues stem from poorly implemented opponent AI and controls that seem somewhat inconsistent. Other than that, you could definitely do way worse when it comes to fighting game gameplay, but yeah, Clayfighter's gameplay isn't going to land it in the EVO rotation any time soon.
This game's main asset is its pretty goofy, very 90s presentation of strange gross out humor and bizarre fighters. Most fighters are either parodies of some sort or ridiculous caricatures. Then there's the cool guest characters from other Interplay games, specifically Earthworm Jim and Boogerman. Along with these characters are entertaining moves, goofy one liners, and various other flourishes that make you forget you're playing an inferior fighting game. Stages are also surprisingly entertaining and fun, at least for N64 game standards. There is also a decent variety of both stages and characters to choose from, even more so in Sculptor's Cut. While the music in this game is nothing special or noteworthy, the character voices and one liners are what'll stick with you the most after playing Clayfighter 63.
I almost feel like you'd have to be a 90s kid to really understand and appreciate Clayfighter 63; it's a game that took so much of the zany, weird, and often gross humor of 90s cartoons and kid shows and distilled it in a fighting game that never takes itself seriously, almost to a fault. Still, there is definitely some value in playing this game, especially if you get some friends together. But even playing this game alone, it's worth the 15 minutes it takes to clear this game with on a single playthrough. As I said earlier, you could do far worse when it comes to 5th generation fighting games, and at the very least, Clayfighter 63 is a goofy, entertaining game that is worth checking out at least once. (1/31/26) [29/50]
-
5. Dr. Mario 64 | 2001 | Mario & Wario "Story" Campaign | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally N64) | 1/30:
(https://imgur.com/fBhXKV7.png)
I recently renewed my NSO subscription after about 2 years of Switch 1 neglect. Dr. Mario 64 was one of the last games I expected to play when booting up the N64 Switch app for the very first time. I love puzzle games, but I've been most comfortable with ones that emphasize logic: stuff like The Witness, or even a game more universal like Sudoku or Picross. I'm not the best when it comes to games like Puyo-Puyo or Tetris, and Dr. Mario 64 was a big reminder of that.
Even after putting the game on Easy for my 2nd playthrough, this game still kicked my ass. Like the aforementioned Puyo-Puyo, you will want to stack and build combos to crush your opponent. It may seem optional, but in some modes like "Marathon", it's almost mandatory to use combos in order to get a higher score. In other modes like "Story" -- which I spent most of my time playing -- you can clear stages by only focusing on eliminatining Viruses (thankfully).
This game is a lot of fun and I do feel like I did get better at it -- even after abusing the "Rewind" function more times than I would like to admit. The story mode is short but there are different endings to get, depending upon the difficulty beaten and whether or not you beaten the game without using continues. The endings aren't super crazy or anything, but it does add more replayability to the mode.
There's a lot of content in Dr. Mario 64 to play through however, so there's an abundance of replayability and chances to improve. It's very barebones in terms of using the power and hardware of the N64. I would've liked to see more work go into the models of the Story mode and more expressive animations during gameplay. I still had a good time regardless. Grade: B-
-
11. Mega Man ZX Advent - Ashe
I did it for the booty. Compared to ZX, Advent is ten steps above. Even the horrid voice acting adds to the charm. It's similar in a lot of ways to ZX, but it offers more things to collect, more forms, and better data management. Transforming into old bosses feels like such a surreal thing. I've played nearly all Mega Man top to bottom, and being able to fully transform into a downed RM or Maverick is something unheard of. I forgot how fun it was to do so. We'll see if I do a Gray file. The Star Force collection is coming out next month and I feel like this is a great way to get ready for it.
12. Star Ocean: First Departure R - Timeless Treasures
The Timeless Treasures ending was the one I was the most worried about getting, but really it wasn't bad. Using the Publication Super Specialty, everyone was able to have level 8 affection with Roddick. Then, rotating them between the final boss fights boosted the affection to 9. There was no need to worry about dialogue options or Private Actions. Seeing that ending was heartwarming - I'm glad I took a few extra steps to get it. That aside, this has been a great replay so far! I feel like this is an underrated iteration in the series. Yeah, it's one of those games where it's short length feels padded by lots of backtracking, but it's a lot of fun since it copies the design from the original Second Story which is still fun to play and highly regarded.My final party is Roddick, Cyuss, Ioushua and Millie. I took some time to grind levels with the silver trumpet and it made a world of difference for the final challenges. Will it help with the upcoming Cave of Seven Stars? That's TBD, but I'm looking forward to it.
-
06. Finding Father || Browser || 01.31.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/XYUmtme.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/lwJf1Aj.jpeg)
Although I can't remember how I came across Finding Father, I imagine it was during a time while searching for hidden object puzzle games. More than likely, the reason why this game in particular stood out to me is how it subverts the genre.
Whereas in traditional hidden object games players are presented a series of visual objects or descriptions of those objects to find, Finding Father offers no objective information in such a fashion. What I mean is that, instead of an icon, a cropped image, or even a word that describes what to find, the only clues as to what's needing to be found are brief audio recordings. Interestingly, there is a simple story setup that does provide a reason why we as the player would be tasked with such an activity, and it serves its purpose well. Throughout the game, players are freely allowed to revisit these recordings as they search across the environment, clicking on objects while hoping that the sound they make is a match to the recording. There is never just one object needing to be found which helps alleviate becoming stumped, meaning players will need to actively select a specific recording in order to successfully discover the object it represents.
When clicking the environment, many of the objects in frame create sounds. Some are similar, though many differ from another. An aspect I appreciated is that there are instances of multiple objects of the same kind that sound different from another. For instance, one recording players are tasked to find is of a bird call. Though there are several birds to click, many have individualized sounds alongside there being only one bird to find that matches the recording. And while there are a number of objects to find throughout the game, they're divided into sections. At first, what players are tasked to find is easy and shouldn't be a sound that players question as to what it may be. But as the game continues, audio recordings become more vague. You as the player may think you have an idea what a sound could be and are actively looking for an object that may make it, but what's really needing to be found is something different altogether.
While much of the game's short experience is through its sound recording audio, there are other aspects worth highlighting. As previously mentioned, there is a story of sorts that's narrated. I did encounter once instance when this voiceover provides added context to the supplied audio recordings, but it can't be replayed. So, in the event players weren't paying attention as it's easy to skip past or even ignore, valuable information is lost. To be expected from a game with this scope, there is only one cityscape screen environment to inspect. Though simple in design, the game's black-and-white illustrative style is eye-catching albeit uninspired when compared to other games within the genre. Also, while players do have the capability to zoom in and out, it's not possible to zoom out fully to look at everything all at once.
Overall, Finding Father offers a novel take on the hidden object genre by replacing a core visual element that's objective to something that's far more indistinct. With that said, however, I feel as if this idea limits the gameplay to be either too easy or too difficult with no real in-between as a thoughtful but manageable challenge, since sounds will either be too obvious or too nebulous.
-
1 - Peak (PC 2025) - BEAT - Finally beat this, I've been trying for awhile, I have 13 hours in the game, and that's just me trying to get to the top ONCE lol That's maybe a dozen tries at this point, I'd basically just play till I die and then that would be it, but it's not a long game. If you have a solid run, I think it's maybe an hour'ish, but it's so easy to die. One bad leap, running out of food, not enough supplies. I probably could've made it like 2 runs back, but I was trying to get an achievement which gets you a costume and I accidentally killed myself in the last zone lol
The game is fun, it's built around co-op, but it's very playable solo, you just don't get any extra help which is good for like bad falls and what not. It's a little survival oriented, needing supplies, there's decent randomness to it as the two middle zones can be a variation of 2 different ones per zone, and each week they put out a newly created version of the mountain, so it's randomized, but not every single time so you can learn what routes are bad or good for that week to help get through, it's a nice middle ground.
No real complaints, it's exactly what it needs to be and I dug it. Plus it's super cheap and I can see if you got a group of friends eager for this, it's a perfect co-op game.
-
And the first game I've completed for 2026 is TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (Arcade) from the Cowabunga Collection on PS5. Played some co-op with my son for a fun time.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/saAELu_Ll_XyX0NUmkH_nkYi56TaWQKX7R0xmar4fGRgwljLPoU77PxfE9d1Y2BJIBbWsCiIYOjL13nCAMXye5gtjagWkN0eP7e2WiK9ZwCUs6gJ8YswfsXIjw)
Really rad! The arcade version of this game is 10x better than the console version imo. Love they included it in the collection. Shredders Revenge is also a blast of a time for co-op.
-
2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories [PS2] - finished Jan, 20th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/PqtY9ZNx/IMG-20260204-170909-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
For anyone who knows me and my childhood, there may not be any one entity let alone video game that was as important to my soul on a meta-physical level as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City... it was that up until 3am with your Cousin trying to blow up Diaz's boats, it's that symphonic loving cocoa made by a grandmother, it was Santa Claus magic that some how mere mortals with low income were able to make happen under the guise of luck overloaded atom sacks we call children. It was to me what imagination and cocaine were to Stephen King. And tbh. This game (vice city stories) titular successor had a lot to live up to. But by no means did I desire to compete the two. So I enjoyed the game as it's meant to be enjoyed. As a seperate all alienating experience from it's big sister in it's own side universe and for what it is. It did find that gooey, sensitive nostalgia berry located deep within my thorax and find a way to crunch into it. And that's enough for me. I had a good time
Story - The story? Is a prequel to what takes place in the more popular Vice City. So before Tommy Vercetti's arrival at vice city or anything involving italians or Sonny. The game is centered around Lance Vance's brother Victor Vance and his unwilling or unmeant thrusting into the world of debt, cocaine crime and the criminal underbelly of Vice City, FL. The games story starts off perhaps spotty. At times it felt like I was doing missions sporadically for random people but the plot really gets footing when it focuses on the troubled and often times sad relationship between Vic, Lance and their mother and then as well as the entire overseeing plot which is ultimately a debt owed to Mendez brothers. Best to think of them as basically El Chapo and Escabar as siblings but with the government in their pocket. And it has a lot of cool soundtrack choices such as Talk Talks "its my life" and time transporting motife that the Houser brothers do best.
The game has elements that combine San Andreas with Vice City. The missions already are very memorable and even the memories of my life are fairly intertwined. It doesnt necessarily improve on vice city. But it does an amazing job laying a predecessor or prequel footwork to the origin stories of Lance Vance and his brother. It shows some areas of Vice City looking wildly different such as the cubano drug torn area in vc is utopia here.
Also has some sick Celeb cameos that are truly shocking. It was a good tme for what it is.
Cons are. It starts slow and gets its footing about half way through.
Rating - 81/100
-
3. Madden NFL 2005 [PS2] - finished Jan 24th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/q7jyTRCw/IMG-20260202-125925-(300-x-300-pixel).jpg)
Perhaps the most adaptive and transformative of the madden games to be created. I find a lot within this game that not only elevate the existing Madden 04 Title but that are knockout levels greater than the newest 26 entry and it's truly not even close. Madden 05 was a time period when EA was competing with multiple combatants in the arena of sim football. And also competing with the legacy of their own marketed product. And what this led to was a innovative title that many consider to be the goat.. and here is why were dealing with perfection here.
HIT STICK + Tackle Feel
Madden 05 has far more control over the way you play defense than any other madden before or recent. The hit stick I have found to be a top 5 quintessential video game franchise decision let alone Madden games. It seriously takes a square to tackle rudementary game to 4 different slam tackle moves and still square for basic wrap ups. This feature gives you dynamic control of risk, when and where to apply brutal hits to force fumbles, and when a run is more warranting of a wrap up tackle for example counter rushes or lateral pitches where a runner is sprinting around. It makes the beauty of d line trench warfare magical in this entry and it truly is far more essential than one realizes. In contrast to both Madden 04 and it's new sister Madden 26. It gives it more depth and control. It never get old lining someone up. Clicking the stick and watching these beefy pops that can knock helmets off (literally. The helmet comes off in game. It doesn't in newer ones. Absolutely insane how much detail you get when a studio is fighting for their existence and not just your money)
Franchise
Madden 05 introduced the EA Sports show with Tony Bruno. Which is a radio show that plays as you menu surf or make trades in franchise mode. This thing has cameos from NFL elite of the day which is nostalgic and almost sad how painfully it irks that funnybone of childhood. But it also implemented a genius way to immerse you. The fans would call in to discuss your recent games. Things like "dude Chad Johnson was lighting it up. And I gotta face this guy in my fantasy team. Guess I lose this week. I just wish I coulda been there. Over 350 yards? Unreal" in direct referende to what your player just performed on sunday night. This level of immersion shames the new product and its not even close. Its embarassing to compare. I haven't felt like my gameplay mattered to an npc in madden since this era. The glorious PS2 era. Franchise mode also features training camp. Training camp has 10 mini game style outlets to play which are fun as playing Horseshoes with your high school crush at a pool party on LSD. Perhaps with pizza on top. You can run routes. Block as a defensive back. Practice percision passing through bronze and gold rings. Pure excitement but not for nothing. It also is used to have a meaningful impact on your player roster and directly improve stats of key players.
Graphics and Soundtrack
Madden 05 is a soundtrack and presentation beast. Little things like fireworks in the endzone. Cheerleader and nfl player sequences pre game. Halftime shows. And dynamic weather. Yes fucking dynamic weather in 2004-2005. A game will start rainy and end sunny, then transfer to gloomy night time situationals. Songs comprising the game are Green Day, Funky Bunch, Ludacris, Grunge and emo pop punk bands of the day. It's a sweet mix of bling era hip hop, corny school rap, and dad rock. It's like a time portal when you play these games. Graphics? I notice reflections and shadowing. A caveman version of ray tracing but still pretty and it holds up because of its arcadey vibe. It wasnt trying too hard to be something its not.
John Madden calls every game. And while he becomes redundant the more you play because of recycled lines. He is iconic and just hearing his voice ilicits happiness. He also is more in tune with the game it seems. Like the npc voice knows more of how or why you are running schemes and plays. Making wise cracks and such. Perfection. Sweet science!
Madden 05 has practice modes. New and improved create a teams. Create stadiums. Mobile phones. And boom stick. The whole thing took the franchise to the next level. And if it doesnt end up being the best. It is the most important id reckon.
It also introduced madden cards. Back before madden cards were micro transactional trash made to make teen kids broke. They added status effects to players, were collectibles and earned through game accomplishments. It was incredible. Cool art styles too.
Rating- 95/100
-
4. NFL Street 2 [PS2] - Finished Jan 28th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/tCQ5Dsd7/IMG-20260204-171158-(400-x-300-pixel).jpg)
BEST SPORTS GAME EVER
In my quest to try and finish all football games I return to a familiar face. I've beaten this game a few dozen times in my life. And truthfully it is bar none the golden standard when it comes to arcade football games. It takes everything NFL Street failed to do with the first outing such as varying game modes, style variety and such. Then trims down the absolute disgusting 32 games NFL street 1 forces you to play back to back to streamline your experience and avoid needless repetition. It boosts your vibe with celeb cameos like Xzibit from pimp my ride and an entire team xzibit centered around him. Which basically has all the nfl greats of the day. It's pure nostalgic hop-scotchin, wall hoppin bliss.
The game gives the player an insane amount of control over the characters. User controlled recievers can press L1 and up to perform wall and style catches. Wall elements add a whole other layer of sickness to the ways you can make broken ankles of meer man's follies of trying to bring down your center of gravity in a centrifugal manner with the intent to bring your rump to grass land. The game entails the same fun you expect. Trash talking, creating a team of players you create that you upgrade with dev points. Dev points are earned by doing challenges. An example of a challenge may be like "stop the cowboys from scoring on this drive" and such. Its addictive. Consumable. And adds to the internal human high of mini rewards that give a virtual reward. Sorta like a attribute casino.
The game slims down the areas were street 3 tried too damn hard. But also made magic where nfl street 1 just wasnt enough. Jewlery. Soundtrack. Wall jukes. All timeless. New crush the carrier, and jump ball, 2 on 2 street events are a blast. The game is a glowing example of when EA had competition and behaved as such. Its a very glorious game.
Rating - 100/100
-
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4] - Finished Feb 4th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/9F5p1DPx/IMG-20260204-171231-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
GAME IS BROKEN
To be frank... this game is less than shit. And I highly advise anyone to not buy it if at all avoidable. I regret heavily even purchasing this. And what it does with nostalgia and brevity which can be worth a few smiles. It destroys by being an input lagging dumpster fire with one of the worst UIs in video game history. Imagine a game with the most finicky and precise demands for rythym that you had to be within a gnats mustache of accuracy even back in the 90s yet also not accounting for HDTV set settings and forcing a 1.3 second input delay on you with no remedy or calibration to fix or adjust. If I could get a refund I would. Why anyone would release this predatory piece of unfinished trash to a consumer is biblical level betrayal and I can't even stomach how awful and uncoordinated the design is for this remaster. No art? No making of? No calibration? Even the cut scenes are unpolished. I wish I researched this port or even the original that was being ported. I enjoyed 2. So I took a gamble but yet this game has aged like human breast milk in the trunk of a hot Ford Bronco.
As mentioned the main issue with this port which is general consensus on all forums is that it is brutally inaccurate with prompts and has a huge delay. For example to register a perfecy input you have to hit maybe 1.5 seconds later than normal or what you see is accurate. But the odd part is. Some levels that delay is off by maybe 2 seconds. Some feels closer to normal. You can hit the wrong buttons entirely and still get closer to "good" rating then hitting the games buttons perfectly synced with audio. It also seems the worse Parappa actually raps in the game the more the game rewards you. So if it sounds bad coming through the speakers (robotic and off beat) it means you're doing well. From what ive read. The original was not exactly a beacon of engineering either. And the PS4 version carries over all its flaws and the modern age of gaming puts a magnifying glass upon them. The gleam of high definition judgement but albiet sloppy. The game is also unfortunately ALSO lazy. For example...
They rendered and remastered the play sequences to be pretty as seen above but left cut scenes a PS1 era 240p of some sort in a 4x3 rectangle in the center of the screen. With this tacky vibrant overlay on the edges. The overlay is modern and 4k. The cut scenes are choppy and old. Its hideous and lazy. Even AI could have remade the cut scenes. This is pure cash grab and belongs 2.99 on some sony classics catelog. But nope. 14 99. A disgraceful price that has truly pissed me off today and rubbed me the wrong way. The devs, studio and even Parappa himself should feel deep shame. I cant speak on the OG. I always wanted it. But why on earth does the game have a pause screen with no back to menu option? Everything is a cluttered mess in the options menu and the final level is only beatable on easy on my set. Its a disaster. Truly.
The only reason it gets 37. Is because Parappa is cute and his gf is a pink flower and her dad is a coffee cup who happens to be a decorated Sergant in the marine corps. That alone is wild enough to say its cool. Maybe the OG is better :)
Rating - 37/100
-
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4] - Finished Feb 4th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/9F5p1DPx/IMG-20260204-171231-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
GAME IS BROKEN
To be frank... this game is less than shit. And I highly advise anyone to not buy it if at all avoidable. I regret heavily even purchasing this. And what it does with nostalgia and brevity which can be worth a few smiles. It destroys by being an input lagging dumpster fire with one of the worst UIs in video game history. Imagine a game with the most finicky and precise demands for rythym that you had to be within a gnats mustache of accuracy even back in the 90s yet also not accounting for HDTV set settings and forcing a 1.3 second input delay on you with no remedy or calibration to fix or adjust. If I could get a refund I would. Why anyone would release this predatory piece of unfinished trash to a consumer is biblical level betrayal and I can't even stomach how awful and uncoordinated the design is for this remaster. No art? No making of? No calibration? Even the cut scenes are unpolished. I wish I researched this port or even the original that was being ported. I enjoyed 2. So I took a gamble but yet this game has aged like human breast milk in the trunk of a hot Ford Bronco.
As mentioned the main issue with this port which is general consensus on all forums is that it is brutally inaccurate with prompts and has a huge delay. For example to register a perfecy input you have to hit maybe 1.5 seconds later than normal or what you see is accurate. But the odd part is. Some levels that delay is off by maybe 2 seconds. Some feels closer to normal. You can hit the wrong buttons entirely and still get closer to "good" rating then hitting the games buttons perfectly synced with audio. It also seems the worse Parappa actually raps in the game the more the game rewards you. So if it sounds bad coming through the speakers (robotic and off beat) it means you're doing well. From what ive read. The original was not exactly a beacon of engineering either. And the PS4 version carries over all its flaws and the modern age of gaming puts a magnifying glass upon them. The gleam of high definition judgement but albiet sloppy. The game is also unfortunately ALSO lazy. For example...
They rendered and remastered the play sequences to be pretty as seen above but left cut scenes a PS1 era 240p of some sort in a 4x3 rectangle in the center of the screen. With this tacky vibrant overlay on the edges. The overlay is modern and 4k. The cut scenes are choppy and old. Its hideous and lazy. Even AI could have remade the cut scenes. This is pure cash grab and belongs 2.99 on some sony classics catelog. But nope. 14 99. A disgraceful price that has truly pissed me off today and rubbed me the wrong way. The devs, studio and even Parappa himself should feel deep shame. I cant speak on the OG. I always wanted it. But why on earth does the game have a pause screen with no back to menu option? Everything is a cluttered mess in the options menu and the final level is only beatable on easy on my set. Its a disaster. Truly.
The only reason it gets 37. Is because Parappa is cute and his gf is a pink flower and her dad is a coffee cup who happens to be a decorated Sergant in the marine corps. That alone is wild enough to say its cool. Maybe the OG is better :)
Rating - 37/100
I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.
-
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.
Unless I'm mistaken, my takeaway from these thoughts is that they focus more on the fact that this is a modern port to a game that released twenty years earlier but didn't have its flaws addressed. I can't comment on how the port plays, but something I can confirm is that, even in the original game, there is an element of performance experimentation that's expected of players to accomplish instead of strictly following the presented call-and-response rhythm beats. Anyone would be lying if they'd argue that this experimentation doesn't feel spastic during play, but I personally found it tolerable since I greatly enjoy just about everything else this game offers.
I mentioned this in 2021 when I replayed through the three games in the series on original hardware, but I personally consider the spin-off entry Um Jammer Lammy to be the most successful.
-
13. Star Ocean: First Departure R
I finished the other part of the first playthrough. There's nothing major to report; it was kind of a speedrun. I removed Mavelle from the party, and put T'Nique and Welch in the party. I didn't use either of them much.
-
07. A Space for the Unbound || Nintendo Switch || 02.02.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/H9ZG6Tg.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/q8qx29n.jpeg)
Like I've realized with some of the other more modern games I've bought physical copies of years ago but am only just now getting around to playing, A Space for the Unbound is a game I don't particularly remember the reason why I made a purchase. For a lot of games that fall into this category, I'm mostly drawn to visuals foremost and decide from trailers if the gameplay is something that I'd enjoy or find interesting enough to try out. With that said, I began playing without knowing what to expect in terms of narrative, which I knew would be the game's emphasis.
Because A Space for the Unbound is a story-driven adventure experience set in 1990s Indonesia that chiefly moves forward with passive instead of active player engagement, much of the following thoughts will be broad overviews. To be succinct, the game's plot concerns coming-of-age struggles and trauma, relationships and friendships, social acceptance, and artistic expression, all of which interconnect with another. While I really had no basis for what to expect regarding story, that the game takes on a somber tone that only delves deeper into negativity surprised me to some degree—perhaps because the game's visuals and early plot points contrast this declining tone. Until around the midway point, the game is overly linear and keeps players focused on the next immediate goal. Even though there is a small town environment to explore, much of it remains inaccessible during segments where a specific locale isn't relevant to the ongoing plot. And this is done in spite of a number of side activities to pursue over the course of the campaign, meaning many of these opportunities are both brief and time-sensitive.
Throughout the narrative that unexpectedly employs magical realism, a reoccurring power that becomes available to the player is the act of Spacediving. More-or-less, this power allows for the player-character to delve into a person's psyche, though it's an act that's only possible during scripted events. As one may surmise, these moments feel morally wrong as we're often forced to alter who these targets are on a fundamental level through puzzle-solving that, at times, sometimes later has great impact to the decisions they make for themselves later on. So, I found myself questioning what this act really means for the player-character and their goals as it very much came across that they were making decisions on someone else's behalf to serve their own personal needs, even after later plot points are later revealed to a greater truth that complicates the morality of such acts. With such a gameplay mechanic alone, it's apparent that A Space for the Unbound has dark elements to its story. Fortunately, this tone does not ever feel forced or as if it's being accomplished to subvert a cheerful narrative that is regularly done in other works to the point where it's now almost expected in modern games; instead, the plot always feels grounded as it presents characters and scenarios that feel true to life.
As a game full of emotional unrest, it does, however, have one major flaw: its length. When reaching the game's halfway point, how drawn-out, unnecessarily complicated, and even a bit aimless the experience is at times becomes unable to be ignored. A point is reached when a lot of back-and-forth exploration is necessary, and it's made worse that this segment concerns tertiary characters that players shouldn't be expected to care about and still aren't even by the end. This particular issue is made abundantly worse because the game's actual protagonist—whom players do not play as—is often delegated to a far more subordinate role. Over time, the plot evolves into something far more tangled than the simple emotional story that the introductory hours establish. This is fine on its own, but the game decides to repeat its dialogue, messages, and themes again and again and again and without any excusable reason to either. Still, I will mention that I do consider aspects of the game's ending sections commendable albeit not entirely impressive. At that point, the game isn't afraid to take its time with its impassioned conclusion as it allows it to resolve in a realistic manner. But, overall, much of A Space for the Unbound's impact is diminished as it loses efficacy while thwarting players the ability to maintain engagement. My total playtime was around fifteen hours, yet there are games with stories just as emotional that accomplish their story in far less time and with more success, and it's for good reason too. I undoubtedly think that a story like this could be conveyed effectively at such length, but the game ignores a timely experience for a prolonged one.
Apart from narrative, the town where the story takes place is interactive and explorable while being segmented by individual screens. To advance the story, it's common to be assigned basic tasks to complete. Normally this is presented as finding an item, but these tasks seldom challenge the player as required items are usually in the next screen or two. And in the event players do need something but don't know where to collect it, the game routinely tells you where to go. Unfortunately, there are few things to inspect, and what can be inspected is almost always a valuable item or information to learn. So since there are so few things, players will have to go out of their way not to engage with them when passing by. Since these segments are the only interactive gameplay segments, how shallow that sometimes are is a bit upsetting, though I won't deny that there are more engaging interactive gameplay segments as the game continues. Additionally, there are optional objectives to complete such as collecting bottle caps or petting stray cats. They're not difficult to complete, so they all come across as something to maintain player interest as other parts of the game stretch out.
In regards to other details, they vary in quality. The most important of these aspects lies in the game's writing. It's apparent that the game is translated into English either from the original language or, at the very least, developers or even translators who aren't fully versed in the language. To be expected then, dialogue is sometimes stiff with some typos and strange sentence structure, but this is largely excusable and is infrequent but still obviously noticeable. Beyond simple movement, other small gameplay mechanics are periodically introduced such as sneaking, fighting, and engaging in courtroom trials. They all to seem be inspired by certain game within their respective genres and also an appreciated change of pace despite usually being simple. What's most apparent from an onlooker's perspective are the game's visuals and audio. While not in large abundance, animated sequences are impressive. But even the game's general presentation marked by graphically impressive pixel art is well-designed with fun animations and character expressions that better bring scenes to life. Meanwhile, the game's accompanying soundtrack is praiseworthy as it adequately and consistently complements story and setting without fault.
By the time I reached the conclusion to A Space for the Unbound, I was even more conflicted than I usually am after having played a game that's left me feeling mixed. While I think the plot presented is well thought-out, it ultimately suffers from bloat, repetition, and a lack of focus to a degree that can't be excused by the elements that are conveyed well. Should what I would consider to be major weaknesses had been addressed in some manner for the final product, a game capable of leaving both a profound and dramatic influence on its players is undeniable, but unfortunately that's not the case.
-
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.
Unless I'm mistaken, my takeaway from these thoughts is that they focus more on the fact that this is a modern port to a game that released twenty years earlier but didn't have its flaws addressed. I can't comment on how the port plays, but something I can confirm is that, even in the original game, there is an element of performance experimentation that's expected of players to accomplish instead of strictly following the presented call-and-response rhythm beats. Anyone would be lying if they'd argue that this experimentation doesn't feel spastic during play, but I personally found it tolerable since I greatly enjoy just about everything else this game offers.
I mentioned this in 2021 when I replayed through the three games in the series on original hardware, but I personally consider the spin-off entry Um Jammer Lammy to be the most successful.
The last time I tried playing it, on the PS1, I tried multiple ways of getting the hang of the gameplay. I tried going explicitly off the visual prompts and timing it gives you, I tried following the beat, and I tried just winging it, and nothing worked. I couldn't even clear the tutorial. I have no idea how you're supposed to play this game. I have to believe that it is playable since so many people speak highly of it, but I couldn't make heads or tails on how to accomplish even the most basic tasks that were being asked of me in this game.
-
4: Gundam Breaker 4 (PS5)
I wasn't planning to play this yet, but I got stuck on the plane tyrant boss in Code Veronica X and wanted to play anything but that or Tomb Raider for a while. I put GB4 in to try it out and ended up bingeing the game in about a week because it was so fun to play. Basically it's a game where you play as a gundam, tear parts off of other gundams in combat, and use those to improve your own. However you're not actually playing as a gundam, you're playing as a computer-generated representation of a plastic gundam model in a fictional online game based on the hobby of collecting and building gundam models. This concept causes some issues I'll get to later. The core gameplay loop is excellent. You can use the parts you break off other gundams in missions to customize and create your own unique custom gundams, which is really cool and gives you the feeling of having an enormous collection of action figures to play with. There's also a Diablo-style loot system where each part has its own randomly-generated level, rarity, and skills. You can either farm for stronger parts or use synthesis to level your favorite parts up, improve their rarity, or add new skills to them. After a while it really makes your custom gundams feel custom.
Where the game really suffers, though, is the story. It starts off with you and other players of the fictional online game forming a clan and trying to "take your team to state", so to speak. This is fine except for some of the characters being high schoolers and the writing being somewhat childish as a result. Also because the gundams are used as your lobby avatars, you'll see them doing things the "actual" mobile suits wouldn't do, such as laughing or acting scared. It's a tad offputting, but if those were the only issues, the story would still be serviceable at worst. What really kills it is when it jumps the shark in Chapter 7. Earlier at the end of chapter 5, one of your teammates who was obviously an AI clone of another teammate gets kidnapped by a rival clan of hackers who take over the servers during a tournament. Chapters 6 and 7 are then about rescuing her. Sure, AI companion character, it's been done before in countless JRPGs, seems like no big deal... until you get to the final boss, where the mask slips off and the story turns into aggressive pro-AI corporate propaganda. The "villain' is a former developer who took over the servers to protest the game's use of AI to create content. When he explains this to the main characters, they all immediately start preaching to him about how the AI girl is just as human as they are and that he's the one without a soul. They go on to say that everyone needs to accept AI in the game because it's the inclusive thing to do (not joking, that's the actual kind of language they use). They even say that the AI girl has the same rights as any other human. Basically the message the story tries to push is that if you don't like AI, you're a bigoted terrorist. Not bigoted against specific types of humans, mind you, but bigoted against AI! Apparently you can be bigoted against nonliving things now.
The game gets an 8/10 for its gameplay, but unfortunately the terrible story knocks it down to a 6.5/10. It's very disturbing to see a video game studio trying to push the public acceptance of AI Psychosis, which is the belief that AI is alive. People are literally dying now in real life because they made the same mistake these characters made and assigned personhood to a computer program, then obeyed it when it told them to kill themselves.
Completed:
Tomb Raider II (Evercade)
Tomb Raider III (Evercade)
Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)
Gundam Breaker 4 (PS5)
In Progress:
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (PS4)
Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA)
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (Gamecube)
-
So, I made it to the final mission of Star Trek: Armada II, and the AI seems to go all wonky and make it basically impossible to beat the game. My resource gathering ships were just stopping in place and not delivering, and half of my fleet wasn't moving when I was commanding them around the map. Left a real sour taste in my mouth for a game I haven't played in almost 25 years.
Also beat Mega Man X2 for the first time since maybe the 90s. Some of the collectible upgrades in this one are a real pain in the ass, but it is still a fun game overall.
-
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.
Unless I'm mistaken, my takeaway from these thoughts is that they focus more on the fact that this is a modern port to a game that released twenty years earlier but didn't have its flaws addressed. I can't comment on how the port plays, but something I can confirm is that, even in the original game, there is an element of performance experimentation that's expected of players to accomplish instead of strictly following the presented call-and-response rhythm beats. Anyone would be lying if they'd argue that this experimentation doesn't feel spastic during play, but I personally found it tolerable since I greatly enjoy just about everything else this game offers.
I mentioned this in 2021 when I replayed through the three games in the series on original hardware, but I personally consider the spin-off entry Um Jammer Lammy to be the most successful.
The last time I tried playing it, on the PS1, I tried multiple ways of getting the hang of the gameplay. I tried going explicitly off the visual prompts and timing it gives you, I tried following the beat, and I tried just winging it, and nothing worked. I couldn't even clear the tutorial. I have no idea how you're supposed to play this game. I have to believe that it is playable since so many people speak highly of it, but I couldn't make heads or tails on how to accomplish even the most basic tasks that were being asked of me in this game.
Damn. Really glad I didn't pay the 100+ the OG is going for. I guess I got off easy with 15 lol. It's so wierd because it's pretty revered like you said. What a disaster. I am legitimately shocked. I didnt even research before I paid because the game has such a huge name reputation. Cute colorful cover. And I liked 2. I assumed it was a porting issue but both of you say it has that bizarre timing issue on ps1. Just baffling they didnt repair it or give a simple calibration option to slow or speed the notes with a modern "remaster". Bare minimum stuff. Its the closest i'll ever feel to being catfished by a video game lol.
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.
I mentioned this in 2021 when I replayed through the three games in the series on original hardware, but I personally consider the spin-off entry Um Jammer Lammy to be the most successful.[/font]
Did Un Jammer Lammy improve on the accuracy over 1? Or is it the same trial and error?
-
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4]
I mentioned this in 2021 when I replayed through the three games in the series on original hardware, but I personally consider the spin-off entry Um Jammer Lammy to be the most successful.
Did Un Jammer Lammy improve on the accuracy over 1? Or is it the same trial and error?
The game has an arcade style as it's divided into narrative stages, similar to PaRappa the Rapper. Since they're both short experiences as most rhythm games are, there is some expectation that players may not clear a stage their first try. However, as a sequel, Um Jammer Lammy performs better in nearly every criteria that I can remember. Like I said before, I last played the game four years ago, but here are my thoughts from then (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193746.html#msg193746) if you're curious how I felt immediately after playing. Hopefully this is what you mean when asking about trial-and-error gameplay, as new players especially will have a difficult time progressing from one stage to the next. I almost always have such a hard time getting past "All Master's Rap" which is stage 5 that's about waiting in line to use the toilet.
I'll go on record now saying that I personally find PaRappa the Rapper 2 to be the weakest of the three games. It may perform better than the original title, but its stage design, narrative tone and sequencing, and even the music itself are all considerably weaker than what the first game so strongly established. Also, after reading more about the topic, your issues with input delay aren't even a port problem but instead a hardware problem. From what I've read, modern TVs make playing the game in any way a terrible experience.
-
13. New Super Mario Bros (DS)
When it comes to the 2D and 3D games in the Mario franchise, I pretty much have the opposite opinion of them compared to the Sonic series; 2D Sonic games are amazing, while the 3D games...eh, not so much. Essentially, I love most of the 3D Mario games I've played, some even being among the very best games I've ever played. And while I don't feel as negatively or strongly about the 2D Mario games being as unenjoyable as the 3D Sonic games are for me, they still never are able to wow me in the way Mario's heavily polygon'ed adventures do. While I did enjoy it overall, this also applies to New Super Mario Bros on the DS.
When it comes to the New Mario series of platforming games, I've only ever played the second one, which many consider to be among the weakest mainline Mario games in the series. It was a long time ago that I played 2, but I remember mostly enjoying it. Same goes for New Super Mario Bros which takes the platforming formula from Mario's previous 2D games, mainly Super Mario Bros 3 and World, and throws in splashes of 3D models while maintaining the 3D perspective and gameplay. This game looks pretty good and definitely has that 2D Mario charm, albeit maybe not as visually appealing and the aforementioned old school 2D Mario adventures. Some of the stages are also a tad on the underwhelming, less memorable side, but for what this game is, it's still a pretty memorable and good looking Mario game, especially when you consider this is a handheld title from 2006.
New Super Mario Bros gameplay is also really good for the most part. I definitely appreciated Nintendo making Mario feel a lot less slippery compared to the NES games, and even to an extent what we got in Super Mario World. Platforming is mostly precise and easy to place the Italian plumber where you want him. Most levels in New Super Mario Bros are well thought out and designed too, however there are some noteworthy exceptions to this which are frequent enough to dampen the experience of playing this game just a bit. My other main gripe has to do with some of the new Mario power ups Nintendo introduced, which just feel a bit tacked on a gimmicky. These mostly involve turning Mario into a giant kaiju for a brief period of time, or making him super small, allowing him to reach certain secret areas and avoid being hit more. I didn't really feel like either mechanic really added anything to the experience of playing New Super Mario Bros and outside a handful of times, I never really used these power ups.
The final aspect of New Super Mario Bros I wanted to discuss is its audio. Audio is appropriately Mario, but unfortunately I found this OST to be a bit on the forgettable side compared to most other Mario games I've played. The soundtrack is certainly not bad, but it just lacks those fun, nostalgic, and timeless tracks that nearly all other mainline Mario games have. Still, the addition of voice acting to Mario, Bowser Jr, Peach, and other Mario staples is welcome, as are all the familiar and new sound effects. The takeaway here is the audio in the game is pretty good, if at times bordering on okay.
I seriously wish I liked 2D Mario games as much as I do the 3D ones. If I did, I'd likely be singing this games praises much more than I ended up doing, at least on a personal level. Still, I mostly liked New Super Mario Bros outside a few frustrating levels and sections. Still, when the end credits rolled, I didn't really feel the need to go back and unlock secret areas I overlooked or ignored. This really boils down to my personal taste in games, but even with my lukewarm enthusiasm for 2D mainline Mario entries, I still thought this was a fairly enjoyable game and certainly a competently made entry in this beloved franchise. (2/7/26) [35/50]
-
14. Star Ocean: First Departure R - The Adventure Continues
A couple of complaints about this game before the praising. The first is the encounter rate. As fun as combat is, the encounter rate is high and none of the methods to lower it work. The second is the Appraising skill. I never understood why they included it in the first place in Second Story - just tell me what the item is and stop wasting my time. Otherwise, this was a solid game and a lot of fun to platinum. Going for all the trophies meant doing things I didn't do before: getting the SFTs, learning new moves due to SFTs, seeing certain PAs, seeing special endings, recruiting all the characters, and seeing all of the animated movies. Some QoL features would have boosted this closer to excellence, but otherwise this was classic Star Ocean for all the right reasons. I hope they add Till the End of Time back to the catalogue so I can get that, too!
-
14. Tobal 2 (PS1)
Tobal 2 has been a backlog game for a very long time for me. The reason it's taken this long to play it is because it was never released outside Japan, and well, my backlog is an enormous, never ending monster. But this evening I finally loaded this game up on my modded PS1 and decided to see if it lived up to or even surpassed the first game in the series, Tobal No. 1. The first Tobal game is an incredibly sentimental game for me. I remember longing for this game after reading about it and seeing pictures of it in an old Game Informer I got in the mail one time. It wouldn't be until the early 2000s that I finally got a PS1, and a used copy of Tobal No. 1 from a local rental store was one of the first games I owned for it. While the game is undeniably not as good, polished, or attractive as some of its more well known 3D game counterparts, there has always been something very special about the first Tobal. It's a game that really represents an era where so many studios, including Squaresoft, were experimenting with all sorts of new genres and tech, and as a result we got some very interesting games out of it. The Tobal series is one of them, and Tobal 2 is no different in this regard.
In fact, Tobal No. 1 and Tobal 2 are very similar games. For one, they practically play the same and have pretty much the same game modes. One of those modes, which Tobal No. 1 was famous for was its adventure mode where you controlled one of the characters in a full 3D environment and fought various enemies, dealt with a variety of obstacles, and had to explore pretty thoroughly to get through to a new area. This mode definitely worked better in theory than in practice give the Tobal No. 1 was a fighting game at its core, so making a 3D adventure game out of that was definitely very ambitious for a game in 1996. Tobal 2's adventure mode is definitely more polished and is also more story rich, but unfortunately it is plagued by many of the same shortcomings that the adventure mode in Tobal 1 had. On top of that, your mileage will vary quite a bit depending on whether you speak Japanese since Tobal 2 was never released outside Japan.
Even if you opt to ignore Tobal 2's adventure mode and just play this game as another 3D fighting game it does a decent job at being pretty enjoyable to play. While Tobal 2 is not going to blow anyone's find or pretend to be some crazy deep fighter like Tekken 3 or Virtua Fighter 2, it's still a pretty fun fighting game. My main complaint with Tobal 2's gameplay is how stiff it can feel and also how the low, medium, and high attack system feels a bit on the unpolished side. Still, Square did a great job at making Tobal 2 at least competent and when combined with the game's other qualities, it actually makes for a decent time.
The visuals in Tobal 2 are an undeniable upgrade in some aspects compared to the first game. For one backgrounds are noticeably cleaner and more polished, as are the character models, which were for more blocky in Tobal 1. Still, there was a strange charm to the first Tobal's graphics and visuals that has seemingly been lost in Tobal 2. Still, the game's upgraded visuals are certainly worth giving some credit to even if the game's graphics come across as fairly average, if not a tiny bit above average compared to many other 3D consoles games of the mid to late 90s.
Probably my favorite thing about Tobal 2 is its soundtrack. Tobal 2 has an excellent rock/jazz soundtrack, that is just so smooth and enjoyable to listen to. Especially when combined with the visuals, Tobal 2 definitely tickled that nostalgia part of my brain that made me yearn for the late 90s, even though here I am in the mid 2020s playing this game for the first time. The audio just really captures that mid to late 90s Playstation feel and sound, which made the sort of undercooked gameplay and average visuals far more palatable. There is some voice acting in Tobal 2 from the various characters, but like most fighting games, it's all fairly inconsequential to not only the overall sound design, but the game in general.
Tobal 2 is far from a masterpiece, nor is it a huge leap forward compared to its predecessor. Still, there are certainly improvements in Tobal 2, and while I did appreciate those, the game still isn't anything remarkable. And if I'm being completely honest, I still prefer the first Tobal simply due to my personal connection with that game and the fact that it just has a bit more charm, despite looking a little more rough visually. Tobal 2 is certainly not going to light the fighting game world on fire, not back in 1997, nor today. It's not hard to see why the Tobal series was lost to time and you're now more likely to find someone who knows the atomic weight of Cobalt off the top of their head than you are to meet anyone that remembers this series. Still, I'd recommend anyone looking for a mostly enjoyable, quirky, and unique PS1 era game try this game out. It's at least worth a single play through, if not more given the content it provides. (2/8/26) [32/50]
-
I'm not big on writing long reviews but figure I should make a blurb or two of what I have beaten so far.
1. Donkey Kong Country 2 - Aside from some annoying levels which is the standard from 2D platformers at the time, this was really fun. It took me ages to finally get to a point in the game that I have not reached because I tend to play game for a bit and just stop and never come back. This game felt into that category and trust me, its not the only one. It is very close to being my favorite from the first. I love Dixie coming in clutch with here glide move even though I have someone beaten the majority of levels with Diddie. I haven't played through the Klubba levels as I only managed to unlock 1 but maybe someday.
2. Fallout 4 - This was another game that took me years to finally playthrough for real this time and I liked it. Not as much as Fallout 3 and New Vegas but it was fun nonetheless. Story was fine, not the best. Being able to build settlements was cool even thought I didnt build much cuz my lack of creativity but its nice that it is there. I was getting annoying near the end due to the game crashing on me about 6 different times within 1 day of playing over the weekend which unfortunate but sadly expected given Bethesda's questionable quality control. Yeah their games are great but it's not secret that their games seem to hang on by duct tape from time to time.
-
15. Pepsiman (PS1)
Throw this one into the "How the hell did I end up playing THIS!?" category of games. Truth be told, I've known about Pepsiman for quite some time, definitely well before the famous AVGN review. Still, the game has been nothing more than strange curiosity that I figured I may or may not play one day. This evening I was going through a ton of import PS1 ISOs and realized I had this in my catalog. I figured, "what the hell" and fired Pepsiman up on my Xstation. The experience was...umm, amusing to say the least.
There isn't a single ounce of Pepsiman that takes itself seriously. Everything about this game is quirky and weird as hell. You play as the Japanese-centric Pespiman mascot, a strange metallic looking man with no face who essentially looks like scientists cross bred a can of Pepsi and a human. The commercials that featured Pepsiman were only aired in Japan, and if this game is anything to go by, only the Japanese would get a mascot and advertising like this. Still, as an American, I found this game thoroughly amusing. Everything from the fact that all the world's problems seemed to be caused and resolved by Pepsi, the strange levels and settings, the TV Game guy (aka Mike Butter) acting like a Pepsi addicted slob between stages, and just how over the top all the voice acting is in this game make it impossible not to find entertaining. Still, this is a video game at the end of the day, and like all games, it lives or dies based on how enjoyable it is to play. In this regard, Pepsiman sort of craps the bed.
Pepsiman is not a well made game. Controls feel delayed and clumsy, level design is mostly trash, and the perspective in this game is functional, but poorly implemented. Being a weird racing/platforming game of sorts, you're taking control of the character the game is named after and running through a variety of settings that make up the game's levels. You're given some weird objective at the beginning of each stage, which each consist of two levels and a...I guess, boss fight at the end? Regardless of why you're running through a sewer, suburban neighborhood, or through a city that looks like it's experiencing the apocalypse (because of Pepsi...or a lack thereof), the objective is simple; collect as many cans of Pepsi as possible. Each level has 100 cans of Pepsi to collect as you steer Pepsiman, trying to keep him from hitting a plethora of obstacles while you're at it. You can also jump, slide, run faster, and slow down as well. While all this is well and good, none of these controls work particularly well and each stages obstacles seen to operate on different definitions of hit detection, making for a pretty frustrating experience overall. You're given a time limit to clear each level while collecting Pepsi cans. At the very least, each level has two or three checkpoints which allow you to start back at the last checkpoint versus having to repeat the stage all over again.
Then there are the boss levels at the end of each stage which are, umm, oh boy...
These boss stages all consist of Pepsiman running towards the screen as objects pop in, giving you next to no time to react to them. Meanwhile, Pepsiman is being chased by a giant Pepsi can, an out of control semi truck, or a bundle of logs, depending on which level you're playing. More or less, beating these bosses consists more of repeated trial and error, and memorizing when and where certain obstacles will pop in, more than your reflexed and relying on the controls to get you through the encounter. These boss fights are the worst part of playing Pepsiman, and the last fight in particularly drove me insane until I somehow beat it through sheer luck.
Almost as bad as the gameplay is Pepsiman's audio. More or less, every song in this game is a remix of the Pepsiman theme which plays over and over, and over again throughout the entire game. Not to mention, there are some incredibly obnoxious sound effects that repeat constantly. It will honestly try your patience to the point of nullifying all the goofy entertaining bits I mentioned earlier. Luckily, it's those goofy entertaining bits within the audio that save it from being complete ass, mainly from the NPC characters that tell you why you're collecting a ton of Pepsi for this time and that lovable TV Games guy.
In terms of Pepsiman's visuals, there actually pretty decent and definitely contribute to the ridiculous, over the top humor that defines this game. Each stage looks very different from the next, making them all feel memorable for the most part. There are also a lot of different obstacles you'll encounter, some of which repeat maybe a little too often within a specific stage, but overall it all helps define each level and set it apart from any of the others.
Despite Pespiman's blaring faults, I simply cannot hate this game. Sure, it's a pain in the ass to play and most of its audio is akin to sticking boiling hot sauce in your ears, but there seems to be something there constantly to make up for it. Still, having played and beat Pepsiman, I can't see myself returning to it ever again for any reason. TV Game guy was funny, the levels and stupid humor made me chuckle, and I love how this game is about as silly as they come, but sadly, this game is not fun to play through. You're honestly better off just watching a lets play, laughing at all the crazy shit in this game, and saving yourself from the frustrating and annoyance of actually playing Pepsiman. (2/8/26) [25/50]
-
15. Resident Evil Village
I didn't play VII, but I was able to hop right into this thanks to the game's introduction and brief rundown of what happened. I got to learn about Ethan and his crazy adventures in the Baker house, and while I admit I am curious to see more, I know I wouldn't be able to play it for long stretches without getting motion sickness. All that to say gamers can happily play VIII without having played VII. This game was a lot of fun, and it feels like a blueprint for the remake for 4. Ethan was an interesting lead. We barely saw his face, which was an odd choice, but I still felt for him. He really came into his own as he acquired more weapons and things to craft. One thing where the game really shined was atmosphere. Every area had a mixture of creepiness and action, which is a hard balance to get nowadays because of the game market being so saturated. As usual, the biggest issue was the camera and the combat. Most boss battles felt like a Souls game in terms of difficulty and action. Funnily enough, the only time I got a game over was when it was an instant kill (Moreau) or when I was just being silly against certain enemies (specifically in the factory area). I'll probably play the Rose DLC next.
-
15. Resident Evil Village
I didn't play VII, but I was able to hop right into this thanks to the game's introduction and brief rundown of what happened. I got to learn about Ethan and his crazy adventures in the Baker house, and while I admit I am curious to see more, I know I wouldn't be able to play it for long stretches without getting motion sickness. All that to say gamers can happily play VIII without having played VII. This game was a lot of fun, and it feels like a blueprint for the remake for 4. Ethan was an interesting lead. We barely saw his face, which was an odd choice, but I still felt for him. He really came into his own as he acquired more weapons and things to craft. One thing where the game really shined was atmosphere. Every area had a mixture of creepiness and action, which is a hard balance to get nowadays because of the game market being so saturated. As usual, the biggest issue was the camera and the combat. Most boss battles felt like a Souls game in terms of difficulty and action. Funnily enough, the only time I got a game over was when it was an instant kill (Moreau) or when I was just being silly against certain enemies (specifically in the factory area). I'll probably play the Rose DLC next.
As someone who wasn't head over heals in love with 7, Village was a great surprise given how much I enjoyed it. I loved the village setting, most of the enemies and bosses, and just overall it was a blast. I'll admit it still veers a little too far off the RE lore path, but still does a decent enough job tying everything back into it to make it feel like it belongs.
-
6. Jeopardy [PS1] - Finished Feb 10th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/8ctTX6Gr/IMG-20260210-173704-(357-x-300-pixel).jpg)
This game is a knockout! It fulfills every itch an old school, 90s, nostalgia, mustached Alex, Jeopardy fanatic could want. The story of how this game came to be so personal to me, is a trip me and my mother took downtown to a vintage electronic shop. My mom loved Jeopardy when I was little and she got this game for herself which was rare. There were maybe only a few games she played and I remember exactly how it played with the drawing your name. What I wasn't aware of is that The game has 3500 individual questions. Each game has about 72 questions asked. So that means you can play a good amount of games without repeats.
Alex Trebek voices every question himself which is really ambitious for the time. I half expected it to be a read along type of game with Alex voiceovers for only introductions. But nope. He reads every question. (Not answers) And each question is vibrant, accurate to the type of questions they ask on the tv. I considered beating this game as beating the NPC in a game. And trust me it's no small task. The NPC cpu you play against are some form of librarian literary nerds who know everything about the old testament. It is a hill climb trying to out "Hariett Beacher Stowe" the Jeopardy contestants. And in that sense it is almost a good simulator for the real thing. It requires patience. Knowledge and the puzzle element of knowing when to risk and how much. It's brilliant as anyone who has watched the tv game knows. And truthfully it took me to a simpler time. A time when a 12 inch crt on a kitchen counter with aluminum foil wrapped around the antenna picking up I Love Lucy reruns and jeopardy at 7pm was just enough. It was consuming media. Not being consumed by it. Everything was so tactile and analogue. I just love thinking of those times. I am still very close to my mom. But this is a little easter egg of my childhood. A phantom bus ride, a simple ps1 classic. And a legendary tv game come to life on old hardware. It simply works. It is so far ahead of it's time to me and it's an excellent console version of the jeopardy game.
It's also cheap as chips so I can't reccomend it enough. I have played at home versions of jeopardy on PC, buzzfeed, self created. This feels more genuine to me. It feels like i'm back there. Letterman on the tube. Pre 9/11. 1 dollar nacho bell grandes. Surge sodas and rug rats. This is really really cool. And I will be playing it more.
-
16. Omega Boost (PS1)
Another long time backlog game for me was 1999's Omega Boost. Despite seeing commercials for this game and it also being mentioned alongside Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, and Resident Evil in the Eiffel 65 song "My Console" (listen to it if you haven't), it took me 27 years to play this game. What's even stranger is it's a game about mechs which for many years was all I needed to know to immediately drop what I was doing and seek a game out. Unfortunately after playing Omega Boost, I can't say it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as those other games from the Eiffel 65 their euro pop classic.
Omega Boost is a great example of a game that is easy to see just how much better it could have been. Being made by the same studio that makes the Gran Turismo games, the ability for Polyphony Digital Studios to make a well made, amazing looking game is not outside their grasp. Unfortunately, Omega Boost proves they know cars way better than they do futuristic mechs fighting in space. The ultimate flaw in Omega Boost is its gameplay, which just feels poorly implemented and balanced with controls that don't feel up to the task being asked of you half the time. There are some bosses and section in this game that are downright demoralizing, and not because they were designed that way. Rather, it's so easy for you to lose track of what you're fighting given how the camera just goes wherever the hell it wants. There is a camera recentering button that focuses you back in the closest enemy or enemies, but it's still annoying having to press it over and over again throughout this game. What makes this even more frustrating is one of your primary weapons and the one you'll likely be using the most is a homing laser attack which requires you to lock onto those enemies before using. You also have a standard plaster as well that fires where you're mech's reticle happens to be. But the act of aiming, managing the camera, and then dealing with stages that are constrained or disorienting make for a mostly frustrating time.
Still, Omega Boost's gameplay does have its moments. Being essentially a rail shooter with the illusion of being a third person open air mech combat simulator, you'll be doing barrel rolls, dodging lasers, and going toe to toe with a pretty creative plethora of enemies and bosses. While I'd say at least half these bosses are more annoying than not to fight, there are several which are actually really fun. In fact, the line that separates the good boss encounter from the bad ones is fairly faint. This is what I meant by this game having the potential to be a lot better than it actually is. When this game works, it is really enjoyable and just cool as hell. I just wish the gameplay and game design had been given more time to incubate. I'm a firm believe that if it had, this game may have launched a franchise and been Polyphony's other AAA series.
Not perfect, but certainly an improvement over Omega Boost's gameplay is its audio. The soundtrack is really a mixed bag with some songs and tracks being excellent and fully complementing the fast paced, space battle gameplay, while other tracks are just downright obnoxious. There was one stage, I believe stage 5 that I had to replay several times and every time the sound playing annoyed me far more than the actual annoying, poorly designed boss battle that kept on killing me. Luckily, there are only a few tracks that really grated on my nerves and everything else was decent to pretty good. There are even a few licensed songs, one being from one of my favorite rock groups of the late 90s, Static X. Other than the soundtrack, the sound effects and limited voice acting all fit pretty well and definitely add the the cool sci-fi theme the game is going for.
By far Omega Boost's best quality is its visuals and overall artistic presentation. It is almost unreal that this game was able to look as good as it did and run as well as it does on the PS1. Part of what it is able to do this has a lot to do with one of the game's only visuals flaws. Most stages and areas in Omega Boost are definitely pretty dark. Some of this is because the battles take place in the depths of space, while other times it feels like you're fighting inside a dimly lit cave. There are some more interesting and vibrant backgrounds, but most stages definitely posses this darkness. Still, darkness or not, levels all are fairly memorable and cool, but the real showstopper when it comes to the visuals is the mechs and enemies you'll encounter. The art direction in this game is excellent and there are some amazing looking bosses in this game, with there being virtually none that I would say even look just okay. Likewise, the effects of weapons being used all looks great against the mostly dark backdrops of each stage. There are also some really great damage effects on bosses which show their armor or overall structure becoming more and more damaged as you drain their health closer to zero. From the studio that made the Gran Turismo games, I'd expect nothing less visually, and in this regard, Omega Boost does not disappoint in the slightest.
Even though Omega Boost's gameplay had me on the brink of rage quitting more times than I'd like to admit, I still enjoyed this game far more than I would have normally for a game this poorly designed. The visual spectacle, the cheesy late 90s FMV cutscenes, the smooth, high FPS space battles, and the rad as hell bosses were all just too intoxicating for me to abandon this game. Still, those frustrations and annoyances were also a large part of my experience with Omega Boost, and had me lamenting the fact this game wasn't just a little but better designed. Having played Omega Boost now, I feel like Konami's Zone of the Enders was partially inspired by this game, both in aesthetic and gameplay, but fortunately that game ended up being way more fun, balanced, and designed than Omega Boost, by a fairly wide margin if I'm being completely frank. Still, this is a cool, somewhat obscure title that I'd recommend to mech video game fans, or just people wanting to see how goo a PS1 game can look. (2/10/26) [33/50]
-
7 - That's Not My Neighbor (PC 2025) - BEAT - I got a soft spot for the "Find the thing that's wrong or out of place" sorta games, and this one I had been meaning to check out mostly because a Youtuber I like did a great themed song of the game. I like the gimmick, try to figure out if a resident is the actual resident or not, sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's not. I ran through the campaign twice which is short, and the nightmare mode once, and it's all fine and entertaining. Any real complaints I'd have with wanting more content and variety, more characters, is mostly ignored for being a 3 dollar game lol
Overall, decent time, I might play it abit more, wanted to get at least one S Rank day, but there's always a thing or two I'm unsure of how to report and that usually gets my score dinged slightly.
-
Played Mega Man X3 for the first time. Maybe it's just because I played X and X2, but I found this game a fair amount more difficult than those. Not in a bad way, though. Great music, level and boss design. I totally understand why this is kashell's favorite in the series. Until the final end game stages. Those I didn't really like at all, and I found the final boss to be annoying instead of difficult. Left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth after really enjoying the rest of the game.
-
08. Gnog || PlayStation 4 || 02.09.2026
(https://i.imgur.com/kVy7bCU.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/UcKXXap.jpeg)
I'm not exactly sure how I came across developers KO_OP, but I suspect I only became aware of them and their game Gnog during its development as Double Fine Productions was attached to this project as its publisher. Six years ago, I began playing this game but for some reason didn't play for long and never went back to it. So, I started a new save file.
Interestingly, Gnog is a puzzle game that doesn't explain anything at all really. Not conventionally, anyway. It's comprised of nine single-screen stages that shouldn't take overly to solve for first-time players, though obviously that's situational. While the goal for each puzzle largely remains the same—to delve inside the one center object or environment on screen which acts as the stage itself to figure out just how it operates so that the one big button can finally be pushed—they all feel varied. Inside these objects, one puzzle divided into a series of tasks presents itself full of knobs and dials and levers needing to be rotated, pushed, and pulled.
If that sort of tactility comes across as early child development play, that's because that's how Gnog was designed to be. With that said, this is a game that greatly encourages play to progress through its puzzles, and it's effectively achieved with a tone that's both silly and simultaneously mesmerizing alongside its demonstration of light-up colors and playful sing-song sounds. Throughout the stage, there are visual (and sometimes audio) cues to help the player understand what's being requested to progress. Sometimes you may know what to do, but the means to accomplish it, or the order for what needs to be done exactly isn't quite understood yet. So, you'll inevitably go through a series of actions seeking to understand how these elements correspond to another. I'm curious just how capable very young players may be were they to play this game, as I was stumped on a small number of short segments for some time.
As single-screen puzzles, they may come across as simple at first but are unexpectedly expansive. Though, in some way, there are two screens to inspect—two sides to the same puzzle, anyway. By this, I mean that players will be required to navigate between the front and back of these 3D objects as they rotate 180°. Of course, there are instances where this design is subverted in novel ways, such as a housing development that's interconnected. The capability to inspect the puzzle's sides by using the joystick is also sometimes necessary, and it acts as another way to demonstrate how the stages themselves are like physical puzzles we would hold in our hands. While the stages themselves are often some an environment such as a home or a laboratory, they're also sometimes non-living things such as a submarine or a log. No matter what the stage is presented to be, though, their true nature is a monstrous face suspended in air that, in time, reveals itself as some vessel for the things within them.
While much of the game is without formal instruction, problems needing to be solved have clear goals. For instance, one beginning stage involves a submariner collecting treasures and artifacts whereas another is a mother bird feeding her chicks. How to go about this, as previously mentioned, is usually not straightforward, though. So when a puzzle is fully solved, the sense of accomplishment is felt and reinforced by the stage itself as it comes to life and celebrates with you by dancing and singing in its strange way. It's not wrong to describe stages as mundane, but what happens in them is often unexpected or presented in an abstract, cartoon-ish way and are always creative. Gnog's presentation is bolstered with VR functionality that I did begin using, but I quickly reverted to standard mode play as there are finer details needing to observe that I simply couldn't see as my headset wouldn't focus.
In some ways, Gnog is difficult to discuss to anyone who's not experienced it because of its abstracted presentation. But something that I think most people can relate to is real-world play and kinetic thought, and KO_OP's implementation of it toward video game design is both novel and successful. Gnog is a short game to play, so by its quick end I was left wanting to experience more.
-
6. Power Stone | 1999 | Capcom Fighting Collection 2 | Arcade Mode | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally DreamCast) | 1/30:
(https://imgur.com/TsPDWtw.png)
If there's any alternative name I would give the "Capcom Fighting Collection 2" game, it would probably be the "Power Stone Fighting Collection". Now, I couldn't do that because A: there's already a similar named title for the PSP and B: there's 6 other fighting games unrelated to Power Stone in the CFC 2 game. But I do not care for any of them. I just want to play more Power Stone.
Power Stone 1 is a lot of fun, specifically the Arcade Mode. There's always a mad dash to pick up any power-up or item that spawns on the map. The maps feel claustrophobic at times, but you do get enough room to duck and dodge your opponent when they're throwing tables & chairs at you. But once they pick up three power stones, you better pray that the damage you take is minimal. The AI will start to get ridiculous with their main priority of picking up all the power stones instead of targeting you (especially the final boss, my goodness). However, there's a lot of strategy involved with both using items and pulling off CQC when you don't have any.
It was real cool to see that, after completing Arcade Mode, the character you picked has their own little ending with their personal agenda being fulfilled after obtaining the power stone. I liked all the characters in this game, so I can imagine myself replaying this mode a lot to get more endings. Capcom really went into their bag for this one (and for all the people like me that button-mash in fighting games).
(https://imgur.com/6zuocNF.png)
Grade: A-
-
7. Power Stone 2 | 2000 | Capcom Fighting Collection 2 | Arcade Mode | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally DreamCast) | 2/2:
(https://imgur.com/IxIDaO5.png)
Hot take, but I liked Power Stone 1 more. It's a little unfair to compare this game to the first game, due in part to the former missing content I guess. Now I haven't played either game in its original format, but there's content like the Adventure Mode and crafting that was not added to this modern port. Judging both games mainly on the "Arcade Mode" portion, I am a bit disappointed with Power Stone 2's offering.
Gameplay is a lot more loose and random, ditching the tighter closed-quarters fighting of the original with a bigger parody of Super Smash Bros.. That isn't to say what's here is bad; Smash Bros. is a great game to copy from and Power Stone 2 is one of the better examples of just that. There's a lot more generated chaos running around to use new items such as turrets, shields, the Mega Man Buster gun -- plus everything from the first game and more. Wacky stage transitions -- like falling from the sky or climbing up the Himeji Castle -- while fighting everyone else along the way makes Power Stone 2 its own unique game.
While that's all well and good, I still prefer the feel of the original. A lot of the move set in Power Stone 2 feels dumbed down compared to the first one, and I don't understand why? The first game's hand-to-hand combat is simple enough as it is, so now it feels like there's no point in engaging the enemy without an item in hand, and with how frail your own punches land. Collecting three power stones to transform isn't as big of an event anymore: it's not as overpowered as the first game felt, but now it feels way too underpowered in this one. Even with stage transitions added, Power Stone 2 feels a bit skimpy with maps, only having 5 to pick from. I liked how in the original, there's one map for every playable character that represents their own personality & background. You feel more connected to the characters and their story of collecting the legendary Power Stone, whereas location is just whatever the devs thought was cool in Power Stone 2.
It's still unfortunate about the missing content. I'd like to try this one again when I get my hands on an original copy and have a group to play with. Grade: C-
-
7. Power Stone 2 | 2000 | Capcom Fighting Collection 2 | Arcade Mode | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally DreamCast) | 2/2:
(https://imgur.com/IxIDaO5.png)
Hot take, but I liked Power Stone 1 more. It's a little unfair to compare this game to the first game, due in part to the former missing content I guess. Now I haven't played either game in its original format, but there's content like the Adventure Mode and crafting that was not added to this modern port. Judging both games mainly on the "Arcade Mode" portion, I am a bit disappointed with Power Stone 2's offering.
Gameplay is a lot more loose and random, ditching the tighter closed-quarters fighting of the original with a bigger parody of Super Smash Bros.. That isn't to say what's here is bad; Smash Bros. is a great game to copy from and Power Stone 2 is one of the better examples of just that. There's a lot more generated chaos running around to use new items such as turrets, shields, the Mega Man Buster gun -- plus everything from the first game and more. Wacky stage transitions -- like falling from the sky or climbing up the Himeji Castle -- while fighting everyone else along the way makes Power Stone 2 its own unique game.
While that's all well and good, I still prefer the feel of the original. A lot of the move set in Power Stone 2 feels dumbed down compared to the first one, and I don't understand why? The first game's hand-to-hand combat is simple enough as it is, so now it feels like there's no point in engaging the enemy without an item in hand, and with how frail your own punches land. Collecting three power stones to transform isn't as big of an event anymore: it's not as overpowered as the first game felt, but now it feels way too underpowered in this one. Even with stage transitions added, Power Stone 2 feels a bit skimpy with maps, only having 5 to pick from. I liked how in the original, there's one map for every playable character that represents their own personality & background. You feel more connected to the characters and their story of collecting the legendary Power Stone, whereas location is just whatever the devs thought was cool in Power Stone 2.
It's still unfortunate about the missing content. I'd like to try this one again when I get my hands on an original copy and have a group to play with. Grade: C-
I actually 100% agree that Powerstone 1 is better than 2. I never understood why 2 gets way more praise. It just feels like a much more sloppy, poorly designed game.
-
8 - Palworld (PC 2023) - DROPPED - Got a decent chunk of time into the game, about 16 hours, nearly level 30 before I was feeling abit of burnout. I'm not quitting specifically because of that, but I figured I didn't want to wear the game out before it hits full release as I'm kinda hoping they are gonna do a lot to improve the game in general. It's overall a solid game, it just needs a good amount of polish across the board, some quality of life features for base management worked in, and perhaps some more features implemented, a little more variety to gear and such. Polish is the biggest thing, more to music, the audio, interactions, etc...
It might be a game that's just straight ripping off stuff from Pokemon and Breath of the Wild, slapping in a crafting game among that, but I think it's overall decent. I wish the map was abit smaller as it can feel very barren, very boring to explore with not a lot of distinct, worthwhile things to find. I'll jump back in for a fresh playthrough when it hits 1.0.
-
16. It Takes Two
My partner and I played this. As a game, I have thoughts. As a story, I have more thoughts. I'll definitely get a review up for this one. We're also going to go through parts of it again to get the last remaining trophies. For now, I'll say that this is mostly competent co-op game worth checking out if you have someone to play with - a requirement.
-
16. It Takes Two
My partner and I played this. As a game, I have thoughts. As a story, I have more thoughts. I'll definitely get a review up for this one. We're also going to go through parts of it again to get the last remaining trophies. For now, I'll say that this is mostly competent co-op game worth checking out if you have someone to play with - a requirement.
Me and my girlfriend finished this game a few years back. I always found it interesting how it was split screen even from online multiplayer via 2 tvs. That took getting used to. It was quite the experience and I remember it insanely fondly. I wonder what itd be like to play with a casual friend because it's so couple focused.
-
7. Centipede: Recharged [PS5] -Finished Feb 14th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/1zM3WvDy/IMG-20260215-125245-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
ARCADE DAYS REBORN
Centipede Recharged is to Atari 2600 Centipede what The light bulb is to a baked potato with copper coil wrapped around it. Alas nonetheless the original was a fine italian wine that simply knocked it out of the park. Perhaps as good as Atari gets. But now from the video game senior society it has aged from wine into raspberry crush soda somehow, it has added caffiene and cocaine and it's hyper and its sexy. But most of all it's authentic. It is freaking centipede!!
To say this game is a revision is a understatement. It is an absolute rebirth. A face lift. It has Kylie Jenner's doctor on deck. It actually succeeds at what anyone would want it to set out to do. It doesn't go the way of most remade classic games by changing the formula, adding confusing JRPG plot, adding anime girls, adding new level layouts, robots and tutorials all wandering from the vibe. This game does it... it takes the beloved icon centipede. A grandfather that everyone loves and gives you that "this is what centipede woulda looked like today" feel. It doesn't try to make a new game. It tries to hypercharge what is already known. And tbh. It's one of the greatest arcade games ive ever played. It's simple addictive joy.
If this game had existed in 1978. There would have been a quarter shortage. The new centipede can be played in multiple modes. Arcade mode has 2 modes within itself. Classic and recharged. Classic is centipede as you remember it and you can choose to add recharged's powerups to the classic layout. Or play recharged mode which is similar but now the centipedes, fleas, scorpions and spiders attack triaxilly, and you obtain screen sparkling power ups to digitize enemy foe with. These power ups include a firework bomb, a machine gun blaster, a spinning sphere of bullets, a mirror mode to attack from two ends of the screen, a slow motion power to slow centipedes down, a rail gun Lazer that obliterates all enemies in its wake, and many others. It is steroids seriously. And these power ups make adrenaline of making it to higher scores such a blast. In classic mode you get 3 lives and gain lives as you go. Recharged mode has 1 life. Sorta like sudden death.
(https://i.postimg.cc/pT6Xvy00/IMG-20260215-125313-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
But the games true joy is found in its challenge mode. Which to me is the main story of the game. These challenges require you to for example "survive 120 seconds" and trust me... it humbles you with challenge. Hitting scorpions through tiny openings without hitting mushrooms is brutal. It requires the player to really master the timing. It feels nostalgic in its difficulty. Starting simple then requiring mastering of the algorithm and npc to really guage what order to do things. The premise of centipede is simple. Kill centipede in an endless loop to raise the high score. But the new game adds depth to that making you build up skillsets for challenges... and it is one of the harder games ive beaten in recent memory but also doable. A perfect balance of "screw you" but also "have a nice day" lol.
It is a blessed remake, a cute and entertaining color fest and I am looking forward to trying the other "recharged games" of the atari series. Which include most of the classics.
Rating - 95/100.
-
17. It Takes Two - platinum'd
Done! We went through some favorite stages, as well as the stages where we missed stuff to mark this as 100 percent complete. Overall, we did damn good when it came to uncovering everything the first go-around.
-
Stray is a totally fine indie came that got a disproportionate amount of coverage and hype because you play as a cat. It's a walking simulator that has a couple of puzzles and happens to be kinda cute. A Game of the Year nomination for this is insane.
-
8. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [PS2/PS4] -Finished - Feb 17th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/fb5CRj7Q/IMG-20260217-124420-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
A STAR THAT SHINES SO BRIGHT, THAT IT DIMS THE REST OF GAMING AS A WHOLE. ALL OTHER GAMES LOSE LUSTER IN COMPARISON
(Both PS2 and PS5. Because I started on OG Hardware and finished on Definitive Edition
Speechless.... Speechless comes to mind when describing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The sheer impropriety in which the game transports you into it's world is sickening in the sense that it gives you whiplash with just how good it is. Flawless even, gorgeously perfect. Played it in 2026.
No rose-tinted childhood bias. No “it was my first GTA” filter. It's the difference between the idealogy of existing for human enjoyment and existing for human consumption. A sweet soylent shake meant to sustaine a human, versus charred marshmellow meant to peak glucose. It is a generation coming together to leave a phantom rose on the grave of humanity. It may just be the gamer community as a collective's swan, atop the toxic waters of past tense creativity. It's an encapsulated human soul. It is jarred charisma. How good it is I wasnt prepared for. How unique and crafty it is... how fun and cunning it is. But in pure retrospect. The game is so incredible that it begins to dwarf its contemporaries. It begins to make a mere mirage out of my all time favorites and it bullies itself into my top 15 games of all time. And it may just Suge Knight dangle GTA V off a balcony to get itself there. It shows me how special a game can be. Perhaps effortlessly. And I now understand why it is the bar Rockstar North and its fan base keeps chasing like it's Orion's belt guiding it to a peak that may never be seen again. How even a decade older did it manage to be this much more immersive, consuming and dazzling is beyond me. But it really is a masterpiece. The movie colors meets beethoven symphonies meets a Dave Chapelle sketch.
The thing is. I grew up playing vice city with my step dad, dad, mom, brothers, at 7 years old. It was a friend. It was familiar. I was disallowed from playing San Andreas because at the time it had extreme hype and hate and an AO rating on some copies. So i'd sneak to play it at my cousins and put out atv vs bmx or whatever its called case to throw my mom off the scent.. It is nostalgic in a secret far away distant star kind of way. Well now at 29. I can say. I beat San Andreas. And I missed a lot... but no longer. It didnt have rose tinted nostalgia goggles. It had just raw day 1 feel and it still knocks socks.
To put it into perspective how good it is, I will pit it directly against it's flashier and younger sister at times to just show how San Andreas has set a gold standard for sandbox games that can't be sniffed in my opinion or experience.. Although it feels a bit hindsight forward to compare the game to GTA 5. I couldn't help but notice all of the elements GTA V recycled sloppily and all the elements they failed to duplicate that made San Andreas not only feel more Californian, More Genuine but also more hilarity infused pure fun. It feels like someone stole their own potato salad recipe and botched it. For example. San Andreas's story is draped with extra terrestial espionage, winding water silos with government henchman, area 51, the mob, the movie casino? Basically inside of the movie straight out of compton. It covers all worlds, gangsters, nerds, rivalries, hippies, aliens, big foots, hover crafts, fighter jets, go karts, jet packs, swat unimog tanks, monster trucks, derby cars, tuners, putting out fires, exotics. 3 different destinct police forces with 3 distinct habits. It's a world that lives. RPG elements. Personalities. Where as in GTA 5 even when I wonder into the wilderness of Los Santos, it feels very grounded. Safe. Things begin to look alike. Even when you press the relationships within you realize that most behave similarly.
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas not only features a full fledged 90s gang war torn version of los angeles (los santos) which is plenty large enough and fantastic enough to be the entirety of the game. But it features San Francisco too (san fierro) and everything down to the cobble stone winding hill roads, Bougie boutiques, expensive clothes shops, full house set and even the golden gate bridge is remade in stunning detail for its day. And just when you think your socks are properly rocked enough. It hits you with a moflippin' sneak shot and anchors the Boyz N Da Hood, straight outta compton meets godfather II masterpiece of a story in this light wrapped Las Vegas clone that is so pretty and immersive that it feels like you are going on vacation everytime you travel between towns. It's just too much to even describe. It feels like 3 to 4 worlds in one. The hicks areas of San Bernidino, the missions make most to dabble you in these new and fresh landscapes it seems to zig zag you between. It works to keep everything you do in this world fresh.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4dS1zfFB/IMG-20260217-124448-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
The cameos? The love letter to the franchise elements? But I havent touched on the sheer scope of all there is to do in this game. Dating? Girlfriends? You can pick between a good handful although Denise is Canon imo. And each girl doesn't just pop up, they have unique plot paths that lead CJ to admiration with them. Flowers can be found in random bushes on highways, graveyards, or other like areas that can be saved as a theoretical gift for a later date in which you take your in game gf to cluckin bell (chic fil a) in game. Of course this is between working out to build muscle which raises your sex appeal and helps chemistry with your partners in general. Its one of the elements of the game I explored least and in itself is pretty much a dating sim. Now hear me out boss... say you finish up with the date and want to drive to Las Venturas and gamble? Put 10000 dollars on Red 23? You can do that. Maybe you want to race dirt bikes at a dirt ring for 25 grand first place prize? Do it. Perhaps you want to assemble a posse of 7 gang members, drive them all in a bus to a rival gang area and declare war? Have turf. Have stake in properties? Maybe you want to work for a mining quarry for wage? Perhaps all that is wack and you'd rather deliver stolen oil rigs for money instead as one of at least 10 optional "jobs" you can do. All of this is just the tip of the ice berg of what can be done. I feel like ive lived a second or 3rd life by even playing this game. I street raced Woozie's triads, met friends, became loyal, understood the concepts of friendship over novelty. Honor over material. And karmic retribution. All from a video game.
San Andreas is systemic immersion.
- Stats that matter
- Body changes that matter.
- Relationships that matter.
- Territory that changes color.
- Skills that unlock mechanical depth.
-Money progression that reflects growth.
The ammunations (gun store) even have a shooting range which improves your shooting skill which unlocks you weapon improvements like dual wiedling smgs. Everything has a method to it's madness.
You can get fat!! Like eat yourself to vomiting. But if you eat yourself to the point you vomit. You dont get as fat as you would if you ate a bit less. Because the game literally accounts for the vomit as losing some of what you ate. Exercise improves stamina stats. Muscle can be built at the gym. Gym has boxing tutorials, martial arts and more.
To quickly put it in perspective again
NONE of these are available in 5. 5 has 3 full characters who arent able to date or have romantic lives, work out, change body type, go to casinos, or even take over factions with a posse outside of gta online. To say that it is a poor mans San Andreas as a map, layout and even story is sadly truth and im stunned I waited this long to experience it. But thats not a knock on V. A titan of industry. It is a praiss to san andreas. An unbeatable symphony.
Later games do however recycle entire mission sequences that I wont share for spoiler purposes as they may be meaningful to the plot. But man... lets just say. Big brother passed down the clothes that didnt fit him anymore. But San Andreas did everything better. Everything. Thats what happened. San Andreas is rockstars magnum opus. The beatles had abby road. Eminem had marshall matthers LP. Simpsons had seasons 4 through 10. Well this is Rockstar when they werent trying to pedal shark cards to kids or survive off name only. It wasnt playing it safe. It was trying to kill it's competition if it even had any after vice city. That trilogy of the ps2 era is truly scary. I clapped during the credits of this game. It keeps the GTA Hilarity and humor but it also feels so much more beleivable, mature, realistic, nuanced. Everything from the bond with your mexican friend Cesar, the hatred of the games villains, the funny sibling rivalry that unfolds. The anticipation of events that are rumored but awaiting.
Turf wars are also a blast. The way they work is the map has 3 colors. Green (your gang the grove st) purple (the rival gang the ballaz) and yellow (mexican gang. The vatos) and when you roll up into another area and initiate violence it starts a gang war. Waves of gang members come and you gotta kill them all to claim the hood.
(https://i.postimg.cc/pr5JCwwT/IMG-20260217-124527-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
Few games make you feel like you lived an entire crime saga. The licenses both for biking, planes and cars alike at the multiple schools are also a blast. They feel more like mini games than say a tutorial or mandatory boredom.
Landing a commercial liner on a runway that has a giant number 69 on it while Rod Stewart's young turks plays over the hazy sun kissed skies of Los Santos is a core gaming memory. Some of the side characters in this game stand out more than main characters in other games. It does a good job to make you care about these people. As if you have formed commraderie. Money starts scarce and builds to become easily obtainable as you go. It's fun to watch yourself become better both in money and skill. Everything you do is weighted and it rewards you.
And the game also has the absolute perfect amount of challenge. It requires massive skill. Especially the final mission but it rarely feels cheap. It feels just pure gaming. Soundtrack? Gangsta rap. The radio dj announces the songs as if they are new. It really makes you feel like snoop just dropped a new banger in 1990s. Boyz to men. Bobby Brown. Classic alt grunge rock? Bliss
(https://i.postimg.cc/h4XkNfgR/IMG-20260217-124554-(533-x-300-pixel).jpg)
Take the transportive nostalgia and era projecting of vice city and mix it with the expansive map and depth of 5. Give it 3s edge, 1s humor and 4's variety with relationships and you get what I can only call the metacritic love darling... and possibly my new favorite grand theft auto.
San Andreas.
The review is so long but I still havent covered even half. It's just its own world. And I love it.
Rating - 100/100
-
9. Mary Kate And Ashley: Magic Mystery Mall [PS1] - Finished Feb 17th, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/CLLxrdgs/IMG-20260217-200609-(300-x-300-pixel).jpg)
If you were alive in the late 90s or early 2000s then you know the Olsen twins as peak consumerism. Just paparazzi fuel, kinda tabloid famous from fullhouse legacy. The straight to home disney dvd craze of the late 90s, the fashion. It is a bit odd to note that the Olsen twins are over a decade older than I am considering when you think of them you think of kids bop, sugar surge and lemon heads with the comcast on demand remote... they seem to be perpetually remembered this way as a kid and I feel in this sense they sorta are a time capsule to that era. And my knowledge of their works outside of Fullhouse is not vast but I still think they are classic, simple and Americana. Like the millenial version of Shirley Temple. So with that.. I dove in to their game. It's not the only game I own of the twins. I also own "get a clue" for gameboy color.
Is the game Skyrim? No. Is it harmless mind rot fun that only lasts about an hour? Sure. But it's funny comically. If you were a teen girl in 1999 perhaps the plot would register but I even doubt that. It's cliche but fairly calming and sweet in premise. MKAMM is essentially a series of mini games that make up a larger game.
As the sisters you are led to a mall where you break a heart pendant containing crystals which then freezes the mall in time. Ashley says "this is one mall I dont want to be stuck in forever" and then the plot becomes collecting the 5 crystals to fix the pendant and restore the mall. You can choose between Ashley and Mary Kate. Not that there is much difference being that they are literally identical twins born 2 minutes apart. but Ashley seems to have better fashion sense in almost every skit. The mini games are
Diner - You must control the sisters to make orders for customers. This concept has been done in many games. Think dave the diver or krusty krab games. Where you gotta grab a tray, or food and feed it to the corresponding customers before they get impatient. It's fun. Classic.
Runway - in this mini game. You choose an outfit for both MK and A. MK has denim outfits. Ashley has more pastels. You gotta match the outfit pieces and then take photos of them as they walk a runway making sure to catch them in poses. It's the most useless of the mini games but also the easiest.
The lifeguard boy friends - this one is the funniest, funnest and most 90s teen core to the essence of 90210 vibe. The girls decide they have a crush on 2 lifeguard boys. The photographs of the boys will help prove they are cool for an editorial. So you follow the boys around and you have to snap the photos of Ashley with both boys. This seems dumb but it's hard and actually takes puzzle solving as the boys only pop up in certain areas, and some are at random. So you gotta get the girl lined up with both boys. Extra points if all 3 poses. Banter exhanges with them. The boys start thinking they are being stalked then divert into "yeah but they're kinda cute" acceptance of it which culminates in a group photo. Its hard, and patterned. It took me most of the time to complete this. I think it has the most ps1 IP stalgia of the game. It's goofy and made me feel like I was back as a kid again when all this was relevent. My cousin Felicia had ps1 and games like this. So it's fairly nostalgic even if I havent played it.
Snowboarding - the snowboard levels are easy but also pretty good for the time. Like ps1 era SSX but with no tricks and the olsen twins lol. They say "so rad" and 90s lingo which is cool as Im only playing these games for escapism at this point.
Music video - the final mini game is a music video. You choose moves abd have to slowly fade the camera in and out as the Olsen twins videographer. This one kinda sucks. It's boring and has no substance.
Overall. It is what you expect it to be. A time capsule to goof on. Like when we watch scooby doo movie. It's 2 people larger than life being themselves with youthful nostalgia. It's simple. But as a liesure play. It was not completely a dumpster fire. And sometimes I like to dabble in games like this because its funny to see how capitalism and branding and name recognition get used for quick dollars. Sometimes it works. If the game was like 5 bucks id imagine a girl of the day not compeltely hating it for a night lol.
(https://i.postimg.cc/HkrsHKjx/IMG-20260217-200455-(300-x-300-pixel).jpg)
Rating - 62/100
-
1. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4) - ABANDONED
One of the harsh realizations I've come to while playing the various classic style Castlevania games is I vastly prefer the Metroidvania style games more. Part of it is due to the fact that most classic style Castlevania games were made in a different era with less advanced technology and more constraints to gameplay, but part of it is also due to how questionably designed many of these older Castlevania games are. Poor difficulty balancing and level design, stiff and slow movement, and cheap as hell bosses and enemies are things that plague nearly every pre-metroidvania Castlevania game I've ever played. Given how much praise Rondo of Blood gets, I figured it must have improved the old school Castlevania formula so much that these egregious issues in games like the NES entires and even newer entries like Bloodlines must have been fixed. Nope. If anything, they're even a bit worse in Rondo of Blood.
Like many people, I'll I've heard for years is how incredible Rondo of Blood is. From a presentation standpoint, I completely get it and will fully agree that this is one of the prettiest and best sounding games of its generations. I adore the art, character and enemy design, the amazing stage art direction, and let's not forget how unforgettable the OST is. It's impossible not to be drawn to this game as a fan of retro video games. Still, I have to imagine that a lot of the people that heavily praise this game have never actually played it.
Rondo of Blood is a bit of a mess gameplay wise. As mentioned, Rondo of Blood suffers from the ultra stiff, slow, and cumbersome movement controls of most pre-Symphony of the Night Castlevania games. You can't control Richter's jump once you've initiated it, your invincibility frame between taking damage is a fraction of a second, meaning you will get utterly destroyed in some of the more difficult, unrelenting sections of the game. Speaking of Damage, nearly every attack, whether it's from a standard enemy or a boss will drain roughly 20% of your health, meaning you're screwed after just 5 hits at most. Bosses are mostly agile and their attacks come at you fast, but as mentioned Richter moves with the ability of a sea cargo freighter meaning the only way to get through this game is an offensive amount of trial and error. The gameplay can still be fun, and most enemies and bosses offer up unique challenges and considerations, but nearly all of this is nullified by the poorly balanced and implemented gameplay. At least in the NES games, most enemies and their attacks were also slow, but Rondo of Blood simply has no excuse.
I only got three stages in before I just couldn't take anymore of this game. That's really too bad since I really, really wanted to like Rondo of Blood after nearly almost universal praise for it since first discovering this game back in the late 2000s. There is so much I appreciate about this game, but none of it redeems how shit this game is to play. I know this will likely piss some longtime fans of Rondo of Blood off, but I feel like you really have to have a preference for the classic style Castlevania games to squeeze any enjoyment out of this one. As for me, my opinion of Rondo of Blood gives me little hope that I'll really like some of the other older Castlevania games I have yet to play. I'm sure I'll give them a shot someday, but for now, I'm feeling pretty pessimistic about any game in this series that isn't a Metroidvania or a 3D entry. (2/18/26) ABANDONED
-
9 - Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5 (PC 2026) - BEAT - After playing through the series last year, I was looking forward to this new chapter. I don't love most mascot horror, mostly just this and Five Nights at Freddy's, but it's impressive how this series has improved in quality. The first chapter is a demo, nothing more, 2nd chapter became what felt like a proper game, 3rd to me felt like it understood what it could become and expand on, and then 4 was where the quality came in, better visuals, improved gameplay.
Chapter 5 is that level of quality, but I feel like it didn't take the next step. The hand gimmick in this one is kinda weak and used in less interesting ways and it just feels like less variety, which is a shame. I think there's less lore learned and such here compared to previous chapters, though I don't mind that as much as Chapter 4 had almost too much like cutscenes and character talking that it felt like it dragged because of it. I like the characters introduced, but there's just not enough here. Saying that, I think it's the longest chapter, as I believe I put around 5 hours into it, maybe close to Chapter 4, but there was definitely some wandering padding.
Overall, it's not bad, but it feels like an inbetweener chapter, more setup for what I think is the big finale of the next chapter. It's also a struggle to recommend either this or Chapter 4 at 20 bucks each. Only buy if you can get on like a half off sale.
-
I actually 100% agree that Powerstone 1 is better than 2. I never understood why 2 gets way more praise. It just feels like a much more sloppy, poorly designed game.
Late reply, but yeah. Probably because Power Stone 2 is a better party game that it has the more positive reputation. As a game I'd want to take the time playing & learning more about, Power Stone 1 all day!
-
8. Jet Grind Radio | 2000 | DreamCast | 2/7:
(https://imgur.com/nm6Rsak.png)
Glad to play Jet Set Grind Radio on official, North American DreamCast hardware for the first time! The wonderful soundtrack, crisp cel-shaded graphics, and iconic aesthetic of JGR all make for great reasons to replay it again after so long. Everything is pretty much the same as I remembered. The later stages still get incresingly annoying in terms of difficulty -- to the point where I would just brute-force spray graffiti on a wall while getting hit over and over by the flying jetpack dudes. This however takes nothing away from what makes this game special. This was SEGA at their peak: keeping the flow of new ideas constant and creating brand-new experiences and gaming franchises in the process. This was SEGA's make-or-break moment to stay in the console market (which we all know what happened). Still, SEGA really gave it their all just to keep the DreamCast alive, and Jet Set was one of the most memorable outcomes of that bygone era. Grade: A
-
9. Tomb Raider II Remastered | 2024 (originally 1997) | "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered" Collection | Xbox Series X | 2/18:
(https://imgur.com/qX8Kljy.png)
I'm finally picking up from where I left off on my 1st completion of 2025. After more than a year since completing Tomb Raider I, I decided to put myself through the gauntlet again and best its sequel: Tomb Raider II! TL;DR: Tomb Raider II as a first playthrough is not quite as fun as the first game.
Almost every level in the 1st half of the game required me to look up walkthroughs just to figure out what I needed to do. There's too many wrong turns and confusion that occur just to find where a certain key is, what door just opened, or what pulling down a lever does to the level. The first game had moments like this for sure, but nothing of this scope. It's the inconsistencies in Tomb Raider II (and what the game doesn't tell you) that weigh it down for me. For example: distinctive levers that tell you what doors stay open and those that have a time limit, terrain that tells you what is or isn't climbable (like the bookshelves in the Venice level), or jumps that have to be off-angle or some "side-flip off the ladder in mid-air to grab the opposite ladder" type of shit that isn't explained at all in the Lara's House tutorial.
The new locales in this game are nice & varied compared to the first one, but the level design feels too labyrinthian at times. The 2nd half of the game gets more difficult and trolls you a lot more, but I didn't mind it as much because the levels are laid out in a digestible manner that makes sense. The monastery is probably my favorite level in the game and an excellent example of a very large, open level that is made digestible by the fact that each smaller section of the monastery circles back to a larger hub area near the level's exit. You're not finding a key that's stuck under ice and out of the way of where you need to go, or navigating the Opera House level.
I'm kind of nitpicking at this point. It's pretty impressive in retrospect that the original Tomb Raider team were able to push out a robust sequel in just under 1 year. I like the new weapons added like the M16 and grenade launcher, and even the vehicles were fun for a bit. I could see myself enjoying Tomb Raider II a little more in a second playthrough, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I would've liked currently.
(https://imgur.com/5mZre76.png)
Grade: D+
-
18. Resident Evil Village - Shadows of Rose
Well, this was a fun and spooky little piece of DLC. Rose was shown a bit during the end of the regular campaign, but she got her time to shine in this DLC. I liked her as a lead. This made the actual gameplay more manageable. Going from a fully loaded Ethan to a clunky Rose was a struggle. Even with her unique powers, the game felt longer due to the constant running and scrounging for materials. In terms of atmosphere, though? Tens across the board. The part where you have to play red-light/green-light was absolutely nerve wracking and terrifying.
-
17. F-Zero X (N64)
When it comes to futuristic racing games on the N64, my goto series has always been the two Extreme G games on that console. I received the first Extreme G as a Christmas gift back in 1997 and remember the agony of having to wait to play it until later in the day since we were at a relatives house with no N64. I eventually did get to play my new game later that evening and long story short, I loved the hell out of it. It's become an incredibly sentimental game for me and one I still hold in fairly high regard on Nintendo's 5th get console. However, some of the N64's other futuristic, high action racing games kinda flew under my radar, one of which was F-Zero X.
I never played the original F-Zero on the SNES, nor would I even first hear about the series until the 2000s. Seeing gameplay footage of that original game, as well as F-Zero X, I'd always been interesting in trying them out eventually, but just never got around to it for whatever reason. My first F-Zero would actually be GX on the Gamecube, but really it was more of me trying it out for a bit than me really sinking serious time into the game. So yeah, I'm essentially an F-Zero virgin that has put off jumping into one of the series' beloved entries for far too long. I decided to finally do something about that this year and committed to playing the entry on the N64. I know GX is considered the best in the series by most, but due to my personal history as a gamer, I have a soft spot for N64 racing games. So, what did I think of F-Zero X?
X is a fairly lopsided game in terms of quality. On one hand, you have gameplay that is ultra tight, well balanced, and has a high skill ceiling while also continuing to be surprisingly fun and accessible. On the other, the presentation run this game, while not terrible, definitely screams budget title, particularly for being a first party Nintendo game. Still, I respect games that pretty much sacrifice all else in the name of gameplay (it's always nice when a game gives you everything, but gameplay always trumps everything else in my book). F-Zero X's gameplay is highly polished and well thought out. That's a pretty impressive feat given how challenging this game can be with its 29 opponent racers, very tricky tracks, and fairly deep character stats that noticeably impact how certain racers perform over others. That's not to say that X's gameplay is perfect however. Some tracks are certainly designed way better than others, and I'd say the opponent racers on higher difficulties become downright cheap as hell at times. Still, if you play this game on Novice and Standard, you'll likely have a good time despite how difficult the game still is.
As mentioned, the visuals in X aren't the greatest. I know the N64 is generally criticized for its visuals, especially nowadays, but compared to other N64 and 5th gen games, F-Zero reminds me more of third party budget games like Battletanks than it does a first party Nintendo game. The menu and character art is done in an illustrated comic style, which isn't terrible, but what is borderline bad is the art direction of X's various stages. Most look fairly the same from an artistic perspective, except the color pallet has been changed. The only real thing that makes some stages standout is the design of the track itself with its various jumps, narrow sections, or sharp turns. But other than that you have some blurry illustrations of buildings in the background that you'll mostly barely see given the trademark N64 draw distance fog that is heavily present in this game. I get that Nintendo likely had to do this given how much action is going on in each race and also maintaining a smooth, consistent framerate, but the visuals of each track definitely take a hit as a result. Likewise, there aren't any really standout 3D elements like what you see in Mario Kart 64 or Extreme G. In those games, each track felt like it had a distinct personality and identity. Not so much in F-Zero X.
However, ending the discussion of the game's mostly lackluster visuals on a more positive note, I thought how distinct and interesting each of the selectable race ships were was well done. While the 3D models for these ships can be a little plain at times, they're mostly creative and unique, which is a breath of fresh air given how flat and uninspired the tracks looks.
Finally, there is the OST in X, which is pretty good. It mostly consists of a heavy rock/metal instrumental soundtrack which goes very well with the crazy action and sense of speed in this game. There are some sound effects and voice acting in F-Zero X, but really it's all about the OST. I wouldn't necessarily rock out to any of the music tracks in my car, but listening to them in the game is definitely welcome.
I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with F-Zero X overall. While I wouldn't place X among my favorite racing games on the N64, it certainly doesn't sit that far outside that illustrious list. I really appreciate the focus on the gameplay, but I'd be lying if I said nothing else mattered here. When other first party games like Wave Race 64 and Mario Kart 64 can pull off incredibly fun, well implemented gameplay and visuals...and a soundtrack, why can't F-Zero X? This is what really holds this game back from being an all time great of its generation. Still, this is a very well made, highly polished racing game that I'd still definitely recommend despite its blaring shortcomings. (2/19/26) [33/50]
-
10. Super Mario Sunshine [GC] - finished Feb 21st, 2026
(https://i.postimg.cc/nrLhRq6y/IMG-20260221-174012-(405-x-228-pixel).jpg)
Super Mario Mario Sunshine
PLOT
Mario Sunshine takes place in glorious Delfino Island, and initially Delfino Plaza. Where in a cunning twist of circumstances, the villain of the game (cant share for spoiler purposes) attempts to frame the real Mario for crimes of vandlism to have him imprisoned so that Bowser can shag peach in privacy. But all along he is vandalizing delfino plaza under the guise of a shadow mario which is a ink based illusionist version of Mario... I dont get how an entire village and even peach herself confuse this character for the real Mario considering he is literally black. But video game logic lol. Either way real Mario is sentenced to community service pretty much, which leads to of course your investigation into the culprit and a rescue mission on our beloved Princess...
THE SLANDER = SKILL ISSUE
Video games are objective, I get that. So this is just my 2 cents. Probably 5 cents due to inflation. But some of the Slander this game gets is just blasphemous and borderline cringe. I have no clue why this game gets beat up the way it does. Sure it has a cult following. But Galaxy gets far less criticism with far wonkier controls. 64 gets far more praise with a far worse Camera. I read comments like "this level took me 2 hours. Shitty level design. I'm gonna Curse the designers" on levels that took me 5 minutes to clear. Is the game challenging? Yeah. Is that why it is one of my favorite marios? Precisely.. because I am so refreshed to actually have a Mario game test me. To actually have to earn a shine sprite. To feel victorious when I clear a level versus what we get with games today. It isnt that sunshine has any gaping flaw, it's that the typical Mario consumer is used to coasting through Mario games. And this one makes you earn it. I hate this expression but it has to be said. Skill issue. The game is perfectly fine. The camera isnt flawless but ive played 100x worse games than get praised to the high moon. Sunshine has some of the most fun, fresh and unique platforming the series has ever seen. Fluid (pun intended) jumping. Excellent implementation of the water jetpack. And colorful, gorgeous and cute boss battles. It is paced perfectly. Isnt too long. Isnt too short. It might be the most consistent and entertaining 3D platformer ive played. Absolutely INCREDIBLE.
LEVELS
Levels are broken down into numbered missions. Each level has 8 missions. Its sorta similar to mario 64 where you beat a goal to get a shine sprite. Not like Odyssey where you free roam as a open collectathon. You always get the following missions
1. A mission where you gotta collect 8 red coins
2. A mission where you have to catch shadow mario and spray him with water
And
3. My favorite.. which are these little levels within levels where you lose your jetpack and are required to do some intense and intricate platforming accross differing obstacles to get a shine sprite at the end. These are expert level shit. But far from unfair. Any time I died I always felt like "I didnt do this right" not "the game cheesed me" the game is what ive always wanted from Odyssey and I never got it outside of darkside of the moon. Challenge. Difficulty. Nintendo was built different back then. The level layouts feature very beachy utopias. It's got a summery, tropical, Jimmy Buffet and coconuts vibe going for it. And the levels are very pretty to look at even 2 decades later. These types of levels are like if a very tactile and skill based 2D side scroller blew up into 3D landscapes.
Water jetpack buddy named F.L.U.D.D has differing attachments that can guide the water in differing ways. Some rocket, some propel, some spray. Think like nozzles on a water hose but on steroids. And I love jetpacking accross large gaps. It's really a blast to naviagate :)
All and all. Mario Sunshine is the most unique of the series of 3D Mario Games. It implimented very daring and risky controls and elements yet somehow still knocked a home run. I really really loved this game. And this is quickly becoming one of my favorite gaming years.
Rating - 99/100