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General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: bikingjahuty on December 28, 2017, 11:45:35 am

Title: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 28, 2017, 11:45:35 am
Back by popular demand is the 52 games challenge for 2018. For those of you not familiar with this challenge it is essentially a way to motivate yourself to reduce your backlog of games and enjoy playing more games throughout the year. There is really no wrong or right way to do this; you can play a game as much or as little as you want until you are satisfied with it enough to put it towards your games played/beat list. You can leave a mini review, a score, or pretty much anything that you want. If you need exampled of what others have done during this challenge refer to last year's challenge in the link below.


https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.0.html


See you all at 52!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on December 28, 2017, 11:47:11 am
Met my goal in 2016 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg105641.html#msg105641) and in 2017 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg132350.html#msg132350) of 104 games.  I'm expecting significant changes in my free time, so I'm not particularly aiming for any particular goal.  But if I make it to 52 that will be great.  The past two years were all about backlog and knocking that down and 210 games in 2 years is pretty damned great.  This year is going to be mostly about playing whatever I want to play damning the backlog.  Probably going to replay old games and play longer new games.  I'm not going to explicitly carry over titles from 2016 or 2017 like I did last year.  If I start playing such game again, I'll bring over the info, but I'm not going to clog up my post with that info.

Guide:
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.

2018 X Game Challenge

In a continued effort to keep track of my favorite games played each year.

Games played that released this year

Games played NOT released this year

Games played overall this year

Honorable Mention

Games 1 - 14 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149005.html#msg149005)
Games 15 - 33 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php?topic=8821.msg149018#msg149018)
Games 34 - 54 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149085.html#msg149085)
Unfinished and abandoned games (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149105.html#msg149105)
Final Stats (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg162779.html#msg162779)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on December 28, 2017, 11:47:26 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149004.html#msg149004)

Guide:
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.

1. Splatoon (Wii U)
I bought this game day 1 years ago when it launched.  I expected to love this game.  I didn't.  I barely cared for it.  The game offered little to no local multiplayer and a stunted story mode.  The games purpose is only to serve an online multiplayer game.  I was disappointed.  Later I found out about Squid Girl and the fact that Nintendo released a Squid Girl outfit in Splatoon.  I wanted the outfit, but I still didn't care enough about the game.  I finally decided to play the game.  I finished story mode, which is easy and boring.  The final boss is actually quite challenging and that was fun, but that was about it.  Decided to play online and actually had quite a bit of fun.  I was playing near midnight on New Years Eve so I was mostly playing with folks on the other side of the world.  I did really well and leveled up enough to go "Order" the Squid girl clothes... but I'm sure when I can finally pay for it, I won't have enough money, so all for nothing apparently.  Went to play online midday the next day and just got absolutely destroyed because I was up against significantly higher level players and my team sucked.  I have no intent of playing again after that.  It was like 76%-13%.  It was a slaughter.  Can only use the outfit in online play anyway, so who cares.  The sequel isn't much better and it doesn't have the Squid Girl stuff, so I'm never going to get that game.
Rating: Solid Pass.  If you enjoy playing online with strangers and investing a lot of time into getting better equipment, then Mildly Recommended.

2. Punisher, The (PS2)
I thought I had beaten this game before, but I don't honestly remember much of it.  The one thing I really recall from this game was a scene on a rooftop where they teach you about interrogations and stuff and you've got a few options of how you kill/interrogate the characters... but now I'm thinking that that was an entirely different game, because I think I recall the game being a brawler or something... maybe I'm thinking of Sleepy Dogs?  Yes, definitely Sleepy Dogs.  I don't know why I put those events together... maybe the environmental events were particularly gruesome.  Didn't manage to finish this game until New Year's Day, but I believe I beat this game in my childhood.  I absolutely don't remember much of anything from this game, but I'm fairly certain I beat it in my youth.  Graphics aren't terrible, controls are suitable, and they even brought on Thomas Jane to reprise his role as the Punisher.  Story is a bit weird.  It feels like it lives in the comic universe, but it takes some events and info from the Thomas Jane movie.  In this Howard Saint's son is Jigsaw instead of the usual Billy Russo Jigsaw, after Punisher left John Saint to die at the end of the Punisher film.  So appears to be a sorta sequel to the film.
Rating: Soft Recommendation.

3. Legend of Zelda, The: Breath of the Wild (NS)
I beat this fabulous game last year, but now I'm finally jumping into the DLC pack 2.  So far I've acquired most of the outfits that were added as part of EX quests.  I think I just need to Royal Guard outfits from the Castle.  Found out about the Horse God, which I never knew about as part of my original playthrough.  That gave me the laugh I needed.
Rating: Highly Recommended.

4. Furi (PS4)
Current Progress: The Song
Technically I beat this game in stopping at The Song and choosing to live out my days with her.  The credits popped, so that's a win.  But I'm going to keep whittling away at this game.  No rating until I'm really done with it.

5. Gravity Rush 2 (PS4)
I hadn't really intended to play this yet, but with Sony shutting down the online servers and wanting to unlock all of the costumes, I'm playing this non-stop until the servers go down.  I've got about 400 dusty coins out of the like 6000 I need.  Probably won't make it in time... but I'll try.  Sony pushed back the server shut down until July, so it will be no issue to get to the 6000 tokens I need.  I'm already at like 2200.  Currently sitting at around 5200 Dusty Tokens, so I'm close to where I want to be.  I finished all of the side quests and got the trophy for that.  Haven't done any challenges or any of the mining stuff.  Popped the credits after the last episode, but after the credits it popped up a message saying Final Episode and gave me a new mission.  Started that and am working my way through it at the moment.  This game doesn't feel like it really answered ANY questions left over from the previous game and just added more questions.  A little disappointed in that.  Will be jumping into the Raven's Choice thing after I'm finished.  So the credits popped... but there was a whole 5-6 episodes left in the game.  All apparently post-game content type of thing, but it resolves most of the questions.  VERY PLEASED with how they resolved most things.
Rating: Pretty good, pretty frustrating, but decent story... even though most characters are absolutely deplorable.  Lookin at you Aujean and Eugie.  Dickbags.

6. Gravity Rush 2: Raven's Choice (PS4)
Jumped into this after finishing the main story.  Only thing I knew going into this was that this would kind of answer the questions left about the kids in the Ark after the end of the first game.  Kind of... undoes the entire Ark thing in the first game... spoiler... I guess.  Essentially they don't answer any questions, they just retcon the entire thing.  That's the entire story of this DLC... the game retconning the whole Ark thing.  Kind of disappointing.
Rating: It's short, it's free, might as well do it.

7. Yakuza 0 (PS4)
Taking place what I assume is 17 years before when the first game largely takes place, the first few chapters are very similar world layout wise to Kiwami, so in that sense, nothing too overwhelming.  After that, you take charge of Majima in Sotenbori, so you get a new town to explore, seemingly smaller than Kamurocho.  Story seems to switch back and forth between Kiryu and Majima's stories, presumably the stories will connect at the end and make one cohesive story, even if Kiryu and Majima never actually meet in game.  New characters are shown, and I know nothing of the rest of the franchise, so I don't know if these are characters that you were supposed to have met for the first time in a different entry in the franchise, but I'll just have to see when I jump into 2/Kiwami2.  Unlike Kiwami, abilities are purchased using money, not XP points.  Also, instead of Majima chasing you around, you have some REALLY big dude who destroys you and steals your money.  Temporarily abandoned.  I will try to return to this soon.  I hopped back into this fairly early this year, and I've put in about 150 hours.  Did about everything I'm probably going to bother to do.  I'd go for the platinum, but I missed a lot of missable trophies and I don't know if I could bother to re-play the game on Legendary.  Having played Kiwami and this... and at this point a little bit of 2... I've been told that this game is an absolutely great starting point for the franchise, and if you did like me and played Kiwami and then this, when you hop into 2, you'll likely have forgotten some stuff.  But if you play 1, 2, and then 0, you'll probably get a heavy dose of subtle nods to the franchise.  There is at least 1 reference to 2 in this game.  I definitely firmly agree that it should NOT be 1, 0, and then 2.  I regret having played this way.  But I could definitely see the expectation to be to play 1-5 and then 0.  If I owned 1 and I mean 1, not Kiwami, I'd consider playing through 1 just for fun before starting 2.
Rating: Really good game, absolutely fantastic.  Highly recommended.

8. Yakuza 2 (PS2)
Playing this on PS2 with a component connection on an HDTV.  I'm really hoping there is something I can do about it, but the game has such horrible motion blur.  I'm considering hooking up a PS2 on composite on a CRT and seeing if it still has the motion blur, because it IS bothersome.  Story wise, I'm already hooked.  First thing I'm noticing, and it's terrible, is that you can't pause during cutscenes.  There is an option that you can enable that allows you to skip cutscenes, which is not enabled by default, which is nice, because I'd hate to accidentally skip a cutscene, but I really wish they'd let me pause.  It's very difficult to get 15 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay in, and this is one of those games where you get 15 minutes of straight cutscenes.  This being my first PS2 Yakuza game, I'm not expecting a lot out of it.  Controls are definitely dated, specifically the camera.  The loading between "screens" is a tad annoying, I really don't know how to explain it other than that.  The game kind of behaves like old 2D Zelda games where it has to load each "screen".  Game appears to take place in Sotenbori and Kamurocho just like Yakuza 0, so everything is familiar right after 0... obviously 20-ish years have passed, so there are differences.  Enjoying the game so far, but the controls are definitely making me unwilling to do any side content.  This isn't a big issue given that it is extremely likely that we will see Kiwami 2 stateside at some point this year.  Definitely going to replay 2 through Kiwami 2 when it releases, but I'm intending to get through the franchise by then. Whewiiieee, that ending.  Decent stuff.
Rating: Pretty good, no real reason to recommend it when every game allows you to view the story of the previous titles, especially with Kiwami 2 probably coming stateside.  Soft Recommendation.  After Kiwami 2 comes stateside, solid pass.

9. Yakuza 3 (PS3)
Just at the beginning, no real thoughts yet on this game.  Haruka's character model definitely looks different from previous games.  Don't know how many years later this game takes place yet, I'm kind of assuming 2-3 years after Yakuza 2.  Graphics are obviously better than previous titles, but the combat feels less fleshed out.  Too often I'm attacking in no one's direction and all enemies are blocking all the time.  Story feels better than Yakuza 2 though, I care more about the characters and what's going on this time around.  Story seems significantly shorter this time around compared to previous titles, but I feel inclined to do side content, so the game will likely last me longer than 2 did, but probably less than Kiwami 2 will.  I had planned to do a lot of the side content in this game, but I just fell into the story so hard that I beat it.  Game was beat with like 10% completion, which seems super low given that I did do a substantial amount of substories.
Rating: Very good, very emotional story.  Combat and gameplay in general still feels dated and frustrating.

10. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation (NDS)
I actually started this game last year, but I guess I didn't write down any notes on it because I knew I wasn't going to beat it last year.  Shame.  Starting this game, I wasn't sure what the theme of the game was, with the previous two games being each character having their own chapters and largely revolving around the protagonists family and bride.  At first, I thought it was a time travel games, going back and forth between two time periods.  Not too much long later I'm corrected.  And then further the game explains more things that I didn't even particularly question or think much about.  I'm relatively enjoying this game.  I don't know if I'm liking it more than 4 or 5.  I'm enjoying it, and I think I like the premise and the characters more than I enjoyed such things in previous titles.  So I was enjoying this game because I have not yet had to level grind... I'm at level 30 and I've yet to have to level grind... it's great... nope... now I need to level grind.  Probably don't need to, but the guide I'm using says he's at level 40... and I'm just like "WTF?!?".  Went and tried to do a fight at its suggestion and got wrecked in 2 turns.  Just absolutely demolished.  Game also never notified me that I maxed out my professions.  I figured it would be 3 stars, then 5, then 10... nope... it's 8 stars.  WTF?  So I did some grinding... like until I hit level 40-41.  Still had trouble with the first fight at the part I'm at.  10 levels over the suggested level in the official strategy guide and still have trouble with the fight.  Now everything is back to easy, I guess it was literally just the fighting the uber killing machines that was just ridiculous.  Wasting my time in the casino trying to earn tokens to get the best equipment.  Sitting at around 400,000 tokens right now.  Probs about 2 weeks later, now I'm sitting around 1.2 million tokens right now.  Probably sufficient enough to buy what I want, but I'm aiming for 1.5 million.  Did a little math and it seems I need 1.5 million for what I want and I'm still sitting at around 1.2 million tokens.  Hit a little over 1.5 million and bought all of the things I wanted to buy, went through the town mine, and now I'm on my way to Gallows Moor.  I was concerned that Mortamor would give me a terrible time because it sounds like he is pretty spammy and heals and revives a lot... but everything timed out pretty damned perfectly.  Doing post battle stuff, the walkthrough I was looking at has some post Mortamor content, so I'll probably do that, but the credits have not popped yet... so still in progress.  Very good experience.  Less grinding required overall.  Best gameplay so far, but least favorite story so far.
Rating: Recommended.

11. Far Cry 5 (X1)
Took most of the afternoon to install the game and system updates.  Had maybe 30 minutes to play before I needed to get to bed for work.  Mildly enjoying it so far.  First game where you seem to be no one in particular, like you definitely are not important in any manner.  Mildly concerning because previous entries have made the game make you as a character important to the plot.  Played this for a bit on X1 and then transitioned to X1X after a couple of days.  Has some graphical issues on X1X that will hopefully get patched pretty quickly.  Only complaint so far about the game has to do with the seemingly infinite spawning of enemies... not just that, but the enemies will spawn ON you.  Planes will fly over head and just circle around you until they see you and then they will never go away.  And they are nigh impossible to shoot down.  I killed about 15 enemies and then turned my back and started getting shot, turned back and there was a truck with a turret on it about 2 feet away from me OUT OF NOWHERE.  Kill a couple guys on the side of the road, well now there are guys and trucks coming out of the woodwork nonstop.  John Seed fight was absolutely frustrating.  Fight is essentially an Ace Combat dogfight.  Guy is an amazing pilot apparently, like balls to the walls amazing.  Fight was so frustratingly difficult and I think highly expected you to dump thousands of dollars into missiles.  Took me 2 hours to fully complete start to finish that John Seed final mission arc.  Absolutely would not recommend that again.  Got really angry with the Faith Seed area.  When she is ready to fight you or whatever, she just takes you, you don't have a choice, the game forces you to do story missions.  Not to get spoilery, but it'll probably happen to you, a quest giver dies during one of the story missions, but it seems like it doesn't auto fail those missions.  I'll update when I'm certain that it doesn't affect 100% completion.  Played on and off over the past few weeks.  My son was born a few weeks ago and just haven't had the time, starting to get the time again.  Finished the story.  Really didn't care for the endings.  I may knock this game down lower on my list for the year down the road, because I really didn't like the endings.  Realized there are no achievements for 100% completion and you really don't get anything for finishing quests, so I've pretty much dropped the game.  Gonna go back to Yakuza 4.
Rating: Really really good, fun, and long game.  Ending ruined everything though.  Play at your own discretion.

12. Yakuza 4 (PS3)
I've not done any research because I like to avoid spoilers, but it sounds like you play each act as a singular character, and then maybe in the final act you can swap around, or maybe you can only swap around in Premium Adventure.  Sounds like Kiryu is the last character you play as to round out and connect up the story.  Enjoying playing at Akiyama so far, and I'm not looking forward to playing as Tanimura, as he seems like bad people, but we'll wait and see.  Definitely looking forward to Saejima and Majima and getting more info that was brought up in Yakuza 0.  I have no doubts that this will be a favorite above 2 and 3, but I doubt I'll like it as much as Kiwami or 0.  Definitely enjoying this game so far.  I really liked Akiyama's character and story.  Taiga Saejima is pretty interesting so far, mostly bogged up in doing his side content at the moment.  Really not looking forward to Tanimura still and it sounds like he doesn't return in 5, so I probably won't like him.  Finally at Tanimura, and just in time for Far Cry 5.  Taking a break from this to enjoy some well earned Far Cry 5.  Boy was Far Cry 5 bad.  Very easily topped by other games.  Anyway, back to Yakuza 4.  Tanimura definitely redeemed himself as a character.  Really enjoyed the story of this game.  Very much looking forward to Yakuza 5.
Rating: Recommended.

13. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (NS)
Finally got my code for this.  Beat it pretty damned quickly, took all of a few hours to get through the 8 or so stages.  Plays just like old school Castlevania games with the twist of having multiple characters and stuff.  Has some replayability in that you can unlock different modes by beating the game in different manners.  Game definitely could've used a topic section or something, because I very quickly forgot the movesets for the various characters and wound up playing without using the special moves for certain characters.
Rating: Good old school Castlevania fun, recommended.

14. Gorogoa (NS)
Played this one at PAX South last year (2017) and really enjoyed it.  So when it finally went on sale during E3 decided to finally buy it, would absolutely love for Iam8bit and Annapurna Interactive to put this out physically, but I doubt they will, but I would double dip for that though.  Relatively short puzzle game, no text or voice, just nice music and little puzzles that kind of tell a story.  I think I missed the story because I was more concerned about the puzzles.  I only played this game in handheld mode using touchscreen, so I can't speak to its docked capabilities.
Rating: Recommended.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: hofoblivion on December 28, 2017, 01:39:36 pm
My first time participating and I will be shooting for 12 instead of 52.

Games in Progress

1. They are Billions (Steam)
Goal: Unlock all maps and beat the game on the brutal setting.

2. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (PS4)
Goal: To defeat the final boss.

3. Zero Time Dilemma (PS Vita) - Achieved
Goal: Obtain platinum trophy

4. Persona 5 (PS4)
Goal: Obtain platinum trophy

5. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)
Goal: Obtain platinum trophy
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: thewelshman on December 28, 2017, 01:41:19 pm
I said it would be a Gaming Resolution to join in, so let's see if I can keep up with you fine folks.

Games Beaten (16/52):

17. Dragon Quest XI: (PS4) 11/25/2018 - Work became insane! Was able to beat this amazing game, though. A must-play for any Dragon Quest or RPG fan.
16. Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children: 8/31/2018 - Work has been demanding and I really haven't wanted to play anything. Great game to put down and check on here and there.
15. Eternal Legacy: (IOS) Completed 7/31/2018 - Decent IOS RPG released in 2010. Luckily beat this right before my son decided to launch my cell into the kitchen floor.
14. Stick Wars: (PC) Completed 7/9/2018 - A surprisingly fun web game that is fairly quick to beat.
13. Warcraft III - Reign Of Chaos: (PC) Completed 7/3/2018 - I forgot how short this game was. The Frozen Throne will follow after a few different genres.
12. XCOM - Enemy Unknown: (PC) Completed 7/3/2018 - One of those games where I'd almost beat it, then would stall over.
11. Trails in the Sky - SC: (PC) Completed 7/2/2018 - Love this series and look forward to playing TiTS 3rd.
10. Final Fantasy II: (IOS) Completed 6/25/2018 - Was pretty enjoyable for the Final Fantasy game people called the bad one until XIII was released.
9. South Park: The Stick of Truth: (PS4) Completed 6/10/2018 - Trophies - 35% - Working on the remain trophies.
8. Game Dev Tycoon: (PC) Completed 6/1/2018 - Achievements - 72% - Working on the remaining achievements.
7. Dragon Quest V: (2DS) Completed 3/09/2018 - Typical Dragon Quest fashion, the end boss was multiple fights with one hit kills, and a pain n the ass.
6. Dragon Quest Heroes: (PS4) Completed 2/23/2018 - Trophies - 62% - Loving this game.
5. Superdimension Neptune vs Sega Hard Girls: (PSVITA) Completed - 1/28/2018 - Trophies 79% (Will snag the remaining while starting the next game.)
4. Psycho Pass: Mandatory Happiness (PSVITA) Completed 1/14/2018 - Trophies 100%
3. Tales of Berseria: (PS4) Completed 1/7/2018 - Trophies - 40%
2. Level 22: (PSVITA) Completed 1/6/2018 - Trophies - 100%
1. Hatoful Boyfriend: (PSVITA) Completed 1/5/2018 - Trophies - 100%


Games in Process (went on hiatus while studying for Security + Certification):
 
Tales from the Borderlands: (PS4)
(July/18) I absolutely love the Telltale games and this is no different. After getting through episode 1, I realized I didn't have the others downloaded. So this one should be completed soon.

Trails in the Sky 3rd: (PC)
After beating SC and getting the leaked patches of Zero, and Azure, I wanted to finish the "Trails in the Sky" trilogy and start on the Crossbell part of the story. I can only hope we get an update on Cold Steel III coming to NA soon.

Vs VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana: (PSVITA)
Mary Skelter just wasn't fun and I love Falcom games. Wonderul game so far. Looking forward to a replay on nightmare mode.


Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: azure on December 28, 2017, 02:00:46 pm
Let's see how far I can get in my first year participating!
________________________________________________

Current Ranking: 9/52


Currently Playing







Finished
Fire Emblem Warriors- Fates DLC Pack (Switch) [1/8/2018]
Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- (PS4) [1/21/2018]
Monster Hunter: World (PS4) [2/13/2018]
Digimon Story: Hacker's Memory (PS4) [3/10/2018]
Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4) [3/25/2018]
Yakuza 6 (PS4) [4/30/2018]
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Switch) [5/28/2018]
Panzer Dragoon (Saturn) [6/13/2018]
Bloodborne: The Old Hunters (PS4) [6/23/2018]

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 28, 2017, 02:12:40 pm
Damn, getting the thread on early! That's dedication. I'm in for a 4th year! 2017 was among the lowest years yet, so hopefully I can change that.

New Games Played in 2018:

1. Metal Slug 2 (PS2)
2. F-Zero (SNESc)
3. Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
4. Kirby Superstar (SNESc)
5. Shovel Knight: Spectre of Torment (Wii U) 
6. Snipperclips Plus (Switch)

+ New Games Beat in 2018: (Click the link to see each post I made about the game!)    

7. (1).  Castlevania: Dracula X (3DS) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg150508.html#msg150508) - 2.15
8.  Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (3DS) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg151459.html#msg151459) - 3.8
9.  Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg151460.html#msg151460) - 3.10
10.  Metal Slug (PS2)  (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg151717.html#msg151717) - 3.31
11. (5). Super Mario RPG (SNESc) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152513.html#msg152513) - 4.20
12.  Super Metroid (SNESc) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152685.html#msg152685) - 4.27
13. Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg154435.html#msg154435) - 6.8
14. Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (PS2) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg155498.html#msg155498) - 6.26
15. Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts (PS2) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg155540.html#msg155540) - 6.27
16. (10). Mega Man X (SNESc) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg156585.html#msg156585) - 7.20
17. Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Masters: World Championship Tournament 2006 (GBA)  (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg156810.html#msg156810) - 7.30
18. Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg157272.html#msg157272) - 8.7
19. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg157409.html#msg157409) - 8.14
20. Pokemon: Omega Ruby (3DS) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg158525.html#msg158525) - 9.14
21. (15).EarthBound Beginnings (Wii U) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg158530.html#msg158530) - 9.15
22. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (GBC) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg158906.html#msg158906) - 9.22
23. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNESc) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg159596.html#msg159596) - 10.10
24. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Wii U) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg160515.html#msg160515) - 10.28
25. Katamari Damacy (PS2) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg162310.html#msg162310) - 11.22
26. (20).Secret of Mana (SNESc) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg161896.html#msg161896) - 12.4
27. Far Cry 4 (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg162679.html#msg162679) - 12.31

Games Replayed in 2018
Pokemon: Crystal Version (3DS)  (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152298.html#msg152298) - 4.14
Earthbound (SNESc)  (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg156985.html#msg156985) - 8.1

Previous Lists
2015 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,5879.msg104675.html#msg104675)
2016 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg105642.html#msg105642)
2017 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg132293.html#msg132293)

FINAL TOTALS
Total played: 27
Total finished: 23
New games finished: 21

Lowest year yet :'( Ah well, I feel like I played more RPGs and longer games than usual this year. It's also worth mentioning that I also logged about 20 hours into Rogue Galaxy and 40 hours into Final Fantasy X HD
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on December 28, 2017, 02:24:50 pm
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149004.html#msg149004)

Guide:
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.

15. Yakuza 5 (PS3)
Story seems to have a huge break between the previous entry and this entry.  This one feels a lot like Yakuza 0 in a lot of ways.  So I'm really looking forward to getting further into the game. I've been playing this so slow I don't even know what's going on anymore.  I did all of the taxi side content though.  Game is starting to pick up and get really interesting, villians have revealed themselves it seems and the game is getting good.  I really appreciate that this game shows the side stories icons on the maps, so I know where to go to do them.  No mindless wandering or walkthroughs to find them.  Finished the Saejima part of the game, really good stuff.  Started up the Haruka part, which seems to be a part of the game that is essentially forced mini-games... and tons of rhythm based ones at that.  Now I don't mind that so much, because I like rhythm games, but the fact that every time she sings, she only sings one song... so it gets stupid repetitive.  This is going to definitely affect my ability to recommend this game, since it's forcing on you something so entirely different from what you expect out of a game like this.  So many twists and turns in this game, some things were very expected and some things I completely forgot about or didn't see coming.  Only thing is, and this is a spoiler I guess, but the game doesn't end with Kiryu going to jail and from what I've heard Yakuza 6 starts with Kiryu getting out of jail... maybe I missed something or am entirely mistaken about Yakuza 6.  Regardless, very looking forward to jumping into 6, but I'm gonna start and do Dead Souls first.
Rating: Highly recommended, arguably the best Yakuza game, but be aware that Part 3 is mostly rhythm mini-games.

16. Fallout: New Vegas (X1BC)
Got an Xbox One Elite controller and really wanted to play something to test it out.  Decided to kill two birds with one stone and play Fallout: New Vegas again leveraging the X1BC.  Took a bit of configuration of the controller to get it somewhere good.
Rating: Always recommended.

17. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4)
Decided I really needed a break from Yakuza in general so I went to find a relatively short game I could beat, might even end up doing a handful of short games to really cleanse my palette before jumping back into Yakuza.  Been wanting to play this one for so long and it only takes about 8 hours to beat.  Beat the entire game in one day, which says something when I haven't had a ton of time to play games lately, I imagine I beat it in less than 8 hours, but it's hard to tell.  The permadeath mechanic of the game is just... so amazing and just makes this game so much better.  I played through this game using a pair of bluetooth headphones at the behest of literally every person who recommended the game.  Having beat it entirely that way, I agree, but my second playthrough, I'm gonna play without the headphones and using my soundbar, will report back a comparison tomorrow.
Rating: Absolutely recommended, absolutely dumbfounded that this game doesn't have a physical release.

18. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (NDS)
I've been playing this a bit before even starting to write this up.  I'm enjoying the lack of random battles, makes the game feel smoove.  Just now got to the point where you can make your party members.  So now I'm getting ready to put a party together.  I expect that this game wants me to make multiple party people, but I think I'm just going to stick with my team how it is for the rest of the game.  Seems like when you switch professions, you go back to level 1, which discourages me from changing jobs on anyone.  I'm really not having much to say on this one, it's an okay game, but it's not really grabbing me like previous entries.  Enjoying this one well enough, haven't had to do a ton of grinding to beat bosses, but have been having to do that on occasion.  I'm currently at a point where I have to go out of my way to ditch my party members to continue, very frustrating.  Eventually hit a point where I not only needed to grind a massive amount, but I had to go and do money earning stuff and alchemy stuff to get properly equipped.  Now I have some of the best armor in the game.  Read somewhere that people were having trouble defeating Corvus at level 52 or something, so being level 38, I decided to grind against Liquid Metal Slimes for like a week and now I'm level 52-54 across the board.  Went and started working on the end of the story and realized that I was absolutely destroying everybody and the walkthrough I was using suggested being at least 41-43 for this section... nice.  Fought Corvus... he did pretty well kicking my ass.  So I'm currently doing some of the quests and might switch vocations and level up usable skills for my party.  Also made some Catholicon Rings for my party hoping that'll help stop the snooze/paralysis stuff Corvus does.  Might go and try and alchemize some better armor for the two party members who can't use the Catriopic Armor.
Rating: Recommended.

19. Horizon: Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds (PS4)
DLC isn't standalone or separate of the story, but I beat this game last year or the year before, so I'm only doing the DLC.  Took a bit to get back into the controls, and then it took a bit to figure out the weakness/strength system again, and then remembering how strong the spear is in general.  Pretty far in the DLC already, got a few new weapons, fully upgraded them, really just doing the main DLC path right now and stopping to do any side quests as they pop up.  Story is pretty damned good, and if I had played this when I had played the main game, I'm sure a lot of this would've tied into the main story, but I just don't remember a lot from the main story.
Rating: Highly Recommended... same as before.

20. Mega Man X (PS4)
I've already beaten this game, and I wasn't particularly interested in replaying it as I've got this game memorized from beating it so much as a child... but trophies.  Don't know if I had ever obtained the hadoken as a child, wasn't patently aware that you had to get to the ability spot 5 times before it would appear.  Great stuff, only Mega Man X game I've ever really played, hopefully the other X games can live up to this one.  Successfully acquired all trophies for this one.  I went PS4 because it has a physical for both games, and I had heard it plays the best... but it still has considerable slow down.
Rating: Recommended

21. Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 (PS4)
I normally wouldn't consider this its own thing, but with the addition of the X Challenge mode and the pursuing credits for it, I consider this its own thing.  I couldn't find really any information online about the X Challenge mode, since you fight 2 bosses at the same time and it'd be nice to pick out the 3 best weapons rather than guessing.
Rating: Recommended, probably the best way to play the X games.

22. Mega Man X2 (PS4)
I started playing this years ago in an effort to get through the X games, but I don't recall getting very far before either getting frustrated or bored.  I'm enjoying it this time around.  Game still has considerable slow down, very disappointing.  I think it's Wheel Gator's level, but the level shakes profusely so it makes the game look really bad and hard to play.  Definitely agree with the complaints that this game requires the use of the sub-tanks too heavily... however, the final boss fight was moderately pleasant and the entire fight I only used 1 sub-tank and beat it on my first try... so there's that.  Definitely a more enjoyable boss fight than the final boss fight of X1.  Got all of the trophies for this one, nicely headed towards a platinum for the Legacy Collection 1.
Rating: Recommended.

23. Mega Man X3 (PS4)
Started this one last night after finishing up X2.  Kind of displeased that the trophies for this game require playing through this game like 3 or 4 times.  Got my ass handed to me pretty damned hard by Blizzard Buffalo, might've just been tired and frustrated with the idea of the trophies for this game, will jump back into it tonight.  It's a reoccurring thing that when I start dying, it's because I'm tired and just can't be playing this.  Final boss was frustrating and took learning his patterns to beat.
Rating: Recommended

24. Mega Man X4 (PS4)
Writing this one days after finishing the game.  Game played really well, and I really liked the upgrades this time around... especially the Plasma Shot.  Final boss was extremely frustrating for me, but once I figured it out, it wasn't too bad.  I had played the X collection 1 Challenge mode before I played this one, so I was already aware of spoilers for this game, I'll try not to make that same mistake with X collection 2.  And with finishing this one, I earned the platinum trophy for this collection.
Rating: Recommended

25. Among the Sleep (PS4)
I actually started Mega Man X5 before I started this game, but I temporarily abandoned it out of frustration and my wife suggested I finally play this game.  Relatively short game at about 3 hours, and it has no platinum trophy... doesn't even have gold trophies.  Not too complex of a game, I went in thinking it was just a walking simulator and later on realized it wasn't and died quite a few times... some were glitches.  I was already aware of the plot of the game before playing, so it didn't really surprise me.  I do think I would've pieced it together right at the start regardless, but it doesn't matter.  Got to the end and I got all teary eyed anyway.
Rating: Recommended, especially if you have a kid.

26. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
I've already beaten this game, but one of my goals for this year was to finally earn the platinum trophy for this game.  I was pretty close last year when I stopped playing to play something else... as far as I know it was Yakuza that got me to stop playing.  Went and collected all of the invoices, so for the key items trophy I just need to S rank the rest of the story missions.  Currently working on trapping the rest of the animals that I need to trap.  Then I need to complete the mission tasks for all story missions.  This will probably last me a week or two.  I wasn't wrong, lasted me about a week.  I've got like 30-40 missions with tasks that I need to replay to complete the mission tasks trophy.  I've got about 12-15 missions that I need to S Rank.  I mostly worked on completing Mission Tasks and I did maybe 10-15 missions, but that was when it was at like 50 missions that I needed to complete tasks for.  I only worked on the S Rank for one mission, and I felt like I did everything the guide said to do and I got a B.  I'll give this another go next year or later this year.
Rating: Highly recommended

27. Mega Man X5 (PS4)
I looked at the trophies for this game before starting and I was already concerned that it would be too easy to screw up... and I did.  So I need to start over or finish the playthrough heading for the bad ending... which I need to do anyways... but I wanted to earn the good endings first.  So frustrated with the fact that I need to start over already, and my inability to find a really good walkthrough/roadmap, I've abandoned it for now.  Managed to get the RNG for the good ending and now I'm finishing off the Mavericks, only have Burn Dinorex and Spike Rosered left.  Finally "finished" this game.  Boss fights are frustrating, weapon weaknesses for some bosses are utterly useless, some boss fights have instant death mechanics, game uses too much instant death mechanics in general, rng for the shuttle and cannon are stupid, and the game doesn't seem to explain the upgrades and it seems like you can't acquire all upgrades in a single playthrough.  Overall, I deem this the worst X game so far.  My order is same as chronological, 1 is best, 5 is worst.
Rating: Very soft recommendation, but I'd maybe pass.

28. Lococycle (PC) (And a mini Steam Link review)
I actually really wanted this for X1, but it never went on sale, but it went dirt cheap on Steam, so I figured I'd grab it.  Honestly, the only reason I wanted this game is solely the fact that Lisa Foiles is the voice of IRIS and she did a cameo in one of the live action sequences.  Honestly I would play/watch anything with Lisa Foiles in it, kind of like Laura Bailey, except that includes live action with Lisa Foiles.  So far, the comedy in this game is pretty bad, like Kung Fu movie bad.  Game play is fairly solid, just wish it had a little Road Rash in it.  A few levels in, it gets Road Rash, where you bash other motorcycles and such, so I'm pleased as punch with this game.  I get a lot of good chuckles out of the fact that there is a giant gap in communication between Pablo and IRIS.  Took the time over the weekend to wire up ethernet up to the room that has my gaming PC, set up my Steam Link and tested it out by finishing up this game.  Initially I had the Steam Link set up for wifi, and that obviously didn't work.  Ethernet should work regardless of internet speed, I figure it should be independent as a LAN function, but I could be mistaken.  Game played pretty well with minimal input lag, I could tell it was there, but I was able to play the game with minimal issues.  Video wise, I did feel like I could see the screen refreshing, like watching an old VHS tape where you can see the rolling scanlines.  I also tested it on Fallout New Vegas for a few minutes and it seemed to work fine.  I think if I had a nicer gaming computer a lot of those issues would go away, but otherwise I think it will be an absolutely usable device to play PC games on my TV and well worth the price at $7.
Rating: Soft Pass, game is good and fun, and I love Lisa Foiles, but the game is fairly repetitive and has little replay value.

29. Mega Man X6 (PS4)
Jumped into this one after the abomination that is X5.  This one has a some of the same mechanics from X5, but less of the RNG garbage.  One of the Armor pieces for one of the armor sets is locked behind RNG, so that sucks, but it's not a one and done you lose kinda thing, you can keep trying.  This game does seem to rely on instant kill stuff more than previous titles.  The nightmare stuff and alternate paths is kind of neat, but it gets annoying.  Trophies have been much easier to acquire this time around, I'm not looking forward to playing X7 knowing that there is a trophy for saving the reploids, and if a reploid gets killed or possessed, you can kiss that trophy goodbye.  I've already had a few reploids go "missing" and I think that's a permanent thing, luckily this game isn't dependent on that stuff.  The final stages of this game as some of the most difficult and just generally annoying stages I've ever dealt with.  Even the bosses are annoying.  After that, I'm glad I'm done with it, this ranks just above X5, but still below X4.
Rating: Soft recommendation.  Level design is unique, but mostly dependent on instant death and just generally being annoying.

30. Donut County (PS4)
This is a weird Katamari like game, made by an indie team, published by Annapurna Interactive.  The devs did have some assistance/input from the creator of the Katamari series, so no surprise.  Story is interesting in a weird Katamari kind of way.  Gameplay is you control a hole that sucks in things and grows as it sucks in things, very Katamari.  Game is extremely short at like 2 hours, and Platinum can be obtained in 1 playthrough.  Very unfortunate that is game is lacking in content or replayability.  I was really hoping for an open world katamari type of deal where you can do a free play and just eat the world.
Rating: Extremely short, but highly recommended.

31. Job Simulator (PSVR)
I've played this game previously quite a bit, but I never actually sat down and beat it.  Decided to finally do so, especially after seeing how easy it is to acquire the platinum trophy.  Took a couple of hours, but 100% completed the game and got the platinum trophy.  Game is relatively boring and loses its charm fairly quickly, especially when you're playing by yourself.  I think a lot of the fun for this game comes from playing it around people and having a good laugh.
Rating: One of the better PSVR games, so recommended, but the cost of entry is a deterrent and the game has little value outside of use at a party or gathering.

32. Forza Horizon 2 (X1)
I don't even recall why I decided to play this.  I think I was asking my wife for suggestions, and initially she suggested Ori and the Blind Forest, and then she kind of relented and suggested Forza Horizon 2.  I had this plan to go and do all of the championships in the game, but after the last set of achievements I earned, I kind of decided to just abandon that idea and move onto Forza Horizon 3.  Played this for a good couple of games and had already beaten this game in previous years.  Finished the Storm Island DLC while I was on this game.  A lot of weird things going on, apparently certain services have been down or experiencing issues on xbox live.  Specifically, downloading DLC, digital titles, title updates, user content, etc... since June 22nd.  Apparently quite a bit in this game relies on this feature.  When you complete a race, it takes a minute or so to populate your money and the money earned, so I guess this information is synced online or something.  Livery and tune ups are obviously user content so that's broken.  Rivals system is broken.
Rating: Recommended, good racing fun.

33. Forza Horizon 3 (X1)
Current Progress: Hot Wheels Expansion
Don't really know how to track this game.  I've completed 3/5 showcase events, so maybe I'm 60% done story wise, but completion wise I'm at like 10%.  It takes a bit getting used to playing a game where you drive on the left side of the road.  This game, so far, feels like it kind of discourages you from buying different cars and trying out different cars, but maybe I'm misunderstanding.  Most races seem to work with whatever car you're driving, unless it's a weird coincidence that I happen to be driving an eligible car randomly.  When you upgrade a festival, it shows you an autoshow screen where the cars are like 5% off and it warns you that the sale ends if you leave the screen... I'm just like... uh 5%, it's okay, if I NEED one of these cars I'll pay full price.  Have yet to need one of those cars yet.  Same issue here that livery and tune ups aren't quite working.  The Auction house is largely broken because of the service issues... but I did manage to acquire the Regalia through the auction house.  Super disappointing that these services are broken and have been broken for the past few months.  Xbox services claim to be back up, but I'm still having the same problems.  Played enough to get the credits to pop, did the Blizzard expansion and am now working on the Hot Wheels expansion.
Rating: Recommended, great racing fun.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 28, 2017, 02:51:21 pm
I guess I'll grab my spot on page 1 too since I don't want to post my games in the thread intro.

1. Raiden V: Director's Cut (PS4): Like some shooters, this game has a bit of an identity crisis at times; it wants to be a more traditional shooter at times like the older Raiden titles, then suddenly, mostly towards the end of the game, it wants to be a bullet hell SHMUP. The game's mechanics don't lend themselves well to the latter sub-genre, however there are some genuinely fun parts in this game despite repetitive enemies, poor pacing, and levels that drag in for far too long. Sadly this one mostly comes off as generic which enough flaws that really prevent it from being any better then that. (1/1/18) [25/50]

2. Virtua Fighter 2 (Saturn): To me the early Virtua Fighter games (pretty much 1-3) are time capsules of nostalgia when Sega was releasing their early 3D titles through the mid to late 90s. I love the graphics, the stages, the music, the characters, all of it; everything about the early Virtua Fighter games just oozes with that 90s Sega nostalgia for me, hence why I keep coming back to these games over and over again. One reason I do not keep coming back however is the imbalanced, inconsistent and super frustrating gameplay which has had me controller rage maybe more than any other game franchise. Virtua Fighter 2 is no exception, and all things considered I still prefer the first Virtua Fighter to this one. (1/11/18) [31/50]

3. Final Fantasy Dissidia NT (PS4): This game's value will really be dependent on how big of a Final Fantasy fan you are seeing how seeing old and new final fantasy characters is modern gen graphics, great voice acting, and excellent remixes of classic FF tracks are what make this game most appealing. Less appealing are the uninteresting, confusing, and repetitive gameplay and a story mode that makes almost no sense. There are a lot of unlockables that give this game replay value, but you'll find yourself just getting through the actually game part just to see what else you can unlock. Good enough in some ways, but definitely lacking in others. (1/31/18) [28/50]

4. Gun Frontier (PS2): I will come right out and say I loved the first 2/3 of this game; it was well balanced, music was catchy, great production and presentation, and aside from a stupid checkpoint reload system which might be my biggest pet peeve in this genre, I was really enjoying this one. And then the final stage happened; combined with the annoying checkpoint system this level was incredibly unfun and a pain to get through mostly because of the lack of balancing in it. I will say however that the final boss in this game is among the most unique and creative I've seen in a shooter. Still, the final portion of this game really drags down an otherwise great game overall. (2/11/18) [27/50]

5. RayStorm (PS2): Like its predecessor Layer Section (aka Galactic Attack, aka Ray Force) RayStorm is a very well done shooter with a multilayered shooting mechanic with very good, balance gameplay, and a great soundtrack. However, RayStorm is an inferior game to Layer Section in nearly every way, which is not to say RayStorm is a bad game, but it did have very big shoes to fill. Definitely one of the best shooters I've played, just not nearly as good as the first in this series. (2/11/18) [36/50]

6. RayCrisis (PS1): Sadly this series of shooters degrades in quality more and more, with RayCrisis, the third and final game in the Ray series being by far the weakest. Just like how RayStorm was inferior in every way to Layer Section, this game is inferior to RayStorm in every way, resulting in a shooter that falls deep in the category of mediocrity. The game isn't bad in any particular way, it just doesn't do anything particularly well to distinguish it from its predecessors or a lot of other shooters. Definitely not bad, but not great either. (2/11/18) [27/50]

7. Pink Sweets: Ibara Sore Kara (360): I've been pretty critical of modern Cave titles, mostly due to the novelty of throwing a huge amount of projectiles at the expense of making the game fair and balanced, but Pink Sweets is a whole other level of game design incompetence that makes it the worst Cave game I've ever played. Your hit box is gigantic and undefinable at times, making much of the game, especially the latter half just terrible. The art style is also very inconsistent, mixing a sort of dreary, bland look with a fun, toyish art style of the bosses and many of the enemy ships. The soundtrack is fairly upbeat and appropriate, but it's nothing special. Overall, this game was one of the worst shooters I've ever played, but at least it was still better than the 1945 series or Xavious *shudders*. (2/18/18) [17/50]

8. Muchi Muchi Pork (360): It's too bad the balancing and controls of this game couldn't rub off on other Cave titles or else I might obsess over Cave like so many other fans of SHMUPs do. This game plays wonderfully and has an excellent balance of projectiles and your ability to dodge them throughout the entire game. The game looks great overall and has a very Japanese feel to it in the sense that there are a lot of random, cutesy, and busty elements to it that give it that distinct Japanese asthetic. While there are definitely shooters that are better than it, Muchi Muchi Pork is definitely one worth checking out if you're into games like this. (2/18/18) [35/50]

9. Under Defeat HD (PS3): While the controls were a little hard to get used to at first, once I did I really enjoyed this game and found it pretty fun overall. My only faults with the game are it's bland backgrounds and forgettable OST, but other than that I find it hard to fault this game with much. (2/19/18) [36/50]

10. Neo XYX (Dreamcast): This game was overall very fun and a pretty well balanced shooter despite some of its minor flaws. My biggest complaint about Neo XYX was its over reliance on bombs and collecting bomb power ups to get more bombs. The hand drawn graphics are very cool, but the soundtrack is fairly unremarkable. I really feel like this game was one of those no bullshit shooters that doesn't rely on gameplay gimmicks to set itself apart from other shmups, but then nothing really sets this game apart which also hurts it overall. (2/22/18) [35/50]

11. Fast Striker (Dreamcast): Another NG:dev.team game, this one while good in the music and gameplay department mostly is probably one of the most bland, visually unappealing shooters I've ever played. The backgrounds are this dark metallic design that repeats for the whole stage and all the enemies look like generic oval/round ships. Sadly its poor art style really dampens your enjoyment of an otherwise decent shooter. (2/23/18) [28/50]

12. R-Type Delta (PS1): This is a game I really, really wanted to like, but sadly there are far too many design and gameplay problems in this game to even make it a passable shooter. The two worst parts about this game are the horrendous checkpoint system which is terrible in every shooter, but this one does it is sections that are just BS to have to replay over and over again. The other big issue with this game is how it maroons you when you die by taking away all your power ups and leaving you without any, making already ridiculously hard sections even more ridiculous. I'm also not a fan of the whole orb blaster that you can place in front of you and behind you, but this is more of a subjective complaint The only positive thing I can say is I'm a fan of the graphics and art direction, although many will probably disagree since they demonstrate the PS1's blocky polygons. (2/24/18) [22/50]

13. Blazing Star (Arcade): Blazing Star's best quality is its excellent art direction with it's awesome stage art and enemy design as well (save the final boss who is probably the strangest, most disturbing final boss I've seen in a game). My praise ends there as this game's gameplay is haphazard and mediocre at best; very little thought was put into enemy ship bullet patterns, enemy placement, and stage hazards, which creates an interesting, boring mess of a game at times. (2/24/18) [29/50]

14. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Dreamcast): MvC2 is an example of a game that could have only happened in the late 90s when developers could get away with putting so many awesome and interesting characters together in one of the most over the top, fun and addictive fighting games to ever be released. While the intoxicating effect this game once had on me has faded a little, it still stands as one of the best fighting games I've ever played, maybe the greatest. On top of that this game is one of the most nostalgic I can play these days given how much I played this in my youth and also how much it reminds me of gaming during the late 90s and early 2000s. (2/28/18) [43/50]

15. King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match (PS2): While I can't say it has the best gameplay for a KOF game, it has one of the best, which combined with amazing 2D sprite graphics, a huge roster of awesome KOF characters, and being one the most essential fighting games ever made makes this game outstanding in nearly every way. (3/1/18) [38/50]

16. King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match (PS2): I feel like this game is only a smidge less iconic and enjoyable as 98, but one place it does have 98 beat, which to some might matter the most, is gameplay. The fighting in this game is way more smooth, less clunky and cumbersome, faster, and more balanced. At least for me I still prefer 98 by a hair though just based on how well designed a game it is from a superficial point of view. Still for the competitive scene this one would be prefered, well, at least for most I imagine. (3/1/18) [37/50]

17. Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium (PS2): For many reasons this is one of the most memorable fighting games to come out of the late 90s and early 2000s, mostly due to its excellent roster of SNK and Capcom characters which leave little to be desired and some really memorable stages. However, beyond the flash and coolness of having Ryo and Kyo fight each other, the gameplay is nothing to write home about, with most battles either being super easy or really hard with little in between. Funny enough, I find myself wishing I was either playing a straight up Street Fighter or SNK game over this. (3/2/18) [36/50]

18. Final Fantasy VII (PS1): Final Fantasy VII is a perfect example of why I am replaying my top games of all time, a list that has games that I have not played and/or beat for over a decade, FF7 being one of those games. FF7 was my first real RPG and at the time JRPGs were my favorite thing in the whole world and I literally bought a PS1 just so I could play this game and the other FF titles available on the system. Back in 2000 when I first played and beat FF7 I adored this game, probably because I had never played anything else like it and it left a very big impression on me. It motivated me to play FF8, FF9, and later on the PS2, FFX, all of which I remember enjoying a lot. However, 18-years later and picking up the JRPG that started my interest in the genre, I've been reminded how much my preference in video games have changed since then. Replaying it, I found FF7 to be an incredibly mediocre game for the most part; I'd often find myself interested in the game, followed by me literally having no investment or interest just hours later. FF7 never consistently kept my interest and I found the overall story to be very run of the mill and generic, as well as the characters to be nothing special either, including characters like Cloud and Sephiroth which are idolized for some reason in video game culture as being some of the best RPG characters of all time. I can appreciate why this game was a big deal when it came out and how it did certain things in terms of story, characters and gameplay, but on the whole this game has not aged well in any regard, including my personal opinion of it almost 20-years after originally playing it. I will end this review by saying two things. The first is that I am not into RPGs, especially JRPGs as much as I was when I first played FF7. This no doubt has diminished my enjoyment of this game and had I retained the zeal I once had for the genre I may have been able to appreciate this game's story and tropes more than I did now. The other thing I want to say is that FF7, for better or worse, is no longer a top 10 game for me. Hell it isn't a top 25 game for me. This will perhaps be the most shocking revelation I will have while replaying my favorite games since prior to me replaying it, FF7 was officially my fourth favorite game of all time. Times change, people change, and interests in games and genres change. Maybe I'll replay FF7 in another 20-years and perhaps then I'll have a greater interest in JRPGs like I once did and maybe FF7 will creep back into my top games where it once sat for many years. (3/11/18) [32/50]

19. DOOM (PS4): After playing and beating doom back in 2016 when it first came out I was left with a sense absolute amazement and intensity that I've never felt from playing a video game. The amount of adrenaline and dread that goes through you when playing this game is unmatched in my opinion thanks to the amazing graphics and setting, the kick ass metal/industrial soundtrack, and gameplay that is hard to match in any modern FPS. Replaying it again nearly two years later, Doom's insane level of polish is still not lost on me, although I did find myself less apprehensive when about to summon massive amounts of hell spawn towards me at various parts of the game due to being used to it from my first play through. There are also some annoying and frustrating balancing and level design issues that hamper the flow of the combat, but overall it does very little to distract from how high quality this game is. The main reason I am replaying this game is that it is a strong contender to end up in my top games of all time list and at this point I'd be a little surprised if it didn't make the cut. (3/27/18) [46/50]

20. Espgaluda II (360): Being a fan of the previous two entries in this series I had high hopes that I'd hold this one in around equal regard, however this below average balancing along with the generic graphics, art design, levels, bosses, and music just left me wondering when it was going to be over while playing this mostly. Not only that, but I feel like it borrowed too heavily from Espgaluda in terms of level and boss design, but still wasn't as good. This one was a bit of a let down in the end. (4/1/18) [26/50]

21. Espgaluda II: Black Label (360): This version of Espgaluda II was so radically different in terms of gameplay as well as more visually polished that I felt it was appropriate to review it separately. While it is basically the same game, it has added various mechanics which make the game play very different; when you destroy a ship it also destroys any projectiles they fired often putting more of an emphasis on crowd control over dodging bullets, which you will still be doing plenty of, especially during boss fights. There is also a weird, inconsistent bubble shield mechanic too which allows you to be hit by bullets, just not too many at once, if that makes sense; sometimes I found myself getting hammered and the shield held up, but then a random stray bullet would hit me and cause me damage. As mentioned, the graphics have received a fidelity bump as well making this game prettier, but still nothing amazing. While I'd recommend this version over the basic version, it still is very mediocre and another example why I truly believe Cave is the most overrated SHMUP developer. (4/1/18) [30/50]

22. Mushihimesama Futari (360): I knew about this game well before I got heavily into shooters due to it's final boss being referenced on Youtube and social media often as one of the "hardest bosses" of all time. Beyond seeing the endless shower of bullets and pretty, colorful graphics, I wondered if there was a decent shooter behind it all. And yes, yes there is; oh my god there is! Mushihimesama Futari is one of the best shooters I've ever played; it's excellent visuals, cool art style, varied enemy and level design, balanced and fun gameplay, and catchy soundtrack all amount of an excellent game. At first I wondered if I liked it as much as Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou, which I definitely did. Then I compared it to the first Mushihimesama, which I liked way less than Futari. And then I started comparing it to the original Dodonpachi which still stands as my favorite game by Cave and my third favorite Shmup of all time. After a lot of playing these games back and forth, comparing them, I came to the conclusion that I like Dodonpachi just a hair more than Mushihimesama Futari, but just barely. That would officially make Futari my fourth favorite Shmup of all time based off all the other games in the genre I've played. Mushihimesama Futari is the type of shooter I hope I get to play every time I try out a new one, and luckily it delivered beyond my expectations. (4/2/18) [43/50]

23. Half Life 2 + Episode 1 and 2 (PS3): This was another game that has sat in my top 10 games of all time for a long time, ever since I first played Half Life 2 on the original XBOX probably back in 2005 or 2006. Because they create a cohesive story that is Half Life 2, I wrap the main game and the two episodic expansions into one game. But anyhow, my thoughts on Half Life 2 after replaying it for the first time since 2010 (I know this because that is what the save data on my PS3 says). The game is perhaps the most immersive and diverse FPS game I've ever played, and tells a very good story with many likable characters. Not only that, but minus a few areas across Half Life 2, the action is non-stop as is what the game has you do to progress, resulting in gameplay that rarely gets stale. While the soundtrack is decent imo, the voice acting and sound design is excellent. By complaints about this game involve certain parts that don't have a good flow to them, hot-scanning enemies, and various platforming and puzzle portions of the game that don't work as well as they should. However these minor flaws are few within a game that is otherwise outstanding from start to finish. I've come to the realize however that I like DOOM on the PS4, just slightly more due to presentation and me enjoying DOOM just a hair more than half life. Regardless, this game still has a very good shot of remaining in my top 10 games of all time when all is said and done. (4/7/18) [44/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on December 28, 2017, 03:12:57 pm
2018 Challenge.

1. Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (GBA) - 1/22
2. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) - 2/14
3. Final Fantasy X HD remix (Vita and PS4) - 3/29
4. Kirby Star Allies (Switch) - 4/4
5. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - 5/23
6. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Switch) - 5/27
7. Super Mario Bros. (NES) - 6/11
8. The Last of Us Remastered + Left Behind DLC (PS4) - 6/25
9. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch) - 6/28
10. Crash Bandicoot (N Sane Trilogy) (Switch) - 7/4
11. Crash Bandicoot 2 (N Sane Trilogy) (Switch) - 7/15
12. God of War 2018 (PS4) - 7/17
13. Crash Bandicoot 3 (N Sane Trilogy) (Switch) - 7/18
14. Sonic Mania Plus (Switch) 7/24
15. Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (Switch) - 7/31/18
16. Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition (PS4) - 8/3/18
17. Metroid Zero Mission (GBA) - 8/5/18
18. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4) - 8/7/18
19. Drill Dozer (GBA) - 8/10/18
20. Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance (GBA) - 8/19/18
21. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - 11/13/18
22. Super Mario Land (GB) - 11/13/18
23. Super Mario Land 2 (GB) - 11/14/18
24. Pokemon: Let's Go Pickachu (Switch) - 12/2/18
25. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB) - 12/4/18
26. Red Dead Redemption (360) - 12/5/18
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kevininja on December 28, 2017, 03:27:00 pm
January:
  1. Strikey Sisters (Steam) [1-1]
  2. Party of Sin (Steam) [2-1]
  3. Deadpool (Steam) [2-1]
  4. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Steam) [3-1]
  5. Magicka: Vietnam (Steam) [4-1]
  6. Capsized (Steam) [5-1]
  7. Borderlands (Steam) [10-1]
  8. Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken (Steam) [13-1]
  9. Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (Steam) [14-1]
10. Sacred Citadel (Steam) [16-1]
11. Tiny Brains (Steam) [21-1]
12. Polarity (Steam) [22-1]

February:
13. Escape Rosecliff Island (Origin) [4-2]
14. Peggle (Origin) [4-2]
15. Shadow of the Colossus (PS4) [11-2]
16. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS) [13-2]
17. Hand of Fate (Steam) [14-2]
18. Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (Steam) [18-2]

March:
19. Rise of the Triad (Steam) [7-3]
20. House of 1,000 Doors: Family Secrets (Steam) [13-3]
21. House of 1,000 Doors: The Palm of Zoroaster (Steam) [14-3]
22. Trials of the Gauntlet (Steam) [18-3]
23. Prey (2006) (Steam) [18-3]
24. The Wolf Among Us (PCDL) [21-3]

April:
25. Agents of Mayhem (PS4) [1-4]
26. Spec Ops: The Line (Steam) [2-4]
27. Death's Hangover (Steam) [4-4]
28. Bot Vice (Steam) [5-4]
29. JYDGE (Steam) [14-4]
30. BRINK (Steam) [15-4]
31. Marie's Room (Steam) [15-4]
32. Battlefield 4 (Origin) [20-4]
33. Battlefield 3 (Origin) [22-4]
34. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Uplay) [25-4]
35. The King of Fighters 2002 (GOG) [25-4]

May:
36. Mad Max (Steam) [5-5]
37. Luxor: The 5th Passage (Steam) [9-5]
38. Monument Valley (Android) [9-5]
39. Until Dawn (PS4) [11-5]
40. Rampage Knights (Steam) [16-5]
41. F.E.A.R. (Steam) [26-5]
42. F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point (Steam) [27-5]
43. F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate (Steam) [27-5]

June:
44. Geometry Wars: Galaxies (DS) [10-6]
45. Torchlight (GOG) [17-6]
46. Investi-Gator 1 + 2 (itch.io) [20-6]
47. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Steam) [23-6]
48. Mr. Shifty (Steam) [25-6]
49. BlubBlub: Quest of the Blob (Steam) [30-6]

July:
50. Prototype 2 (Steam) [2-7]
51. Prototype (Steam) [6-7]
52. Half-Life (Steam) [9-7]
53. Half-Life: Opposing Force (Steam) [10-7]
54. Half-Life: Blue Shift (Steam) [10-7]
55. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS4) [20-7]

August:
56. Just Cause 3 (Steam) [2-8]
57. Emily is Away Too (Steam) [4-8]
58. Just Cause 3: Sky Fortress (Steam) [5-8]
59. Just Cause 3: Mech Land Assault (Steam) [5-8]
60. Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You (Steam) [16-8]
61. Cibele (Steam) [17-8]
62. F.E.A.R. 3 (Steam) [22-8]
63. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Steam) [31-8]

September:
64. Shadowrun Returns (Steam) [2-9]
65. Spider-Man (PS4) [17-9]
66. Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (Steam) [22-9]
67. Off-Peak (Steam) [30-9]

October:
68. Just Cause 3: Bavarium Sea Heist (Steam) [1-10]
69. Return to Castle Wolfenstein (GOG) [9-10]
70. Heroes of Ruin (3DS) [14-10]
71. Rune Classic (Steam) [21-10]
72. Crypt Shyfter: Frostfall (itch.io) [24-10]
73. Dead Space 3 (Origin) [29-10]

November:
74. Old Man's Journey (Steam) [6-11]
75. Destiny 2 (Battle.net) [9-11]
76. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (Battle.net) [12-11]
77. Minit (Steam) [14-11]
78. Destiny 2: Warmind (Battle.net) [16-11]
79. Destiny 2: Forsaken (Battle.net) [18-11]
80. Sunset Overdrive (Steam) [23-11]

December:
81. The Invisible Hours (Steam) [14-12]
82. High Hell (Steam) [23-12]
83. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Steam) [30-12]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on December 28, 2017, 03:29:39 pm
Results for 2018: 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded.

Games beaten

01] Resident Evil 6 (PS4) A decent romp - I was always fairly meh about this, but actually, as an action game judged on its own merits, it's pretty good!
02] House of Wolves (Flash) Basic 2D RTS game on Armor Games, killed in one go, enjoyed playing a different sort of game.
03] Sentry Knight 2 (Flash) Sort of like tower defence but with you doing the aiming, again it was nice to have a change, need to beat some backlogged games though.
04] Ys VIII (PS4) Prey (2017) and BioShock 1 & 2 are the only games I've enjoyed as much as this over the past 2 console generations. Bravo!
05] Hotel Mogul (PC)  Casual game, property flipping time management, not too bad but goes on a bit daft at the end - gave up on trying to expert score each level.
06] Zombie Army Trilogy (PS4)  Spin-off from the Sniper Elite series, featuring nazi zombies, really enjoyed it actually, despite being multiplayer-focused.
07] 50 Cent: Bulletproof (360) Perfectly solid 3rd person shooter, gets more fun at the end when you unlock powerful guns.
08] School Girl / Zombie Hunter (PS4)  Really enjoyed this, Onechanbara with guns.
09] Gardenscapes (PC)  Casual game, hidden object, no puzzles in this one but it was still nicely presented and proved a good break from action games.
10] 99 Vidas (PS4) Nice little pixel-art beat 'em up, heavy on homage to Streets of Rage, really enjoyed playing this.
11] Splatterhouse (360) Awesome, gory, nasty goodness. Loved it.
12] Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (360) Bog standard shooty-runner, it was still good to play through something I couldn't get my head around back in the day.
13] BioShock Infinite (PS4) Perhaps slightly better than I remember, the ending's still dreadful and it drags on the last quarter.
14] BioShock (PS4) Yep, still in my top 3 of all time (along with BioShock 2, treat them as one game).
15] BioShock 2 (PS4)  Great as always.
16] Caladrius Blaze (PS4)  Decent little shmup with bonus boobage, hurrah!
17] Garden Defense (PC) Excellent little tower defense game from back in the day, love it!
18] Peggle (PC) Fine, a little random for my liking, well presented though.
19] Pang Adventures (PS4)  Classic arcade gaming, also the first time I've really felt like a Limited Run game was really worth grabbing, happy with it.
20] Finders Keepers (PC) Really fun casual game where you fish for gems and other items from a boat at the top of the screen with a swaying hook that you fire.
21] Nightmare Adventures: The Witch's Prison (PC) Thought this was a hidden object game, turns out it's a casual adventure/puzzle game with light HO elements, very atmospheric.
22] Lego Jurassic World (PS4)  The best Lego game I've played by a mile, really enjoyed it.
23] Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (PS4)  Metroidvania goodness, delicious.
24] Dark Souls: Remastered (PS4)  Finally put a tough old beast out to pasture in its newest form, thoroughly enjoyed it.
25] This War of Mine: The Little Ones (PS4)  |1 July| Another replay, but no regrets, this is one of my favourite games.
26] This War of Mine: The Little Ones (PS4)  |7 July| Oh, OK, here we go again :D
27] Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault (PS4)  |16 July| A bit of a slog towards the end, but it's done.
28] Kero Blaster (PS4)  |17 July| Gorgeous nu-retro Mega Man clone from the creators of Cave Story, another Limited Run gem.
29] Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. (3DS)  |20 July| It's taken me more than a year to finally finish the last part of this game, long time coming!
30] This War of Mine: The Little Ones (PS4)  |23 July| and again, just love this well-crafted indie game, superb. Need to try some different ones now tho.
31] Ghost Blade HD (PS4)  |28 July| Beaten on easy only, perfectly OK but nothing spectacular, generic bullet hell game.
32] The Organ Trail (PS4)  |31 July| Not dreadful, but disappointingly limited, there's very little 'game' here. Still, it was worth a go.
33] Raw Danger! (PS2)  |16 Aug| At last, the drought has ended, this was a real departure in terms of gameplay and theme, a welcome diversion.
34] Shikhondo: Soul Eater (PS4)  |24 Aug| Excellent shooter, I need to get a move on though, falling behind.
35] Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (PS4)  |2 Sep| Gorgeous metroidvania, loved it, well and truly behind now though, bugger!
36] Mount & Blade: Warband (PS4)  |9 Oct| Replay of another old favourite to get me back into gaming after a shocking month.
37] Metal Max Xeno (PS4)  |15 Oct| Old fashioned, low budget, very limited in terms of character development.. yet strangely addictive.
38] Rabi Ribi (PS4)  |19 Oct| Sublime metroidvania with a bullet hell twist. Beautiful.
39] Dead Island (360)  |11 Nov| Dry toast open world game, basically a collection of fetch quests and escort missions to rush through, still now it's done.
40] Tornado Outbreak (360)  |18 Nov| Katamari with a twist, not bad.
41] Venetica (360)  |5 Dec| Action RPG from the makers of The Surge and Lords of the Fallen, really enjoyed the different setting.
42] Megatagmension Blanc Vs. Zombies (Vita)  |9 Dec| Odd entry in the series, action game from Tamsoft.
43] Soldner X2 (Vita)  |10 Dec| Superb horizontal shmup.
44] Lego DC Supervillains (PS4)  |19 Dec| Another good lego game.

Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of

01] The Count Lucanor (PS4) Love this game! It's totally broken though - won't save properly, keeps shutting down and then corrupting the save files. Absolutely gutted.
02] Claire (PS4) Another game I was enjoying very much, the save file changed difficulty then it kept crashing my PS4 - seriously, product testing!?
03] The Coma: Recut (PS4) Third time unlucky! Another budget survival horror, this one isn't broken like the others but the frustration factor is ramped to stop you beating it. Bleh.
04] Reus (PS4)  Not a bad game, but far too reliant on memorizing upgrade trees and resource values rather than anything else, not my style at all.
05] The Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1 (PS3) Bought for Tokyo Jungle, which turned out to be very limited, repetitive and ultimately joyless, nuh-uh.
06] Vesta (PS4) Action puzzle game, playable enough, but once the levels get tricky it starts to feel repetitive and it hasn't kept my attention.
07] Caveman Warriors (PS4) Slightly clunky Joe and Mac clone with flash-game graphics, can't bring myself to play it again. Need to watch it with these 'limited' games, many of them are certainly limited!
08] Dynasty Warriors 9 (PS4)  Shonky mess, dreadful animation, a few good ideas and some genuine sense of scale, but the togetherness of previous entries is gone and age-old problems remain. Nope.
09] Fairytale Fights (360) Repetitive, dull and a pig to control. I just don't have it in me to persevere with below-average games like this any more, too many gems to play! Bye-bye.
10] Nights of Azure (PS4)  Nah, tried going back to this after getting halfway and stopping - it's just too barebones, it's more like single-A rather than double-A and just doesn't have enough content to keep it interesting.
11] Vampyr (PS4)  Overall a very good game and one I enjoyed playing through, but a few game design faults/choices at the endgame totally put me off it, traded-in.
12] Cake Mania: To the Max! (PC)  Enjoyed it for awhile, suddenly there was a difficulty spike before the halfway point and it drained all the fun out of it.
13] The Girl and the Robot (PS4)  Single-A budget game, ropey controls, no exploration, just an ultra-budget Ico (which I hated). Came across a cheap boss mid-game and had enough.
14] Terraria (PS4)  Spent God-knows how many hours playing this over the years, but I've come to the conclusion that these building games just don't have any pay-off.
15] Spongebob Squarepants: Frantic Fry Cook (DS)  Cooking Mama clone, however some of the mini games seem broken and a sudden massive difficulty spike put me off, nuh-uh.
16] AereA (PS4)  Inoffensive but crudely put together, as later stages get more complicated it just becomes drudgery. Simply can't tolerate games like this now.
17] Natural Doctrine (PS4)  Designed to be extremely irritating - succeeded. Natural dogshit.
18] Draglade (DS)  Bizarre cross between pokemon and street fighter, couldn't get my head around it, far too much mundane NPC chatter and wandering around for me.
19] One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 (PS4)  I was quite enjoying it, then accidentally erased my save (somehow!?) after nearly beating it, not something I want to replay, au revoir!
20] Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard (PS4)  Pikmin clone which commits 2 cardinal sins: dodgy controls and overpowered enemies used to try and disguise short length. No no.
21] Zenith (PS4)  Laugh out loud funny, but the game is clunky as all hell and the first boss stopped me in my tracks. No thanks, don't mind a fair thing but not this.
22] Vampires VS Zombies (PC)  Farm Frenzy clone, don't like this sort of game, everything has to be done 'just so' to pass each level, far too scripted for my liking.
23] The Order 1886 (PS4)  Bored me silly before even starting the game proper. Not only no, but hell no.
24] Agony (PS4)  Yet another technically deficient double-A game, shonky as hell, can't even be bothered with it.
25] Mafia III (PS4)  Love the story and characters, but this kind of open-world crime game just doesn't keep my attention, getting rid of both Mafias I have.
26] Lost in Blue 3 (DS)  Like a list of chores in video game form. Manages to make a lost island adventure a grindingly dull experience, got rid of all 3 for the DS.
27] God Eater 2: Rage Burst (PS4)  Nah, playable enough, but like Minecraft type games these chop-monsters for two hours games are just grinds without a payoff, inferior to Freedom Wars.
28] Assault Suit Leynos (PS4)  Godawful controls turned me straight off this mech-based side-scroller, no thank you!
29] Vampire Hunter D (PS1)  Resident Evil-style tank controls in an action game? Ouch! Fiddly and repetitive - enemies respawn every time you re-enter a room, it's just a badly dated sub-par RE clone.
30] Anima: Gate of Memories (PS4)  Ugh, no. Garbage voice acting, shonky environments, sub-PS2 era action-choppy gameplay. No no no, get in that trade-in pile.
31] 2Dark (PS4)  Buggy/broken anyway, but coming up against bog standard enemies who have a HUGE advantage in combat and can track my escape from screens away felt unfair rather than challenging.
32] Lumo (PS4)  Not a bad game at all, a love letter to ZX Spectrum isometric games like Head Over Heels, but the viewing angle is weird and it gets very frustrating, not my cup of tea.
33] Stoneloops of Jurassica (PC)  Marble-popper, it's OK, but not a patch on Zuma and TBH when you've got the best, why bother with 'meh'?
34] Darwinia (PC)  Dodgy AI towards the endgame killed what was otherwise a great game, a real pity.
35] Metal Heart: Replicant Rampage (PC)  Broken, stuttery mess. The game itself seems playable enough, when it works, but will it hell stay stable. That's the trouble with PC games..
36] Under Defeat (360)  Vertical shmup, hated the rotation of the aircraft and struggled against seemingly endless missiles, couldn't play it.
37] Battle Fantasia (360)  Hated the characters and gameplay, lasted minutes before I started playing through one of my old favourites.
38] La Mulana EX (Vita)  I'm in no position to judge this game beyond saying that it's not for me, it didn't click.
39] Bomberman: Act Zero (360)  Good grief, it's not the visuals which are the problem, there's just no point to it, its offline mode just drags and drags.
40] Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (PS4)  Fiddly and floaty, two qualities I do not like in tough platformers, couldn't be bothered with it.
41] Desert Law (PC)  More compatability problems, but the game itself is very basic and isn't fun or compelling in any way.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: alzorath on December 28, 2017, 06:23:16 pm
I'll reserve a spot here... though I likely won't hit 52 since I tend to do RPGs that take anywhere from 20-60 hours (if not more... I'm staring at you Disgaea) - if you see a game you're interested in, I'll include a super-short review at the bottom, and if I've recorded it I'll give a link (and note what kind of footage it is so you know if there will be spoilers or not, or if you can just glimpse in and be fine)

Completed
1 - Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction (PC, 2000/2001) [I beat this multiple times a year lol]
2 - Lost Dimension (PC Port, 2017) [One Run-through, not complete unlock, makes me want to try the original PS3 version though]
3 - Phantom Signal ( PC, Jan 2018 ) [Still Buggy, but was able to finish it with 1.03 patch]
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 -
9 -
10 -

In-Progress
- Cosmic Star Heroine ( PC, 2017 )
- SMT: Persona ( PSP Port, 2009 ) [ Playing via PSTV, some crashes, but overall stable enough to play w/ regular saving]
- Grim Dawn (PC, 2016)
- Hard West (PC, 2015) [ Finishing Up what I started last year ]
- Tactics Ogre ( PSX, 1998 ) [US version, doing original PSX version, since PSP version changed a lot]
- Lost Sphear (PC, 2018)

Coming Soon
- Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (GCN, 2004)



Thoughts on Completed Games (super short versions, I save the longer stuff for when I do reviews lol):

I hate point systems, but they're the easiest way to quickly convey my overall feeling on a title - 10 is "I love this game", 1 is "I hate this game" in the most extreme fashions... Reason I hate point systems though is that they don't accurately reflect good vs bad or overall value gained from a title (more than a few games I'd give a 5/10 for, but I fully enjoyed far more time in than they cost). Generally speaking though, to break a 5, it has to have SOME redeeming values... you won't see me giving many 9s or 10s... since those would have to be life altering games for me ;).

Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5gcuKwKZBUGHMWXHsqIxSk3TyWu1zbCP) (Casual Playthroughs - Season 3 "Stupid Builds")
Pretty much the gold standard for aRPGs despite being released just shy of 20 years ago, there are of course areas it could improve. It only looks slightly dated (good for a game of its age), the gameplay is solid, but the stamina mechanic is just an irritant - actually hope they give it the same treatment they gave Starcraft. (7/10, well made, repetitive though )

Lost Dimension (Not Recorded - yet)
The Dialogue is the definition of cringeworthy, but the gameplay concept is great if only implemented in a rudimentary fashion. The highlight is the vision system to pick up and remove (or keep... depending on the ending you want) traitors. The combat is one of a few variants of sRPG that were floating around in the PS2 era, this one most resembling Phantom Brave (point movement with a circular range area of effect - as opposed to the more traditional square or hex systems).  (5/10, super interesting concepts, with "meh" execution )

Phantom Signal (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5gcuKwKZBUGoaSoLGlOJpmueEo7Lbaa-) (Casual Walkthrough)
Bog standard space tower defense, has some annoying bugs (most notably missing skill points on some missions, and serious issues with energy routing for the defensive nodes). If it wasn't for the bugs, it'd be a fun 2-6 hour romp in unpathed tower defense, even though its very predictable (there's very little RNG involved, and only a handful of "trigger" situations that cause enemy spawns) (4/10, would be higher, but dem bugs)

Hard West (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5gcuKwKZBUFfqZNEPKBmS23WrI1baVIu) (Casual Playthrough)
Weirdly compared to a Lovecraftian Western take on XCom usually... though I think that's just because people see grid-strategy and go "Xcom weee" - The main weakness of the game is also oddly its biggest strength, and that's just how disjointed it feels at times - each 'story' of the campaign has different mechanics, which makes them feel a bit isolated in terms of gameplay (though the story does connect fairly well if you go through all the campaigns). I feel this is also its greatest strength, with each story being so different, you can't really rest on your laurels and go Point A to Point B without thinking about how you go about it (because it can have a significant impact on the one constant: the combat). Once you figure out the combat exploits, the game becomes significantly easier (hit % is actually based on luck, a resource that you can gain/drain - 0 luck, means you're going to get hit... even with a rando potshot off the bucket and the water pump around 3 corners and through a wall). (6/10, could use some tightening up, but definitely worth at least one playthrough)

Cosmic Star Heroine (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5gcuKwKZBUEMFxDUisI_2aPgiaR0g04Y) (Blind Playthrough)
- Still In Progress, no comments yet -

Lost Sphear (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5gcuKwKZBUFmzTzN1nO1RU9zK6wd98sc) (Blind Playthrough)
- Still In Progress, no comments yet -
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on December 28, 2017, 06:31:51 pm
Definitely doing this this year too! Last year was my first year participating and I went a little bit overboard with 134 games beaten (a lot of fighting games boosted that number haha).
I'm rating the games based on my personal thoughts only, so a game may be rated higher than a game that is technically better if I liked it more.

Last Year : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg149108.html#msg149108

1. Red Dead Redemption [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Incredible graphics. This game was so ahead of it's time! The weather is so realistic done, all the lighting effects, the sun, the storms... This game definitely has the prettiest and most realistic sky I've ever seen in a video game! The horses are also stunningly animated! To this day I still think this is one of the most stunning game made thanks to it's attention to details and realistic atmosphere.
- Amazing characters. John Marston is a really charismatic protagonist, he's a bad man turned hero who you can't help but love! The "main missions" characters are also all really interesting, a good mix between funny (West Dickens, Seth...) and serious characters (Luisa, Landon...). Even the strangers are pretty memorable which is pretty rare usually! I also love how all the female characters are strong women who don't need a man to handle their business (I guess except Luisa but her situation was different, plus she still proved herself as a really brave character.).
- A great story, while not the most original, all the diverse missions and charismatic characters make it really interesting!
- Good side missions, I completed 18 out of the 19 strangers missions (fuck the 5 beavers) and I definitely recommended doing them because they're very interesting, well written and some of them are pretty hilarious!
- Incredible voice acting! Rockstar is known for quality voice acting and this game is no exception! Even the least important characters have a great voice over!
- A lot of activities! I loved playing roll the dice and doing nightwatch jobs! There also a huge amount of non scripted scenes that can happen anywhere on the map, I think after about 22 hours of playing I had about 150 unscripted scenes.
- A breath taking open world! Every part of the map is just so stunning! It's divided into 3 main part, the first being the typical Cowboy setting with ranchs and more average quality type of locations, the second being Mexico, and the third being the more evolved and modern part of the world, consisting of Blackwater, Martson's farm and a lot of mountains full of snow!
- An amazing soundtrack. Each region has different background musics depending on where you are. It adds a lot to the immersion and makes you truly feel like you're in the game!
-
- The only negative point of the game is that there aren't more missions with Harold Macdougal, other than that I consider the game to be perfect!

2. The Technomancer [17/20] - Xbox One -
+
- A nice story with a few good plot twists! A lot of side quests too, and while I haven't done a lot of them (focused mostly on the main quests), the ones I did were pretty interesting.
- An early 2000 late 90's RPG game vibe that I really liked, the monotone voices added something unique to the game, kinda like the bad English does in Shenmue.
- Really pretty environnements, especially the Slums and Noctis! A lot of attention to details! The characters looked pretty good too, epsecially Zacariah (or at least the one I made lol).
- A cool fighting system, I know it's been criticized but I personally really enjoyed it!
- An overall really good quality game, especially knowing that it was made by a pretty small team (16 people I think), a nice hidden gem to have.
-
- A pretty basic "create a character" system, you can only choose a face, hair and eye color. No face tuning, facial hair, height or even the possibility to play as a female character. There is a lot a choice between skin colors tho which was pretty cool.
- Characters lack some depth, I feel like they had great ideas for each of them but most of them ended up being pretty basic. Dandolo and Scott were my favorite, but I think I mostly liked Dandolo because he was a less interesting Dorian from Dragon Age Inquisition lol.
- The ennemies are fuckin strong, it shouldn't take me 20 hit to kill them and only 4 hit for them to kill me (not talking about bosses).

3. Street Fighter Ex 3 [16/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- A really good roster, only missing Allen but other than that it's probably the best from the 3 games.
- Good gameplay that has been polished a lot since the second game. The animations are more fluid and detailed.
- Really good music, probably my favorite thing about the EX games!
- A lot of hidden characters!
-
- While it's the best roster from the 3 games, I think it's definitely thanks to Arika's character! I wish they would've added some Street Fighter characters from the Alpha serie and the third game.
- Graphically a bit behind when you compare it to Tekken Tag 1, Dead or Alive 2 or Virtua Fighter 4 (games that came out around the same time). Especially the stages, which could've been a lot more unique and interesting.

4. The King of Fighters 98' [19/20] - Arcade -
+
- An amazing roster with a lot of added characters! I'm so happy they finally brought back the American team! Takuma and Rugal are also amazing additions!
- Great gameplay with more fluid animations.
- Cool stages, while not my favorites, I definitely loved the Train Yard and Japanese night street ones!
- Good music, KOF always delivers when it comes to soundtrack imo.
-
- Not necessarily a big difference when it comes to graphics compared to the previous games.

5. Hidden Agenda [18/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Stunning graphics, the details on the characters are really impressive. The game is made of cut scenes only but it still remains beautiful to look at!
- A great story, with a few good plot twists!
- Great characters, especially Felicity and Becky!
- A lot of suspense, I kept waiting for someone to be attacked or betrayed or whatever XD
- Choices that really feel like they matter! It makes me want to play the game again to see all the endings, even tho i'm ok with the one I got (none of the good people died, but Becky is suspected).
-
- Plot twists that you can see from miles away! I knew who the killer was the second as I saw him and the bottles/drugging was way to obvious.
- Why the app? Like it's totally useless and doesn't add anything that couldn't have been added to the game! A controller would've been way less messy to use.
- A bit to short, I finished the game in about 1h30 and the ending felt really rushed, so a good 3-4 hours would've made the game a lot better imo.

6. NBA Playgrounds [18/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Fun graphics, the players look hilarious tbh, and I thought the courts looked pretty cool!
- A great roster of player, they even included some of the Seattle Supersonics! I'm glad they included legends too and not only the current players.
- Fun gameplay, it's pretty easy to get used to and each player feels different while playing (I mean obviously lol).
- Cool way to unlock players, it reminded me of when I used to collect cards in school and it honestly just makes the game more fun to play!
-
- AI can be a bit to overpowered, it's almost impossible to steal a ball.
- Blocking and stealing is really hard, it's either I didn't get something or i'm just shit at the game lol.

7. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Stunning graphics! The PS3 version was already ahead of it's time but this Remastered version truly changed the whole game! Probably my favorite remaster with Gears of War 1!
- A really interesting story! I love everything that's about treasure hunting, and while the theme can get boring they managed to make a really captivating adventure story. The dialogues are funny and the connection between the characters is what makes this game so good.
- Amazing characters! I mean Nathan Drake is probably the most iconic character of the seventh generation, he's funny, lovable, charismatic... he basically has everything a perfect hero needs! But he's not the only one, Elena is also an amazing love interest for Nathan, she's funny, brave and can hold her own very well. Also Sully, he might not have been as present in this game as he is in the later one but his humor still left a big impact on the game!
- Great gameplay! Naughty Dog excel when it comes to gameplay! The platforming part of the game are by far the best imo.
-
/

8. Mass Effect Andromeda [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Amazing characters! Being a big fan of the Mass Effect trilogy and having heard how ass this game was, I was honestly pretty scared of starting, but the characters are honestly the best thing about this game! Comparing them to the ones from the MA trilogy is stupid because they're completely different type of characters, the trilogy had professionals and mostly adults with a lot of experience, here most of the characters are young and new which is imo what made this crew really great. I didn't want something similar to the previous crew because nothing will ever top that, so giving us something different, more fresh and young was the best option imo. I loved everyone but my favorite was by far Jaal, he was the most interesting and well thought character from the game, and his romance was really adorable. Ryder is also an excellent protagonist, completely different from Shepard who was a professional and serious soldier, here we have a young inexperienced guy who tries to fill the place his dad left. Ryder is really funny and while totally new to everything still managed to make things work.
- A lot of interesting missions! The main quest was really enjoyable but I definitely recommend doing the side quests too, especially the loyalty ones. I completed all the loyalty missions, all the Heleus assignments (except one that I just didn't one to do because I was about to finish the game lol) and some tasks (pretty boring tho). Heleus assignments are great to find out more about the different planets and the overall context of the game!
- The Angara race! Such a cool addition to the mass effect universe! It was a really smart move to add a totally new race imo!
- Some stunning environnements! The Nexus, Aya, Voeld and that floating planet that I can't remember the name of look absolutely stunning!
- You can finally jump XD! Small detail but I always wondered why Shepard couldn't jump lol.
- SPOILER! A great ending where no one dies lol, Mass Effect 3's ending left me in tears no knowing what would happen after the end so having a "perfect ending" for Andromeda was totally cool with me lol.
-
- Some graphical inequalities. The game overall is really pretty however some details really throw of the whole thing. My biggest issue was the lighting on the characters face, especially humans, my Ryder could look absolutely bomb one minute and trash af the next minute. My second biggest issue was the draw distance of the freaking plants, might not seem like a big thing but when plants pop out of fine air in a huge ass desert it's kinda weird lol.

9. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- Very different atmosphere from the main game's! It's mostly nighttime during the whole game, and the new weather and skies really make the game look totally different!
- Great missions with the main and some secondary characters! West Dickens got the most missions which i'm not mad about at all cause he's by far the funniest character imo!
- The badass nun and the plot twist at the end! I was screaming when John came back lol.
- The new horses, I saw a horse with flames or some weird shit around him but I didn't catch him because I liked my current horse but I did get and Undead horse when my previous one died which was pretty funny and unexpected!
-
- They killed off Macdougal before he even got a mission I was so mad lol.

10. NBA 2K18 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- A HUGE roster, the best from any 2K with the addition of all the all-time teams! The main reason why I like 2K is because I can play with the past player so this new addition was my favorite part of the game!
- The game is really immersive, the attention to details to make everything look like a real game is really impressive!
- The addition of the neighborhood in MyCareer. Yes it's ass, but it's a huge step toward making sports game more than just sports games! I wish it was better made but I still appreciate the effort to make something completely new! I also liked the park, not the best from any 2K but it's nice.
- Great gameplay. It's really realistic and the animations are stunning!
- A lot of different modes, you honestly can't get bored playing this game because there is just so many things to do.
-
- You have to pay for everything! It's IMPOSSIBLE to not pay real money if you want to have fun online. It's way to hard to grind your myplayer up to a decent player. Also paying for the haircuts? fuck outta here with that bullshit.
- The annoying ass cutscenes! I appreciate the effort to make the game more alive with the inclusions of characters but they all look like parodies and honestly sound dumb af. I only liked Bryan and he's the one you see the least. Having to go through all these UNSKIPPABLE cutscenes before playing a game, going to your mycourt, going to the fuckin barber... is a pain in the ass.
- Graphically, while stunning, it's not really a big change compared to last year.
- The trash ass character customization. I mean at least there is one, but what happened to the old one? I was mad that 2k17 reused 16's character creation well fuck that if it's to give us one that is worse I'd rather have the old one back.

11. The King of Fighters 99' [20/20] - Arcade -
+
- Beautiful graphics! For the first time I truly saw a big difference between this game and the previous one! The stages are so much more alive with all the weather effects and the animation are way more fluid!
- Better gameplay. Gameplay has also been improved with the inclusion of striker characters.
- Cool new characters. While this isn't my favorite roster, I do like most of the new fighters.
-
-  A lot of teams missing and some big names like Geese aren't there.

12. Ultra Street Fighter IV [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- Stunning graphics! A perfect mix of 2D and 3D. The fighters looks amazing and so do the stages.
- One of the best roster. While a few characters I love are missing, I think this is one of the best mix of fighters. Also in this Ultra version you have Poison and Hugo who are two of my all time favorite Capcom characters.
- Good gameplay. Definitely easier to pick up than the previous ones imo. The animations are fluid and the overall game is just really fun to play with.
-
- Should've been the first game and not an "updated" version since there it's only 5 characters and a few stages added. Could've been just DLCs for the first game.

13. Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition [17/20] - Playstation 1 -
+
- Detailed characters, a lot of PS1 fighting games have their fighters looking like a piece of cube but this game has some surprisingly good looking characters! Stages are ass tho.
- Fast gameplay, it truly feels like Fatal Fury game, contrary to the EX game from Street Fighter that felt like a totally different game serie.
- Good music!
-
- A bit hard to get into, there is a weird 1 second difference between the moment you touch a button and when the animation starts.
- As I said, the stages are pretty boring and uninspiring.

14. Assassin's Creed [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- Stunning graphics! Even today the game still hold ups well. The attention to details is mind blowing tbh. The cities are also full of pedestrians, making them feel truly alive. The animations are also really well made and super precise, like Altair is really holding on to something when he's climbing and actually puts his hands where there is something.
- Revolutionary gameplay! Playing this after having played some of the later game made me realize how much the gameplay has been improved but still, this is the first game, the one that started the whole yamakazi running on the house gameplay still and it's just as fun. Altair is definitely the slowest assassin tho lol.
- A good story, while it might take a while to get into it, the ending is amazing (not the actual non existent ending tho lol).
- Good music and voice acting.
-
- The hordes of enemies trying to kill every 3 seconds is EXTREMELY annoying. The missions aren't that hard but the fucking guard make them sometime impossible to complete. You'll spend more time running of the guard or killing them than actually doing the missions.
- The missions are really repetitive since you basically have to do the same thing over and over again 9 times.
- Some lagging which is understandable with all the pedestrians however the freezing is really annoying, at first I thought it was my game because I bought it used but I red online that it's the actual game's fault and not the disc. It's really annoying since you have to start the game again.
- A pretty boring Altair, Desmond is much more interesting even tho he appears a lot less.
- No subtitles, which made it sometime hard to follow the story, especially for me who plays during night and who often relies on subtitles to follow dialogues since I don't always hear them clearly.

15. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Stunning graphics! This game was already beautiful on PS3 but this remaster version just make it even better. All the details and lighting effect make the game really special.
- Amazing story! The first game had a really fun story but this is another level good. The action is so intense in this game, Nathan climbing the train is one of my favorite game beginning ever! Plus all the betrayal and love story make the story even more fun.
- The characters. Uncharted's biggest asset is definitely it's characters! Nathan, Sully and Elena are amazing and the addition of Chloe made the crew even better!
- Amazing voice acting! The uncharted serie has one of the best voice acting I've seen in video games tbh.
- Great gameplay! I'm glad they added more climbing this time biggest it's definitely the funnest part of the game imo.
- Amazing music!
-
/


Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: indenton on December 28, 2017, 08:22:05 pm
Games Finished / Beaten

Luigi's Mansion - One of my favourite Super Mario Spin-offs, the drastically direct style and theme across Nintendo games as a whole makes this interesting enough to try out, I've played and beaten this game on an annual basis.  While I usually notice more blemishes each time, the amazing game feel and intuitive control scheme make it a perfectly enjoyable (albeit quite short) romp. 

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (Hard Core Mode (NS) - The transforming returns after being notably absent from 'Pirate's Curse'.  I prefer these hand drawn characters over the previous pixel sprites, characters details aren't crushed anymore.  The controls are responsive, though there's a bias towards the monkey, the other transformations don't have nearly as much versatility.  When playing on Hard Core mode, (I have beaten it before so yes, I did enjoy this game) there's quite a difficulty spike because you start the game with very little health and half of the enemies will be able to one-shot you.  Checkpointing is far more frequent than in Pirate's Curse and exiting level and returning to levels is hassle free, once you get your hands on some key abilities.  One of the criticisms I've heard for this game is the absence of a level map, which I didn't need myself. 

Pikmin 2 (GC) - While leveraging the very feeling of dread from it predecessors due to the lack of a day limit, the improved Pikmin AI, more prevalent Pikmin strengths and weaknesses as well as incentive to protect certain Pikmin types makes tactical approach just as important as it was during our first visit to PNF-404.  Surrounding monsters are more bizarre and intimidating than before. 

Professor Layton and Pandora's Box

Super Mario Odyssey - What a delightful Mario game to have on the equally delightful platform.  Nintendo once again proving that 3D platformers can be tightly crafted and polished experiences.  All of these transformations presenting you with bizarre and elaborate platforming set-ups.  It steps away from Galaxy (lots of smaller levels with stars to collect & recycling themes occasionally, more often in Galaxy 2) but instead looking back to Super Mario 64 (Larger worlds with a variety of tasks and areas to explore). 

Spyro: Year of the Dragon - This is the Spyro game I played as a kid, so it set the bar once I had the chance to play the prior 2 games, I believe this is the superior game.  The worlds are far more varied in its visual & audio styling, Spyro's platforming feels a bit more tight and rewarding.  The boss battles got some well needed attention, more consistent, better designed & music tracks for an actual fight. 

Rayman Legends (PS4) - Previously finished this on Wii U.  One of the most entertaining games I've played without a single line of dialogue, no extensive story because who cares.  The platforming feels like a natural evolution of Rayman 2.  Plenty of levels, remixed levels (Invasion), the music levels are really fun, costumes and recolours for characters and the Back to Origins levels really help build up the value for money (Not a shred of DLC, everyone gets everything!).  Strangely enough I think the Wii U version was a little bit more enjoyable, because the Murfy levels were reduced down to just a button press on PS4. 

Beyond: Two Souls [PS4] - Free through PS Plus so not much investment in this one, I am not a fan of these cinematic experiences and it has more action sequences than I remember in Heavy Rain, instead it just makes me realise how bad all this 'realism' makes the game feel, always got to have the awkward nude scenes.  I like the idea of a spirit of some kind anchored to a human through there life.  I don't like it jumped all over Jodie lifetime.  I'll finish this before I unistall this, could do with the extra disc space anyway. 

Final Fantasy XV (PS4) - First FF game I've finished and yeah I know it's still action oriented at its core, I still believe it's justified since it does it well and it's not pretending to be more traditional than it is.  The story gets a bit hazy at times, but it didn't leave me as hopelessly alone as FF XIII did with the beginning moments of the game.  The party characters are likable, and at least they're not the ones rattling off all this backstory nonsense.  The whole adventure being framed as a long road trip was also a cool idea.

Ratchet & Clank (PS2) - Now despite being a little rough around the edges as an action game, it's still an enjoyable run, the weapons design in the first installment are much more grounded but you can see the budding of some of Insomniac's more wacky inventions.  Because weapons don't level up and increase in power or versatility, that means that all the weapons can be potent from the moment you acquire them till the very end.  I love the premise of Ratchet & Clank, it's concise enough that it's straightforward for a younger audience, but has the undertones and commentary of a idolized superhero becomes a corrupt businessman while a new hero duo is invented, keeping an older audience engaged with the story. 

Megaman X (Legacy Collection (NS) - I did fall back on a couple walkthroughs, but nothing that spoiled the challenge for me at least.  I love how a good handful of the bosses will still pose a threat even when you use the weaknesses.  It's a really good feeling when you take each one down because X feels more agile than his original incarnation, but boss attack patterns have been adjusted accordingly. The moment I landed that final hit on Sigma I got that excited rush that I would get when I beat any game as a child, because I finally conquered the game after several hours, I hadn't felt that in a while but I'm thankful Megaman X1 delivered.  Bring on X2!!

Picross S -

Kemono Friends Picross -
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on December 28, 2017, 10:07:55 pm
So I said earlier that I was going to do 12 games this year (one a month) but after thinking about it for a while, I'd like to change my goal. I was looking at my collection and thinking about how many games I have that I've never played, and then I realized that I have systems that I collect for that I've never played a single game on (I'm looking at you GameGear!). So with that said, this year my goal will to beat one game for each system I own. So 23 games. I plan on keeping this post updated through out the year so this will be my place holder... I might even record the gameplay and upload to youtube if that's something that anyone would be interested in.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 29, 2017, 12:03:53 am
Shoot, missed my first page reservation lol Anyways, I'll stake my claim here.  I already got a handful of games I'm planning to play starting in January, to hopefully get done before the end of January where the year starts hard with Monster Hunter World and Dragon Ball FighterZ.  I'm actually gonna try and not buy as much new stuff and I'm gonna try and get into my backlog more.  Try to beat a lot of these free and cheap games I've collected over the years through Humble Bundle, Steam, Origin, Uplay, and Playstation Plus.  And while we aren't technically into January yet, gonna put up my first game that'll slip into the next year.

GREEN - Beaten
BLUE - Playing
BLACK - Endless/Multiplayer
RED - Dropped
PURPLE - Semi-Beat

1 - Yakuza Kiwami (PS4 2017) - BEAT
2 - The Evil Within 2 (PC 2017) - BEAT
3 - Superhot (PC 2016) - BEAT
4 - Steamworld Heist (PC 2015) - DROPPED
5 - Tales of Berseria (PS4 2017) - DROPPED
6 - Monster Hunter World (PS4 2018) - 100+ HOURS BEAT
7 - Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4 2018) - BEAT
8 - Metro 2033 Redux (PC 2014) - BEAT
9 - Celeste (Switch 2018) - BEAT
10 - Metro: Last Light Redux (PC 2014) - BEAT
11 - Metal Gear Survive (PS4 2018) - BEAT
12 - Ratchet and Clank (PS4 2016) - DROPPED
13 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (PC 2018) - ENDLESS
14 - Attack on Titan 2 (PS4 2018) - BEAT
15 - Star Was Battlefront 2 (PC 2017) - ENDLESS
16 - Far Cry 5 (PC 2018) - BEAT
17 - Subnautica (PC 2018) - BEAT
18 - Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle (PC 2018) - DROPPED
19 - God of War (PS4 2018) - BEAT
20 - The Forest (PC 2018) - BEAT
21 - The Flame in the Flood (PC 2016) - BEAT
22 - Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Switch 2018) - BEAT
23 - State of Decay 2 (PC 2018) - DROPPED
24 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC 2018) - BEAT
25 - Assassin's Creed: Rogue (PC 2015) - DROPPED
26 - Dreadnought (PC 2018) - ENDLESS
27 - Rising Storm 2: Vietnam (PC 2017) ENDLESS
28 - Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion (Switch 2018) - BEAT
29 - Dragon Ball Legends (Mobile 2018) - BEAT
30 - Cuisine Royale (PC 2018) - ENDLESS
31 - Middle Earth: Shadow of War (PC 2017) - BEAT
32 - Battle Chef Brigade (PC 2017) - ABANDONED
33 - Resident Evil HD Remaster (PC 2015) - BEAT
34 - Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster (PC 2016) - DROPPPED
35 - Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (PS4 2015) - BEAT
36 - Tacoma (PC 2017) - BEAT
37 - Enter the Gungeon (Switch 2017) - ENDLESS
38 - Resident Evil 4 (PC 2014) - BEAT
39 - Gone Home (PC 2013) - BEAT
40 - Mega Man X (Switch 2018) - BEAT
41 - Mega Man X2 - Switch 2018) - BEAT
42 - Mega Man X3 - (Switch 2018) - BEAT
43 - Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms (PC 2017) - ENDLESS
43 - Mega Man X4 (Switch 2018) - BEAT
44 - Mega Man X5 (Switch 2018) - BEAT
45 - Mega Man X6 (Switch 2018) - BEAT
46 - Mega Man X7 (Switch 2018) - BEAT
47 - Mega Man X8 (Switch 2018) - BEAT
48 - Hollow Knight (Switch 2017) - BEAT
49 - Dungeons & Dragons - Tower of Doom (PC 2013) - BEAT
50 - Dungeons & Dragons - Shadow over Mystara (PC 2013) - BEAT
51 - Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch 2018) - ABANDONED
52 - The Messenger (Switch 2018) - BEAT
53 - Spider-Man (PS4 2018) - BEAT
54 - Fight'N Rage (PC 2017) - DROPPED
55 - Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PC 2012) - BEAT
56 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (PC 2015) - ABANDONED
57 - Escape from Tarkov (PC Early Access 2016) - ENDLESS
58 - Resident Evil 7 (PC 2017) - BEAT
59 - SOMA (PC 2015) - BEAT
60 - Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4 2018) - BEAT
61 - Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC 2016) - BEAT
62 - Darksiders 2 (PC 2012) - BEAT
63 - Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu (Switch 2018) - BEAT
64 - Sunset Overdrive (PC Port 2018) - SEMI-BEAT
65 - Battlefield V (PC 2018) - BEAT
66 - Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (PC 2018) - ENDLESS
67 - Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch 2018) - BEAT
68 - Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (PS4 2017) - BEAT
69 - Iconoclasts (PS4 2018) - PLAYING
70 - Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (PS4 2017) - PLAYING
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 29, 2017, 09:55:07 am
I'm probably going to pick Final Fantasy VII back up; I started it earlier this year, but for a variety of reasons I never finished it. I am close to finishing disk one though. It's officially my 4th favorite game of all time, but that will probably change once I complete it. I'm just not into JRPGs the way I used to be in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: rayne315 on December 29, 2017, 10:35:55 am
off to a slow start

1. Tom Clancey's Rainbow Six Siege (Xbone): I got this game and the xbone for Christmas and finally beat all senarios and have played online a bit with my friends who own it. I bet they don't like playing with me too much. this is a fun realistic version of an fps. its actually tactical as you can lay traps and shoot through most surfaces to create lines of sight to exploit. I can see why so many people are still playing this game years after it had released. 1/1/2018

2. Hey! Pikmin (3ds): this was a interesting 2d sidescroller set in the pikmin universe. it behaves like it was originally ment to be a fully 3d title but had the plug pulled last minute because it was not performing well. I played it on a 3ds XL and it was lagging very badly. each level had a pikmin cap of 20 that had to be picked up in the level themselves and performed worse than the gamecube versions. it has a bunch of features that ended up finishing at the exact same time in casual play. pikmin park, gathering 30,000 sparklium to beat the game, and the beating the final level all happened at once. the boss fights were increadibly easy and baring not paying attention all got beat with all pikmin left. it was a very fun game still 7.5/10 for standalone games but 5/10 for other pikmin titles. 2/03/18

3. Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4): Deffinately one of my all time favorite story archs in all of gaming. this will deffinately be in my play again pile. the story was engrossing and although I knew the general idea of the story it was still capable of giving twists in the story. I loved how fluid movement was (although im pretty sure nobody can climb like her) and how simple saving was. literally run by a bonfire and press triangle and keep moving. unfortunately my playstyle made it so that I would do no melee and I could never remember how to hack a machine which made a whole section of gameplay out of my reach. bosses were fun enemies were a challenge exploring was a blast controls were great and the lore was extensive. 9.5/10 2/04/18

4. Spy Chameleon (PS4): this was an interesting stealth game that reminds me heavily of old flash games I have played in the past. if I had not have gotten this free on ps+ I would probably never have paid for it at all. it was a decent game with good controls but like I said I can get the exact same thing free online. it has a relatively unique color changing feature that allows you to blend into backgrounds so you do not get caught. the easy mode is way too easy (beat in under an hour) and is required to beat to get to hard mode. its very short (only 75 levels) and most can be passed in 30 seconds or less. 5.5/10 2/08/18

5. Table Top Racing: World Tour (PS4): a racing game in the style of little rc cars. it was incredibly strange and glitch in a non glitch way. what I mean by that is I would hit a wall exacly the same way (you play the same like 5 courses over and over again) and every time a different effect would happen, sometimes id be fine and just slide off of it and keep going, sometimes I would get stuck and have to reverse, sometimes it would count me as being out of bounds and forcibly place me back into bounds, and very rarely I would go through it like it was not there. they placed many different game modes over the same maps for each cup (6 in total) ranging from elimination races, to drifting challenges, to non-power up races. and you have to place in every challenge to go onto the next one to get to the championship cup. of course there are 2 cups each division (difficulty) but you have to work your way through the difficulties by making enough coin to buy cars in the next difficulty and supping them up to be able to race. unfortunately my favorite event (Drifting) was also the event that was least used. im generally unimpressed with racing games anymore so I give this a 3.5/10 2/11/18

6. Transistor (PS4): this was an interesting spin on the rpg/turn based formula you make a deck of cards that you receive throughout your levels and add in difficulties as you go that act as increased experience gain per fight. the fights are pretty ok and each time you use a turn based move setyou have to sit through unusable down time (4 seconds?) before you can attack at all. you can also battle realtime but its more difficult and near impossible at the final boss. it was a relatively short game (designed to be run through multiple times) with a sortof confusing story with it. your sword also will not shut up ever! the bosses were very interesting in their story and the final one took me about 15 tries to kill. 7.5/10 2/11/18

7. This War of Mine: The Little Ones (PS4): im not entirely sure if there is an actual ending to this game... (there must be because its a war... but I don't know if its 40, 50, or 100 days or if the required days change depending on your playthrough) but I ended up making it to day 31 before a catastrophic string of events killed my party members. I had Katia, Bruno, Pavle according to my notes and katia my Barterer was the first to die. I made her talk to a wondering person in the middle of the day for a supply run that brought her back gravely wounded and she died that night in a bandit raid. Because of extreme sickness to my other person I did not set up a guard because I thought I could make it one night without a raid. its a very interesting survival simulator that is randomly generated? on startup of my second playthrough which I abandoned quickly I noticed I had different characters so I think its 100% random with certain specified things that happen. I really wish I was capable of bringing more than 1 person on a scavenge hunt and that on day 1 I didn't steal from a neighbor. that came back and bit me in the ass deffinately. gameplay was solid and I didn't notice any bugs but I wish movement was also allowed through the d-pad as I was constantly running up and down stairs accidentally. 7/10 2/12/18

8. Letter Quest Remastered (PS4): First off I have to admit I absolutely suck at word puzzle games, always have, so it will come as no shock that I had to get help in the form of a word unscrambler... I cheated and made the game what it was not supposed to be as such I will not give it a rating at the end. you start off as the grim reaper and want pizza. on your way to the pizza place you encounter monsters that you have to kill. how you kill them is by creating words out of 15 randomly given letters. each word you make directly equates to how much damage you deal to the enemies. without cheating I think I made it to level 7 or 8 but got stuck. I have the inability to create words over 5-6 letters with random letters so I was never the target audience for this. I personally am confused on how it was expected to be beaten. even with help and making 9-12 letter words constantly I barely managed to beat the final boss. had to play him 3-4 times just to do it. 2/13/18

9. Titan souls (PS4): geez this was a very short but very difficult game... I did not end up killing all 19-20? titans but I did end up killing the final boss (the one that makes the credits roll not the one after) I really liked the fact that every boss battle was extreamly quick. most of them can be done in under 20 seconds if your perfect but more often than not you will die multiple times a boss. the end boss was a major pain in the ass though. it essentially took the fun I was having and made it into frustration. the problem is he is protected by souls? so you cannot shoot him, but he teleports away to random spots and that is his only vulnerable state so.... its wait till he teleports and randomly shoot an arrow and hope it was placed correctly... I died to him probably over 100 times before I just got lucky and hit the right spot. every other boss after a few times playing you know what you have to do then just positioning yourself to do it. the bosses were incredibly varied and all were interesting. unfortunately the 8-bit art style for the kind of game this is really did not feel right. I think they should have increased the resolution, kept it 2d, and stylized it more. unfortunately this was only a 1-2 hour game so relatively short. 8/10 2/14/18

10. Tearaway Unfolded (PS4): this was an interesting game. it felt more along the lines of a tech demo that was updated into a game format. the story was a strange one that kept on changing over time and as such made the game feel a lot longer than it should have been. if im not mistaken 4 times you were at the end of the game, 4 times you were told you were about to win, but every time something happened to stop you from actually beating the game. it was frustrating in that reguard. if it would have happened once fine 2 times would be pushing it, any more than that just frustrating. the game itself was very well constructed I only ran into 1 bug through the entire game (a pretty serious bug mind you that locked the game up). a bunch of npc's ran away from an event and one was supposed to stop and talk with you, well he stopped and got pushed by another npc and so he started running away. it zoomed in to see him talk but since he didn't talk the view got locked in place and I had to restart from the last checkpoint. overall it was a nice game 7/10 2/15/18

11. Skyforce Anniversary 3/08/18

12. Valiant hearts: The Great War 3/11/18

13. The walking dead season 2 ep 1 3/11/18

14. Lego City Undercover (Switch): Played through this with my 7 year old nephew. took us quite a long time as we could only play so long on days we were together. overall its your typical run of the mill lego game. fun for all. 8/10 3/24/18

15. Lego City Worlds 3/31/18

16. God of War (PS4): definitely the best game I have played this year or last. it brought back so much that I had enjoyed from the previous games and improved upon them. the combat was nice and tight with combos that felt satisfying to pull off. really good difficulty to it (I played on the second highest difficulty and beat it) but I did hear that "Give Me God Of War" mode was ridiculously difficult. The story was very nice and it left room to expand out with the next releases they have planed (although I personally have less interest in mythology now than I did when the original game released). It was definitely more mature than previous entries, not just rage and brutality. the camera work was nice how it was set up as one continuous shot, the only time this ever wavered from my perspective was when you traveled to the... (cant remember what its called...) world tree quick travel points as it whited out for a decent amount of time. it was deffinately worth getting the Stone Masson edition as well. very easily a 10/10. 5/3/18

17. Uncharted 3 (ps4): this was a very nice addition to the uncharted series and one that I had never played before now. the story (although one I have never heard of) was very interesting and as always the controls were very nice. no issues were had moving around except for my own eneptitude. 9/10 6/13/18

18. The order 1886 (ps4): I deffinately see why people were upset about this game when it released. for a AAA game this is deffinately in my bottom 5 games of all time (for AAA titles). the game was increadibly linear, increadibly short, way too many cutscenes for it length, story was ok, and the parts where there could have been the most action was boiled down to quick time events. some of the checkpoints were very poorly placed as well. sometimes when you spawned in you wouldn't even be able to reach cover before you were killed. some chapters sent way too many enemies at you all at once in very tight Quarters especially chapter 13 I believe when you are in a small room and right around 30 enemies spawn in. just headshoting everyone (instant kill) will put you into danger as there are 10 others shooting at you at once. I came in with an open mind but I have to give this a 4/10. 6/14/18

19. SnipperClips (Switch): Played through this with my fiancé. we were at first trying to 100% the game but the farther we got in and the harder the puzzles got the less she wanted to play it. the challenges were fun and figuring out how to beat each challenge was entertaining. some of them were increadibly simple and some were mind numbingly hard. but it was all fun. the game is increadibly simple. give you an objective and you cut out pieces of your characters till you have a shape that is needed to beat the challenge. its a very unique concept in gaming and I was glad to have played it with my fiancé. 8/10 6/16/18

20. Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed (PS4): this was one of the strangest concepts I have ever seen in a video game. its whole idea was to attack non-human humans till their cloths fell off because they were evil or something like that while a person sucked the life force from the area to extend the lives of his people. it was more so a listen to the story kind of game for me so I played it on the lowest difficulty. it was relatively short (I think I beat it in about 8 hours of play) but I also did not do a lot of the side quests. by my estimation it would have taken about 12-14 hours to beat entirely. the sound was good but the menu music was very repetitive. my biggest gripe was that the items that dropped during battle only had a limited time to pick them up. if you ended the battle you may be pushed into more dialogue that made you lose it completely. overall it was enjoyable 7.5/10 6/18/18

21. Murdered: Soul Suspect (ps4): this was a very nice detective story you don't see too often. your main character is trying to solve his own murder after he had been killed by a serial killer. the gameplay is pretty much what you would expect from a detective story. essentially point and click where you are finding clues and putting those clues together in the correct order to progress the story. it was pretty easy all told minus 1 of the demon encounters which took me almost 30mins just to beat. the story was great and came together nicely to form the complete story with little loose ends. the theme for the whole thing was centered around the salem witch trials which is a theme I have never seen before in a video game. overall the whole game was nice and deffinately worth the play 8/10 6/21/18

22. Tales from the Boarderlands (PS4): This is my first full foray into any of the telltale series and I have to say it does not disappoint story wise as it has all the same charm as the games themselves. unfortunately there really isn't much gameplay to these (I understood that before I started to play) but seriously the only gameplay is giving a conversation direction and rarely walking along a 1 minute linear pathway. so definitely only play this if you are looking for 100% storyline. there appear to be a number of unintentional glitches by the looks of it namely in "scene transitions" in quotes because there are many "Scene transitions" that could very easily have been a continuous shot. im going to have to break this down into different elements because it is so far off of what I would consider a story heavy game. 10/10 story telling 5/10 cutscene polish 3/10 gameplay and overall for what it actually is I give it a 7/10. 6/26/18

23. Sly Cooper: Thevious Racoonus (Vita): Man if I would have actually owned this game as a kid I would have been in heaven the game was such a fun play there was no glitches I could find (other than one map clip I found but I ended up falling to my death so I could not exploit it). the story/dialogue was interesting the moveset was varied (also varied in usage) the pathways were nice and clear, the locations and backgrounds were funny, and slys interactions were refined. the only thing I think I did not like about the game were the forced bently driving parts. that was nowhere near as fleshed out as the rest of the game. it also seemed to come down to pure chance if you could win or not. sometimes not making a mistake I would be in dead last and then performing worse I would win. overall it was enjoyable. 8/10. 7/3/18

24. Sly 2: band of thieves (Vita): this game started out as a good improvement over the first game but after a while of playing it became very readily apparent that this did not have the same care put into it that sly 1 did. for one the camera is considered an entity so it is 100% possible to get it stuck behind object that your characters cant get into. doing so locks the camera and you can run away from the camera. dying while your camera is stuck causes the game to break and you to restart. control schemes for parts of the game are so horrendously bad that a 5 minute segment cost me an hour because the controls were both joysticks forward for forward both back for reverse one forward and one reverse to freaking turn? fuck that noise. I ran across 3 game breaking glitches that forced me to restart. 1 is listed 1 I have no idea what happened it just went black screen with music playing and nothing else and the third I got an enemy stuck in an endless falling loop where they would grab the edge jump up and slide back off the edge and it was a required enemy to pickpocket. the farther into the game you got the more severe the glitches (minus the last level that was polished). overall even with the improvements this was very clearly rushed out in an unpolished mess and since it is the second in the series I expected better improvements and the same polish as the first so this will get a 6/10 7/6/18 now just to finish out the trophies...

25. Nurse Love Addiction (Vita): the story of a girl with childhood amnesia that attempts to go to school and start a relationship with her fellow school attenders while becoming a nurse. the world appears to be completely devoid of the opposite sex so it is a strange one. since it is a graphic novel there is absolutely no gameplay to it.

26. Shadow of the Colossus X2 (ps4): as always one of my favorite games of all time. played through it once on hard mode just barely missing the speed run trophy because I was after every other trophy achievable in the first playthrough. so I played it again and beat it at 2 hours and 58 mins game time. still more messing around as I was trying to max stamina this time so I could have cut out another few minutes.

27. King Oddball (ps4) found it in my list of free games and my wife swears I used to play it. so I played it and it is a strange angry bird type of game with ~220 levels to it. beating it was a pain in the ass and me and my wife had to swap when either of us could not beat a level. it was fun playing with her but this was one of those games I would not have played all the way through. the only glitches present was one where your tounge would be significantly shorter and as such you were unable to fling the rock to the far ends of the screen. 5/10 8/6/18

28. .Hack//G.U. Vol 2: Reminisce (PS4): just like vol 1 was ran on the same engine and everything.

29. .Hack//G.U. Vol 3: Redemption (PS4): just like vol 1 was ran on the same engine and everything.

30. .Hack//G.U. Vol 4: Reconnection (PS4): this one was made very recently for the re-release on ps4. overall it was ok. increadibly short (under 4 hours where the others were 20) the cutscenes were a lot differentmade using increadibly cheap cartoon/anime things. looked like the cutscenes were made at 15 FPS. made to add an ending extension only. wished it would allow for quest and trophy cleanup but it does not as all features of the game for trophies had been disabled. (last day of the world r2 before shutdown)

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: rayne315 on December 29, 2017, 10:36:22 am
31. Q.u.b.e.

32. Yoku's Island Express

33. The Walking Dead Season 2

34. spider man (2018) (ps4)

35. Dark souls remastered (ps4):

36. Burly Men at Sea (ps4)

37. Roundabout (ps4)




playing/current progress

Detective ball Sudoku: there is actually no indication of how far into the story you are at any given point but I would have to wager that I am 50-70% through. on start I ignored all the dialogue in the game. the characters scare me as personally they sit in the uncanny valley. it looks like the artist had never done anything like this ever before and tried his absolute best but his best was shit.

Kirby mass attack: I literally only put the game in for a short time before bed. so I am 0% through it.

katamari Domacy: I got tired of youtubes shit so I decided to continue ps palooza with no recordings. I made it to the 4th mission.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance: having a fun time playing. without the day one patch this game suffers a whole host of glitches. very noticeable but easy to really ignore. just a sign of a non polished game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on December 29, 2017, 04:16:39 pm
I'm in again! I guess I use this first post to keep track of everything and can keep posting new posts aside from this one for updates? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but otherwise that's what I'll do!
Last year I was in somewhat casually. I did try to beat games, but I didn't actively aim to make 52. That's my plan again this year. Excited to see what'll happen!

Games to be played
Italics means I already started with the game last year or earlier
Blue means it'll be a second playthrough
Orange means going for 100% completion

Going to play/currently playing

Want to play

May play

Progress
Italics = already started with the game last year or earlier
Green = Beaten
Orange = 100% completed
Blue = Second playthrough

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 29, 2017, 04:25:05 pm
Quote from: realpoketendonl on December 29, 2017, 04:16:39 pm
I'm in again! I guess I use this first post to keep track of everything and can keep posting new posts aside from this one for updates? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but otherwise that's what I'll do!
Last year I was in somewhat casually. I did try to beat games, but I didn't actively aim to make 52. That's my plan again this year. Excited to see what'll happen!

Games I want to beat this year
COMING SOON


52 is the goal, but what's important is you're actually chipping away at your backlog. Even one game beat is a step in the right direction.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: blah1342 on December 29, 2017, 06:32:37 pm
2018

1. Altered Beast (1988), Genesis
2. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (1989), Genesis
3. Resident Evil Zero (2002), GameCube
4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild *Master Mode*(2017), Nintendo Switch
5.


Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 29, 2017, 07:05:55 pm
Even though I do like to actually do the challenge, this is also how I keep track of what games I've played/beat and what I thought of them at the time
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: davifus on December 29, 2017, 09:13:55 pm
2018
- Escape from Tarkov - Playing
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
- Planet Coaster
- The Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild [Feb 2nd] - [DONE] - I'm ashamed with myself for putting off the game for so long. It def. was the best game of 2017.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kaxey on December 29, 2017, 09:23:05 pm
Reserving a spot!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 29, 2017, 09:33:15 pm
Quote from: telly on December 29, 2017, 07:05:55 pm
Even though I do like to actually do the challenge, this is also how I keep track of what games I've played/beat and what I thought of them at the time

This is just as much part of why I do it.  I keep track of stuff and I post little reviews when I'm done with a game.  Helps since my memory is a bit crap at times.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on December 29, 2017, 11:19:32 pm
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149004.html#msg149004)

Guide:
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.

34. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (3DS)
Just started this up this morning.  Haven't had a single battle yet, getting ready to enter the first dungeon, I believe.  Already wasted money by buying equipment for someone not in my party and equipment that I found for free shortly after.  Whatever.  Quite a bit further, recently got the 4th party member, I'm kind of assuming this is one of those games where you have an explicitly defined amount of player characters and cannot swap out your team, which is totally fine.  Lost a party member, so I'm back down to 3, which is frustrating because I fed him some seeds for apparently no reason at all.  Just now got to where I can assign vocations.  Alltrades part of the game took a good long while.  Moved along and still only have 3, I'm wondering when I'm going to get more party members again.  Eventually got a 4th party member and then shortly after lost another party member back down to 3, and then gained a new party member so I'm back up to 4.  I'm kind of assuming I'm going to lose this new party member and gain back the one I previously lost, definitely feels like a temporary character, but I could be mistaken.  Mistaken, new party member was fairly permanent. 
Rating: Highly Recommended.

35. Yakuza 6 (PS4)
Decided to temporarily drop Yakuza Dead Souls so I can start and finish 6 so I don't have to worry about spoilers anymore.  This is a brand new engine for me and with it brings a lot of changes.  First change I noticed was that when ordering food at places, they don't identify which foods you have already ordered, quite annoying.  Leveling up your skills isn't driven by money or plain experience points, but rather by a variety of experience points split across 5 categories.  I'm having trouble earning Technique xp, I think.  I have Technique maxed out and I still can't manage to keep it high enough to get upgrades whereas every other skill type I've got thousands of xp.  Finally finished up this game.  I have mixed feelings about the ending.  I understand it helped set the story, but I was disappointed by the lack of Majima, Saejima, and Dojima in this game.
Rating: Recommended, provides closure to Kiryu's story.

36. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (X1)
Not sure how to track this one since it kinda just goes from one thing to the next and at any given point I probably don't know where I am.  Having a difficult time getting into this game and I don't know why.  I really enjoyed the first one and the second one wasn't terrible and I liked it as well, but I'm just not feeling this one.  As I've progressed, I've gotten into the game and am enjoying it.  Normally I would say a game that takes more than an hour to hook you is not a great game, but I think with this game I was just in a funk and just not feeling it personally.  I think a lot could've been done to push me into it faster, but I definitely think it was harder for me because of the mood I was in, so I won't hold that against the game.  Eventually I did get into the game and am enjoying it, but for some reason I'm having trouble with combat other than stealth, so I'm mostly sticking with stealth.  There is a moment in this game, it will definitely 100% be my memorable moment for the year.  I feel like it's kind of spoilery to go into the details, but Lara essentially snaps and goes on a murderous rampage... it's dope.  Opinion on order of greatness in the trilogy.  Tomb Raider > Shadow > Rise.  Tomb Raider and Shadow are pretty damned close though.
Rating: Recommended

37. Until Dawn (PS4)
I accidentally erased my wife's save data for this game when I was migrating to a new PS4 a while back and told her I'd play the game for her to sort of make it up to her.  Spoiler, she watched me play the entire game and said she remembered everything... apparently she did beat the game and just didn't remember it.  ::)  I'm not a fan of spooky games nor jump scares, but I actually kind of enjoyed the fuck out of this game and mildly considered going for the platinum as it would only take an additional half playthrough to get what I'm missing.
Rating: Recommended if you like horror games.

38. Borderlands 2 (X1)
Current Progress: Sanctuary
We were talking about buying some FPS games on Switch and whether or not my wife would play them given that her preference is PC.  So we decided to play a co-op FPS game and see how she handles the twin sticks since she has been playing We Happy Few on PS4.  She seems to be doing well enough so far, still doesn't understand that there is a difference between Xbox and Playstation and keeps hitting A when it says X.  I liked this franchise when I was in college, but it just feels too MMO/WoW and I just don't feel that anymore.
Rating: Recommended... I guess.

39. Dark Souls Remastered (NS)
Don't really know why I bought this, and don't really know why I didn't get the X1 version honestly.  This is sort of my first time playing through a SoulsBorne game without my wife's cousin taking part in the process... I have however beaten this game before... so eh.  Enjoying my time with it so far.  Started my playthrough with the plan of doing something out of the normal for me, picked a bandit instead of a thief or knight.  Put all of my stats into strength and such.  Got a little further and realized that I was still playing similar to how I normally play.  I'm trying to play really heavy tank instead of just a balanced character... but it's been very balanced so far.  Might start a new playthrough and go straight faith/intelligence and go mage build.  Having played this on Xbox and now Switch, it's interesting that I'm having so much trouble with the controls.  A Switch Pro controller is very similar to an Xbox controller, but I instinctively use A on Switch to be "Okay" and B to be "Back", but the game behaves as if you are using a Xbox controller and it is the inverse, A is "Back" and B is "Okay".  I really shouldn't have the trouble, but I do.  Gonna go ahead and try and play this game with the gamecube controller because maybe it'll be easier to play.  I also swear I read somewhere that you could remap controls, but maybe you can, but the menus still do the annoying backwards back and okay buttons.
Rating Obviously recommended, but maybe go with the X1/PS4 version.

40. Opus: The Day We Found Earth (NS)
Bought this a while back because it looked interesting to search the universe for planets and such.  Kind of a let down.  I played through the game and as far as I can tell, the only planets you can discover are the ones as part of the story, the rest are just "Sorry these planets aren't enough like Earth".  Story is mildly interesting and the game is pretty cheap... but it's just not very good.
Rating: Solid pass.

41. Piczle Lines DX (NS)
I've been playing this one on and off like Picross S, but I hadn't bothered to track it until now.  Game is essentially Link-a-Pix puzzles, with a sorta Puyo Puyo story telling.  Don't really recall the story because I've been playing the game that slowly and for that long.  Story nonsensical and doesn't seem to really matter.  Definitely a difficult game to justify unless you really like Link-a-Pix puzzles... and I like link-a-pix puzzles.
Rating: Solid pass.

42. Florence (Android)
My wife played this game at PAX South earlier this year, and she bought it day one when it came out on Android.  It happened to be a family sharing enabled game, so she insisted that I play it at some point... I've been putting it off for a while and decided I really don't want to play DQ8, so I started playing this instead.  I'll detail that in the DQ8 thing.  Game seems to tell the story of a 20 something girl, no text or voice, just conveying stuff through facial expressions and music and pictures.  Interesting story and way of telling the story, but the ending was sort of, anticlimactic.  I don't know.
Rating: Good, but pass.

43. Dragon Quest Builders (PS4)
I really needed a palette cleanser after Until Dawn.  I was originally planning on playing Dark Souls Remastered, but I just really needed a light game to play because Until Dawn fucked me up so badly, so I decided to play this.  Game is like a cross between Minecraft and A World of Keflings.  Crafting and building like Minecraft, but also city management like Keflings.  So far I only have 2 major complaints about this game, and they are pretty important complaints.  Camera work sucks, doesn't adjust well when in caves or buildings.  Can't change control scheme, consistently I press the wrong buttons because it just feels unintuitive.  X is pause when it should be jump.  /\ is attack when it should be pause.  [] is place item when it should be attack.  O is jump when it should be place item.  Game is fun and lasts a decent while.  A tad too walkthrough heavy if you want the platinum, so I didn't bother with that.
Rating: Soft Recommendation if you like Minecraft.

44. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)
Played quite a bit of this when my nephew came over to help with some stuff around the house the past few weekends, and then I spent half a day playing doing some of the event matches that I never got the reward for.  After earning a few of the rewards I needed, I recalled why I never finished the events, the rewards are just stickers/badges for upgrading characters if you use that content.  I never used that content so I didn't bother.
Rating: Recommended as always, but might as well pass and wait for Ultimate at this point.

45. Steamworld Dig 2 (NS)
I don't know if I was watching Critical Role or 30 Rock, but I was watching something on TV and wanted to play a game while listening instead of just playing Dragon Quest Builders, so I started up Steamworld Dig.  Very similar to the original, some obvious improvements such as wall jumping.  Overall a giant improvement on the previous entry, which was already an amazing game.
Rating: Highly Recommended

46. Poi (NS)
Started playing this shortly after finishing Super Mario Odyssey last year, but I quickly quit because it was a vastly inferior collectathon game.  Decided to finally jump back into it because I wanted to play a collectathon.  Only took about 4 and a half hours to beat the game and it's not a terrible game.  It is an entirely bland collectathon game, so it really doesn't have much to draw you to purchase this game unless you are just interested in playing a new collectathon game.  Which I did.
Rating Soft pass.

47. Wonderboy: Dragon's Trap (NS)
I really don't know why I really decided to play this game other than maybe the fact that HLTB states it takes about 5 hours to beat.  I wanted to play through the first 3 Wonderboy games before jumping into Dragon's Trap.  I know most games have no real continuity, but I just enjoy playing things in the order they were meant to be played... that includes playing them in release order because graphics and gameplay mechanics have improved over the years.  Overall it's a fantastic platforming game.  Short enough that it doesn't over stay it's welcome, but long enough that you don't sit there craving more.  Difficult enough to be challenging, but not so difficult that you rage quit.  Some part were definitely annoyingly difficult, but with perseverance you can do it.
Rating: Recommended.

48. Dark Souls (X1BC)
I considered not counting this, but I did play it for several hours to build a new character so I could be summoned by my nephew to help him in his game of Dark Souls.  I decided to play through this time as a squishy mage/cleric type character.  Things I will comment though after having played Remastered, this game is not very pretty, especially on X1 on a 4K TV.  Other than that, perfectly fine.  Stopped playing because I can't get too high of a level above him or I can't help him.  Though I'm pushing for him to get a Switch (I kind of already bought him one, but I'd like for him to pay for it, I got it pretty damned cheap though) and a copy of Remastered.
Rating: Pass, only because Remastered exists and that is recommended.

49. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (NS)
Been waiting some time for this game, pretty much ignored all information about this game leading up to release other than character announcements.  Learned a lot of things about this game that, for the most part, I don't care for.  They nerfed dodging/blocking in general, if you block or dodge too much the game will slow you down and make you more vulnerable to attack.  A lot of people apparently love this because apparently it's a big issue that people will dodge spam.  I'm sorry, if you're an aggressive player and I'm capable of timing my dodges to dodge all of your attacks, I should be able to do that, all this does is make things easier for more aggressive players.  I'm more of a tactical player than an aggressive player, now I have to plan my dodges/blocks accordingly because they are now limited in use.  Bots are programmed with this knowledge, so rather than dodging or blocking, they spend a lot of time in the air where dodging doesn't appear to have limitations.  I've also dealt with a lot of bots doing the quick left-right dashing thing that I guess pro players do... which is... concerning?  Now on to story mode, oh my god is story mode huge, there are like 4 major maps with quite a few sub maps on each map.  I completed story mode 100% and that took me roughly 45 hours.  The themed challenges are impressive and pretty damned cool to be honest.
Rating: Highly recommended

50. Katamari Damacy: Reroll (NS)
Was trying to think of a game to play while taking a break from Smash bros and my wife suggested I play Katamari now that she finished it.  So I popped it in and started playing... completely forgot how short this game is.  Beat it, not 100%, in a couple of hours.  Literally a remaster of the original Katamari Damacy game, so nothing really new here.
Rating: Soft Pass, since you could just play it on PS2 and I don't see any updates other than maybe graphics.

51. Picross S (NS)
I heard about this the day it released and knew I had to buy it.  I love me some Picross, especially from the folks over at Jupiter.  I already burned through the normal Picross stuff and am now going through the Mega Picross stuff.  Mega Picross is a different type of picross, but it appears so far that you are just remaking the same pictures from normal picross, just using different information.  Kind of a shame, but hopefully that's just for the first few puzzles and then things get unique.  First unfinished title from 2017 to be carried over.  Decided to hop back into this after finishing Katamari Damacy and noticed that I'm only maybe 20 puzzles away from finishing this, so I figured I'd finish this off to get it off my list and start to close out the year.
Rating: Soft Pass, even if you like Picross games.

52. [/b]Wolfenstein II[/b] (X1)
So many of these games are too hard to track where you're at.  At least this game is fairly linear in that it won't be hard to pick back up when I hop back into it.  Hoping to finish this game before Smash Ultimate comes out.  This game has a feature that I've not seen in other games, I'm sure some game has done it, but it's new to me.  You can dual wield any combination of weapons, which is pretty damned dope.  So I'll have a shotgun in one hand and an assault rifle in the other, or a silenced pistol in one hand and a sniper rifle in the other.  The combinations make for some useful and fun scenarios.  Going to space for one of the sections felt very Wolfenstein/Doom, kinda cool.  Enjoyed the game very much, pleasant surprise from a title that almost immediately hit the bargain bin.
Rating: Recommended.

53. Axiom Verge (NS)
I started playing this a while back, but I never tracked it at all and I didn't get very far I think.  I decided to give it a go for some reason or another.  Very Super Metroid in almost every fashion, but then you start getting more and more weapons and other nifty ass features.  Honestly, I gotta say I think this game is better than Super Metroid in almost every manner.  And I enjoyed the fuck out of Super Metroid.  Not my favorite Metroidvania, personally I'm not a fan of stupid secret compartments and stuff, where I think a game like Steamworld Dig 2 had secrets, they were easily found or you could buy stuff to show you on the map where stuff was, so at least you knew that you missed something right there.  This game is a getting a physical Wii U release from LRG next year at some point, so I'm personally looking forward to that and will plan to double dip to get one of the rarest Wii U and possibly last Wii U title, even if it is double dipping.
Rating: Highly Recommended.

54. Road Redemption
At the same time I'm also going through another Rogue-lite game, Road Redemption.  This game is a Road Rash Rogue-lite game.  Campaign is an objective based Road Rash campaign where if you die you start over arcade style, but when you finish the campaign, win or lose, you can spend your earned XP to provide yourself with permanent upgrades to make the campaign easier.  Any unused XP is forfeited so you have to be efficient with your decisions, and the further you get in the upgrade branches the more XP you'll need to upgrade, so end upgrades will require essentially completing the campaign.  I've unlocked a few bikes, but as far as I can tell they are all massively worse than the starting bike.  I had expected this game to last me significantly longer, but I realized that a lot of the other characters are rogue/rogue-like characters and I have no interest in that.  So after I beat it with a couple of characters I decided that I'm good, I might come back to it later for the rest of the rogue-lite characters, but that's about it.
Rating: Good, Recommended for Road Rash fans, but the rogue and forced rogue-like elements really put a damper on this game's viability.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on December 30, 2017, 11:26:12 am
Quote from: ignition365 on December 29, 2017, 11:19:32 pm
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on December 29, 2017, 09:33:15 pm
Quote from: telly on December 29, 2017, 07:05:55 pm
Even though I do like to actually do the challenge, this is also how I keep track of what games I've played/beat and what I thought of them at the time

This is just as much part of why I do it.  I keep track of stuff and I post little reviews when I'm done with a game.  Helps since my memory is a bit crap at times.
same.  I don't even intend on hitting any form of a goal, but I want to at least make notes of what's going on and how I feel about a game while playing it.
Yeah, pretty much how I see it. I just use it as a incentive to play games and keep track of my progress and thoughts through the year. I try to beat a good amount of games, but I'm not aiming for a specific number
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: droaa on December 30, 2017, 12:50:32 pm
1.Street Fighter Collection(Jan 1)-4/5(Nice ports but loading times are eh with SF2)
2.Space Jam(Jan 1)-3/5(It doesnt hold up as much as I remember)
3.Mighty Morphin Power Rangers(Jan 1)-3/5(Not much too it really)
4.Final Fight(Jan 1)-3/5(I mean I dont know why I played through this since its no different from arcade except for no Guy plus honestly, its just an ok beat em up)

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 31, 2017, 01:30:50 am
I mentioned this in the 2017 thread, but I will be adding a score to my reviews out of 50-points. I will be rating every game based on Presentation (graphics, art style, visual quality), Sound (fx, soundtrack, voice acting), Gameplay (controls, in-game mechanics, scoring), and Fun (how much I enjoyed playing it). Presentation, Sound, and Gameplay will be mostly objective markers, while fun will be entirely subjective. Likewise, these first three categories will be rated out of 10-points each, while Fun will be rated out of 20, since I believe my personal enjoyment of the game should carry the most weight, but not so much that I can just say a game sucks when it might not.

Here is what each of the scores for Presentation, Sound, and Gameplay mean:

0: Abysmal
1: Terrible with barely any redeemable qualities
2: Very bad, but with some decent qualities
3: Not that great, but decent in some ways
4: Below Average
5: Average
6: Above Average
7: Mostly good, with a few minor, but noticeable flaws
8: Very Good with only a few small flaws
9: Outstanding, with barely any flaws
10: Perfect

For Fun it is a bit harder to say, but essentially anything below a 10 means I didn't like or enjoy playing the game, with 1 being I really hated the game. Likewise anything above 10 would mean that I liked it to some degree with a 20 meaning the game is almost certainly a top 10 game for me.


I thought about including some sort of color coded status on what I was playing, but I've decided to leave this out. Essentially my reviews will be in this format:

#. GAME TITLE (console): Review........... (date beat)[X/50]

Even though it is only  slight change over what I did in 2017, I'm really excited to implement this new system as it will better help me decide which games I enjoy the most from each genre and also help me home in on what games are truly the best, most fun I've ever played.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on December 31, 2017, 07:39:53 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149004.html#msg149004)

Guide:
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.

55. Moonlighter (NS)
See Game Challenge 2019 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162655.html#msg162655)

56. Pillars of Eternity (X1)
Current Progress: No clue how to track yet
Not entirely certain why I decided to play this.  I've heard nothing about this game really, didn't even really know the genre or mechanics.  But so far the game seems VERY D&D, which is neat.  I'm still learning how everything works in the game, I've yet to figure out how to do sneak attacks or anything, which I feel is very important since my main character is a rogue.

57. We Happy Few (PS4)
Current Progress: Act 1
Not entirely sure how to properly track this game yet, might go by what story quest I'm on.  My wife was very insistent that I play this after finishing DQ Builders... so now I'm playing this.  This game feels too much like a crafting heavy Bioshock game.  Not entirely feeling the game, so it's going to be a pain to finish.

58. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (3DS)
See Game Challenge 2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173290.html#msg173290)

59. Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3)
Current Progress: Part 1: Chapter 4
I meant to actually play this after 4 and before 5, but I just jumped straight into 5 after 4.  Oh well, I'm definitely in need of a sort of palette cleanser after playing nothing but Yakuza for the past like year, and this game seems to be giving it to me a little bit while still being productive towards my goal of beating all of the Yakuza games.  Mostly a shooter, kinda poorly thrown together, sorta Resident Evil, sorta 3rd person/1st person shooter.  Basically old Resident Evil minus the tank controls.

60. Just Shapes and Beats (NS)
See Game Challenge 2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173290.html#msg173290)

61. Final Fantasy XV (PS4)
See Game Challenge 2019 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162655.html#msg162655)

62. Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)
See Game Challenge 2021 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 31, 2017, 09:57:04 am
Quote from: ignition365 on December 31, 2017, 07:39:53 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on December 31, 2017, 01:30:50 am
I mentioned this in the 2017 thread, but I will be adding a score to my reviews out of 50-points. I will be rating every game based on Presentation (graphics, art style, visual quality), Sound (fx, soundtrack, voice acting), Gameplay (controls, in-game mechanics, scoring), and Fun (how much I enjoyed playing it). Presentation, Sound, and Gameplay will be mostly objective markers, while fun will be entirely subjective. Likewise, these first three categories will be rated out of 10-points each, while Fun will be rated out of 20, since I believe my personal enjoyment of the game should carry the most weight, but not so much that I can just say a game sucks when it might not.

Here is what each of the scores for Presentation, Sound, and Gameplay mean:

0: Abysmal
1: Terrible with barely any redeemable qualities
2: Very bad, but with some decent qualities
3: Not that great, but decent in some ways
4: Below Average
5: Average
6: Above Average
7: Mostly good, with a few minor, but noticeable flaws
8: Very Good with only a few small flaws
9: Outstanding, with barely any flaws
10: Perfect

For Fun it is a bit harder to say, but essentially anything below a 10 means I didn't like or enjoy playing the game, with 1 being I really hated the game. Likewise anything above 10 would mean that I liked it to some degree with a 20 meaning the game is almost certainly a top 10 game for me.


I thought about including some sort of color coded status on what I was playing, but I've decided to leave this out. Essentially my reviews will be in this format:

#. GAME TITLE (console): Review........... (date beat)[X/50]

Even though it is only  slight change over what I did in 2017, I'm really excited to implement this new system as it will better help me decide which games I enjoy the most from each genre and also help me home in on what games are truly the best, most fun I've ever played.
Personally, I try to stay away from scores because generally they can be BS.  A game could play well and be fantastic to play and wind up with like a 30 if it isn't pretty or sound awesome, but a game that's just all around mediocre could wind up with the same score.  Even then, a game with great music and art style, usable controls, but no fun will wind up with a higher score than the ugly fun game. *shrug*

I rate my games with essentially a Pass or Recommendation.  Usually I rate them as such: Hard Pass, Soft Pass, Pass w/notes, Recommended w/notes, Mildly Recommended, Highly Recommended.

I've been using this scoring system for the past year with SHMUPS I've played in order to participate in a Best of 20XX SHMUP on another forum and it has been very reliable so far. I have yet to play a game that was overly skewed in one direction over the other given the weight given to each category; a game can be asthetically appealing all around, however if its gameplay is crap it is likely to also effect it's weighted fun rating and drag the overall score down, as it should. Likewise, games that lack in all three objective scales are likely to not score high in  the subjective fun scale either.

Obviously the subjective "Fun" score will vary depending on who is playing the game, but I think that reviews are always subjective to a large degree and fully reflect the bias of the reviewer. Mine will be no different and personally at the end of the day, how enjoyable a game is to play is its most important quality a game can have, hence why it carries double the weight of any of the other aspects of a game.

It all balances out in the overall score which paints an accurate picture of the overall experience I had while playing the game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on January 01, 2018, 07:19:04 am
Yeah, man, whatever works for you.  Personally, I can find fun in a lot of things, so even weighing fun heavily, I know I could rate a game I love moderately low.  I pretty much rate a game on fun/enjoyment alone.  I'll make notes if the graphics/music/controls are an issue or a godsend, but those aren't intrinsic to a game being fun/enjoyable in my book... unless that's the point of the game (i.e. Artsy games, music based games, etc.)

Anyhoo, I was going to start building my list and stuff and make notes, but I just don't know if I can bother right now.  Beat my first game for the year shortly after midnight last night.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on January 01, 2018, 09:59:20 am
Like so many others, I don't expect to hit 52, but it is a nice fun way to chip away at the backlog, while simultaneously keeping track of what I'm playing.  I've got a couple of different gaming resolutions this year, including using my portable systems more (like playing on my lunch break).  And, a smaller more specific one, I want to beat all of the mainline Mega Man games, and if that goes well, doing the same when the X collection comes out.  I am listing the game, the system it was played on and the status - Beat / Finished, Playing, or Abandoned

1. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (PS4) - Beat
2. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Switch) - Beat
3. Yoshi's New Island (2DS XL) - Beat
4. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) - Beat
4a. Horizon: Zero Dawn - The Frozen Wilds (PS4) - Beat
5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2DS XL) - Beat
6. Abzu (PS4) - Beat
7. Titanfall 2 (PS4) - Beat
8. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC) - Abandoned
9. Star Wars Battlefront II (XB1) - Beat
10. Mega Man (2DS XL) - Beat
11. Mega Man 2 (2DS XL) - Beat
12. Prey (2017) (XB1) - Beat
13. Mega Man 3 (PS4) - Beat
14. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360) - Beat
15. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PS4) - Beat
16. Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers (PS4) - Beat
17. Dead Space 2 (XB1) - Beat
18. God of War (2018) (PS4) - Platinum
19. Mega Man 4 (PS4) - Beat
20. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Switch) - Beat
21. Dark Souls III: Fire Fades Edition (PS4) - Beat
22. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (2DS XL) - Beat
23. Mega Man 5 (PS4) - Beat
24. Hollow Knight (Switch) - Completed
25. South Park: The Fractured But Whole (XB1) - Beat
26. Mega Man 6 (PS4) - Beat
27. Rise of the Tomb Raider (XB1) - Beat
28. Mega Man 7 (PS4) - Beat
29. Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (XB1) - Beat
30. Mega Man 8 (PS4) - Beat
31. Mega Man 9 (PS4) - Beat
32. Mega Man 10 (PS4) - Beat
33. Halo 5: Guardians (XB1) - Beat
34. Sonic Mania Plus (Switch) - Beat
35. Borderlands 2 (PS4) - Beat
36. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (PC) - Beat
37. Mega Man 11 - (Switch) Beat
38. Dark Souls: Remastered (Switch) - Beat
39. Red Dead Redemption II (PS4) - Beat
40. Imperialism (PC) - Finished
41. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time (SNES) - Beat
42. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch) - Beat
43. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4) - Beat
44. Resident Evil VII: Biohazard (PS4) - Beat
45. Angry Video Game Nerd II: ASSimilation (PC) - Beat
46. Castlevania: Bloodlines (GEN) - Beat
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: courtlyhades296 on January 01, 2018, 12:50:32 pm
For this year, I will try to beat 52 Mario World hacks without savestates.

Green=All Exits

Blue=Cleared

1. SMW Christmas Edition (cleared Jan 1 with 22 exits out of 30)

(https://i.imgur.com/PwiKGrv.png)

A nice little holiday themed SMW hack. One thing that sets it apart is that the game is in German PAL60. An adventure definitely worth playing in my opinion. If there's one downside, the bosses are overpowered.

2. Kumikyoku (cleared Jan 3 with 1 exit out of 4)

(https://i.imgur.com/f4nTq78.png)

This game is the precursor to all the Automatic Mario levels you see in Mario Maker. Fun to watch, but not fun to play.

3/52: The Shadow Queen Returns (Cleared January 26 with 17 exits)

(https://i.imgur.com/iSiRLqD.png)

I played this steaming dog turd because the title intrigued me. Like Super Mario Kollision, the game starts off good but by World 3 turned to shit. The secret exits cannot even be called secrets. The World 3 castle should at least have a Muncher at the start if you kill the Magikoopa you need to proceed. Add to that an underwhelming end of demo boss, and you have a title that needs improvement before another release.

4/52: NSMW2 C3 Demo (Cleared Feb 2)

(https://i.imgur.com/MYbJft9.png)

This game is a much needed improvement after the disaster that is Shadow Queen Returns. Every level felt like an extension of the original Super Mario World. I especially loved the integration of Crash Bandicoot music into the game's levels. I am definitely looking towards playing the full version.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 01, 2018, 03:18:15 pm
First review of the year is up on page 1 :)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on January 02, 2018, 11:26:02 am
Finally started adding stuff.

Have my first 3 game notes up with some notes on the 4th.  Modern games might mostly sit on the wayside until I upgrade my HDTV to a 4K TV.  Just need to pick the right TV.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on January 02, 2018, 11:43:53 am
And that's the first game for 2018 down!


It took me a long time to get through this one. I started in 2015 and dropped it multiple times. Let me tell you right now, it takes a good while to really get into this game. Trust me on these things: Buy the Unite Spring and Unite Guts as soon as you can, and push through a good bit before you judge it. I pushed through a solid 6 hours before I finally felt like the game was starting to pay off, when I got all the Unite Morphs and finally started to really get the hang of it. But once you're through the rocky start, you're left with a very unique and great action game. Even if it's not perfect, I love the Unite mechanic. Being able to morph into different weapons and stringing them together is a ton of fun. It's definitely a unique standout title in the world of action hack-'n-slash games. It's not Platinum's greatest work, but if you push through their talent does shine through. If you're a fan of action games or PlatinumGames and are looking for something new, Wonderful 101 is definitely worth checking out.

Also, sidenote, does anyone have any good recommendations for websites I can post quick reviews like this to? Looking around and I'd be up for anything!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on January 06, 2018, 09:56:33 pm
It forcefully got pushed back to this year, but it's done! Life is Strange: Before the Storm is beaten!
I wanted to beat this game back in december, but my laptop died and had to go in for repairs. "Two weeks" they said. Well, three weeks later and they still hadn't even touched it. I just got my money back and ordered a replacement. Let's hope this one does better.

So, what did I think of it? I quite enjoyed it! It's not as great as the original, but in my opinion it's still a great story well worth going through. I won't say too much about it here, both because I don't want to spoil anything and because I am honestly pretty sick and can't think hard about what to write right now. But if you are even remotely curious about this game, I say it's worth checking out. I do recommend playing the original first if you haven't yet. It's better, and it'll give you a deeper, better and more personal understanding of this one. And if you have played the original, well, let's be real, you've probably already made out whether or not it's worth playing yourself. (and if you haven't, and you enjoyed the original, I say it is).
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on January 07, 2018, 01:45:55 am
2 - The Evil Within 2 (PC 2017) - 16 HOURS BEAT - This was a great game and is a perfect example of taking what worked in the first game, but making a much better sequel.  I played the first game earlier last year in prep for this one and while it had good ideas, there were a lot of problems and misguided ideas.  Tried too hard to be Resident Evil 4, but didn't have the characters or setting, that is when it wasn't trying to outright rip off RE4.  Taking the gameplay, streamlining it, and putting it into a semi-open world setting actually made this game feel unique.  Story worked pretty well to and it's good having Sebastian as an actual character and not a dense sack of potatoes.  Definitely recommend it if you want a good action survival game
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Warmsignal on January 07, 2018, 04:15:11 pm
Okay so, this will be my main list I suppose. My goal is not to beat every single game I play, only if it's compelling enough to do so. If I stop playing a game, that doesn't mean that I didn't like it. I just tend to do that. I will however, put several hours into every game that I try. My list will go by game name with platform, status, and personal score. I'll only score them if I felt that I experienced enough of the game to give a score.

My scoring system is basically 1 = terrible, 5 = average, 10 = pure awesomeness.

Status - green means I finished it, blue means I'm currently playing, purple means I've stopped playing, and orange means taking a break but plan to return soon.

1. Yooka-Laylee (PS4) - Hiatus
2. Solar Eclipse (Saturn) - Beat - 7/10
3. High Velocity Mountain Racing Challenge (Saturn) - Playing
4. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - Playing
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: hofoblivion on January 07, 2018, 11:32:05 pm
-Deleted-
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on January 10, 2018, 06:56:32 am
Bit late to start as I've only just joined the site, but would like to participate and see how I get on in 2018  :)

I won't beat every game I play. Skill gets the better of me with some platformers and I have a low terror threshold when it comes to horror games!

1. Wolfenstein II - The New Colossus (PS4): Main Story - 11 hours [12/01/18]
2. Final Fantasy XIV : A Realm Reborn (PS4 & PC): Main Scenario Quest & Class Quest - 76 hours [08/02/18]
3. Dear Esther - Landmark Edition (PS4): Main Story - 2 hours [08/02/18]
4. Monster Hunter: World (PS4): Main Story - 66 hours [10/02/18]
5. Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition (PS4): Main Story - 8 hours [14/02/18]
6. Shadow of the Colossus (PS4): Main Story - 7 hours [19/02/18]
7. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4): Main Story - 8 hours [21/02/18]
8. Dragon Quest Builders (PS4): Main Story & Free Play Mode - 45 hours [11/03/18]
9. Silence (PS4): Main Story - 6 hours [16/03/18]
10. Dirt 4 (PS4): Career Mode - 30 hours [20/03/18]
11. What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4): Story - 3 hours [22/03/18]
12. Ni No Kuni 2 (PS4): Story - 50 hours [30/03/18]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: thegouldfish on January 12, 2018, 05:48:15 am
Hit 60 games last year so hoping to do similar this year, also hoping to keep up a healthy balance of platforms.


So far this year: 19

Completed in 2018 (but started in 201X):


Completed in 2018 (and started in 2018)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: turf on January 12, 2018, 09:54:50 am
Quote from: thegouldfish on January 12, 2018, 05:48:15 am
Hit 60 games last year so hoping to do similar this year, also hoping to keep up a healthy balance of platforms.

  • Castle of Illusion, starting Micky mouse (PC)


Castle of Illusion was such a fun game.  I need to go back to that one
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on January 12, 2018, 02:57:11 pm
Technically another game beaten:
Basically We Were Here is a simple, short free-to-play multiplayer puzzle game. One player goes through the puzzles, the other is in a room with the solutions. The trick is working together and using eachother's information to solve the puzzles. You know Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes? Yeah, same concept. Honestly, there's little I can say. It's short and not very special, but it's free-to-play. If you're looking for something to kill an hour with with a friend you could do worse. Nothing bad, but nothing special.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kevininja on January 12, 2018, 05:32:58 pm
Quote from: arkaneer on January 10, 2018, 06:56:32 am
Bit late to start as I've only just joined the site, but would like to participate and see how I get on in 2018  :)

I won't beat every game I play. Skill gets the better of me with some platformers and I have a low terror threshold when it comes to horror games!

1. Wolfenstein II - The New Colossus (PS4): I loved the first two games of the reboot but something about this game didn't sit right with me. The gameplay loop reminded me lot of Doom with an absolute crap ton of cut scenes shoved in. They went for shock value which worked in part, but there were times I found myself laughing at the ridiculous story. The graphics, voice acting and music are top notch. The weakest of the series, but still a worthwhile 12 hours.  [12/01/18]

I agree with your thoughts about Wolfenstein II! It's definitely weaker than TNO and TOB, but it's still a heck of a good time. I really liked the music as well, except that horrible, horrible credits song.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on January 14, 2018, 12:07:15 am
3 - Superhot (PC 2016) - BEAT - Meh. I'd heard about the game since it came out and when it came back with VR and I just found it alright.  Nothing really stood out as it's almost like a free form puzzle game using FPS gameplay.  "Puzzle" might be too strong of an idea to use, but that's how it felt with me.  I ran through the little story bit, and I don't really find myself wanting to do all the challenges and what not.  Honestly, it feels like it would be a better VR game, as you can maneuver around bullets, as I found it kind of annoying to dodge the bullets at times.  Glad I got it free, otherwise I would've just never picked it up.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on January 14, 2018, 10:15:50 pm
1 - Yakuza Kiwami (PS4 2017) - 20 HOURS BEAT - Having played both this and Yakuza 0 now, I can safely say that I don't particularly love the series.  Maybe that's not 100% fare, being that these two games in particular are incredibly samey, using basically much of the same features and assets, though Yakuza 0 has more overall production it.  In some ways, I liked Kiwami more, because it is just a single story.  Yakuza 0 dragged forever with two simultaneous stories.  Even then, the story drags in this one too.  You could easily chop out stuff and get it to be a much more impactful story.

The side content is pretty lackluster, usually just a bunch of goofball nothing stuff.  Majima amused me here and there, though having played both games, his character makes absolutely no sense. 

Combat is overall okay, but I found that if you had to fight any boss or tough enemy that used blades or guns, it was the worst.  More than a few boss fights have them and they are miserable.  Also tying a fighting style to the random Majima fights sucks.  Because of that, it was always the shittier style to use, because I had everything else upgraded and was far more useful.  By the time I beat the game, I didn't have half the ability tree unlocked and I fought Majima regularly to get into the S rank level.  Also the fights against enemies that do the recovery animation that you need Climax Heat to disrupt is stupid. 

I will say that once there's really solid story stuff going or the action picks up, the game is pretty fun, but there's not enough of that for me.  I'm curious to see if this series has noticeable differences to its location and execution with Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6.  This game and Yakuza 0 are so similar, I don't think I could handle playing another game in this series that is just more of the same.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on January 17, 2018, 09:10:31 pm
1. TLoZ: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

First game of the year! It had a cool concept with the two worlds and the item system, I also liked collecting the maimais because they were fun to find and figure out but they were also useful. It was fun but I felt like I brute forced my way through most of the bosses and I finished it way quicker than I was expecting. I might try the Hero Mode later on for more of a challenge.

Time: less than 30 hours
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on January 21, 2018, 08:37:51 pm
And that's game 4!
The game that revolutionised first person shooters, one of the definitions of a classic. Does it hold up today? Surprisingly, it holds its own quite well. As someone who never played this game before and doesn't care about shooters too much in general I had a surprising amount of fun with this game. I will say right away that Episode 4, Thy Flesh Consumed, is BRUTAL, and I do admit I resorted to a guide to get through it. But with the other three episodes it was a great experience. It's age does show in some places, but even today DOOM is a lot of fun to play. If you're looking for a fun retro game to play, I can recommend it.

Full list: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on January 22, 2018, 07:31:14 pm
Just finished my first game of the year, Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland, and recorded the whole play through working on getting it up on youtube if anyone is interested.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on January 23, 2018, 12:04:52 pm
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037

16. The King of Fighters 2000 [20/20] - Arcade -
+
- A great roster, definitely one of the strongest! Benimaru's team is amazing.
- Like always, beautiful graphics and stages, I can also see an improvement compared to the previous game, especially in the stage's animations.
- Great music.
- I always forget to add this, but the gameplay, while an update wouldn't hurt it's still really good.
-
/
17. Garou: Mark of The Wolves [20/20] - Neo Geo -
+
- A great roster! I wish some older characters would be in there but it's still an AMAZING cast of fighters.
- Terry's update, looking fresh.
- Stunning graphics, the animations are really nice.
- Nice music.
- Good gameplay, a bit different from the older Fatal Fury games tho.
-
- While I really love this game, It just doesn't feel like a Fatal Fury game at all, the roster is not the same, gameplay too... It should've just been a different serie imo.

18. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Remastered [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Once again an amazing story. While the start of the game wasn't as impressive as the second game's beginning, I really loved that we got to learn more about Nate and Sully's past. The whole game was epic from the start to the end, all the plot twists, funny dialogues and crazy settings made the game a true masterpiece.
- Graphically it's STUNNING. It was really hard to do better than the second game tbh but this game is really the most visually impressive game of the PS3. I played the PS4 remastered version so obviously it was a bit better than the original but I've also played the original game I remember it being just as impressive.
- Cutter. Each game introduced amazing character and Cutter might be one of my favorite from the serie tbh. He's incredibly funny, his claustrophobic moments were hilarious XD.
- The whole game was amazing but the second part (basically when you get on the big ass boat) is just something else. It goes from epic situations to even more epic situations! Nate escaping the boat, Nate falling of the plane, the desert, the horses, the ending... If you don't like the beginning of the game definitely wait until you get to that point because it would be a huge shame not playing those parts.
- Really good gameplay, not really different from the previous game but it was already perfect so why fix something that ain't broken?
-
/

19. The King of Fighters 2001 [18/20] - Arcade -
+
- The game is really beautiful, the animations seem to be a bit more fluid too!
- A good roster. Also May Lee is one of my favorite female character from the serie and the NESTS is probably my second favorite team ever.
- Good gameplay. The game definitely feels faster and more fluid.
-
- The stages aren't my favorite, none of them really stood out to me =/
- I feel like the older characters really need an outfit update, some of them look way too old school compared to some newer characters like the NESTS team.

20. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild [20/20] - Switch -
+
- First, the graphics are STUNNING. The first time I started the game I was honestly blown away! The grass is so pretty lol
- A huge world with extremely diverse areas, it's so relaxing to just walk around and casually find a new town.
- Really fun characters, they all were so fun in their own way! Kass was probably my favorite!
- Beautiful music, and sometime even just hearing the wind felt so relaxing!
- Great gameplay, loved the climbing and the boss fights are amazing! I also loved the different powers!
-
- I'm not a big fan of when a game throws you into a huge ass world and doesn't tell you if you're prepared for the next mission, and it's exactly what this game does. I'm trash at RPGS tbh, and for some reason I thought it was a could idea to go to a boss fight (which I didn't know was gonna happen) with 10 arrow, 4 basic ass weapon, 4 heart and a trash outfit. Thank god it wasn't the hardest lol.
- I HATED the weather, it's lovely to have snow but if you can't access it without dying there's no real point to having snow. Especially since you have to find and armor somewhere but once again without google you can search for years lol.

FEBRUARY :

21. Uncharted: Golden Abyss [20/20] - PsVita -
+
- The game looks stunning, I remember when it was announced and saw the first videos of the game I couldn't believe that a handheld console could run a game with such good graphics! I would honestly love a HD remake for PS4!
- It doesn't feel like a game made exclusively for handheld, it's obviously not as impressive as Uncharted 2 and 3 but it's definitely on the same level as the first game imo!
- Really good story, I loved Marisa too, I know a lot of people consider her a Elena rip off but I actually think she was a really nice character who definitely deserved to at least make a small appearance in the future games.
- Good gameplay, it's basically the same as the home console version's. The shooting was also good, It's one of the thing I usually hate in handheld games but since the Vita has a right stick it was way better than in most handheld games.
-
/

22. NBA Street [19/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Really fun gameplay, I loved all the flashy passes and dunks!
- The original characters are EVERYTHING! EA needs to bring them back for a special team in Live!
- Good graphics, it has that old school fun style that I adore! The faces also look pretty good for a game that came out in the early 2000!
- Loved the way to unlock players in city mode, plus the bonus teams were a really fun addition!
-
- I wish you could change how much points you need to make to win the game, sometimes 21 was just a bit too long (maybe you can change but I didn't notice tho)
- Pretty limited create a character, but I mean the create a player is still ass in Live 18 so I wasn't expecting anything better lol.

23. Assassin's Creed II [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- Once again amazing graphics! The cities are stunning and they all look really different! I especially loved Venise, the colors and the details in the streets were really impressive. The cities are also imo way better designed for the type of gameplay that Assassin's creed has, it's way easier to move around since the streets are much larger and less crowded (even tho there is still an impressive amount of pedestrians).
- A good story with a lot of diverse missions. The first game's story was interesting but the game in itself was really repetitive and Altair was pretty boring. The story was mostly just introducing the whole plot of the serie, but we didn't get to know Altair's background and stuff. Here we have a really charismatic Ezio Auditore who is much more interesting than Altair. Here the entire story evolves around Ezio, from when he was just a young adult to a fully grown assassin. There are also a lot of other charismatic characters, my favorite being Leonardo Da Vinci!
- A much better gameplay! The climbing is a lot more fluid and fast, and the addition of the double jump makes it so much easier to get where you want to. The fighting is also better, less annoying.
- No more horde of guards trying to kill you, that was what I hated the most in the first game so I'm glad they fixed that.
- Beautiful music!
- Overall just a perfect sequel that corrected everything that had to be corrected.
-
- Some of the characters looked like ASS, especially Desmond, they did him so wrong lol. The main characters are alright but some background characters really looked goofy as hell lol. Ezio and Leonardo are probably the best looking characters of the game.

24. Street Fighter V [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Imo one of the best roster, it has a great mix of old school fighters, newer fighters and completely new fighters. The new characters are especially great imo, Rashid and Menat have become my new favs! I also love that they added Abigail from Final Fight!
- Beautiful graphics! They took everything that was great in SFIV and made it even better! The characters look amazing and the stages are some of the best from the entire franchise imo!
- A great "general" story mode. Usually i'm not a bif fan of stories in fighting game because they rarely make sense but here the story was actually pretty interesting with some great characters.
- Amazing gameplay, a more fluid version of SFIV basically.
-
- Way too much DLC characters that should've been in the game from the start. There shouldn't be more DLC characters than base game characters.
- The characters story are pretty pointless.
- Not gonna lie, when the game came out it was barely finished, no arcade mode, only 16 fighters... It's way better now but still.

25. EA UFC 3 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Really realistic looking! The second game already looked good but the lighting in this one changes everything!
- A better gameplay. It might take you some time to get used to the new mechanics if you played the previous games but the gameplay is so much better tbh, way more realistic stand up game, no more of the same annoying combos that people used to do every 5 seconds.
- A lot of different modes, carrer modes, ranked, quick fight, ultimate team, knockout mode...
- A pretty nice character creation, not the best but the face scan does make it fun to create fighters.
-
- The ground game is ASS. It's way too easy to get knock out on the ground. Same thing with leg kicks.
- To hard to get into a clinch, that's the only thing that I thing got too complicated for nothing.

26. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- A beautiful open world! Rome looks honestly so stunning, all the little details, the pedestrians, the monuments... It's really impressive even today.
- Graphically it's a HUGE update! The first two game were stunning but this one has just so much more details everywhere! The characters also look way better!
- A great story, with a more mature Ezio who's still just as badass!
- Some really iconic moments like infiltrating the bank (or I think it was a bank lol), killing the banker, the play... Overall they just really used every parts of the city the best way they could to make it memorable.
- A lot of side quests, I haven't done a lot of them because I was more focused on the main storyline but there is a fair amount of them.
- We get to know more about Desmond which is cool since he's pretty likable, also liked the team from the second game (even that rude ass british guy lol).
- A better inclusion of the whole "business" part they tried to do in the second game
- Beautiful music!
-
- Not enough Leonardo, I feel like he went from a main character to a barely existant one =/ Ezio and Leonardo's friendship was one of my favorite thing in the second game so it's a little annoying.
- Having to buy the double jump is the dumbest thing ever. Especially when it's almost impossible to find Leonardo after his first appearance. I had to play 5 sequences before meeting him again lol.
- The ending! It's not a bad ending but [SPOILER] killing one of the best character (or at least one of my favorite) was imo really stupid.

27. NBA Live 14 [10/20] - Xbox One -
+
- I guess the game is alright lol, like it's not broken or anything just pretty bland. You can still have fun with it... The gameplay is alright too.
-
- The game looks like ass. I'm not the type of gamer who's incredibly judgmental when it comes to graphics but this game looks like an early 7th gen game.
- The camera, or at least the one I use which is the baseline low, is one of the most horrible camera angle I've seen in a basketball game. The court doesn't flip so you can't have any blocks or rebounds since you can't see the freakin basketball rim
- The animations are pretty stiff and the players feel really light, like there's no vibrations in the controllers or at least it feels like there isn't.
- Overall a really poor game compared to 2K14.

28. NBA Live 15 [14/20] - Xbox One -
+
- 2k15 is basically what should've been 2K14.
- Better graphics, still not amazing but a huge upgrade compared to the mess that was 2k14.
- Better camera angles.
- A pretty alright gameplay.
-
- Overall just really bland, and I know it's two different games but I can't judge Live without comparing to 2K, and in this case 2k15 offers just so much more compared to Live.
- Character creation is basic af.

29. Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 [ 20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically really realistic, sometimes I was watching the replays and I honestly thought to myself "why are they showing images of a real game?".
- Really good gameplay, if you played FIFA previously like me, it's gonna take some time to get used to it but I honestly really liked it!
- A LOT of teams from a lot of leagues! Like I really wish there was a basketball game with that amount of effort put into the teams because damn!
- A good player creator.
-
- My only issue with the graphics were that sometimes the players had like no emotions in their eyes wish can look  a bit creepy lol.
- I know it's not really the games fault but more a licence issue but damn the fake names lol at least they give you the option to edit the names which is cool but it's gonna take you a while lol.

30. NBA Live 18 [20/20]- Xbox One -
+
- A HUGE improvement from Live 16, like a true 360. Everything is better.
- The game looks STUNNING. Idc what nobody says if you tell me that 2K18 looks better than Live 18 you a liar. The courts especially the outdoor ones looks stunning and the players are just so realistic! All the little details just make the game one of the best looking basketball game ever made imo.
- A really good career mode. Live's career mode has been pretty boring in the previous games, but this one is actually really great! Even tho you don't see any cutscenes like in 2k, I actually thought the story and characters were much more interesting and realistic than in 2K.
- Street games! I love the street games especially the outdoor ones!
- The WNBA! I know a lot of people don't care about the WNBA but this was actually one of the main reason that made me want to get the game!
- Good online games, and free stuff lol. You don't have to pay 100$ to get a good myplayer, I have a 98 overall player and it took me around 3 weeks to upgrade him to that level after playing about 1-2 hours per days.
- Really good gameplay!
- Your player definitely feels unique, I have to main players and the way you can choose their attributes really allows you to make them the way you want to.
-
- The player creator is still trash, like damn I talked trash about 2K but at least 2K has a character creator lol here you just choose a damn face.
- No legends or previous players. Except in ultimate team, which I don't play.

31. NBA Street Vol.2 [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Graphically it's really fun, overall better than the first game. The courts are just so amazing, they feel really alive and are all really different from each other.
- Super fun gameplay, not really different from the first game but it was already amazing and din't really need to be changed.
- Amazing music and commentary during the games!
- The street legends are back and introduced my favorite player : Biggie Little! I just love getting buckets with this lil ass kid against grown men lol.
- The NBA Legends! Now that's a big plus because I always like to play with the old school players!
- Overall a game with a really good vibe, it got that early 2000 humor style that I adore in video games, especially sports games.
-
- I'm mad at how wrong they did my man Bonafide! He was supposed to be the Muggsy Bogues of NBA street and now he looks like a random basketball player =/

32. The King of Fighters 2002 [14/20] - Arcade -
+
- A solid roster with one of my favorite team's comeback, the new faces team!
-
- Really uninspiring stages, I honestly didn't care about any of them.
- No strikers, which was a really cool feature so idk why they took that off.
- The games feels just really bland compared to the others, it's not bad, far from that, but it's just not that exciting. Probably my least favorite KOF game tbh.


Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 23, 2018, 01:20:59 pm
Quote from: chrismb on January 23, 2018, 12:04:52 pm
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037)

16. The King of Fighters 2000 [20/20] - Arcade -
+
- A great roster, definitely one of the strongest! Benimaru's team is amazing.
- Like always, beautiful graphics and stages, I can also see an improvement compared to the previous game, especially in the stage's animations.
- Great music.
- I always forget to add this, but the gameplay, while an update wouldn't hurt it still really good.
-
/
17. Garou: Mark of The Wolves [20/20] - Neo Geo -
+
- A great roster! I wish some older characters would be in there but it's still an AMAZING cast of fighters.
- Terry's update, looking fresh.
- Stunning graphics, the animations are really nice.
- Nice music.
- Good gameplay, a bit different from the older Fatal Fury games tho.
-
- While I really love this game, It just doesn't feel like a Fatal Fury game at all, the roster is not the same, gameplay too... It should've just been a different serie imo.

Currently playing :
- Mafia III
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Remastered
- Assassin's Creed II
- The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
- Monster High: New Ghoul in School
- NBA Live 18
- NBA Street
- Street Fighter V
- The King of Fighters 2001


I'm digging the IGN style review format.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on January 23, 2018, 04:12:35 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on January 23, 2018, 01:20:59 pm
Quote from: chrismb on January 23, 2018, 12:04:52 pm
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037)

16. The King of Fighters 2000 [20/20] - Arcade -
+
- A great roster, definitely one of the strongest! Benimaru's team is amazing.
- Like always, beautiful graphics and stages, I can also see an improvement compared to the previous game, especially in the stage's animations.
- Great music.
- I always forget to add this, but the gameplay, while an update wouldn't hurt it still really good.
-
/
17. Garou: Mark of The Wolves [20/20] - Neo Geo -
+
- A great roster! I wish some older characters would be in there but it's still an AMAZING cast of fighters.
- Terry's update, looking fresh.
- Stunning graphics, the animations are really nice.
- Nice music.
- Good gameplay, a bit different from the older Fatal Fury games tho.
-
- While I really love this game, It just doesn't feel like a Fatal Fury game at all, the roster is not the same, gameplay too... It should've just been a different serie imo.

Currently playing :
- Mafia III
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Remastered
- Assassin's Creed II
- The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
- Monster High: New Ghoul in School
- NBA Live 18
- NBA Street
- Street Fighter V
- The King of Fighters 2001


I'm digging the IGN style review format.

Thanks! I struggle a little bit with my reviews last year so i thought this would be more simple haha
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on January 24, 2018, 10:19:12 pm
2. Journey (PS3)

When people talk about games being art this is what they have in mind. Beautiful story and inventive multiplayer that adds on to the story. Very short but very sweet.


Time: around 1-2 hours
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on January 25, 2018, 05:31:49 pm
And, unexpectedly, that's game 5
After some initial issues getting the game to run, I was happy to return to this piece of my childhood. This must have been one of the earliest video games I've ever played, and now I've finally beaten it. This is one of the older LEGO games, before they became "LEGO *insert external intellectual property here*", and just like the other classics LEGO games it has a charm that never fades.
Apart from a few vague objectives the game is not challenging whatshowever, but that's not the point. Putting down LEGO attractions and props to build a park is just plain simple fun. If that charm doesn't hit you I can definitely see adults finding it boring, but if you do like that simple childish charm this game is for you.
I think this game is especially great for kids though. If you have a little kid who would enjoy building their own theme park, but for whom RollerCoaster Tycoon is still too complicated, I think this game is perfect. It's basically RollerCoaster Tycoon for little kids, with many things simplified to keep it engaging and occasionally challenging, but still easy enough to get through and have fun with. It has aged VERY well. If you have a little kid you think would enjoy it I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: courtlyhades296 on January 26, 2018, 08:35:35 pm
I am actually taking back the no savestates rule, but only for Mario Frustration by Blackout77.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on January 28, 2018, 11:09:06 pm
3. Dragon Ball Z: Sagas (GC)

Not sure what to think of this game. I played this a long time ago and thought it had way more content than it does. I beat it within a few hours without any real difficulty or challenge, and the only fun characters to play with were Vegeta and Broly; one of which isn't unlocked until the game is completed; they're the only ones fast enough to be viable. Overall I thought it was a cool concept, but it should have used a lot more of the unlockable characters and been much longer than it was (it stopped at the Cell Games).


Time: 4-5 hours
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on January 29, 2018, 08:33:34 am
I haven't really been updating this since I'm not really taking the challenge seriously this year.  It's actually kind of freeing to not feel like I NEED to be playing games.  I've been binging Top Gear and The Grand Tour and not much else.  Sometimes I'll play Picross S while watching, sometimes my wife and I will play Dice Throne while watching.

That being said, I'm going to try and update my post this week.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 29, 2018, 06:54:31 pm
Quote from: ignition365 on January 29, 2018, 08:33:34 am
I haven't really been updating this since I'm not really taking the challenge seriously this year.  It's actually kind of freeing to not feel like I NEED to be playing games.  I've been binging Top Gear and The Grand Tour and not much else.  Sometimes I'll play Picross S while watching, sometimes my wife and I will play Dice Throne while watching.

That being said, I'm going to try and update my post this week.


Pretty much how I feel as well. There is a slim chance that I may hit 52-games, but even if I don't I really don't care. As far as gaming goals, I'm simply trying to replay my top 15 games and that's it; anything else will be icing on the cake. I've been watching a lot more movies and on the productive end of things have been working on building my career and various other things I've put off for a variety of reasons, some of those sadly were because of video games :/
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on January 29, 2018, 11:04:37 pm
I'm still playing stuff same as before, but Xenoblade X is a longggg game :P
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: rayne315 on January 31, 2018, 05:21:15 pm
F me. we are already a month in and I have only played 2 games... and only beaten 1! I need to stop buying and start playing!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: courtlyhades296 on February 02, 2018, 10:21:24 am
I went into Mario Frustration SNES via Lunar Magic, and decided that outright altering the source code is acceptable for this game as well. Once I finish it, I will publish a changelog alongside a screenshot.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 04, 2018, 01:36:29 pm
Three games last month! Woohoo!

3. Final Fantasy Dissidia NT (PS4): This game's value will really be dependent on how big of a Final Fantasy fan you are seeing how seeing old and new final fantasy characters is modern gen graphics, great voice acting, and excellent remixes of classic FF tracks are what make this game most appealing. Less appealing are the uninteresting, confusing, and repetitive gameplay and a story mode that makes almost no sense. There are a lot of unlockables that give this game replay value, but you'll find yourself just getting through the actually game part just to see what else you can unlock. Good enough in some ways, but definitely lacking in others. (1/31/18) [28/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on February 05, 2018, 10:08:54 pm
And that's game six!
I'm a fan of the original game. Some of my friends, when they heard that, really praised and recommended the sequel, particularly praising the ending. And I had it, so why not?

For those of you unaware, Drawn to Life is a series with two entries on DS, along with a spin-off for Wii and a Spongebob spinoff we don't talk about. The basic gimmick is that you draw your own hero to take on an adventure. But underneath the childish exterior and drawing gimmick lies a surprisingly deep, charming and engaging story.

Now Drawn to Life has never been known for its gameplay, and The Next Chapter is no exception. The levels really come down to pretty basic platforming. They do mix it up with new abilities, but in the end the gameplay is pretty basic and mundane. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. It makes it a great game to just sit back with and waste some time with. And you're not playing for the gameplay, Drawn to Life is about the story. And I can solidly say I quite enjoyed it. The original had a solid story and characters, but this one really fleshed the characters out and gave us a plot that really sucks you in with its charm and holds you all the way through. You do need to have played the original in order to fully understand this one, but that's something I recommend doing anyway.

Though I have to say, the ending disappointed me. I will obviously not say a word about it here, because it most definitely is experienced best spoiler-free (and a fair warning, Google is full of spoilers), but in short I didn't like the ending the way others did. It was a twist and a tear-jerker, sure, but I found it to be a bit abrupt and kind of shades the whole game in a different light. It's build up to pretty well though, and it's a satisfying conclusion, so it's a real mixed bag for me. But to me, the rest of the story is just so charming and so fun that I can look past that. (This part is really only here for those of you out there who played the game already. People seem super polarized on the ending and I would honestly love more (spoiler-free!) opinions).

In the end Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is a great follow-up to the original, and both are well worth a spot in your collection. I found the story much better and very fun to go through, with lots of twists, emotional moments, fun moments and just flat-out charm to keep you going. The gameplay is nothing to write home about, but it's just a nice feel-good game to sit back with and just have a relaxed, nice time with. If you're into DS collecting both the original and this title deserve a spot in your collection as hidden gems on the DS. But do be warned! They also released Drawn to Life: Collection, and in that title they changed the ending to The Next Chapter. Want the real, good, and intense ending? Be sure to pick both of them up seperately. They're dirt-cheap used anyway, so if you want some charming gems on DS, these two are well worth a look!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on February 07, 2018, 10:23:48 pm
6 - Monster Hunter World (PS4 2017) - 100+ HOURS BEAT - I didn't expect to get absorbed into another 100+ hour experience so quickly after Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but here we are.  Not only that, this has high potential to be GOTY material right off the bat short of something surprising me out of nowhere.  I've been wanting to get into the Monster Hunter series for a long time, always seeming enticing, but there was just issues I had with them that kept me from diving in.  This takes what I thought looked fun and makes it a much more manageable and better thought out experience I feel.

Story isn't exactly anything special, bordering on being almost unnecessary, but you can tell that it's sort of the point.  They didn't want to put much effort into characters and plot, because the focus is primarily on repeatedly hunting monsters.  The story is mostly just about progressing you through the game to unlock higher levels and nothing more, which is made clear by no one actually have any names.  i don't particularly like that, but it's not a game ruining thing for me.

The game does get pretty grindy at times, but it was rare that I was hating what I was fighting as the gameplay loop of hunting monsters for cool new gear and weapons is pretty enticing and is what will keep me playing for abit longer as I try to get some of this high level armor.  Just a fun actiony time that has now actually made me look forward to the series in the future.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on February 08, 2018, 06:45:47 am
2. Final Fantasy XIV : A Realm Reborn (PS4 & PC)

I played through the main story & class questlines...unusually in an MMO, you actually see the credits roll!

It took me 76 hours in total to complete the roughly 200 quests needed. There were a 7 dungeons, 4 Trials & 2 Raids required also, so I spent a bit of extra time on YouTube learning mechanics.

I enjoyed the game a lot until Level 40, when there simply aren't enough quests in the game to level up. This means that you have to grind world events & old dungeons to keep going. It was boring tbh, but I was also levelling in Monster Hunter World at the same time, so I may have some grind fatigue. I expect it was all great fun when the game launched and hundreds of people were running the same content.

The story itself was quite interesting and I will get the expansions and play them through for sure. I want to see where it goes next.

The graphics and sound in this game are amazing for an MMO, really impressive.

There is a lot to this game and if you are fan of the Final Fantasy aesthetic, and enjoy MMOs, you really can't go wrong.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on February 08, 2018, 09:33:05 am
Finished Gravity Rush 2.  Did all of the online content that I wanted to do... so that's nice.

Might jump back into Yakuza 0, but I think my wife wants me to play Until Dawn, so maybe that's what I'll play next.  Once I finish Yakuza 0, I'll probably jump into Yakuza 2... I've been waffling on whether or not to play 2 because Kiwami 2 is coming out eventually and I don't even own Yakuza 3.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on February 08, 2018, 10:54:06 am
3. Dear Esther - Landmark Edition (PS4)

I wanted something quick and relaxing to play as a break from Monster Hunter, so thought I'd give this a go.

Firstly, the graphics and music are simply superb. It's set on a Hebridean Island and has a bleak, ethereal quality I've not seen in any game before. I spent a lot of time wandering around thinking this would be a great setting for an Elder Scrolls game!

It's credited with being the first 'walking simulator' and there is a lot of slow deliberate movement and exploration whilst the story unfurls.

The story itself is very abstract and disjointed...if you listen to the directors commentary (which is excellent in itself), this is a deliberate choice leaving the player to fill in the blanks and come away with their own version of the story. Imagine Donnie Darko as a game! I actually played the game twice to get it all straight in my head and noticed the story beats are randomized in places, reinforcing the abstract narrative.

The writing itself is very dense and poetic. I found it quite hard going in places.

For me, the game was definitely interesting, but possibly a bit too cerebral for my liking. I didn't feel emotionally connected the way I did with 'What Remains of Edith Finch'.

The real star of the game is the atmosphere and setting, which are top notch.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on February 08, 2018, 10:19:53 pm
7 - Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4 2017) - BEAT - I'm of two minds when it comes to the story mode for this.  First is that it's really boring.  It's stilted in it's execution, bordering on being a visual novel with it being almost entirely stationary models standing around talking to each other (Insert joke about this being what DB has always been here).  About the only nice looking thing is how good the models actually look, with their facial expressions.  Combined with the half-assed boardgame/choose your own path mechanic, it's tedious.  It's also told as a story in a really bad way, by being split into three "arcs", so you think you are getting the one story told in three different views, but it's actually three different versions of the story based on who you start as.  Do you play as the hero's to see how they would handle it, do you play as the villains to see how they handle it, or do you play as the Androids and see how they handle it, all with different outcomes leading to a variation of the same conclusion.

I understand that Arksys doesn't really do much with their story modes, that Guilty Gear XRD is mostly just something you watch, but the lack of movement and action within the actual cutscenes feels underwhelming.

On the other hand, ORIGINAL STORY! It's not a good story, being just kind of an amalgamation of Android/Cell/Buu stuff, but Dragon Ball games are notorious for boringly rehashing the same sagas over and over again.  So I'll take something that is at least not that.  What's best about this story, even if very little makes sense (How did 21 rebuild 16 seemingly with the same memories as his original self and how did she even get the Namekian dragon balls to revive all the villains in the first place?), is all the interactions between characters. People who never met or you always wanted to interact with, probably have some sort of dialogue discussion.  It's great hearing Goku and Gohan talk about fusing, or Cell testing boundaries with Adult Gohan, or Gotenks wondering what he should call Goku and Vegeta being that he's two people in one and they are both dads to the other kid.  This, and only this, is what sells the story. 

As a DB fan, it's pure gold.  It's such a shame its stuck into the weak story mode, but hearing the dialogue could be pretty funny.  But again, that's only as a DB fan.  Anyone who's just wanting to having something fun to play will probably hate the story mode, because it's not well designed, it's not an interesting enough story, and really it just teaches bad gameplay habits with how poor the AI is.  Gonna have to relearn how to play to handle the multiplayer better lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on February 09, 2018, 08:37:41 am
Last night I finished Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana, it was emotional  :-[ Beautiful game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: azure on February 10, 2018, 11:13:30 pm
Monster Hunter World ruined any chance of me completing the challenge at this point in time  ::)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on February 11, 2018, 04:18:31 am
4. Monster Hunter: World (PS4)

I had never tried a Monster Hunter game before, but was swept up by the hype this game generated.
 
I was instantly hooked by the gameplay loop. I think of it as a more dynamic Souls game... slowish combat (I was using Hammer), predictable item placement, lots of co-op opportunities, grind what you need and then back to base to interact with the various npcs and upgrade your gear. The main difference being that the bosses are on the move in the map and often fight each other.

There is a lot to learn when you get started, but the on-ramping by the developers is well handled and you actually don't need to know the minutiae of every system...I got through the game with a just a basic knowledge of everything. It took me 66 hours to complete, and I think I could get that down to 40 hours now I know what I am doing.

The part of the game that I really loved was the multiplayer. It's actually a game where playing with randoms is great fun! I mostly responded to other peoples SOS flares, meaning that they summoned you into the game to help them. Because everyone wants to get the monster down, nobody I came across was rude or unhelpful. Communication was via emotes, nobody seemed to use voice chat which is fine by me. I imagine the game is hilarious with friends.

The weakest part of the game for me was the story and characters. In this respect, it is the total opposite of a Souls game...boring, generic characters with no names, boring story. I was skipping dialogue, and there wasn't much of it to skip!

I'm not sure how much I'll play on past the story, mostly because I want to play other games, but if I did there are hundreds of hours of extra challenges to face and Hunter Ranks to gain.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on February 14, 2018, 09:25:41 am
5. Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition (PS4)

I never got round to playing this last generation, and picked it up brand new for £5 in the discount bin of our local supermarket.

It took me about 8 hours to beat, and largely was a lot of mindless fun. It's a linear, over-the-top first person shooter with the main draw being the use of skillshots to gun down hordes of enemies in a variety of gruesome ways. You can get quite creative with your killing here!

In large parts, the game seemed to be a parody of itself and was actually quite funny I thought.

The cartoony style means the remastered graphics look pretty great during actual gameplay.  The game was marginally buggy in the cutscenes, but didn't bother me. I was very bothered however by the poor face animations during the cutscenes, especially around the mouth...really very odd looking.

The plot was a predictable revenge story...utter nonsense, but easy to follow.

I'd recommend it if you fancy a fun & furious, relatively short first person shooter.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on February 15, 2018, 01:29:06 pm
Game 7!
All right, some background info. This is a point-and-click (erm, touch?) adventure game based on the 2006 Dutch/Flemish hit tv show Het Huis Anubis (The House of Anubis). This show was a massive succes in the Benelux region, and of course, with big success comes DS shovelware games. The show did get an American remake, but this title was naturally released exclusively in Dutch speaking regions (unless the German game based on the German remake of this show is identical, but I have no idea about that).
(https://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase3/large/FC/7/0/6/6/1004004007446607.jpg)

So regardless of the source material, how's the game? Eh.
It's not bad, but it's very mediocre. I get it can't be too difficult since it's aimed at a younger audience, but for an adult audience it's not too challenging. You find an item, solve a simple riddle, and then right after use this item to move ahead. And these riddles are all puzzles you've done or heard of before. You're not here for the gameplay.

But the story is every bit as disappointing. The one thing that licensed games always need to do is be faithful to the source material, and sadly this game fails. It's an original story that, apart from the Egyptian theming, has nothing to do with the story from the series. None of the characters from the show show up apart from one you choose that has a few lines, and it doesn't even take place in the titular House of Anubis! Instead a part of the title takes place in the House of Osiris, which does not exist in the show at all. It's very clear the House of Osiris is meant to resemble the House of Anubis as much as possible, complete with an old creepy landlord, so it's quite baffling to me why they couldn't base the game in the titular House of Anubis. The building is recognisable, and its layout from the show is perfect for this type of game.

Now it wouldn't be a huge deal that the game has an original story if this story was interesting, but it isn't. It's kind of bland and not elaborate enough. For example, the general idea is that either Nienke or Fabian, a main character from the show you can choose, tasks you with finding an old archeologist. Meanwhile you meet the ghost of Osiris who wants you to free his son. All right, but how are the main cast involved with this story? What's the story behind this archeologist? What are they looking for? How did he get the artifacts he has? What happened to Osiris? And what happened to his son? Why is there a ghost from the show crying without any relevance to the plot? What happened to all the characters after the game's events? What's the deal with the House of Osiris? Tons of questions that are never answered. The story is nothing but a backdrop to get you from puzzle to puzzle.

Now, despite everything in the game being bad, the game is not the worst. It's playable, and for the 1,5 hours it lasts I can see younger fans of the show enjoying it for what it is. It's very mediocre and if you're not a fan of the show it's not even worth a look. It's a shame. I knew it would be bad (Studio 100 has never made a good game as far as I know), but I'm a fan of the show, so at the very least I was hoping for some fan service. But apart from a drawing that barely resemble Nienke, the theme song playing a few times and the logo everywhere, it's just nothing. It's sad, but there are probably flash games out there that offer a better point-and-click experience than this. Nothing to see here folks.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on February 15, 2018, 11:42:35 pm
First game done!  :-[

Game 1 - Castlevania: Dracula X (3DS) - 9 Hours

This is the third Castlevania game I've played (SotN and IV being the other two), and this is closest to traditional Castlevania that I've gotten so far. It's pretty good! Good gameplay, good music (though there's a lot of recycled tracks), and really good challenge in the stages and bosses. However, the final boss was a little too tough, took me a solid 30 tries to beat him.

I'll probably replay Super Castlevania IV since I never beat it.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on February 17, 2018, 12:16:53 pm
And game 8 is done!
This would be the fourth time I've bought this game and I've lost count of how many times I've played through it. I just love this game! This would be my second favourite game of all time if Bayonetta 2 didn't exist. I don't even know what to say about this game that I haven't said before. Everything about this game is fantastic. It's without a doubt one of the best action hack-and-slash games on the market. I would tell you to buy Bayonetta 2 (and seeing how you get both when you buy it for Switch you absolutely should), but if you're not sure whether or not you'll like it then I highly recommend you pick this one up, since it's criminally cheap on its own for how fantastic it is. If you've never played Bayonetta, please, do yourself a favour and play it. You will not regret it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 18, 2018, 12:13:45 pm
Well I'm on track for the year so far, mostly because I've been playing a lot of shooters recently as part of refining my top shmups list that I've contributing to another site right now. This one made the list (towards the bottom, but still).

8. Muchi Muchi Pork (360): It's too bad the balancing and controls of this game couldn't rub off on other Cave titles or else I might obsess over Cave like so many other fans of SHMUPs do. This game plays wonderfully and has an excellent balance of projectiles and your ability to dodge them throughout the entire game. The game looks great overall and has a very Japanese feel to it in the sense that there are a lot of random, cutesy, and busty elements to it that give it that distinct Japanese asthetic. While there are definitely shooters that are better than it, Muchi Muchi Pork is definitely one worth checking out if you're into games like this. (2/18/18) [35/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on February 19, 2018, 02:52:48 pm
Game 9!
Tied with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U for my favourite game of all time. Seriously, if you're even remotely interested in the action or hack-and-slash genre, this game is a must-play. It is absolutely the highlight of its genre, a truly fantastic game in every single way. Am I fanboying? Probably, but I don't care. I love this game to death, and there's nothing I can say apart from just play it. The combat, the gameplay, the controls, the characters, the graphics, the music, it's all just top-notch! I can keep on hailing praise on this game for hours, but long story short, if you are looking for any game at all to play I could not recommend this one more. Do yourself a favour and play it!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on February 19, 2018, 03:03:01 pm
6. Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)

This was my first time playing this game and it's easy to see why it is held in such high regard, although it was mixed bag for me.

On the very positive side, this remaster looks absolutely beautiful, especially the environments. The music is fantastic, I am not sure if it differs from the original at all. I really liked the story, with parts of it being open to interpretation by the player. It really must have been a unique experience when it launched.

My biggest gripe with the game was actually the horse! The game took me 7 hours and I'm sure two hours of that was wrestling with the controls for that bastard. It got better as I got used to it, but I know this was a common complaint of the original game, and I don't know why they didn't deal with it here.

The other issue I personally had with the game, was that it is in large part a problem solving game. This is my issue, not the game, as I am a bit useless and impatient when it comes to puzzles in games. I will try once or twice to work out the mechanic required, and then reach for a guide. I would say I only really downed half of the colossi by my own ingenuity. Other people will love this part of the game, just not me!

I'm glad I played it overall if only for the world building and story, but I wasn't as blown away as I was hoping.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on February 19, 2018, 03:06:21 pm
Quote from: realpoketendonl on February 19, 2018, 02:52:48 pm
Game 9!
  • Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
Tied with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U for my favourite game of all time. Seriously, if you're even remotely interested in the action or hack-and-slash genre, this game is a must-play. It is absolutely the highlight of its genre, a truly fantastic game in every single way. Am I fanboying? Probably, but I don't care. I love this game to death, and there's nothing I can say apart from just play it. The combat, the gameplay, the controls, the characters, the graphics, the music, it's all just top-notch! I can keep on hailing praise on this game for hours, but long story short, if you are looking for any game at all to play I could not recommend this one more. Do yourself a favour and play it!

Amen to that...Bayonetta 2 is my absolute favourite game of all time. I have never laughed, hooped or hollered so much in my life as I did when playing that game! Man I need to get a Switch now!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on February 21, 2018, 06:16:58 am
7. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4)

I haven't played a CoD game in a few years, but I picked this up for a £5 as I had read the campaign was quite enjoyable.

It's a decent guns and space rump over 8 hours, with the standard CoD set pieces forming the most memorable bits. There is a fair bit of spaceship battling thrown into the mix as well.

The characters are quite boring and generic...they bought Kit Harrington in to voice the baddie, but he must have knocked his few lines out in under an hour, he's hardly in it!

Graphically it looks as good as you'd expect given the budget, but the art direction was a bit bland.

I haven't tried the multiplayer as it doesn't interest me.

One of those games that kills a bit of time, but I'll have forgotten entirely within a few months.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on February 21, 2018, 06:54:37 am
I feel like Monster Hunter World has ruined games lately for me.  I was so obsessed with it, that now I look at some of the stuff I have to play, like Tales of Berseria and I go "Well, the gameplay and action isn't nearly as satisfying as MHW, maybe I should hop back into MHW to farm some monsters to try and get some new armor sets".  I've had no drive to go and play the other games I've been meaning to play lol Think I'm sticking with MonHun mostly till either Attack on Titan 2 or Farcry 5 come out.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on February 25, 2018, 02:17:15 pm
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037
Part 2 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149778.html#msg149778

33. Uncharted 4: A thief's end [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Probably the most beautiful game ever made up to this day imo. Everything is stunning, the animations, the locations, the characters (who are by far the most realistic looking video game characters I've ever seen)... Everything is just so detailed!
- Amazing story! We get to know more about Nate's past, especially with the introduction of Sam, but we also get a really satisfying ending imo. The story is full of chocking revelations and also has probably the most annoying villain from the serie (but I kinda feel like every villain from Uncharted is the most annoying so... lol).
- Once again amazing acting and voice acting. The dialogues are also super funny!
- Amazing characters! I mean, it's uncharted so of course one of the best asset of the game is it's characters! I wish Chloe, Cutter or even Marisa made an appearance but I think they did a really good job with separating the time you spend with each characters.
- Amazing gameplay, everything is more fluid and polished with some new additions.
- Overall just a masterpiece, definitely worth getting a PS4 just for this game tbh.
-
/

34. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Graphically STUNNING, especially when you consider it being an Indie game! The graphics are definitely one of the game's biggest asset!
- An incredible story! While the "base" story isn't that crazy original, it's the way it's told, through a character who is controlled by the "darkness" (which of course is representing mental illness) that makes it a really unique experience.
- Good gameplay! I loved the puzzle solving and I thought the fighting was also really good.
- A really stressful atmosphere, while the game isn't scary, there is something that makes you slightly uncomfortable when you play it but like in a good way. One thing I realized is that when I started playing the voices were freaking me out and made me super stressed, but at the end of the game they were almost like reassuring because it made me feel like I wasn't alone (I mean Senua wasn't alone but you get what i'm saying lol, it's always better to have a companion in a stressful game).
- Amazing acting and music!
-
- The levels are a little bit too closed, like sometimes it would be so much easier if you coud just climb up the rock instead of having to find a way to go around it but I guess that's probably because it's an indie game and they just didn't have the budget to add these type of stuffs in the gameplay.

35. Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers [20/20] - Switch -
+
- Definitely the best version of Street Fighter II, it has both the original version and the new version.
- The new version looks STUNNING, it reminded me so much of cartoons I used to watch as a kid tbh. Reminded me a lot of Skullgirls actually, which is one of my favorite fighting game.
- Amazing music and also new sound effect AND the biggest plus for me, they took out the elephant noise in the Dhalsim stage, fr you don't know how much I hate that noise lol it annoyed me so much in the OG version.
- Amazing gameplay, I mean nothing knew but it's still good.
- You can change the colors of the characters outfits, I personally didn't care about this feature but it's still a cool addition.
-
- Not of a fan of the side backscreen in the og version, it's hard to explain but if you played the game you know what I mean ^^ It's just really distracting.
- I guess the new version isn't really a "new" version since it came out in 2010 or something but I honestly don't care about that ^^ I just thought I had to point it out for those who'd care.

36. The King of Fighters 2003 [18/20] - Arcade -
+
- A huge improvement from the previous game, everything is better tbh.
- Pretty good looking tbh, the characters look really good and Idk what it is about Athena that SNK loves so much but she got her like 10th upgrade since the first game lol.
- Better gameplay, I definitely felt a huge improvement when it came to gameplay! Faster and just overall more enjoyable.
- A good roster with interesting new characters, especially Malin, Shen Woo and Tizoc from GMOTW.
-
- Some really good levels but I do think that it's still not as good as the ones in the 97-2000 area. A big improvement tho so it's not like a huge negative ^^

37. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Amazing graphics, obviously since the game is made with the same engine that Uncharted 4 was made with. The locations aren't as diverse as in the usual Uncharted but this game is only a standalone expansion so it's still pretty good, and everything is just so stunning that you really can't complain.
- Amazing characters! Chloe and Nadine are two badass females and I absolutely loved playing with them (or more playing with Chloe and having Nadine by my side haha). Chloe was already one of my favorite character from the Uncharted serie and Nadine was a character with a lot of potential since she was introduced as a villain but she clearly wasn't really one, so I'm glad we were able to see more of her. Their relationship going from business partners to friends was really awesome to watch, and I also really like the Sam cameo at the end, he added the Drake humor to this game and I thought he was even funnier here than in Uncharted 4.
- An overall really good story, it reminded me a lot of Uncharted 1 or Golden Abyss.
- A good villain, maybe my favorite from the serie tbh.
-
/

38. NBA Live 2001 [15/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Graphically it's pretty nice, obviously it's the first PS2 NBA game so it's not perfect but I thought it was alright.
- Pretty good gameplay, needs a lot of polishing but it's a great base.
- Loved having the Historic players, something that the newer lives doesn't have smh.
-
- No 2K like camera angle, obviously since 2K wasn't really a thing back then, but it's just a lot harder for me to play a Basketball game with a sideline angle when i'm so used to a baseline one.
- Overall just aged a lot, not necessarily badly, but it's clear that it's an older game that was laying up the base for the next games.

39. Assassin's Creed Revelations [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically once again amazing and even better looking than the previous one! The characters once again look better and Constantinople is STUNNING! At first it kinda threw me off being in such a different city, but I quickly fell in  love with it and it's now my second favorite city from the Ezio trilogy after Venise!
- A good story with an even more mature Ezio. I did miss the old characters, especially Leonardo but is loved Sofia and her relationship with Ezio! It just felt really genuine and natural. The ending was a bit brusque, like idk I expected to see what became of Ezio and especially of him and Sofia (I had to wiki it to find out that he did marry Sofia so I was happy about that haha).
- We also got to see more of Altair, I finally can say that he did have some sort of personality, plus we get to see how important he is in the Assassin's community. His death was also really sad and heroic in a way. He dedicated his life to the brotherhood and he died doing it.
- The hookblade is a LIFE SAVER! I loved that addition.
-
- I hated the part in that underground city, thank god it was only 1 sequence but I was just rally over leaving Constantinople especially since I thought i'd never come back lol.
- Ok I might be dumb but at the beginning of the game we have a mission where we have to secure the area, placing snips and shit and walls to protect it from the ennemi. I liked that mission. It was also the only time in the game where I ever did that type of mission lol. I'm pretty sure the other similar missions were side quest but it seemed like such a big part of the game, like a whole new game style that I thought we would see it again in a main quest, but no. I never really bothered with the AC side quests, mostly because I forget then since i'm so into the main quest.
- The game is a bit short, at least the main quest.

40. Mafia III [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- A really good story, the beginning is honestly heartbreaking! The story feels realistic and not over the top. It also makes you realize a lot of things about racism in the 60's, some scenes are really brutal but definitely needed to make the message come across better. I also loved that we can choose between multiple endings.
- Graphically it's stunning! While the characters aren't the best I've seen and the animations sometimes feel a little stiff, New Bordeaux is just mind blowing and totally make elevates the game from a normal open world to a really good game! Each part of the city feels completely different and all the little details makes this city one of my favorite from any games I've played!
- Great gameplay. The sensation when you shoot someone is really realistic, like idk how to explain it but you really feel like you just done shot someone lol.
- Amazing characters, I honestly loved all of them!
- Great music!
-
- Pretty repetitive missions. Like it's always the same thing again and again.
- The money management is DUMB.
- The side quest are also pretty repetitive and boring.

41. The Order: 1886 [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Graphically it's one of the most stunning looking game I've ever seen. It honestly feels like you're watching a movie and not playing a game! Some of the scenes were really impressive, the one in the plane (if it was a plane lol) for example.
- A really good story, because of the bad reviews I expected something way worse but I actually adored it!
- Loved the characters, especially Gray, Marquis and Lakshmi! The dialogues and voice acting were really solid.
-
- The ending, lmao wtf. I red previously that the ending was shitty but damn I didn't expect such a brutal one. I wanted to know what happens between Gray and Lakshmi, and what happened with Isi, especially since she became a hateable  cunt at the end. The fact that there will probably never be a sequel makes the ending even worse.

42. Grand Theft Auto III [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Graphically it's pretty impressive for a game that came out in 2001, especially the huge city! It's also a huge change from the first two game, and definitely paved the way for all the other open world GTA like games that came after.
- A good story with great characters! The dialogues are funny as hell and the voice acting is AMAZING.
- A huge number of diverse missions!
- Cool music, it took me a little time to appreciate it but at the end of the game I was in love.
- Overall the game just has a really cool vibe, it's the type of game that has it's issues but you can't help but love it for how iconic it is.
-
- I hate that you can't move the camera, also the shooting is not really great.
- Claude doesn't speak, you don't even know his name in the game. I'm really not a fan of mute protagonists.
- Some missions are really hard and what makes them even more annoying is that you have to go back to the starting point of the mission to start it again instead of just being able to retry it right away.
- No map. You honestly don't realize how important a map is until you don't have one lol

43. NBA Street Vol.3 [20/20] - Gamecube -
+
- A slight graphical improvement with amazing courts!
- New body types! I loved playing with kids or fat players haha
- Dunk contest! It's a really really cool addition tbh.
- Amazing gameplay, nothing really new but it didn't really need to be changed in the first place.
- Amazing music.
-
- Bonafide still trash. And where tf is my boy Drake? Also no secret teams.

44. Assassin's Creed III [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically once again the game is stunning! Revelations was already stunning but III feels like a totally new engine! The animations are a lot more realistic and fluid, and the locations are just STUNNING! I especially loved Boston! The characters also looked even better.
- A really good story! You start with Haytham thinking that he's the hero only to find out that he's a Templar! I think the whole story was just really well written and interesting.
- Amazing characters! I know a lot of people will disagree but I actually thought that Connor was an amazing character. Was he as good as Ezio? no obviously, but Ezio had 3 games where you basically see him going from a 19 yo to a 50 yo assassin master. Connor is similar to Ezio in a lot of ways but he's also really different, he's a lot more impulsive and want to go straight to the point. Connor doesn't have any family left, except his dad who's basically the one who killed his family (even tho he swears he didn't, which might be true). Haytham is another amazing character, while he's a Templar and has some really bad qualities, he's also a really complex character who's not a villain just to be a villain. He's likable and charismatic, and the small time he spent with Connor showed that they could've made a really good team.
- The fighting is a LOT better than in the previous games.
-
- That might be silly, but you can't steal money lol.
- One of the 'biggest" addition to the game was that you could climb trees. I probably did it like 5 times during the entire game lol. I feel like there is just not enough climbable trees. However i didn't do the hunting missions, had I done them I would've probably used this addition a lot more.

45. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Better graphics and an amazing open world! I just adore the 80's Miami neon vibes of Vice City! It's so different from Liberty City which was a lot darker and serious.
- A lot of fun and varied missions! What I love about GTA is that rockstar puts just as much effort into the side missions as they do into the main missions.
- Amazing characters! My main issue with GTA III was Claude being silent, so having Tommy in this game is definitely a huge +! And overall all the characters are just really fun and charismatic.
- Good music!
- Really good voice acting!
-
- The gameplay has aged a bit, not as bad as GTA III tho but some missions are really a struggle.
- I didn't find the main story particularly interesting.

46. Skate [17/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Amazing gameplay! The more realistic type of gameplay really made this game a huge stand out compared to other skating games! It's really just so much fun, might be a little weird at first if you're used to the Tony Hawk's games tho.
- Good graphics. The more realistic type of graphics fit really well with the gameplay, and I also think that the game has aged quite well, even today it's still beautiful.
- Overall just a never ending experience, like you can complete the challenges and everything but that's not the real fun part of the game, the real fun is just skating around and finding the right spot!
-
- You can't take of your board. That's by far the most annoying thing in the game since you will often want to skate a spot but you won't be able to get to it because of stairs =/
- The city is definitely my least favorite out of the 3 games. I just feel like it's really hard to find a good spot to skate, there are that many skateparks and the funnest one are the one you unlock at the end of the game.

47. KOF: Maximum Impact [16/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- While the game isn't the best looking fighting game of the the generation, it's still nice to see the KOF fighters in 3D and I think they did a pretty good job with the animations too.
- Good Music!
- Good gameplay, feels a bit different from the 2D games obviously but it's really enjoyable.
- A cool roster with some really good new characters!
-
- Not a big fan of the arena's, found them pretty boring.
- It takes to much time to die like that life bar just doesn't want to empty lol

48. Skate 2 [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Amazing gameplay! It's the same as the first games except with new tricks and you can finally take of your board!
- An AMAZING city! My main issue with the first game was how hard it was to find a cool spot to skate, in this game however you can't go anywhere without finding an amazing spot every two seconds. It's a really realistic city with a lot of diverse areas and it's honestly just so much fun to skate around!
- You can be a girl. A lot of people don't really care about that but I think it's always cool to have the choice.
- Graphically it's really beautiful, even today it still looks amazing!
-
- The controls when you take off your board are GARBAGE. Still better then not being able to get of your skate but damn your character is a slow motherfucker.

49. Assassin's Creed III: Liberation HD [20/20] - PC -
+
- Graphically the game looks stunning, especially for an HD port of a Vita game! The faces don't look as good as the previous game obviously (still good tho) but I was honestly shocked at how good the game actually looks like!
- A great Assassin! First female assassin and I honestly really enjoyed Aveline! I loved being able to change between her 3 personas, I thought that was a really cool feature.
- Good gameplay, mostly the same as ASIII with a few new things.
- A good story, the villain was also pretty surprising! It's not as elaborated as ASIII but you have to keep into consideration that this is originally a Vita game.
- Overall just a really underrated game that I feel like a lot of fans haven't played and definitely should.
-
- The voice acting was...interesting. Aveline's voice is the best one and the only one that I would consider on the same level as the previous character's voices. The guy who's helping, I don't remember the name but he's always in blue, has the weirdest voice ever! He has the softest voice but looks like he's in his late 30's lol.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 28, 2018, 10:42:21 pm
This is the first of several games I'm in the process of replaying that currently rank as the best games I've ever played. I am re-evaluating my top games in light of the fact that many of them I haven't played and/or beat in over a decade, and also I've played many excellent games since. I'm not sure if MvC2 will make the cut in terms of remaining in my top 10, but it is still a damn fun fighting game and one I will always love.

14. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Dreamcast): MvC2 is an example of a game that could have only happened in the late 90s when developers could get away with putting so many awesome and interesting characters together in one of the most over the top, fun and addictive fighting games to ever be released. While the intoxicating effect this game once had on me has faded a little, it still stands as one of the best fighting games I've ever played, maybe the greatest. On top of that this game is one of the most nostalgic I can play these days given how much I played this in my youth and also how much it reminds me of gaming during the late 90s and early 2000s. (2/28/18) [43/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on March 01, 2018, 09:00:20 pm
4. Unravel (PS4)

This is such a beautiful game and an emotional story. The only problems I had were with the physics sometimes just completely not working and having to restart certain parts.

Time: 15-20 hours


I'm also working on Horizon and Owl Boy
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on March 02, 2018, 10:04:58 am
Game number 10
So, the former black sheep of the Metroid franchise until Federation Force kicked it of its throne. Is it really as bad as the internet has made it out to be? Well, no. Not in the slightest. It's actually a pretty damn good game.

Let's start with the main flaw, the story. We all know the main reason this game is hated is its depiction of Samus. And yeah, she's flawed to put it lightly. But it's not as bad as you may think. Yes, she's represented poorly partially due to some bad story points, and the voice acting is terrible, but it's not what the internet made me believe. She still goes through this solo, she still kicks all the butt, and outside of the cutscenes and the bullshit limitations Adam puts on you, it does feel like you're controlling Samus. And as for the story in general, it suffers from an interesting premise suffering a lot from poor execution of the main characters and plot devices. It's not great, but not the worst.

But I decided not to judge this game on its story from the get-go. I was here for its gameplay. How was it? Well...firstly I would say, make sure you give it some time and prepare for a rough start. This game gave me similair things to Wonderful 101, but worse, in that it starts of bad. The controls will take time to adjust to, and it doesn't really start to pay off until you're at least 2 hours or more into the game. Couple that with a beginning that is not well-fit for these kinds of controls and you have a bad start. I won't lie, I hated it when I started. But trust me, you will adjust to it and in the end it will be worth the trip. It's obviously not nearly as deep as other action games like Bayonetta or anything, and I firmly believe the game suffered from being limited to the Wii Remote, but once you're in a good bit it's actually pretty enjoyable for what it is.

So in summary, I quite liked Metroid: Other M! It's not perfect by any means, but once you get past the poor representation of Samus, the overall story flaws and the adjustment period to the controls it's actually a really damn good game. It does not get the love it deserves online, because hiding behind those barriers is a really competent and enjoyable action game. If you're curious about it, I recommend you check it out. Not the best Metroid game, but still a really solid game on its own.

EDIT

Well, after some extended playing, that's game 11
Absolutely a hidden gem on the Wii. Excite Truck is a fantastic racing game. The idea is that you are racing on off-road courses, but rather than just trying to come in first your goal is to earn as many stars as possible. And you get these stars by doing anything from drifting to being airborne to driving close to trees to even crashing into other trucks. Just be as extreme as you can be! This simple change of focus from pure speed to technique and extreme manoeuvres makes the game unique and tons of fun. I would definitely rank this as one of my favourite racing games on the Wii, and I highly recommend you pick it up. If you're looking for a fresh take on off-road racing this is a perfect pick.

Full list: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075
Next games to play: Nintendo Presents: New Style Boutique (3DS), and t.b.d.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 04, 2018, 09:18:51 pm
8 - Metro 2033 Redux (PC 2014) - BEAT - The Metro games are a particular favorite of mine, sorta the realization of what the STALKER series failed at accomplishing in terms of game quality (I like those games, but man that engine is ROUGH).  Great atmosphere, setting, and just all around solid singleplayer shooter experience.  I've beaten Metro 2033 normally 2 or 3 times and I think this is my second completion of the Redux version.  The only real negatives I have about the game is the dialogue/voice acting is kinda poor, animations can get abit stiff looking, and sound design is at varying levels of quality.  A few sections of the game also get abit obnoxious to go through as I basically hate any area that has the rats in it.  Hard to hear when they come up on you.  They are easy to kill, and don't do much damage, it's just tedious.  Also the Nosalis in terms of combat are annoying with repetitive strikes.  I had to drop the difficulty back down, because it was too easy to just get swipe spammed to death, which isn't fun to me.  Still a good time though.

I'm actually quite excited for my Metro Last Light run next.  I haven't played it in a few years and I remember liking it even more than the first and being that I only played through it twice I believe, I remember it less than the first game.  Will probably get to that soon as I'm playing through both due to Metro Exodus coming out later this year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 06, 2018, 05:43:58 am
9 - Celeste (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Not really a full "BEAT" yet from what comes at the end, unlocking more chapters, but I think it requires me replaying areas to find things that unlock further progression. I got the credits though and the story has it's beginning and end, so I'm counting it as I'm not looking to go replay levels right now, but I will eventually.  Even if it does seem to have some story relevance, seems more like a bonus mission you might see in other games upon completion.

Overall it's a charming little game, sorta like if Super Meat Boy was more of an adventure than just random chaotic levels.  Pretty reasonable difficulty to it, with what I assume is even more challenging stuff for those that want to continue on after you hit credits.  The game never really blew me away, but I did enjoy my time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on March 11, 2018, 11:34:10 am
8. Dragon Quest Builders (PS4)

I played the demo of DQB and enjoyed it enough to give the full game a go.

I've never got on with Minecraft because I need focus in my gameplay, and DQB provides that in abundance. It's basically an RPG with building elements woven in. You are supplied with Blueprints and have to find the parts necessary to piece it all together.

The world is very charming with memorable characters and nice music. It kinda feels like a Nintendo game on the PS4 to me.

Unfortunately, the story mode is about twice as long as it should be and took me about 40 hours to complete. The combat is also quite irritating, with wonky hitboxes on a lot of monsters. I think if they could sort these things out for the DQB2, they will have a very good game on their hands.

There is a free build mode in the game, which you fully unlock by finishing the game. It looks like good fun, but once again I lack the creativity to really make the most of it. I got frustrated after about 5 hours and gave up.

All in all, it's a very solid 8/10 game and I look forward to seeing what they do with the upcoming sequel.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on March 12, 2018, 12:49:53 am
Another game replayed as part of re-evaluating my top 10 games of all time. This time I replayed what was my fourth favorite game of all time, Final Fantasy VII. My impression of FF7 upon beating it again 18-years after I last beat it has me both in shock and saddened, but hey, it is what it is.

18. Final Fantasy VII (PS1): Final Fantasy VII is a perfect example of why I am replaying my top games of all time, a list that has games that I have not played and/or beat for over a decade, FF7 being one of those games. FF7 was my first real RPG and at the time JRPGs were my favorite thing in the whole world and I literally bought a PS1 just so I could play this game and the other FF titles available on the system. Back in 2000 when I first played and beat FF7 I adored this game, probably because I had never played anything else like it and it left a very big impression on me. It motivated me to play FF8, FF9, and later on the PS2, FFX, all of which I remember enjoying a lot. However, 18-years later and picking up the JRPG that started my interest in the genre, I've been reminded how much my preference in video games have changed since then. Replaying it, I found FF7 to be an incredibly mediocre game for the most part; I'd often find myself interested in the game, followed by me literally having no investment or interest just hours later. FF7 never consistently kept my interest and I found the overall story to be very run of the mill and generic, as well as the characters to be nothing special either, including characters like Cloud and Sephiroth which are idolized for some reason in video game culture as being some of the best RPG characters of all time. I can appreciate why this game was a big deal when it came out and how it did certain things in terms of story, characters and gameplay, but on the whole this game has not aged well in any regard, including my personal opinion of it almost 20-years after originally playing it. I will end this review by saying two things. The first is that I am not into RPGs, especially JRPGs as much as I was when I first played FF7. This no doubt has diminished my enjoyment of this game and had I retained the zeal I once had for the genre I may have been able to appreciate this game's story and tropes more than I did now. The other thing I want to say is that FF7, for better or worse, is no longer a top 10 game for me. Hell it isn't a top 25 game for me. This will perhaps be the most shocking revelation I will have while replaying my favorite games since prior to me replaying it, FF7 was officially my fourth favorite game of all time. Times change, people change, and interests in games and genres change. Maybe I'll replay FF7 in another 20-years and perhaps then I'll have a greater interest in JRPGs like I once did and maybe FF7 will creep back into my top games where it once sat for many years. (3/11/18) [32/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 12, 2018, 06:07:31 am
10 - Metro: Last Light Redux (PC 2014) - BEAT - My 2nd or 3rd time beating the game now.  After playing 2033 Redux (which included some general improvements from Last Light), there's still quite a big difference in quality between them.  The story is made more engaging with a lot more characters you interact with throughout and there's tangible threats to be involved with compared to what was just a vague overarching plot related to stopping the Dark Ones.  More action, more exploration, more creatures to fight, and even downright boss fights.  Stealth sections and level designs are definitely improved.  It has me all the more excited for Exodus releasing later this year, because I'm hoping to have the same step up as before.  Just an overall quality uptick with new and interesting stuff to get involved with.

I highly recommend these games if you enjoy solid, single player, shooter games.  There aren't as many that really nail it as well as this.  Honestly, The Wolfenstein reboot games might be the closest in terms of feel to me, letting you play out certain situations how you want, rewarding you for exploring every nook and cranny with loot, with Metro just focusing more on survival and atmosphere, and Wolfenstein being about big action and crazy moments.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on March 14, 2018, 10:06:18 pm
And that's game no. 12!
Also known as Style Savvy: Trendsetters in the US, this is an often overlooked yet pretty succesfull series of games that saw life on DS and 3DS. After seeing the trailer for New Style Boutique 3: Fashion Forward I got interested in the series, and after I saw the Nintendo Selects version of the second game in the series on sale I decided to give it a shot. I started with this game last year and casually played it for a good while, and now I've finally beaten it. So what is it like?

In case you're unfamiliar with the series, the Style Boutique series unsurprisingly has you taking care of a boutique. The general gist is that customers will come into your boutique and ask you to pick out certain items of clothing for them. These requests typically come in them requesting a certain style of clothing, and then you have to provide them with an item or sometimes put together an entire outfit you think they'd like. And with that I've really said most of it. They do change it up in a good amount of ways by having casual character interactions breaking up the pace, having dedicated fashion contests every evening, letting you manage your own stock and shop for new items to sell and sometimes letting you mess around with hair and make-up too, but generally you'll be spending your time simply picking out clothes and giving them to customers. This is not a bad thing though, and it executes this fairly simple concept really well through charming characters and a constant flow of new, fresh stuff.

New Style Boutique is not the type of game that you play for hours on end to race to the finish with. It's the type of game you play when you have fifteen minutes to kill and just want a fun little timewaster to play around with. And for those short timespans it does its job really well. The different tasks, just huge variety of clothing to choose from, and constant flow of new brands and clothing being added make sure the game always has something new to let you play around with. And on top of that, the game is just charming. The graphics are very smooth and pretty, and the characters are all charmingly likeable. Sure, it's not like there's any particular depth to them, but they serve their purpose and serve it well. The main characters are all there to help push the story along which they do greatly. They always feel like a character first, and their task second. And all the customers are just charming as well. They're all understandably pretty one-dimensional for how many you get, but they always have a little thing to say which keeps them fresh.

Nintendo Presents: New Style Boutique really surprised me! It's not a masterpiece or anything, but for what it is it's a very charming and very enjoyable experience. If it looks interesting to you, I recommend you pick a game in the series up. Don't let the little girl-aesthetic put you off, even for adults the simple gameplay can be enjoyable if it's your type of game. If it is, then these games are well worth trying out.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on March 16, 2018, 09:56:06 am
9. Silence (PS4)

I picked this up for £7 without knowing anything about it other than I liked the cover art style! 

Turns out it a point and click adventure, a genre which I normally don't like too much. However, I really quite enjoyed the 6 hours this game took me to complete.

The game has an interesting visual style and the voice acting was truly excellent. The story was a bit odd, I almost felt like I was playing a sequel and was missing out on plot points.

The puzzle solving was easy enough for me, I think I got properly only stuck once.

Overall, I'm glad I played it as it's not my normal sort of thing.

Edit - No wonder I was confused at times.....turns out it was a sequel to a PC game called The Whispered World  :-[
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 18, 2018, 02:31:14 am
13 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (PC 2018) - ENDLESS - Played the last one for a short bit with a friend and ended up grabbing the new one on a whim and ended up reconnecting with that friend after kind of a year of not chatting.  Seems like a generally updated version of the previous game, though nothing significantly different other than abilities per class I believe.  Seems to be a tad buggy, which the previous one also was, but overall it's fun with a group you can enjoy it with.  Not sure if there's technically any story progression/singleplayer aspect, I basically did the tutorial and jumped right into my friends group and played for a few hours.  Can get intense, but it's a good time and fills that quality co-op gameplay gap that you don't see as much anymore other than the first game and Left 4 Dead.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on March 18, 2018, 03:58:25 pm
5. Owlboy (Switch)

It's a cool little game. Unique gameplay, GREAT story, and great characters. It is quite short though and traveling is confusing as fuck.

Time: 10 hours

About halfway through horizon now
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: thegouldfish on March 19, 2018, 07:25:04 pm
18. Giga Wreaker (Steam)

A physics puzzle platformer in a very loose metroid skin.
Not a bad game but let down by inconsistent physics and difficulty curve.
But nice to see Game Freak doing something other then Pokemon.

Time to completion: 12 hours



19. Legend of Zelda Links Awakening DX (Gameboy Colour)
Still a great game after all these years.

Would love a snes style make over if just to allow the use of more buttons as the 2 item at a time limit gets annoying at times.



Gaming will be on hold for a few weeks due to moving :(
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on March 20, 2018, 11:40:27 am
10. Dirt 4 (PS4)

Having got frustrated at the difficulty of Dirt Rally, I heard that Dirt 4 was a lot more forgiving, and that proved to be the case.

Right from the off you are given a choice of Simulation or Gamer mode....basically do you want Forza or Forza Horizon?

Having opted for Gamer mode, I had a blast playing through about 30 hours of the Career. It's not all straight rally stages, with other circuit modes thrown in until you reach the Triple Crown series at the end of the game.

The driving physics are as tight as you'd expect from Codemasters and the sense of speed is palpable. The graphics aren't top end, especially the foliage for some reason, but the game looks good enough.

There is also a Team Management aspect to the game, although these are very light and really amount to simple upgrade paths.

Dirt 4 scratched an itch I had for a racing game somewhere between simulation and arcade...should keep me going until Forza Horizon 4!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on March 22, 2018, 07:10:44 am
11. What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4)

My favourite game of 2017 in a year of stellar releases, I can't recommend this game highly enough.

I won't go into any detail as I would hate to spoil it for anyone.

It only take 3 hours or so to beat... please go and play it now!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on March 22, 2018, 10:37:47 pm
Finally time to add some new games in here!

Game 2 - Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (3DS) – 8 hours

+ Still another excellent Shantae game. Something that I really like in this game was that the power ups were all usable with the different buttons, which is something Half Genie Hero traded in for a focus on transforming into different animals (which was less intuitive) Other than that, the music was fantastic, and the gameplay was great. Really nothing much else to say.

- I think I liked Half-Genie Hero a little more, I liked the art style for one thing, and I thought the story and level design was just a touch better in the sequel. Still, great game!

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on March 22, 2018, 10:42:56 pm
Game 3 – Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) – 67 Hours

Wow, finally can mark this game beat. I honestly liked it more than the first Xenoblade Chronicles. Here are my thoughts (there are a lot of them)

+ First, I love the story and setting. The idea of a ship that crash-landed on an alien planet and is trying to survive is not only unique, it really builds into all the quests and side missions quite nicely. For example, in the side missions,instead of just killing a monster just for the sake of it, makes sense because you're protecting your fellow comrades in an unknown world. The collectapedia, which was just... there in the first game, here makes perfect sense because you’re surveying a new planet. Second, I really enjoyed the characters and overall story, even though it was a little light. I also loved the environments and being able to fly around in your skell was really cool. Lastly, the gameplay, fighting and quests were much more streamlined too.

- There are three things about this game that I did not like. First, the soundtrack was awful. Terrible songs with stupid lyrics, and every song had horrible mixing, so they overlap with the voices in cut scenes and it sounds like a mess. Second, forcing you to keep Elma and Lin in every story mission means you can only add in one additional member, which sucks if you want to have different members in your party (good thing I liked both of them anyway). Lastly, the game is incredibly dense, and barely explains the multiple different components of the game. You’ve got 5 different types of arts with secondary and tertiary cooldowns, skills, battle points, soul voices, abilities and sub abilities, Ranks, Divisions, the affinity charts, two sets of armor for yourself and your skells with augments and upgrades, and a whole mining economy simulator on the Wii U gamepad.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 23, 2018, 05:48:24 am
14 - Attack on Titan 2 (PS4 2018) - BEAT - Initially I was quite excited for this, but after finding out that they are redoing all of the animes first season and essentially the first game again, straight up the same maps and stuff copied over, it toned things down for me.  I understand why they did it, mostly because the second season of the anime doesn't offer enough content to warrant this games story only covering that, but as someone that played through the first game, it's kinda repetitive going that stuff again, especially when it takes up 60% of the story.  Stuff is different due to the games new features, but it doesn't keep it from feeling rehashed.  Great for people that never played the first one and somehow figure out that this isn't just all sequel, but technically the first game also.

That aside, it's generally a step up from the last game.  You get a custom character thats inserted into the games story, though they cheaped out on the narration by going "We don't know who this soldier was, so for budget sake, we will just call them a man".  It's super dumb and makes little sense by the end of it.  Its not like there's too much narration they would have to redo with putting "woman" in that, it's probably less than 10 minutes throughout the entire game.  It's just lazy.  Customization is good enough and its kinda funny how tall you can make a character, as I had a girl character who was taller than everyone by like a foot lol

The new town setup you can wander around in is a mixture of bad and good.  Good for variety sake and giving you kind of a place to make it feel like you are really there.  On the other hand, because there's a friendship meter for every named character, after every big mission that returns you, you spend like 10 to 15 minutes running around to find all the people you can interact with.  Boy that gets tedious, but you need to do it to unlock new skills as they are tied specifically to ranking up your friendship with everyone.

I don't know whats gonna happen when Season 3 rolls around and we get Attack on Titan 3 after that...Is it just gonna be this game copied over with Season 3 content wedged in afterwards? Man, I don't know if I want to go through Season 1 for the third time and Season 2 the second time, just to get to Season 3 lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 25, 2018, 08:57:04 pm
15 - Star Was Battlefront 2 (PC 2017) - ENDLESS - Well I was gonna try and beat the campaign on this, but it seems to be incredibly poorly optimized.  Both cutscenes and gameplay are just full of stutters and no amount of changing quality remedies this.  It's weird, because the multiplayer is fine to play.  A few hiccups here and there, understandable as it's a high end game and my hardware is a smidge dated right now, but I can still generally play most things near high, especially if they are optimized properly.

We of course know everything that went wrong with this last year and I said I wouldn't get it till they removed the Pay 2 Win aspects and it got a drastic sale to make up for it.  It finally did both.  It's ridiculous that all the work they had to do was to make the game what it should've been at the start.  That aside, it is a good game.  It's a fun, casual, shooter that's relatively easy to just jump into and shoot some droids or storm troopers.

Would've liked to have beaten the campaign, but unless someone on the help forums get some fix ideas to me, it's probably not happening.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on March 26, 2018, 12:49:46 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on March 25, 2018, 08:57:04 pm
15 - Star Was Battlefront 2 (PC 2017) - ENDLESS - Well I was gonna try and beat the campaign on this, but it seems to be incredibly poorly optimized.  Both cutscenes and gameplay are just full of stutters and no amount of changing quality remedies this.  It's weird, because the multiplayer is fine to play.  A few hiccups here and there, understandable as it's a high end game and my hardware is a smidge dated right now, but I can still generally play most things near high, especially if they are optimized properly.

We of course know everything that went wrong with this last year and I said I wouldn't get it till they removed the Pay 2 Win aspects and it got a drastic sale to make up for it.  It finally did both.  It's ridiculous that all the work they had to do was to make the game what it should've been at the start.  That aside, it is a good game.  It's a fun, casual, shooter that's relatively easy to just jump into and shoot some droids or storm troopers.

Would've liked to have beaten the campaign, but unless someone on the help forums get some fix ideas to me, it's probably not happening.

Campaign isn't that interesting anyways so you aren't missing anything really.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 26, 2018, 01:02:53 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on March 26, 2018, 12:49:46 am
Campaign isn't that interesting anyways so you aren't missing anything really.

Yeah I heard it was kinda basic, but still wanted to go through it.  Problems with the Battlefront games aside, they look and sound amazing.  That would've been enough to get me through the campaign if it actually ran for me.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on March 26, 2018, 01:53:25 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on March 26, 2018, 01:02:53 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on March 26, 2018, 12:49:46 am
Campaign isn't that interesting anyways so you aren't missing anything really.

Yeah I heard it was kinda basic, but still wanted to go through it.  Problems with the Battlefront games aside, they look and sound amazing.  That would've been enough to get me through the campaign if it actually ran for me.

I really wanted to like Battlefront and Battlefront II. It looks and sounds amazing, and it is very true to Star Wars, but the whole online multiplayer thing really killed this series for me. I had a lot of hope for the 2nd game because of the single player campaign and at least for the first hour or so I thought it might be good, but it quickly falls apart.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 26, 2018, 02:18:13 am
I actually prefer the Battlefront games for their multiplayer, always have, but yeah I think a lot of people were hoping for a really good campaign, being that there hasn't been a good Star Was game in years, (That isn't Lego or an MMO) since probably the Force Unleashed games and I never played those myself.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: azure on March 26, 2018, 11:30:43 am
Only at 5 so far, I blame Monster Hunter World. Gravity Rush was a bit of a suprise, really fun. Shouldn't have slept on it for so long, looking forward to playing the sequel now.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on March 28, 2018, 11:09:41 pm
6. Kirby Star Allies (Switch)

Not much to say about Kirby that hasn't been said before. Cute, easy, fun, and the Ultimate Choice is ridiculously hard as is usually the case with after story content in Kirby. Also Marx is ridiculously fun to play and the side games are fun as well. I definitely recommend it if you just want to have some fun.

Time: 15 hours

Still workin' on Horizon, i got all of the collectibles so far and finished most sidequests. I am very close to the end just a few more story quests.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: arkaneer on March 30, 2018, 12:49:06 pm
12. Ni No Kuni 2 (PS4)

This game really clicked with me and rekindled my love of JRPGs.

The first draw is the Studio Ghibli vibe...the game is a real stunner and the music is great. The story is a bit tropey, but I enjoyed it a lot anyway and was attached to the characters by the end.

The combat system is fantastic and there is potentially a lot of depth to it. Unfortunately the game is so easy I rarely needed to do anything other than mash the melee button to win most encounters. There are a few hard encounters later on, and these were great fun as I was using the full toolbox to get the job done. I hope Level 5 introduce difficulty settings in a patch. I'd actually play it again for sure!

There is a also a kingdom building element to the game, which is enjoyable and actually meaningful to progression.

I really adored this game for the 60 hours I put in, I might even go back and platinum it as there is quite a lot for me to do in endgame including a 30 floor dungeon with a level 95 boss (I finished the game at level 60).

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 31, 2018, 05:30:54 am
16 - Far Cry 5 (PC 2018) - BEAT - Definitely the most refined take on the Far Cry formula, for better or worse. It's the culmination of everything, while also removing some things that aren't important anymore, such as tower climbing (They make you climb at the start and a joke is made that you won't have to climb them all the time) and crafting, but I think they make up for it with generally more interesting NPC's and side missions.  The villains this time are all pretty great.  Vaas has always been considered kinda the greatest potential the series could offer, but the big boss in that and the ones that followed in what I've seen of Primal and Pagan Min in 4, fell mostly flat.  The family members are all incredibly well acted and absolutely creepy.  Not that the story is the best at times. 

They do this thing with every family member as you take over territory, where you get captured, and you either are purposefully let go or escape.  You do this 9 times.  You having escaped like 3 or 4 times would be absurd normally, but to have it be 9? It's their way of putting you directly with the family member, giving you face time beyond doing it over the radio, and the interactions are intense, but still, it feels like a clumsy way to do this.  I understand, just maybe not the best execution when after like the 5th time, I'm telling the villains to just put a bullet in my head lol  There is one point where they did something pretty fantastic with it, but no spoilers.

This game could also end up being kinda controversial, not for its subject material, but something story related.  I don't want to spoil anything, I'm still processing it, but it's interesting and ballsy.  I don't fully understand it, which is slightly problematic, but yeah, still processing, which is not something I expected from my big dumb action game, so I can commend them for that.

If you didn't like Far Cry 3 or 4 before this, this game won't change your mind for the most part, but if you like the series or shooters generally like this, you'll probably think its pretty solid.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on April 01, 2018, 01:40:14 am
7. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)

This game has one of the best stories ever in a videogame, tons of lore and everything really makes sense unlike a lot of videogame stories. The gameplay is also a lot of fun, but exploring is not very rewarding or important since anything that's important to collect or look at is specified on the map. Also Aloy was a great character with a real personality along with a few others in the world. Just a solid experience overall, no real glaring complaints except for some inconsistent game mechanics, even then it's not very common.

Time: 60-65 hours

Next games up are the Kingdom Hearts series through the 1.5 and 2.5 remix collection.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on April 01, 2018, 02:39:15 pm
3. Final Fantasy X HD remix (Vita and PS4) - I really wanted to try to platinum this game but it was just taking too much time. after putting close to 90 hours into it I just decided to wrap it up. The final bosses were a push over of course but oh well still a really damn good time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on April 01, 2018, 09:28:35 pm
Game 4 - Metal Slug (PS2) - 4 hours

This game is great. It's probably one of the easier MS games, but it's still fun to play. I remember playing it all the time when I was a kid and it's nice to finally be able to beat it. The only issue is loading screens and some slow downs when things get busy, but it's not too bad.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on April 02, 2018, 03:29:55 am
12] Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (360)

The game itself was nothing special at all, but it was strange to play through one of the really early 360 games - how old it feels all of a sudden. While that's a little sad, it still feels good to be in a position where games which have long been left behind are finally getting played and beaten alongside games for current-gen systems, there's hope yet.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on April 03, 2018, 12:00:30 am
I love it when a game exceeds my expectations and also lives up the the hype and reputation surrounding it :)

22. Mushihimesama Futari (360): I knew about this game well before I got heavily into shooters due to it's final boss being referenced on Youtube and social media often as one of the "hardest bosses" of all time. Beyond seeing the endless shower of bullets and pretty, colorful graphics, I wondered if there was a decent shooter behind it all. And yes, yes there is; oh my god there is! Mushihimesama Futari is one of the best shooters I've ever played; it's excellent visuals, cool art style, varied enemy and level design, balanced and fun gameplay, and catchy soundtrack all amount of an excellent game. At first I wondered if I liked it as much as Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou, which I definitely did. Then I compared it to the first Mushihimesama, which I liked way less than Futari. And then I started comparing it to the original Dodonpachi which still stands as my favorite game by Cave and my third favorite Shmup of all time. After a lot of playing these games back and forth, comparing them, I came to the conclusion that I like Dodonpachi just a hair more than Mushihimesama Futari, but just barely. That would officially make Futari my fourth favorite Shmup of all time based off all the other games in the genre I've played. Mushihimesama Futari is the type of shooter I hope I get to play every time I try out a new one, and luckily it delivered beyond my expectations. (4/2/18) [43/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on April 04, 2018, 11:54:36 am
3. Kirby Star Allies - This game was a bit of a roller coaster for me, but kinda in reverse. The game started out great! The new friend mechanic was really fun and I had a great time figuring out all the different combinations of powers for a little while. After the excitement of the new mechanic wore off I was left with an incredibly easy Kirby game, like too easy. Towards the end of the game the difficulty picked up a little, enough to make the game fun again to play but the real fun was the last boss. if there's one thing you can expect from a Kirby game its a fun last boss and this was no exception. 
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on April 06, 2018, 09:42:57 pm
Game no. 13!
As a Wii launch title this was one of my very first games for the Wii, along with Cars and, of course, Wii Sports. I didn't remember much about it though. All I remembered is Patrick being a superhero, Plankton running from a Krabby Patty, and then at some point I sold it or gave it away without beating it. But now I got it again, and it's a pretty short game, so I just marathoned through it. So, how is it? Eh.......just eh. To be honest, it's not that good of a game. At it's core it's playable, and near the end it does pay off with some cool sections and a cool final boss fight, but the majority of this game ranges from mediocre to terrible.

SBSP:CftKK changes gameplay style all the time, but at its core it's a combination of a beat-em-up and a collect-a-thon. There are also sections of 2D platforming, plane flying, and other small minigames to break up the pace, but the majority of the game is spent either running around collecting items or fighting enemies. Too bad nothing is really special about it. The worlds, while clearly attempting some creativity, are pretty bland to go through, and levels blend together a lot. The puzzles are simple. Now I would not mind that because I get it's targeted at a younger audience, and simpler puzzles are OK as long as the game is fun to play, but it just isn't. Another factor in that is the fighting, but it's nothing special. Just spam Z and the enemies will die, that's literally all the strategy you need for fights. There's only like 2 or 3 enemy types too, so fights very quickly turn incredibly boring. So to summarize, general exploration and combat are incredibly boring. And since that's your main objective that's a problem.

But the issues keep on going from there. Controls are a problem too. First of all, as soon as the game tells you to dash with a Nunchuk-waggle, ignore it and use the up-direction on the D-pad. Everyone knows the Nunchuk waggle is unreliable, and that goes here too. I get it was a launch title, and I can excuse it to a certain extent, but launch title or not, the motion controls are broken. This is most obvious with the winches. To turn this the game wants you to rotate your WiiMote, and it's just broken beyond belief. Let me explain to you: Hold your WiiMote completely straight up, slant it very very slightly to the left, and then move your arm in a circular motion while keeping the WiiMote upright, as if your WiiMote is the handle on a big wheel you're turning. I get that mimics the actual winch, but it's not explained well, so there you go. And apart from that, the motion control is just broken. The wheel does not work how you want it too. It's easily the most frustrating part of the game. With most other stuff (apart from the god awful plain sections) it's doable, but they're not great.

Also, we gotta talk graphics. This is an ugly game. It looks like it belongs on the PS2, and a low-budget PS2 game at that. Again, I get it was a launch title, but that's no excuse here. They do attempt some different art styles to spice stuff up, but the novelty of this wears off quickly and it's just completely booted out halfway through the game anyway. If you want a pretty Wii game, keep on looking.

So are there any goods? Well, I will say that the good of SpongeBob does shine through. All dialogue is voice acted, and the lines do reflect that classic SpongeBob humour we all love. From Plankton's sarcastic "Woohoo" to SpongeBob pointing out the obvious absurdity of everything going on, sometimes the SpongeBob charm does shine through. Also, again, the final sections with Plankton and the final boss are actually pretty good. I will not spoil what they are here, but those sections are enjoyable. Enough to warrant playing the entire game? Probably not, but hey, they are good nonetheless.

To summarize, Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab is sadly not a good game. It's not god-awful, I've definitely played worse, but it's probably a good contendor for top 5 worst Wii games in my collection. Now recently I've started backing up my Wii games to USB Loader GX and playing them from there, and that app allows you to use a ranking system from 1 to 5 stars. And if I were to put SBSP:CftKK on there, I think it would get two stars. Not the worst, but still pretty bad, and apart from maybe the final Plankton section not worth looking back to. But hey, a game beaten is a game beaten!

Full list: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on April 07, 2018, 10:42:43 pm
Another noteworthy game down, and another one as part of me replaying my old top 10 games for the purpose of re-evaluating it. God, beating this again has me super bummed again that we'll likely never get Half Life 3 though :(

23. Half Life 2 + Episode 1 and 2 (PS3): This was another game that has sat in my top 10 games of all time for a long time, ever since I first played Half Life 2 on the original XBOX probably back in 2005 or 2006. Because they create a cohesive story that is Half Life 2, I wrap the main game and the two episodic expansions into one game. But anyhow, my thoughts on Half Life 2 after replaying it for the first time since 2010 (I know this because that is what the save data on my PS3 says). The game is perhaps the most immersive and diverse FPS game I've ever played, and tells a very good story with many likable characters. Not only that, but minus a few areas across Half Life 2, the action is non-stop as is what the game has you do to progress, resulting in gameplay that rarely gets stale. While the soundtrack is decent imo, the voice acting and sound design is excellent. By complaints about this game involve certain parts that don't have a good flow to them, hot-scanning enemies, and various platforming and puzzle portions of the game that don't work as well as they should. However these minor flaws are few within a game that is otherwise outstanding from start to finish. I've come to the realize however that I like DOOM on the PS4, just slightly more due to presentation and me enjoying DOOM just a hair more than half life. Regardless, this game still has a very good shot of remaining in my top 10 games of all time when all is said and done. (4/7/18) [44/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on April 08, 2018, 03:01:23 pm
Part 2 of my reviews. The first part is on page one if anyone is interested.

24. Super Mario 64 (N64): Another game that is part of my old top 10 games, this game is perhaps the most nostalgic title not only in that list, but of all time for me. I originally got Super Mario 64 with my Nintendo 64 back in 1996 on Christmas Eve as a present. I remember being totally blown away by the 3D gameplay and environments, which are showing their age now, but back then it was unlike anything I had ever experiences. Funny enough, Super Mario 64 took me the better part of a year to beat back in 1996 and 1997, however I just beat the game again with 70-stars in less than 24-hours. This is due to not only my familiarity of the game from playing it a lot over the past 21-years, but also that the game is objectively pretty easy overall. While this is somewhat of a negative thing, the near perfect controls make the game so enjoyable no matter what you're doing. Add in one of the best video game OSTs of all time and you have the makings of something truly special. Super Mario 64's best quality, at least for me is it's ability to transport me back to 1996 as a care free, naive 9-year old who didn't have any responsibilities other than to have fun and be a kid; it is this subjective quality that will all but ensure this game remains firmly in my top 10 games of all time. (4/8/18) [44/50]

25. Sin and Punishment (N64): Sin and Punishment was a very pleasant surprise when I discovered it almost 3-years ago and due to its action, excellent on-rails gameplay, and over the top cheesiness, it became one of my favorite N64 games. I liked it so much that I considered it to possibly be one of the best games I'd ever played. I replayed and beat it again and while it isn't certain whether it will end up in my top 10, it is a strong contender. Perhaps my favorite thing about Sin and Punishment is it's almost Neon Genesis-like art asthetic, so bad it's good voice acting, and its awesome soundtrack. An incredible game, no doubt, but we'll have to see if it ends up being a top 10 game. (4/8/18) [43/50]

26. Radiant Silvergun (Saturn): Radiant Silvergun was one of the first shooters I played that got me really into the genre back around 2010. I first heard of it on another online gaming forum I belonged to and since then it has become the stuff of legends. Despite being one of the earliest shooters I sunk a lot of time into, it has remained all these years my gold standard for all SHMUPs and remains my favorite shooter of all time. I cannot describe how well done this game is; while it isn't perfect, it is damn well near it. To this day it has the most varied, fresh, and fun gameplay of any shooter, as well as the many bosses and ships make sure there is never a dull moment. Combine this with the fact that the game is at time a puzzle game just creates an amazing combination that has yet to be beat as far as I'm concerned. Also it would be criminal not to mention the OST which is top notch and compliments the game very well. This game was never officially part of my old top 10 games, but it is all but certain that it will be in it once I've played the other games I mean to as part of re-evaluating that list. (4/14/18) [45/50]

27. San Francisco Rush the Rock: Alcatraz Edition (PS2): The Rush games were never a staple of my 90s/early 2000s arcade experience, although despite this I still played them and they were part of my overall a part of my amazing memories of that time period. However, this port seems to be a mix of the N64 port and a faithful arcade port that looks and sounds terrible. I'm not sure if the arcade version has aged terribly, but perhaps one of this game's biggest issues is its gameplay which is like trying to steer a care with no tired on a lake of ice. Also the tracks aren't anything interesting, nor are the cars. Bottom line is not even the little bit of nostalgia I have for this specific title can make me enjoy this very subpar arcade racing game. (4/23/18) [15/50]

28. S.T.U.N. Runner (PS2): The arcade machine for the game is among the most memorable and nostalgic of my early childhood and the blossoming of my love of gaming. The arcade in our local mall growing up had this game and despite me being terrible at it I always really liked the 3D polygons of the enemies and your futuristic car/hover craft. Playing it now I am in love with the cool backgrounds that change between some naturey still image to a futuristic landscape out of an 80s sci-fi movie. This game definitely feels like a product of its time which is part of the reason why I liked it so much. Also, it has a variety of cool sound fx and music tracks that while brief are pretty catchy and cool. I'm also a fan of the added shooting mechanic that makes an already fast paced game have an extra layer of gameplay to it to make it that much more fun. Nostalgia aside, this is a really fun classic arcade game and one that I feel deserves more recognition. (4/23/18) [33/50]

29. Blast Wind (Saturn): It's always a shame when you finally get a chance to play a game that is wildly sought after and expensive only to ask yourself why that is after playing it. Blast Wind is possibly the most wildly mediocre shooter I've ever played, doing nothing really that well, but not doing anything that bad either; the game is just sort of...there. I coasted easily through its very short length and mostly felt like I was going through the motions the whole time. The game is pretty easy as well which contributes to its overall mediocrity. I will give credit where it is due and say that the music is pretty good at times as are the graphics, but still not enough for this game to be anything worth recommending, especially at its going rate of $250+. (5/13/18) [27/50]

30. Sonic Wings Special (Saturn): This game was overall pretty good with a lot of variety in ships, ship abilities, stages, and enemies which all worked really well together to create a pretty enjoyable game. However the game is let down by two things specifically. The first is a terrible difficulty gimmick that some shmups use where on the last stage(s) they make you start the whole stage over if you use a continue. I find this system extremely annoying and pointless since the last stages are already more difficult due to more ships and projectiles to deal with, as well as more difficult bosses. In addition to this, the soundtrack is mediocre at best and reuses a lot of he same music throughout. Definitely a great game, but sadly it is held back by issues that hold it back from being amazing. (5/13/18) [35/50]

31. Battle Garegga Rev. 2016 (PS4): While this game does offer new features and balances to the gameplay of Battle Garegga, I see this more as the definitive way to experience this amazing shooter no matter how you choose to do it. The Rev. 2016 version gives you a large amount of customization options to play the game exactly how you want it; want to make the otherwise bronze and silver looking projectiles blue or purple? You can do that. Want to play the classic arcade version but with the new Rev. 2016 arranged soundtrack? You can do that too. At its core the game plays, sounds, and feels just as amazing as it always has, and really the key thing that makes this version to own is the amount of choice and options you get to play this game exactly how you want to. My only gripe about this game has to do specifically with the version of the game I own; I have the Korean release since it was the only version made available for physical purchase, although you can easily download it off PSN all in English. Rev. 2016 gets the same score as the arcade version in my book since the score is based off the game itself, and not necessarily the release its on. Still for what it does that the other versions don't this is absolutely the best and definitive way to enjoy Battle Garegga. (5/15/18) [43/50]

32. Final Fantasy X (PS2): Final Fantasy X is a game I wondered for years if it deserved a place in my top 10 given how fondly I remember this game, well most of it. See, I never actually beat FFX as a young teen when the game first came out; I got all the way to the final boss, he destroyed me, and I never tried playing FFX again. I had a lot of shit going on in my life at that time and it was probably a combo of the game's difficulty spiking heavily in the last 5% of the game and some serious adolescent depression that kept me from wanting to try again. Still, I remembered the rest of the game so fondly that it always skated the border of my top 10 games of all time. 16-years since I last played FFX I replayed the entire game and finally beat it, and wow, what a game this is! FFX is an amazingly designed game; from it's epic, original story to it's even better game design, this is truly one of the best FF games, if not the best I've ever played. The soundtrack is perfect as well with great music and voice acting. Perhaps FFX's biggest disadvantage is my subjective bias against JRPGs, which barely got in the way of me enjoying this game, but did ever so slightly, as did a few minor pacing issues, balancing problems, and the aforementioned difficulty spike at the end. In the end these were minor issues that did little to blemish one of the best JRPGs of all time. (5/27/18) [43/50]

33. Zone of the Enders (PS2): Another game from my old top 10, this game really encapsulates who I was and what I was into in the early 2000s when this game first came out; I LOVED anime back then, especially of the mech variety which this game is essentially a playable mech anime. I was also blown away by the smooth, fast paced gameplay which at the time was unlike anything I'd ever played. Despite still having some great and unique qualities, the gameplay has been outdone over the years by other 3D hack and slash action games, which did diminish my enjoyment of the game slightly. The game is also very repetitive in terms of enemy and level design, but luckily the action and gameplay makes killing the same few enemies enjoyable. Where this game really shines is when you get to go up against one of the game's bosses and arguably the primary antagonist, Viola. She pilots a similar mech to you and the combat with her feels almost like fighting another human, it's awesome! Aside from this though, the game is filled with the melodrama that 95% of anime uses and the story is nothing special, even within the context of the Zone of the Enders OVA prequel and anime series sequel, which I never saw until years after originally playing this game. Overall, my opinion of this game is it's great, but no longer on par with many other games of the same genre I've played which are way better in nearly every way. Also, the fact that I'm a fraction of the anime fan I used to be means that my subjective enjoyment of the game is not what it used to be either. Zone of the Enders will always hold a special place in my life, but I can't say that it belongs in my top 10 games of all time still. (5/28/18) [38/50]

34. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES): Aside from loving this game a lot as a kid, perhaps the thing I remember most about it was its brutal difficulty, especially the later stages and secret levels. I thought that I'd find this game easier as an adult, and while I did slightly, this game is still one hard son of a bitch. DKC2's difficulty is mostly fair, however the secret levels and some of the final stages in the game cross that line into cheapness and some of the gameplay shortcomings of this game show their ugly faces. Aside from these annoyances, the game is truly a classic and truly one of the great SNES titles which is saying a ton considering how good the SNES library of games is. This game always felt like a contender for being a top 10 game for me which is why I decided to replay it, but it falls short just slightly of reaching a top spot. Still a great game and better than most games I play on average. (6/6/18) [41/50]

35. The Pinball Arcade (PC): I recently attended a large pinball expo that had a ton of pinball machines which were all free to play after the price of admission was paid, and it really gave me the itch to play more pinball. For anyone that doesn't know anything about the pinball market, they range from very expensive to you'd better take out a loan expensive. Given this and my lack of available space for even one pinball machine, I researched what would be the next best thing which led me to find this game, which is also available on consoles. As a note, I won't be reviewing individual tables, but rather my general experience with this pinball simulator. First off, this game faithfully recreates every pinball on your TV or monitor almost exactly how they are in person, which includes everything from the sounds and music to the art and asthetics of each machine. Maybe more impressive is the excellent pinball physics that recreate the real life physics of each machine almost to a T. The only noticeable issue I found in regards to the feel of the machines was a slight delay on the paddle controls, which I did get used to, but were apparent the whole time I played this game. Overall though with everything considered, The Pinball Arcade's collection of games generally felt 90% authentic to the real thing, give or take a few percent depending on the game. I definitely recommend grabbing the season packs as soon as you can, however, since the licenses for the Bally and Williams tables are going to expire after June 30th of this year, meaning you won't be able to get them anymore. Buy them while you still can! (6/9/18) [40/50]

36. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Genesis): If I had to create a list of top 5 games I carry the most nostalgia for (that might actually be a good topic for a thread...), Sonic 3 would undoubtedly be in there. I got this game around the time it came out in 1994 when my aunt bought it for me at a local mall, which was awesome since it wasn't for a birthday or Christmas either. But anyhow, Sonic 3 is one of those games I've considered putting in my top games of all times for years, but it never officially was in it. So I decided to play all the way through it and see if it is worthy. Sonic 3's best quality is its presentation; the graphics and music are among the best of the entire 16-bit era, especially the music as I consider it to be one of my favorite OSTs of all time. The gameplay however is not as good. While it is by no means bad, I found the flow of gameplay to be annoyingly all over the place in terms of pacing and certain parts of certain stages I found annoying, but overall it is a fun game to play. Sadly, the allure of the actual game outside my nostalgia lenses is not as good as I'd hoped, but it is still a gem from its era and definitely worth playing. (6/16/18) [40/50]

37. Area 51 (Saturn): Area 51 was a staple of my childhood; I played this game countless times at pizza joints, arcades, laser tag centers, and anywhere else I could find it from the mid 90s to the early 2000s when the arcade cabinet became harder and harder to come by. Being one of my all time favorite arcade games, Area 51 undoubtedly devoured countless quarters and I honestly loved every minute of it. Replaying it again years later on the Saturn, I am foremost surprised at how well the Saturn recreates this game on its limited hardware, with the only noticeable downgrade being the graphics which a more pixelated look overall. The other surprise I had was how years later and despite having a heavy amount of nostalgia for this game, I am now able to see this game for the fairly basic, mediocre game it is, especially in regards to gameplay, music, enemy variety, and lack of replayability. The game is by no means bad, and given how most other games in this genre are, I'm not expecting some grand adventure with highly varied gameplay, but essentially Area 51 does everything it needs to do, but little more. Still, it was one of the most memorable games of the 1990s for me, and my massive nostalgia for this game allows me to enjoy it on a personal level way more than someone who never had the pleasure of trying this game out in its heyday. Area 51 will always hold a special place in my heart despite it not being anything special, even for a lightgun game. (6/23/18) [29/50]

38. Virtua Cop (Saturn): While I did play this game in the arcade at various times during the 90s, my most vivid memories of playing Virtua Cop were at friends' houses seeing that I had two close friends growing up who both owned Sega Saturn consoles, and both owned this game. It was always one of my favorites when I'd go over to their houses and despite it only having three stages and very little replay value I thought it was a fun game. I still think it's pretty fun, but its mentioned shortcomings do diminish my enjoyment of this game a little. Essentially one playthough once a year or so is enough to quench my Virtua Cop thirst at any given time. Aside from that, gameplay is pretty fair and I'm a fan of the threat circle that appears around enemies to let you know when they're getting ready to fire. Also, the soundtrack is excellent. From what I can remember this is a very competent port of the arcade version and definitely one of the most memorable games on the Saturn. (6/24/18) [37/50]

39. House of the Dead (Saturn): What comes to mind after playing the Saturn version of House of the Dead is a quote from Dr. Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park: "You were so preoccupied with if you could, you didn't stop to think if you should." That is how I feel about this port. Yes, it's a home console version of House of the Dead which is one of the most memorable lightgun arcade shooters of the 90s, but it's so compromised as a port that it would have been best if it had never been made. I'm serious, this port is borderline unplayable due to the terrible framerate and buggy shooting, and the graphics look terrible compared to the arcade. Sure, they didn't have to be just like the arcade, nor was the Saturn capable of those kind of graphics, but even for a Saturn port they are pretty bad. Another issue I have is how the gameplay is chopped up with loading screens within the same stage, and often right before a monster lunges at you, often resulting in a cheap hit. I will give this game credit for retaining the branching level design, dismemberment mechanic, and cool soundtrack, but other than that this game is a terrible port and unworthy of the House of the Dead name. You're better off playing this game the only way it should be played, in the arcade. (6/24/18) [20/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on April 11, 2018, 04:27:21 am
17 - Subnautica (PC 2018) - BEAT - This was one of those LONG in Early Access games, since 2014.  I don't remember when I bought it, but I've been playing it off and on for quite a long time, watching it progress.  It's a pretty solid experience, though optimization wise it can be abit rough without a real high end system and the pop in isn't great either.  It does have an end and I don't think it's always very clear how you are supposed to get there without guides.  It can be rather hard to figure out exactly where you need to go, what to do, what order to do it in, things like that.  Finding certain things would feel impossible without online help.

Hard to find a comparable experience, but it's generally like your Slime Rancher or Minecraft, but with way more genuine tension.  A gathering/walking simulator (swimming simulator), but most things want to eat you.  As someone that is unsettled by deep water, this can be quite the experience.  You never fully get use to it as a Reaper or Ghost Leviathan are never not terrifying, especially if you hear their cry and know they are around you somewhere.  Also, normally I hate kinda having to "gather" my plot, as you have to figure out the reasons for your crash and then figure out your escape, but you get enough in large chunks that I don't hate it.  Lot of lore to gather if you want to figure out the backstory of everything.

I can't recommend it to everyone, as I think it can get abit boring with the grind, especially when you need lots of things from different areas, but I generally like these kinds of games, because then I just pop on a podcast or video and watch/listen as I play.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on April 14, 2018, 04:48:32 pm
14) BioShock (PS4)

Probably the 7th or 8th time I've been through this game, it's easily in my top 3 of all time, the PS4 version is delicious too, really enjoyed it. Being number 14, 3.5 months-worth on the 14th of this month means I'm exactly on-target for 52, within a day or too literally. With a bit more of a push I can get back to being slightly ahead, it's certainly good to finally get some good gaming time in.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on April 14, 2018, 06:07:11 pm
half way there :)

...living on a prayer lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on April 14, 2018, 08:33:22 pm
Extra Game - Pokemon: Crystal Version (3DS) - 38 hours

It was really interesting to replay through this old game again. This is a really nostalgic title for me being my first Pokemon game, and it's fun to experience things in a new way, particularly seeing how much they could fit in to the cartridge (and how ultimately they had to cut stuff back too. The game isn't perfect though. The level curve is a bitch, the movesets and variety of Pokemon for some types (fire) is really bad. And some of the old annoying aspects of the game are still present (boxes, HMs, no physical/special split, etc.). That said, it's still a blast to play through, and the game still feels smart, snappy, fast and reminds me why I love the series in the first place.

Just need to get Celebi, but I'm also hunting Raikou and then Ho-Oh

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on April 18, 2018, 12:17:26 am
8. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Final Mix (PS4)

This is my first foray into this series and I actually really enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. The combat is not as tedious as I expected it to be and was super deep with all the different abilities you could switch around depending on your playstyle. The story was actually very cool, cohesive, emotional, and a little cheesy at times, but it was great nonetheless.

My only complaints are the shifts in difficulty for certain things, specifically the final boss and certain levels were very confusing as to where I was supposed go i.e. Deep Jungle, Atlantica, etc.

I can't wait to get through the rest of the story!

Time: 45 hours
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on April 21, 2018, 05:59:53 pm
Game 5 - Super Mario RPG (SNESc) - 15 Hours

First game on the SNES classic is done! Here's what I thought of it.

+ In general I liked this game a lot. It does a lot of things really well and has that classic Square polish that they had perfected up until this point. It reminds me a lot of the Paper Mario Games I've played with the Flower Points and funny dialogue and humor. I loved the combat with the tactile button presses and timing. I loved the hidden secrets and mini games that encouraged you to explore the world (and the environments, areas and enemies/bosses were great too, even a little creepy at times). The soundtrack was nothing special, but it did have a few good tracks.

- In general I found the story to be a little bland/ more focused on younger audiences. Didn't mean that I didn't enjoy it, and yeah, this game is older so it's not as bad, but still. I felt this way with the game's difficulty too. Princess Toadstool is legit OP and once I found the EXP boosting accessory I was unstoppable, had max money half the time too. Also, the platforming elements that the game throws at you are AWFUL. Trying to navigate platforms in 3D space with no way to change your camera is a nightmare, especially with how fast Mario moves in the air compared to in his 2D games.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on April 24, 2018, 06:24:50 am
19 - God of War (PS4 2018) - BEAT - I had way more written, but rather than kinda hit on everything I did or didn't like, I'll just say that overall I think this is a fantastic game.  It's not groundbreaking (It shares a lot with the Tomb Raider reboot), people wanting specifically for this to be like the previous series will be disappointed (much of what the series did is still here, but is altered or abit more subtle than it was), but what we get is an incredibly well crafted and beautiful looking open world action game.  It does just enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome and while I am not 100% in love with some aspects of the story, I never felt like I was being shortchanged by the experience.  It's not the same God of War series and its very much setting up for a new one, but I'm happy to keep playing these games.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on April 26, 2018, 02:10:46 pm
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037
Part 2 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149778.html#msg149778
Part 3 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg150756.html#msg150756


50. A Way Out [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- The graphics are beautiful! It was giving me more realistic Life is Strange and I LOVE it! Some moments like when you're at the farm are just really stunning!
- Loved the characters and the dialogues between then and also the NPCs who really made the game even more funny!
- Amazing story, so many epic moments tbh!
- A (probably) great co op experience. I say probably because I played the game alone with two controllers but some moments would've definitely been funner with a friend gameplay wise.
- Overall just a really good game, especially if you like more story centered type of games like Heavy Rain or the Telltale games.
-
- As I said, I played the game with two controllers, and while it was totally doable (except the bike part, that's the only time you gonna need someone else too) I really wish they added a CPU mode where you could just switch between which characters you want to control.
- The ending. I HATE then ending. I can't say it's a bad ending because it does have that shocking factor but to me I took away everything that the game was about which is the friendship between Vincent and Leo. I just hate how there wasn't a third option where Vincent decided to be on Leo's side or something. It was the most shocking plot twist I've ever experienced and I've played some crazy games! I was really feeling really sad for a good three days after finishing the game that how shook I was! I truly felt betrayed lol. Obviously I chose Leo's ending because fuck a betraying hoe lol.

51. Watch Dogs [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically the game is STUNNING. I know a lot of people hated the game because the graphics got downgraded after the promotional videos and shit but honestly I got the game 3-4 years after it came out so I couldn't give a fuck lol. The most impressing thing about the graphics is definitely the city. Chicago is just so realistic and full of details! It's definitely in my top 3 most realistic open world cities ever. Also Pawnee is definitely the best place of the game lol.
- The story is really good. It's my second time playing the game but I was into the story just like I was when I first played the game. I loved the characters and the more serious tone of the game. Aidan was a really good protagonist imo, I love that he wasn't your typical hero and that he definitely had some bad in him, it just made him more realistic and interesting.
- I love the gameplay, I mean who doesn't love to blackout and entire city or blow up every car behind you while driving in slow motion?
- Overall just a really underrated game that doesn't deserve all the hate that it gets imo.
-
- The game does have a good amount of side missions, but once you've tried they all once they really get boring. You're really only gonna want to do the ones that will give you hacking points tbh.

52. The Last Guardian [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- The game looks beautiful! If you've played Ico and Shadow of the Colossus you can definitely tell that they wanted to keep the same type of style those games had. It really looks like an animated movie tbh, the movements looks beautiful and Trico is especially impressing! The attention to details really make this game special.
- The story is AMAZING. It's so crazy how there is no dialogues, only 2 characters and yet the story is still gonna make you cry like a baby at the end lol. The bond between the kid and Trico is just so amazing and the ending honestly broke my heart =(
- The soundtrack is really good.
-
- The gameplay. Now i'm not one to complain about gameplay but for a game that took that much time to come out, the gameplay is really trash. I can accept the controls of the kid, but Trico is either extremely dumb or I didn't understand some of the controls lol. I know he's supposed to have a realistic animal AI but yeah it was a bad idea and a huge fail. I really wish that once you get on Trico you could just control him, would've made the game a lot less frustrating tbh.

53. NBA Street Homecourt [19/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it's really nice, a big upgrade compared to the PS2 titles. I wouldn't say it's better tho because it's a different style, but it's definitely pretty to look at.
- Best gameplay out of the entire serie. This game is just so much fun, the dribble moves are crazy and the double dunks are hilarious.
- WNBA added. I know there was female players in the previous games but i'm almost sure it wasn't real players (might be wrong tho).
-
- My main issue with the game is how much features it's missing from the previous games! No dunk contests, not hidden characters, no historic players...
- The original players are DLCs. That's just insulting considering they've been in the first 3 games already for free.
- I'm either dumb af or it's not in the game, but you can't edit the height of your created player. I think you have 3 different heights based on your position but that's it.  Also no kids and chubby players =/

54. NBA Ballers [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- The gameplay is super fun! Definitely one of the funnest street ball game tbh! The dunks, crossovers, ankle breakers... so good!
- Graphically it's really nice tbh, the players look like the real players and I was actually shocked at how recognizable they were!
- Historic players! I love playing with past players in NBA so that was a really cool addition!
-
- The game should've definitely went with the more funny vibe instead of the serious one, I wish they added some goofy commentaries and fun hidden players. But it's really not that serious tbh the game's still fun.

55. Madden NFL 18 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- The gameplay feels so much better than  NFL 17! The moves, the running, the passing... It feels like a pretty big upgrade tbh.
- Graphically the game looks nice, not really different from NFL 17 but it definitely feels like a real NFL game and the animations are better looking.
- Good commentaries, it always amazes me how accurate the commentaries are in sports game lol
- Longshot is by FAR the best story mode of any sports game ever made. I loved the Journey in FIFA 17 but this completely blew it away! I loved the characters and also how the story tried to be realistic and not a parody (looking at you 2k18 lol). I definitely wasn't expecting such a good story mode tbh and I advise everyone to play it if you have the game!
-
- The character customization is still trash. I can kinda forgive it because you don't really see the faces of the players anyway but still I would love to be able to edit the faces.
- One huge problem I have with EA sports game is the lack of historic teams. I want to play with Joe Montana lol

56. Late Shift [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- A really unique game. Obviously there isn't any real gameplay but I think they did a good job not to make the game feel like a whole movie but instead a true interactive game.
- I was actually surprised by how good the acting was, I expected an amateur 90's game type of acting but it was actually pretty good.
- 7 endings with a lot of different choices that really affect the story. You can skip whole parts of the game just because of one choice! I actually played the game twice because the first time I got the worst ending lol.
- A cool story. It's not the most revolutionary story but I was really into it tbh.
-
- I wish the game was a bit longer, I think it took me around 1 hour to finish the game each time. 2-3 hours would've been better.

57. Heavy Rain [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Graphically it's extremely impressive tbh. The faces are probably the most realistic looking faces of the 7th gen (with Beyond Two Souls, butit's made by the same developers so...)
- The story is imo one of the best story in video game history. You really won't know who the killer is until the very end and they make a good job making it look like everyone could be the killer lol. This was my second time finishing the game so I obviously didn't have the shock factor but if you played the game once it's actually fun to go back and see how obvious it is who the killer is once you know it lol.
- Love the characters! Ethan and Madison are my favorite because they have the best chapters imo, Scott is also a really interesting character (obviously lol) and even tho Norman ain't my favorite I still liked him.
- The music and the voice acting is amazing.
- Really interesting gameplay. It's mostly QTEs but I love how you can hear your thoughts and also that your choices really influence the story.
-
- I wish Norman's chapters were more interesting. He definitely has the most boring parts of the game with the crime scenes and the office scenes. It's a shame because he is a really intriguing character but he's just there with no real reason tbh.
- More minor detail, but I actually wish Lauren was a controllable character! Especially during scenes like the antique shop.

58. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- The game looks stunning! The water is honestly breath taking! The amount of detail in each part of the map is crazy tbh.
- A HUGE ass map! I don't know if it's the biggest of the AA serie up to that point but it seems like it! All the different areas are combined in one map and it's pretty fun to explore each one of them.
- While the story wasn't my favorite AA story, I still really enjoyed it and that mostly because of how good of a character Edward is! He's totally unique from all the other assassins, mostly because he wasn't even an assassin for the biggest part of the game lol. There is less of that brotherhood feeling that the previous games had but it's still really fun.
- Finally weather! I'm like 99% sure there was no difference in the weather in the previous games, this one has huge ass storms and it's honestly really cool lol.
-
- While the control of the ship is better than in AC3, I still hate the fuck out of everything that has to do with that ship lol. The ship missions are the worse, I don't want to spend my time looting ships just to upgrade my ship it's boring af.
- The story outside the animus was a huge WTF. I don't care at all about any of it tbh, I just wanted to see the previous characters (they appeared but for why i have no idea lol) even tho Desmond died. I just don't feel like it continued the story at all, it was just really boring tbh.

59. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- This games is a classic. Imo this is the game that set the bar high for every other Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption and the next GTAs. It's just mind blowing how big this game is for it's generation (and even compared to some games of the current generation tbh).
- Graphically there is a lot more details than in the previous games. The animations are also a LOT better and you can finally move the camera!
- While the controls have aged quite a bit, they are definitely better than the previous game's controls.
- The story and the characters are amazing. I honestly want to say that this GTA might have the best story out of all the GTAs tbh. It has so many iconic characters! CJ is an amazing protagonist who's a lot more relatable than the previous ones. There's also so many amazing new characters : Cesar, Woozie, The Truth, Big Smoke, Zero... but also some of the best previous characters : Kent, Love Fist, Catalina...
- Better customization! I also loved how you can gain/loose weight/muscle! I wish they had that in the next games tbh.
- So many new things, new cars, weapons and a lot of diverse missions!
-
- Some missions are really hard but the one mission was just too much is Learning to Fly. In my life I have never such bad controls in a video game. That trash ass plane is uncontrollable.
- Just like in the previous games, I hate that when you fail a mission you can't start it again you have to go back to the starting location and it's really annoying especially when it's far away.

60. Assassin's Creed IV: Freedom Cry [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- It's just a DLC so for the gameplay/graphics just read my thought on Black Flag ^^
-  Adéwalé is a really interesting characters that definitely deserved his own DLC! This DLC definitely reminded me more of Liberation than Blag Flag but with better voice acting haha. I loved the story even if it was pretty short, you get to find out more about Adéwalé  and it also introduced some cool characters!
- New areas! I honestly expected the DLC to take place in the original game's map but no it has it's own locations so it's pretty cool.
-
- I'd say a bit short but it's a DLC... ^^ I guess it could've been longer but it's still acceptable for it's price.

61. Assassin's Creed: Rogue [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- The story is one of the most unique from the franchise since it's the first time the protagonist is a Templar. I also really liked Shay tbh, he's a pretty charismatic character who goes from a manipulated assassin to a high ranked Templar. I honestly totally understood why he left the Brotherhood, I mean I already didn't like Achilles in AS3 but that that guy is a bum lol. Shay was honestly surrounded by the worst team of Assassins in AS's history lol.
- Graphically the game looks pretty good. Obviously not better than AS4, probably not even better than AS3 but It's still beautiful. The locations are basically a mix of AS3 and AS4 and it makes the game pretty unique.
- Overall a really underrated game! I feel like not a lot of people have played this game because it came out during that weird generation transition era plus it came out right after AS4 but only on old gen. I honestly really enjoyed this game, I didn't know what to expect from it when I started it but I loved the story and the whole vibe of the game.
-
- Pretty short, probably the shortest game of the franchise.
- It misses a main city. I already kinda had this issue with AS4 but it still had some memorable locations. Rogue however has no memorable locations at all, you change locations every chapters and you just don't get used to any of them.
- The fucking ships. I was lowkey happy to start a new AC game without ships after AS4 and then it's the same thing lol. I don't know if it's just me but these goddamn ships are my most hated feature from the franchise lol.

62. Detroit: Become Human [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Graphically it's probably the most realistic game I've ever played tbh. The attention to details is honestly mind blowing.
- Amazing story! I loved every part of the story tbh. Quantic Dream is one of my favorite devolopper for that reason tbh, their stories are always on point! Out of all of their games I feel like this is the one where you can have the most different paths, like almost every chapters have 2-3 ending, with some having a lot more. The decisions are also really important and will truly change the story in a lot of ways.
- I love the characters! Connor is the best character imo, he's the most interesting and I ADORE his relationship with Hank lol. Kara and Marcus are also two very likable protagonist. I'd be interested to see how different Marcus and Connor would act if you make them villains, since I converted Connor into a deviant and led a peaceful revolution.
- You can go back to a previous chapter to re-do some of your choices and it's honestly a life saver lol.
- Overall this game was one of my most anticipated game of the year and it didn't disappoint me at all. I just love everything about it tbh.
-
/

63. Watch Dogs 2 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- The city looks AMAZING! It's so different from the first game which had a really dark, sad city. San Francisco is just so colorful and full of life I love it. This really reminds me of the Liberty City to Vice City evolution in a way.
- While the story isn't as interesting as the first game's, the characters make up for it a lot! I loved the new groupe and I LOVE that they brought back Ray! He was my favorite character from the first game and probably my favorite from the serie.
- So many iconic missions! This was my second time playing the game but I still enjoyed all of them! Also the side quests are a lot more fun then the ones in WD1.
- Love drone and mini robot or whatever it's called lol. Definitely the best new features of the game.
- Amazing music!
- A lot more customization!
-
- No more slow motion mode when you're driving. Idk why they took it out tbh.
- I feel like they complicated the gameplay a bit too much compared to the first game, especially the hacking.
- I wish the camera was the same as it was in the first game, or that you could at least change it. It's a very weird angle tbh.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on April 28, 2018, 12:12:25 am
Game 6 - Super Metroid (SNESc) - 7 Hours

+ Just finished this game last night. This is truly a classic game and I can see why it's so popular. So much of this game is really well done, especially the graphics, sound effects, gameplay, and music. It's all so isolating and cool to play through, the game really makes you feel like a boss, and it's hard to stop playing. I really enjoyed searching for new items, exploring new areas, and using all the cool weaponry. There really isn't much more to say on it.

- Despite how great it is, I do have some gripes. I found it annoying that I couldn't look at all the sections of the map at once like in Metroid Prime. On the topic of Prime, I miss the more in depth story and background lore of that game. I didn't even know what I was on Zebes for until I got a game over and the "find the metroid larva!" showed up. I also swear some of the game was buggy/slowed, though I don't know if it's because of the SNES classic. I had a lot of noticeable framerate drops, an area where the game froze consistently (right before Ridley), and the grappling hook sometimes did not working properly either.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on May 04, 2018, 05:16:37 pm
Due to personal issues I haven't really been able to game as much as I would like. But I had a week off this week, and I decided to spend it playing through Freedom Planet. Or, playing through it thrice with all the characters really. And I have to say, I'm glad I did. Because Freedom Planet is a fantastic title.

If you look at it you may immediately draw comparisons to the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and you wouldn't be wrong. Freedom Planet, at its core, is clearly very inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog series. However, I honestly think it's vastly superior to Sonic. The speed platforming is still there, but Freedom Planet adds a lot which really makes it stand out. Freedom Planet has a larger focus on exploration and combat than Sonic, and it handles it really well. The levels are well designed and offer you good chances to explorer without ever feeling lost. The characters have a larger moveset with moves better suited to combat compared to Sonic as well, and it makes taking out enemies a lot of fun. Not to mention, the bosses are fantastic and perfectly suit the combat system. They really reward learning the patterns and adapting to them, and while they can be very challenging they are always fair.

I can highly recommend Freedom Planet to any fan of action-platformers. Even if you aren't the biggest fan of Sonic, Freedom planet does enough different and fixes enough of the frustrations I have with Sonic that it's still worth a look. I do recommend you choose Lilac for your first playthrough! But if you enjoy challenging yet fair action-platformers, Freedom Planet is highly recommended.

Full list: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 06, 2018, 08:01:59 am
20 - The Forest (PC 2018) - BEAT - Much like Subnautica, this is another one of the long in development indie survival games.  I bought this back when I hadn't realized that I probably shouldn't be buying early access titles, though I played it a lot less than Subnautica.  If comparing it to other games, you have 7 Days to Die and awful, still in development, game that is awful and still runs poorly and looks bad.  Subnautica, while glitchy, it actually fairly well done and the entire experience is interesting.  In between is The Forest I think.

I don't feel like there's a lot the game does great, but it's not bad.  It can be creepy and unsettling, but it has a ton of jank.  The standard lighting in the game is broken, so if you don't change the color grading (What amounts to a color change and brightness differences), you will not be able to see in caves no matter what kind of light you have.  You'll be practically scraping edges to get through and it's not fun.  I almost quit the game till someone told me to change it to "Texas".  It wasn't a fix, but it was improved enough to be tolerable.  The combat isn't even slightly fun.  The AI is unfairly strong and fast, especially the tougher enemies, and makes most interactions beyond one or two mutants just not fun and it's not in "Don't complain, it's a survival game" sort of way.  Physics with items are wonky, spawning will happen right in front of you sometimes, and the enemy AI is fairly terrible.

There are good ideas here, but not sure if they are fully realized and despite the game being "released", I'm sure it'll still see a number of updates to fix a lot of the problems.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on May 07, 2018, 03:49:20 pm
Took me over a month, but I finally got through Far Cry 5.  The ending was so bad that I decided not to 100% it.

That puts me at 11 games beat this year so far.  I'm normally at 52 games by now... I knew this was going to be a difficult year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 11, 2018, 04:29:04 am
21 - The Flame in the Flood (PC 2016) - BEAT - Love getting games free.  This year was sorta about trying to play more of the freebies I've had or dig into the backlog in general, but I just keep getting more free stuff! 

I really burned through this one, got kinda in the zone and just went for it, but the game never really gets to a point of really BECOMING anything.  It's a survival rogue-lite game, Don't Starve on a river, but you don't learn anything about what happened, the few characters you meet, who you are, and the ending is just a "Oh, okay" moment.  It's never more than one note.  What you do at the start, is never different from where you end other than you are probably over-supplied, except for like the one thing you need.  For me, that was killing bears for hide to keep from getting cold, but the cold is manageable enough, that I eventually just pushed to the end.

It's not bad, it's a competent survival game, but it feels abit too basic and the folksy songs don't add a lot and the whole game lacks a sheen of polish.  Like using the quick menu for attack items is awkward and can get screwed up, the text windows are weird, it feels like it needed just some extra work that they never put into it.  I wouldn't really recommend it unless you are some die-hard survival game lover and you've played the better ones already.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on May 13, 2018, 02:56:11 am
It's been close to a month since I beat a game, mostly because I'm currently in the middle of an RPG and also the nice spring weather as been calling me outside, away from gaming recently. But I got to play one of my most sought after games after buying it this afternoon, and...well, it wasn't all that great. I'll probably end up selling it since it's hard to justifying holding onto a $250 game that's just "okay."

29. Blast Wind (Saturn): It's always a shame when you finally get a chance to play a game that is wildly sought after and expensive only to ask yourself why that is after playing it. Blast Wind is possibly the most wildly mediocre shooter I've ever played, doing nothing really that well, but not doing anything that bad either; the game is just sort of...there. I coasted easily through its very short length and mostly felt like I was going through the motions the whole time. The game is pretty easy as well which contributes to its overall mediocrity. I will give credit where it is due and say that the music is pretty good at times as are the graphics, but still not enough for this game to be anything worth recommending, especially at its going rate of $250+. (5/13/18) [27/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on May 19, 2018, 07:34:16 am
22] Lego Jurassic World (PS4)

Wanted to play this since release, spotted it in a supermarket for £17 (and CoD Infinite Warfare for £5) the other week and had to have it. This is by far the best of the Lego games I've played, which is limited admittedly.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on May 22, 2018, 01:05:48 pm
9. God of War (PS4)

What a wonderful fully connected story and game. Everything that you can do in the world really feels connected to the story and world even when they're just sidequests. The story is very well done and shows a very real relationship between a father and son. The gameplay does not get repetitive with all of the different stances and combinations you can pull off on the fly in addition to the basic combos and the boss enemies are fun to fight, specifically the Valkyries.

Overall a super solid game from beginning to end.

Time: will update, prob 50-60 hours
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on May 23, 2018, 09:24:53 pm
Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch)

10. Mega Man 1

This is my first time ever playing a Mega Man game and it actually felt fresh even though it's a classic game. It has a good difficulty throughout except for Wily's Castle which I shamelessly used the rewind feature to beat (Yellow Devil can die in a fire). All in all I really liked it and will be playing through the rest.

Time: 2-3 hours

11. Mega Man 2

It's a straight upgrade from MM1 in all aspects and is much more polished in movement and graphically. The levels were layed out much better than MM1 and the weapons are more creative and Wily feels like much less bullshit to fight.

Time: 2-3 hours
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 25, 2018, 11:09:53 pm
23 - State of Decay 2 (PC 2018) - ABANDONED - I hate quitting games, especially ones I've put over like 15 to 20 hours into, but I'm tired of the games bugs.  Initially I was alright with it, it's just a visually improved and slightly better gameplay take on the first game, and it's only 30 bucks, but that is it.  There's almost nothing new added other than the Blood Plague, which are just ever so slightly more aggressive versions of the normal zombies and revolve around a new horde fight strewn around the town, and co-op, which I don't use, so it's pointless.  It's not starting off on great ground not being particularly better than a game I thought was just alright to begin with.

As a kinda challenging survival sim experience, the game borders on this balance beam between tedium and enjoyment.  I can get lost in mindless open world experiences if it feels like I'm seeing progression.  When progression starts to stall for whatever reason, and I'm continually coming across bugs, or seeing the same ones, it's quickly tipping things towards tedium and I'm not having fun.  Last night I quit after finding a repeatable crash from a specific loot point.  Tonight I'm quitting after the game stalled as I tried to cure some of the blood plague after a tough fight (Plague Heart fights aren't fun).  Combine that with frequent smaller bugs and some lazy ideas (Why can't I just instantly switch to my follower with a button press?) I come across all the time while playing, I'm just done.  I'm not having fun anymore.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 26, 2018, 04:30:57 am
24 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC 2018) - BEAT - Well this was a lovely little gem! I had forgotten it was even going to come out till like 2 weeks ago or whenever they announced its release, and while they did have an error getting codes to backers on consoles, they gave a free Steam code and that is just dandy for me right now.

Based on sort of a loose NES design, more due to your character sprites and gameplay, this is a pretty faithful recreation of that era, but doesn't get stuck in it, cause it has some fantastic background, creature, and boss designs.  Good music, a pretty comfortable challenge on Veteran (There's a Nightmare mode when you beat it), and overall it was fun, though it is short.  What stands out is that eventually you'll unlock four players you can switch on the fly.  This means basically 4 health bars and if a character dies, you'll only get set back abit, with the leftover crew.  All crew dying is a gameover and uses a continue.  They all got their gimmicks and keeping them all alive allows you to use all sorts of shortcuts through the levels.  And certain things can let you really cheese your way through areas and boss fights.  It'll be cool to see speedruns of this.

Even having gotten it free, it's totally worth the 10 bucks they are charging for it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on May 28, 2018, 12:38:08 am
Another top 10 game of all time contender down :)

32. Final Fantasy X (PS2): Final Fantasy X is a game I wondered for years if it deserved a place in my top 10 given how fondly I remember this game, well most of it. See, I never actually beat FFX as a young teen when the game first came out; I got all the way to the final boss, he destroyed me, and I never tried playing FFX again. I had a lot of shit going on in my life at that time and it was probably a combo of the game's difficulty spiking heavily in the last 5% of the game and some serious adolescent depression that kept me from wanting to try again. Still, I remembered the rest of the game so fondly that it always skated the border of my top 10 games of all time. 16-years since I last played FFX I replayed the entire game and finally beat it, and wow, what a game this is! FFX is an amazingly designed game; from it's epic, original story to it's even better game design, this is truly one of the best FF games, if not the best I've ever played. The soundtrack is perfect as well with great music and voice acting. Perhaps FFX's biggest disadvantage is my subjective bias against JRPGs, which barely got in the way of me enjoying this game, but did ever so slightly, as did a few minor pacing issues, balancing problems, and the aforementioned difficulty spike at the end. In the end these were minor issues that did little to blemish one of the best JRPGs of all time. (5/27/18) [43/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on May 28, 2018, 03:13:33 pm
12. Destroy All Humans (PS4)

Super fun, crude, hilarious, and very unique. If you just want to have fun and your okay with crude humor this game is fantastic, it's not long and the story is ridiculous. It was nice to replay this again after a long time.

Time: 10-15 hours
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: droaa on May 31, 2018, 01:08:25 pm
I realized since this post was started, I have not posted anything on this thread mainly due to school so my gaming has been pretty low. At this point I have been 3 weeks out of the semester and gaming has gone up so heres my updated list with hopefully with 52 by the end of the year or sooner, who knows.

1.PS1-Street Fighter Collection(Jan 1)-4/5
2.PS1-Space Jam(Jan 1)-3/5
3.GEN-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers(Jan 1)-3/5
4.SNES-Final Fight(Jan 1)-3/5
5.SNES-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers(Jan 20)-4/5
6.Switch-Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers(Jan 21)-4/5
7.SNES-Batman Returns(Feb 3)-3/5
8.SNES-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie(Feb 4)-3/5
9.DC-Sega Rally 2: Sega Rally Championship(Feb 4)-3/5
10.SCD-Bram Stoker's Dracula(Mar 21)-1/5
11.PSVR-Doom VFR(Mar 26)-3/5
12.PS4-Doom(May 20)-4/5
13.PSVR-Batman: Arkham VR(May 27)-4/5
14.PS4-Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul(May 29)-4/5
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 01, 2018, 05:25:42 pm
Halfway through the year and I'm doing alright at 27 played.  Have a few more abandoned games than I'd like and Assassin's Creed: Rogue might go on that pile too as its a tad boring, but might just power through the story and do less side stuff.  It really was just "Take the content of AC3 and Black Flag and make a new game out of the parts".
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on June 06, 2018, 04:24:58 pm
...Well...I've beaten Bayonetta...again...for the second time this year...I just really love this game all right??

I decided to play through it on hard mode, and it's a fairly short game, and it's one of my favourite games of all time and snap, it's beaten again. I've honestly kind of fallen out of the gaming and beating games-rhythm. Personal issues and other stuff I guess. Maybe I'll get back into the swing of things later, but for now I'm content just playing through stuff at a slow pace. Guess that'll just be a short list this year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on June 08, 2018, 11:32:37 pm
Game 7: Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U) - 32 Hours

This is one game that I actually have a lot of thoughts about, and I'm going to get really technical with this post because my thoughts are much more granular this time around (sorry for the long post y'all).

Positives

Negatives
Easily the  biggest problem that I had was the combat. First, battling is made up of a deck of cards that are all single use. While I like the idea as a concept, ultimately it didn't work out in the long run when comparing this game to something similar, like Mega Man Battle Network. I think if you guys play this game for yourself you'll see where I'm coming from.
Aaaanyway, aside from the combat, there are two other things that I didn't like.
[/list] <- I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get this out of this post so fuck it.


 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 09, 2018, 04:19:29 am
  35. The Pinball Arcade (PC): I recently attended a large pinball expo that had a ton of pinball machines which were all free to play after the price of admission was paid, and it really gave me the itch to play more pinball. For anyone that doesn't know anything about the pinball market, they range from very expensive to you'd better take out a loan expensive. Given this and my lack of available space for even one pinball machine, I researched what would be the next best thing which led me to find this game, which is also available on consoles. As a note, I won't be reviewing individual tables, but rather my general experience with this pinball simulator. First off, this game faithfully recreates every pinball on your TV or monitor almost exactly how they are in person, which includes everything from the sounds and music to the art and asthetics of each machine. Maybe more impressive is the excellent pinball physics that recreate the real life physics of each machine almost to a T. The only noticeable issue I found in regards to the feel of the machines was a slight delay on the paddle controls, which I did get used to, but were apparent the whole time I played this game. Overall though with everything considered, The Pinball Arcade's collection of games generally felt 90% authentic to the real thing, give or take a few percent depending on the game. I definitely recommend grabbing the season packs as soon as you can, however, since the licenses for the Bally and Williams tables are going to expire after June 30th of this year, meaning you won't be able to get them anymore. Buy them while you still can! (6/9/18) [40/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on June 10, 2018, 03:47:47 pm
Chugging along at 23/52, if I can beat 3 more by the end of the month I'm on-target. Getting stuck into Dark Souls Remastered has slowed me up considerably, but it's been a blast to play, hope to have it beaten by the end of the week. Then I've got Vampyr to get stuck into and after that maybe a few of these casual games from the 2000s I've been picking up, used to play a lot of games on Big Fish Games (1 hour free trial) and now the physical versions can be picked up for a few quid online, casual games from that period are quite different to retro games and modern ones.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kypherion on June 10, 2018, 05:35:43 pm
Interesting to see people do this. I could beat 52 in a year if I really tried, but that would have to wait until next year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on June 11, 2018, 12:11:32 am
I'm coming into this challenge at almost the halfway point, but I'll try to beat as many games as I can. I'm going to try and focus on games I've never played before or haven't played in a long time and remember almost nothing about them.

Games in bold font are ones I have beaten (seen the end credits).
Games in normal font I played this year, but didn’t beat.
Games in italics are ones I’m currently playing.

1.   Mega Man (PS4)
2.   Donkey Kong (3DS VC)
3.   Legend of Zelda, The: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)
4.   Mega Man 2 (PS4)
5.   Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3)
6.   Batman: Arkham City (PS3)
7.   Dead Space (PS3)
8.   Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
9.   BOXBOY! (3DS)
10.   God of War (PS3)
11.   New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)
12.   Diablo III (PC)
13.   Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)
14.   Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (3DS VC)
15.   Mega Man 3 (PS4)
16.   Kirby’s Dream Land (3DS VC)
17.   New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
18.   Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS3)
19.   Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS3)
20.   Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
21.   Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
22.   Ratchet & Clank (PS3)
23.   Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)

That's it for me this year with 23 games beaten. Not bad considering I started late in the challenge.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: droaa on June 13, 2018, 12:50:16 am
Quote from: kypherion on June 10, 2018, 05:35:43 pm
Interesting to see people do this. I could beat 52 in a year if I really tried, but that would have to wait until next year.

I remember years before this site launched, I was able to do more than 52 in a given year but then life happened and not so much now.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on June 13, 2018, 08:57:43 am
Quote from: droaa on June 13, 2018, 12:50:16 am
Quote from: kypherion on June 10, 2018, 05:35:43 pm
Interesting to see people do this. I could beat 52 in a year if I really tried, but that would have to wait until next year.

I remember years before this site launched, I was able to do more than 52 in a given year but then life happened and not so much now.
In previous years I would do 100+ games a year.  Now I'll be lucky if I'll hit 25.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 15, 2018, 04:50:13 am
28 - Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Not technically a full game, but there's enough here to count it I guess.  I didn't beat every mission, but I did enough to get to the games endings.  Overall, it's fun, a definite challenge over what the singleplayer normally is, but that "80 Missions" is misleading.  It makes you think you are getting 80 levels like the singleplayer generally has, but most aren't like that.  Most of them are far shorter, or generally just one shot challenge rooms.  The ending, while cool for what it was, is still not good because they didn't have a final boss.  It's like they can't make a good boss like the first game again.  Disappointing, but overall, still fun.  I'll get back to completing it here soon.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on June 16, 2018, 02:36:14 pm
1.   Mega Man (Original: NES, Played: Mega Man: Legacy Collection – PS4)
Mega Man is one of my favorite retro game series of all time and this is a great start to the series. Even though later games improved and perfected the formula, this game laid the foundation of the game’s signature features such as acquiring robot master’s weapons and selecting the order to play the stages. The game is plagued by some retro game flaws such as sections where you are basically forced to get hit or get screwed by RNG (propeller platforms that fire shots in Ice Man’s stage) But a classic game nonetheless.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: thegouldfish on June 17, 2018, 08:22:28 am
Keep forgetting to update this, but I'm up to 29 games so far across a number of platforms:

Switch:
Wonderboy in the Dragon Trap
Golf Story
Blossom Tales
Mario Odyssey


Windows:
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
SuperFrog:HD
Abuse
Rocket Knight
Environment Station Alpha
Outcast: Second Contact
Scrap Garden
Duke Nukem: Manhatten Project
Giga Wrecker
Battle Zone Combat Commander
South Park: fractured but whole
Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut


Amiga:
Fire And Ice
Rodland


Gameboy:
Max
Amazing Spiderman 2
Gargoyle's Quest
Super Mario land 3: Wario Land
Kid Dracula


Gameboy Colour:
Wario Land 2
Legend of Zelda: Links awakening DX
Shantae


DOS:
Duke Nukem 2
Commander Keen 3


Saturn:
Clockwork Knight
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: droaa on June 17, 2018, 01:28:17 pm
Quote from: mizzach86 on June 16, 2018, 02:36:14 pm
1.   Mega Man (Original: NES, Played: Mega Man: Legacy Collection – PS4)
Mega Man is one of my favorite retro game series of all time and this is a great start to the series. Even though later games improved and perfected the formula, this game laid the foundation of the game’s signature features such as acquiring robot master’s weapons and selecting the order to play the stages. The game is plagued by some retro game flaws such as sections where you are basically forced to get hit or get screwed by RNG (propeller platforms that fire shots in Ice Man’s stage) But a classic game nonetheless.

Does this version have a rewind feature. I got the MM Legacy Collection on the Switch and it has a rewind option. Considering that it came out on the PS4 first, I wanted to know.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: droaa on June 17, 2018, 01:36:13 pm
15. The Evil Within(PS4)-6/17/18

I started off this game earlier in the year and dropped cuz distractions and after fighting with the controller because I forgot how to play it, I started over and I went through it all the way. I could have finished it sooner but I was limiting myself to playing this game in the dead of night with headphones on for the atmosphere and let me just say it has been some time that I game has made feel uneasy. Granted there were sections in the daylight that I played in the daytime but for the most part night time was my go to time. Overall, a really good game from the man behind Resident Evil although the plot was kind meh at times and bit confusing and at times, the game can be a bit of drag and bullshit especially when there are sections where I felt like I was super fucked to the lack of ammo in my arsenal but if horror is your thing, this is a really good one.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 18, 2018, 06:37:38 am
29 - Dragon Ball Legends (Mobile 2018) - BEAT - Mobile is a very rare thing for me to do as I don't think most of them are any good and the setup for this one is the same as like the WWE mobile game or Fire Emblem Heroes, or most others with character collecting.  I do like the combat abit more here, it's sort of actiony and you do play as an original character in a somewhat original setup (Not by much though, Toei doesn't all for much originality in their DB games).  The story is unfinished though, so I haven't "technically" beat it, just the first part that is available, but I've done enough time and I'll probably keep on whenever they update the game.  It's something I do to chill out before bed lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on June 18, 2018, 12:07:42 pm
Given up on Vampyr, I really enjoyed the game but I'm at the end and it's pretty much insisting I take a path I've specifically avoided in order to level my character up enough to 'pass', otherwise I've apparently got a 'bad build', I'm just not willing to do that. Was still a good experience but one I'm not willing to tarnish by sickening myself of replaying the same boss or trogging back in-game to do something I didn't want to do. I've just beaten Dark Souls Remastered, it's not like I'm incapable of beating games like this, but I'm calling it quits.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on June 21, 2018, 02:00:51 pm
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037
Part 2 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149778.html#msg149778
Part 3 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg150756.html#msg150756
Part 4 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152650.html#msg152650

64. KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation A [17/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- A great roster! It's missing a few key fighters like Robert but it has some really cool new fighters who make the game more unique!
- Better graphics. The fighters look better and more details and the stages are also better.
- Great music.
- Overall just a really improved version of the first game.
-
- I know SNK's AI is hard to beat but the CPU still shouldn't be able to block 3/4 of my hits and then do a 15 hit combo lol

65. The King of Fighters XI [18/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- A really great roster! Some really cool new additions and hidden fighters. I also love the final boss! I do find it weird that some of the most important fighters are hidden in this game...
- DUCK! I can't believe it took them so long to put him in a KOF game lol.
- Great gameplay, I also love that you don't have to wait between rounds to fight the next opponent (I'm pretty this it was like that in the previous game tho...).
- Good music.

-
- KOF from 94 to XI was definitely the sports game of the fighting genre, meaning no real graphical evolution between each games...
- Not a big fan of the stages. I only really liked one.

66. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Amazing characters! I loved Toni as a protagonist! He's just an overall nice guy who can be savage af fuck at times lol. I feel like he's basically what Claude was supposed to be if Claude had a voice lol. I also loved Donald Love in this game! He was already one of my favorite in GTA III but this game made me love him even more! So hilarious XD
- Great missions that are overall easier than the previous game's. That's a huge + lol.
- A huge graphical improvement of Liberty City! It's so cool to see Liberty city with more details (and a map lol), almost feels like a completely different city! While the game isn't graphically better than SA, it's still looks good (I mean it's obviously dated but I still like it =D)
- If you're playing the PS2 version like I did you won't even notice that this was originally a PSP game tbh!
- Overall a really underrated game from the GTA franchise! I started playing it right after finishing SA and I expected to be disappointed but I was actually surprised by how good the game is.

-
- That's probably because it's a PSP game originally but overall a lot of features missing from SA.
- The story isn't that exciting, especially if you play the game right after SA like I did.
- The radio station is a huge downgrade from SA, thank god for Liberty City Jam lol.

67. Assassin's Creed: Unity [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- The game is STUNNING! While Black Flag was the first game that came out on next gen, I feel like Unity is the first game that truly looks like a next gen game. The animations are a lot more fluid, the city is STUNNING, full of details and life. The number of pedestrians is also crazy tbh.
- Better gameplay! The parkour part of the game is really fun, there's a lot of new animations and it's overall just more fluid. I also LOVE the fighting in this game, it's a little different from the previous game's but the different weapons make it so fun tbh.
- I loved the story. Arno is probably the most underrated protagonist imo. He's very likable, has his own ideas and won't follow orders which I like, he's also funny even tho he becomes more serious towards the end of the game (for obvious reasons lol). The story overall was just really good imo, It's different from the other game's because it's more centered around Arno's feelings more than the Assassin's or the Piece of Eden but I think they made a good job with mixing everything together.
- One thing I love about this game is that it went back to it's original roots. It reminded me a lot of the first 4 games and I think that after the Kenway saga they needed to make a more "simple" game, focusing on the original gameplay.
- Overall just a really underrated game mostly because of the reactions it got when it came out (full of glitches). All the glitches have been fixed so I'd highly recommend playing the game now tbh.

-
- The side quest are still a little repetitive. But I feel like that's just a AC thing at this point lol, there are some nice missions here and there but it's never really in depth.
- The "current life" story is still trash. Been trash since Desmond died tbh.

68. The King of Fighters '94: Rebout [18/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- I love the graphics! The 3D arenas fit really well with the new designs of the fighters. The fighters look amazing tbh, reminds of the Art of Fighting design style.
- It feels totally different from the original game, which imo is a good thing because there would be no point of playing the game if it felt the same. It's just a really unique game of the franchise that I find pretty underrated tbh.
- Good roster, all the characters from the OG game with the boss pre-unlocked.
- Amazing music.
- Good gameplay.
-
- I probably feel this way because I just played KOF XI before playing this game but damn the CPU is annoying af lol.

69. The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match [12/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Good roster. 98 has one of the most balanced roster imo, good mix of OG and "newer" characters.
- Good music
-
- The AI is way too strong.
- Graphically i'm not that impressed. The 3D backgrounds worked well in 94 rebout because the fighters were also upgraded, but here it just looks weird and tbh I prefer the original designs.
- Overall this game is just really not that needed, it's just a worse version of the original game tbh.

70. Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- I loved the humor and the characters. It's just so different from most games, Sherlock Holmes is not the usual hero you'd see in a video game but I loved every part of it tbh.
- I loved the different cases, it's not always obvious who's the criminal and there are a few good plot twists that keep the game interesting.
- While it's not graphically impressive I still think the game looked pretty good. It's a good mix between realistic and a bit cartoonish.
- Good voice acting.
- Overall just a really nice surprise, I expected an Ok game and I ended having a lot of fun tbh. A huge hidden gem.
-
- There's a cool customization option that you can only use once you finished the game and start it over. That's one of the DUMBEST idea i've seen in a video game especially since this game is the type of game that you only play once and never touch it again (since you already now all the cases, you know the fun part of the game).
- The game lacks a little bit of action but it's not a really big issue.

71. Shenmue II [20/20] - Xbox -
+
- Graphically the game was really ahead of it's time! The attention to details is crazy!
- I love the story. I honestly can't wait for Shenmue 3 after that ending!
- I love the characters, especially Ren who's hilarious tbh.
- Amazing soundtrack.
- For some people it might be a "negative", but I honestly love the english voices! The acting is so weird but it's just make the game even more unique. The acting is a bit better than in the first game tho.
-
- The game really needs a map, but like a real detailed map and not that trash they give us lol. The city is so much bigger than the first game's and I got lost plenty of times tbh.
- When you ask someone to show you the way to a place, they take forever to walk there. It's a small detail but damn them mfs slow as hell lmao.
- Not a big fan of how you need money to continue the game at some point. It just breaks the pace of the game.

72. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- Vice city has been highly upgraded and it's honestly a joy to drive around. Definitely my favorite city after San Andreas!
- I love the characters! GTA always has amazing characters tbh. I especially loved the relationship between Vic and Louise.
- A great story. Compared to Liberty City Stories, the story is a lot more interesting tbh.
- Amazing soundtrack.
- Amazing acting.
-
- The missions are really difficult. I'm pretty trash already at these PS2 GTA but damn this one has some really difficult missions tbh.

73. Red Dead Revolver [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- While the graphics aren't mind blowing, the whole vibe of the game is amazing.
- If you're a fan of RDR, I definitely recommend playing this game just for the experience. It feels so much like a prototype (in a good way lol) of RDR, a lot of the ideas and mechanics from RDR came from this game so it's nice to actually play it and see how much everything has evolved.
- Love the story, it's funny because the game starts kinda like how RDR ends actually. The characters a fun and even tho Red doesn't talk that much he's still pretty charismatic.
- Amazing soundtrack.
-
- I think this game would've been probably even better if it was an open world type game like GTA. Even tho I like the story it's short and a missions type of system would've allowed it to be more detailed. But I think even rockstar said the game should've been an open world but they just didn't have the time.

74. WWE 2K18 [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- The gameplay is definitely better than the last one I played (16). There are plenty of game modes so the game never gets boring.
- A lot of past wrestlers! I love when sports games add past players/athletes... I often prefer playing with them so It's a huge + for me.
- Amazing customization system! Idk how the create a fighter is so good in the game and so trash in NBA 2k18 tbh. It's also super fun to download player made wrestlers, a lot of old wrestlers who didn't make the roster and other funny characters. Some of them are honestly extremely realistic and looks like they've been actually made by 2k!
-
- TRASH mycareer mode. The moment as saw there was a myplayer online system I knew it was gonna be booty XD.

75. MLB The Show 18 [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Graphically the game looks pretty good, it's definitely the most realistic Baseball game I've ever seen. The animations, the players... everything looks good.
- Really good gameplay. You have a lot of options for batting which is great, and overall the gameplay just feels really polished.
- Historical players, like I said previously, past players are always a huge plus in sports game imo.
-
- While the idea of having to work you way up into the MLB in career mode is a good idea, I hated the fact that I had to play (thank god I simulated a good portion of it) 3 seasons in the minor leagues with fake players just to be traded to the freaking Marlins (because you can't choose your team =/) and having my favorite player retired from the league.

76. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- Amazing Graphics! Honestly really impressing. This game has one of the best lighting I've seen in a video game tbh.
- Amazing story with amazing characters. Every character is just so well written and likable (except a few lol). Geralt has become one of my favorite protagonist tbh, he's extremely charismatic and I just love his idgaf humor.
- Amazing side quests! The side quests really push the game to another level. You can't play this game and not play the side quests, you would be missing out on the most fun part of the game tbh. The only side quests that became a bit repetitive were the contracts but even them were interesting.
- I love the level up system. I hate how in RPG you have to grind your way to the next level by fighting enemies and that type of stuff. Here you just have to play side quests and you can level pretty quickly which made the game a lot more fun to me.
- A beautiful open world!
- Really good voice acting!
- Beautiful soundtrack.
- Overall just an amazing game that everyone should play tbh.
-
/

77. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically really impressing! The characters look amazing and London looks STUNNING! The city is so full of life it's really a pleasure to just walk around and not do anything.
- Good characters. While I like Evie, Jacob was definitely the star of the game§ He's probably the funniest Assassin we ever had! I also loved the side characters, especially that Mrs. Disraeli!
- Good gameplay! While I miss the diversity of weapons Unity had, I love all the new additions like the hook (or whatever they call it lol).
- Overall just a really underrated Assassin's Creed game imo. I love that this game is just not taking it self seriously, it has a more fun story with funnier characters and doesn't have any dramatic events happening.
-
- I guess once again, the side quests do become repetitive but that's just an Assassin's Creed trend at this point lol.
- While I do like that we have to playable assassins, Evie does feel like a last second thought. Her personality is less developed than Jacob and overall she's just less interesting. I do think that she's necessary to the game tho because her duo with Jacob is really fun + her missions are also really cool.

78. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China [16/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically the game is nice, nothing mind blowing but I like the art style a lot and the animations are also really fluid and nice looking.
- The gameplay especially the free running is really well converted from a 3D game to a 2D plateform game imo. It really feels like and Assassin's Creed game just in 2D.
- I like Shao Jun a lot! She's pretty badass tbh her fighting move are really fun, I love her shoe blade thing lol. She doesn't have a huge personality but the game also isn't long enough to develop her into the most well written character. She's just that silent assassin who has no mercy for her targets, which isn't shocking since she was trained (or something like that) by Ezio.
-
- Some moments are hard and can get annoying tbh. My main issue was that I had 2 bar of life for the whole game (I saw on youtube that someone upgraded it to 3 but I have zero idea how since there is no upgrade menu in the game) and you can't fight you way trough any situation because even if you can kill someone with your sword another guard will shoot you from far away and that will either kill you in one or two shot. The whole fighting system is just really shaky tbh and you basically have to do the whole game stealthily.
- The characters have a British or american accent. That just really threw me off because why lol? Why is it the only game where the characters don't have a correct accent?

79. Yakuza [20/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- AMAZING story!  The story is really something else tbh. There are some many unexpected moments and you just always want to know what will happen next!
- Amazing characters. Kazuma is a really likable and charismatic protagonist tbh. I also liked Date, Haruka, Shinji and Yumi a lot. Even Nishiki was a well written character, I wouldn't say I liked him because he's kind of a betraying bitch but he's a cool character lol.
- Really good graphics! The camera angles are a choice but the level of detail put into the city is really mind blowing! The characters also look really good!
- I actually thought the english voice over was pretty good, I know a lot of people don't like it and maybe I won't either if I hear it after playing the next games but I actually thought it was good.
- Cool fighting system. Fighting is actually really fun in this game and the "finishers" are pretty satisfying lol.
-
- As I said the camera angles are a choice. But you get used to it. Kazuma is really slow too lol.
- The one big negative of this game that made me super annoyed at times is the fact that you can't cross two streets without someone trying to beat you up. Every two seconds someone tries to fight you and you can't do anything about it you just have to fight them and continue. I know it's because you gain experience points and it allows you to upgrade your fighting and all that stuff but I really wish they thought about another system to gain xp points because this ain't it lol.

80. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India [17/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically I prefer this game to China. Its a lot more colorful and diverse, and some backgrounds are really stunning!
- The gameplay is still good, with a few new things like the helix abilities (or at least new abilities).
- I liked the story a lot more than in China. Arbaaz is actually a pretty good character, he reminds me of a young Ezio Auditore. It's also fun to be playing with Henry Green's dad!
-
- This game is SO much harder than the first one. At times I really wanted to just throw my controller at the screen tbh. Plus the fact that I still don't know how to fuckin upgrade anything in this game doesn't make it easier.

81. The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match [19/20] - Playstation 2 -
+
- A really good roster!
- Amazing backgrounds! This game made the 3D elements look really good compared to the previous games! It doesn't look odd at all.
- Amazing Soundtrack.
- Overall just comparing this game to the original 2002 game is just night and day. The original 2002 is probably my least favorite KOF game while this one is one of my favorites. It honestly doesn't even feel like the same game (or even inspired by it).
-
- The difficulty is still a bit annoying but I'm used to it by now lol.


Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 22, 2018, 05:31:25 am
30 - Cuisine Royale (PC 2018) - ENDLESS - Ever have one of those games you feel abit guilty liking?  Like this should be awful, but I've put 4 hours into it.  It's an early access game, on Steam, based on an April Fool's joke...but it's actually alright.  It's super bare-bones right now and needs a lot of stuff, but the realistic weaponry and WW2 setting, with the absurd cookware armor and joke items you can wear is weirdly fun to play.  It also looks real nice for some reason despite everyone running around in their boxers.  It makes no sense, but it's become quite fun.  Hope it works out in the long run.  If you download it now on Steam, you get it free forever as it'll get a price tag sometime in the next week.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on June 24, 2018, 02:20:37 am
After rethinking this challenge, I've decided I'm going to just beat the game instead of try and 100% it. As much as I'm a completionist, I'm hoping this will let me get through more games.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on June 25, 2018, 11:35:06 pm
Quote from: droaa on June 17, 2018, 01:28:17 pm
Quote from: mizzach86 on June 16, 2018, 02:36:14 pm
1.   Mega Man (Original: NES, Played: Mega Man: Legacy Collection – PS4)
Mega Man is one of my favorite retro game series of all time and this is a great start to the series. Even though later games improved and perfected the formula, this game laid the foundation of the game’s signature features such as acquiring robot master’s weapons and selecting the order to play the stages. The game is plagued by some retro game flaws such as sections where you are basically forced to get hit or get screwed by RNG (propeller platforms that fire shots in Ice Man’s stage) But a classic game nonetheless.

Does this version have a rewind feature. I got the MM Legacy Collection on the Switch and it has a rewind option. Considering that it came out on the PS4 first, I wanted to know.

I don't think so.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on June 26, 2018, 05:25:22 pm
Game 8 - Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (PS2) - 13 Hours

+ Really enjoyed this game, and I think it's probably my favorite out of the three Sly games. The thing that really stood out to me was the memorable characters and villains. I loved how you work through the game to build a "band of thieves" ;) and it was great that they brought in some villains from previous games too. Dimitri in particular was so funny, he was a complete riot. The bosses were also phenomenal too. The only one that I didn't like was that dumb mask in the Australian level, but the rest of them, particularly Captain LeFwee and Tsao, were great. The gameplay and graphics are very similar to Sly 2 and were great as always but there are some additional elements that make it amazing. Some of my favorites were finding secret codes in paintings, wearing disguises, searching for treasure and AIRPLANE and PIRATE SHIP battles :D Lastly, the game has a lot of replay value with a lot of special challenge stages to play through.

- I have a couple of nitpicks. Some of the gameplay I didn't like, especially the  "argument" sections where you have to select from lines of dialogue to try and persuade people. Also I felt like half the time conflicting thief senses all over the place makes you jump to places you didn't want to go. I also liked the overall story and final bosses in Sly 1 and 2 more. Also I missed the clue bottles :(


 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 27, 2018, 12:46:20 am
Part 3 of my reviews:


40. Fighters Megamix (Saturn): Being a huge Virtua Fighter and AM2 fan I've wanted to play this game for years, and because of some birthday money I got and a little luck, I finally purchased this game over the weekend. I will start by commending this game for having pretty much the full roster of characters from Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers, plus a bunch of odd characters from Sega's other franchises. However, my praise of this game literally stops there. Fighters Megamix is one of the worst fighting games I've ever played. I mean it is laughably bad. I beat two opponents in a row by spamming the same button over and over again, while giving most of my attention to my girlfriend playing Detroit Become Human in the same room. The complete lack of skill or complexity in this game is incredibly bad, and it has to be possibly the worst gameplay I've ever seen in a fighting game. The stages, music, and character graphics all seemed muted compared the the games Fighters Megamix crosses over. Sadly what could have been a very memorable and fun game turned out to be a giant pile of shit in the end. (6/26/18) [13/50]

41. Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers (PS4): There are few, if any, fighting games as iconic as Street Fighter 2. For me, Super Street Fighter 2 on the Genesis was the version I remember playing the most and enjoying the most, despite never being able to beat it until now. While this game is no doubt extremely iconic, and the music, stage and character art, and graphics are perfection, especially this version, the gameplay itself has some very big flaws. While it can be forgiven slightly for being the pioneer tournament fighter game, the roster is incredibly imbalanced and your route to victory with certain opponents involves spamming specific moves more than a dynamic, fluid fighting experience. While I still enjoy this game quite a bit, this lack of balance and actual skill at times is what brings the game down the most for me and prevents it from being my favorite fighting game of all time. Still, impressively, it manages to be one of the best fighting games ever and likely my favorite release of Street Fighter 2. (6/27/18) [40/50]


42. Jurassic World: Evolution (PS4): Back in the mid 90s when I was still in elementary school, we had Dinosaur Park Tycoon installed on the PC in my classroom. I loved playing this game and would pray for a inside recess day so I might be able to play it. Running my own dinosaur theme park was always something I thought was awesome, and my interest in playing video games where I get to do this has not changed. Jurassic World Evolution was definitely a great time overall despite several flaws which brought the game down for me slightly. The park and dinosaur graphics were excellent, as was progressing through the game, unlocking new buildings, upgrades, and best of all, more dinos. Funny enough, this game has WAY more of Ian Malcolm than the new Jurassic World movie did, which if you are a fan of his character makes the game even more awesome. Where this game screwed up however was how inconsistent the dinosaurs' moods were, which if not kept comfortable they'd break out and cause all sorts of mayhem. I know it is a staple of the park sim genre, but random and annoyingly frequent storms destroying key structures and letting dinosaurs was something that got pretty old too. On top of that, I would have liked for there to be more variation in the islands as well beyond elements that made some islands more difficult, and frankly annoying, to manage a park on than others. The music was okay as well, not bad, but not that memorable either. Despite all of this, Jurassic World Evolution was definitely worth the purchase and a game I had quite a bit of fun with. (7/8/18) [36/50]

43. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64): There are few games that are as important, memorable, timeless or fun to me as Ocarina of Time. Like many other games I've played this year, Ocarina has been a staple of my top 10 games of all time for many years and it was only proper that I replayed it, again, to make sure it still stood up as one of the best games I've ever played. No surprise at all, it does and retains nearly every ounce of specialness its had for me since I first beat it back in 1999. The only aspect of Ocarina of Time that I find less enjoyable is that I have played and beat it so many times that I find almost nothing about the game challenging and outside the locations of specific heart pieces and Skulltulas I can beat this game with nearly no assistance whatsoever. Because of this there are parts of the game that lack the excitement they used to, but they do very little to diminish my overall enjoyment of Ocarina of Time. The game's music, graphics and gameplay were all amazing for their time and even today they are very pleasing to the senses. Perhaps more important than reaffirming my love for this game, which I last beat on the 3DS around 2-years ago, I wanted to see how I felt about it in comparison to Breath of the Wild, the only Zelda title to even come close to touching Ocarina of Time. While there are specific aspects of Ocarina I like better, overall Breath of the Wild is the better game with no doubt in my mind now. In fact, Breath of the Wild has a very real chance of becoming my favorite game of all time, which will be determined after I beat Shenmue and Shenmue 2 later this year. But I digress. Ocarina of Time is a timeless masterpiece and I am convinced that it will always hold a place in my favorite games of all time no matter what I end up playing down the road. (7/25/18) [48/50]

44. Star Fox 64 (N64): One of my favorite games as a kid, Star Fox 64 has always held a special place in my heart as being both a really fun game and a game that carries a lot of personal value. I was ultra hyped for Star Fox 64 before it came out, so much so I got in trouble once for playing a demo of it at a Toys R' Us while my dad had the store page me multiple times after he lost track of me and was unable to find me. In my defense I was so entranced with the gameplay that I wasn't paying attention to anything else except how awesome this game was. And still to this day, the game is very fun with it's fast paces, on-rails gameplay, memorable cast of characters, and awesome levels. I am also a really big fan of the branching paths and challenges that encourages multiple play throughs. This game will never get old imo, and I will always enjoy it. The reason I decided to replay it now was to see if it had a chance of getting into my top 10 games, which it never has officially belonged to. While Star Fox 64 is a very fun game and one of the most memorable games of my childhood, it just doesn't make the cut of some of the better games I've played. Even compared to Sin and Punishment, another N64 rail shooter, it falls just short of being as good as that game. Still, what a great game and one of the best on the N64. (7/25/18) [41/50]

45. Goldeneye 007 (N64): With my plans of replaying Perfect Dark later this year, I wanted to play its spiritual predecessor, Goldeneye to see how it stacks up in comparison. I've always considered Perfect Dark to be the superior game in nearly every way, but since first playing Goldeneye at a neighbors house back when it first came out, I've always had a soft spot for it. Sadly, Goldeneye has not aged all that well. For its time it was a revolutionary FPS game and I got tons of value out of its multiplayer which at the time was unlike anything I'd ever played. Since then however, Goldeneye has been outdone and bested by so many FPS games released over the past 20-years. The game is still a classic without a doubt, but its somewhat clunky gameplay and controls, low frame rate, and very dated visuals make it somewhat hard to revisit it. I'm still a fan of the objectives, unlockables, OST, and various other aspects of the game. This game will always hold a huge sentimental value as well given how much fun I had with it growing up. Definitely a great game on the N64, but one you have to go in with lower expectations given the large amount of superior shooters that have come out since. (7/30/18) [39/50]

46. Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast): While this is definitely one of the most memorable arcade racing games of the 90s and early 2000s, I feel like much of its fame has to do with how different it was at the time and how even still to this day there are few racing games like it. Driving around a city, picking up strangers and taking them where they want, dodging traffic and other obstacles is a cool formula and all, but in execution this game falls a little short. While the game is fun, the driving is average at best and there are some annoying physics that happen when you hit cars, buildings and certain objects that make the game have a seizure and cause your car to do some pretty strange things. Even though this game is not meant to be taken seriously in the slightest, it still is rather annoying and jaring when it happens. In regards to the music and sound fx Crazy Taxi does a great job, but its lack of variety in both sound departments can ware on you after a while. Crazy Taxi is without a doubt a fun, quarky arcade racing game, however repeatedly playing it quickly exposes its various flaws which keep it from being a masterpiece of arcade gaming. (7/30/18) [33/50]

47. Crazy Taxi 2 (Dreamcast): For a really long time I always thought that I liked Crazy Taxi 2 more than the first game, however after playing them both back to back, and playing each for a while I now realize that the first Crazy Taxi is the superior game. Crazy Taxi 2 falls short on every aspect compared to its predecessor. The city and setting isn't as interesting or dynamic feeling, the ost isn't as good, and the added feature of multiple fares at the same time doesn't really add anything that great to the game. In many ways Crazy Taxi feels like a rushed, copy and paste job of the first with some new flare thrown in to make it a new game. The game isn't bad, but it lacks a lot of the charisma and charm of the first while retaining or amplifying it's shortcomings. (8/3/18) [29/30]

48. Gitaroo Man (PS2): When I first played this game a year or two ago it was one of those games that I didn't expect to like as much as I did. While I was fairly sure it wasn't a top 10 game for me or anything like that I still wanted to see where it would rank overall. Replaying Gitaroo Man, the game is still incredibly charming and fun; this game has some serious heart, humor, and its quarkiness is matched by only a handful of games I've ever played. Its unique specialness is by far its greatest asset which really goes a long way towards how much I enjoy this game overall. Luckily it does have this going for it because it is able to overshadow gameplay that is very difficult to get the hang of and frankly inaccurate at times, and also the graphics in this game are pretty poor, even for early PS2 game standards. The latter is made up for by an interesting, fun art design and some very memorable characters. Even though this game is no Guitar Hero in terms of gameplay, it outshines it by being the most charming rhythm game ever made, or at least that I've played. This game definitely captures your heart even if the gameplay is slightly above average at best. (8/5/18) [37/50]

49. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2): Gran Turismo 4 was the last great game in the series imo. I sunk countless hours into this game when it first came out and again around the time Gran Turismo 5 came out, which is when I last played this game extensively. Sadly, revisiting Gran Turismo 4 thirteen years after it came out proved to be sobering and difficult. For one, I am not nearly as into cars as I was when this game first came out, or even as much as I was nearly a decade ago. I bought a really nice sports car during my senior year of college and I quickly realized on public roads it didn't matter if I had 90hp or 300hp, it was all the same when it came to traffic, speed limited, and traffic laws. This greatly diminished my love and interest for cars, which was a huge driving force for why I loved this game so much when I was younger. The second big blow to my enjoyment of this game is something that I'm sure sports game enthusiasts run into with older titles in series like Madden or NHL; playing with rosters of characters that have been retired for a decade or longer, or players that no longer belong to certain teams just isn't as fun as playing what's current. Gran Turismo 4 is similar in a way in that every single car you are racing in that game is old now, even the cars that were new or newer when the game first came out. Don't get me wrong, I love a ton of the now classic cars in this game, but not having cars like the Nissan GTR, Toyota FRS, or C7 Corvette is a real bummer and ages this game quite a bit. With that out of the way I will now start talking about the game itself. First off the graphics in Gran Turismo 4 still hold up really well mostly and it is one of the best looking games on the PS2 by far. At the time I can't say any racing game looked as amazing and it truly is a statement that it still looks good in 2018. Also, the gameplay is very sharp and feels like a true racing sim without any sort of arcadish feel, other than the total absence of vehicle damage. I also enjoy the progression system in this one a lot more than any GT game that followed. Sadly, the sound department is where this game sucked back in 2005 and still sucks today. The car sounds do not match up at all, some even sounding like household appliances rather than fast sports cars. Also, the in race music is terrible, like generic, unlicensed, amateur rock band terrible. The menu music is really good however and keeps me from completely bashing this game's OST. Overall, I still enjoy playing Gran Turismo 4, but playing it now is difficult for me the reasons mentioned above, which is a shame because I thought this game would always hold up for me. (8/7/18) [36/50]

50. Super Smash Bros Melee (Gamecube): Very few games from console generation 6 have developed a more acclaimed reputation over the years as Melee. A lot of Smash fans, especially those within Smash community consider this game to be the seminal fighting game of all time, and certainly the best Smash game in the franchise. I will definitely say that this game is special and really embodies that early 2000s console gaming feel that gets me ultra sentimental. On top of that the gameplay is pretty fun as are the added modes and collectable trophies. I'm also a huge fan of unlockables in fighting games, however the methods which you can unlock new characters in this game are a bit unimaginative if you ask me. The soundtrack is pretty awesome too and it is in itself iconic and very memorable. Despite my praise for this game it is by no means the best fighting game ever, hell, it's not even the best Smash game. Soup box time: Melee is lauded by cheaters and people who've become adept at exploiting controller inputs in the game in order to obtain speed and exploit animation frames in order to avoid being attacked. This is not the hallmark of a solid game, especially when the guy who created the game says that this is not how the game is meant to be played. Also, I'm sure there are legions of diehard Melee lovers who enjoy this game because of their immense nostalgia for it, which is something I do have somewhat, but there were many other games around 2001 that I spent more time with and had more fun with. When played normally, Melee is definitely a good game, just not the absolute masterpiece hardcore Melee fanboys and people who spent hours at sleepovers in 2002 playing this game with their friends claim it is. (8/11/18) [38/50]

51. Ghost Blade HD (PS4): I feel like independent shmups often lack in quality compared to many other games they are trying to imitate, not Ghost Blade. I first played this game years ago on the Dreamcast and was really impressed by how high quality it was. Replaying the HD version, that quality has become even more pronounced, especially the graphics and overall presentation; aside from a few reused enemies and some of the bosses feeling similar, this game looks excellent from start to finish. The gameplay is also great, however the difficulties are a bit off balance with easy being way too easy, but Normal is just insanity. I never even attempted hard, but it's probably impossible. The soundtrack is also great, definitely edging out OSTs from far more famous shooters from more well know devs. Overall, Ghost Blade HD is a must play for any fans of the genre and a breath of fresh air in a landscape filled with mediocre indie smhups that wish they were Dodonpachi. (8/13/18) [37/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on June 27, 2018, 03:40:16 pm
Game 9 - Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts (PS2) - 5 Hours

I've been recently reading a book about World War II nurses, and that made me itch to play a WWII video game.  This game from my brother was the only thing I had on hand.

+ To be fair, I wasn't expecting much, I know this game was made alongside World at War for PS3/Xbox 360 and that it would be pretty underwhelming. That said, this game was fun popcorn Saturday night entertainment. The game plays alright, it looks alright, and it's fun for the most part. Nothing too crazy or groundbreaking though; it is nice to actually aim down sight which you couldn't do with half the guns in MoH Frontline. The game was pretty easy, and I played it on Veteran too. Only had troubles with the last level.

- The worst part about this game for me is that there was no story whatsoever. There's barely a beginning, and you just jump between three different areas of battle with no context or connection from battle to battle. You only get a very brief intro video as you jump all over the place. When you finish the last mission in Japan, the game just cuts to credits with no epilogue or anything. Again, you can tell that this game was kind of shat out as quickly as possible. The AI also kind of sucks, and it got really annoying instantly dying to grenades that I couldn't react to.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: droaa on June 27, 2018, 09:57:49 pm
16. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite(PS4)-6/27/18

Knowing what the game was bringing to the table compared to 3 in terms of gameplay, characters and whatnot as well as unfortunate faces, I came in with less than stellar expectations. Needless to say, I do like the game for what it is on the gameplay front. It can be fun and the selection of characters is fine from old faces to new faces however I feel as if this game was rushed. Between the lack of X-men characters that has been a cornerstone of the franchise going back to the Children of the Atom, having barebone gameplay options and an online community that seems dead, this game was lacking. They tried with the story mode but I felt they could have done much better. Its definitely step down from MvC3 which is a shame because 3 was a worthy follow up from 2. I am not saying they botched this one bad but rather they didnt do enough to sustain it in my opinion. 
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on June 27, 2018, 11:26:53 pm
Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch)

13. Mega Man 3

My least favorite so far. A lot of the mechanics felt wonky and many of the Robot Masters and enemies had movement patterns that were impossible to dodge or avoid. It felt like a slog just trying to get through a level. Meh...

Time: 2-3 hours

14. Mega Man 4

Inverse to 3 this is my favorite so far. The bosses and their stages are all memorable and well designed and they are at a perfect difficulty. The music is great, especially Dust Man's stage. I love the distinct style they used for this game and just overall upgrade in quality and polish compared to the first three games. I also liked how they changed up the final boss a little bit with Dr Cossack.

Time: 2-3 hours

15. Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)

I like its simplicity, but I felt sort of lost by only having the one objective of killing the Colossi. That said all of the Colossi felt unique and like they were giant moving puzzles rather than a meatwall that I must attack. I also love how well the story is put together throughout the game with a wonderfully dark ending and a strange little twist. My only complaint is about the sometimes awkward and slow mechanics, but they weren't bad enough to bring it down in any significant way

Time: 10 hours


Next up: Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door, Sleeping Dogs and maybe some more Mega Man in between
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on June 27, 2018, 11:32:00 pm
Quote from: wolfen on June 27, 2018, 11:26:53 pm
13. Mega Man 3

My least favorite so far. A lot of the mechanics felt wonky and many of the Robot Masters and enemies had movement patterns that were impossible to dodge or avoid. It felt like a slog just trying to get through a level. Meh...

Time: 2-3 hours

14. Mega Man 4

Inverse to 3 this is my favorite so far. The bosses and their stages are all memorable and well designed and they are at a perfect difficulty. The music is great, especially Dust Man's stage. I love the distinct style they used for this game and just overall upgrade in quality and polish compared to the first three games. I also liked how they changed up the final boss a little bit with Dr Cossack.

Time: 2-3 hours
I've been playing through the Mega Man games as well, and I also found 3 to be a bit overrated, while also being surprised at how much I liked 4.  I think part 1 is still the weakest overall, just because it was before they started refining everything.  I'm about halfway through 5, and I'm shocked at how easy it is feeling.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on June 29, 2018, 08:07:43 pm
2.   Donkey Kong (Original: Gameboy, Played: 3DS Virtual Console)
This was one of my favorite childhood Gameboy games. I had played the NES Donkey Kong, which was basically a hamstrung version of the arcade game, but the Gameboy Donkey Kong from 1994 was surprisingly a different animal. The first four stages are the same as the arcade game everyone is familiar with, but then the real game begins: 9 worlds of puzzle solving stages with boss fights against DK throughout. Mario also has a host of new moves at his disposal for navigating each stage where our hero is attacked by various enemies while you try and determine how to get the key to the exit door. Some stages go pretty quickly early on, but the difficulty ramps up later. Overall, I give this game a lot of praise for how it took the basic platforming elements of Donkey Kong and expanded them into a game with much bigger scope and depth.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on July 04, 2018, 03:26:11 pm
3.   The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)
What can I say about this game that hasn’t been said already? OoT is one of my favorite games from my childhood and I have many fond memories of long summer days playing this game. It is one of the best games on the N64, if not the best, and arguably one of the best games period.

From a more objective standpoint, I believe this game deserves the accolades it receives. The Z-targeting system became a standard in games to follow and transitioned the series to the 3D plane. The soundtrack is phenomenal, introducing new tracks and revitalizing classic ones. The story is very compelling and emotionally gripping as well.

As far as the 3DS version goes, it is definitely worth checking out, whether you’ve played the N64 version or not. I think it is an improvement in every way. The graphics pleasantly depart from the blocky N64 look to capture more the look of the original OoT concept art, so it’s closer to the artist’s vision. Also, the Master Quest is packaged in for an extra challenging playthrough if you’re into that sort of thing. This game still remains a classic and I have a blast every time I play it.

4.   Mega Man 2 (Original: NES, Played: Mega Man: Legacy Collection – PS4)
I believe this game truly established the Mega Man formula by improving upon the original and correcting some of its flaws. There are now 8 robot masters to fight, the difficulty is more accessible (albeit still a challenge), and there are now energy tanks and items (a precursor to Rush) to help you through the game if you manage your resources well.

There are some notorious NES game flaws that can annoy you along the way in terms of RNG and level design and some balance issues (the Metal Blades are OP as they are strong against 4 different robot masters).

Overall however, this is a classic NES game that is a good entry point to the series if you want to get into Mega Man. I wouldn’t recommend the first one for that, unless you’re a nerd like me who has to play them in order.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on July 06, 2018, 01:46:40 pm
And with that I finished The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. That was wonderfully all right. I know it's just a free 1,5 hour teaser for Life is Strange 2, so I won't be too harsh on it, but for what it is I just thought it was OK. The concept of going through a 9 year old boy's imaginary adventures can be really interesting, but this game didn't go as deep with it as I'd want. I also felt the story was a bit superficial, and sometimes just tried to be a tearjerker instead of a legitimately emotional story. But again, it's a 1,5 hour trial for Life is Strange 2, and I know that. They didn't have time to do something super deep, and for what they could do I think they did a good job. I won't be too harsh on it.

I do hope Chris isn't the protagonist of Life is Strange 2. He's a fine character and you can do a LOT with the concept, and if they do expand on it and really create a deep and interesting experience I think there is a lot of potential. But they would have to do that and nail it. Otherwise I don't think this will match what the original Life is Strange set out to do very well. I liked the original Life is Strange in part for its young teen high school-setting and themes. If they strive from that route they could of course still write a really good story, but I just don't see myself getting invested in Chris the way I got invested in Max or even Chloe. But I guess we'll just wait and see. My hopes for Life is Strange 2 are still high.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: sergreyjoy on July 06, 2018, 02:59:22 pm
With a full time job and a second kid on the way for october, my game time is plummeting.
That being said, I'll do my best to clean up my back log nonetheless albeit at a reduced 12 games.

I'll write a few thoughts on each game once I beat them.


1. Dragon Quest IV (NDS)
The game was decent but somehow felt bland. The story wants itself more engaging then the previous entries, and it somehow is but only character-wise. The main story didn't do much for me. The gameplay is standard DQ, like you'd expect. They never changed a working recipe, and why would you? *cough-cough* final fantasy *cough-cough*.

DQIII remains my favorite so far in the series! Still need to go through 5-6-7  ;D


2. Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (NDS)

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons (GBC)

4. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)

5. Metroid Fusion (GBA)

6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)

7. Deadspace 2 (360)

8. Dark Souls (PS3)

9. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)

10. Beyond Good & Evil (PS2)

11. Dragon Quest Heroes (PS4)

12. Digimon World (PS1)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on July 06, 2018, 03:41:35 pm
5.   Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3)
As a fan of the Sly series, I really enjoyed this game. I can only compare it to the first game since I haven’t played 2 or 3.

The ability to play not only as Sly, Bentley, Murray, and Carmelita, but as Sly’s many ancestors as you travel to different time periods is a cool concept. Each one of Sly’s ancestors have special abilities that Sly doesn’t have and all the characters are fun to play as in their own way (Tennesse is my favorite). 

The game also features a mission structure wherein different characters are assigned different missions. Some characters, like Sly, have more missions than others, which I thought was fine since he’s the titular hero. Boss fights also make a return and each one is unique in the way you approach the fight. Also, the game’s humor is still good, like it’s predecessors.

The only gripe I can think of with this game is sometimes connecting with interactables can be kind of iffy. For example, you’ll try and jump to grab a climbable pole only to have it not register and fall all the way to the ground. Overall, it’s not a problem, just a minor annoyance sometimes. Great game and platformer!


As a side note on this challenge, I noticed while doing this that I play a lot of mainstream games, mainly first party Nintendo and Sony franchises. Therefore, I'm going to make it a goal going forward to branch out a bit and play lesser known titles, indie games, and series I haven't played before.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: droaa on July 06, 2018, 09:10:53 pm
17. Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor: Game Of The Year Edition(PS4)-7/6/18

Started this game earlier this year and just like Evil Within, decided to pick up again. When I first started the game, I was a bit lost as to what to do but then once I started up again I got an idea and needless to say I could not put down the game since. Its open world so if you played any then standard affair if you will with the Lord of the Rings universe as the backdrop and has gameplay similar to Arkham Asylum so its not difficult. Alot of to do and since this is the GOTY edition, the DLC the came out is all there.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 06, 2018, 10:32:43 pm
33 - Resident Evil HD Remaster (PC 2015) - PLAYING - I'm happy to say that I finally beat a classic RE game.  I've tried off and on for years, but I always found the controls obnoxious, even with the alternate controls of the PC remaster.  I persevered this time and did a full run with Chris and enjoyed it.  Those controls do not improve as time goes on, you just deal with them, but that aside, I generally had a fun time.  I don't think this is a masterpiece or anything, the story and writing is bad, but Resident Evil has always had a dumb story, it's that B-movie charm.  I know it was worse in the original, but the improvements still aren't that great lol.  The puzzles range from bad padding, to mostly alright.  Only one puzzle I really needed to look up and still didn't really understand it.  I sorta blame that on texture quality I feel and a slight error on my part.  The inventory system is obnoxiously limited (Keys should just go into a free slot), but you get use to it after awhile.

I know Jill is there as sort of an alternate run of the game, but it's mostly the same playthrough with some general differences strewn throughout.  I might go through hers with the Samurai Edge since I can just use a mod manager to get that.  Also, mod manager is a must for this game to use "Door Skip".  That cuts down on so much wasted time with the pointless door scenes.  I might've gotten annoyed by the doors if I hadn't done this.

Thinking that since I managed to beat RE1, that I'll go and give RE0 a try since it's the only other remastered game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on July 09, 2018, 12:04:58 am
6.   Batman: Arkham City (PS3)
I. Love. This. Game. I feel that way about the Arkham series in general, but this game is a Batman fan’s dream come true. The fan service is incredible, you encounter many characters and villains from the Batman universe, the combat is extremely fun and rewarding to master, and there’s a ton of collectibles and extra challenge modes. If you like Batman or action games in general this is a must play.

Some of the challenges in the Riddler’s Revenge mode can get very difficult so it’ll take some perseverance to fully complete this one. But if you like the game it should be an enjoyable undertaking.

7.   Dead Space (PS3)
I never played this series when it was a thing back in 2008 so I finally ventured into it. I like horror themed games in general and action games so this one intrigued me. It succeeds in both categories, it is very scary / disturbing and its fun to blow the crud out of the enemies.

I understood this game to be survival horror when I first picked it up, which led me to associate gameplay features with it such as slow/limited movement, lack of ammo pickups, powerful enemies…etc as opposed to typical action games like God of War, where your character is the ultimate badass and your success depends on how well you control him and execute the combat inputs. Those aforementioned survival elements are in the game, but I would say if you manage your resources well you can overcome them to a degree and feel more like an action-hero instead of having to run away with your tail between your legs. This isn’t a criticism just an objective observation.

Great game! Highly recommend if you like action, horror, and compelling plotlines.


Phew! Finally caught up on my game reviews.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on July 09, 2018, 09:23:21 am
Getting close to beating game #15 for this year.

For reference, at this point last year, I had beaten game #56.  And in 2016, at this point, I had beaten game #73.

Super slow year for me.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kevininja on July 10, 2018, 06:58:12 pm
Quote from: kevininja on December 28, 2017, 03:27:00 pm
July:
50. Prototype 2 (Steam) [2-7]
51. Prototype (Steam) [6-7]
52. Half-Life (Steam) [9-7]
53. Half-Life: Opposing Force (Steam) [10-7]
54. Half-Life: Blue Shift (Steam) [10-7]

Beat Half-Life as my 52nd game yesterday and I finished the two expansions as well today!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 11, 2018, 01:28:14 am
22 - Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Took my time with this one, but finally done with Legends Mode.  Ended up getting through most of the first Adventure Map also, but there is so much damn stuff to get through and I'll be playing this game off and on for basically ever.  It's a mindless game and boy did I wish they introduced a short Breath of the Wild expansion, but I like it.  Only one of these that I've tried of these type of games that worked out for me.

34 - Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster (PC 2016) - DROPPPED - After the hype from beating RE1 Remake, I thought I'd check out RE0, but this is not a good game.  Crazy that both of these games released in the same year.  Being able to drop stuff is nice, but without a box, you just end up leaving shit everywhere.  There needed to be both a box and being able to drop stuff I feel.  Also Co-op is not very good.  It's kinda clumsy to use and it makes the game way harder having to keep track of health and ammo for two people.  The game is built around the two people also as the slug zombies take so much damage.  I can understand them needing to do something new, but this just seems misguided.  I'm glad RE4 came after this and once the HD overhaul pack is released, I'll be playing that next.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 13, 2018, 12:23:41 am
36 - Tacoma (PC 2017) - BEAT - Normally I'm not really into the walking simulator games, where it's really just kinda learning about a story with minimal interaction, but I'm not 100% against them, I'm just not going out of my way to play them, or pay money for them.  Luckily I got Tacoma for free, and with its scifi setting, it was enough to draw me in.  The AR data recording is an interesting way to tell the story, basically going into a room, everything recorded, and you just follow these virtual talking characters to figure out the plot, along with occasionally reading things on papers or emails.  The story that is here is alright, but it doesn't really become much of anything.  I can't really recommend it unless you love these types of games (Which you probably have already played it then), or you can get it for well under 10 bucks.  It's only like a 2 to 3 hour experience.

I do have Gone Home for free too, their previous game, so I might check it out for the heck of it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 14, 2018, 10:47:55 pm
35 - Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (PS4 2015) - BEAT - I don't think I've seriously played a CoD game since the first Black Ops game, where it had a miserable PC launch and was basically busted till they patched it up.  I've dabbled in open betas and free weekends for multiple games, played a short bit of Advanced Warfare on a rental, but that's been it.  As a series, the games are all competent, but they still just feel lacking, because they are yearly releases.  Doesn't matter who is working on them, what the era is, what the gimmick is, it's still the same Call of Duty game.  Same issue that Assassins Creed suffers from.

As for this game itself...it's like a 6/10.  Nothings bad in the singleplayer, it's just generally not very interesting.  The story is too super serious and when the twists happen, you are supposed to care about these characters you've spent no time with.  For a game with hacking and wall running, and such, some of the hacker powers feel kinda useless, while others seem overpowered.  You want to hack bots, especially the big ones, and you want to firefly the people.  That's it.  Same for guns. Some weapons are on the verge of useless, while the LMG and the sniper rifles, especially the semi-auto, destroy everything.  The levels aren't even really designed around the mobility features.  Like Titanfall 2 was fantastic with doing cool stuff with the mobility, but this is just underwhelming.  All very standard, linear, shooter, stuff. 

I probably spent more time than I should have playing this, but I just felt like going through the campaign, only because I got this game free, otherwise I would not have gotten it.  Played about two minutes of multiplayer before remembering that its Call of Duty, and CoD multiplayer sucks, so that ended quickly.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on July 16, 2018, 11:06:56 am
27] Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault (PS4)

Finally got to the end, it really started to drag, it's extremely repetitive, there's no real payoff either. Still, it's done. I was OK in terms of games beaten, but it's starting to slide now :S Started a few games which I ended up getting rid of instead of beating them.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on July 16, 2018, 12:05:44 pm
11. Crash Bandicoot 2 (N Sane Trilogy) (Switch) - 7/15

Man Cortex on this one was really disappointing... The fight was over before I even realized it started. I was expecting a second phase... nope just cut scene and credits...
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: sergreyjoy on July 19, 2018, 07:23:09 am
1. Dragon Quest IV (NDS)

2. Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (NDS)

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons (GBC)

I'll start off by saying that Capcom is truly an amazing company...BUT...please stay out of nintendo franchises! The Oracle games aren't 'bad' games per se, but after playing the great Link's Awakening they just feel like cheap rehashes of it. The world maps felt tedious to roam through and none of the temples where memorable.

Not recommended unless you're a total Zelda fan.


4. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)

5. Metroid Fusion (GBA)

6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)

7. Deadspace 2 (360)

8. Dark Souls (PS3)

9. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)

10. Beyond Good & Evil (PS2)

11. Dragon Quest Heroes (PS4)

12. Digimon World (PS1)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: sergreyjoy on July 20, 2018, 08:22:16 am
1. Dragon Quest IV (NDS)

2. Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (NDS)

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons (GBC)

4. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)

5. Metroid Fusion (GBA)

6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)

It took me over a decade before experiencing this game for the first time. And now I finally understand all the praise it got showered with. What a ride! I'm a bit sad to say that I had to run through the main quest line this past few weeks just to strike it off this list, but the nice thing is that the game can be continued from there anytime I want. So whenever I get the Skyrim itch, I'll jump right back in for a few hours!

The possibilities really are endless with this one. The replayability is through the roof in an already massive single-experience game. Hats off! Grey the Khajiit will be back for more!

7. Deadspace 2 (360)

8. Dark Souls (PS3)

9. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)

10. Beyond Good & Evil (PS2)

11. Dragon Quest Heroes (PS4)

12. Digimon World (PS1)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on July 20, 2018, 10:32:07 am
29] Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. (3DS)

Probably shouldn't jinx it, but suddenly I'm back on track, one more game beat by the end of the month and I'm bang on target.

This particular one, if I'm remembering right, was about 80% beat but it has taken more than a year to nail down the remaining 20%, phew, glad to see the back of it. It's a good enough game, but the giant battles were tough and I've never been any good at the Mario RPG Mario/Luigi combat controls, so finally getting through it feels like a relief. For the final 2 bosses I had to drop the difficulty down to easy, which went against the grain, but flushing @ 60 hours of playing the game down the drain to quit at the last hurdle was too negative to contemplate.

The next 3DS game I'll probably be booting up is the new remastered Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, the minions sub-game looks really interesting! Hopefully that won't take 2/3 years to beat  :-\
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on July 20, 2018, 11:27:48 am
Quote from: sergreyjoy on July 20, 2018, 08:22:16 am
6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)

It took me over a decade before experiencing this game for the first time. And now I finally understand all the praise it got showered with.

Hey!  It is a fantastic game, just a bit curious what you mean by the “over a decade” bit?  Skyrim came out in 2011.  I’m guessing you got the release year conflated with Oblivion?  Just wondering!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on July 21, 2018, 12:01:14 am
Game 10 - Mega Man X (SNESc) - 9 Hours

+ This game is fantastic. It's got great smooth gameplay, great graphics and music, perfect difficulty, and weapons that are fun to use and actually come in handy outside of the one random boss fight. I liked the searching for subtanks and heart upgrades which made you go and re-explore the levels again. I'm glad that I enjoyed this game so much after X4 really didn't do much for me at all.

- The only thing that I didn't like was the control scheme. I'm used to Mega Man ZX where dash can be mapped to the R button rather than A. Having the jump, buster and dash button all on the face buttons makes it harder to maneuver around sometimes, especially with tougher bosses. I also think I still like the ZX games better for those reasons, not to mention the even more expanded exploration and weapon selection (I STILL miss being able to use a sword and buster at the same time)

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 22, 2018, 12:58:51 am
39 - Gone Home (PC 2013) - BEAT - Played this and Tacoma backwards basically, as Gone Home was the first from these devs and is the vastly shorter game lol Much like Tacoma, I wouldn't go out of my way to buy and play these games, they are just little stories that are alright and give you something to kinda chill out with.  Digging around the house, finding background stuff on the family, that's kinda fun.  Would be nice to see something like this with more of a puzzle aspect to it.  Like Resident Evil in terms the location being one big puzzle box.  For what these games are, they are fine. 
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on July 22, 2018, 04:47:06 pm
Just finished games 12 and 13 which officially puts me over my original goal of 12 games beat this year (one per month). God of War is a masterpiece, one of the all time greatest games imo and I'm really looking forward to another play through at some point.


12. God of War 2018 (PS4) - 7/17
13. Crash Bandicoot 3 (N Sane Trilogy) (Switch) - 7/18
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: sergreyjoy on July 22, 2018, 05:00:29 pm
Quote from: Cartagia on July 20, 2018, 11:27:48 am
Quote from: sergreyjoy on July 20, 2018, 08:22:16 am
6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)[/b]

It took me over a decade before experiencing this game for the first time. And now I finally understand all the praise it got showered with.

Hey!  It is a fantastic game, just a bit curious what you mean by the “over a decade” bit?  Skyrim came out in 2011.  I’m guessing you got the release year conflated with Oblivion?  Just wondering!

Darn! You are right! I am doubly blasphemous!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on July 23, 2018, 09:03:44 am
Quote from: telly on July 21, 2018, 12:01:14 am
Mega Man X (SNESc) - 9 Hours
[...]
- The only thing that I didn't like was the control scheme. I'm used to Mega Man ZX where dash can be mapped to the R button rather than A. Having the jump, buster and dash button all on the face buttons makes it harder to maneuver around sometimes, especially with tougher bosses. I also think I still like the ZX games better for those reasons, not to mention the even more expanded exploration and weapon selection (I STILL miss being able to use a sword and buster at the same time)
[/url]
The control scheme thing is probably just acclimation.  I totally get that it does cause a bit of claw hand, but I've always felt roughly the same a bout ZX.

And the second point is one of the reason why I like X.  I prefer the more straightforward nature.  But who knows, could just be nostalgia, talking.

Quote from: sergreyjoy on July 22, 2018, 05:00:29 pm
Quote from: Cartagia on July 20, 2018, 11:27:48 am
Quote from: sergreyjoy on July 20, 2018, 08:22:16 am
6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)[/b]

It took me over a decade before experiencing this game for the first time. And now I finally understand all the praise it got showered with.

Hey!  It is a fantastic game, just a bit curious what you mean by the “over a decade” bit?  Skyrim came out in 2011.  I’m guessing you got the release year conflated with Oblivion?  Just wondering!

Darn! You are right! I am doubly blasphemous!

All good, I was just confused and wanted some clarification.  Besides, it means that you DIDN'T miss out on Skyrim for a decade, which would be a plus in my book!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: sergreyjoy on July 24, 2018, 10:16:02 am
1. Dragon Quest IV (NDS)

2. Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (NDS)

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons (GBC)

4. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)

This was overdue. I bought the game in 2004 and never finished it, plus that copy of the game is long gone! Great game! Love the FF Tactics, job system is always A++ and replayability is up there too! Only downside would be the Laws gimmick, which I hated back then and that I endure nowadays. Doesn't really add anything to the game.

Can't wait to play FFTA2 !

5. Metroid Fusion (GBA)

6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)

7. Deadspace 2 (360)

8. Dark Souls (PS3)

9. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)

10. Beyond Good & Evil (PS2)

11. Dragon Quest Heroes (PS4)

12. Digimon World (PS1)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on July 25, 2018, 01:57:32 pm
14. Sonic Mania Plus (Switch) 7/24
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on July 25, 2018, 04:40:54 pm
Newest review:
43. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64): There are few games that are as important, memorable, timeless or fun to me as Ocarina of Time. Like many other games I've played this year, Ocarina has been a staple of my top 10 games of all time for many years and it was only proper that I replayed it, again, to make sure it still stood up as one of the best games I've ever played. No surprise at all, it does and retains nearly every ounce of specialness its had for me since I first beat it back in 1999. The only aspect of Ocarina of Time that I find less enjoyable is that I have played and beat it so many times that I find almost nothing about the game challenging and outside the locations of specific heart pieces and Skulltulas I can beat this game with nearly no assistance whatsoever. Because of this there are parts of the game that lack the excitement they used to, but they do very little to diminish my overall enjoyment of Ocarina of Time. The game's music, graphics and gameplay were all amazing for their time and even today they are very pleasing to the senses. Perhaps more important than reaffirming my love for this game, which I last beat on the 3DS around 2-years ago, I wanted to see how I felt about it in comparison to Breath of the Wild, the only Zelda title to even come close to touching Ocarina of Time. While there are specific aspects of Ocarina I like better, overall Breath of the Wild is the better game with no doubt in my mind now. In fact, Breath of the Wild has a very real chance of becoming my favorite game of all time, which will be determined after I beat Shenmue and Shenmue 2 later this year. But I digress. Ocarina of Time is a timeless masterpiece and I am convinced that it will always hold a place in my favorite games of all time no matter what I end up playing down the road. (7/25/18) [48/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 26, 2018, 11:01:56 pm
40 - Mega Man X (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Been a long time since I seriously played this one and it was interesting to return to it after all this time.  I definitely love this series a lot more than the original series.  Gameplay is just better, bar none.  Level design wasn't too hard, but I was surprised by how short the levels were.  Some were longer than others for sure.  Bosses are a mixed bag, ranging from fun designs, to being kinda obnoxious.  Sigma sucks to fight and you are required to be fully upgraded to handle it, which doesn't make it a good fight, it's just how long can you survive while guzzling e-tanks.  I'm glad Wiley isn't here for sure and I like how they designed the final levels to incorporate the boss gauntlet.  It's an overall good time though.

Kinda made me laugh at the end, the dialogue is like "And those who sacrificed themselves will never return...ever...for reals.  Dead forever and ever and they will never return to this series.  They will forever be dead and not a super badass character that you'll eventually play as...nope, never..."

From here on though, I don't know a ton about the series.  Never really played them, so it'll be interesting to see how the series progresses until it gets to the bad stuff.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: sergreyjoy on July 29, 2018, 02:26:53 pm
1. Dragon Quest IV (NDS)

2. Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (NDS)

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons (GBC)

4. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)

5. Metroid Fusion (GBA)

Well, this one was a mixed bag. Can’t say I liked the fact that it was linear (which prompted the developers to hide the way to progression as badly as secret items in previous entries.....tedious). Anyway, not much to say....just glad it’s over.

6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)

7. Deadspace 2 (360)

8. Dark Souls (PS3)

9. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)

10. Beyond Good & Evil (PS2)

11. Dragon Quest Heroes (PS4)

12. Digimon World (PS1)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on July 30, 2018, 07:40:10 am
Game 11 - Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Master: World Tournament 2006 (GBA) - 30 hours

I counted this game beat when I unlocked all of the duelists and beat them all 5 times. Never got the credits to show up but I'm counted the game as beat since I basically unlocked everything in terms of the campaign.

+ Anyway, this game is a fantastic simulation of the real card game and is a lot better than 7 Trials to Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005. For one thing, it's really easy to create decks, search for cards, and save your favorite recipes, since you can hold up to 60 decks. I really like how the forbidden/limited list was set from the beginning and you could change it with a password if you wanted to. It was so annoying in 2005 that the banlist would change every couple hours or so since I would need to change my deck every time for it to be legal. It was nice that the actual packs were in the game (LOB to Shadow of Infinity), so it was easier to grab the cards I wanted. There was a ton of content too, with tons of challenges, puzzles, and pretty decent AI. If the time spent playing is indiciation the game really does have some lasting value.

- There are a couple issues I had, along with one nitpick. First of all, like the other game I played, there's no story at all. You don't even fight anyone from the show or anything, just a bunch of monsters. It sucks when you don't have a story that you're trying to complete, and this time you don't even have the tiny hub world to walk around in like in 2005. Second, for some reason you can't forfeit a game until after the 10th turn, which is really dumb. I dunno if that's how the game works in real life, but it's stupid here. If I want to quit a match early I should be able to. The last thing was that I wish there was a way to undo a mistake you make while playing, with such a complicated game sometimes it's easy to make dumb mistakes that wouldn't be an issue in the actual game.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on July 30, 2018, 05:06:30 pm
8.   Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
I have played and finished the original Luigi’s Mansion back in the GameCube era and just recently played through this sequel. It expands on the original in every way. It’s much longer, there’s a more involved plot, boss fights, secrets and collectibles, post-game content, and even multiplayer.

The gameplay in this game is very rewarding. You need to flash ghosts with the flashlight and then suck them up with the vacuum (ahem, Poltergust) to capture them, however ghosts can defend against this in various ways and different kinds of ghosts can be trickier to execute this process on. It takes some skill to master the game’s mechanics which keeps you more engaged.

I also liked the fact that you go to different worlds (or rather mansions) to vary the locales you play in, each with their own distinctive environmental hazards and ghost trickeries. Also, there is a lot of replay value in the form of finding all the collectibles and secrets along the way and achieving the highest rank in each mission. And doing this will take some perseverance. This is one Nintendo game I think is challenging to complete 100%.

I have two minor gripes with this game. First of all, the mission system is a little unnecessary. Basically, when you get to a certain, unannounced event in each mission, E. Gadd will pull you back to the lab and the mission is over. In a game that is very exploration based, this can be kind of annoying when you want to continue exploring and E. Gadd yanks you out of the stage right as you’ve discovered something new.

Secondly, the collectibles in this game can be very trolly. Some are just hard and take sharp, gaming senses to find (which is perfectly OK with me), but there are a few that are hidden in really idiotic places with no indication something is there. I don’t like using guides to finish games, but I had to with this one.

I am glad that Luigi has his own series and has become more than just an alternate character in the Mario series, not that that’s a bad thing.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 01, 2018, 01:08:01 am
38 - Resident Evil 4 (PC 2014) - BEAT - Been awhile since I've beaten this.  I had originally beaten it a bunch on Gamecube and PS2, but after not liking the Wii version, I never really got around to another full run.  Been waiting for an interesting reason on PC, which thankfully was an awesome full HD overhaul for the game through a mod. Looks great.  Not 100% finished yet, but the majority of it is, at least most of the noticeable stuff.

Still a quality game.  Some stuff hasn't aged super well, like the controls are way better than default Resident Evil, but they have their own quirks.  The first time the series had real good gameplay wasn't till like RE6, which is kinda the only good thing about that game lol.  The writing and dialogue is way worse than I remember lol It's so awful and goofy, which is an RE trademark, but still hilariously bad. 

It's interesting having just beaten RE1 Remake not that long ago and seeing the differences between the old and the new (For the time).  I like REmake for the exploration and more puzzly aspects, while RE4 is best for its gameplay.  It's such a shame that it took them till RE7 for them to go "Hey, we can have both good gameplay and a quality horror survival experience!" RE2 Remake really looks like the best of both worlds and I'm crazy hyped for its potential.

Kinda it for RE games right now...I don't know if I'm really going to go back to RE5 (It's still a good game) or RE6 (Never finished all the campaigns, but man...that game...).  For now though, I mostly just hit on the ones I really wanted to play before RE2 Remake comes out...Maybe I'll do another Resident Evil 7 run.  Love that game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on August 02, 2018, 10:01:09 am
Extra Game 2 – Earthbound (SNESc) – 32 hours

So after I got my SNES classic last winter I wanted to play through Earthbound a second time, even though I already beat it a couple years ago. I’ll post a link to my post in that thread, but I wanted to provide an “updated” review here. Overall I still think this is a great game, though I do this it’s still slightly overrated, and from what I remember of Mother 3 I still think I like that game more. Another long review coming!

+


-


Old Earthbound review (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,5879.msg101365.html#msg101365)

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg132293.html#msg132293)

[/list] <- every time I do bullets this dumb thing appears and I can't get rid of it :(
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on August 03, 2018, 01:43:35 pm
A couple more to add to the list.

15. Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (Switch) - 7/31/18
16. Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition (PS4) - 8/3/18

I was REALLY disappointed with FFXV. I read reviews and saw peoples complaints about this game, but usually I tend to overlook things people point out in reviews, or sometimes I'm just completely oblivious to the flaws... But this game was just not good... The side quest were what just killed it for me, they really served no purpose other than filler. I get they were trying to innovate and move from the mindless grinding of random mobs to something more modern, but these quests were just go kill X of these, or go collect X of these.. it almost felt like playing an MMO... As a long time Final Fantasy fan I'm glad that I played it, but I cant see myself giving this another play though and I certainly can't recommend it to anyone else...
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on August 08, 2018, 01:07:05 pm
One of the lengthier reviews I've written for a game. Getting close to the coveted 52 mark :)


49. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2): Gran Turismo 4 was the last great game in the series imo. I sunk countless hours into this game when it first came out and again around the time Gran Turismo 5 came out, which is when I last played this game extensively. Sadly, revisiting Gran Turismo 4 thirteen years after it came out proved to be sobering and difficult. For one, I am not nearly as into cars as I was when this game first came out, or even as much as I was nearly a decade ago. I bought a really nice sports car during my senior year of college and I quickly realized on public roads it didn't matter if I had 90hp or 300hp, it was all the same when it came to traffic, speed limited, and traffic laws. This greatly diminished my love and interest for cars, which was a huge driving force for why I loved this game so much when I was younger. The second big blow to my enjoyment of this game is something that I'm sure sports game enthusiasts run into with older titles in series like Madden or NHL; playing with rosters of characters that have been retired for a decade or longer, or players that no longer belong to certain teams just isn't as fun as playing what's current. Gran Turismo 4 is similar in a way in that every single car you are racing in that game is old now, even the cars that were new or newer when the game first came out. Don't get me wrong, I love a ton of the now classic cars in this game, but not having cars like the Nissan GTR, Toyota FRS, or C7 Corvette is a real bummer and ages this game quite a bit. With that out of the way I will now start talking about the game itself. First off the graphics in Gran Turismo 4 still hold up really well mostly and it is one of the best looking games on the PS2 by far. At the time I can't say any racing game looked as amazing and it truly is a statement that it still looks good in 2018. Also, the gameplay is very sharp and feels like a true racing sim without any sort of arcadish feel, other than the total absence of vehicle damage. I also enjoy the progression system in this one a lot more than any GT game that followed. Sadly, the sound department is where this game sucked back in 2005 and still sucks today. The car sounds do not match up at all, some even sounding like household appliances rather than fast sports cars. Also, the in race music is terrible, like generic, unlicensed, amateur rock band terrible. The menu music is really good however and keeps me from completely bashing this game's OST. Overall, I still enjoy playing Gran Turismo 4, but playing it now is difficult for me the reasons mentioned above, which is a shame because I thought this game would always hold up for me. (8/7/18) [36/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on August 08, 2018, 04:04:15 pm
Finished a couple more

17. Metroid Zero Mission (GBA) - 8/5/18
18. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4) - 8/7/18


Hellblade was the first digital only game I specifically bought with the intention of playing lol. All my other digital games are just either stuff from PS+ or came from codes in physical games.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 01:10:43 am
41 - Mega Man X2 - Switch 2018) - BEAT - I was kinda unimpressed by this one.  Like there was an element or two that bugged me with X1, but overall, it really reminded how much I love X compared to the original games. 

X2 doesn't feel like the step up it should be.  You get the Maverick Hunters in fights that aren't fun at all, the ending levels are just tedious, they reverted back to having the boss gauntlet room, and more than a few fights just seem like sub tank spam.  With X1, I loved that certain levels would affect others, and the ending levels were scattered with bosses, so it was less of just fighting a bunch at once.  Another annoying thing is that if you start the final levels and then maybe go back to the normal levels to get a heart or tank, you lose your progress on those levels.  That was in both games and I hate it.  Just give them their own selection options!

It's not a bad game at all, it's still got that gameplay and there are some good levels and bosses, but I felt like as a sequel, it was just abit underwhelming.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on August 09, 2018, 08:17:20 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 01:10:43 am
41 - Mega Man X2 - Switch 2018) - BEAT - I was kinda unimpressed by this one.  Like there was an element or two that bugged me with X1, but overall, it really reminded how much I love X compared to the original games. 

X2 doesn't feel like the step up it should be.  You get the Maverick Hunters in fights that aren't fun at all, the ending levels are just tedious, they reverted back to having the boss gauntlet room, and more than a few fights just seem like sub tank spam.  With X1, I loved that certain levels would affect others, and the ending levels were scattered with bosses, so it was less of just fighting a bunch at once.  Another annoying thing is that if you start the final levels and then maybe go back to the normal levels to get a heart or tank, you lose your progress on those levels.  That was in both games and I hate it.  Just give them their own selection options!

It's not a bad game at all, it's still got that gameplay and there are some good levels and bosses, but I felt like as a sequel, it was just abit underwhelming.
I just finished X2 the other day and between every of the 5 final stages I went back to bubble crabs level to fill up my sub-tanks and that didn't erase my progress.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 05:31:54 pm
Quote from: ignition365 on August 09, 2018, 08:17:20 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 01:10:43 am
41 - Mega Man X2 - Switch 2018) - BEAT - I was kinda unimpressed by this one.  Like there was an element or two that bugged me with X1, but overall, it really reminded how much I love X compared to the original games. 

X2 doesn't feel like the step up it should be.  You get the Maverick Hunters in fights that aren't fun at all, the ending levels are just tedious, they reverted back to having the boss gauntlet room, and more than a few fights just seem like sub tank spam.  With X1, I loved that certain levels would affect others, and the ending levels were scattered with bosses, so it was less of just fighting a bunch at once.  Another annoying thing is that if you start the final levels and then maybe go back to the normal levels to get a heart or tank, you lose your progress on those levels.  That was in both games and I hate it.  Just give them their own selection options!

It's not a bad game at all, it's still got that gameplay and there are some good levels and bosses, but I felt like as a sequel, it was just abit underwhelming.
I just finished X2 the other day and between every of the 5 final stages I went back to bubble crabs level to fill up my sub-tanks and that didn't erase my progress.

I beat two of the levels and realized I'd need all the sub tanks and hearts to get through, so I went to the levels and then when I went back to Sigma's base, I had to start from the beginning again.  Same thing happened in MMX1 for me.  I didn't see like an option to pick another part of the base or anything.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on August 09, 2018, 10:54:59 pm
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 05:31:54 pm
Quote from: ignition365 on August 09, 2018, 08:17:20 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 01:10:43 am
41 - Mega Man X2 - Switch 2018) - BEAT - I was kinda unimpressed by this one.  Like there was an element or two that bugged me with X1, but overall, it really reminded how much I love X compared to the original games. 

X2 doesn't feel like the step up it should be.  You get the Maverick Hunters in fights that aren't fun at all, the ending levels are just tedious, they reverted back to having the boss gauntlet room, and more than a few fights just seem like sub tank spam.  With X1, I loved that certain levels would affect others, and the ending levels were scattered with bosses, so it was less of just fighting a bunch at once.  Another annoying thing is that if you start the final levels and then maybe go back to the normal levels to get a heart or tank, you lose your progress on those levels.  That was in both games and I hate it.  Just give them their own selection options!

It's not a bad game at all, it's still got that gameplay and there are some good levels and bosses, but I felt like as a sequel, it was just abit underwhelming.
I just finished X2 the other day and between every of the 5 final stages I went back to bubble crabs level to fill up my sub-tanks and that didn't erase my progress.

I beat two of the levels and realized I'd need all the sub tanks and hearts to get through, so I went to the levels and then when I went back to Sigma's base, I had to start from the beginning again.  Same thing happened in MMX1 for me.  I didn't see like an option to pick another part of the base or anything.
It didn't let me pick a part of the base.  I beat Stage 1, went to Armor Armadillo's level to fill up my subtanks, quit the level, and went and did Stage 2, etc.

In X2 I did Stage 1, went to Bubble Crabs stage to fill my sub-tanks, quit the level, and went and did Stage 2.

In X3, I just did Stage 1, went to Tunnel Rhino's stage and filled my sub-tanks, quit the level, and now I'm gonna go do Stage 2.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 11:20:07 pm
I got no clue how it's different between us, I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary here lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on August 10, 2018, 01:43:03 am
Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch)

16. Mega Man 5

Quote from: Cartagia on June 27, 2018, 11:32:00 pm
  I'm about halfway through 5, and I'm shocked at how easy it is feeling.

This is exactly how I felt, it's definitely the easiest one by far, but also pretty meh, and that's really all I have to say about it.

Time: 3-4 hours

17. Mega Man 6

This definitely feels the most cohesive with its theming and story and has my favorite assortment of robot masters, but it's also kinda janky and has some suspect enemy patterns that are just traps and unavoidable. I also love that they relegated the rush powers to seperete modes without an energy bar. I would say it's my tied favorite with MM4

Time: 3-4 hours

I'm glad I finally got to play these classics and get prepared for Mega Man 11

Now that I'm out of my little Skyrim bender I'm gonna be jumping back into Kingdom Hearts 2 and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on August 10, 2018, 08:22:47 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on August 09, 2018, 11:20:07 pm
I got no clue how it's different between us, I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary here lol
Yeah, I'm at Kaiser Sigma now, don't really need to go fill my subtanks since I have the Hyper Chip, but I might need to go refill my weapons.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 11, 2018, 01:38:44 am
43 - Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms (PC 2017) - ENDLESS - So this was a game? I put a few hours into it? I don't know if it has much of a real story or if it's just random stories you do...It's like if Cookie Clicker had more depth, but also not, because the gimmick of the game is that you don't even have to play and even if you turn off the game, you'll still earn money, which you use to upgrade your characters or unlock new ones.  I really can't recommend this game, I only checked it out because they were adding characters from a D&D campaign I watch online lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on August 11, 2018, 12:21:32 pm
Game 12 - Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) - 12 Hours

+ This game is really fun, and it was hard to stop playing. The gameplay is great, and the controls for the most part are really good. I like the new powerups they put in (at least since the last Metroid I played), and overall it's great to explore everything and search for upgrades. Really nothing else to say about it.

- I think the game moved just a touch too fast for my liking. And some of the controls were really un-intuitive, like activating rapid fire and the grappling beam. That's about it though.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 12, 2018, 08:42:48 pm
42 - Mega Man X3 - (Switch 2018) - BEAT - The game actually started out promising for me.  Some of the boss fights were the usual bit of annoying, but some had very reasonable patterns to work with and I took out a number of them with the buster, even the bonus guys I managed to take down.  Then I got the upgraded x-buster and much like X2, the upgraded X-Busters SUCK.  Who thought it was a great idea to add huge delays to his attacks? It's frustrating and tedious and defeats the purpose of even having. I literally would rather play the game without it.  Also most all the boss weapons suck to.  They either have a delay or feel useless, I don't get what was going on with these.

I also hate the final levels.  Just tedious enemies and design here and the same 'ole boss gauntlet.  I was honestly not expecting to dislike the X games that much till the later ones that have some big issues.  Not that X2 and X3 are bad, it's still all the good gameplay and visuals that I really like, but just feels like some errors in judgement were made.  Thankfully I'm onto Mega Man X4 and at this point, I just need a change of pace whether it's a good or not lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on August 12, 2018, 09:56:08 pm
^ Good luck with the boss fight on X4, he's brutal  :'(
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 12, 2018, 11:39:59 pm
Quote from: telly on August 12, 2018, 09:56:08 pm
^ Good luck with the boss fight on X4, he's brutal  :'(

Like worse than X1? I'll keep it in mind as so far I've been liking everything in X4 other than the goofy dialogue and voice acting lol A brutal final boss will be annoying, but so far everything is on an upward swing after getting frusted with X3.

*EDIT*
Oh, three forms of Sigma and the last one is crazy...Gotcha lol

43 - Mega Man X4 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Okay, that boss fight isn't anything crazy.  Once you figure out the patterns, it's totally cool.  This is definitely the easiest of the them all so far, but you know what? I had a fun ass time! X plays well, the weapons are useful, the levels are kinda basic, but again enjoyable, and the boss fights had a comfortable challenge that relied on you really figuring out the patterns.  X1 is kinda the picture perfect version of X series, but X4 was just a good time.  Automatically my 2nd favorite right now.

The only major negative I have is the very awkward dub and dialogue.  I don't know if it's as bad as...Mega Man 7? 8? Whatever it was, but oh boy it's not good.  Capcom was on a roll with these poorly acted scenes during this era lol Not a fan of X with a kid voice either.  It's not good lol

Also, it physically hurt me, it hurt my very soul, to realize that the robot was named "Double", because he was a double agent.  Why game...why?
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on August 13, 2018, 08:02:08 am
Oh you had an easy time with that final boss? For some reason I had a really tough time with it haha.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on August 13, 2018, 08:35:21 am
Quote from: telly on August 13, 2018, 08:02:08 am
Oh you had an easy time with that final boss? For some reason I had a really tough time with it haha.
Same, kicked my ass a good handful of times until I managed to start the fight with a usable sub-tank.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on August 13, 2018, 08:37:15 am
Speaking of brutal Mega Man bosses: I just finished MM7 and holy crap the Wily Capsule in this one was insane.  It took me an hour and a half and even then I barely won with using 4 Sub-Tanks.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 13, 2018, 04:10:05 pm
Quote from: telly on August 13, 2018, 08:02:08 am
Oh you had an easy time with that final boss? For some reason I had a really tough time with it haha.

At first I thought he was gonna be ridiculous, but the first form of Sigma you can get through taking no damage, and 2nd form, I could get through with nearly minimal damage.  Third form seems ridiculous, but you can avoid damage through most of it with careful positioning, which to me is a first for a Mega Man final boss and I've fought them all from MM1 to MM8, and MMX1 to MMX3 so far lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on August 15, 2018, 12:38:44 pm
Game 13 - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U) - 10 Hours

+ This game is a lot of fun, a really solid platformer. While it's not my favorite of all time, it was still very enjoyable overall. The controls are pretty good other than some minor collision issues. The level design is excellent and every level has it's own unique and fun platforming quirk and they're all really well designed. The soundtrack is masterful, I'll definitely be listening to it long after I put the game away. I liked how you can buy power ups in the shop to help with all the extra collectables, and they also add a lot of replay value to the game even though they don't really unlock anything special. I liked the ability to pick from the other three Kongs as your sidekick, even though I used Dixie pretty much 100% of the time, she's the overall best one in my opinion.


- While I liked the controls, I didn't like how the dash and "Donkey Slap" are both mapped to the same button. Oftentimes instead of slapping down I would dash over the edge and die. You have to be completely still to use it. While the graphics are really good I felt a little uncanny valley with the first opening stages, especially the beginning opening and those first character models. It was a little unnerving. Also, since the game showers you with 1-ups I still had more than 60 by the time I beat the game, and I didn't buy any from the shop.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 17, 2018, 09:07:22 pm
44 - Mega Man X5 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Another one down and I generally enjoyed this one much like I did X4.  I really like multiple armor sets, Zero is an option (I honestly haven't played as Zero yet in X4 or X5, maybe down the road), and the customizable parts are pretty cool.  Where it feels lacking is kinda the presentation, story, and dialogue.  The hand holding by the one robot always chiming in through out levels is entirely unnecessary as this isn't a hard game and I don't feel like there are enough images for the cutscenes to really make it all work.  Like it's fine that they dropped the anime cutscenes and dialogue, it wasn't that great, but it feels like they needed to show just a smidge more.

Overall, it was fun.  Right now I have it placed just under X4 in third place.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on August 18, 2018, 12:13:17 am
Part 4 of my reviews for the year and subsequently my post for successfully reaching 52 games beat/played this year :)


I've still got several games from my old top 10 games of all time to play before the year's up, but at this point I'm going to slow down quite a bit since we still have over 4-months left in the year and I've already reached 52.


52. Need for Speed Underground (PS2): I originally got this game on Christmas Eve 2003, right around the time it came out. At the time I was really into tuner cars and just cars in general. One huge influence was the movie Fast and the Furious, and anytime I'd see a modified Eclipse or Civic on the road I'd freak out. So at the time I was very excited for a game that allowed you to customize import cars and race them. And playing this game is like revisiting that period of time; this game screams early 2000s car culture from its overall asthetic to its music. This is mostly a good thing, however the ridiculousness of some of the mods for your car are so ricerish that only someone from the early 2000s could ever appreciate them or think they looked cool. With all that said you think I love this game, but I haven't got to the gameplay yet. The game is actually really fun up until 2/3 into the game when the difficulty becomes retarded and also the car physics in this game begin to show how terribly flawed they are. This is by no means I racing sim, very far from it, but hitting a car further into the game or sometimes even a curb is like launching the car into the air with rockets while spinning it like a top. Some may make the argument that it's because your cars towards the end of the game are a lot faster, but it happens even during lower speed collisions. My theory to why this is has to do with the modifications and what they do to the car's physics, while understandable to a degree, they completely break the game's racing physics and gameplay later on. This is really too bad since I really enjoyed Underground up until this point, and also enjoyed unlocking some of the cooler upgrades you don't get until later on. Also, while there is some variation in levels, you will be racing through many of the same areas over, and over, and over, and over again for the entire game which does feel pretty repetitive. Luckily the selection of cars and how they look and sound in the game is pretty good. Another gripe I have is the menu music which is bottom of the barrel rap and hip hop from the time period this game came out, which is just awful. How anyone could like T.I. or Lil' John still boggles my mind. Overall Need for Speed Underground is a decent racing game that is unfortunately ruined towards the end by a unstable and poorly implemented physics system. (8/17/18) [30/50]


53. Pilotwings 64 (N64): Pilotwings 64 is one of the most nostalgic titles that remind me of the halcyon days of my childhood and the early days of the N64 along with Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, and Cruisn' USA. This game's ability to take me back to simpler times is unmatched by most games given it's very memorable design, music, and gameplay. I love how the game gives you different challenges with 6 different "vehicles" that allow you to experience the game in different ways. The controls are tight, the objectives are fun, and while this game is never too difficult it is still enjoyable to play from start to finish. The soundtrack in this game is excellent and among the best of the N64 which had some stellar OSTs. Overall, Pilotwings 64 has been and will always be one of my all time favorite N64 games. (8/20/18) [39/50]

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

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

56. Tony Hawk Pro Skater (Dreamcast): There are few games that embody what it meant to be cool in the 90s as well as Tony Hawk Pro Skater and its sequel. Badass skaters, skate parks, sticking to the man, and punk rock made these games so much fun. And that isn't even mentioning the pretty good gameplay which while simplistic still hold up today. My main gripe with the first Tony Hawk is the level design, with half the stages being mediocre to almost bad in terms of level design and layout. The amount of character progression is fairly shallow compared to Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and 3, which is understandable since both those games built on top of the foundation that the first game laid down but I will give Tony Hawk Pro Skater credit for having any sort of skill progression at all. I am also a fan of the objective based gameplay in each stage, even though they all boil down to get high score, get higher score, find secret skate tape, find S.K.A.T.E letters, and run into X object. While I'm not a huge fan of punk rock, the soundtrack in this game definitely adds to its overall coolness which makes it all the more welcome. Replaying this game, you can definitely see why it became such a huge deal in the 90s when it came out and why the franchise was so highly acclaimed for so long, well at least until Pro Skater 3. A very enjoyable game, although it is undeniable that the two sequels that followed improved on it in nearly every way from what I can recall. (9/6/18) [36/50]

57. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 (Dreamcast): Just like I remembered, Pro Skater 2 improves upon the groundwork laid in the first game in almost every way. The two most improved areas are the controls and gameplay feeling a lot more smooth and refined, and also the stages are way better in the second game. The addition of building your own pro skater, more stats and unlockables, more skaters, and double the objectives per stage also greatly improve this game's appeal. The only areas that this game doesn't improve in is the music department, which while good has several tracks that feel a little out of place for a Tony Hawk game, but at least there are more songs to listen to while you play. The other department is the visuals, which seem to be on the same level as the first game, both in terms of stages and skaters. Overall, Pro Skater 2 is definitely a better game in nearly every way over its predecessor and the one I definitely played the most growing up, other than 3 on the PS2 which I will review another time. (9/7/18) [41/50]

58. Power Stone (Dreamcast): There are a handful of games that heavily remind me of the launch of the Dreamcast, and this is definitely one of them. I remember the first time I ever played Power Stone was at my local Hollywood Video store, where they have a Dreamcast setup several weeks before the console officially came out. At the time I had never played a game like Power Stone, and given it's power up system, super moves, and abundance of items you have to use against your opponents, as well as the open 3D levels, I was totally blown away. Iit had me hyped beyond belief for this game and the Dreamcast to come out. While I did get a Dreamcast several months later, I didn't actually get Power Stone for several years later, although I did rent it several times before then. Power Stone is definitely a good time, but it's one of those games that becomes a lot more fun when you have a friend to play with. By itself however it's still a really fun, unique game with colorful graphics and fast, fun gameplay. The game does get repetitive after a while, and the music is pretty average as well. Still, on a personal level there is a lot of nostalgia for this game and I still enjoy popping it in from time to time both for the sake of walking down memory lane and also to enjoy a unique, fun fighting game. (9/8/18) [34/50]

59. Layer Section (Saturn): I played this game late last year and it was one of the best shmups I'd ever played, and you know what, it still is. However, the reason I decided to replay it so close to when I last sunk some series time into it was to see if it truly belonged in my top 10 games list. I gave this game a rating of 44/50 when I reviewed it last year, which made it the second best shooter I'd ever played following Radiant Silvergun. My current cut off for a game entering my top 10 has to be greater than 43/50 so I felt it appropriate to put this score to the test and see if it still holds true. While Layer Section is still an astounding shooter, it just isn't good enough to be a top 10 game of all time for me. It hits all the right notes in every way in terms of gameplay, sound, and graphics, but where it lost a single point compared to last time is my personal enjoyment. This game is ridiculously hard with it being super stingy on continues, even when using a cheat that grants you 8. The brutal difficulty is just a bit too brutal at times which is why I took away a point. Still, Layer Section is definitely one of the all time best shooters ever made, just not quite good enough to be in my top 10 ever. (9/29/18) [43/50]

60. Mortal Kombat (2011) (PS3): This is a game that I came so close to adoring, but sadly it just barely falls from grace in some really unfortunately ways. The most glaring issue is the gameplay, which is really the bread and butter of any fighting game. Specifically, the game's leniency towards spamming moves and approached to gain victories. While playing this way is not required for normal opponents, I found it to be far more advantageous than playing in a dynamic, fluid way. Worse than this is the game's requirement that you spam moves to an even greater degree on the large boss type enemies, especially Shao Kahn who is a mid game boss and the final boss in the game. You will fight these large boss enemies at various points in the game and I never found them fun given I had to be just as cheap as them to gain victory. Aside from my main grievance about the gameplay, the graphics were a bit rough, but it wasn't anything that diminished my enjoyment of Mortal Kombat. What I love most about this game is how well it reboots the franchise while paying tribute to the story and source material of the original three MK games. Not only that, but it mixes in elements of the 1995 movie which is still the best video game movie I've ever seen. There is also a lot of interesting original material as well which creates an overall enjoyable experience. I'm also always a fan of unlockables in fighting games which really add to the replay value, and Mortal Kombat has a ton of unlockables. The things I enjoy about Mortal Kombat I really, really enjoy, but the things I dislike about it are just to blaring for me to ignore. I feel like this game could have been much better had more energy gone into the fighting system, but for what it is, Mortal Kombat is a great game. (10/7/18) [39/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on August 18, 2018, 02:49:31 pm
9.   BOXBOY! (3DS)
I bought this game from the 3DS eshop a couple months ago to play something different than I usually do. For a game that costs $4.99 USD there’s a surprising amount of content in it.

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

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

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

I did manage to complete all the main worlds and get the end credits though. I haven’t touched the post-game content which includes some secret worlds and challenge modes. But I want to get back to playing some other games and put this one down for a while.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 19, 2018, 12:52:06 am
45 - Mega Man X6 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - There were some very harsh feelings towards X5 by a few folks here that I certainly didn't share, as while it's flawed, I enjoyed it quite abit with the new additions it brought to the series.  X6 though? Screw this game. 

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

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

This game is so far at the very bottom of the X games.  I know I'm about to get into some real shit with X7, but honestly I don't care right now, my jimmies are so rustled after X6 lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: realpoketendonl on August 20, 2018, 04:19:37 pm
Due to trouble in my personal life I haven't been able to work through games as much as I would've liked, but now that I have summer break I finally managed to play through another game: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story! I was originally planning on getting Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey when it comes out next year, but then I found the original for half the price the remake would be, and I figured that would be a worthy tradeoff.

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

My full list: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149075.html#msg149075)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 22, 2018, 12:24:00 am
46 - Mega Man X7 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Welp, this games status is 100% true.  MMX6 was frustrating with its design for bosses and levels, but it was still a MMX game.  MMX7 is like the vague remnant of the MMX series.  I don't mind that they changed to the 3D design, I loved the Mega Man Legends games, but in the process, they failed to create a competent platformer.  Targeting is wonky, the camera controls are terrible when they are allowed, and everything from the level design to the boss design is either boring or frustrating.

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

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

This game is bad, I'm glad I'll never play it again, and no one should ever play it.  It's not worth it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on August 23, 2018, 02:25:02 pm
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037
Part 2 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149778.html#msg149778
Part 3 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg150756.html#msg150756
Part 4 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152650.html#msg152650
Part 5 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg155281.html#msg155281

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 24, 2018, 04:40:48 am
11 - Metal Gear Survive (PS4 2018) - BEAT - This has to be the most "alright" game I've played recently.  It's not awful, it's not great, it's just...alright. 

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

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

Setting aside the legitimate issues there are to be had with Konami over the game, I think it's just okay.  I was invested enough to want to grab it again, which I did for 10 bucks on a sale on Amazon, but I certainly can't recommend it to most people, unless you are a die hard MGS fan that just wants something that is KINDA like MGSV, and you are fine with kinda busywork survival type of experiences.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 24, 2018, 08:24:35 pm
47 - Mega Man X8 (Switch 2018) - BEAT - This was definitely the longest of the X series, with I think only Mega Man X6 coming close to it due to its difficulty.  Initially I thought the game was a lot tougher, it's just abit more annoying due to its long levels and some places where minor slip ups can cost you an easy death.  I do think the levels needed some trimming, more than a few feel like areas could be reworked a tad to fix up their pace. 

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

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

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

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

50 - Dungeons & Dragons - Shadow over Mystara - BEAT - Figured since these are so short, that I'd burn through the other half of the collection, which I had never played before.  I got a lot of nostalgia for Tower of Doom, but this was an interesting experience, because it's a big step up from that one.  Better combat, better UI, deaths feel abit less cheap, though its still such a quarter muncher.  Love that there's basically an alternate version of each character, so when you respawn, you look different.  Ended up liking the thief the most because her mobility is great and she can spot chest traps.  If these were separate games, I'd recommend this one over Tower of Doom, it's a real good sequel in that way.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on August 27, 2018, 09:55:00 pm

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

54. Shenmue (PS4): This is the game I've been meaning to play all year; both Shenmue and Shenmue II are my all time favorite games and hold a very, very special place in my heart as a person and as a gamer. As a little disclaimer before I begin, I am reviewing Shenmue as a game, not as a PS4 port. In regards to the PS4 port it was done very well and the optimizations they made to the PS4 version are very much so appreciated. I did notice some sound glitches in this port, but nothing that dampened my experience with the game at all. But now back to my review of the game itself. A year and a half ago I played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which is the only game I've played since first beating Shenmue about 16-years ago that ever challenged Shenmue as my favorite game of all time. Being as open minded and honest as possible, I went into playing Shenmue knowing that it very well could be demoted to my 2nd favorite game ever after sitting at the top for so long. After binging my way through Shenmue and screwing my sleep schedule up severely from not being able to stop playing until the early hours of morning when I had to work the next day I can confidently say that Shenmue still holds its spot as my favorite game of all time, despite both it and Breath of the Wild carrying the same perfect 50/50 score. Shenmue is still to this day one of these most compelling, immersive, beautiful, interesting, and versatile games I've ever played. One minute you can be doing detective work, asking people for clues about your father's murder, the next you're at the You Arcade playing Space Harrier or a game of darts, and then the next you're fighting some thugs in an empty parking lot. There is so much gameplay variety and it is all done so well that it's hard to think of many other games, even games like GTA and Yakuza that offer so much to the player. While the gameplay does have it's faults, there is so much to love that it can easily be forgiven when the gameplay doesn't shine its brightest. The soundtrack is amazing, and while the voice acting can be bad at times, the fact that each character in the game is given distinct lines, a distinct voice, and a distinct personality, even the unimportant NPCs speaks volumes about the level of detail in Shenmue. The city is filled with the sounds that you'd hear if you were actually in a similar setting as well, and again, it is something I've never seen on this level in any other game. And then finally there's the story; while it is nothing groundbreaking and it is executed so well and so convincingly within the context of everything else in the game that it transcends your typical story of revenge. The steps you have to take to find your father's killer Lan Di are believable, as are the trials and setbacks that Ryo experiences on his journey. Hell, even getting a job later on feels believable and adds to this games stellar sense of immersion. Just like Breath of the Wild, I am hard pressed to find any fault that interferes with my overall enjoyment of Shenmue, and for every actual fault this game has, there are easily 20 other things I really enjoy about it. Shenmue is still an outstanding, incredible game to this day and one of the all time greatest games ever made, beyond it's place in my personal opinion. It broke so much new ground and similar to games like Chrono Trigger, Ocarina of Time, and yes, Breath of the Wild, it raised the bar so much higher than any other game at the time it came out and redefined what excellent games had to be in order to be amazing. While I still have to play through Shenmue II, a game I remember loving just as much as the first, I can say with absolute confidence that Shenmue is still my favorite game of all time, and could very likely always be. It is truly an experience unlike any other and one I will cherish forever. (8/27/18) [50/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 01, 2018, 10:14:13 pm
48 - Hollow Knight (Switch 2017) - BEAT - Pretty solid experience here, though I didn't fully love it.  After awhile I found getting around the map was a little more tedious than needed and in general there were a few things that just seemed abit obnoxious in execution.  The game really shines with the boss fights I think as nothing felt ridiculous, it all made sense and if I was failing, it was because I was screwing up, though a few of the extra fights, like the bosses you can fight twice are nuts.  There's a lot to this game.  I was at 70% with 20 hours, probably 30 hours at the least to complete just the main game.

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

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

*****

And I have 52 games played already.  Pretty early really, at I played a lot of smaller games, such as the Mega Man X Legacy Collection and smaller games like the D&D ones, Tacoma, and a couple others.  Next is to try and get to 52 Games beat, of which I'm up to 42 right now with the Endless games added in, 36 without.  I think I can maybe do that.  Don't have too many things to catch up on and there's a a handful of games I plan to buy throughout the last 4 months of the year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on September 02, 2018, 03:50:54 pm
35] Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (PS4)

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

I'm now well and truly behind, August was a dead month. The flip side is that this year's challenge has coincided with me taking a fresh look at the games I've actually collected - so much dead wood. I've also tried and got rid of 22 games so far this year, so they're going because they're in the wrong genres and they're going cos they're no fun. At this rate my collection will be updated and more representative of what I actually like.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 03, 2018, 08:27:18 pm
52 - The Messenger (Switch 2018) - BEAT - I actually can say I 100% this one.  In terms of getting all the Power Seals and upgrades and I don't see anything else available.  It's just a fun time and while it never hit the levels that Shovel Knight did for me personally, it's very much in that same vein of a charming throwback, but with modern sensibilities worked in.  Music is great, the visuals are great, and it's that very middle level challenge for me, where stuff could be a little tough, but nothing crazy.

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

With this and Hollow Knight, it's been interesting playing two games of basically the Metroidvania setup, but done very differently.  Personally I prefer The Messenger, it's more to the point, whereas Hollow Knight is just bursting with things to collect and search for.  Highly recommend The Messenger though, it's a good time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on September 05, 2018, 11:36:37 pm
I finished Shenmue II last night, and here is my longwinded praise, I mean review of it :p


55. Shenmue II (PS4): Before getting into the meat of my review for Shenmue II, I just wanted to preface by saying that this mini-review is for the game itself and not the PS4 port. I will say this port was very good, especially in the visuals department. My only gripe with the PS4 port was the voice audio in many parts was super quiet compared to the XBOX version of this game, requiring me to turn the volume up many times during cutscenes or when speaking to other characters. Overall though this was a great port of an excellent classic. Now to my review. As I said in my review for the original Shenmue, there was some question prior to me playing through these games that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might have surpassed both Shenmue and Shenmue II as my favorite game of all time. Within the first quarter of Shenmue II I knew that there was no possible way I liked Breath of the Wild more than Shenmue II, or its predecessor for that matter. In fact by the time I completed Shenmue II, I knew that Shenmue and Shenmue II were in a league beyond Breath of the Wild or any other game I have ever played, which is saying a lot given how amazing some of my favorite games are. Shenmue II is the most beautiful, magical, interesting, immersive, and captivating games I've ever played. While playing through this game I am constantly overwhelmed with various positive feelings of various types, and the further I got into this game, the more I fell more and more in love with it. There is so much to do, so much to see, so many characters to speak with and interact with that this game creates such an incredibly believable and immersive world that is unmatched by most modern games even. There are certain things that the first Shenmue does better, but likewise Shenmue II has many advantages over its predecessor including its much more expansive and interactive world, the pacing of the story, and the introduction of Shenhua which may be my favorite part of either game. However, it is impossible for me to say which of the two Shenmue games I like more or think is a better game; they are both incredible masterpieces that raised the bar for the entire video game industry in so many ways when they were released, making both games some the most important games of all time imo. Perhaps one of the best things about completely Shenmue II specifically this time around was the fact that I knew that Ryo Hazuki's saga was not over and that Shenmue III is now a reality that we will all get to experience in a year (assuming it isn't delayed). As a diehard Shenmue fan that is one of the best, most amazing feelings in the world after not knowing if I'd ever get to see this amazing franchise get continued for over a decade prior to the Kickstarter announcement for Shenmue III. But Shenmue II, and the first Shenmue are by far the greatest, most wonderful, most beautiful, most special games I have played and I am almost certain now that I will never love a franchise and its games more than Shenmue. (9/4/18) [50/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 10, 2018, 01:42:20 am
53 - Spider-Man (PS4 2018) - BEAT - Man, I burned through this game, playing it basically all weekend long lol This game is just top quality stuff.  The visuals, the gameplay, the story, it's all real good.  It doesn't do anything particularly new or groundbreaking and have the impact like the Arkham games did, especially since it's clear those games were an influence on this, but it takes the familiar Spider-Man formula and just polishes it to a fine sheen.  It's definitely the best Spider-Man game I think.

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

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

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

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

51 - Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch 2018) - ABANDONED - And dropping this game unfortunately.  I played it abit, but Monster Hunter World ruined any chance of me getting into the old ones.  Had I played this first, maybe I would've managed, but the whole time I'm just wanting a better UI, better inventory, better world, etc...The only thing I feel it has over World is content, but that's not a negative against World since it's a new experience and everything has to be remade compared to Generations just being an expanded port.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on September 17, 2018, 02:51:51 pm
Game 14: Pokémon: Omega Ruby (3DS) – 34 Hours

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

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

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

Final Team:

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

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on September 17, 2018, 03:06:57 pm
Game 15: Earthbound: Beginnings (Wii U) – 19 Hours

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

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

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

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

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 21, 2018, 03:15:04 am
55 - Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PC 2012) - BEAT - With Resident Evil 2 Remake coming, I've been dabbling in RE games that I never gave a proper go in the past.  REmake was a clunky, but enjoyable time.  Resident Evil Zero was a co-op experience I hated and abandoned.  Resident Evil 4 on PC was my first PC playthrough of it with a much better HD texture pack that was still a good time.  And finally there is Operation Raccoon City, the shooter RE game that would be considered their worst attempt at that if Umbrella Corps didn't exist.

I remember playing this abit back on the 360 I think.  I don't remember getting more than a couple levels in as it wasn't a very good shooter.  I'm not even against Resident Evil doing action games for spinoffs, but this is one lacking game, especially singleplayer.  The AI isn't good, the shooting is sloppy and I feel like the weapons are all abit shit.  Really just stick with the machine guns the first chance you get.  Making enemies bullet sponges is just obnoxious too.  I kinda like this idea of a non-canon take on Resident Evil 2, with a specialized Umbrella unit doing stuff in the background while other events are happening, but it's again all very sloppy. 

Ending sucks too.  Sure, you get the option to kill Leon and Claire with a real lazy story point of fighting your teammates too in what I'm positive is just a multiplayer map, but it's so rushed, like they didn't have any real idea what to do other other than quickly kill them and end the game.  There's some DLC as the Spec Ops, but I'm basically done.  Only reason I got this game was because it was like 7 bucks or something, otherwise, just ignore it.  It's not even worth the second look, which is a shame, as I think there was a chance this could be fun, but it needed a big overhaul to be any good.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: sergreyjoy on September 21, 2018, 08:24:47 am
1. Dragon Quest IV (NDS)

2. Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (NDS)

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons (GBC)

4. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)

5. Metroid Fusion (GBA)

6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)

7. Deadspace 2 (360)

8. Dark Souls (PS3)

9. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)
What happened? VP1 is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, but they sure dropped the ball on this one! I guess the Squaresoft/Enix merge and the staff swap didn't help them at all! The Einherjars are bland, the difficulty rollercoaster is stupid and some inconsistencies with the timeline of VP1 and 2 doesn't make sense (Arngrim anyone?).


10. Beyond Good & Evil (PS2)

11. Dragon Quest Heroes (PS4)
As a kid, I enjoyed a good ol' game of Dynasty Warriors in co-op mode with a friend. Now, I can't say it's a genre that I enjoy all that much. Especially in a single player experience.

12. Digimon World (PS1)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on September 21, 2018, 03:15:06 pm
I finished Sonic Mania and made a very important discovery: I don’t like Sonic games.  Even the old school ones.  The platforming is too slick and imprecise and while the levels look cool to speed through they are relatively unintuitive.  And I wanted to love it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 21, 2018, 04:52:18 pm
Quote from: Cartagia on September 21, 2018, 03:15:06 pm
I finished Sonic Mania and made a very important discovery: I don’t like Sonic games.  Even the old school ones.  The platforming is too slick and imprecise and while the levels look cool to speed through they are relatively unintuitive.  And I wanted to love it.

Not the only one with that view.  The style, visuals, and music are top quality stuff, but found that I just don't like playing it. It's just a lot of running into stuff mostly.  Sonic is better in 3D to me when you can actually see what is coming up.  Not that there are many good 3D games, but I liked playing Generations more than I did Mania.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on September 21, 2018, 04:54:32 pm
Quote from: Cartagia on September 21, 2018, 03:15:06 pm
I finished Sonic Mania and made a very important discovery: I don’t like Sonic games.  Even the old school ones.  The platforming is too slick and imprecise and while the levels look cool to speed through they are relatively unintuitive.  And I wanted to love it.


I love Sonic, but Mario has it beat in regards to actual gameplay across the board.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on September 22, 2018, 01:53:56 pm
10.   God of War (PS3)
I’m still working through God of War on PS4, but I thought I’d take a break and play the very first game via the God of War Saga collection on PS3.

This was one of my favorite PS2 games years ago and I think today it is still a great action game along with many others on that console.

+ The presentation is fantastic. The game has an excellent soundtrack, epic battles and camera shots plus an emotionally gripping story.

+ The gameplay is also top notch as well in that it is easy to get into, but mastering the combat system takes some dedication.

I do have some minor complaints with the game.

- First off, the game features some platforming sections that are kind of tedious and annoying. Most of my deaths came from these sections (I played on normal mode). Funnily enough, the game offers you the opportunity to switch to easy mode if you die too many consecutive times on one part, but this only happened to me during those platforming parts which I don’t think easy mode would have affected anyway.

- Also, the game’s fixed camera I have mixed feelings about. Most of the time I think it works fine, but there’s some parts where not being able to see in a direction causes you to make a blind jump or miss a secret.

Overall, it’s a great game and a good start to the series. It has come a long way having played God of War PS4 though.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on September 22, 2018, 06:51:01 pm
11.   New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)
I forgot I had beaten this game earlier this year, so I’m adding a belated review for it.

I think this is a great modern 2D Mario game and I had a lot of fun with it.

+ I love the game’s presentation. The overworld map and in-game levels look very vivid and colorful making it a real pleasure to look at. The gameplay also feels very tight, but that’s pretty much a given in Mario games. Overall, I think this is a step up from New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

- Not much I didn’t like about this game. Nintendo probably could have pushed the graphics a little harder since they had HD capable hardware to work with, but I’m one of those people that excuses Nintendo on things like this because I love their in-house franchises so much. I will say that having the two identical Toad characters instead of a 4th unique character could’ve been tweaked in this game since they did the same thing on the Wii game, but at least Super Mario 3D World accomplished that by letting us play as the classic SMB 2 line-up with Peach alongside Mario, Luigi and Toad.

Another great Mario game for sure.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on September 22, 2018, 09:27:24 pm
12.   Diablo III (PC)
Booted up my save game on this from several months ago and finished it. I’m a big fan of the Diablo series and played Diablo II to death like many people did, so I had high expectations for this game. Here’s my thoughts:

+ I love the variety of character classes you can play as, each of which is very unique. Plus, the way the game’s story is presented changes depending on which class you choose. I played as the Crusader. Also, the amount of content in the game is staggering in terms of weapons, items, artisans, upgrades, achievements, transmogs…etc, so you could be playing this one for a while. The overall story in the game and the way its presented is also epic and a joy to experience.

- My biggest reservation with this game is that it’s too easy. I was able to bulldoze through the whole game and died merely once or twice because a powerful enemy had a strength in an area that my defenses happened to be weak against. Even Diablo himself was a pushover. The enemy design and variety are great, but they don’t really pose much of a threat in terms of actually hurting you. Granted, there are higher difficulties from normal all the way up to torment XIII (and I only played normal), but even the base difficulty should’ve been harder than this.

As somebody who grew up with Diablo and Diablo II this was a fun experience to have. I have only beaten the base game (Acts I through IV) and haven’t played Reaper of Souls yet. However, based on the opening cutscenes of it, I am eager to do so.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: wolfen on September 24, 2018, 12:27:11 am
Nintendo Entartainment System - Nintendo Switch Online

I bought the Nintendo Online membership and thought I would play through a few quick NES games.


18. Donkey Kong

I actually beat this in about 5-10 minutes, I always thought it was harder than that.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on September 24, 2018, 02:34:16 pm
Excited for next month to play some horror themed games, specifically I really want play REmake on the Gamecube (or one of it's HD ports on newer consoles). Also, considering playing RE2 since the remake is coming out soon. I haven't played RE2 in probably 15-years, at least so it's been a while. Remember thinking it was awesome however.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 24, 2018, 05:24:46 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on September 24, 2018, 02:34:16 pm
Excited for next month to play some horror themed games, specifically I really want play REmake on the Gamecube (or one of it's HD ports on newer consoles). Also, considering playing RE2 since the remake is coming out soon. I haven't played RE2 in probably 15-years, at least so it's been a while. Remember thinking it was awesome however.

If you have a PC, I'd recommend the REmake release on there with the Fluffy Manager 5000 for mods to use the door skip mod.  Greatly improved my experience, though it sounds like you are more okay with the old RE stuff, which might not matter lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on September 24, 2018, 05:28:53 pm
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on September 24, 2018, 05:24:46 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on September 24, 2018, 02:34:16 pm
Excited for next month to play some horror themed games, specifically I really want play REmake on the Gamecube (or one of it's HD ports on newer consoles). Also, considering playing RE2 since the remake is coming out soon. I haven't played RE2 in probably 15-years, at least so it's been a while. Remember thinking it was awesome however.

If you have a PC, I'd recommend the REmake release on there with the Fluffy Manager 5000 for mods to use the door skip mod.  Greatly improved my experience, though it sounds like you are more okay with the old RE stuff, which might not matter lol


Too be honest, I'll probably just play it on the PS4 since it is the best looking version I own and also it's a lot more convenient since it's already hooked up. I mostly just want to experience this game again despite graphical fidelity lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on September 25, 2018, 04:01:37 pm
Game 16 - Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (GBC) - 3 Hours

This was a game I had since I was a kid, and someday I'd like to reacquire all the games from my childhood to replay them, since I think it's really interesting to revisit old games that I haven't touched in years.

+ That said, this game was alright! It's a decent enough platformer with solid controls, decent graphics and some nice weapon variety. The soundtrack is also top notch. Not even kidding, this is some of the best music the GBC has to offer, at least in my opinion.

- While the overall difficulty was pretty good for my tastes, there was some annoying programming choices like being able to fall vertically though walls, really annoying jumps, and enemy's bullets being able to go through objects while yours can't. Also, all the weapons that required charging to use were really tough to use and I never touched them.


 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: redblaze57 on September 25, 2018, 10:40:14 pm
I know this is probably the longest time someone has taken to post on here, but I just wanted to try and see if I could remember all the games I've beaten this year.

1. Fire Emblem Warriors
2. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3
3. Tony Hawks American Wasteland
4. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
5. Saints Row the Third
6. Saints Row IV
7. Yakuza 0
8. Yakuza Kiwami
9. Yakuza 3
10. Yakuza 4
11. Yakuza 6
12. Marvel's Spider-Man
13. God of War
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 01, 2018, 04:04:12 am
56 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (PC 2015) - ABANDONED - Yeah I ended up really not getting into this game.  I find the combat kinda clunky, the camera isn't great, it just feels boring.  The cinematics are stylish, but everything else about this game was just nothing interesting, which surprises me that that the DMC reboot gets so much shit from fans.  Yeah I can tell where it shifted away from things, but give me that game over this any day (Story and characters are probably better in DMC4 though).  Honestly, just give me Bayonetta lol

A shame I couldn't get into this as I was kinda playing it to mostly build more hype from DMC5, but if that game plays anything like this, I don't know if I'll plan on getting it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on October 01, 2018, 04:45:32 am
To be honest KK I struggled with 4 despite having several runs at it. Not that I really played the first 3, but with 4 I took several concerted goes at it and just couldn't stick with it. I know there's a lot of DMC fans, but i wish Capcom had made sequels to Chaos Legion (the blueprint for DMC) and run the two series alongside each other.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 01, 2018, 05:13:24 am
Quote from: shfan on October 01, 2018, 04:45:32 am
To be honest KK I struggled with 4 despite having several runs at it. Not that I really played the first 3, but with 4 I took several concerted goes at it and just couldn't stick with it. I know there's a lot of DMC fans, but i wish Capcom had made sequels to Chaos Legion (the blueprint for DMC) and run the two series alongside each other.

Yeah I never played the first 3 either other than like a few minutes of the first game which came free on Twitch awhile back, but when I realized it was basically built on the old RE tank controls and camera, I had no interest to continue on.  I think the big thing is that Bayonetta 1, 2, and the DMC reboot spoiled me.  The action is bigger, flashier, more exciting and more fun, so going back to this one that preceded them, it feels completely lacking.  I think it's maybe the combat just not connecting with me, like I'm missing something, but I put 4 hours in and got into more fights with these enemies that take a lot of damage and aren't fun to fight and after a death that sent me back a few rooms, I just dropped it.

I want to like DMC5, it's stylish as all hell and looks amazing, but I got a feeling I'll be holding out more for Bayonetta 3.  We'll see on that.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 04, 2018, 06:43:43 am
31 - Middle Earth: Shadow of War (PC 2017) - BEAT - Took awhile to get this one finished, ended up taking a break with some other games out, and to also wait for the big update that removed the marketplace entirely and improved the endgame stuff (Something to do with working down some endgame issues).  I think I did finish the story part of the game, there's an epilogue you get after the big fight that basically works as your New Game + and to keep on with a few missions, such as defending your forts against invaders.  Story is definitely way better this time around for sure.  Even had me surprised where it went for the finale in a few ways, though ended tad more suddenly than I expected (Not sure if there's like a bonus ending doing "Shadow Wars" stuff to tie everything up), but at least it's not an awful end like the first game.

Overall this is a very solid game.  It's still the quality experience of the first game, just boosted to a much larger scale.  Some of the missions and general aspects get abit tedious, as they can in open world games, all too easy to fall into patterns for each areas capture and half the sidequests aren't anything special, with only maybe two quest lines being particularly good (One deals with undead and a Balrog and the other involves the goofy Ratbag character).  I was initially worried the gear system would be kinda taxing as it can be with these types of games, but it's not bad at all, especially since you mostly just want to try to earn and upgrade the Legendary weaponry.

The Nemesis system continues to be the best thing about this series.  The entire 40 hours I played, I never felt like I was hearing the same dialogue or seeing the same orcs over and over and there are some unique ones you'll find with funny gimmicks, like one that sings or rhymes, another I found towards the very end, sporting a totally normal, not orcish, voice.  I don't know if I've ever come across a randomized system with this much too it.  Usually you start to see the patterns after awhile, but the amount of dialogue for every encounter they did must be staggering.  Really, the only thing you notice is maybe a few of the designs get a smidge samey and there's only so many voices for the orc's, but still, it's super impressive.

If you are into open world experiences, your Tomb Raider reboot, your Assassin's Creed, your Arkham's, you'll probably like this game quite abit and you really don't need to have played the first game to have a good grasp on what is going on.  I'd honestly just say skip the first entirely, read a plot blurb on the it to catch up (I forget if this game does a catch up of the first games happenings), and just jump right in to this one.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: flummn on October 09, 2018, 02:54:14 am
My endeavour thus far, wont make it to 52 but maybe 26 :o

South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
BioShock Infinite
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Red Dead Redemption
Ratchet & Clank
The Last of Us Remastered
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Grand Theft Auto IV
Metal Gear Solid
Kingdom Hearts
Destiny
Far Cry 5
DOOM
Super Mario Galaxy
Paper Mario: Color Splash
Call of Duty:WWII
Super Mario 3D World
Metal Gear Solid 2
Metal Gear Solid 3
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on October 09, 2018, 02:17:46 pm
36] Mount & Blade: Warband (PS4)

I'm limping along behind now, this past month has been a bit of a disaster, had just under a week in hospital, ill beforehand and recovering afterwards. On top of that there's so much to do..

Anyhow, managed to get this one beat, again, love this game, it's a hidden gem. Now I'm on with Metal Max Xeno which is right up my street too, so hopefully I'll be adding to the beat list.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on October 10, 2018, 09:03:57 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on October 01, 2018, 05:13:24 am
I think the big thing is that Bayonetta 1, 2, and the DMC reboot spoiled me.  The action is bigger, flashier, more exciting and more fun, so going back to this one that preceded them, it feels completely lacking.  I think it's maybe the combat just not connecting with me, like I'm missing something, but I put 4 hours in and got into more fights with these enemies that take a lot of damage and aren't fun to fight and after a death that sent me back a few rooms, I just dropped it.

I want to like DMC5, it's stylish as all hell and looks amazing, but I got a feeling I'll be holding out more for Bayonetta 3.  We'll see on that.

Being put back in progress when you're not particularly enjoying the game is a killer, every time. That's probably killed more 'meh' games for me than anything else, even fetch quests or escort quests.

The new games may well be a better choice - not everything ages well or remains on top of the tree.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 11, 2018, 12:36:24 am
58 - Escape from Tarkov (PC Early Access 2016) - ENDLESS - I try not to buy Early Access games anymore, but this one has long been of interest to me, especially now that I know I have a PC that can run it reasonably well.  Don't know why I like the more hardcore games, it's a general interest as I've casually checked out these types of games like the DayZ mod back in the day.  It's a very unforgiving game that you will die in all the time.  In some ways it feels unfair, because there are just going to be times when you run into someone who has better gear and you will not kill them.  It's all so tense and while it's got a ways to go, what is there is very interesting to me and I'll probably be playing it off and on regularly for quite awhile.


59 - Resident Evil 7 (PC 2017) - BEAT - Couldn't really figure out what RE game I wanted to play next before RE2.  There's RE5, which I like, but not wanting to deal with some of the co-op there, same for RE6, but I honestly can't muster up enough interest to play through that one.  Didn't feel like anything else and I needed a good one after how poor Operation Raccoon City was, so why not another quick run through RE7?  Infinite ammo, go all out with the magnum and grenade launcher, it'll be fun.  It's like my 4th time beating it now.  Such a great game and it only has me more excited for Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on October 14, 2018, 08:33:44 am
Game 17 - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNESc) - 17 Hours

I beat the game, then went back to try and get 100s on more levels. I maybe did around 60% of them before I gave up, I might come back to do more later.

+ Anyway, this is a fantastic game; I can see why people love it so much. Excellent gameplay with great level design. Really cute artsy visuals and sound effects, and a ton of levels and extras to explore. Definitely one of those games that's hard to put down!

- Obviously everyone hates the annoying baby Mario in this game, and I do too. I think what annoyed me the most about it was how his bubble would fly away into some unreachable location because you were in the wrong place when you got hurt.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 15, 2018, 01:33:57 am
60 - Soma (PC 2015) - BEAT - Normally I'm not into these kinds of games, hide & seek/non-combat gameplay experiences, stuff like Outlast, Alien: Isolation (Which does have some combat) or the developers previous game Amnesia.  This game though has always seemed interesting to me though because of the setting, so since I got it free on Twitch, I figured why not? Good season for a spooky game. 

I burned through this game, it's just great.  Like I'm not in love with sneaking around the creatures, but they are such short bits, it never became a problem.  I wasn't always having to avoid them or watch out constantly.  It's incredibly engaging as a scifi horror tale, like the movie "The Abyss" crossed with "Prey" (the recent game).  I do feel like I missed two story elements that I was never really sure about, and reading afterwards, they might just have been a tad vague, but they didn't ruin the story at all.

If you want a real tense scifi horror experience, I highly recommend this game.  I think the last time I was this tense with a game, it was Resident Evil 7.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on October 19, 2018, 06:43:13 pm
38] Rabi Ribi (PS4)

Holy cow, what a game! I love metroidvanias, so their resurgance (particularly on physical) is an absolute joy, but this one knocked me sideways. A huge world, multiple enemy types, loads of different ways of powering up, a quirky cast and plot. I've hit the end credits (beaten the game proper) but there seems to be loads of post-game content and plenty of hidden goodies to find, but i'm happy to leave that for another time knowing there's a real gem waiting to be played when I'm back in the mood for metroidvanias. It's playing a game like this, without any prior knowledge, which makes gaming still so interesting even after 30 years.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on October 19, 2018, 08:59:53 pm
Well, this makes part 5 of my 52 games reviews. I guess it's a good starting point seeing how I was going to bump my first review in this part anyway :p


61. Resident Evil 2 (Dreamcast): It had been at least 15-years since I last played RE2, as well as RE3, but with the upcoming remake due in a few months and it being close to Halloween I felt like replaying RE2 again. Despite beating this game when I last played it over a decade ago I remembered very little about it so in a way it was almost like playing it for the first time again. So what did I think about this venerable survival horror classic? I thought it was pretty damn good overall! While it doesn't scare me or creep me out like it used to, it's still fun and there are plenty of tense moments throughout that make you dread going down a certain hallway or into a new room. Even though I played RE2 on Normal difficulty I didn't feel like the game was very hard. There were a few occasions where I found myself low on ammo and/or health items, but I never had to contemplate my next move carefully due to not having enough items to potentially survive. I understand there is an unlockable hard mode, which may provide this extra level of survival, but to be honest I don't have a lot of desire to replay this game for a while after completing both the Claire and Leon scenarios, in that order too by the way. That leads me to another gripe I have about this game; the split scenarios. I think it's a cool idea, however the bulk of each character's scenario plays over most of the same sections of the game, with mix ups in enemies, items, and key items, but these do very little to make you feel like you having a very different experience than the one you just finished with the other character. Where things do start to look way different is towards the end of each scenario, with each character having a different boss and the scenario B final boss being a site to behold. Overall, the combined story is pretty cool and it's enjoyable to see what the other character had to deal with while you were doing something else while playing through the different scenario; personally I liked Claire Scenario A the best. The graphics are great, at least for their time and the settings are excellent as well. Monsters are also really cool. The gameplay is mostly good, but I will admit that the tank control scheme is showing its age a lot in 2018 and I'm actually looking forward to the much more refined controls of the remake. Overall though it's easy to see why RE2 is so beloved by horror game fans and why it is considered one of the most essential PS1 games ever made. It just falls short on a personal level due to too much recycled gameplay between the two scenarios and aged controls. (10/19/18) [38/50]

62. House of the Dead 2 (Dreamcast): During the 90s whenever i went somewhere with arcade cabinets, House of the Dead ad its sequel were always two of my favorites that I'd pray would be there. I think the thing I liked the most about both games was the cool horror environment, localized dismemberment mechanic, and the zombie and horror-themed enemies. When I found out they were porting House of the Dead 2 to the Dreamcast I about lost my mind, and it was one of the very first Dreamcast games I bought back when the system was new. Over the years I played the hell out of House of the Dead 2, however with time I feel like my enjoyment for it has diminished slightly. Lightgun games in general are not well known for their replayability, but for one reason or another I have enjoyed popping House of the Dead 2 in every few years and playing through it which takes the better part of a half hour. I really enjoy the campy story and characters, the so bad it's good voice acting, and the settings are great as well. I loved the dark dreary city, and even the final two levels which have a much more refined look to them. Overall this is definitely one of the best lightgun shooters imo. So why has my enjoyment of it decreased slightly over time? Probably because I've beat it hundreds of time, but it could also be it no longer has that novelty it once did for me when it was an arcade only game, or even when it first came out for the Dreamcast. Either way, it's a fun game that has a lot of sentimental value to me if nothing else. (10/20/18) [36/50]

63. Resident Evil (PS4): This was one of the last games on my old top 10-games of all time that I needed to revisit before the end of the year, and what better time than to play it during the month of October, leading up to Halloween. And just to be clear I am talking about the 2002 remake of Resident Evil here, and also this is the HD port that most newer consoles have received. Resident Evil is still the scariest game I've ever played. It's been long enough since I last beat this game that I don't remember quite a bit of it, especially towards the end, but even the parts I do remember still invoke a sense of dread and terror; opening a new door I've never walked through and feeling the tension as the door loading screen appears is a feeling that was never lost on me. Having a zombie or hunter pop out of nowhere and scare the crap out of me still happened a lot; dreading going into a room that held a boss or a Crimson Head was still with me throughout the whole game. And none of that is mentioning the outstanding graphics which still look incredible today and really add to the games rich atmosphere and very interesting setting. The music also adds to this immensely as well, no doubt making you even more scared than if the music had been handled less skillfully. As I said, the mansion and its surrounding areas are incredibly creepy and interesting at the same time, especially seeing how they are all interconnected. Despite being scared through the entire game, I had a hell of a time! The only real criticism of this game I have are the controls, which as much as I hate to admit, have not aged well. There were several times that evading enemies between camera transitions or trying to solve certain puzzles became really annoying and frustrating given the tank control scheme and how the directional pad changed depending on how you entered a new part of the area you are in. However, they were manageable for most of the game and outside of a few brief parts they didn't distract much from how amazing this game is. I wasn't quite sure if Resident Evil remake would make it back in my top 10 games given how long it had been since I last beat it and also because I've played so many great games since originally beating it, but I can definitively say that it will remain in my top 10 games of all time. (10/24/18) [44/50]

64. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64): I remember how big an event Shadows of the Empire was when it came out in the mid 90s; it was like a big event, second only to the release of an actual Star Wars film and I was super excited about it back then. Having recently got a Nintendo 64 at the time I was super hyped to get this game and I did for my 10th birthday along with Doom 64. I actually haven't beat Shadows of the Empire since originally playing through it around the time I got it. I would occasionally just play the ship stages like the famous Hoth level and also the final Skyhook level, but in terms of playing through the game from start to finish, including the on foot levels, it's been probably 20-years. So my impressions after beating it; it's really good still. Sure, the muddy N64 graphics have not aged well, but for the time they were pretty good looking, as were the varied and interesting levels which seemed to really encompass that Star Wars look and feel. Combine this with the soundtrack taken right from the original trilogy, plus some good original tracks, and you have one hell of a Star Wars experience. The gameplay is varied and fun as well, even between piloting stages or on foot stages. In one you are fighting an epic space battle and another you are taking down AT-AT walkers with tow cables. The on foot missions have you riding a series of trains in one, and the next using a jetpack to explore large canyons in search of Boba Fett. The levels are mostly just the right length too so none of them feel like they've outstayed their welcome. I do have to say that especially the on foot missions,  the platforming and aiming can be a bit janky, but there was never a time where I wasn't able to overcome a certain jump or obstacle after a couple of tries. This is an excellent Star Wars game and one that I forgot how great it was until now. (10/25/18) [39/50]

65. Perfect Dark (N64): Here it is; the last of my old favorite games of all time that I needed to play before the end of the year. Growing up, I loved Goldeneye, and when Perfect Dark came out promising the same gameplay, but with better graphics I was immediately interested despite it not having the familiar protagonist. I remember playing this game for hours, doing a bunch of the side activities like the shooting range and setting up bot matches to hone my skills. It was easy to understand why this game ended up being one of my favorite games of all times from when I played it during the early 2000s. So what the hell happened? Despite my nostalgia for this game I found myself struggling to want to continue playing this game; the story was nothing special and in fact delves into bad scifi later on. While there were some cool new guns, improved shooting mechanics, and alternate fire modes, the improved gameplay over Goldeneye just didn't motivate me much to want to continue playing. Also, a fairly big annoyance I had as it got later in the game was often wondering where the hell I was supposed to go next, which involved me wandering around aimlessly until I found my next objective. By then, however, I was fairly board and just wanted to quit. Graphically the game is one of the best on the N64 thanks to the use of the expansion pack, but still looks outdated by todays standards. The music was pretty good, but nowhere on par with Goldeneye. It's no doubt that Perfect Dark is a much more polished game, however all that polish just doesn't create the same level of enjoyability as Goldeneye which really stands out as being the more iconic, fun game. I have to say that I am genuinely surprised by me not liking Perfect Dark as much as I used to, but it wouldn't be the first game on my old top 10 that got bumped off the list after replaying it this year. (10/26/18) [31/50]

66. Katamari Forever (PS3): i've always found the Katamri games to be oddly addictive; essentially all you do is go around and gradually roll up bigger and bigger objects with the point of completing some objective such as creating a giant ball of objects (aka a Katamari) that's 100m in diameter or rolling up a bunch of snowy objects to give a snowman his head. The game is incredibly qwarky and Japanese, and the end result is a fun, enjoyable, addictive, and oddly relaxing game. Katamari Forever is possibly the best in the series due to it having more modes and varied challenges than the other games, if memory serves e right, as well as great graphics and a fairly stable framerate no matter how much madness is occurring on the screen. I do have to say that some of the additional challenges for rolling up objects can be more frustrating than fun given the not always responsive or accurate controls, but the game does do well enough to make this game fun despite this ongoing issue at times. Also, many of the tracks in this game are the same, just remixed in various ways, but they all seem to fit the weird look and feel to the game very well. If you're looking for a fun, easy game to pick up there are few modern games that fit the bill better than Katamari Forever or pretty much any other game in the series. Not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but still a great time. (11/1/18) [38/50]

67. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Dreamcast): The Street Fighter Alpha series has long been an enigma to me, even when the games were coming out in the mid to late 90s. I only knew Street Fighter 2 and it's many versions, and I expected to get Street Fighter 3 next, so when the next installment was "Alpha" it had me slightly confused. But having access to all three Alpha titles, I decided to play the 3rd since I've heard it's the best one and I can easily see why people say that. The gameplay is among the most polished, solid, and balanced I've ever seen in any fighting game. With the exception of the final boss fight against M. Bison the game feels fair, balanced, and dynamic the whole time. There are no weird balancing issues or annoying gameplay quarks that hinder your enjoyment of how much fun this game is to play. Graphics-wise, Alpha 3 looks excellent, although it does use spritework that had been recycled among many Capcom fighting games for a while, and when compared to Street Fighter 3 which came out less than a year later, it looks noticeably less polished. The music is above average, but the sort of drum and bass techno tracks do little to distinguish themselves from the other tracks, which is a shame since Street Fighter games typically have excellent OSTs. This is definitely one of the best Street Fighter games, and certainly one of the most fun to play. (11/9/18) [39/50]

68. Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4): Being a big fan of Dragon Ball Z I was pretty excited about this game when it was announced, and having played it for a decent amount of time I can say that it's a about what I expected. Its developer, ArcSys, developers of the Blazblue and Guilty Gear games, is good at making games that are flashy, colorful, and fast paced, however I feel like their games are usually just okay in terms of gameplay and keeping my interest. Fortunately DB FighterZ is slightly better than that, feeling more similar to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 than it does either of the ArcSys games mentioned above. Despite this, there is still a lot of ArcSys' style over substance calling card in this which is part of the reason I can't place this game on the same level as Marvel vs. Capcom 2. While we're making comparisons with MvC2, FighterZ lacks the relay value of that game, by allowing you to unlock 3 characters only, no new stages, and a variety of avatar and other trivial crap that does little to incentivize multiple playthroughs. Also, the story mode in this game is bad, like really boring; I've never watched Dragon Ball Super, but I pray it's not as boring as the ultra flat, derivative story in FighterZ. I also thought the music in this game lacked the punch of the soundtrack from the anime, but luckily the voice acting cast was there. This is definitely a well made, entertaining fighting game, and possibly the best ArcSYS ever made, but it lacks what it takes to be among the greats. (11/24/18) [35/50]

69. Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch): Before Smash Ultimate came out I was certain it would play and feel very similar to Smash 4 on the Wii U, with some minor balancing tweaks to characters, a few new stages and modes, but overall I thought I'd be playing an enhanced port of Smash on the Wii U. How wrong I was. This is by far the most refined, well balanced, and well made Smash game hands down, and not only that but it's one of the best fighting games I've ever played in that regard. There is an insane amount of content in this game and the best part is that most of it is unlockable. It was a joy to play as most characters in this game, many of which I've never really cared for in previous Smash games. Perhaps the biggest surprise was be finding myself enjoying characters like Captain Falcon and the Mii Fighter way more than I thought I ever would. Also Link, a staple of the franchise and someone whom I've never been that good with, somehow became my best character. I was also very surprised by the Spirits system and how addictive it was to try and collect all of them (which I am still far from completing btw). However, the Spirits system is also among my biggest gripes as well since many of the conditions for unlocking certain spirits I found to be way more annoying, tedious, and cheap than fun. I have zero criticisms of the OST in this game; it's so comprehensive and massive that it's impossible for me to say a bad thing about it. However, much of the voice acting in this game, not that there is a ton, is fairly average. Despite this, there is just so, so, so much content to love and enjoy, and while it does get a bit repetitive after a while, this game has been very hard to put down since it came out last week. (12/16/18) [44/50]

70. Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 16: Virtua Fighter 2 (PS2): Outside of having the arcade cabinet of Virtua Fighter 2, this is the version of VF2 that I've wanted the most since learning of its existence. It's by far the most arcade perfect port of this game out there, and the level of quality between this and the other home console ports, mainly the Saturn port which is the port I've spent the most time with, is pretty impressive. The biggest level of difference is the visuals which carry none of the compromises found in the Saturn port and look and feel just like they did in the arcade. The sound is pretty similar, especially the OST, but the sound FX are definitely better. Gameplay also surprisingly felt a lot better than the Saturn version, which is still far from perfect, but does not have the same amount of cheapness that I've been used to when playing through the Saturn version. Essentially the PS2 version renders the Saturn version obsolete, and I dare say makes owning an actual cabinet for Virtua Fighter 2 seem redundant. Given how much I adore this series and especially the first two games in it, this game is an absolute treat to experience. It's definitely not up there with the best fighting games i've ever played, but it's a welcome improvement to other versions of it that I've been forced to play for decades now. (12/25/18) [37/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on October 21, 2018, 09:39:07 pm
13.   Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)
I remember when this game was announced at E3 2010 and being so dang excited for it, because I love the DKC trilogy on the SNES. I haven’t played this one in years so it was a nice revisit. The game is still super fun and challenging. The great music from the original game has also been reorchestrated for this game. The only thing I kind of don’t like is that rolling is mapped to the Wiimote’s motion controls. It works fine, but I prefer doing a button press for that move. I beat the game 200% which includes the second playthrough on mirror mode which was very difficult. Getting shiny gold medals on all the time attacks will be a long, slow grind if I decide to do that later.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on October 21, 2018, 10:02:22 pm
Quote from: mizzach86 on October 21, 2018, 09:39:07 pm
13.   Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) [...]The only thing I kind of don’t like is that rolling is mapped to the Wiimote’s motion controls. It works fine, but I prefer doing a button press for that move.
If for no other reason this is enough for this to be the worst game in the series.  Like you said, it doesn’t kill the game, but it makes it that much worse.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on October 27, 2018, 01:05:27 am

Well I did it.


I finished playing and beating all of my old top 10 games of all time. Sadly, the last of my old top 10 game was another that got knocked off the list, although this one is a little less surprising since it held the #10 spot on the old list. Here is that review.

Quote from: bikingjahuty on October 19, 2018, 08:59:53 pm

65. Perfect Dark (N64): Here it is; the last of my old favorite games of all time that I needed to play before the end of the year. Growing up, I loved Goldeneye, and when Perfect Dark came out promising the same gameplay, but with better graphics I was immediately interested despite it not having the familiar protagonist. I remember playing this game for hours, doing a bunch of the side activities like the shooting range and setting up bot matches to hone my skills. It was easy to understand why this game ended up being one of my favorite games of all times from when I played it during the early 2000s. So what the hell happened? Despite my nostalgia for this game I found myself struggling to want to continue playing this game; the story was nothing special and in fact delves into bad scifi later on. While there were some cool new guns, improved shooting mechanics, and alternate fire modes, the improved gameplay over Goldeneye just didn't motivate me much to want to continue playing. Also, a fairly big annoyance I had as it got later in the game was often wondering where the hell I was supposed to go next, which involved me wandering around aimlessly until I found my next objective. By then, however, I was fairly board and just wanted to quit. Graphically the game is one of the best on the N64 thanks to the use of the expansion pack, but still looks outdated by todays standards. The music was pretty good, but nowhere on par with Goldeneye. It's no doubt that Perfect Dark is a much more polished game, however all that polish just doesn't create the same level of enjoyability as Goldeneye which really stands out as being the more iconic, fun game. I have to say that I am genuinely surprised by me not liking Perfect Dark as much as I used to, but it wouldn't be the first game on my old top 10 that got bumped off the list after replaying it this year. (10/26/18) [31/50]


Before I show my new Top 10 Games of All Time, here is what my old one looked like:


1. Shenmue and Shenmue II (Dreamcast)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
4. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
5. Half Life 2 (plus episodes 1 and 2) (PS3)
6. Super Mario 64 (N64)
7. Zone of the Enders (PS2)
8. Resident Evil (2002 remake) (Gamecube)
9. Marvel vs Capcom 2 (Dreamcast)
10. Perfect Dark (N64)


And here is my new and improved Top 10 Video Games of All Time:


1. Shenmue and Shenmue II (PS4)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
4. Doom (PS4)
5. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Switch)
6. Half Life 2 (PS3)
7. Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)
8. Resident Evil (PS4)
9. Super Mario 64 (N64)
10. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Dreamcast)

Now that I've completed this goal I am now going to focus on some non-gaming related things that I need to take care of. That doesn't mean I'm not going to play anymore video games this year, but I'd be surprised if I end up beating more than 2 between now and the end of the year. The first half of next year will also probably be fairly slow going in terms of games beat as well, but I'll try and make up for it the second half of the year ;)


Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on October 28, 2018, 12:05:51 pm
14.   Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (3DS VC)
This was one of the first Gameboy games I got back in the early 90’s. Having played the Super Mario series before on NES and SNES, I thought this game was really unique in that you could charge into enemies to defeat them and I always thought that was really cool. I enjoyed going back to this game from my childhood. I feel like this game really established Wario in his own series.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on October 29, 2018, 10:27:29 pm
Game 17 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U) - 34 hours

Fifth Zelda game done! There’s something about Zelda games that I can never like fully get into. Don’t get me wrong, I think this game is great, but for some reason I just don’t enjoy them as much as others do.

+ The best part of this game is hands down the sailing element. It’s totally unique, and it’s still not really done that much even today. It’s a total joy exploring the Great Sea looking for treasure and exploring islands all the while experiencing all the other little random things that can happen along the way. It’s quite organic and epic. The gameplay is also really good in general, it feels good to explore dungeons and the combat was pretty satisfying. The music is fantastic, some of the best in the series by far. The puzzles in the dungeons were all really good too, even though there weren’t that many of them sadly. Lastly, the characters were pretty funny and there were some really great moments and interactions.

- This may just be me, but I feel like Wind Waker is where Zelda really started to become very “formulaic” when it comes to tropes and ideas. I dunno why they reused the Deku Tree and a Jabu-Jabu lookalike from OoT. Dungeons still have you playing ping pong by bouncing light back with soldiers, and using your shield to solve light puzzles (again, like in Oot). Outside the grappling hook and leaf, all the items are copy-pasted with some minor improvements. I also really didn’t like the narrative pacing in the game. Half of the story is just the King of Red Lions telling you “go do this, you must do that” with not even a passing explanation of why. I got really annoyed right after the Forsaken Fortress with that stuff. Lastly, the game is far too easy. Each enemy you kill showers you with money, items, magic power and hearts, so you will never run out of anything and it’s really hard to die.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on November 03, 2018, 06:47:42 am
Darwinia (PC) - Abandoned

Another game which I've really been enjoying (it's one I used to play a decade ago). Like so many others I've attempted during this year's challenge, I reach a certain point and something kills the enjoyment, usually either a mad difficulty spike in its own right or flaws within the game which make it a chore (or plain unplayable) once the difficulty starts to rise. In Darwinia's case, I'm 1 location away from the endgame, but my troop-carrying units won't do what they're ****ing told. So not only does the assault fail, meaning I have to rebuild the teams again, but I also have to destroy the troop carriers (which convert into immobile turrets) which featured in the last failed attempt as they've been commandeered by the enemy.  >:( I have zero tolerance for things like shonky AI now, straight into the charity shop donation pile with it. It's just a pity I've wasted so many hours this year playing games which I ultimately abandon.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on November 03, 2018, 06:53:01 pm
15.   Mega Man 3 (PS4)
This is probably my favorite Mega Man game in the original series. I love the addition of the slide and Rush which give you extra maneuverability and escape paths. One thing I notice playing this game in modern times is the difficulty progression is a little odd. The Doc Robot stages after beating the eight robot masters are really hard in comparison to the Wily stages that follow which are actually quite simple in this game. Still though, very fun game from my childhood I enjoyed revisiting.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 05, 2018, 03:02:12 am
61 - Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4 2018) - BEAT - Well, one of the biggest games of the year getting released and I think it's just alright.  What is here is definitely a good game, but I think in general there are lots of little, tedious, elements that all culminate in an experience that to me doesn't feel the most engaging.  I also don't think the story and side content is all that exciting outside of bits here and there.  Nothing bad I could complain about, just all very...middling.  The game really doesn't do a whole lot new that RDR and GTA5 and some other games haven't already done before.  It's a well crafted experience, but I hit like the half-way point and just started losing interest, deciding to skip the side content and just push through the story.

Overall, the world is pretty well done and it looks real nice, but even as someone that regularly puts time into open world games, this game wasn't really impressing me.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 05, 2018, 09:32:53 am
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on November 05, 2018, 03:02:12 am
61 - Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4 2018) - BEAT - Well, one of the biggest games of the year getting released and I think it's just alright.  What is here is definitely a good game, but I think in general there are lots of little, tedious, elements that all culminate in an experience that to me doesn't feel the most engaging.  I also don't think the story and side content is all that exciting outside of bits here and there.  Nothing bad I could complain about, just all very...middling.  The game really doesn't do a whole lot new that RDR and GTA5 and some other games haven't already done before.  It's a well crafted experience, but I hit like the half-way point and just started losing interest, deciding to skip the side content and just push through the story.

Overall, the world is pretty well done and it looks real nice, but even as someone that regularly puts time into open world games, this game wasn't really impressing me.


Be careful, the Rockstar fanboy mob might see this and build a pyre to burn you at the stake for speaking such blasphemy! Worse has happened to those who gave this game a 9/10 lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 05, 2018, 04:51:05 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on November 05, 2018, 09:32:53 am
Be careful, the Rockstar fanboy mob might see this and build a pyre to burn you at the stake for speaking such blasphemy! Worse has happened to those who gave this game a 9/10 lol

I'm prepared, as I'd rate it like an 8/8.5 myself lol You know, the DREADED 8! The most horrible thing someone could rate a game!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on November 10, 2018, 01:10:30 pm
16.   Kirby’s Dream Land (3DS VC)
My first Kirby game was Kirby’s Dream Land 2, so I never got a chance to play this game back in the day. It’s interesting to see Kirby’s roots since this was his first outing. This is a short, but fun game to play. Kirby hadn’t received his signature copy ability yet, so his only attacks are to inhale enemies and either swallow them or spit them out. Also, he can exhale puffs of air after he’s inflated. I also think the soundtrack to this game is great. The Kirby series has some of my favorite VGM and this game established some of his iconic songs.

17.   New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
I’m replaying this game, not having played it in years. The more modern Mario games like NSMB Wii U and 3D World have improved upon this game a lot, but it’s still a fun time. This was a refreshing experience when it first came out since Mario had mostly seen 3D entries in his series up to this point (though NSMB on the DS technically came first). I think the bouncy, chaotic multiplayer leaves something to be desired, so I think this game’s more fun to play on your own or with one other competent person if you’re a serious gamer. 4 player might be fun as a non-serious party situation. There’s also decent challenge as the game progresses. World 9 in particular can be a real pain.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: chrismb on November 11, 2018, 04:33:37 am
Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037
Part 2 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149778.html#msg149778
Part 3 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg150756.html#msg150756
Part 4 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152650.html#msg152650
Part 5 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg155281.html#msg155281
Part 6 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg157680.html#msg157680

98. Yakuza 4 [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- Upgraded graphics. While it's the same engine as the previous game it just looks so much more detailed and the lighting effects are also so much better.
- Amazing story! I love how they switched everything up by including 3 new protagonists! All 3 of them are really interesting and charismatic characters, but Akiyama is by far the best character of the game imo. The story is so far my favorite out of all the games,I love how the main story connects all character but they all have their own side stories.
- Gameplay is a lot better. The fighting feels a lot better, probably because of the new fighting animations the new characters have. There are also a lot of cool new side missions exclusive to each characters.
- Overall I think this game just took everything that was good in the first 3 and made and even better game. I really don't have anything negative to say even the only thing that annoyed me in previous games which was random people wanting to fight you wasn't as annoying in this game.
-

99. Grand Theft Auto V [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically this game is still stunning even today. It's one of those game that just doesn't age bad. I first played the Xbox 360 version and while the difference isn't extremely huge, the game does feel a lot more detailed.
- One of the best open world imo, there's just so many place to explore and so many secrets and easter eggs hidden everywhere. The level of detail put into Los Santos is honestly mind blowing.
- The gameplay is totally improved. GTA IV's gameplay has aged pretty bad imo, it feels slow and the driving was horrible. In GTA V everything is just a lot more fluid and responsive.
- The story and characters are amazing! Trevor is by far my favorite character from the entire GTA franchise. He's crazy but there's something so likable about him. Replaying the game, I realized that Michael is a lot more annoying than what I remembered lol, however he's annoying in a good way meaning that he's not that perfect protagonist, he's selfish and betrayed his best friend but that's what makes him an interesting character. Franklin is also a lot more interesting than what I remembered.
- You can skip missions, even tho GTA V probably has the easiest missions it's still a good thing for me who has very little patience lol.
- Amazing soundtrack.
- Amazing acting.
- Overall the best GTA game imo. It took everything that made the previous game good and just made an even better game.
-
- While the special abilities for each characters was a good idea, I wish we could've used them on every characters. You have like zero chasing missions with Franklin yet he got the slow mo driving ability =/

100. Yakuza Dead Souls [18/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- While the story isn't crazy good, being able to play with the (imo) 4 best characters from the franchise is so fun especially in a zombie apocalypse. Ryuji Goda coming back from the dead with a whole gun instead of his arms is all I could ask for tbh. Majima's part is also really funny, especially the ending lol.
- Overall a really fun game with a lot more humor than in the usual Yakuza game. It's a game I would only recommend for fans of the serie tho.
-
- The shooting in this game is really annoying. It's something about the camera controls that's just not working.
- I feel like the story could've been better, it feels like they didn't know if they wanted to make a serious story or a funny story so they made something in between. They could've done some more crazy things especially with the characters they were working with.

101. Gears of War 3 [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- A really good story. I love the new characters and being able to play as Cole was also pretty cool. This game also have one of the saddest death of the serie (so far at least) but I feel like they did it the right way and didn't try to just have a shocking death for tears. The ending was also pretty sad.
- The gameplay feels better, I can't really tell in what way tho lol it just feels more responsive.
- Graphically it also looks better, it has a lot more visually impressive moments.
-
- I wish they showed the backstory of some of the new characters like Jace. They kinda just got there out of nowhere (even tho there's a time jump so it makes sense that there are new characters).

102. Wolfenstein: The New Order [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- I love the story and the characters. William is a badass protagonist and I also really liked Fergus.
- It's pretty cool to be able to choose between 2 different timelines, one with Wyatt and one with Fergus. Too bad I chose Wyatt because after watching the differences between the two timelines I realized that Fergus is a much better character, but still it's cool to be able to have two different stories in a way.
- Really good gameplay, some of the weapons are really fun to use.
- Overall a huge positive surprise. I wanted to play Wolfenstein the new colossus but for some reason I didn't realize it was a sequel so when I started playing and it started with "in the previous game" I was like wtf what game lol. Thankfully it was free with game pass so I ended playing it without really expecting anything crazy at first but it definitely surprised me!
-
- Graphically it's a little borderline but i'm pretty sure it came out also on xbox 360/ps3 so it didn't bother me that much, just didn't really feel like a next gen game graphically. It's not ugly or anything tho.

103. Gears of War: Judgment [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it feels like a pretty nice improvement compared to the 3rd game. Everything feels a lot more detailed and the cut scenes are a lot better.
- I love the story and the fact that we get some background of Baird and Cole . I liked the new characters too especially Paduk.
- Aftermath is a really cool addition and i'm glad we at least got to know what happened with Cadet (I don't remember her name lol) and Paduk after the end.
-
- Some control changes that really bothered me at first.
- So I know Cole is supposed to look younger but why is he a lot lighter? He looks nothing like Cole for a hot minute I thought it was someone else tbh.

104. The King of Fighters XIII [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it's one the prettiest 2D fighting game I've ever seen! The animations look amazing and I love the new HD version of the KOF XII character designs. Except Clark and Ralf, idk why they fucked they up like that lol.
- I LOVE the stages! This game has some of my all time favorite KOF stages tbh.
- A really good roster with a few new characters and a lot of characters that were missing from the previous game.
- Really good gameplay.
- Overall one of the best KOF games imo, probably top 2/3.
-
/

105. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- This game is probably my biggest surprise from 2018. I wasn't really familiar with the Wolfenstein game before playing The New Order, I just knew how the first games looked like but that was it, so I was already positively surprised by how good The New Order was but this game is 10 times better.
- Graphically it looks really nice, It's not a game i'm gonna play for the graphics but it's still great.
- The story and the characters are AMAZING. Once again you can choose between the Wyatt and Fergus timeline and this time I definitely chose Fergus! He's such a funny character, his whole thing with the arm was hilarious to me. The new characters are also really funny especially Grace who's a total badass and Sigrun who's just a completely wtf character lol.
- Good gameplay, even tho I'm pretty ass at RPGs lol.
-
/

106. Forza Horizon 4 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically the game is STUNNING! The map is huge and so detailed! It's crazy how accurate the map was to how European countries look (I live in France), it totally felt like I was riding in a town next to mine lol.
- I love the concept of playing through the 4 seasons. Autumn and Winter were by far my favorite, especially winter! Everything just looks so much better covered with snow lol.
- Amazing gameplay! I'm ass at driving game, and I thought this game was actually harder than Forza 3 but I still really like the driving mechanics AND being able to go back in time lol that helped a lot.
- Really fun missions/races.
- Good soundtrack that fits the game perfectly.
-
- I'm either dumb stupid or there really aren't any quick travel locations. I get that the concept of the game is to explore and everything but I don't want to ride through the same place 50 times again and again just to go to the next race.

107. Gears of War 4 [20/20]  - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically it's obviously a huge update! It's also more colorful which isn't necessarily better but I did like it.
- I loved the story and new characters! I know a lot of people hate when they completely change protagonists just to have new younger ones but in this case I think it was for the better, Marcus story ended in GOW3 and continuing with him would've just dragged out the story. I loved that he was still a major character in the game tho! The game actually reminded me of Mass Affect Andromeda in way, new younger and more "fun" protagonists that add a new dimension to the serie.
- A crazy ending, don't want to spoil anything but damn I almost din't notice it.
- Obviously amazing gameplay with some really cool new weapons.
-
- I wish Baird and Cole came a little earlier than right a the end.

Currently playing :

- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Yakuza 5
- Unravel 2
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- Shadow Of the Tomb Raider
- Hitman Codename 47
- The King of Fighter XIV
- Tekken
- Soul Blade
- The Walking Dead: The Final Season
- Life is Strange 2
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 13, 2018, 03:38:00 am
61 - Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC 2016) - BEAT - My view on this game really hasn't changed since it first released.  It's a solid game, combining aspects of God of War/Devil May Cry, with the semi-open world setup of a Zelda game.  The negatives of the game mostly have to do with how it drags in sections, where it doesn't feel like the puzzles or layout is super fun and some of the combat spots get a little tedious.  I feel like a lot of it isn't helped by the fact that you can't run and you don't get your horse to speed up the few parts you can use him in till well over halfway through the game. 

I do enjoy the over-the-top style of it, kinda Warcraft/Warhammer giant armor and swords, though I sorta wish it was a tad less serious about everything.  In the long run, I would've liked the series to embrace kinda more of a Brutal Legend-type of tone, not full on that, but the series really takes itself ridiculously seriously, and it's begging for some metal riffs lol

Since Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition is more broken than the original game, I'm thinking of just jumping into the old save most of the way through Darksiders 2 original and finishing up the game.  Mostly just wanting story stuff before Darksiders 3 releases.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on November 15, 2018, 12:04:18 am
Well after taking almost 3 months off to play WoW I finally quit that shit and got back to knocking a few more games off the list.

21. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - 11/13/18
22. Super Mario Land (GB) - 11/13/18
23. Super Mario Land 2 (GB) - 11/14/18
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 15, 2018, 01:34:07 am
62 - Darksiders 2 (PC 2012) - BEAT - This one isn't counting for my full end of the year count, as I ended up hopping back into an old save from back when the game first came out and only spent 5 hours finishing it up.  Mostly due to the games bugs and performance and since the "Deathinitive Edition" ran worse, I didn't want to spend like 20 hours fighting with a games performance issues.  I think originally the game lost my interest just a tad, or another came out to take my attention, I don't remember exactly, so that's why I bailed on the last 1/3rd of the game, but going back, I do like it.

Compared to the first one, I think this game does a lot right.  Gameplay is snappier, you get your horse from the start, I like that I can customize Death with different gear, there's more side quests, just more to do in general.  I like that enemies generally are either in the world to fight, or appear as you can go, so no more magic walls constantly appearing.  Kind of a standard element for the games the series was originally based on like Devil May Cry, God of War, and Zelda, but that's gone here unless it's important to the room.

On the other hand, the bigger open world and loot drops isn't always very exciting, sometimes tedious and the gear itself isn't super varied feeling, and the side content is either good mission stuff or boring wave based shenanigans.  The Arbiter Maze? Each of the 10 levels has you fighting a wave of enemies in every room and you'll essentially have 7 rooms for completion sake, so that's 70 waves if you don't stop.  The Crucible? Survival wave based arena that can go up to Level 100 for the best gear.  Most wave based stuff gets boring to me if there isn't other stuff going on.

I don't know if the console version of the original Darksiders 2 was any better, but both the original and Deathinitive version have bugs and performance issues on PC and PS4 Deathinitive has weird performance issues also.   This is annoying for anyone wanting to go back and replay the games before the third game.  Of which, I'm pretty excited for it now.  What I've seen of the Gamescom demo, it looks fantastic, they dropped the loot system, perhaps in favor of a crafting system for weapons, so maybe less about just having random weapons and more a good handful you can create and tweak with modifiers like gem slots and such.  I get the feeling it's gonna be abit inbetween the previous two, which might be perfect.  Really hope it pans out as its a fun world. 
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 20, 2018, 02:50:07 am
64 - Sunset Overdrive (PC Port 2018) - BEAT - I'm way late to this game, being that it is 4 years old, but I'm glad that I can finally play it on PC, because this game is an absolute treat.  From beginning to end, there was never a point I felt bored or felt the tedium start sinking in, which can be very common in open world games like this, especially as someone that binges games.  Sure there are a few missions that are just "do this multiple times", but generally all the side stuff and main missions has some unique thing to it.  It's rarely the same thing or it's a harder version of it.  Heck, I didn't even do really any of the challenge missions. 

I will say, the collectibles being useful is a good thing, but they made way too many of them.  It's getting towards Breath of the Wild Korok Seed level as there's 150 of each thing and I believe there's 5 things, so yeah, a crap ton.  The maps to have them visible on your main map though are way too pricey, especially when you want to save up funds for new weapons, which are also quite pricey.  Maybe if I did more challenges it would be easier, but for a game that offers a lot of freedom, it just felt like they make you work extra hard to get all the good stuff and I still have a ton of weapons and clothes to get even after beating the game.

If this was a brand new game coming out this year, it would be in my Top 10 of 2018.  It's not the greatest game ever, it's mission structure is basic and the story is just goofball nonsense, but I might have had more consistent fun in this than I did Spider-Man...which the same devs of that, made Sunset Overdrive.  If you have an Xbox One and passed it over, or if you have a PC, go play it, it feels like a love letter to last generations crazy open world action games like Dead Rising, Infamous, Prototype, Crackdown, Saints Row, all that kind of stuff, which are much less common these days.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on November 21, 2018, 10:59:18 am
I finally got some time away from work, so I can play more games.

18.   Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS3)
I’m replaying a lot of games I used to play from my childhood/teenage years. This is the remastered Sly 1 from the PS3 collection and it’s still just as great a game as I remember. I love the soundtrack, too. I only had a couple problems with the platforming occasionally not connecting when I hit triangle to use interactables, but not a big deal, still a great game  :)

19.   Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS3)
The PS2 had SO many good games. Here’s another I replayed on the remastered PS3 collection of the Jak and Daxter series. It is still fun to play today. I also love the humor in the game (Daxter in particular XD). This is a nostalgic game especially for me because when I played it as a teenager, I wished I was in the game’s cozy world instead of real life. I’ve matured somewhat since then, but this is a fond game for me because of how therapeutic it’s been over the years.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 28, 2018, 12:49:27 am
65 - Battlefield V (PC 2018) - BEAT - The 4th War Story isn't actually available till next week, but I'm basically counting this as beat since this is what the game launched with and I've dumped 30 hours into the multiplayer.  I will say, while two of the three stories have a good story going on, they just generally aren't fun.  It looks nice, but it's such basic gameplay.  Shooters like Sniper and Wolfenstein among others have done much more for singleplayer experiences for awhile now and Battlefield just hasn't done a truly entertaining one since the Bad Company games.  Black Ops 4 showed you could be successful without it, so just don't do it.  Focus on the multiplayer.

That aside, this is a real good multiplayer game.  BFV just straight up improves on everything I think from BF1.  Teamwork is better, the game feels like it has a deeper skill level to it, the fortification mechanic is great, soldier and weapon customization is reasonably handled, and the game in general feels really good to play.  It's not perfect, there's some cleaning up and balancing they need to do, but it's great not having nearly as much grenade spam for one.

The only real downside to the multiplayer, is that it doesn't have all the familiar WW2 elements in it yet.  They opted for locations and weapons that are abit more uncommon from the usual fair, so a lot of iconic weaponry and locations are not currently available.  The Eastern Front, The Pacific, these fronts and armies will be coming with the free DLC, but it's going to be months of waiting and that could hurt the game in the long run.

That said, BFV is probably the most fun I've had playing BF in awhile after the underwhelming Hardline and the so-so Battlefield 1.  I'll be playing this quite abit.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 29, 2018, 03:35:51 am
63 - Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Pokemon Let's Go for me is like listening to some certain classic rock songs, or watching Disney's animated Robin Hood, or thinking about Christmas lights out in a quiet wintry night...It's an enjoyable nostalgia that is just very chill and comforting.  The last Pokemon game I seriously played was Pokemon Yellow, so coming back to it in this remake has just been a good time.  I did try to get into X at one point, but I just haven't been into a handheld system since like the GBA SP. 

Overall, this is a pretty fun remake.  The core is still there, but there's a lot of modern additions and improvements that generally make for a much better game.  I thought initially I would hate the Pokemon Go capture mechanic, but it ends up being a way to mix up the game, so you aren't just grinding random battles constantly.  I just wish the forced motion controls were better.  They aren't nearly as well designed as they are in Pokemon Go.  They almost feel random at times in their direction.  Also not having Pro Controller support is dumb as hell. 

That stuff aside, I was fine with the no combat captures and having Pokemon visible on the map, and removing random battles is the best thing this series can do.  This NEEDS to happen in the next main Pokemon game.  Also having things like HMs removed in favor of Pikachu/Eevee learning secret techniques is great, I think it's cool that Mega Evolving was added, while also allowing Alolan versions to be earned by trading their Kanto counterparts at Poke Centers around the map.  They didn't need to add them, but it helps to keep Let's Go within the current state of the Pokemon world.

In the end, I don't have any real serious complaints, just some minor nitpicks.  This isn't the hot new thing like a normal Pokemon release would be, but as a game made for fresh Pokemon fans who got in on the wildly successful Pokemon Go and as some deep nostalgia for old fans who have lapsed on the series, it definitely hits the mark.  The only things I think I would've liked to have them do is make the customization better (It's very basic and half-assed), have pro controller support, and I think it's time to put midi pokemon sounds behind us in favor of just normal  anime-like names being said.  It feels all the more out of place these days when you have Pikachu and Eevee talking, but we get nothing from the others.  I actually completely forgot that Meowth doesn't talk in the game and was anime only lol

Still got more to do for sure as I still need to get like Mewtwo in the last caves (Already got the legendary birds), but this is just a nice game for sure.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 30, 2018, 08:35:04 pm
66 - Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (PC 2018) - ENDLESS - I haven't bought a Call of Duty game since the first Black Ops.  The series just went in a direction I didn't like, so I mostly avoided it, once in awhile checking out the betas or free weekends, and promptly realizing why I never play the games anymore.  The only one I have put any time into since then, was Black Ops 3 on PS4, that I only have because it was free through PS+ and I only played the campaign, which I wouldn't recommend.

So how does Call of Duty bring me back? Blackout.  Toss out most everything the series has become...the small maps, annoying killstreaks, bad spawns, fast TTK, and make it almost an entirely different game.  Now there are health mechanics, it's on one big map, the player count is massive, there's vehicles, the TTK is way up due to armor, you scavenge for your weapons and gear.  It's the least CoD thing they've ever done and its so much better for it.  It's the BR game I've been wanting for awhile after feeling burnt out by PUBG and not like Fortnite.  It's snappier, action packed, and I think a pretty well done BR game.  Sure, people say there are too many BR games, but there really aren't.  PUBG and Fortnite are the only two big ones, now Blackout, and the rest are unfinished (Ring of Elysium) or going nowhere (H1Z1).

I don't even know if I'll touch anything else the game has to offer.  Don't want the multiplayer, I might glance at Zombies, but not into wave based modes, and the "Specialist HQ" is a glorified tutorial with small bits of story in it.  I might do those if they give me something to use in Blackout at all.  Can't say I recommend buying BLOPS4 to play just Blackout, I only got it, because I got the game half off with my Best Buy 20% off Gamers Club and a 15 dollar coupon.  So if you can get it for like 30 bucks or less, that's probably the only real good time for it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on December 03, 2018, 10:04:12 am
47 games beat, I've got a little less than a month to knock out 5 more games to meet the 52 games.  I didn't honestly expect to get anywhere near that goal since I've been so busy this year, but I'm proud of myself that I managed to get this close.  Smash Ultimate will definitely be one of those numbers, but the game might eat up the rest of the year once it comes out.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on December 04, 2018, 10:41:30 pm
2 more games finished; I'm wrapping up another game here shortly and it will likely be my last for the year.

24. Pokemon: Let's Go Pickachu (Switch) - 12/2/18
25. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB) - 12/4/18
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on December 05, 2018, 06:57:33 pm
41] Venetica (360)

Bit of an unexpected bonus, beat this at 11.45pm the day before my wife and I go on holiday, it's also good to have beaten another 360 game, as that collection is largely complete (in terms of which ones I want), so now I'm just chewing through them to see which are keepers and which are trade-in fodder.

This is a double-A action RPG by the makers of The Surge and Lords of the Fallen, set in Venice some centuries ago, some nice supernatural stuff going on, it was a breath of fresh air.

I've got Lego DC Villains on the PS4 to play through, then it'll probably be Remember Me, Infernal or something like that on the 360 again.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 07, 2018, 11:08:47 am
Game 20 - Secret of Mana (SNESc) – Unknown play time, probably 25ish hours

I thought this game was pretty good! However, I think it does have some glaring flaws that make it far from the masterpiece I was led to believe. It seems like for every piece of the game that I like, there was always something that held it back.

- The gameplay for the most part is fun and engaging, with all the different weapons and spells that also had effects in the overworld. However, there was a lot of jank in the programming. There was plenty of shoddy hit detection, spells not working when selected, and characters getting stuck when trying to follow you. Also, being able to combo/get combed to death in battles felt pretty cheap on both sides. My favorite glitch was during the final boss fight when my mana sword got glitched out of my hand and I had no weapon anymore, even though I still had the sword “equipped”. I had to unequip and reequip it to get it to reappear, so I could finally cast mana sword on it. That was frustrating to try and figure out.

- While the menus were confusing at first, I ended up really liking it. They felt fast and snappy.

- I found the characters for the most part fun and I liked that the main characters talked to each other. However, all the villains were criminally underdeveloped. Every time I faced one I was like “Who are you again???” and after you beat one, you still never get any answers about their backstory or why they were fighting you.

- The overall story is your standard RPG fair, but it had some decent moments and was well put together. However, the writing is awful. I know the game had a very rushed and tumultuous translation and that’s why it’s so bad, but still. It reads like a 5th grader wrote all the text, and the NPCs never say anything of substance to help develop the world.

- I really loved the graphics and art design. I like how the enemies and bosses emote when they get hit, it was cute.

- I’ve played a bit of this game with one other person, and I wish I could play the whole game like that. I bet it would be fun.

- The soundtrack is fantastic, one of the best on the SNES period. However, the sound design is pretty bad. I think they used so many of the SNES’s sound channels for the music that sound effects cut into the music while playing (think like how the music would cut out during attacks in the old school Pokemon games). However, because battles are so chaotic, the music cuts in and out in really random and strange ways, and it totally ruins the music. Even walking up steps or bumping into things in towns would cut the music out.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: justin8301 on December 09, 2018, 02:28:49 pm
Finished up Red Dead Redemption on the 360. that makes 26 games this year, not too bad. I think next year im going for the full 52
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 14, 2018, 01:15:40 am
67 - Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch 2018) - BEAT - I got all the characters unlocked and I beat World of Light, so that's what I'm counting as completion for this.  Have to say that I feel kinda conflicted on World of Light though.  At it's core, it's just a big collectathon, and while it gets very tedious and most areas aren't interesting or have little effort put into them, the boss fights are good and so is the last boss and there were a lot of times I liked it when I got spirits I wanted.  I just wish they had put even the slightest bit of effort into a story for it beyond the intro.  Feels so half-assed and there's nothing good at the end to cap it off. 

Overall, I do really like the game though.  I have never gotten big into Smash, just didn't own it during the Melee and Brawl years and only played it at parties on Wii U, but I've put over 20 hours into World of Light, I'll probably casually try out the Classic Modes, and I'll possibly do some more online.  I'm not a big fighting game fan, so I'm not gonna play this tons, but it's a good game.

Oh and unlocking characters was dumb.  It's okay in some situations if it's just a few or special ones, but not for 60+ characters and a number of the fights were pretty tough.  I know they literally just updated this, but the whole way of unlocking them is dumb and I've seen casual players complain about the unlocking in general, because a lot of people just wanted to get together with friends to play all the characters they've hyped up this year, but couldn't, because they were locked behind modes or just required you to play a bunch or cheese the system to get them.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 16, 2018, 01:50:16 pm
So a funny thing happened recently. I picked up Smash Ultimate at launch and have been playing it more or less anytime I am not working or doing something else necessary. After putting around 40-hours into it and unlocking all the characters and about 500 Spirits I can say without a doubt that Smash Ultimate is my favorite fighting game of all time. I left a review on page 18 with my other reviews, but mostly because it now holds the title of best fighting game I've ever played, it has bumped Marvel vs Capcom 2 from my top 10 games of all time. With that, another one of my long standing games from my youth has been removed in favor of a new title. Nintendo is just killing it this generation!


1. Shenmue and Shenmue II (PS4)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
4. Doom (PS4)
5. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Switch)
6. Half Life 2 (PS3)
7. Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)
8. Resident Evil (PS4)
9. Super Mario 64 (N64)
10. Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on December 17, 2018, 08:52:52 am
Beat games 51 and 52 over the weekend.  I had no expectation to make this goal this year with life going on, but I managed to make it to 52.  Decided that my last game played for the year should be a game that I have 0 expectations to beat before the end of the year...

So I started up Pillars of Eternity... has a pretty steep learning curve, but I'm mostly liking it so far.  I know that I don't quite understand the mechanics.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on December 17, 2018, 08:59:43 am
Looks like I'm going to fall a little short.  I'm currently sitting at 42.  I could probably force myself to sit down and knock a bunch of shorter titles, but then I would just be putting extra stress on myself for no reason, so I'll probably pick up something with a little more heft to it to end out the year.  I've not opened my Secret Santa gifts, but I've got a pretty good inclination as to what is in there, so one of those will probably get started soon.

I'll probably cap out around 44 or 45.  It's that damned RDR2.  I was doing so good, until I spent pretty much all of November playing that one game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 17, 2018, 01:12:11 pm
Will probably end up at around 24 games depending how long it takes me to beat Far Cry 4. May try to finish up Rogue Galaxy over the winter holiday but that's probably the only other potential game that I could beat before the end of the year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 20, 2018, 11:13:02 pm
Game 19 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) - 9 hours

Kept this game a secret because I played through the game to test it at first.

+ This game is so much fun. It's so unique and fun to play, the soundtrack is great, and there are a ton of fun levels, collectables and secret tasks that you have to do in the game. It has a lot of that Japanese charm and culture in it which is fun to experience as well.

- I think the only thing I would have liked to see was a little more variety in the missions. I feel like the expanded upon this better in the sequels. That's about it though.


 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2018, 12:07:18 am
Quote from: telly on December 20, 2018, 11:13:02 pm
Game 19 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) - 9 hours

Kept this game a secret because I played through the game to test it at first.

+ This game is so much fun. It's so unique and fun to play, the soundtrack is great, and there are a ton of fun levels, collectables and secret tasks that you have to do in the game. It has a lot of that Japanese charm and culture in it which is fun to experience as well.

- I think the only thing I would have liked to see was a little more variety in the missions. I feel like the expanded upon this better in the sequels. That's about it though.


 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)


the first time I ever played this game, well actually We <3 Katamari, was at a coworker's apartment after work one night back in probably 2005. I knew nothing about this game or what to expect, but I became addicted and my coworker and I ended up playing it until like 5am while listening to Japanese metal music. I became a big fan of the series after that and also it's a pretty good memory :)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on December 21, 2018, 06:53:38 pm
Got some time off from work to pound out a few more games before the year's over!

20.   Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
Nintendo upped the challenge with this game compared to the first Galaxy, which I particularly like. I think I like the first one better for its soundtrack and the worlds you visit, but I do love the challenge this second game offers. This was another fun one to go back to after a long time away.

21.   Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
Funny story with this game, I actually played through this in 2017, but I was looking at a guide for it and learned there is a final level that appears after you get 5 stars on your save file that I never played. So I went back and truly completed this one and that last level was a real troll. To give you an idea I started playing it with 411 lives and had about 350 by the time I beat it with both Mario and Luigi.

Anyway, I love this game even compared to others in the Super Mario series. I really like the 2.5D setting for Mario and want to see more games like this and 3D World in the future. There’s also a lot of levels to play, especially post game. I highly recommend this one.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 24, 2018, 06:17:14 am
68 - Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (PS4 2017) - BEAT - Going back to this series after not playing it since the PS2 days, I think all of my nostalgia for the series is more with KH2, because man KH1 is a slog.  Clunky combat, boring mostly small levels, and a mixed bag of boss fights that range from being pretty alright, to downright awful.  I really wasn't expecting to be so underwhelmed by this one, though thankfully it didn't take me more than like 22 hours to get through it, especially pushing my way through the freaking 4 Ansem fights right at the end.  I did not want to grind out like another 5 levels or so to beef myself up along with farming enemies to get stuff for synthesizing the endgame gear.  I hate that kind of grinding.

I have heard that KH2 cleans up the combat and such, so I am a little more hopeful for that after this as it needs to be better if I'm gonna play a game that is supposed to be longer than the first.   Hoping to enjoy that more as I want to be more hyped for KH3.  I think it looks great, and I like the idea of KH in general, but returning to the previous two games is more about getting the story down so that I have a better connection with the story of KH3.

That said, I do love me Cloud's design in this lol

(http://thecredhulk.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/kh-cloud.png)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: mizzach86 on December 25, 2018, 09:52:02 pm
These will probably be my last games for this year. I just started Breath of the Wild which I got for Christmas and I'm not finishing that anytime soon.

22.   Ratchet & Clank (PS3)
Here’s another game I’m revisiting via the Ratchet & Clank Collection after years away from the PS2 hey-day. This game is just as fun as I remember and the game is ridiculously funny as well. Great gameplay and replay value as well since you can replay the game with your equipment from the first playthrough.

23.   Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
Played this on 360 years ago and went through it on PS3 last year, but officially completed it by doing the Joker challenge maps I didn’t know existed just recently. I love what this series did for licensed games and demonstrated that they can be awesome and not just a cash grab. I’m glad to see that trend continuing with the likes of Spider Man on PS4. It also helps that I’m a huge Batman fan :)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kypherion on December 25, 2018, 10:04:41 pm
woah. Where'd the number 52 come from?

man i'll be lucky to get past 10
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on December 26, 2018, 08:32:54 pm
52 weeks in a year ;)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kypherion on December 26, 2018, 08:57:52 pm
Quote from: shfan on December 26, 2018, 08:32:54 pm
52 weeks in a year ;)

oh silly me, thanks for the clarification
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 26, 2018, 09:03:29 pm
Quote from: shfan on December 26, 2018, 08:32:54 pm
52 weeks in a year ;)

I never even realized that's why the thread was called that   :o
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on December 28, 2018, 09:47:18 am
Quote from: Cartagia on December 17, 2018, 08:59:43 am
I'll probably cap out around 44 or 45.

Just finished Resi 7 for number 44.  A fantastic game.  I was trying to hold off on playing it until I got a PSVR, but I'm glad I didn't, because I probably would have pissed myself more than once.  Easily the scariest RE game ever made.  Just top notch all around.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 28, 2018, 10:11:38 am
Considering that between now and the end of the year are going to bonkers for me I am going to call it at 70 games for 2018. I can't remember if this is more than what I had last year, but it's a number I'm very pleased with. As I've mentioned before on here I had the chance to replay most of the very best games I've ever played and reevaluate my favorite games of all time based on my current experience with them.


Next year I may not make 52 games, but then again I'm not necessarily going to try; I have way too much on my plate, especially during the first half the of the year, and aside from playing some short arcade ports here and there I doubt I'll be breaking 10 games beat before June.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 28, 2018, 06:08:26 pm
Well, I think I'll be closing this year out at 22 games. I thought I was going to add Far Cry 4 to the list but I've been so engrossed with Final Fantasy X that I've been making very little progress in Far Cry  :-X At least it means I'll be able to start off January strong.

As far as FFX goes, I just finished Zanarkand and got the Airship. Will be doing a few side missions like Blitzball, and at some point I'm going to revisit every area again to look for secrets. I'm trying to see if I can get the platinum for this game without using a guide and only relying on my memory of the game (this will be my 3rd time playing it). I still need to find 5 more Al Bhed Primers :(
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 28, 2018, 06:31:54 pm
Hit roughly 70 myself just in general, but it'll probably be more in the late 50's for games beat/multiplayer games if I take out the games I dropped.  Probably won't beat Iconoclasts or Kingdom Hearts 2 this year, so they'll likely get shoved onto next years list.  My plans for next year likely won't change much, still trying to hit up stuff I got in my backlog as I'm sure I get like a dozen free games a year now through PS+, Twitch Prime, and Humble Bundle.  That along with new games keep my gaming pretty active and I'll keep up with the challenge as it's become very handy for keeping track of everything I've played.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shatterstar69 on December 29, 2018, 02:28:49 am
I'm curious, does everyone come up with a list of games for the challenge or do you just play whatever you want?  I have put a list together for next year because I feel that would be better for me.  It will be my first year doing this and my backlog of games is huge!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 29, 2018, 02:35:27 am
Quote from: shatterstar69 on December 29, 2018, 02:28:49 am
I'm curious, does everyone come up with a list of games for the challenge or do you just play whatever you want?  I have put a list together for next year because I feel that would be better for me.  It will be my first year doing this and my backlog of games is huge!

It's whatever you want to do.  You could do a list of 52 games you want to whittle down, or just play whatever.  I play a lot of new games, so a lot of this is just keeping track of what I've done over the year, but it's also about digging into the backlog to play all of the free stuff or things I picked up real cheap.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 29, 2018, 10:48:18 am
Quote from: shatterstar69 on December 29, 2018, 02:28:49 am
I'm curious, does everyone come up with a list of games for the challenge or do you just play whatever you want?  I have put a list together for next year because I feel that would be better for me.  It will be my first year doing this and my backlog of games is huge!


I just play whatever I feel like in my collection. I have always collected to play and every game I own I bought because I had some interest in trying it out and playing it. Given, I'll be playing games in my collection for the rest of my life and even then I doubt I'll play them all, but it's fun to pick a random game out and just start playing it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on December 29, 2018, 01:20:56 pm
Quote from: shatterstar69 on December 29, 2018, 02:28:49 am
I'm curious, does everyone come up with a list of games for the challenge or do you just play whatever you want?  I have put a list together for next year because I feel that would be better for me.  It will be my first year doing this and my backlog of games is huge!

You make your own rules regarding how you want to set up your own challenge, just go for it and enjoy.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on December 29, 2018, 01:45:50 pm
Quote from: shatterstar69 on December 29, 2018, 02:28:49 am
I'm curious, does everyone come up with a list of games for the challenge or do you just play whatever you want?  I have put a list together for next year because I feel that would be better for me.  It will be my first year doing this and my backlog of games is huge!
I do a combination of both.  I usually have a few target games (this past year was the main Mega Man series) and then fill in the rest of the time with whatever tickles my fancy.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 29, 2018, 01:51:03 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on December 28, 2018, 10:11:38 am
Considering that between now and the end of the year are going to bonkers for me I am going to call it at 70 games for 2018. I can't remember if this is more than what I had last year, but it's a number I'm very pleased with. As I've mentioned before on here I had the chance to replay most of the very best games I've ever played and reevaluate my favorite games of all time based on my current experience with them.


Next year I may not make 52 games, but then again I'm not necessarily going to try; I have way too much on my plate, especially during the first half the of the year, and aside from playing some short arcade ports here and there I doubt I'll be breaking 10 games beat before June.


I lied....


71 and 72. X-Men vs Street Fighter (Saturn) and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter (Saturn): I am reviewing both of these at the same time because of how similar they are, however they have some very fundamental differences as well, some only noticeable when playing them back to back. First off, these games could easily be mistaken for being the same game at a superficial glance. In fact I thought they were the same game until I began collecting and realized they are two different releases. As a kid I local roller rink had both games at two different times and I remember thinking Dark Heart was a really cool character, but I was surprised when he was no longer in the roster since the roller rink had replaced the MSHvSF machine with XvSF. All the stages present and some of the music from XvSF is borrowed in MSHvSF, but MSHvSF ups the anti with more stages and more original music rather than remixes of various Street Fighter 2 themes. There is some overlap with the character roster as well, however the majority is swapped out between games, making certain preferences in specific super heroes or Street Fighter characters be a deciding factor as to what game someone would like more. However, in regards to how the characters handle and the gameplay in general, they are very different. What's really cool is you can see the evolution of the Capcom Vs. games between these two games; XvSF plays a lot more like Street Fighter Alpha in that the combat is fast, but no at the speed of Marvel vs Capcom 2 which MSHvSF is more similar too. You can see how more over the top in nearly every way MSHvSF is compared to XvSF, which also applies to the graphics as well. While I enjoy the more traditional gameplay of XvSF, MSHvSF's ridiculousness and speed wins out for me as the better game that is slightly more fun to play. Regardless, these games are excellent and some of the most memorable fighting games to come out of the late 90s. I also have to applaud the Sega Saturn ports of each game, which are arcade perfect in every way as far as I can tell. I played the PS1 version of MSHvSF just as a comparison and the difference is night and day even when overlooking the gameplay omissions of the PS1 port. This truly is the definitive home console version of both these games which I cannot recommend enough! XvSF: (12/29/18) [38/50], MSHvSF: (12/29/18) [40/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: shfan on December 29, 2018, 06:11:22 pm
I'm calling it quits for this year, it's a fail at 44 games beat. However, I also played/appraised 41 other games and got rid of them and cleared out a good few hundred games from my collection on top of that, so despite failing the challenge, I've really bitten a chunk out of my backlog. Bring on 2019.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kevininja on December 30, 2018, 02:40:06 pm
For my last game I managed to beat Batman: Arkham Asylum, which has been in my backlog for 5 years!

See you next year!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: kashell on December 31, 2018, 06:32:03 pm
I was keeping track of this on a separate thread. Here's my list!

RPG:
1. Legend of Legacy
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
3. Jade Cocoon - not finished
4. Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals
5. Izuna 2 - not finished
6. Secret of Mana Remake - platinum'd
7. Jade Cocoon 2
8. Shining the Holy Ark
9. Undertale - Pacifist Ending
10. The Alliance Alive
11. Ys VIII: The Lacrimosa of Dana - platinum'd
12. Front Mission 3
13. Drakengard 2
14. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology
15. South Park: The Stick of Truth - platinum'd
16. Octopath Traveler
17. Trinity Universe - platinum'd
18. Ray Gigant - not finished
19. Final Fantasy X
20. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
21. Valkyria Chronicles 4
22. Beyond the Beyond
23. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
24. Contact - not finished
25. Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal - not finished
26. Cosmic Star Heroine - platinum'd
27. Valkyrie Profile - A Ending
28. Grandia II
29. Nier
30. Makai Kingdom
31. Saiyuki: Journey West

Non-RPG:
1. Kirby: Battle Royale
2. Darksiders - platinum'd
3. Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams
4. Kirby Star Allies
5. Gitaroo Man
6. Collar X Malice - platinum'd
7. Nurse Love Addiction
8. Bujingai: The Forsaken City
9. Aragami Nightfall
10. Curse of the Moon
11. Muv-Luv Extra
12. Mega Man X3
13. Mega Man X
14. Muv-Luv Unlimited
15. Mega Man X4
16. 7'Scarlet
17. The Suffering: The Ties That Bind - Good Ending
18. Chulip
19. Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
20. Psychadelica of the Black Butterfly
21. Soul of the Samurai
22. Death Mark
23. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
24. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - platinum'd
25. Monkey Magic
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: telly on December 31, 2018, 11:07:23 pm
Game 21 - Far Cry 4 (PS4) - 19 Hours

Well suprise suprise, was actually able to finish off one last game for the year! I started Far Cry 4 as the first game on my PS4 because I had been playing SNES classic and Wii U games for the past year or so and wanted a change of pace.

+ I had really enjoyed Far Cry 3 a few years ago and this is more of that which is fine because the gameplay is still fun. The formula is pretty much the same but with some tweaks like rock climbing and fun side missions/karma missions. The game looks pretty good too, even though it was released in that cross PS3/PS4 timeframe so it looks more like a tarted up PS3 game. I really liked the dynamic between the two leaders of the Golden Path, it made for really interesting decision making; I felt like I was actually caught up in a warzone conflict.

- There were three major complaints that I had about the game. The first is that the main protagonist was done really poorly. He felt like a plank of wood; an expressionless, emotionless, subordinate, and it was frustrating playing as him. Staying in Kyrat to scatter his mother's ashes was a really silly motivator, and I laughed when like 10 hours into the game he finally pulled out that urn that he had gone swimming with, got shot and scratched by animals with, covered in fire with, etc. Speaking of animals, the predators are wayyyyy to aggressive. It was so frustrating when trying to do something (especially trying to stealthily capture an outpost), and a eagle or tiger bombards you and you have to break stealth to kill it. Lastly, the ending was pretty shitty. If you pick the wrong choice it just immediately cuts to the ending credits. After that happened I reloaded the game to take the second option but the other ending still wasn't that fulfilling.

 Back to my list (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: Cartagia on December 31, 2018, 11:14:05 pm
Final tally:

1. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (PS4) - Beat
2. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Switch) - Beat
3. Yoshi's New Island (2DS XL) - Beat
4. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) - Beat
4a. Horizon: Zero Dawn - The Frozen Wilds (PS4) - Beat
5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2DS XL) - Beat
6. Abzu (PS4) - Beat
7. Titanfall 2 (PS4) - Beat
8. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC) - Abandoned
9. Star Wars Battlefront II (XB1) - Beat
10. Mega Man (2DS XL) - Beat
11. Mega Man 2 (2DS XL) - Beat
12. Prey (2017) (XB1) - Beat
13. Mega Man 3 (PS4) - Beat
14. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360) - Beat
15. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PS4) - Beat
16. Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers (PS4) - Beat
17. Dead Space 2 (XB1) - Beat
18. God of War (2018) (PS4) - Platinum
19. Mega Man 4 (PS4) - Beat
20. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Switch) - Beat
21. Dark Souls III: Fire Fades Edition (PS4) - Beat
22. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (2DS XL) - Beat
23. Mega Man 5 (PS4) - Beat
24. Hollow Knight (Switch) - Completed
25. South Park: The Fractured But Whole (XB1) - Beat
26. Mega Man 6 (PS4) - Beat
27. Rise of the Tomb Raider (XB1) - Beat
28. Mega Man 7 (PS4) - Beat
29. Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (XB1) - Beat
30. Mega Man 8 (PS4) - Beat
31. Mega Man 9 (PS4) - Beat
32. Mega Man 10 (PS4) - Beat
33. Halo 5: Guardians (XB1) - Beat
34. Sonic Mania Plus (Switch) - Beat
35. Borderlands 2 (PS4) - Beat
36. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (PC) - Beat
37. Mega Man 11 - (Switch) Beat
38. Dark Souls: Remastered (Switch) - Beat
39. Red Dead Redemption II (PS4) - Beat
40. Imperialism (PC) - Finished
41. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time (SNES) - Beat
42. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch) - Beat
43. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4) - Beat
44. Resident Evil VII: Biohazard (PS4) - Beat
45. Angry Video Game Nerd II: ASSimilation (PC) - Beat
46. Castlevania: Bloodlines (GEN) - Beat
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2018
Post by: ignition365 on January 02, 2019, 09:07:28 am


Final stats for the year.

54 games beat out of 62 played.  I'm certain I played more than 62, but I didn't track games that I didn't put much time into.

Top Games played that released in 2018

Top Games played NOT released in 2017

Top Games played overall in 2017

Honorable Mention

Console breakdown

Platform with Most Beat Games: PS4 with 21 games beat. 1 of those being PSVR games. NS was a distant second with only 13 games beat, but nearly double the games beat as last year, so NS has seen a major increase in play time.

Platform with Most unfinished titles: That would be a tie between NS and PS4.  X1's streak as most abandoned has been broken.  I abandoned 2 PS4 games this year entirely and I abandoned 1 NS game and am currently playing through another that will be finished at some point this month, so I give this to PS4.

Current v. Retro v. Mobile/Handheld v. PC: 40 - 9 - 4 - 1 (I am considering anything not PS4/X1/NS to be "retro")

Game that ate up the most time: I didn't actually put a ton of time into any one game that I can remember, so it was probably Yakuza 5 given that I did a lot of the side content in that game and it is one of the longer games I played this year.

Quickest game beat: Donut County.  Started, beat, and platinumed the game all in one evening.  Florence probably was shorter, but I played it over the course of 3 days, so I count it as lasting longer.

and for some new stuff.