Messages

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 21, 2026, 04:00:22 pm »

27. Super Mario 64 | 1996 | Switch 2 | 6/18:



     Super Mario 64 is about to be 30 years old later this year. It's hard for me to imagine, because that game was out before my time. I didn't have the experience of transitioning from the 2D sprites of the SNES/Genesis to full-fledged 3D graphics promised by fifth-generation consoles, such as the Nintendo 64. I've had an N64, and I have played a bit of SM64 growing up, so I do have some nostalgia for the game.

     All of this is to say: Super Mario 64 is without no doubt a masterpiece, and will continue to be so as long as 1+1=2. I don't think it's a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. The camera, while NOT as bad as everyone makes it out to be, can become unintuitive when moving on a thin surface or lining up for a jump. Even when using the Mario Cam instead of the Lakitu Cam (I think a lot of people forget it exists), it can still be troublesome. Yet if the camera system of Mario 64 was reworked, we wouldn't get the cinematic moments of the Chain Chomp narrowly avoiding you with its bite in Bob-omb Battlefield, nor the piano coming to life in Big Boo's Haunt. Those moments wouldn't have been as memorable or cherished if captured at any other angle.

     The designers of Nintendo were so ambitious with this game. I can imagine kids bewildered at getting to explore Peach's Castle for the very first time, and discovering all the castle's secret levels in the process. Imagine going from 8 or so worlds in a 2D Mario game, to almost double with 15 in SM64. Sure, there's repeat themes -- two snow courses and two water for example -- and some courses are a lot better than others. But that doesn't matter; you don't have to play every level. I ended up skipping Cool, Cool Mountain and Tiny-Huge Island entirely; not because I don't like them but because I got involved with trying out other levels first. I really wanted to fully complete all the water courses (yes, I like the water levels) and the very first two courses as well cause they are both classics. It ended up being more than half of the 70 stars I needed to finish the game, so the rest of the stars I got were just whatever I felt like getting at the moment.

     There's just something special with the design of Mario 64. Take the 3rd mission in Bob-omb Battlefield for example: "Shoot to the Island in the Sky". You're supposed to walk halfway up the mountain and use the cannon to fire yourself at the tree. The game doesn't tell you this of course, but that's the easiest, most simple path to the star. You can however, also use the cannon that's almost directly underneath the floating island to get there. It's a quicker, but more difficult solution as you get a lot less wiggle-room to line up the perfect shot. If you aim too high, you'll miss the top of the tree and end up sailing towards the mountain. It sucks when you miss, but you end up a lot closer to the easy cannon shot in return. Was this all by design, or is it all one big coincidence?

     Whatever the case may be, it adds more and more to Mario 64's crowning achievement: the freedom. You have the freedom to pick out what stars you want to get, and how you want to obtain them. There's some exceptions to the rule, but you ultimately decide what you want to do. You have an entire arsenal of tricks at your diposal to obtain these stars: the triple jump, the mid-air dive, the long jump, the ground pound. You can combo some of these moves together to get to other areas quicker, or places that may or may not have been available yet by design. It really opens the game up for a high skill-ceiling, and it's ultimately why SM64 is still the #1 speedrunning game in the world.

     There's skips like the backwards long jump up the infinite staircase that anyone can do, lore ("L is Real"), memes ("So Long Gay Bowser"), and theories outside of the game ("Every copy of Mario 64 is personalized"). These are all elements that make this game stand out beyond the game, but never overshadows it; because SM64 is timeless to play. Mario 64 is not even my favorite 3D Mario game, but there's no denying the fact that Super Mario 64 is eternal.

Grade: S

2

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 21, 2026, 11:20:02 am »

26. Star Fox 64 | 1997 | Switch 2 | 6/12:



     Now here's a game I should've played a long time ago, but never did: the original Star Fox 64. The Star Fox franchise was something I never really thought of playing at all. Maybe it's because there hasn't been a real full-fledged entry since the GameCube era? Regardless, the upcoming remake of this game did have me curious to check out the classic and see what it's all about.

     I don't think I had fully understood the N64 controller prior to playing Star Fox 64. Despite feeling a bit unorthodox at first, the N64 controller and Star Fox 64 go together like butter on toast. It uses almost every button from the middle to the right side of the controller, and it feels real intuitive once you get the hang of it. Maybe it's common knowledge to anyone who's played the game before, but I would have never thought of such a control scheme if I was given a full day to think about it.

     As for the game itself: I found myself completing Star Fox 64 twice; once the common route, then going through the harder alternative route in my second go-around. I can definitely see myself having the itch to come back a year or two from now to play it all over again, like I would with something like Super Mario 64. Going for a higher score or picking a different order of levels to play through next time sounds like a blast. The battles and presentation are both so seamless and cinematic that I was kind of absorbed with everything happening; I can't really think of anything that I disliked aside from one boss fight in the alt. route. Taking down enemies is satisfying, the voice acting is memorable, and there's plenty of replay value. I'll give it some time, but Star Fox 64 may just join the S-rank pantheon in the near future. Grade: A

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 17, 2026, 06:06:45 pm »

25. Forza Horizon 6 | 2026 | PC & Xbox Series X | 6/11:



     The 4th game in the Forza Horizon franchise is one of my favorite racing games ever. It seems like Playground Games & Turn 10 Studios have fully understood how to make a racing game fun, even to people who don't like racing games. There's an overabundance of activities in the open-world, but the experience really comes from having a goal in mind and immediately becoming side-tracked from that initial goal. There's so many times in these games where I suit up a car -- ready to race -- and I somehow ended up completing 3 PR Stunts and 2 separate Cross Country events before starting the road race I planned on doing before. That's the real appeal of Forza Horizon for me.

     Horizon 6 isn't any different. Actually, there's not much that's changed at all. The big selling point of this game is that it takes place in Japan. I didn't play much of Horizon 5 due to: one, being burned-out from playing the prior entry, but also because the map of Mexico wasn't all that inspiring. It felt like there wasn't much elevation or variation to the land -- and hardly any cities or memorable landmarks to speak of -- so racing or exploring didn't feel as exciting as it should've been. I think the Horizon 6 team noticed this as well because the map of Japan is, in contrast, diverse. You have the metropolis of Tokyo City, the sprawling highways, signature touge roads that twist & turn, and even a snow area at the top of the map. Horizon's Japan is flushed with collectibles, races, story missions, and distinct landmarks; and even moments that inspire you to use the game's Photo Mode to take pictures.

     Forza Horizon 6 is no different from any of the other recent entries, but it really capitalizes on everything that makes the series so great. I felt that Horizon 4 was near-perfect for what it was, and this entry just inches past it. The one gripe I have that keeps this from getting an S grade is the presentation. Despite the dialogue being more acceptable than what it was in Horizon 5, this series has never been able to match the story or presentation of the first game. It's fine for what it is, but it would've been even better if I could switch the voice language over to Japanese as less of a distraction. Also, there's some visual bugs that may be a PC thing? Like when I'm doing a cross country race at night with snow on the ground, the glint from the snow is all bright yellow instead of white. I haven't noticed it on the Series X version, so I've just been switching between Xbox and PC throughout my playtime.

     Other than that, this is pretty much what I expected a Horizon game in Japan to be. It's a more stylized, celebratory version of Japan than a 1-to-1 recreation, which is what I figured if it meant getting a more exciting, driving & racing experience. The licensed music is actually a lot better than it normally is IMO, and you even have a dedicated radio station to all Japanese-speaking music -- even the DJ only speaks Japanese! I'm really looking forward to seeing the expansions for this game, and if there's any indication based on what I've been playing: they're going to be a lot of fun too.



Grade: A+

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 17, 2026, 05:55:31 pm »

24. Zenless Zone Zero | 2024 | Season 2 | PC | 5/27:



     I'm not invested into gacha games. I like them -- and I have played my fair share of them -- but nowadays I only play Zenless Zone Zero. If nothing else, the one thing that keeps me logging in almost everyday is that daily missions can be done in less than a minute if need be.

     The BIG reason why I keep playing is that the combat is fabulous. I'm devoted to figuring out the right combos for characters: finding the right timing to use them and when to counter with another character on my team. It's a lot more fast-paced than any other gacha out there, considering it's a pretty-straightforward hack n' slash. There's meta teams -- just like any other gacha -- that objectively perform better than others, but it's possible to make it through the endgame Deadly Assault & Shiyu Defense game-modes with some dedication. Just ignore the fact that MiHoYo tempts you to summon for the limited banner characters by making buffs (pertaining to endgame content) always synergizing with the current banner units. ALWAYS pick who you jibe with over any meta.

     The biggest letdown of Season 2 for me is the story. The first couple of updates were fine as it was moreso about foreshadowing and building-up the main plot. Most of the narrative focus was instead given to the allies of the new Waifei Peninsula region, with their own individual backgrounds and struggles. I never thought a gacha game with jiggle physics could get me to ugly cry but the Seed side story really did it for me, I have to admit. When more focus was put towards the main antagonist Sarah & The Creator, I just lost interest. It just felt sloppy and anti-climactic. One of the story updates was rewritten at the last minute, so about half of the dialogue that would normally be voiced wasn't. This certainly added fuel to my disinterest in the story and impacted part of the experience.



     The biggest part of Season 2 (and what Zenless is good at) is the events. There was a Fall Guys-like event (with minigames against numerous people online), an extensive summer event with fishing & surfboarding minigames, and an extraction-style gamemode featuring the game's adorable Bangboo characters. Some events are better than others, but it felt like something to look forward to with each update and at worse, it would only take a couple of hours of my time to complete.

     Overall, I was pretty content with how Season 2 turned out, even with the more lofty expectations I had going in. I haven't been much engaged with hack n' slash games in the past, but I always look forward to the new characters coming out in ZZZ, looking ahead for gameplay leaks and pre-planning who I'm summoning for and how I'm to go about building them. Season 3's story better be good though. Grade: B

5

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 11, 2026, 01:30:21 am »

Incredible game.  Capcom is truly on a tear rn.

For real.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: June 07, 2026, 12:04:36 am »

23. PRAGMATA | 2026 | PC | 5/23:



     I played the "Sketchbook" demo for this back during one of Steam's Next Fests last year, and I was pretty shocked to find that: one, a big publisher like Capcom would release a demo during an event mainly for indie developers and two, that the game was really fun! What makes this game stand out from many triple-A titles is just how innovative it feels gameplay-wise. It's a third-person shooter with weapons that you'd find in any other game of the genre: pistols, shotguns, missile launchers, yadda yadda. What really makes PRAGMATA shine is the "hacking" element on top of the shooter gameplay. You can hardly damage any of the robots you battle over the course of the game without opening them up first via. hacking.

     You get a puzzle game on top of a shooting game: chaining different nodes together in the hacking mode to do the most damage, while consequently opening up the robots for more damage with shots from your weapons. It's an engaging gameplay-loop that gets more fun and challenging as you progress through the main story. Besides unlocking new types of nodes and weapons, you engage with new, more intimidating enemies that require you to think more outside the box. The bosses in PRAGMATA are so interesting to face as you really have to learn their moveset in order to defeat them. It may require you getting defeated once or twice to finally figure out what you have to do. There's nothing wrong with that because the game is so much fun to play, who cares if I have to fight the same boss again at full HP?

     This game was made more for a controller in mind, but it plays pretty well on mouse & keyboard for me. You have to really give your mouse a lot of room in order to work with Diana's gameplay, but it's satisfying once you do. Diana is one-half of PRAGMATA's gameplay-loop: the little girl in the back who deals with hacking enemies. Hugh is the astronaut who does all of the dirty work. You get a feel of how both of them interact with one another throughout the story. There's not a huge emphasis on the story-telling like there would be in something like, say The Last of Us. Half of the context comes from logs and emails left behind by the scientists that were there before you. However, you get just enough story moments to where I did feel attached to both characters and was looking forward to seeing where they were going next.

     The various environments encompassing the moonbase facility you're stranded on are all very detailed and gorgeous to look at -- as gorgeous as you can make a fractured facility look like. There's also purpose to fully analyzing every room as you obtain both upgrade parts and collectibles. Most upgrades use some form of lunafilament -- a type of matter that's introduced to you early on and has a strong presence in PRAGMATA's story. It's used to upgrade almost anything you can think of that would be useful to you. Collectibles are pretty useful as well, since they unlock various activities in the hub area that Diana can perform, furthering the bond between her and Hugh.

     It's such a treat to be getting something new and different from a well-established powerhouse like Capcom. It has the kind of polish you would expect from a modern game with big production values, while having the kind of heart that's rare to find in operations of the same size. This is definitely in contention for the "supremeusername's Game of the Year Award for 2026".



Grade: A+

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 14, 2026, 07:55:33 pm »

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



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

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

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

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: May 14, 2026, 07:37:43 pm »

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



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

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

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

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

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

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



Grade: A+

9

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 25, 2026, 01:39:03 pm »

I actually don't remember that segment of a mission from that stage—particularly the electrified grind rails. It did take me far longer to complete this game than it normally does since I took an extended break from it, though, so either I'm just not remembering that aspect of the mission or I was able to clear that particular mission without issue. I do remember falling off from the pier area of that stage into the water a lot during one of the earlier visits there, and I was thinking about it specifically when mentioning my struggles to regain health as antagonists were pursuing me.

I hadn't looked up anything about whether Jet Set Radio actually performs well on Dreamcast hardware or not. I suppose I particularly was hoping to play the game with the original controller, as I think those sorts of details are important to playing older games especially as they were developed for and intended to play. If the performance is that poor, though, then maybe it was more worthwhile to play the PC port than just waiting to buy the game outright for Dreamcast someday day to play. But maybe one day I'll still do that.

     It's one of the levels in the middle of the story where you're forced to play as either Combo or Cube. Jet Set Radio -- or Jet Grind Radio as the original US release calls it -- runs pretty well aside on the DreamCast, aside from that one level. It's aesthetically pleasing (it's an in-universe depiction of Times Square) and one of the more ambitious-designed levels because it's more about traversing the environment vertically than horizontally. It's more with what you were saying about the game being confusing to navigate, which felt most apparent with that particular level for me. It sucked exploring that level cause I had left the harder graffiti for last, and just reaching those spots without exactly knowing how to get there, AND having to deal with the helicopter & shock enemies was pretty bad. I had played the game before like 6 years ago, which is why I was surprised to struggle at that level when I had probably cleared it in one go the 1st time lol.

     If you can get the DC copy at a fair price, it's more than worth it. I think just playing the PC copy with an Xbox or PS controller is just as fair too (that's what I did the first time playing through the game).

10

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 22, 2026, 11:37:01 pm »

To a degree, certain aspects of the game are needlessly challenging, though it's not to the point of frustration. And, I will acknowledge that a certain level of difficulty is required beyond the depleting time limit to complete stages. Nevertheless, it's common to navigate throughout a stage without much direction, and there are times when the map system becomes useless as where players may need to go is a different segment of the map and can't be accessed unless already physically there. Meanwhile, antagonistic forces have the utmost intent to leave you incapacitated without any health, utilizing fists, guns, or even explosives while you're instead left with the only option to evade them. On that note, health can quickly deplete, and desperately searching for restorative spray paint cans while an enemy encounter occurs adds another layer of stress as time ticks down. Between these two elements, first-time players or even players who simply become lost will struggle.

Although I enjoyed playing it again this year, this was probably my biggest gripe with the game. The city mission with all the rooftops and elevation was exceptionally more brutal than I remembered. Not just with figuring out where to go, but how to get to the graffiti while dodging the helicopter and electric dudes that shock the poles you have to grind on to progress. Cool-looking level, but I really did not enjoy it. It also runs poorly on OG Dreamcast hardware.

At the end of stages, players are scored based on a ranking system, and I can only imagine that trying to reach the highest rank for them all is a trial of patience amidst the aforementioned problems present. To help players accrue more points, optional tag locations can be found and used to bolster one's score, but using them obviously comes at the cost of depleting their stock of spray cans.

The best way to accumulate more score is to pick a character with a high "Graffiti" stat (like Gum lol). I think you also get more score if you complete graffiti in one interaction -- without getting hit, running out of paint cans, or messing up the QTE -- cause the score multiplies. So it's better to do the large graffiti first with a full inventory of paint cans for max score, and you won't have to worry about it when the more difficult enemies appear later in the level.

11

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 17, 2026, 11:40:11 am »

20. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | 2002 | PlayStation 2 | 4/11:



     Well, whether GTA 6 arrives this year or next year -- or the year after that -- we still have the original Vice City to look back on. I could never finish Grand Theft Auto: Vice City before due to complications: the first time, I forgot to save my progress after playing for 5 hours straight on the PS2; the second time, my game soft-locked every time I tried to move after saving because the game spawned me on top of the save point. Man, I love the old GTA games.

     Everything about Vice City is still true today: vibrant vistas, an amazing licensed soundtrack, and a step above its prior entry: Grand Theft Auto III. While GTA III is the innovator, and San Andreas is the one to truly push the PS2 to its limit, Vice City is still just as important with what Rockstar North improved on within a shorter development window. You have more weapons to work with, properties that can be purchased, and an overall different feel and vibe compared to prior entries. Though you can tell this is an early-2000s game, Vice City still holds up visually because of the new location. I love the grit of GTA III, but the loose recreation of 80s Miami combined with subtle art direction choices like bringing back the "trails" effect, is pure nostalgic bliss.

     Tommy Vercetti -- while not the most memorable protagonist in the series -- was and still is the perfect candidate for the series' 1st voiced playable character. His background isn't given much dialogue; the only detail I can remember is him mentioning being in 'Nam, but the story doesn't really elaborate further. Vercetti is however, definitely a character you can feel is a part of Vice City's world, like many of the characters you come across throughout the game. They're expressive and goofy, but don't come across as annoying like Liberty City Stories and its characters felt to me.

     Missions are surprisingly varied compared to GTA III. There is the occasional aggravating mission that takes numerous trips to the Ammu-Nation to beat, but you get a little taste of everything the game has to offer. This is thanks to the varied cast of characters you get missions from. You may do one mission that tasks you with assassinating a lady for her briefcase just to help with counterfeiting money, while the very next mission requires you to keep a certain speed limit while some drunk, bumbling idiots try to disarm a bomb in the back of your car. There's enough side content outside of missions to help with earning money, but it's not so much that it becomes overwhelming or too ambitious like San Andreas can be at times. Despite showing some cracks that it's still an early open-world title, Vice City is overall a pretty well-rounded experience.



Grade: A-

12

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 17, 2026, 11:33:00 am »

19. Rave Racer | 1995 | "Arcade Archives 2" Re-release | Switch 2 | 4/4:



     Rave Racer -- not to be confused with Ridge Racer or Rage Racer -- is a pretty fun arcade game. Drifting around corners is never a dull moment in this game. I can't always get it right, but when I do get a good run going, I'm in a flow state. This port to modern consoles -- while expensive -- gives you multiple versions to play. Do you want to play the Japanese or English version? Standard manual driving or the DX version using the right thumbstick as the stick shift? You get all of them!

     Of course, there's some annoyances I have with the arcade mode. Getting past opponents is tough, especially on the more advanced courses. There's tight passageways where you can bump into an opposing driver and lose a heavy chunk of momentum, as you can't help but do so just to make a sharp turn. Even if you bump them from the side, the game will sometimes decide that you lost speed while your opponent is not affected in any way. I also wish there was a way to turn down the announcer voices. I don't like hearing "Come on! Drive a smart race! There's a lot of racing ahead!" after I just made a perfectly normal drift turn.

     Even though it's nigh impossible to play the game as it was originally intended now, you can still have much of the authentic Rave Racer experience today in the comfort of your own bed or couch. Grade: B

13

General / Re: April 2026 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: April 01, 2026, 06:07:06 pm »

April 1st didn't fool me!:

DS
- Pokemon Soul Silver

Switch
- Earthion

Xbox One
- Prototype Biohazard Bundle
- Yakuza 0 (with Game Case Holder)
- Yakuza 4 Remastered

14

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 29, 2026, 03:36:51 pm »

18. BALL x PIT | 2025 | PC | 3/28:



     I played the demo for this during the Steam Next Fest last summer, and I was pretty excited to start playing it now. It's a roguelike where you shoot balls at encroaching opponents to eliminate them, similar to Arkanoid. It helps if you can get the balls to the back wall so they start bouncing between there and the opponent's back. You don't have to do that though, and it may not even be feasible depending on what build you're running. You have 20ish characters to pick from, with each one having their own unique ability. There's one character that bounces the projectiles you fire back with a shield, one that lobs projectiles, even one that turns BALL x PIT into a turn-based game. You can even choose a character that just plays the game for you and makes their own decisions on what upgrades to get.

     Upgrading your character works by picking up gems dropped by eliminated opponents. You can then choose from either passives or special balls with signature abilities like Burn, Charm, or Lightning. Eventually, an opponent will drop a power-up that will let you fuse certain balls or passives together. This is where the magic of the game happens. You can have -- for example -- a Laser ball shooting horizontally and another one vertically fuse to make one ball that shoots in both directions simultaneously. You can then fuse that one with the Ghost ball so that it passes directly through opponents now, while firing lasers every time it touches someone new. It's easier to make a powerful build in this game versus a lot of other roguelikes just from playing casually. By experimenting and believing in what you think would work, you could make something amazing.



     There's also the home base: from which you farm resources like wheat and stone to construct buildings that will either grant you stat boosts or unlock a new character. After every match, you harvest by picking a direction to fire all your unlocked characters towards and seeing them ping-pong and bounce in various directions like the balls you fire in the main game. It's a fun gameplay loop of placing structures and harvesting crops, then attempting to beat the next level with slightly better stats and more information to work with. This game does run out of steam towards the end as it stops introducing new ideas to you, but the first 80% of BALL x PIT is very engaging to play. It's well worth the base $15 asking price for a one-week gaming addiction. Grade: A-

15

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 29, 2026, 03:27:20 pm »

17. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories | 2006 | PlayStation 2 | 3/27:



     It's felt like forever since I last played a GTA game, especially one from the PS2-era. The 'Stories' games were seen as an afterthought by a younger me because I had no idea what they were supposed to be. I thought they were extra challenges or bonus missions to their original games; I never knew Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories were full-blown GTA games! Since I'm more familiar with GTA III, I wanted to trudge through Liberty City Stories first and save the other one for later in the year.

     LCS is pretty much a 'GTA III Deluxe', with more extracurricular content than the original and some gameplay features borrowed from the later PS2 titles -- such as motorcycles, drive-by shootings, and a less restrictive player-controlled camera. In terms of presentation however, Liberty City Stories is somehow weaker than its father game. I've run across multiple weird glitches: like having one of my allies in one mission shoot at me for no explained reason and having to use the RPG to blow up an enemy stuck in a wall -- the kind of glitches I would never come across in GTA III. Maybe it's just my nostalgia or I'm just unlucky, I don't know. This game also runs very poorly on original hardware, like it was made for the PSP in mind and was ported over to the PS2 last minute. It's like whatever framework they borrowed from the original GTA III to build on with the PSP version, to then port later to the PlayStation 2 has made it more unstable.

     I can see it with the way the NPCs act on the streets: constantly getting stuck on cars or running into walls whenever they get spooked. Even during the credits when you are watching pedestrians drive around Liberty City, they are crashing into walls and other civilians. There's a level of polish from even GTA III that's not completely shown here. It has the same pop-in problems and there are still loading screens in-between islands (but now the music cuts out while you're loading for some reason). In half of the mission cutscenes, there's no lips moving and lots of static cinematography. Some missions feel too brief for what they are. There's a major character from Vice City that returns just to get gunned down for some papers; no dialogue from him or a special cutscene, you only get his likeness.

     The story is not that interesting either. Many of the original GTA III cast end up returning through a majority of the game's missions. Toni Cipriani, the main character you play as, is one of them. Unfortunately for me, I didn't care for most of these people. They've all had a complete personality change and come off as bizarre caricatures that follow the series' trademark humor more so than their original appearance. Maria in this game devolves into a hardcore drug addict and is never mentioned after leaving the first island. Sal came off as shady in GTA III but here, he's a large megalomaniac. The cutscene dialogue can be funny, but most of the time I'm wondering why I'm doing missions for these people that have no respect for you. It makes doing missions feel kind of pointless. Claude is a more involved, developed character in the GTA headcanon than Toni -- and Claude doesn't speak at all! I read from a positive review on Reddit that doing missions is supposed to feel pointless, and that the main theme of the story is the pointlessness of crime and the consequences of chasing it. I can definitely see it, but it doesn't make playing through Liberty City Stories more compelling to me.



Grade: D-