Messages

1

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 07, 2026, 06:07:36 pm »

13. Condemned: Criminal Origins | 2005 | Xbox Series X | 3/7:



     Completing back-to-back horror games for the first time in quite a while, this one is poles apart from the last one I played however. We have here the grungy survival horror action-FPS of Condemned, developed by the late & great Monolith. This game really did not age well in the 'looks department', but it kind of works with the overall aesthetic. Character models with any semblance of being called human just look dreadful in this game. The enemies you face however, look real dangerous and thrilling to fight. This, combined with the closed-quarters level design, really make Condemned shine through all the grit and grime of the game's world. There's also the game's combat, which feels visceral and crunchy when you trade blows with the many thugs and gremlins you're forced to face. Condemned does feel a little stiff to play today, especially with this herky-jerky camera movement that may be due to how it ran on the original 360. Still, it only adds to the claustrophobic layout of levels and not knowing what's around the corner.

     Story was so-so for me. I liked the beginning parts where it felt more like a crime drama, but they lost me with the paranormal crap introduced towards the end. It felt shoe-horned in and not what the game built itself up to be. This was Monolith's 2nd first-person horror game released in 2005, the prior game being F.E.A.R. about a month earlier. These were the studio's first attempts at making a single-player FPS with elements of horror (not counting Blood); and they nailed both. F.E.A.R. is way better though. Grade: C+

2

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 07, 2026, 05:56:59 pm »

I wasn't familiar with Saya no Uta previously (I'm generally unfamiliar with visual novels), but I did become somewhat curious about it after reading your thoughts. Without really knowing the extent to just how explicit this game is even after some shallow searching, I decided to peruse images results. With that said, while it's not a game for me (probably only) because of its eroge content, it's interesting to know that this exists and as is popular as it is.

The Steam version cuts down on the eroge content, but I don't know how it's done. I've tried looking into it, but everyone has a slightly different description about what's shown and what's removed. I think you still get the context about what's happening, but the eroge dialogue & nudity is cut out. Some people liked the 'censored' version more after reading both, so you couldn't be wrong looking into the Steam version if you're interested. It's still gonna require some willpower to read though, no matter what version you pick.

3

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 05, 2026, 03:36:26 pm »

Updated: March 5th

4

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 05, 2026, 02:46:04 pm »

12. The Song of Saya | 2003 | Director's Cut | PC | 2/28:



     Well, where do I begin? This game is an experience, and I don't say that lightly. This is one of those games that you have to go in blind and be fully immersed by what the game gives you. And this game will not only give, but put you through a lot within its 6 to 8 hour runtime. It's unapologetically grotesque & deranged in its presentation, yet never feels over-bearing. It can feel overly nihilistic at times, yet beautifully written with a lot of thought and effort. For every shocking moment, there's respite (yet somberness looms in the atmosphere). There's not a moment of waste in The Song of Saya.

     The 'visual' in visual novel is clearly presented here. Outlines of buildings covered in guts and entrails parade the streets in a nightmare world where the sky is endless black. The nasty gore of background environments isn't drawn but created from early-2000s CGI, which feels even more unsettling and uncanny to visualize. This is juxtaposed by moments of real life: pictures taken from everyday places, filtered to look like faded, nostalgic slices-of-life, making up environments for the game outside of the nightmare. There's plenty of unique CG art shown as well; way more than a short VN like this should have. You also have the fantastic soundtrack, with wildly shifts in tone & mood: from something as simple & serene as "Sabbath" to the roaring drone of guitars and distant wails of agony in "Schizophrenia". There's a lot to Song of Saya that makes it feel complete, unrelated to the actual story.

     Speaking of which, let's get into what rounds out Song of Saya for me: the story-telling -- specifically the shifting of perspectives. You start as a victim involved in a tragic accident that has completely changed his view on life, and you see all the disturbing details that he sees from his perspective. Later on, you start to see the story unfold from other viewpoints and foreboding horror starts to occur. I'll try my best to explain a scenario from the game without spoiling anything: there's a scene of murder involved, but to show or even explain the person getting murdered is very taboo in the land of video games. So, this game decides to dehumanize them by showing you the perspective of someone that can't see them as human. Elements of the real world are heavily altered in their point of view. You can make out some remnants of the outside world's humanity as the spectator of the story, but the person you are spectating cannot because they are filled with fear. So you witness and hear the sounds of a tragedy taking place from their muffled POV, but you know the exact context of the crime occurring if the veil were to come off. It's an absolutely fucked-up display of horror, but it doesn't come off as cheap or in poor-taste because of the clever writing and mixed-perspective presentation.



     I'm baffled that this came out in 2003. There must've been nothing like it then and it's still captivating to this today. Apparently, Japan agrees because they're still pumping out all kinds of merch for this game: Posters, figures, plushies. There's also vinyl records of the game's OST, with some colored variants aptly named "Meat" and "Rot". Not bad at all for a 23-year old visual novel with no anime or manga adaptation. Anyways, I'm getting off-topic. This game is really not for everyone and even for the people that its for, opinions are polarizing compared to the other classics of this genre. Most of the "Director's Cut" content I used my arm as a censor bar, but I appreciate it for making the game even more disturbing to read. I don't think there's any correct way to experience The Song of Saya. I'm glad there's options to blur the abhorrent scenery in this game for those that can't stomach it, but still want to engage in the story. I did however, experience this game as any Japanese person would back in 2003 and I did not regret it one bit. This is a work of art in the same vein as games like Pathologic and Deadly Premonition are: completely and utterly its own thing; no sugarcoating it or compromise to appeal to the largest audience. It may not be my favorite game of the year when everything's said and done, but it will probably be my most memorable.

Grade: A

5

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 04, 2026, 09:19:37 pm »

11. Skullmonkeys | 1998 | PlayStation 1 | 2/25:



     Continuing from Ghost in the Shell, we have yet another one-of-a-kind PS1 game completed: Skullmonkeys. Off the bat, art direction gets a 10 out of 10 from me. This is actually a sequel to the point-and-click adventure game The Neverhood, released two years prior. You can absolutely tell the same team worked on this one just by artstyle alone: claymation that's been all hand-crafted and worked into most of the game's assets -- from the backgrounds, to the enemies you face, to the stop-motion cutscenes that play every couple of levels. How cool is that?!

     As for the actual gameplay, it's kind of ehh. In the beginning, you have a nice balance of difficulty and fairness as you get used to the game's mobility and mechanics. However, the game becomes exceptionally brutal once you meet the bug enemies. These levels just start to feel monotonous as you're stuck in the same environment, dying to the same enemies over and over. It doesn't help that each level to start with features different types of enemies and vistas (snow, industrial, above the clouds, etc.), while these 'YNT' levels all have gloomy environments with these bug enemies that punish you with their hit detection and speed -- and there's four of them, IN A ROW!

     There's one thing I've noticed with some of these enemies: the standard ones that walk back and forth have no predictable movement cycle. For example: the non-flying bug enemies will stand in one spot until they scratch their heads, which means they are about to move in the opposite direction they're facing. Sometimes, the head-scratching animation will play halfway or not at all when they decide to move. Sometimes, they move the length of an entire platform or move only halfway before they stop dead in their tracks. So for a platformer that requires minimal room for error, you have to face enemies that give you no way to predict when they're going to move and how they're going to move. This harkens me back to some of the problems I've had with Tomb Raider II: where some of these deaths are in no way your fault because you have no way of predicting them. It's worse in this game however, because at least if you replay Tomb Raider II, you will know what to look out for in terms of traps set up to troll you. I have no idea if my jump in Skullmonkeys will allow me to stomp on an enemy or I end up a couple of pixels short and get blown up because the enemy decides to abruptly stop.

     Forewarning: this game is part platformer, part inventory management sim. There are parts in later levels where it feels like you HAVE to use power-ups to make it past. You have a finite number of power-up items that's earned in levels. When you lose all of your lives, you spawn at the start of the section where you died instead of the start of a level. This is very nice of the game to do something like this, expect for the fact that every power-up you've collected over the course of the game is now lost. You may as well start over from the last password save instead.

     Everything outside of the gameplay is intriguing (in a good way!). You get this bizarre but memorable soundtrack to jam out to, with the kind of humor you would expect from a LucasArts point-and-click adventure sprinkled in. You knock your head into an upper platform and you hear a bonking sound. You jump on top of a skull monkey and their body parts will explode towards the player's camera. You have funny cutscenes of your character, Klaymen, eating beans and getting into shenanigans with the skull monkeys. This game is marvelous to look at, just not as fun to play.



Grade: D+

6

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: February 25, 2026, 11:26:59 am »

10. Ghost in the Shell | 1997 | PlayStation 1 | 2/24:



     This was so much fun to play through. Every element -- from the bumpin' soundtrack, to the graphics, to even the game's main menu -- is oozing with atmosphere; enough to make Kojima blush. You even have voiced cutscenes that play every 3 missions, which are fully animated in the GITS's manga artstyle. It's pretty simple gameplay-wise: you tap square to shoot the dual machine-guns or hold it to lock onto targets with missiles, all while using the triggers to strafe incoming fire. Not much else to it, but when the game looks this cool to play, who cares if it's a little basic?

     The only negative takeaway is that this game is short, too short. It feels like the game was just starting to hit its stride as it incorporated more of the spider tank's wall-climbing mechanics in the level design towards the end. Even taking into consideration the simplistic gameplay, it wouldn't have hurt to make the main story an hour longer. I would've been pretty disappointed if I purchased this game full-price back in the day and beat it in under 2 hours. Still, this made me more of a fan of Ghost in the Shell so I guess the game fulfilled its original purpose after all.



Grade: B+

7

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: February 19, 2026, 01:51:04 am »

9. Tomb Raider II Remastered | 2024 (originally 1997) | "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered" Collection | Xbox Series X | 2/18:



     I'm finally picking up from where I left off on my 1st completion of 2025. After more than a year since completing Tomb Raider I, I decided to put myself through the gauntlet again and best its sequel: Tomb Raider II! TL;DR: Tomb Raider II as a first playthrough is not quite as fun as the first game.

     Almost every level in the 1st half of the game required me to look up walkthroughs just to figure out what I needed to do. There's too many wrong turns and confusion that occur just to find where a certain key is, what door just opened, or what pulling down a lever does to the level. The first game had moments like this for sure, but nothing of this scope. It's the inconsistencies in Tomb Raider II (and what the game doesn't tell you) that weigh it down for me. For example: distinctive levers that tell you what doors stay open and those that have a time limit, terrain that tells you what is or isn't climbable (like the bookshelves in the Venice level), or jumps that have to be off-angle or some "side-flip off the ladder in mid-air to grab the opposite ladder" type of shit that isn't explained at all in the Lara's House tutorial.

     The new locales in this game are nice & varied compared to the first one, but the level design feels too labyrinthian at times. The 2nd half of the game gets more difficult and trolls you a lot more, but I didn't mind it as much because the levels are laid out in a digestible manner that makes sense. The monastery is probably my favorite level in the game and an excellent example of a very large, open level that is made digestible by the fact that each smaller section of the monastery circles back to a larger hub area near the level's exit. You're not finding a key that's stuck under ice and out of the way of where you need to go, or navigating the Opera House level.

     I'm kind of nitpicking at this point. It's pretty impressive in retrospect that the original Tomb Raider team were able to push out a robust sequel in just under 1 year. I like the new weapons added like the M16 and grenade launcher, and even the vehicles were fun for a bit. I could see myself enjoying Tomb Raider II a little more in a second playthrough, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I would've liked currently.



Grade: D+

8

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: February 19, 2026, 12:48:45 am »

8. Jet Grind Radio | 2000 | DreamCast | 2/7:



     Glad to play Jet Set Grind Radio on official, North American DreamCast hardware for the first time! The wonderful soundtrack, crisp cel-shaded graphics, and iconic aesthetic of JGR all make for great reasons to replay it again after so long. Everything is pretty much the same as I remembered. The later stages still get incresingly annoying in terms of difficulty -- to the point where I would just brute-force spray graffiti on a wall while getting hit over and over by the flying jetpack dudes. This however takes nothing away from what makes this game special. This was SEGA at their peak: keeping the flow of new ideas constant and creating brand-new experiences and gaming franchises in the process. This was SEGA's make-or-break moment to stay in the console market (which we all know what happened). Still, SEGA really gave it their all just to keep the DreamCast alive, and Jet Set was one of the most memorable outcomes of that bygone era. Grade: A-

9

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: February 19, 2026, 12:20:53 am »

I actually 100% agree that Powerstone 1 is better than 2. I never understood why 2 gets way more praise. It just feels like a much more sloppy, poorly designed game.

Late reply, but yeah. Probably because Power Stone 2 is a better party game that it has the more positive reputation. As a game I'd want to take the time playing & learning more about, Power Stone 1 all day!

10

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: February 14, 2026, 03:32:32 pm »

7. Power Stone 2 | 2000 | Capcom Fighting Collection 2 | Arcade Mode | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally DreamCast) | 2/2:



     Hot take, but I liked Power Stone 1 more. It's a little unfair to compare this game to the first game, due in part to the former missing content I guess. Now I haven't played either game in its original format, but there's content like the Adventure Mode and crafting that was not added to this modern port. Judging both games mainly on the "Arcade Mode" portion, I am a bit disappointed with Power Stone 2's offering.

     Gameplay is a lot more loose and random, ditching the tighter closed-quarters fighting of the original with a bigger parody of Super Smash Bros.. That isn't to say what's here is bad; Smash Bros. is a great game to copy from and Power Stone 2 is one of the better examples of just that. There's a lot more generated chaos running around to use new items such as turrets, shields, the Mega Man Buster gun -- plus everything from the first game and more. Wacky stage transitions -- like falling from the sky or climbing up the Himeji Castle -- while fighting everyone else along the way makes Power Stone 2 its own unique game.

     While that's all well and good, I still prefer the feel of the original. A lot of the move set in Power Stone 2 feels dumbed down compared to the first one, and I don't understand why? The first game's hand-to-hand combat is simple enough as it is, so now it feels like there's no point in engaging the enemy without an item in hand, and with how frail your own punches land. Collecting three power stones to transform isn't as big of an event anymore: it's not as overpowered as the first game felt, but now it feels way too underpowered in this one. Even with stage transitions added, Power Stone 2 feels a bit skimpy with maps, only having 5 to pick from. I liked how in the original, there's one map for every playable character that represents their own personality & background. You feel more connected to the characters and their story of collecting the legendary Power Stone, whereas location is just whatever the devs thought was cool in Power Stone 2.

     It's still unfortunate about the missing content. I'd like to try this one again when I get my hands on an original copy and have a group to play with. Grade: C-

11

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: February 14, 2026, 03:15:18 pm »

6. Power Stone | 1999 | Capcom Fighting Collection 2 | Arcade Mode | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally DreamCast) | 1/30:



     If there's any alternative name I would give the "Capcom Fighting Collection 2" game, it would probably be the "Power Stone Fighting Collection". Now, I couldn't do that because A: there's already a similar named title for the PSP and B: there's 6 other fighting games unrelated to Power Stone in the CFC 2 game. But I do not care for any of them. I just want to play more Power Stone.

     Power Stone 1 is a lot of fun, specifically the Arcade Mode. There's always a mad dash to pick up any power-up or item that spawns on the map. The maps feel claustrophobic at times, but you do get enough room to duck and dodge your opponent when they're throwing tables & chairs at you. But once they pick up three power stones, you better pray that the damage you take is minimal. The AI will start to get ridiculous with their main priority of picking up all the power stones instead of targeting you (especially the final boss, my goodness). However, there's a lot of strategy involved with both using items and pulling off CQC when you don't have any.

     It was real cool to see that, after completing Arcade Mode, the character you picked has their own little ending with their personal agenda being fulfilled after obtaining the power stone. I liked all the characters in this game, so I can imagine myself replaying this mode a lot to get more endings. Capcom really went into their bag for this one (and for all the people like me that button-mash in fighting games).



Grade: A-

12

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: February 01, 2026, 08:30:10 pm »

5. Dr. Mario 64 | 2001 | Mario & Wario "Story" Campaign | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally N64) | 1/30:



     I recently renewed my NSO subscription after about 2 years of Switch 1 neglect. Dr. Mario 64 was one of the last games I expected to play when booting up the N64 Switch app for the very first time. I love puzzle games, but I've been most comfortable with ones that emphasize logic: stuff like The Witness, or even a game more universal like Sudoku or Picross. I'm not the best when it comes to games like Puyo-Puyo or Tetris, and Dr. Mario 64 was a big reminder of that.

     Even after putting the game on Easy for my 2nd playthrough, this game still kicked my ass. Like the aforementioned Puyo-Puyo, you will want to stack and build combos to crush your opponent. It may seem optional, but in some modes like "Marathon", it's almost mandatory to use combos in order to get a higher score. In other modes like "Story" -- which I spent most of my time playing -- you can clear stages by only focusing on eliminatining Viruses (thankfully).
     
     This game is a lot of fun and I do feel like I did get better at it -- even after abusing the "Rewind" function more times than I would like to admit. The story mode is short but there are different endings to get, depending upon the difficulty beaten and whether or not you beaten the game without using continues. The endings aren't super crazy or anything, but it does add more replayability to the mode.

     There's a lot of content in Dr. Mario 64 to play through however, so there's an abundance of replayability and chances to improve. It's very barebones in terms of using the power and hardware of the N64. I would've liked to see more work go into the models of the Story mode and more expressive animations during gameplay. I still had a good time regardless. Grade: B-

13

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Developer/Publisher Requests

« on: January 31, 2026, 02:46:36 pm »

https://vgcollect.com/item/290295 / https://vgcollect.com/item/279503 / https://vgcollect.com/item/280933
Developer: BattleBrew Productions

14

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: January 29, 2026, 09:38:48 pm »

4. Gears of War: Reloaded | 2025 | "Hardcore" Difficulty Solo Campaign | Xbox Series X | 1/25:



     A leftover from 2025, I have finished playing Gears of War: Reloaded: a remaster of a remaster of the original game. I have played plenty of Gears of War 4 many years ago, but barely anything from the original trilogy. Rare props to Microsoft for handing me a free copy for owning the physical version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.

     Anyways, this is 100% Gears of War through and through, love it or hate it. It's pretty surprising how much the first game got right with its gameplay, art direction, and characters. The campaign is nothing ground-breaking or life-changing, but it's still a solid few hours to play through today. What I am disappointed with is with the remaster. This is the third release of the same game and still has some of the worst friendly AI I have ever seen. You get the option to direct your teammates' (mainly Dom's) actions, but they do almost nothing. They may listen to you when you tell them to regroup, then continue to rush the enemy and get downed 5 seconds later. The enemy AI isn't much better either, and there were some graphical & gameplay glitches throughout my playthrough (I posted an image of one of my first glitch encounters above). You think someone at The Coalition would bother tinkering with the original game's code for once?

     I did have more fun than I expected playing a solo Gears campaign that's almost 20 years ago at this point. There are a lot of memorable set pieces and locations that you trudge through -- which was more than I expected for a game that only uses gray, dark green, and sepia as colors. This remaster does make the game more pleasant to look at and play through, at the cost of the original game's gritty art direction. Overall pretty solid, but I do have to question if we will see an 8K resolution, Gears of War: Supreme Edition remaster of the first game another decade from now?



Grade: C+

15

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: January 23, 2026, 09:05:27 pm »

3. Vital Shell | 2026 | PC | 1/23:



     Another addition to the Vampire Survivors, action roguelike-genre: we have Vital Shell. Right of the bat, you control a mech and fight 20 waves of various unique-looking enemies, ending off with a boss encounter. The visuals are chunky and glorious with a jungle,
drum-n-bass soundtrack to round it off. This could easily pass as a classic PS1 or DreamCast title if it were released back in the day.

     It does play a bit different to how Vampire Survivors would. You get to upgrade your mech with new weapons, skills, and augments after each wave -- as opposed to when you level up. Leveling up here just gives you stat bonuses that correlate to the build of your mech. Augments -- which are colored gems -- give the game more flavor as you can only equip 4 onto each weapon. Equiping 4 gems onto one weapon will grant it a unique ability, which all depends on the combination of the gem colors. You also have a much more confined space to battle enemies compared to Vampire Survivors. Having enough speed or DPS stats to create openings for your mech is of utmost importance in this game.

     This was a surprise to play considering that I kind of bought it on a whim. I had no recollection of wishlisting this game until I got the email from Steam that it was available to purchase & play. It is well worth the asking price of $6 and another great game to start off the year.



Grade: B+