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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: Today at 06:12:02 pm »

113. Yoshi Story (N64)

Over the last decade I've developed a love and appreciation for many of Nintendo's Yoshi platforming games. It started with my wife and I beating Yoshi's Wooly World on the Wii U, and then most recently beating Yoshi's Crafted World on the Switch earlier this year. However, prior to all that, I remember renting Yoshi Story on the N64 back when that game first came out. Even though that game was made for kids around my age back in 1997, I still thought the game was sort of babyish and as stupid as it sounds to me now to say this, I think I was put off it wasn't a full 3D platformer like Super Mario 64. Unfortunately, I wouldn't touch Yoshi Story again until almost 30 years later.


Like many of the other Yoshi games I've played, Yoshi Story is an incredibly comfy, adorable game. Going along with the Story part of the game's name, Yoshi Story has you creating a choose your own adventure as you complete levels on each page of a picture book. The pages act as over worlds and there are six in total. Given you you only have to complete one level per page to progress to the next page, the game encourages replaying it to play through all the levels and also to get a different story depending on what stages you completed. Stages all look appropriately cute, however they can also be a bit on the plain side too. Still, the visuals carry a lot of charm and definitely go along with the very lighthearted tone of this game.


The audio is also pretty good in Yoshi Story too. There are some genuinely relaxing tracks that really capture the vibe of that cozy N64 era of games. Yoshi's various noises and grunts are also cute, as are the sound effects of eating shy guys, fruit, and interacting with various stage elements.


Gameplay, while good overall, is probably Yoshi Story's weakest quality. Despite how simplistic the gameplay in Yoshi Story is, the controls can feel a bit slippery at times, especially when doing anything other than jumping on immobile, stationary platforms. The water stages and some of the more technical platforming in the fina world stages can be particularly annoying given how its hard to play Yoshi where you want him at any given time. It really makes this game hard at times for the wrong reason, although, calling Yoshi Story a "hard" game couldn't be further from the truth. Overall, Yoshi story is a pretty easy, short game, maybe even too easy. Not only that, but even for a platforming game released in 1997, things are just a bit too simplistic most of the time. You're pretty much just trying to eat enough fruit to get to the next page and there are the occasional boss fights thrown in here and there for good measure. Sometimes it just makes the game a bit boring to play, despite Yoshi Story being a more enjoyable experience than not.


I've very happy I revisited Yoshi Story again. It's not the amazing gem of a game I was hoping it would maybe be, but it was still an excellent way to spend a large chunk of my day off from work. Yoshi Story is a genuinely charming, wholesome game with some flaws and shortcomings, but on the whole, it's still worth playing for any Yoshi fan or a fan of 2D Nintendo platformers. (11/28/25) [33/50]

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General / Re: November 2025 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: Today at 04:51:54 pm »

The wife and I decided to go out and do some shopping this afternoon, and of course, I had to pick up some games on sale. Switch games were B2G1 at Gamestop and the two PS games were on sale at Walmart for about $15 each.


-Star Wars Outlaws (PS5)
-Crash Bandicoot 4 (PS4)
-Snipperclips Plus (Switch)
-Donkey Kong Country Returns (Switch)
-Super Mario Wonder (Switch)

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 27, 2025, 12:36:47 pm »

112. God of War II (PS3)

Like the first God of War (GOW) game, I'm genuinely surprised how much of its sequel, God of War II (GOW2) I forgot despite beating game just shy of a decade ago. Also like the first game, GOW2 is appropriately epic in just about every way. One thing that stuck with me all these years since first beating GOW2 was how the ending made me immediately want to jump into God of War 3, and after beating GOW2 again, I completely understand why.


GOW2 improves upon its predecessor in most ways. Before I discuss those improvements, however, it is worth noting that GOW2 borrows a ton of enemies, abilities, and graphical assets from the first game, which makes sense since GOW2 only came out 2 years after the first game. This does make the visuals of GOW2 feel a bit lazy, but considering the visuals in GOW were pretty damn good for a late PS2 title, there just as impressive in GOW2. That's definitely not to say there aren't a lot of meaningful upgrades to the visuals, as well as new enemies, bosses, settings, and other visuals elements that make GOW2 absolutely distinct from its predecessor. GOW2 absolutely feels like a proper sequel unlike a game like Zelda Tears of the Kingdom which just felt like a glorified expansion to Breath of the Wild. If it weren't for rampant use of recycled GOW assets I'd have said the visuals were on par with an early Gen 7 game, but it is a point worth noting that did bother me while i was playing.


Another aspect of GOW2 that is shares a lot with the first game is the audio too. Like this visuals, this isn't necessarily a bad thing seeing how good things with in GOW and that definitely carries over in GOW2. There are new tracks and sound effects, but if you've played GOW and then jump into this game, your ears will definitely hear all the similarities that Santa Monica Studios reused for this game. One thing that I am grateful for that is the same are all the voice actors from the first game that lovingly returned for the follow up. Like in GOW, the voice cast does an excellent job voice acting as their respective characters, all adding to the over the top and epic scale the entire game is going for. Kratos is often just yelling and telling everyone he's going to kill them, but it really shouldn't be any other way. All the greek gods have very fitting and well casted voices too. Honestly, other than the copious amount of reused music and other sound effects, there is little to fault here from an audio perspective.


From what I've written so far, you might be thinking GOW2 is just reheated leftovers from the first game with a dash of pepper thrown in to kick things up. That would be somewhat true, if it weren't for the gameplay improvements which make GOW2 a superior game to the original. Yes, the core gameplay of GOW2 is the same as GOW, however the enemy balancing and controlling Kratos has been noticeably improved here. This goes a long, long way towards making this an excellent and fun game to play. I don't think there's a place where this is more evident than in the many excellent boss fights in GOW2. With a few minor exceptions, the bosses in GOW2 are a fast improvement over what was present in the first game. There are far less cheap deaths, annoyingly designed sections, and certain regular enemies have been altered to make them more enjoyable and balanced to fight. That's not to say, GOW2 is easier, because it's definitely not. It's actually a tad harder than the first game, but the term "tough but fair" certainly applies here for the most part. In fact, my only real complaints about GOW2's gameplay have to do with the non-combat aspects of the game.


For one, there are some pretty annoying and unintuitive puzzles and sections in the game. New gameplay elements like being able to slow time have been added and while sections that use this mechanic are fun and fell designed, some are less so and it certainly impacted my enjoyment of the game during these parts. Another fairly major thing worth noting has to do with the game's pacing. The area you'll find yourself in during the last third of the game drags on and on, and on, and on. You'll almost forget there were other parts of the game by the time you reach the end of this part of the game, which is a shame since the game just keeps getting better and better up to that point. However, the somewhat meh pacing of the final 1/3 of the game is made up for by an amazing final boss fight and excellent ending to the game that does a great job setting up GOW3. A will also say, that by a small margin I think the story of GOW2 is slightly better than GOW, but only by a little bit. It touches in an area of Greek mythology that isn't widely discussed and it was appreciated compared to the same old, same old Greek gods doing stuff stories you often see and hear when the topic of Greek mythology comes up.


Beyond having an overall great time with GOW2, I'm very happy to say that I'm caught up once more to dive into its various sequels. I started playing GOW2 when I last beat the game, but for reasons I can't remember, I never got past the first hour of the game and never picked the game back up. When I do decide to play GOW3, which will likely be sometime next year, I'm going to make sure I finish it. Not only do I want to see how the original GOW storyline ends, but I am very eager to jump into GOW 2018 and Ragnorok to see what all the fuss is about with those games. Replaying GOW 1-3 should definitely prime me to appreciate those newer games more once I do inevitably play them.


One final thing I want to say before wrapping this review up is GOW2 really makes me miss the way games used to be. Even though it hasn't even been 20-years since GOW2 came out, this old school action style of game has become an endangered special amongst games. GOW2 does an excellent job of capturing that not bullshit, all killer and no filler style of game I dearly miss. I know there are games like Stellar Blade that carry on this tradition, but games like GOW2 are a rarity these days. I'm glad I at least can go back and enjoy the classic GOW games and hopefully the newer games give me that same sense of pure, unfiltered power fantasy the older games do such a great job of implementing. (11/27/25) [40/50]

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: November 26, 2025, 10:33:52 am »

The US needs Black Friday deals on groceries instead of games and big TVs.

Sadly, even if they made groceries super cheap for one weekend, it still wouldn't fix the underlying issue of your money being worth jack now due to unchecked inflation. I don't want to make this political, but inflation benefits people at the top, while hurting practically everyone else. Unless something is done about that, which there won't be, inflation is just going to get worse and worse. Our politicians, nearly all of them, will never bite the hand that feeds them.

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General / Re: November 2025 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: November 25, 2025, 10:52:50 am »

My wife went out to do some Christmas shopping yesterday and brought back God of War Ragnorok on the PS5. She also picked up the Sidon Amiibo for Tears of the Kingdom as well which was $10 at Best Buy.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 23, 2025, 02:34:47 am »

111. South Park (N64)

While growing up, there were two older boys I hung out with that lived on the same street as me. They were probably 2 or 3 years older than me, which means when I was still a fresh faced, innocent 10 year old, they were in the middle of being defiant, rude adolescent boys. Around the time South Park came out, it's all they would talk about and of course I wanted to be cool just like them so I did everything in my power to watch the hit new mature cartoon my neighborhood friends were so obsessed with. Despite my parents being pretty relaxed with what I watched as a kid, they would have never allowed me to watch South Park if they knew what was said and shown in it. That didn't stop me from sneaking downstairs at night and turning on Comedy Central at 11pm to catch the latest episode. I was instantly hooked!


South Park soon became my obsession as well as I amassed a large collection of South Park shirts, stuffed animals, VHS tapes, and various other merch that at the time I felt like I couldn't live without. Around this time, South Park the game was announced and my level of hype was immeasurably high. It's a game I bought day one with whatever meager amount of allowance and shore money I had to my name. Now 11 or so, my fandom of the show allowed me to overlook many of this games flaws and throughout the years, my general belief was that I thought the game was decent, but not great. Replaying South Park on the N64 over 25 years later, I somewhat expected my opinion to be more or less the same. After all, I still mostly like the show and have almost every episode on DVD to watch at my leisure. However, I now realize my adolescent opinion of this game being okay was far too generous.


Even with nearly 30 years of South Park fandom behind it, I cannot say anything other than South Park on the N64 is a terrible game. Aside from being on the repetitive side it does get the audio mostly right. Each character has a decent amount of lines for a game released in the late 90s, although you'll have heard every character one liner within 15 minutes of playing. Music from the show is present, however the music that plays when you're actually playing is on the generic side. Sadly, the audio is really the only thing I can say is at least pretty good. As for the visual presentation and gameplay...oh boy.


South Park does a decent job of capturing the town and vibe of the show. Character, enemies, architecture and other aspects from the show are mostly well represented in 3D, however, like the audio this game suffers from repetition, even more so when it comes to the visuals. This game has a woeful lack of enemy variety! You'll mostly be battling evil turkeys throughout the entire game which is as dull as it sounds. Worse yet, the game throws wave after way, after wave...after wave of these things at you to the point where you'll dread every second you see them pop up on your radar. There are variants to the enemies, turkeys and otherwise, but the lack of enemy variety is still a blaring fault with this game. Another major visual fault with this game is the poor draw distance which is represented by the entire game having a fog like haze that is constantly several yards in front of your character throughout the game. It doesn't matter if you're in a town, cave, inside a building, or any place else, the fog will always be there. This was obviously done to minimize framerate and other performance drops, however despite the constant fog, these are still major issues that will plague you throughout South Park. One final thing I need to gripe about when it comes to South Park's visuals are its mostly bland and uninspired levels. A lot of where you'll find yourself in South park are snowy mountain passes and mostly empty caves which combined with the repetitive waves of fodder enemies coming at you will eventually result in sensory deprivation like symptoms after less than an hour of play.


While the visuals in South Park are not great, nothing in the game holds a candle to how absolutely awful the gameplay is. It's hard to pinpoint what South Park does right from a gameplay perspective when nearly everything about playing this game just absolutely sucks. Beyond how visually unappealing the waves of the same enemies are, fighting them is even worse. The game has numerous weapons you'll find throughout the game, except ammo is somewhat limited, meaning you'll often be defaulting to snowballs which you have an unlimited supply of. All weapons have alternate modes which make things a little more interesting and dymanic. It's just too bad using any of them is terrible when it comes to aiming or hitting enemies. Speaking of enemies, stronger Tank like enemies and bosses are pure trash in this game. While the weaker common enemies will go down with a snowball or two, Tank and boss enemies are about the most bullet spongey adversaries you'll ever be up against in a game. Combined with bosses having specific weak points you need to target to do any damage, it can literally take the better part of an hour to get through most boss fights. Combine this with the half hour to 45-minutes you just spent trudging through whatever boring, fog infested level you just played through, with make even the most patient players want to quite before even getting through the first stage.


South Park is a terrible game, no questions whatsoever. However, I'd being lying if I said I didn't have a sentimental place in my heart for this game still. Probably the most ideal way to play this game is to look up cheats for it online, skip bosses all together and just get the story bits here and there, which is really the most enjoyable part about this game. For me personally, there's also that connection I have to the game as a kid growing up in the late 90s, but even with that, I still struggle to find anything enjoyable about South Park. Some things are just better left in the past, and South Park on the N64 (and PS1), deserves to stay there for good. (11/22/25) [19/50]

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General / Re: November 2025 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: November 22, 2025, 07:47:23 pm »

My wife preordered Hades 2 for the Switch 2 (Switch 2 version also works on the Switch fyi) and picked that up on Thursday. I also got The Messenger for the Switch during Amazon's black friday deals for 50% off and that arrived today.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 20, 2025, 12:13:41 am »

110. Layer Section (Saturn)

In the late 2010s and into the early 2020s, I was in the middle of a SHMUP renaissance that had me feverishly playing any and all SHMUPs I could get my hands on. I played some of the very best STG titles I've ever played during this time, as well as a few that are probably among the worst. But regardless, I was all about this genre for about half a decade. While my enthusiasm and adoration for this time honored arcade genre has cooled off since then, I still consider SHMUPs to be among my favorite genre of games and one that I return to often several times a year. One of the most enjoyable shooters I played when I was at the height of my STG fandom was Taito's Layer Section, a game that I considered one of the best SHMUPs ever made. After replaying and beating Layer Section again today, I still carry that sentiment.


Layer Section is a phenomenal game from all angles. Visually, the games sprite art mixed with limited 3D assets made it among the very best looking mid-90s shmups and eve none of the best looking games. This game just has ridiculously good production values all around. Everything from the stages, the basic enemies, the destructible backgrounds, and the crazy bosses are an absolute treat for the eyes from start to finish. Not only that, but the way this game is laid out has you on a continual journey where you do progress from stage to stage like in most shooters, but it is done seemlessly without any loading screens or end stage report cards before things transition into the next stage. The result is Layer Section feels like this epic journey where you're the lone ship battling an armada of futuristic ships, mechs and other awesome vehicles into the Earth's core for the final showdown against the boss. I struggle to find any flaws with this game visually, however, there is one fairly decent one which also ties into Layer Sections gameplay.


The name Layer Section is derived from the fact that this was one of the first SHMUPs to have two planes of combat. There's the top layer which is the one where your ship resides. You'll be dealing with enemies the way you would normally in most other SHMUPs by aiming your ship's primary lasers at whatever's in front of you and blasting away. However, in addition to this there's also a bottom layer where other enemies lurk and the only way to attack them is with your secondary weapon, a homing laser. Layer Section's gameplay depends on you being able to manage the bottom layer enemies and top layer enemies simultaneously, and especially addressing the bottom layer enemies before they make their way to the top layer. By the time enemies have made it to the top layer, they are far harder to kill than they were if you'd blasted them in the bottom layer, and they also often fire more projectiles at you as well once their on the same layer as you. This creates a very engaging, albeit very hard style of gameplay that is pretty fun, but at the same time very frustrating too.


Often, to take out bottom layer enemies before they make it to the top layer, you'll have to move ship somewhere that makes it easy for you to be point blanked by another enemy laser blast, or have an incoming enemy kamikaze you before you're able to react. I get this is likely an intentional design choice, but it often can result in a lot of cheap deaths or "WTF just killed me" moments. Where the game's visuals become a hinderance has to do with projectiles and enemies making their way from the bottom layer to the top layer. Often it can be hard to gauge where a laser is until it's too late. Luckily, these issues are fairly minor, but are still noteworthy blemishes on what is otherwise an excellent game.


Having address Layer Section's visuals and gameplay, the only thing left to talk about is the game's audio, which, oh man, is it good! The OST in Layer Section is incredibly catchy and undeniably has that mid 90s arcade sound to it which I'm admittedly addicted to. The other sound effects are pretty good too, but what really makes this game's audio stand out is that excellent soundtrack which you'll want to continue to listen to even after you've turned the game off.


Admittedly, I don't enjoy Layer Section as much I did when I first experience it 6 or 7 years ago, but even with that said, I still love this game. In fact, I'd still include it in a top 10 SHMUPs of all time list, which is saying something given all the SHMUPs I've played over the years. It is in good company too, even beating out excellent contemporaries like Hyper Duel and even more modern classics like Ikaruga. If you haven't played Layer Section and don't mind a very challenging game here and there, track this game down by one of its many names (Galactic Attack, Ray Force, or Gunlock) and try it out. It's amazing! (11/19/25) [40/50]

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General / Re: Your 2025 Gaming and Collecting Goals

« on: November 17, 2025, 10:46:31 am »

Absolutely nothing. I've wrestled with the idea that maybe I'm done retro collecting now. For a long time I've felt so close, yet so far away. Several hundred games on my list I still wanted to get, but it's meant several thousand dollars I'm just not willing (and don't have) to dump into it. Hard to believe this stuff is still going so strong all these years later, folks clamoring to collect every title you can think of, for every console you can think of in 2025. I know the appeal of doing so has greatly diminished for me. I think it's mostly the speculators still going this hard at it.

I actually found myself in my local retro shop the other day and actually picked up a couple of NES games on the cheap, unexpectedly. So guess I'm not done. I just don't have the motivation to pursue it anymore. I'm really close with a lot of fifth gen stuff, so if anything I should try knock those out. Still a lot easier said than done.

It surprises me how much new blood still enters the hobby, and it's mostly not a bunch of fresh faced dudes in their early 20s. Rather, it's more guys in their 30s, 40s, and even 50s looking to grab old games they grew up with. I do notice some younger people entering the hobby, but they're primarily after 6th and 7th gen games, with some being interesting in 5th gen. It's all cyclical I suppose, but yeah, it blows my mind that we haven't had a steady decline in interest and prices when it comes to older games. Although, i will say that anecdotally it seems like there is far less interest in 3rd and 4th gen game collecting than there was even 4 or 5 years ago. I guess that makes sense since the crowd mostly into those games are all pushing 40s or well into them or even their 50s now.


I barely pick up retro games anymore either and instead have opted to go the flash cart and ODE route since my primary concern has always been to play. I have nearly everything physically that I'm either sentimental about or just really like. No way in hell I'm paying $500+ for various US Saturn releases that I'd love to own, or the handful of other games I wish I had that would massively break the bank. I'll remain content with my loose Pokemon Crystal Version since I'm sure as hell not paying 4x that for the box and manual to complete it. But yeah, I still pick up stuff here and there, but most of my purchases are for more modern consoles. Yet, ironically, most of the games I play are retro.

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General / Re: Your 2025 Gaming and Collecting Goals

« on: November 17, 2025, 10:38:56 am »

Beyond my goal to continually prune my current collection down, I only have one real collecting goal for 2025:


1. Beat 100 games: I've stated it in other threads on here, but with nothing major currently planned for 2025, my ambition this year is to beat more games in a single year than I ever have. My goal is 100 games beat by the end of the year.

2. Finish all the remaining Resident Evil games I've never played: At the moment, I've played every RE game outside 7, 8, the Wii lightgun games, and the mobile games. I don't care about the mobile games, but I do plan on beating those other ones, which means I will not only have played and beat every RE game ever made, but also I'll finally be caught up with this series after being almost two decades behind as of the end of 2023. I am also adding a replay of the original RE4 to this since I haven't played it since around the time it came out in the mid 2000s.

3. Add at least 10 Switch games from my want list: With the Switch in its twlight years, I've decided I'm going to actively pursue the 30 or so games on my want list that I don't yet own. Many of these are first party releases that I slept on for years after they came out, but some are on the more obscure side. I'll probably prioritize those more obscure releases since they likely have the greatest chance of becoming expensive and hard to find as time goes on.

We're still a month and a half out until the end of the year and I'm sitting pretty with most of my 2025 Gaming/Collecting goals. While I haven't technically met goal #2, I did catch up on all the mainline RE games I haven't played, and also played a few side games as well this year. What's remaining is mostly just side games that are more or less inconsequential to main story of RE. However, goal #1 and #3 have absolutely been met.


Beyond the update to this year's goals, the reason I returned to this thread was to say I already have some goals in mind for 2026 that I'm looking forward to sharing as it gets closer to the new year. Some are not as ambitious as my 2025 goals, but that's because i'll be working on other things pertaining to gaming that i want to spend more time focusing on in the new year.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 16, 2025, 12:17:04 am »

109. XGIII: Extreme G Racing (PS2)

Like many, one of the reasons I play a lot of retro games is experience the zeitgeist of the particular era a specific game was released in. Back in the pre-9/11 early 2000s, there was a general sense of optimism for the future where we all envisioned highly advanced, towering metropolises where everyone lived in harmony and everything was fun, exciting, and interesting. For those maybe too young to remember, or possibly you weren't even born yet, 9/11 was the beginning of the end of that unified, idealistic optimism for the future and its impact has only continued to compound more and more into the very hopeless dystopia most people think of when they envision the future now. Hell, some might argue we are living in that dystopia right now. But anyhow, before things get too serious, the reason I mention that pre-9/11 early 2000s collective optimism for the future is because of how common it was to see remnants of it in a lot of media at the time. Many shows, movies, and even games were saturated in it, and for me one of the most shining examples of it was in XGIII: Extreme G Racing.


I was a huge fan of Extreme G on the N64, so when I heard a brand new game was getting released for the then cutting edge 6th gen consoles, I appropriately freaked out with excitement. When I finally did get my hands on XGIII shortly after it came out in 2001, it was everything I'd ever wanted and then some. I adored it's futuristic settings and tracks that depicted an extreme racing series where futuristic motorcycles capable of touching nearly four digit speeds speed around crazy gravity defying race tracks. Not only that, but the soundtrack would be provided by the biggest EDM studio at the time, Ministry of Sound. Yeah, I was in love with this game...despite it being hard as balls.


Replying XGIII for the first time in probably 20 years or so, I was very happy to see none of the games charms and good qualities had been lost on me as I made several rounds through its excellent career mode, which is really the bread and butter of XGIII. As you race through various cups, you unlock more stages, more races and futuristic motorcycles, and earn credits to make you bikes even faster and more lethal. Oh, did I mention XGIII also has weapons you can use to drain your opponents shields, or just completely frag them too. The game allows you to change weapons on the fly which is a nice feature instead of hitting floating power ups on the track like you had to in the previous Extreme G games, as well as many other combat style racing games of the time. Another thing worth mentioning is your shields also use the same power source as your motorcycle's boost, which creates a very dynamic style of gameplay where you have to choose between being well defending against enemy projectiles and the occasional wall graze, or taking advantage of straight aways to pull ahead of other racers with your boost. XGIII's tracks and overall gameplay show a surprising amount of balance when it comes to juggling the shield/boost mechanic and it definitely adds to how surprisingly fun the game still is. Of course, the controls for racing are pretty damn good too. There is a real sense of speed and agility with your motorcycles in this game that really make for an engaging experience. Luckily most tracks in the game are well designed to accommodate the extreme speeds you'll be reaching in this game too.


It's not all perfect with XGIII's gameplay however. For one, this game is gets very hard the further you progress in it. Even earlier on, this game can really test your reflexed and muscle memory with a controller as you try your hardest not to hit the walls of the track, draining your precious shields. Unfortunately, not all the game's difficulty is by design, which includes some questionable tracks design in certain sections, and also jumps being a bit of an annoyance more than being a fun track feature to contend with. Weapons can also feel a bit ineffective at times, with it being more beneficial to just focus on the track and getting ahead of other racers than attempting to chip away at their shields or blow them up. However, despite these grievances, XGIII is still very fun to play for the most part, difficulty and all.


As mentioned, Ministry of Sound produced the soundtrack for XGIII which makes it a cut above not just most other racing games of the time, but most video games back in the late 90s and early 2000s. My little brother who I used to play this game with often, attributes a much of his love for EDM music to playing this game as a young kid. While I'm a fraction of the techno fan he is, XGIII undeniably has a great soundtrack still that goes perfectly with the visuals and action on the screen. Beyond just the great OST, XGIII has appropriately futuristic sounding narration voiced and sound effects too which all go great with everything else this game has to offer.


Visually, XGIII was also a cut above most games of the time. It's actually pretty surprising to me that this game wasn't a bigger deal back in the early 2000s given how good it looks. There is almost no graphical slowdown or stutter given how fast paced everything on the screen moves, and levels are all vibrant, interesting, and well designed. One minute you'll be racing through some extremely futuristic city, and the next you'll be racing through an equally awesome looking Egyptian looking area that looks like Cairo circa 2780. There was a ton of attention to detail and graphical fidelity put into this game and it absolutely shows. The game would benefit from there being more stages and maybe more variation to the appearances of the different racers, but these are mostly just nitpicks to what it otherwise an outstanding looking 6th generation game.


I can say without any hesitation that XGIII is still a riot to play. Not only does the game hold up very well nearly 25 years after its release, but there's also just very little there for me to fault. Sure, the game gets soul destroying difficult the more you progress in the game and there are a few tracks that are better than others, but on the whole this game is absolutely worth playing still. And of course, I couldn't end this review without mentioning that this game encapsulates the look, feel, and overall mood of the pre-9/11 early 2000s better than most other games released during this calm before the storm era. It was an a very fun time to be alive and thanks to games like XGIII, it can remind me of that as the years march on and I gradually forget more and more of what life was like back then. (11/15/25) [38/50]

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 12, 2025, 01:39:54 am »

108. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (PS5)

Whenever I beat a game, the most common emotions I typically feel are satisfied, bored, relieved, or happy, depending on the game of course. One emotion I typically don't feel after beating a game is genuine anger, bordering rage. I play a lot of challenging games and while there are a handful of these really hard games that had my blood pressure through the roof and ready to hurl my controller through my TV by the time I beat them, it's typically games that screw with me in some other way that makes me feel genuine anger upon beating them. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is one of those games.


Going into Rebirth, I was pretty optimistic and excited. For one, I really enjoyed its predecessor, Remake, and have very find memories of playing through it during the early days of the COVID lockdowns. While there were some very noteworthy differences between Remake and the original game on the PS1, the game really took nearly everything that made the original a certified classic and just fleshed things out even more. The end result was one of the better JRPGs I've ever played and a game I found deeply enjoyable and satisfying for the most part. I expected more of the same going into Rebirth, knowing full well that there would be changes, likely some being dramatic compared to the original game, but I was ready and excited to see what those were. What I didn't expect was the story to take a hard left turn into WTF is even going on territory and for characters to be downgraded compared to their original game counterparts.


While I'm not going to spoil anything, I will say that Tetsuya Nomura is a troll and a piece of shit. Instead of giving us something definitive at certain very important junctures in Remake, he instead puts you on a fence and doesn't let you have the closure or payoff of what you've worked so hard for in the game. I know that might sound confusing to anyone who hasn't played Remake, but trust me when I say, you will be led to believe something is one way, but also completely the opposite as well, with no clear resolution as to which is actually happening. This is massive problem with stories that use some sort of multiverse plot mechanic, which more often than not just removes all stakes and anything is possible and nothing is definitive. Everything can be undone, changed, or redefined and it cheapens the story heavily. FF7 Rebirth does this while simultaneously ruining characters and making characters act unlike themselves or just plain stupid when the writers need them to be. But more than anything, Nomura and other writers that worked on this game refusing to give you a straight answer and instead flip flopping between events and then at the end giving you a softball conclusion with more questions than answers remaining is just shitty.


Fortunately, there are elements of the story that are pretty good, and these often coincide with parts of the game that stay more faithful to the original while attempting to flesh those parts out more. Speaking of fleshing things out, certain characters are done way better than others in terms of giving them way more depth than was possible on the now ancient PS1 hardware. Unfortunately, sticking close to the events of the original game didn't completely go towards making thIs game better.  Rebirth has some terrible pacing issues at certain sections of the game, mostly starting around the time you reach Costa Del Sol. The game then puts you on an up and down rollercoaster of becoming very engaging and interesting, but then dropping you back into another part of the main game that's dull and tedious. Luckily, I'd say most of the game remains interesting despite the last 10th of the game really dropping the ball and undoing so much of what you may have enjoyed prior to it.


FF7 Rebirth's gameplay is a brighter spot than it's story, albeit it isn't perfect either. The core gameplay which revolves around exploration and combat is mostly pretty fun and well implemented. This is especially true of the combat which is fun, fast, and engaging, but also strategic as well. Anyone who played Remake will be at home with Rebirth's combat system, and outside a few poorly designed boss fights, the combat system is a major contributing factor to Rebirth's overall fun factor. Exploration is also pretty good. There are a several regions you'll be exploring in Rebirth, all of which take the form of large open world maps that have a lot of interesting areas to explore. All regions are also filled with objectives, quests, and landmarks to explore, all of which grant you experience as well as fill out the world of FF7 way more than the original ever could. Unfortunately, a lot of the side tasks and missions in this game take the form of fetch questions and other tedious errands what can really feel more grindy than fun. I found myself enjoying Rebirth the most when I stuck to the main story mostly, but I also spent a fair amount of the game working on side missions and tasks as well, but some of my least favorite parts of Rebirth's gameplay were admittedly doing the latter.


One other aspect of FF7 Rebirth's gameplay that has to be mentioned is the INSANE amount of mini games this game has. When I say insane, I mean there are dozens upon dozens of vastly different mini games present in Rebirth. I was literally discovering new mini games I'd never played nearly 50 hours into my playthrough. It's ridiculous! Unfortunately, Rebirth's mini games are more about quantity than quality. There are a few really good mini games, chief among them is the excellent and addictive card game, Queen's Blood. However, most other mini games are simply just okay, and a few are downright crap. Participating in mini games is a huge part of the side missions and quests I described earlier, as well as an essential part of raising Cloud's affinity with specific characters. Unfortunately because most of the side quests are meh at best, it'll feel like a chore if you want to go for a more completionist run or max out your affinity with specific characters. I can safely say you're enjoyment with this game will greatly depend on not just what mini games you decide to play, but how many of them too.


Finally, there's Rebirth's presentation. Visually, Rebirth is a very good looking game! Nearly everything in this game looks stellar, both during exploration and battles, but also during the games many cutscenes too. The only real gripe I have with the way this game looks are some of the environments can look a bit on the flat side, and certain objects like furniture and large rocks can almost have a weightlessness too them that looks really goofy. As for Rebirth's audio, it too is excellent. The OST is the stuff of legends, with a few noteworthy bad tracks thrown in; I'm looking at you Gongoga jungle music. On top of that, certain voice acting decisions and changes didn't sit right with me and even semi ruined one specific character for me. Other than that, I really enjoyed the audio in Rebirth, but it's still not perfect.


Before reaching the last 5 hours or so of Rebirth, I was ready to give this game around a 40/50, which in my book is the mark of an incredible game. But what really killed not only the story, but also my personal enjoyment of this game, was how shitty the writing was towards the end and how disrespectful it was to the people that spent the last 50+ hours playing through it. It almost makes it worse that the story was decent to pretty good throughout the rest of the game prior because I had to get all the way to the end to find out how much it screwed the rest of what happens leading to that. Now, my final score is bordering a 30/50, which is in that realm between "okay, that was a pretty good game I guess." and "wow, glad that's over despite it having some decent qualities." I'm just so annoyed and pissed off right now fresh off of beating FF7 Rebirth to where I barely care for what happens next in the remake games. I guess time will tell if I end up playing the third part in the FF7 Remake games, but I can safely say there will be no hype or excitement like there was going into Rebirth. Again, Tetsuya Nomura can go to hell. (11/11/25) [31/50]

13

General / Re: November 2025 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: November 01, 2025, 10:40:34 am »

My wife an I have exchanged Christmas gift lists for years and unfortunately for the past 5 or 6 years I've struggled to fill it with games I would actually get excited about if I received them as gifts. Part of this is because I have most of what I want, but the other part is I often just buy games I really want throughout the year, leaving few games for birthdays and Christmas for me to get excited about. This year has been different however. There are a ton of games I currently want to get and have decided for one reason or another to hold off on getting them. I believe there are currently about 20 games on my Christmas list and that number is growing as I dive deeper into games I may have missed out on or forgot even came out. Of course, whatever she ends up getting me won't show up until December's thread, but at least there are some excellent games on the horizon for me to receive!

14

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: October 31, 2025, 06:47:44 pm »

107. SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos (PS4)

With how much of a SNK fanboy I am, I'm a little surprised I've never played SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos. I adore SNK, especially most of their classic fighting games released on the NEO GEO. I also love most of the Capcom VS games released during the late 90s and early 2000s as well. Not knowing any better, I thought SVC Chaos was going to be an alternate version of Capcom vs SNK or something, not realizing that SVC Chaos is definitely an SNK game, whereas the other mentioned title was almost entirely a Capcom developed project. At first, I was pleasantly surprised by this realization. It was awesome seeing Capcom characters like Ryo and Chun Li done up fully by SNK pixel artists, making them look like they'd always belonged in the KOF series. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for SVC Chaos was short lived and began to dim more and more as I played this game.


An SNK developed crossover fighting game with Capcom should have been an easy home run in 2003 when this game first came out. With the exception of KOF 2001, SNK was releasing hit after hit with its KOF series and it seems like they would have applied that here. Unfortunately, the game they ended up releases looks almost as ugly as KOF 2001, but sadly plays even worse than that game. SNK uses a fighting gameplay system similar to what is found in most KOF games releases in the early 2000s, minus stuff like the striker or tag system. You're given a power up gauge that charges as you attack your opponent and filling it up allows you to unleash a variety of supers upon your opponent. Sadly, the balancing and fight mechanics in SVC Chaos feel half baked and inferior to most KOF and Samsho games released up until that point. There is also some pretty terrible character balancing, with some characters being far worse than others. This isn't the type of game where you can be mostly competitive with the majority of the roster. While I'd say the gameplay is the worst part of SVC Chaos, the game's troubles don't end there.


As mentioned, SVC Chaos is a pretty visually unappealing game. I will give credit to SNK for the excellent character sprites for both SNK and Capcom characters. It would have been nice to get more characters than just mostly KOF, Samsho, and Street Fighter, but for what the roster is, it's not bad. What is bad is how most of the stages in the game give KOF 2001 a run for its money with how bland and unappealing they look. I'm convinced the art team behind this game forgot that colors existed at times while creating the stage art. Not to mention, there is far less interesting things going on in the stages compared to even SNK games released nearly a decade before SVC Chaos. Even when compared to KOF 2002 or 2003 which would have been in development around the same time as SVC Chaos, the level design just looks terrible by comparison.


Finally, the audio in SVC Chaos is also nothing special. Tracks all sound appropriately SNKish, but they definitely don't stand out nearly as well as they do in many other SNK fighting titles. On top of that, character voice acting and sound clips are just ripped directly from other SNK titles for the most part, with the exception of the Capcom character voices of course. It's not bad, but it's not great either. It's just sort of servicable and does nothing to elevate SVC Chaos beyond its borderline bad gameplay and unappealing visuals.


Having waited this long to play SVC Chaos, I can't say there is any remorse or lost love in it taking me until 2025 to play it. I was hoping for way more out of this game, and sadly i feel like it wasn't unreasonable of me to feel this way given what SNK was making around the same time this game came out. At the very least, I can write this game off as a bit of a dud and one I doubt I'll ever pick back up again. (10/31/25) [27/50]

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Modern Video Games / Re: Limited Run Games Showcase 2025 discussion/predictions/wishes

« on: October 30, 2025, 04:15:26 pm »

Cool to get Little Samson finally, I played it once years ago at someones house for a real short bit and it seemed fun, but was crazy how stupidly expensive of a game it was lol

My initial reaction to the Little Samson reveal was excitement, however I then remembered I have this game on my NES flashcart. It's a fun game, no question, but I don't know if I like it enough to buy it separately for $40+. No way in hell I'd be one of those crazy people paying $1000+ for an original cartridge, but that's collectorism for you.

might wanna consider the pall version then card only is like 130 bucks

I'm not nearly a big enough NES collector to even consider wanting to get an authentic cart of Little Samson from any region. In fact, I'm not really an NES collector anymore at all. I appreciate a lot of game on the console, but in terms of my personal interest in collecting for it, I have all the games I've ever wanted for it. Whatever I don't have have, I'm fine just emulating or playing on on modern ports.