16
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!
« on: December 17, 2023, 08:15:28 pm »
I played 2 on ps2 after kiwami, it is a good choice to wait.
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17
General / Re: A Year in Review - 2023
« on: December 10, 2023, 03:22:28 pm »
It is getting to be that time. I'll update my post tomorrow hopefully with lots of the same added questions I do every year.
I always look forward to this post every year
Favorite 2023 Release: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Fantastic game, unfortunately it gets a lot of complaints because it's more of the same of Breath of the Wild, which is a fair complaint, but the game is still fantastic even if it didn't move the goal posts again.
Least Favorite 2023 Release: Starfield. At no point had I been hyped for this game, I'm not big on the sci-fi genre in general, which is a huge reason I never cared for Halo. But even after release I just never felt the need to spend my time with the game. I played for an hour or so and I just couldn't get over the fact that the first decision they make you make and you don't have a choice, you must join the foundation or whatever the cult is called. I will definitely force myself to finish the game at some point, but the game is just horribly mismanaged and does enough to alienate players of previous Bethesda games.
Favorite Game Played in 2023: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It's the top of my list for the year.
Least Favorite Game Played in 2023: Batman Forever (SNES), oh my lawd is this game just absolutely awful. I almost get anxiety thinking about how awful that game was.
Sleeper Hit of 2023: For games released this year? Lies of P, didn't expect that game to be as good as it was, best non-From Soft Soulslike I've played. Played in general? Saints Row. I heard nothing good about it, people talked shit about it and even after I've played it and Volition got shut down people still shit on the game, but it's honestly one of if not the best entry in the Saints Row series. I can admit marketing killed the game, but the game is amazing, could've been my GOTY if not for Elden Ring last year, had I played last year.
Favorite Gaming Moment in 2023: Tears of the Kingdom. Can't really explain, because spoilers, but iykyk based on the title.
Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2023: None, I've basically gotten out of collecting. I buy modern stuff I plan on playing and that's about it. Maybe getting tons of steam games for like nothing?
As usual I'll add some categories
Proudest Gaming Accomplishment in 2023: 100% completing Lies of P. I'm always proud of beating these tough games, but especially proud when I 100% complete the game.
Favorite Game Revisited in 2023: Goldeneye 007. Despite it releasing this year on Xbox, I'll consider it a revisit. 100% complete the game in a few days, was an absolute blast to revisit on Xbox with modern controls. If we don't want to count that because it's new? Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands Started replaying this on Xbox recently because I wanted to revisit something, specifically. Really enjoying my time with it again.
Top 10 Games played in 2023:
Ten worst games played in 2023
I always look forward to this post every year
Favorite 2023 Release: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Fantastic game, unfortunately it gets a lot of complaints because it's more of the same of Breath of the Wild, which is a fair complaint, but the game is still fantastic even if it didn't move the goal posts again.
Least Favorite 2023 Release: Starfield. At no point had I been hyped for this game, I'm not big on the sci-fi genre in general, which is a huge reason I never cared for Halo. But even after release I just never felt the need to spend my time with the game. I played for an hour or so and I just couldn't get over the fact that the first decision they make you make and you don't have a choice, you must join the foundation or whatever the cult is called. I will definitely force myself to finish the game at some point, but the game is just horribly mismanaged and does enough to alienate players of previous Bethesda games.
Favorite Game Played in 2023: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It's the top of my list for the year.
Least Favorite Game Played in 2023: Batman Forever (SNES), oh my lawd is this game just absolutely awful. I almost get anxiety thinking about how awful that game was.
Sleeper Hit of 2023: For games released this year? Lies of P, didn't expect that game to be as good as it was, best non-From Soft Soulslike I've played. Played in general? Saints Row. I heard nothing good about it, people talked shit about it and even after I've played it and Volition got shut down people still shit on the game, but it's honestly one of if not the best entry in the Saints Row series. I can admit marketing killed the game, but the game is amazing, could've been my GOTY if not for Elden Ring last year, had I played last year.
Favorite Gaming Moment in 2023: Tears of the Kingdom. Can't really explain, because spoilers, but iykyk based on the title.
Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2023: None, I've basically gotten out of collecting. I buy modern stuff I plan on playing and that's about it. Maybe getting tons of steam games for like nothing?
As usual I'll add some categories
Proudest Gaming Accomplishment in 2023: 100% completing Lies of P. I'm always proud of beating these tough games, but especially proud when I 100% complete the game.
Favorite Game Revisited in 2023: Goldeneye 007. Despite it releasing this year on Xbox, I'll consider it a revisit. 100% complete the game in a few days, was an absolute blast to revisit on Xbox with modern controls. If we don't want to count that because it's new? Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands Started replaying this on Xbox recently because I wanted to revisit something, specifically. Really enjoying my time with it again.
Top 10 Games played in 2023:
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NS)
- Atelier Ryza 3 (NS)
- Lies of P (XS)
- Saints Row (XS)
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
- Resident Evil 4 (PS5)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NS)
- Goldeneye 007 (XS)
- Robocop: Rogue City (XS)
- Wild Arms (PS5)
Ten worst games played in 2023
- Batman Forever (SNES)
- Double Dragon Neon (XBLA)
- GAI Stops Auto: Right Version Simulator (PC)
- Batman (ZX)
- Clustertruck (X1)
- Batman (SNES)
- Twisted Metal 4 (PSX)
- Twisted Metal 3 (PSX)
- Twisted Metal 2 (PSX)
- Twisted Metal (PSX)
18
General / Re: VGCollect 2023 Secret Santa!
« on: December 08, 2023, 09:07:11 pm »
Streaming to www.twitch.tv/ignition365
Edit: VOD on Twitch is available and it'll be on Youtube in the morning... and unlike last year, the audio should be good.
https://youtu.be/BjWEr0Cnul8?si=1NEBkqlsdR9RXd_h
Edit: VOD on Twitch is available and it'll be on Youtube in the morning... and unlike last year, the audio should be good.
https://youtu.be/BjWEr0Cnul8?si=1NEBkqlsdR9RXd_h
19
General / Re: VGCollect 2023 Secret Santa!
« on: December 08, 2023, 07:40:17 pm »
Is someone streaming for folks to watch?
20
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!
« on: November 22, 2023, 03:22:03 pm »No, I was thinking more like designing my own websiteI hate how far off I got from keeping up with my logs. I pretty much only come to VGC at this point to update this stuff. I might look at making another place to post this stuff publicly and making it searchable so I can find reviews easier than digging year by year.
Another place within the forums, you mean? If you're ever wanting to find a specific review for a game, the forum search tool is quite capable. I searched for "100 Hidden Birds 2" at random as a game you finished earlier this year and found its attached post without issue. In fact, it's the only post that shows up in search results when searching that specific term while specifying you as the poster.
21
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!
« on: November 17, 2023, 03:41:23 pm »
I made an effort to catch up last time, I think I got close, but then today I was 20 games behind again. I've caught up to the point that I'm only 10 games behind now, but I'm going to try to finish catching up. Who am I kidding, it's almost Thanksgiving week, I'm not gonna get anything written other than what I can get written today.
22
General / Re: VGCollect 2023 Secret Santa!
« on: October 23, 2023, 10:45:09 am »For those who are still holding out on joining, there's about one day left to do so. Below is the sign-up form for the sake of convenience.Are you doing 1-1 pairs (x:y and y:x) or are you just assigning people randomly (accounting for international preferences)?
https://forms.gle/JC7t8WX7SLCuDmjs8
By Tuesday, I'll have formed Santa/giftee pairs and will be forwarding all participants via PM with relevant information about their giftee! I've already gone through previous event discussions to observe past pairs. So, I'll try my best to form new pairs despite the limited participation and with the knowledge I have.
23
News / Re: Advanced Style Guide update and feedback thread
« on: October 16, 2023, 02:46:57 pm »Updated/Clarified the types of items allowed in Steam category in the Official Style Guide. New text:Example and request for clarificationQuoteWhat Steam items can be added to the site?
Games, Demos and most DLC can be added.
DLC that we do not track (no entries should be made)
- Soundtracks
- Digital Artbooks
- Workshop items
- Season Passes
Also do not make entries for Steam Inventory items such as cards, pack, gems, icons, wallpapers, coupons or in-game items such as CS:GO crates/skins, or other game cosmetics such as for CS:GO, H1Z1 or TF2 (just to name a few examples).
Game packs or bundles should not be added. All Steam items we add must have the word app in the Steam URL, for example:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/49520/Borderlands_2/
Ref: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,22.msg84274.html#msg84274
Is this correct regarding Fallout 4's DLC for an example
These are acceptable:
Fallout 4 - High Resolution Texture Pack <https://store.steampowered.com/app/540810/Fallout_4__High_Resolution_Texture_Pack>
Fallout 4 Far Harbor <https://store.steampowered.com/app/435881/Fallout_4_Far_Harbor>
Fallout 4 Vault-Tec Workshop <https://store.steampowered.com/app/480631/Fallout_4_VaultTec_Workshop>
Fallout 4 - Contraptions Workshop <https://store.steampowered.com/app/480630/Fallout_4__Contraptions_Workshop>
Fallout 4 Nuka-World <https://store.steampowered.com/app/490650/Fallout_4_NukaWorld>
Fallout 4 - Wasteland Workshop <https://store.steampowered.com/app/435880/Fallout_4__Wasteland_Workshop>
Fallout 4 - Automatron <https://store.steampowered.com/app/435870/Fallout_4__Automatron>
These are not acceptable:
Fallout 4 Season Pass <https://store.steampowered.com/app/404090/Fallout_4_Season_Pass>
Fallout 4 - Creation Club <https://store.steampowered.com/app/598110/Fallout_4__Creation_Club/>
24
General / Re: Warning!!! (do not toss or sell your OG Xbox Consoles)
« on: October 16, 2023, 02:35:44 pm »
Quick google, quick skim... does this count as data? <https://www.flexense.com/fat32_exfat_ntfs_usb3_performance_comparison.html>
25
General / Re: What are you playing?
« on: October 16, 2023, 10:17:31 am »Yes, there are 3 main elemental throwables: a firebomb, an electric bomb, and an acid bomb. All bosses take considerable damage from all three elements, some weaker to some than others, and they have their different effects. From my experience, you can take a bosses full health bar down to like 10% left with a full carry (5 each early game) of the throwables.Lies of P is definitely good. Absolutely agree on being the best Soulsborne-like I've seen and played. It doesn't nail everything as well as FromSoft does, but it's really good.Phase 1 is pretty cake, Phase 2 is where I was struggling too. Aggressive, fast, infinite stamina, hard to judge if an attack is regular or fury, attacks in general are obscured making guarding/perfect guarding difficult.
The very last boss was definitely tough, though funny enough, way easier than the two fights that preceded it lol My big issue with the final boss was the second phase, where the weapon is engulfed in flames/visual effects and it made it incredibly hard for me to figure out the perfect guard timing. If they toned back on that, I feel like I could've handled it abit better.By design,yes, but in execution bosses are super weak to throwables.That all said, most bosses are easy to cheese almost like OG Demon's Souls... except the final final boss, that dude is tough as nails. Haven't beat him yet.
Really? I heard you had to master a parrying mechanic to get through bosses.
Lies of P has been on my wish list since I first heard of it.
So you can chuck projectiles at them? Are they easy to come by/inexpensive/etc.?
Just wondering what I'm in for because I want to play it soon.
Early game, if you want them, you've got to grind fighting enemies that drop them, it's kinda painful. Mid-game (Chapter 5) there is a merchant who will sell you all 3 types of main throwable items in unlimited quantities. Cost is like 300-400 Ergo each, so you might have to grind for a few minutes to have enough Ergo to buy up what you can carry.
My experience personally was, I didn't need the throwables until Chapter 4 boss, after which you meet the merchant before the Chapter 5 boss.
Also the cost of leveling up in the game feels more linear than exponential like Souls games. I stopped playing last night (100% completion) and I was at level 170ish and it cost under 20,000 ergo to level up, I feel like Souls normally has a steeper curve to leveling up. I'd beat a boss and then level up like 5 times.
26
General / Re: What are you playing?
« on: October 12, 2023, 03:19:59 pm »Lies of P is definitely good. Absolutely agree on being the best Soulsborne-like I've seen and played. It doesn't nail everything as well as FromSoft does, but it's really good.Phase 1 is pretty cake, Phase 2 is where I was struggling too. Aggressive, fast, infinite stamina, hard to judge if an attack is regular or fury, attacks in general are obscured making guarding/perfect guarding difficult.
The very last boss was definitely tough, though funny enough, way easier than the two fights that preceded it lol My big issue with the final boss was the second phase, where the weapon is engulfed in flames/visual effects and it made it incredibly hard for me to figure out the perfect guard timing. If they toned back on that, I feel like I could've handled it abit better.
By design,yes, but in execution bosses are super weak to throwables.That all said, most bosses are easy to cheese almost like OG Demon's Souls... except the final final boss, that dude is tough as nails. Haven't beat him yet.
Really? I heard you had to master a parrying mechanic to get through bosses.
Lies of P has been on my wish list since I first heard of it.
27
General / Re: What are you playing?
« on: October 11, 2023, 09:58:19 am »
Been playing the fuck outta Lies of P. Game has been great, very good souls formula game, I'd say the best non-From Software Souls game I've played to date. Does things differently in areas, but it works well.
That all said, most bosses are easy to cheese almost like OG Demon's Souls... except the final final boss, that dude is tough as nails. Haven't beat him yet.
That all said, most bosses are easy to cheese almost like OG Demon's Souls... except the final final boss, that dude is tough as nails. Haven't beat him yet.
28
General / Re: Warning!!! (do not toss or sell your OG Xbox Consoles)
« on: October 09, 2023, 08:33:45 am »
Yeah, 360 was only compatible with like 100 og xbox games, chances are your games just arent compatible.
I have my og xbox games sorted into 3 areas, xbox one bc, xbox 360 bc, and non-bc. Majority of my og xbox games are non-bc
I have my og xbox games sorted into 3 areas, xbox one bc, xbox 360 bc, and non-bc. Majority of my og xbox games are non-bc
29
News / Re: Metacritic Scores
« on: September 28, 2023, 10:50:03 am »
Ah, glad to see Switch got taken care of, I think I got like halfway through and then stuff has been happening one thing after another and at this point Metacritic completely killed the ability to look at all games under a platform alphabetically.
30
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!
« on: September 28, 2023, 09:27:57 am »
Main List
Previous List
113. Pixel of Memory (PC)
My curator account got another puzzle game to play, and I try to check them out. This one is sort of a block pushing game, but like the ones on ice where you push and it just goes until it hits something, with some other mechanics involved. Honestly not a terrible game, especially for the price, but it's real short at under 2 hours for 100% completion
Rating: Hard pass
114. Townscaper (XS)
Another leaving game pass game... I think. I had played this game before and while both times playing it was mostly just getting achievements because this game is an easy 1000 gamerscore, it's actually a really chill game to just sit and build little towns. That said, this game doesn't really have a whole lot going on in it, so it's probably not worth the time to check out in general unless you really just want a little casual time waster.
Rating: Hard pass
115. Disc Room (XS)
Another leaving game pass game. I recall it getting a physical release a while back and skipping it like I do all physical releases these days. Fairly simple little stay alive as long as possible game, but the game has tons of accessibility options so if you suck you can turn on all sorts of assists to get through the game. I think I got through the game with little to no assists and then I turned on assists when I went to clean up achievements. Pretty fun game, hectic af, but don't really recall following what little story there was and couldn't be bothered to really read into it like some other games.
Rating: Soft pass
116. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NS)
I had heard a lot of good things about this game re:accessibility which is a sort of a first for Nintendo because they don't usually go and add a ton of features for players who suck. My kid had recently got interested in games via LeapLand Adventures so I bought this thinking it would be a great next step, because this is the first 2D Mario game (to my knowledge) with no level timers so he can take as long as he wants. I say that is an important thing because when I had previously tried to get him to play a Mario game, he'd constantly run out of time on levels and that's not helpful when I want him to learn how to play so this was perfect. He played with on my playthrough, being an asshole and finding ways to make me waste lives and such.... and then once I beat it 100% he started playing his own profile, making me or my wife play with him too, then he beat the game, and now he keeps playing. I want to expect that he's trying to 100% the game, but he spends a lot of time replaying levels that are already 100% complete, so who knows. Regardless, this is definitely my kid's GOTY if not GOAT. Anyway, that aside, game is great, has some challenging levels, has some rhythm levels and even has super difficult optional levels. Game is fantastic.
Rating: Solid recommendation.
117. Saints Row (XS)
Secret GOTY right here. This game got so much shit before and after release. I didn't even buy the game until I got it dirt cheap, then I even bought it twice because I got the CE that came with download codes for all of the DLC for like $3. All in all, I'd say there are like 3 types of Saints Row fans, Saints Row 2 fans who want a weak GTA clone, Saints Row 3 fans who appreciate the over the top nature of the game along with great game play, and Saints Row 4 fans who love that the game jumped the shark. Let's be honest, we know where I fall. This game is a perfect successor to Saints Row 3... so much so that I'd say that this game is probably my favorite Saints Row game, but I will admit that I plan to replay Saints Row 3 sometime in the future with the Remastered release. So maybe I'll be like oh yeah SR3 is better, but if not #1, this game is #2. This game has tons of content, all that same SR humor, and great gameplay, story, and characters. Marketing really killed this game unfortunately. Existing fans got turned off by not being SR2 or SR4, marketing that made the game sound like it went "woke" (I think this is a stupid thing to get riled up about btw), and/or new characters that aren't the original crew. Regardless, I spent tons extra time in the game chasing all of the achievements. I look forward to replaying the game someday on PS5/PC. I'm just real bummed that the marketing killed this game and Volition in general.
Rating: Solid recommendation
118. Robocop: Rogue City (XS)
I'd been pretty hyped for this game since I heard about it, because Robocop is such a great property and could make for a fantastic game. I don't remember if I preordered it or what, I just know I got it before it started selling out at places, and no clue if it's still sold out places. Anyway, game is an absolutely faithful story to the Robocop property and the gameplay is great. For a Robocop fan, I can't recommend this game enough. That said, this game won't be everyone's cup of tea, you have to care about the property and get what's going on to really appreciate it. I have many complaints though that stop the game from being great. 1. The game crashed during the final boss fight, that sucked. Had to start the whole boss fight over again, not a huge deal, but it still sucked. 2. I played early enough that there isn't enough crowd sourced info on the endings and how to get them, so while I thought I did good, I got some bad endings for some characters and that bummed me out. 3. Game has no NG+, almost unforgivable honestly with the RPG elements and it being impossible to get all of the upgrades in one playthrough. 4. Replaying old missions has you load an old auto-save so you don't even get to take your end game stats to earlier levels. 5. The ultimate kick in the balls, starting a new campaign deletes all saved data, which really sucks. All of this combined and some of these things truly unforgivable, can't really recommend this game in general unless you are a Robocop fan... and even then, be cautious. That said, a lot of this could be fixed in a patch and could easily push the game to being recommended in general.
Rating: Soft and cautious recommendation
119. The Typing of the Dead: Overkill (PC)
We're at the point in the year where I'm really just trying to knock out games for my game by year goal, and I looked at games that I was already in progress for quick completes or games that are short for quick completes. This one I had started years ago and decided to finish it up. I have no notes on it from when I played it a few years ago, but it's basically house of the dead overkill, but instead of light gun stuff, you've got Mavis Beacon typing bullshit. I played through several levels before I realized about collectibles I think, and even then I had to google how to pickup collectibles in the game, since it's not a lightgun game. Story is stupid af, characters are stupid af, game is cringe af, but like that's all the purpose. I could only play a level at a time or something because my arms would start hurting, don't know if I had that same type of stuff back when I'd play lightgun games, but this typing game for sure did it.
Rating: Hard pass
120. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania (360)
I love when I can fill out my game by year stuff by working on stuff I already should be working on. In this case, I'm filling out a year and working on my WWE franchise run. I do have a lot of earlier content to go back fill on this run, which maybe even could've been productive for my game by year, but the past has passed and it is what it is. This one isn't terrible, but it truly is arcade style, the matches last a few minutes and are very much presented in a format that could be done in an arcade on a cabinet... that said the game has a lot of frustrating controls and setup, but I guess that's arcade games for you. Not too terrible of a game though, simple enough to 100% complete and doesn't take too long. Only a few of the quests were really frustrating, but it wasn't so bad that I abandoned it, though it takes a lot for me to abandon games. Interesting to look at a game, albeit 10+ years old, and see how many folks here are dead, retired, or no longer with WWE... or even the few who were retired and are now no longer. Anyway, not a great game, even for living out history. I will say, my dream WWE game, is a game with simple controls a la early Smackdown games, but it has the entire script of all of WWE so you can replay the entire history of WWE, even if PPV by PPV ignoring the thousands of house shows and tv shows. Impossible request due to the shear amount of licensing hell that would have to be handled to essentially get everyone ever... but that's why it's a dream.
Rating: Soft pass
121. Pumpkin Jack (PC)
This one interested me and I don't know why I started it originally, but it's not a terrible game. I don't look back fondly on it, but it's more Valve's fault than this game. I launched the game while out of town, so it didn't load up achievements, I immediately connected to Wi-fi and it still didn't load achievements, so I missed tons of unmissable achievements middle of the game that I can't unlock unless I start the game completely over, I don't even know if chapter select will work, but I really don't want to replay this game. I might one day go back and work on collectibles in which case maybe it'll pop in chapter select, but I doubt it. Ignoring my bias, it's an okay game with some frustrating platforming elements and less than intuitive combat, annoying checkpoint system that doesn't save collecting collectibles unless you pick up the collectible and hit the next checkpoint, so for particularly frustrating platforming areas you might forget to pick up the collectible for the 20th time just trying to get through the section, I love games that autosave collectibles separately, so you don't have to go through that bs again. Boss fights are tough but mostly reasonable, but still frustrating... honestly I'm very disappointed with this game, even ignoring my own issues with valve.
Rating: Biased Hard pass, otherwise soft pass
122. Trojan (NES)
Short platformer hack and slash game. Dated obviously, old Capcom IP that has never seen the light of day since. Really nothing to write home about, there's probably a reason this IP is dead. This is one of those games where it just infinitely spawns enemies at you, so if you stand still, you'll fight forever, so you have to move forward while killing everything spawning, which is incredibly frustrating.
Rating: Hard pass
123. Lilo & Stitch (GBA)
Side scrolling run and gun game. Mostly fine, but there are plenty of sections where it's pretty much impossible to pass without taking damage because enemy is shielded and lobs grenades and when you get close, more enemies spawn on screen who also lob grenades. It didn't kill me, but it dealt damage and that's one of those frustrating things I see in games, where it sets you up and makes it so you literally can't get by without taking damage, so you can't just play well enough, you have to make sure you have the health to sponge the damage you will inevitably take. There were collectibles high up that I didn't and still don't understand how you were supposed to get, so afaik there was some thing I could've done to get up and over those enemies without taking damage, but I didn't care that much to look into it, just enough to get frustrated. Short enough game, not terrible, plays well enough. I'd say if you like Contra-esque games this one isn't a terrible one to play especially if you like Stitch.
Rating: Soft pass
124. Banjo Pilot (GBA)
I was kind of hoping for more Diddy Kong Racing kind of gameplay, even though I'm personally not the biggest fan of DKR, this plays more like Super Mario Kart (2D one) with some boss style 1v1 combat levels thrown in at the end of each tournament. Nothing great, but good enough and actually has quite a bit of content for a GBA game, so even though I already beat the game, I'll probably come back to it one day and work on some of the extra content to unlock characters and such.
Rating: Soft pass
125. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (GBC)
I had considered playing the PSX/N64 version for my goal, but this is a completely different game, so I'll play both, and significantly shorter. So again, productive and works on my goal for the year. Combat is super simple beat em up, some of the levels are sprawling which is interesting, but also kind of boring. Boss fights are well enough, and everything is designed well enough that you can get through without taking damage unlike some games. Regardless, not the worst game I've played, and I suspect it's better than the console counterpart from what I've gathered.
Rating: Soft pass
126. Sonic Pinball Party (GBA)
I was real close to finishing my Sonic franchise run, when I decided that A) I would play the spin off/party games, and B) I would play the alternative versions of games like the handheld versions of the console releases because they are surely different games entirely. So this is another one that is doubly productive to my process. I expected more Spinball, but it actually is a straight pinball game and it plays well enough. I only had the problem of meeting the goal on the last level, which is a recurring thing I hear. It wasn't so difficult that I had to try too many times, but I do get frustrated when games have a difficulty spike, especially right at the end. That said, this game doesn't add anything and isn't really worth playing.
Rating: Hard pass
127. Konami Krazy Racers (GBA)
This one has been in my interest lists for a long long time, mostly because of Goemon being in it, but I expected to recognize other Konami characters and I don't think I did. This is definitely a Super Mario Kart clone type of game, really nothing special going on here except maybe that the music takes from various Konami games and so do the levels, so despite the characters being few and not big names, the levels at least represent some of the bigger Konami franchises. Still, not really worth playing.
Rating: Hard pass
128. Karnov (NES)
Literally just a game to fill out a year on my list. You play as Russian strongman Karnov, that's it, that's all I know about this game. Guy looks like a Sontaran. Reading up, I guess it's interesting that this dude started out as a protagonist hero but then was only ever used as a boss villain in fighting games after this. Pretty basic scrolling platform game, game has items, but they aren't really necessary until like the last level where you have to use wings and ladders just to progress the level. Feels not great designed when that stuff happens, not in this case, but especially in games where you wind up having to look up how to do something because they taught you early, but never forced you to use it until the end.
Rating: Hard pass
129. Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure (GBA)
I always find it interesting when games use "Advanced" instead of "Advance" for GBA and such because it's not the Game Boy Advanced, but it definitely plays into the confusion, so thanks for that. Anyway, part scrolling platform adventure game and part 2D fighter. platforming plays well enough and works well enough for Dragon Ball, and the 2D fighting isn't bad, but there are definitely fights that suck because the enemy counters/parries everything. With the right timing and strategy you can beat anyone, but the game does intend you to lose, so even though you "won", it does a little scripted section where they demolish you to progress the plot. Not a big deal, and should be expected if you know the source, but interesting tidbit I suppose. All in all though, it's a pretty good game and I consider going back to it to get all of the collectibles and work on the retro-achievements.
Rating: Soft recommendation
WWE '12 (360)
I actually skipped this game back in the day. I fell out of interest with wrestling way back when, but the games were still enjoyable to me because the gameplay was fun enough, but around this time I just wasn't even playing the games either. As such, I missed the terrible WWE '# games and then revamping the controls entirely, which made the transition to 2K pretty easy in that I had to relearn anyway because it had been years since I played. But also, that means I don't know a lot of these folks who are showing up in the these games. Right now I'm doing the Sheamus Villain Road to Wrestlemania thing... which so far is very disappointing, instead of doing matches you've got these scenarios where it's like hit the enemy a bunch and then press Y to win... ok, yeah, real fun. It's like they are trying to make it more story oriented, which I can see the appeal, but unless this stuff is what happened back in 2011/2012, why do it.
Previous List
Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.strikethroughgames are games that have been abandoned.
113. Pixel of Memory (PC)
My curator account got another puzzle game to play, and I try to check them out. This one is sort of a block pushing game, but like the ones on ice where you push and it just goes until it hits something, with some other mechanics involved. Honestly not a terrible game, especially for the price, but it's real short at under 2 hours for 100% completion
Rating: Hard pass
114. Townscaper (XS)
Another leaving game pass game... I think. I had played this game before and while both times playing it was mostly just getting achievements because this game is an easy 1000 gamerscore, it's actually a really chill game to just sit and build little towns. That said, this game doesn't really have a whole lot going on in it, so it's probably not worth the time to check out in general unless you really just want a little casual time waster.
Rating: Hard pass
115. Disc Room (XS)
Another leaving game pass game. I recall it getting a physical release a while back and skipping it like I do all physical releases these days. Fairly simple little stay alive as long as possible game, but the game has tons of accessibility options so if you suck you can turn on all sorts of assists to get through the game. I think I got through the game with little to no assists and then I turned on assists when I went to clean up achievements. Pretty fun game, hectic af, but don't really recall following what little story there was and couldn't be bothered to really read into it like some other games.
Rating: Soft pass
116. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NS)
I had heard a lot of good things about this game re:accessibility which is a sort of a first for Nintendo because they don't usually go and add a ton of features for players who suck. My kid had recently got interested in games via LeapLand Adventures so I bought this thinking it would be a great next step, because this is the first 2D Mario game (to my knowledge) with no level timers so he can take as long as he wants. I say that is an important thing because when I had previously tried to get him to play a Mario game, he'd constantly run out of time on levels and that's not helpful when I want him to learn how to play so this was perfect. He played with on my playthrough, being an asshole and finding ways to make me waste lives and such.... and then once I beat it 100% he started playing his own profile, making me or my wife play with him too, then he beat the game, and now he keeps playing. I want to expect that he's trying to 100% the game, but he spends a lot of time replaying levels that are already 100% complete, so who knows. Regardless, this is definitely my kid's GOTY if not GOAT. Anyway, that aside, game is great, has some challenging levels, has some rhythm levels and even has super difficult optional levels. Game is fantastic.
Rating: Solid recommendation.
117. Saints Row (XS)
Secret GOTY right here. This game got so much shit before and after release. I didn't even buy the game until I got it dirt cheap, then I even bought it twice because I got the CE that came with download codes for all of the DLC for like $3. All in all, I'd say there are like 3 types of Saints Row fans, Saints Row 2 fans who want a weak GTA clone, Saints Row 3 fans who appreciate the over the top nature of the game along with great game play, and Saints Row 4 fans who love that the game jumped the shark. Let's be honest, we know where I fall. This game is a perfect successor to Saints Row 3... so much so that I'd say that this game is probably my favorite Saints Row game, but I will admit that I plan to replay Saints Row 3 sometime in the future with the Remastered release. So maybe I'll be like oh yeah SR3 is better, but if not #1, this game is #2. This game has tons of content, all that same SR humor, and great gameplay, story, and characters. Marketing really killed this game unfortunately. Existing fans got turned off by not being SR2 or SR4, marketing that made the game sound like it went "woke" (I think this is a stupid thing to get riled up about btw), and/or new characters that aren't the original crew. Regardless, I spent tons extra time in the game chasing all of the achievements. I look forward to replaying the game someday on PS5/PC. I'm just real bummed that the marketing killed this game and Volition in general.
Rating: Solid recommendation
118. Robocop: Rogue City (XS)
I'd been pretty hyped for this game since I heard about it, because Robocop is such a great property and could make for a fantastic game. I don't remember if I preordered it or what, I just know I got it before it started selling out at places, and no clue if it's still sold out places. Anyway, game is an absolutely faithful story to the Robocop property and the gameplay is great. For a Robocop fan, I can't recommend this game enough. That said, this game won't be everyone's cup of tea, you have to care about the property and get what's going on to really appreciate it. I have many complaints though that stop the game from being great. 1. The game crashed during the final boss fight, that sucked. Had to start the whole boss fight over again, not a huge deal, but it still sucked. 2. I played early enough that there isn't enough crowd sourced info on the endings and how to get them, so while I thought I did good, I got some bad endings for some characters and that bummed me out. 3. Game has no NG+, almost unforgivable honestly with the RPG elements and it being impossible to get all of the upgrades in one playthrough. 4. Replaying old missions has you load an old auto-save so you don't even get to take your end game stats to earlier levels. 5. The ultimate kick in the balls, starting a new campaign deletes all saved data, which really sucks. All of this combined and some of these things truly unforgivable, can't really recommend this game in general unless you are a Robocop fan... and even then, be cautious. That said, a lot of this could be fixed in a patch and could easily push the game to being recommended in general.
Rating: Soft and cautious recommendation
119. The Typing of the Dead: Overkill (PC)
We're at the point in the year where I'm really just trying to knock out games for my game by year goal, and I looked at games that I was already in progress for quick completes or games that are short for quick completes. This one I had started years ago and decided to finish it up. I have no notes on it from when I played it a few years ago, but it's basically house of the dead overkill, but instead of light gun stuff, you've got Mavis Beacon typing bullshit. I played through several levels before I realized about collectibles I think, and even then I had to google how to pickup collectibles in the game, since it's not a lightgun game. Story is stupid af, characters are stupid af, game is cringe af, but like that's all the purpose. I could only play a level at a time or something because my arms would start hurting, don't know if I had that same type of stuff back when I'd play lightgun games, but this typing game for sure did it.
Rating: Hard pass
120. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania (360)
I love when I can fill out my game by year stuff by working on stuff I already should be working on. In this case, I'm filling out a year and working on my WWE franchise run. I do have a lot of earlier content to go back fill on this run, which maybe even could've been productive for my game by year, but the past has passed and it is what it is. This one isn't terrible, but it truly is arcade style, the matches last a few minutes and are very much presented in a format that could be done in an arcade on a cabinet... that said the game has a lot of frustrating controls and setup, but I guess that's arcade games for you. Not too terrible of a game though, simple enough to 100% complete and doesn't take too long. Only a few of the quests were really frustrating, but it wasn't so bad that I abandoned it, though it takes a lot for me to abandon games. Interesting to look at a game, albeit 10+ years old, and see how many folks here are dead, retired, or no longer with WWE... or even the few who were retired and are now no longer. Anyway, not a great game, even for living out history. I will say, my dream WWE game, is a game with simple controls a la early Smackdown games, but it has the entire script of all of WWE so you can replay the entire history of WWE, even if PPV by PPV ignoring the thousands of house shows and tv shows. Impossible request due to the shear amount of licensing hell that would have to be handled to essentially get everyone ever... but that's why it's a dream.
Rating: Soft pass
121. Pumpkin Jack (PC)
This one interested me and I don't know why I started it originally, but it's not a terrible game. I don't look back fondly on it, but it's more Valve's fault than this game. I launched the game while out of town, so it didn't load up achievements, I immediately connected to Wi-fi and it still didn't load achievements, so I missed tons of unmissable achievements middle of the game that I can't unlock unless I start the game completely over, I don't even know if chapter select will work, but I really don't want to replay this game. I might one day go back and work on collectibles in which case maybe it'll pop in chapter select, but I doubt it. Ignoring my bias, it's an okay game with some frustrating platforming elements and less than intuitive combat, annoying checkpoint system that doesn't save collecting collectibles unless you pick up the collectible and hit the next checkpoint, so for particularly frustrating platforming areas you might forget to pick up the collectible for the 20th time just trying to get through the section, I love games that autosave collectibles separately, so you don't have to go through that bs again. Boss fights are tough but mostly reasonable, but still frustrating... honestly I'm very disappointed with this game, even ignoring my own issues with valve.
Rating: Biased Hard pass, otherwise soft pass
122. Trojan (NES)
Short platformer hack and slash game. Dated obviously, old Capcom IP that has never seen the light of day since. Really nothing to write home about, there's probably a reason this IP is dead. This is one of those games where it just infinitely spawns enemies at you, so if you stand still, you'll fight forever, so you have to move forward while killing everything spawning, which is incredibly frustrating.
Rating: Hard pass
123. Lilo & Stitch (GBA)
Side scrolling run and gun game. Mostly fine, but there are plenty of sections where it's pretty much impossible to pass without taking damage because enemy is shielded and lobs grenades and when you get close, more enemies spawn on screen who also lob grenades. It didn't kill me, but it dealt damage and that's one of those frustrating things I see in games, where it sets you up and makes it so you literally can't get by without taking damage, so you can't just play well enough, you have to make sure you have the health to sponge the damage you will inevitably take. There were collectibles high up that I didn't and still don't understand how you were supposed to get, so afaik there was some thing I could've done to get up and over those enemies without taking damage, but I didn't care that much to look into it, just enough to get frustrated. Short enough game, not terrible, plays well enough. I'd say if you like Contra-esque games this one isn't a terrible one to play especially if you like Stitch.
Rating: Soft pass
124. Banjo Pilot (GBA)
I was kind of hoping for more Diddy Kong Racing kind of gameplay, even though I'm personally not the biggest fan of DKR, this plays more like Super Mario Kart (2D one) with some boss style 1v1 combat levels thrown in at the end of each tournament. Nothing great, but good enough and actually has quite a bit of content for a GBA game, so even though I already beat the game, I'll probably come back to it one day and work on some of the extra content to unlock characters and such.
Rating: Soft pass
125. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (GBC)
I had considered playing the PSX/N64 version for my goal, but this is a completely different game, so I'll play both, and significantly shorter. So again, productive and works on my goal for the year. Combat is super simple beat em up, some of the levels are sprawling which is interesting, but also kind of boring. Boss fights are well enough, and everything is designed well enough that you can get through without taking damage unlike some games. Regardless, not the worst game I've played, and I suspect it's better than the console counterpart from what I've gathered.
Rating: Soft pass
126. Sonic Pinball Party (GBA)
I was real close to finishing my Sonic franchise run, when I decided that A) I would play the spin off/party games, and B) I would play the alternative versions of games like the handheld versions of the console releases because they are surely different games entirely. So this is another one that is doubly productive to my process. I expected more Spinball, but it actually is a straight pinball game and it plays well enough. I only had the problem of meeting the goal on the last level, which is a recurring thing I hear. It wasn't so difficult that I had to try too many times, but I do get frustrated when games have a difficulty spike, especially right at the end. That said, this game doesn't add anything and isn't really worth playing.
Rating: Hard pass
127. Konami Krazy Racers (GBA)
This one has been in my interest lists for a long long time, mostly because of Goemon being in it, but I expected to recognize other Konami characters and I don't think I did. This is definitely a Super Mario Kart clone type of game, really nothing special going on here except maybe that the music takes from various Konami games and so do the levels, so despite the characters being few and not big names, the levels at least represent some of the bigger Konami franchises. Still, not really worth playing.
Rating: Hard pass
128. Karnov (NES)
Literally just a game to fill out a year on my list. You play as Russian strongman Karnov, that's it, that's all I know about this game. Guy looks like a Sontaran. Reading up, I guess it's interesting that this dude started out as a protagonist hero but then was only ever used as a boss villain in fighting games after this. Pretty basic scrolling platform game, game has items, but they aren't really necessary until like the last level where you have to use wings and ladders just to progress the level. Feels not great designed when that stuff happens, not in this case, but especially in games where you wind up having to look up how to do something because they taught you early, but never forced you to use it until the end.
Rating: Hard pass
129. Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure (GBA)
I always find it interesting when games use "Advanced" instead of "Advance" for GBA and such because it's not the Game Boy Advanced, but it definitely plays into the confusion, so thanks for that. Anyway, part scrolling platform adventure game and part 2D fighter. platforming plays well enough and works well enough for Dragon Ball, and the 2D fighting isn't bad, but there are definitely fights that suck because the enemy counters/parries everything. With the right timing and strategy you can beat anyone, but the game does intend you to lose, so even though you "won", it does a little scripted section where they demolish you to progress the plot. Not a big deal, and should be expected if you know the source, but interesting tidbit I suppose. All in all though, it's a pretty good game and I consider going back to it to get all of the collectibles and work on the retro-achievements.
Rating: Soft recommendation
WWE '12 (360)
I actually skipped this game back in the day. I fell out of interest with wrestling way back when, but the games were still enjoyable to me because the gameplay was fun enough, but around this time I just wasn't even playing the games either. As such, I missed the terrible WWE '# games and then revamping the controls entirely, which made the transition to 2K pretty easy in that I had to relearn anyway because it had been years since I played. But also, that means I don't know a lot of these folks who are showing up in the these games. Right now I'm doing the Sheamus Villain Road to Wrestlemania thing... which so far is very disappointing, instead of doing matches you've got these scenarios where it's like hit the enemy a bunch and then press Y to win... ok, yeah, real fun. It's like they are trying to make it more story oriented, which I can see the appeal, but unless this stuff is what happened back in 2011/2012, why do it.