Author Topic: 52 Games Challenge 2020  (Read 55376 times)

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #30 on: January 09, 2020, 11:59:03 am »
Second game of the year was Pokémon Sword on the Nintendo Switch. I’ve been a Pokémon fan since Red/Blue and I had some mixed feelings going into this one. There’s been a lot of complaining about how there was no national dex and how the graphics could have been way better, but I can say that none of that mattered. The graphics fit the game perfectly, there were PLENTY of Pokémon to catch, and all the quality of life improvements made this easily the best Pokémon game in my opinion. With all this said... I have no intention of picking up the expansion pass that was just announced. I finished the game, got my legendary, I'm done and on to something else.

wolfen

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #31 on: January 11, 2020, 01:00:33 pm »
1. Kirby Super Star(Switch NSO)

First game of many this year. I'm really trying to push myself this year to reach a respectable number. Maybe not 52 but better than what I've done.

I honestly thought this was my favorite Kirby game for a long time, but playing it again felt very lackluster. Don't get me wrong it's still great but nothing special like Planet Robobot and not as fun as Kirby 3 imo. Still had fun though and that's all that matters.

Time: 5 hours




Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #32 on: January 12, 2020, 02:05:47 pm »
3. Resident Evil 2 (PS4)

I'm really happy I replayed the original Resident Evil 2 last year since it really refreshed my memory on a lot of the story and events that took place; prior to beating it last year I hadn't played it since the mid-2000s so I was a bit rusty on the details. Some of the value in replaying the original RE2 was also to give me a frame of reference for the remake which also came out last year. I really wanted to get RE2 Remake when it launched since Resident Evil has been consistently one of my favorite video game franchises for a long time, but I held off for the reason mentioned above and also because I had a lot of other things I was playing around then. But I finally got around to buying the remake during Black Friday and I just finished up both the A and B Scenarios (Leon A, Claire B for the record) and am ready to do a review on it.


Resident Evil 2 remake is one of the best remakes I've ever played, albeit not necessarily one of the best video games I've ever played. It truly takes all those memorable moments, settings, enemies, bosses, and even modes and updates them enough to where they feel fresh and new while also making them very recognizable and memorable in the remake. While the overall story is the same between the original and remake, things do not transpire and take place the same way they did in the original. However, all the most memorable parts of the original do eventually show up in the remake in a different way that is still very recognizable and memorable when you reach these points.I guess in other words things are both very nostalgic and novel at the same time which is something I've never seen a remake do so well.


The gameplay of Resident Evil 2 remake is greatly updated, however not necessarily better. Anyone who played the original RE2 remembers he tank controls for better or worse, which are completely gone in this version. Instead you have a third person view that allows you to manually aim if you shoot in order to shoot specific parts of enemies. Also gone is the fixed camera from the original and instead the camera and environments are all dynamic. While this all might sound like a vast improvement, there are various issues that hamper it. While the freedom to aim is a huge advantage, it almost doesn't matter since virtually all the enemies in the game are freakin bullet sponges. I played the game on Standard Difficulty and even then some zombies literally took a dozen shots in the head to take down. Occassionally you'll get lucky and be able to take a zombie down with a couple of bullets to the head, especially if one blows their head off, but this did not happen nearly enough even with upgraded weapons. Then there are other enemies like the Lickers and these new sewer monsters that took a crap ton of bullets as well. There are certain weapons that give you an advantage over certain enemy types, but overall I found this to be incredibly frustrating and tedious most of the time. The movement controls also leave a lot to be desired. You are given a lot of freedom to move around, however your character still feels slow and bulky. This made navigating through the game at times, especially when running from Mr. X all the more frustrating. This brings me to my biggest issue with RE2 remake, Mr. X.

Like Nemesis in RE3, Mr. X is probably one of the most memorable parts of RE2 and it would not have been the same game without him. However, he is in this game way more than he was in the original. This wouldn't necessarily be an issue if you weren't literally running into him constantly. There are various safe rooms throughout the Police Station where he won't pursue you, however this almost doesn't matter since there were many times where he would just walk around in the hallways right outside the door and I had to wait upwards towards 5-minutes a handful of times for him to go away. But, like clockwork, he's be on my ass again within a minute or two after leaving the safe room, interrupting whatever it was I was about to do so I could seek refuge in another safe room. This really chopped up the pacing for me during the sections Mr. X was present, and especially during scenario B with Claire, his presence was profoundly annoying. Luckily he is only in about 1/4 of the game, but that was enough to really put a damper on his inclusion in the remake.

I'm not trying to sound ultra negative about the gameplay, in fact most of it works well enough and despite these flaws it's still a very enjoyable game, but they are issues I had with it and ones I wish would have been rectified. But despite all these problems, the amount of tension and unease through the game was excellent; this game truly maintained its status as survival horror as I just barely had enough ammo and health at any given time to make it through the game. However, I never found myself in an absolute dire situation, although I very well could have if I didn't know you had to play these games very conservatively. And while I knocked on the clunky movement controls, in a way it was nice not having Leon and Claire move like gymnasts or Olympic runners either since they certainly didn't move like this in the original. It made the game feel more authentic and was certainly part of why this was such an excellent remake.

Graphically the game looked pretty awesome. I found the faces of the characters, particularly Claire and Sherry to look kind of goofy sometimes, but overall the character models and animations looked great. One minor gripe I had about how some of the characters looked, particularly Claire and Annette Birkin was how out of place they looked from a fashion standpoint; both looked like women dressed in 2019, not 1998 when this game takes place. While this is a fairly minor gripe, it still is something that broke my immersion slightly while playing. The enemy and zombie models were excellent and very well done! Unlike the original version, each zombie looked different from the others and one inclusion that I thought was awesome was how the corpses of all the enemies, zombie or otherwise never disappeared after killing it. On top of that all missing body parts from the games great dismemberment system remained consistent as well.

The updated areas were probably the biggest standout of all though. I loved how the Police Station looked like it has been through absolute hell during the outbreak, as did it in the original, but the huge leaps in graphics really lended itself to this aesthetic. I also loved how there was no power throughout most of the station, which made it more realistic and how there were signs everywhere that the survivors before you really tried to fortify the police station before meeting their ends. The other main setting like the sewers and also the Umbrella labs received probably the biggest facelift, not just in terms of layout, but visually as well. Despite being very different from how these settings were in the original, they still managed to have all those familiar touches that I mentioned before which made them feel grounded in the RE2 universe.

Sound was pretty awesome in this game. While there weren't any real standout tracks through the game, the soundtrack was instrumental is ramping up the games horror theme. There were times when the music would start playing which really made the tension go through the roof. This was especially true during the parts where you were on the run from Mr. X, despite how otherwise annoying that was. Sound effects were great as well, which also included the monster noises; it was always eery walking into a room and hearing a faint moan that you were unsure if it was in the same room or the room right next to you; the end effect was it really kept you on your toes throughout the game. Voice acting was pretty good as well. There were a few cheesy lines that were delivered as well as they could be, but overall all the voice actors did a great job in their respective roles.

Then of of course there is this games massive amount of unlockable content, just like the original RE2. There are various unlockable modes, costumes, weapons, concept art, characters models, and more that you can unlock by replaying the game repeatedly and meeting certain requirements. Perhaps the best piece of extra content is the ability to experience the game depending on who you play as and whether you choose Leon or Claire first. Claire's A scenario plays out fairly different than her B scenario, same with Leon's. All of this really adds to this games replayability, and it was enough for me to beat the game again in the scenario B just so i could see the good ending and also see at least what Claire's B scenario was like.

Resident Evil 2 remake is definitely an awesome game, albeit one with its imperfections and flaws. However, you really have to hand it to Capcom for taking the time and effort into making this game feel different and fresh while staying true to the original. The end result of all this is a game that diehard RE2 fans will love and that many younger games who were either too young to play the original RE2, or weren't even born yet can enjoy due to its modern presentation and changes.

Presentation: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Fun: 15/20
Overall: 40/50

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #33 on: January 16, 2020, 01:25:07 am »
4. Mario Kart DS (DS)


Going into Mario Kart DS I was a bit worried. I love and enjoyed Mario Kart 8 so much over the last few years that I was worried that it would ruin all previous Mario Kart games for me because of just how good that game was. Not only is Mario Kart 8 my favorite Mario Kart game, it's also my favorite racing game, and up there with the games I've sunk the most time into. So to say Mario Kart DS had very big shoes to fill would be an understatement. This essentially meant I knew I wouldn't like it as much as 8, probably not even close, but in the end I did enjoy this entry in the Mario Kart series far more than I expected.


Prior to Mario Kart DS being released in 2005, my experience with Mario Kart was with the original and Mario Kart 64, both games I loved, especially the latter. For whatever reason I missed out on Mario Kart Advance and also Double Dash, and sadly still have not played either of those games. So I tried comparing my experience with Mario Kart DS far more to those two older Mario Kart games I did play even though 64 is nearly a decade older. When Mario Kart DS did come out I was more interested in dating and hanging out with friends so the game never crossed my path around the time it came out. But I figured it was time to throw in in my neglected DS and see wha this game was like.


Mario Kart DS is a very impressive entry given the hardware limitations of the DS. The levels, especially many of the original levels in in this game are excellent. The other half of the levels present in the game are taken directly from previous Mario Kart games, and given that DS polish (or downgrade in the case of the tracks taken from Double Dash). Whether they're brand new or old tracks, they're all pretty fun to race on.


There are various modes in this game as well including Grand Prix, Time Attack, Battle Mode, and a new Mission mode here you have to complete various challenges. There is of course Multiplayer, but I wasn't able to try that out since I didn't have another person to play with, and the online multiplayer has probably been long gone for some time. However, all the single player content is pretty enjoyable, although I found the most value in Grand Prix and Time Attack modes. The more of this game you complete, the more you unlock which includes karts, characters, and new cups. Mario Kart DS definitely incentivizes playing everything on offer in order to unlock all this extra content.


Regarding the games controls, they handle very well for the most part. I noticed that the drift mechanic definitely took some getting used to, as was the dash charge that is tied to it, but once I got the hang of it, it really made the game more interesting when taking sharp turns and going into straight aways. Like the other Mario Kart games, you collect items to use in various ways. One thing I was surprised by was the ability to use these items for both attack and defense depending on the item, something I'd only experienced in Mario Kart 8 up until this point. I also really enjoyed the balancing in many of the stages in terms of the overall design. There is also a cool drafting mechanic as well which allows you to draft the driver in front of you and attempt to pull ahead of them. There is enough on offer with how the game plays and what's available to you, where it offers some very dynamic and fun gameplay throughout.


The game's graphics are pretty good as is the overall presentation. However, I couldn't help but feel the game looked fairly blocky for a game released in 2005, but given its release date and that it was a very early DS game it's forgivable it doesn't look as good as various later DS games. Still, for what it is, it's a pretty impressive looking handheld game. 


Sound quality is slightly hampered by the DS as well, but still has that undeniable upbeat Nintendo sound that make many of their first party games so memorable. There weren't many standout tracks, but all definitely made playing through the game enjoyable and fun. Racers also made comments and noises while racing, and sound effects were very well done.


Even though I went into Mario Kart DS wanting to compare it more to older entries in the series, I actually found myself drawing more comparisons to Mario Kart 8 in the end. This is definitely a reflection on how innovative and impressive this game must have been for the time, and how even today with three newer Mario Kart games it still holds its own very, very well. However, despite it being a very well made game, and a fun one at that, I still absolutely prefer Mario Kart 8, just because of the leaps and bounds in gameplay and overall quality that have taken place since 2005. But as someone who never played Mario Kart DS well before Mario Kart 8 came out, it was still a highly enjoyable, fun game that I could see myself playing again if I was ever looking for a fun DS game to play on the go. (1/15/20)

Gameplay: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Graphics: 8/10
Fun: 13/20
Overall: 36/50



necrosexual

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #34 on: January 16, 2020, 08:39:35 am »
sonic heroes (PS2)

i don't know how often i'll do reviews here but i need to vent. i just beat this, starting with team rose, as i planned to at least play through all the stories; i think i heard to get to the true ending you have to beat all stories and get all the emeralds or something, so that wasn't going to happen, but i'll get to that. i'm going to make it clear too that i knew what to expect when going in as far as the gameplay. i don't really have a problem with the gameplay in theory, in fact, it was kinda fun and refreshing after playing a bunch of other games. i've been on a sonic kick lately, so mixing it up with heroes seemed like it would be a fun breather. oh boy, i was wrong.

again i'll state that i don't mind the gameplay IN THEORY. swapping off between team members and all, i ended up playing power most often for obvious reasons, due to the revamped combat, but i don't mind because i really like big the cat tbh found out really fast that playing as speed (amy in my run) was causing all kinds of problems, it's too fast for this game tbh. i wouldn't mind this entire gameplay style again, tbh, it's quite fun as long as you know what you're in for... well, when it works. fwiw i think the complaints here are overblown, as far as gameplay. it never felt extremely 'slowed down' in gameplay, despite not 'moving forward' constantly. i never felt like the game screeched to a halt, and was constantly bouncing around, slinging my teammates around and so on. often at enemies that take multiple hits, you can just pop off a team blast, which come often enough that as long as you use them somewhat wisely, you'll never be stuck on a random mook for very long, even if it has '24 health', or about 8 hits. but that's the end of the good i have to say.

grinding rails in this game is anxiety-inducing, as characters don't seem to 'snap to' the rails like in the adventure games or later games like generations and even forces. this means you will spend an incredible amount of lives just by slipping through rail tracks or by trying to jump to the rail to the side, only for your character to fly off the side of the tracks completely. a number of times the end of a rail has a spring that sent me straight into a pit? after a few deaths it sent me in the correct direction instead. i have no idea what happened there. it makes riding rails extremely unfun in this game, which is startling after sonic adventure 2 has some stages centered around grinding rails and they're a blast. what happened?

honing isn't telegraphed at all. a few times i wanted to break boxes located in an area with a spring and had to find an alternative method entirely, as the honing was stuck on the spring in the opposite direction. sometimes, that spring was off camera, as well, and the camera is extremely bad in this game, like a precursor to the camera issues in sonic 06. rails also do not seem to be targets for honing, or, well, i stopped trying after the second time of trying to hone onto them only to fly completely off stage. no thanks. i faintly recall honing having a target system in adventure 2 battle, so why doesn't heroes?

some very precise jumps combined with a floating physics issue makes for frustrating moments where you will end up dying fairly often, while not feeling exactly like 'lack of skill' on your part. this is especially irritating when it combines with bad camera.

most, if not all, of the bosses are easily cheesed in the game. i don't really care either way about this, boss fights tend to be my least favourite parts of non-rpg games, but y'know, i noticed.

the special stages to get the emeralds have awful controls, just terrible, and without redos, you won't get chances to retry to figure them out. you'll have to go through entire stages to get another go. ugh. it's absolutely wild how something they got down with perfectly capable controls in sonic the hedgehog 2 is a mess in this game. i think i was starting to kind of figure out a method by the last time i got a special stage, but y'know... i really shouldn't have to 'figure out' how to navigate a literal pipe. it's a mess. i have also heard that you can fall through the stage which is astounding, considering it is a long, closed pipe. this didn't happen to me, but i started to avoid the keys in the level to avoid wasting my time with these stages. considering how many other things i fell through or that just corrupted for me, it probably would have happened.

the worst part is they intend people to play team rose first, as noted because it is the only story with a tutorial. so if the issues i had are prominent with the beginner characters, then i don't even want to see how bad they get with team chaotix.

i recalled picking this game up multiple times at a cousin's house when i was younger and trying it and every time quitting and couldn't recall why. tbh, i'm still not 100% sure why back then, but i know why i'm done after this credit roll now. this game just makes me sad. this is a sad game and it really shouldn't have been like this.

i don't really give out review scores because i can never figure out a good method so i'll give this a
wish i was playing sonic adventure 2 instead/10.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2020, 08:43:44 am by necrosexual »


if i'm an NPC, i want to be the secret boss in a low tier niche JRPG.

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #35 on: January 16, 2020, 11:20:40 pm »
5. Armored Warriors (PS4)

Prior to buying the Capcom Beat Em' Up Collection I had never heard of seen this game, ever. However, the idea of a mech beat em' up sounded like an awesome idea on paper, and in many way Armored Warriors delivers on this, however in many ways it does not as well. I'll start this review off by talking about the two things I loved the most about Armored Warriors, it's soundtrack and its presentation.

The soundtrack of Armored Warriors is excellent, like as in really good! Given that Capcom was behind it, it's no surprise that it would at least be good, but it was actually way better then I could have expected. Aside from the killer OST, there's lots of sound effects and audio cues when you're about to battle a boss. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it gets the job done and makes the game feel action packed from start to finish. But dat soundtrack doe!

The presentation and graphics are also top notch; Armored Warriors came out the same year as Alien vs. Predator, and is nearly as good looking, but not quite. The game doesn't have the stage and enemy variety of AvP which makes it a little less appealing to look at, but there are a lot of cool destruction and battle animations, as well as really cool weapon effects. The inclusion of certain destructible environment pieces also compliments the story, which Armored Warriors makes an effort to give this game a scifi feeling story about an two waring factions, and needing to save an alien civilization. It feels very Gundam like, and even though it's fairly generic, it's one of the better attempts to give a beat em' up an interesting story behind the repetitive waves of enemies and gameplay. Speaking of gameplay....

The gameplay in Armored Warriors is more or less about what you'd expect in a beat em' up. For everything Armored Warriors does right, it does something equally as wrong. For example, this game has a really cool mech customization/upgrade system that allows you to pick up various parts and weapons from defeated enemies and assimilate them into your mech, which allows for some cool variations in what your mech looks like, and how it functions in battle. This would make this game standout above the pack if it weren't for how ridiculously busy this game is most of the time and how there is no sense of balance or design for the most part in throwing enemies at you. As a result most of this game is a matter of beating and blasting the hell out of your opponents fast enough before you inevitably get destroyed. This would have been infuriating in the arcade, but being able to play the game on freeplay it becomes more of an annoyance mostly. And like nearly every beat em' up from the 90s, this game does get really, really repetitive to the point where you're just ready for it to be over by the time you get to the last couple stages.

With all that said, I thought the game was okay overall, but was certainly enjoyable to look at and listen to while playing it. I'd say if you want to play a unique and kind of interesting beat em' up that you probably never played when you were younger, I'd say give this one a go. However, realize that all the cool mechs, upgrades, and flash does not make this game an exceptional title for its genre, but pretty much another example of why these sort games fell out of favor just as fast as they rose to prominence in the early and mid 90s. (1/16/20)

Presentation: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Fun: 10/20
Overall: 31/50

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #36 on: January 17, 2020, 02:36:34 pm »
6. Final Fight (PS4)

As a Sega kid growing up, my go to beat em' up series was always Streets of Rage. Little did I know at the time that Streets of Rage was Sega's response to Final Fight, a game very similar in style and premise. Likewise, I never knew as a kid that Final Fight was actually an arcade game originally. Funny enough, my first experience with some of Final Fight's characters were actually via other Capcom franchises, mainly Street Fighter. And while in years since I have played Final Fight, I've never actually beat it or really progressed past the Samurai Wrestler guy, also a future Street Fighter character. But with Capcom Beat Em' Up Collection still in my PS4 from playing Armored Warriors last night, I decided to play this much loved, and venerated Beat Em' Up icon.


While Final Fight does suffer from the ills of most beat em' ups mainly its repetition and simplicity, it actually manages to somewhat standout as well. This feat is made even more impressive by the fact that it ends up somehow being more enjoyable than many other beat em' ups that came out years later in the 90s. While I did mostly enjoy my time with Final Fight, there are various issues I had with it too.


I don't think the gameplay of Final Fight requires much explanation; you are essentially moving right through the entire game, using a single attack button to bunch, kick, and bludgeon bad guys to death. The game offers various items to aid in your journey to save the mayor's daughter, as well as a variety of health pickups that look like various foods. You can also jump and combined attacks with it that help you avoid getting hit often, but also do less damage to your opponents. With that out of the way, this game is mostly fun and enjoyable to play, however there are more than a handful of very cheap parts in the game where you literally get beat to the ground again as soon as you get back on your feet. This pales in comparison to some of the boss fights which are just stupid, specifically some of the final bosses in this game. Despite these cheap parts, the game still is mostly enjoyable and works fairly well for what it is.


Visually, Final Fight looks incredible, especially for a game that was released in 1989. The sprite based graphics have aged well, and the games use of a pretty generous amount of enemies, and different settings for each stage is really cool. There are also destructible environmental pieces that add to the games action and mayhem. While there is a decent amount of enemy variety, there are still pretty limited character sprites, and seeing the same enemies appear dozens, if not hundreds of times throughout the game will grow old after a while, but it can be slightly forgiven since this is a 30-year old game we're talking about here.


The audio in final fight is also pretty good for the most part. While it's no standout in the sound department like the Street Fighter games, or even other Capcom beat em' ups games like Armored Warriros and Alien vs Predator, the soundtrack is still pretty good for the most part. Other than that you hear your fairly run of the mill action game sound effects and the like.


While I did enjoy my playthrough with Final Fight I couldn't help but think that it's unlikely I'll be replaying it again anytime soon. At the end of the day this is still a fairly formulaic beat em' up that is fun for a quick session, and then you move on to something else. If i had more nostalgia or experience with the Final Fight series like some, this game might be more enjoyable for me, but even without that I still thought it was pretty good for a beat em' up. (1/17/20)

Presentation: 9/10
Sound: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Fun: 12/20
Overall: 34/50

telly

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #37 on: January 19, 2020, 10:39:09 am »
Game 1 – Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U) – 21 Hours

I enjoyed a very leisurely playthrough of this, trying to get as many collectibles that I could. I didn’t try overly hard to complete every level, only as it remained fun for me. My final total as far as collectibles go was:

53 Yoshis
251 Flowers
989 Special Gems

+ The first thing that I loved about this game was the yarn and wool-based aesthetic. It’s incredibly well done, and it was clever seeing how they implemented that style into the level, enemy and monster design. It just looks really nice and makes you feel happy while playing. :) There were some really unique and interesting levels and they all implement wool or fabric in some way. The controls are pretty solid as well, though they’re pretty similar to the SNES game (for better or worse). The soundtrack was really cute and fun with some memorable music. The badge system was a nice addition, though it makes some of the levels an absolute joke. For example, there was one level in the desert where if you equip the fire immunity badge, you can’t get hurt by literally anything in the level. But of course you don’t have to equip those buffs if you don’t want to. Overall a very relaxing and fun experience!

- The game isn’t particularly difficult, but it is challenging to find every collectable in every level. That’s fine, but the game has these “points of no return” sprinkled in through many of the levels where if you take the wrong turn on a branching path you can’t go back, which is frustrating. And some of the collectables aren’t visible unless you touch a very specific part of mid-air in the level. Having said that, collecting everything still isn’t that hard as long as you touch every collectable at one point during your runs, it will count. The badges that make you immune from pits and fire, and the badge that allows you to find hidden items, really make the game quite easy. Only the special hidden levels really pose a decent challenge.
That aside, the game’s pretty derivative with it’s story and many of the bosses, but I suppose that’s to be expected. It also didn’t make any sense why the game stuck with that archaic-ass moving reticle for throwing eggs when we have a whole second analog stick that goes unused.

« Last Edit: May 09, 2020, 10:15:03 pm by telly »
Currently Playing:
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (PS4), Resident Evil 5 (PS4), Gauntlet Dark Legacy (GC), SSX3 (PS2)

My music collection | My Backloggery

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #38 on: January 19, 2020, 12:34:56 pm »
Finished game #2 Assassin's Creed Origins, which is definitely the most polished AC game I've played yet.  It evolved the series in a good direction, smoothing out gameplay, building a great open world, and it has a generally good story.

A few problems I ran into though: issues with contextual commands.  Several times that my assassination didn't take and I got stuck in combat, or I tried to mount my horse and picked up a corpse, etc.  And while the story is very engaging it goes on way too long.  There were no less than 4 different times that I thought the game was over, and then found out there are more quests, or more cut scenes.  It really played hell with the pacing of the back third of the game.


Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #39 on: January 19, 2020, 12:37:01 pm »
Game 1 – Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U) – 21 Hours

I enjoyed a very leisurely playthrough of this, trying to get as many collectibles that I could. I didn’t try overly hard to complete every level, only as it remained fun for me. My final total as far as collectibles go was:

53 Yoshis
251 Flowers
989 Special Gems

+ The first thing that I loved about this game was the yarn and wool-based aesthetic. It’s incredibly well done, and it was cleaver seeing how they implemented that style into the level, enemy and monster design. It just looks really nice and makes you feel happy while playing. :) There were some really unique and interesting levels and they all implement wool or fabric in some way. The controls are pretty solid as well, though they’re pretty similar to the SNES game (for better or worse). The soundtrack was really cute and fun with some memorable music. The badge system was a nice addition, though it makes some of the levels an absolute joke. For example, there was one level in the desert where if you equip the fire immunity badge, you can’t get hurt by literally anything in the level. But of course you don’t have to equip those buffs if you don’t want to.

- The game isn’t particularly difficult, but it is challenging to find every collectable in every level. That’s fine, but the game has these “points of no return” sprinkled in through many of the levels where if you take the wrong turn on a branching path you can’t go back, which is frustrating. And some of the collectables aren’t visible unless you touch a very specific part of mid-air in the level. Having said that, collecting everything still isn’t that hard as long as you touch every collectable at one point during your runs, it will count. The badges that make you immune from pits and fire, and the badge that allows you to find hidden items, really make the game quite easy. Only the special hidden levels really pose a decent challenge.
That aside, the game’s pretty derivative with it’s story and many of the bosses, but I suppose that’s to be expected. It also didn’t make any sense why the game stuck with that archaic-ass moving reticle for throwing eggs when we have a whole second analog stick that goes unused.


My fiancee and I played this on Co-op when it first came out and we ended up loving this game way more than we thought we would. It's a blast!

telly

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #40 on: January 19, 2020, 12:39:22 pm »
Oh that's fun! How does the co-op mode work?
Currently Playing:
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (PS4), Resident Evil 5 (PS4), Gauntlet Dark Legacy (GC), SSX3 (PS2)

My music collection | My Backloggery

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #41 on: January 19, 2020, 07:31:04 pm »
Oh that's fun! How does the co-op mode work?


From what i remember it's just two Yoshis instead of one, and each are cntrolled by a different player. i remember having to communicate with each other a lot wile dong it in order to prevent the other person from screwing things up lol. My fiancee and I are going to be replaying it again this Spring so I'll get a refresher on some of the nuances of co-op.

telly

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #42 on: January 19, 2020, 08:25:09 pm »
Sounds like a blast :) My girlfriend is not a gamer at all but I'm hoping maybe I'll convince her to indulge me with a co-op game or something. Co-op anything is like my favorite way to play.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2020, 10:13:42 pm by telly »
Currently Playing:
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (PS4), Resident Evil 5 (PS4), Gauntlet Dark Legacy (GC), SSX3 (PS2)

My music collection | My Backloggery

wolfen

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #43 on: January 23, 2020, 08:25:50 pm »
2. Dig Dug(PS4)

One of the few classic games that I have always loved. To this day I feel like it has very unique style of gameplay and mechanics. It's simple and creative and always fun.

Time: 5 hours



NickAwesome

PRO Supporter

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2020
« Reply #44 on: January 23, 2020, 11:21:19 pm »
We'll see how many games I beat this year- I'll shoot for 26

Looks like 18 for the year- I started off strong but faltered down the stretch.  I'm on paternity leave till early February- let's see if that will help me do better for 2021...
1. Judgment- PS4 1/4/20
2. Super Mario Bros U Deluxe- currently playing
3. Dragon Quest Builders 2- currently playing
4. Donut Country- currently playing
5.Control- PS4- beat 3/22/20
6. Doom Eternal- beat 3/29/20
7. A Plague Tale Innocence 4/5/20
8. Final Fantasy VII Remake 4/28/20
9. Beat Saber 4/30/20- I beat the campaign and saw credits- that counts right? lol
10. Legend of Legaia- in progress
11. Trails of Cold Steel PS4- Beat 5/30/20- on to Part II
12. Indivisible- in progress
13. What the Golf?- Switch- Beat 6/6/20
14. Trails of Cold Steel II- PS4- Beat
15. Shovel Knight Treasure Trove- beat Shovel Night and Spectre Knight campaign- that might be enough for me 6/26/20- beat- don't like plague knight or king knight
16. A Hat in Time- beat 7/11/20- 26 time pieces
17. Retro Game Challenge
18. Hades- beat 10/14/20- GOTY?
19. Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2- beat 10/1/20
20. Descenders- PS4 beat 10/10/20
21. Yakuza Like a Dragon- beat 12/10/20
22. Ghost of Tsushima- beat 12/27/20
23. Cyberpunk- in progress
24. Hot Shots Golf 1+2
25. THPS 1+2 Remake- Beat
26. Animal Crossing- GC- Found all fossils and paid off debt- that is beating the game for me
« Last Edit: January 01, 2021, 01:25:19 pm by NickAwesome »