52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

[kamikazekeeg]

7 - Silent Hill: A Short Message (PS5 2023) - Free or not, it still took me like an hour to beat I think and turned out to be a decent, creepy experience.  I'm not exactly a big Silent Hill fan, never really played any of the games and the remake for Silent Hill 2 will be my first real go at them, but from what I know of the series, this definitely fits in line with that, very psychologically based, dealing with trauma and such.  It has some PT vibes to it, which I sorta feel like it knows in moments here and there, but it's very much it's own thing as it has a contained narrative.  Worth checking out for some thing dark and creepy being that it's completely free.

[bikingjahuty]

Decided to go all out on a bunch of arcade games tonight. Had a good time! Also, this might be the most games I've beat in a single month since I started doing this challenge.


14. Top Skater (Arcade)

This game is definitely up there when it comes to nostalgic arcade games. I played this game a ton during the late 90s, mostly because every other arcade I went to had one. It was the ultimate way of feeling like a skate boarding prodigy when I was a kid, and that was largely because of the skateboard controller you stood on to steer your character and pull off tricks. Playing it again, Top Skater offers that same level of fun with some cool tricks to pull off, tons of stuff to jump off and grind on, and just overall this game oozes 90s arcade awesomeness. The presentation looks great and really gives me Crazy Taxi vibes, and that's not just the visuals. The OST, while very limited in terms of songs that play, is good ol' fashion punk rock, all by the band Pennywise. One other cool feature is how each of the selectable characters has their own set of tricks they pull off. My biggest gripe with this game is how short it is. Even for an arcade game, Top Skater is woefully lacking in content with just two fairly short stages. It's very easy to play this game for 15-minutes as see all there is for the most part. Because of this, the replayability is heavily compromised, but if you're like me and have great memories of playing this game, you'll have a good time with it every once and a while when you get the urge to play it. (1/31/24) [31/50]

15. Dead or Alive (Arcade)

I was a massive DOA fan in the late 90s thanks to DOA2, and have since played most of its releases over the years. However, one game in the series I'd never played somehow was the first game. I was surprised to find that the gameplay and graphics were a lot closer to DOA2 than I thought they were. While DOA2 is undeniably better in both these regards, the first DOA is still very fun to play, although there are admittedly some really annoying character balancing issues and sometimes pulling off moves can feel stiff and unresponsive. The audio was surprisingly good, although certainly not as good as DOA2. While DOA is far from the best mid 90s 3D fighting game I've played, it ended up being a lot better and more enjoyable that I thought it would be. I can definitely see myself returning to this one in the future. (1/31/24) [33/50]

16. Last Bronx (Arcade)

Last Bronx has been on my backlog for a very long time. It's always a game I've been interesting in playing despite knowing very little about it. Unlike DOA, unfortunately, I was not pleasantly surprised by how fun Last Bronx was, but rather how annoying and clunky it was for the most part. The weapons based combat gave me Soul Calibur vibes, except that game is way more enjoyable than Last Bronx. I literally one a few matches by spamming a single move because trying to play normally resulted in endless block spamming by the opponent and me getting countered over and over again. Of course, when I tried doing the same thing, it never worked for the most part. The OST is also fairly unremarkable, although I'd still say it's slightly above average. The visuals is where I really have to give credit to Last Bronx as it's definitely one of the better looking 3D fighting games of its era. But overall, I didn't really enjoy this game mostly, despite some of its redeeming qualities. (1/31/24) [28/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

8 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PC 2014) - BEAT - I was gonna end up playing this eventually anyways as I had a mood to replay MGSV from the beginning, but with the announcement of Kojima planning to do a brand new original action espionage game for Sony, I thought I'd dive into something short tonight.  There's technically a lot to do with this short experience, as there's optional missions to do and hard, but I just kinda wanted a refresher on feel and story.  I forgot how good this game looked and it's just real smooth to play.

One annoying thing is that the PC version has kind of a crappy UI, it's not designed for mouse controls very well, but it's not unplayable because of it, it just means that navigating menus can be a little awkward  Can't remember if Phantom Pain improved on this or not, but I got what I wanted out of this and I'll maybe try to get to Phantom Pain sometime this year.  Trying to decided if I want to do this or another playthrough of Death Stranding, but I may do both lol

[bikingjahuty]

One more. Yep, this is definitely a monthly record.


17. Motor Raid (Arcade)

A sports bar my dad used to take me to when he wanted to watch a game had this game back in the late 90s. For the longest time I could not remember the name of this game, and searched high and low for it for years. A while back I finally found out the name and I was also surprised to hear it was a Sega game (I thought it was a Namco game for some reason lol). But I got to reintroduce myself to this game tonight and it's actually more enjoyable than I remember! The gameplay is a combo of something like Wipeout, but mix in futuristic motorcycles and weapon wielding riders and you have a formula for a pretty fun game. There are 5 stages and they're all unique, memorable, and for the most part well designed. Things like jumps, stuff going on in the background, and various hazards and obstacles on the course itself make each race exciting and fun to play. There is also a turbo mechanic which adds an extra layer of strategy. And the nof course there's the OST which is so 90s it'll make any 90s kid gush. It certainly filled me with the 90s kid feels. I'm really happy I replayed this game after all these years. It was more fun than it had any reason to be. (1/31/24) [35/50]

[bikingjahuty]

Lied, two more before midnight. HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!


18. Daytona USA (Arcade)

Daytona USA is about as iconic of an arcade title as they come. The Dave and Busters I've been going to since I was 9 STILL has several Daytona USA machines connected to one another, and each time I go there, there are still people playing it to this day. While I will fully admit the gameplay of Daytona isn't stellar, the combo of racing your friends, the incredible OST, and graphics that were about as cutting edge as they could get in 1994, this game is about as good as it got for racing games in the early 90s. I adore this game, and it's been a staple of my arcade experience for the majority of my life. (1/31/24) [36/50]

19. Dynamite Deka 2 (Arcade)

Called Dynamite Cop in the west, this game is the sequel to Dynamite Deka, aka Diehard Arcade. Confused? Good! For however over the top Dynamite Deka was, the sequel takes it up like ten notches to create one of the most entertaining beat em ups you'll ever play. There are a ton of objects, weapons, and even enemies you can use as weapons. There are crazy bosses, and one of the ways you know your character's health is they slowly become more and more undressed the more damage they take. Yeah... but other than the fun presentation, the gameplay is pretty good for the most part, the OST is pretty meh, but overall this is a very enjoyable game, albeit not as good or iconic as the first game. (1/31/24) [32/50]

[dhaabi]

11. Murder Dog IV: Trial of the Murder Dog || PC || 01.30.24



For some time, I've been wanting to play games which make use of 3D physical materials as their art design, specifically from game creator thecatamites. Finally, I went ahead and did that, choosing Murder Dog IV: Trial of the Murder Dog at random. I'll also note here that, despite the game's title, Murder Dog IV is a standalone entry.

As the title suggests, Murder Dog IV begins at the start of titular Murder Dog's trial for murder. In the game's first moments, it's apparent that Murder Dog is, to no surprise, quite guilty and very well still murderous. Acting as Murder Dog who seems to be without legal representation and therefore defending themself, players are given three actions to perform, three pieces of evidence to examine, three witnesses to call, and a panel of jurors to interact with. Of course, if one is wanting to reach a Not Guilty verdict, it is in their best interest to utilize all these options. However, the option to ignore certain elements or even every element is entirely possible.

Progressing through the short narrative, players will witness the game's over-the-top commentary on the modern justice system. It's never a question as to whether Murder Dog is guilty or innocent, as their bloodlust and ultraviolent actions are merely a click away. But, by gaming the justice system, players have the choice to wrongfully prove Murder Dog's innocence by undermining and even tampering with evidence, vilifying witnesses, and flat-out lying. While Murder Dog can easily go on a rampage to murder everyone, the game's real ending requires using every resource in your favor by supplying believable counterarguments while denying all accusations, in addition to besting witness accounts and testimonies. At its core, Murder Dog IV is a choice-based narrative with varying outcomes through its branching paths. As an example, the vert first choice is to testify as Guilty or Not Guilty, with the former resulting in its own immediate ending. Unexpectedly, the story can be contained fully in the court room and even outside it. One ending specifically mentions it being the "best canonical" ending which aligns to Murder Dog's nature, although it's the least rewarding.

Alongside character dialogue, there is also some sort of narration which serves as commentary to the events unfolding. Ordinarily, dialogue advances by clicking, but sometimes it auto-advances which wasn't pleasing. Similarly, all commentary auto-advances, which was especially irritating. There is often little time given to read it, let alone process it. This detail is upsetting because the game itself is a commentary on the justice system, and the in-game commentary reflects that. So, a sizable portion of the game's message isn't conveniently accessible. Nevertheless, there is fair amount of humor throughout the story, and I found myself laughing out loud a few times during moments which caught me off guard.

Having decided to play the game based on its art design, I was a little disappointed. Offering a simple but fun collage of art through mixed media including paper, modeling clay, found items, and crude digital art, Murder Dog IV reserves its 3D elements exclusively for the one static image of the courtroom's set design, with all other art instead either being photo imagery or digital. Despite its limited use, I still think highly of what little 3D art there is, as I find it interesting in how little there needs to be to communicate a scene. At this point, I'll also briefly mention the game's music, which consists entirely of a looping banjo track which does become repetitive.

In the end, Murder Dog IV offers a highly satirical view on the justice system which translates nicely as a game. I wasn't aware of the game's premise prior to playing, so the humor was an added bonus.

[bikingjahuty]

2. Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (PS3) ABANDONED

Growing up, the first Zone of the Enders was one of my favorite games of all time. I was addicted to its anime aesthetic, insane fast paced gameplay, its soundtrack, and just the fact that it was a mech game immediately attracted me to it. When its sequel came out, The 2nd Runner, I was mostly very excited about it other than finding out it was cell shaded, which at the time I hated that graphics style. Cell shaded graphics aside, the game just didn't leave the same impression on me despite giving me more of the things I loved so much about the first game. I've wanted to go back and replay 2nd Runner for many years at this point, and I finally did, although part of me wishes I hadn't.


First and foremost I get that this is the general favorite when it comes to Zone of the Enders games, and on some level I completely understand why. The game doubles down on that anime vibe I talked about earlier by using actual anime cut scenes, anime avatars for the characters, and the story itself is fairly anime-ish, at least the little of it I was able to follow. On the point of the story not making much sense, I felt like I needed to have watched or read something beforehand to follow what was going on, which is not entirely unfounded as a lot of the lore and back story for this game is mentioned in the anime OVA Idalo. I have seen the OVA, but it's been so long that I barely remember it, and also I'm not going to prep for a game by having to watch an anime too. So yeah, the story is not this game's strong suit, nor is the voice acting and dialogue which is terrible. I got through nearly half the game with the more fleshed out gameplay carrying my interest, however there was one part that nearly broke me, and then another later on that finally did. The game just threw so much at me so fast, and no matter what weapon, sub weapon, or strategy I used, I just couldn't get past it. I tried for hours before I was literally one more failed try from shattering my PS3 controller into a hundred pieces so I shut the game off. I'm all for difficulty in games, but some of the sections of this game are textbook cheap and bullshit to the core. Being someone who plays games to have fun, I've learned to walk away from a game when it's not just that I'm having fun, but I actively feel rage. It's too bad things happened the way they did, because I wanted to re-experience this game and see if maybe I could enjoy it more than the first game despite the massive amount of nostalgia I have for that title. However, despite abandoning 2nd Runner, I can safely say I still don't like it as much as the first game, and in fact, I kinda hate this game to a degree. (2/1/24)

[kashell]

12. Rondo of Swords - Path A/Good Ending

Getting this ending required a lot of trial and error, and even more patience. These requirements actually apply to just about every aspect of Rondo of Swords. I have never played a strategy-RPG like this. It takes even the most basic concepts, throws them out the window, and says, "Good luck! Figure it out!" There are tutorials built in, and of course the instruction manual breaks things down a bit, but there is nothing that can prepare even a seasoned veteran for Rondo of Swords' antics. I still have no idea what compelled me to play this. The strange thing is that I want to do a replay and see how the story develops in Path B. I'm confident that there will be the same amounts of cursing, griping, "AHH COME ON!"-ing, and what have you. But dammit, the game is addictive as hell. Adorable character sprites and campy voice acting don't hurt matters, either.

[undertakerprime]

1. Lies of P (PS4) 1/31/24

Finally beat my first game this year, and whew, was it a doozy.
My very first Soulslike, the aesthetics grabbed me so I bought it on sale just to try the genre….

and I LOVED it.

Couldn’t stop playing. I knew it was supposed to be f’in hard, and it was. But considering it was my first jab at the genre, I didn’t have nearly as much trouble as I anticipated; I’ve seen online comments from people who said they died 100+ times on one boss, and I never came close to that (my most was maybe 20-30 tries on the Nameless Puppet…a few bosses took 5 attempts or fewer). I did make sure to take full advantage of what was available, like throwables and the specter, but I’m not ashamed 
I actually had more trouble with some mid-bosses than the main bosses (that Mad Clown Puppet can GO TO HELL and DIE SLOWLY).
The blade/handle weapon customization system seems so simple, and yet is honestly ingenious in its depth. Wanna stick a giant ax made of puppet limbs to a tiny dagger handle? GO FOR IT 

Now, is it the greatest game I’ve ever played? No. But it’s a solid good time, and it’s got me looking at other games in the Soulslike genre to see what might be good. I got my eyes on Bloodborne and Seikiro.

8/10

[bikingjahuty]

Another Sega arcade night. This time I tried some games outside my comfort zone.


20. Sky Target (Arcade)

I have a very vague memory of playing Sky Target in the arcade, however if I did, I'm honestly not surprised that I forgot about it. Sky Target is essentially the 90s version of After Burner, except it has half the charm, and is not nearly as fun or iconic as that arcade classic. This game looks pretty good in the visuals department, but other than that, there is very little that is remarkable about Sky Target. The gameplay is very bland, generic and borning, and the audio is nothing special either. In fact, the audio can get fairly annoying thanks to an announcer that literally says the same thing every time you lock onto an enemy, which is what you're doing almost constantly while playing. Overall, Sky Target is just a very forgettable, boring game that I can't see myself ever wanting to pick up again. (2/2/24) [26/50]

21. Sega Water Ski (Arcade)

I'd never heard of or played this game until tonight, and while the game is very short and limited on content, it makes up for it with a very catchy OST and the stages are all vibrant, cheerful, and buzzing with a lot of things going on as you play our your water skiing fantasy. The gameplay is very similar to Top Skater, except you're having to ski between markers in the water and you'll have to do tricks of the various jumps in each stage. This all works fairly good, although, it's all to easy, and tricks don't require any real effort, which is kind of a bummer in terms of fun. But as mentioned, the presentation really knocks it out of the park in this game, and Sega Water Ski ended up being my favorite game of the evening because of this. (2/2/24) [32/50]

22. Sonic Championship (Arcade)

The final game I tried out tonight was one I've wanted to check out for a very long time. I never saw this one in the arcades back in the day or since. I pretty much know about Sonic Championship thanks to my love for the Sonic franchise and because the game has become an unfortunate internet curiosity over the years. With no exaggeration, Sonic Championship is one of the worst fighting games I've ever played, at least from a gameplay perspective. The combat is super basic, clunky, and just unpleasant to play all around for the most part. Really, the only redeeming factor in regards to the gameplay is the fact that each of the selectable character as their own moveset, which can make things entertaining to a degree. The presentation, both in terms of audio and visuals is pretty good for the most part, but it's still not enough to make me forget how crappy this game is to play. I couldn't even recommend this one to the most passionate of Sonic fans. (2/3/24) [25/50]

[kashell]

13. Silent Hill: A Short Message

If this is the future of Silent Hill, then I'm glad I fell off from the series years ago after Origins and Homecoming. Short Message shined when you were slowly exploring the building and learning about its history. I liked how the series was brought to a modern scale, touching on the Covid-19 pandemic, social media and its issues, and other triggering subjects. Sadly, those shining moments were clouded by these ridiculously frustrating chase sequences. You have to outrun a manifestation of evil that the MC created, but all you have is a smartphone flashlight. Naturally, these areas are messy. Even without those, Silent Hill was always more subtle in delivering its messages and themes. Short Message threw them right in your face, and those trigger warnings occurred frequently enough to break immersion. In the end, I'm glad this was free because I would have felt robbed.

[realpoketendonl]

3. A Mortician's Tale

TW: death

This is MUCH more serious than most messages here, but I think that's the only way I can do this game justice. If this is not something you want to read, feel free to skip this post. But I will say here: I highly recommend giving this game a look.

This is a short game, only taking about an hour to play through, but I've had my eye on it for a while and I'm glad to have now played it. This is a short narrative experience about a mortician. You go through her daily routine of preparing the bodies of people for the funeral service, to help their loved ones say goodbye and offer the deceased a respectful send-off. You do this by reading the emails from your clients and your colleagues, and preparing the bodies of the deceased as to their loved ones' wishes. You go through all the steps to embalm or cremate the person's body, and then attend the service. And that's your work day.

What drew me to this game was its death positive message. In case you don't know, death positivity means (in my words) an acceptance of the concept of death. It means not fearing the concept of death or avoiding it, but viewing it as something to openly talk about. I honestly think this is a wonderful sentiment. Death, however sad, is an inevitable part of life. And I feel that if we were to lift the taboo on talking about it and allow ourselves to better accept the reality of mortality, it could really help us deal with the difficult feelings surrounding passing and grief. Allowing these feelings to exist, rather than surpressing them. Of course this is much easier said than done: I wish I was more death positive than I am. I find it really hard to discuss or think about too. But change is a slow process, and this is exactly why I wanted to play this game.

And the game depicts this subject beautifully. It shows both the good and the bad that happens in this world, deals with both the beauty and pain of memorial services, and it offers a particularly interesting perspective on this from the position of the mortician. As a player you always just want to do whatever you can to be as respectful as possible, and it's nice you can do this for these people. You really feel everything your character and the other characters feel, and the ending did make me tear up.

This is a short but very sweet experience, that I think addresses the topic beautifully. I hope it can lead to conversation between people about this topic, and maybe help some people find a little more peace with death. I highly recommend checking it out. The creators of this game deserve the support.

(Also, technical info: the game is for Windows and macOS, but I played it on Linux Mint with no trouble at all. And tip: I got this from the Racial Justice and Equality charity bundle that was available on itch.io in 2020. So if you bought that, you already have this!)

--

Also also, completely unrelated to the challenge, but I've also already finished 3 books thus far this year! One of which was Disrupting the game by Reggie Fils-Aime, which I highly recommend, especially to Nintendo fans.

[kashell]

14. Astro's Playroom - Platinum'd

I've been a fan of the PlayStation since the jump, and this game pays homage to that while also being a super fun, super tight, and super adorable platformer. And it's all free. There were so many trips down memory lane along with a huge number of references to favorite games. The way it all came together in such a unique, polished package that highlights gaming excellence is very impressive for a free game. I'm glad I took a break from the serious and my usual RPG battling to play this. My first platinum trophy of the year!

[tripredacus]

8. Tales From the Borderlands

First my history and biases. The first Telltale game I played was The Wolf Among Us and then Batman.
My play order of the BL series has been: BL2, BL3, Pre-Sequel, BL1, Tales

So the only other Telltale games I've played were the "detective" types and not the same type as this BL game. Now it is also obvious that this should be played before BL3. I knew Rhys from that game and he was a fine character, and I understood what the easter egg regarding his facial hair was referring to (this TT game). Dealing with fictions out of order are not an issue with me.

However the style of this TT game is not really fun for me to play. On a gameplay level, there is no observable downtime. By that I mean you have to be ready for a QTE at any point. Unlike the other two I've played, there were large portions or areas where you know that you can relax more.

Second issue is the story. You play as two characters, Rhys and a girl. And you do so as a "recollection" because the majority of the actual gameplay happens during flashbacks. And as you are made aware early on, the story you play is what you are telling to your captor in the future, AND that you can tell him things that are false. It means that the story (and thus the entire game that isn't in the present) doesn't actually matter. It is sort of like those new commercials for cell phones where you can use tools to remove people or things from photos and video. Which in reality means that you are able to create records of events that didn't actually happen. So because the game is set up this way, the story becomes worthless and makes no difference what you do because it could just be made up.

Having Jack in the game is not enough to keep me interested. I don't care about any of the characters, except maybe Jack. Not even Rhys. Maybe if I had played it before BL3... Also there is a point in Episode 2 where Jack notices he can physically control Rhys and there is a QTE to prevent him from doing this. And it highlights another issue I have with these games, they may be choose your own adventure but there are still too many limits put in by developers. In this QTE, you can't actually fail. It will stay on the button press screen forever and loop the animation.

I may end up watching an LP just so I can get the story, but there was not enough in the gameplay or story for me to want to do it myself.

[kashell]

15. Castlevania: Dracula X

My Castlevania Advance Collection finally arrived. I thought I'd celebrate by finally, and officially, playing Dracula X. I guess I can say I got the worst out of the way. This wasn't fun. The stiff controls might have been too to playing on the Switch, but that's just one issue. Things just seem extra unfair in this iteration. I don't remember Rondo of Blood having so many "eff you" moments. Save states and rewinds were used heavily. Then, there's the lack of extras like playing as Maria and the different levels. It was just an all around unfun game. Luckily, it's short and included as part of the collection; no need to worry about dropping a couple hundred bones on that cart.