52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[bizzgeburt]

09 - Grand Theft Auto 2 (yellow USK rating) (PlayStation)
https://vgcollect.com/item/284011

In the advent of a new entry to the series, it felt just natural to me to revisit another old GTA-game. And after beating GTA San Andreas a few years ago (my all-time favourite of the series, fool!), I went for the legendary Grand Theft Auto 2. Boy, what a blast this was back in the late 90s - it was my first introduction to GTA in total and left an incomparable impression on young me for sure. I fondly remember my older brother and myself spending whole nights searching the districts for skull-Tokens and hunting down Elvis-impersonators … yea Baby
I planned to accomplish all missions and collectables of the game straight on, but to be honest: I just HAD to go bezerk a few times, it's just mandatory, hehe …

OK, let's start this right - this game was initially developed by DMA Design (now known as Rockstar North) for PC and a bit later ported to PlayStation by Sunrise Games Ltd., suffering several major changes to the game's graphics and content as well. Meaning many features from the PC-version got cut out completely to accommodate Sony's 299-console's lesser capacities.
The game is set in a fictional american city commonly known as "Anywhere City" in a not-so-far future. Every of the 3 districts of this city (Downtown-, Residential-, and Indutrial-District) is divided into either neutral areas or the turfs of 3 different factions, with the omnipotent Zaibatsu-Corporation inhabiting an area in every single district, whilst all other gangs are somewhat unique to their district: The wicked Looneys and the Yakuza gangs can be found in Downtown-District, the Residential-District either inhabits the patriotic Rednecks or the shady genetically over-enginerred Scientists, and Industrial-District is home of the meat-cleaving Russian Mobsters and the esotheric Krishna cult. The back of the PS1-version's box shows a text starting with a simple advice that also actually starts gameplay in-game: RESPECT IS EVERYTHING. And to play this game properly it's important for the player to gather the respect of certain gangs in order to obtain missions. The respect a gang holds for you is increased by decreasing the numbers of their most-hated rival gang. This starts out simple, but requires a fine tuning later in the game, when missions of one faction lead you into the turf of another faction that might hold a deep grudge on you for exterminating them earlier.
Besides the gangs, respect, and missions, the player has free choice of what to do in the district, or where to travel and how. Of course you drive most of the game, but by walking around, Skull-Tokens or GTA2-Tokens can be found and collected. The first offer you different weapon-based challenges, where you have to eliminate either people or vehicles with the specific weapon in a set time-frame. The latter - when collected completely - open the path into little crazy bonus stages in between the districts. To "finish" a district and get into the next one, you need to accumulate a certain amount of money. And yea, saving your progress costs you money in this game, and can solely be done at one specific place per district, located in one of the neutral areas. In fact, it's churches - yea, churches, like in Dragon Quest/Warrior ... or Sword of Vermilion oO fancy
A nice feature abbandoned in later releases: the car-crusher. All 3 districts feature several car-crushing sites - drive a car under the crane, get out of it and watch the vehicle get lifted into a car-press and get crushed. Nearby conveyor belts will then spit out different weapons or powerups for you to pick up. It's fun to try out and experiment which cars end up to give you what item. And it's a decent way to gear up before heading to do difficult missions.

Grand Theft Auto 2 features the same basic gameplay of it's predecessor, which was still unique by it's time: isometric kind-of-3D topview. Knowing that the graphics were scaled down to port it from PC to PlayStation, the graphics look great considering the different district's sizes and the era in which this game was released. And playing it in 2025, I can say that the look of the game aged very well. The surroundings offer various types of textures for buildings, concrete, greenery and water, and clever map-design makes every angle you visit in Anywhere City actually look unique and memorable in some way. The love for detail that the whole GTA-universe is known and loved for already bursts out the screen in this second entry of the series. Not to mention the awesome cinematic intro-video which itself looks like it was directed by Guy Richie or the great Tarantino
The game includes 58 different vehicles from plain little cars up to high end supercars and many different special vehicles as well, such as ambulances, icecream-trucks etc. - all come with different driving performances and almost all of them can be supplied with timebombs or mines. Graphics of vehicles and pedestrians are kept very simple due to the size of the game but work just fine as they are. Generally, when considering the size of playable content and the console itself, the details and quality of graphics are simply impressive.

Musically, Grand Theft Auto 2 already offers what the series are also known for: car radio. Music in general is always an aspect of personal taste and preference,and I must admit that this title somewhat doesn't offer music in the same echelon as GTA III, Vice City, or - my favourite - San Andreas. Most titles appear acid-like and hasty, and by that add a well fitting atmosphere to the hasty car-chase-like gameplay. There a numerous different radio stations, all ment to deliver a different genre or sound, but to be honest, I can't really hear out any major differences in style/sound, which is surprising given the fact I tend to hear all different kinds of music. As far as I was able to find out, most of if not all music in the game, even the "singles" with vocals in them, were composed by one single dude ... which might explain the overall similar sound of the pieces. Anyways, even if not my personal type of music, the soundtrack fits perfectly into this game with it's mostly fast gameplay. And as with most GTA radio, the moderation and adds are simply hilarious as always.

Today, July 2025, after having revisited this game with a more mature mind than back in the day, I simply enjoyed this game for what it is, and was able take a glimpse at what would become out of it. Diving back in the ancient past of today's must-play series and titles will always feel like time-travel to me, and it did with this game.
And as I said beforhand: prequel-ing upcoming releases by playing it's predecessors is a great way to prepare and get into the series' groove again. I highly recommend playing this or another GTA-game of your preference, when planning on devouring the upcoming GTA VI.

That's it from me for now, another game finished. On to the next one …

… and remember: Respect is everything! 

[dhaabi]

44. Mario Kart World || Nintendo Switch 2 || 07.16.2025



Admittedly, I've never before been someone who's particularly interested in the Mario Kart franchise. As the newly-released entry, however, Mario Kart World (MKW) caught my attention for its bold decision to incorporate open-world mechanics. I hadn't planned on owning a Switch 2 for quite some time, but I'm not the only one in my household who plays games with their own interests, so owning a Switch 2 came far earlier than expected. And, of course, MKW was also purchased.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Mario Kart franchise, the games feature kart racing gameplay, with the main mode for each being Grand Prix that's sub-divided into numerous tournament cups. In this latest entry, there are two major changes to how this mode is designed. The first of these changes is most apparent in that the driver count for each race has been doubled from twelve to twenty-four. Personally, though, I did not find this change to be that significant throughout my time playing. Meanwhile, the second change is much more impactful as it relates to track design and course structure. At times, certain tracks do not have proper laps as there are no loops but instead are segmented, individual sections which each serve as a lap while all being unique. I don't think this is a design choice present in previous entries, but I may be wrong. At the same time, the beginning segment for each follow-up race is not actually spent on the course selected but instead on the path to reach it to showcase how the world is interconnected. I don't particularly have an opinion on whether this is a good or bad change as it's ultimately less time being spent on the actual race track, but it's something that's not bothered me so far. Also, while there are a few different gameplay mechanics introduced in MKW, the introduction of the time rewind feature has been significantly helpful across all game modes that I can't stress enough.

This game will inevitably have DLC and be supported for many years to come, but it's welcoming that all of the upfront driver roster and kart options that aren't immediately available are unlockable through gameplay. There is one aspect to criticize, though, which is how a high number of racers are unlocked. In brief, a rare usable item may be found while racing which triggers a new racer being gained to freely select later on. However, this item does not guarantee a missing racer to be selected as it's not just course-specific but route-specific. And, lastly, the item only grants players a new racer if the item is used by a CPU positioned behind the player. So, needless to say, there are many variables involved. Players will naturally unlock some hidden racers as they play through each tournament cup, though unlocking all of them is a grindy process. I've long completed Grand Prix at the highest difficulty at the best ranked performance possible and am still missing five or six racers.

For my purposes, I considered MKW complete upon earning the gold trophy at the 150CC difficulty for all eight tournaments in Grand Prix. Well, that was not actually the only self-imposed requirement as I also tested my ability to earn the maximum three stars for each cup that's only possible by earning first place in each individual race instead of simply earning the maximum amount of cumulative points. Of course, this accomplishment must be completed in one single attempt, not several. When I first began the game, I actually started playing at 50CC difficulty as I assumed I wouldn't be that skilled. Almost immediately, though, I began playing at 150CC, so I suppose I underestimated my playing ability despite only playing these games once every few years in short sessions. Alongside Grand Prix is also the newly-introduced Knockout Tour which has its own eight tournament cups. In short, participants must race through a connected series of six tracks without pause. When advancing to the next segment, a certain number of racers who are positioned last will be removed, so the pool of participants gradually becomes more and more capable and skilled. Knockout Tour is considerably more difficult than the Grand Prix and substantially more difficult to to earn three gold stars, and I've only been able to achieve that accomplishment for one cup at this point. Despite this difficulty—or, rather, perhaps because of it—Knockout Tour has become the general player base's favorite racing mode, including mine.

Beyond actual racing, there is also the aforementioned open-world Free Roam mode that can be accessed from the main menu. In this mode, it's clearly evident that there is far more to this game than just the track courses themselves. Players can simply explore the game's world should they choose, but there are also hundreds of challenges to overcome. These challenges test the player's performance capabilities while also providing a brief encounter to learn and practice driving tactics. Because MKW is for all ages and all skill levels, the majority of these challenges are straightforward with some even requiring minimal player input to complete. Variety is limited too, though there is a small number of them which prove to be fun, unique, or challenging and, sometimes, all three. It's also worth mentioning that these challenges must be discovered and aren't just selected from some menu. Finding them—especially when there are few things left to find—has been fun in itself.

Alongside challenges, there are two sets of collectibles to find, and they are just things to discover. That may seem boring to some, but scouring the game's large world and happening to come across something important has been rewarding. To find the majority of them, the game forces the player to not only be observant but methodical in how they survey the environment. Throughout my time playing, it's clear that the game would benefit from slight UI changes which would greatly improve the open-world discovery experience. And really, it's just two aspects. The first concerns P Switches which activate driving challenges. By default, they are blue and then turn gray once completed. The tone for both colors is the same, meaning that it's difficult to assess whether a challenge has been completed or not without driving closer to it. And second is the lack of a North cardinal point on the mini-map. Frequently, I am opening the larger menu map to determine which direction I'm facing. These two elements are regularly annoying to deal with and would greatly benefit from small updates. Some players may also take fault with how there is no means to know where previously-found collectibles and challenges are located, but I am less bothered by that design choice. Should some list or map marker system been included, these things would have become much more of a chore to find and check off instead of providing a means of discovery.

Meanwhile, for both completing challenges and discovering collectibles, players are rewarded with cosmetic stickers to apply to karts. However, just as one would imagine, they serve no practical purpose and are hardly even visible during play. Apparently, there are 1,096 stickers to gain through various means, and at times, it feels like that's the only in-game reward available even though they're not. For the stickers that are directly tied to Free Roam mode, only 0.2% are acquired from unique challenges tied to the lively world. Given that Free Roam presents an expansive open-world environment that does mildly succeed in feeling lively, that there aren't more activities directly tied to the game's open-world design feels like a missed opportunity. But, I can easily envision future updates introducing these sorts of activities. Returning back to in-game rewards, the majority of racers also have alternate outfits which are gained from consuming the various cuisine that are like item blocks scattered in each region. These outfits are just as fun to gain and especially use during play. For this aspect, however, menu UI changes would be beneficial. Now, each racer's outfit is strangely treated as its own character, so cycling through the character roster becomes needlessly long as play time lengthens and more unlockables are naturally gained. Aside from racer outfits, the only other unlockables are karts and courses, but the barrier to unlock them is quite low.

Unexpectedly, my time playing Mario Kart World has been far more enjoyable than I had ever anticipated it to be. I'm still trying to discover as much as I can on my own alongside completing Knockout Tour, so the game will still be played daily (for now) though probably in short duration only. I feel as if I've never really given the franchise a chance beyond casual play (and the very recent playthrough of the franchise's first entry, Super Mario Kart), so I may decide to play other entries in the future.

[bikingjahuty]

79. Half Life 2 (PC)

Despite it being one of the best games I've ever played, I've actually never played Half Life 2 the definitive way it was intended to be played, on a PC. I decided to finally do something about that and replayed it on a gaming PC that is leagues beyond what the most optimal hardware was to run it back in 2004. While the graphics and frame rate was undeniably better than any previous platform I've played HL2 on, I actually didn't enjoy the game anymore than I have in the past. In fact, I actually liked it a little less than I did when I previously played HL2 all the way back in 2018.


Make no mistake, HL2 is one of the best, most iconic video games ever made. While I'd argue it's gameplay, audio, and visuals were never "perfect" the sum of all their parts created an unforgettable gaming experience that absolutely left a major impression on me back when I first played HL2 back in 2005 or so on the original XBOX. Replaying HL2 again 20-years later, all its objective qualities still hold up for the most part, although there are some elements of the game that have aged somewhat since the game's original release. So if everything is still pretty much tight as a drum, why did I enjoy this game less this time around.


In recent years, I have enjoyed (mostly) going back and replaying games I grew up with, some of which were at a time my favorite games. HL2 was one of these titles in fact. While there are some games from my childhood and adolescence that i still enjoy just as much as when I was a kid, such as Shenmue or Super Mario 64, there are unfortunately some games which don't do it for me like they once did. Sometimes this is very pronounced where I wouldn't even consider the game a top game for me anymore, while other times, I find myself only liking a game a hair less than when I was 11 or whatever. HL2 definitely falls more into the latter category. I still really enjoy HL2 and during my playthrough, I struggled to stop playing at times. Yet, while this was mostly true, there was a decent chunk of the game I actually dreaded replaying when I got to those parts.


In a way, HL2 is somewhat of an inverted bell curve for me when it comes to my subjective enjoyment. I love the beginning third of the game, including most of the Water Hazard chapter, even though I do admit it goes on a bit longer than it maybe should. However, starting at about Ravenholm and not letting up until Gordon and Alyx are back in City 17, my enjoyment of HL2 took a pretty major dip. Specifically, during the Highway 17 chapter, I longed for it to be over, but it always just seems to go on, and on, and on, and on. That's sort of a running theme with HL2, where certain sections don't know when enough is enough and go on way longer than they needed to or should have. The impact on my enjoyment of playing HL2 this time was definitely felt and when I finally beat the game, I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed the game on a subjective level as much as I did during my 2018 playthrough.


Still, despite my decreased love for HL2, I still do LOVE this game. I love the universe it takes place in, I find the whole Combine invasion of earth dystopia fascinating. I love all the random world building elements in the game that you constantly run into. It's all very interest and combined with a genuinely fun game to play, HL2 is still a blast to play through. I may no longer be among the people that worship the ground this game walks on, and my hype for a full on sequel has gradually transformed into a take it or leave it attitude, I still do really enjoy HL2 and will likely be playing its two expansion episodes in the near future. (7/22/25) [43/50]

[realpoketendonl]

7. Urban Flow



I started this game years ago and chipped away on it for a bit every couple of months. Now, I finally properly sat down, beat the last 30 or so levels, and beat it!

Urban Flow is a game I find hard to pin a genre to. Puzzle? Strategy? Well, best I can describe it is a traffic controller simulator, because that's what it is. There are a bunch of roads (often ones designed by some complete idiot) and the roads have a bunch of cars on them (with more idiots in them). You control all the traffic lights and your goal is to let cars through safely by switching the lights . Let enough cars through without letting too many of them crash, and you beat the level.

It's a pretty simple setup. I'm sure you can tell from a screenshot how it works, but it's pretty fun and addictive to play. It's an easy game to chill back with a bit. It can require a decent amount of multitasking in some levels, but I never found it stressful to play. And while the 3-star rankings can pose a fair challenge, beating all the levels really isn't too hard with a few tries. There's 100 levels, not counting DLC, so there's enough to keep you busy for a while.The game is available on Switch and PC (shockingly not on mobile, I legitimately thought this was a mobile port at first, but oh well). I can definitely recommend it as a fun game to pick up and play here and there on a portable device.

Also, for the colorblind among you: the game has alternate designs for the traffic lights that add a hand symbol when the light is red, so even if you can't see the difference between red and green, this game has options for you!

[bikingjahuty]

80. Half Life 2: Episode 1 (PC)

I debated on including Half Life 2 Episode 1 as its own game since its technically a story expansion to core HL2, but given it takes 4 hours to beat and I consider the original Half Life's expansions to be their own games, Episode 1 gets counted on its own too. But anyhow, Episode 1 carries over all the things that made the core game special, but in some ways I actually enjoy it more. For one, there aren't any section in Episode 1 that go on for far too long, which makes sense since this game is so short. It's kinda of nuts to think Highway 17, the most long winded, uninteresting part of main HL2, feels almost as long as the entirety of Episode 1. Luckily in Episode 1, you'll find yourself in all sorts of settings as City 17 is literally falling apart. I also, liked how the gravity gun is required more in Episode 1, which makes the game feel a bit different from a gameplay perspective. Other than that, I had fun playing through Episode 1, and look forward to playing HL2 Episode 2 next. (7/23/25) [44/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

16 - Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4 (PC 2025) - Technically I still have the Expert/Pro challenges left to do, which unlock after you complete all objectives in both games, but I'm counting this as a "beat" as I want to get to another game or two while I can (Playing these on Game Pass) and these challenges can be viewed as like "New Game +".  Overall, the game is great, it's everything the last game was, which was what I wanted.  I know some people didn't love that THPS4 wasn't technically remade as it was, it's abit different, but it's not THAT different.  Basically the levels were free roam and then you'd go find characters to do the challenges, which could then be timed, so it's just cutting out some of the inbetween stuff.  I think it's fine. 

The soundtrack also saw changes, where there's more new than old now, which I'd rather it had been the other way, but most of the main songs you want are there, and there was great new stuff that fit the vibe and were quite varied.  There was only like one or two songs I didn't like, but there's a dedicated skip button you can use at any point so if you want a different vibe when skating, you can.  Not sure if there's like a playlist option or not, that would be nice to.  THPS4 was the one I had the least nostalgia with as THPS3 stands out more because of like CKY and such.

Overall, great to see Tony Hawk get another chance, I doubt they continue on with remake anything else as after this as they are kinda bigger games with like exploration and story stuff (Underground 1 and 2, American Wasteland), but maybe if this does well, they'll get a shot to make a brand new Tony Hawk, make up for the disaster that was Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5.

[bikingjahuty]

81. Half Life 2: Episode 2 (PC)

Once again, everything I said about core HL2 and HL2: Episode 1 apply here, except there is far more introduced in Episode 2 than there was in Episode 1 by a fair amount. For starters, the setting and environment is fairly different than anything you experienced in either the core game or the first expansion. For starters, there's a new enemy type in the form of the hunters, as well as a new weapon you can use, but unfortunately it's only available at the very end of the game. Most of Episode 2 takes place in a mountainous area with lots of forests, trees, and lush nature. There is a fairly large section that takes place in a network of old mines, which will remind you of similar areas in base HL2, but fortunately what you'll be doing in those mines varies quite a bit from that game. Also, while I actually preferred the pacing and setting of HL2 Episode 1 more than this game, I do have to say the story and writing is definitely more interesting in Episode 2, and the ending of Episode blows both previous endings completely out of the water in terms of what you'll be up against in the game's final two battles, as well as the final story segment which has become the stuff of infamy. When I say infamy, I don't mean that it's bad or poorly done. What I mean is it will make you understand why so, so many people have obsessively wanted a HL3 for nearly twenty years. It's criminal what Valve has done to its fans with making them wait this long in order to make something more "innovative" or whatever BS reason Gaben has given to why they still haven't released the damn sequel yet. I'd personally be happy if HL3 was just a well made, tightly crafted, complete FPS with great physics like HL2, and a well delivered story. But anyhow, I'm talking about a game that may never be released, so I'll wrap this up. HL2 Episode 2 is an incredibly finally to one of the best games ever made and is a must play for the full HL2 experience. (7/25/25) [44/50]

[dhaabi]

45. I Live Here || Browser || 07.21.2025



Some time within the last year, I skimmed through a game jam's prominent entries and was introduced to I Live Here. I knew it'd be a short experience, so I decided I'd see if my curiosity would lead to a positive payout.

Before discussing the game itself, I'll first mention that the game jam's theme was "built to scale," and participants were freely able to interpret that prompt however they see fit. Now, though the game itself doesn't mention it, I Live Here is about a man named Pedro who's longing to reconnect with a woman who's high above in a tower. A short line of dialogue would have helped provide the needed context as to what our goal is as it's never actually stated in-game, but I suppose it's fine since the game's description on the same page clarifies what it is. Nevertheless, Pedro begins down below at ground level with seemingly no way to see the woman. However, before him is a work table with model buildings and building pieces. It does not take long for players to realize that these components each represent actual buildings and building blocks that can be moved and stacked atop one another. So, as Pedro accumulates new pieces one-by-one, he becomes one floor higher toward his goal.

At first, I was actually a bit confused because, despite understanding the movement that was happening as I grabbed the model representing the building I myself was in, nothing new was happening despite being placed next to other buildings or being positioned at any one particular space of the table. In time, though, I realized that the window behind Pedro is the player's viewpoint to interacting with other buildings, so how things are positioned needs to consider that factor. Through this window, Pedro connects with neighbors who each have their own needs which Pedro's able to help with through the power of these models. They're simple tasks such as wanting to be positioned at a specific place or being at a higher elevation. But knowing exactly how to advance the game from one task to the next isn't as obvious as you'd think, as there are just enough context blues provided to players that can easily be overlooked.

As a puzzle game, I Live Here is entirely comprised of simple point-and-click gameplay. Visual cues such as shadows help players understand where individual building blocks will be placed one a grid point on the table is selected, though at times action don't register as seamless as they could have been. The game's art is another standout detail with its personality too. As Pedro moves his arm across the table, it stretches in exaggerated and contorted ways that were probably first seen as a mistake but maintained to provide a sense of fun.

Like I expected, completing I Live Here does not take long. I can see how this sort of puzzle gameplay could provide a more impactful experience if developed further, though, so I'd definitely consider it to be a success in discovering new ideas and adhering to the game jam prompt.

[dhaabi]

46. Jusant || PlayStation 5 || 07.23.2025



When Jusant was first announced, I wasn't really sure if there was enough variety in its content to interest me. At some point, though, I decided it'd be something I'd want to try regardless. I actually began my playthrough at a bad time, as I had only a few hours left remaining of my PlayStation Plus subscription. During mid-play, the game force quit unexpectedly, and I was even left without having access to my save data as it was all on the now-inaccessible cloud and not my hard drive for some reason. So, I decided to buy a physical copy since it was cheap, and I finally was able to play through the game from start to finish without any more interruptions.

In the game's opening scene, the unnamed protagonist is already set off on a journey, and we as the player are without context. Who or where we are and what our goal is largely remains unanswered throughout the game's entirety. With that said, there is a considerable degree of mystery shrouding the plot and in-game history. Nevertheless, we as the protagonist have just traversed an empty sea bed that's degraded to a desert expanse upon years of drought only to then appear before a towering cliffside. It's also worth mentioning now that "jusant" is a French term meaning the receding or ebbing tide, and in the context of the game, the term refers to whatever this world-changing event was. Despite there being no active dialogue, it becomes evident that the protagonist's journey in climbing is to somehow reverse the jusant. Now at the tower, our journey—and the game—properly begins. Going forward, we climb.

Being a non-traditional platformer, Jusant does well in guiding players to become acquainted with the various climbing maneuvers, terminology, and general movement. Climbing controls are simple button inputs—in fact, most of the game's controls just revolve around alternating between two trigger buttons which represents maintaining hand grip. Conveniently, the cliff's rocky walls have already been modified to include tools so that climbers can freely navigate, though there are also an abundance of natural grooves and rock formations to grasp too. In time, you will even gain some control over the dying environment as you can generate immediate growth for what little plant life remains. A multitude of mechanics are introduced in a short span of time including hand placement, piton usage, stamina depletion and recovery, rope length, and momentum swinging, but it all feels natural to understand even without being a mountaineer. But there is more to come too, as new gameplay mechanics are introduced or mechanics may change as new environment types are explored. For a little while, it seemed as if there was no ideal means to backtrack for whatever reason, but repelling down the tower is an activity introduced almost right at the exact moment of concern. Unfortunately, I was hoping that there would be a little more variety in gameplay beyond platforming such as some puzzle mechanics. The argument can be made that platforming in certain areas presents itself as a puzzle, but I did not particularly think that myself.

With that said, there are secondary areas to explore that stray off the beaten path, though I personally considered them to be crucial to find for story-related reasons. Where you think the path will take you often isn't where you want to go if you're interested in discovering optional content. Knowing which way is needed to go to progress isn't always straightforward either, meaning players who are wanting to explore areas thoroughly before moving forward may miss out on certain things. Since the majority of the game's world-building is found through letter-writing collectibles in the form of a series of interconnected stories and one long journey written as diary entries, it was upsetting to notice whenever letters weren't discovered. To a degree, backtracking is available, but there are certain points which can't prevent that activity. Since collectibles are ordered chronologically in a menu based on when they should be found, it's easy to know when there's more to find. Admittedly, I began using a collectibles guide to follow once beginning my second attempt playing to avoiding missing anything on this playthrough. Though, it should be said that a chapter select option becomes available once completing the game.

It becomes obvious almost immediately into our journey that where we are is some deserted community—or, rather, a series of individual communities largely connected by letter-writing with its own delivery system—formed along the land's vertical space. Here, people would scale walls in everyday life, and it's revealed that the thought of trekking on horizontal land is both a strange and even frightful thought. Long ago, there was a population here. Community and culture, even. To a degree, there is environmental storytelling, but the bulk is through the aforementioned found writing. In these writings, we learn about how the tides gradually receded, how this present-day world came to be, and how a community so large it's subdivided into several regions emptied entirely as two separate groups sought answers in two different directions: above and below. As players continue to ascend, letters become varied as they're addressed to people in other parts of the tower. We learn how they grappled with the water shortage dilemma and how they seek to overcome it. It's saddening to see the correspondence between peoples suddenly cease as one party makes a dramatic life change to vacate to the desert below for some new hope. This one small valediction really resonated with me: "I'll miss your letters."

As you reach even greater heights, the depths below you become blurred and altogether lost. While our nameless protagonist doesn't particularly seem to be experiencing any emotional journey and is without difficulties until the game's final chapter, the people whose letters we read certainly are. There is much discouragement, doubt, and despair. Be that as it may, I felt as if the plot's lowest point in terms of character morale was quite momentary. As soon as events become significantly worse for our letter-writers, it was almost immediately resolved. However, I suppose it is at this point that the protagonist's problems start to manifest, though, this too, is relatively brief and also less impactful. Since Jusant is such a narrative-driven game, that the closing segments were written this way—or perhaps just how they were presented—led me to feel underwhelmed.

While I was first hesitant about what kind of game Jusant would ultimately be based on the nature of its gameplay, I quickly found myself enjoying the adventure. Much of its writing takes on a somber tone too which did maintain my interest, though certain aspects of it failed to captivate me due to brevity. Still, I'm glad I was able to see the journey to the end.

[kamikazekeeg]

17 - Revenge of the Savage Planet (PC 2025) - This was a fun time, it's very much a throwback to like the PS2 era 3D platformer games, your Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, etc...I thought it was gonna have elements of the general building/survival/crafting games, but other than being able to build up a bedroom with furniture and stuff, there's not much on that end. Overall, it's a very fun time.  There's lot of humor, lots of slapstick, there's a bunch of live action video stuff that's very in the same vein as Adult Swim shows. 

There's lots to collect, new suits to find and mix/match, and it doesn't really drag too much.  The only downside is that there isn't really an ending.  There's three general main plotlines you'll get to accomplish, and while I only did 2/3 of them, the specific main one, the return to Earth, you just scan the last part, build up the parts you need to fix your ship, and then you can just head back home, getting one last cut scene.  No final boss fight or thing to do.  Maybe that third plot line leads to the proper finale fight, but all the lead up quests to doing that were just kinda okay shooting challenges and I kinda lost interest, though I did get like 80% of the collectibles, but I'm at a point where I'm satisfied with the game and not gonna try to complete it.

Other than that, I do recommend it.  It's great to play, which can often be a dealbreaker to me these days where the mechanics are just too stiff, or slow, or delayed, and I've realized I got no patience for controls like that lol

[bizzgeburt]

10 - Crystal Warriors (GameGear)
https://vgcollect.com/item/8547

First thing I did when I started collecting GameGear cartridges was to look up all rpgs, and Crystal Warriors was one of the first GameGear-titles of that genre I ended up finding and purchasing. Playing it the first time in 2018, it kinda impressed me with it's graphics and Gameplay, but I didn't got to beat round 3, so … yea, I abbandoned it - up until now. One of the first actual pile-of-shame titles I can present to this challenge this year, thanks to many guides and walkthroughs I studied before this re-try.
As for all the games I play and review in here, I can only focus on the systems and games I personally own, which limits me on PAL-region releases only.

As I already mentioned, Crystal Warriors - or Arliel: Crystal Densetsu in it's original japanese naming - is a strategic rpg developed by Sega's Consumer Research and Development Dept. #2 (CS2) and was released in Japan in late 1991 and later in 1992 inside europe and the US.
The game shows a lot of resemblance with the first Shining Force title released on the Sega MegaDrive by that time and is also set in a fantasy world full of monsters and mages and castles and war.
This time the world itself isn't explicitly named, but according to the games introduction, the story takes places on a continent called Tyramus. Peace lasted a 1000 years, assured by the four elemental crystals of earth, wind, fire and water kept at their places within the just kingdom of Arliel, which the japanese original is named after. But this peace that seemed to last for eternity fell apart as the evil Emperor Grym of the neighbouring Jyn Empire decided to invade and conquer Arliel to claim it's powerful crystals for himself and his deeds. One fortress fell after another under the constant assaults from Jyn's fearsome forces consisting of all types of swordsmen, halberd-swinging lords and even mages, wizards and bloodthirsty werewolves led by Grym's loyal generals, all bearers if unique power and malice. Leaving land and peasants in agony and despair, the invasion also brought with it the occurance of grimy monstrous creatures all over the conquered territories, further threatening the lives of all of Arliel's innocent citizens. King Frederick of Arliel and his royal guard fell while bravely defending one of the crystals and soon all but one of the powerful relics were in Grym's clutches. That last crystal mysteriously disappeared along with King Frederick's daughter Princess Iris … the female pink-wearing, turban-rocking blue-eyed blond protagonist of this game, making her dead Daddy proud by massacring through Jyn's armies in order to regain all four crystals for Arliel to bring back peace again and so on...
Frankly, the four-crystal-plot ain't that creative at all even by the time Crystal Warriors was developed or released, and the crystals themselves don't really matter within the game in any markable way. The only aspect standing out so far is playing a heroine istead of a hero. The evil Empire invading a peaceful nation on the other hand seems suitable for a strategic fantasy rpg, though also not very innovative.

So the goal in this game is to overcome the Jyn Empire's armies in 16 different battles (rounds) either by defeating every single enemy unit on the map or entering the enemy's castle when it's unoccupied. Guess what: the enemy can take your castle too, to make it a little harder for you. Princess Iris herself acts as your own unit on the map, accompanied by up to 8 other playable units of various classes such as ranger, lord, mage or healer, essentially the same types of fighters the Jyn Empire pulls out it's sleeve. To add up to the threat the Jyn-forces mean to you, the dangers for your humble troups are further increased by different types of ferocious monsters, roaming especially earlier rounds. The two parties take turns in moving units and attacking their enemies across the map dividing the gameplay in offensive and defensive phases. The Maps themselves consist of numerous different terrain type tiles, some decreasing the amount of tiles a unit can travel within it's moving-phase, so traversing desert, narrow water or forests will slow down your units. When attacking or being attacked by a Jyn-fighter or monster, the perspective changes from the top view grid-like map into a sideview perspective of the actual encounter. Within this encounter, starting with the attacking unit, up to two rounds of ye good ol' round-based choice-menu-driven combat are exchanged. Everytime you defeat a enemy unit or monster, the unit delivering the deathblow gains 4 experience points and an amount of money differing according to the slain opponent. Every unit can level up to level 9 this way, which happens faster than you might suggest, leaving you mostly wondering about an equal experience distribution within your army than strategic usage of your troops. Besides the different fighter classes, the most strategically important aspect and key to master this game is the elemental system embedded into the battle: Every unit, even monster belongs to one of the four elements. Earth is neutral, water beats fire, fire beats wind, wind beats water ... the basic rock/paper/scissors stuff. You might rightfully suggest this to force you to give a good elemental mix to your fighting force. A feature I consider highly intriguing in Crystal Warriors is some of the classes ability to tame monsters when defeating them, being able to collect up to four different monsters to letting them fight for them during encounters. Again, those creatures also each belong to one of the four elemental groups, giving the tamer the opportunity to harm even units his own element is weak against. Eitherway, using the elements to your advantage is the core strategy to beat this game. Besides that, there are just a few cases in which the map itself dictates your movements. Anyways, almost every little "mistake" made by the player can easily end up in one or even more of you units being defeated ... meaning actually dead, never to return back, because once defeated, a unit is gone for good in this game. Summed up, all those aspects make a real good strategic rpg handheld title for many hours of gameplay. Being released in 91/92, this game is actually technically quite impressive for a GameGear cartridge.

Adding to the technical and gameplay aspects, the games' graphics are simply magnificent. Battle maps and towns are all drawn in colourful textures, even a bit detailed, albeit the limited capacities of the system. The visuals of fighters and monsters really shine in this game with every character having an own detailed colourful picture shown when the player selects them on the screen. The designs of the armor and fighters themselves is very cool and everything just looks amazing. The battle scenes, despite lacking any background graphics or pictures, are also presented with detailed animations and graphics, really showing of some of GameGear's colour palette indeed.

Music of the game is composed by MACKY, according to the credits. MACKY is an artist-name for a Dude called Yukifumi Makino, soundproducer for Sega CS and later head member of Sega Digital Media, which transformed into  Wave Master. He is credited with the sound programming and production of many Sega games, including many Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Crystal Warriors is a title he actually composed the score for.
Most of the pieces in this game deliver a lively, almost to-happy-for-a-war-game vibe, but all pieces are somewhat nice to listen to and not to boring despite all being loops of limited lenght. The only memorable piece of music I found is the battlefield theme 4, which plays in rounds 15 and 16. I actually posted it into the classic games -> retro games music thread here on VGC-forums, so feel free to take a listen. It kinda kept stuck in my ears.

Owning this cartridge for about 7 years now, I'm glad to have finally finished this game. At first it frustrated me with it's relentless difficulty, but once I got into it I found it to be highly enjoyable. Actually Shining Force for GameGear if you're into strategic rpg's like this, this is one your for commanding pleasure.

the 10th game finished this year ... better, than anticipated. 

[telly]

Game 15 – Grandia (Switch) – 38 Hours

Grandia is a solid RPG from the PS1 era that has a lot of great things going for it. For my money, this is one of the best-looking role-playing games on the PS1. I just can't get over how beautiful the game’s use of 2D sprites over these intricate and detailed 3D models and environments. It’s a visual treat both in exploring the world, particularly towns which are bursting with personality, and engaging in the combat where the magic and attack animations are spectacular. Other small flourishes like the use of dynamic portraits during dialogue, with lots of fluid character animations, make it a very cinematic game as well. However, the voice acting was a little hit or miss to me. I do think it’s serviceable; the main issue for me was the adding of lots of dead air in between lines which made the deliveries feel more stilted and awkward than they were. I think for the time though, it's impressive. The music was a little inconsistent too. Some of the songs that play in dungeons in particular weren't that great. But, when a great song started playing, it fit the mood incredibly well. So you can see that one of the big draws for this game for me was its visuals, presentation, and overall polish that helped make a very engaging experience.

Now as far as the story goes, I thought it was OK. It wasn't anything particularly special it's a very cliche story with not a lot of surprises, but it got the job done and was entertaining enough. The game features a lot of cutscenes and again with the visual style of this game it made the story more enjoyable. The writing is pretty decent and again the voice acting helps drive home some of the more important moments. I loved the little moments where the groups shares a meal and conversation together before going to sleep, that really helped me connect more with the characters. I thought the characters were entertaining and I liked the budding romance between Justin and Feena, it felt very natural and believable.

Where I get a little bit more mixed feelings on is the gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the combat system. The use of timed sequencing of attacks to cancel out your opponent’s actions on a timeline added a nice layer of strategy, and the leveling up system for different weapons and spells kept you engaged in your character's progress over the course of the game. The magic system is very deep offering you tons of utility for fighting, which was fun to experiment. With all that praise, I do also think that this game is very unbalanced both in terms of its enemy encounter rates, and the percentage of time that you spend engaging in the combat. Easily after around 18 hours in I was getting sick of clearing what felt like dungeon after dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, back-to-back-to-back, with very little story to break up the monotony. And with no side quests or mini games to speak of you will just be fighting for probably 75% of this game and it got very old. That great leveling up system that I mentioned earlier also became more and more tedious because you have to constantly be switching different weapons or focusing on different elemental attacks and because you change out several playable characters at least three or four times, the micromanaging started to feel repetitive.

While the game for me overstayed its welcome, I still felt a lot of satisfaction upon finishing it. This is a really decent RPG that I was glad to have experienced and I've heard the sequel is great as well, if not better.

[bizzgeburt]

Game 15 – Grandia (Switch) – 38 Hours

Grandia is a solid RPG from the PS1 era that has a lot of great things going for it. For my money, this is one of the best-looking role-playing games on the PS1. I just can't get over how beautiful the game’s use of 2D sprites over these intricate and detailed 3D models and environments. It’s a visual treat both in exploring the world, particularly towns which are bursting with personality, and engaging in the combat where the magic and attack animations are spectacular. Other small flourishes like the use of dynamic portraits during dialogue, with lots of fluid character animations, make it a very cinematic game as well. However, the voice acting was a little hit or miss to me. I do think it’s serviceable; the main issue for me was the adding of lots of dead air in between lines which made the deliveries feel more stilted and awkward than they were. I think for the time though, it's impressive. The music was a little inconsistent too. Some of the songs that play in dungeons in particular weren't that great. But, when a great song started playing, it fit the mood incredibly well. So you can see that one of the big draws for this game for me was its visuals, presentation, and overall polish that helped make a very engaging experience.

Now as far as the story goes, I thought it was OK. It wasn't anything particularly special it's a very cliche story with not a lot of surprises, but it got the job done and was entertaining enough. The game features a lot of cutscenes and again with the visual style of this game it made the story more enjoyable. The writing is pretty decent and again the voice acting helps drive home some of the more important moments. I loved the little moments where the groups shares a meal and conversation together before going to sleep, that really helped me connect more with the characters. I thought the characters were entertaining and I liked the budding romance between Justin and Feena, it felt very natural and believable.

Where I get a little bit more mixed feelings on is the gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the combat system. The use of timed sequencing of attacks to cancel out your opponent’s actions on a timeline added a nice layer of strategy, and the leveling up system for different weapons and spells kept you engaged in your character's progress over the course of the game. The magic system is very deep offering you tons of utility for fighting, which was fun to experiment. With all that praise, I do also think that this game is very unbalanced both in terms of its enemy encounter rates, and the percentage of time that you spend engaging in the combat. Easily after around 18 hours in I was getting sick of clearing what felt like dungeon after dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, back-to-back-to-back, with very little story to break up the monotony. And with no side quests or mini games to speak of you will just be fighting for probably 75% of this game and it got very old. That great leveling up system that I mentioned earlier also became more and more tedious because you have to constantly be switching different weapons or focusing on different elemental attacks and because you change out several playable characters at least three or four times, the micromanaging started to feel repetitive.

While the game for me overstayed its welcome, I still felt a lot of satisfaction upon finishing it. This is a really decent RPG that I was glad to have experienced and I've heard the sequel is great as well, if not better.

I have the PS1-version on by backlog. I left off being in the desert on the entrance of the huge second 'secret' dungeon that I wanted to finish before continuing the storyline ... that was about 3 years ago ^^

I share your oppinion on this being a technically and graphically awesome RPG, and yea the leveling got repetitive fast. Thanks for the reminder, maybe I should restart where I left off and finally finish this game 

[kashell]

Game 15 – Grandia (Switch) – 38 Hours

Grandia is a solid RPG from the PS1 era that has a lot of great things going for it. For my money, this is one of the best-looking role-playing games on the PS1. I just can't get over how beautiful the game’s use of 2D sprites over these intricate and detailed 3D models and environments. It’s a visual treat both in exploring the world, particularly towns which are bursting with personality, and engaging in the combat where the magic and attack animations are spectacular. Other small flourishes like the use of dynamic portraits during dialogue, with lots of fluid character animations, make it a very cinematic game as well. However, the voice acting was a little hit or miss to me. I do think it’s serviceable; the main issue for me was the adding of lots of dead air in between lines which made the deliveries feel more stilted and awkward than they were. I think for the time though, it's impressive. The music was a little inconsistent too. Some of the songs that play in dungeons in particular weren't that great. But, when a great song started playing, it fit the mood incredibly well. So you can see that one of the big draws for this game for me was its visuals, presentation, and overall polish that helped make a very engaging experience.

Now as far as the story goes, I thought it was OK. It wasn't anything particularly special it's a very cliche story with not a lot of surprises, but it got the job done and was entertaining enough. The game features a lot of cutscenes and again with the visual style of this game it made the story more enjoyable. The writing is pretty decent and again the voice acting helps drive home some of the more important moments. I loved the little moments where the groups shares a meal and conversation together before going to sleep, that really helped me connect more with the characters. I thought the characters were entertaining and I liked the budding romance between Justin and Feena, it felt very natural and believable.

Where I get a little bit more mixed feelings on is the gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the combat system. The use of timed sequencing of attacks to cancel out your opponent’s actions on a timeline added a nice layer of strategy, and the leveling up system for different weapons and spells kept you engaged in your character's progress over the course of the game. The magic system is very deep offering you tons of utility for fighting, which was fun to experiment. With all that praise, I do also think that this game is very unbalanced both in terms of its enemy encounter rates, and the percentage of time that you spend engaging in the combat. Easily after around 18 hours in I was getting sick of clearing what felt like dungeon after dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, back-to-back-to-back, with very little story to break up the monotony. And with no side quests or mini games to speak of you will just be fighting for probably 75% of this game and it got very old. That great leveling up system that I mentioned earlier also became more and more tedious because you have to constantly be switching different weapons or focusing on different elemental attacks and because you change out several playable characters at least three or four times, the micromanaging started to feel repetitive.

While the game for me overstayed its welcome, I still felt a lot of satisfaction upon finishing it. This is a really decent RPG that I was glad to have experienced and I've heard the sequel is great as well, if not better.

Nice work finishing this! FWIW, there were two "side quest" dungeons in the game but it offered more of the same: lots of combat and exploration. I think my issue with the combat was that it became really simple before too long because Justin and Feena became super powered by the time you get to the second disc.

I think you'll really like the second game if you liked the first.

[bikingjahuty]

6. Donkey Kong 64 (N64) - ABANDONED

With everyone currently playing Donkey Kong Bananza on the Switch 2, I decided I'd go back 25-years and play I game in the DK series I haven't played in...well, 25-years. During the summer of 2000, I vividly remember renting DK64 from my local Hollywood Video and being pretty excited about it. I was a huge fan of the DKC games on the SNES, so I figured my love for this game would be similar despite it being in 3D and being a very, very different game overall. Funny enough, despite remembering this being a rental for me and even remember playing in my sister's room on her little CRT TV, I didn't remember much else beyond me getting to a desert themed level around the time I had to take this game back to the rental store. Replaying DK64 now, I kinda get why I have so few memories of this game and also why I don't look back on it fondly like most of the other classic DK games or Rareware games I played growing up.


My biggest reason for giving up on this game prematurely comes down really to two things. The controls and how bland this game feels. I'll start with the lessor of the two issues I had with it, which are controls that feel slow, unresponsive, and fairly limited at times. I particularly hated trying to do any sort of complex platforming or getting to a floating vine I needed to get to in order to swing some place. I mean, I was able to do what I needed to most of the time, but it was also a bit of a chore rather than something I actually enjoyed doing. The camera in this game is also fairly wonky and difficult to get right where you want it most of the time. But if these were my only real issues with DK64, I could have continued playing it. Unfortunately, the game just never clicked with me and left me feeling bored and unmotivated.


DK64 feels a bit like the leftovers of Banjo Kazooie mixed with Rare trying to do too much with this game, while also not giving it the room it needed to fully realize those ideas. For one, I found the stages that I was able to get to boring and just sort of bland. I think about the stages in Banjo Kazooie and how there was so much going on in them and so many interesting things to explore, but this game just feels flat and bland by comparison. Also, Banjo felt very focused and deliberate with what it had to offer, while this game just throws everything plus the kitchen sink at you and hopes you enjoy something. I know this game gets a lot of flack for having way too many collectibles, but its kinda of true. I also thought the use of 4 different Kongs to play as was a cool idea, but poorly implemented. It just felt like you were back tracking through the same levels too much in order to collect coins or bananas that you couldn't get as the other kongs. Also, while I couldn't say with 100% certainty, I swear this game borrows a ton of assets, both visually and audio related from Banjo Kazooie, which just sort of adds to the games blah quality. The game just feels bloated and uninspired.


I'm genuinely disappointed I'm abandoning a golden age Rareware game, and even more disappointed I'm abandoning a classic DK game, but this one is truly a step in the wrong direction for both camps. (7/30/25) - ABANDONED