52 Games Challenge 2018

[telly]

Game 17 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U) - 34 hours

Fifth Zelda game done! There’s something about Zelda games that I can never like fully get into. Don’t get me wrong, I think this game is great, but for some reason I just don’t enjoy them as much as others do.

+ The best part of this game is hands down the sailing element. It’s totally unique, and it’s still not really done that much even today. It’s a total joy exploring the Great Sea looking for treasure and exploring islands all the while experiencing all the other little random things that can happen along the way. It’s quite organic and epic. The gameplay is also really good in general, it feels good to explore dungeons and the combat was pretty satisfying. The music is fantastic, some of the best in the series by far. The puzzles in the dungeons were all really good too, even though there weren’t that many of them sadly. Lastly, the characters were pretty funny and there were some really great moments and interactions.

- This may just be me, but I feel like Wind Waker is where Zelda really started to become very “formulaic” when it comes to tropes and ideas. I dunno why they reused the Deku Tree and a Jabu-Jabu lookalike from OoT. Dungeons still have you playing ping pong by bouncing light back with soldiers, and using your shield to solve light puzzles (again, like in Oot). Outside the grappling hook and leaf, all the items are copy-pasted with some minor improvements. I also really didn’t like the narrative pacing in the game. Half of the story is just the King of Red Lions telling you “go do this, you must do that” with not even a passing explanation of why. I got really annoyed right after the Forsaken Fortress with that stuff. Lastly, the game is far too easy. Each enemy you kill showers you with money, items, magic power and hearts, so you will never run out of anything and it’s really hard to die.

Back to my list

[shfan]

Darwinia (PC) - Abandoned

Another game which I've really been enjoying (it's one I used to play a decade ago). Like so many others I've attempted during this year's challenge, I reach a certain point and something kills the enjoyment, usually either a mad difficulty spike in its own right or flaws within the game which make it a chore (or plain unplayable) once the difficulty starts to rise. In Darwinia's case, I'm 1 location away from the endgame, but my troop-carrying units won't do what they're ****ing told. So not only does the assault fail, meaning I have to rebuild the teams again, but I also have to destroy the troop carriers (which convert into immobile turrets) which featured in the last failed attempt as they've been commandeered by the enemy.  I have zero tolerance for things like shonky AI now, straight into the charity shop donation pile with it. It's just a pity I've wasted so many hours this year playing games which I ultimately abandon.

[mizzach86]

15.   Mega Man 3 (PS4)
This is probably my favorite Mega Man game in the original series. I love the addition of the slide and Rush which give you extra maneuverability and escape paths. One thing I notice playing this game in modern times is the difficulty progression is a little odd. The Doc Robot stages after beating the eight robot masters are really hard in comparison to the Wily stages that follow which are actually quite simple in this game. Still though, very fun game from my childhood I enjoyed revisiting.

[kamikazekeeg]

61 - Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4 2018) - BEAT - Well, one of the biggest games of the year getting released and I think it's just alright.  What is here is definitely a good game, but I think in general there are lots of little, tedious, elements that all culminate in an experience that to me doesn't feel the most engaging.  I also don't think the story and side content is all that exciting outside of bits here and there.  Nothing bad I could complain about, just all very...middling.  The game really doesn't do a whole lot new that RDR and GTA5 and some other games haven't already done before.  It's a well crafted experience, but I hit like the half-way point and just started losing interest, deciding to skip the side content and just push through the story.

Overall, the world is pretty well done and it looks real nice, but even as someone that regularly puts time into open world games, this game wasn't really impressing me.

[bikingjahuty]

61 - Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4 2018) - BEAT - Well, one of the biggest games of the year getting released and I think it's just alright.  What is here is definitely a good game, but I think in general there are lots of little, tedious, elements that all culminate in an experience that to me doesn't feel the most engaging.  I also don't think the story and side content is all that exciting outside of bits here and there.  Nothing bad I could complain about, just all very...middling.  The game really doesn't do a whole lot new that RDR and GTA5 and some other games haven't already done before.  It's a well crafted experience, but I hit like the half-way point and just started losing interest, deciding to skip the side content and just push through the story.

Overall, the world is pretty well done and it looks real nice, but even as someone that regularly puts time into open world games, this game wasn't really impressing me.

Be careful, the Rockstar fanboy mob might see this and build a pyre to burn you at the stake for speaking such blasphemy! Worse has happened to those who gave this game a 9/10 lol

[kamikazekeeg]

Be careful, the Rockstar fanboy mob might see this and build a pyre to burn you at the stake for speaking such blasphemy! Worse has happened to those who gave this game a 9/10 lol

I'm prepared, as I'd rate it like an 8/8.5 myself lol You know, the DREADED 8! The most horrible thing someone could rate a game!

[mizzach86]

16.   Kirby’s Dream Land (3DS VC)
My first Kirby game was Kirby’s Dream Land 2, so I never got a chance to play this game back in the day. It’s interesting to see Kirby’s roots since this was his first outing. This is a short, but fun game to play. Kirby hadn’t received his signature copy ability yet, so his only attacks are to inhale enemies and either swallow them or spit them out. Also, he can exhale puffs of air after he’s inflated. I also think the soundtrack to this game is great. The Kirby series has some of my favorite VGM and this game established some of his iconic songs.

17.   New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
I’m replaying this game, not having played it in years. The more modern Mario games like NSMB Wii U and 3D World have improved upon this game a lot, but it’s still a fun time. This was a refreshing experience when it first came out since Mario had mostly seen 3D entries in his series up to this point (though NSMB on the DS technically came first). I think the bouncy, chaotic multiplayer leaves something to be desired, so I think this game’s more fun to play on your own or with one other competent person if you’re a serious gamer. 4 player might be fun as a non-serious party situation. There’s also decent challenge as the game progresses. World 9 in particular can be a real pain.

[chrismb]

Part 1 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149037.html#msg149037
Part 2 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149778.html#msg149778
Part 3 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg150756.html#msg150756
Part 4 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg152650.html#msg152650
Part 5 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg155281.html#msg155281
Part 6 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg157680.html#msg157680

98. Yakuza 4 [20/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- Upgraded graphics. While it's the same engine as the previous game it just looks so much more detailed and the lighting effects are also so much better.
- Amazing story! I love how they switched everything up by including 3 new protagonists! All 3 of them are really interesting and charismatic characters, but Akiyama is by far the best character of the game imo. The story is so far my favorite out of all the games,I love how the main story connects all character but they all have their own side stories.
- Gameplay is a lot better. The fighting feels a lot better, probably because of the new fighting animations the new characters have. There are also a lot of cool new side missions exclusive to each characters.
- Overall I think this game just took everything that was good in the first 3 and made and even better game. I really don't have anything negative to say even the only thing that annoyed me in previous games which was random people wanting to fight you wasn't as annoying in this game.
-

99. Grand Theft Auto V [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically this game is still stunning even today. It's one of those game that just doesn't age bad. I first played the Xbox 360 version and while the difference isn't extremely huge, the game does feel a lot more detailed.
- One of the best open world imo, there's just so many place to explore and so many secrets and easter eggs hidden everywhere. The level of detail put into Los Santos is honestly mind blowing.
- The gameplay is totally improved. GTA IV's gameplay has aged pretty bad imo, it feels slow and the driving was horrible. In GTA V everything is just a lot more fluid and responsive.
- The story and characters are amazing! Trevor is by far my favorite character from the entire GTA franchise. He's crazy but there's something so likable about him. Replaying the game, I realized that Michael is a lot more annoying than what I remembered lol, however he's annoying in a good way meaning that he's not that perfect protagonist, he's selfish and betrayed his best friend but that's what makes him an interesting character. Franklin is also a lot more interesting than what I remembered.
- You can skip missions, even tho GTA V probably has the easiest missions it's still a good thing for me who has very little patience lol.
- Amazing soundtrack.
- Amazing acting.
- Overall the best GTA game imo. It took everything that made the previous game good and just made an even better game.
-
- While the special abilities for each characters was a good idea, I wish we could've used them on every characters. You have like zero chasing missions with Franklin yet he got the slow mo driving ability =/

100. Yakuza Dead Souls [18/20] - Playstation 3 -
+
- While the story isn't crazy good, being able to play with the (imo) 4 best characters from the franchise is so fun especially in a zombie apocalypse. Ryuji Goda coming back from the dead with a whole gun instead of his arms is all I could ask for tbh. Majima's part is also really funny, especially the ending lol.
- Overall a really fun game with a lot more humor than in the usual Yakuza game. It's a game I would only recommend for fans of the serie tho.
-
- The shooting in this game is really annoying. It's something about the camera controls that's just not working.
- I feel like the story could've been better, it feels like they didn't know if they wanted to make a serious story or a funny story so they made something in between. They could've done some more crazy things especially with the characters they were working with.

101. Gears of War 3 [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- A really good story. I love the new characters and being able to play as Cole was also pretty cool. This game also have one of the saddest death of the serie (so far at least) but I feel like they did it the right way and didn't try to just have a shocking death for tears. The ending was also pretty sad.
- The gameplay feels better, I can't really tell in what way tho lol it just feels more responsive.
- Graphically it also looks better, it has a lot more visually impressive moments.
-
- I wish they showed the backstory of some of the new characters like Jace. They kinda just got there out of nowhere (even tho there's a time jump so it makes sense that there are new characters).

102. Wolfenstein: The New Order [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- I love the story and the characters. William is a badass protagonist and I also really liked Fergus.
- It's pretty cool to be able to choose between 2 different timelines, one with Wyatt and one with Fergus. Too bad I chose Wyatt because after watching the differences between the two timelines I realized that Fergus is a much better character, but still it's cool to be able to have two different stories in a way.
- Really good gameplay, some of the weapons are really fun to use.
- Overall a huge positive surprise. I wanted to play Wolfenstein the new colossus but for some reason I didn't realize it was a sequel so when I started playing and it started with "in the previous game" I was like wtf what game lol. Thankfully it was free with game pass so I ended playing it without really expecting anything crazy at first but it definitely surprised me!
-
- Graphically it's a little borderline but i'm pretty sure it came out also on xbox 360/ps3 so it didn't bother me that much, just didn't really feel like a next gen game graphically. It's not ugly or anything tho.

103. Gears of War: Judgment [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it feels like a pretty nice improvement compared to the 3rd game. Everything feels a lot more detailed and the cut scenes are a lot better.
- I love the story and the fact that we get some background of Baird and Cole . I liked the new characters too especially Paduk.
- Aftermath is a really cool addition and i'm glad we at least got to know what happened with Cadet (I don't remember her name lol) and Paduk after the end.
-
- Some control changes that really bothered me at first.
- So I know Cole is supposed to look younger but why is he a lot lighter? He looks nothing like Cole for a hot minute I thought it was someone else tbh.

104. The King of Fighters XIII [20/20] - Xbox 360 -
+
- Graphically it's one the prettiest 2D fighting game I've ever seen! The animations look amazing and I love the new HD version of the KOF XII character designs. Except Clark and Ralf, idk why they fucked they up like that lol.
- I LOVE the stages! This game has some of my all time favorite KOF stages tbh.
- A really good roster with a few new characters and a lot of characters that were missing from the previous game.
- Really good gameplay.
- Overall one of the best KOF games imo, probably top 2/3.
-
/

105. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus [20/20] - Playstation 4 -
+
- This game is probably my biggest surprise from 2018. I wasn't really familiar with the Wolfenstein game before playing The New Order, I just knew how the first games looked like but that was it, so I was already positively surprised by how good The New Order was but this game is 10 times better.
- Graphically it looks really nice, It's not a game i'm gonna play for the graphics but it's still great.
- The story and the characters are AMAZING. Once again you can choose between the Wyatt and Fergus timeline and this time I definitely chose Fergus! He's such a funny character, his whole thing with the arm was hilarious to me. The new characters are also really funny especially Grace who's a total badass and Sigrun who's just a completely wtf character lol.
- Good gameplay, even tho I'm pretty ass at RPGs lol.
-
/

106. Forza Horizon 4 [20/20] - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically the game is STUNNING! The map is huge and so detailed! It's crazy how accurate the map was to how European countries look (I live in France), it totally felt like I was riding in a town next to mine lol.
- I love the concept of playing through the 4 seasons. Autumn and Winter were by far my favorite, especially winter! Everything just looks so much better covered with snow lol.
- Amazing gameplay! I'm ass at driving game, and I thought this game was actually harder than Forza 3 but I still really like the driving mechanics AND being able to go back in time lol that helped a lot.
- Really fun missions/races.
- Good soundtrack that fits the game perfectly.
-
- I'm either dumb stupid or there really aren't any quick travel locations. I get that the concept of the game is to explore and everything but I don't want to ride through the same place 50 times again and again just to go to the next race.

107. Gears of War 4 [20/20]  - Xbox One -
+
- Graphically it's obviously a huge update! It's also more colorful which isn't necessarily better but I did like it.
- I loved the story and new characters! I know a lot of people hate when they completely change protagonists just to have new younger ones but in this case I think it was for the better, Marcus story ended in GOW3 and continuing with him would've just dragged out the story. I loved that he was still a major character in the game tho! The game actually reminded me of Mass Affect Andromeda in way, new younger and more "fun" protagonists that add a new dimension to the serie.
- A crazy ending, don't want to spoil anything but damn I almost din't notice it.
- Obviously amazing gameplay with some really cool new weapons.
-
- I wish Baird and Cole came a little earlier than right a the end.

Currently playing :

- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Yakuza 5
- Unravel 2
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- Shadow Of the Tomb Raider
- Hitman Codename 47
- The King of Fighter XIV
- Tekken
- Soul Blade
- The Walking Dead: The Final Season
- Life is Strange 2

[kamikazekeeg]

61 - Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC 2016) - BEAT - My view on this game really hasn't changed since it first released.  It's a solid game, combining aspects of God of War/Devil May Cry, with the semi-open world setup of a Zelda game.  The negatives of the game mostly have to do with how it drags in sections, where it doesn't feel like the puzzles or layout is super fun and some of the combat spots get a little tedious.  I feel like a lot of it isn't helped by the fact that you can't run and you don't get your horse to speed up the few parts you can use him in till well over halfway through the game. 

I do enjoy the over-the-top style of it, kinda Warcraft/Warhammer giant armor and swords, though I sorta wish it was a tad less serious about everything.  In the long run, I would've liked the series to embrace kinda more of a Brutal Legend-type of tone, not full on that, but the series really takes itself ridiculously seriously, and it's begging for some metal riffs lol

Since Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition is more broken than the original game, I'm thinking of just jumping into the old save most of the way through Darksiders 2 original and finishing up the game.  Mostly just wanting story stuff before Darksiders 3 releases.

[justin8301]

Well after taking almost 3 months off to play WoW I finally quit that shit and got back to knocking a few more games off the list.

21. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - 11/13/18
22. Super Mario Land (GB) - 11/13/18
23. Super Mario Land 2 (GB) - 11/14/18

[kamikazekeeg]

62 - Darksiders 2 (PC 2012) - BEAT - This one isn't counting for my full end of the year count, as I ended up hopping back into an old save from back when the game first came out and only spent 5 hours finishing it up.  Mostly due to the games bugs and performance and since the "Deathinitive Edition" ran worse, I didn't want to spend like 20 hours fighting with a games performance issues.  I think originally the game lost my interest just a tad, or another came out to take my attention, I don't remember exactly, so that's why I bailed on the last 1/3rd of the game, but going back, I do like it.

Compared to the first one, I think this game does a lot right.  Gameplay is snappier, you get your horse from the start, I like that I can customize Death with different gear, there's more side quests, just more to do in general.  I like that enemies generally are either in the world to fight, or appear as you can go, so no more magic walls constantly appearing.  Kind of a standard element for the games the series was originally based on like Devil May Cry, God of War, and Zelda, but that's gone here unless it's important to the room.

On the other hand, the bigger open world and loot drops isn't always very exciting, sometimes tedious and the gear itself isn't super varied feeling, and the side content is either good mission stuff or boring wave based shenanigans.  The Arbiter Maze? Each of the 10 levels has you fighting a wave of enemies in every room and you'll essentially have 7 rooms for completion sake, so that's 70 waves if you don't stop.  The Crucible? Survival wave based arena that can go up to Level 100 for the best gear.  Most wave based stuff gets boring to me if there isn't other stuff going on.

I don't know if the console version of the original Darksiders 2 was any better, but both the original and Deathinitive version have bugs and performance issues on PC and PS4 Deathinitive has weird performance issues also.   This is annoying for anyone wanting to go back and replay the games before the third game.  Of which, I'm pretty excited for it now.  What I've seen of the Gamescom demo, it looks fantastic, they dropped the loot system, perhaps in favor of a crafting system for weapons, so maybe less about just having random weapons and more a good handful you can create and tweak with modifiers like gem slots and such.  I get the feeling it's gonna be abit inbetween the previous two, which might be perfect.  Really hope it pans out as its a fun world. 

[kamikazekeeg]

64 - Sunset Overdrive (PC Port 2018) - BEAT - I'm way late to this game, being that it is 4 years old, but I'm glad that I can finally play it on PC, because this game is an absolute treat.  From beginning to end, there was never a point I felt bored or felt the tedium start sinking in, which can be very common in open world games like this, especially as someone that binges games.  Sure there are a few missions that are just "do this multiple times", but generally all the side stuff and main missions has some unique thing to it.  It's rarely the same thing or it's a harder version of it.  Heck, I didn't even do really any of the challenge missions. 

I will say, the collectibles being useful is a good thing, but they made way too many of them.  It's getting towards Breath of the Wild Korok Seed level as there's 150 of each thing and I believe there's 5 things, so yeah, a crap ton.  The maps to have them visible on your main map though are way too pricey, especially when you want to save up funds for new weapons, which are also quite pricey.  Maybe if I did more challenges it would be easier, but for a game that offers a lot of freedom, it just felt like they make you work extra hard to get all the good stuff and I still have a ton of weapons and clothes to get even after beating the game.

If this was a brand new game coming out this year, it would be in my Top 10 of 2018.  It's not the greatest game ever, it's mission structure is basic and the story is just goofball nonsense, but I might have had more consistent fun in this than I did Spider-Man...which the same devs of that, made Sunset Overdrive.  If you have an Xbox One and passed it over, or if you have a PC, go play it, it feels like a love letter to last generations crazy open world action games like Dead Rising, Infamous, Prototype, Crackdown, Saints Row, all that kind of stuff, which are much less common these days.

[mizzach86]

I finally got some time away from work, so I can play more games.

18.   Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS3)
I’m replaying a lot of games I used to play from my childhood/teenage years. This is the remastered Sly 1 from the PS3 collection and it’s still just as great a game as I remember. I love the soundtrack, too. I only had a couple problems with the platforming occasionally not connecting when I hit triangle to use interactables, but not a big deal, still a great game 

19.   Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS3)
The PS2 had SO many good games. Here’s another I replayed on the remastered PS3 collection of the Jak and Daxter series. It is still fun to play today. I also love the humor in the game (Daxter in particular XD). This is a nostalgic game especially for me because when I played it as a teenager, I wished I was in the game’s cozy world instead of real life. I’ve matured somewhat since then, but this is a fond game for me because of how therapeutic it’s been over the years.

[kamikazekeeg]

65 - Battlefield V (PC 2018) - BEAT - The 4th War Story isn't actually available till next week, but I'm basically counting this as beat since this is what the game launched with and I've dumped 30 hours into the multiplayer.  I will say, while two of the three stories have a good story going on, they just generally aren't fun.  It looks nice, but it's such basic gameplay.  Shooters like Sniper and Wolfenstein among others have done much more for singleplayer experiences for awhile now and Battlefield just hasn't done a truly entertaining one since the Bad Company games.  Black Ops 4 showed you could be successful without it, so just don't do it.  Focus on the multiplayer.

That aside, this is a real good multiplayer game.  BFV just straight up improves on everything I think from BF1.  Teamwork is better, the game feels like it has a deeper skill level to it, the fortification mechanic is great, soldier and weapon customization is reasonably handled, and the game in general feels really good to play.  It's not perfect, there's some cleaning up and balancing they need to do, but it's great not having nearly as much grenade spam for one.

The only real downside to the multiplayer, is that it doesn't have all the familiar WW2 elements in it yet.  They opted for locations and weapons that are abit more uncommon from the usual fair, so a lot of iconic weaponry and locations are not currently available.  The Eastern Front, The Pacific, these fronts and armies will be coming with the free DLC, but it's going to be months of waiting and that could hurt the game in the long run.

That said, BFV is probably the most fun I've had playing BF in awhile after the underwhelming Hardline and the so-so Battlefield 1.  I'll be playing this quite abit.

[kamikazekeeg]

63 - Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu (Switch 2018) - BEAT - Pokemon Let's Go for me is like listening to some certain classic rock songs, or watching Disney's animated Robin Hood, or thinking about Christmas lights out in a quiet wintry night...It's an enjoyable nostalgia that is just very chill and comforting.  The last Pokemon game I seriously played was Pokemon Yellow, so coming back to it in this remake has just been a good time.  I did try to get into X at one point, but I just haven't been into a handheld system since like the GBA SP. 

Overall, this is a pretty fun remake.  The core is still there, but there's a lot of modern additions and improvements that generally make for a much better game.  I thought initially I would hate the Pokemon Go capture mechanic, but it ends up being a way to mix up the game, so you aren't just grinding random battles constantly.  I just wish the forced motion controls were better.  They aren't nearly as well designed as they are in Pokemon Go.  They almost feel random at times in their direction.  Also not having Pro Controller support is dumb as hell. 

That stuff aside, I was fine with the no combat captures and having Pokemon visible on the map, and removing random battles is the best thing this series can do.  This NEEDS to happen in the next main Pokemon game.  Also having things like HMs removed in favor of Pikachu/Eevee learning secret techniques is great, I think it's cool that Mega Evolving was added, while also allowing Alolan versions to be earned by trading their Kanto counterparts at Poke Centers around the map.  They didn't need to add them, but it helps to keep Let's Go within the current state of the Pokemon world.

In the end, I don't have any real serious complaints, just some minor nitpicks.  This isn't the hot new thing like a normal Pokemon release would be, but as a game made for fresh Pokemon fans who got in on the wildly successful Pokemon Go and as some deep nostalgia for old fans who have lapsed on the series, it definitely hits the mark.  The only things I think I would've liked to have them do is make the customization better (It's very basic and half-assed), have pro controller support, and I think it's time to put midi pokemon sounds behind us in favor of just normal  anime-like names being said.  It feels all the more out of place these days when you have Pikachu and Eevee talking, but we get nothing from the others.  I actually completely forgot that Meowth doesn't talk in the game and was anime only lol

Still got more to do for sure as I still need to get like Mewtwo in the last caves (Already got the legendary birds), but this is just a nice game for sure.