Author Topic: 52 Games Challenge 2019  (Read 45202 times)

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #105 on: May 08, 2019, 04:30:01 am »
Just Beat:
11. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PS4)
Weirdly, I've never beat this game before, even after 3 past attempts... I'm really not sure why either, it's not like it's immensely difficult - I had a part in mind where I got stuck, but I think I mistook it for The New Order as that part didn't appear in this game upon my playthrough. The game is overall very solid, it suits my playstyle very well as when I play FPS I don't tend to use the Aim function much but focus on aligning my characters positioning more.

The game was pretty simple, but considering this wasn't originally considered a stand alone game the scale is impressive! I love these type of DLC's which are 4-8 hours long and feel like their own game. This is what I think all DLC should aspire to and not simply be a tacked on little episode. I admire it plenty on that factor alone. I finally for the DLC to Wolfenstein II on sale, so I am planning to play through each title before the new title next month :)

10. Final Fantasy V (GBA)
I don't really play 16-Bit games very much, but I want to experience each FF at least once, this time it was FFV. I played it on Emulator, 1080P and with my PS4 controller... which was fantastic (I own the GBA cart before anyone gets huffy!). The game itself was okay, it didn't have many iconic that the series usually inspires but it was enjoyable from start to finish.

I'm still not sold on the job system, I mostly found myself having all my party as Samurai which gives them high HP and the ability to throw money... which is better than the notable best Magic spells of the game... I just found that the idea of swapping classes didn't really work well and I much prefer set classes similar to Final Fantasy IX's structure. While the characters had a decent amount of time to explore their backstory they just weren't very memorable, nor was the villain who was rather 1 dimension in his intentions :P But Gilgamesh was a riot, who stole the show every time he made an appearance. Overall it's a very mid-tier FF game for me, not one that I think of fondly, but certainly not in the lines of Bad like Type-0 or XV.

Playing:
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PS4)

Plan to play:
Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4)
Wolfenstein II (PS4)
Ni No Kuni (PS3)
Vampyr (PS4)
Devil May Cry 1 (PS4)
Lost Planet (Xbox 360)

Beaten List:
11. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PS4), 10. Final Fantasy V (GBA), 9. Firewatch (PS4), 8. Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4), 7. The Simpsons Game (PS3), 6. Devil May Cry 3 HD (PS4), 5. Kingdom Hearts III (PS4), 4. Resident Evil 2 REMAKE (PS4), 3. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (PS4) 2. Resident Evil REMAKE (PS4) 1. Kingdom Hearts RE:Coded (PS4)
« Last Edit: May 08, 2019, 11:54:38 am by vivigamer »

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #106 on: May 10, 2019, 07:16:29 pm »
Part 3 of my reviews


23. Sega Marine Fishing (Dreamcast): Fishing games are typically not my thing, nor have they ever been, however I remember reading an article in Gamepro Magazine back in the early 2000s at the very end of the Dreamcast's life about games you must play on the console. Sega Marine Fishing was one of those recommended games. Wanting to get all the milage out of my Dreamcast I could I decided to purchase the game and remember being pleasantly surprised by how fun and enjoyable it was. I haven't played Sega Marine Fishing since the early 2000s and my hope was that I'd still have the same high opinion of it now. While I still do find it highly enjoyable, it's just not as fun as I remember it being. Sega Marine Fishing has an incredible soundtrack; nearly every single track in the game is memorable and really makes you wish you were on an exotic fishing trip somewhere warm and tropical. Unfortunately that's the best thing about the game. The visuals in the game are nothing impressive, even for a game from that time, and the limited amount of stages and fish really make this game feel repetitive. However those limited stages and fish do look good despite some visual issues. Gameplay is alright; the fishing line tension meter which gauges how tense or loose the line is is fairly easy to manipulate, even though larger fish are supposed to add increased difficulty. I never had too much trouble bringing in any fish regardless of size. Still, it is exhilarating for a while to bring in a big fish, but unfortunately this novelty wears thin after a few hours. Adding to this game's replayability is the inclusion of Original Mode where you can unlock aquarium items, additional fishermen, additional lures, song remixes, and various other things. There are a lot of these items, however getting them all either means you're willing to replay the same 5 stages over and over again, catching the same 15 or so fish in the game, or you genuinely really like this game. Sega Marine Fishing is definitely a good game, I'm just not sure I agree with 2001 Gamepro's recommendation of this game being a "must play" on the Dreamcast. (5/10/19) [34/50]


24. Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (Arcade): When I was a kid one of my favorite places to go was our local Dave and Busters, and one of the arcade machines I always looked forward to playing the most of Star Wars Trilogy Arcade. Beyond the fact that I've loved Star Wars since Kindergarten, during the late 90s this game was the most authentic Star Wars experience around outside watching the movies. My love for this game was only enhanced by the Special Editions of the original trilogy coming out around this time as well. But regarding the game it is a superb on-rail shooter where you play through the most icon parts of the original three films, including some of the non-space battles such as getting off of Hoth and the forrest battle on Endor. The shooting controls which are mostly the same for both the ship and on foot sections of the game control wonderfully given you are playing a well maintained machine, but more on that in a minute. The part where the controls are somewhat let down are the lightsaber duels, of which there are two. One is against Boba Fett and one against Vader, both requiring you to place the joystick in the correct direction in a short period of time. This works alright when the directions are up, down, left, and right, however the diagonal inputs were always hit or miss, making these duels kind of janky. But overall this is a small gameplay blemish on what is otherwise a solid on-rail arcade game. The sound design is incredible bar some questionable voice acting, and the graphics are of very high quality for this period of time, arcade or otherwise. Despite all this, your mileage will vary depending on the state of the arcade machine you're playing on. The machine I played on tonight had a fairly loose joystick, making it difficult to aim, resulting in some cheap deaths and probably an extra two or three quarters required to beat this game. Not as impairing, but still annoying is that this game is prone to having damaged CRTs with burned Star Wars Trilogy Arcade logos forever etched into the screen. This distorts all the colors and some of the details for the remainder of the game, which on the machine I was playing on didn't distract too much, but it was still very unfortunate. Obviously the state of specific machines is not the fault of the game itself, but unless you've played this game on a very well maintained machine it can negatively impact your experience with this game, which is otherwise a classic from the late 90s. (5/16/19) [39/50]

25. Undertale (Switch): Ever since I first heard of this game I've heard nothing but how it's one of the best indie RPGs ever made, and is frequently praised on Tumblr and Reddit for being this work of genius. I'm always willing to give a game the benefit of the doubt, however from experience very few games live up to the monumental praise that sometimes surrounds them. Sadly, Undertale is no different. For the record, Undertale is not a bad game, it's just...okay. Perhaps my favorite thing about the game was the battle system which combined traditional turn based combat with SHMUP gameplay. In execution, however, this form of gameplay did not always work out, either because your movement speed or the game's tendency to throw way too much at you in order to reasonably dodge everything coming at you. This was especially true towards the end of the game. One other downside to the combat was the lack of emphasis on weapons and armor. The game encourages you to spare your enemies rather than defeat them, which is a net concept, but one I thought was slightly annoying. Outside of combat there are various puzzles you need to complete to progress, however all of them were very easy, offering little more than an unnecessary obstacle rather than a stimulating challenge. Undertale's story is fairly unique, as is the setting, characters, writing, and overall plot which throws you through a loop several times throughout the game to keep things interesting. Also, this is a very short game; I beat it in under 10-hours, which is more of a good thing as far as I'm concerned since most modern RPGs can be very longwinded and outstay their welcome by 20 or 30 hours sometimes. The music in this game was very nice too, as was the majority of the sound direction including the comical noises enemies made then their dialogue appeared on screen. Perhaps the thing I didn't like the most about Undertale were its visuals; the game was visually all over the place in terms of art direction and graphics, however it appears it was going for an old 1980s PC RPG look, which is a look a lot of modern retro-styled games don't go for. In addition to the visuals, the game came across as very pretentious sometimes, as was its copious use of quirkiness for the sake of being quirky. Overall, Undertale was far from being a bad game, in fact I'd say it was closer to being a pretty good game rather that a bad one, but for me it fell very firmly in that middle ground where it was something I mostly enjoyed while playing it, but likely will never play it again, nor will I remember much about it in several months. At least I can say I've played Undertale now lol. (5/27/19) [32/50]

26. Samurai Aces (Switch): When I bought the Psikyo Shooting Collections I knew full well that I wasn't the biggest fan of Psikyo developed shooters. Many of their shooters use a generic template that they simply reskinned for many of their top down shooters, and each one felt very similar to the previous one. And it all started with this game, Samurai Aces. The game is a decent looking shooter from a graphical and art style perspective; I really liked the hand drawn sprites and the industrialized mecha depiction of feudal Japan. However, my praise essentially ends there. The soundtrack, while not horrible, is very generic, and doesn't do anything to enhance your experience while playing. The gameplay is definitely below average, with very floating, delayed controls, and a bomb mechanic that still leaves you vulnerable about a second after deploying it, resulting it some cheap, frustrating deaths. On top of that, this is a very short game, even for a shooter; it took me under 20-minutes to beat the 7 stages in the game despite having to retry several times as a result of running out of continues. For a shooter, and especially for a video game in general, Samurai Aces is not that great. I've certainly played worse SHMUPs, but that's still not saying much. (6/1/19) [22/50]

27. Strikers 1945 (Switch): Often when playing shooters for the first time I'll automatically make comparisons to other shooters I've played that remind me of the game I'm playing in terms of style, mechanics, and just overall enjoyability. While playing the aforementioned Samurai Aces, my experience of it was so dull I thought I'd see how it compared to the second worst shooter I've ever played which also happens to be on the same Psikyo Shooting Collection volume as that game, Strikers 1945. I played Strikers 1945 on the PS1 several years ago during a SHMUP renaissance I went through about 3-years ago. I absolutely hated it in almost every possible way, however wanting to see how much better (or worse) Samurai Aces was, I decided to replay through it again. Occasionally I'll replay a game and think to myself, "what the hell was I thinking?" in terms of my initial impression of the game. Sometimes this means I think way less of a game when revisiting it, but often it means I actually have a way better time with it the second time around. I've attributed this to maybe my mood at the time I originally played it or some other factor that probably has less to do with the game and more to do with me. But anyhow, I certainly don't think Strikers 1945 is a masterpiece now, however I no longer believe it to be the abysmal piece of crap I've considered it to be for the last 3-years. Strikers 1945 is an okay shooter; the gameplay is certainly an improvement over Samurai Aces, especially in the first 5 stages or so where your ships movement is well balanced with the flow of enemy projectiles coming in your direction. The graphics are pretty cool, with large bosses that sometimes have multiple forms. The sound is still very meh, but I certainly have a better impression of it than I did the last time I played it. Where this game loses major points, and was probably a huge influence on my very low opinion of Strikers 1945 are the last few stages that take place in space; they are wildly imbalanced and essentially come down to you spamming all you bombs on the bosses because there is little chance you'll be able to beat them otherwise given how insanely fast and frequent the bullets are. It was this part of the game that really decreased my enthusiasm while playing since up until this point I was thinking my previous review was grossly inaccurate with how much fun I was having this time around with the game. Replaying Strikers 1945 taught me two things; one is that Samurai Aces is definitely an inferior game, and also that Strikers 1945 is not a terrible game, which is in my opinion the most valuable thing I picked up after playing both. (6/1/19) [24/50]

28. Forza Motorsport 4 (360): I am not ashamed to say that I am a Gran Turismo guy and have been since the second installment on the PS1. When Forza game along and claimed to be better than Gran Turismo I was highly skeptical, and it wasn't until Forza 2 that I put this claim to the test and found Microsoft's racing series to be severely wanting despite having many cars that the GT games didn't. While it has been a long time since playing Forza 2 and I'm fuzzy on what I didn't like about it, one thing I do remember is that I quit after about 10-hours with it out of boredom. Fast forward and I recently got the car bug again after a fairly long haitus, and my research led me to Forza 4 as the best in the series and one of the best racing sims ever created, supposedly. I have to say my impressions of Forza 4 are overall about the same as they were for Forza 2; initially I was enthralled by the great graphics, respectable roster of cars, and the great sounds the cars made, but as the luster of these things began to dull I was left with gameplay that felt a lot more arcade-like than it should have and a progression system that just felt lifeless, dull, and way too easy. I love how in Gran Turismo 4 you have to be careful about how you spend you money while progressing, and that every race feels challenging. In contrast Forza 4 just feels mundane and perfunctory as you progress. I played Forza 4 for about 10-hours before giving up on it, just like the 2nd one. Perhaps someday I'll give one of the XBONE titles a go, but for now i'll stick to Gran Turismo. (6/8/19) [35/50]

29. Banjo-Kazooie (N64): Banjo-Kazooie takes the solid groundwork that Super Mario 64 laid out by revolutionizing the 3D platformer genre and improves upon it in almost every way. The controls are just as solid, and you are given way more to collect and do throughout the game, as well as having more secrets to uncover makes exploring the game more of a treat. In terms of graphics, presentation, and art style I have to really give it to Banjo for one uping Super Mario 64 with its incredibly varied levels with their own themes, characters, enemies, and objectives; no two areas look alike and each level is memorable and fun in its own way. The only part of Banjo Kazooie I don't like as much as Super Mario 64 is its OST, which is a very hard act to follow given how timeless Super Mario 64's soundtrack is. Despite this, Banjo Kazooie makes up for not having as good of a soundtrack by giving characters hilarious, non sensical voices when they talk which add to the game's copious charm and charisma. With all of that you'd think I liked Banjo Kazooie more than Super Mario 64, and honestly they are incredibly close in my book, but Super Mario 64 just barely edges it out for me. I have nostalgia for both games as I owned and played both growing up, however super Mario 64 holds an incredibly special place in my heart as the game that transformed my interest in gaming from something I just did to something that defined me. And it is because of this that Super Mario 64 beats out Banjo Kazooie by only a hair. Still, Banjo Kazooie is an absolute classic and not just one of the finest 3D platformers ever made, but also one of the best games ever made, most certainly from its era. (6/21/19) [43/50]

30. Cruisn' USA (N64): More than any other arcade racing game I spent the most time as a kid with Cruisn' USA and its sequel Cruisn' World. A local Pizza Hut had a cab and I remember dropping a ton of change into it every time I'd go there with my mom. So when I found out one of my favorite arcade game was coming to home console I naturally was super excited. Shortly after getting my N64 I got Cruisn' USA and despite its shortcomings compared to the arcade version I absolutely loved playing it, and spent countless hours during the summer of 1997 playing this game with my friend Evan. Since then I haven't played the N64 version in quite some time, and even more so with the arcade version which I surprisingly don't see very often anymore. But given my memories of playing Cruisn' USA during the summer when I was 10, I thought it would be fun to play it again for old times sake. I do not say this about retro games often, but Cruisn' USA has not aged that well, in fact it's aged pretty bad. For starters the objects in the background and foreground in the stages look like cardboard cutouts, and everything else looks somewhat bland and pixelated as well. In terms of gameplay you mostly just dodge cars and the occasional obstacle in the road, but little else. At the time this game came out it wasn't that impressive either, especially since games like Outrun had been doing this well before Cruisn', just in 2D. The music is the same four or five tracks that are okay for the most part, but there is little various in the music Speaking of lack of variety, half the tracks in this stage take place in California, while some of the others are quite puzzling considering they had so many cool places in the US to create stages; why anyone would get excited about racing across Iowa or Indiana is beyond me. Luckily the gameplay is pretty good, with the controls being mostly accurate and tight, allowing you to easily dodge traffic and other hazards. Unfortunately going back and replaying Cruisn' USA was a little sobering as it really showed this games age and how it has essentially been made obsolete by far greater arcade style racers, some that even came out in the 90s. Still, I have a significant amount of nostalgia for this game, both in the arcades and on the N64, and that nostalgia certainly allows me to appreciate this game way more than someone who played this game long after this game came out originally. (6/22/19) [27/50]
« Last Edit: June 24, 2019, 10:55:00 am by bikingjahuty »

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #107 on: May 11, 2019, 12:23:57 am »
Finished a few more that I haven't added to the list yet.

21. Undertale (Switch) 4/29 - Beat
      Everyone seems to love this game, I sorta get it, but I don't think its as great as everyone else seems to

22. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4) 4/30 - Beat
      Another masterpiece if you ask me. My favorite of the Uncharted series hands down

23. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) 5/6 - Beat
      If you have a vita and you like Uncharted there's absolutely no reason not to play this game.

24. Mortal Kombat 11 (PS4) 5/8 - Beat
      Finished up the story mode and learned that I and fucking terrible at fighting games, although I did have a lot of fun with it. I'll continue to play this one with the wife mostly.


Currently Playing Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age on the Switch. I'll save my comments on this till I beat it but holy shit am I having fun with it. Kinda kicking myself in the ass for not giving it more of a chance when it originally came out on the PS2

mizzach86

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #108 on: May 11, 2019, 12:56:06 pm »
3. Mega Man 4 (1991) [PS4]
Completion Requirements:
•   Acquired Wire and Balloon upgrades
•   Defeated final boss

I've been gradually playing through the Mega Man Legacy Collection over the past couple years and completed this one today. I think Mega Man 3 is my favorite, but this game is great also. I think the robot masters are harder to defeat even with the weapon that plays on their weakness compared to the first three games.

mizzach86

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #109 on: May 12, 2019, 12:50:59 pm »
4. Batman: Arkham City (2011) [PS3]
Completion Requirements:
•   Finished the game 100%
•   Finished Catwoman DLC 100%
•   Finished Riddler’s Revenge DLC Maps 100%
•   Finished Harley Quinn’s Revenge 100%
•   Completed the above on normal and hard
•   Obtained Platinum Trophy

I beat the main story of this game last year, but I completed it fully as of today so I figured I put enough time into it to add it to this year's list. My thoughts remain the same, this is such an awesome game in every respect, especially for fans of Batman like myself. I look forward to playing Arkham Knight in the future and even revisiting Asylum and City through the Return to Arkham series.

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #110 on: May 12, 2019, 08:45:29 pm »
I beat Baldur's Gate last weekend, and I beat Astro Bot: Rescue Mission yesterday.

BG is still a great isometric RPG.  It's a bit rough and tumble and dense because of the systems it was built on, but once you get used to those it is a blast.

Astro Bot is freaking adorable.  It's a pretty solid platformer that has solid use of the VR mechanic.  However, it lacks any semblance of cohesiveness.  The worlds are all just through at you randomly with no sense of story or theme.  While it is mechanically solid it is also unfortunately easy.  I didn't 100% it, but if I wanted to I could have that done pretty quickly.


Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #111 on: May 15, 2019, 12:08:12 am »
17 - Days Gone (PS4 2019) - BEAT - I was never very excited for this game, even as someone that enjoys open world games and zombies, but in the end, I think it's a good game.  Not one I'd super recommend right now, mostly because this game is kind of a mess.  Performance issues, especially in the later game areas, I had a couple crashes, with a third one being so bad, it like shutdown my PS4 and corrupted my save.  Luckily the auto/quick save was still good as otherwise I would've quit the game had I lost like...10 to 15 hours of time spent since my other save. 

Bugs and performance problems aside, it's a solid enough game.  Nothing amazing, but I think the story, characters, and voice acting did a lot to keep me invested.  I was actually surprised to find out that I knew who played the lead (Voice actor and previously known for the lead in the tv show Being Human) and he does a great job as Deacon.  He's not some rehashed take we've seen before and I think it makes him fairly memorable.

Again, I can't really recommend wholeheartedly due to the problems it has, but if they get to some serious patching, or you can get it real cheap, I'd say it's worth the time.  Honestly, I enjoyed it more than my time spent in Red Dead Redemption 2 lol

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #112 on: May 17, 2019, 06:59:53 am »
the story, characters, and voice acting did a lot to keep me invested.  I was actually surprised to find out that I knew who played the lead (Voice actor and previously known for the lead in the tv show Being Human) and he does a great job as Deacon.  He's not some rehashed take we've seen before and I think it makes him fairly memorable.

Yeah, Witwer is pretty great and underrated.  He's Starkiller in the Force Unleashed games and is the new voice of Darth Maul from the Star Wars cartoons and Rogue One and does other genre stuff on the reg.


Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #113 on: May 18, 2019, 01:55:01 am »
18 - Godzilla (PS4 2014) - BEAT - With my Godzilla hype at peak levels, I of course had to dive back into the only playable modern Godzilla game, which is the 2014 release.  I needed to unlock Burning Godzilla still (I did), I wanted to max out the main Godzilla (I did), and I felt like playing through a few of the kaiju I haven't played yet.  This is only a few hours of play, its not a game that has any real length to it, it's mostly small modes that you can beat in under an hour, where the purpose is to regularly replay them to upgrade your kaiju. 

This still isn't a great game, it's just a great fanservice experience for Godzilla fans and only Godzilla fans.  I'm kinda hoping that within the next year we see a new version of this game with more depth to the missions, and a lot more kaiju.  They can replace 2014 Godzilla with the 2019 Godzilla (There is a slight difference lol), we can get Godzilla Earth, Shin Godzilla, and there are others that could be added to.  Those that aren't Godzilla would be like King Ceasar, Baragon, Megalon, Megaguirus, Titanosaurus, MUTO (The 2014 creatures), Orga, Monster X (Keizer Ghidorah), and I think there are still more.  I'm sure there's honestly tons of stuff they could add to the game in general to add more variety and depth, which is what this game sorely needs.  Please Bandai/Toho! PLEASE! I need a new Godzilla game that isn't a trashy F2P mobile experience that I will play, but will hate every moment of!

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #114 on: May 18, 2019, 10:27:12 am »
18 - Godzilla (PS4 2014) - BEAT - With my Godzilla hype at peak levels, I of course had to dive back into the only playable modern Godzilla game, which is the 2014 release.  I needed to unlock Burning Godzilla still (I did), I wanted to max out the main Godzilla (I did), and I felt like playing through a few of the kaiju I haven't played yet.  This is only a few hours of play, its not a game that has any real length to it, it's mostly small modes that you can beat in under an hour, where the purpose is to regularly replay them to upgrade your kaiju. 

This still isn't a great game, it's just a great fanservice experience for Godzilla fans and only Godzilla fans.  I'm kinda hoping that within the next year we see a new version of this game with more depth to the missions, and a lot more kaiju.  They can replace 2014 Godzilla with the 2019 Godzilla (There is a slight difference lol), we can get Godzilla Earth, Shin Godzilla, and there are others that could be added to.  Those that aren't Godzilla would be like King Ceasar, Baragon, Megalon, Megaguirus, Titanosaurus, MUTO (The 2014 creatures), Orga, Monster X (Keizer Ghidorah), and I think there are still more.  I'm sure there's honestly tons of stuff they could add to the game in general to add more variety and depth, which is what this game sorely needs.  Please Bandai/Toho! PLEASE! I need a new Godzilla game that isn't a trashy F2P mobile experience that I will play, but will hate every moment of!


This is one of those games I lucked out on getting. Target was clearancing out a bunch of PS4 games several years ago and this one was in the pile for like $15 or something. I had been interested in it since it was announced and picked it up. Since then it's been going up in price a lot. My copy is still sealed and given the current prices for the game it's hard for me to want to open it now, especially when I've heard it's not a very good game.

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #115 on: May 18, 2019, 03:03:35 pm »
This is one of those games I lucked out on getting. Target was clearancing out a bunch of PS4 games several years ago and this one was in the pile for like $15 or something. I had been interested in it since it was announced and picked it up. Since then it's been going up in price a lot. My copy is still sealed and given the current prices for the game it's hard for me to want to open it now, especially when I've heard it's not a very good game.

Oh geez, I didn't know it was going up in price like it was, seeing it for like 50 bucks on average used.  Pretty sure I got it pretty dang cheap too a long while back.  I definitely wouldn't recommend opening it just to play, even as a die hard fan in this case.  Like it's probably the best in terms of offering a Godzilla experience as most of the Godzilla games are a lot more cartoonish, but it's definitely not offering a lot as a game aside being able to play as a bunch of classic Godzilla characters.

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #116 on: May 20, 2019, 08:30:10 pm »
19 - Castlevania (NES/Switch 2019) - BEAT - Finally diving into this series as I never really played it in the past.  Here and there I've dabbled with the first two, but never really playing them, so with the new collection, that changes.  Starting things off with the first one and overall it's not bad.  I don't really like how Castlevania feels, the very stiff movement, which gets annoying in certain areas, but the game is actually quite lenient in that it has no continues, so at the worst, if you run out of lives, you just restart the level.  I used save states near bosses to alleviate some of the repetitiveness, which made the bosses more tolerable as I found Grim Reaper and Frankenstein/Igor kinda of obnoxious with the stiff movement to fight.  I eventually beat Grim Reaper with no hits (My save only had one hit left and I wasn't getting any better runs up lol) and mostly just brute forced Frankenstein/Igor.

In the end, it's abit of a better game than I expected, but I know things are taking a turn with with Castlevania 2.

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #117 on: May 20, 2019, 09:31:47 pm »
I love the Castlevania series and the Collection makes me super happy that I can finally play 3 (and the Japanese version when the patch comes).

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is pretty easily the worst of the new trilogy.  It’s not a bad game, just not as good as the first two, which are both pretty phenomenal.

Double Dragon Neon is a terrific update to a classic that is also wickedly funny.  A great way to kill an afternoon.


Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #118 on: May 21, 2019, 07:31:56 pm »
20 - Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NES/Switch 2019) - BEAT - I know this game has quite the reputation within gaming culture, one of the big "bads" of the classic era, but honestly? It's not the worst.  Like it's not good, it's just really boring.  Exploration sucks, figuring out stuff sucks, it's just not fun.  I do like the basic RPG aspects they added, it's actually a better take than what Zelda 2 did, because at least the core gameplay is still in tact, it's just a lame setup.  Dumb game, never touching it again, onto Castlevania 3.

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2019
« Reply #119 on: May 22, 2019, 04:16:37 am »
Just Beat:
12. Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4):
Replayingthis was just a treat, it's just a very well made game from start to finish! I love the bold direction this title took the series in which is just so rich in it's vision for telling it's alternative history story. What also surprised me is just how much I enjoyed the story for it being a FPS - It had many NPC characters that were compelling to follow during the story. One interesting nod was to the previous game on P360/PS3 (Wolfenstein 2009), Which a character recalls events to it... making it canon to this reboot... which I found very bizzare considering the dev team even stated their dislike for it... - Thought it is something I may consider playing now, as I really liked the adaptation of the character in The New Order.


As for the gameplay, it's certainly my type of shooter! As I mentioned with The Old Blood, I don't tend to use the aim function, but focus on moving my characters position and find myself getting precise accuracy without it better - While aiming the directional input of the Right Analogue just feels more constricting, so I prefer to aim without it. I had a lot of fun with this game and I also enjoyed the intermission periods within the resistance camp. For a FPS, the game really allows you time with the supporting cast, which is really appreciated! I had fun focusing on the Perks - Getting Kills in certain ways to unlock abilities and found the game very engaging. I'm not quite sure where they are going with the Alternative Timeline feature, as the NPC you choose to support doesn't seem to make much a difference in the overall story at all.

Great game overall though! As I said I don't usually get on with FPS titles, but this is easily among the best I've played & I hope the sequel continues that level of quality - Which I can now begin with buying the Season Pass on sale.


Playing:
Wolfenstein II (PS4)

Plan to play:
Wolfenstein (PS3)
Ni No Kuni (PS3)
Vampyr (PS4)
Devil May Cry 1 (PS4)
Lost Planet (Xbox 360)
Final Fantasy VII (PC if I can get a solid build)

Beaten List:
12. Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4), 11. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PS4), 10. Final Fantasy V (GBA), 9. Firewatch (PS4), 8. Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4), 7. The Simpsons Game (PS3), 6. Devil May Cry 3 HD (PS4), 5. Kingdom Hearts III (PS4), 4. Resident Evil 2 REMAKE (PS4), 3. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (PS4) 2. Resident Evil REMAKE (PS4) 1. Kingdom Hearts RE:Coded (PS4)
« Last Edit: May 22, 2019, 04:34:16 am by vivigamer »