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Post by Woody Alien on Dec 12, 2022 10:36:22 GMT -5
Mega Hasan (PC, first time, about 2h 15)
Yet another free Steam game. This one is a port from a mobile game, so I'm not going to give it a score. Despite the game's name and graphics, it doesn't have anything to do with Mega Man and it's a challenge speedrun platformer more inspired by the Mario games, full of spikes, traps, fireballs, moving and crumbling platforms, you know the drill. Nothing original but with a few interesting levels and some welcome variety in the bosses we have to defeat. It's quite short but some levels stumped me for a while. Nice chiptune BGM too. Completing levels unlocks more characters and getting a good time in all the stages of a level unlocks even more characters, but I haven't noticed any differences besides what they look like.
The developer is more interesting than the game: a Muslim programmer who's also a wrestler or something like that and who makes little mobile games in his spare time, and decided to make a couple of them available for free on Steam. Good for him I guess!
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Post by Woody Alien on Dec 13, 2022 11:05:33 GMT -5
Sorry for the double post but I have to add yet another one since I did play several things over the weekend:
Fez (PC Windows, first time, 7h according to Steam counter but it's probably closer to 6h according to in-game timer)
This game is almost a decade old by now, I had it in my Steam library for quite some time and I don't ever remember buying it (probably it was in some bundle) yet I never thought about playing it until now for some reason or another. I don't really have to introduce it, it's still charming but all the debacle surrounding it and its creator ensured, for good or bad, that there probably won't be another game like it. I did complete it legitimately, in a long time because I liked to explore randomly and only looking for some of the more obscure puzzles, but I avoided the second layer of harder puzzles because, honestly, nobody is interested in this game anymore and I can only go and look up all the solutions since there's no point in discussing it, and even completing this gauntlet of brain-breaking puzzles doesn't lead to some great reward or anything, so what do I care? Also, Phil Fish can still go screw himself. I'd like to see another similar game with space-bending puzzles and a relaxing atmosphere though. 8.5/10
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Post by dsparil on Dec 13, 2022 13:12:37 GMT -5
Order of the Griffon (TurboGrafx-16, First Time)
Actually thought ahead to play this in parallel with other TG16 games since this is a D&D RPG. It's okay, but bugs and cut down design hold it back.
I finished in 19:12:25.
Rating: 6
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Post by personman on Dec 13, 2022 13:45:59 GMT -5
Trip World (GB, emulated on 3DS; first time; 1 hour) I remember reading about this one on the site a good while ago. When I was going crazy gathering roms I noticed it and figured I'd grab it for the heck of it. Mostly two things stand out to me on this one and that is the sprite art and the tone. For the former its excellent with a bunch of detailed animations for critters that only show up once and really richly detailed backgrounds, things looks great. For the latter with the protagonist looking like a more rabbit like Kirby you'd expect the usual jaunty and peppy happiness with the music and all that. In actuality much of its ost has an intrepid and intense feel. The first stage music makes me think of something you'd hear in Megaman if they decided to make it more steam punk or something. It also just sounds freaking awesome too whoever did the music for this one pushed the Gameboy hardware to its limits here. And then at other moments the detailed environments and some of the slow more ominous music gives it a tone you wouldn't expect, like you might suspect it will do some sort of scare or creepy thing hiding in the background despite the cute characters like a good deal of indie games these days. Eventually it settles into the usual stuff with a level made entirely of giant cakes and such. Make me wonder if the game started out with a different premise to begin with. The game over screen despite have a really pretty little animation sounds so crushingly sad and tragic despite nothing of the sort being depicted. It's so weird. And... that's about all there is to really talk about lol. The actual game itself feels unfinished with levels that really don't have much going on in them. Hell most things you encounter won't even hurt you and will just bump you around a bit which makes many of the powerups you can get rather pointless since the timer wont let you keep them long enough to get to the bosses. Which said bosses inversely are really aggressive and your only means of attack is a little kick with zero range. Frankly I struggled with them until I figured out you can stand on their heads and it just switches them off so you have to do this really dumb process where you jump on them, jump off and get a quick hit then repeat the process. Its just dumb. Not sure if there were time constraints or they just only had ideas for presentation or something. But of course due to the really tiny print run the games prices have been astronomical even before the secondhand market got stupid and its just so not worth it lol. However if you could get a rom then its a mostly painless affair that has a lot of charm. Just be aware of the dumb quirk the bosses have. You also only have 4 chances to finish the whole thing and the last boss is a bit of the gauntlet with 3 encounters in a row. Decent little curiosity just make sure to come for appreciating its looks and sound more than anything. Rating-4Xexyz (NES, emulated on 3DS; replay; 2 hours) Grew up with this one back in the day and it was one of the game I played more often. There was just something that struck a chord with me for this one from how the hero looks like an astronaut with a goofy bird helmet, to the music and the very weird mishmash of genres. This was a favorite for me and revisiting it again I still think its holds up alright. Its kinda one of those greater than the sum of its part sort of deals where the platforming is serviceable, the shmup parts are okay and bosses not particularly exciting (though most do have cool designs) but it's all blended together so well it just kinda feel right as it's own little thing. It takes a little bit from everything even having abodes to enter and talk to NPCs like Zelda or Castlevania 2 and the bosses remind me of Darius quite a bit. Hell having a currency to gather and spend on upgrades might be influence from Monster World maybe? Never touched that series so just a random stab. You could even say the strongholds each level ends in are like the Mansions in Simon's Quest somewhat just not as bullshit lol. It's also just plain weird. I vaguely remember reading the the original japanese version's premise is based on some old folklore... something about turtles and kind of environmentalist themed. So when they localized it they just said its "scifi now!" and left it mostly untouched but just cut out some of the stuff relating to the legend or myth or what have you. So its has a very surreal sci fi fantasy feel that always stuck out to me. You have to find these 'devils' which vaguely look like a Buddhist statue or something to get into the fortress. There are giant women frozen in bathtubs you need to rescue from box bull robot things, theres fairies everywhere and then you have the merchant robots that look so damn happy. It's just goofy as hell and I love it. It does have a couple difficulty spikes here and there that do feel a bit unhinged. The boss of the fire island for instance is just ridiculous. There's also the fact that while it doesn't do anything especially poorly it doesn't do any of them really well either; True jack of all trades master of none affair. Otherwise its a pretty breezy time and I think I can still recommend it today just for how unusual it is. Though the game kept crashing for me once I beat an area's boss which wasn't a huge deal I just had to have Gamefaqs open on my phone to use the password for the next area. I tried out roms from three different sources so I think it may be a conflict with the 3DS virtual console emulator. As such you may want to try to try it with retroarch instead if you want to play this on 3DS. I think I'm the only one here who does a ton on the console but just in case though lol. Anyways this isn't a must play or anything but I say give it a shot if you've already played most of the great NES games and want something a little different. Rating-6
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Post by dsparil on Dec 13, 2022 18:00:18 GMT -5
Front Mission 1st: Remake (Switch, First Time)
To be honest, I really did not like the original OCU campaign. I thought it was pretty dull with missions that are too similar to each other and a story that’s a bit boring for the first half. What redeems this for me is the UCS campaign added in the 1st remake. Since it was original for the PSX remake, the missions and story are less space constrained and come across as more elaborate. There are fewer missions and they seemed shorter overall to me, but it’s definitely quality over quantity.
This remake is mostly good but the redone portraits are a bit mixed. Some look okay, but a lot would have been better off with an upscaling filter thrown onto the original pixel art. The 3D graphics also have less charm than the pixel art, but they look fine enough. What was nice is the addition of instant movement and instant battles. It’s nice seeing the wanzer models every once in a while, but it’d rather take the substantial speed up.
What I would have liked to have seen is a revamp of the skill system. They’re acquired randomly and increase in strength randomly. They also vary wildly in utility. I forget how far I got when I originally played this, but I never got the Duel skill which is the single best one. It allows for direct targeting of enemy parts (you inexplicably can’t without it) and it’s the best way to extract extra experience from breaking enemy arms and legs or quickly taking out enemies. Long range weapons have the similar Guide, but they’re too inaccurate the entire game.
Rating: 8
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Post by personman on Dec 15, 2022 5:46:29 GMT -5
Ace Combat 4 Shattered Skies (PS2, emulated on Steam Deck; replay; 7 hours)
I'm finally happy enough with my set up on the Steam Deck that I've finally got to actually playing something substantial on it lol. Still have more work to do like getting the PS3 stuff and Xbox games to work but for now, meh.
While my introduction to the series was with the original this was the one where I truly got into the series and discovered my love for this brand of flight... action arcadey... look I don't really know what exactly to call it just don't say its a flight sim dang it, the series has never been one lol(and I'm glad). Hell the first generation trilogy actually had the most detailed and down to earth flight physics of them all. This was also my first PS2 game so this one gets me doubly nostalgic. This is when they really solidified the formula they would be carrying forward favoring what they did with AC2 more than how they experimented with 3, though the emphasis on story still carried over from 3. They managed to strike a really good balance here, in most respects anyways.
Truth be told much as I have a lot of warm memories with this one I always considered it the weakest of the second generation trilogy gameplay wise. Big issue with it is the mission variety that gets very, very samey and straight forward at the mid point onward with simple score attack missions where they just dump you in a map and say 'heres a bench mark. Reach it then do whatever'. Its still plenty of fun and the missions even half way memorable due to presentation but when AC2 had more unique missions I can't help but squint at AC4 a little judgmentally. Has the least amount of planes too and they don't feel drastically different though that just always has been a thing with the series. They made Ace hunting harder too as they're invisible to radar until you stumble onto them and usually they're way off course. Like least in AC2 you'd see them way out in the boon docks but you know, they game told when they were there and it was still a challenge to go chase them and get back to the objective. Making them invisible just makes it more of a pain in the ass than it needs to be.
I say all that but I need to stress: the game is so much fun to play, they just nailed the flow the controls and everything. They were treating this game as kind of a reboot in development so it makes sense everything isn't perfect. But I point it all out because this game is a real big fan favorite and the reason I believe isn't really for its gameplay, it's for its presentation. For all of the faults the gameplay department commits you likely won't care that much because the art direction, audio and story will carry you through. Its honestly very similar to Ridge Racer R4 where it's lasting appeal has been mostly attributed to its soundtrack and art style. And after all these years it still holds up.
They decided to do another sad story again only instead of the corporate nihilism with the slight horror tinge the last game this one is more a somber and kinda understated tragedy. The production values are technically lower than AC3 as it tells everything through still frames while a war orphan narrates the going ons of them selves and the 'kinda sorta not really' antagonist. Being older I see a lot of subtext that went over my head back in highschool and I think they managed to handle it with some class, bar a couple head scratching writing decisions here and there. And at the same time the mood completely swings the other direction during missions which are full of the bombast and cheese you would expect from the series. You'd think the tonal whiplash would be off putting but the contrast between the blaring trumpets and military heroics with the somber guitar solos and wistful main menu themes always felt right side by side to me. Though admittedly the last mission is just hilariously over the top. This was the start of the trope where the player character gets borderline deified and by the end of it you spawn into a map at 666.66 altitude, do something that could be considered sacrificial in order to destroy a super weapon shaped like a crucifix all the while a mass requiem blares in the background. It's eye rolling but you know what? It's memorable and fun too.
To put it plainly I love this game. I still have to revisit the other games which I certainly plan to do without a doubt but whether I'll still see this as the lesser of the three I'm unsure. I think I appreciate it more than ever now since I just like the story a bunch which has enough class to just be enjoyable on a surface with enough little things to chew on and ask dumb fun questions. Like I wonder if one could argue the your player character is actually kind of the antagonist. No I'm not saying that just because of the 666 on the last level lol. Really no one is strictly the bad guy in the story and that itself is a fun thing.
There is the issue of actually playing the thing these days and unfortunately its very tough to emulate it currently. There are some fixes for the most glaring issues through using PCSX2's cheat function to do some deinterlacing wizardy. Unfortunately these only half work on Steam Deck so I had to get used to my plane having no textures but its perfectly playable at least. But on a proper PC the file in the third step of this post may solve most of the glaring issues you may find: https://www.reddit.com/r/acecombat/comments/bq5qee/pcsx2_fixes_for_ac04_aircraft_textures_and/
So yeah, love this game a bunch. Even with its short comings I can't help but recommend it to most even just for its art and music alone, perhaps not the best of the series or even the system but its damn high up there, a real PS2 classic.
Rating- 8
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Post by spanky on Dec 16, 2022 8:01:05 GMT -5
Golden Axe II (Sega Genesis via NSO, First time)
Figured I would give this a spin. The original Golden Axe is a game I quite like. Conan The Barbarian aesthetics, and that nail biting challenge that you expect from a Sega arcade game. It's not the most polished beat-em-up out there but that only adds to it's charm IMO.
The sequel is very much a similar game. No new playable characters. They have been slightly redesigned a bit, have some new magic spells and now have better Jump+Attack special moves. There's some new enemies but most are based on ones from the previous game. It's fine but don't expect any sort of Streets of Rage 1 to 2 jump in quality here. It's also quite a bit easier than the first game. I played as Gillius and his special attack has great range, hits on both sides and has invincibility frames. It's really spammable and turns much of the game into a cakewalk. I miss beating up the gnomes....
The final boss is really cool looking but pretty easy provided you have a few lives in reserve. Oh and the ending really sucks.
7/10.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 18, 2022 16:26:01 GMT -5
Marvel's Midnight Suns FTP 30 hours PS5
You had me at 'card based'. Battles play out like Baten Kaitos with environmental positioning. Midnight Suns felt more JRPG than tactics game to me. The dialogue routinely had me groaning. At one point Wolverine says "I'm the best at what I do, but you're pretty close'. And the game is filled with this crap. You play a 'Mary Sue' character inserted into the Marvel Universe that everyone grows to love and respect. It makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. My least favorite story telling mechanism ever.
You spend way to much time managing stuff outside of battles too. A lot like Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Gimmie more battles! I don't want to make friends with Wolverine! I want to play his cool cards and unlock new ones. And battles are fun. Just the balance of playing them vs management sim is off. I couldn't help thinking this would be a better game without the Marvel license.
Game is okay. I didn't like it enough to buy into the ridiculous $50 season pass, but I don't regret the $70 I paid for the base game. I would love an X-Men based sequel without the self-insert avatar character.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 18, 2022 19:12:29 GMT -5
Lollipop Chainsaw (Xbox 360; First Time; 5 hours 5 minutes)
Back when I started doing the Game Finish Challenge nearly two years ago, I had a list of ages I'd owned for ages but barely played that I wanted to finally get round to. This pretty cool action game by Grasshopper Manufacture was one of them, as I played it briefly back when I bought it in late 2017 but gave it up after beating the first boss. I recall developing a bit of an aversion to playing games where all you did was fight or kill enemies, and I dropped Lollipop Chainsaw for that reason (even though it's by far the silliest and most frivolous example of killing anything).
In hindsight, I think that break did me well cuz I wasn't keen on the game back then and I now find it considerably more charming. Though the combat is very simple with its handful of dial combos, there's something satisfying about slashing through zombies for coins and acquiring stronger combos, upgraded abilities and other things to even out the odds or give you more ways of cutting your way through them. Levels are pretty well-paced, offering plenty of different scenarios and set-pieces that are brief enough to keep things refreshing without dragging things down (though I feel Stage 3 was the one exception and suffers for that).
What struck me was how much I dug the vibe of the whole thing. It's just this very ridiculous shlocky, tongue-in-cheek action comedy where characters are fully invested in this nonsense, despite outrageous nonsense such as Juliet running round with her boyfriend's decapitated head hanging from her hip or fighting off zombie demons based on music genres. I used to find this sort of thing quite try-hard, but I enjoy what it's going for now. Kinda seems like an honest expression of being a teenager, where everything's overdramatic and insane enough to take completely seriously while still being cheeky as all hell. It's confidently pulled off thanks to decent cutscene direction and great scripting/voicework from everyone involved (especially Michael Rosenbaum who I dearly love as poor, poor Nick - the aforementioned boyfriend who has to deal with being talked down to or treated as a novelty for being just a head).
I remember hearing for a while in some circles that this was one of Grasshopper's lesser games, for buying too much into the "lol Suda51-adjacent games are craaaaaaazy" idea that started going round post-No More Heroes, and I hope that its reputation has improved since then. If you're up for an irreverent romp, definitely give this a bash.
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Post by personman on Dec 19, 2022 3:18:35 GMT -5
Cyber Sled (PS1, emulated on 3DS; replay; 2 hours) This was one of the first games my brother got with his Playstation back in the day. It stuck out to me because one, I liked anything scifi back then and it wasn't another damn basketball game (he was obsessed with those). It's a half way fun little one on one arena... shooter? You get a nifty hover tank and duel other opponents. There really isn't anything to it besides missiles you can lock on with an machine guns to do lighter damage and supposedly destroy other missiles but I never seen it reliably do that. You've got one shot to take on the whole roster and honestly on normal difficulty everyone is a joke save for the last boss which will remind you that this is a port of an arcade game lol. Like through an entire run you'll seriously be ending a match in about two seconds and then the final boss will just up and do the same thing to you if you decide to take him head on. It's a little goofy but all you need to do is use hit and run tactics and get decent at strafing and he can be a push over too. UNLESS you choose the heavy character Hans Baird whose maxed out attack and defense stats pretty much don't matter to the final match and you're so slow you can't get away from him. I used to try so many damn time to beat the game with this guy back then and never managed it since its just borderline impossible. I did this time finally but it was sheer luck. I did one run of each character, which if it wasn't for that one character being so terrible against the last boss I would have had a much shorter play time. You can seriously clear the game in about 3 minutes its so quick and easy. It is a port of an arcade game after all but even back then this is rather barebones. So barebones that the game has absolutely no use for a memory card, not saving of high scores of system settings or anything. Only thing you get is once you finish a run once upon boot up you can then unlock five more characters. Would have been nice if they could have whipped something together for single player or a surivial mode or just anything. I guess they banked on this being more of a multiplayer sort of thing. Still the thing has its charm I get a kick out of the characters. They all looks 90s as hell and have silly personalities with at least bemusing win and lose quotes. Like hell the main character is like Macho Man Randy Savage in colorful kevlar and a blonde wig. Most of the designs for the tanks themselves are really cool and many have little quirks to make them feel different which is a nice touch. I wouldn't really say anyone needs to look for this. It's pretty much forgotten these days and I understand why. Whatever this game offers chances are you can get better elsewhere but what can I say nostalgia is talking and I have a soft spot for this one. Its also a situation where the game is so fast to try out then I say give it a shot if it piques your curiosity, no harm will really be done just no need to go too far out of your way. It's a decent little game for what it is even if there isn't too much to it. Rating-4 Also how about that awful American boxart? lol I seem to remember a print run where all of Namco's early games had this really off putting theme to them. Least Europe got a pretty cool one instead. I used this version for the cia on my 3DS.
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Post by Woody Alien on Dec 19, 2022 10:40:40 GMT -5
A whole bunch of other stuff! Maybe some of them don't really qualify as "games" since they're so short, but they're interactive and have clear goals and everything so why not? I still wait dsparil's approvation though. They are all on Steam.
Maptroid: Worlds (PC Windows, first time, time is in the image)
As I said I bought the game on Steam to pay the creator of the browser title. It's pretty similar but with a slightly more involved plot, but it lacks other interactivity other than moving the cursor around, since the items used to break walls and floors by clicking no longer exist. You can unlock a bunch of cosmetic modes and there's a speedrun after you complete the main game (posted the results of that too) and there's a bunch of mini-games/puzzles to complete, a blind mode and a "zen mode" where you have to fill in an image (but not like picross and such, you still just have to move the cursor around). Still a nice pastime. 6.5/10
The Supper (PC Windows, first time, 26 minutes)
Bite-sized pixelated horror adventure point-and-click game about an elderly woman (?) cooking dishes for some bizarre customers, with a twist ending. The author makes several of these tiny adventure games, this one is free but you can buy the soundtrack and artbook as DLC. Very simple but still interesting, nice music and I like the artstyle very much. 7/10
Midnight Scenes: The Highway (PC Windows, first time, 21 minutes)
Another bite-sized horror/sci-fi adventure from the same author (Octavi Navarro), this time it is not free (but still pretty cheap) and is part of a series of little games (Midnight Scenes) apparently inspired by The Twilight Zone, they're even all in black and white! The pixel art is very good and the sound and plot are quite atmospheric even if it ends so soon, but that's the point, it's like an interactive TV show episode. Nice idea and I will probably buy the others too. 7.5/10
Rush to Adventure (PC Windows, first time, time is in the image)
Boy do I suck at this game or what? Made by a lone Nordic guy in 5 years, a simplified blend of old-school platformer, RPG and adventure. Looks kinda bad but it is addictive and fairly well thought-out. Even at Normal difficulty it is infuriating, just like old games were, easy mode is much more manageable (I didn't even try Hard and Insane). Steam counter is about 10 hrs since I started a new game before beginning this one that I finally completed and I also played easy mode for a bit. Also the ranking for each stage makes you want to improve, but I'm still bad at it... 7/10
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Post by dsparil on Dec 19, 2022 11:29:38 GMT -5
A whole bunch of other stuff! Maybe some of them don't really qualify as "games" since they're so short, but they're interactive and have clear goals and everything so why not? I still wait dsparil's approvation though. They are all on Steam. Those all seem okay. It's just no kinetic novels since they are non-interactive, and no endless games. Looping will be okay next year with these rules: — Infinitely looping games that consist of a single screen with a fixed level layout e.g the original Pac-Man or a fixed enemy formation e.g. Space Invaders do not count. — Infinitely looping games with a level progression regardless of length count. — Fixed or infinitely looping games only require a single loop if difficulty and not content is the only differentiator.
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Post by dsparil on Dec 19, 2022 18:30:11 GMT -5
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (Switch, First Time)
An improvement in some ways, but worse in others. For pluses, the characters are generally less annoying than in the first game, the story is slightly more involved and the change in setting to a series of islands gives the environment more variety. For minuses, the game is also padded out a fair amount and most importantly, the trial minigames are awful. I almost dropped this repeatedly for that reason alone. The final portion redeemed things a little bit but it was such pain getting to that point.
This game and the first were originally for the PSP, and it’s really noticeable. I refrained from saying anything for the first game to see how this one was, and they’re both a mishmash of what seems like PSP original graphics and higher resolution material made for the Vita ports. This volume also has a lot of weird performance issues and some graphical glitches that don’t exist in the first game.
Rating: 6 but a higher 6 than the first game.
Also an extra non-counting game since it turned out to be a kinetic novel.
Murder on the Marine Express (Switch, First Time)
The title is an obvious play on the Agatha Christie novel and the story is a direct homage to it. It’s a murder on a train story with high school kids so there’s a tiny Danganronpa parallel which is why I thought of this in the first place; also, it was on sale. The sci-fi sounding train is really just a different way of keeping everyone onboard and there’s no fantastical elements in the slightest. As mysteries go, this one could have used a lot more work. It’s impossible for the reader to solve and probably should have been around twice as long to more fully flesh out the story.
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Post by Null0x00 on Dec 19, 2022 22:46:28 GMT -5
Neon White (Windows, first time, 8.5hr) A pretty good FPS/puzzle-platformer hybrid where the main character White is a demon hunter working for heaven, and each stage is essentially a bite-sized challenge where you have to kill all the demons either by shooting them with various cards that act as different guns, or discarding them to activate their movement ability needed to progress. Even though it eventually turns into trial-and-error, the short length of most stages and the quick restart helps to prevent it becoming overly frustrating. The only real complaint is the D-grade anime dialog which appears to intentionally be as cringe-inducing as possible, and honestly made the cutscenes painful to sit through. If it wasn't for that, it would probably be an 8/10, but I'll settle for 7/10. Great soundtrack and art direction too.
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Post by excelsior on Dec 20, 2022 9:34:19 GMT -5
A few quick ones to finish off the year. Apologies no times here. Will try and add what I can later. Pokémon Black Version (DS via Steam Deck, First Time)This Pokémon game put a real emphasis on improving the pacing with faster battle sequences emphasised by a dynamic camera system and an overall shorter experience. It's quick to level up with the game providing you a good selection of the Pokémon types needed to each area within the vicinity so there's no need to grind or any getting stuck. For me this encourages mixing up my team and making use of a good variety of Pokémon. I like quite a lot of the designs this time around; not that foetus looking one though. You could definitely argue that this game is too easy but I enjoyed it from the perspective of it being light and breezy without any frustrations or roadblocks. Score - 7/10 Portal 2 (XBox One, First Time, 10 Hours Appx)Me and my brother did our annual games week get together in November and each selected a co-op game to play through. This was his choice. I've never played a Portal game as they largely had unappealing bare looking visuals and environments. The game definitely was one of those which really surprised me. One I didn't expect to like at all, but ended up appreciating a lot due to it's smart puzzle design that included both players in every solution. There were a few we needed help for but not many really considering. Score - 8/10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch, First Time)This was my choice. After all that hard thinking a button masher was exactly what was needed as pretty much the polar opposite experience. It took us a while to get into it. Although it apes Turtles in Time in its aesthetic it reminded me more of the arcade game more in combat, which is considerably tougher - at least in the normal mode. Not tough enough that it was really taxing mind you, and it ended up a nice playthrough. The highlights are the visual gags and the wonderful sprite work. I was a tad disappointed by the soundtrack. Score - 7/10 Ys III: Wanderer's From Ys (Turbographx via Steam Deck, First Time)It's tough to score this one. As mentioned previously I largely enjoyed it through how campy it was. The soundtrack is great and worth listening to on it's own - although some tracks I prefer on the Mega Drive version. Score - 6/10 Since these will be my last entries for the year I'll take this opportunity to say thanks once more to dsparil for all the hard work and commitment to keeping this thread going. I'm definitely going to have to scale back my thoughts next year in order to keep up to date consistently but it's been fun.
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