Off the list it goes, for now anyway. Liked the look of it but it launched at The Wrong Price.

@Wariospeedwagon was it you that played Swords of Ditto in one of these threads?  Can't find it but someone reviewed it.

85. Florence - Switch (35mins)

Short, but priced accordingly (and currently half price at £2.50).  I presume this was a mobile game at some point too.  It's a lovely little thing - an interactive snapshot of a brief but important period in the eponymous character's life.  It's best not to ruin anything when describing such a succinct experience, but there are some deft touches and enchanting sections.  I was happy to let Tilly play after I'd finished it.  Despite the fact that the main character is 25 when the game starts and it deals with the comparative mundanities of a young adult's life I thought it might be a nice experience for a 6yr old.  She loved it and I enjoyed watching her play such a nice game even more than I enjoyed playing such a nice game myself.  Next on the agenda is to watch her watching my wife play such a nice game.  Nice.  [8]

40: International Cricket Captain 2006 (PC) - 6/10

My yearly thrashing of this is over.  I'm sick to death of it, for a while at least.

Only difference to my usual way of playing, I picked up my previous save.  Think I'm up to like 2045 or something.  It is a dystopian cricket future where there is only one keeper with a half decent batting average in the world.  Leicestershire have won like 30 County Championships.  One of my bowlers took so many first class wickets that his stats buggered up and reset to zero.  He is 40 and still kicking on.  

Most recently the random name generator threw up a South African batting prodigy called Gary Strydom.  I recruited him because there was an South African bodybuilder with the same name.  He is mostly well known nowadays for Vince McMahon from the WWF losing his s**t over him in this video clip.  Figured this was a good time to retire for another year.



Talk about stepping out for a night on the town.

86. Kentucky Route Zero - Switch (7-8hrs)

Narrative adventure that masquerades as a point and click to the untrained eye.  There's no [USE] [wax lips] on [sleeping dwarf] here though, as there's no inventory to speak of.  Gradual progression is the order of the day, so if you're looking for something challenging in a traditional sense you may well bounce off.  It flows along like some sort of Lynchian stage adaptation of a Flannery O'Connor inspired John Prine shroom dream, which means it's just about the most beautiful thing I've ever held a joypad to.  There were sections where even the feels had goosebumps, to the point where most other companies making walking sims and suchlike need to give their heads a damn good wobble.  I don't even necessarily mean feels in terms of where the story goes either; the whole thing just has this delicate overarching melancholy that resonated with my tastes completely.  Even when I wasn't reading about naked banjo players.   

Visual novel isn't a bad way to describe it as you'll read your way through five distinct acts, selecting dialogue choices that affect the journey rather than the destination, while taking in the glorious sights and sounds.  I can't do it justice really, so I won't bother hammering out paragraphs to explain something that should be experienced rather than described.  

I absolutely loved it and would place it alongside Melee to Monkey Island as the best trip in videogame history.  Wild. [9] 

I like the look (and sound) of that. Hopefully it comes to consoles sooner or later.

33.Ghost of Tsushima - 30 Hours? - 8/10 PS4 Pro

Strange as I’m glad that’s over, but at the same time I truly will miss it. Overstayed its welcome but there’s no denying it’s a beautiful game at times with an absolutely fantastic combat system combined with a simple but enjoyable story. At times it’s one of the beauties of the gen, with some incredible use of HDR, absolutely stunning scenes in some places that really do make you stop to appreciate them. The combat is excellent too, sticking to a sword throughout sounds limiting but you can switch between stances on the fly best suited to certain foe. It certainly isn’t rocket science but it keeps you switching it up and developing different tactics as the game progresses and didn’t get old for me once, loved feeling like a Samurai bad ass taking down groups of enemies, striking fear into their comrades as I mowed them down and then also stuck the instant kill black and white super bad ass mode on for a few kills if I’d struck down 6 without being touched.

What a fucking awesome game that really let me be a movie Samurai throughout.

Only bad points would be it lasting a little too long, having some very flat scenes that looked much worse because it was usually so stunning, and some characters with some boring missions to fill out their individual stories. Still absolutely loved it and I’m gonna miss being the ghost and tearing through some mongol dogs trying to fuck to my island.

42. Captain Commando (Arcade) - 45mins  

Didn't enjoy this anywhere near as much as Moot. By 1991 there had already been a few superior scrolling beat em ups with deeper moves sets imo.

I just found it a bit dull and uninspired. There was times playing where I was punching air after the enemies had died because I was in a day dream just button mashing.

Is there such a thing as a bad co-op scrolling beat em up though? This is probably one of the worst I've played so I'm gonna say no... there isn't.

It's brainless fun, and there's far worse ways to kill an hour.

5/10  

My list

43. Knights of the Round (Arcade) - 45mins  

Another brainless scrolling beat em up from 1991. Again, there were far better examples of the genre by 1991.

The move set is once again is far to simple, but at least each of the three characters has a unique move. There's also a blocking/parry mechanic, but I struggled to get to grips with it tbh.

Then there's a levelling up system that increases your power and armour, but it's no River City Ransom.

Ultimately another forgettable game like Captain Commando, but mindless fun none the less.

5/10  

My list

I do enjoy reading this thread. Great stuff everyone. Carry on.

Heh. Tbh, I just tether my unlimited 4G phone to the consoles now whenever I have to download stuff. It's an inelegant solution, but it does the job.
Don't seem to do a lot of gaming these days. I've played The Division 2 and Halo 5 this year. Struggling to think of anything else tho.

87. Knights of the Round - Switch (45 mins)

Funny how these scrolling beat 'em ups fare today.  I thought this was absolute bobbins in comparison to Captain Commando.  It's been a long time since I played Double Dragon but I'm convinced that had a wider range of moves than this.  All this seemed to offer was a basic stab-stab-stab attack combo, an ineffective jumping slash and a special that didn't seem worth bothering with as it depleted more of your own energy bar than your opponent's.  If Retro hadn't mentioned the block/parry I wouldn't have known it was there, so perhaps I played the entire game hammering two buttons when three were on offer.  Certainly with my double button approach it never felt like the moveset was wide enough to deal with the bosses in particular, which puts it at a sub-TMNT standard in terms of flagrant coin guzzling - it's deal a hit and get one back stuff in places.  The characters are varied at a glance, but they all felt equally underpowered in battle.  Big chopper Percival is slow but can run (there's no specific running attack though, he just stops and performs a standard attack), I guess rapier Lancelot :eyes: moves a little quicker in general and the fifth character (Arthur, presumably carrying a moist Excalibur) probably deals damage somewhere in the middle.  Meh.  

Always liked the look of this but wasn't feeling it at all.  Golden Axe doesn't get nearly as much credit as it deserves in the 80s-into-90s scrolling beat 'em up hack 'n slash field.  Yes, you gradually level up throughout the game here, but only to stay a step or two behind irritating enemies that love hogging the space just beyond outer edges of the screen. [3]

My favourite bit was these two chaps in the background, so I'm glad someone's made a gif of them:

When we're back on the proper co-op sessions you should try Mother Russia Bleeds or Wulverblade - neither is too far behind SOR4.  Loving the bitesize Capcom arcade romps though, even if some are a bit shit.

Edit: Mother Russia might be up to four players iirc.

34 games, eh? Man, I’m still on 12!