hylian_elf wrote:

34 games, eh? Man, I’m still on 12!

5 here. Getting closer with Pokemon Shield, and hopefully I'll find enough hours and courage for Bloodborne (first From Software game, arrived at FatherG, but I have a plan for next time).

FFXIV has been my weekend chill game, not sure if I'll continue that after I've hit the free level 60 cap. It's pretty good once it gets going.

I see B play through so many shorter games in a couple evenings / weeks, and I'm slightly jealous of that, but I always seem to get stuck into stat games.

A Short Hike is one I saw B play, and it looks absolutely lovely.

I actually might count Astro Boy, I completed the first playthrough, but decided that I should do Rebirth as well. It's pretty fun to do, and I should continue, but technically I've seen the credits.

How is Royal? I should start 3 at some point, might be the best thing to do once I've reached the free level cap in FFXIV

OMG LAST DAY IN HAWAII WHO DO I SPEND IT WITH BOTH MAKOTO AND HIFUMI CAME UP!!!

Moot_Geeza wrote:

81. Paper Mario: The Origami King - Switch  (roughly 30hrs) [/img]

Oh man was hoping you'd say the battle system clicks after a while!  Devastating.

I can't get my head around fighting in this game.  Either instantly solve it instantly, or randomly spin tiles around until time runs out.  Keep waiting to go 'I know Kung Fu', but it turns out this cartoon game for children is too cerebral for me.

Took me half an hour to beat the second boss.  First time, he killed me with his special attack.  I had to use the turtle summon to avoid it, and spent most of my turn making sure I had the summon tile lined up properly (I keep getting the normal attack, big arm attack and summon tiles confused).  But in doing so I f**ked up the arrows and Mario strutted out and fell flat on his face like an asshole.  Could only swear at the Nintendo as the Game Over played out over the course of like 30 brutal seconds.

88. Warriors of Fate (Capcom Beat 'em up Bundle, Switch) 

Another online playthrough with retroking.  There's been some debate over the merits of this one compared to Knights of the Round.  I thought this was vastly superior, retro didn't seem to think there was much in it.  The grab move just made it all feel a little less one-note for me (plus the jump attack was actually useful), but it's all much of a muchness really.  I thought it was slightly more fair too, rather than designed to earn an extra 20p per boss. Decent, but it has made me realise my retro scoring system is a nonsense as I gave Captain Commando a higher mark.  Quite long at nine stages, nice enough to look at and there's good bit where you fight each other midway through (which I only lost because of LAG). [6]

24. Super Mario Bros 3 (from All Stars on SNES Virtual Console)
I didn’t mean to complete this. I just thought it had been a while so booted it up to take a quick look. The levels in Mario 3 are often tiny, just a little idea or two then onto the next. Like a selection of nibbles, hors d’euvres and vol au vents. And the first plate went down so quickly that I had another then another and before I knew what was happening, I’d scoffed the lot.

Despite the small size of the levels, there’s tons of them, stacked and layered in a maze. And they’re brutal. An uncompromising difficulty that they’d started to wind in by the next game. Til today where you’ve got your over-generous hit boxes and benefit-of-the-doubt collision detection. Not here though. Want to use that invincibility after getting hit? To not only get away from the enemy that hit you but clear through the next one too? Fuck you pal, you get less than one second to get yourself together. It’s here to stop you dying from the enemy that’s just got you and that’s it.

Koopa shells are lethal when they’re bouncing around. Boos aren’t just there to give you something to think about, they’re gunning right for you. The castles are tiny but ruthless puzzle boxes. The physics of the jumping combined with the eye of the needle, split-second windows to get to the next platform placement through the mess or enemies and projectile dodging. Extraordinary stuff. The bosses are piss poor of course and the soundtrack is slightly phoned in if you ask me. [9]

Edit- actually on the soundtrack, it’s probable that this was the first time these old familiars were done. When playing I’d assumed they’d carried a lot over from Mario 1. I dunno.

regmcfly wrote:

Verecocha wrote:

34.Control: AWE - 4 Hours - 6/10 - Xbox One X

Well...it was more Control which is always a good thing...but was it too much or was there just so little new that it was disappointing? Expected a lot of the Alan Wake link and was left disappointed. Hardly anything beyond admittedly interesting collectibles. Could’ve been much, much more. Kinda sad to end my relationship with Control on that note...few extra bits but, my time there is done.

Heartbroken to hear this. Control is such a fucking banger and Alan Wake is one of those weird games I have penchant for from the 360 era. Sad to hear it hasn't come together.

I know. Was really looking forward to it. Potentially too much Control after Foundation? I really enjoyed Foundation but felt like this was just more for the sake of it. No new abilities, a half decent new weapon, no new environments or interesting puzzles. The collectibles were enjoyable but aside from those there was nothing to do with Alan aside from a few calls. Really dissatisfied BUT it could be as I just wanted so much more.

Best thing is for you to play it and tell me what you think.

@monkey nice SMB3 write up mate, still one of my favourites. Been tempted to revisit myself since becoming available on Switch.

retroking1981 wrote:

@monkey nice SMB3 write up mate, still one of my favourites. Been tempted to revisit myself since becoming available on Switch.

You can probably get a whole book out of how good it is. Even with something like the map. It could have just been a simple map. It’s not like they were common then. But instead it’s full of mechanics and little mazes and stuff. It’s held up so well it’s hard to believe. The 16-bit graphics help admittedly.

91. Spiritfarer - Xbox One - roughly 25hrs

What a beautiful game.  The whole thing bears the hallmarks of a good Studio Ghibli film - you know that Ghibli feeling that's hard to describe - somewhere between a dream escaping as you almost remember it and a faint childhood memory of The Moomins?  Yes/No - anyway: that feeling.  Somehow it manages to create a joyful whole out of a macabre journey filled with incessant pockets of busywork.  It's essentially a cross between the seafaring of Wind Waker, Animal Crossing and (warning: educated guess incoming) Stardew Valley, albeit with surprisingly tight 2D platforming controls.  There's a minor smattering of Metroidvania in there too as certain areas can't be visited until you've unlocked certain abilities, but the overwhelming majority of your time will be spent either running errands or repeating set routines.  It's quite clearly not for me, is it?  Well, I thought that and I was wrong too.  The unusual two player mode helped win me over, along with the overspill of charm (it's rare to find a co-op experience where both players lead, but aside from player two not being able to initiate conversations it's pretty much shared duties throughout).  I played 90% of it with Tilly - some of the busier busywork aside - and when the credits rolled we had a really nice chat about how she couldn't work out why she was crying as she felt happy and sad at the same time.  "I get that with John Prine songs sometimes" was about the best I could offer.  AND WE HUGGED IT OUT. 

The visuals are always pleasant and occasionally gorgeous, the writing is strong in all areas and the soundtrack is absolutely sublime.  I thought Paper Mario or Kentucky Route Zero would win the year for me in terms of audio, but the score to this is frankly ridiculous.  

Not for everyone, which I've been typing a lot recently but it's especially true here.  I can't really explain why it grabbed me, because on paper it absolutely wouldn't, but I can say it'll end up as one of my games of the year.  [8] in current form as it's a glitchy little number at present.  We had numerous issues and it always felt like we were sailing close to the wind with something gamebreaking waiting to sink us.  Mercifully that didn't happen, but holding out for a patch might not be a bad idea.  Minor imperfections aside the whole thing is a warm hug that goes on slightly too long.

Wariospeedwagon wrote:

41: Picross S3 (Switch) - 7/10 This is a perfectly fine collection of picross puzzles.  The ho-hum score I'm giving it is because this is the 3rd picross game I've bought for Switch.  Let's be honest you only need 1.  It's not like you remember how to do the puzzles.   With that said I do have an order for Murder By Numbers, picross based detective game which I think Jon enjoyed?

Yeah, it's a bit of an awkward mix, but I thought it was good fun:
https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/articles/murder-by-numbers-review-a-visual-novel-puzzler-hybrid-with-heart

92. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Xbox One) - 3hrs

Smashed through the main game in this as Chad's stats carried over from THPS.  Just as good, but it turns out I don't have as much affection/nostalgia for most of the stages.  Still tremendous fun though. [8]

Damn, I was thinking of getting it but if Moot likes it, I probably won’t.

Scrap that I've got a better one.

I don't think you'd dig it. Unrequited love for pointy blue haircuts covering facial scars is your MO.

*Elf drops sword and says I'm good enough to fight the swordmaster*

94. Death's Hangover - Switch (80mins)

Possible Mootliest game of the year alert.  I enjoyed Strikey Sisters the other day and this popped up on the EShop for £4ish recently.  It's another 16-bit era arcadelike Breakout type with very basic bounce physics.  You can slow the ball down with the A button or speed it up with B while your bumper and the enemies continue at normal speed, which is quite a nice mechanic.  Work your way through the castle via various routes by smashing breakable doors leading to the next stage, picking up power ups, slaying occasional bosses and hopefully nabbing a few hard-to-reach souls to cheat death along the way (i.e 'continue'). 

Obviously it's a paddle type but it felt a lot like Pinball of the Dead in places.  Nothing special, but probably slightly better than I was expecting.  [6].  Won't trouble any hidden gems lists these days but it'd be one of the better unknown GBA games.  'They don't make 'em like they used to' is an idiom that no longer applies to games.