So, little disclaimer. For the most part I review games on older systems with their limitations taken into consideration, sure there are exceptions and many games I'd still give the same rating to if released today. The early 3D era has generally aged much worse though, and as such more games from the fifth generation have to be taken with a little extra grain of salt than most. If this was released today its borderline broke, but back in 1999...

3. Castlevania Legacy of Darkness (N64) - 7hrs

I have to say I enjoyed this far more than I was expecting. Is it as good as Symphony of the Night? No. Did it make the leap into 3D as well as Mario and Zelda? Nope. Is it a bad 5th gen game? I'm gonna say no.

The controls are a little floaty sure, but I soon got used to them, and within a few minutes I felt like I had a good enough grasp on them that falling to my death was my fault and not the controls.

Another common complaint is the camera, its not perfect but few cameras were back then, and there are even games today that struggle. You can recenter the camera behind your character with the R button which I found did the job more often than not, and you can even use the D-Pad for full 360 movement much like right analogs offer today. Granted on the N64 pad it isn't the best solution.

The combat is ok, there's a rudimentary lock on system that targets what enemy your facing which works well enough.

Basically I was expecting to die a thousand deaths from frustrating combat and platforming because of a bad camera, and it almost never happened. With those fears alleviated I found myself really enjoying my time with this.

Its a very linear experience on the whole with a little back tracking with keys, switches etc here and there to pad it out. Only the Villa level has a bit more to it that'll require your thinking cap with a few obtuse puzzles. Just over a third of my total playtime came from that level alone.

Graphics are OK, its a little first gen for N64 looks and in 1999 that wasn't particularly great but I don't think its terrible looking. The music is a bit disappointing, what there is of it is decent enough but there's not enough of it for me and its not a patch on the iconic music in other releases in the series.

The plot is simple but decent enough, especially taking the overarching story of the four playable characters into account. Each character has a few unique levels so there's a decent amount of replayability here.

I'm actually more tempted to replay this than I am numerous superior modern games, partly because I know I could cut the play time in half knowing what to do in certain levels now. In fact the game does have a bit of a speed runners vibe to it which is always rewarding for multiple playthroughs.

Its got such a bad reputation now that its easy to forget the original got decent reviews back in the day. 8.2 from both Gamespot and IGN, and 81% from the highly regarded N64 Magazine. Despite being the superior version, Legacy got lower marks for being released less than 12 months later at full price, and rightly so. I guess sometimes patches and DLC are a good thing.

Is it worth paying today? A resounding no, unless your either a Castlevania or N64 fan, even then its no guarantee. I'm a big fan of both so I guess it's easier for me to see past its short comings.

Its a modern 3/10 mess at best, but with fifth gen goggles on its nowhere near as bad as the reputation it now has.

7/10

My list

Was that the first of the 3D ones on N64? Cos I played it at the time and it was terrible. Second one was better.

Aha coolbeans. Yeah couldn’t remember but now I do, name rings a bell.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

At its best it's utterly fantastic, at its worst it's terribly annoying...

I think this is where I'd divert from your write up and the reason I didn't finish it - I didn't think any of it was utterly fantastic. Neat and tidy, yes, but never more than that. Not enough to stop those control issues being a deal breaker. 

Are there any levels later on that really stand out?

8 hours sounds like too long for me to put up with the issues. Maybe at some point, but not desperate to dive in.

I play hardly any games tho so I do tend to just enjoy what I do play.

I'm a weekend gamesman only these days so, watch this space ~Sat/Sun.

It never quite shook the needs-a-crouch-feeling imo, but there's a chance you'll be catered for with the upward slash thing....

10. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure DLC (Switch)

The main game isn't deep but it does get a lot of strategic mileage out of its main components. I can remember taking 5 or so minutes sometimes working out how to move and co-ordinate the team to maximise the damage output. It's a game mainly about working out the best way to chain together the team's abilities to completely nail opponents.
 
Into that quite delicate mix between simplicity and strategy, this DLC chucks a completely over-powered Donkey Kong. He's devastating close up and at long-range, has huge movement range and can pick up, carry and chuck around virtually anything. So the already light tactical elements are wiped out for a lot of it. If you can scoop up even the biggest opponent on the map, carry him half-way across the stage, chuck him into another opponent, and then they both bounce off four or five squares in random directions, then planning goes out the window. What you've got instead is a turn-based shoot-out with a huge chaos-causing gorilla swinging around and walloping everything. Which is actually really good.

There's 4 worlds and it's not until the fourth that the enemies and maps get hard enough to bring much need for planning back into it. The original game was overlong as well so they really did need to mix it up somehow for this to be interesting. Mission accomplished.
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4. Super Castlevania IV (SNES) - 5hrs

One of the best Castlevania games, and possibly my personal favourite.

You could argue the whip is overpowered and that the secondary weapons lose a lot of their purpose because of it, but that's about as negative as it gets.

Its one of my all timers, still a joy to play with some of the best music ever to grace silicon.

A game I genuinely love that I'll continue to return to as long as I'm gaming.

10/10

My list

7.Assassins Creed: Valhalla - 65 Hours - 8/10 - Xbox Series X

Strange one this as I’m not sure how much I enjoyed it vs how much I wanted to enjoy it. Easy stuff first, it’s stunning, like really stunning. Think I’ve played all the next gen stuff across both and this has impressed the most. The countryside is absolutely beautiful, the detail is incredible. The sky was forever making me stop to have a look and the light through the trees never got old. The weather effects deserve a mention too. Really is a stunner. Sound design was all of that too...just not writing it again.

Game world was a step up for me over the last two as it did feel tighter, and a smaller map was much easier and more fun to navigate. Didn’t have to travel for a bloody age between fast travel points, sometimes I just wanna get on with it. I enjoyed the story in the fact that I enjoyed the Viking theme, enjoyed the complexities of the brothers etc and their warring and pillaging. Some of the characters and story arcs were excellent. The odd thing here was the inclusion of the Assassins Creed at all, maybe I missed something but it never tied in what part if any of it played in the crazy sci-fi over story, they did with the last two, so though it’s mental it made some sense, but this just threw in 10 minutes of the future stuff making it even more pointless.

I enjoyed the story, the characters, building a community, the weapon and armour upgrade system was brilliant, it looked stunning so why aren’t I sure? I don’t really know, the combat didn’t feel quite right, and when you’re slaying hundreds of enemies that’s not good. It felt as if it was pointing towards a big ending with you collecting kingdoms fealty to you for when you need call upon them, but when you have them all it just...ends. I just don’t get it. Whilst I enjoyed it though it felt a little long it’s just left me kind of cold as it never really went anywhere or meant anything. I’m a huge fan of the new Assassins Creeds, and this could have been the best, but it ended up leaving me more...confused than disappointed.

Still gets an 8 as there was so much good, but such a wasted opportunity to be the best Creed.

1. Kentucky Route Zero (PS4) - 6/2 - 10hrs
If ever there was a 'game' that I couldn't really rate, this was it. It's so different, and so surreal and weird; it just doesn't lend itself to being judged in the same way as conventional games, if judged at all. There is nothing else out there like this that I have played. You could call it a point-and-click adventure but even that is a stretch.

All in a really good way. The writing is superb, the script often dealing with or commenting on relevant real-life contemporary issues (debt, slavery, overpowering conglomerates/companies). The art-style and sound are very apt and only add to the strangeness of it all. There were one or tow genuinely standout moments for me, in particular around a couple of the songs.

My only gripe was that it seemed to drag in a couple of places and could've done with being a little shorter for what it is, occasionally feeling like art for art's sake. Nonetheless, it is something everyone should try at some point. Nothing else quite like it.
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Just realised the soundtrack is on Tidal, that'll do me for a nice snow walk later.

Couldn't remember what I gave that one, turns out I was roughly 3% more generous than you.  It's a pretty fun game but it goes in the lower tier of Devolver offerings.  It's a shame more people haven't played Not a Hero.  I'm often wrong about these things, but for my money it's one of the best 2D shooters in recent years once it all clicks.  I've been toying with the idea of another Katana Zero playthrough soon too, but I'll probably keep my powder dry until the seemingly ever-imminent dlc finally drops.

3. Super Mario Sunshine

That's all 120 shines in Super Mario Sunshine done, so none of you have to.
I'm genuinely struggling to think if I ever did that before - I must have been close on my old GameCube, but certain ones, including the Chuckster red coin debacle, aren't memorable at all.
What to say about it? It's the worst 3D Mario game, for sure, but even then there are moments of joy and genius within it. I'll staunchly defend the "Secret" levels where you are robbed of FLUDD and have to do some honest to goodness platforming over what looks like a woodwork kit (3D World, I see you.)
Returning to them, with the challenge of getting red coins, under a time limit, albeit with one's trusty backpack was a nice way of reusing assets.
And Pinna Park, Noki Bay and Bianco Hills are completely iconic, and welcome worlds in the Mario pantheon. They're genuinely fun to explore, and all incredibly distinctive. Noki Bay in particular was a joy to rediscover - a cove of little mysterious nooks and crannies.
Yet Gelato Bay's levels (sun bird, watermelon) and Ricco Harbour's sheer existence absolutely blotch the copybook. The blue coin fiasco (finding 30 in a world, but not in one episode) is another needless faff, and necessitated liberal use of IGN guides to hundo the title. There also seems to be some sloppiness in collision detection / noticing edges that seems thoroughly out of place in the polished-to-perfection Mario Canon, and a few deaths left me grinding teeth because of that.
It feels like a rushed game, bizarre because it was 6 years since 64, and Galaxy would follow in only 5 more, but there we are. I enjoyed returning to Delfino Isle, but would rather romp through Galaxy's worlds again. A nice place to visit...