52 Games a Year 2021 Edition/ Game Record 2021:
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Haven't updated in here for a while:
3. Woodsalt [4]
A British developed visual novel that in the end tries to be too clever for its own good. There are some OK themes and ideas, but not a great deal to do as you select people to hang out with each day Persona style, and make dialogue choices that rarely feel consequential. Then reach the end and realise you're supposed to do it all over again to find out what's really going on. No thanks.
4. Little Nightmares 2 [7]
Slightly bigger sequel that improves on the first game. Visuals and sound are absolutely spot on and some of the adults you run into are truly horrific. Frustrations with the fixed camera angle feel quite deliberate as a means to make the simple actions more difficult, and it's a shame so much work has gone into creating a world that there's no reason to stay in for too long. But for as long as it lasts it's a wonderfully horrible ghost train ride.
5. Gods Will Fall [7]
Loads of original little risk-reward mechanics almost add up to something quite special. You take your randomly generated bunch of warriors to the isle of the gods with the aim of venturing through their domains and killing them. It's up to you what order you tackle the levels in and which warrior you send in to try and do it. Die and you can send another fighter in to rescue the lost one, or leave them till later and try a different level. Combat is solid, and the best thing is the way the game injects each character with a bit of personality and biographical detail, with stats going up or down depending on various factors. The problem is that once you've seen each level a few times, it gets predictable. All the neat little ideas and random factors actually offer much depth. Its compromise between a one-and-done adventure and a Roguelike experience ends up being a bit awkward.
6. Bravely Default 2 [6]
JRPG with a really nice set of systems in its jobs that offer good tactical depth, but otherwise rather plain. Characters, locations and storylines don't stand out at all, and dungeon crawling can be tedious due to the constant interruptions. And while most of it is mindless enough, some of the bosses are needlessly tough, leading to very uneven progress. In fact, I haven't really finished it because of that. I gave up on the final run of bosses because I was getting sick of it. But after 50 hours I'm counting it as done.
7. Ghosts n Goblins Resurrection [8]
A very clever reworking of the classics, which seems to understand them very well. Levels tend to remix the familiar in new ways, but also have a more dynamic feel, and the new versions of zombies etc. have a bit of added character. There are some collectibles too that let you unlock extra powers, but mainly it sticks to the simple 2-button control system of old and is all the better for it. It's also a good job that it has four different difficulty levels, because it's an utter utter bastard. It gets away with so much because of its audacity and cheeky personality, but there's no hiding that it's really difficult and at times frustrating. Lower settings with more checkpoints, fewer enemies and more health are an excellent compromise however. Still tricky but fair for the likes of me.
8. Ghouls n Ghosts [8]
A quick replay of this to compare on the new Capcom collection. I was surprised to find out that the English language arcade version here actually has frequent checkpoints, making it much easier to get through. So much so that I did it without quick saving, which I wasn't expecting. Only the Japanese version has the classic single checkpoint per level system. Anyway, it's still pretty great. -
GnG Resurrection back on the watch list then.
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6. Astro's Playroom
Genuinely gobsmacked at what I've played this weekend. Nothing else on the PS5 has got a look in as I've worked my way to the Platinum.
Just absolutely wild adventure, inventiveness, the playfulness of an Odyssey with the fan service of a Smash Bros, but because it is more focused, it is far stronger in that regards.
I genuinely can't fault it. Maybe the monkey suit didn't need two levels but that's about it. The most reg game of all time and I adored it. Now to play the other shite on this console. -
JonB wrote:6. Bravely Default 2 [6] JRPG with a really nice set of systems in its jobs that offer good tactical depth, but otherwise rather plain. Characters, locations and storylines don't stand out at all, and dungeon crawling can be tedious due to the constant interruptions. And while most of it is mindless enough, some of the bosses are needlessly tough, leading to very uneven progress. In fact, I haven't really finished it because of that. I gave up on the final run of bosses because I was getting sick of it. But after 50 hours I'm counting it as done.
That's pretty disappointing. Early days for me (couple of hours in) but it does feel pretty rough around the edges. Hopefully there's some decent guides available by the time I get to the asshole boss fights.When you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose -
7: Cricket '19 (Career Mode) (PC) 4/10
I played a fair bit of a previous iteration of this a few years back. As can happen with sports franchises' this is pretty much the same game with a slightly different way to level up. This is understandably a lower budget than your MLB The Show, NBA 2K, Madden etc franchises so it's a bit janky. IE the on screen stats are often a ball or two behind, you sometimes French cut physics-defying massive sixes, crowds go wild at grade cricket matches even when there aren't fans at the oval, commentator Michael Slater bangs on about barely relevant shit and keeps repeating himself (okay maybe the last one is a fair representation).
Mostly it's just boring; most balls can either be cut or glanced for six and tonking triple centuries against, like, North Hobart Cricket Club gets old after a couple of games. It's much better than the unplayable Switch version but it's still a tired version of a pretty ordinary game from a few years ago.When you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose -
regmcfly wrote:6. Astro's Playroom
Genuinely gobsmacked at what I've played this weekend. Nothing else on the PS5 has got a look in as I've worked my way to the Platinum.
Just absolutely wild adventure, inventiveness, the playfulness of an Odyssey with the fan service of a Smash Bros, but because it is more focused, it is far stronger in that regards.
I genuinely can't fault it. Maybe the monkey suit didn't need two levels but that's about it. The most reg game of all time and I adored it. Now to play the other shite on this console.
Love this, really looking forward to playing. I'm pretty sure Astrobot Rescue Mission is the regest game I've ever played.
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Minnesänger wrote:I refused to engage in any dialogue with the characters for the last hour (it made no difference and they didn’t acknowledge this in the slightest).Spoiler:
I was surprised I liked it as much as I did. A definite YMMV game though. -
Yeah, can see the appeal and why people like it. It just didn’t click for me at all. Shame but hey ho.
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Minnesänger wrote:I really didn’t like it. Got so fed up that I tried to end the game as soon as possible and when I realised the game wouldn’t let me, I refused to engage in any dialogue with the characters for the last hour (it made no difference and they didn’t acknowledge this in the slightest).
The dialogue system was cute at first but I didn’t enjoy the slow walking through the areas. They just weren’t very interesting and yeah...I’m surprised I bounced off it as hard as I did.
Still glad I played it, though. Just about.
Yeah but what did you think of Bugsnax. That's what everybody is interested about. -
24. The Last of Us 2 - PS4 (20ish hrs?)
Tardy as ever, but I managed to avoid spoilers (and will pop any in the appropriate tags here). The first game was unparalleled in terms of interactive AAA storytelling, but the stealth and gunplay were slightly out of step with the giant strides it was taking elsewhere. Things are tightened up considerably for the sequel, and although the core gameplay isn't quite perfect it's definitely a notable improvement. The early trailers suggested Naughty Dog were sticking with the brutal path carved by the original, but even knowing roughly what I was letting myself in for didn't prepare me for some of the dark turns this takes. It's not just grim - barring a few scenes it's ferociously nasty and relentlessly bleak. There's some bloat to the campaign - to avoid spoilers a certain point where two characters have to go up and then down could've been cut down or removed - but this is a minor grumble. The way progression is funneled yet designed to trick the player into feeling like they're plotting their own course is pretty masterful; there's some impressive chicanery goin on behind the curtain. There's also less of the standard pull cart to reach ledge/boost companion to drop ladder stuff. On numerous occasions the game requires you to do things that probably wouldn't be your preference if multiple choices were on offer. It's not a choose your own adventure though, your decision is whether you choose to take part in Ellie & co.'s adventure! I didn't like a lot of the choices that were made for me, and I absolutely hated taking part in a particular scene towards the end, but It'sAllInTheGameYo.gif.
Visually it's peerless. Everything looks astonishing and the slight pastel smudge to the whole thing - which could just be my TV, admittedly - made it all look way beyond stunning. There's no reason for games to ever look better than this, it should be the line in the sand. I've heard people say 'I can see the crunch!' and this was the first game where that metaphorical schooner sailed into view for me. The music is exceptional, again - both the score and the real world choices made for key scenes. I played with headphones at my standard too-loud setting, and gleefully jumped out of my skin on numerous occasions.
In terms of where the story goes....
I'll touch on some negatives quickly. There are too many trinkets scattered around. The 'potentially useful stuff strewn everywhere' thing got a bit old a while ago, and I still can't fathom why openable drawers often contain nothing. Despite the huge push for realism on display elsewhere it's still a videogame, and I'd be happy to sign a 'down with this sort of thing' petition. It was fine for Shenmue, but that was because wow, it opens! The melee weapon wielders were very videogamey, which struck me as incongruous with the rest of the things you shoot, but I liked them so I guess I'm a fickle one when it comes to gamey stuff. Combat was mostly well handled but the deliberately clumsy weapon/sub-weapon system was a little too cumbersome imo. Yes, it can be alleviated by extra exploration (revealing holsters, upgrades and so on), but it was still a bit too oldschool survival horror for me in places, reminding me of games where the horror is topped up by confined spaces and wonky weapon swaps. One boss battle felt particularly Resi.Spoiler:
On the whole though, none of the complaints matter. It's a nailed on [9] and the second best retail exclusive on PS4.
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3. The Last Campfire (PS5) - 6hrs - [9]
Perfect little indie puzzler with a lovely aesthetic and I really like the voiceover work. Not terribly taxing, a few head scratchers, more about finding all the hidden chests that adds time to the proceedings. A coincidence that my second “finished” game is by Hello. And for my first platinum (so definitely easiest way to get one if that’s your thing).
Edit. It’s my third game this year. God of War was second. -
Moot_Geeza wrote:24. The Last of Us 2 - PS4 (20ish hrs?) [/img]
On numerous occasions the game requires you to do things that probably wouldn't be your preference if multiple choices were on offer. It's not a choose your own adventure though, your decision is whether you choose to take part in Ellie & co.'s adventure! I didn't like a lot of the choices that were made for me, and I absolutely hated taking part in a particular scene towards the end, but It'sAllInTheGameYo.gif.
Nice read, especially the quoted bit, and good to see it held up well for you without all the hype and controversy.
Really looking forward to a 1&2 replay sometime soon, hopefully with a 60FPS patch. Because all the graphics just aren't enough.When you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose -
b0r1s wrote:3. The Last Campfire (PS5) - 6hrs - [9]
Perfect little indie puzzler with a lovely aesthetic and I really like the voiceover work. Not terribly taxing, a few head scratchers, more about finding all the hidden chests that adds time to the proceedings. A coincidence that my second “finished” game is by Hello. And for my first platinum (so definitely easiest way to get one if that’s your thing).
Edit. It’s my third game this year. God of War was second.
Would agree with that - Last Campfire was a lovely little thing.
ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:Minnesänger wrote:I really didn’t like it. Got so fed up that I tried to end the game as soon as possible and when I realised the game wouldn’t let me, I refused to engage in any dialogue with the characters for the last hour (it made no difference and they didn’t acknowledge this in the slightest).
The dialogue system was cute at first but I didn’t enjoy the slow walking through the areas. They just weren’t very interesting and yeah...I’m surprised I bounced off it as hard as I did.
Still glad I played it, though. Just about.
Yeah but what did you think of Bugsnax. That's what everybody is interested about.
Bugsnax was fine, but nothing more. Very charming but the gameplay loop is thin and the characters and world only cover that up to a point. -
Wariospeedwagon wrote:Nice read, especially the quoted bit, and good to see it held up well for you without all the hype and controversy.
What was the controversy, out of interest? It's a full Simon Bates [18] in terms of content, which is unusual for a videogame (usually a PEGI 18 is akin to a BBFC 15 but this went the extra mile). With the fuss the Tomb Raider trailer created a few years ago I can easily imagine a furore about certain scenes in this, but was there more to it? Or was it just a Mass Effect 3 WE DON'T LIKE YOUR ENDING OURS IS BETTER toys/pram thing? -
(This should probably go here tbf)
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Just finished my second game for the year!
Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise on Switch.
It's one of those games that always seems to be on sale, and it has a demo.
It's a point and click puzzle game, has a bit of noir spy story going on and it looks and plays quite nicely. Can be played with touchscreen on switch handheld (it's a mobile game).
Puzzles are pretty good, nice variety of things going on, never found them too hard, although in later chapters you sometimes need to go back and forth between rooms a bit too often, and if a solution isn't clear right away it can be a bit tedious.
It looks nice, the story is fine, jokes aren't too cringy. It's very solid all around, but nothing special or necessarily recommended to play.
Will pick up Jenny LeClue next time I see it for cheap, see how it compares. Think I put the both of them on my wishlist around the same time. -
I'm enjoying Jenny LeClue. There's not a whole lot of actual detective work to do, but it's an appealing light puzzle adventure and the premise is decent.
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25. ATOMIK: RunGunJumpGun - Switch (2hrs)
An odd name for a runner with no jump button. I found this on a hidden gems video (first up on the also bizarrely named Metal Jesus Rocks round up here). You autorun from left to right avoiding hazards in short stages, while collecting - or completely ignoring in my case, once it got too hard - green orbs that unlock further level sets. One button fires ahead of you, one button fires downwards which acts as a thruster, rather than a jump. You can take two hits before you're warped back to the start of the stage. There are three worlds that each contain four sets of ten stages. That's it. So it's fast paced angry birds with a minigun. Mostly well designed and absolutely dirt cheap when I grabbed it (99p iirc). It's no Meat Boy Forever - and the water stages didn't quite work for me in places - but it's well worth a look if you're into the genre. [7]
Edit: not Angry Birds, the other one - Flappy Bird.
Yeah yeah. But also, and what? -
Wariospeedwagon wrote:JonB wrote:6. Bravely Default 2 [6] JRPG with a really nice set of systems in its jobs that offer good tactical depth, but otherwise rather plain. Characters, locations and storylines don't stand out at all, and dungeon crawling can be tedious due to the constant interruptions. And while most of it is mindless enough, some of the bosses are needlessly tough, leading to very uneven progress. In fact, I haven't really finished it because of that. I gave up on the final run of bosses because I was getting sick of it. But after 50 hours I'm counting it as done.
That's pretty disappointing. Early days for me (couple of hours in) but it does feel pretty rough around the edges. Hopefully there's some decent guides available by the time I get to the asshole boss fights.
Controversially I gave it an 8 and loved having my teeth kicked in by the bosses (apart from one who was very hard, and made me sad)
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14. Ninja Five-O (GBA)
Shinobi x Bionic Commando. It’s excellent. It controls quite stiffly (like Shinobi) but that gives it the time-your-watch-by-it solidity you need to pull off some red-hot swing, grapple, leap and slash action. Theoretically. The timing windows are a little bit slim for my skills (like Shinobi) meaning there was a lot of bumbling through on my part. But then you feel like a don when you get it spot on.
There's about 15 levels and the main theme (which is admittedly good) plays through the first 10 or so. Has an inevitable massive twat of a boss at one point.
87% -
15. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (PC)
There’s nothing wrong with the game aside from niggles but there are quite a long list of those. I twice ended up in areas I wasn’t powerful enough to jump out of. I don’t like Ori’s jump. It’s not high enough. It always needs to be higher. There’s so many bits where you’re hanging down underneath the lip of a ledge and have to dick about trying to jump up a miniscule distance.
Combat is a big improvement but I wasn’t thrilled with most of the offensive powers. My moves were quick attack, big smash attack, bouncing and that’s it (which is a pretty satisfying core combo). Use the others only when the game demanded a projectile, or the blowing thing.
There’s a lot about it that reminds me of a PS2 game for some reason I can’t put my finger on. The chase sequences are ok but marred by poor checkpointing, which undermines the dramatic effect if you’re just seeing it over and over again. The bosses are all nobs. Your frog man, I was completely underpowered fighting him the first time. I don’t think it should be letting me get that far in the sequence of that story line if I have to walk away and come back later. Spider-person was a bitch as well. And there’s way too many spikes.
Most of it though is great. They did such a good job on the look and animation of that frog. Many of the platforming sections are in the top-tier. Projectile-surfing, bouncing and gliding around the place. It is floaty but it’s also extremely fluid. The game is transformed when you get the mid-air self-projectile power but that wasn’t until right at the end. I know that’s sort of the point because now you’re completely OP’d for the environment. But I dunno, it needed to solve the jump issue sooner.
Despite all the complaints I began it and then it sunk it’s hooks into me until I completed it.91%Spoiler: -
Tempy wrote:Controversially I gave it an 8 and loved having my teeth kicked in by the bosses (apart from one who was very hard, and made me sad)
I checked out yours and Jon's reviews the other day from the Switch thread; good reads from different perspectives. Glad you had a great time with it! Was intimidating to read that two people who are pretty bloody good at games found it really challenging.
It hasn't clicked with me yet. I usually find RPGs pretty hard going at the beginning, but not sure if I'm a bit over the BD style after the 3DS games, or if it's a bad idea to play it at the same time as Persona 5 Strikers too.
Haven't really felt the urge to play it over the last couple of days so might be worth taking a break and coming back later.When you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose -
13.Halo 3 - 7 Hours - 9/10 - Xbox Series X -
Minnesänger wrote:Thought I was already in this thread but it seems not. Anyway, I’ll use this post. Gonna try and finish games this year - or rather, see as much as I want of them until I’m done.
Games “Completed”:
1. Destiny 2: Beyond Light
2. Detroit: Become Human
3. Control
4. Rise of the Tomb Raider
5. Bugsnax
6. Danganronpa
7. Danganronpa 2
8. The Last Campfire
9. Oxenfree
10. Donut County
Updated to include Donut County. Absolutely terrible. -
You criminal
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If I wanna stretch holes for 2 hours, I can think of far more enjoyable ways to do so than that game. It’s carried by pure Bullshit Meme Energy.
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Tell me about stretching holes
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The temptation for the most fucking inappropriate joke is so strong right now.
Must.
Resist. -
Minnesänger wrote:If I wanna stretch holes for 2 hours, I can think of far more enjoyable ways to do so than that game. It’s carried by pure Bullshit Meme Energy.
Big lolz.
I mostly enjoyed DC but it certainly felt like it wasted the setting and core gameplay a bit. Untitled Goose Game was better along those lines
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