52 Games a Year 2021 Edition/ Game Record 2021: - The Bear and Badger

JonB

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Jon mentioned Journey to the Savage Planet as a 'here's what planetary exploration should feel like' comparison in his review, which felt spot on - this is embarrassingly short of the competence on display there. A huge disappointment and also a complete waste of my time. [4]

It is very pedestrian and I can see how you'd get there. The saving grace for me was the likeable characters, and I found hoovering quite pleasing on a basic level. Otherwise, a shrug of a game.

regmcfly

21. The Gunk

Jeff Gerstmann wrote a 'review' of Halo Infinite recently that basically outlined the death of the traditional review in a world where Gamepass exists and recommended that why not just try it because Gamepass.
The Gunk feels like the inverse of this. I was really looking forward to it given the Edge preview and the Image and Form name (Dig 2 is an all timer), and here I am watching the end sequence and typing this instead.

All of the component bits of the game are fine (barring getting caught on geometry several times) and I genuinely just mean fine.

Of them all I do think the aesthetics are my favourite part of the game - I like the chunky xbox 360 era style main character, but that just made me ultimately think how I could have been playing Psychonauts 2 and finishing that instead. The core loop of sucking up gunk does have an initially nice feel, but I could have been doing a much more satisfying one with Horizon 5. The combat is completely one note fine, and, yep, insert Halo Infinite here. I ultimately got into sunk-cost fallacy with this one, which is on me, as I just wanted to get it done with, but gaming time is rare to me and there's 5 hours that could have been spent elsewhere. It felt like a loooooong 5 hours too.

So yeah, it's on me for barging through this one and not noping out when I realised what the game had as its entire set of tricks. Just because it's on Gamepass, doesn't mean it's good. I need to remember that.

Back to Halo, probably. I'm also deleting Deeeeeer Simulator as I've seen the 10 minutes that game has to offer.

acemuzzy

[7]?

regmcfly

Absolutely not

Minnesänger

[gunk]?

regmcfly

Exactly.

retroking1981

33. Metroid Dread (Switch) - 10hrs 30mins

Mercury Steam have done an excellent job of building on their 3DS Metroid II remake with this.

Plays like a dream, not many games have such a silky flow to the movement. Bosses are expertly designed, they'll take you out almost instantly on your first attempt but you'll utterly destroy them once it clicks.

My main concern going in was the E.M.M.I encounters as it gave me vibes of Mr X in the recent RE remakes which I was not a fan of, but the generous checkpoints and general get from A-B aspects of these areas meant it was never too frustrating.

So after that mixed reveal trailer what we actually have is another top tier Metroid game. Roll on Prime 4.

9/10

34. Mario Golf Super Rush (Switch) - 10hrs

Camelot have done a shit job here by throwing everything out the window they achieved with their work on previous Everybody's/Mario Golf games.

Plays like a fucking nightmare, I can't stress how bitterly disappointed I am.

Gone is the traditional 3 tap system to hit the ball and in its place what seems like an oversimplified 2 tap approach. Now I'm not against mixing things up, without experimenting we wouldn't have the excellent analog control of the EA/2K games, but this just doesn't feel good to me. It may very well have its benefits, but I didn't find any and before long I gave up even trying.

Then there's the walking between shots, how the fuck this got past play testing I'll never know, it's just not fun.

I'm not sure how far I got into the Adventure mode but I was on a stage where you had to complete 6 holes in 35 shots, the catch being you have to hit the ball from one hole to another. e.g from hole 8 to hole 13, no Golf carts here. To make things worse it was up mountains, followed by running up them. Terrible.

I'll admit to having a bit of fun with the MP thread on here but outside of that this is was a horrible experience.

Not the worst game I have ever played, but after the hundreds of hours of fun previous Camelot Golf games have provided, it's easily my most disappointing.

5/10

My list

Moot_Geeza

151. Shining Force 2 - Megadrive/Switch (20hrs?)

Probably my favourite 16-bit single player game, I hadn't played it since selling my Megadrive to fund Saturn Stuff. Occasional wayfinding oddities aside (characters rarely bothered telling you anything twice in 1994) it stands up magnificently. The simple battle system had me locked in for the past fortnight, to the point where my customary Christmas Day nap was ruined by movement grids on the insides of my eyelids and booze-fuelled half-snooze images of my favourite characters succumbing to second attacks from hyrdas. I'd forgotten how long this was and foolishly expected to bash through it in 12hrs or so. Even with the fast forward button offered on the Megadrive Classics Collection - which I've no doubt I'll now miss on every other game for ages - it felt like I was playing for double that. In a good way, believe it or not. I'll probably spend my Xmas vouchers on more grid tactics now.

I enjoy assembling a kick-arse crew in games and I can't think of anything else that rivals this for getting the gang together feels (Mass Effect 2, at a push). I started looking at tier lists halfway through and found the best one ever:

Ahh, I remember the days when I cared enough about things like this to know what the characters' names were. Even before replaying I would've remembered a dozen or so I reckon. PETER has been done the dirty here btw; he belongs on the God seats with KARNA.

It could do with a few more tunes, levelling sometimes feels a wee bit off and the dialogue is lol, but it's as good as anything movement tile based from the 90s. The story is nonsense of course (it's a JRPG with a mute character, accidentally unsealed evil, a TARDIS/Mary Poppins' bag style ancient caravan and possessed kings making out-of-character decisions), but at least it leans into the crazy. By the end the barmy has been promoted to BARON BONKERS, which is better than po-faced navel gazing in my book.

Replaying was one of the best decisions I made this year. A '94 96 and a 20/20 hindsight 2021 9.

tumblr_nijfx8Ohqu1qd4q8ao1_500.gifv

retroking1981

35. Tetris Effect Connected (Switch) - 12hrs

One of the best versions of one of the best games ever.

I did try the VR version and whilst I appreciate its excellence, for me Tetris is still just as perfect a fit for handheld gaming as it was on the Game Boy in 1989.

10/10

My list

retroking1981

Full Reviews List:
1. Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) - 7/10
2. The G.G. Shinobi (Game Gear) - 8/10
3. Castlevania Legacy of Darkness (N64) - 7/10
4. Super Castlevania IV (SNES) - 10/10
5. Trouble Shooter (Mega Drive) - 6/10
6. No More Heroes (Switch) - 6/10
7. Bowser's Fury (Switch) - 8/10
8. Wave Race: Blue Storm (GameCube) - 9/10
9. Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening (Switch) - 9/10
10. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (SNES) - 8/10
11. Resident Evil 3 (PS4) - 9/10
12. Sega Rally (Saturn) - 8/10
13. Rastan (SMS) - 7/10
14. Mega Man 2 (NES) - 9/10
15. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - 10/10
16. Super Hydorah (Switch) - 8/10
17. Mafia Definitive Edition (PS4) - 8/10
18. Power Blade (NES) - 8/10
19. Double Dragon (Arcade) - 4/10
20. Double Dragon II The Revenge (Arcade) - 4/10
21. Super Star Wars (SNES) - 6/10
22. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PS4) - 7/10
23. Rock N' Roll Racing (SNES) - 8/10
24. Aero Fighters (SNES) - 6/10
25. Rushing Beat (SNES) - 5/10
26. Rushing Beat Ran (SNES) - 5/10
27. Rushing Beat Syura (SNES) - 5/10
28. Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure (MD) - 6/10
29. Contra Hard Corps (MD) - 9/10
30. Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS) - 8/10
31. The Huntdown (Switch) - 8/10
32. Vendetta (Arcade) - 7/10
33. Metroid Dread (Switch) - 9/10
34. Mario Golf Super Rush (Switch) - 5/10
35. Tetris Effect Connected (Switch) - 10/10

Thats me for 2021, results below with 2020 results in parentheses.

35 (61) games completed for the year.

Average rating: 7.3 (6.8 )
Total time played: 202hrs 50mins (234hrs 33mins)
Average time per game: 5hrs 47mins (3hrs 51mins)

Games played by format:
1. Switch - 9
2. SNES - 8
3. PS4 - 3
3. NES - 3
3. MD - 3
3. Arcade - 3
7. N64 - 1
7. GC - 1
7. GG - 1
7. PS - 1
7. MS - 1
7. Saturn - 1

2020's results/reviews

regmcfly

Suspect that'll be me for the year, I'm powering through Lost Judgment and Ace Attorney 2 rn but don't see either being cleared before next year.

Baby meant Switch was absolute pogchamp this year. Hoping for a bit more of a spread on PS4/Xbox and, yes, PC next year.

1. Yakuza 7

2. Super Mario Galaxy

3. Super Mario Sunshine

4. Bowser's Fury

5. Super Mario 3D World

6. Astro's Playroom

7. Spider-Man: Miles Morales

8. Maneater

9. Monster Hunter Rise

10. Outriders

11. Mario Golf

12. Ratchet & Clank - Rift Apart

13. 12 Minutes

14. Warioware- Get It Together!

15. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

16. Unpacking

17. Kid A Mnesia Exhibition

18. Metroid Dread

19. The Matrix Awakens

20. Cruisn Blast

21. The Gunk

acemuzzy

Still fuming at #19 FTR

b0r1s

That’s some cheek there.

Moot_Geeza

Muzzy didn't let me count Blood & Truth once, even though my review contained a very real sob story about my PS4 melting during the last level and wiping all my saves for everything.

1. Just Shapes & Beats - Switch (3hrs)
Absolutely magnificent electro chiptune avoid 'em up. Think pacifist achievement Asteroids meets Hyper Dot in a crystal castle, then add a huge injection of genuinely word class indie charm. The dust has barely settled on my playthrough of the story mode but if I'm right (which I usually am) this rubs shoulders with the S tier indies. If Shovel Knight sat at the head of a dinner table holding court with Meat Boy, Gomez, Madeline, Edith Finch, Isaac and the rest of the worldies (you do yours!), everyone would cheer if this unexpectedly arrived at 11pm with a half a bottle of own brand white rum.

regmcfly

Muzzy isn't the arbiter of me what is a game anyway

acemuzzy

Should be though aii

regmcfly

And yet no complaints about number 17, even less of a game

Diluted Dante

Probably considered that you having played it was punishment enough.

regmcfly

Savage

acemuzzy

I didn't take in #17, it is indeed also questionable.

ANYWAY I have completed Unpacking so go me

regmcfly

acemuzzy wrote:

I didn't take in #17, it is indeed also questionable.

ANYWAY I have completed Unpacking so go me

Listen, I didn't even get half way to 52, let me have these. Also yay unpacking

acemuzzy

I think I'm at 21 having scowered my cheevo and trophy lists for ones I've missed. Might get one or two more i suppose, but similarly short.

And yes, I enjoyed Unpacking. Solid [8].

regmcfly

Did you find the

Spoiler:

regmcfly

And also did you give

Spoiler:

or are you a criminal

acemuzzy

Yes and yes. I think. I got some cuddly cheevo anyway!

yourfavouriteuncle

Complains all year about the baby stopping him from games and still nails 21. Just wait until the extra curricular kicks in and he’s down to ten like the rest of us.

regmcfly

Mate baby 2 is gonna see me through

hylian_elf

Heh played over 3 times more than me with a baby in the house!

Moot_Geeza

152. Killer Instinct Xbox Series S (1hr)

A cheeky one but if anyone kicks off I'll just use reg as a human shield. I fancied giving this a go because a) I realised I've never played a Killer Instinct for more than 5 minutes and b) Game Pass.

After bouncing off the XP based quest mode almost immediately I opted to play through the story mode as Sabrewulf. Graphics are a very strange mix of quite nice and outdated, giving it a nifty-ish look at a glance (its pyrotechnics game is strong) that doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. Mortal Kombat 11 it 'ain't, which of course is understandable given its age. Gameplay is combo heavy - which I was obviously expecting - and the more I played the more I realised that the risk/reward nature of combos/breakers is valid. I haven't got it in me to learn a modern fighting game though (having pretty much given up on the genre a few years ago, before the cinematic modes of Injustice/MK pulled me back in at arm's length), but this does seem to have a modicum of chops.

It's all very snazzy and arcadey. After the credits rolled on the story mode I had a few battles with the AI elsewhere, and the characters I tried felt nicely varied. Take the score with a pinch of salt as I'm a non-expert running the rule over a game I played for less than an hour, but it feels like there might be a [7] in here for fans of the series.

regmcfly

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