Moot_Geeza wrote:

Didn't you play MGSV on PS3? That's going back a bit.

Yep:
MGSV - 2015
Breath of the Wild - 2017

Been a while now, just wish I had that much free time.

65. Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection - Switch (5-6hrs)

Quality sequel/rebake of both Goblins 'n Ghosts that appeared to a muffled fanfare last year.  If you're familiar with GnG the basic format remains unchanged - slowly edge towards the exit in crushingly difficult stages trying not to get hit by enemies, some of which spawn depending on your character's position on screen.  In doing so you'll learn the layouts and what's required of you for success, but you won't quite be able to memorise precise patterns like Wardner/Volgarr the Viking - or most similar games, in fact - as it throws variables at you on the fly and you'll spend plenty of time adapting to plans gone wrong, a hair's breadth from death.  There's often an element of RNG in the air, especially with certain enemy attack patterns, and it's what helps the game strike its balance between infuriating and incredible.  I'm not deep into game design, but this approach still feels like one of a kind, and it must be hell to balance properly.  Arthur isn't as nimble as most characters in modern games that set their stall out to be this difficult, so unless you're a fan of the series the controls may come as a shock.  Once he commits to a jump he's all in, for example, albeit with the ability to face backwards in mid air without affecting trajectory.  There's no double jump in this one, but you can fire upwards, or downwards while jumping.  Bosses are the best in the series by far, most levels are meticulously devilishly designed, and no section is nasty enough to impact on the the joy of success.  Once you find your feet this is peak GnG for the most part; there are some glorious little exams throughout.  Love/hate, pleasure & pain encapsulated.  Chef's kiss for the way the game starts with an option of a Goblins path or a Ghosts path for the first two stage too, before blending into an amalgamation of both.  A big win for fan service.

It doesn't quite perfect everything.  Some of the stages rely too heavily on specific magic to progress through bottlenecks (stage 4 on Legendary/Knight difficulty without the Medusa spell?  Good luck).  A few of the enemies cross the exasperation line, even for Ghouls 'n Ghosts.  The disparity between weapons is harsher than it's ever been - up shit creek with the water/blue flame magic?  Tough - unless you're fortunate enough to be near a non-troll treasure chest - and some weapons are even less effective than that for certain segments.  Granted, a lot of these complaints are dependent on the difficulty setting.  The default is Legendary, but as Jon mentions that's just a nasty trick, attempting to lure you in with what amounts to 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough'.  It's beyond the realms of possibility for anyone who values their sanity imo.  You only get two hits and the red checkpoints (known as Banners of Ruin) don't exist.  Nope.gif.  Yeah, that's how it was, but that's not how it is now, thankfully.  Knight mode is next, which allows you to take three hits and, crucially, adds a smattering of restart points throughout each stage.  You have to be careful with these though, as the cursor rests on 'restart area' when you die, and you have to manually scroll up to respawn at the most recent checkpoint.  That's beyond silly really, and the sort of oversight that should have been patched out sharpish.  I'm happy to say I never succumbed to it (even though I'm usually a death rage button hammerer), but I'm no less annoyed by the decision.  Squire mode reduces the amount of enemies and adds another layer of armour durability.  Page mode has the same enemy count as Squire but allows you to endlessly respawn on the spot (NB: Completing Page mode will not grant access to the post game stages).  So from Page up, I'd say the settings equate to baby mode, normal, too hard and moron.  I decided to see it through in Knight mode, but my faith was tested relentlessly.

If the game gets too tough you can revisit earlier stages to find hidden umbral bees, which act as currency for the skill tree (which mostly consists of magic spells).  As mentioned, some of the spells can make all the difference, to the point where I'd argue they'll end up essential to all but the top 5% of players.  It's the sort of thing that modern games often include to extend their life and encourage replays, but I know the likes of @retroking1981 prefer the purity of 'win with what you've got'.  In this sense it's closer to Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins than any of its predecessors (although the unappreciated Master System version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts did have a smattering of permanent upgrades available). 

Spoiler alert, maybe?  Don't read this bit if you don't want to know whether the game forces you to play through it twice.  Ready?  It doesn't.  The post-credits stages are basically SMB style dark world variants of the existing ones, and much like SMB they're very well done.  I've only finished one so far, but the visual shift was good and the layout tweaks were excellent.  From the get go there are new enemy types in each stage.  They also contain a ton of extra bees, necessary for the pricier skill tree perks/spells.  And presumably, some of those perks will be needed to make it through the even trickier extra tricky sections.  It's all woven together nicely and seems to strike a good balance overall, the format's maybe just a little too mean for one and done types on the top two difficulties.

Anything else?  I wasn't keen on the visuals from trailers but I got used to them quite quickly - it's kinda nice to look at, just maybe not what I wanted.  The music is great and the rearranged nostalgia ticklers are welcome.  Is it better than Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins?  Maybe.  I reckon I'll go with yes, but YMMV.  There's not much in it either way, so if you liked that I expect you'll like this. [8], with an outside shot at a [9] depending on the rest of the post-game.  It's 34% off at the moment on Switch, and also on sale on Xbox I think, which takes the edge off the rather steep asking price.

Best retro reinventions might be a threadworthy topic. There are some brilliant modernised retro titles out there.

13. Guardians of the Galaxy - 20 Hours - 6/10 - Series X

What a massive shame. Great little story. Captures the GotG vibe perfectly. Looks and sounds great. Plays pretty great. Even the abilities and managing your team and using them is handled well. But…after about an hour, the combat is so unbelievably boring that…it’s unbelievable.

How they can get so much right, then make the billion combat sessions so unbelievably boring I doing know. And I love shooting and hitting stuff. Another massive gripe is until the last mission I have to tell Groot to build a bridge every-time, Rocket to open a door, Drax to smash a wall or Gamora to cut up some pipes, and every time it’s annoying. Then during the last mission they realise…they can just do it themselves. Way to get so much right, and then such a massive thing so terribly and boringly wrong.

What a disappointment. Would have loved this to have deserved more. 6/10.

It's been taking up space on my HD for a while now but I'm gonna delete it. I'm 95% sure I wouldn't like it.

Vere is being too nice again.  It’s absolute turgid shite and is the second worst big name game I’ve played over the last couple of years.

Dying Light 2 really did suck…

12. Chinatown Detective Agency [6]
A well-written cyberpunk point and click which tests your Googling skills to find the real-world answers to its puzzles. It's a shame it ends up feeling unfinished, with bugs and undeveloped mechanics, after starting strong.

13. Dorfromantik [7]
I don't know what counts as finished with this, but I played it quite a lot. A relaxing puzzle game where you place hexagonal tiles, trying to match the environmental features on each edge, and in the process construct an idyllic countryside view. After a while, each game starts to take over an hour, which is a bit much, but it is relaxing, and a good one to plod along with while listening to a podcast.

14. Hush: Crane
This barely counts. It's an interactive movie with touchscreen controls that lasts about 10 minutes per run. The touch video tech is quite clever, and makes for a more involved experience than the average FMV job, but not exactly a game changer yet.

15. Trek to Yomi [6]
It looks and sounds fantastic, but story, combat and exploration are very ordinary.

67. SIFU - PS5 (3hrs 9mins)

I hammered this in three sessions today.  I'm still fighting a lost battle against game downloads for non indies so had to wait for the physical release of this, which happened to coincide with an easier difficulty being patched in. A mode I found impossible to resist.  I've read a lot about this game since launch, and I think I made the right choice as it sounds a tad too annoying on default difficulty, but £39.99 for three hours of play is like two Stanley Parables territory.  So it's an odd one (for me) to judge really.  I absolutely loved it, but I'm not sure if I'll play it again or shift it on Ebay before the value takes a hit (after @acemuzzy's had a crack) as I may have had my fill.  I made my bed, but I don't have to wallow in it.

Running the rule over it in baby mode might strike some fans as wude, but me do me, as they say.  With the lane bumpers up it's probably the best single player scrolling beat 'em up of all time, which could well be my favourite genre of all time (albeit my preference is to play with pals).  Whack it on student mode and you'll waltz through the stages like a one man tracking shot, but the beatdown buzz is nigh-on unparalleled.  It's a shame the easier setting is so easy, but complaining about what's effectively a story mode is pretty churlish.  Another level in between normal and easy wouldn't go amiss though.  Moar patches pls.      

The combat is all the words you want it to be.  Visceral, balletic, weighty, smooth, intuitive, and most importantly - fun.  It's like the devs successfully smashed two of the greatest sequels ever together (The Raid 2 and Shenmue II, obviously) while adding almost Punch-Out!! level boss show and tell battles that feel fantastic to learn & overcome.  The ageing and upgrade systems don't really come into play on scrub mode - my highest age at any point was 39, I didn't even get to see a grey beard - but that didn't impact on my enjoyment.  From start to finish this was a straight [9] for me, in terms of gratification.  Even during the initial skirmishes it was plain to see they'd nailed the feel of the fight.  So why don't I fancy playing this on default difficulty like everyone else?  Because I don't want to get my arse handed to me for hours while making slow progress, tbh.  I didn't choose the way of the warrior, but I definitely chose the way of the shit eating grin.  Sometimes it's nice to just bash chumps about a bit, and that's rarely been more rewarding elsewhere.

Super stuff, I'll give it an [8] to confuse Elf.  However you choose to play it's a win, but £40 is a bit steep for a five stage roguelite top players can speedrun (on non-moran mode) in half an hour.  Of course it probably takes thirty times that long to best it first time, but in terms of content it's still on the light side imo.  Isn't Elden Ring only a fiver more? That can probably be done in 20 mins or something though, because people are weird.  /Waffle. I'll check the SIFU thread in search of inspiration tomorrow, but for now I'm thinking this was one of the most glorious one-and-dones of all time and I had an absolute blast. 

69. Olli Olli World - Switch (5-6hrs)

Clearly not done as I've only ticked off maybe 65% of the possible tasks (and extras opened up post credits), but I've reached Gnirvana/credits so it gets chalked up in here.  

I knew I'd like this, it was just a question of how much.  Turns out it's definitely my GotY so far, elbowing Infernax, SIFU and Tunic aside without breaking sweat.  Aside from being a near perfect score chaser it's also astonishingly accessible.  You can play it as an auto runner, and if you do it's in the top tier.  This is how Tilly plays it (and how I played the last area), and it's ridiculous how adept she is a chaining grinds together just by reacting in the nick of time.  It's great fun as a casual experience and doesn't restrict progress with irritating gating requirements.  You can play it as a checklist mop 'em up, and some of the tasks are equal parts fiendish and superb.  Its ultimate form is probably as a legit leaderboard chaser, something that it excels at to the point where Trials might be the only series ahead of this one now.  

Literally my only complaint aside from frame drops on the Switch port is the fact that the height gained on jumps occasionally feels like it's operating on hidden RNG rather than unwavering precision.  Yes, it's based on a number of variables you need to be in command of, but it also feels ever-so-slightly unreliable from time to time.  The flip trick controls, grinding, grabbing, spinning and manuals for trick chaining are all just about as perfect as you could possibly wish for, but the size of your leap as you leave the lip of a ramp just feels a smidge too exacting with its insistence on near-frame perfect execution (and/or just being a bit random, says the voice in my head).    

That's it, otherwise it's pretty much a perfect game.  The execution of the 'play at your level' promise really can't be understated.  [9]

She's done it, haha. Straight through the checkpoint that gave me grief, dear me.

70. Tails of Iron - Switch (4hrs 20mins)

2D Soulslike that fared quite well, Metacritically speaking.  It has an appealing visual style - kinda like a slightly less lush Wulverblade - which unfortunately isn't conducive to a precise fight system due in part to its animation style.  More on that later.  The world building is nice, with a Bastion-lite voiceover provided by Doug Cockle (who voiced the guy from those bathtub memes, apparently) and Clangers-esque whistles/twitterings between characters, which is preferable to dodgy voice acting in my book.  Questing is straightforward, taking the no-nonsense Foregone approach rather than anything metroguevania.  You'll need to travel between areas fairly regularly but there are only a small handful in the whole game.  It has a strong map, so it's unlikely you'll spend much time wondering what to do next.  

There's quite a lot to like - and plenty of neat little touches - but unfortunately the sub-par combat was a constant irritant.  It's too annoying to be played properly, imo, and even on the recently added 'fairy tail' mode the methodical hack, parry and slash element is tedious.  The easy mode does what it says on the tin, so it's impressive that the fighting still manages to be annoying even as you saunter towards victory.  I would have binned this for sure if I'd died regularly - the characters look nice enough but there seem to be gaps in the animation that make it look like a weird stop motion cartoon at times, which really takes its toll on skirmishes with nippier enemies.  A few extra frames wouldn't have gone amiss here.  The weight system for item management didn't really do it for me, and the feel of the jumping/ledge hanging is floaty bobbins too.  

Overall there are so many alternatives I can't really recommend this, despite it regularly threatening to be enjoyable in spite of the iffy combat.  Play Blasphemous instead, it's outstanding. A low [6]

What particularly hurts is I also suck at pub quizzes

72. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Castlevania Collection, Switch) - 80mins

Save state assisted push through what's apparently the best Gameboy Castlevania game.  I've not played many GB games - probably no more than a good handful to completion - but it's a fascinating machine when it comes to the difference between simpler and more advanced titles (much like the NES in that respect).  This was pretty good.  Bosses aside it felt easier than most other entries I've played in the franchise (taking things slowly takes most of the sting out of the difficulty), but there are still plenty of places for the uncautious player to come a cropper.  Two of the bosses wound me up (the bone snake that shifted between the ceiling and floor on a forced scrolling stage and the penultimate boss in particular), but not enough to take the shine off a decent 8-bit linear Castlevania.  The bits with the ropes that change direction were great, and the option to tackle the first four stages in any order is welcome.  84%   

Thought I'd have a look on cex.

£250 to buy.

Hmm...