145. Mega Turrican - Mega Drive (100mins)

My first real taste of this fondly remembered franchise, unless you count a stage or two when picking from the hundreds of copied floppys on my mate's Amiga in the early 90s.  I didn't even know they were horizontal fire shooters, I assumed they were multidirectional a la Contra.  The shooting is strong, as is the movement/jumping and bomb roll move, but unfortunately the grappling hook just feels nasty with a non rose-tinted view.  It's okay, but also fiddly and annoying.  Aside from this, the game was going great guns until the obligatory maze-like stage popped up and ruined the flow.  It's a decent shooter, better than most similar efforts circa 1994, but it lacks the timeless design of the very best.  Some of the weapon orb placement seems particularly scattershot and there are some cheap hits in there. Plus a number of enemies need to be cheesed to avoid trading hits, especially large flying creatures.

On the whole it's got what you need from a run & gun though.  Great visuals, good music, an above average array of bosses and a set of mostly tight levels that don't stretch out for an eternity.  At release I reckon this would've felt like an 85%, but the above-80%, sub-90% area is a tricky one to compare to modern titles.  If this released as is on a digital storefront as a new retro shooter and had to be judged by modern sensibilities regarding retro reimaginings (often better than their inspiration these days, imho) the reaction would be mixed I reckon - certain elements of certain types of 2D games have been refined since, and only the very best are timeless.  

An upper-mid tier 'of its time' game, then.  Still decent, hasn't aged as well as some but clearly better than most 16-bit shooters.  

Making a note of that for when my retro run through eventually lands on the PS1.

Ah right I did wonder if the version I played had the music changed for western release.

I finally finished another game! Been almost 6 months (although I could/should count Turtles as I doubt I'll play that anymore).

5. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch) - 11/10 - 5-10hrs
Played through in co-op with my boy. Some ok/good bits, some bad bits, but mostly utterly meh. Average to the bone. At least the boy really enjoyed it, was his birthday present back in May.
[5]

Housemarque. *Swoon*

Even when they’re bad, they’re still good.

Part 1: Games 1-4 (Ready or Not, Can Androids Pray, Bad End Theater, Anger Foot)
Part 2: Game 5 (Bloodborne PSX)
Part 3: Game 6 (Day Repeat Day)
Part 4: Games 7-14 (Elden Ring, GT7, Horizon: Forbidden West, Emily is Away 3, Fifa 22, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Good Night Knight, There is no Game)
Part 5: Games 15-22 (Disco Elysium, Cyberpunk 2077, Deep Rock Galactic, YAKLAD, Manifold Garden, Factori, Circadian Dice, Nier Re[in]carnation)
Part 6: Game 23 (The Sexy Brutale)
Part 7: Games 24-31 (Dragon's Dogma, Vampyr, Rogue Legacy 2, Lair of the Clockwork God, Escape Simulator, Ender Lillies, Rhythm Doctor, Citizen Sleeper)
Part 8: Games 32-33 (You Have to Win this Game, Narita Boy)
Part 9: Game 34 (Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion)
Part 10: Games 35-44 (NORCO, Buck Up and Drive, A Year of Springs, Buddy Game Simulator 1984, Dicey Dungeons, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order, Grindstone, What the Golf, Reigns, Moonlighter)
Part 11: Game 45 (Ctrl Alt Ego)

46. Tales of Arise 

This game is tonally awkward, unevenly paced, repetitive and tropey as fuck. The storytelling and attempts at philosophy and DEEP THOUGHT are brutally clumsy - did you know that Slavery is bad? Because it is, and this game talks a lot about slavery. I'm pretty sure the words slave or slavery are mentioned literally hundreds of times over the course of the game. Endless philosophical musings about slavery and revenge and control and it's all so, so crude.

And yet, none of that matters because the game is actually pretty great.

I went searching for secrets, and cooked and caught legendary fish in every fishing spot. I levelled up my friendships, chatting around the campfire. I sought out dangerous monsters and crafted unique weapons. I did side-quests and found hidden locations and ran a farm and played dress up and...

The characters you meet are a fun group of people to spend time with. The core romance that beats at the heart of the story just works, despite having seen it 100 times before. Sweet dumb, bland hero bloke and sharp, vulnerable, acerbic woman. These are all sweet characters with painful pasts, all attempting to overcome prejudice, or anger, or hate.

And then there's Shionne, the most obviously tsundere love interest to ever exist - despite her character being written with THEMES in bold capital letters in mind; all bludgeoning, no subtlety whatsoever (she has thorns that attack those who touch her, which she cannot control, thus she is afraid of making connections with people)  - it doesn't matter. She's great and the changes in her personality and relationships had me completely onboard. The game can be funny, and sweet and moving and it does that in spite of being utterly predictable. And that's the thing - there are BIG HEARTFELT MOMENTS that were completely obvious and cheesy and tropey and it doesn't matter. I was onboard because the game did them well. The game did them with earnestness and love and heart. And sometimes that's enough. 

The combat is fantastic too, putting FFVIIR to shame in showing how action combat should be done in a JRPG. The story zips along. Boss fights are a real step up and force you to use your toolkit effectively. Like FFXII, it brings MMO mechanics into a single-player JRPG - featuring AoE avoidance, DPS checks, crowd control and the like. It's a blast of over the top moves and special attacks and watching it onscreen without playing, it looks utterly unreadable. Yet, like the story it works. It's fast, and colourful, and punchy and over the top. And just fun. Just watch this vid below - that either looks awful to you, or you'll laugh (with sound on) with pure joy at the excess on display:



It will not reshape the world. It is not in the top, top tier of RPGS, but it is among the best of the rest. The Europa League entrants compared to the likes of Persona, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Divinity slugging it out in the Champions League. 

It's also a generous game - similar to Dragon Quests, Tales games often, as Tim Rogers puts it, contain their own sequels. A full story gives way to a long epilogue that expands and re-contextualises what has gone before. Unfortunately, this long post-game is a proper step below what had gone before, with a horrid stop start pace frequently interrupted but cutscenes - the pace, which been perfectly judged up until then, slows to a crawl and I'll admit the end was a proper slog for me. Once complete though, a whole bunch of optional events open up around the world - the post-post-game, and it is ultimately up to each person how much they want to engage with that. I had had my fill and ended it there, but others will relish the challenges presented. 

It's kinda hard to give this one a number - the highs are very high, but it's also full of small annoyances, and the final dozen hours really are rough. And yet it's also so incredibly full of heart and joy and just...good anime times...that it feels mean to dock the score too harshly. So, a generous [8] even though it could reasonable be given a slightly lower score. If you have low tolerances for JRPG tropes and the like, avoid this. But if you just want a fun adventure with colourful OTT combat and a cool cast of characters, this could well be worth picking up.

47. Mini Metro  


This was decent and cheap and kills time every now and then. Enjoyed going back to maps and trying to do some of the challenges. Struggled with the controls and laying down or altering lines a few times - minimalist interfaces are well and good, but I have chunky man hands and playing on an iPhone screen was occasionally more frustrating than it needed to be. Fun and fine. A [6]

48. Gloomwood 


If someone is selling an immersive sim, I am buying an immersive sim. The likes of Thief, Deus Ex, Dishonored and Prey come along so rarely that even if the game doesn't deliver on all fronts, you're still better off taking what you can get. Of course, System Shock is on the way back, Deathloop was released (and played) and now we have an indie Thief with Guns in Gloomwood which is now out in Early Access.

Gloomwood has been around for a while and has been pretty strongly anticipated by the ImSim lot. Actually playing it, though, I'm unsure of how good it actually is. Yes it is an indie game and yes it is Early Access, so all this can change, but the world seems to lack a layer of interactivity that i'd expect from a game of this ilk, the enemy AI is awful, and the content is anaemic. Again, Early Access - but Gloomwood has been in development for years and it's shocking how little there is to show for it so far. 

It looks the part, it sounds the part, the environment and level design are solid. But, it's lacking something. It's lacking a lot actually, and I'd discourage anyone from getting this just yet. Wait a year and see what it is like then. [5]

49. Kill it with Fire 


There are spiders hidden all around your house. Get rid of them with guns. 

It's a one gag game, but it's a solid gag and I had fun with this for a bit. [6]

50. Civilization IV 

Civ 4 is a Civlization game, in that it feels incredibly deep and full of complex systems, and yet utterly shallow at the same time. It's full of improvements over previous Civ games, but also annoyances - it's all too easy to find democratic relationships break down in an unfixable downward spiral with little recourse to fixing them. It's also a little annoying how much the base game is improved by the DLC, which adds back in many functions and systems that arguably should have been there from the beginning. [6]

51. Civilization VI 
Civ 6 is a Civlization game, in that it feels incredibly deep and full of complex systems, and yet utterly shallow at the same time. It's full of improvements over previous Civ games, but also annoyances - religion feels utterly overpowered, and there's a lack of democratic negotiation options for pushing back against choices made by your allies. It's also a little annoying how much the base game is improved by the DLC, which adds back in many functions and systems that arguably should have been there from the beginning. 

This time the game used hexagons instead of squares. 

In Gonzo's honour, my first victory came by spreading Islam around the world and declaring Jihad on any infidels who rejected the word of Allah. [6]

52. In Other Waters 


The game the dude wot made Citizen Sleeper made before making Citizen Sleeper. Like Citizen Sleeper, it is ostensibly a visual novel wrapped up in a unique way - this time you are effectively viewing the game through the instrumentation as you guide a xenobiologist and an AI across, and below, the ocean surface of an alien planet. 

Best approached slowly, where attention can be given. Take your time with this one, enjoy the sounds and dialogue and general vibe. For fans of sci-fi and visual novels, there's a really cool game here. [8]

53. Deathloop 


I like Deathloop more than I should, but also less than I want to.

The concept is great, the art design is top notch (as always), I think the dialogue between Colt and Julianna is really, really well done. Maps are well designed, weapons feel punchy, and the powers all feel unique and worth experimenting with.

But I'm not a fan of the AI. It's so dumb. I don't know if they were trying to balance around invasions but it was a mistake.
I'm not a fan of how little puzzle there actually is to this groundhog day murder simulator, or how little flexibility there is with killing the visionaries. 
I am not a fan of how much time you'll basically spend in the menu screen, where when you just need some info it goes menu, move through a map for 2 minutes, and back to menu. 
I don't find the loot / upgrade system particularly worthwhile. 

And then I'll be perched on a rooftop, nexus a whole crowd of goons, shift along the rafters, drop a visionary down into a grinder with a button that I discovered on a previous run, and then pop the goons in one go while nexus is still up with a silenced headshot. And there will be nothing as good as that 1 minutes sequence in any other FPS this year. Or, likely, next year. 

For me, this ends up being B-Tier Arkane. Prey still the daddy for me and i'm ok with that - B-Tier Arkane is still better than a lot of games and these games don't come around very often. [7]

54. Blink 
A Ludum Dare game, and a good one at that. Short, sweet, and very cool. Play it on PC and have your phone handy. Enjoy. [8]


Next up:
Eidos Montreal's: Marvel's: Guardians of the Galaxy: The Game 
The House in Fata Morgana (maybe, this one might take a while longer)
Two Point Campus
Modded Fallouts (New Vegas and 4) 
Peglin
Stray
Doom 2016

hylian_elf wrote:

Fucking hell, you’re really rattling through them! Good to see you’ve got the time to play, cos I know a while back you were super duper busy with work.

Still busy, just lucky I can play some games in work break and also don't need much sleep.

Fata Morgana is like 50 hours rip

Nabbed In Other Waters in a sale a few months ago. Looking forward to it but also haven't fancied it yet. Will dive in when the time is right.

Sounds good enough, in at some point. I've had the same haircut since I was 12 anyway.

Yes Wario lad it's a banger of a game. I very much recommend playing user created courses they go to mad lengths spending 100s of hours on em.

149. Paradise Marsh - Switch (2hrs)

Existential philosophy disguised as a collect 'em up.  Catch critters in a low detail, procedurally generated game world with a handful of distinct habitats, restore the night sky and join the dots to enlightenment.  I read next to nothing before playing and assumed it was a cross between Alba and a walking sim, which I guess it is at a stretch, but it's far more oblique than I expected.  Tilly lost interest in the first fifteen minutes.  I suspect mainly because it gives the player zero direction (as you saunter around I'm pretty sure it jumbles the layout of the marsh anyway), but the actual mechanics didn't help - it's all a bit imprecise, even just trying to centre the camera on a clickable object can be problematic, and the net wafting feels a bit like trying to catch a budgie with a T shirt (but without the guilt after repeated failure).

It's a decent enough curio on the whole, just not my cup of tea really.  Plus the Switch port is horrible.  I'm fine with the visual style, but surely such a simplistic looking flat shaded approach should result in a game that doesn't run like shit?  It may have been patched by now, but we've got no WiFi for the week (in the family caravan, which I've probably already mentioned umpteen times as the daddy/daughter half term tradition is easily my favourite week of the year, no offence to Mrs. Moot who stays behind to work).  I've got no reference points but I'd suggest avoiding this version for now - I'd wager the Bone/PC versions run smoothly.  

This next bit should probably go in spoiler tags as I'm not sure if it's a technical problem or a deliberately coded beard stroke:

Considering the treacly controls and the fact that it chugs into flickbook mode whenever it rains or snows I'm settling on a [6] for this.  Not a bad experience, with some decent writing propping it up, but a swing and a miss on Switch overall.

151. Gunstar Heroes - Mega Drive (70 mins)

Iconic MD run & gun that staunchly passes the test of time.  It's controlled chaos rather than clinical precision, but you've got the moveset to get yourself out of trouble with a bit of skill/practice.  Learn to embrace the kerfuffle and it's a legit experience worthy of its place in the hall of fame.  Couple this with great tunes, impossibly good visuals and a sweet style all of its own and it's one of the big boys for 16-bit Top Trumps.  

There's not a lot to fault really.  Some screens make you push on to stop enemies spawning indefinitely, which I found a litttle annoying, and the shmup section is good rather than great (a bit of a Treasure hallmark on the quiet - forced scrolling shooter sections in their platform games aren't quite all that and a bag of chips, yet their dedicated shmups are, of course, awesome). Brilliant game though, I think this was Treasure's first Mega Drive game?  Ridiculous.  '93 93%.

11. Xenoblade Chrobicles 3

80 hours later, here we are. I've not put a shift into a game like that in a long time, certainly not since C was born.

And a game that played into my own anxieties too. Xenoblade 3 is a game about accepting death, about understanding the relevance of your time on earth, about, fuckkn, existentialism. I found a lot of it really difficult to get on with, but here we are on the other side.

Production wise, it's off the chart, there's not a better soundtrack in any game this year going, no matter what anyone says. It really goes places, and I've loved every Xenoblade game I've played, but FUCK, don't go so hard next time.

Yeah. It's a commitment. I loved it.