My man. Agree 100%.

46. Serial Cleaners [5]
A sequel that's still an interesting concept - stealth crime scene cleaning - and still botches the execution. The AI is the main culprit here, simply being too dim to make sneaking around it interesting. The tone is also weird - half gritty gangster movie, half comedy - and the characters are a cliched bunch. It's a shame because there are some decent stealth playsets to work with, full of hidden routes, distractions and hiding spots. But it never makes the most of them.

47. Saturnalia [6]
Horror with a 70s European vibe, where you're stuck in a dark labyrinthine Sicilian village for a night being stalked by a monster. It's an investigation game, and that part of it is rather good, with a whole ton of clues to find that connect together to reveal a series of conspiracies. You swap control between four characters (once you find them all), and each has their own reasons for being out at night, giving you more stuff to investigate. It could almost be as great as some of the other notable detective games of recent years, but the random roaming monster lets it down. In the end it's more of an inconvenience than a terrifying presence.

48. The Chant [6]
More horror, this time more in the Resident Evil vein, where you're part of a small group taking part in a spiritual retreat on a remote island. During a mushroom-fueled meditation session, the gang conjures up something from the other side, and from then on you're performing the usual combo of puzzles, exploration and combat - although combat is a little different in that it involves hitting enemies with bunches of smoking herbs and chucking essential oils at them. It's a decent enough AA game really, except the scenario never stops feeling a little silly with all the new age nonsense, and the characters are hard to care about.

49. A Little to the Left [6]
A puzzle game where you have to tidy up and put things in order. When it's about straightening picture frames, finding the exact place for all the bits and bobs in a drawer, or organising a row of books by patterns on the spine, it's very pleasantly relaxing and satisfying. But in the second half (and it's only about three hours) it gets a bit too clever and abstract for its own good, with some far less intuitive solutions for re-arranging stuff.

50. Somerville [4]
I thought this was a real mess. It's not only the awkward controls, it's the absence of any emotional impact conveyed through the animation, sound effects and camera work. And it's hard not to compare it to Inside, which managed all that stuff without breaking a sweat.

51. Pentiment [9]
An interactive Umberto Eco novel that's every bit as brilliant as it promises to be. It's like settling in an RPG town and finding there's real depth to the NPCs after all. But also like playing a part in the unfolding of history. Torn between big events and small people, decisions are somehow monumental and insignificant, which is some balance to achieve.

52. Evil West [7]
A proper B-tier game done reasonably well. It's happy to be a dumb action game, and gets the most important bit right as the fighting is meaty and gutsy. The bits in between are routine switches and platforms stuff, and the story about vampires in the old west isn't as fun as it should be. But if you feel like diet God of War (perhaps no bad thing), it gets the job done.

I fancy Evil West more than GoW tbf.

Good on ya John!

50: FFVII Crisis Core (PS5) 7/10

Got this one to enjoy some FFVII story goodness.  I did play the PSP version a long time ago but had largely forgotten about it over the years since.  The reason for this is probably that I didn't really care about it, outside the stuff that you see in the original game.  I had a hard time caring about much of anything.  This may be due to the bad dialogue, bad voice acting, pantomime emoting you get in cut scenes.  I think the story is just not interesting, or at least not told in an interesting way.  Maybe better acting wouldn't have helped much.  I liked revisiting old scenes you get in flashbacks of FFVII and little else.

It's a quality remaster graphics wise - in still shots it doesn't look far removed from FFVII Remake.  In motion it's another thing entirely and you can tell it's based on an old portable game with dated animation, but it's a good effort nevertheless.  The music is great too.

I very much enjoyed the combat in the first half-2/3rds.  It's normal ARPG stuff with a slot machine twist, where you randomly get special moves and bonuses.  I couldn't get enough of it for a time.  The problem is you also get access to a bunch of bite size special missions.  I was plugging away at these, and unfortunately if you do too much of that you can become ridiculously overpowered.  I'm talking one shotting the final boss overpowered lol.  

I did like how the game is laid out in small chunks, so you can turn it on for 15 minutes and not worry you're gonna get bailed up with a hour long story section, like you can with RPGs.  This is one of the few modern games I wish I got on Switch instead of PS5; it's understandably well suited for mobile pick up and play.

Oddly this game made me lament not playing more 4/10 - 7/10 licenced games where I enjoy the source material - even though I really liked a lot of this game I still got a heap of enjoyment just from visiting the world.  Maybe I'll emulate that PS2 Xfiles game soon...

Spoilt modern gamer alert but I'll probably end up buying it on PS5. Series S version is capped at 30fps and there's no point in playing something semi-shiny with an olden days framerate.

189. Lil Gator Game - Switch (3-4hrs)

If 'A Short Hike meets my first Breath of the the Wild' floats your boat on paper then I can't imagine a world where you'd be unhappy with this on grass.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it, gator haters.  

You mission is to spruce up the playground area to entice your big sis back into the makebelieve adventure lark she's been too busy to entertain since swanning off to college.   To do this you have to recruit friends and complete main quests throughout the surprisingly not tiny open world island.  There's no map, no mission quest markers or any such piffle, and there's only one tower to climb (which you may or may not choose to do....for fun!).  'Just keep your eyes peeled for NPCs' is a slightly scattershot approach - we didn't even find one of the three main areas until we were maybe 3hrs in, simply because we'd avoided it by chance - but it's a good match for the quest at hand.  There's always something to do, so not knowing precisely what you're supposed to do next either a. Won't be a big deal or b. Actually improves the experience.  YMMV on which (or you might choose c. I hate it, I guess).  I'd go with a, Tilly would pick b as she was more than happy to just climb stuff and shield sledge down hills.  

Weapons don't break, currency is dished out all over the place, range weapons have infinite ammo, stamina regenerates nigh-on instantly, you can glide for miles, there's no fall damage and you can't die.  It's the nicest game in the world.  Even the dialogue is solid, despite the fact that exchanges do occasionally drag on for a little too long.  

Anyone with kids of early-ish gamesplaying age should treat themselves to the pass-the-pad charm injection ( @wookienopants, this is made for your lot surely), but anyone without access to little people who like the sound of all this should take a punt too.  For me it's an [8], but considering what it sets out to be and how far outside of the target audience I am it'd be churlish to go any lower than [9].  Unexpected gem of the year.  It even performs pretty well on Switch, with what felt to me like a mostly stable 60fps performance (chances are I'm talking out my arse and it's only 30 but I can't be bothered to look).  Many thanks, @yourfavouriteuncle - alongside Grounded it's Tilly's GotY.  

191. Circuit Superstars - Xbox One (6-7hrs)

Excellent isometric-ish TT racer - probably the best since Motorstorm RC - that wobbles a bit with other cars on the track, especially when you're jammed up in the pack (and when it goes off-road), but absolutely succeeds as a one car on the road ghost/leaderboard chaser.  

First impressions are great. It looks fantastic and runs perfectly on Xbox One.  I planned to play this on Series S but there was no need to brave the cold of the loft room as it runs at 60fps on the older HW.  I couldn't comment on the music because I muted it immediately and listened to my trusty Spotify Wheels on Road mix instead.  The view is perfect too, which often isn't the case in games like this - I only had an issue with it on one track, and that track felt like it was grafted on from an inferior game anyway.  Otherwise it always frames the action faultlessly.   

The Grand Prix mode is a bit of a slog, which is a shame, as you have to complete five sets of races per cup (of which there are 16 iirc).  Most of them consist of 5 lap races, but there are a few that require 10 and one bum-numbing marathon containing five tracks with 15 laps apiece.  Which took about an hour to get through (most races over 5 laps require one or more pit stops too).  I guess this is the nature of the beast, but I bet fatigue sets in if you're not bopping along to the music of Chris Wall & co.  The sore thumb track is a mostly off-road effort with undulating terrain, a few jumps and a silly incline.  It doesn't work and feels a bit like a top down Trackmania at times, rather than the streamlined circuit racer it's supposed to be (and is elsewhere).  I never saw the AI get flipped, but my car ended up on its roof multiple times after crowd surfing on the journeymen drivers you have to overtake as you make a push for the podium.  Anyway, that's just one (hideous) track.  I know Mantis Burn Racing isn't loved by some, but if you prefer your wheels on a gravel road that might be a better bet for this sort of thing.      

I managed to get 1st place on every cup thanks to playing on a mixture of amateur and semi-pro, but won't be returning to the campaign mode as I've had my fill and then some.  Hopefully Muzzy makes a thread though, because I have full faith in the fact that this would be an exceptional game to time trial.  There's a separate Top Gear track that seems like it might be a good place to start...

[7] as an overall package, but if you push everything other than the TT mode off the table it'll be as good as your competition makes it*.  Most importantly, every single vehicle handles nicely, so it doesn't do the 'lel this one's shit' thing most racers feel like they have to to keep up an annoying tradition.  Enjoyed.   

*Unless it doesn't have downloadable ghosts on the leaderboards - I haven't looked yet - but surely it does. 

I'm going to make a thread about games that should've been great but fell short of good. I can't make too many threads, it'd look desperate.

In that case I'll do it when I get home.

Thanks Moot, that’s that musical story game off my wish list. I heard the handling on that Circuit game was dodgy…?

I spend a ton on games p/m these days so not as rich as I could be . I buy the vast majority of stuff in sales but it all adds up, I reckon I average £30-35 on indies every month anyway (or more - it might surprise me if I checked so I probably won't).

RE: Circuit Superstars handling might feel dodgy to some I guess but it feels superb to me. Probably a bit much to say I liked it from the first corner but it wasn't far off.

Pfft. He’s got nothing on Tilly. 

I want more Tilly poems.

Playtonic love to recieve things like that btw, so if she does do one, you could send it on to them.

I might print out my Impossible Lair review and send them that.

192. Final Vendetta - Switch (1hr)

One of my most wanted games of the year, but I read enough reviews to know I wouldn't be able to squash the disappointment it if I'd paid £22.49.  Enter yesterday's half price sale slash, and here we are.  It's a faux coin-up, and despite a couple of additional unlockable modes all you really get is a straight up arcade game that mostly commits to being straight from 1990 (the animation could never pass for a true retro belt scroller though - It's lush).  It's worth giving fair warning here: this is closer to Final Fight than Streets of Rage 4.  Slightly disingenuous perhaps - you can run and juggle enemies a bit, there are super moves, stomps for downed foes, dodges and a block so your repertoire might make an OG guy jealous, but it still nails its colours to a simpler mast than most - you need to play it to see really; it's deliberately lite on depth.  Think 'solid and chunky' rather than fluid or refined.  It reminded me of a much improved Super Punch Patrol on occasion (a slightly iffy curio that launched at £4.49), which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Music is excellent, and provided by Utah Saints.  I didn't know much about them other than assuming that they were responsible for the track that goes "Utah Saints, U U U Utah Saints!!", and the fact that they're from Utah.  It turns out I was wrong about one of those things.  Graphics are smashing too - Bitmap Bureau know their way around nu retro visuals for sure (see also: Battle Axe and Xeno Crisis).  I can never tell whether character design in these 80s/90s beat 'em up homages are accidentally crap or deliberately crap, but either way the end result is perfect.  See roster gif below for a chef's kiss to the eyeballs.  It's set in London too (hold tight), albeit one that could've been designed by someone who saw some postcards once.  There aren't a ton of enemy designs, but there's just about enough variety in the fodder types to sustain the half hour runtime.  Plus they're called things like Barry, Clive and my personal favourite, Berk.  Bosses are fine, aside from the last one who struck me as a credit munching prick.  There are no continues, so be prepared to put the time in if you want to beat it on Hard (5 lives).  I got to the end of stage 4 on my first go, then dropped it to easy (9 lives) for my second attempt, and finished with 10 lives.  There's also a casual mode, where the enemies presumably don't fight back at all. So yeah, difficulty seems a bit odd.  

It's not perfect (or is it?) but I had a brilliant time with it last night.  The rest of the fam had tickets to Wicked so I spent the evening watching TV and playing this.  10/10 evening, 7/10 game.  Buy now if you can rope another player along for the ride - get on it, Yoss/Andy/Retro/Wario/Eric and other fans of the genre.

It definitely does enough to warrant three gifs: