What games did you complete? 2022 Edition

[Popo]

Tomb Raider (1996)

Having unlocked a fabulous world of emulation via Steam Deck, I quickly found myself knee-deep in Lara’s original PlayStation game over the past week or so, and having finished it off this evening I must say it’s still a wonderful game. I remember almost all of the stages with a level of intimacy you can only really get by playing a game at a young age - I would have been 14 or so when I was playing this, and all the different tombs are seared into my memory deeply (except the last level, which I don’t remember at all, and which I probably never reached on previous playthroughs). 
 

Considering how experimental and ground-breaking the game was for the time, it’s remarkably well formed. What story there is is charmingly amateur, but the voice acting is generally good and the music is excellent, which both lend an air of legitimacy to the whole thing. This is the only one of the Core Design games I played to completion, so I think a series play-through might now be in order. 
 

Spoiler

06/01/2022 - Halo Infinite

09/01/2022 - Hyper Light Drifter

05/02/2022 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps

13/02/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy

20/02/2022 - It Takes Two

20/03/2022 - Super Mario 3D Land

20/03/2022 - Panzer Dragoon: Remake

21/03/2022 - Psychonauts 2

18/04/2022 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

08/05/2022 - New Super Mario Bros 2

19/05/2022 - Resident Evil 4 HD

25/05/2022 - Tunic

16/06/2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

16:06/2022 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

09/07/2022 - Luigi’s Mansion 2

16/07/2022 - Journey

19/07/2022 - Tomb Raider

 

[Jamie John]

25. Sifu (2022) - PS5

 

 

 

I thought this was excellent, surprisingly so, as I don't really go in for martial arts movies, nor do I tend to play many fighting or beat-em-up style games. Really, however, I'd say this has a lot more in common with Sekiro than Streets of Rage, most obviously through how Sifu's combat, like in FromSoft's game, centres around breaking enemies' structure and creating openings for deathblows, rather than whittling down health bars. Another point of comparison is the Batman Arkham games, in the way that you're frequently thrown into the centre of a mob of enemies and have to focus as much on managing space and evading as you do on actually fighting. It's a lot more challenging and unforgiving than Batman, however, but repeating the same levels over and over allows you to predict and practise, and the satisfaction you feel when you realise just how far your skills have developed is fantastic: tearing through a dozen thugs without breaking a sweat is absolutely thrilling, more like a brutally violent dance than a brawl.

 

Although initially quite overwhelming (and another example of a modern game that doesn't explain its systems especially well), the recently-added easier difficulty mode allows you to play through the game relatively comfortably. This lets you get your bearings and figure out the different systems, before you then go back for the original experience. That's what I did, anyway - once through on easy and then again on the default - but I liked the game enough to replay each of its five stages a dozen times and complete its various challenges, eventually picking up the platinum trophy.

 

Very good. Hopefully it'll be added to one of Sony's PS Plus tiers soon, as despite some initial hubbub when it first came out, discussion about it appears to have died down pretty quickly. I get the feeling some people might be too intimidated by it to risk shelling out, but the easier difficulty seems a great addition to get more players invested.

 

Recommended for those who enjoyed the combat in the abovementioned Sekiro and Batman Arkham trilogy, but also other meaty games with a high skill ceiling, like Returnal, Hades, Death's Door and even Lonely Mountains: Downhill. All require a lot of commitment but reward you with big pay-offs.

 

9/10

 

Played in 2022:

 

Spoiler

1. Halo Infinite (2021) - XSX - 7/10

2. Bowser's Fury (2021) - Switch - 8/10

3. The Forgotten City (2021) - XSX - 8/10

4. Grindstone (2020) - Switch - 8/10

5. Inscryption (2021) - PC - 9/10

6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (replay) (2001) - Switch - 8/10

7. The Wolf Among Us (2013) - PC - 7/10

8. What Remains of Edith Finch (replay) (2017) - XSX - 8/10

9. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (2021) - PS5 - 8/10

10. Kill It With Fire (2020) - XSX - 3/10

11. Islanders (2019) - PC - 5/10

12. Creaks (2020) - Switch - 8/10

13. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (2019) - Switch - 9/10

14. The Last Guardian (replay) (2016) - PS5

15. Exo One (2021) - XSX - 8/10

16. Red Matter (2018) - Quest 2 - 7/10

17. Elden Ring (2022) - XSX - 10/10

18. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022) - Switch - 8/10

19. Slay the Spire (2019) - Switch - 7/10

20. Blasphemous (2019) - Switch - 7/10

21. Superliminal (2019) - XSX - 8/10

22. Tunic (2022) - XSX - 9.5/10

23. Fez (replay) (2012) - Switch

24. Citizen Sleeper (2022) - PC - 9/10

25. Sifu (2022) - PS5 - 9/10

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

Horizon: Forbidden West (2022) - PS5

 

[Sprite Machine]

Previously...

Spoiler

1.) Lego City Undercover - PC - 2017 (2013)
2.) What Remains of Edith Finch - PS4 - 2017
3.) Superliminal - PS4 - 2020 (2019)
4.) Untitled Goose Game - Switch - 2019
5.) One Finger Death Punch 2 - PC - 2019
6.) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PC - 2011 (2010)
7.) Vanquish - PC - 2017 (2010)

8.) Mass Effect (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2007)
9.) Telling Lies - PC - 2019
10.) Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One - 2015
11.) Halo Infinite - Xbox Series - 2021
12.) Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - PC - 2016 (2015)
13.) Alice: Madness Returns - PC - 2011
14.) The Forgotten City - Xbox Series - 2021
15.) Titanfall 2 - PC - 2016

16.) Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - Switch - 2019 (2006)

17.) Sonic Origins: Economical Edition - PC - 1991/2020
18.) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Switch - 2017 (2014)
19.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War - Switch - 2018 (2014)

 

20.) Terranigma - SNES - 1996

The last of the 'big' Super Nintendo games I wanted to play from my curated list, spurred on by the release of the SNES Mini, although I ended up moving to PC emulation. I've now pretty much played everything I want on the system I never owned, so I'm taking a break from retro.

 

Published by Enix, back when Square and Enix weren't the same company but were releasing very similar games. It's the final part of a loosely connected 'Gaia' trilogy, with which I am not familar (this one didn't get released until 1996 and skipped the US entirely). It takes place on a weird version of Earth and tasks the player character, 'Ark', with restoring life to the surface world. First plants, then birds and other animals, before resurrecting human civilisations (and losing the ability to talk to the aforementioned plants and animals). There's heaven and hell allegories, reincarnation, fate, gods and all sorts in the story, and half-way through you get to help develop villages into towns and cities by way of mostly optional side quests. The combat is realtime, not unlike a Zelda, Alundra or Mana game, and although it's simple, it's pretty fun, although there isn't enough of it. Instead, there's a lot of slow busywork, travelling here and there, triggering events by talking to the exact person in the exact circumstance, and by the end I had to resort to a walkthrough because I was getting bored with it all.

 

Not a terrible game, but it struggled to hold my interest. The in-game clock reckons I spent 18 hours with it, but I think it runs slow and it was easily double that. Nice music. Wouldn't play it again.

[instasis]

20/07: Mafia 2: Definitive Edition (PS5)

 

Another one courtesy of PS+ Premium. I did not enjoy this - it's an absolute shock moving from the first to this. The controls are different in every way, the shooting is loose while demanding precision. The difficulty is punishing. The story is a bit shit. The graphics are bobbins.

 

Disappointed in every way - I was going to go straight to Mafia 3 but this has really knocked my enjoyment of the series. Gonna have a break.

 

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

09/04: House Of Ashes (PS5)

13/05: Exo One (Xbone Sex)

13/05: A Memoir Blue (Xbone Sex)

14/05: Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

16/05: Trek To Yomi (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Tetris Effect (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Xbone Sex)

28/05: Far: Changing Tides (Xbone Sex)

02/06: Record of Lodoss War - Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Xbone Sex)

20/06: Forza Horizon 5 (Xbone Sex)

26/06: Lake (Xbone Sex)

27/06: Last Day Of June (PS5)

29/06: Little Nightmares (PS5)

01/07: Deliver Us The Moon (PS5)

09/07: House Flipper (Xbone Sex)
12/07: Mafia Definitive Edition (PS5)

 

[Unofficial Who]

3 hours ago, Pelekophoros said:

20/07: Mafia 2: Definitive Edition (PS5)

 

Another one courtesy of PS+ Premium. I did not enjoy this - it's an absolute shock moving from the first to this. The controls are different in every way, the shooting is loose while demanding precision. The difficulty is punishing. The story is a bit shit. The graphics are bobbins.

 

Disappointed in every way - I was going to go straight to Mafia 3 but this has really knocked my enjoyment of the series. Gonna have a break.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

09/04: House Of Ashes (PS5)

13/05: Exo One (Xbone Sex)

13/05: A Memoir Blue (Xbone Sex)

14/05: Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

16/05: Trek To Yomi (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Tetris Effect (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Xbone Sex)

28/05: Far: Changing Tides (Xbone Sex)

02/06: Record of Lodoss War - Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Xbone Sex)

20/06: Forza Horizon 5 (Xbone Sex)

26/06: Lake (Xbone Sex)

27/06: Last Day Of June (PS5)

29/06: Little Nightmares (PS5)

01/07: Deliver Us The Moon (PS5)

09/07: House Flipper (Xbone Sex)
12/07: Mafia Definitive Edition (PS5)

 

 

I've heard the remaster of Mafia 2 is awful.

 

Mafia 3 is a mixed bag, for what it's worth I loved it on the PS4, it introduced me to this complete disaster of a song that I became obsessed with for a bit.

 

 

[instasis]

2 hours ago, Unofficial Who said:

 

I've heard the remaster of Mafia 2 is awful.

 

Mafia 3 is a mixed bag, for what it's worth I loved it on the PS4,

 

It's just up-ressed, not much more to it really. It's also a bit of a buggy mess - it semi-regularly stopped spawning assets in, requiring a full game reboot to have things like trees, and street furniture render. It completely missed an entire section of a level one time. The checkpoint system is abysmal. Insta-death is baked in in places. There's a torture scene in there and my game bugged out and stretched the NPC's face across a meter of space. It's just bleh.

 

I'll get to Mafia 3 eventually, but I had hoped to do the DLC on this and I couldn't want to spend less time in it.

[ImmaculateClump]

Like Dreamer - Trial, Maniac 1cc

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

Z-Warp - Hardcore 1cc

Galacticon - 1cc, Level 36 (loop 4)
Drainus - Normal 2-all, Arcade 2-all
Red-Hawk - 1cc

Tukiyono - 1cc (ending 1), 1cc (ending 2)

Love - Arcade

Spacewing War - Story mode 1cc

AISZplus - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Arcade, normal 1cc (April)

Deathsmiles IIX - 1cc TLB

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Like Dreamer - Trial, Expert 1cc

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

Z-Warp - Hardcore 1cc

Galacticon - 1cc, Level 36 (loop 4)
Drainus - Normal 2-all, Arcade 2-all
Red-Hawk - 1cc

Tukiyono - 1cc (ending 1), 1cc (ending 2)

Love - Arcade

Spacewing War - Story mode 1cc

AISZplus - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Arcade, normal 1cc (April)

Deathsmiles IIX - 1cc TLB

Like Dreamer - Trial, Maniac 1cc

[Unofficial Who]

Jul

 

31/07 The King of Dragons (Arcade/PC) This is really too shallow to be played as a solo experience but I coin spammed my way through mainly to revisit the pixel art that wowed me the last time I played through this a couple of years back.

 

 

30/07 Son Son (Arcade/PS5) Decided to see how this collection played on the PS5 (you can play Son Son for free) and managed to finish this in one session. It's a very simple platform shooter based on Monkey that ramps things up until it all becomes a bit frantic. Not a bad little distraction for the price of zero coins!

 

 

30/07 Don't Pull (Arcade/PC) A shameless 16 level Pengo clone by Capcom. It's a bit frantic in the later levels but by then I'd worked out I could use the fireballs racing around the border to my advantage by kiting foes into them. It's Pengo, nothing much more to say about it.

 

 

30/07 Chariot: Adventure Through The Sky (Arcade/PC) This is the first time I've spent much time with this horizontal shooter, the sequel to Midnight Wanderers and it's a bit of a hidden gem! It's beautiful like all Capcom games of this era but it also has an interesting Dragon Breed style tali mechanic that can be used to shield you from attacks. There's not much more to say expect that it's short, sweet and pretty fair. So much so that I'll forgive the last level being a boss rush. There's one boss in particular that a lot of people feel was directly referenced in Cuphead as well.

 

 

30/07 Midnight Wanderers: Quest for the Chariot (Arcade/PC) Now this is great. A forgotten run and gun shooter that in many ways I think may have influenced a lot of games that followed, especially Cuphead! Mind you unlike Cuphead this is possible for mere mortals to complete. The art is lush and reminds me a lot of western comics from the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries. It's not long but it's packed full of action. Worth seeking out.

 

 

29/07 Magic Sword (Arcade/PC) I last played this through on the 360 and it's still a really shallow game. But the art is just lovely. It's more of a run and gun game than the RPG it pretends to be. 

 

 

29/07 LED Storm (Arcade/PC) This takes the road sections of Last Duel, removes the shooting and makes it into an updated version of Bump'n'Jump and for some reason it just works. I played the excellent C64 port back in the day and this version obviously looks better but doesn't sound as good. Still great fun and actually fairly pitched difficulty wise for an arcade game.

 

 

29/07 Last Duel (Arcade/PC) I remember skipping this in the arcades and then on compilations because it looked so "by the numbers", by the time this was released in 1988 there were so many more inspiring shooters both in the arcades and at home. So this is the first time I've played through this and...well it's not bad. It's your standard vertical shooter that alternates between on road sections and more traditional flying sections. Survive until the end, kill each boss rinse repeat. It just feels very....average.

 

 

26/07 Raji:An Ancient Epic (PC) I really like the look of this when I played a demo a while back but just didn't get long with the timing of the fighting. I had the same problem with Tunic so I used the same solution and restarted in story mode, a mode that allows you one hit kills and infinite health. Setting a game in India is really underutilised and this looks as colourful as Assassin's Creed Chronicles India did. At times I really like the old school feel of the camera view (it's on an invisible running track like early PSOne games) and it reminded me oddly of Prince of Persia and The Last Ninja (depending on the camera angle at the time.) At other times I was frustrated with the lack of camera control which led to me ducking down lots of dead ends. I found the music ranged from great to stunning (the second level was my favourite with the incorporation of bird songs. There's a lot of lore dumps in the form of murals which can slow things down too much and the game sort of ends really abruptly which made me wonder if it was a cliffhanger or a bad ending. It's a short game and leaving GamePass this week so if you want to play it now is the time. For me an average game in a great setting.

 

 

24/07 Tiger Road (PC/Arcade) The playing of Capcom arcade games continues with this interesting little platform fighting game. Set in China you play as a warrior monk off to rescue kidnapped children. It feels like the controls could be a bit tighter and the design owes a lot to Ghosts'n'Goblins. It has a weird graphic look, better than 8 bit but not quite 16 bit with some ok sprites but some amazing (for the time) pixel backdrops of statues. I did coin scum but it does make you play through the entire sub section if you fail and all the rewinds in the world won't help if you've played poorly here.

 

 

24/07 Side Arms Hyper Dyne (PC/Arcade) I've always cheated my way through this game through coin scumming and it's always been a bit of a miserable experience. This time though I powered up and just rewound any time I got hit and it made for a fun time even if I was still cheating. I kind of remembered this looking awful, turns out my memory was tarnished by some of the awful home ports because this looks great! It still pulls the old Capcom coin op trick of sticking enemies behind you but it feels a lot fairer given you can just flip your face direction.

 

 

23/07 Gun.Smoke (PC/Arcade) It's easy to see why this western themed follow up to Commando is somewhat forgotten. An unfriendly control scheme and a very difficult challenge (even on easy) that I couldn't get through without rewind scumming. Unlike Exed Exes I didn't feel like I was getting better and it felt like this game was pitched more towards taking your quarters than being enjoyable. Which probably made it money in the short term but lost it a chance at the long term market. There's more variety here than with Exed Exes but I can't see myself ever going back to this. Lovely pixel art though.

 

 

23/07 Exed Exes (PC/Arcade) aka Savage Bees. I've played this before but this time I was confident I could defeat all 16 stages before the game loops using my skills (and a lot of rewinding.) It's an odd vertical shooter. Obviously an attempt to be Capcom's answer to Xevious it can't match the look of that game but it does have a unique look that obviously inspired the parallax backdrops in C64 favourite Bounder. There's a big boss rush at the end and to be fair once you've made it through three levels you've seen everything with later levels turning into a bit of a bullet hell. Not bad.

 

 

Earlier this month.

 

10/07 Bangkok Knights (C64)

02/07 Zero Wing (Megadrive/Switch)

 

Earlier this year.

 

Spoiler

42. 26/06 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (PC) 

41. 17/06 Psycho Soldier (Arcade/PC)

40. 16/06 Prehistoric Isle in 1930 (Arcade/PC)

39. 16/06 Street Smart (Arcade/PC)

38. 12/06 Midnight Scenes:The Nanny (PC)

37. 28/05 SUPERHOT (PC) 

36. 28/05 Tetris Effect:Connected (PC)

35. 22/05 Sea of Solitude (PC) 

34. 21/05 Scott Morrison Simulator (Browser) 

33. 16/05 Full Throttle:Remastered (PC)

32. 15/05 Unbeatable [White Label] (PC)

31. 14/05 Trek To Yomi (PC) 

30. 13/05 Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (PC)

29. 09/05 California Games (C64)

28.01/05 The Stanley Parable:Ultra Deluxe (PC)

27. 27/04 The Darkside Detective:A Fumble in the Dark (PC)

26. 23/04 Streets of Rage 4 (PC)

25. 17/04 Exo One (PC)

24. 16/04 A Memoir Blue (PC)

23. 08/04 Slay the Spire (PC)

22. 03/04 Tunic (PC) 

21. 02/04 Kingdom:Two Crowns (PC)

20. 26/03 Say No! More (PC)

19. 21/03 Wizball (C64)

18. 17/03 Battle Circuit (PC/Arcade)

17. 17/03 We Happy Few (PC)

16. 07/03 Powered Gear (PC/Arcade) 

15. 06/03 FAR:Changing Tides (PC)

14. 05/03 In Other Waters (PC)

13. 02/03 Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck/PC) 

12. 27/02 Final Fantasy 14:A Realm Reborn:Seventh Astral Era (PC) 

11. 25/02 Vampire Survivors (PC) 

10. 18/02 Hypnospace Outlaw

9. 05/02 Final Fight (PC/Arcade)

8. 31/01 Dynasty Wars (Arcade/PC)

7. 31/01 Mega Twins (Arcade/PC) 

6, 29/01 Superhot:Mind Control Delete (PC) 

5. 16/01 The Forgotten City (PC)

4. 09/01 Mr Driller Drill Land (PC)

3. 07/01 Olija (PC)

2. 07/01 It's a Knockout! (C64) 

1. 02/01 Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC)

 

Abandoned games

03/07 Cris Tales (PC)

03/07 Atomicrops (PC)

13/05 The Wild at Heart (PC)

19/03 Narita Boy (PC)

04/01 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (PC)

 

[Jamie John]

26. Primordia (2012) - Steam Deck

 

 

This is a point-and-click game that I apparently bought in January last year for £2.09, though I'm not sure why I did. You play as a humanoid robot called Horatio who, alongside Crispin, his wise-cracking floating assistant, have to venture out into a post-apocalyptic, post-human world inhabited solely by other robots in order to recover a power core after it's stolen from your home.

 

 

It started off quite well. I liked the painterly art style and moody atmosphere, and the puzzles were challenging while still being logical. Pretty quickly, however, these puzzles became horribly obtuse and I was forced to take the 90s era Lucas Arts tactic of just arbitrarily using everything in my inventory on everything else in the vague hope of making progress. Unlike those Lucas Arts games, however, there was none of the humour or the charm here to see me through. Frustrations were exacerbated by how, too often, an item I needed was easily missed as it just looked like any other piece of random scenery; it wasn't until I happened to hover my cursor over it that I noticed it was something I could even interact with. As the game wore on, this got worse and worse, and from about the half-way point I just used a guide to see it through to the end, purely for the sake of doing so; I could just as easily have abandoned it. Some of the later puzzles seemed entirely obscure: I had absolutely no idea how I would have figured them out by myself, and a few were dependent on game mechanics that, to my knowledge, were completely un-tutorialised.

 

 

It's the first game I played and completed on my Deck, so there's that novelty, and it's only three and a half hours long, but I'd struggle to recommend this to any but the most hardcore of point and clickers. Developers like Amanita Design and Telltale Games have proven that there are ways to modernise these sorts of games, but this felt like a relic.

 

4/10

 

Played in 2022:

 

Spoiler

1. Halo Infinite (2021) - XSX - 7/10

2. Bowser's Fury (2021) - Switch - 8/10

3. The Forgotten City (2021) - XSX - 8/10

4. Grindstone (2020) - Switch - 8/10

5. Inscryption (2021) - PC - 9/10

6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (replay) (2001) - Switch - 8/10

7. The Wolf Among Us (2013) - PC - 7/10

8. What Remains of Edith Finch (replay) (2017) - XSX - 8/10

9. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (2021) - PS5 - 8/10

10. Kill It With Fire (2020) - XSX - 3/10

11. Islanders (2019) - PC - 5/10

12. Creaks (2020) - Switch - 8/10

13. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (2019) - Switch - 9/10

14. The Last Guardian (replay) (2016) - PS5

15. Exo One (2021) - XSX - 8/10

16. Red Matter (2018) - Quest 2 - 7/10

17. Elden Ring (2022) - XSX - 10/10

18. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022) - Switch - 8/10

19. Slay the Spire (2019) - Switch - 7/10

20. Blasphemous (2019) - Switch - 7/10

21. Superliminal (2019) - XSX - 8/10

22. Tunic (2022) - XSX - 9.5/10

23. Fez (replay) (2012) - Switch

24. Citizen Sleeper (2022) - PC - 9/10

25. Sifu (2022) - PS5 - 9/10

26. Primordia (2012) - Steam Deck - 4/10

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

Horizon: Forbidden West (2022) - PS5

 

[FiveFootNinja]

13. Lego The Hobbit (XB1) [Family game] - I bought this for my son as a treat after he completed a sponsored walk up a mountain, during which we chatted about Bilbo's adventure to the Lonely Mountain and Smaug as The Hobbit is next on our book list to go through once we've finished the Harry Potter series. As a game of the book/film it doesn't really do the plot and justice, my son has no idea what went on really, but Middle-earth works really well in the Lego setting with a good range of environments and characters. Gameplay wise it's a bit different to the other Lego games we've been through, with more open world challenges, and less level which really leans into the exploration and adventure theme. Overall he really enjoyed spending some time in the world and been hooked on it long enough to both complete it, but also spend extra time unlocking every character. A really decent addition to our Lego game collection. - 8/10

 

 

 

 

On 12/07/2022 at 09:56, FiveFootNinja said:

1. Wordle (iOS)

2. Quordle (iOS)

3. Knotwords (iOS)

4. Lego DC Super Villains (PS5) [Family game] - 8/10

5. Ben 10: Power Trip (XB1) [Family game] - 8/10

6. Rush: Disney Pixar Adventure (XB1) [Family game] -  7/10

7. The Artful Escape (XB1) - 7/10

8. FAR: Changing Tides (XB1) - 8/10

9. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4  Remastered (PS5) [Family game] - 8/10

10. Astro's Playroom (PS5) [Family game] - 10/10

11. The Last of Us: Part 2 (PS5) -  8.5/10

12. Spider-man: Miles Morales (PS5) - 9/10

 

[Gambit]

23/07 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215

 

Rebuying a 3DS means I've been rebuying all the classic, and not so classic stuff, I can find on the cheap. Nabbed this for about £4 from eBay which is honestly a bargain. I played it years ago when it first came out and remember enjoying it. Decade later and it still holds up.

 

A real innovate way of using the DS hardware. Holding it on its side adding to the alrerady novel-like style of the game. Your former detective character finding himself in a Hotel where a nunch of guests have mysteries that need solving. It's your standard DS game full of quirky and gimmicky ways of using the touch screen, yet it's thre story that keeps you playing. Brilliantly written with great, fleshed out characters and a unique art style. Only main downside is that it has "Game Over" states that can be annoying when the checkpoints are less frequent than you'd want.

 

7/10

 

Spoiler

January

05/01 - Starfox 64

14/01 - Resident Evil 3

15/01 - Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

30/01 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

February

06/02 - Hades

 

April

03/04 - Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files

10/04 - Knights of the Old Republic

25/04 - Horizon: Forbidden West

 

May

15/05 - The Nonary Games

26/05 - Star Wars Squadrons

 

June

05/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

15/06 - Kirby 64

17/06 - The Quarry

 

July

17/07 - Zero Time Dilemma

 

[instasis]

24/07: Stray (PS5)

 

Courtesy of PS+ Premium. Wonderful, just brilliant. I'd have preferred more exploration/scratching around vs the jeopardy that occurs, but the balance was fair. Just a lovely little game. Would replay.

 

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

09/04: House Of Ashes (PS5)

13/05: Exo One (Xbone Sex)

13/05: A Memoir Blue (Xbone Sex)

14/05: Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

16/05: Trek To Yomi (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Tetris Effect (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Xbone Sex)

28/05: Far: Changing Tides (Xbone Sex)

02/06: Record of Lodoss War - Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Xbone Sex)

20/06: Forza Horizon 5 (Xbone Sex)

26/06: Lake (Xbone Sex)

27/06: Last Day Of June (PS5)

29/06: Little Nightmares (PS5)

01/07: Deliver Us The Moon (PS5)

09/07: House Flipper (Xbone Sex)
12/07: Mafia Definitive Edition (PS5)

20/07: Mafia 2: Definitive Edition (PS5)

 

[JamesC]

On 22/07/2022 at 18:44, Unofficial Who said:

 

 

23/07 Gun.Smoke (PC/Arcade) It's easy to see why this western themed follow up to Commando is somewhat forgotten. An unfriendly control scheme and a very difficult challenge (even on easy) that I couldn't get through without rewind scumming. Unlike Exed Exes I didn't feel like I was getting better and it felt like this game was pitched more towards taking your quarters than being enjoyable. Which probably made it money in the short term but lost it a chance at the long term market. There's more variety here than with Exed Exes but I can't see myself ever going back to this. Lovely pixel art though.

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

42. 26/06 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (PC) 

41. 17/06 Psycho Soldier (Arcade/PC)

40. 16/06 Prehistoric Isle in 1930 (Arcade/PC)

39. 16/06 Street Smart (Arcade/PC)

38. 12/06 Midnight Scenes:The Nanny (PC)

37. 28/05 SUPERHOT (PC) 

36. 28/05 Tetris Effect:Connected (PC)

35. 22/05 Sea of Solitude (PC) 

34. 21/05 Scott Morrison Simulator (Browser) 

33. 16/05 Full Throttle:Remastered (PC)

32. 15/05 Unbeatable [White Label] (PC)

31. 14/05 Trek To Yomi (PC) 

30. 13/05 Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (PC)

29. 09/05 California Games (C64)

28.01/05 The Stanley Parable:Ultra Deluxe (PC)

27. 27/04 The Darkside Detective:A Fumble in the Dark (PC)

26. 23/04 Streets of Rage 4 (PC)

25. 17/04 Exo One (PC)

24. 16/04 A Memoir Blue (PC)

23. 08/04 Slay the Spire (PC)

22. 03/04 Tunic (PC) 

21. 02/04 Kingdom:Two Crowns (PC)

20. 26/03 Say No! More (PC)

19. 21/03 Wizball (C64)

18. 17/03 Battle Circuit (PC/Arcade)

17. 17/03 We Happy Few (PC)

16. 07/03 Powered Gear (PC/Arcade) 

15. 06/03 FAR:Changing Tides (PC)

14. 05/03 In Other Waters (PC)

13. 02/03 Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck/PC) 

12. 27/02 Final Fantasy 14:A Realm Reborn:Seventh Astral Era (PC) 

11. 25/02 Vampire Survivors (PC) 

10. 18/02 Hypnospace Outlaw

9. 05/02 Final Fight (PC/Arcade)

8. 31/01 Dynasty Wars (Arcade/PC)

7. 31/01 Mega Twins (Arcade/PC) 

6, 29/01 Superhot:Mind Control Delete (PC) 

5. 16/01 The Forgotten City (PC)

4. 09/01 Mr Driller Drill Land (PC)

3. 07/01 Olija (PC)

2. 07/01 It's a Knockout! (C64) 

1. 02/01 Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC)

 

Abandoned games

03/07 Cris Tales (PC)

03/07 Atomicrops (PC)

13/05 The Wild at Heart (PC)

19/03 Narita Boy (PC)

04/01 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (PC)

 

The NES version of Gun.Smoke is worth a look. It controls really well and is much more fun than the arcade version. 

[CurryKitten]

23/07/22 - Danganronpa 2 (XSX GP)

I really enjoyed the first game - which I'd actually mistook for something else, but ended up playing it anyway.  This is essentially more of the same.... weird teenage murders, class trials, punishments etc etc.  I was expecting a direct sequel to the original, but this isn't that.  At first I thought it was a "reimagining" somehow, until later in the game it starts referencing events of the original.

 

My only issue with is the amount of extra things they've added into trials - lots of new and weird mechanics and sometimes I got a bit lost in what the hell I was doing.  By the time the ending rolled around everything from this and the original game tie together - so I left happy... although not as happy as playing the original.

[Quest]

24/07 - Jet Set Radio Future

 

 

Only booted this up to see how OG Xbox emulation is doing these days but ended up playing through the whole game. Revisiting for the first time since 2002 and the collision of late-90s/early-00s Tokyo visual design and music remains really powerful, even if the camera sometimes does its best to make things difficult. Still, it remains one of the best on the console for me, as there's really nothing that compares with grinding powerlines to a bit of Naganuma.

 

 

 

24/07 - My Friend Peppa Pig (Series X)

 

 

Nice little introduction to gaming for our youngest. Left, right, action button, that's it. My role was just to nudge her in the right direction to make sure she found the next part of the game, rather than getting stuck in a loop of mashing A and going through the same dialogue three hundred times. It's pretty good for what it is.

 

Weirdly it has performance and quality graphics modes in the options menu, so I assume there's a really boring Digital Foundry video where they zoom in 5000% on Daddy Pig's nose and declare it unplayable low-res rubbish.

 

2022:

Spoiler

24/07 - My Friend Peppa Pig (Series X)

24/07 - Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

19/07 - Ghost Trick (DS)

18/07 - Space Invaders: Infinity Gene (360) 

18/07 - Golf With Your Friends (Series X)

17/07 - The Ascent (Series X)

15/07 - Pupperazzi (Series X)

14/07 - PAW Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay (Series X)

13/07 - The Munchables (Wii)

12/07 - Cuphead (Series X)

11/07 - Time Thief (Mac)

10/07 - Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Series X)

09/07 - Road 96 (Series X)

07/07 - Daytona USA (Series X)

07/07 - Disneyland Adventure (360)

04/07 - Trip World (GB)

01/07 - Lake (Series X)

29/06 - Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (Arcade)

29.06 - Donkey Kong '94 (GB)

27/06 - Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Series X)

23/06 - Disc Room (Series X)

22/06 - Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

18/06 - Night Slashers (Arcade)

18/06 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

17/06 - Gurumin - A Monstrous Adventure (PSP)

15/06 - Metamorphic Force (Arcade)

12/06 - Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)

11/06 - Forza Horizon 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Sin and Punishment (N64)

10/06 - Yakuza 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Rushing Beat Ran (SFC)

09/06 - Musha Aleste (MD)

10/06 - Kururin Squash! (GC)

07/06 - Bananan Ouji no Daibouken/Banana Prince (FC)

07/06 - Pu·Li·Ru·La (Arcade)

05/06 - Ihatovo Monogatari / Stories of Ihatovo (SFC)

04/06 - Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank / Trax (GB)

03/06 - Ecco Jr (MD)

02/06 - Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards (N64)

02/06 - Steamworld Quest - Hand of Gilgamech (Switch)

29/05 - Ikari no Yōsai/Operation Logic Bomb (SFC)

29/05 - I Am Dead (Switch)

29/05 - Pop'n Twinbee (SFC)

18/05 - Off Peak (Mac)

18/05 - Umurangi Generation (Series X)

13/05 - Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Series X)

13/05 - New Super Luigi U (Switch)

11/05 - Wild Guns Reloaded (Switch)

10/05 - Fairune 2 (Switch)

09/05 - Steel Assault (Switch)

07/05 - Trek to Yomi (Series X)

05/05 - Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Series X)

05/05 - Bugsnax (Series X)

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[smac]

On 22/07/2022 at 18:44, Unofficial Who said:

 

 

23/07 Gun.Smoke (PC/Arcade) It's easy to see why this western themed follow up to Commando is somewhat forgotten. An unfriendly control scheme and a very difficult challenge (even on easy) that I couldn't get through without rewind scumming. Unlike Exed Exes I didn't feel like I was getting better and it felt like this game was pitched more towards taking your quarters than being enjoyable. Which probably made it money in the short term but lost it a chance at the long term market. There's more variety here than with Exed Exes but I can't see myself ever going back to this. Lovely pixel art though.

 

)

 

 

We had this in the student halls I was in back in the 80s - it was bloody impossible then, on the original hardware. Had something like 4 or 6 fire buttons, so you could shoot to each side, or fire two guns to the same side at different angles.

 

Almost better being played co-op.

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
15 & 16. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 3 & 4 (Xbox GWG)
17. Panzer Dragoon Remake, Normal Run (Switch)

18. Rez Infinite, Area 1-5 run (PS5)
19. Bowser's Fury, All Cat Shines (Switch)
20. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episode 5 (Xbox GWG)
21. Nobody Saves the World (Xbox)
22. Trek to Yomi (Xbox)
22.5. Rez Area X (PS5)
23. Tomb Raider 2013 (XSX)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (XSX Game Pass)
25. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
26. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS5 – PS+ Extra) [ABANDONED]

 

 

Going meown-town

27. Stray (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
I thought this was a really wonderful little experience. The tone shifts nicely between sweet, melancholy and fun really well, the environments are beautifully rendered and lit and pushing tins of paint off shelves will never get old.
 

 

Nunchuck Norris

28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge – Michelangelo ending (Game Pass)
This was totally gnarly, most bodacious, totally tubular (and so on) fun. I loved the presentation and audio, the wealth of moves and the short, tight levels. I di NOT get on with the levels on the hoverboards at all - I found them to be real low points, confusing enemy positions on-screen and the constant jumping was little to no fun. I will definitely keep playing it however as the rest of the game more than makes up for them.

[Mogster]

10/07/2022 - Citizen Sleeper

 

This was definitely a game I needed to be in the right mood for. I found it a little too passive to start with, and while I wouldn't say I bounced off it, it did find itself sitting on the back burner after an hour or so. I eventually went back to it and got completely sucked in, at least for a while.

 

The story was atmospheric and engaging, not to mention really interesting in parts, while the dice and "clocks" added just enough tension and choice to make for an interesting game. There were several points where I found myself having to weigh up what tasks I should be focussing on, knowing that I'd be putting myself at risk in some way no matter what I did. On top of everything else I had to worry about basic survival as well, with food and energy resources to manage.

 

The problems crept in later on. Without spoiling anything, all I'll say is that I'd dealt with any threats some time before I was able to end the game but was still subjected to the same mechanics limiting what I could do in any cycle. Without any time limit to force me to make interesting choices, these mechanics were now just dragging things out and I found myself losing interest in the story. I was left wondering if I'd maybe finished certain plotlines earlier than the developers intended, and would have had a better experience if I'd focussed on other things earlier on.

 

It was still a good experience overall, and one that didn't outstay its welcome. It probably says something that despite my issues, I was quite tempted to start a new game and see how things might have developed had I made different choices. I'm definitely glad I played it.

 

Spoiler

January

04/01/2022 - Kena: Bridge of Spirits
24/01/2022 - Hitman (2016)
26/01/2022 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

May

17/05/2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

June

09/06/2022 - Elden Ring

July

09/07/2022 - Cyberpunk 2077
10/07/2022 - Citizen Sleeper

 

[Quest]

26/07 - Ape Escape (PS1)

 

 

I definitely played this back when it was released but my memory must've flushed the entire thing because it all felt new to me. It's held up well, especially with a little spit and polish in the right places from Duckstation. The level design is limited by the PS1 and the movement feels a bit stiff on occasion, but they just crammed in so many ways to take advantage of the dual analogues that every area offers something fresh, some mad device or new obstacle to overcome.

 

Big shout out to Soichi Terada, a man who has given us many wonderful musical gifts over his career and subject of this fantastic little Archipel interview right here. I think much of the game's momentum is down to him just really nailing the score.

 

(apologies for the rank US cover art)

 

Turd in the mail to Jim Ryan's office for closing Japan Studio. 

 

 

2022:

Spoiler

27/07 - As Dusk Falls (Series X)

25/07 - Ape Escape (PS1)

24/07 - My Friend Peppa Pig (Series X)

24/07 - Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

19/07 - Ghost Trick (DS)

18/07 - Space Invaders: Infinity Gene (360) 

18/07 - Golf With Your Friends (Series X)

17/07 - The Ascent (Series X)

15/07 - Pupperazzi (Series X)

14/07 - PAW Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay (Series X)

13/07 - The Munchables (Wii)

12/07 - Cuphead (Series X)

11/07 - Time Thief (Mac)

10/07 - Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Series X)

09/07 - Road 96 (Series X)

07/07 - Daytona USA (Series X)

07/07 - Disneyland Adventure (360)

04/07 - Trip World (GB)

01/07 - Lake (Series X)

29/06 - Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (Arcade)

29.06 - Donkey Kong '94 (GB)

27/06 - Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Series X)

23/06 - Disc Room (Series X)

22/06 - Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

18/06 - Night Slashers (Arcade)

18/06 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

17/06 - Gurumin - A Monstrous Adventure (PSP)

15/06 - Metamorphic Force (Arcade)

12/06 - Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)

11/06 - Forza Horizon 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Sin and Punishment (N64)

10/06 - Yakuza 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Rushing Beat Ran (SFC)

09/06 - Musha Aleste (MD)

10/06 - Kururin Squash! (GC)

07/06 - Bananan Ouji no Daibouken/Banana Prince (FC)

07/06 - Pu·Li·Ru·La (Arcade)

05/06 - Ihatovo Monogatari / Stories of Ihatovo (SFC)

04/06 - Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank / Trax (GB)

03/06 - Ecco Jr (MD)

02/06 - Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards (N64)

02/06 - Steamworld Quest - Hand of Gilgamech (Switch)

29/05 - Ikari no Yōsai/Operation Logic Bomb (SFC)

29/05 - I Am Dead (Switch)

29/05 - Pop'n Twinbee (SFC)

18/05 - Off Peak (Mac)

18/05 - Umurangi Generation (Series X)

13/05 - Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Series X)

13/05 - New Super Luigi U (Switch)

11/05 - Wild Guns Reloaded (Switch)

10/05 - Fairune 2 (Switch)

09/05 - Steel Assault (Switch)

07/05 - Trek to Yomi (Series X)

05/05 - Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Series X)

05/05 - Bugsnax (Series X)

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[BabelRich]

25/07 - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

 

This is madness. I know they were most likely made by different teams, but I find it baffling that this game was released a year after Unity. It's so much better in every way it actually defies all laws of common sense, but most importantly one of the devs seems to have found the 'Fun_Gameplay' repo on GitHub and remembered to deploy it in to the final code. Gone (mostly) are the insta-fail missions, psychic guards and turgid slogs replaced with embryonic Origins/Odyssey gameplay more about empowering the player.

 

It still contains the usual map of icons though this time not quite so Jackson Pollack and with some actual character behind the side missions.   

 

Industrial London is wonderfully realised, from the slums of Whitechapel to the palaces and parks of Westminster and taking over the districts through Templar Hunts, Child Liberation and wholesale gang slaughter is surprisingly, not a chore and actually has some tangible benefit to the game through rewards of weapons and upgrades. I could have done without the Carriage Racing/protection/hijacking missions but they were easily ignored.

 

Menus are still a bit of a mess but nowhere near as bad as Unity.

 

Where the game really shines is in it's protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye; twins who are hot and level headed respectively and who have separate missions and stories through the game. Jacob wants to take over London and Evie just wants to find the piece of Eden. It's standard AC faire as a story but the twins themselves are awesome. Jacob is a cock-sure brawler and Evie is a sensible stealth merchant. It leads to some nice interplay between them and other characters as they bicker like actual siblings. 

 

Side Bar: Evie is such a good character and she basically owns Jacob at every turn, I find it weird that a company with such a toxic culture can still produce female characters of the quality of her and Kassandra.

 

So there we go, dare I say it, for me, the best of the traditional AC games before Origins came along. It really makes me want them to try and do a (relatively) smaller game again to see what they could pull off in a more concentrated scale.

 

(A hugely surprising) 9/10

 

Spoiler

11/07 - Assassins Creed Unity 3/10

10/07 - Donkey Kong Country 4/10

05/07 - Dragon Age: Inquisition 8/10

18/06 - TMNT: Shredder's Revenge 7/10

14/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 8/10

01/06 - Dragon Quest XI 8/10

26/05 - Tales of Monkey Island 8/10

16/05 - Red Dead Redemption 9/10

12/05 - Lost Words – Beyond the Page 6/10

10/05 - Citizen Sleeper 9/10

06/05 - Lost in Random 6/10

08/04 – Kirby and the Forgotten Kingdom 9/10

01/04 – Danganronpa 2 – Goodbye Despair 08/10

25/03 – Tunic 6/10

16/03 – Danganronpa – Trigger Happy Havok 8/10

13/03 - Horizon - Forbidden West 10/10

15/02 - Agent A 7/10

14/02 - Saint's Row - Gat Out of Hell 6/10

11/02 - Nobody Saves the World 8/10

04/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode INTERMission 6/10

01/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake 8/10

26/01 - Gorogoa 9/10

25/01 - The Gunk 7/10

23/01 - Control 7/10

11/01 - Rise of the Tomb Raider 7/10

07/01 - Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space 9/10

 

[BongoInferno]

25/7/22 Outer Wilds (PS5)

 

I was expecting a gentle walking simulator/light puzzler and instead got wrapped up in an incredibly clever (too clever for me in fact) adventure game that is full of wonderful moments. It's also one of the most sadistic games I've played and made me want to put my foot through the TV. Fuck Dark Bramble.

 

I can see why it's so loved though. I don't think I've played anything else like it.

 

Previously:

 

Spoiler

23/2/22 Assassins Creed Valhalla (PS5)

25/3/22 Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

24/4/22 The Evil Within 2 (PS5)

13/6/22 Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

29/6/22 Shadow Warrior 3 (PS5)

[JamesC]

Sunset Riders (Megadrive) 

 

Whenever my mate comes over we have a blast on Sunset Riders and try to make it through the whole game. In the past we've always been killed by the final boss, Richard Rose. 

Last night, we finally managed to complete the game and did a massive cheer when Rose finally went down! 

It's such  a fun game and controls so well. It's quite simple in many ways, but perfectly formed. I like all the versions I've played but I think the MD version is my favourite. 

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
15 & 16. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 3 & 4 (Xbox GWG)
17. Panzer Dragoon Remake, Normal Run (Switch)

18. Rez Infinite, Area 1-5 run (PS5)
19. Bowser's Fury, All Cat Shines (Switch)
20. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episode 5 (Xbox GWG)
21. Nobody Saves the World (Xbox)
22. Trek to Yomi (Xbox)
22.5. Rez Area X (PS5)
23. Tomb Raider 2013 (XSX)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (XSX Game Pass)
25. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
26. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS5 – PS+ Extra) [ABANDONED]
27. Stray (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge – Michelangelo ending (Game Pass)

 

 

 

Taking the pix

29. Eyeland (PlayDate)
A charming little puzzle game with some very nice pixel art and music. Takes around an hour end to end and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. A brilliant purchase for a whopping $2 from itch.io which I would recommend to all PD owners.

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Like Dreamer - Trial, Nightmare 1cc

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

Z-Warp - Hardcore 1cc

Galacticon - 1cc, Level 36 (loop 4)
Drainus - Normal 2-all, Arcade 2-all
Red-Hawk - 1cc

Tukiyono - 1cc (ending 1), 1cc (ending 2)

Love - Arcade

Spacewing War - Story mode 1cc

AISZplus - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Arcade, normal 1cc (April)

Deathsmiles IIX - 1cc TLB

Like Dreamer - Trial, Maniac 1cc. Trial+, Expert 1cc

 

[BabelRich]

27/07 - Dodgeball Academia

 

Let's throw another one on the pile. Wanted to get this done before it disappears from GP so my lack of enjoyment may have been partly my fault for feeling I had to rush through the game. It's a vibrant game with a very silly story, some interesting characters set in a school and it's surrounding forest. The USP is that instead of turn based battles, fighting is handled by way of games of dodgeball. Sounds like a winner but as I've already tipped my hand let's take a look at why I was ultimately disappointed.

 

Well for starters, there's a lot of chatting, this itself is not an issue, it is an RPG after all but the speech bubbles are tiny in content. Most of the time only holding five or so words meaning you are constantly pressing the next button, really bad design. Although the map is the school and forest, in reality there's very little to explore. The school is mostly closed off, the main courtyard section has nothing of interest and the forest is ostensibly just a path that you have to keep traipsing around. Which brings me on to my third point, the constant back tracking between two (and later, briefly, a third) dull areas really grates especially when, each day, fights reappear holding up your journey when you just want to get to the fucking Lab for the fourth time. Which brings me neatly on to the biggest issue with the game...

 

There's too much Dodgeball. Bear with me here as I realise that sounds ridiculous. When you first start your dodgeball training you learn the basics, throwing and catching. Great! Then you get extra players on your team, then on the enemy teams, then a rule where players move to the behind you when they get knocked out and can attack you from there. Now you can build your focus meter by holding a button when you don't have the ball. Then more balls on the court, then elemental balls, then status effect balls, now the enemies can kick the balls back at you, now they can use special throws, looping throws, zig-zagging throws, up-and-under throws, fucking disappearing ball throws, then combinations of these... at a certain point there's just far too much happening to keep track of. When you've got to keep an eye on three of your players, five of their players, all the above with five balls in play... it's a mess and no fun at all. The only reason I'm writing in this thread and not the Abandoned Games thread is that there is an accessibility mode that allows you to raise and lower damage done and received.

 

So, a fun premise let down by over implementation, there's a spark there but annoyances really hold it back.

 

5/10

 

 

Spoiler

25/07 - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate 9/10

11/07 - Assassin's Creed: Unity 3/10

10/07 - Donkey Kong Country 4/10

05/07 - Dragon Age: Inquisition 8/10

18/06 - TMNT: Shredder's Revenge 7/10

14/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 8/10

01/06 - Dragon Quest XI 8/10

26/05 - Tales of Monkey Island 8/10

16/05 - Red Dead Redemption 9/10

12/05 - Lost Words – Beyond the Page 6/10

10/05 - Citizen Sleeper 9/10

06/05 - Lost in Random 6/10

08/04 – Kirby and the Forgotten Kingdom 9/10

01/04 – Danganronpa 2 – Goodbye Despair 08/10

25/03 – Tunic 6/10

16/03 – Danganronpa – Trigger Happy Havok 8/10

13/03 - Horizon - Forbidden West 10/10

15/02 - Agent A 7/10

14/02 - Saint's Row - Gat Out of Hell 6/10

11/02 - Nobody Saves the World 8/10

04/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode INTERMission 6/10

01/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake 8/10

26/01 - Gorogoa 9/10

25/01 - The Gunk 7/10

23/01 - Control 7/10

11/01 - Rise of the Tomb Raider 7/10

07/01 - Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space 9/10

 

[Quest]

Portable Island ~ Tenohira no Resort (PSP)

 

Not really completed because this isn't a game in the traditional sense, more a kind of escapism package to help take your mind off things as you waste your life slaving away at the office. There's no obvious plot, no quests or missions.  You arrive on an island by seaplane and are left to explore at your leisure, where you can do some fishing, take photos, pick weird mushrooms and get lost in a mangrove forest because the day-night cycle is set to the PSP's internal clock and it's suddenly pitch-black out there.

 

It's a strange experience. The lack of any story or clear objectives in such a relatively large map makes everything feel a bit unnerving. I'd assumed it was all fairly grounded and realistic until one time I found a little Korok-type creature running around, but then saw nothing else like it since, so who even knows what that was about.

 

 

When you aren't exploring you can activate a handful of idle modes that do their thing while the PSP sits on your desk. There's a scenic mode that flicks through some of the island's vistas and an FM radio that lets you listen to weather reports, DJs speaking in what I believe is Indonesian, adverts for fictional cola brands and tunes that seem to be lifted from other Namco games of the era (there are a few Ridge Racer PSP tracks). It reminded me of the brief 80s fad of citypop records framed as radio broadcasts with jingles and a DJ introducing each song, like this one:

 

 

There's also a ukelele mode that has you hold the PSP upside down and strum the analogue stick while selecting chords with the face buttons. Seems like certain death for the analogue if you ask me, but I'm sure someone enjoyed it.

 

I've dipped in and out occasionally over the last week or so, mostly exploring the island and listening to the radio. It's an aimless and frequently quite boring experience so not something I'd actually recommend playing in 2022, but a neat little curio I suppose.

 

2022:

Spoiler

28/07 - Portable Island ~ Tenohira no Resort (PSP)

27/07 - As Dusk Falls (Series X)

25/07 - Ape Escape (PS1)

24/07 - My Friend Peppa Pig (Series X)

24/07 - Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

19/07 - Ghost Trick (DS)

18/07 - Space Invaders: Infinity Gene (360) 

18/07 - Golf With Your Friends (Series X)

17/07 - The Ascent (Series X)

15/07 - Pupperazzi (Series X)

14/07 - PAW Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay (Series X)

13/07 - The Munchables (Wii)

12/07 - Cuphead (Series X)

11/07 - Time Thief (Mac)

10/07 - Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Series X)

09/07 - Road 96 (Series X)

07/07 - Daytona USA (Series X)

07/07 - Disneyland Adventure (360)

04/07 - Trip World (GB)

01/07 - Lake (Series X)

29/06 - Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (Arcade)

29.06 - Donkey Kong '94 (GB)

27/06 - Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Series X)

23/06 - Disc Room (Series X)

22/06 - Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

18/06 - Night Slashers (Arcade)

18/06 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

17/06 - Gurumin - A Monstrous Adventure (PSP)

15/06 - Metamorphic Force (Arcade)

12/06 - Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)

11/06 - Forza Horizon 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Sin and Punishment (N64)

10/06 - Yakuza 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Rushing Beat Ran (SFC)

09/06 - Musha Aleste (MD)

10/06 - Kururin Squash! (GC)

07/06 - Bananan Ouji no Daibouken/Banana Prince (FC)

07/06 - Pu·Li·Ru·La (Arcade)

05/06 - Ihatovo Monogatari / Stories of Ihatovo (SFC)

04/06 - Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank / Trax (GB)

03/06 - Ecco Jr (MD)

02/06 - Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards (N64)

02/06 - Steamworld Quest - Hand of Gilgamech (Switch)

29/05 - Ikari no Yōsai/Operation Logic Bomb (SFC)

29/05 - I Am Dead (Switch)

29/05 - Pop'n Twinbee (SFC)

18/05 - Off Peak (Mac)

18/05 - Umurangi Generation (Series X)

13/05 - Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Series X)

13/05 - New Super Luigi U (Switch)

11/05 - Wild Guns Reloaded (Switch)

10/05 - Fairune 2 (Switch)

09/05 - Steel Assault (Switch)

07/05 - Trek to Yomi (Series X)

05/05 - Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Series X)

05/05 - Bugsnax (Series X)

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[cassidy]

Spoiler

06/01/22

 

 

 

1. Yakuza 3 remastered -(series X)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26/01/22

 

 

 

2. Yakuza 4 remastered - (series X) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27/01/22

 

 

 

3. Nobody saves the world - (Series X)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16/02/22

 

 

 

4. Infernax - (series X)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17/02/22

 

 

 

5. Dreamscaper - (series X) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17/03/2022

 

 

 

6. Young Souls - (Series X) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

06/04/2022

 

 

 

7. A Memoir Blue - (Series X)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22/04/2022

 

 

 

8. Elden Ring - (Series X) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27/04/2022

 

 

 

9. Turnip Boy commits tax evasion. 

 

 

 

10. Gigawing - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30/04/2022

 

 

 

11. Battle Circuit - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

01/05/2022

 

 

 

12. Life is Strange - True Colours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19/05/2022

 

 

 

13. Eiyuden Chronicles : Rising (SeriesX) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20/06/2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.TMNT : Shredders revenge

 

 

 

 

 

23/06/2022

 

15.Disc room 

 

14/07/2022

 

16. House Flipper

And No 17 of the year. 

 

Power wash simulator (Series X) and I have cleaned up in this game. Bloody loved it. 

[Quest]

30/07 - Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS)

 

I've been chipping away at this for months while my kids have their swimming lessons, as there's really nothing that makes time fly faster than a dungeon crawler, and though the final stretch was genuinely a FUCKING ORDEAL that I'm glad is finally over, I really enjoyed most of my time with it. 

 

Mostly what pulled me through was its commitment to the cold, moody 90s cyberpunk setting of occult handgun computers, soul theft and VR vision quests. The plot isn't the most original but it twists and turns enough to keep things interesting between talking to the monsters about the best way to cook human flesh or whatever.

 

Have to commend Atlus for the quality of the port as well. Where Square Enix make an ugly bodge of almost every remaster, here you've got a solid, tonally consistent  localisation with some nice QoL options and UI fixes. Can't fault it.

 

Did a big chunk of grinding in Akane Mall just because the music is this big dollop of new jack bass and ghostly pads and I live for that kind of thing:

 

 

Currently trying to finish off all the things I've started and not finished, which may take a while as it includes Xenoblade DE and Elden Ring.

 

2022:

Spoiler

30/12 - High On Life (Series X)

19/12 - Hades (Switch)

12/12 - EX Troopers (3DS)

11/12 - Monkey Barrels (Switch)

10/12 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 3 (Switch)

10/12 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 2 (Switch)

10/12 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 1 (Switch)

08/12 - ElecHead (Switch)

08/12 - Hot Wheels Unleashed (PS5)

07/12 - Norco (Series X)

06/12 - God of War Ragnarok (PS5) 

25/11 - Neon White (Switch)

23/11 - Citizen Sleeper: Episode REFUGE (Series X)

23/11 - Citizen Sleeper: Episode FLUX (Series X)

22/11 - Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheel DLC (Series X)

19/11 - Lunistice (Switch)

13/11 - Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (Switch)

12/11 - Mafia: Definitive Edition (PS4)

08/11 - Disco Elysium (Mac)

06/11 - Heavenly Bodies (PS5)

05/11 - her body unswept by laughter (Browser)

04/11 - FAR: Changing Tides (Series X)

02/11 - Death's Door (Series X)

01/11 - Momodora: Reverie under the Moonlight (PS4)

31/10 - Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories (PS4)

27/10 - Vampire Survivors (Mac)

26/10 - A Plague Tale: Requiem (Series X)

24/10 - Backbone (Series X)

23/10 - Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

21/10 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

20/10 - KUUKIYOMI - Consider It (Switch)

17/10 - Beacon Pines (Series X)

14/10 - Pilotwings 64 (Switch)

13/10 - Ghost of Tsushima (PS5)

11/10 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)

06/10 - Earthbound (SNES)

01/10 - Pikmin 3 Deluxe (Switch)

30/09 - TOEM Basto Update (PS5)

25/09 - Unsighted (Series X)

16/09 - Wreckfest (PS5)

15/09 - TOEM (PS5)

14/09 - Tinykin (Series X)

12/09 - Final Fantasy VII Remake - Episode: INTERmission (PS5)

10/09 - Citizen Sleeper (Series X)

05/09 - Deliver Us The Moon (PS5)

31/08 - Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 (PS5)

27/08 - FFVII Remake (PS5)

09/08 - Stray (PS5)

06/08 - Marvel's Spider-Man - Miles Morales (PS5)

05/08 - Astro's Playroom

30/07 - Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS)

28/07 - Portable Island ~ Tenohira no Resort (PSP)

27/07 - As Dusk Falls (Series X)

25/07 - Ape Escape (PS1)

24/07 - My Friend Peppa Pig (Series X)

24/07 - Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)

19/07 - Ghost Trick (DS)

18/07 - Space Invaders: Infinity Gene (360) 

18/07 - Golf With Your Friends (Series X)

17/07 - The Ascent (Series X)

15/07 - Pupperazzi (Series X)

14/07 - PAW Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay (Series X)

13/07 - The Munchables (Wii)

12/07 - Cuphead (Series X)

11/07 - Time Thief (Mac)

10/07 - Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Series X)

09/07 - Road 96 (Series X)

07/07 - Daytona USA (Series X)

07/07 - Disneyland Adventure (360)

04/07 - Trip World (GB)

01/07 - Lake (Series X)

29/06 - Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (Arcade)

29.06 - Donkey Kong '94 (GB)

27/06 - Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Series X)

23/06 - Disc Room (Series X)

22/06 - Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

18/06 - Night Slashers (Arcade)

18/06 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Series X)

19/06 - Life is Strange: True Colours (Series X)

17/06 - Gurumin - A Monstrous Adventure (PSP)

15/06 - Metamorphic Force (Arcade)

12/06 - Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)

11/06 - Forza Horizon 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Sin and Punishment (N64)

10/06 - Yakuza 5 (Series X)

10/06 - Rushing Beat Ran (SFC)

09/06 - Musha Aleste (MD)

10/06 - Kururin Squash! (GC)

07/06 - Bananan Ouji no Daibouken/Banana Prince (FC)

07/06 - Pu·Li·Ru·La (Arcade)

05/06 - Ihatovo Monogatari / Stories of Ihatovo (SFC)

04/06 - Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank / Trax (GB)

03/06 - Ecco Jr (MD)

02/06 - Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards (N64)

02/06 - Steamworld Quest - Hand of Gilgamech (Switch)

29/05 - Ikari no Yōsai/Operation Logic Bomb (SFC)

29/05 - I Am Dead (Switch)

29/05 - Pop'n Twinbee (SFC)

18/05 - Off Peak (Mac)

18/05 - Umurangi Generation (Series X)

13/05 - Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Series X)

13/05 - New Super Luigi U (Switch)

11/05 - Wild Guns Reloaded (Switch)

10/05 - Fairune 2 (Switch)

09/05 - Steel Assault (Switch)

07/05 - Trek to Yomi (Series X)

05/05 - Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Series X)

05/05 - Bugsnax (Series X)

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[Gambit]

30/07 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

 

Ended up waiting a month so I could get the physical edition, such is how little faith I had that the license wouldn't suddenly disappear. Something I think eventually happened with the Turtles in Time Remake.

 

All I can say is, give DotEmu all the old scrolling beat em up licenses. Simpsons, X-Men, Final Fight.....have them all because after SOR4 and this it's clear they have a kack for it. Great music (honestly, fighting while Wu Tang plays in the background is weird and amazing), nice visuals and it plays super well with enough content for multiple playthroughs. The only minor gripes I have are that post respawn there seems to be zero invincibility frames, a number of times I just spawned and got hit immediately, secondly is just my usual pet peeve of flying enemies being a pain in the arse. Other than that though, totally radical bodacious......cowabunga?

 

8/10

 

Spoiler

January

05/01 - Starfox 64

14/01 - Resident Evil 3

15/01 - Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

30/01 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

February

06/02 - Hades

 

April

03/04 - Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files

10/04 - Knights of the Old Republic

25/04 - Horizon: Forbidden West

 

May

15/05 - The Nonary Games

26/05 - Star Wars Squadrons

 

June

05/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

15/06 - Kirby 64

17/06 - The Quarry

 

July

17/07 - Zero Time Dilemma

23/07 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215