Glen-i Posted November 16 Posted November 16 (edited) Shantae and the Seven Sirens is the latest game in the Shantae series. It's a Metroid style platformer developed by WayForward and released on all modern platforms in 2019. Shantae (Half-human, half-genie), her uncle, and two of her best friends have been invited to Paradise Island for an all expenses paid vacation. Shantae soon discovers that five other half-genies have also been invited. The small print turns out to be that Shantae and the 5 other half-genies take part in Paradise Island's brand new "Half-genie festival". They agree, but during the festival, every half-genie except Shantae mysteriously disappears. Suspecting foul play, Shantae explores the ruins underneath the island to try and find them using her powers... Yeah, that. Thank you. Like most of the Shantae games, this one consists of a big interconnected area where most of it is inaccessible until you unlock more abilities for Shantae to use. I'm sure all of you have played a Metroid game, you get how it works. Shantae distinguishes itself by also having Zelda style dungeons. Granted, it's closer to Zelda 2 because of the side scrolling nature of the game. Seven Sirens specifically takes notes from Castlevania with the monster card system. Whenever you kill an enemy, there's a chance they'll drop a card of themselves. There's 50 of these cards, and you can activate three of them at a time to give Shantae some kind of passive ability. None of them are required to finish the game, but they add an extra layer of customisation. Even if a certain one that replenishes magic over time is way too good. One thing to note about this is that in 2021, a pretty sizable update was added to this game that included 4 extra difficulty modes. Alongside the 2019 Legacy Mode, there's Beginner Mode, which makes Shantae invincible and crazy strong. Definitive Mode rebalances enemies to be harder, makes boss patterns faster, but adds extra dialogue, and quality of life features to make 100% completion far more reasonable. Full Deck Mode gives you all 50 monster cards from the start, and Rule Breaker Mode removes the three card activation limit, and lets you have every one you find active all at once. Rule Breaker Mode sounds like a lot of fun, but this was my first time playing this game, so I went with Definitive Mode. I'm glad I did, the extra map features were very much appreciated, especially the one that hints at what dance you might need in each room. Considering that there's a lot of invisible goodies with not much in the way of hints to help signpost them, I can't imagine trying to find everything in this game with the original release (Legacy Mode). Hmmm. The Screen Clearing Blast is my favourite character. Honestly, I don't know why it took me 5 years to play this. I like all the Shantae games, and this one is no different. I'd put it right in the middle of the 5 games in terms of quality. It's great. But Risky's Revenge and especially Pirate's Curse outdo it. Sea of Stars Chained Echoes Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Princess Peach Will Star As The Main Character In A Brand New Game Star Ocean: The Second Story R Hi-Fi Rush Sonic Superstars Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Theatrhythm Final Bar Line: Premium Digital Deluxe Edition (100%) 1000xRESIST Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) (100%) Miitopia (100 flipping per ceeeeent!) Metroid Zero Mission (100%, Under 2 hours, Normal) Chico and the Magic Orchards DX Super Metroid Redux Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Densetsu No Stafy Densetsu No Stafy 2 Densetsu No Stafy 3 Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Gravity Circuit Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster The Plucky Squire Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Banjo-Tooie (100%) Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack Shantae and the Seven Sirens Edited November 16 by Glen-i 3 1
Hero-of-Time Posted November 18 Posted November 18 Yeah, this took a crazy amount of effort. It's easily the most difficult and longest platinum I have went for in a very long time. With me playing through Final Fantasy 1-6, as well as INTERmission, it was now the turn of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to be added to the platinum list. I played it earlier in the year when it was released but I just played through the main story and called it a day. After taking a 8-9 month break, it was time to tackle the platinum. This journey meant I had to complete every side quest, tackle every super boss, beat every mini game on their hardest settings, play through all the Golden Saucer games on their hardest difficulty, replay the game again on hard difficulty, pretty much level up every materia to it's max level and take on all of Chadley's battle simulator challenges. A lot of this stuff is very time consuming but relatively simple. It's the battle simulator challenges that are the stuff of nightmares. The battle simulator consists is very similar to what was in part 1 but everything has been dialled up to 11. A lot of them have you needing to go through a series of 10 fights against insanely difficult enemies, some of which are summon beasts or actual super bosses. Fail one of the fights and it's all the way to the start again. You pretty much have to play perfectly for 10 fights/half an hour for each of these challenges. There are a few that pit you against either Sephiroth or Odin as the final battle. Both of these have the ability to completely wipe out you and your party with a single attack. Honestly, my heart was racing and hands shaking after getting through these battles. What a rush. Like when I played replayed INTERmission on hard, it gave me a new appreciation of the battle system. I didn't really faff on with it back when the game was first released but going through all those challenges required me to really learn the ins and outs of the materia system and learn how to best link up certain ones with each other. The effects of some of these combos are devastating and I imagine pretty much required usage for when getting through the Brutal and Legendary challenges. After finishing those challenges, going through the game again but on hard difficulty wasn't that bad. Even the final boss battles were pretty tame in comparison. Going through it again but skipping cutscenes and only engaging enemies when I needed to really did highlight just how much fluff is in the game. Honestly, there was probably only 10-15 "random" enemy battles that you actually need to do in the whole game. The rest of the battles are boss fights. Playing this way means the game is only around 10 hours long. It's nuts just how much filler has been put in this entry. To give some perspective how long this all took, back on release I finished the game sitting on 42 hours played but by the time I had unlocked the platinum, my time played finished at 152 hours. Worth it. With it finally done, it meant I had my landmark platinum 800 in the bag. For those who aren't part of the PlayStation ecosystem, once you earn a platinum the game is locked on your profile in that position, unless some DLC is released and you earn another trophy. This means my road to 800 list will always be a reminder of the time I played Final Fantasy I-VI, INTERmission and Rebirth games all off the belt. Year of the JRPG indeed. 1 1
Hero-of-Time Posted November 24 Posted November 24 Finished a few games over the past few days. I played and completed the first game a month or two back and enjoyed it so much that I bought the sequel. This is a massive step up from the original on every level. Graphics are no longer in the style of the NES era but rather the SNES, the amount of moves that you have at your disposal has increased, and navigation around the map is much better. Cracking Metroidvania. I've been waiting for this to go on sale and I'm glad I did. The game does a great job of recapturing the feeling of the classic show but it's ridiculously short. I got it at just over half price (11.99) and I still feel robbed. It was only an hour and half long! The game plays like Super Mario Bros 2. Each of the kids represents one of the characters from that game. Tommy plays like Mario, Chuckie plays like Luigi, Phil plays like Toad and Lil plays like Peach. The difference here is that you can switch the kids at any point in the level. I always hated Chuckie in the show and I'm sad to say he's the most useful here. This is another one that I've been waiting to drop in price. I'm a big fan of the original, both arcade and SNES versions, and was keen to see how this remake fared. The graphics are a bit weird but the gameplay is spot on. The game even has some free DLC, complete with extended stages and Trophies, which was much appreciated. I'm always on the hunt for new Indie games and I came across this earlier in the year. The game is a very cozy JRPG that has a fantastic battle system, cooking system that help levels you up and a town building system to help the inhabitants of the world. I also like that it's a very breezy experience. Most RPGS last for hours on end but this can be clocked in around 12 hours. The fact that you can also fast forward the fights is a welcome addition and makes grinding levels super fast. Game is absolutely gorgeous as well. Nothing much more to say about this series that I haven't said before. I discovered these games this year and have been snapping them up whenever I had a spare slot in my gaming calender and if they were on sale. Think I only need to play two more now. I picked this up during my BF gaming binge. It's a bit of a mixed bag. The combat is decent, with encounters being fast and fluid, and there's a weird/fun Persona style system in place that encourages players to talk with NPCs to increase their stats. The problems the game has are that it gets very repeatative, with levels repeating constantly, and the loading times are pretty bad and numerous. There's a decent game in there somewhere but it needed more care and attention before release. Story is decent though. It takes places a few months after the most recent movie, which I loved. I played through Donkey Kong Land on the NSO. Really enjoyed it. It's another cracking example of a Gameboy game being much better than it had any right being. The music from the SNES DKC game that is used here sounds amazing for the hardware it's running on and the game doesn't look all that bad now that you can actually see what's going on! I did get a laugh at King K. Rool during the boss battle. He's tiny in this version! Diddy Kong is bigger than him!! 2 2
Glen-i Posted November 25 Posted November 25 22 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: Game is absolutely gorgeous as well. Oh, it certainly is! No prizes for guessing where the inspiration for that visual style came from. *Adds to wishlist*
Hero-of-Time Posted November 25 Posted November 25 4 hours ago, Glen-i said: Oh, it certainly is! No prizes for guessing where the inspiration for that visual style came from. *Adds to wishlist* The main inspiration was Breath of Fire 3, with Dark Cloud inspiring the town building sections. Had a holiday from work today and so cranked out a few more games. My physical copy finally arrived. Absolutely fantastic collection of games. These are some of my all time fav 2D fighting games and to have them in a single collection, and on a modern platform, is a dream come true. It was nice to actually play a version of COTA that doesn't run like garbage. I had it on both the Saturn and PS1 when I was younger and neither of them ran that well. I'll always appreciate Capcom and Marvel using Onslaught as a final boss in MvC. It was a huge event in the comics at the time and having him appear in a game as the big bad was fantastic. Playing it again, I completely forgot they even used his famous quote ("Behold my mighty hand!") in the game. Good stuff. Due to me not doing PC gaming or faffing on with emulators, I've never had the opportunity to play The Punisher. It's a shame it's taken this long to make it widely available but it was worth the wait. It's a classic Capcom scrolling beat-em up with a Marvel skin attached. Loved every second of it. Most of these games were a big part of my teenage years and playing them all again was such a nostalgia trip. What's impressive is that everyone single one of them holds up. Playing them in order of release (had to complete every game for platinum) you can see how each of the games gets tweaked and refined until you are left with the perfection that is MvC2. From one collection to another... I was looking forward to revisiting the SNES and Mega Drive games in this collection. I played both of them when I was a kid and remember enjoying them. I played through the other games in the collection first. I have memories of playing the Gameboy game but have no idea where or when. I don't recall owning it but certainly remember parts of the game. Very weird. The second Mega Drive game was pretty frustrating. For some reason it was the only game in the collection that required me to complete it on hard difficulty for a trophy. The levels themselves are very confusing and with enemies constantly respawning, it made for slow progress. Also, for some reason you aren't allowed to kill a lot of dinosaurs. If you do, you fail the mission. It isn't really explained and I didn't realise what it was all about until halfway through the game. I really enjoyed playing the first Mega Drive JP game. It's a fun action/platformer and it allows to play as both dinosaur and human characters. The raptor takes some getting used to but is fun enough to use once you get the hang of it. It's a game I never owned myself but played the hell out of it when my friend came on holiday with me and he brought his Mega Drive. The SNES game...yeah, this wasn't good at all and certainly didn't live up to my memories. I do remember it being tough and I never did complete it as a kid but I remember having fun with it. Not so much now. The main map is a bit of a confusing mess. You are constantly met with barriers that need lifting by going into the buildings and using the computers. These sections are an FPS but they run like garbage and the controls are very fiddly. At least if you clear these areas out of enemies they never respawn upong revisiting them. Had the game kept to a top down shooter like it is in the overworld, I think it would have been a far better experience. Due to its difficulty, I imagine the game featured heavily in hints and tips sections of gaming magazines at the time. I vaguely remember having a map with all of the dino egg locations on it but I'm not sure if that came with the game or if I got it from something like Gamesmaster/Nintendo magazine. 2 2
Hero-of-Time Posted November 29 Posted November 29 Donkey Kong Land 2 is done and dusted. It was decent enough but I probably preferred the first game. This feels like a much like a lesser version of DKC2. Dont get me wrong, it's still amazing what they've pulled off here but the first DKL game pivoted away from DKC1 and carved its own identity. Sure, some of the levels weren't great but it was trying to do something a little different. Bring on the 3rd game! I wonder if they put the Japanese exclusive GBC version of DKL on the service? I've always wanted to play that. 2
Glen-i Posted November 29 Posted November 29 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said: I wonder if they put the Japanese exclusive GBC version of DKL on the service? I've always wanted to play that. Probably on the Japanese app, seeing as there is no Game Boy version of DKL 3 in Japan. Edited November 29 by Glen-i
Hero-of-Time Posted November 29 Posted November 29 26 minutes ago, Glen-i said: Probably on the Japanese app, seeing as there is no Game Boy version of DKL 3 in Japan. Guess I won't be playing it then. I don't faff on with the eShops from different regions.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 4 Posted December 4 It's finally done. I essentially finished this in August but there was one final trophy I still needed. This required me to get 100k dinosaur kills. I think I was sitting on around 20k when the credits rolled and so it's been a hell of a grind getting this. During this grind I finally got to play through the Monster Hunter event. This certainly helped with my kill count as you get swarmed by Velociprey. Fighting Rathalos in the arena was a very fitting battle. Just like MH, you could even smash parts of its body and cut off its tail. Fun game and one that I'm surprised hasn't hit PS+ yet, if only to boost the online users. 2 2
nekunando Posted Saturday at 09:38 AM Posted Saturday at 09:38 AM I'm not sure how many games I played this year that were released in 2024 but Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown basically wins by default! Thankfully, it's pretty good 😃 I never felt completely comfortable with the multitude of controls to remember and moves to execute during the heat of battle in the boss fights but I always got there in the end. I definitely grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory on more than one occasion, though. It was always frustrating that each enemy would choose the exact move I had most trouble with just as I was close to dealing the killer blow! 2 1
Hero-of-Time Posted Saturday at 09:51 AM Posted Saturday at 09:51 AM Yeah, Prince of Persia was great. I imagine it won't be on many best of 2024 lists due to it being released so early in the year and being smothered by the more recent games. 1
Hero-of-Time Posted Sunday at 05:16 PM Posted Sunday at 05:16 PM Finished Detective Pikachu Returns today. Awful game. The thing just doesn't know when to shut up. Also, it's pretty annoying when you know the culprit or what to do next but you can't just call the person out or skip a step. You are forced to go through each and every boring step. It's up there with the Phoenix Wright Trilogy as the worst/most boring game I've played this year. Speaking of disappointing games... After enjoying RCG, I picked this up in the recent sale. I was hoping for a kinda demake of RCG but what I got was a very basic brawler that lacked real hook. Glad I didn't play full price. I also played through Mercs on the NSO service. Fun game, if a little short. I would have been fuming if I got this as a kid. Paying £50+ for a game that's about an hour long. Yikes. It was a decent try at porting an arcade game to the Mega Drive but it runs like garbage when things get a little frantic on screen. 1
Jonnas Posted Monday at 12:34 AM Posted Monday at 12:34 AM I have been swamped with work for the past couple of months. Thankfully, it's finally over. A Jonnas Arcade Update Nothing too big. These will be games I tried briefly. Rare breaks. Writing might feel disjointed. Fatal Fury The origin of Terry Bogard! I didn't quite like FF2, but I was curious to see how the original, goofy entry in this series felt like. This should be before they had the two-lane sys- Oh, this game has two lanes? They...they had that from the start? Yeesh, that's rough. Regardless, despite me disliking the two-lane system, I thought I could have some fun with it, but... this game is wonky. And sluggish. And hard to control. I could not pull off a single move, heck, I could barely jump. As a game, this feels like it aged far worse than the original Street Fighter 2 (but not as badly as Street Fighter 1). I do respect the plot of this game, and the effort to give every character a personality. There's a goofy charm that permeates all of Fatal Fury, and it started right here. Too bad I don't actually enjoy playing it. 1 star Fatal Fury 3 Now, this one is nostalgic. I played it a long time ago as a child, on a cousin's emulator. Picked that monk with the hat, figured out on my own how to use one of his special moves. Good times. Going back to it, it's actually quite fun. The plot has a few twists and turns, there's a few new villains running around, you can pick your first fight in the Arcade mode... And the presentation rocks, look at that character select! There's even a chibi version of your character running around the city (Bob Wilson's spins around like a Hitmontop!), it's delightful. I really dig these sprites. Colourful, chunky, charming. Characters pop a lot, and they look very memorable. Furthermore, most of the cast is new to this entry (only 5 characters from previous entries return), and they're really nice. Even minor newcomers like Bob Wilson and Franco Bash will stick to your mind. The now three-lane system feels more fleshed out here, with characters being able to launch attacks across lanes. To my surprise, when playing Blue Mary, I found out her typical anti-air actually hits across lanes as well! To think that some of these classic moves were originally designed to interact with this system. Overall, I didn't get too far. Game has some tough AI. Despite me disliking the first two Fatal Furies, and not feeling too strongly about the Real Bout games, I'm really fond of this one. MOTW is excellent, but if Fatal Fury had kept this direction, I wouldn't have complained. 3 stars SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos The one made by SNK! The weird one! The one with the weird cast! The one with jank that feels unfinished! The one that- okay, that's enough hearsay and preconceptions. I finally tried this weird little game for myself. Honestly? It's really fun. Janky and sloppy for sure, but it's kind of a blast to play and have some casual fun. Some inspired roster picks for sure: Earthquake and Hugo? Dimitri and Zero? Mars People from Metal Slug and the Red Arremer from Ghosts n'Goblins? And the Capcom characters look brilliant in the KOF style, look at Dhalsim! The writing seems good, but the game weirdly skips through the dialogue excessively quickly. I do like some of these interactions (Dan Hibiki thinking Mr.Karate is his dad is *chef's kiss*) I personally really enjoyed playing as Hugo. He's already a fun oaf to use in Street Fighter 3, and he's not much different here, but the arcade stick makes landing those 360 inputs (including a 720º input) really satisfying. I also really wanted to use Zero, but I didn't quite understand his moveset, and there's no Training Mode in the arcade. Yup, the remaster is squarely on my wishlist. I understand that this is a janky fighting game, but it's my type of jank. 3 stars 1 3
WackerJr Posted Monday at 05:03 PM Posted Monday at 05:03 PM (edited) Spyro Reignited (PS4) Having played Crash Bandicoot and not really enjoying it, I ventured into more PS1-era platforming by giving Spyro a try. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this a lot more! I played through all three games in chronological order. The platforming was pretty standard, but I can imagine being incredibly impressed if I’d played this on PS1. It’s no Mario 64, but the item collecting and platforming are perfectly playable. As Spyro you’re tasked with collecting the abundance of gems hidden throughout each level. While ultimately the levels are quite linear in the route needed to reach the exit, they’ve been designed with plenty of opportunity to explore just off the main route. It is necessary to explore everywhere in order to locate every hidden gem. Thankfully Spyro has a dragonfly companion who points in the direction of the nearest gem, which alleviates some frustration as some are sneakily tucked away in orifices I wouldn’t initially have thought to have explored. Spyro’s basic controls involve jumping, with the ability to float a little, and blasting fire from his mouth to defeat enemies (he is a dragon after all!). The games are enhanced by the bulky animated characters and enemies that ooze with personality. One of my favourite moments is knocking rock monsters into lava, at which point they look at you forlornly and wave farewell before exploding! The trilogy increases in quality from the first to the third game. Frustrations in the first get actioned in the second and third, and while the gameplay doesn’t really change between them, there are just enough tweaks to iron out issues and give more structure to levels (for instance, each level of the 2nd game introduces a character to help, which is then the main goal of that particular level). In the first game you were also finding other dragons to rescue and they’d also give tips when rescued. 90% of these were completely pointless though! It would often be a tip on how to use one of Spyro’s abilities, but you’d often have to have actually used it to rescue the dragon in the first place! It’s almost used mockingly that they tell you how to defeat the enemy guarding them, having already spent time working out how to defeat them to carry out the rescue in the first! Imagine if after getting past Bowser in world 1-4 of Super Mario Bros and the Toad telling you that you could jump on the axe at the end of the level!?? The developers know this too as Spyro even references this later on! As is common in early 3D platformers the difficulty is pretty variable. It’s ok for the most-part and certainly doesn’t cause Crash Bandicoot levels of frustration, but there are some points, such as the early flying challenges and most of the first games over-reliance on chase sequences, where the difficulty unexpectedly spikes. In all games the camera being so close to Spyro causes some of this. I think my expectations were a little too low going into this, and everything impressed me more than I expected it too. For me, the gameplay still holds up today and the coat of paint it’s been given highlights the personality and charm the characters have been designed with. A good remaster. (Link to my 60-second video review: Link) Edited Monday at 05:56 PM by WackerJr Added link to video review 2 1
Hero-of-Time Posted Monday at 05:28 PM Posted Monday at 05:28 PM Yeah, the Spyro games were far more accessible than the Crash ones. More fun too. Once again proving that Insomniac Games>>>>>Naughty Dog. It's so sad these remakes didn't lead to a new game. Activision suck.
Julius Posted 3 hours ago Author Posted 3 hours ago (edited) I've got some catching up to do (read: a lot), so let's try to keep this relatively brief, at least for the games I've talked about elsewhere on N-E.... Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | 2010 Set in Costa Rica 10 years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Peace Walker sees us once again suit up as Snake/Big Boss. The game serves as a follow-up to the ending of Snake Eater, with a recording of the voice of The Boss found -- more than enough reason for Snake to pick up the trail and want to get to the bottom of just what, or who, is the voice behind the voice, and the potential threat of nuclear war. Peace Walker is split between two main forms of gameplay, the first of which most will be familiar with: the more typical Metal Gear Solid missions - albeit pieced out in smaller and more digestible chunks, which is no surprise given the game was originally designed and released for the PSP. In terms of gameplay it feels like a stripped back Snake Eater, with mechanics like camouflage returning from that game, and naturally, you're ranked on your performance in each mission. As missions are typically short but also relatively barren, the game consistently felt to me like a marriage between Snake Eater and the first Metal Gear Solid; perhaps it was down to its pared back nature and design, but I feel like this really allowed for the gameplay to shine. I would typically go non-lethal through missions, with a bit of a keen emphasis on speed, and had a blast. This game also introduces the Fulton system, which allows you to quickly attach Fultons - a surface-to-air recovery system - to retrieve supplies and kidnap enemy soldiers. This leads into the other form of gameplay: an army management mode which will see you grow the Militaires Sans Frontières from a small band of mercenaries into one of the world's large private militaries from Mother Base. Enemy soldiers can be rehabilitated and recruited, squads can be formed and sent out on missions, and you can assign new recruits to different departments. Naturally, you gain some recruits through the story, too. What helps Peace Walker stand apart from other Metal Gear Solid titles is its distinct approach to cutscenes, with art clearly inspired by Yoji Shinkawa's art throughout the years animated in a graphic novel style, coupled with basic but interesting interatcive elements which go beyond the typical QTE structure - honestly, at times, these cutscenes are kind of like a point-and-click. There is a healthy balance between returning and new faces in Peace Walker, but what's most noticeable to me is just how memorable some of these characters are. Paz, Huey, The Professor, Miller, Amanda, Chico...it's an excellent ensemble, which is nothing new for MGS, but it's crazy just how well these characters are built up throughout shorter missions and cool but relatively basic cutscenes. Backed by great music which punctuates some stellar and epic story moments - songs like Heavens Divide starting to play when cornered by swarms of enemy soldiers and a Hind chopper, an excellent battle theme, or a touching piano rendition of the Snake Eater theme often accompanying any mention of The Boss - Peace Walker feels like an MGS game in every sense of the word, but is doing so by doing so much with so little. And the opposite of little is big, and let me tell you, the main bosses throughout the game you take on are these massive, hulking mechs which feel like a fun combination of Monster Hunter meets Metal Gear, from how you need to target different parts which can fall off during battle, to climbing into the boss and collecting Chips under the pressure of a time to help make your own nuclear deterrent back at base: Metal Gear ZEKE. Heck, one of the control layouts is based on - and calls out - Monster Hunter! So, as you might have figured out, there's a natural synergy between the different elements of gameplay: completing missions to earn credits to spend on the base, while using the Fulton system to recover supplies and soldiers to rehabilitate and then recruit, which all feeds into also helping you improve equipment, while building up your own formidable Metal Gear with pieces from bosses. On paper, it sounds great. In reality, it is...until credits roll, the game teases a secret ending with Chapter 5, and you have to build out your base in a very specific way and have certain departments at certain recruitment levels and have ZEKE at a certain capacity and unless you've been following a guide you're probably not going to know about any of this until it's too late and you're grinding things out to get to the desired level for a certain prison to escape...like five times, and between each time you need to grind out missions. Honestly, it was a pain, and while the secret ending and final fight were great and clearly set up what comes next for Big Boss, it definitely left a sour taste in the mouth after having such a great time with the game to find out at the end that some grinding out needed to be done. It creates this weird pace seeking out the secret ending in such a way that makes perfect sense for a handheld like the PSP where you can chip away at it, but playing it via the HD Collection on PS3, I was a bit letdown that they didn't think to shake things up a little bit with some other type of approach to unlock the ending, because it just didn't feel suited to a home console. That being said and put aside, I had a great time with Peace Walker, and thought it was a more than worthy follow-up to Snake Eater. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | 2024 Shadow of the Erdtree is on par, for me, with Bloodborne's The Old Hunters DLC as the greatest DLC/expansion that I've played through. After over 30 hours in the Land of Shadow, I think what makes this DLC so strong is, despite only looking on the map like it's the size of a couple of regions in the Lands Between (the map of the base game), there is a keen emphasis on saturated newness by all means when it comes to every element of the map. Enormous cliff faces or chasms constantly greet the player with a question of "well, how do I get up/down there?", much more so than in the base game, while secrets and hidden paths are concentrated around every corner (a ladder? A tunnel? A hold in the ground?), and a smaller map means you are constantly running into something new and exciting. This is great, as while you are following in the footsteps of Miquella and running into his followers, the challenge in Shadow of the Erdtree is a noticeable step up from the base game -- yes, even the endgame content, which was nothing to sneeze at. For me, the DLC then being locked behind taking down Radahn and Mohg, two of the tougher six main story bosses in Elden Ring, makes perfect sense. After first arriving in the Land of Shadow, everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - is out to show you how much of a step up the challenge is, and even having finished the main game at Level 210 (after plenty of grinding) and respecing after some research to take my magical knight a step further by adopting DEX and a long samurai sword into my strategy, I was getting beat down early on in this DLC. This is because there is a unique type of power-scaling in the Land of Shadow, the Scadutree Blessing, which requires you to find and collect Scadutree Fragments throughout the world in order to level up, which directly applies a multiplier to a number of your stats from the base game, most noticeably damage taken and damage given; naturally, this emphasises exploration in order to level up and get to grips with how tough so many of the unique enemies of the Land of Shadow are. And, while I won't get into specifics, the bosses are easily some of the best in the game, too, even if some do, I think, show that From might be going a bit too far in terms of what is fair to the player of times, with one or two bosses in particular being very difficult to read or just janky enough to feel unfair due to the in-game camera getting overwhelmed. The music for the bosses is a step or two up from the base game, so still not quite at that Bloodborne level, but there are certainly some fights backed by equally epic scores. So much of Shadow of the Erdtree manages to look different and wholly unique compared to locations in the base game. The legacy dungeons in Shadow of the Erdtree are brilliant, with one in particular - the Shadow Keep - easily becoming my favourite in the entirety of Elden Ring for the way it hides so many secrets, has so many entrances, and so many more exits. The place is massive, and its placement, but also where it leads, just raises so many questions, while making sure to hand you just enough indirect answers to tease you along, in typical From Software fashion. This was perhaps my favourite element of playing and so quickly completing this DLC: for the first time with a From Software game, I found myself constantly checking item descriptions in the search for answers and directions, and time and time again, piecing the world and its history together in such a way blew me away. One in particular tied into a one of the earlier trailers we got for the base game, and it gave me chills to learn of the words we saw mouthed but never heard in the trailer. Similarly, though, answers aren't just found in item descriptions, but as is the case with all From games, the clues are left strewn out there in the world - whether it be in an abandoned village, ornate murals, statues, or the kind or creepy words of an NPC - to help you build your own ideas of what happened. A number of revelations in Shadow of the Erdtree, once I twigged on to what the game was hinting at, overwhelmed me and left me needing to walk away from the game - in a fictional world which is, by its nature, so filled with malice, without words exchanged with anyone I found myself overwhelmed with a feeling of hollowed out empathy. "What if I, or they, had been here to stop this?", I often found myself wondering. To say that feeling and question is timely given the real world atrocities we have come to see committed regularly in the last few years would be an understatement; some locations and the aftermath of some events haunt me still. The overall vibe of the Land of Shadow, which feels even more damaged and broken and abandoned than The Lands Between, as well as its music, makes Shadow of the Erdtree one of the absolutely pinnacles of gameplay-relayed storytelling. One minor complaint I had about the base game was in the form of smaller dungeons just due to the repetition and samey feeling of them all, and while catacombs return, every catacomb I found myself trudging through felt fresh and full of possibilities, whereas one cave took me from the top of a mountain to the bottom of another. There is also the addition of a new type of mini-dungeon, forges, which reward you with top tier crafting items upon completion. These places are filled with interesting puzzles and ideas which build upon the solid foundation found in the base game, while also looking for any excuse to do something new and different. Back in 2022, Elden Ring was my Game of the Year; it is not a flawless game, but it is undeniably brilliant. So, for me to be sitting here, typing that Shadow of the Erdtree feels like some of the best that Elden Ring and From Software has to offer - whether it be for the feeling it gave me epicly scaling a mountain in hunting down a dragon in a way which evoked myths and legends of yore, or falling into a bottomless, purple abyss to be met with a face I thought I'd meet elsewhere - and is as essential a game to play as the base game is no mean feat. Shadow of the Erdtree isn't just a great piece of DLC and quite possibly one of the best pieces of DLC released in the medium to date -- it is a masterfully crafted gaming experience in its own right which deserves to be appreciated and played by any and all remotely interested in the best that gaming has to offer. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | 2003 The second game I completed this year on my list of Pledge Games, Knights of the Old Republic is an absolute sweeping epic across The Galaxy Far, Far Away, the story, dialogue, and basic mechanics of which hold up to this day. Unfortunately, the combat - which is what you'll spend most of your time with outside of exploration - felt pretty dated, and there's a good bit of jank to this game which resulted in one or two brief moments of frustration. KOTOR hasn't aged the best, but it's clear to me now why it is appreciated as much as it is, and while I think it is a blessing in disguise that the remake seems to be stuck in a bit of a devlopment hell, I do hope that someone capable pulls their finger out and can make a remake worthy of this game. Star Wars Outlaws | 2024 Star Wars Outlaws is the worst game I've played in years and not worth digging into and bringing attention to here when I've done gone on about it more than it deserves in the game's own thread, so I'll just link those posts instead (warning: I kind of go off about the game) - Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5. Even with lowered expectations, I am immensely frustrated and disappointed in what Ubisoft and Massive put out. They should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this mess. Katamari Damacy | 2004 The third game I completed from my list of Pledge Games for the year, Katamari Damacy is the exact type of game in my backlog which I hoped pledging to play would bring out: this is one of the most pure, joyful, and unique experiences I've ever had with a game. For those who don't know, you roll around a ball to pick up objects which stick to and expand the ball, but the genius of this game is that you can't pick up objects greater in diameter than the ball you're rolling. Definitely takes a beat or two to get used to rolling the ball, as both the left and right sticks are responsible for different aspects of rolling. You're doing this all to put stars in the sky at the behest of your father, and so each main level has you needing to make a ball of a certain diameter by the time that, well, time is up. This means that every level ends up being a unique journey of escalation from micro- to macro-, and similarly, every main level is a perfect escalation from the last: while you pretty much always start off small, one level you might end up with a ball big enough to roll up a couple of pieces of furniture, the next you might be rolling up people, and after that you might be rolling up houses! I won't spoil it, but let's just say that the escalation up to and including the final level makes it perhaps one of the greatest final levels I've ever played through in a video game. There are optional bonus levels unlocked after most if not all of the main levels, but I'll be honest, I only did a couple of these - I was having too much of a blast experiencing the main story levels. That being said, the highlight of these for me was one level which wanted you to roll up the biggest cow you could find, but the twist to this level was that there were cows everywhere, and the first cow you rolled up would count as having cleared the level. Clearly, the aim of the level is to roll up everything you can that isn't a cow to the roll up the biggest cow you could find. Hilariously, though, the game sets up one of the smallest cows I've ever seen right next to the starting point, and so I just nudged the ball into it and clear the level - my father was not happy, but I was absolutely bawling. I think what helps to tie this game together is its style. There's its flat but bright colour palette, and I feel it's rare to see a game after the advent of 3D gaming which clearly intends to look as solid and flat as this one does, and so then the feeling of rolling around a ball - a distinctly 3D shape - in a flat yet colourful 2D-looking world. The game's cutscenes are just straight-up hilarious. The hijinks and back and forth - or rather, lack thereof - with your father always made me chuckle. But you know what really puts the cherry on top of this mountain of an ice cream sundae of a game more than anything else? Its music. There's the punchy jazz-pop vibrancy of Lonely Rolling Star... The simple, childlike expression of innocence found in Cherry Blossoms... And the rock and roll of the game's credits, Ball of Love... If you ever find yourself fawning for fun and simpler times, I think the gaming equivalent to an antidote would be Katamari Damacy. This is one of my favourite games that I've played through this year, and I look forward to seeing what the deal is with other Katamari games in the future! Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes | 2014 After the mess that was Outlaws, one aspect of the game left me with a feeling of wanting to do one thing above all else, which I can only sum up in three words: Tactical. Espionage. Action. Ground Zeroes takes place mere months after Peace Walker, serving as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V proper, The Phantom Pain. In it, you once again step in as Big Boss, this time infiltrating a black site in Cuba to save some of your friends from Peace Walker. I loved it. If I'm being honest, I just replayed the main mission a couple of times for a quick stealth fix, and it's just so crazy how deep some of the systems seem to go. The game also just looks absolutely stunning a decade later, to the point that if it released today, I would probably think it was a brand new game (lack of 4K aside). My appetite is absolutely whetted in anticipation of getting to The Phantom Pain, the last of the Metal Gear Solid games. Next year to round off what will then be a 5-year MGS journey, perhaps? Uncharted: The Lost Legacy | 2017 The Lost Legacy really surprised me. It was originally intended as DLC for Uncharted 4, which in my opinion is the weakest of the Uncharted games, and so I wasn't quite sure where to place my expectations, even knowing that the game eventually evolved into a shorter standalone title ahead of its release. Well? It's probably my second favourite Uncharted title after Uncharted 2. Obviously I knew Chloe from earlier games in the series, but Lost Legacy really peeled back some layers and did an excellent job of getting me to connect with her -- she feels like more than just a female Nathan Drake, and by the time credits roll, has really carved out her own space as a potential protagonist for future games. What really helped to flesh out Chloe was her back and forth was Nadine's presence, as the two come to loggerheads several times throughout the game, but there's just a contrast which makes for some great character growth as well as just some hilarious moments (such as when talking about the Drake brothers). In terms of gameplay, Lost Legacy is your pretty typical run-and-gun, hide-behind-wasit-high-walls cover-based shooter, just like the other Uncharted games, but I think what sets it apart is an open wide section where you can explore and traverse to your heart's content and in whatever order you see fit relatively early on in the game. While The Last of Us Part II has something similar, I think the combination of a throughline - tracking down these tokens, which eventually unlock a reward - and the Jeep to help you quickly traverse this section elevates it up above what Part II manages to do with its open-wide section. The reward I mentioned the tokens unlocking is the Queen's Ruby, which helps you locate the typical Uncharted treasures you find throughout the game via controller vibrations. It is a simple yet effective reward, and the proof is in the pudding: I ended up with dozens more pieces of treasure than I typically collect in Uncharted games, and it really helped me to try to explore that bit more when I knew something was around, as opposed to just aimlessly looking around where it feels like there might be treasure. With an epic and daring climax, Lost Legacy has me wondering -- when will we next get to go on a new Uncharted adventure? Astro Bot | 2024 I feel like I've already said a lot about Astro Bot in the game's own thread, so to keep it relatively brief: what a tremednous celebration of PlayStation's 30 years, and gaming in general. Playroom back at the start of this generation was a sensational early experience with what the DualSense would offer, and now with Astro Bot, it feels like Asobi have taken things up a notch - when no-one has come close to even trying to match what they did with Playroom back in 2020 in the four years since the start of this console generation. Every surface feels so textured with the DualSense in hand, and so many of the new mechanics - my personal favourite being the time-slowing mechanic - feel so uniquely and interestingly integrated. It's a joy starting up each level and being met with fresh bursts of ideas, and new Bots - VIP cameos or otherwise - to collect along the way, and the way in which they infest the game's main hub world is absolutely awesome. Each of the main 'worlds' end with an absolute A-bomb of a level, too, some of which capture the essence of what they're trying to emulate to a very silly degree. My favourite example of this is Astro doing the "squeeze through a tight space" which has become so common in the realm of AAA, that got an audible chuckle out of me. The Mario Galaxy inspiration is clear, but given that it has been well over a decade at this point since Mario Galaxy 2 released on the Wii, if someone was going to attempt to emulate what Nintendo were doing with those games -- who better than Asobi, at this point? The addition of a collectible-seeking bird you can pay to use on level replays to point you in the direction of missed collectibles was an excellent in-game solution to looking up collectible locations on, say, your phone -- which felt so distinct and made the game feel very accessible. It feels like so many studios with a history of strong platformers have moved onto bigger - but not necessarily better - things, and so this game existing after the closure of Japan Studio feels like nothing short of a miracle, and the game's success combined with Concord's failure feels like it has shined a harsh bright light on those at the very top of PlayStation with the question of "well, how are you going to capitalise on this?" One of my favourite games of the year, for sure. Astro is that unique combination of cat and small child which means he is adorable and aloof. Oh, and shoutout to Kenneth C.M. Young for his work on the game's OST. Crash Site, the hub world song, is this high energy take on a Morricone-type spaghetti western, whereas Marine Serene is very obviously an homage to David Wise's Aquatic Ambience. My favourite, though, has to be Tite Mites (Crystal Cave): A really special game, which I'm glad to see Asobi have continued to support, and while I don't know where it will rank in terms of figuring out my personal GOTY come the end of the year, I will absolutely be pulling for it to win at the TGAs tonight. Games completed in 2024 Spoiler Chrono Trigger (1995) - completed 16th January [REPLAY] The Last of Us Part II (2020) - completed 30th January [REPLAY] The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (2019) - completed 18th February Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode INTERmission (2021) - completed 29th February Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) - completed 28th March [REPLAY] Star Wars Battlefront (2004) - completed 29th March [REPLAY] Lost Judgement (2021) - completed 2nd June Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010) - completed 19th June Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (2024) - completed 2nd July Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003) - completed 24th August Star Wars Outlaws (2024) - completed 29th August Katamari Damacy (2004) - completed 30th August Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014) - completed 30th August Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (2017) - completed 2nd September Astro Bot (2024) - completed 8th September [Platinum] We've still a few more games to go, but I'm tapped and want to get a nap in before TGAs tonight, so will leave it there for now. I'll be back before you know it to round things off ahead of the Christmas holidays, where I've still got a couple more games I'd like to get to in store Edited 2 hours ago by Julius 1
Glen-i Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago (edited) On 12/9/2024 at 5:03 PM, WackerJr said: Having played Crash Bandicoot and not really enjoying it, I ventured into more PS1-era platforming by giving Spyro a try. Creepy... I just bought this during the Black Friday sale, and I'm also a guy who became disillusioned with most PS1 3D platformers because he played Crash (and Croc) as a kid and rightfully declared them to be crap. I should probably give it a go then. Edited 1 hour ago by Glen-i
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