JonB wrote:

Moot_Geeza wrote:

48. Blazing Chrome - Xbox One

I'm up for this at some point. When it goes cheap somewhere, probably. Does it have much replay value potentially?

To an extent, but mainly for score chasing.  I played it methodically and defensively (always opting for the shield when given a choice), but it's possible to absolutely rinse bosses with the right weapons at your disposal.  A hardcore mode unlocks upon completion, along with a speed run and boss rush iirc.  This may count as a spoiler, so in it goes:

49. Yoshi's Crafted World - Switch

Four months in and Tilly & I are finally done.  After the pre-launch fervour and initial buzz this joined Pokemon Let's Go by the wayside, but we picked it up again a couple of weeks ago.  She had a blast, but it was hard going for me, despite the charm offensive.  Much like Kirby All Star Allies it's an exceptional game for youngsters, it absolutely succeeds in appealing to very young players with its casual mode, but Christ almighty it's mechanically dull.  The levels are varied in typical Nintendo style, but the fundamental running, jumping, floating and egg firing is wafty.  You'd have to pay me to collect the non-essential items, but thankfully nabbing the vast majority of the flowers en route to the last gem gave me more than enough to pay each toll - reviews citing required backtracking were way off; you'd have to be deliberately avoiding flowers to necessitate further collecting imo.  Special mention to the music - it's fucking terrible.  The main theme is fine (once or twice), but it's regurgitated throughout in surprisingly quarter-arsed fashion, which is especially jarring after playing Woolly World on 3DS (thumbs up for the tunes in that). 

Overall I'm inclined to be harsher on this than I would've been before continuing with the campaign.  I've already mentioned Kirby, but I'll mention it again - much like that slightly weak-sauce platformer it warrants two scores - [8] for the kiddies, mission accomplished there for sure, but probably a [5] for fully grown folk.  It's also a bit tight for two players in places, and doesn't quite feel suited to co-op throughout.  As an amalgamation of Bug!, Clockwork Knight, Tearaway and Yoshi's Island it sort of works, but 'enchantingly boring' is the takeaway description overall.  One of the weaker first party Switch efforts.

Yoshi games are an odd one for me.

The demo for Crafted World left me cold despite loving Woolley World, which sounds much better than this after your review.

Island > Wooley World >>>> the rest

What was that GBA one with the weird cart. Universal Gravitation?

That Yoshi game soured me so much after end credits. Having to go back and do all that other shit, nah son.

Touch & Go was great.

23. Resident Evil 2 [9]
15 Jul-3 Aug
For someone who always preferred the second game of the PS1 series and has been hoping for a remake since they did the first one, this is near perfect. It gets the balance just right between keeping the feel of the source material and its core mechanics and advancing it in loads of interesting little ways. The weird thing is how it feels like this was the game I always felt like I was playing 20 years ago, although it was nowhere near as good. It's clear that they studied the original in great detail and have gone to a lot of effort to create a sense of familiarity while keeping you guessing, and the smaller differences between the two characters' stories are also really smart. Take, for example, the way the 'licker' is introduced in the first story and how that plays with your expectations from the past, and then how it does it in the second story. And with the visuals and monster designs, it feels a bit more grounded in reality (despite still being pretty cheesy and daft), and is thus often genuinely tense. The only issues really are that the item system might have been streamlined more, and it doesn't finish as strongly as it starts (they never do). But I loved almost every minute of it. An amazing remake and just a top class action adventure game.

50. Tacoma - Xbox One

Fancied this for a while but always hesitated to part with money for it.  Turns out I made the right decision.  I've got a soft spot for the genre, but I'd put this a fair way down the list of examples I've played.  The interactivity is dull, which doesn't always hurt this sort of thing, but the sci-fi narrative was a bit of a damp squib for me.  Not abysmal, but fundamentally monotonous and all a bit played out.  I can't put my finger on why this received a healthy dose of love on here, yet Everybody's Gone to the Rapture - with its similarly unremarkable storyline yet tons more atmosphere - got such a kicking.  Y'all just really like AI space stuff, maybe?  Whereas I like deserted rural villages and the dulcet tones of Ron from Goodnight Sweetheart.  

Did not enjoy. [4]

I think the default 'normal' mode is called hard on Blazing Chrome anyway, and easy gets renamed casual. Which can be a bit daunting from the outset. Unless I'm confusing it with Mutant Zero Zero, I started both on the same day. It seems to be a recent thing, where devs are so proud of the standard toughness it's automatically set at a level described as hard. The Butcher does it too.

I'm happy to play stuff on easy or casual these days, but it really depends what it is. Call of Duty would absolutely get played on ultra baby mode, because progression always feels a bit lucky on the harder modes, which gives me zero satisfaction, whereas I'm fine with dying a billion times in a 2D platformer. As a rule of thumb I'm generally up for reducing the difficulty in 3D games, but not 2D ones. I very rarely play anything on a difficulty higher than whatever it's set at out the box but I find being happy to lower the difficulty, which I never really let myself do until this gen, helps me enjoy certain things far more.

51. Framed - Switch

Sliding tile sequence puzzle game, presumably something that was originally a mobile game.  Standard espionage scenes unfold as you readjust images to make them flow in the correct order for success before hitting the play button.  Quite limited, and becomes less enjoyable when it attempts to mix it up a bit (specifically the reusable frames), but not a bad experience all told.  Will play the sequel at some point, which is included in the collection.  [6]

Verecocha wrote:

18:Uncharted Lost Legacy PS4 Pro - 6/10
Uncharted Lost Legacy
Now this is a beautiful game, stunning, and as close to Tomb Raider as I can imagine as a visual spectacle but I think TR still edges it, as it edges it with everything else in my opinion. I had high hopes and they were mostly met, big production values, great characters, great set pieces, but it all felt a bit B-Movie, just not quite there, something missing. The adventuring was limited as with most games it all becomes much more linear and streamlined, and as I think it was originally merely some DLC it was all very small scale and whilst I was expecting it to open up into a bigger adventure it all kinda finished and came to a close. It was good fun whilst it lasted, but unfortunately that wasn’t very long.

So I’m playing the final of the recent Tomb Raiders and I’m basically completely flipped from you. I see Tomb Raider as poorly written (though has some ok acting in places),with rotten pacing, bizarre character development, slightly leery attitude to Lara (fucking still? Really?) shit controls, awful - like really awful - endgames, totally unnecessary death sequences for Lara (weird GG type things to me) and the funniest NPC facial tech and animation I’ve seen since Fifa08 Peter Crouch. All this though is played in nice looking locations and with a good bow and arrow which keeps me going. I’m basically playing it hoping it may be a bit more like Uncharted.
I played LL alongside my 10 year old daughter who found a link to both the main characters and could project onto them - she loved it. As an extra bonus it also sparked an interest in India for her and just me and her are now gonna head there next year.

She watched me play the Shadow of the Tomb Raider recently for about an hour. She declared it was old fashioned and mean and seemed like teenage boys should be playing it. From the mouths of babes.

Reboot and sequel were good. Latest one is utter shite.

52. Mechstermination Force - Switch

Bought thanks to Andy's recommendation in the Switch thread, having previously mistaken it for an overpriced budget game.  It's not quite as good as I was hoping, but I definitely had a good time with it.  Continuing from the groundwork laid with the excellent final boss in Gunman Clive 2 and taking cues from Contra, Cuphead and Shadow of the Colossus, what emerges is a likeable boss rush hodgepodge that could've been stupendous with better controls.  There's a slightly off-kilter feel to the character movement that's hard to pinpoint, but imo the experience is marred by wonky physics and odd inertia.  Basic running and jumping feels like a game that exists in a perpetual state of 12% ice world slipperiness and 6% moon gravity, which is just enough to make the whole thing feel slightly off, especially after the addition of the [minor item spoiler]
As this type of game is intrinsically frustrating, almost as a raison d'etre, what you don't need is something else to complain about when you snuff it for the umpteenth time.  The difficulty compensates for this - unlike Cuphead, once you've leaned what to do executing the plan is relatively straightforward (whereas you learn far more gradually in Cuphead, and must stay on your toes to succeed as you can't often force/spam a win).  It's still a tricky game, but it probably becomes slightly easier as you progress, chiefly thanks to powerful additions to your arsenal.  Visually the cel shaded bot look is bold but not particularly striking - it looks okay, but I won't focus on the graphics as I'll end up damning it with faint praise.  As the camera zooms in and out it's easy to lose track of your character, especially in amongst all the pyrotechnics, which is a bit of a shame.  I couldn't comment on the music as I paid attention to precisely none of it during my playthrough - I'm reasonably sure it was nothing offensive, but it was clearly just...there.  I couldn't even tell you the style of muzak tbh.  Stick your own tunes on, if ye be heathens.   

On to the plus points - despite the inelegance of its gameplay it's hugely addictive.  I was done in, iirc, 3hrs 50 minutes, with just over 100 deaths.  I'm not great at these games but I do like things that eventually succumb to persistence.  Boss design is varied and - key point coming up - exhilarating at its best.  This is where the SotC similarities are pushed to the forefront.  For me, that was a game that came alive at its best moments, which helped to paper over the cracks of its lesser parts.  There were sections in this where I was positively buzzing - when everything comes together as you successfully execute a jump from the arm of a skyscraper-sized robot to its head to deliver a final blow it's a bit of an air puncher. There's undeniable quality here, which is especially noteworthy for an unheralded console exclusive indie release.

Anyway, the tl,dr everyone's so fond of these days is: a commendable boss rush shooter that's extremely likeable but not quite good enough to love. [7]



Edit: Oh, and it has a co-op mode too.  Can't comment on it yet but it could work.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

51. Framed - Switch

Sliding tile sequence puzzle game, presumably something that was originally a mobile game.  Standard espionage scenes unfold as you readjust images to make them flow in the correct order for success before hitting the play button.  Quite limited, and becomes less enjoyable when it attempts to mix it up a bit (specifically the reusable frames), but not a bad experience all told.  Will play the sequel at some point, which is included in the collection.  [6]

I've now finished the first too (on mobile). Second is more expensive but yeah may at some point. Broadly agree with the above words tbh - kinda interesting idea, but for a little while, some ideas don't work great, about right length, plot meh, yeah [6] I guess cos mechanically interesting.

Updated mine with my last two games.

09 - Celeste Experienced a lot of emotions during this game, not all were good and I needed the help of B for some screens later in the game as I was losing motivation, but it still was great, and I would like more, but not the announced DLC. That's locked behind a condition I probably won't meet. I should really try and get some early strawberries.
10 - Tearaway (vita) More emotions, complete different ones than Celeste. This is the purest feel good game I've played I think, along with Katamari. Some camera issues, some vita feature implementations that made things harder than they were supposed to, but those didn't matter in the end.

Looking at my "started but never continued" list I should probably focus on Mark of the Ninja and Astro Boy before picking up Hollow Knight.