52 Games Challenge: 2019 Edition - The Bear and Badger

Moot_Geeza

62. Baba is You - Switch

Cracking little indie puzzler that I absolutely fucking loathed. Near enough 15hrs of tedium and frustration on and off over the past three months. Went back to it today and it turns out I either a) already had access to the finale or b) unlocked the finale after taking two hours to finish two stages. So I polished the presumably-not-really-last level off with a step by step Youtube guide, no fucks given.

Absolutely hated it after the first few hours, far too many variables and long form puzzling for me, my brain doesn't work in the way the game requires. I've got to give it a score really, in keeping with everything else I've played, so [4].

hylian_elf

I played a fair bit a while ago. Don’t feel the urge to go back, really.

Moot_Geeza

It did a great job of always being a bit much. In the end the thought of playing it reminded me of the weird late coursework panic dreams I used to have (long after the coursework had been handed in).

hylian_elf

7. Slay The Spire (Switch)

Many hundred hours yet to come, I’m sure, but I think I’ll count it here now as I’d just at the stroke of midnight unlocked ascension for the third character after around 50 hours of play.

What a game.

[9] for now.

Verecocha

19:Gears Of War 5 Xbox One X - 9.5/10
Simply put, the best looking, best sounding game of this gen, and quite possibly my favourite Gears. It’s got everything, big, brash, beautiful, good story, great set pieces, nice lite RPG elements to Jack, best collection as well as introduction of new weapons, awesome set of characters, enough open worldly type additions to freshen it up but keep the core gameplay, it’s just a fantastic romp. Gears is fucking awesome and I loved this. Straight back in on insane.

20:Control Xbox One X - 10/10
Game of the year. Simple as that. It’s just that good. Looks amazing, sounds amazing, the story is absolutely tremendous, it’s just that good. Pure Remedy, you can feel it within minutes, the movement, storytelling, the direction, if you like remedy you’ll be at home within seconds. I just wanted more and more. Amazing to have an SP campaign without so much crap added, just a great 10 hour campaign built to be please and tell a hell of a story well. Pure awesome.

Wariospeedwagon

Trials of Mana (Switch) 6/10

This was played as part of the Collection of Mana... collection. I couldn't resist a hard copy of this, even if it is quite bare bones. This is of course the legendary unreleased (outside of Japan) game that taunted SNES RPG fans back in the 90's, seeing unbelievable screenshots in the magazines, then going on to read we'd never get to play it. And we couldn't! ...until 20 odd years later (Well, if you don't the translated ROMS you could've found without too much trouble, lol).

TOM would have been Godly back then. Nowadays it's a bit frustrating, in that it's about an 8/10 for the first 15 hours, then drops to maybe a 4/10 for the last 10. My issue was mostly with the magic system, which stops the action with a 5 second animation. It's not an issue in early levels when most enemies don't use magic, and you don't need to use it much, but near the end you HAVE to use it and all the enemies do. It takes forever to dispose of a trash mob. That, coupled with labyrinthine maps that it's so easy to get lost in, made that final stretch just drag on forever. And you need to grind a bit too. For that last 1/3rd I was ready for the game to end and it just kept going. Never mind the final bad guy who took me over 45 minutes! I swore at my TV in disbelief a couple of times, lol. It felt like it would't end!

Boss fights are generally good though, often with enormous sprites which much have been incredible back in the day and still look top now. In fact it's just some nice animations away from looking like it could be an indy darling. Some really stunning colourful graphics. And it is a SNES RPG so the music kills as well.

I loved how it didn't piss about; within a couple of minutes your story is set up and you're on you're way. It keeps up a cracking pace throughout the first 2/3rds, and even over the final stretch it's all action. I like this approach in an action RPG. Let you stop in towns if you like but generally it's all about cracking into your quest.

Only other complaint is the menu system which is ridiculously laggy and poorly thought out. I see this is how the game always was, but I'm surprised it wasn't given a bit of polish, at the very least to do away with the lag.

The game is designed to be played through several times (it features 6 playable characters, with 3 connected stories between them). I won't play this version again, but there is a remake coming out soon. I'll give that a look as the trailer looks pretty cool. I think with a few more modern sensibilities it could be a cracker.

JonB

26. Astral Chain [9]
This was marvellous. The legion/chain idea has been so comprehensively thought through, not only in combat - where you can bind enemies, catapult them away and hookshot yourself around arenas - but also in the plaftorming sections, the exploration and the various mini games and detective modes. There's a ton of variety, with extreme shifts of pace from the frantic fighting to the more laidback and amusing community policing, but it never feels disjointed. Even when you're doing more mundane stuff it doesn't feel like busywork because it all makes sense as part of the whole, and it keeps moving too quickly for anything to become tiresome. The combat is still the main attraction, though, and it's Platinum at its best. It's not as immediate as Bayonetta, given the complexity of controlling yourself and half-controlling your legions at the same time, but once it starts to come together it's just as thrilling and rewarding. Besides all that, the visual style and soundtrack are also pretty special. Other than some minor issues with the camera and getting used to the controls, it's simply a top class action adventure game from start to finish.

monkey

41. ThunderForce IV (Switch)
Best shooter on the MD. There's a difficulty spike boss on Level 8 that can suck a dick but all gravy apart from that.

42. Super Mario Land (Gameboy)
A bit like playing some weird knock-off Mario, all the components are there, but different and worse. It's still completely playable but very easy. There's the odd flash of Mario magic, mostly from the soundtrack.

43. Batman (Nes)
I've got a couple of niggles. A couple of the bosses are piss takes. There's one enemy type that is completely unfair. Apart from that it's top quality. The graphics didn't impress back then but age has given me a better appreciation of the colour palette that they're using, which is completely off the wall. Speaking of off the wall, Batman's jumping and environmental navigation are brilliant. Each and every platform placement is carefully considered, it's full of little tightly-timed eye of the needle jumps and attacks with his unbelievably responsive movement. You've always got complete faith in the mechanics to not let you down.
It's hard to explain what I mean precisely. It's just very enjoyable making him leap about. Satisfying.

44. Megaman 2 (from Switch Legacy Collection)
This is a bit more like it. Still not quite the megaman I remember. Quite easy really. Good fun though.

45. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Gameboy)
Piss. It's dull as hell. Graphically a huge step up from the first but there's nothing going on here of interest. I remember really liking it as a snotnose. I think the map and open-world design, combined with the decent visuals gave it something back then. Now it's got nothing apart from, again, the odd flash of brilliance coming from the speaker.

I think that's more or less it for the ultra-retros this year. There's three or four more I want to clear. But it's mostly 21st century games now until 2020. Currently loving Hollow Knight. Maybe another 50% of that to go.

Moot_Geeza

Batman was one of the first NES games to hook me when we used to do the retro club on here. Superb game, great music too.

retroking1981

Yeah nice to see some love for NES Batman, loved it then and still do now.

Also nice to know I'm not alone in thinking the Mario Lands are a bit pish.

JonB

27. Creature in the Well [6]
4-18 Sept
It's a nice idea (sort of action pinball) and some parts did develop into interesting challenges, especially the boss sections. But a lot of other bits were a non-event. Overall it could do with some tighter design, and just do a bit more with the concept.

acemuzzy

Hmm, reads like a [6]

Moot_Geeza

63. Sayonara Wild Hearts - Switch

Ultra stylish rhythm rails runner that rolls itself in so much glitter the unpolished gameplay still shines. Mechanically this is basic stuff - think early Grand Prix LCD games where the player vehicle weaves between fixed scrolling cars and you're close enough. Some stages ask you to dodge or collect things in slightly different ways, but it's still a reactions test that becomes a route learner if you want to git gud, rather than something that intrinsically relies on rhythm. Simplistic, but I like that sort of thing. It lacks substance but manages to style it out thanks to the aforementioned style. Music is a mixed bag of mostly decent tunes that enhances everything the louder you crank the volume. Even skateboards make a successful comeback here, so a round of applause is required for the whole audiovisual package. It's over fairly quickly but it's all just about varied enough to finish in one sitting. Some stages would be worth replaying but I'd happily not have played the clever clever click shift one in the first place.

Smoke & Mirrors/popcorn for the eyes, but apparently that's okay if we're not stroking our chins at a Hollywood blockbuster. On a list also containing Thumper, Aaero and Neon Drive it places third. It's not a good game per se, but it is a decent videogame and I enjoyed my time with it. *Puffs on nonsense pipe* [6]

Edit: For reference I gave Virginia a [7] iirc.

hylian_elf

8. Resident Evil VII

Had its moments. I’m glad they went back to creepy horror and first person perspective works really well. Started off good, but I found myself getting bored halfway through and the fetch quests got tedious. Picked up again later and was good for a while then kept going... it seems a mixed bag. And could’ve done with a more varied set of enemies.

Tried VR. I loaded a save from just before the final fight with Jack. Man, it was fucking awesome but I was feeling sick after just 5-10 minutes. Not for me. If only I had the stomach/head for it.

[7]

Wariospeedwagon

Moot_Geeza wrote:

63. Sayonara Wild Hearts - Switch Ultra stylish rhythm rails runner that rolls itself in so much glitter the unpolished gameplay still shines. Mechanically this is basic stuff - think early Grand Prix LCD games where the player vehicle weaves between fixed scrolling cars and you're close enough. Some stages ask you to dodge or collect things in slightly different ways, but it's still a reactions test that becomes a route learner if you want to git gud, rather than something that intrinsically relies on rhythm. Simplistic, but I like that sort of thing. It lacks substance but manages to style it out thanks to the aforementioned style. Music is a mixed bag of mostly decent tunes that enhances everything the louder you crank the volume. Even skateboards make a successful comeback here, so a round of applause is required for the whole audiovisual package. It's over fairly quickly but it's all just about varied enough to finish in one sitting. Some stages would be worth replaying but I'd happily not have played the clever clever click shift one in the first place. Smoke & Mirrors/popcorn for the eyes, but apparently that's okay if we're not stroking our chins at a Hollywood blockbuster. On a list also containing Thumper, Aaero and Neon Drive it places third. It's not a good game per se, but it is a decent videogame and I enjoyed my time with it. *Puffs on nonsense pipe* [6] Edit: For reference I gave Virginia a [7] iirc.

Agree with a lot of that - though I did like the parallel universe level!

That was probably the only challenging bit that I enjoyed. The bolded bit in your quote I think was what stopped it being a really great game. If anything, a lot of your actions detract from letting the music and graphics was over you. In fact I would have enjoyed it more if there were no fail states, you just complete a level with a bad score and go back if you're interested. Failing then having the music rewind was just irritating and hampers the fun.

ALSO

Super Metroid (Switch) 7/10

I'd never played this before, though did own it on Wii U. I didn't like Samus's gait (she looks like she doesn't travel as far as her pumping legs suggest), which is a pretty stupid reason to not play a game in hindsight. Holds up really well on the whole, with it's great atmosphere (top 16 bit graphics and sounds) and the formula of finding new gear and figuring out where to go, which has become so popular over the years. My only problem was it was really obtuse in finding the correct route towards the end. Hidden doorways that I would never have guessed; it would have taken weeks of trial and error for me to figure out. Instead I used a walkthrough for a lot of the later game stuff. It's mostly good stuff though even without nostalgia goggles. I would have loved this in high school, and still quite liked it as an older bloke.

Moot_Geeza

The parallel universe stage was the only one I played with the rhythm in mind due to the clicks. Didn't help that I was terrible at it. Good idea though.

I replayed Begin Again again last night and it's the clear showcase for the game. Missed out on gold by a smidge so I'll go back today at some point. The track is earworming me too.

Wariospeedwagon

Cool, good luck with the gold. Might have only given it a mediocre score but it's left a pretty good impression me, I must say. Will revisit at least the main song levels again before long; not sure I'll get good though.

Spent the last couple of days with Link's Awakening. Just awesome stuff. Only played the original version for the first time last year, and the glaring issue with that was the lack of buttons on the Gameboy. Meaning you spend half the game looking at the inventory screen. That is of course no longer an issue. The graphics are top shelf - Normally prefer to play Switch in handheld mode but this pretty much demanded the big screen. Some of the best I've ever seen. Stopped playing sometimes just to look at things. Slow down be damned! It's there and happens more often than I'd like to see. I don't think hurts the game to much of an extent though. Sound is a great mix of orchestral stuff and throw back 8 bit effects. Works really well! The atmosphere is just what I'd want from a cartoony Zelda. It might be my favourite in the series now.

Puzzles are great and really ramp up near the end. The last couple of dungeons are enormous. There's not TOO much nonsense where you'll need to use a walkthrough (Although there's definitely one bit where I'd never have guessed what to do - even having played the original not long ago). The in game hints are generally great at pushing you in the right direction.

It's not perfect and can easily think of a few smaller issues. There are still a couple of unused buttons on the switch that could be put to use for the mappable inventory items. Drowning Link looks pretty distressing in such a toony game. Cut grass grows back unnervingly quickly. The suss frame rate, the odd overly demanding puzzle. And there are temporary power ups where, every time you pick them up, give a short text description of what they do. It stops the game for a minute and is pretty infuriating in the heat of battle. It's usually quicker to just avoid them, and if you're avoiding power ups there's something wrong. The font is a bit inappropriate, in that it looks like some kind of default word processor thing. But who cares about any of that shit? I give it a 10/10

Moot_Geeza

I'm itching to play Zelda - particularly as I've never played the original - but slowdown is such an affront to my eyes I think I'll see how the land lies for a few months, hoping for a patch. I'm not particularly fussy with 3D visuals as pretty much everything looks good to me these days, but I find slowdown really annoying.

Wariospeedwagon

That's fair enough - Not sure if this bodes well for a fix, but there was no day 1 patch (does that mean the game is as polished as they could get it?). Hopefully they are working on something.

They're quite big drops, that usually kick in when you visit a village, then disappear after a couple of seconds.

Moot_Geeza

If it's just a thing when you enter new areas I don't suppose it'd grate that much, I assumed it dipped all over the place. No idea what Nintendos's policy is on polishing titles once they're out the door, or whether it's even possible in this instance.

monkey

The slowdown only really happens in the overworld when changing environments. And it never affects gameplay much. I’ve never seen it in a dungeon.

Wariospeedwagon

Moot_Geeza wrote:

If it's just a thing when you enter new areas I don't suppose it'd grate that much, I assumed it dipped all over the place. No idea what Nintendos's policy is on polishing titles once they're out the door, or whether it's even possible in this instance.

I remember that did a later patch for BOTW, so that's something! Different situations though; it's not like its just dropping a couple of frames here and there.

monkey wrote:

The slowdown only really happens in the overworld when changing environments. And it never affects gameplay much. I’ve never seen it in a dungeon.

There was 1 area in a dungeon I came across, but pretty sure that was the only 1. But yeah, it didn't harm the game other than looking a bit jarring.

JonB

28. Sayonara Wild Hearts [8]
20-25 Sept
I've found all the diamonds and got gold ranks on most levels, and I think I'm done. And a good time was had. It's all about the switches of pace and perspective in time to the music, sending you running, flying, motorcycling, shooting in quick succession as the world morphs around the track. Yes, it's simple. Yes, you have to repeat and memorise to get a good run/score. But it's meant to be a performance, a one-take high concept 80s pop video, and as such it works. It especially works with the big vocal numbers, and it's a shame there weren't more of those, but there's plenty of variety throughout, and some nice nods to classic games. The overall result is something imaginative, a little different and often simply pleasurable to take part in.

[Deleted User]

JonB wrote:

Yes, you have to repeat and memorise to get a good run/score. But it's meant to be a performance, a one-take high concept 80s pop video, and as such it works.

I would argue that’s why it completely fails.

JonB

I'm sure you would.

Moot_Geeza

65. Untitled Goose Game - Switch

Nothing but love from me. Played this with my daughter and it effortlessly usurps the excellent Donut County as our second best pass-the-pad experience of the year (Wandersong is unassailable). Everything from your character's ThugLife swagger to the village itself is absolutely on point. Of course the final area is

Spoiler:

...how beautifully apt. The puzzles are fun to solve and the penny drop moment never left me feeling short changed. Visuals are terrific and the scallywag goose is a joy to waddle in and out of trouble with. It's not a long game but it's not as short as I'd feared; I'd happily pay for dlc areas going forward as I'd very much like some more of the same please.

One of the most pleasant surprises of this or any year. [9]

hylian_elf

Oh, Moot likes it. I’ll avoid it then, must be crap.

monkey

46. Link’s Awakening (Switch)
There’s a kid somewhere who’s going to play this game and it will be the best game they’ll ever play. They’ll be the right age, be old enough to handle the puzzles and uneven progress, and be receptive enough to appreciate how crazy the whole thing is. It’s less of a perfect match for a 38 year old, dead-inside, bitter old cynic. I found this last year when replaying Lttp, and to a lesser extent with BotW. I just don’t have the tolerance for the Zelda overworld stuff anymore and I probably have to stop playing them. Too much effort, too little reward. Wow you gave this guy a shell. Whoop-de-do. I don’t want to comb the map a third time to find a woman who has the quest-starting dialogue I need because I’m now holding a Magic Bee or something. Just give me the dungeons, back to back. Exit one and it leads into the next. In my time on this planet, I have delivered enough random objects to crazy digital weirdos for obscure rewards. But I will happily fight through dungeons until the end of all things.

Objectively, the game is top drawer. It looks amazing. Every character is crazy. The map is tight as hell. Every bit of it means something or does something. The bosses are all piss easy, as is most of the combat, but the dungeons themselves are pretty tricky because of the rock-solid environmental puzzling. I don’t know if it quite touches the LttP highs but its close. The soundtrack is wonderful – (including an orchestral reworking of the famous overworld theme) and spliced up with 8-bit sound effects. The plot is great. Unfortunately, I’m just an old twat, unable to properly enjoy the whole experience. I can still got lost inside a game but not some twee kids shit.

retroking1981

I'm taking the Switch to Majorca in a couple of weeks. Will blast through Zelda over there in between *free booze.

monkey

47. Untitled Goose Game (Switch)
The best goose simulator ever made. Extremely short. Quite funny. I like the intermittent soundtrack, world design and general arsehole gameplay. The list of assignments that you're given in each area starts as "How on earth am I going to get this done" but soon falls away as you explore and fuck around and work stuff out. There's nothing too obtuse.

It's more or less perfect at what it does but there's a few technical gripes. Some of the puzzles require a bit of jiggling around with the physics engine to get the objects to where you need them to be. The animation broke itself multiple times and characters just slid around the environments without moving their feet. I think I've broken one of the characters in one of the environments so I don't think I can complete the optional stuff there (it could be there's a puzzle to get him out of his situation that I haven't bothered with). I don't really feel like doing any more though. The question mark over it is how long could it have been? It's pretty limited really so maybe they just wrapped it up before player tedium set in. One of the later new areas was beginning to grate a bit so dunno. It's a fun novelty I suppose which sounds dismissive, and it sort of is, but also sort of isn't. It's worth two hours of anyone's time.

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