14.  Pixel Ripped 1989 - PSVR

*New genre alert!*  Batshit nu retro VR tower defence/lightgun game hybrid oddity.  I've never played anything remotely similar to this.  Your character is mostly playing a handheld games console which you're holding and looking at in an attempt to progress through the simplistic 8-bit inspired platform shooter stages, whilst simultaneously creating diversions in a classroom so the teacher doesn't spot you playing a videogame.  To do this you need to fire projectiles at various parts of the scenery which sets up distractions so you can return to the game - kinda like playing a hillbilly moonshine shooting gallery (albeit controlled with your head) while playing a Gameboy.  Other stages have you using the handheld unit as a retro overlay for a shooting range (protecting students from being taken, like a weird lightgun game within a lightgun game Defender thing).  Plus the whole thing is littered with retro nods/wiks/homages - Alex Kidd helicopter stage! - and has a very British sense of humour running through it.  I could go on, but it's all just as mental and I've already 'ruined' half the surprises.  Genuinely not sure what to make of it.  Absolutely not worth the full £22, but at the current price of £10.99 it's worth it for the insanity.  BARMY.  [7] 

It's great, I hadn't played it until we did it in the retro club a few years ago. Looks more like GBA game than a Megadrive one, can't think of anything on MD that looks quite like it.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

It's great, I hadn't played it until we did it in the retro club a few years ago. Looks more like GBA game than a Megadrive one, can't think of anything on MD that looks quite like it.

Yeah playing through these has made me realise how big a leap was made from early to late Megadrive. It's like two different gens.  Pulseman especially feels like they wanted to see just how much juice they could squeeze out.

Yeah that's already on The List. I'm not that sure about a few of these re save states. Apart from Gunstar, I've got the treasure ones to do. I gave Alien Soldier a 5 minute razz the other day. That's not the sort of game someone of my skill level should be touching. I've got no problem save stating to avoid repetition or to get through difficulty spikes but I read an interview with the dev who was saying it's like his baby, and he dreams about it even after he finished it and he made it specifically for a hardcore audience. So me ploughing through it, save stating after every shot fired feels a bit wrong. On the other hand it does seem really good so fuck it. If it's so hard it's not fun anymore then I'll know it's time to stop.

Slowed down of late, but Baba Is You makes 7, and Zelda should fall soon.

11: Anthem Xbox One - 6/10
First unfinished game, put in a good few hours but it simply didn’t capture me. Some brilliant points such as the flying and gun play, however they are outweighed by awful wooden enemies and a beautiful but barren world. Will hopefully be awesome when I return at some point later in it’s life.

17? It's March ya eejit.

(I'm on two...)

Updated my list on page 2.

JonB wrote:

Completed:


2. Into the Breach [8]
3-6 Jan
Played 7 games in total (on Normal) and emerged victorious twice.

Reading through some reviews in here. This one amazes me. Everyone has certain genres they're better at than others but two wins in seven for ittb is ridiculously impressive. I need to check to confirm, but I think I had something like ten failed attempts on normal then it took me maybe 15 games on easy to 'win' (once).

You’re counting a bit of small DLC?

Wait til Muzzy sees this.

Shameless.  Utterly shameless.

I'll take The Teminator off my list if you give me back the 50 minutes of my life it took to complete it.

I'm going to be adding Spider-man DLC to mine as well.

I had the arcade version of Golden Axe the year before last, pretty sure that one only lasted about 25 minutes.

21. Severed - Switch

Just seeing the name annoys me, because it's one of two games I forgot to download on PS+ ages ago and it ended up costing me £6.  Anyway, it's a touch-screen maze based RPG type with an interesting battle system from the creators of Guacamelee.  Part Shining in the Darkness, part Fruit Ninja (maybe, I haven't played that) and, in the way the battles work, part Panzer Dragoon Saga. You have to swipe the screen in various directions to attack, while managing which point on the compass the next attack is coming from.  Enemies need to be suppressed, frozen or polished off early, for example, depending on type.  It's a pretty interesting concept fairly well executed, but it runs out of steam two thirds of the way through. The checkpointing is extremely generous, so even the trickiest battles are usually done within five to ten minutes.  Even so, I was glad when it was over in all honesty. I did enjoy some of my time with it but it wasn't really my sort of thing.  Lovely visuals though, and I'll doff my cap to the devs for trying something different.  [6]

Here is a review dump

11: Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES/3DS) 10/10

Awesome stuff exactly as remembered and expected.  Nothing new to say really.  Outside of a couple of puzzles which seemed a bit unfair this could be released today as is, and still be considered a classic.

12: Motorsport Manager (Switch) 8/10

I don't care for motorsports but this was a great, laid back management game.  Kind of thing you can play while watching football and not feel like you are missing anything.  You get to make a lot of choices (which car parts your engineers should be working on, new sponsorships, drivers etc) but there's almost always a fairly obvious best choice.  The actual races are also breezy, generally you're just picking the best spots for your drivers to pit, and telling them how aggressive they ought to be.  There are some more taxing race modes but honestly I was happy playing it without too much input.

It's a mobile game but controls are mapped to a gamepad or you can use a touch screen.  Both seem to work quite well.  I liked it.

13: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrafice (PC) 7/10

For a game where I thought the combat was so-so, the levels were mostly dull and the puzzles not good, this was a cracker!  It recommends you play with headphones; I did so and it was a pretty unsettling way to play.  Such a well presented game especially for a budget title.  Even though some bits were a bit tiresome it didn't overstay its welcome for the most part.  Memorable stuff.

14: International Cricket Captain 2018 (Ipad) 5/10

Much like Motorsports Manager, this is a laid back, hands off management game.  I buy this series most years and only enjoy it for like 1 season before it gives me the shits.  It's largely the same game it's always been, though the current mach engine that they've been using since the late aughts looks far worse than the original 90's one.  It looks like a high resolution PS1 game.  I like it less and less as you have to do more and more during games.  Picking powerplays, swapping bowlers every over or 2 during 20/20s, etc.  I just like doing first class matches where you have to change aggression levels and bowlers once every 10 overs or so.

Screen layouts are wasteful and uninformative.  Wish you had more agency over improving your club and players.  Hate it when the international team nicks your players but never plays them and won't put them on a contract.  In all seriousness this series would be my most played game every year if it changed up a few things.

15: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4) 10/10

Stonking game. It's thrown me off a bit actually; finished it on tuesday night and have been trying to find something new to play, but I'm bouncing off everything.  Traded it in but regret doing so.

Only issues: The camera loses it from time to time.  Many boss fights, I think, require an an unreasonable length of time to learn before you can win.  They don't all have saves close by.  Also, it doesn't run great even on PS4PRO

All that aside it has the Dark Souls magic.  It's pretty much top of the pile re: an environment that rewards exploration (not just to find items and lore; I think these are the only games where I enjoy sight seeing.  'ooh, here is where X must have happened.  Ooh I can see the first level from here!' etc).  I had the thing where, if I played it too much during the day, I'd see detailed swordfights playing over in my head while in bed, before I could go to sleep.  Usually only get that with puzzle games.  Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!  Anyway, will buy it again on PC in a year or two, hopefully with an expansion and patches released.