52 Games Challenge: 2019 Edition - The Bear and Badger

hylian_elf

1. Tetris Effect (PS4) - [9] - 11/01 - c20 hours

2. Bayonetta 2 (Switch) - [10] - 17/01 - c10 hours

3. DKC: Tropical Freeze (Switch) - [7] - 19/01 - c10 hours

4. Three Fourths Home Extended Edition (Switch) - [4] - 28/01 - c1 hour?

5. DMC5 (PS4) - [8] - 18/03 - c10 hours ?

6. Sekiro (PS4) - [10] - 13/05 - c70 hours (NG)

7. Slay The Spire (Switch) - [9] - 10/09 - c95 hours at year end

8. Resident Evil VII (PS4) - [7] - 21/09 - 12 hours

9. Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch) - [8] - no date - over 30 hours

10. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch) - [8] - 28/12 - ?? hours

11. Rayman Legends (Switch) - [9] - 30/12 - 10-15 hours

12. Spider-Man (PS4) - [9] - 31/12 - ??~30 hours??

Frosty

First game done.

Played through Florence today which is a really lovely, short narrative experience that follows a young woman going through her daily routine who meets a guy and falls in love. There's almost no dialogue and the story is told through a series of images and simple puzzles that along with the music do a really good job investing you in what's happeing.

It does some really novel things with the mobile platform and tells a story through it in a way I haven't seen before.

It's £2.99 and short, it can be completed in about 45 minutes, but is really worth it. It'll keep you engaged for your morning commute at least.

Jaco

52 games in a year?? Holy cow. I'm lucky if I can complete 3 or 4 games a year these days...

Frosty

Ah I probably won't be anywhere close but it's a nice way to track what I play this year.

I always get to December and can't remember anything that I watched/played so really struggle with any sort of goty. Hopefully this fixes that.

monkey

1. Mario + Rabbids
Pretty good. Quite impressed as it should be awful. It’s quite well balanced in that if you put some thought in and you get the placement right, you can really do some damage. But they don’t make it easy. I spent a good 5-10 minutes sometimes thinking through the order of moves I wanted for my next turn, what might go wrong, what might go right. Really wasn’t expecting that level of depth.

A few gripes - the wacky humour got a bit grating. Some of the game isn’t exactly unfair, but you can easily get a team member killed through just a bit of luck from the enemy (you get burned out of your cover and run straight into a gang of brutes or something). That’s quite satisfying in reverse though, teaming up and absolutely annihilating some baddies. The puzzles aren’t hard or interesting and there’s probably too many of them.

The big(ish) flaw was after about halfway through, it’s run out of new tricks to show you and it doesn’t really go anywhere. There’s then too many repeated battles and situations (escort missions!). So the back section felt like more of a drag compared to the highs of the first half. I really just wanted it over by the end.

Anyway, did the full game and the first half of the challenges. At some point I’ll return to the rest of them and get the DLC. I’d imagine MP is stonking as well. All the mechanics are there. The only complaints are with the campaign. I need a good break from it before any of that though.

So, I dunno, [7] for the story mode but there’s an [8] or [9] in there if they’d cut it down a bit. Got it for £15 which is a steal.

Moot_Geeza

monkey wrote:

So, I dunno, [7] for the story mode but there’s an [8] or [9] in there if they’d cut it down a bit.

I thought the opposite for the dlc. The grab and swing moves for Donkey Kong really mix things up, but it ended before they'd really explored the possibilities. So not the opposite at all but I've typed it now. Top quality add-on though, well worth a look at some point.

monkey

Yeah I’ll snap it all up at some point. Might see if they do it all in a sale again.

monkey

Going to be adding Mario Odyssey tonight. I've got 500 moons and reached the Darker Side. I've got as far as the spiky things, moving platform, fire circles death zone of dying which is nearly there I think. I'll give it another hour or so of dying, trying and repeating before I call it a day on that, one way or the other.

Moot_Geeza

I got the the section after the fire circles death zone and meant to return to it the next day. Never happened, but it's a pretty good level. Doesn't seem to be anywhere near as tricky as Champions Road at the end of 3D World (which I opted not to even attempt past a 15 minute muck about) but it is a toughie.

monkey

I really want a 3D World port. I’ve played 3D Land and that’s probably one of my favourite games of that gen.

Moot_Geeza

I'd take a 3D World port ahead of most new releases this year. I sold my copy too soon, then sold the Wii U. Never played it in co-op, would be all over that now. It's probably my favourite Mario, short, focused courses with three optional collectibles en route to the flagpole works great for me in 3D/'2.5D'.

monkey

Exactly the same for me. Odyssey is a little too spread out for my taste.

Nina

Got to 13 completed last year, with 3 games that don't really have an actual end for me (Splatoon 2, MHGU and MHW). Let's see what we can do this year.

All these have a decent amount of play time (at least 50 hours for each) that I'm happy enough to pull them out of the non completed list, but there are still things left to do that I may or may not invest time in.
The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth +
Slay the Spire
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

Completed:
01 - Donut County
Biggest issue is that I want more of this. It's brilliant. Story is nicely written, gameplay is fun and it's definitely a great take on LA / California.
02 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Moved this to completed as I'm never gonna do all of World of Light. It's just too much. It will just be runs of classic mode and online now.
03 - Fire Emblem Awakening Started in (I think) 2014, I finally completed it now. 70,5 hours on the 3DS clock. My first real strategy game, and I loved every bit of it. Realized way too late how the reclassing etc works (if I would have known before that you can plan skills etc I'd have put more time into that). More reason to look forward to a Switch version.
04 - Horizon Zero Dawn Just Completed
05 - Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion, 76/80 memcakes, and what an ending. Loved it.
06 - Night in the Woods Just Completed
07 - Super Mario Odyssey Got to the credits, continued playing for a bit after that but for now I'm done. Wouldn't even know what my endgame for this would be. I'm missing one world still I think.
08 - Persona 5 Amazing. Just go to the thread to see what I thought about it.
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.
11 - Fire Emblem Three Houses Edelgard route finished. More hours on the clock then Awakening, but the story wasn't as fun. Gameplay still solid.
12 - A Way Out Fun co op with Muzzy.

Currently Playing / have started:
13 - Rive Only a couple more stages to go, shouldn't give up when it gets a tiny bit hard...
14 - Thumper It's just so intense, should aim for half an hour at least.
15 - Mark of the Ninja I wasn't planning on playing this but B showed it to me and now I feel like I should finish it. Have done 2 chapters so far.
16 - Astro Boy Omega Factor Taking it slow with this one, save points seem pretty generous so I'm aiming for a normal run through.
17 - Trials Rising Slowly making my way through this, not going to fast as I don't want to hit the grind too soon
18 - Baba is You

On the Pile: (numbers are messed up, don't feel like editing)
19 - Gunman Clive 1 + 2
20 - Steamworld Dig
21 - Hellblade Sensua's Sacrifice
22 - DmC: Devil May Cry
23 - Kentucky Route Zero (once it gets released on Switch, B got the pc version)
24 - The Stanley Parable (once it gets released on Switch, B got the pc version)
25 - The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
26 - Furi
27 - Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
28 - Hollow Knight
29 - Star Fox 3D
30 - The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
31 - Dead Cells (hoping for a good switch sale, otherwise B's pc version will do)
35 - Transistor

33 - Mario 3D Land
34 - Rhythm Paradise
35 - Yoshi's and Poochy's Wooly World
36 - Binary Domain
37 - Bioshock Infinite
38 - Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
39 - Bulletstorm
40 - Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
41 - Dear Esther
42 - DOOM
43 - Grim Fandango Remastered
44 - Hyper Light Drifter
45 - Never Alone
46 - Ori and the Blind Forest
47 - Papers, Please
48 - Steamworld Heist
48 - Valiant Hearts: The Great War
50 - The Witcher 3
51 - Killzone Mercenaries
52 - Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (Vita)
53 - Donkey Kong Country Returns
54 - Dragon Quest IX
55 - Link's Awakening
56 - Metroid Samus Returns
57 - Killzone Shadowfall
58 - Until Dawn
59 - Hotline Miami 1 & 2 (Vita)
60 - Persona 4 Dancing All Night Long

1-28 are games that I actually want to play this year, 29 - 56 are all a bit uncertains but are on the pile. Some of those will probably consume too much time, some will probably be pushed further back with new releases that are coming this year, some of those I have played but drifted away from for no particular reason.
I'm looking forward to Travis Strikes Again, Trials, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, DMC5 and MHW DLC. Probably some smaller titles too, and I can see B picking up God of War.

Moot_Geeza

Some excellent games on both lists. The Gunman Clives are fun, very simple and very short, but definitely worthwhile.

Webbins

Vere, when you sort out the OP with everyone's tags, could you add my 2017 total to my tally tag? It was 27 in the end, cheers.

monkey

2. Mario Odyssey
I've called it a day on this with 504 moons and the Darker Side completed. I nearly broke on that bit. The death platform bit wasn't actually that hard (pro tip: don't set off the deadly death circles of dying) but I nearly lost it with the stupid pecky birds and DK.

It's hard to argue that this isn't objectively brilliant and I definitely had a lot of fun with it. But it's not quite the Mario game I'm looking for. It's full of clever, surprising stuff, crazy cappy mechanics and the rest of it (the accordion caterpillar and the lava blob things are particular favourites). At the end of the day, I want brain-twisting, tricky platforming and more challenge, condensed into smaller spaces. ie 3D Land.

I was kind of expecting the same thing here - first half piss easy for the kids, then it gets real. But even after the first end game, there's too much wandering around looking for stuff, too much faffing about. You'll find a tricky little timer challenge or one of the green pipes (and many of these are genius), but then it's over too quickly and back to more wandering around, retreading steps. I kept hoping it would pick up and get going but it never really went to the place I wanted it too.

I know these sound like criticisms but they aren't. They're just choices that Nintendo made to make the game they wanted. It's more focused on adventure and exploration and that's fine. Since rolling the credits I've been dipping in and out with my daughter. She's four and not really played a 3D game before (plenty of garbage Cbeebies ipad stuff though). She loves it. She can't do much, just running and jumping. I tried to get her into SMW on the Snes Classic but it's too much for her. You start that game and there's enemies and danger everywhere. I tried getting her up to speed in Yoshi's house but she wasn't interested in staying there and kept running out of it. Odyssey though has loads of safe playspaces, even in the areas with enemies, they can be more or less avoided. The beach world is her favourite. She loved being the bubble octopus things and was delighted when the snails pop into their shells to hide from her because she looks like one of the baddies.

I noticed they did that on my playthrough and couldn't care less. She loves the different noises Mario makes when he jumps, loads of stuff I dismissed. Essentially then the sheer joy of a child renders everything I think worthless, because the last people Mario games should be made for is jaded old twats like me that want the l33t platforming from three decades previously.

Anyway, it's a lot of fun and it's pretty challenging in places, it's just the high watermark of a main release Mario game that means anything less than perfection means it suffers by comparison. The graphics are incredible. Between that and MK8 Deluxe, they've perfected that look now. Cartoony graphics really don't need to be any better and I'm not sure they can be massively improved without a huge ramp up in power and creation tools. The dinosaurs, dragons, and humans don't fit into that aesthetic and I'm not sure why they went with that look for them.

My objective review is a [10]. Monkey's score is a [9] because they didn't make the game specifically for me.

monkey

These reviews of mine are a bit longer than necessary.

Paul the sparky

I enjoyed reading it though, a lot of it resonates with our experiences. Seaside level and New Donk City being Nate's favourites, accordion caterpillar is a star.

It's a quality game and you can keep coming back to it and find new stuff months later. DID YOU KNOW that you can get into the Odyssey in a few different ways? I didn't until Nate went experimenting.

Moot_Geeza

Both games deserved a dull write up though. Iirc I didn't review Odyssey last year, just slapped a 10 on it (intending to do it justice at some point with a lengthy review). I had pretty much the same thoughts as you, but I played the entire thing with a 3/4yr old, hence the 10 rather than 9. It could've been better, but what it is is absolutely wonderful.

Moot_Geeza

Yup, I didn't find the other Odyssey entrances myself either.

hylian_elf

Odyssey was a decent 9 for me. Too bloated and I got bored by the time I got over 600 moons.

monkey

Other entrances? Wtf? Don’t tell me, I’ll get her to look for them.

Scout

I'll give this a shot but not a chance I'll get anywhere near 52. But it's a nice way to keep track of completed games over the year. And I've just finished my first of 2019.

1:Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Well this was a great start to the new year. Quite an experience this one. Incredible atmosphere, audio and lovely visuals. Enjoyably visceral combat and only a few frustrating moments and a couple of difficulty spikes neat the end. This a cracking addition to Game Pass and highly recommended if you haven't done so already. It's a pretty disturbing experience so looking forward to something lighter for my next game.

8/10

2: Shadow Warrior 2
Well this pretty much did exactly as expected. Over the top, gory, silly, guilty pleasure fun. I should really be making more of a dent with RDR2 but this definitley scratching the fun itch I feel is often lacking in Red Dead. Didn't expect to be playing this for 30 hours but that's what happened.

7/10

3:The Gardens Between
Another Game Pass game I probably wouldn't have played otherwise. A rather charming puzzle game with a simple but sometimes ingenious time mechanic. The melancholic acoustic guitar indie vibe felt a little cliched but I enjoyed it enough to see it through to the end. It's only around 3 or 4 hours long. Worth a look.

6/10

Wariospeedwagon

Really need to play that - have been sitting on it for a while; it's absolutely making the list this year.

1: Ironcast (Switch) 7/10
2: Assassin's Creed Odyssey (XB1) 9/10
3: Pilotwings (SNES/Wii U) 7/10
4: Vegas Stakes (SNES/Wii U) 4/10
5: Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U) 8/10
6: NBA Live 19 (XB1) 7/10
7: Resident Evil 2 (PC) 8/10
8: Octopath (Post Credits Content) (Switch) 7/10
9: CrossCode (PC) 9/10
10: Super Mario World (SNES/3DS) 10/10
11: Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES/3DS) 10/10
12: Motorsport Manager (Switch) 8/10
13: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrafice (PC) 7/10
14: International Cricket Captain 2018 (Ipad) 5/10
15: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4) 10/10
16: Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch) 6/10
17: Mortal Kombat 9 (Story Mode) (PC) 5/10
18: Mortal Kombat 10 (Story Mode) (PC) 6/10
19: Mortal Kombat 11 (Story Mode) (PC) 7/10
20: Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4) 6/10
21: Tetris 99 (Switch) 10/10
22: MLB The Show 2019 (PS4) 6/10
23: Diablo 3 (Xbox 1) 8/10
24: Final Fantasy X (Switch) 8/10
25: Pillars of Eternity (PC) 7/10
26: International Cricket Captain (PC) 6/10
27: Road Redemption (Switch) 5/10
27: Blazing Chrome (Xbox 1) 7/10
28: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 (Switch) 7/10
29: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PC) 7/10
30: Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo (PSX) 8/10
31: Renegade Ops (PC) 7/10
32: Fire Emblem 3 Houses (Switch) 8/10
33: Slay The Spire (Xbox 1) 10/10
34: Trails of Mana (Switch) 6/10
35: Super Metroid (Switch/SNES) 7/10
36: Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch) 6/10
37: Link's Awakening (Switch) 10/10
38: Blasphemous (Switch) 6/10
39: The Last of Us (PS4) 10/10
40: Virtua Racing (Switch) 8/10
41: Bejewelled Classic (IPad) 6/10
42: Outer Worlds (Xbox 1) 7/10
43: Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (PC) 8/10
44: A Plague Tale: Innocence (PC) 5/10
45: UFC 3 (EASY CAREER MODE ONLY) (Xbox 1) - 6/10
46: Everybody's Golf (Vita) - 9/10
47: Tetris Effect (PS4) - 6/10

JonB

hylian_elf wrote:

Odyssey was a decent 9 for me. Too bloated and I got bored by the time I got over 600 moons.

600 is a lot though, isnt it? I'm still on less than 300 after doing some bits again since the credits.

I am less enthused about carrying on than I thought I would be though. As Monkey says, you go back to these levels looking for some extra challenge and end up wandering around exploring all over again instead. The big disappointment is those moon blocks that you break open after the credits. I really thought they'd add some tougher sections not just add more stuff to collect.

As much as I like the open levels, I think there are just too many moons in the end, many of which involve little more than having a look round.

Accordion caterpillar is genius though. But still second to stabby bird from Bowser's kingdom.

hylian_elf

The bloat was my biggest problem along with how easy most of the moons were to get. Or they just get given away.

Good for a 5yo though. My Boy was so happy when some random NPC just gave him some moons. And that bit where Toadette just gives you moon after moon after moon.

Frosty

Finished My Brother Ate My Pudding. Its a fun little puzzle game in the same series as Hidden My Game By Mom. Its pretty much the same as that but it's still a lot of fun and has a nice twist for the final puzzle that takes on a very simple rpg quest type structure.

Free on mobile and can be completed in about 25 minutes.

digi

I'm in but only as a way to track what I have and haven't finished, no way I'm gonna start playing shit stuff to reach 52.

1. Assassins creed odyssey.
Ongoing

2. Need for Speed (the latest one)

Friend I account share with bought these two games and this one's all kinds of shit.
I may just delete and call that finished!

3. Super Mario world (snes mini) - Ongoing.

Really loving this and reminds me of growing up (as much as I havent)
Now done!

4. Zelda a link to the past - Ongoing.

As above I played this growing up over Christmas for 3 days after its first release and couldn't put it down and iv only stopped just now because I have so much stuff to play.
Now done!

5. Starfox. - Around 10 hours.

Still enjoyed this but no where near as good as I remembered it.
Still I pushed on and finished it on all difficulty.

6. Dead by daylight. - prestiged 1 character.
(over 100 escapes) (killed all too many to count)

As an online only multiplayer survival title and a kill everyone before they escape type game this is impossible to complete.
It's so good and so addictive though and I'm loving playing it and my fiancee plays it with me so it's one of my favourite games ever.
I have over 100 escapes and regularly kill all survivors when playing as the killer.
Id call it complete but il do that when I reach certain trophy goals.
I'm also gonna drop cash on some extra killers and spend my in game stuff on some new survivors.

Update I have prestiged 3 times and I'm around lvl42 and need to reach 50 to be done.
(not that il stop playing it)
Update: now done!

7. Nier: automata.
I have 3 endings so far and I'm on to my next run as someone else.
(so is that 5 completions like verochas resi2)
5 endings now.

8. Resi2 remake.
Completed leon A and clair b
Game kinda bored me and while it looks lovely it's no where near as good looking as other titles nor engaging.
Seems to stuck in the past to keep me entertained or engadged.
(is that 2 completions? I also did hunk wich I enjoyed more)

9. Gt sport.
So while it may not be quite possible to complete without winning the fia gt sport championship, I have finished all single player content (despite the constant free cars and tracks every month)
When I finally gold the nordeschlife In circuit experience (I'm half a second out around 5 times now) I'm calling it done.
Update: now done.

10. Destiny 2. Ongoing but as soon as iv figured all quests once and earned all my exotic quest items and all raids then I'm calling it done.

11. Dark souls 3 including all dlc.
I'm stuck at final boss of the ringed city dlc and I have him and the final boss of the vanilla game to do to have done it all finally.
Update: now done.

12. Battlefield v.
Completed all story missions and all coop missions solo on easy and normal.
Hard is too frustrating for a mode that's meant to be team played in a squad of 4.

13. Bro force.
Finished this solo then run thru again with a mate.

14. yakuza 0.
Started replaying to show a mate how good it is and then ended up going all the way to completion, followed by.

15. Yakuza kiawami.
Played to completion and done over 40 side story's but missed a few.
Got majima rank to ss.

16. Yakuza 6.
Playing thru now while I wait for a price drop on yakuza kiwami 2 and to pick up yakuza collection (3, 4 and 5) for an all digital collection.

17. Remnant from the Ashes.
So hard to solo all this but iv enjoyed parts and been frustrated equally.

hylian_elf

‘Completed’ my first game of 2019. Think I’m ready to count Tetris Effect. Finished Journey mode on Beginner and Normal. Can’t even do first Area in Expert cos I’m so shit, so allow that. Played all Effect Modes too. Some are pretty decent.

I wish I was better at the actual Tetris, but the game is such an amazing chillout experience, it’s so bloody good.

acemuzzy

Why do people equate short with shit?

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