1. Her Story (Mac) - 6/1 - 5hrs
A great interactive story really. Use search words and terms to unlock clips (over 200 of varying lengths from a few seconds to a minute) of a woman being interviewed by cops, and piece together the story. But it’s so well put together, works really and is surprisingly compulsive in trying to find more videos. Hits get less successful (diminishing returns) as you progress obviously but there is a skill to it (listen carefully to the clips and suss out key words that may occur across more than one clip etc). Well worth a few quid and few hours of time. Onto Telling Lies shortly.
[8]

2. Astral Chain (Switch) - 10/1 - 30hrs
Slow start but once this got going and you unlock some abilities and skills, the combat is good Platinum stuff as always. The mix of styles is good and works really well. Not the best example of each genre it puts into the mix, but the overall game is far better than the sum of its parts.
[9]

3. Vanquish (Xbox One) - 12/4 - 6hrs
Slightly underwhelming at first, given all the praise this gets. But from about halfway through the game, once I got better at sliding, dodging, slowing down time and generally being a cool badass, it became so much better. So fun and so so cool. Will be replaying immediately.

I missed Inaba in the credits, dammit.
[9]

4. Doom Eternal (Xbox One) - 30/4 - c25hrs
Bigger, better and more badass!  Wait, wrong shooter series...
I liked this more than the first.  Mainly due to what I think are better designed levels.  Pacing is great and the combat encounters are as frantic and adrenaline pumping as ever.  A couple of weak boss fights aside, there isn't much to complain about here.

After I finished the campaign, I went back via mission select and mopped up collectibles and just enjoyed whooping ass while dashing and jumping around and bathing in the glory (kills).  So satisfying.  Started the Extra Life Mode for the final campaign achievement but I think that'll be too much.

Would play again in the future, but for now I'm done.
[9]

5. Streets for Rage 4 (Xbox One) - 6/5 - 3hrs??
Never played a SoR before, but it really is quite possibly the best beat ‘em up around. But that’s not saying much. This is one for the retro heads. Cos it’s amazing how far games have come and how unenjoyable these retro games can be.

SoR4 was enjoyable in some parts but I just found the whole experience a bit frustrating. Too many enemies with insta-moves, getting trapped between attacks, being bounced from one attack to the other, getting rushed - cancelling moves into a dodge or something like that would’ve done wonders. Other little frustrations too spoil the game. I was also disappointed there were no stages in a different style to break up the repetition like a chase sequence or something.

Still, thankfully I didn’t pay for it , it was on Game Pass. I’ll mark it up a notch for that.
[6]

6. Shikhondo (PS4) - 8/5 - 3hrs??
An average shmup by some Korean outfit, with mechanics not dissimilar to Cave’s output. But it lacks the polish, finesse, pacing and excitement of the games it’s trying to be like. I finished it with both characters but won’t be bothering with high score chasing. Don’t bother with this, just play a Cave game instead.
[5]

7. Vanquish (Xbox One) - 10/5 - 5.5hrs
Hard mode done! That was awesome. Even better than on normal. I have more playthroughs in me but I’ll give it a little break. What a game!
[9]

8. Bayonetta (Xbox One) - 15/5 - 10hrs
Yep. It’s still a [10] and the best game of its kind by a country light year. As if there was any doubt. PlatinumGames a go-go, baby.  Insta-death QTEs can just fuck right off, though. Oh, and Gracious & Glorious. The cunts.
[10]

9. Forza Motorsport 6 (Xbox One) - 25/5
Left this years ago, thought I’d polish off the single player. It’s soulless unlike its cousin, but the audio visuals and the car handling and racing is great. But only once you get to the later series and need to use the faster race cars. If I had the time, I’d spend ages doing time trials!
[9]

10. New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe (Switch) - 23/6 - c10hrs
Co-op with my Boy. Frustrating in places, but was mostly fun. Co-op shenanigans aside, the game itself is one of the best 2D Marios. Great levels and the right level of challenge - not easy, not too hard. There’s nothing really not to like here. I gave it a [9] when I first played it with my little kids watching me. That score hasn’t changed playing it in co-op with them now that they’re older.
[9]

11. The Last of Us Part II (PS4) - 26/6 - 36hrs
A rollercoaster ride of a game, which perhaps goes on for too long (or at least some of the middle feels padded). With ups and downs, twists and turns. Just like the first game then, but on balance, I do prefer the original.

Whilst the gameplay is vastly improved, with combat, weapons, stealth, puzzles, traversal, area design and the encounter layouts all being better this time round, my personal preference is the first mainly for its central plot and the characterisation.

That’s not to say they’re bad in the sequel. Don’t want to say much for fear of spoiling the game for those who haven’t played/finished it, but I had mixed feelings about some of the narrative direction. And then there are the ways in which certain themes and/subject matters are handled. That being said, the delivery is powerful. Never before has a game made me feel the way I did with this - but again, that could be partially attributed to the narrative strength of the first game and the bond with Joel and Ellie that that created for me.

I suppose a word or two should be said about how good the game looks both technically and aesthetically. It really is beautiful and I often found myself stopping to just look around (and taking screenshots).

There are some issues, equally there is some really strong and unparalleled storytelling and delivery from the peerless acting for a video game. But I’ll leave that for the inevitable spoiler thread. For now, this is a [10] with a point docked for some bloat and thematic issues (for me). There’s also a point about player agency that I won’t go into here.
[9]

12. Shadow of the Colossus (2018) (PS4) - 12/7 - c8hrs
As great as it ever was.  Not sure about the look of the game; in some place it's absolutely beautiful, probably more thanks to the world design, but in some places some of those textures just make it look ugly to me.  But at least it plays the same.  Even down to a couple of the colossi just being frustrating.  I had forgotten a lot of the game so it was nice figuring things out all over again for a few of the colossi.  Will tackle time trials next and might do a hard mode run.
[9]

13. Telling Lies (Switch) - 22/9 - 4hrs
I love piecing a story together, bit by bit. This had a good story and interesting characters, but I didn’t enjoy the task of going through the files as much this time round. I liked Her Story better.
[7]

14. A Short Hike (Switch) - 7/11 - 2.5hrs
What a lovely, relaxing, gorgeous, and touching little gem of a game. Finished it in one sitting, one of the most pleasurable short gaming experiences I’ve had. Absolutely essential.
[9]

15. MO: Astray (Switch) - 19/11 - 11hrs
Quite impressive for a small team.  Oozes atmosphere with lovely audiovisuals and plays well.  Went in not knowing much about it and thought it might be a Metroid-like, but it's not really.  Linear platform action adventure thing.  Found myself cursing quite a bit throughout at fiddly controls/jumping and couple of annoying bosses, and it seems to try too hard with the narrative/narration.  Having said that, the setting is great and it retains a lot of mystery and intrigue.  Not sure there is much left to do (save file on completion says over 97% I think) and I'm not too keen on the jump mechanics/controls, otherwise I would return.
[7]

16. Persona 5 Royal (PS4) - 26/12 - 142hrs
Well, it’s Persona, and it’s bloody great. Deep themes and highly thought provoking. Not as good as 4, which I thought had better characters, and the dungeons, while expanded and with set maps and light puzzles, were too long and at times tedious. But the social sim side is as good as ever, the battles are great, the soundtrack is brilliant, and the UI design is gorgeous. I’m gonna miss the Phantom Thieves, having grown so attached to them/the game over the course of 140 hours. Now to sell a kidney and hunt down P3P.
[9]

17. Celeste (PS4) - 29/12 - 17hrs
A discussion on dealing with mental health problems wrapped in a perfect pure platformer with charming visuals, a beautiful soundtrack, and great with writing. The difficulty of the main game is pitched perfectly to make it challenging without being frustrating and there is plenty of additional and more challenging content to get back to, which I definitely intend to return to. Almost a [10].
[9]

18. Portal 2 (X360) - 31/12 - c15hrs
Like Portal. Almost as good but not quite. Good puzzles and great writing once again.
[9]

19. Slay the Spire (Switch mainly) - 50-60hrs
Including iPhone, iPad, and Bone now. Ascending slowly slowly, but slowed down recently as have been playing other stuff. This will feature events year for a few years yet I reckon. Revising my [9] from last year to a...
[10]


GIVEN UP!

Baba Is You (Switch) - 7/1 - c8hrs
Gave this a fair whack. 8 hours or so and I managed to unlock 7 areas, but not without looking up 3 or 4 solutions. It’s driving me crazy. It’s really clever, but way beyond my capabilities.
My give up.
[No score]


And that’s my 2020 list done

Not counting:
Smash Bros Ultimate: lots of hours with the kids
Ring Fit Adventure: again, a fair amount of time with the kids

Still playing:
Hades: not even one clear yet. 
Paradise Killer: a few hours played, no idea if I’m nearing the end.

Placeholder just in case.

31. Sparkster - Megadrive (75 mins)

Finished this today.  I thought it was awful at first but it soon won me over.  It's no RKA (very few 16-bit games are) and while it's clearly a downgrade overall it's still a pretty good game.  Visually there's nowhere near as much spit and polish as Megadrive owners had the right to expect based on the likes of Tiny Toons, Castlevania Bloodlines etc.  It's all a wee bit budget for 1994 really (bear in mind Dynamite Headdy/Pulseman were doing the rounds on MD in the same year), but some sections look nice enough. Things moved far quicker at the time though, so I'd say if this had been released in early '93 it would've been given a bit more leeway as a looker.

Level design was fine, nothing particularly worthy of praise perhaps, but there are a few neat ideas as expected from Konami.  The jetpack means bosses are mostly pretty good though, staying airborne for the the first boss was the point where I realised it was actually a decent game.  The sword takes too long to swing for my liking though - a quicker attack would've been preferable.  Music is okay, functional for the most part but with one or two noteworthy ditties.  

81% with my 1994 head on for Sparkster, but like most merely 'good' platformers from the era that equates to something far more miserly in modern money tbh.


32. Q-YO Blaster - Switch (30 mins)

Credits have rolled, so in it goes.  Horizontal forced scrolling shmup that's currently 89p, which is a ridiculous price for a genuinely competent shooter.  Has multiple characters and weapon choices from the off, which presumably makes it fairly replayable, plus two difficultly levels, presumably for mortals and Gods.  I went for beginner and had a blast.  The power ups, pulse and super weapon all work well, the bullet waves aren't irritating and everything soaks damage & explodes in a meatily satisfying way.  Probably deserves a [9] for the price, but I'll go with an [8] as it's usually closer to a tenner.  Really enjoyed it.


33. Little Inferno - Switch (3hrs 50 mins)

This has been on my radar for years as World of Goo was one of my favourite games of the Wii360 gen.  I've never been quite sure what it is is exactly, which is probably why I waited for it to drop to £6.  

Turns out it's nothing like anything else I've played, it's marvellous, and it's also two player.  In handheld mode I presume it has touch screen controls, but it uses single JoyCons as pointers for co-op mode on a TV.  I might be one of the biggest moaners when it comes to the poor build quality of the JoyCons, but this is a tidy reminder of how versatile they are while they work properly.  Back to the game though, it's easily one of the best Wiiware titles I missed on Wii U, and probably in the top ten games for that console.  It makes less of a dent on a best of Switch list of course, but it's still a remarkable experience.  

So what is it then?  In an attempted nutshell it's a one screen game where you order items from a catalogue, each of which take a certain amount of seconds to be delivered.  Then you burn them in a fireplace when they arrive.  When they burn, money pops out which can be spent on more things.  The more things you buy, the more catalogues appear.  When you've unlocked all seven (iirc) catalogues the end game kicks in.  There's a cryptic puzzle element to item combos to speed progression along (successful combos yield vouchers for instant deliveries), for example if the combo clue were 'Lunar Cycle', you might want to try burning a moon alongside a bicycle.  This part is fundamental to the appeal, they're great fun to solve.

Along the way you receive letters from various other characters, but the less said about that side of it the better (due to spoilers, not crapness).  I played with Tilly and she was transfixed by all things Sugar Plumps.  

One-of-a-kind off-kilter gaming with a big heart and a dark streak.  Loved it.  [8]


34. Whipseey and the Lost Atlas - Switch (40 minutes)

Mildly entertaining no frills Kirby type with fairly solid foundation in place for a better game.  With more levels and a bit of extra care tweaking the collision detection this could've been a decent budget type.  I had the six stages done in just over half an hour.  Professional reviews might reach for the phrase 'criminally short', but is it though? (Galaxy brain).  It's eighty nine pence at the moment, short games are far less of a swizz these days than they were when they retailed for £40ish in 1990.  This one reminds me of the Disney types of the era - pretty good while they last.  File alongside but slightly above Squidlit in the ultra budget 8-bit indie platform homage genre I will henceforth refer to as quidlits. [6] @89p, probably less than [5] at full price (£5).


35. Steamworld Quest - Switch (16hrs 03mins)

Waffly intro alert.  I've had an odd journey with the Steamworld games.  I started with Heist on 3DS, which is planted in the top half of my top 100 in Cinty's thread.  Then I forced myself to play Steamworld Dig on Vita, which I'd convinced myself I'd hate because of the procedurally generated layouts, and ended up loving that almost as much as Heist.  Then I stumped up for Dig 2 at launch on Switch, which is generally considered the best in the series, but wasn't quite as taken with it as the first, despite all proc gen stuff getting the boot.  Good game though.  Then they announced Quest, and my screwface had FFS written all over it thanks to the RPG card battle thing.  Turns out they'd curried enough favour with the other three, so I took the plunge anyway in a recent sale.  

....And it's not as good as it could have been, which is annoying as I liked it a lot more than I expected to.  The card battling is by far and away the highlight of the game, and managed to hold me in a grip of addiction long after the rest of the it had run out of steam (clones of earlier bosses are relentless in the final third).  The card mechanics might be considered simplistic to those in the know, but to the layperson (hello) it felt like a genuinely rewarding battle system, up there with anything turn based I'd care to mention that doesn't involve a movement grid.  I was hooked, well and truly.  I was also unexpectedly okay at it, as even the final guardians all fell at the first attempt (with minimal grinding along the way).  I only really struggled with one early-ish boss and one sub boss, the latter of which which forced me to play entirely differently to my physical attackers + healer preference.  Everything clicked and I always felt in control, which is quite rare for me with anything remotely similar.  Maybe cards are my jam?  Slay the Spire here I come.

I pretty much loved the combat, but everything else was just slightly irritating window dressing.  I tend to like the look of the Steamworld games, but wasn't keen on the visuals here.  The script was weak, the characters were dull, the plot was shit and the exploration is rote.  It would've been a much better experience without any of the standard RPG trappings.  [7], but there's a much better game in there somewhere.


36. Streets of Rage 4 - Xbox One (5hrs)

The Bear Knuckle/SOR franchise is a suitable poster child for a dormant genre that once had heavyweight clout.  Most gamers of a certain age will have played Streets of Rage 2 at one time or another, and from those you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who wouldn't describe it as (at least) one of the best scrolling beat 'em ups ever made.  In the late 80s/early 90s Double Dragon/Final Fight clones were ten a penny in the arcades, but the format grew stale. With the advent of more powerful consoles and a frenzied push for 3D experiences, the genre was jettisoned in favour of uncharted territory and any genuinely well-known examples since could be listed on one hand. God of War/Bayonetta and their ilk are an evolution of the format, but the side scrolling, meat in oil drums, gutter pipe toting army of doppelganger style 2D beat 'em up is a very specific thing.  Since 1992 the biggest splash made by a game of this type (or thereabouts) was probably when Castle Crashers had its 15 minutes on XBLA.  It was a fun game, but it really wasn't a patch on the genre's best.  The top efforts since remain comparatively unknown.  Some quick shouts: Scott Pilgrim (which nailed the more simplistic approach), Mother Russia Bleeds (cracking in co-op, deserved more attention), Wulverblade (quality solo, outstanding audio).  The recent indie boom has paved the way for a mini resurgence, most of which have flown under the radar.  There's a Jay & Silent Bob effort with an 8-bit style on the way.  Slaps & Beans are doing their thing if that's your thing (who?).  There's even one where you parry your way to victory (Way of the Passive Fist, and it's actually quite good!).  Anyone heard of Coffee Crisis, Fight 'N Rage or Dusty Raging Fist?  Hello?  Enough preamble then, what I'm getting at is that the scrolling beat 'em up has quietly made a comeback in recent years, but you'll often have to sift through online stores to find them.  The release of Streets of Rage 4 is like when a big wrestler returns to the ring and all the pretenders continue to strut their stuff with as much gusto as they ever did, but everyone knows the Big Daddy is back.  I probably shouldn't have gone for a wrasslin' analogy as I've never really seen it, but I imagine that's what happens.  More importantly than anything I've just typed, Streets of Rage 4 is the best game mentioned so far, and that includes Streets of Rage 2.  And Bayonetta.    

Crucially, Lizardcube decided that the key to refreshing the franchise close to 30 years on was to refine and tweak the foundations.  There's never been a scrolling beat 'em up that could accurately be described as notably superior to SOR2, so it makes perfect sense that this feels closer to that than the entry in between (no.3 is a good game, but it's rarely described as a great one for a reason).  The roll move from that game is absent, and the characters here feel weighty again.  Each of the four street brawlers has roughly the same number of moves available, all of which are executed with the same inputs as before, so straight off the bat this feels welcoming and familiar for anyone seeking that sweet Sega nostalgia hit.  The more you play, the more you begin to appreciate the deftness of the evolution - yes, it's SOR2 at its core, but the subtle tweaks appear to be successful across the board.  Moves can be chained together far more effectively than before, with air juggles now a viable option for combo seekers.  Previously energy sapping specials now only drain health permanently if you take a hit before a getting a few extra punches in yourself.  Adam suffers from this as the drain on his specials is pronounced, whereas Axel can be slightly more liberal with his big hitters.  Floyd and Cheery represent the new blood in the roster, but they're both familiar.  Floyd is Max and Cherry is Skate, and both characters scream early 90s.  They've either been designed by someone who deserves to be sniggered at (metal arms beefcake & Guitar punk grrl? lol), or they're the brainchildren of someone who absolutely gets what slightly shitty scrolling beat 'em up characters are supposed to be.  Either way the end result is perfect, and the whiff of jank to the cutscenes leads me to believe it's deliberately on the nose.  Well played says I.  Lalalala.  Adam can dash, Cherry can run.  Floyd can barely retreat from an exploding barrel without taking a hit.  From my two and a half playthroughs so far, none of them appear to be noticeably useless, although Adam (a secret character of sorts anyway) does seem to flex quite considerably in most key areas.  The grunts are a good mix of easy to dispatch and slightly annoying, the stages are tightly designed around a 3 life starting point and the bosses are decent.  Of course, everything is better in co-op, but this is easily the best solo SOR experience. 

Visually it's a triumph, I had some doubts from trailers but the finished product is absolutely glorious.  Blaze's nork-walk looks silly, and Barbon looks like a Slimfast Stacy Keach wearing Simon Cowell's strides, but the overhaul is a resounding success on the whole.  At first I thought the tunes lacked a certain something, but the score came alive in the back half, and when I went straight back in I realised the early efforts are quality too.  Nailing the audiovisual package was always going to be tough, but it gets a 'good job very well done' on both counts from me.  

It's the right length, the rinse & repeat nature of the core gameplay is enough of a hook to provide many hours of post credits enjoyment and the score attack element works well.  My only real gripes are the slightly weird screen push problem that can occur in co-op (a player being left behind feels a bit wrong for the series), one or two too many repeated boss fights (essential to the genre, but even so...) and the fact that numerous stones appear deliberately unturned with an eye on DLC.  This could have been the complete package, but it probably won't be for another 18 months or so, and I'm fine with that. 

As a series update it's even better than the excellent Sonic Mania, and I fully endorse this trend of faithfully updating franchises without fucking with the elements that made existing fans fans.  All eyes on Battletoads (titter).  [10] 

It's not really a 10, but it gets a lockdown point for arriving at just the right time to cheer all the old Segaboys up. 


37. Super Buster Bros - SNES (50mins)

Always enjoyed two player Pang on my mate's Amiga in the early 90s, but assumed a ball bounce puzzler where you control the character would've aged pretty horribly.  Turns out I was wrong, it's stood the test of time pretty well.  It's fairly simplistic in the Bubble Bobble one screen mould. with various puzzle patterns that require planning by the back half of the game.  Plans go awry and it plays well when you're readjusting in a flap.  For what it is, which isn't quite my cup of tea, it's very good.  I played on Easy and was glad to have save states by the end, so I'd imagine Normal mode would be well beyond my patience threshold.  Loses a few points for a bizarre lack of two player mode on SNES, which is near Final Fight levels of crying shame.  84%


38. Splasher - Switch (3hrs)

Excellent checkpoint platform game recommended by monkey a page or so back.  I liked the sound of it but wasn't expecting it to be quite as good as it is.  The fact that such an inventive and well executed platformer can be - to the best of my knowledge - lost in the flotsam and jetsam of the indie market speaks volumes about the levels of choice these days.  Aside from the obvious goings on rn, what a time to be alive (nabbed it for £4 too).  

This starts quite well and gradually improves with each and every upgrade, yet never makes the 'too many abilities' faux pas.  The final unlock is so good a couple of stages reach Meat Boy heights.  It's getting late and I'm up early so I'll leave it there (read monkey's review for more thorough thoughts), but this is in the upper tier for me, relegating Mr & Ms. Splosion Man.  Graphics are appealing too, it scales in and out exceptionally well, which doesn't sound noteworthy until you play it, but the close-up sections are always welcome as it looks so chunky & nice.  A lot of games go for this visual style these days, but not many pull it off successfully.  Might be one for @acemuzzy. 8.5 rounded up to [9]

39. Pocket Mini Golf - Switch (80 mins)

None too shabby ultra cheapo (£1.50ish full price) minigolf game that's hamstrung by its mobile roots.  The paywall stuff hasn't really been adjusted for console play so you have to grind, a lot, to collect enough gems to get through the single player.  Even then the levels just start to repeat past 60 or so.  Entertaining enough if you find sinking balls in holes relaxing, and probably fun in the interesting looking mp mode, but only really worth a punt if you're jonesing for some crazy galf.  There's no snap, so it's just aim, power and shoot, but it's a decent enough Flash type while it lasts. [6]


40. Fight 'N Rage - Switch (80 mins)

Decent arcade style scrolling beat 'em up.  Was 50% off before SOR4 arrived, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bothered, but it was pretty well received among fans of the genre so I thought I'd take a punt on it.  The moveset is a bit 1991-ish, so this is feels closer to the games on the Capcom Beat 'em up bundle than the very best the genre has to offer (albeit better than any of those in fairness*), but that's fine, I knew this going in.  The visuals are appealing enough, although the excellent CRT cab/scanline effects are doing some of the heavy lifting.  Won't set anyone's world alight in this day and age, but it's 3-player, which is nice, has three very distinct characters (and presumably more to unlock), numerous modes, scope for juggle combos, parry moves and multiple routes.  It gets a bit tough in single player, even with constant crowd control planning, and waiting for the special to recharge is a bit annoying, but it's still fun.  If you've got room for more than a small handful of these games in your life it's well worth a look, especially with some mates round to bash the buttons with, but Streets of Rage 4 wipes the floor with it in all areas. [6]   


41. Akane - Switch (4hrs)

When do you review open ended games?  I'm approaching the point where I'm satisfied with what I've achieved/unlocked, so I'll probably put this to bed for a while.  I champion plenty of sub-£2 firesale types on here - FutureGrind, Videokid, Hyper Sentinel, Volgarr the Viking (HEART), Biolab Wars and the excellent Switch 'n Shoot being my favourites thus far - but it's rare to stumble across one that troubles the best indie games on the system.  For what Akane is - which is admittedly a very limited game in terms of scope for a modern title - it's nigh-on perfect.  

It's an arena clearance type, but don't expect much variety while you mop up the onrushing hordes: this is no frills arcade thrills, but the key point is that every aspect of the mechanics are perfectly executed.  Your character's main method of attack is strikingly precise katana swipe.  It slashes as you press the button, so a quickfire tap tap tap tap tap can kill five opponents.  You'll have to play it to see why this is worth mentioning, but this absolute sword control is intrinsic to the appeal.  The katana has a stamina gauge, so you also have a range weapon (bullets for which are recharged by killing with the sword) a dash (feel free to dash and swipe), a parry and two forms of special move, one of which cleaves opponents in a straight line and the other takes out enemies anywhere on screen.  That's about it.  There are four types of enemy within each phase and a single boss that repeats (although he scales up as you progress).  There are also perks that unlock as you fulfill certain criteria, such as a sword that can be thrown or a longer dash as a reward for, say, hitting a combo of 100.  The more you play the more you unlock, but the improvements they offer are minor buffs rather than game changers.  

There's only one arena.  When you defeat 100 enemies the boss appears, and when you defeat him the process repeats.  At heart it's a high score chaser where your runs are tracked on kills, boldness, combos (you have roughly two seconds to chain kills together) and katana accuracy.  The soundtrack is quality, although there's not enough of it to avoid plenty of repetition in a game that demands to be replayed endlessly. To sum up, it's a modern one-hit-kills single room Smash TV.  Think Mr. Shifty via Ruiner with a touch of Hotline Miami's close-quarters precision thrown in for good measure, but more self contained than any of these titles - it almost feels like you should be dropping an extra 20p in a slot each time you die.  That covers most of the bases, but there's plenty of Geometry Wars in there too as you need to be on your toes with crowd manipulation to survive.  On Bramble's life this is an outstanding game; it doesn't shoot for the moon but it doesn't put a foot wrong either.  [9]


42. Hyper Light Drifter - Switch (5hrs 4mins)

Stylish action Zelda dash 'n slash effort first released in 2016.  Non-linear in terms of your choice of route for the first three areas, which resulted in me choosing poorly - the first boss I found was easily the trickiest in the game.  In a weird way this probably helped get me on the hook from the outset, he was a real struggle with a barebones bag of tricks. The action is decent and I found it all quite moreish, but some of the mechanics were slightly off key.  The manual heal on six blocks of health always felt odd, for example, and even with practice the double dash timing loved to give me a nope.  It's chock full of secrets, but I tended to push on as soon as I'd collected enough key shards, so I expect I left a lot of things undiscovered.  I have no idea what the numerous monoliths I activated did, for example. Exploration for progression is fun though, mainly because the combat is quite neat and tidy.

On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's easily one of the most luscious audiovisual packages out there - I could happily hang some of the artwork on a wall or listen to the soundrack while washing up - but just a smidge shy of greatness at its core.  Got to add this bit in too - it constantly evoked half-memories of Fez, which was nice. [8]


43. Huntdown - Switch (4hrs)

Superb run & gun firmly rooted in the arcades of yesteryear.  It's an over the top pastiche on the surface; there's no real subtlety to the tone - the GET SOME is tongue (lightly planted) in cheek, but it's also born to kill.  It's framed as an amalgamation of all the video covers in the action section of an early 90's Ritz, yet the gameplay is perfectly refined.  Make no mistake, this is the ultimate form of the genre it mimics.  Whether you're down with this sort of thing or 'down with this sort of thing' is on you, but it ticks all the boxes for me.  It's bizarre how the best game of its type (IMHO) has been made thirty years after the genre's heyday, but the more I played the more impressive the achievement became.   It's mostly slow paced, so measured play reaps the rewards, although there's scope for better players to tear around thanks to the dash/slide moves. 

The most obvious touchpoints in the way it plays are Rolling Thunder, with its horizontal fire, and the original Data East Robocop, with its immensely satisfying slug thuds and general 6000 SUX-iness.  I mentioned Cuphead in another thread, which gets my endorsement as a very good game, but it's at the opposite end of spectrum with shot feedback.  Enemies in Cuphead are bullet soakers, whereas Huntdown has far more weight and bite to its gunplay.  Even your standard popgun pops.  Of course, restricting the fire to two directions means even some run 'n gun fans may automatically find something amiss, but I've always been into this style if done well, from Shinobi to Gunman Clive. 
 
The characters are just about varied enough to warrant experimentation, but their abilities aren't game changers.  Wisecracking heroes is an easily made yet bold development choice as it so often goes wrong, but they don't repeat lines too often and I was fine with it.  It over-eggs the hard boiledness, but so what?  Two player mode works perfectly, although I'd recommend a harder difficulty setting for couch co-op lovers thanks to the revive move.  Just about the only complaints I can think of are the melee weapons, which seem to have a delay on the input negating there effectiveness somewhat, and the fact that it's over.  Twenty stage is fine, but I would've lapped up an extra ten.  Perhaps they trimmed the fat as it doesn't put a foot wrong with its layouts or bosses.  Did I mention bosses?  It's treat time if you like a pattern-based toplads/lasses waiting for you at the end of every stage.  There's not a dud in the pack either.    

I said this in the Switch thread and I'll say it again, I'd love this as an arcade cabinet.  There's plenty more to say and I could type about it all day but there's a pretty niche appeal to it, so you'll either look at the (early build) gif below and feel the sweet coin drop nostalgia pull or scoff at it like a young Elijah Wood.  For me it's either GotY or just behind. [9]


44. Toki Tori+ (Switch) - 7hrs-ish?

Really nice little puzzle game that deserves a higher mark than you'll see attached below.  Collect eggs spread around small stages using various abilities.  Not as easy as it sounds as there's usually a very specific order required for success, with a finite number of abilities at your disposal.  With the handy rewind function (spool back to any previous point in a level) you'll play out a game of trial and error as you attempt to unpick the puzzle.  It's easier said than done once it gets going, but once you get used to the systems in play you'll start to spot, for example, which egg had to be collected last and work from there.  It's great fun, with a huge sense of achievement when it all comes together, but as usual with games of this type it became too irritating for my tastes as it entered the final stretch.  I'm terrible at long form puzzles and they get extremely intricate in the final zone, to the point where I stopped enjoying myself as working towards each solution took upwards of 45 minutes (same thing happened with Baba is You and The Swapper).  I'm not cut out for these types of puzzle game really; anything that requires too much planning eventually makes me feel like a div and I'm usually happy to return to shooting stuff and jumping over things.  If the genre is up your alley it's a better game than Baba is You imo, it just looks a bit nasty and lacks the indie darling word manipulation hook. [7]

If it had been an early import only Saturn release retroheads would stroking their beards at it, giving it honourable mentions on LISTS and scouring the inlays for scuff marks.

45. Kunai - Switch (5hrs)

Fast paced Metroidvania that's built around impressively solid player control, making it more of a 'playground screen' type than a sprawling epic.  In terms of world design this is resolutely old fashioned; you'll map out the areas as you plot a course, but there's little in the way of head scratching.  It's more Gato Roboto/Iconoclasts than Hollow Knight, which will either be welcomed or scoffed at depending on the hotness of your take.  Save stations do what they're supposed to and regenerate health, and they're rarely far enough apart for the (therefore manual) checkpointing to irritate.  Solid is a pretty good way to sum it up, it's the sort of thing I can't imagine many fans of the genre hating if they actually played it.  Spoiler alert (although not if you check the controls at the start), the dash move you acquire in a late game section should've been introduced earlier, and once the bazooka unlocks everything else become slightly redundant, but these are minor gripes.  Bosses are mostly good, one in particular is just shy of very good, and it's just about the right length too.

The dual kunai grappling hook mechanic is well worthy of high praise - mere seconds after they were introduced I knew traipsing around would be fun - and while there are a few pacing issues and annoyances here and there, overall it's a very good effort.  The pastel visuals are on point to the point where it's quite a looker in its own upper tier budget way.  In this day and age with the choices on offer in the genre it's a [7], but it's a Brent Rambo thumb up type of [7].  Worth a look if you're after a game that plays well and doesn't fuck itself in an attempt to over-achieve.  If it had been an early import only Saturn release retroheads would stroking their beards at it, giving it honourable mentions on LISTS and scouring the inlays for scuff marks.    

46. What the Golf? Switch (4hrs 47mins single player, roughly an hour mp)

What an absolute treat this game is.  If you think crazy golf is crazy think again, is the sort of thing a full page advert for this might've yelled at you in the days of ten a penny magazine ads.  Even golf games claiming to be zany aren't a patch on the shenanigans at play here.  It's gentle indie fare, with a similar breezy/unhurried feel to the likes of Donut County or Untitled Goose Game, and it's genuinely funny without being as embarrassingly try-hard as most recent humorous games (honestly, I'm still suffering from a residual taste of Freedom Finger).  The whole thing is just....pleasant.  I loved it, it's consistently inventive to the point where none of the stages stood out as weak sauce, and the frankly brilliant Vs mode is quite possibly even more appealing than the campaign.  Find someone to battle with and pack four pairs of trousers in case you both wee yourselves.  Will be all over the DLC on day one. [9]   



47. Deliver Us the Moon - Xbox One (4-5hrs)

Terrible walking sim that I've moaned about elsewhere.  The story is reasonably good, which is a relief as the way it plays is close to appalling, but video logs and holographic flashbacks have all been played out to varying degrees of success elsewhere so even at its best it feels outmoded.  Once you've played through Edith Finch and experienced the ingenuity of its interactive storytelling, or Firewatch with its chef's kiss setting/dialogue, Or Gone Home with its all-the-feels 90's snapshot thing, or Everybody's Gone to the Rapture with Ron from Goodnight Sweetheart, it really is a drag to return to looking for notebook pages that read 'if you forget the code to the loading bay it's 1234'.  Most of the game is third person - and these sections control poorly - but a chunk of it is first person, which control abysmally.  It has a couple of QTE's, which I don't mind as a rule but you pretty much need to know what's coming to succeed, which of course requires deaths and restarts.  Which require staring at a loading screen that always seems to linger just long enough to make you wonder if Jeremy Beadle is about to burst in wearing a wig.  Shit game.  I hated Tacoma too, but that was marginally better.  I think I gave that a [4], so this gets a [3].  A score in the mid 70s on Metacritic is baffling as it honestly feels like an idiot test at times, which I failed by persevering with it.  

48. Lydia - Switch (70mins)

Unexpectedly, it took a freebie to rekindle some of my faith in lesser-known interactive narrative types.  I grabbed this earlier in the week as it's free on the EShop if you own...something I already own?  Robonnauts maybe (which is bang average).  Anyway, type 'nakana' into the store and you can grab an assortment of gratis games this week. I wasn't expecting much of course, but this is a genuinely legit piece of abstract storytelling that deserves to be viewed as something far more worthwhile than its current pricepoint suggests.  It's undoubtedly best to go in cold, but with minimal spoilers it's a well written and surprisingly measured tale of troubled childhood coupled with nightmarish escapism segments and the passing of time.  It's a point and click type with the absolute bare minimum of actual pointing and clicking, none of your dialogue choices really make a difference and you're mainly just watching something unfold while repositioning your character, and yet....it's quite a ride, and it hits harder than you'd expect.  It's rather dark in places - it's an 'adult themes' game really, and not because the characters say fuck while shooting aliens that killed their wives.  It doesn't shoot for the moon but it achieves more in an hour than some of those that do can in four or five (/deftly removes shoehorn).  Fleeting but it lingers.  [7]

49. The Stretchers - Switch (5hrs)

Co-op rescue 'em up game that can be played solo, but I can't see why you would given the wealth of alternatives out there.  Unless you really fancied a rescue game I guess?  With two players it's a quality little adventure though.  Hacksaw Ridge meets Moving Out via Simpsons Hit & Run works as a loose description; civilians are being dizzied by a mad professor type, and you have to un-dizzy them in a big machine.  To do so you must drive around a fairly small island (think Crazy Taxi in terms of size) while selecting on-foot missions to fill up your ambulance with 6 dizzies per area, which requires popping them on stretchers and chucking them in the back of the van.  It threatens to come unstuck from time to time due to the way your characters grab whatever you need them to pick up - getting close and waiting for the prompt to appear works well enough on the whole, but it's slightly wonky here and there.  Plus I really don't understand the logic behind your medics not having a Heave-Ho! style cast iron grip, meaning they're forever dropping things due to slightly random butterfingers.  It's not game breaking at all - this is knockabout fun rather than precision gaming - but it would've benefited from a touch more love during the tweaking process.  It's all nice and easy, with no real fail states to the ticking timers (you just lose potential multipliers for tardiness), meaning it's perfect to play with youngsters (I played with a 5yr old with no problems).  Taking turns to drive but allowing the passenger certain controls was a nice touch.  Overall it's miles more sedate than Overcooked so I didn't end up feeling like we were kicking each other with steel capped bossyboots every session.            

It's £17.99, which is a bit steep, but I can't say it wasn't worth it.  There's a sticker book with some optional but enjoyable bits 'n bobs in it, so there's maybe 8hrs here if you're in it for everything.  It's from them that did Little Nightmares, which wasn't quite a worldie but had some superb sections, and there's some real quality to the way it's been put together on the whole.  The visuals are stylish and don't creak under pressure.  It makes you play with split joycons, which is annoying rather than weird if you've got analogue drift problems like me.  It works well enough on a tiny pad, but the no standard pad restriction is a slightly shitty oversight.  Definitely recommended though, and deserved more of a fanfare.  [8] 


50. The Bug Butcher - Switch (2.5hrs)

Moot the miser is back, £2.33 baby.  I've had this in my PSN basket half a dozen times over the years, but even at £3.99 in sales I was never quite ready to bite the bullet.  Non interesting fact - the only other two games I've nearly bought that many times are The Bug Butcher, which ended up being really good (final boss notwithstanding) and Clustertruck, which ended up being properly shite.  This is a Pang! update, but rather than thoroughly modernising the template it remains fairly basic, with 30 rooms to vanquish and no real risks or liberties taken.  It leans more heavily on the shooting than puzzling though.  There are special weapon drops, the randomness of which takes the shine off a touch, and the dash button could've done with a L/R trigger option, but overall this is a nifty stab at updating an arcade classic.  Visuals are nice looking and crucially, unmuddled when you're twitching against enemy waves. Don't play if you're expecting anything remotely revolutionary, but I could probably affix that description to 95% of the games I like.  It's solid pattern based shmup fun, if you enjoy/enjoyed Pang there's next to no chance you wouldn't get something out of this.  There's an optional endless mode that's playable in co-op too.  [7]

51. Valfaris - Switch (8hrs 9mins)

Ghastly looking run & run side scroller with visuals that seem to be stuck in an undesirable early 32-bit limbo.  Overly pixellated characters coexist on a 2D plane with some fairly obvious 'HERE COME THE POLYGONS' geometry additions such as rotating cogs, all coupled with a strong metal motif (replete with the devil horns/power chord/headbang combo when you collect new weapons).  It's certainly not a sight for sore eyes, which is a bit of a catch-22 as it's a fucking eyesore.  It's the designer's vision and it's probably a job well done on some level, but no sir I don't like it.  CRT filters help to an extent, but half the game looks like a magic eye picture of Dio's haemorrhoids. 

That's pretty much it for the negatives though, the game itself is sailing pretty close to masterpiece territory.  Yes, I like lots of things I play and I'm reasonably easy to please with tight new retro experiences, but this is one of the best games I've played in recent years.  It's not quite as air-punchingly good as Huntdown for my admittedly oddbod tastes, but that was a very specific tarted up retro experience that erred on the simpler side of gaming history.  Valfaris is the better game if we're talking head vs heart.  

It's fairly standard in terms of the basics; multi directional shooting with a bumper assigned to lock you in position.  You also have a melee attack and a secondary weapon (which has its own energy bar).  Using the former replenishes the latter.  Throw in a shield on top of the rock solid foundations and you've suddenly got a game that feels a little different to its genre peers.  The shield relies on the same energy bar as the secondary weapon, and a last minute block can turn projectiles into a counter attacks that are unleashed when you release the button.  It all feels pretty intuitive once you get going, and the levels themselves are superb.  The bosses might not look particularly memorable, but each one requires a pattern to defeat that many Cuphead guardians would be proud of.  The various weapon unlocks mostly seem worth experimenting with (all of which can be ugraded), and it turns out I happily backed what seems to be the Reddit crew's equivalent of the water magic for the majority of the game.  *Shrug*, it worked for me.  

I'm struggling to think of a run & gun game that plays better than this, all things considered, and as I can't do so off the top of my head I'm willing to declare this the best example of the genre ever created.  If you appreciate what this is trying to do it's a pretty special game.  Ultimate form [insert retro template] types are the best thing about modern gaming for me.  I might moan about open worlds getting larger elsewhere but at the same time I've never been this well catered for with the kind of experiences I love.  [9]

52. Arise: A Simple Story - Xbox One (5hrs)
I'd been itching to play this since launch, finally spotted a half decent discount on XBL earlier in the week and thought it'd be a nice way to reach MacGuffin peak in the thread.  I knew about the platforming issues beforehand, but I had a slightly dismissive 'how bad can it be?' attitude towards it and was fairly confident I'd love it.  The answer to my flippant non-question is actually 'bad enough to to take the shine off the whole thing and a few more layers beside'.  It's such a shame the character control wasn't overhauled somewhere in the run up to release because what we've got is Accrington Stanley level 3D platformer that's constantly gaping in awe at the milk-guzzling Liverpool standard of pretty much everything else about it.  The visual style is stunning, the music hits its marks well, the tale itself does what it says on the tin yet delivers, and more importantly the time lapse controls assigned to the right stick open it all up into something fairly remarkable.  There's some lovely, lovely stuff in here, but the deadweight character and often confusing camera positions consistently negate the goodwill that's constantly earned elsewhere, especially in the final third.  It's maddening.

53. A Short Hike - PC (2hrs) 

Since we packed away my dad's 486 SX PC that wouldn't run Alone in the Dark 2 (not that I'm bitter), my desktop gaming history has consisted of 45 mins of Far Cry and a dozen or so matches of the original COD online.  Thanks to the megabundle that dropped last week and a bit of cajoling from Nick, I'm back in the game.  My laptop isn't supposed to be able to run this, but it managed it and I can probably play Super Hexagon now too.  Plus there are half a million other games in that bundle that I'd probably buy for £2 each in EShop sales.  I feel like a galaxy brain.   As expected, this is a lovely little thing.  Unlonely Mountains Uphill with a sprinkling of Animal Crossing and maybe even sort of microcosm Breath of the Wild thing going on with its unhurried/unforced exploration.  Your goal is to reach the highest peak, but it's unlikely even the most straight-ahead players will take the shortest route.  Some odd mid-air camera shifts aside, I can't really fault it.  It's so leisurely and agreeable it's pretty much le grand chien of floatation tank gaming.  Quality soundtrack too.  [8] 

54. Stories Untold - Switch (4hrs) 

Low level spoilers ahead:  Episodic narrative puzzle game with various balls in the air.  It kicks off as a text adventure before moving into the puzzle room genre.  The closest comparison for me would be Statik on PSVR, but as few people have access to that particular gem, something like Zero Escape might be a more useful point of reference.   The second and third chapters in particular require constant cross referencing with in-game manuals, and I assume most players may need to consult the interwebs for assistance in non-cheaty ways.  Nudge nudge say no more.  It's not a format everyone is going to enjoy as the situational sleuthing often moves at a glacial pace, but the way the episodes intertwine as you progress earns a tip of the hat.  I'll leave it there as the less you know going in the better.  I took a while to warm to it as it's a sea change compared to my usual fare, but it's a rewarding, surprising, purposefully infuriating and very well crafted adventure. [7]

55. Pop 'n Twinbee (SNES/Switch) - 2hrs 

Not sure what to make of this really.  Played co-op with retroking over a sensible social distance of maybe half a mile.  The online two player option on the SNES app is a pretty nifty addition, even if it is hamstrung by a paltry selection.  It's a cheerful vertical scrolling shmup with an annoying weapon upgrade system.  Team up moves like the throw and health share are neat features, as is the adaptive difficulty that seems to see enemies aiming for whichever player is having the better of it.  There's not really much oompf to it all though, and I'm feeling slightly harsher on it than I was when the credits rolled last night, so it gets a miserly 73% 1993 score from me.  Which is probably a [4] in actual 'if it was released as a nu retro title now' modern money.  I enjoyed it, but it's not a vintage 16-bit shooter for me.  

56. Horizon Shift '81 - Switch (5hrs) 

Properly basking in the glow of this one, was close to giving up on it two thirds of the way through as it gets TOUGH.  You should have seen me on the last levels, the crowd would've gone wild.   I've had it for ages but until last week I'd only dabbled.  It's a regular member of the 89p brigade, of which there's a specific sub-section of deceptively simple tate mode types that really suit the Flipgrip.  Downwell is the most well known, fair enough because it's a nifty little game, but Switch 'N Shoot and this are of similar calibre*.  Switch 'N Shoot is twitch heaven (and probably marginally superior if I had to hang my hat on one), but this is a bit of a deeper cut.  It's an assured take on the classic arcade shooter template, screamingly and faithfully retro, yet stuffed with extra little tweaks and systems that nudge it beyond simplicity of the coin-ops of the time.  Your craft sits on the horizon line and can be manually flipped to shoot up or down the screen.  You can jump or barge left/right (granting brief invulnerability) and certain enemies can take a chunk out of the line if you let them, which of course you can fall through.  You'll be managing oncoming waves in both sections, kind of like a dual screen LCD Game & Watch type, but with top notch classic arcade shmup controls - deciding which enemies to focus on, which of the floating upgrades to pick up, when to drop your bomb and generally plotting how to survive on the fly.  Every five levels there's a checkpoint, followed by a boss.  The bosses are a bit weak in fairness - they're all fun, but they're also far easier than the rest of the game.  The single stage respite comes as a relief in a way, but still has to go down as a criticism.  This, coupled with the random nature of the weapon drops means that it falls just shy of excellence overall - sometimes it can be a horrible cunt to you for minutes on end, other times it giftwraps the tools to succeed.  I suppose luck of the draw is the nature of the beast, but there are some clear cut OP/*AVOID* weapon choices in there.  Because of the checkpoints and gradual progression rather than three-lives-and-out nature of the gameplay I probably enjoyed this more than the incrementally harder scorechasers of old.  Galaxian was my game as a nipper, photos of me standing on a wooden crate to play it at a caravan site in Dymchurch etc., but this pushes the very best at times.  It's pure yet inventive and more importantly, perfectly formed.  It might be buried under 100 tons of (glorious) indie fodder on whichever store you're lucky enough to find it on, but it's remarkable how well it all works.  [8]

57. Shovel Knight - Showdown (50 mins) 

A quick one, didn't realise the new arena battle DLC had a story mode.  Played through as a couple of characters and then had a mess around in two player for a bit.  It's fun, and free if you own the Treasure Trove edition.  The base game is pretty much the best thing this side of Trials for me, and previous rounds of DLC have all been welcome, with King of Cards in particular giving (what's now known as) Shovel of Hope a run for its money in places.  The package is now packed with content no-one expected at launch, and to the best of my knowledge it's been added to and expanded upon more than any other title*.  It's quadrupled in size since 2014, and I'd still give the OG release a [10].  It even has co-op as standard on the main campaign now, which would have been laudable extra on its own imo.  The battle mode - the final round of DLC, released five years on - is a fun addition, and while it wouldn't give Towerfall Ascension much to worry about in a straight brawl it's still impressive that it works better than most one screen battle mode indie releases (believe it or not there are loads of them about).  It's not deep, but it does madcap well across numerous modes and the unlocks come thick and fast the more you play.  As a standalone title in the £5-8 range I'd probably give it a [7] based on what I've played so far. 

*Okay No Man's Sky sprung to mind after typing this.

59. Limbo - Xbox One BC (80 mins-ish, second full playthrough) 

Meant to add this yesterday, blitzed through it again with the aid of Youtube in places after playing Inside.  It was one of the games that led the charge for indies to a certain extent, and it's stood up pretty well considering it's what, ten years old now?  Plenty of the puzzles are very good, and playing Toby: The Secret Mine recently really showed me how wrong this sort of thing can turn out in the wrong hands.  In hindsight it feels a Playdead practice session for Inside, which is similar yet markedly superior in every way, but this still stands up. [7] with 2020 hindsight eyes, but it was an [8] at the time.

60. Super Meat Boy - Switch (2hrs)

It probably is still a [10] tbh.  Slight qualms with some of the late game hazards aside it's the perfect platformer.  I only played to credits this time, which is 6 chapters of light world stages, but even scratching the surface again was wonderful.  The whole package is just astonishingly good, from the basic controls to the bandage placement.  Replaying it also reminded me that I never dabbled with any unlockable characters further than checking out their moves.  Will fix that.  The new score just isn't as good unfortunately, but plenty of the tunes are decent enough. The big addition for the Switch release is the split screen race mode, which I presume has been patched into some other versions but I'm not sure.  Select which chapter you want (or the whole game if you wish) and whether you want light/dark levels or a mixture, and off you pop in a race to the finish, basically playing two separate games concurrently with a progress and goal bar at the top of the screen.  Warp tiles push you ahead by a level and bandages can be used to skip stages.  Plus all characters are selectable from the off. I've only played against Tilly and she can only get to 1-19 because she needs to git gudder, but against a similarly skilled player this could be about as tense and brilliant as same screen multiplayer gets.  It's an excellent under the radar addition.  It's a shame it's local mp only, because I could lose weeks to this mode online. No idea what's taking the sequel forever to come out, and also still sulking that it's an auto runner.  I like the genre, but how many SMB fans actually wanted that ahead of a straight platformer?  I expect it'll be good if it ever sees the light of day, but it's got no chance of being as good as more of the same.

61. Behold the Kickmen - Switch (3hrs) 

I haven't even started the review properly yet and I know I'll struggle to explain what the hell I found so addicting about this deliberately wonky story-driven throwback kick 'em up.  The central conceit of 'a football game by people who don't know the rules' is stretched quite thin, but there's something about battling against the infuriating gameplay within a top down footie game that should be as simplistic as the Megadrive World Cup Italia '90 (while the crowd shout advice like 'do a goal!') that I was powerless to dislike.  It's an anti Moot game in a way, because it really does play like shit while providing next to no challenge whatsoever as you waltz towards the credits, bit it's just such a beaming doofus of an eperience I ended up playing a couple of matches a day until I'd finished it.  I lost one game (hanging my head here), but I won the final 14-0.  The problem with the AI is they always try to walk it in; they're just as likely to belt it into their own net for a three point goal from the halfway line as they are to actually have a shot, but somehow that still works.  I loved being a big soccer steamroller and gradually unlocking abilities like 'passing' and 'tackling' while spending my bankings on being better at teamplay and goldkeeping.  I honestly don't know if it think it's a [3] or a [7], so I'll award it both scores to be on the safe side.  Recommended at £2.99, if only to sample the best worst game this gen.  Thanks @poprock. I think. 

62.Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - played on Xbox One (3.5hrs)  

Games lauded as classics from bygone eras aren't often as impressive on a first time play as they were then, especially from the 32-bit era imo, but this has so much going for it I enjoyed my playthrough immensely despite being 20+ years late to the party.  The core hack & slash CV gameplay is absolutely on point, so there's a rock solid foundation to the gradual exploration, and everything unfolds at a fair clip without any real scope for getting agonisingly stuck (hello Super Metroid).  It gives plenty of modern Metroidvania types a run for their money.  In fact, if you take Hollow Knight and Ori in the Blind Forest out of the equation - just because they're my favourites - SotN would probably squeeze into an all-time 2D Metroidvania top 5 even as a modern title, despite the few issues I had with it.  Those issues are as follows: far too easy (to the point of imbalance really), transformations under-used and a bit of an afterthought in terms of control, a fiddly inventory (by modern standards) and a very basic map that doesn't list area names.  Genuinely though, if this was a £12.99 EShop game that arrived as an indie Rebirth thing it'd still get deserved props.  Graphics are pretty much the best 2D I've seen on Playstation and I even liked the use of 3D geometry in amongst the sprites, which is often a turn off for me.  Some lovely parallax scrolling going on, mostly stunning areas and just an absolute visual treat overall.  Very impressed, main character animation is superb.  Music seemed varied and mostly strong too.  It's a very good game played cold in 2020 and I've no doubt it was absolutely terrific in 1997, so my retro review would be 93%, but I reckon I'd give it a modern [8] depending on price. 

63. Observation - XBoxOne (7hrs maybe?) 

Continuing my mission to at least try everything published by Devlover, not many left now.   You play as the ship's AI on a space station.  Via communication with surviving crew you must attempt to unravel the current situation (whatever that may be #spoilers).  You'll do this by manipulating cameras and logging onto various software via laptops and suchlike, so you don't have a physical avatar to possess unless you're roaming in one of the droid spheres.  It's a narrative driven puzzle game, and there's plenty of scenery scanning involved in the puzzle solving.  It's not quite needle in haystack stuff, but it sure feels like it at times - a few of the systems in place definitely feel a bit obtuse, and some of the one-off tasks feel a bit under-explained, meaning that I considered myself lucky for solving one or two as it definitely doesn't hold your hand through its various systems.  This is what the devs do, there's plenty of 'you're on your own' style puzzles in Stories Untold too.  I don't appreciate it myself, and would say a hint option to fall back on would've been welcome.  If you're asked to do something, then ask whoever gave the instruction to repeat it, they literally just repeat it.  It takes the shine off somewhat as 'I told you to assess the damage' ad infinitum should really be evolving into 'assess the damage to the mainframe' or something marginally more helpful if you're clearly stumped imo; it can seem a bit harsh, robotic and downright cryptic at times, conjuring up flashbacks of point 'n click adventures of old.      It's an odd game, and tbh I think I would have bounced off it if I hadn't played Stories Untold as an undercard of sorts.  Much like Stories Untold, the story this tells is excellent.  I've suffered Tacoma, and more recently Deliver Us the Moon (which was kinda a'ight in terms of story), but this is a cut above.  Genuinely creepy and deftly drip fed, it's top tier videogame sci fi and in terms of interactive narratives I'd say it's up there.  Once again I found myself wondering if I would've enjoyed watching a stream more than playing it myself though.  I don't tend to watch other people play games, I find it a puzzling pastime (each to their own ofc), but games 'worth experiencing' that don't play particularly well are bit of a thing at the moment.   There's a lot to like here, but I can't decide whether or not I was having much fun even when I didn't find the tasks laborious.  I'm in proper waffle mode now so I'll stop.  It's good, I can see what it offers being so far up some people's street it could proudly top a GotY list or two, but I've got to settle on a harsh [6].  A worthwhile chore.  On another day I might've reached for a [7], but I played too much of it in a short space of time.   Special mention for the facial animation on your main companion - clearly unintentional, but she looks more baked than Stoner Stanley.  Her super-blazed face was the only levity in an otherwise resolutely po-faced adventure.  Edit: Actually, I've decided that a non-interactive on-rails VR narrative would have suited me more than playing it.

64. Hotline Miami - Switch (3-4hrs) 

Handily, I wrote about this recently for Jon's GOTD selections: Moot_Geeza: “Ferocious top-down murder 'em up that strikes a masterful balance between power and vulnerability.  Formulate your own plan of action to clear each floor, always acutely aware that the tables might turn in a heartbeat, at which point the hunter becomes the prey.  Skin of the teeth gaming at its absolute best; the perpetual peril is astonishing and the stages are mostly designed in a way that allows player strategies to be adjusted as required.  It's a wonderfully satisfying experience with a mesmerising one-hit-kill foundation.  Having possibly the best soundtrack of the decade certainly doesn't hurt either.  [10]

---

Having played through it again for the first time, I'm going to reluctantly rescind the perfect score.  It's a brilliant game, probably still in my top 15 or so ever, but the brief hospital stage and some irritating boss bits bring it down to a (still high flying) [9].  And the Switch port is such a bug ridden mess this particular version shoots its foot off and earns an [8] overall.  I encountered at least 5 major bugs that required full stage restarts (enemies disappearing before my eyes and reappearing way off the map was a favourite), which just isn't good enough for numerous reasons.  Throw in a smattering of lesser hiccups like bullets not displaying and you've got a poor port that slipped under the radar, presumably because it either wasn't tested extensively for reviews or the expected patch never materialised.  In some ways it's a perfect game, but wondering whether a stage will glitch as you clear it puts a sizeable dent in the enjoyment. 

65. Not a Hero - Switch (3hrs) 

I've been dipping in and out of previous favourites over the past couple of months and this was perfect for short burst handheld gaming (I played it on PS+ originally).  Hotline Miami is well known round these parts and this is a criminally overlooked companion piece of sorts from the makers of the excellent OlliOlli games.  It's a fast paced 2D cover based shooter where you skid between shadows mowing down masses of gang members intent on running their mouths off as you fill them with holes.  The voice acting and dialogue snippets are pretty much second to none in this field.  It's an acquired taste, but enemies shouting "wasteman!" at me never got old, nor did the brazen stereotyping for each non-hero.  Feel free to scoff, but this game is hilarious.  In fact, I urge you to play it in an attempt to scoff, because even if I'm wrong about the hilarity I'm absolutely convinced I'm right about the gameplay.  Picture a high octane Bonanza Bros/Elevator Action/BroForce hybrid and you're most of the way there (no, not High Octane the Cyber Speedway aka Gran Chaser clone.  And anyway, that was 'Hi-Octane', lesser nerd). You get one life per stage, so you'll die a lot (especially if you're attempting to tick off the extra mission parameters).  It takes the old hat well designed approach to level design rather than the rouguelike route, so you will be learning and plotting as you go.  It's not as memorisation heavy as many games of this type though, which is where the Hotline Miami comparison comes in.  If plans go awry you can absolutely cut through the pickle to emerge unscathed and tumescent with that 'what a rush!' feeling.  It's scintillating stuff and in terms of hidden gems I'd say it's up there with the best from any era.  I just wish I wasn't so stuck in my ways with my approach to games as I used Cleetus the Scotgun guy for the entire game, again.  I love the way it plays at close range but I know I'm missing out.  Maybe I'll play it again one day, would almost certainly make a top ten of the gen list. Truly excellent. [9] Two gifs for this one, as I'm really trying to sell it.  Was £2.60ish on Switch at one point FYI, I'm sure it's seen similar prices elsewhere.

66. Sonic Mania - Encore Mode (Switch, 3hrs 18 mins) 

What I originally thought in one of these threads:

Probably the best Sonic experience since Knuckles + 3, and surpasses that in places.  Over the moon with what they've done here - imo it takes the best of Sonic and adds better bosses.  So far I've just played one run to the credits, but I've got nothing but fondness for the experience.  Will be there or thereabouts as my GotY.  [9]

Which I'd pretty much stick to.  It deserved a slightly more in-depth take at the time really, given that it was pretty much the best thing Sega could possibly have done with a new Sonic.  It was a crying shame the Saturn never hosted a new 2D Sonic game, but Christian Whitehead & co. basically created a modern 32-bit Sonic game that played like remastered greatest hits, with a smattering of valid bonus tracks.  The bulk of the game was made up of familiar stages (with new layouts) from the only golden era of Sonic - '91-94 - packed with familiar music and built around the only three characters worth their salt.  The bonus stages were outstanding, loosely based on the Sonic CD special stages, and it's probably fair to call them the best in the series.  The Sonic 2 tunnel is iconic but was never particularly playable (not with both characters at any rate - did anyone ever get all the emeralds with Tails mimicking their movements an entire second behind the inputs? ).  That format was probably 'perfected' in the Saturn port of Sonic 3D.  I quite liked the blue sphere stages from Sonic 3, and they returned to Mania alongside the flat shaded polygon chase-the-UFO sections. It was a brilliant update because it did everything Sonic did well, but with extra finesse and variety.  This was never going to win anyone over to the Sanic format - surely all gamers over a certain age know whether they liked the Megadrive Sonic games or not - but for existing fans it was an absolute treat, up there with Sonic 2 and Sonic 3+Knuckles for sure.  A year or so after launch the 'Plus' dlc arrived, which I grabbed for cheap on Switch.  The Encore mode adds two characters from a lesser known Sonic the Hedgehog arcade game - Mighty the Armadillo and [something] the Squirrel, but they're miles less shite than Vector the Crocodile, Big the Cat, Rogue (Rouge?) the Bat or any of the other jokers since.  Plus they have distinct abilities that that felt worthwhile.  It also rejigs the stage layouts and aesthetic here and there.  Instead of traditional lives you collect character changes from TV sets and can switch between the main two at any point.  It's an okay idea in theory but it does some annoying things with the restart points, meaning it either feels too easy if you've collected a few buddies or too harsh with a single character (somewhat negated by gaining continues admittedly).  At first I thought the stages were completely overhauled, but the bulk of them are actually quite similar, which is a bit lazy compared to top tier dlc offerings.  It's minor tinkering on the whole, with the new characters, character system and colour palettes being the main changes (bonus stage layouts are new too, and overly harsh).  Oh, and a hilariously bad pinball special stage has been added, which feels like it was rescued from the Chaotix cutting room floor.  It's quite a thing. The competition mode now works with four players instead of two...but that's about it as far as I can tell.  The dlc is far from vintage really, so: [6].  The mania show is wonderful but don't expect much from the encore. It's just about worth it for the new characters though. Still, it was a good excuse to play through it again, which had me dreaming of all the missing stages they could stuff in Sonic Mania 2.

67. Portal 2 (5-6hrs) - played on Xbox One 

Total play time is a guess there really, it may have taken longer but it didn't feel like it.  The first Portal is a [10] for me, and on reappraisal I think the sequel sneaks into this elite bracket too.  The campaign, with its unrivalled videogame script and delivery; what a ride.  Factor in the co-op and you've got a rare example of a sequel that improves upon near perfection.   Enough about the game though, I know if Elf's reading he'll be dying to clap eyes on my list o' tens. So in no particular order, the games that I consider to be actual full moot [10]s are: Portal Portal 2 Super Monkey Ball Super Meat Boy Shovel Knight Fez Thumper Super Mario 3D World Halo: Combat Evolved The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Streetfighter 2: Turbo or Special Champion Edition Heave-Ho! Trials Evolution Mario Odyssey That's how the land lies rn anyway. Nearest misses, but [9]s nonetheless: Hotline Miami, Celeste, Wario Ware, Fire Emblem Awakening, Micro Machines 2, Kururin Paradise, Pro Evolution Soccer 6, Ori in the Blind Forest, Mario Golf World Tour, Rocket League. In a couple of cases these are games that have retained honorary 10s despite being 'of their time' in some respects (Ocarina of Time, Halo CE), but mostly it's a crop of games that will continue to be almost perfect forever.  Apart from BotW, which is actually a bit crap in certain ways but over-compensates spectacularly with all the good parts.

68. Slayaway Camp - Switch (roughly 5hrs)  

Acquired as the gooseberry on a three game 'Blood & Guts' pack that's intended to shift in sales (it launched at something like 85% off and I'd be amazed if anyone in the entire world ever intentionally pays £40 for it).  I grabbed the pack for (the superjank) Slain, with the added bonus of (the excellent) Super Blood Hockey, but Slayaway Camp is probably the best of the bunch, certainly in single player.  Who knew?  It's a single screen puzzle game where you kill victims with turn based sliding from point to point in scenes inspired by classic slasher flicks.  Anyone who's played Hitman Go will know roughly what to expect.  Killing all the campers opens the exit.  You can rewind every move, and doing so is key to gradually solving the often specific routes through each stage.  Each episode is framed as a videotape movie, and the credits start to roll if you fail.  Graphics are basically 'gore Minecraft', but they have a charm.  The real attraction is the actual puzzling though, it's a very well designed game.  It doesn't throw vast amounts of systems at you but fresh ideas appear steadily as you progress and your actions have plenty of knock on effects that can lead to quite deep brain busters with a real sense of accomplishment when you succeed.  You can buy a hint or a solution for each level and it doesn't penalise you for being dim.  Which is great, as I needed the full solution numerous times.   Recommended for fans of Sudoku, maybe?  It's a [7] for my tastes, but a very strong one, and I reckon that might sneak up to an [8] for the bigger brain puzzle types?  @acemuzzy or @jonb.  It sells for £2ish as a standalone sale title on Switch, so they probably pay you to buy it on Steam.  Very pleasantly surprised by it. 

69. Strikey Sisters - Switch (3hrs)  

Very good brick breaker with bosses and a story.  Don't worry, the cut-scenes can be skipped.  Something about a lost cat.  Play in either one player or co-op, tackling standard stages (break all blocks) or boss stages (deplete a big nasty's energy bar).  Enemies will pop with a weapon drop of varying usefulness that floats down the screen to be collected or avoided.  These include bombs, double ball power ups and suchlike.  It's a fun game, especially in co-op; everything works well, although what it offers is admittedly limited.  It's a perennial sale title and half price (£4ish) bags you a bargain imo.  It's got a nice look - reminiscent of Twinkle Tale to an extent - with some decent retro style tunes, plus the snippets of sampled speech are fun, particularly the bosses that shout "ice ice ice, baby!" and "you can't touch this".  Won't set anyone's world alight but it's a quality lo-fi indie effort and would be very fondly remembered if it had been a genuine SNES release.  [7] 

70. Galaxy Champions TV - Switch (4hrs)  

Well this is bollocks.  I've been playing it on and off all day and it crashed on me one stage from the end.  Because I'd been at it solidly since the football finished I hadn't quit to menu at any point, which turns out is the the only time the bugger saves any progress.  I enjoyed the ride but I'm not levelling up for three hours again; it's a bitesize game and there's a point where enough is enough.  Bleat away fams, I'm having it.  For a £1.34 sale title no-one else is going to play, who gives a shit anyway?  I watched the last boss on Youtube and I would've taken him nae bother.   It's a Smash TV inspired single screen twin stick wave based arena shooter with a roguelite-esque perma-upgrade system.  I spent two hours chipping away at the first world, gradually beefing up my stats and learning the flow of the game, before smashing through to the next three worlds without breaking sweat.  I almost got through the third world on my first go, which is odd as the whole thing started off tough as nails.  So the balancing is off, but I can't say I'd hold that against it for the price.  If anything it was nice to feel like I was wrecking shit at last, it takes a while to get powered up.  Upgrades include three weapon levels for each gun, three levels of dash and unlocks on item drops such as shields or a robo buddy.  You don't have to cash in your chips before dying either, restarting retains all XP, so it doesn't relish being nasty like some shooters.  It lacks the style of Smash TV but it plays a decent game, you'll need to get your tactics down pretty quickly as the waves can merk you in seconds, and the all-important addiction levels are high once you're in its grip.   I had a good time with it, shame about the software error/save glitch.  I needed something to play while taking a breather from Astral Chain and this did the job nicely.  [6], but there's nowt wrong with that now and then if you're after cheap arcade thrills.

71. Astral Chain - Switch (16hrs) 

Good grief.  There's usually a point where enough is enough with systems in play for this sort of thing, and of course this gleefully nitro-boosts past it and over the horizon.   It never seems content to rest on its yanny's and opts to chuck more and moar at the player in an attempt to incessantly up the ante.  Against all odds it works, for the most part, but while it's an accomplished game in many ways it repeatedly trips over its own ambition.  With so much going on it's a marvel that so much of it sticks though, which is no mean feat.  The base combat is standard Platinum - remove the bells and whistles and the actual combat would play a lot like like everything from Bayonetta to Ninja Turtles.  It's the multiple layers on top that separate this from the rest.  Wrapping enemies in legion chains is satisfying, as is the tried and tested hack/slash & timed dodge stuff of course, and while there's a touch of fiddliness to almost everything it's definitely a game that wants you to learn its intricacies rather than go through the motions.  You can pummel your way through on the standard 'casual' difficulty if that's your thing (hello), but the default settings are clearly intended to ease you in as constant prompts remind the player that upping it gives you the intended experience.  I'm more inclined to get through rather than git gud with most 3D titles, but having got a good feel for the combat by the end (and after watching a few Youtube vids) it's obvious that the skill ceiling is sky high.  I'd still maintain that Platinum don't do ultra size beastie battles particularly well, but the small to not-quite-massive opponents are mostly great fun to dispatch.  I considered a longer review highlighting the numerous faults, wrote myself some bullet points and everything - the often disastrous camera being the biggest problem of a long list, and does anyone like fail state 3D stealth sections in action games? - but I've had a long day (during which I narrowly escaped redundancy, again) and can't be bothered.  It's a decent game that's a bit too hyperactive for its own good and probably could've done with a few legs being lopped off the spider diagram at the ideas stage, but it's a ride worth taking nonetheless. Scrapes an [8], believe it or not.

72. Carrion - Xbox One (4hrs)

If you haven't played Inside, there be spoilers ahead.

I won't beat around the bush with this one; this was a huge letdown.  Early footage showed promise and it had been on my radar for ages, but the final product is a poor Metroidvania with an interesting central conceit.  Billed as a 'reverse horror,' you assume control of a tentacled organism intent on escaping from some sort of facility.  Initially the lack of map threw me, but progression is mostly linear.  More often than not the game funnels your movement and traps you within rooms you're able to solve.  As you progress you gain various abilities, but rather than recalling a suspect section of wall and backtracking to progress, it's more of a keep on keeping on type - the abilities just usher in new puzzle types.  The monster controls well for the most part, which is the clear highlight of the game.  Occasionally the grab mechanic lets it down, but never enough to tarnish the controls too much.  It's fun to get about.  Unfortunately the skirmishes with facility staff are poor.  Environments give the impression of emergent combat, offering various points of attack and routes of escape, but the combat itself is weak.  It's fun to grab enemies and smash them into walls with a few flicks or the right stick, but taking out anything more troublesome than than the standard fodder types just struck me as annoying.  Any sections where you control humans feel like a weird Flashback parody, which just doesn't work.  Couple that with the fact that the puzzles are often quite tired switch pull types - with doors eventually containing a cheek-puff number of segments to unlock - and you've got an experience that really isn't anything to write home about whatsoever.  The monster spin is unique enough, but it's been utilised in an uninspiring by--the-numbers puzzler that didn't offer a single 'that's brilliant!' moment for me.  

Speaking of games with 'that's brilliant!' moments, here comes the Inside bit: the whole carry on here is basically the closing scenes from that, stretched out into a sub-Limbo level straight-ahead platform puzzler masquerading as a Metroidvania. With intesting controls and bad combat.  It was on course for a [6], but I managed to take a wrong turn near the end, presumably because the devs mistakenly thought anyone would voluntarily go searching for secrets.  As mentioned, the game unfolds in a mostly linear fashion, ergo I had no memory of the facility layout whatsoever.  With no map to call on I somehow managed to get myself deeper and deeper into the swamps of sadness without the faintest idea how to get back to...wherever I was supposed to be.  It brought to mind being stuck in an actual real life maze, and I started to get A Bit Shirty, because real life mazes are torturously boring/slightly oppressive.  I eventually consulted a Youtube walkthrough, which showed me where I needed to be (I'd been loitering 3 minutes away from the credits just before getting lost, what fun), but not how to get back there.  Honestly, I considered not finishing it but eventually found a handful of breadcrumbs and got lucky.  Which brings me to the [5].  A wonky action puzzle game which has received some baffling praise from numerous websites.  I gave the same score to The Mummy Returns iirc, another slightly arduous Metroidvania, but I enjoyed that more.  The monster is great, the game it's in is below average.  


73. The Touryst - Xbox One (6-7hrs)

Fancied this for ages, played and enjoyed the demo on Switch but £18 felt too much for something that other badgers had mostly described as wonky but good.  Enter gamepass, and I'm glad I didn't pay for it outright.  

It's almost a game of two halves.  The exploration/to-do checklist while island hopping is fun, but pretty much all of the content within the monuments is poor.  Which means it was a constant pleasure/pain experience for me.  Visually it's one of the nicest looking games I've ever played.  I guess that sounds like hyperbole but I was very taken with the oh-so-shiny shiny block look, and it's chock full of incidental flourishes that add various cherries on top.  The camera is a bit annoying, but forgivable outside of monuments if you set it to 'most of the way out' and resist the urge to fiddle with it.  There's a ton of character to the grab-bag of minigames and non-convoluted fetch quests; as mentioned the above ground segments are great, whether you're chasing high scores on nu-retro titles in the arcade or dressing for the jazz club for a spot of match-making.  It's a quality little world to kill time in.

To finish the game you'll need to collect four cores though, which are all guarded by bosses in various monuments.  They're all crap, unfortunately, sometimes alarmingly so, meaning the traditionally gamey sections let the side down considerably.  If they'd been on par with the rest of the experience this could sneak onto a discerning GotY list (but what year??), but as it stands every stretch leading to a core is a ballache.  The controls are fine for sightseeing and running errands, but if you're suddenly tasked with precision jumping the character needs to face the direction you press instantly rather than turning, the dash controls need to be tweaked, the camera needs to be less ridiculous and so on.  It's not fit for purpose with what it's asking you to do.  Granted, the "U F Off!" orb section aside there's nothing that stands out as criminal, but none of the core grab sections are enjoyable and just seem to lazily test your patience until you succeed.  There's a lot to like here and I'm glad I stuck with it, I definitely had a good time playing as Movember Wookie, but any more than a [6] would feel wrong. 


74. Pool Panic - Switch (6-7hrs)

An absolute oddity.  If the the label 'a hot mess' was ever perfectly applicable to a game it's right here.  You play as a cue ball with legs potting grimacing pool balls within a Nicktoons stylised world.  There are 100 stages to tackle which are accessed from a large hub area.  Each of the stages require you to pot as many balls as you can before sinking the black and unlocking the exit.  Completed stage awards act as currency to be deposited in a weird structure at the centre of the map, which gradually turns into a tower depending on how much of the game you've completed.  Every single stage tasks you with something slightly or completely different to anything you've seen before.  In some ways the closest comparison would be something like What the Golf?, as the whole thing is a melting pot of pool rather than golf (although there is a pool golf course on offer).  The fundamental requirements are the same for each level, but it's absolutely brimming with genuinely neat ideas.  At a glance it might appear crude and garish, but there's plenty of style here.  It's a decent looking game, and there are numerous touches that elevate it above mid-level EShop fodder.   A cheeky bastardisation of Camp Nevada for the boy scouts stage (Greensleeves and Chariots of Fire also make appearances in classic The Shinning fashion), a jousting stage, a motorbike section, trick shot hustle shacks, ski stages, bosses, secret areas, shortcuts, in-game achievements, all sorts of genre nods 'n winks, plus the non-bitesize length - it all shouts labour of love.   

The problem is, the act of potting balls - the crux of the entire game - is somewhere between serviceable and terrible.  You have to forgive the way it plays to have any hope of seeing the best it has to offer.  I don't know how I managed it to be honest, possibly because potting pool balls reminded me of sinking golf balls, which is my ultimate pipe & slippers genre.  Once I got to grips with the fact that everything was either fiddly, imprecise, wonky, shoddy, slapdash or a mixture of all that and more, it somehow managed to win me over with the aforementioned ingenuity offensive.  

So basically, I can't recommend it.  But I really enjoyed it.  Despite the fact that the rock climbing stages are among the worst sections of any game I've ever played (I'm including things like the 16-bit Back to the Future sequels here, or getting to the bowling alley in The Flintstones on the Master System; I really mean they're disgustingly bad), I still came away satisfied that I'd spent ages getting through it.  An absolute slog, but there's something here I can't put my finger on.  A genuine curio and I'd probably pledge support for a Kickstarter reboot that actually played well. [6]


75. Gunman Clive 2 - Switch (1hr)

Enjoyed these on 3DS so double dipped on the double pack in a sale.   Simplistic platform shooting, horizontal fire only.  Both games have a striking hand sketched look that works almost as well in HD as it did on a tiny 3DS screen.  Occasional into the screen sections add variety, as do vehicle stages, but it's all very lightweight.  Checkpoints are rarely more than a few screens apart but you have to complete a full stage to hit one.  Having played Mechstermination Force since you can tell that the devs had fun creating the multi-part final boss in this one.  Nice price, nice games.  [6]      


A double whammy of modern Megadrive actually-released-on-cartridge games ending in 'Crisis'.  Happened by accident, believe it or not. 

76. Coffee Crisis - Switch (1hr)

Terrible scrolling beat 'em up with very few redeeming features.  Plays like a coin guzzler and gets plenty of the basics wrong.  The near-useless charge move is a joke and jump attacks seem to be the only way to get through it.  As a modern game it's abysmal, as a 16-bit release it would've been one to rent tops (in 1992 - past that I doubt it would've been worth playing, even for co-op).  I paid £1.18, don't do it unless you've always fancied a weak scrolling beat 'em up with useless randomised mods to make it more annoying and a Skitchin' style metal soundtrack. 48%  


77. Xeno Crisis - Xbox One (4-5hrs)

An odd one to review because it's genuinely one of the best games on the Megadrive.  There would be a fair shout for this making a top 15 fro the system I'd say.  So I'll get the pretend retro MD review out the way first.  If this had been released in 1994 it would've been mildly criticised for its sky high difficulty (much like Probotector or Batman & Robin it just asks a bit too much of the player), but correctly lauded as an excellent randomised arena shooter: Mean Machines Sega 94%.  It's better than The Chaos Engine for my money.  Moving on a few years, it's better than Loaded too.

As a modern rougelike release, things are a little different.  It's wonderfully simplistic, but requires such dedication to tame it starts to get infuriating long before you get a sniff of the sweet smell of success.  It's painfully difficult on the standard difficulty (Hard), and dropping things down to Easy doesn't really help that much.  It's doable on the latter setting for a man of my meagre yet battle hardened skills, but I'm not sure I could get through the later stages on Hard.  Top troll points for the fact that to even see the final boss you'll need to 1CC the whole thing, but that's a clear dick move imo.  Add another boss, sure, but don't do us like this. 

You can trade dog tags for stat boosts between stages, choosing whether to boost ammo reserves, health, shot power and so on.  As the layouts are randomised you'll find yourself with varying reserves depending on the current seed, meaning you'll often have to adapt your preferences as you play.  It works, but you never quite feel powerful enough for my liking.  

The shooting and movement is good, with the roll move proving quite useful despite offering no invulnerability.  The melee attack felt at least 50% weaker than it should.  Not game breaking, as I just opted not to use it much, but a heftier/more reliable swipe of the knife would've improved things immensely, as would more regular appearances of the additional weapons.  When standard assault rifle ammo depletes a crate appears, often on the other side of the room, so you'll be constantly making a beeline for that every other screen or so.  This reminded me a little of the drops in Assault Android Cactus but felt a touch pointless here if I'm honest.  Medipack drops also felt odd, occasionally they'd appear just as I needed them, but more often than not they were just too scarce and too random to be factored into your plans in any way. 

I've played this quite a bit over the past few days and I like it a lot, but it's made me realise I underrated (the quite similar) Galaxy TV Champions a few weeks ago.  In many ways that's a better shooter, certainly in the way it gradually becomes less brutal the more you play, but also in the way the weapons and perks seem to achieve synergy with the action and it can all get a bit zen.  In Xeno Crisis you can easily come a cropper in subsequent screens and eat into precious continues because some enemies/patterns are just a touch too harsh, with too many projectiles and attacks to keep an eye on in terms of positioning.  Level three goes on far too long and presents the first difficulty spike.  The fourth boss is evil but the fifth boss barely scratched me.  I'm not sure if the bosses are randomised in some way depending on seed but I doubt it - they're just not particularly well balanced.  Perhaps the final boss is great, but I'll never know. 

After four hours of playing properly I dropped it to easy and switched infinite continues on via a cheat code.  Endless credits isn't really the way to go obviously, but three continues just doesn't feel enough to learn the game properly unless you're willing to put serious hours in.  Much as I love stuff like this I don't want to play it for 20hrs, so on went the cheats.  I reckon I used around nine or ten continues in total (en route to The Bad End).

There's more to say but I'm a bit drunk and I'm not sure how much I've waffled already anyway.  Graphics and Sound swing in with those high percentage Mean Machines scores and Playability isn't far behind.  Lastability is there too, but I'd have to give that 120%, which is too much.  More whisky I think.  A slight disappointment but a blast for sure.  If you want a nu retro rouguelike that MERCS Smash TV you're in for a treat. [7].  Will try in co-op at some point as I think the revive move will suit it.

78. The Dark Pictures Anthology - Man of Medan - Xbox One (4hrs?) 

This was a lot more enjoyable than reviews had led me to believe.  I was a bigfan of Until Dawn so would've bought this at the right price, but it was poorly received so I left it.  It's not that far off really, these games are rarely something I'd call genuinely good anyway.  UD was a riot, but the foundations were creaky enough in 2015.  This is built around the same basics - slow wandering around locations searching for clues or the next scene (srsly, it gives you a fast walk button early on and seems to take it away almost immediately, never to return), snap choices impacting plot, QTEs all over the shop and gaggle of youngish people whose survival depends on your decisions or reactions.  Some of the dialogue had me howling and the way the characters wander around wobbling their heads in the direction of pertinent items isn't too pretty either, but I wonder whether these games need this mid-level whiff of jank to appeal.  Would I enjoy myself more if everything was polished, better written and less irritating to control?  Hear me out here - perhaps not.  Take this with a pinch of salt as horror is my 'always ready' genre for films; good, bad or mediocre, I rarely struggle to sit through them, and I think some of that seeps through into this.  It's more enjoyable than a dodgy horror movie, and I love a good dodgy horror.  These games are miles away from working without the interaction, this one would surely get pelted with rotten tomatoes, but holding a pad seems to elevate them to somewhere worthwhile.  I had two characters die on me (one spectacularly) and managed to save three.  The fact that you're aware your characters can die at regular intervals really does add an air of peril to the proceedings that you wouldn't get from watching a random horror film on Netflix.  There's just something about the wonky interactive movie Fighting Fantasy Bandersnatch FMV walking survival horror sim genre that appeals to me.  It's a tough sell I guess, as certain aspects of these games really are appalling when you break them down, but I thoroughly enjoyed this - possibly because of the warts and all - and will definitely be on board for the rest of the series.    There's a group mp mode too, which I didn't try.  I presume each player chooses which characters to control, which sounds like a great idea to me.  Extra points for the in between bits where the curator is talking to the player.  If you enjoyed Until Dawn and you're happy to play what feels like a slightly cheaper DLC tale I don't see how you can go wrong with this really.  Gamepass delivers again.  [7]

78. The Dark Pictures Anthology - Man of Medan - Xbox One (4hrs?) This was a lot more enjoyable than reviews had led me to believe.  I was a bigfan of Until Dawn so would've bought this at the right price, but it was poorly received so I left it.  It's not that far off really, these games are rarely something I'd call genuinely good anyway.  UD was a riot, but the foundations were creaky enough in 2015.  This is built around the same basics - slow wandering around locations searching for clues or the next scene (srsly, it gives you a fast walk button early on and seems to take it away almost immediately, never to return), snap choices impacting plot, QTEs all over the shop and gaggle of youngish people whose survival depends on your decisions or reactions.  Some of the dialogue had me howling and the way the characters wander around wobbling their heads in the direction of pertinent items isn't too pretty either, but I wonder whether these games need this mid-level whiff of jank to appeal.  Would I enjoy myself more if everything was polished, better written and less irritating to control?  Hear me out here - perhaps not.  Take this with a pinch of salt as horror is my 'always ready' genre for films; good, bad or mediocre, I rarely struggle to sit through them, and I think some of that seeps through into this.  It's more enjoyable than a dodgy horror movie, and I love a good dodgy horror.  These games are miles away from working without the interaction, this one would surely get pelted with rotten tomatoes, but holding a pad seems to elevate them to somewhere worthwhile.  I had two characters die on me (one spectacularly) and managed to save three.  The fact that you're aware your characters can die at regular intervals really does add an air of peril to the proceedings that you wouldn't get from watching a random horror film on Netflix.  There's just something about the wonky interactive movie Fighting Fantasy Bandersnatch FMV walking survival horror sim genre that appeals to me.  It's a tough sell I guess, as certain aspects of these games really are appalling when you break them down, but I thoroughly enjoyed this - possibly because of the warts and all - and will definitely be on board for the rest of the series.    There's a group mp mode too, which I didn't try.  I presume each player chooses which characters to control, which sounds like a great idea to me.  Extra points for the in between bits where the curator is talking to the player.  If you enjoyed Until Dawn and you're happy to play what feels like a slightly cheaper DLC tale I don't see how you can go wrong with this really.  Gamepass delivers again.  [7]

79. Aces of the Luftwaffe Squadron - Switch (6hrs) 

Took five/six hours or so took finish, but at least two of those were spent on the final two bosses.  It's a serviceable enough shmup lacking any desirable feedback from the actual shooting of things, plus there are medals to collect and perks to assign which chucks any purity out the window for me.  Nonsensical dialogue obscures the view of your aircraft as characters intermittently spout shit at each other, and you can even tuck yourself away behind part of the hud in the bottom left if you fancy a cheap death or three.  Nice one.     Was a pushover until level 5-3 (of 5-5), then I had to reassign a load of abilities and tinker with aircraft.  Turns out the bomb is useless and active power ups are the way forward.  Wish I'd learned that a couple of hours before the end.  Actually, I wish I'd read this review before playing it, then I wouldn't have bothered.  Aside from the feeling of satisfaction for pushing myself through the difficulty spike it was a waste of time.  Sky Force Anniversary (and presumably the other one in that series) are miles better than this, even with all the arbitrary grinding.  At least the enemy bullets in those games aren't camouflaged against the backdrops.  A harsh [4], but fuck it. **As the gif seems to reveal a four player mode I'll up the score to a [5]

80. Captain Commando (Capcom Beat 'em up Collection) - Switch (45mins)

 A quick blast through with retroking in co-op, online play is a nice addition to these games.  Such a shame that the implementation seems to be random these days, feels like a lot more games had the option last gen.  Huntdown would be perfect for it, but it's offline only and we're having to pick and choose from a fairly limited list of games.   This was fun.  There's nothing particularly outstanding about it but I thought it was one of the more enjoyable rubber stamp scrollers of the era.  Controls are basic, although you can perform a tenderise jump attack and run, so not as basic as some.  As far as I could tell, picking up weapons was usually worthwhile but jumping on discarded enemy vehicles was not.  Anyway, I would've happily pumped 20p's into the is the early 90s.  Character balance seemed off as it felt like the crackingly named Mack the Knife absolutely wrecked compared to the weird baby on a man's body character.  As it lacks the depth of a SORII I'm not sure practice would make perfect with the lesser characters, but we didn't play it enough to find out.  Good, straightforward fun for those who like to revisit these things.  [7] compared to its peers, far less if we're straight up talking 'how good is this game in 2020'.   

81. Paper Mario: The Origami King - Switch  (roughly 30hrs) 

30hrs still counts as epic, right?  It felt pretty epic to me, Tilly and I have been chipping away at it most days since launch.  I had hoped to click with the battle system, despite most reviews suggesting that it's not the main draw.  I didn't, unfortunately, but I didn't find the panel moving line-em-up sections as obtrusive as battle systems in RPGs of yore (the Final Fantasy VII battle music would still annoy me no doubt, and I used to place the pad on the floor in despair when the Dreamcast whirred to denote a fight was coming in the otherwise excellent Skies of Arcadia).  Folded minions can often be avoided, so believe it or not this didn't prove to be massively problematic even over the course of such a long game.  Special mention for the bosses though; I thought the slightly tweaked system worked a treat for them.   I didn't know what to expect from the non-battly bits, but it turns out everything else on offer is big-grin gaming.  The toad hunting is just about the most moreish optional extra I can think of - I've never been a hundo hunter but we found the vast majority of them, and having each one become a visible hype man in the arena is genius.  There's a ton of variety to the tasks and quests, most of it front and centre in the trailers but I'll avoid direct spoilers, and just about everything attempted outside the arena felt more hit than miss to me.  It looks gorgeous, the soundtrack is one of Nintendo's best for years, its pun game is stronk (as is the script in general), plus the story unfolds beautifully and genuinely goes places.  Was reading all text to Tilly and I needed a good cuddle once or twice.  I take back wot I said in the Switch thread about Nintendo's not-quite-major releases lacking a bit of spit & polish on Switch as this is about is lush & lavish as it gets. [8], but I tell you what, it'd be a straight [9] with more agreeable battles.   In with a shout for my GotY top 5, with Olivia winning character of the year hands down. 

82. Battletoads - Xbox One (3hrs 50mins) 

This was always up against it as it's predominantly a throwback scrolling beat 'em up releasing in the same year as Steets of Rage 4, but the basic brawling is actually pretty strong.  It's the constant attempts to add variety along the way that turn the experience into a bit of a pot luck tombola.  I'd say 65% of the game is the surprisingly proficient fightmens, and the rest is either one-shot or recurring distractions/diversions that either work (the into the screen scooter sections are decent enough) or absolutely do not (not going to spoil it, but I thought one of the slightly more out-there late game sections was RIDICULOUS).  The scattershot approach to gameplay coupled with fairly decent cut scenes works pretty well on the whole, but unfortunately the non scrolly/fighty bits never really threaten to be anything special in any way.  The hodgepodge is worth playing though, probably moreso as a couch co-op experience (although quite how that works on some stages is a mystery to me), but it's a bit of an Earthworm Jim game: all over the place, heavy on the wacky tween TV animation style, maintaining an average of 'quite good' throughout its many styles whilst never troubling the very best of the competition.         Despite some earlier standard stages outstaying their welcome, whenever the scrolling & punching sections returned in the latter half of the game I was relieved.  It's slightly draining to play back to back sections of new gameplay experiences (poor puzzle platforming, average platforming, QTEs, vertical shmups and so on), but judged on the fisticuffs it attempts some interesting things and mostly succeeds.  The tag system seemed oddly overpowered as it worked far better than the dodge for a quite blast of invincibility, but the tongue grab to either propel yourself toward enemies or Scorpion them over to you is well implemented.  You can dash, spit wads of bubblegum to stick enemies in place and guard break attack, plus there's a genuine rhythm/tactics game going on on standard difficulty, with enemies staying in a dizzy state for ages, certain types posing far more risk and so on.  Some of the enemy placements suggest a game designed first and foremost as a co-op experience, but it's never quite unfair as a solo game.  It's not quite there when compared to SOR4 but it'd give Wulverblade a fair fight, to name another good modern stab at the genre.    Overall it feels like a game intended to be developed as a labour of love that ended up a bit rushed.  The visuals have a certain style that seems to rise and fall in terms of quality from stage to stage.  Gav described it as Cuphead played on a recorder, which is glorious but actually a bit harsh; the finished product is no eyesore, but some of the stages just look a wee bit...off.  Not sure who to recommend it to as the series doesn't have much of a fanbase as far as I can tell, but it's not half bad really. [7] feels about right, glad I played it.

Full reviews list:
1. Skyblazer (SNES) - 7/10
2. Super Tennis (SNES) - 8/10
3. Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles (PS3) - 5/10
4. Mafia III (PS4) - 7/10
5. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES) - 9/10
6. Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow (SNES) - 5/10
7. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch) - 8/10
8. Wonder Boy Returns Remix (Switch) - 7/10
9. Sparkster (SNES) - 8/10
10. Sparkster (MD) - 8/10
11. Resident Evil 2 (PS4) - 10/10
12. Shinobi (Arcade) - 7/10
13. DOOM VFR (PS4) - 7/10
14. R-type II (Arcade) - 5/10
15. Super Buster Bros. (Arcade) - 9/10
16. Super Buster Bros. (SNES) - 8/10
17. Street Fighter: The Movie (PS) - 6/10
18. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (PS4) - 8/10
19. Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Arcade) - 10/10
20. Streets of Rage 4 (Switch) - 8/10
21. Tecmo Bowl (NES) - 8/10
22. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4) - 8/10
23. Another World (Switch) - 5/10
24. Virtua Racing (Switch) - 7/10
25. Punch-Out!! (Arcade) - 5/10
26. Volgarr the Viking (Switch) - 8/10
27. Super Bomberman R (Switch) - 8/10
28. Tetris Attack (SNES) - 9/10
29. Cybernator/Assault Suits Valken (SNES) - 8/10
30. Pop'n TwinBee (SNES) - 7/10
31. The Last Guardian (PS4) - 6/10
32. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSP) - 8/10
33. Cruis'n USA (N64) - 3/10
34. Castlevania Judgment (Wii) - 3/10
35. Streets of Rage II (MD) - 9/10
36. New Ghostbusters II (NES) - 6/10
37. Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Switch) - 7/10
38. Top Gear Overdrive (N64) - 5/10
39. Cruis'n World (N64) - 3/10
40. Cruis'n Exotica (N64) - 3/10
41. NES Remix 2 (Wii U) - 8/10
42. Captain Commando (Arcade) - 5/10
43. Knights of the Round (Arcade) - 5/10
44. Warriors of Fate (Arcade) - 5/10
45. Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja (Arcade) - 3/10
46. Wave Race 64 (N64) - 10/10
47. Two Crude (Arcade) - 3/10
48. Shadow Dancer (MD) - 8/10
49. Splatterhouse (PC Engine) - 7/10
50. Operation Logic Bomb (SNES) - 6/10
51. Final Fight (Arcade) - 9/10
52. Final Fight 2 (SNES) - 8/10
53. Final Fight 3 (SNES) - 8/10
54. Super Mario Bros. (NES) - 10/10
55. Strikers 1945 (Arcade) - 6/10
56. Panzer Dragoon (Switch) - 6/10
57. Star Wars Episode I Racer (N64) - 7/10
58. Bonk's Adventure (PC Engine) - 5/10
59. NBA Playgrounds 2 (Switch) - 9/10
60. Dr. Mario (NES) - 9/10
61. Cluedo (Switch) - 7/10

61 games completed for the year.

Average rating: 6.8
Total time played: 234hrs 33mins
Average time per game: 3hrs 51mins

Games played by format:
1. SNES - 12
1. Arcade - 12
3. Switch - 11
4. N64 - 6
4. PS4 - 6
6. NES - 4
7. MD - 3
8. PC Engine - 2
9. PS - 1
9. PS3 - 1
9. PSP - 1
9. Wii - 1
9. Wii U - 1

hylian_elf wrote:

Vere, can you add ‘19-12’ to me in your OP?

I’m hoping for much more this year. Hoping.

Of course!! Will keep updating it just wanted to get it started!

Holdplacer, because will absolutely be needed

My previous years are 17-54, 18-30, 19-41.

I'm in too. Last year I managed a 19-26, which is probably about my limit.

I realised I had two extra in the bag that weren't in my list as i played through the first two Room games while over in Tenerife with a sick wife.

106. Shadow Dancer - Megadrive (40mins) 

Smashed through this with save states.  It's quite simplistic, and the one hit kills yet infinite bumping-into-things doesn't system still strikes me as odd.  I borrowed this a couple of times and remember it being tough but doable.  There's nothing remarkable to anything on offer really, but it's a solid ninja platformer and easily one of the better MD games available in 1990.  The magic is probably better implemented than in Shinobi and possibly Revenge, it's quite useful for certain points of each level and replenishes between stages.  The dog sic is quite handy too, rather than just being a redundant gimmick.  Overall good but not great - it would have dated fairly quickly but it's one of those games where the simplicity still manages to make it shine.  Loses ninja side scroller kudos points for the music being genuinely poor.  81%. 

107. Gravity Rider Zero - Switch (4hrs) 

Surprisingly solid and fairly polished Trials lite with anti-grav shenanigans.  It's no Trials and it's no FutureGrind, but I preferred it to Urban Trials Freestyle as a two wheels vs the obstacle course thing.  This might be the sort of thing people play on mobiles - in fact it's possible it was a mobile game - but it's decent enough to dip in and out of for short handheld gaming bursts.  It took me close to six months to chip away at the 33 (3 part) stages, chiefly because they're a bit samey over long sessions.  Visual style is surprisingly good for a budget game.  A few gaudy sections aside it's a neat looking flat shaded effort that performs far better than Bit.Trip.Runner3, which is far more well known and attempts a similar look.  It's only a [6] if I've got my mean hat on, but it was only 99p and kept me occupied. 

108. Bridge Strike - Switch (2hrs) 

Satisfying River Raid clone that doesn't aim to do too much more than tidy up its inspiration.  That's what I wanted when I took a punt based on screenshots (£2.20 in the current sale), so it didn't disappoint.  It's deliberately basic and I enjoyed the 40 level campaign.  The various mission types aren't particularly well balanced (the 'don't lose machine' stages were tough, whereas I don't think I failed a coin grab stage) but it's all good fun and practice will see you through.  You've got to keep an eye on your fuel gauge but there are more than enough tankers dotted around the stages to refuel without too many narrow escapes, unless you accidentally blow them up.  Fans of Spy Hunter or Action Fighter might fancy a look.  Another budget win for me.  [7]   

109. The Cyber Shinobi - Master System (40 mins) 

Disastrous 8-bit sequel that appears to be a legit follow up - it's Sega developed and clearly says Shinobi 2 on the title screen.  So unfortunately this doesn't seem to be a US Gold Strider 2 nerr-nerr doesn't count kind of thing as I can't see a loophole not to allow it as part of the series.  Large oof.   It's not the worst 8-bit game I've played by a long shot, but it's definitely in the bottom half.  Which means it's bad, and not in the 1990 way.  It's been turned into a ropey scrolling beat 'em up rather than what was effectively a walk & gun game with the shuriken/projectile focus of the first.  I would've played this as a kid but only because I'd only recently made the jump from LCD games at the time of release.  It's awful on the whole, and certain sections require trial and error.  The controls aren't particularly responsive so falling platforms can pose a problem even if you know they're coming.  And just created a save state.  58% in 1990, squashed down to a 36% with 2020 hindsight.  Poor music for the most part too. At least this Joe Musashi isn't the OG Joe Musashi, it's his grandson.  MS Shadow Dancer was rough but from memory it was a lot better than this.

110. Boxboy + Boxgirl - Switch (6hrs) 

This is a great series, I played at least one on 3DS (I should remember if I played two tbh, but :shrug:). Guide your character(s) to the goal with the use of a finite number of blocks - set per stage - which must be dropped on switches, placed to reach higher platforms, carried to shield you from lasers and so on. They're slow paced puzzlers that err on the gentle side of brain tickling, but the mixture of abilities coupled with well designed stages keep things ticking along nicely. This one has a separate two player quest, which I've been playing with Tilly on and off since launch. It's one for short bursts if you're playing with a youngster though, in my experience you get three stages of plain sailing before the trollface sets in and deliberately causing deaths/blocking pathways becomes irresistible. Nnnnggg. We got through it in the end though, mainly thanks to a big push towards the end of the game. As mentioned the puzzles are very doable and the costume rewards helped. One of Nintendo's best new IPs for years - developed by HAL Laboratories too, so it has pedigree. It's also nice and cheap. 8

111. Return of the Obra Dinn - Switch (12hrs 14 mins) 

Mightily impressive interactive insurance investigation that requires the player to poke around a returning Mary Celeste ghost ship uncovering a series of snapshots in time and piecing together the identity and fate of each missing crew member/passenger. Given that the were 60 people on board and the game staunchly refuses to give you much of a leg up in the opening few hours, this is no small task. Grab a deerstalker, prepare to not rule out the improbable and don't expect a Watson to hold your hand while dishing out elementary school hints - you're on your own, and some of the sleuthing runs far deeper than I was expecting. You'll need to put a face to a name and commit to a particular full stop on each character's involvement in the events to unravel the mystery completely. Three correct answers rewards you with a glorious jingle and locks characters into their solutions, thus removing them from your metaphorical bag of jigsaw pieces. Memories can be viewed by clicking your handy pocket deathwatch at a corpse, which is a glorious conceit despite how silly it sounds on paper. In terms of assistance your only ally is the book you board the vessel with, which is gradually fleshed out and revealed surprises as I progressed. If I had one tip above all others for new players it'd be this: learn the intricacies of the book. It's a game best played with as little prior knowledge as possible so I'll stop there. Almost halfway up the rigging between [8] and [9]. Special mention for the soundtrack too, it's used sparingly and some of the motifs are outstanding. Edit: It must be something special because I finished what was left of two bottles of rum I was saving for 'a special occasion' while playing, and don't regret it.

112. Horace - Switch (11hrs 52 mins) 

Retro home computer inspired platformer that does everything right bar the platforming.  Unfortunately, considering there's a hell of a lot of platforming it does quite a lot wrong.  The truly exquisite cut scenes attempt to pull the wool over your eyes throughout the overlong quest - and they're so good you'll want to let them - but the core mechanics remind me of something you'd find on a randomly selected Amiga demo disk, stretched out over a potentially 20hr campaign.  In terms of character weight, inertia, room design and actual platform hopping it feels like James Pond trying to be Meat Boy, which is a frankly disastrous mix - the controls are too loose for an insta restart screen o' death type, and pretty much all the rooms in this are full o' death.  I'm a huge fan of modern games that take a retro template and tweak/refine rather than completely overhaul (Megaman 11, Monster Boy) but the basics for Horace could barely sustain a focused 4hr quest, let alone the sprawling collect 'em up epic I've been brute forcing myself through for the past week.  The main hook to the movement is the ability to walk on walls, rotating the screen and flipping gravity accordingly.  It's fine for a while, but by 'a while' I mean two or three hours.  Unfortunately it doesn't offer a lot else, so that's what you'll be doing for most of the game.  Nothing seems designed with any sort of care (outside the meticulous story sections and top drawer lookalike characters) to the point where half the rooms felt like proc gen offcuts to me.   The first couple of bosses are okay, but there's only so much okay I can take in a game like this.  Plus, some of the late game guardians are an absolute joke.  Worst final boss ever?  Possibly, and I didn't even lose a life, it was just full capslock shite even without having to swallow sour grapes.  I'll leave it there with the negatives (and I haven't even mentioned the broken shield system) but there's more than a touch of WTAF from me when it comes to the relentless plaudits this game has received since launch.  There are a handful of sections in this that are worse than the cataclysmically bad section that nearly ruined Battletoads for me.  Just quickly then - what have the following got in common: Slime-San, Light Fall, 10 Second Ninja X, Escape Doodland.  Give up?  They're all deep dive flotsam indie platformers I've played that have superior core jumpmans gameplay to Horace.  Slime-San is actually miles better and I rather harshly gave that a [5](!) On to the good stuff then.  The deft touch ultra specific era-snapshot British nostalgia thing is wonderful.  Insert face value YourReferencesAreOutOfControl.gif, and we're not just talking 'ahaha I member that!' - some of the cut scene gags and exchanges are truly superb.  I guess I didn't beat around the bush in my opening paragraph as I straight up hated the gameplay, but the fact that I'm still glad I played it is testament to how fine the story sections are.  I've never played a platformer for the story and I hope to never do so again, but this serves up a good one.  Pelt the Wrong'un is ultimate form Heimdall minigame and I applaud the hustle.  I enjoyed the dishwashing minigame and the sports arcade cab was legit.  Would happily buy the devs a stout or two and probably try to avoid talking too much about Horace.  Maybe we could have a chat about Button Moon, Bertha and Mr. Ben instead.     So that's that then.  A terrible platform game punctuated by possibly the best non interactive segments the medium has ever offered. [5]

113. Bloodroots - Switch (4-5hrs) Mostly enjoyable room/area clearance game that l'll describe as 'arcadelike' because I tend to cling on to outdated terminology. Kill everyone in your path using an assortment of weapons strewn around the area. One hit kills (almost) all, including yourself. It's a rambunctious Hotline Miami type with far looser controls and more scope for staying alive on your wits/reactions rather than well laid plans. You'll plot routes, sure, but it seems easier to tear up your blueprints and change tact completely than in some other games of this type. For the first half the breezy controls work very well, but once things started to get trickier I found myself pining for more precision. It's a balancing act that hasn't quite worked, but the good outweighs the bad; it's mostly fun even when it's threatening to be annoying, and the looseness is part of the charm. Unfortunately there are numerous performance issues on Switch, certainly undocked, which result in sound drops, character invisibility, framerate craziness, full freezes and many other things that should've been patched by now. It's playable when it works, but overall it would have benefitted from a lot more polish. Much as I enjoyed it I'd recommend one of the big brother versions instead. It's the right length and probably the correct level of annoying in hindsight, but I can't forgive the final boss, which is definitely my least favourite in living memory. Apart from Horace. Any attack that rains down from above is a misstep here - a certain enemy in the main stages will be everyone's least favourite I suspect - but the way the final guardian's arrows drop onto you during its second form is frankly ridiculous (especially as you're moving in for a third hit and they start peppering the screen faster than you can move). Plus the whole game locks up with a red screen of death if you die on that section too many times. [6] for the Switch version, [7] on consoles (I presume), but there was an [8] in here somewhere. Would play a sequel, cheers for the heads up @JonB.

114. Wheels of Aurelia - Switch (45 mins) I didn't listen then, either to the reviews or feedback from one or two on here.  It's such a curious concept I've always fancied trying it despite the general consensus, and 89p seemed like a now or never price.  An interactive road trip with dialogue trees and minimal gameplay 'set in the boring Italian 70s'.  Wait, roaring - I misread it, ahaha.  If shocking dialogue (I'm not sure what it's comparable to....a game of consequences played by a group of year 9 drama students, perhaps), appalling caricatures and Weighty Moral Dilemmas are your thing I'd wager you still wouldn't like it.  I've seen two of sixteen endings and one was more than enough.  Amusing for the wrong reasons and only worth a look to see how deluded the developers were.  I'm a fan of a few of these narrative indie efforts but when they fail this spectacularly it's about as bad as gaming gets [2].  Forget Surly Women in a Car and play Burly Men at Sea instead.    


115. Never Give Up - Switch (3hrs 52mins) 

And I never did, so I'm not sure what the punishment is if you do.  I expect I would've binned it if you couldn't mute the main character's incessant quips though, wowsers.  Someone honestly thought it would be a good idea to chuck one-liners in for every death (example: "I am the weakest link, goodbyeeeeeeeee" (honestly), or "NO DISASSEMBLE", to quote a forum favourite). Whichever way you slice it it's a spectacular mistake for a relentlessly brutal platformer.  It's a Meat Boy clone with quite good controls and a neat hook to the levels - each set presents progressively harder iterations of the first area, with four sets per zone and a boss.  The whole 'press & hold L&R to give up if you die enough times' thing seems like a bit of silliness to me, surely no-one who plays the masocore platformers would accept even temporary defeat other than banging the power off in a strop.  Easy for me to say though, as I played it on easy.  'Easy' being 'extremely fucking difficult but with checkpoints throughout the stage'.  Huge nope for playing something like this without the checkpoints, it just sounds like torture.  I wouldn't have the skill or inclination to see it through and the 4hr runtime would've easily turned into 10-15 I'd imagine. Still, the insane challenge is there if you want it I guess, and there are far worse alternatives out there.   As mentioned it's a Meat Boy clone, even down to the blood splatter residue sticking to the spinning saws, but side by side it's a pale imitation.  That's not to say it's not a very enjoyable game for the most part (*if you like this sort of thing*), but it never really threatens to get within a yard of SMB's coattails.  The main character can't run, so he builds up speed as he goes along, plus and he has a slide move, which makes it feel slightly Bit.Trip in places.  It's fine - some dodgy wall jumping aside - but Meat Boy is pretty much perfect, so if you're coming at the king you've got to do it better than this.  This definitely descends into pattern repetition territory far more often than SMB.  There are sections where tap, taptaptap, taptap, tap, tap, is the precise autopilot button sequence required for success (if you catch my drift), whereas I always felt like I was in control of Meat Boy rather than Simon Says'ing my way through an exact set of motions.   The bosses are better than Meat Boy, perhaps, but one in particular is very annoying.  It doesn't always feel silky smooth undocked either, which is the only way I played it so I can't comment on TV performance.  All things considered though, this is actually pretty good.  It scrapes a [7] but it's a Moot/Muzzy thing for sure. 

116. Ultimate Ski Jump 2020 - Switch (30 mins) 

What do you get if you build an entire game around one event from a substandard Olympics game that might've existed circa 1992?  That's right, this shower of shit.  I've got no idea why I've sort of fancied this for ages - probably because I like Olympics games and I was intrigued how a single event game could sell for £8.99 - but after foolishly eyeing it up a few times on the EShop I finally bit the bullet this evening for 89p.  I have no words really, it's probably the worst game I've ever played, including games I've deliberately played for their infamous rubbishness on retro days with @retroking1981.  It's truly deeply genuinely atrocious and I urge everyone to try it - it's worth it for the pre-event text alone (literally stuff like 'you feel bad today because you are unwell.  This event will be hard as you are ill and ate paprika chicken.  Try to finish 10th').  I've finished the campaign and I don't really know how it works.  The difference between classic and realistic controls seems to be minimal and I haven't the foggiest why you'd ever lean forward as leaning backwards always makes you go further.  Just a coincidence mere days after wariospeedwagon asked me about the worst thing I've played in these threads, but here it is. [0], considering it costs almost as much as Hollow Knight pre discount.  That's a genuine score too, please try.  This would've bounced off the mustard in 1985. I had to immediately treat myself to Blasphemous in an attempt to cheer up. 

117. Blasphemous - Switch (12hrs 31mins, 73.5%) It's frankly ridiculous how much I've smashed this since Tuesday, looking at the hours played I'm not quite sure how I managed it.  The fact that I attacked it with the same zeal as I did Hollow Knight (probably the last game that I became this obsessed with) should speak volumes - this was a very special experience, and one that will definitely take residence in the top half of my Cinty 100 list if I ever update it.  There's a chance the sizable patch had a lot to do with my enjoyment here - the aftercare package seems strong, and includes a change to the feel of the jump, QoL fixes with timings/layouts, full Spanish language track, various control tweaks and more, leading up to these two whoppers: The penitent one will only climb a ledge if you press up, to prevent accidental climbing.  Damage while wall climbing now doesn't prevent further wall climbing.  Before it was only available after touching the ground again.   So to me, hanging from a ledge before picking my spot to nip up was intrinsic from the start, but it seems this is a recent addition (unless pressing any direction made the character haul himself up previously?).  Anyway, I thought the post-patch game I played was a breathtakingly good Souls/Metroidvania hybrid genuinely comparable to Hollow Knight while also feeling like an ultimate form Symphony of the Night with its mammoth kitbag of buffs.  The platforming won't be for everyone (Tempy used the word punitive, and while it fits as a criticism, punitive jumpmans can be very appealing and was here for me).  I had no qualms flagellating myself with the platforming as it never felt unreasonably hard, just adroitly mean.   The pixel art style and animation are stunning, real jaw-drop stuff.  Before this I thought Huntdown and Katana Zero were the poster children for the increasingly popular style, but this does so much so well it probably edges in front of both.  It's a beautifully grotesque game with artwork worthy of Etsy canvas prints.  Music is excellent in places too, and the sound design in general is nigh on perfect, be it the shrieks of stricken foes or delightfully creepy whispered incantations.   Aside from Hollow Knight this was my first 'Souls' experience (obviously the term has been attached to both loosely but I think I understand where it applies in each).  In 3D this would still be a nope for me as side scrollers tend to be my comfort zone as a rule.  If I die in a good platformer I hate myself, if I die in a good 3D game I still tend to hate the game (probably why I've allowed myself to select easy mode for a handful of titles in recent years).  I hated myself most of the way through this, and therefore loved the game.   I've gone a bit off track here and I was planning to sit down and attempt to do this game justice with a full review, deep diving on the various things that make it tick.  Bit tired though, probably because I've been staring at a screen for an obscene amount of time!  It's an awesome (old style awesome) quest that struck me as masterfully designed from start to finish and absolutely worth fine tooth combing for the hundo hunters.  I might even NG+ it for the integrated DLC, which would be another first for me. [9] 

118. Knights & Bikes - Xbox One (6hrs) 

Delightfully presented co-op adventure game that's unfortunately built around (or at least frequently punctuated by) a truly terrible combat system.  Everything to do with the characters and presentation is within reach of wonderful, but battling baddies, performing most actions and many of the puzzles themselves are poor.  As mentioned the combat is hideous, to the point where it feels like there's a delay on absolutely everything and the characters are trudging through frame dropping quicksand.  I struggled in co-op with my mostly on point gaming buddy, to the point where I can barely begin to imagine how awful it would be for a solo player to juggle two characters during these sections.   I'm not up for dwelling on this one, but there's more than a whiff of Horace to it. Partly because both were near the top of my wishlist for a long time, so they annoyed me more than rando average games might, but also because the non-game parts of both are excellent while the lifeblood of the experiences - the way they play! - flit between kind-of-alright and terrible.  Here moreso than Horace, in fact.  I had a good time with it because Tilly loved it, especially Captain Honkers/the bike customisation bits/the caravan park slide, and the Goonies horn quest noise is chef's kiss, but it's not a good game.  [5]

119. The Falconeer - Xbox One (roughly 8hrs) 

Beautiful but clumsy, sparse, confused, inconsistent and occasionally infuriating small scale open world dogfighting game that somehow manages to emerge from the ashes of the dumpster fire with some dignity intact.  I can't pinpoint why it's not a disaster, but as poor as it is in a multitude of different ways, it's bizarrely moreish too, hence me finishing it within a few days.  Spoiler alert: I'll be settling on a hard won [6] overall, but a lower mark would be far easier to justify.   When the game starts your warbird pretty much limps through the sky armed with a peashooter, and it takes too long to work out how to mitigate the strong feeling of weak sauce.  You'll gradually learn to cut through the shields put up by the muddled text, but non gibberish instructions and a proper tutorial would've been far preferable to the often mystifying UI.  Yes, it's frankly astonishing that this is mostly the work of a one man dev team - the hugely talented Tomas Sala - but he should've swallowed the humble pie and brought someone in with a better handle on this sort of thing.  I almost missed out on the game's most useful upgrade as its description erroneously mentions 'range' rather than 'rate' as its buff for collecting essential splinters, so I've got people moaning on Reddit to thank for even finishing the campaign.  I'll give a quick example of place/character names - the first area is called Dunkle, and one of the characters is called Captain Scummer.  Not exactly platinum tier, are they?  The story thinks it's Game of Thrones with its warring factions/double crossing house allegiances - to the point where one of the characters often repeats the line 'you know nothing!' - which is fine I guess, but the (un)finished article clearly isn't as epic as intended.  By the end of the game I have to admit I didn't have any inclination to pay attention other than keeping an ear out for the hilariously off the wall voice acting.  Back to the UI - the ammo system isn't adequately explained either, and the charms don't seem to work for proper missions (or perhaps they do, in which case the descriptions for those are poorly worded too).  Even things like the fish that you can swoop down to grab bring an element of confusion.  There's an item to 'increase effectiveness of fish', or something similar, but some sort of clue as to their usefulness in the first place wouldn't have gone amiss.  Plus there are various other minor niggles like not being able to see a weapon's stats until you've bought it.  It takes a lot of effort to push through the opening couple of hours, but it does start to reward perseverance by chapter two. As mentioned, I'm going for an above average score for the bottom line, but it's not reading that way is it?  I could probably do with Tom returning that stone to my glass house, he could proof read this while he's here.  Once you get to grips with how things work there's a pretty good dogfighting game here.  Panzer Dragoon meets Crimson Skies seems to be the touchpoint for many reviews, the latter of which passed me by.  Your falcon is pretty maneuverable, even with the initially nerfed stats, as are the majority of airborne opponents, which makes for some exhilarating cat & mouse skirmishes.  A few of the standard enemy types are more tenacious than expected, banking and spinning around you with a constant desire to attack.  There's much fun to be had when it all goes off, especially for a player prepped with a 'how to play Falconeer' cheat sheet (something I'd strongly suggest for anyone considering giving this a bash - bypassing the 'what the fuck is going on?' period completely would massively improve the game).   As also mentioned, it looks fantastic.  This has no business being an indie game, let alone a one man band offering.  The throat singing Mongolian chant style soundtrack is a perfect fit too.  There's no loading either, even when you fast travel (which seems to be randomly offered at the start of some missions just because) you pretty much jump cut to your destination.  It's hugely impressive, and it all runs at 1080p/60fps on a One S with occasional screen tearing pretty much the only blot on its copybook in terms of the overall aesthetic.       Okay, we started with the bad stuff, but now the good stuff is mostly out the way I should probably return to my giant post-it note scroll of grievances.  Bullet point montage is go: the collision detection is laughable, there are no checkpoints within the occasionally lengthy missions, bombing is ridiculously bad, the epilogue is either broken or a deliberate trollfaced cunt, the character swapping between chapters makes no sense (you retain weapons and currency, wot?), the ability to select from the four chapters at the start smacks of brainfart brainwave, it's not worth suffering on standard difficulty with easy being the only sensible option, treacle paced escort missions (I actually wrote this in caps), speed boost air pockets are so high up it takes just as long to slowly fly towards your destination, the miserly stamina bar is an unnecessary hinderance that definitely detracts from the enjoyment overall.  I could think of another five on the spot.        The whole thing just whiffs of 'due to be released in 6-8 months', which is a shame considering how enjoyable it is at its best.  Hopefully there's a sizeable patch planned, because there's a much better game here if it can brush the bogies out of its tail, unclip its wings or [to anyone who's bothered to read this far: insert something else].   Reads like a [6].  Not worth buying and probably not worth borrowing as of yet.  If it gets the patch it deserves the birds in the bush are potentially worth double the one in my hand.    

120. Panzer Dragoon Remake - Switch (45mins) Massively overpriced reasonably spruced up remake of an early 32-bit fan favourite.  The new visuals transform the original game's impressive-for-their-time OMG tuxtre mopped polygans appearance into something resembling an early Xbox 360 game, which is....fine, I guess?  The same sumptuous music plays alongside the seven chapters and aside from slight tweaks to the damage taken and a framerate that mercifully ecshews the OG's 20fps or so, it's pretty much the same game that kicked off one of Sega's most impressive franchises, albeit with a lick of paint and not enough varnish.  If you know what this is in advance and that's not enough to deter you from a purchase you'll probably have fun with it, but I wonder what entirely fresh eyes would make of the whole thing.  It's okay, but it's a bit messy considering it's just an update of a 25yr old rails shooter.  Load times per stage sit at over a minute and the music isn't quite as in sync with the action as it should be in a few spots, which is a strange oversight as the stages are supposed to last precisely as long as their theme.  It's not a patch on Zwei or Orta as a shooter, I enjoyed it at the time (it came bundled with my £355 Saturn in early '96), but it was merely a solid start to what became a phenomenal series, meaning the creaky foundations make the remake feel like a bit of an oddity to say the least.

121. Wulverblade - Switch (2hrs) 

Second playthrough of this, My 2020 scrolling beat 'em up obsession shows no sign of subsiding.  I went for 'beast mode' this time, which was a reward for the first completion and basically simplifies the already simplistic gameplay by letting you control a massive heavy hitting damage sponge brute of a character.  It's not a patch on the main game - it effectively turns it into a more straightforward early 90s Capcom effort - but still plenty of fun.   *Checks notes* I gave this a [9] in 2019, and not much has changed since then... ...other than Streets of Rage 4 swaggering into town.  So maybe it's an [8] now, under the universal hard's only hard until harder turns up rule, but I still think it's fantastic.    

122. Streets of Rage 4 (Switch, 90 mins) 

Another run through, on easy this time.  I still don't have many complaints, and I think this is the fifth time I've finished it.  The potion dropping characters are annoying, the BadMax boss feels cheap and the music isn't quite all the way there (good as it is), but all things considered it's only just behind GotY for me.  A platinum tier faithful modern retro sequel and I still think it's a smidge better than SOR2.

123. Carto - Xbox One (6hrs)

Lovely little puzzle game that tries something genuinely different and succeeds on almost every level.  You control Carto, who has the ability to rearrange map pieces by sliding or rotating & knitting them together together as she searches for her granny.  I was expecting it to unravel as it went along - while hoping the initial promise could be sustained - but it kept adding fresh ideas and neat little puzzles right up to the end.  The central conceit is delightful and while it's not a brain buster by any means it requires some very well designed map manipulations in order to progress.  The characters are strong and the script is good, meaning the whole package is close to essential for anyone looking for a pipe & slippers puzzler.  [8] Footnote: There's a puzzle in the game that requires you to pull two switches then rotate a wheel (not a spoiler as you're following prompts at this point).  You're told to 'put your hands on the wheel', which instantly made me think of Hands on the Wheel by Willie Nelson, which is easily my most listened to track this year.  Somewhere in my mind I was furiously attempting to pretend it was a direct reference, but clearly it wasn't and I was massively reaching.  But a few hours later the credits rolled and....is that a chiptune approximation of Hands on the Wheel? Spoilers ahoy, obviously Big Willie style: Is this just me being weird?  I sent @nick_md a video of Harry Dean Stanton singing it yesterday, and probably went off on one about the song again.  ISN'T THIS ODD. 

124. Huntdown - Switch (2hrs) 

Forgot to add this the other day.  Another run through, on easy this time.  I've now finished on normal solo, normal co-op and scrub solo.  It's still plenty of fun even without any real resistance.  One of my favourite games of all time, deep as a puddle whichever way you slice it but perfect at what it does.  A patch has supposedly added spit & polish here and there, but the differences are minor to the untrained eye  Reminds me of thumbing 20ps into arcade cabinets at the seaside and designing extra characters for games that couldn't hold a candle to this one.  [9]

125. FAR: Lone Sails - Switch (2hrs) 

Succinct and well made journey game. Your task is to travel from starting point to destination in a huge, slow moving vehicle by juggling various systems to keep it trundling onwards. As a very loose comparison, it's part Inside and part Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time, albeit without the shmup aspect of the latter.  The vehicle has a baker's half dozen buttons, pulleys and functions, all of which you'll gradually work out as you progress.  Getting a bead on the systems is part of its charm, so I won't spoil things by explaining more, but needless to say there's not much scope for resting on your yanny's.   I haven't played anything quite like it and I enjoyed what it offered, although at 2hrs from title screen to credits a full price purchase would've had me seething.  I'd definitely recommend it at £6 though, it's bleak, interesting and rather beautiful, even on Switch. [8] 

126. Gears Tactics - Xbox One (20hrs?) 

A hulking beefcake of a tactics title with an impressive level of finesse to its core.  I'm not an expert on the genre and can't often explain why I latch on to certain games and not others, but (as I'm pretty sure I always say when I finish one in here) deep-but-not-too-deep seems to be my sweet spot.  Favourites include Shining Force 2, Mario Rabbids, Skulls of the Shogun, Ghost Recon Shadow Wars and the grand daddy of them all, Fire Emblem Awakening.  X-Com 2 should be one of my dream desert island games, alongside Trials, but I bounced off it after half a dozen hours unfortunately.  The game was excellent but I've got a low threshold for glitches, performance issues and load times in a genre I absolutely have to find annoying to enjoy anyway (that '84% hit chance and you fucking missed!' feeling is essential to the appeal).  It veered into too annoying territory though, and got binned sadly, thanks to the issues nearer launch on PS4, but I've been considering the Switch version as handheld play might be the key.  Anyway, I digress, as the Ledbetter used to say in every other review.  It turns out the whole Gears thing is a perfect fit for a grid tactics game.  I just typed out a load of guff about my time with the series but deleted it as it was dull - the Tl,dr is that I used to love it but grew indifferent to its shtick ages ago.  [Cole voice] But I'm back, baby! Compared to similar games one of the most noticeable things from the start is how solid everything is.  Not just the sausage fingered bipedal oil tankers you'll be heaving around the map, but the engine that powers the skirmishes - it's very impressive.  Load times are long on a One S, but that's a small price to pay for a) such nifty performance and b) what's basically a cross-gen game, given the timing of its console release.  In terms of tactics overwatch felt key, but enjoyably so.  Characters have differing attributes and skill trees that allow you to push certain skills that suit your play style.  It's all impressively deep yet not quite overwhelming, and there are a huge amount of valid ways to play.  I spent over 15 hours thinking scouts were the worst, but then I realised how useful they are with the correct skills (*cough* quick grenade cooldowns). Constantly opening weapon cases and assigning new mods between missions is a bit rote - again I found myself craving a Speedball 2 style 'auto-assign' option - but it's bearable.  Other missteps include a first boss difficulty spike and a final boss difficulty wall thicker than Sid Redburn's neck.  It was discussed further up the page, but damn.  For a game that encourages you to play your own way and fashion your own personal A-team of Super Army Soldiers it felt like an odd choice to deny you the option to select your party for the final stage, instead forcing you to use a crew the story locks in for you.  I felt naked without a heavy and it threw me right off.  The campaign is quite samey, despite a handful of different mission types, but that's not really a problem when going through the same motions is so moreish.  In fact, the constant loop is pretty much the appeal, but I'd expect more variety in a sequel.   These amount to minor gripes though, it's an excellent game and easily one of Microsoft's strongest exclusives for years.  Highly recommended.  Annoyingly I'm still wondering if I would've preferred it with Jack in tow. [8]

127. Call of the Sea - Xbox One (6hrs) 

Relentlessly tedious escape the room style walking sim.  I didn't click with the puzzle style at all - Virtue's Last Reward meets evil timeline Professor Layton - which means I'm probably going to be unreasonably harsh on it for the next couple of paragraphs, but I've got to tell my truth!  As a disclaimer of sorts though, it's not a bad game per se - some of the puzzles are intricate and I expect the processes required to coax out the solutions are rewarding if you like that sort of thing, so I'm effectively marking it down for doing what it's supposed to, but the whole thing had me pulling an outdated Do Not Want memeface.  Actually, because technology is a wonderful thing and people can do these things now, imagine the Robocop having a bad dream GIF, with Dawson's leery face covering Murphy's head.  I struggled with motivation throughout and rarely felt the rush of Eureka as I was too busy muttering things like "you're fucking kidding" and the oft-repeated "oh fuck off".  I think the FPS narrative games where you don't really solve puzzles and just plod through their stories are my preference, rather than having to rub your temples for 15 minutes while trying to open a temple door using *spoiler* a giant constellation matching floor machine with four parts, twenty buttons and a double page spread of scribbled notes.  There's a lot of trial and error here; puzzles that could be solved immediately that I assumed I had to return to with extra info being a particular irritant.  I'm not too proud to admit that I clearly prefer the 'if you forgot the locker code it's 1324' types.  As an aside, un-burning circles in fabric during chapter 2 is quite a skill. So I didn't like the things I was required to do, but did I get on with the things I was shown and told?  Mmmm....not really.  I liked aspects of the story, but it's nothing to write home about (even though that's how it starts aha).  It's a too sweet love story at heart, with a fair amount of Lovecraftian nonsense thrown in, some Cities of Gold 'How Does it Work?' ancient technology with moving parts stuff, at least one meaningfully underlined passage in a tattered copy of Moby Dick, lots & lots of photographs, window dressing items to have a pipe at (a pipe!) and an inkpot's worth of journal entries.  I wasn't keen on the voicework either, as the lead was either saying things that could've done with a rewrite or delivering them in a slightly odd manner.  Her accent dictates that she pronounce Harry, her missing squeeze, as 'Hairy', which I enjoyed (tee-hee), but when she clearly says 'I believe Hairy visited this exposition' while looking at a photograph of a historical artefact, I was left wondering whether it was trying to be clever or if no-one had the heart to ask the actress to have another go at the word 'expedition'.  Or even exhibition.  Benefit of the doubt not given.  If you press A on two items in quick succession she likes to talk about both things simultaneously, which is a massive genre faux pas surely.  One more thing - at sprinting pace (which is just a more determined stride unfortunately) you can tripwire the next line of dialogue while you're halfway through the previous one.  For a game where so many of its puzzles require you to schlep from A to B and back again it's another oddity for sure.     The underwater sections are dull too, although the story starts to kick into gear a little when you reach the later chapters.  It's probably time to wrap this up now.  I enjoyed the ending.  It looks nice when it's not struggling to keep up with what it's doing.  Did I mention the ending?  I think I would've appreciated this one a little more if I'd played it before Obra Dinn, but that blows this out the water within its first 20 minutes.  I found a user review I liked on the Metacritic summary page, so I'll close with that.   Can you make more boring game than this?  I think you can't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [4] 

128. Unto the End - Xbox One (4hrs) 

I wanted to love this, but in the end I can't quite claim to like it.  It's doing some very good things, but the overriding feeling after finally getting through it is one of disappointment.  It's an astonishingly unforgiving game, and it feels like this is mostly due to the unnecessarily cumbersome controls.  It's all in the reactions, as I often told my last wife, but there doesn't seem to be enough of a window to react, making it one of the most infuriating games I've ever played.  What's probably happened here is that I've got old and gone to pot, but I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest the Xbox version might be a little....not quite right.  I've seen videos of the combat online, and I'm convinced there's time to react - the enemies appear to show their tells with enough time to block correctly.  Yet in the game I played the windows of opportunity felt like they slammed shut before fully opening.  I'm clearly talking out my hat, but I just sat here and studied a Youtube walkthrough and something feels amiss (pssst: whoever's playing the video is good at the game).   Perhaps they're playing with the assist mode on, which is supposed to slow down all attacks and give you more of a chance to react, but in practice slows the entire game by 25% and reduces the framerate by half; it's like hitting a 'your console is struggling' button.  You know those games where you hit an input twice and your character performs two action over the course of the next three or four seconds?  Yep, it's one of those, or at least it is on assist mode.  It's definitely the most curious 'easy mode' I've ever seen and is more of a hinderance than a help for sure - I only managed to get through it by playing the full speed version.   And I only just managed to get through that.  Three or four checkpoints had me biting my knuckles like a teenager.  I punched the joypad at one point, and that either a) took all the juice out of the batteries that were running low anyway or b) fucking broke it, and let's face it the first option is unlikely.  So now I might not be able to play Phogs with my daughter because it turns out I'm an idiot.  I should explain what the game's about, as believe it or not it does actually deserve a proper review. Actually I will, but I'm going to bed now.  Part two in the morning.  Spoiler: it's getting a [5], but it's the best 5 ever.

Pt.2.... What is it then? It's a slow paced combat platformer where each battle poses a significant risk. I don't mean that in an Oldbox Ninja Gaiden way either, it's absolutely true here. If you're not on the ball the lowliest cave dweller will merk the bejesus out of you. The best way I can describe the swordplay is a cross between Nighogg and Prince of Persia. Your character has rudimentary crafting skills and can make a bone dagger on the go but must sit at a fire to knock up a potion, heal wounds without using resources or improve armour. The bone dagger seems to take a lunar cycle to actually throw, but every little helps so they were essential for me (mainly because they tenderise opponents for a proper hit). Unfortunately, the campfires are so far apart you might as well reload if you lose health or use a potion, meaning that in my experience only cheats prosper. During the battles, which are usually one on one, you've got heavy and light attacks, a roll and high/low blocks. If you block a chain of attacks the enemy becomes stunned for a split second, which is roughly how long your character takes to react to your button presses, so good luck. You also need to block high to attack low and vice versa. You can feint high or low, but in my that felt useless and no-one seems to be using it on the speedruns either. You can also roll into walls and drop your sword, and it's always fun to control a character that stands up slower than a disinterested erection, isn't it? :eyes emoji:. Checkpoints are slightly more merciful than they could've been, but a better combat system with spaced out restart points would've been my preference; it felt like I was just waiting for luck to do me a favour with a couple of the more agonisingly difficult skirmishes. You can avoid some sections by placing offerings at the feet of certain opponents, which I did as much as possible to avoid the frankly excruciating fighting. However! I found the whole thing oddly addictive, and despite the fact that it was besting me every step of the way I felt like I had to beat it for my own sanity. So I did, but unless you're lifer in the Golden Joystick club or just enjoy flagellating yourself with tangible frustration I wouldn't advise playing it. Which is a shame, because after all that I'm starting to think I liked it again now. [6]

129. Mother Russia Bleeds - Switch (2hrs) 

Criminally overlooked scrolling beat 'em up that could hold its own against SOR4 for a round or two.  I've played through it before in sp and co-op (on PS4), but fancied another bash after nabbing it for 89p.  I didn't realise it was made by Le Cartel though, who went on to make Heave-Ho! (AKA the best game of 2019).  It's more of an arcade cab style brawler than SOR4, so the moveset is on the simplistic side compared to Sega's glorious resurrection (think a notch or two up from Turtles in Time or Final Fight), but that absolutely works.  It's also the most violent videogame I've ever played, bar none.  If Streets of Rage 4 is Bond Vs Red on the train in From Russia With Love, Mother Russia Bleeds is the fire extinguisher scene in Irreversible, with extra hate.  Where you might be used to snicking people with knives or broken bottles in this sort of game, and watching them fall backwards as they might if they'd been kicked, MRB literally goes for the jugular with its instant kill approach.  As you attack opponents they visibly deteriorate until they're a pulpy, often headless mess.  Firearms are similarly brutal here (yep, it has desert eagles, rifles and shotguns too, and they all absolutely wreck), plus you can relentlessly go to town on any single opponent until you're interrupted. It's a bit much, but that's the nature of the beast.  Up to four player local co-op, you love to see it, plus the neon pixel look is strong and the glitch electronica tunes thump and thud along with the action.  Very good example of the genre.  [8]  Yes, beardy does shit in his hand and chuck it there.

130. The Almost Gone - Switch (3-4hrs) 

Reasonably good diorama puzzle game with added weighty drama that feels like it's been bolted on.  If you approach it as a puzzler first and foremost it'll scratch an itch, there's nothing particularly new to what it offers - especially as it doesn't really make the most of the rotating scene mechanic - but it's a decent enough experience.  Some sections are very well put together.  The story didn't grab me though, which felt odd as I got the impression that's where the wow factor was supposed to be hiding.  Quite good, but a lot more could've been teased out of the dreamlike narrative puzzle mix.  Don't pay full price.  [6]

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Elf noooo.

You could just leave your placeholder posts as a list, and link to the write-ups later in the thread.

See the time/date on each post? It’s a link to that post. Or, if you look click on your name in the banner, and go to the ‘comments’ tab, the word ‘permalink’ on each one is the same thing.

Woo

Games:
1) 7 Billion Humans - scored [8]
2) Golf Peaks - scored [6]
3) Baba Is You - scored [9] (preliminary)
4) 36 Fragments of Midnight - scored [4]
5) Midnight Deluxe - scored [3]
6) Unpuzzle
7) Control
8 ) Donut County
9) Ori 2
10) Yoku
11) A Short Hike
12) Drawful 2
13) Fractured Minds - scored [6]
14) HyperDot - scored [9]
15) UnpuzzleR
16) Splasher - scored [8]
17) Sigils of Elohim - scored [5]
18) The Talose Principle - scored [9]
19) Gunpoint - scored [7]
20) Youropa - scored [9]
21) WHAT THE GOLF? - scored [6]
22) PUSH
23) Binding of Isaac
24) The Touryst
25) Pikuniku
26) Submerged
27) Tell Me Why
28) Carrion
29) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
30) Gato Roboto
31) New Super Lucky's Tale
32) Lonely mountain downhill
33) Astro Bot
34) Sackboy: A Big Adventure
35) Erica
36) The Last Campfire

Journey to the Savage Planet
Rocket League
TLoU Part 2
Far Cry 5
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Mini Metro
TLoU Remastered


Coming soon: Stuff from the Fiscal Prudence thread (here), DQXI, FC5, Sundered, Minit, Mosaic Maze, Light Fall, Induction, Four Sided Fantasy, Tetrobot, DLC Quest, Gorogoa, Shuggy, Sokobond, Jazzpunk, Hellblade, Ashen, Below, Gunpoint, The Shivah, Rive, Quantum Break, Slay the Spire, Into the Breach, Spiderman, Hitman, AC Origins, Dying Light, FFXV, Diablo III, The Surge, Rayman Legends, COD IW, Nier, Nier Automata, Little Nightmares, Rime, DkS 3 DLC, GoW4, Sunset Overdrive, Bayonetta 1 & 2, Resi 4, Pandora's Tower, Downwell, Monkey Island 1 & 2 Remastered, Grim Fandango Remastered, Day of the Tentacle Remastered,Trine 1-3, Catherine, Rogue Legacy, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell, Sleeping Dogs, Binding of Isaac, Gravity Rush, Stealth Inc 2, Transistor, Broforce, Magicka 1&2, Kentucky Route Zero, 1001 Spikes, Remember Me, Catherine, MGS V/GZ, Danganronpa, DmC, Dust, From Dust, Gears of War (1-4), God of War, Hitman (early ones), Splinter Cell, I Am Alive, Outlast,  SotC HD, Styx, Thief, The Crew, Ys, Yakuza, XCOM, Suikoden, TWD (s2), The Evil Within, The Banner Saga, Sniper Elite, Richard & Alice, Hydrophobia, Gunpoint, Else Heart.Break(), Door Kickers, Malicious, Castevania: Lord of Shadows, No Time to Explain, Apotheon, Capsized

Books:
1) Miss Pym Disposes
2) The Plotters
3) Norse mythology
4) The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
5) The Builders
6) To Be Read, If Fortunate
7) The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The Affirmation
9) Before the Coffee Gets Cold
10) The Parade
11) Tllhe Great Train Robbery
Milkman
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
A Little Hatred
Humankind
1984
4.50 from Paddington
American War

Shows/Movies:
1) Iron Man 2
2) The Incredible Hulk
3) Parks & Recreation (s1)
4) Thor
5) Avengers: Assemble
6) Iron Man 3
7) Thor: Dark World
8 ) Captain America: Winter Soldier
9) Guardians of the Galaxy
10) Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
11) You (s1)
12) You (s2)
13) Parks & Recreation (s2)
14) Curb Your Enthusiasm (s10)
15) Parasite
16) Gravity
17) The Expanse (s4)
18) Sunny (s6)
19) Better Call Saul (s5)
20) Argo
21) Curb your Enthusiasm (s9)
22) Raising Arizona
23) Ozark (s3)
21) Curb your Enthusiasm (s8)
22) My Neighbor Totoro
23) Ex Machina
24) Birdcage
25) Dead to Me (S2)
26) P&R (S3)
27) P&R (S4)
28 ) The Green Book
29) Moonlight(??)
30) Children of Man
31) Rebecca
32) Extraction
33) Criminal (S2)
34) P&R (S5)
35) Queen's Gambit
36) The Undoing
Mando (S2)
Social dilemma
Tenet


My 2017 link: here (59 completed, [394], average [6.68]; 25 books; 33 shows/movies)
My 2018 link: here (52 completed, [342], average [6.58]; 18 books; 26 shows/movies)
My 2019 link: here (15 games, [TBD], average [TBD], only 7 books , 49 shows/movies)
My 2020 link
My 2021 link

You have 2 posts in a row there anyway now

12 completed last year, let's see what I can do this year.

1 - Dragon Quest IX Just completed
2 - The Gardens Between
Fun little puzzle game, I had to look up two puzzles as I just wasn't seeing it, but apart from those the rest felt solid. Looks good, and some fun island design. It's short, but it shouldn't have been longer, this was a nice experience.
3 - Hellblade
Great sound design, some really good visuals, mediocre fight mechanics and decent puzzles. With about 7 hours it's not too long, and it's worth to see the end, I enjoyed that. Play with headphones.
4 - Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner
PS4.
Still great. Loved it on PS2, loved it on PS4.
Still one of the best robot designs I've seen. Action feels good, music is good. Close combat can feel a bit chaotic at points. Lots of drawn cutscenes which have some good action direction.
5 - Life is Strange: Before the Storm + bonus episode
PC
Better than Life is Strange 1. Loved it. It looks really janky, but once you've done a certain part in the first episode*, none of that matters. Writing and camera work is really well done, and unlike LiS1, you can't undo your choices here. By the end of the bonus episode you're crying.
* 6 - Kentucky Route Zero
Just brilliant.
7 - Knights and Bikes
Played through this with B. A lot of charm packed into this, and it even got a little bit emotional towards the end. Gameplay lacks a bit, and can get slightly annoying, but there's always something in the visuals or writing that will make you smile at the game again.
8 - Astro Boy Omega Factor Just Completed