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

Failed...again. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD I THOUGHT I HAD IT THIS YEAR!

Verecocha wrote:

Failed...again. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD I THOUGHT I HAD IT THIS YEAR!

You were close! I had a better year bur still not enough half. Although 140 hours on one game will do that.

I'm still on the 2020 lockdown, daughter co-op routine for all gaming at the moment. Hopefully I can get back into the real stuff in 2021. Planning on giving up twitter doom scrolling which might free up a bit of time. 

26. Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch)This was also my 25. But the kid was loving the collecting so much that we probably put in another 20 hours 100%ing it after the credits. Original score was 7. Just in terms of a collectathon it's a 5. You trudge through the same levels, scanning every inch of the background for the one thing you've missed. Then you get sent back in that level later by some guy, scanning it for another thing you've missed. Some of the stars (or whatever you were awarded, I can't even remember) are a pisstake. Take no damage on this tedious boss. Complete this tedious boss in less than one and a half minutes. So it was actually pretty challenging, and not in a fun way. If you 100% it, you get an outfit. Pointless. Still, the kid loved it. Sigh of relief when this one was rinsed. 

27. and 28. Mario 3D All Stars 
Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) 
I expected this to be shit and Galaxy to be flawless. Neither was quite right. Mario64 remains unfinished but I'll save my savaging of that for the 2021 list because I'll at least get to the credits at some point. Anyway this was alright really. Fairly clunky movement by today's standards. The camera isn't a complete 64-style bitch but it's not your friend. The structure of the game works ok for me. The worlds are pretty good. Getting some of the stars is a grind but there's a decent amount of variety. 

Quite liked the FLUDD as an idea even if it's a bit ropey in implementation. FLUDD-less levels are mostly quite strong. Although Mario is a tad clumsy and imprecise and slightly suicidal around the edges of platforms, there's a fair bit of give in the layout of the FLUDD-less levels to account for this. So I enjoyed those bits. Suffers from having the Mario name probably. A decent 3D platformer for the time. Should have been a ground-up remake in a new engine. And, like 64, fairly inexcusable to release it as a ROM dump in 2020. Still it gets a [7] because it did grow on me. Ducked out when the credits rollled. No interest in 100%ing. 

Super Mario Galaxy
I played maybe about a third of this on someone else's Wii at the time. If Sunshine benefitted from my low expectations, this suffers from my unrealistically high ones. They're still a ways off from getting that camera sorted. You're more or less ok for most of it. But rather than just stopping you from turning it around as you see fit, it suddenly wants to jolt it to a better angle for you when you turn a corner or go on a new ledge. This can muck things right up because you might be prepping for a jump, or going on a narrow ledge and now suddenly you're pressing completely the wrong direction. This happens pretty often. 

Second big gripe is that Mario often gets confused (usually on spheres) and can end up running around in a tight little circle, even though you're just pressing one direction, and it's really tricky to break out of. Both the camera and the running in a circle thing are technical problems from trying to make a game that is so off-the-wall that it shouldn't really work on any technical level. You're upside down, left is right, you're running on the inner surface of a sphere and jumping to another sphere in the centre. Now you're in a cube. Now you're a bee. Now you're a spring. You wall jump up waterfalls that turn to ice as you touch them. A ludicrous spewing of invention and genius which takes it up to the stratosphere of Mario godliness. Plenty of other good things to say about it but nothing that everyone hasn't read a million times before. 

Further gripes are the motion controls which I just don't want. A motion-free mode would be good (but then I suppose that makes it a pain to move the pointer for picking up gems). And cleaning up the stars after the credits involves a lot of comet levels that are mostly rehashing what you've done before. Purple coin pick ups are a chore. 
So, not perfect but still amazing. [9]

I'm missing Galaxy 2 from my Mario 'have played' list. I'll set that up on Dolphin soon. It's going to have to pull something out of the bag because I think the Land/World duo is going to beat the Galaxies. The back half of Land especially is exactly what I want. No faffing around talking to Toads or combing back through old levels. Just lean, straight-forward platforming with plenty of good ideas, challenging and with no technical issues. Replaying 3D world in co-op is probably the thing I'm most looking forward to next year.

I didn't make it either, although there's one more to add:

36. Cyberpunk 2077 [5]
A mess of contrasts in almost every way. Some incredibly polished and cutting-edge stuff next to things that are held together with sticky tape or barely thought through. The city is equally fascinating and dull. The fiction is full of potentially interesting ideas, but doesn't gel together into a convincing whole. The RPG elements give you plenty to experiment with but the design of the action sequences gives you very little reason to bother.

There is something very special about interacting with the characters in this world though, at least the ones that have been properly fleshed out for major missions. Those close-up first-person conversations are real highlights, and the class or skill based dialogue options add to the sense that you're contributing in character. The way that effects of some missions feed into later missions is also very impressive. This is where the game feels like it has focus and knows what it's trying to do.

If that was all, I would still probably rate it as a 7 or 8 out of 10. But I was on a PS4, so I played it with all the crashes, bugs and poor performance that entails. It's a constant drain on the experience, as you repeatedly reload or muddle through a section that isn't working as intended. That drags it down to something more like a 5 for me.

So I was about 25% off the place throughout the year - show start, never caught up, but not really trying. Late flurry over the Xmas holds for me to 36, but a few long games all mid-progress which definitively doomed things...

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) Demon's Souls
36) Erica
37) The Last Campfire

More than last year though. And more books. And more shows. Thank you lockdown, mayber...

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

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) - 8/10
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) - 8/10
52. Final Fight 2 (SNES) - 7/10
53. Final Fight 3 (SNES) - 7/10
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

Love it, retro. LOVE IT.

Just finished my first of 2021...better for another topic if there’s interest?

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Nah I'm good m8

LOL. You'll break out in boils if he don't.

Bargain Basement Bangers needs to be a thread of its own.

Also, I don't think I've played 134 games in my life.

My list in full. Not great, I had a huge gaming slump and films were my focus. That I finished 11 is an achievement in itself and thankfully the SeX has revitalised my videogame vigour so I should hopefully find a good balance of games and movies in 2021.

1. American Fugitive
Decent GTAII-esque clone. Flawed, solid but unspectacular. 7

2. Slay the Spire
Awesome, addictive roguelike card game. It never really ends but I beat the game with the Defect so I'll take that as some form of completion. 9

3. Ruiner
Brilliant twin stick top down shooter. Originally beat normal difficulty in 2018 so revisited and completed Speed Run and New Game+ (Hard), great challenge. 8.5

4. We Were Here
Co-op first person puzzle game. Completed with the boy Frantic. Interesting concept where communication is king, a short but enjoyable experience. 7

5. Halo 5: Guardians
Completed in co-op with Team Awesome - Franny, Sparky and G. Bobbins story, some queer game direction suggesting troubled development (hubs?) but spot on gameplay, and co-op always embellishes the experience. 7

6. Hotshot Racing
Decent if slight Sumo arcade racer. Bright, breezy and full of Sega vibes. Rinsed arcade and normal grand prix modes and dabbled with some of the novelty modes. Still more to do but the pull to return is not strong. 7

7. Maid of Sker
First person Resident Evil-esque survival horror inspired by the novel of the same name. Another enjoyably solid but unspectacular experience. 7

8. The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
The third episode in The Walking Dead episodic series. Continuing the adventures of Clementine and now introducing Javi as a new player character. Enjoyable story, top characterisation and great to catch up with Clem again. 8

9. Fractured Minds
Very short but interesting puzzle game exploring the theme of mental illness. Deals with isolation, anxiety, paranoia... based on the developer's own struggles. Impossible to fully understand and appreciate unless you are affected by ill mental health directly but a chance for you to empathise a little. 7

10. Kona
First person survival lite adventure game sees you playing as a PI investigating a mystery in deepest, coldest Canada. Not a bad game but the survival elements are not very well realised and it feels a quite clunky experience at times. 6

11. Tetris Effect: Connected
Brilliant zen like music and visuals update on the eternal classic. Some great game modes with again no end in sight as you chase and chase scores, times... Completed Journey mode on beginner for some form of completion, continuing to try and best scores on this and other modes for the next forever. 9


Highlights being Ruiner, and of course Slay the Spire and Tetris have eaten up many hours of teeth gritted, fist clenching fun.

Ignore this, I managed to post here when I was trying to paste in another thread.