It is me so here we go

I think I’ve narrowed my list down to:

5. Far cry 6
4. Forza Horizon 5
3. Returnal
2. Ratchet and clank
1. Death Loop

Controversial Bob.

hylian_elf wrote:

When are final votes due by?

01.02

Is that 2nd of Jan or 1st Feb?

b0r1s wrote:

Is that 2nd of Jan or 1st Feb?

Go back to the US, you.

hylian_elf wrote:

b0r1s wrote:

Is that 2nd of Jan or 1st Feb?

Go back to the US, you.

Sheer racism up in this thread.

It's a valid question!

Oh....

Done. I decree it is.

I'm gonna say yes so it can be on my list

Votes and revisions in by Tuesday pls. Will tally up then.

It counts.

Final list:

1. A Monster's Expedition

It's not fair to say 'near-perfect' for this, which I was considering as part of my opening sentence; it probably is perfect, all things considered. The puzzles certainly delivered - a big plus for a puzzle game! - and the way the (basically) open world gradually knits the individual tasks together takes sublime design to stratospheric heights.  I'm considering a perfect score here, NGL.  You control a monster who pushes trees down and rolls them around small islands to create paths to other islands, slowly revealing sections of a foggy map and occasional exhibitions displaying human items from a monster's eye view.  It works on a grid system and the stumps can either be rolled or flipped.  Learning the rules is part of the joy so I won't explain them further, and the limited scope of the individual puzzles is intrinsic to the game's appeal.  After an hour or so you can glance at a layout and cross off/work towards possibilities.  Of course there are tweaks and twists here and there, but the basics remain from start to finish.  The absolute majesty of the whole package is the slow burn of the genius, and how the map doesn't fuck itself thanks to what must have been painstakingly intricate conundrum blueprints.  It's a masterpiece, frankly. I don't tend to love games like this.  I don't often gel with brain-teasers-for-fun and would never voluntarily sit down for a spot of sudoku or what have you as things like that just tend to a) bore me or c) make me feel a bit thick.  I occasionally like puzzlers (scattershot list: World of Goo, Fez, Hitman Go, the Portals, Mario vs Donkey Kong, Slayaway Camp, Toki Tori up to a point, umm....The Swapper until my brain 'sploded) but more often I merely admire them and I wish I appreciated them more than I do (The Witness for example - I absolutely know I'd hate it, which annoys me), but this got its claws all the way in.  I played at least half of it with Mrs. Moot, which is a rarity, and probably the reason why I'm going to stick with my earlier consideration for the score.  'For what it is' it gets the big [10]. I can't fault it, it's such a deftly clever game, and it's funny too.  There aren't many better fits for portable gaming either, it's rewarding whether you hammer it or dip in and out for a few mins a day.
 

2. Metroid Dread 

 I only have recently gleaned opinions to offer on the Metroid franchise, having completed two of them and bounced off one (three times) in the past few years.  Without dwelling on it, my hot takes: Super Metroid: clearly way ahead of its time, not going to dispute whether it deserves the praise but I just can't click with it.  Metroid Fusion: Super.  Metroid Zero Mission: Good stuff, not great.  If I had to sum up the trio I'd use descriptions like atmospheric and intricately designed, but probably moan about slightly treacly controls and iffy bosses. With the preface out the way, the first thing to mention is how well Samus controls for this particular excursion.  The basic movement is an absolute joy - largely thanks to a slide The Boss would be proud of - and the way she pegs it around the map is nimble and responsive.  For the first time we have a Metroid game that could hold its own as a linear run & gunner.  And speaking of bosses, most of the big ones are top tier ever for side scrolling videogames.  That's a lot of games and a lot of bosses.   I was fully prepared to loathe the EMMI sections, but against all odds they improved the experience for me.  None outstayed their welcome and they were a welcome change of pace, plus I enjoyed the mini-puzzles of lining up takedown shots too.  Whenever they catch you, they will kill you - but first they must catch you.  The cloaking device means there are two viable ways to approach these sections, and as death drops you immediately outside the patrol zone it never felt like too much of a problem.  Thumbs up, says I.  The thumbs apply to the graphics too, which turned my stomach when first revealed but are actually quite tasty. There are times where the abilities are ladled on so liberally it can feel like a bit of a Metroid montage.  For long term fans I expect this might rankle, given that roughly speaking the quest is streamlined and the hundo hunt is where the exploration is required, but I loved it.  It's like the bit in Prince of Thieves where Friar Tuck speedily loads up the bad bishop with too much gold, but instead of pushing him out a window he's allowed to just hare off around ZDR.  So not really like that at all, but I'm not one to back out of an analogy once I've started typing. Complaints?  Go on then, I have a few - The music is merely there, which just isn't good enough for a mainline entry in what many would consider a flagship franchise.  This deserved better, and I daresay a fan mod with superior music would be well worth a hobbyist's effort.  The controls do get fiddly by the time you're carrying the majority of Friar Tuck's gold, particularly the grapple and the bomb move that Charlie's cross about in the other thread.  Performance wobbles in places too, although I haven't seen this mentioned much elsewhere so maybe my overworked Switch is packing its bags for the glue factory (I had a few problems with Foregone too, did I mention that?).  The framerate noticeably stuttered from time to time, especially on the gold Chozo boss.  One more moan: the recurring giant eye miniboss is a damp squib - if this were an indie game it'd be patched/title updated in eight months and you'd find new medium-sized beasties in their place. Enough of all that though, the blemishes don't take the shine off and this is easily the second best game I've played this year.  A-Game stuff from Nintendo that hopefully heralds a sea change after their run of complacency. [9]



3. It Takes Two*

Split screen teamwork centric 3D platformer, this was prime stay at home, saves lives gaming.  Many thanks to @Yossarian for inviting me to tag along from my sofa (online play requires one full copy of the game).         You play as a couple on the brink of D.I.V.O.R.C.E, a state of affairs that seems to be troubling their waxwork mannequin android daughter of no fixed age.  Something happens (I've honestly forgotten what) and they find themselves trapped in clay doll avatars that look nothing like their supposedly human forms.  #Drama ITT.  The entire game is played in T.O.Y form, which is a relief as the H.E.L.L.I.S.H representation of human faces comes across as a bit Little Nightmares and seems to straddle three or four generations at once.  The daughter looks like she's escaped from a CGI intro to a mid-tier 32-bit vs fighting game, and it's slightly unsettling.  Fortunately, the vast majority of the game looks either pretty good or very nice, think Grounded meets Honey We Shrunk Ourselves.        The story sections are bizarre, mawkish, bafflingly unfunny and occasionally alarming, plus both characters are doggedly annoying, but somehow these things combine to create a marvellous medicine concoction that I would say was a one-off, if not for the fact that Josef Fares pulled off the exact same trick in A Way Out.  I'm going to call it a happy accident; it's an inadvertent alchemy that's part Bobby Braddock and part Tommy Wiseau and exists somewhere between an earnest small play and the David Cage sweet spot.  I can't explain why I love it and I refuse to even try, other than to say that it's cromulently wonky.  You know how Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was slightly ham-fisted but achieved a certain level of success due to its mute central characters?  Imagine that but with dolls, giant inflatable ham hands pulling the heartstrings and incessantly chatty/bickering leads in a story that can't decide if it's for kids, adults or the Biomutant target audience.    At one point I thought this was going to be a genuine all-timer but the halo slipped slightly over the course of the game.  It's still exceptionally good fun overall, I just wouldn't say that it's quite tip top tier now that the dust has settled, and admittedly it started to limp a little towards the end.  The dual player focus and relentless high quality variety as the tale lurches from chapter to chapter is very impressive, the latter of which is still a rarity in a non-Nintendo 3D platformer, imo.  Tearaway had the invention and the whimsy, Arise: A Simple Story had the visuals and gameplay conceit but neither played an A game beneath the artifice.  Yooka Laylee felt right but tasked you with doing things that were wrong (or more specifically: dull).  Mechanically this is at the very least 'good' throughout, and in practice the results are excellent - the game never forgets that it says it take two on the tin and pretty much everything of note is built around having the characters assisting one another to progress.  Some abilities get a more spirited thumbs up than others (throwing nails to create platforms beats singing at things), but none drop into bobbins territory, which is quite an achievement in a 10hr platformer.  I found myself saying variations of 'that bit was really well done' plenty of times during the adventure, and I wasn't alone.   I probably haven't been as enthusiastic about this as it deserves.  It's a concept that feels original, with A Way Out working as a dry run of sorts.  Two player experiences are a big thing for me, whether its couch co-op with a mate, Sunday morning gaming with my daughter or in this case, headset badger sessions online.  This does so much right I considered sticking a [9] at the end here.  Unless it's a vintage year this should make an appearance on my GotY list.  It's an experience everyone should at least try. [8] Edit: I forgot to mention the competitive minigames, which are abundant and often excellent.



4. Flynn: Son of Crimson

Outstanding 2D action game that recently swaggered onto my radar like a Vince McMahon gif.  I spotted it in the coming soon section of the Eshop and banged it straight on my wishlist, hoping it lived up to the promise of trailer but assuming it wouldn't.  A fortnight later it was confirmed for Game Pass for day one, and I was in like someone who wasn't out (who happened to be called Flynn).  I've hammered it since Friday - setting an old telly up in the bedroom to play, as my loft room is out of action - and can confirm that it's one of the very best examples of the ultra specific new game done in the old way wave.  I even hunted down all of the secrets and maxed out the mercilessly simplistic ability tree, which is something I almost literally never bother to do.  There's not an ounce of fat on it, as they say, and it's more than content with being a clever little platformer that adds neat variations/twists from stage to stage.  It's not a 'vania per se, but you will revisit certain areas once abilities are unlocked.  There's very little exploration required for main quest; think Quackshot rather than Hollow Knight.  Numerous stages have hidden exits though, easily identifiable from the SMB3 style map screen, and there's a decent amount of off-piste adventuring to do.  While I'm referencing old games, this has at least some of the following patches sewn onto its sleeves: the Wonderboy sequels, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Donkey Kong Country, Astro Boy: Omega Factor and MS Asterix.  I could break it down and explain how, but that's less fun than spunking out a list of old games and ploughing straight into the next sentence.  As a warning of sorts though (or a temptation, depending on taste), it doesn't just look to the past for inspiration, the whole experience is firmly rooted in The Olden Days.  You can't backtrack within the levels and must progress if you wish to return.  Checkpointing can be harsh.  There are forced scrolling stages.  It has swimming sections, ice stages, forest stages and mines to visit.  You can't run and there's no double jump, so it's a steady-as-you-go jumpmans rather than the pinging and flinging free-flow of something like Ori.  Most importantly, for what it is it feels absolutely spot on. It also has good fight system with a stun meter and invincibility dodge.  Enemy types are reused ad infinitum, but that goes with the territory.  Combat isn't necessarily as deep as it first appears, and mostly boils down to getting a few hits in before picking your spot to roll behind an opponent to avoid an attack, but it is flexible and fluid - it won't let you down in the occasional wave based segments.  It's good fun, with a decent rhythm, and miles better than most of the retro titles it draws from.  See gif below for confirmation.  The cutscene panels are laughably poor but the standard stage graphics are divine.  Music is a'ight too, with a smattering of highs, a few middling efforts and very few actual duds.   An irrefutable [9] for me, but it's like my Weird Science game so most players could take a point off.  I mentioned this elsewhere but it really feels like an ultimate form Gameboy Advance game.  Game of the year so far, a stunningly executed vision.   YMMV but Monkey, Nina, Eric and possibly NickMD should take a little look.  





5. Toem: A Photo Adventure

Wonderful mixture of other games Tilly & I have enjoyed (Alba, A Short Hike, the good bits of The Touryst, Hidden Folks), and right now I think there's a chance I'd crown it king of the lot.   After setting off on your photo adventure you'll need to take snaps of various things on your super-zoomy vintage camera, often involving light puzzle elements, which help you gain enough stamps for the next bus ride.  Progression gating is very laid back as you can pick and choose which tasks to complete, and it's all a great mix of fun & nicely done.  We'll be mopping up most of the missed challenges soon enough, but this weekend's task was to push to the end, which was a magical pay-off.   I've had my eye on this since the initial trailer and it doesn't disappoint.  I was hoping for similar things from Moonglow Bay, but when that arrived it felt like one of those wonky Jurassic-Park-theme-played-on-a-recorder videos the internet makes that I always lol at (and obviously can't find right now), whereas this is actually better than I'd hoped.  A big fat [9] earns it a spot on my GotY top 5.  Great stuff uncle.  



6. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon
7. Death's Door
8. Bowser's Fury
9. Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X's Nightmare
10. Alba

Waiting for co-op on Halo Infinite, but what I played was promising.

*I've started this again since playing through with Yoss, and at the halfway mark it feels more like a 9 on reappraisal.  The reviews above were written after each game was completed, so stuff moves around see.

1st Feb.

Slight tweak, I'm going:

1 A Monster's Expedition
2 Unpacking
3 Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knight
4 Returnal
5 Kena: Bridge of Spirits

6 Forza Horizon 5
7 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Together
8 Death's Door
9 Bonfire Peaks
10 Deathloop

11 Toem
12 Psychonauts 2
13 Back 4 Blood
14 Golf Club: Wasteland
15 Omno
16 Sable
17Hoa
18 Exo One

It Takes Two, Chicory and Hitman 3 all owned but unplayed. Flynn on GP and likely I'd enjoy. Metroid Dread not owned.