Haven't read your review yet but the gif looks like a 10.

That's the walk I do when nipping into maccies for a mcshit

14. BS F-Zero Deluxe (SNES)

Downloaded this hack after hearing that the long lost GP tracks have been faithfully recreated. This hack includes all 10 tracks and 4 additional vehicles from the Satellaview broadcasts. I started off just playing those, but then got sucked in and proceeded to do a full 100% replay.

First thing out the gate, the GP tracks are a mixed bag, and you can see why Nintendo never bothered releasing them in the West as F-Zero 2. For starters there's simply not enough of them, and secondly the quality ranges from decent to mind numbingly dull. For the Satellaview which wasn't far off modern day DLC it's fine though.

So down to the main game, I think this has aged remarkably well all things considered. It's amazing to me how much finesse there is to the controls considering you only have a D-Pad. The tracks are expertly designed and up until I completed it on Expert I was contemplating giving this full marks.

Unfortunately the Master difficulty just feels the wrong side of fair. Rival vehicles just aggressively crash into you sending you into race ruining spirals, with no effect on themselves. F-Zero X really did perfect the series, as attacking rivals yourself became a pivotal part of each race, in this your severely handicapped and at the mercy of the pack. Some tracks here require flawless runs to stand a chance of a top 3 finish, and with only 3 attempts per GP over 5 races, you'll be seeing the game over screen frequently. I'd say at least two thirds of my playtime was spent on the Queen and King GP's on Master difficulty alone.

It's also a shame that there's no real GP league with a points tally for a finish, instead its just a top 3 finish to get to the next track, you could conceivably see the credits without ever winning a race.

Anyway, despite all the negatives this is still a top 16-Bit racer, and on Beginner, Standard or Expert difficulties is a damn good time. Oh, and if you're a fan, definitely check out this hack.

8/10

My list

Even if you uninstall it it'll only be a couple of seconds away.

Hold to grab onto a ledge you mean? I could be wrong but I thought it was automatic. Could be a difficulty level thing because I assume you're not playing on easy.

5. Dragon's Dogma 2 - PC - 39.6hrs - I honestly didn't expect this game to end as quickly as it did. Certainly more to discover with several side quests not done. It's a great game that encourages exploring to get the most out of it (as long as you don't want to climb a mountain!) and rewards you with some great combat encounters. I never NG+ games, but think I will for this as I never got to experience the Magic Archer. I think a failing of the game is clearly pacing, with the main quest not really building as much as it could have, despite one great set piece towards the end. It's obtuseness can also affect how or whether you complete a quest properly. Despite it's jank, poor performance and lack of stability (it crashed on me twice freezing up the PC), the overall feel of the world and combat loop make it a great game [9]

Links to full list of 2022 and 2023 games - here.

1. Games 1-3 (Marvel Midnight Suns, Overboard!, Lunistice)
2. Games 4-7 (Kine, Recursed, Alan Wake 2, Mario Golf: World Tour)
3. Games 8-16 (Weird West, Torchlight 2, Supermarket Shriek, Total War: Warhammer 2, Balatro, Helldivers 2, SCP-D38813, Under the Castle, Home Safety Hotline)
4. Games 17-20 (Solium Infernum, Like a Dragon Gaiden, Skew, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth)

21. Prodigal
Cute little adventure that, for the most part, sticks pretty close to a Game Boy Colour zelda-like (with more GBA style character portraits). Game is short though, to its benefit, with the main story being completable in 4-6 hours, and a whole lot of optional extras - life/dating stuff packed around it. 



It kinda does what it says on the tin, albeit with some little twists I wasn't expecting - had no idea the game had a time of day system and didn't really see it mentioned on the Steam page either, but it is in there. There's also some nice quality of life stuff, including an NPC who will always let you know where you need to go - if you choose to visit them. 



It's...an absolute doddle. And I imagine for some people it'll be the lesser for it. I broadly enjoyed the story and characters enough to hold my attention, though Zelda games (originals, homages, 2D or 3D) have never been must plays for me, and I often stop playing before completion. The ease, speed and brevity works in its favour here, then, and the optional extras were enough to differentiate it from other games in the genre. [6]

22. Final Fantasy XIII
I was one of the 13 Not Likers, having attempted to play the game before. However, recent playthroughs of 16 and 7: Rebirth (plus a general disposition to want to like a FF game) have tempted me to go back and give 13 another try. 



So, I came up with a plan. Rather than try and push through 13 and sink myself into it like I would nearly any other FF game, I would instead install 13 on my work computer and play only on my lunch breaks - forcing me to snack on 13 an hour or so at a time and hopefully break up the monotony of those endless corridors. 

And you know what? It...kinda worked. I still don't think 13 is amazing or anything, I am nowhere near completing it, I do need to take regular breaks (even with only an hour) to not get dreadfully bored of it, I still have major issues with the characters, and the dialogue and the pacing, and the way the narrative is dolled out, and the combat, and the camera, and how long it takes to stop tutorialising things, and...

...but I am managing to chip away at it in a way I was never able to before. Maybe one day I'll get to the actually good bits. Until then, I can't say the game is enjoyable, but maybe one day it will be...[5]

23. Diablo 4 
A couple of posts ago in this thread I talked about Torchlight 2 and how I keep trying to play Diablo-style ARPGs and I always get bored of them. Well, I tried another one. 

It's probably the best one I've played yet, to be fair. It's a gorgeous game, though it may not look it at first. All flesh and blood and darkness. It leans heavily into the hardest of pulp, demonic horror and I actually really like the tone and storytelling.



The problem, as always with these games, is the friction between the narrative and the gameplay - stop to enjoy the narrative, and you're stuck with pretty dull gameplay. Skip the gameplay to immediately start getting to "the good stuff" and you miss a surprisingly competent narrative. 

That's modern Diablo, of course, though it wasn't always that way which I think a lot of people forget. The current Seasonal Diablo is a child of the post-WoW Blizzard, with it's implied Rush to Level Cap player goals. Diablo 1 and 2 while bullshit in some ways (fairness and balance for starters) at least assumed that players wanted to enjoy the journey. 

That's not to say I am not enjoying myself. I am, actually. There's some good story beats, I enjoy the world, I think it can be stunning to look at, there's some real good boss fights. And it's holding my attention better than nearly any other ARPG. 

It just frustrates me a bit with how it expects you to just World Tier 1 the campaign for optimal levelling so you can rush to WT3, or just press the skip button. It frustrates me with its needless Always Online nature (wohoo, I see someone on a horse ride past every once in a while...). It frustrates me with what I can already see a slightly more predatory and coercive design once you actually get to The Game (or, rather, the bit that Blizzard now care about from a financial perspective). 

There's something genuinely brilliant here, and the flow state is enjoyable enough, even if my brain gets zero pleasure from Click for Big Number / hit those Seasons stuff. [7]

24. Inventory Hero 
Playdate game time. 

Inventory Hero is an inventory-based kinda RPG. You pick up items automatically, and you can drop or use them. That's...it.



Despite it being super simple, it manages to wring enough fun out of the setup. You constantly need to be keeping an eye on whether a new weapon or piece of armour is actually better than what you have, while certain enemies or bosses play with you by filling your inventory with trash.

Items can degrade, certain items grow or spread, or affect others, and it's also wrapped up in a super characterful package. Playdate games often look nicer than they really should be able to, and this is no exception. Real fun. [6]

25. JAILBREAKER
Ooooooooooooooh, this may well be a Moot Game and a half, in so far as it is:
1. an indie
2. cheap as chips (less than 3.5 quid)
3. a one button auto-running Meat Boy-like



It's PC/Linux only from what I can tell though, unfortunately. Shame.

Anyway, the game is simple enough. You press a button and you start running. Press that button again and you jump. Hold that button after jumping and you do a kinda horizontal spin. Press that button and hold it right before you reach a wall and you slide up the wall...



Levels contain tokens that must be collected in order to activate the exit. Death is assured, but restarting is instantaneous. It's frustrating, but also a bit brilliant. The speed and bite-sized levels working with the absolutely pounding soundtrack mean that it's hard to stay too angry at the ABSOLUTE UNFAIR BULLSHIT...or what feels like bullshit at the time, until you dodge and weave and vault through a map picking up every item and spinning between blades. 



Levels show your path upon completion and death. Puns sandwich stages. Levels add new mechanics, but always keep that 1-button purity. You reach a wall. You stop. You go back, you get over the wall. And, eventually, it's over. A proper indie gem, this and yet another great find from John Walker's Buried Treasure. [8]

Next / The To-Play List:
Growing my Grandpa
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty 
The Forest Quartet 
Spare Parts: Episode 1 & 2 
NUTS
Super is Hot
Neurocracy
Evolution
Slasher U
Cannelé & Nomnom - Defective Agency
Scanner Sombre
Vomitoreum
Moonring
Omen Exito: Plague
Marco & The Galaxy Dragon
Inquisitor
Save me Mr Tako: Definitive Edition
Smushi Come Home
Sticky Business
Railbound
A Procession to Calvary 
The House in Fata Morgana (still going with this one...)
Psychonauts 2
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak 
Remnant 2
Final Fantasy VI Advance
Chrono Cross
Dragon's Dogma 2
Steins;Gate
Phoenotopia
Rabi-Ribi
Batbarian
Minoria
Astalon: Tears of the Earth
Pseudoregalia
Mars After Midnight

I would've played Skew from the previous page too.

Tbf I don't really have standards, just eccentric idiosyncrasies.

A steam deck would ruin moot, please don't suggest it even as a joke

Might play Ronin next.

5.Halo Combat Evolved - 10 Hours - 10/10 for the game…10 billlion/10 for the feels and memory of taking the day off college and playing this and only this ignoring the other 3 launch games I got and doing the same until I finished it…- Xbox Series X

Time for the annual playthrough of the Halo’s with being off with my destroyed arm.

Gotta admit…the 10 is partly because it’s still an incredible game…but also partly nostalgia as it has unsurprisingly aged a hell of a lot.

It’s probably because whilst it’s still the best Halo in some ways it’s very limited in comparison with some others. A lot of people would argue that’s part of the beauty as it’s all built together to be part of its perfection but I just miss so many bits from the others. A medium distance rifle being the main thing, and no the pistol doesn’t cut it, it’s a thing of beauty no doubt, but it’s strangely inaccurate, which I don’t remember it being at all. And again I know it was made to be exactly what it is, and most hated the addition, it feels really pedestrian without a sprint button. Just a slow traversal around some awesome, awesome levels.

The story though is still the best, the levels are all some of the best, even including the Library as I always loved the challenge of it. And the best finish to the game.

Loved it. But being honest it’s a nostalgia 10…not a real 10 anymore…and that’s coming from someone who is one of if not the biggest Halo fan.

10/10



6.Halo 2 - 10 Hours - 8/10 - Xbox Series X

So onto number 2, the proper oddball of the series to me. So hard to follow up the original but they went so far out the box for me in trying to establish the Arbiter. I hated playing as him. Hated his levels. Just didn’t care. And the Chief levels varied wildly from incredible to just so boring. I remember it all so vividly as I had gone to a house party the night before on the proviso that the girl I’d just started seeing got us home early so I could be at the 08:00 opening of game. Yet she got me to stay by offering a threesome with another girl but as I was only 17 it was a godawful experience and I snook out at like 04:00 and walked home in both embarrassment and anger, so when I had to suddenly play as the Arbiter I was like ‘WHAT THE FUCK?!’.

But anyway. I fell in love with the Battle Rifle, the awesome levels that were spaced throughout, some of the returning characters and new ones and the universe filling out after reading the books too. It wasn’t the game I wanted it to be, but it was incredible anyway. And the Brutes were just less fun to fight than everything else. Clues in the name as they’re just Brutes but still…

Similar this time. Because the upgrade has been more recent its looks are much improved as was the gameplay in general with it being younger. And the BR, amazing.

Same with this in terms of extra pointage for nostalgia but it actually was more fun than the first when playing as the Chief. Just some absolutely incredible levels. So much vehicular carnage too which is always fun.

8/10



7.Halo 3 - 8 Hours - 9/10 - Xbox Series X

Much better…back to just being the Chief. Slight visual downgrade from H2 Anniversary but a much more cohesive game in every way. The story from the off, characters, objectives, all just better written and more complete a vision. An even better BR, and much, much better Brutes.

Gotta admit though, amidst the better everything and again, absolutely stand out missions, there was a lot of crap ones or slow meandering sections that just really bored me, it wasn’t as good as last time. Has everything just moved on so much in such a short period or have the sequels to this just made some of the older ones less fun in a number of ways?

Don’t get me wrong, it was still incredible, and got everything perfect at the time and is still unbelievable as a whole now, just a little less every time I play it. Though taking down that first scarab never gets old.

Now onto 4…which to my shame…has become my favourite…by a mile.

9/10

Been meaning to play the Bungie Halos again myself. So good.

hylian_elf wrote:

Been meaning to play the Bungie Halos again myself. So good.

You should…just so simple and elegant in a number of ways. No need for extra bells and whistles, just a vision and people who loved bringing that vision to life.