From what I remember of Zero Mission, spot on.

Dishons: Death of the Outsider

When it gets going it reminded me what I love about immersive sims. Carefully sculpted levels so you don't feel like you're being shepherded by level designers as you teleport across rooftops and awkward looking lamp posts (an illusion born from their hard work). I really enjoyed my time with it despite the weak characters. I had to google Hagpearls to see if that was a real thing from Hagfish.

A Plague Tale

Its world goes straight into my top ten, with visual highs beyond everything I've played except Rapture, so what a shame it's all mated to gameplay from a Naughty Dog filler chapter. Evokes Tomb Raider: Underworld's generational discord in that regard.

I love these quiet journey-'em-ups, but their PS2 mechanics sure do ask our labour. Quality soundtrack, though, and top marks for its 14th century France. [GOOD]

Annoying re framerate, never had an issue on pc. Agreed re later classes. Handling was mint.

The Legend of Zelda - NES: This has dated pretty well for such an old game. You can see how it ended up becoming a phenomenon that launched such a major franchise - an expansive gameplay experience that really was the BOTW of its day, and on top of that a luxurious physical presentation with the golden box and cart and the physical feelies that were basically an expansion of the game that provided additional information that just wouldn't fit on the cart. That inherently physical-leaning aspect is the main thing that dates the game - faffing about with a PDF of the manual and guide juggling your phone and a controller isn't quite the same experience. It's surprising this hasn't had a remake as it's kinda begging for one - a self-contained version of this that could be played without reference anything but the game itself would make for a really good product.

In the same way I feel Super Mario Bros. is missing a continue system, I think the way Link doesn't respawn with full health is a really unnecessary irritation - something else to fix in a remake. The last dungeon is pretty enjoyable but the very end isn't a high - the last boss is a bit random and the ending very abrupt! But this is par for the course for the era. Still enjoyable today and clearly would have been a [10] in its day. I'd probably give it an [8] by modern standards.

I don't think the NES was ever really much of a thing over here, was it? Particularly compared to America, where it sounds like it was massive.

EvilRedEye wrote:

I don't think the NES was ever really much of a thing over here, was it? Particularly compared to America, where it sounds like it was massive.

Yeah I suppose. I don't think I'd have been interested if it didn't come packaged with the Turtles game.

Spider-Man- PS4 (played on PS5)

I have never been a huge Spider-Man fan. While I’ve enjoyed the films, I never read the comic and was never invested in the character, but this game changes that, especially at 60fps just knocks it out of Central Park. Having got to about 65% of the story on PS4, I decided to restart on PS5 and I’m glad I did.

The characters are spot on, the story engaging and the gameplay is just so addictive. So much so that for the first time in an open-world game, I completed all the side quests and 100%’ed every part of the map. The combat for all the bases was so enjoyable due to the mix of gadgets and skills that Parker gains during the game. 

The end was a surprise too and the way Miles is introduced just makes me want to play the next instalment. As far as games go, it’s just perfect fun. Definitely worth a [10].

Still waiting on the full game. It’s on my wish list and they have dropped it 10%.

So, I know that someone is going to say there’s the Ascension modes, but I’ve just completed Slay the Spire.

I had seen the Victory? screen on the Switch in the past, but went back to it on Xbox and took the initial three characters to the heart to unlock the fourth act.

After getting super annoyed for 4-5 days that I couldn’t get into Act 4, I’ve now taken a poison heavy build all the way.

The funniest thing was my set up was so strong that I managed to complete Act 4 first time, without barely taking a scratch. I think I was doing 250+ poison damage in the end, by using a combination of a duplication potion and a triple poison card. Nice.

What a phenomenal game this is. Maybe Game of the Year 2021?

Well, finished a run of Dice Legacy.

Played 14 hours since Friday. Probably 10 hours for the run that got there.

See currently playing for further thoughts.

Definitely worth a shot if civ types might be your bag.

Will give it a break and then try a new run with different stuff.

Yep played it recently and loved it. No need to go back.

I need to go back and finish the DE expansions, but the last boss in the first half is doing my head in. (At least, I hope he's the last fuggin' boss...)

I'd still rate 2016 over Eternal, but both are excellent. I'm a bit worried they'll pull a Wolfenstein and continue down the road of "more is more" and end up diluting the formula too much for New Doom 3.

Gremill wrote:

... it's a very simple but clever mechanic.

Agreed.

The Last Stop. I could easily write a few thousand words on how terrible this was but I'm sitting here grinning as the credits roll. Such a stupefyingly wonky steaming pile of thoroughly enjoyable shite.