Games Completed 2021

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SludgeWizard
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by SludgeWizard »

Combine Hunter wrote: September 20th, 2021, 9:25 pm 20/09 - Quake (PC)

The recent remaster finally got me to complete this. Really holds up, some great level design!
I'm about 1/2 way through the first campaign myself. I'm pleasantly surprised to see how well it's holding up and I'm enjoying it quite a bit more than I expected to.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)

I'd never describe myself as a Star Wars fan. I enjoy the original trilogy, but never been interested in the prequels or sequels, never seen anything outside the original films and not played many of the games. Despite this, just because of how ingrained those old films are in popular culture, I felt a huge sense of nostalgia for the enemies and various sound effects in this game, and thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough of it.

Sure, the gameplay is generic as hell, but force pushing a bunch of Storm Troopers off a ledge, whilst jumping back over the head of another and slicing him in half with my lightsaber never got old.

I didn't much like the Cere character, and the player character was a bit of a bore, but the supporting cast were great - my favorite was the Nightsister Merrin.

Oh, and I genuinely let out a big cheer when...
Spoiler: show
...Darth Vader showed up at the end! I didn't even know he was in it!
Overall, solid 8/10 for me, and would happily play a sequel.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Aliens (Switch)

This was a pretty fun table with some good table missions based on the film. Nice looking, good sound effects, part of the Aliens triple pack DLC. Worth a play!


OCT - Pinball FX3: Alien Isolation (Switch)

This was the only duffer in the Aliens pack. Can't really say I enjoyed this one. It's a very slow table, and the mission activation switch is very difficult to reach. It's a really low scoring table, and just not much fun to play.



OCT - Pinball FX3: Attack From Mars (Switch)

This is my favorite real life pinball table, and it's been recreated excellently here. All the mechanical sound effects are perfect, and it's so much fun to play. It's super high scoring (30 billion is my record) and it's the fastest table I think available (in the game, not sure about real life). It's so exciting, loads of multiball opportunities and just such a great table to play. I was banging my head against the 1 ball challenge until I had a perfect run just now. I finished all the game missions on one ball, and then looped around halfway through a second go. This is the best - if you like pinball, or virtual pinball, you can't go wrong with this one, give it a look!
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stvnorman
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by stvnorman »

1 September: Rogue Trooper (ZX Spectrum)
3 September: Commando (Arcade on Switch)
5 September: Psychonauts 2 (Xbox Series X)
10 September: Art of Rally (Xbox Series X)
11 September: The Artful Escape (Xbox Series X)
12 September: Jason’s Gem (ZX Spectrum)
17 September: Myst (Xbox Series X)
25 September: Dracula X - Castlevania Advance Collection (Switch)

Not sure Rogue Trooper or Commando count anymore as I could finish both in my sleep! Not sure about Psychonauts 2 either; dragged a bit, but some absolutely spectacular moments probably made up for that. Art of Rally was a wonderful, very stylised proper rally game that I could tell was up my alley from its very first screenshots. Unlike the stunningly imaginative, narrative musical journey that is The Artful Escape, a definite game of the year contender from out of nowhere! I missed Jason’s Gem and Myst first time around, and considering I don’t like puzzle games, that one turned out to be alright! That new Castlevania Advance Collection ain’t bad either, even if the first game I played wasn’t a very “Advance” one.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Aliens (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Alien Isolation (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Attack From Mars (Switch)
OCT - Superliminal (Xbox)

I really enjoyed this. Perfect length, finishing it in two sittings, although I seemed to spend longer than average on the game at 3 hours and 45 minutes. I really liked the puzzles, some got me thinking for a good few minutes, and one towards the end employed a mechanic I don't think I've ever seen in a game before. Nice story running through too, and it came as no surprise when I found out after it had been written by the same guy who made Actual Sunlight.
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markfm007
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by markfm007 »

Spoiler: show
Jan 22nd - Jedi Fallen Order
Feb 21st - Little Nightmares
Mar 30th - Final Fantasy X
April 21st - Dark Souls 3
May 14th - Dark Souls 3 + DLC
May 23rd - Mass Effect 1 Legendary Edition
July 12th - Horizon Zero Dawn
July 30th - Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition
Sept 2nd - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
October 2nd - Kena Bridge of Spirits

Finished this yesterday afternoon, really enjoyed it. The gameplay has that Zelda quality of exploration, puzzle solving and fighting for its own sake. The visual effects and sound design give everything a compelling and joyful 'game feel'. The lush visuals and Balinese-inspired soundtrack create a real sense of place, and a desire to poke your head around every corner, squelch every corrupted flower and thunk every enemy on the head.

The narrative and setting are simple, but beautifully considered in relation to the game itself. The gameplay experience aligns with the exploration and healing of the Ghibli-inspired setting and story of the corruption of a land, and how the cycle of death and rebirth has been disturbed. Discovering and fighting the corrupted spirits is intense and rewarding, and a meaningful way of learning their story, the suffering they went through and the damage they inflicted.

There's a few aspects of the game that could be improved, don't quite work etc, but nothing too bothersome for me. It's smallish in scope, but beautifully realised and more than the sum of its parts.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ThirdDrawing »

Finish #26 - After multiple attempts and always flaming out on the second disc....

Xenogears! Managed to avoid spoilers for 23 years as well, so I am rather pleased.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ColinAlonso »

Spoiler: show
Jan 1 - Slay the Spire (Switch)
Jan 10 - Streets of Rage 4 (PS4) (Cherry - Normal)
Jan 24 - Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (Switch) (True Ending)
Feb 28 - Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (Switch)
Mar 28 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Vita)
Jun 13 - Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (PS4)
Jul 11 - What The Golf? (Switch)
Jul 17 - Everything (PS4)
Jul 24 - Astro's Playroom (PS5)
Aug 2 - The Darkside Detective (Switch)
Aug 5 - Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)
Sep 4 - Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (PS5)
Sep 10 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Switch)
Sep 26 - Blaster Master Zero (Switch)
Sep 29 - Flipping Death (Switch)

Another from the 'this has been on my Switch for ages' list.

It actually feels like a step back from the developer's previous game and spiritual predecessor, Stick it to the Man, to me. The gameplay involves possessing living people and using them to solve puzzles and is fairly easy. But it also feels quite slight.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Sounds a bit like Ghost Trick?
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Aliens (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Alien Isolation (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Attack From Mars (Switch)
OCT - Superliminal (Xbox)
OCT - Haunted Castle (Arcade on Switch)

Inspired by the recent Castlevania show, I decided to have a run through of Haunted Castle, via the Arcade Classics collection on Switch. Konami are playing pretty fast and loose with the word 'classics' here, because this game is about as much fun as intrusive anal surgery. And worst of all, you don't even get a game over screen! Just a shot of Belmont and his lady watching a castle disappear, then back to the start! (Uh, spoilers, I guess).

This game feels cheap to play, the flea-men enemies are beyond annoying, and the final stage is just walking left for about 3 minutes and nothing else! (Apart from the boss). I did remember Ben's tip to use the stopwatch on bosses, so that was useful. Overall this game is stinking hot garbage. Avoid at all costs. I recommend to nobody, ever.
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Necromas
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Necromas »

Some day I'll go through the whole year but here's the few games I managed to fully complete in September.

September

Katamari Damacy: Reroll
Grabbed it from gamepass and it is just such a delight. I found myself playing a level every day after work and it really did wonders to help me wind down and destress. I feel like this is just the ultimate casual game that anyone can pick up and have a good time with.

Say No! More
Short but sweet and absolutely hilarious. It's a game about saying no to people and that's literally all there is to it. You'll just have to try it out to see what you're missing. Or check out this amazing playthrough with commentary on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBwXZFV50Ro.

Halo Infinite: Test Flights
This one's kind of cheating because it went into October too and it's not really completable as a multiplayer only version. Just want to say as a long time Halo fan that I had a blast with all of the test flights so far. I really appreciate the inclusion of bot matches because I could never get invested into the ranked matchmaking scene and got really sick of any playlist that you couldn't go into solo as a casual player without getting stomped. BTB really feels good too with lots of different weapons and vehicles and just good old chaos.

Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition
Jumped back into the series after having finished them all back near ME3s release date. The story is just so fun and interesting, and I love the variety of choices and the impacts they have to how everything unfolds across all 3 titles even if I couldn't push myself to deviate from my usual mostly paragon style of Shepard. I never did get all the DLC the first time around do I never got to see what my paragon Shepard would have done in those events. ME1LE definitely shows it's age still with the graphics and the gameplay, but it's still a ton of fun to run around messing with all of the cool powers and abilities. There's nothing quite like stopping a charging krogan in their tracks to float them in the air harmlessly while you pump them with a shotgun or yeet them off of a cliff.

If anyone's curious I played a female Shepard, did all of the side quests with good guy outcomes, saved Wrex and the council, told off space racist Ashley and let her die, and romanced Liara the slightly awkward but adorable blueberry.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ColinAlonso »

Alex79 wrote: October 4th, 2021, 2:07 pm Sounds a bit like Ghost Trick?
Yeah, interestingly Flipping Death usually involves moving living creatures to affect inanimate objects and Ghost Trick is the reverse.

I had thought about saying that above but since Flipping Death doesn't come near the quality of Ghost Trick, I didn't.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Spoiler: show
8 Jan - Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4)
10 Jan - Donut County (Android)
20 Jan - Dark Souls Remastered (Switch)
23 Jan - Bastion (Switch)
30 Jan - Hitman 3 (PS4)
15 Feb - Loco Motive (Itch)
21 Feb - The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt (Switch)
26 Feb - The Witcher III: Hearts of Stone (Switch)
4 Mar - Quarantine Circular (Switch)
6 Mar - Bury Me, My Love (Android)
14 Mar - Dishonored Death of the Outsider (Steam)
15 Mar - The Witcher III: Blood and Wine (Switch)
18 Mar - Dishonored 2 (Steam)
26 Mar - Paradise Killer (Switch)
30 April - Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)
6 May - Monster Hunter World (PS4)
12 May - Resident Evil 3 (2020) (PS4)
17 May - Resident Evil VIII Village (PS4)
23 May - Resident Evil VII Biohazard
5th August - Steamworld Heist (Switch)
7 Oct - Prey (PS4)
New Game Plus! Which means maxing out tons of freaky alien powers and annihilating all in my path. I started this run soon after I beat the game the first time round, and spent a lot of time trying to save every human on the station for a trophy, checking employee lists at terminals and fretting about side quests. I might still roll back to a save and try to pull this off, but when I came back to this file I just wanted to muck about and see a different ending.

One of the games where I think NG+ is strongly recommended, because things like the turrets can discourage you from getting the typhon powers first time through, but they're a blast.

Going to play Mooncrash soon, and next time I play the main game I might do a no needles run.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ThirdDrawing »

Rule of Rose - I'm not technically finished but I'm calling it finished.

The combat in the game is *horrendous* and near the end of the game, it decides to throw waves of enemies at you who can either jump on your back causing you to be unable to fight while other enemies hit you or knock you down and damage you.

It sucks, it's bad design and it isn't fun. As far as I'm concerned, the game is unfinishable.

Evil Dead 2 is on TV. I've watched it a billion times, but I'll watch it again over playing this shit.

Rule of Rose - overrated, overpriced and not worth playing.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Magical_Isopod »

#16 - Aladdin (SNES)

I have a lot of nostalgia for this one, and I remember I reflected on it for the podcast episode... But I'm conflicted on this one, having now actually beaten to it.

When it's good, it's a lot of fun. It's not SUPER difficult, but it's difficult enough that I died a lot, yet I kept up with the "one more try" way more than I expected it. Deaths weren't frustrating, it was more like, "Damn, my bad." The meat and potatoes of the platforming are great, the visuals are great (especially on a CRT over S-Video, as I played it), and the music's great.

However, I strongly suspect this game was rushed to market. Now, it may just be the version I played - I have the Japanese cart, as it's a lot cheaper. I feel this one may be the earlier release. Because I actually had a few instances where the game just... Stopped working. It didn't freeze - I've had that happen. No, things like the game waiting for the password to be displayed, background animated and all, only for nothing to happen. And after a power cycle (not reset), the password was already set in the password screen. I had a couple of bugs like this, and they seem less like a hardware fault and more like a coding error.

The game also drops frames like crazy on real hardware, especially during the final boss fight. Even before then, the game would occasionally miss inputs because it stuttered. But that boss fights crawled to single digit frames, it was a brutal experience.

I would also complain that the game leaned too hard into platforming and not enough into enemies, because I really enjoyed the "combat" in this game. It feels like stages are missing bosses that should be there. I suspect this came down to time constraints, and are likely a result of the frame drops caused by lots of sprites on screen. Probably had to cut end-stage bosses.

Anyway, I hate to sound too down on this game, because I really did enjoy it, warts and all. It's just that the issues it DOES have are really interesting to think about... Makes me suspect there's a beta build out there somewhere, possibly with cut levels and bosses. Or maybe not - the game did skip large sections of the movie, which leads me to think they didn't have the complete movie to work with, only promotional reference material. I feel like there's a ton of stories here, and it intrigues me!

&iso2021
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Aliens (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Alien Isolation (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Attack From Mars (Switch)
OCT - Superliminal (Xbox)
OCT - Haunted Castle (Arcade on Switch)
OCT - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES on Switch)

God damn, I ALMOST got a 1cc on this, but the final boss done me. I reckon it's do-able though now I know how to beat him. The main enemy in his final form is the timer. I beat him with 6 seconds spare. It's easy to dodge his attacks, but you have to be patient to wait for your opportunities.

I think this is a much more challenging game than the first Castlevania, but I'm going to have a run through the Japanese rom of III now to see how different it is. I read it's quite a bit easier, so shouldn't take too long. This was a great game overall. Nice you can switch characters, even if I only used the others for a brief moment of time (the witch against the doppelganger fight, and the hunchback on another boss). Amazed how well these games have held up, though. They're still a lot of fun to play, and I can't honestly say the same for many NES classics.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Simonsloth »

Spoiler: show
Jan 2021:
Get Even via PS Now
Last Story Wii
Warioware GBA
Resident Evil 3 Remake
Celeste
Doom Eternal
Demon's Souls

Feb:
Super Mario 64 (switch)
Duke 3D
Sea of Thieves (Tall Tales)
Super Mario World 2

March:
Hitman
Hitman 2
Black: The Fall
Bradwell Conspiracy
Fifa 18: The Journey
Donut County

April:
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Life is Strange 2
Trinity (Pc)
Gorogoa
Super Mario Sunshine

May-June:
Drakengard 2
Koudelka
Max Payne 3
Castlevania

July:
Alpha protocol
Persona 5
They breathe
Super mario galaxy
Battlefield 1
Yakuza dead souls

August:

Call of duty 4: Modern Warfare
Phoenix Wright trials and tribulations
Battlefield 1
Battlefield 5
428 Shibuya Scramble
Amnesia machine for pigs
Another world
Condemned
Conker’s Bad Fur Day
September:

Modern warfare 2
Soma

Drakengard 3:

To be honest I really didn’t enjoy drakengard 3 at all. Although the combat was better, the narrative, themes and multiple ending structure didn’t click with me.

Playing the 3 games has made me realise just because they are linked to Nier they aren’t in any way essential and I’d go as far as to say reading a synopsis or watching a well edited video would be a better use of one’s time.

The lengths which are required to get the final endings and the terrible DLC is a cynical cash grab because without that you have to grind so much more for the money for all the weapons and content is lacking.

I’m going to have a break before I play the Nier remaster as I’m a bit fed up at the moment with that game’s universe.

Still plodding through Dark Souls 2 and wishing that it would never end.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Aliens (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Alien Isolation (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Attack From Mars (Switch)
OCT - Superliminal (Xbox)
OCT - Haunted Castle (Arcade on Switch)
OCT - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES on Switch]
OCT - Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition (Xbox)

This is the remaster of the first game, and I had an absolute blast with it! Haven't played this since it came out 15 years ago, and it's still heaps of fun to play. Chunky combat, some epic firefights, and it looks great too. When I got my Xbox I planned to play through the Halo and Gears series, but whilst I've pretty much abandoned the idea of a Halo playthrough after the first game, I've had way more fun with this. Just pure, brainless shooting, excellent!
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seansthomas
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Posts: 856
Joined: March 31st, 2015, 8:10 am

Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by seansthomas »

January 15th - Spiderman (PS4)
January 17th - Labo VR goggles and camera (Switch)
March 19th - Labo VR blaster (Switch)
March 19th - Bowser's Fury (Switch)
April 12th - Bloodborne + Old Hunters DLC (PS4)
April 18th - Star Wars: Battlefront 2 campaign (PS4)
April 19th - Journey (PS4)
May 24th - Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20th anniversary edition
June 23rd - Vanquish (PS4)
July 15th - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4)
July 24th - Alba: a wildlife adventure (Switch)

October 9th - Hitman 2 (PS4)

Not really sure what I've been playing the past few months? Bits here and there, 12 hours of Yakuza 0 before I bailed and a lot of multiplayer stuff that would probably never make this list.

Probably will dip in and out of this game for a while longer too but moving onto Metroid Dread and think it's a good time to call it done.

Never played a Hitman games before and broadly loved it. The inventive ways to tackle things, the variety, the humour, the value to replaying levels.

Found myself replaying and more or less 100%ing Hawkes Bay and Miami, but on others I started to find it a bit more of a chore as the methods and patterns all became similar, just with a different lick of paint over them.

Still a ton of fun and enjoyed the change in pace the two DLC levels of the New York bank vault and Maldives paradise brought.

Very much had a blast with Hitman and can see why people love it so much, even if I'm not sure I've personally got the desire to see every last permutation of it.

And can't wait to see what they do with Bond!
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Scrustle
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Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old
19/01 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Human - Nero/Dante)
05/03 - CrossCode: A New Home
14/03 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
17/03 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (100cc)
02/04 - Drakengard (Endings A-D)
14/04 - Drakengard 2 (Ending A)
28/04 - Drakengard 3 (Endings A-D)
02/05 - Rain
10/05 - God of War: Chains of Olympus HD
15/05 - God of War: Ghost of Sparta HD
24/05 - NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139... (Endings A-E)
08/06 - Final Fantasy XV (NG+)
02/07 - God of War II HD
15/07 - Scarlet Nexus (Yuito)
20/07 - TRON: Evolution
21/07 - Sky: Children of the Light
01/08 - Scarlet Nexus (Kasane, NG+)
12/08 - Forza Horizon
18/08 - A Plague Tale: Innocence
21/08 - Contrast
31/08 - Forza Motorsport 7
04/09 - No More Heroes III
13/09 - Metal Gear Solid
23/09 - Metal Gear Solid 2 HD
09/10 - Psychonauts 2

I enjoyed this game a whole lot. Its a really nice follow-up to the original and full of loads of imagination and sense of fun and inspiration. The levels are constantly exciting and novel with the concepts it explores, and the aesthetically it's very impressive with all the abstract shapes and exaggerated designs that look like they leaped right out of the concept art.

The writing is very funny with great timing too, but also deals with some quite heavy topics with a deft hand. With a lot of media that deals with mental health, including the original game at times, they often treat someone's condition like a puzzle that needs to be solved. And if you can find the one singular cause for it, that counts as success and the problem is dealt with and forgotten. But this game takes a much more interesting approach, by exploring the characters' past and building up their backstory in an empathetic way that shows how they became who they are. It also makes for some great inspiration for the cool level design. Anyone who says you can't write jokes about mental health or that it's too sensitive a topic to touch without people getting offended just need to look at this game. It shows how these things can be done, and done in a natural feeling way too.

The game gets surprisingly plot heavy too. I don't want to spoil anything, but it turned out to be a really compelling tale that delves in to the history of the Psychonauts organisation in ways I didn't expect. It's pretty well done with how it weaves together with the more personal stories of each of the characters in the plot too. How that history played a role in their mental development that you see through the levels, and how everyone has a different perspective on things that you gradually fit together to understand the whole was great.

As an actual platformer I'm not sure I'd call it the best though. It's far from bad, but I think I've played better. Raz feels good enough to control, very snappy and bouncy. But he also feels like he lacks inertia to a degree, and I found depth perception kind of difficult on some occasions. I want to say that I think the original felt better, but I'm not sure if I can say for sure. It was a long time since I played it, and since then I've experiences Mario Odyssey and A Hat in Time, both of which handle fantastically. So my standards might have just changed since the first game. I have very little complaints about the combat though. For 3D platformer combat, it's really good. There's a really good variety of enemies, again showing lots of imagination when it comes to theming them around various types of negative thought processes. They make a really good use of the different psychic powers, so you can approach fights from a lot of different angles.

I played this on my lowly Xbox One due to not being able to use my PC currently, and unfortunately the game does not run very well on this old machine. In hubs the frame rate chugs quite a bit, texture pop-in is a common problem, and excessive long loading screens come up a lot. I was able to look past it and still enjoy the game, but if anyone is wondering how this game plays on older hardware, I would definitely advise to avoid it if at all possible.
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