Games Completed 2024
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2024
Glad you enjoyed it. It's my second favourite game ever after Portal
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Indiana747
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- Posts: 1056
- Joined: September 3rd, 2012, 5:17 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
Its an enjoyable shooter, it is repetitive but then again alot of shooters are repetitive by nature, its when they outstay their welcome & drag on is usually the problem. Space Marine 2 doesnt do that, its the perfect length of a campaign. Also if you do want more theres all the operations missions & then multiplayer as well. All in all a great package, the core is its a great fun shooter with obviously a Warhammer lore story that i know very little about but still enjoyed.Truk_Kurt wrote: November 29th, 2024, 9:19 amAny good? Around launch people were singing its praises but as time has passed I have heard it's a bit too repetitive and that it shows all the best parts of it near the start with the horde tech.
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Alex79
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- Location: Walsall, UK.
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Re: Games Completed 2024
NOV - No More Heroes (Switch)Alex79 wrote: January 2nd, 2024, 12:11 pmJAN - Strider (Arcade on Evercade)
JAN - Strider (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - God Of War (PS5)
JAN - Universal Paperclips (Android)
FEB - Alwa's Awakening (Evercade)
FEB - Little Inferno (Android)
FEB - Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (Gameboy on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Mario Golf (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Duke Nukem Remastered (Evercade)
APR - Castlevania Legends (Gameboy on Switch)
APR - The Combatribes (Arcade on Evercade)
APR - Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen (Switch)
APR - Bioshock (Switch)
MAY - Tinykin (Switch)
MAY - Elden Ring (Xbox)
JUN - Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade on Switch)
JUN - EAFC 24: Euros 2024 Mode (PS5)
JUN - Policenauts (PS1 on Vita)
JUN - Nyghtmare: The Ninth King (Evercade)
JUN - Cocoon (Switch)
JUN - Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Switch)
JUL - Atari 50 (Switch)
JUL - U.N. Squadron (Arcade on Vita)
JUL - The Legend Of Silkroad (Arcade on Evercade)
JUL - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (Switch)
AUG - Ninja Gaiden (NES on Switch)
SEP - Balatro (Android)
OCT - Balatro (again!) (Android)
OCT - South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Switch)
OCT - Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Walking Dead: Season Two (Switch)
NOV - Forgotten Worlds (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Outer Worlds (Switch)
NOV - The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (Switch)
NOV - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Switch)
Oh yeah this was fucking great fun! Really loved it, just constantly entertaining, even the 'boring' part time jobs which echo back to the likes of Shenmue and have you cutting grass or collecting coconuts from trees - everything has that Suda tinge to it and is a little bit crazy. The combat is excellent and the entire game is based around this really. Fun story, great characters, really good game.
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Alex79
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- Location: Walsall, UK.
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Re: Games Completed 2024
NOV - F1 23: Braking Point 2 (Xbox)Alex79 wrote: January 2nd, 2024, 12:11 pmJAN - Strider (Arcade on Evercade)
JAN - Strider (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - God Of War (PS5)
JAN - Universal Paperclips (Android)
FEB - Alwa's Awakening (Evercade)
FEB - Little Inferno (Android)
FEB - Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (Gameboy on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Mario Golf (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Duke Nukem Remastered (Evercade)
APR - Castlevania Legends (Gameboy on Switch)
APR - The Combatribes (Arcade on Evercade)
APR - Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen (Switch)
APR - Bioshock (Switch)
MAY - Tinykin (Switch)
MAY - Elden Ring (Xbox)
JUN - Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade on Switch)
JUN - EAFC 24: Euros 2024 Mode (PS5)
JUN - Policenauts (PS1 on Vita)
JUN - Nyghtmare: The Ninth King (Evercade)
JUN - Cocoon (Switch)
JUN - Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Switch)
JUL - Atari 50 (Switch)
JUL - U.N. Squadron (Arcade on Vita)
JUL - The Legend Of Silkroad (Arcade on Evercade)
JUL - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (Switch)
AUG - Ninja Gaiden (NES on Switch)
SEP - Balatro (Android)
OCT - Balatro (again!) (Android)
OCT - South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Switch)
OCT - Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Walking Dead: Season Two (Switch)
NOV - Forgotten Worlds (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Outer Worlds (Switch)
NOV - The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (Switch)
NOV - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Switch)
NOV - No More Heroes (Switch)
I have little interest in delving in to a deep career mode in these games, but a tight 6-8 hour story mode is the perfect way for me to enjoy the F1 series. Following on from part one in F1 21, Braking Point 2 continues the story of rookie driver, Aiden Jackson, as you deal with the drama of a mid-table race team. It was fun, and I hope they continue to story in F1 25 (if they're going to do it every two years).
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Indiana747
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- Joined: September 3rd, 2012, 5:17 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
- Spoiler: show
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2024
I really liked it too. Remind me, have you played the similar story mode in Grid Legends?Alex79 wrote: November 30th, 2024, 10:10 pmNOV - F1 23: Braking Point 2 (Xbox)Alex79 wrote: January 2nd, 2024, 12:11 pmJAN - Strider (Arcade on Evercade)
JAN - Strider (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - God Of War (PS5)
JAN - Universal Paperclips (Android)
FEB - Alwa's Awakening (Evercade)
FEB - Little Inferno (Android)
FEB - Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (Gameboy on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Mario Golf (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Duke Nukem Remastered (Evercade)
APR - Castlevania Legends (Gameboy on Switch)
APR - The Combatribes (Arcade on Evercade)
APR - Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen (Switch)
APR - Bioshock (Switch)
MAY - Tinykin (Switch)
MAY - Elden Ring (Xbox)
JUN - Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade on Switch)
JUN - EAFC 24: Euros 2024 Mode (PS5)
JUN - Policenauts (PS1 on Vita)
JUN - Nyghtmare: The Ninth King (Evercade)
JUN - Cocoon (Switch)
JUN - Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Switch)
JUL - Atari 50 (Switch)
JUL - U.N. Squadron (Arcade on Vita)
JUL - The Legend Of Silkroad (Arcade on Evercade)
JUL - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (Switch)
AUG - Ninja Gaiden (NES on Switch)
SEP - Balatro (Android)
OCT - Balatro (again!) (Android)
OCT - South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Switch)
OCT - Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Walking Dead: Season Two (Switch)
NOV - Forgotten Worlds (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Outer Worlds (Switch)
NOV - The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (Switch)
NOV - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Switch)
NOV - No More Heroes (Switch)
I have little interest in delving in to a deep career mode in these games, but a tight 6-8 hour story mode is the perfect way for me to enjoy the F1 series. Following on from part one in F1 21, Braking Point 2 continues the story of rookie driver, Aiden Jackson, as you deal with the drama of a mid-table race team. It was fun, and I hope they continue to story in F1 25 (if they're going to do it every two years).
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Alex79
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- Posts: 8656
- Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
- Location: Walsall, UK.
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Re: Games Completed 2024
Yeah played that a couple of years ago, I enjoyed it.
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Indiana747
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- Posts: 1056
- Joined: September 3rd, 2012, 5:17 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
- Spoiler: show
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Scrustle
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- Posts: 2472
- Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
08/12 - Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
This isn’t the first time I’ve had a crack at this game. I originally tried it some time after playing through the Soul Reaver games for the first time, as from playing those it was clear how much they rely on a lot of stuff that was established in this game, but they don’t do much to bring you up to speed. At the time I just did some reading on the plot of this game to fill in the gaps, but nothing can really replace experiencing it first hand. I bounced off this game initially, and just moved on. But now with the Soul Reaver remasters coming out soon, I figured now would be a good time to try again so I can have the proper context going in to those. To be honest though, I still didn’t really like this game, and a lot of what put me off before remain significant issues.
The first thing that stands out is that this game is not a looker at all. It has a very unpleasant dark and smeary look, thanks to its poor use of pre-rendered sprites. It’s way too low resolution for the style to work well, and the renderings themselves do not gel well with the not entirely realistic top-down view that leads to a lot of weird confusion in perspective. There are some parts of the game where the dark Gothic aesthetic does come across somewhat effectively, and some of the larger pre-rendered backdrops that don’t fall in to the trap of tiling too much do have a certain charm that this style of graphics can have, but it fails to deliver that much more than it succeeds.
The poor visuals aren’t just an aesthetic thing, but cause a lot of practical problems in gameplay too. It’s often really terrible at visually communicating things, making it hard to parse details that can be important to progression. The puzzle design, such as it is in this game, is extremely basic and not that interesting. It never elevates above finding a switch to open a door, but that can often be much easier said than done with how said switch might be near impossible to pick out among a wall of other equally dark and messy bricks. Combat animations are also very stiff and awkward, with terrible hit detection and feedback. You can clearly swing your sword right through an enemy and it won’t hit them. You’re rooted to the spot when you attack too. There’s no dodge, no block, and no post-damage i-frames. Your movement speed generally is very slow making evasion a struggle.
You do have a variety of spells and items to spice things up a bit, but I ended up leaning on the same few throughout the game. Changing your equipment is fiddly and forces you to open and close menus over and over, which makes you sit through load times. Items are limited in quantity, which makes using them unappealing to avoid wasting them. So I mostly went with what simply worked with the least hassle to avoid getting bogged down too much with the clunky inventory.
This game isn’t completely without positive elements though. The voice work and dialogue is actually pretty enjoyable. Kain’s performance is excellent, and his lines are full of character and flavour much like the later games. Through his narration you get a good sense of his personality and his perspective on the land of Nosgoth that is pretty entertaining. The general plot however isn’t too compelling. For the most part it is fairly standard dark fantasy fare. There are a couple more layers of intrigue that get added more towards the last third of the story, but they are slim picking in the grand scheme of things. It pales in comparison to its successors.
So unfortunately this was just as much of the slog to get through as I was expecting it to be. It is kind of interesting that my feelings on it actually mirror that of Soul Reaver to an extent, in that it has the same dichotomy of enjoying the narrative elements much more than the gameplay. But SR is a much better game on all fronts, even in its weaker elements, meaning that its better qualities could outshine its flaws. That’s not the case here sadly.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had a crack at this game. I originally tried it some time after playing through the Soul Reaver games for the first time, as from playing those it was clear how much they rely on a lot of stuff that was established in this game, but they don’t do much to bring you up to speed. At the time I just did some reading on the plot of this game to fill in the gaps, but nothing can really replace experiencing it first hand. I bounced off this game initially, and just moved on. But now with the Soul Reaver remasters coming out soon, I figured now would be a good time to try again so I can have the proper context going in to those. To be honest though, I still didn’t really like this game, and a lot of what put me off before remain significant issues.
The first thing that stands out is that this game is not a looker at all. It has a very unpleasant dark and smeary look, thanks to its poor use of pre-rendered sprites. It’s way too low resolution for the style to work well, and the renderings themselves do not gel well with the not entirely realistic top-down view that leads to a lot of weird confusion in perspective. There are some parts of the game where the dark Gothic aesthetic does come across somewhat effectively, and some of the larger pre-rendered backdrops that don’t fall in to the trap of tiling too much do have a certain charm that this style of graphics can have, but it fails to deliver that much more than it succeeds.
The poor visuals aren’t just an aesthetic thing, but cause a lot of practical problems in gameplay too. It’s often really terrible at visually communicating things, making it hard to parse details that can be important to progression. The puzzle design, such as it is in this game, is extremely basic and not that interesting. It never elevates above finding a switch to open a door, but that can often be much easier said than done with how said switch might be near impossible to pick out among a wall of other equally dark and messy bricks. Combat animations are also very stiff and awkward, with terrible hit detection and feedback. You can clearly swing your sword right through an enemy and it won’t hit them. You’re rooted to the spot when you attack too. There’s no dodge, no block, and no post-damage i-frames. Your movement speed generally is very slow making evasion a struggle.
You do have a variety of spells and items to spice things up a bit, but I ended up leaning on the same few throughout the game. Changing your equipment is fiddly and forces you to open and close menus over and over, which makes you sit through load times. Items are limited in quantity, which makes using them unappealing to avoid wasting them. So I mostly went with what simply worked with the least hassle to avoid getting bogged down too much with the clunky inventory.
This game isn’t completely without positive elements though. The voice work and dialogue is actually pretty enjoyable. Kain’s performance is excellent, and his lines are full of character and flavour much like the later games. Through his narration you get a good sense of his personality and his perspective on the land of Nosgoth that is pretty entertaining. The general plot however isn’t too compelling. For the most part it is fairly standard dark fantasy fare. There are a couple more layers of intrigue that get added more towards the last third of the story, but they are slim picking in the grand scheme of things. It pales in comparison to its successors.
So unfortunately this was just as much of the slog to get through as I was expecting it to be. It is kind of interesting that my feelings on it actually mirror that of Soul Reaver to an extent, in that it has the same dichotomy of enjoying the narrative elements much more than the gameplay. But SR is a much better game on all fronts, even in its weaker elements, meaning that its better qualities could outshine its flaws. That’s not the case here sadly.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Games Completed 2024
Thanks for the write-up!
I have also added this to my wish-list, but I also anticipate a bit of an (interesting) slog.
I have also added this to my wish-list, but I also anticipate a bit of an (interesting) slog.
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Truk_Kurt
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- Joined: July 9th, 2015, 10:00 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
This is a game which grew on me the more I played it. I began it with very positive impressions, thinking of the potential possibilities for how I could experiement with different echoes to solve puzzles and overcome certain situations, but then I fell into just resorting to using the same few echoes and because of that the gameplay became a bit dull. Now that is partly my fault for not using different echoes but equally the game didn't provide me with an incentive to do so and the UI for selecting echoes was not intuitive and only got worse as you unlocked more echoes.
As I progressed into new areas and dungeons I started to enjoy the game more. This was more due to some excellent dungeon design rather than the use of echoes though. I also thought there was far too much unskippable chatter in the game which really got on my nerves. So a decent enough game but not a all timer of a Zelda game. 7/10
This is a game which grew on me the more I played it. I began it with very positive impressions, thinking of the potential possibilities for how I could experiement with different echoes to solve puzzles and overcome certain situations, but then I fell into just resorting to using the same few echoes and because of that the gameplay became a bit dull. Now that is partly my fault for not using different echoes but equally the game didn't provide me with an incentive to do so and the UI for selecting echoes was not intuitive and only got worse as you unlocked more echoes.
As I progressed into new areas and dungeons I started to enjoy the game more. This was more due to some excellent dungeon design rather than the use of echoes though. I also thought there was far too much unskippable chatter in the game which really got on my nerves. So a decent enough game but not a all timer of a Zelda game. 7/10
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Scrustle
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- Posts: 2472
- Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
09/12 - Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm
I enjoyed this quite a lot. As a fan of the first game, I was excited to see this sequel seeming to be a lot more ambitious, and it ended up being pretty much exactly what I hoped for. It carries over that same appeal of being a more low-key and relaxing take on the Zelda formula, except this time aiming for something closer to the pre-BotW 3D era rather than the top-down era. And since it seems like we’re not getting that again from Nintendo any time soon, this was a good way to scratch that itch.
Much like the first game, if you break this one down in to its core mechanics and features, it’s fairly simple. It’s not giving its inspirations a run for its money, but at the same time that is also part of the appeal. It has a certain quaint and soothing feel to it, with a toy-like appearance to the visuals. It has a comforting aura to it. Yet it’s also a big step up from the last game in many ways. It has a much bigger and more detailed world that is presented in a much more natural and immersive way, which can actually be somewhat impressive at times. It even has a few set piece moments that feel pretty ambitious considering the production scope suggested by other elements of the game. Despite the game being quite humble and familiar for the most part, at times it could still surprise me with something I didn’t expect it to try.
The ending was a little disappointing however. It’s a shame because some of the stuff it sets up before the finale were some of the more interesting elements of the story. While it was limited in what it could do thanks to being a prequel, it still feels like it does a bad job of creating a satisfying conclusion. The story as a whole does attempt to flesh out this world significantly though, and give a compelling backstory to some of the characters. Not that I would call it amazing or anything, but it at least tries.
Overall I am quite fond of the game though. When so few games seem to even attempt this style of design these days, it’s great to see one that does it competently. It’s not the most polished or mind-blowing experience out there, but that in a way also works to its benefit of creating a pleasant adventure that has some nice cosy vibes.
I enjoyed this quite a lot. As a fan of the first game, I was excited to see this sequel seeming to be a lot more ambitious, and it ended up being pretty much exactly what I hoped for. It carries over that same appeal of being a more low-key and relaxing take on the Zelda formula, except this time aiming for something closer to the pre-BotW 3D era rather than the top-down era. And since it seems like we’re not getting that again from Nintendo any time soon, this was a good way to scratch that itch.
Much like the first game, if you break this one down in to its core mechanics and features, it’s fairly simple. It’s not giving its inspirations a run for its money, but at the same time that is also part of the appeal. It has a certain quaint and soothing feel to it, with a toy-like appearance to the visuals. It has a comforting aura to it. Yet it’s also a big step up from the last game in many ways. It has a much bigger and more detailed world that is presented in a much more natural and immersive way, which can actually be somewhat impressive at times. It even has a few set piece moments that feel pretty ambitious considering the production scope suggested by other elements of the game. Despite the game being quite humble and familiar for the most part, at times it could still surprise me with something I didn’t expect it to try.
The ending was a little disappointing however. It’s a shame because some of the stuff it sets up before the finale were some of the more interesting elements of the story. While it was limited in what it could do thanks to being a prequel, it still feels like it does a bad job of creating a satisfying conclusion. The story as a whole does attempt to flesh out this world significantly though, and give a compelling backstory to some of the characters. Not that I would call it amazing or anything, but it at least tries.
Overall I am quite fond of the game though. When so few games seem to even attempt this style of design these days, it’s great to see one that does it competently. It’s not the most polished or mind-blowing experience out there, but that in a way also works to its benefit of creating a pleasant adventure that has some nice cosy vibes.
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Michiel K
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Re: Games Completed 2024
1 December: Beyond Oasis (MD/GEN)
I got this cart in the summer to play through it for the Cane and Rinse podcast... and I had to do it in 1 go as its save battery is 100% dead. My full thoughts are on the podcast (out on CaR Patreon now), but a small spoiler is that I quite enjoyed it.
9 December: Syberia (PC)
I played this for Cane and Rinse as well, but enjoyed it a bit less. Largely a me problem in that I was a bit too restless for a chill point 'n click adventure, but a tiny bit of a problem of the game as well. Full thoughts in the upcoming podcast!
Maybe these will be the last 2 games I've completed this year? Who knows.
I got this cart in the summer to play through it for the Cane and Rinse podcast... and I had to do it in 1 go as its save battery is 100% dead. My full thoughts are on the podcast (out on CaR Patreon now), but a small spoiler is that I quite enjoyed it.
9 December: Syberia (PC)
I played this for Cane and Rinse as well, but enjoyed it a bit less. Largely a me problem in that I was a bit too restless for a chill point 'n click adventure, but a tiny bit of a problem of the game as well. Full thoughts in the upcoming podcast!
Maybe these will be the last 2 games I've completed this year? Who knows.
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seansthomas
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Re: Games Completed 2024
Jan 4th - Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS5)
Jan 10th - Jusant (Xbox Series S)
Feb 6th - Resident Evil 4 (PS5)
Feb 19th - Resident Evil 4 - Hardcore (PS5)
Feb 25th - Interaction isn't explicit (PS5)
Mar 10th - The Last of Us Part II: Remastered (PS5)
Apr 16th - TLoZ: TOTK (all shrines) / Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Challenge Tombs) / Helldivers 2 (PS5) / Split Second (Xbox Series S)
May 1st - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Xbox Series S)
May 17th - Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PS5)
May 27th - Shadow of the Colossus (PS5)
July 23rd - Shadow of the Erdtree: Elden Ring (Xbox Series S)
July 24th - Lego Builders Journey (Switch)
July 29th - Metroid Fusion (Switch: NSOnline)
August 7th - Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5)
August 13th - Thank goodness you're here! (PS5)
September 5th - Arranger: A role-puzzling adventure (Switch)
October 3rd - Astrobot (PS5)
November 18th - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS5)
November 25th - Tomb Raider (1): Remastered (Switch)
December 12th - The Last of Us Part 1 - Grounded (PS5)
I figured that seeing as I can play the remake on my level of PS+ now (and stream it to my Portal), I'd see what it's like.
But in truth, I didn't love Part 1 on PS3/4. It felt like the action and sheer volume of shooting jarred with the story and sense of brutality.
My friend recommended I up the difficulty on TLOU2 and I far preferred it with a stuff challenge. So I decided to tackle this on Grounded.
It's totally the way to play it. I limped over the line at the end with 3 bullets to my name. I replayed some sections many, many times. A couple of times, I wondered if I had it in me to do certain sections. But I loved the thrill of improvising with next to no weaponry, sneaking around, picking off soldiers one by one and ultimately persisting.
Played this way, the story and setting make far more sense. Every bullet counts. Any salvage you can find is a luxury.
I recall the first time I played this, I shived everything. I barely found enough scissors in this run to make more than 3.
At the time, I questioned the need for this remake, but it is truly gorgeous. Played soon after Part 2, they make great companion pieces and I can see why they brought the game up to it's sequels level. Some areas are truly staggering. The dam and the winter lodge in particular.
It's a bleak game. The opening hits even harder now the characters look pretty damn real. And I don't enjoy the story still. Its a gut punch. And a slightly heavy handed one at times. But it is interesting.
Gameplay wise it feels a bit clunky compared to 2, with movement more slow and samey. But that's probably because Joel plays differently to Ellie.
Winter feels the weakest part to me, but elsewhere I enjoyed most of the encounters.
I'm very glad I played this game again on such a challenging difficulty. It genuinely transforms the game when you have no radar, no resources and no second chances.
Jan 10th - Jusant (Xbox Series S)
Feb 6th - Resident Evil 4 (PS5)
Feb 19th - Resident Evil 4 - Hardcore (PS5)
Feb 25th - Interaction isn't explicit (PS5)
Mar 10th - The Last of Us Part II: Remastered (PS5)
Apr 16th - TLoZ: TOTK (all shrines) / Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Challenge Tombs) / Helldivers 2 (PS5) / Split Second (Xbox Series S)
May 1st - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Xbox Series S)
May 17th - Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PS5)
May 27th - Shadow of the Colossus (PS5)
July 23rd - Shadow of the Erdtree: Elden Ring (Xbox Series S)
July 24th - Lego Builders Journey (Switch)
July 29th - Metroid Fusion (Switch: NSOnline)
August 7th - Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5)
August 13th - Thank goodness you're here! (PS5)
September 5th - Arranger: A role-puzzling adventure (Switch)
October 3rd - Astrobot (PS5)
November 18th - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS5)
November 25th - Tomb Raider (1): Remastered (Switch)
December 12th - The Last of Us Part 1 - Grounded (PS5)
I figured that seeing as I can play the remake on my level of PS+ now (and stream it to my Portal), I'd see what it's like.
But in truth, I didn't love Part 1 on PS3/4. It felt like the action and sheer volume of shooting jarred with the story and sense of brutality.
My friend recommended I up the difficulty on TLOU2 and I far preferred it with a stuff challenge. So I decided to tackle this on Grounded.
It's totally the way to play it. I limped over the line at the end with 3 bullets to my name. I replayed some sections many, many times. A couple of times, I wondered if I had it in me to do certain sections. But I loved the thrill of improvising with next to no weaponry, sneaking around, picking off soldiers one by one and ultimately persisting.
Played this way, the story and setting make far more sense. Every bullet counts. Any salvage you can find is a luxury.
I recall the first time I played this, I shived everything. I barely found enough scissors in this run to make more than 3.
At the time, I questioned the need for this remake, but it is truly gorgeous. Played soon after Part 2, they make great companion pieces and I can see why they brought the game up to it's sequels level. Some areas are truly staggering. The dam and the winter lodge in particular.
It's a bleak game. The opening hits even harder now the characters look pretty damn real. And I don't enjoy the story still. Its a gut punch. And a slightly heavy handed one at times. But it is interesting.
Gameplay wise it feels a bit clunky compared to 2, with movement more slow and samey. But that's probably because Joel plays differently to Ellie.
Winter feels the weakest part to me, but elsewhere I enjoyed most of the encounters.
I'm very glad I played this game again on such a challenging difficulty. It genuinely transforms the game when you have no radar, no resources and no second chances.
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Indiana747
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- Posts: 1056
- Joined: September 3rd, 2012, 5:17 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
- Spoiler: show
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Alex79
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- Posts: 8656
- Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
- Location: Walsall, UK.
- Contact:
Re: Games Completed 2024
DEC - Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Switch)Alex79 wrote: January 2nd, 2024, 12:11 pmJAN - Strider (Arcade on Evercade)
JAN - Strider (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - God Of War (PS5)
JAN - Universal Paperclips (Android)
FEB - Alwa's Awakening (Evercade)
FEB - Little Inferno (Android)
FEB - Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (Gameboy on Switch)
FEB - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Mario Golf (Gameboy on Switch)
MAR - Duke Nukem Remastered (Evercade)
APR - Castlevania Legends (Gameboy on Switch)
APR - The Combatribes (Arcade on Evercade)
APR - Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen (Switch)
APR - Bioshock (Switch)
MAY - Tinykin (Switch)
MAY - Elden Ring (Xbox)
JUN - Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade on Switch)
JUN - EAFC 24: Euros 2024 Mode (PS5)
JUN - Policenauts (PS1 on Vita)
JUN - Nyghtmare: The Ninth King (Evercade)
JUN - Cocoon (Switch)
JUN - Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Switch)
JUL - Atari 50 (Switch)
JUL - U.N. Squadron (Arcade on Vita)
JUL - The Legend Of Silkroad (Arcade on Evercade)
JUL - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (Switch)
AUG - Ninja Gaiden (NES on Switch)
SEP - Balatro (Android)
OCT - Balatro (again!) (Android)
OCT - South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Switch)
OCT - Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Walking Dead: Season Two (Switch)
NOV - Forgotten Worlds (Arcade on Evercade)
NOV - The Outer Worlds (Switch)
NOV - The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (Switch)
NOV - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Switch)
NOV - No More Heroes (Switch)
NOV - F1 23: Braking Point 2 (Xbox)
I like the traditional style Assassins Creed games more than the recent massive RPG style ones, and this is still a standout. I've finished it twice before, but picked up The Rebel Collection on Switch quite some time ago and been playing it slowly over a year or so. It looks and runs great on Switch and those ship battles and sailing around is still a lot of fun.
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Truk_Kurt
- Member
- Posts: 794
- Joined: July 9th, 2015, 10:00 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
Tri Breaker
I think this will be the final game of the year I finish and it was a good one. It's a new brick breaker game which is a severely underserved genre I find, and a sequel to Twin Breaker from a few years ago. Once again I really enjoyed it, this sequel seemed less RNG heavy and I really liked how it introduced some special levels which riffed on other genres and games like Frogger and Space Invaders. 8/10
I think this will be the final game of the year I finish and it was a good one. It's a new brick breaker game which is a severely underserved genre I find, and a sequel to Twin Breaker from a few years ago. Once again I really enjoyed it, this sequel seemed less RNG heavy and I really liked how it introduced some special levels which riffed on other genres and games like Frogger and Space Invaders. 8/10
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Scrustle
- Member
- Posts: 2472
- Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
17/12 - Half-Life 2: Episode One & Episode Two
These were pretty good, for basically all the same reasons as the main game. So they end up not being as revelatory as HL2 proper, feeling mostly like more of the same, even if they are still very good and well crafted.
The second episode was better than the first though. Episode One in particular feels like it’s retreading ground that the main campaign already explored thoroughly, but it does so in a way that can feel a bit constrictive at times. Like an idea the game had for a specific section is forced on you in a pretty heavy-handed way. Episode Two on the other hand comes across as giving the player more room to play around within the different scenarios it presents. The levels are generally wider and more open too, being set more in the countryside outside the city instead of still being trapped in the urban rubble like the first episode. It has a really nice blue and green colour palette to it as well, with some striking scenery of the portal opening in the sky over the destroyed Citadel. In fact the art design mixed with the more open sandbox style levels gave me something of a Halo vibe. Some parts of the original HL2 campaign gave me that feeling too.
A shame this story never got concluded though. Episode Two was starting to introduce more interesting developments, not to mention that infamous shock ending. But I do wonder if this feeling that these episodes come across as much less of an advancement as between the main series entries is part of why it never happened. Maybe the developers got burned out on creating things that weren’t as ambitious as they wanted them them be, and so lost the drive to carry on. That does seem to line up with the few minor statements Valve have put out about wanting the next thing to really be a big step up that was worth waiting for. Hopefully we’ll finally get to see the conclusion at some point, since it seems like the series does have more momentum right now than it has had for a long time.
These were pretty good, for basically all the same reasons as the main game. So they end up not being as revelatory as HL2 proper, feeling mostly like more of the same, even if they are still very good and well crafted.
The second episode was better than the first though. Episode One in particular feels like it’s retreading ground that the main campaign already explored thoroughly, but it does so in a way that can feel a bit constrictive at times. Like an idea the game had for a specific section is forced on you in a pretty heavy-handed way. Episode Two on the other hand comes across as giving the player more room to play around within the different scenarios it presents. The levels are generally wider and more open too, being set more in the countryside outside the city instead of still being trapped in the urban rubble like the first episode. It has a really nice blue and green colour palette to it as well, with some striking scenery of the portal opening in the sky over the destroyed Citadel. In fact the art design mixed with the more open sandbox style levels gave me something of a Halo vibe. Some parts of the original HL2 campaign gave me that feeling too.
A shame this story never got concluded though. Episode Two was starting to introduce more interesting developments, not to mention that infamous shock ending. But I do wonder if this feeling that these episodes come across as much less of an advancement as between the main series entries is part of why it never happened. Maybe the developers got burned out on creating things that weren’t as ambitious as they wanted them them be, and so lost the drive to carry on. That does seem to line up with the few minor statements Valve have put out about wanting the next thing to really be a big step up that was worth waiting for. Hopefully we’ll finally get to see the conclusion at some point, since it seems like the series does have more momentum right now than it has had for a long time.
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Truk_Kurt
- Member
- Posts: 794
- Joined: July 9th, 2015, 10:00 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
Watch the recent documentary on the making of Half Life 2 and the episodes Valve put out last month on youtube and your question on why they haven't done episode 3 yet will be answered. It shows some concept gameplay too of what they planned to do in it.Scrustle wrote: December 17th, 2024, 5:04 pm 17/12 - Half-Life 2: Episode One & Episode Two
These were pretty good, for basically all the same reasons as the main game. So they end up not being as revelatory as HL2 proper, feeling mostly like more of the same, even if they are still very good and well crafted.
The second episode was better than the first though. Episode One in particular feels like it’s retreading ground that the main campaign already explored thoroughly, but it does so in a way that can feel a bit constrictive at times. Like an idea the game had for a specific section is forced on you in a pretty heavy-handed way. Episode Two on the other hand comes across as giving the player more room to play around within the different scenarios it presents. The levels are generally wider and more open too, being set more in the countryside outside the city instead of still being trapped in the urban rubble like the first episode. It has a really nice blue and green colour palette to it as well, with some striking scenery of the portal opening in the sky over the destroyed Citadel. In fact the art design mixed with the more open sandbox style levels gave me something of a Halo vibe. Some parts of the original HL2 campaign gave me that feeling too.
A shame this story never got concluded though. Episode Two was starting to introduce more interesting developments, not to mention that infamous shock ending. But I do wonder if this feeling that these episodes come across as much less of an advancement as between the main series entries is part of why it never happened. Maybe the developers got burned out on creating things that weren’t as ambitious as they wanted them them be, and so lost the drive to carry on. That does seem to line up with the few minor statements Valve have put out about wanting the next thing to really be a big step up that was worth waiting for. Hopefully we’ll finally get to see the conclusion at some point, since it seems like the series does have more momentum right now than it has had for a long time.
The one thing I really liked in episode one was the opening with the souped up gravity gun.
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Scrustle
- Member
- Posts: 2472
- Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm
Re: Games Completed 2024
19/12 - Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Remastered
It was a good time going through this again. It has a great sense of atmosphere and mood to it. Despite, or perhaps in part thanks to the basic graphics, the setting has this cool desolate feel to it that is pretty unique. It’s interesting to see a world that has been conquered by an “evil” inhuman force, but after centuries have passed and it’s had the life sucked out of it, leaving only strange abominations remaining that have evolved in to new forms over time that reinterpret what a vampire can be. The soundtrack also does a great job of selling the vibe as well, with its eerie and strange synth arrangements. The way it is all built out of chunks of the main theme is great too, giving this game a very strong audio character.
Having played this game before meant that this run through was a lot smoother in terms of gameplay as well. It’s still clunky of course, with simplistic mechanics, but going in with my expectations properly set and already having a sense for the rhythms this game works on made it feel like a lot less of a hassle than my original experience with it. The realm shifting is still a pretty neat trick too.
Of course the story and dialogue is a big high point. The fantastic voice acting and colourful prose elevates this game a lot. Having played Blood Omen just before this does make it come across somewhat differently though. It did help me in having context for certain things I didn’t before, giving this story a greater sense of connectedness to the rest of the series. Yet I realised that when I was comparing BO’s story harshly to Soul Reaver, I was doing so more against the whole trilogy, which is perhaps a bit unfair. While the story in SR1 is good, there’s frankly hardly any of it. Almost everything of actual substance happens either at the beginning or very end, with the exception of only one major plot point. BO actually has a lot more going on, and more character narration too. I don’t think all of that game’s story is exceptional, but it does at least build up a world more than just the pretty spartan events of this entry, and gives itself a reason to deliver a lot of juicy voice performances.
In terms of the technical aspects of this remaster, it’s hard to come away with unqualified praise however. On the one hand, I appreciate a new port that just runs without fuss on modern hardware, and which is faithful to the original. The new textures look fantastic, and the new character models are good too. They increase the detail without looking out of place. It’s a pretty bare bones package overall though. While I can see why improved environment geometry detail sounds appealing, it’s probably for the best that they didn’t mess with that. There’s no graphical options on PC however, meaning it just runs at whatever your native resolution is. There’s also no anti-aliasing. It seems to be quite buggy too. As I was playing I noticed how geometry beyond level transition zones would be totally culled from certain perspectives that were not hard to recreate, creating obvious empty voids in the game world. I also got noticeable hitching when moving between loading zones, which always seemed to occur mostly after a fresh boot but then ease off the longer I played. Although to be fair, these may have also been issues in the original version. I don’t recall coming across stuff like that emulating the Dreamcast version, but I might be wrong. These issues aren’t huge either, just annoying little details that can be mostly overlooked. More serious though are reports of block puzzles breaking and becoming non-interactable, destroying entire playthroughs of the game. I didn’t experience that myself but I saw several reports of it from others, so it doesn’t seem rare. This version also apparently added in a day/night cycle, that is either broken or just very poorly conceived. Nights are so dark it can be impossible to see anything in certain parts of the world, and they seem to last an excessively long time. It’s hard to believe this feature was tested and deemed shippable in this state. The developers are apparently working on a patch right now to fix these issues, so I would say it’s probably best to wait until that is out before trying out this version.
It was a good time going through this again. It has a great sense of atmosphere and mood to it. Despite, or perhaps in part thanks to the basic graphics, the setting has this cool desolate feel to it that is pretty unique. It’s interesting to see a world that has been conquered by an “evil” inhuman force, but after centuries have passed and it’s had the life sucked out of it, leaving only strange abominations remaining that have evolved in to new forms over time that reinterpret what a vampire can be. The soundtrack also does a great job of selling the vibe as well, with its eerie and strange synth arrangements. The way it is all built out of chunks of the main theme is great too, giving this game a very strong audio character.
Having played this game before meant that this run through was a lot smoother in terms of gameplay as well. It’s still clunky of course, with simplistic mechanics, but going in with my expectations properly set and already having a sense for the rhythms this game works on made it feel like a lot less of a hassle than my original experience with it. The realm shifting is still a pretty neat trick too.
Of course the story and dialogue is a big high point. The fantastic voice acting and colourful prose elevates this game a lot. Having played Blood Omen just before this does make it come across somewhat differently though. It did help me in having context for certain things I didn’t before, giving this story a greater sense of connectedness to the rest of the series. Yet I realised that when I was comparing BO’s story harshly to Soul Reaver, I was doing so more against the whole trilogy, which is perhaps a bit unfair. While the story in SR1 is good, there’s frankly hardly any of it. Almost everything of actual substance happens either at the beginning or very end, with the exception of only one major plot point. BO actually has a lot more going on, and more character narration too. I don’t think all of that game’s story is exceptional, but it does at least build up a world more than just the pretty spartan events of this entry, and gives itself a reason to deliver a lot of juicy voice performances.
In terms of the technical aspects of this remaster, it’s hard to come away with unqualified praise however. On the one hand, I appreciate a new port that just runs without fuss on modern hardware, and which is faithful to the original. The new textures look fantastic, and the new character models are good too. They increase the detail without looking out of place. It’s a pretty bare bones package overall though. While I can see why improved environment geometry detail sounds appealing, it’s probably for the best that they didn’t mess with that. There’s no graphical options on PC however, meaning it just runs at whatever your native resolution is. There’s also no anti-aliasing. It seems to be quite buggy too. As I was playing I noticed how geometry beyond level transition zones would be totally culled from certain perspectives that were not hard to recreate, creating obvious empty voids in the game world. I also got noticeable hitching when moving between loading zones, which always seemed to occur mostly after a fresh boot but then ease off the longer I played. Although to be fair, these may have also been issues in the original version. I don’t recall coming across stuff like that emulating the Dreamcast version, but I might be wrong. These issues aren’t huge either, just annoying little details that can be mostly overlooked. More serious though are reports of block puzzles breaking and becoming non-interactable, destroying entire playthroughs of the game. I didn’t experience that myself but I saw several reports of it from others, so it doesn’t seem rare. This version also apparently added in a day/night cycle, that is either broken or just very poorly conceived. Nights are so dark it can be impossible to see anything in certain parts of the world, and they seem to last an excessively long time. It’s hard to believe this feature was tested and deemed shippable in this state. The developers are apparently working on a patch right now to fix these issues, so I would say it’s probably best to wait until that is out before trying out this version.