On: PC/Windows

I had a lot more fun with this game than I thought I would. I've tried multiple times to get into Stardew Valley and always fall off of it for whatever reason, but had a blast playing Slime Rancher. Maybe its because I've always felt Stardew has just too much going on. This game barely even has a story, just some hints at lore and character building in the background and then sort of lets you run free. There are new areas to buy, a land that you revive (sort of), and a finite upgrade system to work towards, but all the while you can focus more about mixing and matching your slime to maximize plort output (plorts being slime secretions that you can sell for money or use in gadget creation). I don't know, the achievements felt attainable and the additional Rush Mode I was able to get upwards of 90,000 points on only my second run through so this game just sort of clicked with me for whatever reason. I didn't complete it until the 1st of 2022, but it was the perfect game to keep me occupied that last week of 2021 while I was off work.

On: PC/Windows

This one took a while, and I honestly don't know why. I tried to take this on when I went through all the Rusty Lake game titles last year, but this one couldn't help but crash. Everytime I tried playing on my laptop and my desktop, I would go to the first table and would start to drink (which requires clicking on a glass and dragging the liquid down), but then my cursor would get stuck. No matter what I tried, I would move my mouse around and it would only control the liquid. I tried clicking off, restarting, uninstalling/reinstalling, accessing the pause menu, and nothing worked. Then, by some strange miracle, I tried it on a whim today and it worked. No explanation, and I went on without questioning it. As far as the title itself goes, its mostly the same as the other games with one crucial exception. The last hidden section, which has an achievement tied to it, is based on an actual ARG. Now I like ARGs/Unfiction projects, please don't get me wrong. But requiring a bunch of digging and searching outside of the game itself feels like too much effort to me for an actual achievement in the game. If it was just extra lore that would be one thing, but I don't know I just ended up using a walkthrough for that last bit. Its strange, I'm not sure what the delineation in my mind is or quite the reason why, but if the website was inside the game itself I wouldn't have minded. Oh well...

On: PlayStation

This game might have some form of charm or nostalgia for those that grew up with it, but that certainly didn't work on me a first time around. This wasn't helped at all by the fact that my PS1 controller's analog wasn't working at all, so I had to play this 3D platformer with the D-Pad as if it had tank controls as well, and that just doesn't work for games like this. Bubsy 3D, for its various faults, is primarily frustrating to me because of the control scheme. It just doesn't translate into that space. That aside, there is an aesthetic with that cartoony feel that makes me want more for this series. Something better. Improved. Refined. And maybe the sequel delivers on that hope. I'm not sure, I'd have to play it, though certainly this is a franchise that isn't coming back anytime soon. I liked the boss designs...

On: Nintendo 64

I had to go back to this game to remind myself why I liked Pokémon Snap to begin with, as I did ENJOY New Pokémon Snap when it came out initially last year, but the experience hasn't been the greatest to reflect on. Bugs withstanding, the main thing that drove me crazy is that it just feels way to big for what the game is. It feels like that style of game works much better in a more reserved form, like is the case with the N64 version. There are a few alternate paths and of course secretive puzzles that can come across as contrived just so that you can get special Pokémon to appear so you can add them to your Pokédex. But you only need the one photo and can then attempt to get better emotions and poses for a better score for that Pokémon, no messing around with different grades for different star levels. And there still are a relatively small amount of stages, no boss stages (excluding the final Mew encounter) and no nighttime versions of all the areas either. And there's something charming about that polygonal style when it comes to a more simplified game experience as well. Everything in the original Pokémon Snap amounts to a game that I can fully get behind. I was someone that has been championing the idea of a Pokémon Snap sequel utilizing motion capabilities since the WiiU was first released, though in hindsight it feels like sort of a monkey's paw style wish. Maybe we would've been better off with a remaster of the original with these new motion controls instead.

On: PlayStation

Well, in my experience, EVERYTHING can stop Mr. Domino. Running out of time of course, various blockades in the middle of the path, other dominos shooting at you while you run. It can be a lot to take in, every stage takes a couple of times running through it before you even know what all is happening (which makes the life system all the more frustrating). That complaint aside though, the game really isn't that long. There are only 6 stages, and the first four are incredibly easy after the first few go arounds. The latter two made completing the game difficult. Not only because I had to get through the stages, but I had to get a "Best in the Country" rating on all stages in order to unlock the last of the characters, and it's name is ridiculous: D/\M*?0. That's aside the point though. The 5th stage, the Amusement Park, is a bit of a pain because the stage is SO long, which means hitting all trick tiles in one long combo, which is required for best rankings, is insanely easy to mess up. Took me a number of tries to get through that stage in and of itself, and then when I finally get the ranking I've been looking for, the final stage hits... this stage is known as "The Town" and it's deceptive in how simple it looks. Much shorter, though broken into 3 parts, and there aren't near as many trick tiles to hit as some previous stages. Not to mention you can't get one long combo based on the different parts of the stage, so it should be easier. And hitting the tiles was. But in the final part, your domino appears to decay much faster than in other stages. You have to speed up at just the right points and hit the health tiles at certain moments and even then I was probably a second from losing when I kicked off the combo. This nearly drove me mad this final stage, but I finally did it and unlocked some weird alien that I'm never going to play with because I don't want to get back to game. On it's own, the game is a lot of fun and is close to Jumping Flash on my list of favorite PS1 games probably, but in terms of completing it, I would say don't even bother. It isn't worth it.

On: PlayStation

Horrible. Maybe this would've been saved slightly in my mind if I actually had seen the single season series that accompanied it. But I doubt it. Not much of anything to say on this one.

On: PC/Windows

This was an interesting one and I certainly liked the flow of it. The art style and the musical choice is likely the best part of the game, they compliment each other pretty well. The collectibles were slightly annoying, but nothing too terrible or frustrating. I do believe that the ambience, the musical elements, and the actual graphics of this title were the best aspect, and I was surprised that there was actual gameplay by way of some puzzle solving as well. The game lead me to believe it was more walking sim than anything else at the beginning, but I was certainly proved wrong. It's also just beautiful to look at, as I alluded to earlier. So there's a lot to like about this one, not much more to say here either.

On: PC/Windows

I remember seeing a number of YouTube channels that I was a big fan of covering this game back when it first came out and I was instantly attached to it. It was one of the first games like this I had ever seen. So, I waited until I was in a position to purchase the game and play through it in earnest myself. And I did. And got stuck incredibly quickly. And after spending so much time struggling and not wanting to look up solutions, I gave it up. Until this year, going through games in my Steam backlog and seeing it sitting there. And granted it still took a while and was frustrating, but overall I had a great time. And the one thing I was most worried about (the timer) turned out to not be necessary at all. I feel like I would've experienced that when I first played the game way back when, but I certainly don't remember encountering that. Perhaps I gave up the first time around much quicker than I thought I did.

On: PlayStation 4

Choices, oh choices. The types of games are always split for me, I need to try and separate my thoughts from the original playthrough and attempt to not let them cloud my judgement of the completion aspects of what I'm playing. This is another such case. As, playing through initially, the game is interesting with character dynamics that get you invested and I wanted to make sure I could do my best to save everyone and repair relationships all while dodging danger and death along the way. That's great, and I think this has great material for a miniseries as well (of which I think one has been mentioned). Completing these games is a whole other beast, however, as I've already made abundantly clear in the past with games in the Dark Pictures anthology for example. Game like these could really benefit from a Chapter Select, though I also see how that doesn't always work since they're predicated on making selections that having characters remembering dialogue and actions for the duration of the campaign. Maybe a "skip to event" button or option would work better, but that also would cause you to skip side bits that also might be necessary for effecting character's feelings. It's a complicated relationship I have with games like these and I don't have a good solution for my gripes. Maybe they just aren't the types of games meant to be completed, but if that's the case, then maybe we shouldn't have extras or trophies/achievements for all the different endings in games like these. I guess there's some replayability factor there, but it more feels like I'm being forced to do so by my own mental hang-ups and I generally leave the titles having more negative feelings than positive.

On: GameBoy

OK, so this game is straight garbage. Though that's pretty obvious. It doesn't really accomplish anything by taking a game known to be terrible 20 years later, playing it, and then parroting back what has already been said. Honestly, the only reason I played this is because I was about to do a Space Jam podcast recording and was trying to prepare, and having seen that this is the game they decided to give young Lebron James to play, I thought it made sense to try and play a bit of it beforehand. Playing the game pretty quickly turned into completing it, because the game only has 80 quick puzzle stages and a password for each stage in case you die, so you can just go back to where you left off. And besides a couple of outlier stages that pretty much require you to do tasks in a specific order (lest you be taken out by one of the rogue Looney Tunes villains roaming around the level) the game is really easy. Collect all of the carrots and get a key. The end. But its so monotonous, the music grating, and the bad guys, Yosemite Sam in particular, are infuriating in that they don't seem to have any pattern. Some of my worst runs would involve me taking a pipe only to find a Sylvester just standing stuck on the other end offscreen. Insta-death. That isn't fun, and since sometimes the villains just stop moving, you can't plan for it. Never again...

On: Nintendo 64

All this time anticipating finally playing through this game and collecting everything and fully experiencing the "Rare" classic. And man I'm not the biggest fan. Now, as a game its fun enough and surely is cut from that Banjo-Kazooie cloth that I'm not only a fan of but that I also embrace deeply, I love those kinds of games even though many call them mindless collect-a-thons (which to an extent isn't completely untrue). However, in this particular case, there really is just way too much to be done here. I mean for a long while this game held the Guinness World Record for most collectables in a video game. I don't know if that still applies now that we're over-inundated with sprawling open-world RPG's every single month. But even still, there's just too much here for me to be fully in for it. I like the fact that there are 5 different characters each with their own skillset, and that already extends the amount of collectables by a bit because now each of those characters has a certain amount of bananas, banana medals, and golden bananas located in every stage. But there are also upgrades to collect for instruments and weapons, which apply to each character. There are banana fairies that you can find and snap pictures of (once you have enough film to power your camera). And of course the blueprints that you obtain from killing roaming enemies. However, you have to look out for the color helmet the enemy is wearing, because that indicates which character you have to use to kill that enemy in order to get the aforementioned blueprint. And the small regular bananas I mentioned earlier? Connect enough to unlock a special boss for that area that will give you a boss key, collect all the boss keys and you can free the giant Klungo or whatever the hell is name is in the hub world. It's a mess, and it drove me crazy. That isn't even including the Rare and Nintendo tokens you can get (completely optional unless you are a completionist of course), and you only obtain these by beating high scores in arcade games from Rare's past. I was driven crazy by the Donkey Kong cabinet. I've played the original Donkey Kong and made it to the end numerous times, but something about this didn't click, the controls didn't feel quite right to me. I mean, it is the N64 controller. Lastly, I had to put this game on hold because I couldn't beat the second of the rabbit races with Lanky in that forest area. I failed and failed and failed and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I even found a glitch online to start the race in Lanky's fast running mode, and that didn't work. I read online that sometimes the analog stick of the N64 controller is limited by the circular casing surrounding it, so I ordered a new N64 controller online with free range analog movement. I won the race on the first try after that. I wasn't abusing hacks or turbo or even going super fast with Lanky, just the freeness of the analog stick I guess meant he wasn't going his full speed with my original controller. That I hate. I don't know, not my favorite of Rare's games by any means, if you are someone that likes to complete everything you play, skip this one.

On: Nintendo Switch

Boy was this an incredible amount of fun. Having played through and completed a bunch of Metroid games last year for the first time, I didn't know exactly what to expect this time around. The trailers certainly made it look like it harkened back to something more akin to Metroid Fusion or Super Metroid, though I had attempted to play through Metroid Prime and stopped (various reasons), so I wasn't sure how much of those titles might worm their way into Dread. Surprisingly, not as much as I had thought they might. The exploration aspect and ambiance of the various environments comprising the world were the best part of the experience, and the story actually pretty engrossing, even if it does verge slightly into fanfiction territory there at the end. The only thing I unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of were the EMMI bot sections, which sucks because I understand those were sort of the primary draw/addition of the game. I'm used to not being able to gain certain things or access specific areas until after backtracking following some unlockable or weapon advancement. These robots, however, blocking large swaths of stages by chasing you down and instakilling you unless you have pinpoint timing in a quick time event really wasn't doing it for me. I enjoy difficulty in games quite a bit, but stress in video games is not something I enjoy, and running around in a big locked room with only a specific defined path while avoiding the detection of these hyper aware kill-droids didn't feel much like Metroid to me and I much preferred literally every part of the game without them in it.

On: PlayStation 4

OK, I love Cuphead to death, not since Super Meat Boy have I had a game that I just randomly will start up a new game and playthrough it as quickly as I can. I can't help it, I'm a huge fan of 2D skill based games and the Fleischer-influenced style and jazzy suondtrack only help to elevate this game to instant classic status for myself. However, I've never fully completed it until now. Once I finish the game, I can go back and play some of the stages and beat them on Expert no problem, but Inkwell Isle II specifically has bosses that I have a lot of trouble beating at the Expert level. Even skipping to Inkwell Isle III and Inkwell Hell on Expert, I can do those just fine. But something about Wally Warbles, Djimmi the Great, and Grim Matchstick have always held me back. I decided to just sit down and fully do it this time though and am so glad I did, I love finally seeing that platinum pop on a game I love. And yes, I plan on doing this on other platforms eventually as well, I love the game too much. I already own Cuphead on PC and Switch, just need to eventually sit down and complete them too. At least I got this one done, don't know if I'll ever be able to fully complete Super Meat Boy (those no-death trophies are just too taxing for me personally).

On: Oculus Quest 2

This was my first VR gaming experience and I'm glad that I picked it. Although I do get startled by scary games pretty easily, they're still my favorite genre of titles, and this game really showed me what I'm in for playing VR games. It isn't even an actually scary game, just creepy. But that's heightened once you're thrown into this world that encompasses you, especially when you haven't really played VR before. Occasional whispers just coming in out of nowhere, doors opening slightly too fast, hell even just being in the basement below a church would normally feel like I was just preparing for a boss fight or something in any other game. But the fact that I was immersed in this zone had me entirely on edge, even when there really wasn't anything going on. I let go of a beetle a bit too soon and it flew at me. I screamed, not ashamed to say. This game not only showed me the potential of VR games now that I have a VR device, but also the potential future of escape rooms, because the way the game is segmented and how the puzzles so easily loop back on one another acts as a proof of concept for escape room titles, maybe with a bit more free motion and maybe even multiple players (if we can ever get to that point).

On: Sega Genesis

Vectorman isn't all that fun to play, at least it wasn't for me. But boy is it nice to look at. I didn't mind going through the entire game solely because the graphics are a treat to look at and I didn't necessarily mind going through and blasting televisions and enemies alike as I bopped along to that pure Genesis soundfont. Aside from that, there isn't much I have to say on this one. The regular progression through the game is fairly simple, the occasional boss fights are where things really fall apart, as I can sort of feel that arcade sensibility in those encounters. Things are way more difficult than they need to be and it feels like the game is trying to get money out of me to continue playing. I don't believe this was an arcade title, but it can sure feel like it at times. The weird transforming jaguar/eagle thing in the snow zone gave me the most issues, though I did eventually overcome it. For most all of these fights its the standard "learn the pattern to beat the boss", but even still there's plenty of room for error here. I don't necessarily know that I'm looking forward to an eventual Vectorman 2 playthrough...

On: Nintendo Entertainment System

What horrible garbage, I can't believe I wasted my time with this. It wasn't hard by any means, which felt odd at the time considering that it's an NES game here. I didn't grow up with the system (but did grow up with the Genesis as my first console) so a lot of these 8 bit titles can vary in terms of how prepared I am to take them on. This game was nothing to me, lives are handed out like candy in this game and I was able to crush it in no time at all. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that the enemies, like many old-school games based on licensed properties, are entirely uninspired and usually don't use the source material to it's fullest potential, instead doing stupid nonsense like having TNT sticks and clocks running around. I get wanting to save characters for boss fights, but what about hunting dogs? Or instant martians? Or literally anything else. Additionally, the boss fights are nothing either, the only fights of any interest to me are with Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn. The Daffy fight happens multiple times and is incredibly easy, but at least it fits the tone of having to modify a sign to say Duck Season before he touches you. That's something. And the Foghorn fight I liked because you not only have to worry about the lumbering rooster, but also Henry the chickenhawk running around as well. All the other fights are nothing, so I didn't really care. And at the end, of course, its revealed that no one actually wanted him dead, they were playing birthday pranks! What a cop out, makes sense for characters like Tweety and Foghorn but I think Elmer actually wants him dead and those were real bullets he was firing so I don't know what the game is on about.

On: Nintendo Entertainment System

I... liked this game? More or less, I don't wanna go overboard. Perhaps its best to say that I didn't hate the game near as much as I thought I would, because it handles pretty decently and has some interesting mechanics thrown together that I wasn't all to familiar with. Some things took a couple of attempts/runs for me to actually understand as well, since I didn't really have a manual on hand. Perhaps the biggest instance of this was the whip and gun upgrade system. I didn't understand until quite some time that blue was good and red was bad (even though that IS traditionally what people understand in games like this) because of when I started paying attention to them. I grabbed a red weapon and changed to another weapon, that's the first time I really paid attention to notice it and thought that red vs blue vs some other mysterious colors would determine what weapon I had. After that I determined it was random, because after collecting some blues my weapon upgraded in such a subtle way that I noticed no change and figured I just obtained the weapon I already had. Of course, I ended up looking this up which was helpful. The other neat bit is the "3D" maze you go through to get to each boss, I really like that aspect even if it can become a bit disorienting. But its ambitious enough that I enjoy it. The only thing I really hated was that 4th boss. I went in there with missiles and bombs and fully upgraded whip and weapon and it still took forever. Online really had no helpful hints either so I just had to suffer through it. Final boss was a cakewalk compared to that guy. Anyways, I did like the game even if it was frustrating and occasionally bizarre. Fester's Quest remaster when?

On: Oculus Quest 2

My SECOND venture into the Oculus was a bit of an odd one, a puzzle game inspired by the Alice in Wonderland book series, but I still think it had a ton going on and it handled things pretty interestingly. For instance, instead of having a large open 3D space that you navigate around by teleporting, this places you in a fully 3D tunnel with little windows representing the stages popping up around you. And once you run out of space, it starts moving vertically as well. Near the end of the game, it gets to the point where you look down and you can see rooms from the very beginning of the game. I LOVE this feature, and it's something I'd like to see variances on in other VR games as well. This is only the second one I've completed, but I've played a few to this point and most of them are just the teleport mechanic as it seems to work the best for what's intended. But this tunnel feature even sort of scared me as well! There's a segment where you're being accosted by the Cheshire Cat, and if you look around the tunnel you can see his grinning, sharped tooth visage floating in the darkness. Horrific. And I adore it. As far as the gameplay goes, it's pretty standard running around and solving puzzles for characters, and you get different endings depending on how many invites you collect and your final interactions, but I think the only thing that has really stuck with me is that vertical cylinder style of VR stage design and my desire for it to be in more things moving forward.

On: PC/Windows

This is one of the reasons I love Completionator AND the bounty system so much. I hadn't heard of this game at all when it came up on the bounties page as a new game, and after watching a short video of it I decided I desperately wanted to get a hold of it and play through it myself. And it was a great ride! I like platformers like this, and it's always a nice surprise whenever I find one that I didn't know about. The gun mechanics are great and the few stages wherein you shoot while flying don't necessarily interrupt the flow of what's already going on. And perhaps my favorite fact of all: it was an easy completion. Yeah! I think I had to play through the game twice and was able to get all the Steam achievements just from that as well. I would recommend this to most anybody that likes running around and shooting things in a 2D space, because this game pulls it off well.

On: Nintendo Game Boy

Wow, the game that started it all. I'll be honest, my only real familiarity with Kirby at this point has been Super Star on the SNES (which I understand is sort of reduxed versions of prior games in the series) and Kirby Air Ride, which is really it's own thing. But what can I say about this game other than I love it! It's so simple, from the stage and enemy design down to Kirby himself, and it was a treat to go through and complete because there's really nothing to it. Get through the game, beat the different bosses and take down King Dedede and you're done. The game doesn't waste your time or expect a lot out of you, it's a simple romp through an imaginative world that's a ton of fun. I can certainly see why it took off from the GameBoy and made it to home consoles as soon as it did. Looking forward to all the Kirby games I'll be playing here shortly, I've grabbed a ton of the handheld ones especially and am going on a trip soon, so I'll have Kirby to keep me company!

On: Nintendo Game Boy Advance

Straight into Nightmare in Dreamland, and what an upgrade this game is! I mean, I'm aware that the generational gap is much larger between this and the first GameBoy game, but still it's a fun exercise I'm thinking about engaging in more with series I'm not all that familiar with. I've played next to no Final Fantasy games, so maybe I play the first one and then jump into XV? Again, at least interesting exercise there. Anyways, a good number of content, especially the bosses, does feel recycled, and it seems to lend credence to the statement I always hear about Kirby games mostly being the same from generation to generation. Nightmare and Meta Knight are here, but everything else I'm pretty sure comes from Dream Land or Kirby's Adventure on the NES. This doesn't mean a whole lot in regards to quality, I'm pretty sure every single Kirby game has a Wispy Woods fight as an introduction of sorts for those unfamiliar with Kirby and it's mechanics. But yes, what else is there to say other than this game rocks and, it may be a bit early for me to say this, but based on what I've seen it may come down to either this or Kirby Super Star being peak Kirby. I don't think much else can actually top that unless Forgotten Lands is astounding. Also, the commercial song for this game is emblazoned into my brain for all time.

On: Nintendo Game Boy

This is pinball. What else is there to comment on really? I will say I think the game is well done and well coded, for as simplistic as it is, even for a virtual pinball game. You're basically just going through the plot of the first Kirby game, fighting the same bosses by hitting them with your Kirby pinball a set amount of times to defeat them until you get to the wrestling ring with King Dedede. Take him down and you not only beat the game, you've technically completed it. And like I said, it's better coded than most pinball games I feel. Sonic Spinball, for example, has a lot going on and I've always thought that it only hurts the playability of the game and how much it annoys you. Pokémon Pinball, of which there are two different variants, works pretty well but since it's Pokémon, you're mostly just trying to catch everything you can before you lost and restart. There's a goal, but it's fairly loose. This is linear with a set story that was already designed for it and I never felt cheated by the mechanics. I'm not a big virtual pinball guy, but I think this one gets a pass.

On: Nintendo 64

Man I loved this game once upon a time, what happened? Now, I don't wanna go too far, there are things I like about this one. The power-up combinations are more than enough to warrant exploration, and the way the abilities can effect the environment but are still color-coded made it easy to know exactly where the secrets are, with the complicated piece of the puzzle being "how do I get the abilities needed to go about opening this secret up?" The partnership ability combos with your friends help to add to the experience too. However, even with all of that, the game is pretty sleepy and slow in regards to it's stage design and mechanics. The music always feels like it's fighting desperately to keep the energy of the experience up, but it can really only go so far. I felt bored even going into later levels and I wasn't getting back into it until final boss time. Though honestly, that's how I end up feeling about a lot of these Kirby games. They occupy such a weird space in my mind in that regard, where I recognize they're good games with decent mechanics, but they ultimately don't do anything for me in the end. Even still, I'm looking forward to playing through Kirby and the Forgotten Land so the series still manages to get me in even now.

On: Nintendo Entertainment System

Maybe I should've played this one before Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, just because I can see more of the evolutionary thread from that first Kirby game all the way through. This is a slightly less refined version of that GameBoy Advance game, and it's still enjoyable in a way most any other Kirby game is enjoyable, though I am getting a bit burnt out at this point I think. The N64 game was enough of a departure I think as they tried pulling the series into 3D, but back to basics more or less with the pixelated 2D Kirby games here. Also, I may have buried the lead, but this literally is Nightmare in Dreamland, which is of course a more refined version of this. I don't know why I thought Meta Knight first appeared in that GameBoy Advance game, since he's pretty prominently in Super Star on the SNES, but yeah sure enough Meta Knight is here and so is the final boss, Nightmare, so technically speaking I've already played and completed this game before. Which doesn't help with the sameness vibes these games give off. The game is either mimicking previous Kirby's as much as possible, or they're quite totally secret remakes with updated graphics and quality of life stuff.

On: Nintendo Switch

A true celebration of Kirby, and the history of the franchise that I only have a tangential, passing familiarity with. I mean, that's the second goal of this little experiment I'm doing, right? The first goal being to do all this before I take on that new Kirby title. Any ways, I think technically speaking the game works great and has some interesting elements, such as that bizarre final boss fight (but aren't all Kirby final fights bizarre to some degree?). Even if I only knew some of these "star ally" characters that they were funneling in, I could still appreciate the fact that they went through the trouble to comb through Kirby's existence and bring us the likes of Rick and Adeleine. I mean, I recognize some of these guys from Smash trophies, so don't worry it wasn't all entirely lost on me. And yeah, I think the multiple CPU friends following you around lending their abilities was a nice touch, and helped to define a game that I'm already feeling is pretty stale and hard to iterate on. Well, maybe not hard to iterate on, but mixing things up is something they aren't really attempting with the mainline Kirby games. You want stuff like that, you've gotta go to Kirby Pinball Land or Kirby Air Rid (which, by the way, I ADORE Air Ride. Need to revisit). That Breath of the Wild Kirby sure does look like a departure though, still excited for that! I promise I'll stop bringing it up soon, but it feels nigh impossible given what I'm doing and looking forward to right now.

On: Nintendo Wii

Ninth or tenth verse, same as the first. I sound like a broken record, but what more can I say? It's Kirby, it's a Wii based Kirby at that, and it's "2.5"D, so not even 3D in a relatively interesting way like the N64 Kirby did at points with it's perspective. That game was dull, but it felt like it was trying something. All your favorite abilities and enemies are here with a couple of surprise guests to flesh out the story with a surprise boss that really shouldn't surprise you if you are familiar with the Kirby formula anymore. Cute becomes dark and twisted, anything else? Oh yes, I will say this game provide more challenging aspects of completion with all of it's ability trials in addition to the regular stage collectables, so I spent a lot of time in the Hub world on this one, running between different doors and trying to get the best ranking possible on the different mechanics that I usually never used throughout my playtime. What can I say, with Kirby I have a particular groove and some abilities just don't factor into it.

On: Super Nintendo Entertainment System

This was a bit of a fun one and a breath of fresh air since it's a new type of Kirby game for me. I mean, for the regular Kirby series, the formula really can't be iterated upon too much, though at least with Avalanche it's iterating on a different type of game. Kirby's Avalanche is a falling block puzzle game, and the entire point of the game is to make it to just make it all the way to the end and beat the final round. That's all, it's honestly not that difficult. And what's better is that it's just a Puyo Puyo reskin, similar to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. In fact, this game and Bean Machine have strikingly similar designs and sound fonts (to an extent), which should be a given with it being a reskin and all. But this game goes the extra mile where Bean Machine doesn't by adding it's own design around the borders and the middle of the screen to make it feel like it's own thing. And I was never really stuck at any point either, not like Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine where it felt like I just kept playing the final fight until Robotnik let me win. This was simple to figure out, I made it through relatively quickly, and it didn't overstay it's welcome, which I feel I can say for most puzzle games of this type, but NOT most newer Kirby games unfortunately.

On: Nintendo Game Boy

I'm really thinking this Kirby thing was a mistake more and more, though at least the last few I've gone through have been sort of their own thing. The formula really can't be iterated upon too much, though at least with Star Stacker it's iterating on a different type of game. Star Stacker is a falling block puzzle... wait, haven't I done and said this all before? The answer is yes, because surprise surprise, this is a falling block puzzle game. This isn't exactly like Puyo Puyo at least, and it isn't a reskin, so it has it's own thing going for it. But since it's on the GameBoy early on and it's only a puzzle game, there isn't much beyond that. It's incredibly simplistic, even on expert level stages, and there's no way to complete it either. Just play through and beat it, easy as. Glad to sort of be out of this self-imposed Kirby month so I can get back to playing games I wanna play.

On: PlayStation 4

This is the first of a collection of games that I had put on hold for a while to "complete" later. However, I recently had an epiphany about completing games and how I've been gaming up to this point. So, I still like to complete games as best I can, but there are so many different experiences out there, I had to redefine what completing a game means to me. Both Crash 2 and 3 Remastered I had technically beaten all stages, collected all gems, and obtained all trophies for. However, I hadn't gotten all the platinum relics and tried for a bit then put on hold. I don't think I care much about the relics, I don't even like time trials. So, I'm saying that under my definition, this game is now completed for me. This is sort of the same as the first Crash remaster, in that it feels odd and more difficult in places, and I think its because the hit boxes for some obstacles feel off. The original game was by no means easy, but this one feels less forgiving in spots. Additionally, the cutscenes are definitely remastered, but some of these jokes don't really land, I think characters like Cortex were funny originally but have become even more cartoonish (if possible) over time and just aren't as funny to me anymore, and I don't blame the remasters specifically for that, they are just a link in that chain. I don't hate the game, the music is great and the sound effects (Crash withstanding) are restored to a new sort of glory here. I just see bits that I wish were different or improved to truly showcase how great that original trilogy is.

On: PlayStation 4

Second example of changing completion metrics, I did everything this game required of me and then some, but it doesn’t care about me getting all platinum relics so I don’t either. While Cortex Strikes Back is definitely my favorite of the Crash games (in the original trilogy and the remastered trilogy), Warped is my least favorite. That’s especially true for the remastered version, simply because it just feels unfinished. The texturing, particularly on the liquids in the stages, all look bizarre and much worse than the hyper-polygonal PS1 versions. The characters don’t look great either, I don’t like N. Trophy’s model in movement and that extends to Cortex as well (though that’s a problem I have across all of remasters). It feels like they put a lot of effort into Crash 1 as it was the progenitor for it all, and Crash 2 as it’s the big favorite of the franchise. Crash 3 seems to have been an afterthought that only remaining resources were dumped into. Credit where credit is due though, I think Uka-Uka is animated fantastically, definitely 50% of the game’s budget right there.

On: PlayStation 4

My completion metrics changed, I don’t see a reason I need to force myself to go through and get Ultra rewards on all the Danger Deck DLC challenges. I experienced enough of the game without forcing myself to play these battles. It’s certainly not enough to warrant replay value for me, because the gameplay wasn’t the draw for me in a game like this. It certainly helps that the South Park RPGs of the past few years have been much better than the South Park games released during the first few seasons, but even still the game is about the story and the characters for something like this. That being said, the overhaul to the gameplay and combat system was a nice change of pace, and the battles in this game tend to be much less repetitive as a result. There are more interesting enemy variants and hazards to concern yourself with during play. There’s one battle where you have to ensure you can fight while also making your way to the right of the stage constantly to avoid being insta-killed as the arena moves through a building. That’s neat! The first game was fun enough, but the battling did get tedious over time, which is ultimately the problem with many RPGs.

On: PlayStation 4

I played through this expecting just a rhythm game with Kingdom Hearts music, something I could lay back and enjoy while playing and listening but nothing too important. However, I did not expect this game to introduce new canon relevant to anyone interested in the series and those that have played Kingdom Hearts III! Why? And it’s at the very end of the game too, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing that there’s new Sora/Kairi plot introduced only after you’ve reached the end of the game. Aside from that, though, I would 100% recommend this game to anyone that is confused by the Kingdom Hearts story and would like clarification or just a nice refresher on the story up to this point. It doesn’t place everything in chronological order necessarily, but the fact that you can experience every iota of the story with actual coherent narrations and explanations (crazy for a KH game) is more than worth it in my eyes! And you get to hear all this great music too, a definite benefit. The only really complaint I have is that since the way the game works is you running on top of the windy rhythm display as it wraps around corners and over hills, it can be hard to see some notes coming and at a point you have to condition yourself to know when something’s about to come up following numerous replays of the same track. I can honestly think of only a handful though where I considered that an actual problem though.

On: PlayStation 3

Another instance of "I completed this on my terms" (no time trials) and added the completion after the fact to remove it from my backlog. I enjoyed this title as well (though definitely considered the second to be the better game). I'm not sure why I missed out on the Sly Cooper series for so long. I had a PS1, PS2, and a PS3, yet I completely missed out on Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, AND Sly Cooper until here recently and its sort of crazy to think about. But anyways, I felt this was a good introduction to the series, and I love the art style too. That's probably the biggest selling point for me is the artistry behind the backgrounds, the character design, and the cutscenes as well. The only thing I really wasn't a big fan of were the Murray driving segments. I don't think it handles all that well and the game would've been better with their exclusion. There are I think two side missions about this and the game wouldn't be missing anything without these bits. Besides that, I had a good time. Only two left to go before I'm done with the series (NOT counting Move Heroes for now).

On: Nintendo Switch

I was talking to a friend recently regarding the nature of this game and how it was upsetting that so many games were attempting to capitalize on the success of Breath of the Wild. As someone who has actually fully completed Kirby and the Forgotten Land, I have to step and say that comparison isn’t really apt and hardly applies. The closest the game comes to comparing is the idea of a land in ruin, with the new area Kirby is exploring being filled to the brim with destroyed landscapes and overgrown malls. But many people got the impression that this was an open world Kirby game, and even still I’ve witnessed multiple memes coming out listing the new Kirby amongst these hollow open world games stealing from Zelda. Maybe this is solely based on the trailer and how the stages are in fact more open than your average 2/2.5D Kirby game. So yeah, the stages are more 3D, sure, and allow more open exploration. But it doesn’t even come close to the structure of a Mario 64 stage, let alone Breath of the Wild. Kirby and the Forgotten Land has a semi-customizable hub world that is fun to play around in, but features an overworld comprised of stages that really are more akin to something like Crash Bandicoot or Mario 3D World in their level of “openness”. But I’ve complained about people online enough, this game is certainly a refreshing addition to the Kirby franchise, and the power-up upgrade system, while not revolutionary on its own, is Wild for a Kirby game. The last time I can remember them experimenting with the power ups so heavily was in Kirby 64, which included the ability to combine power ups as discussed when I completed that game. The gatchapon system appeals to me collector sensibilities as well, I can’t help it, I love gathering items for display. It’s an endearing aspect of the Super Smash Bros. games as well, and is clearly something Sakurai is a fan of.

On: Nintendo Game Boy

This game was so close to being onto something with the multiple friends that allow Kirby transportation options, but I don't feel it ultimately hits the mark. Part of this is because I'm not entirely positive as to how the friends are decided when the bag is collected, but some appear more frequently than others and aren't that fun to use. How often did I get the fish (Kine) when there was seemingly no water to help with traversal? It felt like it was every other stage, though it's possible I'm exaggerating there. My favorite part by far is the final boss, Dark Matter, as Kirby bosses are usually a load of fun. I just wish the game surrounding it was a little better, I believe I've heard it said that the buddy system was improved upon in Dream Land 3, but I've never played that one so I can't necessarily speak to it.

On: Nintendo Wii

This is also a pretty tedious one completion wise, so I had to modify my parameters of course. Especially since the online component is no longer working, due to the suspension of the Wii’s online game services. So unless you want to grind for months on end, you aren’t going to be able to purchase and this unlock online avatar icons (so sad). Everything that matters is pretty achievable though. Going through levels performing tricks to get the most stars possible (this game’s currency) is a blast, and the games Rainbow Road clone is stunning to look at and play through. I know this is a followup to the ExciteTrucks game, and both are technically a part of the Excitebike series, but this is one example of the Wii motion controls I think works rather well. As opposed to pointing at the sensor on the screen, it uses the position of the Wii more for launching off charge poles, barreling through a forest of trees, and even simply steering along the course. The worst aspect of that is that sometimes it can go crazy if you try to overcorrect, though that’s hardly a problem with the game and more a fault of the hardware (and to an extent the user) that can be applied across multiple games in the Wii library. If you truly wanna enjoy yourself while still “completing” the game, just focus on saving up stars to purchase new bots and decals, everything else is superfluous and really only affects your online player card, which you can’t even use anymore. Have fun!

On: Nintendo GameCube

This game was my original introduction to the world of DBZ. I had never watched the anime or read the manga prior to playing this game for the first time so many years ago. Again, I’ve gone back to play through and try my hand at completion and while it still has its difficulties, it’s thankfully so much easier to get through now that I’m not a child. I was able to unlock so many capsules and Dragon Balls for the first time, and it’s funny that I owned this game for so many years, yet I had no idea Mr. Satan (or Hercule here) was an unlockable character! Perhaps my favorite detail, that bit. I’m addition to that, the little “What If?” scenarios you can unlock and play through in the main campaign is a nice touch that was honestly so unnecessary that I appreciate the effort put into adding something like that in for players. I’ve been meaning to get into other DBZ games, and have heard good things about Fighterz, so maybe that’s the next one I’ll have to get around to playing.

On: Nintendo Switch

Finally completed this one as well, I was waiting for quite some time due to all of the bugs that were present when first released, including one introduced in a week one patch that made one of the requests completely impossible. But, all this time later, I figured that the request bug (and a couple of bugs keeping me from completing two final maps) would be fixed. Not only was that the case, but apparently a free DLC was introduced that brought 3 new maps into the fold (with day and night), new Pokémon, and new maps to complete. Ugh. I already stated it when I completed the original Pokémon Snap, but boy howdy I think that New Pokémon Snap has way too much in it for the concept. But alright, I went ahead and spent a weekend finishing what I couldn't before due to bugs and also took care of the DLC, and can claim I have the game complete now. Finally. And yeah, I stand by what I said, there's just too much here for the game's actual concept to hold my interest. This isn't even from a completionist mindset, when I was first playing through the game, by the time I arrived at the snow area, I was so bored. It's cool to see all these new Pokémon and the new interactions, and I think the introductions of these sort of "boss battles" with extremely large Pokémon is a nice addition. It's reminiscent of the final fight with Mew in the original game, but again with slightly more added. But since it's just a smaller stage with a designated focus, having slightly more here doesn't bother me like it does in the other stages, which can come across as pure overload at times. I stand by what I originally said, I think maybe just a remaster/remake of the original with some new things added in would've served the idea better, and I would've enjoyed it more over time.

On: PlayStation 4

This took a bit longer than I’d like, primarily due to my least favorite thing when it comes to completing games: trophy bugs. Yes, a long standing issue with new games, though recently (especially during October 2021) I’ve been running into tons of examples of trophy bugs in older games that were just never patched. Wunderling isn’t that old, but it certainly isn’t new, and there actually is a patch for this trophy on PCs. But not consoles, because the patch comes with a content update that hasn’t been configured for consoles yet, months later. Me and a few other users talked about this and contacted the developer and they confirmed as much unfortunately. Not satisfied, I went online and found a quick fix that managed to work actually. For the “Hoofmeister” trophy, if it doesn’t unlock, simply go to each level with the cow (Dash) and speak to her if she’s present. If she isn’t there, you can leave, that level is unaffected. The places where she is still there, talk to her, and then play through the level WITHOUT DYING. If you die, you have to go talk to the cow again. That’s how you fix it, not that complicated but this wasn’t a high profile game either, so this isn’t well documented aside from on Reddit post I scrounged up. The game is fine besides that, the writing is it’s strong suit. Just hope this little bug gets fixed up on consoles soon.

On: PlayStation 4

I’m not really a Soulsborne guy, I’m sure I’ve mentioned before but I just have trouble getting into them. They’re decently hard, sure, but that doesn’t bother me so much, it’s mainly the controls. No matter what I do, I can’t get it to not feel clunky and slow, and that’s probably my problem somehow as I know I’m in the minority. However, I’ve never had that problem with Salt and Sanctuary. Ever since about 2016 in college, I’ve enjoyed going back to this game occasionally and playing with friends or others. This is the first time I ever sat down to complete the thing though. Their were two motivators here. Firstly is I played the game with my father, introducing him to the game, and it sort of reignited why I enjoy this title so much. Secondly was the announcement of the upcoming sequel, Salt and Sacrifice, long past the point anyone would’ve thought a sequel would even be developed. So, I played through the game regularly with my father, making sure to do a cloud save beforehand so that I could go back afterwards and get the second available ending. Following that, we literally had gotten every other trophy aside from a few that required more playthroughs. Had to go through and exhaust the dialogue for each of the three wandering NPCs, which proved a headache. Also had to join two creeds I had missed, that wasn’t so hard. The last, and most challenging perhaps, was beating the games first boss without dying. You are intended to die to this boss no question, but if you want to beat him it’ll probably take more than a few restarts. His attacks are easily telegraphed too, it’s just a matter of how much space he takes up. Finally beating him with no armor on makes you feel like a king, though. Well worth it. I think I’m finally ready for Salt and Sacrifice.

On: PlayStation 3

Well, don't complete this one unless you want a headache. It figures, I should've expected coming at something like this. I don't think I would've quite had this experience if I had tried completing the original game on PS2, but this was the HD collection on PS3 which comes with trophies, and I had to get them (of course). With that, however, came the unfortunate "Collect 1,000,000 Bolts" trophy. Seriously? What a pain in the ass. There's plenty to like about a game like this, its a combination of the sort of collecting-style platformer I've come to love from things like Banjo-Kazooie, but also using these collectables to upgrade weaponry. This gives the player a reason to be collecting other than simple progression in the story. But, even still, say you want to focus on that trophy for getting a million bolts. This isn't cumulative, it's all at once. Meaning if you wanted to get this naturally you would have to play through the game at the very least 4-5 times without spending anything just to get the amount, and that kinda ruins the fun of getting new weapons and experimenting in the game, doesn't it? Thankfully, there is a glitch that, while still taking time, can be mindlessly run in the background. By clipping through walls in Blackwater City you can get onto the Hoverboard track without using your Hoverboard, manuever to a specific spot with respawning boxes, and just pull out a specific weapon and let it run to constantly break boxes while bolts fly into you. I did this method (after having beat the game and unlocked everything else naturally, of course) and just tapped down the circle button on my PS3 controller so the weapon would keep going, then I turned off the screen and let it run. After 5 hours, which again was a very long time but I didn't have to stay and play, I had the final trophy and could finally mark the game complete. For people that like trophy/achievement hunting, I understand how a task like that can force replayability, but it ruins the actual gameplay experience and can sour feelings on it after the fact. Thanks to the exploit, I didn't have to waste time on that final trophy and can still say that my overall time with this was a fun blast. Other games aren't so lucky.

On: PlayStation

This may in fact be the first game I ever played on the PlayStation , and I certainly got mileage out of it. I'm glad it was included in this months PS1 exclusive bounties, as it gave me the perfect excuse to go back and experience it once again. What's even weirder is that, even as a collector, I've never once gone out of my way for any other Twisted Metal games aside from the 2009 reboot. So I don't know that the franchise or the concept itself grabbed me in any special way, perhaps just playing this during my formative years with a limited library of titles to choose from just endeared it to me. The same goes for the soundtrack too, none of the tracks fit into a genre of music I would say I generally enjoy, but I love all of these songs and can sing (or mumble) my way through all of them. Hey, at least I know the melodies. As I was playing I was reminded how rough around the edges it is, how difficult it can be to use the D-Pad to control things in a 3D space, and just how ugly these cutscene attempts were. I've seen FMV clips from some of the other games online and I honestly wish they had just gone that route. Playing this again doesn't really give me any desire to go out and seek more Twisted Metal to play, but it still does hold a special place in my heart and I'll refer to it fondly always. Remembering back to myself sitting in my room with my giant CRT television, putting in cheat codes and discovering secrets in levels for the first time in awe. Like I've said before, Genesis was my first console, but PS1 was my first 3D console and this was my first experience to 3D titles. Hell, what an introduction.

On: PlayStation

I had fun with this one for sure, but it was certainly stressful approaching it from a "completion" standpoint. There are 120 or so challenges to complete throughout the course of the story, and from my research only two were truly missable, but it certainly didn't feel that way. As is common with these styles of games from this era as well, its incredibly easy to just get lost and have no idea what you're doing or where you're expected to go to progress the story. That tends to stress me out quite a bit, and one of the reasons I avoid things like that in general. Still, a part of my full expected a turn-based RPG out of this game and I'm beyond pleased that wasn't the case, not a huge fan of those as I know I've stated before. The art style is fun and the fully animated cutscenes that occasionally play are pretty well done for a PS1 game of the time, I hope there's a version I can find somewhere that isn't incredibly compressed. I'd like to watch them all on their own. Only other thing I can think to say is that I think the grappling ability you obtain later in the game could've used another pass over, it doesn't always work as expected and feels a little clunky. But overall the game handled fine, just not entirely a style of game that I get into normally. But hey, props again to the PS1 exclusive bounties, wouldn't have probably played this otherwise.

On: PC/Windows

This is a cute, short little platform game that celebrates the history of gaming while also making sure it can handle well in its own right. The controls feel directly inspired by Mario specifically, which given the Nintendo-specific history of Mission in Snowdriftland, it makes sense. And the game is challenging too. It isn't particularly difficult to make it to the end thanks to the fairly linear layout of most of the stages. Collecting all of the snowflakes and the heart powerups, however, will require going up, down, and all around the various levels that adorn the map. Speaking of the map, it takes a page out of the original browser version of the game from so many years ago and is structured like an advent calendar, with 25 levels, each opening up a little flap as you head inside. That's cute, I like that. There are really only two missteps (or what I consider to be missteps) with this title. Firstly, the momentum of the jumps never felt quite right to me. They were loose and allowed for directional change in midair, similar to Mario, but I often felt that this change was too loose, and I always expected slightly more resistance than I actually got, which often led to me flying into an abyss for an instant death. Maybe that's my mistake for just assuming it would handle directly like a Mario platformer given the feel of the rest of the game, but either way I just wish that was a little tighter. Secondly, there's only one boss at the very end of the game which felt strange. I'm aware that there are bosses coming as a part of the Kickstarter backed content, just feels weird that the game was released without these additional bosses.

On: PC/Windows

So an exercise I’ve been partaking in recently is to bite the bullet and purchase something from my Steam wishlist every week or two. This is solely because over the years I’ve accrued a number of items on that list without ever going back to purchase any (think of all the sales I must’ve missed!). So this is the first of those that I grabbed, and it’s completely mindless, tedious, and can be frustrating. And yet I like it? I enjoy “chore-based” games to an extent and this does scratch those itches as well, there are just a few things keeping me from fully loving this. For one, the stages are much too large. I understand the concept, but when average completion time ranks to upwards of 3 hours, that annoys me. Something I’ve been playing recently is House Flippers, which is similar, and while it has its own set of issues, the stages don’t approach anywhere near these times and sizes and just supplement that with… more levels. Another thing is a checklist. The primary reason I love games like this and collectathons like Banjo-Kazooie are due to the marking of items off of lists. Now, if VCD were to have this, then it would defeat the purpose of the ranking system perhaps, as there wouldn’t be much reason to leave a stage prior to its completion unless you were bored. Leverage this is the extra activities not being on the checklist, or implementing a time limit maybe? I don’t know, tons of thoughts here for an old game no getting updates anymore.

On: PC/Windows

I don't care much for this DLC package, it felt a little... tedious. Which is a hilarious thought considering what game is being played here, but the toys and gift boxes feel a tad overkill even for this game. I'll say that this is the only one of these cleanup instances that I also cheated a bit on. There's an achievement for stacking, like, 10 stools on top of each other and I worked on it for probably 30 minutes before finally just going into the console command and enabling fly. It's the only time I did something like this in the game, and even after enabling fly, it STILL took me 10 more minutes to get them all stacked without toppling at the 8 or 9 mark. I know the DLC came out a while too, but the whole "Christmas but messed up" idea has lost it's charm for me. I liked the next DLC pack much better...

On: PC/Windows

By far my favorite of the DLC packs, and one of my favorite stages in general. The introduction of a small water area you could use as opposed to the bucket was an interesting touch (though can’t be used for much of the later half of the stage without significant backtracking). The money to collect was a decent incentive too, even if the only outcome of that was an achievement tailored to it. Still, I was more interested in collecting this than, say, the movie and game references littered throughout the base game. Much easier to store as well.

On: Sega Genesis

I always wanted to complete this game, truly I did. It just sat in a space in my own personal timeline where I was too young to be good at games like these, especially brawlers. I don't think I ever got further than the second stage when playing this on the Sonic Mega Collection on GameCube (even as a Genesis kid, I never owned this one myself). But ultimately, this title isn't for me. I don't really feel it gets as interesting as it's artstyle, and don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of the aesthetics here. But the brawling gets boring rather quick, and the bird is the only transformation I even found interesting. The game was a huge struggle to get all the way through, and by the end of it I wasn't sure if any of it was even worth the trouble. But I'm at least grateful I've finally crossed a classic Genesis title off of my backlog list.

On: Sega Genesis

A perfect example of a simple arcade title that holds up even today due to it's easy to master mechanics and interesting map layout. I honestly don't have too much to say on it because it's great the way it is. The momentum you experience while jumping feels surprising fluid for a SEGA era arcade game and the sound effects are crisp and satisfying to the ear. I even got to the point where I was able to 100% collect every chick in the minigame stages due to learning the specific patterns that could be repeated. Flicky is just mindless fun and I can see myself just picking it up and playing a couple of rounds in the future for the hell of it.

On: PlayStation 4

This really is an abysmal sort of experience, the only reason I got it was because of the price point at the time ($0.99) and I happen to have a weakness for the Fleischer Popeye cartoons. But boy oh boy is this a bad game for a number of reasons. The soundtrack is draining, the same looping song over and over and over again. The animations are fairly lousy and way to rigid to remind me of anything even close to Popeye, and perhaps worst of all - they use the Brutus name instead of Bluto. Unforgiveable. Ok, while in jest it still is rough going attempting to play this game, let alone complete it. There are two types of stages. Collect hearts thrown by Olive Oil in a big semi-empty stage, or collect letters thrown by Olive Oil to spell out a phrase while on a big empty ship (and by the way these messages are weird, the first two are about sailors and Popeye, but I swear the 3rd was something along the lines of "It's fun to be a glowstick". And I wish I was just making some kind of lame joke there). And completing this is no treat either, getting to the 10th stage was an incredibly daunting experience due to the unforgiving nature of the enemies in this game. The ship levels, while a tight fit, I can usually manage. But the big empty zones were where I had the most trouble. Mainly because Blut...Brutus can teleport whenever he isn't being looked at. I can't even count the number of times I would be running from him, pass by a building and he would walk into frame from the other side and knock me into the sea. The trophy for getting to stage 10 alluded me for far too long just because I kept dying on Stage 9 and then would have to start the whole miserable experience over again. Don't play this game, I implore you. I know I won't be playing it again, unless I absolutely have to show a friend how awful it is or something.

On: PC/Windows

So, this style of game just isn't for me. I admit that, it's definitely cute and fun to experiment around with different items on each screen, but I tend to desire a bit more purpose in what I'm doing. Nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with Chuchel either, just feels more like a collection of interactable environments with the occasional puzzle thrown in. Now, I will say that the art style is simply charming and the sound design accompanying the animations is fantastically put together, I'd like to play a style of game that's more up my alley with these components contributing in the future. That's my dream.

On: PC/Windows

I'm no stranger to The Witness, it's probably in my top 10 of favorite games, which is even a surprise to me. It's a game like Super Meat Boy or Cuphead for me, of newer titles that every once in a while inspire me to go "yeah, I could go for that right now" and I'll just play through it in a night. The puzzles aren't randomized or anything (excluding the timed cave, but that's optional), though I still get stuck even though I've pretty well completed it 5 times now, with more to come into the future. So imagine my surprise when I see this parody title making waves, and so I took the bait and decided to play it. And wouldn't you know it not only gets the parody right without being overbearing, but actually manages to make an immersive experience. Of course this is in a different way than The Witness does, but given it's a humorous play on the original title, it's in the same family. The audio logs are a treat, with some being meta breaks from the style of logs given in The Witness, whereas others are supposed to be wholesale quotes from famous philosophers that have you listening along with intrigue until the tape zags into crazy-town at the last possible second. The one thing I didn't quite understand was near the beginning, there's almost a jumpscare style section that, while incredibly short, did manage to get me as I wasn't expecting it at all. And while that in and of itself was effective, I still can't entirely place why it was in the game to begin with. It doesn't seem to be a play on anything from the original game in any way, unless it's a commentary on the solitude and isolation of the first game potentially by rife for horror? I don't know, but at any rate it didn't really ruin the game for me, it's a 20 second segment of a 1-2 hour game (depending on how much time you spend stuck on the puzzles and 2 arcade games that is).

On: PlayStation 4

As evidenced by previous entries, I adore everything about Cuphead. The truly challenging gameplay, the aesthetic design sensibilities, the fully orchastrated jazzy soundtrack. Everything. So I've certainly been biding my time until the release of the Delicious Last Course (DLC, cute huh?). And finally, after so many years, its out and I couldn't be happier. I jumped right in and was able to complete it in a fairly short amount of time, as all of my muscle memory still remained from recompleting the game on PS4 a few months ago, but I didn't care. No matter how short or long I can't really find any faults with the DLC itself. Sure I have favorite (Mortimer Freeze) and least favorite (Glumstone the Giant) bosses, and the songs for each stage don't quite stick in my head like the other themes do, but I'll chalk that up to pure exposure. Over time I'm certain they'll endear themselves to me. Perhaps my favorite aspect is that there are no Run and Gun stages introduced, but instead a King's Gauntlet, which pits you up against 5 additional (albeit short) bosses that can only be damaged by parrying. They are all styled after various chess pieces (the Rook is my favorite here) and each one introduces a new parrying challenge in order to overcome the fight. I must say the actual song that plays during each of these battles is my favorite of the DLC tracks, but I keep forgetting it. I'll find myself sitting around and beating myself up thinking "Oh, how did my favorite song go?" which is trippy to say the least. All in all, a fantastic time. I can't wait to recomplete it in a few months on the Switch version of the game, and I can't wait to see what else Studio MDHR as in store for us in the future.

On: PC/Windows

I'm a big fan of chore games, especially recently, and so when I was browsing the XBox app on my PC and came across this on Game Pass, I knew I had to accept. The game is deeper than I thought it was, in my mind I was comparing it to something like PowerWash Simulator or what have you, but through unpacking these boxes each time this woman moves, you learn more and more about her life, her current state of affairs, and in some instances why she's moving. It's strange, as I've up to this point only moved 3 times in my life, and each time unpacking the contents of my boxes is my favorite part. It's soothing in a way to me, and I like sorting things out and deciding where things will basically reside for the rest of my tenure at that residence. Here, however, it got to the point where I was almost dreading unpacking these boxes. Worrying where this woman's life was leading here and feeling bad when she, say, had to move back home for example, possibly due to breaking up with her longtime boyfriend. It was really putting me in that particular headspace. I haven't had a stuffed animal since I was a child, but seeing that stuffed pig from the game's cover art following her across moves and aging with time was perfect and the whole experience that I initially thought would be mindless fun was instead thought-provoking fun, even if it came with a feeling of melancholy all the while.

On: PC/Windows

I have been interested in this game since first seeing the teaser for it in the PS5 State of Play 2020 (or whatever it was called). I was familiar with the studio's previous work in the Octodad series as it was early gaming YouTube fodder, though I never played it myself. This, though, appeared to be a full-fledged title. Unfortunately, I did end up losing track of it and eventually it got to the point where I remembered its existence but wasn't buying it as it was no longer on my radar (if previous entries haven't already made this clear, I'm VERY bad about doing this). So, I just noticed it was on Game Pass and finally gave it a go, and was surprised with what I was presented with. The characters were fun and their interactions surprisingly heartfelt, I started out hating basically all of them but come around the time I was playing the DLC right before finishing up the main game, I realized I actually gave a hoot about them and found myself wondering when the switch had been flipped in my mind. The creature designs as well are adorable, and I found myself saying "Bunger?" out loud to myself every time one of those little goobers showed up. The music was a little forgettable, and I was also sad that I didn't get to hear the catchy sing-a-long tune that played during the initial teaser until, the end credits, though this is far from the first game that's pulled that trick on me. All in all a pretty great experience that had me asking questions about the surrounding world and actually wanting a sequel of some sort, even though I couldn't rationalize in my head what form that would take while still fitting into the "canon" of the story. Oh well, either way I'm looking forward to more coming from Young Horses in the future.

On: Nintendo Switch

A legacy completion, I held off on actually marking it and placed it on hold due to wanting to go back and beat every single Professional trainer (which would be about 151 battles I think), but I'm never going back and doing that. I think I'd have to train each and every one up to level 99-100 too, which I don't have the patience for. Regardless, the game was a lot of fun, I actually prefer the ability to scope out Pokémon and pursue them on the map as opposed to the random encounter style of almost all the old titles. Additionally, the catching mechanic is unique and interesting as well. In this case, I do prefer the method of battling and weakening a Pokémon to capture it, but this new more Pokémon Go specific method I don't truly have a problem with, and your Pokémon party still levels up during captures so you aren't really missing out on XP. Finally, I love the ability to have these creatures follow you around (akin to Pikachu in what was my first Pokémon game, Yellow Edition) and the ability to fly across areas on a flying Pokémon is special and makes traveling in the late game a breeze. There's a lot to like about Let's Go Eevee! and I assume Let's Go Pikachu! is the same, though I'm sure hardcore fans of the series have problems with the rehashed and more simplistic nature of these titles. Oh well, it was mostly just to tie fans over until the next series of games anyways, which they hated like they do every iteration that isn't Generation 2.

On: Nintendo 64

This is probably the 3rd or 4th time I've completed the original Smash Bros., it's always so quaint to just go back and see where everything began and just how much the formula has been improved over the years. Not to mention it isn't that hard to complete either, with certainly makes it worth it. Part of that is due to how few unlockables it has to other games. Even playing 100 VS mode matches for the Item Switch is quaint compared to playing 1000 VS Mode matches in Melee to unlock a trophy for Food. Yeah, not one of my favorite aspects of the Smash series. Regardless, a modest beginning to a "Smash" franchise. Yeah, I went there...

On: PC/Windows

Is it weird to say that while this isn't a good game by any means, I love it? Perhaps not, given multiple previous entries. But Mr. Maze certainly appears to have a sense of humor about itself and how slapdashedly put together it can seem at times. But the game is so ridiculous, it fully knows what it is, and honestly it's an interesting concept in and of itself. Each stage is basically a maze that is incorporated into this larger world. There's a forest, a town, a dungeon, a mountainside, and they blend more or less seamlessly into each other as you progress. But they're all mazes, with different aspects of each environment acting as obstacles in the game world. A few bumpy bits do exist, say one part of the game has you going through outer walls of a castle and lighting these beacons to open a gate. That's fine enough, its a big maze after all. However, in front of one of the beacons a man won't let you pass until you find a lantern. This isn't as fun because not only do you have to traverse the maze to find this lantern, but then also make your way back to the guy in order to light the beacon and be on your way. The mazes are interesting, but not so much so that there are easily identifiable landmarks to help you along. And there are other stages that are just too easy, less a maze and more walking along a predetermined path. The outer walls of the castle took me a while, but immediately inside the castle it was just a straight line that happened to bend and curve around. If this was for a brief cutscene then fine, but 10 minutes of traversing this one "maze" without having to really think got tiresome. Overall I don't think this is terrible, surprisingly, even if it looks rough (those character models are abominable and none of the mouth movements work properly) around the edges, and this is certainly a game that I could've seen myself enjoying if I had been surrounded by friends while playing through it. At least for the first section anyway.

On: PlayStation 5

I had been waiting for this game for quite a while, and I'm glad it finally came out so I can revel in the splendor of being a cat and just doing cat things. Of course, there were sci-fi allegories happening around me left and right, but I was more in my comfort zone rolling around and meowing incessantly at anything and everything I came across. So, I did enjoy this game for the novelty of being a cat that occasionally will just act as a regular feline might, rolling around or scratching its ears as you play, and that's where the majority of joy comes about in this. Just the brilliance of playing a simulator game where the gimmick of the simulation is occurring simultaneously with a completely different game. And I loved that. I will say I started to get a bit weary of the world around me near the end, the different tropes I was engaging in and the level of seriousness the story had whilst I was attempting to claw at computers as if they were scratching posts, though I have to hand it to the game really. The moment I started thinking those thoughts, the game began to wrap up. So it did get me in and out of there in a relatively tight package (took me 4 hours to play through, an additional 4 or so to do trophy cleanup). The ending itself was a little lackluster in the moment purely because I had sort of come to... care for the cat I was playing as this entire time, of course. Though reflecting on it, the cat in the moment acts exactly how I would expect a cat to act, so I cannot really fault it for that. Overall, pretty good game that made sure it didn't keep you too long, it knew what it wanted to do and did it in a short amount of time that helps the game stick with you. And the older I get, the more I appreciate that in a game.

On: Nintendo GameCube

I was excited to get to take another crack at this game, as I hadn't played it since I was much younger and its one of those that I really remember liking, primarily because it was the only 4 player co-op game that I had on GameCube and so I loved starting it up with siblings and friends. And I must say, after going back to it, I think it kinda holds up. For the most part. Obviously it isn't much to look at, and the voice acting is subpar at best, but I again I'm far from hating this. The gameplay loop is actually interesting due to several factors. Of course there's action by way of fighting and there's the occasional simple puzzle to push you through, but then there are two stages (spaced apart of course) wherein you actually just play minigames for the whole of the stage. It feels a bit like Mario Party in a way, and that's where the co-op really gets a chance to shine. Additionally, each and every stage has a "Hero Time" segment, where you are forced to play a particular character in order to complete a specific task. And these segments also vary in terms of mechanics, from a rhythm section to a platforming puzzle, and it keeps the game from getting boring. It's probably near the top of my list of movie tie-in games as, while it's not great by any means, it stands out as being pretty alright, especially for kids.

On: Nintendo GameCube

This game is straight up not good, there isn't much else to say on the matter. The slow pace of these "platforming" sections marred with laggy controls (which I'm not sure whether or not were just on my end) made this a tough title to sit through. It doesn't help that I can take or leave the Ice Age franchise in general, it doesn't really interest me in any way I must say. The only enjoyable experience while playing was a slide section after level 2, wherein you just coast down a large deluge at some prehistoric waterpark, and are just tasked with racking up points while dodging obstacles. That was fun enough, it reminded me of similar segments in the PS2/XBOX/GameCube era SpongeBob games (since most of those games reused the same mechanics over and over again). I digress, skip the Ice Age 2 game, as if that weren't something most would already be doing.

On: Nintendo GameCube

So, this was sort of the median between the previous two GameCube titles that I played. Not the best, but surprisingly far from the worst for a licensed title. I think a lot of the actual problems I have with the game come down to the platforming, which is abysmal and just doesn't feel right. Some characters have better jumping prowess than others, one can hover for a bit (after unlocking that ability anyways), and another can double jump. While these different styles all feel different mechanically and SHOULD mean that platforming is more easily accomplished with characters that are tailored to it, I just never found that to be the case. Either through falling when I shouldn't have fell, or overshooting jumps due to momentum seemingly not being taken into account, I had a ton of problems in this regard. And that shouldn't really be a big deal if there weren't levels dedicated to platforming, including one that is all about climbing to the top of a mound. And of course, much like Banjo Kazooie's Click-Clock Wood, if you fall, you FALL. Will you die and start back from your last checkpoint or hover as the character and climb back up? Circumstancial, depends on your situation what poison is less foul. Now, I would like to reiterate that at least the character's play styles feel different enough to offer up nice variety, there are a few stealth sections which are fun and a whole level dedicated to playing as the penguin characters, avoiding the crew of a ship and solving puzzles. That's a lot of fun, and honestly of the 10 or so levels in the game only about 3 I feel are truly bogged down by the aforementioned platforming stages. It's just a few too many for my taste, at least when the platforming is more or less ill-defined.

On: PlayStation

Love this game, and have played it once before, but figured I would go back for two reasons. The first of which is that I wanted to get started for Halloween a little earlier this year, maybe get a few more Horror games done and get into the feeling of the season. The other being that one of this years bounties is Silent Hill 3, which I've never played before. So, refreshed myself on Silent Hill, going to refresh myself on Silent Hill 2 (also been a long time since I played that one), and then I can hop into 3. Anyways, as far as the original Silent Hill goes, it's near perfection and I love it dearly. Even things like the at times clunky voice acting and stiff movement, as is anything that utilizes tank controls, have a level of charm to them. Hell, I'd say that the difficulty moving adds layers to the fear that I get trying to run away or maneuver around a specific enemy. The other thing I made sure to do this time around as a part of actually completing the game was to get other endings. The first time I played through I got the worst possible ending because I was unaware of both the liquid to be capture for Cybil and the sidequest with Dr. Kauffmann. Utilizing ideals save states is the best way to get all of those endings! As per my goal to complete games in my own way from now on, I didn't do any New Fear games, so no I didn't actually get to use the spray or chainsaw or whatever, and I didn't get the UFO ending either (though I have seen it). I can love this game and what it has to offer without exhausting literally every option there is. Had a fantastic time and can wait to head back into the franchise with a revisit to the sequel (and then 3 here soon too, of course).

On: PlayStation

This game was my punishment for complaining about the rough, yet few and far between, platforming sections in the Madagascar game. This was abysmal to play, the controls were stiff overall, making throwing projectiles way more difficult than it should've been. Excluding bosses and flying enemies, it's really in the player's best interest to just skip past any and all enemies possible because there's no real point to killing them, and it tends to take more time than anything else. But oh no, as alluded to earlier, the platforming is by far one of the worst I've experienced recently. The momentum is completely messed up and the shadows that SHOULD be there to help guide your jumps feel misaligned. I was able to more or less goof my way through the majority of these sections with only a few pain points. Until Egypt, that is, which is the second to last world of the game. I think it was Stage 2, but whatever it was I had to play that stage over and over and over just because I was missing platforming bits that I shouldn't have been missing. This wasn't just a difficulty spike, it was poor design. And that isn't even mentioning the catapults that hardly function and make no sense in the final world, which more often than not just launched me into the pit with little regard. I still don't think I actually know how these work, I just had to make sure I had my double jump available to make it to the end following the apex of the catapult launch. Never play this game, though I don't know why you would.

On: PlayStation 4

An interesting short horror game that I wish went further than it did. There's about 3 actual segments of the game here, though only the second one actual screams “horror” to me. Each of the game's chapters is centered around helping a lost soul manage their grief and process their passing and the relationships which have led to their current positions in the afterlife. It's a neat enough narrative to tie together with puzzle mechanics that don't honestly go as far as I would like either, but when it comes to horror games, what I'm really after is the vibe or the mood. And unfortunately I just don't think Red Bow fully delivers on that. The creepiest bit is the monster that appears in the first chapter, prominently displayed on the box art of the game when you purchase it from the store. But even then, that creature never does anything and in fact plays into the narrative of the first chapter in a sad way. Somber, and at times impactful, but not really scary. I would extend this to the last two sections of the game too. The second chapter is the closest I felt to being stressed out at the game, as I wandered around this abandoned storefront/apartment building, being fully aware that some ghostly woman is lurking somewhere. That's really engaging, and they still manage to fit this woman and her story into the ongoing theme of the game, so I really wish this aspect had made it into other parts of Red Bow as well. But, alas alack.

On: PlayStation 4

This is such a cool little horror game that I actually though got a tad weaker the further I played. The interesting thing here is that you are playing in a blizzard, so most of the game is displayed with "white-out" conditions. Barely anything by way of jumpable platforms can be seen, and there is some experimentation that needs to be done during progression. I love that! Coupled with the moody atmosphere as you are desparatley attempting to make your way through this landscape makes the game a creepy delight, even if I don't know that I would call this game explicitly horror. Hell, I don't even know if I would suggest it had horror undertones when it came to the actual gameplay or narrative element. However, the further in I got, I reached a point where a switch was more or less flipped and no longer was I having trouble seeing anything. With the introduction of these lanterns that can be hit and the town you discover becoming more refined, it kinda just became another form of platformer as I was jumping around ghosts and finding hidden locations for the various boss fights secretly deposited throughout Cold Silence. It isn't necessarily bad, but after what I thought was such a strong opening I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in the end, especially since that's when a lot of things like the aforementioned boss fights are opened up to the player. I don't know, I would still recommend it as a whole so long as you sort of know what you're getting into.

On: PC/Windows

I received this as a gift from a Completionator friend for Christmas in 2021 and I've finally gotten around to it just in time for the Halloween season! And it's a great game, I love it and can't complain about much. It comes to us from Puppet Combo, a team that has brought us a ton of horror games inspired by 80's slasher movies and PS1 survival horror games like Nun Massacre. The nature of the game itself and the way the puzzles are constructed brings about a feeling of horror nostalgia for me specifically, as I grew up with games in this sort of genre. The fact that the killer is constantly roaming around the manor in search of you, and you have no guarantee of ever running into him works well... for the most part. I think it lends itself nicely to more naturalistic scares as you can encounter this guy everywhere, though on my second playthrough (achievement hunting) I didn't run into him once, outside of the first encounter in the house designed to introduce you to him of course. I'm sure this is mostly in part to my knowing where to go and where the items I needed were so I was going fairly fast, though I wonder if it's possible for someone playing through the first time to never encounter the Easter Ripper character again until the final confrontation. Curious.

On: PC/Windows

A nice little puzzle game that I'm glad I was directed to. The entire gameplay aspect is based around inventory management, and already I love pointless management in this regard. And the game itself is modeled specifically off of the mechanics of a Resident Evil title. Rotating and fitting different guns into their designated inventory space while also merging herbs to free up space is a joy that I don't think has been capitalized on up to this point. It actually reminds me a bit of the boathouse puzzles specifically in The Witness, the tile count is about the same and zig-zagging across the board in similar spots. And I love The Witness. I think the price point is just right for a game like this, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome either. You're in and solving puzzles and out just as quickly. More puzzle games like this please. Or, I mean, I wouldn't mind more like Myst or The Witness that are so engrossing in their display of a silent island that you can't help but be pulled in. Either way, I'm not too picky.

On: PlayStation 4

I'm in a weird place with this game where I'm trying to decipher whether I like it or not. There are certainly cool elements in place and I'm a fan of the story generally speaking, though it isn't... scary? I think early on it can be frightening just as you're trying to figure out what exactly is going on, but eventually you start to understand how the game is structured and it takes away from it. Compare this with the original Layers of Fear, which certainly had it's own problems, but it felt like scares could happen at any moment due to the interactive nature of them. By which I mean there are multiple setups for scares that can be engaged with or avoided entirely which effects how the horror plays out. I didn't really feel that with this one, though all around I thought that the game was more interesting. I also believe part of this has to do with the story itself. It isn't that you can do horror with kids, that's blatantly false. I just happen to think the story takes on more of a kiddie adventure feeling for most of the game thanks to how it more or less plays out. The game has unsettling factors down pretty strong though, and I credit that to the game's embrace of the depths. I mean, we are at sea for most of the game after all, even if sometimes it doesn't feel like it. Later chapters having the hub area be slowly more corrupted by ooze and seaweed and barnacles does more for my sense of dread than anything else in the game.

On: PC/Windows

That VR version of “The Room” I played was so engaging as an introductory VR title that I pretty much immediately purchased all 4 of the previous games on Steam. And this is a great introduction. True, I didn’t feel as immersed going from the VR instance to just staring at a screen, but it would be disingenuous to state that it didn’t work on me at all. The game was still a blast, as I love the mechanical aesthetic that everything has going for it, it coupled with the “dark tendrils from another world” vibe pretty well. And opening up a section of a puzzle only for it to open up and. Abuse you to dive deeper into the gears is even better, it makes the actual game seem so much larger than it really is by messing with the scale on your screen. I’m excited to see what else awaits me in the series!

On: PC/Windows

I love The Room series up to this point, really I do. That being said, there isn't too much that I have to say on this one. It's more of the same from the previous title. The same sorts of puzzles maneuvered and solved in the same way. But I can't stress enough that I still do love and enjoy it, I just don't have much left to say on this bit. I'm kinda hoping that the 3rd game adds a bit more variety to the puzzles or the storytelling aspect.

On: PC/Windows

A short little experience that has given me a particular axe to grind, one that I've brought up plenty of times in the past. Basically, a game where a worm goes into a carrot, you dig up this carrot, and slice it into soup. You may or may not slice the worm, up to you. The problem I have comes from a particular achievement, a speedrun achievement, and the fact that I think the achievable time is WAY too tight for a game like this. As I say that, I should say that the game is at least short enough to get through to justify multiple plays without ripping your hair out, but I already am not a fan of speedrunning anything (unlockables, achievements/trophies, etc.), and having an achievement for one in a pretty mechanical game is so boring and tedious that I was more frustrated attempting that than I have been with doing the same thing in any Sonic the Hedgehog stage. The game is cheap and short enough to warrant a check it out, but also there's so little going on mechanically and story-wise that I could just say "hey, look up a playthrough" and be completely justified in that decision. So yeah, not a huge fan of this "experiment".

On: PC/Windows

The Little Red Lie is a great short horror story and it's a cinch to complete due to how fast you can blow through it. With minimal puzzle solving and a hiding mechanic that really only occassionally comes into focus, you can make it to the end of this title insanely quickly, making me instantly recommend for anyone looking for an easy horror completion this October. The completion itself really only revolves around a handful of endings that can be achieved just by opting for different selections during the final moments of the game. Will you free the voice or let it linger? Things like that. I never really had much problem here, but the fact that is was short, cheap, and well designed with a nice art aesthetic kept me from writing it off entirely. It really gives off a vibe similar to that of American McGee's Alice. At least in visual appeal and overall tone, the gameplay could only be more different if it was a mobile auto-runner or something. Regardless, hearty recommend of this one from myself.

On: PlayStation 4

Welp, this has done it. I've fallen in love completely with this type of game, a puzzlish escape room style of game that requires collaboration to succeed. The only downside is having to play with someone else, as the schedule of family and friends obviously is all over the place, and my schedule is no different. Plus the fact that this game was designed around having to play through stages at least twice to experience the other side of the puzzles and get 100% of the trophies. Even still, this was a blast. It reminded me of playing Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes in college, having to solve puzzles from different viewpoints without having the full picture, but this felt more interactive from all sides, which makes it better in my eyes. Well, maybe not better, but it fits a particular niche for me more snuggly than the bomb defusal game did. There's an entire series of these games to this point too, which is exciting. If I can get folks to not only play through these games with me, but to complete them, then I'll be golden and happy!

On: PC/Windows

This was a bit of a rougher entry in this series I've gotta be honest. I was beyond happy with the second collection, and what it brought to the table with it's eldritch inspired prompt, and the overworld and puzzles that it introduced I had a blast going through. Not to mention actually being scared and twice terrified while playing the set. Of course there were disappointments, but not that many. The third collection, on the other hand, I feel dropped the ball in a couple of the titles, even if they managed to grab me with the occasional creepy atmosphere or jumpscare (which I still loathe). Submission, for example, is a cool meta idea about coding a submission for the Dread X Collection while a Clippy-inspired helper torments you. It has a nice little mechanic that could be expounded upon in a future release with more tweaking, which involves adding together coding blocks to create expressions that solve puzzles in various stages. There's a segment in a creepy house with flashing lights and shadows and a morgue stage where a sheet ghost shows up in the peripheral of your vision in areas. That's scary, especially the latter, but I feel they ruin it by popping that ghost up on the screen as you finish that level. For me, the anticipation is way worse than the actual scare in most cases because once I jump, everything is gone afterwards. I like the build up of a scare without a release, it forced me to think about it long after the fact. Another one is Nice Screams at Funfair, which bothered me not because the ice cream mechanic (that was perfectly fine), but there's a long, drawn-out segment where you have to walk to and from the park wherein nothing happens. Something like that can work if there's a specific ambience or music or anything that turns it into a thinking experience, but without that I'm just walking somewhere for 5 minutes with nothing really to look at. Matter OVER Mind wasn't necessarily scary, but I think it would have the most potential for spinning off into a more fleshed-out puzzle game. I understand the idea for the prompting prior to these games and I love the idea because it allows for such a wide variety of interpretations on how to achieve that goal, but the prompt for this time around ("spoopy") I think diluted the waters for the kind of horror I liked in the previous two entries. Not that I think it's bad inherently or can't even be done well, I just don't think it worked well here for me. I know that Dread X IV, or The Hunt, is less games that are longer and focused on FPS titles, so I'm at least excited to see how that fairs when I inevitably play it next October.

On: PlayStation 4

Wow, this is a bad game. Like, a REALLY bad game. Basically you make your way through various world collecting memory fragments while building up this story about kids dying and you as the main character leaving home and losing more relatives and all of this nonsense and it isn't handled well at all. Pretty forced I must say. The worst bit about the game though is how incredulously long each stage is. Like, it takes forever to get anywhere and there is next to nothing to do, though I don't know that I'd want to see what else these developers would come up with. This is most egregious in the forest level, as nearly 5 minutes before the end of the stage the game crashes. A guaranteed crash with little likelihood of being fixed, I might add, as it's apparently been there since launch. I went through this stage 3 times, and only on the 3rd time did I figure out you could move all the way to the side of the map and jump glitch over the walls of this section to avoid the entrance to the fort, which I thought was causing the crash. Much to my dismay, making my way to the fort's exit then ALSO caused a crash. So, on my 4th time through, I finally realized it was the light present at the entrance and exit of this little fort crashing the game, so I had to figure out a way into the fort without the entrance, and out of the fort without the exit. Disgusting.

On: PlayStation 4

It's hard to believe I'm sure, but this game is EVEN WORSE than the original! Instead of improving upon the design decisions made the first time around, they kept them all (except the crashing, thankfully) and instead added in an FPS mechanic. One that barely works and takes way too much time. And it's best to shoot at the enemies because it's incredibly difficult to dodge the enemies and if one touches you, the game hard resets to the last checkpoint that you were out with little warning, which is beyond jarring. Besides that, there isn't much at all to same, it quite literally is the same exact game.

On: PC/Windows

A neat little puzzle platformer based around the concept that you only have 10 seconds to complete each level. As the game progresses, things get more and more complicated with spikes, inverted gravity, and pieces of the floor designed to slow you down. There isn't too much to be said here, though I had a great time with the gam, and it's pretty short and easy to complete as well. I'm glad I got to experience this one thanks to Completionator's bounty system, it feels like a game I could've seen myself playing on Newgrounds in the mid-aughts.

On: PC/Windows

So nice they did it twice. So yes, this game is an updated and more fleshed out version of the first title, and after playing that game I decided why not jump into the sequel for a short romp? I don't think this one holds up as well just because I think their was a bit too much fleshing out done. There's kind of an over world and powerup items you can unlock that help you complete puzzles and things like that. I don't know, it isn't bad, but it definitely feels unnecessary to say the least. Additionally, was it just me or did the "you have 10 seconds" aspect of the game feel diluted due to the additional "Time Taken" counter? I don't feel I needed to have two different kinds of timers going at the same time, especially since one of them is pretty superfluous and only served to confuse me. Maybe this would've been better suited as a graphically improved version of the first game, or a similar "DLC" style take on the first game with a few of the new mechanics introduced as puzzle elements for areas?

On: PC/Windows

Alright, so who knows if I'll every actually complete this title, because it is constantly getting updates which has lead to me leaving it on my system for any and all achievements that get added for brief collection. So, as far as the game is concerned, it's fantastic and a great time for people that like passive action. There are still actions to take in the game, such as moving around to dodge attacks and pick up items, and the decision of what to upgrade, but all of your attacks actually launch automatically and tend to find their own way to your targets. It's a game that can be slow and rough in the beginning and kinda boring in the endgame due to how over-leveled everything is. But man oh man, everything in between is fantastic to me, as you work out how to unlock new characters, secrets, and power-ups via combination of other abilities stimulates my senses in a way not many other games can. Feeling like you actually accomplished something (prior to endgame where everything is way too easy) and then watching power-orbs and cash get sucked into your character as enemies constantly die around you. And the game does manage to make me feel that when updated, if only briefly, due to having to figure out the new method of unlockables in whatever stage is provided. Truly one of my favorite games of 2022, and a dark horse as I'm only just now playing it near the end of the year.

On: PC/Windows

So this was certainly a fun one, I like these types of free-running games, where everything is based around speed, momentum, and a quick understanding of the few mechanics the game has to offer. And FrostRunner displays that in spades. Zip around the scenery as you jump, wall-run, and grapple across the icy landscape to reach the exit in a decent amount of time. That's actually the other thing, I complain about time trials in games often, but not for something like this, because the entire game is based around navigating your surroundings as fast as possible. In a game series like Sonic with it's time trials, I don't enjoy those because the character is meant to embody "speed", but the game has tons of other things going on that confuse the idea like enemies and dodging gunfire. This game, however, is nothing but free running and I adore it. So I gladly completed all of its challenges and received all of the achievements, because that's what a game like this deserves from me.

On: PC/Windows

Another short, free title that doesn't take much to finish/complete, although this one has a bit of an excuse to it. That being that the game is actually a short prologue to a game called Kero Blaster from the creator of Cave Story (I think?). The game has multiple endings depending on how you get through, whether you collect the important document from the cave, etc. But the game is so short you can get through and grab every ending in less than 20 minutes. As for the playability, it feels a lot like a simplified version of the aforementioned Cave Story, and for good reason. Even the design of the actual cave you run through and the enemies you fire at are strikingly similar. But for what is essentially a quick and easy demo, that isn't a bad thing. It only lends itself to the fact that the game functions and looks well as well, with no real problems or things I can complain about other than the short length of the experience. But again, this is just a demo so what more is there to expect?

On: PlayStation 5

God of War (2018) stands out in my mind and is a game I think back to a lot, and I think part of that is because I enjoyed the journey of playing it so much, but also because of where it fell around when I finally got around to playing it, which was during finals week of my senior year of college. I was mostly coasting at that point as I only had one final to take and I got it over with fairly quickly, so I was just waiting for graduation to come around. My roommates/friends were studying and going to the library for research, but for about 30 minutes to an hour each day, would sit on the couch and watch me play. I've since been told me going through God of War (2018) was a bit of a recuperation for them as well, which meant a lot. That all is to say that a lot of that came rushing back to me when playing through this title, and even though there's a LOT of combat improvements and modifications, it felt like a homecoming of sorts. I had a blast with this game, and I loved completing it as well (though I will say, it feels much easier than the God of War that directly proceeded it). This certainly feels like the end of Kratos's story as well, though I can't imagine that Sony will entirely let such a money making franchise just end. I'm curious where this all will go in the future.

On: PlayStation 4

This was a bit of a strange one. Now it was free, another instance of "how much can I complain about this really", and it was easy to complete too, at least in term of skill level. But my lord is it a grind to get through. There's just a handful of stages (three I think?) where you fight wolves and rack up combos, but the trophies that are associated with some of those combos are frustrating, as I don't feel the game is all that engaging past the 10 minute point. It's just hitting and dodging and jumping while these wolves are coming at you, but your character is stagnant. No real movement here, you remain in place and go against enemies attacking from all sides. I don't have much else to say here, again it WAS free, but there are certainly better ways to spend your time.

On: PC/Windows

OK, this is a nice little game with a stupid achievement system that I had no interest in. Just making your way through the chapters and making decisions that will effect the nature of your relationship with Emily is fine and makes sense for the gameplay. There are achievements tied to going through these chapters, and I understand that. Hell, there aren't even any achievements for different outcomes or paths, which is a true breath of fresh air for a game like this. However, there are, like, 25 or something achievements tied to the following process: start up the game and name yourself something hyperspecific so as to get the desired achievement/outcome, then progress into chapter 1 to the point where Emily comments on your username. Now exit to main menu to start a new game and repeat. It's beyond tedious and makes absolutely no sense. This is one of those instances where the username, associated icon, and comment from the Emily character would just be fun under normal circumstances. But having to grind for achievements (which I understand is self-imposed, but still) left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth for a game that is already sort of depressing and about growing apart from folks and missing your chances. I don't know about this one, and apparently there's a sequel? Will I play it? Only time will tell I suppose.

On: PC/Windows

I was a huge fan of the Broforce game in college, as it was one of very few local co-op games we could find on the then-current hardware. We had a blast mowing through the entirety of the campaign and causing mayhem to cause one another to die, it was a real treat and I was said when it was over. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this tie-in game for The Expendables existed as part of the recent Free Games bounty available on the site. Well, it certainly was an experience I suppose. So, a couple of things that were going against this: the first problem is the length. Now, this is a weaker complaint because the game was free and was a movie tie-in, so maybe it can mostly be considered a demo for the real Broforce game at its core. Secondly though, the character choices aren't as creative as their limited to the characters from the Expendables movie, which I've seen but am not overly familiar with. The biggest and last issue though is that I played this by myself. I quickly realized how little enjoyment I got from the style of game because I wasn't causing mischief and mayhem with others, laughing as the terrain exploded in a confusing blur as teammates were crushed to death by falling blocks. So maybe the game is fine and this is all on me due to the circumstances through which I played the game, but that's all to say that at least this had no completion tied to it, so all I had to do was make it through the brief campaign and then I allowed myself the privilege of turning it off.

On: PC/Windows

This is a cool little title that I wish was sort of expounded upon and given more time. The story that comes along with the game is fairly weak and at times nonsensical, but I like the setup, I enjoy the visual style, and the atmosphere can be strangely creepy as well. For the most part though, there isn't a lot here unfortunately, though granted it is a free game. Though I would gladly pay $2-5 for something like this that had a lot more behind it and going on. As it stands the most complex part of the game is the drink mixing game you can play in the bar. In general that may be my favorite part of the game. Even the alternate endings don't have too much going on behind them as it's just a matter of choosing a differ4ent option at the end, which isn't informed by much. Again though, for what I paid for this (i.e. nothing at all), I think I got my money's worth and I hope this sort of concept gets expounded upon at a later date.

On: Super Nintendo Entertainment System

A fun game made near impossible by despicable platforming: a tale as old as time. This game is pretty fun, it's just that classic rough 16-bit platforming that makes it hard to recommend to completionist-minded individuals, but just playing a stage or two, it's a great experience! My favorite part of this game are the special bonus stages, which take place in a giant bottle of 7-Up. Bouncing around on these bubbles and trying to get to the top is of course difficult due to the fact that the platforming is rightfully hard, but I never really felt it, at least as far as attempting to just play through it goes. If you are going for 100% on everything and have to collect every scintilla of items in the stage, then it's a pain in the ass and the game starts to wear out it's welcome, but that's more a condemnation of my particular playstyle than the game itself. Cool Spot is a fun title, though I've only played it on the SNES and don't know how it translates to Genesis.

On: PlayStation

Wow was this a rough one, I don't think I really enjoyed a single second of this, but that isn't to say I didn't think there were interesting tidbits/mechanics included. Perhaps the worst aspect of the game were the presents, which act as collectables throughout each of the 4 levels. I'm no stranger to collect-a-thons, I adore Banjo-Kazooie and the like. However, once you reach upwards of a thousand collectables in a single stage without having a true, earnest way to track these things, then I say: get bent video game. This bordered on impossible due to the graphical limitations in particular, which meant often times I didn't know how to find what I was looking for. And there are NO guides for these presents online because they know they are next to impossible to mark since THERE ARE TOO MANY! You have to watch a full walkthrough of each stage and just mark off presents as that person finds them, to which I then say: no thanks. The game does have some interesting powerups that you build by collecting blueprints, such as the ability to stun enemies with this slime gun, which is particularly useful against these electric bomb things in the dump. My favorite of these though is the Grinch-copter, which you get last in the game. This allows you to zip around the stage via flying, collecting things much easier and reaching interesting areas that at times don't feel like you should be able to reach. I find it more fun in the garbage dump level to just fly over the minefield than to play it how they intended. That's another thing, the platforming: not great. Overall, a bad experience with odd cutscenes and awkward dialogue choices, but some interesting gameplay moves that could've faired better in another title.

On: PC/Windows

I'm still sort of in this space with Vampire Survivors where the late game isn't really ramping up the difficulty at all, due to how exactly the game handles power ups and unlockables and the like. Now, since this is DLC, technically anyone can purchase this to play at any time, but since I've already completed this game pre-DLC purchase, it doesn't really apply. Of course I can go ahead and make it harder for myself through the power-ups menu and by excising different abilities and weapons, however I don't think that should be my responsibility. The DLC itself though is fine on it's own, I enjoy the new area seemingly focused entirely on Japanese mythology, and the new characters and their items are enjoyable as well. They all move a bit too slowly for me, but that's the give and take after all. I was able to get into a fantastic groove for a while there grinding Kappas at the frozen lake, and was able to get that achievement and character in about a single go, which is quicker than can be said for the other achievements related to killing thousands of enemies.

On: PlayStation 5

I cannot believe the range of people that came out and said that this game was anywhere between mid and fantastic, because boy oh boy was I not a fan of this one. It wasn't objectively terrible compared to a lot of Sonic disasters, granted, primarily because at least Frontiers isn't broken any buggy. However, the game is still riddled with design decisions that I cannot bring myself to comprehend. Firstly, some praises are in order. I was a huge fan of the soundtrack, it ranged between calypso, rock, metal, and pop all at once and I think it flowed through the different types of music fairly flawlessly. The boss fights themselves were also amazing, with each one feeling like it could act as an end game boss in another Sonic game with a little tweaking. Finally, I actually did like the story and how the various characters were connected, with some choices in regards to dialogue and story-beats that managed to surprise me. Now, for the negatives. The gameplay choices varied from unique and cool to completely absurd. The fact that there are 2D platforming stages integrated into the open world didn't work for me at all, as I would be running and jumping along, and all of a sudden I accidentally zoomed into the middle of one of these sections with no way out besides completing it (or going back to the beginning of that section), and this is horrendously annoying when trying to get anywhere. And it happens more often than not, I experienced this so incredibly often. Next, the way you power up Strength and Defense is fine, but Ring Capacity and Speed are a joke to level up. They take way too long, as you have to do it one level at a time, sit through a small (5 second or so) cutscene, and then wait for the menu to activate to level one up again. And the cap for each ability IS 99! I sat there for no joke 45 minutes at the end of the game as I spammed X in front of this golem to level those two up to max just for the trophies. Actually unbelievable, give me a way to put multiple levels into one skill at once like you did for Strength and Defense PLEASE. Finally, the actual setting and environment were incredibly bland and forgettable, it's the standard high tech civilization mixed with ancient lost ruins that even Sonic at this point is no stranger to, and the game overall lacks a lot of unique landmarks to help you identify where you are. Using waypoints on the map is absolutely required and it makes exploring feel like a chore. Overall, wasn't a fan, and the Big the Cat fishing minigame (as expected) was the best part.

On: Sega Saturn

This is my third time trying to complete this one, I've played it a few times in the past but always am met with problems. Originally it was because the version of the game I had purchased had no second disc (didn't know it was needed at the time), and the second time I got fairly far but was having problems in the void stages. This time, I made it through! However, this is not a great game to finish. I will say I deeply admire and respect Mr. Bones for the wild swings it takes for gameplay variety. There are platforming stages early on, pseudo-rhythm segments, boss fights that require you to figure out how to actually proceed, and a weird joke-constructing mini-game that acts as the penultimate level. They range in terms of difficulty just because of this degree of aspiration however, with the platforming levels being the most traditional, though also the toughest due to the way the controls function. Levels such as saving the little people from attacking spiders are incredibly simple and easy to accomplish. Others, such as one inside the void where you are constantly bouncing on a version of yourself collecting piece of your body as you increment in levels and degrees of complication, are much harder (and if that sounds bizarre or unclear to you, just look up a walkthrough. I described it as best I could). However, these non-platforming stages were my favorite because they dared to make something interesting, such as the aforementioned joke level which just requires you to construct jokes and punchlines as you are advanced upon by a miniboss. It's a weird little stage that I wouldn't see in anything other than Mr. Bones. The game is rough in spots and the controls for more traditional levels don't quite hold up, but there's some much charm exuded by the FMV cutscenes and the odd design decisions taken that I can't help but adore it ever so slightly.