Aperture Desk Job - not so much a game as a free tech demo for the Steam Deck, this is still interesting because Valve release so little that everything they do warrants investigation. It's very Valve - brash, very American, not quite as funny as it thinks it is - and it's only half an hour long but it's passably entertaining and, well, free.
Stray
Spider-Man 2
Tekken 8
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Forgot to note Tekken 8 at the time. It’s really, really good. Shame they’ve snuck IAPs in there after release, as it’s tempering any compulsion I have to go back.
FFVII Remake is old, and you’ve all probably played it, but it’s great, even if I am having to give it a lot of leeway on the whole ‘Fate’ thing it’s got going on. At least Rebirth is ready to go whenever I want, though I won’t go straight into it, I don’t think.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Done after 58 hours, which isn't bad considering I went hunting for all the Star Pieces and such. Didn't bother with the Pit of 100 Trials… I got to floor 40 and was bored. 
Guess I don't have to play it when it comes out now!
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Genuinely epic. It's not so much its length (though it is a very long game) but the sheer density of its content: three huge cities filled with stories upon stories, minigames upon minigames and just a vast array of distractions and things to do. The combat system itself is much improved upon the last entry, and with 20+ jobs to choose from you could spend hours just playing around with all its possibilities (thankfully there are two huge dungeons in the game to allow you to do just that). The Pokemon sub-game that runs under everything is surprisingly fully-featured, the Animal Crossing knock-off is almost good enough to form the basis of something standalone, and everything else is of a consistent high quality.
The game itself often feels like a victory lap. As well as main hero Kasuga Ichiban, it's a bittersweet return for not-quite-dead legend Kiryu Kazuma, and much of the latter half of the game features his journey down memory lane as he revisits scenes from his past. You'll get more out of this if you've played all the games leading up to this, but even if you haven't, there's huge amounts here to enjoy.
Yes, the main story has pacing issues and the DLC strategy sucks but overall this was an absolute triumph. It's mind-boggling to think they've released three of these games in a single year, and this is the eight main entry in the series, yet it's so fully-featured and so good. I can't wait to see where they go next.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus - Bothering with any fucking FF7 stuff after beating the PS1 game was a mistake, the 'Compilation of FFVII' is a fucking horseshit man. Crisis Core kinda fell a bit flat for me, shattering a bit of nostalgia, but this is a new experience and even though I know it's infamously bad I'm still shocked at how irredeemably trash it is. The core gameplay just feels so criminally dull with some of the worst boss fights I've ever seen in a game, and the story (as per the Compliation) is fanfiction SLOP.
Ace Combat 1 - I had initially written this off as slow and stale and decided that unlike Armored Core 1, this 'AC' had not found it's feet with the first game on PS1 like Armored Core did, well after returning to it a month later and playing more I can say I was dead wrong. This is a PS1 game so it is very simple but the missions have a really one and done quality to them that made this game perfect in short blasts so it became my perfect commute game.
I recommend Colony Wars if you are enjoying your PS1 flight sims.
I recommend Colony Wars if you are enjoying your PS1 flight sims.
Colony Wars is on the 405M 
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2 - improvement in every way, in a way that doesn't leave me with much to say other than that lol. So, errr, already started Ace Combat 3 and I will have more to say because the release for that game is interesting in that the Japanese version got multiple routes, multiple endings and a lot of anime FMV scenes and apparently the International version gutted almost all of it, no routes, no anime and no multiple endings. thank the lord we have dedicated fans and rom hacks to sub Japanese games!
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (Japanese version) - Only the one route but that one route already felt like the Ace Combat I know and love with some ridiculous story elements and moments (especially so in this oneb ecause you go into Space at one point…). It's clear this is the best Ace Combat on PS1 but also I'm glad we didn't get more of this type of 'futuristic tech' stuff in later games, it works in this one but I don't want it in the rest of the series, just let me take an F-25 Raptor and bomb some factories please.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
One of the best games I've played on the PSP, doesn't feel too much like it's held back by the system and in some ways is really impressive despite it even. Mission variety is great and really reminded me of my time with AC7 (A PS4 game), and blowing stuff up never stops feeling satisfying, for an AC game I don't think there's much more you want, although the game offers a huge list of unlockable planes and parts and weapons so it even has some replay value (not that I will be anytime soon).
That said, for all the praise of this being a PSP game, I can't deny I had a slight advantage in not actually playing this on the PSP and so didn't have to put up with the control compromises it had and could put Yaw on the L2 and R2 buttons which don't exist on PSP. Might not be an issue for some people but on the advanced controls they are on the d-pad, so no thanks.
Too bad the PS2 trilogy are hard to emulate without bugs, so it looks like I'm done with the series now, not gonna' bother with AssaultHorizon/Joint Assault, maybe I'll double dip on AC7 for the Steam Deck.
Stray
Spider-Man 2
Tekken 8
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising
Another game I’ve completed just as its follow-up is released - this 2D Metroidvania/JRPG is an accompaniment to the recently-released spiritual successor to Suikoden, Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes.
And it’s good! Nothing earth-shattering, but a fun, bright, colourful romp, a lovely little palette-cleanser that I ended up spending 25 hours with, first completing and then finally getting the platinum for.
Mass Effect - the original game, albeit in its Legendary Edition form.
I was very pleasantly surprised by how well this holds up, actually. It's just so confident in its world-building and the way it drops you into a universe that appears to be fully-formed from the very start of the game. It does a very good job of pretending that the world doesn't revolve around you (even though it does) and that your decisions can really impact the story (even though they don't). Yes it's smoke and mirrors but I'm not sure it's ever been done better.
The story - which I'd largely forgotten, bar a few key beats - is pretty pacey and when it's good, it's exceptional (the whole Virmire sequence is absolutely first class, the endless brown tunnels on Feros rather less so). The big twists really land. It's quite amusing how even the large number of procedurally-generated brown rocks that house most of the game's side quests are far more engaging and interesting to explore than, say, Starfield's equivalently large number of procedurally-generated brown rocks. The Legendary Edition rounds off the sharp edges of both the combat and the Mako controls and, in general, while you wouldn't mistake this for a modern game, it doesn't exactly feel retro either. It's still supremely enjoyable to play.
The character models are a bit unfortunate by today's standards: most characters look like startled mannequins, and it took me ages to create a female Shepard who didn't look like she was about 19 (my end result looks like an over-Botoxed daytime TV presenter, but I'll take what I can get). As I mentioned in the other thread, I think the revised lighting has had a negative effect overall on the characters' faces. But the rest of the game looks stellar and it's really a very slick remaster overall that highlights the game's best qualities.
Looking forward to moving onto Mass Effect 2 now, just to see the differences. I did play this back in the day and in my memory it was a bit slicker and a bit more of a cover shooter rather than an RPG but I'm very much looking forward to revisiting it off the back of this playthrough.
I think that in its current form, if you take the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect as a whole single entity, it's the best game ever made.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well - Credits rolled, so it goes on the list… but oh my, there's still plenty to do. Spotting stuff in the background is key here:
Spoiler - click to showWhat are those strange numbered pillars with the map stamp symbols on? Where's the last match to light the last candle, which then does… something in that room by the start? What are the circular recesses for (though I think I've worked this out, right after I turned it off last night)? What's that random siren about? Why won't the kangaroo fuck off? Giant clock… why? Where are the last two flute tunes? Where's the key to the bedroom? How do you cross tiny spikes to get that obvious chest? How do you start the mechanism up again if the ostrich has drowned? Where's the hamster wheel to reverse the lift in the vertical tunnel? And on and on and on…Still got about 18 eggs to find, and apparently there's a puzzle which takes 50 people to solve, but I'm not reading anything to avoid spoilers. I stand by this being another Fez (albeit without a somewhat dickish opinionated developer attached) and it's fabulous. Going to be here a while, I think…
EDIT: The 50-person puzzle has been solved and it's literally impossible to do without 49 other people who don't have the same… information as you. So, I guess that's one I'll absolutely have to look up the answer for when the time comes. That's fine.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
I really enjoyed this at first and then difficulty spiked pretty harshly in some maps. I dunno' if I'd say it was a bad game but it's definitely not a good game to start the series in and and it wasn't a great game to play as blind as I was playing it. It feels like a FE game that expects you to know what you are doing pretty well, I know FE seems like a simple series but in this game specifically I felt like every choice had more weight to it. Also there were some really annoying design decisions in this game, like how Roy is a super weak unit and you basically have to carry him through the game as he has to be deployed to seize the thrones at the end of every map.
Might start the sequel, which was called simple 'Fire Emblem' over here and was the first game in the series we got (seven games in. @_@). My actual next Fire Emblem game proper will be the Wii sequel to Gamecube's Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn.
Every FE game I've played I hit a point where I realize I'm not having fun any more.
Mass Effect 2 - again, the Legendary edition version.
Slicker, more varied and much more modern in feel than its predecessor. It's lost most of its RPG trappings to become more of a story-driven shootybang game, but the combat is greatly improved, there are lots of interesting places to visit and it spends much more time on small-scale character moments rather than big story beats which all goes to make the actual final mission, where your crew all comes together, one of the most epic in all of gaming.
Spoiler - click to showI only lost two squad members but one of them was Tali which I was gutted about. Oh and I guess Yeoman Chambers also got turned into people juice but she was annoying anyway.
Structure-wise it's fascinating - it follows exactly the same structure as a 90s TV show where you've got say 26 episodes but apart from the opening, ending and maybe a mid-season cliffhanger, it's all filler. It allows ME2 to ping around the galaxy at will and it fleshes out the game's universe considerably following the first game, but it does sometimes feel like it's an entire game made up of side quests. There are something like 5 main story missions in the entire game, and I guess you could get through the whole thing quite quickly if you wanted to.
I was surprised to see how much of the stuff I found most memorable was originally paid DLC (Kasumi's heist mission, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker). I'd forgotten how much that was a thing in 2010, chopping little bits out of story-driven games then nickel-and-diming players for individual missions. I mean it still goes on today but it's more cosmetic stuff I guess whereas this is really fundamental material that should have been in the game all along.
My Shepard now is a red-eyed, scarred psychopath and how on earth she inspires loyalty in anyone is completely beyond me.
Anyway - onwards and upwards to Mass Effect 3, which I've never played! Should be interesting. It's amazing to think that we got all three of these games in a single console generation, it's just impossible to think of that happening these days.
I'm guessing that mobile 'game' where the constant push and pull of players doing stuff has a direct continuing effect on the ME3 universe isn't a thing any more… right? I remember playing it at the time (along with something similar that existed for Fable 3, IIRC) and yet never actually playing ME3…
I’m assuming that probably affected the ME3 multiplayer mode, which hasn’t made it into the Legendary Edition. That was a big 2012 concept wasn’t it (I remember yet another example of the same thing from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag).
The app and multiplayer both let you run missions that contributed to Galactic Readiness, which affected the ending of the single-player game.
I imagine they've compensated for those modes no longer being available, though IIRC neither was ever essential - you just needed to do more of the side missions to hit 100%.
I played quite a lot of ME3 multiplayer back in the day. At the time there were loads of shoe-horned-in multiplayer modes. Everything had a multiplayer mode whether it needed one or not, even if it would actually detract from the overall package. Uncharted 2, Max Payne 3, Spec Ops: The Line and many others all had half-arsed arena shooter games tacked onto them for no discernable reason. At the time, some strange people saw the multiplayer mode of this sort of game as the point, and the campaign as tacked-on. I remember when Gears of War came out, people I knew saw it as primarily a multiplayer game. Never mind the fact that the multiplayer game was kind of rubbish.
ME3's multiplayer was also kind of rubbish, but I found it strangely endearing. It was a horde mode with objectives essentially, and fully co-operative. I always prefer co-op multiplayer to adversarial because my limitations are less brutally exposed. What you would do in the game is run around an enclosed version of a Mass Effect map in that slightly janky ME way of moving about, and fight enemies in that slightly janky ME way of fighting enemies. The fact that it was only okay as a shooter rather than actually being good conversely made the game better as it kind of put a cap on everyone's effectiveness. It didn't matter if you were the kind of player who can become a super-efficient god at shooting games, because it just wasn't that sort of game. No matter how leet you were, you were always going to be dealing with clumpy movement, inaccurate weapons, and bullet-sponge enemies. I think this must have made it easier to balance the difficulty, so most battles were tense and exciting affairs.
Unfortunately progression was linked to loot boxes which could be bought with real-world currency. I don't believe I ever resorted to this, and there didn't seem to be any particular need to do so, but it's still annoying that they were even there.
Gears of War … the multiplayer game was kind of rubbish.
I beg your what? I have some very fond memories of the Gears multiplayer, and even the campaign was primarily a co-op thing. I don't recall ever playing more than a few minutes solo.
I’m just trying to process the concept of a Spec Ops: The Line multiplayer mode.
Maybe the winner was whichever team processed the irony better.
The Spec Ops devs were really unhappy about the game "needing" a multiplayer mode. It was another team who made it in the end. I doubt it got a lot of attention.
Basically everyone was trying to be the next CoD.
ME3 is probably the worst example of DLC ever - one of the main characters was chopped out and sold as DLC on release day when it was clear from the start that it was a key storyline.
Also the mutliplayer was linked to your ranking in the single player campaign. You couldnt get the best ending without playing the mulitple so hello PSN sub.
I'm almost certain that multiplayer wasn't required to max out Galactic Readiness, but you did have to do basically everything in the campaign without it.
I think you either needed multiplayer, or the mobile game, or the additional missions in the DLC. It didn't bother me at the time because they were all fun.
Little Kitty, Big City - very slight but quite enjoyable in its own way. There's actually very little you need to do to complete the game, just collect four fish then climb your way back to your starting point (Shadow of the Cat-Lossus?) but there are lots of other side quests and collectables and it's just a fun little place to potter around in. Knocking flower pots onto people's heads like some kind of little furry terrorist is consistently fun. I'd probably feel a bit aggrieved if I'd actually paid for this but it's a perfect Game Pass game.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes - That was fun. Got stuck twice and needed a little poke in the right direction (which is hard to get when new Google likes going THIS IS THE ANSWER), but otherwise managed to work it all out between the two of us. 100% Truth rating, but only 99 of the 100 dollars… you don't need it to get the full 100% but still… that'll annoy me for a bit. Onto the next one.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again) - Finished a second playthrough but this time, got 100% (all Tattles, Badges, Recipes and did both secret bosses, including the Pit of 100 Trials twice). That's done then, never need to touch it again.
Now you need to play the superior GameCube version that runs at 60fps!
Now you need to play the superior GameCube version that runs at 60fps!
Stop that.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Or Sakura Wars as it's called over here but we didn't get the first game over in english officially so fuck it. This is basically a blend of a visual novel/dating sim and a strategy game wrapped in a weekly 90's 'forces of good vs evil' anime set in the Taisho era of Japan, in other words it's more than the sum of its parts. I really liked the cast and the battles weren't so bad that I would never replay this game again, the maps and special attack animations were really cool, bit long though.
Add Castlevania to that list. After all this time, many generations of consoles later and when the series itself evolved to play like another amazing series, this sidescrolling level based game that started it all is still an absolute banger.
Amazing level design that feels tricky at first but soon becomes entirely doable, the placement of enemies and items and platforms feel deliberate and asks you to commit which makes it very rewarding to learn how to deal with what it throws at you. Can we have another Classicvania game please? I love SOTN as much as the next guy but there is a merit to this.
What next? Castlevania 3? I think I might seriously just play the rest of the old games on my Castlevania collection on Steam Deck , as far as the Miyoo goes maybe I'll see how much I hate myself and play original NES Ninja Gaiden.
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Coming in at 10ish hours (Steam says 7 but sure buddy) this is one of the shortest games I've ever played, yet I feel satisfied with my time, at least for the price I got it on Steam.
This is the game that started the Atelier series and it's like, so far from what Ryza is but also it's just a perfect compression of everything that makes an Atelier game an Atelier game without compromise. It's low stakes just like Ryza (in fact it's one of the lowest stakes games I've played, you're only goal is to graduate the Academy, I didn't even fight a final boss) and despite it being about as simple as it gets the alchemy IS still important, you still go to locations to gather materials and the stuff you make can still trivialise combat, AS IT SHOULD. 
The main reason this is so short is that you pretty much get told 'here's 5 years, go play' and some tasks to do in a really generous timeframe, you choose who to hire for your party, you choose what and when to make things and when to fight things, it's not a true sandbox but it's refreshing and doesn't really ever drag in the ways that Ryza can sometimes. I feel like I did so much in such a short time too, because everything come and goes much faster so you're suddenly making endgame tier stuff by hour 6 or whatever.
I don't think it's the best starting place to the series perhaps, because I think it's better to play a newer game to appreciate how far the series has come, or maybe you might appreciate some context on what an Atelier game's flow is like, so I still probably think Ryza 1 is the way to go, but for big fans of the series this is a little treat. And it suits the Steam Deck soooo much I almost can't imagine playing it on a PS5 or whatever.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2 - Well, that was certainly a game that I've completed. Incredibly basic in design, and a script that's decidedly not funny with its high level of repetitive cat/dog puns. I'd got this cheap after the third game was confirmed, but now I don't think I'm that bothered about it.
Completed Hellblade.
That was quite a journey, disappointing to see the sequel is getting the thumbs down. I could only play it in 30 minutes sittings as the whole voices thing is so triggering I'm suprised the game is even legal.
Really added fuel to the fire of my interest in Norse mythology though, and have started reading the Poetic Edda of all the norse poems. Highlight so far finding out that Mimir was the name of the well and river Odin gave his eye to for knowledge. And of course the character Mimir in GOW is the font of all the ingame knowledge. Nice touch.
That and reading really good advice from Odin and thinking oh he's got a point here, and then he moves on to talking about women and oh dear.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure - Very short puzzle game on Switch with zero text that leaves everything for you to work out. Cost me a whole Euro, got some fun out of it.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol - When MPH said there were ten chapters, I got excited… but there are only four with ten scene-bases puzzles spread across them. It's still great though, and I'm definitely getting the DLC once I get paid in a few weeks. The ending paid off too, so that was nice.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Couldn't be bothered remapping Perfect Dark controls to feel good on something that isn't an N64 controller so I guess this will do.
This was such a blast from the past though! I think the Siberia level has been laser etched into my brain, most of the levels are pretty memorable due to how distinctive the game's format is but putting Not-Goldeneye as the first level was actually a pretty sick move by Free Radical, maybe not intentional but still. As mentioned before, the format is that you go to different time periods, which includes the Wild West, Prohibition Era Chicago or even futuristic alien planet in Space and while there is some overlap I do appreciate that this influences how weapons feel somewhat. (And even though a Silenced 9mm is functionally the same as a Revolver, it doesn't have the spaghetti western gunshot sound so really it's not the same, the little things matter! :) )
Anyway this is a Free Radical game so you're here for the shooting, and they don't dissapoint, it's a 10/10 in this aspect, it's like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark had a baby or something. Me and my friends use to play the multiplayer for this religiously until Halo 2 came out and became the new undisputed king.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game - Never actually finished this (only got to the warring neighbours area previously), so went back and got through it. Did everything on the main and (as well) lists, but can't be arsed with the speed trials on the (quickly!) list, so we'll call it done there. Still a month until Thank Goodness You're Here comes out too.
The speed runs aren't mostly too bad; =I think the back gardens is probably the trickiest, but it's mostly about running circles between the two halves, and working out what to do on each lap.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game
JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits) - Not quite as fun as the main game, given them leaning into word soup territory, but still decent. Glad I didn't pay a tenner and accessed them through the Netflix account, helped pass the time while at my partner's family house.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game
JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge - When I got this at launch, I really liked it and yet never finished it… I barely even scratched the third of the five areas. Now I've seen both endings and it's… fine? I guess, though the QoL improvements made since release (map stuff, mainly) definitely helped. Each area only has a single task to achieve, with everything else in the game being window dressing and side quests… I'm not sure how I didn't spot that first time round. Did I do everything? Nearly, although one guy dying because I didn't resolve a timed quest fast enough (which wasn't signposted) cut off a string of missions. Can I be arsed to find the 60-odd fish I didn't catch? Nope. Am I compelled to get the first DLC and wait for the second? Also nope. Done is done, so deleted and moving on.
Mass Effect 3
I've moaned about this enough already but in short: this is the worst of the trilogy by a considerable way, it throws away most of the interesting ideas of the first two games in favour of simply making a game about space soldiers where the solution to a problem is always to build a bigger gun. That said, here are some things I liked about it.
I really missed ME1 while I was playing this - ME3 feels a long way from that game's sense of exploration and endless possibility, where your squadmates are a team of weird misfits and you never know what each planet is going to show you. But I'm glad to have seen the trilogy through to the end, I guess.
ME1>ME2»»»»ME3
Now do I play Andromeda?
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game
JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades - Typical… after too much slog and turning on God Mode, then only three more deaths (taking me to 26% Godhood), I beat Hades for the first time and escaped. Still a long way to go but since that's a completed run, it goes on the list. Back to the grindstone…
Stray
Spider-Man 2
Tekken 8
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising
Persona 5
Stubbornly went back to play the original, given that I started it years ago, and I don’t like leaving things unfinished. I don’t regret it now either, as I can definitely see myself playing it again, and Royal adds incentive to do so.
Oh, and it’s absolutely brilliant, but everyone already knows that.
What surprised me in the end was how much I grew to love the social link aspect, which I half-expected to just be a distraction, but really is half of the game. It took me a while to get used to a lot of the systems, but I think on my next playthrough I’ll have a much better idea of what I need to do, and am looking forward to seeing what differences it’ll make.
ME1>ME2»»»»ME3
Now do I play Andromeda?
That's exactly how I'd order them too.
Andromeda isn't as bad as people say. It's a sort of patchy mess, spoiled by having a lot of systems that every game back then had to have. Most of the story beats either plagiarise the previous games or references them in a clumsy way. And the characters are nothing like as well fleshed out or as interesting as they should be. But the core plot is reasonable (if a bit short and dull in bits), the mechanics fine and it has some good bits. I'd say playing it directly back to back with the other three might expose how inferior it is, but I went back to it after a big gap and enjoyed it for what it was.
JANUARY
Crime O'Clock
FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar
MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever
APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)
JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game
JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder - Nice little game with some neat mechanics, but far too short for what I expected (only four worlds, five levels in each). Found all the hidden coins too, but the only real incentive to keep playing is cosmetic, time attack challenges and a totally pointless sticker book where you can create your own scenes… no thanks. Deleted, next!
Flock - Editing to add this, since I started and finished it in the same afternoon. Lovely little game from the Hohokum devs about completing a zoology report about many different species on a small island. You fly around, spotting new creatures and then working out what they are… it's not hard, though there are some red herrings along the way and some trickier ones to find through puzzling means. I enjoyed it, and would probably have been happy paying a tenner for it if it wasn't on Game Pass. Next!
Botany Manor - Editing again for another 'done in an afternoon' entry. Lovely puzzle game that isn't too challenging (you're working out how to make each plant grow by following connected clues), but has some lovely touches and gentle brain-teasing thoughtfulness. Like The Witness, but not in a way that'll have you cursing the developer's name. Guessing some of the hidden achievements was fun too, since it was very much 'I wonder if I do this…' stuff. Good fun, nice to play with my other half while we're off, all done. Next!
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
100% one of my favourite games on the 3DS now and now I finally see what all the fuss is about, as expected from Sakurai though…
It's not that the game is a pretty smooth rail shooter like Panzer Dragoon and Sin and Punishment or a decent action game on the ground, I wouldn't even say it's that the game has a customisable if slightly overwhelming fusion system, it's the absolute character seeping out of this game from every pore that makes it so good for me.
There is quite a colourful cast of Gods and servants and whatnot here and they will banter pretty much endlessly throughout the entire game, Pit is a dork, Palutena is a troll, the villains are all straight out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon. The only issue if anything is that I barely got to hear them because I was playing this game mostly on commutes, but when I did I always had a nice chuckle. (The dialog aboutwhy the Komaytos look like Metroids was a highlight for me)
That said, it IS a decent rail shooter/action game hybrid but the controls are going to probably be very hit and miss for some people, holding a 3DS XL with just one hand by the side and using the stylus with the other gives you absolute precision in the sky sections but after a while it can hurt the wrists a bit. Sadly I never got a 100% perfect sensitivity on aiming on the land so it was more than doable but I wish I had a CPP for those bits.
This needs to be on Switch as much as Xenoblade X does