Let's get this party started!
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
I know a couple of people here have bounced off this but I absolutely loved it. I think everyone expected this to be an Uncharted clone, and the first-person perspective was certainly a bold choice, but it really paid off. It's got great locations to explore, some really good Indy-style puzzles, and it just feels right in a way I can't explain. Troy Baker's exceptional voice performance really helps, but there's something about the balance of puzzling, exploration and scrappy brawling that feels quintessentially Indiana Jones. I know people complain about the shit combat but that's deliberate I think - if you're starting fist fights with Nazis then sooner or later you are going to lose, you're much better off chucking a bottle at them or braining them with a handy frying pan and getting the hell out of there. And the stealth is so forgiving, with such a wide window of opportunity before you get spotted, that it's hard to see anyone having a real problem with that side of things either.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere is that this is a game with excellent side content. Everything you discover seems to lead to something good - an interesting tomb, a fun interaction, a new section of map to explore. The main "fieldwork" side cases are clearly signposted and are as good as anything in the main quest, but the smaller "mysteries" and even the many collectibles are worth pursuing. I'm definitely going to go back and explore some of the things I've missed, there is a mountain of good stuff here.
Anyway, this was great, and it absolutely sticks the landing as well, the ending is great. It's good to see it picking up GOTY awards in a couple of places and I hope you PS5 owners enjoy it as much as I did when it comes to your platform in the Spring.
It's definitely on my wishlist for whenever the heck it comes out on PS5.
Jan 25
Castlevania - save summed the hell out of the last level. But I can't believe it's taken me since 1989 or whenever to finally finish this!
tbf Castlevania has infinite continues so when you get to Dracula you've made it, just farm some hearts and you're good to go. Always feels nice to finally beat that game though, how about that hallway leading up to the Death fight? :D
Do you mean the flying birds dropping the monkeys bit? nightmare!
The medusa heads and knights lol
Oh right, sorry got you yeah. I was initially holding the time stopping power due for that as was finding it so frustrating.
I don't have a NES but I see a copy of this for it whenever I go to CEX in town, or more practically the 'NES Classic' GBA edition if my eyes didn't deceive me. I wouldn't mind owning this physically to try speedrunning/damageless and the GBA version would slip right into my AP, even if it might not be super purist friendly on that version. Main point is: it's a classic.
Wanna' jump into apparently much harder and super hard in general Castlevania 3 with me??? (JP version, which is included in the Anniversary collection by the way, like all the games on there do)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
This was great. Nobody really makes 3D platformers any more and nobody throws money at them like this. Absolutely stellar production values (I played it on the Steam Deck and thought it looked amazing, I can't imagine what it looks like on the PS5), great pacing, fun characters and a huge dollop of silliness. It nails the Saturday morning cartoon vibe like no game I've ever seen.
It's dragged down slightly by the Clank sections (which are dull) and the Glitch sections (which are terrible) and the fact the game lets you skip both of these with the press of a button suggests that the developers knew this too, but everything else is genuinely superb.
I'm nearly finished Ratchet & Clank a Crack in Time and have come away with a similar opinion. It looks great (especially considering it's two generations old), plays well, is genuinely funny and the ratchet combat sections can be a little annoying/long.
They've never really known what to do with Clank, although one of the PS3 games was easily my favourite. Maybe the one after Crack in Time? He had a load of puzzle sections involving recording copies of himself, then working together with previous Clanks you'd recorded.
But yeah these games have always been great fun.
That's Crack in Time, and those bits are still great, but they are over too soon.
I really miss 3D platformers. (I know R&C isn’t quite the same, but it’s close enough). Why doesn’t anyone do them any more? Let’s make 2025 the year of Sly Raccoon or something.
Has anyone played A Hat In Time? It looks like a proper platformer. Although it's eight years old so not exactly current.
Didn't know it had Multiplayer Alastor! Are you on Xbox or does that not matter?
Just completed Crackdown 3.
Ended playing this the last couple of weeks in little blasts. It's so much more fun once you are overpowered.
Just completed Crackdown 3.
Ended playing this the last couple of weeks in little blasts. It's so much more fun once you are overpowered.
The on-foot traversal in Crackdown 3 is a joy. Triple-jumps and air-dashes all over the place.
Crackdown 3 was brilliant. I know luscan worked on it, and (rightfully) got a bit down about everyone slagging it off. But it was a brilliant game that knew exactly what it was.
A worthy successor to Crackdown 1 that was unfairly disregarded for not being 'next gen' enough, whatever the fuck that means in an age of Forspoken and Dead Island 2s.
I think Crackdown 3 was the first game I played on my Xbox Series S. loved it!
Also a big fan of Crackdown 3. A really underrated gem.
And he's on the board…
JANUARY
Good Job! - Very, very fun. Does a far better job than some other games of the same ilk (especially Moving Out), as doing badly in a level doesn't preclude you from moving onto the next one. The joy of doing a level well, but then staying in it when it's over to wreak havoc is palpable. Having to smash stuff to find the hidden collectibles, also fun. Surprised this didn't do better than it did, but then it's a Switch exclusive so… yeah.
Last year was a fairly respectable (for me) 41 games. Let's see if we can beat that…
