Games played in 2024 – Ranked
Ranking is not entirely following my scores, but a general appreciation of the games as experiences.
Commentaries follow a looser approach than the standards set by my previous reviews, but should provide adequate summaries of my thoughts. Some games were played with BertKnot, please look at his own list for additional opinions.
Commentaries follow a looser approach than the standards set by my previous reviews, but should provide adequate summaries of my thoughts. Some games were played with BertKnot, please look at his own list for additional opinions.
25 Games
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1/ Nowadays in this weird spot, because it has been forgotten that it was the first close port of the arcade version, with the real jump of quality from the Atari 2600 version and assimilated. It was in fact the only way to have the Pac-Man arcade experience in the comfort of the home.
2/ Everything it presents is crystal clear and radiates with life. Still very impressed by how much personality every ghost has, for such an early game. Even when implementing good solving patterns that manipulates the AI, their personalities are still very much visible.
3/ The Tengen situation is quite interesting to study as a reason for the very late port in North America and the mixed reactions that some American players display towards the NES version.
2/ Everything it presents is crystal clear and radiates with life. Still very impressed by how much personality every ghost has, for such an early game. Even when implementing good solving patterns that manipulates the AI, their personalities are still very much visible.
3/ The Tengen situation is quite interesting to study as a reason for the very late port in North America and the mixed reactions that some American players display towards the NES version.
14
1/ Riichi mahjong is its purest form, steering away from the two-player concept sadly explored by Nintendo the year before, a straight-forward implementation of the rules, at the cost of some visibility and aesthetics.
2/ Abolishing the idea of punishing the player for an illegal move, it's a very straight-forward game. The IA is a bit easy to read considering its readiness to discard winds – even its own seat – and its aggressive behaviour to be able to play riichi.
2/ Abolishing the idea of punishing the player for an illegal move, it's a very straight-forward game. The IA is a bit easy to read considering its readiness to discard winds – even its own seat – and its aggressive behaviour to be able to play riichi.
16
1/ Obviously a very important title, but it's really hard to emulate the feeling of yesteryear, as spending money to continue and cooperating with fellow players is not necessary to beat the game, when guides abound on the Internet.
2/ I didn't have the time to the blind approach, but I could see some interesting ideas here and there. Beyond the cryptic focus of the game, there's something creative about the way the player is non-verbally advised to either combat or flee depending on the layout of the round and their inventories. Less methodical than Ys or Hydlide, but still nice!
3/ Hard to not see a creative evolution of the Wyzardry experience, but in an arcade philosophy. In a way, kind of reminiscent about some PLATO experiences, which is a funny coincidence game design-wise.
2/ I didn't have the time to the blind approach, but I could see some interesting ideas here and there. Beyond the cryptic focus of the game, there's something creative about the way the player is non-verbally advised to either combat or flee depending on the layout of the round and their inventories. Less methodical than Ys or Hydlide, but still nice!
3/ Hard to not see a creative evolution of the Wyzardry experience, but in an arcade philosophy. In a way, kind of reminiscent about some PLATO experiences, which is a funny coincidence game design-wise.
18
[The Waves' Varia]
1/ Mostly done because Uncharted 4 was a previous stream, but it gained a particular focus for being laced with Modi's rhetoric of peaceful and marketable Hinduism in the West. Really hollow representation of India's history with both an ignorance of the pre-modern period and a profound stupidity on current domestic policies. Ironically, the game feels extremely out of touch after Modi's 2019 campaign centred around Pakistan and terrorism.
2/ Really uninspired representation of women, that felt like checking boxes on a remit. Quipping is so similar to Nathan Drake that I felt like playing him until Chloe and Nadine were struggling in melee fights or during the impromptu motherhood moment near the end.
3/ Always very surprised that the treasures found during the game have no description, while it's the norm in modern Tomb Raider. Really fuels the extra-orientalist approach of Uncharted, which makes the ending with the Ministry of Culture really baffling.
1/ Mostly done because Uncharted 4 was a previous stream, but it gained a particular focus for being laced with Modi's rhetoric of peaceful and marketable Hinduism in the West. Really hollow representation of India's history with both an ignorance of the pre-modern period and a profound stupidity on current domestic policies. Ironically, the game feels extremely out of touch after Modi's 2019 campaign centred around Pakistan and terrorism.
2/ Really uninspired representation of women, that felt like checking boxes on a remit. Quipping is so similar to Nathan Drake that I felt like playing him until Chloe and Nadine were struggling in melee fights or during the impromptu motherhood moment near the end.
3/ Always very surprised that the treasures found during the game have no description, while it's the norm in modern Tomb Raider. Really fuels the extra-orientalist approach of Uncharted, which makes the ending with the Ministry of Culture really baffling.
19
1/ Precursor of the better-known Mach Rider which was ported to the West. As such, it's also a weaker version and had many issues that Mach Rider would subsequently solve – but it's also why it makes a logical bridge between Iwata's solo project Car Race ][ and Mach Rider.
2/ Centripetal drift is emulated by losing the control over the car at certain speed thresholds – from what I have seen, 210, 280, 300, 330 and 367 km/h for the most common. This forces the player to use proactively the break – or the road bands in some emergent edge cases –, but also makes the game a bit too rigid, especially when maneuvering around the other vehicles.
3/ Scoring is purely dependent on the distance travelled on the fifth race, which makes the hidden turbo mechanic a necessity for power-play. Unfortunately, the timing to get the turbo is very tight and can be denied by vehicle spawn. This essentially makes scoring tributary of the RNG, going a little bit against the overall philosophy of the game.
4/ As such, Mach Rider solves this issues by implementing a Solo mode without any vehicles, but also by making it possible to bump or shoot them. For now, F1 Rider appears like a clever proof of concept. While it can be interesting for some very tight driving sequences, the game hadn't fully matured, but added interesting arcade ideas to Car Race ][.
2/ Centripetal drift is emulated by losing the control over the car at certain speed thresholds – from what I have seen, 210, 280, 300, 330 and 367 km/h for the most common. This forces the player to use proactively the break – or the road bands in some emergent edge cases –, but also makes the game a bit too rigid, especially when maneuvering around the other vehicles.
3/ Scoring is purely dependent on the distance travelled on the fifth race, which makes the hidden turbo mechanic a necessity for power-play. Unfortunately, the timing to get the turbo is very tight and can be denied by vehicle spawn. This essentially makes scoring tributary of the RNG, going a little bit against the overall philosophy of the game.
4/ As such, Mach Rider solves this issues by implementing a Solo mode without any vehicles, but also by making it possible to bump or shoot them. For now, F1 Rider appears like a clever proof of concept. While it can be interesting for some very tight driving sequences, the game hadn't fully matured, but added interesting arcade ideas to Car Race ][.
20
1/ Different concept than the MSX version, with something far more inspired by Lode Runner – published a few days later by Hudson on the Famicom – than Pac-Man. Unfortunately, it falls into the trap of being too bland to be genuinely pleasing. Lode Runner had a strategical aspect with the ability of digging holes, but Nuts & Milk forgoes the mechanic to focus on platforming execution, which doesn't seem very smart.
2/ Technical limitations are interesting, but I fear it's not exactly the case here. Having to think about the jumps because it's impossible to alter them mid-air is one thing, but the weird hitboxes and the pixel-perfect jumps to cross two-tiles holes are another.
3/ Mode B is a pure afterthought, as it uses the same boards as Mode A, but with random aerial obstacles crossing the screen. Not even interesting for scoring purposes, as the helicopter spawns seem pretty random.
2/ Technical limitations are interesting, but I fear it's not exactly the case here. Having to think about the jumps because it's impossible to alter them mid-air is one thing, but the weird hitboxes and the pixel-perfect jumps to cross two-tiles holes are another.
3/ Mode B is a pure afterthought, as it uses the same boards as Mode A, but with random aerial obstacles crossing the screen. Not even interesting for scoring purposes, as the helicopter spawns seem pretty random.
21
1/ Probably developed in the same spirit as Donkey Kong Jr. Math, mode A is marginally interesting to learn some English words, but the vocabulary list is a bit surprising – science terms and countries are way outside the knowledge of a child – and it's hard to understand who is the intended audience.
2/ Mode B is a pure Hangman are completely misses the point of an educational game, while Mode C is a weird competitive mode whose concept is too chaotic to be interesting.
2/ Mode B is a pure Hangman are completely misses the point of an educational game, while Mode C is a weird competitive mode whose concept is too chaotic to be interesting.
22
1/ Interesting concept and certainly part of the maze chasers trend that was explored in the early 1980s. The idea of giving offensive tools to the player is great and allows a more proactive behaviour.
2/ Unfortunately, the title is a bit too chaotic due to the RNG of Satan's commands, meaning that the Devil World both loses the simplicity of Pac-Man and any genuine incentive to optimise pathing and scoring. There are too many moments where the game comes at a virtual halt with pellets being outside of the maze limits.
3/ It's a shame that the multiple ideas are not bad on paper, but don't blend properly with each other. The moving maze could be interesting to revisit, but maybe with the fixed frame closer to the edges of the screen.
2/ Unfortunately, the title is a bit too chaotic due to the RNG of Satan's commands, meaning that the Devil World both loses the simplicity of Pac-Man and any genuine incentive to optimise pathing and scoring. There are too many moments where the game comes at a virtual halt with pellets being outside of the maze limits.
3/ It's a shame that the multiple ideas are not bad on paper, but don't blend properly with each other. The moving maze could be interesting to revisit, but maybe with the fixed frame closer to the edges of the screen.
23
1/ Unfortunately misguided in its attempt to create a two-player mahjong, as it tries to keep the original ruleset: this tactical element of the four-player (or even three) game disappears. Ron and tsumo are virtually equivalent and small hands have a higher yield because the loser always pays the full point-value of the hand.
2/ This creates a very aggressive loop to seek easy hands without any care for the opponent's discards, especially as the wall is constructed with only 22 tiles.
3/ It's understandable that Nintendo didn't implement the usual rules of two-player mahjong, but it's really nothing more than a clunky tool to learn some yaku, with the difficulty modes being very superfluous.
2/ This creates a very aggressive loop to seek easy hands without any care for the opponent's discards, especially as the wall is constructed with only 22 tiles.
3/ It's understandable that Nintendo didn't implement the usual rules of two-player mahjong, but it's really nothing more than a clunky tool to learn some yaku, with the difficulty modes being very superfluous.
24
[The Waves' L-Planning]
1/ Far more grueling than in my memories, as the game drags so much with unwanted mechanics. Playing around numbers allowed for interesting traps in 999, an aspect completely forgone in this particular iteration. With the clueing being that miserable and obvious, it's hard to be invested in the story that departs from the grounded aspect of this predecessor for something very artificial.
2/ A weaker cast by far, by virtue of being too cliché. Not having a smart person in the group really hampers the ability of telling a mystery, especially when the mystery is that easy to grasp.
3/ Science-fiction's great strength is the ability to showcase structural issues by exaggerating some traits of our current societies. The motives are so flimsy here that it's impossible to give any credence to the characters, whose utilitarian propensity is very distasteful – something that won't be challenged by the sequel.
4/ Beyond the empty references and pseudo-scientific elements, I really felt like the game was screaming Final Fantasy IV: The After Years during the whole ending sequence?
1/ Far more grueling than in my memories, as the game drags so much with unwanted mechanics. Playing around numbers allowed for interesting traps in 999, an aspect completely forgone in this particular iteration. With the clueing being that miserable and obvious, it's hard to be invested in the story that departs from the grounded aspect of this predecessor for something very artificial.
2/ A weaker cast by far, by virtue of being too cliché. Not having a smart person in the group really hampers the ability of telling a mystery, especially when the mystery is that easy to grasp.
3/ Science-fiction's great strength is the ability to showcase structural issues by exaggerating some traits of our current societies. The motives are so flimsy here that it's impossible to give any credence to the characters, whose utilitarian propensity is very distasteful – something that won't be challenged by the sequel.
4/ Beyond the empty references and pseudo-scientific elements, I really felt like the game was screaming Final Fantasy IV: The After Years during the whole ending sequence?
25
10 Comments
@moschidae: I hate how the list looks right now, ahah. Such a miserable experience.
oh, I gather you didn't like VLR :(
@LordDarias: It was a far cry from my memories, unfortunately. I think my now deeper knowledge of Japanese detective fiction, the departure from the grounded story of 999, the weaker cast and the overly long playthrough despite the obvious twists just broke my appreciation for the game.
That's fair, I find it to be a very mixed experience myself, hopefully this year will bring better experiences
Youd absolutely hate ztd since it's way way worse than VLR
its so sad to see another code below origami king. ive been attempting to condition myself into loving it as much as the originals through exposure therapy but its not working...
@Ninjabunny: I would originally have put Another Code Recollection above due to the Proustian nostalgia it conveys for the veterans and a great concept for a remake (hence a higher score, whatever it means), but The Origami King – especially with Olivia – is the game I needed in my mental health, regardless of its flaws and especially not through the lens of the old ones. This list is very intimate and shouldn't really be understood away from personal context, although I know it's impossible to highlight my experiences since I'm not writing reviews anymore.
I haven't actually played origami king yet bc i didnt like sticker star and never got around to playing color splash so idk how good it is and i wasn't trying to make like a value judgement about it. It's just being reminded of Another Code Recollection's failings in any way made me sad lul. Luckily though 2024 has been a pretty good year for games for me so far bc i really like ffvii rebirth and unicorn overlord. Id recommend those to you but those games are both like 100 hours long so they arent really like casual recs you can give people lul
@Ninjabunny: Don't worry! As for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Unicorn Overlord, I started the first one and the second is on my immediate radar, I just need to clear some time for them first!
moschidae
4 months ago