bideojames 2022
less jokes than usual
10 Games
people trying to look cool are doing everything in their power to not put this at number one. I am cool so I do not need to try to look cool so I am putting it at number one, Elden Ring is number one it's got the best RPG systems Fromsoft has done, it's got the best action Fromsoft has done, it's got easily the most richly crafted world and narrative of any of the souls games (people might talk about The Lore Trees and then miss forest of wonderfully sketched characters, that bring a full personality to life in a few lines and the mastery over level design-as-narrative that has defined these games since the beginning)
the combat of dragon quest combines simple surface level mechanics that reveal infinite depth the more you play, pristine encounter design with beautiful prioritization puzzles, and generously but carefully applied random numbers, so that you can never get too comfortable. And the same basic mechanics have been stretched out for 30 years. What I am saying is that it is the Doom of JRPGs
people will talk about movement, or guns, but the truth is, the X-factor that separates the pretty good FPS from the all time great FPS is enemy design, this is why Duke can never be Doom. The developers of HYPERDEMON literally created the enemies first and worked backwards from there to ensure every element of the games design complimented the enemy palette.
I just made that up but it could be true
I just made that up but it could be true
The Beginner Track is the 2fort of Racing Game tracks. If Daytona USA had an online server browser you could log on to 24/7 Daytona Speedway and the dude in 1st place would be on lap 2,000 it's just that good
I'd been trying to get into STGs for years but kept going about it all wrong, I kept avoiding bullet hells. the instant I pro-actively positioned myself to trick the enemies into shooting at a place I wasn't going to be I understood the mistake I had been making for years
i love the old plodding monster hunter, but high speed boss rush monster hunter is exhilarating
I've played many Armored Core games over the years but always passed by this one (and it's predecessor AC3), a huge mistake on my part. AC3+Silent Line are where Armored Core's Cyberpunk Dystopia is at it's most effective, the extremely dry presentation feels more true-to-capitalism than microwaved reheated neon painted rehash of bladerunner that videogames typically aim for. It's funny in subtle and unassuming ways (you're called a 'mediator' instead of a mercenary, that's hilarious) but AC3 has levels that feel almost proc-genned, and that's where Silent Line comes into it's own with scores of unusual levels; cause a ruckus on a highway to distract security forces, chase down a high speed train, get involved in a conflict between two sides that have identical equipment with different paint jobs so you have to be careful about who you shoot, fight off enemy aircraft from the back of a cargo plane, Silent Line has a variety that is not matched by it's predecessors or descendants
It's a Fromsoft tradition to have a very powerful playstyle that you can opt into to reduce the difficulty of the game. Usually I don't use that option because I have brain spiders. However, the easy playstyle in Shadow Tower Abyss is to pull out an M14 and blow some fantasy freak's head off from across the room, needless to say I was smitten
one of things i crave in videogames is a sense of tactility, a real sense of direct feedback in the physics and friction of my actions, I love the momentum of Super Mario Bro and cement shoe steps of Castlevania for the same basic reason; it characterizes the whole game in a single button, So when I pushed run in Elevator Action Returns and felt the weirdest loping run I've ever felt in a videogame I was hooked
ok I'll be honest I had already played a lot of this game when it came out. But I replayed it this year and realized it is not merely good but one of all the time great systems-drive action games, and it has maybe the most experimentally structured narrative Kojima has ever attempted. (Death Stranding is high weird aesthetically but the narrative is pretty straight forward, MGS2 is also quite experimental but is largely delivered with more established techniques compared to MGS Vs job simulator espionage narrative delivery)
