2018
Uh, I don't get it.
I was super pumped to check this game out since I loved FTL and I'd heard tons of great things about it, but then half an hour later I was already watching the credits scroll. Did I blink and miss the amazing game everyone was talking about? Even then it wasn't that fun, compared to something like Fire Emblem I felt more frustrated by the RTS combat than anything. Every time I discovered a new weapon for my tanks I couldn't equip it because the game said no and wouldn't give me a reason why.
Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not super keen to go back and find out what.
I was super pumped to check this game out since I loved FTL and I'd heard tons of great things about it, but then half an hour later I was already watching the credits scroll. Did I blink and miss the amazing game everyone was talking about? Even then it wasn't that fun, compared to something like Fire Emblem I felt more frustrated by the RTS combat than anything. Every time I discovered a new weapon for my tanks I couldn't equip it because the game said no and wouldn't give me a reason why.
Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not super keen to go back and find out what.
First things first, we've gotta talk about this title. What the hell does Super Rush mean? It's not a move in the game as far as I can tell. Are they talking about how you have to rush in the Speed Golf mode? Why not keep up with the "Tour" names they used for the last two games? I have so many questions.
I had a lot of fun with this! I loved playing Toadstool Tour as a kid so I was very happy to find that those pleasant feelings were still here, at least as far as the main golf game goes. All the courses were both fun and challenging, the character roster has all the old favourites (several of them in great new outfits) plus some exciting new faces, and the classic mechanics have been seriously polished. That being said, I wasn't that into the other modes beyond regular golf, and I was disappointed you can only play with friends online. I should say, if you don't have friends who'll play this game with you don't bother with it. Unless you love solo golf there's not a lot here for single players.
But yeah, I dunno why people are complaining about this one so much. I guess it's the old "no one hates Nintendo more than Nintendo fans" deal again. Even with this being another game that's getting more courses and stuff later I feel like I was more than satisfied with the amount of content here. It's just a fun golf game that's great if you have friends or family playing with you, simple as that.
I had a lot of fun with this! I loved playing Toadstool Tour as a kid so I was very happy to find that those pleasant feelings were still here, at least as far as the main golf game goes. All the courses were both fun and challenging, the character roster has all the old favourites (several of them in great new outfits) plus some exciting new faces, and the classic mechanics have been seriously polished. That being said, I wasn't that into the other modes beyond regular golf, and I was disappointed you can only play with friends online. I should say, if you don't have friends who'll play this game with you don't bother with it. Unless you love solo golf there's not a lot here for single players.
But yeah, I dunno why people are complaining about this one so much. I guess it's the old "no one hates Nintendo more than Nintendo fans" deal again. Even with this being another game that's getting more courses and stuff later I feel like I was more than satisfied with the amount of content here. It's just a fun golf game that's great if you have friends or family playing with you, simple as that.
2021
This is a super charming game, albeit one that gets a bit repetitive towards the end. The world they've crafted here is probably the most fully realized one Pokemon has ever experienced, especially considering the state of the franchise these days. I loved exploring all the new environments and seeing all the different ways the Pokemon interacted with them, and whenever I discovered a secret or figured out a way to get a Pokemon to do something I wanted it to do, I felt a real sense of discovery. The animation team went all out on this one, making the Pokemon feel like real living creatures with their own daily lives and routines. All your favourites are here in their HD glory, as well as several lesser known critters I was very happy to see made the jump to the Snap universe. The one thing I would change is the aiming system for throwing fruit and glow balls, the curve of your throw doesn't line up with the reticle at all and makes it way harder to actually hit what you're aiming at than it looks, especially if you're trying to hit something far away or moving fast. Thankfully you have infinite ammo so it's not a huge problem but since you only have a certain amount of time before you move past what you're trying to hit it can be a bit frustrating.
Definitely a quality experience though, and a must-play for Pokemon fans or photography buffs.
Definitely a quality experience though, and a must-play for Pokemon fans or photography buffs.
2017
I love this game. I love this game so freakin’ much. Where to even start with it?
For better or for worse, Horizon Zero Dawn’s legacy is going to be tied to Zelda: Breath of the Wild for a long time. They were released in the same week, are both open-world adventure games, and (in my humble opinion) represent their respective publishers at their absolute best. But where Breath of the Wild embraced an exciting new vision for the open-world format, focusing on exploration and player discovery, Horizon embraces classic traditions pioneered by games like Assassin’s Creed and polished them until they shined like the sun.
Which is better? I dunno. Honestly, I have them side-by-side on my Top 50 games list because it’s hard for me to pick one over the other. They both do things right, they both have flaws, and if all goes according to plan their sequels will surpass both of them (though not in the same week again please).
But enough about all that stuff nobody cares about, why do I love Horizon Zero Dawn? Well, simply put, it’s just an amazing adventure game. Sure, it’s not that influential or experimental, but it’s a damn good time. I feel like the devs accomplished everything they set out to do with this game, and that's pretty darn rare in an industry run by pencil pushers constantly cutting stuff and challenging creative visions.
The world is one of the most richly designed and realized worlds I’ve ever seen in a game. It feels like more than just a mishmash of polygons with some fake trees attached, it’s like a real world existing just inside of the screen. I love that as you travel through the world you pass through the lands of several different tribes, and as you do so you can see the culture and architecture change to match their designs. I love the mix of the primeval world and the futuristic robotic designs, in any other game it would be incredibly easy to make them feel like two different worlds awkwardly mashed together, but the more subtle aspects of Horizon’s art design makes it feel like one could not exist without the other. The clothing design is the true star of the show here, if you look closely you can see all of it is tied together with wires and machine parts.
And that’s not even getting started on the machine design. The best part of the game is the combat against the robot monsters, hands down. There are dozens if not hundreds of ways to go about fighting them, and as you start fighting the more advanced creatures you’re forced to think of more creative solutions to your problems. Each weapon is easy to pick up but difficult to master, and they’re all a complete blast to use. I especially enjoyed the Ice and Lightning guns available in the Frozen Wilds expansion.
As for the story, I will say it’s got some problems (it sort of loses focus on the emotional core towards the end and becomes about fighting angry AIs), but overall it’s a ton of fun. In an age when we’re drowning in JRPGs filled with soulless characters making anime grunting noises and dropping dump truck loads of exposition in your lap every 5 minutes, it’s incredibly refreshing to have an protagonist who actually feels like a real person and not an overly serious conduit for the writer to live out their edgelord fantasy. Aloy is one of my favourite protagonists in video games without a doubt. I love that she represents a beacon of hope for the world but feels conflicted about her place in it due to her being rejected as a child. I love that she’s not completely serious all the time, often joking to herself as she’s travelling the world. She’s a fully realized three-dimensional character, and one that I completely enjoyed spending hundreds of hours with.
There are a few weaker elements to the game, like the climbing mechanics (the constant yellow ropes that dictate where you can climb are the one fault in the otherwise flawless art design) and the human combat is pretty shallow when compared to the excellent Monster Hunter-like machine battles, but these are minor inconveniences when looking at the big picture. Horizon is likely to go down in history as one of Sony’s all time great franchises thanks to this game’s success, and the sequel can’t come soon enough.
TL;DR: robot t-rex game good
For better or for worse, Horizon Zero Dawn’s legacy is going to be tied to Zelda: Breath of the Wild for a long time. They were released in the same week, are both open-world adventure games, and (in my humble opinion) represent their respective publishers at their absolute best. But where Breath of the Wild embraced an exciting new vision for the open-world format, focusing on exploration and player discovery, Horizon embraces classic traditions pioneered by games like Assassin’s Creed and polished them until they shined like the sun.
Which is better? I dunno. Honestly, I have them side-by-side on my Top 50 games list because it’s hard for me to pick one over the other. They both do things right, they both have flaws, and if all goes according to plan their sequels will surpass both of them (though not in the same week again please).
But enough about all that stuff nobody cares about, why do I love Horizon Zero Dawn? Well, simply put, it’s just an amazing adventure game. Sure, it’s not that influential or experimental, but it’s a damn good time. I feel like the devs accomplished everything they set out to do with this game, and that's pretty darn rare in an industry run by pencil pushers constantly cutting stuff and challenging creative visions.
The world is one of the most richly designed and realized worlds I’ve ever seen in a game. It feels like more than just a mishmash of polygons with some fake trees attached, it’s like a real world existing just inside of the screen. I love that as you travel through the world you pass through the lands of several different tribes, and as you do so you can see the culture and architecture change to match their designs. I love the mix of the primeval world and the futuristic robotic designs, in any other game it would be incredibly easy to make them feel like two different worlds awkwardly mashed together, but the more subtle aspects of Horizon’s art design makes it feel like one could not exist without the other. The clothing design is the true star of the show here, if you look closely you can see all of it is tied together with wires and machine parts.
And that’s not even getting started on the machine design. The best part of the game is the combat against the robot monsters, hands down. There are dozens if not hundreds of ways to go about fighting them, and as you start fighting the more advanced creatures you’re forced to think of more creative solutions to your problems. Each weapon is easy to pick up but difficult to master, and they’re all a complete blast to use. I especially enjoyed the Ice and Lightning guns available in the Frozen Wilds expansion.
As for the story, I will say it’s got some problems (it sort of loses focus on the emotional core towards the end and becomes about fighting angry AIs), but overall it’s a ton of fun. In an age when we’re drowning in JRPGs filled with soulless characters making anime grunting noises and dropping dump truck loads of exposition in your lap every 5 minutes, it’s incredibly refreshing to have an protagonist who actually feels like a real person and not an overly serious conduit for the writer to live out their edgelord fantasy. Aloy is one of my favourite protagonists in video games without a doubt. I love that she represents a beacon of hope for the world but feels conflicted about her place in it due to her being rejected as a child. I love that she’s not completely serious all the time, often joking to herself as she’s travelling the world. She’s a fully realized three-dimensional character, and one that I completely enjoyed spending hundreds of hours with.
There are a few weaker elements to the game, like the climbing mechanics (the constant yellow ropes that dictate where you can climb are the one fault in the otherwise flawless art design) and the human combat is pretty shallow when compared to the excellent Monster Hunter-like machine battles, but these are minor inconveniences when looking at the big picture. Horizon is likely to go down in history as one of Sony’s all time great franchises thanks to this game’s success, and the sequel can’t come soon enough.
TL;DR: robot t-rex game good
There's basically no reason to play this over Planet Zoo because you have much less freedom to do what you want and there are some very confusing design choices (two separate buildings for gathering fossils and analyzing them? c'mon Frontier, you know better than to do that) but if you're into the Jurassic Park movies or dinos in general and you want to play a Zoo Tycoon-type game with them, you could do a lot worse. It's also really addicting, I spent many hours building dino habitats while I was playing this so if you're looking for a game that'll give you something to do for a week Evolution is a great choice.
2008
Oh god, my teenage self would be heartbroken to find out how poorly this game has aged. This used to be a pretty cool experimental title (published by EA of all companies) but it's been obliterated by the passage of time in nearly every way. It feels like this game was made with the MO of "make sure the player never has TOO much fun!" because the moments where you get to take full advantage of the platforming and truly enjoy running at high speed always end quickly as an elevator or a puzzle section pops up to completely break your momentum.
You know those really cool freerunning sections you see in all the trailers? That accounts for about 40% of the campaign. Most of the game is spent running through linear hallways, crawling through vents, and wandering around aimlessly waiting for something to turn red so you can figure out where to go next. Plus every jump is juuuust far enough away to make it frustrating as you fall again and again and again just trying to get slightly further and grab the ledge. Don't even get me started on the precision platfoming in the final stage. There's no freedom for exploration or experimentation in your freerunning, it's just following the red until you reach your goal. Sometimes you can take an alternate path or two but for the most part Mirror's Edge is a thinly-veiled railroad.
And then there's the asinine combat, which feels completely out of place in this game. Sure, you can try to use your platforming skills to take out the enemies, but you die in three hits and get cut down in seconds if you attempt anything remotely creative. The only viable option is to disarm a goon, take their gun and enter FPS mode for a few minutes until you end the encounter. Gunplay is extremely clunky too, and every time you're stuck shooting dudes you wish you were doing the awesome platforming.
Luckily some things never change, as the plot, characters and dialogue are just as terrible as they ever were. I didn't even bother with it and skipped most of the cutscenes this time around.
I really wonder what made me love this game so much when I was younger. Was it because there was nothing else like it? Was it the few fleeting moments of running freedom? Or was it because the credits song was awesome?
Yeah, it was probably that last one.
You know those really cool freerunning sections you see in all the trailers? That accounts for about 40% of the campaign. Most of the game is spent running through linear hallways, crawling through vents, and wandering around aimlessly waiting for something to turn red so you can figure out where to go next. Plus every jump is juuuust far enough away to make it frustrating as you fall again and again and again just trying to get slightly further and grab the ledge. Don't even get me started on the precision platfoming in the final stage. There's no freedom for exploration or experimentation in your freerunning, it's just following the red until you reach your goal. Sometimes you can take an alternate path or two but for the most part Mirror's Edge is a thinly-veiled railroad.
And then there's the asinine combat, which feels completely out of place in this game. Sure, you can try to use your platforming skills to take out the enemies, but you die in three hits and get cut down in seconds if you attempt anything remotely creative. The only viable option is to disarm a goon, take their gun and enter FPS mode for a few minutes until you end the encounter. Gunplay is extremely clunky too, and every time you're stuck shooting dudes you wish you were doing the awesome platforming.
Luckily some things never change, as the plot, characters and dialogue are just as terrible as they ever were. I didn't even bother with it and skipped most of the cutscenes this time around.
I really wonder what made me love this game so much when I was younger. Was it because there was nothing else like it? Was it the few fleeting moments of running freedom? Or was it because the credits song was awesome?
Yeah, it was probably that last one.
It's aged pretty well compared to a lot of other platformers of the era, but going back to this after playing Woolly World isn't a great time, especially thanks to how obnoxious Baby Mario's crying is. The sprite art is still some of the best ever though. Definitely play it if you're a fan of the franchise or the era of gaming.
2011
Hard to believe that this masterpiece is already 10 years old. Portal 2 is my favourite game of all time, and in my opinion it's aged beautifully, and is just as amazing today as it was back in 2011.
Everything about this game is perfect. The puzzles and game design are far improved from the original, throwing out the onslaught of bouncing ball puzzles in exchange for thought-provoking and exciting rooms that all feel unique. The story is perfect, building on the simple yet fun plot from the first game to create one of the most entertaining and witty narratives in all of gaming. The characters are perfect, from the returning GLaDOS to the new additions of Wheatley and Cave Johnson. The art direction is perfect, the music is perfect, the jokes are perfect, the secrets and easter eggs are perfect, it just all comes together beautifully. Portal 2 is one of those extremely rare pieces of art that accomplishes everything it sets out to do with flying colours. Plus, you can beat the whole thing in one sitting if you absolutely want to, making it the perfect game to revisit from time to time just to remind yourself that no game will ever reach this level of perfection again.
I should probably finish the multiplayer one of these days.
Everything about this game is perfect. The puzzles and game design are far improved from the original, throwing out the onslaught of bouncing ball puzzles in exchange for thought-provoking and exciting rooms that all feel unique. The story is perfect, building on the simple yet fun plot from the first game to create one of the most entertaining and witty narratives in all of gaming. The characters are perfect, from the returning GLaDOS to the new additions of Wheatley and Cave Johnson. The art direction is perfect, the music is perfect, the jokes are perfect, the secrets and easter eggs are perfect, it just all comes together beautifully. Portal 2 is one of those extremely rare pieces of art that accomplishes everything it sets out to do with flying colours. Plus, you can beat the whole thing in one sitting if you absolutely want to, making it the perfect game to revisit from time to time just to remind yourself that no game will ever reach this level of perfection again.
I should probably finish the multiplayer one of these days.
2007
I forgot how good this game was. Portal 2 is my favourite game of all time, and as a result I've always looked back at the original classic as slow, cumbersome and filled with annoying bouncing ball puzzles by comparison. While preparing to replay Portal 2 on it's 10th birthday I decided now was as good a time as any to revisit the first game, which I've only beaten twice compared to replaying Portal 2 like 20 times. Much to my surprise while it's starting to show it's age graphically for sure, I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to. Portal is still an absolute gem that anyone even mildly interested in games as an art form owes to themselves to play. The first half is fun enough, but the second half where you're escaping the facility is where the game truly shines, plus the endless stream of quips by GLaDOS are as funny as ever. I'm not sure I'd call it a masterpiece on the level of the sequel but it's an absolute classic and one of the most important video games ever made.
2021
better than Mario 35 but not as good as Tetris 99
2016
"In that moment...I was a marine biologist."
-George Costanza
-George Costanza
2009
The king of the golden age of mobile gaming still holds up to these days, even if the PC version is showing it's age in some respects. Seriously EA, give this game the remaster it deserves.
I was surprised how nostalgic I felt playing this one, I guess the last time I played it was in high school. It's a classic in so many aspects, it's not only the best tower defense game ever made but the aesthetic is one of the most iconic to ever come out of gaming. It really made me miss the days where mobile gaming was stuff like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja instead of Farmville clones and gatcha madness.
Oh, and the credits song still slaps.
(Game 9/30 in my 1 Year 30 Games list: www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-50-games-2021/)
I was surprised how nostalgic I felt playing this one, I guess the last time I played it was in high school. It's a classic in so many aspects, it's not only the best tower defense game ever made but the aesthetic is one of the most iconic to ever come out of gaming. It really made me miss the days where mobile gaming was stuff like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja instead of Farmville clones and gatcha madness.
Oh, and the credits song still slaps.
(Game 9/30 in my 1 Year 30 Games list: www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-50-games-2021/)
2017
This is a good video game that I absolutely don't wanna play anymore. I can't stand most Metroidvanias because backtracking through a massive 2D platformer world with limited fast travel sounds like pulling teeth to me, but this one was really good at limiting that and making it feel like you were exploring and discovering new and exciting things around every turn, and I loved that.
And then I hit the Ancient Basin and it turns out I missed some doodad that's absolutely necessary to continue down the main path and it's a million miles out of my way and I really don't feel like going on that hike. Plus every time I feel like I'm making progress on my way back I hit a door or a wall that stops my progresss and makes me take the long way around and that drives me insane, so yeah. Good game but I'm done with it.
(Game 8/30 on my 1 Year, 30 Games list: https://www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-30-games-2021/)
And then I hit the Ancient Basin and it turns out I missed some doodad that's absolutely necessary to continue down the main path and it's a million miles out of my way and I really don't feel like going on that hike. Plus every time I feel like I'm making progress on my way back I hit a door or a wall that stops my progresss and makes me take the long way around and that drives me insane, so yeah. Good game but I'm done with it.
(Game 8/30 on my 1 Year, 30 Games list: https://www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-30-games-2021/)
2020
Definitely not as good as it's predecessor but still a damn good game in it's own right. This game is just DOOM 2016 cranked up to 11, for better and for worse.
The story is more expansive and complicated, but I found myself missing the simple yet engaging narrative of the first game. I found myself getting confused at times with how this played out, and a lot of the big moments seemed geared towards longtime franchise fans that I, a newcomer to the franchise, was left scratching my head at.
Coming right off of the original, it took me some time to get used to the upgraded arsenal (especially the chainsaw, which goes from a limited use instakill move to a necessary part of your playstyle), but after finishing the game I completely understand what people mean when they say it's near impossible to go back to the original after playing Eternal. If I ever play the first game again I'll miss my grappling hook super shotgun for sure. That being said, there are times where it feels a little more bloated than necessary. I almost never used the Flame Breath ability, for example.
It's not perfect or as good as it's predecessor, but it's still one of the best games released in 2020. Definitely play it.
(Game 7/30 on my 1 Year, 30 Games list: https://www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-30-games-2021/)
The story is more expansive and complicated, but I found myself missing the simple yet engaging narrative of the first game. I found myself getting confused at times with how this played out, and a lot of the big moments seemed geared towards longtime franchise fans that I, a newcomer to the franchise, was left scratching my head at.
Coming right off of the original, it took me some time to get used to the upgraded arsenal (especially the chainsaw, which goes from a limited use instakill move to a necessary part of your playstyle), but after finishing the game I completely understand what people mean when they say it's near impossible to go back to the original after playing Eternal. If I ever play the first game again I'll miss my grappling hook super shotgun for sure. That being said, there are times where it feels a little more bloated than necessary. I almost never used the Flame Breath ability, for example.
It's not perfect or as good as it's predecessor, but it's still one of the best games released in 2020. Definitely play it.
(Game 7/30 on my 1 Year, 30 Games list: https://www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-30-games-2021/)
2016
I'm not a huge FPS guy. The only FPS games I've ever really gotten into were Overwatch, which I played until I got completely sick of it, and the campaign of Titanfall 2, which I loved. I never got into Halo and I've never touched Battlefield or CoD. It's just not a genre that's very interesting to me.
That being said, as of right now I think that Doom 2016 is the best FPS game ever made. We'll see how my opinion changes after I play Eternal but that's how I feel after playing this. The shooting is exciting without feeling repetitive, the story is engaging without taking itself seriously at all, and the world is interesting without being a sludge of brown and grey textures. I can't believe I missed this one when it first released.
Part of what makes Doom so interesting is the way it uses your emotions. Unlike most other games that use a story to make you feel happy or sad, or a musical score that'll make you feel relaxed or energized, everything about Doom's aesthetic is systematically designed to tap into the primal rage part of your brain and let that carry you through the entire experience. A lot of this is thanks to the incredible heavy metal score, easily one of the best soundtracks ever created for a video game.
The only thing I'll say against the game is that the segments where you have to wander the massive maze-like corridors looking for specific keys or hallways you missed in the early game are complete buzzkills that mess up the pacing. Thankfully those go away for the most part after the first few hours so they're not a huge problem, just a bit of an annoyance that might deter people like me who aren't great with spacial awareness from continuing the game.
(Game 6/30 on my 1 Year, 30 Games list: https://www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-30-games-2021/)
That being said, as of right now I think that Doom 2016 is the best FPS game ever made. We'll see how my opinion changes after I play Eternal but that's how I feel after playing this. The shooting is exciting without feeling repetitive, the story is engaging without taking itself seriously at all, and the world is interesting without being a sludge of brown and grey textures. I can't believe I missed this one when it first released.
Part of what makes Doom so interesting is the way it uses your emotions. Unlike most other games that use a story to make you feel happy or sad, or a musical score that'll make you feel relaxed or energized, everything about Doom's aesthetic is systematically designed to tap into the primal rage part of your brain and let that carry you through the entire experience. A lot of this is thanks to the incredible heavy metal score, easily one of the best soundtracks ever created for a video game.
The only thing I'll say against the game is that the segments where you have to wander the massive maze-like corridors looking for specific keys or hallways you missed in the early game are complete buzzkills that mess up the pacing. Thankfully those go away for the most part after the first few hours so they're not a huge problem, just a bit of an annoyance that might deter people like me who aren't great with spacial awareness from continuing the game.
(Game 6/30 on my 1 Year, 30 Games list: https://www.backloggd.com/u/hyena142/list/1-year-30-games-2021/)