by zor
Here is a list of most of the games I played in 2023. I’ll try to keep track of all of them, but a few will slip through, as usual. Or I’ll feel like i didn’t put in enough time to have an opinion on. I’ll also create a 2023 GoTY list later, in Dec.
Showing 1-10 of 68 items
XSX, 2022, 6/10: A first person, shooter, adventure game. A little metroidvania lite, with some gaining abilities and back tracking to get chests and such. Made by the guy(s) who did rick and Marty, and voiced by one of those dudes too. Completed: The game. Took about 10 hours, and overall it was above average. It wasn’t a good game, but it was amusing. The story did just feel like a story arc from rick and Morty, and so did most of the humor. Visual it was okay, didn’t really do anything impressive. And they played off most of the alien culture as parody on human stuff, which felt super lazy and generic. The gameplay was fun at times, but often required too much open world filler. So overall it was fun at times, and dull at others, and if I had miss playing this, that would have been fine. Don’t regret my time with it, but am in no rush to play it again or a sequel (assuming it is of equal quality and such).
PC, 2022, 8/10: Playing through the DLC, almost got everything, again. Completed: the DLC, and back at max achievements…. For now. had fun with the dlc, but it wasn’t as big or different as i had hoped. The new map was interesting since it is set locations, but also, i have no interest on going back to it. The game is still a blast though.
NSW, 2019, 7/10 : Playing through a 3rd, and final time, Blue Lions path. Completed: My 3rd play through, on the Blue Lion path. Took about 220 hours in total. And by the end, i had lost nearly all my steam. Lucky, i had over level my guys, so i was able to steam roll the last few battles. But yeah… I enjoy this game, but i am done with it. The blue lion path had new story beats and oddly, played the most like a normal FE game. And by that i mean, there was little to no, fighting the under ground, super advance people. Instead it focus on the main king dude, and the fight with the empire. Which was alright. But for a game that kind of encourages replaying, its new game plus stuff isn’t that good. It nice that it exist at all, but they should have transfer over the levels too and such. Also, given a way to skip the part 1, cause replaying that 3 times was a big drag. Now that i have done the play through 3 times, i would think i would have a favorite, but i did them so far apart, that i don’t really remember most of what happen. Still, from what i can put together, i think I liked my first play through, for black eagle, the most.
XBone, 2013, 4.5/10: Kind of playing, but more using it for achievements for the Xbox reward program. The game so far, is ok, but it is hard to say for sure, due to how am playing it like an hour every 2 weeks. Finally got around to playing the game, and got pretty far before i uninstalled it (chap 7 out of 8). It just the core gameplay is bad, and while i was able to push through it for a bit, eventually, it got tougher, so i bounced. I did end up watching the ending parts on YouTube, and they were okay. Overall, the game feels dated, the core combat isn’t fun. However, the tactical stuff they sometimes add, was. The story was generic and forgettable. Graphically, the game still looks good, even by today’s standards, and that is impressive.
NSW, 2022, 6.5/10: An action game, where the player is doing combos and juggling enemies. With big set pieces, wacky story beats, and style… which kind of works some of the time. Overall the game reminded me of No More Heroes 3, but this game is decent. Not good, but decent. Am fine with the poor graphics, but the shallow story, and the some what repeative gameplay combat hold this game back. Overall I had fun with this game, and i might keep with it, assuming they make another one, and that they drop this whole changing the main character thingy, cause Viola gameplay was bad. Well, i was bad at it, and i don’t want to play more of her. Completed: The main game, and none of the side missions. The 1 i tried was a bit hard, and didn’t really seem to have much of a reward. Plus, i mainly played the game for the story, and gameplay variety. So the side missions didn’t seem like a good use of time.
XSX, 2022, X: So played for about 5 minutes before uninstalling. So, going to hold off on giving it a score. The game wasn’t a ‘bad’ game, just felt like a very generic point and click adventure game, and I had no interest in playing it cause of that. The only reason i even check it out at all, was due to a friend having played the game.
NSW, 2022, 4.5/10: A TBS game where you control characters from the Mario series, as well as Rabbids that look like Mario characters. The combat is alright, has a few tricks, and overall works. Visual, the game looks good too. And the details are nice. On the other hand, there is a lot wrong with this game. First, the story is bad. And for the most part, it doesn’t matter. It there at the start, then there 20 hours of pointless stuff, and then the ending. Second, the character design (abilities) is horrible. And is a critical flaw to the game. The vast majority of the upgrades for characters are not interesting. Just stuff like, increase range from 21m to 24m. Also, the characters are static pre-made characters. So Luigi is your sniper, and he is your only sniper, no one else can be one, and he can’t be anything else. This static design made the characters feel lifeless, and work against the combat. Further making this game almost unplayable is that there so much combat. And at first, it was kind of fun. But after doing 30 battles, which are kind of the exact same, it loses all charm. And that happens on the first world (there are 5, plus the boss final zone). The only reason i finish this game, was that they included an invincible mode option. If i wasn’t able to ‘cheat’ my way through, i would have stopped on the second world. The disappointing thing is that if they had just made a few different choices, it could have been a much better game. But they didn’t. They made the wrong ones, and went deep into them.
XSX, 2023, 4/10: A rhythm action platforms, kind of a mix between DMC, and cadence of hyrule. I wanted to like this game, since a few of the staff really like it, but i just didn’t. I got to the 5th stage, before it was just too much, and i couldn’t force myself to go any further. My main problem with this game, is that I don’t have rhythm, or i should say, i can’t play a game that demands the player stay on a beat. And without that, this game is just bad. The game tries to offer a few accessible options, but they don’t help enough. First, there an on screen beat visual thingy. This, by itself, is nice, since it does help the player stay on beat. But it has a critical flaw, you have to look at it. And I found that when I used it, I was no longer looking at the game. Just the visual beat meter. Combat wasn’t me doing cool combos to the music. It was just a meter that told me when to push a button. Second, they offer a single button mode, which helped a lot with the gameplay. But the problem with that is that I still wasn’t on the beat when using it. So the main gimmick, didn’t click with me at all. Also, the game doesn’t do anything with its QTE cut scenes. And I often found myself failing those, over and over. The story is mediocre at its best. The characters are dull. Graphically, it is good, sometimes, has a cool cell shaded look going, though, the environments, were generic most of the time. The music… well… without me syncing up to it in game, it was just forgettable. I remember the first boss had a NIN song, but after that, i don’t recall another song. It was just normal background music. So yeah, I found this game disappointing, due to the high praise it is getting. But also, that makes me a bit sad/mad. Since, I want to be part of the group that enjoys it/gets it. But am not, and i know that people will keep bring it up, and praising it, and i just won’t get it. So I’ll feel left out, and such.
Xbone, 2013, 3/10: A duel stick shooter that isn't good. Limited ammo, small stages, bad static camera angle, dull level design, and poor presentation (UI, story). Completed the first two story arcs (so 10 levels) and blah, it was so dull.
XSX, 2023, 4/10: A rough bioshock like game that has bad VO, story, and game world design. The game's story takes place in an alternate history Russia, where they have develop retro-future techology, mainly robots of different types, and takes place in an area that kind of like Rapture, from the Bioshock series. The problem with this game is that it has a few bad parts, and the other parts are rough, so it never gets good. The problem areas of the game start with its VO, well, its English VO. It is just bad. And not in a funny way. Well, not for me. It is just grating, due to the sound of the voices, and the horrible dialogue. Next the story is shallow and dull. It never really finds it hook, instead from the parts i saw, it was just cliches and boring characters. Lastly, and what made me stop playing the game, was the poor game world design. I don't like respawning enemies, and this game has that in a lot of that. It is the worse in the open world part, and this system prevented me from exploring. Once the player gets out of the tutorial starting area (which takes like 3 hours) they find themselves surronded by a ton of enemies, cameras (which will trigger alarms and summon enemies), and respawn bots that will revive dead enemies. And while it is possible to run past all of this, that isn't something i wanted to do. I want to explore the world, and find stuff. So since i couldn't do that here, i stopped. So yeah, overall, i found the game to be okay at best parts, but more often, it was just frustating.