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ducktastic · 4 months

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Gameological Awards 2023

Game of the Year

Cocoon is a perfect game. There aren’t many of those. It’s a tight four-hour adventure that steadily introduces new ideas and mechanics, explores those ideas, and challenges the player to think critically, then move on to the next new idea. And it does all of this without a single spoken or written word. The language barrier is non-existent. The player is constantly immersed in a series of environmental puzzles that expertly straddle the line between Zelda dungeons and Portal test rooms, with genuinely some of the biggest “NO WAY” moments I’ve experienced in years. Just a marvelous game. Nothing else came close this year to the sheer exuberance in interactive experience as Cocoon.

Multiplayer

Super Mario Bros Wonder did something that had long seemed impossible. It made online multiplayer Super Mario Bros not only sensible, but advantageous over single-player. By turning the other players into “ghosts” like a racing time trial, we no longer had to worry about bumping into one another and ruining our experience of precision platforming. Rather, by observing the other players and allowing them to see us at the same time, we could point out helpful tips and hidden secrets to help one another along. If one player was hurt, other players could go back and revive them. We’d get bonus points for reaching the finish pole at the same time. Finally, 14 years after New Super Mario Bros Wii first tried the multiplayer Mario experience, Super Mario Bros Wonder made it feel truly cooperative rather than combative.

Backlog

Guardians of the Galaxy is better than it has any right to be. Especially considering what a mind-numbing mess of monotony the previous year’s Avengers game was from the same studio at Eidos. Perhaps it was the lowered perceived marketing value of the Guardians over the box-office-topping Avengers brand that reduced corporate oversight and allowed the developers to actually deliver a game that had a compelling narrative with will-written dialogue, varied environments with slick and entertaining combat, and that all-too-essential sense of player agency that makes the audience feel like they’re actually contributing in some small way rather than just watching an incredibly drawn-out movie. Whatever the circumstances, Guardians of the Galaxy came out as a genuinely solid action-adventure game. I played it twice, just to see how my decisions changed the story. AND THEY DID, and I was pleased. Great job.

Didn’t Click

I really want to like Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. The watercolor storybook aesthetic is lovely, the dual-character controls seem compelling, and I generally enjoy the world of Bayonetta and love most things Platinum work on. The opening hours of this game just bored the heck out of me. I was constantly getting caught on invisible geometry in the environment and the slow storybook segments inspired me to grab a pillow and blanket more than adventure forward. I’m hoping the rest of the game after the opening hours is far more engaging but I took a break from this title months ago and haven’t been back yet.

Unexpected Joy

Suika Game appeared almost as a meme. My first exposure was on TikTok, as a group of people settled into a ramen restaurant in Japan smaller than your average American studio apartment all looked up from their drinks to observe a television over the bar where, instead of live sports, the news, or the drama du jour, there was a collection of cartoon fruit struggling to merge similarly sized fruits into larger ones, clearing space in their confines. I was instantly charmed. OF COURSE I would rather watch this in a bar or restaurant over literally anything else. Weeks later, videos of the game were slowly infiltrating my feed, with links to blog posts about this game available exclusively on the Japanese Nintendo Switch eShop. Within days, I’d convinced myself to buy Japanese eshop credits through an import retailer and download the two-year-old cult title for approximately two dollars. I showed it to friends. I showed it to co-workers. I told pretty much anybody I could about this impossibly addictive kawaii fruit arcade game. And then, finally, in late October, the game suddenly appeared on international stores, followed days later by an English patch. Everyone could play. Everyone SHOULD play. It’s the definition of joy. Uncomplicated, bright, surprising and, above all else, delightful. And if Baldur’s Gate III can count as a 2023 game after being in Early Access since 2020, then surely the global release of Suika Game counts as a 2023 game after being locked to Japan for one fewer year than that.

Best Mechanic

Crafting my own divination deck in The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood was the single most personally empowering experience I felt in any game this year. It was easy enough to do the “game math” of “well, if I use components with more red crystals then I’ll get more red mana back when I used this card” but I found it far more compelling to read all of the descriptions for every component available and craft a narrative where the locations, characters, and artifacts complimented one another and told stories within themselves. Like the traditional major arcana of the tarot, generating a narrative that made sense in my own mind outside of the game made it all the more intuitive to read the cards’ “meanings” when they were pulled from the deck. It genuinely felt like tiny pieces of my own soul were being spread throughout the deck of cards, that these were unique to me and my own experiences. The deck was personal both to my character and to myself, and that intimate connection made the high fantasy all the more tangible.

Favorite Game Encounter

The Master Sword. It’s a common element in pretty much all the major Zelda games. Getting your hands on it has always been an empowering and inspiring moment of Link’s journey, whichever version of Link this may be. But Tears of the Kingdom makes it special in a way it’s never been before. The moment when Link collects the Master Sword in Tears is not simply a culmination of his many trials, no longer merely a symbol of his accomplishments and various macguffins collected so far in the game. Sure, it’s still those things just like every time before, but this time it’s more. It’s a relationship. It’s a bond. It’s a loved one’s deepest wound, a burden for you to bear on their behalf. It’s the physical embodiment of timeless suffering, of timeless love, of timeless faith. And you picked it up. You struggled, it struggled, but now it’s in your hands, and now you carry the burden. And it doesn’t weigh you down.

Best DLC

youtube

Remember when MediaMolecule made great games? I know a lot of focus over the years has been on their democratization of game design tools, from LittleBigPlanet to their latest title Dreams, but their self-contained adventures like Tearaway are just incredible. MediaMolecule went ahead and dropped their next unbelievably addictive, polished, original standalone game COMPLETELY FOR FREE inside of Dreams this year, and the model train arcade challenge Tren stands tall amongst not only their own titles but possibly even the entire history of Sony-exclusives. The only reason more people aren’t completely obsessed with Tren is that the overall package of Dreams intimidates them, and with Sony shutting it down soon, Tren seems destined to be lost forever. Here’s hoping MediaMolecule release it as a standalone title, and soon.

#video games #nintendo #gameological society #gaming #playstation #mario #super mario bros #zelda #legend of zelda #cosmic wheel sisterhood #tren #suika game #bayonetta #guardians of the galaxy #cocoon #Youtube

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ookami-sonata · 1 year

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Maybe Mario Kart Doesn’t Ruin Relationships

A’ x reader

in 1st person pov. i made sure to make the reader gender neutral so feel free to self insert if you’d like!

I got up in a hurry once I heard the doorbell ring from where I was in my room.

Today, A’ and I had planned a little date at my home. We were planning on playing some games on my nintendo switch just to have a little time together. It had been around two weeks since we had some proper quality time, and I was a bit embarrassed to admit that I geniunely did miss him a lot even if two weeks isn’t a very long time.

Behind the door stood A’: tall, vibrant, and messy red hair. I moved to the side and let him step inside, but I was immediately attacked with a bone crushing hug.

“I missed you, my honey!” He said from where he tucked his face in the crook of my neck. “You missed me too, huh? I bet you did! There’s no way you didn’t.”

I gently hugged him back and let myself savor the moment. However, it was getting increasingly difficult with how tightly he was holding me.

“A-tan, I can’t breathe.”

“I know! I can’t breathe when you’re gone, either. I missed you so much.” I felt his arms wrap around me even tighter. I did not think it was possible at this point.

I felt my body go slightly limp, and that’s when I heard the red head gasp, and he quickly let me go.

“Honey, are you okay?! You’re not hurt, right? I felt like I was gonna die if I didn’t hold you immediately.” He laughed and shook his head. “Just kidding! Not funny, but seriously, I missed you so much, and you look so lovely today!”

All I could do was smile back at him. In all honesty, having a conversation with A’ was a bit hard to keep up with, but I truly did enjoy talking to him about just anything.

I led him inside my apartment, and he immediately made himself comfortable on the loveseat. “What games did you bring?” I asked, gesturing to the physical game cases he was carrying around.

At this, his face lit up. I could have sworn I saw sparkles in his eyes. A’ pulls out three game cases and shows them off quite proudly. “I brough Super Smash Bros, Switch Sports, and-“ He reaches behind him to pull out the last game, “Mario Kart.”

“Are you trying to end our relationship?” I chuckled. A’ and I almost always end up getting really competitive when playing Mario Kart.

“What?” A’ laughed happily. “No way! Everyone knows Mario Kart only strengthens relationships, just like Uno.” I let out a gasp when he suddenly grabbed me and started to tickle me, fighting back the uncontrollable laughter that was threatening to spill out of my mouth.

The moment he released me, I collapsed on the loveseat trying to catch my breath from the tickle attack I had just received. I looked up at him with a small smile. “Alright, if you say so.”

“I do say so!” He rushed over to the TV in my living room to start up the Switch and inserted the game cartridge for Mario Kart. “Watch, we’re going to have fun, right? Right?” I didn’t even have time to give him a small nod before he was speaking excitedly again. “See, I knew you’d agree! Ahh, I’m excited! I love getting to spend time with my honey.”

A’ walked back to where I was sitting on the couch and handed me a controller. I got the neon green controller while he got the neon pink one. As soon as the game booted up, I felt the air shift into something more intense, and I had to supress a grin. As much as we argued during our Mario Kart matches, I had to admit he was right in saying it strengthens relationships, assuming they don’t end by the last match.

A’ and I chose our characters and got into position to start the match. I was quietly concentrating on not running into the walls, as that was my biggest downfall, while A’ was too busy vocalizing every single one of his frustrations.

“Aw, what?!” He shouted when he got hit with a bomb that I threw, effectively slowing him down enough for me to get ahead of him by a lot. “I never you had it in you, honey. What did A-tan do?” A’ started fake crying when he got hit by yet another bomb that I threw. “Wait, wait!”

We were at our final lap, and I could feel A’ getting increasingly desperate, causing me to let out a laugh. I was in first place while he was stuck in third. The fact that he was so close to catching up to me must have added to his desperation to beat me, because he started praying out loud from where he was sitting next to me.

“Please God, Buddha, Ciel. Anyone! Please lend me your power, I’m begging.” A’ leaned forward in a mock prayer before getting back into his gamer mode. I must have been paying too much attention to him, because he somehow managed to successfully sneak into second place. I could not let him win. He might have been my boyfriend, but I was not above getting competitive with silly games like these.

I threw another bomb, and it managed to hit him yet again, throwing him off course, and I heard a shriek from beside me. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I stood up excitedly from my spot, looking down at A’ as he hung his head in shame. “Third victory in a row! You owe me dinner.” I grinned at him.

“My honey, how could you?” A’ wiped away fake tears from his eyes before letting out a sigh of resignation and nodding. “I do owe you dinner. It is only fair.” His face cracked into a bright smile when I started to cheer and pat myself in the back. Upon meeting his gaze, I realized he was wearing a much softer look than before, and I immediately became a bit self conscious. To my utter dismay, he took notice of this and stood up to hug me.

“Aw, why is my honey getting shy all of a sudden?” I felt my face burn hotter at the teasing remarks, trying my hardest to hide my face from his eyes. I tried to push him away with a small groan of embarrassment only for him to hold me closer to him. “Nope! You’re not getting away from me this time. I’ve been missing you way too much lately, so just let me have this.”

I huffed in annoyance but let myself relax in his embrace. He really does give the nicest hugs, and to be honest, I did miss him as much as he says he misses me. We stayed like that for a few more minutes before he reluctantly let me go and pulled out his phone. “Alright, honey, what can I get you for dinner?”

He laughed when I started listing off ideas of what to eat, nodding at everything I said.

Our night ended with us falling asleep in each other’s arms after playing yet another intense round of Mario Kart. Maybe we should play Uno the next time we meet up for our dates at home.

#dear vocalist #rejet #momochi writes #ディアヴォー #ディアヴォーカリスト

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eat-the-richard · 1 year

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GAME OF THE YEAR ("GOTY") (as they call it) 20222

Fellas!!!!! Howsit going Tumblr, felt like writing about video game again because my brain loves video games! I like thinking about video games more than actually playing them! There’s plenty of us out there who watched a baker’s million video essays in their adolescence and have been poisoned (PLAGUED... even) with gaming knowledge and insights. And I’m one of them!!!!!!!!!!! So here it is, Y'INZ... my top 300 games of christian year 2022.

And just to preface before one of you FREAKS gets any funny ideas, I think basing your GOTY lists on just what released in a given calendar year is bogus! If you do this, GET OUT OF HERE! If you only play the newest games on your PS5 and don't even look at anything released before 2018, everyone at the lunch table thinks you smell weird. So put on some antiperspirant and play freaking Halo Combat Evolved for pete's sake! (EDITOR'S NOTE: Despite this joke, Richard has not yet completed Halo: Combat Evolved despite owning it.)

HONORABLEST MENTION

Sometimes you have a list that has honorable mentions. me too!

Mario Kart 8 Booster Course Pass (Nintendo Switch)

This is actually not very good since it's just cheap mobile game levels imported into the MK8 engine. Unfortunately I love giving Nintendo money AND happen to think that playing Mario Kart after a hard day at the mine shaft is pretty relaxing. So even if they imported levels from like Forza Motorsport I think I would like that.

Sonic Origins (Nintendo Switch)

Is this even really a game to rank on a list like this? 30 year old Genesis remakes shoddily copy pasted into the Hedgehog Engine for some reason? With extra content really not worth engaging with? Ehhhh whatever man, this guy has Sonic 3 in it. You ever play Sonic 3 before? If not go do that instead and come back ONLY IF you've completed at least Flying Battery Zone. I would go further but I'd totally understand if you stop playing after pushing the Sandopolis blocks.

WWE 2K22 (PS5)

Regrettably, the newest outing from 2K Sports and WWE is probably my second most played game on this list. Not that this game is even bad, I mean it is probably the best WWE game in the last 10 years. Tons of modes, good visuals, cool roster. I played the banana slamma outta this game for like a month. But then I realized I was having more fun assigning championships to created guys on my roster to match the week-to-week championship histories of modern WWE and AEW rather than, you know, actually playing it. So I haven't touched this in about seven months. Something about the moment-to-moment gameplay of 2K just doesn't engage me at all, feels too slow but also not impactful enough to match how wrestling actually feels to watch. Feels faker than the real thing, believe it or not.

Ship of Harkinian (PC)

This only didn't make the list since, I mean like it's Ocarina of Time from 1998 which I first played in 2010 and have replayed approximately 8 times. But I've been waiting for something like this since the Ocarina of Time source code was 100% decompiled late last year, and the fellas over on the King's ship have given me everything I wanted. 60 FPS gameplay, tons of tweaks to improve on OOT's core features, support for nearly every device under God's watchful glare, controller remapping AND analog camera. Still doesn't look as good as the 3DS version but if you choose to play Nintendo Switch Online version rather than this you are under arrest.

OK THIS IS THE LIST EVERYTHING BEFORE WAS NOT REAL

16. Super Kiwi 64 (PC)

I remember picking up this game while being stressed out about going to a social function. The sales pitch for me was simple: it plays like an N64 platformer AND you can beat it in an hour.

As someone who has more games in his backlog than iPhone chargers in his plastic bag of chargers (pictured), it feels good sometimes to just... crank one out y'know? One session of non-stop platforming and you never have to worry about it again. Pure dopamine to your chrome dome.

It helps that SK64 is a pretty fun time too. With controls so fluid that I don't think I messed up one of my thousands of jumps, levels which are just the right about of expansive as to not be too imposing or restrictive, and a story which makes me grin to the edge of my cheek bone but not further, this is an easy recommend for people of my age range and taste in gaming.

15. Astro's Playroom (PS5)

That's right gaming public, PROOF that I own a PS5. I purchased that white block of solid matter in January after realizing the sheer amount of gaming experiences I was missing by not being in the PlayStation ecosystem. Of course, directly after making the plunge, one of my main PS holdouts I thought would never release on PC (Spider-Man (2018)), well, did. So I haven't really used my PS5 as much as I probably should have for a $500 investment. My fault, of course, for being bad with money.

But for the brief three hours that I was playing Astro's Playroom, I was not thinking these things. Not that I was absolutely head over heels in love, just that I thought, "hey! this little (big) ps5 system ain't so bad! it has this cute little robot game where I can be surrounded by playstation propaganda and murder the dinosaur from the ps1 tech demo!"

I put this game right above Kiwi since they are both pretty short but the sheer effort put into Astro's presentation just notches it a little ahead. You can tell the devs of this loved making it and, hey, I loved playing it too. A little bit. Not $500 love but maybe $10 over the course of 50 years love.

14. Mario's Super Picross (SNES) (by way of Switch Online)

Much like Kiwi, I played the majority of Picross this year while being stressed out over a social arrangement. But while the social arrangement surrounding Kiwi's purchase and playtime was honestly not that bad and I was just being an anxious little bear, the social arrangement surrounding Picross was a wedding. A wedding I had no friends to go there with, taking place 6 hours away with a crowd full of people who went to Liberty University. Needless to say I was dreading the days leading up to this thing. I distinctly remember sitting there, in my rented Airbnb quite literally just in someone's house, thinking to myself, "why the fuck am I here in someone's house for a wedding I will not have fun at?"

So instead of thinking that, I got lost in Picross. While a game I've certainly heard plenty about, Picross seemed to me like it would be confusing to learn and not super fun for me to play. But all it took was a friend explaining the basics to this Japanese-language-only game for me to figure it out. The game started with easy 5x5 puzzles to get my feet wet with the idea of breaking blocks to match the numbers on each row and column. But before I knew it, I was staring down the barrel of a 25x20 board with 30 minutes to figure everything out. And the cool part was that I didn't necessarily feel overwhelmed by that point. The concept had seeped itself into my head that much.

I'll definitely be playing more of this game in the future. I don't think I've even completed a quarter of this game's gargantuan list of puzzles. I kind of don't want to complete this one because I know if I do I'll be sent down the rabbit's hell of Picross games. That puzzle debt is too great for me at the moment.

13. Sonic Frontiers (PC)

Nearly two years ago, I wrote a bunch of words about Sonic on this very blog that ended with this pretentious garbage:

I don’t want SEGA to half ass [the next Sonic game]. I want them to boldly step into that abyss with a vision of Sonic that appeals to the heart of the fandom. Because, even if it’s been down recently, that heart is still beating, and after the abuse it’s already taken, it’s going to take a hell of a lot to get it to stop. And if SEGA can get this heart pumping to its full extreme as it had in years past, we may have something legendary to look forward to.

And, uhh, that kind of happened? Sonic fans seemingly across the board (or as much across the board of lavishly online Sonic nerds as you can get) are utterly in love with Sonic Frontiers for appealing straight into the heart of early 2000s Sonic fandom.

There's plenty about this game that I can look at and say with certainty that I absolutely love. These main four hedgehog et al characters have never been written this well in a mainline title of the series. At its best, Sonic running around the open world is a straight up good time. And the three titan boss themes have been permanently stuck in my headphones and may be some of my favorite songs of the past several years.

So its a shame then that Sonic Frontiers doesn't quite come together very well. The gameplay loop just feels kind of... random to me in a way that no other game in the series has ever been. In a four hour Sonic Frontiers review podcast (*shudder*) JebTube calls some of the challenges that open the map up "Among Us tasks" which may have just ruined that part of the game for me. More than anything, though, the controls just don't quite stick the landing for me. You feel pretty magnetized to the ground even when running off a ledge, which feels pretty strange when the very foundation of this series is based on being launched up a vertical slope into the air.

Still, it's hard not to respect what SEGA was able to accomplish with this one. Harping on potential is often a fool's errand but sometimes, with a media property that has spat you into the dirt more often than not, its hard not to cling onto that potential so that hope isn't totally lost.

12. Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit (PC)

Thankfully, even if the mainline Sonic releases are spotty, fanmade content has kept the spirit alive and beating. And this title, made entirely by one guy (Noah Copeland of bearded twitter PFP fame), is the latest in the Sonic fandom's absolute service to older games in the series. From the Retro Engine decomp releases to mods that force games like Adventure DX and Heroes kicking and screaming to the operating table, Sonic fans love improving on older games. Because we love those games. And preserving the core of what made those games so special while improving on the many objective flaws they may have it's the highest tribute you could possibly make to it.

Triple Trouble 16-Bit may be the shining example of this phenomenon. The base of this remake is in an already decent Game Gear game released in 1994, at the height of Sonic's popularity. But it's just too hard to play those Game Gear games in the modern day. There's a certain retro crappiness that comes with playing a game like that, with cropped aspect ratios and 3rd rate visuals bringing down a decent concept. With a fresh Genesis inspired coat of paint and enough tweaks to the overall package that make things way better to actually play, Copeland's project is pretty clearly the only way to play that game right now.

Seeing this game given such love and care makes me yearn for this treatment for other older Sonic games. Like, hear me out OK? Sonic Rush. 16:9 widescreen. No screen switching weirdness to make it easy for modern screens. CD quality soundtrack. Turn down the trick SFX. And tweak the level design to not be so unforgiving. I would do that but I'm a talentless hack!

11. Spider-Man Remastered (PS5)

When I purchased my PS5 earlier this year, I had two games in mind to play on it. One of them was Spider-Man, which has been taunting me for the last five years since its unveiling at one of those old E3 shows. Swinging around like the red guy is just one of those innately fun ideas, I think. Kids think it when looking outside the car window. Adults think it when looking outside their office's window. I want to jump out of here and swing around monkey-style!

Really, Spider-Man only needed to do that right and, shocker, it does do the swinging right. It doesn't even really matter that the open world is in New York, the pinnacle of urban homogeneity and therefore not an incredibly fun world to look around in. New York City skyscrapers were tailor-made for web swinging and video games have been trying to capture that magic for 40 years. You can argue that the 2004 Spider-Man 2 game has a bit more depth to it, but 2018's version is just so smooth and effortless. Really makes me feel like Sp-

Of course there's a story and structure to this game too. Which were both fine. Both serviceable, both doing exactly what they needed to and nothing more. Which probably is bad if you like Spider-Man more for its narrative. But also you don't exist, I had just made up a guy in my head.

10. Dark Souls II (PC)

The end of 2021 revealed to me one crucial detail - I like Dark Souls and Soulslike games after years of failed attempts. This realization occurring conveniently before the release of FromSoftware's next behemoth Elden Ring. So the race was on - how many Soulsborne games developed by FromSoftware could I complete before getting to Elden Ring?

In January, all eyes turned to Dark Souls II as the immediate next step after slaying Lord Gwyn. I've heard a lot about it, not all positive of course. There's a lot of annoying little things about this one. The controls feel a little weird. The health bar is constantly going down. The levels feel kind of samey and lack a ton of level-to-level cohesion. The bosses are truly all over the place.

But, like, Dark Souls 1 had a lot of problems too. So why did I not love this one as much? The gameplay loop involved in tackling monumental challenge is still as fun as ever, and none of the areas are truly repulsive in quality or anything. Maybe it's the fact that I can't really remember much about the experience that says it all here. Still, I had a good time messing around with this one, and even from the bit I experimented with it looks like replaying DSII is definitely worth it.

9. Risk of Rain 2 (PC)

Gamer confession time - I do not care for Roguelikes. I've tried, believe me I've tried. Isaac, Gungeon, Necrodancer, Spelunky, none of these ever did anything for me. So what were these missing? At risk of going on too much of a tangent, let's just keep it simple. They didn't have multiplayer.

Risk of Rain 2, has multiplayer. And just by nature of that one addition, I'm sold on the idea of randomly generated runs of similar content. What can I say? Reacting to the different events in every run is a lot more fun when there's people to react with. Tackling the challenge of getting to the end of a 90 minute run is a lot more satisfying when it's a group effort. And learning the game's mechanics and intricacies by asking a question to a human is a lot more engaging than doing so to a Fandom page.

You know what else Risk of Rain 2 has? Loader. Gosh damped Loader is in this game. Loader has a grapple hook that can fling her across the level AND can uppercut small critters. I want to be her when I'm robotic and dead.

8. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (PC)

Star Wars is kind of exhausting to engage with. Thankfully, beyond being another piece of the Disney media machine, Jedi Fallen Order is a pretty fun game as well.

I had this game on my backlog for about two years and I'm glad I finally got to it. The main make or break for me, the Metroid-enjoyer of my friend circle, is how the levels would be laid out to incentivize exploration and finding essential movement-based items along the way to facilitate progress. And while not as good as, say, Metroid Prime in that regard, Jedi Fallen Order hits a lot of those beats. I didn't even think there'd be a double jump in this game (for some reason) but when I got one it immediately made me think of all the new areas I could explore with that new ability. Combat is pretty fun here as well, with a slew of abilities both involving your saber and your force hands to obliterate the white menace (Stormtroopers) and all rats that come from the dirt.

Taken as just a game, it's a good time, albeit one that feels like a mashup of a lot of other successful game ideas and mechanics. But when all these mechanics and features are wrapped in a cozy Star Wars shaped wrapping paper along with a gift card to "Actually Tells an Interesting Story of Regret and Acceptance Without Relying Too Heavily on Star Wars Tropes And Areas," maybe it comes together better than the sum of its parts.

7. Splatoon 3 (Nintendo Switch)

Boy howdy, do I love giving money to Nintendo. One of my favorite pastimes, that and sitting. I'll be honest though, I wasn't too keen on engaging with Splatoon 3 up to launch. Nothing really grabbed me as someone who only liked Splatoon 1 and 2. To be honest, I was more of a fan of the single player modes of those earlier games. So if anything, I would just get it for the campaign. Which would have been fine, Splat 3's story takes the best of Octo Expansion's creative level ideas into a wild story that ends with a cool boss fight, like expected.

What I didn't expect was for one of Splatoon 3's multiplayer modes to make a believer out of me, which did end up happening. Not turf war though, at least not really. Still only think that mode is alright at best and infuriating at worst. Or Ranked/Anarchy, sweating in Splatoon feels like a recipe for a brain tumor. Splatoon 3's biggest win is the new Salmon Run. Well, "new" isn't really accurate since its mostly the same thing as Splatoon 2's mode. However, Splatoon 3 surprised millions and soared above the competition with just one innovative tweak and trick - throwing golden eggs with the A button.

And with that, Salmon Run can be played far more offensively, letting you run around all over the place with your Tri-Slosher while throwing eggs into the net from the lower level of the map. And my golly, when I nail a buzzer beater where the last second egg throw into the net just meets the quota to move onto the next level, I felt more comfortable with parting $20 a year for Nintendo Online than I ever have. Until the next communication error, of course.

6. Dark Souls III (PC)

Dark Souls III, the fifth Demon's Souls game and the fourth game on my Soulsborne list, was made for me by the Abyss Watchers. My experience with those guys is what these games are all about. A brutal challenge which I throw myself at time and time again, originally feeling so hopeless and beaten but gradually growing in both skill and confidence to conquer your fears and goals. Dark Souls III is also made by the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, a beautiful fight befitting of its name in which your rolls and R1 presses must fit in tandem with the bosses enveloping swings and spins. When judging Soulsborne boss fights, DSIII is easily my favorite in the series.

And on the quality of those bosses DSIII sits here on my list. Because the rest of the game is kind of forgettable. Maybe it was just Souls fatigue that did this to me but I really don't remember a whole lot beyond the bosses from this game. I remember the one terrible swamp area that felt like dragging my foot through a... mud... puddle. And I remember the area that was kind of black and white that looped back around on itself. That's about it though, and this Souls fatigue kind of bleeds into the overarching themes of the game, it seems like. This world needed to die, leaving it all in the past to chart new territory. Dark Souls is over, but it's spirit will continually revive into greater things.

5. Cuphead: Delicious Last Course (PC)

I have only played Cuphead as a multiplayer experience. Over the summer of 2019, my roommate and I gorged ourselves in Cuphead's challenge and aesthetic. He would wake me up at around 11am, staring with loving yet needy eyes which told me to get my ass up and back at the setup. Much like Risk of Rain 2, the joy of accomplishment feels all the sweeter when shared, and the journey to get there all the more fun. We even learned the Cuphead barbershop quartet jingle, singing it on the way to Frenchi's to the bereavement of passers by.

At the end of our journey, I distinctly remember feeling excited for the new DLC level to release, as at that point it was scheduled to drop later that year. Less than a year turned into three, and by the time the Cuphead DLC launched for a measly $8, I knew we needed to get together again to experience the heights of beating the piss out of bees and carrots yet again.

Cuphead's Delectable Lone Continuation is, put simply, more Cuphead. It didn't necessarily set to light the world ablaze like last time, but as a fun revisit of the mechanics and aesthetic, DLC was everything I could have wanted. We certainly didn't find it as hard as the end of the base game, given we beat everything within two sessions and five hours. But perhaps we have simply grown as gamers, and as men, since our last time at cartoon town.

4. Spark the Electric Jester 3 (PC)

Spark hit the big time this year, notable since it was the first time the Yellow Lanky Brown-Coated Hat Wearing Clown Man has ever hit my purview. Taken on its own, Spark 3 is an impressive feat for a single developer, as high speed 3D platformers are a tough mix to develop for. You have to simultaneously create large, sprawling landscapes for the characters to traverse through, while being keenly aware that the world is often going to be breezed by in a matter of seconds.

But taken as a culmination of developer Lake Feperd's body of work over the past decade, forged in the fangame scene before tackling the challenges and expectations of original IP, Spark 3 rises ever higher. Comparing footage of the game's two predecessors reveals a steady forming of confidence in how to make games that feel and, more importantly, flow like this. With controls that propel the titular character seamlessly to impressive speed, and level design that facilitates such high speed without becoming too much of a straight line. Developers with higher budgets have been treading this line for years, and often fail to hit the peaks of this wondrous adventure.

High speed doesn't define Spark though, as a character and as a game. There's a lot of thought put into how each level fits into the overarching world. You're not just running through levels for the fun of it, these are genuine places that are inhabited by people. If you stray off the linear path to collect any of the colored coins scattered through each level, you'll find each area is fleshed out beyond the point of necessity. The story is surprisingly deep and moving for a game of this style, with twists and turns that call into question the world you've just blazed through. More than anything, Spark feels like a labor of love, and hopefully that love is reciprocated.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (Dolphin)

It's easy to take for granted the emulation paradise we're currently experiencing. Nearly every console ever developed has at least some group of passionate hobbyists working to preserve that hardware and software library therein to players and developers for years to come. Even modern consoles like the Switch and PS4 have impressive emulation solutions right now, with undoubtedly more progress to be made in the coming years.

Most impressively, though, is Dolphin. A combined emulator of the GameCube and Wii consoles, Dolphin has been polished to a mirror's shine. Nearly every game worth playing on these two systems have been made fully compatible, with remaining loose ends being closed every day. If Dolphin closed up shop five years ago, it would still be among the most feature complete emulators to this day, but the continued progress is nothing short of inspiring.

No emulation experience has left me in awe more than when me and three other friends played Four Swords Adventures earlier this year. By linking Dolphin and another GBA emulator (mGBA), utilizing the built in Netplay features in Dolphin to connect to each other, and remapping our controls to better suit modern pads, we were able to play one of the most chaotic, insane, well paced, and ultimately fun co-op experiences Nintendo has ever made. While the original game was hampered by insane accessibility concerns (four GBAs for crying out loud!) and has not been ported officially to anything since, this emulation solution has blown the door open for future players to experience this multiplayer masterpiece well into the future.

2. Elden Ring (PC)

There was no doubt FromSoftware's latest game would hit this list, as it has and will do for the lists of thousands of gaming-obsessed wannabe writers over these past and future months. It's very concept left people in want - an open world Dark Souls game with the highest production values and development time in the Soulsborne semi-franchise. These games' following has progressed far beyond cult, as Elden Ring and its impact caused these games to hit the mainstream. Reverberations of which caused me and my friends to embark on our Souls experience in the preceding months. Along the journey, we fell in love with what was on offer - the world, the design, the challenge, the community, and the sense of achievement, specifically on my end, of finally putting a series that I always knew I would love solidly into one of my favorites.

All roads lead to May, when everyone I knew was either already playing or had just started playing Elden Ring. The experience of early Limgrave is something really special, and it remains my favorite part of the game. Truly no path in this early area is the wrong path. Each story and journey embarked is entirely unique to each of the millions of players. Open world games rarely get this unique part of their appeal; playing games like Spider-Man this year only reinforced this perspective. While each player is bounded to come across some of the same things, the pure scale and density of the world is something to behold, and to experience everything requires commitment and time.

But often, when beholding the monolith of something seemingly insurmountable, motivation is fleeting. Admittedly, after getting through Leyndell and conquering Morgott, I simply ran out of gas. It should have come as no surprise, given I had been gorging myself in Souls content for the preceding months and that Elden Ring on average takes around three times the hours to complete compared to the preceding titles. I took a three month long break from completing its remaining areas, in which even when I got there, I was struck by the quality difference between the early and end game. This is to take nothing away from what Elden Ring achieved, though, and the experience I had playing it. Ultimately, it's an experience I'm glad I had, particularly at the end of my Souls journey. But as the months went on, my experience with Elden Ring was not what stuck with me as the peak of my gaming year.

1. Bloodborne (PS4)

I bought a PS5 to play this game. I've owned Bloodborne for many years, with my first experience occurring in 2015. My time with the game was short, as very soon afterward I was whisked off to college without a PS4 to play with. But much like how the experience of trekking through the Undead Burg and Parish is still baked into my skull even years after first attempting it, I will never forget my first run through Central Yharnam. That packed alleyway full of damned locals wielding nothing but their bare fists and torches to light the way, dimly lit and dankly produced with the pronounced, overwhelming horror of a gothic town gone mad with sickness and death, remains the most striking opening to a Souls game FromSoft has ever made.

I didn't get much further than the Father Gascoigne fight before I stopped playing that first time, but something about those early hours kept drawing me back to Bloodborne. Even when I was pitch broke and jobless in college, I would frequently check for the price of PS4 Slims on Facebook Marketplace to see if I could get one for close to $100. While the PS4 has a great library, with tons of quality titles that I would like to play at some point, only one made me eventually pull the trigger when money was right.

And here I was, March of 2022, having bested Dark Souls 1 and 2 and becoming innately familiar with the Souls series, finally sitting in front of my obnoxiously high latency television that was stating the Bloodborne title screen. At last, I was ready to give this experience another crack. And of course, a master at gaming and gameplay that I am, I still got rocked at this same Central Yharnam graveyard. As I soon learned, knowledge of previous Souls games actually isn't that much of an advantage. You don't play Bloodborne like Dark Souls, a fact I was harshly reminded of going straight from DSII to BB to DSIII. It's been repeated to the point of chronic eye pain at this point, but the lack of shields in Bloodborne really makes a difference in how you trudge through it. This lack of instant defensive options combined with the regain system of getting back health upon hitting an enemy, the insane number of quality trick weapons at your disposal, and the complete lack of things like slow rolling and armor upgrades forces players to approach combat scenarios not so much as a studious, opportunistic Dark Souls player but as a ravenous hound, thirsty for carnage and blood vials.

Which, even in context of the game world, makes sense. You aren't a cursed undead trying to escape a rotten world by resetting the cycle of anguish, escaping this cruel engagement through wits rather than brawn. You're coming here. To this ruinous city on its most vile, violent occasion. The utter definition of eldritch, cosmic horror which unravels slowly and grotesquely as the game progresses. You, in your pride, come here to cure illness. And in your attempt, you find yourself adapting to match the furor and intensity of the beasts you fight in your path. Even if a cure can be found here (it can't), the sickness you receive in return can't be worth the trouble. Beasts all over the shop...

I usually don't think of games like this. I have what my goofy favorite YouTuber NakeyJakey calls goopy goblin gamer brain, a sickness which makes you compare every video game to Super Mario. Gameplay comes first and foremost; it doesn't really matter how it all comes together as long as the core is solid. So perhaps its because Bloodborne quite simply can't get out of my head months after completing it that puts it at the top of my list. The more I think about the experience in its totality, the more in awe I feel of it. Games like Bloodborne are not created by pure artistic competency or raw man hours put in. There needs to be a certain alignment of the moon and amygdala to have something so horrific and beautiful exist on our revolving hellfire.

My "New Year's Rockin' Wish" is for Bloodborne to release on PC, if for no other reason than for my friends to play it. They helped me get over the hurdles needed for me to enjoy this series, so they more than deserve to experience what I believe to be the crowning achievement of the FromSoftware catalog. But if Mark Sony hates God and mocks death as much as I think he does, he will continue restricting access of Bloodborne to a sub-30 FPS experience even on my $500 white rectangle. And for this, my gamer brainiacs, he will go to, and burn in, hell.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

#game of the year #goty #sonic #elden ring #dark souls #bloodborne #playstation #ps5

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kyndaris · 1 year

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Nostalgic Reunion

In the good old days of high school, I was one of the ‘cool’ kids that sported a PlayStation portable. And although I had never played the original Final Fantasy VII, I was well versed enough in the lore to understand the implications behind Advent Children and was similarly excited to play out the story of SOLDIER 1st Class, Zack Fair. Back then, I thought the CGI cutscenes stunning, the combat fun and the story immersive. Especially when it came to the friendship between Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth. Despite that, I never did finish the origin story of the Buster Sword. Mostly because I got intimidated by reading a guide about the boss battles that I had yet to face.That or I got distracted by other games - honestly, can’t quite remember - and never returned to witness the terribly sad ending that was for our sweet dark-haired prince.

Fast forward more than a decade and Final Fantasy VII finally saw a remake on the PlayStation 4 and 5. Along with that came a remaster of Zack’s story for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 console. So, because I hadn’t played through to the conclusion of Zack’s story, I found myself forking over $70 once more to play a game that I already owned in the past. Enter Crisis Core: Reunion.

In the first few moments of the game, I was instantly swept back to my halycon days of high school. Though the graphics had improved, much of the game was still the same. In fact, I knew most of the story beats already, following Zack on his journey from SOLDIER 2nd Class and the war with Wutai to uncovering the secrets behind Shinra’s experiments with JENOVA cells along with Projects G and S. In fact, one of my friends, Bleachpanda, can attest to my annoying quotations of LOVELESS without having playing through the game. This one’s for you:

Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess.

Throughout the story, it was nice to see who and served as one of the major influences in Cloud’s life: Zack Fair. True, Cloud may have forgotten him due to his mako poisoning and the trauma associated with Sephiroth (one of his great heroes) burning down his home, leading Cloud to replace Zack in his memories, but had it not been for the way Zack selflessly sacrificed himself and passed on his legacy and dreams to the younger man, we might not have had the Cloud Strife that we know today. Zack Fair, although a forgotten hero in the original Final Fantasy VII game was a pivotal and very influential figure in the hero that would soon become its own complex compilation in a series of fantasy games from Square Enix.

In any case, it was a blast reliving conversations and meeting familiar faces ranging from Lazard, Cissnei and Angeal to young Aerith, Tseng and Reno.

But what surprised me when playing the game was how short the game actually was. In my memories, Crisis Core was an incredibly lengthy journey. Possibly because I wasn’t playing it as consistently as I am during my working years, or perhaps because I had a less optimised build for Zack.

While I did read that the PSP version was longer than the remastered version, I remembered spending quite a lot of time with the game, perfecting specific moments such as the cutting down of missiles in Banora to the squat competition at headquarters. All of which were retained.

But what did change was combat. According to online articles, it’s much faster than how it was originally. Materia abilities are keyed to the L1 and an accompanying face button. Items are easily accessible through the L2 and R2 buttons with circle being the default ‘use’ button. No longer do you have to sift through a menu! Nor do you have to endure the constant ‘Modulating phase’ popouts that only served to slow down battle though the DMW is still very much the same as before.

As is the norm when anything is reliant on RNG, my luck was atrocious. Especially when it came to levelling up materia. I had to resort to setting the game aside for a few hours as I did chores just so I could max out a few choice materia for me to use as a means to demolish the monsters in my way.

The graphics, too, also saw an upgrade in the remaster with the in-engine game models being of a much quality and fidelity than the CGI cutscenes that remained untouched. In fact, it was quite jarring to see the difference. As one of the below images that I’ve uploaded reveals, the CGI just doesn’t quite hold up. Which was a right shame. After all, who wouldn’t want to admire Sephiroth burning down Nibelhiem for the umpteenth-time in full 4K glory?

Certainly this thirsty game blogger!

These changes aside, Crisis Core Reunion also sported updated voice acting with an all new English cast. And according to the internet, they were terrible and didn’t hold true to the direction and spirit of the previous recording. After hearing a few samples on YouTube, I opted for the Japanese voice-acting instead. Which remained mostly untouched and still with the original Japanese voice actors.

Did you know that the voice actor for Zack is married to the voice actress for Aerith? Zaerith confirmed!

Even with another language serving as a barrier, I still felt for Zacks’ plight and might have shed a few tears near the end as he faced the impossible odds that were stacked against him.

Rest in peace, sweet prince. You are and always have been the hero you dreamed to be! The price of freedom is steep but you paid for it gladly!

Now here’s to wondering what new wrinkle the altered timeline of the Final Fantasy VII Remake will play into all this! As well as all the complications that Zack’s survival might bring to the story that we know.

I just can’t wait to see what Rebirth might bring even as I fear that too many changes might destroy the fragile balance of what proved to be an iconic story from the past.

On a site note, why didn’t they ever animate blood? Why did Sephiroth and Cloud only ever have random wispy black smoke emerge from their wounds? It makes no sense! Also, you know, the most cursed looking Moogle to ever exist in the Final Fantasy franchise.

#video games #crisis core #final fantasy vii #zack fair #zack x aerith #SOLDIER #Shinra #reunion

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xb-squaredx · 1 year

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Gaming in 2022: A Look Back

With another year behind us, many have a lot to look forward to, especially in the realm of gaming. That said, it’s also important to take stock of just what happened last year. While it’s taken me a bit of time to get this out there (December was a pretty crazy month), it’s time to look back on gaming in 2022, from the highs to the lows and everything in between. Some interesting trends, drama and surprise comebacks are in store for us so let’s get started!

THE BIG THREE (AND EVERYONE ELSE)

Let’s start with a quick recap of the highlights for some of the biggest companies in the gaming sphere. First, the Big N: Nintendo had a pretty interesting year. The Switch continues to sell well, currently sitting at 114 million units sold, with it now working on overcoming the strong sales of their most successful handheld consoles. Despite loud cries for a Switch successor, sales haven’t really slowed down. In fact, at multiple points this year Nintendo made headlines for strong sales, with the much awaited Splatoon 3 breaking records for the best Japanese launch ever, just a few years after Animal Crossing: New Horizons crashed past the previous record. And just a few months later Pokémon Scarlet and Violet threatened that record as well. Overall, strong sales for many games and some mostly well-received titles too. It was a year for trilogies as we saw the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3 and Bayonetta 3 within quick succession of each other, not to mention Kirby and the Forgotten Land as a strong debut for the pink puffball’s first fully 3D outing. That said, other titles weren’t as warmly received: Nintendo Switch Sports and Mario Strikers: Battle League have a somewhat lukewarm reception, receiving criticism for lacking content that would be rectified with free updates throughout the year. As far as big reveals, the long-awaited sequel to Breath of the Wild was fully unveiled as Tears of the Kingdom, though would be delayed into May of 2023. Adding to this, in a bit of a swerve Nintendo would reveal a two year plan of DLC tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, on top of reveals like Fire Emblem: Engage and Pikmin 4 slated for 2023. One of the most talked about gaming topics in 2022 however was the full unveiling of the Super Mario Movie. While the casting of Chris Pratt as Mario still draws criticism, once full trailers were out showcasing the rest of the cast and gorgeous visuals the overall perception of the movie has become quite positive as it approaches a 2023 release as well. A busy year for Nintendo, with plenty still on their plate moving into the new year.

Microsoft’s efforts this year have been fairly mixed. On the software front, they didn’t really bring much to the field this past year, something they’ve acknowledged themselves. Outside of some smaller, more narrative-driven games like Pentiment or Immortality the bigger IPs currently tied to Xbox are very quiet. Games like Everwild or Hellblade 2 seem a ways off, with other large titles like Starfield delayed into 2023. On top of that, the overall reception to Halo Infinite continues to be mixed for such a tent pole release. Various updates like co-op or the Forge were constantly delayed, with split-screen co-op, a mainstay for the series, having been dropped entirely. Really, the biggest news out of Xbox this year was Microsoft shocking the industry with the attempted acquisition of Activision and Blizzard. While negotiations are ongoing, with the FTC getting involved at points, there has been much discussion generated about the potential purchase. Microsoft has had some pretty wild arguments as they attempt to paint buying up a gigantic company right off the heels of buying another giant company with Bethesda as necessary to compete with the likes of Sony, though the current heads of the FTC don’t seem to be buying them. Hard to tell where the news will go from here, but it was definitely one of the biggest stories to come out of gaming in 2022.

Lastly from the big three we have Sony, which also had a somewhat slower year. When it comes to large, first-party releases they were spread fairly thin. Horizon: Forbidden West came early in the year, though all discussion on it seemed to be snuffed out just weeks later with the release of Elden Ring, Fromsoftware’s latest smash hit. While we would see releases like the Last of Us remake later in the year, discussion didn’t really pick up again until the proper release of GOTY contender God of War: Ragnarok. Two prestige games to bookend the year isn’t too shabby for Sony, on top of their continued efforts to make certain first-party games available on PC, such as the first Horizon game, 2018’s God of War, the Uncharted series and now one of the few true PS5 exclusives in Returnal. On that note, it would seem that 2022 is the last major year for cross-gen games, which has somewhat contributed to the latest console generation’s rather sluggish start (but hey, a global pandemic on top of several other issues will do that). As the year went on however, it does seem as if PlayStation 5 consoles are becoming slightly easier to acquire and sales are generally on a positive turn, at roughly 30 million consoles sold at the end of 2022. As a response to Microsoft’s continued bids to acquire studios, Sony has also announced a plan to purchase Bungie, likely in a bid to have them craft a first-party multiplayer title to compete with the likes of Halo, Bungie’s former claim-to-fame, or even their own efforts with the Destiny series. Sony also caught flack for their VR support this year, revealing not only the hefty price tag on the PlayStation VR 2, but that it would not be compatible at all with the previous VR system. For the big movers and shakers of the industry we’re definitely seeing the ongoing aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, with delays and dry spells, not to mention supply issues, though it does seem that stability is on the horizon.

For the smaller developers out there, there’s definitely some good and bad spread around. Fromsoftware finally released the long-awaited Elden Ring and created a smash hit the likes of which the company hasn’t seen before, selling over 17 million copies by 2022’s end. In addition to winning Game of the Year from The Game Awards, they also dropped a full reveal trailer for their next project, Armored Core VI: Flames of Rubicon, which delighted many long-time fans. While many have argued over just how successful the company has been in recent years, some still calling them a rather niche developer, Elden Ring’s success seems to have cemented Fromsoftware as among the most prominent Japanese developers, and all eyes will be on their future work.

Square Enix had a somewhat rocky year. While further details on the likes of Final Fantasy XVI, as well as the next installment in the Final Fantasy VII “remake” were real highlights, alongside the reveal of Kingdom Hearts 4, a number of smaller titles released throughout the year were more mixed. The strategy game The Diofield Chronicle, the action RPG Valkyrie Elysium and farm sim Harvestella had a so-so reception, but then there were more acclaimed titles like the Live A Live and Crisis Core remakes, as well as Strange of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. But the year started with quite the one-two punch of Babylon’s Fall and Chocobo GP, both lambasted by critics and players alike. The former was seen as a disappointing action MMO, with the latter being a greedy live service racing game that held back what could have otherwise been a welcome remake of the older Chocobo racing games. But far and away the biggest story coming out of Square Enix was selling off their western studios to Embracer, and not long after the sale Embracer would close down what was once Square Enix Montreal. For one of the more prominent developers out there, it was quite the spotty track record this year.

When it comes to third-party consoles or gaming platforms, we saw the death of one and rise of another. Google’s Stadia, a cloud-gaming service, was formally shut down, though customers were refunded all purchases, so there’s that! Elsewhere, Valve released the Steam Deck, effectively a portable gaming PC to mostly positive reception. While likely not going to overtake the Switch anytime soon, it stands as a viable alternative for gamers that want more portability with much better specs. All things told, the industry has had its fair share of ups and downs, but it continues onwards, and as a result there are some interesting trends coming out of the year.

A NEW ERA OF FIGHTING GAMES, THE REVIVAL OF HORROR AND…SONIC IS GOOD AGAIN?

We’ll start with my personal bias and once again dive into the world of fighting games. Generally speaking, things have been on the upturn for the fighting game genre. The pandemic finally forced Japanese developers to recognize the importance of quality netcode and we have been hit with multiple announcements of retrofitting the netcode into older titles, and even more current titles. Arc System Work’s entire modern catalogue has either had rollback added or will be added in the near future, while enjoying continued success with Guilty Gear Strive on top of the release of DNF Duel. Strive’s DLC also ended up getting quite a bit of attention throughout the year, with the release of Testament, a nonbinary character and fan-favorite Bridget, who has come out as transsexual in this new installment, many praising ArcSys for their portrayal (mostly). SNK isn’t far behind, releasing King of Fighters XV to great acclaim, with it boasting quality netcode, on top of them announcing the implementation of rollback for the most recent Samurai Shodown game as well as announcing a new Garou game to end the year on a bang. After the mixed reception to the previous entry, the proper unveiling of Street Fighter 6 has been extremely well received. The updated visuals, warmly-received newcomers to the roster, impressive online and a bevy of single-player offerings has many hyping this up as perhaps the best Street Fighter yet, due out in June 2023. Namco fully unveiled Tekken 8, and while concrete details are still unknown, many praised the updated visuals and hope the game’s netcode will be up to snuff with the competition. We also saw the release of MultiVersus from Warner Bros. A platform fighter starring a gaggle of characters from various IPs under WB’s control, it managed to make massive waves as the open beta hit, becoming the best-selling game in July with over 10 million downloads in that first month alone. Being a successful free-to-play game certainly gives other full-priced fighting games some pause, though it remains to be seen if this success might impact the genre in a greater capacity. Still though, things are looking good for fighting game fans, but they’re not the only genre fans eating well.

Horror fans have had their ups and downs, though in recent times the genre has seen a resurgence of sorts, and not just from smaller indie games this time either! Fans were hit with a double-whammy of reveals for the long-rumored Resident Evil 4 remake, alongside a Silent Hill 2 remake. In addition to confirming an Alan Wake remake, Remedy would also confirm work on Alan Wake 2. In an ironic twist, EA has also prepared a Dead Space remake launching just a few months after the spiritual successor The Callisto Protocol. That said, there were still some smaller developers out there that deserve some spotlight, and late in the year horror fans were suddenly gifted with Signalis, a stylish throwback to classic horror games that has been very well received.

Something that might be a bit of a coincidence this year was a number of people from the game industry sharing their insights with pivots into the likes of podcasts, and YouTube videos. Industry legend Hideo Kojima is starting his own podcast, while former employees from Nintendo of America, Kit and Krysta, launched their own podcast and shed some lights on the inner workings of Nintendo. Probably the most interesting of all though was Masahiro Sakurai, the man behind Kirby, Super Smash Bros. and Kid Icarus Uprising becoming a YouTuber as he has entered “semi-retirement.” His YouTube channel boasts surprisingly high production values as he offers up a variety of game development tips, tricks and insights delivered in entertaining, concise videos at no cost. That certainly wasn’t on my Bingo card for this year.

We can keep the positivity going strong here, as 2022 was a fairly good year for adaptations of games for the most part. While there were some panned ones, such as the Uncharted movie, the Netflix Resident Evil series, and the live-action Halo series, this was also a year that gave us some solid animated adaptations. Arcane was seen by many as a fantastic look into the world of League of Legends, with amazing animation and an emotional tale that had people excited for more in that game’s world. Netflix’s Cuphead animated show also received a warm reception from fans for paying tribute to classic animation and giving players the chance to see a different side of the quirky cartoon cast. Something that caught everyone off-guard was the runaway success that was Cyberpunk Edgerunners. While tying in with the CD Projekt Red video game, this also draws from THAT game’s inspiration, the Cyberpunk tabletop game. Animated by Trigger, Edgerunners had praise heaped upon it for the stylish animation, emotional gut punches in the story and embodying the style and flair of the cyberpunk genre even better than the game did. It was so successful it had a pretty large impact on the game’s sales as well. There was also the second Sonic movie…and speaking of…

So, Sonic has had it pretty rough for a while now, we can agree on that right? A punching bag to the gaming population at large, he hasn’t been seen in a positive light by anyone but the most diehard fans in quite some time, and yet 2022 seems like it might just be the start of a redemption arc for the blue blur. While the first movie was successful, the second movie in particular did quite well with a third movie already green lit, on top of a separate Knuckles series on the Paramount+ app. Elsewhere on the animation scene the Netflix show, Sonic Prime, has been mostly well-received for its energetic animation and interesting premise, though we only have a scant few episodes to judge it right now. The IDW comics have received praise for quite a while now, but the real test was the release of the first major Sonic game in years: Sonic Frontiers. While opinions are somewhat split, the overall consensus has been positive. Most consider the game a step in the right direction for the series in terms of tone and storytelling, the plot itself penned by IDW comic writer Ian Flynn. The open world…or rather “open zone” gameplay has mostly been well-received with particular praise given to Sonic’s control. The soundtrack also goes pretty hard too, just to give my own two cents. For the first time in a while, Sonic has a lot of positivity surrounding him and it’s great to see the underdog come out on top for once.

THE BIGGEST HITS AND MISSES OF 2022

If we’re talking underdogs though, indies are always struggling against the bigger dogs in the industry, so it was quite cathartic to see one of the more successful sleeper hits of the year come from one person. Luca Galante, also known as poncle, published Vampire Survivors in early access in late 2021 and the game truly blew up in 2022. A shoot ‘em up where players maneuver through waves of enemies as their character attacks automatically, the game boasted a roguelike design with random power ups and such strewn about to make every run of the game unique, alongside a consistent dopamine hit of new weapons, power ups, and synergies to continuously experiment with. While the overall presentation is a bit cheap, the game itself is quite cheap, with strong word of mouth allowing it to become of one of the best success stories of the year, inspiring a number of imitators in the short time it’s been out.

When people look back on 2022, there are quite a few games that managed to stand out in one way or another. Elden Ring certainly is among the biggest winners of the year with tons of acclaim and sales success, there are the big aforementioned Sony prestige games with Horizon and God of War, Nintendo’s three-hit combo of trilogies with Bayonetta, Splatoon and Xenoblade, on top of a few other notable games from smaller developers. Asobo Studio’s A Plague’s Tale: Requiem and Bluetail Studio’s Stray managed to garner quite a bit of attention. The former continues from the previous A Plague’s Tale’s brutal and unnerving rat-based horror and for Stray…well, who wouldn’t want to play as a cute cat in a robotic, post-apocalyptic setting? There’s honestly a huge amount of games that came out last year that deserve tons of attention. Beat ‘em ups got a fair share of play with River City Girls 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Sifu. The former two build off of classic 2D beat ‘em ups and have some gorgeous pixel art, while Sifu embodies the style and flow of martial arts movies, with the added twist of your character aging with every death and giving players a hard limit to how many times they can die before having to start from scratch. I wish I could list every single notable release, but there’s only so much time I could use to spotlight them all.

Not every game is perfect, or for everyone, but a good many games this year got raked through the coals from fans and critics alike for a variety of reasons. Considering the ongoing allegations from Activision-Blizzard, not to mention the potential Microsoft buyout, is it any surprise that the release of Overwatch 2 would generate such controversy? For starters, many weren’t exactly on board with the game’s seemingly minor changes to aesthetics and the paltry amount of new heroes at launch. Overwatch 2 changed gears to a live-service model complete with a battle pass that forces players to grind to obscene amounts to unlock new heroes to play as, and at launch received flack over the requirement of a phone number for voice chat that actually locked out certain players if they weren’t on specific plans. The fact that the original game was absorbed into Overwatch 2 and is no longer playable also didn’t go over well. Of course that isn’t to say the game didn’t do well though, so it goes to show how even massive controversy can’t really keep people from their favorite games.

Similar flack was levied at Gotham Knights, a co-op action game set in the Batman universe that was lambasted by many for an overly repetitive, grindy design that was very likely going to follow in the footsteps of the Square Enix Avengers game that crashed and burned awhile back, though any live-service elements were stripped out of this one. The Saint’s Row reboot, however, not only got lambasted by longtime fans of the series, but the sales apparently weren’t all that impressive and developer Volition isn’t in the best straits at the moment. Despite riding high on the hype of being a true Dead Space spiritual successor, The Callisto Protocol was seen as a disappointment by survival horror fans for the game’s strange focus on melee combat, as well as a subpar PC release. Probably the most overtly reviled game this year, at least on social media, was High on Life, a first person shooter by Squach Games. While by itself a competent FPS with some neat combat and puzzles, for many the kiss of death was the heavy involvement from Justin Roiland. Even BEFORE all of the drama with Roiland’s sexual abuse scandal, many had grown tired of the same voice Roiland put on for many characters as well as the rambling, improv-heavy dialogue…though it still seemed to do quite well on Game Pass so…make of that what you will.

BAYONETTA BOYCOTTS, BROKEN BACKS AT TWITCH CON, AND CONTINUED CORPORATE KERFUFFLES

While Nintendo largely skates by with games that are, at worst, a bit disappointing, they managed to find themselves in quite a few controversies this year. While the release of Bayonetta 3 should have been a welcome one for longtime fans who could finally play the game after a lengthy wait from the first announcement, mere weeks before release Helena Taylor, the former voice of the titular character, took to Twitter and called for a boycott of the game. She alleged that she had been offered a mere $4000 for her voice work on the game and she had argued for a fair wage only to be rejected. While further investigation would show she wasn’t being entirely truthful, the debacle ended up making Bayonetta 3 a catalyst for extended talk about how voice actors are often undervalued by multiple industries. The game’s release itself generated some complaints levied at its ending as well, though nothing nearly as big as the VA controversy. Considering Platinum also launched Babylon’s Fall this year, a game that crashed and burned almost immediately after and will be shut down not long from now, it’s been an off year for them. Then there was the launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. You would think one of the most profitable franchises of all time would have something approaching quality control and yet the release of the latest generation of Pokémon games resulted in this game joining the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, and the GTA Trilogy in what is becoming a trend: releasing highly buggy, borderline broken games right at the end of the year. The game’s poor performance in the open world, alongside various visual and audio bugs made the rounds on social media, with many once again questioning why such a prolific series would allow games to release in such a state. Despite that, many felt the games were among the most fun in the franchise in a good long while, praising the open-world approach, which softened the blow somewhat.

Then, just as the year was about at its end, Nintendo once again drew the ire of the Super Smash Bros. competitive scene. After partnering with Panda Global last year, many had hoped this was the start of Nintendo working well with eSports and competitive Smash, but the cancellation of non-Panda events, including the Smash World Tour opened old wounds. The Panda CEO, Alan Bunney, would step down but that hasn’t stopped roughly 80% of Panda’s signed players from leaving the company in protest. Panda allegedly got Nintendo involved in closing these other events down, seemingly eyeing a monopoly and as it stands 2023 is likely to be a very rocky year for the Smash scene, and serves as a stern warning to others in the fighting game community about the dangers of working with corporations on their terms.

Outside of some games being of lower quality though, the industry at large, like anything else, still has some unsavory dealings that sprang up throughout the year. Admittedly the year was off to a good start, with Riot forced to pay up as a result of their sexual harassment case. Sadly, comeuppance like that wouldn’t exactly last. Hard to pick where to start here, really. Rooster Teeth, an entertainment company with roots in the gaming industry, is no stranger to controversy but in October of this year a former employee alleged mistreatment at the company on a number of grounds that Rooster Teeth itself acknowledged in a response, claiming that they would do better, though I suppose old habits die hard.

Twitch Con was the subject of some controversy during the event in October. A ball pit ended up being the site of multiple injuries by attendees, the foam bits used to fill it not being very deep and solid concrete found underneath. One attendee, Adriana Chechik, broke her back in two places, the tweet showing this going viral and putting eyes on Twitch Con’s lack of safety precautions. Seeing as Twitch also changed up the revenue sharing with creators, going from a 70/30 split to 50/50, they aren’t exactly gaining any fans at current.

Late last year to the surprise of many G4TV returned to television. A revival of the gaming-centered channel, featuring a number of new and old talents attempting to reclaim that magic from the early 2000s sadly closed its doors late this year. The news itself went out in a tweet that ended up being the first time many members of G4, such as Jirard the Completionist, would find out they were losing their job. While G4 was once a big deal in the gaming scene, I think this revival showcased just how much the landscape in gaming media and journalism has changed. As disappointing as it is to see the channel fail once again, at least you got Scott the Woz episodes on cable for about a year so…n-no that doesn’t really seem worth it at all, does it?

The man who is often credited as the creator of Sonic, Yuji Naka, ended up in the news several times this year, and in the process has lost much of his once lauded reputation. Following the disastrous release of Balan Wonderworld back in 2021, Naka made headlines as he addressed some behind the scenes drama regarding the game’s development. He claims he was shut out of development and his vision was not fully respected or realized with the game, laying the blame solely at the feet of Square Enix and Arzest, who assisted with development. However, later in the year he would be hit with not one but TWO different arrests over insider trading so…maybe he’s not exactly squeaky clean either.

(Photo credit to gamepressure.com)

Perhaps the most unfortunate bit of business this year has come from ZA/UM, the developers behind the acclaimed narrative game Disco Elysium. The ZA/UM Cultural Association, separate from the development studio, was disbanded last year and three of the leads behind Disco Elysium were ousted from the company. There have been accusations that the current leadership ousted them under false pretenses and as it stands now, the original creators of the Disco Elysium game are suing the company. Taking a game that was lauded for its iconic artwork and writing, a deeply satirical tale that took shots at politics of all kinds, and seeing unchecked corporate greed ousting the creative leads that gave that game the special sauce that led to such acclaim is saddening. At the moment it is unclear just how things might shake out with court proceedings and if any other accusations might be unearthed, but going into 2023 it isn’t exactly boding well for the in-development sequel.

On a somewhat lighter note, 2023 had some surprising leaks and resurfaced projects hit mainstream attention. An older version of the infamous Duke Nukem Forever was found, hot off the heels of a leaked copy of the cancelled Rayman 4. Considering how hard it can be to find these pieces of gaming history, if nothing else these are interesting finds. That said, there was an extremely substantial leak from Rockstar from the still in development Grand Theft Auto 6 game that garnered the most attention this year. It just might be the biggest leak of a high profile game at the moment, and quite a lot of discussions stemmed from it. Some complained about having a female lead, others criticized the game’s visuals…despite said game not having a set release and judging it solely off of footage from in-development builds that are not meant for the public eye. If nothing else, it likely made things even more difficult for the developers and someone likely lost their job from this if nothing else. With remote working becoming a bit more of a standard as the pandemic lingers on, it’s likely that proper security practices will have to be updated to adapt to the new development environment.

IN CONCLUSION

Whew! A lot can happen in a year, who would have guessed?! It’s a lot of work combing through all kinds of articles, podcasts and social media posts as I curate topics for discussion but I find it a labor of love for this industry and the games that are birthed from it. Remembering the big news stories of the year, the biggest games and the most notable flops…it all helps to put things more into perspective. Sometimes you can see new stories and the biggest titles of the year coming far in advance. Elden Ring was always going to be big, for example. But then there are the surprises of the year: Vampire Survivors coming from out of nowhere and garnering huge success, for one. Sonic’s redemption arc isn’t something I was counting on this year but it’s a welcome surprise nonetheless. While a LOT of bad can still be found in this industry, it’s important to take that alongside the triumphs. Gaming has really never been bigger than it is now. The Game Awards accrues more viewers than the Oscars, and while it’s been off to a slow start, a big shiny console generation is really starting to kick off. We have big games to look forward to, and plenty of surprises are surely in store. I try to stay positive and while I ended on a bit of a downer this year (again), it’s clear the industry will continue to move forward. 2022 was a solid year with some really big games, and 2023 is shaping up to surpass it in some regards with some highly anticipated titles. We have the next Zelda and Final Fantasy titles to look forward to, Starfield might actually exist and get to be a thing, and that’s just the stuff we already know about! I have no doubt there’s controversies and seedy dealings that will be brought to light this year, like any other year, but the fact that more noise is being made about better work environments at all is comforting to me. People aren’t just sitting down and taking it, and ultimately we all continue to move forward, doing our best to ensure tomorrow is a bit better than the day before. Let’s hope 2023 can be a better year.

-B

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everygame · 1 year

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Soccer (NES)

Developed/Published by: Intelligent Systems / Nintendo Released: 2/2/1985 Completed: 12/07/2022 Completion: Beat four levels of difficulty while fighting off boredom as “GBR” which because they’re the team in blue I decided were actually Scotland. Take that, “Federal Republic of Germany”! Version Played: Switch Online Trophies / Achievements: n/a

Well, I’ve suffered through Tennis, and Baseball, and all these other frankly pretty rancid early NES games from Nintendo, so how bad can Soccer be? I mean, I like football, so at least I can accurately judg–[starts projectile vomiting]

It’s… it’s bad, guys. It’s bad. Something that has struck me about Nintendo’s NES sports games is how perfunctory they are. There’s no charm, no spark, and no sense that anyone involved is trying to make a fun video game as much as tick off the box that says “the Famicom has a [name of sport] game”. And apart from some slightly nicer graphics, you’re really not feeling a massive jump from pre-crash video gaming here.

Soccer, for example, is as bare-bones as you get, offering the ability to play friendlies against a variety of (identical) six-a-side teams with a five point difficulty setting. Six-a-side is disappointing (but not particularly unusual in this era) but what’s really the problem here is that the game is so slowww. Actually… not just slow, horribly disjointed? You see, Soccer has the (I guess) noble aims to simulate the experience of actually dribbling a ball, with players kicking the ball each time they move, but rather than fluid movement it’s more like the way toddlers play football–they run to the ball, stop moving, kick the ball, and so on. This makes everything not just slow, but feel unresponsive, as you really can’t do anything unless you’re at the right point in an animation, making it all feel a bit random.

Of course, as with all of the other sports games for NES, my mistake ultimately is to be playing this against the AI, which here might be more horrible than anything we’ve seen before. The opposing team and your teammates seem to have no intelligence on any level of difficulty (the small pitch doesn’t give them much to do, to be fair) and raising difficulty just means that if you put it on the highest level instead of scoring every time the opposing goalie will make a beeline for you when you get close to the goal and take the ball off you (there’s really no lateral movement when you’re dribbling in this game it’s so slow and unresponsive.)

I sort of can’t imagine this was especially enjoyed by people playing it in multiplayer though.

Will I ever play it again? No.

Final Thought: I was mildly interested if I’ve been unnecessarily unfair with judging this with modern eyes considering this is from 1985, and in my head I was like “this is bloody worse than a Spectrum game.” Well, if I’m going to be completely fair… the Spectrum did honestly had better (and deeper) footy games! with Jon Ritman’s first Match Day (released in 1984) is at least as good as this, never mind Match Day II or the likes of Microprose Soccer (Sensible Soccer’s predecessor) showing up a few years later in ‘88.

My suspicion, actually, is that Nintendo’s Soccer is essentially a clone of International Soccer, released for the Commodore 64 in 1983, but as usual I have no way to verify that because… how would I. I have no idea if Nintendo designers had even seen a Commodore 64 at the time. But there’s more than enough similarity between these… and somehow Nintendo’s version still comes off worse!

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#video games #games #gaming #soccer #nintendo #intelligent systems #review #text #txt #1985 #nes #famicom

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literaphobe · 2 years

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ok so funny story: my sister just came home and it confused me bc i was like wait hold on… didn’t i tell u not to come bc im busy and she was like u didn’t tell me not to come and then i realized i forgot to tell her not to come home but then i was like i see and i told her well. u might as well be home. because as u can see on this whiteboard i plotted out everything i needed to do but– and she was like. u haven’t started have u. and i was like yeah… and she was like me too i overslept today and didn’t go for a class and i ate lunch and napped again and i was like wow… and she was like oh fuck i forgot my meds. can i have some of ur ritalin later. and i was like yeah and i showed her the nintendo switch sports game i bought and we ate some watermelon and grape flavored nata de coco together and we wanted to play nintendo switch sports but my granddad’s watching tv and will be doing so for at least another hour and so we talked about school and she showed me all the annoying homework assignments her teacher sent in and after a while and she told me she wanted to possibly start doing homework tonight (its currently 8:49pm) and carry on tomorrow i was like CRAZY IDEA -> what if we took ritalin now and started studying NOW and she was like woah buddy slow ur roll there……… we just ate didn’t u tell me ritalin doesn’t work good when u eat ^_^ and i was like well we had watermelon that wasn’t anything and it was a few slices each at best and she was like that is suuuuuch a huge meal ^_^ lets rest ^_^ and i burst out laughing

#personal #she was like i have to be good and do my work tonight #and i said sick lets do it and she said wait hang on….

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44gamez · 3 months

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Hitman Blood Money - Reprisal Review (Switch eShop)

Captured on Nintendo Change (Handheld/Undocked) Earlier than IO Interactive blew everybody’s socks off with the chic World of Assassination Trilogy, Hitman Blood Money was broadly thought-about to be the crown jewel of the stealth franchise. In actual fact, many take into account Blood Cash to be the progenitor of World of Assassination; a sport that thrives on freedom of alternative, providing up a complete of 14 glorious sandboxes, from a Chilean winery to the White Home. This re-release on Change, dubbed Hitman Blood Money - Reprisal, is an easy port of the unique, retaining the identical controls and visuals with slight tweaks to the person interface. What Feral Interactive has completed, nonetheless, is take a couple of cues from IO’s extra fashionable Hitman titles and introduce a couple of quality-of-life updates for gamers who won't have joined Agent 47 again in 2006. The most important new characteristic is Intuition Mode, a capability that was launched in Hitman: Absolution and drastically expanded upon in World of Assassination. For individuals who haven’t performed these video games, it basically hones Agent 47’s senses, slowing down time barely and highlighting your targets, enemies, and key factors of curiosity. It allowed you to see precisely the place your targets had been positioned even in the event you occurred to be on the opposite finish of the map; the way you reached them, thoughts, was completely as much as you.

Captured on Nintendo Change (Docked) The issue with Intuition Mode in Hitman Blood Money - Reprisal is that it’s not capable of totally replicate its performance within the later video games. You'll be able to’t use it to scope out targets or enemies from a distance because it’s solely capable of spotlight factors of curiosity which might be bodily seen to 47; in different phrases, objects or individuals which might be inside shut proximity. One may argue that it is a extra real looking model of the power, however from a gameplay perspective, its restricted performance renders it nearly ineffective in sure eventualities. Other than Intuition mode, Reprisal additionally provides a brand new mini-map. This proves much more useful in lots of situations because it shows your enemies and targets in real-time, with guards exhibiting up as yellow icons, police as blue, and assassination targets as pink. If you happen to occur to be in a restricted space, the mini-map means that you can observe the motion of your enemies with out essentially revealing your self to them in-game; merely conceal behind a nook or in a cabinet and watch for the opportune second to strike. Lastly, gyro-aiming has been applied for the Change and stands as maybe essentially the most welcome new addition. It’s not enabled by default, and in the event you decide to maintain it that means, then the sport does provide up an auto-aim perk as customary, as aiming with the analogue can really feel a tad finicky at instances. Flip gyro-aiming on and crank up the sensitivity, nonetheless, and also you’ll be pulling off headshots left, proper, and centre.

Captured on Nintendo Change (Docked) After all, all of those new additions could be enabled and disabled as you want within the choices menu. So in the event you’re somebody who occurs to be nicely acquainted with the unique Blood Cash, you may discover that disabling choices reminiscent of Intuition Mode and the mini-map ends in a purer, extra acquainted expertise. For these utterly new to the sport, nonetheless, even the restricted performance of Intuition Mode should show helpful, as maintaining observe of your goal in crowded environments can in any other case be a difficult endeavor. High quality-of-life enhancements apart, this is identical sport that launched almost 18 years in the past (really feel previous but?). In some ways, it stays an absolute masterclass in stealth gameplay, offering a bevy of choices with regards to offing your targets. There’s nothing fairly like completely infiltrating a closely guarded suburban house dressed as a clown, tampering with a barbeque in order that it explodes upon inspection earlier than calmly snatching a helpful piece of bijou from the smouldering corpse. The sport rewards endurance and precision in spades, and it’s simply essentially the most full imaginative and prescient of the Hitman collection exterior of World of Assassination.

Captured on Nintendo Change (Docked) Then again, it’s an 18-year-old sport. Many elements have dated significantly, together with the visuals, AI, and controls. For these already conversant in Blood Cash, it’ll be like slipping on a snug pair of gloves, however for newcomers, attending to grips with a number of the mechanics may show irritating at instances. For instance, it took us a very long time to keep in mind that dropping objects requires urgent down on the D-pad — hardly the obvious button alternative on this planet — so through the first foremost mission, we flailed round with a dull corpse caught to our palms whereas a bunch of guards unloaded shotgun shells into our again. Evidently, we didn’t survive. Regardless of its faults, nonetheless, Hitman Blood Money is simply so darn enjoyable. Because of its score system, there’s an nearly limitless sense of replayability as you're employed to search out out essentially the most environment friendly means of finishing every degree. On the flip aspect, you may go utterly off the wall and run in weapons blazing, simply to see what occurs. The enemy AI is wise sufficient to know when one thing is likely to be a bit off, however apparently, it doesn’t assume twice earlier than sprinting instantly into the road of fireside, making for some chaotic and bloody encounters. As we mentioned, it’s aged, however the best way you may manipulate the sport's methods is a enjoyable problem in itself.

Captured on Nintendo Change (Docked) As for the Change port, you’re a comparatively steady 30fps for essentially the most half. There are, nonetheless, irritating moments the place the sport will freeze for a couple of seconds when both unpausing or transitioning from gameplay to a cutscene. It’s not so frequent as to damage the expertise, but it surely occurs usually sufficient that it’s value highlighting. Hopefully, Feral Interactive will patch it out in the end. In any other case, you’re a strong port that appears good and runs nicely on Nintendo's system — as an 18-year-old sport ought to.

Conclusion

Hitman Blood Money - Reprisal is a strong Change port that provides up a number of quality-of-life updates that, in the event you're a newcomer, will make your first expertise with Agent 47 way more palatable. Not all of it really works completely, and there isn't any denying that sure elements of Blood Cash have aged significantly since 2006. That mentioned, when you familiarize yourself with it, Reprisal provides up nearly limitless replayability and enjoyable as you hone your assassination expertise. Minor efficiency glitches apart, it is a port nicely value trying out. Read the full article

#BLOOD #eShop #Hitman #Money #Reprisal #Review #Switch

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