General Gaming ~*D1P's Games of 2022*~

[best3444]

33 minutes ago, stepee said:

I need to make a list so I remember, I think I’m forgetting one or two I beat this year, I’ll need to think: 

 

2022 beaten:

 

Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom

Star Wars Fallen Jedi

Life is Strange True Colors

Metroid Dread

Metal Slug 2

Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle (played through em all)

Mafia Definitive Edition

Elden Ring

Dying Light 2

Horizon: Forbidden West

Kirby: GOTY Edition

Goblin Sword

Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Oli Oli World

Sonic Colors

Pokemon Legends

 

Some good shit there.

 

I've noticed since you stopped drinking that you're completing a lot more games. That's a great list.

[Phaseknox]

51 minutes ago, stepee said:

I need to make a list so I remember, I think I’m forgetting one or two I beat this year, I’ll need to think

Whenever I finish a game I post it here, because I would probably forget what I finished if I didn’t. I play a lot of games, but I don’t always finish them - so I post what I’m playing in the What are you playing today? thread and post what I finish in this one to help me keep track of what I’ve played and finished throughout the year.

[stepee]

21 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I've noticed since you stopped drinking that you're completing a lot more games. That's a great list.

 

This is true! A lot easier when you don’t spend all your spare time staring at a wall. Though obviously boosted a bit there where I could play games all day while I was recovering from my accident.

 

6 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

Whenever I finish a game I post it here, because I would probably forget what I finished if I didn’t. I play a lot of games, but I don’t always finish them - so I post what I’m playing in the what are you playing today thread and post what I finish in this one to help me keep track of what I’ve played and finished throughout the year.

 

Yeah I had to look at past posts already to put that list together, trying to remember to start doing it for the same reason.

 

 

 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Adventure mode

 

Dunno why I decided to do this after all this time. It was fun, but kinda long. 

[Phaseknox]

I finished Shenmue, it dragged on for a lot longer than was necessary. The pacing is poor due to having to wait until certain times of the day to progress the story since most story events take place at specific times, the problem is that there’s almost nothing to do while waiting for the slow in-game clock to reach the story event times. You can talk with NPCs who repeat the same exact dialogue over and over again, or play a couple of arcade games. That’s about it.

 

About halfway through the game you get a job as a forklift driver, and the game basically turns into a forklift sim where you move crates from one area to another. This is basically all that you do every day for the remainder of the game. There’s a few story events that occasionally occur to breakup the monotony a little. This portion of the game lasts for much too long, and brings the pacing to a crawl. Thankfully things pick up near the end, and the story events happen a lot more frequently and there’s more fighting sequences which are about the only actual gameplay in the game.

 

This is essentially a third person interactive story with some of the worst dialogue and voice acting in a game ever. There’s almost never a time when a conversation seems natural, or real. But this makes for a lot of unintentionally funny moments, and why the game has more memes than almost any other.

 

The length of the game could have been cut in half if you could advance time to the next story event, and it would have been better for it. As it is now it’s a boring slog a lot of the time. The story is decent and some cool things happen throughout, but the waiting for these moments is too long.

 

Back in 2000 when I originally played this game I was so enamored with its cinematic flare and impressive visuals that a lot of its problems didn’t stand out as much, but now I almost quit playing it because of them.

 

2022 games

Far Cry 6

Light Fairytale Episode 1

Light Fairytale Episode 2

Raging Justice

Tormented Souls

Eight Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Warhammer: Chaosbane

Fuse

Antiquia Lost

Shenmue

[Brian]

Tiny Tina’s Wonderland - 6/10 - it’s a Borderland game.  It’s unfortunate that Gearbox won’t take more risks on changing the formula on this offshoots. 

[Phaseknox]

42 minutes ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

Tiny Tina’s Wonderland - 6/10

Ouch! I didn’t really care for Borderlands 3 since I felt that it was inferior to 2 in almost every way, I was hoping that this would be better.

[Brian]

7 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

Ouch! I didn’t really care for Borderlands 3 since I felt that it was inferior to 2 in almost every way, I was hoping that this would be better.

Fans of the series definitely like this over 3 so you may as well. I was hoping for a larger departure from the formula. Plus the story and comedy fell flat to me. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Did a co-op run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project on NES. 
 

Game is cheap. 

[SaysWho?]

I've played but not beaten a lot of games recently -- Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, Disco Elysium, New Super Mario Bros U, a run of L.A. noire with my gf -- so I haven't updated my list in a while due to this.  

 

But one that really isn't "beaten" but I've played on and off for months is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and I guess it's as good a time as ever to post about it.

 

This is such an irresistibly adorable game. When I like a fellow resident, I really like them; their positivity and personality are infectiously colorful. Apparently, this was way more bare bones before -- no cafe, no swimming, no Harv's island vendors, etc. etc. -- so I'm glad I got into it when I did. I've enjoyed building up my island, with working on an amusement park on one side and work on a park of sorts on the left, carving out a path in the middle where the bulk of commerce happens, and it cracks me up there's an actual "stalk" market in this.  

 

The fact that Animal Crossing games have been known for this will never not be funny for me, and I felt badass when I bought turnips for 90-something bells and sold for 260, and excited that prices can go much higher than that.

 

I think if I had issues, it's quality of life stuff: why can't I just make a bunch of items all at once instead of having to craft each one individually? Why can't I also buy a bunch of stuff at once for purchase? There's a nice laid back feel to the game, so I understand that much, but standing at a workbench rapidly pressing A for a while to build a hot item could be truncated quite a bit. And I wish you could play your Switch like you could your NES in the original, or play more kinds of card games, and do more with your items.

 

As it stands, it's still a delightful game I enjoy returning to, as I've played on and off for months now. 

 

2022 Games

 

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Dark Souls Remastered (NG and 7/10s of a NG+ I think ) 

The Forgotten City

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

[Keyser_Soze]

7 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

bleh

 

All this and you still haven't visited my island

[SaysWho?]

48 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

All this and you still haven't visited my island

 

I don't have Nintendo Online.

 

I did visit my nephews! And they visited me. Pretty cool!

 

Are you able to change what residents can say to visitors? I went to my older nephew's island and one of them said, "Let me ask you this: do you like what are you stupid? dont do it" or something along those lines (something REALLY random), and I was like, "....what does this mean?!" He couldn't explain to me why the multiple residents were asking me this in all lowercase and bad grammar.

 

He concluded that he must have done something but he doesn't remember what or when.

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

I don't have Nintendo Online.

 

Wow! Visit me IRL then!

 

3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

Are you able to change what residents can say to visitors? I went to my older nephew's island and one of them said, "Let me ask you this: do you like what are you stupid? dont do it" or something along those lines (something REALLY random), and I was like, "....what does this mean?!" He couldn't explain to me why the multiple residents were asking me this in all lowercase and bad grammar.

 

They ask you things about your hobbies and what you like and such along with asking for catch phrases so I imagine it was some sort of combination of the two.

[crispy4000]

Really enjoyed Torna.  I thought it'd be hard getting back into XB2's world since finishing several other large JRPGs (DQXI, FF7R, FF9), but it ultimately reminded me why XB2 was such a good game to begin with.

It does recycle a bit of content with some twists (the Gormott titan), but it's still a solid 30 hour game which felt justified paying for.  It isn't better than the base game overall, but moment-to-moment, it's more fun.  I found it interesting that it didn't get to some of the more critical flashback moments from XB2.  Instead, it just fills in some gaps without stealing too many of XB2's moments.

Torna also strips out most of the ugly bits of that game.  No truly annoying characters, no gatcha, better tutorials/pacing/character design, and less level gating.  There is a huge progress gate near the end with sidequests though, but I planned on doing most of them anyways since it's a shorter game.  It never actually blocked me.

I really enjoyed the ending as well, it's the most spectacle I've seen in a game since FF7R.  Being a prequel gives it permission to end on a dower note.  Definitely appreciated that after my qualms with XB2's end credits.

9/10

 

2021
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10

[dualhunter]

Finished a New Game + of Shadows of Adam.

[stepee]

Ghostwire

Steel Assault

Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom

Star Wars Fallen Jedi

Life is Strange True Colors

Metroid Dread

Metal Slug 2

Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle (played through em all)

Mafia Definitive Edition

Elden Ring

Dying Light 2

Horizon: Forbidden West

Kirby: GOTY Edition

Goblin Sword

Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Oli Oli World

Sonic Colors

Pokemon Legends

 

Updating with Ghostwire and Steel Assault. Like I posted in its thread, Ghostwire was a solid 8/10 game but more like a 9/10 for me because it’s atmosphere just hit the spot. It was kind of refreshing to me to play a quirky game like this with so much polish.

 

Steel Assault I got because it has that high res 32bit pixel art shit I love with a color palette that shines on the oled:

 

 

 

 

It’s a fun genesis era treasure like side scroller where you use a whip instead of guns and can shoot climbing ropes between two points. I liked it and appreciate how it has difficulty options so I could actually beat it but it’s a bit too short to recommend even at the $7.50 sale price. It’s 5 levels are over too quickly, if it was at least like 8 levels I’d have been on here telling people to pick it up.

[crispy4000]

Very short Zelda-like with 4 small dungeons and Link's Awakening-esque trading quests.  It's a lot like Minit.  Turnip Boy is more charming and approachable, but Minit has better puzzles and a better final act.

 

The power-ups are surprisingly cool, but the basic combat sucks.  Still fun enough to play through, but I'd say buy it on a discount.

7/10

 

2022
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10

 

[dualhunter]

17 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

Very short Zelda-like with 4 small dungeons and Link's Awakening-esque trading quests.  It's a lot like Minit.  Turnip Boy is more charming and approachable, but Minit has better puzzles and a better final act.

 

The power-ups are surprisingly cool, but the basic combat sucks.  Still fun enough to play through, but I'd say buy it on a discount.

7/10

 

2021
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10

 

 

Turnip Boy was great. I didn't find it quite as funny as a review I read before getting it and it's short and very linear but it was still amusing and overall enjoyable. It's 50% off on Steam until May 30th.

[crispy4000]

19 minutes ago, dualhunter said:

 

Turnip Boy was great. I didn't find it quite as funny as a review I read before getting it and it's short and very linear but it was still amusing and overall enjoyable. It's 50% off on Steam until May 30th.

 

Eh, I still wouldn't pay $7.50 for it.  There's a rogue-like extension of the game at the end, which could add some longevity, but only if you enjoy the combat.

There's a browser demo here for anyone who might want to try it.
 

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion Demo

WWW.NEWGROUNDS.COM

---

Avoid paying taxes and journey to tear down a corrupt vegetable government!

 

[SaysWho?]

L.A. Noire (rerelease on PS4)

 

In this, all the stuff that was removed from the game the first time to use as DLC (those were dark days in the DLC world) is simply part of the game as it should have been. Now, I don't know if other changes came in other versions of the game, but The Truth/Doubt/Lie has been replaced by Good Cop/Bad Cop/Accuse. You may remember that the reason Phelps went nuts whenever you chose "doubt" is because it was originally to be called "force" to force out an answer from somebody. So this works better because you know what you're getting into if you think the person is lying but don't have the evidence to prove it.

 

This game reminded me that I'd love a sequel, even if the odds are unlikely. There's a feeling to the game and a grittiness and realism to the acting that I don't get in a lot of games, especially since there probably aren't enough crime/gangster games at our disposal. After getting out of the tutorial, the traffic desk is definitely the lesser of the four desks, which is to be expected, but it does give you insight into the LAPD and the characters you'll be seeing again. Murder has you solve the Black Dahlia murder. Vice really shows you the seedy underbelly of much of L.A., and Arson takes things into overdrive. The last case of Vice onward takes everything you learn from those newspapers you can find and brings it to a conclusion; they seem kind of unrelated to what you're doing, almost like simple backstory, but there's a bigger story that unfolds in those last two desks.

 

I enjoy investigating here, and I like how they used the improved facial animations at the time of development as a gameplay device that would have been more difficult in the PS2 generation. There are definitely things that I'd love to see if a sequel ever came -- a bit more branching depending on what you choose (Ace Attorney could use that as well), more differences in dialogue depending on what you've uncovered -- but it's a really cool experience, and I'm glad I returned to it.

 

2022 Games

 

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Dark Souls Remastered (NG and 7/10s of a NG+ I think :p) 

The Forgotten City

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

L.A. Noire

[crispy4000]

Nice, LA Noire is one of the few Rockstar games that appeals to me on the surface of it.  Sounds like I need to give it a go at some point.

[Phaseknox]

I finished Alice: Madness Returns. It was a decent third person action platformer with an emphasis on platforming, a little too much of an emphasis on it IMO. While there’s some combat sprinkled throughout the levels, the majority of the time you’re traversing the levels almost completely via platforming challenges. And they’re usually frustrating as they’re often timed, and require precision jumping with a sometimes unwieldy camera.

 

The levels are creative, imaginative and have great art design, but unfortunately the platforming gets repetitive since it’s primarily what you do. Longer stretches of non-platforming level traversal and combat would have been appreciated.

 

2022 games

Far Cry 6

Light Fairytale Episode 1

Light Fairytale Episode 2

Raging Justice

Tormented Souls

Eight Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Warhammer: Chaosbane

Fuse

Antiquia Lost

Shenmue

Alice: Madness Returns

[best3444]

2 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

I finished Alice: Madness Returns. It was a decent third person action platformer with an emphasis on platforming, a little too much of an emphasis on it IMO. While there’s some combat sprinkled throughout the levels, the majority of the time you’re traversing the levels almost completely via platforming challenges. And they’re usually frustrating as they’re often timed, and require precision jumping with a sometimes unwieldy camera.

 

The levels are creative, imaginative and have great art design, but unfortunately the platforming gets repetitive since it’s primarily what you do. Longer stretches of non-platforming level traversal and combat would have been appreciated.

 

2022 games

Far Cry 6

Light Fairytale Episode 1

Light Fairytale Episode 2

Raging Justice

Tormented Souls

Eight Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Warhammer: Chaosbane

Fuse

Antiquia Lost

Shenmue

Alice: Madness Returns

 

Weren't you going to play Horizon Zero Dawn so that you could appreciate Forbidden West more?

[Phaseknox]

2 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Weren't you going to play Horizon Zero Dawn so that you could appreciate Forbidden West more?

I started playing it and put about 10 hours into it and was enjoying it more than the first time that I played it, but I stopped because I wasn’t really in the mood for a big open world action adventure game at the time. I plan on playing it and Horizon Forbidden West in the future when I’m in the mood for them.

[crispy4000]

 

Mail Mole is basically indie budget Super Mario 3D Land with an occasional 3D Sonic level.

The control scheme is pretty unique: you hold and let go of the jump button to hop, and can optionally get a speed boost by pressing 'run' when you land.  The feel of the game probably could have used some fine tuning, I think the 'run' speed outside of boosting isn't fast enough to really notice.  There's some nice aspects to the presentation (the depth of field blur and speed effects work well), but the ugly bits really stick out.

 

Otherwise, its not a bad approximation of what Mario does well.  That's also its problem.  All the interesting design bits outside of the control scheme are lifted too directly from the 3D Land games.  It's cool that it gets so close on a budget, but maybe someone who hasn't played a Mario game in the past decade or two could appreciate it more.  If nothing else, its fun to play. I hope they get to make a better sequel.

 

7.5/10

 

2022
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10
Mail Mole - 7.5/10

[stepee]

11 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Mail Mole is basically indie budget Super Mario 3D Land with an occasional 3D Sonic level.

Control scheme is unique: you hold and let go of the jump button to hop, and can optionally get a speed boost by pressing 'run' when you land.  The feel of the game probably could have used some fine tuning, I think the 'run' speed isn't fast enough to really notice.  There's some nice aspects to the presentation (the depth of field blur and speed effects work well), but the ugly bits really can stick out.

 

Otherwise, its not a bad approximation of what Mario does well.  That's also its problem.  All the interesting design bits outside of the controls scheme are lifted too directly.  It's cool that it gets so close on a budget, but maybe someone who hasn't played a Mario game in the past decade or two could appreciate it more.  If nothing else, its fun to play. I hope they get to make a better sequel.

 

7.5/10

 

2022
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10
Mail Mole - 7.5/10

 

Glad you tried it! Yeah 7.5 sounds about right. It often goes on sale for like $3 on Switch and so worth a go for that price.

 

I agree, I hope it did well enough for them to have a proper budget, maybe Playtronic could publish them, and do a sequel that brings more of their own ideas to the table.

[crispy4000]

For $3 it’s pretty great, yeah.  I got it with Amazon Prime this month, wasn’t disappointed.

[crispy4000]

One of my favorite games in recent memory.  I would have beaten this much sooner, if not for the final level feeling like a game in itself.

 

The controls feel great, graphics look good throughout, and both the 2D platforming and overworld map sections are engaging and compliment one another.  One of the smartest things about Impossible Lair is how it sections off its world.  You can open 'paywalls' using 5 hidden coins you can find in each level.  So unlike other 2D platformers, these collectables have a tangible benefit to you throughout the game.  But you don't need them all to see everything in the game either.  What's the point of actually beating levels then?  To give you health points when attempting the last level.  It's a brilliant design setup.

 

Each level having a remixed form also works out.  The twists to each level are each unique, if not entirely original.  But its always enough for it to feel like a 'new' level, which is what matters most.

 

The Impossible Lair itself feels like an NES game in its difficulty to me.  Thank goodness they patched in checkpoints, otherwise I never would have beaten it.  Sadly, the ending and credits are underwhelming for all the effort it takes to get there.  It's like they just assumed very few people would see it.

I've come to the conclusion that this game is a modern classic, and one of best 2D platformers ever.  It's way better than it had any right to be, better than most of its inspirations, better than its discount implies. (Seriously, it's $1 on PC right now)

9/10

 

2022
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10
Mail Mole - 7.5/10

Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair - 9/10

[stepee]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

One of my favorite games in recent memory.  I would have beaten this much sooner, if not for the final level feeling like a game in itself.

 

The controls feel great, graphics look good throughout, and both the 2D platforming and overworld map sections are engaging and compliment one another.  One of the smartest things about Impossible Lair is how it sections off its world.  You can open 'paywalls' using 5 hidden coins you can find in each level.  So unlike other 2D platformers, these collectables have a tangible benefit to you throughout the game.  But you don't need them all to see everything in the game either.  What's the point of actually beating levels then?  To give you health points when attempting the last level.  It's a brilliant design setup.

 

Each level having a remixed form also works out.  The twists to each level are each unique, if not entirely original.  But its always enough for it to feel like a 'new' level, which is what matters most.

 

The Impossible Lair itself feels like an NES game in its difficulty to me.  Thank goodness they patched in checkpoints, otherwise I never would have beaten it.  Sadly, the ending and credits are underwhelming for all the effort it takes to get there.  It's like they just assumed very few people would see it.

I've come to the conclusion that this game is a modern classic, and one of best 2D platformers ever.  It's way better than it had any right to be, better than most of its inspirations, better than its discount implies. (Seriously, it's $1 on PC right now)

9/10

 

2022
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10
Mail Mole - 7.5/10

Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair - 9/10

 

I wish the impossible lair was presented as less essential to the quest and more it’s own side thing and didn’t have the ending tied to it. I’d still agree with the 9/10 and modern platforming classic and easily an all time great overworld. 

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, stepee said:

 

I wish the impossible lair was presented as less essential to the quest and more it’s own side thing and didn’t have the ending tied to it. I’d still agree with the 9/10 and modern platforming classic and easily an all time great overworld. 

They should have done something at least for those who couldn’t beat it.  Like a bad ending or something.

 

I ended up using every bee by the end of my run.  Gunning through the escape sequence first try without a single bee was a fist pump moment for sure.  Almost lost Laylee by the end.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Batman: Arkham Origins - PC (replay)

 

 

I was in a Batman mood and decided to replay this one, as it's been 9 years. It holds up well. Definitely the weaker of the Arkham series, but still quite a bit of fun.

 

 

Far Cry 6

Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Super Smash Bros Ultimate(Adventure mode)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project

Batman: Arkham Origins

 

[stepee]

Adding Grapple Dog and Mail Mole because that was this year for me as well and I forgot, also forgot to add some Megaman’s.

 

Ghostwire

Steel Assault

Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom

Star Wars Fallen Jedi

Life is Strange True Colors

Metroid Dread

Metal Slug 2

Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle (played through em all)

Mafia Definitive Edition

Elden Ring

Dying Light 2

Horizon: Forbidden West

Kirby: GOTY Edition

Goblin Sword

Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Oli Oli World

Sonic Colors

Pokemon Legends

Mail Mole

Grapple Dog

Megaman x4

Megaman x7

 

Grapple Dog was a solid 7.9/10. If you have gba nostalgia this is a very gba feeling and looking game. It’s solid all around and has cute characters/story. I would rank it higher but the last boss is bullshit and just generally it spikes more in difficulty than Id like at the end. Also the gate keeping to move foward is too strict and requires too much gem collection in the levels. They should cut that down by half and tone down the last few levels and I’d give it a 8.5.

 

 

[crispy4000]

 

Warioware with a surprisingly robust adventure mode, more parodies, and more puns.  Physics are bonkers in a good way.  It'd be a great portable game to kill some time with, I think I might prefer it to Warioware honestly.  Don't want to spoil any more of it, so...

8/10

 

2022
Death's Door - 8.5/10

Torna: The Golden Country - 9/10
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10
Mail Mole - 7.5/10

Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair - 9/10

What the Golf? - 8/10

[Phaseknox]

I finished Bloodshore, or more realistically I finished watching it. It’s not really a game, it’s a live action movie where every once in a while you get to select a decision for the main character to make that determines what happens in the story next. It makes the story feel a little more interactive, but the choices that you get to make throughout it are extremely limited. I was expecting to be able to make more choices, but there aren’t that many instances when you get to which is disappointing.

 

The movie itself is a cheesy but mildly entertaining dark action comedy that’s basically the equivalent of a movie made for the Syfy channel. It’s not very long which makes it something to go through again, and make different decisions to see different outcomes to the story.

 

2022 games

Far Cry 6

Light Fairytale Episode 1

Light Fairytale Episode 2

Raging Justice

Tormented Souls

Eight Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Warhammer: Chaosbane

Fuse

Antiquia Lost

Shenmue

Alice: Madness Returns

Bloodshore

 

[dualhunter]

Finished my replay of Katamari Forever with 100% item collection.