What Games Have You Completed? (2023 EDITION!)

Gamer Bhoy 89

Good day, one and all. Hope you all had a splendid holiday this year.

I think this has become one of my few yearly traditions at this point. It falls on this guy to make a new Completed Games thread every Hogmanay 😂 I think this is my 6th or 7th one.

With that said. A very Happy New Year to all. Hope 2023 brings happiness to everyone. Get some games beaten, as well!

I have to say my 2022 run of beating games was lackluster compared to the previous year. I'll put it down to just being a busy year for me, for many reasons. I got a PS5 and an Xbox Series X in the same year, which was nice - haven't made a dent in any Xbox games since I bought it, though 😂

Here's my completed list of 2022.

da gamer

Call of duty modern warfare II - PS4

Azza

LEGO Builders Journey - PC

Got this free from Epic over the Christmas and remember seeing this this on Digital Foundry.

Decent enough. Has a a very nice Pixar CGI look to it. Overall short and sweet, puzzles for the most part are easy, some of them are a bit boring and one or two annoying sections where its not so much a case of being unable to figure out how to solve the puzzle but being unable to figure out what the puzzle is even suppose to be. But can't complain since it was free.

Retr0gamer

Final 2022 tally for me with my thoughts on the games I played:

1. Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
2. Operation C|Gameboy
3. The Outer Wilds|PC
4. Kid Dracula|Gameboy
5. The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
6. Illusion of Gaia|SNES
7. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
8. Shantae|Gameboy Colour
9. The Forgotten City|PC
10. Bulk Slash|Saturn
11. Monster World IV|Megadrive
12. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
13. Pikmin 3|Switch
14. Bayonetta 2|Switch
15. X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
16. Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
17. GG Shinobi|Game Gear
18. Elden Ring|PC
19. Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
20. Maken X|Dreamcast
21. God of War Ascension|PS3
22. Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
23. Ace Combat 2|PS1
24. Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
25. Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
26. For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
27. Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
28. Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
29. Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
30. Silent Bomber|PS1
31. God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
32. Lemmings|PC
33. Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
34. Deathloop|PC
35. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
36. MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
37. Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
38. Aconcagua|PS1
39. Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
40. Baroque|PS1
41. Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
42. Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
43. Ninja Five-O|GBA
44. Little Samson|NES
45. Trip World|Gameboy
46. The Guardian Legend|NES
47. Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
48. Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
49. Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
50. Night Trap|PC
51. Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
52. Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
53. Space Manbow|MSX2
54. Blue Reflection|PC
55. MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
56. Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
57. Clock Tower|SNES
58. Deep Fear|Saturn
59. Detention|PC
60. Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
61. Quake: Dimensions of the Machine|PC
62. Toki|PC
63. Hakaiou: King of Crusher|PS1
64. Marathon|Mac
65. Megaman 4|Gameboy
66. Crankin Presents Time Travel Adventure|Playdate
67. Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja|Arcade
68. Master of Darkness|Master System
69. Stalker: Clear Sky|PC
70. Die Hard Arcade|Saturn
71. Final Fantasy VII: Remake|PC
72. Dusk|PC

Best game:

The Outer Wilds

There's a lot been said about this game already but it really is one of the very best expressions of what videogames can be.

Runner up:

Baroque.

I was always interested in this game. A Rogue-like first person dungeon crawler with gothic visuals and a banging soundtrack. This one really captured my imagination and made rogue likes finally click.

Honourable Mentions:

A lot to mention here so only the very best:

Trails in the Sky Second Chapter

The Forgotten City

Pikmin 3

Bayonetta 2

X-Com 2: War of the Chosen

GG Shinobi

Elden Ring

Ace Combat 2

Final Fantasy Legend

Trails in the Sky: the 3rd

Silent Bomber

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

Ninja Five-O

The Guardian Legend

Gargoyle's Quest

Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course

Space Manbow

Detention

Marathon

Crankin Presents Time Travel Adventure

Dusk

Pleasant Surprise

While Ninja Five-O was one of the best homages to the 16-bit genre I've ever played, I kind of knew it was going to be good, it was more it surprised me with how incredible it was. So I'm going to give this one to Silent Bomber. It's a big budget gorgeous looking action game on the PS1 and probably one of the very best action games ever made and yet nobody talks about it. It puzzles me how this flew under the radar but if you get a chance then give this little gem a chance.

Biggest Disappointment

I have to give this one to FFVII Remake. Far from the worst game, there's stuff I loved about it like the incredible soundtrack and battle system. It just got on my nerves with how it had no respect for the players time and managed to also fumble the excellent storytelling and direction of the original Midgar section.

Outright Bad

Blue Reflection. I wanted to love this game. The world needs a good Magical Girl JRPG and this just isn't it. The story telling is bad, the game loop is repetitive and the battle system has great ideas but completely fumbles it by being so easy that none of the games intricate systems are even worth engaging with, even when taking on the optional super boss. It's a shame because the presentation is gorgeous and it has one of the all time great soundtracks.

da gamer

Call of duty modern warfare II - PS4

Lego the Incredibles - PS4

skerry

First one of the year for me. Hopefully I'll be more diligent in keeping my list updated this year to motivate myself to make a dent in the backlog if nothing else.

• Signalis -

Enjoyed a lot of it but it got a bit tedious for me towards the end. Survival horror with a lot of cues from early Resident Evil games, a lot more focus on puzzling though and enemies aren't much of an issue until later in the game. They also leverage the inventory management system from RE games but I felt this wasn't implemented very well. Space is so stingy that I found myself going back and forth across the map far too much just to dump items. Often got to a roadblock only to find I have gathered the item I need but its in my storage box. Was using med packs, not cos I needed them but just to free up space on the fly. Decent game but has some frustrating design choices I found. Its on Game Pass

Azza

Star Wars Dark Forces - PC

Decided to give this a shot after the release of the Force Engine source port that basically allows for the game to be run well on modern hardware.

Holds up reasonably well actually. When I first saw this game years ago I assumed it was running on the Doom engine as the game basically looks like a Star Wars reskin of Doom. I had forgotten what 90's shooters where like in terms of maze like level design and there was a few area's I got stuck for a while not knowing where to go. A.I is very simply for nowadays but shooting Stormtroopers is still quite satisfying. I did play with full mouse look controls which I don't think where in the original release and tank good because while the game isn't too difficult with a few exceptions I can imagine not being able to look up and down would have made certain sections really difficult.

Also found the mission on Jabba's space ship as downright cheap when it came to deaths by mines. Mines just behind closed doors or just around corners. I'd accidentally stumble towards a mine then try to back away from it only to hit another mine and then when I'd find a medkit there would be a mine under that too.

Still overall, nice simple fun.

Retr0gamer

I really enjoyed Dark Forces as well. Mouse controls were in the original although you had to do a bit of rebinding to get WASD. The level design is mostly exceptional although I think that sewer level near the start was way too complex for that early in the game.

chrislad

Just finished Sonic Frontiers.

Decent enough but given that you could theoretically finish the entire game just fishing to get the parts you need shows gives me the impression that they weren't confident in their levels! The levels I played were fine. Not particularly challenging, or long, but looked decent. It definitely ripped off Zelda for the open world, in terms of design, music, challenges etc, but it was a fun, short enough game - only about 20 hours to complete and get 100% on the achievements, and most of these were just complete the map/unlock all levels etc.

CastorTroy

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes on Switch

Liked it for what it was, though fighting did become a bit repetitive and annoying at times. They try to change things up each level but then it's just the same fighting.

Managed to get through the game and its DLC in about 12 hours so wasn't too long.

If you're a Shadows of the Damned fan, Travis Strikes Again

Spoiler Warning

has a level dedicated to that game. Haven't played it but think maybe this continues the story of it a bit? Can just check out a walkthrough video here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRtiEPmCAzA from 31:40.

Have the PS3 version on my shelf that I must play soon now.

Mr.Fantastic

1. God of war: Ragnarok -PS5

God of War Ragnarok

Even though I started this in 2022 , just finished this the last few days. Fantastic game improves on the original in every way I found. I have done all the extra side bits aswell apart from the collectibles, I think I have a few ravens left is all.

Really enjoyed it. it would be a toss up between this and Elden ring for GOTY 2022 for me, even though I loved triangle strategy and a shoutout for unexpected sleeper hit would be Inscryption.

Below is the wrap of 2022 , finished a lot less game this year but I would put that down to moving abroad.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy | Ps5
2. Wasteland 3 | Xbox Series X
3. Halo Infinite | Xbox Series X
4. Sifu | PS5
5. Horizon Forbidden west | PS5
6. No more Heroes | Switch
7. Elden ring | PS5
8. Inscryption | Steam deck
9. Deathloop | PS5
10. Death's Door | Xbox Series X
11. Mafia 1 Definitive edition | PS5
12. Call of Duty: Vanguard | PS5
13. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance | Gamecube
14. Triangle Strategy | Switch
15. Persona 5 Royal | PS5(PS4)
16. Ori and the Blind forest | Series X
17. Modern Warfare 2 | PS5
18. Divinity 2 Original Sin DE | Steam deck

skerry

1. Signalis - Xbox Series X
2. Sol Feace - Sega Mega CD
3. Skyrim - Steam Deck

Sol - Feace - good memories of this one. I was always a Sega guy and remember getting the Mega CD and thinking how groundbreaking it was seeing the FMV type games like Sewer Shark and Night Trap. Sol Feace didn't lean into that gimmick but I was still blown away at the intro scenes and especially liked the soundtrack on this one. Its a side scrolling shoot em up and I don't believe it was very highly regarded in its genre but I enjoyed it.

Skyrim - having owned this on several platforms like most others, I never actually finished the main quest. Only previously played it on console and was great to be able to take advantage of mods on Steam Deck. Game looked great modded up and used a mod NPC as they respawn and don't end up lost in a dungeon somewhere like the regular ones. Have a decent amount of side content to wrap up but I have a good lot of that done on console. Will tuck into the DLC at some stage but happy to have this one ticked off the backlog

ketchupmessi63

Elden Ring - My GOTY '22, hands down

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Crown Trick

Vampyr

A Link to the Past (on a switch lite this time!)

Battle Brothers (brutally hard but amazing game!)

Nioh 2

Penn

First game of 2023 completed

Neon White (PS5)

What an absolute blast to play! I'd seen bits of it on different streams/videos but usually on PC where I figured if ever it came to console, it just wouldn't translate over. Thankfully I took a punt on it and can happily report I was wrong. The console version compensates for lack of kb/m accuracy with a lock-on targeting system but it still doesn't make the game too easy as enemies grouped together might affect it, and you have slower turn speed/sensitivity than you would with a mouse. So while overall the game is probably easier to play on console, you're not going to hit the level of accuracy and speed to beat PC times.

But what that really means is that the game is still incredibly well optimised for console and is tremendous fun. There are over 100 different levels, some of which you could beat in 15-20 seconds, some of the later ones and side missions could be two minutes or more. The aim is to get through levels as quickly as possible using different guns to shoot enemies, but more crucially each weapon has a traversal ability that you can use if you discard the weapon; abilities such as an extra jump, a stomp, or a dash forward, and others. These are obviously vital to getting through the levels quickly and taking the shortest paths but will also require a bit of figuring out to work out the right weapons you need. You can only hold two types of weapon at a time and can only hold three of each type of weapon, so you might have three double-jumps and three horizontal dashes for example. These weapons are obtained from cards which you find along your path or from killing certain enemies, with each level optimised for putting the right cards you need on the path for you to get the best times. This adds to the puzzle aspect of the game where each level will have a shortcut you'll need to take to get the best times, which often requires losing a second earlier in the level to save a weapon ability for later and possibly saving 3+ seconds. You also need to kill all enemies in order to complete the level so even taking a shortcut might mean having to plan how you can still kill enemies that you're skipping past.

Level design is outstanding, and gets hugely complex as more weapon types and enemy types get introduced later. It means levels can take multiple tries to figure out and can be frustrating at first but when you start to see the path and get into the rhythm that's where the game shines because all of a sudden you're just bursting through the environment like a ball of energy popping enemies' heads like balloons left and right. The feeling when you're just sailing through a level repeatedly just to shave a second or two off your time for a higher medal never gets boring.

My only real complaint about the game is a personal one, in that generally I hate first-person platforming (only real exceptions would be the likes of the Portal games). There will be times when you're trying to make difficult jumps or tricky manoeuvres and you fail because you took half a step too much because you couldn't see the floor, overshot a jump even though you'd be sure that if your character models feet were really there they would have landed on the platform (or that you wouldn't have overshot if you could see your character's feet), or in particular there are times when you have to look down and use rocket jumps to climb higher but because you're looking down you can't see what's above you, if you've climbed too high, or you hit a slight ledge which stops you etc... It's not a huge issue in this game because most levels are so short and you get used to them so quickly that it doesn't take long to re-do but when trying to repeatedly run a level to get a better time it can impede your progress very quickly and compound minor frustrations.

All in all though, it's an incredible experience and is just such a joy to play to the point where I've even re-bought the game on Steam as well to try playing with kb/m, which is incredibly rare for me. I think regardless of your platform of choice it's well worth playing if you haven't already.

skerry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120088634#Comment_120088634

Playing through it at the moment, so good. Definitely got that 'one more level" hook to the gameplay.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120088697#Comment_120088697

Totally. And I refused to move on to the next level without getting the Ace medal for the level I was on, while the layout, strategy and muscle memory was in my head. I was doing the same with the gifts for the first few missions, but by the second half of the game some of them are so well hidden or tricky to get that I had to leave them behind. Went back and got them all before the last mission though as I wanted to do all the side missions.

Mal-Adjusted

Dark Forces is a really good game. i never knew about the source port. i never had an issue running it in DOSbox though, must look into it.

My final list for 2022 is

It's fairly poor but i became a father again during the year and, yeah...babies are really inconsiderate of my gaming time. Best game was COD: MW remake, the worst was easily FarCry. horrible game.

For 2023 so far iv'e polished off a couple of racers that i was playing on and off for a while.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2 XBOX

I initially hated this game because i found the police cars way too agressive. they always tended to ignore all the other racers and swarm me like a fly on sh1t3. I actually found it really enjoyable once i turned the cops off, even though that's the selling point of the whole game.

Grid 2 XBOX 360

A fun game, beautiful looking and easy to pick up and play.

Need for Speed: Underground XBOX

Very much inspired by the Fast and the Furious, i loved the neon soaked, rain drenched city races. Beautiful game. I found the controld a bit slippery, even with cars with good handling. I have to say though,the drift events are way more fun than they deserve to be, loads of fun.

ShaneU

My list for 2022

1. The Artful Escape (Xbox)
2. Yakuza like a dragon (Xbox)
3. The Gunk (Xbox)
4. Psychonauts 2 (Xbox) 
5. The Procession to Calvary (Xbox)
6. Hitman 3 (Xbox)
7. Fight Night Champion (Xbox 360)
8. Ryse: Son of Rome (Xbox)
9. Carrion (Xbox)
10. Exo One (Xbox)
11. A Plague Tale: Innocence (Xbox)
12. Elden Ring (PS5)
13. Trek to Yomi (Xbox)
14. Guardians of the Galaxy (Xbox)
15. Empire of Sin (Xbox)
16. The Forgotten City (Xbox)
17. Chained Echoes (Xbox)

Doubt I'll get that many this year. Elden Ring GOTY with Chained Echoes 2nd.

1. God of War: Ragnarok

Brilliant game, I'll like to say I enjoyed every minute, but there was a very annoying section with Atreus that I couldn't wait to be over. If they do a spin-off with him I'll be giving it a miss. I got the platinum trophy fairly easily (I got free PSN avatars for doing it the last time so hope they do that again). The Muspelheim trials and Valkyrie equivalent bosses seemed way easier in this than the first game, I remember tearing my hair out over them in GoW 2018.

Retr0gamer

1. Sonic Frontiers (PC)

Sonic Frontiers

First game of 2023 and this one was a pleasant surprise. Honestly thought Frontiers looked like a complete disaster when first shown. It looked like a Sonic fangame built in Unity and Sonic was just dumped into an open world game because everything has to be open world. Took a chance on the game due to positive word of mouth, particularly from Thor HighHeels. I ended up being pleasantly surprised. The game isn't perfect and has issues but it didn't stop me thoroughly enjoying it.

Sonic Frontiers takes a lot of influence from some strange places. There's references to MGS Revengeance, Nausicaa, Ikaruga, Neon Genesis Evangelion, even Shadow of the colossus. However Breath of the Wild is by far the biggest influence. You are dumped into each large open world island and have to find your own way around. There's the usual mcguffins to find that reveal the map and various collectibles but the game has a confidence in it's mechanics and open worlds that make the exploration and traversal the main hook and even getting the scattered collectibles is a lot of fun. Finding the way to collect each one is a lot of fun and when you do each on is a mini platforming challenge to complete. The islands are littered with boss fights which are mostly a lot of fun and often visually imposing and massive. There's also warps to find that send you to stages that play like previous modern sonic games. These are also a lot of fun. Most are quite short and I liked them enough to complete all the challenges including the s-rank time challenge.

There's some issues with the game. There's some jank to the Sonic physics but it's probably the most stable of the modern games. It's also a bit disjointed in presentation and how you are left to your own devices. Story is pretty bare bones as well. These however are just minor when the base game is just so much fun to play. I'd rather play this than the usual Ubisoft/Sony open world monogame.

Also check out the soundtrack (it's on spotify). There's some absolute bangers on there and it's probably my favourite soundtrack of 2022 so far.

Mr.Saturn

1. Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)
2. Yakuza 5 (PS4)

There's a single QTE at the end of Yakuza 5's final boss where if you fail you then have to restart the entire 10 minute fight. There's a lot to love here, but it's a bit of a series low and is exceptionally disrespectful to the player's time in a series renowned for taking the mick in that regard.

Azza

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Force II - PC

So having cleared Dark Forces, I moved on to the sequel and used the OpenJKDF source port to play so I got things like support for unlocked frames, ultrawide support, upcapped FPS and proper hud scaling but didn't use any of the new graphical effects it adds. Also installed a higher quality music pack, used A3D-Alchemy to emulate A3D 1.0 3D audio and an always use higher detail models mod.

Needless to say the game looks like ass but that has a certain charm to it. Gameplay wise I made the fatal mistake of playing on hard difficulty. When Obi-Wan Kenobi said those blast marks where to accurate to be anything but Stormtroopers it was obviously the Stormtroopers in this game he was referring to. Poor Luke would have been shot by the first Stormtrooper he came across on the death star and the series would of ended there.

I realized after a few levels that the difficulty was gonna be a pain but I didn't want to restart. So as Darth Vader said in the movies, the ability to shoot accurately is insignificant next to the power of save scumming or something to that effect. Pretty much after little engagement I rinsed the F9 key or killed myself and reloaded to do it again until I survived with more health.

Other than that the FPS combat is fine with the added mix of having a lightsabre which has its uses but I mainly stuck to playing it as a shooter. A.I isn't great but the damage and accuracy of the enemy make it very difficult, plus some downright cheap enemy placements, like a Stormertrooper with a missile launcher point blank outside the bottom end of a enclosed elevator.

Level design is typically 90's Byzantium style with lots of secrets to find. One mission was a surprisingly large open ended level for the time though.

FMV story is a little campy but charming enough. Good lord is the video quality poor.

Audio design is good, and the music is simply classic Star Wars.

Boss fights where passable and require the use of a light sabre, but they do feel somewhat flailing aroundish and some are easy to cheese with simply tactics like circle strafing. Man alive is the second last boss terrible, basically Jar Jar Binks type that bunny hops incessantly coupled with ropey hitboxes.

Overall still enjoyed my time with it. Guess its Mysteries of the Sith next.

Mal-Adjusted

Ah, the old FMV cutscenes are charming in their own right! the actor playing Kyle is clearly having a blast. which ending did you get?

Azza

Lightside.

Retr0gamer

I was so disappointed when I played the game darkside. Lightside was obviously the intended route as the only addition is a new fmv at the end.

Jedi knight was a game I loved at the time and one of the first games I got to run on a 3D accelerator (power vr2) so blew me away. Going back to it the game is pretty janky.

I've a lot of memories of wandering around levels totally lost because a switch blended in with surrounding textures or there was a vent I was over looking.

I found the lightsaber over powered in the game, once I got it and realized how powerful it was I never used the guns. The ability to just block everything that isn't a rocket is too valuable.

I found it quite dated and prefer dark forces which is a bit more timeless.

SuperBowserWorld

Uncharted 4, PS5 enhanced version on PS5.

Incredibly beautiful looking and technically very impressive game. 60+ FPS is essential for extra oomph for the leaps of faith you take in the game.

Gameplay is very enjoyable but gets very repetitive, as the last 1/3 of the game stretches on. Pushing boxes gets old very quickly. Some really pretty puzzles to solve. There is an absolutely brilliant chase sequence in the middle of the game. Simple UI, controls. Really well designed and realised "movie" game.

The story is engaging and the banter between the two brothers is well done and synched with the gameplay.

Zero replay value.

Recommend.

TinCanMan

The Last Guardian [PS5] - A game that I both loved and hated. The story and the world that it plays out in are amazing with the sense of scale when outside and traversing upwards providing some exhilarating moments. The bond between the two main characters is a joy to experience and grows throughout the game. Now for the bad. The controls and camera are beyond frustrating at times and can lead to some truly rage inducing moments. In addition some of the puzzles have little logic to them and can be difficult to figure out. This aside the game was a beautiful experience and well worth playing.

Retr0gamer

It's a game I wanted to love but on a base PS4 the frame rate is so bad it gives me a headache and it doesn't help that the control latency is dreadful as well as the controls. It has the same control issues as Red Dead 2 but exasperated.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120109270#Comment_120109270

It runs at 60 FPS on PS5 so long as install the original released version, i.e. from disk and do not let it update. There are some parts where you need to update to get past game blocking bugs, then reinstall again ... It's a bit daft they don't release an upgrade for free.

https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2021-how-to-play-the-last-guardian-on-ps5-at-60fps

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120109806#Comment_120109806

Yeah I heard that and I have been holding off playing it until I get a PS5 but I'm still waiting for anything that makes the PS5 worth owning.

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120109870#Comment_120109870

Was convinced the next round of Yakuzas were going to be that for me, but just learned they're all coming to PS4 anyways. It doesn't take this long for generations to get going, right? That's not a thing I'm imagining?

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120110048#Comment_120110048

PS4 was pretty awful as well. PS3 also a god awful console for about 3 years but it had the 360 and Wii as counterparts as much better consoles. At least the PS3 became a great console unlike the PS4. I really expect the ps5 to be worse then PS4 for getting going.

da gamer

Call of duty modern warfare II - PS4

Lego the Incredibles - PS4

A plague tale requim - Xbox series s

Mr.Fantastic

1. God of war: Ragnarok -PS5
2. Signalis -Xbox Series X

Signalis

A delightfully strange horror Sci-Fi played this on gamepass after hearing stuff about it online. Loved it! Not really about the combat but a love letter to the survival horror a la resident evil and silent hill.

Didn't agree with some design choices regarding the inventory management was a pain going from safe room and back to drop off items.

Plot was out there but I loved it.

Onto Callisto protocol at the moment its visually impressive the dodge mechanic is nonsense though

SuperBowserWorld

Spider-Man Remastered PS5

Just finished the main game now.

Technically, artistically, story wise it's all good. Cheerful, upbeat, relaxing game. Excellent Spider-Man realisation. I played it with all the high frame rate, ray tracing, HDR bells and whistles on. Not a single glitch. They did a superb job.

The combat great and the moves can be combined in fun and interesting ways. Also, the arial combat ramps up near the end, but it's still fluid, controllable and navigable which adds to the whole Spider-Man experience. The range of suits is fun. Navigating the open world is a joy, especially as you gain more skills.

I got the ultimate edition, discounted, ages ago, but only got round it it now. Excellent package. Stil have DLC and Miles Morales to do. Will do that sometime down the line.

I was getting bored by the random open world missions, but they do teach you the ropes. The glut of todo things gets annoying too. Jumping back to the main game fixed that problem.

Recommend

Kingp35

1. Yakuza 0 - PlayStation 5

Yakuza 0

I've decided to work my way through all of the Yakuza games that I haven't played yet, which is quite a lot! I put in 71 hours in total in Yakuza 0 and I enjoyed the vast majority of it. The plot is very good as usual with plenty of twists and turns. The sub stories were entertaining as usual and full of the ridiculous humour the series is known for.

As with all Yakuza games, my only gripe is that the games sure do waste your time. There is simply too much dialogue, a lot of it could have been cut out.

I finished with 57% completion on the Completion List, I have no idea how anyone could reach 100% without losing their sanity!

Onto Yakuza 3 next.

Azza

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith - PC

Basically more of the same as Dark Forces II with some minor A.I, graphics and gameplay changes that I personally didn't notice much at all. Story is a massive step back from the previous game in terms of the general plot and voice acting with the ingame cut scenes being of extremely low quality. Even the title Mysteries of the Sith is somewhat misleading as only the last 3 of the 14 missions has content related to the Sith and the other 11 missions are unrelated to the last 3. Last 2 missions are made infuriating by a beast like creature that is a common enemy that are utterly horrible to fight.

Not terrible but compared to the main game its overall a weaker package and far from essential to play.

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120119032#Comment_120119032

Yakuza 3 might be the worst one, at least mechanically, so buckle up. Okinawa's really lovely setting, mind. Yakuza 5 is going to be your Vietnam if you felt Zero wasted your time, even if it does have the Kiwami engine going in its favour.

wotzgoingon

1. High on Life [Xbox]

High on Life

My first game to complete for 2023 and what a game I loved every minute of it, the humour the way it played everything. I manged to get all collectibles too. I even missed out on a few achievements that you would never know about by just playing the game as you would need a guide to tell you what to do.

Over all a great game.

TinCanMan

The Last Guardian [PS5] - A game that I both loved and hated. The story and the world that it plays out in are amazing with the sense of scale when outside and traversing upwards providing some exhilarating moments. The bond between the two main characters is a joy to experience and grows throughout the game. Now for the bad. The controls and camera are beyond frustrating at times and can lead to some truly rage inducing moments. In addition some of the puzzles have little logic to them and can be difficult to figure out. This aside the game was a beautiful experience and well worth playing.

Assassins Creed Black Flag [PS5] - What a joy this game is to play. It’s definitely one of the best Assassins Creed games to date and for a game almost 10 years old it still looks beautiful. The story is well written and the protagonist likeable. The ship battles add greatly to the game with some epic battles ensuing but this game is more than just that. I found the player control to be well polished as well. Overall I would thoroughly recommend this game.

Retr0gamer

1. Sonic Frontiers (PC)
2. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

I can see why this is so fondly remembered by the NES fraternity. This has cemented itself as one of my all time favourite NES games and one of the best games I've ever played.

Punch-out is really quite a simple game when you break it down. You've a dodge, a duck, a block and either an uppercut or jab with the left and right hands. You can also gain stars from perfectly timed counters against enemies that can be used for devastating punches that take a long time to charge but do incredible damage if they connect. The beauty of Punch-Out is that Nintendo have worked their magic and turned a very simple game into something incredible.

While punch-out presents itself as a boxing game but really it's more like a rhythm boss rush game. It's all about reading your opponent, dodging at the right time and counter attacking. Each fighter you come up against had their own unique way of fighting them and beating them. It's really amazing how much personality these opponents have in their fighting styles and it's enhanced by their appearance. Punch out is a gorgeous looking game. Nintendo used a chip in the cartridge to help the NES display these enormous sprites and it was never used for any other game. Each opponent has bags of personality that comes through from their design and animation.

The final tournament and Mike Tyson really asked a lot from me to beat. I was working on the game over the last number of days to get through these opponents and then finally perfect them. Despite the frustration, gnashing of teeth and swearing it was an exhilarating experience. I've not played a game in a long time that proved such heart racing excitement. And when I finally took out super Macho man and then Mike Tyson I was very vocal in my excitement. I think there was even some punching into the air.

This is only the second game I've beaten this year and it's already a strong contender for the best game I'll play this year. Punch out is an absolute classic.

Just be warned, do not try to play this game on a modern tv. The timing in this game, particularly the last 3 fights can be harsh. You'll need a crt or a emulation with run ahead latency reduction (I used RetroArch and the Messen core).

da gamer

Call of duty modern warfare II - PS4

Lego the Incredibles - PS4

A plague tale requim - Xbox series s

High on life - Xbox series s

eggy81

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129739#Comment_120129739

My young lad got me into it. He was obsessed with it for about 6 months. It’s amazingly addictive. We were timing each other beating the various opponents on a stopwatch. Definitely a rhythm game. You can beat some of the opponents in seconds with the right timing a choice of punch.

great game

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129739#Comment_120129739

Now do the Wii version and drop Donkey Kong right on his banana maker.

Retr0gamer

I do want to play the Wii game and super punch out, might even give the arcade game a go but I'm kind of exhausted from playing it so much the last week that I need a break!

DeSelby83

Finished Pentiment last night. Clocked in at just over 13hrs. Played it entirely through xcloud on my phone as had touch controls, was great to pick up now and again when I had a bit of free time.

Pacing was off at times but never stopped me wanting to progress the story. The religious setting didn't bother me as found it gave an interesting historical context that I hadn't played before but I can understand how it would turn some people off.

Found the ending a pretty interesting light commentary on religion/beliefs/history and what came before and really enjoyed the game overall.

Penn

1. Neon White (PS5)

Dead Cells (PS5)

Really fun game. It was something I'd seen lauded many times before but just never got around to it. There's a fantastic variety of weapons and items which keeps getting added to the pool to draw from, which as per other rogue-likes can help or hinder you if you don't get the rng weapons you want. There are also plenty of permanent upgrades you can get to help future runs.

There appear to be a few different paths to the end; as you unlock more permanent skills you can access new areas which lead you to different levels, each with their own different blend of enemies. I only made it to the end once so far so not even sure if I've found all the different possible levels yet.

Enemy design is great, some real absolute bellends in later levels. Combat is fairly simplistic even with the huge variety of weapons. The main thing is to have patience.

I'd still put something like Hades over this, but it's an effortlessly charming game with some terrific design and fun and engaging combat.

CastorTroy

Guardians of the Galaxy (PS5)

I really enjoyed this. The characters, the story, the interactions between the characters and the gameplay. All good. And it was fun.

Mr.Saturn

1. Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

2. Yakuza 5 (PS4)

3. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4)

4. Nano Assault Ex (3DS)

Miles Morales is one of the few modern open-world games that isn't a complete head-melt. It's fun to move around, the busy work leans into that and, best of it all, it's short so there's not too much in the way of pointless bloat unless that something you're actively sniffing out.

Was actually surprised I finished Nano Assault EX in that I was sure I was only coming to the mid-point based on the difficulty, but then the credits ran. Not a complaint, it's a fun shmup/Starfox hybrid that didn't overstay its welcome. Difficulty's a bit weird though, so the back-end of the game is surprisingly easy and you find yourself finishing the game before you know it.

johnny_ultimate

God of War: Ragnarok

GoW Ragnarok is a great 15-hour game. Unfortunately, it’s actually a 40-hour game.

There’s a lot to like here. The already excellent combat has been further refined, and feels consistently great in motion. Presentation and performance wise, it runs like a dream on PS5 - rivalling PC quality with extraordinarily sharp visuals and a perfect high frame rate delivery. There are moments, sequences and longer stretches of the game where everything is working in harmony and it’s an extremely enjoyable, highly polished game to play.

But it’s also a game with serious pacing problems and a frustrating case of system bloat. This is a straightforward third-person action game full of vast amounts of RPG menu micro-management, boring loot and dull skill trees. It has a main story path that has its moments, but is so overloaded with supporting characters and subplots that it quickly loses focus. Pivotal characters may have a few scenes early on then disappear for a dozen or more hours, making their role in the story fuzzy or bolted on. Even the main story lacks the sense of purpose of its predecessor, instead getting weighed down in repetitive chatter about prophecy and a bunch of tangents (although there are perfectly nice character moments and development scattered throughout the game). It has fun, semi-open hub areas that show the gameplay at its best while also dragging the player away from the main path for hours at a time. The main path itself has some cool boss battles, but is also an often tedious slog of linear corridors and repetitive enemy encounters.

The game’s strengths and weaknesses are best exemplified by the game’s best area: a region called The Crater, unlocked near the end of the game. This is a vast, entirely optional side area, full of involved side quests, cool bosses, neat gameplay ideas, and an environment that evolves, transforms and expands based on your actions. It’s great that this is in the game: it’s a very neat bit of extravagant, big budget game design, and easily the best 4-5 hours I spent with the game.

But it’s also a part of the game that’s almost entirely divorced from the rest - the story justification is limited at best and is barely referenced by the rest of the cast when you actually resolve it. It’s an entirely missable or indeed skippable area, and even within its confines the repetition is obvious. There’s a big, dramatic fight with a large enemy at the end of one path, but the thrill wears off a little when you realise you have to do the same basic fight another two times. So while I’m truly happy this section is in the game, it really made me wish that the parts of the game every player has to play showed a fraction of the expansive level design The Crater does, while also being reminded that The Crater would have been even better had they cut down on the repetition a little bit.

There was enough good in Ragnarok to encourage me to push through to the end, but there was enough bad to leave me frequently frustrated by the experience. It is a game that is too big for its own good, and often has its best ideas off to the side where many players won’t even see them. It is a game whose epic scope but scattershot storytelling makes me miss the more focused, shorter thrills of the God of War of old. As a series, GoW has grown up - better presentation, more refined combat, (mercifully) fewer edgelord sex minigames. But it’s also become a symbol of a lot wrong with AAA games these days: games so loaded with bloated systems and narrative self-importance and general ‘stuff’ that they’ve lost or at least diluted a lot of the other stuff they unquestionably do well. It’s half a great game and half a bad one, and as a result it ends up just being sort of merely ‘OK’.

Retr0gamer

1. Sonic Frontiers (PC)
2. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Yes that TMNT, the famous one from the AVGN video. The one that is incredibly difficult to beat. Everyone with a NES had the game, nobody could beat it. You see the thing is TMNT is definitely beatable. Each level takes place with an open world map with lots of stages dotted around. The thing is the vast majority of these stages go no where or end in a simple power up and force you to back track out. If you were to do each of these stages they would wear you down and you'd end up dead in no time. If you know where you are going and know the tricks for farming health and the stupidly powerful scroll sub weapon before the last stage then it's manageable. That's not to say it's still not hard. The game is janky as hell and spawns annoying enemies constantly, it's near impossible to avoid all damage. So did I spend ages learning the game off to find the optimal route? Of course I did I'm a god tier videogame player.

Actually no, I used the very helpful 'You can Beat Videogame' youtube series. No regrets.

There's no other way to describe TMNT other than a mess. It's very obviously a rush job and far from the high standards of most other Konami games. The License seems to be barely used. They have the turtles, April, Splinter Shredder and 4 of the famous turtle bad guys. All the rest of the enemies are made up of random mutants and nasties that seem totally out of place in the universe. Level design is very slapdash. With Konami games I usually expect expertly designed levels with cleverly placed enemies but here there's no rhyme or reason to the design or enemy placement. Enemy placement can be totally random as well. The Turtles are massively imbalanced. Donatello is by far the best with a weapon that has the best reach and does the best damage. It's a bit slower but it hardly matters. Raphael does the same damage as Don but has shorter range. Leonardo has decent range but weak attacks which makes him effectively useless after the initial stages when enemies can tank his hits. Michelangelo is effectively useless with a short range, poor damage and the inability to attack upwards.

The game definitely isn't awful. It can be unfair but not so much that it's impossible to master. It's frustrating until you get the hang of it. There's far far worse games on the NES than TMNT but I guess this has a high profile for being so ubiquitous and causing so much childhood trauma. No matter how many times I play the game the underwater section and the area where the walls close in still give me trouble. It's so strange seeing such a shoddy release from Konami. Even more so when you consider how close this game is to another Konami game, Getsu Fuma Den. This was another action platformer that plays quite close to turtles and had side scrolling levels interspersed in a top down overworld map. It's a minor Famicom/NES classic. It came out in 1987 and yet TMNT had two years on it and came out in 1989 and it's so much worse. It's kind of an ugly game as well.

I'm glad I played it but doubt I'll even take the time to try and beat it ever again.

I've got to feel sorry for Konami game devs of the era. This game was the best selling game for Konami for a long time and every game was compared to it but upper management were only concerned about sales. So you had Konami devs making absolute masterpieces and having upper management giving out to them for not making a game as 'good' as shoddy TMNT.

da gamer

Call of duty modern warfare II - PS4

Lego the Incredibles - PS4

A plague tale requim - Xbox series s

High on life - Xbox series s

Prodeus - Xbox series s