Games Beaten 2022
Re: Games Beaten 2022
I just wish the other Disney Capcom games would have gotten the same treatment.
Re: Games Beaten 2022
Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
First 50:
51. Prodeus - PC
52. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero - Switch
53. Arkos - PC
54. Valkyrie Elysium - PS5
55. AWOL - PC
56. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) - PC
57. Warhammer 40000: Shootas, Blood, and Teef - Switch
58. X Rebirth - PC
59. Star Ocean: The Divine Force - PS5
60. Pokemon Scarlet - Switch
61. X4: Foundations - PC
62. The Incredible Machine 3 - PC
63. Metal Head - 32X
64. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - Switch
65. The Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions - PC
66. Front Mission 1st: Remake - Switch
67. Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis - GBA
68. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call - 3DS
69. Mega Man 10 - WiiWare
70. DuckTales Remastered - Wii U
71. House of the Dying Sun - PC
The Emperor is dead. As his Dragon, you are awakened to enact his vengeance against the traitor lords who try to usurp his domain. Thus begins House of the Dying Sun, a space sim that controls extremely well and is tough but fair, without any unnecessary padding like some games in the genre have.
You begin behind the controls of the interceptor that will serve you through the game, going through a quick tutorial. From there you set out through a series of 14 missions, all of which are quick strikes. You are a scalpel, not a large fleet, so you must be surgical and not get caught up in needless dogfighting. Your fighter has two weapons and an ammo-limited heavy missile; the latter is best used on big targets like carriers. You also have two subsystems; initially this is a shield system and some heavier armor. As you progress through the map you will unlock additional weapons, as well as increase the size of your fleet. You will gain capital ships which can support you, and mid-mission you can give some quick orders like having your fighters focus on one target while your capital ships focus on another. Each mission also contains a bonus objective and doing that bonus objective gives you currency which is used to purchase alternative subsystems. But beware; not too long into each mission an enemy flagship will warp in; until the end game it will severely outgun you and you'll want to be finished before it can bring its firepower to bear.
Each mission has three difficulty settings; one interesting component is that every mission can be reattempted at any time with your current fleet. This means you probably want to start with basic difficulty (which can still be tricky on some fights) and come back later with a larger fleet. There is also a final unlockable difficulty you get after finishing the game that removes all friendly capital ships; hope you've acquired good tactics for taking out the big ships with your fighter. They aren't insurmountable, but you will definitely need to start doing things like sniping subsystems to remove enemy guns.
The whole game is quite short; the missions are quick in-and-out without being padded like we frequently saw in the X-Wing series. The action is pretty non-stop, so even though it doesn't last a long time it feels quite dense. Your fighter is a joy to fly; it is maneuverable in just the right amount and features the ability to temporarily succumb to inertia for faster turns and to keep your bearings on a target before cutting back in the engines. If you're a fan of space games this is definitely worth a play.
First 50:
51. Prodeus - PC
52. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero - Switch
53. Arkos - PC
54. Valkyrie Elysium - PS5
55. AWOL - PC
56. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) - PC
57. Warhammer 40000: Shootas, Blood, and Teef - Switch
58. X Rebirth - PC
59. Star Ocean: The Divine Force - PS5
60. Pokemon Scarlet - Switch
61. X4: Foundations - PC
62. The Incredible Machine 3 - PC
63. Metal Head - 32X
64. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - Switch
65. The Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions - PC
66. Front Mission 1st: Remake - Switch
67. Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis - GBA
68. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call - 3DS
69. Mega Man 10 - WiiWare
70. DuckTales Remastered - Wii U
71. House of the Dying Sun - PC
The Emperor is dead. As his Dragon, you are awakened to enact his vengeance against the traitor lords who try to usurp his domain. Thus begins House of the Dying Sun, a space sim that controls extremely well and is tough but fair, without any unnecessary padding like some games in the genre have.
You begin behind the controls of the interceptor that will serve you through the game, going through a quick tutorial. From there you set out through a series of 14 missions, all of which are quick strikes. You are a scalpel, not a large fleet, so you must be surgical and not get caught up in needless dogfighting. Your fighter has two weapons and an ammo-limited heavy missile; the latter is best used on big targets like carriers. You also have two subsystems; initially this is a shield system and some heavier armor. As you progress through the map you will unlock additional weapons, as well as increase the size of your fleet. You will gain capital ships which can support you, and mid-mission you can give some quick orders like having your fighters focus on one target while your capital ships focus on another. Each mission also contains a bonus objective and doing that bonus objective gives you currency which is used to purchase alternative subsystems. But beware; not too long into each mission an enemy flagship will warp in; until the end game it will severely outgun you and you'll want to be finished before it can bring its firepower to bear.
Each mission has three difficulty settings; one interesting component is that every mission can be reattempted at any time with your current fleet. This means you probably want to start with basic difficulty (which can still be tricky on some fights) and come back later with a larger fleet. There is also a final unlockable difficulty you get after finishing the game that removes all friendly capital ships; hope you've acquired good tactics for taking out the big ships with your fighter. They aren't insurmountable, but you will definitely need to start doing things like sniping subsystems to remove enemy guns.
The whole game is quite short; the missions are quick in-and-out without being padded like we frequently saw in the X-Wing series. The action is pretty non-stop, so even though it doesn't last a long time it feels quite dense. Your fighter is a joy to fly; it is maneuverable in just the right amount and features the ability to temporarily succumb to inertia for faster turns and to keep your bearings on a target before cutting back in the engines. If you're a fan of space games this is definitely worth a play.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
-
PartridgeSenpai
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 3054
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:27 am
- Location: Northern Japan
Re: Games Beaten 2022
Partridge Senpai's 2021 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
* indicates a repeat
1. Dandy Dungeon: The Legend of Brave Yamada (Switch)
2. Dandy Dungeon 2: The Phantom Bride (Switch)
3. Mon Amor (Switch)
4. Terraria (PC)
5. Puppeteer (PS3) *
6. Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon (PS1)
7. Project Altered Beast (PS2)
8. Devil Summoner II: Soul Hackers (Saturn)
9. Kirby Star Allies: Heroes in Another Dimension (Switch)
10. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
11. Tales of Vesperia (PS3) *
12. Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSi)
13. Super Robot Wars F (Saturn)
14. Super Robot Wars F Final (Saturn)
15. Super Robot Wars 64 (N64)
16. Knight Gundam Monogatari (SFC)
17. Knight Gundam Monogatari 2 (SFC)
18. Mega Man Legends 2 (PSP)
19. Mighty No. 9 (PC)
20. Mega Man Xtreme (GBC)
21. Mega Man Xtreme 2 (GBC)
22. Super Robot Wars Alpha (PS1)
23. Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden (PS1)
24. Vampire Hunter D (PS1)
25. Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 (PS2)
26. Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 (PS2)
27. Super Robot Wars 2: Complete Box Edition (PS1)
28. Super Robot Wars 3: Complete Box Edition (PS1)
29. Super Robot Wars EX: Complete Box Edition (PS1)
30. Super Robot Wars IV Scramble (PS1)
31. Biohazard (PS1)
32. Hero Senki: Project Olympus (SFC)
33. Shin Super Robot Wars (PS1)
34. Gaia Saver (SFC)
35. Super Robot Wars A (GBA)
The last SRW game I was able to get to this year, and one I originally never intended to actually get to! A is the 2nd game in the series developed by AI, the same guys who made the N64 SRW I played much earlier in the year and really didn't care for. I also disliked their mid-2000's GameCube game so much that I barely made it a stage into that one, so I'd quite comfortably written off their entire line of games as just so inferior to the Banpresto and WinkySoft ones that I've played that I'd never play them. My friend recently tried out the PSP remake of A, however, and found it so tough and miserable that I just had to give the GBA original a look and see how it compared to the PSP version and just the games in general. I played the game in Japanese and it took me nearly a month to beat, as is usual for these games, so I reckon it took me about 70 or 80 hours or so (as this is yet another game to add to the pile of ones that don't count playtime at all XP).
The story of A is a bit of a weird one for a SRW game. While a lot of the SRW games by the year 2001 (as this is a super early GBA game) had multiple protagonists, or at least multiple avatars you could pick from, as well as a super robot or real robot for them, this one gives you multiples of both. You can pick a male or female character, and both of them can pick from two choices of real or super robot. The story is also relatively different for each character (with the unpicked one appearing as an antagonist with a personality quite different from their player character version), and I picked Lamia in a super robot for this one.
There are a few new additions to the series in this game as far as represented licenses go, but the most noticeable one by far is Martian Successor Nadesico. This is written by a different guy than the N64 game was, but while this game solves the issue of being quite so humorless and boring with its writing, it sadly does not solve the problem of just how much bloat there is in the text (and the quite significant number of Nadesico characters present really don't help with that). It's not so much that the dialogue is bad or unnatural, so much as there's just too much of it. They could really have used an editor poking them in the shoulder to just get to the point faster, because some of the between-mission VN-style story bits can drag on for absolutely ages (and I'm talking like 15 or 25 minutes of reading in some cases, and that isn't entirely just because I can't read Japanese as fast as I can read English XP). Overall I quite liked the writing as a whole, but that feeling of "god damn, please wrap this up a little faster" definitely dragged everything down in a way I really wasn't too hot with.
Mechanically, it's a fair bit of stuff back from the N64 game with some new odd bits thrown in here and there. The overall regular features of a SRW game from this time are still here as usual. FE-type SRPG gameplay with pilots who level up independent from money-upgraded mechs, some pilots can swap mechs, and individually upgradable weapons with cash (as while Banpresto dropped that feature, AI hung onto it for quite some time). All that goodness. There are some things a little odd for this point in the series though. Enemies with just absolutely bullshit levels of abilities like endure or parry, something that Banpresto had chucked in the can several years earlier, are here in spades and suuuuper annoying from the game's midpoint. The lack of the ability to skip attack animations is also very heavily mourned, at least by me Xp. Thankfully, this game is at least without really unfair reinforcements messing things up for you all the time at least.
There's also the odd and unique feature of this game using shields not as an chance-activated skill like parry, but as an extra health bar of sorts that depletes before your actual health. Not a bad feature per se, but not exactly a good one either, and I'm glad it's gone after this. Another interesting note is that with the way this game does its random seeds, save-loading for better results is actually impossible, as even on real hardware, loading your quicksave will get you the exact same result if you just do the same thing again. Combo-attacks that can be done when certain units are adjacent are also back from the N64 game, and it's gonna be your main method of dealing out punishment for most of the game, particularly if you're trying to take down bosses who retreat once they get past a certain limit of HP. Overall, the level design is pretty darn good, but there just aren't a lot of them. The story is only 39 missions long, and there are very few route splits, and when there are, they're generally quite short. The total mission count is also quite low as a result of this, but that's pretty easy to overlook for what's effectively a GBA launch title (and just how long the cutscenes are make up for the playtime of that lack of missions pretty well too ;b).
Aesthetically, the game looks really nice for a game for being SUCH an early GBA game. Animations aren't exactly as nice as the PS1 games coming out around that time, but it's still close enough to be very impressive for what little memory they're working with. That said, there are a few very odd and conspicuous color choices that are just obviously wrong, and I can only really chalk them up to some color limitation. It's not a big problem, but things like the captain of the Nadesico's hair being light purple instead of the royal blue it is in the show are pretty big things that are very hard to miss, so it felt work mentioning. Music is pretty good too, but it's very GBA. It's a pretty steep downgrade from the CD-based games of the time, but it's also pretty hard to meaningfully complain about that. It *is* just a GBA after all, and they're still pretty darn good versions of these songs for the tools they're working with. The most uncanny part of it all is just how much of this game's sound font sound *so* much like the one that GameFreak would use for the 3rd gen Pokemon games a couple years later, so it's very odd and amusing hearing the Getter Robo theme played with such similar sounding "instruments" at least XD
Verdict: Recommended. It's not a masterwork, and doesn't really hold a candle to anything Banpresto was doing at the time, but it's still remarkable a step up enough from the N64 title that it's made me very interested in playing AI's other portable titles. It's a damn impressive little adventure for such an early GBA game, and you'd almost never guess how early it was if there weren't another like five GBA SRW games after it XD. If you can read Japanese and want some good SRW action on the go, this is a choice that's tough but not too tough that you'll probably have a pretty darn good time with ^w^
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
* indicates a repeat
1. Dandy Dungeon: The Legend of Brave Yamada (Switch)
2. Dandy Dungeon 2: The Phantom Bride (Switch)
3. Mon Amor (Switch)
4. Terraria (PC)
5. Puppeteer (PS3) *
6. Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon (PS1)
7. Project Altered Beast (PS2)
8. Devil Summoner II: Soul Hackers (Saturn)
9. Kirby Star Allies: Heroes in Another Dimension (Switch)
10. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
11. Tales of Vesperia (PS3) *
12. Art Style: BOXLIFE (DSi)
13. Super Robot Wars F (Saturn)
14. Super Robot Wars F Final (Saturn)
15. Super Robot Wars 64 (N64)
16. Knight Gundam Monogatari (SFC)
17. Knight Gundam Monogatari 2 (SFC)
18. Mega Man Legends 2 (PSP)
19. Mighty No. 9 (PC)
20. Mega Man Xtreme (GBC)
21. Mega Man Xtreme 2 (GBC)
22. Super Robot Wars Alpha (PS1)
23. Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden (PS1)
24. Vampire Hunter D (PS1)
25. Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 (PS2)
26. Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 (PS2)
27. Super Robot Wars 2: Complete Box Edition (PS1)
28. Super Robot Wars 3: Complete Box Edition (PS1)
29. Super Robot Wars EX: Complete Box Edition (PS1)
30. Super Robot Wars IV Scramble (PS1)
31. Biohazard (PS1)
32. Hero Senki: Project Olympus (SFC)
33. Shin Super Robot Wars (PS1)
34. Gaia Saver (SFC)
35. Super Robot Wars A (GBA)
The last SRW game I was able to get to this year, and one I originally never intended to actually get to! A is the 2nd game in the series developed by AI, the same guys who made the N64 SRW I played much earlier in the year and really didn't care for. I also disliked their mid-2000's GameCube game so much that I barely made it a stage into that one, so I'd quite comfortably written off their entire line of games as just so inferior to the Banpresto and WinkySoft ones that I've played that I'd never play them. My friend recently tried out the PSP remake of A, however, and found it so tough and miserable that I just had to give the GBA original a look and see how it compared to the PSP version and just the games in general. I played the game in Japanese and it took me nearly a month to beat, as is usual for these games, so I reckon it took me about 70 or 80 hours or so (as this is yet another game to add to the pile of ones that don't count playtime at all XP).
The story of A is a bit of a weird one for a SRW game. While a lot of the SRW games by the year 2001 (as this is a super early GBA game) had multiple protagonists, or at least multiple avatars you could pick from, as well as a super robot or real robot for them, this one gives you multiples of both. You can pick a male or female character, and both of them can pick from two choices of real or super robot. The story is also relatively different for each character (with the unpicked one appearing as an antagonist with a personality quite different from their player character version), and I picked Lamia in a super robot for this one.
There are a few new additions to the series in this game as far as represented licenses go, but the most noticeable one by far is Martian Successor Nadesico. This is written by a different guy than the N64 game was, but while this game solves the issue of being quite so humorless and boring with its writing, it sadly does not solve the problem of just how much bloat there is in the text (and the quite significant number of Nadesico characters present really don't help with that). It's not so much that the dialogue is bad or unnatural, so much as there's just too much of it. They could really have used an editor poking them in the shoulder to just get to the point faster, because some of the between-mission VN-style story bits can drag on for absolutely ages (and I'm talking like 15 or 25 minutes of reading in some cases, and that isn't entirely just because I can't read Japanese as fast as I can read English XP). Overall I quite liked the writing as a whole, but that feeling of "god damn, please wrap this up a little faster" definitely dragged everything down in a way I really wasn't too hot with.
Mechanically, it's a fair bit of stuff back from the N64 game with some new odd bits thrown in here and there. The overall regular features of a SRW game from this time are still here as usual. FE-type SRPG gameplay with pilots who level up independent from money-upgraded mechs, some pilots can swap mechs, and individually upgradable weapons with cash (as while Banpresto dropped that feature, AI hung onto it for quite some time). All that goodness. There are some things a little odd for this point in the series though. Enemies with just absolutely bullshit levels of abilities like endure or parry, something that Banpresto had chucked in the can several years earlier, are here in spades and suuuuper annoying from the game's midpoint. The lack of the ability to skip attack animations is also very heavily mourned, at least by me Xp. Thankfully, this game is at least without really unfair reinforcements messing things up for you all the time at least.
There's also the odd and unique feature of this game using shields not as an chance-activated skill like parry, but as an extra health bar of sorts that depletes before your actual health. Not a bad feature per se, but not exactly a good one either, and I'm glad it's gone after this. Another interesting note is that with the way this game does its random seeds, save-loading for better results is actually impossible, as even on real hardware, loading your quicksave will get you the exact same result if you just do the same thing again. Combo-attacks that can be done when certain units are adjacent are also back from the N64 game, and it's gonna be your main method of dealing out punishment for most of the game, particularly if you're trying to take down bosses who retreat once they get past a certain limit of HP. Overall, the level design is pretty darn good, but there just aren't a lot of them. The story is only 39 missions long, and there are very few route splits, and when there are, they're generally quite short. The total mission count is also quite low as a result of this, but that's pretty easy to overlook for what's effectively a GBA launch title (and just how long the cutscenes are make up for the playtime of that lack of missions pretty well too ;b).
Aesthetically, the game looks really nice for a game for being SUCH an early GBA game. Animations aren't exactly as nice as the PS1 games coming out around that time, but it's still close enough to be very impressive for what little memory they're working with. That said, there are a few very odd and conspicuous color choices that are just obviously wrong, and I can only really chalk them up to some color limitation. It's not a big problem, but things like the captain of the Nadesico's hair being light purple instead of the royal blue it is in the show are pretty big things that are very hard to miss, so it felt work mentioning. Music is pretty good too, but it's very GBA. It's a pretty steep downgrade from the CD-based games of the time, but it's also pretty hard to meaningfully complain about that. It *is* just a GBA after all, and they're still pretty darn good versions of these songs for the tools they're working with. The most uncanny part of it all is just how much of this game's sound font sound *so* much like the one that GameFreak would use for the 3rd gen Pokemon games a couple years later, so it's very odd and amusing hearing the Getter Robo theme played with such similar sounding "instruments" at least XD
Verdict: Recommended. It's not a masterwork, and doesn't really hold a candle to anything Banpresto was doing at the time, but it's still remarkable a step up enough from the N64 title that it's made me very interested in playing AI's other portable titles. It's a damn impressive little adventure for such an early GBA game, and you'd almost never guess how early it was if there weren't another like five GBA SRW games after it XD. If you can read Japanese and want some good SRW action on the go, this is a choice that's tough but not too tough that you'll probably have a pretty darn good time with ^w^
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
-
alienjesus
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 8835
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
- Location: London, UK.
Re: Games Beaten 2022
1. Metroid Dread Switch
2. The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures Switch
3. Return of the Obra Dinn Switch
4. Policenauts Saturn
5. Pokémon Legends: Arceus Switch
6. Sam & Max Save The World Switch
7. The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve Switch
8. Dragon Force Saturn
9. Astro’s Playroom PS5
10. Kirby & The Forgotten Land Switch
11. Yakuza Kiwami PS4
12. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1+2 PS4
13. Blue Reflection: Second Light Switch
14. Hatsune Miku: Logic Paint S Switch eShop
15. Art Style: Orbient WiiWare
16. Dragon Quest Builders 2 Switch
17. Tales of Arise PS4
18. Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand GBA
19. Pokémon LeafGreen GBA
20. Gunstar Future Heroes GBA
21. Bit Generations: Dotstream GBA
22. Yakuza Kiwami 2 PS4
23. Densetsu No Stafy 3 GBA
24. Real Bout Fatal Fury Neo Geo
25. Metal Slug Neo Geo
26. The King of Fighters '97 Neo Geo
27. Spin Master Neo Geo
28. Shock Troopers Neo Geo
29. Astral Chain Switch
30. Metal Slug 2 Neo Geo
31. Puzzle Bobble Neo Geo
32. Power Strike Switch
33. Power Strike II Switch
34. G.G. Aleste Switch
35. G.G. Aleste II Switch
36. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim PS4
37. G.G. Aleste 3 Switch
38. Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams Switch
39. Cotton Reboot! Switch
40. DeathSmiles Switch
41. DeathSmiles 2 Switch
42. Magical Drop II Neo Geo
43. Blazing Star Neo Geo
44. Aero Fighters 2 Neo Geo
45. Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 SFC
46. Cotton 100% SNES
47. Panorama Cotton MD
48. Astro Bot Rescue Mission PS4 PSVR
49. Bound PS4 PSVR
50. Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams Switch
51. Cotton Boomerang Switch
52. Guardian Force Switch
53. Cotton Fantasy: Superlative Night Dreams Switch
54. Ghost Giant PS4 PSVR
55. Pokémon Violet Switch
56. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix Switch eShop *NEW*
57. About An Elf Switch eShop *NEW*
58. Prison Princess Switch eShop *NEW*
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix
Project DIVA is a series I really like, and a few years ago I played through this game on Nintendo Switch. It’s a good time, but not my favourite in the series. Recently though, I discovered some new songs had been added as DLC, so I decided to download them and play through them as well as revisiting other songs in the game. This game more closely follows the arcade game setup, and feels designed for a special controller more than the previous games, but it’s still manageable up to hard difficulty with just the switch joycons I think. I enjoyed some of the new tracks, particularly the ones composed to classic Sega arcade game music – AfterBurner, Power Drift and Quartet. I enjoyed my time revisiting the game, although I still stand by the fact that Diva F and Diva F 2nd on Vita are the best entries in the series, despite having less content.
About An Elf
About An Elf is a very odd game for Nintendo switch which is sort of an adventure game, sort of a visual novel and sort of an RPG, but not really. You play as Princess Dam, an elf princess on a quest to create Elftopia, and her cat apprentice Roland the BraveCat. You do this by pointing and clicking around the environment, reading through slightly surreal dialogue and defeating enemies in battle using contextual cues – blurry images show in a crystal ball relating to different elements and you must choose the correspondiong element to beat the enemy. A dog being washed might represent Water for example, or pigeons on an electric cable represents electricity. They get pretty odd later though and I didn’t really understand how some of them connected at all. The game is a bit limited overall, but it’d very much carrier by it’s aesthetic which is quite unlike any other game I’ve ever played and really helps the game stand out. It’s worth a play, especially if you can get it on discount.
Prison Princess
Prison Princess is a point and click adventure game of the escape room variety, where you must help a pair of busty princesses in short skirts escape from the dungeon of an evil demon. It doesn’t shy away from letting you know it’s intentions early on, with lots of underwear shots, and continues with plenty of compromising poses throughout. Which is actually a shame, because this is a pretty great little escape room game, with logical and well designed puzzles, and a good difficulty curve which expands as you progress – from single room puzzles in the prison cells, through to puzzles which expand across multiple rooms later on. There’s lots of environmental clues to find and a number of endings, and despite some risqué elements throughout, it’s not quite as prevalent with the pandering as I thought it might be. If you’re turned away by this type of content, the game isn’t going to convince you it’s worth playing otherwise, but if you’re fine with the seedier elements of the game, it’s a good escape room game that will last you a couple of hours.
2. The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures Switch
3. Return of the Obra Dinn Switch
4. Policenauts Saturn
5. Pokémon Legends: Arceus Switch
6. Sam & Max Save The World Switch
7. The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve Switch
8. Dragon Force Saturn
9. Astro’s Playroom PS5
10. Kirby & The Forgotten Land Switch
11. Yakuza Kiwami PS4
12. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1+2 PS4
13. Blue Reflection: Second Light Switch
14. Hatsune Miku: Logic Paint S Switch eShop
15. Art Style: Orbient WiiWare
16. Dragon Quest Builders 2 Switch
17. Tales of Arise PS4
18. Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand GBA
19. Pokémon LeafGreen GBA
20. Gunstar Future Heroes GBA
21. Bit Generations: Dotstream GBA
22. Yakuza Kiwami 2 PS4
23. Densetsu No Stafy 3 GBA
24. Real Bout Fatal Fury Neo Geo
25. Metal Slug Neo Geo
26. The King of Fighters '97 Neo Geo
27. Spin Master Neo Geo
28. Shock Troopers Neo Geo
29. Astral Chain Switch
30. Metal Slug 2 Neo Geo
31. Puzzle Bobble Neo Geo
32. Power Strike Switch
33. Power Strike II Switch
34. G.G. Aleste Switch
35. G.G. Aleste II Switch
36. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim PS4
37. G.G. Aleste 3 Switch
38. Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams Switch
39. Cotton Reboot! Switch
40. DeathSmiles Switch
41. DeathSmiles 2 Switch
42. Magical Drop II Neo Geo
43. Blazing Star Neo Geo
44. Aero Fighters 2 Neo Geo
45. Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 SFC
46. Cotton 100% SNES
47. Panorama Cotton MD
48. Astro Bot Rescue Mission PS4 PSVR
49. Bound PS4 PSVR
50. Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams Switch
51. Cotton Boomerang Switch
52. Guardian Force Switch
53. Cotton Fantasy: Superlative Night Dreams Switch
54. Ghost Giant PS4 PSVR
55. Pokémon Violet Switch
56. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix Switch eShop *NEW*
57. About An Elf Switch eShop *NEW*
58. Prison Princess Switch eShop *NEW*
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix
Project DIVA is a series I really like, and a few years ago I played through this game on Nintendo Switch. It’s a good time, but not my favourite in the series. Recently though, I discovered some new songs had been added as DLC, so I decided to download them and play through them as well as revisiting other songs in the game. This game more closely follows the arcade game setup, and feels designed for a special controller more than the previous games, but it’s still manageable up to hard difficulty with just the switch joycons I think. I enjoyed some of the new tracks, particularly the ones composed to classic Sega arcade game music – AfterBurner, Power Drift and Quartet. I enjoyed my time revisiting the game, although I still stand by the fact that Diva F and Diva F 2nd on Vita are the best entries in the series, despite having less content.
About An Elf
About An Elf is a very odd game for Nintendo switch which is sort of an adventure game, sort of a visual novel and sort of an RPG, but not really. You play as Princess Dam, an elf princess on a quest to create Elftopia, and her cat apprentice Roland the BraveCat. You do this by pointing and clicking around the environment, reading through slightly surreal dialogue and defeating enemies in battle using contextual cues – blurry images show in a crystal ball relating to different elements and you must choose the correspondiong element to beat the enemy. A dog being washed might represent Water for example, or pigeons on an electric cable represents electricity. They get pretty odd later though and I didn’t really understand how some of them connected at all. The game is a bit limited overall, but it’d very much carrier by it’s aesthetic which is quite unlike any other game I’ve ever played and really helps the game stand out. It’s worth a play, especially if you can get it on discount.
Prison Princess
Prison Princess is a point and click adventure game of the escape room variety, where you must help a pair of busty princesses in short skirts escape from the dungeon of an evil demon. It doesn’t shy away from letting you know it’s intentions early on, with lots of underwear shots, and continues with plenty of compromising poses throughout. Which is actually a shame, because this is a pretty great little escape room game, with logical and well designed puzzles, and a good difficulty curve which expands as you progress – from single room puzzles in the prison cells, through to puzzles which expand across multiple rooms later on. There’s lots of environmental clues to find and a number of endings, and despite some risqué elements throughout, it’s not quite as prevalent with the pandering as I thought it might be. If you’re turned away by this type of content, the game isn’t going to convince you it’s worth playing otherwise, but if you’re fine with the seedier elements of the game, it’s a good escape room game that will last you a couple of hours.
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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2022
I've been curious about About An Elf, so I'm glad you played it and reviewed it. Definitely sounds like one I'd pick up on a discount.
Patron Saint of Bitch Mode
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prfsnl_gmr
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- Posts: 12292
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2022
ElkinFencer10 wrote:I've been curious about About An Elf, so I'm glad you played it and reviewed it. Definitely sounds like one I'd pick up on a discount.
Same here. I may have to try it now.
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alienjesus
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- Posts: 8835
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
- Location: London, UK.
Re: Games Beaten 2022
Definitely not finishing anything else today so it's time for my yearly stat breakdown:
Total games beaten: 58
Physical vs Digital:
Physical: 51
Digital: 7
Console vs handheld: (counting Switch as handheld because thats how I play it)
Console: 24
Handheld: 34
Games beaten by system:
Switch: 28 (24 physical, 4 digital)
Neo Geo: 10
PlayStation 4: 8 (5 normal, 3 VR)
Game Boy Advance: 5
Sega Saturn: 2
Super Nintendo: 2
PlayStation 5: 1
Mega Drive: 1
WiiWare: 1
Games beaten by generation:
Gen 3 (NES/SMS): 0
Gen 4 (SNES/MD/GB/GG/NG): 13
Gen 5 (PS1/Saturn/N64/GBC/NGPC): 2
Gen 6 (GC/XBox/PS2/GBA): 5
Gen 7 (360/PS3/Wii/DS/PSP): 1
Gen 8 (Wii U/Switch/PS4/Vita): 36
Gen 9: (PS5): 1
Games by genre (roughly):
Shmup: 16
Adventure: 8
Action Adventure: 7
Puzzle: 5
Run n Gun: 5
RPG: 4
Fighting: 2
Strategy: 2
Beat em Up: 1
Racing: 1
Rail Shooter: 1
Rhythm: 1
Sports: 1
No big surprises here, I mostly played on modern consoles this year. I feel like the console/handheld split doesnt tell the full story though as I beat a lot of short handheld games and quite a few very long console titles this year - definitely the first year I probably did more console gaming than portable in a long long time!
Total games beaten: 58
Physical vs Digital:
Physical: 51
Digital: 7
Console vs handheld: (counting Switch as handheld because thats how I play it)
Console: 24
Handheld: 34
Games beaten by system:
Switch: 28 (24 physical, 4 digital)
Neo Geo: 10
PlayStation 4: 8 (5 normal, 3 VR)
Game Boy Advance: 5
Sega Saturn: 2
Super Nintendo: 2
PlayStation 5: 1
Mega Drive: 1
WiiWare: 1
Games beaten by generation:
Gen 3 (NES/SMS): 0
Gen 4 (SNES/MD/GB/GG/NG): 13
Gen 5 (PS1/Saturn/N64/GBC/NGPC): 2
Gen 6 (GC/XBox/PS2/GBA): 5
Gen 7 (360/PS3/Wii/DS/PSP): 1
Gen 8 (Wii U/Switch/PS4/Vita): 36
Gen 9: (PS5): 1
Games by genre (roughly):
Shmup: 16
Adventure: 8
Action Adventure: 7
Puzzle: 5
Run n Gun: 5
RPG: 4
Fighting: 2
Strategy: 2
Beat em Up: 1
Racing: 1
Rail Shooter: 1
Rhythm: 1
Sports: 1
No big surprises here, I mostly played on modern consoles this year. I feel like the console/handheld split doesnt tell the full story though as I beat a lot of short handheld games and quite a few very long console titles this year - definitely the first year I probably did more console gaming than portable in a long long time!
Last edited by alienjesus on Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ElkinFencer10
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- Posts: 8727
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Re: Games Beaten 2022
I'll do a stat breakdown, too.
Total games beaten: 74
Physical vs Digital:
Physical: 38
Digital: 36
Console vs handheld (I'm counting Switch as console):
Console: 52
Handheld: 12
Games beaten by system:
PC: 2
2600: 1
PS4: 6
PS5: 2
Vita: 1
GameCube: 1
Wii U: 2
Switch: 18
3DS: 5
Game Boy: 2
Game Boy Color: 2
Xbox: 4
Xbox 360: 6
Xbox One: 11
Xbox Series X: 6
Dreamcast: 3
NeoGeo Pocket Color: 2
Games beaten by generation:
Gen 2 (2600/5200): 1
Gen 3 (NES/SMS): 0
Gen 4 (SNES/MD/GB/GG/NG): 2
Gen 5 (PS1/Saturn/N64/GBC/NGPC): 4
Gen 6 (GC/XBox/PS2/DC/GBA): 8
Gen 7 (360/PS3/Wii/DS/PSP): 6
Gen 8 (Wii U/Switch/PS4/XB1/Vita/3DS): 44
Gen 9: (PS5/Series X): 8
Total games beaten: 74
Physical vs Digital:
Physical: 38
Digital: 36
Console vs handheld (I'm counting Switch as console):
Console: 52
Handheld: 12
Games beaten by system:
PC: 2
2600: 1
PS4: 6
PS5: 2
Vita: 1
GameCube: 1
Wii U: 2
Switch: 18
3DS: 5
Game Boy: 2
Game Boy Color: 2
Xbox: 4
Xbox 360: 6
Xbox One: 11
Xbox Series X: 6
Dreamcast: 3
NeoGeo Pocket Color: 2
Games beaten by generation:
Gen 2 (2600/5200): 1
Gen 3 (NES/SMS): 0
Gen 4 (SNES/MD/GB/GG/NG): 2
Gen 5 (PS1/Saturn/N64/GBC/NGPC): 4
Gen 6 (GC/XBox/PS2/DC/GBA): 8
Gen 7 (360/PS3/Wii/DS/PSP): 6
Gen 8 (Wii U/Switch/PS4/XB1/Vita/3DS): 44
Gen 9: (PS5/Series X): 8
Patron Saint of Bitch Mode
Re: Games Beaten 2022
Yearly review:
* Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion for Switch.
* Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure for PS4 on Normal as Salvador.
* Cotton 2 for Switch on Arcade Mode, Easy Difficulty and with Longest Vitality.
* Portal for Switch.
* Sonic Mania Plus for Switch on Encore Mode, didn't get all Chaos Emeralds.
* Bloodwash for Switch.
* Infamous: First Light for PS4.
* Picross S for Switch.
* Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion for Switch.
* Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure for PS4 on Normal as Salvador.
* Cotton 2 for Switch on Arcade Mode, Easy Difficulty and with Longest Vitality.
* Portal for Switch.
* Sonic Mania Plus for Switch on Encore Mode, didn't get all Chaos Emeralds.
* Bloodwash for Switch.
* Infamous: First Light for PS4.
* Picross S for Switch.
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alienjesus
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- Posts: 8835
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
- Location: London, UK.
Re: Games Beaten 2022
AJ's Top 10 Games of 2022:
Honourable Mentions: Yakuza Kiwami, Metroid Dread, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 HD, Return of the Obra Dinn, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, Real Bout Fatal Fury
10. Blue Reflection: Second Light
Blue Reflection is a pretty simple RPG by Gust but one which I felt had a lot of charm. It’s quite a pretty game and I grew attached to the characters throughout. It was let down a little by being way too easy, but I enjoyed my time with it for sure.
9. Pokemon Legends Arceus
The first step this year to reinventing the Pokémon formula, Pokemon Legends was a breath of fresh air. I actually quite like the art style which is far more attractive than the later Scarlet & Violet, and the new capture mechanics are great. I do prefer the classic Pokemon battle system, but I really enjoyed exploring the world of Hisui.
8. Tales of Arise
One of my most played games of my teenage years was Tales of Symphonia, but I haven’t played another game in the series since then, until I played through Arise this year. And trope-filled and predictable as the story was, I had a blast. I loved the characters, the combat was fun throughout and it’s rekindled my interest in the series for sure.
7. Yakuza Kiwami 2
Last year I chose Yakuza Zero as my game of the year, and this year I followed up by playing the next 2 games in the series on PS4. Although it has less side content than Zero or Kiwami, Kiwami 2 felt like a really refined and polished entry in the series and the newer engine looks fantastic. The story was really great too, and Goda was a charismatic and interesting villain for the series. Looking forward to playing the next entries in the series soon.
6. Astro’s Playroom
I loved Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PSVR, and I completed it earlier this year too, getting the platinum trophy. This list is made up entirely of games which are new-to-me though, and I was delighted to get the chance to play some more Astro Bot when I picked up my PS5 earlier this year. It’s only a few hours long, but it’s still probably the best exclusive on PS5 to date – and you get it for free!
5. Kirby & The Forgotten Land
I’ve been a fan of the Kirby series for some time, but it’s never been in the upper echelons of my favourite franchises. That said, the latest entry in the series really clicked for me and I adored playing through it. It converts the Kirby formula into 3D in an almost flawless way that makes you wonder what took them so long. The only downside is it’s just a bit too short – I wanted more.
4. Pokémon Violet
Although Legends Arceus was more innovative, prettier and reinvented the formula more, I still prefer the classic Pokemon formula, whether through nostalgia or otherwise. So despite the well documented issues with the latest Pokémon games, I found them addictive and put easily 60-70 hours into beating the game and completing the pokedex. I think I’d want to see some more improvements and ideas in future to have the new formula not go stale, but I enjoyed what I’ve played of this so far.
3. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
13 Sentinels is an odd mix of an easy-but-fun strategy game and a super interesting and compelling visual novel adventure game told with Vanillaware’s beautiful art, and I loved both elements of the game. I’ve heard people say the strategy stuff bored them, but I thought it was super fun, if a little lacking in challenge. The story was full of twists and turns and always made me want to do just one more bit. If you haven’t played this yet, you should.
2. Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Fire Emblem Thracia 776 is the final entry in the series on Super Famicom, and is regarded as one of the hardest in the series. I thoroughly disagree with that, but I would definitely rate it as one of my favourite entries in the series I’ve played, thanks to the unique mechanics like fatigue and capturing systems that make you play this Fire Emblem game unlike any other in the series. It’s a bit easy after the halfway point, and it has a few too many ‘gotcha’ moments to be considered perfect, but damn if I didn’t enjoy myself all the way through. It was a tough choice between this and my number 1 game for top spot this year.
1. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
I do love me some Ace Attorney games, and so finally getting these 2 previously unlocalised 3DS games as one switch compilation was a major treat. And then finding that they are easily contenders for the best entries in the entire franchise was icing on the cake. The games tell one continuous story and feel like they were always meant to be one long (60 hours or so!) game, and so the Switch version is possibly the best way to play. Absolutely must play if you like Ace Attorney, or just great Adventure titles.
Honourable Mentions: Yakuza Kiwami, Metroid Dread, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 HD, Return of the Obra Dinn, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, Real Bout Fatal Fury
10. Blue Reflection: Second Light
Blue Reflection is a pretty simple RPG by Gust but one which I felt had a lot of charm. It’s quite a pretty game and I grew attached to the characters throughout. It was let down a little by being way too easy, but I enjoyed my time with it for sure.
9. Pokemon Legends Arceus
The first step this year to reinventing the Pokémon formula, Pokemon Legends was a breath of fresh air. I actually quite like the art style which is far more attractive than the later Scarlet & Violet, and the new capture mechanics are great. I do prefer the classic Pokemon battle system, but I really enjoyed exploring the world of Hisui.
8. Tales of Arise
One of my most played games of my teenage years was Tales of Symphonia, but I haven’t played another game in the series since then, until I played through Arise this year. And trope-filled and predictable as the story was, I had a blast. I loved the characters, the combat was fun throughout and it’s rekindled my interest in the series for sure.
7. Yakuza Kiwami 2
Last year I chose Yakuza Zero as my game of the year, and this year I followed up by playing the next 2 games in the series on PS4. Although it has less side content than Zero or Kiwami, Kiwami 2 felt like a really refined and polished entry in the series and the newer engine looks fantastic. The story was really great too, and Goda was a charismatic and interesting villain for the series. Looking forward to playing the next entries in the series soon.
6. Astro’s Playroom
I loved Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PSVR, and I completed it earlier this year too, getting the platinum trophy. This list is made up entirely of games which are new-to-me though, and I was delighted to get the chance to play some more Astro Bot when I picked up my PS5 earlier this year. It’s only a few hours long, but it’s still probably the best exclusive on PS5 to date – and you get it for free!
5. Kirby & The Forgotten Land
I’ve been a fan of the Kirby series for some time, but it’s never been in the upper echelons of my favourite franchises. That said, the latest entry in the series really clicked for me and I adored playing through it. It converts the Kirby formula into 3D in an almost flawless way that makes you wonder what took them so long. The only downside is it’s just a bit too short – I wanted more.
4. Pokémon Violet
Although Legends Arceus was more innovative, prettier and reinvented the formula more, I still prefer the classic Pokemon formula, whether through nostalgia or otherwise. So despite the well documented issues with the latest Pokémon games, I found them addictive and put easily 60-70 hours into beating the game and completing the pokedex. I think I’d want to see some more improvements and ideas in future to have the new formula not go stale, but I enjoyed what I’ve played of this so far.
3. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
13 Sentinels is an odd mix of an easy-but-fun strategy game and a super interesting and compelling visual novel adventure game told with Vanillaware’s beautiful art, and I loved both elements of the game. I’ve heard people say the strategy stuff bored them, but I thought it was super fun, if a little lacking in challenge. The story was full of twists and turns and always made me want to do just one more bit. If you haven’t played this yet, you should.
2. Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Fire Emblem Thracia 776 is the final entry in the series on Super Famicom, and is regarded as one of the hardest in the series. I thoroughly disagree with that, but I would definitely rate it as one of my favourite entries in the series I’ve played, thanks to the unique mechanics like fatigue and capturing systems that make you play this Fire Emblem game unlike any other in the series. It’s a bit easy after the halfway point, and it has a few too many ‘gotcha’ moments to be considered perfect, but damn if I didn’t enjoy myself all the way through. It was a tough choice between this and my number 1 game for top spot this year.
1. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
I do love me some Ace Attorney games, and so finally getting these 2 previously unlocalised 3DS games as one switch compilation was a major treat. And then finding that they are easily contenders for the best entries in the entire franchise was icing on the cake. The games tell one continuous story and feel like they were always meant to be one long (60 hours or so!) game, and so the Switch version is possibly the best way to play. Absolutely must play if you like Ace Attorney, or just great Adventure titles.