Games Beaten 2023
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prfsnl_gmr
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- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2023
I’m sure it has at least one, single redeeming aspect, Elkin.
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2023
Markies' Games Beat List Of 2023!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***
***1. Dragon Valor (PS1)***
2. Breath Of Fire (GBA)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (NS)
4. World Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse And Donald Duck (GEN)
5. XIII (GCN)
6. NES Remix Pack (WiiU)
7. Dr. Mario (GBC)
***8. Bully (PS2)***
9. Dragon's Crown (PS3)
10. Bangai-O (SDC)
11. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
12. Destruction Derby (PS1)
13. X-Men Legends II: Rise Of Apocalypse (XBOX)
14. Vice: Project Doom (NES)
***15. Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (PS2)***
16. Terranigma (SNES)
***17. Super Street Fighter II (GEN)***
18. Guitar Hero II (PS2)
19. Kirby's Dream Land (GBC)
***20. Gunbird 2 (SDC)***
***21. Stella Deus: The Gate Of Eternity (PS2)***
22. I Am Setsuna (NS)
23. DuckTales: Remastered (WiiU)
I beat DuckTales: Remastered on the Nintendo WiiU this afternoon!
Like most people, I absolutely loved DuckTales on the NES as a child. I had many fond memories playing the game when I was younger and I even had fonder memories purchasing the game again and playing the game again as an Adult. In fact, when I got older, I appreciated and enjoyed the game even more than I ever did as a kid. I also remember the Remaster coming out and the jealousy I had of not being able to play it. Thankfully, I caught up to that old feeling and I purchased a WiiU that was able to play DuckTales: Remastered. So, when walking around a local game store earlier this year, I knew I had to have it and I couldn't wait much longer to finally play it.
With Hollywood and slowly the Gaming Industry being creatively bankrupt and just becoming an endless parade of rehashing old properties into something new and terrible, it really is rare to see somebody remake an old property correctly. DuckTales: Remaster is the perfect update and nailed perfectly that you couldn't ask for a better game. They took everything great about the old game and made it better along with fixing any small issues that they found along the way. The game play is absolutely perfect and everything you would want in a game. The animation and graphics are some of the best I have ever seen in my life. It really feels like you are playing a beautiful hand painted animated show from your childhood. The voice acting, which can be a bit intrusive at times, is spot on and each actor nails their character perfectly. And the music is updated, but still has that classic feel and keeps the same melody that you remembered so fondly. Add in some extra features and some unlockables and you have the total package for anybody that would want to revisit their youth. The game never expands too much or makes the game too tedious to play. Everything just works so perfectly that you can't help but appreciate the care that went into the game.
Overall, I absolutely loved every moment that I played DuckTales: Remastered. I can say for certain that it will land on my favorite game I played in 2023. It took everything that I loved about the original, added a new spin and made a brand new game. In fact, I almost want to replay the original DuckTales on my NES as well. This is an absolute must play and a perfect example of how to redo an old property. One of the best experiences I have had in quite a while!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***
***1. Dragon Valor (PS1)***
2. Breath Of Fire (GBA)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (NS)
4. World Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse And Donald Duck (GEN)
5. XIII (GCN)
6. NES Remix Pack (WiiU)
7. Dr. Mario (GBC)
***8. Bully (PS2)***
9. Dragon's Crown (PS3)
10. Bangai-O (SDC)
11. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
12. Destruction Derby (PS1)
13. X-Men Legends II: Rise Of Apocalypse (XBOX)
14. Vice: Project Doom (NES)
***15. Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (PS2)***
16. Terranigma (SNES)
***17. Super Street Fighter II (GEN)***
18. Guitar Hero II (PS2)
19. Kirby's Dream Land (GBC)
***20. Gunbird 2 (SDC)***
***21. Stella Deus: The Gate Of Eternity (PS2)***
22. I Am Setsuna (NS)
23. DuckTales: Remastered (WiiU)
I beat DuckTales: Remastered on the Nintendo WiiU this afternoon!
Like most people, I absolutely loved DuckTales on the NES as a child. I had many fond memories playing the game when I was younger and I even had fonder memories purchasing the game again and playing the game again as an Adult. In fact, when I got older, I appreciated and enjoyed the game even more than I ever did as a kid. I also remember the Remaster coming out and the jealousy I had of not being able to play it. Thankfully, I caught up to that old feeling and I purchased a WiiU that was able to play DuckTales: Remastered. So, when walking around a local game store earlier this year, I knew I had to have it and I couldn't wait much longer to finally play it.
With Hollywood and slowly the Gaming Industry being creatively bankrupt and just becoming an endless parade of rehashing old properties into something new and terrible, it really is rare to see somebody remake an old property correctly. DuckTales: Remaster is the perfect update and nailed perfectly that you couldn't ask for a better game. They took everything great about the old game and made it better along with fixing any small issues that they found along the way. The game play is absolutely perfect and everything you would want in a game. The animation and graphics are some of the best I have ever seen in my life. It really feels like you are playing a beautiful hand painted animated show from your childhood. The voice acting, which can be a bit intrusive at times, is spot on and each actor nails their character perfectly. And the music is updated, but still has that classic feel and keeps the same melody that you remembered so fondly. Add in some extra features and some unlockables and you have the total package for anybody that would want to revisit their youth. The game never expands too much or makes the game too tedious to play. Everything just works so perfectly that you can't help but appreciate the care that went into the game.
Overall, I absolutely loved every moment that I played DuckTales: Remastered. I can say for certain that it will land on my favorite game I played in 2023. It took everything that I loved about the original, added a new spin and made a brand new game. In fact, I almost want to replay the original DuckTales on my NES as well. This is an absolute must play and a perfect example of how to redo an old property. One of the best experiences I have had in quite a while!
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RobertAugustdeMeijer
- 24-bit
- Posts: 199
- Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:15 am
Re: Games Beaten 2023
ElkinFencer10 wrote:Games Beaten in 2023 - 23
23. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch - June 10
.
Congratulations! So the game tells you how much % you beat it? Ouch. I'm 130 hours in and I think I'm half way through, lol. Honestly, I'm getting a bit tired of doing almost every different thing for the 15th time. How did you feel by the end?
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ElkinFencer10
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 8755
- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
- Location: Jonesville, North Carolina
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2023
RobertAugustdeMeijer wrote:ElkinFencer10 wrote:Games Beaten in 2023 - 23
23. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch - June 10
.
Congratulations! So the game tells you how much % you beat it? Ouch. I'm 130 hours in and I think I'm half way through, lol. Honestly, I'm getting a bit tired of doing almost every different thing for the 15th time. How did you feel by the end?
Extremely satisfied but quite ready to be done and move on.
Games Beaten in 2023 - 27
* denotes a replay
January (5 Games Beaten)
February (7 Games Beaten)
March (7 Games Beaten)
April (3 Games Beaten)
May (0 Games Beaten)
June (5 Game Beaten)
26. Halo Infinite - Series X - June 12*
27. Star Trek: Resurgence - Series X - June 14
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, I yearn for the days 20+ years ago when Star Trek games were plentiful and amazing. We've seen a renaissance of Star Trek shows in recent years, but the games haven't caught up yet. Hopefully, that's changing, though, as Star Trek: Resurgence's May 2023 release brought a heavily cinematic and story-driven experience that FEELS like you're playing a season of Star Trek.
The story revolves around the ship's new first officer, Commander Jera Rydek, and engineer Petty Officer Carter Diaz board the Centaur class science vessel USS Resolute. Rydek struggles to slip into her new role after the unpopular decision to bring in a transfer as the new first officer after the tragic death of the previous first officer instead of promoting from within the crew. Meanwhile, Diaz is just content to be a dipshit grease monkey and fix the engines while his Vulcan department head glowers at him.
Taking place after Star Trek: Nemesis - specifically after William Riker becomes captain of the USS Titan but before the Hobus supernova - the story revolves around a diplomatic mission to escort a Federation ambassador to negotiations where they will serve as a neutral intermediary between the Hotari, a relatively primitive spacefaring race, and the Alydians, a race roughly on par with the Federation that has kept the Hotari in imperial bondage for centuries.
If you've ever played a TellTale game like Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, or Game of Thrones, then you pretty much know what you're getting here as Dramatic Labs has created a game that plays just like that. The focus is all narrative with some action thrown in for good measure. As is the case with TellTale's games, character choice is paramount, and your choices will have a direct impact on how the story plays out. Sometimes these choices are fairly minor, and sometimes they're major turning points; a lot of the time, you don't know what impact your choices will have until after you've made it. It's not as polished as TellTale's games with some visual glitches, one instance of a bug that forced me to reload my game, and a couple of bugged achievements; but for what, from what I can tell, is the studio's first release, it's pretty darn good. It makes sense, also, that it's so similar to TellTale's games as the studio is composed of former TellTale talent.
The game's flaws are entirely technical as the writing and acting are simply superb, and fortunately, those flaws are minor. Visually, the game looks last gen and feels like a backward compatibility game even running natively on Series X and PS5, but that's really not that important; Star Trek has always been about the stories and character choices, not the flashiest and most state-of-the-art visual effects. The story is broken in three acts each of which is composed of a number of chapters that have title displays exactly like you'd see in an episode of The Next Generation, Voyager, or Deep Space Nine. That helps more than you'd think to set the tone and feel as essentially a playable season of Star Trek.
Star Trek: Resurgence is not a perfect game, and those wanting an action packed space adventure will be disappointed, but for those wanting a genuine Star Trek experience, then look no further. This honestly feels more authentically Star Trek in my opinion than the legendary games of twenty years past like Elite Force and Bridge Commander. The element of choice really makes you feel like you're an active participant in the events rather than an outside observer. That said, the lack of checkpoints during chapters is irksome, and for a native Series X game rather than Xbox One game played via backwards compatibility, I would have hoped for some more impressive visuals. Still, the game looks completely fine, and outside of a few hiccups, runs well. I hope that Paramount allows Design Labs to keep the license because this is exactly the type of Star Trek game I want to see more of, and I'm sure that with future opportunities to make games, the team will only improve and deliver even better narrative experiences.
Patron Saint of Bitch Mode
Re: Games Beaten 2023
Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
1. Void Destroyer - PC
2. Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights - Switch
3. Raging Blasters - Switch
4. Citizen Sleeper - Switch
5. GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon
6. Hands of Necromancy - PC
7. Project Downfall - PC
8. Chasm: The Rift - PC
9. Cultic - PC
10. Kirby Super Star - SNES
11. Kirby's Dream Land 2 - GB
12. Kirby's Dream Land 3 - SNES
13. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - N64
14. Fire Emblem Engage - Switch
15. Mechwarrior 5: Rise of Rasalhague - PC
16. Kirby's Epic Yarn - Wii
17. Kirby's Return to Dreamland - Wii
18. Mega Man 7 - SNES
19. Mega Man 8 - PS1
20. Conquest: Frontier Wars - PC
21. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - Switch
22. Octopath Traveler II - Switch
23. Last Call BBS - PC
24. The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure - Switch
25. Dread Templar - PC
26. The Great War: Western Front - PC
27. GrimGrimoire OnceMore - PS5
28. Haegemonia: Legions of Iron - PC
29. Everspace 2 - PC
30. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - PC
31. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch
32. Warhammer 40000: Boltgun - PC
33. Diablo 4 - PC
34. System Shock (2023) - PC
35. Huntdown - Switch
36. HROT - PC
HROT is what you get when you cross Quake with Soviet-era Czechoslovakia. The game takes some surrealism cues from Metro and STALKER and by the end it's not clear just how much actually occurred. But that's ok, because it's got a solid gameplay loop and fun level design that telegraphs sections that are about to be mean so you can prepare. And you'll come out having learned something about another culture.
To call the story threadbare is an understatement. Until the very end there's no actual indication as to why you're killing a bunch of weird things, other than the initial "there was an industrial disaster in 1986 (read: Chernobyl) and you must help save Prague". Initially things seem straightforward; there's various humans in gas masks and some hostile dogs and rats. Then some guys in full hazmat suits with wrong proportions show up. Then floating Lenin heads show up and you realize that things are going to get weird. And that's when the gas mask wearing horse that jumps two stories decides to ruin your day.
The game features your standard array of FPS weapons; pistols, shotguns, sub machine guns, rocket launchers, and some stuff you'll use less. The shotgun will definitely be your standard, both due to the plentiful ammo and the good damage. The SMG is surprisingly disappointing; it makes almost no noise and has too much spread, not to mention weak per bullet damage (though it does let you stunlock). You have a quick melee kick that imparts force; this lets you kick back grenades and boot enemies off of high places.
The game is your standard 90s keyfest, with intricate levels that will have you searching for the way forward. Sometimes switches need to be flipped, other times you need to break through loose boards in the floor, and it all leads to a final goal of pushing an end level button a la Duke Nukem 3D. There are two things you'll notice. The first is the amount of visual components to really sell the "set in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia" setting. All the text can be translated by hitting use on it, so you have a mix of regular signs and Soviet propaganda. The second is how fucking brown the game is. Zero Punctuation had a joke about Quake asking your favorite level, "the brown castle, the green castle, or the brown ruins". This game makes that description seem colorful. The walls are brown, the sky is brown, the water is brown. The trees are all dead, so they're brown. It sends a message of bleakness around the era being depicted.
All in all, HROT is a really fun boomer shooter that intentionally comes off like a Soviet clone of Quake that takes the heroic space marine trying to save the world and replaces it with the bitterness of the Warsaw Pact. And the final boss is Vladimir Putin on a Pterodactyl.
1. Void Destroyer - PC
2. Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights - Switch
3. Raging Blasters - Switch
4. Citizen Sleeper - Switch
5. GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon
6. Hands of Necromancy - PC
7. Project Downfall - PC
8. Chasm: The Rift - PC
9. Cultic - PC
10. Kirby Super Star - SNES
11. Kirby's Dream Land 2 - GB
12. Kirby's Dream Land 3 - SNES
13. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - N64
14. Fire Emblem Engage - Switch
15. Mechwarrior 5: Rise of Rasalhague - PC
16. Kirby's Epic Yarn - Wii
17. Kirby's Return to Dreamland - Wii
18. Mega Man 7 - SNES
19. Mega Man 8 - PS1
20. Conquest: Frontier Wars - PC
21. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - Switch
22. Octopath Traveler II - Switch
23. Last Call BBS - PC
24. The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure - Switch
25. Dread Templar - PC
26. The Great War: Western Front - PC
27. GrimGrimoire OnceMore - PS5
28. Haegemonia: Legions of Iron - PC
29. Everspace 2 - PC
30. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - PC
31. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch
32. Warhammer 40000: Boltgun - PC
33. Diablo 4 - PC
34. System Shock (2023) - PC
35. Huntdown - Switch
36. HROT - PC
HROT is what you get when you cross Quake with Soviet-era Czechoslovakia. The game takes some surrealism cues from Metro and STALKER and by the end it's not clear just how much actually occurred. But that's ok, because it's got a solid gameplay loop and fun level design that telegraphs sections that are about to be mean so you can prepare. And you'll come out having learned something about another culture.
To call the story threadbare is an understatement. Until the very end there's no actual indication as to why you're killing a bunch of weird things, other than the initial "there was an industrial disaster in 1986 (read: Chernobyl) and you must help save Prague". Initially things seem straightforward; there's various humans in gas masks and some hostile dogs and rats. Then some guys in full hazmat suits with wrong proportions show up. Then floating Lenin heads show up and you realize that things are going to get weird. And that's when the gas mask wearing horse that jumps two stories decides to ruin your day.
The game features your standard array of FPS weapons; pistols, shotguns, sub machine guns, rocket launchers, and some stuff you'll use less. The shotgun will definitely be your standard, both due to the plentiful ammo and the good damage. The SMG is surprisingly disappointing; it makes almost no noise and has too much spread, not to mention weak per bullet damage (though it does let you stunlock). You have a quick melee kick that imparts force; this lets you kick back grenades and boot enemies off of high places.
The game is your standard 90s keyfest, with intricate levels that will have you searching for the way forward. Sometimes switches need to be flipped, other times you need to break through loose boards in the floor, and it all leads to a final goal of pushing an end level button a la Duke Nukem 3D. There are two things you'll notice. The first is the amount of visual components to really sell the "set in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia" setting. All the text can be translated by hitting use on it, so you have a mix of regular signs and Soviet propaganda. The second is how fucking brown the game is. Zero Punctuation had a joke about Quake asking your favorite level, "the brown castle, the green castle, or the brown ruins". This game makes that description seem colorful. The walls are brown, the sky is brown, the water is brown. The trees are all dead, so they're brown. It sends a message of bleakness around the era being depicted.
All in all, HROT is a really fun boomer shooter that intentionally comes off like a Soviet clone of Quake that takes the heroic space marine trying to save the world and replaces it with the bitterness of the Warsaw Pact. And the final boss is Vladimir Putin on a Pterodactyl.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
-
ElkinFencer10
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- Posts: 8755
- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
- Location: Jonesville, North Carolina
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2023
Games Beaten in 2023 - 28
* denotes a replay
January (5 Games Beaten)
February (7 Games Beaten)
March (7 Games Beaten)
April (3 Games Beaten)
May (0 Games Beaten)
June (6 Game Beaten)
28. Redfall - Series X - June 18
Redfall is a game that that had a lot of hype to live up and, according to critical reviews, seems to lived up to almost none of it. Arkane has an impressive resume, so a lot of people had high expectations for this game, but there's one key factor people seem to forget that makes these expectations unreasonable in my opinion - Arkane's games are single player whereas Redfall is a (mostly) open world multiplayer game. Yeah, you can play it solo as I did, but it's definitely a multiplayer game. That's a big difference; a studio specializing in single player experiences is not going to hit it out of the park on their first big multiplayer experience, especially with the turnover and personnel issues that Arkane had with this game.
The premise of the game is that you're trapped in the island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, a town that suddenly finds itself infested with vampires and cults worshipping them. You have a choice of playable characters each of whom have their own unique traits and skills. I chose to play as Devinder, a cryptozoologist with a gloriously British accent and a badass ultimate skill that sets up a tridirectional pulsating UV light that petrifies any vampires in range. As the vampires have somehow frozen (in time, not in ice) the ocean into massive walls of water preventing escape, the player(s) have no choice but to go on the offensive and hunt down the vampires if there's any hope of escape.
The game is divided into two halves with four "vampire gods" that have to be slain numerous sub-bosses, some optional and some mandatory. You start the game in Redfall Commons where your main goal is to slay The Hollow Man. In addition to the vampires serving as The Hollow Man's thralls, you'll have to deal with his army cultists and the Bellwether mercenary company, as well. None of the human enemies are particularly difficult to kill, but they WILL swarm and obliterate you if you give them the chance. The sniper rifle was my best friend. Humans die as they would in any game, but vampires are a little trickier. You can kill them either with fire, by meleeing them while they're petrified, by shooting them with a gun that has a special perk to let you kill them (I only found one in my playthrough), or by draining their HP and then meleeing them with a weapon that has a stake attached (that would be either your shotgun or assault rifle). Anyway, once you kill The Hollow Man, you're going to be thinking "That was way too short. That can't possibly be the whole game." And it's not; you then make your way to Burial Point, the second half of the town of Redfall at which point the game inexplicably locks you out of Redfall Commons forever. This is a bizarre design choice that serves no purpose that I can see and only limits player freedom. Needless to say, it irked me.
In Burial Point, you spent your missions hunting down two vampire gods - Bloody Tom and Miss Whisper. Once they're dead, you take on the game's final vampire god boss, The Black Sun. As you're doing all of this, there are numerous side quests, some "campaign side quests" that you take on at the mission table, and some miscellaneous side quests that you either pick up from the world or by talking to a certain NPC. You also have various safe houses across the world that you can secure. These safe houses have three steps to complete. First, you find the actual safe house and turn on the generator powering the UV lamps that protect it. Sometimes this involves just interacting with the generator, but sometimes the generator key is missing, so you have track down the key before you can turn on the generator and activate the safe house. Then you have to complete a random side quest. After that, you have to kill the vampire underboss of the neighborhood. Once all of that is done, you have secured the neighborhood (a misleading turn of phrase as there will still be vampires, mercenaries, and cultists skulking about).
Visually, the game looks very Arkane. I don't know a better way to describe it than that. It's definitely not a photorealistic art style but it's not cell shaded, either. Someone more educated in digital art design can probably give you a better description than that, but whatever it's called, I quite liked the art direction. Vampires looked cool, the human characters looked nice, and the world itself was extremely well designed. As for performance, I've heard from friends who tried the game that some of them hit a lot of bugs, but I think they just had bad luck; even with the day one version, my main bug encounters were weird physics glitches - objects floating an inch off the ground, dead enemies ragdolling a bit too much, etc. There was one fast travel point in Burial Point that would spawn me under the world where I'd fall to my death or in the air in front of a cliff instead of on it where I'd fall and take damage about one out of every three times, but that's it. I had one crash in nearly 30 hours of gameplay which I don't consider to be bad. The only performance issue I had was slow down. The game usually runs at 30 fps (they say a 60 fps performance mode is coming later; no clue why that couldn't have been implemented at launch), but I had numerous frame rate drops including some that briefly dropped to what looked to be sub-20 fps. These were all during busy fights, but still, I was playing on a Series X, and this game isn't exactly a showcase of graphical fidelity.
Overall, Redfall is okay. It's a fun little vampire romp, but the story is pretty standard and uninspired, the gameplay gets repetitive, and there are only a few truly unique places in an otherwise homogenous world to explore. It would probably be more fun with friends, but if you've got three other friends ready to play a co-op Xbox game, you're better off going with Halo Infinite or Back 4 Blood. There's just nothing that makes Redfall really stand out aside from having vampires instead of zombies, and that's not enough to make up for a bland world, mediocre story, and inexcusable performance drops.
* denotes a replay
January (5 Games Beaten)
February (7 Games Beaten)
March (7 Games Beaten)
April (3 Games Beaten)
May (0 Games Beaten)
June (6 Game Beaten)
28. Redfall - Series X - June 18
Redfall is a game that that had a lot of hype to live up and, according to critical reviews, seems to lived up to almost none of it. Arkane has an impressive resume, so a lot of people had high expectations for this game, but there's one key factor people seem to forget that makes these expectations unreasonable in my opinion - Arkane's games are single player whereas Redfall is a (mostly) open world multiplayer game. Yeah, you can play it solo as I did, but it's definitely a multiplayer game. That's a big difference; a studio specializing in single player experiences is not going to hit it out of the park on their first big multiplayer experience, especially with the turnover and personnel issues that Arkane had with this game.
The premise of the game is that you're trapped in the island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, a town that suddenly finds itself infested with vampires and cults worshipping them. You have a choice of playable characters each of whom have their own unique traits and skills. I chose to play as Devinder, a cryptozoologist with a gloriously British accent and a badass ultimate skill that sets up a tridirectional pulsating UV light that petrifies any vampires in range. As the vampires have somehow frozen (in time, not in ice) the ocean into massive walls of water preventing escape, the player(s) have no choice but to go on the offensive and hunt down the vampires if there's any hope of escape.
The game is divided into two halves with four "vampire gods" that have to be slain numerous sub-bosses, some optional and some mandatory. You start the game in Redfall Commons where your main goal is to slay The Hollow Man. In addition to the vampires serving as The Hollow Man's thralls, you'll have to deal with his army cultists and the Bellwether mercenary company, as well. None of the human enemies are particularly difficult to kill, but they WILL swarm and obliterate you if you give them the chance. The sniper rifle was my best friend. Humans die as they would in any game, but vampires are a little trickier. You can kill them either with fire, by meleeing them while they're petrified, by shooting them with a gun that has a special perk to let you kill them (I only found one in my playthrough), or by draining their HP and then meleeing them with a weapon that has a stake attached (that would be either your shotgun or assault rifle). Anyway, once you kill The Hollow Man, you're going to be thinking "That was way too short. That can't possibly be the whole game." And it's not; you then make your way to Burial Point, the second half of the town of Redfall at which point the game inexplicably locks you out of Redfall Commons forever. This is a bizarre design choice that serves no purpose that I can see and only limits player freedom. Needless to say, it irked me.
In Burial Point, you spent your missions hunting down two vampire gods - Bloody Tom and Miss Whisper. Once they're dead, you take on the game's final vampire god boss, The Black Sun. As you're doing all of this, there are numerous side quests, some "campaign side quests" that you take on at the mission table, and some miscellaneous side quests that you either pick up from the world or by talking to a certain NPC. You also have various safe houses across the world that you can secure. These safe houses have three steps to complete. First, you find the actual safe house and turn on the generator powering the UV lamps that protect it. Sometimes this involves just interacting with the generator, but sometimes the generator key is missing, so you have track down the key before you can turn on the generator and activate the safe house. Then you have to complete a random side quest. After that, you have to kill the vampire underboss of the neighborhood. Once all of that is done, you have secured the neighborhood (a misleading turn of phrase as there will still be vampires, mercenaries, and cultists skulking about).
Visually, the game looks very Arkane. I don't know a better way to describe it than that. It's definitely not a photorealistic art style but it's not cell shaded, either. Someone more educated in digital art design can probably give you a better description than that, but whatever it's called, I quite liked the art direction. Vampires looked cool, the human characters looked nice, and the world itself was extremely well designed. As for performance, I've heard from friends who tried the game that some of them hit a lot of bugs, but I think they just had bad luck; even with the day one version, my main bug encounters were weird physics glitches - objects floating an inch off the ground, dead enemies ragdolling a bit too much, etc. There was one fast travel point in Burial Point that would spawn me under the world where I'd fall to my death or in the air in front of a cliff instead of on it where I'd fall and take damage about one out of every three times, but that's it. I had one crash in nearly 30 hours of gameplay which I don't consider to be bad. The only performance issue I had was slow down. The game usually runs at 30 fps (they say a 60 fps performance mode is coming later; no clue why that couldn't have been implemented at launch), but I had numerous frame rate drops including some that briefly dropped to what looked to be sub-20 fps. These were all during busy fights, but still, I was playing on a Series X, and this game isn't exactly a showcase of graphical fidelity.
Overall, Redfall is okay. It's a fun little vampire romp, but the story is pretty standard and uninspired, the gameplay gets repetitive, and there are only a few truly unique places in an otherwise homogenous world to explore. It would probably be more fun with friends, but if you've got three other friends ready to play a co-op Xbox game, you're better off going with Halo Infinite or Back 4 Blood. There's just nothing that makes Redfall really stand out aside from having vampires instead of zombies, and that's not enough to make up for a bland world, mediocre story, and inexcusable performance drops.
Patron Saint of Bitch Mode
Re: Games Beaten 2023
1. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
2. River City Girls (Switch)
3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
4. The Simpsons (Arcade)
5. Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch)
7. Shining Force III [Scenario 1] (SAT)
8. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (SNES)
9. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1)
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN)
11. X-Men Legends (PS2)
I originally purchased X-Men Legends around the time of release, played a bit of it in single player, but became distracted and didn't return to it. More recently, my partner and I have been playing couch co-op action RPGs and after finishing a variety of games in the genre, this was another I had around that I thought would be fun to finally dive into. I'm glad we did, as I found the game much more enjoyable and easier to play through in co-op mode. For our playthrough, we mostly used Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm.
As mentioned, this is an action RPG in which you start off controlling a new recruit to the X-Men, Alison Crestmere, who has the ability to manipulate fire, but as the game progresses, you get a chance to control many of the characters known from the series in a team of four. You have the ability to switch characters as you please throughout the mission, which is a nice touch. I think having to manage the stats and trees for all these characters as a single player might be a bit daunting, but playing through the game co-op, my partner and I focused on and kept track of certain characters. Also, characters in reserve still earn experience points, which is a really nice feature, as it'd be tough if part of your force was left behind in stats. Each character can also be equipped with a few accessories, and there are some really useful items hidden throughout the levels. Other than the main missions, you can also tackle different scenarios in the Danger Room, which are replayable, and can help you grind, if you find that your character's are too weak for a certain section. However, the Danger Room discs that contain these missions have to be tracked down throughout the game.
Graphics wise, the developer's used cel shaded graphics, which I think gives the main characters, enemies, and items a distinct look and makes them pop a bit from the backgrounds, which is unique, especially for the genre. The cutscenes are also well drawn and animated, and I was pretty impressed with the graphics in these sections. The voice acting was also a bit better than I expected from a game. However, there are certain bits of dialogue where voice acting pop ups and other bits where there weren't voices at all. I found this to be a bit odd, as there didn't seem to be any reason why some areas didn't include the voice overs.
One of my only issues with the game, which really only affects the co-op play, is that there are missions featuring Alison Crestmere that are single player only. This is a bit frustrating as you're sitting down with someone to game together and one of the players has to sit out for an extended amount of time while the other finishes up one of these missions. With so many X-Men characters playable, I feel like the developers should have given you the option to play these sections together too. Another issue which is purely cosmetic, is with some of the illustrations used for the loading screens. Some of them just look off! Especially the one with Cyclops, who was drawn with probably a million muscles in his chest. Lol. My partner and I would always laugh when it came up.
I think if you're a fan of the X-Men comics or cartoon series, you'll really enjoy this game, as you get to adventure through a lot of settings you're familiar with, including the Morlocks headquarters in the sewers, the Xavier Institute, New York City, and Asteroid M. You'll also get the opportunity to play through some of your favorite characters and bash away at some of the villains you're used to. Overall, whether you're a Marvel fan or an action RPG fan, I think this is worth your time! Give it a shot if you haven't already.
2. River City Girls (Switch)
3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
4. The Simpsons (Arcade)
5. Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch)
7. Shining Force III [Scenario 1] (SAT)
8. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (SNES)
9. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1)
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN)
11. X-Men Legends (PS2)
I originally purchased X-Men Legends around the time of release, played a bit of it in single player, but became distracted and didn't return to it. More recently, my partner and I have been playing couch co-op action RPGs and after finishing a variety of games in the genre, this was another I had around that I thought would be fun to finally dive into. I'm glad we did, as I found the game much more enjoyable and easier to play through in co-op mode. For our playthrough, we mostly used Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm.
As mentioned, this is an action RPG in which you start off controlling a new recruit to the X-Men, Alison Crestmere, who has the ability to manipulate fire, but as the game progresses, you get a chance to control many of the characters known from the series in a team of four. You have the ability to switch characters as you please throughout the mission, which is a nice touch. I think having to manage the stats and trees for all these characters as a single player might be a bit daunting, but playing through the game co-op, my partner and I focused on and kept track of certain characters. Also, characters in reserve still earn experience points, which is a really nice feature, as it'd be tough if part of your force was left behind in stats. Each character can also be equipped with a few accessories, and there are some really useful items hidden throughout the levels. Other than the main missions, you can also tackle different scenarios in the Danger Room, which are replayable, and can help you grind, if you find that your character's are too weak for a certain section. However, the Danger Room discs that contain these missions have to be tracked down throughout the game.
Graphics wise, the developer's used cel shaded graphics, which I think gives the main characters, enemies, and items a distinct look and makes them pop a bit from the backgrounds, which is unique, especially for the genre. The cutscenes are also well drawn and animated, and I was pretty impressed with the graphics in these sections. The voice acting was also a bit better than I expected from a game. However, there are certain bits of dialogue where voice acting pop ups and other bits where there weren't voices at all. I found this to be a bit odd, as there didn't seem to be any reason why some areas didn't include the voice overs.
One of my only issues with the game, which really only affects the co-op play, is that there are missions featuring Alison Crestmere that are single player only. This is a bit frustrating as you're sitting down with someone to game together and one of the players has to sit out for an extended amount of time while the other finishes up one of these missions. With so many X-Men characters playable, I feel like the developers should have given you the option to play these sections together too. Another issue which is purely cosmetic, is with some of the illustrations used for the loading screens. Some of them just look off! Especially the one with Cyclops, who was drawn with probably a million muscles in his chest. Lol. My partner and I would always laugh when it came up.
I think if you're a fan of the X-Men comics or cartoon series, you'll really enjoy this game, as you get to adventure through a lot of settings you're familiar with, including the Morlocks headquarters in the sewers, the Xavier Institute, New York City, and Asteroid M. You'll also get the opportunity to play through some of your favorite characters and bash away at some of the villains you're used to. Overall, whether you're a Marvel fan or an action RPG fan, I think this is worth your time! Give it a shot if you haven't already.
-
RobertAugustdeMeijer
- 24-bit
- Posts: 199
- Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:15 am
Re: Games Beaten 2023
30 so far:
(the first 20 I had already written down, here's the last ten, 21-30)
1 Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
A lot of slowdown. Smart level design. Fun to practice! Seemed like endless continues on the last level, took me a couple of hours.
8/10
2 He Fucked the Girl Out of Me
Personal story about doing sex work to pay for transgender medication. Hits hard. Glad to see the creator acknowledges that some sex workers love their job.
7/10
3 Dragon Age: Inquisition
Too long and simple. But the supporting cast has its moments. Some great ones even.
6/10
4 Dragon's Dogma
Open world with many quirks and surprises. Combat never gets old. It's really exciting finding out what this game has in stock for you!
9/10
5 God of War 2
Everything in this game is dumb. Unfortunately, it's bad in a mundane way. I guess combat is occasionally engaging?
2/10
6 Gargoyle's Quest 2
This is exactly like the Game Boy version. Amazingly the same.
6/10
7 Automaton Lung
Fascinating world to explore. Within seconds you feel like you're on an unforgettable adventure. It becomes a bit gamey towards the end though.
8/10
8 XCOM 2
Interface is horribly unclear, making the huge range of options a taxing choice. By the time I had confidence in my choices, it was almost over! Could be a bit faster, too. Exciting combat, though.
7/10
9 System Shock 2
Prey 2017 heavily improves on this game's premise. There's still good resource management to be had, and intriguing world. Screw the respawning enemies and monkeys.
7/10
10 Lego Star Wars: The Video Game
Fantastic tutorial (you pay coins for tips and that's all the explaining it has), and cute. But haphazard controls and overly simple combat often makes it a chore.
5/10
11 Twinkle Tale
Pocky & Rocky is better, but this adventurous shmup has some fun level design.
6/10
12 Super Adventure Island II
Borrows a lot from Zelda 2, but the levels are a maze and combat is dumb. Bare bones metroidvania.
4/10
13 Inscryption
Reminded me of House of Leaves: scary because there's no clear boundary between the medium and real life. Play on a PC with internet connection!
8/10
14 Just Cause 3
Too many bases/towns to blow up. Main story has some awesome bits. Occasionally I felt like a hero! Very creative in ways to clear missions, but it should last 20 hours, not 40.
6/10
15 El Viento
It's fast but unruly. Bad level design and feedback. Subpar run 'n' gun.
3/10
16 Super Meat Boy
Sprites are so small I couldn't trust the hitboxes and when exactly I would stick to a wall. But it's fast and really well designed.
7/10
17 Sin & Punishment
Looks and feels awesome when things go well. Still, targets/enemies aren't always clear, and it's taxing to aim at things and dodge other things at the same time.
6/10
18 Kuukiyomi: Consider It
The minigames are fascinating but it's frustrating how what you want to do often doesn't match what you think the controls are for it. Is this supposed to be funny?
4/10
19 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
This game has so little respect for the player. I guess being unsure what things are is a part of the mental disorder it's trying to portray? Bad puzzles, lacklustre combat, only 8 hours long but still felt way too long.
3/10
20 Demon's Souls
The jankiness and unpredictability of this game is unique: doesn't have the polish of Elden Ring and that's the best part. Fascinating to see how this series started.
9/10
21 Castlevania III
Finally beat it without skipping to later levels. Peak old-school Castlevania, with an amazing amount of great levels and bosses.
8/10
22 Ender Lilies
Well-crafted but terribly lacks originality. A poor man's Hollow Knight. I'm surprised it wasn't made by the same folks who made Momodora!
7/10
23 StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Everything just works so smoothly, pure RTS delight. The missions are mostly tutorials introducing concepts, yet I found myself engaged by the narrative.
8/10
24 Arms
A lot of personality, but even though the combat is deeper than it seems at first glance, I'd rather be playing Fantasy Strike
7/10
25 Psychonauts
Sub-par platforming action in a world that fondly reminds me of the cartoons I grew up watching. The characters are too silly to be seen as representations of the human psyche.
6/10
26 R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
All the extra cars, teams, and divisions add little to the excitement of the core gameplay. Surprisingly difficult and not in a good way.
4/10
27 Dusk
It's fast, funny, and physical. Level design is great. Makes me yearn for more boomer shooters, but can they surpass this?
8/10
28 ROMGADR
Free browser shmup. Dozens of bosses to chip away at, all of them interesting. But why can't I move with WASD or joypad??
7/10
29 Donkey Kong (1994)
Clever design and is full of charm. But also limited in scope compared to proper Super Mario games.
6/10
30 Super C (NES)
Eight more levels of 8-bit Contra. Not as explosive or challenging as the 16-bit versions.
7/10
(the first 20 I had already written down, here's the last ten, 21-30)
1 Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
A lot of slowdown. Smart level design. Fun to practice! Seemed like endless continues on the last level, took me a couple of hours.
8/10
2 He Fucked the Girl Out of Me
Personal story about doing sex work to pay for transgender medication. Hits hard. Glad to see the creator acknowledges that some sex workers love their job.
7/10
3 Dragon Age: Inquisition
Too long and simple. But the supporting cast has its moments. Some great ones even.
6/10
4 Dragon's Dogma
Open world with many quirks and surprises. Combat never gets old. It's really exciting finding out what this game has in stock for you!
9/10
5 God of War 2
Everything in this game is dumb. Unfortunately, it's bad in a mundane way. I guess combat is occasionally engaging?
2/10
6 Gargoyle's Quest 2
This is exactly like the Game Boy version. Amazingly the same.
6/10
7 Automaton Lung
Fascinating world to explore. Within seconds you feel like you're on an unforgettable adventure. It becomes a bit gamey towards the end though.
8/10
8 XCOM 2
Interface is horribly unclear, making the huge range of options a taxing choice. By the time I had confidence in my choices, it was almost over! Could be a bit faster, too. Exciting combat, though.
7/10
9 System Shock 2
Prey 2017 heavily improves on this game's premise. There's still good resource management to be had, and intriguing world. Screw the respawning enemies and monkeys.
7/10
10 Lego Star Wars: The Video Game
Fantastic tutorial (you pay coins for tips and that's all the explaining it has), and cute. But haphazard controls and overly simple combat often makes it a chore.
5/10
11 Twinkle Tale
Pocky & Rocky is better, but this adventurous shmup has some fun level design.
6/10
12 Super Adventure Island II
Borrows a lot from Zelda 2, but the levels are a maze and combat is dumb. Bare bones metroidvania.
4/10
13 Inscryption
Reminded me of House of Leaves: scary because there's no clear boundary between the medium and real life. Play on a PC with internet connection!
8/10
14 Just Cause 3
Too many bases/towns to blow up. Main story has some awesome bits. Occasionally I felt like a hero! Very creative in ways to clear missions, but it should last 20 hours, not 40.
6/10
15 El Viento
It's fast but unruly. Bad level design and feedback. Subpar run 'n' gun.
3/10
16 Super Meat Boy
Sprites are so small I couldn't trust the hitboxes and when exactly I would stick to a wall. But it's fast and really well designed.
7/10
17 Sin & Punishment
Looks and feels awesome when things go well. Still, targets/enemies aren't always clear, and it's taxing to aim at things and dodge other things at the same time.
6/10
18 Kuukiyomi: Consider It
The minigames are fascinating but it's frustrating how what you want to do often doesn't match what you think the controls are for it. Is this supposed to be funny?
4/10
19 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
This game has so little respect for the player. I guess being unsure what things are is a part of the mental disorder it's trying to portray? Bad puzzles, lacklustre combat, only 8 hours long but still felt way too long.
3/10
20 Demon's Souls
The jankiness and unpredictability of this game is unique: doesn't have the polish of Elden Ring and that's the best part. Fascinating to see how this series started.
9/10
21 Castlevania III
Finally beat it without skipping to later levels. Peak old-school Castlevania, with an amazing amount of great levels and bosses.
8/10
22 Ender Lilies
Well-crafted but terribly lacks originality. A poor man's Hollow Knight. I'm surprised it wasn't made by the same folks who made Momodora!
7/10
23 StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Everything just works so smoothly, pure RTS delight. The missions are mostly tutorials introducing concepts, yet I found myself engaged by the narrative.
8/10
24 Arms
A lot of personality, but even though the combat is deeper than it seems at first glance, I'd rather be playing Fantasy Strike
7/10
25 Psychonauts
Sub-par platforming action in a world that fondly reminds me of the cartoons I grew up watching. The characters are too silly to be seen as representations of the human psyche.
6/10
26 R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
All the extra cars, teams, and divisions add little to the excitement of the core gameplay. Surprisingly difficult and not in a good way.
4/10
27 Dusk
It's fast, funny, and physical. Level design is great. Makes me yearn for more boomer shooters, but can they surpass this?
8/10
28 ROMGADR
Free browser shmup. Dozens of bosses to chip away at, all of them interesting. But why can't I move with WASD or joypad??
7/10
29 Donkey Kong (1994)
Clever design and is full of charm. But also limited in scope compared to proper Super Mario games.
6/10
30 Super C (NES)
Eight more levels of 8-bit Contra. Not as explosive or challenging as the 16-bit versions.
7/10
Re: Games Beaten 2023
RobertAugustdeMeijer wrote:27 Dusk
It's fast, funny, and physical. Level design is great. Makes me yearn for more boomer shooters, but can they surpass this?
8/10
This may shock you, but in my opinion, yes!
Want something along the lines of Blood? Try Cultic.
Hexen and Heretic more your speed? Check out Amid Evil and Hands of Necromancy.
Duke Nukem 3D your jam? Ion Fury is a great call.
Quake? HROT.
Doom? You need to play Boltgun.
And this is only just scratching the surface. You have so many possible options worth checking out: Shrine, Project Warlock, Prodeus, Hedon, Perilous Warp, and still plenty more out there and plenty more coming!
Re: Games Beaten 2023
FYI Hands of Necromancy runs on Delta Touch. The only caveat is that you have to load the IPK3 and the additional PK3 files as mods. Same with Hellslinger.
And speaking of running Doom, Heretic and Hexen with mods, I've encountered a FUCKTON of mods and mod combinations that work wonders.
My faves are Brutal Doom (there's also Brutal versions of Hexen and Heretic), Walpugis, BlooM (which marries the levels and enemies of Blood and Doom) and Reelism 2.
And speaking of running Doom, Heretic and Hexen with mods, I've encountered a FUCKTON of mods and mod combinations that work wonders.
My faves are Brutal Doom (there's also Brutal versions of Hexen and Heretic), Walpugis, BlooM (which marries the levels and enemies of Blood and Doom) and Reelism 2.