Random Gaming Thoughts

[RCBH928]

Wow, Super Mario Sunshine really is as bad as they say...worse even.

Yoshi's Crafted World also sucks, but the Yoshi games all generally suck. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island on the SNES is the only good one. It's amazing how many 16-bit classics still beat the pants off of games released years later.

yeah... I didn't continue playing that game due to the frustrating camera angle thing

[ZRofel]

Has anyone played Eastward? The trailers look awesome (That awesome soundtrack!) and some of the reviews I've seen are positive. I'm very curious about it.

I played a big chunk of Eastward, and if I'm being totally honest, I feel like the game's promotions were a bit of a bait-and-switch. The trailers definitely tried to tout it as very retro-inspired, maybe Zelda-adjacent. In my experience of putting a number of hours in, though, it's really almost more of a visual novel. The balance of gameplay to story is overwhelmingly weighted in favor of story. You're reading through hours of dialog to be briefly interrupted by a small dungeon, then it's back to reading dialog. It's not bad dialog, and it's not a bad story (and the lush pixel art definitely helps sell the game), but it definitely wasn't what I expected going in. It's very linear and the gameplay is very limited. So, if you're looking for a simple adventure game or a visual novel, it will probably scratch that itch. If you're looking for the kind of full world, complex puzzles, deep combat, and exploration you get in a Zelda game, though, it's not what you're getting here.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Mark your calendars for January 25, 2024. It’s been a long wait, but Pixel Games UK is finally releasing Chip’s Challenge for the Nintendo Switch!

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/produ ... ge-switch/

[BoneSnapDeez]

That's based on the Steam version, which is a bunch of ports rolled into a one-game "compilation":


I'm gonna stick with this one, the Windows port was so much more appealing:

[Raging Justice]

This is a really fun track from Sonic Superstars that wouldn't have been out of place in the old Sega Genesis Sonic games:



It gets in my head and stays there for a while every time I hear it. I bet somebody out there could make an awesome remix of it.

[Raging Justice]

I don't know if it's only me noticing this, but there's a lot of talk I see everywhere about Nintendo, the Switch, and what's on the horizon for that company. The Playstation and Xbox brands feel kind of cold right now. Like the only time I hear about Sony and the Playstation is whenever people have something negative to say, whether it's complaining about Sony's attack on Japanese gaming or just the PS 5 being lame. Also, outside of the whole Game Pass thing Xbox as a brand seems to be dead.

I almost feel like Sega could just pump out a console right now and everyone would buy it as no one cares about Sony or Microsoft at the moment and Sega has a lot of that same nostalgia wrapped around it as Nintendo, as evidenced by all the excitement surrounding the recent announcements of their various IPs coming back.

Probably helps that both Nintendo and Sega have had very successful movies revolving around their respective mascots in the past two years so people are really feeling that Sega/Nintendo love

I think I've heard more people raving about Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Tears of the Kingdom than anything else that came out in 2023. People are hype for some of the games coming out on the Switch this year and speculating about what these Sega games in development will be like. Just reminds me of the old days when everything was about Nintendo and Sega.

[alienjesus]

Gotta say I think it’s just you. Microsoft doesn’t feel like it’s got a lot of buzz right now, but PS5 seems to be selling extremely well, and I’ve definitely seen lots of hype around games on modern platforms. Stuff like Baldurs Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, the resi 4 remake, Street Fighter 6, and Alan Wake 2 has been on a lot of end of the year best of lists I’ve seen as well.

Even games that I’m surprised hvent had more hype behind them like Final Fantasy XVI seem to still be well regarded

[RCBH928]

Any one think the videogame industry is going into a crash like 1983?
I am not keeping up too much with modern releases, but I keep stumbling on full triple-A like games that no one heard about or gave attention to which if they were released on a previous era they would have gotten 10/10 . This is not to mention the smaller indie games. I just stumbled on one called Guns, Gore, and Cannoli. Haven't played it yet but looks very entertaining.


the game pumping is not to be stopping at all.

[Raging Justice]

Guns, Gore, and Cannoli is more style than substance. It looks really nice and has a humorous story, but the gameplay is rather bland, garden variety, run n gun. It doesn't have clever mechanics from what I recall and there are no epic moments the likes of which you'd see in a Metal Slug or Contra game. I got bored with it and never finished it.

It has a sequel. I never played that one.

[Raging Justice]

Gotta say I think it’s just you. Microsoft doesn’t feel like it’s got a lot of buzz right now, but PS5 seems to be selling extremely well, and I’ve definitely seen lots of hype around games on modern platforms. Stuff like Baldurs Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, the resi 4 remake, Street Fighter 6, and Alan Wake 2 has been on a lot of end of the year best of lists I’ve seen as well.

Even games that I’m surprised hvent had more hype behind them like Final Fantasy XVI seem to still be well regarded

I have seen nothing positive whatsoever about Spider-Man 2 in the gaming circles I frequent. In fact I get the sense that people are very much over Insomniac's Spider-Man games and ready to see the company move on. I actually saw a scathing review recently from someone who finally got around to playing Miles Morales. I think it was Radical Reggie's nephew. Haven't seem much enthusiasm surrounding Alan Wake 2 either. The resi 4 remake can't match the original because the original was perfection. Any changes you make are just like spitting on a Mona Lisa

Final Fantasy will always have its fanboys no matter how awful the games are. FF XV was absolute trash, yet was critically acclaimed. So I don't trust any positive reviews XVI got.

I have seen some positive buzz surrounding Baldurs Gate 3 though.

I've seen mostly apathy or irritation surrounding most of the big releases this year on everything other than the Switch. The only thing I've really seen get a strong response is that Harry Potter game Hogwart's Legacy. It apparently sold like gang busters too. I saw a lot of people mad because I think it got snubbed at the Game Awards. I've heard great things about the new Robocop game too. That's about it though. Most of the enthusiasm I see around modern gaming is for the Switch