PS2 Backlog Committee

31) Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)







I've always been aware of RARE's reputation while having played virtually nothing from their catalog. I was interested in going back to the N64 this year, and even though visually it's probably my least favorite console, technically speaking, there are surely some excellent games I've played there. I also knew of the nature of Conker's Bad Fur Day, and while that wasn't really a draw, I'm always open to some irreverent humor, if it's well-done. I can say that Conker was a decent looking and colorful game, given the hardware. It's got its limitations, naturally, but I had no objections to the variety of locales and characters presented. And the premise had potential. I did find some amusement in the idea of a drunken, cynical squirrel and *some* of the nonsense the game throws at you.

But there were a significant number of issues that made me question the appeal so many had found in this title. First of all, and as I kind of expected, much of the humor comes off as very “rebellious-teen” in its nature. It had a juvenile tone that felt like it was trying to be shocking or controversial without any justification other than to garner attention for being so out of sync with the bulk of Nintendo offerings for the era. It just felt try hard too often, and I'm sure the fact that it was so out of step with the general “Nintendo flavor” contributed to its appeal for those who only had that console and were glad to be offered something more “adult”. The voice acting was also not very good in most cases. I appreciated that a game on the N64 had quite a bit of voice in the first place, but it didn't really have much quality overall. Granted, it was probably needed for the tone the developers wanted to impart, and it wasn't all terrible, and even seemed fitting, yet I didn't find it compelling or entertaining on large. The controls were also frustrating. It was too easy to take fall damage (not that there was any real consequence for it) and the movement was overly sensitive and loose generally. Also, the camera could be very frustrating in spots. You had an element of user control, but that didn't prevent sections where things felt awkward no matter what you did. And there was just no joy of movement which, for me, is crucial in a mascot platformer. The shooting sections were awful, with no good feel for aiming and things just feeling “off” and unintuitive overall. There was also a frustrating element where quests would reset if you left the area of the quest, which you sometimes would naturally do in trying to explore and fill their requirements. And you weren't always certain what the boundaries were, so you'd venture off and “come back” only to discover that you had to do what you'd already done all over again. That's just poor design. And many of the quests were just repetitive and tedious busy work. And it's a mascot platformer without also being a collectathon, which is not my preference for the genre. The whole thing just felt awkward, both in tone and execution. I will acknowledge that I didn't finish it, but I played more than enough to get a “complete” flavor of what it was. And despite a handful of muted chuckles and some decent elements, the total package was a disappointment for me. I also sold my sealed original X-box remake of the game years ago, and it turns out that was likely for the best. Too bad. 2/5.

30) The Padre (PC)







I picked up a game called The Padre in a Steam sale and its look from a trailer intrigued me. It's got a low-def voxel-based world and characters, and it's a horror-adventure game that pays homage to classic genre entries like the original Alone in the Dark. To accompany the attractive visuals, the atmosphere was very nice, with moody music and lighting and a gravel voiced lead that teeters between satire and serious in a really pleasing way. There's a mystery to solve and puzzles and combat that come along for the ride. I had no issue with the premise or vibes, but unfortunately the Padre stumbles, if with a bit of grace, while falling. The combat was very clunky. It's the (very) old-school, mouse-based combat where you hover over a foe and strike, either via close-range melee or firearm. But the enemies would often attack and when it was time to land your own strike, they'd have bounced off out of range, and if your cursor wasn't over the enemy at the exact time of attempting your strike, you'd miss. And the sometimes awkwardly placed camera and environmental elements would often make pinpointing and executing your strikes against the moving targets problematic. You could also block (some enemies), but the flow of combat, while functional, was awkward and never enjoyable. And there were some enemies that would one-hit kill you, and while annoying in and of itself, it was made much worse by a permadeath mechanic where you collect “angel tears” in a vial, a vessel that when full wipes your save forcing you to start over. The puzzles were also odd and not in an interesting way. The whole affair just felt unintuitive and clumsy, which is a real shame, given how much I was feeling the tone and setting. It's always frustrating when a game you are looking forward to fails to live up to your hopes, but that's the risk of playing lots of games. They won't all hit the mark for you. But it's even more bothersome when you really like some elements, but the poor elements are just too much. It's one of those games that makes you a little sad because its potential wasn't matched by its execution. I gave The Padre a couple of hours, and that was enough to know that it, sadly, wasn't for me. 2/5

isthatallyougot wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:27 am 31) Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)







I've always been aware of RARE's reputation while having played virtually nothing from their catalog. I was interested in going back to the N64 this year, and even though visually it's probably my least favorite console, technically speaking, there are surely some excellent games I've played there. I also knew of the nature of Conker's Bad Fur Day, and while that wasn't really a draw, I'm always open to some irreverent humor, if it's well-done. I can say that Conker was a decent looking and colorful game, given the hardware. It's got its limitations, naturally, but I had no objections to the variety of locales and characters presented. And the premise had potential. I did find some amusement in the idea of a drunken, cynical squirrel and *some* of the nonsense the game throws at you.

But there were a significant number of issues that made me question the appeal so many had found in this title. First of all, and as I kind of expected, much of the humor comes off as very “rebellious-teen” in its nature. It had a juvenile tone that felt like it was trying to be shocking or controversial without any justification other than to garner attention for being so out of sync with the bulk of Nintendo offerings for the era. It just felt try hard too often, and I'm sure the fact that it was so out of step with the general “Nintendo flavor” contributed to its appeal for those who only had that console and were glad to be offered something more “adult”. The voice acting was also not very good in most cases. I appreciated that a game on the N64 had quite a bit of voice in the first place, but it didn't really have much quality overall. Granted, it was probably needed for the tone the developers wanted to impart, and it wasn't all terrible, and even seemed fitting, yet I didn't find it compelling or entertaining on large. The controls were also frustrating. It was too easy to take fall damage (not that there was any real consequence for it) and the movement was overly sensitive and loose generally. Also, the camera could be very frustrating in spots. You had an element of user control, but that didn't prevent sections where things felt awkward no matter what you did. And there was just no joy of movement which, for me, is crucial in a mascot platformer. The shooting sections were awful, with no good feel for aiming and things just feeling “off” and unintuitive overall. There was also a frustrating element where quests would reset if you left the area of the quest, which you sometimes would naturally do in trying to explore and fill their requirements. And you weren't always certain what the boundaries were, so you'd venture off and “come back” only to discover that you had to do what you'd already done all over again. That's just poor design. And many of the quests were just repetitive and tedious busy work. And it's a mascot platformer without also being a collectathon, which is not my preference for the genre. The whole thing just felt awkward, both in tone and execution. I will acknowledge that I didn't finish it, but I played more than enough to get a “complete” flavor of what it was. And despite a handful of muted chuckles and some decent elements, the total package was a disappointment for me. I also sold my sealed original X-box remake of the game years ago, and it turns out that was likely for the best. Too bad. 2/5.

I played this game a lot one summer in college (mainly multiplayer, never beat the story). That probably is why I have fond memories, but I'm sure your criticisms would be correct if I played it today.

jfissel wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 9:06 am I played this game a lot one summer in college (mainly multiplayer, never beat the story). That probably is why I have fond memories, but I'm sure your criticisms would be correct if I played it today.

Well, context surely matters imho. And, of course, my opinions are just my own. I have no delusions of them having any objective merit - just my own experience - how things landed for me relative to my own preferences.

29) Planet Diver (PC)







Sometimes games can be appealing in concept, have nice presentation, control fine, and yet still end up failing to come together into a compelling overall package in a less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts sort of way. Such is the case with Planet Diver, a downward forced/auto-"runner" game where you traverse channels in a space suit while trying to satisfy a variety of objectives to clear levels and earn points. On the plus side, there are tons of levels if you enjoy it, all with their own tiered objectives for various reward categories. And there are plenty of upgrades to purchase in terms of abilities and player modifiers and new things to explore. It's got a great upbeat swing-jazzy soundtrack reminiscent of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The controls are accurate as you accelerate or slow and dodge obstacles below and falling from above besides enemies attacking from the walls of the tunnels. It's very simple in concept, with plenty of room for diverse situations, and that sort of thing is right up my alley.

However, the different objectives never really elevated the experience into something that felt like it was evolving in any meaningful or increasingly fun way. It's just go down fast or slow, dodge left or right, and slam through things over and over. I finished the entire first planet (25 levels) and everything was largely the same. It had the potential to be a really fun game, but the execution needed some variety and spice. I will also say that the narrow corridors and faster speeds made shifting lanes quickly and accurately a little awkward in spots. Using the arrow keys to either hold for large, quick movements or tap for small slides wasn't as easy to execute with the needed precision oftentimes, given the window to react to many circumstances. It was just one of those games whose idea was fine, but it never really grasped me and never reached the potential it seemed to suggest via all the, admittedly fine, elements. I gave it a fair chance, spending more than a couple hours with it, but the overall take was a barely average package, unfortunately. One of those games that oddly somehow feels worse than some lesser games, games that have some really strong aspects to go along with their missteps, because of just how bland everything ended up feeling as a total package. Not awful, but not enough pizazz. 3/5

28) The Other Half (PC)






The Other Half is a PC game I picked up for cheap on Steam some time ago. The interactive structure is a little akin to a twin-stick shooter in that you move with the left stick and target enemies with the right via a flame that extends from the main character. It's not a projectile in the most conventional sense because it only targets and impacts at a certain distance away from the character as you rotate the right stick towards threats, meaning you don't hit anything on the way to the point of contact. But otherwise, it functions similarly. There were a variety of enemies, all with blue points on their bodies, showing where you could do damage, and effectively targeting and eliminating these points restored player health. Some foes were stationary, some extended their bodies with a projectile and some swiped with their arms and appendages. You could also evade attacks with a teleport/dodge if you timed things right. There were a couple of bosses to contend with, and the combat was fairly decent, if not thrilling.

The practical mechanics of the game are layered upon a story about sexual assault - although not full on rape, it seems. (It's not a spoiler - it's referenced on a screen prior to playing.) It's about two characters coping with an instance of this behavior, whatever it was exactly, from their different perspectives. From the primary character's (the guy) perspective, it's about rationalizing/justifying, then coping and finally accepting. He came across as psychotically obsessive with the female, and of course, I don't condone such abuse. However, the whole narrative came across as more than a little cringy, both in terms of dialogue/voice work and general tone. Most of the time, I felt like it was a younger generation's tale or perspective on these dynamics, and it came across as forced and maybe even falsely (and overcompensating) penitent. I'll just say that the whole thing made me feel strange, to be brief, and I didn't care for the narrative delivery.

But despite the narrative oddness, the basic game was pretty fun, if brief. I finished in a little over two hours, and the final stretch felt like it dragged a bit, and that's not the best sign for such a short experience. But I've surely played worse. The top-down visuals were nice, the sound work (apart from voices) was good, and the combat fundamentals were adequate. There wasn't much depth, despite the inclusion of equipment with varying attributes and healing items (which I never used even once). But it was worth the couple of hours, although just barely. I've surely played worse games. But this is at the lower end of the spectrum of average. It could have been better with a little more depth, a little less cringe, and a little more content. 3/5

27) Arkanoid (DS)





Sometimes it's just nice to play a simple, low-barrier-to-entry type of game. As this medium marches forward, the complexity of design and information dump you receive when beginning a new game can sometimes feel a bit exhausting before you even begin. (old man complaint) I love getting really engrossed in well-made games with lots of depth and layers, but the on-boarding process for some of these experiences just makes you a bit tired before starting and can cause a little apprehension sometimes. So I was, for this reason, pleased to play Arkanoid on the DS in 2023. It's a remake of the old arcade and console games that have gone before, and in essence it's just a brick breaking game like Breakout or the like.

I had played one of the old console releases before, so I knew pretty much what to expect going in, and it was basically more of the same. You have a little bar at the bottom (a “vaus” in the game world) and you bounce back a moving ball upwards towards a collection of bricks with varying attributes. There are different colors of simple one-hit-and-break blocks along with 2-hit-to-break and unbreakable blocks. Some block will reveal powerups like a wider vaus for easier returns, a mega-ball that will cut through any blocks on its trajectory like a knife through butter (except for unbreakable blocks), a slowdown modifier which seems to have little effect once the speed ramps up, a power that splits your ball into 3 for more breakage, a ball that will “vanish” all blocks of the next color block you hit, and so on. There's even a negative “power-up” called reduction that shrinks the size of your vaus. So there's a bit of strategy involved in deciding which power-ups you want to grab and avoid, along with trying to do so in conjunction with returning the descending ball, which can force choices about letting a power go in favor of keeping your barrier or taking a hit to that protection in exchange for grabbing an ability. Sometimes you're lucky and the ball and power up wind up on the same trajectory, making things easy. As you continue to mount hits and bounces, the ball gradually speeds up to ridiculous levels sometimes, especially when you get it moving and descending rapidly in a horizontal ricochet. (fortunately it seems there is a maximum speed) It can be really hard to gauge where to place your platform when it really speeds up, but there is thankfully a barrier beneath that acts as sort of extra lives within each level, giving you a few chances to make a mistake before having to start over. I must say that on the harder levels, it felt like more luck than skill when you were trying to guide the ball between a field of mostly unbreakable blocks to knock out some normal ones contained within. It was always a relief when you finally got that lucky connection. There is skill involved to be clear, and aiming is possible...with lower speeds, but in some cases the margins are so slim, the speed ramps up so high and access to the necessary blocks so challenging that you end up just replaying levels waiting for sheer luck to see you through.

There's also an overarching story of sorts, albeit very minimal. You're some space dude trying to rescue his lost comrades, and you do so by playing through various pathways of 35 levels until you beat the final boss on one of the branches of all the potential paths. There are 28 zones to navigate, and all the areas are lined up like bowling pins, so after beating one boss, you have to start over at the beginning (the head pin on the formation) to go down another branch. You end up repeating ridiculously easy levels and having to beat hard ones you've already beaten, so it felt a bit repetitive in that sense and came across as artificial padding. I was engaged enough, though, to beat all the paths and rescue all of my space buddies before putting it down. Doing so unlocks a mode called “Uranoid” in which you go down *another* series of zones to finally fight the ultimate foe, and that confrontation at least provided some greater variety. It took a fair bit of time on the harder branches and later levels, but remained simple arcade fun throughout my time with things. I can't say that I *loved* Arkanoid, but I certainly enjoyed my time with it, and it satisfied in the way mentioned above in that it was an easy to digest experience that didn't weigh me down with endless complexity. In the end, Arkanoid was good, clean arcade fun and a nice distraction from more bloated and complex games that usually make up most of my time with this hobby, but not so exciting to stand out as special. 3/5


26) Letter Quest : Grimm's Journey Remastered (PC)









If you're the sort of person who likes word game such as Scrabble, Boggle and the like, you may be interested in video-gamifications of such things. Well, I am such a person, and so on one Steam sale, freebie or who can remember, I ended up with Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered in my library, and looking to waste a little time, I fired it up in late 2023. Rather than just being straight word play, the developers layered an RPG skin atop the letter juggling to give things a bit more flavor and overarching purpose. It's some quest about trying to attain pizza that is only related via still images, and honestly it and the whole game feels like a very cheap flash-game in terms of presentation. It's all plain and uninteresting art assets, but it does at least add a little spice to an otherwise relatively dry game. And the music is also generic "nothing" that does little to excite.

But presentation aside, the game itself fares much better. As stated, things are structured in a RPG-type fashion as you traverse various levels (I think it was 160 total + an endless mode.) from left to right attacking foes by making words out of a random assortment of letters and being attacked in return. There are a variety of weapons and abilities that you may purchase and upgrade to make things easier on yourself. And your foes and their levels have various conditions and counterattacks with which you must contend. Some enemies can change some of the (15) word tiles into poison, or stone letters which cannot be used, replicator tiles that, if aren't used on that turn, will “infect” neighboring tiles (How'd you like to make a word out of a selection full of Z's?), and so on. You can buy potions to counteract these dastardly effects and clean things up for a fresh, unsullied board. To be brief, there is a decent amount of variety and strategy to the basics of making words out of letter-soup gameplay. There are also levels which are run on a timer, and if you don't reach the crystals (level end) at the end in time, it's a fail state and you have to do it all again. The game also tracks a ridiculous amount of stats. I'm not sure who would be that interested in seeing exactly how many 5-letter words you've spelled along with a plethora of much less interesting data, but it's copious and available if you are curious.

The game also recognizes most words you would expect, as should be the case with any word-centric game, but I encountered several situations where I created words that are most certainly legitimate, but the game failed to acknowledge them. I'm not sure what source was used for the game's dictionary, but I feel like this must have been a foreign developed title because every word you create is also given a definition, and while many words have multiple definitions, Letter Quest often offered bizarre meanings for many words, and they were always very short and in no way comprehensive. Granted, if you're using a word, you surely (ought to) know what it means, but I often questioned if the makers of this game did. And the game can feel a bit grindy, despite the attempts at variety. You keep doing more or less the same thing in order to earn crystals to purchase upgrades and items to take on more difficult levels. It's a very predictable and unchanging loop throughout, so you may reach your fill prior to finishing all the levels. And you can sometimes get screwed a bit by the RNG aspect of letter replenishment, but you always have the option to refresh all the letters at the cost of your turn, so that adds a little element of strategy as well.

Overall, Grimm's Journey was decent fun, but it's not a game that I would recommend to those who don't have a pretty strong affinity for word-games in general. If you do, there's enough to enjoy, despite the lackluster presentation. I spent a little over 15 hours with it, getting most of the achievements, finishing all the levels and playing some of the endless mode. I really enjoy word games, but your mileage may vary. It's a great pick up and play in short bursts type of game, and just playing a level or two here or there, I think it's worth your time, again assuming you like the fundamental essence of the content. For me, it's a 3/5.

Looking at the images, I thought The Other Half would be a Journey-like. Instead, it's a twin-stick shooter about sexual assault?

I have to commend you for playing such a crazy array of games on so many platforms.

Thanks for the reminder that I need to pick up Letter Quest on my phone.

canedaddy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:41 am Looking at the images, I thought The Other Half would be a Journey-like. Instead, it's a twin-stick shooter about sexual assault?

I have to commend you for playing such a crazy array of games on so many platforms.

Thanks for the reminder that I need to pick up Letter Quest on my phone.

yeah, I don't know if my eccentric gaming habits are worthy of any praise, ha. I think it's just a reflection of my own desire to taste and sample and walk with my own moods - which are often off the beaten path, for better or worse. Sometimes I find real gems doing that, and sometimes I wallow in filth.

And yeah, it's a bit hard to give a real recommendation to The Other Half. It was on the low end of average for me, and had some issues I really didn't enjoy, but it wasn't horrible.

25) Grapple Force Rena (PC)







I picked up an indie platformer from my itch.io backlog early in 2023 with no expectations or even awareness of anything about it. I just stumbled upon it when perusing my itch.io library and figured I'd give it a shot. It turns out it's a platformer with the hook (ha) of using a grapple beam/hook to both navigate environments and combat enemies. You can swing from ceilings while raising and lowering yourself for momentum based propulsion, connect to platforms and grab things as need arises. You also grab enemies (and other items) with it and either move them where needed, throw them into world geometry or against other enemies in order to eliminate them. The core mechanics were pretty fun. Things were responsive and controlled nicely in most instances. There were also some vehicle sections, some puzzles, pattern-based bosses and overall a fairly decent variety of activities throughout the game's 30 levels (within 6 worlds) that kept things fresh and engaging. There's also incentive to replay levels as you are graded by time, remaining health and some other factors. I got grades ranging from “D” to “S”, so if you're really into things, there's that extra layer of challenge if you like.

There's also a story. And I wish I could say it had the same quality as much of the rest of the game. However, it felt very much like an after-thought. There's a variety of characters who all have found “special equipment” that only they can use for some unexplained reason, including the titular (and main) character Rena with her grapple bracelets (the beam/hook I mentioned). And there's some “mystery” about how and why they all found and have a connection to these items. But it was all terribly uninteresting, feeling like it was constructed by a real novice. It was just generic and lacked any meaningful substance or pull. Kudos for the attempt, but it provided no impetus for any action. And the overall tone of the presentation just felt grating most of the time. I mostly ignored it, but it was of a pretty low quality for me. There were also some late-game platforming/grappling sections that required more precision than the controls afforded. They weren't bad, but it was often a bit challenging to direct your grapple with the refinement needed in a few spots. And if you were airborne while also having to pinpoint to a moving grapple point, it was more than a little awkward and frustrating.

Overall though, it certainly wasn't a bad game. I enjoyed it for what it was. It was very vibrant and colorful and the platforming mechanics and structure were fun and enjoyable more often than poor. It kind of felt like a Chinese “copycat” game in some regards and was just missing that certain something you see with a passion project also backed with a high level of skill. To be fair, I think this was made by a single developer, and the things that were done well were fun enough to pull me through. With a little more skill and narrative nuance, it could have risen above average, but it was still worth the 7 hours or so. 3/5

24) Fugl (PC)








I've always loved the sensation of flight, and when games approximate that sensation well, it can be really fun. Enter Fugl (Norwegian for "bird"), a game where you embody a variety of flying creatures throughout a selection of procedurally generated biomes. The visuals are voxel-based with that blocky, rough look. I thought they did a good job for the most part. In motion, there is a smoothness that compensates for the chunky geometry, and there's plenty of color along with an abstract, dreamy essence because of those unrefined edges. The controls are simple, with a button for flapping and analog stick usage for direction. You can dive with a combination of presses and if there is no input, you simply ride the lift of your extended wings as you please. The overall sensation of flight was very pleasant. When you dive from up high and then spread your wings to catch the currents, swiftly rising against the pull of gravity, there's a really intoxicating sensation there. And with that increase in speed born from your decent, there's a real sense of empowerment as you soar, wings-spread, surveying the grounds below. Rising above the clouds also offers a serene pleasure, making you feel untouchable. Alternatively, soaring down below in the jungles and skimming the water as you weave in and out of the canopy of trees and myriad nooks and crannies was a very enjoyable way to navigate. You can also find caves in levels that wind through the mountains and hills, and entering the darkness and eventually exiting as you find another pinpoint of light was really fun. There's even a button for "bird sense", a slow-motion Matrix-like bullet time where you can make fine adjustments to conditions as if you've got heightened reflexes, and after playing for a while I randomly discovered that you can call with the "voice" of some birds. There are also many different birds and other animals to collect as you bump into them, either in the air, ground or in the water. And for each one you find, you can choose that as your avatar for a new session. All of the different creatures have a different feel, sometimes to a more subtle degree than others, but the *feel* of flying varies overall. Diving into the water and transforming into a fish you've bumped into and then rising out of the water and transforming back into a bird as you flew away was a cool and unique feeling. It was sometimes funny watching some of the non-bird creatures and their pathetic flight attempts. Some could actually pull it off with their temporary wings, while others were utterly hopeless, but you can always transform back into your starting animal whenever you choose. The sound work was minimal but enjoyable, with occasional music and environmental sounds, including other animals and their noises. There's also an editor that allows you to edit the color and shape of your collected creatures if you wish to personalize things.

I do wish it would have done some things better. The procedural geometry noticeably repeated a little too frequently. There were very obvious patterns and landscapes that sometimes displayed in short succession, which really took away from the feel of being in a wide-open natural space. It was more apparent in some biomes than others, but there's no reason that the randomization formula couldn't have been tweaked to keep that from happening. The sense of flight appeals in large part because of the sense of freedom and space, and this flaw minimized that impact, making things feel artificial at times. There was also invisible geometry that caused mid-air collisions occasionally. It wasn't too frequent and restarting usually sorted it, but when it happened, it was frustrating. I also wish there was an in-game way to track all creatures obtained as well as all remaining in each biome. You're given a sound notification when finding a new one, but I would have liked to know how many I'd found and how many there were left to discover. There are even some legendary creatures to locate, it seems, and I would have just liked a little sense of progression to go along with the flying.

But accomplishment isn't the nature of Fugl. It's more about the joy of flight and the sensations of goalless being, and I understand and appreciate what it was attempting. It succeeded in what it set out to do, and it was surely worth experiencing. It works well as a de-stressor type of meditation, as an experience without defined objectives and tasks - just a melting into the moment and joy of being a bird aloft in the skies, moving about as you please with no particular rhyme or reason. It's not the type of game to sit down and play for long stretches necessarily, but I spent several hours with it over many shorter sessions because of the peaceful and pleasant feel on offer. And it's something I'll probably keep installed for return trips simply due to those chill vibes. 3/5.

23) Broken Age (PC)







Double Fine is a studio that, in my experience, always puts out highly original and creative work. I'm not an uber-fan to be sure, but I've enjoyed most things I've played from them. I had Broken Age sitting in my backlog for a long time, and having not played a point and click adventure game in a while, I thought it would be a good time to pull it out.

As is par for the course with DF, I found Broken Age to be highly imaginative with very good voice work, lots of color and just that Double Fine type of odd that gamers who've enjoyed their work will be familiar. The central tale is of a boy (Shay) on a spaceship who is *apparently* being cared for by artificial intelligence of some sort. This boy is overprotected and coddled to the Nth degree and has to rely on virtual stimulation, a series of faux adventures constructed by his caregivers to keep him from boredom. But the repetition has worn him down and he's eager for some real thrills and danger..to *live*. In parallel is a story of a young girl (Vella) who lives in a land where young maidens are sacrificed to a tentacled being (obviously) known as Mog Chothra in order to prevent this monster from taking out its wrath on the entire populace. But Vella is a rebel and reluctant to go along with the status quo and, like Shay, who has tired of his oppressive circumstances, seeks to disrupt the tune and forge a new melody. I won't go into spoiler territory, but their lives intersect in surprising ways, ways that might be unexpected, given their wildly different circumstances at the outset.

In terms of puzzles, well, they were a mixed bag for me. In the first (of 2) acts, they were well-balanced and pretty fun. But in the latter part of the second act, things started to unravel for me, and some of the puzzles became tedious. They weren't really fun, if still sometimes somewhat clever, and just became annoying to the point that I relented and checked a guide towards the end. And as I was doing so, I realized that the game itself, while decently enjoyable in terms of narrative, just didn't have that pull that engaged me in a way to press through. So I watched the final few minutes on YouTube and was grateful for finally doing so as the narrative didn't really land for me in its conclusion. It ended up feeling rushed and incomplete - perhaps a time or budgetary issue or simply poorly constructed, I couldn't say. The P&C genre is a tough one to attract wide appeal. There has to be a good combination of puzzles and narrative, and it's such a tricky tightrope to walk - more so than in many other genres that might have other forms of gameplay and engagement to maintain interest. Broken Age is not a “bad” example of the genre, but it still disappointed me in the end, relative to expectations of both the studio, my interest in the gaming style and the drop-off from act 1 to the latter part of act 2. I also had the feeling come over me that Double Fine sometimes just puts out work that is “quirky” for the sake of being "unique" and different. I certainly appreciate such oddities, but this felt a bit forced, and a bit of a miss for me in the end in terms of the better examples of DF charm. That's certainly not to say it had no positives. As stated, everything was very imaginative, colorful and pleasantly strange. And I really appreciated several of the themes that struck me, like questioning the status quo and not just accepting what you're told without doing your own investigation - finding your own truth firsthand. And I like the concept of “reality” differing greatly from how it might appear on the surface, along with the sense of not knowing just how deep the rabbit hole goes. I can relate to such mind-stretching and existentially challenging concepts. I loved that aspect. And the voice work was really well done most of the time. What's not better with a little Jack Black? (Unfortunately, only a little here.) But both the puzzles and overall narrative kind of fell apart for me down the stretch after a much stronger first act and half or so of the second. I also usually find this (often not-so-subtle undercurrent) of preachiness coming from Tim Schafer in his games, which I easily overlook in his better works, but can grate a bit on misfires. I surely didn't hate it, but I'm left disappointed when I finally finished up watching the ending. I was honestly more annoyed the closer I got to the ending, despite enjoying much of my time with this one. Not Double Fine's best, and I wouldn't call it anywhere close to one of my favorite point and click adventure games. It was just okay overall, despite its positives. 3/5 and a let-down relative to expectations going in.

22) Carrier (Dreamcast)







I had always been curious about the Dreamcast, but it simply dropped at an awkward time as I, and the world apparently, was eagerly anticipating the PS2. It followed on the heals of the commercial failure in the Saturn, which was already treading on some shaky ground from the sloppy and under-supported Genesis add-ons, and it (the Saturn) only sold roughly a third of the Nintendo 64 and a tenth of the Playstation 1. It was surely an interesting machine though, and I was so tempted to pick one up (a Dreamcast), despite knowing I was going to fully dive into the Playstation successor shortly. But I bit my tongue long enough to hold out for Sony's new machine. And I think history supports that decision, but that doesn't mean that I think the Dreamcast wasn't worthy of more attention. As always, I enjoy revisiting bygone eras, games and devices that didn't get proper attention from me, and in that spirit, I played Carrier for the Dreamcast in 2023.

Fundamentally, we have a clone of the PS1 era -classic Resident Evil here, albeit on an aircraft carrier. The backdrop for the setting is some sort of alternate timeline where there's a war between Northern and Southern hemispheres, a new type of global civil war I suppose, and without fully going into the details of the lackluster plot, the ship is infected with an organism called ARK. And being a RE ripoff, it's a biological entity spawning mutant zombies and other monstrosities to contend with as you roam about the ship, finding keys/cards to unlock further progress. Structurally, it was very similar to its inspiration, although lacking the number of puzzles from that series. The controls were of the tank variety as well, and they functioned as they should, with both the pluses and minuses of such a control scheme. This type of control method isn't for everyone, and they can be a bit slippery and awkward, but they suit the genre and the perspective, and if you have a bit of patience, they are no barrier to enjoyment. Making progress is pretty satisfying, like with other examples of this genre, as you gradually uncover more of the environment and reveal more of the story. The backgrounds are not pre-rendered here, but they're decent enough, if lacking artistic flair. Despite being real-time, the traditionally fixed camera angles remain. You also have an arsenal including a pistol, a machine gun, bombs, a grenade launcher and an energy weapon that has unlimited ammo, a weapon which functioned, in practice, like the knife from Resident Evil, allowing you to be conservative with ammo - great for all the hoarders out there. Ammo was plentiful, however, but I still used the energy weapon as often as possible, *just in case* you know, ha. There was also an environmental scanning tool which functioned both as an item locator and an indicator of potential threats. If you pointed the scanner ahead, it would shift to first person, and any beings in the field of view could be identified as dangerous or safe. They tried to add a little of "The Thing" flavor it seems, but it wasn't utilized to great effect or even useful outside a couple of encounters. The music provided some decent mood with a few relatively spooky pieces, although it never really excelled at creating an intense aural "space" for things.

The graphics in the game, while passable technically, were a little too dark, and not in a moody sort of way. They just weren't as vibrant as I would have liked. The voice acting was really bad. It was awful, but not in the awful-good way, more in the awful-awful way. It may be a fine line, but there was a charm missing from the terrible and flat deliveries, making it less camp and more just poor voice. The boss fights were also boring as things were simple point and shoot affairs generally. The worst problem was the ship layout. It was very unintuitive with no uninterrupted navigation within floors, often requiring descending and ascending ladders that led to where you wanted to go as you switched between one floor to get where you were going on another. Overall navigation was just poorly designed and felt awkward much of the time. There was also a fair bit of backtracking, not only because of the awkward layout but also just because of the structure progression. Carrier certainly wasn't a bad game, and I had some fun with it. Because of my, admittedly limited, experience with the now-defunct Jaleco, I had modest expectations going in, but because of my soft spot for the formula and because it was decent fun most of the time and an adequate clone of that gaming archetype, it's a 3/5. With a little more skill and personality, it could have elevated itself. It had a serviceable helping of the nuts and bolts, but was missing the grease to assemble things smoothly. It's *bland* Resident Evil, and that's still not too bad. Worth a play for genre fans or the curious.

21) Kind Words (PC)







During a Steam sale in early ‘23, I picked up a game called Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to). It was on my wishlist because I found the premise very appealing. Essentially, it’s just a glorified messaging app, but it has a focus on exchanging short-form requests and advice or comfort in random fashion. (You are only identified by a single initial.) It's a digital “shoulder to lean/cry on” sort of experience, and if you're in a good place, you share your advice or “kind words” and if you're in need, you can make requests to which inspired random users will send you letters that you receive through your little bedroom window, delivered in the mouth of the game's tutorial figure, a mail giraffe. All of these requests and letters of comfort are limited to just a few lines. (up to 14 for answering others), and I think that was a good choice as limiting things forces the “players” to condense things to their essential elements. I both sent out some requests as well as answering tons of others' pleas for assistance. It's not that I felt so qualified to tell others what to do, but it felt good to offer comfort or a different perspective where it might have been of use. And in terms of the handful of requests I sent out, it was quite liberating and cathartic, sharing and receiving in this anonymous fashion. I sent out a few more requests than I genuinely felt the need for because it was a really nice feeling to get a caring letter delivered from some stranger in this context. It was also interesting to see the responses you got from others if you put out a request for advice or feedback. I put out one that was purposefully a bit cryptic that said, “Please tell me I can do it.” because I wanted to see what types of responses I got - a bit of a sociological experiment to entertain my own curiosities. One individual assumed I was talking about suicide, which was curious, but a potential interpretation. It's always interesting to see how what people assume tells you a lot about themselves. You can also attach stickers to every letter you send, and these function (when given to you) as unlockable objects for the various rooms you can use as your backdrop. It was fun to fill out the various albums and see your rooms get fleshed out with these little rewards for participation. There are also, as mentioned in the title, some 'lo-fi beats' to help you get lost in that chill and helpful mindset. These varied in quality, but most were pretty appropriate to the intended mood. The overall vibe was just very positive. I was surprised at how the overall community was so exceedingly upbeat, and I encountered only an isolated instance or two of some trolling or nonsense. Granted, there is a “reporting” feature that allows users to call the admin police on the ribble-rabble, but there was an obviously genuine and helpful vibe to most everything and every encounter I had, even if their words were more or less resonant with me personally. I could have played it for free via the Humble Trove since I'm a subscriber, but I wanted to reward such efforts because I feel that this sort of thing is definitely worthwhile. As the saying goes, “better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Little things can accumulate and make a difference in a very “kaizen” fashion, and this little corner of positivity is a welcome addition and intersection of gaming and personal values for me. It's not really much of a “game” in the traditional sense, but I did find it addictive and soothing in a hopeful way, and returned often for the opportunity to read a few requests and share some positive vibes. Everything was very cozy, and just a worthwhile experience that went beyond simple entertainment, and I really appreciated what it was trying to do, not to mention simply enjoying myself. Despite not being much of a "game", and not necessarily “fun” or engaging in the way I typically think of game software, it nonetheless had a value and appeal that makes it worthwhile and appreciated from my perspective. We could all use a little positivity and if we opted to engage in such interactions more frequently, I think the world would be a better place. 3/5

20) Crash Twinsanity (PS2)







As I moved into the middle of 2023 and had been taking a break from my time with gaming for a brief spell, I realized that I needed to take action in order to maintain a tradition I've kept going for many years. Since I picked up that iconic black monolith of gaming goodness at the midnight launch date, I've played at least one PS2 game each year since. Of course, I've played *many* of the consoles entries in many subsequent years since that launch, but I've also had years where I've only played a single title to keep that tradition alive. Looking at what might scratch my gaming itch, I picked up Crash Twinsanity and gave it a spin.

I always enjoyed the PS1 franchise as developed by Naughty Dog. The platformers were always good fun and the spin-off, Crash Team Racing, was the real gem of the PS1 bunch, strangely enough, and the only series entry to land in my personal gaming hall of fame. But being a platformer fan and in the mood, I thought I'd give a non-Naughty Dog work in the series a try to see what was what. Developed by Traveller's Tales, predominantly known for the myriad Lego games, I expected a functional title at the bare minimum, and that was, more or less, what I got.

First, the good. I thought that TT did a nice job translating the look of the series into 3D. The worlds were colorful and kept the flavor of the earlier PS1 entries pretty well in the transition. There were a decent amount of areas to traverse, from beaches, snowy areas...you know the drill. It wasn't huge in terms of scope, but I wasn't disappointed with the overall variety visually. Twinsanity also incorporated an interesting twist narratively that saw Crash and Neo Cortex forced to work together. Mingling their personalities as reluctant collaborators resulted in some comedic moments, often with Neo taking the brunt of some abuse, either from Crash or the environments. It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, but there were some chuckles to be had, and the voice work of series' characters has always been well-done. The story itself wasn't as interesting unfortunately, centering on a young Dr. Cortex having conducted an experiment on his childhood pet birds that ultimately gave them super intelligence, which bit him and the rest of the Crashverse in the butt. The premise was fine, but it was mostly throwaway and the narrative was less successful than the isolated comedic themes and moments of abuse suffered by the evil doctor. And in terms of mechanics, it mostly controlled well and was a pretty satisfying example of the genre. (more on some issues in a bit) There were also several bosses, but it was all the same pattern based stuff you've seen many times before. They were fine, but not in any way exceptional or noteworthy.

In terms of sound, things were interesting. The soundtrack was...odd. It had a spooky, darkly comic, circus-like feeling oftentimes and was just strange. I liked some pieces and appreciate that it was different, but it's certainly outside the “norms” for what I expect in terms of mascot platformer music. As a result, the atmosphere was much different than typical Crash. Again, it wasn't bad, it just felt a little bizarre, even if some pieces were really enjoyable, taken in isolation. I could see this aspect being pretty polarizing, particularly for the music / sound lovers playing.

Typical of the genre and series, there are plenty of collectibles if you've got that itch to get it all. Personally, this entry didn't have that sort of pull for me. Some of the platforming was pretty awkward with the lack of a good camera for navigating more precise jumping sequences. You could usually (but not always) manipulate the camera, but it was often hard to gauge where you were landing exactly. Crash felt a little disconnected from the environment at times, with loose and slippery placement on jumps/landing. It wasn't tight like I want in a good platformer. It was always doable, just not always done with finesse. Another element I didn't particularly like was the fact that there was no impact or visual feedback for some deaths. It felt strange to not have that sort of event conveyed with more “pop”. You bumped into something and you were just dead. There were also some segments where you were given control of (2) other characters. Neo Cortex's stages were just not fun. He (NC) moves too slowly and his gun targeting is a mess. Couple that with the forced running into the camera sections, and it was just an unfun chore. Thankfully, they weren't overly long sections, and the idea was that the three controllable characters would eventually have to work together to overcome the menace from Neo's Frankenstein birds. But despite the interesting idea, the game was best when controlling Crash, which was thankfully the bulk of the experience. (The other playable character also played better than Dr. Cortex, yet was still not a highlight.)

In the end, Twinsanity didn't really reach the best of the series heritage (the ND entries). It was decent fun, but didn't really engender too much enthusiasm from me, having watched the credits roll. Still worth a play for series and genre fans, but it's about as middling as you can get, all elements considered. Yet my love for the genre resulted in me having some fun as platformers are usually a bit of gaming comfort food for me. 3/5 (At least it gets credit for helping me maintain my annual PS2 tradition, and that's even more appropriate given the name of this little community.)

19) Orcs & Elves (DS)








There are a few dedicated devices in the history of gaming that I consider to have truly deep and diverse libraries. The PS2 is the first that comes to mind, but the Nintendo DS is right there in that same category - just an ocean of titles in so many different genres...and of varying degrees of quality. Dipping my toes a little deeper into the depths of the DS, I found myself in the waters of a title called Orcs & Elves, a first-person, turn-based dungeon crawler developed by id, no less. The odd marriage of this genre and developer was enough to pique my curiosity by itself, not to mention the fact that the DS isn't overflowing with titles of this kind. There are the Etrian Odysseys and some others, but it's not over-represented on the hardware. But good dungeon crawlers are worth the time to me, and with the pedigree of the developer, I figured I'd have decent odds of a good time.

The story centers on tensions between a dwarven culture and a conflict with orcs and other baddies that are ultimately, of course, led by a singular *real* baddie. We learn of the history of this conflict via conversations with ghosts of these dwarves that reside in the central area of said conflict - a mountain which you must descend from its peak down into the guts and nether regions as you seek out the primary enemy and attempt to avenge the tragedy befallen king Brahm and his civilization. It's not a particularly compelling narrative in terms of delivery. It's just text boxes with largely forgettable dialogue, although I did appreciate attempts at tossing in some humor along the way.

But the essence of a good dungeon crawler isn't necessarily in the narrative, but in the nuts and bolts, the mechanics and combat. This is not a party based "blobber", rather you are a singular protagonist who is also aided along the way by a sentient and talking magical staff. In the course of your journeys, you deal with a variety of enemy types with their own unique weaknesses and strengths that, in theory, must be considered and countered in order to avert death. In practice, the game was quite easy until the very end, requiring little depth of strategy. To be fair, I played on normal and there are two difficulties above that which offer additional challenge if desired. I expected normal to be a little tougher than it was, but it did ramp up a bit towards the conclusion, if not to a serious degree. I appreciated that you are given a score upon completion, a score which I assume calculates how efficient you were on your quest. The game tracks all sorts of stats, so I'm sure the formula for calculating that final score may be more involved than the player knows. But it's always nice when there's that carrot on a stick to push you to be better if you're enjoying a game. There are also secrets on every level of the mountain, most of which are found by pressing "action" upon walls. It sounds more torturous than it is, however, due to the fact that the map kind of shows you where you might expect to find something due to the grayed out areas beyond the walls of the rooms you're in. There are a variety of weapons, potions, rings and the like, all of which alter your approach to the game. Many of the best things are obtained by trading with a greedy dragon who also resides within the mountain. You can negotiate for the price of purchase, and the dragon is more or less forgiving to your offers based on its mood, which is presumably affected by your actions. Overall, the turn-based combat was fun, if a bit more simple than I would have preferred.

The graphics were acceptable, given the hardware. There was sometimes a garish mixing of color and varying quality of enemy and environmental design, but everything was visually coherent and distinct. The sound was a mixed bag. It was often silent. There were a few pieces of music that were decent and there were some nice environmental sounds sometimes, but the overall atmosphere could have used some more sound effects and mood more frequently. What was there was pretty good, I just wish there was more of it. I didn't enjoy the fact the most all the npcs were repeated character models. It felt lazy and diminished my investment in what any of them had to say, since they may as well have been a single individual. Also, its mobile phone roots are somewhat apparent in that it doesn't have the depth and complexity of many genre entries you may be familiar with on PC. It's fine in all that it does, it's just a bit shallow given expectation a genre fan might have going in.

How did I feel about Orcs & Elves overall? Well, it's one of those games that you enjoy to play while you're playing it, but it just doesn't leave a mark once you've put it down. It was well-made for the most part and decent fun, but just not super exciting, in the end. It was another one of so many average games that are surely fun, but don't exactly get your juices flowing. Worth playing, but not a title to really remember. Average game. I feel comfortably numb. (queue up Pink Floyd!) 3/5.

18) Metroid Prime Pinball (DS)





When it comes to series spin-offs and genre mash-ups, few could be more obvious than the combination of Metroid and pinball. You've already got Samus in her morph ball form ready to take the role...roll (pun intended?) of the pinball, and so with that intuitive connection, you're off and running, er, rolling. I will say right off the bat that I prefer real, “physical” pinball - even in its digital recreations to purely video game pinball with its looser connection to real world physics and traditional interactions, so Samus had a bit of a mission to accomplish before she even curled up into her spheroid form for me here. The first thing that matters to me in pinball, either real, virtual-real, or pure video game, is that the physics feel right and responsive. And I was pleased in this regard. The movement of the “ball” is snappy and fluid, with appropriate caroms and interactions with this virtual world. The only minor issue is that the ball felt a little light and was missing a heavier gravity that would have made things more punchy at times. But overall, things were consistent and enjoyable in the manipulation of the ball relative to the various environmental objects. There are also plenty of ramps and loops to accumulate skill shots. And there are a variety of modes within tables, both traditional and more gamified situations where Samus unrolls and shoots at encroaching enemies familiar to the series. The first table we're introduced to - the Talon Overworld board was impressive, in particular due to the thematic consistency with the Prime series. The music was ripped directly from those games and it was a wonderful feeling to return to the mood that lives firmly in my memory in one of my all-time favorite game series. And the general homage to those games was in full force as you encountered so many familiar elements and environments, from morph ball bombs, missiles, enemies and bosses, sound effects, artifacts and so on. The main issue I encountered was in terms of content. There are two main tables available for high score play at the outset as well as a mission-based mode where you attempt to collect artifacts and move from table to table. You can also unlock a handful of other tables in this mode. However, the new “tables” weren't traditional chase-your-high-score boards, rather, they were boss fights where you tried to dispatch familiar enemies as quickly as possible. These were pretty uninspired, brief and easy and wouldn't constitute “real” tables from this pin fan's point of view. It's nice that they tried to add a little more to the experience, but what we're left with in the end is two main tables that play quite similarly to each other and one of which had some annoying low-rent hard rock tracks inexplicably and annoyingly playing over things. It sat at harsh odds against the Talon Overworld board with its memorable and familiar tunes. But the biggest shortcoming here is simply in relative terms. I've played a lot of pinball in my life, and there's some brilliant boards out there that are endlessly replayable - even in digital form. Metroid Prime Pinball, while good, just failed to approach the heights of the format. I suppose I'm forever spoiled by FarSight's glorious digital renditions of classic real world tables, but that's the world I live in, and while MPP is adequate to good, it's not something with serious legs for a pinball aficionado. Worth a few rounds to see what's on offer and maybe chase a really high score for your own satisfaction, but otherwise, there's much better digital pinball out there, as much as it pains me to say so being a huge Metroid Prime fan. But I'm still happy this natural conjunction of form came into being, and maybe one day we'll get a truly excellent version of these natural bedfellows. But for now, this will have to suffice. 3/5.