Izzy's 2019 Gaming Year in Review

[isthatallyougot]

Ok, I'm certainly not completely finished with this, so I'll add to it as I go. Hopefully I won't be too slow.

Before I start with the countdown proper, I did have a few replays, so I guess I'll go ahead and start on those first. I don't rank them in my yearly rankings (just my all-time rankings) if I've already played them before.

Replay #1:

Tecmo Super Bowl 2020 (NES/PC)



Back when I was younger, I wasn't the fanatical gamer that I eventually grew to become. I had an Atari 2600 and then a Commodore 64, both of which I really loved when I was really young. And then as I got a little older, I had an NES and a Genesis, but this was a period in my life where I could have most certainly been classified as a casual gamer. If I played anything at all it was sporadically, and it was either a sports title or something that was incredibly popular like Super Mario Bros. which was impossible to overlook. I didn't read gaming magazines - did they even exist back then? I would occasionally wander into a store and peruse the game section while knowing nothing about the games I was looking at other than the box art, and I would usually leave without buying or even being really interested in anything I saw. I spent most of my free time playing real basketball and tennis along with social activities and schooling. Gaming was a true side dish, at best for me.

But one day I remember walking into a mall and going to either a dedicated game store or a bigger store with a game department - I don't remember any more. But what I saw in that store is unforgettable, and it is something that had a big part in changing who I was as a person, contributing significantly to how I would choose to spend my free time as an adult and helping to cultivate what has (obviously) become a real passion of mine. I saw - on the shelf - a game called Tecmo Super Bowl. There was a man in a New York Giants uniform on the front and there was the NFL logo! My heart started racing a bit. Up until this point, games were simply generic sports games without any official ties to professional sports leagues. (I was unaware at the time of the Atlus-developed NFL Football which came out a couple of years prior.) What was this?!? A video game that is tied to the real NFL? Could it be. As I flipped over the back of the box my pupils dilated and I started feeling flush. All 28 NFL teams! Team stats and data! You can play a season from the pre-season to the playoffs! Real players and team logos! Oh my. I'm sure my knees buckled as I confirmed my purchase. I remember walking back to my car and opening the box immediately. I could not wait to see what awaited inside. I know that this was an impactful moment because I still remember so vividly being utterly absorbed in the manual. I must have sat in that parking lot for 30 minutes or more just trying to comprehend the awesome before me.

And thankfully, the actual game lived up to the initial impressions and feelings of shock. It's got such an intoxicating blend of fun with just enough of a nod towards realism that it doesn't lose you. I love deeper sports sims as well, but Tecmo really nailed the fun here - something they were never really able to duplicate from what I've experienced. Everything just came together in a moment of perfection, and because of that this game is still played religiously today. I have long known about the community that keeps the rosters and teams up to date, and it's been in the back of my mind forever to go back and play this with a current coat of paint, and that's just what I finally did this year. I was finally able to play this classic with my beloved Panthers and take them to the promised land. And as fun as the single player is, this game shines best in multiplayer with an intoxicating blend of arcade sensibilities and just the right amount of strategy and luck. It really is, for me, an unequivocal all-time classic. A 5/5 to that young guy hyperventilating in the parking lot, and a 5/5 to this middle-aged man still playing.

[isthatallyougot]

Replay #2

God of War III



The games that I consider classics in my personal hall of fame are there for many different reasons. Most great games have their own unique strengths that appeal in distinct and varied ways. In the case of the God of War franchise, and in this particular instance - God of War III, that strength is spectacle and focus of tone. Most all of us have a graphics whore somewhere within, a AAA snob that revels in simply being entertained, even if it's buried very deep and only surfaces on rare occasion. And despite how much I love nuance and depth of mechanics and systems, sometimes I find it thrilling to simply be blown away with audio-visual intensity and mastery. In this regard God of War III simply incinerates the retinas and bursts the tympanic membranes. The locales, characters, animations, incredible art, brutality, and thumping soundtrack all pulse with an energy that gets me revved up and eager to step into the shoes of a god slayer. I want to embody Kratos, so absorbing is the presentation for me.

And few games manage such a singular tone and vision as the rage and vengeance of the tale and character of Kratos. I know some think the character tedious or offensive, but I find a beautiful simplicity to his nature. Sure you could reduce him to a basic anti-hero, or maybe just a plain villain, depending on your point of view. But for me, that misses the inescapable duality of all things, the yin/yang complexity of all beings and circumstances. Yes, he'll kill anything in his way. He's without conscience, savage and just utterly ruthless. He will get what he wants at all costs. But the sliver of light within that darkness is his strength of purpose. He has an absolutely indomitable will and exists almost as a force of nature. He will not be stopped and I find that singular vision and focus to be somewhat redeeming and most certainly entertaining. He has a direction and he will not be moved off course even if it means circumventing death itself. I know some would deride God of war as a simple power fantasy, and I say, what's wrong with that? We're all pretty helpless in the grand scheme of things, and it can be incredibly cathartic to fantasize about breaking free of our shackles and rising above our challenges. Kratos is an unstoppable rebel who will not allow circumstance to overcome him. He is anti-establishment to the nth degree, toppling gods in his quest for his own sense of justice. Power fantasy - yes, and I have no shame in surrendering to it. Life is better with fantasy in my opinion.

No game is free of room to improve, no matter how much you might love it, and God of War does some things that can be frustrating at times. The platforming in the series has never been very good. It's awkward and feels as if little attention was given to it. And while I love all the dvd/blu-ray style extras with all the videos and things, I have to say that the challenges aren't really well-designed or very well balanced. They're more annoying than fun. And the combat itself is nowhere near top-shelf character action gaming. It's adequate, but if you're looking for depth and lots of flexibility and subtlety, you'll have to look elsewhere. But those things don't really detract from the overall fun here. God of War is a great series, and the third entry is a wonderful climax to the legend of Kratos. 5/5.

[isthatallyougot]

Replay #3

The Pinball Arcade (PC)



Whether or not pinball qualifies for the category of "video game" aside, I adore the activity. And in the case of The Pinball Arcade, I'm playing with controller in-hand in front of a monitor, so for me, I'll count it. This collections has (well, had, but I still own them) so many recreations of great classic tables from the arcades. They are all lovingly recreated by Farsight, despite some quality control issues resulting in some bugs. But the art-work, sounds, and feel of the many tables are all incredibly well done. Virtual pinball won't ever perfectly recreate the feeling of a real table, but this is about as good as it gets. It will always remain in my rotation. 5/5.

Ok, that's the last replay. I'll start my countdown of games soon, hopefully.

[isthatallyougot]

#42 Who's Your Daddy (PC)



Curiosity got the best of me here. I think this was a toss-in in some humble bundle - I know I didn't willingly pay for it anyway. Here you have a game with a set of challenges in a dad vs baby arena, the family home. As the dad you've got cleaning chores, clean the pool or clean the poop where you have to find and discard all the stray poops in the house. (Doesn't this baby wear a diaper?) As the baby you are tasked with doing harmful things that would hurt you and / or annoy the dad - things like eat the batteries, drink the bleach, etc. You are supposed to try and do all these activities as fast as you can, with a timer and high-score keeping being your carrot-on-a-stick. And if I were to offer the faintest of praise, I suppose the music could be worse, and the game was so bad that it didn't take much time to dismiss it. I guess in premise, it has a bit of potential at least in the way of humor, but the controls, my god the controls. Just wretched. I can only imagine whoever made this has virtually zero experience in game development. If not, they should be ashamed and find a new career. You get stuck on everything, the camera is really bad. Everything is just an absolute chore, no pun intended. It's incredibly rare that I hand out a 1/5, as I can almost always find some redeeming qualities worth pushing it up to a 2/5, but this abomination earns its badge of dishonor. Putrid. 1/5.

#41 Contrast (PS4)



I always like to keep my gaming plate full of side dishes. There are the staples - the games that I know I'll love and really get lost in, but I also like to cleanse my palate and develop appreciation for new tastes with as many exotic experiences as I can. Thankfully with Humble Bundle, Steam Sales, GOG and PS+, I never run out of flavors to taste. With so many options to explore, I sometimes like to just blindly pull random things from the pile and see how they fare. This was how I approached Contrast by developer Compulsion Games - who also later developed We Happy Few, which I have not played. The main gameplay hook revolves around blending into the background as a shadow, using and manipulating (via in-game light sources) environmental shadows so that they can function as platforms for your shadow self in order to move to otherwise unreachable areas. It was a novel concept and props to the developer for doing something a bit different. There was a story tying all the traversal together, but I found it to be cloying, rather poorly acted, and just not very interesting. I also found the platforming itself to be clumsy and tedious with a selection of uninspired puzzles layered atop the problematic mechanics. Actually the thing I liked the most about the game was the jazz tune that played on the title screen. Had I known how I would ultimately have felt about this one, I would have just listened to the tune a few times and uninstalled. I did finish it, despite the progressively annoying feeling that accompanied my time with the game however. It wasn't very long, and it wasn't really worth playing in retrospect. A 2/5.

[jfissel]

42 games?!?!

[isthatallyougot]

42 games?!?!

Well, technically 45 if I count the replays.

#40 Crash Bash (PS1)



Having enjoyed Sony's unofficial PS1 mascot, Crash Bandicoot, on that amazing console, I thought I'd give an entry in the franchise I hadn't experienced a chance to impress. I've never been much into the mini-game compilations. I've only played one entry in the Mario Party franchise - MP10 for the WiiU, and I found it mediocre at best. And I didn't really plan on playing Crash Bash in multiplayer, which is asking a game in this genre to excel in ways that aren't its natural strengths. However, there was a single player campaign mode, so I don't think it's unfair to review this on those merits.

Of course the typical Crash vibe is there for the most part, despite being developed by now-defunct Eurocom. I'm sure they had access to whatever they needed to bring the proper presentation to this party game. And the structure and tone are very reminiscent of Naughty Dog's work with this character. There are hub worlds with trophies, gems and crystals to collect along with bosses to fight and an overarching narrative centering on a contest between Aku Aku and Uka Uka over the determining the stronger force between good and evil. Everything seemed very "Crash-ish", and I was excited to dig in.

...However. The mini-games just weren't that fun. Some were better than others, but overall they just felt very uninspired, and too many of them were slight variants of the same few games. I'm sure it's more fun in multiplayer, but honestly having experienced the games on offer, I think it would probably be only marginally so. I won't go into great detail because it's really not worth the extra time. If you're curious, pick it up, but I would keep expectations modest. Bad Bandicoot. 2/5.

#39 The Stanley Parable (PC)



I may not be the right target audience for The Stanley Parable. I'm not particularly enamored with somewhat pretentious, meta, non-game experiences for the most part. I mean, it's possible that they can be done well, but I just usually end up wishing for a more traditional gaming experience with more interaction. However, I knew that The Stanley Parable was well-loved, and I thought why not? You arrive inside a soul-crushing office atmosphere where you are a character that simply pushes buttons on his computer according to prompts-given, and you do this all-day, everyday according to the introductory narrative. Knowing this, coupled with the pretty authentic drab office environments presented here, is enough to immediately place anyone who's ever worked in an office setting (me) and did not feel at home in that environment into a place of unease. I think the effect may have been less impactful for someone who enjoys office work or who has never worked in such a place. In this Parable, you are immediately introduced to a narrator that who is now telling you what you should do - strangely enough given the idea from the introduction that you were simply following keyboard prompts continuously. Of course, here's where the gist of the game comes into play. You can now free yourself from your instruction, if you wish, and see different things. The narrator is the quick-talking, sharp-witted, Monty Python British-type, which I have no problem with, but it did add an extra layer of pretentiousness for me. The bigger problem is that, like many experiences of this type, there just isn't really much game here at all. You're supposed to be impressed with the commentary the game is making, but I want to play something interesting, not just be shown how witty a game (thinks it) can be. There was a lukewarm payoff for exiting the stuffy office - were you to make your way to that ending, one of several in this very brief pseudo-game, but it just wasn't enough for me to be able to give this a recommendation. I'm standing outside the crowd on this one. A 2/5.

#38 Knack (PS4)



Having heard a fair bit of apathy towards Knack, I admittedly went into it a bit skeptical, but still hopeful. I don't let the chorus of the crowd sway me in my personal experience. If a game is enjoyable to me, the whole world can hate it for all I care. And I do enjoy mascot platformers very much when they're done well. And even if they aren't spectacular, it's a genre that I can usually enjoy if things are at least competent in their execution. I will say that Knack was technically adequate. Things looked crisp and solid, and everything moved fine. The controls were responsive enough, and I didn't find myself fighting with them.

However, that's about all the praise I am willing to surrender to Knack. In terms of presentation, the graphics sit in a really weird place, walking a line between whimsical and serious, not falling firmly in either category. And while technically competent, oh my did I find things to be artistically rather poor. The main character was composed of lots of little floating bits that looked really messy and unappealing to me, and to make things worse had an uninteresting personality. In terms of the action, everything was just tedious. Despite being responsive, the enemies attacks, along with Knack's cumbersome movement, just left a lot to be desired. They worked fine, but they were most definitely not fun or exciting in any way. If I were to sum up the essence of my time with Knack in a single word it would be "dull". There is just nothing exciting about it. Granted I didn't play the whole game, but I gave it a few chapters to impress - probably a couple of hours in total - and all I wanted to do during that time was play something else. There's just no charm or entertainment here. There are worse games out there, but Knack isn't worth my time. 2/5.

[isthatallyougot]

#37 No One Can Stop Mr. Domino (PS1)



Part of what I love about the PS1 generation is the fact that things were awkward and experimental in the transition from 2D to 3D. It was like the Wild West of gaming where everyone just kind of had to figure things out in this lawless land. That led to a great deal of creativity in this environment where the "best" methods weren't established and so heavily relied upon from concept through development. The result is that there were many titles with a very unique, one-of-a-kind feel. So it is with No One Can Stop Mr. Domino, a game where you embody the role of a living domino who is trying to set up domino chains in order to trigger certain tiles on the floor so that you can clear a set of 6 levels in puzzle fashion. There are tiles to slow you down, speed you up, trip you, get in your way and a pretty large variety of other effects. There are also tiles in the environment that, when triggered by your falling dominoes, will effect other elements, causing things to land on your "board" which can continue a chain of already placed dominoes. You can really set up a long complex Rube Goldberg of sorts, which is satisfying to see unfold. Conceptually and in terms of presentation, I thought it was really interesting and unique.

Unfortunately, the isometric perspective made switching to the right lane on the ground pretty awkward at times which really diminished my enjoyment. Time limits/stamina also felt too strict. It felt like you had to spend your time figuring out the perfect run in order to complete levels most of the time, and I didn't find that to be very fun. And if you do know what to do, the game can be beaten in under an hour, although figuring things out on your own in order to set up the perfect chains would likely take a while. To be fair, puzzle games are not my favorite genre, despite really enjoying some entries, and I did very much respect the creativity and personality Artdink brought to the table with Mr. Domino. But I play games to have good time, not to acknowledge creativity that doesn't personally resonate with me. I just didn't really enjoy this game as much as I wish I did. I'm sure for some, it would be fantastic, but for me, it's a 2/5.

#36 Rule of Rose (PS2)



I love survival horror in all its various flavors from the super dark and serious to the more campy genre entries. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I suppose there's just something about me that is drawn to the shadows. Despite my love, there are many titles I've yet to experience in this interesting genre, but I continue to go back to earlier offerings as well as sample the latest. I had long been interested in Rule of Rose, a title that is known for its mixed reception but probably more so for its rarity and "collectibility". And it has been sitting in my backlog for years, so I finally decided to give it a chance.

I try to remain as spoiler free as possible, even for games that I'm not particularly drawn to just in case I play them at some point. So I knew little about Rule of Rose other than the fact that it seemed to have creepy little girls as the character vehicles. In fact the narrative revolves around a collection of children of both genders, although the primary players are girls - mean, twisted little girls. That fact alone makes Rule of Rose fairly unique, and I have to give credit for being a bit different in that regard. The exploration of children's tendency to embrace cruelty is fertile ground for a work of horror, and could offer some genuine and disturbing content.

Unfortunately, I say "could offer" because I sadly found Rule of Rose to lack any real sense of fright in the end. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that the jazzy soundtrack, while not poor in isolation, doesn't suit the mood I look for in a scary game. It's off-beat and twisted, but without the darkness attached. It never contributed to any sense of dread or built an ominous atmosphere for me, and sound design is crucial for my enjoyment, and especially so within this genre. With that crucial strike already against it, the burden fell upon the gameplay to pick up the slack, and rather than doing the heavy lifting to compensate, it stumbled as well. Movement was slow and cumbersome, The combat was very awkward and clunky, something that isn't necessarily uncommon within the genre, but it's a notch below the modest expectations I already afford survival horror titles. And the camera work was poor. The regularly shifting perspectives that don't acknowledge continuity of controller stick direction and engagement caused awkward and disorienting movement through the environments at times. Finally, while the narrative may have had some dark themes and events, the presentation of those themes never landed with the intensity that matched the concepts. Everything ended up feeling more hokey than terrifying, despite its darker moments and in contrast to its intent. All things combined, Rule of Rose was lacking the sinister tone or sense of menace you might find in Silent Hill, Fatal Frame and the like, and it was also lacking the fun of classic Resident Evil and its ilk. It just didn't have any strengths that were strong enough for me to give a recommendation. I know there are some who really love it, but despite my affinity for the genre, I struggle to see what they appreciate. Subpar and a regrettable 2/5.

#35 One Piece Mansion (PS1)



One Piece Mansion by Capcom, not to be confused with the anime of similar name, is a quirky puzzle game where you play a landlord who must manage the satisfaction of the tenants so that you collect more rent as well as build more space (and elevators) to house more tenants. The crux of the game is that all the tenants - represented by connected and movable apartment cubes - influence the neighbors around them in positive or negative ways and sometimes both. The type of influence is represented by positive (green) arrows and negative (red) arrows. Tenants can have a multitude of arrows pointing in all four cardinal points as well as at angles. If tenants get too stressed by aggravating (red arrow) neighbors, they will vacate and you will lose income. If you reach zero dollars, it's game over. There are also a variety of "bully" tenants that can move in and cause all sorts of disruption which you must account for by chasing them throughout the building and blowing your whistle to stop their mischief. There are also bosses that appear across the games 7 stages which can be dispatched by raising their stress levels in the same way other occupants see their levels raised. In essence, you are just placing and moving boxes around to prevent negative meters from rising with the backdrop of housing to give flavor. The nuts and bolts were serviceable if not particularly compelling, and the presentation was off-beat and felt very Japanese. The whole thing can be beaten pretty quickly, although there is an endless mode if you wish to further your investment. Overall, I thought it was pretty decent. It's certainly not in the must-play category in the vast PS1 library, but you could do worse. A soft 3/5.

[isthatallyougot]

#34 What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4)



What Remains of Edith Finch was a title that had received significant praise, and a part of me can see the appeal. You return to the structurally whimsical house of your family heritage to explore the various rooms that had been suddenly abandoned at some point and relive the histories of the individual members of this long-cursed family. There is a lot of environmental story telling, and the house itself was really unique and fun to explore. Meeting the odd and tragic characters of the history of the Finch family had its moments, but overall I found it to be a rather forgettable experience. Nothing necessarily off-putting, it just didn't do anything remarkable for me. I will say that I am very pleased to have saved $20 thanks to this being offered in PS+ because I had considered getting it on Steam several times. It's brief, and there are worse time-wasters out there, but it doesn't have enough oomph to receive my recommendation. A lukewarm 3/5.

#33 Incredible Crisis (PS1)



I had an interest in Incredible Crisis for years. I knew it was a quirky game with a crazy story of a family that went through some insane scenarios, but I didn't know anything about the nuts and bolts of the game. I will say that the presentation certainly lived up to what I had imagined. There are some really outlandish circumstances that this family finds themselves going through, and from that standpoint, I really appreciated this title. From riding down the road in a gurney that had fallen out of an ambulance while trying to avoid oncoming traffic to trying to satisfy a sexy girl via massage that had gotten on a Ferris wheel with you (for some reason, lol), there are some humorous and silly events that really give the game a fun and enjoyably ridiculous feel. Unfortunately the execution of things left quite a bit to be desired for me. Some of the mini-games control quite poorly or awkwardly at least, and there is altogether too much button mashing for my tastes. If the actual mechanics were as compelling as the off-beat presentation, it could have been something really great, but as it is, I'm reluctant to wholeheartedly endorse it. The crisis was incredible, the gameplay not as much. Significantly better in concept than execution for this mildly disappointing, soft 3/5.

#32 Wild 9 (PS1)



From the Earthworm Jim developer, Shiny, Wild 9 was a sides-crolling platforming adventure released on the PS1 in September of 1998. You play the role of Wex Major, the California surfer sounding leader of the titular 9, who is on a quest with the other 8 to overthrow the evil Karn. Karn kidnaps every member of the group except for Wex, and he must rescue them on the way to his showdown with the focal point of this heroes journey. The game plays out on a 2.5d field where you move from platform to platform and dispatch enemies with your suit-mounted "rig" - an electrical arc sort of weapon that you can tether to baddies allowing you to torture, fling around and destroy them. You can also use this rig to attach to swing points that grant you to access higher areas than your normal jump would allow. In addition to the platforming stages there are some boss, chase and falling sequences that are interspersed in order to mix up the action. I found it to be graphically average and the game's primary grapple mechanic in the form of the rig was overused and became tedious in rather short order due to its limited utility and expression. I would have also appreciated more in-game narrative beats to push the action, as what we're left with pushes us to the manual for any sort of detail or context for the proceedings. It could also be confusing at times in terms of what platforms were accessible due to there being a bit of foreground/background elements to the navigation. Wild 9 certainly wasn't a bad game and it controlled well enough and did little to really offend. It just failed to make its presence felt. I've never played Earthworm Jim for comparison, but having played this it's not something I regret passing on back when it was fresh, in retrospect. It's in the low-mid tier of PS1 titles from my experience with the console's library. Perhaps worth giving a chance for the sake of curiosity, but I wouldn't recommend it were I restricted to the PS1 alone as a frame of reference, let alone in the larger context of the medium. Too many better options. A soft 3/5.

[isthatallyougot]

#31 Grow Home (PS4)



In Grow Home, your take on the persona of some sort of alien robot, and you are tasked with growing various plant shoots from the ground upwards towards your ship to return a seed of some sort. When you reach the plant buds, you can start the process of growing and connecting these stalks to various points needed in order to grow the plant upwards and progress. Each stalk when extended produces more buds, so it becomes possible to have a plant that is winding and twisting all over the place. There are also little crystals and other things to collect that can give you modest powers, like the ability to boost for a bit with your jump, but honestly they're not needed in order to progress and beat the game. The most enjoyable aspect of Grow Home was the sense of space and scale. The geometry is simple, allowing the engine to stretch and you can reach dizzying heights. I really found this aspect to be unique and enjoyable. I also felt a sense of satisfaction upon reaching new portals - terminals for fast travel on your journey upwards - because it's so easy to slip off and fall, which brings me to my biggest gripe. The controls can be really tedious and floaty. I've fallen many times while I'm sure I was gripping a surface. Perhaps my hand wasn't in position to grip, I don't know, but what I do know is that I felt very frustrated at times fighting with the game's interface. Couple that with a sometimes frustrating camera, and you can find yourself annoyed rather than having fun. However, the good here was good enough to see me back to the mothership in this brief adventure. In the end Grow Home was unique and did offer a fair bit of enjoyment, but it's not a must-play by any stretch. If you're curious, it won't take too much time to find out if it's worth it for you to make your way back home. A 3/5.

#30 Burly Men at Sea (PS4)



Have you ever wanted to hit the high seas in search of unknown adventures? Do you wish you were chunky and thickly-bearded? Well, I have good news for you - Burly Men at Sea may scratch those itches for you. BM@S is a short point and click adventure where you can set your sails into the unknown and see what you may find. It has an absolutely wonderful style. The minimalist art was striking. The music was great - whimsical and befitting a lighthearted set of adventures. The animations where well done. Granted you can "beat" the game in about 15-20 minutes, but that's only going out on a single adventure. If you want to see all the possible exploits of these burly men, you'll spend a couple of hours. I thought it was fun discovering the various paths and seeing what was possible for these three bearded and bulbous protagonists. I do have to acknowledge that there isn't really too much to it. It would have been nice to play something in this style with some more substance and meat on its bones (ironically). But, for what it was, I enjoyed it. Nowadays I wouldn't say I recommend any game I rate below a 4/5, and Burly Men is a soft 3/5 to me, but that's not to say it doesn't have merit. Give me something else in this style that I can really sink my teeth into and we'll talk.

#29 Onrush (PS4)



Finding myself in the mood for a racer, I picked up Onrush for the PS4. I knew little of the title other than it was developed by Codemasters who certainly have a fine pedigree within the genre, so I assumed it was a pretty safe bet that I would have a good time. I did enjoy the handling and fairly nice sense of speed on offer, and the tracks were large and wide, looking nice enough as well. There were also plenty of jumps to get your air on, and I always appreciate that sensation. What I learned after picking up the controller, however, is that this is not a traditional racer. It's more of a squad-based racer (with single player incorporation of AI teammates too) where you compete in non-traditional events to accumulate team points and earn victory in a variety of methods other than trying to make your way to the front of the pack against the field. In the way of example, "Lockdown" mode has you and your team trying to gain control of a moving zone by positioning yourself within its confines. The team that manages to maintain greatest control of the zone eventually wins the "race". It's always nice when a developer attempts innovation, but change doesn't always result in something better, in the end, and here I found myself missing the conventional "be the lead dog" type of racing. In addition to not really clicking with this twist on the genre, I found the presentation to be incredibly try-hard and overly edgy. It had the flavor of having been developed by a teen. It was so over the top that it almost felt tongue-in-cheek. If that was indeed the intention, they didn't make it clear enough to let the player in on the joke, and honestly I don't think it was satire at all - just cringe. Despite my issues with the game, it's certainly not awful. It's mechanically competent and has its good points, but for me there was just nothing to pull me in here, nothing that made me want to invest my time in any significant portion. Not bad, but for me, it's a tepid 3/5. Codemasters has proven that they are certainly capable of better.

[isthatallyougot]

#28 We Are Doomed (PS4)



I really love good twin-stick shooters. Dating back to Robotron, they can really be a great time when at their best, so I'm always willing to spin the wheel on one. We Are Doomed is a 2015 release that was sitting in my PS+ list, so I decided to try it out. The graphics are simple but colorful and effective, if a little too busy. The music is nicely done - maybe the best part of the experience. You can build up a super shot by collecting random drops that will give you a short-lived but powerful and screen extending are of attack. With some of the highs of this genre in the aforementioned Robotron (still great after all these years), Super Stardust, Dead Nation, and many others, however, you have to be quite special to stand out. In this case unfortunately we are doomed to mediocrity. It's not bad, but no reason to play it over better genre options. 3/5.

#27 Entwined (PS4)



Rummaging through the endless list of accumulated PS+ titles that rest in my maybe-I'll-play-it-one-day-but-no-big-deal-if-I-don't backlog, I stumbled upon Entwined. I knew very little about it, but for whatever reason, I found myself installing it. After having played the brief campaign I found it to be a combination of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, REZ and Tempest - the old arcade game. Let me clarify. You are tasked with manipulating both stick independently - an orange being, a fish I think, and a blue being which I believe was a bird of some kind. You have to line up these creatures with their respective colors - areas of color that are constantly changing in front of you. Sometimes the colors unite and you have to unite the two being in a shade of green. Other times the patches of color are moving which requires you to change your position relative to their ongoing movements, and sometimes both color areas are moving in different ways which becomes a sort of rub your belly while patting your head type of sensation. Some areas were more challenging that others, but it was pretty forgiving because the ultimate goal is to build up enough color through correct syncing with the onscreen color patches that the two disparate beings connect to open up an end level sort of majesty where you fly around united as one. You are only penalized a bit for missing, and you have unlimited (I assume) time to build up that connection again so that the two beings can unite. So it was like Brothers in that you were independently controlling actions with each stick. In terms of audiovisual presentation, I found it to be quite well done, and I thought it established an excellent mood. The visuals were bright, vivid and otherworldly and evoked the sensation I had while playing REZ or Child of Eden minus the "shooting". I really enjoyed the whole vibe established in Entwined. Thematically the idea of uniting to become one is a beautiful theme and I thought it handled the concept well. In terms of Tempest, I was reminded of that old arcade game because despite traveling forward and not shooting anything, you are really just moving around the circumference of a circle in the foreground. Despite enjoying it for what it was, it never reached the heights of REZ or Child of Eden for me. It was on the right track, but lacked some of the style that made those games a cut above. Also the conclusion of the last level had you searching for other flying beings to connect with your united being and they were very hard to locate and pace-ruining, even though the area was very small. I don't know who designed it, but it was very frustrating and soured me a bit on the overall experience. In the end, I did enjoy it, but it wasn't something that I would consider a must-play by any means. If you're in the mood for a brief mood piece, you could certainly do worse though. 3/5.

#26 Among the Sleep (PC)



In Among the Sleep, you inhabit the world of a toddler - a 2-year old who has just celebrated his birthday and received a teddy bear as a present. The first thing that deserves mention is the use of perspective and environmental cues to really place you in the role of a small child. I don't think I've ever played a game that has done this - not that I can remember anyway - and it's done very well here. As this little child, you find yourself in a sort of nightmare situation, for reasons that will eventually become apparent. You find yourself solving some soft puzzles related to your mother in some dark environments with an occasional appearance of a monster who you need to hide from. You can hug your teddy bear in order to provide light in darker places, and you can crawl in order to move faster. The whole experience is over rather quickly - 2 hours or so - and the biggest impact for me was in relation to the narrative itself. Without going into spoiler territory, I find it easy to empathize with a small, helpless child. I think it's a perspective that most can sympathize with, and here I really felt for this fictional being. It's not a great game, but it is unique and deserves props for that. I love things that push the borders of this medium, and despite my issues with length and the voice of the teddy bear - which I did not like - I thought this was pretty interesting. I can't give it more than a 3/5, but I don't regret playing it.

#25 Roll Away (PS1)



Have you ever wanted to be a beach ball in a world of puzzles? Well, Roll Away for the PS1 has you covered. I will freely admit as a sort of disclaimer that puzzle games are certainly not my favorite genre. It's not that I don't like puzzles within, or outside of, video games for that matter. It's just that when the entire focus of a game is on puzzles, I usually end up finding things tedious sooner or later. It takes a really special sort of puzzle game to maintain the sense of fun for me when that's the whole experience. I will immediately acknowledge that Roll Away is a good puzzle game...quite good. The presentation is slick with nice music, menus, sounds and has a very clean, minimalist look. The controls are snappy and responsive. And the puzzles themselves are often engaging, and grow to be pretty tough as they are thrown at you via a nice and gradual learning curve across the large number of challenges on offer. The nature of the puzzles requires you to collect keys and scoring tokens while avoiding traps and hazards as you hop and roll around various platforms floating in space. You need very good (virtual) spatial awareness oftentimes as things can quickly become disorienting as the difficulty ramps up. Overall, not knowing too much about this game before going in, I found it to be better, more involving and deeper than I was expecting. Having said that, it also fell prey to my personal gaming idiosyncrasies. I'm just very finicky are hard to please with regards to this genre. For me, it was a 3/5, but I could easily see someone who just loves puzzle games rating this much higher. I did enjoy myself, but not enough for a strong personal recommendation.