The Backlog Check-in Vol. 243: 8/27/22: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Saints Row

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Saints Row

Added: Saints Row

Haters and trolls just killed off the Netflix Resident Evil series. Being the outlier that I am, I liked the series. Sure it wasn’t very much like the Resident Evil games, but it was still a good horror/sci-fi series IMO. Now the haters and trolls are in the process of killing off the Saints Row series, I don’t see how it can survive with the amount of backlash and hate that the new game is receiving. It’s being deemed as the worst game of the year which is complete hyperbole. I’m not going to sit here and say that a lot of the complaints aren’t warranted because they are, but I will say that they’re exaggerated. It does have bugs, glitches and somewhat dated graphics and gameplay. The story and characters admittedly aren’t the best based on what I’ve played so far, but they’re also not bad or cringe.

The game isn’t a big budget AAA game, and $60 is admittedly a little much to ask for it based on its overall quality and production values. It’s definitely a AA game that shouldn’t be priced higher than $40 IMO. But despite all of that it’s still what I consider a good game, and I don’t regret buying it on day one for full price because I’ve been playing it every day since I bought it and enjoying it. It’s a throwback to older third person urban open world action games, and is just fun to play. I know that each time that I pick up the controller to play it that I’m going to have a good time, and that’s more important to me than a lot of other things when it comes to games.

I haven’t even played that many story missions yet, because I’m having fun just doing the different criminal ventures, side activities and side hustles out in the world as they lend themselves to some great unscripted gameplay moments. But the story missions that I’ve played have been good, some are actual levels that you play through and some take place out in the world.

Speaking of the world, it’s one of the things that the game deserves praise for because it’s one of the better ones that I’ve experienced in a game like this. It’s big, detailed and varied. It’s just fun to play in. It looks good too, especially the lighting. The game in general looks good, it might not be a technical marvel but it has an appealing art style.

The bottom line is that despite a lot of its shortcomings, the game isn’t nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be. It doesn’t deserve the hate that it’s been receiving, and it isn’t even close to being the worst game of the year. In fact, it’s one of the better games that I’ve played so far this year. But I’m an outlier, so that’s to be expected.

Games releasing this week
Amber City
Call of the Wild: The Angler
Chenso Club
Commandos 3 HD Remaster
Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed
The Dragoness: Command of the Flame
Dusk Diver 2
Fairy Elements
F1 Manager 22
Food Truck Tycoon
Galahad 3093
Galaxy Life
Gerda: A Flame in Winter
Gunfire Reborn - Visitors of Spirit Realm
How to Build a Magnificent Kingdom
Immortality
Inscryption
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
La Pucelle: Ragnarok
The Last of Us Part I
LEGO Brawls
Lost Light
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness
Medieval Apocalypse
Midair: Community Edition
Mondealy
Moonray
Murder on the Marine Express
MythBusters: The Game - Crazy Experiments Simulator
Neophyte
Onsen Master
Ooblets
ORX
Please, Touch the Artwork
Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 3
Restless Soul
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Scathe
Spooky Mansion Manager
Tank Mechanic Simulator VR
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
Tinykin
Train Life: A Railway Simulator
WW2 Rebuilder
ZOR: Pilgrimage of the Slorfs

[crimson_tide]

Played: Nothing.

Beat: Nothing.

Bought: My wife a bunch of **** from IKEA so she can finally clean this basement since we have been in this house over a year and there's still stuff everywhere.

This week: Who knows... she's still redecorating the basement where I play. She's now drilled holes in the walls to hide the wires she hates looking at and finally decided on wallpaper she insists on hanging .

So yeah. I hope to be gaming again this week but who knows? I didn't expect this to take more than a day when I bought the IKEA furniture. Which she insists on building alone. She does not have summers off like I do. So this process will take as long as it needs to at this point. The basement continues to be a mess. I love my wife.

[argyle]

Games added: Hot Wheels DLC for Forza Horizon 5

Last week: Finished nothing, played Xeno 3, Two Point Campus, & Forza Horizon 5

This week: The same, most likely.

I put pretty much my entire PSP collection up for sale over the past week, because I figure the odds of me ever playing another PSP game are pretty much zero. Now I'm starting to put up some of my PS2 games - some of those things have really shot up in value. There's some stuff I still won't let go of, like my Shadow Hearts games, the Suikodens, etc. But $100 for Under The Skin? Yeah, that's a no-brainer.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Psychonauts 2

Finished: Psychonauts 2

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 25 (24 PS4, 1 Vita)


I platinum'd Psychonauts 2 last night. What a fun ride that was. I'm pleased to say it's worthy sequel to the original and even does a few things better. I don't think it's possible to top the brilliance of the OG's best levels (Milkman Conspiracy, Black Velvetopia, Lungfishopolis) but some of them come close. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny, but it has more heart and it uses music much more effectively, especially in the Sensorium and Fatherland areas. I will never forget the main song running through the latter.

So glad we got a second one after all these years... I hope I live to see a third.

Maybe I'm missing something, but does any other game series have anywhere near this much originality and creativity? It's just ingenious.

[argyle]

Was the Sensorium the Jack Black level? That one was awesome.

As far as another series as creative as Psychonauts, that's a tall order. I can name a lot of creative games, but when you're talking about games that are being that uniquely creative in every level that's a whole other level. I'm sure there are some, but not many.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Stray

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 43 games

Played nothing, still need to figure out what to play next on PS4.

I platinum'd Psychonauts 2 last night. What a fun ride that was. I'm pleased to say it's worthy sequel to the original and even does a few things better. I don't think it's possible to top the brilliance of the OG's best levels (Milkman Conspiracy, Black Velvetopia, Lungfishopolis) but some of them come close. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny, but it has more heart and it uses music much more effectively, especially in the Sensorium and Fatherland areas. I will never forget the main song running through the latter.

So glad we got a second one after all these years... I hope I live to see a third.

Maybe I'm missing something, but does any other game series have anywhere near this much originality and creativity? It's just ingenious.

Congrats! It's a great follow-up and I hope they make another one as well.

[crimson_tide]

Hey Phase, screw the last of us getting the thread title! What about the most important release this week: TMNT Cowabunga Collection!!! I finally played tonight and can confirm that dear God the first NES game is just not good. It's not the worst game ever but it is definitely not unfairly maligned ! I like that the platinum will be for just beating every game once which I am going to do anyway.

[Phaseknox]

Hey Phase, screw the last of us getting the thread title! What about the most important release this week: TMNT Cowabunga Collection!!!

You’re right, it’s more deserving of the thread title than another remaster of The Last of Us. Fixed.