VideoGame_Discussion

My lists in no particular order.

Worst:
Road 96
Mafia II
Resident Evil 0
Fable Anniversary
Bleed 2

Best:
Portal
Spider-Man 2
Horizon Forbidden West
Baldur's Gate 3
Resident Evil 4

For my money, the best and worst I've played for the first time have been:
(BEST)
1. Pikmin 1
2. Pikmin 3
3. Pikmin 4
4. Super Mario RPG
5. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
---------------
5. LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival
4. Pikmin 2
3. Sonic Blast
2. PiCTOBiTS
1. MDK 2: Armaggedon
(WORST)

Best
Octopath Traveler 2 (still finishing up the plat here)
Bravely Default
Castle of the Winds (very nostalgic game for me)
Resident Evil 4 (original)
Contra

Worst (I didn't finish any of these)
Tales of Symphonia
Resident Evil
Final Fantasy X

Mostly enjoyed what I played this year.

I beat 85 games, so narrowing is tough, so added 2 other categories, no section is in any particular order

Top 6:
Cuphead - challenging but satisfying to beat
High on Life - writing and voice acting were great
Doom '16 - fast and fun
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch - solid in every way
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order - slow to get going, but once it did, it was very good
Forza Horizon 5 - didn't beat this year (did in '22), but put hundreds of hours into

Honorable mention:
Asura's Wrath
The Huntdown
God of War 3
Tinykin
Cel Damage
Hi-Fi Rush
TimeSplitters 2 & Future Perfect
Uncharted 1 & 3

Expected more from, but was let down:
Uncharted 2
Cocoon
Kentucky Route Zero
Mirror's Edge
Shadow Warrior 2

Bottom 5:
Bugsnax - rubbish
The Bouncer - more cutscenes vs gameplay, and that's almost a plus
Contra: Shattered Soldier - wasn't my cup o' tea
House of the Dead Overkill - way too MF'n many MF'n swears
X-Men Reign of Apocalypse - picked b/c it was bad and the reviews were correct

In no particular order...

Top 5

1. Donut Dodo (Evercade) - When I opened up the first of Evercade's free Games of the Month, I had no idea this unassuming, single-screen, arcade-style platformer would consume my life for a week as I jumped for high scores and final boss attempts.

2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch) - I've described this to friends as "It's just as good as all the other 2D Mario games from recent years, except halfway through the level, Mario does acid..."

3. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Windows) - Despite stubborn "get off my lawn" claims that Spider-Man doesn't need cloaking or bio-electric powers, I ate my words when this pseudo-expansion's combat and narrative were every bit as gripping as its big brother's.

4. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance) - I'm still new to post-Symphony Castlevania games, but Circle of the Moon is a masterful attempt at squeezing the charm of its PlayStation inspiration into a handheld and cramming a huge amount of replayability.

5. Final Fantasy XVI (PlayStation 5) - I'm not impressed by attempts to improve a game by making it "darker, grittier, and more mature", but FFXVI won me over with a compelling main character - and his equally-interesting allies - that earned his brooding nature, instead of just checking a box on a character designer's spreadsheet. The slick summon-driven combat didn't hurt either.

Honorable Mention: Final Fantasy VI (Super Famicom) - Though I never showed this game the same amount of reverence as my Final Fantasy peers - even after two playthroughs - revisiting Terra and company again as an adult made me appreciate the game anew, both as a retro game and as a benchmark for JRPG excellence.

Bottom 5

1. Doom 64 (Nintendo 64) - I humbly acknowledge that this is an objectively brilliant game and a miracle for the Nintendo 64, but the oppressive darkness, unfair end-of-level traps, and "bet you wish you'd done something differently ten hours ago" final confrontation made this one a personal chore.

2. Bionic Commando (Arcade) - Unless we somehow end up nominating Superman 64, this will likely go down as the worst Game of the Month in Retro Talkshop Thread history. Thankfully, the other games in the franchise are a blast.

3. Ninja Gaiden (Arcade) - Like Bionic Commando, it's somewhat shocking such a celebrated, masterful franchise - especially for the NES - was born out of this clunky, frustrating, unfair mess of an arcade game.

4. One Must Fall: Battlegrounds (Windows) - Ruining everything that made a game memorable - the sharp fighting mechanics, memorable character designs, and incredible soundtrack, for starters - is rarely a great strategy when crafting a sequel; this is no exception.

5. MDK 2 (Windows) - Worst. Jetpack. Ever.

Dishonorable Mention: Cake Bash (Stadia) - Pick this instead of Mario Party, and your friends may be inspired to go gluten free.

Slickriven wrote:



Fixed that for you

Best (in no particular order)
3D Classics Urban Champion
Arcade Archives Urban Champion
Urban Champion

Worst:
Everything else

Kommie wrote:

hahaha.... no

Best:

Resident Evil: Village (VR Mode)
Baldur’s Gate 3
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Spider-Man 2
UnderMine

(Honorable Mention: The Light Brigade, High on Life, Diablo IV, FFXVI, Dead Island 2, Immortality)

Worst:

Barbie: The Prince and the Pauper
Jesus: The Terrifying Biomonster
Hi-Fi Rush
The Caligula Effect: Overdose
Kentucky Route Zero

Some of the best I've played last year:
Ghost of Tsushima
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Guacamelee! 2
It Takes Two
Layers of Fear


Some of the worst I've played last year:
Ultra Off-Road Simulator 2019: Alaska
Tray Racers
Racing Karts
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Rise of SH1FT3R and
Death Stranding

I only beat 26 games last year, but there was one game I didn't beat, because I no longer had the desire to do so despite attempting to get in to it on three separate occasions. So...it's my worst game of the year by default:

Worst
Fire Emblem Engage (no will to finish it after 12-15 hours)
Tzar The Burden of the Crown (very budget RTS)
Goat Simulator 3 (this gets some points because my kids enjoyed playing it with me, still the first game is the best, it's charm gets old rather quickly)

Best
Dead Space Remake (my favorite game of the PS3 era, easily my favorite game of the year)
Heroes of Might & Magic II (been one of my favorite games since I was a kid, it remains so)
A Plague Tale: Requiem (expands upon what the first one did, and the story/ending was excellent)
Chained Echoes (awesome 16 bit throwback RPG, fun and addictive from beginning to end)

Best games:

1. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores - Yes I know, DLC. But it's really good and I LOVE the HZD franchise.
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Just snuck this one in as I played in New Years Eve I love it, and will make me play the switch ALOT more this year.
3. Sea of Stars - What a wonderful game.
4. Jedi Survivor - Love it, though I think I prefer the first. Noticeable graphic glitches, really wish it had a little more time to bake before it was released.
5. NHL 24 - An Average game sure. But It was the best IMO NHL game released in quite sometime. The steep discount after release was nice also.

None of these games have been completed, was a tuff year for that. Having a Kid sure eats into your game time and I have let a few old gaming habits creep back in like quickly moving on to something else even though you are enjoying what you are playing. But I am going to make more time for myself this year and play some games.


Worst game:
Diablo V - I want to like it so much, but I got rid of it. I don't like the direction Blizzard is taking this IP maybe now that Blizzard will have it's own boss things will change and improve.
Commander Keen (Switch) - This game is NOT what I remember and I am a tad disappointed. Should have left it in the past.


That's all for the worst games of the year for me... and if I am honest even the bad ones were not horrific...

In no particular order, with my best and worst highlighted.

Best:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Year Round
Metroid Prime Remastered - March (Completed)
Portal RTX - October (Completed)
Resident Evil 4 (2023) - October (Completed)
Zelda Tears of The Kingdom - May (Completed)

Worst:
Beeny - April (Completed)
Frogger 3D - May (Scrapped)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope - January (Scrapped)
Scrap Garden - January (Scrapped)
Snow Runner - March

Best:
1. Baldur's Gate 3
2. Age of Wonders 4
3. Lords of the Fallen
4. Dead Island 2
5. Remnant 2

Worst:
1. Soul Hackers 2
2. Hot Wheels Unleashed
3. Bramble
4. Dolemen
5. Underworld Ascendant

Only three games from my halfway list made it to this one.

Archer wrote:

I don't understand how a game with this much potential on paper ended up being so boring.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Too much flash, not enough substance. And yeah, the racing is boring. There are $5 kart racers that are more fun to play than that game.

Agree on Hot Wheels sucking, I forgot about it when I did my list since I gave up on it out of frustration. My gripe was it being easy too easy to go flying off course due to the gaps or jumps in the track and some pretty bad rubber banding.
Having generally enjoyed the Hot Wheels DLC in the two recent Forza Horizon titles makes it even more painful that HW:U was such a stinker.

I actually had fun with it. Bought all the DLC when it was super cheap. Was a big hit wheels fan growing up but we could never afford to he cool tracks. I invite my wifes cousin over ever once and awhile and we play.