There is perhaps a method and a madness to this seemingly bizarre selection of games I promise you. Yes we've had rolllerskating with guns, we've had text based adventures in space, we've had a lot of live service shooting and even a full fat RPG in there somewhere. I'm sure there is a line that connects all these dots but you might have to get back to me on that one. To the games...
Disc Jam (2017)
Starting with a random pick from ye olde digital game library is this, a cartoony sci-fi neon-coloured take on beach ball. In teams of two you pass the ball back and forth between yourself and your opponents, using the occasional super power to try and score on them. Not sure how I ended up with this one but I think it was a PS+ freebie.
In short, this was a decent bit of fun let down by the fact that the online modes for it were turned off a while back. So you're left playing the game's limited array of single player options that are still fun but are still very limited. In 2024 it's very much a game that has been left by the wayside so despite the strong core gameplay loop I can't give it more than two and a half laser discs out of five!
Neon Chrome (2016)
A top down twin stick cyberpunk themed shoot em up in a rogue like vein. One of those games that's been lingering in the dusty dark corners of my game library for quite some time I decided to take it out for a whirl and was greatly entertained by what I found. The gameplay was great with a well judged difficulty curve, the graphics perfectly conveyed the mood of the thing and the soundtrack is on point as well.
Shooting, dodging and causing general mayhem through successive levels of your standard corporate tower is the main thrust of the thing. You survive, accumulate wealth, gain XP and hopefully by the time you reach the boss stages you have prepared appropriately for the challenge ahead. A solid game with a high recommendation, four cybernetic augments out of five!
Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack (2020)
Whilst I was indeed the proud owner of a Nintendo DS over a decade ago, the 3DS was not a system I was hugely invested in. Therefore the Azure Striker Gunvolt series pretty much passed me by until I caught mention of it in a Matt McMuscles video covering the travesty that was Mighty No. 9. Given that Azure Striker is touted as a modern successor to the Mega Man series I thought I'd give this collection of the first two games a go and see how it measured up.
In short they stand up pretty well. High speed shoot and dash platformers with a touch of anime styled melodrama about them. It's all very responsive and highly playable with a seriously challenging endgame to boot. Think the final boss fights in both of these games are ridiculously difficult but other than that I don't have much bad to say about them. Four space based final boss battles out of five!
Death Stranding: Director's Cut (2021)
The strange weird Hideo Kojoma flavoured take on the post-apocalypse where death is not necessarily the end but same day delivery can still be guaranteed. Yes the adventures of Sam Porter Bridges in the mostly empty world of tomorrow made for a unique and memorable experience that recalled elements of the Metal Gear Solid series whilst also very much doing it's own thing.
The weather is bad and frequently supernatural, people eat bugs and thieves psychotically devoted to stealing your wares harass you on your deliveries. I could spend paragraphs detailing the weirdness within this game and in fact I did so right here. Suffice to say it's a unique but well crafted experience that can be both enjoyable and baffling in equal measure. Several months later on not sure I could explain much of the main plot of this game but I do remember Conan O'Brien randomly pops up at some point wearing an Otter hat of some kind. Four and a half spells of time altering weather out of five!
Vampire Survivors (2021)
One of them there sleeper hits that no one expected but almost everyone raved about upon its arrival, Vampire Survivors finally arrived on Playstation this year so I decided to check it out and see what all the fuss was about. It has top down retro presentation, it has bullet hell mechanics, it has waves upon waves of enemies zeroing in on your position in growing intensity. All you do is move to avoid it best you can as your character auto-fires, collects upgrades and steadily becomes the bullet hell itself
Yes it is insanely repayable and a lot of fun to boot. What might be considered a simple idea is executed extremely well and really does stick two fingers in the face of high quality graphical fidelity. There is an abundance of content here and a few neat surprises to be found as you delve into the particulars of each level and discover the various secrets hidden within. The old adage about being easy to learn but hard to master very much applies here and this will definitely be one of those games I will be returning to on a frequent basis for the forceable future. Five flying skulls out of five!
Afterparty (2019)
Picture a game with the aesthetic of a Tim Burton animated film, couple it with some rapid fire dialogue and some decent gags. Now set it on Hell but make Hell a vast nightclub district where every night is a party and everyone is on the verge of having a few too many. Now make Satan the party host with the mostwho never wants it to end but only because he would then have to confront his laundry list of personal issues. Oh and in the midst of this you have two new arrivals who are not quite sure why they are here and are now trying to get out.
That's Afterparty in a nutshell. From Night School Studio, the guys behind Oxenfree, a game I massively enjoyed back when I played it on 2022. There's a lot to enjoy here even if it's a very different experience overall. More offbeat, decidedly more tongue-in-cheek and all played more for the gags rather than the emotional arcs. That said the tale of Milo and Lola as they attempt to escape their fate is a lot of fun even if it doesn't quite reach the highs Night School are capable of. Four drinking games out of five!
Thimbleweed Park (2017)
Picking up from the Schafer-fest as seen in the first part of this retrospective, I arrive at a modern crowd-funded take on the same ideas that underpinned Day of the Tentacle and Maniac Mansion. This time around you take on the role of a pair of FBI agents sent to investigate a murder in a small town full of quirky characters. So far, so very Twin Peaks but with your standard point and click puzzle solving.
This one felt a little better to play than those earlier efforts with what feels like a more logical sense of progression through the puzzles and obstacles that hinder your investigation, not to mention the in-game hint system on hand at all times. Loads of references, nods and winks to those earlier games aside, it all gets a little too meta and fourth wall breaking by the end, breaking any investment I had in the whole thing. One for the more hardcore devotees of the genre I think. Two and a half accursed clowns out of five!
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered (2019)
A remaster of the game originally released in 2009, this was at one point the closest thing we got to a Ghostbusters III before the recent revival of the series. The game benefitted from the participation of all four OG Ghostbusters plus a number of original cast members from the films and boy did this feel like a warm, cozy stroll down nostalgia street, the video game equivalent of a hug in a mug.
You are the new guy on the team, a sturdy if mute participant in the events that follow. Cue lots of chasing spectres through New York as you pin them down with your proton pack before rolling out the ghost trap to seal the deal. Perhaps not the most complex gameplay but it all plays pretty intuitively. The dialogue between the characters is a treat and the references to the earlier films help propel the thing forward more than hold it back. All things said I really rather enjoyed this game. Four crossing of the streams out of five!
Chasing Static (2021)
At some point in the last few years nostalgia for the more rudimentary 3D graphics of the early PS1 era has resulted in the emergence of a subgenre tapping into the strange, desolate feel of late 90's horror. This is a movement I am entirely in favor of, even moreso after playing this game. Chasing Static was originally demo'd as part of the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc indie collection and then progressed to a full release of its own. This journey through the Welsh countryside at night sees you pick up the threads of a shady science project gone wrong and I really rather enjoyed it
First person exploration with some light puzzle elements see you piece together the mystery, One moment you're figuring out some official looking gizmos, next you're wandering through a very rural and empty town in the rainy night complete with some very recognisable all-night corner shops. Got strong vibes of the original Silent Hill here but the game does a rather able job of preserving the feel of those older games whilst smoothing over their rough edges. It ends perhaps a touch abruptly but for the majority of its playtime I really enjoyed this. Four and a half strange frequencies out of five!
Murderous Muses (2023)
D'Avekki Studios soldier on in their mission to make old-school FMV games both fun and relevant in the 21st century. These guys have a pretty solid track record with me. The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker and The Shapeshifting Detective were both great experiences and whilst I wasn't as high on Dark Nights with Poe and Munro, I still had fun with it. So what to make of this? A murder mystery that unfolds within a strange art gallery, where suspects tell their story through paintings and you have to figure out who killed the local eccentric artist whose work is on show.
It's a slightly different spin on the formula this time. Previous games saw you select options from menu screens to play clips and progress the story. This one sees you work a little harder to get the relevant information you need, light puzzle solving elements and correct picture placement determine what information you get. The killer is different in each game and gathering information on them also paints an intriguing picture of the strange little town itself. I'm not sure if it all works as well as it could. The process starts to feel a little laboured and repetitive even in its short playtime. The characters and setting are pretty fun though so it was never boring. Three and a half haunted landscapes out of five!
RetroMania Wrestling (2021)
My second trip into the world of videogame pro-wrestling this year, RetroMania Wrestling is another attempt at tapping into the powerful nostalgia wrestling fans have for the games of the early 90's. It all looks and feels the part with a larger than life cartoon aesthetic and colourful presentation even if the core button bashing gameplay soon began to feel a little too shallow for me.
It was never a subpar experience but at the same time I rarely felt like I was overly invested in it either. The roster is a somewhat random pick and mix assortment of wrestlers not tied down to agreements with major wrestling companies so the selection feels a little scattershot. At one point you're wrestling The Road Warriors, then the Blue World Order, then relative newcomers like Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Jr. It feels a little all over the place and a little too unfocused. So a bit like watching AEW programming these days then. Anyhow its two and a half powerbombs out of five from me!
Galak-Z: The Dimensional (2015)
A retro flavoured space shooter that casts you as the lone saviour in hostile space. It's all very Saturday morning cartoon with an anime flavour. You pilot your ship in a style reminiscent of Asteroids, blasting away at legions of foes that assail you as you explore levels in pursuit of various objectives.
The tone is light and breezy, the gameplay loop is solid and I would have enjoyed this a bit more were it not for the difficulty curve that goes a bit vertical a bit too soon. Shame really as this game otherwise has a lot going for it in a way you don't see often. Navigating to the near end of a level only for some surprise attack to set you back to the start gets tiresome quickly and a mode with more save points might have persuaded me to persevere with it. Two and a half space pilots out of five!
Thief Simulator (2020)
Simulator games of all varieties have been a popular genre for a good few years now. Name a profession, job title or vocation and there's more than likely a low to mid budget simulator for it that's big on jank but endearingly committed to the idea. No big plot twists here, these games are committed to as undramatic as experience as possible. It's all about making the mundane as engaging as possible. So is true of Thief Simulator, a game all about sneaking, lock-picking, window-breaking, safe-cracking and hacking your way through a small town seemingly being besieged by your one man crime wave.
You dismantle jewelry, you fence goods, you dismantle stolen cars and climb the ladder towards bigger and better hauls. There's precious little personality or character to be found here, it's all about the score and getting away from the scene of the crime before the cops arrive. There is a very faint echo of a story but it's not really about that so much as it is about pulling off a job by the skin of your teeth. I highly enjoyed this and were it not for an infuriating late game bug that sees your savegame stop saving I would've otherwise given this full marks. Four dodgy black vans out of five!
Terraria (2011)
One last stop at the 'yea I started this ages ago and it's taken me forever to get back around to it's train. It's the classic formula of finding yourself in a strange place and making the best of it by exploring, digging, wood-cutting, mining, crafting and upgrading your way out of your predicament. Doubt it needs explanation but Terraria is basically 2D side scrolling Minecraft with a free form structure that sees you free to forge your own path on a strange new world.
This was one of those games I started about a decade ago on my humble PlayStation Vita and which I have periodically revised across other platforms over the years. It's undeniable that there's a magic to the formula here where you can just pick a direction and just explore it endlessly to find all the secrets within. It's a game I sunk a decent number of hours into this year but am nowhere near completing still. If there is a criticism of it then for me it could use a little more structure to make the progress a little more meaningful, otherwise I have very little issues with it. Four and a half flying demon eyeballs out of five!
Resident Evil 2 (2019)
The original Resident Evil 2 is one of those games, an almost perfect sequel that built and improved upon the original in almost every way. It was the first Resident Evil I bought for myself and completed more than once. Given that they remade the original over 20 freaking years ago, the wait for them to remake 2 had been a long one. Then it happened which was surprising in itself and on top of that they turned in one of the best remakes of all time. It's all here and it all looks, feels and plays better than it ever has before. You got your Leon Kennedy, you got Claire Redfield, you have the RPD in a Raccoon City that has gone to ruin and you have Mr X.
Oh boy do you have Mr. X, the Tyrant sent in to make your day so much more stressful than it was already. The core of the game is very much the same but for a large part of it you will now hear the approach of heavy footsteps as he pursues you throughout the game. This gets the blood pumping by itself but on top of that you have upgraded zombies that actually feel like a threat and a host of enemies all designed to make you pick and choose your battles in your ongoing quest to conserve ammo. It looks outstanding, it plays great, the puzzles feel a little more intuitive and break the flow of the game a little less this time around. This is now the definitive version of this game. Five G-Virus samples out of five!
Resident Evil 3 (2020)
On the one hand Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is not a game I have so much nostalgia for, not as much as it's predecessor to be sure. It's a fine game don't get me wrong and it has a memorable villain at its core but I don't swear by this one as much as I do for the games that came both before and after it. I say this because the Resident Evil 3 remake has something of a poor reputation online. If the Resident Evil 2 remake was a full fat experience, lovingly upgraded for the modern gamer then Resident Evil 3 does suffer a bit by comparison. It's shorter, it's a lot faster and a lot more action oriented when compared to the previous remake which has a slower pace for much of its playtime.
Playing this game after the remake for 2 may have coloured my opinion a little here but I actually enjoyed the faster pace and action focus. Nemesis benefits from a notable upgrade over Mr. X and the first half of the game gets the adrenaline going rather well. Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira get a nice update for the modern era and some sections of this game were quintessential Resident Evil for me. There's no denying some corners we're cut here, Nemesis loses some of its edge with it's later transformations and there is a distinct feeling that some sections of the endgame may have been dropped somewhere during production. It's never a bad game and honestly I feel it's somewhere on a par with the original. Overall it's three and a half nuclear options out of five!
Bahnsen Knights (2023)
This is it, the last game in this retrospective, freshly completed and hot off the presses. To cap off the year I decided to play the third Pixel Pulp adventure that follows Mothmen 1966 and Varney Lake. This time around you play an undercover operative on assignment with a messianic vigilante cult who've risen up in response to recent natural disasters in the locality and who believe they can keep out further disasters by 'exorcising' the nearby roads. This they accomplish by driving upon them in high speed cross formation. So that's something.
Much of what I said about those earlier games still applies here. There is a unique look and feel to these games despite the short playtime and limited gameplay. That said I was feeling that the magic was wearing off a little with this one. Not so much for the core story which I enjoyed but rather due to the aforementioned lack of gameplay. It feels like a little innovation is perhaps called for in this respect as I feel the decent writing will only carry these games so much further. That said of you liked the previous efforts you will like this too and if you didn't there is not much here to change your mind on the subject. Three Ford Sierras out of five!
...
That's a wrap for 2024 folks and what a year that was. I feel like I cleared a bunch of games I've really been meaning to play and for he most part I don't feel like I've wasted time playing any of them. Already got a few ideas lining up for next year and I'm thinking its going to be a touch less retro and a bit more modern but we'll see. In any case it's a Happy New Year from yours truly once again and I'll see you all on the other side.
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