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Quick Game Reviews: April through July 2024

I fell behind and now I wanna catch up. Also, I have not installed illustrator on my new computer yet, so no new banner for you

Backloggery launched their site remake, which is the website I use to track my games. If you haven't checked it out yet, here's my page: https://backloggery.com/c7_the_epic

Unpacking (Steam)

Logo is from the Steam Page

I actually played this one at the end of March but forgot. That's not an indictment in anyway on this game, I actually quite enjoyed it. I'm just forgetful AF.

This is an organization game with a plot where you follow the life of the person whom is moving throughout their years and help them unpack during these moves. You don't directly hear much about their story, however through the clues as to where they moved and what items continue or are left behind they manage to convey a really compelling narrative.

As someone who has gone through several moves myself, including some of the same move scenarios in the story, this one really resonated with me. The gameplay is fun if you like puzzles with multiple solutions and the aesthetics of decorating, but I found myself constantly wanting to open the next box to see what items made it or move onto the next stage so I could learn more. There's not much replay value to someone like me, but I'd still recommend it myself.

Mario Golf (Switch NSO GBC)

Screenshot from my Switch

This was one I had as a kid and decided to revisit, since even though I was really bad at video game golf, this game has a lot of charm. The world around golf, with challenges, secrets, and a level up system that adds to it all and makes it feel like even failure is progression.

That being said, this game is hard. I'm glad I played it with the NSO rewind and save states; I never would've beaten this normally and it still took me a long time. Like the Game & Watch Gallery games, it has a lot of really great visuals that are iconic for the GBC era. Unlike Game & Watch Gallery however, you can beat the game without ever interacting with any Mario characters! They don't show up until you've done everything in the main world, and then suddenly you get an invite letter that takes you to Peach's castle where you can participate in a final tournament with the Mario gang.

The charm and effort put into this game makes it an iconic entry in Nintendo's history, however don't go into this if you don't already like video game golf or expecting a lot of Mario specifically.

Seal World (Steam)

Screenshot is from the promotional screenshots on their steam page

My steam wishlist has a lot of Indie 3D platformers on it, so occasionally I check it and something goes on sale and I pick it up. This game looked very silly but cute, something that could've had a lot of love underneath it like Lil Gator Game.

This is however a pretty straight-forward game. Not really any challenge or depth with its platforming, the collectibles are for the most part pretty easy to find, and it's a very linear experience. Really its draw is it's humor, which is fine but gets pretty stale by the end. It's not a long game by any means, and while it's not a bad game I can't say I'd recommend it as anything more than a silly experience for a couple hours at most.

OpenRCT2 (PC Download, requires owning RCT/RCT2)

Logo from their fandom wiki

Youtube recommended a Roller Coaster Tycoon expert (MarcelVos) who releases incredibly in-depth video about mechanics and challenges in the original Roller Coaster Tycoon games and it made me want to revisit them. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with it (only beat the first round of scenarios for each) but it was very fun to look at it with improved features and a new light on the mechanics that make the game a lot less stressful.

OpenRCT2 streamlines both games to play better on modern PCs and fixes a number of bugs, as well as offering improvements on the number of guests, options for scenarios unlocks, and a scenario loader/maker as well. Plugins also allow you to change the game more to your liking, ie if you're like me and have played scenarios dozens of times over your life you don't really want to worry about micromanaging things to ensure the money flow optimally enough to do the things you want to do. For that, there's plugins that automatically adjust price based on the scenario and the best you can offer, adjusting for variables like ride age and park value.

If you've not played the original RCT games or haven't played in a long time, I'd give this one a shot! Marcel Vos is also a great watch on the side as well, really opens your eyes on some of the deeper ways that the game worked that were a complete mystery to me when I played them originally. Mainly that mowing grass does absolutely nothing, and that Security Guards ain't worth it.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (Switch)

Screenshot from my Switch

I was so excited to replay this one! I was definitely one of the people who pointed at the screen and gasped when this was announced, and I picked this one up right away.

As a remaster, this game is great! The additional reactions, back sprites, and new/altered music really helps bring it all together more than the GC release ever could.

If you've never played TTYD, it's the best Paper Mario and you should go pick it up!

For those who haven't played in a while and don't have access to a way of playing it and want to, this is also pretty good!

What I'm going to go into now is what I wish the remake addressed, fixed, or added to. One of the biggest problems with the original, the massive amount of backtracking, hasn't really been solved in any meaningful way. They were definitely aware of it as they have changed part of Rogueport underground to allow for more easier transport between different hubs in the chapters. This existed already in the original, but has been streamlined to have more pipes in a single room to fix it. The rest of the backtracking the game was known for however is still there.

One solution would've been to bring back spinning from the original Paper Mario, as the ability to move pretty quickly and in a way that was more interactive did a lot to cover the backtracking in that game. Being able to take on more than one trouble at once would also help, maybe expanding how shops work so that common items that are able to be ordered from any shop. There are just some parts that are built into it that were made to pad it with backtracking, like Chapter 4 and the start of Chapter 7.

Speaking of chapter 4 though, I am so happy they finally made Vivian actually trans rather than shy away from it. It makes her story really come together in a way that I feel robbed for not having this in the original 20 years ago. The whole chapter is about identity, and centers Vivian and her struggle with her sisters that's been going on since the first chapter. It also really paints Beldam as a much more evil character than she was in the original. Ultimately this was a great update and I'm very happy they did it.

As for actual new content... As far as I can tell there's not much. An extra recipe to address a weird thing from the original, and 2 optional bosses. Both are nice, but even SMRPG added a lot of cool things post-game and I would've liked to have seen that in this remake.

Ultimately, I'm glad I picked this game up again and it's a lot of fun, but the backtracking and stretching of existing sections really grates on you in the modern day. I would've liked to have seen a few more updates that tried to fix that.

Rusty's Retirement (Steam)

That's just a screenshot of a golden pumpkin from my farm. It grew before the update where you could harvest them.

I had a weird obsession with this one for a couple weeks. Like this isn't supposed to be a game you focus on optimizing, but one you have on the side that you can progress in and make your own. Boy was I focusing hard on getting all the achievements and making everything perfectly optimized.

That's not to say I don't like it. Just that my brain is wired to want to hyperfixate and optimize even things not designed to be actively cared about, and then weeks later discarded and never thought of again. Wonder if there's something to that.

... Anyway, The game is a fun distraction, but if your brain is wired similarly to mine and you need to focus on it and optimizations, you can easily pass on it. You can do pretty stuff with it, but that always comes at the expense of space that you could use to grow more plants ore place more automation. To me, it's like how I spend hours on end figuring out how to automate craft-ables and macros in FFXIV and then leave it running and crafting while I do other things.

Modern Modern Chef (itch.io)

Picture from the itch page linked above

This one's a treat! I love the Game & Watch Gallery games as they added in a lot of cute Mario sprites and interactions, more context for what were previously the black/white Game and watch games. This is a fan-game made with Hand-drawn graphics that shows a specific minigame, Chef from Game & Watch Gallery 2 (the only one I owned as a kid), a lot of new love.

This is a great recreation of that recreation! A lot of effort was put into recreating the mechanics almost-perfectly, and even though the game is simple there's a lot of depth in timing and interactions with Yoshi that gets explained and fleshed out in this remake. The "Modern Modern" version isn't particularly for me; I'm pretty bad at timing the flip, but it was a blast playing the game again and seeing the little easter eggs.

I highly recommend giving this mini-game a try! It won't be a long experience, but it's fun nonetheless.

Honestly, Nintendo should hire this man and should release all the Game & Watch gallery games like this. Would make a nice collection.

Cavern of Dreams (Steam)

Image from the preview screenshots on their Steam Page

Another 3D platformer, but unlike Seal World this one takes it mechanics seriously. Definitely Inspired by both Spyro and Banjo-Kazooie, you play as a small dragon collecting his siblings (dragon eggs) and a number of other collectibles as you get a few new abilities and travel further into some strange worlds.

Aesthetically it owns that N64 sharp polygons and Banjo-Kazooie esque characters, with the second non-hub world even being a flying Clanker from Clanker's Cavern. It's definitely pretty within that aesthetic, with its later levels adopting a more unsettling (in a good way) wild aesthetic.

Mechanically, the movement is pretty standard for the most part. You get a jump, you can double jump for slightly more height, and you can roll to gain momentum and cross large gaps and I'm sure that leads to some wild speedrunning tech. Rolling around definitely helps cut the rather slow pace your character normally walks at.

This is a pretty decent game! The platforming puzzles and challenges were pretty straightforward, with some strange exceptions where you need to search a desert for a single egg or some placement puzzles that took some looking up. I'd definitely recommend it if you're craving a simple 3D collectathon to scratch that itch.

Dead Estate: Axe to Grind + Assignment Anya (Steam)

Image from the wiki

I finally hopped back onto Dead Estate after putting it down for the better part of a year, so I had two updates to catch up on. To be clear: these updates are free, adding a large amount of content to an already very fulfilling base game.

Axe to Grind adds in a new character, Axel, who was starring in a zombie film set in the mansion before everything went south and he had to flee to a secret hideout before going through the mansion now filled with real zombies and monsters. He uses axes, which can be charged and thrown, and that hideout gives him some bonus items at the start of each floor. His gameplay isn't too different, and indeed the update mostly is just him + his curses + some balancing changes. It's all still fun, but not much new in terms of content.

Assignment Anya on the otherhand took it to a new, different level. In terms of additions to existing gameplay, You now have a "challenge" mode, where each character has a set of restrictions and must complete some form of challenge or un in order to win. These can be quite difficult, but are for the most part a lot of fun and a welcome addition.

The real meat of this update is in the Assignment Anya sidestory, where you play as one of the extra's in the movie from Axel's side-story and find yourself in a zombie mask surrounded by real zombies and no weapons. Anya doesn't have the ability to jump or attack, and the mansion now has a set layout with maps and puzzles strewn across it like a Resident Evil game. You must progress and solve the puzzles with limited health and inventory space to ration, solving some of the mysteries of the place and finally escaping the horrors within it. At the end, you're graded based on how long you took and how many times you had to heal, as it's possible to beat the story in half an hour or less without getting damaged once you know it.

It's a lot of fun your first go around, but unfortunately lacks the replay value I enjoy out of the rest of the game. Trying to optimize for time without a guide is a very long and tedious endeavor, made all the more frustrating because healing takes off from your final rank and achievements so you have to be extremely patient and well practiced to get the good ranks. That being said, it was a welcome change of pace and very interesting twist on the story which at this point players are intimately familiar with.

I still highly recommend giving Dead Estate a try

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail (PC)

Pic from the steam page because all my screenshots that are funny with my WoL contain spoilers

Took a while to get back into the swing of things and actually focus down on this expansion, but I eventually got into the groove of it. I'll go from a story perspective first without trying to go too hard on spoilers.

I'll start positive as well: they had an incredibly hard act to follow given that the Shadowbringers/Endwalker story combo both unified and resolved FFXIV's storyline in a way that, while a little convoluted, was incredibly well done and brought tears to my eyes. This story had to then take the WoL (your character) to a whole new land where the stakes by necessity are much lower than they ever could've been in EW, and honestly I think they did a pretty good job. The story has you following Wuk Lamat on her journey to complete her father's (the kings') challenges while competing with her brothers and a challenger that one of the societies in Tural sees as the chosen ruler to the throne. They clearly took a lot of time to define these different societies and cultures within Tural, going from the long histories of each of the peoples on the continent to even focusing on the importance of how their food is supplied, flavored, and the political issues associated with that. This is something they struggled with a LOT in this games history, and I think they nailed it with grace here.

In the back half of the expansion, things take a turn into the high stakes you're much more used to, and uses your newfound familiarity with the peoples of Tural to contrast again that of their "foes". The villains can get comically evil, but that's not really a huge deal in my mind. My biggest "problem" is that when the biggest bad is revealed, they spend a lot of time explaining why they're doing what they're doing and Wuk Lamat spends a long time making it very clear that we as the player should understand the big bad has very good reasons for doing what they're doing. And then never condemns them for doing it, which given the stakes is like, not a great message to end on. Even through the end of 7.0, Wuk Lamat continues to yell "you're a good person" at them when they're actively trying to execute their huge, inarguably evil plan. This could've been really easily remedied with some dialog tweaks, but the devotion to making it clear that Wuk Lamat didn't think the big bad was evil while leaving the condemnation unsaid is a bit of a mistake, in my mind.

Gameplay wise, it's just about the same old FFXIV I remember. I appreciate the new trend of allowing you to run the MSQ dungeons with NPCs that are with you on your journey at the time continuing, and even being expanded to trials. Classes continue to get more and more streamlined, with my preferred class (Monk) continuing to get less complicated and more deterministic with each patch. I don't really like that trend; I do appreciate when classes feel distinct from one another and can even fall into other roles in dire situations, and while yes some abilities and classes could use less buttons, restricting all of them to have a near-identical burst windows and movements within roles is very limiting. I liked being able to off-tank as Monk for a little while, now it's missing its buff and DoT maintenance as well and it just feels like a faster Dragoon.

FFXIV is also showing its age here. A few years ago when I first started I was mildly annoyed but fine with the gameplay essentially being "travel from point A to B and watch a lot of cutsenes for 8 hours and we'll give you enough EXP to do the dungeons", but I didn't get to the first Dungeon in Dawntrail for like 3 days of playing the game and reading all the dialogue. And dungeons are like 30 min to an hour if you bring in the NPCs. That's really just the gameplay loop: run around from quest marker to quest marker, cutscene to cutscene, until the game graces you with one of only a few instances, dungeons, or trials and you get to repeat another few hours of quest marker chasing.

FFXIV is a big game with a lot of very entertaining content to do, but for a big expansion that adds a lot of areas there isn't a lot of like crazy new and fun things to do. All of the things like Hunts, Fates, Role Quests, Side Quests, Leves etc are all still there and added in for the level 91-100 range, but it all feels the same despite how good some of the stories in there are. To me, the game really shines when they try and do something really unique and new with their new stuff, like Bozja, Eureka, The First's whole aesthetic, and even the recent variant dungeons, but all the new content here just feels like the old MSQ content with not a lot of gameplay variation in it. Dungeons are all corridors because they're run in daily roulettes and need to be queued for, so that can't be interesting or else people will be frustrated at each other for not going the optimal path. Once you get to the new City and Sub-city you can immediately identify all of the same things present in every other expansion's equivalent to those and where you know you'll spend the next 2 years grinding out materials for to most optimally interact with your retainers and shopkeepers.

Basically despite how pretty the new areas are, how well written its setting and stories are, and how focused the design of the content is, it falls short of what I was hoping for as an experience in the expansion. I'm optimistic that the patches will bring their more unique content I'm a fan of, but it feels weird to wait for that after completing a brand new expansion. I highly recommend giving FFXIV a shot because it's a great game, however if you grew tired of the gameplay by the end of EndWalker you'll be in for more of the same here. My perspective is not one of a hardcore player though, and I understand that's a huge component of MMOs like these.

As for my personal expansion tierlist:

ShB > EW > DT > HW > StB > ARR

Metroid: Zero Mission (NSO, GBA)

Screenshot from my Switch

This is the only Metroid game I hadn't played-

wait, Prime Pinball and Federation Force. Dang.

Okay well the biggest one I haven't played. It's weird because while I enjoy a Metroid game I don't feel like as attached to the series as a lot of people are. That being said, I know this is one of the best ones in a series filled with bests so I was overdue for giving it a try.

This game "modernized" the original Metroid NES game into a much more approachable version with cutscenes, a better map and UI systems, and a lot of improvements found in Fusion as well. It's a very good game! A great entry point into the series if for some reason Super Metroid wasn't for you.

The challenge is still there but not in a way that makes you feel stuck or confused, the cutscenes are great, and the bonus content added onto the original story is definitely welcome. I'm glad I finally got a chance to pick this up, and I feel like it's usurped Fusion as my favorite 2D Metroid. And I'm aware about how much that last sentence invalidates my Metroid opinions.

Super Princess Peach (Nintendo DS)

Art from Nintendo's Website

This one's one I've always wanted to play for years, even though at the time I passed it by because it was a "girls game." My sister actually got it for me for my birthday, and I was finally able to play through it all. It's pretty fun!

Just a little bit of history on this one: this is one of the few Games Nintendo likes to pretend doesn't really exist for some reason. I can guess as to why; in a world where not falling into gender stereotypes is important, having the only game until very recently led by one of like 3 female characters in your top franchise be based around getting superpowers from her emotions is not a great look. From that perspective they actually could've flipped it around and made it a very powerful story in retrospect. The message shouldn't be able to be construed as "girls are emotional and that's Peach's thing" but rather be clearly about being able to express and handle your emotions in a positive way. This could've been done both figuratively through the plot, or literally through the platforming.

Instead it's a story about Perry, the parasol Peach carries, and how weird it is that he's a powerful umbrella. And then you beat Bowser. Peach isn't really even "present" in the story; she could've swapped places with Mario and it would be an identical game about saving Princess Peach but with weird new emotion abilities. Peach doesn't really say a word or even react to Perry in the few cutscenes there are, which is a shame. Hell, even the emotion abilities could've been something else entirely, like just normal elemental abilities, and it would've been the same story. Because of that, it's very easy to come to the conclusion that they were workshopping ideas and were like "Girls are emotional, and the protagonist is a girl, so she has emotion powers."

But also, it's a really fun and pretty game so they should've made it available digitally somehow anyway. At least when 3DS and WiiU were around and DS games were easily emulated.

I digress though. I really liked this game and recommend it for fans of games like Yoshi's Island. Beating it requires getting every Toad, so be prepared for that, but there's a lot of bonus levels and content as well that make it a good time. You can definitely tell it wasn't made by Mario's typical team but by the Starfy team though; there's a few "guess the door/pipe" and similar design tedious choices that would not fly in games made by the usual teams.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Switch)

Screenshot from my own Switch

I got a bone to pick with this one. But I'll try and compliment sandwich it.

To start: I love the premise. They did a really good job of getting that 80s aesthetic for the games while making the challenges fun and user experience approachable for people who are not intimately familiar which each of the 13 games.

The unfortunate part is: NES Remix 1+2 did this with more games and had more creative gameplay to it. This game costs $30, and what you're getting for that is ~150 challenges spread across those 13 NES games. That sound like a decent amount, but when you begin unlocking them you start to realize that a lot of these challenges are very short or contained in hard challenges later down the line. Additionally, you will likely only be playing the start of the games contained within; the entire NES games are not included and playable. The "exception" is that the NES Donkey Kong Legend challenge is to win all 3 stages, and the SMB challenge has you beating the entire game via warp zones. The rest of the legend challenges usually are "Beat a single level/dungeon."

The championship mode is cool, and it's fun to see how your stats rank with other players and even within your birthyear, but there just is not enough to go on here. These games are all available via NSO, the normal version, and I have personally purchased versions of each of these games at least 4 times over the years so it's kind of a scummy move to be like "Pay for them with slight modernization again". Nintendo seems to perpetually not understand that while their NES games were culturally valuable, their monetary value is 0 given how readily available they are, even if you repackage them as challenges.

Also 13 games isn't even that many, and there's some glaring omissions. Mario Bros, Punch-Out, Donkey Kong Jr, Clu Clu Land, and Wrecking Crew are all conspicuously absent, and while I understand that puzzle games like Wario's Woods, Dr. Mario, and Yoshi wouldn't have good challenges to them, it would make sense to have them fully integrated with high scores to compare and contrast with friends on leaderboards.

So I don't think it's worth your money, despite how addicting and nostalgic it is. It's repackaging games that you likely already have access to legally with a nice skinner box challenge UI over it. Now, I have two suggestions that would make this game worth it.

All 13 games should be fully playable within this game, and have leaderboards or time trials associated with them. Additionally, other games that don't do well for arcade-style challenges should be included as bonus content.

This game has built in glitch detection, so if anyone uses infinite points glitches, they can flash "Strategy not allowed" on screen and void your score if you go for those, or even have an "advanced strategy" toggle that separates those runs. To allow for easier practice, you could also have your normal NSO functions like save states and rewind that are only usable when not in challenge mode.

There are a few benefits to doing it this way, one would be you now have access to these games without needing an NSO subscription and can participate in the challenges locally. Another is it could breathe life into these games, and allow official leaderboards for games that are still speedrun to this day. I don't know if I'd call that a $30 value still, but it'd definitely be closer to worth it

2. This is free with your NSO subscription, similar to Super Mario Bros. 35 and F-Zero 99

This just makes the most sense to me. Without the NES games themselves included, the sole purpose of this is the online leaderboards and self-contained tournaments mode, which means that while you can play it offline, there's not really a point to. This would make it good supplemental content to the NES game library NSO subscribers already have access to. This option makes the most sense to me, as this game honestly feels like that was designed to be that way in the first place. The main menu always flashing the current week's challenges and your progress feels identical to the style F-Zero 99 has, and the ability to buy more challenges and avatars with in-game coins feels like the kind of padding you'd put in a free game. It would also make it more reasonable to update with new challenges or even additional games, as now it's not behind a paywall. Erm, new paywall.

And to end this compliment sandwich, I really like the variety of avatars and coin bonuses that added in, it feels very satisfying to my collectable crunched brain.

#game reviews #unpacking #mario golf #Seal World #open rct2 #paper mario the thousand year door #dead estate #super princess peach #nintendo world championships #metroid zero mission #ffxiv dawntrail #cavern of dreams #rusty's retirement

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