Updating for October, I'm now up to 83 games in total. All being well, I should beat by 90-game record from a couple of years ago... and there's perhaps a chance of reaching 100 as a stretch goal!
Master post here.
71.
Super Mario 64 (Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Switch) | 3 October 2020
Completed with 120 stars collected; maximum coins in 12/15 worlds.
Super Mario 64 was *the* defining 3D platformer of its day, setting the standard for everything that followed in the genre - and its good, though unsurprising, to find that it still holds up well to this day. Of course, it's clearly been surpassed by many more recent releases, but Mario remains a joy to control and the level design perfectly-judged. In terms of its packaging as part of the
Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, it has to be said that it's disappointing that Nintendo hasn't been more ambitious, as there's little improvement beyond a resolution increase and some increased texture quality - but that can't detract from the quality of the underlying game that still shines through.
72.
Macbat 64: Journey of a Nice Chap (Switch) | 4 October 2020
Complete playthrough, including all bonus levels.
Macbat 64 is a short and simple, but reasonably enjoyable, 3D exploration/mini-collectathon game that styles itself in the mould of Nintendo 64 classics such as
Banjo Kazooie. There's very little here by way of challenge and the game really sells itself on the nostalgia that it evokes, but it has a certain charm in its simplicity.
The core gameplay mechanic revolves around locating a small set of items for the characters of each level, who will then reward you with an item that allows the resolution of a simple puzzle (for example, a blowpipe to burst a balloon), eventually allowing access to the objective of that area. Its ten levels (plus five bonuses) all take place in a small self-contained area and are very short, perhaps taking five minutes to complete at most, but it's nice to see that there are a few well-hidden bonuses that do ultimately give a meaningful reward.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with
Macbat 64, but as it stands it wouldn't really sustain any significantly longer playtime. I'll be interested to see future releases from this developer.
73.
Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den (PS4) | 4 October 2020
100% of trophies earned.
Minerva's Den is an excellent self-contained narrative expansion to the
Bioshock 2 story, and despite it being a long time since I played the base game (on PS3!), it's great to be back in Rapture - which remains among the most compelling game worlds yet created. Tightly-designed setpiece encounters and particularly a (perhaps expectedly!) compelling plot with a typically-shocking twist make
Minerva's Den a highlight of my time with the first two
Bioshock games.
74.
Squidlit (Switch) | 5 October 2020
Complete playthrough. A 2D platformer with a retro, Gameboy-style aesthetic,
Squidlit is fairly basic and very short. The game's appeal lies mostly in its nostalgic appeal - while the gameplay is serviceable enough, there's little here to maintain interest beyond a single, roughly half-hour playthrough.
75.
Hidden Through Time (Google Play) | 7 October 2020
All levels 100% complete. With a similar approach to the rather excellent
Hidden Folks,
Hidden Through Time challenges players to locate sets of objects/people hidden within each of its 26 levels, viewed from overhead in miniature - if you've ever tried the
Where's Wally? books, this is those in digital format. The use of colour graphics compared to
Hidden Folks' monochrome gives it quite a different feel, but overall I don't find it to be quite as polished a game, lacking the interactivity and resulting personality often seen in
Hidden Folks' scenes. However, considered in its own right,
Hidden Through Time remains a well-made experience, with each the discovery of each item eliciting that crucial feeling of satisfaction, and only a handful of excessively well-hidden items.
76.
Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea (episodes 1 and 2) (PS4) | 10 October 2020
100% of trophies earned. While a continuation of
Bioshock Infinite's story, with players controlling Booker and Elizabeth,
Burial at Sea is mostly set within Rapture, from the first two
Bioshock games, and ties the two storylines together quite neatly. Episode one's gameplay is largely similar to the base game, but episode two very different, based much more around stealth - mixing things up very nicely. The story really is the star here, though - without getting into specifics, there are some very meaningful twists towards the end of each episode - for episode a typical cliffhanger, and episode two a satisfying conclusion.
77.
Hypnospace Outlaw (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 11 October 2020
Completed with all achievements unlocked except for "Thanked"... which takes far too long for little reward. Certainly the best GeoCities moderator simulator that I've ever played!
Hypnospace Outlaw delivers strongly on nostalgia and the core investigative gameplay is well-implemented, with an engrossing narrative drawing the game forward. The controls are a little clunky with a controller rather than mouse/keyboard, but you do get used to them fairly quickly so this isn't too much of a hindrance.
78.
Super Mario Sunshine (Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Switch) | 19 October 2020
Beaten with 120 shine sprites. I've played through it a few times in the past, but I was surprised how challenging this second 3D Mario platformer was. The quirky addition to the gameplay with the FLUDD water-shooting mechanic serves to mix things up nicely, though it's easy to become over-reliant on the hover ability that this provides and I do miss the long jump from
Super Mario 64. Sadly I played before the announcement of the patch to add inverted camera controls, which didn't help with the playability! I also prefer to see more variety to the game environments, but I can see that the exploration of the tropical theme serves to add cohesiveness to the game as a whole.
79.
Donkey Kong Country (SNES) | 25 October 2020
101% in-game completion rate. I never owned an SNES when it was in its prime, so while I've played snippets of the
Donkey Kong Country series, as well as the Gameboy-based
Land sub-series, this is my first time playing through the game in its entirety. First impressions are inevitably that this was an incredible technical achievement for the SNES, with pre-rendered 3D models used to generate the 2D characters and alongside this, David Wise's soundtrack is iconic for a reason - it's absolutely superb (
Aquatic Ambience is a personal favourite). The platforming gameplay is less revolutionary, but still enjoyable, with well-designed levels and some well-hidden secrets - though a few too many of these just rely on trial-and-error that would be ideal.
80.
Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES) | 26 October 2020
102% in-game completion rate. Moving on immediately from my playthrough of the first
Donkey Kong Country, the introduction of Dixie Kong as a playable character here brings with it an enjoyable extension to the gameplay mechanics, with her ponytail-based floating ability. The implementation of secrets is greatly improved here, with more approachable clues reducing the need for trial-and-error, and more developed challenge scenarios within each bonus room. Graphics and music remain just as strong as its prequel, of course.
81.
The Darkside Detective (Steam) | 26 October 2020
All cases completed including bonuses; 100% of achievements unlocked. While graphically primitive - intentionally so -
The Darkside Detective is a point-and-click puzzle adventure with fantastic writing and sense of humour. Puzzle design is strong and the division of the game into a series of cases (each with a supernatural theme, hence the "Darkside" of the title) works effectively to break up the game into approachable segments, while retaining a loose narrative arc.
82.
Journey to the Savage Planet (PS4) | 30 October 2020
100% in-game completion rate, all trophies earned aside from speedrun and co-op. Very much taking its cue from the
Metroid Prime series,
Journey to the Savage Planet presents a well-developed interconnected world to explore, populated by flora and fauna co-existing in a believable ecosystem. However, far from the somewhat dark themes of the
Metroid games, the tone here is much more light-hearted, with humour at its core (albeit at times a little too slapstick for my liking) and bright, colourful imagery throughout. The exploration works well, with satisfying secrets to search out - the upgrades that help with their location are very much needed and balance things effectively, minimising the need to resort to a guide.
Another core part of the
Metroid formula is of course the upgrade mechanics and while these are perfectly serviceable, there's nothing particularly novel here - expect weapon damage/ammo/reload improvements, a grapple, etc. Combat is also a little weak, though again, it does its job. All in all,
Journey to the Savage planet is on the whole a little on the short side, but for as long as it lasts, there's a lot of enjoyment to take from it.
83.
Carto (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 31 October 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G). Not a word that I'd usually use, but "chill" is the perfect description for this charming little puzzle adventure, based around the novel mechanic of manipulating the environment by re-arrangement of map tiles within a square grid. This is explored to an impressive extent - while it starts off fairly simple, by the end of the game there's a definite level of challenge here, with restrictions to map arrangements require edges of tiles to match up to others of the same type and it's satisfying to see layouts come together effectively. As a simple early example, a gentle dialog hint might suggest that a person is located in an area surrounded by flowers, and arranging four flower-lines tiles in a square around a central gap makes a new central tile appear with the sought-after character. A touching story ties the whole experience together, centred on themes of family and friendship.
