Games you've recently played

[DogToon64]

(There's probably been multiple threads about the same topic, but since it's a new year why, not start a new one? :P)

As the thread title says, what games have you recently played?

Some games I've played are Splatoon, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Game & Wario, WarioWare: Get It Together! (a lot of WarioWare, LOL), Super Mario Maker 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Star Wars Battlefront (2015).

[Spriter Theo]

I just finished Fire Emblem: Three Houses (one of the paths at least) and I've been playing Legends of Arceus on and off. I'm probably going to play Sakuna of Rice and Ruin next.

I'm mostly trying to clear out my queue so I have time for all the cool games coming out this year. And hopefully some of the games I missed last year as well.

[Yawackhary]

Quite a lot considering it has been an ongoing goal to go through my gaming collection, so all of these have been either the PS4, the 360 or the Switch.

Just alone in the past two days have played Aragami, Assetto Corsa Competizione, Super Street: The Game, Tiger Woods 10/11 and didn't like them. Trying very hard to play Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast but the PS4 port seems to be a bit buggy (super small text at the top left hand corner, not ideal for me at all) and struggling through the first level since the aim doesn't seem right but did enjoy it more than the Gamecube version. Did play a bit of Akiba's Beat, NHL 16, Black Clover: Quartet Knights, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Jedi Academy (outside of the issue of unable to see your objectives as the port didn't map the mouse cursor onto one of the analog sticks to scroll) and they seem okay. Tried to play Skyrim but literally have no luck regarding Bethesda games, they just like to crash on me before I can even play the game and that had to go.

Currently going through the 360 era Tiger Woods games, so far it seems that they aren't as good as 06 and 07 on the original Xbox despite that the graphics have held up (09 was also when EA started cutting back the amount of courses for DLC, sort of rectified with the Collector's Editions of 12, 13 and 14 that I have access to). Will have to go through 06-09 in more detail, the latter likely to go. The PS3 version of 12 and the 360 versions of 13 and 14 will need to be checked out some point in the future but not now.

Instead went through the PS4 golf games and it gets worse. The Golf Club series and PGA Tour 2K21 were unplayable, literally all thanks to a certain annoyance in modern gaming (everything has to be connected to an online server, even to play single player). A shame since they played like the Tiger Woods games as in using the analog stick to swing. There was just one game left... Everybody's Golf was just a disaster... Always last on the table, a par at best but realistically a lot of bogeys or much worse, even the first opponent Tomomi was surprised that she won and of course can't get any further (doesn't help that Sony is switching off the game too). I would have really enjoyed the game if the timing wasn't as strict, managed to get further or even filled the screen as the game had a border around the screen. There were also some glitches too and honestly the other golfers were kind of distracting. Still liked the graphical style and the customization options. The game itself isn't bad though, just my inability to play the thing.

Saying that, really enjoyed Dangerous Driving. It's rare for me to play a game and know that it just clicked. A game that you'll know from playing the first few seconds in game that this is going to be something.

[DogToon64]

A bit of an update:

I've recently been playing various 3DS games (like Super Mario 3D Land), and I've bought Kirby and the Forgotten Land and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga not very long ago; both which I've been enjoying quite a lot.

I've also been playing some WarioWare: Get It Together!, and a little bit of Star Wars Battlefront (2015). As of right now, I've almost got all of the PS4 trophies on Battlefront and only got a few more to go!

[Sengir]

I'd been playing a lot of Pokemon Arceus
And otherwise a lot of sudoku

[Yawackhary]

Outside of ones for ripping projects, just a few.

DriveClub is one that I wanted to like and played for about a week but there are just too many issues. Literally had to stop playing due to unable to get any further. So what are the issues? Firstly it runs on a border like Everybody's Golf but unlike that game, there is aggressive blur and depth perception issues. To explain as best as I can, when you drive you are meant to see the corner coming but because of the blur and the low resolution, it messes up with the background so you don't see the corner until it's too late... Those GIFs that people posted of those awesome weather effects? It's like it's the resolution of a postage stamp... I'm not someone who must have the games running at 4K, 120fps, etc however in a game like this, you got to have the visuals as clean as they are and have some consideration for more visual impaired people. If a game runs at a low resolution especially for the PS4 then at least see the screen rather than cake it with effects, ironically it feels like Forza Horizon on the 360 having better graphics because you could see the screen more clearly and full screen to boot despite only being 720p (might be less). Then its the views themselves, having behind the car makes them handle like shopping trolleys so I had to play in window view for better handling. The window view is just too low to the ground so then had to change it to in car view with the steering wheel but because of said issue makes the worse to the point where you can't see the speedometer at all.

Then you get points knocked off just because the AI rammed into you and the game blames you, also means the clean lap goals are next to impossible for me to do. The last straw was the final batch of races that I could get into where they were using faster cars that you can't use yet, AI driving so aggressively and you could feel the rubber band effect. Don't seem to have much luck with PS4 racing games.

Did like the car models and the cars themselves, the diversity of the tracks and can see the developers taking a bit of influence from the Project Gotham Racing series. Unlike the reviewers, actually liked the menu system. Sadly it wasn't enough for me to keep.

So afterwards decided to play Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV and oof... Didn't expect to play a single map for 6 hours, the longest that I've played on a game for a very long time (the last was trying to do the Battlefield 4 campaign in one sitting due to a save bug), not having much of an idea what to do despite playing the tutorial at first and still managed to lose. Seem to have no luck with strategy games at all due to also getting rid of Fire Emblem Awakening and some of the Disgaea series (6 seems to be fine and hopefully fingers crossed that I can get further).

[DogToon64]

I played a bit of Super Bomberman R Online at the end of last month before the game went under maintenance (which probably meant the game's servers were about to be shut down). While I didn't play the game a whole lot, I did enjoy it.

I've also been playing LEGO City Undercover on the PS4. Been working on earning the platinum trophy and I'm currently at 97.3% in-game and 87% of the trophies unlocked. I've only got two more trophies left (excluding the platinum trophy), one of which requires me to 100% the game.

Other games I've been playing include Splatoon 3 and Antonball Deluxe.

[Yawackhary]

Still sorting out my massive games collection out meaning that playing multiple games on the go, some days it's literally 5 games a day. Not as much this week though.

On the 360, finished Deathsmiles (getting 10 endings [8 for the main game, 2 for Mega Black Label] and using 100+ continues, 1CC is literally impossible for me) but could only play the 360 modes of the games due to unable to see the original arcade versions on the grounds of the small screen and the really small sprites, let go of both Top Spin 4 and Mortal Kombat 2011 (failing the Scorpion/Quan Chi match in story mode after 20+ attempts but did at least beat arcade mode as Scorpion).

Right now have been playing MindJack. Basically imagine Gears of War but was made by a Japanese developer during the PS2 era with its grey/blue palette yet came out years later (wouldn't that mean it'll be based on Operation WinBack then since that's more or less the OG cover shooter?). It's been all right but could be a lot better. The big issue is the AI where the computer is rather dumb yet at the same time annoying because the only thing they can do is shoot directly at you and those spawn points out of nowhere, having teleporting animations doesn't help either (as in you suddenly see a pose change and the enemy moving unnaturally) making it feel very unfinished. Only time can tell whether I manage to beat the game or it's going straight to the pile.

For the PS3, playing God of War Ascension. Does look nice and really should have had an early PS4 port (at least to fix the issues that the game had). Currently at the Temple of Delphi as of writing. Then again how far will I go until literally I couldn't get any further? Am aware of a point where even the diehard players struggle on outside of a trick and have struggled throughout the game... 

Earlier in the week on the PS3 played Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, BioShock, Dead Space 2 and Way of the Samurai 4 however couldn't get very far in them (LoS was literally performance problems and couldn't beat the first boss due to input lag, BioShock was at a point where I needed an explosive to continue but said explosive never appeared anywhere, Dead Space 2 couldn't get past the first part after multiple tries* and WotS 4 was glitchy where the samurai kept laying down basically crawling on his back).

* - Yes, that bad when it comes to games where some games struggle even with the tutorial stage. Sometimes to the point of not even getting that far even when doing what it says to do.

[Shin FireyPaperMario]

Where do I even begin?????

---

• Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (Beaten it last Monday)
  

• Virtua Fighter 2 via the Sega Genesis app for NSO Expansion subscribers
  

• Columns via the Sega Genesis app for NSO Expansion subscribers
  

• Paper Mario (doing a 100% playthrough of it, just beaten chapter 2 with about 15.6% game completion)
  

• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
  

• Pokémon Gold & Silver versions (trying to get all of my good Pokémon fully trained before moving them to Home)
  

• Cris-Tales
  

• Canon: Legend of the New Gods (Fēng shén yīng jié chuán)
  

---

And that's all.

[Yawackhary]

Been playing on the Switch on the past couple of days mostly Mario Party Superstars but also Mario & Sonic 2020. The retro mode on the latter reminds me of the old Konami Track & Field/Hyper Sports probably down the announcer sounding like bad quality samples which is a nifty touch and the old school feeling especially with the diving and clay shooting (much easier to control though). Have noticed that the Sonic Mega Drive sprites clash with the NES style that's pretty much near everything else making it a bit jarring. Really need to get around to ripping Hyper Sports actually...

Says something when button mashing is getting pretty difficult to do especially rapid presses... Some minigames literally lose within a couple of seconds in Superstars.

Also tried Valiant Hearts, the WWI puzzle platformer adventure type of game. It has a lovely presentation (as per the UbiArt games) but had problems playing literally from the hill run part onwards. Ploughed through, got stuck and it went.

Outside of the Switch, did play on Dark Sector on the 360 as in the FPS where you have a spinning throw weapon. Did play it years ago on the PS3 (but wasn't as smooth and looked a bit worse) and remembered the graveyard level with the gorilla at the church boss.

[DogToon64]

Just recently finished The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild today. I haven't 100%ed the game yet, but I might work on that after I take a break from it. I've also finished the first Kao the Kangaroo game and I'm planning on starting the second one soon.

Began playing Sonic Frontiers again after taking a break from it. I'm wanting to finish the main story before Sonic Superstars releases and I'm currently on the fourth island.

I've also been playing Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii and the DLC stages in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

[Yawackhary]

Due to still sorting out my gaming collection, played at least 20+ games within the past week and 12 within the past two days. Well tried to play is probably the best term.

Much of it has been the Warriors/Musou series and sadly for a majority either couldn't get past the first stage, did get past the first stage but not the second/third one usually involving the enemies either throwing bombs or boulders wiping out your health, ran out of time on the missions (Spirit of Sanada), very glitchy (One Piece Pirate Warriors 4/Dynasty Warriors 9) or the not quite Musou but same developers couldn't even get past the tutorial of Attack on Titan 2! Just on the grounds of the timing window is just too tight. The only three so far progress wise that aren't that pattern are Samurai Warriors 5 (for now), Warriors All-Stars all thanks to the Ryu Hayabasa/Akane/William combo (the Team Ninja "hardcore" characters) plus the CPU help and Arslan: The Warriors of Legend with the latter doesn't seem to have any AI at the enemies at all... Oh and Berserk it seems. A shame really because I did enjoy Dynasty Warriors 8 out of the ones that I had (and did a long time ago when I had my Vita) but if you can't play them, you can't play them.

Outside of that there's the conclusion of losing the ability of playing FPS/TPS. So tried and failed on Far Cry 4 and 5, Sniper Elite V2, Wolfenstein/Ghost Recon: Future Soldier/Battlefield Bad Company/Transformers: Fall of Cybertron/Army of TWO: The Devil's Cartel (despite that I completed those in the past). Also weirdly enough, could at least play Future Soldier, Bad Company and Army of TWO just a few months ago but now... nope. Then there's Metro Exodus where literally couldn't get any further on that game. Will be going through the last of the shooters (Black Clover: Quartet Knights, Quake 4, Transformers: War for Cybertron and even though they play okay for me Earth Defense Force 2017 and 4.1 [not 2025 due to camera sickness]) at a later date.

(On a related note, planning to go through any game that's not a racing game within the next few weeks. The main focus are going to be RPGs [Final Fantasy X-2/XIII, World of Final Fantasy Maxima, Tales of Arise, Dragon Star Varnir, MagnaCarta 2, Xenoblade series, Enchanted Arms, Dragon Age], Jedi Fallen Order, Alan Wake, Control, open world [GTA 3/Vice City, Saboteur, Mafia trilogy, Godfather 1 & 2, Assassin's Creed series], whatever action games that I have left and console wise just PS4/360/PS3/Switch games but may play on Chrono Trigger DS.)

Other games that were abandoned were Saints Row: Gat out of Hell (problems with the flight controls), Utawarerumono ZAN (Warriors styled game, similar reason to God Eater 3 below okay with CPU help, thrashed no matter what on the solo mission), LEGO Batman 2 (those button mashing handles..., again beaten this in the past).  The furthest that I got up to progress wise was God Eater 3 (Switch) on the account that the CPU was helping through the missions clocked over 2 hours worth of progress but when it became a solo mission, it just fell apart... Besides before going solo, was using health packs like candy when it got towards the latter part of the Rank 2 missions. Was no good at Monster Hunter styled games anyway.

At least more positively surprisingly doing okay on Trials of Mana (the 3D remake, PS4 version because the text size is too small on the Switch) getting up to Angela's flashback and seems to be doing okay on Far Cry 6. Maybe it's Juan Cortez?

[Barack Obama]

Diablo 2 Resurrected and oh boy, Duriel in Act 2 is unbeatable with my Lv.24 sorceress. Not sure what to do at this point, I even got a savegame from Nexusmods to get unlimited respecs to try better combinations, but I'm not too positive about it.

[bdeggers]

I recently just finished playing Goat Simulator 3 and High on Life and then starting to rip the meshes and textures from the games
I still have sooooo many games in my Steam library that I haven't even downloaded yet

[Yawackhary]

Just a few games this week, all Switch.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Really am surprised that a) that I can still play a Mario game and more so b) managed to defeat the first boss. It's strange for me to say this but this is the most that I've enjoyed playing a game in quite a long time. Think the last time was probably something on the original Xbox about 8-9 years ago (outside of a brief moment on the opening of the PS4 Spider-Man game but that went after realising that nope...) It's a charming game that's for sure.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - Surprised to make it this far since LEGO games are no longer playable for me, with the older ones being too tight with the timing or a lot of them have button mashing in some form. Noticed the frame rate got bad on Reap on What You Solo where I just finished and the game has been tough at least when enemies are concerned. To misquote a famous saying "I have a bad feeling about... what's going to happen next..."

51 Worldwide Games - Now in two minds whether to keep this. On one hand really struggle with quite a lot of the games (Chess, NOT Othello, NOT Yahtzee, any of the card based ones, billiards), some that I literally can't play at all (motion control based, shogi, mah-jong), and some that are just luck (NOT Uno, NOT Mastermind, again any of the card based ones) but on the other hand, it has a good selection of stages in Mahjong Solitaire (Shanghai). Didn't help that my left hand having pins and needles playing the games.

Couldn't get very far in Ori and the Blind Forest so that went. Outside of going back to LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and 51 Worldwide Games for another try, will be going through some 3D platformers, the Xenoblade series, The Caligula Effect 2, Alliance Alive HD (last RPGs), VNs and some retro collections within the near future. As for Super Mario Bros. Wonder? Will be playing more of that in my spare time except that I don't have a spare minute to wind down when you have up to 90 games to sprite rip among other things.