Thanks. I hope so, i just began ! Even if i regret a bit, i bought forbidden west on sale just after.

Just Finished: Knack (PS4)

Ah yes, Knack. A game that came out all the way back at PS4 launch but I have only played recently because it was offered as a PS Plus Game some months ago. You may ask, why I would choose to play such a game when I have access to so many better titles that i have not even played yet. The truth is sometimes you need a palette cleanser, and that may be a ho-hum game just to remind you what makes the good ones so special. Knack is a straight forward 3D action platformer. It is like Crash Bandicoot, if Crash Bandicoot sucked. The game only exists to show off the PS4's capabilities with particle physics as Knack is made up seemingly thousands of polygonal shapes and gets bigger and bigger over time. Combat is simple if unsatisfying. You mash the square button to do phsyical strike and have a few options for special attacks. You collect relics that can give Knack special abilities but you will only unlock a few of these during your first playthrough. The platforming is nothing special and rather unimaginative. There are a lot of closed off arena type areas. The campaign is a sufficient length. The story is bland and kind of loopy going in all different kind of directions. Knack is not really the main character and doesn't really have much effect on the story even though he is the one that does all of the hard work and the annoying human allies are just along for the ride. One part of the game that stands out is that Knack is one of the most egregious case of miscasting a voice actor that I have experienced in a video game? Who decided that instead of a lovable quirky character that Knack should sound like a sexy deep voiced R&B singer? Sometimes the deaths are frustrating and seem unfair. The art direction is idiosyncratic. Yet, I see why Sony decided to produce a game like this, it is easy to pick up and a family game that young kids can enjoy. Who knows, maybe some gamer who was young when the PS4 came out will look back on Knack with the same kind of nostalgia that I look back on the PS1 Crash games. Sucks for that kid because they are wrong. The game is bland but honestly not bad enough to deserve all the ironic memes. A game that defined a generation.

9.5/10

Full Completed 2022 List:

• Far Cry 5 (PS4)
• Resident Evil 6 (PS4)
• inFamous 2 (PS Now)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (NSO)
• Bioshock 2 (PS4)
• Ico (PS Now)
• Knack (PS4)

I just got the Cuphead platinum last night (Deliberately avoiding all DLC content to ensure I didn't make it easier on myself since Ms Chalice makes the base game easier due to her extra hit point AND dash-parry, AND her invincible dodge roll AND the fact that she has all of these boosts without losing any of her strength.)

Now that I got the base game plat, it's time to do the DLC.

Alright, updated list for me:

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut/DLC
It Takes Two
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition on PS5
A Plague Tale: Innocense
A Way Out
Elden Ring x4 (3x on PS5, 1x on PS4)
New Super Lucky's Tale
FoxyLand
FoxyLand 2
MetaGal
Micetopia
Kaze and the Wild Masks
Overcooked! All you Can Eat
Black Wolf
Cuphead
My Name is Mayo
My Name is Mayo 2
My Name is Mayo 3
The Jumping Burgers
The Jumping Fries

I also got the platinum on all of them, some of them twice Working on Elden Ring's PS4 list, and The Jumping Burger and Jumping Fries and Black Wolf are both available on both PS4 and PS5).

Next up: Webbed and Untitled Goose Game.

Games I've finished in 2022:

Persona 5 Strikers (Platinum)
Valkyria Chronicles 4
Elden Ring
FF Strangers of Paradise
Tales of Arise (Platinum)
God of War (Platinum)

Finished God of War and the platinum was easy enough, so added that in as well.

Up next is Disgaea 6. Soul Hackers 2, Diofield Chronicle, and Star Ocean for later this year should cover me until 2023 at least. I guess I won't be playing Witcher 3 for awhile.

+ Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair (Xbox Series X)

+ Azure Striker Gunvolt (Xbox Series X)

Virtua Tennis 3 - 6/10

Fight'N Rage - 9/10

Streets of Rage 4 Mr. X Nightmare - 7/10

Double Dragon Neon - 5/10

The Ninja Saviors - 7/10

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 9/10

Dragon Ball Z Sagas - 3/10

Starsky and Hutch - 5/10

Sega Soccer Slam - 6/10

Tales of Eternia - 5/10

Atelier Iris 2 - 7/10

Mana Khemia 2 (Ulrika playthrough) - 9/10

Sonic Advance - 5/10

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 - 4/10

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge - 5/10

Bubble Bobble 4 Friends - 5/10

Evil Tonight - 6/10

Games I've beat:

Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits - PS4
Cthulhu Saves Christmas - Switch
The Wolf Among Us - PS4
Ghostbusters - PS3
Hellboy: The Science of Evil - PS3
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - PS4
Silent Hill: Downpour - PS3
Pokemon Sword - Switch
Octodad: Dadliest Catch - PS4
Beholder 2 - Switch

Currently playing:

Resident Evil 5 - PS4

Just Finished: Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD (As Part of the Kingdom Hearts All in One Collection) (PS4)

Another Kingdom Hearts game in the books. This is the first game in my play through of the series that I had never even played partially beforehand so it was completely new to me. Of course this game was originally developed and released for the 3DS. Even though I was a 3DS owner since day one I never considered buying the game for the device. I'm glad I played it on the PS4, not only for the value, but also the trophies and ability to play on big screen. I couldn't imagine trying to take on some of these tricky combat situations on the 3DS' cramped screen and controls. Although I think all the 3D imagery and gimmicks they threw in probably looked pretty goond on the handheld. The story is still ridiculous and convoluted. It's encouraging that they threw in quite a few original worlds or movies we have not experienced in the series before like Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tron Legacy. The drop mechanic is one of the most bizarre things I have come across in a game. If a certain timed meter drops to 0 the game forces you to stop what you are doing and play as the other character (Sora or Riku) in their story. Maybe they wanted you to spend even time playing as both (though Riku takes over at the end) but it was distracting and would even happen in the middle of boss battles. My biggest pet peeve with this series remains the ridiculous difficulty spikes towards the endgame with the last few boss battles. It is quite frankly absurd and has plagued every entry in the series. Again this game has appeal for young players because of the Disney character so to make the final bosses so frustratingly grudgingly difficult makes the whole series feel discordant. Oh also the game has Pokemon style elements with the Spirit Creatures that you can create and train to fight alongside you. Initially I thought this would be an annoying gimmick but it worked pretty well and was not too obtrusive.  The presentation other than the story is top notch. The gameplay still has some kinks but is mostly satisfying. I got serious gay vibes between Sora and Riku's story. And I'll end my review on that note...

Score: 7/10

Full Completed 2022 List:

• Far Cry 5 (PS4)
• Resident Evil 6 (PS4)
• inFamous 2 (PS Now)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (NSO)
• Bioshock 2 (PS4)
• Ico (PS Now)
• Knack (PS4)
• Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD (PS4)

I am one trophy away from getting the platinum on TMNT: Shredder's Revenge.

So hard to do arcade mode on Gnarly difficulty. 0% chance I'll have the patience to do it solo (I find Beat-Em-Ups nearly impossible to play solo on hard). The second hardest - and single rarest - trophy is "Beat the final boss without getting hit'; I did that last night and it was a nightmare. I hate RNG. Seemed sometimes the game just DECIDED you got hit, since after every opportunity you get to hit the boss he will randomly do one of four potential actions, and one of those actions goes in a random direction and happens with no tell.

If you stay in place, he'll hit you with a shadow attack 100% of the time.
If you dash away, he'll either teleport or dash or use the shadow attack
IF you jump, he'll either teleport, dash, or use the shadow attack.

Fortunately, teleportation is easy to avoid as long as you keep on the move and the shadow attack has a very short range so as long as you're fast you can get right outta there. Problem is, the dash leaves behind fire, and if you touch the fire you lose out on the trophy. so you are always taking a risk. Sometimes he'll dash your way and you'll get lucky, sometimes he will dash directly where you were already jumping and you'll get hit.

you think, oh, the solution is to simply wait and see? but no, not an option. If you don't bail outta there INSTANTLY you're getting hit. And he does potentially two attacks in about .75 of a second, the shadow attack and the dash. If you aren't outta there IMMEDIATELY he hits you with the shadow attack. If you get out of there via a dash it's quicker and has i-frames but also leaves you prone for a split second long enough that if he dashes in your direction you're fucked. Your best bet (in my experience) is to jump away. but if you regular jump you have the same mobility limitations and might get hit. You also can only double jump on the ascent, so while it gives you SOME extra mobility it's not perfect.

Resulting in a small chance that at least one time throughout the fight, of which you're looking at 4-5 cycles to finish the health bar at best, you'll be presented with an attack that you can't possibly avoid. And that annoys me. The fight is hard enough as it is due to the wonky hit boxes on the flames (the ones he leaves behind and the ones he pushes out in circle-patterns), but by the end I wasn't ever finding it hard to actually avoid his attacks and juggle my supers with my patience. I was up until nearly 2 last night after 8 hours of attempts, and I genuinely feel maybe 5% of the failures were due to my own mess-ups.

Which, on its own is FINE. RNG based bosses are fine. It happens. Cuphead was very RNG-reliant and occasionally put you in situations you couldn't possibly have escaped without getting hit, but the difference is that Cuphead's fights were super short, easy to get back into, and showed you where on the ruler you were relative to the next phase.

In TMNT, if you get hit to shredder, you have to redo an entire boss prior to his fight as well. And there's load screens as well as 'cutscenes' you have to watch before and after that first fight as well as prior to starting Shredder. And you can't just press a button to restart. HAd it just been Shredder, jump in, try again? It'd be fine. Still mildly frustrating and unfair, but manageable. As it is....do NOT go for 100% on TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. GREAT game to play, but a handful of the trophies/achievements are absolute garbage.