April showers bring game flowers towards 100 (April Progress Report)

by morecowbell24

I found a lot of time in April to make a good dent in my goal of 100 games in 1 year, making up for my longer detours last month with Horizon and The Witcher 3. Without those games holding me back, I felt a surge of motivation, but I'm kind of dreading the new Zelda, as it might end up draining me in the same way, so I'm still waiting to dive into what might end up being the biggest game of the...

27. Snake Pass [2017]

“Look at that snake! Coilin’ up doin snake stuff!” – Jeff Gerstmann

Snake Pass isn’t an amazing game or anything, but it is quite a bit different than just about everything else while at the same time being a love letter to classic 3D platformers. I had a good time with it.

28. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil [1999]

I played the original Turok earlier this year, and I have to say, this one left a poor impression. Commonly touted as the series’ peak, I’m pretty disappointed to report I do not think it was that great. I played this one as a wee lad, but was too confused to navigate the levels and never made it past the first stage. The levels are still confusing in adult life, almost game ruiningly bad. The cerebral bore is about the only thing in this game that lived up to the hype, but considering this game is nearly 20 years old, my expectations were pretty tempered with it. Negative feelings aside, I still feel a Turok reboot akin to Doom and/or Wolfenstein could be baller.

29. Flinthook [2017]

I was really worried I wouldn’t be able to finish this one in a timely manner, but I had the run ahead of schedule. It still took some time to get there, the third boss is a tough one. The hook… hook, is almost a good one. It’s a bit unwieldy in tense situations and staying grounded seemed like the best strategy. It’s shame, because it is quite a fun mechanic, and for the most part it was well executed. The rogue-like shell just wasn’t doing it any favors, and apart from the hook and the cool space pirate aesthetic, it doesn’t really stand out in an ever increasingly crowded genre.

30. Hollow Knight [2017]

His head reminds me of Legos

This is a game. A metroidvania game. A Souls-like game. A great game. The aesthetic, music and gameplay all come together to make it so.

31. Adventure Island [1988]

Interestingly this was supposed to be a port of Wonder Boy. Throughout my gaming career I’ve heard whispers about Adventure Island being good, one of the better NES games. I’m here to tell you it’s not. It’s a maddening dash through a faux-paradise. My review.

32. Ducktales [1988]

I have also heard whispers of this game being good, one of the better NES games. I’m here to tell you it is. Hollow Knight's downward attack might've been influenced by this one.

33. Soul Edge [1995] and 34. Soulcalibur [1998]

No one says "Final Justice," but weapon fighting is cool anyway

Inspired by the new This is the Run, I decided to tackle some fighting games, as my experience with them is pretty limited. With Soul Edge you can see they had something and with Soulcalibur you can see them really execute on those ideas. Soul Edge is a neat piece of gaming history, and Soulcalibur is a great piece of gaming history.

35. Marvel Super Heroes [1995]

I remember never hearing of this game until it was released on XBLA, but immediately thinking it looked kind of cool. It being featured on Ranking of Fighters semi-recently reminded me that I should play it. Thanos is a bastard guy.

36. Contra III: The Alien Wars [1992]

Having enjoyed the original Contra but not sinking any time to others in the series I expected to have a good time with Contra III, seeing as it is commonly touted as a great SNES game. I must disagree, its relentless enemy spawns don't make for much fun, which is compounded by a lack of screen real estate to maneuver around in. The mode 7 stuff feels like a bad tech demo and the sound effects and music blow. You do have to jump from giant missile to giant missile to kill some giant alien though and that was alright.

37. Call of Duty: World at War [2008]

Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman were pretty wasted on this one. Similar to Call of Duty 3, Treyarch tries to convey the intense brutality of war on all sides, but it comes across as cheap and ham-fisted. The level environments are a little more open than in 3, but it’s pretty clear Treyarch still wasn’t quite up to snuff with Infinity Ward at this point. This is the origin of Nazi Zombies however, and it was interesting to see what that was when it spawned. And for what it's worth they also execute on the multiplayer better this time around.

So there you have it, my April gaming output. 37/100 ain't to shabby, and May is looking to be another kick in my backlog's ass. Thanks for reading.