2023, Year in Review
January 2, 2024
This past year has been amazing for me personally. Sure it's had its downs, but it's had its ups too. And those ups have been some of the greatest moments of my life.
But one I love has been this blog. It's actually helped me maintain some memories of the games that I've played.
So I feel it's maybe time to take a look back at each of the games I played this year and see what I thought about them.
Pikmin
I got motivated to give the series a shot thanks to the looming release of Pikmin 4, and it was such an amazing decision. Playing through Pikmin has been one of my most cherished experiences from this entire year. It brought me so much joy and introduced me to a series that I've come to absolutely adore, and has been the first series I've been so into that I've legitimately wanted to purchase merchandise from it purely because of how much I enjoyed the games.
The game itself is incredibly fun. It may be short, but its length is less of a limitation and more of a challenge - giving you a limited amount of time to complete the game. It makes the game feel more focused, not giving you the time to just dally around.
Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
It's a Kirby game, those are always solid. This felt more like a replay since I had played the original, but since I only touched the story mode in that, the side modes were all new content to me.
The main game itself is solid and I consider it to be worth it just from that, and the epilogue, along with the boss rush, are incredibly fun post-game extras, and the minigames the remake adds are a nice addition too. Although, I didn't try to go for all the Stamps in the minigames, as I felt that would just be too repetitive.
But speaking of repetition, the only real part about the game I disliked was the Extra Mode because of its repetitiveness, but I've talked about that before.
Metroid Prime Remastered
I'm not usually into First-Person Shooter games, mostly because I have trouble aiming. On a console, I'm forced to use a controller, and I find that a Joystick doesn't allow for the precision needed in one of those games. On my computer, my mouse is just subpar and again doesn't allow for the precision needed.
Metroid Prime Remastered finds itself to be the exception to this, thanks to its lock-on feature. I don't need to be completely precise with my aiming, because if I get close enough the game can compensate. This allows me to focus on the exploration and platforming aspects more, and I feel the game is more focused on those.
Although, I feel the exploration is lacking. Far too often I find myself traversing the same areas in the same way with nothing at all feeling different enough to warrant it. Yes, I'm aware that's the point of a Metroidvania, but on my return trip to Phendrana Drifts, I realized that there was nothing new about the area, and I was aware all I was going to do there was travel through basically the entirety of the area, grab an item near the end, and then have to traverse all the way back. Nothing would be different enough to warrant all that effort.
This may just be an effect of the game being a 3D version of a Metroidvania - the genre may just not work well outside of a 2D setting - but it was enough for me to be fed up with the game and abandon it there.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
This was a fun little game. Released as an April Fool's thing by Sega, but -instead of being a joke it was a full-on game.
Well... Admittedly there isn't too much game. Sure the thinking minigames are a bit of fun, but that's such a small portion of the game. If those were released standalone it would probably be criticized for only being about a half-hour's worth of gameplay.
And the rest of the game is presented as a sort of "visual novel" game. (I think. Admittedly, I've never played any other visual novels before.) But it is mostly just clicking around to find the specific objects and then selecting conversation options that have no real impact on the story. No matter what you select, the story always winds up playing out the same way.
That's not to say the story itself is bad. Sure there are a few things pulled out of seemingly nowhere - such as the conclusion that Espio can speed read because he is a ninja. But every conclusion that is made in the game can seemingly be come to by the player themself before the game presents it if they pay attention to the clues they're presenting.
But I wish the game had actively utilized that a bit more. Take advantage of the player figuring things out and allow them to come to the wrong conclusion at times instead of railroading them to the correct one.
It's a very short game, beatable in about an hour or two, but it's still a fun romp if you need something to pass the time. Plus, it's free, so there's no real excuse not to try it.
Hyrule Warriors
I didn't play much of this game before I honestly just stopped playing it. There wasn't any real reason for dropping it, I just didn't bother going back to it.
I did enjoy my short time with it. It was fun using Link to power through hordes of enemies, and it was especially funny when the game gave me an objective to beat a miniboss after I had already rushed ahead and beaten it, but I guess the game had to get through the dialogue first.
The combo system is pretty braindead though. You just gotta experiment until you find the one pattern that is easily repeatable and attacks a good amount of enemies, then just spam that.
And I feel the leveling system has a big flaw. You have to constantly go back to older levels and play through them with other characters to increase their level. That feels like a slog when it's the same as the original time you went through it, and each level is about 45 minutes long in the first place, so going back to level up a character is a nearly hour-long commitment to playing a section that is identical to as it was beforehand.
Now that I'm writing this review, it's prompting me to notice the flaws of the game that I didn't consciously realize. I can kind of understand why I just stopped booting it up now.
Pikmin 2
Honestly, I'm conflicted about this game. When I first played it, I enjoyed how it felt like a much more polished experience compared to the original, but I was so frustrated by how much of a slog the caves in the game felt that I ditched the game during the final area, because I just couldn't bring myself to complete it.
But a few months later I played through Pikmin 4, and I took a different philosophy with tackling objectives in that game - one that made me realize most of my issues with Pikmin 2 may be solved by taking that same philosophy into this game. I won't bother to go into details since I've done so before in another post.
I haven't gone back to replay this game yet, and I don't think I can give a true judgment on it until I do so, with this new philosophy in mind.
Neon White
Neon White was incredibly fun. The core gameplay loop is based around beating a level and then replaying it and slowly perfecting your run until you've mastered it. It's amazing how the game rewards you for getting better and better times slowly.
Honestly, most of what I can say about what I've enjoyed from this game can be summarized by This video by Game Maker's Toolkit about the game. This was my initial exposure to the game, and then when Alpharad played through it, that brought back memories of that video. It prompted me to buy the game and experience it myself, and it was great fun.
Admittedly, I didn't beat the game. I was struggling with some stuff in my personal life while I was playing through the game, and I tried to use the game to distract myself every once in a while. It didn't work well, all I managed to do was cause myself to resurface those feelings whenever I opened the game, even when I was feeling fine initially. Pavlovian conditioning kinda sucks in that regard, I guess. But it's been a while since I last played it, and I haven't been dealing with that stuff since, so hopefully at some point I can go back and finish the game.
Pikmin 3
Pikmin 3 honestly feels like a massive departure from the previous two Pikmin games. In the others, you're going around looking for ship parts or treasures to collect as you're exploring, then bringing them back to your ship to collect them. Pikmin 3 still has the illusion of that collection aspect, with your characters needing to collect fruit, but that objective is no longer what feeds your progression. Instead, unlocking new areas and furthering the story is done by getting to specific areas in the level, beating the boss, and carrying back whatever object they drop.
Due to progression being tied to bosses and the items they drop, each area feels less like a place to explore, and more like a series of puzzles designed to push you towards the boss' arena. It makes the adventure feel more like it's focused on the story compared to the other two games. It's still a fun and solid game, it's just too different from the others that it wasn't what I had come to enjoy about them.
I wound up dropping the game, although that was mostly because of troubles due to the control scheme I was using. I plan on revisiting it at some point, and I expect it to go better, knowing what the game actually is in mind.
Metroid: Zero Mission
The original Metroid game is pretty well known for being... Well, kind of obtuse at times. That's understandable, due to being burdened with the limitations of the NES at the time. Thankfully, for anyone who wants to experience the game in a more updated ???, Metroid: Zero Mission exists.
There are a few new additions to bring it up to standard with the more modern interpretations of the Metroidvania genre, adding convenient features such as the ability to crouch and shoot enemies lower down, and a ledge grab to help you traverse the terrain... These being considered additions to the original should be enough to explain why the original is disregarded.
There's even a whole new section after the original final boss, where you're shot down trying to leave the planet and have to infiltrate the Space Pirates' Base. You're stripped of all the abilities you've gained throughout the game and have to get through the section while stealthily avoiding enemies, a different experience from the rest of the game, where you get to just power through everything. But once you make it through, you gain all your abilities back, plus some extra ones, and you become overpowered and able to just burst through everything. You're then prompted to go through the section in reverse, this time while being able to take alternative passages that your abilities open up and slaying enemies like you're in god mode. I think it's a great experience, and to me, it's the best part of the game.
Although I will say, getting through the game to that part felt somewhat obtuse still. Some of the paths were easy enough to find, but there was more often than not where I felt like some things were just hidden terribly. I remember vividly one part where I was lost with no clue where to go. After a friend looked it up for me, we found that to progress I needed to break some tiles on the ground in a room that I assume didn't have any, as there was lava in the area below. (As an aside: Breakable tiles look exactly the same as non-breakable ones) There are various other situations where I felt things were just hidden with zero clues available to find them whatsoever. It was a bit frustrating at times.
It was a fun playthrough though. It was only a few hours long, and I finished it over two pretty short play sessions.
Toree 3D and Super Kiwi 64
While these are two separate games, I feel like I'm going to be repeating the same points if I try to talk about them separately, so I'm just going to lump them together.
Both of these games are extremely short and solid 3D platformers, at about an hour or two each. They're pretty solid and both extremely cheap, at $1 for Toree 3D and $3 for Super Kiwi 64.
The level design admittedly isn't anything phenominal. It feels extremely simple, but it's at least fun.
Toree 3D is a simple "get to the goal" style of game. Each level is an obstacle course, introducing new elements for the player to learn to work around.
Super Kiwi 64 takes the Super Mario 64 approach of objectives. Each level has multiple collectibles hidden around to find, making you explore the level for each of them.
Honestly, I'm starting to enjoy these sorts of short single play session games. It's nice having something I can open on a whim, play, and not have to worry about any future commitment of going back to it.
Pikmin 4
This game is the absolute peak of the franchise, and it better be since there was a decade long gap waiting for it. There's so much to rave about that I feel like I can't focus on one topic.
Each of the areas are extremely wide and open to explore. Nothing is locked off, as long as you bring the right Pikmin for the job. It's nice to go back to this format from the first two games, rather than the linear questline from the third one.
As you progress through the game, you can get nearly every Pikmin type pretty quick, but only as wild Pikmin in caverns. While you have some access to these other types of Pikmin, you can't propogate some of the more unique ones until you progress pretty far into the game. It's a nice mix of giving the player all the tools while still limiting them somewhat.
And thanks to Oatchi, you have what essentially acts as a second player character, yet one who isn't solely that. Oatchi can move and command like he's your player character, but he can also be set to do tasks as if he's a group of Pikmin.
I also love the upgrade system, where you have to spend some of the raw material gathered in levels to purchase upgrades that give you more commands. It makes it feel like you're progressing and becoming stronger outside of just building up your army of little guys.
Outside of the mechanics, I feel like the game holds your hand a bit too much otherwise. The rewind feature, Oatchi being overpowered, and each level being so clearly designed around only three specific types of Pikmin rather than encouraging you to use a variety of them.
Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon
Normally, post-game story content is usually relegated to an additional purchase, but the third update to Sonic Frontiers, The Final Horizon, is simply a free update that adds an alternative climax to the story - one I think is far more befitting of the buildup throughout the game.
The additional characters added to the game all feel a bit too similar to Sonic, but I feel like that's understandable, considering they're a post-release addition to a game that was likely not designed with them in mind at all. Each of them have some additional moves that Sonic doesn't - Amy's hover, Knuckles' glide, and Tails' flight and Tornado - but honestly each of these completely break the platforming, allowing you to completely skip massive sections. Personally, I kind of liked this. It allowed me to get to meat of the update - the new boss fight, and using each of these abilities to skip sections was honestly kind of fun.
As for that new boss fight... It's prefaced with a challenging boss rush against the other bosses from the game, but with the caveat that you start each boss with however many rings you had left after defeating the previous boss. That doesn't sound too hard, but each boss is fought with Super Sonic. As Super Sonic, you are losing rings the entire time, essentially putting a strict time limit onto the entire challenge. The boss rush also limits you into a much more challenging version of the parry, with a much shorter window of activation.
The boss fight itself is so damn epic. Super Sonic gets an upgrade, becoming Super Sonic 2, and gets the perfect parry, a more powerful version of the parry with a much shorter window... It's actually the parry used in the boss rush. I'm honestly impressed how the game used that challenge against some familiar bosses to teach you what would be an important mechanic for the final boss.
And holy hell the music. The new boss fight was backed by an orchestral version of the game's main theme, I'm Here, bringing back the tradition of using orchestral tracks for the final boss fight. It was great, but I was disappointed we didn't get another banger of a Titan theme... Until I got halfway through the fight, and the music switched into a Kellin Quinn remix of I'm Here, which has become nearly my favorite track. (Honestly, I still gotta give Undefeatable the edge just because I feel like I can connect with it so well.)
I will admit, I was most hyped for the potential of a new music track in the boss fight, and I was absolutely not disappointed.
Luigi's Mansion
Honestly, I found this game to be nothing but frustrating. It felt like every "puzzle" was obscure as hell, with solutions that felt like they were impossible to find. Even the hints that were supposed to help lead me to the right conclusion felt like they weren't properly connected.
The first puzzle in the game was one of the ghosts in a chair. Whenever you tried to look at him, he would disappear. Reading a book on the bookshelf tells you "Instead of turning away, turn to the side" hinting that you need
The puzzle that infuriated me the most, and caused me to finally drop the game out of frustration, was when the power went out and E. Gadd essentially said "Hey, there's a ghost that likes darkness and he hides in a room with a mirror." What the game doesn't tell you is the specific room he's hiding in, which just happens to have a mirror. I wound up running all around the mansion into basically every other room that had a mirror trying to find him, constantly dealing with the game spawning ghosts right on top of me due to the darkness.
This game's design sucks, which sucks cause I really like Luigi.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Honestly, this game is a masterpiece.
The art style alone is stellar, finally giving us something different from the boring look the "New" series has stuck with for five games. The level design feels so much more varied compared to those games too, abandoning the flat marathons of those games for more unique terrain. It's amazing how the latter half of the game opens up three worlds at the same time, allowing the player to jump around wherever they please.
Honestly, I don't have too much specific to say about it, but the game was absolutely a great experience.
Sonic Dream Team
I had the wrong expectations going into this game. I was expecting an experience closer to a console game, when in reality this is just a mobile game. The game features multiple missions that use the same terrain but with differing object layouts. And nearly all the mission objectives in the game boil down to "get to the end in time" aside from one where you have to collect 6 Dream Shards. Even with the different layouts, it just feels repetitive, going through the same scenarios over and over.
Aside from that, the gameplay is honestly fun, and it's quite a solid foundation. The level design is good too, making it feel like you're doing more than running in a straight line the whole time - which is far more than I can say for some other Sonic games.
I had fun with the gameplay, but the repetitive nature caused it to lose its charm, and I couldn't continue with finishing it.
Conclusion
These are all the games I've played a substantial amount of this year - the ones I can consider to myself that I've played enough to have a good opinion of them. I loved a majority of them, although there was the occasional one or two that I wasn't particularly a fan of, but I don't regret playing any of them at all.
My only real regret was that I skipped writing up some thoughts on a few of them. That is what my original intent for this blog was, and I feel I've slipped on that. I only really wrote about a game when it inspired me to write about a single mechanic in the game, rather than thinking about the game as a whole. Having written those articles has been great because I feel like I've retained more memories about those specifics. I feel like I have kept more memories from what I've played the past year than, well, the entire rest of my life. I want to do that more. I don't want to just play a game, beat it, and then forget it. I want to make memories I enjoy, memories I cherish, memories that stick with me.
Next year I want to try and write an actual post about every game I play, even if it's just a few paragraphs. And if there's a mechanic that sparks a larger interest, I can make a blog post dedicated to that. Or maybe I can branch out and write posts on other topics outside of just what happened to draw my interest during a playthrough. I've been planning on doing a session of playing through all 96 tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and I thought about making a blog post from that. But that's something for a later date.
I already have a small list of games I want to play over the next year, and already a few more in the back of my head I want to add onto that. Most of these are ones from genres I don't usually step into, so I'm excited to try out some new things.