As a gamer maintaining a vast backlog, I normally have the next game I want to play in mind as I approach the end of one game. Sometimes, however, I'm not sure what to jump to next. So what I will do is audition my next game by trying a few titles from my backlog and seeing if they grab me.
I've been doing this in the few months after beating Paper Mario, even completing some of the shorter games I've auditioned. Let's look at what I've been playing and checking out.
Farcry Classic (360)
This 2013 remake for Xbox Live Arcade of the 2004 PC game shows its age well. And yes, I said I was burnt out on Farcrys after 5, but this is not the modern open world Farcry. Instead, this is a refreshingly linear game with some large open environments, cool 80s action movie vibe cutscenes, and standard gunplay.
What really stood out in this game was the enemy AI. One would think that 2004 AI would be worse than most modern games, but something weird is going on with these enemies. Sometimes, as is usual with AI, they are just idiots standing there confused by their programming, which in 2021 is still common. Other times, though, they worked together, took and held positions and waited on my next move, and generally surprised the shit out of me with their behavior. It was refreshing.
Status: Beaten
Feeding Frenzy (360)
This Pop Cap casual game is the kind I normally dismiss, but I tried it and had fun with the scramble-around-the-screen-eating-what-you-can gameplay, which is vaguely reminiscent of the Imagic classic Dragonfire. Start eating small fish, grow, eat bigger fish, repeat. Fast and colorful, but the frenetic action never gets out of hand.
It's a casual game after all, so the difficulty is light but the fun is heavy.
Status: Beaten
Marlow Briggs and the Masque of Death (360)
Another genre I normally avoid is the hack and slash. Every one I've tried has been fun at first but later revealed to be frustrating, with difficult combo moves and so much stuff happening on the screen it becomes hard to even see the character, much less what they are hitting.
However, this hidden gem from late in the XBox 360 life cycle is one polished piece of software. The action gets intense but remains manageable. The character and story may seem standard at first, but not long after starting the game, one encounters a self-aware level of humor that was a delight. The companion mask-god thing that follows the player around cracks jokes about the player dying so much that it takes the sting off of dying so much.
There's lots of platforming here, too, but none of it yet has been unfair. The camera follows the player though each area and is one of the best I've seen in gaming. It always seems to be where it needs to be, with very few instances of it being in the wrong place and causing the player to die due to an unforeseen pitfall.
Status: 3/4 completed, stuck on a boss fight
Heavy Weapon (360)
Another Pop Cap casual game from way back in the day, Heavy Weapon is a bullethell shooter where the player controls a tank scrolling right at the bottom of the screen, shooting at aircraft above. Again, this is not my normal genre, for the exact same reasons listed above regarding hack and slash games.
Nonetheless. Heavy Weapon has brought me in with its colorful graphics, simple yet challenging gameplay, and varied enemies. I did not expect to play this very far before quitting forever in frustation, but playing a little every few days over the last week brought me to the end, and a victory over the final boss.
Status: Beaten
Akumajo Dracula X Chi no Rondo (PC Engine Super CD ROM2 via Turbografx 16 Mini)
This Castlevania classic was a Japan-only exclusive for the PC Engine CD ROM attachment, and tragically was never ported over to the U.S. I remember reading about it in early 1990s gaming magazines and being blown away by screenshots of the graphics, which were a step up from the NES series of Castlevania games, but not as good as the later-released Super Castlevania IV for the SNES.
It's got all the classic Castlevania gameplay and weaponry and is totally playable for a non-Japanese speaking player like me. With the TG16 Mini's save states, I plan to keep chipping away at if for the foreseeable future.
Status: At the start of the 4th Stage, no hope of going much further
Splatterhouse (Turbografx 16 via Turbografx 16 Mini)
I had this creepy cult classic in my Turbografx 16 collection before the great purge, and as much as I enjoyed it, it was a tough one to pick up and play over and over. A side-scrolling brawler with limited weapons and a haunted house full of gory enemies, Splatterhouse has great graphics and sound effects accompanying it's onslaught of enemies.
Again, with the save state feature of the TG16 Mini, I have been chipping away at in anew, making it further than (I think) I ever got back in the day. On some levels, I am literally saving again after making it past each small encounter without taking damage. The only healing comes automatically at the start of a new level, so I must make it to each boss fight with full health.
Status: Stage V so far, farther than I made it 30 years ago
Outer Wilds (Xbox One)
I saw this title on XBox Game Pass Ultimate Platinum Gold Express, or whatever it's called, and had to try it out. It's a first person game of exploration and flying that takes place in a tightly packed solar system. You fly from planet to planet unlocking some sort of mystery.
Everything here is right from the graphics to the characters to the controls, but I did not take much time to learn them and had difficulty getting around, resulting in death by crash and/or asphyxiation. Some of the planets have cave systems, and flying inside one I found a weird wormhole thing that transported me back out to space, where I did not have enough fuel to make it back to any planets, which was repeatedly frustrating.
I'm sure it would be a good game, and I hope to return to it and try to familiarize myself with the controls better. It's got a lot of charm.
Status: I crash a lot
The Outer Worlds (Xbox One)
Fresh off their take on Fallout with Fallout New Vegas, and their awesome South Park: The Stick of Truth, Obsidian Entertainment created their own version of a Bethesda RPG with The Outer Worlds. It plays exactly like an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game, with combat, levelling, inventory management, companions, and conversation all polished, colorful, and a good balance between fun and tedious.
The player is an unfrozen colonist in a far away solar system, cut off from Earth and struggling to survive. The story unfolds well and there are lots of side missions and even more loot to be had. The companions are great, and at the difficulty I played, unable to be permanently killed. The best one is SAM, a repurposed cleaning robot that shoots acid, whose robotic commentary about cleaning is hilarious.
Since Bethesda seems to be going the Rockstar way of ending solo player experiences in favor of big bucks multiplayer games, it's great that Obsidian took the torch and ran with it so well. The Outer Worlds is a tight adventure without an overabundance of side distractions, rather just enough content that the finale comes long before the burnout.
Status: Beaten (this game won the audition and became my full campaign)
