3 Year Anniversary Post - Nay's Games of the Year

Well, it looks like I've been running this blog for 3 years now even if it doesn't feel that long. In that time I've managed to play and review over 600 console games and over 150 arcade games, across many genres and of varying quality. While it's sometimes fun to focus on the very worst games that have been released, I'd like to take a look at my "games of the year" for this year of my blog. The criteria for making this list is simply to be a console game that I've reviewed this year, which I had never played before reviewing.

#7 Johnny's Payday Panic - 3DS

(Review here)

It's no secret that I love minigame games; Johnny's Payday Panic sees a young man taking on various food-making roles, each involving a different type of minigame and demanding customers. As players do better and better, upgrades are available at each job to make things easier. These unlock the ability to make even more money and so the cycle continues. The overall goal of the game is to buy cool stuff so that Johnny can be sure he isn't a loser.

While it's a pretty simple game, the great execution and humour makes Johnny's Payday Panic a quality experience which is as fun as it is frenzied. It's a great game to pick up every now and then and help Johnny to earn that motorbike or whatever's next on his list of awesome material possessions to buy.

#6 - Need for Speed: The Run - PS3

(Review here)

With a great and self-contained premise, beautiful locations and a real sense of urgency in its racing Need for Speed: The Run was the game which the NFS series needed to inject new life into the stagnating action. While I've yet to check out NFS: Shift 1 and 2, The Run is more in keeping with the previous street racing instalments of the game and earlier road racing games. The cutscenes and QTE segments, directed by Michael Bay are somewhat over-exaggerated but they're few and far between so it doesn't impact the game too much.

With a standalone game like this, it'll be interesting to see where the NFS series went after, as most avenues have been explored at some point in time. It's a tough series to keep from stagnation ideas-wise but the instalments which really work well do so in the best possible way.

#5 - Japanese Rail Sim 3D: Journey to Kyoto - 3DS

(Review here)

I wasn't sure what to expect when downloading Japanese Rail Sim 3D: Journey to Kyoto. It looked incredibly detailed in its depiction of a real life Japanese rail route, and was on sale for just £1. With elements of Densha de Go! incorporated into the game (having to arrive at stations on time, and at the right part of the platform) and mixed with the beautiful views of the route, and trivia about the stations and their surrounding area, I found the game to be a very deep experience as a simulator should aim to be.

That the game was on sale is a real example of how to pick up repeat custom as a games developer; despite getting this instalment for a bargain price, any future or past instalments which are put on the 3DS eshop will surely provide as good an experience and so I'd definitely be willing to purchase them and support the developer.

#4 Injustice: Gods Among Us - WiiU

(Review here)

Licensed games tend not only to be somewhat lacklustre, they often end up doing a disservice to the franchises they feature. Injustice: Gods Among Us is an exception to this rule, featuring various heroes and villains from the DC universe, a perfectly concise but deep story mode allowing players to take control of many of the characters featured in the game to give a varied and exciting experience, offering far more than conventional arcade modes in a fighting game.

The amount of content featured in the game was also impressive with 2 other modes to complete alongside the story mode. The fighting itself was impressive and fitting for the characters featured, and would be just as fun with a friend. The option to use environmental elements as weapons and the wager system were innovative additions too.

#3 OlliOlli - 3DS

(Review here)

As a fan of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, I'm used to doing my skating in 3 dimensions but OlliOlli for the 3DS managed to challenge my thinking and prove that it's possible to make a tightly controlled, fun and exciting skating game with only 2 dimensions. With daily challenges and 2 sets of challenges for each of its 25 levels, there's no shortage of stuff to do, and I had tons of fun stringing together combos and attempting to finish levels in just one.

Another recent game which went for pixel graphics instead of HD realism, it's clear that tapping into nostalgia is just as valid of a graphical choice as any. With chilled locations and music in which to skate, the game challenges the angry punk skating stereotype with more of a relaxed vibe. At a bargain price, the game is a steal on the 3DS.

#2 - Turtles in Time - SNES

(Review here)

Sometimes its best to look to the past for example of great games within a genre; we don't tend to get a huge amount of Beat 'em Ups released thesedays, and those that are tend to be half-hearted button mashing contests. TNMT: Turtles in Time managed to give players are wonderful sense of control and choice of attacks whilst providing interesting stages, and staying true to a well loved franchise. It's even more fun with a friend, and just as challenging.

It's a shame that we don't really see games like this anymore, the vibe is very much that of an older game but it's also nostalgic in this way. The mega drive counterpart to this SNES game is almost as good, but there's slightly more control and interesting stages featured on the Super Nintendo!

#1 - Undertale - PC

(Review here)

Although perhaps a rather popular choice for game of the year across all of video games media, it's undeniable that Undertale brought something new and innovative to the table, with it's mix of RPG, bullet hell and storytelling. The characters were vividly brought to life with excellent music, retro visuals and the two disparate main routes, showing players the difference between running through the game without killing anything, or being as violent as possible. It's certainly an interesting thought with regard to the RPG genre where the idea tends to be to kill every enemy you encounter.

For such a game to manage to feel fresh after taking a lot of inspiration from Earthbound, and the release of many similarly styled indie games such as Off and Yume Nikki. Undertale is a testament to the fact you don't need a triple a studio to create a universally acclaimed and loved video game. Hopefully Toby Fox, the game's main developer will be able to provide fans with new and interesting experiences in the future also.

Truck Racing Double Header: Truck Racing 2 and Super Trucks

Game: Truck Racing 2
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Brain In a Jar
Release Date: 28th October 2005

For those of you familiar with Midas Interactive, I shouldn't have to explain too much more about this game. For those of you who aren't familiar with them however, imagine if 99p Stores were a video game publisher. As well as publishing the Simple Series in the UK market, they oversaw the making of far too many poor quality titles to list, with nearly their entire output being crappy budget games.

Truck Racing 2 is the sequel to Truck Racing on the Playstation, another Midas offering that I've not yet played. While there's no evidence to suggest that the original game is of particularly poor quality, the screenshots on the back of the box for Truck Racing 2 show trucks flying off the track at all angles, a lapse in quality that you wouldn't have thought they'd want to advertise. Upon booting the game, it's fairly obvious that the game engine and much of the game's content is shared with another Midas title; Golden Age of Racing (review here).

Golden Age of Racing suffered from a few gameplay issues; no amount of braking was ever enough to turn a corner (which makes a little more sense with trucks), and collisions were always oddly hilarious with the small racing cars flying up into the sky. Truck Racing 2 shares these issues and more, with collisions looking all the more ridiculous thanks to larger vehicles, and the ability to get stuck in the floor (as shown above) which I achieved within the first 10 minutes of playing.

If this wasn't a Midas Interactive game, I'd have been shocked at the sheer cynicism of repackaging an existing game with different vehicles and selling it again, but the fact that this game includes most of the courses, physics and assets from Golden Age of Racing is to be expected of Midas. I'm just sorry that there's not any further hilarity to be had with new glitches or issues. The main modes of the game are Championship and Challenge; a few race series, and a best lap competition, both as frustrating as the other given the handling featured in the game.

Graphically the game is fairly poor with low resolution tracks, backgrounds, crowd effects and trucks. It's a struggle to maintain a decent frame-rate, and crashing trucks only slows the game down further. The sound is pretty average and will soon be drowned out by laughter when one truck sends another off into space, only to land out of bounds and get stuck in the floor. There's a relaxing track featured on the menu screen, which I'd say is the best part of the game.

Overall Truck Racing 2 is a poor game when taken as a standalone and a lazy re-use of a game engine when considered within Midas's release schedule. The amount of fun that can be had with this title is minimal unless you're planning to exploit all of its bugs with a friend, and even then there's really not much content.

Rating: 30/100
Grade: E

Game: Super Trucks
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Jester Interactive
Release Date: 29th October 2003

Released almost a full two years before Truck Racing 2, Super Trucks was an officially licensed game of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship which continues to this day. With a good choice of licensed trucks and their drivers, the game beats Truck Racing 2 with it selection, despite some being locked at the start of the game. The modes available are still somewhat lacking though as Arcade is a long string of races with a target position for each, and Championships range from a 3 race, 3 lap series with 5 opponents to the full championship schedule once unlocked.

The handling featured in the game is far better than that of Truck Racing 2, with most corners being easy to tackle with just a little braking. There's a little bit of drift if corners are taken too fast, but overall the steering feels slightly too loose for such big trucks being raced. The collision physics are probably the worst aspect as there's no real impact when trucks collide, and it's too easy to be spun out from the back by an AI opponent.

With many real world tracks featured in the game, there's a great variety of layouts to experience and some will really test players ability to handle such a large vehicle. Another interesting feature is the brake cooling meter which shows players the temperature of their brakes, which increases each time they're used and can be decreased by pressing the L2 button to release water, cooling them. In longer races this must be used strategically in order to avoid overheating the brakes and thus being able to corner less effectively.

The AI in the game aren't the most intelligent and will frequently go off course or bunch up on the corners in an odd way. This makes most of the racing too easy for players to win as getting past the AI clusters will save a lot of time. With a maximum of 10 trucks on track at any given time, there's a good sense of exciting racing though, and the frame rate isn't as affected by having to render more trucks as you might think.

Graphically the game looks dated to modern eyes, but at the time of its release wouldn't have been too bad at all. Compared to Truck Racing 2 it looks a lot sharper and more realistic, especially the trucks and circuits featured within the game. Unfortunately there's not a lot to hear music-wise, despite the fact that tracks play behind the racing action. If there'd been a few more songs, I probably wouldn't have minded as much, but turning the music down in the options menu is a must.

Overall Super Trucks isn't an amazing racing game by any means, but there's far more of a sense of controlling a large truck than with any other truck racing game I've played, it's fully licensed with a good range of tracks, trucks and drivers, and the championships are a legitimate if slightly boring progression through the game, which Truck Racing 2 sorely lacks.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C

Game Review: Parascientific Escape: Cruise In The Distant Seas

Game: Parascientific Escape: Cruise In The Distant Seas
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Circle Entertainment
Release Date: 3rd March 2016

Another recent game from the Nintendo 3DS eShop, Parascientific Escape: Cruise In The Distant Seas is a hybrid point and click adventure/puzzle/visual novel style game with strong escape the room elements. Players must harness the psychic powers of the main character, Hitomi in order to help 3 other girls and herself escape from a sinking cruise ship. As the game progresses, a story unravels regarding Hitomi's father, a distant war, the heiress of a conglomerate and the events which tie the four girls together.

Plot wise, the story does feel a little contrived and has some predictability for those who've played graphic novels in the past. The character development seems as if it'll be pretty deep from the start of the game, but stagnates towards the middle and end as Hitomi and her best friend essentially confirm that she's a dreamy airhead with psychic powers. Anyone hoping for a complex and satisfying plot will be disappointed, but when taken in the context of a puzzle game it's not too unforgivable.

The puzzle gameplay is split between point and click escape sections where players solve puzzles by collecting hidden items and using them to progress, and psychic power sections where players must fiddle with the internals of drawers, compartments and other locations to unlock them, or improve their functionality in some way. It's a good twist which removes the feeling of linear progression that plagues many escape games.

The psychic sections are also somewhat more complex than your standard point and click gameplay, with two main phases. In the Clairvoyance phase players use Hitomi's powers to see inside of the contained location they're trying to unlock or change in some way. There's a limited number of circles to place in order to see what's going on, before the Telekinesis stage begins in which players are allowed to move and rotate objects in order to solve the puzzle.

Graphically the game is fairly simple and is reminiscent of PC escape the room games of recent years, though the addition of anime girls is a plus. There's 3D functionality which is nice, despite not really enhancing the game too much. The UI is a little convoluted and it'd have been nice to have a separate items button to bring up that menu, but it's not impossible to use. Musically there's some very generic accompaniment to the game, which fits but isn't particularly memorable.

Overall there's some original and fun qualities to this hybrid story/puzzle game, and although the story is a little weak at times, and there are some loose ends which don't seem to be resolved with completion of the main game, running through the game was 3 or 4 hours well spent, enjoying a competent room escape game which almost justifies its length.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C

Game Review: OlliOlli

Game: OlliOlli
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Roll7
Release Date: 20th March 2015

OlliOlli is a 2D skateboarding game which was first released on the Playstation Vita and later came to other consoles. The aim of the game is to make it through 50 stages, completing 5 goals per stage, a little like a 2D Tony Hawk's title. There are 5 zones which contain 5 Amateur stages and 5 Pro stages each. The theme of each zone somewhat influences the obstacles and features which can be found on its stages; for example the Neon City zone features mostly signs and advertising boards on which players can grind.

Points are scored for doing tricks, stringing together combos and landing the tricks with good timing. A huge trick which is landed poorly will score only a fraction of what it could have, with a perfect landing. This gives player incentive to plan their trick routes for optimal combinations of tricks and safe spots to land. The control scheme is very simple, with the analog stick being used to do tricks (its direction, and the L+R buttons influence which trick is pulled off) and the A button to land. Whilst in the air, the L+R buttons also control rotation. On flat surfaces the A button can be used to gain speed, with 2 presses reaching maximum speed.

Each run begins with the skater gaining speed before the first jump or grind. The 5 goals for the level are displayed at the bottom of the screen, usually consisting of a high score, combo score, trick, collection and general goal. As the levels progress the game's difficulty increases at a manageable rate, and works well to teach players how to string large combos together and achieve the score goals needed in the later levels. If players fall during the level, any goals cleared still count, but the run is over.

Once players get to the end of a run, they unlock the next level. Getting all 5 goals unlocks the pro version of the level which is laid out differently and features different goals, and spots mode is also unlocked with 5 stars on each level, challenging players to string the best single combo they can together. There's also the Daily Grind which is an area that players attempt to string the best single combo score together in, with a daily leaderboard and a new challenge area every 24 hours. This provides some replayability for those who have beaten all of the game's challenges. In addition to the Daily Grind leaderboards there are also score leaderboards for every stage and spot in the game.

Graphically the game has an enjoyable style, and although it seems very basic in static screenshots, the overall impression whilst putting together a fast paced combo-filled run is far better. The aims of the game are made clear where needed, and it's laid out in a very used friendly manner. The music featured is enjoyable and fits a laid back city feel, which suits the action very well. There's a varied selection of tracks, and there wasn't a single one I disliked enough to notice.

Overall OlliOlli is one of the most high quality games I've purchased from the 3DS eShop, and at sale price it was only a few pounds. While the action's pretty quickly over once Career mode has been completed, I spent a good few hours playing the game and truly enjoyed its style of skating and pulling off tricks, which feels natural and easy to pick up. Despite it's short length, I think as a whole the game features the perfect amount of content; any more would have become repetitive, especially with a sequel out on PS4 currently for fans to progress to.

Rating: 85/100
Grade: B