2021 Games Review
2 Star Games
Frostpunk. I really liked the idea of this game but I didn’t get on with it at all, I couldn’t get to grips with the mechanics and my cities would fail very quickly.
3 Star Games
Bedlam. This is a game and a book released as one. It starts out deliberately as a Doom Clone. I struggled with it, but it was nice to play it and read the book together
Kentucky Route Zero. This game had a good bit of hype to it given the gaps between episodes. I found the start confusing, and even boring, and it was a chore to get through it, although I can appreciate what the story was about.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. I love the visual and presentation of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. I couldn’t cope with the difficulty spikes.
Little Dragons Café. Harvesting ingredients to serve in your café and feed your pet dragon. Would have benefitted from more variety in gameplay and an easier way to find the ingredients you need.
Twin Mirror. Dull story and annoying gameplay, a rarity from Dontnod.
Crash Bandicoot 4. I really enjoyed this game in the beginning, it does a great job of being feeling like retro Crash and modernizing it. But it gets so difficult near the end, even the generous checkpoints weren’t enough and I didn’t finish it or do much of the extra content.
The Longing. More of an experiment then a game, wait 400 days for an evil demon to arise.
The Last of Us II. From a technical and visual perspective this game is amazing. But so much of the story is so awful, the characters without exception are hateful and make such terrible decisions. The misery and pain and horribleness is not worth enduring.
Bravely Default II. I struggled with the regular battles in this by Chapter 3 and found the bosses too difficult. Disappointing for me as I was enjoying the story and characters and I’d gotten on very well with the previous Bravely Default.
Grindstone. A free to play game adapted for Switch. Enjoyable and a clever game. Some of the later content is a bit too gated behind optional earlier objectives.
MacBat 64. A homage to Banjo Kazooie. Too unpolished to be memorable.
Gorogoa. A clever puzzle game that I didn’t really get into
4 Star Games
Into The Breach. A clever tactical battle set on simple 8x8 grids. I would have preferred more of a structured story instead of roguelike elements.
Far Cry New Dawn. Progress relies way too much on a fuel (really a currency) only obtainable from grinding side missions or buying with real money.
Team Sonic Racing. This works a lot better the more human players you have. Solo, the teams just seem to band together so race results are very predictable.
There Is No Game. While not as meta as I thought it was going to be, there was some clever ideas and puzzles in There Is No Game
Utawarerumuno. The battles were quite good, but the story dragged on. Every female character falling for the male hero. Even his adopted daughters.
Islanders. Problems with my Xbox caused my not to get into or enjoy this town planning game as much as I would have liked.
Marvel Avengers. The campaign was good. Shame about the terrible games as a service the rest revolved around
Cozy Grove. Cute Animal Crossing like island game. Some of the later volumes of items required are ridiculous given the limited opportunities there are to collect it.
Pumpkin Jack. By the numbers 3D platformer.
5 Star Games
Pikmin 3. A rerelease of the Wii U game, I enjoyed this so much I played through it fully twice. I wish the challenge level had been available to play without a time limit though.
What The Golf. One of the funniest gold games I’ve ever played. Anything can happen. Swing your club and the planet could go flying from underneath you.
The Walking Dead The Final Season. Even if I don’t 100% agree with how it turned out, it was so great to get to the end of Clementines story.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps Fantastic and gorgeous visuals for this Metroidvania sequel
Paper Mario The Origami King. One of the best Paper Mario games we’ve had in a long time if not quite the return to the triumph of the Thousand Year Door.
Cadence of Hyrule. A rhythm action Zelda game that I enjoyed far more then I expected to.
Superliminal. A clever first person game where puzzles are solved by shifts in perspective.
Man of Medan Little Hope. Always more fun in multiplayer
Shantae and the Seven Sirens. One flaw with this game is the map is not as good as it should be for a Metroidvania. Otherwise it’s very enjoyable.
Dicey Dungeons. I really liked the mechanic of dice roles determining your abilities and powers. I just wish it had a full adventure mode instead of rogue like qualities.
Carrion. A Metroidvania without a map. Crazy. However controlling the blob monster was so much fun.
Kingdom Hearts 3. Highlights were the new custom-made worlds for some of the Disney properties. The huge step up in visuals from previous games. The emphasis on vertical exploring. The moment-to-moment story. Lows were the overall story not drawing to a close and adding more convoluted sequel baiting.
Two Point Hospital. Eventually this hospital building game became too tough for me to proceed but I enjoyed every moment of it up to that.
Part Time UFO. Charming item sorting game with a lot of variety
Tell Me Why. This is more like Dontnod. A story with interesting characters, told by characters supernatural abilities. Not quite as good as Life is Strange but close.
Little Nightmares 2. Another creepy story of a small child escaping a nightmare word. Memorable for the stalker monsters, especially the teacher. And for the twists near the end.
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. A 2D Zelda Game. About a Turnip accused of tax evasion. Has many funny moments and references. And a brilliant closing credits song.
Kaze and the Wild Masks. Comes very close to catching the spirit of the Donkey Kong Country games
Final Fantasy VII Remake. I do appreciate what this game was trying to do with its story. And I really enjoyed it, not all of the extra story was needed or even made sense, but it is a solid game. Announcing DLC exclusive to a console instead of a second part was poor though.
13 Sentinels Aegis Rim. The story can be confusing as it’s told over such a long period of time by several characters. But most of the characters are well defined and stand out. The battles are good but can get a bit repetitive over time.
Spiderman Miles Morales. More of a DLC to the main Spiderman game, nevertheless this is a strong Spiderman game.
Mail Mole. Well-made 3D platformer game with a good challenge.
It Takes Two. It’s easy to ignore the very annoying book characters when the variety of co-op challenges is so engaging.
Cat Quest II. I was sceptical about this at first as it looked like a generic brawler. But the RPG mechanic and strong story sold me and I’m looking forward to playing the first game.
Good Job. Physics based game had the potential to be annoying, but it wasn’t, it was very funny and a good co-op game.
The Last Campfire. Clever puzzle platforming adventure
Hyrule Warriors Age Of Calamity. The original story as a prequel/spinoff to Breath of the Wild meant this became my favourite Warriors game and I played more of this then the first game or the Fire Emblem one.
The Turing Test. Game clearly inspired by Portal with a Human and an AI solving puzzles. Has a good twist at the end.
Gato Roboto. Metroidvania with a cute cat as the main characters. Works very well when she has to leave her power suit and is just a vulnerable kitty.
Nexomon Extinction. Pokémon like game that does enough things differently to be memorable.
Later Alligator. Charming point and click adventure. I don’t think it needed a time element which required two playthroughs to see everything.
Persona 5 Strikers. It was great to spend more time with these characters and the presentation and writing was perfect. The dungeons and combat are just not as good as the original, despite the Warriors style random battles. And this is very much a sequel to Persona 5 and not The Royal
Mario Wii U Deluxe. The addition of Peachette to both Mario and Luigi U is just enough of a boost to make the game worth another playthrough.
Florence. A great example of how to tell a story without words
Call Of The Sea. Part walking simulator, part puzzler, I resorted to a guide for a lot but enjoyed the adventure.
Mario 3D All Stars. No changes to any the Mario Games but all three are worth a replay
Immortal Fenyx Rising. This game is all about the puzzles. There are so many of them everywhere and its great exploring the world and finding so much to do. The rewards aren’t always worth it and I barely followed the story
Toree 3D. A basic 3D platformer. Short and fun. This game was less then €2! A bargain.
Alba A Wildlife Adventure. Horrifying tale of a young girl harassed by paparazzi as she tries to rescue a nature reserve.
Rain on Your Parade. A lot more variety then I was expecting from a game where you solve puzzles with a raincloud.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition. While I’ve not completed Mass Effect 3 by the time I write this, I will never not get tired of this trilogy.
Top 10 Games of 2021
Pokémon Shining Pearl. The addition of the Grand Underground added a lot more than I expected to these otherwise vanilla remakes. It is possible to catch all the regular Pokémon from the first four generations with just Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. A nice throwback for me as the first time I ever caught them all was in Pokémon
Fire Emblem Three Houses. Adding social elements to Fire Emblem was such a good idea. Improving your relationships outside of battles allows deeper appreciation of your characters and their abilities in battle. The three different stories told are compelling, if slightly confusing when they deviate
Bug Fables. Easily the best Paper Mario game since Thousand Year Door despite not being a Paper Mario game. This game takes everyone good about the first two Paper Mario games, the battles, the characters, itty dialogue and humour and gives it its own spin. A charming delight the whole way through.
Mario 3D World and Bowsers Fury. Mario 3D world the same and as good as ever. Bowsers Fury is unique for Mario, an open world adventure with a recurring boss and challenges spread out across a large map. An interesting glimpse of where the next Mario game is going. I played this on holiday and it was perfect bite size adventure.
Hades. A roguelike? In my top ten! Unthinkable. But Hades is that good. I never felt bored despite playing similar rooms over and over. The incremental growth between each playthrough felt earned and left me eager to continue. Lots of interesting characters to meet, but unfortunately a bit too spread out to get to know anyone too well.
Horace. For a game narrated by an auto voice and with royalty free music, Horace has a strong unique atmosphere to its world. There is a tinge of tragedy and sadness to even the happier moments. Horace is a wonderful character, always happy and slightly confused. The gameplay is tough but fair platforming that is worth persevering with. And Mr. Silton is a proper c**t.
Spiritfarer. A young woman and her cat guides souls to their final place of rest. She does this by welcoming them aboard her ship, building them a home on board and helping fulfil their final wishes. Gameplay mostly involving completing tasks, gathering resources, and building. A cozy game about death and friendship. With some of the saddest moments I’ve played in a long time.
Bugsnax. Bunger, bunger, bunger. There is an element of body horror to this game when you feed the delightful snack creature you capture to the residents of the central village. Turns out this is entirely intentional and pays off later in the game. Very much looking forward to the Bigsnax expansion.
Steins Gate 0. For a long time, I was unsure about Steins Gate. There is almost no gameplay. Occasionally you optionally reply to a text. There is loads of exposition about scientific theory. And the actual plot goes forward at a snail’s pace. And then something happens. After that I was completely hooked. I had to keep going at all costs. I did every bad ending. I made sure to get the final ending. It is an incredible story.
Outer Wilds. I was aware of Outer Wilds for a while before I decided to play it. And I had the wrong idea of what it was about. I thought it was set in a realistic solar system with humans. It’s set in an alien solar system with a four eyed character. This is important as the game has a good bit of quantum theory. The solar system is compact enough which is great as there are only 22 minutes to explore before the sun goes supernova. You can arrive at any planet in seconds. Each planet has a unique ecosystem and are some of the most unique environments I’ve seen. The story is told through the discoveries of architecture and geography and unique language you find on each of the worlds. And it all builds to a brilliant twist and a unique ending. The music in incredible and adds so much to the atmosphere of each world. Even the Echoes of the Eyes DLC adds so much to the game. Also provided the comedy moment of the year when I demonstrated how easy the ship is to fly only to immediately crash land upside down on a planet.
