Notable Games I Played This Year - That Did Not Necessarily Come Out This Year
I read a post on Blue-Sky of someone in my feed wanting more Dinosaur games for their kid so I went digging through Steam sifting through about a hundred games under the tag of dinosaur at which point somewhere I came across MARSUPILAMI - HOOBADVENTURE. I was immediately sold on the dinosaurs shown on the steam page and picked this game up on the Steam Autumn Sale for $2. The reviews were calling it a Budget Donkey Kong Country but on PC which is fairly spot on. I ended up playing it and finishing it but I saw no dinosaurs so I went to google and found out there is stage all unto itself back in the middle of the game there's an entrance anyway this game didn't disappoint highly recommend: it's vibrant never a dull moment interesting varied platforming it's superb.
So moving on to another game called Phantom Spark a unique sci-fi arcade precision speed racer focused on time-trials. It is initially addictive "just one more game" you will be saying. The challenge and replay-ability is through the roof but as I hinted at you may tire of it given the architecture of the levels as it's a bit samey overall but it is indie so it gets a pass in my book. That's not to say it's not a good looking game it most certainly is very easy on the eyes nothing mind blowing just the aesthetic and theme are excellent with a very warm pastel colour palate and interesting and sophisticated alien like level design. The game is also quite slick in just about every aspect with intuitive and tight controls (easy to learn hard to master) intuitive UI, incredibly easy to pick up and play, interesting mix of personalities of 3 "champions" who oversee the selection of race courses and a good mix of track variation. I'm not as sold on the soundtrack as some others were and I streamed my own music over the top instead.
Negatives include: vehicles with limited differentiation although whats it has a vehicle selector with small variation in design is fine and suits the overall ethereal theme of the game. Other small gripes are that it's ever so slightly pricey for content too I feel, there's also no current plans for DLC that I know of and not much differentiation in verticality or gravity effects used in course design which is honestly my biggest let down what I wouldn't do for some more thrills in the track design.
Overall though this game is amazing and if you don't believe me try the demo, I really hope that it gets revisited I think they are onto a winning formula here.
I replayed Thirty Flights of Lovin' this year and I'm not sure if it's high praise, depends who you talk to, but this game
feels like a Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson love child. It's a great game and tells a very human story. There is more emotional depth here in
this very short video game to rival any "game of the
year." And the best part is, you get to piece it all together, like a
broken heart.
I also played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate and all I have to say about this one is that it does an exceptional job at being a B-grade Hades but with co-op. Moving on.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is phenomenal despite my small complaints of puzzles sometimes feeling ever so slightly disjointed, the music lacking flavour, and missing an opportunity to explore the characters a bit further, which admittedly isn't typical for a metroidvania but who's to say you can't buck trends. However the respect shown for Persian mythology, plethora of meaningful abilities, art direction, interesting npc's, joyfully unique enemy types, puzzles and parkour... the game is absolutely dripping with charm!
So which one of these games takes my personal Favourite Game That I Played This Year: