Year End Review 2023

 2022 is over. Let's see the stats 

Nintendo Switch: 5 (↓ 3) Gameboy Color: 3 (↓ 2) PS5: 5 (↑ 1) PC: 7 (↓ 1)
PS4: 8 (↓ 7)
Sega Saturn: 7 (↔) iOS: 1 (↔) Nintendo 64: 5 (↔)

Action: 9 (↓ 8) Racing: 11 (↑ 1) Shooter: 3 (↑ 1) Pinball: 1 (↔) FPS: 2 (↑ 1) Fighting: 2 (↓ 7) Adventure: 1 (↓ 4)
Other: 2 (↔) Puzzle: 1 (↓ 7)

Game Played: 33 (592) (↓ 27)
Finished Game: 24 (494) (↓ 27)

Game of the Year

10) Midnight Fight Express

9) Boomerang X

8) Horizon Chase 2

7) Venba

6) Forza Horizon 5 Rally Adventure

5) Marvels Guardians of The Galaxy

4) Returnal

3. Resident Evil 4 Remake

This game was an absolute delight from start to finish. Non stop action couple with intense moments. It also helped that I used the cheat engine for unlimited ammo. Made the experience 10 times better.

2. Spider-Man 2

The sequel to one of the best games I played just gets better. The story was captivating. The action was face paced and who can forget swinging and gliding from one place to the next. The only sad part is that it had to end eventually but what a ride it was. 

1. The Legend of Zelda Tears of The Kingdom

This game from start to finish shows that an open world game with no set of rules is the best way to play a game. I did everything here because I just wanted to explore. Granted I think I only did less than 40% of the game. But it was an unforgettable journey from start to finish.

Honourable mentions

For the first time, there were no honorable mentions. Most of the games this year I've played was okay. nothing too great.

Series

Every year I watch a lot of shows and this year is no different. The problem is I don't quite remember what I watched starting early of the year. So next year hoping it would be different.

Memorable moments and shows

• Andor was amazing
• Watching all of the Star Trek Series and with some coming to an end
• The Last of Us was a cultural phenomenon
• Ending of some of my favorite shows like the Resident, Doogie Kamealoha, Mighty Ducks, Succession, Ted Lasso, How I met your Father, Heels
• Evil and The Bear. Two of the most awesome must watch shows
• Another year of an awesome Rick and Morty

Total series that I watch is 1214 (↑ 435)

Movies

Movie of the year

3. Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves
2. Tetris
1. Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse

Unrelated = 49 (↑ 14)
Even more Unrelated = 79 (↓ 15) This is going to be my last. I've turned a new leaf

NEW STUFF FOR 2023

1.Proton X70 (I got a new car which I think covers everything I need for new Stuff of 2023)

2. New Apple Airpods 3 (I love my airpods. I think it is the most used item in my life)

(UN)MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR 2023

2023 has been a whirlwind of a ride. This year I think it is the hardest for me with a lot of losses than wins

• Wife trying to hurt herself. This time is has gotten bad where she does it in her sleep and I feel powerless
• It's been one year and the investment money is still not back with us. My friend hates me a lot because of this. I really screwed up.
• I loss my best friend. The person whom I love. The person who I thought is my soulmate. They have found someone else. I am happy for them, but it doesn't mean that it hurts inside. I think this makes 2023 the worse year ever.
• Losing some friends

MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR 2023

• Free burgers for a year
• Lost 15kgs and I'm loving it
• Twitter. Got some friends out of it.
• I got a new job teaching English to Japanese people
• By losing my best friend. I manage to get closed to God. I finally found religion. It was never loss but it nowhere and I have a better appreciation towards it. I am very thankful for that

2023 New Year's Resolutions

1. Play at least 12 2023 games this year (I only played 10 games of 2023 this year)

2. Save another 70k (Nope, no money coming in this year, so I didn't save anything)

3. 2 Vacations with the family this year (Yes we did, we went to the beach and we did a hotel staycation)

4. Watch a total of 2500 episodes (This was impossible from the beginning, but hey good effort)

5. Get new airpods (First thing I did this year)

Finally. I met my best friend and we are going in and out of this awesome friendship. I am going to say that is the most impactful moment of this year. She gave so much back to me and I couldn't repay her. I wish one day I get to see her in real life. But for now I will be happy to get to talk to her everyday. This is the friendship that I am going to cherish until the day I die so yeah. This is actually the start of something really beautiful (Yes I did)

2024 New Year's Resolutions

1. Finish writing my will for the people that I love

2. Bring the whole family aboard this year

3. Buy a steamdeck OLED (Bonus if get a second handheld)

4. Start back investing slowly

5. Get abs (this is impossible but I love a challenge)

And with that. 2023 is done and dusted. It was not a great year year with it shares of ups and downs and I can't wait for the adventure which is 2024. Ameen

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem

One of the best TMNT adaptation 

What is it about?
A retelling of the TMNT story where the turtles are actually teenagers 

The Good
The story is in my opinion never before told 
The jokes land 
Everyone act age appropriate which is funny 

The Bad
The big bad is just misunderstood. Didn't like that
The ending is somewhat satisfying 

The Ugly
Nothing much 

After Credits: No

Verdict: If you like the turtles. A must watch 

The Equalizer Season 3

Helping people while wearing a track suit 

Where we left off: Season 2 ended in a cliffhanger and the issue was resolved in the first episode which is good

Secondary characters: The secondary characters have very good storylines this seasons. I especially like the character of Aunt Vi. I think she is better than the EQ 

The problem with this story: Is that they can write bad guys who knew her for way before. Which for me is really bad story writing. Halfway through the show you are put wit a new set of obstacles. I like it when it was just here solving the issues 

Cliffhanger: Again... And this time really I don't know how they can get out of this. It looks very dire. Can't wait for season 4 

Talk to Me

Is this scary?

What is it about?
A hand that let's you talk to dead spirits and if they stay too long something else will happen 

The Good
The story is interesting enough 
It has a couple of good scares which are not jump scares 

The Bad
They didn't actually figure out what is the deal with the hand 
The ending doesn't really solve anything. For me it was unsatisfying 

The Ugly
Seriously I don't know what's the deal with the mother. They didn't actually explain it properly 

After Credits: No 

Verdict: It is okay. One of the enjoyable movies I watched 

The Simpsons Season 34

Every year The Simpsons is a must

Why do I like the Simpsons: I don't know, the writing is not that great. There are a couple of stand out episodes. But I've been watching this since season 1. So it has become a must to watch 

Homer: I think Homer is the best cartoon dad in animation 

Secondary characters: With a couple of characters like Lenny and duffman. The Simpsons are trying to make each characters seem meaningful

Missing: It turns out some of the characters have no longer speaking role. I didn't notice that. Oh well. See you next year

Rick and Morty Season 7

The best season ever 

What's change: One of the main creators which is also the voice of both Rick and Morty is gone and what is left is a different creative team with a better voice cast. I think they actually nailed better stories this season 

A lot of threads: All the threads from previous seasons get resolve and basically if this was the end. It was a satisfying ending.

Best episode: The last episode where Morty face his fears, The episode where Rick finally found his nemesis and the bigfoot episode.

In the end: Rick and Morty hopefully is going to stay like the Simpsons. But unlike the Simpsons each episode does relate to the next and that's why it takes forever to come out. But when it does. It always going to be amazing 

Horizon Chase 2

Last game of the year.

Game no: 518
Genre: Racing   
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2023

The first Horizon Chase was an incredible racing game. The game is face paced, simple and the art style is reminiscing of the old 16-bit era games with just updated graphics. Now a couple years later Aquiris has returned with a sequel which has some improvements over the old game as a well as some things that I didn't quite like. 

First of all Horizon Chase 2 still maintain the same game mechanic with the first game. You race around the world in tracks while collecting tokens. This time the difference is
that you car can earn XP in order to upgrade the stats. So for every 5 racers you can upgrade the cars abilities. Besides that, the tracks has been significantly improve. Tracks have a lot of  branching paths and as well as a lot of environmental effects. If you go in a snowy area by the last lap the whole track will be covered with a blizzard. There are also sprint tracks where is a long a winding 1 lap track. The racers are fast paced and I enjoy the chase. The AI is good enough to let you get to first place without it being too challenging. The customizable options available for each cars with different body, paint and rim configurations 

So now I told the parts I like, I will tell you a couple parts I don't like about this game. I know they design the game with
in mind but once you get all the tokens and win the race there is very little reason to get back. That means you won't use any of the other cars due to it not being upgraded as your starting car. They did fix it buy the new cars that you earn that comes with it being partly upgraded. 

Overall the game is enjoyable but after you finish all the racers there is little incentive to come back unless you want to 100% the game. I love the first game better than this one but this is still worth a play. A-Rank for me 

Sound of Freedom

Based on a true story it seems

What is it about?
A story about a homeland security agent who quits his job to save a child from being human trafficked

The Good
The story is very interesting. I enjoyed it
There is less action in this movie. Its more mind games

The Bad
The story is a bit too long. There are a couple sections of the movie that doesn't need to be there

The Ugly
Nothing much, I enjoyed it 

After Credits: No

Verdict: The subject matter is hard but it is an enjoyable movie overall

The Good Doctor Season 6

It shows people with autism can do anything

Continues where we left off: With Lim being attacked and they have to save her. There are a lot of aftermath after that it takes a while for Shawn to resolve everything 

New faces: There are 2 new faces as well as a returning old one 

Fatherhood: Shawn and Lea are expecting their first baby. In real life a person like Shawn is a rare occurrence to happen but I'm glad that she got the girl as well as the baby too

Ending: It ended great but with a couple of different unresolved cliffhangers. Season 7 coming next year 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

They should stop making these movies 

What is it about?
Indiana Jones in his latest adventure trying to stop the bad guys from retrieving an artifact

The Good
The theme music
The story is not bad. 
The first 20 minutes
The sidekick character  

The Bad
The movie is a bit too long. The plot points takes forever to unravel 
Indiana Jones is too old and you might even wonder why he keeps doing this 

The Ugly
You can tell this is some bad CG 
The ending 

After Credits: No

Verdict: Stop at the 3rd movie. The rest is okay but lack the magic.

The Grand tour

Love to see the boys back together

I've been missing out: They have been our for 3 years and I haven't seen any episodes. Now with a no new episode. I thought I'll watch a season 2 with some season 3 

What makes this fun: The three of them are a great combination when working together. There funny banter makes this a enjoyable watch 

Editing: This show has a lot of editing which makes for more dramatic viewing but it means you don't know the actual story of the show. Which kinda sucks 

Verdict: I miss top gear. I want to watch it again. But I think it is going to be a while. In the meantime, this is good enough

The Haunted Mansion

 I like the old one better

What is it about?
A curse involving the haunted mansion where people can't leave 

The Good
The characters are interesting 

The Bad
Everything else. The story is long, boring and very winding.
It takes forever to get to what you need to do

The Ugly 
The movie is not that fun 

After Credits: No

Verdict: Don't watch it

The Afterparty Season 2

Why this is cancelled

Premise: Aniq and Zoe (from season 1) is back in another afterparty and low and behold another murder happen

Why this show rocks: Each show is told in the perspective of that person mind movies. So there are different theme such as, horror, wes anderson, noir, found footage and even hitchcock. So each really has an own unique feel. 

Season 1 is better: The first season 1 more great the the second. But the second does have their merits. There are a lot of funny moments which makes this an enjoyable watch 

Cancelled: Yup, there won't be a season 3. It does end great but it is just sad there are no more new Afterparty episodes. IF you have the chance. You have to watch this 

Gran Turismo

This is actually based on a true story 

What is it about?
The true story about a guy who is the best at the Gran Turismo sim game and went on to become a real life driver.

The Good
A lot of training on how he became a driver 
They incorporate the game inside the movie itself which is fun to watch 
There is an even a moment where something tragic (also true) which change that person for the better

The Bad
They didn't use the Gran Turismo theme which is a missed opportunity
Googling this guy career it has it highs and lows and now he is just there. 

The Ugly
Nothing

After Credits: No 

Verdict: For a videogame adaptation, I enjoyed it  

Only Murders in the Building Season 3

I think this is the best season yet 

Premise: The title says it all but this time there is a musical involve as well.

Funny: I can say that this season is super funny. There are a lot of jokes that land. The comedic chops of Steve Martin and Martin Short really carries the show. Plus there are a lot of A list guest stars that makes the show shines even more 

Murder mysteries: I love murder mysteries is that every episodes will just give you a clue and by the last episode everything will tie up in one satisfying ending 

This building is curse: The show ends in another murder.. in the building. After 3 season you can actually think that this building is curse. But can't wait for the next season 

Barbie

 I can't see the hype 

What is it about?
It the story about the Barbie doll that kids love to play (and Ken) but the line is a bit blurry between the real world and the fake world 

The Good
Barbie land is interesting 
The story is good
All the Barbie's and Ken. This is basically a cameo of a lot of Hollywood artist 
Allan

The Bad
What is this story actually? Is like fantasy mixed with real life. 
I get female empowerment but this movie is so not for kids. I think they hype it all up because of it being Barbie. This movie has a message but the message in my opinion is just about equality between both genders 

The Ugly
Seriously, this movie is not based on any reality. I do wonder is there going to be a crossover with other Mattel brands. Do they have Uno land or Hot wheels land (that is going to be sick) 

After Credits: No

Verdict: Watch it once since it made a billion but I was okay with it

Heels

 I don't like wrestling but I do love this show 

Where we left off: The story about the brothers and the wrestling company that they built. It is mostly about family and stuff

Behind the scenes: Watching this show makes me think that as fake as wrestling is, everyone out there just wants to do the best shows. I am still amaze and how they do all those acrobatic stunts 

Gimmick: I think this a low budget wrestling show since it is not like the ones of TV.

Season 3: Sadly it ends in a cliffhanger and there is no season 3 in sight. Sigh. The story was just getting good. 

Cocoon

An interesting game but I am probably just not that smart

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2023

This game starts you with no story and no premise. You start as a bug in environment where you have to solve puzzles to proceed. The game only has two controllers which is the joystick and one action button. The puzzles are easy once you get the hang of it but there will be some instances that I will be stuck and I can't figure out what to do only to realize that the answers was starting at me at my face. So that makes this game super frustrating for me since
I'll be stuck at a stage can't figure out what to do next. Don't get me wrong, the game is beautiful and the mechanic of jumping inside in another environment (the gimmick is that you are in an environment which is in the shape of a sphere and you can go inside another sphere which is another environment. You use the spheres to solve a lot of puzzle since each sphere has different abilities) . In the end I stopped at 49% into the game. I wish I could finish it but I rather play something else. Overall I give it a C-Rank 

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War

After 16 movies, we finally got to the finale 

What is it about?
The Justice League takes the war to Apokolips.. And Lost 

The Good
The first 15 minutes is already epic
Everyone suffered a significant loss. All your favorite characters seems like there is no hope in making it
The final 30 minutes
The ending.. for me this ending sums the whole 16 movie episode best 

The Bad
Didn't had that much time to go over everyone since the action keeps on movie 
Too much violence which is great but this is so not for kids 

The Ugly
Nothing much 

After Credits: No

Verdict: An awesome ending to an awesome movie franchise. 

Evil Season 3

Don't watch this show? But... is so good

Where we left off: David is becoming a priest. Kristen is dealing with her marriage and kids. Ben is more or less the same. 

Cases: This season is less scary than last season. Since there is already a plotline of who is the big bad. So they try to cram as much in 10 episodes. Even though there are many unanswered questions. 

Evil: This show makes you see that bad always wins against good and how they make the macguffin where it all works well in the end 

Cliffhanger? Yup.. in ended in a cliffhanger where if you don't know the answer to it.. it will be fine. The show is coming back next year. But don't know when  

Wonder Woman Bloodlines

With that all trinity DC heroes have their own movie

What is it about?
Wonder Woman left her island and live among men. Basically is about family ties 

The Good
The story is simple yet there are a lot of plot twists
There is an end epic battle 

The Bad
You can actually figure out the bad guy in like 30 minutes in 
They wrap up everything in the last 3 minutes

The Ugly
Nothing much. 

After Credits: Yes

Verdict: If you like Wonder Woman, you will like this movie 

My Adventures with Superman

Anime twist on Superman

Premise: In a different timeline, Clark Kent is just an intern at the Daily Planet with Lois and Jimmy. He doesn't know he is Superman and what he powers bring 

Art style: Very anime inspired. I can see that this show can be dubbed in Japanese. But the animation doesn't go over the top like most anime so it is still grounded in reality 

Bad guys: The B-list of bad guys in this season. Probably because Superman is still in training. So kinda sucks

Season 2? Confirmed with the final bad guy teased for next season. Overall it is a good and short show

Reign of the Supermen

Another great comic book adaptation 

What is it about?
6 months after the death of superman. 4 mysterious supermen are spotted around the city 

The Good
The storyline is great. Follows directly from the comics
The climax is awesome 
Lois gets to shine a lot in this one 
The iconic suit 

The Bad
Not that much Justice League action 

The Ugly 
Nothing much 

After Credits: No 

Verdict: Another 2 more movies left and then we are done. Great movie. Must watch 

Evil

Don't watch this show

Premise: A story about demons and faith and our 3 group of accessors are send to determine weather is a miracle or is just fake 

Don't watch this: If you don't have strong faith in your own religion. Because the subject matters than delve into is deep and can make you question things. I watch it because of the storyline. Is a case of the week kind of story so is it a fun watch

The demons: This must be some of the most scariest demons in tv. You can't see them but you know they are there 

Ending: Cliffhanger but season 3 is already here and will be reviewed later 

Constantine City of Demons

You can avoid this one 

What is it about?
Constantine needs to travel to LA to save his best friends daughter

The Good
The story is good 
The ending is great 
Action is superb 

The Bad
Too much demonic stuff that eventually you'll just get bored of it
The pacing is way off in this one 

The Ugly
Too much backstory 

After Credits: No 

Verdict: Just skip this. 

Spider-Man 2

A sequel that keeps me wanting more 

Game no: 517
Genre: Action   
Platform: Nintendo 64
Release Date: 2023

Insomniac games release one of the best super hero games with 2018 Spider-Man. The improve of the iteration with Spider-Man Miles Morales. Now 5 years later we get a full sequel which is Spider-Man 2. Does this game deliver or they still can improve on it? Let's find out 

Spider-Man 2 continues the story of Peter Parker which he is trying to juggle life such as having a career and a girlfriend with also being your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The only difference is now that he has Miles to tag along to help him in his adventures to save the city. The first 1 hour of the game see you fighting of Sandman in an awesome display of graphics and loading power of the Playstation 5. Basically you can get this level of detail with the old console. This time he is join by his friend Harry Osborn which is alive thanks to the alien symbiote in his body. The main bad guy here is Kraven the Hunter and he is really powerful for a human in my opinion. The story has a lot of ups and down. But basically if you seen Spider-Man 3 it follows almost the same plot but with a twist in the middle and end 

Gameplay consist of getting to point A to point B, hitting a lot of enemies and then moving the story along to point C. Between the story missions there are a lot of side missions such as science experiments, drone racers, symbiote nests and more. Gone are the crimes that you need to complete in order to get 100% but if you want you can just complete it just for fun. This time controlling Spider-Man combat and traversal is easier since there are action commands on the screen and you can active it with a simple tap (after that it will cooldown for a while). You also have specific story mission for the different Spider-Men and each of them are not the same and some are very thoughtful and sad. Returning as well are the Mary Jane mission which honestly is one of the best parts in the game since Mary Jane is a bit overpowered in this game since they gave her a gun. 

So what did I like about this game? Honestly everything in this game is awesome. After playing through the story missions and the side stories and collecting all the collectables. I wanted more. I didn't want to stop being Spider-Man. Which brings me to the not great thing about this game. First of all the repetitive combat. After you fight wave of wave of enemies, you will become a bit annoyed by it. I had to lower down the difficulty just to get all the bad guys finished as fast as I can. The other complain I have (which is more of a bummer) is that after you are done playing the game, you are actually done. There is nothing much you can do except for swinging around and flying around New York. The game took 30 hours to complete but it feels like a short time. Couple with all the parts you collect to upgrade your suits and get all the unlockables. There is pretty much nothing much to do 

So Spider-Man 2 did a lot of things better than the first one. This is one of the games that is confirm going to be in my top 3 of game of the year. Sadly this will probably be my last game of this year unless I really want to start playing again. I have a job and I want to try to do as much as I can. So what does that mean for my gaming time. It is going to be less and limited. So honestly, I don't mind. I have 2 more games I am hoping to finish this year but with 45 days remaining I don't think I can. Oh yeah... I give this game a S-Rank. Must play