C: The Contra Adventure

This game is a missed oppurtunity 

Game no: 553

Genre: Shooter
Platform: PS1
Release Date: 1998

I love Contra. I think Contra is the first game that remembered I played when I was young. To my suprised that they have a PS1 game, I have to try it. Starting this game it was a typical side scroller with the ability to change 3 different weapons (including the spread gun) and one button for the bomb. After that, thats all the similarities end. This game suddenly switch prespective into a 3D shooter and this where the problems lie.  This game was design before the dualshock 1 was release or probably when a lot of gamers do not that that controller. This game doesn't work that well in 3D. The gameplay became a bit slow sluggish. The absent of a strafe button makes shooting a bit frustrating. In the end I spend playing the 3D section for a while and watch the rest on youtube since it is an interesting game. I gave this a C-Rank

Assault: Retribution

Still manage to play game this month 

Game no: 545

Genre: Shooter
Platform: PS1
Release Date: 1998

This game is basic to the core. What do you do. Your run, jump and shoot while avoiding some obstacles. That's about it. It is fun and you can basically just mash a button and run straight till the end. The controls are a bit tank like with jumping can be particularly frustrating. Other than that its a short game which you could finish in under 2 hours. Overall B-Rank

Apocalypse

First game of the year

Game no: 540
Genre: Shooter
Platform: PS1 
Release Date: 1998

So the jouney to try every PS1 game begins with this gem. I am going to say Apocalypse is a twin stick shooter before twin stick shooters are a thing. This is probably due to the original PS1 controller doesn't have dual joysticks. So the developers have to be creative and use the face buttons as directonal arrows. So each face buton is the direction you supposed to be shooting. 

This game doesn't have any unique mechanic. This is basically a run and gun which quite fun. Going from point A to B which shooting a horde of demon is really fun. On the way you will get power ups that give you an extra boost in firepower. The thing to look forward to in a game like this is a cutscene with advance 3D graphics (during that time) but I didn't bother with the story too much since the game was very enjoyable. The main character is a 3D Bruce Willis and he provided a lot of voice over work for this character. Every couple of minutes he has a quippy line that he says which is entertaining. 

In the end this game is a just a fun arcade shooter which I really enjoy. It is nothing to deep and going forward playing PS1 games, I can see these are probably the games I gravitate too. I give this game an A-Rank 

First Encounters

Virtual Reality is here to stay 

Game no: 538
Genre: Shooter (Mixed Reality) 
Platform: VR (Meta Quest) 
Release Date: 2023

After months of just looking at videos and reviews I finally went and pick myself up a Meta Quest 3 (review will come later) and the first game I thought I want to try is the in app Frist Encounters. This is basically a mixed reality game where it blends the real world with a 3D game in it. This game is fairly simple. Little cute furballs has invaded your space and its up to you and two guns to shoot them back to the spaceship. The game is simpla and its teaches you how to navigate in the virtual world. I find this game really fun even its just a simple shooter. The creatures are cute and I can see me playing it again and again. Overall the first VR game I can give it a S-Rank 

Star Wars Rogue Squadron

Games are better when you are young 

Genre: Action 
Platform: Nintendo 64
Release Date: 1998

I remember playing this game when I was young on my pc. It was the best game I've played since you get to play as ships from the Star Wars univere. But revisiting this game again for the Nintendo 64 made me realise that this game actually sucks. The controls are stiff. Controlling the ships are a chore and the most important thing is that it is very hard to get a good score. I also got less than 20% on accurancy. So frustrating. But the good thing is that this game has cheats. So after typing the cheat code for everything. I did most of the stages awnd it was fun. I can't say that flying in a star fighter is not fun. Just everything else sucks about it. Overall I give this game a B-Rank 

Star Soldier Vanishing Earth

A good Nintendo 64 game

Game no: 528
Genre: Shooter 
Platform: Nintendo 64
Release Date: 1998

This is a simple on rails shooter where you just avoid some bullets and fight the boss. What makes this a great game because it is really simple and they have a easy mode for beginners. Which makes it for an enjoyable experince. You can beat the game since they gave you like a lot of lives and usually these type of shooters I would like to watch what is the end of it. So This game deserve a good A-Rank in my books. 

Radiant Silvergun

 A crazy shooter 

Genre: Shooter
Platform: Sega Saturn
Release Date: 1998

A game where is bullet hell all the way. Even in very easy mode is hard. The game has a 2D art style with 3D polygons as bosses. Sometimes it can get a bit disorientating due to the perspective.  The saturn controls are weird where you have a different buttons for different. Overall this game is fun after multiple plays. I give this a C-rank .

Returnal

I told you I'll be back 

Game no: 503
Genre: Action
Platform: PC 
Release Date: 2023

So you can read part of my review here http://mystuffjournal.blogspot.com/2023/01/returnal.html so this is what I discovered after installing the PC version and also cheat engine and activated god mode. How does this game stack when you know you can't die. I say even awesome. Besides getting the ability to kick everyone ass during a fight. I finally get to see what this story is all about. I can also say I don't get what is this about. After reading the wikipedia entry I still don't get it. Oh well. The combat is still awesome and you get to upgrade all weapons which makes fighting the enemies easier. But I can say that the bosses are just vomiting a lot of bullets in the end which really sucks. I can see why the game is great because this game teaches you how to be super fast on your hands. I wish more games would come with a god mode because it makes the game more fun. Now this game is done I can give this game an A-Rank. It is going be one of my top 10 games of this year (Maybe).

Returnal

Life is too short 

Genre: Shooter 
Platform: PS5 
Release Date: 2021

You die.. you get up... you think you can try again and beat the game. You die. Basically that's the gameplay in a nutshell. You are stuck in an endless loop of where you crash in a planet and you need to figure out why time is repeating itself over and over again. Returnal lets you play as Selene a astronaut with an awesome suit which have abilities when upgraded correctly. 

This game consists of shooting, dodging and jumping to avoid getting hit. Housemarque, creators of the
game, famously known for the arcade bullet hell shooter Resogun, design a same game but with 3D mechanics. In short the shooting and movement of this game is amazing. Flare that with thousands of bullets hitting you on screen you got yourself a fun epic game. There are also a lot of different upgrade paths too choose from where it ranges from getting your abilities buff with having certain nerf elements beside it. There a certain strategy you need to figure when having an upgrade weather is worth your run.. The bosses are easy in my opinion once you understand the pattern of attack. Then is all a time dodge here and there and you beat the boss. 

Ok here are the problems of this game. The problem of this game because is a rouge like. You need to complete everything in one run. If not the game will just restart you back from the start. Imagine having good stats, a beefy health bar only to die from some careless mistake and such. As so this game is frustrating at that. Other than that this game is perfect in everyway.

As I said above life is too short to constantly keep dying and dying. This will be my top 10 game of the year only if I finish it. So I am waiting for the PC version. Installing cheat engine and changing one requirement of the game (god mode, high proficiency weapons, lot of cash) and playing it again. And I will give my review again on why this game should have a god mode installed. For now this game gets a C-Rank for me 

Pocky and Rocky

Its a shooter which is very unique 

Genre: Shooter
Platform: SNES
Release Date: 1992

You play as a girl or a racoon and need to fight bad guys by shooting paper or leaves to them. The game is very enjoyable. The difference than most shooters is that you can control your speed so that you can stay at the place or move if you want. I played until the first stage until I calls it quit. I give it a C-Rank. 

Binary Domain

 This game is amazing 

Game no: 449
Genre: Shooter
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2012
Factory Sealed: 228

In the future where humans live with robots there are some people who thinks robots should be sentient. Basically a Terminator or iRobot concept. Thus a group of soldiers called the Rust Crew is sent to stop all bad robots by blowing them up. The game is basically a run and cover shooter but what makes it different from a Gears of War is that it has an arcade style to it. Every action you do you get credits in which you will use the credits to upgrade your weapons or buy more equipment to continue your journey. 

What do I like about this game. What there is not to like. The shooting is great and precise. Each blow gets you points and the better  your kill style, the more credits you get. Each different character gets one main weapons and a secondary weapons. The main weapon is the only weapon that can be upgraded. There are a lot of branches in the game and you as the main characters can choose two of your team mates with you. Each of your team mates has a unique ability, weapons and dialogue options depending on who is on your team. As for me I choose Faye (cause she is hot) the sniper and in the middle of the game I choose Cain the robot since he is super cool. This game uses voice commands with the mic on your controller but it's tedious to yell out commands. Good thing that you can turn it off and give commands using your controller. The better the mood the more they will help you if they are annoyed at you they will just leave you be. It is a very interesting mechanic. The action is batshit crazy. Really I am not even kidding. Just when you thought you are done, the game ups the action to 1000. You fight different types of robots on different types of situation and every time you will barely survive. The other best part is that is very hard to die in this game. You have a minute to revive yourself and if you don't have any first aid kits. You can ask your team mates to help.

There are a couple things I don't quite like about this game. Some of the bosses are not just cheap, they are hard. Once they hit you down it hard to recover and move out of the way. There was one boss that I keep on dying again and again since they keep on pounding me. The other thing is that the active time events its based on a slider and that requires you to press it on the right time. The story is great and yet also not great at the same time. I can say that in the end the ending was great. 

I played the game until the end credits (as well the after credits). This has been a long time since a game has entertained me this much. So much so that it deserve an S-Rank in my book. This is clearly one of my top 10 games of this year

Gradius 3

This game is freaking hard

Game no: 353

Genre: Shooter
Platform: SNES
Release Date: 1991





What is it about?
You are space fighter who needs to fight a horde of aliens

What I liked?
Each ship has tier own unique abilities with different power up
Power-ups can make up very over powered but there will be a lot of bullets to avoid

What I didn't liked?
The game slowdowns in parts where there a lot of enemies on the screen
Once you die is practically game over because you will lose all your power ups

Status: Played and watch the last 10 minutes on youtube

Fun Factor: It's an okay SNES game. Nothing special

Contra III The Alien Wars

First game of the new decade as well as the new year

Game no: 341

Genre: Shooter

Platform: SNES

Release Date: 1992

Gameplay
Shooting
Platforming
Climbing

What I liked? 
The shooting is fast paced
The stages are awesome. They are more than 4 to 5 Bosses per stage
Mode 7 graphics where you need to navigate a section of the map is cool
The power ups help you a lot. Scatter gun is not the strongest gun in the game

What I didn’t liked? 
The bosses are hard as nails. One wrong move and then you’re dead
You need to jump and shoot and navigate obstacles at the same time

Status: Finish the game until the final boss

Fun Factor: One of the great SNES games. Worth to be played 

Cuphead

Don't play this game if you want to have a good time

Game no: 330

Genre: Shooter

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Release Date: 2017

What is it about?

Cuphead and Mugman are brother who made a deal with the devil. The devil wants them to collect all the souls that made a deal with him.

What I liked?

- The first thing anyone would notice when playing this game is the art style. The art style mimic 30s era of animation (fun fact: that this game was actually made by hand drawn animation, each frames was hand drawn which was amazing)

- Shooting is on point and feel satisfying  

- Different types of weapon loadouts and special moves 

- There are flying sections which breaks the action and also run and gun section

What I didn't liked?

- This game is super hard. You need to have fast reaction time to avoid all of the projectiles that are coming your way. The thing is the game is not a bullet hell kind of game. But the amount of things on screen make is overwhelming 

- Constantly dying again and again and again until a point it stop being fun

- The parry system sucks. It requires precision fast timing, which something that I don't have.

Verdict: Played the game until world 1 and then just YouTube the rest. I wanted to know what is the ending and what animations are left to conquer  

Fun Factor: If you are a glutton for punishment I say play this game, if you want something easy.. Don't play this game 

Ikaruga

This game sucks

Game no: 320

Genre: Shooter

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Release Date: 2018 (2001 on the Dreamcast)

What is it about?

I have no idea. Bad guys attacking a place and ship comes to destroy them

What I liked?

There is a freeplay mode since you be dying a lot. 

The 2 different shields that makes you constantly have to change between red and blue shields to avoid the weapons fire

What I didn't liked?

Everything else. The game is not that fun since you keep on dying more times than you can count.

No idea what am shooting at most of the time.

Status: Finish the 5 stages in around 2 hours 

Fun Factor: Not fun at all. Unless you are glutton for punishment 

Gears of War Ultimate Edition

This game does not aged well.

Game no: 309
Genre: Shooter
Platform: Xbox One
Release Date: 2015



What is it about?
In the not so distant future, locust came and invade the land. It's up to the gears to stop them (I actually don't understand the story that much)

What I liked?
The satisfying feeling of firing a weapon and killing the locust
The sniper rifle
The story is somewhat serviceable

What I didn't liked?
The old school game play of run stop drop and shoot. This game is design to make each fight is a tedious repetition. You go to one area and repeat the same process over and over again. I don't understand how is this fun now. The reason I played it is just because I want to see what is the story all about. It's been a while since I've played it

Status: Finish the game on casual

Verdict: Play if you want to see what is it about. But other than that, its not memorable 

Contra Hard Corps

I think this game is one of its kind

Game no: 281

Genre: Shooter

Platform: Genesis

 

Difficulty: Hard 

What is it about: A standard contra game but with an actual storyline 

What's great: 

- 4 different characters with different play styles
- 5 different powerups that stay with you until you die. Each power up comes with a different ability
- Story has multiple paths, there is even a part where you can join the enemy

What's not so great: 

- Bosses are hard
- You will die a lot

Music: Ok 

Status: Finish the game with the good ending

Should you play this game: No, this game does not age well. 

Fun Factor: Great art style, decent game

Alien Soldier

Game with just a boss rush mode 

Game no: 271

Genre: Shooter

Platform: Genesis 

 

Difficulty: Insane 

What is it about: Play as an alien soldier (which looks like a humanoid eagle) and you are task to destroy all the other aliens. 

What's great:

Choose from six different weapons with different hit ranges (fire homing is the easiest to use)

25 stages with 20 seconds intervals from the next boss

Each bosses are unique in design and have different hit points 

There are unlimited continues so you will die a lot of times 

Graphics is 2D graphics overlay with another 3D graphics 

What's not so great: 

The game is insanely difficult and you need to beat the boss before the timer ends 

You only get 4-5 hits before you die. and you will die a lot 

Music: So-so

Status: Played the game until stage 17 and youtube the rest 

Should you play this game: Yes, this game challenges your reflexes and skills to beat each bosses 

After Burner II

A classic arcade game

Genre: Action

Platform: Sega Genesis 

  

Difficulty: Insane 

What is this game about?

You pilot a F-18 towards a barrage of enemies to try to survive their bullets 

What's great:

The game is face paced 

Auto fire machine gun

More than 200 homing missiles 

Weather cycles with different terrain and soundtrack

What's not so great:

Machine gun has little to no effects 

Onces you are out of missiles you die 

Dying is so easy in this game

Music: Ok. Tunes are quite nice 

Status: Played until level 5. Keep on dying over and over again

Should you play this game: No, it's not a fun game.

Aero Fighters

Another generic bullet hell shooter

Game no: 268
Genre: Shooter
Platform: SNES

 

Difficulty: Hard

What is it about: Play as fighters from different region and you shoot down other bad guys from different regions as well

What's great:
Different fighters with different bombs and attributes
Challenging bullet hell gameplay
Difficultly settting

What's not so great:
Bullet are erratic and hard to predict
If you run out of lives you need to restart at the beginning of the game 

Music:So-So. Nothing that stands out
Status: Finish the game with Irem... There are other characters but not sure how to get them
Should you play this game: Yes, a great shooter to challenge your skills. Preferably two players