Chris Dow's Completed Games of 2021 Part 2 (#21-40)

We’re back again!

Following on from part 1, this article covers games #21-40 on my list of 2021 completions.

Some gems, some stinkers. Some games that I don’t even remember playing.

21. Farm Mystery: The Happy Orchard Nightmare (Switch) - 13/02/21 - ~2 hours (100%)

At this point in the year, I’d stalled on completions a little due to dumping 25+ hours into The Binding of Isaac inspired by Jonathan and Minty’s combined prowess, 25+ hours into The Outer Worlds inspired by working from home for the first period of the year, and then receiving Super Mario 3D World.

But, there’ll always be time for SHITE, and here’s some ‘Hidden Object’ SHITE.

Incredibly simple puzzling, hidden object scenes, and a dreadful ghostly story. What else is there to say? An infinite hint system lets you bypass any bits that you find tricky, but because I’m a big boy I did actually solve all the puzzles and all the hidden object sections myself.

22. Love Hero (3DS) - 26/02/21 - ~90mins (100%)

The 3DS eShop in 2020 and now 2021 is a truly odd place. With the last major release (either physically or digitally) being Persona Q2, and high profile games already slowing to a drip for the latter half of the 2010s anyway, most recent releases on the eShop are utter garbage. Multiple iterations of Arkanoid clones being sold at £7.99 a pop. Games that use the most generic assets available to cobble together simple Space Invaders clones. And then oddities like Love Hero. This game’s eShop landing page gives away nothing. It’s barely talked about online outside of a GameFAQS user review from its launch window.

I took a punt for the pound or two it cost, and it’s a surprisingly decent time. 5 stages of simple shmup action - think more Atari 2600 visuals and depth than even the NES - but it wraps it all up in a strange vapourwave aesthetic. Notable artists like HOME provide the licensed (I assume?) soundtrack, each level unlocks an odd piece of surgical imagery presented in pastel blues and pinks. A bit-crunched female voice taunts you during the final boss encounter. Levels can be surprisingly difficult, but perseverance will see you through, learning the tricks of each stage.

Worth buying a 3DS for? Absolutely not. Worth playing? ...yeah?

23. Hello Kitty and Sanrio Friends 3D Racing (3DS) - 28/02/21 - ~6 hours (100%)

I’ve now beaten this game three times. On the Wii U, when I saw it cheap, blasted through the cups and adventure mode in an hour, and then sold it for £70 as it held insane value on the console for a short window; on the Switch, when I again saw it cheap and hoped it would hold a similar cash bounty (it didn’t); and now, on the 3DS.

It’s got a different name, but it’s the same game. However, one major difference, and the reason this has taken 6 hours to beat rather than one, is the unlock system. Every paintjob, vehicle shell or character outfit is unlocked individually. In order to do this, you have to play every one of the 16 tracks *seven* times each. Yes, a race may only take 2-3 minutes, but by lord does it get tedious. Every character and vehicle controls identically. There is one difficulty and speed (pitched well south of Mario Kart’s 50cc). Yet I sat across multiple play sessions and got it done.

For Kitty. For Hello Kitty.

24. Pokemon Snap (N64) - 28/02/21 - ~4 hours (100%)

That New Pokemon Snap looks great. And its imminent arrival seemed as good an excuse as any to crack out the original on the N64. A great photography-based rail shooter, only really let down by the technical limitation of the platform it was on.

Can you imagine this game with more locales? More organic behaviour? All 151 Gen1 Pokemon? I have no idea what’s being included in the new game. No idea where it’s being set, which creatures feature, how much content there’ll be. But I had a great time revisiting this relatively slim title and nabbing photos of all 60-odd Pokemon included, and I can’t wait for the sequel, even if my interest in the Pokemon franchise as a whole is slim to middling.

25. Urban Trial Freestyle (3DS) - 15/03/21 - ~5 hours (100%)

On paper, this is a really average rip off of Trials. No analogue acceleration or brake, and some occasionally uninspired track design and you'd expect this to be a pretty nothing title.

..and yet...

Whack the 3D slider up and it looks fantastic. A track here, a challenge there, it's a great handheld game.

Really enjoyed it, even if there's little more to really say about what is, in essence, a cookie cutter game.

26. Puzzle Bobble (PS4) - 02/04/21 - ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

Got a PS5. So naturally I’ve used it to play a PS4 port of a twenty year old Neo Geo puzzler. I joke, of course. I’ve played a lot of Spider-man Remastered which is great, a bit of Godfall which is fine, even a bit of Balan Wonderworld.

But I did play and beat Puzzle Bobble too.

The trophies are incredibly tough until you realise how to play the game properly. Matching bubbles is fine and dandy. Beating levels quickly is great. Really though, you can hit ludicrously high scores in minutes just by setting up a big hanging cluster of bubbles, and dropping them all simultaneously by popping its ‘anchor’. I struggled wilfully the beat the entire game start to finish and was nowhere near hitting the 3 million points needed for the final trophy. Then I looked up a guide, realised I could change the way I played to maximise my score, and had it licked within 6 or 7 stages.

A nice game though. Always had a soft spot for Bust-a-Move / Puzzle Bobble. 

27. The Outer Worlds (Switch) - 06/04/21 - ~40 hours (All Sidequests / Credits)

This is comfortably the worst way to play The Outer Worlds, but the smeary resolution and ugly textures take nothing away from how good a game this is. 

I’ve tapped out of triple-A games for quite some time now, but it was a real joy to play a game with moral and narrative consequences. In terms of gameplay, it doesn’t quite do the immersive sim thing properly, with even the original Deus Ex trumping it for options when it comes to choosing how to approach each scenario, but it still felt like my character build carried weight.

Frustratingly, despite spec’ing for diplomacy early on, balancing my character around the midgame meant that the end section became impossible tough as I wasn’t a suave enough talker, nor strong and aggressive enough to make either conversation or combat that straight forward. The game has a great resolution though, at least for the path I took, and I can see myself playing through this again in the future; just perhaps not on the Switch.

Being able to tackle this game both docked and handheld was a real godsend though - I played a lot via the TV during periods of remote-working earlier in the year, and then when regular work ramped up again, was able to steal little bits of time here and there via handheld mode. I was worried that I’d get to a point and then just stop, as I’m often wont to do, but even with the PS5 arriving, I pushed myself to play the last 4 or 5 hours and mop up the last few sidequests to make this about as close to a 100% run of the base game as I could have done.

I had considered grabbing the DLC for the Switch as well, but I think I’ll hold off. If the game gets a GOTY style collection at some point for the new consoles, I’d gladly pick it up again though.

28. Awesome Pea (Switch) - 09/04/21 - ~2 hours (100%)

I beat this on the Vita last year? The year before?

Either way, it’s here again as it’s part of Premium Edition Games ‘Pigeon Dev Games Collection’ physical release. PE have a lovely scheme running where if you beat a certain feat in game, they’ll send you a stitched challenge patch as Activision used to do in the 80s with the 2600.

For this collection, it just asked you to beat any of the four games. And so I did!

It’s still a wildly inconsistent platformer. Stages in the first world took me 50 tries, whereas I waltzed through the entire fourth and final world without dying once. Awesome Pea 2 is also on this collection, (and is also a game I beat on the Vita not that long ago), but I’m strangely quite looking forward to beating that again as well, even if my badge requirements have already been fulfilled.

29. A Way Out (PS4) - 09/04/21 - ~5 hours (Credits)

I beat this a few years ago and had a great time. A strong, exclusively co-op experience that may go a little hard and heavy with its movie references, but overall delivers a really strong experience with a great twist. Maybe I’m a big thicko, but I didn’t see it coming, and the narrative is really, *really* improved as a result of the game forcing you to play with a second player.

My girlfriend, who enjoys games, but doesn’t obsess over them quite as much as me, really enjoyed its filmic qualities, and despite struggling with some of the later action sequences (to be fair they are the weakest part of the whole package), seemed to get a kick out of the game from start to finish.

We’ve now played Brothers (by sharing a pad), and A Way Out to completion with one another, so I’m keen to pick up It Takes Two to explore the latest entry in the unofficial Josef Fares co-op trilogy.

30. OVIVO (PS4) - 25/04/21 - ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

Another game I’d beaten prior, this time a few years back on the Switch.

It’s still a really cool, loosely physics led platform game with a stark black and white art style, decent music, and deliberately obfuscated narrative. 

The PS4 version is identical to the Switch, but I picked it up this second time as it had a limited physical release and I wanted a copy for the shelf. Red Art Games are the company you want to check out if you fancy flicking through its pretty art book as well.

It’s an artsy physics based platformer. The whole game is presented in stark black and white. You can move left and right, but must invert your own colour to make use of the platforms, carefully considering your momentum generated by shifting between the two to propel yourself along and to higher areas.

Each stage eventually pans out to reveal that your entire journey has taken place on a weird Rorschach style ink blot. The game is also filled with strange imagery like the Ourobous, various geometric Zentangle style patterns, as other symbols which could be interpreted as anything from hieroglyphics, to buddhist scriptures.

I really enjoyed my time with this one, save for the odd frustrating section here and there which meant replaying a stage or two to nab all the collectibles.

31. Speed 3: Grand Prix (Switch) - May? - ~5 hours (100% I guess, unless it wasn’t?)

The worst game I’ve played on the Switch. Dreadful handling. Dreadful visuals. Dreadful performance. A game that I can’t conceivably believe was made by more than one person taking their first steps into game dev.

It’s a racing game, so there’s very little to functionally cover here, except for the bizarre way the career is structured.

First series: 6 tracks, 3 laps each.

Second series: the same 6 tracks, 2 lap qualifier on each (where it doesn’t matter where you place), 5 laps each.

Third series: the same 6 tracks, 2 lap qualifier on each, 7 laps each, then the same again for all 6 tracks but on their reverse variants.

Fourth series: the same 6 tracks, 2 lap qualifier on each, FOURTEEN laps each, then the same again for all 6 tracks but in reverse.

The AI doesn’t change at all. But there are more laps. Meaning it can be harder to place first in the beginner’s series as there is less time to overtake, and you’ll likely win every track of the final series by between one or two full minutes.

There are unlockable cars, but beating the career mode doesn’t unlock them all. Some of them are unlocked by setting a time on each time trial stage. Some remain padlocked. There are no guides online, naturally. Fuck knows.

Who the fuck cares.

32. Loot Hero DX (Switch) - 04/06/21 - ~4 hours (100%)

Hold right until you can’t hold right anymore. Then hold left, and tap the face buttons to upgrade one of four skills until you can start holding right again. 

When holding right has become too easy, slay a dragon to make holding right hard again.

Incredibly simple - basically the gameplay loop of a clicker but with a paper thin RPG veneer applied over the top. I enjoyed it, even if I genuinely, without exaggeration, fell asleep during two distinct play sessions.

33. ABZU (PS4) - 13/06/21 - ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

Why was Journey so good? There was an essence to that game that made me beat it, and then immediately beat it again on launch day on the PS3 that I never felt with Flow, or Flower, or years on in ABZU.

It’s a great game, don’t get me wrong, but the stunning artwork, sumptuous score, and wordless storytelling, just didn’t grab me like Journey did all those years back.

At its most simple, I think it’s the lack of human companionship present in these other games that makes Journey stand even taller over them. The little chirp you can let out in ABZU so wants to serve the same purpose as the whistle in Journey, except here you’re calling AI fish or drones as opposed to another real life person with their own motivations on the other side of the world.

What ABZU is though is an audiovisual showcase for your 4K TV. Goodness, it looks great.

34. Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA) - 27/06/21 - ~6 hours (Credits)

I know it’s only a 5 hour game, at least in my first playthrough, but to finish a game of this import and reverence felt massive. My personal feelings around the game, as my first Metroid, started a little unsure, then very shortly after I’d come to terms with how it played and how it controlled, had me thinking 'this is a big old 10'.

Loved the atmosphere, loved the visual design, loved the music, loved the exploration, loved the back tracking and the ability gating. All great stuff.

Then I got to the final boss of the original NES Metroid experience - Mother Brain, and I had a big old huff because it felt so different from everything that had preceded it. This was a game of careful consideration and lateral thinking and explorative puzzle solving, reduced to a bullet hell encounter where you’re stood on a platform just a few pixels wide, getting shot at from 6 directions simultaneously, locking you into a sort of stunned state as you fall into the lava below, and then fight through projectiles to seat yourself on the platform again, weather the storm again, and make slow progress firing rockets at the boss. Dreadful. In a remake that is happy to take liberties with the source material to make a better game, I don’t know why this encounter wasn’t adapted further to fit the tone of the rest of the game.

My frustration was allayed slightly, when I realised the game wasn’t quite finished and I still had the Zero Suit Samus addendum to play through. I liked, but didn’t love this section. Extra Metroid lore was good, and I imagine will put me in good stead to play Samus Returns at some point soon, but I found the layout of the final map area that this section takes place in pretty uninspired, and found the loose stealth / chase mechanic with the space pirates just wasn’t overly fun.

So, a downward curve from Mother Brain to the credits, but, but but but, mission accomplished in that I am positively salivating for more Metroid. The whole point of this exercise was to try and get into the series before Dread was upon us, and I’ve certainly done that.

35. Futa Fix: Dick, Dine n Dash (PC) - 29/06/21 - ~3 hours (All Trophies [Steam])

Sorry, gang. I'm not writing about this one.

36. 100 Hidden... (5 x Games) (PC) - 07/07/21 - ~90mins (All Achievements [Steam])

100 hidden cupcakes, mushrooms, snails 2, mice, cats.

All brief games that ask you to locate the item of the title 100 times across a big scrollable image.

Last year I beat the first 5 of these games. This year I’m back to finish the next batch.

Mushrooms was the highlight this time - 50 mushrooms to find in the black and white version of the image, then 50 more in the psychedelic coloured version. It’s only a minor shift in the formula, but coupled with the genuinely surreal visuals, it was a nice little treat.

Cupcakes was the easiest - clearly aimed at a younger demographic.

37. Renzo Racer (Switch) - 08/07/21 - ~3 hours (100%)
We all love a bad game, right?

Renzo Racer is dreadful, and yet, it’s not as bad as Speed 3. Graphics are perfectly serviceable, music isn’t terrible, but the handling is dreadful, powerups are limited, and collisions, of which you will experience many, often shoot you up into the air, onto your head, or into opposing traffic. It’s not good. 

The tournament system as well, doesn’t seem to acknowledge scoring properly either. One time I finished a set of 4 races in joint first, only for the game to tell me I had received 4th place, with a patronising ‘better luck next time’ message. Another tournament, I finished mid-table, well off pole position after the thing had wrapped, and I was rewarded with a gold cup. Bananas.

38. Poi (Switch) - 10/07/21 - ~11 hours (100%)

It’s a shameless riff on Super Mario 64, but it’s decent!

Varied objectives, a range of collectibles, some so so boss battles, lots of hidden secrets. Visuals are serviceable but a bit bland, soundtrack is nice, effects work is bit ‘recorded it with my pals in my bedroom’. 

But, for an indie take on the 64 formula, it’s solid. Of course this isn’t a patch on Odyssey, but so many games that try to ape the late 90s 3D platformer fall so, so short, and Poi can hold it’s head high and say ‘we did a decent job’.

39. Epido (PC) - 12/07/21 - ~7 hours (All Achievements [Steam])

Essentially a bullet hell shooter, but with a few.. tweaks.

Stages have popcorn enemies whizzing about firing bullets without any real rhyme or reason that allow you to power up, then bosses fight with more consistent patterns.

It’s not the best bullet hell, of course it isn’t. But, I did the whole game using an arcade stick, and it felt good to make incremental progress, level up my character, and eventually beat both the main game and it’s DLC story start to finish as, arguably, a 1 Credit Clear.

40. 30-in-one Game Collection: Volume 1 (Switch) - 28/06/21 - ~6 hours (100%)

I have a soft spot for: a) shitty games, and b) arcade score chasers.

30-in-one is a classic Wii-era shovelware collection. 30 simple games which can be played solo, or with friends. Each one lets you shoot for a gold medal score though, and this was enough to keep me going for the 6 or so hours it took to beat the whole thing 100%.

Some games were obviously way better than others, but all in all, it’s really not that bad at all.

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See you in a few days, everyone!