As the backlog grows I had a new goal to achieve for 2023. After only managing to finish 31 games in 2022 I wanted to aim for a realistic goal of 40. The games can be short or long, as long as it’s a legit game and not a throwaway one. The problem was that I ran into various obstacles along the way and unfortunately I only managed to finish a total of 30 video games throughout the year of 2023.
Again, this is another disappointment on my part, but a few months were wasted due to the motivation to re-read the One Piece manga before playing the One Piece games at one point, as well as both my job and being ill getting in the way which didn’t help either.
So despite these issues, how did I feel about the backlog for 2023. I will say that the first half was more polished than the latter half of the year, but I did manage to play and finish three major new releases. Outside of that, we have two Nintendo Switch third-party games played and many digital games on PlayStation 5 (most of them are also classic PlayStation titles), plus more PlayStation Vita games were completed.
Like my previous posts in The Video Games I Played series, I have compiled my thoughts over on Anime UK News and stored them on my blog! They were essentially a collection of what I liked/disliked for each one, and some will have more to say than others but that’s because of the huge scope of the experience. Like before, they are long but I didn’t want to trim down my thoughts as some of this info might make you interested in these titles.
Due to the length of the post, I have decided to split the list into two parts. Part 2 will cover the remaining 15 games I completed, which were during mid August to December.
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Racing games have always been a genre that has intrigued me over the years. I talked about it with my thoughts on Gran Turismo 7 in my 2022 games write-up about how Burnout 3 is among one of my favourite racing games growing up. That said I have played various others like LEGO Stunt Rally, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, and of course Gran Turismo 7. I do own Ridge Racer Type 4 on PlayStation 3 & 5 which is the original PlayStation version emulated, and Ridge Racer 7 on PlayStation 3 but the franchise as a whole hasn’t been played enough.
And while there’s been a lot of racing games produced, Hot Wheels Unleashed to me felt like a nostalgia trip. Its a very simple racing game that goes for the arcade approach and its aimed for younger audiences, but there’s a lot of effort and care put into this game that has made it one of my favourite racing game experiences in a while. So what exactly is this game in terms of design? Well it’s basically toy cars on a Hot Wheels race-track in various rooms, with each design ranging from loops, tight corners or a ramp where you fly into the air to reach the next path, and there’s even zero gravity which adds more fun to the mix.
What’s interesting about this game is that it’s track editor is very well detailed and complex but rewarding with the outcome of your design. Want to go overboard with the ramps and complexity, you can do that. It definitely pays homage to those Hot Wheels racing tracks that you setup when you were younger. Also those custom tracks that you made can be shared online and have random users race on them like magic. I made a random short track and somehow someone has played them online somewhere in the world. It’s weird but oddly satisfying.
The story mode is very simplistic but adds a good sense of challenge with racing in first place to hitting those time trials. The time trials can be very challenging and the developers had to nerf it a bit to address some of the issues, though if you want more difficulty the DLC packs are worth checking out. There are also blind boxes which is very similar to the gacha formula but there’s no real money involved so you don’t have to worry about that rabbit hole, and what’s in each box is a car that ranges from the common ones to legendary status which can be a simple one or even a special licensed car from FIATs all the way to a Back to the Future vehicle. Warner Bros has provided a lot of IPs to the franchise including DC and Looney Tunes which have major DLC packs. There’s even Capcom’s Street Fighter V themed cars which is a bizarre but neat addition.
Each car can be upgraded to improve its performance, and this is handy for the better drift and speed experiences, especially if you want to tackle those timed challenges. The difficulty can also be adjusted from Easy to Hard, with no punishment or advantages at all so its down to you if you want to challenge yourself on the difficulty of the AI. There’s also other settings but the game does support 4K and HDR like other PS5 titles, but the game also supports private lobbies for multiplayer as well as local split-screen and quick races.
In terms of the trophies, they were originally going to be a long-wait due to the coins and gears that you receive but the developers tweaked the design so it’s now doable within 21 hours playtime. I do recommend going for the Season Pass as not only will it help with the 100k coin and 25k gear but those levels add more fun and variety to the game especially for the level editor and multiplayer. There are online trophies for this game which require you to win 5 races at any point, and I will admit I struggled with this when it comes to the regular levels due to pro players but you’re likely to get this through the custom tracks as they are random so not everyone would be familiar with these layouts.
Overall Hot Wheels Unleashed was a very fun racing game, and there’s a sequel recently released which seems to include outdoor maps so I am curious to see what else the developers have to bring to the mix. This game is also available on Nintendo Switch if you don’t care about the best performance and graphics.
DoDonPachi Resurrection
DoDonPachi is one of the few shoot ’em up franchises that I was familiar with over the years and that is likely down to the Xbox 360 getting a whole bunch of games from this genre, more specifically the bullet hell games. In recent years a whole bunch of shoot ’em ups started to get releases or re-releases on the Nintendo Switch and that included a few Cave games brought over by Live Wire like DoDonPachi Resurrection.
DoDonPachi Resurrection is the fifth game in the DoDonPachi franchise and was also released in English back on the Xbox 360. The Nintendo Switch release was brought over to the west but as a digital download, however it did receive a limited print run by Limited Run Games which sold out in 2022. Then VideoGamesPlus out of nowhere received more stock and I bought a copy from there.
What’s interesting about DoDonPachi Resurrection is that it has multiple modes available to play from the start. The first mode is Version 1.50 which is pretty much the base game, and then you have Version 1.51 which adds some gameplay tweaks plus an extra final boss that will make your screen be filled with bullets non-stop (and you’ll die a lot). Also included is L mode which is Version 1.50 with a different ship/character, a mode that lets you pick a ship and level to check out, and a novice mode for beginners.
Then if that wasn’t enough, there’s also Black Label mode which adds more bullets to the screens which is a addition that was first included in the 2011 Japanese Xbox 360 re-release. Black Label mode is more like Version 1.50 than 1.51 but you do have a special mode that lets you control a Ketsui (from the Ketsui franchise) and that is super OP.
In the main modes you can choose between three ships and three sub-weapon abilities which is bomb, power or a mixture of both. I found that the bomb does help a lot, whilst power mode I ended up dying a lot. That said the mixture one is pretty solid as well. The difficulty of the game is very challenging but thanks to the infinite lives that this game has you can keep playing all the way to the end for a nice chill experience. You do lose the high score points as they reset when you continue, but that’s fine so there’s a good balance for the casual gamers and the hardcore gamers.
Overall DoDonPachi Resurrection was a really fun and fairly addictive shoot ’em up game for the Nintendo Switch. It has a variety of modes and each of them have nice perks to the gameplay. The levels don’t have much variety other than Version 1.51 but its a short game. The Switch during the handheld mode was decent but you’re best playing this on the big screen due to the vertical presentation.
Espgaluda II
The first time I heard about Espgaluda II was during the Video Games Plus Limited Run Games sale. Turns out this was one of three Cave games that Live Wire brought over to the Nintendo Switch. It’s a bullet hell shoot ’em up with a fantasy JRPG style theme to it, though there’s no RPG elements it would fit with the genre if they went that route.
Espgaluda II was first released in Arcades in 2005 before releasing on Xbox 360, though only Japan got this game compared to DoDonPachi Resurrection. Mobile devices was the game’s first appearance worldwide but the ideal version is either PC or this Switch release.
Like DoDonPachi, this game features multiple modes available from the start. Novice, Normal, Black Label, Arrange, Omake and Aracade modes. Each mode has some differences but the general structure remains the same. In each mode you can control three characters who have different abilities, ranging from having ghost characters pulling off an ultimate attack or a shield that protects you briefly. The game’s modes also have various additional gameplay mechanics, like each weapon type will allow you to cancel out bullets of a specific colour, or a green shield will appear that absorbs incoming attacks to then unleash a super attack.
Also noteworthy is the gameplay itself, because each weapon attack actually changes the pacing. Mini-bullets will speed up time and incoming bullets, the laser attack will be at a regular pace, and the other slows down time to help avoid bullets in busy situations. This is a really cool set of mechanics as it adds to the game really well, and tests your patience during combat and boss fights.
While this game has a lot of interesting design choices, I am disappointed by the final boss as it felt like it ruined the pace despite its super difficulty. I also felt that DoDonPachi Resurrection had more impact with the boss fights compared to this one, though some bosses were interesting like the tank fight.
Overall, Espgaluda II was a pretty good shoot ’em up and is technically easier than DoDonPachi Resurrection. I do prefer DoDonPachi Resurrection but this game does hold up well on its own.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
When it comes to superheroes Spider-Man is up there as one of my favourites mainly because of his goals, determination and the storylines that have been shown over the years. It’s why I loved the Spider-Verse films and even the live-action films from Sony. I am also no stranger to his video game line-up as I do own a physical PlayStation copy of Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro and have played Ultimate Spider-Man on PS2, though I never played the film to video game adaptations that a lot of people love the most.
But then a few years ago we saw the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man which was a new take on the character and his video game antics. Insomniac, the developers of Ratchet & Clank and Spyro, worked on the game so it was interesting to see them take on the mantle. What they delivered with the 2018 game was a fantastic and nostalgic video game experience that reminded me of the older PlayStation and PlayStation 2 action games of that era, especially with those two Spider-Man games that I mentioned. Plus it was even a rare case for me as I did revisit the game months later to get the remaining trophies and play the additional story content which was a lot of fun. The spin-off and PS5 launch title Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was also great, which helped flesh out the Miles character.
Now we have the long-anticipated new instalment with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. This game continues to deliver on the gameplay, visuals and story-telling that made the previous game really good. Playing through this game and its storyline reminded me a lot of Spider-Man 3 with how it handles multiple villain characters and sub-plots, but this time both the pacing and build-up was vastly improved upon. Kraven as an antagonist I liked because you get to know more about his motivations and why he’s chasing around specific people in the city from both the story progression and also the side content.
We knew going in that Venom would be a big part of the game, and while you see foreshadowing throughout the first few hours, you don’t actually experience this much until much later. Having said that, the Venom parts are what makes this game much more memorable because it adds more to the weight of Peter’s character and on top of introducing new gameplay mechanics to make the sequel stand on its own (without it, it would honestly feel like a copy/paste of the previous game). I also really enjoyed the story’s conclusion and I look forward to what comes next for the Insomniac series.
Now as much as I have really enjoyed my time playing this game, and even gotten the Platinum trophy after 26 hours of playtime, I do think the game hasn’t done enough for me to say ‘this is a perfect 10/10 game’. It’s hard to explain why but the closest way to describe it was that when Marvel’s Spider-Man was released it felt like a whole new experience that I had never seen before and this game doesn’t feel like it captured that moment other than the Venom content.
There is a lot of familiarity with the previous game and I mentioned earlier that the Venom gameplay mechanics that Spider-Man receives is what makes this game stands out, so when you take that out of the equation the rest is almost the same as before. I suppose this is a challenge that developers face when you build games like these because once you have done it the first time, the next ones are going to be pretty much identical. Back in the day you could get away with it due to the graphics and levels also being updated. Yes the developers may have expanded the cities and its layouts but to me it feels too familiar. But familiar isn’t always a bad thing.
There have been some other adjustments to the content, but it feels more like an afterthought due to how little options there are compared to the previous game. Now the side content itself is still very good and one particular sub-plot adds a lot of hype for what’s to come, but given how large the game is I don’t think there was enough to keep me going when the story was finished. Now they could remedy this with the DLC content but I suppose Insomniac decided to go for a ‘less is more’ approach and save everything else for later.
While I did think the combat feels very similar to the previous game, they have updated other aspects to it that made the experience a lot better, for instance being able to use multiple gadgets during combat and adding extra web paths for the stealth missions. They also introduced the wing-suit approach which was a very handy tool and there’s a solid balance between using this and web-slinging. This new approach reminded me of Saint’s Row IV where superhero powers took over and put car driving to the side, and I feel like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 did that same concept but provided enough of a balance to which swinging isn’t forgotten and still shares its use during travel. Speaking of travel, the transition to one character to another and fast-travel from one location to another is super fast and really great.
Some folks complained about the Mary Jane stealth missions but to be honest I liked it because it fit with the stealth parts of what made these Marvel’s Spider-Man games great. This game does tone down the stealth parts for the main missions though which is a shame because it’s rewarding to do them in a lot of these, but at the same time being able to add new web paths is very fun even if it does botch the difficulty of those stealth missions.
To conclude and giving it some time to think after finishing the game, I do consider Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to be a worthy continuation to the previous games and is a very good sequel that’s worth the full price in general, especially if you are a big fan of the franchise. The story is solid, the gameplay is just as good as the first game even if it feels easy and visually is fantastic. If you do feel that 26 hours isn’t enough for the price, just wait for a sale and then pick it up because it’s worth your time.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
One Piece has always been a favourite of mine even when I first started getting into anime. While I don’t watch the anime series due to its large length, controversial pacing and due to late UK legal accessibility, the manga was how I read through its story. Over the years the franchise has had a number of games across multiple platforms and genres.
Now before we discuss our next game, I had been holding off on my One Piece video game backlog for a long while and the reason why was because ever since the live-action Netflix series aired I was reinvested in the franchise. While I do have 20 volumes from the fourth manga box set that I had yet to read (which cover Dressrosa to Reverie), I wanted to re-read the first 70 volumes to refresh myself on the story, lore and characters. This took me roughly 2.5 months to finally sort out after delays in-between. So there was a big part of the year where I simply didn’t play any games outside of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to avoid spoilers.
With that finally out of the way, I was then able to experience most of the One Piece video games without being spoiled upfront (except for One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 due to the Wano content). So the first game that I played as soon as I had sorted all of that, was One Piece Pirate Warriors 3. The franchise has received at least four Dynasty Warrior Musou spin-off games, and I’ve played the first two on the PlayStation 3 but I didn’t play the third one until recently because it covered the Dressrosa story arc so I didn’t want to be spoiled because of the game. Granted the game didn’t adapt the entire arc but it did provide enough that it would spoil some surprises.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is an intriguing game in a sense that each story arc is pretty much condensed into one mission. The East Blue saga had the most content but from there each major saga was summarised in a mission or two which felt rushed but at the same time does work with how the Musou gameplay works.
In each mission the goal is to get to a specific point and then eventually defeat the big boss of the map. The other Musou games normally ask for you to take control of each individual base and while this is still there throughout each level it’s not a major goal and doesn’t have an impact on the overall objectives which is a surprise. There are situations like making sure one rival character doesn’t reach a certain point on the map, or you have a time limit to reach another zone, but a lot of elements from previous games were still intact including the bar that allows you to perform a special move and making sure your teammates don’t run away or get killed from the level.
The level up system is in place where you can build your character, add skills and use coins to improve your stats. The coins you earn can also be shared with other characters which is handy to avoid balancing issues. You can also use money to level up characters as well which is also handy. I played each character and most of them work really well, but I would say it depends on the map of choice because some missions would cause more problems than others.
Alongside your main sessions you also have surprise sub-missions where you or a specific character of its choosing needs to perform a specific task which unlocks an extra cutscene that adds more story content. This is pretty cool and adds more replay value to the game. There’s also rewards for sorting those missions out as well.
The main story took roughly 16 hours I believe which is a solid length and it’s one big campaign than multiple sub campaigns like Sengoku Basara or Gundam for example. Alongside the main story mode is a Dream Log where you can play as any character and take on various missions to build their stats and unlock more characters to use in this mode. It’s a nice little addition to the game for those who want tons of playtime hours whilst waiting for the next game.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 is a fun and enjoyable Musou game, and while I do feel a bit disappointed that the game rushed through the story arcs, I suppose it’s for pacing reasons. The characters each have their own skills and the content is solid enough for replayability. I have read that One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 is the better game so if I manage to read the Wano manga volumes then I’ll check that out eventually.
One Piece Burning Blood
Straight after finishing One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 I started playing One Piece: Burning Blood, a fighting game that has a fair amount of skill needed to win. This is the first One Piece game developed solely for PlayStation 4 after the previous ones had PlayStation 3 versions, but is available on other platforms as well within that same generation.
The storyline for One Piece: Burning Blood is focused exclusively on the Marineford/Paramount War arc with four different perspectives that you follow; starting with Luffy and then adding Whitebeard, Akainu and Ace one by one. In each character campaign, you fight against other opponents they encounter from the story arc in great detail. It’s pretty faithful to how it was in the manga so I’m surprised they were able to keep the pace with all of the action that occurs in the story arc. The cutscenes themselves also looked pretty good, but they do have anime screenshots here and there in-between the menus and gameplay which provides a story synopsis for that specific point in the arc.
The combat I found to be pretty fun and challenging in general for each character. You have your regular attack and heavy attacks as well as a special attack when you fill up your bar, plus there’s the Haki/Devil Fruit abilities to help you against foes who have similar abilities that would cause problems for you during combat, because when they use them, it’s very hard to fight back unless you use your own abilities to even the odds.
The game’s biggest flaw in my opinion is how it handles defence because it felt inconsistent for each individual character you control and the opponents as you progress through the story campaign. The AI difficulty is also rather inconsistent because sometimes you can get a good combo against them, but then at other times their defence refuses to break. The AI is ruthless at the end portions of the campaign and will slap you around without giving you another chance.
During the story campaign, you can unlock additional stages which are achieved by reaching specific requirements on a stage. You will notice which stages will have a branching path when the requirements list has additional info on what you need to do, which varies from surviving for a certain amount of time, defeating them in a certain amount of time, or using a certain move. The additional stages upon completion will unlock additional characters that you can use for multiplayer which is neat. Saying that, I found these to be the most tedious because the AI difficulty is a lot harder but I was able to complete all of them.
Once you have finished the story campaign, you can take on additional side content and also online multiplayer. The Platinum trophy I have heard is pretty easy to get but because it requires online I wasn’t able to find a Ranked match so I decided not to pursue it, especially given the game was released many years ago so its not as popular as it was back then.
One Piece: Burning Blood is a surprisingly game for me personally because I didn’t expect there to be this much challenge thrown into its gameplay. I feel I would have enjoyed the game a lot more had I played this years ago when it was first released because of the player base and the online multiplayer. The main story campaign as well as the additional stages took about 6 hours 30 minutes to beat.
Jet Moto (Jet Racer)
At this point we have reached the month of December, I had accepted the fact that I wouldn’t hit my target of 40 video games. I didn’t even beat last year’s record if I got my notes right, so what I decided to do was check out the PlayStation games that were made available on PlayStation 5. These are all short in length but still proper games at the end of the day and I had a good time with each one.
The first PlayStation classic that I decided to play is Jet Moto, also known as Jet Racer in Europe. This is a racing game released in 1996 by developer SingleTrac, the folks behind Twisted Metal 1 & 2, where you drive a floating jet and it’s an intriguing title.
The concept is pretty simple, you race to reach the finish line but this is no easy game in all honestly. Jet Moto has some complicated controls and gameplay as your bike is rather sensitive, so if you don’t angle your vehicle correctly you will swerve off the edge and even hit the various obstacles that are in your way, like trees or props. You can even hit the checkpoint header in one of the maps which is pretty funny to see.
The game offers different modes, from a regular race and tutorials, to tournaments and elimination rounds. As you race the tournaments you do unlock more maps to play and add more variety to the repetitiveness of the game. The maps even have hidden paths which I found one by accident. Also on the maps are a lot of steep curves which sounds like a challenging but your vehicle can grapple onto a pole so you can swerve around the corner and maintain your speed which is a good feature for a game like this.
For a short game I did like what the game provides. The rag doll when your character hits an object was entertaining even if its annoying but the emulator’s rewind feature does help for situations like this. While I don’t necessarily enjoy every single map, the level design was pretty solid and the grapple concept was cool.
The trophies for this game are pretty simple. Race every map, win each type of mode and play a certain number of races. I got the Platinum trophy after about 2 hours of playtime. Because the game does make you swerve numerous times I did take breaks here and there to avoid any form of motion sickness. Jet Moto was a fun little game and I recommend giving it a shot on the PlayStation Plus service if you have that.
Also a bonus mention – normally when it comes to re-releases onto emulators that sometimes licensing and banners tend to get updated due to expirations but this release on PlayStation 5 has kept the advertisements which is a surprise.
Jumping Flash!
The second PlayStation classic is an early launch game from 1995 with Jumping Flash! by Japanese developers Exact and Ultra, with some assistance from Japan Studio. This is a platformer where your goal is to find some carrots on each stage before proceeding to the next, and along the way you can even find a special stage to play around with.
Despite being a launch game, the visuals look pretty good and runs fairly well. The controls for the camera is my only major issue because it’s not aged well, and part of that is due to how this came before the analog sticks were introduced. I did enjoy the first-person perspective and when you jump around your shadow helps with guiding you to where you are at on the map.
The enemies have a good variety but I tend to avoid them as it’s easy to dodge. That said you do have the option to shoot them when needed. They do respawn though from what I have seen. The boss fights were neat and one of them I did have an issue with at first until I realised that jumping and falling can do tons of damage to them. The final boss was a challenge as they tend to run away and hit you at various angles but overall it was a good time.
For a short game Jumping Flash! was pretty fun, and they did patch it to include trophy support which is completing the game and getting all of the collectibles and extra stages completed. I bought the game on the PlayStation 3 store back when the store was planned to be closed, so the PlayStation 5 version was available for free.
I.Q.: Intelligent Qube (Kurushi)
Next is a game that I am very familiar with but never managed to play and that was I.Q.: Intelligent Qube, also known as Kurushi in Europe. Developed by G-Artists Inc. (PoPoLoCrois) in 1997, the game is a very fun puzzle experience.
In fact knowing about the series I was worried it would be too complicated but in reality it is a lot simpler than it looks and the video tutorials were handy to learn how the game’s mechanics works. The idea is that you need to get rid of the cubes in front of you before they crush you or they fall off the edge behind you. You highlight a block and when the cube lands on it, you press a button to make it disappear.
There are three types of cubes. The regular grey cubes are the ones you can remove as per normal, then there’s colourful ones where if you highlight and remove it it will also highlight all of the squares around it which extends even further if another colourful cube is caught in the mix. Then you have the black cubes which are the ones you want to avoid highlighting and capturing. You can highlight a cube and let the cube go past it, but capturing black cubes will result in your path behind you losing space which is what you want to avoid.
And to mention again, when you highlight blocks, it will stay there for as long as you want it to be before pressing the button to remove it, even if its going to take about 5-10 more seconds to get the right cubes. This tactic is useful for situations where the black cubes are in the way before getting the right combination.
The game adds more challenge to the mix for each stage as it adds more columns to the mix. I was able to get through roughly 80-85% of the game without having to use the rewind feature just so that I don’t end up getting any rows behind me removed. I.Q.: Intelligent Qube‘s trophies are all about finishing the stages which is fine, and if you want more challenge the second game Kurushi Final: Mental Blocks is also available on PlayStation 5 (which is PAL only as it wasn’t released in North America).
Overall I.Q.: Intelligent Qube was a lot of fun and took a few hours to finish. I highly recommend playing this game if you like to try out a classic PlayStation puzzle to play next.
Ape Escape
I’ve played an Ape Escape game before when I was younger and I believe it was Ape Escape 2, but I never owned it, only rented it. The closest that I got to owning an Ape Escape game was with Eye Toy: Monkey Mania on the PlayStation 2 but that wasn’t a proper instalment in the franchise and only designed to showcase the Eye Toy camera.
So being able to play the original Ape Escape was a treat and its neat to see Sony bringing it back for PlayStation 5 was appreciated especially as the first three games were not added onto the Classics line-up on PlayStation 3 in the west (Japan got them at least). The second game is on PlayStation 4 via the PS2 on PS4 line-up but is only the PAL version with an emulator that’s currently not optimised for PlayStation 5 just yet.
So how do I feel about the original 1999 Ape Escape game from Japan Studio after all of these years. I felt the game held up pretty well and had a fun time going through each level. The game uses the analog sticks a lot and part of that is to showcase PlayStation’s DualShock controller and in most cases it works really well, except that I had struggled a lot with the boats.
I have been told that I wasn’t controlling the boats properly but I do think they are messy regardless (I also kept spinning in circles which is funny not going to lie), and while the idea works the execution I felt doesn’t age well. Controlling the tank later in the game weren’t too bad though. Besides those two, the rest of the controls works fairly well and I got used to how the mechanics work.
The game has a ton of gadget variety to capture the apes, from an RC Car, slingshot, dash hoop and the most powerful one which isn’t available until you finish the normal ending of the story – the magic punch. Each gadget has a tutorial stage before you are able to use them in the levels which is handy to learn how they work. Much like a lot of platformer games, you won’t be able to 100% the levels as soon as you enter them because a lot of apes are not accessible due to not having the right gadget available. Alongside the apes in each level are gold coins which you can collect to unlock some mini-games which involve ski racing and even a punch-out.
I didn’t go for 100% completion in this game but I was able to get over 100 apes and over 40 gold coins that qualify for the Platinum trophy. If you want to get the best ending in the game you’ll need to find all of the apes in each level. It’s fairly lengthy at about 8 hours spent on the normal route in general so there’s enough value here to enjoy.
Twisted Metal
After a brief break I started Twisted Metal, the second SingleTrac game in this backlog to play, released in 1995. The Twisted Metal franchise is one that I am familiar with but I never played them. I did consider the PlayStation 3 instalment but decided to focus on the classics that Sony added earlier in the year. I did attempt to get the games on PlayStation 3 but when they were added onto modern platforms it corrupted the listing on PlayStation 3’s store so I had to go to support to fix that and rebuy them on the PlayStation 5.
Twisted Metal is a vehicular combat game where you control a vehicle and destroy every enemy vehicle in your map across multiple stages. Each stage adds an extra vehicle enemy to battle and eventually you’ll land on the final stage which has a big enemy type that is challenging to beat.
Despite its concept and age, Twisted Metal is actually really surprisingly challenging to play because of how much damage you can take, which carries over into the next stage adding more difficulty to the mix. The benefit of this game however, is that it does not punish you for using password codes to continue where you left off. For me this is essentially like restarting a stage with full health than making the enemies easier to beat. Heck the game does provide difficulty levels but the only difference is how many lives you receive which doesn’t add much.
Twisted Metal does have credit for having different variety of designs and stats for each vehicle that’s available for you to control. Some deal better damage, some have better pacing and some use specific weapons that can be close-range or easy to use. In addition each vehicle’s stages has different enemies to fight which makes each experience different and better paced. I also loved how some cars just fall off the edge at random though.
I used the password method for the trophies so that I can replay the final stage for each character which can take ages as there’s a lot of vehicles to use. The progress was roughly about almost 3 hours get the Platinum trophy, but overall I found Twisted Metal to be a solid start to a franchise for Sony. I have heard the second game is a big improvement so I’m curious to see how that’s done.
Everybody’s Golf (Hot Shots Golf)
From the Japanese studio that brought you the Shining Force games, Mario Golf and Golden Sun comes the first instalment in the Everybody’s Golf franchise, also known in North America as Hot Shots Golf. For an old game, this was a lot of fun to play.
This game holds up pretty well on PlayStation 5, with a wide variety of characters and courses you can play and beat. The controls are pretty solid and the rewind feature from the emulator is your best friend here due to the challenge and RNG the game throws in your face.
Speaking of RNG, this is the game’s biggest problem because its so random that it makes the idea of reaching a hole in one or an Albatross extremely low in chance because of the positioning of your ball but also the wind direction which changes for each time you enter the course. Despite that though, the courses themselves I appreciated its design and the AI you go up against is pretty decent as it’s not annoying but not dumb either, though some do end up hitting their ball into the water from time to time.
I was able to unlock all of the characters at a steady pace and unlock the later courses via the tournament without too much grinding required. I will admit that I did use practice mode to get the Albatross and Hole in One trophies. I did try to get them both on the regular courses but the RNG made it near impossible in a lot of my shots (they were very close but wasn’t doable). I managed to get the Platinum trophy after roughly 11 hours.
Much like Twisted Metal, I have heard the next Everybody’s Golf game is much better on the performance so I look forward to it.
Syphon Filter, Syphon Filter 2 & Syphon Filter 3
At this point I caught a bad cold which was absolutely frustrating because I had finally taken the time off work that I needed. Miraculously I was just well enough to play some more classic PlayStation games and to wrap up the year I decided to play all three games in the Syphon Filter Trilogy released in 1999, 2000 & 2001 by Bend Studio (Bubsy 3D). All three games I bought on the PlayStation 3 store to get them for cheaper as they will provide the PlayStation 5 version for free.
Again like the others in this backlog, I’ve been fully aware of the Syphon Filter franchise but I never understood why it was popular. After playing these games I can definitely see the appeal that it brings because it’s a great addition to the PlayStation backlog even with its unique control scheme.
Syphon Filter is an action stealth third person shooter game where you control a few characters, mainly our main lead Logan, as he kills enemies, completes objectives and makes sure the job is done in his spy adventure. The first game came out after Metal Gear Solid and before more 007 games were being released so it was left under the radar by a lot of people but did well enough to keep the franchise going.
The controls is interesting because it is unusual. You have the D-Pad/Left Analog stick to move your character forward, backwards and sideways. Then you have L2 & R2 to strife side-ways as you shoot against other enemies. Then there’s L1 for a first-person view to get a better accurate shot, while R1 is a lock-on which is fine but a lot of enemies tend to have armour which makes this idea rather useless. In addition to shooting, you can also perform a barrel roll and use the Select button to switch weapons. In the first game I struggled on the first mission because there’s a flashlight that you needed to use which can only be accessed in the menu and not in the select section which was rather annoying. I have noticed that the lock-on is rather delayed for shooting so it does make some moments frustrating.
I do think the first mission does setup the controls and concept of the Syphon Filter games very well, and in general I had a great time with each one. Each game does have their ups and downs interestingly. I found the stealth to be decent but in a lot of cases it can be a pain in the neck. The weapon variety is really cool and I love how the weapons and armour stay on the ground on the level so you can backtrack and pick them up without having to worry about them disappearing. The enemies do respawn when backtracking which is annoying and you can easily force yourself to backtrack because you didn’t fulfil an objective.
Each game has some really well done level designs. In Syphon Filter, I found the ending missions to be very reactive (i.e you need to be quick) because you can easily get killed if you aren’t careful. Syphon Filter 2 improves on its storytelling narrative though it does fall flat in its final few missions, but I found the constant use of having to perform headshots on enemies rather annoying. Syphon Filter 3 tries to provide a balance but there were some missions that really frustrated me especially the one in the desert where you are defending a vehicle and enemies randomly appear to which if you aren’t fast enough you can get a game over immediately. The Rewind feature is your saving grace for these games due to how some of the ‘mission failed/parameter failed’ notices you get throughout.
The graphics in all three games of Syphon Filter hold up pretty well and I thought it was interesting how the first game had some mouth movement, the second game didn’t and then the third game went for CG cutscenes. That said, the UI and everything else wasn’t updated so it does feel like you’re playing the same game at times.
The story was intriguing. The first Syphon Filter felt too fast paced so it was easy to get lost, Syphon Filter 2 improved on the pacing but it falters in its last few chapters, and Syphon Filter 3 felt like an oddity from the others due to the direction they went with its storytelling. Despite the story, I did like Logan and Lian as characters that you follow throughout. Somewhat reminds me of Mission: Impossible at times. The voice acting has aged but at least they tried.
That said, despite my issues I am still very much interested in what else the Syphon Filter franchise has to offer and I got the Platinum trophy for each game in the series. The first game took me 7 hours to finish the story, the second game was much longer at 8 hours, while the third game is shorter at about 6 hours. The trophies are mostly just finishing the story which is fine by me.
And that concludes my list of video games I played throughout the year of 2023. The backlog has grown even more, with 184 PlayStation games (increased from 139 in the 2022 post) which consists of 19 PlayStation 3, 112 PlayStation 4, 41 PlayStation 5, 3 PlayStation Vita and 9 PlayStation Classics, and 56 Nintendo Switch games (increased from 11) currently which is even larger than before! Though to be fair a lot of these now contain much shorter games so you could argue I’ll get through a lot of them in a day or two.
Again I still stand by my stance that owning the game physically (or digitally if its digital only) is better than losing access to it. Some of the games on that backlog are digital only games but I don’t prioritise them as much as physical.
For honourable mentions I wanted to highlight two demos that I played in 2023 which will be played properly in the future!
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line Demo
Back in February 2023 we saw the release of Square Enix’s latest music rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Bar Line for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. I wasn’t too sure on what format was best suited for the game because the series started off on the Nintendo 3DS devices, so I played the free demo that was available on PlayStation 4.
Square Enix are great when it comes to demos, because the progress you have done will carry over into the full game which saves you time. My first experience with this series was a Nintendo 3DS demo for the original and I had always been interested in checking out this franchise properly but never had the chance. So finding out that it’s coming to consoles was a nice surprise, especially with the ton of songs that came included.
So the gameplay plays similarly to Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory where any button will count as a hit on the icon that pops up, and alongside that you will also need to use the thumb sticks to go with the correct arrow position that’s presented on the screen or to move the icon up or down if the path goes into a zig-zag type of rhythm beat which is pretty cool and easier than it looks. The game also uses an RPG setup so you can pick your characters, level them up, add abilities and items and fight enemies and bosses when you play through each song.
The demo provided content from Final Fantasy II, V, VII, XIII, XIV & XV and I liked what was shown so far. I did think about getting this on the Nintendo Switch but the demo convinced me that it does work really well on PlayStation 4 and so I eventually bought a physical copy for that version.
HUMANITY
Re-announced at a PlayStation State of Play direct, HUMANITY is a puzzle game published by the folks who released Rez Infinite, Lumines Remastered and Tetris Effect. The demo is only available for a limited time and I wanted to check it out because it gave me a classic PlayStation 1 vibe with its direction and the trailer also reminded me of The End of Evangelion.
HUMANITY is about you controlling a dog that guides humans to the end goal, and along the way you can collect tall gold people who will also walk alongside humans to the end if you make sure they don’t fall off the edge. You guide humanity with actions like telling them to go to a specific direction, jump high, or allow them to glide after jumping to reach far distances.
Humans will go straight regardless so you will end up with them essentially going off the cliff but there’s no need to worry about any anxiety about that because you are not supposed to protect them since them falling off the edge is going to happen anyway and you don’t get a game over if that happens! Along the way you also have rival humans who want to get your tall gold person which in some stages is needed to finish the level, while others has a specific rule where you need to map out your directions before you can start the level which is pretty cool.
Overall I really liked what HUMANITY provided and to see it’s like a mix between The Last Guy with its crowd-leading mechanic, I.Q.: Intelligent Qube for its block design and perhaps Pikmin too. The game also supports custom maps and will have support for both PlayStation VR and VR2 for those interested in that. It was made available on PlayStation Plus which is how I’ll play it at a later point (and if it leaves the service I’ll buy it).
That’s all for this post. If you haven’t seen Part 1, you can view those games here!
The Normanic Vault 
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