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Super Metroid - Racclog #6

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“…Really? Super Metroid??” I hear you ask. “Of all the games you could be playing and reviewing in 2025?” Ah, but you forget, dear reader. This is my blog and I do what I want. This is also a blog about reviewing games as I pluck them from my ever-expanding and impossible-to-clear backlog; it doesn’t matter whether the games are from 2024 or 1994. Also, a friend really wanted me to play it, and RetroAchievements is pretty bangin’. Super Metroid Year: 1994 Genre: Metroidvania Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Played on: SNES (emulated) Also on: Wii, Wii U, 3DS, Switch My playtime: 6 hours (not including reloading saves) But look, man, the real reason is that I oughta play some more older games every now and then. For shits and giggles I started putting a top 100 favourite games list on Topster recently and the only game to make it on the list from pre-2000 was Spyro the Dragon. Absolutely not good enough. I’ve been on this planet for nearly 32 years, I call myself a game critic, a...
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Journey to the Savage Planet - Racclog #5

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There’s nothing wrong with pinching a bit of DNA from the greats. Not only is the idea of every game being an evolution rather than an iteration kind of exhausting for devs and players alike, but iteration is how we’ve gotten some of the best games of our time. Forza is basically Xbox’s Gran Turismo but with a vinyl editor, Sleeping Dogs and Saints Row have Grand Theft Auto beat in many areas, and - relevant to the game at hand - Metroid and Castlevania were the games that launched a thousand, erm, Metroidvanias. But you gotta add your own flair. You gotta do something with it. I have no idea what Journey to the Savage Planet really does. Journey to the Savage Planet Year: 2020 Genre: FPS, Metroidvania Developer: Typhoon Studios Publisher: 505 Games Played on: PC Also on: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, (Employee of the Month edition on PS5, Series X|S and Stadia (lol)) My Playtime: 7 hours Right from the offset, Journey to the Savage Planet tries to carve a standout identity for itself, albeit...
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Loddlenaut - Racclog #4

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Gaming is hard work. No, really! Most of the time I’m playing games on my PC at my desk, the very same spot I find myself when writing scripts, editing videos, working on Clone Hero charts and so on. Sometimes, playing games at my desk is a tall order, depending on what kind of game it is - sure, I’m usually happy to sit down and spend an hour or two playing a big chunky story-rich game or whatever racing game is filling the void between other games and tasks, but sometimes firing up a game can feel like a chore, let alone a smaller indie title that I might only want to play in 20-30 minute bursts. That’s why I’ve been so excited to finally have a Steam Deck of my own. Playing games at my desk feels like work sometimes, but firing up my Deck and flopping down on my bed or curling up into a pasty white ball on the couch for short periods of time sounds not only unfathomably comfy and cozy, but a sure-fire way to finally chip away at my backlog, knocking out games that I probably wouldn’...
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World Rally Championship - Racclog #3

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I am one of maybe two people who has purchased old WRC games in current year. Why? Because rally games are fun! Even the crummiest ones usually have some kind of saving grace, like an interesting vehicle lineup or variety in its locales. It’s also kinda refreshing to play racing games with licensed vehicles that don’t rely on the same collection of real world circuits over and over again - I may dissociate from video games altogether if I have to race Brands Hatch or Laguna Seca too many more times. Since, per the most recent Steam Summer Sale, I now own around half of the currently available FIA-licensed WRC games from WRC 4 to 8, I thought I’d check out where the series began by giving the original World Rally Championship on PS2 a whirl, only to find that the series has been passed around between developers a lot. The WRC games I just bought on Steam are developed either by Milestone or Kylotonn, while the first five entries on PS2 - which are part of the same series except not real...
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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Racclog #2

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My time with the Like a Dragon series (previously known in the west as Yakuza) has been complicated. The tale of the Tojo Clan’s prolific, legendary fourth chairman Kazuma Kiryu has been wholly engrossing, enough to be pulling me through a series of games that I love and loathe equally, my current feelings for it at any given time decided by a coin flip. I like the gameplay well enough at best, but at its worst I wish Eternal Hot Pillow upon the developers for such things as endlessly blocking enemies, numerous awful final bosses, and whatever the hell Majima Everywhere was. “This series just isn’t for me,” I tell myself, moments before famous pacifist Kazuma Kiryu whips out a rocket launcher and blows a helicopter out of the sky on his 143rd trip up the Millennium Tower, and suddenly I’m in love again. (Well, at least, unless it’s Yakuza 6. A bunch of grown men sitting in a circle discussing a woman’s pregnancy and-slash-or abortion with said woman in a coma let alone not being presen...
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BAJA: Edge of Control HD - Racclog #1

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I remember a time when racing games were everywhere.  Franchises like Gran Turismo and Need for Speed were household names, while every developer and their dog was throwing their hat into the ring. The 2000's were a time where series like Project Gotham Racing could get four entries across five years, Need for Speed could be experimental, and simcades you've likely never heard of released to tiny fanfare, like Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli and Superstars V8 Racing. Nowadays you have a few flagship series like Gran Turismo, Forza and The Crew, a small number of devs trying to keep the sim racing genre alive with games like Assetto Corsa (rest in peace, Project CARS) and the odd indie title attempting to stir up fond memories of old arcade racers. Racing games are all but absent in the AA and AAA scene - you simply wouldn't get games like Pure or Split/Second anymore. Weirder still, I think, would be a remaster of a late-2000's racing game. Sure, EA occasionally oblig...
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