The Grumpy Old Gamers

5.  Pokemon Legends: Arceus

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It surprised me when I looked back at my most played games of 2022 on the Switch, and Game Freak’s “Pokemon Legends: Arceus” was way up near the top of the list.  I picked this up at the beginning of 2022, and for 40+ hours, it was essentially all I played.  

This game is on to something. 

 I haven’t really played a pokemon game since the DS days, but this just felt great to play, and I’m all for if this is a new direction for the series. In a shift from the classic Pokemon formulas, Arceus featured more open zones and Pokemon just kinda wandering around, available to possibly be captured without even battling (sometimes).  It’s like a Pokemon stealth game at times; hiding in tall grass, waiting for your target to turn it’s back so you can manually aim your throw. Followed by the (always satisfying) THWACK of a hit with the Pokeball.  It was always fun, and always addictive.

This game is on to something – but it needed more time, and more budget.

While surprisingly fun, this game was a collection of great ideas, but ideas that were not explored in their entirety.  Sparse open zones, basic textures, and laughable technical issues are a few of the obvious surface level issues – tied together with a rather weak story.

Dear Nintendo: Please give Game Freak a giant bag of money and a little more time to make a Pokemon game. I promise it will make you EVEN MORE MONEY in return, and be a contender for Game of the Year.   Or just keep cranking them out every 12 months and people will buy them anyways, your call.

 4. Sonic Frontiers 

This game shares a lot of common ground with my #5 pick, Pokemon Legends: Arceus.  Both classic franchises reworked into a modern 3D open zone world (with heavy influences from a certain other Nintendo open world game).  And both were amazingly fun, despite a great deal of technical issues. 
SONIC FRONTIERS IS A FUN GAME.
Pure and simple. 
Is it a technical achievement, no, but it doesn’t matter because every other minute when you play this game you say “Oh hey, that was cool!”.  This is solid proof that new 3D Sonic games can be relevant, with potential to be very excellent (and fun: at any rate).  What is here is great.  The story, the music, the feeling of being an ultrafast blue hedgehog; it’s all here!   

Unless…
You are among the gamers that can be triggered with pop-in issues: You’re best off to wait for a sale, or a patch, or both; this game could annoy you. There are a lot of settings that may help (turning motion blur off could help, also swapping to the performance mode if you are able is a must in my opinion)
Sonic fans, proceed, you’ll have fun I promise.

3. Splatoon 3

This might sound a bit odd, but I considered copying my Splatoon 2 game of the year write up from year’s past, and sneakily inserting it here; striking out the 2 for a 3 throughout.  It would work for the most part, as Splatoon 3 is essentially a fresh coat of paint over Splatoon 2.  What that leaves us with, is ultimately more of a good thing.  Which is both it’s greatest strength and it’s greatest weakness.

It Feels Weird to Complain About More of a Good Thing

It was a bit unusual to see Nintendo make a sequel that feels so iterative, as they are typically a company that will push innovation as a default.  It’s been 5 years since the previous release, which is a long time for a game that is this similar.  We get a new single player campaign that is definitely worth a look, we get MUCH needed changes to multiplayer lobbies, and of course we get a solid new batch of weapons, abilities, maps, etc.  If this is your first entry to the Splatoon series, you’ll likely be extremely happy, and feel that wild sugar-like high this series offers.

The frantic 4v4 multiplayer action won Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards for a reason. It’s awesome and only getting better with each passing game “season”.  It’s some of the most elating (when winning) and frustrating (when losing) shooter action that can be had on any platform.  

There is a bit of dodgy netcode at times, and some disconnect issues (that have improved) that still persist.  I’m attributing this to the fact this game sold like hotcakes (it is Nintendo’s best selling game of 2022 in Japan) – these kinks will be ironed out, and there is a lot of fun to be had here for years to come.

You’re safe to spend the cash on this one.  

Oh! Splatfest this weekend, who’s in?!

2.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge 

I was born in 1980 (just old enough to be Grumpy).  And as a child of the 80’s, I was squarely in the demographic for Turtlemania.  And boy did I ever get swept up in the hype.  The toys, the merch, the cartoons, the movies, the games – all of it.   This was my jam.  Playing 4 player TMNT: The Arcade Game or TMNT: Turtles In Time was some of the best fun that could be had as a kid, and also the most decimating to a young person’s piggy bank.

TMNT Shredder’s Revenge was the most fun I’ve had playing a beat-em’-up in years, and equals the enjoyment I had as a kid playing those arcade games.  This is THE revival of those classic games with just enough modernization sprinkled throughout. Tribute Games should be proud of this accomplishment, and I hope they made a Turtle Blimp full of cash, so they can make more of these.

Cowabunga dudes!

1.  Disco Elysium: Final Cut  

I know this game did not release in 2022.  But it was my most played game on Steam in 2022 by a long shot.  This is another game that landed on my “Games So Nice I Bought Them Thrice” list; having picked it up on Steam, Xbox Series, and finally Nintendo Switch when the physical release dropped this year.  And I played it on all 3 platforms.  I couldn’t resist doing this as soon as I noticed how divergent each of these 3 playthroughs are.  This game picks up the torch that was and carried for decades by developers like Sierra, and LucasArts; and turns it into a bonfire, crafting a game that is hypnotic, and truly unique. This is a game that will be emulated and iterated on for years to come.

So what the hell is it?  Disco Elysium lands somewhere between ‘point and click adventure’ and ‘tabletop RPG’, and if you’re a fan of either, this game needs to be experienced.  On the surface level, you play as an amnesiatic detective (with the world’s most brutal hangover), who must solve the mystery of a murder that happened behind the hostel you woke up in; while struggling to piece together your own identity.  Every aspect of this game is a subversion from how a story or game like this would normally play out, and absolute masterpiece in every aspect of the game itself:  character creation, narrative, art style, character development, game mechanics.. everything.

Within moments of starting the game, the character creation screen let me know I was about to experience something wholly unique. And much like the game itself, is brilliant and bizarre:

Where things get deeper, is that each of these 24 skills, is a seperate voice, no…  CHARACTER (which are fully voiced in the Final Cut edition) in your detective’s head. Depending on your skill allocation, they have different opinions on any and all scenarios: whether it be trying to hone in on murder clues, or something as silly as attempting to skip out on your hotel bill.  Sometimes they can be at odds with you, or each other.

This unique character build mechanic is further extrapolated with a completely brilliant new mechanic that will be copied in games for years to come: The Thought Cabinet.  All RPGs have the ability to equip armour, or weapons, skills, etc.  But Disco Elysium has the ability to equip *thoughts*.  Furthermore, these thoughts are only encountered/conceptualized through very specific situations during your playthrough, and change the game in very unique ways: some positive, some negative.  In my (various states of) 3 playthroughs, I have encountered less than half of these thoughts.

This is a brilliant game. The best writing, and voice acting I’ve seen/heard in many years. It’s beautiful to look at and completely weird in its presentation and game mechanics.  It’s something I was not expecting, and something that I am still playing to this day.  There might be those that bounce off this title completely: it is word heavy, and it does require long dialogue trees.  I found the writing and characters to be so interesting and hilarious that I couldn’t wait to push forward, though some may find this is just not for them.

If it is for you, you may have found the best point and click adventure you have ever played.