This year I beat 50 games, which I feel pretty good about. It's a decent chunk less than I normally manage, but this was also my first full year as a dad, it was a super busy year at work and I also moved house in the middle of the year. All weight together I think I managed to play quite a bit considering all of the other responsibilities I was juggling! I managed to play quite a lot of decent stuff too, so as per usual it's time for my top 10!
Alienjesus's Top 10 games beaten in 2024
Honourable mentions:
- Adventure Island part 2 (NES) - this was just a fun time, much fairer and more fun than the original
- Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS) - A classic RPG with fantastic presentation
- Gravity Rush 2 (PS4) - A flawed but charming open world sequel to a Vita classic
- Streets of Rage (Master System) - Surprisingly excellent port of a classic game to weaker hardware. Best 8 bit beat 'em up I've played.
- World of Goo 2 (Switch) - Fun followup to a classic Wiiware title.
10. Spyro the Dragon (PS1)
Generally I'm a bigger fan of 3D platformers on the N64 than the Playstation, but Spyro the Dragon manages to be at least worth comparing to the best of the generation, and I found it compelling enough to 100% it. It's not perfect - a few challenges are frustrating and the controls are a little over sensitive, but it's breezy and fun and worth playing.
9. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (PS4)
I don't think Guardian's of the Galaxy does anything super special on it's own, but it manages to be a fun story with interesting characters that is compelling enough to keep you barrelling through the 20 hour long adventure. The combat is basic but fun enough, but the story elements are what really stand out the most here. It's not reinventing the wheel, but it's a fun narrative well told and I had a great time playing through it.
8. Zero Time Dilemma (Vita)
Probably the weakest of the three Zero Escape games, but considering the quality of Nine Persons, Nine Hours, Nine Doors and Virtue's Last Reward that isn't necessarily a sleight. And it definitely isn't as whilst this game can be a bit confusing to piece together, and quite slow paced, the narrative manages to become super compelling and full of surprising turns, and the escape room style puzzles are engaging enough to make for an exciting adventure game. It's not a looker with it's new 3D models compared to the previously games 2D artwork, but once the story get's it's hooks in you won't notice.
7. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Switch)
Probably the most forgotten of the portable metroidvania Castlevania games, but Harmony of Dissonance is still a great time to play through. It feels much more fluid to control and much better balanced difficulty-wise comapared to it's predecessor Circle of the Moon, and whilst the story is nothing special the gameplay and exploration is compelling enough to make it hard to put down.
6. Ys Origin (Vita)
The classic Ys formula remains fun and pretty unique - nothing quite compares to it's very fast paced and action packed take on action RPG gameplay. Ys Origin feels like a refinement of a specific era of Ys games and it holds up well all these years later. With some fun and challenging bosses, just enough story interest to not lose you half way and an gameplay that lends itself to quick pick up and play sessions, it's an easy one to work through.
5. Gley Lancer (Mega Drive)
Whilst numbers 10-6 on my list were great games, if you ask me on a different day my order might be different - I played a lot of good games this year but only a few really amazing ones. Positions 5 through 1 though were the standout games this year. Starting at 5 we have Gley Lancer, a previously Japan-only Mega Drive game that got a recent modern rerelease, which is how I played it. The presentation of the game is stunning, with an excellent animated intro that really stands out for the system and feels like something you'd normally see on a CD release from the era, and some excellent graphical effects in gameplay too. The music is also excellent, with some of the best Mega Drive tracks out there - take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWSYuBY ... ilentimage. Luckily, the gameplay manages to live up to the presentation - it doesn't do a lot that's new for the genre in the 16 bit era, but it does it well, with well designed levels that are surprisingly fair for new players, and don't punish the player by making the game unwinnable as soon as they die a single time like many games of the era did. One of my favourite old-school shmups.
4. Pokémon Card GB2: Great Rocket-Dan Sanjō! (GBC)
I've always been a big fan of Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color, and I had a fantastic time playing through the Japan-only sequel this year with the recently released translation patch. With a ton more cards to find, many from Japan-exclusive sets that feel new and exciting to use, and a ton more opponents to face with better AI and more interesting decks, this is a fun one to play through. The collecting and deck building is as fun as ever, and like the first game the music is awesome too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hiMT85 ... stersMusic. The translation patch feels really faithful and authentic to how both the original game and the original cards were localised too. Everyone lately seems to be into the recent Pokemon TCG mobile app, but I'd encourage people to give the old-school games a try, as they still hold up as a fun experience today.
3. Yakuza 4 Remastered (PS4)
This year I played through all of the Yakuza Remastered collection for PS4, which includes remasters of Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5. Honestly, 3 and 5 could have easily had places on this list, or at least in the honourable mentions, but for variety I've opted to stick to my favourite of the three titles - Yakuza 4. This one really feels like where Yakuza started to refine it's style of open world gameplay, and despite introducing 4 playable characters, all of them play well and feel much more polished than just Kiryu alone did in 3. The story is completely barmy, as per usual for the Yakuza franchise, but it's played so straight that I still found it super engaging even when it pulls out some of the stupidest deus ex machina imaginable. New characters Saejima, Tanimura and Akiyama are likeable but distinct from Kiryu, and having access to them allows Kiryu to come back in towards the end still powered up and feeling like a man worthy of the achievements of the first 3 games, rather than powering down to almost nothing again. Zero is still the best game I've played so far, but this might be a contender for my second place. Hopefully next year I can finish the Kiryu saga with Yakuza 6.
2. Psychonauts 2 (PS4)
I really enjoyed playing through Psychonauts last year for the first time, with it's unique style and premise, and fun platforming gameplay, but it had it's flaws. Psychonauts 2 takes everything that made the first game fun, dials it to 11 and smooths over all the rough areas to an impressive degree, making for a game which feels refined, interesting and fun, and still manages to stand out from a lot of it's contemporaries - especially as a relatively rare 3D platformer for modern systems. Although I think some of the first games setpieces are more memorable than the new game (particularly the milkman conspiracy), the quality and design of almost every world in the new game is fantastic, and it has some truly memorable moments of it's own, the highlight being the amazing Sensorium level where you explore a psychadelic dreamscape right out of the 60s whilst exploring the mind of a brain in a jar. The worst thing about finishing Psychonauts 2 is knowing that it's probably going to be another 20 years until we get Psychonauts 3, in the unlikely scenario that we get it at all.
1. Astro Bot (PS5)
It's pretty rare that a game that actually released this year makes my top 10 at all these days, never mind takes the top spot, but Astro Bot ... it's just really good, isnt it? I've seen it called Sony's take on Super Mario and that's a mark of it's quality - the game is inventive, fun and entertaining throughout, and super polished from start to finish. The character of Astro Bot is charming and fun to control, and whilst I think the Playstation pandering is unnecessary considering the quality of the gameplay, I can't deny I had a smile on my face as I discovered obscure Playstation character references and explored the unique Playstation themed worlds at the end of each level. The free content offered since launch has been worth reopening the game for too. My only complaint is that the game is too easy for a platforming veteran like me - even the final super challenge level was pretty tame, but I had fun throughout, the game was just about the right length (although I wouldn't object to more of it!) and I had a smile on my face the whole time I played it. More like this please Sony!
