João Marques | Abxy

Played this months – March to August 2025

2025-09-25T00:00:00+01:00

Hi there, it’s been a while since anything happened around here. Did you missed me? Probably not, but here I am anyway! Some big changes in my personal life put my focus away from this writing hobby during this last few months. However, my other hobby, you know, actually playing videogames, was, as always, a constant. Therfore, there’s a lot to catch up to.

Fun fact: When I started writing this post, I noticed I had a version of it about only the months of March and April (as it was originally intened) almost ready, with a nice intro about how I restored a GameBoy Pocket and that’s why you’ll see a lot of games of that system listed here, but I had to scrap it out, as it didn’t made any sense to release it at this moment.

Anyway, here’s everything I’ve been playing since March:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

RPG / Xbox Series X

I took a long, long time to finish Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Not that it was a bad game, quite the contrary, but it had so many good distractions that it was hard to focus only on the main story. Honorable mentions goes to Dragon Kart, which was essentially Mario Kart in the streets of Japan, and the business management minigame that felt like an entire game on itself. I decided that enough was enough when I unlocked the trophy for playing fifteen minigames! Time well spent.

Super Mario Land

Platformer / Game Boy

This was the first game I played in my “brand-new” Game Boy. It was quite fitting, considering it was one of the launch games of the system back in 1989, and it shows. Super Mario Land isn’t a bad game by any means, but it was largely outclassed by its successor in every aspect.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

Platformer / Game Boy

It’s difficult to think of any other sequel that improved so much within the same technical constrains as its predecessor. Super Mario Land 2 looks and plays like a game from an entirely different system. The sheer variety of locations to explore is impressive. From a garden, an ocean, a gigantic mecha-Mario, even the moon, there is a lot to choose from! As if it wasn’t enough, this game had the honor of introducing Wario, as the main villain.

Earthbound

RPG / SNES

EarthBound, also known as Mother 2 in Japan, is the game that preceded Mother 3 (shocking, right?), my favourite game from all the ones I played last year. It was no surprise that I really wanted to play this game as well, specially because many fans consider it the best of the series. After playing and finishing it, I don’t think it’s superior to Mother 3, but it’s quite special nonetheless. There isn’t really anything like Shigesato Itoi’s games. It’s a damned shame he only made three.

Kirby's Dream Land

Action-adventure / Game Boy

Did you know Masahiro Sakurai was only 22 years old when Kirby’s Dream Land was released? Me neither, until I searched for it. Let me say that his debut as game designer and director was far from a slouch! This first Kirby game is a technical showcase for what Game Boy was able to do in terms of graphics and sound. Its gameplay is also very fluid, defining right from the beggining the core aspects of what a game of everyone’s favourite pink blub could be.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Action-adventure / Wii

I was eager to complete the Metroid Prime trilogy before the impending release of the long awaited fourth title. Not that it was urgent, since I’m still waiting for the game release, as everyone else. But let’s focus on Prime 3, a game that it has, for better and for worse, a lot of that charming Wii DNA. The pointer controls for shooting and camera control are in fact game changing, but there are also a lot of silly and unnecessary motion controls to, for example, turn levers or click on dashboard buttons. The game itself it’s fine, it’s easier and more linear than its predecessor, and its narative gives some closure to the Phazon and Dark Samus story archs. Curious to see where Nintendo and Retro Studios take it from here.

Donkey Kong ('94)

Puzzle-platformer / Game Boy

Another GameBoy game, I told you there would be a lot of them here. This Donkey Kong starts as the classic arcade one, but after a couple of levels, it makes a bait-and-switch, transforming into an almost entirely different game. From that point onwards, each level is treated sort of as a short self-contained puzzle. A perfect approach for a portable game if you ask me.

Ridge Racer V

Racing / PS2

There was another gaming system beside the GameBoy that made its entry into my personal collection during this last months - the almighty Playstation 2. Despite its enormous library, in terms of quality and mostly quantity, I decided to appropriatedly pick one of its launch titles to play - Ridge Racer V. The fifth main entry in this now forgoten racing series was a deliberate scale down comparing with the expansive (and borderline perfect) Ridge Racer Type 4, featuring only a couple of circuits in a single city, a smaller variety of cars and a more basic career mode. However, there was something that kept me playing it regardless of this shortcomings: the gameplay. More than any other in the series, RRV has a somewhat steep learing curve, but once you get the gist of it, it’s one of the finest driving experiences in a videogame. The feeling of speed and agression (also reflected in its soundtrack) combined with a state of absolute control is unmatched. It’s a shame that this game was completely overshadowed by a endless catalogue of quality racing titles that graced the PS2.

Metroid: Zero Mission

Action-adventure / Game Boy Advance

Continuing on Metroid, I decided to go the series origins, but not quite. Metroid: Zero Mission is a remake of the original Metroid from 1986 with improved graphics, controls and even an entire new section after the original ending. It’s a short game, but a really slick one. I couldn’t reccommend more if you like metroidvanias.

Burnout 3 Takedown

Racing / PS2

Other game that was an immediate buy when I got my PS2 was Burnout 3 Takedown. This title is in my (and many others) opinion the pinnacle of this long forgotten franchise, and with reason. Almost everything here is perfect - the 60fps visuals, the brutal sense of speed, the tight and responsive driving, the unapologetically early 2000’s soundtrack, and who could forget the takedown mechanic, that transforms every road into a battlefield!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Action-adventure / Nintendo 3DS

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds was my companion game during a trip to Madeira island. Not that this game as anything to do with the island itself, probably Link’s Awakening would be a better fit, but all this just to say that it’s a game perfectly made for a portable system like 3DS. It’s easy to pick up and play, it doesn’t drag itself too much in its history, and it’s quite non-linear, so you can go wherever you want as long as you have the necessary tools. In hindsight, it’s clear thar Nintendo tested a lot of ideas here for the then upcoming Breath of the Wild, but of course, in a much smaller scale.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Action-adventure / PS3

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is essentially a 2 hour prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Why was this released as a separate game? I have no idea, but it was a really great vertical slice nontheless. In Ground Zeroes we play as Snake (obviously), who has to rescue two characters from Peace Walker, from a military base. The base is entirely explorable from end to end, so we can approach it entirely as we want. The introduction of open world mechanics was a huge step forward for the Metal Gear series. Unfortunately, as we know today, the series didn’t go too far after it.

RoboCop: Rogue City

First-person shooter / Xbox Series X

It’s funny how I, in my thirty years of existence, never had see a RoboCop movie until recently. After I saw the first one, I went to play RoboCop: Rogue City. A first-person shooter where we play as the titular humanoid, and sure it feels like it. While he moves like a tank, as he should, he’s absurdely powerful, to a point it’s ridiculous as it’s fun. Overall it’s a faithful adaptation of the source material.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Action-adventure / Game Boy Advance

I’ve played another handheld Zelda game in this last months. However, there’s more to this The Minish Cap, personally speaking. It was the first one in the series I ever played, as a kid. I never got to finish it though, until now. It was a weird feeling, this one of getting to know properly a game I thought I knew so well for all this years. One thing that didn’t changed was my appreciation for its visuals and music. It have a fantastic pixel art and one of my favourite songs in the entire series.

Fire Emblem Engage

Tactical RPG / Nintendo Switch

I got Fire Emblem Engage as the birthday gift from me to myself. As someone who adored its predecessor, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I went with my expectations maybe a bit too high for Engage. The battles are fine, probably better than Three Houses, the problem is everything else. The graphics aren’t amazing, the art style it’s a bit too over the top, in lack of a better way to describe it, and the narative it’s incredibly basic and childish. I’ll keep playing it for the battles alone, otherwise I would have given up already.

Wipeout Pure

Racing / PSP

Another travel companion game, this time for Côte D’Azur, with my PSP. Wipeout Pure was a PSP launch game, but judging by its visuals alone you wouldn’t tell, as it’s one of the best looking games in the system. It plays great as well, it’s just a shame it has some ocasional, but very distracting, framerate drops.

Death Stranding

Action-adventure / PS4

After playing most of the Metal Gear series, I decided to skip The Phantom Pain for now, and jump right into the more recent series from Hideo Kojima. Right now, I’m not sure exactly what to say regarding Death Stranding other than it’s a Kojima game through and through. Weird, unconventional and overly ambitious. I’ll save my words for a full review, hopefully.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

RPG / Sega Saturn

In The Games Tome spin-off series Backlog Battlers, where we choose each other games to play from each own’s backlogs, I was challenged to play one of those iconic games that I wanted to play for ages, but for some reason it never happened, until now. I already finished it by this point, since it’s a relative short game (for the genere at least), but I’ll save my opinion about it for later. And believe me, I have a lot to say about this authentic gem.

Comix Zone

Beat’em up / Sega Mega Drive

Comix Zone was a game that was on my backlog for ages. A late classic from the iconic Sega Mega Drive, with amazing graphics and sound, and an incredible concept, where the whole game takes place inside a comic book being written. It’s an absurdely short and difficult game, but fortunately I was playing through emulation, so I used save states quite often. Otherwise my opinion of this game would be much more negative.

Mad Skills BMX 2

Racing / Nintendo Switch

Mad Skills BMX 2 is by no means an incredible or memorable game, but it was the first one I had opportunity to play and review for the website sidequest.pt, which has now a partnership with The Games Tome podcast, which I’m part of. You can read my opinion about this game here.

Metal Slug 3

Run and Gun / Neo Geo

I love Metal Slug. I also love Metal Slug 2. For some reason, I’ve never played any other game in the series before. Now that I’ve played Metal Slug 3, I can say I still prefer the first two by a long margin. This third title it’s not a bad game by any means, but I don’t know, it didn’t clicked with me the same way the first two did when I was younger.

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening

Action platformer / Nintendo Switch

Another game that came to me through sidequest.pt. Luckily this one is no slouch, I actually had quite a good time with it! You can read my review of it here.

And that’s all! I must admit, writing this wasn’t easy, and as more time passed, more difficult it became. That’s why this will be the last “Played this months” report. It’s just not feasible for me to keep posting this updates regularly while contributing to a podcast and another website. In case you want to keep check of what I’m playing, listen The Games Tome in YouTube, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform. For gaming news and reviews of the latest releases, check Sidequest.pt, where I have the pleasure of contributing occasionally with a few reviews of my own.

This is not the end of ABXY, just the end of the regular updates - that weren’t even regular anymore. I want to keep this space for occasional opinion pieces that don’t fit in any of my other outlets. Stay tuned. See you next time!

Metaphor: ReFantazio

2025-04-20T00:00:00+01:00

This review is part of my (very late) 2024 in Gaming retrospective, being Metaphor: ReFantazio my second favorite game of last year, losing only by a really tiny margin to Mother 3.

It’s hard to talk about Metaphor: ReFantazio without mentioning Persona and Atlus as a whole, so, let’s start right there. This game, or at least its existence, was announced in the distant year of 2016 under the name Project Re:Fantasy, alongside a new internal division at Atlus named Studio Zero with Katsura Hashino at its helm. Hashino was the director of Persona 3, 4 and 5, arguably the three most successful and beloved games ever released by the japanese company, so it was only natural for the expectations for this new title to be quite high, at least for those who were aware of it. I wasn’t one of them, I can tell you that. I wasn’t a connoisseur of this fantastic series back then. But I already was when this game was properly revealed under it’s final name in 2023. That was the moment when I caught the hype train and never left it.

From each trailer released, the opportunity to try it before release at Gamescom 2024 and then finally playing it in October of last year, as soon as it got out, my journey with this game was amazing.

A tournament for the throne

Metaphor’s narrative is quite interesting right from the beginning, as it takes no time to show us the crude reality of the Royal Kingdom of Euchronia, where all it takes place. The king was assassinated and his only descendant is severely sick, unable to take the throne. Predicting this exact outcome, the king set some “royal magic” to enforce a tournament to define his successor, where anyone can participate and popularity being the deciding factor. Quite a democratic system for a monarchy, if you ask me.

Our mission, encarnating the game’s protagonist, is to win this tournament. The reason for such mission being entrusted to us is only disclosed later in the story, but the journey is quite fascinating nonetheless. It reminded me a lot of the Triwizard tournament, from Harry Potter and the Gobblet of Fire, where we, just like Harry, play the role of the underdog that somehow keeps afloat after many dangerous tasks. It goes without saying that in this tournament we face many strong and charismatic opponents, but none of them comes close of the gravitas of Louis Guiabern – Metaphor’s main antagonist. His influence is felt through the entire game. In fact, he’s the very first character we see in the opening cutscene, killing the king during his sleep. Yup, you read it right, this is not a spoiler, its the starting point of this story.

❖ The main premise of Metaphor: ReFantazio was presented right in its first trailer.

The power of archetypes

To defeat Louis and win the tournament to the throne, we must face countless challenges, like killing monsters, doing bounty hunting or finding precious items hidden in perilous dungeons. Luckily we are not alone in this quest and in typical JRPG fashion, we gather along the way a group of misfits who share one thing in common: the power of weilding archetypes.

Archetypes, much like Personas from, you know, Persona, work as almighty creatures with magical powers that the characters can transform into during combat. Each Archetype family has its own strenght, weeknesses and perks. Unlike Personas however, Archetypes cannot be collected, being unlocked via an Archetype tree instead. Think of it as a typical RPG job system. No character is restricted to any particular Archetype, which is nice, but each one has a ridiculosuly powerful “Royal Archetype” that can only be unlocked after maxing out specific Archetype families. While not mandatory to unlock, they are extremely helpful near the end of the game, which ends up creating a paradox of choice. You can evolve any character into anything you want, but each one has a recommended path.

While Archetypes are the centrepiece of the game’s combat, they aren’t the only option. During dungeon exploration, we have two options to approach enemies — via direct combat, or entering in a classic turn-based combat. If the enemies are weak, direct combat can kill them instantly, but when dealing with stronger opponents, this option can only make a dent at best, but it allows to enter in vantage for the turn-based combat, if the enemy doesn’t counter back. This hybrid combat system is something that makes so much sense that it will be a bit harder for me going back to other games of this genre without it. In some dungeons I must admit it was the only saving grace, as many share the same design and overall structure. In my opinion, Persona 5 continues to be the best Atlus title in that regard.

❖ Metaphor is quite a spectacle for the eye (and ear). This images aren't just a compilation of its best moments, the entire game is just like this.

Medieval fantasy done right

It’s impossible to deny that medieval fantasy is a massively popular type of setting in the world of videogames, however it’s one I’m not particularly interested in, with some exceptions. If it wasn’t for everthing I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I wouldn’t probably even touch on this game, and a shame that would be, because Metaphor’s medieval setting isn’t quite the typical one. For starters, calling it “medieval” is a bit of a stretch, because it only borrows some elements of that aesthetic, with many others resembling much more the industrial revolution era. But most importantly, this fantasy world has an uncanny resemblance with our real world, with concepts such as prejudice, racism, classism or misinformation being heavily present in every corner of this vast fictional kingdom. After all, this game is just a metaphor of our own reality.

Lastly, let me just mention the incredible sound and art direction that elevates this whole experience to epic levels. The Atlus’ veterans have showed us they didn’t lost their Midas Touch.

Pros

Action and turn-based combat masterfully blend
One of the best antagonists I ever seen in a videogame
Phenomenal art direction and interface design
Absurdly great soundtrack

Cons

Some dungeons are a bit repetitive

Masterpiece✦✦✦✦✦

Metaphor: ReFantazio promised a lot and delivered in every single aspect. While somewhat derivative of Persona, it introduced its own spin to the gameplay formula. A must-play for JRPGs enthusiasts.

Played this months – January / February 2025

2025-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Hi there, long time no see! How were your first two months of 2025? Mine were absolutely chaotic for the most part, hence the long hiatus on this blog. During that time however, gaming didn’t stop. Gaming never stops. This sounded a bit cringe, because it was, but if you are here you probably already reached the conclusion that playing videogames is a bit more than just a hobby for me. It’s still fundamentally a hobby however, and it helped me get through these difficult months on a personal level.

Without further ado, here’s what I played during January and February.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Action-adventure / Nintendo Switch

This was a game that I wanted to play since it was announced, as I mentioned in the last Played This Month. By being bluntly inspired by Sega’s classic Jet Set Radio, Bomb Rush is without surprise all about rollerblades (plus bikes and skates), graffiti and style. However, I was expecting a bit more from it, I must confess. The gameplay is superb, but the story and progression are a bit confusing for the most part. The strongest aspect of Bomb Rush, in my opinion, is its soundtrack.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Action-adventure / PSP, PS3

Yes, another Metal Gear game. This time around, it’s one that sounds like a spin-off, but it isn’t! Since it was originally made for the PSP, it has a different structure from its predecessors, being divided into smaller mission chapters and with a lot (and I mean a LOT) of optional activities. The worst part of it was actually playing it on a PSP, since it desperately needed a second analog for camera control, something that the portable system doesn’t have. Luckily the PS3 version was compatible with the PSP save files, so I was able to play most of it much more comfortably on there.

New Star GP

Racing / Nintendo Switch

New Star GP is a F1 racing game with a 3D retro aesthetic, alike Virtua Racing. Gameplay wise, it’s first and foremost an arcade game, with some sprinkles of simulation, with semi-realistic physics, fuel and tire management and car development options. A great balance between both opposites, if you ask me.

Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

Racing / PSP

Keeping with the racing genre, I bring now one that has nothing of simulation, it’s all arcade, which makes sense since it’s a reinterpretation of the original Outrun. Yup, it’s literally that, but with more Ferrari models, more songs to choose on the radio, and a new mode with missions. Sadly the PSP version, which was the one I played, has some framerate drops here and there, but nothing that ruins the fun.

Mario Strikers: Battle League

Sports / Nintendo Switch

I cannot convey how much disappointed I was with Mario Strikers: Battle League when it came out and I got a chance to play it - not because of what it was, but because of what it could have been. You see, the gameplay itself is absurdly good, but the problem is that without anyone to play with, it’s a nothing burger. Luckily I had opportunity to revisit it recently with a friend, just to be reminded of how much fun Mario and company are in a football field.

Totally Reliable Delivery Service

Action-adventure / Nintendo Switch

In the same day I played Mario Strikers, I also had the opportunity to try a game that I had never heard about before. Totally Reliable Delivery Service, as the name suggests, is about delivering packages, but with the most broken controls and physics system you can imagine. If I was playing this alone, I would consider this game straight up terrible, but when played in co-op, it transforms into something hilarious.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

Action-adventure / Xbox Series X

In the beginning of the year I made a small list of games that I definitely want to play and finish this year (maybe I should do a post about it) and Mafia was one of those games. Set in a fictional city heavily based in Chicago during the 30’s, Mafia tells a classic Italian-American mobster story - while not revolutionary, it’s really well delivered, specially for fans of the genre such as me.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Action-adventure / PSP

Motivated by Mafia: Definitive Edition and my recent watching of The Sopranos, I decided to give another shot (pun not intended) to another game heavily focused in organised crime families. I played GTA Liberty City Stories halfway through a few years ago, but abandoned it after a very frustrating mission. Motivated to finish it once and for all, I transferred the save file from my PSP to an emulator on my computer so I could play it more conformably. It helped a lot, specially with the hardest missions later in the game. Sadly, it had the most anti-climatic ending of all GTA games I ever played, and I played almost all of them.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

RPG / Xbox Series X

Two weeks ago I had an injury that affected my left hand mobility, as such, I was unable to play any action heavy game, more specifically, the two I mentioned previously. I decided then to pick a turn based RPG, something that would be possible to play in my condition. Yakuza: Like a Dragon was the game I chose. I didn’t advance much in the game, as I’m still in the opening act, but I know I’m in for a good time, judging by the great reception this game had when it released.

Alentejo: Tinto's Law

Action-adventure / Game Boy

Alentejo Tinto’s Law is a Portuguese game based on the region that gives it its name, made for the Game Boy, with a physical release, in 2025! If it piqued your curiosity, check out my review for the game.

And that’s all for the first edition of the new format of Played this Months, which is now bimonthly (as if it wasn’t clear by now). This was a change made to not only relieve some of the self-inflicted pressure of getting this out every month, but also to make the content more interesting to read, as I didn’t have much to say in some of last year’s editions. See you next time!

Alentejo: Tinto’s Law

2025-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Last weekend, as part of The Games Tome, I attended a release event for a Game Boy title developed and published in Portugal. The game in question is precisely the subject of this review - Alentejo: Tinto’s Law. While the event was focused on the release of the physical version, the digital one was already available before that. Eager to know what a monochromatic 8-bit rendition of Alentejo had to offer, I bought the digital version and played it via emulation on my 3DS.

It’s all about Tinto

The setting for this game is the region of Alentejo, as if it wasn’t obvious by the title, during the 19th century. Our main character, a legendary outlaw named Gildo Mata, set foot in a small village ruled by the tyrant Baron Tinto, who has full control of all the red wine in town (as in Tinto) and according to what the locals tell us, who controls tinto, controls everything. Set to end Baron Tinto’s reign, Gildo goes on a quest with the help of some acquaintances.

Gameplay wise, the quest consists of exploring the Tinto village to find people who might help us in our goal, who then will lead us to some dungeons. The exploration part, while not very extensive, is engaging because of the dialogs full of references to Portuguese culture, even though it’s not mandatory to know them to understand the context. However, the biggest chunk of the game is spent inside the explorable dungeons. These are composed of a nice mix of combat and puzzles, much like the iconic The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, but with a six-bullet revolver in place of our hero’s sword.

Right when I was invested in the story and gameplay, I’m left with a huge cliffhanger (which I will not spoil for you) and what seems to be the ending of the game… or at least the first part of this narrative, as the ending screen promptly tells us. While I was a bit sad because I wanted more from this first game, the guarantee of a sequel left me hopeful for what’s to come for the Alentejo saga.

❖ The trailer for Alentejo: Tinto's Law, which show us the game being played on original Game Boy hardware.

Green tinted Alentejo

Being a game developed for the Game Boy, this is obviously a very simplistic game from a graphical standpoint, considering the limitations of the hardware and its monochromatic screen, but that’s part of the charm of playing a brand new game for this system in 2025. Even with those considerations in mind, I felt the pixel art was more consistent, even if not so impressive, in the indoor areas, such as the bar and the dungeons.

Regarding the sound, there’s not much to say. The lack of any kind of sound effects is a bit disappointing and it has the inadvertent consequence of making the background music sound more repetitive than it should.

In conclusion, Alentejo has a fairly competent, but not flawless, presentation.

Pros

Full of funny references to Portuguese culture
Challenging but fair combat
Nicely designed dungeons

Cons

It’s a very short experience overall
A few sound effects would be welcomed

Good✦✦✦✧✧

Alentejo: Tinto’s Law is a promising introduction to a brand new saga. While the seeds for a great game are here, its short length keeps it away from reaching that status. Either way, at least for the low price of the digital version, it’s definitely a worthwhile experience.

My 2024 in gaming

2025-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

Just when you thought that the window for yearly retrospectives was over, here comes another one. Outrageous, right? Wrong! This is the right time for retrospectives. December deserves to be treated as an equal, did you hear Spotify? Probably not. Anyway, moving forward. In 2024 I finished a total of 20 games. That’s 7 more than last year! I’m not sure how I did it to be honest, but being able to squeeze many gameplay hours during the travels I did this year was a big help, justified by majority of games played in portable systems - if we count Nintendo Switch as one. Looking back at all I played, my year was heavily defined by two major trends:

More Atlus RPGs: The two lengthiest games I played (Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio) were precisely from this Japanese company specialized in developing the most engaging and aesthetically pleasing role-playing games ever seen. I’ll probably reduce the dose in 2025, as I don’t want to get tired of their formula. At the same time, I’m still missing the two volumes of Persona 2 to complete the series, excluding spin-offs. Let’s see how it goes.
My awakening to the genius of Hideo Kojima: After finishing four Metal Gear Solid games, I’m completely converted to Kojima’s cult. His way of storytelling is quite unique and bizarre, in the best way possible. Not only that, but his games are also defined by an uncanny attention to detail in every aspect. He is a true Auteur in the world of videogames.

Unlike last year’s retrospective, when this blog was still in its first month, there will be a lot of games mentioned here that I already reviewed. For those, I will leave the links for the respective reviews. For the others, I’ll give my overall impressions. Here’s what I’ve played in 2024, ordered by finishing date:

January 7th

Final Fantasy VII Remake

RPG / PS4 / 39 hours

When I checked my Playstation Wrap-up I was reminded that this was the very first game that I played during this year, and what a way to start it! FF7 Remake is a remarkable reimagining of the opening act of the original game, set in Midgar, with fantastic graphics and soundtrack. The gameplay is very action oriented, although it still preserves some of the quirks of the old turn based system. While interesting, I felt it was also a bit convoluted. Other aspect that I didn’t enjoy was the ending of the game, as its narrative completely derailed into something beyond my comprehension. Probably that wasn’t the case for those who played the original game in its entirety, something that I didn’t.

Great ✦✦✦✦✧

January 30th

Pikmin 4

Real-time strategy / Nintendo Switch / 33 hours

Masterpiece ✦✦✦✦✦ - Read the review here

February 11th

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Hack-and-slash / Nintendo Switch / 11 hours

Good ✦✦✦✧✧ - Read the review here

March 1st

Metal Gear Solid

Action-adventure / PS1 / 13 hours

My journey through Hideo Kojima’s work started here. MGS wasn’t the first game in the franchise, but it was the one who elevated it to a cult status, being the entry point for many people as it was for me. What this game does on a PS1 in terms of cinematography is nothing short of extraodrinary, being one of the most immersive titles of its era. Not every aspect of it aged gracefully, but even then, it’s quite enjoyable considering the modern standards.

Great ✦✦✦✦✧

April 13th

Phantasy Star

RPG / Nintendo Switch / 10 hours

Good ✦✦✦✧✧ - Read the review here

May 27th

Persona 3 Reload

RPG / PS4 / 90 hours

Great ✦✦✦✦✧ - Read the review here

June 24th

Mother 3

RPG / Gameboy Advance / 37 hours

This was without any doubt my favourite game of this year. To understand why I consider it a masterpiece, you can read the review I did for it back then.

❖ No videogame was able to surprise me more this year than Mother 3. A title that beautifully combines comedy with tearful moments.

June 24th

Sonic Adventure

Action-adventure / Sega Dreamcast / 11 hours

Okay ✦✦✧✧✧ - Read the review here

July 13th

Metal Gear Soild 2: Sons of Liberty

Action-adventure / PS3 / 16 hours

Great ✦✦✦✦✧ - Read the review here

July 26th

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

Turn-based strategy / Nintendo Switch / 37 hours

Good ✦✦✦✧✧ - Read the review here

September 11th

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Action-adventure / PS3 / 20 hours

Snake Eater is often considered the pinnacle of the Metal Gear series, with good reason. I won’t get into much detail about it right now, as it was my third favourite game of the year, thence it will recieve a full review soon.

❖ Snake Eater is set at the very beggining of the Metal Gear timeline, telling the story of Solid Snake's "father", Big Boss.

September 17th

Persona

RPG / PSP

Okay ✦✦✧✧✧ - Read the review here

September 22th

Lego City Undercover

Action-adventure / Nintendo Switch / 20 hours

Lego City Undercover was one of the first games I got for the Nintendo Switch back in 2019, when the system library wasn’t as jam packed as it is today. I played it for a while but for some reason I left it unfinished during all this years. In order to fill a time gap before all the October releases I was anticipating, I decided to finally get back to Lego City and finish this once and for all. What I have to say about the game? It’s good, but nothing special. It has a great sense of humor though.

Good ✦✦✦✧✧

October 6th

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Action-adventure / Nintendo Switch / 20 hours

Great ✦✦✦✦✧ - Read the review here

October 30th

Sonic x Shadow Generations

Action-adventure / Xbox Series X / 10 hours

Great ✦✦✦✦✧ - Read the review here

October 31th

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

Action-adventure / Xbox 360 / 17 hours

Episodes from Liberty City is a compilation of the two GTA IV expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. Each expansion functions pratically as a separate game with its own protagonist, plot and missions. What makes them more interesting is that they are interconnected with the main game, as each campaign events happens during the same timeframe, but from different points of view. I enjoyed playing both expansions, mostly for its really well writen characters, because everything else was just more GTA IV with a different flavour.

Good ✦✦✦✧✧

November 30th

Sonic R

Racing / Sega Saturn

Sonic games outside the 2D side-scrolling rarely are consensual and Sonic R is the epitome of that. I was one of those who bashed this game for its unconventional gameplay, but now that I gave it a second chance, I admit that I was unfair in my judgment. Sonic R is a really good, albeit quirky, racing game with one of the best soundtracks in the series. The first minutes with it will be quite terrible, but if you take some time to learn how it works, eventually you’ll have fun with it.

Good ✦✦✦✧✧

December 1st

Undertale

RPG / Nintendo Switch / 5 hours

Undertale is a game that need no introduction, being probably one of the best known indie games ever. A game that constantly deceives your expectations by throwing unexpected moments or gameplay mechanics at all the time. I went completely blind to it and I’m glad for that, because it was a memorable ride even if a bit short. The game highly incentivizes multiple playthroughs to see the alternate endings, which with a short game is a reasonable proposition. However, I haven’t done that yet.

Great ✦✦✦✦✧

December 22nd

Metaphor: ReFantazio

RPG / Xbox Series X / 89 hours

Metaphor was the game I was most anticipating this year. Since I saw the first trailer I knew this was something I would love, as it was made by the people behind Persona 3, 4 and 5. I will definetly do a full review for it soon, as this was my second favourite game of the year.

❖ Right from the first trailers it was possible to see that Metaphor: Re-Fantazio was being made with the same "ingredients" as the Persona games.

December 31st

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Action-adventure / PS3 / 20 hours

I decided to close the year with another Metal Gear Solid game. I went for Guns of the Patriots one with some reservations, as I read and heard many people saying not so positive things about it, particularly regarding the extreme amount and lenght of its cutscenes. Now that I played it, I understand where those opinions come from, nonetheless, I enjoyed every second of said cutscenes. It helped that Kojima Productions pushed the envelope on what was possible on a then recent PS3, with visuals far beyond most of its contemporaries. Narrative wise, MGS4 is a fan-service festival, bringing together almost all key characters from the previous games and even a particular well known location. It also marks the end of Solid Snake’s arch with another emotional ending, almost as powerful as the one of Snake Eater.

Masterpiece ✦✦✦✦✦

And that’s all for 2024! Hope you enjoyed this retrospective and consider playing some of the games I mentioned here, at least the ones who deserved a “Great” or “Masterpiece” rating. You are in for a treat with those, believe me. Lastly, as I promised before, reviews for my second and third favourite games of this year, Metaphor: Re-Fantazio and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater will be released in the following month, hopefully. See you next time!

Played this month – November 2024

2024-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

As expected, November was for the most part a month dedicated to the latest Atlus magnum opus, Metaphor: ReFantazio! However, as usual, there was some time to squeeze a few smaller games in between. So, without further ado, here’s what I’ve been playing:

Metaphor: ReFantazio

RPG / Xbox Series X

At this point in time, with 60 hours clocked in, I think I’m near the end of the game. At least it’s what the game’s calendar tells me, as I’m currently heading into the last month, from a total of five. Still, comparing with a Persona game this one feels more streamlined, which is a good thing since it was my main issue with Persona 5 Royal. I have so many things to say about this game, most of them good, but I’ll save for an eventual review.

Undertale

RPG / Nintendo Switch

This was a game that I had for a long time in my list. Looking for a quick break from Metaphor, I decided it was the ideal time to play it. I think Undertale needs no introduction, as its a quintessential indie game. Created mostly by a single person, quirky, inventive and with a great sense of humor. In it, we play as a human who falls into the underworld, where the monsters live, and our goal is to escape it. During our journey, we discover the truth about the underworld and the long standing conflict between humans and monsters, as we meet the most absurd and charismatic characters. Seriously, the writing of this game is its strongest asset, with its music coming in a close second. I finished the game in around 6 hours, but since it’s so short, I’ll play it again in the future to see its “good ending”.

Sonic R

Racing / Sega Saturn

In the sequence of the Sega Saturn 30th anniversary, I was challenged by a colleage from The Games Tome to do a “Deep Dive” review of Sonic R. Since it made years since I last played it, I decided to pick it up again to have a fresher perspective on it. This game is from a weird era in videogames, when the developers were still figuring out how to work with the third dimension, as so, its controls are everything but conventional. We control Sonic and some of the other characters in its universe, racing in 5 circuits with many hidden paths and secondary challenges. So far so good. But when we pick up the controller, we quickly understand that this isn’t quite a racing game, neither a platformer. It’s something in between. The first minutes are truly awful, but by the end, (as in, one hour later) when we finally understand its mechanics, it actually becomes fun and engaging. Lastly, it’s impossible to talk about Sonic R without mentioning its fantastic eurodance soundtrack. Can you feel the sunshine?

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Action-adventure / Nintendo Switch

As a fan of Jet Set Radio I had this game under my radar since it was announced, but its steep price, for an indie game, made me forget it for a while, until now. I finally got it during this last Nintendo eShop “black friday”, in a sweet 50% discount deal. Being completely honest, from what I’ve played so far, I was expecting more. Sure, the music and style are top-notch (all they had to do was to copy Jet Set Radio Future sense of style though), but the gameplay could be better, and the camera isn’t amazing either. Keep in mind that these are only early impressions. My opinion might change later on. Let’s see.

And that was November! With 2024 almost done, the next edition of this series will be the last one, as I’ll change the format starting next year. I’ll save the details for January. See you next time!

1 year of ABXY

2024-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

As you guessed by the title, this week marks one year since I released the first post of ABXY! The idea was to release this post on the exact day, but well, let’s just pretend today is December 2nd. In that post I shared my vision for this project, and after 32 posts I can say it turned out to be pretty much what I had in mind - a place where I can document and share my opinions of all the games I play, be it in a review format or via something more casual, such as the “Played this month” rubric.

A lot happened during this time - not all related to games, but let’s stick with that for the context of this post - as I learned how hard it is to run a blog. At least I improved my writing skills and speed as a consequence. Part of the difficulty was my perfectionism and “impostor syndrome” always getting in the way, but even looking back at everything I wrote, I’m happy with the end result.

Let’s do now a retrospective, going through the good, the bad and also some key events of this first year of ABXY!

The good

It’s still standing after a year

That’s right! It might not look like a big achievement, but it took some perseverance to keep posting, especially during periods where I had less availability to do it, or my “creative juices” were running low. By this point this is my longest running side project ever, and I want to keep increasing that record.

Writing is becoming easier with time

One of the main reasons for me to start ABXY was precisely to improve my writing skills and so far I can say that goal is being achieved. For you to have a better idea of what I’m talking about, the first review I ever did went through several revisions (I can’t specify how many, but let’s assume more than 4 or 5) until it reached its final version, while the most recent was done in a couple of hours, without any re-writing needed.

The bad

Lack of consistency

By far the hardest part of running a blog is to keep posting quality stuff regularly, and that’s one of the main problems of ABXY. Sadly it’s the only one that I don’t imagine getting much better without a bigger time investment, something that’s practically impossible for me at this moment.

Not that many readers

While this blog is in part a way for me to log my gaming activity, I would be happy if other people also read and enjoy the stuff I write. Since the beginning I already got great feedback from various sources, for which I’m very thankful. But apart from that, the engagement with the content is very low. To be fair, I did nothing to change that, but I intend to. By the way, this blog has an RSS feed if you want to be notified each time I post something new. I hereby invite you to follow it!

Almost non-existent divulgation

This point is directly related to the previous one. If people don’t know about the blog and its posts, it’s obviously difficult for them to read them. The occasions where the blog had more views was precisely when I divulgated it on my Instagram, Marketing genius, I know! I simply have to be more consistent on that, otherwise, all this effort in writing reviews and opinions with a pinch of personality is not totally wasted, but a bit in vain.

Key events

Gamescom 2024

Going to Germany to attend one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world was absolutely fantastic, even if very exhausting. I even did a post back then, documenting my experience there. This Gamescom also marked the first time I participated in The Games Tome podcast live stream, precisely to give my first-hand impressions of this year’s event.

The Games Tome

For those who don’t know, The Games Tome is a long-standing Portuguese podcast about video games from every era, covering everything retro, as well as the current news and releases, with a fantastic cast and community. For years I was a regular listener and participant, via chat, in their Sunday night live streams. A few months ago I was invited to participate in a spin-off episode that consisted of a deep dive review of Persona 5 (which was my game of the year of 2023 if you remember). Since then, I started to participate in the main episodes as well, as the fifth member of the main cast. So far it has been amazing being part of this incredible podcast, even if my Monday mornings have become a bit rough because of it (as we usually end the stream around 1-2am) but to be honest, the sacrifice is totally worthwhile. You can follow the podcast on YouTube and on audio streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

❖ An episode of the podcast dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Sega Saturn.

And that was the first year of ABXY, quite an eventful one if you ask me. I hope in a year’s time I’m here once again to celebrate its second anniversary. Until then, thank you very much for keep reading my gaming-related ramblings. See you next time!

Sonic X Shadow Generations

2024-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

It’s amazing to think how much has changed since 2011, when the Sonic Generations was originally released. Back then, the blue hedgehog’s public perception was way worse than it is today, with a couple of games of questionable quality preceding it to blame for. It was without surprise that when Generations came out, being incredible as it is, it felt like the second coming of Christ, becoming without much doubt an instant classic.

The situation is quite different now in 2024. SEGA did a brilliant job these last few years with the franchise, not only with the most recent games and compilations (for the most part), but mainly with everything else, such as merchandise, TV shows and movies, making Sonic more relevant than ever for the mainstream culture. It’s precisely in that context that Sonic X Shadow Generations appears - a remaster that initially didn’t look more than an easy way to promote the upcoming Sonic 3 movie, where Shadow will be prominently featured. For the surprise of everyone, it turned out to be much, much more than that. This is truly the “Year of Shadow”.

Not much to remaster

For those who never played Sonic Generations before and have no idea what I’m talking about, let me explain it. This game was essentially a huge celebration of the series’ history - being released to celebrate its 20th anniversary - recreating some of its best stages, from the Green Hill Zone (Sonic The Hedgehog, 1991) to Planet Wisp (Sonic Colors, 2010). A well crafted game combined with the nostalgia factor was a recipe for success.

The concept of remastering Sonic Generations might be a bit silly, considering how good the original game still looks like nowadays, but there was always a chance for things to go wrong, like it happened in the past with Sonic Colors Ultimate, ported by a third party and launched in a terrible state. This time around SEGA didn’t risk and put the original developers, as in, Sonic Team, in charge.

The result was magnificent. Sonic Generations is here in all its glory, but now with improved resolution, textures and framerate! Besides that, all the cutscenes’ dialogs were apparently re-recorded to include more references to the previous games’ events. This was totally unnecessary but it perfectly reflects the effort put on this.

❖ The announcement video introduced Shadow as a third playable character, beside Modern and Classic Sonics.

The new Shadow campaign

Now let’s talk about the real star of this release. When you boot the game, you are presented with two separate options: Sonic Generations or Shadow Generations. The first is what I described in the chapter above, a remaster of the original release. The second is an entire new campaign with a distinct gameplay and stages. Obviously I jumped immediately to this option once I got the game.

Shadow’s story, while it overlaps with Sonic’s one, is quite unique. Much more dark and sad, fitting for the character. Here Shadow, much like Sonic on its side of the story, gets stuck in a weird time loop and is able to revisit past events, which means more reimagined stages! Since Shadow was introduced in 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2, the first stage featured is precisely from that game, with other notable inclusions being Kingdom Valley from the infamous Sonic’06 and Chaos Island from Sonic Frontiers. Actually this last one doesn’t make much sense canonically, since Shadow doesn’t appear in Frontiers, but honestly I don’t care, because the stage and its remixed soundtrack are awesome.

Speaking on Frontiers, a game that I absolutely adore despite its shortcomings, it’s very clear that it served as a backbone for this Shadow Generations. Here we also have an “open zone”, where we can not only navigate between stages, but also run freely while collecting the many random tokens spread around by completing small environmental challenges. Obviously Shadow’s open zone is more condensed than the vast islands of Frontiers. Probably because of that, exploring it becomes a bit tiresome after some time. Frontiers’ influence is also felt in the gameplay, with Shadow being very responsive to the player inputs, just like in that particular game. This was something that I only realised when I jumped back to Sonic Generations and had an hard time readjusting to the more floaty controls of that game. With that said, both gameplay styles are fine, but if I had to choose one, it would be Shadow every day.

❖ One of the best stages of Shadow Generations is based on Sonic The Hedgehog (2006), one of the most infamous games in the series.

Pros

Sonic Generations is great as it was 13 years ago
Shadow Generations isn’t just a bonus, but an entire new game
Shadow’s gameplay precision is arguably the best in the entire series
Amazing new reimagined stages

Cons

Shadow Generation’s open zone can become a tad repetitive
Sonic’s controls feel a bit floaty in comparison with Shadow’s

Great✦✦✦✦✧

Sonic X Shadow Generations is a masterclass in how to remaster and re-release a beloved game, by updating it to today’s standards and bundling it with an even better new one!

Played this month – October 2024

2024-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

What a month, people, what a month! October was monumental in terms of new releases. We had a new Zelda (technically it came at the tail end of September, but I ended up playing it mostly in October), we had Metaphor: ReFantazio, we even had an exceptional Sonic game (or should we say Shadow game?)! And I’m only mentioning the ones that resonate with me, there were even more great games coming out. Anyway, here’s what I’ve been playing:

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Action-adventure / Nintendo Switch

This was one of those games that I played non-stop until the end, without getting tired of it for a bit. That by itself is a great demonstration of its quality. I had my issues with it though, but for that, read the full review of the game here.

Metaphor: ReFantazio

RPG / Xbox Series X

Metaphor is finally out! In true Atlus fashion, this looks like a game to last many dozens of hours, so expect me to talk about it for even longer than I already am. For now, with 18 hours clocked in, I can only say that I’m loving it.

Need for Speed Unbound

Racing / Xbox Series X

As a long-time NFS fan, I was interested in Unbound since I saw it for the first time. Unfortunately it didn’t come out for last-gen consoles, so now that I have Xbox Series X I decided to finally try it out. So far, my experience is being mostly positive, but I have a couple of complaints about the progression and AI behavior during the races. But I’ll save them for a full review.

Die Hard Trilogy

Light-gun shooter / PS1

I’ve been in Madrid this last month and I took the opportunity to do a tour through the city’s amazing retro gaming stores. One of my acquisitions was a light-gun for the PS1. My hope was to play Time Crisis, but I soon realized my gun wasn’t compatible with it. Luckily there was another game in my collection that was, being it precisely this Die Hard Trilogy. Actually the shooting section is only one of the three different gameplay styles it has to offer, each one themed after a different movie, thence the “Trilogy” in the title. While still inferior to Time Crisis, I had a good time with it.

Sonic x Shadow Generations

Action-adventure / Xbox Series X

Sonic fans, we’re feasting! As someone who played and liked very much Sonic Generations back in the day, I had reasonable expectations for this re-release as Sonic x Shadow Generations. What I wasn’t expecting was for the brand-new Shadow Generations game to be my favourite part of the compilation, by far! I want to write a review for it soon, but I’m still pondering if it deserves the “Masterpiece” rating or not. Either way, it’s the closest thing to a perfect 3D Sonic game we ever had, in my opinion.

Grand Theft Auto: Stories from Liberty City

Action-adventure / Xbox 360

I’ve finished the second and last expansion included in this compilation - The Ballad of Gay Tony - where we play as the right-hand/bodyguard of the nightclub entrepreneur Tony Prince, who is, of course, also involved in many illegal activities. One of those is the selling of some stolen diamonds that goes horribly wrong and escalates to epic proportions. In terms of gameplay, this expansion has much more variety than anything else in the GTA IV universe, with a big focus on skydiving, helicopters and boats. Storywise, I feel like this expansion had potential to be a full game, as some particular points were a bit rushed because of the smaller number of missions, in comparison with GTA IV’s main story.

That’s all for October! For next month, well, probably even more Metaphor: ReFantazio. I’ll tell you then.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

2024-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

It’s not very common in the long-running Zelda series for a game to be announced and released almost out of the blue, yet that’s exactly what happened with Echoes of Wisdom. Only one short year after the monumental and highly anticipated Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo decided to announce this game, for the surprise of everyone - at least from my understanding. From the get-go, it was clear this would be a simpler game than its predecessor, marking a return to the series’ 2D gameplay style. However, that didn’t mean it was more of the same - quite the opposite, in fact. After all, it was the official debut of the titular princess as a protagonist - considering Nintendo refuses to acknowledge the existence of the infamous Philips CD-i games that also had Zelda as the playable character. From my experience, it was a meritorious debut, but with some glaring issues on its execution.

The power of Wisdom

According to the lore of the series, princess Zelda is the triforce of Wisdom’s bearer and this game made sure to honour that. Unlike Link, Zelda isn’t equipped with a sword and shield, but with a magical rod. With it, we can create copies of various objects found in the world, known as Echoes, and use them to overcome challenges, whether reaching specific locations or defeating enemies. For the former, we can use echoes of boxes, trees, trampolines, beds, and even blocks of water. For combat, we can “fight fire with fire” by creating echoes of the enemies themselves. Obviously is not that simple, with some of them requiring a bit more creativity to defeat, but there’s some satisfaction in doing it purely by brain power and not brute force. This is by far the biggest change in paradigm present in Echoes of Wisdom, with the difficulty coming more in form of mental puzzles and less in mechanical skill. And of course, having Zelda save Link - rather than the other way around - marks another change for the series status-quo.

Apart from the main character skillset, everything else is quite familiar to someone who played a Zelda game before. The most interesting aspect of it in my opinion is the blend of concepts between the traditional 2D games of the series and the open world ones (Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom), bringing elements from those such as a mission log, quick travel portals spread across Hyrule, unlinear progress (although much more toned down) and even cooking recipes.

❖ A quick overview of Zelda's abilities in Echoes of Wisdom

Echoes of issues

From all the elements this game takes from its predecessors, there is one that’s much more evident than anything else. Back in 2019, Nintendo released a remake of the Game Boy classic Link’s Awakening, in a completely new art style that resembled a diorama made with plastic pieces, looking almost like a Playmobil set. While initially strange, this aesthetic proved to work well once we acually the game. For Echoes of Wisdom, they decided to reuse the exact same style, but this time I found myself less impressed. Though charming, this style has creative limitations that lend a somewhat cheap aspect to the game - something difficult to explain in objective terms.

What I can explain objectively however is the terrible framerate the game has most of the time. This was already a problem in the aforementioned Link’s Awakening, that was also developed by the team behind this one, but here it gets even worse. By default it targets 60fps, but it can only reach them consistently in indoor environments, such as dungeons. While navigating through Hyrule, it rarely hits that target, sometimes going down to 20fps or even less. Sure, the Nintendo Switch is by today’s standards a very limited machine, but many games released for it proved that when well optimized, they can look and perform exceptionally well. Echoes of Wisdom should have been one of those cases, but unfortunately it isn’t.

Pros

Zelda as a protagonist for a change!
Echoes mechanic is quite fun to play with
It borrows the best of the open-world 3D titles structure

Cons

Awful framerate drops while exploring the overworld
Toy-like aesthetic gets a bit old by the end of the game

Great✦✦✦✦✧

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a worthwhile entry in the iconic series, successfully blending old and new elements. However, its technical issues and over-reliance on a limiting art style prevent it from reaching the heights of some of its predecessors.