Tag: gaming

My 2025 Gaming Year – Blogmas 2025

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Okay, I’m going to start with a confession. This year has been a bad gaming year for me.

That’s not saying 2025 in gaming was bad. Nope, there have been some amazing games released, some of the best I have seen in many many years. I just… never got around to them.

So, ignoring the fact I have played far too many puzzle games this year, here are some of my gaming highlights.

Artifex Mundi Hidden Picture Games

One of my goals this year was actually completed early on. At the end of 2024, I’d discovered that I only needed five more Artifex Mundi games to complete all of the collection, until they release a new one (they haven’t all of 2025). So I made it a mission to tackle the five as fast as I could, knocking out each one between the end of January and the beginning of February.

I will say that I wasn’t as impressed with the final games as I was the originals, but that’s allowed. They were still somewhat fun, even if the writing was somewhat lackluster and the voice acting still left much to be desired.

Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets

You know I had a slow trophy year when this is a highlight.

For a bit of context, I don’t mind playing games based off of kids’ television series or media. Sometimes they are fun! The Monster High game on the PS3 was actually decent, even if the Platinum was a massive grind in the end.

But this one? I’ve never flown through a game so fast while being so utterly bored. I mean, the story was non-existant, the voice lines were tragically bad, even for this franchise, and the game could be completed in like five hours. Without even trying. You barely had to do any of the side quests, because the game led you to where you needed to go.

I much prefer the PS3 game, thanks. (And I played this twice, for trophies. Not a good idea.)

The Cats and Seek Series

I wasn’t going to mention some of the more obvious puzzle games, but I have to give a shout out to this little series.

I really do love games where you have to find a series of hidden objects, and the Cats and Seek series is perfect for this. Hundreds of cats hidden inside spralling pictures, and you have to find them all.

There’s just something calming about it. It is relaxing, soothing even. Hmm, I wonder if a new one is coming out.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

It’s not the DLC that makes DDV a highlight for me.

It’s the fact that in March, I finally got the Platinum trophy. The game is still a great deal of fun, the DLCs are mostly worth it (don’t listen to the complainers online). But finally getting that last trophy after almost TWO YEARS was worth the tears I shed. Especially since I got the previous trophy in June the year prior.

Yeah, I’m not doing the PS4 version. I don’t think I have the patience for it.

LEGO Gaming

So, this year in LEGO Gaming was… slow.

Yes, I completed LEGO Voyagers, which was a heartfelt little tale. Yes, I also started LEGO Horizon Adventures (which I really need to finish, but that game is just… not really great.) And yes, I started tackling two more editions of LEGO Harry Potter, even though I don’t exactly want to talk about that.

I just wanted more.

Oh well, the next LEGO Game from TT Games comes out in May. LEGO Batman, here I come!

Little Kitty, Big City

And finally, there’s what I’m calling my Game of the Year, only because I don’t have Clare Obscur yet.

I was introduced to Little Kitty, Big City by a Twitch streamer I follow. He played it on the Xbox One (I think), back when it was a timed console exclusive. When I saw that it was available on the Playstation Network, I had to have it immediate.

It’s just a cute little tale of a kitty lost in a small neighborhood of a big city, and them trying to find a way back up to their window. Short, sweet, with a multitude of animal characters to meet along the way who all have a place in the kitty’s story.

What’s next?

My goal for next year is to play more games with longer stories, instead of just short simple games. It helps that there are some great games coming out next year that I just can’t wait for (especially one, but that’s a tale for another day).

Until then, I’m going to finish out the year with a pretty successful trophy streak, which is always awesome.

Game on!

[Note: This was actually completed on December 15th, I just completely forgot to click publish. It has been backdated to that date.]

2023 Games I Want to Play – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Gaming in 2022 has basically come to a close, with only a few more major games to release before January 1st. While I’ll be spending a good deal of time playing through PS5 games that released before I received mine on Christmas, there are a few games coming in 2023 that I’m willing to shell out full price on day one (and one that I’m absolutely not touching).

Forspoken

I’ll be totally honest, I fell for this game just because of the graphics. I have absolutely no idea much about it, barring that it’s an Action RPG being published by Square Enix and developed by the FFXV team. I do love the fact that it appears to be a solid one player game with a female protagonist, Frey, and that magic is a major selling point. It’s also an isekai, or a character from the “real world” falling into a fantasy world that is trying to find their way home.

I’m willing to give it a shot, even if it may end up not being a game that I fall in love with. It just impressed me that much just from some trailers.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

My free time in January will finally be dedicated to blasting through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which I’m planning on at least finishing the story on my PS5, if not Platinuming. It’s high time, I’ve only been saying this since I bought the game on release day… how many years ago?

I flat out screamed while watching the trailer that was dropped at the Game Awards. I’m not much of a Star Wars fan anymore as the sequel trilogy of films burned me a bit to much. However, I’m still enough of a casual fan to want to play this game day one.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

Alright, this is a copout. Technically this is already out. Technically. In beta.

Basically, about two months ago, the game became available to play, as long as players were cognitive of the fact that it was going to have issues and be unstable. I have it, I just haven’t put too much time into it. Come 2023 and the official release, I’m absolutely going to push my way through a good deal of it. I’m just waiting until a bunch of the issues are fixed first.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

A PS5 exclusive that I will drop my entire wallet for, immediately, hands down. I loved the original Marvel’s Spider-Man and I enjoyed the spinoff dedicated to Miles Morales. The true sequel has finally been given a release window of Fall 2023, which I’m very much excited for to get my hands on to.

There’s obviously a long wait ahead until the release of this, with only a short teaser being released earlier this year hinting that Venom would be apart of the story (if not the villain, but I’m not about to just declare it yet). We shall see what the coming months bring.

Hogwarts Legacy

Remember at the top when I said there was a game I was absolutely not touching? Here it is.

Look, I know people are excited for this game. I’m 100% sure of that. But I’m not about to give that woman a penny of my money. Not a single bit. It can look beautiful all it wants. It can finally be the open world Harry Potter game that fans and former fans dreamed of for absolute years.

The thing is, she’s still getting money from it due to royalties, and honestly? There’s just a bit too much ick wrapped into the story of this one. It won’t be touching my Playstation or Xbox, even if you bought it for me as a gift. I want no part in supporting it.

Wrap Up

There’s obviously hundreds of games coming out in 2023, some announced and some that will sneak out and still be brilliant. These are just the ones that have stuck out to me, for good and bad. That’s not to say that I’m going to limit myself to only these games, no of course not. I have a massive backlog and a bunch of games to replay on PS5.

Gaming’s future is looking bright!

Until next time.

Let’s Talk about Animal Crossing New Horizons (Update) – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a bit since I’ve talked about Animal Crossing New Horizons and my attempt to complete all the achievements possible by the end of the year. In all actuality, I think it’s been about since April since I really talked about it. So here, have a pretty decent update.

Up until about August, I played every single day without fail. Did I play for long every day? No, not really. I would play more on the weekends, but I had made it part of my daily routine to play at least half an hour daily to do at least the five daily Nook Mile Plus achievements and slowly work towards other goals.

Around August, things started to taper off. I got busy with other things and I started missing days and weeks. I had to start utilizing one of the biggest tricks in playing the game, which is time travel, only so that I could get a few certain events that I’d missed use to non-playing. (I have one more at the time of this post, the last fishing event of 2022). I hadn’t wanted to time travel, so I’m trying to limit it to only when I absolutely need it for certain hard dates that can’t be changed.

I will say that I am two creatures away from legitimately completing my museum. I have two sea creatures left to grab, both of which I think I can still get (October and November were my downfall I swear). I got lucky with Redd and my fossils early on and was also gifted several art pieces by a few other players.

As for achievements, I mostly have the long achievements left to collect. The ones such as catch 5000 bugs or fish, or collect a certain amount of wood, or see a certain amount of concerts (which can’t be completed until next year, because I have to see 100 KK slider concerts). I also have to somehow do nine more perfect snowmen, something I struggled with at the beginning of the year, so I’m not looking forward to it very soon. I do have some small achievements to knock out, I’m just saving those for a rainy day, I swear.

If I can get my stream up and working one of these days (it’s on my list), I’m hoping to invite people to my island so that I can get that achievement out of the way.

Basically, I’ve done a lot with this game, I have a lot left to go, but I’m still enjoying it.

Just someone explain why crafting still sucks all these years later? /s

Until next time!

My Favorite Games of 2022- Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

2022 was quite the year. And honestly, I didn’t do much “hard core” gaming. I watched a lot, but I didn’t do a lot.

I played my normal amount of puzzle games and shovelware for the most part. I bought some fun games and replayed a couple because I could. I even broke out my Vita at one point because why not.

Instead of doing a “Top 10” list of games, I’m simply going to highlight some of the games that have sat with me this year. These can be ones that I finished in 2022 or ones that I replayed in 2022, as well as the ones that I played completely in 2022.

I’m gonna start with one that was well done, but never should have been released as a full game. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales tells an amazing story with updated graphics and extra powers for Spider-Man that have a bit of a learning curve to get used to. I really enjoyed my time with it and it was a great way to start the year. I just think it was a very large DLC to the original game. I just think that selling it at the price it retailed at was a bit much. But it was a brilliant trip, one that I look forward to replaying in 2023 on my PS5.

Island Saver is a kids game that released a few years ago. It’s short, it’s simple, it takes no time at all to figure out, and I had a blast with it. It’s all about pollution and preservation. It’s a fun little game that I first saw… I think Ray Narvaez Jr play (a Twitch streamer I watch).

Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a spectacular game about grief and mourning. The story is told in two ways. The first is in diary entries, where the writer deals with the loss of her beloved grandmother and how to heal. The other side is the story that she’s writing in a fantasy world, and her grief changes how the story goes. It’s done so very well and is sadly looked over. I highly recommend it to anyone who has access to tissues.

One of my games of the year was always going to be Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, because it was finally released in April. I had a damn blast with this, even with the few issues I had. The levels were a bit lacking and some of the tasks were a bit repetitive, but I really ended up enjoying it very much. My goal when I get my PS5 set up is that it will be one of my first games played to 100% if I can help it. Totally worth the rush. (Now if it only would get some story DLC…)

Then there’s the indie title Unpacking, which finally made its way to the Playstation systems this year. A story told by unpacking a young woman’s boxes, I loved every moment of it. The subtle ways of showing the woman growing up and finding her true self was done so very well and it absolutely deserves all the love it gets.

I ended up replaying Lego DC Supervillains in August and September. It was the Japanese port and wow was it weird to play a game with the X and O buttons flipped (the amount of times I thought I crashed something…). The game continues to hold up even a few years post launch. All that is left is to get the Asian release and I will have Platinumed all versions. That’s a 2023 goal.

I played The Gardens Between on Xbox one last year and enjoyed it. I ended up replaying it on PS4 a few months ago and I think it holds up. It’s a simple puzzle game but I do enjoy it. I’ll be honest though, I probably won’t play through it a third time.

Submerged: Hidden Depths is the sequel of a game I played a few years ago. It’s an indie title that I really enjoyed when I first played it. I did like the story in this one, though I was sad to see that there were some pretty nasty graphical glitches that really bothered my eyes and pulled me away from the game. I also wasn’t entirely clear that it was a sequel until I literally googled it, which is just slightly an issue. But it was still a fun little game.

All and all, it’s been a slow gaming year. I knew it would be when I started working, which very much slowed down my playing through everything. I’m hoping when I get my PS5 on Christmas and I’ve settled into my new positions (or if I go through with my desire to move to a different department because I’m honestly not happy where I am right now), I’ll find more time to play through some of the other games on my backlog that I really want to kick back and enjoy.

The only sad this is that at the beginning of the month, we had lost power for an entire day and I wasn’t able to get a trophy which killed my trophy streak. I’ve since restarted so we shall have to see what comes of this trophy streak next year.

I’m excited to see what 2023 will bring for me in gaming! Who knows? It can only go up from here.

Until next time!

Let’s Talk: Gaming in 2022 – July Update

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

It’s the year of puzzle games, a few standouts, and Animal Crossing.

We are officially past the halfway point of 2022 and things are moving steadily along. I’m slowly getting through all of my goals, with a hope of completing them to the best of my ability by the end of the year.

The Playstation Update

I started this year with 303 Platinum trophies. As of the time of writing, I’m at 339. I’ve already picked #350, which I’ll talk about in a bit.

For the most part, I’ve just been playing easy puzzle games and hidden pictures games, mostly because it’s just calming and easy and still fun. I’m not trying to spend every moment gaming (nor can I), so this has been just calm and easy.

Of games of note, there have been a few standouts as well.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was an absolute amazing game, though the post game just wasn’t as interesting to me. I normally like collectathon games, but something just didn’t click with me. The story, however, is so important and well done.

A game that surprised me was Lost Words: Beyond the Page. It was a sale pickup, and I chose it simply because the cover art looked interesting. The story itself was poignant and well done, focusing on a child going through the stages of grief. If you want a short but fun little indie title, give this one a play! (If you’re going for all trophies/achievements, make sure to use a guide for the collectables. There are about ten that will trip you up.)

Unpacking is a game from last year that finally just released on PSN. A story told in a few words, it’s a quick but fun and satisfying game. Absolutely go into this one without any spoilers or having watched any lore. I honestly think this is an amazing little game.

And of course, how can I do a list of games without talking about the largest game on this list, that took almost two months to finally 100% because of its size (and because I was working)? Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga earned its reputation as being the largest Lego game, unseating Lego City Undercover and Lego Dimensions. It’s also damn good, fixing the things that I heavily disliked about the prequel and sequel trilogies, while also doing justice to the stories. The post game content is somewhat repetitive (lots of fetch quests), but I did enjoy it. At some point this year I’d love to replay it on either PS5 (providing that I get it as my birthday/Christmas present, it’s been hinted already) or on Xbox One.

Animal Crossing New Horizons

One of my biggest goals this year was to complete as much of Animal Crossing New Horizons as possible. And honestly? I’m doing pretty well.

I spend about thirty minutes or so total a day playing, usually just doing Nook Miles+ tasks and a few things that need to be done still (collect wood, catch creatures, take a Capp’n trip, and exercise). It’s low stress, something I would usually do on my breaks. I don’t particularly mind doing it.

One thing I’ve focused on is making sure to get each month’s creatures. That means at the beginning of the month, I take note of what new creatures are spawning and what time they spawn and slowly get them all. I’ve been doing great with that, only missing one that stopped appearing in February (I only had like two days to get it), and I’m only looking for one more in July.

I usually play when I have something on in the background (lately, One Chicago, which I finally just finished the midpoint of the series, and soon to be Heartstopper and Marvel’s What If?). If I’m playing while I’m on lunch break at work, I usually turn on Lofi Girl on Youtube and enjoy it. Such a good way to pass the time.

Wait, go back to the Puzzle Games.

Well, there’s a lot of those.

Puzzle games are what I like to refer to as Platinum-bait. Nine times out of ten, I could knock them out in about ten minutes or less. Some of them I do stretch out.

My honest to Merlin favorites are any games released by POWGI, as they are always word puzzles in some way. We’re talking crosswords, fill in the blank, word scrambles… You name it, they’ve probably made a game or three for it. But I find them fun to play through, and I can take my time with them to stretch them out over a week or so.

To the surprise of no one, I’ve also played the currently released Artifex Mundi hidden picture games. Those are… well, formulaic at this point. I do enjoy them for their actual hidden picture mechanic, but not for anything else. The stories have gotten stale and uninspired, and they use the same four voice actors for every game, giving each one a boring aspect.

The other puzzle game I want to mention is also not one with trophies, but it tells a pretty good message. Island Saver is a game revolving around three things: cleaning up the environment, recycling, and banking. Yes, those make some sort of sense. It’s actually a good deal of fun, if slightly frustrating in some places. It was developed by indie studio Stormcloud Games and published by a British banking chain called Natwest. It ended up being a fun little game for two days.

In Summary

I’ll be totally honest, I don’t think I’m going to hit two of my gaming goals, since they were made when I actually had free time. But I’m going to keep on pushing through.

(For those curious, I’ve slowed down getting Platinum Trophies, and my goal was to crack 375 this year. The other was to complete just about everything in ACNH, but I know I’m behind for a lot of things, thanks to island travelling.)

But gaming in 2022 is still a lot of fun and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Until next time!

Let’s Talk: Animal Crossing New Horizons 2022 Goals

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

So… I have a confession to make.

I restarted my Animal Crossing New Horizons island again. Well, technically I did it back in November and never mentioned it, but yeah. I’m a terrible person.

The reason why I did it was actually simple. I wanted to have a nice fresh island for the 2.0 update that was coming out in November. So, I obviously restarted only two weeks before the big update, played for like three days and promptly forgot about it until literally New Year’s Day (though not soon enough to get the New Year’s Eve Nook Mile Achievement). 

But on New Years Day, I made myself a promise for 2022: to complete the Nook Mile Achievements by New Years Eve 2022 to the best of my ability, because I absolutely have a good goal. 

Let me explain.

Within ACNH, the player character has a phone that keeps track of a lot of information, from what creatures have been donated to the museum, to shopping, to “achievements”. They’re called Nook Mile Achievements, and completing them gives you Nook Miles, which are used to purchase things or take a ride with Kapp’n, among a lot of other things.

The achievements cover pretty much everything. You get them for upgrading your house, for taking part in different events, catching 5000 insects or fish, completing the museum, getting all the golden tools… If it’s in the game, there’s probably an achievement.

I think as of now (mid-April), I’ve gotten about half of them? Maybe less. The reason is, there’s a bunch that are “use X for the first time” achievements, but also long progression ones, including one to do 100 KK Slider concerts, and those are only available Saturday nights, after you complete the main game’s storyline to bring him to your island in the first place.

Did I mention that every Animal Crossing game takes place in real time? Which means that I will be playing this for another 90 weeks until I get that last achievement. Yes, you read that number right. The longest achievement takes 100 weeks total, on top of however long it takes to even get KK to your island. Which for me was exactly ten weeks ago… and that was actually pretty fast.

I’m trying to do it without any help, for the most part. I mean, I do have to have ten people visit my island so that I can get that achievement completely done. But I mean that I’m not going to someone else’s island and getting all of the things to complete the museum or what not. I’m also not using time travel, or when you change the time on the Nintendo Switch to skip ahead. I’m trying to do everything as it comes.

What that means is that I’ve caught every insect, fish, and sea creature legitimately. Same with every piece of music and art (except one, but that’s because I accidentally trashed it, and someone had it available like five minutes later). And every fossil.

The only thing that I’ve used someone else’s island for is selling Turnips (which are something you buy on Sundays and sell later in the week for a profit, it’s literally called the Stalk Market, no I’m not making that up) and to get some extra crafting materials that are already easy to obtain, because sometimes I don’t want to shake a tree for 100 tree branches.

It’s actually been quite a lot of fun since restarting! My island is still pretty basic, but that’s because I just don’t take the time to really terraform it. I spend about a half hour or so daily doing the few tasks I have to do (fossil hunting, trying to get Redd to sell me real art, quick shopping, and hunting for that month’s insects and fish). On weekends I’ll play a bit longer, as that’s when events usually happen.

Like tomorrow’s Bunny Day, ACNH’s version of Easter, where I have to collect a lot of eggs.

But all in all, it’s been fun since I restarted. It’s given me another year long goal that’s actually attainable (ignoring the few things that will have to roll into 2023, simply due to timing, and I’m fine with that). If I can get my island cleaned up a bit more, I’ll do a follow up post and show off some parts of it.

It’s a fun game, and I’m glad that I’m still enjoying it! 🙂

Until next time!

(Also, sorry that this is posting so late today. I was watching the Dodger game, and then got distracted by some writing, and just realized that I never hit Publish. Whoops!)

Games I’m Going to Play in 2022 – Blogmas 2021

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Back in February, I talked about the games that were on my backburner. By that, I mean the games that I’ve wanted to finish, but I haven’t yet for some reason.

When I was trying to get to 300 Platinums (which I got the other day), I really wanted to include a few of the games on that old list. And honestly? I didn’t. But I do have a goal for 2022, which is to finish at least one or two of those games, because of course.

These games are the ones I’d like to play and finish during 2022:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – It’s sad that this has stayed on my list for so long. I bought it right after release day, played for about ten hours, then paused to work on Spider-Man. I never got back to it. That’s not to say that I wasn’t enjoying it, I really was! I just had promised someone that I’d finish Spider-Man, and you know how it goes. I’m hoping to spend at least a little time next year playing through and Platinuming it.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales – I’ve actually finished the story! I’m in the middle of cleaning up now. The problem is there’s a lot for me to do, especially since I’m going for the Platinum. I’ll get to it, probably in January. There’s also the issue of the second playthrough… It’s just going to be a bit of a time suck.

Erica – This is a FMV game, and it’s really boring. The only reason I want to play it is to get it off my list. I need to set aside about five hours, since you can’t skip scenes. I feel really bad saying that, but it is entirely boring to watch the same set of scenes over and over again, without giving the player the option to do something.

RiME – This was one of the first PS4 games I got. I played for a bit, got a couple of trophies, then set it aside. I still own it, and have every intention to play it again. I just need motivation. Well, that, and the drive to solve a bunch of puzzles with poorly written guides.

Life is Strange 2 and Life is Strange: True Colors – These are getting lumped together simply for space. I really felt burned out with this series after the first game, and then the prequel. I heard a lot of mixed feelings about LiS2, though TC has gotten better reviews. I’ll probably take a week for each of these, but don’t be surprised if I just sit back with a guide to get through them fast.

Lego Star Wars III and Lego Indiana Jones 2 – Again, lumped together for ease. These are the last two PS3 Lego games on my list, as I’m not including Lego Rock Band. I think my biggest problem with completing these two is that I like the modern games more. I need to set aside a good chunk of time to devote to the games, and just knock them out in a week or so.

Lego Ninjago Shadow of Ronin and Lego Ninjago Nindroids – Both the Ninjago vita games are on my 2022 list. These are actually the last two Lego vita games I’m planning on playing. Unfortunately the rest of the series are the games with strict time limits, or reset-upon-death types. I don’t like games like that in the first place, and these are Lego games! I’m not rushing these ones.

But of course, there are also games that I want to play that are scheduled to come out in 2022. Those games are automatically added to my list. They include:

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – I’ve only been impatiently waiting for this since 2019. Yes, I’m totally aware that the pandemic caused issues, as well as internal issues considering the scale of the game. But I have been waiting for this, and I honestly can’t wait to play it. Rumored Release Date: April 2022.

Digimon Survive – I’ll be that person. I’ve always wanted to play a Digimon game… when I’ve been in the mood. I’ve missed the last several, and I just haven’t had the will to sit down and know them out. This one looks cool, though it has been delayed multiple times. I’m hopeful, which is better than most. Rumored Release Date: 2022.

Hogwarts Legacy – Look, I can’t stand JKR. I really can’t. But I can’t let her destroy a major part of my growing up. And this game looks amazing. It’s an open world Harry Potter game! The closest we will ever get to actually attending Hogwarts. I won’t let her views ruin this one (especially because Warner Bros. has announced that she has no direct involvement with the game’s development.) Release Date: 2022.

There are, of course, more that I’m probably missing. And that’s okay. I already have a lot on my plate, and that’s not including the indie titles that will be releasing throughout the year. But I’m fine with that.

That’s life as a gamer. 

Until next time!

Road to 300 – Blogmas 2021

~ Liz Harrison ~ 1 Comment

But I noticed a few weeks ago that I was getting very close to 300 Platinum trophies, so that has been my current goal (among everything else I’ve been doing. But let me break down where I started this year, and how I finally got here.

For the most part, I played a lot of the same types of games. There were trophy-bait games, hidden picture games, puzzle games, some Lego games, and a game that blew my mind when I played it.

All told, I think I only had 48 Platinumed games this year. Which isn’t a lot, as one year I got 100. But considering that a majority of them were one sitting games, I can’t really complain.

I won’t go into the trophy bait games, but that would be at least half of what I played to full completion. I also played all but one of the Artefix Mundi games, the last one to be played soon. I caught up on every POWGI game (puzzle games), including the European versions, because trophies.

Bar none, my favorite game this year was Concrete Genie, which I had been sitting on for years. It’s a beautiful story game that broke my heart. It deals with bullying, but also finding common ground and building something. I played it twice, even if it only counted one, because I loved it that much. I’m keeping an eye out on this studio, because I really want to see what they end up doing next.

(I also replayed Bugsnax during the beginning of the year, but that didn’t count. If I’d played it three days later, it would have been a massive contender for GOTY for me)

The game that surprised me would be LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. All told, it took me SIX YEARS and three months to complete this game. Yes, you read that right, six years. Technically. See, my PS3 decided it didn’t want to work for awhile, then my data was corrupted… In actual playtime, since I did end up restarting it, I think it was a week? Maybe a few days more? I didn’t play every day, but I played pretty quickly. Having the last level, the bonus level if you will, be based on the ride that the films were based on just about did me in. 

I also finally can say that I have completed every copy of Lego Dimensions that I possibly can currently. During the summer, I finally went back and did all of the DLC on the PS3, which means that I now have 100% completion on PS3, PS4, and Xbox One. I don’t own a WiiU or a XBox 360 (though I am looking for the latter), so I can’t be completely done yet. But this win didn’t come without a cost. Right after I finished playing, I tried to play again, but my Supergirl figure wouldn’t register with the game pad. Switching it out didn’t work. The game disc is dead, which is something that can happen. Considering she’s the rarest character, I probably won’t be able to get another for a long, long time.

I only played two other Lego games this year (well… you’ll see). I finally played and finished Lego Lord of the Rings, which earns the distinction of the first Lego game where I’ve gotten so frustrated that I’ve actually thrown my controller across the room. But it also wasn’t a terrible adaptation, though I did have some glitches.

I also finished Lego Hobbit for the third time. I was less annoyed with this one this time around, though I did have some graphical issues. Actually, I have a couple of those over on my tiktok, if you ever happen to find them…

And now that I think about it, I didn’t really play any big games that came out this year. Yes, I’m waiting for some to drop in price, but still. Nothing from this year at all. Not on Xbox, and especially not on Switch. Wow, I suck.

But as of now I’m sitting at 299, with about 18 days left until 2022 comes knocking. And I for one don’t want to end the year on an odd number. So back when I decided to try to get to 300 by the end of the year, I made a list of all the games I haven’t completed on my profile, and picked a few to focus on to get to that final Platinum.

And the one I picked isn’t on that list.

Okay, technically, I’d actually picked Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales to be my 300th. And I was working towards it, until I realized that I was going to have trouble. There are a few trophies that I’m already having issues with. I know that if I put in the time, I might make it, but I didn’t didn’t want to stress on a might. I debated also trying to finish Rime or Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, two games that I have been itching to finally pick up and finish… but it’s been so long since I’ve touched either one, I’d have to restart to be able to play them.

So… I kinda sat back and debated. I wanted to end on something special, like I said. I tossed around Lego Star Wars III or Lego Indiana Jones 2, but I wasn’t in love with the idea. Then I took a good, hard look at what I owned.

I hadn’t considered my Vita.

So I flipped through my games and picked one from a series I liked. My 300th Platinum will be in Lego Jurassic World.

I’ve been playing a bit every night. I finished the first film, which is nine very short levels (as it is the other three films). I’m hoping to take some time this evening to finish at least through the second film, if not start the third. It’s the first playthrough that always takes the longest, but I think I can be done with it by Wednesday. Then it’s the clean up, which won’t take long.

So yes, that is my road to 300 Platinums. I will probably do a post towards the end of the month with goals for 2022, which will include games that I want to play through. But that isn’t here nor there right this second.

Until next time!

Lego Dimensions Adventure Worlds, Somewhat Ranked – Blogtober 2021

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

There’s something that occurred to me the other day. I have never sat down and looked at all thirty Adventure Worlds in Lego Dimension and ranked them. This came back to my mind the other day while answering a question on Reddit, so let’s do it.

Of course, this would be highly opinionated, so I have decided to simplify it. I separated the Worlds into three categories: Fun/Great, Neutral/Indifferent, and Boring/Dislike. I won’t be raking them in numerical order, instead by the order I wrote down the worlds from the wiki, only separated by the three categories. And remember, these are my opinions, not fact.

Let’s start from the “bottom up”

Boring/Disliked Worlds

The Back to the Future World was one of the first that had a “gimmick” to it. Using the Delorian Toy Tag, you are able to access a total of three different versions of Hill Valley. Unfortunately, the majority of tasks are confined to one small space, which means that there is a good amount of the world that just isn’t used, except for space for racing. It just doesn’t do it for me.

Here’s one of my opinon worlds: The Simpsons world is boring. The cel shading on characters is inconsistant, the area is mostly flat, and it did nothing to entise me to watch the damn show. It was always going to be a no from me.

I kinda feel bad about this one, but I’m not a fan of the Scooby Doo world. The cel shading is more consistant, but the world itself mostly feels like it has reused ascets from the level in the game. There really also wasn’t much to do here.

The Knight Rider world from Year 2 is probably one of the more wasted worlds. There’s a very small town, the Vegas strip, and a very large expanse of rocky desert. It’s overly large and boring. The only good thing is you can get a large amount of studs here in a very short amount of time, if you need them.

The final world I dislike is actually the only one I truly hate. That would be the Lego Batman Movie World. It looks unfinished. There’s really no added details to the very straight and plain buildings. There’s nothing that really stands out. For the final world, it’s a big let down.

Neutral/Indifferent

The Ninjago world for me is pretty forgetable. It’s set up beautifully, with enough different spaces that it doesn’t feel boring, but also not over crowded. Unfortunatley, I just have to really think about it before I remember the first thing about the world, which is a shame.

The same can be said for the Legends of CHima world. This world also features some pretty diverse cretaive choices, but really does nothing to make it stand out. It’s done well, and plays with the height limit, but it’s not anything to write home about.

The A-Team world is one that I have trouble classing, as it is part of a group of worlds that I just don’t get the inclusion of (but I’ll discuss that in a bit). The detail here is great, but I had some trouble navigating around, especially with some of the characters.

The first of the Story Packs, the Ghostbusters (2016) world actually looks pretty nice! Except, there is a lot of wasted space due to the inclusion of several skyscrapers that aren’t used for more than decoration, which leaves valuable real estate unavailable. Most of the gold bricks are basically on top of each other, and it just didn’t do it for me.

I kinda feel bad that I’m not that much of a fan of the E.T. world. It’s overly large and decently detailed, but the way they designers chose to lay it out just didn’t work for me. Especially because the trees in the forest just exist to make obstacles for me to fly around. It’s okay, but not one of my favorites.

I do love how very detailed the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them world ended up being. So many of the broken buildings are explorable, and it really fits what the developers were trying to do. On the other hand, it felt very similar to a couple other adventure worlds, and there was a lot of wasted potential around the edge of the world (where they basically ignored 1/5th of the available space.)

My biggest issue with the Gremlins world is that it is pretty dark. I know the “story” of the world is supposed to take place at night, but a lot of the details are shrouded in darkness, while breakable Lego objects are as bright as normal. I did however like how they set it up, though I don’t know much of anything about the franchise.

The Beetlejuice world is split into two large areas. You have the original Saturn area where you spawn in, and it barren and boring. Then you have the Winter River world that you enter from the Saturn area, and it’s so much better. I like one and dislike the other, hence the middle ground.

I’m combining these last two for one reason. My issues are the same. The Powerpuff Girls world and the Teen Titans Go world are almost identical in how they are set up. They are overly bright. Both have a lot of throwbacks to their new cartoons, which is fine, but it would have been nice to see some OG references (or, you know, just ignore Go altogether. It’s still a crime against humanity).

Fun/Great Worlds

The DC Comics world is by far one of the most creative worlds. It merges pieces of Gotham and Metropolis almost seamlessly. The actual layout is amazing. And the fact that Atlantis is hidden below is just gold. It’s a great starting world, and it is clear that a lot of thought was put into it.

Normally, I wouldn’t be caught dead saying anything nice about this franchise, but the Lego Movie world actually surprised me. It combines a good deal of references from the film and game into one world that actually works. There’s a few hidden spots here too, and it’s worth checking out.

The Lord of the Rings world blew my mind when I first played it, as I had yet to touch the full games when I did. It combines most of the important locations from the LotR series, as well as the Lego game. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I love playing through the whole area.

I’m actually not a fan of the film (damn those damn flying monkeys to hell), but I will be the first to say that the Wizard of Oz world is an amazing representation of the film. Featuring all the major locations as well as Kansas in sepia, it’s worth going to simply to see all the references.

If you want to be challenged with puzzles, the Portal 2 world is right up your alley. Most of the gold bricks are hidden by actually challenging tasks, some that actually confused me my first time through. It may be compact, but that adds to the detail. It’s a great representation of the game.

The Doctor Who world is cool, because you build it as you go. There are five pieces that are combined to make one world, and to get all the gold bricks, you have to unlock them all. I had a blast with it once I figured out the gimmick, and I think that it’s highly detailed enough for anyone.

I never expected to like the Jurassic World world, but I ended up really liking it. There are references to all four (at the time) films, including the inclusion of several characters from the original trilogy of films. Except in a few places, it does a great job of emercing the player inot the world.

You’d think since I rated the reboot low, I’d do the same for the Ghostbusters world. Well, you’d be wrong. This version of the film is heavily detailed, including a haunted version of the Titanic. It’s actually a lot of fun, and I usually enjoy taking care of it in one sitting.

It’s hard to create a tribute area. Somehow, the developers created the Midway Arcade world, and it’s amazing. You’re able to access any game you happened to unlock on other levels using the arcade cabinet tag. There are so many little references that I’ve actually had to look a few of them up, because I didn’t know.

Though I was never a fan of the show, I have to admit that the Adventure Time world is well done. The cel shading is pretty consistant, and most of the areas are detailed to the level they are in the show. What really impressed me was that there were a few gold bricks that liked to alude me, which made completing this world all that more sweet.

I absolutely enjoy the Harry Potter world. It’s a near perfect representation of the films and books, and I have too much fun exploring all around. Even Neville makes an appearance! I love that they went with a snowy motief, because it makes Grimmauld Place spooks, and it works.

When I saw that there was going to be a Sonic the Hedgehog world, I laughed. There’s no way that this could be good. Instead, it has ended up becoming the most challenging world in all 30, simply because of the Sonic races. But you know what? I enjoy the challenge, even if I want to throw my controller. So much of the games and comics are represented here, it’s amazing.

The Mission: Impossible world is an amazing representation of the series. So many little details have been preserved, and the challenges are quite good for the most part. I do like that the real world locations are given a detailed respect, which is more than I can say for some.

The Goonies world ended up being a surprise favorite of mine, mostly becasue I liked the fact that you really had to use your brain. Much of the world’s content is up top in the town, but there is a lot underground, which adds depth to the world. I had a blast playing through this one, and I wouldn’t mind going back to it.

And finally, one of my favorite world’s of the entire game: Lego City. You want a damn good representation of source material? Look no further. Much of the game’s iconic locations made their way over, including Blackwell’s tower and the farm. It’s so much fun to run through, especially with Ellie yelling out my ear drums…

Final Thoughts

It’s interesting some of the worlds the developers chose to highlight. The A-Team, Knight Rider, Gremlins… all are properties taht haven’t been revived in the last several years. It was a very wierd choice to include them, as well as E.T. But that’s what I think, not what critics thoughts.

Going back through all 30 adventure worlds was a lot (especially since I ended up redownloading the game and Year 2 patch in the process). I had fun really trying to look at these worlds with a more critical eye.

Was I a bit critical with some? Yes. Was I biased? Also yes. Did I have fun with this trip down memory lane? Yes.

Until next time!

Lego Nintendo Switch Games – Blogtober 2021

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

There’s one console that I always forget has Lego games. Probably because I don’t have any games for it, yet. That’s something that I hope to fix very soon, depending on what happens on the horizon.

So, today (well, tonight, thanks computer for eating the first version of this post, rush rush rush) let me run through some of the Lego Switch games that I’m planning on getting pretty soon.

The first one is an absolute must the moment I can get my hands onto it. Lego City Undercover has remained at the top of my favorites list since the first time I played it, right after I got my PS4. It’s a solid game and one that I turn to when I really want to put in some hours into a video game. To my knowledge the Switch port has the extras that are from the Wii U, which includes a few references to Nintendo properties. I’ve never played that version, so I’m game.

Another must have is actually one I’m (probably) going to sneak and pick up tomorrow if I can swing it, because it was on sale. The Lego Harry Potter Collection includes both games in their entirety. I really enjoy them both, even if they come from the pre-voice era. They stick pretty close to the films, and though I have some issues with pacing, I think they are well done. It’s been a minutes since I touched them, so it’s obviously time. A treat for finishing Whumptober early?

I also want to grab Lego Jurassic World. I’m planning on carving out a few hours to rewatch the first film some time soon, and I really have a wish to sit down and play through this. It’s one that I want to wait until I have some time to dedicate to it, so it can wait a bit if it needs to.

Lego DC Super-Villains is an obvious yes in my book. I loved just how it came together, especially with the inclusion of the original player character. It’s one of the newest and I absolute love every second of it. I still have to play it twice more on Playstation, but I can’t exactly afford to be buying it in two currencies that I don’t know the exchange rate for right now, so… it can wait.

The last games I want to add to my collection are the Lego Marvel games, though I’m not exactly clear which ones have made it onto the console and which ones haven’t (thanks internet). The Marvel games are always important to me, because they helped introduce me to Lego games. I’ve been in the mood to pick up the original game again, so this would work out in spades.

There are of course others on the console, but I’m not going to make them a priority (yet). I’ll get to them eventually (including the dreadful Lego Movie 2 Game, I feel a hate-play coming on). Until then, I guess I’ll just run around Lego Dimensions for the fourth time.

Until next time!