Tag Archives: Shenmue III

Top 15 Games I Didn’t Play Because I’m Not Made of Money

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The money tree I planted in my backyard never really payed dividends, so I couldn’t fiscally find a way to play everything I wanted to this year.  So in no particular order, here are 15 games I wanted to play but couldn’t, because I’m not made of money.

 

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE

I like Call of Duty well enough, but hearing the positive reception it’s been receiving really ramped up my desire to play it.  The original Modern Warfare was responsible for some of my favorite gaming memories with my buddies, and while I know I can’t ever recapture that magic, it would’ve been nice to revisit it.

 

14.) LUIGI’S MANSION 3

I’ve only ever seen other people play any Luigi’s Mansion game with the exception of playing some terrible mini-games in Luigi’s Mansion 3 with friends.  I never owned a Gamecube or Nintendo DS, so I was pretty excited to get the chance to play this newest release on a platform I actually owned.  But like most of the games on this list, life happened, and I had to prioritize other things.  The reception on this one has been mostly positive with some people taking umbrage with the controls.  From what I’ve seen, Luigi’s Mansion 3 seems charming as hell, and I definitely want to check it out.

 

13.) POKEMON SWORD & SHIELD

Okay, I’m not the biggest Pokemon fan, so I can’t say I was actively looking forward to playing this latest entry at all.  But I was curious about what a Pokemon game on a more or less, home console, would actually look like.  Not curious enough to drop sixty big ones on, but still curious.  With this one, I was more just window shopping.

Combine my mild desire to play a Pokemon game with the very mixed and sometimes angry reception of this latest entry, and I think I’m good on never playing it.

 

12.) DEATH STRANDING

Despite the miles of coverage on this game, I still just wanted to try it for myself if only out of pure curiosity.  Most people are pretty split on it either loving it or hating it, but after seeing some of the stuff floating around the internet, mixed with my general dislike of most Kojima games, I’m 100% positive I made the right choice for me.  If you like the game, great, but it doesn’t look right for me.

 

11.) HYPNOSPACE OUTLAW

I’ve been so close to pulling the trigger on this game 3 or 4 times now, but still haven’t for some reason.  It’s this adventure game set in these facsimiles of old 90’s GeoCities pages where you play as a cyber cop that cracks down on infringements and infractions of cyber-law.  It sounds great, but I just never found the right opportunity to go through with buying it.  Luckily, one of my dear friends gifted me Hypnospace Outlaw for the holidays, which means I no longer have an excuse to not play it.

 

10.) SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE

I’m not a Dark Souls guy at all, but people told me that Sekiro, while still being tough, wasn’t as brutal as a traditional Souls game.  Whether they’re telling the truth or not is pretty subjective, but deep down I knew what they actually meant was that this game would still relish in any opportunity to whip my ass.  So I kinda decided to save myself the hassle and just skip it.  Looks really cool though.

 

9.) FIRE EMBLEM: THREE HOUSES

Speaking of games that I definitely wouldn’t be into, the Fire Emblem series is an extremely popular role-playing, turn based RPG with an emphasis on crafting relationships with various NPCs in an effort to make them better fighters… I think.  It’s certainly not a game I would enjoy, but all the praise people were throwing at it did make me curious enough to consider throwing money at it.  Yet after hearing that the game could take upwards of 70-80 hours, I politely declined and moved on.

 

8.) MORDHAU

I really wish I had some friends who would’ve played Mordhau with me.  I enjoyed games like Chivalry back when they came out, and Mordhau just looked like a more refined version of it which was a very appealing proposal to me.  But it isn’t a game I would play unless I knew that I had a crew to roll with.  Buying multi-player focused games is a pretty tough sell for where I’m at in life, but if my friends were down, Mordhau wouldn’t be on this list.

 

7.) CADENCE OF HYRULE

Crypt of the Necrodancer was so cool and unique that I’m surprised it took them so long to make another one.  I’m even more surprised it came in the form of a Zelda-themed game.  For those who don’t know, just like its predecessor, Cadence of Hyrule is a top down dungeon crawling game that has you move and act to the beat of music to attack and move around and all that.  It’s such a neat concept, but I just never got around to picking it up.

 

6.) THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK’S AWAKENING

Two things basically stopped me from actually picking up Link’s Awakening.  The first being that I couldn’t afford it at the time, and the second being that the performance of the game looked really bad.  On top of that, people who had finished it were pretty lukewarm on the later game content.  I’d still like to try it for myself, but probably never will.

 

5.) ANCESTORS: THE HUMANKIND ODYSSEY

This is just like Death Stranding to me in that they’re both fairly inscrutable.  I really wanted to play Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, but after seeing it in action my desires quickly subsided.  There appears to be no direction in how to play or progress which isn’t super enticing for me.  I was ready to approach this game like I was on a fact finding mission and I would report my findings back to all of you.  But yeah, I don’t know that I’m ever going to buy this game.

 

4.) ASTRAL CHAIN

So here’s the thing about Astral Chain that can probably explain exactly why I didn’t play it.  Up until I went to make this list, I forgot it had even come out this year.  I’d heard mixed to positive things about it, but I was on the fence to begin with.  It looked like a cool action game and reports of the satisfying combat definitely piqued my interest, but it just kind of fell off of my radar so hard and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything big.

 

3.) GREEDFALL

I have wanted to like the games that developer Spiders have made in the past, like Mars: War Logs and The Technomancer, but found them to be clunky and mostly uninteresting.  But Greedfall looked like the most comprehensive of all of their offerings and certainly showed well in trailer form.  When it came out, the response was pretty mixed, but there’s still a part of me that wants to give it a fair shake.  There’s also my weird desire to play a big meaty action RPG even though I know that I have a hard time seeing games through to the end.  That is unless they’ve really grabbed me, which is something I doubt Greedfall would have done.

Also, Greedfall?  That’s the name that comes out of an idle game name generator.  It’s a very bad title is what I’m saying.

 

2.) DISCO ELYSIUM

A lot of people have been singing the praises of Disco Elysium and even giving it their top honors this year.  Since it released that’s kind of been the tenor of the conversation around it, so I was definitely intrigued.  But seeing it in action quickly reminded me that it isn’t my kind of game.  A CRPG is most definitely not what I’m looking for, and Disco Elysium looks to be a CRPG-ass CRPG.

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t feeling some sort of FOMO with this game, especially because when I hear it described, it sounds awesome.  I just know that Disco Elysium isn’t a game for me.

 

1.) SHENMUE 3

I just… like… I gotta know.  I need to see this stupid game.  I need to see if after almost twenty years this game is worth a damn at all.  I don’t hate Shenmue games, they were impressive at the time, but they didn’t age well at all.  Hearing that Shenmue 3 feels like a game made in the late 90’s but today, is a wild prospect.  It sounds like the creator of the game, Yu Suzuki, stopped playing games after releasing Shenmue 2 back in 2001, and decided to make another one without looking at any advancement in the industry since.

Give me infinite time and money, and I will give you the review of Shenmue 3 that you all deserve.

 

Now even with an unlimited budget, I don’t think I would have had the time to dedicate to playing all of these games anyway.  It’s a shame I missed out on some of these games, but I’m not balling out in a way that I can buy them all.  Anyway, thanks so much for checking out my list, check back tomorrow for my Game of the Year list.

Blog: A Mild Year – 10/23/19

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Since starting The Bonus World, I’ve always tried to get some sort of end of the year wrap up article together for game of the year season.  Usually by this time in the year I can start constructing some loose amalgamation of a top ten list.  2019 happens to be the first year in a while where I’m having a tough time building that list.

That isn’t to say that the games I’ve played in 2019 have been disappointing or bad, I just found that a lot of what came out this year didn’t really resonate with me.  Things like Kingdom Hearts III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice were received positively, but once again, not my kind of games.  Then we also had some real clunkers like Crackdown 3 and Anthem release early in the year and fade away into obscurity.

I think a lot of it has to do with developers gearing up for the next round of consoles along with the fact that early next year we’re going to be blitzed with some big titles like Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Dying Light 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 to name a few.  2019 just feels like the gap year between the bombastic 2018 we had with Marvel’s Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption II to cherry pick some of my favorites, and the swan-song, end of the generation year of 2020.

Like I said, I don’t think it was a bad year for video games, but when compared to last year and what’s coming up next year, it’s definitely lacking something.  But hey, the year isn’t over yet, so I could eat my words on this.  We’ve got The Outer Worlds and Call of Duty Modern Warfare dropping this Friday (10/26), and games like Luigi’s Mansion 3, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Pokemon, Death Stranding and of course, Shenmue III in the very near future, and any of those games could be great.

But let’s be real here, I’m probably just gonna play Red Dead Redemption II on the PC obsessively and let the other games just slide into the background.

Games to Keep an Eye on in 2019

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With 2018 on the out, it wouldn’t hurt to take a quick look at what confirmed 2019 releases I’m interested in, and think you might be as well.  Most of these are games I’m genuinely looking forward to, and some are pure curiosities.

The first part of this list is going to highlight games that I am actually excited to play.  I’m not saying they’ll all be winners, but these ones are things that have really captured my interest.

The Last Campfire

Announced at The Game Awards of 2018, The Last Campfire is being produced by Hello Games, the folks behind No Man’s Sky.  While my feeling on their previous release is mixed at best, I am interested to see what Hello Games does with a smaller, more focused project.  Considering how much I enjoy the aesthetic of No Man’s Sky, it’s no surprise that The Last Campfire has piqued my curiosity.

Control

I’m not entirely sure what Control is or what it’s going for, but it gives me this weird Psi-Ops vibe and I’m okay with that.  The game certainly has a style and looks like it’s going to do some pretty abstract stuff aesthetically.

Afterparty

Maybe you remember Oxenfree, maybe you don’t, but the folks at Night School are making another intensely charming game, yet this time it has an even more unbelievable premise:  You have to beat the devil in a drinking contest to come back to life.  Regardless of whether you think this game would be for you, you have to admit that it has a pretty amazing premise.

Sable

I have no idea what is going on in Sable, but I know that I love everything about the way it looks already.  It’s pitched as a “coming-of-age tale of discovery through exploration across a strikingly rendered open world desert.” and I think that sounds pretty exciting.  Plus, just look at it.

Cloudpunk

You know what would make 2019 an infinitely better year?  More cyberpunk themed games.  Cloudpunk certainly nails the aesthetic, but I’m genuinely curious if it delivers on more than the cyberpunk standard tropes that talk about how evil the corporations are.  Like, yeah, we know they’re evil, but tell me about your cool robot arms.  Hopefully Cloudpunk delivers a fresh take on this well-worn territory.

Tunic

Every time I see Tunic, I’m reminded of just how impressive it looks.  I really like the style it’s going for, but the game-play looks like it’ll hold up it’s end of the bargain.  But first impressions can be deceiving.  We’ll find out soon, I suppose.

My Friend Pedro

Just look at this darn game.  It’s absolutely bananas and I don’t actually believe that it’s going to be anything more than a “cool moment” generator, but just look at some of the stuff you can do.  I don’t think anything else has been said about the game, but I’m super interested in what’s been shown off so far.

Ooblets

Ooblets looks like the beautiful lovechild between Harvest Moon, Pokemon and Animal Crossing.  It’s such a delight to look at and it just seems like it’s gonna make you feel good to play.  I’m always up for a game that charms me so much that my cheeks hurt from all the smiling.

Body of Evidence

I’ll be the first to admit that Body of Evidence doesn’t necessarily look like a game that’s gonna take the world by storm, but I just really like the pitch that it puts forward.  Cleaning up the evidence from a crime scene?  Count me in.  I already have a weird fascination with these simulation games, so this just seems like a fun spin on one of those.

Untitled Goose Game

Yeah, you know this game had to be on the list.  I aspire to be a horrible goose prankster everyday of my life, and soon there’s going to be a game that allows me to do that?  Yeah Untitled Goose Game, I’m picking up what you’re putting down.  And I sure hope they never change the name of the game.

Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing is so good.  It’s such a wonderful and pleasant game that I wish had a better mobile version than it got.  While in my mind I’ve envisioned a fully realized version of Animal Crossing existing on my iPhone, having on the Switch is the next best thing.  Here’s to hoping it lives up to expectations.

The Zone of Curiosities

Whereas everything you’ve seen up till now are games that I’m actually pretty excited for, the next few are games that I’m still not entirely sure how to feel about.

Anthem

The first game I’d like to highlight in The Zone of Curiosities is Anthem.  I was not a very big fan of Destiny, and I know this is a different thing, but that’s the comparison that EA has opened themselves up to with Anthem.  I would love for Anthem to be it’s own unique thing and really impress me, but I’m just so weary of multiplayer focused games these days.

Crackdown 3

I want Crackdown 3 to be good, I’m just afraid that the Crackdown formula doesn’t work in modern games anymore.  Even when Crackdown came out on the Xbox 360 it felt a little archaic.  I would love to see a modern take on the franchise, but somehow Crackdown 3 doesn’t seem like it’s doing much to innovate.  But I guess I don’t really know anything about it.

Shenmue III

Even if you aren’t a fan of the Shenmue games, you have to be curious right?  I have no real issues with the Shenmue games, but I haven’t played them in years so who knows how I’d feel today.  But damn, I am so curious to see how this thing pans out.

In the Valley of Gods

I loved Firewatch and that alone is reason for me to be excited for the next game from Campo Santo, but I just feel like I know literally nothing about this game.  It sure looks like it’s got the Firewatch vibe nailed down, but I want to know more.

Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts is one of my favorite games, and for years I’ve wanted a sequel.  It’s actually happening and I’m eager to take a look at what the sequel to a game released in 2005 actually looks like.  Psychonauts was a good platformer that won so many people over because of it’s charm, but I wonder if they can replicate that in a a sequel over a decade later.