I'll start with the good first... actually more average than good and then the bad... and by bad I mean close to Red Banner bad. I did play one more game and this will get it's write-up when I finish everything... or ragequit if I can't. Funny thing is, if I do ragequit, this is all on me!

FROG CLIMBERS (2016)
Rock Climbing Co-Op Game
TeamCrew
A co-op multiplayer game that is played by 4 players controlling a frog with controller climbing a mountain. The controls are odd and this is the type of game I rage quit but I did the tutorial and the Daily mountain (single player and every day has a new mountain). That's where I call it a day. WIth friends, the game looks like it could be fun though is no longer sold on Steam. I currently have a messed up finger and this actually made it hurt and well as my other hand. Other than that it's not the worst thing ever.

If you wanted a game to play with friends that more likely than not would have got you all angry then yes, I would have recommended this. It's no longer on Steam though.

GOLDEN AXED: A CANCELLED PROTOTYPE (2020)
Side Scrolling Action
Sega Studios Australia, The Eccentric Ape
This is a prototype of a new Golden Axe game in 2.5D. The game was originally developed in 2012 and cancelled. The prototype is only 5 minutes long, has no magic system and repetitive combat though character models and backgrounds were decent.

Calling in Golden Axed was a dick move bt Sega though, as was the original marketing for it that basically called the game a joke. Imagine working on a game, having it cancelled (it actually looked like it had some potential) and then the company cancelling it releasing your prototype and basically telling people that this is janky crap. An original developer called them out (rightfully) and the game was removed from Steam. When you start it now, the intro blurb is a lot nicer to the game.

If this was still available then I would have recommended this. It's only 5 minutes long but an interesting look at a game we could have had.

INDECISION (2018)
Platformer
bilge
A small platformer in which you kind of make decisions and try to get all achievements... I have 6 of the 31 left. I will use a guide for the rest but onnotes noes want to work so I might be doing something wrong. There are a few minor issues. Once you do one of the screens, you need to finish the game off before starting from the beginning. I messed up the first platforming section twice so had to wait for playthrough 3 to get the achievement. Another is having to do the game over and over to get some of the achievements (the game is really short though).

I'd recommend this as it's short but it won't be everyone's cup of tea. Get it on sale though.

WANBA WARRIORS (2019)
Fighting Game
Wanba Studio, Beijing Big Puteng Technology Co., Ltd.
This is more multiplayer focused but I decided to try the single player. I could not get a hang of the controls at all... they absolutely awful!

Not recommended at all.

And the above isn't the really bad game...

NOTTOLOT (2024)
Puzzle Game
Bandai Namco Studios Inc., Bandai Namco Online Inc.
Just because a game is short, free, has good graphics and sound, it doesn't automatically make it a good game.

The graphics and music are nice. The robots are nicely designed and there are some interesting puzzles. To need to hack robots to get to solve puzzles. My little robot sometimes couldn't do this and would die causing a restart of the level.

Stage 1 was good. The puzzles were interesting. I got 2 out of 3 collectibles and would have gone back later to get the 3rd.

Stage 2 was were the problems started. The last part of the stage was confusing but I finally figured what to do. I did die due to bad controls but decided to try again. I then restart the third part and I get stuck in a wall and then fall in a void... I rage quit. I gave it some time and went back and... I had to do Stage 2 from the start. I easily did it. Again I missed a collectible.

Stage 3 is when my blood began to boil. On the first part I died once due to controls but this was fine. What wasn't fine was having an enemy push me until again, I get stuck in the terrain. I just had to restart the second part. I then had to control a robot that climbs walls and I finally was going to progress until I ended up falling through the terrain again. I then finally did it. The next part involved a robot that sucked at moving over platforms. When it did work, I had to go over platforms that would fall... There was a collectible near one. I failed over and over trying to get it so skipped it.

I get to the final part and the puzzle game decided to be a game of reflexes... this I could do perfectly lol.

What sucked as well was cutscenes (they were really short) not being skippable. I did watch a Youtube video and he did get the collectible first attempt so some of these issue might just be me sucking. Falling a few times through the level in such a short game though is totally on the game.

I don't recommend it but people wanting a short free puzzle game might actually like this because as I wrote earlier, some of the puzzles are decent.

These are just the Steam VR games. I'm not sure I have others in other launchers.

CLOUDBORN
FILTHY, STINKING, ORCS!
The VR Mods for HALF-LIFE, HALF-LIFE 2, HL2 EPISODE 1 and HL2 EPISODE 2
MUSEUM OF OTHER REALITIES
REPUBLIQUE VR
THE TEAR
WADDLE HOME

I'm finally adding all the Steam games to my excel file and the weirdest thing has happened... I'm sure I bought GTA V from somewhere... yet I can't bloody find it on any launcher... luckily I claimed it when it was free on Epic but this is really odd. Actually, this is going to bloody drive me insane!

EDIT: I installed the Rockstar launcher and GTA V is in my library... this has either linked to my Epic account (though I don't think it has) or I bought it from Rockstar themselves.

EDIT 2: I finally know the backlog size... though I'm sure there are some games not added. These are CD and DVD games that I can try to install (though most I won't) while other games are just installers that just install the game with no launcher.

Now to figure out what I have finished... what I have retired... etc...

EDIT 3:I need to check back on this thread to finalise all finished stuff but without that the backlog is 2107 games (though some are various versions of the same game). I've so far found 177 games either finished or retired though there are lots more... in other words... the backlog is out of control lol especially when I add the Capcom bundle to it lol

Also, I've realised... it's not a backlog... it's a collection of games... which are backlogged d'oh

The plan now is to find every game that can be finished in less than an hour and start on those. I can also later on get rid of dead multiplayer games and put games that can't be finished to the side... Sims 3, Rust etc... dammit... I now want to play Rust.

Also decided to not do the hidden cat games yet.

EDIT 4: I am going to add a single banner for the small games played unless they are really good and deserve their own. What I'm playing at the moment is going to get its own banner! Also technically, completion time is a bit over an hour, played it by mistake... yay for mistakes!

While looking through all those games I decided to finish one that I had already started, Doodle God but I had already finished it... very odd. I couldn't find a write-up here but might have written something about it. Anyhoo, I had the sequel!



PUZZLES THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE...
* You combine different elements to make new ones and then combine those etc...
* Except in this bloody game, the combinations do not make sense... in the first they did.
* Even worse, sometimes they would not work.
* There were other game modes and a slot machine. I used the slot machine to get coins, unlocked the most powerful demon in Demon Battle mode, and you had to fight other demons. This game coins... I then bought hints and quickly finished this off (except it took forever). How did I know some elements would not work? I tried one and nothing and then used a hint... and the hint was the two elements I was trying.

...AND THIS IS JUST A MOBILE CASHGRAB
* You get Daily rewards and there are coins you can use for hints and to unlock the demons for Demon Battle. Daily rewards on a PC Game?!? How odd!
* I went to check the achievements on one was to like the devs on Facebook (You can't do this on PC lol) Another was to buy Mana from the store (mana for what? Demon Battle used mana but I did not see an option to buy) and a third achievement was to leave a review. A review?!? How about your game sucks!
* I'm sure the elements are so awful to try and combine that they expect people to buy hints.
* There is a commentator who sometimes speaks and during the slot game one of his comments is something about the player having a gambling problem... no... this game is a gambling problem. Another achievement is to get a jackpot... the odds of that are bugger all so once again if someone wants all achievements then give them money. If I got lucky and got enough to buy the good demon so money was not an issue.

Do I recommend the game? Not at all... I got it for free on Indigala (it's around 10 euros on Steam) and I still don't think it was worth the time I took to finish it. After all the above, I'm surprised I didn't Red Banner this...

I've probably mentioned this before... but I freakin' hate Ubisoft's launcher... a lot of times I can't log in and need to change the password which is irritating, though this time it actually worked straight away.

Anyhoo, I know it's probably a bad idea, but I'm getting an excel file with all my games (most of them as some are on DVD and I'm not bothering with those as I have most online anyway) so I can actually see how big the backlog is. I have a feeling it's going to be around 2000 games... how the hell this happened, I don't know lol.

There was some free DLC the other day and I couldn't figure out where I had the game. Also, I have some games on different launchers. It's time to sort things out. The plan is to find all the shorter games and start on those. I then see which larger AAA games to play.

Also, another part of my hatred for Ubisoft is The Crew showing in my games library as inactive. People bought this game yet it can never be played again. There are petitions to try and rectifiy this situation. I actually wanted to replay The Crew before it shutdown but you couldn't replay the story... WTF! I'm sure I've mentioned this before but a game so good being lost media now is depressing.

EDIT: I'm sure I have a billion itch.io and indigala games and haven't added those yet or Steam games yet... but EA, GOG, Epic and Ubisoft alone are 702 games. Most of these are Epic freebies. There is something good about this... most of these games I picked up for free, a lot were in bundles and the rest heavily discounted. I'm sure only Spore and Sims 3 were bought at full price.

EDIT 2:Rather amusingly, after adding itch.io (I forgot I bought a bundle lol) and Indigala (whose launcher was a disaster to get running and exporting the list of games was a pain) the list without Steam is exactly 1000 games. I think some of these are duplicates, I know that free to play games on Steam do not count on game total and I have other games that are not prom any laucher and the total backlog is over 2000 games... The Horror... the horror...

I CAN'T REMEMBER IF I MENTIONED THIS BUT I LIKE CATS
* Nine minutes to find all 100 cats and get all 100 achievements, the art in this wasn't as good as the other ones I played.

Do I recommend the game? Might as well... Free and less than 10 minutes to finish.

Around a year ago, I played the first chapter (ride) of this from Humble Choice and ended up being curious enough that I bought the full game. The Humble Choice version was basically Shareware... anyone remember Shareware? I finally got around to playing it.

BASICALLY A WALKING SIMULATOR...
* more of a passenger simulator and you are usually a passenger in a car.
* There are five Rides and each one involves a conversation with an NPC.
* There are also light puzzles but the gameplay is actually kind of limited.

...THAT IS STORY DRIVEN...
* If people are expecting a lot of gameplay, this is not the game for them. It's about the story itself.
* The story is good enough that I wanted to know what would be the outcome.
* The graphics were decent and the voice acting, really good so this drove (lol) the story along.
* I don't know what to think of the ending though.

... AND NOW THE SPOILER SECTION!
]* Each Ride felt different.
* Ride 1 had a horror feel to it. Actually more dread than anything.
* Ride 2 has a playful feel to it.
* Ride 3 was an odd David Lynch experience... think of Twin Peaks.
* Ride 4 was more serious (human trafficking, people escaping their homes due to war etc)
* Ride 5 was when it made sense... the ending is open to interpretation but for me was a sad ending.


Do I recommend the game? Yes, if you want more of a story/conversation driven game but be warned... it's short and there isn't a lot of gameplay. For this reason, it's better to wait for a sale as it's kind of not worth it at full price.

I really need to stop watching so much Youtube and actually start gaming. The only good thing is I have other PC stuff that needs doing and I do it while watching Youtube. The advantage of having a large widescreen monitor.

I played some Streetfighter II and Final Fight and the emulation is perfectly fine. The games seem to have other game modes and stuff so I'll probably pick up the Humble Bundle after all. Yay... more backlog stuff!

The game that I said I would finish today, I'll finish tomorrow... funny thing is, this game is less than 4 hours yet I still haven't finished it. What's weird is, I like the game so I really should finish it. Anyhoo, the write-up will be a weird one... a lot of it might be in spoiler tags.

I played some Hellbound Survival and it was just OK. Only tried one Arena and only for a few minutes so I might try one day to actually finish the arena's though it will be hard. It's not good enough to get rid of the Shitty Badge but not bad enough to give the game a Red Banner.

I have started a new game and should be finished by tomorrow. I wrote about this game a year ago... seems like it was yesterday!

Also, probably a bad idea but I'm tempted to buy the Capcom Humble Bundle. 60 or so arcade classics (I have played most of these before, some emulated using Mame and others on actual arcade machines... I'm old). 12 Street Fighter classic games and I like Street Fighter II (though I was a Mortal Kombat guy) but this has Street Fighter IV on it and I hate that game with a vengeance. I can't remember if I gave it a Red Banner here... I could not win a single fight, even on easy and I'm the guy who plays a fighting game for a bit, sets it to a hard difficulty and while losing a lot, am competitive. Street Fighter V might be better though.

I'll wait and see if I want to get the bundle (I'd read reviews on how these old games run) but will probably end up getting it.

EDIT: I seem to already have the Capcom Arcade Stadium (which has the retro games) but only have Street Fighter II and Final Fight. The reviews are mixed though but it seems to be due to each game being DLC that's around 2 euros. so for everything it's really expensive. I'm going to install it now and see how these games run.

Yay... a new badge! I wanted to give the latest game I played a Red Banner of Sucktitude but decided I won't.



DIFFICULT JUST FOR THE SAKE OF BEING DIFFICULT...
* The game starts with a warning that this was made like it was the 90's so might be difficult for some players. Awesome,,, I'm old school...
* ... except in this game, difficult means not giving enough ammo at the start of the first mission and having an enemy that throws fireball... like a mortar... from halfway across the map... and it's brown and blends into the background.
*... difficult is having your weapons sometimes decide not to fire... in a bloody FPS game.
*... difficult is having beginner's traps (walk into a new area and get attacked within seconds, or even worse, get given full health and armour before the final boss, walk into the new area and have a guy fire a rocket at you straight away.)
* I started playing on Old School difficulty (Hard) and switched to Normal.

... AND UGLY AS HELL...
* In 4K this game looks hideous. You can fix some setting by editing the .ini but that's not my bloody job.

...AND AWFUL DIALOGUE...
* That was written by a 12 year old who thinks swearing is cool and edgy
* Three lines did make me laugh... one was stolen from Lord of the Rings though! Actually a lot of dialogue was taken from other sources.

... AND HARDLY ANY CONTENT...
* People have completed the campaign in less than 2 hours... I somehow took 5 but this was with running around lost due to a button press not registering, due to shitty level design, due to dying over and over to cheap deaths (you know what's awesome... spawning enemies behind the player), cheap enemies (the mortar enemy, a flying enemy that teleports and another that charges at the player).
*There are 7 short levels, 5 different weapons and 5 different enemies)

... BUT A FEW THINGS WERE FINE...
*The shotgun (a triple shotgun) was a good weapon (when the firing worked). The stopped the charging enemies and the flying enemies with it alternate fire (all three barrels).
*Two levels involved a survival round. A whole lot of enemies charging at you and you needed to kill them all... In open areas, that was chaotic fun.

...SO AFTER ALL THAT, NO RED BANNER?!?
*No, as I just unlocked survival mode. I haven't tried it yet but if this is arena based shooting with an open arena and the weapons decided to behave, then this could be fun.

This was just a bad Doom clone from Argentina that's not worth the paying price (I got it in a Bundle). It uses a Doom style Font and the map screen if exactly like the original Doom. You got the usual stats including finishing time and par time... If you die and reload a save or a checkpoint though the timer breaks lol
This game get a "It's kind of Shitty" badge. If the Survival Mode is the greatest thing ever I might get rid of the badge (but it will need to be Game of the Year great). If Survival mode is absolutely Godawful, I probably should Red Banner this but I won't.

Do I recommend the game? No. Especially if you pay full price.

I need to go back and finish some of the collectibles but the story itself was finished.

THE GAME PLAYS GREAT...
* Sniping felt awesome and the impact of the bullets was perfect. Lining up a shot and seeing the bullet fly through the air and then getting an X-ray of the damage was satisfying.
* Shooting with the other weapons also felt really good. Throwing grenades was also good as they would go exactly where I wanted them to go.
* Movement felt good and the controls were really good.
* I usually hate stealth but if you wanted to you could stealth most of this game as sneaking up to enemies and killing them from behind, using a silent pistol for a head shot or using the sniper rifle when loud sound masked it (planes flying overhead or sabotaging a generator to make noise) was easily done. You could also pick up bodies and move them so they would not be found.
* Going full Rambo was also an option if you decided to make noise, popping off the enemies hearing your shots.
* I'm also a fan of the collectibles and that you can go back later on to find them in another playthrough.

...THE GAME LOOKS AND SOUNDS GREAT...
* For a game made in 2014, this looks awesome in 4K. Each of the 8 maps is highly detailed.
* The enemies also look really good and the death animations are good as well. I did see some enemies clip into each other after dying but this was really rare.
* Physics felt spot on as well though very rarely a body would die and remain in an odd position.
* Bones and major organs getting shot and broken in X-ray mode was brutal. You could quickly skip these but I watched most times.
* The voice acting was good throughout and explosions were nice and loud. The sound of the bullet speeding through the air was a highlight.

...THERE WERE SOME ISSUES THOUGH...
* The game had a few crashes. Most of the time no progress was lost but every once in a while it was. This was more of an annoyance than gamebreaking.
* I like the achievement though playing the game multiple times to get them all seems like padding.
* What I didn't like was an achievement to own the previous 2 games to be able to get it. For achievement hunters, this is not good. The older games are also rather expensive still.

...BUT I STILL HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!
* The shooting felt great, the game looked great and sounded great.
* The story was decent and the game moved at a fast pace.
* The optional objectives felt like they belonged in game world.
* There are different difficulties so anyone can play it.
* This gets a new badge. A Gold Skull means I highly recommend the game.

Do I recommend the game? No... all of the above was a lie lol Of course I recommend it. It might not be the greatest game ever but what it does, it does really well.

EDIT:I've gone back to the collectibles on Cadet (easy mode) and I hate it... no ballistics at all so you just shoot... this is actually harder as you can't really place your shots. I also realised I am missing some weapon parts... problem is... I don't know which ones. I might not actually try for these as this might add a whole lot of time to the game.

EDIT 2:If the shooting was only like cadet mode, this would get a Red Badge lol. Also I'm missing 3 weapon parts and the silly game doesn't tell you if you get them all on a particular mission. I'm trying to get them as quick as possible but weapon parts involve killing a particular enemy and these guy might be at the end of the mission. I think one is after you finish all objectives. I probably should walk away, because if I don't that Gold Skull is going to go away.

Mission 6 of Sniper Elite 3 done (and yes, I know it's actually Sniper Elite III) and for the first time, I managed to get all collectibles on a map. I think if I replay missions, the collectibles I already got won't be there... hopefully.

I'm going to try to finish this tomorrow by doing the last two missions. So far I've just been doing a mission per day but I want to finish this off soon. I'll also try to to finish all the collectibles off and try the arena game mode.

I don't know what to play next, maybe something short. I do feel like playing a Point and Click Adventure though. I might replay Runaway: A Road Adventure as I remember enjoying it. I want to play this first to get to both sequels, which I never played. It took 10 hours last time.

Something though is telling me it's time for Two Worlds II.

Another mission done, another crash but this one might have been on me as I was about to reach a checkpoint but backed out so game got confused. Anyhoo, mission 5 is done at 10 hours in-game time so it is taking 2 hours per mission. Once again all side objectives done but some collectibles missed. I could probably use a map and try to get them while playing now but this will break up the flow of the game.

I've also noticed the game has an arena survival mode so that might be fun. I also kind of regret doing this on normal mode though the harder modes will probably have added hours of frustration to the game. Add this to the list of games I will try to come back to but this time it will be a playthrough on the harder difficulties. This is one of those games I can see myself replaying later on.

During the last mission the coolest thing ever happened... I shot an enemy sniper through his scope and through his eye! Then the uncoolest thing happened... you don't get an achievement for this. Probably not an achievement due to the extreme luck it takes to do this. My shot obviously wasn't luck though lol

Losing progress in Sniper Elite 3 due to crashing sucks but I did get a collectible I would have missed. Mission 4 was finished and the in-game time is around 8 hours while Steam is 10 hours. That actually seems correct due to the crashing (and replaying stuff) and doing stuff in the main menu (like loadouts).

Also, WWE2k24 really wants me to buy it. It's now 15.00 euros for the regular edition. I'm tempted to buy it but I also want some of the extra wrestlers so would need the season pass (I want CM Punk for example) except one of the DLC packs is for Pat McAfee and his friends. McAfee himself is cool but bugger if I know who his friends are... also, what in God's name is a Post Malone?!? These DLC packs have overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam. Do we really need non-wrestlers in DLC packs?!? McAfee is a commentator and has competed before (and is actually rather good). I'm not a Bad Bunny fan (he is in WWE2k23) but he had 2 matches and again, the guy is good for a non-wrestler). Anyhoo, I'm waiting for WWE2k25 as I don't want to start buying the game every year.

Sniper Elite 3 is being a butthead by crashing at least once per play session. It just did it again. This will end up turning an excellent game into a really good one.

I'm also using a new tactic and I kind of feel evil for doing it. If there is a group of enemy soldiers, I will shoot the first guy and try not to kill him and then stop firing. When one of the other soldiers comes to check on the first guy, I will take him out. The first guy will usually die from the wound or if I get lucky, I will get a double kill.

Sniper Elite 3 has just pissed me off to the point of retirement... and I just realised that it's not the games fault lol

Every mission has a long shot. From a Sniper Nest, you need to hit a far target. I did this first go and then a few minutes later died. Since I had manually saved just before the shot I though I needed to do it again. I suddenly couldn't do it. I then bloody realised that the long shot had already been completed so didn't need to be done again. This is after a good twently minutes of trying. I also went to check something so might need to redo the entire mission. I've been doing this mission for God knows how long... d'oh

EDIT: FFS, a minute after writing this, I restarted the game, tried the Long Shot and got it first attempt. I think the game's aiming might have gone off until restarting... It was the bloody games fault lol

Other than that, and 2 crashes (so far), the game is really good!

EDIT 2: Mission 3 took nearly 4 hours! I did miss one collectible though but as I wrote before, I will try to get them all later. I'm not going for all achievements though as one is to complete this on the harder difficulty. This means making sniper shots without any help which means dealing with ballistics, not knowing when you need to relocate when the enemy is on to you and no minimap. Even if I get really good at this and I decided to do this there is another achievement I won't get. Owning this, Sniper Elite 1 and Sniper Elite 2. As awesome as this has been so far, having a playing need to own older games in the series to get an achievement is a dick move. Luckily, if I finish the game 100% without all achievement done, I still consider it 100%.

Sniper Elite 3 is only 8 missions long. I've done 2 and they've taken me 4 hours... and this is without all the collectables. I am enjoying it enough that I will go back for the collectables I missed later on.

I'm also the world's worst sniper! Not in the shooting itself as I'm decent, it's the other stuff. A few times in mission 2, things went totally wrong (a common theme!) and after I realised there was (for example) a generator I could have sabotaged to make noise and cover my shots.

And in other exciting news... I got my first testicle shot!

I would usually just wait for Black Friday but recently have been checking sales for PC games regularly... though I shouldn't as my backlog is huge. I usually won't buy something unless it's something I really want or if it's really cheap. I couldn't pass up Skyrim: Special Edition for 5 euros for example. It's been well over a decade since I bought a new full price game. I have enough stuff to play that I can wait to play newer games.

Yay... first game finished for the month!



I LIKE CATS!
This took a grand total of 8 minutes to finish. There are 100 hidden cats on a black and white screen. You need to find them. Each cat is an achievement so those people who like achievements will like this.

Do I recommend the game? Yes... it's free, short simple and fun... and I'm a cat person!

EDIT:
I'm on a roll!



DID I MENTION I LIKE CATS?
This one was in colour and took 10 minutes as it a tiny bit harder. These games have one level with another level that can be bought as DLC. I'm sure I've reviewed 2 of the previous cat games. Also once again, 100 achievements.

Do I recommend the game? Once again, yes, for the same reasons above.

EDIT 2: There is another 12 of these games. I'm adding them to Steam but won't finish them tonight.

I haven't been gaming a lot as I've needed to fix some videos, I've been playing with AI generated images, I've been catching up on wrestling and watching a whole lot of Youtube. For some reason Youtube has suggested me Pokemon collecting videos... I know nothing about Pokemon though I do like collecting stuff so been watching a whole lot of them including a 4 1/2 hour video of a guy trying to collect one of every card. It was awesome lol

I also watched a video that started with a guy looking at Mass Effect Legendary Edition and saying that he might as well buy it as it's cheap. The he commented that he just reached 1000 games on Steam and he plays bugger all. He decided to start trying each game. Good Lord... this guy is me lol! Actually motivated me to play!

I've started Sniper Elite 3 and did the first mission so far and am enjoying it. I have missed some optional and collectable stuff but I plan on playing on Normal difficulty, finishing the campaign and then going back and quickly replaying missions on easy to get my missing collectables.

I was also close to 2 guys and instead of changing to a close range weapon I used my sniper rifle and... good Lord this game is brutal with x-ray kill cam.

I like when you install a game and you think to yourself that it will be a disaster... one of those crappy Steam games that a flooding the store, and you end up getting something decent.

Ultimate Zombie Defense is one of those games. It's a defense game in which zombies come from the top and screen and you shoot them and build stuff to stop them. I'm playing this single player and have only played using the one character (a heavy) and as a timewaster, this isn't bad at all. I'll probably just play for the achievements and never touch it again but if I ever run out of stuff to play (will never happen lol) then I could do a lot worse than this game.

I also installed a whole lot of stuff yesterday and will figure what to play next.

I was going to edit the previous post but won't...



I have gotten rid of the Red Banner of Sucktitude but this game now has a stamp on it... Bloody Disappointing. I'll be adding these stamps to some of my banner.

THE DRIVING IS GOOD AS IS THE DRIFTING...
* For the most part, the driving feels good as you are in control of the car most of the time.
* Drifting around corners feels really good but this depends on the car you use.
* The graphics are OK as is the sound though I finally turned off the music, my driver and the announcer off. This was more of an anger thing than a bad game thing.
* The tracks are also OK but the last one I played is awful though this might be the game's fault not the actual track.

... AND SOME OF THE GAME MODES ARE FUN...
* The Grand Prix (series of races) are OK except the last one is a pain.
* Single Races are decent
* Cops and Robbers (which I explained previously) is a good idea done bad.
* Drive or Explode is a mode in which you need to keep on driving fast or you blow up (like the movie Speed). Each checkpoint ups the speed you need to have. This is a good idea... once again does badly. You seem to take damage if the AI cars bump into you and with the agressive AI, this mode becomes a nightmare.
* Barrel Barrage is fun! You drive around trying not to blow up. Every checkpoint you get a barrel which you can throw behind you. Smash into a barrel, you take damage. You then need to drive fast and try to avoid any barrels that haven't been destroyed yet
* Time Trials can bit me as the AI ghost car seems to go way too fast though this might be me sucking.

... AND ALL THE GOOD IS UNDONE AND THE GAME NEARLY RUINED
* Aggressive AI is sometimes fun to deal with but the AI in this game is way too aggressive. If you get turned around for face a wall and need to go backwards, you will need to just give up. The AI will sometimes make you spin around.
* The rubberbanding is the game breaker. The AI drivers will always catch you no matter how well you drive. It's a case of do nothing, get to the last lap and boost away hoping the AI aggression doesn't screw you over. If you are coming last though and struggling, then the game won't rubberband for you.

Do I recommend the game? No. If multiplayer was still working then this would have been fun to play with people but the rubberbanding is single player ruins this game.

This game can bite me!

The AI is way too agressive which actually breaks some game modes. That is a problem but not as bad as the rubberbanding. If you are first then the AI will catch you. If you are struggling though, then it's go fuck yourself as the rubberbanding doesn't work the other way.

I'm on the last Grand Prix. The races are now 1 lap longer and the AI seems to have ramped up a notch in aggression and bloody speed. I win race 1 (barely), I win race 2 (barely) and get to race 3 and this track is horrendous. I come in 6th and am losing the Grand Prix by a single point. The next track is even worse, the AI even more aggressive and I quickly am last. No rubberbanding for me. I finally catch them and an AI car decides to stops so I plough into him and get spun around. If you are spun around, you are screwed and the reverse in this game sucks. I then ragequit knowing I had to replay the first 3 races. That shit ain't happening.

EDIT: I tried again, won race 1 easily, won race 2 easily, was about to win race 3 and got spun around... again I ragequit.

EDIT 2: Another attempt, another failure. Finally one more attempt and I won race 1, race 2 and race 3 and went into race 4 5 or so points ahead. I then lead for 2 laps until the AI decided to screw me over and I ran dead last. Dead last as in the other cars finished, went to the pub, had a beer and I was still driving. I don't know why but I can't finish this particular race. Anyhoo, checked the final standings and... the drivers ahead of me also screwed up and finish low so the Grand Prix was won lol

Now I have a choice to made... do I leave the Red Banner. The Rubberbanding is game breakingly bad and the AI way too psycho but the driving itself feels good.

Hotshot Racing has a game mode called Cops and Robbers. Holy Crap... it is all kinds of awful! The idea is good enough... there are are robbers trying to get to a checkpoint to get money that decreases over time (so the faster you get it, the more cash) and cops try to stop them. When a car is destroyed by a cop, you become a cop. The one with the most money wins. The problem is that cops absolutely destroy the person coming first so getting the most money is hard. And being a cop sucks as controlling these cars to ram into robbers also sucks.

Anyhoo, I did somehow come first in this lol

EDIT: Drive slow and get checkpoints on point. When you are in the lead, lets the cash run out of a checkpoint and it's an easy win! If I need cash for cosmetics, I'm just doing this over and over... and I get to do the car challenges along the way! I am trying to get an achievement though but failing... finish a race as a robber, which means don't get rammed by cops and don't let the timer run out. Trying to do this is how I worked out how to come first!

EDIT 2: I was just looking at the achievements and some of these I won't get like winning 9 online matches... Another complaint this game with reviews is writing there is multiplayer... devs abandoned it and the servers were shut down so no achievements for me:( Not that I'm actually good enough to win an online race :)

The time trials can also bite me. The ghost car within seconds is out of sight and drives perfectly.

EDIT 3: I might need to add a new banner just because of this game... Anyhoo, another Grand Prix was just won... only a few to go.

I started a new game and was actually going to Red Banner it... I won't though. Hotshot Racing is an arcade racing game and it started off well enough. I did my first race in Single Race and won! The race seemed kind of hard. I thought it was due to being my first race. Anyhoo, I needed to stop for a while and noticed a few achievements. One was for coming first in an Arcade mode. I then noticed... this was done by 46% of players. Less than half the people playing this either just played the Grad Prix (a series of races) or the game is too bloody hard.

There are a few issues... rubberbanding. Most negative Steam reviews are due to this. The AI is also way too aggressive. I was also not a fan of the driving or the drift mechanics. I then did a Grand Prix and just barely won race 1, race 2 was a disaster so I restarted it. This started the whole Grand Prix. I ragequit and started making a red banner.

I then decided, one more try. I took a fast car that drifts well... screw Acceleration. When you drift, you get a nitro boost. I kept up with the other cars due to my speed and was drifting to build up my boost. Last lap was me using the boost. The AI was still right behind me (and occasionally overtaking) but on the last stretch, I boosted all the way. Four races, four wins!

I've decided to finish all the Grand Prix on Normal but more likely than not, I'm going nowhere near hard or Expert modes. Also there are cosmetics to buy (ingame) and I might try to get as many as I can). Each car has its own challenges (drift for 500 meters total for example) and these unlock stuff. This might be an issue though as some of these cars won't be used a lot. I need fast cars that can drift.

Anyhoo, if I get better at this I might try to do all challenges.

I can see why a lot of people do not like the game, but I can also see why a lot of people like it.