31 Days of Games You Might Be Interested In

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Ohhhhh nooooooo. Games are too expensive/Industry Veterans won't stop being sex pests/I'm a pedant that needs to find one new game a day for December or I will W A S T E A W A Y.

Well, that's okay... in a strangely schizophrenic sort of way. But Tazy has you covered!

For every day in December, ending on the 31st this time and not the 25th, I will recommend you a game that either got the pass at some point in its history, was a little popular but was forgotten in the shuffle, or is good enough for personal reasons that you can't judge me for.

Oh, and I've done this once already: http://forums.vgf.com/viewtopic.php?f=498&t=98201
I'm not using anything I already had in this topic here. Other than that the sky is the literal limit. AND If for some reason I skip a day, I will put as many games in as I have to in order to catch up.

So other than a few altercations, and some anger at the dinner table, we're all set! Let's get started immediately!

Day 1: Panic Restaurant



Perfect For:
- Food Connoisseurs
- Lovers of the 8-bit 2d platform game
- Chefs that secretly hate food and other chefs.

What You Need: A Nintendo Entertainment System, or get that E Word set up.

Sometimes you need something simple. Basic. Easy to understand. Deconstructions and in depth mechanics are nice but not everyone wants to wrack their brain every time they play video games. It's like food, sometimes you want Mabodon (a rice dish with ground pork, red bell peppers, various sauces and tofu), and yet other days you want a pizza with one topping on it. In much the same way, sometimes you just need a easy to understand platformer to wash the worries away. Is that so wrong? ...... STOP JUDGING MEEEEE!!!!!

Oh no! Ohdove has taken your restaurant for himself using his sentient ingredients. He's so cocky he tells you "Come On!" on his own menu that he already made for the restaurant he stole from you! What a jerk! Now you gotta hurry over and get it back, fighting his living appliances and food to get to Ohdove himself. Panic Restaurant is a very simple platformer with no big twists; you jump, you swing your pan, you gamble in order to get health and lives using the coins you collect in a stage, and there are minigames. You can get other utensils to help you along the way, which disappear if you get hit, but Panic Restaurant never truly demands that you keep these things to survive. It has difficulty, but you can overcome it with some care and patience. Not to mention that the whole game handles very well and has a cute art style to bring everything together. If you are playing a ton of old games or new, there's little reason to avoid this one. Definitely have it... to go!

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 2: Parasite Eve



Perfect For:
- 90's Horror Movie Enthusiasts
- Someone that likes Resident Evil and Tales of Symphonia at the same time
- Your Mitochondira (which is the powerhouse of the cell)

What You Need: A Sony Console (Thanks to PSN)

Not all horror games are created equal. There's more than a few out there that put you into first person and throw a ghoul to scream in your face like the singer of an AC/DC cover band, while others try to gross you out or throw a very non-physical fear into your face. Hell, there are some non-horror games that do their best to deliver the chills. But what if I tell you that there's a pretty good horror game... that is an RPG? No, it's not made with RPG Maker. You're being ridiculous. Where does it read "Computer" up there?

Aya Brea is a cop kind of enjoying a play with some other guy when something causes the entire audience to burn up along with most of the actors. Aya confronts the person left and finds she is immune to whatever is going on. This takes her onto a series of events that will tie into who she really is as well as the book of the same name. That's not a joke, by the way. This game is really based on a book. Parasite Eve is set in modern times with guns, horrible monsters and a LOT of suspension of disbelief needed. Don't worry, the game more than makes up for contrivances by being BRUTAL AS F**K in its presentation. As for gameplay it's an RPG with one party member, since only Aya doesn't die in proximity to most of this nonsense. Or turn into a horrible beast. Either or. So fights are based on active time battles in which you move around an area to avoid attacks while shooting at enemies or activating your MAGICAL CELL POWERS. Different guns have power, spread, all that good stuff and you'll get items along the way to help you out. The game is very linear and can be more than a little tough but get through it and you should have some enjoyment in this one. At least until your cells turn against you. A scientist told me this so it's true.

[I am nobody]

I tried to get into it a few times on Vita, but the combination of an arcane control scheme, PS1 graphics, and tiny screen made it almost impossible to tell what was going on, unfortunately. Might eventually give it another chance on PS3 now that I've got that hooked up to my monitor.

[Valigarmander]

You know, I've heard a lot of good things about Parasite Eve. It's on my list of "classic horror games I want to play but probably never will", between Silent Hill and Corpse Party.

Also, fun fact: Yoko Shimomura composed the game's soundtrack.

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

^^ Go for it, man.

Day 3: Monster Tale



Perfect For:
- Pet Owners
- If your favorite genre is "Metroidvania"
- After staging a coup with your pet

What You Need: Nintendo DS

On the DS, there was probably no success greater than that which the Castlevania series achieved at the time. Adding onto the GBA series of games, particularly Aria of Sorrow, the three Castlevania DS games soared into the hearts of many. Nowadays, games that copy Super Metroid and Aria of Sorrow are everywhere and there's nothing you can do about it. Some people just like getting lost in the 2d plane for some reason. As a result, some games get lost in the shuffle and that includes this gem on the DS.

As Ellie, you're trying to find your way home after getting a little too close to some magical bracelet. You've also found Chompy, your red velvet monster that likes cookies and manning catapults and stuff. ALSO, a few kids got in here before you and took control, enslaving the other monsters and now they attack anyone on sight. With nothing more than the bracelet to guide you, you make your way through various rooms and enemies all the while taking care of Chompy so he doesn't do drugs or something. As far as the gameplay goes, it's similar enough to Super Metroid: there a beam you shoot with a more powerful shot restricted by ammo, there's different enemies who you're more likely to run into then get hit by an actual attack, you know the deal. But you also have Chompy to help you in fights though he only has a limited time to be out and about thanks to its health and you have to move it from the top to the bottom screen via a single button press. It's on the bottom screen where this game really shines though as it's where Chompy will eat, play, and learn. As a result it will gain experience and bonus stats that will help it gain skills, passives, and eventually evolve. And the versatility all depends on what you do with ol' Chompy. Monster Tale is not the hardest game ever made, but what it does with the time it has is the sort of freshness that a game aping great titles needs and shouldn't be overlooked if you find it somewhere. It's probably like five bucks or something. Don't be a scrooge.

[I am nobody]

^^If hardware is what's stopping you, Corpse Party is on 3DS and Steam now. It'll run on basically anything made this millennium.

Monster Tale is great, but I wish they'd gone further with the Pokevania idea.

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 4: Killer 7




Perfect For:
- People that are really good with guns. I mean REALLY good
- If your favorite things to watch include Ghost in the Shell, Horror movies, and probably a David Lynch film or two
- Cleaners that feel no remorse over seeing a dead body. To you it's merely cold rotting flesh.

What You Need: Gamecube or Playstation 2

Sometimes a niche title is such by design. This is the case for Killer 7. While it is Suda 51's breakout title and it gave him a name in the West, it's not exactly what one would call... fun? It's nerve wracking, yes, and it's unlike anything you've ever seen, but that is the problem. To compare it to anything is nigh on impossible and recommending it without showing what it is can be like describing color to the blind. Goichi Suda is now more well known for the No More Heroes franchise and he always had his personal way of doing things even when he had no pull at all. As a result, Killer 7 WAS a success... but in the end thanks to Suda and Capcom parting ways this game disappeared off the face of the earth.

So let's be as basic as we can be with this plot. There's a ton of s**t to shift through but basically you are in control of the Killer7, a group of assassins hired by government officials to take out anyone they're hired to when they aren't going after their sworn enemy Kun Lan. In any of these cases there are the Heaven Smiles which laugh like lunatics, and explode upon grabbing someone. That's as basic as you get and how you play isn't any easier. It's a light-gun game where you also control where you're moving. Heaven Smiles are slow most of the time, but to take them out quickly you have to hit their weakspot. Doing so gets you more blood which in turn gets you either more upgrades or can heal you in a pinch depending on if we're talking "thick" or "thin" blood. To add towards all of this, if one of your characters dies, you have to go get them as Garcian Smith, the main Smith that isn't in a wheelchair. If HE dies it's game over, just so you know ahead of time. So, I probably don't have to point out that this is a strange game with strange themes and stranger characters. But it's an experience that you won't forget, I assure you. If this doesn't interest you, chances are it was never your type of game to begin with. Not everyone likes to have their head f**ked with really.

[Marilink]

I'm intrigued by Monster Tale. I wonder if I could find that anywhere nearby. I'm on a big Metroidvania kick right now.

[X-3]

I'm always kind of amazed that a major publisher like Capcom went ahead with Killer 7. I guess the risk wasn't that bad back then.

[I am nobody]

Monster Tale was pretty cheap on eBay, last I checked.

[smol Kat]

This is such a neat idea! I'll have to actually remember to log in now x)

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 5: Vanquish



Perfect For:
-Adrenaline Junkies of some description
-If you like and hate cover based shooting at the same time
-When the toaster burns your bread and you know destroying it isn't going to solve anything

What You Need: A PS3, Xbox 360, or have a computer that can run it.

Have a list of games people haven't heard of and SOMEWHERE on said list you'll find something from Platinum Games/Clover Studios. It's the nature of the beast, really. Both companies have made titles that knock it out of the park but their devil may care attitude means that sometimes they make titles that aren't going to necessarily get the audience they deserve. Especially when they go away from what's expected of them. Sonic Team isn't exactly given the benefit of a doubt when they make games like NiGHTS and Billy Hatcher, and while Enix had their name on a lot of games, they were only truly known for Dragon Quest and maybe some other RPG if you're lucky. In the same way Platinum Games is known for hack and slash games and anything connected to that same style, since it's what they're good at. If they made a third person shooter, it would clash against their philosophy of game making and risk being really bad. OR. WOULD. IT?!?!?!

Breaking News! Earth is overpopulated so the United States is alleviating some of these issues by launching a satellite to collect solar energy. Unfortunately, at the same time Russia's government is overthrown and the perpetrators, The Order of the Russian Star, take control of the satellite and use its energy to destroy San Francisco. So it's up to Bravo Company and DARPA scientist Sam Gideon to fight off some Russian robots. Luckily Gideon is equipped with cutting edge armor technology so he doesn't immediately get murdered like you'd expect. This also means everyone else is useless as you slide around kicking robots in the junk. So, perhaps the biggest thing that can sell Vanquish is this: It's a cover shooter game where the optimal way to play the game is to avoid cover entirely. To the point that staying behind walls actually causes a score penalty. Not that you'll die but it's going to hurt your pride, which is much worse. So you have to always be on the move and luckily you can dash around faster than most things. You can even slide tackle enemies which you can flip off of to slow down time and shoot as much as you can. With tough enemies and destructible cover it slowly becomes your fault if you can't find a way into the fight and with a variety of skills at your disposal you should be able to get out of any sticky situation. It's campy, it's weird, but most of all it's high paced action that may have predicted the future of speedy shooters like Titanfall. AND since it's on Steam you have little reason to turn this one down. In fact, you should rush right in... to the tutorial. Don't leave game mechanics up to chance.

[I am nobody]

It's a departure from normal Platinum on the surface, but IMO it's pretty much exactly what I'd expect from combining their style of character action game with a cover shooter.

It's pretty great, either way.

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 6: Push-Over



Perfect For:
- Long Time Domino Experts
- Puzzle Game Enthusiasts
- If your fetish is getting flattened by a domino (It's probably on Deviantart, don't look for it)

What You Need: An Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, or Super Nintendo

Brain teasers and puzzle books get their traction primarily as time wasters. However, they do also teach the sort of situational awareness one would gain from getting into actual street fight without the lost teeth, potential loss of life, and subsequent prison sentences... So dominoes! We've all tried to make an elaborate constructions in an attempt to satisfy that Rube Goldberg in all of us. So, like anything else, leave it to video games to take everything to its extreme with Push-Over, a licensed game by Ocean Software.

When Captin Rat isn't asking for stacks of cash on the SNES, Colin Curly is dropping his Quavers packets down a giant ant hill. Distraught over the loss of his favorite chips, he gets the help of one G.I. Ant to get those snacks back. However, there is a strange system to opening doors in this anthill. You have to knock over dominoes and the red and yellow striped domino must be the last to fall for the door to open. At first, it starts simple, but then more types of dominoes appear, like ones that don't move and ones that fall UP. It gets more than a little crazy and you will fail more than a few times. However there is no life system so you can retry the puzzles as much as you want. You also get tokens that you can use to go back one move if you think you're that close to solving it. With 100 puzzles there's a lot of value in this old game and later stages will require a lot of thinking and retries in even the best of outcomes. But, don't let it deter you as getting through the whole thing will make you feel smarter. And you didn't even have to do a math problem. See what I'm doing for you? How is this free?

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 7: Legend of Grimrock 1 and 2



Perfect For:
- Your roleplaying friends
- If old grid based RPGs were your thing at some point.
- That one member of your family that enjoys putting rats in mazes, lamenting that they can't put traps in there to kill them.

What You Need: A computer, or perhaps a phone?

Stories like Lord of the Rings are meant to give this sense of adventure in an age where passports, border patrol, and comfortable living didn't exist. If you weren't taxed into the earth, you were arrested and put far below the earth in a dungeon. Stories of the Medieval era are plentiful, and so are RPGs of that time and Dungeons and Dragons have a lot to do with that. For years, people have made characters and made mistakes that might very well screw everyone over as they went and got a powerful item, or stopped some bad guy, or rescued your grandma after she took a nasty trip on the kitchen floor. As a result, some games try to recreate that passion for a single player space and while Legend of Grimrock doesn't necessarily achieve the dream all on it's own, it catches that feeling into a bottle and sells it for around fifteen dollars or so. We all have to make money.

In both games you are prisoners sent off to die in some rather unfortunate passion. In the first game you're put in the dungeon of Mount Grimrock and told that if you can get out, you're free. The trick is, of course, that no one has done it so ha ha you're f**ked, mate. Have fun eating snails. The second game has the party come ashore on the Isle of Nex and they attempt to find a way off. All the while the Island Master is both helping and hindering them as they go from location to location. LoG 1 and 2 play similarly enough and while I could just offer the second game to you and get away with it, the first game has worth at least because of its dungeon layouts. The second game has much more open areas like beaches and forests while the first game sticks to the dark dungeon feeling of it all. Both games operate on a grid system where half steps don't exist. You solve puzzles, pull levers and push buttons all the while contending with enemies. In battle there are two people in front and two in the back meaning you should at least have two tanks and two long range fighters. Yes, character customization is important and especially since there's no way to buy items so you have to find your gear to stand a chance of survival. The games get you started on your way well enough but after that you're on your own with enemies and traps that will test everything you have. It is like a Dungeon Master, cold and unfeeling to your plight. If you like that feeling, this is definitely your game and even when you're done there's a modding scene for the games that add even more so you'll never truly tire of these grids. At least until the heat death of the universe.

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 8: Furi



Perfect For:
- If you need another fix of Afro Samurai but the game adaptation sucked so you can't have that.
- Hardcore Devil May Cry affectionados.
- If you just got out of prison and are still mad about it.

What You Need: PS4, Xbox One, or PC

Sometimes, you just need to bang your head against a wall. I'm not saying that as some deranged lunatic admitting to my symptoms in the belief that everyone does it, but because frustration can be strangely liberating. Failing at something, and knowing why so you can do better next time can feel much more rewarding that beating a challenge on the first try. Games like Ghouls and Ghosts, Cuphead, and Anything From Software made in the past decade or so thrive on this practice and people love these games for that extra challenge (maybe not Ghouls and Ghosts?), and I could have just put Cuphead up and said enough was enough, but there's a 3d hack and slash whose difficulty comes from the same principle if a little bit shorter. If you didn't catch my subtlety, I'm talking about Furi.

The Stranger was just broken out of a super high tech prison. Now he is told to take out all of the guardians of said prison so he can escape and possibly spread his terrible crimes everywhere like Goemon Ishikawa throwing coins all over the place. Maybe that comparison doesn't work, I don't care. All this means is a series of boss fights between you and sweet end credits. The core mechanics center on the bosses having powerful attacks that must be dodged while you get ready to counter and given the wide arc of some attacks it can almost seem like a bullet hell sometimes. However there is a twist to all of this, as the best games often do. You see, the bosses work via phases where they get new attacks and slowly but surely unleash their full potential, but the rub comes when you learn that The Stranger ALSO works in phases. If you lose all your health you don't go back immediately. You have a series of lives for each phase that act as a semi-checkpoint to insure that you make it. Lose them all and you go back all the way to Phase 1 but said lives refill with each successful phase so it's more of a punishment for struggling then straight up losing once. In a way, it'll also help you get familiar with a certain series of attacks faster as you'll most likely do the easier phases less often then you would in most other games. It's a different way of doing lives and checkpoints and you WILL need them both to get the hang of things. Once you do though, the world is your oyster, though seeing as you were put in a prison maybe it shouldn't be.

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 9: Silent Bomber



Perfect For:
- If you liked Rouge One but only for the not Star Wars parts of it
- Someone that enjoys planting claymores on multiplayer maps more than shooting guns
- Anyone that ENJOYS KILLING AND BEING A CHESS PIECE!

What You Need: A Playstation 1

War... is hell. Surely, an opinion shared by most people that at some point experienced a war or war like scenario. Bombs, guns, horrible atrocities that will be glossed over when you win because really everybody's being a dick on this battlefield and honestly I don't seE DAESH PUTTING THEIR SOLDIERS IN PRISON FOR WAR CRIMES ANY TIME SOON! You never recover from it either. Death, the smell of sulpher, the screams of what are most likely civilians that got hit somehow, someway... all involved in war are broken from those on the front lines, to the medics, to families and friends... Now let's go blow everyone up with my special bomb throwing device! I'm atoning for my sins.

Jutah was once a malicious soldier man that killed a lot of people but now he's teamed up with a group of people looking to destroy a warship before it can do the same to a nearby planet. It's an early PS1 game so the presentation is much like your high school senior class putting together a short film complete with a main character that kept falling asleep between takes. But the focus is on you and your special bomb throwing device that might put Jutah on the same level as the Doom Marine in terms of how f**king scary he is in a fight. So, you can lay bombs down OR throw them at enemies then activate them to blow them all up. Simple. It's a run and gun without the twin sticks so it can be a little clunky at first, but it does well with the tools it had before Dualshock became a thing. Really. Dualshock didn't come to the PS1 until Ape Escape, how's THAT for some weirdness? But you can also place multiple bombs in the same place for a much bigger blast and special ammo types for that extra bit of assistance. All in all, it's a quirky little gem that everyone missed when it came out. Don't feel guilty about getting this one if you find it, especially since you can play a silly versus mode with your friends. Just keep in mind MAYBE YOU'RE THE DEMON, JUTAH!

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

Day 10: Clustertruck



Perfect For:
- Those obsessed with movie scenes where people fight on top of a moving vehicle
- If you like Mirror's Edge but not the combat part of it
- Adrenaline Junkies that would swoon at a world where you can jump from truck to truck.

What You Need: PS4, Xbox One, any Computer really

Speed can make anything more frantic. Hate doing your taxes? Do them on a roller coaster! Can't swallow your mom's fruitcake? Do it while parachuting! Finding yourself at a dead end job with no chance of moving upward and you're more likely to have your pay cut than get a raise because your boss needs that 50th sports car...? DO YOUR WORK FROM A G-FORCE SIMULATOR!!! So let's do that to first person platforming. Feeling frustration? JUMP FROM A SEA OF TRUCKS!

Das rite. A SEA of trucks. Each stage is a very expensive game of "The Floor Is Lava" as you must jump from truck to truck towards the finish line in the distance. Along the way you can unlock abilities to slow down time or get a grappling hook to help you as jumping occurs. But most of the time it's not that simple. Lasers, rocks, cliffs, bumpy roads and many other obstacles will force you to jump from truck to truck if the trucks themselves don't flip one another somehow. It's crazy random, it has a stage creator, you can make the game act like Superhot if you really want. It's a Clustertruck and if you want to, you can deal with it.

[I am nobody]

I enjoyed both games, but I'm not sure I see the Mirror's Edge connection. That game is almost entirely about pathfinding and only has a handful of scenes that are particularly challenging from a platforming perspective. Clustertruck is almost the exact opposite - the lasers and whatnot put the focus squarely on precision jumping, and the inconsistent physics mean there's a lot of improvisation even when you've played a level before.

Still fully behind that recommendation, though.

[The Amazing Tazy Ten]

I don't know that many first person plaforming games aside from Mirror's Edge that don't suck, so that's all I have.