Board 8 > Oct. Game of the Month Club ft. Splinter Cell, SWOLLEN, Simpsons, and Alice Mad

(+) Yeah! (+)

Octobers Games:
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (PC/PS3/Xbox/PS2/Gamecube/GBA/N-Gage)
SWOLLEN TO BURSTING UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE (PC)
The Simpsons: Hit & Run (PC/Xbox/PS2/Gamecube)
Alice: Madness Returns (PC/360/PS3)

What is Game of the Month Club?
Game of the Month is a community project open to all B8ers where users share, discover, play and/or discuss a select few games every month. The games featured each month are chosen by YOU the users (and Lady Luck)

The Basics
- Each month will usually feature three games that were chosen via a random drawing from a pool of games that users nominated
- For each game you beat, you get a cool point on our just-for-fun standings as well as a nomination for next month's randomized drawing
- In order to receive the point and nomination, you must beat said game within the calendar month
- If you beat one of the current month's games in the previous month, you can apply for a "recently beaten waiver," but you will only receive a point and no nomination should you do so
- Drawing for next month's games is usually on the 25th
- If you periodically keep us posted on your progress and/or talk about different aspects of the games, then everyone will obviously think you are super awesome!

Nomination Rules
- You get one nomination automatically each month
- You receive additional nominations each month for every featured game that you beat
- Each game you nominate has to be unique from all other nominations and cannot include a game that has already been selected for GotM
- Each game must be a standalone game that can be acquired and played on its own (aka cannot be DLC/expansion that requires the base game)
- Nominations only carry over if you beat a featured game after the drawing for next month's games but before the end of the month
- You also have the option of supporting 1 game each month. Your only limitation is that you can't support your own nomination

Just-for-Fun Top 15 Standings
KCF - 196
ArkOfTurus - 117
gameking - 116
Mr Crispy - 110
Lolo Guru - 71
Cody - 69
Seanchan - 48
KnightOfNee - 35
ViolentAbacus - 35
MegamanX - 28
Kenri - 27
Wickle - 27
FakeAccount - 26
Arti - 23
scarletspeed - 23

Spreadsheet with history
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X8E8oqzES42W4S82j7WTfNnzNa8c3uXdSE1rnqYG7WM/edit?usp=sharing

Additional noms this month
Ark - 1
Cody - 1
Crispy - 1

Splinter Cell is on sale for $2.50 on GOG and Ubisoft Store
https://www.gog.com/en/game/splinter_cell
https://store.ubisoft.com/us/tom-clancys-splinter-cell/56c4948a88a7e300458b481c.html?lang=en_US

SWOLLEN is a free game on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2411590/SWOLLEN_TO_BURSTING_UNTIL_I_AM_DISAPPEARING_ON_PURPOSE/

Alice is on EA Play and Game Pass Ultimate (via EA Play)

And finally, our last scheduled birthday poll. Ark has put forth to vote...

1000xRESIST
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1675830/1000xRESIST/

A futuristic sci-fi adventure set in an underground facility where the lone survivor of an alien disease and her clones live out trying to survive and prepare for the return of the aliens.

vs.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/

A largely black and white non-linear puzzle/mystery game set in an old European hotel

In for Simpsons, which I found and hadn't packed away for the move yet.

POSSIBLY in for Splinter Cell but that one is definitely packed away so probably not.

Another barren month for me but that's okay!

Vote:
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes - This one is on my backlog.

I need to get started on Alice early since I plan to play the first game beforehand. Didn't realize it was included free with Madness Returns.

Kinda feel bad I didn't make it to Pyre or Perfect Dark last month but hopefully October will go better.

Decided to give Alice a shot. Took a little while to get it going with controller on Steam, but I played through the first area and so far am enjoying it. Art direction is great, and movement/platforming feels decent.

I should get H&R started soon.

Finished 2 missions of Splinter Cell and have managed to not kill anyone. We'll see how long my patience lasts. Mission 2 gave me a frag grenade and after about 10 deaths I was very tempted to use it. I have no idea on the length of the game, but I love it as a stealth game already. Definitely up there with Thief (1998) and the MG series.

ArkOfTurus has beaten Swollen to Bursting

I think I'd have liked it better if it was less of a video game? The battle system is a parody, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating when you die instantly when something is higher level than you, and you don't know something's level until you fight it. It doesn't help that the game takes its sweet time before letting you continue, either. The adventure game elements could be very obtuse, and also frustrating at times. Still, the overall style was phenomenal, and it certainly resonated emotionally. A good experience, overall.

Kenri posted...

I need to get started on Alice early since I plan to play the first game beforehand. Didn't realize it was included free with Madness Returns.

Quoting myself because it seems like maybe it's only included in the Xbox version?? The option is straight up not there on Steam. My bad if I misled anyone here.

I did the first 9 levels of OG Alice and uhhh it's okay, I'm truly not sure if I'm going to stick with it or just skip to the sequel though. It's very clunky and while I respect the art direction, it's just an ugly, ugly game.

Kenri posted...

Quoting myself because it seems like maybe it's only included in the Xbox version?? The option is straight up not there on Steam. My bad if I misled anyone here.

I did the first 9 levels of OG Alice and uhhh it's okay, I'm truly not sure if I'm going to stick with it or just skip to the sequel though. It's very clunky and while I respect the art direction, it's just an ugly, ugly game.

It's on Steam, but only in a way I cannot say. I say look at Steam Guides if you want to. I did not care for Alice for the same reason as you, and only did a few levels. I loved the idea and aesthetic But was rough even with my low standards. Hoping that when I start Madness Returns I like it more, because it's a series I really, really want to like

Yeah, my time with the first game as brief. Madness Returns was much better.

Finished the first level in Hit & Run. I have a few more collectables to find but I might come back for those later.

Nominate:
Jenny LeClue: Detectivu

Well, I finished OG Alice so now I can start Madness Returns. I actually came to quite like the game by the end, jank and all. Not sure I'd recommend it to people, though.

Xirsca posted...

It's on Steam, but only in a way I cannot say. I say look at Steam Guides if you want to.

It ended up being easier for me to just play it on game pass but thank you for the info!

I gave SWOLLEN a shot, but I'm not going to continue with it. I'm just going to drop my lone nom now.

Dungeons of Hinterberg

Drawing in a week. I will do the usual update post eventually, but there isn't much to report

Nominate: Bugsnax and Superliminal

Started Alice. Doesn't seem like something I'll stick with, but I might go back to it.

Unfortunately, all I seem to want to play at the moment is UFO50, and I don't think the games in that are eligible for this. Combined with the Romancing Saga 2 remake (don't think anyone would play this if I nominated it.), and my birthday game, and I'll probably need to pick some short games this month.

I also started Alice and while I only played like 30 minutes, I don't appreciate how slow the beginning has been. The first game just threw you into the action almost immediately.

I've been playing the Pokmon Fool's Gold romhack which is an incredible waste of time, but very low effort. Gaming equivalent of fast food lol. Wish I could get my motivation up to play more demanding games.

I'm a big SaGa fan, but I don't think I'd be able to play the RS2 remake right away, and it would be a lower priority than finishing P5R or starting FF16/Ragnarok/Metaphor since I've already finished the original.

Also I don't think it would have a very high play rate since it's a moderately long game, and the original is one of the leading candidates for the hardest SNES RPG and is probably also the second hardest game in the series.

Monthly Progress
Cell -
SWOLLEN - Ark
Simpsons -
Alice -

Nominations
Cody - Bugsnax, Superliminal
darkx - Jenny LeClue
KCF - Dungeons of Hinterberg

Supports

Ark Birthday
1000x - Xirsca
Lorelei - Sean

Support Butterfly Dreams

Nominate:
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Last call for noms, changes, supports, and birthday votes

(drawing won't be for several hours)

Still on Hit & Run but I should probably nominate something.

Since it was recently added to NSO, Nominate Banjo-Tooie.

Nominate Sumire

Oh hang on

change my support to Banjo-Tooie

Nominate Chaos;Head and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

I am still hoping on getting through Splinter Cell, but will be cutting it pretty close I think

I wasn't expecting to draw that much later after the announcement, but everything is now closed. I will draw momentarily

Your November Games of the Month are...

Banjo-Tooie (XB1/Switch/360/N64)
Dungeons of Hinterberg (PC/XSX)
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (PC/Switch)

Congrats to Paul and myself for having their games selected as well as Ark for having been born in November.

Banjo-Tooie is on Game Pass (via both standalone and Rare Replay)

Banjo-Tooie is on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion

Dungeons of Hinterberg is on Game Pass Ultimate (XSX + PC)

Dungeons of Hinterberg is on sale for $15 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1983260/Dungeons_of_Hinterberg/

Hadn't heard of Dungeons of Hintenberg, but it does look pretty neat. Probably won't end up checking it out this month, but I'll at least add it to my wishlist.

Definitely in for Tooie! I haven't replayed it in a few years so I'm looking forward to giving it another play.

Just three days left after today, and three games are still looking to avoid joining Battle Chasers: Nightwar, some Golden Sun game, Neon White, and Rain World with the dubious distinction of being unbeaten.

I'm nearing the end of Hit & Run so I'll have that one taken care of.

I am also playing Hit & Run. I'm on the last mission of Lisa's segment and it's pissing me the fuck off.

It has been, and will continue to be, a busy October for me but I'm working on Madness Returns

Progress report on The Simpsons - I've completed mission 4 in Apu's section.

I'm spoiled by most mission-based games of the modern age allowing you to start from the most recently-completed objective when you fail rather than forcing you to restart the whole mission. Many of these missions are frustrating because they have one objective that is pretty unforgiving (usually in the form of a time limit that pretty much requires to you make 0 mistakes) and you have to to all the extraneous crap again if you fail it. Also, the car chases are largely luck-based. You can be doing well and then suddenly the driver in front of you develops a death wish and swerves out in front of you and you collide and can't recover, or some other random crap that's out of your control happens.

Furthermore, the version I bought when I was a kid was the PC version. I'd probably be doing a lot better playing on a console. Mouse-and-keyboard is definitely not the optimal way to play this game. There have been whispers of a remake or remaster of this game for a while now and I really hope it's a flat-out remake because, while revolutionary for 2003, it could certainly use some QOL upgrades today.

Lorelei is on sale for $18.74 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/

Probably not finishing The Simpsons (which sucks since it was my birthday pick). I just can't see myself beating the mission where Apu has to collect garbage for Snake. The camera and controls on foot are horrendous in the PC version and the fact that the clock continues to tick as you drive to the DMV is ridiculous.

KCF0107 posted...

Lorelei is on sale for $18.74 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/

Thank you for the notice!

I'm losing a big chunk of November to family stuff but I'm going to try to get to 2 of the 3 games.

Hit & Run beated

This game aged much better than I expected it would have. However, as darkx has been mentioning, some of the missions were pretty tough and a few of them took several tries due to the tight time limits. I enjoyed it but I won't be going back to collect the rest of the cards/gags/etc.