December Update - Game of the Year 2024

 

Playing Now

Football Chairman 2 & Suika (Android)

After what feels like forever I am back playing on mobile! I got a voucher from the Play Store and use it to purchase Football Chairman 2. 

Rohan Rovers are currently in Division 2 and fighting for promotion.

Another mobile game that I've been playing is Suika a simple game like 2048 where you join fruit together to challenge for a high score.

Kaito Files (PS5)

I've completed Lost Judgement and purchased the Kaito Files DLC in the recent Black Friday sale, it's a short 4 chapter story but thankfully has no sidequests and you can get stuck into the story.

 

Playing Complete

Lost Judgment (PS5)

Back with Yagami and Kaito on another detective adventure, I do enjoy the slower pace of these games and the addition of the skateboard makes traversal around the map much easier. I complete some of the sidequests but soon got bored of these and just focused on the main story. I've nearly caught up with the RGG games just Like A Dragon Ishin left to enjoy & the release of Pirate Yakuza next year.

Shopping/Playing Next

With 30% Black Friday offer I renewed Playstation Plus and managed to get the offer to double stack until December 2026.

For once I did not purchase any Physical Games at all during the sales.

After Kaito Files I'm going to take a bit of a break to catch-up on some films/tv shows I want to enjoy and then will start Spider-Man 2 over Christmas.

Game of the Year 2024

Excluding Fortnite/FC 24 & my return to mobile gaming it's been a bit of a poor year for completing games with only eight games completed but I enjoyed kicking of the year with Assassin's Creed Mirage, a much shorter game not filled with the usual Ubisoft bloat.

Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth had a great story especially Kiryu's. Like always these games have a stack of side content that just eat the hours away.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake also had a stack of side content but went for the ubisoft formula of copy/paste all over the map and I soon gave up on this to just enjoy the main story which was a a bit of a rollercoaster but not bad for a remix.

I expected Dave the Diver to be a short indie title but how wrong was I when I completed the game over fourty hours later! 

Banishers Ghosts of New Eden was my surprise of the year and way better than I was expecting with a great storyline and satisfying combat. 

Miasma Chronicles was an X-Com style strategy title by the developers of Mutant Year Zero and whilst the story is pretty much boring the combat was enjoyable especially with the various skills at your disposable.

I manage to catch-up also on both the Judgment games whilst reusing the assets of the Yakuza games, RGG introduces new characters in the form of Yagami an ex-lawyer & Kaito an ex Yakuza who form a detective agency. It is a much sower format than the Yakuza games but both games have a main plotline that slowly unravels to reveal it's secrets.

Assassin's Creed Mirage (PS5)
Yakuza Like A Dragon - Infinite Wealth (PS5)
Final Fantasy 7 Remake (PS5)
Dave the Diver (PS5)
Judgment (PS5)
Banishers Ghosts of New Eden (PS5)
Miasma Chronicles (PS5)
Lost Judgment  (PS5)

Yakuza Infinite Wealth is my game of the year just because of how RGG managed to connect Kiryu & Ichiban stories together and fill the game with so much varied side content that you never get bored. A special mention also to Banishers Ghosts of New Eden (PS5).

iOS Update

A quick update also on iOS gaming, I enjoyed playing Football Chairman Pro for many hours & currently I'm enjoying Hero Emblems a JRPG puzzle quest style game & Mekorama which is a Captain Toad like puzzler.

I'm also going to go back through all my hundreds of iOS purchased games to make sure I have played all those hidden gems that I downloaded & ignored. So I have started with Helsing's Fire which has you battling vamparic creatures with light & tonics.

I'm always also playing my favourite turn based games like Carcassonne, Lost Cities, Capitals, Fluxx & Disc Drivin.

Completed - Football Chairman

After winning the Euro Shield & finishing 1st in 76/77 season. The 77/78 season saw Oxford United complete the Quadruple winning all three domestic cups & taking the Champions League.

There is now nothing else left to achieve so I'll walk off into retirement.

Football Chairman - Champions League

2072/73 has been the best season so far for Oxford United. After ten seasons of playing in the Champions League we have won it.

Beating Real Madrid 2-0 at Rome.

This comes after winning the FA Cup a few weeks earlier & finishing top of the league with 101 points !!

The new stadium is also now getting average attendances of 100K for the season.

With all this success comes the annoyance of your manager getting approached.

If you reject the approach you lose 20% in the manager being happy. So after a few approaches if you continue to reject the manager ends up quitting the job.

This makes it very difficult to build up a Bob Paisley style legacy with the best managers always getting poached.

Football Chairman - Super Stadium

After finishing first in the league again, three points short of a hundred & 11 points clear of Man City. I decided it was time to splash some cash.

With 465 million in the bank. During the season 68/69 I was always maxing out my home attendance on 40K. Instead of increasing the capacity to 60K, it was SUPER STADIUM time !!

Which you can either in-app purchase or spend 250 Million in game money to purchase.

With the maximum 120K capacity, I've not yet managed to fill the stadium. The highest attendance being 65K against Barcelona in a recent European match.

Football Chairman - Premier League

Premier League CHAMPIONS !!!

Tough season with Chelsea & Man City challenging all the way but I pipped Chelsea by one point to take the title.

Football Chairman - Euro Shield

Euro Shield (UEFA league) was tough I managed to finished 2nd in the league to get through to the next round but lost that game 2-1.

I did manage to max out the 40K stadium for the game this generating lots of money.

I have spent so much time iOS gaming recently with Football Chairman, Disco Zoo, Pocket Mine, Carcassonne, Lost Cities etc

The iPad mini/iphone are just so easier to pick up and play for those minutes I have free. A season of football chairman takes approx 20 to 30 mins.

I'm regularly finishing in the top 10 now just need the find some high 95+ rated players to challenge for the title.

Football Chairman - FA Cup

I've had me best season in the premier league finishing 7th & beating Spurs 2-1 in the FA Cup Final.

This also qualifies me for the Euro League next season. I've upgraded the stadium capacity now to 40K. I tend to set high ticket prices but will go for the average to see if I can max out the attendance. 

Football Chairman - Money, Money, Money !!

With all the costs during a season like player wages, training facilities & the youth team. It is very difficult to ensure you end the season with a profit with the tax man taking his cut.

Finishing high up in the league, guarantees you end of season cash from the league, around £16 to £18 million. But when your weekly costs are around 650K even that is not enough to meet a season costs.

Match revenue is your main source of income. My stadium capacity is currently 35K which I can only really max out if I get a home quarter final cup tie. League matches, the attendance is effected by your current form & I average out around 18K. I've had to set the ticket prices high so I can generate the max revenue from the matches even though this annoys the fans.

Occasionally you might get an offer for one of your players which is difficult to refuse. I sold a 98 rated keeper for 64 Million which also helped me save £72K off the wage bill.

It's a very tough balancing act to ensure you generate enough money each season to keep the best players, attract the sponsors & invest in the infrastructure.

Football Chairman - Super Mid

V Burgess came through the youth squad to help take OUFC into the premier league.

683 appearances & scoring 72 goals.

Football Chairman - Premier League

After losing a play off last season, I manage to win this season play off final to make it into the premier league.

Time to upgrade the stadium capacity & youth squad.

Football Chairman - Moyes In

I have now taken Oxford from non-league football all the way up to the championship. I managed a great cup run this season with the highlight beating Man Utd at the Theatre of Nightmares :)

Football Chairman - Oxford United

Addicted to yet another football game but this you play the role of the Chairman. Hiring, Sacking Managers, setting prices & improving the stadium, squad or youth team.

I returned Oxford United to the Manor Ground to start off my reign as chairman. Invested in the training & youth team. Finally achieving promotion after three season in Non League C division.

This is a tough game in that you need to ensure you manage your wage bill whilst juggling to keep the fans & manager happy.

Thankfully compared to Champ Man this game is easier on the battery life.