UFO 50
UFO 50 is a period piece collection of 50 games for a fictional games company named UFO Soft from the oldschool NES era. 1
In general, I found many of the games to be outside of my difficulty tolerances, which prevented me from finding enjoyment in the game. Some of the games I disliked the most also had controls that I found frustrating to use.1
However, it seems that at the high difficulty or frustrating controls might be in part an intentional design decision to make it into an interesting piece of art. 2 For example, the lack of a way to have save states is due to how games from this era literally did not have the technical capability to do so. 3
The games I liked tended to be non-platforming games: 1
- Avianos reminds me of engine-building board games that I enjoy playing. However, it feels like most of the strategy is chalked up to rushing your opponent as quickly as possible.
- Seaside Drive reminds of LUFTRAUSER which, while difficult, I find quite entertaining because it’s just fun to blow shit up.
- The Big Bell Race has physics which makes finding the optimal racing line interesting.
- Velgress is really hard, but it reminds me of Downwell in its snappy and rewarding gameplay.
Some notable things in other games include: 1
- Night Manor: I thought the shaking of the cursor when the antagonistic monster was on screen, was a great way to communicate the character’s terror to the player.
- Magic Garden: I really liked the cute art in this one.
Tier list: 1
| Rank | Games |
|---|---|
| S | - |
| A | Avianos (#12), Seaside Drive (#48), The Big Bell Race (#19), Velgress (#7) |
| B | Pingolf (#31), Night Manor (#42), Mini & Max (#45), Camouflage (#16), Attactics (#9), Block Koala (#15), Valbrace (#37) |
| C | Magic Garden (#5), Cyber Owls (#50), Rail Heist (#28), Star Waspir (#39), Party House (#25) |
| D | Mortol (#6), Warptank (#20), Bushido Ball (#14), Mooncat (#13) |
| F | Mortol II (#32), Campanella 3 (#49), Porgy (#22), Barbuta (#1), Onion Delivery (#23) |
Book Club Notes
| Date | Book Club | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Healthpotion | 20250516043401 |