Intro
From Metroid Prime 4’s divisive return to the Final Fantasy Tactics remake, Street Fighter 6 ranked climbs and Fantasy Critic draft strategy — here’s what the Selective Hearing team played in January.
Allen
What Have You Been Playing in January?
- Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
- Random Physical Game Finds
- Fantasy Critic 2026
What Are Your Thoughts?
SPOILERS AHEAD
It seems like every year I start the year, I finish a Nintendo game, and this year, Metroid Prime 4 will fill that slot. After 84 years, Metroid Prime is back, and it was just alright. Not sure how to describe it correctly: it looked like a Prime game, with the marquee mechanics of a Prime game, but it didn’t really feel like a Metroid game to me. It felt more like a 3D Zelda game. It could have been a good sci-fi game, but they just plopped Samus in as a third-wheel tag-along.
Got to the point of no return and I told myself, “already??” I didn’t realize I got there that soon. I felt like there was a lot I was missing. I turned around and picked up a bunch of weapon upgrades and missile packs I had passed up the first time. I did a fair amount of backtracking, but not as much as I remembered doing in past Metroid Prime games.
The last boss was pretty fun to fight, only died maybe five times trying to figure out his play style. I liked having the team with me during the first phase. I really wish they were more helpful instead of being giant meat shields for me to revive every so often. The last phase did have me scratching my head a few times; it felt more like an endurance battle than anything.
After seeing my completion stats, I did not feel compelled to go back to 100% the game or even try hard mode. I was fine with not playing the game anymore. It was fun, for what it’s worth. The trope of your friends sacrificing everything over and over made me laugh. I liked the other characters; in fact, I wished they talked more because I may be over the silent protagonist hero in games. I want banter and conversations to flesh out the characters’ stories and struggles, rather than them trying to fill in the gaps from silent head nods and shakes. At least everything looked good, 4K 60FPS was flawless. As far as the Metroid Prime series goes, I’m ok with this being the last one. Hopefully, we can get a fresh take on Samus the bounty hunter for the next Metroid game.
Oh man, this one is a classic, and I’m glad it got remade. I remember playing FFT on PS1 many moons ago. It was the first strategy game that I ever tried. I loved the job system and being very deliberate on moves and choices, so I always remember the fun and pain points of this game. I just couldn’t remember the story much, or even beating the story back in the day.
The enhanced version plays like a dream, with lots of quality of life upgrades like multiple saves and speed-up functions. I do like the tutorial prompts that come up; they feel very informative and not too annoying, just well placed.
The voice acting, though, really is the biggest enhancement to the game in my opinion. It really fleshes out the dialogue and is very well acted. You can feel Ramza’s and Delita’s emotions thanks to the voice actors. Argath was always a dick, but the acting really made me want to punch him in the face first on the battlefield.
It might take some time for me to finish this one. I feel like I’ll be a completionist with Final Fantasy Tactics. I’m already having fun mastering certain jobs and making sure my recruits are levelled up.
I spent a day going around checking out a few video game stores. A part of me wants to just jump to an all-digital gaming lifestyle, but I can’t seem to get away from finding some good physical deals. Now that we have a local BookOff, I have another place to check out some good deals. Granted, not everything there is a deal, but if you look, you might find some gems. I managed to get these two, and I felt they were a good deal. Not sure if I’ll ever get around to them, but I always wanted to try them.
Went over to a local Culture Shock to see what they had to offer. Nothing too compelling to report; however, I did see some old school gems. I couldn’t believe I saw a GigaWing 2 and Gunbird 2 physically in front of me. I’m just glad I’m not a classic console collector because those prices were insane.
The big shocker to me was seeing a Blue Dragon DS game. I didn’t even know that there was one back in the day. I always wanted to try Blue Dragon way back on the Xbox 360 but never got around to it, maybe that’s why I couldn’t recall the DS game. The real kicker is seeing the old GameStop price tag of $34.99, which was great. I should have kept my GameStop stickers on all my old games.
Fantasy Critic 2026
My third year playing Fantasy Critic. For those that are unaware, Fantasy Critic is like Fantasy Football or other Fantasy Sports leagues, but with video games in mind.
This is my update in the Truly Daebak Fantasy Critic League. We drafted in January, but I couldn’t be part of the live draft, so I had set up an autodraft very much like an autodraft in Fantasy Football. This year has one big rule change, where we have to draft at least two games that are New Game Franchises. I had the number one pick last year and went with GTA6. I had the number two pick this year and autodrafted GTA6. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. My second pick is Phantom Blade Zero and I’m glad I got that one, it looks super awesome and the combat looks crazy. The third pick is the new Onimusha, and I’m super happy about that. I love Capcom games, and the Onimush return has me excited. Fourth pick is an NGF, Orbitals. That game looks so cool, a space retro anime, It Takes Two. I think it will surprise many people and be well-received. The Counterpick came next, and that’s a big x-factor as the 10th Gen Pokémon game got autodrafted. Every Pokémon game gets graded on a curve, and everyone knows that. This main line game could be a crap shoot; it can be hyped like crazy, but it can also be reviewed poorly.
I ended up drafting Beast of Reincarnation after seeing what GameFreak wants to do that isn’t a Pokémon game. I think it looks cool, but I did overbid for the game, it pays off. I also picked up Monster Hunter Stories 3. I never played any of them, but this series seems to be the true Breath of Fire successor in the eyes of Capcom. Maybe I’ll pick this one up and try it if I have the time.
What Are You Looking Forward to in February?
February will be a stacked month for me, and I know I won’t have time to get to them all. Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined and Yakuza Kiwami 3 will take priority after I finish Final Fantasy Tactics. I’ll have to wait to borrow Resident Evil Requiem, but I feel like I might want to play the RE2 and RE3 remakes before then.
Greg
What Have You Been Playing in January?
- Ghost of Yotei
- Street Fighter 6
- Mario Kart World
What Are Your Thoughts?
Ghost of Yotei
Normally, when I finish a game like this, I’m done with it. However, I wanted to give Game+ a shot to see what it was like. I didn’t find it any more difficult than regular mode. Maybe because I’m fully equipped and can open cans of whoop ass on everyone right away. I don’t know how much I will stick around playing the game over again, to be honest.
Street Fighter 6
This is where the majority of my gaming time has been spent. Not only is it a great way to relieve stress (or induce it) after work, but I also have a goal to become better. Reach that brass ring, reach the unreachable dream and so on and so forth. As I mentioned in the December article, I have some gaping holes in my game, many of which involve managing offensive pressure from unga bunga-type players who have no predictable patterns or tells to pick apart. Also, those who spam the drive impact button give me some headaches.
But I’m learning, and I’ve managed to get my boy Sagat up to Gold 2, so I consider that an achievement since most of my characters are sitting around the Silver level. I think I have a lot more fun playing casual matches. Sometimes I get matched up with a Diamond or Platinum player, and for once, I don’t get my ass handed to me in the first 10 seconds, and sometimes I manage to win a round or match. I’d say that’s progress.
Mario Kart World
My nephew got a Switch 2 for Christmas, and when I visit, I end up playing a few rounds of Mario Kart. Obviously, it’s an easy game to pick up for basic racing, but the nuances of the gameplay are still a mystery for me since I don’t have a Switch 2 and can’t practice playing on my own. So getting blasted into last place by an 8-year-old is always a dick kick to the ego. But it’s still a fun game.
What Are You Looking Forward to in February?
As usual, I have nothing particularly exciting loaded up in my new game queue. I haven’t been looking at what is coming up in the first quarter of 2026. But I’ll see what backlog games I want to finish instead.
BigFreaky
What Have You Been Playing in January?
- Pokémon GO
- Watched Movies
What Are Your Thoughts?
Pokémon GO
With bitter cold temperatures and snowfall totals of about 50 inches for January, there haven’t been a lot of adventures for POGO. I’ve barely left the house, and when I have, I’ve mostly done the minimum daily check-in requirements for the game. The “events” were a bit weak, adding new/shiny PKMN, but with a very low encounter rate. This is all fine considering the situation. This is a pretty typical Jan for POGO.
Watched Movies
I was looking for a little break from games, so I took the time to watch a bunch of movies from my backlog, and “highly rated” as well.
Since this is about video games, I won’t waste time on all the weirdness I watched, but there were a few video game-related.
This movie was much more fantastical than I expected. I enjoyed it. It had a really good soundtrack as well. Unfortunately, the æspa version of the theme song was not included in the movie but was still part of the soundtrack.
Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever is listed on Rotten Tomatoes as quite possibly the worst movie ever made.
All of this goes back to the early 2000s. I do remember the GameBoy Advance game coming out and thinking the title was interesting.
According to Wikipedia, the game was based on an early script of the movie. It was also rated very highly among the critics.
A week before the movie was released, Ecks vs. Sever II was released and was more closely tied to it.
Perhaps I should give these games a look?
Other franchises that have had video games
Conan – what can be said. A popular IP that has been spun off in so many directions. Including video games, and no shortage of knock-off games. One of my favourite games, a game that ate sooooo many of my quarters, “Rastan”.
Spawn
I can’t remember if I ever played this game back in the day. I was a Spawn fan for sure, but I just don’t have any memories, apparently. I think I’ll give it a look.
Hoopa
I figured that since I just spent so many hours playing Pokémon Legends: ZA, I should watch a movie with Hoopa in it. It was a Pokémon movie. Standard fare. As expected.
What Are You Looking Forward to in February?
I’m feeling pretty down during this awful winter. It’s very difficult to focus my time and effort on anything that requires much of my brain. However!
February 27th is Pokémon Day! The 30th anniversary of the release of Pokémon Red and Green in Japan.
This day will bring a “Pokémon Presents”. A video that will show us the roadmap for all things PKMN for the foreseeable future. This will include games for the upcoming year, and probably beyond. “Generation 10” is widely expected to be teased at worst, and announced at best.
While not FEB, March 5th a few days later will bring Pokopia. Which appears to be the PKMN version of Animal Crossing/Minecraft/Similar type games. I have it preordered and am interested in how it will play out. Seems like it could be a nice chill game with fun animations.
Still holding out hope for Ghost of Yotei: Legends – I am in fear that the game will release at the end of February (a lot of online speculation for that ), and I’ll have to decide my time spent between Pokopia and it.
The forever backlog
Playing pre-switch Pokémon games.
