Support NeoGAF

[KyleP29]

The List


Game 31: Gone Home (2 Hours)(PC) – 7/4/2015

Picked this up on the steam sale and even though i had heard much about this game i still enjoyed myself. The story was wonderfully told, and i really enjoyed moving about the house uncovering the next piece of the story. Really looking forward to their next game.

Game 32: Game Dev Tycoon (9 Hours)(PC) – 7/10/2015

Also a steam sale pick up. Had fun with it, seemed a bit rough on the edges and some of the categories were a bit slim. But navigating the console history and creating hits (and bombs) was quite fun as i grew my studio.

Game 33: Lifeline (2 Hours)(iOS) – 7/18/2015

Read about this on GAF and gave it a shot. Creative idea with telling the story utilizing real time lengths. I wasn't a fan of the characters humor, and as a result it made caring about the story a bit more difficult. The story did grow more interesting at the end, but i thought the choice we had to make were a bit ambiguous resulting in a response causing a reaction opposite of the intent. I really think expanding the choices to 4 from 2 would have benefited the game and story.

Game 34: EA SPORTS Rory McIlRoy PGA TOUR (30 Hours)(XBox One) – 7/24/2015

Been ages since i played a PGA game and this one kinda hit the itch. I enjoyed the actual golf a good a bit, but everything else about this game was half baked. Lack of pro's, lack of courses, the be a pro campaign was stale. just had hoped to see a lot more polish for a series like this.

Game 35: Journey (5 Hours)(PS4) – 7/26/2015

Never played this on the PS3 as i got in on it late and heard it was hard to find people to experience it with. Took the Journey on PS4 and was blown away. The art, the music, the sense of exploration and story was magnificent. Stumbling across someone and seeing them go their own way, to finally working along side one other as our journey lined up. Felt great to take that journey with them, wordlessly working alongside them to work along the same obstacles, waiting on one another so to not abandon each other as we went. A game that lived up to its hype.

Game 36: Her Story (3 Hours)(PC) – 7/26/2015

Started of kinda slow on this game. Wasn't really sure where it was going or trying to accomplish. But as the videos led to the next and hints and clues were dropped this game slowly sucked me in. I knew of others having some conspiracies on the events going into it but i left feeling like i had a clear sense of what happened. I really do appreciate the way this studio presented the story, weaving it together in bits and pieces hoping the user would be intrigued enough to see where to pick of the next thread. The acting was also very well done and made watching the clips a joy.

 

[Teggy]

Long catchup post...

Original post

Game 38: Remember Me - 10 hours(?)
# Played on XBOX360, finished 5/10. When this released, I got stuck on a mid-boss about 2/3rds through and stopped playing. Decided to give it another shot and breezed through this time. I don't know what my problem was before, but I guess the combat system finally clicked. This is a decent game that needed some less restrictive environments and some better dialogue. You can easily see how the memory remixes turned into Life is Strange. The gameplay as a whole reminded me a lot of Enslaved, but that game did a lot better job with the traversal and puzzles. The game's strong point is the world it built, as the concept of the memory technology becoming part of everyone's lives works well as a sci-fi story.

Game 39: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - 35 hours
# Played on 3DS, finished 5/14. A while back I played this on the Virtual Console but got stuck in the Water Temple, so it was great to get this out of my backlog as well.

Game 40: The Witcher Director's Cut - 44 hours
# Played on PC, finished 5/30. The release of Witcher 3 got me to return to this game and get past Act 1 for the first time. A fun game with great storytelling, although ultimately a bit too long and too easy on standard difficulty.

Game 41: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition - 39 hours
# Played on PC, finished 6/11. Two Witcher games in a row and still not bored. I'll have to go back some time and finish up the alternate path

Game 42: Batman: Arkham Knight - (no idea)
# Played on PS4, finished 7/5. 100% completion of Story Mode. It's still a Rocksteady Arkham game, so it's head and shoulders above a lot of other games in presentation and gameplay, but it's my least favorite of the whole Arkham series.

Game 43: Assassin's Creed III - 28 hours
# Played on PC, finished 7/11. This game has 2 things going for it, the rock climbing and the tree climbing. Outside of that it's a very tedious Assassin's Creed game. The Captain Kidd treasure side quests are a lone bright spot in the design, but everything else is very uninspired. The story actually gets interesting about halfway through the game, but then resolves itself in an unsatisfying manner. The new movement controls seem nice at first, until you realize it gives you less freedom and find yourself running/jumping/climbing to places you didn't intend. That said, the designers seem to have a way to compel you to sink time into doing stupid stuff, as witnessed by my playtime.

Game 44: Just Cause - 9 hours
# Played on PC, finished 7/15. I just wanted to get this out of my backlog so I could play JC2 (and eventually 3). Has a nice big world, but felt dated and clunky. Glad I was able to breeze through the main missions so quickly without having to spend time on sidequests.

Game 45: Just Cause 2 - 17 hours
# Played on PC, finished 7/19. A marked improvement from the first game and looks pretty great maxed out on PC at 60fps. The world is absolutely enormous even when flying airplanes across it. The gameplay was pretty fun, but I couldn't imagine cleaning up the 70% of non-story content I have left - that would get very old very fast.

Game 46: 10000000 - 6 hours
# Played on iOS, finished 7/21. I escaped, and used every upgrade and some potions to do it. One of those games that traps you into "just one more try."

Game 47: Escape Dead Island - 9 hours
# Played on PC, finished 7/22. I didn't find this to be as bad as the review let on, but it ended poorly, and what was shaping up to be a mysterious story just became nonsense.

Game 48: Dying Light - 43 hours
# Played on XBONE, finished 7/26. Make no mistake, this was the true followup to Dead Island, and it improved in just about every department. I had my issues with some of the controls and some of the design decisions, but overall a very fun game and very likely to make it into my top 10 this year.

 

[chrominance]

Original post

43. Crackdown (360)
Eliminated all gangs on Tough.

I actually posted a LTTP thread about Crackdown, but I'll give the executive summary here. Now that I've finished the game, I feel better about it--I can definitely see how it would've scratched that open-world itch early in the 360's lifespan--but it still feels creaky to me. Aiming is glitchy, the interface is unrefined, the gameplay is relatively barebones, and the traversal doesn't work as well as I think it should.

I understand now that Crackdown's appeal to a great many people is precisely that it doesn't hold your hand when it comes to traversal like later open-world games do. But if the goal was to make an open-world 3D platformer game, Crackdown is only sort of good at this as well. I understand missing ledges by fractions of an inch when you make a big leap across buildings, I'll cry no tears about that kind of failure. But I still don't see why climbing walls should take as much effort as it does. No one's going to give me a medal for skilfully climbing a set of balconies, there's no real pride to take in that. It's something you have to do often and it's occasionally a big pain in the ass. Surely there's a middle ground between Crackdown and Assassin's Creed or Saints Row IV or any of the other games that make traversal effortless.

Besides all of that, though, the biggest surprise about Crackdown is how upfront it is about Pacific City being a giant playground for you to beat the crap out of random criminals. There's barely any story, no characters to speak of, and little justification for why the world is the way it is, with a worldwide law enforcement agency apparently under siege by criminal gangs. The one plot twist in the whole game is telegraphed pretty much at the beginning. The entire focus is on you cleaning up the city like a one-man wrecking crew using whatever means you deem necessary. Even civilian deaths aren't really frowned upon; the Agency will turn its own peacekeepers on you, sure, but they never pose nearly as much of a threat as the criminals, and their pursuit is always temporary.

Unlike the open-world games of today, Crackdown is rather barebones. There are only two types of side missions, and they're both races (one set on foot, the other in vehicles). Besides that, your only real tasks are kill bad guys, capture supply caches, and collect agility and hidden orbs. It's a minimalism that's almost worth applauding, given the proliferation of games that offer you checklists of quests just to seem bigger than they really are. Crackdown has no problem being a 12-hour experience and it's probably better for it, but I do wish there was just a tiny bit more to do.

I probably won't touch Crackdown 2 for a while, given the reviews that suggest it's more of the same but worse, but I'm curious to see if the sequel benefits from a slightly more modern treatment.

 

[Labadal]

Games #1-20
Games #21-

Game 32: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - 40 hours
PC
Bought this day one but only completed it a few days ago. I like everything but the combat system, and I hated the qte sections so I chose not to do them after one of the boss fights. The final fight was also annoying as all hell and took me a long time to beat, although I did beat it on my first try.

The story is good and the writing is up there with the very best that we currently have in the industry. The voice acting also impressed me, from main character to minor characters. Deliveries were great from the voice actors. I mostly enjoyed the soundtrack which only had a couple of songs I didn't care for. The game still looks great from a graphical point of view and the design is overall great.

I didn't care for the combat because at the time when I first played it, it kept reminding me of Demon's Souls but it wasn't anyway near the fun of DS. The menus were a pain in the ass to use. I hope TW3 improves this. Inventory management was the worst in long time.

I'm going to pick up TW3 at some point, but I am in no real hurry to do so.

Game 33: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne - 25 hours
PC
After beating the original campaign, I took a break from the game and beat some others from my backlog. Returned to this and had a lot of fun despite dying several times to some crazy ass bosses. While I had played chapters 1-3, this was the first time I played IT. Not much to say other than it was a good continuation of the main game and I liked it just as much as the rest of the content.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Games 1 through 26

27: Killzone: Shadow Fall (PS4) - 26th July, approx 12 hours, standard game completion (Normal difficulty)
I've been thinking of lots of ways to describe this game, and I keep coming back to inconsistent and schizophrenic. It's absolutely magnificent in some regards, but on the other hand there are some baffling design decisions. I really love the visuals, the HUD, the artistry, the armour/weapon/technology designs. The core gameplay is superb - no auto-aim, the OWL adds a lot of tactical options (zipline, shield, flashbang, attack mode), I like that you can carry up to two adrenaline packs as the game gets crazy difficult at times, and some guns have alternate fire modes which might be a grenade launcher underneath an assault rifle, or it might be as simple as switching between full auto or semi-auto modes. I like being able to do the sonic ping to detect enemies within a certain range, and that tapping up shows your waypoint, but it's not always on screen. It felt like the game respected my intelligence to not have to shove these things in my face. The forest level was amazing - every level should have followed that template, of dumping you in a relatively open area and allowing you to approach objectives in any order. But then the story and most of the dialogue is just insultingly awful. I liked the overall premise of two special ops soldiers working from the shadows to prevent the tension escalating into a full-blown conflict, but it was so badly handled and I couldn't keep track of what was supposed to be happening - first of all

Spoiler

Lady Visari is presented as the main antagonist, but then it shifts to Tyran, and then it shifts again to Stahl near the end, and then Sinclair

with the game's final, totally expected twist. It spends a lot of time focusing on

Spoiler

Massar's weapon which I took to be some kind of genetic bio-weapon, but during the attack on Helghan by the Vektan forces Tyran detonates the weapon and it's a massive red explosion which shuts down all VSA ships and sends them plummeting out of the sky

- I was unclear what the weapon was or what its effects were, and if you don't understand the stakes how can you possibly care about the story or this conflict they're trying to focus on. Later in the game when you're on Helghan you're in a ruined city and you have to load power supplies with Petrusite coils and then shoot them to blow the security machine they're powering, but the game doesn't tell you this at all. I spent probably upwards of half an hour in that area trying to work out what to do, because the waypoint is sending you further than you can get and there's nothing to suggest that you need to destroy this machine specifically. It doesn't help that there's another large bot patrolling which it's better to avoid altogether, and the area is relatively large with no indication that you need to focus specifically on the area behind this security drone. Damn, man - I think I need to write a LTTP in order to vent a little, as I still have stuff to say. In short, a game that's close to being brilliant but help back by some maddening design decisions. 7/10

28: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS4) - 6th August - approx. 5-6 hours, 100% trophy completion
I really enjoyed this game. I'm still fairly new to the 'walking simulator' genre, with Journey being the only other I've really played, if that even counts. I've played a little of Ether One but I didn't get very far because I didn't think it was very good. But anyway, despite the shallow gameplay I really enjoyed Ethan Carter for a number of reasons - fantastic gameworld, utterly gorgeous visuals, good pacing and great storytelling. I would have gladly had a lot more puzzles than the game delivered and I'm sure it's a pretty slight game if you know exactly where to go, but I found it thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable, and I don't begrudge paying £14 for 5-6 hours of quality game. 8/10

29: The Fall (PS4) - 10th August - approx. 6 hours, standard game completion
I backed this on Kickstarter but didn't have a Wii U or gaming PC, so didn't claim any reward. Thus, I was pretty happy when it came to PS4 as it meant I could finally play it, and so far it has been one of my biggest surprises of the year. It plays like a mash-up of Limbo, Metroid and '90s LucasArts adventure games. The atmosphere is amazing and the writing is really good too (and it brings up some interesting questions about robots and their function). One puzzle pissed me off, but for the most part it was a terrific game with great level design, excellent pacing and a really eerie, pronounced sense of place. 8.5/10

30: Super Exploding Zoo (Vita) - 15th August - approx. 10 hours, Platinum trophy earned
I thought this was a charming little puzzle game. Lovely art, fun idea, and neat gameplay, although the level design was sometimes not as interesting as it should have been. 8/10

31: Neverending Nightmares (Android) - 23rd August - approx. 2-3 hours, standard completion (top route taken)
Really liked this game. Originally backed it on Kickstarter but I never claimed a copy as I don't game on PC or own an Ouya, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was coming to Android phones too via Humble Store. 8/10

32: Draw A Stickman: EPIC (Android) - 25th August - approx. 90-120 minutes, standard completion + majority of side activities completed
Cute simple little puzzle game with nice art and some neat little ideas. Definitely worth a dollar or your regional equivalent, although it's not very deep and there's not much to talk about. 7/10

33: Dragon's Crown (Vita) - 31st August - approx. 10 hours, standard completion
I've had this thanks to PS+ for ages, but only started playing a few weeks ago after reading a topic about it here on Gaf. It was a really pleasant surprise; visuals are amazing (although I'm not a big fan of the art design), I really like the structure of the game with an overarching story and sub-objectives (actually reminded me a bit of Destiny) and it has a really nice level of customisation and depth. I've finished the main story and done a few levels of the Labyrinth, and I may keep playing a bit and continuing to level up my character. Completed as a dwarf, although I probably won't start a new character. 8/10

34: Another World (Vita) - 6th September - approx. 60 minutes, 100% trophy completion
I have mixed feelings over this game; I think the core tenets of the gameplay are really solid, but much of the structure over the top is kinda poor, and far too oblique. But it does convey a sense of an alien world really well and I love the minimal storytelling and presentation. It's also far too punishing at times and I found the checkpointing frustrating and spotty, often putting me a couple of areas back from where I'd died. 7/10

35: Dying Light (PS4) - 19th September - 26 hours, standard completion + majority of sidequests completed
I thought the gameplay was excellent and the design of Harran was great, but I genuinely hated the story and characters. The free running is superb, the visuals and tech are really great, there's an absolute shit load of content and it has a load of really nice RPG mechanics. I played most of it solo, but the co-op modes are really well integrated and it's a lot of fun running around with three buddies. 7.5/10

36: Rayman Origins (Vita) - 22nd September - approx. 12 hours, standard game completion
Normally I love platformers, but I did not enjoy very much. The level design was very inconsistent, with a high number taking place on a moving screen, meaning you have to rush along at the pace the game dictates, and I didn't enjoy doing that at all. I also felt there were some horrendous difficulty spikes in an otherwise easy game, and while I love the visuals and art style, it felt like they just threw a bunch of stuff into the game with no real stylistic cohesion. And if I'm really nitpicking, it felt weird that the Nymphs were so sexualised (why did their boobs have to bounce so much?) and I didn't like that there were basically only one type of enemy per world (i.e. grumpy old lady in world 1, red birds in world 2, and so on). All that being said, the controls are great and the platforming in levels which aren't bullshit is usually a lot of fun. But for me there was just so much baggage bringing down what should have been a fun package. 6/10

37: Until Dawn (PS4) - 29th September - approx. 9 hours, standard game completion, 4/8 characters kept alive
Absolutely loved this. I've written a much more detailed breakdown here, but the short version is that this is best application of the David Cage (Quantic Dream) style of game design I've ever played, it's gorgeous, wonderfully acted, brilliantly paced, and it plays up horror clichés to just the right degree without being outright cheesy. Absolutely loved it; my favourite horror game in the last few years. Look forward to replaying it around Halloween. 8.5/10

Abandoned: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
I played about an hour of this before giving up on it. The driving and physics are fun, but I hated anything on foot and the shooting was godawful. The streets felt weirdly empty and there's too much pop-in, making driving fast vehicles a chore. The technology was really holding this game back and made it un-enjoyable in my opinion. I completed Liberty City Stories on the PS2, but I also gave up on Chinatown Wars on the Vita. Maybe I just don't get along with the handheld instalments.

38: Knightmare Tower (Android) - 7th October - approx. 3 hours, upgrades maxxed out + all challenges complete
I've completed the main quest and had a crack at the Survival mode, but without an end goal to work towards I'm more or less done with this. The basic premise is that you're a knight who has to ascend a huge tower to rescue princesses and by slashing downwards at enemies you're propelled upwards. You steer by tilting the phone and slash by tapping the screen. It's really simple but very enjoyable, with an excellent progression system and perfect for the mobile format. Probably in my top ten mobile games ever. 8.5/10

39: Goat Simulator (PS4) - 8th October - approx. 4 hours, 97% trophy completion
Bought this a couple of days ago as it was on offer for £3.60ish, because it looked fun and I knew my daughter would like it too, and as a silly side-dish I thought it was great. I began to tire of it a little by the time I'd explored the second map, but it's fun and silly and irreverent and watching stuff ragdoll and fall down seems like it would take a long time before it got old. I got all the trophies except for Flappy Goat. Fuck Flappy Goat. It feels like the game is trolling having pretty much all of the trophies being incredibly easy, and then having that one which is tough as nails. Fuck Flappy Goat. 7/10

40: Major Mayhem (Android) - 20th October - approx. 4-5 hours, standard completion + majority of side activities complete
Basically a phone version of Time Crisis, and I have to say this is very enjoyable and a great use of the touch-screen controls. Good humour, nice progression system and great visuals. 7.5/10

41. Dark Souls (PS3) - 25th October - 60 hours, single standard game completion
I'm a massive fan of Demon's Souls, but I had mixed feelings on this one - I struggled the whole way through and found it very cheap and punishing in places. I also think the cooperative or competitive multiplayer is much worse than Demon's, and you really have to jump through hoops to get that stuff working this time around. However, there's so much to admire about this game, from the massive seamless world, the varied and generally high-quality boss battles, the interesting and distinct level designs and the mechanics which are simple to learn but complex to master. It's a big game and I think there are quite a few low points (Lost Izalith in particular), but on the whole it's extremely consistent and high quality with terrific level design and amazing art. 8/10

42. Velocity Ultra (Vita) - 1st November - approx. 6-8 hours, standard game completion
Started playing this a couple of years ago but despite enjoying it I never made it past about 15 or 20 levels. I loved Velocity 2X and decided to go back and finish this, and I really enjoyed it. It's a great shmup with some excellent level design, with a good mix of levels requiring combat, racing through and exploration. It's a terrific game although I thought 2X was better in most regards. 8/10

43. Coconut Dodge Revitalised (Vita) - 2nd November - approx. an hour, played to exhaustion
This is a cute little game based on a Playstation Mini, but there's not much to it. You move a crab left and right to catch falling gems and avoid falling coconuts, and that's pretty much all there is to it. There doesn't seem to be any objectives besides getting a high score so I played for as many trophies as I could and then wasn't particularly compelled to keep going, so left it there. It's okay, it controls well, but there's not much more to talk about. 5/10

44. The Walking Dead Season 1 (PS3) - 7th November - approx. 12 hours, Platinum trophy earned
I started playing this way back when it released in 2012, but after episode 1 (partly due to the annoyance of waiting for new episodes) I stopped and didn't return. Well, I decided to finally get back to it as part of clearing a few games from my PS3 backlog and I'm really pleased I gave it another chance, because it was brilliant. Nowadays I tend to prefer games with strong gameplay first and foremost, but the writing in this was so goddamn good that even though the actual gameplay is minimal the writing kept me engrossed. The characters are so well written, the ongoing story interesting and plausible and the voice acting was some of the best I've ever heard. The relationships are so well developed, with a lot of warmth between Lee and Clem, and I genuinely had a few tears leaking out in the final episode, particularly as

Spoiler

Kenny died and then Lee died

. Fuck man, this was amazing, and I'll give Season 2 on the PS4 a go at some point. 9/10

45. House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut (PS3) - 8th November - probably 10-15 hours, standard completion + 3 weapons full upgraded
Played this using the Move + Sharpshooter controller. This was another from my PS3 backlog I wanted to clear, and while it's not very deep it's a lot of fun (particularly with the Sharpshooter) and has a surprising amount of content. I wasn't especially a fan of the writing but the levels were pretty solid, enemies were fun to fight and there's a good progression system where you earn money and improve your guns. This was kind of the opposite to The Walking Dead, and after I was done with that and was feeling weepy, I just wanted to shoot some zombies to death in the face until they were dead, so from that perspective it worked perfectly. 7/10

46. Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below (PS4) - 17th November - 32 hours, standard completion + majority of side quests completed
My one experience with the series prior to this was DQVIII on the PS2, but I picked this up because I was in the mood for a Musou and got it fairly cheap on launch (£30). Although I recognise that it's a highly flawed game I really enjoyed it, found the combat surprisingly decent, the enemy variety is really impressive and there's a large suite of really fun and often challenging boss battles. The visuals are gorgeous and the presentation excellent on the whole, and I liked the RPG elements and progression system which brought a bit more depth than I would have expected. I would have liked more variety in objectives and more complex and interesting level design (the only level I really liked was the whole of Arba town in the penultimate mission), but on the whole I found this extremely enjoyable and I'd gladly see more DQ spin-offs if they built on this combat engine but maybe made the style of game more open and interesting, like a Zelda instalment or something. 8/10

47. Major Laser (Android) - 28th November - approx. an hour, played to exhaustion
Feels a little disingenuous to say this is 'complete' because as far as I can tell you just have to keep playing and beating high scores, but I've played this for about an hour and I'm probably done with it. My top score was 22, although the game is telling me the top score is 27 - don't know if this is the dev's score or something. The reason I bought this was because I'm a fan of Auralnauts and they contributed the excellent music. As for the game itself, it's decent but not particularly stand-out, and extremely shallow. 5/10

48. Lara Croft GO (Android) - 30th November - approx. 2.5 hours, completed the main game and the Cave of Fire DLC
Bought this a few days ago because it was 40% off on Google Play, and it's turned out to be one of my favourite mobile games ever. Just a really great fit for the format, and a clever reformatting to fit the principles of a board game into a mobile game. Good puzzles (I especially enjoyed the

Spoiler

giant snake boss

at the end), gorgeous visuals and a nice throwback to the classic games in the series seeing as the console games have pretty much moved on now. 8.5/10

49. The Wolf Among Us (PS3) - 2nd December - approx. 10 hours, Platinum trophy earned
I've only recently got into Telltale games (see game #44) despite having played several of them before, and while this didn't quite hit the peaks of TWD S1 it was still really great. The first two episodes were by far the strongest where there was a sense of mystery, and I found it slightly less entertaining once

Spoiler

they started to chase Crane and then later The Crooked Man

. There were also far too many fight sequences which got very tedious by the end of the game. If you have to use a QTE to have an action sequence in your game, then I think it's better just to drop the action scenes altogether. Anyway, I found the premise really interesting (no experience with the comics or IP prior to this), the dialogue and acting was excellent and I really liked the visual style. A really solid and entertaining game which has me tempted to pick up some of the graphic novels. 8.5/10

50. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4) - 3rd December - approx. 7-8 hours, standard game completion (Normal difficulty)
I'm not a big fan of COD but I enjoy a good FPS campaign, and overall I thought this was really solid. The suit abilities were fun (I particularly like dashing sideways) although I'd have preferred that they were consistent in each level rather than shuffling around between levels, as I felt like this wasn't very well explained. The controls were great, the guns and shooting are fun, level design is generally open and interesting with some great set-pieces and I liked the story, with Spacey doing a brilliant job of overacting and hamming it up. I actually liked the characters of Gideon, Ilona and Cormack, but Mitchell was completely bland - I'd have much preferred one of the others to be the protagonist. Probably the only thing about this game which held it back was that I felt like I'd played most of it before, regardless of how exciting the set-pieces were. As for multiplayer, I had a look through the options and different game modes yesterday and the only place I could find active games was in Free For All (I prefer Team Deathmatch), and it's just not my scene. I played a couple of matches and I'm just not a fan of running around wildly with the result being either who sees who first or whoever has the better weapon is the winner. Not really a big online player anyway. 8/10

51. Rocket League (PS4) - 3rd December - approx. 6-8 hours, played to exhaustion
I like this game but I'm not very good at it. I've not played a massive amount, but I've done a bunch of exhibition matches, played through a complete season against the AI and I've played online a small handful of times. It's a lot of fun but I don't feel particularly good at it and my times playing online are just frustrating as I get massively outclassed, so I don't see myself revisiting it. I've got about 60% of the trophies and while I know it's supposed to be an easy Platinum, I can't be bothered grinding for it. 8/10

52. 80 Days (Android) - 21st December - approx 1.5-2 hours, completed the circumference in 101 days
This won a few GotY awards and nominations last year, and while I wouldn't rate it quite that highly, it was a very well-written and clever game with a nice amount of history and education seeded in. Like Lara Croft GO, it felt like the principals of a board game cleverly and effectively applied to a mobile game, and it has really excellent production values. 8/10

53. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PS3) - 27th December - 49 hours, completed all main story quests and about half of the side quests
I didn't have much interest in this when it first launched, but got it for free via PS+, played it a couple of years later and ended up really enjoying it. The visuals and art style are excellent, the plot isn't all that interesting but the writing and lore are thoroughly excellent, the world is huge and packed with things to do, and while the combat is a bit simple, it's a lot of fun. I thought this was a really solid foundation for a sequel, but sadly that's not going to happen now. It's a shame as I'd like to see more games position themselves as competition for The Elder Scrolls, and fir a first time effort I thought this was excellent in most of the ways that mattered. 8/10

 

[Axass]

First two games of July:

Game 28: Hexcells Plus - 3,5/5 - 13:36 hours (11/07/2015)

Completed 100%. The new mechanic shakes things up a little, but the core game is mostly the same. Even though I appreciate the added challenge this sequel brings forth, at times the game becomes needlessly frustrating: later on you oft have to find an exact order of moves to complete the stages without errors, you can't start multiple paths and work you way to the end that way. The second to last level is especially unforgiving.

This game is:

+

-------------------------------------

Game 29: Kami - 3,5/5 - 8:30 hours (25/07/2015)

Perfected both standard and extra puzzles, only used three hints total. Highly relaxing game: there's no failure involved, unlike what happens in many puzzles nowadays; here you can just hit a button and replay the stage instantly, without having to change screen at all, which I think is awesome. The music is amazing and gets you in the mood, the various patterns and colours are beautiful to look at, the stages are difficult but lenient enough to let you go on even if you don't perfect them. Even just seeing the paper move is soul candy: loved it.


This game is:

+

 

[Benzychenz]

Update time.

18. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
My first Dragon Quest game! I really enjoyed it. I appreciated the old school grindy, world map, low key story and everything. Plus all the quirky monsters. Have 5, 6, 8 and 9 lined up to continue on with the series in the near future.
8/10

19. Persona 4 Arena
This was my first non-Smash fighting game. Took a little bit to get the hang of things but I ended up really liking it and am going to try out more in the genre. Story was a drag though, had some high highs with Labrys' arc, but getting through everyone else was a real slog. That said the core fighting mechanics are fun, and the Persona system is really satisfying with the weighty attacks. Chie #1
7.5/10

20. Nier (platinum)
Oh my god. This game was phenomenal. The story and OST were top of the line, the world was great and gave me the same vibes I got from Ico/SotC, and I mean, yeah the combat and quests weren't anything to write home about, but they were serviceable and didn't find them to drag. Ended up doing every sidequest in my first playthrough, which then led to me getting the platinum (with was a fucking grind but I persevered).
Definitely a highlight of the PS3 era.
9/10

Going to go back and wrap up Yoshi's Woolly World now, then hopefully I'll stick with Trails in the Sky and Yakuza and not get distracted again
Really want to start up Valkyrie Profile, Ys 1+2 Chronicles, SMT Nocturne or TWEWY though... and I have BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and Guilty Gear Xrd coming in the mail to distract me...

Full list:
1. Danganronpa 2 (platinum)
2. Gravity Rush (platinum)
3. Flower
4. Ico
5. God of War (platinum)
6. Shadow of the Colossus
7. Uncharted 3
8. God of War 2 (platinum)
9. inFamous: First Light (platinum)
10. Resogun (platinum)
11. 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors
12. Rhythm Heaven
13. Dark Souls (platinum)
14. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
15. Bloodborne
16. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
17. Splatoon
18. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
19. Persona 4 Arena
20. Nier (platinum)

 

[chrixter]

Main post

#33: New Super Mario Bros. U - 20 hours ★★★
Worlds 1 through 9 were alright, but challenge mode is where the game shines. Getting gold medals is absolutely brutal in many of those levels. It has to be the toughest Mario platformer to date. That said, I wish there were more interesting gameplay mechanics or level design elements to freshen up this series. It desperately needs it.

#34: Rocket League - 32 hours ★★★★★
Just phenomenal. It's been many years since I've enjoyed online competitive multiplayer this much. My favorite game of the year so far and surely a staple that I'll keep coming back to for a long time. I do wish it had a little more content to shake up the gameplay some, though. I also wish I was a lot better at it!

#35: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 20 hours ★★★★
Really enjoyed the journey but not so much the conclusion. I could say that about each chapter, actually. The intrigue surrounding each murder made the investigation portions very engaging... and then you realize you've uncovered major plot points and potentially solved the murder before the trials even begin. Most frustrating is when its "twists" are so blatantly predictable yet the game throws several obvious red herrings at you before it formally reveals those twists. Didn't see that ending coming, though, and it wasn't totally satisfying for me. The minigames are unnecessary but ultimately I didn't mind them. Enjoyed the game enough to feel excited to play the sequel.

#36: Syndicate (2012) - 6 hours ★★★
Some cool ideas here, but I don't think there was enough to differentiate the experience all that much from your typical linear CoD-style campaign. The hacking abilities just weren't as interesting as I wanted them to be. The story was particularly mediocre given its subject matter (human augmentation). And that extreme bloom effect, holy shit. Still had some fun shooting dudes in this one.

 

[Barry Burton]

Main post

Game 23: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS4) - 6 hours [7/27/15] ★★★½

Completed the story. Unlocked all 14 trophies.

Incredibly beautiful and atmospheric game...one of the best-looking games I've played to date. I felt the game was a bit short for the narrative it was trying to tell, but probably the perfect length considering the gameplay mechanics. Overall, I like what the game does even if this maybe isn't the best experience to showcase it -- the tagline at the opening is that the game doesn't hold your hand, which I appreciate, but this wasn't the sort of game that would require any sort of hand-holding anyways. It's all very simple and straightforward, a bit much so (although I did like a few of the puzzles). The Vanishing of Ethan Carter doesn't expect a whole lot more from the player than AAA games that tell you on a map exactly where to go, which is a bit unfortunate.

The story kept me intrigued, but I didn't find unveiling it through recreating crime scenes to be particularly novel or rewarding (a lot of games have been doing this recently. Batman, Murdered: Soul Suspect, to name a few). However, I did really like the ending and how it all played out. It made much of what happened previously (and how it transpired) really click with me. While again, the way the story wraps up is something that has been done before in other mediums, having it all unfold in a video game the way that it did made for a very satisfying conclusion for me.

All in all, I certainly got my money's worth from it, even if it does feel a bit "proof of concept". There's a lot of good stuff here, but the general gameplay loop could have been a lot deeper, and the way the story was presented through gameplay could have been less derivative. Still, I'm very interested in seeing what The Astronauts do next.

 

[ramoisdead]

Game #18:

Platform: Xbox 360
Duration: Started 07/16/15 - 07/28/15
Completed: Single Player campaign plus Episode 19-22 DLC pack
Thoughts: Asura's Wrath has always piqued my curiousity. I bought this on sale to see why the polarizing impressions towards it. While I can say I'll be skeptical on spending $60 on a title like this (especially more for DLC that'll reveal the true ending, thanks CAPCPOM), it was definitely an enjoyable adventure of mostly QTEs with some shmups and action adventure to boot. I'll give it this: the QTEs at least weren't all generic "press button now" scenes. It had a bit of variety. This should be affordable enough for anyone to pick up a copy and experience this story of rage. I think you'll enjoy it.

52 Games main post.

 

[GLuigi]

The final stretch!

Game #42: Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS) - 11 Hours
A real solid golf game, that has a couple flaws but nothing huge. This game has a lot of content to go through outside of the single player campaign that will keep you busy for quite a while. Although the single player is pretty short and not as deep as i would of liked, took around 5 hours to beat, but it was a good starting platform to get used to the controls. I loved playing as my Mii throughout the single player mode , but I wish there was a way to turn off the Mii's voice which can get annoying. The Nintendo themed courses are really fun to play, and varies a lot from the standard courses you get from the single player mode.

Original Post

Currently Playing: Lost Dimension on the Vita, thinking that I should have gotten it on the PS3

 

[Yuterald]

God sidetracked, again...

28: Astebreed - a couple hours - PSN/PS4 -

Cleared a few times. Hoping to at least 1CC Normal before I take a break. One of my favorite shooters since Crimson Clover.

29: Journey - a couple hours - PSN/PS4 - REPLAY

Played through twice again. Got the white robe and collected everything. Forgot how much I liked this game when I first played it on PS3.

30: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - 5-some hours - PSN/PS4

Biggest surprise of the year, so far, I think. Always thought it looked interesting when it launched on PC, but ignored it. Bought on impulse on PS4 last week and played it to 100% completion. Really cool setting and story.

31: Tembo the Badass Elephant - 5-some hours - PSN/PS4

100% completed today. Just need to max out my lives, which will take forever...I hope Game Freak and Co. decided to make a sequel to this. I really dug it and could have gone for some more stages and features/unlocks after completion. Not as good as Pulseman, but better than Harmo Knight. Gotta still play my copy of Drill Dozer to see what my favorite GF title is.

 

[marcincz]

Game #23 : Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones HD

Rating: ★★★★☆ | Platform: PS3 | Beaten: 25/07/2015 | Time: 13:41 h

After PoP:WW, which I finished last year, I had many concerns to play next PoP. Fortunately, I was positive surprised. The best boss fights in a trilogy, the best gameplay and the best action. Very, very good game, one of the best, which I've played in this year.

Game #24 : Flow

Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Platform: PS3 | Beaten: 26/07/2015 | Time: 01:45 h

Little disappointed. I expected something better. Flower, in my opinion, was a much better game.

Original Post

 

[Barry Burton]

Main post

Game 24: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4) - 10 hours (4 hours in 2015) [7/29/15] ★★½

Finished main mission a few times, completed the four side ops a couple times each. 3/15 trophies.

I did the main mission last year and then put the game down, but I wanted to go back and check out the side missions before Phantom Pain comes out. I didn't find these missions to be particularly good; even though there was variety to them, I didn't care much for the de-emphasis on sneaking (and at times, the inability to use stealth at all). In a nutshell, the side operations were not the sort of things I'm looking for from Metal Gear. Hopefully Phantom Pain sticks more to the freedom offered in the main Ground Zeroes mission.

 

[IfAllElseFales]

Finally got approved on Neogaf, I've been keeping track all year with my friends (we're all doing the challenge). Here is my list so far:

-Game 1: The Wolf Among Us (8.5 hours, Xbox One)
Loved the story of this one, really hopeful they do another season of this. I would take it over another Walking Dead season tbh. 9/10

-Game 2: Grand Theft Auto V (31 hours, Xbox One)
Such an easy game to go through a second time, love the story, the characters and the setting. I'm a sucker for open world games. 9.8/10

-Game 3: Saint's Row: Gat Out of Hell (4 hours, Xbox One)
Really short condensed Saint's Row experience. Honestly it was fun to get through but easy to forget. 6.5/10

-Game 4: Riptide GP2 (5 hours, Xbox One)
Picked this one up to stream on twitch and actually had over 100 viewers at one point (being the only person playing the game). It was 5 bucks and actually pretty fun for being a port of a mobile game. 7/10

-Game 5: #IDARB (10 hours, Xbox One)
Fun experience but I'm not sure I bought into it as much as everyone else. 6.8/10

-Game 6: Dying Light (13.5 hours, Xbox One)
Was pleasantly surprised by this one after talking down on it prior to release. While it has obvious Dead Island roots I was still able to enjoy the hell out of this one. The ending annoyed be quite a bit though. 8/10

-Game 7: Limbo (3.5 hours, Xbox One)
Second time through this great game. Still love seeing all the crazy deaths in it. 9/10

-Game 8: Pokemon Omega Ruby (24.5 hours, 3DS)
I run a local Pokemon League so I was forced into beating this one quick to catch up for our 3rd season. Luckily it was a breeze and even though there haven't been any BIG updates to the series in awhile, I still love the Pokemon formula. 8.5/10

-Game 9: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (6.5 hours, Xbox One)
This one was tough. I was honestly just bad at it (only mode I'm good at is Pacifism). But I kept banging my head against the wall and eventually broke through. 8/10

-Game 10: Pneuma: Breath of Life (2 hours, Xbox One)
Really not worth it for the price point. Still enjoyable though. Some good puzzles. 6/10

-Game 11: Rayman Legends (9 hours, Xbox One)
Gotta love free games. This one was easy to get through, awesome platforming and level design. Loved the music levels. Really hope they make another one. 9/10

-Game 12: The Escapists (22.5 hours, Xbox One)
Had a lot of fun streaming this one. Viewers loved the really tough, do it yourself style gameplay. Final prison was awesome to play while people watched. 8.5/10

-Game 13: Forza Horizon 2 Presents: Fast & Furious (3.5 hours, Xbox One)
Fun little racing title for a boring afternoon. 8/10

-Game 14: Infamous: First Light (4 hours, PS4)
Loved Second Son and while this was a quick burst of a game I felt right at home. Graphics are as crisp as ever. 8.5/10

-Game 15: Borderlands 2 (31 hours, Xbox One)
Still my favorite game of all time no matter what anyone's opinion of Gearbox is nowadays. After a few updates it finally runs perfectly smooth and I love it. So many great DLCs as well. Hundreds of hours of content. 10/10

-Game 16: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (17.5 hours, Xbox One)
More of the Borderlands I love. Wish they could have supported it with more DLC. 8.8/10

-Game 17: Goat Simulator (1 hour, Xbox One)
Collected all the trophies to unlock all the goats. Ridiculous game. And I honestly can't wait for the MMO and Zombies thing to hit the Xbox One in a few weeks. 7/10

-Game 18: State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition (16.5 hours, Xbox One)
While there is some obvious jankiness throughout the game I still loved the survival aspects of the game. Story wasn't anything to write home about though. 7.5/10

-Game 19: Dishonored (12.5 hours, Xbox 360)
Finally decided to go through this game after the announcement of Dishonored 2. I loved every minute of it and went through most of it as steathily as possible. Bring on the sequel. 8.5/10

-Game 20: Super Meat Boy (11 hours, Xbox 360 through Xbox One)
I'm part of the preview program so I knew I had to go through this one again. Still one of the hardest games I've ever finished and yet I loved every painful moment of it. Ran great through the backwards compatibility. 9/10

-Game 21: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (8 hours, Xbox 360)
After not having played a Guitar Hero for awhile I decided to jump back into 3. Was still able to beat it on Expert but it was tough. Can't wait for both Live and RB4 this year. 8/10

-Game 22: Batman: Arkham Knight (14.5 hours, Xbox One)
Despite all the batmobile hate, I absolutely loved this one. Early game of the year contender for me. The graphics still blow my mind. 9.5/10

-Game 23: Portal: Still Alive (3 hours, Xbox 360)
Went through this and the second game while my gf watched. She loved every minute of it. Both games are still great. Dialogue is top notch. 8.5/10

-Game 24: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millenium Duels (20 hours, Xbox 360)
Pretty fun game especially going through the expert mode. Unlocking the cards you want is a pain though. Hopefully Legacy of Duelists fixes this problem. 7.5/10

-Game 25: Peggle (4 hours, Xbox 360)
Quick game to beat in an afternoon, lots of fun to be had. 8/10

-Game 26: Portal 2 (8.5 hours, Xbox 360)
Still one of my favorites. Forget Half Life 3, give me a Portal 3. 9.5/10

-Game 27: Journey (2 hours, PS4)
Beautiful game. Not much else to be said, play it if you haven't already. 9/10

-Game 28: Forza Horizon 2 (16.5 hours, Xbox One)
Finally finished this one. Doing championships over and over gets a little dull but overall it was fun. 8/10

Playing Right Now: Still waiting on episodes from Game of Thrones, Tales from the Borderlads and Life is Strange to finish those. Will be playing the new Yu-Gi-Oh game when it comes out tomorrow. Plenty of backlog to keep me going as well.

This is my first long post on Neogaf so if I did anything wrong let me know so I can fix it!

 

[Jack Videogames]

6h-ish. Hmm, this is a tough one to evaluate. I absolutely loved the art, the humour and the setting, but the gameplay itself made me tear my hair off. The logic is of the "cat hair + syrup = moustache" variety and oftentimes you're going to be irremediably lost because the game doesn't offer any guidance. Particularly during the Kuvaq segment: you have to be either insane or clicking absolutely everything on screen to avoid using a guide.

Anyone that has taken the time to check my Backloggery will notice that I gave the game four stars out of five, but I'm being rough with the review. That's because I was charmed enough by the good to consider this a real great game, even with the perceivable flaws.


Updated OP

 

[Spyware]

Quiiiite some time since I posted in here. Let's get this thing up to date!
...it's not gonna be long. I've been playing like 10 things at the same time instead of focusing on stuff.

06-15-15 - Game 60: Mind: Path to Thalamus - 4 hours
I really didn't click with this one. It's sort of pretty but at the sime time it's so... static? It doesn't feel alive. I never got hooked by the story or the mechanics either. I dunno. Meh.

06-22-15 - Game 61: Batman: Arkham Asylum - 15 hours
Played this at release on 360 and realised I hadn't played the PC version I got in a bundle quite a while back. Perfect to play when hyped for Knight, I thought. And I was right! It looks great (when you finally get it to work) and it's still a great game. I love the predator rooms, maybe because I suck at the combat. Grabbed all the riddler stuff too, it was fun!

06-30-15 - Game 62: Batman: Arkham City - 30-ish hours
Same thing as the previous one, finished it at release on 360 but hadn't played the PC version. I'm still not a big fan of this game. It's a good game but it's just... not Asylum. I like the story, especially the ending and the boss fights are way better than Asylum's. I feel like the side missions could have been great but the two most interesting ones just... stop. No conclusion at all. It's just Batman saying "I'll fix it after the game is over". Grr. Not a fan of the way they tried to make this an open world. It's like they made it too small and too big at the same time. Hrm.

07-15-15 - Game 63: Persona - 33 hours
What a game. I've mostly heard people say that you should keep away from this one and just play 3 and 4 instead, but I love going back to the beginning of a series to see how it has grown. I'm happy I checked out some hints and stuff before starting because wow... this game is strange. I'm happy that I didn't listen to people saying it's not worth playing because I think it is. I couldn't really push myself to play both paths tho and checked out SQQ on Youtube instead. It seemed to be annoying to play but I loved that story.

07-30-15 - Game 64: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - 30 hours
Started this a long time ago but couldn't really get into it then. This time it worked better and it's been a great game to play while watching TI5. Cute monsters and a working combat system... that's basically all you need for this kind of game. ;P


Main post 1-49
Main post 50-??

 

[Krafter]

July saw me go past the 40 game mark in another productive month. Currently playing Plants vs Zombies, SWAT 4, Thief Deadly Shadows, Blood II among others. Trusty 'ol PC getting a lot of usage as it's currently situated in the coldest room of the house.

Game 36: Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (PC) - July 1 - 31 hours
Troika's swan song, an incredible and unique RPG populated with crazy characters, beautiful women, monsters, dry humor, great dialogue, you name it. A classic, GOTY contender (I have it 2nd) and one that should not be missed.

Game 37: Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires (PS3) - July 8 - 22 hours
Continues the Omega force tradition where the Empires game is better than the main game itself, but has flaws as compared to earlier iterations. The friend mechanic is very cool, though, even better than the bodyguards of previous entries. My 7th Platinum Trophy.

Game 38: Fatal Frame III: the Tormented (PS2) - July 19 - 17 hours
Another great entry in a consistently great, underrated series. Suitably quiet and creepy, the addition of the Silent Hill 4 style "house breaks" was a nice touch, but I do wish your camera upgrades could have stuck around between all three characters, as little sense as that makes. Sure wish we got Fatal Frame IV over here.

Game 39: Rome: Total War (PC) - July 23 - 9 hours
Standard Total War quality, great map and setting, and everything in the style of the Romans just seems cooler. Played included campaigns on easy with battles off (not a huge fan) so I could finish in a week and move on to the expansions. Possibly my 2nd favourite after Shogun.

Game 40: Samurai Shodown VI (PSP) - July 26 - 3 hours
The end (apparently) of a great series. A poor port, but the game itself is fine. Could not beat Iroha's last match, so switched back to Mina and beat her story instead.

Game 41: NCAA Football 12 (PS3) - July 30 - 6 hours
Played through an entire season as Alabama, ran the ball 95% of the time and pounded my way to another BCS Title, as God intended. Roll Tide. This series needs to settle the lawsuit, pay a stipend, and come back with the actual players' likenesses rather than generic "Running Back #3!"

Original Post

 

[Dryk]

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Game #47: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl: 29.2 hours

Whoever told me this game was open world was sort of lying. Whoever told me this game was awesome was not. The first few areas feel like an open world but as the game goes on it starts to feel more like early Crysis wide corridors.The atmosphere is amazing, the entire way through the game you know that death is just around the corner and it gives the whole thing this wonderful sense of foreboding. But you still feel like you're a lot stronger by the end, at the beginning you have a double-barrelled shotgun and a pistol that can't hit anything for shit so a lone military soldier or a pack of wild dogs might be your downfall. By the end you've gone powered armour, regenerating health and rifles that can hit someone in the head from twenty paces but a few powerful soldiers will still tear you to shreds if you're not careful.

Buggy though. The alerted state of the AI can also carry over when you load a previous save SOMEHOW which screws with a few missions. Also you can tell that this game had a long and difficult development cycle, the subtitles often don't match the dialogue and the quest descriptions are very off sometimes. There's a lot of talk of sneaking into bases in the objectives but enemies are too perceptive for true stealth to be viable in any of those instances. You're better off making some noise and then sneaking to a different spot and killing the enemies while they're trying to flush you out of where they think you are.

Overall, great experience, looking forward to playing the others at some point.

 

[Infinite Xero]

Original Post

July Report

Game 7: Danganropa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita) - 24 hours & 36 minutes

Most boring game I've ever played. I've never played a visual novel before so didn't know there would be such lackluster gameplay. The "game" is mostly reading with a few button inputs here and there. I bought the sequel's CE prematurely but I'll likely just sell it and not play another visual novel again.

Game 8: Final Fantasy: Type 0 (PS4) - 37 hours & 11 minutes

Platinum'd, easily. Most of the trophies will be obtained from just playing the game. In the beginning I wasn't that interested in the gameplay but I used the Infinite XP glitch to level up my party and that made everything more enjoyable and the game was still surprisingly difficult. The story was good right off the bat; didn't expect it to be so dark. The exposition is poorly explained though and I had to look up several things to understand it properly and even then I'm still confused (especially with the ending). Overall good game and I'm glad I picked it up as it was a last minute purchase.

Game 9: Watch Dogs (PS4) - 18 hours

Finally getting around to playing this game, I thought it was okay. Much better than Assassin's Creed but I'm burning out on open world games. I hate that there is so much to do and I've always hated games that hide plot details in collectibles. I just did all of the story missions and was satisfied with that. I really like how the revenge plot is conclusive with no loose ends. Most games/stories always have some hidden mastermind at the end to tease a sequel, but this game was straightforward and I respect that. Playing on PS4 there was a few random performance drops but nothing major. Also, for game that was tarnished for it's downgrades, I still thought the game looked good most of the time.

Game 10: Ether One (PS4) - 4 hours & 28 minutes

Platinium'd but I needed a guide to do it. The puzzles in this game are hard, mostly because you have to discover everything without much hints of what to do/where to go. The game's story was oblivious to me throughout the entire game until the end where I was able to piece everything together (well, at least make sense of the basic plotline).

 

[Ladekabel]

July:

Game 35: Double Dragon Neon (PC): Beat it with a buddy. Cool and funny beat'em up. Though it sometimes feels a bit sluggish and some sections would have required some more precise controls, it's still pretty good. Great soundtrack, too.
Game 36: Final Fantasy IX (Vita): Liked it! Artdesign is what I expect from Final Fantasy, story is interesting and the characters are likeable. I often heard that the battles are slow but i can't confirm that. At least I don't feel that they were slower than VII's or X' battle. But maybe it is too long since I played those.
Game 37: Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix HD (PS3): It was my favorite game for a long time and still is one of my favorites even after replaying it. Such an upgrade over the original. I wanted to do as much as possible but the Lingering Will kicks my ass so I lost motivation. I can't even do the easy method. Eitherway still a great game in my opinion.

Currently playing: Ghost Trick (NDS), Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD (PS3)

July Update. Didn'T beat as much as I wanted to but I'm always getting closer to clearing my backlog.

 

[Onyar]

Original Post

Hearthstone (Android/iOS) - ??/??/15 (~30 hours)
Hearthstone is the best card game I found for the mobile platforms, period.
Blizzard nailed the essence of what I want in a game when I have a short time to play, still the game is online, so you don't have that freedom that maybe mobile games can have but if you have 5 minutes you can do a game.
For sure I will continue playing this game time to time.


Fallout shelter (iOS) - ??/??/15 (~90 dwellers)
Fallout shelter started so well, it´s some kind of mix between a very essencial SIMs and SimTower (what a great old game), but as the hours pass the game become more and more boring, where at the ~50 dwellers you feel there's much nothing more to do. Events repeat over and over, there's no increase at the dificulty and the new rooms just give better faster resources, but nothing more.
At my point of view this game will give you no more than a month of fun.


Dark Souls: Prepare to die edition (PC) - 01/08/15 (53 hours)
Dark Souls is such a beautiful and fun play. The combat is nearly perfect, one of the best combat system I could ever try, and the gameplay is challenging but rewarding, nothing is impossible to do. But some points separate this game to be a goty, the camera, just horrible, the lack of liberty, the game isn't a corridor but not much more and the lack of story, I know there's much more story but I just don't get it. The lore is very interesting but as the story doesn't tell you about that much it doesn't awake a will to know very much.
So in my opinion Dark Souls is a great "Action RPG" but the lack of RPG made this game just a great game, and not into the hall of fame of videogames. But this is just my opinion.

 

[NHale]

Games 1-12
Games 13-16
Games 17-21
Games 22-26
Games 27-30

July:

Game 31: Riptide GP2
A cheap fun game that makes you wish for more like a Pure jetski game. Or another Pure...

Game 32: Entwined
Short game that still manages to bore you in the later levels. Can definitely why some people like it a lot but it didn't resonate with me.

Game 33: Rain
A game that feels like someone tried too much to make a Ico clone without fully understand what makes Ico special.

Game 34: MouseCraft
Great puzzle game that keeps introducing new ideas to solve harder puzzles. A game that I would definitely recommend it.

 

[LiquidSolid]

Original Post

Game #32 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4) - 09/07/15

My second favourite game of the year, behind Bloodborne. What they've managed to do with this game coming from Witcher 1 and 2 is honestly pretty incredible. The world is huge, filled with quests and side quests that are both interesting and well written. The characters are the best part of the game and the voice actors deliver quality performances. The graphics are really impressive given the scale, though performance really needs to improve on PS4. And gwent is awesome.

About the only thing that isn't that great is the combat. It's not bad and is certainly an improvement over Witcher 2, but Batman-like combat really doesn't stack up, not compared to the well designed combat systems you see in Souls games, Bloodborne, DMC, God of War, etc. I did really like the continued focus on researching enemies, applying oils and drinking potions though, which are great mechanics that both fit the lore and separate Witcher games from their competitors.

So yeah, Witcher 3's an incredible game that in most other years would be my GOTY but in an insane year like 2015, the PS4 performance issues and combat ends up putting it behind Bloodborne on my GOTY list.

Game #33 - The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief (PS3) - 11/07/15

I bought this when it was on sale a couple of months ago, because I'd finished Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, was interested in playing another crime/mystery adventure games and it was on sale but man, I kinda wish I hadn't. The Raven isn't even in the same league as Sherlock Holmes. The art style is generic and boring, the animations are really janky and the character models are so bad they're creepy looking. What else? The music is attrocious. The story is rubbish and cliché ridden. About the only thing I ended up liking were the puzzles, which actually got pretty good at times. That was enough to get me through it, though I somehow doubt I'll ever go back.

Game #34 - The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS4) - 16/07/15

A good but not great game. I liked the story well enough but it just didn't grab me and the puzzles weren't good enough to hook me from that front either. I do feel the need to mention how much I loved the Contact side story though. Give me a "walking simulator" (ugh, I hate that term) in that kind of setting, please.

Game #35 - The Fall (PS4) - 17/07/15

Another adventure game and by far my favourite of the three. The side scrolling combat wasn't great but it was easy enough to be ignored. The story and puzzles on the other hand, are awesome. The story itself is incredibly unique, really well written and is integrated really well into the puzzles. While the puzzles are really well thought out, inventive and make a lot of sense when you solve them. Great game, can't wait for Part 2.

Game #36 - Rocket League (PS4) - 20/07/15

After much fun and a lot of grinding, I've managed to unlock every item in the game, so I'm fairly satisfied that I've "completed" it. I was one of those people who dismissed Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars back when it came out, even though my brother was hooked by it and now I finally get why. What an amazing, incredibly fun game. I'm sure I'll come back to it many times in the future.

Game #37 - Splinter Cell: Blacklist (PS3) - 21/07/15

As someone who HATED the direction Ubisoft took the series with Conviction, I was sceptical of all the claims that Blacklist was a return to form but I was willing to give it a chance anyway. Turns out it's a huge improvement over Conviction but not quite the brilliance Chaos Theory reached. The best part is that the game focuses heavily on stealth, discouraging playing it like a shooter on everything above Easy mode, to the point where that E3 2012 unveil really comes across like yet another attempt by Ubisoft to deliberately misrepresent their games. And while they do keep a lot of the "modernised" features from Conviction, they designed the game around them, so that they work with the stealth focus and don't break the game.

The story is your typical Splinter Cell/Tom Clancy "turrist threatens Murica" but this time with a worse voice actor and a weird looking Sam. And as far as the missions themselves go, the scenarios and level design aren't as cool, interesting or well designed as the ones in Chaos Theory. It's a high bar to reach but still disappointing that they didn't even really get close. There are a number of side quests, though the only ones that really stuck out to me as being worthy Splinter Cell missions are the co-op only ones with Briggs and Grimm's missions. The other two types are just Horde Mode and Terrorist Hunt style missions, which both seem really out of place in a Splinter Cell game.

Game #38 - Journey (PS4) - 22/07/15

I haven't played Journey for a good 3 years so getting back into it with the PS4 release was pretty convenient. The game is still fantastic. It looks even better at 1080p, the soundtrack is incredible, the co-op implementation is still really cool and the storytelling is still brilliant game design. How some people bitched and moaned about it winning GAF's 2012 GOTY is beyond me.

Game #7 (Update) - Life is Strange: Episode 4 (PS4) - 28/07/15

Another fantastic episode in probably my favourite episodic game yet. DONTNOD are really killing it with this game, crushing Telltale in almost every aspect. Can't wait for the final epiosde.

Game #39 - Final Fantasy Type-0 (PS4) - 30/07/15

A flawed but very good game, in my opinion. For a bit of a change, I'll start with the negatives. Like FFXIII before it, story telling is a real issue with the game. I can understand some of the limitations they may have had to deal with, specifically when it comes to the design and how much they could display on a PSP screen. But I don't understand why they leave so many story details out and force the player to read up on those details if they're interested. All it did was hurt the story, as it just left me completely confused at a number of different points. And even worse, you often have to unlock some of those story details. I'm honestly pretty baffled as to why Square Enix went down this route with two games from two different development teams but I really hope that this was the last I'd see of it.

Other than that though, I really enjoyed the game. Gameplay is fantastic and really fun, while the RTS battles are a nice change of pace, albeit often too easy and simplistic. The mission/free time structure to the game was obviously influenced by Persona but I thought it was a good take on the idea and ended up quite liking it. And once you get passed those story telling issues I mentioned above, the story is pretty good too.

Currently Playing

• Lone Survivor: Director's Cut (PS3)

 

[Spieler Eins]

original post

35. Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne (PS2) - 43 hours;

As usual with SMT, this game went on a little too long and could have needed one or two dungeons less, in particular uninspired warp themed dungeons. I also probably got the worst ending, didn't even get to fight the one out of the two final bosses. So my feelings during the final hours weren't the best.

Anyhow, this was still a great game. However, since this wasn't my first game in the series, it lacked a certain wow-factor and I definitely don't consider it the clear top in the series. Thankfully, despite me getting through most fights easily because I know what to look for through the other games, each game in the series still feels unique. This one also has quite a different world building than the other titles.

It's really good and offers a different take on demon-infested Toyko, plus especially the graphics hold up, because the stylized art direction is amazing. However, while the music is still pretty good, it's no contest in comparison to SMTIV. The battles are fun as usual, but in this title the negotiations and demon talk are severly lacking compared to other titles. There is extremely little variety in dialogue with demons and the writing within battles is not all that fun, Still, the battles and demon fusing are addictive as usual. Encounter rate is often good, although there's also frustration because there must be some kind of system causing an unsually high amount of random encounters literally two steps after the previous fight waaay too often.

 

[Ceallach]

Game #25
Resident Evil Revalations 2: Episode 1
PS4. 2 hours
Love the atmosphere, so pumped to have Claire back, my fave protagonist in the franchise. Moira is cool too. Barry is another great returning vet even if I am not a big fan of segments.

Game #26
Resident Evil Revalations 2: Episode 2
PS4. 2 hours
Still digging the fuck out of it. Glad it isn;t just another shooty RE. There is actually shit to figure out.

Game #27
Resident Evil Revalations 2: Episode 3
PS4. 4 hours
Played through this ep. twice to get both endingd

Game #28
Resident Evil Revalations 2: Episode 4
PS4. 4 hours
Played through this one twice as well. Really loved this game. The Revelaitons series is outshining the main series by far at this point. Gonna dive into the Bonus eps soon.

OP updated with correct numbering

 

[Spieler Eins]

The Revelaitons series is outshining the main series by far at this point.

 

[octopiggy]

Game 14 – Bishi Bashi Special (PS1)
Completed all games and modes with continues.
I remember seeing this game in magazines before it was released and have always been interested in trying it out. I finally got round to buying a copy and have really enjoyed my brief time with it.
It's a compilation of two Japanese titles which are ports of five separate arcade games where you use a simple set of controls to play through a series of mini-games. Three of these arcade games use three coloured buttons as controls while the remaining games use either a steering wheel or dual levers so are better suited to using a dual shock controller. I'd describe it as a sort of precursor to the WarioWare games. It's not quite as fast paced but equally bizarre.
Like a lot of arcade ports there is little replay incentive outside of multiplayer (which is what the game is built around in fairness), in fact there isn't even a save feature.
I definitely would like to try and track down the two other Japan only, retail sequels - one of which uses a dance mat as a controller.

Game 15 – Splatoon (Wii U)
Completed story mode and reached online level cap.
When this game was first announced I was only mildly interested, but as more footage was shown and other's hype levels increased, mine did too.
I don't think I could recommend the game to anyone purely for single player. Although it was enjoyable enough and I enjoyed the gimmicks each level was built around, the levels all felt quite similar and there wasn't a lot of depth to it.
Multiplayer, on the other hand, is a dream. I blitzed my way to level 20 in no time. I bought all the weapons, all the gear, and now I'm setting myself new goals just to give me a reason to spend more time with the game. I levelled up every piece of gear but I still haven't had enough. Now I'm buying new slots for all gear to try get them to 3-star rank. This is what I was like with Mario Kart 8.
The gameplay is just so satisfying and enjoyable, the world and characters are memorable (and give me Jet Set Radio vibes). I hope this becomes the newest addition to the group of core Nintendo franchises.

Spoiler

I don't like Callie & Marie though.

Updated OP

 

[Ceallach]

Game 30:
Resident Evil Revelations 2: The Struggle
PS4, 1 hour maybe

Neat little side story taking place in between Ep 4s segments. It reminded me of the OG mercenaries sections from RE 2 and 3. Tried little miss too but was bored before finishing it.

 

[boldverine]

Kinda of late but here is my list so far:

-Game 1: Final Fantasy IX (51 hours,PS3)
After years and years of having this game I acquired it digitally and finished it. The graphics and overall gameplay speed is kind of dated but still loved the story and the gameplay mechanics.
8/10

-Game 2: Bayonetta (14,5 hours,Wii U)
Replayed it after a few years to refresh myself on the mechanics and the story. Hated it at the first but once I got the grips of the controls I fell in love with it all over again.
8/10

-Game 3: Metal Gear Solid(~7 hours ,PS3)
I have promised to finish all the Metal Gear Solids and finally got around to finish the first. Story is interesting but I found that both the graphics and the gameplay are terribly dated and the whole game ended up being frustrating,for the most part.If I had finished it back then I probably would have no problem with it now. I have also played MGS4 and MGSGZ so I guess that spoiled me a lot. Still got that awesome feeling of finishing a game so it was all worth it.
7/10

-Game 4: Pokémon Leaf Green(~8 hours,GBA)
I'm always replaying it and never get tired of it. 10/10

-Game 5: Pokémon Emerald(~12 hours,GBA)
Never played Gen 3 that much so I decided to play it once more. This Gen has my favorite Pokémon: Blaziken so I always enjoy playing it.
8/10

-Game 6: Dragon Ball Xenoverse(~40 hours, PC)
The time played it the time so far. I finished the main game and did most of the post game after that.
Found this game to be a blast. I don't really like this type of DBZ games, I prefer the Budokai series, but really enjoyed playing it.
The story was good considering this is like the 100th DBZ game and there isn't much you can do for it.
The gameplay was very fun and the whole game had an rpg feeling to it because of the mechanics and I found that to be refreshing.
8/10

-Game 7: DMCevil May Cry(~5 hours,PC)
I love this game and I always enjoy going back and playing it on an harder difficulty and unlocking some more stuff.
9/10

-Game 8: Pokémon Trading Card Game(~6 hours, 3DS)
I love the Pokémon Trading Card Game and it's extremely nostalgic for me to go back and play with the older sets so I enjoy replaying this gem.
8/10

-Game 9: FIFA 15(~10 hours,PC)
I play FIFA every year and this year I decided to go with the Virtual Pro mode for my single player. Currently on season 2 playing for Schalke 04.
8/10

-Game 10: Diablo 3:Reaper of Souls(110 hours,PC)
Season 3 launched earlier in April and I got to lvl 70,lvl 567 Paragon, playing on a Barbarian. I think that Diablo is getting better every patch and it will only get better with the next patch. Can't wait for Season 4.
8.5/10

-Game 11: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward(Maybe 100 hours, PC)
Started playing a month before the expansion hit and got around to doing the 4 patchs of main story that I was missing. The expansion hit and I got to lvl 60 and geared up my character. I still think Final Fantasy XIV is the best MMO since WoW and it provieds a great alternative to it since it's quite different.
8/10

Guess I have a long way to go if I want to finish the 52 before the end of the year but I'm hyped.

Playing Right Now: Persona 4 Golden, NFS: Most Wanted(vita), NFS:Underground 2, Dissidia 012, Disgaea D2, Sword Art Online Hollow Fragment, The Legend of Zelda. I will most likely begin playing Bayonetta 2, Diablo 3 Season 4, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, God of War Ascension, Monster Hunter 3.

 

[Caramello]

Game 23: Rocket League

Duration - Around 25 hours
Completed at 7:33pm on Friday 31/7/15 and got the platinum trophy.


Game 24: Batman: Arkham Knight

Duration - Around 30 hours
Completed at 2.31am on Sunday 2/8/15 and reached the credits. (Still playing and will probably play new game +)


Game 25: Towerfall: Darkworld

Duration - 4 hours
Completed at 11pm on Monday 3/8/15 with two friends competitively and also through the co-op campaign.


Game 26: Splatoon

Duration - 26:57
Completed at 1:47am on Tuesday 4/8/15 and completed single player campaign, all Amiibo challenges and multiplayer across all modes. I'll continue to update the time on this one because I don't think I'll stop playing for quite a while.

Original post.

 

[Dryk]

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Game #48: The Cave: 8 hours

I quite enjoyed a lot of my time with this game, but having to play it three times to see every section of the game was a giant pain in the arse. Luckily once you know what to do you can breeze through all of the repeated content but there's so much of it. I really liked the art-style and sound design though too.

 

[jiggles]

Games 1 - 20
Games 21+

Game 36: Grand Theft Auto Online

I remember I played GTAIV Online once, got killed 10 times from 1000 yards away in the space of a minute, then swore off it completely. I didn't touch it when I got GTAV on PS3, and I didn't really think it was all that popular, but we had an intern in with us at work that wouldn't stop talking about it, so I swore I'd give it a shot with the PS4 release. That also didn't happen, but when the PC release came around and had the heists available, I finally gave it a go. The build-up to level 12 gave me a taste of the other GTA Online activities, but the only one that seemed any good was the racing. Everything else was only fun in the way that idly playing cards while you chat to your friends is - it's just kind of there as a way to pass the time. The races, though, were a lot of fun and had impressively well thought-out courses, for something built on the existing city locations. When I got on to the meat of the game, the much-hyped heists, my initial optimism after the first mission didn't take too long to turn to disappointment. The writing was a load of shite, and the concepts for the heists were often much better than the execution. And given there was only 5 of the things, that stupid fourth mission and anticlimactic final one were showing some creativity issues.
But the biggest issue of all I had was that I was in a group of 3 and matchmaking a fourth in was torturous. Then when they showed up, the stingy life pool meant they'd often quit out when we got wiped. Which meant another 25min+ wait for someone to do the same. Especially annoying on the missions where you really have to question if one player on their own couldn't have cleared it. I would say "thank god I didn't have to wait all that time for these disappointing heists", but with those matchmaking times, it feels like I did.
If like Grand Theft Auto and have a full group of 4, or alternatively like watching paint dry, you might like this

 

[marcincz]

Game #25 : Journey

Rating: ★★★★☆ | Platform: PS3 | Beaten: 31/07/2015 | Time: 02:00 h

My next game was one of the best games of 2012 - Journey.
I must admit that game is good. Very nice title, with great soundtrack, wonderful atmosphere and world creation. For me not perfect 10/10, but for sure, the best title from thatgamecompany studio.

Original Post

 

[Spieler Eins]

original post

36. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii) - 15 hours;

I'm not sure why I've skipped on this until now, since I have quite a big Wii collection, but it's great. The stylized graphics are really good, despite a few character designs being a little too abstract, including the main character. Anyhow, despite a general weirdness, this also still has a pretty good and whimsical pirate adventure feel.
Even despite this being mostly single puzzle rooms, instead of having an overarching world like I've originally expected.
The puzzles are also very good. There's lots of variety, smart design and it feels very rewarding finding some tricky ones out. Motion controls really add some fun and many mechanics would have been awkward without them. Still, there were a few clunky parts. The mechanic at the ice boss really didn't work and the sword fighting at the end was as awful as people have always said, however, after initial frustration with the latter, I found that you can easily avoid that shit.
People also said that there were some impossible music stages with the motion controls, but I really didn't come across anything like that?

 

[Ceallach]

Game 31:
The Order: 1886
PS4, 10ish hours
I enjoyed thjis game more than most seem to have, but more than anything I hope the franchise isn't dead, that they get a second shot at making a better game.

 

[Oreoleo]

Post 1
Post 2
Post 3

25. Grow Home - 6.5 Hours
Certainly not the most innovative game or grandest in scope, but everything that's present here is perfectly executed. To me, this is a perfect game. Explore an island, grab some plants and ride them into the sky, discover new flora and fauna. It's simple but everything is fun and nothing is extraneous. I 100% completed the game in two sittings and recommend it to everyone.

26. Tropico 4 - 40 Hours
Finally I've found the game that let me break into the city building genre! I adored the Tropico 1 demo back in 1999 ("El Presidente your people are starving!" but that never really translated into being good at the game. After something like two hours of tutorials I was ready to hit the ground running. I beat all 20 missions of the main campaign, and yes by the end it was a little repetitive but maintaining the balance of keeping your revenue in the black and keeping all the factions pleased while trying to grow your island be it through export or tourism was always entertaining, especially with the curve balls the missions would throw at you with regularity. From what I've read online, popular opinion seems to suggest this is the best Tropico which seems to line up with my experience of finally breaking through with this one in spite of owning Tropico 1-3 and never quite getting it. In time I'll probably come back and do the Modern Times campaign but after putting 40 hours into the game in two weeks, for now I've had my fill.

27. Corporate Lifestyle Simulator - 1.6 Hours
A nice little diversion that plays like a mashup of Hotline Miami and Zombies Ate My Neighbors. The first half is a bit too easy but the back half of the game provides some decent challenge without being frustrating making it the perfect game to kick back and have some fun with. The creators seem to be fully aware of this too as the writing is very tongue-in-cheek and in on the joke that it's a video game lambasting the soul sucking nature of corporate life.

28. Nidhogg - 1.5 Hours
I guess I expected a little more meat out of this. The single player campaign is easily beaten in 30 minutes or so with multiplayer left to pick up the slack. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing as I did have a good time playing a round robin with some friends over Mumble, but ultimately I'm sort of disappointed with how much the game rewards avoiding engagements entirely and just running to the next screen to reach the end of the level. Mechanically however, there's a lot to like and I was impressed with the easy to learn, difficult to master nature of the game.

29. Binding of Isaac Rebirth - 7.5 Hours
What an utter blessing it is to finally be able to play Binding of Isaac with a controller. As someone who uses custom keybinds in every PC game and gets hand cramps with standard WASD, I had a love/hate relationship with the original and it's lack of custom configs. So everything here is pretty much improved upon over the original, though is it just me or is it a bit easier to get to the end now? In the original I probably spent 8-10 hours just trying to reach Mom alone. Here I managed it in an hour and a half, and subsequently reached Mom's Heart on the very next run. There's still plenty of content to chew through with the Challenge runs which I'm enjoying a lot (finished 4 or so of those already) not to mention reaching the "real" end game with Satan and all that, so I'm far from done with the game but for the purposes of this thread, I've 'finished' it.

30. Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle - 10+ Hours
My second foray into this 'gacha' mobile game craze. At least this time I give a hoot about the characters and story. I like how the game encourages the use of different teams due to type strengths and weaknesses compared to other games where it's more like, "get the 5 best characters and use them all the time forever" so even though there isn't a "Pokedex" of sorts to keep track of which characters you've collected there's still incentive to expand and improve your party. And the generous stamina regen rate plus generally low stamina requirements for quests means I'm not worrying about maximizing my stamina usage and playing the minute it's filled up again, instead I'm free to play the game as I please without feeling like a slave to the game's systems like I did in Chain Chronicle. I've beaten the campaign on normal difficulty already, chipping away at it on hard, and I'm eager for more.

 

[Teggy]

I did it!

Original post


Game 49: The Order 1886 - (not sure)
# Played on PS4, finished 8/2. The best thing you can say about this game is that it looks REALLY good. Besides that it's a fairly run of the mill cover shooter with fairly small areas and an over-reliance on quicktime events. The story is intriguing, but ends very abrubtly with a lot of questions left unanswered.

Game 50: Mafia - 19 hours
# Played on PC, finished 8/2. I don't know if this was just a case of "you had to be there", but this was one of the worst games I've ever played. Clunky controls, unsatisfying gunplay, a sim-like driving model that for 80% of missions only served to artificially lengthen the game, glitches that failed missions, missions you could get stuck in permanently if you didn't do exactly what the game wanted, and to top it off a final boss who had x-ray vision and 100% accuracy. If not for the 52 games challenge I might have given up early on.

Game 51: Thomas Was Alone - 5 hours
# Played on PC, finished 8/4. Short and sweet. This didn't really live up to the hype, however.

Game 52: Call of Duty: Black Ops II - (no timer)
# Played on XBOX360, finished 8/5. A pretty typical COD game - pretty fun shooting and weapons and a story that starts off pretty good and then just gets silly.

 

[KenOD]

Main post.

Game #23 Harley-Davidson & L.A. Riders on SEGA Model 3 Arcade. Completed by seeing each area, high scores reached.

One of my favourites of SEGA Arcade titles. A part of the racing for time sub-genre, seeking to make it to a specific area before time runs out and aiming for a high score, and sister title to Crazy Taxi and 18 Wheeler.

While not a complicated title nor one that stands out all that well amongst it contemporaries, I have a special fondness for this title because it got me interested in motorbikes after getting on the deluxe model with hydraulics. Leaning on the cabinet bike to aid in a turn just made me so happy back in 1998.
Today as a title it doesn't hold up as well and simply getting through checkpoints and finding the items for bonus time took little effort on my part, but there is still a simple joy to it that made me happy to finally beat something I couldn't as a child. Though not having to pay to play and controls that aren't broken help a lot.

Game #24 Remember Me for PS3. Finished the story and all but hidden object trophies completed.

I wanted to love this game, I wanted to see it become something special and unique, but the strengths of the team who developed it were not in the areas they tried to make this game be a success with a mass audience. As some call it Arkham Asylum like for combat, I see it more akin to Enslaved in it's desire to be simple combat and quite linear movement forward. To be seen as exciting by someone watching, but sadly somewhat tedious to be playing with platforming that is all too basic.

Yet in where the strengths of the team lie, and has since been reached fully with Life is Strange, lies in the world it crafted and an interesting game mechanic that serves both as a puzzle and as a fascinating part of the world they wish players to experience. Here the city of Neo Paris is a beautiful city of haves and have-nots, of lower slums and higher metropolis, with each area highly detailed and lovingly crafted. How I wish I had a first person view just to look around and admire some of it.
Here a well established world from a well designed history and backstory (found on the main website), where sharing memories is both addictive and commercialised leads to interesting thoughts that could be explored so easily, especially as how it can affect people where emotion is so easily altered by the simple deposit and loss of one's first kiss.

My biggest love of the game comes from that ability to visit and alter memories. A puzzle mechanic, one that I believe would be amazing and powerful enough unto itself if Remember Me has solely been an Adventure game and this the sole "game play". To enter a memory and make a person remember a tray was in front of them that caused a doctor to trip, thus causing an accident is something that leads to powerful changes in a character's personality and behaviour; To discover the truth behind the lies and move the plot forward is such an easy task for this game they could have done so much more.

However ultimately the game did disappoint me. It's combat was functional, but never interesting and sometimes frustrating in both being overly simplistic in practice and being convoluted in design/set-up of. A toss away story and characters who fell apart too easily didn't help the situation. The idea of memories being so core had potential, but sadly never fully realised outside of the fun memory alteration mechanic. I say it's a worthwhile experience to play through and annoyances do not take away from it being a competent game, but despite the title, it's an interesting idea with some nice artwork that I shall remember down the road, and not the full product.

Game #25 Zombie Party on Steam. Completed in the sense of seeing all that it has to offer at the moment. High scores reached.

A top down twin stick shooter with lite RPG elements (improve power of guns used) of a zombie hoard. Not much else to say, but it remains as fun to me as Robotron: 2084 was back in the day.

Game #26 Monster Summer Game on Steam Website. 1,000,000+ Monster Summer Badge.

Ah, an idle clicking game. A genre I never really understood before, never truly understood how one can get a sense of accomplishment from it, or why one would spend time trying to do well at what amounted to such monotonous task. Yet in the midst of the Mid-year Steam sale, I found it to be the most fascinating thing and came out of it on the last day with an understanding of why one might devote so much time to it beyond simply "it's a time waster.
I found a sense of accomplishment came not from simply how many times one could click the mouse button or how much time one could devote to it, but rather figuring out or discovering the best possible layout and path toward accomplishing a goal. What to buy, how to set up skills or strength level, what to buy, when to buy, where to use, and so forth. Doing so blindly lead to little movement or self-accomplishment, but done right it's of great boon to the task at hand.
I discovered a sense of community at figuring out how to make things work, on working together to accomplish a even higher goal, at reaching new heights even to the point of going beyond what Valve even thought possible..

In the end it became a "install this and walk away" for the highest accomplishment unless you sought out to help others get better badges with your user script, and no where in all of it did I ever think "click a lot" was ever really any fun, but I can say I enjoyed taking the time to be a part of the experience and working with others.

Game #27 Hostage for ZX Spectrum and DOS. Completed each mission with TOTAL VICTORY !!.

Also known as Operation Jupiter and Rescue: The Embassy Mission, this is a classic to be sure. A group of terrorists have taken over an embassy in Paris, and it's up to you to get a team of six special operation soldiers into the building however possible and then perform whatever task is needed to rescue the hostages.

Avoid search lights, avoid patrolling guards, abseil down the side of the building and into it through a window, search the rooms, and take out the enemy combatants. Outdated easily by today's standards with very limited animations, basic stealth, a building exploration and first or third person shooting limited of still frames and only 4 way movements, and yet I found myself letting go of all that and just seeking to do my best. Hardly a complicated a "maze" as that is what it is built off of in level design, but the seemingly randomised nature of where hostages are and where terrorists gave me some nice variety.

An ambitious game in limited era hardware wise, but it accomplished all it set forth to do and let the players experience sniping and urban combat in a fun, exciting way. I quite enjoyed it back in my youth for what little my friend would let me, and playing it now. I almost wish it was easier for me to play today as a quick game on Steam.

Games #28 Art Puzzle Renoir, Michelangelo, Rousseau, Monet, etc. for iOS. Each puzzle solved for free versions.

Not one single game, but rather a series of jigsaw puzzles featuring classic European artists. No not much separates this from other jigsaw titles out there, other than they simply work in being able to easily locate and place pieces through a collapse holder and soothing public domain classical music as you do so.They do nothing wrong, and that's what makes it work so well.

Game #29 Streets of Rage 2 3D Classic for 3DS. Story mode and Rage Relay completed.

Ah what wonderful joy I had going back to this city and taking on Mr. X in stereoscopic 3D in what I consider to be the best side scrolling beat-em-up of the 16-bit era. Axel, Blaze, Skate, and Max each taking down enemies with a variety of punches, kicks, weapons to be found, and special moves across beautifully designed stages all across the city. All to a joyful electronic soundtrack that is as much a personality as any of the characters.

Fundamentally it's not too different from the Mega Drive version, still a solid beat-em-up that allows me to take on an entire army, but never feel like it's too easy or simple. Each character has their own strength and skill, and a new mode called Rage Relay allows one to go through each of them, switching from one character to the next on each death and forming a strategy to complete the title with instead of credits.
A joy to play in original mode or Rage Relay, and if need me Casual Mode is good to get new fans a taste of it should they wish to not be challenged just yet.

If you have a 3DS and like beta-em-ups, buy this game. It's worth it.

Game #30 Ninja Gaiden for SEGA Master System. Story completed.

What a surprise this has turned out to be, a true hidden gem that I so unfairly ignored in the past. While I still consider Shinobi to be the best of the side-scrolling ninja titles, this a joy to play and a bit better than the Shinobi on the same console.

It's core is akin to that of the NES Ninja Gaiden with standard run and straight sword slashing or special attacks such as kunai throw, but is made richer by wall-to-wall jump that allows some nice challenge in getting some hidden scrolls or over enemies as a way to avoid fighting in sections. Each stage a classic 8-bit design, from woods to city and so on, and a boss fight at the end such as a sumo wrestler or a demon shogun. All work well to make a competent and fun game with a good number of weapons, enemies (damn crows and jumping men with cameras), animations, and music on top of spot on controls.

 

[GLuigi]

Game #43: Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~ (PC) - 5 Hours
Went into this game fully expecting a waifu simulator cringefest, but what I actually got was a nice informative journey through some tourists spots around Japan. Of course, by the end of the game you get into a relationship with one of the girls, but it was actually more heartwarming than i was anticipating and just enjoyed the ride the entire time. Throughout the game you will get detailed explanations of popular tourist spots (cool facts and history). The game also keeps track of how much you spend (in USD or EUR) so you can get a feel of how much you would spend. Most of the background art was taken from actual photography pictures which you can check and compare in the game if you wanted to. Overall, it was a visual novel that took me by surprise. Sure the writing isn't the great and the main character is the biggest idiot, but it was still a great time

Spoiler

Tsundere sister is the best

Game #44: Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (PC) - 14 Hours
Usually not a big fan of any games with time management. I don't mind them if its a minor part of the game, but I usually stay away if its a main feature. Nevertheless, I decided to take a big leap and step out of my comfort zone with this game. What I liked most about it was the fact that everytime you get a game over, you start the game over with all your unsold inventory, merchant level, and store size. This makes it really easy to beat the game on your next try. Anyways, I had a lot of fun selling things, stocking up on inventory when buying prices were cheap, making mad cash when someone calls in an advance order of treasures, kicking out all the little girls out of store because they are too cheap to shop, and going to dungeons whenever the prices were bad. Surprisingly fun game for me, and will continue to keep playing until i get through all the dungeons.

Game #45: Lost Dimension (Vita) - 18 Hours
My most anticipated game of the summer. The concept sounded incredible to me: Seemed like it played like Valkyria Chronicles with something akin to the Destiny Plume feature of the DS Valkyrie Profile game. Have to sacrifice one character to move on as there are traitors among your group. Each play through has random selected traitors so your game and your friend's game are unique experiences. Although the actual product didn't live up to my hype, it was still a decent game. Combat felt pretty good, the game gives you enough flexibility to tackle the mission any way you see fit. Also each character has a deep skill tree that's fun to dive into. My biggest gripe is that none of the characters really interact with each other. When one character dies, you just have generic sad responses from each character as if they forgot the name of the person who died. The dialogue after the first chapter just feels like lines being shouted one after another without any rhyme or reason. Another one would be that the vita version does suffer from poor framerate (PS3 does not). Game does eat through my battery like what Pokemon XY did to the og 3ds. Anyways, haven't gotten the true ending yet, hopefully the RNG is nice to me.

Original Post

Currently Playing Going to go through another playthrough of Lost Dimension for the ending, so I will update my entry for it at some point. Started playing Bastion and I been really enjoying it so far.

 

[Jack Videogames]

8h-ish. I was somewhat surprised at the dearth of content included in this game. It's basically a 45-minute long story wrapped in several hours of grinding. There are only two quests, and one of them is optional - if you know where to go and you're lucky enough, you could start the game and be done with it while you're cooking lunch.

Still, DQI served as foundation of a really nice JRPG saga and deserves some respect - and truth be told, short and simple as it is, it makes for a very enjoyable handful of hours.


Updated OP

 

[Synth]

Original Post

Jetpac

Criteria: Completed all milestones and snapshots
Time played: 2 hours

I wasn't sure whether or not to count individual games from Rare Replay... but after giving it some thought, I figure that taking the package as one would likely just lead to me never "completing" it, whilst blowing hundreds of hours on it lol. So instead I'll coun eachame, but only if I accomplish something reasonably significant in it. So, first up... Jetpac.

I had way more fun with this than I was expecting to. It's a surprisingly easy game however, as once you've beaten all 16 levels, it simply loops back to the first... so it's quite easy to gain a level of mastery in a very short time window that leaves you feeling like you will never fail intentionally. The snapshots definitely helped to add some additional challenge, even if the only one that presented any real trouble was the pacifist snapshot where they stop you shooting. I was expecting to mostly disregard these older games in the collection, assuming they'd have aged too poorly to be fun... but now I think I'll give more of them a try. Maybe I should look into NES Remix as well...

 

[Labadal]

Games #1-20
Games #21-

Game 34: Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack - 3,5 hours
PC
I think I beat the Vita version last year. I was scrolling through my Steam library looking for a short game to play and saw this. I remember having fun with it, so I decided to install and play. Completed it in two sittings. You're basically a blob and eat stuff to get bigger so you can eat bigger stuff. Some obstacles are in your way, but nothing that is overly complex or hard to get by.

 

[LGom09]

#28. Limbo (PS4) -- August 5 -- 2:00:00 -- ★★★★☆ -- Replay
One of the best puzzle platformers I've played. They really nailed the vibe they were going for, thanks especially to some amazing sound design. There are a lot of clever puzzle ideas and the platforming difficulty is tuned perfectly to add tension without becoming frustrating. It's a very short game, but I think this is a good one-sitting experience. The stark, oppressive nature of the world would become taxing before too long. The only downside is that it ends abruptly. I think this is probably intentional and ties into the story in some way, but it's so ambiguous that I can't say for sure.

 

[Lindsay]

Streets of Rage II beaten last week, .hack//Link (finally!) beaten today! It soooo shoulda not took me nearly 4 months ta get through that one, but life happens!


Games Beaten: 30 / 52
Total Playtime: 241 hours, 47 minutes

01 - 26
27 - ??

 

[chrominance]

Original post

44. Roundabout (PC)
All missions completed. 988/1008 stars, 34.6% completion.

So let's get this out of the way first: driving a rotating limousine is hard work. In a way, Roundabout gives you about as much help with driving while spinning as it can: you don't get dizzy, your car is surprisingly durable, and small objects like benches, fences and pedestrians bounce off you harmlessly. The only trouble is you have to drive in a world full of large obstacles like other cars, heavy machinery, and that bane of every driving game's existence, the lamppost. Roundabout lets you fail as often as you need to to get through a level without penalty (though forget scoring 100% on missions), but be warned: sometimes that number is really high.

The other reason you come to Roundabout, of course, is for its goofy full-motion-video cutscenes. Surprisingly, despite everyone involved being completely in on the joke, the intentionally bad acting and the schlocky 70s aesthetic never wears thin or feels like it's trying too hard. It helps that at its core, Roundabout is a love story that plays it completely straight (pun somewhat intended), even as everything else around it dissolves into absurdity. The whole thing ends too soon, sadly--though the denizens of Roundabout City will be happy not to have to face the terror of your limousine constantly spinning into crowds of people--but Roundabout is thoroughly entertaining for its short span. And even after you finish the final mission, chances are you'll have plenty to do in Roundabout's open world (though some of the challenges, like the round trip challenges, are BALLS HARD). If nothing else, you can at least play the full version of the credits sequence. I won't spoil what that is here, but suffice it to say you'll want to set aside a few hours or so.

 

[Labadal]

Games #1-20
Games #21-

Game 35: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - 90 hours
PS2 (PC emulator)
Copy pasting from the Summer of Dragon Quest thread.
Well, Dragon Quest VIII is done 100%. All monsters and infamous monsters beaten, Dragovian trials completed, both endings acquired and Morrie's arena completed.

The final boss was a bit ridiculous with the whole scepter thing you had to do. It drags out the fight way too long, but once the fight actually starts, it's really exciting. The conclusion of the game, especially the true ending were great. I was a bit bummed about the regular ending. It was a shame that a certain character in the game is no longer in the story. While I wanted him to die, he was a great villain. I didn't feel the same hatred/connection to the others after him.

I still think the combat is super slow and I would enjoy it twice as much if there was a fast forward option. Everything moves so slowly and it was the reason I gave up on the game on my first try a few years ago. There are enough fun skills and spells to use, but by the end game, I pretty much used the same AoE attacks in fights. The Dragovian trials made me mix things up as healing was very important. One thing I really like is how much difference some of the buffs can make. They can be the difference between defeat and glorious victory. That's not always the case in every jrpg. The battle system shone when you had to fight some of the fiercest monsters in the game. I was constantly on my toes. I got to admit that I had to try the Dragovian trials a few times before beating them. With some grinding and change of tactics, it all worked out.

The characters were great. I hated the ones that you are supposed to hate and the ones you are supposed to like are really likable. Angelo was and one or two more characters you meet through the story, I changed my mind about a lot. Yangus and Trode are two of my favorite characters. With that said, I must also say that I burst out lughing when Trode's curse was lifted. The way he looks, haha. What I love about the game is that it has this lighthearted look and feel, but shit gets really grim at points. It felt a bit like being in some kind of old tale. None of that "cool" fantasy, or whatever. And I love that about the game.

The voice acting was very solid. I still put FFXII in higher regard, but the voice actors did a great job here. I thought the British accents might be too much, but it didn't bother me one bit. The music is awesome, especially Heavenly Flight was bleedin' awesome.

It took me about 90 hours to do everything. I had to look at some checklists online to see that I hadn't missed anything. That's how I learned about the trials and the true ending.

My impressions are probably not easy to follow and a lot of it is probably blabber, but I wrote this message directly after beating the game.

Game 36: Serpent in the Staglands - 32 hours
PC
I'll copy paste my rpgcodex thoughts:
Well, I finished the game but I have a feeling that I missed a lot of stuff. I'm awful at writing impressions, but whatver the fuck, here they are:

What I liked:
The atmosphere was great and I loved the pixel graphics. The setting was also interesting, with it's eastern European influences. It was cool that spells could be used outside of combat to progress the game and solve some puzzles. The ending was great. I won't talk about it here, but I didn't fight who I thought I was going to fight. I played a fairly dickish character, and how it came back to show that to me in the last moments of the game was great. I hadn't really cared much about the story, but those moments were worth a lot and I have to give two thumbs up to the devs. I like that the story isn't about saving the world and stuff like that. In general, the writing was solid when it was there, but there are still spelling errors. It doesn't look so good when there are some in the last conversation of the game. I liked that the combat actions weren't super fast paced, even if most encounters were over fairly quickly. The loot you find is boring early on but you find some cool stuff as you go. I ended up with armors from blacksmith as they seemed to be the best the game had to offer. Not a lot of micromanaging was needed. And lastly, the exploration was a lot of fun. Having to find your next destination on your own and figure shit out is fun but...

What I didn't like:
...I'm actually not a super big fan of the journal. I don't want shit spelled out to me or have me pointed in the right direction, as the exploration was one of the best aspects of the game. On the other hand, there could have been small entries like: Find this character or that character, and stuff like that. I played the game in windowed mode and had Wordpad opened, so it isn't a huge deal. When it comes to difficulty, I think the game was a bit on the easy side, a lot of the time. I had trouble with a bounty and I never could figure out a way to stay alive when crawlers were around. Other than that, when you get some decent gear (and later on very good gear) most of the game becomes a cakewalk. Healing and physical shield, plus knockdowns got me a long way. I wish there was more writing. I guess the journals, letters and other things like that you find on your journey were well written. Companions barely had anything to say.

I personally rate Pillars of Eternity a little higher, but not by much. I played both games fairly similarly in combat. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, so I am happy that both exist and that I played these two games in the same year.

 

[Booya_base]

Game 1: Phoenix Wright 1 (3DS download ver.) - completed Jan 1st

Really, really loved this game, heard it was great for aaages but one of those things I never got round to. Was better than I ever imagined, the cartoony looks bely the fact that it goes into really deep and heavy stuff - the later episodes in particular were amazing.

Game 2: Phoenix Wright 2 (3DS download ver.) - completed Jan 4th

Again, was surprised that they took the story to another level in the last episode of this one. A bit more random backtracking and less checkpoints in this which made it unneccessarly difficult but still loved it. I highly recommend both games so far. Onto the third one...

Game 3: Infamous First Light (PS4 - PSN) - completed Jan 10th

I had already beaten Second Son and I found this much better - a really pleasant surprise. Better story, better/faster ways of getting around the city and the new powers were really fun to use - going into the arena was fun and I did not think I'd be saying that after getting tired of clearing out the map in SS. Would've happily paid full price for this if I knew it was going to be this good, getting it for free is just a great bonus!

Game 4: Captain Toad (WiiU) - completed Jan 24th

This was a struggle to get the motivation to complete. Game looks gorgeous but was not really enough game for me. I knew what I was getting into - about 70 little dioramas but each one is finished so quick it feels like a lot less. There are certainly a lot of varied ideas implemented to stop the stages from feeling too samey (the trains in particular were good) but I guess I'm just not as interested in this type of game as much as I thought I would be after playing 3D world, oh well.

(in between here, finished Thomas was alone and Hotline Miami again for the umpteenth time, they don't count for this but they are still amazing)

Game 5: Life is Strange Episode 1 (PS4 - PSN) - completed Feb 1st

Loving this so far, perfect play through with girlfriend game. Graphics are surprisingly good at times, music is really good and I like the gameplay even though it's basically the Walking Dead (which I have only played 1 episode of). Great job Dontnod and I look forward to the rest of the season, waiting until March is a bit of a long time though, at this rate it's going to be 6 months plus before we see the end which is far too long for an episodic game IMO.

Game 6: Framed (iOS) - completed Feb 1st

For what this game is going for, it is basically perfect. I did get it when it was free but I can heartily recommend it to anyone. The music is perfect, totally achieves the right secret agent vibe throughout. A game that actually controls best using a touch screen so it has a reason to be on iOS, too. Animations are a stand out, reminds me of the old Flashback, Another World rotoscoping. It introduces new ideas when just moving panels around on its own is getting boring and ends right as it begins to wear out its welcome. Excellent little game and probably one of the best I've played on iOS (except for Simogos games and Super Hexagon).

Game 7: Final Horizon (PSVita - PSN) - completed Feb 10th

This is exactly the sort of "I'd only play this if it was free" game that is perfect for PS Plus. If you do play it I urge you to play until at least mid way through Act 2. The first entire act is bad (only two choices of tower per tiny map!) and you can extrapolate that to say that the whole game is bad because you shouldn't have to wade through so much but once you get through that you have 6 towers each of three levels to choose from and a couple of actually interesting enemies to fight. It's a crying shame that this part of the game is over before you get to use many tactics because it is actually fun, especially for free. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this because I am a veteran of defense grid (which is a much better game) and if anything this has made me want to buy Defense Grid 2 once it goes down in price as it has got me back to tower defense after a hiatus. In summary, do not buy this, but if you have it for free, try it, in fact it'd probably be a good 'my first tower defense' come to think of it.

Game 8: Element4l (PC - Steam) - completed Feb 10th

Not a lot to say about this game, brilliant original idea but can get utterly frustrating with long sections where a slight physics based hitch can screw you. The addition of the 'press H for help' system makes this game, the difference between getting stuck and seeing that each puzzle is actually possible is enormously motivating, would've probably given up had that not existed. Nothing special but fun whilst it lasted.

Game 9: Pix the Cat (PS4 - PSN) - completed Feb 15th

What a surprise this turned out to be, one of the very best free PSN games I ever received! Main mode alone is really well designed with the best visual and sound feedback, I just found myself trying to get into the zone more and more and 'wasted' hours playing it. Still a couple of score trophies to get though - grrrr. On top of that, you get 100 tough levels of puzzling (started on release and just literally finished today) and 100 'nostalgia' levels of a fantastic old timey black and white atmosphere, It's amazing how much this game gets right, I have no trouble recommending it at all. The only blip is that the 4 player mode is a terrible mess that shouldn't even exist really but when you get so much other good stuff it's hard to complain.

Game 10: Gunman Clive 2 (3DS - eshop) - completed Feb 15th

Holy crap, biggest surprise of the year so far, I went in getting this because it was cheap and it would support a Gaffer but it's actually amazing! Way more levels than I thought, and it goes back to the 'correct' way to make games IMO - even though there are a lot of levels, each one adds something new and/or interesting to the mix, theres no wasted space retreading things or just walking along shooting a couple of baddies. I really love the fact that reason is utterly thrown in the bin for the sake of making a fun game. I laughed when riding a mine cart on the back of a dinosaur then burst out laughing when transitioning from that to riding vertically up a wall on the minecart - the game it totally insane and all the better for it. I want this guy designing new Mario or Rayman levels!

Game 11: The Order 1886 (PS4) - completed Feb 27th

Wow! Completely blown away by this and I went in with quite high expectations, only to have them totally surpassed. The best graphics and sound I have ever seen in a game, fantastic voice acting, great story and such an atmospheric world in an original setting that I love. The only let down is the ending, especially since I just wanted to stay in that world as long as possible. This is the first 'next gen' leap in graphics, the game to show your friends and family.

Game 12: Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (PS4) - completed March 1st

I consider this 'completed' since I beat story mode, beat up to champ on Arcade and completed most of command training. What a great fighting game! They've come a long way since I played DoA4 ages ago. There's just so much of everything. Crazy number of characters and stages, feels like double DoA4s roster, comprehensive training mode stuff, a million costumes and I love the throwdown idea of challenging whilst playing single player. The story mode is unbelievably bad however, and the online population seemed very small but for the £25 I paid, it's totally worth it. The number one best thing about this game for me, which makes me realise how much I value this feature, is the music select function. I absolutely loved the music from DoA3 and being able to pick and choose which part of the game gets what music is just the best, same reason why Sonic Generations was so good. More developers do this please!

Game 13: OlliOlli2 (PS4 - PSN) - completed March 13th

Can't believe this was free! Hasn't hooked me like the vita one did originally but really a good addition to the series. Level design is as good as ever but the music is a real disappointment this time round. Finished all the amateur objectives but can't be bothered to do all the pro missions, just too ludicrously hard. Probably wouldn't have bought this but fantastic for free.

Game 14: Resident Evil HD (PS4 - PSN) - completed March 15th

Phenomenal, cannot believe how well this holds up. It's sad in a way that this is still better than the majority of games released since. Has an utter blast playing it and I don't know how much they changed for the remake but couldn't remember anything past the initial mansion so it was like playing it for the first time. Feel weird saying this but this is in running for my game of the year. Good trophies too - is it really possible to finish it in 3 hours?! (took us 12)

Game 15: Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 1(PS4 - PSN) - completed March 15th

TBD

Game 16: Hotline Miami 2 (PC - Steam) - completed March 18th

Holy shit what an amazing game, had a couple of average levels early on but picks up more and more and the last level is absolutely stunning! Was so sad when it was finished but new game plus is already excellent from the very first level. Can't wait to go through it over and over like the first one and piece everything together (if that's even possible!)
Music is better and worse, more tracks than ever so they couldn't keep the quality up but it is so incredible when it all gels. Game was absolutely worth the wait - buy it!

Game 17: Ori and the Blind Forest (PC - Steam) - completed March 24th

Firstly, this is a very good metroidvania game and if you are at all into the genre, you should absolutely play it. The graphics are outstanding, the difficulty is great and the length and size of map is good. Nevertheless, much to my surprise I was still disappointed with it.
Unlike many others, I didn't like the feel of the jumping, especially the double/triple jump which barely did anything. The story was completely throw away and the abilities you do get seem very rote - basically the same or worse than every other metroid game. After finishing it I had no desire to get secrets since they are basically some experience or some more max health, nothing very exciting to obtain (unless I never found any of the real secrets I guess). The truth is I think I have just been spoiled by La Mulana which is vastly superior and I'm beginning to think is my GOTG - I started another run immediately upon finishing Ori as a matter of fact.

Game 18: Jamestown+ (PS4 - PSN) - completed March 25th

Wow! Hugely surprised by this game, absolutely the shoot em up we needed in my house, having 4 players elevates it above every other non-Treasure shooter in my book and I love the variety of ships and the crazy story. Totally shocked by this one which wasn't on my radar at all, it was just bought as another 4 player game for the PS4 and I am smitten with it. Having a scoring mechanic I can actually understand is a big plus too - I'm looking at you, Cave
I'm hopeful this will eventually be a free PS Plus game because more people need to experience it.

Game 19: Axiom Verge (PS4 - PSN) - completed April 6th

What a journey I went on with this game! At first since I'd heard it was like the next Fez I was utterly enthralled and loved picking up encrypted documents and using the disruptor. The levels were well designed, difficulty was great and the map was old school brilliance. Even after seeing the ending I just wanted more. Then....I found a certain item which pissed me off so much I just said fuck it and went and looked up all the other secrets in the game because it was such mystery ruining bullshit. I thought I was done with it but I just randomly started a 'no deaths' run on a whim and am appreciating it just for the action part of it, rather than the supposedly clever bits which amount to nothing. Hugely disappointing because I was basically mis-sold on it but as a simple action game it is one of the best I have played in a long time in all honesty.

Game 20: Far Cry 4 (PS4) - completed April 18th

We have been playing this on and off since Christmas and only just finished it! Huge game with a billion (mostly good) things to do. Its really good in just about every way, excellent endgame weapons in particular and the Shangri-la missions were really well done. Only complaint is the ending is very brief and poor. Pretty much guarantee I will buy Far Cry 5 when that comes out, still haven't had enough of open world done right.

Game 21: Defense Grid 2 (PS4 - PSN) - completed April 27th

Finally, this was on sale for a reasonable amount. Definitely the best tower defense game I've ever played but even so, it just seems pretty simplistic. Once you work out how good temporal, concussion and meteor towers are, you're done basically. Glad I bought it but I think I'm done with tower defense for a long time.

Game 22: Injustice (PS4) - completed April 28th

Was so glad to get this for free and have been chipping away at it for ages. The story mode isn't nearly as good as MK9s (maybe because I don't follow DC comics stuff) but still a good romp and it is great to have to try out a lot of different characters. Green Arrow was a surprise favourite. A solid fighting game and an unbelievable freebie to get from PS plus.

Game 23: Broken Age (PC - Steam) - completed May 6th

I loved the first act and cliffhanger and to be honest I really liked the first half of act 2 - I wasn't bothered by the same locations at all and the humour was good. However, the wiring stuff got very tiresome and the ending itself suuuuuuuuuucked. I cannot believe they spent as long as they did making the game and setting up such an interesting premise to end it like that. Truly awful ending, probably the worst I have seen in years.

Game 24: Race the Sun (PS4 - PSN) - completed May 7th

When I say completed I mean reached level 25. Not really anything to this game, I would've been greatly disappointed had I bought it. The graphics seem to be overly simplistic and not in an 'art style choice' way. Gameplay is just an endless runner with very basic missions and upgrades. I guess I enjoyed it enough to get to max level but it's not worth playing to be quite honest.

Game 25: Transistor (PS4 - PSN) - completed May 12th

Bought this on launch, played an hour then set it aside. Finally came back to it and finished it in one short play session. The main thing about the game is it should've been about 3 times longer. The leveling and systems are very good and interact very well but just when the story is going somewhere and you are expecting a kind of act 2 twist it just ends! A terrible shame as the combat, art and speech are good but it seems all the side stuff in the game amounts to nothing, it might as well have not been there. Can't recommend this, if you must try one of these games, definitely go for Bastion, that is a great game.

Game 26: Box Boy (3DS - eshop) - completed May 13th

Wow! Automatically goes to the top of the 'value of the year' category - this game gives you more for a fiver than you could possibly ever expect. Over 20 worlds of levels along with loads of extra challenges, it embarrasses every modern 'split-up-to-give-DLC-down-the-line' game out there. Very simple but really well tuned to be fun and a surprisingly excellent additional game mechanic right near the end mean it is amazing all around basically. Don't hesitate, just buy it right now!

Game 27: Futuridium EP Deluxe (PS4 - PSN) - completed May 14th

This game was hugely disappointing - it could've been so good! I loved the original Uridium - all they needed to do was make it fast, with great music and punchy sound effects (I cannot believe the shooting effect got past QA, its truly awful). The graphics are spot on and the colour filters are a great idea. A key thing missing too is a crosshair, that alone would've improved the game no end. A real shame.

Game 28: The Room (PC - Steam) - completed May 17th

Really great puzzle game with brilliant production values - sound effects and wood textures and the like were outstanding. The single complaint I could level against it is the control with mouse had a few issues, clearly better on ipad but I can't blame them since it was originally designed that way. Finished it in one session but I found the difficulty to be just right, never frustrating, but required some thought. Great game!

Game 29: Wolfenstein - The Old Blood (PS4 - PSN) - completed May 30th

In a word - fantastic. The only negative I can level against it is the way it has a slightly boring first level (just like the New Order) while it winds up but once it gets going it is brilliant, loved playing through it. Shout out to the last boss being very well done, too, which is nice, rather than just fighting a variant of mecha hitler in all these games each time. I did eventually get a bit bored of playing the original Wolfenstein but since those bits are optional, I just skipped them, just shows you how far we've come really

Game 30: Steins Gate (Vita - PSN) - completed June 8th

Wow, I really love a good VN and I played this over 15 hours in three days - had to get to the end. Having said all that, the ending is huugely disappointing, they build so many fantastic 'gun on the wall' bits ready to use later and then promptly ignore virtually all of them and go for the stupidest, generically happy ending they could. Going in I was told this was more revelatory than 999 and VLR which prepared me for what I thought was going to be the best game ever, to be honest. This isn't even close to those two, but if you have played this first, I strongly recommend you play through 999 and VLR to have your mind blown.

Game 31: Bloodborne (PS4) - completed June 14th

Hooray, first run finally complete, time to go through properly with a guide. Don't have much to add on to what everyone else is saying but yes it is an amazing game. Personally I prefer Dark Souls 2 (pre scholar) because the difficulty is just a tad less frustrating, but BB is still great, loved the last boss fight. There were a couple of times I just lost interest and stopped playing for a while though - I went 'the wrong way' early on and kept getting stuck against super hard enemies and bosses and then Rom put me off for a long time. Still, the amount of secrets and ways to play is really quite something. I've never loved a weapon in a souls game quite as much as I did the rifle spear in this. Loved every move in its moveset.

Game 32: Battlefield 4 (PS4 - PSN) - completed June 15th

TBD

Game 33: Evil Within Season Pass (PS4 - PSN) - completed June 21th

Jesus, this was so good! What a game. Even the standalone game I consider one of the games of 2014 but the season pass felt like so much content. If you had to play through the full game with all the season pass in one go, you'd be there for a long, long time. I was slightly disappointed that the plot wasn't explained a bit more though, I didn't mind it not tying up neatly in the main game, but I figured it might at the end of the season. Kidmans end boss was a high point but the whole thing was really nice, showing you can do a good game like this without an RPG upgrade system and it still be great. Roll on Mikami's next game!

Game 34: Batman Arkham City (PC - Steam) - completed July 1st

Half way through the year- hooray! Had to play through this before starting Arkham Knight. Hadn't had a chance before because my 360 disc broke, got it on steam sale for virtually nothing so had no excuse not to. Really great game, the combat and predator stuff was pretty much exactly what I was hoping for but adding the open world city in virtually added nothing, it was so generic as black blocks for each building it may as well have been a VR mission from MGS so I never felt a reason to explore or spend time flying around doing side stuff. Fortunately the main story stuff was all very good, especially a boss fight in the middle of the game, one of the best bosses in ages. Highly recommend it but still Arkham Asylum was better. Onto Arkham Knight!

Game 35: Batman Arkham Knight (PS4) - completed July 7th

Holy crap, this is the first 10/10 game this year, absolutely astounding. I feel like I played this game in the most ideal scenario possible, on PS4, straight after City, no crashes and only happened to do the good side quests. The game just keeps on stepping up a gear until it becomes freakin amazing. Best story and ending in a game in a long time. Due to the story carrying quite a bit forward from City, I would recommend playing through City before playing this even though I think City is the least good of the three.
Driving is a bit weird to get used to but still pretty fun, Batmobile combat I actually loved, a great addition to the predator, traversal and combat portions of the game. There's so many good story beats I want to mention but you definitely don't want to be spoiled on it.

Game 36: Her Story (PC - Steam) - completed July 12th

Really enjoyed playing this, great game to play with someone else, because discussing the plot is basically the whole point. Can't say anything without spoiling it but trust me, it's a good un. Now that I have 'completed' it (seen the credits) I feel like I have to go and discuss with other players what really happened - to the GAF spoiler thread!

Game 37: Murasaki Baby (PSVita - PSN) - completed July 12th

I really wanted to love this game but unfortunately its just not fun. I'ts laudable to try and make a game taking advantages of all the Vitas functions but just like Kinect, the back touch is so bad, you just can't make a game responsive or fun using it. The art style and style in general is really nice, but the actual platforming was a chore due to the controls. If you want a game that uses the Vita and is actually good, get Metrico instead, it's this kind of game done right.

Game 38: Ether One (PS4 - PSN) - completed July 17th

What a turn around. This game is like the exact opposite of Broken Age - pretty bad for a lot of the game but the end ties up so well it retroactively makes what you've done amazing. I loved the final stage of this so much that I highly recommend anyone who got it free on PSN play it through to the end. Don't go and try to solve all of the projectors though, they are so hard and rely on information you may not even have when you discover them that they will put you off playing (did to me anyway). Just collect all the ribbons and pay attention to the story and in no time you will have finished it and it'll be great. I would love a big budget AAA game in this vein.

Game 39: Monster Bag (PSVita - PSN) - completed July 19th

I love the art in this game - so clean and hi res. It looks somewhat in the style of a flash game but how it actually should be done to look great and not 'like a flash game' if that makes sense. Loads of levels, in fact the primary complaint is the game should've finished after level 14 - great level and every one after that is horrendous test of patience, even some randomisation meaning you can't finish a level without dying at times! It's like they forgot everything that made the game good! Play through to level 14 and you will have a fun, if quite basic, time.

Game 40: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS4 - PSN) - completed July 19th

First off, the graphics are phenomenal, absolutely beautiful game. Much, much shorter than I expected but the open ended-ness of it is nice and handled quite well. Wish we'd found the fast travel earlier though, it was very trying running from one side of the world to the other twice. Good, interesting stuff going on in the game though, good if you can get it cheap.

TBC

 

[Booya_base]

Continued from above...

Just got an ipad so I expect I'll get quite a few more finished in quick succession.

Game 41: Monument Valley (iOS) - completed July 26th

Really pretty graphics and pretty inventive ideas but extremely short. I wouldn't say its worth full price, but if it is on sale, check it out.

Game 42: Magic Origins (iOS) - completed July 26th

Great game, only thing which detracted was a glitch which stopped a turn progressing right as I was going to win a match. Haven't been able to get into any online games, not sure why, but playing through the whole campaign was just as good as magic always is and the rate of getting free cards was pretty fair I thought. Its funny how this is almost as good as their usual yearly offering but costs nothing! Once they add draft/sealed this is going to get played a hell of a lot!

Game 43: Driveclub (PS4 - PSN) - completed July 30th

I can finally consider this completed! Every trophy including season pass done and commitment badge earned. What an utterly phenomenal game, my most played game this gen and that's even without having any RL friends playing online. The longest career mode ever with actual fun events throughout, brilliant time trial challenges and great online races (except a-hole racers trying to ruin everyone's fun). The handling is what makes this game, if you like this style of racing game, its the best there is, but if you want a sim style handling you may end up hating it.

Game 44: Journey (PS4 - PSN) - completed August 13th

Big disappointment here overall, I'd heard 'game of the year' bandied around and heard that people had cried playing it so I built it up and set aside a day to really get into it. The gameplay is so-so and a step back from things like Ico and never really progresses to anything interesting at all - just jump about and walk. The ending was a huge letdown too. However, I have to say, the graphics are utterly beautiful, totally mindblowing at times, almost rivalling the Order in best graphics I've ever seen (but obviously in a very different way)

Game 45: Device 6 (iOS) - completed August 13th

Played this through in an afternoon. Really good atmosphere and use of the ipad for the puzzles. One level had a very illogical solution though which we ended up using trial and error for, not sure what they were going for there. Also the ending was a bit of a disappointment, I feel like there must be an alternate ending based on finding secrets or something because otherwise its much less satisfying than other Simogo games. Still worth the pittance you have to pay to play it though, I recommend it, just less than Year Walk.

Game 46: Everyones gone to the Rapture (PS4 - PSN) - completed August 14th

As everyone in the world has said, the speed of this game is torturous, seems like it could've so easily been fixed too which is a shame. I feel cheated by the trailers I saw of this game, I was expecting something more gameya la Amnesia but I got basically Dear Esther which is the only Chinese Room game I didn't like. I should've read the reviews first (everyone should) but I was very hyped from the trailers and previews so I dived right in. Graphics are unbelievably good however, really really good lighting used to create a believable environ. Story is ok, but no clever twists or anything genuinely interesting actually going on. Special award for stupidest trophies I've ever seen too. Do you really want to play the game only touching the radios and nothing else? Why is this a thing?!

Game 47: Republique (iOS) - completed episode 1 August 16th

I only completed 1 episode but I'm not planning on buying any more so it's completed as far as I am concerned. The game is actually pretty good, makes good use of the iPads capabilities and all the controls feel right. A very MGS vibe which is obvious considering who is involved and it does feel like it has good production values too, as I'd hoped. The only problems are the price. I had assumed it was for all episodes when I'd bought 1 - this is the problem with iOS pricing in general as I'm sure the length of the game warrants the full price, I just don't want to spend so much on a 'timewastery' style game. The other major issue is the lack of any consequences whatsoever - more than half the time when I got caught, I got taken to a cell which actually put me closer to my objective rather than to lose progress. Eventually I stopped watching patrols and just ran around, destroying all of the gameplay really because there was no reason not to. Oh well, I wish Payton well.

Game 48: N++ (PS4 - PSN) - completed August 21st

Holy shit! This is straight to the top of my GOTY list and honestly is in contention for GOTG. Virtually flawless in every area, as far as my gaming tastes go, it is difficult to imagine how they could have done a better job. Difficulty: perfect ramp from super easy to unbelievably difficult (when I say I completed this, I'm not counting the 'extra' levels of course! just the main levels unlocked from the start) Graphics: Perfect for what the game needs, unlocking the different colours is way more satisfying than it has any right to be. Music: utterly godly, Om the Def is on repeat in my iPod now all the time!
But the main thing is the game modes and gameplay. I play solo mode rabidly virtually every day and it is amazing and will last me a good long time. Then I go to my brothers and play co-op which has us screaming at the screen because it's so high tension and satisfying. Then we have weekly gaming nights where all four of us are playing race or some solo levels and having an utter blast - even more enjoyable than Towerfall at times! An unbelievable achievement.

Game 49: Lara Croft: GO (iOS) - completed August 29th

I really need to stop buying these short time investment iOS games, I just don't gel with them. This is well made and looks nice but it's just so simple and boring, it was a chore to play through to be honest. For the cheap price that Hitman GO is, this is acceptable, but for this price it really isn't. If you want a good offshoot game, get the Guardian of Light, that was a great Tomb Raider puzzle game.

Game 50: Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker (X360) - completed August 30th

Got caught up in the OHN streaming madness and realised I hadn't completed this for some reason. Started a new save and completed it in a one day marathon. Great gameplay but so much less intrigue than a normal MGS game, it was a slight let down. Felt very short too, but probably only because I marathoned it and only did about 10 extra ops. I imagine co-op would be very cool as a new aspect to an MGS game but no chance to try it out without xbox live.

Game 51: Xeodrifter (PS4 - PSN) - completed September 12th

This is more like it! A fantastic little PS Plus title that really understood what a metroidvania is supposed to be. Excellent level of difficulty and use of each of the powers you get. Also great hard-to-find-but-not-ridiculous secret areas too. The only disappointing part is that all the bosses look identical, even the final boss, so they could have put a bit more effort in there. Otherwise, it works in all other areas. Definitely try this over the disappointing Teslagrad this month.

Game 52: The Room 2 (iOS - Ipad) - completed September 13th

Not really a lot to say here different from The Room 1 - a great little puzzler with the difficulty again pitched just right. Although we got stumped repeatedly this time for some reason, whenever we used the hints, it turned out the solution was completely solvable and not unfair, we just weren't trying hard enough. Graphics and sound are both spot on and nice crazy supernatural effects too. I wholeheartedly recommend this, just know that it is easily complete-able in one day.

There we have it - 52 games completed!

 

[Synth]

Original Post

Lunar Jetman

Criteria: Completed all milestones and snapshots
Time played: 4 hours

Well, this was legitimately awful unfortunately. There's so much poor design choices in this game, it's kinda astounding. You very often can't possibly make the trip to the randomly located enemy base before it fires its missile off. Worse still, there isn't any way to actually know how far from the base you are when the missile warning goes off. If you're too far out and try to fly to meet the missile and destroy it, then you'll probably run out of fuel, and fail... however if you don't immediately try and fly, and the base was a lot closer than you expected, then you won't have time to destroy the missile resulting in an instant game over. The strategy I ended up employing was to fly out immediately when seeing the missile warning, and then if I didn't encounter it almost immediately, I would just sit at ground level a decent distance in front of my rover, attempting to survive until the missle flew overhead. Once I'd succeeded in passing a few levels that way I then just used the rest of my lives to fly directly into the missiles instead to reach level 10. This tactic was a LOT safer than trying to fight the increasingly resilient missiles later on, as failing to destroy one before it hits the rover is an instant game over regardless of lives remaining. It also doesn't help that there appears to be frequent issues with the emulation causing the game to run impossibly fast much of the time... and almost always right after a missile is launched...

After having a lot of fun with the original Jetpac, this game has unfortunately soured me on the older offerings quite drastically. The only reason I didn't drop it, is because I wanted the stamps towards the video unlocks, and out of a sense of personal pride lol. Will probably never load this game up again, and will probably jump forward to at least the NES era games... I have more faith in both game design from that period, and that the emulation won't frequently make the games basically unplayable.