The List!
Full Impressions

8. Quake II - 9 Hours


Whereas the original Quake has a long list of entirely self-contained, unconnected levels, Quake II presents its levels as more of a traditional campaign like its contemporaries Unreal and Half-Life do that is still continued to this day. This isn't such a bad thing on principle, however the level design that results from this leaves something to be desired compared to the original. Quake 1's levels were compact and intricate, and used vertical space in a unique way that has been rarely seen before or since. Each level, each room was a new playground that showcased the excellent mechanics that still hold up to this day. Quake II loses some of this with its larger scope in the way of flatter levels, longer corridors and occasionally obscure mission objectives that leaves the player wandering levels looking for the correct switch or the right path long after the enemies have been obliterated. The mechanics are still solid and hold up fine against modern standards, but at the end of the day the trade-off isn't worth it. The slightly diluted moment-to-moment gameplay found me yearning for the original's tighter design. Coupled with a change from the original's gothic, cosmic-horror style to a more sci-fi setting that seems so commonplace nowadays, makes the whole game feel a little underwhelming. A good game, but not quite the timeless classic its predecessor is.

post update




Game #1 - Trails of Cold Steel - 1/7/16 (72 hours)
This ended up being significantly longer than I was expecting. The story definitely had more high points than the the TiTS games and it held onto them for longer, rather than immediately going back into daily life. The school setting really wasn't as big as it was made out to be either. I liked that even though you went on field studies to different areas, you were still at the school long enough to really get into everyone's lives on the school and how they developed. The music was amazing and the cliffhanger was about as spot on as people said it was. Really looking forward to the 2nd one later this year and likely replaying this one before it.



Game #2 - Nekopara Vol. 0 - 1/12/16 (50mins)
More of the catgirls doing catgirl things, doesn't take anything more than that to be uguu.



Game #3 - Moe Chronicles - 1/15/16 (30 hours)
Simply amazing. Being the biggest pervert in the world means that you have a desire strong enough to affect all the monster girls and make them turn against humans if you let that desire out. You know you have a high class game when some of the class perks are "cute butt", "tsundere" and various bust sizes. The game is also nothing but battling H (hentai) monsters, rubbing the monster girls and picking out different panties for each of them to change stats. It also featured some of the best Engrish I have ever seen. Ended up just finishing the story for now and may or may not go back later for the rest.



Game #4 - Firefly Diary - 1/19/16 (5 hours)
Wanted to go ahead and finish off the platinum for this and go through it again this year. The story actually made more sense this time around since I wasn't actively hunting a bunch of random trophies and missing memory fragments along the way. Screw that memory game boss though, the majority of my playtime ended up being trying to chance my way into the final trophy off of it.



Game #5 - Atelier Escha & Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky - 1/27/16 (35 hours)
As my first outing into the series, I expected a little more with how much it's brought up. I've always liked the artstyle of Gust games, just never actually played one before. The music wasn't all that bad, just character themes are repeated a bit too much since every time you see an event with a character in town, their theme plays. The characters were mainly what I expected more of. The development was very minimal for every character other than Escha/Logy, even that didn't seem to really go places till closer to the end. The story was also another issue, with the main plot point not even coming to light until 2/3rds of the way through the game. Overall it wasn't a bad game, just it felt a bit too lighthearted which didn't carry the game as well as I had hoped. I ended up finishing with Escha's story and plan on doing Logy's at some point.

OP

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Game #7 - Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 (PS3)

Nothing special by any means but it was kind of an improvement on the original? The medal/high score system added an element of challenge (usually small but still) that was missing before. Still not a fan of the new design and had to turn down the voice sound.

Not sure if I was doing it wrong but there was a chase section with a dinosaur that was really janky. I kept getting caught and thrown around randomly and it took a few attempts to get through smoothly becasue the checkpoint dropped you right in the chase.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon or something if you're really wanting a platformer. I'd rent or get it cheap though.

Oh man, finishing this game was difficult. I had tons of fun going through all the entirety of the game but when I hit that final boss it became frustrating. I always hated two part bosses where you defeat one and then have to defeat their next form. However, even with the final boss being pretty hard, I recommend this game to anyone who is looking for that Mega Man Zero itch, or looking for an action platformer to play. Game 4 Complete.

and speaking about completing games



My friend (dragonlife) and I decided to run the 5 main campaign missions on Expert mode, and oooh boy was that fun. I had to follow his lead because he knew the strategy to surviving the higher difficulty. It was a lot of fun, a lot more fun then playing it on normal that's for sure. I recommend anyone trying the campaign all over again on a higher difficult, especially with friends. With that said, Game 5 completed.

As for Game 6, I'm gonna play it easy for awhile until I can get my health to a better state, so I'm gonna choose this:



Original Post

Original post

I'm actually at 5 games for the month, but I'm behind on updating oop So, here's update 1 and hopefully I'll get my whole post updated this weekend.

Finished: 3/52


Game #1- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (PC) | 1/9/2016 [45 hours 53 mins]
I started this game a year ago in January and played through the prologue, then stopped for some reason. I finally picked it back up over the holidays and managed to get through it. It's a fun little old school JRPG. It's super cliche, but I don't mind that so much. I just wish the characters were more interesting- pretty much all of them were just basic anime cliches who didn't get enough characterization to make them more interesting. The two leads, as expected, got the bulk of the characterization and while one of them was a great example of a good, female lead, the other one was beyond basic and boring. I've heard that the second game fixes a lot of my issues with this game (lack of characterization and basic music), so I have high hopes for it.


Game #2- Emily is Away (PC) | 1/10/2016 [30 mins]
I became interested in this game when I heard about it last year and just realized it was on steam, so figured it would be a good time to try it out before I really get into SC. This is an interesting little game. There were a lot of little touches that really brought me back to the AOL days. It's really short, but it did kinda make me think back at some of my old friends who I used to chat with online. For what it was, it was an interesting little game to kill 30 mins.


Game #3- Cibele (PC) | 1/18/2016 [1 hour]
Hmm, what to say about Cibele... I can say that it was definitely an interesting experience, especially since I can relate so closely to the topic of the game. I hadn't heard about this game until today, but after reading the summary on the Steam store page, I was instantly intrigued. I am a girl and have had my fair share of MMO interactions since I started playing them and I am now engaged to a man that I met on an MMO, so you know... I'll start off by saying that what actual game play in the game is very boring and monotonous. Of course, that isn't the focus of the game, but I admit that it was sometimes hard to focus on what was important because I just wanted the game play part to end. It was also pretty short, though I suppose I should have expected that, but I couldn't help but feel like I paid a little too much for what I got (which is a personal opinion and will, of course, vary). I thought it was kind of interesting to see how things progressed, I just wish it had let you see more of the interactions. In that way, it was disappointing for me. Still, I think it's something a lot of people who play MMOs can relate with and is worth it in that sense.

Original Post

Busy weekend, it seems



Shantae - Risky's Revenge - 4:26 1/29/2016
A neat little platformer with roots in Castlevania. I thought it had a bit too many filler 'find x items to progress' sections towards the end, but with such a short game it is understandable. From what I've heard the later ones are much better, so I'm looking forward to that.


Dragonball Xenoverse - 14 hours 1/29/2016
I've always been a fan of 3d fighters in the vein of the Dragonball/Naruto games. So this was a must for me. It was a fun game with a terrible story and a decent character creator. Looking forward to kicking Broly's ass.


Fairy Bloom Freesia - 1:49 minutes 1/30/2016
Holy crap. If I had known I had a game like this in my library, I would have beaten it long, long ago. It is a brilliant blend of the combat system from the Tales games, Smash Brothers, Beat-em-ups, and (to some extent) bullet hells. It has a pretty bare storyline, but the boss fights are to die for. If you can pick this up, DO IT.

Link to OP: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190927712&postcount=33



Game 12: Super Trench Attack (PC)
Finished 1/30/2016 (1pt)
Time to complete: 5 hours as per Steam

I'm currently working on a lot of different games at once, and decided to give Super Trench Attack a shot as a palate cleanser of sorts (one can only play so much Knack in one sitting, after all).

Was hoping for an old school twin stick shooter in the vein of Shock Troopers, it's not that exactly... move with the left stick, yes, but you have to aim a reticle with the right stick.It was pretty enjoyable overall, with some killer bosses, but the reason my playtime ballooned to 5 hours is the incredibly cheap shooting gallery sections.

Ostensibly included in the game to switch things up every so often, these sequences are so obviously tuned for a mouse that they become essentially unwinnable with just a gamepad. Further, the game seems to know this, and has a button dedicated to switching between KB+M and gamepad at any time. Grrrr!

aGuyInaBearSuit said:

Seriously, I'm reading the Wiki now and even the True End has some loose ends.

Is Zero Escape the same way? That would be insane, seeing as how that game is ~20 hours.

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You are really missing out on some great moments if you stopped after one bad ending. I know 999 sadly has no option to completely skip scenes and puzzle rooms, but it's more than worth it to see the additional content of the true ending. Especially when you want to play the sequel anytime soon.

OP

10. Destiny: The Taken King

Finished all the story missions; a huge step up from the stuff in the main game and I really love all the new subclasses, armour and weapons.

It is an infinitely more rewarding game now, something worthwhile comes out of pretty much everything you do. Also really liked that there was a clearly identifiable 'bad guy', just gave the storytelling much more focus and gave you the impetus to press on.

Very keen to prepare for the raid now, but I consider the bulk of it done and am glad I played it.

Game 3: Binding of Isaac: Rebirth -- Vita -- Roughly six hours -- Beat on 1/23/2016~1/30/2016

Yes, that is two different dates. I'll explain that below.

I've had Binding of Isaac: Rebirth on my Vita since it was a free PS+ title back in... uh... some time ago.

My first plays in the game were thoroughly negative. I didn't care for it much at all (I also don't remember how much I played, so that's not included in my rough estimate). The controls seemed slippery, the combat was lacking, and the upgrades were too random. A run felt like it depended too much on items, and less on skill. It wasn't until December last year that I tried it again whenever I read someone say that Binding of Isaac's fun comes from just how much you can break the game. With that in mind I jumped back in; also, this time I didn't have a load of recent Spelunky playtime messing with my concept of the rogue-like genre that they both fall under.

With a new outlook on the game, and more willingness to actually give a fair shake on its own standing, I can say that Binding of Isaac is enjoyable. While I can see how one could theoretically go through the whole game without grabbing upgrades, I don't think I can... really see any fun in it. A masochists' challenge only. Back on track. The upgrades make it fun to me. I like being able to grab a few items and just obliterate things. It makes for some lows whenever you get sucky luck and get boring stuff, but then the highs are that much better. And seen as how runs aren't going to last too long anyways (ten to twenty minutes average), I'm fine with it being that way.

That said, things are still a bit too random for me to sit down and play for any longer than one run. I also don't care for many of the enemies in the game, as the rooms can spawn in some flat-out obnoxious combos that make for a bullet dodging fest that can't just be learned and worked with (since, again, random). The mechanics are SUPER cryptic, too. Like, I didn't/haven't look/ed anything up on the game, so there are things that are kinda' just there. Like the dark/light hearts. And the sin meter? I don't know, man. Cryptic for the sake of being cryptic if you ask me.

The first date listed (1/23/2016) is when I beat Mom. It took me about four hours to get here. I used Isaac for this run, and barely managed to eke out a win after using a super light attack that shredded the last bit of her health. In hindsight, I should have opened the battle with it, because it shrunk that bit of health down fast.

I was going to write the finishing post after beating Mom, but I got lazy figured I'd wait and see if I may beat anymore milestones before I stopped making it a point to play the game.

The second date listed (1/30/2016) is when I beat Mom's Heart. After about an hour-and-a-half of play I decided to try someone else out. Azazel looked fun because he had wings.

Not going to lie, the run almost felt easy mode despite lasting thirty minutes. I had a combination of items that made me friggin' Speedy Gonzalez, I could fly, I had loads of super-items (going to assume they're superish, since they cost me hearts, lol), and finally, I had a controllable tear. Tears are your way of attacking in Binding of Isaac, but not for every character. Azazel, for example, has a blood/laser attack that takes about a second to charge before unleashing a second of laser. For tear characters, the item does exactly what you'd expect -- Let's you control a tear, instead of shooting them out. For Azazel, though? Ohohoho, for Azazel I got control of this gigantic. Damaging. Ring. My strategy was wimpy, but I had fun so... I don't really care, lol. It made for what almost felt like a strange, top-down, dual-stick shooter. It was actually pretty unique!

Anyways, with my super-powers I managed to beat some Boss Rush and Mom's Heart. I unlocked things after doing each, so the content isn't over. But I'm going to mark this one down as "Beat" for me, especially since my initial goal was just to beat Mom!

Would I recommend the game?... Not quite sure. I know there are those who adore the game, but it did take me a while to "get" it. I'd kind of fear suggesting something to someone only to have them hate it haha. If you're a fan of rogue-likes, it's worth a shot. Especially since it goes on sale pretty often. Otherwise, it does feel a hard sell to the uninitiated.

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Game 6: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D - 24:30 (Finished on 1/25)



So for various circumstances over the years, this remained the one 3D Zelda I had not completed; I only ever made it to the second main dungeon. Having finally gone through the whole game now, I can say it was pretty nifty. One of the main aspects that stuck out to me was how peculiar the world and events felt. One moment, Link is marching around with a trail of cucco chicks behind him, and in the next, he's a guitar playing Zora—all while an angry faced moon is looking down at the world. Another aspect I liked was the feeling of hopelessness; satisfying the requests of NPCs, only to go back in time and seeing them in need yet again is interesting to experience. The NPC dialogue as the moon gets closer in particular is pretty depressing. The game really succeeds at making you feel involved the world—which is where most of my enjoyment came from, as I wasn't feeling the dungeons. I guess I've been spoiled by later Zelda games, but none of the dungeons stood out to me aside from Stone Tower, which had a cool gimmick to it. On a side note, hunting down those deviously hidden stray fairies as time winds down was stressful! Probably the only instances where the time limit made me worry a bit. As I close the 3DS on Majora's Mask, I will never forget the fast times I had with the Bunny Hood.

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Game #2:

Pony Island

Platform: Steam
Duration: 6 hours
Completed: 100% Achievements
Thoughts: Pony Island is definitely a mindf--- but it was pretty enjoyable to play a game that was self-aware and kind of comical. Sure the gameplay wasn't top notch but it had variety and was suited for what it was trying to prove. Out of 10, I would give it a 7. Definitely worth the price of admission.

Game #07: Life is Strange (PS4) - 17:46 h - 31/01/2016
Funny is I hated demo of ep.1 released few months ago. I have bought this title, because physical release was bargain price and fantastic edition. Game, art book and soundtrack on cd in a case. I started it over one week ago and... I love it. It's my personal goty of 2015 and one of the best game I've ever played in my life. I was skeptical, but now I regret the story is over - I feel empty now. Amazing game. Story, music (next goty of 2015), rewinding time, heroes, city. Besides I don't remember more moving game, than LiS. The end totally has blown up my mind.

I gave up on Blade and Soul, didnt even reach the level cap on a character, but still put like 20-30 hours into it. Not sure if ill include it >_>

January Update

Game 1 - LA Cops ★★★☆☆
Actually enjoyed the game even on the most difficult settings because the shooting controls are actually responsive and the upgrading system gives it some depth. As someone that found Hotline Miami console controls very obtuse, I found it surprising how much I've enjoyed this one despite being a much simpler game.

Game 2 - Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power ★★★☆☆
It lacks content and it clearly shows the developers wanted to make the entire game as the last level but didn't had the time or/and money to do it. (it really shows what the 3D engine can do and how it improves their formula).

Game 3 - Monster Jam: Battlegrounds ★★☆☆☆
I often like to play this low budget kind of games because very often they have clever ideas that you don't often see in AAA overproduced games and the variety is the best thing this game has. Shame that the races controls like shit.

Game 4 - Guacamelee! ★★☆☆☆
Playing this on the Vita is the best way to hate the game. It has some good ideas but the controls are terrible on the Vita. Absolute garbage especially on the more demanding platforming sequences. Which leads me to...

Game 5 - Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition ★★★☆☆
The definitive edition. Great improvements on this version and playing it on a normal controller made it much better. However still don't see how the game got such great reviews when it launched.

Game 6 - Need for Speed ★★★★☆
The game has obvious shortcomings but I really enjoyed my 20 hours playing it. It could be easily have been a great game but Autolog is basically ignored/very badly used, the always online requirement doesn't serve any point, zero interesting ways for playing multiplayer and driving the open world serves no purpose without anything interesting to do. But despite all those problems, the driving, variety, events and progression through the campaing is very well done. I hope Ghost (sue me Ubisoft) goes back to the original Hot Pursuit and improves on that formula, Autolog and multiplayer was 100x times better than we have now and multiplayer wasn't exactly good either...

Game 7 - The Testament of Sherlock Holmes ★★☆☆☆
The story and the puzzles are interesting but the framerate, bugs, tearing. A chore just to finish the game. At least the payoff was worth it.

Game 8 - Nihilumbra ★★★☆☆
Ignoring some puzzles where the Vita controls show their ugly side, the game actually uses the "powers" and avoids quick reactions to a great effect.

Game 9 - BigFest ★★★☆☆
The game walks a fine line between a good Sim City clone and a F2P game. It's like the game was initially designed as a F2P game and some design choices remained in the final product. Fortunately it still has some nice hooks and strategy decisions for the player to make and the scenarios created force you to make it. But the game needs at least a couple of patches to improve some stuff (like losing your initial playlist if you download new songs from the store...)

Link to OP: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190927712&postcount=33


Game 13: Saviors (PC)
Finished 1/30/2016 (1pt)
Time to complete: 88 minutes as per Steam

The Steam store description says the developers were "inspired by Ikaruga, Raiden, and Radiant Silvergun", and that Saviors was "the best bullet hell you can find on Steam". Uh, these guys know that the actual Ikaruga is also on Steam, right?

Semantics aside - while the graphics of this game do not inspire confidence (the between-mission comlink conversations are incredibly hideous, it's like nightmare-fuel D-Grade Eurojank) , it's actually quite a lot of fun for what it is... Lots of fun upgrades, entertaining bullet patterns, and a bunch of different modes to mess around with. Lots of value here, especially since the game can usually be found dirt cheap.

One nitpick... the game is a bit long for a shmup. I prefer shorter games that you perfect via constant repetition. I 1CC'd this on Easy on my first freaking run, I was so tired out by the length that I put off a normal playthrough for another time.


Game 14: Knack (PS4)
Finished 1/31/2016 (1pt)
Time to complete: Around 13 hours

I can finally stop secretly hoping for Knack to be released as a Playstation Plus game of the month.

Well... I finished Knack. And... it was OK. Where to begin?

The random contents of treasure chests (and the ability to swap out loot with the drops people on your friends list got) could potentially have been a fantastic idea, if only the implementation wasn't so tone deaf.

I find it ridiculous that you're required to harvest up to 20 of some randomly appearing gem in order to unlock a freaking costume.Further, special equipment that substantially improves the feel of the game (the Time Dilator, aka Bayonetta slowmo, and the Combo Counter, which ups your damage as the hit streak builds) are A) randomly locked behind your completing an item set, and B) contingent on you realizing that that particular unlock was a desirable one.

Given that I completely screwed up item B above, I felt compelled to download the game's companion app, Knack's Quest, in order to unlock some loot. It's a match 3 game, I love match 3! I mean, how bad could it be?

...Pretty bad, as it turns out. The Android app's visuals are simplistic, and it hard crashes every time you clear a level (thankfully keeping the loot, though). I scored a bunch of easy loot this way, until around level 6 when the app mysteriously decided to stop syncing the treasure I was earning... smh. Having gotten what I came for, I went back to the game and permadeleted Knack's Quest from my Google Play account.

Lastly, unlike what a lot of other people are saying, I didn't really find the game "hard" per se - it's just that the game at its core is heavily based on trial and error. Like a really shitty Crash Bandicoot, with really shitty God of War influenced combat. The difficulty curve is almost inverse... Knack busts your balls up front if you're not ready for it, but when you've memorized the enemy attack patterns it becomes very manageable.

Overall, it's still a decent game, and I maintain it would have made for a much better PS4 launch title than the odious, terrible, no-good, abysmal Killzone: Shadow Fall (which is what I actually bought back in 2013).

Link to OP: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190927712&postcount=33


Game 15: Kung Fu Rabbit (PSV)
Finished 1/31/2016 (1pt, all levels and extra stages complete)
Time to complete: Around 5 hours

My first completed PS Plus game of 2016! Deciding whether to go for Grim Fandango (PS4) or Dishonored (PS3) as my next PS+ game du jour...

Despite looking like a baby game, Kung Fu Rabbit is hardcore as hell - it's unashamedly for platformer junkies like myself. I actually already beat the main levels last year - however, I've been stuck on one of the ubertough "Extra Stages", preventing me from listing the game as cleared. I finally sat down and took care of business, picking up the "Die 20 times in a single stage" trophy in the process. Victory at last!

Overall, an OK platformer, but the simplistic visuals will put most people off (looks like a Flash game, tbh).

Game #4: Star Wars Battlefront. 60 hours.

I finally got to level 50 (max level). This is one of the best games I have ever played. Never got bored of frustrated. This is the first mutliplayer game I really got into. Being a huge Star Wars fan, it was a pure pleasure to play. I will still play it but I now I'll try to focus on clearing smaller games from my backlog.

Now playing: The Last of Us, Bloodborne, The Crew, Talos Principle and Destiny.

Ladekabel said:

January

Game 1: Lara Croft Go (iOS): Hitman Go didn't do it for but I really enjoyed Lara Croft Go. I don't know what it was. Maybe the better animations or that the puzzles were easier, but for me it is the better and more enjoyable game. Even got 100% in it. If you play games on your Smartphone or Tablet, it definitly is a game to get. The five chapters are good entertainment for a few hours. And while the free extra chapter isn't bad either, I haven't had as much fun with it than with the main chapters as I don't think the gimmick isn't very good.
Game 2: Prune (iOS): Cool game for relaxing. Nothing more to say about it.
Game 3: Tales from the Borderlands (PS4): Holy shit, this was fantastic. It is the best of its kind. Smart and funny dialogue, likeable characters, great work from the voice actors. Never have I laughed more with a game than I did with Tales from the Borderlands. And my favorite part was the final "boss fight" against

Spoiler

the Traveller. Game turned into a QTE fighting game.

Fantastic, I say, fantastic. If you like these types of adevnture games, don't miss it.
Game 4: Lit (iOS): Got the bad ending in the game. It would be more enjoyable if the controls were not... suboptimal. In order to get the good ending you have to beat levels in time and only use so much steps. While steps are doable, time is something that is not doable with touch controls. If you try to go fast, you often end up dead because you deactivated a lamp and die to the darkness. If you can get past this, it is a short little game, that will give you an hour or so good enjoyment.
Game 5: Monument Valley (iOS): Man, I'm on a roll with the iOS games today. Great little puzzle game. Something I haven't played before. Nice presentation, geometrical puzzles (which I'm usually not very good at) which don't become too twisted. Again, if you look for something that is short and can finish a level while sitting in a train or waiting for a bus, you should check it out.
Game 6: Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception Remastered (PS4): Last one of the Uncharted beat. For all the flak it gets, it is my favorite of the series. It's supernatural enemies aren't as annoying as in the previous two games. I like the desert more than mountains or jungle. Otherwise it is pretty similiar to the other ones. Finally being able to throw back grenades is another plus.
Game 7: Ys: Oath in Felghana (PC): One of my most used words is enjoyable and that sums up Ys: Oath in Felghana for me. The combat system is fun, the music pushes you and while more linear than Zelda there are still some hidden treasures, which I liked. That said, it isn't without its problems. For me it could have used an lock on system for the magic system. Too often did I shoot my fireballs 1 cm to the left/right which cost me another try in the boss battles. The boss battles are tough but satisfying, but some of their hitboxes were garbage. When you touched one of their attacks with the tip of your toe, you took full damage and flew through the room. But miss their weak spot by 1 mm and it doesn't even itch them. Overall a great game with flaws.

Currently playing: D4: Dark Dreams don't Die (PC)

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January update. Quite successful, I must say. If I can keep up the pace I might make it a third year in a row.

OP

11. Halo 5: Guardians

This campaign was all over the place for me. I think it's the best playing Halo game to date, but it also felt the most soulless. There wasn't much of that original trilogy magic until the last half an hour or so.

I think the main problem I had was the story, in that not much actually happened. In terms of meaningful progression from the previous game and leading us into the next one, only the last level or two really meant anything. The rest was just nonsensical filler to me.

Visuals were inconsistent. Some of looked great, especially the scale of the set pieces, but plenty looked flat and kinda bad by today's standards. Loved the framerate, though, which contributed to how well it felt to play.

Still, my overriding feeling right now is that this is going to prove to be the most forgettable Halo campaign yet. Nothing really stood out to me, even 4 made an impression in terms of just how astonishing it looked considering it was on a 360.

Halo 5 was fun enough, but it's disappointing that that's all it was considering what the series used to mean.

So this is it for January.
Really enjoyed the games that I played this month, It was good playing some fairly "quick" games after 100 hours on Fallout 4.

Coming up, Rise of the Tomb Raider (12 hours in) and X-Com 2 next week.

Main Post

Game 6: Darkest Dungeon (PC) - 45 Hours. Finished on 31/1/2016.
When I first heard about this game, around this time last year,I basically fell in love at first sight and so I got it on Early Access, and put around 20 hours into it. Those 20 hours were so enjoyable that if the game was never finished, I would've been satisfied even if the full game never released, and I didn't bother playing all the subsequent build so I wouldn't get burned out before the full release, and the full release lived up to my hype. I loved it, even though I felt like it started to drag a bit for the last few missions before last Dungeon.


Pretty good January, February has both X-Com 2 and Bravely Default 2 coming out, looking forward to those.

Time: 2:14 hours (whaa)
Score: I still thought this took much longer than it did
Thoughts: This really didn't improve much on the first game, just more playable characters. It was more of the same but the same is good enough for the price of entry.



Time: 3:15 hours
Score: 95% fun
Thoughts: 5% frustrating. The vast majority of the game is a cute send up of Zelda/Y's based more on puzzles than fighting. The end however.... One of my personal pet peeves is when a game completely changes gameplay for the last boss. In this case it turns to a shump. A shmup that requires you slam on the attack button as fast as humanly possible else you'll get wiped. Often. :\ I loved most of the game.

Master List

Original post


12. The Witness (PC, 2016) - 18:47
420 +34.

You can never play The Witness again for the first time, which makes The Witness practically impossible to replay effectively. That's not a mark against the game; it means the joy of playing The Witness is an experience you'll only get once. Yes, the game contains a vividly realized island of wonder, one of the most beautiful games to look at in recent memory, and you can revisit the island whenever you like. But so much of The Witness is about discovering the unique language of its puzzles, learning new tricks and the meaning of different setups, surprising yourself with solutions to problems you thought impossible to solve. These things you only get once, and it's a shame, because that process of discovery is what makes The Witness so compelling.

The New Yorker's profile of Jonathan Blow, published just after the release of The Witness, gives you a hint of what's in store for you: "The way that I know when I’m done is when, with any category, I’ve discovered all of the interesting things," Blow said. To explain any more would reveal too much, but suffice it to say Blow and his studio, Thekla, succeed beyond expectation in this endeavor. Solving the riddle of The Witness requires a level of absorption I rarely get from video games: as I drifted off to sleep and as I woke the next day, I would actually imagine myself solving line puzzles.

The Witness may be the first great game of 2016. Understandably, that statement won't be enough to convince some people to play it, no matter how many people say it. But to learn too much about The Witness would be to spoil it. If you're interested in The Witness at all, make sure you play it someday so you can see for yourself.

Game 8: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition [PC] - ~51 hours

This was my first Souls game, and I both really enjoyed and was really frustrated with this game. Slowly exploring the interlocking world was fantastic, and I enjoyed the incredible boss designs and fights. My frustrations, however, were in part due to design decisions made by the developers, and in part due to technical issues. In terms of game-play, I was mainly frustrated by the need to trek long distances to face bosses again (all the while dodging enemies), which turned otherwise amazing fights into tedious busywork, as well as some poor sign-posting in certain areas, which led me to repeatedly miss a few important exits. This was, however, overshadowed by the worst enemy in the game, namely the camera, which would occasionally run amok (even after turning off a less-than-helpful camera feature in the options), and its undeceive the lock-on feature, which would made odd choices about what to lock on and would not stay locked at useful distances (for example the distance the enemy can reach with their weapon!), leading to many an unnecessary injury or death.


Bonus Game: Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist [PC] - 17 minutes

This can basically be thought of as a demo for a development studio, so I am not counting it as a completed game. However, I thought that I'd give it a honorary mention. Unfortunately, I cannot really say much about this game without spoiling it, so instead I'll just say that it's free, less than 20 minutes, and very entertaining.


Master List

Original Post

For the month of January I completed four games.

My current progress for this challenge is 4/52

1. Pokemon Y – Finished 1/9 – 27:30 play time
Had the itch to play Pokemon again with all the 20th anniversary talk. It was my 3rd Gen VI game playthrough. Team consisted of Vespiquen, Delphox, Clawitzer, Flygon, and Roserade. Went with only 5 because of using EXP share. Pretty straightforward run. Finally got to use Vespiquen and Clawitzer and to pick the fire starter for the first time in Gen VI

2. Apollo Justice Ace Attorney – Finished 1/12 – 30:40 play time
Started this one in 2015 but did the final two cases in 2016. Really enjoyed the game for the most part. Introduced some characters and mechanics that I really like, including prosecutor Gavin.

3. Super Mario Land – Finished 1/17 – 0:52 play time
There was a GAF thread discussing the merits of this game so I played it again for the first time since I was a kid. It was mostly ok but the physics are really bad. The music is top notch but clipping numerous things including pipes, bricks, bullet bills that come out of pipes (wtf!) among other things made it a weird experience.

4. Shovel Knight – Finished 1/17 – 5:04 play time (72 deaths)
I'm pretty bad at this game. Highlight of the entire playthrough has to be dying on the boss rush to Specter Knight when we were both on our final hits. Will be playing through Plague of Shadows soon enough and maybe a third playthrough using my handy Shovel Knight amiibo. Game was tough for me at some points. Once I got the controls using relics set up how I wanted it was much easier. I died quite a few times trying to use relics and not inputting correctly.

Games completed: 2/52




Coming close to the finish line this month is Shadows of Mordor for PS4. While I did have fun beating this game it did start to become repetitious towards the end. Thankfully, the Nemesis feature kept me involved as a particular Orc had earned my hatred ending in a final battle where I gladly chopped off his head. It is one feature that definitely should pop up in more games that support this nature. Took me awhile playing on and off, but I beat everything and the dlc. Very good game.

Full list

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin
Good game, but it pales in comparison to its predecessors. Bosses, level design, combat, world cohesion, art direction, creature design, handling of difficulty: all the worst in the series. It's very uneven. For every breathtaking moment, there's a cube shaped room with ugly, repeating textures. I can't say I had a great time because I couldn't stop thinking that it had all been done better before. Buuut, if I wasn't comparing it to two masterpieces, I'd think that Dark Souls II is a really cool game, so... 4 stars!

Downwell
Very simple, but mechanically brilliant with a fun and satisfying gameplay loop. For $3, it's a no-brainer.

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Bleed
It's a twin stick shooter/platformer with a bullet time mechanic and great player maneuverability. There are some good bosses, but they can be frustrating since they barely telegraph their attacks. Overall, the difficulty felt a little unbalanced, but maybe I just suck.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
The gameplay feels great and you have a lot of freedom to tackle the objectives in different ways. I got tired of revisiting the same area after a couple side ops, though.

Click to expand...

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Game 07: | Home | - | January 31 | - | 3 hours |

Played this a couple of years ago and loved it. Saw that they had added cheevos so I thought this was a good time to replay it and explore other "paths". I love games that change depending on what you interact with and Home is a good example of a game doing it well. Was quite surprised how different the three playthroughs felt and had no problem playing them back to back. Also a game that proves that you don't need advanced graphics to make a scary/creepy game as long as you nail the sounds. Lovely little gem!

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Game 08: | Alien: Isolation | - | January 31 | - | ~15 hours? |

I watched the Alien Quadrilogy this week to be able to play this and (more importantly) Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game. While the board game is the better game by far, this is still a pretty good product. It really feels like it's a part of the Alien universe and that's impressive. It looks great (except for the characters) and sounds even better. Sadly it's far too long, making the enemies annoying instead of scary. I'm also not really a fan of unforgiving games.

Click to expand...

-

Master post

Only managed to finish one game in January, but it was a good one.



Game #1- Dark Souls 1/31/2016 [PS3] [50:48]
I first started this game two, maybe three years ago. Borrowed it from a friend, then eventually bought it myself. The game is frustrating, tedious, and generally unbalanced in the second half, but its good moments shine through brightly enough to make it worth it. Music and art direction were fantastic, and 3/4 of what made the game world such fun to poke through. The other 1/4 was being able to slowly piece together a mental image of the world through the items you found, their descriptions, and simple observation of how the developers chose to make this world.

It felt good to finally learn a section's enemies well enough to proceed, then have little difficulty coming back. Somehow, the developers found a magic formula to make the vast majority of enemy encounters stick with you. Dying an uncountable number of times helped, but they all had just enough in common to be able to move some skill over to each new enemy encounter, refining your techniques in the process.

One of my favorite aspects of Dark Souls is, undoubtedly, the co-op. Barely present and kind of demanding, it's nevertheless a great feeling when you can help others take down a boss that you had so much trouble with, or get together with a friend to push through particularly nasty areas of the game. However, the game tries really really hard to make you feel alone; the inclusion of co-op (indeed, even a covenant dedicated to it) kind of distorts this a little for me, and didn't seem to jive well with the theme. I wish the developers had been able to work this in with the world more, since there's so much to explore with reality/time being distorted as it is in Lordran; invaders/helpers are already an established feature of the world, but not much mention is given to them in canon.

Game 6 Completed!
A nice, sweet, short visual novel that I would recommend to those who want just a short story to read. The characters are well fleshed out and the art is pretty nice. The story telling is a little hard to follow, especially when it transitions from one scene to the other but easy to put the pieces together that you aren't completely lost. I recommend picking this up when it hits a sale, as the current price seems pretty high for what is around a 3 hour story.



Game 7 Completed!
Ahh, the second Naruto game to hit the Steam platform. Its beautiful graphics and fun game play makes its PC release a success if you ask me. It's everything I loved from playing from the PS3 version but without the frame drops. I enjoyed it very much, as its a fast fighting type of game that relies on button timings. Sadly the online community for the steam version seems to be dead, so if you are looking to play this game for the multiplayer, I recommend waiting for NUNS4.


My next game is going to be:


I'm actually at the final area I believe, so this probably won't take long to finish. Its a fun game though, especially if you like unscrambling words.

Original List

Finished off Shining Force II just alil bit ago! That makes 8 rpgs in 1 month. Just 44 more rpgs an 11 months ta go! @_@

Games Beaten: 08 / 52
Total Playtime: 185:49:59

01 - ??

January Update
Completed: 3/52

Game 1: The Witcher: Enhanced Edition (PC) ~56 hours
Date Completed: 01/16/16



This game ended up lasting a lot longer than I thought it would. Looking at other people's playtime (~20 hours) is jarring considering how long it took me to beat the game. Perhaps I did too much side stuff? Anyways, the story in the game is moderately interesting, I've read some of the books so I was familiar with some of the characters/plot lines. I was surprised by the Geralt and Triss relationship in the beginning and was even more surprised by how many Anyways, the main plotline is kinda drawn out and the "revelation" at the end was an odd direction to take the game. Regardless, it was fun to see/play through the world after reading about it in the books. Moving on to combat, it's bad. Very boring and basic and the leveling system is too big imo. There are too many spells/styles I wanted to invest in but didn't have even talent points to do so. I hope the sequels improve on that the most and I look forward to playing them to continue the story but I really hope they aren't as long or open as this one but from what I've heard about the third game, it seems like it gets even bigger.


Game 2: Remember Me (PC) ~11 hours
Date Completed: 01/28/16



Remember Me has a decent concept but the execution is lackluster and is hampered down by the lack of good characters, bad acting, and terrible plot. The combat is okay I guess, good enough for a casual playthrough but definitely not DMC-level. The remixing stages are the most interesting gameplay mechanic and is probably the game's highest point but even that isn't amazing by any stretch. Having beat the game, I wouldn't recommend it. It one of those games that didn't sell well and (imo) didn't deserve to. Will not remember this soon.

Game 3: Catherine (PS3) - 14 hours & 10 Minutes
Date Completed: 01/31/16



Ah, finally a game with good gameplay. I like puzzle games and the puzzles in Catherine were challenging and fair. The story was decent, enough to move along the game. The mature dating plot/setting was certainly a breath of fresh air. I would like to replay the game if it ever came to PC to see the alternate endings (I got the True Freedom ending) to see how siding with Catherine changes the story. A sequel isn't needed but more games like this would be welcomed.

The List!
Full Impressions

9. Betrayer - 8.4 Hours


A story-first exploration/horror game about talking to ghosts unable to let go of their corporeal lives and discovering how they each came to meet their fateful ends. This involves scavenging open-world areas for items to show to the ghosts in order to jog their memories and uncover another piece of their story. Meanwhile you occasionally fight off skeletons, floating skulls, and un-dead Spaniard invaders and Native Americans with Elder Scrolls-style combat. It creates a fairly nice whole where initially you're forced to tread carefully, armed only with a bow and perhaps a single-shot pistol with a grueling reload animation, all designed to dissuade you from combat and keeping atmosphere and tension high. The problem comes from the game being segmented into 7 or 8 (admittedly rather large) self-contained areas that all follow the same strict formula of meeting a ghost, finding a few story-related items, another ghost that is either a murder victim or themselves a murderer of the first ghost, and then running back and forth between these two ghosts showing them items and unraveling their unfinished business before moving on to the next area. By the 4th or 5th area you've got the idea and it all becomes rather perfunctory and businesslike, made worse by the fact that you're getting weapon and stat upgrades along the way, overpowering enemies and undoing all the balance that makes the first couple of hours so intriguing and stimulating. The last 2 or 3 areas rebound a bit by having a more interesting and overarching story that ties them together, but by that point you're practically the Predator, taking on undead hordes by the dozen. The combat itself is mostly acceptable but it's hard not to feel disappointed that the game becomes an almost fundamentally different (and worse) experience than it started out as. Perhaps I'm being too harsh. I did end up enjoying this more than I expected, but truthfully there isn't enough diversity in content to support the game's length. Take out the middle 3 areas, turn it into a nice, tight 5 hour game with less power creep and it would be an almost flawless experience. As it stands, the developers betray the game's strengths almost as much as any of the game's morally questionable characters betray each other.

Januray Update -

Full list

Dougalism - Progress 4/52

Game 1: Driveclub (PS4) - 7/1
I really don't understand the hate for this game. Beat nearly all of the DLC too.

Game 2 : Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC (PSP) - 20/1
I can't recommend this game enough. Well worth the wait, now if only there was some way to get 3rd in English.

Game 3 : Life is Strange (PS4) - 23/1
Another fantastic game. the final episode wasn't nearly as good as the other 4 episodes but those 4 were amazing.

Game 4 : Shadows of the Damned (PS3) - 27/1
Pretty much a 8 hour long cock joke

Still pretty much on target as of the end of January. This month will be mainly PS3 games as I attempt to clean the fridge so that I have enough space to install Yakuza 5

I'm still turning this game over in my head. For more reasons than one: it's captivating, it's frustrating, it's beautiful, it's a little gammy at times, it's mysterious and it's pretentious.

Some parts of this game delivered me to the edge. Sections I thought I'd be stuck at forever but after a cup of coffee or a night dreaming of lines and symbols, I'd get through. The environments are incredible and it's easily one of the best looking PS4 games out there purely due to its art design. There's certainly some frustration and a few puzzles rely on perspective or the game being able to be controlled perfectly and some puzzles really are way too ambiguous, even for a puzzle game.

I'm not finished but I literally have 3 puzzles left to do before I get the ending. However, I have heard about a challenge room with some of the most tricky puzzles in the game. Might take a break before tackling them.

Original Post

Didn't do very well in January at all. Hopped between a ton of games, and finished almost none. Hopefully February will go better.

Ridge Racer Unbounded

Criteria: Standard game completion.

Even ignoring that this game should honestly never have been called Ridge Racer, it's also a rather disappointing racer in general. Handling is decent, is at times frustraing... but the game suffers from a feeling of repetition that's actually quite surprising given it's short length, and how repetition is something that should generally be expected from a racing game.

The game claims to offer 9 districts, which initially sounded very appealing to me. However, the different districts seem to share the same track assets, and even most of the same turns can be recognised from one to another. The only real difference moving to a new district seems to offer is a different visual color filter placed over the entire screen. In some cases this filter manages to make discerning where you're going unreasonably difficult. Worse still is how much of the trackside obstacles will crumble like a stack of playing cards when driven into (and this will often be the best racing line you can take), whilst others will result in your immediate destruction.. and there's not always a clear differentiation between the two.

Despite all this, my general love for all things arcade racing meant that I was well on my way to a full completion of the game, with 3 stars in all events... until the game committed what I consider to be a truly unforgiveable sin. In each district you need to earn a specific amount of total points to unlock each subsequent race. This hadn't been much of an issue at first as I was making sure I scored high enough to earn all three stars on each race before moving on to the next one. However, suddenly I found myself with all three stars in each of the five previous races, yet a significant number of points short of unlocking the sixth race. Realising this now meant that I had the extremely unattractive option of replaying previous races hoping that I'd left enough room for improvement to outscore my previous performances by enough to make up the missing amount, I decided to leave this district for now, and return to it later... and then the same scenario occurred in the next district too! At this point I was done with the idea of fully completing the game, and simply played through the rest gaining only the required points to progress until the credits rolled.

I honestly don't see why you would have two separate scoring metrics in the game... one for the stars, and then a second one for the unlocks. Surely if the player is performing well enough to earn the maximum number of stars in each race, then they should be performing well enough to be allowed to at least enter the next one, right? How is the player to know which races the missing points should come from, and which they've already played near optimally? If they're missing 5,000 points, it's not good for them to return to a race where they scored 30,000 only to then score 30.500... as that still leaves them 4,500 points short! It turns what was already a flawed and repetitive game, into one that's actively annoying.

So yea... I wasn't really a fan of this, and it's really sad that this is the game Ridge Racer went out on.

Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate

Criteria: Completed arcade mode with all characters.

Ah, nostalgia.

I absolutely loved the original Dead or Alive back in the day, with its fresh take on offensive defense. The two-tiered counter system did unfortunately result in many matches devolving into a bunch of guess-based happy slapping.. but it laid the foundations well enough for the sequels to improve upon. This "Ultimate" version is actually based off the Saturn home port, rather than the original arcade release, which is unfortunate for a number of reasons... the most important being that I already owned the Saturn version! Besides that the animations and movesets of the Saturn port are actually somewhat different from the arcade release, and the graphics are significantly pared back in comparison to the arcade, with no 3D background imagery. Still, it could be worse... they could have used the horrible Playstation port as a base instead.

Dead or Alive 1 also happens to have the best character select theme ever (no Marvel vs Capcom 2's isn't better... gtfo with that).

Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate

Criteria: Completed story mode with all characters.

Ah, notalgia (part 2).

Dead or Alive 2 represents a shining example of how you do a proper sequel. Absolutely everything in this game is improved, bar the decision to make Tina a blonde.

In this game they started to make an actual attempt to detail some of the story tying many of the characters together. In some cases, this can get a little weird however... such as when Helena accuses Ayane of murdering her mother (why would she have any reason to think that?) and Ayane not even bothering to deny it... it's a strange moment, that is never again referenced in the later games. Another such scenario is when Leon seems to recognise Zack, whilst Zack has no idea who he is... it's never explained in the game (or the sequels) what would cause Leon to believe he and Zack have met before. Perhaps some of this is explored further the DoA Dimensions, which I haven't played, and retells the story of the first four entries.

Regardless of which version of DoA2 we're discussing (and like DoA1, there are a lot), this game imo is the pinnacle of Dead or Alive's presentation in terms or visual and audio design. Unlike DoA 1 Ultimate however, DoA 2 Ultimate is unquestionably the ultimate version of the game, with graphics far superior to the previously released Dreamcast and PS2 versions, redesigned (and additional) stages, some of the best sound effects I've ever heard in a fighter even today, a ridiculous amount of additional outfits for each character.. and (previously) the first truly successful implementation of online play in a fighter. Looking back, I don't think DoA2 has really been given enough credit for many of the things it did to move fighters forwards, especially in regards to character animation and stage interactions.

Completed games list

JANUARY END (4 games completed)

A poor start, numbers-wise, but every game I finished this month was great, so that's that. Freedom Wars addiction coupled with electrical problems in my house (pretty much killing off my PC) added to the sub-par start, as my usual is around 6 games a month. Currently playing X-men Origins Wolverine and XCOM on the PS3, Freedom Wars and Oddworld on the Vita, and a few Imagine games coupled with Pokémon White 2 on the DS.

Game 1: Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (PS2) - January 2 - 99 hours
This is how one starts a challenge. Superb silent protagonist, oppressive dark atmosphere, superior music and fights. Incredible boss fights that really test your limits, force you to learn from mistakes and teach you to be adaptable and prepared. A great feeling of power as the Demi-Fiend grows in strength. Very close to becoming my new 2004 GOTY. In Atlus we trust.

Game 2: Brothers (PS3) - January 9 - 4 hours
Complete change of pace for Starbreeze, and they totally nailed it. Beautiful in both looks and atmosphere coupled with a minimalist, emotional story. Reminds one of Ico, and that's very high praise coming from me. A classic.

Game 3: Infinite Space (DS) - January 11 - 49 hours
Criminally overlooked game. Has all the makings of a good JRPG with an excellent combat system, taking place in a Sci-Fi universe where the battles are settled ship to ship, as it should be. Huge supporting cast, crew members to recruit, branching plot and an economy that works. Highly recommended.

Game 4: Rocket League (PS4) - January 23 - 25 hours
My 9th Platinum trophy, so counting this as finished, though I am still actively playing the odd Snow Day game now and then. Rocket League really snuck up on me, a fantastic game which is my current 2015 GOTY (though it won't stand.) I don't like multiplayer but love sports, so I guess the latter won out and I played every Saturday morning with my oldest daughter. Great fun.

Alright, let's start this off by doing a little wrap-up of January. Didn't play a lot, but managed to finish 4 games so far.

Full list here

Game #1: FINAL FANTASY (PSP, played on Vita) - 26 hours - January 1


So. Final Fantasy. Let's start with the things I enjoyed: exploring the world and figuring out what to do next was actually fun to me. I generally enjoy scavenger hunt-ish quests that take you all over a nice world map. That said, the overworld of FF I wasn't actually all that interesting, but eh. It's the first FF, I can forgive it that.

What I found harder to look past is the extremely linear character progression. There is nothing there. You gain predetermined stats with each level up, and that's basically it. There is no possibility for any player expression there. (An issue that the job system introduced in III nicely addresses, I think) Basically the only interesting choice you ever make is at the very beginning, when you compose your party. But that only really comes into play in subsequent playthroughs. The first time you don't actually have any idea what the different classes actually do, so... Fighter, Thief, WM, BM it's likely gonna be.

Similarly, there was scarcely a battle that couldn't be won with Saber/Haste on Fighters -> consider your face CRUSHED. Which is fun, but kind of unsatisfying the umpth time. (I realise that might have something to do with the PSP version's difficulty being nerfed compared to the original?)

I did actually have some fun with it though, and that I can easily attribute to basically playing it as a mobile/handheld game. The game really lends itself to that format, with it's easy, incremental progress. If I didn't have the "oh, let's do a quick level on my commute"-effect, I probably wouldn't have stuck with it.

Game #2: DONKEY KONG (Game Boy) - 5 hours - January 3


I love Donkey Kong '94. It's one of my favourite games, like, ever. Replaying it was basically bliss. Comfort food you might say. Together with Link's Awakening it's the best the Game Boy has to offer.

I have thought a lot about this game, and I'm actually thinking about doing a RTTP thread on it. Because I've got a lot of stuff to say about it that probably exceeds the frame of this project here. If I do, I'm gonna link that here.


Game #3: ORCS MUST DIE 2 (PC/Steam) - 38 hours - January 9


This was one of my "keep contact with my cousin who lives in another town through playing games online" games. I don't usually enjoy tower defenses and the like all that much, but man did that game grab us.

We've not yet done everything in the game (that would be more like a 200 hour project), but decided to mark finishing the story mode on Nightmare as my "finished" point. However, the hour count up there also includes a lot of stuff that's not part of this core progression, like doing maps in Endless Mode.

So yeah, Orcs Must Die 2 is a 3rd Person Shooter/Trap Defense kind of game, that emphasizes clever combination of items and traps to basically create a death gauntlet to grind down waves of monsters. And figuring this stuff out is incredibly, INCREDIBLY satisfying. Playing through the game yielded absolutely exhilerating moments.

Game #4: THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND (PC) - 5 hours - January 14


Played exclusively in classic mode. Because god, does the Special Edition look like garbage. Look at this banner. Ugh.

So yeah, Monkey Island. It's a classic. It's absolutely a formative experience for me. Also, replaying Adventure games is kind of weird. I haven't played this in years, yet playing it I could actually remember most of the puzzles? Which made this kind of a light nostalgia trip without any major road blocks.

One thing I absolutely love about the game is its use of colours. It's beautiful. The perpetual night of Melee Island with its blues and blacks that are punctuated by the bright orange and yellow lights of people's dwellings... which then forms an incredibly effective contrast to the bright, colourful tropical heat of Monkey Island once you finish the long first act. It's great. Replaying the game was like a sightseeing trip through a beautiful place that's still as beautiful as I remember it. An amazing aesthetic experience.

Game 9: The Fall [PC] - 3 hours

The Fall is a short adventure-game with pretensions of being an action game, to the detriment of both, though the story ended up making up for both of these shortcommings. Briefly, the game is about an AI controlling a suit of battle-armor, named ARID, and her attempt at saving the life of her pilot after crash-landing in an old and (mostly) abandoned facility. There you find two other AIs, who will help and hinder ARID in her search for medical attention for her pilot. As an action-game, The Fall was just a very poor cover-shooter, and the adventure-game part suffered from having to look and interact by aiming your gun / flashlight in the direction of the item you wished to interact with, which was clunky as hell, and made for unusually tedious pixel-hunting. A sequel is already in development, which I am looking forward to, but I honestly hope that they simply drop the shooting part of this game and instead focus on the adventure game aspects.

Master List

4. Life is Strange (Finished 1/31/16, playtime 13 hrs 13 mins) - I've never been a big fan of adventure games so I never really bothered with the more recent games in that genre such as The Walking Dead & The Wolf Among Us, but after hearing about how good Life is Strange I figured it was time I give it a try. Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this game and how really dark (& f***ed up) the story got in spots due to the choices I made during the course of the game. I also really liked the detective/murder mystery aspect of the game's story and now that I've finished the game kinda wish it had been an even bigger aspect of the earlier episodes. ★★★★★

Game #4
Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star
PC, a couple hours maybe?
Sequel to Hatoful, but barely a game, not really a lot to do. Still bizarrely charming.

Game #5
Revolutionary Girl Utena: Someday my Revolution will come
Saturn, 10ish hours
Revolutionary Girl Utena vn for the Saturn. Takes place between episodes 8 and 9 and actually adds a really cool little bit to the series. I played through and got the ending where Utena fell for me and I decided I was going to be a Prince. Thinking about playing it again and trying to get the ending where I can become a duelist.

Original Post

1. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair



Play Time: 30 hours
Platform: Playstation Vita
Completed On: 01/24/16

Pros

• Characters are very likable, as they were in the first Danganronpa. It doesn't feel like any of the characters are particularly forgotten. They all have moments to shine and falter.
• The new music is just as excellent as the first game, and the returning tracks are still great.
• Cases are much improved because so much more can be done with the new locations. The forth case in particular is incredible.
• Exploration is improved, as are interactions with fellow classmates in comparison to Trigger Happy Havok.

Cons

• Some of the mini-games still suck ass.

10/10



2. Call of Duty: Black Ops III



Play Time: 18 hours
Platform: Playstation 4
Completed On: 01/31/16

*Note completion here refers to reaching max level in multiplayer

Pros

• Wall-running is awesome. It works very well in the game, and the maps make sure it's used frequently.
• Gun variety is solid.
• The loot system returns from Advanced Warfare, but is a lot better here. The stuff I unlocked really didn't matter all too much though.
• I'm somehow good at this game so I always had fun finishing at the top.

Cons

• Map voting is atrocious because of the community. Prepare to play on Complex a million times in a row until you get lucky.
• Mines are bullshit. No way around it. There essentially buffed claymores that take the lethal grenade spot. Everyone runs them and they make up probably half of my deaths in any given match. Fuck mines.
• The bonus gametypes kind of suck. I need more than just Gun Game. Hell the first Black Ops had Sticks and Stones and One in the Chamber.

8.5/10

Game 1: Stella Glow (3DS) - 64 Hrs 17 Mins (1/9/2016)

# This is a SRPG from Imageepoch and published by Sega in Japan and Atlus in other territories. I think it's a really solid SRPG that interested me enough to finish it. The story, while not incredible, caught me off guard at how much I actually got invested into it. Same with the characters for the most part as well. This game won't blow you out of the water, but I'd say it's a really solid SRPG and should be placed among other SRPGs on the 3DS. Definitely was worth playing in my opinion.

Game 2: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All (DS/3DS/iOS) - 10 Hrs 23 Mins (1/30/2016)

# This is the second visual novel adventure game in the Ace Attorney series. You play Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney that goes through some weird cases and witnesses some wacky characters to defend his various clients. I can say that this game wasn't as good as the first game far as cases. Only the very last case really captured me and I'd say, out of the Ace Attorney cases I've played, it was one of the better ones. The third case is one of the worst in my opinion. Still enjoyed the game overall and will be getting into the third game soon.

Game 3: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (PS4/X1/PC) - About 20 hours (3/29/16)

# This game was alright, not great, but not bad. It's presentation was top notch and it's a great way to see the end of the series that isn't the manga or the anime. The combat is very mashy though with one-bottom combos. I personally preferred the combat in the Clash of Ninja and even the older Ultimate Ninja games. Story mode was really short, but the adventure mode was lengthy and I did all the side activities in that. Still, I would recommend this game to fans of the series, but probably wait for it on sale.

Game 4: Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire (3DS) - 21 Hours 33 Minutes (4/2/16)

# This is the first time I ever played a Gen 3 game to the end. It definitely made me appreciate the game more. The music was something I really liked, far as the soundtrack goes. It was definitely more Pokemon, which I don't mind. I didn't really care for Team Aqua compared to other teams like Plasma or Galactic. Overall, it's a solid Pokemon game which was better than X and Y, but didn't reach the likes of Black and White in my opinion.

Game 5: Fire Emblem: Birthright (3DS) - 30 Hours 22 Minutes (4/5/16)

# This was definitely better than Awakening in my opinion. It still felt pretty easy for the most part compared to previous Fire Emblems beside Awakening. Music was really great like Fire Emblem usually is. Liked how they addressed the Pair Up mechanic in this from Awakening and felt the story was better from Awakening, but falters compared to previous entries I've played. I still think this is a very solid SRPG that people should give a shot on. Now to try and get to Conquest and Revelation at some point.

Game 6: Pokemon Puzzle Challenge (GBC/3DS VC) - 2 Hrs 19 Mins (4/6/16)

# This is the definition of a short but sweet game. While not as great and lengthy as Puzzle League in my opinion, this definitely was an enjoyable game for what it was. Also, I can always come and play this every once and a while when I feel like playing it again

Game 7: 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (3DS) - 4 Hrs 29 Mins (4/6/2016)

# What a classic game! I had been playing this off and on for a while with an occasional death or two, but I eventually got down to the last level and went straight through it. This is definitely a well-done port of Sonic 2 with the only slowdown happening to me is when I had a ton of rings, got hit and the rings just kept pouring out and that didn't even last too long.

Game 8: Yoshi's Wooly World (Wii U) - 16 Hrs 16 Mins (4/7/2016)

# Man, this game was just a fun ride. Definitely liked the way everything was yarn as the game had a really great attention to detail. The soundtrack was really great and the game felt as hard or easy as you make it with the optional badges and the hidden collectibles I can tell if I went back and tried to get everything, I could double or triple my playtime. Overall, this is a really great platformer that I felt reviewers were a little too harsh on. Definitely enjoyed it a bit more than Kirby Epic Yarn and I'm looking forward to what comes out of Feel Good next.

Game 9: Ratchet & Clank (PS4) - About 12 Hours (4/19/2016)

# I honestly have never played a Ratchet and Clank game until this, but I definitely enjoyed this game a lot. The weapons Ratchet had were definitely unique and Clank's sections were a nice diversion to the meat of the game. The environments were definitely breathtaking and this is one of the best looking games I've played in a while. The platforming was solid, the story had pretty good humor overall while being pretty simple. This is definitely a purchase if you like platformers.

Game 10: Tearaway: Unfolded (PS4) - About 7-8 Hours (4/28/2016)

# There was definitely more content to this version compared to the Vita original. I still feel that this game, while being really solid, is not as good as people have praised it to be to me. While the presentation, music and story are charming, the combat and platforming were very simple and boring to me. I like the creative shown in the way the game looks and sounds, but I'm not too thrilled with how the combat and platforming feel. I still recommend this game to those that are interested as I still feel it deserved better in sales and such.

Game 11: 3D Sonic the Hedgehog (3DS) - 3 Hours 9 Mins (4/30/2016)

# I finally can say I beat Sonic the Hedgehog, Definitely wasn't as good as Sonic 2, but still worth playing if you're willing, especially since you can save anytime, anywhere with this version of the game. That helps if you struggle with older games. Overall, I think the game was alright with things being done better in later Sonic games like 2 and 3 and Knuckles.

Game 12: Fire Emblem: Conquest (3DS) - 22 Hrs 5 Mins (5/10/2016)

# This game definitely had more challenge than Birthright, but I feel the story was worse. Hell, it's the worst Fire Emblem story in my opinion. A shame since it's the closest we have gotten to the older FE games since Awakening came out and took the world by storm. Characters were okay with some getting a bit trope-y like Charlotte being obsessed with gold and such. Though that has been in Fire Emblem for a bit, just not as apparent in previous games. The varying maps were great and objectives had a lot more variety than Birthright. I did get sick of having all of those seize missions toward the end though. Overall, I still think the game was great, but the story definitely damped my playtime.

Game 13: Box Boy! (3DS) - 9 Hrs 9 Mins (5/11/2016)

# This game is definitely a charmer. I loved the minimalistic art style where it looks like a old calculator game. The game wasn't too hard with me beating all the worlds, but trying to get all the crowns can take a few tries if you mess up. I liked how they threw in new mechanics for the puzzles and I definitely am looking forward to the sequel when it releases. Just a nice little chill game is great after playing Fire Emblem so much...

Game 14: Fire Emblem: Revelations (3DS) - 25 Hrs 8 Mins (5/22/2016)

# I can definitely see this game as a middle ground between Conquest and Birthright with it being a little more challenging than Birthright, but not near as hard as Conquest can be. I felt the game played more like Birthright than Conquest with challenge stages being available and the way the game flows.The story I felt was weaker than Birthright and, slightly weaker than, Conquest. The plot twist elements they put into the plot to reveal things to give you the full picture on the three games really ruin the plot of all three. It's the kind of plot twists you can predict from a mile away. I definitely glad I got the game and played all the paths of Fates, just wish parts of each game were better executed. It was worth getting the special edition for me in the end.

Game 15: Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (DS/3DS) - 14 Hrs 37 Mins (5/25/2016)

# I would definitely say this is my favorite of the Phoenix Wright series that I've played. All of them have been great, but this one had the best overall trials and the overarching plot was done really well. Great music as always too. The last case really got me too. Man, do I love this series... Can't wait until AA6 comes out this year!

Game 16: Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS) - 6 Hrs 25 Mins (6/12/2016)

# Another great Kirby game. Then again, the platformer Kirby games are generally the most consistent games Nintendo produces nowadays. Hal Labs did another great job. I loved the Mech they gave Kirby, but wish more of his powers affected it. The level design was great. Music was awesome as always. Presentation overall is outstanding, definitely one of the best looking 3DS games that uses the 3D effect well. I'd say this was better than Triple Deluxe by a bit, but both are really great games. The final boss was epic as well, even compared to typical epic Kirby final bosses in my opinion. Definitely worth it and I'm definitely going to play some of the extra modes.

Game 17: Zero Time Dilemma (3DS/Vita/PC) - 22 Hrs 16 Mins (6/30/2016)

# Man, what a roller coaster it was to get this game, finally, and play it itself! It definitely had more tension than VLR and I loved and caught all the references to the past two Zero Escape games. The ending was enough for me to be decently satisfied and puzzles were, overall, good. Characters were awesome, even if Q Team wasn't that great to me. Presentation was probably the worst thing, but I'll deal with it.

Game 18: Muramasa Rebirth (Vita) - 8 Hrs 36 Mins (7/11/2016)

# Great little hack and slash, brawling side-scroller here. Loved this game on the Wii and I love it on the Vita as well. The fact that it's portable and the art style stands out on the Vita's screen made really love this game more. It's made me realize I need to beat Dragon's Crown soon too... Anyway, I loved this game and I might try some of the DLC if I get to it.

Game 19: Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS) - 10 Hrs 30 Mins (7/12/2016)

# Absolutely loved this game. The way rhythm is mixed with Warioware-style minigames is just the best part of the series. Definitely the best way to get into the series since it's a collection from all the games in the series along with great new minigames. The story was fine and seemed like it was there to pad the games length a bit. I'll probably keep coming to the game ever once in a while. Definitely a game to check out if you love rhythm games.

Game 20: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (Wii U) - 57 Hrs 2 Mins (7/17/2016)

# Right now, this is probably my GOTY so far. I definitely loved the characters and battle system with interactions being entertaining enough to keep me liking most of the characters. The dungeons were definitely more interesting than the Persona games since that was what this game obviously took interest in being like. Definitely an Atlus RPG from the way it plays. I liked the soundtrack, but it's definitely J-pop sounding. The presentation was really great too with the art, visuals, UI, and menus. The game definitely has style. Definitely worth playing if you are willing to get it and have a Wii U in my opinion.

Game 21: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS) - 30 Hrs 2 Mins (7/21/2016)

# The last 3D Zelda I needed to beat and it's my favorite now. The sidequest, for Zelda, are the best and very memorable. The darker tone was done very well too, especially in comparison to Twilight Princess. The story is really great and characters are easily more memorable than most of the Zelda characters in other games. Music is great as usual and the graphic upgrade was done well. Just an awesome game and one of my favorite games in the series.

Game 22: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - 12 Hrs 38 Mins (7/22/2016)

# A pretty good Zelda. I'm kind of in the middle about this game. The story was alright, the new renting system was interesting and definitely something I liked. There just wasn't as much character to the game as most of the Zelda games I have previously played. I still like it though, just not as much as other Zeldas. Music was really great as usual and the presentation was a bit iffy for me personally. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this Zelda, but I probably won't come back to it anytime remotely soon.

Game 23: Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX (3DS) - 9 Hrs 58 Mins (7/26/2016)

# Played all of the songs on Button Mode and most on tap mode while playing minigames like reversi and Puyo Puyo. Like the game, but I feel better about Button Mode than Tap Mode. Definitely a great game that I will come back to every once and a while. The song list was great, but I think I liked Project Diva F 2nd's better overall.

Game 24: Psychonauts (PS2/PS4/PC/XBox) - 17 Hrs 26 Mins (8/2/2016)

# Man, great game. Absolutely liked the concept of the game. Felt shorter than I thought it was, but I enjoyed it a lot. Great platformer with an amazing concept and entertaining script. Can't wait to see Psychonauts 2!

Game 25: Bully (PS2/PS3/PS4/PC/X360/Wii) - 17 Hrs 51 Mins (8/8/2016)

# My first Rockstar game and it was pretty fun. The plot was typical of what I thought a GTA-style, out-of-control academy setting would have. Characters were pretty good for the most part. Missions were good and had enough to keep me interested. Side activities were good, too, as I did most of them before beating them. Definitely a great game in all. Might check out some other Rockstar games eventually.

Game 26: Gunman Clive (3DS/iOS/WiiU) - 50 Mins 20 Secs (9/1/2016)

#Had already beaten this on 3DS, but I went ahead and beat it on Wii U as well. A really awesome game for the price you can get it for. A great action-platformer with a good style. A short but sweet experience for sure.

Game 27: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64/Wii/WiiU) - About 8 Hrs (9/10/2016)

#Beat the game 100% and it was an enjoyable game, going back to it from childhood and finally, completely beating it. Definitely not up there as far as Kirby games I've beaten as the pace is just too slow for me, but the double powers and the various combinations were a great addition to me and one of the things I'll always remember Kirby 64 fondly for. Overall, it'd say it's a pretty alright platformer in an era where there were many better.

Game 28: Spyro the Dragon (PS1) - 5 Hrs 38 Mins (9/10/2016)

#Finally beat this game since I had it as a kid once. Definitely a fun, easy-going platformer. It was really easy, but that didn't mean I didn't enjoy the game for what it was. Shows its age a bit compared to later platformers, but I still think it's a platformer that has aged well from this era.

Game 29: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS1) - 7 Hrs 9 Mins (9'/12/2016)

#Another game I finally beat! I liked it better than the first one, definitely. It's really close between this and Year of the Dragon. This trilogy is definitely one of my favorite game trilogies. The presentation, gameplay and music are all just amazing. Glad I was able to finally beat this.

Game 30: Gunman Clive 2 (3DS/WiiU/PC) - 3 Hrs 44 Mins (9/17/2016)

#Finally got to this and beat it. More variety than the first game along with being more of a challenge. Definitely a retro-style, cheap game that gives you replay-ability with the Duck Mode (like the first game) and being able to select past stages you want to play. It definitely is worth the price as a fun, short game that you can just pick up and play. .

Game 31: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (3DS/Wii U/PS4/X1/AFTV) - 8 Hrs 12 Mins (11/6/2016)

#Having already beat this game last year on Wii U and getting a code for this game via Nintendo Indies Humble Bundle, I decided to run through a 100% run. Definitely a fun game even if the final dungeon was quite a pain. I liked the pirate gear more than I did Shantae's transformations in the older games. The soundtrack was amazing as always and the game was definitely worth playing again. This made me remember how much I loved this game last year.

Game 32: Persona 3 Portable (PSP/Vita) - 69 Hrs 9 Mins (11/11/2016)

#Long time coming, but I finally beat this game after getting it last year. I ended up having to replace my Vita in the time it took me to beat this game. I liked some things like the characters and story better than Persona 4 Golden, but this game definitely is being held back by feeling slower and harder to find things like social links. Doesn't help this version of P3 had very little in the presentation, but I can see that with the limitations of the PSP. Still, this was an amazing experience and it makes the wait for Persona 5 that much harder!

Game 33: My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (3DS) - 15 Hrs 58 Mins (11/12/2016)

#Nice easy game to relax with. Not as good as some other picross games I've played, but was a nice thing to get with My Nintendo points since there's no much else there. I'd say the Picross 3D games are way better in terms of content and difficulty. Overall, this was still a decent game that I could relax with.

Game 34: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Vita/PS3) - 69 Hrs 26 Mins (11/19/2016)

#One of the best JRPGs I've played of recent memory. Took me almost a year to beat it, but I finally did! The main thing that would have pissed me off if I beat it earlier is the cliffhanger ending. Good thing I've already got and just started Cold Steel 2 today. The characters were memorable with great dialogue and the world building in this game is awesome as well. Combat has enough depth behind it to keep me interested with all its systems and such. Outstanding OST too! Makes me eager to get into and, hopefully, beat Cold Steel 2 this year as well.

Game 35: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (Vita/PS3) - 72 Hrs 15 Mins (11/27/2016)

#I liked this one better than the first Cold Steel in some ways and other ways, not so much. The first one felt like it never really took out except in intervals of the chapters and near the ending. This one seemed to be more interesting and intriguing far as the plot went. At least this one didn't leave off on a major cliffhanger like the first one. I feel some characters that weren't a focus in the first game got some much needed focus in this game. The ending of this one dragged even more than the first game though. Most of the stuff like music was still good and I liked the tweaks to the battle system. Overall, I'd say this series has been great for me and I can't wait for Cold Steel III when it comes out!

Game 36: Steins;Gate Zero (Vita/PS4) - 18 Hrs 18 Mins (12/2/2016)

#Man, did this game give me the feels or what... I definitely liked the approach of the endings here compared to Steins;Gate. Still, the game had great characters, a more gripping and tense plot than Steins;Gate, an awesome soundtrack and great presentation besides some localization misspells and such. Definitely one of my favorite games of the year like Steins;Gate was last year. Could be my GOTY, I'll have to see though.

Game 37: Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Wii/PS2) - 28 Hrs 23 Mins (12/10/2016)

#Pretty fun visual novel/strategy game. Don't know if I'll get all the endings, but I feel alright with the one I got. An enjoyable experience and glad I finally beat it.

Game 38: Olli Olli (PS4/Vita/3DS/WiiU/PC) - 4 Hrs 12 Mins (12/11/2016)

#An alright skateboarding arcade like game. Pretty fun and simple game that probably has more depth than I think it does.

Game 39: Fire Emblem (GBA/Wii U) - 52 Hrs 16 Mins (12/13/2016)

#Went through the three campaigns. This is definitely one of my favorite FEs with Path of Radiance being the only one to top it. I recommend this as a good starting point of the series if you want to get into it

Game 40: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U) - 32 Hrs 20 Mins (12/13/2016)

#Pretty good game. Enjoyed replaying it and still love the game. Replaying it reminded me of some of the bad stuff though like Wolf Link sections and other things.

Game 41: Pokemon Moon (3DS) - 22 Hrs 58 Mins (12/14/2016)

#Definitely the best Pokemon I've played since Black & White. A step in the right direction as far as Pokemon storytelling goes for me and I liked the new structure for the most part. Enjoyable game for sure with a great soundtrack. Specifically loved Team Skull music the most. So good...

Game 42: Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (PS3/PS4/PC) - 14 Hrs 11 Mins (12/14/2016)

#Beat some story modes and played some multiplayer matches. As my first Guilty Gear, it was a pretty fun fighting game. Might give Revelator a try eventually.

Game 43: The Binding of Issac: Rebirth (PC/PS4/Vita/New3DS/X1/WiiU/iOS) - 100 Hrs or so (12/16/2016)

#Got most of the endings, but I'll keep playing this ever once and a while for the challenges and endings I haven't gotten. Very addicting game.

Game 44: Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Chapter 1 Onikakushi (PC) - 7 Hrs 15 Mins (12/16/2016)

#Having seen the anime and some of a play-through of this on YouTube, I still enjoyed this and glad I got through this to where I can go through the other chapters. Still had the creepy factor and I hope I can get through the rest of the chapters by the end of the year. One of the more enjoyable VNs I've played this year with Steins;Gate 0 and Trials and Tribulations.

Game 45: Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Chapter 2 Watanagashi (PC) - 7 Hrs 47 Mins (12/17/2016)

#Better than Onikakushi and I figured it would be. This was definitely creepy and disturbing at parts, especially toward the end of the story. The atmosphere is just great even if it takes time to pick up. But when tension gets built up, it just builds until it falls on you. Loved this!

Game 46: Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Chapter 3 Tatarigoroshi (PC) - 10 Hrs 13 Mins (12/18/2016)

#Another good chapter with little answers and more questions however. Hopefully, the answer arcs come out in reasonable time, but I doubt it. This was creepy as well as probably the most confusing story arc so far. I have my expectations in check for the next one since it's the shortest and the one most like the least of the question arcs.

Game 47: Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Chapter 4 Himatsubushi (PC) - 5 Hrs 5 Mins (12/18/2016)

#Still a good chapter, even if it's shorter than the others. Can't wait for the answer arcs when they come out!

Game 48: Corpse Party (PSP/3DS/PC/Vita/iOS) - 6 Hrs 26 Mins (12/20/2016)

#An alright adventure game/visual novel. Don't know if I play the sequels or not sometime down the road.

Game 49: Shantae: Half Genie Hero (WiiU/PS4/Vita/XB1/PC) - 7 Hrs 24 Mins (12/21/2016)

#An enjoyable platformer that wasn't quite as good as Pirate's Curse to me. Liked some of the new dances and level design was great, but I think the stage select structure of the game hurt the narrative and made me feel less about the game. Still a really great game though with an amazing soundtrack and presentation.

Game 50: Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom (GCN/PS2/Xbox/PC) - 10 Hrs 12 Mins (12/28/2016)

#A pretty good platformer for a licensed game, but there were times where the controls were iffy and the platforming got a bit tedious. I'm glad I beat it and tried it out after hearing about it and it's one of the better licensed platformers or games that I've ever played from its generation

original post

Game 9: Donkey Kong (GB VC replay) - 4 hours

I was LTTP on DK94 a while ago. On my first playthrough I thought mostly the boss stages and DK Jr.-esque ones were the highlight. I.e. I wasn't all that impressed given the decades long praise and me not caring all that much for puzzle games. However, on a second run I also started to appreciate the variety of other stages, which have quite a few outstanding ones, after a slow start.

full list

7. Yakuza 3 / 35 hrs

I played the first 3 in January, and this was my favorite of the three. There's an insane amount of improvements from PS2 to PS3, and I personally loved the orphanage gameplay as a change of pace. The sidequests again were highlights, even despite some of them being removed. Can't wait to play 4!

8. Cross Set / 15 hrs

This is a puzzle game like Sudoku with a slight twist. It was okay. It's nowhere near as good as Everyday Genius(which I still haven't beaten in two years).

9. The Witness / 50 hrs

Probably my GOTY, already. Though this year has some heavy hitters still coming. I still haven't beaten the last challenge, and there's probably something else hidden away, but ended up around 507 + 101 puzzles solved, so I figured I'd put it on this list there.

February

10. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood / 6 hrs

I've had this from Gamefly for two months, wasn't in the mood. But I enjoyed it. It's not as good as New Blood, but as a short add on it does its job. No one makes FPS campaigns like Machine Games anymore. I played on Easy because I come for the artistry not the challenge, and the last boss was still way too hard!

10 games / 226 hrs

I looooooove some of the banners/icons people have made for their list. So so cool

January update:

Killer Instinct (2013) - 30 hours
Fast Racing NEO - 7 hours
Witcher 3 - 45 hours
Transformers: Devastation - 5 hours
Eternal Darkness - 11 hours
Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void - 13 hours
Layers of fear - 2 hours
Stanley Parable - 1.5 hours
Metroid Prime - 13 hours
Neverending Nightmares - 2 hours

BraXzy said:

I looooooove some of the banners/icons people have made for their list. So so cool

Click to expand...

Oh?

Alright, I'm making one too.

And made.