Game #9: Limbo - 3 Hours, Completed January 23, 2017 Platform: PS4
Couldn't sleep last night and had to restart my save on FFXV...so I decided to start a whole new game. I had played Limbo on the Xbox and didn't think much of it. The game is okay for what it is, I wish the ending was much better and left you guessing like Inside. 7/10
Game #10: SFV - ongoing
Platform: PC
Love the SF series, i got back into it with SFIV and SFV has not dissappointed. I am having to get used to Season 2....seems as though my main, Ken, is much slower this time around. This game will last the entire current console generation. The few negatives I have are the netcode has been terrible lately, reporting of matches falls through, disconnects, the stats....omg where are the stats. I cant even see a simple overall win/loss ratio, ugh. 9/10 for smooth gameplay and replayability, -1 for all the other shit I've had to deal with from Day 1.
Game #11: Hearthstone ongoing
Platform: PC and mobile
I haven't played this game in over a year....I'm struggling to get back into it, but the new cards look much improved. Problem with being a F2P player is it takes me so long to get all of the new cards. I have yet to make it through the Solo Adventure and only halfway through the previous one as well. It's a fun time killer while on the go.It's easy to spot the people who buy packs. 8/10
Such an incredible looking game. The animation is superb and there are so many details, I often found myself just stopping mid-level to admire the scenery. Gameplay is great, controls super tight (even though I'm not a fan of the slippery sprint), and levels entertaining and challenging at the same time. This can easily lead to frustration, and I found some of the later stages required expertly timed button presses to proceed, but with some practice there is nothing to really get in your way. It was a breath of fresh air to play through and I definitely recommend doing so now that it's part of Games with Gold.
7. Darkwing Duck (NES) - 1:34
One of the fondest memories from my childhood gaming. The quality of Capcom-developed Disney games is well know, and Darkwing Duck is right at the top of that list. I haven't played many classic games recently, so the noticeable difficulty was a nice refresher and a reminder that my gaming skills are probably getting worse. Besides some rather annoying enemies and the constant respawning with every screen move, the gameplay is still top class. The whole thing is very short, but you will most likely die a lot and it's fun to try and beat the levels without taking any damage. Definitely a must-play from that era.
So 2016 ended on a crappy note for me, 9 year relationship ended, and first time working Full time, I was able to do this last year, but got burnt out trying to reach the number. This time I'll be playing for fun, if I don't reach 52, no big deal lol
1. Need for Speed (2015) - 1/09
2. Mega Man X4 - 1/08
3. Mega Man X5 - 1/13
4. Doom (2016) - 1/23
5. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - A Criminal Past DLC - 2/26
6. Mirror's Edge: Catalyst - 3/05
7. Titanfall 2 - 03/06
8. Homefront: The Revolution - 03/14
8a. Homefront: The Revolution - The Voice of Freedom DLC - 03/15
8b. Homefront: The Revolution - Aftermath DLC - 03/16
8c. Homefront: The Revolution - Beyond the Walls DLC - 03/16
9. Perfect Dark: Zero - 03/19
10. 20XX - 3/25
11. SUPERHOT - 3/26
12. SUPERHOT VR - 4/01
13. John Wick Chronicles - 4/02
14. Bullet Sorrow VR - 4/05
15. Assault Android Cactus - 4/12
16. Bayonetta - 4/15
17. Evoland - 4/16
18. Cosmic Star Heroine - 4/20
19. Mega Man Zero - 5/7
20. Mega Man Zero 2 - 5/11
21. Mega Man Zero 3 - 5/13
22. Mega Man Zero 4 - 5/16
23. Mega Man X - 5/20
24. Replica - 5/22
25. Deus Ex: Go - 5/24
26. Leap of Fate - 5/27
27. Vanquish - 5/27
28. Castlevania Legacy of Darkness - 5/28
29. Saints Row IV - 6/12
29a. Saints Row IV: Enter the Dominatrix - 6/13
29b. Saints Row IV: How the Saints Saved Christmas - 6/17
Great little follow up to one of the best stories told in gaming. Doesn't live up to it's predecessor but is still great in its own right. The game did drag at times, and the split storylines were a part of that. You'd reach a climax in one line and have to then go down another with a slow build up again.
2. Final Fantasy XV - 65 hours - 7/10
A flawed gem. I had a ton of fun following the four guys on their adventure. Messing around in the open world was a blast, the story was intriguing, the music was phenomenal and the presentation was great. Unfortunately the combat was fairly poor and the story was told in a poor manner (likely due to changes throughout development), and the characters weren't built up enough for me to care about them.
Game 8: Resident Evil 7: biohazard (PS4) - 9 hours
This game manages not only to bring back survival horror, but also modernize it in just the right ways. Exploring hasn't been this tense in a long time and maybe not even in the old games the relief of hearing the save room music was this big. Apart from the creepy presentation, the game design goes a long way. The difficulty is almost perfect. It's both hard and intransparent enough to wrap you into uncertainty and dread, but it somehow never becomes impossible. All in all, it sadly feels like the developers ran out of ideas towards the end. There's still great moments, but the environments and enemies towards the end needed just a little more punch to make the whole package a complete homerun.
6. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - ★★★★★ - Trophy completion: 32% - Finished: 20/01/2017
What to say that isn't said before. Beautiful graphics with proven gameplay mechanics. Loved it, maybe a bit too long but that might be the fatigue from playing the original trilogy before.
Currently not too much gaming going on as im in a move from the Netherlands to the UK. But ill be eager to jump in to some amazing games from last year once settled.
Wow this released in 2012.
Wonder when I bought it >_>
Finally got to play it and I quite enjoyed it. Crispin reminds me of Joey from Beneath a Steel Sky. I felt some of the puzzles and item crafting were trial and error to see what fits and works, but I otherwise enjoyed the plot and characters.
Visual style was nice despite looking grimy and rusty.
I only got to view one ending and didn't reload to view the others, but the one I got was satisfying.
One of the posters in previous page post about finishing Ryse reminded me that I have this game and have yet it to begin playing.
Well, for starters, graphically game still look amazing to this day and if not for 900p it might have been best looking launch game on consoles. Moving along to gameplay it gets rough - looks like game was indeed designed with kinect in mind - levels are small, movement is limited and there's like only two types of attacks with only a few executions animations.
Still, if there would have been at least a few more weapons to choose from and some additional attack combos it would have been fun mindless action game.
Game #1: Hitman -Season One - ★★★★
Some can let me know if this doesn't count since there will most likely be more but I finished each Mission at least once. Hope to go back before more comes out.
Game #2: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE - ★★★★★
The best Fire Emblem game last year by a mile, and it still took most of last year to finish.
Game #3: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle - ★★
This game sucks big time. It's a super simplistic brawler that is also super short. What a let down.
Game #4: Forza Horizon 3 - ★★★★
It's unfortunate that this game doesn't run better on PC because when it works it's fantastic.
Game #5: The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ - ★★★★★
I love the original, and I am soooooo happy with the switch version. I beat MOM so I consider that a completion.
Game #6: Injustice 2 - ★★★★★
So much was learned by NRS between the first Injustice. Better story, and the roster more fleshed out. Plus great single player options.
Game #7: Persona 5 - ★★★★★
While by no means a perfect game, Persona 5 has left its memory on me in a big way. I didn't realize how much I liked these characters until I was done with them. 150 hours for a first playthrough and I can't wait to go back.
Game #8: PREY - ★★★½
A strong start gives way to a little too much tedium running back and forth with long load times. The final ending also left me pretty cold. Ok but a little disappointing
Game #9: Wolfenstein: The New Order - ★★★★½
After E3 my most anticipated game was the sequel to this reintroduction to a classic franchise. After having spent a good amount of time with it, I'm even more excited to play The New Colossus. This game really did an execelent job at defining BJ and the evils he has to fight. Felt real good to kill some Nazi's and I'm not ready to be done.
Game #10: Cave Story+ - ★★★½
I really want to give this game a higher score but it has too many little things that bug me. No saving in the last boss rush. No way of knowing you could even screw up the ending. Plays great with some awesome music. Great Switch port.
Game #11: Destiny 2 - ★★★★
A better sequel with almost no end game and a tedious raid mar what could have been Bungie's crowning acheievement.
Game #12: Steamworld Dig 2 - ★★★★
A more involved sequel that lives up to the original but doesn't surpass it. A sudden ending is kind of a downer.
9. VVVVVV (Vita)
Completed: 1/16/17
Time: 1.5 hours or so
Making an effort this year to try out more of my PS+ and GwG games. First up was this little gem I got on the Vita. For anyone who hasn't played it, don't let the Atari 2600 retro graphic turn you off. The gameplay is a lot of fun.
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (XB1/XB360 BC) (Replay)
Completed: 1/20/17
Time: 2 hours
As mentioned previously, I'm playing the old Genesis Sonic games with my kids. I had forgotten how great this game was. Such a leap over the original Sonic IMO. Took the core mechanics of the first game and really polished everything up. Also I noticed this game is quite a bit easier than the first one (and when I subsequently played 3 later this month)
This is a classic Genesis game I never played before. I remember seeing the magazine ads for it when it first came out and was in awe about how cool it looked and how great the graphics looked (for that time). This was my first time actually playing it though. Standard 8/16-bit side scrolling beat-up-um with the transformation mechanic to set itself apart some.
Dusted off Rare Replay again to play this and get all the stamps I could. Was able to get 8/10 stamps - the two I'm missing are combo ones that would be challenging for me to acheive unless I just completed cheesed them in faux two-player mode. SO will count as done.
13. Max Payne (PS4)
Completed: 1/23/17
Time: 8ish hours?
Had never played this before and picked it up on a PSN sale. Have to say that I was disappointed with the game overall. There were great moments, but the awful (just frickin awful) platforming sections with shitty controls and the not-so-great aiming really dampens the experience.
14. Killer Instinct Season 2 (XB1)
Completed Story mode with every character: 1/24/17
Time: 4 hours
Have always been more of a Street Fighter fan, with Mortal Kombat as my 2nd favorite fighting series, but this Killer Instinct thing MS and Iron Galaxy has going on is winning me over. I still favor Street Fighter V more, but this game is my 2nd favorite fighter to date.
15. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (XB1/XB360 BC)
Completed: 1/24/17
Time: 2 hours
This is the first time I've ever played Sonic 3 as it was released when I was in college and didn't have much time for games. I liked how they made the levels longer (actually ran out of time once in Casino Zone and was close at the very last level) but overall I just felt like the fun factor took a step back from the classic Sonic 2 game.
I was going to skip this game as I wasn't the biggest fan of TF1. Then with some of the word of mouth here I decided if/when it was added to the vault I would play the campaign. But the word of mouth kept growing so during one of the December sales I bought it. Wow. Am I glad I did. Fantastic campaign. While Overwatch is my favorite MP shooter right now, I'm going to play around a bit with this one too.
Top 5 games played to date:
1. Arkham Asylum Remaster
2. Titanfall 2
3. Dishonored
4. Killer Instinct
5. VVVVVV
Currently Playing:
NBA2K17
Overwatch
Resident Evil 5
Jak and Daxter
Started too late last year. Coming back with a vengeance this year.
1: Pokemon Yellow - 42 hours - Beat 1/24
Had Red when I was in High School. Figured I'd go back and play this for old time sake. Held up better than expected. Took a while to go back to the old school style, but ended up enjoying it more than X. Which was the last Pokemon I played.
On to The Witcher 3... hopefully... or more Pokemon... or Fire Emblem... Gah!!!
2: Pokemon Alpha Sapphire - 35 hours - Beat 2/8
Man, going from Yellow to this was crazy. I started this the day it was initially released. Apparently I got 2 badges and just gave up. Restarted everything since I had no idea what was going on. Liked it a lot. Mostly better than X. But man, these are much easier than they used to be.
Either going to finally beat Witcher 3 now... or I'm going to dig in to Pokemon Sun...
3: The Witcher 3 - 110 hours - Beat 2/19
CDPR may have just ruined Bethesda games for me. This was honestly everything that I love about Bethesda games (aside from Fallout 4), but improved upon in most every way. Only thing I didn't like was Roach. That horse was the bane of my existence. Constantly veering off course to try get onto another path that I didn't want to be on or getting stuck on SOMETHING...
4: Kirby's Epic Yarn - 6 hours - Beat 2/20
Started playing this out of nowhere after I decided I wanted to play Yoshi's Woolly World and relized I never beat Kirby. This was actually pretty cool! I miss the normal Kirby mechanics, but the look and feel of the world go a long ways toward making up for it.
5: Yoshi's Woolly World WiiU - 10 hours - Beat 2/23
I don't know how this game reviewed, because I generally don't keep up on reviews, but I loved this game! Easily my favorite Yoshi game since SMW2. Looked incredible, played great, and was much more challenging than Epic Yarn. That's a plus!
6: Bayonetta 2 - 7 hours 24 minutes - Beat 2/25
Holy crap. Soooooo good. I remember really liking the first one, which is why I bought this on launch day. Then I never played it. Kind of kicking myself now, because it was super great. Kind of want to go back and collect everything, but I have too many games to beat. Trying to clear out the Wii U backlog since it's getting moved to the basement TV as soon as the Switch is hooked up.
7: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - 10.5 hours - Beat 2/28
I can't believe this took longer for me to beat than Bayonetta. Even as a veteran of the DKC series, this game was HARD in a few spots. Final boss kicked my butt for like an hour. Probably didn't help that it was way past when I should have been in bed. Started playing it again this morning and beat him on my 4th try. That includes 2 times I suicided after losing Cranky way too early. Strangely, I found I played this much better using the gamepad than I did with the Pro Controller. Something just felt off as soon as I switched to the Pro. Great game, though. Better than DKC:R
8: Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 18 hours - Beat 3/8
Excellent followup to my favorite Zelda game! I was a bit apprehensive about the whole renting/buying weapons, but it really worked out great! Kind of wish I didn't waste time grinding to buy all the weapons ASAP seeing as I only died 3 times. One of which was against the final boss, and you don't even need any special weapons for him. Which leads to to my one negative: It was super easy. Yeah, it was longer than I was exptecting, but it was a touch on the easy side. Still thoroughly enjoyed it, though!
9:1,2 Switch - not sure how long... maybe 7 or so with my kids this weekend - Can you really say you "beat" this? 6/16 edit: We've played this A LOT more than I expected. And my friends and family all love it. Go figure...
I was hesitant to put this on here, but I feel that I got my fill of this game over the weekend. With a few people, it's kind of fun, but I had instant buyer's remorse when I put it on. I felt much better about the purchase once all the games unlocked, but this should have been a pack in or $30 at most. That said, I think my kids have gotten plenty of enjoyment out of it and probably will keep having a blast with it in the coming weeks. When I'm not playing Zelda on the Switch...
10: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - 15.22 hours - Beat 3/9
Overall... It was pretty good. But I LOVED the original GC game. While I do like that this one feels bigger, it just didn't feel like it had the same magic. And it's performance left a bit to be desired. The biggest disappointment: The ghosts didn't look half as good as OG Luigi's Mansion. By the end, I felt like I was just grinding though it JUST to finish it.
11: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse - ~6 hours - Beat 3/13
Interesting game. Good thing it was as short as it was, because it was on the cusp of wearing out its welcome right at the end. Didn't love it, but definitely liked it.
12: Chrono Trigger - 24-ish hours - Beat 3/20
Ummm. So this is one of the best games I've ever played. Picked it up on the DS because Huey Christopherson said I should. My god... This is near perfection. Gotta pee, can't go into details. Elite Beat Agents is next...
13: Elite Beat Agents - 4:59 hours - Beat 3/22
This is probably one of my favorite rhythm games right now. I can't believe this sat unplayed for so long! When you hit that groove where you're playing the hardest songs and you start nonchalantly tapping it in perfectly... So great. And the soundtrack was also great! Except the Hoobastank... That was hot garbage. If you haven't noticed a theme, I'm clearing the books on my Wii U an 3DS. My Wii U backlog is sitting at (I think) 2 games and my 3DS it maybe 5. Then I guess I'll officially retire them to the vault... :-(
14: 999 - 18:33 hours - Beat 3/29
On my first playthrough, I apparently met the requirements to get the REAL ending. Aside from the fact that i needed to beat it a different way and see the ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE REAL ending first. Up until that point, I was playing without any sort of guide or anything and I was super pissed because of the abrupt ending after all the buildup. So in the end, I beat this 3 times. I needed to see what was up. On one hand, I think this was total bullshit. On the other, at least it ended up making sense for the story. Liked the game a lot, but I still have some unanswered questions. That said, I don't have it in me to run through it any more times. Not sure what I'm going to play next, but Virtue's Last Reward is sitting in my backlog...
15: Steel Diver - 5:33 hours - Beat 3/30
Got this close to the 3DS launch. Played it once and it sat after that. Kind of a meh game. Also, it would be like an hour long if it didn't require you to play all the levels 3 times to open the final level. Been a while since I bought it, but I hope I got it REALLY cheap.
16: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - 16:40 - Beat 4/14
Oh no... Slowing down. Too much going on lately.
Anyway, solid game. I think it was my favorite of the DS Castlevania games. Loved the glyph system and the bosses were pretty solid. Much harder than the last few, so I liked it a lot! Really looking forward to Bloodstained now.
17: Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX- 14:55 - Beat 4/19
I bought this on the Game Boy Color back when it first came out (That was my first handheld and I got it when I was a Junior in High School). Loved it back then, but I got stuck on the 7th dungeon and just gave up with the intention on going back one day. That day didnt come UNTIL it was released on the 3DS eshop and I realized I never beat it. So I bought it and it sat unplayed for a few more years. Then I started to play it finally last Friday and I'm glad I did. Really loved the game. The constant pausing to swap items was a chore, but kind of necessary given the limits of the Game Boy. I found the boomerang and kind of wish I didn't since it was way too over-powered. And I DID get stuck on the damn ball dungeon again, but it was much easier since the screen is lit and you can actually see details! Like cracks in walls! I'd say it's in my (current) top five Zelda games. Haven't really jumped into BOTW yet, so it may get bumped shortly.
With this, I have to beat Fire Emblem Fates, and then my 3DS backlog is cleared. Kind of sad. I do still have Virtue's last reward, but I'm holding off on that in the hopes that they put the Nonary collection on the Switch.
18: Superhot - 2 Hours - Beat 4/19
Loads of fun! Best $15 I've spent in a really long time! The mechanics are great and it was just as long as it needed to be. Excellent experience!
19: Aliens: Colonial Marines - 9 Hours - Beat 4/19
Productive day! Well, my wife wouldn't think so.
It was better than I expected. But I expected the worst game ever. I enjoyed the atmosphere and world design. It LOOKED like an Alien movie. Looked especially decent in 4K on top of that. AI was bad though. And I hate when games have enemies that pretty much only attack the player controlled character. On top of that, they can always sense your presence even if you arent moving or making noise. And the ending was terrible. My biggest problem? Why are the human enemies harder to beat than the Xenomorphs? Overall, I didn't like it. But it could have been worse.
20:Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 73:18 hours - Beat 4/20
I refuse to lose units. It's just something I can't deal with. This was finally the Fire Emblem game to make to give in and switch to casual. I went through 23 chapters resetting if I ever lost anybody until I reached my breaking point on chapter 24. It kills me to say it, but those final 5 chapters were the most fun I've ever had playing a Fire Emblem game. That's saying a lot since I love the series. I guess I'm just too old to be worrying about keeping all my troops alive. Good game. Fun characters. Enjoyed it a lot.
21:Sunset Overdrive - 9:30 Hours - Beat 5/15
Funny, I got a Xbone just for this game and Cuphead. Sunset has sat on my HDD since launch day and Cuphead is yet to see the light of day. I gotta say that I really enjoyed this game. It's pretty much the perfect mashup of Ratchet & Clank and Infamous - which are 2 of my favorite games. Traversal, combat, and graphics were great. At times, I didn't care much for the humor. I like the story well enough, but it felt like swearing a lot for swearing's sake. I'm a grown ass man that swears ALL THE TIME, so I didn't find it offensive or anything. It's just that a lot of it was just plain dumb. But that wasn't enough to spoil the game for me. Still in my Xbone top 5 and would love to see a sequel. Maybe with better writing this time.
22:Godzilla (PS4) - 8 ish hours - Beat 5/16
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Got it a few years ago on the cheap for my 7 year old, and never really gave it any thought. Decided to give it a spin a few days ago and had a blast. Don't get me wrong, it's not great. But for the $10 I paid for it, I more than got my money's worth out of it. And for once, I actually liked tank controls.
23:Ratchet and Clank (PS4) - 8 ish hours - Beat 5/18
Really fun. The bounce bomb or bounce grenade or whatever it's called was way too overpowered. The game was lovely, but I was a little disappointed in the performance. It really started to chug at times. Not much to say aside from it's a really good Ratchet and Clank game. Still like Crack in Time better though.
24:Tearaway Unfolded - Beat 5/28
Overall, I liked this game. That being said, the camera sucked and the controls felt off. Too many times I knew I jumped, but my messenger just fell into a pit. Most frustrating was when I would miss a jump or just walk off an edge because the camera decided to switch to a different angle. The final world being as cool as it was kept it in my good graces though. I said I like it overall, but I BARELY still liked it given how frustrated I got with it at times. Especially for how easy the game is.
25:Puyo Puyo Tetris - Beat adventure mode 6/1
Fun stuff and the first Switch game I actually beat. That has to count for something, right? Puyo Puyo is really starting to suck me in, but Tetris will forever be my main. Loved all the modes. Except fusion. I don't enjoy that at all, which kind of made that last world in the adventure mode kind of a chore to get through.
26: Guitar Hero Live - Beat 6/12 - 6 hours
First off, I love the actual guitar better than the Rock Band/old Guitar Hero setup. It just feels more intuitive and more like playing an actual instrument. And clicky strum bar will always be superior to the Rock Band mush bar. The game itself was pretty mediocre. The included songs really weren't for me, and I hated the acting in the Live portion. The gameplay itself was great, it was just attached to crappy content. Case in point: I love Bangarang, but in a Guitar Hero game? Come on, now... Honestly only liked a handful of tracks, 3 of which were in the final setlist I played: Tie Your Mother Down, Paint It Black, and Won't Get Fooled Again.
27: Far Cry: Primal - Beat 6/15 - 15ish hours...
Really fun game! I've really been enjoying the Far Cry games that I've played. 4 was a bit of (flawed) fun, this was awesome, and the little bit of Blood Dragon I've played has been cool. Might need to go back and finish up 3. The setting was fun and the break from actual shooting was a pleasant change. Graphically it was decent-to-great (played on the PS4). Textures were a mixed bag, but the lighting and effects were pretty good. I'd be more interested in a follow up to this than playing another FPS. The typical "you have to kill all these people by yourself even though there are a bunch of us that could help you" Farcry bullcrap is still there, and that's my biggest bet peeve with the series.
28: Batman: Arkham Knight - Beat 6/18 - 23:17 hours
Love this series... But I did not like this game. Another from way back on the backlog. I had heard that the Batmobile stuff was bad, but I also heard you were barely in it. Yeah, it sucks and you have to use it a lot in the campaign. Tired of the tap square repeatedly to win gameplay, too. I guess 3 games worth of that was just too much. I like the story, though.
29: Rayman: Legends - Beat 6/25 - 14 hours
So I was hyped for this upon release. Then it was announced that it would be delayed and no longer Wii U exclusive. I said BOYCOTT!!!! Then I bought it on the Wii U on launch day. I'm not good at that. I should have stayed with my boycot because I finally beat it 4 years later now, and I actually beat it on the Xbone instead of the Wii U. Didn't feel like setting the U up on my main TV just for this game. I say that, and I think my next game is going to be Star Fox Zero...
The game was solid. Enjoyed it immensely. I played through the final world which was just absolutely crazy. I don't have it in me to collect everything, though. No time for that.
30: Mega Man X - Beat 6/26 - 10 hours
I don't think this actually took 10 hours to beat. That's the total that my Wii U gives me, but I've started and given up this game so many times...
After all these years, I can't believe I finally beat this. I never owned it on the SNES for some reason (I'm a Mega Man junkie, so I don't get it), but I did rent it numerous times. I just could never get into it for some reason. Last week I got into it... Finally found the time to finish it today and I'm glad I did. Really like the bosses and worlds, and I loved the final boss once I got my bearings. Currently probably my second favorite Mega Man game. 2 will always own that, but that's just because it was the first one I played and mastered.
31: Star Fox Zero - Beat 6/27 - 3:45 hours
I really wanted to love this game, but the controls just were not fun. And it's been a while since I've played it, but it felt like it was supposed to be a remake of Star Fox 64 and they changed their mind about that midway through development. If the whole game was like the first/next to last level and the 3rd to last level, I think I could have gotten over the controls and camera. But the boss fight was a master class in how bad controls and camera can negatively impact a game.
32: Castle Crashers - Beat 6/29 - Xbone says 19:45 hours...
This didn't take almost 20 hours to beat. I would guess closer to 7? I own this on PS3, X360, PC, and Xbone. Finally beat it on the Xbone with my son. Little did I know that the spot where I always have given up was is only 2 levels away from the final. That's kind of a bummer. I really like this game, it's just for whatever reason I always would give up on it. Love the art and the gameplay, it's funny, and it can be challenging. What more can you ask for?
33:Megaman Legacy Collection - Beat 7/11 - 13:41
First off, I played on the Xbone and I'm still in shock that they actually fixed their D-pads this generation. Forgot how much I dislike the original. Just felt so bland. 2 on the other hand... I breezed through that one like I was 7 years old again. Muscle memory took over immediately. My kids were pretty amazed seeing as they couldn't even get through half of one level. That was MY game growing up. Probably the first that I truly mastered and I still feel I have it all these years later. Part 3 was essentially "Slowdown: The Game." I don't remember it being so awful, but it got really challenging just because I was fighting the slowdown. But I gotta say that part 6 was more fun than I remembered. And I recall (possibly falsely) this game getting crapped all over. Of the NES games, this is probably now my second favorite. The platforming was just really good, the slowdown was pared down a lot, and the boss sequence weaknesses made sense. That's something that, playing this all again, was really not the case for 3,4, and 5. I could look at the level select screen and pretty much chart my course before I even play my first level. That's how I like it. Last note: I'm not an achievement junkie or anything, but I like/hated them in this game because it showed me the percentages of people that finished the 6 games. Who is buying these games where at most 6% of the people finished just one of the games - I believe that was for MM2 - and most of the games only completed by like 2-4% of owners? It was kind of shocking.
34: The Cave - Beat 7/11 - 4:15
Got this day one on the WiiU. Beat it today on the Xbone via backward compatibility. The puzzles were OK. I don't know, it just didn't do much for me. I only did one playthrough, so I only saw 3 of the stories through to completion. It just didn't engage me, not sure why. Double Fine games are always hit and miss for me, and my favorite of theirs is still Stacking.
35: Lego Jurassic World - Beat 7/18 - 34 hours
I have this unhealthy problem with Lego games where I can't stop playing them until I collect everything. The problem is that this forces me to keep playing these games long after they stopped being fun. So 34 hours later, I finally got everything. It doesn't help that I was playing with my kids, thus adding a few hours to the final time. Overall it was good. It was a Lego game. They all feel basically the same at this point. I do have to say that this was by far the buggiest of all the ones I've played. The most annoying bug being that it would randomly stop letting me switch players until I closed out the game completely and restarted. Not sure if this was only an Xbone issue or what, but it really sucked. It happened a lot, too.
36: Transistor - Beat 7/24 - 4:30 hours
I was kind of lukewarm on this. I didn't care for the story. Leveling up felt like it didn't really matter. It was too easy. That being said, it was a pretty game. Not much else I have to say about it, really. Just don't see what all the fuss is about.
37: Gears of War: Judgement - Beat 7/25 - 15:31 hours
Played this finally (another one that I got on release day and never played) because I want to jump into Gears 4 and I felt like I should play this first. I've always loved the Gears series, but I couldn't really get into this one. The gunplay is as great as always, but it just felt like move to spot, beat horde, move to spot, beat horde, rinse, and repeat. More-so even than the other games. Kind of a bummer. Was going to jump right into 4, but I was greeted by a 28 GB update. So yeah... Just cant decide if I want to play it on my PC or on the 1. I should play PC, but I'm too lazy to run my HDMI cable to my TV.
38: Quantum Break - Beat 7/26 - 9:40 hours
This was fun! I liked the concept of the TV show/game. Worked well since both aspects were competently made. I was a bit nervous early because I had to restart a checkpoint 4 times in 5 minutes due to some glitches, but thankfully that was it for technical issues. The story was good, the gunplay was fun, and the powers were pretty cool. My only complaint is that it was a bit blurry... solid A game, though.
39: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Beat 8/8 - about 60 hours
Man, what can I say? Fantastic game. I was initially put off by the fragile weapons and shelved it just after launch. I still am not a fan of the weapon degradation system, but the game was too great to dwell on that aspect. Seriously, what can I say that hasn't been said, though? Definitely earned its high review scores.
40: Ori and the Blind Forest - Beat 8/15 - 9:05 hours
Pretty great. The challenge was there and it scratched my Metroidvania itch. Beautiful game also. Not really anything bad to say about it. 12 games to go!
41: ReCore - Beat 8/18 - 19 hours
First and foremost: the grind for prismatic cores was the least fun that I've had gaming in years. That part took the game down from a solid 4 out of 5 for me to an iffy 3. The mechanics were fun and I liked the game a lot until I got to Eden Tower and found out about the grind. Sucked the fun out of the game. That being said, I did really enjoy the platforming. I know there's DLC coming out very soon, but I'll never play this game again. I split time playing it between my Xbone and my PC. I really hope they give an option for 60 FPS for the Scorpio. I'm not planning on getting a Scorpio, but 60FPS was really the definitive way to play this. Felt soooo much better on my PC, and the console only Scorpio people should get the opportunity to play it that way. Next up is probably Undertale since it's been sitting on my PC for forever...
42: Undertale - Beat 8/22 - 7 hours
Seeing this releasing on PS4 made me want to actually play through it on my PC. It was good. Not great, but fun. I noticed yesterday that the community has problems with the way people play the game. I ended at LOVE 10.
Killed Asgore and Flowey.
I don't care if that was "proper," but no regrets. End boss was odd after the art style for the rest of the game.
43: Saints Row 4 - Re-Elected - Beat 8/31 - 10:22
I've never beaten a Saint's Row game before. That sucks since I own all of them. This was a cool game!!! Perfomance kind of sucked. Played it on my PS4 even though I have it on PC and it runs great. The story was decent but most importantly, it scratched the Crackdown itch that I've had. Not great, but it was a lot of fun! And....
#14 Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith ★★.5 Xbox - Jan 24th - 3.30 hours
Incredibly average action game, less than 4 hours to beat and definitely not as good as I remember it 12 years ago lol. Gets slightly better towards the end when you get more powerful but still zzzz
#15 Lego The Lord of The Rings ★★★.5 PS3 - Jan 25th - 7 hours
Enjoyable yet a little simple, if I didn't love LOTR maybe I would have liked it less but worth a playthrough for fans, big game with loads of collectables. Having the OST means this also has the best music of any game.
2: Solitairica (Android) - 6:00ish - 1/24/17
I started this game after I saw it featured by Drew Scanlon on a Giant Bomb UPF. On Android, you can play the starter "Warrior" deck with Ads for free, or you can pay $3.99 to unlock the full game and all decks, Ad-free. I played the starter deck, and almost gave up and bounced off the game. There is a bit of a grind to upgrade your deck, but when you get it upgraded all the way, the game is a blast! I began to earn which spells to buy as I progressed in each run, and the game rewards you once you learn the mechanics and strategies. Ultimately, once I had my magical run with the Warrior deck, I decided that was enough and did not pay to unlock the other decks.
Currently Playing:
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (Steam)
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS)
Pocket Card Jockey (3DS)
Hey another Wadjet Eye game! I overall enjoyed it though got stumped at one puzzle until I noticed the hint for it.
Good story although I felt that some essential story elements weren't properly given throughout the game.
Some can let me know if this doesn't count since there will most likely be more but I finished each Mission at least once. Hope to go back before more comes out.
In our evolving hobby of games as service and having "Seasons" I would absolutely say it counts. And frankly, this is a personal challenge so it should be whatever counts for you.
I'd heard good things about this one, and for the most part it lived up to its reputation as a strong, original point-and-click with a likable protagonist. Small town amateur sleuthing with supernatural elements at play, similar to the first Blackwell, but the rules of Kathy Rain seem a bit more incoherent at first brush without additional context. The pixel art looks nice, world building and writing is on point and there's some good voice acting in there. Doesn't bring much new to the genre and it stumbles a bit towards the end, but still a promising debut and I'm in for Part 2.
Currently playing: Yakuza 0, VA-11 Hall-A, Peggle 2
I've always struggled with when to place local multiplayer party games on the list because opportunities to play them are few and far between. But in a few hours I think I've seen most of what this one has to offer so I'm going to talk about it now. Move or Die is a 2D platformer with a simple premise: do the best at completing the objective in each round to score points, whoever reaches a set total first wins. Most of the minigames revolve around being the last survivor under certain conditions but there's also modes that require you to do the most of something, like painting the arena or wearing a hat. The title isn't just for show though, you have a health bar that drains if you stand still or jump and recovers when you run along the ground, if you don't move, you die.
There's currently about 26 modes and a new one gets added every few months or so. There's a mutator system where every few rounds one of the players can pick a new effect to be applied to the matches. But I find that people have enough trouble adjusting to the rapid fire minigames being thrown at them (especially if they don't play a lot of party platformers) so they mostly stay turned off. There's also a ton of unlockable character skins, but because they're Steam inventory items they can only be unlocked when playing online and there's nobody to play with in Australia.
I have a lot of fun playing this, it's chaotic and the movement is fast. It's definitely going to stay in my rotation of party games. Oh and one thing I forgot to mention, I first discovered this game exists because the soundtrack was composed by Jacob Lincke (Cloudbuilt), and I'll never pass up an opportunity to tell people to give him more work.
As a huge fan of games like Cloudbuilt and AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! I really wanted this game to impress me, and impress me it did. For those of you who haven't seen the self-explanatory trailer, Clustertruck is a first person platformer where you have to run from one end of a level to the other on the back of a convoy of trucks without touching the ground. The game starts simple, with the trucks on a flat road. But before long the road starts to curve, or shift, or rotate, and by the end of the game you're barely holding on as the trucks tumble up a hill in the depths of hell while lava slowly rises beneath you. There's a lot of variety in the game's levels, with each of the nine worlds having a theme that introduces new mechanics and it gets very challenging.
I probably would not have finished this game so quickly if it wasn't for the saving grace of the upgrade system. You get points for finishing levels and doing tricks (mostly air time and jumping onto trucks that are flying through the air) which you can spend on upgrades. You can equip one mobility upgrade (double jump, grappling hook, air dash, etc) and one utility upgrade (slow time, spawn truck, freeze trucks, etc) at a time but I found that double jump/grappling hook and slow time are the best to get through a lot of the game. At some point I might go unlock Super Truck (which does exactly what you'd expect) to see how that plays, but for now I'm content having finished all of the game's levels. Definitely recommend it.
Currently playing: Up to the final boss of HarmoKnight, but as I understand it there's an extra world after the end. In other news I'm currently playing OverCooked and Affordable Space Adventures with my girlfriend and her partner but we don't get to play them that often so it'll probably be months before I write them up. Similarly I want to talk about Towerfall and Screencheat once I've put more time into them.
I've been a fan of SSX games since the first one, hell I was a fan of every game made by EA BIG back in the days, so for me, the new SSX was something I really looked forward too. The game was in my backlog since its release date but a lot of complains from fans and not so great reviews kind of put it on hold for me and to be honest with you, I don't see it as a much different game than the previous ones. It's still SSX in heart and soul, perhaps slightly different, more modern and not as good as the other SSX games but still SSX none the less. There are tons of tracks to race or trick on and tracks are pretty much my only complain in this game. Proportion of bad and good ones is more or less even, so there is plenty of good tracks to race on. Those not so great are just simply too overdone, too many shortcuts, too many different paths, and most of the times you can easily loose your perfect flow. To the rescue comes Mt. Eddie, which is a DLC location, and the location, as the name would suggest, is pure SSX fun. Soundtracks was ok, I did actually find some good tracks to listen to, but overall it wasn't as good as SSX3 and it seems like DJ Atomika lost a bit of steam. There are plenty of new things in a game, like different kinds of items to buy, that range from common to legendary and with the higher quality items you get better perks. There are boosters, geotags, outfits, boards, ice axes, pulse googles, solar panels, head lamps, armors, wingsuits, all kind of stuff to buy. I really liked the idea of different equipment being needed for different locations or runs. Another great feature was global events, kind of like online but you don't actually participate with real people (that was added later in 1 2 3 events) but with their ghosts. The more people participate in the events the bigger the price was to win. I spent a lot of time playing global events cause it was simply a lot of fun. And last but not least, we have Deadly Descends, which also were a great idea and lot of fun. In the end I was really happy with the game, maybe it's not the best SSX game but it was really fun to play and I would recommend it.
Forza Horizon 3 - Xbox One - Completed - 100H+
After fantastic first game and kind of boring second game, still good but location variety was really poor and the road trips got old really fast, we get a superb Forza Horizon 3. One thing I can't complain about this time is terrain variety. There is pretty much everything in Australia, tropical forest, beaches, city, desert, country side, outskirts and snowy mountain. With no road trips this time it makes it better than Horizon 2 by default. The amount of thing to do in Australia is just crazy stupid. Exhibition races, championships, barn finds, bonus boards, bucket list, horizon promo, showcase events, drift locations, midnight battles and street racing, big jumps, speed traps, just enormous amount of things to do. This time PG let us run the Horizon Festival the way we want it and that was really great idea. We get to chose what events we want to run, how we want to run them, we choose where to build next horizon hub etc. really well though and done. I'm not gonna get into details about the soundtrack but I think it was absolutely great, with Hospital Records radio still being my number one. When it come to graphics there is no contest, Forza Horizon 3 is the best looking open world racer out there and when it come to IQ it's sets a new standards for sure, I've never seen such a clean looking game. Blizzard Mountain was absolutely fantastic idea and addition to the game, not only adds a lot of variety to already great game but it will let you drive your Lamborghini or any car for that matter in the worst snowy conditions possible. The amount of content and things to do in this DLC is just crazy, I think it took me over 40 hours to get 100% in the DLC alone, really well worth the money. Highly recommended for all racing fans, people still waiting for sale or looking for really good arcady racing game.
Ben-Hur - Xbox One - Completed - 4h
I really believe that every game, no matter how bad, has at least one good element in it, something that will make you stay a bit longer with it, even though game itself might be really bad. I gave this game 4 hours, searching for that one little tiny good thing and couldn't find one. Well, the game is super short, you can beat it in 20 minutes, so that's good thing I guess but everything else is just super trash. I had it in my library, so I had to play this, but please, don't ever bother with it.
Paper Mario Color Splash - WiiU - Completed - 75h+
I'm gonna be honest with you guys, this is my first Paper Mario game and I love it, everything was so well done. The presentation is fantastic, it might be one of the best looking games for me, entire word made from paper looks absolutely gorgeous. The writing was quite good for a Mario game, the humor was actually super funny, silly character and stupid conversations made me laugh more than they should. When I bough the game I though it won't be longer than 10 hours and boy was I wrong. There was a few really neat moments that I didn't expect, like making pizza or fighting a giant steak, commanding the pirate ship, taking part in the underwater show etc. really added variety to the game and don't let me start on those Roshambo temples lol I spent way too much time playing those silly mini game. I've seen a lot of complains about the battle system but I think it was just fine but also keep in mind, that this is my first Paper Mario game so I don't know any better. I spent over 75 hours with the game and the card system was still fun to play, the thing cards animations were very over the top and actually quite funny too. It's a game I would highly recommend as I had a lot of fun with it.
This is probably my last game of January, as I want to focus on Yakuza 0. This challenge is going much better than expected, but that's because I put effort in finishing games I had started on 2016. Now I'll try to focus on finishing longer games. I'm so excited about the Switch, a whole new catalogue of games to finish, not only new ones, but also old games that I have missed as the only Nintendo consoles I have played are SNES and N64.
10. Ducati 90th Anniversary - January 26th - ★★☆☆☆
This isn't a good game. I bought it for something like $5 or $6, so for what I paid it was ok.
It has a great selection of motorbikes, but many of them are underutilized.
The handling was decent, it was more realistic than I expected, bikes lose traction, you can flip them, in that aspect it's better than DriveClub.
Graphics and sounds are mediocre. Load times are annoyingly long. AI is as bad as expected. Multiplayer isn't very popular but it's were I had more fun, I had some really good races.
This War of Mine - The Little Ones
Platform: PS4
Time: ~10:00
Date: 01.26
Score: (4/5)
This War of Mine was a game I saw discussed often, but I had no idea what it really was and no interest in finding out. Ultimately, I only tried the game because it was free, and because I had heard an interview in which the game was discussed.
This War of Mine is a brutal game of surviving war as a civilian. Time is split between days, where you build your base up and see to your survivors' needs as much as you can, and nights, when you must sneak around the city to scavenge for supplies. Both halves of the game have some annoyances, but the way the whole package comes together makes it easy to overlook some otherwise glaring shortcomings. It gets even better when you realize that stealing from people has direct consequences upon your survivors, and you're also made to realize that by stealing food and medicine from other innocent survivors, you are handing them a death sentence.
The game managed to make me feel guilty in ways that were unexpected, and when I eventually tore free of my conscious and decided to kill and raid to survive I felt a surprising amount of conflict. These are NPCs who are incredibly flat and insignificant, and yet knowing that I was killing people who were more or less the same as myself, just so I could survive, made me feel terrible.
#5 VVVVVV (PC) - 1 Hrs 38 Mins (1/26/2017) - Score: 7/10
A challenging, graphically minimalistic and short platformer with clever level design. The final stretch was exhausting to play, so I was glad when the credits started to roll.
Currently hit a roadblock in the form of Overwatch and Pokemon Moon. I'm loving the hell out of Overwatch, which is surprising because I'm not an online FPS player at all. But this game is just casual enough to jump right in, but also has so much depth to each hero. I think so far this game is my game of the generation. It's just so much fun. I decided that I'll consider it "completed" when I hit level 25. I'll keep playing for sure, and it'll probably slow down my progress in other games, but I'm pretty hooked. Mercy is my girl.
I'm about 9 hours into Moon, and just beat the first trial. This game seems incredibly easy. I feel like I haven't even been grinding much, and my Dartrix is about 10 levels higher than anything I've encountered thus far. I'm digging the new story and the variety of Pokemon available early, though there does seem to be an overwhelming amount of flying type. Since I'm just playing for fun and not ever going to battle another real person, I keep my Experience Share on. Right now my party is Dartrix, Charjabug (LOL'ed at that name), Crabrawler (again, really?), Slowpoke, Gastly and Trumbeak. Only the first two will likely stay with me until the credits roll.
I'm hoping to "finish" both of these by the end of January. If I can go into the short month with 6 games completed, I'll be off to a damn good start.
Game 1 was Castlevania Symphony of the Night (X-Box 360 version)
Game 2 was Picross 3D
Game 3 was Mega Man 2 (NES)
Game 4 was Castlevania Aria of Sorrow (GBA thru Gamecube)
Aria of Sorrow was a fantastic game. I still prefer Symphony of the Night, but this game is pretty high on my great games list.
The first game to be put in the books. Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers for the NES. I forgot how great of a platformer it was. Not a difficult game but I did die on a few stages, more than once.
It was good for what it was. Quick to start, clear an area or two and quick to finish. I even found 2 legendary items in my playthrough. The last boss was really hard, had to grind a little bit and change my whole layout to defeat him. I played with a controller, but I tried the keyboard/mouse controls, too. I prefered the controller.
next game: Catherine or Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin
#16 Ratchet: Gladiator ★★★★ PS2 - Jan 26th - 6.30 hours
For some reason I never played this game even being a big R&C fan, maybe because none of the other spin offs are that great but this is the real deal, shooting things in R&C games is always fun and wow forced vehicle sections that don't completely suck!
#17 Rayman 3D ★★★★ 3DS - Jan 27th - 6.30 hours
Based on the best version of Rayman 2 (Dreamcast) but can't quite handle it at a good framerate, it's still one of my favourite games of all time and as I'm able to play this one on the bus, I can look over the less than great performance.
7. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (~20 hours)
This game has great graphics. It's been a long time since I've played an Assassin's Creed game (maybe AC2 was the last one). The game is a good mix of stealth, parkour, and open world adventuring. The stealth isn't half as good as Metal Gear Solid, but that's a high bar to compare against. The parkour is what makes Assassin's Creed unique. You can scale walls and ledges just by running up to them. The open worldiness is a little overwhelming. There is a lot of optional content that you can easily skip.
The missions are pretty cut and dry. Go to a point on the map, assassinate person, stalk people, etc. Some are really fun... one in which you use sleep darts on guards and free prisoners comes to mind. Unfortunately, you have to replay missions a lot to get it right, and you can't adjust the difficulty level. That's actually my biggest gripe... how frequently you have to replay missions. Again, the game looks great visually, but easier missions would have made for a better experience. 4/5
Beginning of the year hit me hard with my father-in-law's death, moving to a new place and work starting to become really overwhelming. It became really damn hard to fit any "me-time" in my schedule so it took me almost 4 weeks to finish LiS while not playing anything else. What a great game though. I'm really glad it flew under my radar, because that let me avoid spoilers for the most part. I very much liked what they tried to do with the story and while Dontnod didn't avoid some weird/awkward writing and bland characters, they created a fantastic and immersive game. The only thing I wish they did better was presentation. The artstyle and music were wonderful, but VA was very poor, there were numerous issues with lip sync and some dodgy animations. Overall it's a great game that really resonated with me emotionally and helped me escape reality for a few hours during this tough month.
If i had to put a score on it, it would be a 5 out of 5.
I started Watch Dogs 2 now and I'm trying to pick up where I left Odin Sphere on the Vita in December so these we'll most likely be my #2 and #3.
A 2D Point n' click adventure game with simple gameplay. After an environmental disaster results in half the word suffering from a never ending snow, 2 people in an underground prison pass the time by talking with each other.
The plot focuses mostly on Alice who retells the events prior to getting sent into the prison, trying to survive in this frozen world with her 5 and a half year old son Benny.
The game has some rather touching moments but is otherwise a simple and short game to play and complete. I've only ever had 2 issues with the game-
The first is that moving around does take a while in Alice's section once you're in the larger area of the game. It's not that major an issue but I just didn't like all the clicking I had to do just to get to a specific location.
The second is that I needed to position my mouse carefully a few times to interact with the right object.
Despite all this though, I enjoyed my time with the game, although I'd like to know if a sequel or successor game could ever happen.
1. Dishonored 2 - 20 hours or so
My GOTY 2016. Best level design in gaming, awesome combat and stealth gameplay. Terrible frame rate and frame pacing are the its problems and really took some time getting used to as I had played some stuff on my PC before it and the transition is really jarring since I decided to buy it on PS4 because of all the technical issues.
2. The Last of Us Remastered - 12 hours
I had this on PS3 but never finished it, don't know why. Really enjoyed it this time around, playing on Hard without Listen Mode, though the game seemed to lack the usual Naughty Dog-level of polish, I found a lot of visual and gameplay glitches, like Henry getting stuck in T pose and other weird stuff, but that may be because it's a remaster. Still mad at Naughty Dog that there's no Savage Starlight game.
3. Mafia III - 25 hours
Loved the game. Guns felt great to fire and controls were fluid and responsive. New Bordeaux was a cool setting and the story kept me hooked even when the game got a little repetitive. Glitches were actually pretty funny.
Currently playing:
Watch_Dogs 2
Almost at the end of the game and I'm really enjoying it. The characters are actually really good, the game is fun to play and it doesn't have a lot of the usual Ubisoft open world tropes (though I honestly don't mind the towers in their games).
Super Meat Boy
Buying this is either the best decision I've ever made or the worst. The game is really fun but it's fucking hard. Progress will be slow with this one but I hope to finish it by the summer.
Resident Evil 4
This game is amazing. Tank controls were annoying at first but you get used to them, and I'm kinda missing the quick turn when I play other third person games; the really zoomed in viewpoint works really well as you can be surrounded and not even know it. Not being able to move while aiming actually adds a lot of tension and isn't really that bad because the enemies aren't too fast. As a Spanish speaker, I find all the stuff the enemies shout hilarious. I kinda expected to hate this game and found it really clunky at first, but after the first half hour you're roundhouse kicking everyone in town and the game becomes really fun.
Have a bunch of stuff on my backlog that I'll probably get to this year. Kind of the reason I posted in this thread really, to see how much progress I can make towards getting rid of my backlog.
I loved it! I only played the campaign but everything clicked with me;
Cool and intuitive movement
responsive weapons with a lot of punch
Loved BT and the overall universe
I give it a solid 7
2- DEAD RISING
As I saw a few videos about how Dead Rising 4 was a failure and I always wanted to try the franchise, I bought the first 4 games and gave them a try. I loved Frank West, the mall and all the corky things you can do, I also like the timed stuff but you really need to be or good or leveled to enjoy some things
Working on the review
3- LET IT DIE
A F2P punk and rock Souls like with a lot of crazy stuff going on. I have my personal issues with the game since the structure of the game itself can be unfair and it relies a bit too much in the optional stuff to get a proper progress in the story.
Overall positive feeling about the game, not a fan of a few things
Working on the review
4- BIOHAZARD 7
Resident Evil "return" to the roots of horror and it is a fantastic game with nice touches here and there. I liked the plot and the presentation but it feels a bit light on content after a while, it is a strong resident evil and a very good sequel.
I missed some aspects of Resident Evil, like more connection with other characters or more variety of enemies, but the game is probably the most realistic one from the franchise, so the action and the monsters are limited to give a more self contained story.
I liked it a lot.
Working on the review.
Next game is going to be Yakuza 0 and Trails in the Sky!
I wasn't sure what to expect from this game as I had only seen the E3 reveal trailer, but I went ahead and pre-ordered it anyway and man am I glad that I did! Such a pleasant surprise all around, a great refreshing take on the Resident Evil series. I thought the first person view worked well, very immersive even without PSVR. The story and the level structure were the main highlights for me no doubt, very Resident Evil overall. I won't get into the story because I think it's definitely best to just experience it for yourself without knowing much about it. Some truly batshit crazy moments in there, liked it a whole lot. I didn't have too many gripes with the game, but I guess my main complaint would be the sluggish combat. I get that they were going for more realistic aiming, recoil etc. but it still felt sluggish and difficult to get used to. Maybe it works better in VR? Anyways, really good game in my opinion, liked it a great deal. Good job Capcom!
Game #19 - Resident Evil 7 Biohazard
Time: 11 hours
Absolutely fantastic return to form for Capcom as any doubts I had about the new direction vanished when I played the first hour of the game which was one of the strongest intros ever in a videogame for me. It goes off the rails a bit near the end (and by that I mean it goes "full Resident Evil crazyness" which might disapoint some that just wanted the family stuff) but I didnt mind that, its super creepy, good lenght, the classic RE style gameplay is all there, from puzzles to backtracking to big locales that loop around and have a bunch of weird locked doors, the ammo scarcity (except near the end), it compeltely feels like a RE game but with a fresh coat of paint. Its also the best horror movie homage with stuff from evil dead, poltergeist, texas chainsaw massacre and others in there. Great game, actually considering buying the season pass after that.
01 | Resident Evil HD Remaster | PC Time: 14 hours
Score: 7/10
My first foray into the Resident Evil series was an enjoyable one. The game started off really strong, dropping you off in an atmospheric and very creepy mansion with few tools at your disposal. The limited amount of saves, inventory management and scarcity of supplies also contribute heavily to the early tension. Sadly the game could did not feel balanced towards the latter stages of the game where I could overpower every enemy with ease. The writing, characters and plot deserve a mention because they are really, really bad. Despite those shortcomings it is still a very solid game which, surprisingly, still holds up very well today, both from a graphical and gameplay point of view.
This game ended up in my library through means I don't remember anymore. Combined with the low review scores I wasn't very excited to try it. Yet the game immediately surprised me with solid voice-acting and storytelling. The gameplay in Soul Suspect is poorly developed. The detective puzzles are way too easy and the action segments with demons are terrible and should have never made it in the game in the first place. Luckily for the most part you can approach the game as a walking simulator and immerse yourself in gloomy Salem and enjoy a surprisingly interesting story.
03 | Firewatch | PC Time: 5 hours
Score: 8/10
What I like most about Firewatch is that it is a game about escapism, hoping to leave everything behind and immerse yourself in a beautiful environment. For me this is a familiar feeling and Firewatch provided exactly the experience I was looking for. The in-game song Ol' Shoshone perfectly encapsulates this feeling. The game did a good job juggling Henry's relationship with Julia and his interactions with Delilah. For a second I was worried the plot would descend into sci-fi nonsense but luckily it stayed grounded. I did not care that much about the revelation in the finale as it felt a bit disconnected from Henry's troubles. Still, a great game.
04 | Oxenfree | PC Time: 5 hours
Score: 5/10
Oxenfree reminded me at times of Stranger Things: a bunch of kids caught up in a supernatural mystery. Sadly the dialogue and voice acting couldn't really convince me and in a game like Oxenfree those two things are rather essential. Also all the backtracking through the same environments became a bit tiresome at the end. I do like the concept of the game though and I hope more projects like this will follow.
05 | Mafia III | PC Time: 30 hours
Score: 5/10
I feel very conflicted about Mafia III. The game does a terrific job in the introduction and delivers with great storytelling and one very memorable cutscene. After that it goes more and more downhill and the game slowly turns into one long and painful checklist. The combat and driving are great but even they cannot rescue the game from the terrible racket system. A lot of wasted potential that will hopefully be addressed with the DLC.
06 | Ori and The Blind Forest | PC Time: 12 hours
Score: 8/10
Ori is an audio-visual treat with a simple yet engaging storyline. The graphics are absolutely stunning and help convey the feeling of a fairytale like forest. The music is likewise fitting. The gameplay alternates between pure joy and frustration for me. I love how gradually more and more mechanics are introduced and how the puzzles become more complex. I died plenty of times on hard difficulty but the manual save system really allows for a trial & error run. Simply put Ori and the Blind Forest is the complete package and I am glad to have given it a chance.
I never got around to playing the first Gothic game because the controls really turned me off. I finally overcame this breaking point and actually finished the game. The first chapters are a real treat. You get to explore the island, solve its different quests in whatever way you want and kill literally every animal in sight for precious experience points. Sadly enough the game starts to deteriorate in later chapters. Skill points become less valuable, monsters become easier to kill and your fiercest foe will be bugs and crashes. Also the pacing drops off a cliff with several fetch-heavy quests including one in the middle of the final dungeon. Still, it is clear that Gothic 1 has a lot of (unfulfilled) potential lying underneath all of its complications and inconveniences.
08 | Broken Age | PC Time: 9 hours
Score: 4/10
I enjoyed the Vella section of act 1. The open sections of Meriloft and Shellmound reminded me of the traditional adventure games. But from there on it started going downhill. The spaceship sections weren't intriguing, the plot never captivated me and the characters were far from memorable. Act 2 simply recycles the environments used in the first act and just makes the puzzles a bit harder. Ultimately Broken Age starts promising but in the end is just one giant waste of potential.
09 | Torment: Tides of Numenera | PC Time: 30 hours
Score: 6/10
TToN is a strange beast. Its story and world have been crafted with an amazing amount of attention to detail. The writing is (mostly solid) and there are a lot of interesting concepts in the game. Yet everything surrounding it ranges from bad to...really bad. The entire game is too easy, combat is a chore and the UI is hideous and unpleasant to navigate in. Even the companions feel subpar. I must say I expected a lot more from this spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment.
10 | Mass Effect: Andromeda | PC Time: 60 hours
Score: 5/10
Andromeda offers us a wide range of new planets to explore. The game looks beautiful, the combat is the best it's ever been and the side quests have been improved. Yet despite that the writing is incoherent, the story never gets interesting and the overarching themes of the game are very unclear. This could have been a game about being stranded in space, about desperation and a glimmer of hope. But despite everything that is going wrong in Andromeda, the tone of the writing is light and everyone seems to be a stand-up comedian. Dialogue options have been severely reduced and there is almost no choice & consequence in the game, even the illusion of it is lacking. Outside of the companions there are very few memorable NPC's and the main quests are rather dull. The game also has a lot of technical issues and crashes are too frequent to ignore.
A few more months in the oven would have done wonders for a lot of the technical issues but the narrative problems in the game remain there.
For me NieR was a combination of hit and miss. The music is wonderful and I really like the two main characters and the gradual unlayering of the world and the story. The combat on the other hand fell flat for me and the games is a bit too easy. The world is lifeless (not in the apocalyptic kind of way) and doesn't seem to serve any purpose. Add to that the frustrating prologue and some annoying bugs and I felt no desire to continue after reaching ending B. Which makes me quite sad because I have heard a lot of good stuff about ending C.
12 | Night in the Woods | PC Time: 7 hours
Score: 7/10
A cast of very likeable and funny yet also tragic characters supported by great writing makes Night in the Woods a very enjoyable experience. The game features very few actual gameplay elements and when they are implemented it is mostly for very mundane stuff like eating pizza or opening a window. A few more minigames like band practice would have been welcome. Because the game is repetitive and that is also the point of Night in the Woods. Every morning you wake up, you talk with mom, you explore the town, you go to band practice and you hang out at night with one of your friends. The finale is somewhat disappointing as it mostly drops the mundane nature of the game for some more supernatural moments. Long loading times and walking the same route every day detracts a bit from what is otherwise a very smart and unique game.
13 | Prey | PC Time: 35 hours
Score: 9/10
The real star in Prey is not the combat or the story but it is the setting: Talos I. The space station is crafted with so much detail and layers that it feels like a real place, just waiting to be explored. From the lively Arboretum to the unsettling Psychotronics, the different areas of Talos I are a joy to wander around in. Secrets and human stories are buried in every corner of the station, making it feel even more lived in despite recent events.
The game is really well paced: first introducing you to the mechanics and gradually increasing the strength and quantity of the enemies. The further the game goes on, the more you will evolve into a certain direction. I went with a pure human playthrough, relying mainly on my trustworthy wrench and some fireweapons as auxiliaries. Later upgrades allowed me to make optimal use of the vertical design in Prey, just like in Dishonored.
The game isn't perfect however. You start off as a guy with a wrench out of his depth but like in many games you end up an alien murdering god. Resources should be a lot scarcer and some balancing could go a long way towards eliminating this feeling of being overpowered.
Prey was a real surprise for me and so far, without a doubt the best game of 2017.
Stories Untold is a collection of short stories which all nicely come together at the end. It borrows heavily from 80s retro and aesthetically it's a really beautiful game. The puzzles, while not too hard, are fun enough to keep you entertained throughout the entire game. Stories Untold feels like an episode from the Twilight Zone and that is maybe the highest praise I can give it.
15 | The Surge | PC Time: 18 hours
Score: 8/10
The Surge is one of the biggest surprises of 2017 so far. After the lukewarm reception to Lords of the Fallen, which I admittedly did not play, my expectations were rather low.
But Deck13 has managed to leave its own mark in a genre dominated by Dark Souls.
The highlights of the game are the level design, with shortcuts and connections everywhere, and the dismemberment system. The game constantly makes you feel like you are making progress, be it opening up a new shortcut or gathering crafting materials by slicing off someone's helmet. There are more than a few downsides though. Graphically the game looks a bit dated with, in my opinion, a not so spectacular art-style. And boss fights are also not the highlight of the game. Despite that the game was a joy to play and maybe I'll go back to NG+ later this year.
16 | Dishonored 2 | PC Time: 22 hours
Score: 6/10
Dishonored 1 and its DLC was one of the best games of last generation so needless to say I was pretty stoked for the sequel. But while Dishonored 2 is a very good game in its own right, it doesn't really reach the same level as its predecessor. The narrative feels like some lousy excuse to guide you from one set-piece to the next and most of the characters in the game feel very undeveloped. Context is missing in the game. And Karnaca doesn't have the same thematic cohesiveness that Dunwall did, nor its mysterious atmosphere. The gameplay in Dishonored 2 is still fantastic and improved over the original. Emily has some really cool abilities and every mission offers you multiple pathways and a plenitude of secrets to uncover. The missions themselves take place in beautiful and very distinct locations, from the famous Clockwork Mansion to the Addermire Institute. The biggest drawback of the game is, of course, the performance. I am sure Dishonored 2 can be a beautiful game but I was forced to play on minimum settings with a GTX 770 and even then I was still a long way removed from a stable 30 frames per second. This put a major damper on my enjoyment of the game.
I am still excited for the next installment in the series, Death to the Outsider, but I sincerely hope that Arkane will address the aforementioned issues and especially the performance.
17 | The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind | PC Time: 20 hours
Score: 4/10
I really like The Elder Scrolls: Online. It is the perfect MMO to hop into once in a while, being free to play and supporting a casual playstyle. Morrowind gave me the incentive to return to the game after a hiatus of half a year. I was a bit surprised to discover I could not buy the new DLC with Crowns, ESO's premium currency. Because Zenimax considers Morrowind an expansion, everyone has to pay up 39.99$. And this price is one of the major reasons for this low review. At no point does Morrowind feel like an expansion and certainly not one worth 39.99$.
Morrowind does little to justify its steep price. Quest writing has been improved but not significantly enough. Most of them still feel factory made. There are new assets and delves look distinct from Vanilla ESO but the concept hasn't changed. Morrowind simply feels like an improved zone of Elder Scrolls Online. So the high price and the fact that you cannot pay with crowns for it have soured me a bit on the whole experience.
18 | Paradigm | PC Time: 6 hours
Score: 8/10
Recommended in the Steam Sales by GAF and I am glad I jumped on it at the last second. Paradigm combines sublime humour with some ridiculous (in a good way) characters and mostly easy puzzles. There were a lot of times when I simply had to laugh out loud. Game is around 6-7 hours long and doesn't outstay its welcome. Easily the best and funniest adventure game I have played in a long time.
Orsinium is a very enjoyable addition to Elder Scrolls Online. While it doesn't really tread new ground, it does shine light upon the Orsimer who are usually relegated to a side role in Elder Scrolls games. The main story was enjoyable with a few interesting plot twists and overall it was a more coherent package than Morrowind.
20 | INSIDE | PC Time: 5 hours
Score: 8/10
INSIDE is a great game. The environments you traverse through all look great and in combination with the colour scheme a certain sense of unease is evoked. While not too difficult, the puzzles are usually really well done. I also liked how the game kept you in the dark as to the motivations of the child which ties in really well with the narrative. The last stage truly cements INSIDE as a must play game for me.
21 | Resident Evil VII | PC Time: 11 hours
Score: 7/10
After 7 hours of playing I was ready to give Resident Evil VII a really high score. I loved exploring the mansion, getting to meet the members of the family and the resource management. But sadly it went downhill from there on out and the game gradually turned into a first person shooter. As the plot unraveled, I became less and less impressed with the game. Still, I am unlikely to forget those first 7 hours of tense exploration, boss battles and puzzles. The first game I played this year was Resident Evil I, my first entry in the series. VII plays on the same strengths as I but also gets trapped in the same pitfalls. Overall I liked the Spencer Mansion more as it felt more intricate than the Baker Mansion. Resident Evil VII is a game with two faces for me, one amazing part and one forgettable part. I really hope they can improve upon the formula for the successor.
22 | Outlast | PC Time: 6 hours
Score: 3/10
While I appreciate the premise of Outlast, the game simply didn't grab me. The game is too linear for my tastes and consists of hallway after hallway, sometimes with patrolling monsters. The monster design also didn't do much for me with the same enemies returning. Consequently I was pretty bored for most of my time with Outlast. And boredom is absolutely the last thing you should feel when playing a horror game.
23 | Styx: Shards of Darkness | PC Time: 14 hours
Score: 7/10
Shards of Darkness is a worthy sequel to Master of Shadows although overall I enjoyed its predecessor a bit more. The level design is really great and provides a lot of viable pathways for reaching your destination. I completed the game without killing or alerting anyone but a radically different playthrough is also possible. While the stealth in this game is very impressive, there are still a few problems with ledge detection and the story is ... really bad. Still, I consider both Styx games must-play games for pure stealth aficionado's.
24 | Dead Space | PC Time: 11 hours
Score: 7/10
I first played Dead Space five years ago and remember being deadly afraid, quitting halfway. This time I had more horror experience under my belt and the experience was less terrifying but still really scary, especially in the earlier levels. The atmosphere and Ishimura design is top notch. The plot is also relatively interesting and unsettling. While there is a bit too much combat for my liking, dismembering enemies is a hell of a lot more fun than simply going for headshots. I completed the game on 'hard' difficulty but the game became a cakewalk halfway through. Maybe 'impossible' mode offers a real survival challenge? Anyway, Dead Space is a great horror title let down a bit by an inverted difficulty curve and too much emphasis on combat, especially later on. And now I can finally get started with Dead Space 2.
25 | Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments | PC Time: 12 hours
Score: 8/10
Crimes and Punishments is a major upgrade over previous Sherlock games and the best one to date. The structure of six independent cases works perfectly and leads to a much more satisfying game than the overarching story of previous games. The graphics look amazing, the environments are varied and the gameplay of looking for clues and drawing conclusions is really satisfying. While the game isn't hard by any means, it is still very much possible to draw the wrong conclusions from all the clues you have collected and accuse the wrong suspect. The ambiguity makes it very important to pay attention during everything that goes down during a case. Downside are some super frustrating mini-games (luckily you can skip them!) and the quality of the cases seems to vary. I personally loved 4 out of 6, liked 1 and felt rather indifferent about another 1. All in all a great game.
26 | West of Loathing | PC Time: 12 hours
Score: 8/10
West of Loathing is an RPG with turn-based combat with some hilarious writing and a very fitting art style. While the combat is really easy (even on hardcore difficulty), the jokes and writing are where the game really shines. It ridicules common tropes in RPG's and all of this occurs in a lovely Western setting. The game took me around 12 hours and doesn't outstay its welcome. While there isn't much of a main quest, it is best to see this game as a collection of mini-stories in an absurd universe filled with demon cows and killer clowns. Also make sure to check out every spittoon you see.
27 | Mad Max | PC Time: 30 hours
Score: 5/10
Mad Max checks too many boxes on the list of open world diseases. Collectibles and clearing icons on a map are the main activity of the game. Luckily, the driving and car upgrade mechanic is still fun and traversing the world is a real pleasure. Nevertheless,
clearing camp after camp and hunting scarecrows and snipers quickly turns into a very dull list of chores. The combat, while an interesting take on Batman's rhythmic system, can't save the gameplay loop. The main quest itself is equally dull. Aside from Chumbucket there aren't really any memorable or likeable characters. In the end it's just another excuse for more driving and fighting.
Arkham Knight introduces some welcome changes to the formula while simultaneously regressing on other parts. I like the Batmobile. The extra puzzles and combat scenes fun. The tank action and stealth sections were well done and, in my opinion, it is a successful addition to the Batman series. The game looks terrific, traversal is smooth and enjoyable and I found the story and the mystery surrounding the Arkham Knight to be pretty well done. Where Rocksteady dropped the ball is in the boss fight design. Especially compared to Arkham Origins this is a major step back. Also the side mission design is rather unimaginative. It's simply a series of fetch quests with minimal context after which you can apprehend the criminal and bring him to GCPD. I had hoped other villains would play a more crucial role in the story. I must also mention that the writing is not that good. Nearly all characters are as one-dimensional as can be. And, because of a bug, I could not activate the Knightfall Protocol. This bug seems to have been there already since launch. That pissed me off a little.
In conclusion I really enjoyed this finale to the Arkham series but I also feel there was the potential for much more. The fact that Rocksteady didn't really manage to do anything special or creative with this colourful cast of characters truly is a shame.
Quality Resident Evil. Finally. Enjoyed from beginning till the end. Only negative things I can say were enemy variety and little references to previous titles.
System: Wii U (Multiplatform)
Year: 2014 (Plague of Shadows expansion - 2015)
Developer: Yacht Club Games
Overview
I'm a big fan of the hit indie game Shovel Knight, and I got about halfway through the first expansion Plague of Shadows back when it first released. I finally got around to going back and finishing it (as well as the Custom Knight amiibo content for the original campaign).
Gameplay
For this campaign, you play as Plague Knight, previously a boss in the original version. You again fight the Order of No Quarter in attempt to get their essences to concoct the Ultimate Potion. The levels themselves are mostly the same as Shovel Knight's although they have a few secret areas. I found the game to be much more difficult than Shovel Knight, especially at the beginning. Plague Knight handles much stiffer than Shovel Knight, many platforms require a charge move to reach, which takes time and is very imprecise. As the game goes on, however, you unlock more abilities which make movement much more natural. He throws bombs, which are very customizable, the large variety of weapons is a big selling point to playing the character.
Rating
Very Good
A very solid continuation of the excellent Shovel Knight, this game inherits many of the games strengths. While the high level of customizability is the biggest selling point to the character, there are a number of issues, namely level design particularly crafted for Shovel Knight can become frustrating, and a lack of new areas stops the expansion from feeling really fresh. Despite this, I would highly recommend the game, especially since it and all future updates are free.
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For a list of the other games I've completed this year, visit my mother post here.
4) Need for Speed (2015) - 12 hours - 1/27
I started playing this game from EA Access a few months ago but I recently felt like diving into another driving game so I jumped back in. At first I wasn't having much fun because the steering and general control felt heavy and unresponsive in the starting car. Once I built up some money though, I was able to upgrade it and then just buy a GTR that I upgraded and used for the duration of the game. I ended up having my blast during my time with the game this week and I even liked the story and live action cut scenes because, while they were goofy and over the top, the characters were generally likable and it added some depth besides the normal, 'go here and do this race or drift'. The different types of events were fun and I enjoyed changing my car's setup for each. I've got to give a special shout out to the drifting in this game which feels sublime when you pull it off well.
I don't think I've ever actually beaten this. Just watched some playthroughs and maybe even played through a part of the game. Due to it being a free ps+ game I decided to play it and it is a great game. A simple aesthetic with the simple gameplay mechanic of press button to flip gravity hides some truely grueling level design, especially when going for the game's optional trinkets. Its quick runtime and tight gameplay make for an enjoyable, light experience.
I'm not necessarily familiar with the trials and tribulations of Owlboy's development. I only know it was in development forever, I only really heard about the game when it got a release date, so that was pretty good. Like this game, this game is pretty good. It's visually beautiful, some of the best pixel art you're going to get. The plot works and the characters are well written. The soundtrack has some good tunes that really sell the mood.
Where the game is lacking is the gameplay. Not to say that it's bad, but it feels like it should be much better. For the most part it's good, the game controls fine and everything but some things feel poorly designed. The pirate friend needing a 6 second reload every time you shoot his gun is arduous, and when you just want to use the lighter you have to shoot the gun which means oops gotta reload. Some enemies are painfully annoying and one particular puzzle is a lot more annoying than it needs to be. Most people lament the forced stealth but Otus' movement makes these parts trivial unless for some reason the game decides you're peaking out of cover too much then oopsie doodles.
Besides my gripes and nitpicks, the game is great and I would absolutely recommend it.
7. Gravity Rush 2
~ 38,5 Hours
Amazing sequel that stumbles in a few areas (Stealth, Mission 12), but overall is just as refreshing as the first one. Traversal was never more fun, the game looks gorgeous, the sidemissions can be really fun and the main story is entertaining. Also: it's quite a big game 5/5
I was going to give this a much more positive post, even if it would have still had caveats. The gameplay is good on the whole and the aesthetic is cute, even if I could have done without the trite "oh no, the princess you met 30 seconds ago has been kidnapped" plot. But after the final level you know what, fuck you Game Freak.
The game is a rhythm platformer like BIT.TRIP RUNNER but not as good. The controls never feel quite right, with the timing for jumps and hits not being where you would expect. Your main attack is a swing with a big staff and the enemies basically have to be touching you when you time it correctly, which is counter-intuitive as hell. The fact that the game is in full 3D seems to make these problems worse, and especially in the later levels most of the things you need to hit or jump over spawn in two feet in front of you.
The boss fights are big quick time event affairs which would be cool if they didn't suffer from one of the game's biggest problems. Everything takes too damn long, a hard game like this requires you to be able to iterate on your failures quickly, but it takes forever to reload a level and this is especially true of the boss fights which are very cinematic. The final boss fight is four minutes long and probably half of that is cutscenes that you have to sit through again every time you fail.
The other problem is the scoring system, for most of the game it's far too lax, training you to just make it to the end of the level if you screw up a little because the game will give you a gold star anyway. But you have to perfect the bosses for the same reward.
But the real winner is the final post-game world which in Nintendo tradition is where the really difficulty lives. Unfortunately a lot of it is fake difficulty. The use of enemies and traps that you can't see until they're right in front of you increases sharply, as does the prevalence of bottomless pits. The interface starts fucking with you to, there are more dramatic camera shifts which mostly just serve to make it harder to judge when you should be trying to make important jumps, which can and will get you killed and kicked back to the start of the level.
This comes to a head in Clocktower Trial, where the tempo changes a split second before a key jump over a bottomless 1/3rd of the way through the level, sending you to your death unexpectedly. But the Final Trial is the real fuck you to the players, if you manage to survive the gauntlet (which I managed for the first time after about 20-30 tries) the song ends and a featureless piece of flat ground appears to carry you out, as in all the levels. And then a pillar of fire erupts from the ground while your guard is down and if you had one heart left you die. The most unfortunate thing about this is that a lot of the pattern in Final Trial is really fun when you get it down, and the synchronisation with the background music is the best in the game. But its let down by the parts that feel unfair and like a big fuck you to the player.
Don't get me wrong, the game is fun and I eventually got through it all. But jeez that last part is frustrating as hell for bad reasons.
PS If this reads weird at any point it's because I rage quit, wrote the review and then put another half an hour into the Final Trial and managed to beat it.
Currently playing: Almost finished the second episode of Tales of Monkey Island
Well, this will be my main post, and first time doing something like this.
1: Gears of War Judgement - 12h
Really enjoyed this one, last one before I play Gears 4 with my brother on PC.
So far this was my favorite along with Gears of War 3, I don't care about reviews really, but I don't understand the scores. I only played single player, story is shit, sure. But every gears story is average at best.
The gameplay and presentation are stellar, and it is my favorite CO-OP game so far along with 007 Everything or Nothing and Halo 3.
I would give it a solid 8/10
2: Superhot [PC] - 4h
Very good FPS, nice surprise, nothing to say here. Just play it.
I would give a 7/10
3: Game of Thrones [PC] - 14h
One of my favorites Telltale games, will never surpass The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us but I really liked it. There were some glitches, and it didn't look great, but the story kept me going.
7/10
4: Watch Dogs 2 [PC] - 21h
I was one of the few people that really enjoyed Watch Dogs 1, played it almost twice because I lost a save and I still thoroughly enjoyed all the way.
The sequel doesn't disappoint, even though I liked the first, I still thought the changes in the sequel in terms of style were very good, the characters are likeable, the story is ok, graphically is really awesome, a good improvement over the first.
Overall a great Open World game. Can't wait for the third.
8/10
5: Assassin's Creed Unity [PC] - 25h
From the main games, this was the one left to finish, for some reason I just didn't feel like playing AC for a good while after Syndicate (had skipped Unity because bugs). And after looking at that map, I just ignored almost every side quest or chest in the game, and once I focused on the main story missions, it was sweet. Much better than expected, and one of my favorite AC, the combat was really good, the parkour felt amazing (with a few glitches here and there) and I actually liked the characters and the evolving relations between them.
For me, gets a solid 8.
6: Resident Evil 7 [PC] - 9h
First time I've finished an horror game, tried Outlast, played Alien Isolation for 6 hours and didn't finish. But this is true survival horror, I can actually try to survive by saving stuff I can use later and think if I want to confront an enemy in a certain situation.
Just incredible game, I will remember this one.
The only other RE I've played and finished was RE6 which I found it was dumb fun.
This gets a 9/10 from me.
7: For Honor [PC] - > 40h
Campaign was ok, multiplayer phenomenal, but ended up stop playing it because of the server problems, it really is a shame, I can see greatness in this franchise.
This gets a 8/10 from me.
8: Homefront: The Revolution [PC] - 14h
The game is fixed, at least technically, I've finished this one a few months ago and really enjoyed it all the way through, bought it after the free weekend they offered. The customization of weapons in "real time" is awesome, graphics are amazing, gameplay is simple but satisfying, story could be better.
Would give it an 7.5/10. Recommended.
9: Homefront: The Revolution - The Voice of Freedom [PC] - 45m
First DLC, really solid. 7/10.
10: Homefront: The Revolution - Aftermath [PC] - 45m
Second DLC, again really good, just very short. 7/10.
11: Homefront: The Revolution - Beyond The Walls [PC] - 2h
Absolutely loved this DLC, better than the others, really cool short story in the same universe. 8/10
12: Halo 3: Reach [XB360] - 10h
Been playing the Halo and Gears games with my brother, this one was solid, the story was ok, but the gameplay is where Halo shines and it's enjoyable.
Score: 7/10.
13: Halo 4 [XB360] - 8h
Couldn't care less about the critics, what an awesome game, best gameplay in the series. Best story in the series (but that's not saying much really). Cool art style, best performance playing split-screen. Very enjoyable experience.
Score: 8/10
14: Burnout Paradise [PC] - 12h
I don't think I need to say much. It's Burnout, pure fun.
It can't dethrone the king Burnout Revenge, but it came close to it.
Excellent port for PC.
Score: 9/10
15: The Order: 1886 [PS4] - 8h
It was a short game, but very enjoyable. The story was interesting, the lore was awesome, gameplay was solid. There were some missed opportunities for sure, but overall I really liked it.
For me, for the price I've payed and the expectations I had, it's an 8/10.
16: Ratchet & Clank [PS4] - 12h
This reboot of a franchise I really love, is the definition of fun in videogame format. Even though I would love the 60fps that prior games offered, the game is absolutely fantastic.
Insanely close to perfection - 9.5/10.
17:Uncharted 4: A Thief's End [PS4] - 16h
I had little expectations for this game, Uncharted has always been a franchise that, to me, is the blockbuster of the gaming world, and that's awesome, but it would never be as memorable as, for example, The Last of Us.
But this game caught me by surprise, insanely good gameplay, amazing story, jaw-dropping sequences and vistas, and a surprisingly good multiplayer. This game has it all.
If the pacing was better, it would be a 10 - 9.5/10.
18:F.E.A.R [PC] - 12h
This game is awesome, the story is told normally through exploration, the gameplay is brilliant, the graphics are good (the game is kinda old, and it shows in the graphics department), the A.I. is the best I've ever compete against.
Every encounter was meaningful, the only thing that could've been much better is the story, it's very forgettable.
For me, gets a 8.5/10.
18:inFamous: Second Son [PS4] - 15h
One of the first PS4 games I've played, I always enjoy the infamous games, so again, Sucker Punch doesn't disappoint, great game. Even though the story is mediocre, I actually grew to care about the characters and enjoyed my journey with this game.
Really interested to give the standalone DLC a try.
For me, it gets a 8/10.
19:Halo 3: ODST [XB360] - 7h
I enjoy play every Halo because I do it splitscreen. This game was cool. Halo never was a big deal to me, and this game doesn't change that, it's fun though.
A cool 7.5/10.
19:What Remains of Edith Finch [PC] - 2h
I would not dare to spoil this game, even though "Walking Simulators" aren't my thing, this game changes explores the idea of walking simulator with actual gameplay entwined with the story. What an emotional and beautiful ride.
There was one of the stories that I still remember and will probably never forget.
Amazing, 9/10.
20:P.T. [PS4] - 2h
I don't care if this isn't a full game, there are indies that take this long.
Obviously I didn't dare to play this alone, I had friend to play with me, this fucked up experience that master Kojima created is just insane. I cannot imagine a full game based on this, I would probably not play it though.
Concise perfection, 10/10.
20:Call of Duty: Black Ops [PC] - 8h
There were only 3 Call of Duty games I haven't played - Ghosts (which I never will), World at War and Black Ops.
It was time, the story was actually amazing, the characters awesome and the gameplay solid as always from CoD. I was very surprised by this game.
9/10
21:Killzone: Shadow Fall [PS4] - 11h
It's killzone, I knew what was coming and I enjoyed it, story with a lot of misses but gameplay was ultimately enjoyable and the graphics good.
Wish the game could shoot for the 60fps though, it would have been an overall smoother experience. The multiplayer was surprisingly good.
7/10
22: Assassin's Creed -- (replay #2) [PS3] - 15h
Playing through all the AC now, or until I get bored, so far so good. The community on reddit has been awesome.
The first entry to this franchise was never my favorite, but I did enjoy this playthrough more than the first one.
6.5/10
23: Assassin's Creed 2 -- (replay #2) [PS3] - 14h
Obviously, this is an insane improvement over the first AC game, and I really enjoyed replaying it. There are some things in the ending and some sequences that still bother me, but overall a great game.
I've played the first Uncharted on PS3 and found it mediocre, but I'm glad I replayed now on PS4.
I've never seen a game improving so much with the performance bump. 60fps really makes this game for me, the shooting is way more fun. I'm pretty sure the PS3 version is sub-30fps. I'll be jumping into Uncharted 2 very soon.
Very good ARPG game. Although it's bit long and somewhat repetitive towards end, so it didn't venture into post-ending areas, but I plan to come back later.
#8 - Dishonored 2 - ~15 hours
I have to say PC port is really dishonorable. I have to say
time travel
was really interesting addition, that went underused.
#9 - Watch Dogs 2 - ~35 hours
Original Watch_Dogs was one of biggest disappointments, and I didn't really any expectations from this.
It's very big improvement over original, but sadly gun play is still disappointing. Didn't stop me from enjoying the game though. But bit more variance would've helped a lot.
Co-Op missions seems huge waste of time and it's just few templates with randomized targets.
#10 - The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Ties That Bind (ep 1-2) - ~3 hours
A game I wanted to replay for a while, as good as I remember.
4. Resident Evil 7
Fantastic horror game. They took what was good about the original game and injected some good first person action into it. Will complete this one twice so I get the other ending.
What I like most about Firewatch is that it is a game about escapism, hoping to leave everything behind and immerse yourself in a beautiful environment. For me this is a familiar feeling and Firewatch provided exactly the experience I was looking for. The in-game song Ol' Shoshone perfectly encapsulates this feeling. The game did a good job juggling Henry's relationship with Julia and his interactions with Delilah. For a second I was worried the plot would descend into sci-fi nonsense but luckily it stayed grounded. I did not care that much about the revelation in the finale as it felt a bit disconnected from Henry's troubles. Still, a great game.
04 | Oxenfree | PC Time: 5 hours
Score: 6/10
Oxenfree reminded me at times of Stranger Things: a bunch of kids caught up in a supernatural mystery. Sadly the dialogue and voice acting couldn't really convince me and in a game like Oxenfree those two things are rather essential. Also all the backtracking through the same environments became a bit tiresome at the end. I do like the concept of the game though and I hope more projects like this will follow.
Jan 1st "Virginia":
Took about 5-6 hours? I loved the art style, disliked the lack of VO, story goes full Lynch in the last quarter.
Jan 2nd "Actual Sunlight": 1-2 hours
Cool story this "game" absolutely sucks to actually play.
Jan 15th "Rise of the Tomb Raider": 30-40 hrs(including story dlc)
I started this in 2016, beat it in 2015 on xbox one should be a testament to how good this game is.
Jan 19th "Assassins Creed Syndicate": 25-30 hrs Mostly enjoyed this it was nice to jump into an AC game after the break of Unity. Glitches EVERYWHERE.
Jan 20th "Bayonetta": 8-12 hrs
Cool combo's neat story there are chapters in this game that are pure unbridled trash, real shitty platforming
Jan 21st "Bayonetta 2": 8-12 hrs
Hooo boy 2 is better than 1 in basically every regard and damn is it good. (platforming still not great)
Jan 24th "The Last Guardian": 12 hrs
Man this one was such a mixed bag, I greatly disliked controlling the boy and trying (and failing) to get trico to do what I wanted, but the emotional pay off at the end is legit.
Jan 28th "Kingdom Hearts 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage" 6 hrs
Really cool early look at KH3 but aqua feels weirdly unresponsive when it comes to dodging/guarding attacks.
